not a writer

Text storage, database or files?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:55:00 +0000

Something that's bugged me on and off for a while now is optimising my text (e.g. blog posts) storage on my sites.

Way back in the day my host limited MySQL databases to 100mb. So I scripted my sites to store a filename rather than the body of text. The file was then grabbed and outputted using whatever PHP functions came to hand at the time. The alternative obviously is storing the text directly in the database.

With database size limits now gone, I'm asking the question which is less resource hungry?

Using Files

Once the database query is returned, PHP has to go and get the file and its contents. Finding and returning the file makes expensive disk reads.

Using the Database

The database simply returns more data, but with database servers often not residing on the local machine and more data having to be transferred across the network.

Which is Optimal?

I keep reading about bottlenecks first appearing with queries to a database, so it makes sense to me that reducing the load there would be preferred. But using a database and then storing a bulk of data in the file system seems a little like defeating the point of using a database to me.

All thoughts, much appreciated :)

Hello 2010, hello blog

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:22:00 +0000

5th February 2009, yeah 336 days since my last blog. Oops.

Oh well, it's no good crying over spilt milk nor unwritten blog posts. New year, new start, resolutions and all that I've signed up to Project52 - that is a pledge to post new content every week for a year. Goodness knows if I'll stick it, but hopefully I can manage to pass 9th February 2010 :)

Managing Expectations

This isn't going to be gripping stuff, that's not what I'm aiming for. I'd like a simple log of my thoughts and what's interested me week by week. I might surprise myself and write something deep and coherent once in a blue moon but dont bank on it :)

Starting at the start - week 1

Happy new year, and all that jazz... Having been with family over the holiday we ventured home-home*, which turned out to be only a whisker away from complete stupidity. Snow. With the A68 blocked at Carter Bar, and all reports to steer clear of the A1 near Berwick, we headed for Coldstream and up through the Scottish Borders that way. Three ruts to keep the wheels in for a two-way road - which is ok (as it can be) until you meet something coming the other way, because hitting the 6-10 inches of white stuff just off line almost renders a car uncontrollable. Well be got through, but it was fairly hairy in places - most places!

*home-home = St. Andrews

Puppy

Teabag - yep that's his real name - is our puppy. He's a muppet, wee monster, and in some lights has the meerkat-look about him. He also hasn't really mastered the art of sleeping at night, or come to think of it >not<.

Formula 1

Mostly tapping my fingers awaiting the 2010 car launches to begin. Couple of gems though, Donington Park looks like it'll be saved after what Simon Gillet did to it, and the-team-formerly-known-as-and-still-are-until-they-can-think-of-something-new BMW Sauber have confirmed they'll unveil their car 31st January. On the other end of the good-stuff scale Flavio Briatore won his appeal against his lifetime ban by the FIA - albeit on a technicality, it's bad for F1's already bad image. Jean Todt has some work to do.

Web stuff

Work has slowed on my personal projects, but I'm narrowing on some GeoIP muggins for PigeonSportLive, and finalising some updates to the drivers on F1-Fans. Oh and kicking off #Project52 :)

Ubiquity: interesting, useful, but...

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:31:00 +0000

The other day, over in the twittersphere @ryancarson pointed my attention to something called Ubiquity.

I'm not going to try and describe what it is, not even Wikipedia can do a decent job of it. Check out the video:

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Pretty cool huh?

The idea kind of ran and ran in my mind when I finished watching that, the possibilities are pretty huge. I mean imagine being able to port anything, anywhere in a couple of keystrokes.

Hey this looks great, but when I started playing with it it started to feel all too familiar. It's just a command-line.

Ok, quite a clever command-line, but still just that.

I hate the command-line. They're just so unintuitive. In order to accomplish anything useful you've got to know the dictionary of commands and all of their options. There's no fumbling around tinkering with settings and buttons, mooching and discovering new better ways of interacting with your computer. Its all or nothing, type in the command, hit enter... oh and hope.

If this is the future, I'm disappointed.

But lets hope not, please let someone come up with an interface to retain the purity whilst overcoming the barrier of entry, either that or for the command-line truly embrace the full complexity of language.

Those pesky busses

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:03:00 +0000

I'd love to write a post about those troublesome busses, but I won't. Um... no no I won't.

iPhone App Store: is the hype all over?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:59:00 +0000

Right, lets keep this short. I've got an iPhone, its got around 25 apps on it. Until recently I was getting around one update per day. Bug fixes, new features the whole caboodle. The last week or two I've had none... well alright maybe one.

