Episode 13 – 12/17/2007
Guest: Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon Founder and Architect
Background: StumbleUpon Founder
Total Time: 35 minutes

I was really excited for this talk as I am a big SU user (see my profile) and think the service is really cool in general. Our chat reveals some interesting information for both web developers (think API) and webmasters (increased traffic opportunities). After plenty of begging on my part and because I let Garrett win a match of arm wrestling, he was gracious enough to join me for a conversation. The sound quality on Garrett’s end is not the best at times, but I cleaned it up the best I could. If there are any whiz audio editors who want to give a shot at making it better, let me know!

Have a listen and let me know what you think! What did you like and what didn’t you like?

Podcast Highlights

• 00:22 – What makes SU so addictive?
• 1:39 – SU has been around for a while but it really took off in 2006. Why is that?
• 3:50 – SU can bring great traffic
• 5:19 – How much of SU’s success is due to the social networking?
• 7:09 – How does the thumbs down affect your site?
• 9:56 – Are you allowed to submit your own sites!!??
• 11:00 – You can Advertise on SU!
• 16:04 – Some SU Algorithm discussion
• 20:28 – What are some features that aren’t as well known that people SHOULD know about?
• 23:41 – Any SU API for site-specific stumbling?
• 26:01 – have there been any sites that you found and wished you had that idea?
• 27:45 – What are the future plans?
• 32:44 – A chance to get to know Garrett better.

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• 47+ Excellent Ajax CSS Forms – would be fun to try and make that list
• Interview with Matt Cutts from Google – good interview
• Christmas RSS Icons – merry christmas
• “w00t” Crowned Word of Year by U.S. Dictionary – the web rules
• Choosing a JavaScript framework – note to self, read this later…
• The Seven Stages of Podcasting – note to self, listen to this later…

Rounded Corners

To set the corner radius visually, draw your rectangle and without releasing the mouse button — press the up and down arrows on your keyboard to alter the roundness or the corners. This also works in Fireworks!

Bitmap Fills

You can use a bitmap as a Fill, and paint with it just as you can paint with a gradient or solid color. Import a bitmap into the current scene and select it. Go to Modify > Break Apart, then choose the Eyedropper tool and click on the bitmap. The current fill is changed to the selected bitmap.

All Inclusive

ActionScript can be stored as external text files with an .as extension. To use them in a movie, you’ll need to place an ‘include’ in the file that points to the file. This enables you to reuse the complex routines in movies, or build up a library of common scripts.

Also to keep things organized, I would encourage you to place your .as files in folders that relate to what the file is all about. For example, I may have a folder called Actions and inside that folder several different .as files that relate to actions. Then just import them by calling import actions.flyout; (flyout is the name of the .as file and actions is the name of the folder.)

Report It

Always generate a report detailing the impact that various objects in your movie have on the size and performance of the finished movie. To do this, you should check the box labeled Generate Size Report in the Flash Publish Settings dialog (File > Publish Settings > Flash tab).

Stage Manage

You can control the size of the current movie with the stage.height and stage.width commands.

Hope that helps someone and remember to only use Flash when it’s the right tool for the job.

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE – In 1968 Marvin Gaye released Motown’s longest-running No. 1 hit topping the U.S. chart for seven weeks. In 1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival would cover the song for what would be their most popular album, Cosmo’s Factor. In 2003, the album was ranked number 265 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

AFTER MIDNIGHT – J. J. Cale released this song in 1966. Several years later, Eric Clapton would record the song on his first solo album, Tulsa. The song would become one of Clapton’s standards.

LITTLE WING – Jimi Hendrix released this in 1967. Since then it’s been covered by over thirty different artist, but no one does it better than Stevie Ray Vaughan. Hendrix may have knocked up the song, but Stevie Ray Vaughan married it.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS – The Beatles released this classic in 1967 on the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. But The Beatles aren’t the only ones that found success with the song; Joe Cocker also made the song number one on the British singles charts in 1968.

While The Beatles may be the most covered band in history, The Beatles also found much success by covering other artists such as: Chuck Berry, The Isley Brothers, The Miracles, Little Richard and more.

What’s The Point?

“I can’t blog about that because so-and-so did last week…”

“I can’t find anything to blog about that hasn’t already been covered…”

“That technique is just the same one that so-and-so already talked about…”

I repeatedly hear these reasons from people on why they feel they can’t blog about a topic. So in this article I’ll explain why each of these reasons shouldn’t stop anyone from “covering” it themselves.

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• bufuddlr – good time waister
• Infinite OZ – check out this website at least once
• Interviewing Me….The Entrepreneur – get to know more of our very own sara smith, aka ses5909
• Web 2.0 has jumped the shark – good one from snook
• Introduction to jQuery – i think i will try and make it to this, anyone else in denver going?
• On Feeling Uninspired – watch it, live it

We at Search-This have always tried to be upfront with our readers. So I feel that it’s appropriate to tell you that over the next month or two we will be ‘experimenting‘ with monetizing Search-This.

Nothing is for sure at this point. We will try a few different techniques: Google AdSense, TLA or even may try to come up with our own way. Or we may decide not to monetize at all. It’s all just kind of an experiment at this point. So please do weigh in and tell us your thoughts. If you have suggestions, please share, if you hate it, tell us that too. One thing is for sure, we will not let any ads get in the way or detract from the content.

Once again, this is more of an experiment and nothing is known at this point. Please share your thoughts.

Thanks,
Mark (Golgotha)

I can ‘t count the number of times I have seen job-seekers post in webmaster forums asking for advice on getting a web development/design job. We all know you are a l33t geek with mad coding skills, but getting a job takes more than technical skills. This post will assume you meet the qualifications for the job and give you some tips to help you stand out from the crowd and get you that job! I’ve been on both the applying and more recently the hiring side of things so these tips will be related to what has worked for me.

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