Hollywood Actors star in Nollywood movie

Compliments to all my readers out there. Sorry I've been away for so long, it's being due to my very tight schedule, lots of codes to write, meetings to attend to and all. It's been a beautiful year so far. Hope yours too has been beautiful. I have a long list of posts lined up for this year which I'd try to post as soon as possible.

I stumbled across some information today that makes me very excited. Fred Amata is currently working on a movie in Kenya that stars big Hollywood actors like Sarah Wayne Calliese also known as Dr. Sara Tancredi in Prison Break - remember her? Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Pirates of the Carribean & Hotel Rwanda), William George “Billy” Zane Jr. (Titanic). It's a good thing to see actors like Fred Amata doing us proud by working on producing quality flicks with beautiful actors. Fred Amata has distinguished himself from the likes of Saint Obi who justified the production of substandard Nollywood movies at TED sometimes ago by telling us that they spend a million naira or thereabout to produce movies for Nigerians who spend below a dollar per day, rather than for those who live in glass houses and can afford to watch films like RobotCop. I'm really looking forward to watching the movie. You can get to read more here

Dude, I won an SSLMatic SSL certificate!

It is very funny at-times how events unfold. Awhile back I stumbled on David Walsh's blog and I was immediately won over by the wealth of content and information available on his blog, so I subscribed to his feed via my Google reader. Last weekend, I saw his tweet via my desktop client (DestroyTwitter) that he has some free SSL certificates to giveaway and all I had to do to partake of the giveaway was to post my favorite actor/actress’ name with “FTW” after it. For example:

• Christina Ricci FTW!

I went ahead to his blog and posted Jason Statham; who's one of my favourites because of a few of his movies that I've watched (Death Race - I'm a very gentle guy but I somehow liked the violence in this movie, probably because it made me feel as if I was playing the games I've missed in times past - , Transporter 1, 2; not yet watched 3, Crank - though a stupid movie). I rarely put in for such things because I don't believe much in them, but somehow that day I was lead to just put in my own submission and I was very surprised when I saw my name in the list of winners. Even while opening the mail pertaining to the list of winners, I just wanted to see what actors/actresses made winners of them, and there I was. Here's the comment David made about my pick:

(Jason Stathom) - The movie Snatch is unbelievable but ever since this guy’s been putting out crap. He went from a manly man to rubbish.


So Jason Statham, though as people rightly said that the movies you do these days are crappy, you made a winner outta me anyway. Thanks to David Walsh and SSLMatic.

The time has come...

“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.” - Abraham Lincoln

Some of our leaders in power have been fooling us for years now by doctoring political elections and forcing their mandate on us such that we've lost confidence in elections in this country but I'm happy to announce that the tides are turning around for us in this country. Not everybody can be so easily bought, which was the case with Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Ekiti state, who resigned yesterday as a result of her not being comfortable with the way some elements who call themselves our leaders tried to manipulate the Ekiti elections as used to be the case with elections in this country. A copy of her resignation letter can be seen below:

The time has come when all of us who have been praying for Nigeria and who desire a change to stand up and say no to all forms of rigging and foiling of due processes in this country. Let us all be like Mrs.Adebayo and put the fear of God before us as we carry out our daily activities. If we can all imbibe this quality that has been found in Mrs.Adebayo, we'd attain Vision 2020 earlier in time. Mrs.Adebayo, heaven is proud of you with this action you've taken.

You can read more about what has been happening as regards Mrs.Adebayo case in the following links:

Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo's Resignation Letter

FG declares Ekiti State REC, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, Wanted!

As Ekiti State hurtles towards “June 12", FG Moves against INEC Commissioner, Mrs. Adebayo; But She Says "I am Not Hiding"

Avoid that next coding migraine!

I discovered that reading some data into an array and dumping the whole array to disk, creates a corrupt file because null indices in the array are written to disk with each invocation of the I/O's write method that receives only the array as the argument. What I mean is this; assuming you have the following code:

URL zURL = new URL("http://www.some_server.com/some_zip_file.zip");
InputStream bstream = zURL.openStream();
ByteArrayOutputStream outBuffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();


byte[] buf = new byte[4*1024];

int readByte = 0;
while (((readByte = bstream.read(buf)) != -1)) {
outBuffer.write(buf, 0, readByte);
curSize += readByte;

try {
Thread.sleep(20);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(Extractor.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}

FileOutputStream outStr = new FileOutputStream(new File("C:/sample1.zip"));

outStr.write(outBuffer.toByteArray());

The file written to disk in the code above is corrupted even if the actual one downloaded was not, because of this line of the code:

outBuffer.write(buf);

which should have been:

outBuffer.write(buf, 0, readByte);

So please whenever you read into arrays like that, dump only the valid bytes to disk and not the whole array. This could be any oversight that will cause you headache or migraine. So please avoid that next migraine.