Does this mean the developers consider these apps finished and are starting something new? And if so will we see a new wave of apps in a few weeks time? Are the jumping ship to try Google Android?

Is the app store stagnating? Somewhere I read that the store is about to pass the 10,000 apps marker, and yet I only have the 'top' 25 or 50 to flick through. Categories are fairly useless, and search is only good if you know the app's name. It's fine as a developer if you manage to get on that top 50 screen, but look at the odds. I expect that if you don't reach the 'top' screen you'd be lucky to sell a few dozen apps - hardly worth the hours and $50 Apple registration fee.

Oh and I'm forgetting, the reason I wouldn't do more than look flick through the 'top' list, because most of the apps available are broken, useless or duplicates.

Apple I need something to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Email: HTML or plain text?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:52:00 +0000

A conversation this week raised the question, HTML email - that's the one with fancy graphics, colors and formatting, or plain text email - which gets your message across better?

The conclusion I've come to is, if its important, if the email contains any value it is (or should be) in plain text. Conversations with friends, online reset passwords, and other sensitive information. I makes no sense for HTML email with this kind of message, I mean, how many ebay phishing scams have you had in your inbox? How about paypal? If they were sent using plain text you'd know the link actually takes you to some phishing site. In fact any ebay or paypal email I get now I treat suspiciously and never click a link that they contain.

What does that leave HTML email for? Well I think, for anything else, i.e. email you don't want! Marketing campaigns, newsletters, they're email I wasn't expecting, and don't particularly want.

So why send HTML email?

Well, if I get some unsolicited email - and I include marketing 'eshots' from online stores trying to sell me that extra item - I am 100% more likely to give it my attention than a plain text email. If something looks appealing, I'll give it a few seconds before hitting delete, whereas it would have been deleted with a glance.

So they both have their place, however with the ever rise of phishing and spam filters, limiting images only to be downloaded if explicitly selected, is the benefit of sending HTML email fading?

National Express make me sad

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:29:00 +0000

Travelling recently 5+ hours to London (and then back) brought me only disbelief and frustration. Granted perhaps an oversimplification but running a train service is not difficult.

I don't mean the logistics - signalling, pathing, crew and stock placement - all of these things I can only imagine to be very difficult to get right indeed.

What I do mean is the front-of-house, the service the regular punter sees and gets...

When a foreign sounding voice attempting to do some kind of Lloyd Grossman impression repeatedly accuses everyone on-board of being a criminal and how we will be punished and humiliated... somehow it doesn't set the right persona for relaxing travel.

I'm not a smoker, however I have to be repeatedly told that in no uncertain terms that if I were to light up I'd be responsible for delaying the whole train with an unscheduled stop where I'd be removed and taken away by the British Transport Plods.

I also am already in the knowledge that this is the 12:30 from Edinburgh, the 13:53 from Newcastle, the 27:73 from Abergavenny, and that if I don't have a ticket, or if my ticket is for a train operated by the same company going to exactly the same place exactly 2 minutes behind the very train that I am on - I will have to pay six gazillion pounds in penalty fares or be carted off by these wonderful sounding chaps at the BTP.

Lovely, but hold on a minute, for the seven-teen-th time, I've got a valid ticket, I'm sitting in the right seat on the right train - for god's sake shut-up.

Now if I haven't succumbed and convinced that in the greatest probability that I am actually in fact a criminal, I decide I'm a little peckish. So I navigate my way towards the buffet car, jumping over the trolley dolly that has decided to serve every passenger in the entire coach before 'spotting' me and letting me - and the half dozen others - past.

We're met by Cruella - but I had to get a day job - Devil, who promptly barks in our direction, 'There's no hot food, there's a bag of crisps or this muffin, what do you want?'. Well love I was looking for some food, but... Mind you she can't have been the happiest bunny in the world when the company she works for cannot provide her with, a till - 'cups will do', paper to record sales - 'napkins will do', or anything worthwhile to sell!

No, don't get me wrong, I'm against anyone who tries to beat the system. You're on a train going from A to B, then buy a ticket from A to B. You're in public, then don't smoke. But I strongly believe that it is demeaning and unnecessary to repeatedly bark everything I shouldn't or mustn't do over a public tannoy in a confined space such as a train, to a huge majority of law abiding people.

If there are people breaking the law they should be punished, yes, but for goodness sake let everyone else get on with their lives in peace.

PS: While your at it, buy some equipment for your employees to use, and take that bleeding PA system off that guard.

