The problem is (as far as I can tell) that LoudMouth adds an “avatar” column to the jos_users table. Thus, when Community Builder calls for the avatar using $user->avatar, it references this value rather than the one under jos_comprofiler. Upshot: if you upload an image for your Community Builder profile, you won’t be able to see it.

The way to see this image again is to hack the following file:
components/com_comprofiler/plugin/user/plug_cbcore/cb.core.php.
Look for the following line: $uimage=$user->avatar;

Add the following code above it:

$avatar_query = "select avatar from jos_comprofiler where user_id = $user->id"; $avatar_result = mysql_query($avatar_query); $avatar_row = mysql_fetch_row($avatar_result); $user->avatar = $avatar_row[0];

Then when you call $uimage=$user->avatar; you’ve got the correct value in place.

Now, I imagine there’s probably a nicer way to do this, but I can’t be bothered to figure it out right now. At least this works!

http://video.google.com/superbowl.html

I can’t speak to the quality of any of these commercials, given that I watched very little of the Bowl, and pretty much none of the commercials.

That being said, here’s a smattering of my favorite commercials. There are other great ones out there, but these may very well be my favorite three commercials of all time. In no particular order:

When I Grow Up

Security Camera

Office Linebacker

P.S. On an unrelated note, my “fixed” ski pole barely survived the first run. Alas. I’ll post a picture soon.

So I haven’t actually used it with anyone yet, so I don’t know how well it works in practice, but the user interface is slick, the tutorial is clear, and the concept is phenomenal.

Basically, using Hamachi, you can easily set up a LAN with any other Internet-enabled computer(s) in the world. Obvious uses include:

• Using VNC securely to troubleshoot someone’s computer issues, without messing around with firewall settings.
• Playing LAN only games: Starcraft as a spawn or Yu-Gi-Oh: Joey the Passion—it’s time to duel!

• Easily sharing iTunes music with your friends anywhere in the world. (I recently was given $100 in iTunes music, so expect my music collection to suddenly grow again.)

I’m sure there are a myriad of other uses that I’m not thinking about. Any ideas?

http://www.paulenglish.com/ivr/

Once upon a time, I thought IVR (Interactive Voice Response) was a really neat technology. I remember when airlines first got it and me and my brother would call all the time to find out the information for various flights.

Now, I just long for the days of being able to talk to a real human.

Every now and then, I think an IVR system is great (if it’s got short menus, good navigation, and good voice recognition), but most of them are pretty bad, and it’s hard to get useful information in a timely manner. Worse yet are the times that you actually need real information and not canned responses…

Paul’s page is great for two reasons:

1. It lists some hard to find customer service numbers (Amazon’s, for example)

1. Once you’ve called, it tells you the secret of how to talk to real people.

Invaluable.