JQuery Selector Headache

Wasted some valuable time 4 days ago, very early in the morning trying to figure out what has gone wrong with JQuery-1.3.2 and even when I tried reverting to version 1.3.1, the problem still persisted and it left me wondering if there was a bug in the 1.3 releases.

To select an element with an attribute equal to a particular value, you'd write an attribute selector like the one below:

$item = $('div[@class=scrollable]");

which would select all elements matched by DIV tag that have a class value exactly equal to scrollable. I have used that feature a million times (just joking, but I've really used it so many times) and it had always worked only to fail me today. I consulted Jonathan Chaffer and Karl Swedberg's JQuery Reference Guide to cross-check if what I was doing was wrong or something; but it validated my code and I resorted to using an alternative, which was to give that element in question an ID and select it with JQuery using that ID. Of course, this would only work for cases where you can easily assign an ID to the element in question. If there are several occurrences of such an element in the document, giving each one an ID might not work for you, though you can resort to using a consistent naming scene for the IDs.

It was only after I got the script to work after selecting the element via its ID did I remember that I saved a copy of JQuery's 1.3 release features on my hard-drive. So I perused the document and discovered that such a feature as the one I used has been changed making the new 1.3 releases backwards incompatible with such selector expressions. I just felt like posting this per-adventure someone finds [her]himself in the same fix. I have always thought that I can just point my script to use the latest release of JQuery without breaking things but I have learnt my lesson that this is not always so. I also rarely take my time to read the releases features posted about the libraries I use, but now I know that it's not a good idea to be doing that. So the change in 1.3 releases as regards the attribute selector expression I used earlier is to remove the @ to upgrade. So we now have something like this:

$item = $('div[class=scrolable]"); - v1.3 upwards

Some other notable features that could break your old scripts are:

• Triggered events now bubble up the DOM. Unsuspecting event handlers may accidentally capture more events than they're expecting.
• The ready() method no longer tries to make any guarantees about waiting for all stylesheets to be loaded. Instead all CSS files should be included before the scripts on the page.
• .isFunction is simpler now, it no longer handles some strange edge cases (in favor of simplicity and performance).
• The order of "a, b, c" style selectors may change. Browsers that support querySelectorAll (Safari, Firefox 3.1+, Opera 10+, IE 8+) will return the elements in document order, other browsers will (currently) return them in the order specified. In an upcoming 1.3.x release all comma-separated selectors will be returned in document order.
• The trigger and triggerHandler methods no longer accept event objects within the data array. Instead they should be specified directly as an argument.
• The undocumented 'extra' function is gone from trigger and triggerHandler functions as well.
• The internal jQuery.event.trigger no longer returns the last item returned by a handler, instead it return true or false as per the W3C specification. You should use a jQuery.Event object to capture the specific return value.
• You should always be sure to run your page in standards mode. There are known issues with methods not working correctly in quirks mode (including errors in the selector engine in Safari).
  

The following properties have been deprecated (in favor of feature detection and jQuery.support, as discussed in the Overview).

• jQuery.browser
• jQuery.browser.version
• jQuery.boxModel
  

The following browsers are no longer supported:

• Safari 2

JavaFX Mobile, not an option in our present day world.

Happy new year to you dear readers. Since the release of the JavaFX SDK v1 in December, I've been on the look-out for any good news from fellow developers out there that have started taking the red pill of JavaFX, but there hasn't been too much activity in that space. Besides the work of James Weaver and Chris Oliver, I've seen very little impressive JavaFX apps out there. Even Joshy (Joshua Marinacci) that used to dazzle me back then with the Filthy Rich Clients he used to come up with back then with Romain Guy has done very little to impress me with JavaFX since he joined the team.

I have long been reading up a lot of materials (books, blogs, tips, tricks and all) on Flex since around last year, but I just recently had my first shot with a real project and I wasn't disappointed at all. Pimping up an application can be done in a matter of minutes without having to write any code.

Getting back to the point of writing this post, one of my resolutions for the year is to get back to mobile and build some serious apps on that platform and I'm doing so with a variety of mobile technologies ranging from JavaME, Flashlite, Python, Android and WRT. In my working with JavaME, I'm looking forward to create a very compelling UIs on these devices so I thought of two options:

• One is to go low-level and develop my own custom components, which would take a lot of my time, or
• Use LWUIT
  

I thought of using LWUIT because of the experience I had with Majimob player, which currently boasts of over 1 million downloads. It was highly impressive, though still a little crude in my opinion and at-times slows down on my device. But overall, it's okay. I've also been looking forward to the next release of JavaFX SDK which will come with full support for JavaFX Nobile, but I was disappointed to learn that JavaFX Mobile is based on MSA which is currently available on very limited devices and that JavaFX Mobile is for people looking forward to develop for the future mobile devices which I want to state is not acceptable. So what Sun is simply telling us is that we can't develop for the over 2 billion devices out there with JavaFX Mobile? So why do we have to look forward to a platform that is kinda doomed at the moment?

