Category: Tech

Networking with female engineers!

After a very busy day at work today, I received an email from a friend letting me know I had been featured in MLive today for my participation on the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign here in Michigan.

I grew up with parents who told me I could be anything I wanted to be. So I became an Information Systems Engineer. One out of two women in my graduation ceremony. College Board member, representing the body of Information System Engineering students. Valedictorian.

Fast forward to the present, I’m a UX/UI Consultant who loves building web applications and collaborating with talented professionals.

Being a female engineer, I’ve always been a minority and I’ve heard my share of discouraging comments from some people in my field throughout the years, just like most of women in the field. But I’ve also met so many wonderful, talented people in the process who inspired me to move forward and be good at what I do.

This fall, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be co-teaching at the Girls Who Code seminar offered here in Grand Rapids, Michigan to young middle and high school girl students who are interested in computers, programming, and technology in general. I’m very excited to be able to help and encourage young girls into the tech field. Creating a balance in the tech field is only going to make us all stronger. Male and female engineers collaborating with each other and building wonderful things together.

We all have something to offer, let’s put our minds together and build awesome stuff, in my case, web applications.

Reverting Copy to a Previous Git Commit

Just like almost every morning, today I got up and got setup to continue working on a client’s website only to find that after doing my first $git pull of the day in order to update my local setup, I had pulled an uncompleted commit somebody else in my team had pushed a few days ago.

So, what do you do when you need to go back to your previous commit (thankfully, I had already committed my changes locally)? Here are a couple of things you could do:

– Revert working copy to most recent commit, ignoring any changes:

git reset --hard HEAD

– Or, reverting working copy to an older commit:

Reset index to former commit. Replace ‘XXXXX’ with your commit code

git reset XXXXX

Moves pointer back to previous HEAD

git reset --soft HEAD@{1}
git commit -m "Revert to XXXXX"

Updates working copy to reflect the new commit
git reset --hard

Happy repo!

HowTo: Pull Specific Commit from Bitbucket with Git

The advantages of coding using a subversion repository is that you can always go back to an old commit. This comes in handy specially when you need to go back in order to correct an issue caused by a recent commit.

A simple way of changing your setup back to an old commit is to create a new branch, switch to that branch by checking out your files, and doing a $git reset from the specific commit in Bitbucket so you continue committing from XXXXXX commit, where XXXXXX is the old commit you wish you go back to, like this:


$git branch newbranchname
$git checkout newbranchname
$git reset XXXXXXX --hard

Happy coding!

Sketching ideas

Troy Church recently published a very inspiring article on sketching entitled “Why I Sketch Every Day”.

In a nutshell, sketching helps me see, think, and communicate more clearly. It facilitates dialogue with myself, and others. It produces wonderful records of the conversations for later. It adds emotion and context to my memory and fuels my imagination. It has simultaneously slowed me down, and sped me up. It’s made me a better designer. It’s enriched my life.

It’s interesting to see how such a simple, but important step can improve our planning and development process. Sketching is definitely a great way to communicate ideas, and help others visualize what we’re envisioning for a project, and vice versa. Personally, sketching didn’t only improve my work, but also helped me enjoy designing even more. It’s fun and it gets easier the more you practice it.

I don’t sketch because I call myself a designer, I call myself a designer because I learn, think, and envision ideas by hand every day — in short, because I sketch.

So if you don’t sketch, give it a try. There are many resources available to get you started. You’ll be glad you did.

Workaround: Adobe Edge Inspect CC/Chrome Extension Issue

I recently started using Adobe Edge Inspect for my cross platform website testing. Adobe Edge Inspect is a very simple, and easy to install plugin. I would recommend to anyone to give it a try.

However, whenever I’d try to open the Edge Inspect Chrome extension in my machine, after I installed it, I’d get the error message “Please start the Adobe Edge Inspect application.” I’m on a MacBook Pro, running OS X 10.8.4. Using Edge Inspect CC, version 1.0.407 and Edge Inspect Chrome extension (version 1.0.424.1), on Chrome (31.0.1612.2).

