This is my first post in a series called 4Nubs. Which is basically programming tutorials for noobs. So, here I go... Tell me what you think. If you use GMail, or if you’ve ever been to GMail.com, you’ll know that they have this cool ad for their huge storage space. It’s a number that goes up continuously. Google wants you to think that you’re gaining storage space continuously. But what seems like a second-by-second increase of mailbox quota, is actually a simple JavaScript trick. If you look into the source code, there is a timer that increments the number every 1000 milliseconds. So here, we’re going to imitate that effect, but in a simpler way. Say, I wanted to make a hit-counter that would update itself automatically. So, I figure out that I get 1 visitor every 23 seconds. (It’s actually a lot… more →

Sadly, a lot of things tick me off. Here are my top 5 5. Reading Billboards Out Loud Billboards, signs, anything that can be read. Someone just has to read it aloud. It’s not like I’m illiterate. Are you reading aloud billboards because you want me to pay attention to them? If you want to point something out, just gesture towards it instead of mocking my intelligence and reading it aloud. 4. Taking Things too Seriously Not everything is meant to be a debate. If you don’t agree with me about something, just tell me. But if the conversation goes on for more than 2 or 3 sentences, just drop it. Some people take their opinions way to heavily. It’s great to stand up for what you believe in, but don’t argue about trivial things and subjects that aren’t important. 3. 1-Word Texts "Hey, on RogerHub… more →

Every week in the L.A. Times, there’s a Fry’s commercial on the back of the news section. Most days, the commercial takes up the whole back panel of the section, but sometimes, the commercial actually spans 4 pages. One product that is invariably on Fry’s commercials is antivirus. It’s a complex situation, but there’s a lot of money being made off popular antivirus suites like Norton or Kaspersky. But how effective are these solutions? Chances are that you’ve had at least one encounter with a computer virus. Maybe it was a stupid mistake, or a pop-up ad that you got it from. Maybe you had antivirus at the time, and maybe you didn’t. When computers are so central to our lives (like they are today), viruses can be nasty and costly to remove. So, how do you prevent getting viruses in the first… more →

Chances are, you probably have speakers or maybe a set of headphones hooked up to your computer. Well, my situation is.. complicated. I salvaged an old stereo and disassembled it. The speaker portion is sitting behind my monitor while the controls are underneath my desk. Speakers are connected to the controls, controls connected to the computer. In short: Speakers > Controls > Computer The detached speakers behind my (big) monitor. So it all works out well. I just poke the On/Off button underneath the desk whenever I need to turn the speakers on or off. The sound quality is good and the volume is fine. The only problem is, adjusting the volume. There’s a volume knob on the stereo, but it’s hard to turn a knob with your feet. Windows 7 gives me a nice looking volume control thing on the taskbar, but using that is inconvenient… more →