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CF Security Update
2007-11-14 16:03:00
I got an email with a security update bulletin from Adobe yesterday.  It seems there is some sort of vulnerability via cfid and cftoken regarding session hijacking.  It affects both cf7 and cf8 unless you are using J2EE session management. [More]
More About: Security , Cold , Fusion , Update

CF Contractors Group
2007-11-13 19:24:00
Many of you probably know by now about the new coldfusion community.  Its a pretty good idea, Nick did a great job setting it up and promoting, and the software itself is really pretty slick.  Ning is the program, and it lets you create communities like the CF one pretty quickly.  There is a free version even. Based on what I saw I am already using it for another client! It got me thinking that we could probably use a group for coldfusion contractors.  We as individuals or companies that do contract work for others.  Typically the work often includes Cold Fusion development.  Perhaps we could pass along projects we were not interested in, needed help with, etc.  Or ask questions to others about issues we have with clients, time tracking, support, etc. [More]
More About: Group , Contractors , Tractors

Seeking YUI Grid Input
2007-11-06 22:37:00
I recently started looking into the YUI grids CSS available.  At first glance this looks to be an amazing time saver for most of us, so long as the graphic designer is aware of the parameters needed (certain widths, etc).  Certainly for quick templates and sites. The only potential gotcha with grid that I could think of is background colors and equal height columns.  As anyone who has done CSS knows that can be a real pain though there are lots of workarounds.  Turns out someone has come up with a js update to YUI to help make that happen. [More]
More About: Cold , Fusion , Grid , Seeking , Input

Two Date Values to Select from Two Date Columns Question
2007-11-04 23:31:00
What approach would you use to query an events TBL that contains a start and end date when you must query it with your own start and end date?  For example lets say you have a simple events search / display.  You want users to search a span of time so there is two form fields for dates.  Start date and end date.  The event DB also has two date/time fields.  As each event may span multiple dates.  Some events (like a stage production) may go for a month or more.  [More]
More About: Question , Cold , Fusion , Columns , Values

Flex Camp Boston - who's with me?
2007-11-02 22:49:00
Looks like I am heading to Flex Camp Boston .  Who else is going?  I have dangerously low experience with flex so I plan on brushing up in the next couple weeks. I am interested in the CF related topics especially.  Networking is always good as well. At $10 it is a real bargain!  Though time is runing out.  December 7, 2007, at Bentley College in Waltham.
More About: Cold , Fusion

ScratchBack Trial
2007-11-01 23:57:00
I am trying out a new advertising / revenue model on a few of my sites.  As some may remember I have had trouble with Text Link Ads, and though I like google enough google adsense makes NO money on this blog.  So what is a blogger to do? I ran into ScratchBack from a blog post on TechCrunch.  ScratchBack has an interesting system.  People can pay for a quick link on the scratchback widget for a price you specify.  $1 - whatever.  That link will stay until it rotates out of view or for a period of time (again the webmasters option). [More]
More About: Trial

cancel button rant
2007-10-30 22:03:00
A minor rant here, but an important UI one.  How many times have we as end users accidentally clicked on cancel when intending to click on submit?  I know I have done it a few times this month alone on one specific web application. Just did it AGAIN.  groan.  I know better.  I really do.  I know the difference between submit and cancel.  I am painfully aware of what happens when I click on the wrong thing.  And yet I am also always in a hurry.  I often make mistakes clicking on a nearby link/button/etc. The problem is that the submit and cancel buttons are right next to each other.  No whitespace, no padding, nothing.  So if your in a hurry (entering time sheet at the end of the day) it is very easy to click near a button and accidentally click on the other one instead. [More]
More About: Cold , Fusion , Rant , Button , Ancel

Google Page Rank Roller Coaster
2007-10-27 15:53:00
Looks like I removed my text links just in time.  The latest round of PR updates happened and many many people were penalized.  Then just days later other blogs were adjusted when they complained that they no longer sold text links. As for me, I removed TLA from my sites and I have seen each site of mine either stay the same or go up by 2 to 4.  This blog now has a PR of 7! [More]
More About: Google , Page Rank , Page , Rank , Roller Coaster

