About TheJoey.Net
TheJoey.Net is the weblog of Joe Casabona, a web developer who attends the University of Scranton, now for Graduate Studies. He is real bad at writing these about pages and hates writing in the 3rd person...more
**The layout is new and there might be some bugs. If you see any, please email me at Joe@Casabona.org
I love these comparisons. Let’s take a look at where N. Korea firing missiles falls on the big three’s list of importance. All of these screens were taken at the same time.
So it looks like Fox finds it most important- big box at the top and the update the story most frequently (4 missiles fired). CNN puts it in top stories, but at the same time Fox is reporting 4, CNN is reporting 2 fired. Finally, even though MSNBC is updating more frequently than CNN with 3 missiles reported as fired, the story is almost an after thought- smallest text in the top stories area.
posted on July 2nd, 2009 in News, Politics| No Comments »
My freelance company, Manifest Development, has a new face! Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a new website that accomplished a few specific goals: have a cleaner design that integrates the new logo, have a theme that is more general and easier to update, and be more blog friendly. I think I’ve managed to hit all of those goals.
Continue reading New Design at Manifest Development
posted on June 28th, 2009 in Business, Design, Websites|
I don’t really hide how I feel about music in our era. Most of it is garbage. Britney can’t sing, most ‘alternative’ bands sound the same and have a very lazy sound to them (Nickelback, Buckcherry, Hinder, Shinedown, etc.), and then there is Lady Gaga, whose songs are absolute crap. I mean the worst. They are stupid and make no sense. What the hell? But I digress. It’s because of the degradation of real music and the rise of club music that live concerts are suffering. Most bands suck live because everything they do is processed.
I got to thinking about this last night when Incubus was on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. I was never a big fan of Incubus until I saw the live about two years ago. The show was really great. Lots of energy and the vocals were just as strong live as they are on the CD. The band has a lot of talent and it shows. More live shows should be like that; but they are not.
A couple of examples: Britney Spears- garbage. Doesn’t really sing. Taylor Swift- her vocals aren’t nearly as strong live as they are on CD. Maybe that comes with age. Kayne West- Have you heard him do one of his new songs live? There’s a reason they are distorted on the CD. Lady Gaga- Well, I can’t actually bash her. I looked her up on YouTube and she is actually very good. Her songs are just stupid. But I’m getting off topic.
I guess the point of this rant is that music is in a sorry state. It’s partially due to the fact more emphasis is put on looks because video is just as much a part of music as the music itself, and that is a dirty shame. Now we have hot people who can’t sing or people who ‘fit the look’ but have no talent. It’s more about image than it is about the music. The other part is that with technology, producers can make anything sound good, so they don’t really need to be good. We need more people like Incubus who can put their money where their mouth is- or maybe more fittingly, put their mouth where their money is.
posted on June 18th, 2009 in Manifesto, Thoughts| No Comments »
If you’ve read my blog before you know I’ve been a pretty big fan and defender of Facebook. When they rolled out their big changes earlier this year I more or less told people to deal with it; but to be honest I understood why they complained. It was a full interface change and people didn’t immediately see the benefits. However, I was pretty surprised to see complaints and grumblings about Facebook adding a username. This is not an update that changes how you browse Facebook or adds any new information. It’s change that you more or less see once on your end and then it makes how you find people and how people find you easier.
Here is the main reason for the username: it’s a pain in the ass to give someone your facebook profile link. Where on Twitter it’s, “check me out- twitter.com/jcasabona” on Facebook it was “facebook.com/proflie.php?id=20034562.” You tell me which is easier. So now, you add a username and it’s, “check me out- facebook.com/jcasabona.” Simple. And there is an argument that people will make up stupid usernames and it won’t be as easy to find them, but that’s only their loss. And the username isn’t enabling people to be dishonest about their name. If they want to give a fake name, they’ll give it.
The real issue is that people are ready to criticize Facebook for every change they make now instead of thinking the added feature or UI update through. If they think other services aren’t going to make changes, they are wrong. Web Apps evolve and change based on the current state of the Internet and how most users user their app. All I ask as a web developer, nay- as a user!- is that before you jump on the Facebook hate bandwagon you ask, “Why did they do this?”
posted on June 13th, 2009 in Random Thoughts|
*Cross posted on Cognition Media’s Gears Blog. For those who don’t know, a few friends and I won some funding to start a company in Scranton, PA. The follow post is an update on our progress.
May was a big month for the Cognition Media team. We found out that we received funding to start this business and got put on the fast track to get the ball rolling. On top of that, all three of us were winding down with school and at the end of the month we all graduated. Now that we are officially done with school, it’s time to get down to business.
We are currently in the process of incorporating, which should take place within the next two weeks. In the mean time, we are launching the world’s first Minvera driven site. After a short training session Kristen and I are giving to our Alma mater, we are officially launching the new face of burkecatholic.org. More on that when it happens. Meanwhile, Matt and I have begun planning the cooler features of Minvera- the course management features. Development on all of that will begin early next week.
All-in-all the entire Cognition Media team is very excited to have this oppertunity and hope we can truely make a difference in helping high schools upgrade their technology to make them more efficient and well connected- both to the Internet and the community.
posted on June 7th, 2009 in Business| No Comments »
