Category 'Internet'


Internet killed the TV star

If in 1979 the famous song by the Buggles sang "Video killed the radio star", is now the case of re-propose changing the subject: Video -> Internet / Net TV and Radio -> TV / television as we know it! The advantage of being able to broadcast live and apply all the formulas of the nonlinear transmission of the Net TV are an essential and irreplaceable in the information provided by the Internet. The phenomenon has already exploded and its advance is now inexorable. In Italy, as often happens, the slowness and lack of foresight makes it difficult to appreciate what will be the next future of TV. However it is spoken and that's a start. Thanks to Blog today you can inform more quickly than some time ago.
In addition to user-generated content the next step is to provide format, the killer application that probably - at least in the Italian - still sluggish. Joost promises the series CSI., after activating a channel in Italian football (the Italians you only get with football?), but this is not enough apparently. There must be a genuine transfer of content currently available on traditional channels, including DTT, so take off the Net TV as it deserves; telegionali, serial, film (see "The Pirates of Silicon Valley" - sin only in English) . The beta should be finished soon, Babelgum understood, so let's see what accaddrà with the engines turned on and left out of the garage!

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Reflecting on Joost, Apollo and Browsers

Why go to Apollo to display HTML and dynamic content when a browser already allows it? Why use Joost Net TV to see if a browser already allows it?

Because the producer browser does not have added two simple functions within them:

  • Windowless windows
  • P2P Object

Windowless windows

This simple feature would make the most of the HTTP connection and make it really useful browsers. To open windows (pop-up in practice) with only the title and without edges, if anything, in transparency, increase the production of widgets to be exploited with the normal browser, like what is now Apollo . With a careful study on the safety (as I think now is the only reason for this limit) would open up very interesting scenarios.

P2P Object

As we all know by now all browsers supportono the object XMLHttpRequest , which has given rise to an endless amount of so-called Ajax applications. This object, usable through Javascript, is able to provide an HTTP channel - parallel - scriptable client, both for the ìinvio that for data reception.
Sooner or later, as anticipated in various other blog, Adobe will insert a P2P in Flash. Why not do the same thing in the browser? An object of this type combined with Windowless features allow you to create applications like Joost-without installing anything on your machine, ensuring cross-compatibility worthy of the Internet, thereby increasing the efficiency of production (now Joost is developed for each system operational, which is very heavy - both in money and time - in fact, the beta will follow ...).

In short windows with RSS FEED text, audio and video to be placed where we want on our desktops, in true W3C standards. Opening is TCP channels directly from Javascript, with the possibility of data exchange endless. Clearly the intention is small and the "crime" is high, hackers, spam and phishing are lurking and moves of this kind terrorize a bit 'all ...

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WordPress: categories in the dropdown

I state that we are talking about WordPress 2.0.6. If you try to set the categories in "combo" - dropdown - watch out for signs proposed on the site of WordPress . When building an HTML FORM with a SUBMIT button must be careful not to set the name of the INPUT tag just to "submit," worth ruining everything just trying to submittare the FORM via Javascript.

On the site of WordPress is proposed the following code:

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<li id="categories">
'Categories:' ) ; ?> <? Php _e ('Categories');?>
<li>
$PHP_SELF ?> " method="get"> <?php dropdown_cats ( ) ; ?> <input type="submit" name="submit" value="view" /> </form> <Form action = "<? Php echo $ PHP_SELF?>" Method = "get"> <? Php dropdown_cats ();?> <input Type="submit" name="submit" value="view" /> </ form>
</ Li> </ ul>
</ Li>

Note that the submit button has the name attribute set to "submit". If a try to the execute Javascript code like this:

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. submit ( ) ; document. forms. nomeform. submit ();

The interpreter gets confused because it does not distinguish the method submit () element "submit", which is a button! The solution is simple: Call the button as you want but do not "submit"!

The code I used to see the categories in dropdown mode I is as follows:

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<div id="cmb_months">
<form name="xcats" id="xcats" action="/index.php" method="get">
; ?> <? Php dropdown_cats ();?>
</ Form>
</ Div>

I also had to modify the kernel of WordPress (which should not be done ...). In the file "template-functions-category.php" I modified the function dropdown_cats () when preparing the SELECT TAG I added:

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onchange = "document.forms ['xcats']. submit ();"

Here is the piece of code to track:

