Andy showed us how to rewire Windows XP to look and work more like Windows Vista using freeware. Show notes on how to do that are available in an article on Cyberwalker.com called Make XP look and work like Vista
http://www.cyberwalker.com/article/626

1.AJAX – what is that?
Well AJAX is a new technology. I won’t even bother explaining what it stands for – it won’t make sense to you at all anyhow. Basically it’s a method of feeding data into a file on the server side and returning results WITHOUT having to refresh the whole page. It uses Javascript. (show diagram comparing how traditional data exchanges worked versus AJAX data exchange) . This is another way where the data can make its way on its own in the background without affecting the user’s screen as much.

2.What websites use AJAX?
Facebook is probably something we’ve all heard of, and they use a lot of AJAX. For example, when you change your status, or write on somebody’s wall, it does NOT require the browser to re-load the whole page – it just sends the short data across, and the data is sent back to ONLY update a certain portion of the existing page. Also, take a look at this system I am working on. This allows you to save the ad color template, channel data etc. and load it without refreshing the whole page. (show another website I am building with AJAX) Also note that sign-up or subscription forms can be done this way as well. (show another site I’ve been working on for a while).

3.How is this better?
First of all, it’s faster and smoother. It’s all about the user experience, and it’s faster because it requires less data transfer, and smoother because you don’t see the entire screen switching when it doesn’t need to. Also, it takes a load off the server as well. When you’re running a website like facebook, little bits can make a huge difference in bandwidth amount, which translates into cost-efficiency.

4.I’ve hard of potential security holes with AJAX - Is it secure?
This was a question raised by many when AJAX first appeared on the map in 2005. And yes, there is some security concerns of somebody attempting to access the backend processing file without going through the front end, or overriding the transferred values. This can all be mitigated by using proper security and restriction of value processing on the backend processing file, as well as restricting its responsiveness only to referrers within its own server. Also to prevent spamming in certain cases, you need to be able to restrict it through IP tracking, or by visual recognition filters such as this. (shows visual recognition filter). And for all you tech gurus – SESSIONs do get carried through AJAX calls, so to process things that are allowed only for people who are logged in through SESSIONs, AJAX is still available and it also provides another security method for it!

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
http://blog.jeffkee.com – Example of a blog, and the XML feed.
http://ttzmedia.com/affiliate/ - Example of my XML api coding and the ads generated within it. Also shown again to show the AJAX site.
http://www.facebook.com/ - Example of large community website that keeps it lean and mean with intelligent AJAX solutions

During the last 12–18 months, radical advances have been made in the area of shooting professional 24-frame High Definition footage without all the high costs associated with post-production and buying expensive playback decks. With a MacBook Pro, a Terabyte Harddrive and a Panasonic HVX-200, anyone can create HD movies at a fraction of the cost.
Download a PDF file with more information
RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
www.blackops.com

PRODUCTS SHOWN
MacBook Pro, Final Cut Pro (about $6,000-$7,000 USD)
HVX-200 + 8GB P2 Cards (about $4,000-$6000)