In order to keep balance you must keep on moving

Διαβάζοντας σε twitter, blogs, forums και πλέον σε ειδησιογραφικά site για το θέμα που έχει προκύψει με την SystemGraph, είναι αντιληπτό πως έχει πάρει τεράστιες διαστάσεις.

Διαχείριση κρίσης

Τα πρώτα βήματα στην διαχείριση μια κρίσης, είναι η δημιουργία ενός καναλιού επικοινωνίας ανάμεσα στην εταιρεία και στους καταναλωτές, κάτι που σήμερα είναι ευκολότερο από ποτέ.
Η εταιρεία έχει μια αξιοπρεπή παρουσία στο twitter με τελευταία ανανέωση πριν 8 ημέρες  και αρκετούς influencers ανάμεσα στους followers. Μια αναμενόμενη κίνηση θα ήταν να αναφέρει στο twitter account την κατάσταση έτσι ώστε να δημιουργήσει έναν διάλογο γύρω από το συμβάν και να φιλτράρει τα flames που έχουν δημιουργηθεί λόγο της άγνοιας.
Μετά από 24 ώρες από την καταγγελία, δεν έχει αναφερθεί τίποτα για το συμβάν, παρόλο που στο συγκεκριμένο μέσο αναφέρονται περίπου 100 αρνητικά σχόλια την ώρα που αφορούν άμεσα το γεγονός.

Εκμετάλλευση της αδράνειας της SystemGraph από τον ανταγωνισμό

Ο ανταγωνισμός της SystemGraph έχει ένα τεράστιο πλεονέκτημα το οποίο αφήνει ανεκμετάλλευτο. Μετά το συγκεκριμένο συμβάν, έχει δημιουργηθεί ένα κενό από τους πελάτες της εν λόγω εταιρείας οι οποίοι δεν την εμπιστεύονται πλέον για το service, οπότε υπάρχει χώρος για διαφήμιση του ανταγωνισμού εστιάζοντας στις συγκεκριμένες παροχές (Google Adwords, Facebook Ads)

Γεγονότα σαν το συγκεκριμένο, δείχνουν την δύναμη των social media και το πως ένας λανθασμένος χειρισμός μιας απλής φαινομενικά κατάστασης μπορεί να οδηγήσει στην καταστροφή του brand reputation μιας εταιρείας.

2010 was the year mobile connected the world. With stunning statistics, facts, and visual cues, this video takes a tour of key consumer and technology mobile trends across an eventful year.

In case you are using django and git, here is my .gitignore file which excludes all python related temporary files and keeps your repo clean

*~
*.orig
*.pyc
*.rej
.installed.cfg
__minitage__*
bin/*
develop-eggs
downloads
eggs
log
parts
media/uploads
tmp
.DS_Store

Το PHP Speedy είναι μία PHP class και WordPress plugin για να βελτιστοποιήσετε την ταχύτητα του site σας. Κάνει τα εξής:

• Minify javascript, css
  Minify ονομάζεται η τεχνική που αφαιρεί περιττές πληροφορίες, όπως comments, spaces, newlines απο τα αρχεία css και javascript με αποτέλεσμα να είναι σημαντικά μικρότερες σε kb.
• Merge elements
  Διαβάζει όλα τα αρχεία javascript και css που γίνονται reference στη σελίδα και τα εννοποιεί. Για παράδειγμα αν κάνετε reference 3 αρχεία javascript και 2 css, χωρίς το PHP Speedy, ο browser του τελικού χρήστη θα χρειαστεί 5 request για να τα κατεβάσει. Με χρήση του PHP Speedy θα χρειαστεί 2 request, που σημαίνει μεγαλύτερη ταχύτητα και καλύτερο user experience.
• Gzip elements
  Gzip ονομάζεται η τεχνική συμπίεσης που χρησιμοποιούν οι web server και browsers για να ελαχιστοποιηθεί το μέγεθος μεταφοράς δεδομένων.

Παρακάτω μπορείτε να δείτε μερικά screenshot του firebug με χρήση και χωρίς του PHP Speedy.

Πριν τη χρήση PHP Speedy. 7 Request, 247 kb

Μετά τη χρήση PHP Speedy. 1 Request, 44 kb

Η διαφορά ανάμεσα σε 247 και 44 kb είναι μεγάλη, αλλά θα πρέπει να λάβουμε υπόψη το load του server που προσθέτουμε με μια τέτοια διαδικασία.

