Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Relay to Myself's Plural?
Six Lessons I've Learned Since I Started Working for Myself
It's been nearly 2 years since I've received a corporate paycheck. I left that world in January of 2009 and haven't looked back since. Was it an easy jump?Photo by Beatrice Murch
Hell no. It's been hard—very hard—but I don't regret it and still consider it one of the very best things I've ever done for myself.
In May of 2009, I was living in North Dakota and formed 2 LLCs: Green Web Publishing, LLC and Battery Powered Games, LLC. I formed two because the 2 businesses are unrelated and have totally different risks. LLCs and Corporations are specifically to mitigate risk so it made sense to do that and I'm still glad I did because if one crashes for any reason, I still have the other making money. I have a few active websites run by GWP and 5 games now published under BPG. Both businesses are profitable in that they make money even when I only do the bare minimum maintenance work. That's nice because it gives me time to continue investing in them and is the exact reason I chose the businesses I did.
If you're looking to work for yourself, here are some of my experiences and suggestions:
1) Give yourself lots of time.
It usually takes a lot longer to get good solid money coming in than you planned on. Don't underestimate this. I remember last summer when I was honestly convinced I could publish a game that would reliably make me 50k in the next year. Not true! Of course there are exceptions but when you're in a highly competitive market with low margins and fickle consumers - you can't bet on anything! Give yourself LOTS of time to get started. A full year MINIMUM. 2 would be good. In my experience and with talking to others in the same boat, it seems like it's a good 2 years of R&D and learning about the market and how to sell your products before you're making what you originally thought you should be at 2 months.
It usually takes a lot longer to get good solid money coming in than you planned on. Don't underestimate this. I remember last summer when I was honestly convinced I could publish a game that would reliably make me 50k in the next year. Not true! Of course there are exceptions but when you're in a highly competitive market with low margins and fickle consumers - you can't bet on anything! Give yourself LOTS of time to get started. A full year MINIMUM. 2 would be good. In my experience and with talking to others in the same boat, it seems like it's a good 2 years of R&D and learning about the market and how to sell your products before you're making what you originally thought you should be at 2 months.
2) Keep your overhead LOW! Running out of money is horribly stressful.
You don't have a regular paycheck. On a good month, you'll make a few thousand. On a bad month, you'll make next to nothing. Business expenses will pile up, including new equipment costs, contracting, legal fees and other. If it costs you $2500 per month just to stay afloat and you only have 10k in savings or 10k available as credit, you're not going to last long! You must get your monthly expenses down if you're serious about doing this. That means selling your car if you've got a car payment. It means buying cheap groceries and rarely ordering food or eating out for a year. It means cancelling cable/sat tv - you won't have time to watch anyway. My wife and I found ways to rent really cheap or house sit for people we knew for over a year. That saved probably $1000/month for a year. It may not be an option to most people but don't rule any cost savings out. You NEED to keep your overhead low because you won't be able to make good decisions when you're desperate.
You don't have a regular paycheck. On a good month, you'll make a few thousand. On a bad month, you'll make next to nothing. Business expenses will pile up, including new equipment costs, contracting, legal fees and other. If it costs you $2500 per month just to stay afloat and you only have 10k in savings or 10k available as credit, you're not going to last long! You must get your monthly expenses down if you're serious about doing this. That means selling your car if you've got a car payment. It means buying cheap groceries and rarely ordering food or eating out for a year. It means cancelling cable/sat tv - you won't have time to watch anyway. My wife and I found ways to rent really cheap or house sit for people we knew for over a year. That saved probably $1000/month for a year. It may not be an option to most people but don't rule any cost savings out. You NEED to keep your overhead low because you won't be able to make good decisions when you're desperate.
3) Network. Network with everyone.
Find local common interest groups and go. Talk when you're there! I go to game development and mobile interest groups here in my local area and I've met some of the most valuable leads in my life at them. I've also seen people who show up and don't say a word, getting very little out of the ordeal. Just go and get to know everyone. Most people are very friendly at those things and you may end up making a few good friends out of the deal as well :)
Find local common interest groups and go. Talk when you're there! I go to game development and mobile interest groups here in my local area and I've met some of the most valuable leads in my life at them. I've also seen people who show up and don't say a word, getting very little out of the ordeal. Just go and get to know everyone. Most people are very friendly at those things and you may end up making a few good friends out of the deal as well :)
4) Make yourself known.