Bid on 4 World Series box seat tickets / support children with autism at Th
2007-10-22 21:28:00
The following is a sweet opportunity for someone who really wants to see the game.  A friend of mine works at The Birchtree Center and this is the press release they just sent me.  Normally I don't post things like this, but since there is little time for them to promote on their own I figured I would pass the word. The Birchtree Center Announces the Auction of Four World Series Tickets Donated by Coughlin, Rainboth, Murphy & Lown  [More]
More About: Children , Autism , Seat

Canceling Text Link Ads
2007-10-17 14:33:00
Do to my ongoing concern with Text Link Ads hurting my google rankings I removed TLA from my sites.  I then sent an email to TLA to let them know and to request partial payment for services rendered this month up to the date I removed them.  Seems only fair. It turns out that you don't get paid unless you display the link ads for a full 30 days of that month.  In other words if you cancel TLA just before the end of the month you will NOT get paid for that month.  Damn it! [More]
More About: Text Link Ads , Ancel

google vs text link ads
2007-10-11 19:11:00
I use the title in the sense that I now must choose.  They are not directly competing of course.  However the two companies have terms and conditions / policies that now conflict with each other. For all of us web site owners who get traffic from google and also use TLA we are now in a quandary.  Google is now lowering the rank, traffic, etc. of sites that it determines use text links as advertisements without the re="nofollow" attribute.  This is due to those links skewing the search engines ability to properly determine a sites ranking, and how much rank to pass on to other sites it links to.  Makes sense.  Right now they are manually identifying those sites. [More]
More About: Cold , Fusion , Link , Text

why I dislike rebates even after $400
2007-10-10 23:24:00
Raise your hand if you have bought something with the rebate price in mind, but never actually sent in the rebate, or never actually got the money back from the rebate.  I have made many purchases myself that involved a rebate.  Not once (until today) have I actually gotten a check back.  Either i forget to fill it out in time, or I throw away a vital thing I am supposed to submit, or I do send them in, never to hear from the company again.  I know I have sent them in, but who and for what... that I am hazy on.  You see it takes SO long for a rebate to be returned to you that most likely you forget.  [More]
More About: Rebates , Rebate

sys-con declares coldfusion dead (again)
2007-10-10 01:58:00
Ugh, I started it back up... i know...  Its like it didn't work the first time so they are trying again. So some of you may have noted my comment on old/new newsletters from syscon about CF.  Well I see from my google blog alerts that James Hamilton picked up on that and wrote a quick piece on java.sys-con.com agreeing with me that "I do agree with Joshua though, Cold Fusion looks like dead as a door nail...".  [More]
More About: Coldfusion , Dead , Ares

Laugh of the Day: Sys-con says 'coldfusion 8 is here'
2007-10-09 18:48:00
I got some spam from sys-con again today. I have tried for months now to get off their damn lists.  At any rate the subject caught my eye.  "Cold Fusion 8 is Here".  Thats odd...  so I decide to read the email. Turns out their mail server probably just sent a big batch of old email since the mail date is October 9th, but the date in the actual email content is August 8th.  [More]
More About: Coldfusion , Laugh

CFSnippets Contest
2007-10-08 19:31:00
I am a bit late in blogging on this, but better now then never I suppose.  Kudos to Todd Sharp for putting this together. CFSnippets is having a contest to encourage submissions to the site and raise awareness.  There are a number of cool prizes.  Prizes include a copy of our own Cold Fusion CMS, Savvy Content Manager.  FusionDebug and FusionReactor are also available and I bet many people would love to get a one year subscription to Fusion Authority Quarterly Update.  Looks like a couple people will also be picked to receive a copy of the CF 8 Web Application Construction Kit (CFWACK). [More]
More About: Contest

Help Desk / Customer Support Software Suggestions Needed
2007-10-08 18:50:00
Does anyone have any recommendations on a help desk / customer support program to use for a small software company.  Specifically we need to have something that provides KB, ticket tracking, quick identification of clients with support contracts vs those that don't, etc.  Forums would be nice, but we can always add that separately.  Newsletter management would also be nice, but not required.  The kicker for programs thus far has been little support if any for tracking billable requests, and pre paid support. For tracking pre paid support it would be handy to have quick reference to who has prepaid and how many incidents they have purchased, and how many are left.  And for the client to log into find the same info. [More]
More About: Software , Customer , Cold , Fusion , Support

