Boaz Sender

Business Value of Open Web Tech Post

2011-11-22T00:00:00-05:00

I have a new guest post on the Media Temple Residence site on the business value of open web tech:

http://mtresidence.net/the-business-value-of-open-web-technology

LAMP Server Setup

2011-08-01T00:00:00-04:00

I've gotten sick of looking up the boilerplate packages that I install everytime I do a LAMP server. For reverence, I do:

$ sudo aptitude update $ sudo aptitude install apache2 $ sudo aptitude install php5 php5-mysql php5-dev php5-curl php5-gd php5-imagick php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-mhash php5-pspell php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl $ sudo aptitude install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient15-dev

Google Authsub Post

2011-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

I posted a walkthrough of authenticating with the Google Authsub API to get google contacts today on the Bocoup Weblog:

http://weblog.bocoup.com/implementing-the-google-contacts-authsub-flow-with-jquery

iCloud Is Bad For The Open Web

2011-06-07T00:00:00-04:00

Apple's iCloud announcement yesterday brings Apple into closer competition with Google for the cloud user. Google's version of iCloud is Google Apps, Google Music and host of other open web applications that are implicitly cloud based.

OSX Lion with iCloud is Apple's answer to the Chrome laptop. The big difference is that software for the Chrome laptop is built using free open web technology like HTML5 and HTTP that is linkable- you can link directly to content on the open web. This is a fundamental tenet of HTTP that contrasts software for OSX which uses closed Apple technologies that developers have to pay for, and which create walled gardens around content.

Apple has yet to announce any open web programming interfaces.

When I talk about open web software, I am talking about open technologies (not necessarily open content policies). Open web technologies are free for developers to use, and have open protocols like HTTP baked in. This backbone of open technology allows software developers to build a web of interconnected information and knowledge. This web is one of the greatest accomplishments of our time. Apple's iCloud breaks this web.

Today, native iOS and OSX software has a much better user experience than open web software. In general, Native iOS and OSX software is faster, more responsive, and works better offline.

All these features- speed, responsiveness and offline support- are becoming increasingly possible with open web technology. As the open web platform reaches out of the browser to provide developers with access to low level features of computer hardware, open web software has the opportunity to outshine native software.

Together, we can build applications that uses open technology to store content for users, so that users have the option to make their content part of the open web baked right into how their content is stored.

JSConf US 2011

2011-04-04T00:00:00-04:00

I attended JSConf US and NodeConf 2011 in Portland last week. There was a really moving and exciting feeling in the air there around JS.next, and the future of the JavaScript community; creating facilities in the language to support a JavaScript core, and coming together to build that core.

Andrew Dupont gave an enormously insightful and visionary talk; reviewing the history of the JavaScript community extending built ins, describing our coding practices culture divisive and calling for a unified JavaScript core of built in extensions.

Rebecca Murphey's talk on Modern JavaScript solidified this call to action, explaining that as a community, we have misplaced value on the wrong activity in JavaScript; creating new JavaScript libraries instead of working on what we already have– solidifying a JavaScript core utility.

JavaScript Rotoscoping Tool

2011-03-29T00:00:00-04:00

I posted a hello world for canvas based rotoscoping with Popcorn.js today on the Bocoup Weblog:

http://weblog.bocoup.com/javascript-rotoscoping-tool

The demo is up on Code.bocoup.com

Opening For The Mayor

2011-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Mayor Menino awarded the Welcome Home Challenge this week. The ceremony was held at the Bocoup Loft, and I was asked to introduce him.

Ben Alman took pictures:

Level up.

I posted to the Bocoup Weblog about it, too.

Datauri.com

2010-12-21T00:00:00-05:00

I build a handy little tool for converting files into data URIs this weekend:

Datauri.com

I posted a walk through of the code to the Bocoup Weblog.

There is some argument about the terminology here. The actual browser FileReader host API method for doing this is called readAsDataURL, but it's not really a universal resource "locator". It's more of an "indicator" describing the data inline. More importantly, "dataurl.com" was taken.

Webkit Radial Gradients

2010-08-17T00:00:00-04:00

I was inspired by Annevk's nifty <style contenteditable> trick and Max Voltar's tweet about inset box shadows to do a little inset/gradient editor:

boaz.se/nder/s.miscellaneous/i-<3-inset/

In the process I struggled a lot with the syntax for doing CSS radial gradients in webkit, so I posted a walk through of them to the Bocoup Weblog.

Announcing jQuery Twitter Search Plugin

2010-08-10T00:00:00-04:00

I am proud to announce the jQuery Twitter Search Plugin:

Github

Bocoup Weblog Post

Code.bocoup.com

Raphael.js Graphing Hack

2010-06-21T00:00:00-04:00

I had to implement an unsupported feature in the Raphael.js graphing library for a client recently. The graphing libraries, as wonderful as they are, are more of demo code then they are library code, so it took a lot of stack tracing and reverse API reading.

I've documented the process on the Bocoup Weblog:

http://weblog.bocoup.com/alternate-x-axis-intervals-in-g-raphael-js-linechart

Highschool Math Education with JavaScript

2010-03-06T00:00:00-05:00

I have been talking with some of my coworkers, and a highschool math teacher friend of mine about developing a math curriculum for highschoolers based on JavaScript. The premise is that JavaScript programming is cool because your can build web applications with it, and implementing algorithms with JavaScript functions is more meaningful then memorizing textbook algorithms.

I fleshed out the idea with them on the Bocoup Weblog:

http://weblog.bocoup.com/long-division-in-javascript

My jQuery.org Design Is Live

2010-01-14T00:00:00-05:00

I am really honored to have had the opportunity to work with the jQuery team to design the new jQuery.org website which launched today in honor of jQuery's 4th birthday.

I also spent a couple of days last week sprinting with the team on documentation rewrites, and a design update to the jQuery API site which was released today. I am still working on the UI for the API site, with quick search, keyboard navigation and shortcuts coming soon.

The Internet as Desktop

2008-10-15T00:00:00-04:00

I have published a new article to the htmltimes.com:

http://htmltimes.com/google-docs-gears-fluid.php

HTML Special Characters

2008-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

I have published my first article to the htmltimes.com:

http://htmltimes.com/html-special-characters.php

Kaibosh On IE6

2008-03-31T00:00:00-04:00

I have published a new article to the htmltimes.com:

http://htmltimes.com/detecting-ie6.<?php ?>

Chris Messina Interview

2008-02-09T00:00:00-05:00

I have published a new article to the htmltimes.com:

http://htmltimes.com/chris-messina.php