OS X menu items

Date: 2005 07 25

In case your menu bar is not yet crowded enough this will get you there quickly. It is not the latest but does feature some of the best. OS X only I am afraid.

Linklog: Read My Antennæ

Date: 2005 07 25

A very nice idea picking up some serious speed now: “Linklog: Read My Antennæ” is an open blog where everybody is invited to contribute sites to a growing list of what I found to be a compelling archive of interesting sites. First brought to my attention by somebody posting a link my dear pilots I have seen it appear all over the place recently.  I hope it does not get compromised with the success as that will inevitably attract the spammers… but for now it is just good. Go share ...

version 4 goes live

Date: 2005 07 25

Tags: plasticshore,anouncement,launch,design

version 4 finally goes live - or rather sneaks its way up to the server on a late sunday night. As always there are still lots of little things to do and this post is actually not the big announcement yet. That will come when those little glitches are ironed out. But I needed to send out a quick apology to all subscribers of my rss feed who might have received some ancient posts several times - sorry for that.
Since word is out anyway please have a look around and let me know if there is anything missing or broken. I am glad it finally happened and can’t wait now to really get it going again. All the best from London.

Comments for version 4 goes live

I am still busy tweaking things around. Nothing major though, just colours, sizes, spacing, etc…
The big ones missing are the photo gallery which I want to have before going to Damascus and the all new exploration/work section where I plan to document.. well… guess what :)

Comment by alex on 2005 07 30

atomless blog

Date: 2005 07 24

James has started this blog in addition to his well known atomless.com. The blog is documenting his research fellowship at the Digital Research Unit in Huddersfield, where he now is an “Artist Not Quite In Residence”.
Since I have met James shortly after arriving in London he has never failed to impress me on many levels. Kudos.

honeytalks

Date: 2005 07 24

Emma has joined the fun with her all new arty blog. Until recently with soda she has now moved on over to the ICA and we miss her badly.

Comments for honeytalks

I miss you guys too!
:-(

Comment by Emma on 2005 07 25

hallogabel.de

Date: 2005 06 16

Christian Flaccus experimenting away. There are so many gems to find behind those many little icons… I can only encourage everybody to do so. As the youngest member of my beloved snk he is pushing the limits on a daily basis. 

pictomat

Date: 2005 06 16

ahhh. what can I say? most lovely print- and screendesign by our good friend konstanze läufer. Go and be enchanted…

google vs yahoo

Date: 2005 04 11

Tags: google,yahoo,mashup,plasticshore

http://www.langreiter.com/exec/yahoo-vs-google.html?q=plasticshore

compare google’s and yahoo’s search results

Comments for google vs yahoo

Nice tool

Comment by Angel on 2006 04 06

what is a blog?

Date: 2005 04 10

Tags: ars technica,blog

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/174096756/m/310009372731

I would say this is definitely a blog. But that is not a proper answer to the question. Maybe you find one in ars technica’s growing collection of definitions.

satellite view

Date: 2005 04 05

Tags: google,maps,web 2.0,service,london,uk,chicago,us

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=525+w+stratford+place,chicago,+IL+60657&spn=0.005450248718261719,0.007832050323486328&t=k&hl=en

Some time ago Google purchased Keyhole, an amazing application allowing you to zoom into real satellite images of various regions around the world. Ever since then I was waiting for them to release a Mac version. But instead they did something even better. Google integrated the Keyhole imagery into Google Maps so that you now not only get the best mapping experience to date but also a high res image of the area (metropolitan areas are available in better resolutions).
The only flaw: It is still limited to North America so I can’t take a peek at London. But my previous location in Chicago is available in brilliant quality.

Comments for satellite view

Ist tatsächlich brilliant. Hoffentlich gibt’s das bald für Europa. Dann weiß ich endlich, was die Nachbarn so zum Frühstück auf’s Brot schmieren.

It’s really brilliant. I hope it will be avaliable for Europe soon. Then I’m finally going to know what my neighbours are having for breakfast.

Comment by felix on 2005 04 08

And remind me so many good memories ... Like Mondays at Stratford!

Kisses,

Bea

Comment by Bea on 2005 04 20

fresh searching

Date: 2005 03 31

Tags: clusty,search,service

http://clusty.com/

This might be old news but it was new to me:clusty.com (from clustering) searches various other search engines (not very new) and clusters the results by topic and other means. That is a great feature and apparently works very well - at least with my few initial test searches it did.  There is a lot of other things on offer, all nicely hidden behind an unobtrusive interface. I would not expect this to be a serious contender for google (yet) but I definitely see a niche for them to live in. 

XHTML (ajax) Chat sources for download

Date: 2005 03 21

Tags: project,web 2.0,project,design,work,developemnt,xhtml,css,chat,php,plasticshore,tutorial,download

After a slow start (following the announcement of the XHTML (ajax) Chat) things got finally busy. I had so many requests that I have decided to offer the complete sources for download. As everything on plasticshore I am releasing it under the always same creative commons license.

Please be mindful that I am not a developer but a designer. My code might not live up to any standards and commenting is something I have only learned recently :)
This is not a one click install solution for the casual surfer but something that can be set up and run by anybody with a good understanding of PHP and mySQL.

Please reference me with a link to plasticshore if you find this useful or inspiring and let me know what you have done with it.

Enough said! Download the project as a ziparchive.

Comments for XHTML (ajax) Chat sources for download

My code might not live up to any standards and commenting is something I have only learned recently :) ***—as far as i’m concerned, there shouldn’t be any standards; not even rules or even boundaries.

as a designer who successfully made an AJAX application, i believe you’ve just proven that we should all look at the web through a new perspective: borderless!

do visit my website at http://saljubiru.kroni.biz next month as i try to understand the magic behind AJAX for a while - starting with your script.

a million thanks to you

Comment by fariz on 2005 03 21

Well, it works.

A reminder for everyone, since explicit instructions aren’t given:

(1) db.php needs to be setup with your mysql information.

(2) run initdb.php before testing the chat.

Thanks for letting us play with this.  Let’s see what we can do :)

Comment by Michael Greene on 2005 03 22

This WILL come in handy ;)

Comment by phroggar on 2005 03 22

congratulations! this is a good example

Comment by Ignacio on 2005 04 07

Hello. Great script! I love it.

Is a timestamp for each entry possible? It helps a lot to know the time that each post was made.

Thanks a lot!

Comment by qwertyuiop on 2005 04 10

Hello

This is a very nice script i find !

If you use like me a server with the registar_global = Off, you should change 2 var. The first in the page getchatdata.php change :

if (!$lastID) {

$lastID = 0;

}

to

if (!$_GET[lastID]) {

$lastID = 0;

}

Then, in page sendchatdata.php, change this :

$name = $n;

$text = $c;

To :

$name = $_POST[n];

$text = $_POST[c];

Good luck ;)

Comment by Sky on 2005 04 13

I just spent an hour fitting the basic idea of your beautiful Chat into my wordpress blog. You can check it out at http://blog.jalenack.com ...The live shoutbox. Cool, and thanks again alexander!

Comment by jalenack on 2005 07 27

Hello, I have developed an AJAX chat program partly inspired by this one here. You can find the code and installation instructions at:
http://www.cyberhostel.com/ajaxchat.html

Check it out and AJAX hard.

Comment by julian on 2005 07 27

do you reckon it could be modified to integrate with lussumo’s new open-source forum… (http://getvanilla.com/)

Comment by 3stripe on 2005 07 27

Thanks for the tip for those who have Register Globals off. Just to clarify, for getchatdata.php, there are actually TWO variables that need to be changed.

Variable 1:
if (!$lastID) {
$lastID = 0;
}
to
if (!$_GET[lastID]) {
$lastID = 0;
}

Variable 2:
getData($lastID);
to
getDate($_GET[lastID]);

-------------------------------
However, instead of changing both you could leave each the way they are, and simply put the following just after the header()s.

$lastID = $_GET[lastID];

Hope that helps anybody else who had some difficulty with register_globals off.

Comment by Scott Motte on 2005 07 27

I made, as you asked, so that it goes to the bottom also focus is always rerecieved to the message field so you can just keep typing.

Comment by fireshark on 2005 08 25

Hi,

I am interested in turning this demo into a full chat program. Has anyone managed to get the text to add to the bottom of the page?

Comment by Taval on 2005 09 21

To get the text on the bottom,edit scripts.js and change this line:
insertO.insertBefore(oLi, insertO.firstChild);
to this:
insertO.appendChild(oLi);

Comment by codewolf on 2005 10 15

Yeah, I figured that out. I made some other changes as well so it looked more like a chat program.

Comment by Taval on 2005 10 15

you might want to consider adding:

document.chatForm.chatbarText.focus();

at the end of the checkStatus function.