YoFrankie now ready for download

I'm happy to announce that YoFrankie - the first open-source 3D game is finally available for download. You can get both the binaries as well as the sources at http://www.yofrankie.org/?page_id=609 . It's avaliable for download under the Creative Commons license. You can read more about the project here

The Future Awards - Nigeria

Some young Nigerians have been very exceptional in their fields of endeavour, and it's time for them to be appreciated and celebrated in the BIGGEST POSSIBLE way. This is what 'The Future Awards' seeks to address, so why not click here to nominate some young people who have excelled and have been doing Nigeria proud in their fields of endeavour. The nominees are underlisted:

On-Air Personality of the Year (Radio)

• Phoenix (Rhythm Lagos)
• Tito Otons (Raypower Lagos)
• Tyeng Gyang (Cool FM Abuja)
• Douglas Wokocha (Rhythm Abuja)
• Yaw & Matse (Wazobia FM Lagos)
  
• Wildchild (Rhythm FM Lagos)
• Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi (Cool FM Lagos)
• Chuks Roberts (Cosmo FM Enugu)

Best Use of Technology

• Saheed Adejuwon
• Titilayo Akinsanmi
• Bamidele Odufuye
• Lanre Lawal
• Icebox Studios
• Yinka Adetoye
• Yusuf Jimoh
• Oluwaseun Faniran

Best Use of Advocacy

• Temidayo Israel
• Mohammed Ahmed-Shaibu
• Ugochukwu Nwosu
• Tosyn Bucknor
• Toyosi Akerele
• Obinna Etele
• Emmanuel James-Odiase
• Emmanuel Etim

Musician of the Year

• D'banj
• 9ice
• P Square
• Naeto C
• Rooftop MCs
• Banky W
• Timaya
• Sasha

Actor of the Year

• Jennifer Osamor
• Funke Akindele
• Gabriel Afolayan
• Tonto Dike
• Oge Okoye
• Nonso Diobi
• Mercy Johnson
• OC Ukeje

Artist of the Year

• Ogunnubi Babadeji
• Seyi Taylor
• Abraham Oghobase
• Emeka Okereke
• Jumoke Verissimo
• Adolphus Opara
• Tolulope Ogunlesi
• Jide Alakija

Magazine of the Year

• Ace
• Soundcity Blast
  
• Tripz
• The Applause
• 234
• Déjà vu
• Trace
• Acada

Style Entrepreneur of the Year

• Dumebi Agbakoba (Dakou Collections)
• Funke Adegbola (Ella Brown Couture)
• Korede Roberts (Fusion)
• Uche Nnaji (Ouch!)
• Ebubedike Mary (West n Couture)
• Yewande Perigrino (Beyond Faces)
• Olamide Ajayi (Iconola)
• Linda Ikeji (Blackdove Communications)

Comedian of the Year

• Jedidiah
• Wale Gates
• Teju Babyface
• Princess
• Tunde Ednut
• Seyi Law
• Omobaba
• Holly Mallam

Business Owner of the Year

• Mosunmola Umoru (Honeysuckles PTL)
• Tochukwu Onyemelukwe (Cotek)
• Alexander Yangs (Testify Music)
• Debola Lewis (Yvent Couture)
• Ibidun Ighodalo (Elizabeth R)
• Tobi Atunrase (Joolz Consultancy)
• Hassan Rilwan (Focal Point Publishing Ltd)
• Anita Ibru (Minerva)

Professional of the Year

• Kolawole Osinowo (Nokia West Africa)
• Oluyemi Oluwole (Chevron Corporation)
• Shile Ibironke Consolidated Media Associates)
• Dr. Adedayo Osholowu (Special Olympics Nigeria)
  
• Uche Okorji (Utchay Okorji Associates)
• Fatima Mohammed (Chapel Hill and Denham)
• Fola Aiyesimoju (Stanbic Bank)
• Carrena Sola (Travant)

Model of the Year

• Bryan Okpara
• Warebi Martha
• Bisi Rahman
• Bisi Sowemimo
• Amaka Chirah
  
• Isi Atagamen
• Owobo Ogunlaja
• Olubunmi Ademokoya

Team of the Year

• Blue Labs Technologies
• DNMT (Dance Na De Main Thing)
• Four Kornerz
• Babs Educational Consult
• UnRuly Inc
• Javabean Ltd
• Knighthouse
• Mo Hits Crew

