HTNet - A Notepad of Tech, Business, Science and Self Improvement

Well, it’s finally here… WCS 6. Here it goes:

• Internet FAQ Archives - Almost all FAQ known to mankind, or at least to me
• Break The Habit - Stop Smoking Now. I did, and stopped smoking for about two months. Maybe I should re-enroll
• Infiltration - The zine about going places you’re not supposed to go
• The Grid Game - Nice time waster. My personal record is 888 sequetial turns
• Personality Disorder Information - Can’t differentiate ADD with OCD? This page is a good start.

Comments are always appreciated. Sorry for the delay of this installment of WCS.

No, I wasn’t raped or anything… well, at least not physically. I guess then pain and agonising feeling of guilt, eventhough it’s not really your fault, could be similar… but who am I to make presumptions. You might be thinking, “What the hell is this guy blabbering about?” Well, let me explain…

Today, I had my first coding assignment with my new employer. It’s a simple database project, something I could cook up within a few minutes using PHP and MySQL. The thing is, there’s a very specific requirement about this project… (take a deep breath)… it must be coded in Microsoft Access.

If you’re a regular reader of HTNet, you would know that I am a very strong advocate of the Linux OS, and is a diehard user of the Slackware distro. Because of my background, programming (in general) using Access (particularly) which by the way has some mini VB (of all languages) scripting capabilities integrated, is quite a bit to be absorbed by yours truly

Basically, I had Access open, and a few IE window open… Yes, you heard me right, IE! Because I code on the company notebook. Perhaps when my probation period is over, I would be more daring and install Firefox on it. On all those IE windows, I’m going through sample codes and whatever Access tricks to get the app I’m working on functioning the way I want it.

The good news is, after about four hours (and two cigarettes) I got the App running as per minimal requirement. Mind you, it’s not really an easy job. I basically had a crash course in Access programming (if it can even be called that in the first place), where my form would need to update two tables, and read another to generate a unique ID. And this is bestowed upon someone who last used access in 1999!

The bad news is, although I’m happy with my achievement today, I feel really “drained” by the whole ordeal. Thankfully, MS apps have excellent documentation (ahh… the wonders of the F1 key) and there’s plenty of resources out there relating to Access. And to think I got employed because I’m very familiar with Linux and they need a Linux guy… heh, perhaps this is just a test to see if I’m just a zealot or flexible enough to use whatever tools I’m given to complete an assignment.

I think I did pretty damn well… let’s see what the users say about it tomorrow

This post would be a continuation of my previous article; Making Sense of AdSense. I this article, I would explain how to use custom channels to track the performance of your ads.

I will also share some useful tools that you can use to analyse your adsense statistics as well as preview the type of ads that could appear on any particular web page.

Read the rest of Using AdSense Custom Channels and Other External Tools »

At the time of posting, there are at least 88 people who have died in this latest act of terrorism. From the BBC News article:

In the worst attacks in decades in Egypt, three explosions - including two apparent car bombings - devastated a hotel, a car park, and a market.

Most of the dead are Egyptians, but foreigners are among the victims too.

An Italian man on his honeymoon and a Czech citizen have been confirmed dead and at least 20 of those injured are thought to be foreign.

The BBC also has coverage of this incident in pictures. For updates on this news, you can monitor Google News.

The people at CNET have compiled a Top 10 Web Fads list for our consumption.

Some are predictable memes such as AYBABTU, Friendster, Ellen Feiss and The Star Wars Kid. However, in all honesty, I know jack about the top two sites; Hampsterdance and Mahir (partially offline at the moment, images have been taken off).

I’m suprised that the Goatse guy nor Tubgirl made it on the list. Probably because CNET is covering memes that are safe for work only