This will re-focus to the msg input after hitting submit/return. This way you can type, hit return, type, hit return, etc. without having to put cursor back to input box.

Comment by peter on 2005 10 25

ok, maybe not the best place to add the .focus line; since i think it constantly returns focus to msg box - which prevents you from EVER moving cursor out of the box.

perhaps at end of sendComment function would make more sense.

Comment by peter on 2005 10 25

i am getting a bug some times when i type something it comes up 3 4 times its hare but happens is it a bug or did i miss anything ?

Comment by Prix on 2005 11 03

Hi Prix. I have not heard this before so it is not a known bug (known to me that is). Has anybody else encountered this or even solved it?

Comment by alex on 2005 11 04

minor “bug” that i just noticed… the routine “buffers” CR’s.

in other words if you accidentally hit CR (submit) a few times; then the next msg’s that you type will get sucked in 1 character at a time.

Not sure if this is an issue with this script or with browsers - need to test a bit more.

Comment by peter on 2005 11 29

not minor it happens a lot i was thinking about that too the enter thing but i was studing about PhP live and they seems to use this way to but there is no problem at it…

Comment by Prix on 2005 11 29

Nice Application.
I am very intresed in ajax programming.
If i want to start an application in ajax
can you suggest me how can proceed step
by step.

Comment by Santhosh Kumar T on 2005 12 02

I’ve created a chat application using Ajax. It don’t require a server to be used and can be integrated in any simple web page.

Check it out at: http://www.neochats.com

Tell me how useful you find it.

Julien

Comment by julien on 2005 12 03

I can confirm that there is a bug when you hit enter multiple times before entering text.  It then spits out each character as you type it into the output.  If anyone has found a way to fix this please let everyone know!

thanks,
jeff

Comment by Jeff on 2005 12 03

hi
first of all, thx alex for the great script.
i noticed the bug mentioned by jeff.

try this:
in [scripts.js ->function sendComment]
instead of:
} else {
setTimeout(’sendComment();’,1000);
}
write this:
} else if (currentChatText != ‘’) {
setTimeout(’sendComment();’,1000);
}

WHY?
in [scripts.js ->function sendComment] there is an if clause.
if you have a message (currentChatText != ‘’)
&&
(httpSendChat.readyState == 4 || httpSendChat.readyState == 0)
wich means, i think, that it is possible to send the message, then the scripts sends it -> httpSendChat.open ... .
but, if one of the condition [or both] are false, then the script executes the else part.
I think that nothing should be executed if
currentChatText == ‘’ [you have nothing to send.]

the else part is important, because if you have a message and it is not possible to send it now, then the function calls itself after a second [tries to send the message again].

Hope the explanation was clear and this solves the bug.
Alex, thx again

Comment by mihai on 2005 12 07

Mihai’s fix worked for me.  Thanks for looking into that.

Jeff

Comment by Jeff on 2005 12 07

Thanks Mihai!
I was not aware of this bug but I am glad you found a solution already. I am getting a lot of support requests regarding the chat and can simply not always handle it in a timely manner. It is good to see people helping each other out. And I am still thrilled to see how it inspires so many.
Thank you very much!

Comment by alex on 2005 12 07

How would you go about displaying the timestamp?  I see that it is included in the database but i’m not sure how to display it in the chat output.

Also, how do you implement the fading technique that a lot of other ajax chats are using?  The joomla ajax shoutbox does this and it’s pretty cool.

Thanks,
Jeff

Comment by Jeff on 2005 12 07

I am having trouble with lastID variable i am not recieving proper value in it it is giving me -1 while i need latest inserted id value in db. can anybody help me

Comment by mustafa on 2005 12 13

folded in a timestamp into the display.

http://24.199.11.44/ac/

ian rotea (http://www.rotea.com) started work on the timestamp. i helped finish it.

Comment by jp on 2005 12 13

Hi all, great AJAX program! I had a question… in my CSS set the overflow to “scroll” which scrolls the chat up and down. Then, I followed the instructions on here on how to make the text begin from the bottom instead of the top. However, my scroll bar will not follow the text. In other words, I have to manually bring the scroll bar down to read any new chats. Is there a fix for this?

Thanks!
-Andy

Comment by Andy Hodges on 2005 12 19

Ok, I think I figured out how to keep the scroll at the bottom when new text arrives.

If I am doing this wrong, please tell me. Thanks!

Under the “InsertNewContent” function, I added the following as the last code…

thisscroll = document.getElementById("chatoutput");
thisscroll.scrollTop = thisscroll.scrollHeight;

That seems to work.

-Andy

Comment by Andy Hodges on 2005 12 19

One other problem with the scroll, this might overload their buffer sooner or later, won’t it? Or is there a flush?

-Andy

Comment by Andy Hodges on 2005 12 19

i have a question, would anybody know how to tie this into an existing database, so that there is no guest basically, and it just displays the logged in user’s name?

thanks, :)

Comment by sean on 2005 12 19

I am doing something similar Sean. For example, I run a vBulletin site that already has users. You can connect to the existing database by modifying the PHP files, but that would be a lot of work. For me, I am looking for the “cookie” that’s stored in vBulletin. If the cookie exists, then I’m displaying their name (from stored cookie) in the “Your Name” box.

-Andy

Comment by Andy Hodges on 2005 12 19

If you take a look at Joomla (http://www.joomla.org), they have an Ajax chat module that works great.  It uses the user database from Joomla and has the option to only let registered Joomla users to chat.  You might want to take a look at the module and see how it interacts with Joomla.

The actual Ajax chat is found here: http://www.arabic-lounge.com/

The module for Joomla is found here:
http://developer.joomla.org/sf/projects/smo_ajax_shoutbox

Jeff

Comment by Jeff on 2005 12 19

thanks for the info i appreciate it, another question though, ummmm

for some reason, the chat won’t start on my server, i ran the initDB.php file, but, its just like its not communicating with the db for some reason, but, i’m getting no errors, any suggestions or ideas???

thanks,
sean

Comment by sean on 2005 12 21

this is very intresting idea

Comment by denia on 2006 01 05

Looks good. Will use the basic idea as part of a live forum.
I thought why call it chat when I can call it a forum with features.

I’ll have to change it to ASP.NET first lol

Comment by Damien Jorgensen on 2006 03 10

Excelent source.

Comment by Angel on 2006 04 04

T_T thanx a lot for your example because this is so help me..
thanx a lot.. ^-^
thanx God, finally I can finish the task from my lecturer ~_^

Comment by nie on 2006 04 06

yes it is a good example

excellent work.....

Comment by asif on 2006 05 21

Hi guys,

I just want to let you know that I just created a new tutorial that walks you through the steps of creating an ASP.NET Chat application using AJAX. It doesn’t just show you how to use AJAX in a chat app but also how to make an ASP.NET control AJAX-enabled. In this example, I make a DataGrid turn into a DataGrid AJAX enabled.
To launch the tutorial, go to http://www.KYNOU.com, click on the “Tutorial Index” link, click on the AJAX node in the tree and click on the “Select” button next to the tutorial called “Ajax enabled DataGrid - Chat Application Example”.
Keep in mind that this site is a search engine, so another way to find the tutorial (or even other tutorials) is by searching for it.

I hope you guys like it :)

Comment by LeProgrammeur on 2006 05 26

Sorry people..
but all this ajax stuff is really big shit!

its just for playing

but not to make money

so ..

crap

Comment by Svens on 2006 05 28

lol, Svens. I manage to make over $5k a month from it! so perhaps ajax isnt so bad!

Comment by Damien Jorgensen on 2006 05 28

"as far as i’m concerned, there shouldn’t be any standards; not even rules or even boundaries. --Fariz”

There should be standards of work. Imagine if you went into a restaurant and they didn’t have standards of hygiene, you would be annoyed and walk straight back out. The idea of standards is to maintain a clean and usable environment in the developer industry of the Web.

Anyway, great job on the Chat system.

Comment by mik on 2006 06 02

Hello all!
Just letting you know that I posted a tutorial walking through the steps to create a chat application using AJAX with a DataGrid.
If you want to talk to me go to the chat room of the same website. I try to spend as much time as I can.
:)
http://www.kynou.com/GetTutorial.aspx?TutorialID=59

Comment by LeProgrammeur on 2006 06 11

hi everyone!
It’s really a great script.But I got several problems.Could anyone help,pls?

First, it wasn’t working for me then I changed getChatData.php and sendChatData.php.

But know the problem is, when I send the first message everything is fine but it doesn’t show any message after the first one! I have to refresh the page to see the others!Then I can again send one message which will be displayed without refreshing!!

any ideas about that?

Comment by RonnyZenn on 2006 06 14

Thanks for the source. Perhaps we’ll talk sometime. Webmaster...days.