Journalist of the Year

• Rachel Ogbu (Newswatch)
• Samuel Olatunji (The Sun)
• Azuh Amatus (The Sun)
• Arukaino Umukoro (National Standard)
• Blessing Ogunli (TheNEWS)
• Abdulkareem Baba Aminu (Daily Trust)
• Ruonah Agbroko (Thisday)
• Funke Adetutu (BusinessDay)

On-Air Personality of the Year (TV)

• Onyinye Igwe (Soundcity)
• Tana Egbo-Adelana (Channel O)
• Lamide Akintobi )(Channels TV)
• Dayo Ephraim (Hip TV)
• Blaze (Nigezie)
• Adaure Achumba (STV)
• Jimmie Akinsola (The Best of Football)
  
• Jumoke Alao (AIT)

Screen Producer of the Year

• Gbenga Salu
• Soji Ogunnaike
• Matthew Ogunlola
• Onye Ubanatu
• Chuka Ejorh
• Clarence Peters
• Kemi Adetiba
• Dayo Oyedele

Sportsperson of the Year

• Yagazie Chukwumerije
• Damola Osayomi
• Osaze Odemwingie
• Mikel Obi
• Eniola Aluko
• Obinna Nsofor
• Chinedu Obasi Ogbuke
• Olusoji Fasuba

Music Producer of the Year

• Wole Oni
• Cobhams
• Alex Yangs
• ID Cabassa
• Don Jazzy
• Jesse Jags
• TY Mix
• Suspect

Dancer of the Year

• Qudus Onikeku
• Kafayat Shafaru
• Onyekachi Okengwu
• Wale Akinbola Sodade
• Jennifer Ogbor
• Bimbo Obafunwa
• Buddy Agedah
• Flex (Nonso Cajetan Asobe)

Young Person of the Year

• Asa (Bukola Elemide)
• Toyin Bello
• Yagazie Chukwumerije
• Damola Osayomi
  
• Oluchi Orlandi
• Don Jazzy (Michael Ajere)
• Cobhams Asuquo
  
• D’banj (Dapo Oyebanji)

Tour de Flex

If you will like to explore the capabilities of Flex, beyond what was provided by the Flex Style and Components explorers, you need to check out Tour de Flex

It's an Adobe AIR application that runs on all platforms just like Java. You can download it for manual installation by clicking here or install it by clicking the badge below:

Thanks to James Ward, Gregory Wilson and others for making this happen.

Vacation!!!

I'm currently off on vacation to Kano, so I'd be doing no blogging for the next 3 weeks to 1 month. But once I'm back, there'd be lots of stuffs for you to benefit from on this blog; tutorials, articles, design works and lots more. See you then

Free Online Java Magazine

Java Jazz Up is a free online magazine on Java technology. It's a monthly publication and it usually covers everything that revolves around Java. Lots of open-source projects and Java frameworks are being discussed. The August edition focuses on JavaFX technology. Do check out their site to download your own free copy

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I stumbled across a writeup on James Gosling's blog and I felt I had to also support the fight against Pancreatic Cancer by creating an awareness for it in my own little way. Randy Pausch, a charismatic young college professor, as ABC News puts it, finally lost the battle against pancreatic cancer on the 25th of July, 2008. He gave a last lecture on the disease, and the video of his talk has been viewed over 6 million times and downloaded over 10 million times. A book is also being published by Hyperion on his last lecture. Randy, though I didn't get to know him or read about him while he was alive , did greatly on Alice which has been hugely used in teaching. He however gave the world a beautiful example of dying eloquently. His Last lecture was one of hope, grace and optimism. I can't imagine how it was for him; knowing that your days on earth are numbered and still moving on to make an impact in the last days instead of worrying to death about his circumstance. Randy, you'd greatly be missed. Thanks alot for creating the awareness about the killer disease before you eventually lost the battle against it.

So I'm putting forward the question to you, 'What would you say or do if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you?'. If you had only six months to live, like he did, what would you do? How would you live your life?
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) say that approximately 37,170 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 and 33,370 will die from it. How many people will die from it in a country like ours? If you've seen the kind of diseases that most of our old people here in Nigeria battle with, you will not but pray to God that you never experience such in your old age. The disease is said to be the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US, and unlike other cancers, during the last 30 years, the medical community has seen very little advancement in prolonging the lives of pancreatic cancer patients. The video is highly inspiring. Instead of focusing on his death, he spoke about his childhood dreams, and he went on to attain quite a number of them, but they didn't all come easy. It's a video that will stir up something inside of you to get more done and work towards fulfilling your goals if you have one. One statement he made that I'd also like to leave you with is this: "The brick walls are there for a reason, they are not there to keep us out, but are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something". So why not fight against this disease with me, by creating the awareness. You can get to read more about Pancreatic Cancer on wikipedia. Read the more about his last days on ABC News