MIT Cubeclub to Host Competition, Nov. 14

First off, sorry I haven’t written a post in so long. Things, have been pretty crazy around here, as usual. Nevertheless, I’m back at MIT for my 4th and final year, and I’m getting back into the swing of things.

So, you may remember I helped found the first MIT Rubik’s Cube Club last year. Well, it’s our second year going strong, and we already have a WCA (World Cube Association) official competition scheduled for November 14th, 2009, in Room 4-370 at MIT. Full information can be found here.

We’ll be hosting the following events:
1. 3×3×3 Speedsolve
2. 4×4×4 Speedsolve
3. 5×5×5 Speedsolve
4. 2×2×2 Speedsolve
5. 3×3×3 One-Handed
6. 3×3×3 Blindfolded
7. Rubik’s Magic
8. Rubik’s Master Magic
9. Pyraminx
10. Rubik’s Clock
11. 3×3×3 Multiple Blindfolded
12. 4×4×4 Blindfolded and 5×5×5 Blindfolded (depending on interest)

I myself am planning on competing in the first 11 of the 12 events listed, if I can handle it. But we’ll see how it all plays out.

If you’re interested in getting more information about the club, check out our website or send us an email (cubeclub-officers@mit.edu).

Tags: rubik's cube, website
Posted in MIT, Personal | 1 Comment »

Cool Collages from Your Photos

When I created the Canvas project a few months ago, many of you were wondering if a future release would exist where users could upload their own photos. Well, you’re in luck! Collage does just that.

Here are a couple of collages made with the site:
http://polymath.mit.edu/projects/collage/?photo=49704b8d5fb42 (mona lisa)
http://polymath.mit.edu/projects/collage/?photo=49704be3d73bd (barack obama)

Check out Collage here.
Check out the project page here.

Tags: api, canvas, design, flickr, javascript, php, website
Posted in Software, Web Development | 12 Comments »

Update! Simple DropDowns for All

This is an update to my previous post on this project, entitled Simple DropDowns for All.

Simple DropDowns (SDD, for short) is now out of beta (version 0.4) with a new Version 1.0 release.

Check out this screenshot of the new documentation page:

There are several new features in the new release including the much requested onmouseover (as opposed to onclick) activation of the dropdowns, and better event handling for hiding the dropdowns after use. Also, the documentation and usage has been simplified so that the title element now only used to point to a hidden div containing the dropdown menu’s contents.

The new script can be downloaded here:simpledropdowns.js (or minimized: simpledropdowns-min.js).

The homepage for the project is here: http://adam_s.scripts.mit.edu/dropdown/.

And the google code project homepage is here: http://code.google.com/p/dropdowns/.

Tags: design, dropdown, google code, javascript, website
Posted in Web Development | No Comments »

Music Page Uses SoundManager & Smartlook

Tonight I’ve been hard at work on a new music page. The new site utilizes two really cool javascript libraries which are brand spankin’ new.

One is called SoundManger (which has just released a much anticipated version 2), and the other is called Smartlook (from the guys over at ISSUU).

SoundManager is a javascript library which makes playing sounds on a web page really easy. I used it on my new site to turn a simple list of mp3 files into a cool-looking audio playlist.

Smartlook is a javascript library which works in conjunction with an ISSUU account. ISSUU is a great site for publishing your documents (.pdf,.doc,.xls,.ppt,etc.) online. It features a really clean flash player and uses top-notch document conversion tools. Smartlook is their newest service. After generating a key based on your ISSUU account id (you can do this by logging into ISSUU and going here) and including the smartlook.js library in you website, all of your .pdfs, .docs, .ppts, and other supported documents that your website links to become links to the issuu flash document viewer for that document.

Basically, the code allows you to skip the step of having to upload your documents to ISSUU before you embed them in your page. Smartlook automatically uploads your documents to ISSUU using you account, and redirects all of your links to documents automatically. It’s pretty sweet. Check out how I used it to display pdfs of musical scores I published here.

Tags: api, issuu, javascript, Music, smartlook, soundmanager, website
Posted in Music, Personal, Web Development | No Comments »

Simple DropDowns for All

I was looking at Youtube the other and was noticing they use a ton of dropdown menus.

Examples of dropdown menus found at YouTube

When I looked through YouTube’s code, I had a hard time finding out how they were generating these. It turned out they had a pretty elaborate script which relied on several other youtube resources. So I decided to write a standalone version that looks just as good, performs even better, and has a tiny footprint. Here’s what I came up with:

Example Dropdown Menu: Example Dropdown Menu

Doesn’t it look great? And it’s incredibly simple to use.

How To Use

1. First, download simpledropdown.js script.
2. Next, include the following line of code in your website:

<script type="text/javascript" src="simpledropdowns.js"></script>

3. Create span elements with the class set to "dropdown" and place the text you want to fill the dropdown menu
with in the title attribute, like so:

<span class="dropdown" title="Menu Text">Drop Down</span>

That simple code will create this menu: Drop Down.

To create something fancier like the menu “Example Dropdown Menu” above, or to learn more about how the dropdown menu can be used in your website, check out the SimpleDropDowns project home page here. The script also has a Google Code project page here. Enjoy!

Tags: dropdown, google code, javascript, website, youtube
Posted in Web Development | 3 Comments »

Hello World, Wordpress

Well, ladies and gentleman, I’ve finally settled on a blog. For the last few years, I’ve gone from one CMS (Content Management System) to another, trying to find the perfect software for my unique style of blogging.

And the winner is… Wordpress!

Joomla was a close second.

As you can see, I created my own template, using “Clean Minimal” (from Theme Lab) as my starting point. So far, I’m loving wordpress. It’s extremely customizable and the administrative backend is user-friendly and feature-packed.

Those of you familiar with my website should recognize this image:

‘Projects’ Page from my old website, http://web.mit.edu/adam_s/www

Well, although that site has served me well over the last two and a half years, it’s time for an upgrade. That is why along with this blog, I am in the development of a brand-spankin’-new website with the same overall feel of this one (thus reinforcing the Adam-Schwartz-Polymath brand name). I’m happy to announce that starting January 1st, 2009, my new website (currently in production) will take the place of the one pictured above.

For those of you who have been to my website after hours (after 2am E.S.T. that is), the following should look familiar:

‘Night’ Page from my old website, http://polymath.mit.edu/www/night

Well, those of you who enjoy out of of focus photographs of the Boston Skyline will be happy to know that the Night website will be getting an upgrade to v2.0 when all of the other new website stuff happens. There may even be a surprise for those of you who decide to visit on January 1st! Who knows…?

Till next time, Adam

Tags: design, website, wordpress
Posted in Personal, Web Development | 2 Comments »