Comment by ed wilson on 2006 07 01

Im sory im test comment only.

Comment by test on 2006 07 03

very nice matey.
Thanks for sharing with the community!

Comment by Ryan on 2006 07 05

Hi guys!

Just want to share with you that I developed a control that works like a container. All ASP.NET controls that you drop into this container will automatically become AJAX-enabled.
Check out the article at http://www.KYNOU.com

I hope this helps

:)

Comment by Eric Viegas on 2006 07 09

estoy aprendiendo ajax

Comment by KENNY on 2006 07 18

How do I add timestamps to the chat, do I have to make a new function in the javascript?

Comment by Alex on 2006 08 04

Good script, thank’s . I am very happy use your script. may be , you can give the documentation about your script. Oke..

Comment by sandino berutu on 2006 08 08

write
clearTimeout(mTimer);
in place of
clearInterval(mTimer);

in Javascript function handleSendChat()

Importantly!!

Comment by Pazout on 2006 08 15

Hey great app. Alex. I love it’s simplicity and ability to be modified to each persons need relatively easily!!!

I have the same problem as RonnyZenn, however. The app works great if I post a comment it displays it, however, if I post a comment from a different computer it doesn’t display it on the first computer unless I type in a new comment. On your demo it looks like it is checking the server every 4 seconds for new info, however, when I install it on my machine it doesn’t seem to do this.

Any ideas on how to resolve this?

Much appreciation.
Bobo

Comment by Bobo on 2006 08 23

Man, this is really cool. Thanks for this!

Comment by 2M3 on 2006 09 05

Working.  I find chat at last. Hurra! Thanks

Comment by WFE on 2006 10 15

Wow...This is really cool! I love the live preview too, thats cool. Everything works great, tested it, will be adding it to my site, after I make a few changes. Have to make it check my database for registered users and such. Just wanted to say thanks for the awesome script.

Comment by myself on 2006 10 22

quick question, I have a database with registered users, how would I go about putting their profile beside their name? I can’t seem to figure it out…

Comment by myself on 2006 10 22

also, would it be possible to add in chat whispering some how? make it so only you and the other person can see the messages?

Comment by myself on 2006 10 22

another question...how do you get it to say when someone enters or leaves the chat?

Comment by myself on 2006 10 22

Hello, i stumbled across this is a script which i think is great.
One thing i’d like to do is add 2 dynamic links to the bottom right of each blue box. The links would be to a pop up window, and they would pass the value of each id, so would be something like
popupwindow.php?id=the_id_of_each_blue_box

My question is how would i go about adding these links. At the moment, i’m struggling just to add any additional static text to them.

Any help or pointers would be grand.

thanks,

Coris.

Comment by Coris on 2006 10 26

This is a great chat, i would like to thanks plasticshore for this great script, i have it working, and i change it to PostgreSQL database, and make some modification to the script, but i have the same error like RonnyZenn, the first message works great, but then i have to refresh the page to see the other messages i put on it.... ANy idea people??????? thanks and regards from Guadalajara jalisco Mexico (if anyone want tequila just tell me)

Comment by Adnhack on 2007 01 03

You can find full reviews about this article at the following link
XHTML ajax chat sources for download

Comment by ajaxlines on 2007 01 27

hi.. thx for the app

Comment by Erwin Draft on 2007 01 29

to add timestamps to the chat, there are juz several things that need to be changed.
1. getChatData.php (add this line)
$time = $row[1];
echo $id.” ---".$name." ---".$text." ---".$time." ---”;
2. script.js
at insertNewContent function //CHANGE THIS LINE

function insertNewContent(liName,liText,liTime)
oName = document.createTextNode(liName+’ (’+liTime+’) : ‘);

at function handlehHttpReceiveChat() // CHANGE THIS LINE
for(i=0;i < (results.length-1);i=i+4) { //goes through the result one message at a time
insertNewContent(results[i+1],results[i+2],results[i+3]); //inserts the new content into the page
}
lastID = results[results.length-5];

Sorry for the mess, but i hope it could help.

Comment by Erwin Draft on 2007 01 29

Hi...is there a way to have a sign-in, so only people with a username/password can get in?
Thanks!

Comment by Harvey the White Rabbit on 2007 02 02

So Great Man!! REally Great!!

Comment by Romeo on 2007 02 04

well... this is kewl

Comment by mohd on 2007 02 07

what a legend ... ur posting still become everybodies favorite for almost 3 years !
i read several books about AJAX and they sugested their readers to visit and download your AJAX Application .. thats mean u r a guru for some coders outhere…

u rockz !

Comment by kura2ninja on 2007 02 07

great

Comment by kan on 2007 03 08

Has anyone gotten the timestamp to display.  I tried Erwin’s mod with no success.  If anyone has gotten the timestamp displayed, I would appreciate if you could share what you did to succeed.

Thanks

Comment by Ed on 2007 03 11

Never mind about the timestamp.  Erwin’s instructions work.

Comment by Ed on 2007 03 12

hello guyes,

its great script and im enjoying it so much,
i have been doing some changes which i will submit to you when its completed.

however i need to know how i could add alert sound for each message if the window is blur or if the window is not in focus.

best regards

Comment by sarah on 2007 04 25

chicago sun times

Date: 2005 03 19

Tags: fun,video,chicago,usa,sun times,demolition,time lapse

http://www.pixelplay.org/jeff/suntimes/noSound.html

This might not mean a lot to anybody who has not lived in Chicago - but even then it is still an interesting time lapse movie.

Comments for chicago sun times

sad!

Do you know what is going to take palce instead?

Comment by felix on 2005 03 20

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=266862

Comment by Aaron on 2005 03 21

Here is another big one (just smagoing up in chicago too! - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=149542

And interestingly enough, the Chicago skyline was just voted 4th best worldwide… http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/sr/

Comment by Aaron on 2005 03 23

the chat

Date: 2005 03 12

Tags: chat,php,download,xhtml,css,ajax,web 2.0,plasticshore,download,javascript

chat imageUPDATE: After many requests you can now download the sources for this project.
Ever since Google released “Google suggest” and “Google maps” the XMLhttpRequest object was all over the place. I spotted many smart applications since then utilising this exciting new (old) technology. Many were just subtle but incredibly useful improvements to existing web concepts.
In order to learn more about it I wanted to apply it to a real world application myself. With no suitable project at hand I decided to create something non commercial from scratch. 

After some research, lots of head scratching and the inevitable fight with today’s browsers (and their various differences) I came up with this XHTML Chat. The exciting bit is, that it is barely more then a single html page + CSS + javascript. The server side bit is as small as it can be and could be accomplished with almost any available technology (down to php + textfile).
After implementing this I too believe that this might very well revolutionise the way the web looks and feels today. Forget single pages and say hello to application like sites.
Just working on this single instance gave me a range of ideas (some are listed on the project’s page) - be prepared to see many implemented on this site in the future.
I am looking forward to your feedback!

Comments for the chat

Hey. This is awesome. Good job.

Is there any chance I can get the code for this, so I can work/improve on it more?

Comment by Chris Gwynne on 2005 03 13

Like I said before this is such a good idea I can’t weight to see where it goes from here. 

Comment by Joe on 2005 03 13

nice new concept, can´t wait to see how far it goes from here. I just hate the slow loading, no design, java crap chats

Comment by bingo on 2005 03 14

Is their a chance that this code is open source? I would like to use it in one of my sites…

Comment by ryan on 2005 03 21

I, like the others, would be interested in seeing the code.  I also don’t really like the “block” paradigm, and would prefer a lines-based system, although I’m sure this would just be a matter of slight code alterations and some css.  Excellent job.

Comment by Michael Greene on 2005 03 21

I’ve been trying for a while now to find some implementation of the Ajax methodology for studding purposes. I’ll be looking at your code -if you din’t mind- to see if i can learn something about Ajax and how is used.

Tanks Leo

Comment by Leo on 2005 03 22

Really nice work.

Comment by Joseph on 2005 03 22

Hi there. thanks for the great feedback!

Changing the style into something more chat like should be possible by simply adjusting the CSS. It is just that I could not be bothered at the time to bully IE into playing along :).

I might have a stab at it later but first want to revisit the time stamp issue.

I can’t wait to see what others come up with! Cheers

Comment by Alex on 2005 03 23

Hi ,

Good work.

It is a sort of a general chat application.

Now if you don’t mind then please mail me some suggestions regarding how to approach for a one-to-one chat module using this technology. 

Comment by Jignesh on 2005 04 02

I am trying to set up the xmlchat bit on my site and having it work so I can study it, but I need the DB structure. Has anyone dug through the code enough to deliver this?

http://www.bluecomputing.com/files/ajaxchat

Other than that, this is a very cool little bit of tech. 