This blog alone has developed into good leads for my business. All I've done is blog about the Android development that I've done and even though I haven't really written much in the last year, it seems that what I wrote has been enough to get the attention of a few important people here and there and it's given me opportunities I couldn't have dreamed of before.
This blog alone has developed into good leads for my business. All I've done is blog about the Android development that I've done and even though I haven't really written much in the last year, it seems that what I wrote has been enough to get the attention of a few important people here and there and it's given me opportunities I couldn't have dreamed of before.
5) Be persistent.
Your first attempt at what you're doing may very well fail. In fact, the second and third attempts might also be unfruitful. It gets tough - especially when you've got those glistening, big bright eyes staring at the prize and it all seems to slip through your fingers as the game, app or website you've developed simply doesn't take off. There's a lot to learn about designing, developing and marketing a product that really takes hold. For 99.9% of us - it doesn't happen overnight and certainly doesn't happen on the first attempt. I'm still searching for that magic bit of gluey game design that makes people rave about a title. I haven't quite found it but get a little closer with every try.
Your first attempt at what you're doing may very well fail. In fact, the second and third attempts might also be unfruitful. It gets tough - especially when you've got those glistening, big bright eyes staring at the prize and it all seems to slip through your fingers as the game, app or website you've developed simply doesn't take off. There's a lot to learn about designing, developing and marketing a product that really takes hold. For 99.9% of us - it doesn't happen overnight and certainly doesn't happen on the first attempt. I'm still searching for that magic bit of gluey game design that makes people rave about a title. I haven't quite found it but get a little closer with every try.
6) Be patient.
This may be reiterating a point made above but these things take time. Though it's happened to a few, don't plan on winning the lottery with your first bit of IP. Stay the course, keep refining and improving and keep calm.
This may be reiterating a point made above but these things take time. Though it's happened to a few, don't plan on winning the lottery with your first bit of IP. Stay the course, keep refining and improving and keep calm.
This may seem very abstract if you haven't started anything up yet but it'll make more sense down the road. Of course there are always exceptions but these things have been very important for me so far in my venture.
Any questions? Please comment back on the original post Working For Yourself.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
How to Migrate Your Entire Google Account to a New One
Image via CrunchBase
Whether you finally decided to shed
sassyhacker957@gmail.com for a more professional handle or you want to swap Google accounts for less embarrassing reasons, Google doesn't have a built-in system for migrating your data to a new account. So we figured it out. A lot of us have a ton of data stored in Google's services, but if you want to migrate to
a new Google account, you'll need to do some digging. Here's how to migrate your data from Google's most popular services (Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Reader, Voice, Blogger, and YouTube) from your current account (hereafter referred to as "Account 1") to your new account (hereafter, "Account 2") while incurring the least amount of data loss.
A few of the services (such as Google Reader) adhere to some fairly universal import/export standards that make it easy, whereas other services (such as newer YouTube accounts) may require you to start from scratch to keep full functionality. In these few cases, we'll note what you can do and what you'll lose by using that method instead of starting over.
Note: Unfortunately, Google Apps has still not caught up to regular Google Accounts in terms of available services. While some of these (such as Calendar and Documents) will work for migrating to a Google Apps account, other services (such as Reader or Voice) are still not available to Google Apps at this time. I'll note where the service is not available to Apps users, as well as when they need to go through a different process of migrating that particular service.
Migrating Gmail
Migrating all your email from one Gmail account to another is a fairly involved process—and one which we detailed in our guide to changing your Gmail account without losing your email. So hit up that original guide for your Gmail migration, then come back for the rest.
Migrating Google Calendar
There are two ways to migrate your Google Calendar. One of them takes a bit longer, but we'll only use that method for your main calendar (the one that, by default, is named after your Gmail address). All of the sub-calendars, or "delegates", of the account are easier to migrate, so we'll do that second.
To migrate your main calendar, go into your Google Calendar settings and click on the Calendars tab. You'll see an option to export all your calendars, at once, to your hard drive in iCalendar format. Export them to your drive and unzip them if necessary.
Next, go to your new account (it's easiest to have each account logged into Google in a separate browser), go to Settings > Calendar Settings > Calendars and create a new one. Name it whatever you like, click Create Calendar, and then hit the import button at the bottom of the page. Choose the .ical file corresponding to your main calendar and upload it, choosing the empty Google Calendar you just created as its destination. You'll see that it shows up in calendar view.
