This may be the coolest shopping cart system I have seen. It’s an example of what can be done using Adobe Flex 2.

Click on the ‘Products’ link and then play around. Play with the filters on the left and watch it update the browse section on the right. For example, slide the price bar down to $300 dollars and you now only have 5 phones to choose from. Next Click the ‘Camera’ required feature and you have but 2 phones to choose from. Now, add the Nokia 3220 to your shopping cart. Pretty cool eh?!

This may be one of the greatest Flash games thingymajigs ever. Great physics work and total addicting fun. I have probably spent more time playing with this than any other Flash game I can remember.

So here’s how it works:

Use the pencil (in the menu up top) to draw a sledding path. Start in the top left and drag to the bottom right. Then click the start button and watch your sledder go. Simple right? But, now get crazy with it; try adding jumps! Use the hand tool to move over and get more room to make your sledding path even bigger. I had the guy ridding a trail for about 5 minutes. He went on all sorts of jumps and pulled off some crazy moves.

FYI, There is no eraser tool; too bad. So use the disk to save your trail when you have something good. It only saves local so you can’t share trails. Too bad again. You will want to save often since there is no eraser tool.

Have fun!!

[ PLAY ON ]

I have been designing and developing websites for the past eight years. I would like to think that I’m good at it. But, the moment I start to gain confidence and think that I have some talent, images of past American Idol contestants telling Simon Cowell that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, that they really do have talent start to pop into my head.

One thing that shakes my confidence is the fact that I work with two really smart guys on my team. I mean really smart; the guys at Enron may be “The smartest guys in the room”, but my boss could hold his own in that room.

After eight years and a lot of geek books on the shelf, I still feel like I don’t know anything. I’m a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type guy. I know ASP.NET and C#, but not like Dino or Scott. I know Flash and ActionScript, but not like Keith or Shane. I know HTML and CSS, but not like Veerle or Molly. I know SEO and Web Marketing but not like Matt or Barry.

I often wonder which is better. Is it better to be a Renaissance man or would one be better served to be a master in one area of focus? I imagine that the Renaissance man would have an easier time finding a job, because after all, there are more areas he can get plugged into. But, the master would probably command more money.

If I had to give myself a grade in each area the report card would be as follows:

- HTML/CSS: A
- CSS Layouts: B-
- JavaScript: C
- ASP.NET: B-
- C#: C
- Flash: A
- ActionScript: B+
- SEO/Web Marketing: B+
- XML: C
- PHP: D
- Ajax: D

I think I will revisit this geek report card each year and see how I have progressed. I would like to improve my PHP and Ajax skills.

Before I finish this post I think it worth mentioning that I do realize that there are more important things in life than to be the uber nerd. That it’s more important to score high marks in being a good husband and now father. That it’s more important to spend time in the Good book than any geek book.

Why don’t I get MySpace? Really, can you guys enlighten me, because I don’t get it.

MySpace allows its users to create a profile page where they can then share their music, videos, pics and blog entries with others. Others are then welcome to come by and leave messages creating a ‘social network’ of sorts.

Two musicians I really like, Shawn McDonald and Mat Kearney both have MySpace pages that I view from time to time. The main reason I visit their MySpace pages are to see if they are ever going to be in Colorado. They don’t seem to make it to the mountain state that often. However, I did catch Shawn in Fort Collins last year…

On the surface MySpace sounds good – so why don’t I get it? I think it has something to do with all the pages are so disorganized and frankly ugly to look at. It reminds me of the old GeoCities sites. Yuck. Why not just create a WordPress blog where you have more control?

What am I missing here, because MySpace seems to be the talk of the town and I just don’t get it.

ActionScript is executed by the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) built into the Flash Player. AVM1, the virtual machine used to execute legacy ActionScript code, powers Flash Player today and makes possible a wide range of interactive media and rich Internet applications.

However, developers have started to push AVM1 to its limits; their project requirements now demand a major breakthrough. ActionScript 3.0 introduces a new highly optimized ActionScript Virtual Machine, AVM2, which dramatically exceeds the performance possible with AVM1. As a result, ActionScript 3.0 code executes up to 10 times faster than legacy ActionScript code.

[ more here ] [ and here ]

I have finally finished the webPod nano version. Now I would like to create a WordPress plugin out of it. I’m not much of a PHP programmer, so if you would like to help me, please say so.

UPDATE:
I have made a black version of it now too, but I still need to make it into a parameter so you can decide whether to use the white version of the black vesion.