Comment by Ryan Faerman on 2005 04 05

I recently heard of ajax and went searching for tutorials/real examples. Yours was the first site i hit, i dowloaded ajaxchat and tried it - *** *** loved it.

Very good and nice work, you’ve inspired me to pursue this further, and learn more about it :-)

Comment by Vebjørn Berg on 2005 04 05

in getChatData.php

$lastID = (isset($_GET[’lastID’]) && $_GET[’lastID’] *** = 0 ? $_GET[’lastID’] : 0);

settype($lastID,"integer");

in sendChatData.php

$name = $_POST[’n’];

$text = $_POST[’c’];

The original code doesn’t work with register_global=off

Comment by René de Kat on 2005 04 07

Hi,

How can i allow HTML tags?

I have change the php files but nothings changes :S

I think that the problem in the Javascript is.

Who can me tell what i must do?

(Sorry for my bad english)

Comment by Robbert on 2005 04 13

Hey, I am reading the source and it looks like the only way to do this is to hit the server every second to check for new messages. Is there any other way to do this?

And someone check out aimexpress and tell me how they’re doing it. It looks like they’re also using Ajax, but I can’t figure it out.

aim.com (aim express in the left menu)

Comment by vinny on 2005 07 27

http://aimexpress.aim.com//v1_7/gz/dig/fw/all.js

That’s how they did it. What, you can’t read that?

I’ve been working this script extensively while writing my wordpress plugin for it...but I agree it hits up the server too hard. I figure it would be better and faster to print the first 30 or whatever results when the page loads, and then the javascript will load much smaller packets of info and there will be less stress everywhere…

Comment by Jalenack on 2005 07 27

Nice!

I put something together similar to this called Lace.

http://socket7.net/lace/

It basically takes what you’ve done to the next level.

The source is available, but it’s a little messy. I’m currently working on 0.2.0 as a complete rewrite.

Comment by Brett on 2005 07 27

Heya, can someone direct me howto add time and date of the posts made. Easier to keep track of :)

I assume I need to clean out the database by myself when it got stuffed.
Great script and so much possibilities are possible with this. a blessing :D

Comment by Danny on 2005 07 27

something like this is also available at:

http://www.gauldong.net/chat/

The site is in Indonesian, but after you’re in the chatroom try speaking English and I’m sure several people there will talk to you and give a smilie ;-)

Comment by Hendy Irawan on 2005 07 27

xhtml chat is the 2nd webchat that i encountered. the first was manuel kieslings arsc. as far as i know, he does it without ajax. he just keeps the connection alive and uses php’s flush() function. it’s already very elaborated and looks & and behaves like a traditional chatroom.
but i like your system very much, too. mostly because of it’s small footprint & of the very subtle and elegant updating. i enjoy it very much, thank you!

Comment by unameit on 2005 07 27

something like this is also available at:

http://treehouse.ofb.net/chat/?lang=en

Comment by Wesley Tanaka on 2005 09 03

i’m so impressed and every minute more overwhelmed by what asynch js with xhtml and css can do together.

in awe.

...finally, useful low-load webapps.

Comment by luxuryluke on 2005 09 09

great job man,
i am learning ajax, xhtml and css2 and this is a great example for me to learn ajax..

Comment by prameet on 2005 10 26

why you have not implemented ajax to add comments?

Comment by prameet on 2005 10 26

Thanks prameet. The comments system and actually almost everything else around here is still done the “old fashioned” way because I have so little time available at the moment. And the time I do have I want to spend on something that really needs to be implemented with ajax. And there is loads :) Watch this space (keyword: rollr)!

Comment by alex on 2005 10 26

It’s a very cute program, but when I try to test it on my own web server, I got some problem with character set.
In your website the program can recognize gb2312 charset, but in my website, it can’t, I’m wondering what’s the cause and how to fix it.

Thanks

Comment by Deryk on 2005 11 11

This is a pretty cool application.  One question I have is what kind server loads are we talking about on a high traffic site?  What do you think is the best way to test it out and put it through some runs to see how well this would run in live, high traffic enviornment.

Great little program!  It’s cool to see the line blurred between discussion forum and live chat…

Comment by Chris on 2005 11 24

I just noticed you’re using ExpressionEngine to power the site.  I was actually looking to somehow integrate this application (or something similar) into EE as some kind of comment replacement.

The one thing I think that needs to be added is some form of flood control and edit mechanism.  That’s what I’m going to try and work on as an expansion to this.

Have you continued working on this or have you moved on to bigger and better?

Comment by Chris on 2005 11 24

Hey! It really good! i love this chat program

Comment by phongjalvn on 2005 12 26

It was very easy to install and I think it has potential. I’m a bit more interested in the functionality, so I’ll just work on index.htm. I liked your suggestions on useful applications. I’m actually working on one of those. Thanks for the great job!

Comment by patxiworks on 2006 03 17

Very cool, and definitely some potential. First thing is t add an AJAX activity indicator like on of these:

http://www.napyfab.com/ajax-indicators/

Comment by Jeff Crossett on 2006 03 25

I noticed that in the ajax chat the signe + is not submitted as it is used by javascript, is there a way around that?

Thanks.

Eliphas

Comment by Eliphas on 2006 06 05

it is really so cool.I specially wanna thak you for download link!

Comment by RonnyZenn on 2006 06 14

Download the source and installed the script on my local test server (Win32, Apache 2.2.2, PHP 5.1.4, MySQL 5.0.22), changed the DB values in the db.php file and ran initDB.php. However the PHP scripts do not work unless you add some code:
(in sendChatData.php)
$name = $_REQUEST["n"];
$text = $_REQUEST["c"];

(in getChatData.php)
$lastID = -1;
if (isset($_REQUEST["lastID"])) {
$lastID = $_REQUEST["lastID"];
}

In the default code you simply declare the variable without saying where the script should get the data from…

Comment by Jeex on 2006 06 20

hii sir this bit of code is really excellent but can u tell me exactly how can i use it with asp.net Thanx in advance
regards
-
Supratim

Comment by Supratim on 2006 06 27

Bom muito bom! eu tenho um exemplo que grava em .txt, mas não ordena em ordem decrescente nem tenho como administrar/apagar os registros selecionados.. Se alguém souber de algum que tenha e que grave em .txt diga-me por favor! preciso muito disso. Obrigado :]

Comment by Laybows on 2006 07 04

I think you’ve put together a great little app. However, upon loading it to my server it doesn’t complete the cycle. I can post from my computer and it displays on my machine, but won’t refresh automatically to display other new inputs. How can I fix this.

Thanks!

Comment by Bobo on 2006 08 23

esto es una garcha

Comment by chancho on 2006 08 24

so how do you manage the length of the chat. Do old messages expire or…

Comment by Arris on 2006 10 05

expiring messages seems like an important feature.  Is this not currently possible; if not, how can it be done?

Comment by Jordan on 2007 04 02

free TV?

Date: 2005 03 01

Tags: video,tv,free,boing boing,fun

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/33_full_episode/

Now this is promising. SciFi Channel is showing the first episode of Battlestar Galactica for free and in good quality online. This is not a show I would recommend but the fact that it is legally available on the net is amazing. Is this the beginning of a trend?
(Right click opens it in Real Player from where you can watch it in full screen) - found via boing boing.

state of the union

Date: 2005 02 07

Tags: visualisation,fun,style,politics

http://www.style.org/stateoftheunion/parse/?q=terror&q2=freedom&wordsize=2x3

I happened to watch the recent state of the union broadcasted live on the BBC. Live as in real time full length late at night live. Don’t ask me why. Maybe I was looking for a good chill…
Anyway. Now I found this neat and insightful state of the union parsing tool via small transport. Maybe you can derive some predictions for our all near fututre?

more tinkering and then some Paris

Date: 2005 01 25

Tags: plasticshore,paris,video,design

http://www.hdm-stuttgart.de/~se014/rendezvous20_04.mov

It has been quite silent around here for a while now. That is mostly because I am once again thinking about turning this site upside down. I’ve been using my own content management system for some time now (and used it happily). It saved me from the latest wave of comment spam and allowed me to go for a truly customized design (even though it naturally evolved into a very blog like look anyway). Now the various open source and commercial packages seem to have finally grown up and I have been testing a range of solutions. And I can say I am almost decided to go for one now. But that will take even more time ...

But having set my mind to new things should not keep me from using what I have right now. So let’s get started again with a pleasant ride through Paris.

workings of google?!

Date: 2005 01 17

Tags: google,numanuma,video,search

one of my recent entries (Numanuma) is on position 7 from 16900 search results for Numanuma on Google - and obviously quite a few people are actually searching. So finally I know what makes the traffic flow - but then I do not think that is the direction I am gonna turn this site :)

styleboost update

Date: 2005 01 10

Tags: design,news,styleboost,inspiration

http://www.styleboost.com/

It’ has been a while since Johan Bakken has updated excellent styleboost the last time. The new look is (once again) not at all what I would have expected - and what a good thing that is.
So go styleboost for continuous great inspiration. 

