I tried upgrading everything to the new version of eclipse and Aptana clearly states they do not yet support it and I just get cfeclipse errors when trying to open a cfm file. On linux eclipse is dreadfully slow. I bounce a lot from platform to platform, and eclipse is great for that since it runs on most anything, but as of late its been a pain. I hate to break out Dreamweaver again…

1. Soup Container - We all have left over soup but never have a way to reseal it and carry it with us in a spill proof container.(For chunky soups consider a “wide mouth” bottle)
2. Change Jar - This isn’t exactly original, but you can always throw your spare change into a bottle.
3. Telephone - Yes, when the wife is in the kitchen this is the perfect way to request a another drink
4. Nail Jar - Clean up the shop by storing all your nails and screws into these tough containers
5. Fish Bowl - Times are tough, don’t go buy a new fish bowl when there are plenty of bottles that will work equally as well(not to mention different color fish tanks)
6. Fishing Cork/Bobber - After you’re done with the bottle as a fish bowl, take it fishing with you and tie it to your fishing line as a cork(but don’t litter and leave it in the water when you’re done!)
7. Floating Key Ring - Everyone has butter fingers now and then, never lose your keys again in the river. tie a bottle to your key ring!
8. Foot Massager - Place a bottle under your foot and roll it back and forth.
9. Running Weights - Fill a bottle with sand and carry it with you while running to build your muscles
10. Toilet - Keep an empty bottle in your car for those long road trips to cut back on frequent stops
11. Ammunition - When camping fill your bottle about half full with dirt, then you can use it to hunt down your meal.
12. Boat Anchor - Fill a bottle with cement or sand, and keep it in your boat for an anchor
13. Vase - Partially fill a bottle with water and place a flower in it for a nice decorative piece.
14. Fly Swatter/Bat - Grab an empty bottle next time you need to get rid of a pesky rodent or fly.
15. Ear Muffs - Next time you don’t want to get rid of the pesky flys but the sound is bothering you, cut a bottle in half and tie one over each ear.
16. Fly Catcher - Great for “catch and release” fly catching. Also poke a small hole in the lid to keep them a live for a short period of time. While camping, fly caught maybe useful for #6.
17. Spit Cup - Keep a bottle handy if you’re a dipper/chewer and need a place to spit. Please, stop spitting tobacco juice on the sidewalk
18. Ash Tray - Keep a little water in the bottom of a bottle to extinguish cigarettes.
19. Shovel - When you’re camping and need to dig a hole(possibly for use #10) keep a bottle handy
20. Dog Muzzle - When you’re dog just won’t shut up, it is possible to cut a bottle in half(use the end with the hole in the end so they can breath) and tie it over his mouth. Highly NOT recommended as this could result in injury or death to you or your dog.(see use #21 and use #19)
21. Urn - If by some chance you need a place to keep ashes possibly from #20, this is an affordable alternative.
22. Pillow - If you’re ever out camping and forget your pillow a 2 liter bottle is the perfect size for a place to lay your head.
23. Fart Stink Bomb - Long road trips are often more fun when you can carry along a suprise. Consider one of these while packing.
24. Message In a Bottle - Save your bottle from the Stink Bomb (#23) incase your friends leave you on a deserted island.
25. Candy Dispenser - Once you’ve opened a bag of small candies pour them in a bottle so you can close them back up.
26. Salt Shaker - Take a small bottle with salt or peper in it camping so you can give your food a little flavor
27. Tamborine/Shaker - These are also easy to make with a few rocks. Great for sing alongs on long road trips.
28. Drink Mixer - Quite useful if you carried #27 with you on a long road trip

In no way, shape, or form do I recommend all of these techniques or uses as they could be harmful to you, the ones around you, or the environment. But when in a pinch they can definitely help out. So keep in mind these reusable ideas the next time you have an empty bottle! Anyone with any more useful reusable ideas?

1. Open Source hurt competitive companies who follow a more traditional business model; Create a product, Sell the product. Companies/groups developing Open Source software don’t charge for their product, but charge for support.
2. If the producer of the software doesn’t support the product, the end may have to use another company for support.
3. Many software companies who use to offer moderate products are being overtaken by open source, causing them to open source their products or else discontinue the product. I hope your business doesn’t have one of those products!
4. The bandwagon fans pull more and more users from proprietary products even when the proprietary product may be more stable and secure. Everyone has been a bandwagon fan at some point and tried one of these projects.
5. Many companies wont allow their proprietary products to play nicely with Open Source products. Maybe this is for security or maybe just that they’ve worked out deals with other proprietary companies. For instance it wasn’t all that long ago when a lot of software would only support Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. This is becoming less of the case, but the business may get stuck in this sutuation. Granite, this is rarely the case these days, but it still happens.