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$wpdb -> get_results ( $query ) ; $ Categories = $ wpdb -> get_results ($ query);
. " \n " ; echo '<select name="cat" class="postform" onchange="document.forms[\'xcats\'].submit();">'. "\ n";
intval ( $optionall ) == 1 ) { if ( intval ($ optionall) == 1) {
apply_filters ( 'list_cats' , $all ) ; $ All = apply_filters ('list_cats', $ all);
<option value='0'>Seleziona una Categoria</option> \n " ; echo "\ t <option value='0'> Select a Category </ option> \ n";
}
intval ( $optionnone ) == 1 ) if ( intval ($ optionnone) == 1)
<option value='-1'>" . __ ( 'None' ) . "</option> \n " ; echo "\ t <option value='-1'>". __ ('None'). "</ option> \ n";
$categories ) { if ($ categories) {
$categories as $category ) { foreach ($ categories as $ category) {
apply_filters ( 'list_cats' , $category -> cat_name , $category ) ; Apply_filters cat_name = $ ('list_cats', $ category -> cat_name, $ category);
<option value= \" " . $category -> cat_ID . " \" " ; echo "\ t <option value= \"". $category -> cat_id. "\" ";
$category -> cat_ID == $selected ) if ($ category -> cat_id == $ selected)
; echo 'selected = "selected"';
; echo '>';
; echo $ cat_name;
intval ( $optioncount ) == 1 ) if ( intval ($ optioncount) == 1)
. $category -> cat_count . ')' ; echo '('. $ category -> cat_count. ')';
intval ( $optiondates ) == 1 ) if ( intval ($ optiondates) == 1)
. $category -> lastday . '/' . $category -> lastmonth ; echo ''. $ category -> lastday. '/'. $ category -> lastmonth;
" ; echo "</ option> \ n";
}
}
" ; echo "</ select> \ n";

One thing the function does is set the combo on the category you chose when you reload the page ... when I have time I look better.

As known to all, for the sake of completeness, I note that he must act with a non-intrusive code (Unobtrusive) instead of entering the onchange directly in the construction of the combo. Furthermore, the categories displayed in the combo are not accessible for browsers with Javascript disabled. However this can be solved by using the NOSCRIPT tag in the sidebar and view the categories as a list of links - default mode of WordPress - adjustments that will soon ;) .

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Joost 0.9.2 Bugs Report

As anticipated by Cdv is what happens to the new release of Joost after using it a couple of times:

What I can say is that the bug occurs after using a call! In fact, before this, I was able to use version 0.9.2 a couple of times! Curious! Anyway, I sent a report Bugs on the development team ... then trust in an upcoming new release of a patch.

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Joost 0.9.2

A new update, with apologies from the team of Joost , they also grappling with bureaucracy (which is part of the beta testing):

As you may know - we use SSL technology to protect your privacy. Ounces
every other year or so These certificates need to be renewed. That
moment came, for the first time in our Existence, yesterday.
Unfortunately we did not Realize That We had a copy hardwired into the
0.9.1 client by accident.

On this occasion have been improved:

Also we've taken the opportunity to upgrade to our Long Term Storage
machines; They are more than 4 times as efficient now. So if you have
experienced any stuttering in the past - do try again and tell us if our
fixes have worked.

For the record I still have 2 (two) calls ... who is interested contact me!

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Unobtrusive Flash Objects

The insertion of objects (especially Flash Objects) in web pages has become an often stressful lately. In other posts we have already addressed the topic of how to detect Flash and insert pages appropriately. As we discussed techniques Unobtrusive, we mark two well-known script can detect (and eventually install) and insert Flash objects on a page, in a very unobtrusive and afficiente: SWFObject and UFO .
Both scripts have essentially the same features and identical operation. The approach is to replace it by a certain need JavaScript tag with the Flash content. As we know, this procedure eliminates the problem of activation of the Flash object imposed by Internet Explorer, however, implies that Javascript is enabled on the target browser.
Both scripts do not use any external libraries such as prototype.js for example. The most important difference between the two is that SWFObject is called when the TAG to be replaced is already loaded on the page, not exactly how Unobtrusive. Here is an excerpt of code that displays the calling sequence:

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"flashcontent" > < div id = "flashcontent">
strong > < strong > You need to upgrade your Flash Player </ strong >
This is Replaced by the Flash content.
Place your alternate content here and users without the Flash plugin or with
Javascript turned off will see this. > noscript < / code > Content here allows you to leave out < code inline = "true"> noscript </ code >
tags. "swfobject.html?detectflash=false" > bypass the detection < / a > if you wish. Include a link to < a href = "swfobject.html? detectflash = false"> bypass the detection </ a > if you wish.
</ div >
"text/javascript" > < script type = "text / javascript">
/ / <! [CDATA [
, "sotester" , "300" , "300" , "9" , "#FF6600" ) ; var so = new SWFObject ("so_tester.swf", "sotester", "300", "300", "9", "# FF6600");
) ; // this line is optional, but this example uses the variable and displays this text inside the flash movie so.addVariable ("flashVarText", "this is passed in via FlashVars for example only") / / this line is optional, but this example uses the variable and displays this text inside the flash movie
; so.write ("flashcontent");
/ /]]>
</ script >