Comments for styleboost update

I was eagerly waiting for the new version of styleboost but I don’t really like what happened to it....  i like the comment feature… but not the new design.... 

Comment by Aaron on 2005 01 13

I hope he did not read you comment and decided to take it down afterwards.. Because right now Styleboost is offline.

Comment by alex on 2005 07 29

retro player

Date: 2005 01 04

Tags: fun,music,retro,style,software,apple

http://www.studio-kura.com/download/retroplayer/index_e.html

Digital vinyl. Sounds great, works great, looks great. Retro-Player for OS X. Found on esse est percipi (german).

streets of london

Date: 2005 01 02

Tags: london,uk,music,lyrics,fun

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/mctell-ralph/streets-of-london-11077.html

just do not let it drag you down… :)

Comments for streets of london

yes, our city - feelin bad? - just come here - you’ll feel better just by seeing how miserable you could be…

Comment by verena on 2005 01 02

get me wrong - we are actually doing good here : )

Comment by verena on 2005 01 02

questionable

Date: 2005 01 01

Tags: kottke,comment,book

http://www.kottke.org/remainder/04/12/7239.html

I have recently read Ayn Rand’ Fountain Head (actually I have listened to the unabridged audio book). An entertaining read but with a very questionable message. Now I came across this link at Kottke.org, one of the most read blogs out there. While I am quite sure what to think about the article (it is confirming my thoughts about the philosophy promoted by Ayn Rand) I am not so sure what to make of kottke, posting this link uncommented. 

idle holidays? no sir

Date: 2004 12 31

Tags: london,uk,christmas,php,aggreagator,rss,plasticpilots

http://www.plasticpilots.com/news.php

Our first Christmas in London was great. I have taken a lot of pictures and will post some shortly - but fear not: not all are depicting our jolly-under-the-tree-smiling.

As usual I was also able to squeeze in some time at the screen and came up with my first php RSS aggregator. It needs lots of cleaning up and bug fixing but is already working rather well retrieving and storing news from lots of sites. It is currently not linked up and mostly invisible to the general public but ready for large scale testing. Look out for the official release soon ...<

christmas

Date: 2004 12 31

Tags: christmas,tsunami,south asia,donation,catastrophe

Like so many others, we have donated some money for the tsunami victims in south asia. It feels good and I am rather embarrassed by the fact that it was a first time for me (apart from a few coins here and there) I did this kind of thing. I am going to make it a new year’s resolution to do it again - and not only when there is a world scale catastrophe at hand. 

Comments for christmas

Alex, There’s no need to feel ashame fo donating money in the first time.

Vesa and I are very sad about it and we donate some money to the Red Cross, there’s more than 200 Finns and 600 Hongkongers are missing.

Anyhow, you are very nice to put up this article.

Thanks.

Comment by Sam Chan on 2004 12 31

That’s the reason why I’m stil paying “Kirchensteuer” (tax for church). I think this is the best way to make sure that a donation is getting to the affected people. Red cross is also a company driven by the (katholic) church.

Comment by felix on 2004 12 31

I think the best way then would be to give money to the red cross directly rather then having the church decide how much of your money goes into humanitarian activity and how much into “church business”... 

Comment by alex on 2004 12 31

If all the churchtaxes I have to pay would dirctly go to the red cross, the red cross would have golden water taps ;-)

Comment by felix on 2005 01 01

numanuma

Date: 2004 12 24

Tags: numanuma,christmas,star wars,fun,video,music

http://movies26.enwhore.com/206373_numanuma.swf

brighten your christmas eve with some quality entertainment (in the tradition of the star wars kid).

Comments for numanuma

Does anybody know what this song is? what language is it? where can I buy it? also, who is the guy with dark hair who appears in still shots during the video clip? can I have his email address?

Comment by Richard on 2005 01 15

yo Richard.....sadly i understand every word of that song its romanian. but its so awesome, this vid and song kicks ass. i have no clue who wrote the song but i do know its a romanian song. my address is

Comment by Alex Bagoli on 2005 01 16

Song is Dragostea Din Tei, hit in Europe.

Google it. On iTunes too.

On P2P nets with a number of remixes.

Comment by Vanderleun on 2005 01 16

http://www.catteacorner.com/dragosteadintei.htm

Comment by westport on 2005 01 16

yo i cant say much… but i love that movie =) its sooo kewl… can sum1 tell me the name of the song and where i can download it? i just cant go on without sining it in my head =)

Comment by moosewag on 2005 02 02

this man its very cool man

Comment by daniel on 2005 02 04

where can I purchase this song on disk? 

Comment by Larry on 2005 02 06

Who exactly is the numanuma guy? does he have any contacts where i could reach him??? 

Comment by lexi on 2005 02 08

it’s a catchy song, that’s for sure. a brilliant idea of this fellow to put it to video. kudos for making me laugh my ass off. 

Comment by john on 2005 02 09

the song is romanian its called dragostea din tei (english: love from the linden trees) by the outlaws.

Comment by stephen on 2005 02 13

heyy, this is the best song i have ever heard and the video is....unique. it has been stuck in my head since the first day i heard it i sing it in all my classes! where can i download this song so i can put it on my ipod..is it on itunes?

Comment by hillary on 2005 02 14

correction its by o-zone

Comment by stephen on 2005 02 14

The video was featured on this past week’s episode of VH1’s Best Week Ever...and it’s on ITunes, too. I guess it’s spreading.

Comment by Robin on 2005 02 15

Hi!

I’m from Hungary. This song was a summer hit of 2004.

Try to find Haiducii - Vodka. Thats a similar song that u might like.

And O-Zone’s album is Disco 2004.

Peace!

Comment by Zolster on 2005 02 18

that guy in the video is hialrious wehn he starts pumping his arms ,,,that video is the talk of the school for past week or so

Comment by brian on 2005 02 20

Does anyone know where you can download the uncut version of the fat dude singing this song - the one without the crappy images cut in? It’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time!

Comment by JONNY on 2005 02 20

What Do You Mean They’re Just Sounds?

Thats My Name,He’s Singing To Me.

Comment by Maia on 2005 02 21

Think about it.It’s like an international Hey Ya! lol! And I think that It’s European or Romanian or something.

Comment by Michaela on 2005 02 22

THAT THING KICKS ASS TO ME!

IT WEIRD BUTT COOOOLLLLL

REMEMBER IT SHOULD BUT

MOOFERZMA INSTEAD OF NUMANUMA

WUT LANGUAGE IS IT ANYWAY?

WERE DID U FIND THIS?

WHOS THE GUY?

WUTS HIS NAME?

Comment by MoOfErZ on 2005 02 23

All i no bout this guy is that he and his friends wanted to get in some kind of “15 seconds of fame” list in his country but couldn’t for some reason.I no its a pretty good song, but you can get free downloads if you choose to search for 3 hours on google. My email is if you want any more info on it.

-XD-

Comment by Lizzy on 2005 02 25

Wow! It was pretty cool to hear the song on a Philly radio station while driving down I-95. I grew up in Romania and it was a great surprise.  Kudos for such a great idea!

Comment by Iulian on 2005 03 06

Hey, dis video iz DA BOMB. Ma name is Julie and I’m in the 9th grade. This guyz name is Gary Brolsma, hez 19 YEARS OLD!!! He lives in New Jersey and he probably had nothing betta 2 do. This song is does kik ass, were do you get it?

PS: any hot guys here? Write ur name, age, place, and describe...LOL * *** :-)(party smiley)

Comment by jewelz a.k.a. dancinkween07 on 2005 03 09

this thing suks it is sooo stupid and lame

Comment by fatty on 2005 03 11

He is my idol, the same way people idolize me.

Tommy. If girls wanna add me, i guess if you insist, I will let them.

Comment by Tommy on 2005 04 09

http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=931
This is a link to A funny NUMA NUMA video even though its not the funny fat guy its World of Warcraft and i think its pretty awesome

Comment by Josh on 2005 11 20

it’s a lot of fun, better if you get drunk and listen to it backwards

Comment by Irvingnypr on 2006 01 15

ok whair can i find this song so i can downlod it on my ipod this one.... http://www.funpic.hu/swf/numanuma.html that vershiton plz tell me plzzzzzz

Comment by full metal girl on 2006 04 25

I cracked up so much when i saw this. That is the kind of stuff i do when i have fun. I too want to know where i can find a O-Zone CD so i can listen to it all the time.

