September 28th, 2007

Play Desktop Tower Defense Free Online

So one of my beloved gamers has requested some sort of defense or strategy flash game on my site. As with all of my games, this should most likely work on school computers. I don't really know how to play this flash game, so I'm going to assume that you do!

Feel free to drop a comment and let us know what level you get to!
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September 23rd, 2007

How to parse a CSV file with PHP

It's a very common feature request in any web application to be able to upload data in a CSV file rather than having to manually enter every single item. In that case, you need to build in some intelligence to be able to parse the data from the CSV file. (more…)

September 20th, 2007

A new spin on pixel link sites

Web

So I just received a link to MillionDollarWebTV.com. I really had no idea what to expect. When I initially went to the homepage, the first thought in my head was "oh no, not another attempt at selling 1 million pixels for a buck a piece!. But what stood out to me was that the layout was different, the pixel blocks are larger, and the icons readable.

Ok, so I'm still a little confused, I clicked the 'about' link. This helped me get a better idea about the site. It seems that it is indeed a pixel selling site, but has a much more defined marketing approach. You have to buy at the minimum 10×10 pixels, so that they can present truly recognizable icons. Also, you have the option of sharing in future profits on any of the pixels that you legitimately purchase - which I think is cool in concept (unfortunately, the site has enough disclaimers that it really downplays the potential profit sharing).

I think it's cool that each advertiser has a video that plays. Unfortunately, that means that no one will be buying the links for PR.

One thing that could be improved is the actual pixel purchasing process. The invitation I received was "Join Our Web TV Ad-venture at MillionDollarWebTV.com". But it wasn't as easy to do so as I'd hoped! Intuitively, I'd like to be able to click on the pixels I want to buy, and be taken directly to the order form. Unfortunately that's not the case - you have to register first, and this may dissuade some buyers.

I'll keep watching the site for PR & Alexa gains. If it does indeed become popular enough, then I may even recommend it to some of my advertising clients. Until then I'll keep watching the blog, which details some of the success stories of their current advertisers.

September 20th, 2007

Games to play at school

OK, so I'm running out of ideas here. You know you can play flash games from school on my site. But what games would you like to see? Let me know by putting your requests in the comments field below!

If I can find a flash version of the game you request, I should be able to put it on the site.

September 13th, 2007

How to convert text to speech with PHP

I think it would be pretty darn cool to build a speech recognition website. I mean, I'm not sure that it's all that useful though. However, I guess it is useful in cases like where your visitors can't read your CAPTCHA block, so they click "read text". Anyhow, if you want to do either of those, you can use this PHP class to convert text to speech, by leveraging the Expressivo site speech translation service.

You can supply any text string in either English, Polish or Romanian as a parameter. The class will then submit a request to the Expressivo text, which will synthesize the speech audio for the given text, and return it in an MP3 stream! Cool……

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