Social Networks, XFN and the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:29:00 +0000

After a rather odd post from me last time about the ring-fence, non-privacy that is Facebook (perhaps a d.construct fuelled blip) here's something as an alternative.

Since reading this article on the Digital Web Magazine, and more recently Tantek Celik's presentation at d.construct the possiblilty of an open social network has been once again running through my mind.

Potentially XFN has the power to give meaning to what we have and do on the web. If I were to sumble on to my blog, I'd be able to know that I've a presence on Last FM, and Facebook, and I built Pigeonbasics, and F1-Fans, etc, and vice versa if I were to start from my Last FM profile.

Where before you only had the details given on that specific site, now it's about the bigger picture, my presence on the entire web.

Mind there are some questions; do you want everything you do on the web to be accessible so easily? How would you block some parts from others - with confidence? How would you handle privacy? Or actually is anything we do on the net private?

With confusing conceptions about privacy, and security amongst the average net user, while I think XFN is useful, and good, I am sure there are a thousand that would find it scary and intrusive.

Having data on the web (having lots of it) and then having a meaning attached to that data is a big shift, and I think it'll take a very long time for it to be accepted (or even understood) amongst your average user.

Facebook I dont love you no more

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:17:00 +0000

You wooed me whilst I was at university, all my friends loved you. You brought us closer together, you meant finding people was easy - all important when finding yourself in a new country, around new people and a new life.

You gave a standard format for entering all my interesting(?) details, and finding the same from my friends.

What went wrong Facebook?

You're now a clutter of clashing pages and useless 'applications'. You don't even know who you are any more. I mean either roll out your 'new' persona or keep the old one - at least be consistent!

The power and potential from what I saw in you has since gone; how is something useful to me if I'm the only one I know that uses it? I already know about me...

...and now you know about me, but you seem overly intent on keeping it that way. Why can I not access my information to use on different online services...

Identity and privacy are rare commodities - I only have one identity, but are you really private when I don't own my information anymore? If I wish to give another website, another person, my details that is up to me, not you... you holding my data captive is surly an admission of exactly what you have always strived against. All your privacy and security you so loudly tout is null and void because you, not me, hold the key.

You hold me hostage now Facebook and that's why I don't love you no more.

Horizontal Scrolling

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:29:00 +0000

Came across this article on Smashing Magazine, it got me thinking.

How many internet users use a scrolling mouse, and actually use the scroll wheel?

It looks potentially like a really nice alternate way of presenting a website. Perhaps using it, with changes in the pipeline for CSS, would enable us to create horizontal-read columns a la magazine or newspaper. But a few tricks will have to be found with the behaviour of 'height:' and 'width:' otherwise smaller screens will vertically scroll, and larger screens will have lots of empty space (try this).

Certainly got me thinking of new possibilities for the web... :)

Internet Explorer rowspan nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Whilst working on some email templates the other day I found another Internet Explorer annoyance (bug?).

HTML emails are difficult to create because of the varying standards employed across email clients. And with Outlook 2007 that has dropped CSS support back something like 5 years, I decided to go back to basics - tables based layout, that'd work surely?

Nope, well not how I wanted them to.

The problem is, when you have a fixed sized cell and a cell in the column next to it spans more than one row, and a fluid width on that rowspan-ed column - the height of the 'fixed' cell becomes fluid. I did a mockup here, try resizing the page in Internet Explorer and see the red cell's height change once the text starts overflowing into the second row.

This isn't always a problem because you can easily put a nested table into the red cell to constrain it to the fixed dimensions. However imagine you are trying to line up images to create your design. and you need the bottom of the red cell column to marry up with the bottom of the 2nd column. Well it's beat me anyway....

CSS Graphs

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:46:00 +0000

At work I found myself needing to create some graphs from queries on a MySQL database. Having a search and generally not liking to creating images on the fly I stumbled upon this article. The method uses just an unordered list, and CSS. The only thing missing would be axes - any suggestions?

Are Lottery grants a hindrance to pigeon racing?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:55:00 +0000

More and more pigeon clubs are succeeding in their applications for Lottery grants under the Awards for All scheme. But what does this mean for pigeon racing and it's future?

Grants are being spent on Electronic Timing Systems, Transporters and the suchlike.

So before Awards for All how did clubs and fanciers manage? If there was any money left after the costs of the racing, showing and administration - that was not paid out in prize money(!), this would be held in a reserve. Also periodically there would be bird sales that would supplement this reserve. When things got tough - e.g. we need a new transporter now, otherwise we're not racing next season - a levy would be imposed on all members. That is, the amount of money needed, divided by the number of members, would be what each member would be required to pay.