Comment by 13lood12ed on 2006 12 15

Ya know, I coulda swore that it was in French. that is what it sounded like to me. But it is highly addictive to hear. it will stay in your head for the longest time.

Comment by 13lood12ed on 2006 12 15

christmas is here…

Date: 2004 12 23

Tags: christmas,soda,work,email,holidays,plasticpilots,design

http://www.plasticshore.com/projects/sodaXmas/

soda Xmas previewAnd not a day to soon… Having finished the last projects only late today (including this year’s soda christmas card) I can finally look forward to christmas without a worry. The last weeks have been crazy but in the end it all appears to have worked out just fine. I have even managed to slip in a major update for plasticpilots.com for an all new and fresh start into 2005.
Verena and my parents managed to get a christmas tree roughly twice the size of our living room. And now Ingo has send in word from the other side of the world (see previous guest entry) and made my day complete.
I finally feel ready for christmas and look forward to the holidays now. I wish you all a very merry Christmas, wherever you are.

talking about omni

Date: 2004 12 21

Tags: omni,browser,software,apple,hicks,design

http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/587/

Following my previous entry (on which several people remarked that Omni web is not FREE - well few good things are is all I can say to that) I have now the pleasure to link to an absolute free theme for Omniweb, created by the author of the Firefox logo.

have an ipod? produce web sites?

Date: 2004 12 20

Tags: ipod,resource,html,css,development

http://www.westciv.com/news/podguide.html

If you have an IPod and are into producing websites (preferable making intensive use of CSS) this is for you: Pod Guide

another browser

Date: 2004 12 20

Tags: firefox,safari,omniweb ,apple,software,browser

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/

I am used to use Safari from Apple because the rendered pages look much better then they do in Firefox. The interface uses all the OS X elements and it just makes for a beautiful browsing experience. It normally gives me the shivers to see what IE on PC does to dear sites.. With all the hype about Firefox I did not look for further alternatives on Mac anymore. Opera is repeating all the old Netscape mistakes and lost touch with what the users actually want and need.
But now I have found Omniweb again (haven’t looked at it in a long time). They have been really busy. Pages look everything as good as in Safari plus they added all the right gizmos to please me.

  1. tabbed browsing but with an actual preview of the page
  2. source code highlighting and editing
  3. snapshots of the current work enviroment
  4. extraction of all links available on a site
  5. powerfull bookmarks (which actually work the way safari should)
  6. a text editor to fill forms
  7. and so much more…

I have just started to explore the possibilities, but if you are on Mac OS X i highly recommend you give it a try!

ahhh.. these funny google people

Date: 2004 12 10

Tags: google,lab,search

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Making it better day by day. Check out this neat feature (currently beta) when entering Google from here.  Real time auto complete for their search field. Really nice one.

run verena run

Date: 2004 12 03

Tags: london,uk,running,10k,verena,nike,runlondon

http://www.runlondon.com/photofinish/done_they.aspx?uid=87064&ref=http://rl04_pr_vi.nref

Verena victoriousMy dear readership seems to be very much into personal stuff. Even more if delivered with pictures. So here comes a treat: Picture + Video (YUK windows media).
I participated (was forced to) in 3 training runs - 5 would have been necessary to register for the real insane 10k running thing, but I had too much work to do. Really! But Verena qualified with ease. She ran and finished the 10k night run through London (the flash on the very left in the movie). I cannot confirm she really made position number 4 though.

Comments for run verena run

Verena,

Brilliant, I didn’t know that you can run for such a long distance.

kisses,

Sam :-)

Comment by sam chan on 2004 12 31

fitness

Date: 2004 12 03

Tags: video,fun,fitness

http://home.comcast.net/~adampsyche/poodle_fitness.mov

The next entry will be dealing with fitness. To get you all warmed up I recommend watching this fitness video.

They are back!

Date: 2004 11 24

Tags: gaming,web,lemmings,javascript,fun,browser

http://193.151.73.87/games/lemmings/index.html

lemmingsThe best waste of time ever is back. And it runs in your browser (using only javascript and dHTML which is quite amazing). Save them now!

boring? maybe

Date: 2004 11 22

Tags: plasticshore,update,xhtml,validation

I know there is not much worse than sites endlessly discussing their own development. But there is only so much excitement one can take so here we go: I did some smaller updates over the weekend

  1. new style for comments and guest entries
  2. the options displayed with each entry look differnt now
  3. you can see more than just the last icon
  4. page navigation looks different
  5. some sub pages that were not validating as XHTML do now

h&rdc0re p0rn

Date: 2004 11 18

Tags: fun,boing boing

http://www.galumpia.co.uk/adult/adult_2.htm

h_rdc0re p0r_nplasticshore is now promoting free p0rn for everybody! Not for the weak stomach! (and maybe not what one would expect)
Found over at boing boing.

Comments for h&rdc0re p0rn

Ugh..so horny!

Comment by George on 2007 02 28

f **k the south

Date: 2004 11 18

Tags: politics,fun,us

http://www.fuckthesouth.com/

a rather crude domain for an even cruder text: fuck the south!

Comments for f **k the south

...this text makes me smile :)

Comment by lilo on 2004 11 17

I think smiling at this is caused by all the right and healthy reasons.

Comment by alex on 2004 11 18

this page is popular (by force)

Date: 2004 11 17

Tags: personal,plasticshore,fun

I was amazed by the amount of feedback the last entry received. And after applying some pressure to certain people I have finally learned the reason for this surge!

I appreciate it nevertheless - It was good to hear from all you guys!
Now watch the monsters! (very disconnected indeed).

they are sorry

Date: 2004 11 10

Tags: us,politics,comment

http://sorryeverybody.com/

they are sorryI am not quite sure what went wrong, but i find some reassurance in these people.

Comments for they are sorry

something seriously went wrong and I am seriously sorry, too

Comment by lilo on 2004 11 10

and more ICA

Date: 2004 11 10

Tags: ica,julian,soda,talk,art,london,uk,gas

http://www.ica.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=13662

"Julian Saunderson, Soda’s Technical Director discusses Generative Art Systems and the Influence of Oriental Food.”
- A topic to observe.

it is that moovl again

Date: 2004 11 10

Tags: moovl,soda,work,design,dutch

http://www.moovl.com/

Things are coming together - few hours to go before visitors are admitted to the show (see previous entry). The latest version of Moovl is now available in english for the first time. As a limited preview only it is the first chance for the not so dutch savvy people to play with it.

soda

Date: 2004 11 09

Tags: soda,video,design,work,show reel,projects,exhibition,ica

http://homepage.mac.com/kohlhofer/showreel/iMovieTheater21.html

show reelAll soda has been working hard for the dedicated show at ICA starting tomorrow. Well .. actually we are still at it. One thing that is ready and installed by now is a show reel I have edited. It features a wide range of soda projects from as early as 1997 to today. To give you an idea what I have been doing here since February I have created a shortened version containing only projects I have been involved in. Please be reminded that it was created for an exhibition space rather than the internet so it has no sound and .. err .. could be considered a bit long.

We are many

Date: 2004 11 08

Tags: ipod,fun

http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/002125.html

More from the category elsewhere: What does the I in Ipod actually stand for?. I (as in me) have no idea.

delicious library

Date: 2004 11 08

Tags: apple,software,style

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/delicious-library.ars

I have received an email announcing the availability of delicious library today. A new OS X software title that has been hyped quite a bit in advance. It is basically a very nerdy collectors tool gone style. As you can see on the site it does in deed look very nice and from my quick test it does very much what it promises - and does it well. Unfortunately it does not do it the 40$-kind-of-well for me.
But it led me to a rather nice review which offers some good insights as to what makes the Apple Mac experience so special - in particular regarding all the more recent software coming from smaller development companies these days. A good read and a nice software to try (especially if you own an iSight which it (mis-)uses as a bar code scanner).

you win something, you loose something

Date: 2004 11 06

Tags: home,london,uk

On Friday our land line was finally connected. The service person arrived on time and installation went through flawlessly. Around the same time another guy showed up (as scheduled and announced by the landlord) to carry out a routine safety inspections on the installations. He found that there must be a gas leakage somewhere. He was not the right man to fix it but only to shut down our gas immediately. So he left us with no heating nor hot water on a Friday.
Today is Saturday and though we used our newly installed land line intensely to get somebody to fix it, we only achieved that a third guy showed up and made sure that the gas is shut down properly. Now only a professional with the right tools can turn it back on (and not me in a desperate need for a hot shower).
I have given up hope for this weekend and prepare myself for a really really fresh start into the next week. 

it is not all penises…

Date: 2004 11 05

Tags: work,explorations,director,icons,design,fun

http://www.plasticshore.com/explorations/icons/index.php

icons screenMy dear visitors have created more than 500 icons so far (with less than 25% actually being penises). With the recent come back of this feature I felt all this creative output should be not just idling in an obscure database. So I have created a new piece for plasticshore.com/explorations.
In there all the icons ever created are finally available for exploration and every new icon will be added the moment it is submitted.

joining the real world again

Date: 2004 11 03

Tags: soda

I have been wandering a communications wasteland for the last few weeks. But now I am rising back up to long forgotten heights: I ‘ve just received a new mobile phone (courtesy of soda - thanks guys) and on Friday our landline is due to be connected. Still no internet at home but that will be sorted soon.
I will announce the new numbers by email ....

election day

Date: 2004 11 02

Tags: us,politics,comment,the new yorker

http://newyorker.com/talk/content/?041101ta_talk_editors

  1. I am German.
  2. I am living in England.
  3. As many others I do care about the election in the United States today.

