Updates from Ryan RSS
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11:44:10 pm on June 22, 2008 |
@Neil - you need to spell the acronym right chap, its IILYW, not ILLWY (they really should sort that name out). Get well soon mate.
@git - my post was only really the beginning, it doesn’t really go into anything like branching or forking, but thanks for the support.
@IILWY - I’d like to see powerup that sends a 7 block long, U-shape piece (i.e there are 2 blocks at each end - like the current U block but longer) to another player (in blockles), and that block is just reserved for powerups. Another could be they get their screen blocked until they solve a simple maths problem, it would catch most people of guard, and it would be hard to solve with that much adrenaline pumping through your veins! - Applicable to all games probably.
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06:29:33 am on June 14, 2008 |
@IILWY - I am up for that! I’m not very good at blockles (Neil thrashed me last time), but I’ll give it a go.
@iPhone - I can’t believe how cheap they are, in the UK we basically get £150 off, for the same contract, and same term length (18 months). However £60 will go towards my MobileMe subscription, which I think is going to be pretty impressive, all I want is the syncing, however it will be good to use the apps for inspiration.
@EntreList - Maybe we should only stick a few select tags, wipe what’s currently there, and just make sure we only use tags that are going to be used often. E.g: EntreList, External (for twitter, facebook, IILWY, etc), Wakoopa, TheWineGod, VoiceTracker. Obviously the list would be added to as we start new and exciting projects. I have a few more ideas, but will think them over before plurking them out (sounds like an appropriate phrase!) on Entrelist.
Speaking of which, I’ll just give a short run down of what I am up to at the moment. ThinkRefresh is coming along nicely, I am working on a series called Rails 101, for beginning Rails development, however there will be a lot of non-Rails Ruby content. My boss is going on a trip abroad next week to source wine for TheWineGod, and I will be beginning the e-commerce system.
I have been making a central account manager for use within a set of applications (CMS, e-commerce, issue tracking, client login etc), and in doing so I decided to port out the authentication as a plugin for Rails called Authenticaterb (http://github.com/ryantownsend/authenticaterb) which is also coming along great. I’ll soon be releasing another plugin aimed at easy to implement spam filtering.
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01:59:44 pm on June 2, 2008 |
@Peter - that was a very interesting article, but I am not sure how I really feel about Facebook at the moment. I don’t really think they have a defined idea, everything seems a bit blurry at the edges.
@Puke.com (my new name for it) - Yes really not happy with it. There is a point at which AJAX puts me off. There is no need to have the timeline open whilst I am editing my profile, so don’t popup a box on screen, just let me view a normal page.
@IILWY - Neil you might also want a dictionary… Unicron
what a truly great game, much prefer it to Tetris, especially because people cheat so much, and you get some really stupid words.@Neil - Hope it wasn’t Safari’s fault, don’t want you to give up on it or anything.
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10:52:46 am on May 11, 2008 |
@Neil well I hope it goes well, I need someone to go with, seems pointless my boss going (however I suppose it would be good for him to see what a good investment I am ;-)) when he doesn’t know about web design / development.
@Peter yes, I am actually working on a screencast for Neil right now, on how to make a polymorphic permissions system for use in a social app. If you have any questions or problems please don’t hesitate to ask me, I’ll do my best to help with anything. How long have you been using Rails for? Or have you just started?
With regards the social e-commerce engine, basically the case study is a website called TheWineGod, which is going to be one of my boss’s companies.
The idea is that when you buy wine, usually it tells you roughly what it’s good with e.g. ‘fish’, or ‘meat’, but rarely the actual details. When you buy a wine you might discover it goes well with a particular dish or ingredient, so the idea behind the site is you can ask people who’ve bought the bottle you’re looking at ‘Do you think it would go well with… X Y Z?’, they can then reply and earn points if the person buys it and likes it.
A user will be able to do things like setup their own Wine cellar so they can show the wines they like and list their reviews, again earning points when people buy from their cellar and like what they buy.
The points will lead to coupons, money off etc - like having a loyalty card at a supermarket. Aside from that, I am up for suggestions on how to increase interaction between users.
I’d love to visit Amsterdam, especially with people who know the city, all my housemates say it’s a beautiful place, so if you guys would be happy with me tagging along and if I can get time off work, I’d certainly take you guys up on the offer of meeting up.
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03:39:24 am on May 10, 2008 |
@Neil they were only there for a day, and one of them spent most of his time tripping out in the hostel apparently. The other managed to buy a bag of lemon sherbet. Might have to join in on your trip depending on the dates. You planning on going to FOWA or any other expos this year? I am going to try and get to it if at all possible, maybe as part of my university project… which reminds me - by the way I study Internet Computing at Manchester University for those who don’t know (will update my introduction), and I will be making a social E-commerce engine for my final year project - so if anyone has any ideas of what they’d like to see in such as system, please let me know.
That Trampoline Systems FlightDeck seems interesting, however it’s not quite the same as the Hub. The emphasis really is on ensuring jobs that need doing are finished, done properly, and billed.
The company I work for started a few years ago (about 6 years ago) and until recently we have been very bad with organising our work properly, so the intension is to help other start-ups with keep their business on track. I’m not just walking web startups - who are probably more organised than most others, our unorganised parts were tech support and hosting / domains. Our business development manager / accounts lady, Lucy, managed to find something like £30,000 of unbilled business over a 2 month period!
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03:43:11 pm on May 9, 2008 |
Hi everyone, my name is Ryan Townsend. I am a Ruby on Rails web developer / designer based in Manchester, UK. I got to know this site through Neil, who I’ve come to know through my Rails screencast blog ThinkRefresh. You can find me on Twitter @RyanTownsend.
I have been working as a web developer for 5 years in a small ICT company, and we are currently developing numerous web applications. The first is RadiateCMS, not to be confused with Radiant, we have an e-commerce system in the works, and a project nicknamed ‘The Hub’ which is basically a set of apps which manage information flow and communication within a business. Apologies for the self advertising, but I just wanted to let people know what I am up to.
Finally, I am working on a few apps of my own, so I’ll post info on them as things become set in stone.
I would have liked to comment on various things written here, but I am yet to finish reading them all, so you’ll be hearing from me in the future
Edit: by the way I study Internet Computing at Manchester University. My last year is 2009, and for my final year project (Sept 08 - June 09) I will be producing a social E-commerce engine.