These days, perhaps the levy is over - a short sighted solution if ever there was one - but are these Awards for All grants not the same thing?

It is my opinion that whilst pigeon clubs and federations have such an easy access to large amounts of cash, it will only escalate the short-sighted thinking that has had such a detrimental effect on pigeon keeping in recent years.

There is now no requirement to be prudent, to hold a reserve, a transporter fund - because when the day comes that the present transporter is written off, we can apply for a grant. It can only encourage the philosophy of running assets into the ground, and pay-out all funds as prizes.

What will happen when the money dries up?

While Awards for All are so readily available there is little argument with the short-sighted point of view. Spending money is unpopular, saving money is unthought of! which is sadly compounded by an aging membership. How do we restore strategic and long term thinking within the world of pigeon sport?

iPhone 2.0 Apps don't live up to expectations

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:48:00 +0000

After all the trouble updating my iPhone to 2.0 yesterday, it was about midnight when I first got my hands on the first Apps.

I downloaded, Twitterific, Facebook, iPint and a couple of others, and my overall reaction is that they're poor.

I expected fully functioning versions that encapsulated the simplicity of the iPhones interface, but no it seems you get patchy performance, and just about the same functionality as the Web Apps.

Lets start with Twitterific; I expected the full Twitter functionality natively on my iPhone. Instead I get a list of my 'friends' updates and (admittedly quite a nifty) interface for replying to them or twittering to my account. But comparing it to Hahlo (a Twitter iPhone Web App) I think it's a poor imitation.

And the Facebook App. I've become increasingly frustrated and annoyed with Facebook over the last few months, and their iPhone App kind of sums it all up. There's the Facebook web interface which we all log into using a browser that gives you everything (although it's getting increasingly cluttered and hard to find specific options - like my feed and privacy preferences). There's the iPhone Web App which was a stripped down, bare bones, this is your status, this is your feed (with only native Facebook app updates), you can view someone's contact info, or write on their wall - pretty much it. Well the new native iPhone version is actually pretty much exactly the same as the Web App (which was pretty poor lets be honest). Oh there is one thing - using it for around 10 mins last night it managed to crash around 4 or 5 times, lovely!

Their not all bad, take the game iPint - 'the application that turns your iPhone into a virtual glass of ice cold lager'. You have a pint at one end of a bar, you tilt your iPhone to slide your pint to your friend at the other end of the bar, trying to miss the various obstacles along the way. If you complete that you are rewarded with an iPint - your screen turns into a pint glass and it reacts (with the motion sensor) so you can drink it, etc just like a real virtual pint! Its a simple concept (I'm just not too good at explaining it - this Youtube video is better), and it doesn't serve any real purpose - but what it does do is show what can be achieved by iPhone developers, and it is executed brilliantly. I need to point out that I haven't tried any other games (I'm not going to pay £5.99 for Super Monkey Ball...) and I know they will probably be better than iPint.

So games work on the iPhone, but regular apps don't. Maybe its because they are trying to port concepts I already know and use to the iPhone? Maybe because I'm used to their online versions I expect to get the same, if not more out of them on the iPhone?

Either way I think there'll be many changes and differences between the iPhone Apps available today, to the ones available in a few months time - after all its a new platform, and a radically new interface - somehow I just expected a better first shot.

Concorde in Pieces

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:21:00 +0000

Dropping Gem at the airport tonight saw us grab a hot chocolate, flicking through the paper that was on the table I spotted an article on Concorde.

Of the twenty that were built, since coming out of service they've gone to various museums and attractions all over the world. Seven in both the United Kingdom and France, one in Germany and Barbados, one was used as spare parts, and the other three are in the US.

Back to the article - which was about the one at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. You should see it! Abandoned in an airfield since the museum decided they'd rather build a pier to dock some aircraft carrier or other (alright it is the 'Intripid'!). Anyhow, if the Telegraph and the Sun are anything to go by they've crashed a lorry into it which took the nose cone off; the cockpit windows have been smashed, and there is untold wildlife living in - well anywhere they can get into, mostly the engines!

Now I'd love to turn this into bashing the Americans for allowing all this to happen, but no I blame the French. The French that allowed debris to be left on their runway, debris that caused the crash, and grounded Corcorde in the first place.

Mind you (reading just now) it was a Continental Airlines (American) plane that the piece of debris fell off. In fact checking up on Wikipedia it was a piece from a modified McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (an American plane) number 3 engine - a modification that was made in "violation of the manufacturer's rules".

So America it was your fault, and it is again.