I know why I want Kerry to win today. And if only for having an easier time arguing against the undeniable (but not strong) anti American mood I found when I came back to Europe this year. The current US government is not of much help with that.
I am aware that there are more important reasons than this - you can find a good selection in this article published in the recent New Yorker. Read it and then do the right thing for the world.

Comments for election day

I voted, and voted Kerry bright and early this morning… Feels good to be part of the system.

I can’t believe the day is finally here. Aligning more with the democatic party, I’ve been involved with the process since the early primaries two years ago now. What a long journey.... I was a Clark supporter and I hear rumors that he may even be asked to take Condoleezza Rice’s job as National Security Advisor if Kerry takes it.  Yeah, Lot’s at stake today… I really need to leave work early to go home and flip through the the news channels all night. =)

Comment by Aaron on 2004 11 02

problems. hmmmmm

http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm

and apologies....

http://www.sorryeverybody.com

Comment by aaron on 2004 11 09

always updating

Date: 2004 11 01

Tags: plasticshore,update,browser,usability

Still tinkering with this site I have made a host of changes:

  1. The icons are back (see right hand side column). This time with a proper editor.
  2. When making a comment you are not required to provide an email address anymore.
  3. Some smaller design and structural changes to make the site easier to use (it is a good thing if you can’t find them).
  4. Some updates to make it even more browser compatible. It still looks best in Safari and Firefox but if you insist to use IE it should not make any difference (apart from the general render quality). But do yourself a favour and get Firefox anyway!

Comments for always updating

yeaaa!

Comment by lilo on 2004 11 01

mid life crisis

Date: 2004 11 01

Tags: runlondon,running,london,uk,verena,fitness,10k

http://www.runlondon.com/

Verena talked me into taking part in a 5k training run for the Nike 10k. That means running 5km in a row! On a Sunday morning! I am in pain now. It must be this whole getting older thing where you have to prove to yourself that your are actually not. Chances are that I am going to do it again!
What have I become...<

Comments for mid life crisis

here it is - for everybody to see -how I - the great psychosorcerer Verypnotica - have successfully manipulated a young and innocent mind

heehee

Comment by verypnotica on 2004 11 01

France’s & Charles’ wedding in September

Date: 2004 10 30

Tags: france,charles,wedding,nic,photos,video

http://homepage.mac.com/kohlhofer/movies/iMovieTheater20.html

F+C screenI am glad Verena made me do and subsequently show this little movie for Charles’ and France’s wedding in September. It was great fun making it and feels very good as a present for our friends. I have been asked to make it available, so here it is. For coverage of the wedding itself stop by at Nic’s or Charles’ sites

Thank you very much for inviting us to your wedding - it was a brilliant event of the kind anybody would love to have in his life.

anger (no managment)

Date: 2004 10 28

Tags: saab,london,uk,crime,vandalism,fire,anger,hackney,car

I am so angry! Remember when my phone got stolen some months ago? Back then I coped quite good with it. Bad luck, let’s get over it.
But this time I am really mad. Its made worse by having nothing I can direct my anger at.

It is the car. The nice old Saab I bought as a surprise for Verena. The one we have not even had a chance to use for a proper leisure trip together. Yesterday some idiots tried to break in using a stone or so… when that failed they compensated by trying to set fire to it. It went out but not before it did some substantial damage to my rear fender. It is a mess and I am not sure if I can drive it. Insurance might not pay as it could be seen as an act of vandalism rather then a break in.
Police will stop by later but I do not expect it will do me any good.

Any idea how to cheer me up? I don’t have one.

Comments for anger (no managment)

what the hell are fuckheads searching for in an old SAAB? Damn story. Bad bad luck. Hot place you’re living…

Comment by flaccus on 2004 10 28

hey, in England about 25 per cent of households do not even own a car. (including me in munich). So be lucky to own something that can be destroyed ;-)

Comment by Andre on 2004 10 28

plasticshore.com/explorations

Date: 2004 10 26

Tags: plasticshore,explorations,design,fun,soda,projects

http://www.plasticshore.com/explorations/

explorations screenI am glad to have the opportunity to work on some quite amazing projects at soda. I will show more of that in the future but I also think it is important to engage with personal work and projects. To cover both grounds I am happy to announce a brand new section for plasticshore: plasticshore.com/explorations

Comments for plasticshore.com/explorations

I saw your link on shocksites.com.

Please keep the creativity flowing!

Comment by Troy on 2004 11 04

going live

Date: 2004 10 25

Tags: moovl,soda,work,design,cinekid,dutch,gallery

http://www.moovl.nl

moovl drawingLast weekend moovl.nl went online. As part of the cinekid festival in the Netherlands thousends of kids have been happily moovling since then. Check out the growing list of creations. It is free and once you manage to get past the dutch sign up process you can join the moovl crowd. I am looking forward to your creations. (Some main features are still in the making - but animation and sound is plenty to play with already.)

moving again

Date: 2004 10 12

Tags: moving,home,london,uk

keeping up well with my usual pace of moving I have just received the final OK for a new place. Contract will be signed tomorrow. So if all goes well we will get the keys by tomorrow night. This will be my 3rd (proper) move in the 7 month I have been in London now. More details to follow soon. 

Comments for moving again

Hallo Alex,

hier `mal ein Lebenszeichen von uns. Alles Gute für den Umzug und liebe Grüße an Verena.

Christian

Comment by christian on 2004 10 15

movies

Date: 2004 09 27

Tags: Coudal,k10k,video,fun

k10k sent me to Coudal Partners, where I watched how to BBQ a man first and then an imperfect ten. Had to share.

graphing spam

Date: 2004 09 23

Tags: visualization,spam,virus

Looking at spam in a semi scientific but certainly entertaining way. It would be nice to see a graph of this before it actually went through the series of spam filters mentioned in the article to get a picture on how bad the situation really is. This would also reveal the true life span and development of viruses much better as ISPs must be catching them once they are out in the open long enough and any kind of pattern is detectable (damn them if they don’t). 

all is good [updated]

Date: 2004 09 22

Tags: saab,gar,gizmo,london,uk,france,swedish

the saabI would have started to brag about this much earlier but as it was meant as a surprise for Verena I had to do it on a one on one basis. I think everybody knows by now, but just to make sure: I bought a car again. A beautiful 15 year old Saab 900. In the picture on the left you can see it misused as a tripod. That picture was taken in Cancale in France, to where I (the german) took the car (swedish) from London (where I have just started to practice driving on the wrong side of the road). Driving on the left plus driving in London, then driving on the right but with the steering wheel on the right as well, then driving all this with a broken wipe through heavy rain - what is there left to try for me now? There is much more to report, pictures to publish and people to thank for the wonderful time we had.. but for now there is only enough time for this post. 

Comments for all is good [updated]

I just love this car

Comment by bingo on 2004 09 22

Alex and Verena,

Hello! We got a new Saab, 95 aero. We also drove in England in this summer. Vesa drove on the wrong line and we stop in the middle of the intersection.

See you soon.

Kisses,

Sam :-)

Comment by Sam Chan on 2004 09 24

finally friday

Date: 2004 09 17

Tags: Rennes,France,Charles,wedding,verena,Paris,friends

Later tonight or rather very early on saturday morning I will depart for Rennes in France to attend Charles’ and France’s wedding.
At that occasion I will also finally reunite with Verena. She has just arrived in Paris and will travel to Rennes from there (together with a whole lot of people). Can’t wait now…

cost of war

Date: 2004 09 15

Tags: visualisation,war,politics,comment

http://costofwar.com/

The price tag on the war in iraq - and what that kind of money could have bought instead. Just an approximation and surely not the most reliable one but very interesting nevertheless.

moovl(.nl)

Date: 2004 09 14

Tags: moovl,soda,work,design,cinekid,dutch,gallery,logo,futurelab

moovl logo animSoda is creating various incarnations of moovl. For one of them I’ve created this little animation today.

