Disqus - Latest Comments for Ben

Re: Ajax Spy in Rails

Ben — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:19:13 -0000

Thanks for the guide Sean, it is exactly what I was looking for. This will really help me to code up a "Digg Spy" type feature for my own Rails app (http://www.trawlr.com).

Re: ySlow

Ben — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:13:20 -0000

Discovered YSlow recently myself and wrote a quick, rails-specific guide for improving scores using a combination of asset packager (as you mentioned) and Nginx configuration.
http://www.slashdotdash.net/articles/2007/07/31...

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Ben — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:48:36 -0000

Robert,

My situation is that I am 'forced' to use Outlook at work (company policy) and choose to use Google Calendar at home. The benefits of Google calendar for me are that I can access it from anywhere with an internet connection and have the exact same user experience, I have always found it to be extremely quick.

As for the 'offline' problem, I use iCal on my Mac with a read-only Calendar that is subscribed to my Google Calendar private ical feed. It is set to update daily, so if I really need to check my Calendar offline I can fire up iCal and voila. Another plus for this method is that iCal can automatically sync with my iPod - so if I really need to check my Calendar with no PC I can use my iPod. Awesome! Obviously the draw-back here is that it is read-only, but it meets my needs perfectly.

Re: The Fattest RSS Feeds

Ben — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:17:57 -0000

I find the "river of news" style view preferable when reading syndicated RSS feeds. It allows me to dip in and out of the latest news and importantly also lets the feeds 'flow' past when I'm away. With the right amount of feed tagging I have different views depending on how much spare time I have available (and so that I don't miss important stuff).

For instance, to view the my 'favourite' feeds: http://www.trawlr.com/users/ben/items/Favourite

Re: The war over your start page

Ben — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:03:21 -0000

It's got to be a super fast homepage for me; either about:blank or Google.

I like the idea of pageflakes type sites, I just can't stand the load time. Instead I use www.trawlr.com for my online RSS feeds and fix of tech news in a river-of-news style view (with various tags to filter the feeds).

Re: Why doesn’t Microsoft Maps get the hype?

Ben — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:31:16 -0000

> It’s a shame as there’s some cracking products and technologies… Max and Photosynth come to mind, and Windows Local...

Ummh, Microsoft Max is dead! (http://www.microsoft.com/max/)

Re: Sys-Con: The Most Annoying Web Site, Ever?

Ben — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:17:06 -0000

It's slightly better when using Firefox with a combination of Adblock (with Filterset.G) and Flashblock. Only the very annoying popup div still appears (all the other ads are gone).