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No longer is it acceptable for websites to only exist within their own domain name; now they have to spill out onto different platforms such as the iPod Touch, smart phones and desktop applications. Facebook did this some time ago with it’s Connect platform that allows its users to use Facebook in order to connect with and log into other sites in order to post comments, it also allows iPhone applications to post updates if you complete a level in a game for example.
Twitter is now the latest widely-used website to extend its service beyond that of it’s browser-bound domain name with they’re new platform, @anywhere. As the name suggests, the platform is aiming to implement the primary uses of Twitter from any website. This ranges from being able to view profile information of Twitter users, (just hover over the the Twitter username above to see what I mean or hover over a username from my Tweet box to the right of this text), being able to post status updates from any website about what you’re doing or simply being able to choose to follow someone.
At present, a good amount of well known websites such as Amazon, Yahoo and eBay have signed up with Twitter to introduce the @anywhere platform to their websites. This will allow any Twitter user to post updates from their respective websites, for example, if someone were to be browsing on Amazon and found a product they like, they woudld be able to write in a Tweet in a box a few pixels away to tell their followers. It’s an extremely simple concept but allows Twitter to be used outside of it’s own website in order to be more interactive.
I too have started to implement this new platform onto my website, you’ve probably tried out the hover card feature by hovering over a Twitter username somewhere on this website, (as indicated with the @ as its prefix). On this post you’ll see experimental features of the platform that I have yet to implement on my site fully. Not following me on Twitter? Well click the box below to do so. Want to say something to me? Tweet by using the box below too! Note: these two latter features are temporarily unavailable.
Twitter, taking one leap forward into the three dimensional web universe.
Steven, Administrator.
Published on May 4th 2010 / Filed under Internet
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The BBC is currently airing two fascinating science programs at the moment one talks about the creation of the universe and its natural wonders; while the one other one shows us things we can never see, even though we see them every day. Let’s begin.
Wonders of the Solar System
Wonders of the Solar System is a fantastic five part series from the BBC where Professor Brian Cox, (who looks like a slightly older Alex James), teaches us about some of amazing, enchanting and scientifically amazing wonders of our solar system. The premise of the series is that Professor Cox is gleeful in the fact that the laws of physics are exactly the same throughout the universe as they are here on Earth; but that actions governed by these laws can have a different impact on different planets.
I must admit I didn’t know anything about the series until Professor Cox appeared on Friday Night With Jonathon Ross last week promoting this wonderful series; I then watched all of the latest four episodes on the BBC iPlayer while I eagerly await for the final episode this Sunday. The show is presented in a way that doesn’t get boring; it’s coupled with scenes with Professor Cox explaining the wonder he is talking about this week about along side amazing CGI examples of the the planets he’s talking about to help us out a little bit. For a BBC show the CGI is actually pretty good and I’ve been watching with open eyes while watching glorious shots of methane rain falling on Titan as it would appear on the planet itself.
Each episode sticks to a certain theme or subject; for example the first episode is about the Sun and its empire. This episode literally moved me to tears when Professor Cox gently explained to me what will be happen in five billion years: the Sun will expand to 2000 times its current size and it will eat up all the plants, moons, comets and satellites that it will ultimately pass; then it will explode and will destroy itself and everything in its empire, leaving nothing its hot core cooling until the end of time itself. It’s a realisation of just how little we humans are in the universe.
The other episodes have dealt with why planets rotate, what exactly the atmosphere does on Earth and other planets, how a size of a planet can make or break it, and how volcanoes can be described as the geological heart beat of planets and when they stop, the planet dies. The last episode of the series that will air next Monday will be about aliens and the possibility of their being life on other planets – I can’t wait.
There’s only one thing that annoys me about this series; sometimes the same things are described in more than one episode. For example, the magnetosphere has been explained in at least two episodes with no new information being added; in case your interested the magnetosphere is an invisible cocoon created by a planet’s magnetic polls which deflects, (most), of the solar winds floating away from the Sun from entering and endangering the atmosphere of a planet, our Earth for example.
Besides that one little niggle; Wonders of the Solar System is a beautifully narrated and designed series that will many times an episode make your brain stop as you try to comprehend our place in everything and that we know so little about the place we live: the universe.
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Wonders of The Solar System, Sundays at 9PM on BBC Two.
Invisible Worlds
Invisible Worlds is an extraordinary series that aims to show the viewer things they see every single day… but don’t actually see. It’s tricky to comprehend that we as human beings hardly see anything, we mill about the planet always looking but never actually see anything. This is what Invisible Worlds tries to put right. It’s presented by Richard Hammond who narrates the series as he shows us every day situations such as eating dinner and walking to work; but by using special high speed cameras and zoom technology he can show us what we in fact miss.
Initially you start to wonder what this series is actually about, because it doesn’t seem to have a compelling point to it other than using high speed cameras to slow situations down to show us things that we miss, (such as the visible blast bubble that is on the outside of an explosion). It also explores the micro world and how properties that are seen in nature such as animals and plants could in fact answer a lot of questions posed by science; such as why the Lotus leaf never gets wet when it rains and how this could be used to protect astronauts from getting covered in dust which threatens to ruins the mechanics of their space craft.
