I thought I would blog on a new series of Podcasts I have subscribed to recently, called GeekBrief.tv. Whilst it is not a new show, its new to me, so bare with me.

Presented by Cali Lewis, who recently has been taking part in the best job in the world competition, which is a marketing PR stunt to raise awareness for Queensland tourism. Cali unfortunately was not successful in the competition, however the good news being is that she will be back producing the GeekBreif.tv.

Whilst Cali could be taken as a little too excited and over the top to some British viewers, the news and reviews she brings to the internet world is surprisingly good if you are into knowing what’s hot off the shelf in the techno world. It is truly for ‘Geeks’, and I am not ashamed of admitting that I watch it.

So if you want to know what the next big gadget is going to be, head on over to GeekBrief.tv.

Consider this if you will, the following scenario’s are a reflection of what would have happened in 1959 and in today’s society and social culture (2009).

Scenario 1

Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.

1958

Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2009

School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario 2

Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1958

Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2009

Police called they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3

Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.

1958

Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2009

Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADHD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario 4

Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1958

Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.

2009

Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario 5

Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1958

Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.

2009

The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario 6

Abhirami fails high school English.

1958

Abhirami goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.

2009

Abhirami’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Abhirami’s English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Abhirami is given his diploma anyway but ends up flipping burgers for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario 7

Johnny takes apart leftover fireworks from the Guy Fawkes night, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.

1958

Ants die.

2009

Police, Homeland Security and the MI5 are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The Police investigates his parents and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny’s dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario 8

Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1958

In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2009

Mary is accused of being a sexual pedophile and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

What a sad state of affairs we live in today. Is it any wonder why our society is falling apart, why we have so much hatred for the parliament, why our children are so detached from family life, and possibly why there are so many broken families today.

I hope that our voice can be heard to turn around this messed up society, and I pray for all the victims falsely accused and misunderstood in their actions.

I would appreciate your own comments, and please Digg.

I have just got back from a week in the Devon countryside, a short trip from Suffolk navigating through traffic, which probably added about two hours to the journey time of four or five hours. I spent a week away for my first anniversary to my lovely wife Rachael.

The weather was actually delightful, a vast contrast from our wedding day, it was actually a pleasant warm day this year, unlike the although pleasant, very cold day we had for our wedding. We navigated hills and fields walking as much as we could, visiting castles and stately homes in the area, photos of which I shall share soon.

Rachael was treated to flowers delivered to our holiday cottage, and we had an awesome time away from the busyness of home.

But my main reason for writing to my blog today was to share a link to another website, whilst driving the 200 odd miles to Devon, my mind drifted and I thought back to how I got into web design in the first place, and recalled a web site I have not visited in some time. This website was my first inspiration when I first took a look at the art of designing websites, a lot has changed since I last took a look, but its delightful seeing how similar the styles of both my own and Gordon’s sites are similar. I have to admit that my own site has taken on many forms in the last year before settling to where it is today, but it’s nice to see that tastes dont change, they improve, and progress. I dont think it was a mistake that my career has ended in web design, from the days of drawing inspiration from Gordon MacKay and Cameron Moll and their blogs. How true it is for relationships, I knew from the first time I met Rachael that we were meant to be together, and a year on into our marriage I am all the more in love with her, our tastes have grown and progressed, but essentially we are the same people we fell in love with.

However much time flies by you, try to keep your passion, improve on the things you fall short on, and progress into the next stages of development whenever you can.

I have been biting my lip for six months now and just cannot keep quiet any longer with such exciting news for me, my clients, Media Temple users and anyone who wants great statistical analytics for their website.

Reinvigorate measures your influence on the web in real-time. Gain up-to-the-minute insight into your audience, then adapt to meet their needs and watch your site grow. I have been using the Beta version for the last year, although I signed up for the service a long time ago.

Sean over at Reinvigorate this week changed his home page introducing the nearing next stages of Reinvigorate and its emergence on Media Temple, at least at this time of writing I hope MT will be including the technology directly from the AccountCentre.

The reason I have had to keep quiet? Media Temple asked me to.

Following a couple of emails to MT, I got a hint that it was coming to the AccountCenter from the VP of Business Development, back in August 2008.

No ETA yet but its coming to the AccountCenter.

