Haugland {.ca}

Users of Viviti are currently missing built-in statistics and analytics software. Fortunately for those that need it, there's some third-party solutions out there. For this example, I'll explain how to use Google Analytics with Viviti.

Getting the code

You'll see a text-box like this. If you can't find your Google Analytics code, read the instructions on how to find it. Anyways, you'll want to copy the code from this box.

Putting the code on your site

Now you'll want to get this code onto your site. That way it can actually start tracking visitors and making those pretty graphs. There's two ways of doing this. One is by modifying your theme's HTML file and the other is by adding an HTML component to the end of your site. I recommend editing your theme file if you can, as you can put it right at the end of the file to eliminate any chance of causing other data loading to hang.

Option 1 - Modifying your theme

It's worth mentioning that every theme will have slightly different HTML, but shouldn't matter as they all end the same way, and that's where we need to add this code. Go into the manage theme dialog, and select the default.html file.

After you have the file open, scroll to the very bottom. The last lines should be </body> and </html>. Make a new line about </body> and paste in your code. It should look a little something like this. I had some trouble with it occasionally duplicating the first <script> tag, if that's the case, remove the additional one.

Option 2 - Adding it as a component

Once again, this method may cause a portion of your site to load slower than the rest. Be sure to place it as far down in the HTML as possible. To do that, put it as the last component on the right-most column. It may also show component stuff, like backgrounds, borders, etc... To do it, add an HTML component.

Add it as the last component on the right-most column. Make sure you put it in an 'every page' block, or else it will only show up on select pages.

Then paste in the code.

Conclusion

There you go. You now have statistics being collected for your site. You can use the same process for a lot of other engines as well.

It's not uncommon for books to get adapted into another medium. Generally you see it go from book to the big screen. Why? There's a lot of money involved when you get a successful movie. Sometimes they work, but often there's complaints that too much was cut out. Not as often, they develop a TV show, and that usually solves the problem with cutting out content.

Consider Lord of the Rings. Over 1100 pages and some 9 hours of film. There was noticeable chunks missing from the movies. Less important parts for the most part, but arguably they take away from Tolkien's vision. That said, how many movies would they have to make to in order to provide a more complete story? We had 3, would it need 6? Would it have worked better as a 24 episode series of 1 hour segments?

Then there's Dexter, a wildly popular TV series on Showtime. The first season was based off the book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, which was roughly 300 pages and converted into roughly 11 hours of film. It wasn't a direct translation of book to TV, they put more focus on other characters and changed portions of the story. That said, they got a lot of detail into the show which complimented the book. I really don't think this would have worked in movie form, character development wouldn't be established in the way it needs to be.

Okay, so I only came up with two examples. I know there's better choices for movies and worse choices for books, but they were good examples for the point I'm trying to make: TV series = more time to tell the story. I definitely favour the book to TV show route. I don't think it'll work for every book, or series of books, but ones which create an environment like Dexter or True Blood definitely benefit from it. What's your thought? Which adaption do you prefer?

There's been recent rumours lately that Apple might be flipping the switch and opening a lot more of it's library to the iTunes Plus (or DRM-Free) status. No one knows if it's the whole thing or just some labels (Sony, Universal and Warner keep getting thrown around). And like always, there's doubters like engadget.

The downsides to Apple doing this? Uhh, none.

The upsides... well, no DRM, higher bitrate, no DRM, no DRM and no limits on what you do with your music. The biggest music store in the world will no longer be restricting their music sales. I know I'll be upgrading previous purchases to gain the benefit and maybe purchasing some CDs that are currently DRM only.

So Apple... we're hours away. Let's see you do something good for your customers.

Just sharing the buzz of Tour de Flex.

Looks like Rogers and Fido are now broadcasting 3G in Nanaimo. About time! I can finally experience ... slightly faster internet while walking around the mall.

Get the update to Adobe AIR 1.5, or install it for the first time if you don't already have it. All of the new features I've read are basically things for developers (so for me), but if you get it now, you don't have to update to it later. The new features definitely do add value for what the consumer gets, so you're only doing yourself a favour.

Scientists have concluded that the recent global warming has been caused by Roberto Luongo's current hot streak. Okay... not really, but he is definitely on a hot streak. 3 shutouts in a row. And judging by his performance tonight, he's definitely earning them instead of catching a free ride. Go Luongo!