- It’s #raining and #thundering here in Peterborough. Good for the roses, lousy for the rest of us. #
- M’afternoon BTW. I spent most of the morning looking for better ways to query across multiple permissions. #
- Figured someone neat out. Finished rewrite of node (MPTT) class for Gallery. Can use it for forums also. #
- Gallery has a rock solid base now and we can use these new methods in other apps / forums in the future. #
- Drastically reduces the need to process in PHP / use large IN lists. All very exciting. Getting my nerd on. #
- MySQL query error: SELECT Array.* FROM gallery_albums_main Array LEFT JOIN WHERE Array ORDER BY Array…. dynamic query #fail #
- Hello all. Turned Twitter off today as I needed to focus. Making good progress on #ipb gallery. Enjoying it in a sadistic sort of way #
- Just watched “The Crazies”. Can’t beat a bit of zombie slaying. #
- Dear Channel4. Can I have my 10p back from 2005? Now we have to evict these losers stuck at the arse end of TV again. #ultimateBB #
- Mind you, these layabout losers holding onto “celebrity” with their fingertips will earn more in 2 weeks than most in 5 years. #ultimateBB #
- Marshmallow anyone? http://twitpic.com/2husfq #
- The Daily Mash – PARKING AT WORK NOW HARDEST PART OF MOST JOBS http://bit.ly/9IKVWK #
- Morning everyone. Did you miss me yesterday? What do you mean you didn’t notice I wasn’t on Twitter? #
- Was up at 6:15am “Daddy go downstairs?”. Dark and rain lashing down. Thought I’d woken up in November. #
- Invision Power Services: NHL Forums Transferring Over (to #ipb ? http://bit.ly/a6uNJq #
- Another busy day today at IPS. Another snazzy piece of interface done. Can’t wait to blog about it. #
- Still raining here in Peterborough. Looking on the Internet for Ark building tips. #
- Hello world. I’ve come up for air. Been totally immersed in Gallery and it’s finally coming together. Tried to not distract myself. #
- Off camping this long weekend. Wish us luck. We need nice weather! Looking forward to getting away for a few days. #
- A lot of stuff going into gallery will be used in later versions of #ipb so I’m taking the time to get it right. All very exciting! #
- You know you’re a dad when you start worrying about tyre pressures of fully laden cars. #
- Watching Blackadder on my phone. In a tent. http://twitpic.com/2j43kx #
- Breaking. Mass suicide in Lincolnshire market. http://twitpic.com/2jbxl5 #
On August 29, 2010, In News, By admin
On July 27, 2010, In News, By admin
IPS is constantly looking for ways to improve, and one area of focus is documentation. We get a lot of feedback regarding documentation, and quite frequently the feedback we receive is, unfortunately, too vague to act on specifically. It’s always a pleasant delight to get specific, focused feedback on how we can improve.
Last week I happened across a topic on our forums with just this kind of feedback, and after reviewing the suggestion and what it would take to implement, we agreed that the work was worth it. Cap’n Refsmmat posted some well-thought-out, clear and concise feedback on a specific action we could take that would make finding documentation easier, and I’m happy to announce that this change has been put in place on our website.
It was pointed out that as a user, it doesn’t matter too much where the documentation you are searching for is located specifically. Whether it is a community article, official documentation, or an error code – you just want to find out more information, regardless of where that information is located. Today I built a few Sphinx search indexes of our downloads area, our error codes database, our official documentation, and our community-submitted articles, and then built a search interface to query all of these areas at once. We have replaced the search form in our documentation area with this new search utility.
Feel free to test out the new search tool and let us know what you think! Just head on over to our documentation page and use the search box at the top of the page to look for whatever it is you need to find. We may evolve this new tool further in the future, but for now we hope that it helps you find what you are looking for with less hassle and bouncing around.
On July 26, 2010, In News, By admin
Several years ago, it seems like just about everyone saw the film Titanic. This past year, it seems the same was true for Avatar. And this past Summer, it seems as if everyone is seeing Inception. All three films share something in common: their use of Autodesk Maya, a piece of visual effects software. Now that technology has been ported to the iPhone and iPad.
Obviously, Autodesk Fluid FX isn’t going to be as powerful as Maya running on a hardcore system. But Fluid FX is nonetheless impressive. And it’s pretty amazing that these kind of effects can be done on these relatively cheap consumer devices, whereas a just a few years ago systems costing thousands of dollars were required to render this stuff.
The best way to describe what the app can do is to show it to you. For that, watch the video below. But basically, it’s an app that lets you manipulate pictures with a range of effects. And it has other natural elements like smoke and fire that you can manipulate on your iPad or iPhone.
The use of these devices’ multi-touch capabilities is the key to all of this. The app can recognize up to 10 simultaneous multi-touch inputs, we’re told.
The resulting work you make can saved to your devices. Or you can output any of this to a larger screen, like a television. There’s also a way to cycle through various effects and put them on display. But to me Fluid FX is just as interesting as a technological demonstration of what these devices are now capable of. And perhaps even more so, as a way to show was the other software Autodesk offers is capable of.
Autodesk’s Joe Stam, who has won two Oscars for his work effect work on films, created this app. Previously, Autodesk has released Sketchbook Mobile for the iPhone and iPad, which was a top-selling app.
Autodesk Fluid FX will be out in the App Store tomorrow. It will cost $1.99.
Some Tech Behind Inception And Avatar Becomes A Reality On Your iPad And iPhone
On July 4, 2010, In News, By admin
When Blippy was looking for a little help creating an overview video for their service, I recommended that they take a look at Mountain View based Transvideo Studios. I know executive producer Rico Andrade there fairly well and have seen some of the work they’ve done for Gmail (another), Box.net, Facebook, Mint.com (very dramatic) and others. It’s high quality stuff, and can be aimed at users, partners, advertisers, etc. depending on what audience you want.
We’ve ranted before about the power of a good demo video to tell a story. Cash strapped startups can simply do one themselves with screen capture software and iMovie, or whatever. Or you can spend a few thousand dollars and get something professionally done. Either way it’s just a good way to communicate what your startup does.
Here’s the final Blippy video, which makes the controversial service look quite cute and cuddly (see the Transvideo blog for more details):
On June 30, 2010, In News, By admin
Since the launch of the original iPhone, there’s been a nice market for screen protectors. Well, at least until Apple started banning them from stores. But what about protectors that go around the edge of your phone? Well, thanks to the iPhone 4, there may be a market for that as well.
The iPhone 4 hasn’t even been out a week and already awrapforthat.com has popped up to make vinyl skins that wrap around the perimeter of the device. Why would anyone want that? Because of the iPhone 4 antenna issues — the so-called “Death Grip” problem.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has suggested you buy one of Apple’s new iPhone 4 bumpers to alleviate the problem. But those are $29.99. Why not just buy this iPhone 4 wrap for $9.99?
Also, these skins are also going to be much thinner than the bumper, and as such, undoubtedly less of an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful device. Plus, they’re apparently thin enough that the iPhone 4 can fit in the dock with them on. These skins are made with 3M vinyl and come with holes cut out for the various iPhone 4 perimeter openings.
