Over the last few days I have been trying to use the Zend_Rest_Controller along with the Zend_Rest_Route to make a RESTful application for an API that I am working on. It is very easy to get things setup with these components and I will cover that now. You might be asking yourself why do I have to use both components, why is it not rolled into one nice component. The answer is really basic and if you look at the source code for the Zend_Rest_Controller you will see that it is solely an abstract class that defines the methods required for use with the Zend_Rest_Route. When your controller extends from the Zend_Rest_Controller it just forces you to implement the indexAction(), getAction(), postAction(), putAction() and deleteAction() methods. Technically you do not have to extend from Zend_Rest_Controller so long as you implement these methods in all of your RESTful controllers. It is good design to extend the class though as it will throw exceptions for developers who forget to add one of these methods. Without the methods the Zend_Rest_Route cannot route the request to the matching RESTful methods.

In order to get started you have to add a method to your Bootstrap file. This method can be named anything you like however it has to start with _init.

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If you have read anything on my site you know that I have the Palm Pre. I have had it for quite a while now and did an extensive review of the device. Through the short time that I have owned this device I have had quite a few problems. At first it was the Oreo Effect and the Volume Key sticking. These may seem like small problems to you but once you experience them they are not. When the volume key is stuck you cannot get the device to do anything because it constantly interrupts you to show that the volume is increasing or decreasing.

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Last week at the request of my web host I started cleaning up my files in my directory. I was also trying to get rid of old stuff that was not in use any more. This led to me accidentally deleting my database for my blog. I have lost everything since March 2009. I guess this is a reason why you should make at-least weekly backups of your website.

I know the host could restore it for me but for them to restore my database to the prior day they were going to charge $75. While that is not a lot of money I am just not in a position to pay this price. I opted to lose the last year of posts (there were not that many anyway) and go on with life. Had this been more than my personal blog I would have opted to do the backup restore.

I am trying to pull my content from google cache and add it back into place however this does not include the comments left by users or user accounts that have been created since then.

If you know me and are reading this then you know that I am not racist or anything like that. My sympathies go out to all of the families and victims in Haiti. Now that I have said that I also want to state that my thoughts and feelings are in no way associated with Haiti.

The things I do not understand is when we go to war and bomb a country we spend a ton of money building back the city we destroyed. Why does America take on this financial position when we are already so far in debt to China? Why are we providing aid to other countries when things like earthquakes, tsunami’s etc take place? I am not saying that we should not be helping but where is all of this money coming from? Are we going further and further into debt doing this? Is the US getting aid from other countries when things like this happen? What are the odds that China will buy more of our debt or that the debt will just go away?

Isn’t it time to get our country out of debt before we go deeper and deeper into debt?

Again none of this is directed at the latest act of god but really how are we ever going to get out of debt?

I am not going to outline all of the details of what took place in this post. Rather I am going to be posting the entire letter that I am sending to the Board of Trustees or CEO of Sovereign Bank. The activity outlined in the document that is being sent unprofessional to the point that I never want to even hear the name Sovereign again. Please read the letter to read about a very detailed incident that took place this morning at one of my local branches. To read the document click the following link: Sovereign Bank Experience

** UPDATE **
About an hour after I sent that letter to corporate I was again called back by the gentleman named Craig. When asked he informed me that Jonathan is *not* a member of the management team and that he was going to take care of this issue to his fullest extent. He told me that he could not tell me what actions would be taken due to corporate policies. I explained that I was not trying to tell him how to do his job and was not saying fire the guy. All I want done is whatever your corporate guidelines mandate. If that means he will get written up then that’s what it means. If it means he gets fired then so be it. However I wanted something done. He apologized deeply and stated that he knows I am not a customer of the bank but if I go into that branch (or any other) and do not receive amazing service he wants to hear about it. I am going to let things be as they should after a situation like this but I can sleep now knowing that something will be done because at-least now Craig’s bosses know about this situation so he will have to do something.

Once the AppStore opened on the Palm Pre I put my card in place so that I could order apps that I may want. In the past I have had no problems while purchasing apps. I have bought Tweed, Spot the missing pieces, JogStats, Air Hockey, Spot the Difference, and Conmigo. However while on the train this morning I decided to buy an app and as an end user it seemed like everything went smooth. It asked for my palm password, asked if I wanted to purchase the app and then it downloaded the app. Nothing out of the ordinary happened during the transaction, however when I got to the office this morning this is what I found in my in-box.

Transaction Failure Notice

Your previous transaction could not be processed. Please contact your financial institution should you have any questions.

You will still be able to purchase more applications in the Palm App Catalogue in the future. To do so, update the payment information in your account before placing a new order.

We appreciate your patience and hope you continue to enjoy using the Palm App Catalogue.

