Tomorrow, at 11AM CST, I'll be giving an online presentation on RIAForge. I'll discuss how it was created, why it was created, and will dig a bit into the code. I don't imagine this is something of interest to most of my readers - but all are welcome. Note that you have to register for the event to get the Connect URL.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1921298&loc=en_us

Yep, time again to make a list I'll be guilty over in a year. ;) Actually, let me start off by reviewing what I said last year:

• Finish Couch to 5K: Actually, I did this. I was pretty proud of this accomplishment. Currently though I'm not running. During the summer I switched to walking outside and loved it. The fresh air - the scenery (I noticed that even when I followed the same path, I saw new things every day) - etc. I stopped running and just plain walked. That worked fine until Fall and the weather got chillier. Now I'm back on the treadmill, but using an incline for most of my workout. My heart rate gets up and it feels like a great workout.
• Git rid of the gut: Um, next please. ;)
• Presenting outside my comfort zone: I think I did pretty good at that. I presented at my first jQuery conference, spoke on mobile and HTML5. My next presentation is this Saturday in San Francisco on PhoneGap. (I need to dig up that URL tomorrow.)
• Learn Python: Nope, didn't happen. I looked at it - played with it a bit - and liked it - but just didn't have time to make it stick. This year though my plan is to learn, and actually use, Ruby. I had a pretty negative opinion of it's syntax, but now that I've taken a deeper look at it, I'm beginning to appreciate it.
• Finish BlogCFC6: Read This
• Finish DD - a game for the Playbook. Sorry - I just do not think the Playbook is worth my time anymore. I had high hopes for the platform, but it's just too much of a pain to work on. I will never understand why a company would put barriers up to develop on a device. Temporary tokens? Screw that. I still want to build the game I had in mind... but probably not any time soon. (Ditto for the other game, Game2.)
• Hiking: I did my first hike (well, I hate to call it a hike - I walked in the woods with my kids for half an hour) a few months back. It's a start.

Given the above - these are my plans.

• Try a native application on Android. I love PhoneGap, but I'd like to try native development on Android at least once. I'm also going to be downloading Visual Studio Express and trying Windows Phone development.
• 10 real pushups. Yes, you can laugh now. Setting a small goal so I know I can make it. ;)
• Release my ColdFusion course on Udemy. Got an outline done. I've decided to make it for CF10 so I have a bit of time to wait.
• Finish Skyrim. Not sure this will be possible. I may need to wait till 2014.
• Right now I feel like I'm almost an intermediate-level JavaScript developer. I know that title doesn't really mean anything, it's just my gut feeling based more on what I know I don't know. I'd like to get to be slightly above intermediate. I guess you could say - I want to be more comfortable with OO in JS, larger applications, and be able to "see" myself at an advanced level next year.
• Release my jQuery Mobile book. Ok, this one isn't fair. I'm more than half done and I signed a contract. Nothing wrong with putting easy wins up here, right?

That's it. See you in 2013 for an update.

After many years of running ColdFusionJedi.com, today I've launched a new version of my blog and a new name as well. Welcome to RaymondCamden.com. I wanted this change for a few reasons.

First, to be honest, it's fun to try a new blog theme every year or so. If BlogCFC made it easier, I'd probably change more often. This new theme (Saffron Spice) caught my eye and was pretty darn easy to implement. Whereas my last theme had about 500 nested divs, this has around 5, so, much easier to work with.

Secondly, I think it's obvious that I'm more than a ColdFusion blogger. I've been talking a heck of a lot on jQuery, mobile, and other topics too. It's not that I don't like ColdFusion (do I have to say that?) it's just that I'm trying to find time to expand my horizons, learn new things, and help bring them to others.

I don't think I'm the best coder around. I don't think I'm in the top half. But - I think I have some skill in teaching, whether in person, in blog entries, or in books. I've enjoyed bringing in some radical new topics here (guess what - I'll soon be blogging about a certain language that rhymes with tuby) and I hope to continue that through 2012 and beyond.

So outside of the new URL and the new skin, it should be business as usual here. Enjoy, and come back often.

By some miracle, the new skin still had room to fit my Amazon wishlist URL. I know folks were concerned about that. But don't worry - I made it work. (Now if I can just convince someone to get that XBox the week will end perfectly...)

(Note - this is almost an exact copy of my post from last year, but, I liked it, and it's a holiday, so I'm allowed to duplicate a post. ;)

Just a short and sweet wish to all my readers that they have an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving. I'm incredibly thankful to you guys for a) providing me with great questions for blogging and b) providing me with great comments. I'm not sure if a simple 'blog' counts as a community but I think we have a great one here. Thanks!

I can't take credit for this - I found this on a few random Google searches - but if you are sick and tired of sites that force you into a mobile version and don't provide a way out (like all of the Gawker sites - and yes, I tried to file a bug report and found it nearly impossible), you can try this trick.

In your browser, enter about:debug for the URL and hit enter.

