19. February 2011

Newer Technology MAXPower eSata 6G PCIe 2.0 RAID controller card review

As our core system is a Mac Pro running Snow Leopard 10.6.6, we had to look for a suitable eSata Raid controller card that would allow us to test external RAID enclosures (port multiplier) as well.

We will be showcasing many different setups and dive into RAID configurations as deep as needed ;) The first video segment will be airing soon, in German only.

Now to our guest today, the Newer Technology MAXPower 6G PCIe eSata RAID controller card.

Review

19. February 2011

Site cleanup

Currently cleaning up the site a bit, to make room for things to come in the future :)

Besides my regular work stuff, portalZINE TV is currently eating up all my time.

I am actively working on new things for jQuery and just released a new internal version of my PHP Framework “cubicFusion”.

19. February 2011

Horizontal accordion

I know that some are wondering, if I am still here. Yes I am :)

I get many emails asking me, if I could update that or do that for them.

Sorry, but I am concentrating on other projects right now, that support my family.

Many use the horizontal accordion for commercial projects, but never really thought about giving something back.

Some sent me $1 or even less in the past, which not really motivates me to extend or fix the available codebase ;) This hardly gets me a cup of coffee ;)

I have been working on it internally, but have no open updates planned for the near future.

Cheers

Alexander

15. September 2010

Typisch, Toskana!

Was verbindet man für gewöhnlich, wenn man das Wort Toskana hört? Na klar: Zypressen, Pinienbäume, Oliven und Wein.

Brennweite 70 mm/ Blende 10/ Belichtung 1/500s

Vielleicht denkt man auch an Sonnenblumen, aber wie man hier sehen kann, waren wir 2009 wohl zur falschen Zeit für Sonnenblumen dort. Dies war einmal ein Acker. Oder es ist sicher auch immer noch einer. Jedoch hat letztes Jahr die Hitze und die Trockenheit erbarmungslos dort zugeschlagen, so dass die Erde ausgedorrt und viele Pflanzen vertrocknet waren. Interessant aber auch sehr schade.

Brennweite 105 mm/ Blende 10/ Belichtung 1/200s

Gern hätte ich die Toskana kennengelernt, wie ich sie schon häufig zuvor auf Fotos gesehen hatte. Mit grünen Büschen, Grasflächen, Olivenhainen und Weinstöcken. Aber mit dem ein oder anderen konnte die Region dann doch aufwarten. Olivenhain bei Cecina

Brennweite 18 mm/ Blende 10/ Belichtung 1/320s

Ja, das sieht nicht nur so aus, das sind wirklich Oliven. Ich muss sagen, dass ich nicht der Fan von Oliven im allgemeinen bin, aber da gibt es schon richtig gutes, feines und mildes Olivenöl, wie ich es in Deutschland so noch nie bekommen habe (liegt vielleicht auch daran, dass ich nicht immer 6,00-12,00 € für mein Olivenöl ausgebe).

Brennweite 98 mm/ Brennweite 8/ Belichtung 1/640s

27. August 2010

Adding a gradient to an image using Imagick

Imagick allows you to easily add a gradient to an image.

// The gradient
$gradient = new Imagick();

// Create new Image with size x, size y, “gradient start – gradient end“
$gradient->newPseudoImage( 930,20,”gradient:transparent-#838383″);

// $im would be the canvas or image you loaded before. This merges both, the image gradient at position x, position y
$im->compositeImage( $gradient, imagick::COMPOSITE_OVER, 0, 240 );

This can easily be transformed to create a reflection, by mirroring the original and applying the the gradient to the mirrored image.

Cheers
Alexander

17. June 2010

Magento 1.0 to 1.3 to 1.4 – horrors

If you plan to upgrade from Magento 1.0 to 1.4, be prepared for some heavy lifting. Just finished a client upgrade who didnt do any upgrades for over 2 years. Not doing that ever again.

Might even stick with 1.3, as many of the old modules behave badly under 1.4.

Magento is a massive solution, but community support via Varien sucks big time. So anybody that is not ready to dig into code, should use another solution or find someone that can help.

Cheers

17. June 2010

E3 envy and my 4-hour work week plan

Really need to find some gaming time again. really hoped for Diablo 3 this year, but as we all know that was moved to next year ;)

I should be thankful to Blizzard, as that keeps me focused on my work LOL

A neighbour took me to the side yesterday and told me that live is to short to only focus on work. Yeah well still working on my 4-hour Work week plan (Timothy Ferriss) ;)

My workload has been intense in the past months and not sure how long I really want to keep that up any more.

That is what E3 and summer does to me LOL

Take care and dont work to much.

17. June 2010

Thanks for your comments …

Thanks for all the nice comments over at the Horizontal Accordion section.

Really hope to be able to find some time soon, to deal with some much needed upgrades to the script. I fixed the anti-aliasing problem in IE on the example page, just make sure to add a background colour to the container ;)

I have been busy with many things over at portalZINE TV and a huge upgrade for a client. Also preparing new distribution channels right now for a mobile platform and satellite :) Yeah sounds huge, but still has to deliver financially :) Seems to be my karma, always giving more than I get back LOL

Enjoying summer and parts of the WM, not a big soccer fan :)

Cheers to you all and talk to you soon.

30. March 2010

The Easter Egg Hunt and other things

I will be really busy for the coming 3-5 weeks, so anyone requesting support by email will have to be patient.

Also opening up the cubicFUSION website, which will need some attention as well :)

Enjoy your upcoming Easter Egg Hunt ;)

Cheers
Alexander

4. February 2010

Really had enough snow …

Really had enough snow for this year.

It has been cold and white for more that 6 weeks already.

Please please let it get warmer, I can not wait for spring to come around this year :)

GETTING ME A HOT HOT TEA !