Erich Stauffer

Blog

  • Generation X; Analog to Digital

    gameboy_256In the same way saw the Greatest Generation saw the change from horse drawn carriages to automobiles and the birth of airplanes to the rise of the space shuttle, Generation X has seen firsthand the transition from analog to digital: carbon copies to CC: and BCC:, and a slide rule to an iPod. GenXers began life processing credit cards at the grocery store with a carbon copy slider, called an “imprinter”. When they went to school, their teachers made worksheet copies using a “mimeograph machine” in purple ink. They were the last to be taught how to type on typewriters and the first to use a personal computer in school. Some started out on Apple IIs and others on IBM PC clones. By the time they were leaving primary school and entering college, portable computers and cell phones were common. The World Wide Web had turned the Internet mainstream. It was now odd for a GenXer to not have an email address and a cell phone number.

    Some things didn’t change though. The paperless office didn’t happen. More things were put online and sent via email, but paper remains in the office, schools, and at home. Email has decreased the use of paper mail though. Another example is flying cars. We still don’t have flying cars even though Back to the Future says we will by 2015 (we’ve got 6 years to get on that). Another hint from Back to the Future is cold fusion, which is still a dream. However recent breakthroughs by MIT in solar power technology may lead to a new era of cheap electricity which could change the economy in desert regions around the world.

    Read more about Generation X.

  • Google Maps Query String Parameters

    The following is a list of query string parameters that can be passed to Google Maps.

    These arguments are helpful if you want to get Google Maps to display driving directions, which are not available under the API.