Spam Stock Tracker Update
2007-10-04 01:58:00
I just relaunched my Spam Stock Tracker web site.  New design, more data, links to other useful sites and more importantly I am starting with a fresh batch of data to track. My last batch of stocks ended in near total disaster.  I think I lost 90% of the value or more.  Plus most are out of business or simply changed too many times for me to track. [More]
More About: Projects , Update

ipod Shuffle DRM Free or Die
2007-09-29 18:24:00
During the checkout process when buying my fancy little ipod shuffle I was prompted to have my ipod engraved for free.  So I decided to have it engraved with "DRM Free or Die".  Yes I own all my music.  And yes I refuse to use itunes or any other 'service' to sell me songs I can only use on approved devices.  Sure enough they did it.  I love my little shuffle and its DRM free songs! [More]
More About: Ipod , Shuffle

An American Hedge Fund Review
2007-09-27 23:06:00
A few months back Timothy Sykes contacted me about a new book he was writing.  An American Hedge Fund : How I made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund .  It was on the Hedge Fund industry and his experiences making lots of money in the stock market.  I got a chance to read the book, though I honestly wasn't expecting much.  He is a new author and usually these kinds of books are self serving and repetitive. See my other book reviews for best sellers that I consider trash.  Instead this book read quite well.  And every book is just a bit self serving. :-) What I thought was going to be an instruction manual on how you too can make millions of dollars with scheme xyz turned out to be a story about a young man still in High School learning about trading stocks, doing it at the right time with the right attitude (sometimes) and doing quite well.  It chronicles his life in college, his silly mistakes, ego trips, and experiences with...
More About: Review

coldfusion-webhosting.com available
2007-09-25 14:46:00
I am in the market for a new domain name for an upcoming project of mine.  I figure if I can get a domain that already has a PR and inbound links all the better.  I found this site seodomains.org that shows you domains about to expire that have some PR, inbound links, etc.  Many of the Page Ranks are invalid once you look into them, but others are real.  Apparently its only $14 to get one. At any rate, today I see that coldfusion-webhosting.com is available.  It has a valid Page Rank of 2 already.  If you were thinking of getting a domain for your hosting operation, maybe this would be a good one to pick up?  I have yet to find a good name to fit my project, so I continue to look. [More]
More About: Cold , Fusion , Webhosting , Coldfusion

Wow from non-gamer point of view
2007-09-23 15:20:00
A good friend of mine was recently introduced to World of Warcraft.  She isn't a gamer in any way, and her journey has been an interesting one.  She just wrote an article for our local weekly about her experiences.  I really enjoyed her point of view on the game.  It is easy for someone like me, who has played lots of games like this, to forget how exciting the game can be for the very first time.  Details like getting a cat for a pet, fishing, etc. that are not essential to the game, but are to the game player like her.  At any rate, you should give it a read. Snippet: [More]
More About: Gamer , View , Point

Margot at the Wedding Review
2007-09-23 04:27:00
Margot at the Wedding is basically about two sisters dealing with each other for a week before one gets married.  My first thought about this movie once it was done...  "I am utterly  thankful that I can't relate to this movie in any way." The movie was fun and disturbing, like many movies I watched this weekend.  However in the end there was nothing endearing about either sister, their bizarre love/hate relationship and inappropriate behavior to their children.  I gave my wife a big hug when it was done.  Thank goodness she is sane and doesn't treat people like that.  Thank goodness she has a nice family. [More]
More About: Review , Margot at the Wedding

I'm Not There Review
2007-09-23 04:15:00
I walked out of a movie theater for the first time ever tonight.  Actually it wasn't a movie theater, but a Music Hall, which was showing a bunch of new movies as part of Telluride By the Sea.  I have gone to this yearly Celebration of Cinema every year that I have been able and try to see most if not all the movies available. I'm Not There is a portrayal of Bob Dylan's life told through six different actors.  Some disclaimer here.  I don't really care for Dylan's work.  He is a fine enough guy.  I have seen him perform live and understood none of it..  I like some of the earlier stuff, but in general it just doesn't do much for me.  I know nothing of his life or history, etc.  So I wasn't planning on watching this movie, however the preview sounded really interesting.  A very creative way to approach the subject at the very least and it has gotten some good press. [More]
More About: Review

