Sold some books, made some new friends. This was the most professional affair I’ve ever attended. Very organized, well placed and an audience of eager readers who came for nothing but good reading material. No incidents, good food, excellent music, and the friendliest set of literary giants you ever saw. I’m glad I came.

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Had an interesting week. I was interviewed by one of my favorite sources for news surrounding HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). My love for Black colleges goes without question. Both my parents went to HBCUs (My Mom met my Dad at Florida Memorial and got her 1st Masters at Clarke College), and 2 of my kids went to Howard University. HBCU Digest was kind enough to give me an opportunity to tell part of my story as well as my views on the future of HBCUs. It’s a great site that covers everything from Campus News to Post Graduate milestones. Read the interview here, then check out the entire site here.

Dreamweaver CS5 just popped its head out of the box and dropped a jewel on web designers. Content Management System support and better WordPress compatibility. Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 software empowers designers and developers to build standards-based websites with confidence. Design visually or directly in code, develop pages with content management systems, and accurately test browser compatibility thanks to integration with Adobe BrowserLab, a new Adobe CS Live online service. Here’s a look at some of the cool new stuff:

Integrated CMS support

Enjoy authoring and testing support for content management system frameworks like WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal.

 

CSS inspection

Visually display the CSS box model in detail, and easily toggle CSS properties without reading code or needing to use a separate utility.

 

Integration with Adobe BrowserLab
Preview dynamic web pages and local content with multiple viewing, diagnostic, and comparison tools.

 

PHP custom class code hinting
Display proper syntax for custom PHP functions to help you write code more accurately.

 

Integration with Business Catalyst
Leverage integration between Dreamweaver and the Adobe Business Catalyst® service (available separately) to deliver powerful online businesses without programming.

 

Maintain consistency across media
Insert any native Adobe Photoshop® or Illustrator file® in Dreamweaver to create an image Smart Object. Make changes to the source image, and then update your image quickly and easily.

 

Subversion support (enhanced)
Manage site files more effectively in collaborative, version-controlled environments with enhanced support for Subversion® software.

 

Site-specific code hinting
Benefit from code hinting on nonstandard files and directories in Dreamweaver.

Don’t panic. It’s not worth it. The upgrade is coming and you can’t stop it. The best you can do is get prepared. Read the reviews, watch the videos, and follow the tweets. It’s not quite available, but click below to see what’s coming our way:

Felt like sharing this with you. Outside.in’s Steven Johnson says the Web is like a city: built by many people, completely controlled by no one, intricately interconnected and yet functioning as many independent parts. While disaster strikes in one place, elsewhere, life goes on.

I know the feeling. You’ve gotten so accustom to whipping out your PDA in so many unusual places, you figure all grounds are fair game, right? Wrong. If you think you’re going to use your spanking new iPhone to entertain yourself next time you’re on jury duty, think again.  Judges are going to take an even dimmer view of jury member use of Blackberry, iPhone or other electronic devices as a judicial policy-setting group has told district judges they should restrict jurors from using electronic technologies to research or communicate.

I feel ya. This seems lame, but it’s already gone to the high court. The Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management for the United States District Courts said it developed instructions that would be issued by judges, “to address the increasing incidence of juror use of such devices as cellular telephones or computers to conduct research on the Internet or communicate with others about cases.” Such use has resulted in mistrials, exclusion of jurors, and imposition of fines. The suggested instructions specifically inform jurors that they are prohibited from using these technologies in the courtroom, in deliberations, or outside the courthouse to communicate about or research cases on which they currently serve, the group stated. Read the rest of this entry »

With all due respect to the Who, this is probably the perfect song to announce the unveiling of Steve’s latest baby, the iPad. I could rattle on about all the cool features, but why keep you from the video? Enjoy, my friends!

Looking back on 2009, it’s clear that it a banner year for fonts. Some of the most elegant and creative typefaces emerged last year. MyFonts has rifled through as many of them as they could, and thanks to the efforts of staff and fans the list was produced. Follow the link below for the “Top Ten”.
TOP TEN FONTS

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen in a natural disaster isn’t the disaster at all. It’s the con game that springs up in the midst of the aftermath that leaves infectious scars.

Once the news broke about the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the U.S. government and other organizations quickly warned of scam artists trying to dupe people into sending them money intended for the victims. Such low-life hucksters know that once some people see video and photos of victims crying out for help, their generosity will trump their caution.

Just a day after the quake, the FBI issued a warning about Haiti-related scams. The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance also warned that fraudulent charities will probably emerge.

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, the scam artists blew in as fiercely as the gale-force winds that accompanied the storms. So many popped up that the FBI partnered with the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and other government agencies to form the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force.

Don’t think you are too smart to avoid a scam. Crooks are clever, and the technology is so good that it’s easy to be duped.

No doubt you’ve seen the fraud warnings, but they are worth repeating. The FBI and the Better Business Bureau recommend the following:

• – Don’t respond to any unsolicited incoming e-mail or click on links contained within those messages.

 

• – Be skeptical of people who claim to be surviving victims. After Katrina, dozens of individuals were indicted for falsely representing themselves as such.

 

• – Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations. There are a number of Internet-based resources that can assist you in vetting a charity. For example, you can go to http://www.bbb.org/charity, http://www.charitywatch.org or http://www.guidestar.org.
  

 

• – Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than going through third parties. Cutting out the middleman may help more of your money go to the relief effort.

If you suspect you’re the victim of a scam, file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov/default.aspx), a partnership of the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance designed to track and match related online criminal complaints.

Crooks will attempt to capitalize on the relief efforts in Haiti. If you want to make a donation, make sure your gift will be used for those in need.

As an instructor, you try to be as clear as possible when asking for files to be saved in a compatible format for grading. This task can sometimes stump the best of us. Fear not, my friends, for you’re in good company. Here’s what’s up:

Most browsers have the necessary powers to view the most common formats. For example, the MPEG format (Motion Pictures Expert Group),is a good choice for quality video. However, there are many options. The point is to be sure it’s compatible, and the necessary plugins are clearly available if not previously installed. If you’re going to be watching any video (which of course you are) on your computer, you should definitely be prepared to play/accept WMV, FLV, MP4, MOV and SWF. Confused? Check out the list below for brief definitions:

• .3gp – the most common video format for mobile phones
• .asf – (ASF is a shell, which enables any form of compression to be used; MPEG-4 is common. Video in ASF-containers is also called Windows Media Video (WMV))
• .avi – Audio Video Interleave – a shell that enables any form of compression to be used; MPEG-1 and a variant of MPEG-4 are common)
• .flv – Flash video played through a .swf file.
• .m2v – MPEG-2 Video file
• .mov – Quicktime video; enables any form of compression to be used; Sorenson codec is the most common.
• .mp3 – MPEG layer 3 audio;
• .mp4 – MPEG-4 Part 14. Most commonly used to store digital video and digital audio streams
• .mpeg, .mpg, .mpe – Moving Picture Experts Group
• .ra – Real Audio

Even if you haven‘t figured it all out yet, lighten up. You can actually upload almost any video, as long as it’s in a compatible format. Many players will accept multiple file formats, so you can use one app for all video. But no one expects you to know everything at anytime. Just what’s best for that particular file. Do your homework.

Now that I’ve completely confused the crap out of you, don’t sweat it. Have a cookie. The oracle says as soon as you leave this post, you’ll feel right as rain. But just in case you got a stale cookie, this will surely lift your spirits. Have a better one.