UFO , however, allows un'approccio much more in line with the classic Unobtrusive script. The replacement of the TAG is in transparent mode, without abbligare loading sequences, as shown in the example below:

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< head >
title > < title > Unobtrusive Flash Objects (UFO) | Sample Page </ title >
"Content-Type" content = "text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" / > < meta http-equiv = "Content-Type" content = "text / html; charset = iso-8859-1" />
"text/javascript" src = "ufo.js" >< / script > < script type = "text / javascript" src = "ufo.js"> </ script >
"text/javascript" > < script type = "text / javascript">
var FO = {movie: "test8.swf", width: "300", height: "120", MajorVersion: "12", build: "0", xi: "true"};
UFO.create (FO, "ufoDemo");
</ script >
</ head >
< body >
"ufoDemo" > < div id = "ufoDemo">
p > < p > Replacement content </ p >
"border: none;" / >< / a >< / p > Macromedia Flash Player "style =" border: none; "/> </ a > </ p >
</ div >
</ body >

In the source code of the script of UFOs , in fact, you can immediately use - more appropriate - an event that attentive to fully load the page before the replacement is, therefore much more appropriate approach to non intrusive script.

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Joost 0.9.1

He was issued a revision of Joost , the 0.9.1. There were, for now, the official release notes, no CHANGELOG, probably because these are minor changes, some minor compared to the previous patch. The only thing I noticed, when you close Joost (unless I missed was already in 0.9), is that a window on the desktop, next to the trayicon, which informs how to get back on Joost.

The only notes I have found are:

From 0.9.1 onwards you can Set The Window to be always on top by right clicking the background and Selecting the Relevant option.

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Javascript frameworks in Apollo

Among the various libraries - or set of libraries (real framework), dedicated to Ajax, HTML, and Web 2.0 interface extension that I've seen, Ext is definitely worthy of note. The website and documentation are well done and organized, also the demo is not to be missed. The graphical user interface, compatibility with Prototype and Scriptaculous and impletazione of Yahoo Utils, make it an interesting system, at least! Beware though the license! Despite presenting himself as open source and free for personal use, requires a fee to enhance the use and care. The latter, in fact, is never to be underestimated in the framework of a certain complexity.

For documentation and demo click here .

In particular I mention this system, I'm still analyzing in detail, as it has been used to create Fresh Feed Reader , one of the sample applications provided with the release of Adobe Apollo Alpha (see Adobe Apollo Alpha Release ). Fresh, therefore, is an example of two of Apollo, which demonstrates its ability to use HTML and Javascript at the most. Fresh, in fact, is not a pure Apollo, but uses the framework Ext - and then JavaScript and HTML - Apollo in the engine! Great!

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Javascript Obfuscator Compressor

Here is a new and interesting tool for the compression and the darkening of Javascript code (see also Reverse Engineering: the compressors of code ).
On the Web site of Dean Edwards can also download the source code of this compressor Javascript. Furthermore, the author has made ​​available the server versions for Microsoft. NET Framework version 1.1, Perl, PHP5 and WHS.

Online is a working version available to try immediately , less complex - to be honest - one that I presented recently . Fact allows to compress the code with only two choices: the Base62 encode, which obscures the code and the Shrink variables, the optimizer variables.
Compared to the previous version have been fixed some bugs which, in situations of extreme hack (and really interesting) as:

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/*@cc_on!@*/ false ; isMSIE var = / * @ cc_on! @ * / false;

did not comply with the generated output. Now both are properly supported conditional comments to Microsoft, both the + / - in conditions such as:

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b ; c = a + + + b;

As outlined in page Help , however:

Should Packed scripts successfully unpack on all browsers support JavaScript That. Only basic JavaScript functionality is used to decode the packed script.

Some browsers may not support the packer itself. The web interface Requires Sun support. Legacy browsers will display disabled interface.

So attention to the end user and the type of browser support ... as usual!

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Joost 0.9

She was released the new version of Joost (The Venice Project), I'm trying for some time as a beta tester (thanks Thomas ;) ). The interface is very intuitive and always well made, has been enriched with a new feature that allows you to split and see - better - the content, the Channel Catalog:

Even the login has been improved, now requires a unique username. The website has been revised and are beginning to see some more options for managing your profile (low until recently).

You begin to see the first alliance to improve the content, probably the most important thing even if it was not clear. With the new division of the Channel Catalog is clear the new Sci-Fi Channel Alliance Ataltis, for all lovers of Science Fiction.

The Widget (used only in fullscreen mode) are very well kept and the whole interface resembles those created in Adobe Flash (I had long chat with the friendly friends Joost ;) !) However there is some bug (and promptly sent - as a good beta tester), often leave a little Widget 'on their own, sfarfallando here and for the screen ... at least on my desk (maybe it was better to use Adobe Flash?) .

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