Rob Gonda's Blog

AIR jQuery API browser

Remy Sharp released a nice AIR app to browser the jQuery API, and I love jQuery ... nice little tool. Thanks Ray for the link.

Railo adds a cluster scope

Railo introduced yesterday the cluster scope. In a nutshell, you can register all servers in a cluster and Railo will automatically sync the scope across all nodes. The caveat at the moment is that it only supports simple types (simple values, arrays, structs, queries), but not CFCs and Java Objects.

SWFObject 2.1 now available

`You can download SWFObject 2.1 from the SWFObject 2 home or downloads pages.

SWFObject 2.1 addresses the following issues:

  1. Memory leaks in Internet Explorer. There were 2 categories of memory leaks: small ones caused by the library’s structure (use of closures) and use of events, and big leakage that was related to dynamic publishing and Adobe’s External Interface (note: also available in SWFObject 1.5)
  2. Internet Explorer 5.0/5.5 support issues
  3. Script errors in Internet Explorer in case an object element is removed during a visit
  4. Alternative content display issues for Safari 3+ with plug-ins disabled
  5. Removal of isDomLoaded tests from various methods of the public API to enable that dynamically inserted scripts - including bookmarklets - can use these functions
  6. Dynamic publishing could previously fire multiple instances of Adobe Express Install
  7. Fixed dynamic publishing reference issues when using a shared param or attributes JavaScript Object

It contains the following enhancements:

  1. New explicit SWF removal code - especially needed to completely and safely remove a SWF in Internet Explorer - via the new swfobject.removeSWF(idString)
  2. Shortened Flash version strings can be used, so "9.0.0" can now be written as "9"
  3. For dynamic publishing now 0, null, false or {} can be used when no flashvars, parameters or attributes have to be defined (previously you could only use false or {})
  4. Added a filter to the swfobject.getQueryParamValue method to secure the library from XSS attacks (Geoff will publish a more detailed security advisory soon)

Facebook officially the largest social network

Facebook has official surpassed MySpace in terms of monthly unique visitors. In April 2008, both monsters attracted 115 million people a month. Media Trends, Alexa, Google Trends, all confirm it.

facebook_myspace_world_unique_visitors_2008_04

facebook_myspace_world_daily_reach_2008_04

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Facebook's growth was mostly internationally. MySpace is still dominates Facebook in the U.S. market, with 72 million monthly uniques. Facebook has 36 million monthly uniques, up from 23 million a year ago.

facebook_myspace_us_unique_visitors_2008_04

In other markets like the U.K., Facebook outgrew MySpace last year and is over double its size today.

facebook_myspace_uk_unique_visitors_2008_06

WTF: How else would you make bread?

Will Microsoft ever learn? (Windows 7 buzz)

Microsoft is already working on Windows 7, formerly known as Blackcomb or Vienna, and is scheduled to release early 2010.

I run Windows Vista and OSX, and personally, haven't had any problems with Vista... Given, it might be a little more annoying for the savvy user, but I disabled/removed all those features. I previously blogged about how slow copying files could be (and a workaround).

PCWorld published a silly article about hardware requirements for an OS to be released 2-3 years from now; well, obviously, your current PC is not ready, simple answer. When XP came out, it required a decent PC, so did Vista, and in fact, so did Tiger, Leopard, Ubuntu, or anything else. Companies design OSs to fully utilize potentials of processing power and memory, it would be silly if they didn't.

In summary, if I worked for Microsoft's PR department I would try to keep any articles of a new operating system down in the low. There's a lot of clean-up work to do prior to anyone accepting new releases from M$.

On a positive note, one feature I did find interesting is the realization of tendencies towards virtualization. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V already showed Microsoft's understanding of market trends, and now with Windows 7 support for VHD (Virtual Hard Drives) they extend the power to the user.

jQuery 1.2.6 out and it's even faster

1.2.6 is now out and the events handling functionality is 103% faster:

  • CSS Selectors are 13% faster
  • .offset() is 21% faster
  • The DImensions plugin is now part of the core
  • toggle() can now accept more functions
  • attr() has had an overhaul
  • You can now unbind bound toggle() and one() functions
  • .index() supports jQuery collections
  • jQuery.makeArray can convert ANYTHING into an array
  • beforeSend() can cancel AJAX calls
  • You can now define your own animation speeds with the jQuery.fx.speeds object

Adobe Reader 9 Released

Adobe completed its Acrobat 9 transition with the release of Adobe Reader 9. The free PDF viewer application can now view Flash content embedded in PDF documents, and offers substantial performance improvements compared to previous versions of Adobe Reader.

Version 9 also added new collaboration support, added PDF Portfolios support, improved PDF form support, updated the user interface, and more.

Adobe Reader 9 is available as a free download at the Adobe Web site.

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