Elliot Reeve’s Blog
Technology, Web, Programming, Computers and Gadgets
Rupert Murdoch attacks Google
Nov 15th
Rupert Murdoch who is the face of Sky has announced that he no longer wants Google to index his web pages in its search engine results. Murdoch spoke about his anger towards Google as well as his intentions for the Sky news website to become a subscription website during an interview last week.
Murdoch made it clear that he no longer wanted Google to display Sky news links in its listings. When asked why he said “Why do I want a one time user who accidently comes across the sky news site accessing my website?” The interviewer then returned the question of “Surely having this user visit once means they may view your site on a more regular basis?”.
Murdoch’s argument about the Sky news website becoming a subscription website is that it costs time and money in order to post the content onto the site. This was a fair point however the Sky news website is a just a method of increasing Sky’s profile as a company. In addition to this, to claim Sky make no money from their website maybe true, but its hard to believe they make a loss either, due to the rich vain of advertising they have the capability of receiving.
When asked about the expected price to read the news from the Sky website he referred to the price of a newspaper and claimed the website would not exceed this cost. Murdoch believes the web has the ability to overtake newspapers and questioned how many under 30 year olds read newspapers these days.
In my opinion this is a fair point however there are too many other websites which users have the ability to access for free which will effectively see Sky news readers find alternatives news websites to read. In return to his opinion of Google indexing Sky news web pages I feel that this is unjustified criticism because you can prevent Google from indexing your web pages if you want to, however Sky have obviously chosen not to do this.
Updating your Blackberry Software
Nov 15th
Blackberry’s are constantly been updated due to bugs been found in the software which they were originally released with. Its important your Blackberry has the most up to date software in order to get the most out of your Blackberry.
There has been a common problem with Blackberry’s draining the battery even when its not in use. Some people have claimed that even when leaving the Blackberry on whilst being asleep the battery drained from 80% down to 30%. Software updates will help alleviate battery draining problems which may have been caused by a bug in the software.
Updating your Blackberry software:
In order to update your software you need a couple of things:
- USB Cable
- PC or Mac with Internet connection
Assuming you have the above you then need to follow the steps below to ensure you have the most up to date software:
- Download the Blackberry Desktop Software here
- Once installed simply plug your Blackberry into your USB cable
- The software on your computer should now have connected your Blackberry
- You will be informed of whether there are any updates for your Blackberry
- If there are any updates simply select Update and allow the software to run
Your Blackberry may turn on and off a couple of times during this process however this is normal and your Blackberry will be back to normal once the procedure has finished. You will be left with the most up to date software on your Blackberry.
Blackberry battery saving tips:
- Turn off Wifi when your not using it
- Switch off Bluetooth when your not using it
- Close any applications when you have finished using them
- Put your phone into Standby mode
I hope this will help you get the most out of your Blackberry, saving every little bit of battery you can may help you when your on the road!
The development of Online Games - RPG’s, MMORPG’s
Nov 8th
With what is an ever increasing demand for games, online gaming is constantly growing with new languages allowing a wider variety of games to be made. The constantly evolving web development world has seen online games change the way we see the web. Previously the www was just seen as a place to gain information however as time has gone by we have seen the development of games come to the forefront of the web.
The games themselves are improving at a rapid pace. Gone are the days of MUD’s where the game was solely described as text. We are now seeing 2-D and 3-D graphics on a regular basis. Some of the best online games around are now matching the standard of those which were previously only available to buy in store.
Online games can be thought up and developed by anyone. There are no expensive start up costs, they can be developed in the developers own time and they do not have large maintenance costs. This provides a huge market of people who, if they put their mind to it and come up with a good idea, have potential to make a very popular game.
In my opinion the quality of online games are going to continue to improve. The only factor which can potentially slow down the development/growth of the online gaming industry is a users internet connection speed not being able to withstand the ever increasing demands of a top online game.
With internet speeds set to improve across the world online gaming has a bright future. The availability and ease of access makes online games appealing to a number of users. Being able to pick up where you left off at a friends house or whilst on holiday means that a user gets more emotionally attached to the game in question.
Happy Gaming!
Set a program to start on startup Mac OS X
Nov 7th
If you have a program which you use frequently on your Mac you can set it open on startup just like msconfig on a windows machine.
Load program from startup:
- Navigate to “System Preferences” from your Applications.
- Click “Accounts”.
- Select the account you wish to change the programs on start up for.
- Click the tab at the top of the screen titled “Login Items”.
- Here you will see a list of applications which you can tick to open them on startup.
- If the program is not in the list:
- Click the “+”
- Navigate to the program you want to run on startup.
- Tick the box once the program is in the list.
