How to use Google Charts API with 6 examples
Few months ago I had a good look into Google Charts API and it was great! If you are not aware, Google Charts API basically allows you to create pretty graphs simply by using an URL with correct parameters specified. It is fairly flexible, with many things you can change and customise - which is where it becomes bit complicated. It is quite easy to generate a chart, but it wasn't as easy to generate the exact chart I needed. So below are 6 examples charts with explanations and tips that will hopefully help you understand Google Charts better.
A few notes before I start
- The data/labels for all the graphs here have no meaning at all - just examples that I have come up with.
- I'll explain each parameter probably only once (since they are generally the same across all graphs). If something is different or special I'll explain it again.
- If you have any other tips/hints please share
Google Maps – Street View…in Australia!
When Google Maps was released in early 2005 it was quite cool to be able to see a birds-eye view of various places (even if you could only zoom in so far). Since then, there has been many improvements - more view types, clearer pictures, closer zoom etc.
In mid 2007, a new view type: Street View was made available. I must say, it is quite cool - Street View allows you to actually see the street as if you were there at the place. This view was only available to a selection of cities in the USA and Australia (the 'birth' place of Google Maps) was left out...until today!
Yes, as of today (5th August 2008) there is Street View in Google Maps for pretty much all of Australia! At first I was quite excited, as I've had a look at Street View in USA before (1 Infinite Loop ) and thought "Wouldn't it be cool if this was in Australia?". Now that it is in Australia I must say it is cool, but definitely also scary! In my opinion, being able to see your own house on Google Maps and with the correct (or a very close) address feels scary!
creating a time capsule
Quite some time ago (about late 2007) I saw this documentary called "21 Up Japan" which is similar to the "Up Series". The idea of the documentary is the follow a group of children from when they were 7 years old, and then every 7 years they go back to them and see how they are going. The interviewers had a set of semi-structured questions which they asked, and it was very interesting to see how everyone's answers changed from when they were 7, 14, and 21.
After seeing this documentary I decided I wanted to do something similar - make my own time capsule However it wasn't until a few months later in early 2008 when I found an old exercise book which had some short stories that I had written in 1995 that really got me started. Reading those stories made me realise how much can change in a few years (and how much we can forget!). My time capsule is bit different to 21 Up Japan - it does have a set of questions which I plan on answering once every year or so, but the majority of entries are more diary-like entries of times when I feel like something important has happened.
effective powerpoint presentations
Recently my friend and I, have for some reason, talked to a lot of people about presentations - and we've been trying to convert them all to use "bullet-point-less" presentations. For those who we've talked to, you've probably already heard this, for those who haven't...welcome to a whole new perspective on presentations!
Late last year, through random blog reading we found a wonderful blog all about presentations: Presentation Zen. There was one post in particular that compared the different presentation styles of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates which I feel is a great introduction and gets straight to the point.
upgraded to WordPress 2.5
On March 18th when I saw the sneak peak for WordPress 2.5 I was amazed and couldn't wait till the release date. Not long after, comes March 30th when WordPress 2.5 was finally released Unfortunately, the first week of April was a super busy week, so haven't yet had a chance to upgrade until now.
So here it is - the new and shiny WordPress 2.5 with K2 RC5. This time the upgrade went much smoother than upgrading to 2.3, no more drama with file permissions - FileZilla is wonderful. Though this time, since K2 wasn't quite ready for WordPress 2.5, there have been a few minor bugs (though so far easy to fix).
For those who are still unsure if they should upgrade to 2.5, I strongly recommend you do! The upgrading process is simple (I recommend you use FileZilla), and even though the Dashboard (in admin) looks a bit foreign to begin with it soon becomes very nice and easy to use - especially when writing posts
For those who are also using 2.5 and K2 RC5, here are the two small fixes that I've found so far after the upgrade.
theloop.php (line 12)
original:
require_once( preg_replace( '/wp-content.*/', '', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ) . 'wp-config.php' );
change to:
require_once( preg_replace( '/wp-content.*/', '', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ) . '/wp-config.php' );
rollingarchive.php (line 10)
original:
require_once( preg_replace( '/wp-content.*/', '', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ) . 'wp-config.php' );
change to:
require_once( preg_replace( '/wp-content.*/', '', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ) . '/wp-config.php' );
The other bug which I am still looking at is with the plugin dDeviantArt which doesn't seem to quite work with version 2.5, hopefully it'll be a relatively simple fix.
