Category: Development

Charge your iPhone in less time & other great tips

Yes, you’re going to get a iPhone 6s pretty much immediately.  Me too.  But let’s at least go into it knowing a few more tricks that your current iPhone already has up its sleeve…

 

1. Put your phone in Airplane mode while charging to significantly cut down on charging time.

Swipe up from the bottom of your phone and tap the airplane icon to go into airplane mode.  This is great if you need quickly charge. It makes the charging time “fly” by — see what we did there?

2. Give your phone a quick jiggle to fix a mistake.

While writing an email, text, or editing a photo, shake your phone if you make a mistake and get this little guy prompting you to undo what you just did.  Note: Shaking harder will not un-send a text you didn’t mean to send.

3. Turn your phone sideways for a more detailed calendar

Seriously the easiest tip ever.  Just turn your phone sideways and get a better view of your calendar. But since you don’t use your calendar consistently, it’s just a better view of dates for you to squint at and say “I know something is happening on the 15th…..what was it again???”

4. View email drafts with one tap

Just tap and hold the Compose button in your email application to quickly access your drafts.  We have rewritten many an email because we didn’t want to take the laborious steps of finding the draft.  So this one is a personal favorite.

5. Set a timer for music or audiobooks to automatically turn off

This one is great.  Get your audio playing (music, audiobooks, whatever) then set a timer in the Clock app.  Under the “When Timer Ends” section, instead of choosing a sound, choose Stop Playing. That’s it!  Now you can take a nap while listening to your most guilty pleasure playlist (Christopher Cross, Spice Girls, Justin Bieber, and the like) and make sure it turns off before anyone comes home to hear it!  Thanks iPhone!

 

Did we miss any other life saving tips?

 

Codd’s 12 Rules

Without Edgar F. Codd, who knows where modern databases would be.  You might not realize that just about everything these days is driven by a database (Facebook, for example, is just a really pretty database.)  So, Edgar F. Codd, we salute you.  And your mustache.

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Here are Codd’s 12 Rules of a relational database.  All 13 are still relevant today (no, that’s not a typo).

 

Rule 0: The Foundation rule:

A relational database management system must manage its stored data using only its relational capabilities. The system must qualify as relational, as a database, and as a management system. For a system to qualify as a relational database management system (RDBMS), that system must use its relational facilities (exclusively) to manage the database.

Rule 1: The information rule:

All information in a relational database (including table and column names) is represented in only one way, namely as a value in a table.

Rule 2: The guaranteed access rule:

All data must be accessible. This rule is essentially a restatement of the fundamental requirement for primary keys. It says that every individual scalar value in the database must be logically addressable by specifying the name of the containing table, the name of the containing column and the primary key value of the containing row.

Rule 3: Systematic treatment of null values:

The DBMS must allow each field to remain null (or empty). Specifically, it must support a representation of “missing information and inapplicable information” that is systematic, distinct from all regular values (for example, “distinct from zero or any other number”, in the case of numeric values), and independent of data type. It is also implied that such representations must be manipulated by the DBMS in a systematic way.

Rule 4: Active online catalog based on the relational model:

The system must support an online, inline, relational catalog that is accessible to authorized users by means of their regular query language. That is, users must be able to access the database’s structure (catalog) using the same query language that they use to access the database’s data.

Rule 5: The comprehensive data sublanguage rule:

The system must support at least one relational language that

  1. Has a linear syntax
  2. Can be used both interactively and within application programs,
  3. Supports data definition operations (including view definitions), data manipulation operations (update as well as retrieval), security and integrity constraints, and transaction management operations (begin, commit, and rollback).

Rule 6: The view updating rule:

All views that are theoretically updatable must be updatable by the system.

Rule 7: High-level insert, update, and delete:

The system must support set-at-a-time insert, update, and delete operators. This means that data can be retrieved from a relational database in sets constructed of data from multiple rows and/or multiple tables. This rule states that insert, update, and delete operations should be supported for any retrievable set rather than just for a single row in a single table.

Rule 8: Physical data independence:

Changes to the physical level (how the data is stored, whether in arrays or linked lists etc.) must not require a change to an application based on the structure.

Rule 9: Logical data independence:

Changes to the logical level (tables, columns, rows, and so on) must not require a change to an application based on the structure. Logical data independence is more difficult to achieve than physical data independence.

Rule 10: Integrity independence:

Integrity constraints must be specified separately from application programs and stored in the catalog. It must be possible to change such constraints as and when appropriate without unnecessarily affecting existing applications.