I realize some of these points are assuming the “business” is the producer, and some consider the business a consumer of a product. Open source can hurt in both directions. It’s all one big circle. All in all it was tougher to come up with real legitimate reasons Open Source hurts the business model other than it offers its product for free. But anyone know of any other set backs?

1. Software has evolved at a rapid pace due to community involvement. Contributors from all backgrounds can participate in the development and making it possible for businesses to do things not possible only a few years ago.
2. Open Source Software is generally free. Most companies only need to pay for support, making it more affordable for the smaller companies to be just as technologically advanced as fortune 500 companies
3. Vibrant communities are great for support. You, in many cases, are more likely to find help online since there are so many contributors. This free support fits well into next years budget.
4. With some software like web browsers and operating systems there is a wealth of plugins and ad ons that allow you to customize your software to your need. This isn’t limited to Open Source, but compare Firefox to IE.
5. If it doesn’t work the way you want it to, change it. Open Source means the source code is openly available. If you need a little extra functionality it doesn’t cost you a thing to change it yourself, something that will cost you and arm and a leg with proprietary closed source software.

I will be following up with the cons, so don’t get ahead of your self. There are plenty of reasons for not using Open Source. But Hey, why not, its free?

1. If they’re trying to prove a point that dark themes are pretty, I think they’re just going to satisfy the ones who already love dark themes,.. in which case those users probably have a custom theme they enjoy already. They’re not going to get the votes of mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa, who until they satisfy, Linux in general will always be an underachiever.
2. The darker theme, no matter how great the graphics, will only be eye-popping on higher end machines, thus going back to number one, only satisfying those true computer nerds who they’ve already captured their vote.
3. Its a proven fact that dark colors are more depressing. Although it may be easier on the eyes, after a while people want to see vibrant colors.
4. Dark colors are not suitable for the work environment. Businesses and schools will be hesitant to adopt such dark themes, partly because it appears “Unbusiness like” and also back to number 3, depressing workers.
5. It hurts the visual integrity of applications and websites running within it. Applications need colors that make them stand out, not so dark and smooth that they all blend in.

I think other approaches should be taken first to improve desktop appeal before the theme, take a look at OSX for instance, they’ve done really well with they’re organization of the desktop, and more linux distributions are starting to reflect what they’ve done because it works so well.

Its understandable that brownish/orange is Ubuntu’s color, but there’s no need to be obsessive with it, for god’s sake make it vibrant and beautiful!


//simple one state
$.prompt('hello world');

//complex multi state
$.prompt(['hello 1', 'hello 2', 'hello 3']);


While this seams nice we still may have different buttons for each state, and this isn’t very flexible as far as that goes. Another option may be to have another function to add extra states, sort of queuing up the prompts..


$.prompt('my state');
$.addPromptState('my state 2',options1);
$.addPromptState('my state 3',options2);

//or pass a hash to name our states
$.addPromptStates({
state1: {...},
state2: {...},
state3: {...}
});


So again I’m just throwing it out there to see if I get any bites. This isn’t set in stone but I think it could be a nice feature to ad some application like effects and feeling to Impromptu. Any one have any thoughts or suggestions?

For those of you not aware of what aedCFC is, it is a collection of cfc’s which dynamically build end user ready add/edit/delete, ideal for administration areas to websites. You’re asking yourself, “Well a bunch of frameworks build crud for me, why should I bother with this?”. The answer is simple, crud applications are for the developer, aedCFC is for the client. Also this isn’t a content management system, but a tool to very quickly build a very customized cms, specific to your needs, not some blogger’s needs

It’s been quite some time since the last aedCFC update, and quite frankly it is in desparate need of a major overhaul. Well thats exactly what its getting! With more of a MVC approach it will become more versatile and extendable. The new version will improve 10 fold, as now you will be able to easily add custom views, use specific image manipulation libraries(image.cfc, imagemagick, and cf8’s cfimage will be available by default), and several new options. All this is still possible by means of a simple xml model to build the aed. Stay tuned for the upcoming release!

The new Opera is here with developer tools more cleanly integrated and a new look. Now Developer tools comes up within the window much like firebug! The standard tools that come with Opera are impressing me more and more each release. (I know I know its a Windows screenshot..)