If you have more calendars you want to import beyond the default, we're just going to share them with the other account. Go back to the Calendars tab of Account 1's settings and hit the "Share This Calendar" button next to a calendar. Type in the Account 2's address and hit Enter. Change the permissions in the drop-down window to "Make Changes AND Manage Sharing" and hit Save. Account 2 will receive an email saying that you've shared a calendar, and provide a confirmation link. The first time you receive an invitation, you'll need to click on this link, but afterward the calendar will just show up automatically. You can then go back to the Calendars tab of your new account's settings, hit the "Shared: Edit Settings" link and remove Account 1 at the bottom, by clicking the trash can icon. (This removes Account 1 from sharing the calendar, so Account 2 is left with full ownership of the calendar.) Repeat this for each of your calendars and you'll have migrated everything you need. This method works for both regular Google accounts as well as Google Apps.
Migrating Google Docs
If you're migrating to a regular Google account, transferring your Google Docs is easy. Just select all the documents you want to migrate, go to the More Actions drop down menu, and choose Change Owner. Type in Account 2's address in the box that comes up. You'll see all your documents in Account 2.
Unfortunately, Google Docs does not allow you to change the owner to someone of a different domain, meaning migrating your documents to a Google Apps account takes a bit longer. Luckily, it's still pretty easy. Select all the documents you want to transfer, go to the More Actions drop down, and click on Export. This will compress all the documents into a zip file and download it to your hard drive. Afterward, you can go to Account 2 and hit the Upload button in the top left corner, and choose all the documents you just downloaded. It'll take a bit longer, but you still won't lose any functionality or data, which is nice.
Note that any documents for which you are a collaborator but not the owner will not transfer correctly with either of these methods; you'll need to contact the owner of those documents and tell them to re-share them with your new account.
Migrating Google Reader
Migrating your RSS feeds is probably the easiest part of this process, but it unfortunately only works with regular Google accounts (since Apps accounts do not have access to Reader). Just go into Google Reader's settings and click on the Import/Export tab. At the bottom, you'll see a link that says "Export Your Subscriptions as an OPML File" which will download a single file to your computer containing all of your feeds. Click on this link, and then go to the same Import/Export tab in Account 2's Settings. This time, click the Choose File button and navigate to the file you just downloaded. After uploading this file, all your feeds should show up in Reader. Note that this won't sync your read and unread counts, nor will it sync your starred or shared articles, so you'll have to re-star anything you still want to reference (and re-friend anyone you follow on Reader).
Migrating Blogger
Migrating your Blogger account will be similar to Calendar and Docs, but with a few caveats. Sign into your current Blogger account, go to Settings, and hit the Permissions tab. Click the Add Authors button and type in Account 2's address. You'll get an email notification in that account's inbox, so head over to your other browser and accept the invitation to become an author of that blog. Once you have, you can give that account administrative rights with Account 1 by going to Settings > Permissions and clicking on "grant admin privileges". Once you've done so, you can remove Account 1 from the blog by clicking the remove link next to its address.
Note that when you do this, Account 1's posts will stay up as they were before. However, if you delete your original Google account, all the pictures will turn into broken images. You could re-upload and re-post all the pictures, but honestly, there's no reason to delete the account outright, even if you never plan on using the Gmail address again. In fact, I've found that having an old Google Account makes a handy address to direct all your spam.
Migrating YouTube
Unfortunately, you can only migrate your YouTube account if you created it before May 2009. If you are one of these lucky folks, though, it's quite easy. Just go to your Account settings and hit Manage Account. At the bottom of the list you'll see an option to unlink your YouTube and Google accounts. Click the link and follow the steps. The next time you log into YouTube, it will prompt you to link it to another Google Account. If you created your YouTube account after May 2009, though, you will not have this option. Your only choice is to re-upload all of your videos to a new YouTube account.
