Post your personal websites/creations

[AlanS17]

I've been gone from BYOAC for around about a year, but that doesn't mean I haven't been online. In that time I've built a couple of websites.

My brother's fiance's blog and photo album:
http://www.popokiko.com

My family's website:
http://www.skloss.com

I built both using WordPress, but you can see they're completely different. I was curious to see what other people on here had come up with. I know we all have that itch to build!

[Glaine]

Nothing astounding, but heres my site I put stuff on for my e-commerce class. Later this semester I gotta build a prototype e-com site on another site (its linked as the team page on my assignments page, though there isn't anything interesting there yet):

http://itdssrv1.coba.unt.edu/Novikoff/Home.aspx

Other than that, just my myspace, but it doesn't look that great lately.

[AlanS17]

Mentioning MySpace reminded me of another site I wrote:

http://www.myspaceplugins.net

It's just got a few fun lil things you can stick on your MySpace page. I tried to build stuff that you won't find on other sites.

[boykster]

Years ago I built the public genome website for a paper published in Nature - the sequencing of the P. aeruginosa genome

http://www.pseudomonas.com/

Its not my site anymore, and I think they're taking this one down for an even newer one, but I built the circular map navigation as well as the genome browser on that site.

I havent done much public internet sites, 99% of my work is for inhouse corporate intranet sites....

[AlanS17]

New site for my arcade projects:
http://www.skloss.com/alan

[Santoro]

http://www.santoro.com/

It's built using Wordpress and a heavily modified theme.  I am just learning them, but I am already impressed by the power of PHP/MySQL.    

If you have hosting and want an easy website, definitely look at Wordpress.  Once it's set up, it is so much easier to maintain than a regular html site using Frontpage or whatever.

Also, obviously, http://www.acadereplay.com.  That was creaded with OScommerce.  That was a little harder.

[shmokes]

I can't bring myself to learn anything about web design or anything from the Macromedia or Adobe suites (I know they're the same company now) because my graphic designer wife is already so good at them.  I'd really like to know Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash, but it's extraordinarily difficult to sit down and work with them when I can always just say, "Hey . . . I need a flier for such and such, can you put something together for me?"  And, of course, it'll end up a thousand times better than what I would have made even if I knew the programs inside and out cos she's a much better designer than me.

Here's her most recent website she made for my painter/musician brother.  It's not finished yet, e.g., it doesn't have an embedded mp3 player yet, but it's mostly complete.

www.garedmoses.com

[shmokes]

Dunno if this thread was meant to house only web-based creations, but I do have a recent non-web creation I'm really proud of.  I performed open-heart surgery on a laptop to get at all the guts and completely de-cased the LCD screen.  Then I stripped out all the unnecessary components from the laptop, like battery, CD-drive, etc. to get rid of as much bulk and weight as possible (though I added a PCMCIA WiFi card).  Then I pulled off an exhaust fan and remounted it so it would act as an intake in a different position.

I had a custom frame made and stuffed the whole lot into the frame.  It's running a slide show screen saver called Slickr that pulls pictures automatically from a Flickr account. 

It's a Christmas present for my in-laws.  What this allows us to do is give them a digital picture frame that my wife and I get to remotely control what shows on it.  So any time we want we can simply upload new pictures of their new grandbaby.  It's going to be loads of fun for us and them.  They will, without warning or effort on their part, regularly have new pictures of our little girl on display.  It'll be cool for them to start checking what's showing on the picture frame all the time.  Maybe as an april fools joke we'll have to replace the baby pictures on the Flickr account with porn   

I totally recommend this, especially if you have an old laptop.  It's such an amazing gift, but only cost us $25 for the frame (www.americanframe.com is THE place to go for all your framing needs.  Incredibly inexpensive custom metal or wood custom frames).  The software is free.  I already had the WiFi card laying around, but those things can be had for a song these days, if the laptop doesn't already have one built-in.

I put PC Anywhere on it so that I can control it without a keyboard and mouse, but I'm really thinking I'd probably better open it back up and put a wireless keyboard/mouse receiver in there.  Does anyone know of a very inexpensive wireless keyboard/mouse combo with a very small receiver?  I'm thinking something along the lines of the receiver being about the size of a USB key, kind of like the ones that ship with mice made for laptops (but I need it to talk to a mouse and keyboard).  Preferably this would be one without anything like a "connect" button on it, because once this frame is closed up it's A LOT of work to open up and then get closed again.

[Santoro]

That's pretty slick.  

[shardian]

Shmokes, that is an awesome project. I've seen people make them before, but that is probably the best one I have seen to date.

[shmokes]

Thanks.  It turned out very nice.  I couldn't be happier (except if I could find a wireless keyboard mouse with a very small usb receiver to put in there )

[quarterback]

I performed open-heart surgery on a laptop to get at all the guts and completely de-cased the LCD screen.

That's sweet.  Like shardian said, I too have seen a lot of these DIY LCD Frames, but yours is particularly nice.

How deep of a frame did you get to hold all that stuff?

