Emran Hasan's Blog

Greetings to all the readers of my blog.

Many of you have been writing to me in the last couple days when I took the site down. The main objective was to add the new theme and push a few code updates of the existing libraries. I really appreciate your concern and would like to reassure you that the site is up and will be up as usual Now, besides the slightly customized theme from Elegant Themes, I have put a few code updates. They are detailed below:

Extended Model for CodeIgniter

The original version of the Extended Model for CodeIgniter has been serving many people well. Although most users loved the nifty functions of the Model, many (including me) didn’t like the hacking of CI core to get this functionality. With the release of CodeIgniter 1.7, we can avoid that as we can now overload the Model class of CI like the other libraries. Follow this instruction:

1. Download the updated version from here
2. Put it in your application/libraries folder
3. In your model files, use it this way: class Product extends MY_Model
4. Everything else is same just like the original one

HTTP Class

There is not much update in this class except for a few bug fixes (thanks to you guys). Also, I have included a license file in the package as many of you have asked. It’s released under the MIT license. The original post is here for reference.

Download the update from here and the API reference is here.

Cross-domain AJAX calls using PHP

A minor bug fix in the code. Thanks to a few of you who pointed them out. Original post is here. Download the update from here.

I have accelerated plans for the blog in 2009 so stay tuned for some worthy posts in this month. And do write to me if you feel you have any questions/ideas/suggestions.

Cheers!

Today I bought a Nokia N81 8GB smartphone from my friend Nesar. This is an upgrade from my previous Nokia 6300, which I’ve been using for 1.5 year (thats the longest time I’ve used one model). The Nseries of Nokia has been attracting a lot of people lately, with their great music and photo capture features. One of my colleagues, Anis, also bought N73 just two months back.

Nokia N81 8GB

Now, good points first. The N81boosts an extremely loud set of sterio speakers – combined with its Music Express, it delivers the highest quality of music I’ve ever purchased. Combined with the built-in FM radion, the dedicated music keys, and a multimedia menu – this is a music powerhouse, thanks to the all new Symbian 9.3 OS.

The Symbian OS is superb with all the applications and now has some stunning gameplay capabilities. The phone also has all kind of connectivity point you might need – GPRS, EDGE, Wifi, Bluetooth, WLAN, 3G. And don’t forget the built-in 8GB memory.

The only downside of this phone is the camera. It’s a 2 megapixel camera – which I don’t have any clue how got into a Nseries phone. If there is not enough light, the pictures are somewhat blurry. It has flash and a number of picture modes, so its a decent one – but nowhere in comparison with other Nseries 3.2mp and 5mp cameras.

All in all, here are the facts:

• 2.4” QVGA main color display (320 x 240 pixels), up to 16.7 million colors
• S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 based on Symbian OS v9.2
• Dedicated media keys for quick and easy access to music and video
• WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g with UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) support
• Bluetooth Specification 2.0 (profiles supported: DUN, OPP, FTP, HFP, GOEP, GAP, SPP, HSP, BIP, A2DP)
• Micro USB 2.0 Full Speed (mass storage class)
• Nokia AV Connector 3.5mm
• Up to 2 megapixel (1600×1200 pixels) camera, MPEG-4 VGA video capture of up to 15fps
• Zoom: digital up to 20x
• Front camera (CIF)
• Video call and video sharing support (WCDMA network services)
• Integrated flash (modes: on, off, automatic, redeye reduction)
• Rotating gallery with Navi wheel support
• Nokia Nseries digital music player supports MP3 (VBR), AAC, eAAC+, AAC+, WMA/M4A, WAV
• OMA DRM 1.x, 2.0, Windows Media DRM (OTI/OTA with Nokia Music Store*)
• Synchronize music with Windows Media Player 11
• Media keys (play/pause, stop, forward, rewind)
• Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz /76-90MHz)

Let’s see how long it can serve my ever-growing thirst of technology

If you’re like me, you’d want to keep your ever busy life a bit organized. Being a techie, you’d first find a tool that will facilitate you in doing so. Most of us are fan of a number of such tools: RememberTheMilk, BackPack, Ta-Da List, 30boxes, Microsoft OneNote, Stickies etc. I’ve also tried all of them and a few others, stuck with them for a few days, but later lost the interest. This happened until one of colleagues, Anis, suggested me to have a look on Todoist.

At first sight, I thought it as “okay…another web 2.0 brainchild”. It seemed too simple to handle my complicated needs and I did not have high ambition with it. But as days passed, I was discovering new new features of it and gradually it became a part of my life. I’m a big fan of Getting Things Done (GTD) approach and Todoist became my dropbox for all the tasks in my mind.

If you ask me what’s so special about Todoist, I’d mention the following few features:

Simplicity

Todoist is damn simple and hosts one of the most powerful yet sleek web 2.0 interface on the web. It allows you to have an unlimited nested category/project list and under each of them, unlimited nested task list. This is something that most other tools miss. For me, it’s a super MUST feature.

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With the rise of PHP developer as career, many are trying to get their share in the pie. Lately I’ve met a number of developers who have worked for more than one/two years in developing PHP applications in various companies and they consider themselves as “senior” developers. They try to emphasize that they’ve done enough raw programming and they are now in a position where they’ll only design architecture of applications.

When you interview them and ask about complex topics, they’ll reply: “Oh my last company didn’t allow me work with that, but I’ll be able to grab that in a day“. You trust them and think that if they get the chance, they’ll sure be able to excel. After all, they’ve got that Company X’s experience and Guru Y’s reference.
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Nothing to say much, check the image below: