Ok, I'm really fed up. I've been blocking domain after domain from google adsense on this blog, and they keep serving up plumbing and physical underground services for this clearly computer technology related blog. Why? They seem fixated on "underground" in the title of this blog.
So, how on earth do I get google adsense to ignore a specific word in a blog, for serving up ads? Of course, none of my readers are clicking on the ads they're serving. This is a tech blog, not a plumbing blog! I'm seriously considering dropping adsense altogether, in favor of ad servers that serve up relevant ads and actually generate some revenue. So far, I think I've earned about $2 in the past year, from google adsense. It's a good thing I'm not writing for the money.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Now, with an underscore
In an attempt to get rid of the "underground" focus of ads from google, I've modified the name of this blog with an underscore. Maybe now, they'll stop feeding ads that are completely unrelated to the content of this blog.
I tried blocking specific ad domains, but there were just too many to keep up with. I hope obscuring the one word the ad server seemed to focus on works :-)
I tried blocking specific ad domains, but there were just too many to keep up with. I hope obscuring the one word the ad server seemed to focus on works :-)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
An Experiment and a Prototype
Sometimes, it seems to me like more work to get pieces into a portfolio than it is to actually make them. Writing about them can be the hardest part for me.
Well, I've added two new pages to my portfolio site: one is a very recent experiment and one is a less recent prototype. The experiment is an interactive visualization of a story plot and involves very little code (and it's time-line code). The prototype is part of a project for chemistry students, and is entirely coded in AS3.
Well, I've added two new pages to my portfolio site: one is a very recent experiment and one is a less recent prototype. The experiment is an interactive visualization of a story plot and involves very little code (and it's time-line code). The prototype is part of a project for chemistry students, and is entirely coded in AS3.
Friday, February 13, 2009
I'm a PC and I'm four and a half
I love this ad! Yes, I'm promoting an ad. But I love this one!
This kid is 4 and a half, taking photos, altering them, and sending them to family! And she's unbelievably cute!
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:533e05d2-9f12-4a86-bdda-efd0455fcd36&showPlaylist=true" target="_new" title="Kylie uses Windows Live Photo Gallery">Video: Kylie uses Windows Live Photo Gallery</a>
Product and advertising goals aside, this is technology at it's best. Making a task easy to accomplish. Very cool!
This kid is 4 and a half, taking photos, altering them, and sending them to family! And she's unbelievably cute!
Product and advertising goals aside, this is technology at it's best. Making a task easy to accomplish. Very cool!
Refining Focus
You may or may not have noticed, but I've changed the subtitle of this blog. Instead of "Explorations of Flash, ActionScript, and Life and a Geek", it's now "Explorations of Coding, Science and Data Visualization, and Life as a Geek". Why? There are several reasons.
First: I'm not working in just Flash or ActionScript right now. Actually, I like to use lots of different tools. Also, right now I'm very much enjoying grad school (in Computer Science), where I'm doing a lot in Java. I don't know how I got by with the limited data structures in ActionScript for so long!
Second: I've decided to return to what I do best: visualization of data and science. Right now, I'm working on a project for visualizing the life cycle of Malaria. The new sub-title reflects this new focus.
Third: it's that time of year again, when GalaxyGoo friends and family start gearing up for taking the Cell Project to the Maker Faire. I'm thinking about how to improve the activity, can we also put together a cool installation of a cell in time....cells, cells, cells!
But don't worry, Flash and ActionScript are still among my very favorite tools to accomplish the visualization challenges I want to tackle, and I'll be posting about it quite a bit.
First: I'm not working in just Flash or ActionScript right now. Actually, I like to use lots of different tools. Also, right now I'm very much enjoying grad school (in Computer Science), where I'm doing a lot in Java. I don't know how I got by with the limited data structures in ActionScript for so long!
Second: I've decided to return to what I do best: visualization of data and science. Right now, I'm working on a project for visualizing the life cycle of Malaria. The new sub-title reflects this new focus.
Third: it's that time of year again, when GalaxyGoo friends and family start gearing up for taking the Cell Project to the Maker Faire. I'm thinking about how to improve the activity, can we also put together a cool installation of a cell in time....cells, cells, cells!
But don't worry, Flash and ActionScript are still among my very favorite tools to accomplish the visualization challenges I want to tackle, and I'll be posting about it quite a bit.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Weird Alpha Behaviour with Flash 10
It's been a while since I've done much with visual assets and text fields created in the Flash authoring environment, but I've got a project that does use it. So, I keep finding these little weird behaviors.
Today, I was trying to put a watermark-like repeated text on top of graphics I'd drawn on the stage. I repeated a text field over and over again, across the stage. All good. Then converted them all into a single text field, and applied an alpha color effect. Looked perfect!
But when I generated the swf, the alpha color effect wasn't applied. Took me a while to figure out what the problem was, but I'd accidentally set the text field to dynamic text instead of static text. Changed that setting, and all was good.
The weird part about it, though, was that the color effect was applied in the authoring environment preview, but not in the compiled swf. I'll have to search the Flash bug base to see if anyone's already filed it.
Today, I was trying to put a watermark-like repeated text on top of graphics I'd drawn on the stage. I repeated a text field over and over again, across the stage. All good. Then converted them all into a single text field, and applied an alpha color effect. Looked perfect!
But when I generated the swf, the alpha color effect wasn't applied. Took me a while to figure out what the problem was, but I'd accidentally set the text field to dynamic text instead of static text. Changed that setting, and all was good.
The weird part about it, though, was that the color effect was applied in the authoring environment preview, but not in the compiled swf. I'll have to search the Flash bug base to see if anyone's already filed it.
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