Aral Balkan

Delaying Ajax-based validation triggers

When you're doing Ajax-based validation on a text input control, you really don't want your data calls firing off at every keyup event as this will put unnecessary load on your server. Instead, the thing to do is to wait a little while after the user

Posted: Jul. 4, 2008 03:42 PM

European VAT Number Validation API

EU-based businesses are required to obtain valid VAT numbers from VAT-registered entities. Unfortunately, especially for e-commerce systems, there isn't a simple way to check the validity of a European VAT number. The European Commission provides a

Posted: Jul. 4, 2008 05:05 AM

Displaying Pay instead of Continue on the PayPal site with PayPal Payments Pro UK Express Checkout

By default, PayPal Express Checkout for PayPal Payments Pro UK displays a "Continue" button and sends the user back to your site expecting a confirmation page before actually making the payment. This differs from other PayPal checkout procedures and

Posted: Jul. 3, 2008 05:00 AM

ISO 3166 Alpha-2 codes for EU countries

For businesses based in the EU, it's important for VAT purposes to know whether your customers are also based in the EU. As usual, a quick Google search did not reveal a usable list of EU countries by ISO 3166 Alpha-2 code, so I whipped up my own. e

Posted: Jul. 3, 2008 04:53 AM

Yahoo! to fix GeoPlanet JSON API today

As I posted last week, a backwards-incompatible API change to the JSON version of Yahoo!'s excellent GeoPlanet API caused the new teaser site for the Singularity web conference to fail. Today, I got an email from Eddie Babcock from the Y! Geo team in

Posted: Jul. 2, 2008 03:50 PM

Alessandro Crugnola and Sephiroth.it join Pistach.io Flash Pack

It's my pleasure to welcome ace Flash developer and author of SE|PY, Alessandro Crugnola and his site sephiroth.it, to the Pistach.io Flash Pack in July. Buying an ad on the Pistach.io Flash Pack puts your ad on all of the following web sites:

Posted: Jul. 1, 2008 01:58 PM

Announcing Singularitys latest platinum sponsor: Adobe

I'm happy to announce that Adobe is sponsoring the Singularity web conference as a platinum sponsor. Our sponsorship agreement also gives Adobe global rights for venue sponsorship. A big thank-you to Kevin Lynch, David Mendels, Michelle Turner, and

Posted: Jul. 1, 2008 01:02 PM

Singularity ticket sales starting this Monday

To give ourselves a bit more time to test things, we're pushing tickets sales for the Singularity web conference to Monday, July 7th. I also have an exciting announcement to make but that requires it's own post...

Posted: Jul. 1, 2008 12:20 PM

Yahoo! GeoPlanet API makes backwards-incompatible change, keeps it secret?

I just noticed that the Yahoo! GeoPlanet API made an API change to its JSON API that breaks existing apps. (I noticed because it broke the sign-up process for the new Singularity teaser site.) Googling around, I couldn't find any announcements from Y

Posted: Jun. 28, 2008 04:03 PM

On online security and password policies

Writing the post on del.icio.us's password policy got me thinking about passwords and online security again. Having a strong password policy such as "passwords must be longer than six characters and must contain a number or a symbol and a mix of uppe

Posted: Jun. 27, 2008 06:41 AM

YOUR FEEDBACK

	Flex Is Strong Because of Java By Yakov Fain NN wrote: DRH: you are jumping up and down on silverlight without any light. let see Microsoft work so hard to kill Java and all know the story. Today we have so many apps running on Java (backend more and front ends sucks where flex shines). Now we have great tools for complete...
	Adobe Flex: Program in Style or an Elevator Pitch By Yakov Fain Daniel Szmulewicz wrote: Shalom, OK, so this post is two years old, but I just found it today and appreciated it a lot. Very instructive, indeed. Since you asked for more versions to achieve the desired resizeable canvas, may I offer mine. It is in the line of the Flex version...
	ClearBI Web Reporter For Flex and Java Applications Goes to Public Beta By Yakov Fain person wrote: I hope it's still beta today, because the instructions don't work.
	Yahoo Director Quits; Company Postpones Annual Meeting By Maureen O'Gara Yahoo News Desk wrote: The Yahoo board is one short.
	E-Commerce 2.0 By Simeon Simeonov Peter De Ranter wrote: Hi, We created www.cotswoldoutdoor.com as a technology provider (not designed it). The customer is doubting that consumers don't wait for the LOADING of the site. Is this a concern ? They even think of switching back to html.