Nothing will happen.

Click Menu, go to Settings, and you may have a new debug menu. If you do, there will be a user agent section that you can use to switch your UA to one of a few different options. On my Xoom they were: Android, Desktop, iPhone (really?), iPad (eh?), and Froyo-N1. When I set mine to desktop and hit io9.com, they did not bounce me to their stupid, useless, less practical mobile version. (Ok, sorry for the bile there. I just hate that they've done this for a while now and still don't offer a way to change it.)

I tried this on my Inspire and was not able to change the user agent. I did see additional items in the settings, but nothing related to user agent. I don't mind so much on the phone though.

Any way - I hope this helps. It's been bugging me for weeks now and I'm glad I finally found a decent solution.

Be warned - what follows is somewhat gross giant pictures of my eyes. It isn't bloody or anything, but if medical pictures make you sick to your stomach, consider this your only warning...

This morning while walking (I love how the mind flows with ideas when exercising) I began to think about presenting and what advice I'd offer to folks who are considering giving it a try. There are plenty of books out there on how best to give presentations. I won't pretend to be an expert in the subject myself. But I've given quite a few of them and there are a few things I think I can share that might be useful. Also - many books on presenting don't tend to cover the specific needs of technical presenters - i.e. people who are talking about code related topics. So with that focus in mind, here are some ideas. As always, feel free to add your own. I'm curious to see what other suggestions folks have. One more quick note before I begin - most of this advice comes from mistakes I've made - and continue to make. I enjoy presenting. I think I'm good at it. But I'm going to looking to improve myself until the day I retire.

I'm sitting in Lafayette's excellent airport (excellent in terms of free wifi even though they use a content file that blocks any url with ass in it, like, oh, say assets for CSS *sigh*) waiting my flight to Minneapolis and cfObjective. Last year's conference was incredible and I'm really looking forward to this year. I'll be giving a session on building ColdFusion Builder extensions, so if you've never looked at that process before, please show up. I'll also be giving a small part of the keynote and a lightning talk as well.

I'm bringing three books with me, including the excellent "Object-Oritented Programming in ColdFusion" book by Matt Gifford. I never did get around to reviewing it (it rocks - buy it now - review done) but as I ended up with two copies I thought I'd share one. I'll bring my copy to the welcome reception tonight and will hand it off to the first person who can tell me what is best in life. (And yes, that's a movie reference and no, it's not Star Wars related.)

I'm proud to announce that as of today I will be joining Apple as an Evangelist, specifically in their Developer Insight/Creative/Knowledge department. This new department is focused on working with developers across a broad spectrum of products and knowledge areas. My focus will be on the iOS landscape and developer tools and technologies. I've long stated that that I've felt that iOS offers developers the most choice. From Objective-C to Objective-C, developers have a variety of ways to build compelling apps that allow you to direct avians towards suids. I plan on spending most of my time on Windows tools and the iOS platform which will additionally give me more time to pursue my hobbies as well.

This change in life may be drastic for some, but I assure you it's been in the works for some time. Once the ritual Steve Jobs tattoo has been attached to my body I'll be spending most of my time in the Louisiana Apple office next to Merlotte's. (I've been assured that the swamp has been drained and only a few alligators are left in the kitchen. Or as we call them - appetizers.)

As an example of what you can expect to see here - consider the following Hello Word example in Objective-C:

Pure simplicity. Now compare this to ColdFusion:

What? Seriously? That's a programing language? Not one include. Not one method with stars in front of it. Inconceivable. Real languages simply don't work that way. You just aren't winning unless your compiling and linking. You can quote me on that.

But I won't just be covering code. I'll also talk about how best developers can get their apps into the App Store. I'll divulge the hidden secrets to avoiding rejection and what to do we when decide your type of app is no longer desirable months after it was approved. (Hint - it was your fault - you just didn't know it.)

I for one will be happy to rid myself of all the pesky Android devices that began to clutter my home. I cannot tell you how much time I wasted configuring my devices to my liking when I simply should have trusted the designers at Apple to decide for me what is best. The relief I feel now that the weight of responsibility is off my shoulders is indescribable. I feel safe and warm within the arms of Apple UX - like a cookie in Cookie Monster's stomach. Excellent.

This comes right from the "Obvious" department, but I've had various Android devices for over a year now and I just recently discovered how to play videos. Specifically, how to play video without using doubleTwist. This was only a concern for me on my Xoom where doubleTwist was having issues finding the videos I had copied to the device. Apparently everyone else in the world knew this, but you can use the Gallery application for videos. I always thought the Gallery was just for pictures I took. And while I've taken video with my mobile devices before and probably saw "Video" listed in the application, I had assumed it was just for videos taken with the device. I also just never really explored Gallery outside of pictures, and since it also includes videos "midstream" with pictures, I figured that was it. I was surprised to find movies I had copied to the hardware were also available there.

So please tell me I'm not the only one who didn't know this?