This is a bit of an old story, by a week, but I found it and the technology blog worthy.  When an 8,8 earthquake hit Chile last week, many were concerned about friends and family members.  One woman, Sheryl Breuker, used Twitter to find her family members.  By posting status messages and focusing on hash tags, she was able to contact locals.  The locals retweeted her information.  Soon she received the following response: “found her! she is OK…. she told me to tell Twinkie to stay cool, she is fine!”

It is amazing what social networking can do.  In Chile, Twitter was in use when phones lines and email were not.  View the full story here.

Also, check out Google’s Person Finder.  It was created to quickly connect individuals with missing friends and family members.  You simply click “I’m looking for someone” or “I have information about someone.”

More and more I notice antitrust lawsuits appearing against larger corporations.  Google and Microsoft seem to be at the forefront of the attacks.  Of course, this is expected.  Company A blames Company B of such and such.  Company B retaliates after losing the suit and blames Company A of something else.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Why can’t we all just get along?  Because business is business.  So what’s new in the world of cyber suits?

Microsoft Starts The EU Browser Update Option

Microsoft has been forced to provide users with browser options when setting up their operating system.  The cyber giant made a deal with the European Union when they were questioned about the legality of offering Internet Explorer with Windows.  Now, Windows operating systems will offer a variety of options including Microsoft’s leading competitors; Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera.  Personally, I am happy the option is being enforced.  I would like to see this happen in the US.  The ability to give people options and hopefully turn them away from Internet Explorer would be amazing.  IE is regarded as one of the worst browsers to develop for.  Despite the smile it would put on my face, I doubt this will happen in the US.  Business is business.  Read more about this subject at the following locations:

Microsoft Agrees To Browser Ballot Terms

Microsoft Starts The European Browser Choice Update

Antitrust Suit Against Google… No Really?

So now appears that Microsoft may be trying to push an antitrust suit against Google.  The accusation is that Google’s search result algorithms are unfair.  Foundem and ejustice.fr have ties with Microsoft and are two of the companies accusing Google.  The third is Ciao, which has been acquired by Microsoft.  Microsoft is pushing it’s new search engine Bing.  It does not surprise me that this suit is being started by Microsoft and affiliates.  Google is the leading search engine and Microsoft wants to take over the market share.  Do they have a suit?  Of course.  Google has the ability to deny sites visibility in search results.  So we already know they can modify the results.  But do they do it intentionally?  I do not think this is the case.  I would agree with Craig Buckler “If Google engaged in mass rank manipulation, it would involve a colossal amount of human effort and search results could become meaningless.”  Read more on the subject at:

Wired.com – Google Hit With Antitrust Complaints In Europe

Sitepoint.com – Google Faces Antitrust Inquiry

So What Do You Think?

Personally, I think Google and Microsoft could get along.  There is plenty of market share for both companies.  I am also against monopolies.  In my opinion, Microsoft still has a monopoly with operating systems and Internet Explorer within the general public.  And if you are a general user, you are going to use the products installed by default.  Of course, there are more options now.  Mac and Linux are gaining more popularity.  Mac is no longer just the choice of graphic artists and Linux is no longer just for techies.  I would still like to see options enforced to help keep Microsoft’s domination at bay and raise awareness of the other products.  That being said,  the same applies for other companies, not just Microsoft.  When one falls, another rises.  Your thoughts?

Start Supporting The MVC Pattern

Joomla! recently released a video about the next version, 1.6.  The video talks about many of the changes to Joomla!.  One comment was made about the MVC (model view controller) programming pattern.  It was mentioned that developers not using MVC will have a difficult time upgrading to 1.6.  I always promote good programming habits, ie using the programming patterns.  Time and time again, I will run into a third party component that is built off a several pages of linear code.  This is frustrating to modify and shows the developer is either lazy or has no knowledge of programming patterns.  All developers should use patterns.  Joomla! was designed with MVC to increase portability and scalability.  MVC makes it easier to develop and modify applications without drastically effecting the overall application.  I am glad to hear that Joomla! is starting to become stricter.  This means applications will be forced into following programming patterns making life easier on developers.