As the adversary is always out there to get us, I'm sure there are more hidden bugs/broken pages etc. So if you do find something that is broken please tell me! Thanks
ps. not a bug, but I'm definitely going to have to find a plugin for formatting code - the above 4 lines look horrible! anyone have good suggestions?
three useful sites for group work
Now that University has started, it is getting busier, and assignments are already being handed out - despite having only finished Week 1! When we got the details of the group assignment for the semester, it gave me the idea for this post - useful sites for group work. For pretty much all my group assignments from uni (and group work outside uni) I've used some/all of the below sites and they have definitely helped with working together.
blutack pig
On Sunday I decided to make a small pig out of blutack Probably sounds very random, but it was because earlier in the weekend I had saw similar small pigs at Paddy's Market and they just looked so cute! Here is the result of my procrastination:
The pig itself is actually quite small - about 1cm in diameter, though I think that is what makes it cute. At first I was worried that using blutack would be very hard since blutack sticks to itself (and your fingers!), but in the end it wasn't that bad. A toothpick is a must though - not just to poke the holes for the eyes/nose but also to push and shape the ears.
Since the pig was quite small it was rather hard to take a nice close-up photo, so as usual I took several shots. However, this time while flipping through all the blurred photos I remembered a Stop Motion Video tutorial I had read on Photojojo few months back - so alas, more procrastination...my first stop motion video attempt!
happy chinese new year!
Just wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year
Hope the year of the rat is nice to everyone - and as I saw in a powerpoint slide...
Year year got fish,
New year faster happy!
Yes, it is a literal translation from Chinese: 年年有魚(餘), 新年快樂!
motivation and time
It's probably safe to say that pretty much everyone has problems with motivation and time - if not, I certainly do! This problem has meant there are many things I want to do (and should do) end up not getting done. A simple example...the last time I blogged was November 16th 2007! A few months ago while uni was still on I would've blamed it on lack of time, however I now blame it on lack of motivation.
It probably sounds weird that I have no motivation to blog as it is something that I want to do. However, over the holidays I've discovered something that is annoying me. For many things (especially those you want to do) when you are tight on time your motivation levels are quite high - it's just that there isn't time to do it. While given the same objective if you have plenty of time motivation levels seem to drop so low that it just gets put on the back burner again. Of course there are exceptions, but to me it feels like a good majority of things that I want to and need to do are neglected because of this.
To me, the most logical reason for this is when you are short on time, chances are it's because there is something you don't really want to do, but have to do is taking up your time - so anything that is slightly more attractive will be high on your "must do" list. On the other hand when you have heaps of time it is probably just easier being lazy. While the other things you've always wanted to do seemed super-interesting and you'll do it just when you get some spare time, doing nothing is even better, so nothing ends up getting done.
Having said all this, I think the main problem of the two is motivation. The problem for me is finding a way to get motivated. Given enough motivation and determination, it should be possible to get pretty much anything done. Last year, I was having a conversation with someone and complained that I had no time - he replied with "We all have the same amount of time, it's just how we use it."
Apologies for the rather mashed up, nonsensical and late blog post, but I'd like to see what other's think about this problem.
10 useful tips to help with research
"Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research."
Wilson Mizner
Research is probably something that uni students can't escape from - especially if they're doing honours and have to write up a thesis. Well, recently for one of our subjects which is a bit like preparation for thesis, we needed to write a research proposal. While searching through the Internet for credible sources, I discovered (or got told) a few tips and felt it would be a good idea to share them. So here are my 10 tips to hopefully make research a less stressful task!