Migrating Google Voice
When GrandCentral became Google Voice, Google provided a path for users to switch accounts since many people associated their GrandCentral account with the wrong Google Account. Later on, they expanded this to all Google Voice users, at least until they provide a sanctioned method to migrate your data. Thus, just fill out this form and your account should eventually transfer over. Note that at the moment, this does not work for Google Apps accounts.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
A new look for AdSense for content ad units
A new look for AdSense for content ad units
Monday, August 09, 2010 | 11:10:00 AM
Labels: AdSense features
We're excited to announce a revamped design of three of our AdSense for content ad units! After analyzing publisher site layouts and reviewing requests around the world, we decided to make our formats more space-efficient and visually pleasing by changing the layout of the text. We spent a lot of time experimenting with different possibilities, and we're starting with changes to the following ad units:
- Leaderboard (728x90): the title, description, and URL are now arranged in rows instead of columns (except in the case when only one ad is showing)
- Medium and large rectangles (300x250, 336x280): the URL is now in the same line as the title
During testing, the redesigned ads performed extremely well. We'll continue to experiment and innovate on our formats to help you monetize your content, and we encourage you to submit ideas in the comments below.
Inside AdSense - Meet Katrina
Monday, August 02, 2010 | 11:20:00 AM
Labels: Other
You may have noticed a few posts from me recently, so I wanted to introduce myself to all of you, our fantastic publishers and Inside AdSense blog readers. I've spent the last few years in AdWords (for those of you who are also advertisers, you may remember my name from posts to the Inside AdWords blog) and am very excited to join the AdSense team!
I’m really looking forward to meeting some of you in person at our AdSense in Your City events and engaging with you through our other social media channels. If you don’t already, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and leave us some comments so we know what you'd like to hear more about. We want to make sure that you’re getting the information you need, and will do our best to provide you with whatever content you find most interesting and useful. To start things off, we're giving the blog a little makeover so it's easier to read and navigate. You should notice the new background soon, and we'd love to hear what you think!
For any technical or account questions, check out the Help Forum, where you can interact with AdSense employees, Top Contributors (expert AdSense users vetted by the AdSense team), and a vibrant community of online publishers ready and willing to answer your toughest questions.
No matter which channel you choose, we look forward to interacting with you. See you in cyberspace!
I’m really looking forward to meeting some of you in person at our AdSense in Your City events and engaging with you through our other social media channels. If you don’t already, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and leave us some comments so we know what you'd like to hear more about. We want to make sure that you’re getting the information you need, and will do our best to provide you with whatever content you find most interesting and useful. To start things off, we're giving the blog a little makeover so it's easier to read and navigate. You should notice the new background soon, and we'd love to hear what you think!
For any technical or account questions, check out the Help Forum, where you can interact with AdSense employees, Top Contributors (expert AdSense users vetted by the AdSense team), and a vibrant community of online publishers ready and willing to answer your toughest questions.
No matter which channel you choose, we look forward to interacting with you. See you in cyberspace!
Switch to the new version of AdSense for search
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 | 11:50:00 AM
Labels: AdSense features
Over the last two years, the AdSense team has offered the powerful Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) product as an improvement over the original AdSense for search. After some recent improvements, we're now ready to retire the older version of AdSense for search. If the Google logo on your search results page reads "Powered by Google" instead of the newer "Google Custom Search" then you haven't yet upgraded to the newer version. The new AdSense for search with CSE is available in your account, and we encourage you to make the switch by updating your code as soon as possible.
AdSense for search with CSE gives you more control over your search results without changing how you earn money showing AdSense for search ads. For example, with the new version, you'll have access to advanced features like refinements and promotions. Our team has developed a number of updates and improvements during the past few months, and you can access more advanced features at www.google.com/cse.
Your existing AdSense for search box will continue to work normally for a few more months, and we'll be sure to update you when we retire this version. To take advantage of the benefits offered by the new version of AdSense for search and ensure you don't miss any revenue during the transition, we encourage you to update your code now. You'll just need to regenerate your AdSense for search code by signing in to your account and following these instructions:
AdSense for search with CSE gives you more control over your search results without changing how you earn money showing AdSense for search ads. For example, with the new version, you'll have access to advanced features like refinements and promotions. Our team has developed a number of updates and improvements during the past few months, and you can access more advanced features at www.google.com/cse.
Your existing AdSense for search box will continue to work normally for a few more months, and we'll be sure to update you when we retire this version. To take advantage of the benefits offered by the new version of AdSense for search and ensure you don't miss any revenue during the transition, we encourage you to update your code now. You'll just need to regenerate your AdSense for search code by signing in to your account and following these instructions:
- Visit your "AdSense Setup" tab and select "AdSense for Search."
- Select the sites you'd like your users to be able to search across (Learn More).
- Customize the look and feel of your search engine results.
- Update the code on your website.