Rule 11: Distribution independence:

The distribution of portions of the database to various locations should be invisible to users of the database. Existing applications should continue to operate successfully:

  1. when a distributed version of the DBMS is first introduced; and
  2. when existing distributed data are redistributed around the system.

Rule 12: The nonsubversion rule:

If the system provides a low-level (record-at-a-time) interface, then that interface cannot be used to subvert the system, for example, bypassing a relational security or integrity constraint.

Thank you Wikipedia!!!

Cosplay inspired website tips

There’s more to Cosplay than just costumes.  And we wouldn’t be respectable Nerds if we didn’t find ways to force Cosplay into as many conversations as possible.  So, here’s the latest attempt…4 lessons for your website you can learn from Cosplay:

Stand Out!

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Cosplay is all about standing out.  Cosplay isn’t a place or a convention – it’s a practice and a state of mind.  Much like the internet, there are tons of other people vying for the spotlight and the only way you’re going to get a little bit shining on you is to stand out!  Be creative.  Approach what might be a common idea a little differently.

You could go to a convention and see 100 Spidermen (Spidermans?) but sometimes one of them stands out.  They did something a little unique within their costume.  They focused on a different aspect of Spiderman.  Maybe they even dressed up as one small part of Spiderman (like his hand) and went into exquisite detail in that area.

The same is true for your website.  It’s unlikely that you’re attempting to do something that nobody else has ever done before.  But it’s your approach, your spin, your flavor that will make all the difference.  Figure out what your approach is.  What are you focusing on that others are not.  What areas can you give extra attention to that other websites don’t?  What makes going to your site more fun or enjoyable than the next guy?  Standing out makes sure you are not easily forgotten.

Be Social

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Cosplay has a portion of alone time (planning, creating, testing & refining costumes) and so should your website.  But the end result is intended to be shared!  Same thing with your website.  When you have something you’re proud of, share it!  Be social.  There are endless platforms online to share your website and your related experiences.  Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so many more.

This isn’t about pushing your idea or your website on people that aren’t interested.  It’s about being part of a community.  People want to share.  They want to see what you created and they want to share what they created.  Sharing not only spreads your idea but creates inspiration for your next idea.  The best Cosplay costume ever created will never go viral if it’s just hanging in a closet somewhere.

Pay Attention to Detail

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Having a great idea and a great concept are wonderful.  But to have anything worthwhile, the execution needs to follow.  When creating a costume, sometimes people get so lost in the grand idea that the details are left out.  The details make the costume.  And the details make the website.

Thinking about how someone will use your website, what their thought process might be, what they have seen elsewhere that they don’t want to see on your site, and more are just some of the details to consider when crafting your website.  You have no doubt been to many similar websites but for one reason or another, one of them (or a small handful of them) stand out to you and you keep going back to them.  That’s what the details do.  They go unnoticed by users, but they leave that “special something” impression that keeps people coming back.  Don’t overlook the details.

Keep it fresh

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This is one of the most overlooked aspects of a successful website.  A website is like any other piece of advertising or marketing; it needs to stay updated and fresh.  You don’t see the same commercials year after year for the same products.  When you walk into a store to shop for something, it most likely doesn’t look exactly the same as it did years ago.  Things have to stay fresh to be interesting.  Look and feel, items available, cultural references, etc. all need to stay updated.

The same is certainly true for your website.  Once you get a website up and running it’s easy to take a big sigh of relief and feel like you’re done.  And you should.  But that sigh of relief can’t last forever.  The website you put up will be new to your visitors and it will still feel fresh for a little while.  But eventually it will start to get outdated.  If your site has content on it such as blog posts, those need to be kept up and stay relevant.  If your site sells products, they should stay relevant as well in terms of pricing, terminology, descriptions, pictures, etc.  Even the general look and feel need to be refreshed occasionally.  You are a user of the internet and you visit websites every day.  Without noticing it, you’re getting a feel for what the latest website design trends are.  You’re seeing sites that are more image based, larger fonts, etc.  If you land on a site that seems to have a style from from a long time ago, the likelihood of you staying on that site (or especially purchasing something on it) is very low.  There is an underlying concern that you’re on a website that is not up to date which might mean not secure, not accurate, and possibly not even in business or monitored any more.

Keeping content updated and the occasional refreshing of your design is how to instill confidence in your visitors.  A properly built website can have the design slightly updated & refreshed without complete reprogramming so be sure your developer is building your site in a way that is scalable for your future.

There you go.  Take a tip from Cosplay and make your website just as interesting & attention grabbing!

What other Cosplay inspired tips do you have?