No More Legacy Mode

If you run Joomla! in legacy mode, be prepared.  Joomla! 1.6 will no longer support legacy mode.  WOOO, finally.  Legacy mode is a disaster for 1.5 components.  A component built for legacy mode will break just about anything.  I have run into situations where a client “has to have legacy mode” and then is unable to use more modern programs.  Whenever possible, avoid legacy mode.  Now that Joomla! 1.6 will cease support, I am hopeful that legacy enabled components will slowly dissipate.

Prepare For Upgrades

If you use components that are not built on MVC, start to look for replacements.  When Joomla! 1.6 is released, you will most likely want to upgrade if time and funds allow.  Start preparing for the upgrades now.  Otherwise, you may be in for a nasty surprise when you try to install that legacy photo gallery or help desk.

Your Thoughts?

Watch the Joomla! 1.6 video here.  What do you think about this new release?  Personally, I am very excited.

The Painesville Party In The Park website went live last week.  PPITP is a music festival organized by the Painesville Community Improvement Corporation.  The party is the “largest free music festival” in Ohio and takes place July 16, 17 and 18.  I highly recommend attending this event.  The music schedule includes several genres.  There is bound to be something for everyone’s liking.

The website was built on the Joomla! content management system.  This setup was highly customized to present the musical information.  The following were a few of the customizations and/or challenges that were implemented.

Bands/Entertainment

A customized entertainment manager was created to allow updates to bands and other entertainers.  The manager allows for the party members to add photos, biographies, music and more.  The bands also link to sponsor and event records in other areas of the website.  When music is uploaded, the band’s information page will contain a mp3 player.  Users can now listen to various tracks from the artists who will be attending PPITP.

Sponsors

A sponsor manager was created to help give benefits to those providing support for the event.  A banner system was also incorporated to provide spotlights to sponsors.  This same banner system can also be seen in use on the Madison Perry Area Chamber of Commerce website, though with a slightly different implementation.  Custom programming was done to help intertwine the sponsors on PPITP with entertainment and event information.

Events

The greatest challenge of this project was to intertwine the event calendar with entertainment and sponsor information.  All were separate management entities.  Each entity provided it’s own display logic to properly present information.  Now, there are combined displays allowing for entertainment and sponsors to show on the event list and vice versa.

Landing Page

A landing page was implemented to help provide some basic information about the party and entice users to visit the internal contents of the site.  The landing page displays the event dates, the names of random features and several photos.  It was also built on top of the saxophone logo.  If you ask me, it looks pretty sweet.

Common Elements

The website also possesses some of the common elements that exist in my sites.

• Photo Gallery
• File Uploaders used for the Press Releases, Media,
• Personnel managers used for the volunteer sections
• Link database
• PayPal simple cart integration for Vendor checkout.
• Social networking
• … and more

Check out the website at http://www.ppitp.com.

I was stumbling around on one of my preferred development sites and ran across this interesting bit of information.  Craig Buckler posted Firefox 3.5 is the World’s Most Popular Browser on Sitepoint.  New statistics have been released by StatCounter that show Firefox 3.5 becoming the World’s most popular internet browser.  It was only a matter of time.  Firefox is much more standards compliant, extensible, customizable, and more user friendly than Internet Explorer.  I always reaffirm the fact that browser compatibility is a top priority when consulting my customers.  This again goes to prove that affirmation.

Here are a few of the interesting figures that were present in the blog post:

• Internet Explorer still holds 55% of the global market and that number is shared between versions 6,7, and 8.
• In the USA, Internet Explorer holds 25% of the market.  Help us drop that number by converting to Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.  Can you tell I am not fan of Microsoft’s proprietary standards?  I believe any knowledgeable web developer or designer will agree browsers that adhere to the W3c standards are going to put Internet Explorer out of business sooner or later.  That is, if Microsoft does not start adhering to standards.
• In the USA, Firefox holds 22% of the market.  This is sure to change as developers and designers continue to push their clients towards the light that is non-IE browsers.
• Antartica is ruled by Firefox.  I’m curious how the scientist’s internet connection is down on the icy poles.  ET phone home.

It will be interesting to see what happens now that Google Chrome is gaining popularity.  Will Chrome rise above Firefox?  We can only wait and see.