Recent blog entries for Killerbees

random stuff bit.ly gz and jpg

Seems twitter have launched a tiny url clone called bit.ly, bit.ly lets you pick a custom word to use, won't be long 'till they run out, example: http://bit.ly/arses the singualr form has already been used.

Yesterday we resampled all of the product images for one client, resaving them at 50% quality.
We also applied gz compression to the php output. Bandwith data rate was nearly 30% below the predictions for the day. Nice. And while there were some small tonal differences in the images I don't think anyone could confidently say which was the smaller one, certainly Mark (head designer) and Sandy (executive vice president in charge of product photography) we're happy with the changes.

Syndicated 2008-09-04 12:47:00 (Updated 2008-09-04 12:57:13) from Danny

Quote of the [specify timeperiod]

Forbes.com reports that in New Orleans: "hospitals were working with skeleton crews"

Also if I ever need to take an alias or a stage name or whatever, this headline from the Wall Street Journal has inspired me... "Gustav Evacuees May Be Able To Return Home Within Days".

If you're playing urban terror on-line and come across a guy called "Gustav Evacuees" it could be me.

Cue gratuitous screenshot, got from here

Syndicated 2008-09-02 15:41:00 (Updated 2008-09-02 15:54:14) from Danny

Throw the baby out with the bathwater award, or (twitter -= SMS) == pointless

Twitter has stopped sending SMS to UK numbers.

Sadly that was Twitter's USP as far as I was concerned.

I suppose using some API client or IM would work when I'm at the PC, but I got most fun & use out of twitter when I was unleashed on the real world. I used to like getting people's updates when I was mooching about the house, in the pub, or travelling.

I can still send updates by SMS, but why bother if I have to wind up the laptop to see the replies.

So Twitter gets an award, for shoot-yourself-in-the-foot-ism, sorry guys but as far as I can see you just threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Syndicated 2008-08-28 13:49:00 (Updated 2008-08-28 13:56:28) from Danny

WTF music award

Green Day fans throughout the family, and the office, are reeling with shock at this weird anti-cover of "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" by old-timer and living-legend Glen "Rhinestone Cowboy" Campbell.

If Glen's version was the original and Green Day had covered it it might make some kind of sense, but this is definitely the music equivalent of a prequel. I'm guessing he's not going to cover American Idiot next.

Glens version is top, the original below:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ug-juF9mOXo&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ug-juF9mOXo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JbvUx5fH9As&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JbvUx5fH9As&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Syndicated 2008-08-22 09:16:00 (Updated 2008-08-22 09:31:51) from Danny

It made *me* laugh award

I'm a jaded and grumpy old geezer who finds little to smile about in my inbox these days, but this did the trick, and so it gets an award:

Syndicated 2008-08-21 12:50:00 (Updated 2008-08-21 12:53:52) from Danny

All work and no play ...

... I don't think so, I forgot to add to yesterday's post that as well as all the new folk and new clients we've got new toys too.

We've got two 52" plasmas, one streaming the olympics and one with a Wii, and under my desk is an UrbanTerror server so my department can take out their frustrations by fragging each other at lunchtimes.

Oh... and if you've got flash actionscript 3 skills and can travel to out office get in touch, all this could be yours too.

Syndicated 2008-08-14 13:29:00 (Updated 2008-08-14 13:37:12) from Danny

Onwards and upwards..

Yesterday we launched our now corporate website here.

The previous day we inducted two new php analyst programmers and a second business analyst.
Last monday we started a new sysadmin.
We're still looking for a flash actionscript 3 developer.

Now that the new site is up I can reveal that we're working on ecommerce for two exciting fashion brands Bench and Hooch. Its always a challenge working for established brands, but in this case its creating a real buzz in the office, they're going to be cool through and through, from the graphic design to the seamless integration with warehouse and financial systems.

Talking of challenging, the migration of a.n.other client seems to have gone pretty smoothly, some minor issues are outstanding, but (touch wood) everything that's needed is working.

And finally.. we've launched a redesign of Duchamp.

Syndicated 2008-08-13 10:25:00 (Updated 2008-08-13 10:35:52) from Danny

Syndicated 2008-08-12 14:52:00 (Updated 2008-08-12 14:54:57) from Danny

We're hiring

Business Analysts, PHP developers and an online marketeer, apply here
And join me here: :-)

Syndicated 2008-07-09 16:31:00 (Updated 2008-07-09 16:36:18) from Danny

Mysql Federated tables and Oracle Database links

Taking time out from the Big Migration job to share this with you, and before you say anything *I Know* this is old news, but forgive me because I've been away from MySQL for 4 years, and just because you know this doesn't mean that there aren't other "late adopters" like me out there.

Over the past few weeks I've come across quite a few posts on the net from folks who wanted to use oracle style links between MySQL databases (I don't need to, I just spoted a theme). Researching the storage engines in Mysql 5 (we're upgrading as well as migrating) it seems there is now an answer in the form of the Federated storage engine.

The article also provided me an answer for the perennial problem of needing several instances of MySQL in dev and test, often for exactly the task currently at hand, migrating from one version to another, that answer is the mysql sandbox. Neat. Its a shame that I've already set up my dev environment, I'd like to play with that.

Syndicated 2008-07-04 11:35:00 (Updated 2008-07-04 11:48:02) from Danny