If the Chrome extension icon is gray, that means that either the Edge Inspect desktop application isn’t running or the Chrome extension can’t talk to it for some reason. So, as expected, I revisited my installation process to make sure I followed all the steps correctly. This didn’t solve my problem, even though I made sure my devices were all using the same wifi connection. After doing some research I found out this is a known issue with my Chrome version and Adobe is actively working on solving this problem.

There is a quick workaround that requires to modify the Adobe Chrome Extension as installed from the Chrome Web Store. It’s important to mention that I will not be held responsible for any other issues this may cause. This is a fix that worked for me immediately. You may want to ask for assistance if you don’t feel comfortable making this update yourself. Again, this is a quick workaround, not the ideal solution but it worked for me and I hope the Chrome extension is fixed soon or Chrome changes the way WebSockets are handled so the plugin can work properly in this browser version.

Step 1: Disable Edge Inspect Chrome extension
Browse to chrome://extensions and uncheck/Disable Adobe Edge Inspect CC 1.0.424.1

Step 2: Browse to the inspect.js file
In Finder, Cmd-Shift-G or from the Menu bar Go > Go to folder…
Copy/paste
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/ijoeapleklopieoejahbpdnhkjjgddem/1.0.424.1_0/js/

Step 3: Edit inspect.js file
Select inspect.js and edit it any text editor (TextEdit, TextWrangler, or even Edge Code CC)
On line 61 look for the following code:
this._wshandle = new WebSocket(this._protocol + “://” + this._host + “:” + this._port + “/”, “shadow”);
Edit the line to remove , “shadow” (note the comma and space is also to be removed). So you’re resulting code should be:
this._wshandle = new WebSocket(this._protocol + “://” + this._host + “:” + this._port + “/”);
Save changes

Step 4: Enable Edge Inspect Chrome extension
Browse to chrome://extensions and check/Enable Adobe Edge Inspect CC 1.0.424.1
The icon in your toolbar should change immediately from grayed out to full color brown and everything should function as usual

Source:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1285827
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1308519

HowTo: Fix .mkv audio problem

Do you have .mkv files that play the video but there is no audio?  I’ve gotten a few emails from my readers related to this subject recently. The solution can be pretty simple.

As long as you have the correct filter setup, all of your audio will play fine in a DivX Player/Web Player. This type of files require a filter called  AC3Filter 1.63b Full. Make sure you download the full version and install it. After this you should be able to play your videos in Window Media Player or any other player.

HowTo Fix: PhpMyAdmin Muestra Pagina En Blanco Despues de Logeo

Método #1

La solución a este problema de página blanca fue algo simple. Sólo basto modificar esta línea en phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';

to this:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = '127.0.0.1';

En el código de arriba, se esta cambiando el nombre de servidor a 127.0.0.1 con la finalidad de usar conexión TCP/IP . Luego de esto te sera posible ver tu página de PhpMyAdmin al abrir http://127.0.0.1/PhpMyAdmin en tu navegador.

Espero que este consejillo les haya sido útil!

Nota: Siempre que especificas “localhost” o “localhost:port” como servidor, la libreria de MySQL sobreescribira esto y tratara de conectar a una soquete local (named pipe on Windows). So quieres usar TCP/IP, usa “127.0.0.1” en lugar de “localhost”. Si la libreria MySQL trata de conectar a el soquete local incorrecto, entonces cambia la direccion correcta como Runtime Configuration en tu configuracion y deja el campo de servidor en blanco.

ACTUALIZACION Dic 15, 2010:

Investigando más a fondo este problema, al parecer es causado por un PHP bug #45150. El problema parece ser con la manera en que Windows maneja el localhost, especificamente la manera en la que localhost lee ::1 cuando IPv6 se encuentra habilitado. Si tienes Windows Vista o Windows 7 es probably que IPV6 este habilitado por defecto.

Método #2

1. Ir a Conexiones de Red -> Propiedades y en Conexion de Area Local-> deselecciona IPV6.

2.Abrir \%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\ con algun procesador de texto y quita el comentario de:

::1 localhost

and agregale el prefijo:

#::1 localhost

Este arreglo ayudará a que la interface 127.0.0.1 apunte a localhost.

Guardar y las conexiones de PHP/MySQL empezaran a funcionar al instante.