    Query

    Translation
    q= “q” stands for “query” and anything passed in this parameter is treated as if it had been typed into the query box on the maps.google.com page.
    near= “near” can be used as the location part of a query instead of putting the entire string into q=
    g= “g” is an address or location that provides extra context for the “q” parameter. Google Maps stores the last ran search here, but if it is the first search it can only contain your starting location. This is a potential information leak, so make sure you do actually mean to share the content of this parameter.
    mrt= “mrt” specifies a type of search. The default is blank, which searches for everything.
    start= “start” skips the first (start-1) matches.
    num= “num” displays, at most, the given number of matches. The valid range is 0 to 20.
    ll= “ll” stands for Latitude,longitude of a Google Map center – Note that the order has to be latitude first, then longitude and it has to be in decimal format.
    sll= “sll” Latitude,longitude of the point from which the business search should be performed.
    spn= “spn” Approximate lat/long span. The zoom level will be adjusted to fit if there’s no z= parameter.
    latlng= “latlng” takes three numbers separated by commas. The first two numbers (presumably representing latitude and longitude multiplied by 1000000) are ignored. The third number seems to be a Google internal “Company ID” number for a particular business.
    cid= “cid” is similar to “latlng,” but generating a different map size. It takes three numbers separated by commas. The first two numbers (presumably representing latitude and longitude multiplied by 1000000) are ignored. The third number seems to be a Google internal “Company ID” number for a particular business.
    geocode= “geocode” is a concatination of “geocode” encoded values for waypoints used in directions.
    radius= “radius” localizes results to a certain radius. Requires “sll” or similar center point to work.
    t= “t” is Map Type. The available options are “m” map, “k” satellite, “h” hybrid, “p” terrain.
    z= “z” sets the zoom level.
    layer= “layer” Activates overlay. Current option is “t” traffic.
    lci= “lci” activates layers of tiles and needs to be comma-separated.
    view= “view” can be used to select text view (view=text) or the normal map view (view=map).
    saddr= “saddr” source address. Use this when asking for driving directions.
    daddr= “daddr” Destination address(es). Use this when asking for driving directions.
    mrad= “mrad” gives you additional destination address.
    dirflg= “dirflg” is the route type: dirflg=h Switches on “Avoid Highways” route finding mode. dirflg=t Switches on “Avoid Tolls” route finding mode. dirflg=r Switches on “Public Transit” – only works in some areas. dirflg=w Switches to walking directions – still in beta.
    via= “via” gives a comma separated list of intermediate addresses for directions, that should be ‘via points’.
    doflg= “doflg” Distance Units. (Defaults to prevalent units in country of origin.) doflg=ptk outputs directions in metric (km) and doflg=ptm outputs directions in imperial (miles).
    cbll= “cbll” is latitude,longitude for Street View.
    cbp= “cbp” Street View window that accepts 5 parameters: 1) Street View/map arrangement, 11=upper half Street View and lower half map, 12=mostly Street View with corner map 2) Rotation angle/bearing (in degrees) 3) Tilt angle, -90 (straight up) to 90 (straight down) 4) Zoom level, 0-2 5) Pitch (in degrees) -90 (straight up) to 90 (straight down), default 5
    panoid= “panoid” is the panorama ID, which is the ID of the current nearby panorama object in Street View.
    hl= “hl” stands for “host language”.
    om= “om” stands for “overview map.” The presence of this parameter with a value other than 1 causes the overview map to be closed. If the parameter is omitted, or present with the value 1, then the overview map is open.
    ie= “ie” stands for “input encoding” and can be used to specify the input character encoding set.
    oe= “oe” stands for “output encoding” and can be used to specify the input character encoding set.
    output= “output” is for output format (blank is default).
    f= “f” stands for “form” and controls the style of query form to be displayed. f=d Displays the “directions” form (two input boxes: from, to). f=l Displays the “local” form (two input boxes: what, where). f=q (or no parameter) The default search form is displayed (single input).
    pw= “pw” stands for “print window.” It activates the print mode and initiates printing. Example, pw=2.
    iwloc= “iwloc” stands for “info window location” and specifies where the infowindow will be displayed. In a business search iwloc=A to iwloc=J will open the info window over the corresponding business marker, and iwloc=near will place it over the big green arrow if that’s currently displayed. iwloc=addr can be used on map search to explicitly request the info window to be open on the address, but that’s the default anyway. Directions search supports iwloc=start, iwloc=end and iwloc=pause1
    iwd=1 “iwd” stands for “info window display” and specifies that the infowindow displayed (iwloc=) will be a detailed (expanded) view.
    iwstate1= iwstate1=ssaddfeatureinstructioncard Specifies that the infowindow is in add place mode. Use with ssp=addf and iwloc=SS.  iwstate1=sscorrectthiscard Specifies the infowindow is in edit mode. iwstate1=sscorrectthiscard:ssmovemarkercard The infowindow is in Move marker mode, with the marker bouncing and draggable. iwstate1=sscorrectthiscard:ssedithistorycard The infowindow is in View history mode, displaying a graphical list of marker moves.
    msa= “msa” is involved in My Maps processing. It does nothing without the “/ms” and “/ms” does nothing without the msa=. msa=0 Used with msid= to show a particular My Map.msa=b Activates the “My Maps” sidebar when used in conjunction with “maps.google.com/ms”.  msa=1 shows the My Maps tab directly (like msa=b did). msa=2 Jumps directly to create new My Map form.
    msid= “msid” specifies a My Maps identifier. When used in conjunction with “maps.google.com/ms” and msa=0, the corresponding My Map is displayed.
    vp= “vp” stands for “view point” and the presence of this parameter causes maps.google.com to switch into Copyright Service mode. Instead of returning the html that draws a map, it returns information about the copyright ownership in Javascript format. The vp= parameter specifies the viewpoint (i.e. the centre of the map). Copyright Service only works when the spn= and z= parameters are also supplied, indicating the span and the zoom. Optional parameters are t=, which specifies the map type, and key= which specifies the API key of the site performing the request.
    sspn = “sspn” stands for “Screen span”. Map bounds dimensions in Degrees, to calculate this use: newGLatLng(map.getBounds().getNorthEast().lat() − map.getBounds().getSouthWest().lat(),map.getBounds().getNorthEast().lng() − map.getBounds().getSouthWest().lng()).toUrlValue()

    Here are some reference books on Google Maps programming that may also be useful:

    Google Maps APIMap Scripting 101Google Web Toolkit ApplicationsBeginning Google Maps API 3 (Expert’s Voice in Web Development) [Paperback]Map Scripting 101: An Example-Driven Guide to Building Interactive Maps with Bing, Yahoo!, and Google Maps [Paperback]Google Web Toolkit Applications [Paperback]

    One reviewer said about Svennerberg’s book, “It’s been a constant struggle for me to find accessible Google Maps API resources that not only cover the capabilities of the API, but also explain the JavaScript concepts behind them in a way that I can understand.” You might also be interested in Gabriel Svennerberg’s blog.

    What is a Query String Anyway?