Also, did you have a tough time removing the monitor?  At some point in the past I looked at one of the old laptops I have lying around because I thought about doing something like this.  Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get the screen more than 1/2" away from the mobo.  I didn't get to the point of gaking the whole thing apart, but this seemed like a potential stumbling block.

I put PC Anywhere on it so that I can control it without a keyboard and mouse, but I'm really thinking I'd probably better open it back up and put a wireless keyboard/mouse receiver in there.

once this frame is closed up it's A LOT of work to open up and then get closed again.

How about just putting a usb port hidden at the bottom of the frame.  You wouldn't be able to control it wirelessly, but it would let you attach a keyboard & mouse (and other things as well) to the hidden PC without having to open it.

[shmokes]

I think the frame is 1.5" deep, IIRC.  The monitor wasn't too bad.  The laptop was REALLY REALLY difficult to open up.  After removing every screw I could get to I could still only pry the upper and lower portions of the case apart about a quarter inch.  Finally after working at it for at least half an hour I finally realized that the panel just above the keyboard, where the power button and such sit, could be popped off, which gave me access to the hinges attaching the monitor, as well as the cables that run from the monitor to the motherboard.

At this point the laptop was still incredibly difficult to take apart.  There were hidden tabs and screws EVERYWHERE.  I often had to break things before I could learn the secret of how it was supposed to be taken apart.  I REALLY manhandled a lot of stuff and was a little bit amazed that it still worked when I was done with it.

The LCD, on the other hand, was pretty easy.  I just removed a few little screws and then pried the casing apart with a tiny flathead screwdriver.  One by one, little tabs holding the casing together popped out and in a few minutes I had the LCD out of there.  It would have been difficult or impossible to remove without first unscrewing the hinges and unplugging it from the motherboard so it was entirely separated from the laptop.


Hiding a USB port on the bottom of the frame would be ideal -- preferable even to a wireless setup.  Wireless units often have little buttons on the receivers that must be pressed to connect the device to the receiver, which is no good in my case.  I would much rather the port because it is only there for support, such as if the WiFi isn't attaching to an access point, or if the PCAnywhere client stops working or something.  The only problem is, I don't have the skills or equipment to mount a USB port in the frame.  At the very least, If I did it, it would look terrible. 

[shardian]

Ahhh. there is a thread hidden somewhere on here that had a link to a "bolt on" usb port. You could just cut a hole, insert the usb port, and then screw it down. I am not sure of the proper search terms to find it though. Maybe someone else who remembers the thread ( aguy wanted to put usb plugs on the sides of his cp for gamepads) can help you out.

[shmokes]

That would be handy for so many different projects.  I hope the thread turns up.

[quarterback]

That would be handy for so many different projects.  I hope the thread turns up.

I'm not sure which one Shardian is referring to, but I've seen a couple options posted on BYOAC.  The two that come to mind are the ones from Markertek and than smaller ones from datapro

The markertek option would be 'cleaner' because you don't have to dremel out a rectangular hole whose edges will be visible.  Unfortunately, the markertek one is also much larger and I don't know if your frame can take it.

datapro
Markertek

[shmokes]

wow . . . those look incredibly easy to install.  Thanks!

[quarterback]

wow . . . those look incredibly easy to install.  Thanks!

No prob.  If you end up using one of those, show us some pics.   I have at least one laptop lying around doing nothing and your project has got me thinking again about making one of these.



EDIT:  Those Marketek ones come in black as well.   There are 2 brands that have similar items, one is Switchcraft and the other is Neutrik.  One brand is much less expensive than the other if I remember correctly.

I hope you go with the Markertek item.  The datapro seems overpriced IMO.  Plus, I want to see if the Markertek ones fit into your frame.

[shmokes]

I didn't even click on the datapro ones because they're so ugly compared to the Markertek ones.  They're already ordered.  I'm using the inexpensive one.  They're only like $4.80 apiece or something so I ordered two cos I know I'll want another one in the future (if I wasn't so poor right now I'd have ordered five. 

This is really exciting.  It's going to add quite a lot to the finished product.  Thanks again for the heads up.  I'll definitely add a pic when it's in.

[tophatne1]

deleted

[CheffoJeffo]

So you suck this to the top and THEN delete your entry ?

[bfauska]

well... since this has been resurected and I'd never seen it before, I'd like to say good job to Shmokes. I think the idea for a remotely updated frame is a great one, and hadn't even seen anything like it until Woot.com the other day had one that works with a web interface right out of the box. But since Shmokes made one himself 2 years ago, he wins. Cool project.

[danny_galaga]

  I'd really like to know Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash, but it's extraordinarily difficult to sit down and work with them when I can always just say, "Hey . . . I need a flier for such and such, can you put something together for me?"  And, of course, it'll end up a thousand times better than what I would have made even if I knew the programs inside and out cos she's a much better designer than me.

this is in fact exactly what we should be able to do with our computers now we are in the future. instead of me asking your wife, i should be able to say to my computer (say, with my voice, not dropping this menu down and clicking a million different tabs) "Hey . . . I need a flier for such and such, can you put something together for me?"

but we cant. the future sucks...