Author Archives: Michael Ryvkin

Yahoo Media Player beta version is available

It turns out that Yahoo Media Player is not abandoned project after all. Last week it was announced that beta version is available for testing at mediaplayer.yahoo.com/beta. Here is a note from developers: We’ve added some new stuff like video support. The player can now play YouTube videos and movie trailers – just add a [...]

Strip comments and blank lines from file in Unix

This command displays configuration file stripping commented and blank lines on Unix-like operating system. grep -E -v ‘^\s*#|^\s*$|^\s*;’ file or egrep -v ‘^\s*#|^\s*$|^\s*;’ file

Fire effect using HTML5 canvas element

I have released JavaScript library to create an effect of burning text. There are number of options that you can customize – colors, font and burning speed. You can see the demo and play with all the options at ponticstar.com/projects/burning-words. The script uses canvas element that is a part of HTML5 specification. The element is [...]

Strange LetsTalk customer care icon metaphor

While looking to upgrade my phone on LetsTalk.com I was puzzled by their customer care icon. Have no idea what was designer thinking creating it. Maybe you can help? Another question I am asking myself is there a connection between this and their low rating at ResellerRatings.com.

Free music for your multimedia project

On Valentine’s day David Orr launched the Dev Center that offers free audio samples for developers on a tight budget. Any project will qualify (even commercial ones!) You can use any of the music available in the Dev Center. There is no limit to how many pieces you want to use! No subscription fee is [...]