Monthly Archives: March 2009

Beware Web 2.0 Developer: How Stable Are Those APIs?

By Peter Backx | Published: March 31, 2009

Have you ever been working on something, you’ve made great plans, you put the foundation in place, you’re already halfway and you will be finished well before the deadlines. But then, suddenly, it appears the ground you build on is quicksand and half of your building is tumbling down. It’s exactly the same with Web 2.0 [...]

Posted in JavaMedia | 1 Comment

Increase Your Visitor Count with Blog Analytics by PostRank

By Peter Backx | Published: March 27, 2009

Any news site or blog needs at least some readers. If not, it wouldn’t be very interesting for the author. To improve your blog and increase your reader count, there’s one golden rule: Know your visitors. Know what makes them tick, what they like to read, to what they react. This post describes a few [...]

Posted in ChangingMedia | 3 Comments

6 Steps to Obtain the Perfect Backup and Sleep at Night

By Peter Backx | Published: March 24, 2009

This week, I’m going to talk about backups. I don’t think any one doubts the importance of regular backups of all your important data, but there is a lot to talk about. Even if you just use your computer in your spare time, there’s always stuff that you don’t want to loose. Those important romantic [...]

Posted in MetaMedia | Leave a comment

Looking Back in Time With the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

By Peter Backx | Published: March 20, 2009

The large hadron collider (LHC), currently being built has stirred a lot of controversy and has had numerous setbacks. Yet the goal of this incredibly expensive piece of machinery remains unknown to many. It isn’t easy to explain how research into the fundamental building blocks of our world and universe will immediately influence our lives, [...]

Posted in ChangingMedia | Leave a comment

Tutorial: Applying and Manipulating a Mask in ActionScript 3

By Peter Backx | Published: March 17, 2009

Flash has become the de-facto standard for all kinds of web animations. One of the main reasons, is that it offers an impressive array of bitmap manipulation functions. Out of the box it probably has one of the richest API’s to manipulate bitmaps, vectors and even animation. One of those possibilities is masking, which I [...]

Posted in FlashMedia | 4 Comments

Twitter Around the World

By Peter Backx | Published: March 13, 2009

If you aren’t yet following Paul Smith, aka the Twitchhiker, you should. Paul is attempting to reach the other side of the world by using Twitter. He is solliciting and accepting any help offered to him via Twitter. Do you have a spare bedroom, or want to take him out for diner along his path? [...]

Posted in MetaMedia | Leave a comment

Cost Comparison of Ripping vs Buying Blu-ray Discs

By Peter Backx | Published: March 10, 2009

Ripping a Blu-ray disc to your harddrive is possible, but is it worth it? Turns out you might be better of just buying the disc. A few days ago, I came across Gizmodo’s excellent how-to on ripping Blu-ray discs. The post itself mentions that it isn’t easy, but I wanted numbers. So I took the example [...]

Posted in VisualMedia | Leave a comment

Virtual Treasure Hunt With Real Cash Prizes

By Peter Backx | Published: March 6, 2009

Cash Hunt is a new online game, where you solve cryptic clues to find a location and win cash money. It reminds me of alternate reality games like Perplex City, but it really is “only” a cryptic puzzle. But don’t let that discourage you, there are a few advantages. First of all, it’s entirely free. No [...]

Posted in OldskoolMedia | 1 Comment

13 Games That Don’t Require the Ultimate Game PC

By Peter Backx | Published: March 3, 2009

Last week, I talked about the ultimate game PC. However, to play a good game, you don’t need to spend lots of money. You can load up a casual game and be entertained just as much as any “real” and “hardcore” game could. Casual games are usually a little less deep and they revolve around [...]