I think even the BBC knew that this would be a hard series to sell to viewers which is why they got Richard Hammond to present the show as opposed to a scientist. This isn’t the BBC just putting a famous face on something because they did let Professor Brian Cox present Wonders of the Solar System who is a relative unknown to mainstream audiences.
However once you watch an episode you feel like you understand the premise of the series a bit more and this in turn will make you want to watch further episodes. It is actually very interesting and to me it really showed how detailed nature is; an example that blew me away would be how a particular gecko that appears to defy gravity by walking up completely vertical surfaces by having feet which have got millions of hairs that literally stick it to the surface, and inside those hairs are a million other hairs, and so on and so fourth.
Another example that shows us how powerful science has become when dealing with the microscopic world would be when Richard Hammond was able to use a machine to engrave the title of series onto 1/6 a width of a human hair – each character being only 100 atoms thick.
Even though Invisible Worlds is a seemly odd show; it does in fact present to the viewer how beautiful yet complex nature is in its design of everything and everyone on this planet.
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Invisible Worlds has finished its three episode run, but you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer.
Steven, Administrator.
Published on April 1st 2010 / Filed under Internet
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I love Charlie Brooker, he’s a bullshit free journalist who works for both the BBC and The Guardian. His television work includes Screenwipe and Newswipe, both of which are highly regarded on BBC Four and are usually top of the BBC iPlayer soon after they’re aired. Charlie doesn’t patronise the viewer or act as conspiracy theorist about why the news and television media are such bastards; he just tells you like it is and he’s jolly funny and good at it to.
Anyway, the reason why I bring him up is because for AS Level Media Studies we have to create a news report; as soon as this project was given to us I instantly thought of the perfect example of a generic news report. In episode two of season two of Newswipe, Charlie did a bit on how a news report is put together by reconstructing one himself while he was explaining it; it’s now startlingly apparent how copy and paste news reports seem to be now-a-days.
So below you’ll find the video in question; it’s brilliant, he’s brilliant, enjoy.
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Steven, Administrator.
Published on March 12th 2010 / Filed under Internet, Media
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Internet Explorer 6; launched way, way back in 2001 with the original Windows XP, it has been a nightmare to web developers and even the end user for the past nine years. Little did Microsoft know that when they let it fail all the W3 standards and ignore such problems such as making PNGs transparent, that they would unleash hell on the Internet world. Nine years later; we’re trying to get rid of it.
Don’t think it’s just us web developers who are being picky about what browsers we choose to support, major companies across Europe, and even Microsoft themselves, are forcing visitors of their respective websites who are using Internet Explorer 6 to upgrade by displaying banners at the top of pages. The former, however, has in some cases taken things even further: ignoring Internet Explorer 6 users, disregarding their user experience and even denying them access to their websites all together.
Why do I mention this? Well, even though I hate the browser that it has outstayed it’s welcome, I do acknowledge that 1/5 of Internet users are still using it. It is for that reason alone, that I cannot ignore these people. Just think of companies such as Amazon and eBay loosing 1/5 of their income and customers just because they don’t want to work that little harder and include little hacks and tweaks for Internet Explorer 6 users? It seems an incredibly stubborn thing to do – however it could be argued at the people still using that browser are stubborn, but I must point out that’s in mainly end users who are using it. Meaning they don’t care or don’t even know about the damage they are causing to the Internet world.
To cut a long story short, I’ve always been against blocking Internet Explorer users from viewing websites, (unless it’s a serious problem such as software incompatibility), but I have ignored them for a while on this site. So whilst editing, tweaking and improving this theme in order to submit to Theme Forest, (an online market place to buy and sell all sorts of web design platforms such as plain HTML and Wordpress), I decided to bite the bullet and include conditional tags, hacks and tweaks to make my website nine year old compatible.
So, if you’re using the dreaded, outdate, awful, incompatible Internet Explorer 6 to view this website amongst many others, please, please upgrade to at least Internet Explorer 8 – or if you’re really, really good: Firefox. Don’t think I’m asking that to make my job easier, as it will also make your life, much, much easier as well.
Steven – Administrator.
Published on July 14th 2009 / Filed under Internet, Website News
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Over the next few days, (and possibly weeks), I’m going to be going over my 500+ blog posts that I have done over the past three years and will subsequently be updating them. What do I mean by updating? I mean I will be fixing broken links and images, correcting and expanding on information and correcting my spelling and grammar.
I just want to make sure my lovely blog is in top condition – because I like things like that. It’s also good for me to go over my posts that I haven’t read in years. I went over my first 30 posts on this blog and I must say… what was I thinking when I wrote them? They’re so childish and I cringed when I read them. Although, I suppose it’s nice to see how far I’ve come along.
In the mean time, if you find any posts that have been stamped with an update in the signature but still has anything wrong with it, (read above for the things I’m updating). Then please can you leave a comment in this post, thank you very much. Will make my job a lot easier. Hope you are enjoying the sun by the way guys.
Steven – Administrator.
Published on June 24th 2009 / Filed under Internet