Ambos métodos funcionan, aunque prefiero este último por ser una manera más formal.

To read this article in English, click here.

Howto: Create and Copy an Image file from a CD to another Memory Data Storage Device

About a month ago I got myself a Netbook – an HP Mini. The Netbook had Windows 7 installed but I wanted to install the reduced version of Win 7, better known as Tiny 7. The problem came up when I needed to use the Tiny 7 installation CD. This small Netbooks don’t come with a CD driver and I didn’t have a portable CD drive, so I needed to make use of my USB memory card and make sure it was bootable, just like the installation CD would.

The problem with manually copying all the information from the CD unto my USB memory was that I will probably be missing many of the hidden files in the CD as well as the bootable property. I needed to make sure I created an image from the CD unto my USB memory.

If you’re in a similar situation where all you need is to copy an exact image from a CD or any other storage device unto another storage device. The solution is simpler than you think, just do the following:

1. Open your command window: Start > Run > cmd
2. And write xcopy F:\*.* E: /s/e/f

F: is the origin drive and E: is the destination drive.

That’s all. You won’t need to wonder if you missed copying one or two files anymore, this will do the trick of copying everything for you in only two steps. Until next time!

HowTo Fix: PhpMyAdmin Displays Blank Page After Logging In

phpmyadmin-vista

Recently I published an article about Windows Vista Home Premium and the “problems” I was running into when installing my programs. Well, this time I run into another problem when I installed appserv-win32-2.6.0 . Everything seemed to work just fine, Apache was working well, but when I tried opening PhpMyAdmin for some reason it was displaying a blank page after I entered my login information.

Method #1

The solution to this blank page problem is fairly easy. Simply modify this line in the phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host']          = 'localhost';

to this:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host']          = '127.0.0.1';

In the above code, you’re changing your name server to 127.0.0.1 in order to use TCP/IP connection. After this, you should be able to see your PhpMyAdmin page by opening in your browser the address http://127.0.0.1/PhpMyAdmin

Hope this helps!

Note: Whenever you specify “localhost” or “localhost:port” as server, the MySQL client library will override this and try to connect to a local socket (named pipe on Windows). If you want to use TCP/IP, use “127.0.0.1” instead of “localhost”. If the MySQL client library tries to connect to the wrong local socket, you should set the correct path as Runtime Configuration in your PHP configuration and leave the server field blank.

UPDATE Dec 15, 2010:

Doing further research on this subject, this problem seems to be caused by a PHP bug #45150. The problem seems to be with Windows resolving localhost, more specifically localhost resolving to ::1 when IPv6 is enabled. If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 it’s most likely you have IPV6 enabled by default.

Method #2

1. Go to Network Connections-> Properties and on local area connection->uncheck IPV6.

2.Open up \%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\ with a text editor and comment out this line:

::1 localhost

and prefix it:

#::1 localhost

This fix will help the loopback interface 127.0.0.1 point to localhost.

Save it and your PHP/MySQL connections will immediately begin working.

This is another way of fixing this problem. Both methods will work, but I’d recommend to follow this last method over the first one since it’s updated and it solves the localhost issue in a more efficient way now that we have detected the source of the problem.

Big thanks: to my readers Joberror, Adrian, Brandon and everyone else for your contributions.

HowTo Fix: Dreamweaver Closes Automatically when Initializing in Windows Vista Home Premium

dwvista

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on my new laptop that has Windows Vista Home Premium installed in it. Unfortunately, I run into a problem a week after I had it, I decided to install Dreamweaver CS3 and it wouldn’t start correctly. Dreamweaver would look as if it was starting and then close itself a few minutes later.

I tried running the program as Administrator, uninstalling and reinstalling, I tried installing other DW versions but still no luck.

Finally, I figured out that my Acer Aspire 5920 laptop had a program called Acer Empowering Frameworks installed that was blocking Dreamweaver. I still don’t understand why it would block a program, but it’s certainly a problem that Acer needs to solve soon.

So once that I identified the problem the solution was simple. Uninstalling Acer Empowering Frameworks Software from my Acer laptop was the solution, as simple as that. I believe this advice has been useful to a lot of people so there you have it. Hope this helps you as it helped me.