WinstonLin.com

I initially was only looking for a tool for offline browsing on my iPad, and came upon this little gem which offers even more than what I needed.

So not only does it help for offline browsing, it also lets me sync up my desktop browsing with my iPad. It's also handy and lightweight.

Check it out here:

http://getpocket.com/

I was cleaning up my bookmarks today and stumbled upon an "old" a geek favorite blog post. Oftentimes on sites such as http://www.stackoverflow.com, new or ill-informed users will ask questions that clearly demonstrate a lack of research or effort in finding the solution themselves. This blog post addresses "them."

Blog posts like these tend to come off a bit snarky and arrogant, but given that it's laced with truth and has probably helped at least a few individuals get their act together, the tint of superiority really just makes it all the more amusing to read. If you haven't read it yet, here it is:

http://mattgemmell.com/2008/12/08/what-have-you-tried/

Having been a long time fan of Type Racer one thing I quickly noticed with the site though is that it really isn't the place to go if you want to improve how you type  The race and timers pressure you too much to finish the race and as fun as it is, little effort is ever spent on improving.  It's common sense, but it probably bears repeating that it takes more than just typing to improve how well you type.  Effective improvement takes a conscience effort.

So I recently came across keybr.com and having tried multiple typing programs (including the very clever Typing of the Dead) this is the first one in a long time that has actually improved my typing skills.  In a matter of only a couple of weeks, I have increased by about 10WPM and feel more accurate as well.  How it works is rather interesting.  It gives you a bunch of gibberish words to type, but instead of just being random letters, they're generated using the phonetic rules of the language being typed.  It's a bit difficult to explain exactly, but one only has to try it to get a feel has to how it's a great typing trainer.

Here's a productivity tip for those nerds out there:

• ' (apostrophe) key in Firefox allows you to search for links only.  Use it to rapidly activate links without using the mouse!

I recently found this site http://ideone.com/. 

It's an online compiler and debugging tool that allows code to be compiled and run online in more than 40 programming languages.  Really useful when don't have the setup needed and got to test code fast.

Been working with SQL at the job and fell upon this great site about boosting SQL performance.

http://use-the-index-luke.com/

Who said learning to code had to be boring?  Code Academy is a great free site that teaches coding with a fun system that includes points and achievements.

Although I had known about the site for awhile, I only recently started to dig my nose in it, and I am glad to have done so because it's a lot of fun regardless of your programming skill level.  Highly recommended!

http://codecademy.com/

Added a new jQuery plugin on the front page.  The first picture shows a part of my bookshelf. :)

For anyone interested, this is where I found it:

http://workshop.rs/2010/04/coin-slider-image-slider-with-unique-effects/

It has been awhile, but the pyromancer has flipped the switch and the fuel is burning once again!

Only the binds of our own imagination block our path.

I recently made a C++ application that can solve an Hour Maze.  Used the free C++ Allegro library for the job.

Also made a quick youtube video of the application in action.  Not particularly pretty, but the meat behind the application are the algorithms, which use a lot of custom data structures.