    A query string is the part of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that can contain data (called parameters) to be passed to web applications such as CGI programs. When a web page is requested via a web browser, the remote server locates a file in its system based on the requested URL. This file may be a simple file or a program. If it is a program, the server may run the program (depending on its configuration), and send output as the required page. The query string is a part of the URL which is passed to the program. It’s use permits data to be passed from the HTTP client (often a web browser like Mozilla Firefox) to the program which generates the web page. This site uses software from WordPress which uses query strings to indicate criteria to search for specific posts or sets of posts in the database. This default use of query strings may reduce search engine optimization (SEO) efforts so pretty permalinks are used here instead. I use the /%category%/%postname%/ permalink, which is probably the most popular.

  • Analyzing Actions

    youtube-diggI decided to do a little research on how this blog was doing.  I went to Google Analytics, which records data on what keywords visitors use to find this site and exported the data into Microsoft Excel.  Data has a funny way of changing your realities from what your gut thinks to actual reality.  What we intended this blog to be about can be summed up in one sentence:

    Thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to results, so to change your results, you must first change your thoughts.

    This meant that Zac and I wrote mostly about thoughts, actions, analyzing the way you feel and think – basically changing the insides in order to affect the outsides, the results, in order to achieve success.  What the analysis told me is that even though we are writing about all that, most visitors only care about one of two things, “How to Delete a Digg Submission,” and “Youtube Query String Parameters.”

    Both of these subjects, or posts, are in the “Programming” category, which, out of all the categories (Actions, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Job Hunting, Life, LOST, Management, Marketing, Pop Culture, Small Business, Startups, Success, and Technology), Technology is probably the only one that is remotely close to being like it.  All the others, besides LOST, are mostly homogeneous.  So what we really have here is a kind of identity crises.  It’s a question of who we are.  It’s also an opportunity to innovate and make some changes.

    Blog Analysis

    Most popular posts and keywords are just one metric of the success or current state of a blog.  For each keyword there are, “Pages per Visit, Average Time on Site, Percent New Visits, and Bounce Rate.”  For example, the keyword which resulted in the most page views was, “youtube embed querystring parameters,” at 17 pages, whereas the keyword resulting in the lowest bounce rate, “creative avoidance,”at 42% also had 3 more page views per visit.  This tells me that out of all Managing Actions blog posts, the most popular post that also captures the essence of this blog, “manage your thoughts in order to manage your actions”, is “Creative Avoidance,” by Zac.

    I recommend breaking the “Programming” category off into its own blog and focusing on “Creative Avoidance“-type subjects along with the other popular trends in this category, “Purpose,” “Actions,” and “Confidence.” [Update: I have since started blogging about query string parameters (1,2) and how to stay alert. 9/15/2009]

    If you would like an analysis done on your blog or help with Internet marketing, please use the comment box below to leave your name and email address and we will contact you shortly.  Thank you for visiting Managing Actions – and may your thoughts lead to action!

  • Google Video Uploads with Comcast

    Comcast Users Experiencing CONNECTION INTERRUPTED at Google Video

    Google VideoComcast users trying to upload video to Google Video lately have experienced a CONNECTION INTERRUPTED message. If you are upset about this, please contact Comcast. It is not Google, it is Comcast or your Internet service provider.

    But just to be sure, in Windows XP, check your “hosts” file located in: C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetc
    Replace “C” with whatever drive you have Windows installed on. The Windows host file should look like this:

     

    # Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
    #
    # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
    #
    # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
    # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
    # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
    # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
    # space.
    #
    # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
    # lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
    #
    # For example:
    #
    # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
    # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

    127.0.0.1 localhost

    More > Learn about query string parameters.

  • Google Talk Notification Extensions

    This document describes the XMPP extensions that notify clients about email in their Gmail account. Google does not intend for this extension to become a standard and so it is subject to change.

    Element or Attribute

    Translation
    <mailbox> Outer wrapper element for all email information.
    result-time The time these results were generated, in milliseconds since the UNIX epoch. This value should be cached and sent as the newer-than-time attribute in the next email query.
    total-matched The number of emails that matched the q attribute search string in the email query, or the number of unread emails if no query was specified. If total-estimate is 1, this will be just an estimate of the number of emails retrieved.
    total-estimate A number indicating whether total-matched is just an estimate: 1 indicates it is; 0 or omitted indicates that it is not.
    url The URL of the Gmail inbox.
    <mail-thread-info> Element that wraps an email thread.
    tid The thread id of this thread.
    participation A number indicating the user’s participation level in this thread: 0 indicates that the user has not participated; 1 indicates that the user is one of many recipients listed in the thread; 2 indicates that the user is the sole recipient for messages in this thread.
    messages The number of messages in the thread.
    date A timestamp of the most recent message, in milliseconds since the UNIX epoch.
    url The URL linking to this thread
    <senders> Contains one or more <sender> elements, each of which describes an email.
    <sender> Describes a single email.
    address The email address of the sender.
    name The display name of the sender.
    originator A number indicating whether this sender originated this thread: 1 means that this person originated this thread; 0 or omitted means that another person originated this thread.
    unread A number indicating whether or not the thread includes an unread message: 1 means yes; 0 or omitted means no.
    <labels> A tag that contains a pipe (‘|’) delimited list of labels applied to this thread.
    <subject> The subject of this email.
    <snippet> A snippet from the body of the email. This must be HTML-encoded.