AdSense: Behind the Scenes - Meet Evanne
Monday, July 26, 2010 | 9:20:00 AM
In the last video of this series, Evanne, a member of the Partner Development team, talks about her favorite Google perk, her obsession with music, and an important tip she’d like to share with all of you.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in AdSense. If you have feedback on this series, or ideas for future series, we’d love to hear them so please leave us a comment!
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in AdSense. If you have feedback on this series, or ideas for future series, we’d love to hear them so please leave us a comment!
Access All Your Google Accounts the Same Time With Multiple Sign-in
Image by Janne L via FlickrGoogle services permeate most of our online lives, and many of us end up using multiple Google accounts for different projects. You may have a personal Gmail account, a specialized one for your website, and another for using on public forums and comments. Before, the only way to access all the accounts would be to use multiple browsers or to usespecial extensions to sign in to multiple accounts at the same time. Now Google has made it easy to link all of your Google accounts so you can access them directly in the same browser.
Add Multiple Sign-in to Your Google AccountWould you like to easily access all of your Google accounts without using multiple browsers or special addons? Here’s how you can use the new Google Multiple Sign-in feature to quickly access all your accounts.
When you access any Google service, such as Docs or Gmail, you’ll see your Gmail address in the top right corner. To add multiple accounts, we’ll need to edit our Google account.
Head over to Google.com/accounts (link below), and sign in with your main, standard Google account. Make sure you use your primary account, as this will stay the main one you’ll see when you access Google services.
![sshot-2010-08-09-[33]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/sshot2010080933.png)
Click Edit beside Multiple sign-in under the Personal Settings section.
Select the On – Use Multiple Google Accounts in the same browser, and check each box to show you understand the limitations and features of Multiple Sign-in. Not all of the Google apps currently support it, but most of the main ones such as Gmail and Docs work great with it. Click Save at the bottom when you’re done.
You’ll now see a confirmation in the top of the page. Click the Back link to go back to your Accounts settings page.
You should now see a down arrow beside your Google account. Click it, and then click Sign in to another account to add another account.
Sign in with the other Google account you wish to add in the login box.
Now you’ll see your second Google account when you click the down arrow beside your email address. Your first, main account will be listed in bold as Default. Click the other email address to switch to that account.
If you’d like to add another Google account, simply click the Sign in to another account link again to add it.
Remove a Linked Account
Would you like to remove the extra accounts you added? Unfortunately there isn’t currently a way to remove just one linked account, so you’ll need to turn off Multiple sign-in to remove the accounts. To do that, login to your Google Accounts page as before, and click Editbeside Multiple sign-in.
Click the Off bullet near the bottom, and click Save.
Once you’ve saved the changes, you’ll only have access to your main Google account. If you ever decide you’d like to add the second account again, repeat the steps above. Note that this fully removes the data about your second account from the first account, which is great if you accidently added your account to the wrong Google login.
Conclusion
Whether you have multiple personal Gmail accounts or use one for business and one for personal use, this is a great way to keep your accounts together. Unfortunately you cannot access your Google Apps accounts this way, though you can already be logged in to a Google Apps account and a standard Gmail account at the same time. Google Apps account support will be added to this eventually, but for now, it’s a great solution for accessing any of your standard Google accounts without logging off and on or using workarounds.
