Charlie Griefer - General

Flash Running on the iPhone

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:17:00 -0500

In light of the recent news regarding Apple's modification of their ToS regarding how iPhone (and now iPad) applications can be developed... what seems to be a thinly veiled effort to specifically undermine Adobe's attempts to bring Flash to those devices... I thought it might be worth demonstrating that Flash can absolutely run on the iPhone.

A picture, as they say...

Light Blogging - What's Been Going On

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:09:00 -0500

For a while there, I was in a groove. Not a Nadel or Camden-like groove, but I was posting frequently enough that I no longer felt pangs of guilt over my poor neglected blog. But it's been weeks since my latest entry. What's up?

As of October 23rd, I am no longer with Amcom. I enjoyed my time there, but their long-term goals were not in line with my long-term goals. After a series of discussions, we ended with an amicable parting of the ways.

The following Monday, I started a new job. A 3 month contract at Barclays Global Investors. The work is good, but I've gone from a 3 mile 10 minute drive to an hour+ commute into San Francisco. I really enjoy being in the city, but the close to 3 hour commute each day has significantly cut into what I laughingly refer to as my "spare time".

I expect that I should be getting used to the new schedule soon, and might be able to organize/tweak my routine to allow for whipping out a blog entry or two in the evenings each week. We'll call this entry the new beginning.

Next up, I'll be detailing another new endeavor... coming on as Co Editor-in-Chief of the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update magazine. Yes, I'm aware that you think it's dead/defunct/EOL. I can assure you that this is not the case.

Meanwhile, as mentioned above... the current job is a contract, scheduled to go through the end of the year. If you are looking to bring on a ColdFusion developer with 13 years of experience sometime in early 2010, or know of somebody who might be, please drop me a line.

Backing Up Hidden Files/Folders with Mozy

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:12:00 -0500

A few months back, I started using Mozy for off-site backups of my important files and folders. Back then, I stumbled across a way to back up hidden files and folders (such as the apache folder on OS X).

A friend noticed that I had this set up, and asked how to do it, as Mozy, by default, will only allow you to browse to public files and folders when choosing backup sets. I had completely forgotten how I did it, and spent a few minutes googling before finding the answer.

I'm doing a fresh install of OS X today, and as I'm setting up Mozy again, I just spent another few minutes trying to figure out how to back up hidden files and folders. So, in an effort to save me (and hopefully you) some time in the future... here's how it's done.

To show hidden files, run the following command from the Terminal application: defaults write com.mozy.Config "BDSShowHiddenFilesKey" -bool YES (taken from http://support.mozy.com/docs/en-user-home-mac/guide/tasks/mac_hidden_files.html).

Remembering

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:27:00 -0500

Now Powered by MySQL

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:11:00 -0500

I just "flipped the switch", and this blog (which had been running MS SQL Server) is now running on MySQL.

If you see anything funky, or at least funkier than usual, please drop me a line.

Book Review - Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World

Thu, 14 May 2009 04:42:00 -0500

I have a confession to make. I don't know what "Agile Programming" is. At least, I didn't before reading "Becoming Agile ... in an imperfect world" by Greg Smith and Ahmed Sidky (In the interest of full disclosure, I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy from the publisher).

I'd heard the term before, but I didn't really know what it meant to be an Agile programmer. What comprises Agile? Is it an abstract concept or are there explicit steps to take in order to "get there". How do you know when you're "there"? More importantly, is it worth investing the time to become Agile?

I got as far as page 4 before two of my questions were already addressed (What components comprise Agile development, and how do I know that I've achieved Agile development?). I took that to be a good sign. A sign that the authors know who their audience is, and will do their best to deliver the answers that their readers are looking for.

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Helping out Joe and Dale

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:12:00 -0500

It's been almost a month since Joe Rinehart, one of the superstars of the ColdFusion community, and an all-around good guy, revealed that his wife Dale had been recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

To get right to the point, some folks in the community got together and organized an effort to collect some funds to try and help offset the cost of medications and treatment. Please visit http://www.helpsupportjoeanddale.com to read a little bit more about the effort, and to help out if you can.