    Check out Google’s Gmail and Google Talk Notifications page for examples of how to use Google Gmail extensions.

  • Youtube Query String Arguments

    These are the query string parameters (also called arguments) that get tagged at the end of a Youtube URL.

    They are the ampersands (“&”) and text at the end of a web address (URL). In the case of Youtube, this string of of code is the query string parameters and it adds functionality to what is presented. This is a comprehensive guide of Youtube’s query string arguments.

    Query

    Translation
    &hl= hl stands for Host Language (thank you MapKi!) It is followed by “hl Parameter Values” which correspond to “Language/Locales” ex. en-US means English (United States and Canada).It also can stand for hoc loco, which is Latin for “in this place” or hl stands for “human language”, but not in this case.
    &video_id= Youtube video ID – used in conjunction with &get_video? to embed a Youtube video into another application. Not supported by Youtubes terms of service and may no longer work.
    &t= Youtube video tag – used in conjunction with Youtube video ID.
    &fmt= &fmt=6 is good quality, &fmt=18 is better, and &fmt=22 is the best. Video must originally be in high definition (HD) to work. May not work regardless as this feature is in beta and not available for all videos.
    &rel= Rel stands for related. In relation to youtube, rel=1 means show related feeds and rel=0 means don’t.
    &fs= Allows the fullscreen button to show up or not. 1 means it will show up, 0 means it is disabled.
    &start=225 Starts the video 225 seconds into the video.
    &end=230 Stops the video 230 seconds into the video.

    I recommend this extensive post on Youtube plugins and tools for more information and for advanced users, check out the Youtube Reference Guide.

  • Google Mail (Gmail) Query String Parameters

    Gmail Query String Parameters

    To pass these Gmail query string parameters on to Google Mail, simply paste the query into Gmail’s search box.

    Query

    Translation
    from: Used to specify the sender.
    to: Used to specify a recipient.
    subject: Search for words in the subject line
    OR Search for messages matching term A or term B (OR must be in all caps).
    – The hyphen (the “minus” sign) is used to exclude messages from your search
    label: Search for messages by label (There isn’t a search operator for unlabeled messages)
    has:attachment Search for messages with an attachment.
    list: Search for messages on mailing lists.
    filename: Search for an attachment by name or type.
    ” “ Used to search for an exact phrase (Capitalization isn’t taken into consideration)
    ( ) Used to group words or used to specify terms that shouldn’t be excluded
    in:anywhere Search for messages anywhere in Gmail (Messages in Spam and Trash are excluded from searches by default)
    in:inboxin:trashin:spam Search for messages in Inbox, Trash, or Spam.
    is:starredis:unreadis:read Search for messages that are starred, unread or read.
    cc:bcc: Used to specify recipients in the cc: or bcc: fields (Search on bcc: cannot retrieve messages on which you were blind carbon copied)
    after:before: Search for messages sent during a certain period of time (Dates must be in yyyy/mm/dd format.)
    is:chat Search for chat message.
    deliveredto: Search for messages within a particular email address in the Delivered-To line of the message header.

    Check out Google’s Advanced Gmail Search page for examples of how to use Google Gmail search.

  • Google Video Query String Parameters

    Google Video is no longer a supported Google product, but it’s videos can still be edited by changing their query string parameters.

