splee.blog

No, I don’t mean the football team, nor do I mean the multi-surface-cleaner. What I am, in fact, referring to is the emerging web technology: Asynchronous Javascript and XML.

I’ve heard the term bandied around a couple of times, mainly in the WordPress IRC channel, without really latching on to the power of this type of web application. It looks and sounds like an excellent way of communicating information between server and client without the user having to go to the bother of refreshing the page. A good example of AJAX in use is the new Wordpress Plugin, ‘Wordspew‘, which is a live shoutbox. Note the fact that you don’t have to refresh the page to see the latest messages.

Watch this space, as this technique has got me quite excited with it’s possibilities. Live, cross browser spell checking in text boxes, live ‘users online’ details, live forum info… the list is endless and, in case you hadn’t noticed, ‘live’. ;)

Update:

Shortly after writing this post I recieved an email about backpack and duly signed up as I’d asked for information when the product was launched, even though I can’t remember doing so. If you want to see an example of a fully ‘Ajaxed’ interface you’ll find no better place than the backpack site.

This updated version of the fuzzy datetime plugin should detect the time since any post correctly, no matter what the time offset on your blog (Gary, this means you ;) ).

As usual, this can be downloaded both as source and as a zip archive.

With the news that the PSP is going to be released in Europe on the 1st of September I’ve been looking at getting the hand held console from another source; the US of A. There is but one possible flaw in my plan and that is region coding. I’ve been searching and searching and I just can’t find any information on whether the PSP’s from the US will only be able to play games and films from the US.

Is there anyone who has a PSP who knows whether region coding is going to be a problem for me if I order one from the states? Answers on a postcard.