Celebrity Come Dine With Me 2008

The next best thing to cooking (and eating) great food as got to be watching it being cooked on TV and with hundreds of shows and dedicated TV channels, us foodies have never had it so good!

Narrated by the hilarious Dave Lamb, Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me series is one of those shows that quietly sits in the shadow of all the F-Word’s out there but after four series it’s a format to be reckoned with.  4 (or 5, depending on the series) strangers all take turns to cook a full blown meal for the other diners in the course of a week, with each host being scored based on their skills in the kitchen and at entertaining.  Needless to say, there’s always a lot of bickering going on which just adds to the appeal of the show.

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Page redirect with CMS Made Simple

If you’re scratching your head on how to get an HTTP redirect with CMS Made Simple, then save your scalp and scratch no longer!

All you need to do is create a User Defined Tag (UDT) within your CMS MS admin (Extensions > User Defined Tags), call the tag “redirect” and paste the following code:

if( isset( $params['to'] ) )
  {
    global $gCms;
    $manager =& $gCms->GetHierarchyManager();
    $node =& $manager->sureGetNodeByAlias($params['to']);
    $content =& $node->GetContent();
    if (isset($content) && is_object($content))
       {
         if ($content->GetURL() != '')
         {
            redirect($content->GetURL());
         }
       }
    else return '<!-- redirect udt - page not found: '.$params['to'].' -->';
  }

To use, add {redirect to=’page_alias’} into one of your pages, or somewhere intelligently placed in your template.  If it’s going into a template then you should have an if statement around this, or you’ll get some nasty redirection loops!

Credit to calguy1000 for writing the function.

Further reading:

• http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php/Share_your_tags_here#A_Redirect_UDT
• http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php/topic,14440.0.html

New Fiat 500 - THE car of 2008?

I don’t really remember the Fiat 500 the first time around.  I mean, I recognise the now all too familiar headlamps and iconic front grille, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one on the road.

That can’t be said for the New Fiat 500 though (Fiat Nuova 500 for those in the know) as it’s fast becoming THE car to be seen in.  You can keep your sports cars and your tank-like 4×4s, if it’s attention you want then the smart money is going on the quirky little Fiat 500 with it’s gorgeous interior.

One thing the Mini had going for it right from the off was the customisation that owners could do to make their car stand out from the rest (and there was a lot of “rest” about).  The Fiat 500 needs the same if it’s going to have the same impact and thankfully it’s already on it’s way.  The interior and exterior colour options, the bodywork graphics and of course the aftermarket modifications like a Remus exhaust, will all do their bit to make the car every bit as desirable as it should be.

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Chilli, chili or chile?

I like spicy hot food.  I like it REALLY hot.  So much in fact that every year I take a trip out to one of the chilli festivals that are held across the UK and this weekend saw me do just that.

In previous years I’d taken the long journey from Cambridgeshire down to West Dean Gardens near Chichester, normally sitting in traffic for hours, so when I found there was another event being held just down the A1 in Stevenage I decided that would be where I was headed this year.

Benington was the venue, taking place in the gardens of Benington Lordship and whilst it wasn’t on the same scale as West Dean, it was enough to satisfy my hunger for the chile for a while.

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Wordpress is NOT a CMS

According to a recent poll by CSS-Tricks, 40% of those in the survey said Wordpress their favourite content management system.

Now I’m no expert when it comes to CMS platforms, but I’ve developed with a few, tested out a few others (before uninstalling and running away) and even use one (Wordpress to be exact) for this blog, and I’m quite happy to put my neck firmly on the line and say Wordpress isn’t a proper CMS by my standards.

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Linksys CIT200 displays unregistered

I like Skype.  I just want to reach up to that big cloud-like logo and give it a big hug, even if it is owned by the evil that is eBay.

I like Skype not only for the free Skype-to-Skype voice communication but also the Instant Messenger (MSN clone) and the fact that my contact list is full of my work associates and clients just makes it feel more professional than other comms software I’ve tried.

Yesterday my Skype account got an early Christmas present with the addition of a Linksys CIT200 VoIP handset.  Other handsets are available, but they all seemed to be lacking in that phone “feel”.  They looked like phones but the weight and the plastic just wasn’t quite right.

Overall I’m very impressed with the CIT200.  The wired thing I had before was awkward to use and pretty hideous, not to mention the abysmal sound quality.  Whilst the CIT200 isn’t a full-fledged WiFi phone, I think it’s a fantastic alternative if you can live with having to go via a PC.

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The A List Apart 2008 Survey

It’s that time again - when every web professional should be ticking boxes for the 2008 A List Apart survey

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I want to ride my bicycle

Seeing as the weather in Peterborough is apparently so good at the moment, I felt a well deserved blast on the bike was in order to get some fresh air, have a ponder over a few thoughts in my head and get attacked by what felt like hundreds thousands of airborne insects.

I’ve been out and about on two wheels a fair bit over the past few weeks but haven’t really ventured beyond the city limits and considering I keep seeing all these cycle network posts (hinting that there is some kind of bike path mecca awaiting me if I just went a little further), I thought now was the time to investigate.

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