Sumo Consulting^2.0

This keyboard is worth mentioning since I previously posted that I can't type. It's a totally blank keyboard with differently weighted keys to assist you in finding the right key by touch.

Perhaps I should buy one...

(found via slashdot)

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Last year, 17 different San Diego User Groups participated in the first ever March Mingle. Over 150 people attended the event and it was a great success, largely due to strong support from the participating User Groups. This year it should be bigger and better! If you're in the San Diego area on March 16th, you should definitely stop in!

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Today I came across a gotcha with the way Firefox saves username and password information for login forms. This may also be a problem with IE and other browsers/toolbar/add ons, but I've never used this feature in anything but Firefox.

Here's the situation: Firefox saves username/password combinations per domain, not per individual page. This means that it will attempt to use the same username and password on a member login (/members/login.cfm) and an admin console (/admin/login.cfm). That's not really a big deal because it doesn't really create a security concern, and if you have different logins for the two forms, you just end up re-typing things.

Here's the problem: Say you are editing a user's account in the admin section of your website/intranet/application. If the field names match the names in your login form (ie: username/password), then firefox will OVERWRITE the value specified in the value="" attribute of the INPUT tag and will insert your saved login information instead. That's right, it overwrites any values you've programatically populated the form with

If you aren't paying close attention when you edit a user, it's very easy to submit the form with the newly inserted login info in it. Granted, there should be some biz logic that prevents the form submission from being successful, but I'll bet there are plenty of systems out there today without this vital bit of logic. If you suddenly find that 10 accounts in your application share the same username and password, this could very well be the reason.

The solution: This is probably a good idea either way, but the solution I've used is to make sure that your login forms have distinct and different field names than your administration tool's user profile edit forms. A quick solution to a very odd problem.

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With the latest Preview Release of Firefox, I've noticed that it autodiscovers RSS feeds, flagging pages containing RSS alternatives in the lower right corner of the page as this example snapshot of Slashdot shows. As I've been browsing around the web, it's been interesting and surprising to see some of the sites that have RSS alternatives. It's also been interesting to see which sites (including alot of Blogs) have RSS enabled, but don't have the proper code in the head of the page to flag the content for browsers such as Firefox to detect.

Am I talking about you? Well here's all you have to add to your HTML head to make your RSS feed autodetectable:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://www.sumoc.com/blog/rss.cfm?mode=full" />

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Last night I had a discussion with someone about Gmail and how she was frustrated by the lack of "folders" to physically move messages into. This is also something I've run up against since most mail clients allow you to move mail into "folders". After a bit of tinkering though, you can make Gmail imitate other mail client's "folder" behavior, effectively moving mail out of the inbox and into a "label" by using filters. Here's how:

1. Click on "Create a filter" at the top of Gmail.
2. Enter whatever filter criteria you want to filter mail on and click "Next Step".
3. Check the box called "Skip the inbox", this moves the message out of your inbox.
4. Check the box called "Apply the Label", and select a label from the dropdown to create a new one.
5. Click "Create Filter".

DONE!

Now all new mail matching the criteria you entered will be "moved" from the inbox and into the label you selected. One drawback is that you apparently can't retroactively apply filters to messages already in your inbox. However, once you've manually moved any existing mail, you should be all set!

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Google's Gmail makes hit number two for a very successful marketing tactic. It's not a new tactic, but it's been proven particularly effective for the search giant.

Google's created so much buzz surrounding Gmail that people are willing to give their left arm for an account. But why? Gmail is just webmail right? I mean, it has alot of storage, that nice. But it's still just webmail.

So why are people going crazy to get an account? Because you aren't allowed to have one! Yes, you might be the best geek around, have all the latest gadgets, but the sing-song voice in your head is chanting like kids on playground "Neah-nee-neah-nee-neah-neah you can't have an account!".

So you want an account! You have a cell phone that takes pictures in the dark, a laptop that can connect to the internet from the south pole, and can track your GPS location within one yard - BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE AN ACCOUNT!

But wait, there's more. How to frustrate a self declared metrosexual (technosexual?) even more? Give out a handful of accounts to one of the most vocal communities around - Bloggers. Now everywhere you turn, bloggers are posting about Gmail. Gmail this and gmail that, but you still can't have an account!

But I mentioned that this is hit number two. Though the shine's worn off a little, Google's Orkut has followed the same path. You can't join Orkut unless you know someone else who's already a member.

And the timing could be better! Google's pending IPO promises to be a huge event, and don't expect the announcements to stop coming. The carrot and stick approach has worked well so far. Expect to hear more of this before they offer up any stock.

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