There are probably more social networking sites out there then there are grains of sand on a beach. Of course I’m joking, but the idea that everyone is trying to get into the “social networking game” isn’t.
Social networking is big business.
Why?
Well the simple answer is: they make money.
According to the BBC news website, Microsoft has recently invested $240m (£117m) in Facebook (article) in exchange for a 1.6% share of the company, totalling to a a value of $15bn (£7.3bn) on a firm that has only been in existence three and a half years.
I remember back in the day when big companies bought up popular buzz-filled websites Microsoft bought Hotmail, and when Yahoo! bought upcoming, when Google bought out Youtube — although this hasn’t happened with Facebook, it does raise questions about whether businesses are buying sites for buzz, branding, or on nothing but hot air?
I’m going to be splitting my site up very soon, and will be moving comedy/virals/video games to a more entertainment centered blog, and I’m playing with an idea to launch a fitness website.
I will be turning this site into a much more “corporate” blog, talking about marketing/social media/web issues.
Any updates will be posted on this website.
Recently an IT consultant, Alan Ellis, 24, from Teeside, was arrested for running torrent-tracker website “OiNK”, and had his website closed down.
Alan was held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and copyright infringement, and is now on police bail pending investigation, and has spoken out against his arrest, stating that he “has done nothing wrong”, citing that if his crime was to provided links for downloading illegal material, then Google should also be prosecuted for the very same crime.
Law enforcement agencies across the world have stepped up a gear on File-sharing P2P/Torrent websites, chasing down those who have illegally shared music, or breaking RIAA copyright.
However this recent arrest has made a lot of buzz on the social sites, and has raised questions yet again about the legitimacy of the claims of the record industry about the use of P2P/Torrent sites to distribute music.
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nodstrum.com has posted a jQuery auto-complete tutorial which integrates with PHP/MySQL.
There are literally tons of Ajax resources out there, perhaps too many to digest in one sitting, and one can get overwhelmed with the right framework to use and in what context to use them, but I do find AjaxRain to be a good resource for finding upcoming and current Ajax apps.
Links;
This is a very simple jQuery example which shows a HTML defintion list being hidden and shown when clicking on a parent branch.
Although this is a very basic example of jQuery in action, it does show the ability to separate Javascript actions and your HTML.
This code assumes you have the jQuery library in the same folder as your html.
You can also find an alternative Defintion list menu action on this demo page, as well as this screencast.
in html, block-level elements may generally contain
inline elements and other block-level elements. they are
usually formatted differently than inline elements,
typically on a new line in visual browsers.
inline (or text-level) elements generally only contain
character data and other inline elements.
One of the most ridiculous things I’ve watched on Youtube is “R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet“. A hip-hop rap opera that is so silly and ridiculous it’s been parodied so many times by the likes of MadTV, Weird Al, and more.
What makes it funnier is that R Kelly is *totally serious* about the whole thing, you can’t help but just laugh at him (note, not with him).
Additionally the whole “trapped in the closet” is in itself a joke, considering R Kelly’s well known indiscretions, once being caught with a minor.
Take for example this classic scene where some cop finds his partner is cheating on him, this scene is just … well I don’t even think there is a superlative that describes exactly what this thing is.
Anyway, if you have the stamina, or the courage – or are just bored and want to waste a lazy Sunday, you can’t go wrong with this silly black hip-hop opera series.Links and resources;
Of all the AJAX frameworks out there currently, one that I’m really liking is jQuery. It does pretty much what every other AJAX type framework out there does, but what I find really good about jQuery is that it tries to seperate JavaScript from your actual HTML.
I did try DOJO (which I think is backed by IBM), but found it too hard to understand. MooTools is very popular, and has a small footprint but I find their documentation lacks any real examples, or code that you can copy-paste or hack apart. MochiKit has a lot of buzz, but I find it does a very similar job to jQuery.
I find jQuery has a lot of examples, and there are already 2 books out there on this framework.
Although I’ve only been able to do small-scale examples of jQuery, I’m hoping to learn how to integrate jQuery with PHP/MySQL and deliver some of those really nice effects that you’ve seen everywhere else.
Links;
Currently underway in San Francisco, California is the fourth edition of Web 2.0 Summit covering various topics, issues and ideas.
Links:
One of the problems or issues with regular gym work is that it can get incredibly boring incredibly easily – even with a programme, you may find yourself limited to the machines, and free weights that are in the gym.
Naturally there are classes you can join too, such as hydrofit, energy cycling, boxerfit, or circuit training.
All of these are great, but what if you find yourself wanting more, but can’t get it from a gym; where do you go?
For many, the answer is “Crossfit”.
Although I’ve not done it myself (due to sports injuries), crossfit is all about random, strength based exercises performed at high intensity.
Although I’m not into high intensity exercises as I much prefer soft intensity such as swimming, cycling as these do not impact on your overall skeleton, I’m finding myself increasingly wanting to vary exercises with different ideas to prevent myself from getting bored and to ensure that muscle groups are being worked on.
But, lets say for the sake of argument you are into high intensity, and don’t have any sports injuries — is Crossfit for you?
Well it could be. Crossfit is very high intensity and reminds me of that training promo for the movie “300”. It incorporates a lot of pakour, martial arts and military style training with an urban element that includes Kettleballs, big tyres, and other random elements.
The random element of Crossfit, in addition to the viral effect of Youtube, has seen the popularity of Crossfit grown from an” underground” concept to a fully-fledged business.
More info: