Facebook Email Addresses Now (Mostly) Defunct
A few years ago Facebook launched its anti-email campaign, saying that the future of messaging is no longer email. As of today (for me at least), they are no longer pushing emails sent to @facebook.com addresses into their messaging system.
Mini-Review: X-Rite M50103 ColorChecker (Grayscale)
Today I received the X-Rite M50103 ColorChecker (Grayscale). Even though I've had it for just one day, I wanted to mention how much of a top-notch product this is.
Install MySQL on Mac OS X via Homebrew
A quick tip for those of you doing MAMP development: how to easily install and run MySQL via Homebrew.
From a terminal:
Introducing Martinez Media, LLC
If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on twitter, you may have seen me mentioning starting a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Well, after a bit of planning, I'm proud to announce that Martinez Media, LLC is a go!
Toy Hack: Kidoozie Deluxe Build-A-Road with Elevator
One of the best things about being a parent? You get to play with some awesome kid-toys again! Seth received the a Kidoozie Build A Road X-Track set as a Christmas gift. We love building different tracks, finding different obstacles to integrate with the road, and just beings kids (at-heart, in my case).
Deploy WordPress Using Git
With this site's recent migration to Windows Azure, the true power of Git-based deployments has become very apparent. Being able to source control an entire WordPress site, including plugins, themes, configuration, and of course, WordPress itself, makes it very convenient to manage. Adding automatic deployments just sweetens the deal.
If you're not running on Windows Azure, but still want to take advantage of Git-based deployments, it's a relatively easy process to setup. I've tested this setup on multiple sites and it's been working very well for me.
Free Windows and IE Virtual Machines for Cross-Browser Testing
If you spend a lot of your time doing web development, then you'll realize how important cross-browser testing is. Ensuring that your site looks and functions (mostly) the same across modern, or legacy, browsers is vital.
However, one of the most difficult browsers to test is Internet Explorer. This is largely due to its availability only on the Windows platform, as well as changes between major version numbers. Well, that all changes now thanks to an offering from Microsoft.
Having a Virtual Presence
During my time working for Orion, we had a two-way video conferencing solution that we put together to make my remote status more visible on-site. We dubbed it "The Virtual Presence" (or VP for short), and overall, we found it to be a successful means for making me more like an on-site employee. I felt it would be a good mini-case study to put together, so here's my quick overview of my previous remote working conditions.
Working Remotely
Keeping Comment Blocks Visible in Compressed SCSS Output
A real quick Tuesday tip: SCSS gives you the ability to keep a comment even with style set to compressed. Great for including a file header, important information, or legalese in a minified file.
To test it out, start watching a file with the style flag set to compressed:
Onto a New Skyline: Pushing the Career Forward
After this week, I will be leaving my position as a senior software engineer with Orion Energy Systems, Inc.
I'd like to thank Orion for being a great employer for the past year-and-a-half. Orion was a very progressive work environment, and helped me hone a large set of my skills to where they are today.