Into The Wild Review
2007-09-22 14:46:00
I have the pleasure of living in Portsmouth, NH.  That means that once a year I get to attend Telluride By the Sea, Telluride Film Festival's little seacoast cousin.  At Telluride By The Sea we get to watch 6 select movies that just recently were shown in Telluride the week before.  These movies are often some combination of provocative, moving, troubling and beautiful. Last night was opening night and they showed Into The Wild .  My quick review:  I liked it. [More]
More About: Review

submiting a form inside an iframe from outside the iframe
2007-09-21 22:29:00
This one has me stumped (friday afternoon and I am done!).  I am certain it should be done (as long as the iframe content is from the same site).  Yet EVERY example I have found online doesn't work in Firefox (not sure about other browsers).  I have tried many possible variations.  I have other workarounds, but for various reasons I would really like to be able to just have a submit button outside the iframe, that when pressed submits the content of a form inside of the iframe. Here is just one: [More]
More About: Cold , Fusion , Inside , Form

Bob Dylan on CF8
2007-09-19 02:26:00
First off let me say I don't care for Dylan much.  Still this is a fun system where you can update his video with whatever limited text you want.  Here is my CF 8 version as per stuff I can remember happening recently.
More About: Cold , Fusion , Bob Dylan

My Website Grade
2007-09-14 18:49:00
This useful little web site analyzes many factors and gives you a grade by comparing your stats with that of others that have submitted their site.  My score is 94, which I think is way too high.  I know I have a great google page rank, but I don't get much traffic or inbound links.  Not as many as I would like anyway.  Which makes me think about the focus of my blog.  I write about Cold Fusion , technology, movies, and random stuff.  The bulk of my google traffic comes from non CF related posts. Though the coldfusion aggregators only get the CF related feed to save you all from seeing my vacation photos, etc.  I am thinking of maybe making a few changes to my blog by making the CF blog its own site.  Certainly this is a good domain name and rank and perhaps I could put it to better use?  Maybe use my personal name domain (joshuacyr.com) as my personal blog / cf blog.  What do you think? [More]
More About: Website

Turns out it was adobe that canceled CFDJ???
2007-09-11 17:22:00
Yup, sys-con had nothing to do with it.  Adobe discontinued cfdj.  Turns out.  Ummm what? Ok, I have read the latest press release from sys-con a few times and I am still confused.  It's title says "Adobe's Decision Upsets Cold Fusion Community".  It quotes Michael Dinowitz, Sean Corfield and Ben Forta.  It even acknowledges that some are pissed at sys-con.    The coldfusion community wasn't upset CFDJ was no more (though it is still online).  It was celebrated.  Quite different. [More]
More About: Ancel

Reminder to Remove CFDJ from your Resources
2007-09-10 19:01:00
In reading all the commentary about CFDJ going bye bye it occurs to me there are probably a lot of links and references to it.  Especially the many custom search engines that index it.  So this is just a quick reminder that we should remove those sooner rather than later.  I just removed those sites from my CSE cfhunt.com. Update:  Also is anyone else really really tempted to submit the screen shot of their home page which pulls in feeds from Sean and Ben's blogs bashing CFDJ on the CFDJ home page to boingboing, digg, etc?  Half of me thinks it would be fun, the other half says that Cold Fusion doesn't need the negative attention.  I would link to it, but I don't want to give them more link love and it crashes my FF browser.  so type cfdj.sys - con.com and check out the featured blogs in the center.
More About: Resources , Reminder , Remi

ordering search results excluding certain words
2007-09-05 23:01:00
I had an interesting sorting issue.   What I need to do is output in alphabetical order the names of various things.  Lets say bars in town.  Now many bars have the word "the" in them.  We don't want them in the T area though.  For example i have data shown in no specific order: [More]
More About: Results , Search , Words , Cold , Fusion