If you’d like to send and receive email from other email accounts, including Hotmail accounts, inside Gmail, here’s an article on How to Add Pop3 Email Accounts to Gmail.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
More and more people are turning towards coding as a profession/hobby. From freelancers to actual developers, everyone seems to have their foundations strong in at least one programming platform. However, more often than not, there seems to be a problem of actually finding good content online that can teach you to code. Experimenting with a language can only get you so far. To master it, you need to have proper guidance from people who actually know what they are talking about. So where can you find expert guidance without shelling out a fortune for it? You could start with checking out the websites below: Dream In Code Just taking a look at their logo ought to tell you that the community at Dream In Code isn’t something to mess around with. You can browse their content for free, or you can sign up to become a permanent member. They have everything. Right from fundamental elements to programming examples, Dream In Code can help you master any language you choose. That’s because Dream In Code is not restricted to only one language. It covers almost everything under the sun and the community of users/experts is just amazing. They also have a video channel and links to developers’ blogs if you want to look deeper. W3Schools If what you want to master is a Web technology, you’ve got to give W3Schools a look. There’s hardly a place on the Internet that’s as exhaustive as W3Schools when it comes to tutorials about Web technologies. You can get tutorials ranging from plain-Jane HTML, right up to AJAX and the likes. There’s even Server Side Scripting thrown into the mix if that’s what you fancy. Eloquent JavaScript If you’ve ever had to use a Greasemonkey Script or a Bookmarklet, you have a clue about the kind of power that JavaScript possesses. It can dynamically modify the contents of the page that you are viewing. If you’ve ever wondered how any of this is done, then you’ve got to checkout Eloquent JavaScript. This is an interactive tutorial, which you can either read off the Internet, or download as an archive and use on your local disk. It includes a live console to try out any code that you might want to. The entire tutorial is written in very lucid English, and is very easy to follow. TryRuby Ruby is another one of those languages that is taking the world by storm. Slowly, but surely, it’s making its presence felt on the Internet. If you are thinking of venturing out into web application development, then you’ve got to give Ruby a shot. There’s a chance you may never have to look back. The only trouble is finding good sources of Ruby tutorials. TryRuby is a website that’s dedicated to teaching you about Ruby. When you first open the page, all you get is an interactive console for you to code in. Type “help” (without the quotes) and hit Return/Enter to start the Ruby tutorial. Like Eloquent JavaScript, TryRuby is not at all intimidating. Five minutes into the tutorial and I was wondering whether the syntax can really be that simple. A Miscellany of HTML5 Tutorials Last but not least, we come to HTML5. HTML5 has been creating a furore all over the Internet over the last year or so. It’s definitely going to be big (especially with giants like Apple and Google backing it). Therefore, as a developer, you’ve got to have knowledge (either elementary or advanced) about the capabilities of this standard. Tripwire Magazine has a list of more than 30 tutorials at their website. You can get access to all of them using the link above. Now that you have our list of resources from where you can learn how to code, why don’t you pick up that keyboard and put your fingers to good effect? Once you master a language and come up with an awesome app, let us know about it and we might just dedicate a post to it. In the meantime, check out some other programming / coding posts that we have done in the past, for further inspiration : Top 10 Professional Sample Code Websites For Programmers – by Ryan Learn To Code At Any Level With Google Code University – by David 4 Great Websites To Make You A Visual Basic Guru – by Ryan 6 Beginner Resources For Learning Mac Programming – by Bakari 6 Free Sites To Learn About Programming in PHP – by Jack Top 5 Sites To Learn CSS Online – by Daniel Image Credit: kakaopor.
However, more often than not, there seems to be a problem of actually finding good content online that can teach you to code. Experimenting with a language can only get you so far. To master it, you need to have proper guidance from people who actually know what they are talking about.
So where can you find expert guidance without shelling out a fortune for it? You could start with checking out the websites below:
Dream In Code
Just taking a look at their logo ought to tell you that the community at Dream In Code isn’t something to mess around with. You can browse their content for free, or you can sign up to become a permanent member.
They have everything. Right from fundamental elements to programming examples, Dream In Code can help you master any language you choose. That’s because Dream In Code is not restricted to only one language. It covers almost everything under the sun and the community of users/experts is just amazing.
They also have a video channel and links to developers’ blogs if you want to look deeper.
W3Schools
If what you want to master is a Web technology, you’ve got to give W3Schools a look. There’s hardly a place on the Internet that’s as exhaustive as W3Schools when it comes to tutorials about Web technologies.
You can get tutorials ranging from plain-Jane HTML, right up to AJAX and the likes. There’s even Server Side Scripting thrown into the mix if that’s what you fancy.
Eloquent JavaScript
If you’ve ever had to use a Greasemonkey Script or a Bookmarklet, you have a clue about the kind of power that JavaScript possesses. It can dynamically modify the contents of the page that you are viewing.
If you’ve ever wondered how any of this is done, then you’ve got to checkout Eloquent JavaScript. This is an interactive tutorial, which you can either read off the Internet, or download as an archive and use on your local disk. It includes a live console to try out any code that you might want to. The entire tutorial is written in very lucid English, and is very easy to follow.
TryRuby
Ruby is another one of those languages that is taking the world by storm. Slowly, but surely, it’s making its presence felt on the Internet. If you are thinking of venturing out into web application development, then you’ve got to give Ruby a shot. There’s a chance you may never have to look back.
The only trouble is finding good sources of Ruby tutorials. TryRuby is a website that’s dedicated to teaching you about Ruby. When you first open the page, all you get is an interactive console for you to code in. Type “help” (without the quotes) and hit Return/Enter to start the Ruby tutorial.