Κατεβάσετε το PHP Speedy, οδηγίες εγκατάστασης για integration σε site

PHP Speedy WordPress plugin

Μπορεί κάποιος να μου αναφέρει έναν λόγο για τον οποίο να κατεβάσει μια εταιρεία το site της που υποτίθεται ότι περιέχει πληροφορίες για τους συνδρομητές της και να εμφανίσει το παραπάνω μήνυμα?

Η AOL, η εταιρεία που αναπτύσσει και υποστηρίζει τον Netscape Browser, ανακοίνωσε σήμερα την διακοπή της ανάπτυξης και υποστήριξης του ιστορικού browser.

Ο Tom Drapeau, lead developer του Netscape.com, ανακοίνωσε σήμερα την απόφαση της εταιρείας να διακόψει την συνέχεια του δημοφιλή browser και προτρέπει τους χρήστες του να εγκαταστήσουν τον firefox. To Netscape portal θα συνεχίσει να λειτουργεί κανονικά.

Περισσότερα:

• AOL to end support for Netscape browser
• End of support for Netscape browsers

I added my new home address to my PayPal profile and came up with this e-mail confirmation:

I really like these little things…

Ενδιαφέροντα νέα απο την Microsoft. Ο Scott Guthrie και η ομάδα ανάπτυξης του .NET , ετοιμάζουν ένα MVC (Model View Controller) implementation για την ASP.NET. Είμαι πολύ περίεργος για το πως όλο αυτό θα δέσει με τα postbacks, το Visual Studio και γενικά με την υπάρχουσα υποδομή της ASP.NET. To MVC framework θα κυκλοφορήσει σαν feauture της ASP.NET το πρώτο εξάμηνο του 2008.

37signals is searching for another full-time Rails programmer to work on (mostly) existing and (occassionally) new products. You should be comfortable working from home — we have an Chicago office, but mostly work remotely — and be strongly self-motivated and driven (we don’t have dedicated project managers). Strong Rails chops, good software habits, and open-source involvement are a given. We also prefer good writers. In return, we offer a flexible working environment: as long as you get the work done,it doesn’t matter too much from where or at what time of the day. Pay is competitive, health-care included, 4-day work weeks over the Summer, and A Life Outside Computers is encouraged.

original post

Συγκρίνετε τώρα αυτή με μιά οποιαδήποτε ελληνική IT αγγελία.

I read again and again this.

1. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, open the folder you want to print, and then press ALT+PRINT SCREEN to copy an image of the active window to the Clipboard.
2. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Paint.
3. On the Edit menu, click Paste, and then click Yes to display the image.
4. On the File menu, click Print.

NOTE: If there are more files or folders than can be displayed in the My Computer or Windows Explorer window (in other words, you must scroll to see all the files or folders), you must scroll to view these files, and then repeat steps 1-4.

So this is the recommended method to print a folder listing.
The last review date is January 23, 2007 the products that applies are from Windows 95 to Windows 2000.

So, my question is..
Why Microsoft removed this unique functionality from Windows XP and Vista?

Main options:

• -L show license
• -h show help
• -version show version
• -formats show available formats, codecs, protocols, …
• -f fmt force format
• -img img_fmt force image format
• -i filename input file name
• -y overwrite output files
• -t duration set the recording time
• -fs limit_size set the limit file size
• -ss time_off set the start time offset
• -itsoffset time_off set the input ts offset
• -title string set the title
• -timestamp time set the timestamp
• -author string set the author
• -copyright string set the copyright
• -comment string set the comment
• -v verbose control amount of logging
• -target type specify target file type (“vcd”, “svcd”, “dvd”, “dv”, “pal-vcd”, “ntsc-svcd”, …)
• -dframes number set the number of data frames to record
• -hq activate high quality settings
• -scodec codec force subtitle codec (‘copy’ to copy stream)
• -newsubtitle add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream
• -slang code set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream

Video options:

• -b bitrate set video bitrate (in kbit/s)
• -vframes number set the number of video frames to record
• -r rate set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation)
• -s size set frame size (WxH or abbreviation)
• -aspect aspect set aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9 or 1.3333, 1.7777)
• -fixaspect fix aspect ratio
• -croptop size set top crop band size (in pixels)
• -cropbottom size set bottom crop band size (in pixels)
• -cropleft size set left crop band size (in pixels)
• -cropright size set right crop band size (in pixels)
• -padtop size set top pad band size (in pixels)
• -padbottom size set bottom pad band size (in pixels)
• -padleft size set left pad band size (in pixels)
• -padright size set right pad band size (in pixels)
• -padcolor color set color of pad bands (Hex 000000 thru FFFFFF)
• -vn disable video
• -bt tolerance set video bitrate tolerance (in kbit/s)
• -maxrate bitrate set max video bitrate tolerance (in kbit/s)
• -minrate bitrate set min video bitrate tolerance (in kbit/s)
• -bufsize size set ratecontrol buffer size (in kByte)
• -vcodec codec force video codec (‘copy’ to copy stream)
• -sameq use same video quality as source (implies VBR)
• -pass n select the pass number (1 or 2)
• -passlogfile file select two pass log file name
• -newvideo add a new video stream to the current output stream

