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This site is a wiki. That means that anybody (including YOU) can edit and change the information found here. (Editing help)
My site contains mostly my homework and projects as well as various stuff from my life. (Site Mission Statement)
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8/21/2009 ThePlaz.com Roundup Summer 2009 Edition
So the summer is coming to a close. I leave for MIT in about 48 hours. Let me tell you what went on this summer.
The first thing you may notice is that ThePlaz.com has a new look since July 12th! It's called Nuvola for the Nuvola icons it uses. I wanted to make the site easy to use and make it look less like Wikipedia. The first big change is that the dropdown menu is now "part of the site" instead of "part of the page". In addition, the subjects have big icons and a better looking and working drop down. The drop downs was one of the first things I programmed in 2006. Second, the sidebar is redesigned to make it easier. User actions are hidden unless they are needed. The edit button is big and yellow. I separated out page operations and site operations. I integrated the MediaWiki and Google search boxes. The third big improvement is the new footer which has lots of info about me. One column is my friendfeed which brings together my flickr, twitter, delicious, blog entries, etc. Once I publish this update, it will be on the list. The second column is my most recent 10 flickr sets. The third column has my sites that used to be in the header and some info about me. Finally, I spent several hours optimizing the site for quick loading on slow connections. It should work with Firefox, Opera, IE 7 and 8, and WebKit (Opera, Safari, Palm Pre). IE 6 works without drop downs. If you are using IE6, please do the internet a favor and upgrade. Read more about the Nuvola Skin
Geoov is a new prototype I created. I was frustrated that there was no way to get an overview of your geotagged photos on flickr. I did some investigation and I was able to use Google Maps's MarkerCluster in order to solve the problem of too many points on one page. As you zoom in, the clusters break up smaller and smaller until you read an individual photo. When you click on the pushpin, the photo appears. Check it out! Geoov only does my photos now, and make sure you are running the latest version of your browser.
I got a Palm Pre!! photos I felt that I needed a smart phone in order to stay connected at MIT and because I am interested in mobile development. I like the Palm Pre because it seems like it is in middle of everything: business (keyboard, exchange) and personal (fun, graphical); open (hackable, homebrew) and usable (app store, Linux hidden); web programming (using JS and CSS) and native programming (stages, assistants); new (2 months old, not many apps) but liked by reviewers (not N800). I did get the Touchstone (it was on sale!) and the webOS programmers guide. I have a few ideas.....
All summer, I have been doing The Weekly Spin where my friends and I talk about the most interesting technology stories each week. I have advanced access to Microsoft Office 2010, and I've talked about my experiences with that, along with plenty of talk about the Palm Pre. We are still ranting about the cell phone industry and the music industry, and Gdovin is still talking Apple rumors, so don't worry. Subscribe to the weekly audio I hope that I can still do the show at MIT.
Tecker 911 has reached the end! We have shot and edited 100 episodes! Head to http://911.tecker.net to watch them all! I am so proud that we were able to reach our goal of 100 episodes. Thank you also to Gdovin, Reed, and Jordan for hanging in there. The last 40 episodes went especially quickly. Watch episode 100 for a look back at our history.
At the end of the summer, I have been traveling a lot. Not everything is online yet, but check out my most recent photos on Flickr including New York City, Ocean City, MD and Hershey Park. As and always, everything is geotagged! I also did a stone project in my backyard.
Next year, I will be at MIT! (Why MIT) I did get into the advising seminar I wanted. This January, I will be going to China to learn about entrepreneurship, in part on MIT's dime. I got into the dorm I wanted, Baker House. I will be in the Product Design FPOP next week. I don't know what I am doing or what I will post, but look for it here. I applied to be a blogger for the admissions office, so my next post may be on there. Finally, I still plan on doing the Media Lab Freshman Year program. I am so excited to go up there.
--ThePlaz 09:03, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
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