    Query

    Translation
    alt= The “alt” parameter specifies the format of the feed to be returned. Valid values for this parameter are atom, rss, json and json-in-script. The default value is atom and this document only explains the format of Atom responses.
    author= In a search request, the “author” parameter restricts the search to videos uploaded by a particular Google Video user. Note that if you use this parameter when requesting a standard feed, then Google Video will retrieve the standard feed and then filter the response to only include videos uploaded by the specified author. For example, if you request the “Top Rated” feed for user GoogleDevelopers, the API will retrieve the top-rated feed and return a response containing videos in that feed uploaded by user GoogleDevelopers. The API will not return a list of that user’s videos ordered by rating.In a request for a user activity feed, the author parameter contains a comma-separated list of up to 20 Google Video usernames. The API response will contain activities performed by any of those users.
    max-results= The max-results parameter specifies the maximum number of results that should be included in the result set. This parameter works in conjunction with the start-index parameter to determine which results to return. For example, to request the second set of 10 results – i.e. results 11-20 – set the max-results parameter to 10 and the start-index parameter to 11. The default value of this parameter is 25, and the maximum value is 50. However, for displaying lists of videos, we recommend that you set the max-results parameter to 10.
    start-index= The start-index parameter specifies the index of the first matching result that should be included in the result set. This parameter uses a one-based index, meaning the first result is 1, the second result is 2 and so forth. This parameter works in conjunction with the max-results parameter to determine which results to return. For example, to request the second set of 10 results – i.e. results 11-20 – set the start-index parameter to 11 and the max-results parameter to 10.
    strict= The “strict” parameter can be used to instruct Google Video to reject an API request if the request contains invalid request parameters. The default API behavior is to ignore invalid request parameters. If you want Google Video to reject API requests that contain invalid parameters, set the strict parameter value to true. For example, Google Video would reject the following request because “foo” is not a valid request parameter.
    v= The “v” parameter specifies the version of the API that Google Video should use to handle the API request. Your request can specify the desired API version using either the v parameter or the GData-Version HTTP request header. All Google-provided client libraries always select a major API version. If your request does not specify an API version, Google Video will handle your request using API version 1. Please see the API versioning section for more information about specifying an API version.
    q= The “q” parameter specifies a search query term. Google Video will search all video metadata for videos matching the term. Video metadata includes titles, keywords, descriptions, authors’ usernames, and categories.
    time= The “time” parameter restricts the search to videos uploaded within the specified time. Valid values for this parameter are today (1 day), this_week (7 days), this_month (1 month) and all_time. The default value for this parameter is all_time.This parameter is supported for search feeds as well as for the top_rated, top_favorites, most_viewed, most_popular, most_discussed and most_responded standard feeds.
    tab= “tab” stands for ?.
    docid= “docid” stands for the document ID number.

    Check out Standard Google Data API parameters for more information about how to use Google Video query string parameters with Google’s API.

  • Are you just going to stand there?

    Tipton Pork Festival ParadeI was standing with my family, talking and waiting for the parade to start.  It was that time of year again.  The Pork Festival had come to town and today was the big day.  On Saturday, there is a big parade and everyone who wants to see it lines up along the parade route for a view of the action.  My family had decided to set up under a tree and so I was hanging out in between the tree and the road.  You can see from this picture that I was basically riding the yellow line.  I was going to head back to the house either at the start of the parade or before in order to be at the house in case guests arrived early for my son’s first birthday party, but as I was standing there, the guy to my left said:

    Hey buddy, are you just going to stand there? I don’t mean to be rude, but I won’t be able to see the parade from here if you’re standing there.

    I replied, “No, I’ll be leaving before then.”  It was rude, but I didn’t really mind.  It made me think, “Erich, are you just going to stand there or are you going to do something about the situations you find yourself in right now?”

    I’m a big fan of the ability to change your outcomes based first on changing how you feel and think on the inside.  However, in practice this is not always easy to do, nor sometimes does it seem to be effective.  The Law of Attraction would tell you that the reason things don’t always seem to improve is because I say they don’t. This may or may not be true, but the result is the same.  I am going through the motions: I am limiting negative thoughts, I don’t listen to the news, I only read or listen to positive and/or educational material, I focus on what I want, not what I don’t want, and I take action.  I have been sleeping less and working more.  I am focused on Internet Marketing as my primary business model. And the results are starting to show.  I now have blogs that make money daily, but there are still those which are not.  The Law of Focus says that whatever you focus on, expands.  That is why T. Harv Eker says not to complain, but to act instead.  Acting is what I am doing, I just wish it was happening faster.

    So what are you going to do about it?

    Successful people never quit.  They are experienced at overcoming obstacles because they view themselves as bigger than any obstacle.  I will double-down and refocus my efforts, to ensure success.   And…my parents just showed up.  Let the party (and the rest of my life) begin!