Advanced Video options:

• -pix_fmt format set pixel format
• -g gop_size set the group of picture size
• -intra use only intra frames
• -vdt n discard threshold
• -qscale q use fixed video quantiser scale (VBR)
• -qmin q min video quantiser scale (VBR)
• -qmax q max video quantiser scale (VBR)
• -lmin lambda min video lagrange factor (VBR)
• -lmax lambda max video lagrange factor (VBR)
• -mblmin q min macroblock quantiser scale (VBR)
• -mblmax q max macroblock quantiser scale (VBR)
• -qdiff q max difference between the quantiser scale (VBR)
• -qblur blur video quantiser scale blur (VBR)
• -qsquish squish how to keep quantiser between qmin and qmax (0 = clip, 1 = use differentiable function)
• -qcomp compression video quantiser scale compression (VBR)
• -rc_init_cplx complexity initial complexity for 1-pass encoding
• -b_qfactor factor qp factor between p and b frames
• -i_qfactor factor qp factor between p and i frames
• -b_qoffset offset qp offset between p and b frames
• -i_qoffset offset qp offset between p and i frames
• -ibias bias intra quant bias
• -pbias bias inter quant bias
• -rc_eq equation set rate control equation
• -rc_override override rate control override for specific intervals
• -me method set motion estimation method
• -dct_algo algo set dct algo
• -idct_algo algo set idct algo
• -me_threshold motion estimaton threshold
• -mb_threshold macroblock threshold
• -er n set error resilience
• -ec bit_mask set error concealment
• -bf frames use ‘frames’ B frames
• -mbd mode macroblock decision
• -mbcmp cmp function macroblock compare function
• -ildctcmp cmp function ildct compare function
• -subcmp cmp function subpel compare function
• -cmp cmp function fullpel compare function
• -precmp cmp function pre motion estimation compare function
• -preme pre motion estimation
• -lelim elim single coefficient elimination threshold for luminance (negative values also consider DC coefficient)
• -celim elim single coefficient elimination threshold for chrominance (negative values also consider DC coefficient)
• -lumi_mask luminance masking
• -dark_mask darkness masking
• -scplx_mask spatial complexity masking
• -tcplx_mask temporal complexity masking
• -p_mask inter masking
• -4mv use four motion vector by macroblock (MPEG4)
• -obmc use overlapped block motion compensation (h263+)
• -lf use loop filter (h263+)
• -part use data partitioning (MPEG4)
• -bug param workaround not auto detected encoder bugs
• -strict strictness how strictly to follow the standards
• -deinterlace deinterlace pictures
• -ildct force interlaced dct support in encoder (MPEG2/MPEG4)
• -ilme force interlaced me support in encoder (MPEG2/MPEG4)
• -psnr calculate PSNR of compressed frames
• -vstats dump video coding statistics to file
• -vhook module insert video processing module
• -aic enable Advanced intra coding (h263+)
• -aiv enable Alternative inter vlc (h263+)
• -umv enable Unlimited Motion Vector (h263+)
• -ssm enable Slice Structured mode (h263+)
• -alt enable alternate scantable (MPEG2/MPEG4)
• -qprd
• -cbp
• -trell enable trellis quantization
• -mv0 try to encode each MB with MV=<0,0> and choose the better one (has no effect if mbd=0)
• -naq normalize adaptive quantization
• -cgop closed gop
• -sgop strict gop
• -noout skip bitstream encoding
• -scan_offset enable SVCD Scan Offset placeholder
• -qpel enable 1/4-pel
• -intra_matrix matrix specify intra matrix coeffs
• -inter_matrix matrix specify inter matrix coeffs
• -top top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first
• -nr noise reduction
• -qns quantization noise shaping
• -sc_threshold threshold scene change threshold
• -me_range range limit motion vectors range (1023 for DivX player)
• -dc precision intra_dc_precision
• -coder coder type
• -context context model
• -pred prediction method
• -vprofile profile
• -vlevel level
• -nssew weight
• -subq
• -mepc factor (1.0 = 256) motion estimation bitrate penalty compensation
• -lowres
• -vtag fourcc/tag force video tag/fourcc
• -skip_threshold threshold frame skip threshold
• -skip_factor factor frame skip factor
• -skip_exp exponent frame skip exponent
• -skip_cmp compare function frame skip compare function
• -gray encode/decode grayscale