Like Eloquent JavaScript, TryRuby is not at all intimidating. Five minutes into the tutorial and I was wondering whether the syntax can really be that simple.
A Miscellany of HTML5 Tutorials
Last but not least, we come to HTML5. HTML5 has been creating a furore all over the Internet over the last year or so. It’s definitely going to be big (especially with giants like Apple and Google backing it). Therefore, as a developer, you’ve got to have knowledge (either elementary or advanced) about the capabilities of this standard. Tripwire Magazine has a list of more than 30 tutorials at their website. You can get access to all of them using the link above.
Now that you have our list of resources from where you can learn how to code, why don’t you pick up that keyboard and put your fingers to good effect? Once you master a language and come up with an awesome app, let us know about it and we might just dedicate a post to it.
In the meantime, check out some other programming / coding posts that we have done in the past, for further inspiration :
Top 10 Professional Sample Code Websites For Programmers – by Ryan
Learn To Code At Any Level With Google Code University – by David
4 Great Websites To Make You A Visual Basic Guru – by Ryan
6 Beginner Resources For Learning Mac Programming – by Bakari
6 Free Sites To Learn About Programming in PHP – by Jack
Top 5 Sites To Learn CSS Online – by Daniel
Learn To Code At Any Level With Google Code University – by David
4 Great Websites To Make You A Visual Basic Guru – by Ryan
6 Beginner Resources For Learning Mac Programming – by Bakari
6 Free Sites To Learn About Programming in PHP – by Jack
Top 5 Sites To Learn CSS Online – by Daniel
Image Credit: kakaopor.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
You’re Not Mad, You’re Creative
You’re Not Mad, You’re Creative: "
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“Beth” courtesy of Michael Nye
‘”Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it is stupid.” Albert Einstein.
Ever been told you’re a perfectionist, too sensitive or that you dream or think too much?
To have a high degree of creative intelligence is a gift — but because our society, schools and workplaces privilege more conventional and conformist intelligences, it is not always experienced that way. If you, or your nearest and dearest, do not understand what it means to becreatively intelligent, in everyday terms, a great deal of suffering can ensue.
“In a society that doesn’t appreciate them, creative abilities are often labeled and experienced as liabilities,” says Mary Taylor, LCSW, of the Creative Intelligence Centre. “Highly creative people often face a lifetime of hardship and psychological pain because they do not see themselves or their abilities clearly. The abilities of highly creative people are frequently hidden under…emotional, occupational andrelationship difficulties.”
While the [creative] person is all too aware of their problems, they are often unaware of their abilities. This, allied with the fact that they live in a society that prefers linear, rational thinking and behaviour, makes them try to fit into situations that don’t suit them — and thenblame themselves when that doesn’t work out. Hence: “I’m too sensitive”; “I’m too much of a perfectionist”; “I think too much”.
These erroneous conclusions can do “major damage” to self image, says Taylor, and ”attempts made at correcting a problem from this vantage point are frequently unsuccessful because the initial interpretation was in error. Their deepest turmoil often stems from the fact that although they feel they are capable, they are unable to bring their talents into the world in a recognizable or tangible form. They often feel confused in their attempts to figure this ‘puzzle’ out.”
Over time, self-blame and lack of understanding leads many bright, creative people into marginalized lives as adults — underemployed,dissatisfied and often in tremendous psychological pain.
First Stage Problems (Issues that stem directly from the ability itself)
- Depression caused by a lack of creative and intellectual fulfillment – environments which are creatively or intellectually under-stimulating.
- Feeling overwhelmed by the difficulties of managing high ideaphoria and divergent thinking patterns – a high flow of ideas and the capacity to process thoughts on multiple levels simultaneously.
- Sensory overload resulting in anxiety, irritability and fatigue brought on by the combination of strong sensory skills and environmental stimulation.
Significant questions in making an assessment of such problems include:
- “Am I really ‘obsessive compulsive’ or do my finely tuned visual abilities mandate I create an environment of visual beauty and order?”
- “Do I actually have a biochemical depression, or am I an imaginative person living among a plethora of concrete thinkers?”
- “Do I have ADHD or am I attempting to physically keep up with my numerous ideas and interests through multiple projects and activities?”
Second Stage Problems (When first stage problems are ignored or misattributed).