- If the program is not in the list:
The programs you have ticked will now open automatically when you boot up your Mac, enjoy!
Xbox 360 Live - Open your NAT type
Nov 7th
In order to get the best out of Xbox Live you may need to open your NAT. Network Address Translation (NAT) is the process of modifying network address information in datagram packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device for the purpose of remapping a given address space into another.
Xbox Live has 3 stages of NAT: Strict, Moderate, Open. If your NAT is Strict you may not be able to play some of your friends online. To solve this you need to edit the settings on your router.
Setting NAT to Open:
- Navigate to the network settings on your Xbox 360 and set your IP address manually, this is so that it stays static
- Login to the control panel of your router e.g http://192.168.0.1
- Navigate to Services or Firewall as you need to open up 3 ports.
- Enter the following ports into your firewall from the IP address you set in the previous step:
- UDP: 88
- UDP/TCP: 3074
- Your router should now be setup to open these ports and your Xbox Live gaming should be pain-free!
- To double check this login to your Xbox Live account on your Xbox 360 and check your NAT type in the Network Settings.
Happy Gaming!
Want to become a Web Developer? The basics Setting Up, HTML and CSS
May 29th
Fancy a career change? Bored of your current day job? Wish you new how to make a website? Looking for a new hobby?
Website development maybe a huge market at the moment with nearly all businesses having their own websites and those that don’t wanting one. However those that have them want to make them better to maximise their potential. To make them better requires the use of the best languages available.
If you don’t no where to start with website development you can follow my steps below to get started. The good thing about Website Development is that its quiet progressive, therefore you can start of basic and learn more difficult things as you become familiar with the more basic languages.
How to start making a Website:
Before you can start creating a website you need a few things setup, you can view these below:
- Text Editor - You can use a basic program which ever computer has such as Notepad however if you want additional help whilst coding your website a better program would be Adobe Dreamweaver (PC) or Coda (Mac).
- Hosting Package - This allows you to view your website on the internet, included will be server space and a domain. You can purchase a hosting package from various companies online such as EukHost or 123 Reg. This will cost you an estimated £20 - £30 a year.
Steps to becoming a Web Developer:
With your potential website ready to be created you are now ready to start learning and creating that master piece. To start with the basic steps will enable you to create static websites. A static website is one which does not change unless you, the web developer, changes the code. This is the most basic type of website and will help you learn the basics you need before moving onto dynamic websites.
1. Learning HTML:
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language, is the most basic of website development languages available. HTML only allows you to create the most basic website however its very important to learn as its the “gel” of nearly all languages. All websites contain some HTML therefore you need to learn this before you can progress.
A good place to begin learning HTML is online, there are lots of guides and tutorials on learning HTML which take you through basic steps to setting up new pages, creating tables, making lists and changing background colours etc. Here are a few good guides to getting started W3Schools - HTML and HTML.net - CSS.
If you work through both of these websites and carry on the examples you should have a basic knowledge of HTML. If you have trouble understanding the basics you may need to loan or purchase a HTML book which goes into more detail.
2. Learning CSS:
CSS - Cascading Style Sheets, is the next language you should be teaching yourself. CSS defines how to display HTML elements. For example using CSS you can define, once, in the stylesheet that you want all links on your website to be black therefore saving alot of time as you only need to declare this once.
If you learn CSS early in your Website Development it will make things alot easier when you come to do more complex things further down the line. Again CSS is well documented on the Internet, some good websites are W3Schools - CSS and HTML.net - CSS.
CSS can become quiet advanced and allows you to perform a whole array of different things. I would recommend working your way through one of the above tutorials to learn the basics of CSS. Having done so you should have the knowledge in place to use CSS to a basic standard. If you then need to learn something more specific you can come back to it.
3. Getting Help
If during your learning you get stuck or don’t understand something there is lots of help on the internet. If you have a problem the chances are someone else has had the same problem as you before. If you do get stuck the best solution is to type your problem into Google. Take time to read other peoples problems and the solutions provided by others.
An example of a website which provides help to those who have problems are HTML Help. Remember that if you do get stuck patience and persistence is important, part of being a web developer involves problem solving, if you get into good habits now it will put you in good stead for more difficult tasks.
Whats next?
In my next post I will go into more detail about creating dynamic websites and the languages you need to learn to do so. These languages include PHP/ASP/MySQL. I will outline the advantages and disadvantages of PHP/ASP.
Good Luck.
Cricket: Essex Eagles Unstoppable?
May 14th
A new cricket season has been underway just over a month now and already Essex Cricket Clubs domination of the one day game looks to be continuing.