Reinvigorate has been aqcuired  via the MT Ventures division, a rather secrative  stealth arm to the powerful overly successful host that is Media Temple. Its definitely a great decision for MT. MT Ventures have also acquired Virb and I will be newtorking socially their for a while in the future. Virb is a super social network from the big boys at Neubix.

Needless to say I will continue to be offering Reinvigorate statistics to all my customers, even easier for me with management through my own control panel.

I always thought with my own website that I would practice what I preached, using the knowledge that I gain from my inspirational piers and fellow designers. But that is simply not the case as I found out at the weekend.

After a brief discussion how we both knew our mutual friend, the conversation was started as to what my carreer was, when I announced that I was a web designer the conversation heated up as the friend of a friend was currently looking for such a person or company.

Quickly I put on my work hat and got to the basics of why she needed such help with her own business web site. "We have companies call up telling us our site could be better", upon asking why do you think that is the response was somewhat surprising. Her customers actually like the site, and use it very well, and she didnt really see the need to redesign the whole site if that was the case, regardless of how she thought it looked.

‘Redesign versus realign’ I said confidently, recalling in my mind an excellent piece by Cameron Moll over at ALA. My thoughts on the article were if something works, dont fix it by overhauling it, realign the parts that dont work.

I preached my case for some time, but it was not until tonight that my thoughts changed. That was until I opened up Safari and typed in the discussed web site URL. Upon loading the one thought that went through my mind was OSCommerce, I scrolled to the bottom of the page, and sure enough, there was the link.

In order to realign something, the design has to be right in the first place. Whilst I dont think anyone can get the design 100% perfect first time, redesign has to come at some point. Just maybe not so often as my own site, which seems to be every couple of months.

Sometimes the menu position is just not enough. Especially when the design calls for the menu to be in a different postion, or perhaps you want to make a site map?

This code will help you get your Dreamscape CMS menu into your footer, or anywhere else you want it.

//Menu in Footer Code
function add_menu()
{
global $mainmenu, $themetemplates, $user_vars, $items, $option, $theme_suffix, $Database, $sections;
$tplext = TPL_EXT;
$sortdirection = ($option->sortdirection == 'ASC') ? true : false;
$sortby = (!empty($option->sortcats)) ? $option->sortcats : 'created';
$user_pages = $items->GetList(array(
array('pid', '=', 0),
array('online', '=', 1),
array('type', '=', 'static'),
array('created', '<=', time())), $sortby, $sortdirection);
//Grab the categories
$menu = $sections->GetList(array(array('pid', '=', 0), array('cat_type', '!=', 'pages')));
$mainmenu->sections = prepare_menu_content($menu);
$user_pages = prepare_menu_content($user_pages);
$custom = $items->GetList("SELECT
id, title, pid, dirtitle, menu_order
FROM *table*
WHERE online=1
AND menu_order != 0
AND created <=".time()."
AND type='static'
ORDER BY menu_order ASC");
$custom_sections = $sections->GetList("SELECT
id, pid, dirtitle, descr, sectionname as title, public, order_rank as menu_order
FROM *table*
WHERE public=1
AND cat_type != 'pages'
AND order_rank != 0
ORDER BY menu_order ASC");
$custom = array_merge($custom, $custom_sections);
csort($custom, 'menu_order');
$custom_menu = prepare_menu_content($custom);
$mainmenu->custom_menu = $custom_menu;
$mainmenu->user_pages = $user_pages;
$mainmenu->pages_list = '

' . "\n" . get_full_page_list() . "\n" . '

Then call your function inside a loop:

add_loop($footer_menu->custom_menu,'custom_menu','footer');

Grab any RSS from another domain and publish it in any fashion you wish on your Dreamscape CMS website.

//RSS grabbing code
include(EXPANSEPATH.'/funcs/snoopy.class.php');
include(EXPANSEPATH.'/funcs/rss.class.php');
$rss = new easyRSS;
function get_feeds($feed, $loop_name, $limit=10){
global $rss;
$news = array('items'=>array());
if(!isset($_SESSION[$loop_name])){
$feed_file = getRemoteFile($feed);
$news = $_SESSION[$loop_name] = $rss->parse($feed_file->results, "Y-m-d H:i:s");
} else {
$news = $_SESSION[$loop_name];
}
$content = array();
$news['items'] = array_slice($news['items'], 0, $limit);
foreach($news['items'] as $k => $v){
$content[] = (object) $v;
}
add_loop($content, $loop_name);
}


Then call the above script by adding the loop:

add_loop('http://blog.iantearle.com/feed.php?feed=atom', 'blog_rss');

Its official, as we start the countdown to the start of the next decade, major companies are taking the decision to cease support for Internet Explorer 6. iStock announced in their newsletter email that starting 2010 they will begin phasing out support for IE6.