Social Social Web?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:08:00 +0000

Facebook, MySpace, LastFM... would work, if everyone you knew was a member. Problem is that is never going to happen. The thing is that social networks are walled gardens, built so that your data once in, stays in.

I want to retain ownership of my data! If I want sign up to a new better service next week I dont want to have to resubmit everything again, similarly the week after. Why can't my social networks be social?

XFN could be the way. Using microformats to tag the relationship between the content I own on the net. This is the best article I've seen to explain it, so come on Facebook, give me my data back...

Facebook Errors

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:30:00 +0000

Am I the only one getting 'The server dropped the connection' error on Facebook?? Virtually rendering the site useless as it's mostly by their ajax calls. After trying Safari, Camino and Firefox... no difference. Shape up Facebook =D

I dont like not getting my post!

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:25:00 +0000

Royal mail is in a crisis. In major need to change the structure of the company to cope with the recent opening the market to competition. So the workforce oppose these changes wanting the company to trundle as it had during its monopoly period. Is it not possible to understand that if the company and its workforce do not unite and embrace these modernisation measures, how will the company afford to keep their jobs when the competition press?

It would be nice if it was only themselves this affected; but these strikes and the furute of Royal Mail affects each and every subject of the British Isles. I, thousands others, and everyone else rely on the post each morning. Please go back to work!

Travel != Convenience - Global Warming

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:27:00 +0000

Having just watched the programme on telly kinda prompted to posting my feelings.

I was just looking at travelling to London the other day from St Andrews;
Car - £90 -- fuel only
Train - £119 -- cheapest ticket with a young persons railcard
Coach - £59 -- overnight
Plane - £66 -- easyjet

Which should I choose? I thought of convenience; however what is more inconvenient: 5 hours on the train, or 1 hour flying? £59 on the coach, or being £90 lighter and having to drive 16 hours?

Two criteria of convenience; time and price.

Time
------
Plane - 2 hrs
Train - 10 hrs
Car - 16 hrs
Coach - 18 hours

Price
------
Coach - £59
Plane - £66
Car - £90
Train - £119

Plane by far is the most convenient option, although granted you will probably need to fork out for a taxi or bus/train to get to either airport.

CO2 emmited
------------
Train - 28kg
Coach - 56kg
Car - 174kg
Plane - 600kg

(figures from http://www.carbonfootprint.com)

So the train is the most 'convenient' option for the environment; huh the most expensive, and plane the worst. Surely thats a topsy turvy world?!

I just cant my head around that it costs more to get a train, 160+ year old technology, than coordinating a great hulk of metal into and out of the sky, reaching 28,000ft, doing 400mph; and not just costing more, its double the amount!

('!=' is NOT)

early bird

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:34:00 +0000

Howcome the birds start singing at around 1am just outside my window?

It's the middle of winter here in Scotland and it wont be light for another 6-7 hours or so!

Early bird.... but...!!

Stupidity!

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:30:00 +0000

I'm tempted to say that the whole world has gone mad; but maybe its just me and all of this is *completely normal*...

First there was the virtual bonfire; "A rugby club in Devon is to hold a "virtual bonfire" on Guy Fawkes night amid concerns over the cost of meeting health and safety rules." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6076746.stm

The village Christmas party that must advertise that mince pies may contain nuts and suet pastry; and also must regulate the temperature of hot chocolate... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/6207970.stm

The town (Scarborough) that cannot hold a Christmas lights 'switch-on' because it is too popular... "A Christmas lights switch-on has been cancelled on health and safety grounds because it is too popular." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/6138914.stm

Really why are we trying to legislate for common sense? We can fall over in the street and get a big fat cheque in compensation, so people naturally are going out, removing themselves from common sense, and basically trying their luck.

Or on the other hand we are so scared that someone possibly could do something *because we didn’t explicitly tell them not to* and fear that such a compensation claim could fall against us; that we are coming up with this mindless rubbish?

If I for example bought a hot drink from a reputable drive through establishment ;D and then drove away, putting this *hot drink* between my legs to stop it going all over the car. Then having to stop suddenly to avoid someone’s uncontrollable little brat running into the road (we're digressing) and spilling the hot drink on myself. I would be too embarrassed to even consider filing a claim against; 1) the child for causing harm and serious shock to many parts of my system(!), or 2) the establishment that sold me the drink because the drink was hot!

Where is the shame that should be bestowed on these outrageous people making these stupid claims, making us - every day working normal every day people - have to abide by stupid health and safety, risk assessment, insurance claim, liability lunacy!