So far in the Friends Provident they have played 5 and won 4, losing after scoring near on 300! Essex are placed in Group D which is by far the strongest group with none of the so called “minnows” in this group.
Friend Provident Group D - 13th May
The Essex bowlers have been on top form in the latest games, rolling out Lancashire for just 157 and then Glamorgan for just 124 two days later. The batsman haven’t faired too badly either with youngster Varun Chopra being the top scorer in the competition so far this season.
Essex Eagles having won the title last year look unstoppable again this year with an excellent mix of youth and experienced players proving to be the key. Not to mention the excellent wicket keeping of James Foster who is undoubtably the best wicket keeper in England! You only have to look at his recent performance against Glamorgan where he had the experience and skill to leave a ball which had hit the batsmans pad and going towards the stumps instead of catching it, superb piece of wicket keeping.
James Foster Wicketkeeper
Essex Eagles next game is at home, Chelmsford, to Northamptonshire on 17th May. A win here will guarantee they qualify for the next round.
Cricket: 2009 Season Predictions and Potential Young Talent
May 14th
New Cricket Season:
With the new Cricket season having just begun everyone always debates who’s going to win the County Championship, Friends Provident and the Twenty 20 cup. I think the new season is going to be more competitive than ever with the ever increase of kolpak and overseas players dominating the county scene.
Division 1 County Championship Champions: Lancashire CCC
Division 1 County Championship Champions: Kent CCC
Friends Provident Champions: Essex CCC
Twenty/20 Champions: Middlesex CCC
Young Talent:
Players have come and gone through the close season and youngsters who were coming through are another year old, are their any up and coming stars to look out for in the 2009 season?
I can mention a few who we should be looking out for:
- Maurice Chambers - Essex Cricket Club
- Nick Compton - Middlesex Cricket Club
- Eion Morgan - Middlesex Cricket Club
- Liam Dawson - Hampshire Cricket Club
- Chris Woakes - Warwickshire Cricket Club
Chris Woakes in particular has had a great start to the season so far, I just hope he dosen’t get called into the England Squad then dosen’t get the bowling that he needs under his belt. A great example of this is James Anderson, now that his had the bowling he needs his turning into a great threat with the extra experience he now has.
Only time will tell if my predictions are right, if anyone has any hints on talent to be aware of let me know.
Cricket: England find new number 3?
May 14th
Ravi Bopara of Essex Cricket Club has been included into the England Cricket Squad to face the West Indies in the 2 match test series.
Bopara scored a century in his last test against the West Indies in Barbados and now looks set to fill the number 3 position which has proved troublesome for the England Squad to fill since Michael Vaughan’s demise.
Ravi Bopara’s test career didn’t exactly start off in a promising manner with 3 duck’s in succession. He has however now hit back to back hundreds in the latest West Indies Test Series which means 3 duck’s followed by 3 hundreds, which has never been done by a Test player before!!
With his run of good form and small bits of fortune throughout his knocks of late he looks to have cemented his position at number 3 for at least the forceable future. Lets hope they stick with him as his talent is unquestionable! Ravi’s unquestionable confidence in his ability makes the batsman at the other end look ridiculous at times.
Bring on the aussies, although I am pretty certain their attack wont be as easy to dominate!
Ravi Bopara - Another 100!
Transparent PNG Fix for Internet Explorer (IE) 5.5+
Mar 20th
There are lots of “fixes” for transparent png images in Internet Explorer which remove the “white block” bug in lower versions of Internet Explorer however some dont work as well as others.
Flaws:
Some flaws I have found with some methods:
- You cant repeat the image on the background
- You cant have links within the text as they become un-clickable
Solution:
I recently came across what seems like a very good solution and a big advantage of this is that its not difficult to add into your pages therefore you have the choice of making a style-sheet for Internet Explorer or applying the PNG for IE fix to all browsers.
Method:
- Put your image in a div and apply a class to it
- In the style-sheet add the following code and change where appropriate:
- _background-image: none;
- filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader( enabled=’true’, sizingMethod=’scale’, src=’image.png’);
This will give you the solution that your looking for, this method also allows the image you are using to be repeated so you can repeat a transparent background image.
The one down side of this method is that you can now no longer click links on top of your background, however there is a solution to this problem and that is to create another div inside the the background div which just has the property of: position: relative;.
Summary:
Your code should look something like this when your finished:
Code:
<div class=”backgroundimage”>
<div class=”textlayer”>Text goes in here</div>
</div>
CSS:
.backgroundimage {
background: url(image.png) repeat-y;
_background-image: none;
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(enabled=’true’, sizingMethod=’scale’, src=’image.png’);}
.textlayer{
position: relative;
}
I hope you find this useful, any problems add a comment and ill do my best to help you.