Cortland Klein

JavaScript Firefox workaround

Cortland Klein — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:50:07 +0000

Because of a security reason (thanks, Asa), Firefox does not like script elements in the style:

I’ve updated my Dynamic Form Example to reflect this workaround.

WP-OpenID Woes

Cortland Klein — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:57:48 +0000

I’m trying to add my OpenID to my WP-OpenID plugin for my WordPress blog.

However, when I try to add my OpenID, I get the following error:

Error: OpenID assertion failed: returnto does not match return URL. Expected http://pixelcort.com/wp-admin/users.php?action=verifyidentity&page=openid, got http://pixelcort.com/wp-admin/users.php?action=verify_identity

I’m wondering if this is because I’m using my own domain as my OpenID url and that’s causing some self-referential bug.

Update: Doesn’t look like it. I’ve tried other OpenIDs and they all fail with this plugin. Maybe it’s my hosting provider, Dreamhost, which is causing problems with this plugin? There are some failures in the diagnostics section of this plugin.

Definitions of Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

Cortland Klein — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:43:58 +0000

I read a comment on an article explaining Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 that I found really summarizes the whole thing:

Web 1: static [Read]
web 2: dynamic [Read/Write]
web 3: programmable[Read/Write/Execute]

I believe this is a great simplified way of expressing what each one is. It reminds me of UNIX-style permission bits for rwx.

In the beginning, there was read-only webpages. These static HTML files sat on webservers and were hyperlinked together.

Then, the read/write era came about. Now pages had Edit buttons; it became as easy to edit a page as it was to read it.

Now, the read/write/execute era is about to begin. Here, the Execute button is going to become as easy as the Edit button. The ability to tap into the CPU cycles of the internet is about to be unfolded.

Dynamic Form Example

Cortland Klein — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:54:56 +0000

Update: This has moved to my portfolio.

This is an example of a dynamic form which serves as an email builder. It is a genericized version of one I wrote for my employer.

It uses jQuery and jQuery Cookie and works in Safari and Firefox. It was last updated on 2008 May 14 to fix Firefox compatibility.

This is an example of my attempt to separate HTML, CSS, and JS into separate sections. Note that for simplicity purposes the document is one HTML file.

1&1 Registrar Woes

Cortland Klein — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:43:32 +0000

Entrepreneurial Society, a student organization I’m involved with at SJSU, currently is having some issues with 1&1, our previous hosting provider.

Last fall, we decided to move to Dreamhost for our hosting provider. However, we were unable to transfer the domain from 1&1’s registrar.

A week ago, the domain expired, and 1&1 now is holding our domain ransom for $40 to ‘redeem’ it. We’ve called them multiple times and they will not release the domain for transfer or use for 30 days until the $40 is paid. In order to go through this process, we have to fax paperwork to 1&1, and create a new account since the old one was in the name of a previous member of the organization who is no longer affiliated with us.

Until I receive an apology from 1&1 to their behavior of holding our domain ransom, I am suggesting those seeking hosting for their website not choose 1&1. I do not currently have a hosting provider suggestion, but avoid 1&1 as they seem to have some backwards policies and old-fashioned requirements such as using fax technology.

Quoted in Spartan Daily

Cortland Klein — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 08:14:41 +0000

I was quoted in SJSU’s Spartan Daily recently.

Here’s hoping one of my teams wins this year’s Business Plan Competition.

P.S. I’m looking for a full time job starting Mid-July or August 1. If you or anyone you know is hiring for an exempt web app designer, check out my resume.

A JavaScript sqrt() function.

Cortland Klein — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:47:03 +0000

I know there’s a Math.sqrt() function; I just wanted to create my own. Is this how most people would implement a sqrt() function in JavaScript if one didn’t already exist?

sqrt = function(x) {
    j = x / 2;
    min = 0;
    max = x;
    for (i=0; i<100; i++) {
        if (j * j > x) {
            max = j;
        } else {
            min = j;
        }
        // print(max - min);
        j = max - ((max - min)/2);
    }
    return j;
}

Upgrade to WordPress 2.5

Cortland Klein — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:30:59 +0000

I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.5. In the process I made some nice backups of my site, and cleaned up my internal site structure.

I’m now running on a nightly of the K2 theme, and hope to switch to a general release once one is compatible with 2.5.

I must say I’m quite impressed with WordPress.

JavaScript appendChild returning null

Cortland Klein — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:31:55 +0000

Update: Thanks to Michael in the comments for the solution. I forgot that JS begins executing before the DOM is finished loading.

I’m trying to get the following code to work, but it’s failing:

Any thoughts?

Seeking ripoki Co-founder

Cortland Klein — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:25:17 +0000

It’s probably about time I formally announce my quest for a co-founder, and what better day than April 1st?

ripoki is a time management startup I’ve been working on for a while now and feel it’s time to get this baby off the ground.

For a co-founder I’m seeking someone with basically two traits.

First and foremost, I’m looking for a co-founder that shares my passion for socially-aware technology. I believe that technology should be used to facilitate real world, face to face interaction, and ripoki will set out to do just that. Online communication and collaboration between humans is a great achievement and useful to society, however we must remind ourselves that the best way to interact with someone is face to face.

Second, I want to differentiate ripoki by having it be the only service on the market able to automatically reschedule events based on the needs of new and updated events. My current thinking is an algorithm using doubly-schocastic matrices interrelated through hyper-dimensional row vector relationships, using GPU processors for vector operations needed to maintain and distribute changes to the matrices that provide us with the probabilistic states of given events for given users for given time-blocks. In order to do this, I am seeking someone with highly optimized programming skills who would be adept to creating high-speed implementations of such an algorithm.

The plan would to start this company in the South Bay area, probably initially in San Jose or Mountain View, so I’d prefer someone who lives locally. However, I’m open to someone working remotely and we can arrange for periodic face to face meetups.

If you think you or someone you know might be interested in being a co-founder (hint: second largest shareholder in company) of a new startup company, give me a call and let’s arrange an interview to get to know each other some more.

And hey, this could be a great opportunity to really make an impact on people’s lives by helping them spend less time managing their lives, and more time living them.