tech

scripteka

Prototype UI: Prototype UI is a javascript library based on Prototype 1.6 and Script.aculo.us. It's an extensive and fast growing library of UI components which can be used in complex web applications. Currently, Prototype UI provides such modules as Carousel, Modal window, Shadow and Context menu which can be used as one package or independently.”[Scripteka is collection of prototype.j extensions and libs. Excellent.]
Source: Scripteka

Macworld: News: With Web 2.0, a new breed of malware evolves

Macworld: News: With Web 2.0, a new breed of malware evolves: Until recently botnets would always look for commands on a pre-allocated IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel but now distributed RSS-based command-and-control networks are coming into favor, Huang said. This makes it much harder for law enforcement to take down the computers that are actually sending the instructions to the botnet machines.
[Ooops.]

CSS 3: A Giant Serving Of FAIL

CSS 3: A Giant Serving Of FAIL:

In my “Standards Heresy” talk I noted pretty bluntly that CSS 3 is a joke. A sad, sick joke being perpetrated by people who clearly don’t build actual web apps. If the preponderance of the working group did, we’d already have useful things like behavioral CSS being turned into recommendations and not turds like CSS namespaces and CSS Print Profile. And I’m not even sure if the “Advanced” Layouts cluster-fsck should be mentioned for the fear that more people might actually look at it. You’d expect an “advanced layouts” module to give us hbox and vbox behaviors or a grid layout model or stretching…but no, the “answer” apparently is ascii art. No, I’m not making this up. It’s sad commentary that you can propose this kind of dreck at the W3C and get taken seriously.

Beyond what’s obviously wrong with the avenues being (inexplicably) pursued, there’s a lot to read into what’s not being worked on. Namely the serious and myriad problems with the basics of how CSS rules are written and applied.

[We were discussing this just yesterday… CSS is really a mess. I wonder if the browser folks could be talked in to supporting something more grounded in people’s needs?]
Source: Continuing Intermittent Incoherency

Noodlesoft: Hazel

Noodlesoft: Hazel: Hazel watches whatever folders you tell it to, automatically organizing your files according to the rules you create. It features a rule interface similar to that of Apple Mail so you should feel right at home. Have Hazel move files around based on name, date, type, what site/email address it came from (Safari and Mail only) and much more. Automatically put your music in your Music folder, movies in Movies. Keep your downloads off the desktop and put them where they are supposed to be. [Trying now. Nice!]

Heroku: An Online Rails Development and App Hosting Environment

Heroku: An Online Rails Development and App Hosting Environment: Martin Sadler of WorkingWithRails.com just pointed me towards Heroku, an exciting new development in the Rails world. Heroku is an online environment where you can develop and host Rails applications.. all from the browser. This is pretty exciting stuff and, on paper, makes rolling out, tweaking, and playing with Rails applications a snap. Rather than blather on about how this could become a game-changer in the Web applications industry, instead I’ll point you to Heroku’s own excellent set of screencasts and feature tours.

Adam Wiggins, one of the three partners behind Heroku, has some more “from the trenches” detail in this post on his personal blog.

[Interesting, but potentially painful for all but the simplest stuff (for now?)]
Source: Ruby Inside

Argotic Syndication Framework 2007.3 Released

Argotic Syndication Framework 2007.3 Released: I am proud to announce the latest release of the Argotic Syndication Framework. This release provides ASP.NET developers with built-in support for some of the most common syndication features web sites utilize when publishing syndicated content. The framework now provides both server and client support of the Pingback and Trackback peer-to-peer notification protocols, as well as server and client support for  the XML-RPC communication protocol. Several ASP.NET web controls have been provided to make implementing automatic discovery of Pingback, Trackback, and syndication feeds a simple and pain-free process.
New features for this release:
[snip]Really Simple Discovery (RSD) support added to syndication HTTP handler. [Cool.]

Sparkle – Trac

Sparkle – Trac: Sparkle is a module that developers can stick in their Cocoa applications (five-step install!) to get instant self-update functionality.

Your app will be able to update itself, not just check for new versions: it’ll read the update information from an appcast on your server, download, extract, install, restart, and even offer to show the users release notes before they decide if they want to update. [Noice!]