I know times are tough for many. I know there may be people saying, "That's really terrible and my heart goes out to them, but I've got problems of my own so I can't help out right now." I can sympathize with that. Hell, I can empathize with that. On the personal side of things, we're dealing with a house in FL that we've not been able to sell since we left over 2 years ago. It's pretty much devastated our finances. Believe me, I understand. I might even have thought that way myself. But here's a little story that might help explain why I'm going to do what I can (aside from "Every little bit helps", which is true, of course).

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Comment Moderation is Now On :(

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:43:00 -0500

As much as I hate to do this, I'm getting tired of the loser(s) posting WoW spam links in the comments. I don't particularly mind cleaning 'em up... but for the 3 or 4 people that actually cared enough to subscribe to the blog... I really don't like the thought of them getting the spam in return.

At some point, I may look into incorporating Jake Munson's cfFormProtect or some other measure to try and eliminate the spam. But for now, between work and a couple of side jobs that I'm desperately trying to finish up, I simply don't have the time.

If anyone's interested, the spammer in question posted from the following IP addresses (updated 11 Dec 2008). Feel free to add 'em to your blacklist:

67.180.242.3
121.24.171.92
85.254.186.161
78.37.225.89
125.214.254.171
58.61.82.111
218.18.190.89
59.40.36.103
218.18.191.107
88.249.98.46
91.194.191.250
72.3.137.82
122.234.50.22
122.234.49.8
85.26.161.48
122.234.52.25
125.120.151.48
122.234.49.5
122.234.48.176
218.108.223.26

Awesome Customer Service - Java4Less

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:25:00 -0500

On one of my current projects, I needed to barcode a document (via CF) and subsequently read the barcode (again, via CF). The documents would be sent via fax and rerouted to the CF server.

Because of its durability, my client wanted to use a data matrix barcode. As luck would have it, Ryan Stille had already gone through the trouble of putting together a CFC for reading and generating data matrix barcodes (Thanks, Ryan!).

The CFC is a wrapper for some Java libraries that read and write barcodes. In the docs for the CFC, Ryan suggests a company called Java4Less.com. I grabbed evaluation versions of the appropriate libraries to ensure they'd work, which they did. I then instructed my client to go ahead and make the purchase and told him which 2 libraries we needed. Now, Java4Less offer up a few components and I've been a bit sleep deprived and long story short, one of the libraries that I told the client to purchase was not the correct library.

[More]

Remembering

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:46:00 -0500

Google's Chrome... It Still Doesn't Suck

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:56:00 -0500

Day 2 with Chrome, and I'm still liking it quite a bit.

No, it doesn't necessarily "rule" (as stated by T. Fleming in the comments on yesterday's post), but it's off to a very decent start.

It doesn't "rule" yet, because it's been available to the public for all of a day. It's in its infancy. It won't compete with Firefox until such time that plugins are available (but I understand that's on the roadmap). There are some options that are lacking, or not at all available (or so hard to find that I'm under the impression that they're not at all available). How can i tell chrome to check for newer versions of the page with each page request? Don't think I can. I'd also like a more robust means of organizing my bookmarks. Oh, and I did manage to crash it earlier today. Not even sure what happened... it just... crashed.

In spite of these "issues", I still like the browser. Just like the Google Talk client when it was first introduced (anyone remember... no file transfer options, no voice chat options...), it seems to be laser focused on doing what it's meant to do. Browse web sites. I'm fairly confident that the additional "bells and whistles" will follow.

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Google's Chrome... It Doesn't Suck

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:25:00 -0500

The blogosphere and Twitter are both ablaze today with talk of Google's foray into the browser market with Chrome. My first impressions, and some accompanying screenshots...

Up until it was actually available, I'd not been following the story too much, so I hadn't seen screenshots or read about any specific features. My first impression upon loading it up was, "wow... there's... no chrome". I haven't messed around yet with configuration options, but there's no status bar. No toolbar. It's literally just an address bar (which seems to also serve as an integrated search bar), and tabs. It's minimalistic in its look, as is standard with most things Google, but I like it. It's uncluttered, but I'm not sure the general public will see it as such. The plain design that I see as a plus could easily be seen as... well, plain.