- Identity Problems – Many highly creative people accept mistaken notions about themselves including beliefs of being “too sensitive,” “too emotional,” “too much of a perfectionist,” “thinking too much,” and having “too many ideas.” These negative descriptions can result in damage to one’s self image and failure to identify the raw ability that may behidden under the perceived problem.
- Adjustment Problems – Many highly creative people struggle because they do not see themselves or their abilities clearly. This can result in the experience of going from job to job or relationship to relationship and wandering through life desperately looking for a purpose.
- Academic Problems – Highly creative individuals often have aptitudes that lie outside the realm of standardized tests, which typically favour linear thinking and the logical/mathematical and linguistic aptitudes. Academic problems can also stem from a lack of compatibility between learning style and teaching style. For example, when a linear-thinking teacher expects a divergent-thinking student to solve a problem using a step-by-step approach, while excluding inductive and intuitive problem-solving methods.
- Medical Conditions – “In my psychotherapy practice, I have witnessed a high correlation between individuals with multiple creative aptitudes and the existence of certain types of medical conditions, most often in the form of allergies, immune deficiencies, thyroid problems and metabolic disorders,” says Taylor.
First and second stage problems are not the result of something intrinsically “wrong” with the person, though that is how they are often experienced. Rather, they are the result of the stress that accompanies living with unidentified creative aptitudes in a society that does not understand or nurture creative intelligence. “Since creative aptitudes are physiologically based and cannot be “turned off,” first and second stage problems are likely to be compounded over time if effective interventions are not employed.” Taylor says.
What is Creative Intelligence?
Creatively intelligent people don’t necessarily work as writers or artists or in any field labelled ‘creative’. Many work “regular” jobs and may not think of themselves as creative at all. Creative intelligence has little to do with particular activities and more to do with a way of meeting and understanding life. I define it is “the ability to engage intention and attention in a way that goes beyond the given”.
Applying our creative intelligence invites us to keep both heart and eyes wide open to the emerging moment. We’d all be more creative if we paid less attention to the surfaces, our doings and achievements, our ambitions and desires; and more attention to the depths, the hidden forces and faculties that lie within ourselves and others, within all things and all experiences. We insist on burnishing our worries and wants and wishes, until we are blind to what’s in front of our eyes.
We insist on resounding our opinions, until we’ve drowned out the whispers of our hearts. So we fail to see the true visions, to hear the sound of other spheres. And the eternal stream folds back into the infinite nothing, from whence it came, having flowed past our skin instead of through our blood.
Are You Highly Creative?
Use the questionnaire below to examine more deeply how you have experienced this ability in your life — particularly when the ability has been labeled a liability. What was going on in those times? Did you blame yourself? If you look back through the lens of seeing yourself as a highly creative person, with an unrecognized gift, how does that change your perception of the event?
For best results, take a notebook and pen and F-R-E-E-Write your answers to those questions.
Do you feel different from those around you or that you are on a different “path” than most?
Have you been told you “think too much” or are “too much of a perfectionist”?
Do/did your schoolteachers berate you for daydreaming or staring out the window?
Were you told you were too ”giddy” or “disruptive” at school?
Do you experience a level of imaginative activity that few around you seem to understand?
Do you believe you have “too many” interests?
Have you been told you are “overly emotional”?
Do you go from project to project?
Do you carry a lot of unfinished projects in your mind?
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the numerous ideas and projects you generate?
Are you more affected than others seem to be by environmental stimuli, e.g the weather, bright lights, loud music, other people’s moods?
Have you been told you are “too sensitive”?
Do you feel dissatisfied and unfulfilled in many of your relationships?
Do people frequently ask you for advice — while you feel there is no one who understands you?
Do you believe you are not achieving what you could be in your work, despite a high degree of competence, ability and experience (and perhaps achievement too)?
If you answered “Yes” to more than 3 of these questions, you are indeed highly creative.
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Orna Ross is a novelist who promotes creative intelligence for writers, artists & everyone — through her books, speaking appearances and The Creative Intelligence Blog. Her most recent novel is “A Dance in Time” which mixes fact and fiction through the lives of two Iseults: one, a fictional contemporary writer, accused of killing her father, the other an actual historical character, Iseult Gonne– daughter of Maud Gonne, the famous Irish revolutionary and muse to the poet WB Yeats. Orna Ross is currently working on a new novel and a nonfiction book, ‘Go
Creative, It’s Our Native State’.
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