» Smart Phones, Web Design, Google or whatever
George
I'm a web designer and have been doing websites for pay since 2001. I think websites should be usable by visitors and ready for search engines to index easily so they can be found. Read more on my about page.
Homepage: http://imblogginghere.com/techblog/
Posts by George
Tip of the Spear Hints (Part II) – Spoiler Warning
Sep 25th
SPOILER WARNING: HALO: REACH WALKTHROUGH for TIP of the SPEAR (Part II)
This post reveals Halo: Reach Tip of the Spear mission details, events and/or plot twists, and may “spoil” your experience if you continue.
The covenant are discovered on Reach, and its no big surprise that Noble team is dispatched as part of a UNSC counterattack. At this point you’ve taken out some key objectives for the UNSC moving forward to support their thrust into Covenant-held territory on Reach. More >
Android’s Gmail App Hits the Eject Button
Sep 21st
As of yesterday, Google announced that Android’s Gmail app has hit the eject button and punched out on its own, meaning Gmail app updates aren’t tied to Android updates any more.
As always you should check out the link above for all of the 411, but here is a quick rundown of some of the new features now that the Gmail app on Android has cut its tether…
- most important message actions will now stick to the top
- improved message replies
- access to quoted text (view previous message in thread)
- updated to support Priority Inbox
For more details including required Android OS version, a QR code to scan, and availability on phones, check the Gmail blog.
Tip of the Spear Hints – Spoiler Warning
Sep 21st
SPOILER WARNING: HALO: REACH WALKTHROUGH for TIP of the SPEAR
This post reveals Halo: Reach Tip of the Spear mission details, events and/or plot twists, and may “spoil” your experience if you continue.
The covenant are discovered on Reach, and its no big surprise that Noble team is dispatched as part of a UNSC counterattack. More >
Vote: Your Favorite Halo Reach Mission
Sep 21st
What is Your Favorite Halo: Reach Mission?
- Noble Actual
- Winter Contingency
- ONI: Sword Base
- Nightfall
- Tip of the Spear (Mission Walkthrough Pt 1 | Mission Walkthrough Pt 2)
- Long Night of Solace (Mission Walkthrough Pt 1 | Mission Walkthrough Pt 2)
- Exodus (Mission Walkthrough)
- New Alexandria (Mission Walkthrough Pt 1 | Mission Walkthrough Pt 2)
- The Package (Mission Walkthrough) incomplete
- The Pillar of Autumn
- Lone Wolf
Leave your vote as a comment below… Comments that are not votes may be deleted by moderator (me).
htaccess Rewrite URL to www – or No www
Sep 21st
To make ALL visits to your website go to your website with www. (www.example.com) or without it (example.com) use the following code in your .htaccess file. The idea is that some search engines (or at least the important ones) will direct “search engine juice” to one of your URL’s instead of splitting it between 2, and Web Analytics programs list one URL per page instead of 2:
KEEP WWW.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
REMOVE WWW.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*$ http://example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
This way no matter what a web visitor types they are sent to your website with or without the www, and as mentioned above benefits SEO and Analytics.
Halo: Reach – Armory VS Armor Abilties
Sep 19th
After the first time I my Halo: Reach disc in and watched the opening video I was not disappointed. Afterward when the game began and I was in the Armory I spent time carefully choosing my armor to gain maximum fighting advantage, probably close to 30 minutes. I didn’t realize that the choices you make in the Armory have no effect on the battlefield – its a visual effect, unlike Armor Abilities.
Later, I was getting ready to play with my daughter, so I had her sit down and read through the Bungie site’s telling her that 
she had to get to know how the armor worked (The Armory, Credits & Rank, and Customization) so she could choose better equipment, but I didn’t know I was mistaken because armor in Halo: Reach (and other Halo games) is only for visual effect.
ARMOR IS A VISUAL EFFECT
Beginning with Halo: Combat Evolved, the Halo franchise has immersed its players more deeply into their created worlds using rich and visually striking graphics, scenery and detail. This detail includes your armor, which allows you to customize your Spartan or marine.
ARMOR ABILITIES WORK ON THE BATTLEFIELD
Jet Pack | Sprint | Holographic Decoy | Active Camouflage | Drop Shield | Armor Lock | Evade
Where the Armor choices you make in the Armory effect
your character’s appearance in Halo multiplayer, the Armor abilities you choose actually have an effect on the battlefield.
- Jet Pack – you can fly
- Sprint – you can run
- Holographic Decoy – you get a digital double – you appear to be 2 targets to your enemy
- Active Camouflage – you have limited invisibility
- Drop Shield – you drop a spherical bubble shield (remember Master Chief using one in the Halo 3 Trailer?) which heals you and your Allies inside
- Armor Lock – heal your shields, get rid of grenades stuck to you, hit ‘em with an EMP
- Evade – just watch one of the Elites’ agile bounding around the battlefield for a demonstration of the Evade Armor Ability
Armor abilities are activated or toggled by using LB (in default controller configuration). Jet Pack Tip (I can’t remember where I saw this one, but it works): look straight down when you activate this ability and then run forward as the decoy would – you will fool some Covenant into thinking you are the decoy.
IGN on YOUTUBE: Halo: Reach – Hot Armor Ability Tips
MORE ON HALO: REACH ARMOR
Bungie – Armor Abilities
Halo.Wikia.com – Armor Abilities
Gmail Video Chat Enhanced, Better Tasting!
Sep 17th
Gmail Video Newsbit (big news if you do Video Chat) … Okay, the taste hasn’t improved but the Gmail blog has announced crisper video chatting in the form of higher resolution video chat that “… enables widescreen VGA and frees up valuable resources on your computer.”
Read all about New in Labs: Video chat enhancements on the Gmail blog, live and online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Book Giveaway Announced Titles Expanded
Sep 17th
Here’s the expanded list of books I will be giving away in the upcoming months, Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS feed so you don’t miss out. Tell your friends, too!
Beginning in September (on this blog) October (on George’s Wonder blog) I will be giving away one book or set of books per month. Dates and specific details will be announced when the giveaway actually begins!
I am also doing a book giveaway on my George’s Wonder Blog … go and check it out here.
HALO PAPERBACK NOVELS
Halo Ghosts of Onyx (By Eric Nylund, 2 copies)
Halo: The Flood (By William C. Dietz)
Halo: First Strike (By Eric Nylund)
Halo The Fall of Reach (By Eric Nylund)
WEB DESIGN
Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, Second Edition (By Patrick J. Lynch, Sarah Horton, and Louis Rosenfeld)
SitePoint’s THe CSS Anthology, 101 Essential Tips Tricks and Hacks (By Rachel Andrew)
PHP, Your Visual Blueprint for Creating Open Source, Server-Side Content (By Paul Whitehead and Joel Desamero)
Cascading Stylesheets, The Designer’s Edge (By Molly E. Holzschlag)