Best regards,
Palm App Catalogue Team

It seems like Palm is allowing all transactions failed or not to actually download the app as if it were paid for… Let’s hope they fix this problem real soon, I have already reported this to the palm app catalogue support team.

** UPDATE **
On a side note Palm, I suggest that you look into other live chat applications for your website. Using something that is Windows only is not very smart since there are a lot of Linux / Mac desktops out there now. I had to load up Vista in a Virtual Machine just to contact your support reps. At the very least provide an email address where your support staff can be contacted. I searched for support and all I came up with was the Live Chat with your reps.

As some of you may know last month I accepted a position with a company in Boston. I have been taking the train to State St. every day while commuting to work. Today I learned a very valuable lesson about city people. Leave them alone, put on your blinders and ignore everyone and everything. Today as I got off the train I exited the State St. station and I noticed an older gentleman in a wheel chair trying to cross the street. This is a rather busy intersection and he was not using his hands on the wheels rather he was slowly scooting along pulling his chair inch by inch with his feet. I decided that I would ask him if he wanted any help crossing the street. I approached him and asked:

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In a recent post by me a reader left some informative information about the scam sites that I have written about in the past. You might have seen my posts warning you about the websites called bid4that and Vuulu. I told you that these sites popped up and then vanished a few days later stealing money from the end users. They would allow you to buy bids and use them to bid on products however the winning bidder was never sent the product. Instead the winning bidder would be refunded for their bids. You might still be asking how are they stealing if they are refunding the winners bids? How about all of those who bid on the item without winning? They paid for the bids and the site owners reaped profits.

Bid4That did not last too long maybe a week and Vuulu lasted only a few days. I am really wondering how long this new site Muulu will last. I STRONGLY ADVISE ANYONE READING THIS NOT TO FALL FOR THIS SCAM! You will be throwing money away and will never receive the products from the site.

If you have been caught up by any of these scams please let everyone know in the comments. Don’t be afraid even though the site owner has made death threats to people in the past. There are plenty of other sites out there which talk about Muulu so read them and make your own decisions. Before you make the final decision read this post which includes a chat transcript with the site owner.

I am not sure if you have ever heard of the company called Targus but if you own a laptop I am sure you have. They tell everyone that they are the global leader in laptop bags when you call their support line, you can also see it on their about page. About 7 months ago I dropped $60 on a new targus backpack for going to and from work with all of my gear. I made it a point not to buy the cheapest bag as I have had some horrible experiences when I have bought the cheapest items. About a month ago the seam along the zipper on the bag started to let loose a bit. I dealt with it for a while and now even when the bag is zipped you can still get the laptop, books, etc out of the bag without having to unzip it.

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I am not sure if you have ever heard of the company called Targus but if you own a laptop I am sure you have. They tell everyone that they are the global leader in laptop bags when you call their support line, you can also see it on their about page. About 7 months ago I dropped $60 on a new targus backpack for going to and from work with all of my gear. I made it a point not to buy the cheapest bag as I have had some horrible experiences when I have bought the cheapest items. About a month ago the seam along the zipper on the bag started to let loose a bit. I dealt with it for a while and now even when the bag is zipped you can still get the laptop, books, etc out of the bag without having to unzip it.

I emailed Targus support about 2 weeks ago and never heard a response back from them. Today I decided to call into support to see what I had to do in order to get this bag replaced. The woman I spoke with told me they would replace the bag however I had to send my bag in before they would send out a replacement. This is understandable however I cannot do that because I use the bag every day to go to and from work. Without a bag I would have a hard time getting all of my stuff to work with me. I asked if I could provide a credit card to them and have them ship me the new bag and if I did not return the defective bag they would have my card to charge for the amount of the bag. This is how most companies I have dealt with work when it comes to having to replace items. The woman continued to argue with me telling me that there was nothing else that could be done. When I asked her what I was supposed to use to get my stuff to and from work her answer shocked me. She said “I guess you will have to go buy a bag and when you get the new one from us, return the one you bought.” That is a bit too unethical for me and I could not believe that a company would tell someone to do something like that. I requested to speak to her supervisor and she said there was not one available. Oddly enough after insisting I speak to a supervisor she got me on the phone with a gentleman by the name of Gary Carver. He also insisted that there was nothing that could be done about this situation. I have to send my bag in before they will replace it.

While I understand their point they need to understand that if you buy a bag you cannot go without it otherwise why buy the bag in the first place? They are dealing with a product that is heavily used by a lot of people and to leave their customers hanging like this does not award them good PR. Tonight I went out and bought a new Swiss Army bag and when I get the replacement from Targus I will rid myself of it and never buy another Targus product.

On a side note someone should tell Targus that ASP 3.0 is so 1990’s and they need to get with the times.