Odds are, if term coding standards is new to you, you are wasting time on a daily basis arguing over the syntax semantics of your programming language. (e.g. tabs or spaces? 4 spaces or 2? print or echo? etc.)

Programmers are required to make hundreds to thousands of micro-decisions like this every day, and especially when there is no standard, this costs time and time is money. If you were to benchmark the programmer's brain, you could begin to see exactly just how much time is wasted asking, answering, remembering, and changing each answer.

This form of unorganization has many more side effects than one, however.

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There's a new version of AJAX Comments, the asynchronous blog post discussion plugin, available as of this week. Compatible with the latest version of WordPress, as well as WordPress MU, it has been completely rewritten. Several new features were added and numerous bugs were thoroughly squashed through rigorous beta testing prior to release. read more

WOW! You know WordPress is mainstream when you start seeing college scholarships for anyone who can design a good theme. I know a bunch of kids who design for WP at $50/ea. Why design for free/cheap when you can get paid for it like this? Go sign up.

Today I received a new Citi® Dividend World MasterCard®. That's not very unusual, until you realize Citibank didn't ask for my permission--I already have a Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® with them, and I recently renewed it on the expiration date. They are pushing this new card as though it's some kind of mandatory upgrade, yet it is still an opt-out offer and my old card doesn’t expire until 2010 and it’s working great. Very strange... read more

Wal-Mart was just the beginning. Now they put it in your clothes, in your car, on your new RealID card, your cell phone, your keys, your passport, and soon enough–embedded underneath your skin. I mean, it’s more convenient, right? read more

I don't know how many other people can type 120 wpm; I imagine there are a lot, but I just haven't ever met any. As a programmer and a guitarist, being able to work quickly and efficiently with my hands is important to me. That's why these videos demonstrating actual hand exercises are pretty cool.

Besides strengthing the hand, improving dexterity, coordination, and preventing carpel tunnel syndrome, these double as great party tricks. Check it out!

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If you are interested in learning Ruby on a Windows machine I recommend spending a weekend to read the free online book Programming Ruby and downloading InstantRails and RadRails to begin testing the Ruby code snippets it will show you.

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I find myself reading more and more PDF eBooks lately, and I am impressed by the accessibility functionality built into Adobe Reader that lets it read the book to me. Sometimes I listen to it speak while I read; trying to utilize as many learning faculties as possible simultaneously in order to increase retention. Here's how you can do it too:

View > Read Out Load > Read to End of Document

View > Automatically Scroll

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I have recently found LinkedIn to be strangely addicting. According to Alexa's Movers & Shakers it is #70 on the web. So the good news is, I'm not alone!

Display a list of authors in your WordPress Sidebar Widgets linking to the authors.php page.

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