What does this mean? iStock obviously want to keep their site compatible with all its users, meaning they have to accomodate for around 23 different browsers all rendering the site in different ways. Fixing errors and problems for IE6 can be a headache for any designer or developer, often having to create mulitple stylesheets or using invalid CSS hacks. This takes time, and in the current economic climate can often be non cost effective.

Is it a wise choice? With National Express East Anglia website statistics showing that 60% of its users are still using IE6 it goes to show that alot of the UK are still using the dated browser. Also if you look at the type of consumers that would be using this site, business commuters from large offices in London and surrounding areas, it gives you an insight that most major companies are just not updating their browsers. Which makes you wonder how secure their systems are, and how much money they must waste on security fixes, when they could prevent a huge black hole by replacing Internet Explorer 6.

iStock give five reasons for their choice:

1. Security continues to be an issue with this legacy browser. We want people browsing to be safe!
2. It’s slow. Too slow. It’s orders of magnitude slower than modern, efficient browsers.
3. It’s non-standards compliant. This means our developers have to develop an almost completely different version of iStock to run on it.
4. It doesn’t properly support cool new functionality that you are asking for, and we want to deliver.
5. Alternatives are free, fast and easy to download:
   • Internet Explorer 7
   • Internet Explorer 8 R.C. 1
   • Firefox 3
   • Safari 3.2
   • Google Chrome

This move shouldnt effect browsing experience too much, after all they have accommodated for IE6 up until now, unless the web site owners have some plans to upgrade their website with new standards also being set to release around the same time, CSS3 and HTML5 are fast approaching final drafts, and many browsers already supporting them.

iStock are not alone. Popular web software creators 37 Signals announced last year that as of 1st October 2008 they will begin phasing out support for Internet Explorer 6, Apple’s MobileMe does not support IE6, and whilst Wordpress are still seeing 25% of its users still using the ancient browser, the CEO announced that if they see that figure fall below 10% they too will start ceasing support.

In summary, its about time. I purpously have not accomodated/tested this site with IE6, because I think those users should just update now to see my design how it should be. After all neglecting to upgrade your software is like choosing to face the enemy with a cardboard shield and a paper sword when you could have the latest Kevlar™ vest and ray gun.

Firstly, I feel I must apologize for the unavailability of this website whilst I have been working on the content, and design rearrangements, I have received your emails, and shall let you know as promised that as of today, you may now see what you are looking for, whether it be my fix for BT Home Hub in relation to Airport Express from Apple, or the popular jQuery plugin that is Facelist, feel free to grab what you need, and please comment.

I hope you like what I have done to the place, its taken some time, and a lot of hard work with Photoshop, and my favorite editor Coda from Panic, and FTP program Transmit, also from Panic. I have also been using successfully SVN with Coda and Media Temple, my web hosts which I plan to be blogging about in good time.

I hope you enjoy what I have got to offer, the site is by all means not far off from being complete, a few tweaks, and ill have it the way I want it, just wanted to give it back to you as soon as I could.

My beloved MacBook Pro broke today. Its not that old, and is still my pride and joy. But all of a sudden the built in iSight suddenly stopped working, and I was left photo-less. But do not fear, if your own MacBook Pro decides to disable your iSight camera, there is a way to get it back to health and working again.

The solution is simple, turn your MacBook Pro off. Then press the Power button, immediately after you hear the chime press and hold the Shift key. This will put MacBook into safe mode. (Be sure to release the shift key when you see the apple logo). You will notice when in Safe Mode that the login screen is shown, even if you normally log in automatically.

Once booted, and you are logged in, turn your macbook off, press the power button again, and boot in as normal, (without pressing any keys). Your iSight should now be working again.

If this was helpful, please digg, or comment below.