No idea what moovl is? Check out this tablet PC version created for Nesta Futurlab (will run only if you have java 1.4+) (mac user have to have the latest OS X.) Since it is meant to run on a dedicated tablet PC it requires a screen resolution of 1024x768 which it will switch to when executed!
A browser based application is in the making right now. Hence the logo :)

and another one

Date: 2004 09 11

Tags: dover,uk,emma,trip,photos

me on a clifffrom the same day. Emma took pictures too and gave them with an analogue delay to me. And I thought it would be nice for you to see me on a picture too :)

more invitations

Date: 2004 09 02

Tags: google,gmail,invitations

Having distributed 10+ Gmail invitations in the last few days Google supplied me with another round. So if you are not yet signed up let me know. 

the why and how of CSS

Date: 2004 09 01

Tags: css,resource,work

http://9rules.com/whitespace/design/learning_css.php

this might seem to be old news - but it is a good summary to get you all started if you haven’t yet. 

older pics

Date: 2004 08 29

Tags: photos,bea,trip,france,paris

http://es.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/beatriciya79/album?.dir=/b830&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//es.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/beatriciya79/my_photos

I might be lazy when it comes to pictures lately - but others aren’t. So here is a link to Bea’s Pictures of our trip to Paris in May. Not sure why I haven’t linked them up earlier. 

learn how to bike …

Date: 2004 08 29

http://www.digave.com/videos/red-web.mpg

.. in city traffic. Today’s lesson: New York.

urban toys

Date: 2004 08 25

http://www.essence.ch/

go here, klick on design forum, klick on urban toys, enjoy.

google mail

Date: 2004 08 25

this site is still blue. It was meant to be different but I just don’t get around to do something about it. So instead I can give away a few Google Mail invitations. Anybody interested?

spider lego - lego man?

Date: 2004 07 23

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1277883&sdm=web&qtw=640&qth=400

I hope this doesn’t spoil the fun of watching the real thing (I haven’t seen it yet) but spider lego is just to good to be missed. Maybe I do not need to see the big one at all?

Comments for spider lego - lego man?

Yeah i got that e-mail also. :)

That wa prety funn tough and what they did with all thoes leggoes was just awsome. 

Comment by Joe on 2004 07 24

when times are tough

Date: 2004 07 16

this might help. worked for me :) - thanks aaron

Comments for when times are tough

nice one!

Comment by cube on 2004 07 17

hahah. anytime Alex..  Sometimes times get tough and you need things like that to fall back on..  haha.

------

Now that is a great idea cube… the browser home page!  :)

Comment by Aaron on 2004 07 19

Pixen 2

Date: 2004 07 14

http://www.opensword.org/Pixen/

I have no clue how this slipped through my software radar. Well it is never to late. Thanks to fscklog(german) i found this nice piece of free software. Great for pixel artists and another good example of a nice OS X application. 

bear with me …

Date: 2004 07 13

After starting out with so much energy you might be concerned that it is all over again. But fear not. I am determined to hatch this (still small) version 3 of plasticshore :)
It is only that I had my parents over last weekend and the weekend before I was in Cologne, Germany. And then there is a lot of work to do at soda keeping me really busy recently. But there are a lot of exciting projects to report and I am eager to get clearance to do so on this very platform.
Bear with me…

foofbag

Date: 2004 07 07

http://foofbag.dirtymouse.net/

hand made foofbag connemara style.

ipod casing

Date: 2004 07 01

http://www.retropod.com/

why not walk your ipod in one of these?

Comments for ipod casing

For 100 dollars (or all the dam trubble of making one) I would atleast want a way to control the dam iPod without opening the dam case. Cool ida but not very good funchionality.

I bet if Keven Rose went and made one of thoes he would figure out a way to do it. 

Comment by Joe on 2004 07 04

Since I am already in a swing

Date: 2004 06 30

http://www.roadtosurfdom.com/surfdomarchives/002502.php

Brad DeLong’s blog links to an article which seems to be a good follow up to my last posting.
There Tim Dunlop opens his The don’t worry, be happy list by pointing out that an opinion like it is expressed here and elsewhere does not at all mean being anti american or unpatriotic.
A nice read :)

Eyes And Ears Of The Nation

Date: 2004 06 30

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040705-658321,00.html

Time magazin reports, that the US government started to pay and train citizens to keep an eye on their fellow americans. Sounds a lot like 1984 to me. This is something I used to associate with countries like the former German Democratic Republic (DDR).

Beware of the trucker!

I am a winner

Date: 2004 06 28

I have just won a Brazilectro DVD from lounge radio, one of my all time favorite internet radio stations, serving great music 24/7.  Tune into their live stream right now.
-- Thank you so much guys

Comments for I am a winner

wenn das kein aftershow-gewinn ist! eben noch bei #fsck. sehr schön. wir hatten vor zwei jahren eine brazilectro-session hier in lüneburg, es war ganz große klasse. seid dem haben sich auf einige cds hier gesammelt :-D

Comment by Stefan on 2004 06 28

customized fruit stamps

Date: 2004 06 27

http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/001995.html

So I have to surf all the way to the states to learn that my local and seemingly widely hated postal service, the “Royal Mail” of Britain features the coolest stamps.

so drunk he can barely walk

Date: 2004 06 27

This game is hilarious. I am working on my personal record - what is your’s? 

Comments for so drunk he can barely walk

I got to 73 meters....  It gets pretty tough to keep him upright… plus it’s kinda making me crave a drink…

Comment by Aaron on 2004 06 27

i can’t make it over 72… need more practice

Comment by alex on 2004 06 27

I only got like 32 meters so I did not do all that good. 

Comment by Joe on 2004 06 27

I should not brag about this but hey.. after a few hours of practicing i hit 80 meters!!!

Comment by alex on 2004 06 27

they are among us

Date: 2004 06 27

http://www.ufoevidence.org/

And there is evidence. Visit this little UFO gem I have just encountered.

how europeans see europeans

Date: 2004 06 27

An Article on N24 (in german) has various rankings on what europeans think about european nations. I do not like the picture of Germany most people seem to have, but I can at least tell, that being perceived as a “hard working” german does help finding jobs abroad.
I have also learned, that I am now living in the second most liked city (together with Rome) of Europe (- guess which is number one..).

The article does not claim to be representative. Only some 4000 people were included in the survey. (I guess there is hope :)

why money saved on a PC is saved well..

Date: 2004 06 25

ZDnet reports a study showing that the average PC in the UK has 2 more sick days than it’s user.
I can’t remember the last time one off my computers (from a big fruit named brand) took a sick day.

Comments for why money saved on a PC is saved well..

I’m using a MS-PC at work and I have to reset two or three times a day.

At home I’m also using a computer from the fruit thing mentioned abowe and i also have no sick days.

(oh - this could be a commercial...)

Comment by felix on 2004 06 26

waiting for the mouse’s arrival?

Date: 2004 06 25

http://www.macmice.com/themousebt.html

how reasonable is it to wait several weeks for a mouse? Well, I say very reasonable when you need/want bluetooth. The current models are either multi button Microsoft type monsters or the poor SINGLE button Apple version..

Help is underway but won’t arrive before september this year.. anybody else? anybody? .. sigh

An update on SPACE

Date: 2004 06 24

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/33838#690584

As mentioned earlier on plasticshore and almost everywhere else - a space flight took place. A privately funded one that is.
Only now I found this wonderful personal account of the event which is so much more insighful then all the other reports I have seen/read/heard of so far. (via the creative commons weblog)

free music

Date: 2004 06 24

http://www.mercedes-benz.com/omb/mixedtape/mixedtape.htm

Mercedes Benz has a very successful digital give away going with it’s free mix tapes. Apart from it being a legal way to get some free music (and good one too) it is also a very neat looking interface. well done. 

google mail - finally

Date: 2004 06 23

Stefan Domaske from :elbewerk.com was so kind to invite me to open one of the precious google mail accounts. “Precious” as this service is in a beta stage and not yet open to the public (an extra clever marketing trick??). You can only get in by being invited by a current member (and only if this member is entitled to invite a few people).

Now I have to figure out what i can actually do with it. For now I am just glad that I was able to secure my for an address. We’ll see how it goes from here.

If you have no idea what I am talking about you might want check out joe’s review of the google service.

To kick of my personal testing (after all this is what a beta test is meant for) I invite you to send me messages to kohlhofer[at]gmail[dot]com (I know, I hate spam bots too...)

thanks again to Stefan from :elbewerk.com!

Comments for google mail - finally

Thanks for giving me some linkage and welcome to the club. Hope you have fun. 

Comment by Joe on 2004 06 23

going places

Date: 2004 06 21

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5473842

today’s trip destination: space

using feedroll to parse rss

Date: 2004 06 21

http://www.feedroll.com/rssviewer/