Seven AM until 2 AM got to be stupid !!

Had To Be done the External Feed Plugin is now finished with the ability to add the feed content to the database.

A customer with holiday lets requested the ability to import calendar dates from Google Calendar and display availability in an EE calendar so this functionality was added at the same time.

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Content is king Long live content !!

Distributing content via RSS is not new. However displaying the content within your own site is !!.

Let me try to explain we would never advocate plagiarism  but the content within the RSS feed is in the public domain.

The usual feed contains a most of the content of the web site it originated on. However most aggregators (feed displayers) show minimized content (description and a link back) forcing you to visit the originators site to view the full article.

We have just completed an object that effectively pulls and displays the full content of the feed within your own site.

Here is an example of F1 Jake Humphry's blog distributed by the BBC Formula One Site Here .

In this instance the content is pulled from the BBC site and displayed from within our site structure. All the content is beond your control as its generated by the content provider in this instance the BBC.

Why is this functionality important to us ? Lets say I'm a night club owner with live music three times a week managing my website content to reflect my performers can become a nightmare task for my site administers cutting and pasting content from one site to another. Not any more you can effectively just request a RSS feed from the bands and display their content from within your own site.

To take this a stage further we have the ability for users to save the content into a database and manipulate the content as if you owned it (well effectively you do). The problem we have a present the inconsistency of the feed structure so not an automated process at present.

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Arrived back last night after 5 days in the smoke not been up for a few months as my customer base is swiftly disappearing up there.

Nipper might be working in a dodgey area @ the moment but is coping well. In line with government cutbacks The Met IT department is forcing all staff to re-apply for their positions.

Their aim is to cull non hands on staff i.e. Project Managers to reduce their overhead by 40%. As my nipper is hands on she's looking OK and could come out with an increased role.

An hour was enough in Oxford St before I hit a boozer to get away from the Grockles and I thought it was only in Tenby we had the problem.

Started @ 6 this morning in an effort to catch up for the lost 5 days. Did manage to solve the Digital Dashboard problem whilst away by calling the embeds from the database instead of from EE. It works OK now so is ready with a little more work to deploy for customers.

Unfortunately during my absence we lost one of our regulars in my Local Watering hole. Monty was a welsh sheep dog who was often seen wondering the streets of Tenby and normally ended up in my local with his mum and dad great friends of mine. He will be sadly missed even by the butcher who had a daily visit !! RIP Monty Bach.

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Give it a try simply move your mouse over the objects in the right column.

Your curser will change to an arrow hold down your left mouse button and you can now drag and drop the boxes withing the column.

Move the boxes to where you want them so your effectively creating your own online experience you will also be able to switch the boxes on and off..

This is achieved by using script.aculo.us Web 2.0 JavaScript once a box is moved an AJAX command is triggered that updates a database with the new position.

You would normally do this from an admin panel that would set a cookie with your preferences so the next time you visit the site your changes will be reflected.

For this example we have ignored the cookie deployment so the changes are for all users.

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A little about me known by mates and or others as Old Skool living in Tenby Pembrokeshire otherwise known as little England beyond Wales. Moved here some 5 years ago (2005) after a divorce. A bit like coming home in a way as I'm Welsh by birth.

The area was a bit of a culture shock after 35 years working and playing in London but one of the better moves in my life once you become accustom to dealing with holiday makers ne Grockles.

After many years running my own business and latterly working a sales manager of a MS Software Development house running out of Bracknell and Cambridge. The concept was to work in a more relaxing environment and develop my Web Technology Skills hopefully to to create a more convivial work ethic.

Have a daughter who works for the Met Police based in London who specialises in GIS makes me look like an amateur when it comes to dosh. She has just finished her masters and is now pondering a PHD. Totally the reverse to myself other than an out of date MCSE during my time with the software house all my software development knowledge has been self taught and self financed. A real pain in the butt for your CV however I would rather work with up to date technology not out dated stuff.

My background has always been sales with a technical bias. Left college many years ago with a HNC in Engineering Design and spent a few years on the drawing board and Auto Cad (really early). Primarily working for a contractor attached to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE). The work was so top secret you never knew what you were working on so boring . An opportunity to work in specialist sales for a Material Handling company based in Birmingham (designing industrial storage areas and warehouses) quadrupled my salary overnight and provided my first company car Really Kool.

After 5-6 years moved on to 3M managing and setting up a contractor reseller network for Solar Control Film liked what I'd done so much I took one of the franchise areas myself. Sold the company in 1995 and moved into software.

For fun I live by the sea so I have a small boat (RIB). In the past spent many years Motor Racing (Circuit and Hill Climb) various categories mostly special saloon. So am an avid F1 fan. For my sins I'm sorry to say I'm also a football supporter Chelsea (not because of their money) went there for a trial when I was 14 years old and have supported them ever since. Obviously didn't get picked however but Ray Wilkins did who was with me on the day and at Hayes FC juniors Ray went on to become captain of Chelsea and England. In fact Ray is still there as assistant coach if only !!

Any way I'm always looking for new projects and am currently investigating a return to Software Sales in London for a product called Oxygen. Its prime function is helpdesk /incident tracking to the nth degree. Unlike most systems its proprietary not opensource but built an the opensource model with hooks every ware. The upshot is it can be used for tracking/initializing the response to every SLA and can be tailored to virtually any industry.

Overall I can work as a contractor or employee I don't mind either way as long as I'm working we all have bills to pay unless your a Banker!!