Which raises an interesting point. I'm not sure what market Google is after. Are they trying to be a mainstream browser and compete directly with IE and Firefox? I don't know that I see that happening. But given some of the features that they've implemented, I definitely see them competing for the affections of techie geeks.

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Tom Cruise + Scientology = Bad.
Sea Cruise + ColdFusion = More Gooder

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:46:00 -0500

Yeah, that was a stretch. Serves me right for trying to come up with a witty title before I've had my full morning dose of caffeine.

This made the rounds a while back, but since then things have been relatively quiet and I'm afraid it may have fallen off of most folks' radars. Joshua Cyr is organizing a "non-conference" cruise. What's that mean? It means the best part of the average conference... you know, after the sessions, alcohol in hand, hanging out at the bar with your fellow developers sharing war stories and talking shop... without the pesky sessions getting in the way.

And the best part? It's on a boat. A big boat that sails from Miami to the Bahamas (and back). Food? Check. Drink? Check (um... gotta pay for those tho). White sandy beaches and inviting blue waters? Check. People you talk to online but have yet to meet in person (or don't meet often enough)? Yup.

I think it's a great idea and I applaud josh's efforts for putting it together and coordinating the effort. I'd love to attend, but living on the left coast means paying for cross-country airfare for a family of 5... and that alone would run me about 4x the cost of the cruise itself. But I'd like to see this succeed. I'd like to think that it'll be so successful that it'll be an annual event, and that maybe I can make it in 2010.

What about you? What are you doing feb 9-13th of 2009? Check out http://www.riadventure.com/ for all the details.

twhirl Makes Twitter Worth Doing

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:49:00 -0500

Many moons ago, I signed up for a Twitter account. All the cool kids were doing it and damn if I'm not a lemming. I didn't quite "get it" tho. It's enough pressure to try and come up with a blog entry once in a blue moon that I think would hold a passing interest to one or two people. Twitter is all about posting something "interesting" (assuming "what are you doing now?" is interesting) on a constant and ongoing basis.

Wasn't totally unexpected, but I failed at Twitter. At any given time, I just didn't think I was doing anything worthwhile enough to hit the web site and update my status.

Luke Kilpatrick to the rescue. Luke admonished me for being a bad Twitterer, and I explained that updating my status on the website was just too much of a PITA. He then told me about twhirl, an AIR-based Twitter desktop client, saying that he wouldn't be active on Twitter at all without it. I downloaded it yesterday and took it for a drive.

*Now* I see why people like Twitter. Aside from being a very cool app (I gotta start writing some AIR stuff), it makes it ridiculously simple to not only update your own status, but also to keep up with the statuses of those people that you're following. Think IM client on steroids.

If you're twittering without it, download it and give it a shot. If you're not twittering, sign up and then download it and give it a shot. Feel free to follow me @charliegriefer.

This is Me Naked

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:38:00 -0500

...Well, it's my blog naked.

Yes, it's CSS Naked Day. Neat concept. I didn't play last year because I was on a hosted blog over at cfblog and didn't have enough granular control to remove all styling (not that i was aware of, anyway).

Obviously, this is something that can be done at any time. Certainly, in your dev environment if nowhere else, just to see what the results are. I guess it took an "official" holiday for me to actually make that effort tho.

I think things look mostly good (which is nice, since I think I suck at CSS). Seems I've got some inline styles down there in the footer. Maybe I'll take care of that at some point.

Did you go naked today? How'd it go?

Charlie Griefer - General

Flash Running on the iPhone

Light Blogging - What's Been Going On

Backing Up Hidden Files/Folders with Mozy

Remembering

Now Powered by MySQL

Book Review - Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World

Helping out Joe and Dale

Comment Moderation is Now On :(

Awesome Customer Service - Java4Less

Remembering

Google's Chrome... It Still Doesn't Suck

Google's Chrome... It Doesn't Suck

Tom Cruise + Scientology = Bad.Sea Cruise + ColdFusion = More Gooder

twhirl Makes Twitter Worth Doing

This is Me Naked

Tom Cruise + Scientology = Bad.
Sea Cruise + ColdFusion = More Gooder