When you use FireFox, you might notice that the Google search results show a different URL once you click on a link.

Google has been experimenting/implementing/… this for quite some time now but apparently not in all countries/browsers/users/… simultaneously?

It is caused by some JavaScript script that re-routes the link through Google in order for them to be able to track clicks. Although I can imagine some people make a fuss about this, personally I do not care as long as the results are good.

But this becomes annoying once you right-click a link to copy it (e.g. in an e-mail): I want to send the original URL and it sounds a bit strange to track other people clicking on my search result (for some good reason it probably makes sense to Google though).

You can easily avoid this (at least in FireFox) with a Greasemonkey script. Scripts have been available for some time, but I made a simple one with jQuery that does the trick for me.

Download or install jQuery Google click tracking removal script.

Looking for a new hobby? Enjoyed playing with Lego when you were little?

The Google Reader sign-in page can be addictive: the poplar blog posts that appear there are often funny and interesting. Like this one yesterday: Introducing the Illuminato X Machina.

Apparently Liquidware is a company/organisation that manufactures electronic components in an open source spirit. You have all kinds of components that you can plug together and that are programmable with the available C++ IDE for Windows or Mac.

Their latest product is the Illuminato X Machina from the blog post above, which is basically a small motherboard with a 72 MHz CPU, storage and interfaces and which can be attached to other cells to increase computation power.

A early funny (geeky) example of the possibilities:

You can order any component separately or in starter kits from the Liquidware shop. I believe Christmas is on it’s way!

No, you guessed wrong. This will not be the nth post about W3C standards.

Well, maybe one paragraph: while I know the use of W3C standards is favourable, the usability of your project/application should be your number one priority. Not adherence to a standard which would render your application unusable for (a part of) your audience. Every once in a while people tend to forget this. Of course no one will argue that W3C standards actually are a blessing.

But, this post is mainly about 2 simple standards:

• The ISO 639 standard for representing languages. Please use “en” or “fr” in your database, routing, scripts,… . It is unbelievable how many times people pick something like “FR” or “F”.
  Next time, consult the ISO 639-1 list.
• The ISO 3166 standard for representing countries. Same case: please use “US”, “FR” or “BE” or use the ISO 3166-1 list.

Additionally, use the Unicode CLDR list when working with locale’s (e.g. nl_BE).

Standards in general provide a major productivity benefit: you do not have to lose time discussing, implementing, mapping,… other peoples personal preferences (whether or not their choice can be motivated).

This also applies to coding standards/guidelines. We have probably all had (or will have) discussions about them once in our life because there are no “official” ones as far as I know. Specifically about PHP: please (yes, I am on my knees right now) use one of the major ones that are already available: e.g. Zend Framework (my preference because it is or will become the industry standard), PEAR or … . Do not create your own flavour (I do not have to explain why this does not make sense).

A hot topic at your company, project or team? Have a look at Weble Subversion hosting: you can force a list of predefined guidelines/standards by a mouse click. This will prevent SVN users from committing their code if it does not comply and, in such a case, an overview of the deviations will be displayed.

Popular and widespread in Japan, QR codes (a variant of the well-known bar-codes) certainly provide many opportunities.

The QR code was invented by Denso Wave, Inc of Japan in 1994. They appear on many product packaging in addition to “normal” bar-codes for shipment tracking and other purposes. When scanned, these codes can return numbers and text (e.g. the URL to this blogpost in the example image). The camera on your mobile phone and dedicated scanning software do the rest of the magic.

While their ability to be a link between the “online” and “offline” world can provide many opportunities, it hasn’t really become the hype it could be outside of Japan. Practical implementations are rare. Most likely because of the lack of knowledge by the broad public. Although QR reader software is freely available and a July ‘09 research by the University of Essex stated that 68% of UK phone owners can install such an application, most have not.

The biggest difference between the numerous free QR readers (for about any phone brand/model) may be the image quality needed to recognize a code. I’m happy with the  speed of NeoReader but there are also Kaywa Reader and QuickMark barcode reader (among others).

Besides Wordpress plug-ins and support in the Google Charts API, there is a PHP library but support in the Zend Framework could stimulate its use even more (Zend_Gdata_Chart anyone)?

Some more implementations:

• Facebook Add to Friends.
• Viral advertising campaigns.
• Share contact information.
• TV to website link (Dutch).
• … any other examples? Please share them in the comments.

One useful tip is to shorten URLs through one of the many URL shortening services there are. This generates a smaller, less prominent QR code.