Audio options:

• -aframes number set the number of audio frames to record
• -ab bitrate set audio bitrate (in kbit/s)
• -ar rate set audio sampling rate (in Hz)
• -ac channels set number of audio channels
• -an disable audio
• -acodec codec force audio codec (‘copy’ to copy stream)
• -vol volume change audio volume (256=normal)
• -newaudio add a new audio stream to the current output stream
• -alang code set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current audio stream

Advanced Audio options:

• -atag fourcc/tag force audio tag/fourcc

Subtitle options:

• -scodec codec force subtitle codec (‘copy’ to copy stream)
• -newsubtitle add a new subtitle stream to the current output stream
• -slang code set the ISO 639 language code (3 letters) of the current subtitle stream

Audio/Video grab options:

• -vd device set video grab device
• -vc channel set video grab channel (DV1394 only)
• -tvstd standard set television standard (NTSC, PAL (SECAM))
• -ad device set audio device
• -grab format request grabbing using
• -gd device set grab device

Advanced options:

• -map file:stream[:syncfile:syncstream] set input stream mapping
• -map_meta_data outfile:infile set meta data information of outfile from infile
• -debug print specific debug info
• -vismv visualize motion vectors
• -benchmark add timings for benchmarking
• -dump dump each input packet
• -hex when dumping packets, also dump the payload
• -bitexact only use bit exact algorithms (for codec testing)
• -re read input at native frame rate
• -loop loop (current only works with images)
• -loop_output number of times to loop output in formats that support looping (0 loops forever)
• -threads count thread count
• -vsync video sync method
• -async audio sync method
• -vglobal video global header storage type
• -copyts copy timestamps
• -shortest finish encoding within shortest input
• -b_strategy strategy dynamic b frame selection strategy
• -ps size set packet size in bits
• -error rate error rate
• -muxrate rate set mux rate
• -packetsize size set packet size
• -muxdelay seconds set the maximum demux-decode delay
• -muxpreload seconds set the initial demux-decode delay
• -muxab bitrate set the audio bitrate in mux tag (in kbit/s)
• -muxvb bitrate set the video bitrate in mux tag (in kbit/s)

Google has recently added support for face based image searching.
There isn’t an option for using this service yet so you’ll need to add this parameter to the URL manually.

 Examples:

• gates (classic search)
• gates (using imgtype=face parameter)

 Compare the two queries. In the search results of the second example you also get this notification:

How to do this?
Simply make a standard image search and add the &imgtype=face parameter to the end of the URL on the results page:
http://images.google.com.au/images?svnum=10&hl=en&gbv=2&safe=off
&c2coff=1&q=gates&btnG=Search+Images&imgtype=face

The two masterminds of software and hardware industries shared a stage at D5 after a long time.
Read the full conversation at D5 site.

Recently, I needed to get the auto increment value for the next inserted row in a MySQL table.  Generally, this is not a good idea and you should stop reading right now.
You may end up with duplicate entries in your application, which is not a good thing.
At a first glance you may think: “I can get the top id value from my table, add 1 and that’s all, I got the next auto_increment value I need.”
Something like this:

$query = mysql_query(SELECT MAX(id) as max_id FROM tablename);
$row = mysql_fetch_array($query);
$next_id = $row[‘max_id’] + 1;

Using the above example, you got the current max auto_increment id plus 1.
As you may already notice, this is wrong. Auto increment values use unique ids.  Imagine the following table:

Id country
1 Italy
2 Germany
3 Greece
4 Turkey

If you delete the record 4 and run the above script, you will get “4” as next_id.
MySQL will use “5” as next_id.
The solution is to use the “SHOW TABLE STATUS” query.

$query = mysql_query(SHOW TABLE STATUS LIKE tablename);
$row = mysql_fetch_array($query);
$next_id = $row[‘Auto_increment’] ;

The “SHOW TABLE STATUS” command returns a two dimensional array with the “Auto_increment” value among others.

7 scrollbars in 1 page.
This is what Microsoft thinks about simplicity and accessibility…

These words could save you a lot of time figuring why this fulltext query returns nothing..

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