I have been doing some work lately using Google Fusion Tables and it is an extremely cool tool.

I have been taking data from a Fusion Table and putting it into a table view (and other chart types) using Google Chart Tools to visualize the data on another site.

To be as transparent with the data as possible, I am linking back to the raw data on Fusion Tables, but I also wanted to offer a direct CSV download. This would enable me to not force users to go to Fusion Tables and find the “Export” option to download the data they wanted.

Seems simple, but the export functionality is triggered in the Fusion Tables interface via JavaScript, so the link was obscured a bit. With some modest detective work, I found out how to externally as a Fusion Table for a CSV file…

*Drum roll*

http://www.google.com/fusiontables/exporttable?query=[YOUR FUSION TABLE SELECT STATEMENT]

Hope this might help buy someone a few minutes of their life back in the future.

I just got in my Foscam FI8918W wireless IP camera to use as a video baby monitor and I can honestly say that this thing rocks.

For those that have not heard of the Foscam, it is a low cost, pan/tilt, wireless IP camera with night-vision and a number of other nice features.

Setup is a snap. It works on multiple devices and really could not be much more simple (though the interface could use a bit of work). You also can view the video stream from the web-browser of your choosing, and from anywhere in the world if you have the proper port-forwarding or VPN set up.

The software also has robust features such as multiple user accounts, Dynamic DNS account settings for those with ever-changing IP addresses, and the ability to upload photos to an FTP server.

If anyone is looking for a great video baby monitor, save your money and buy one of these bad-boys. The camera has built in audio that works well, but for our situation it does not make sense to have a iPhone, iPad, or web-browser on the stream 24/7. So, our plan is to supplement it with a classic audio baby monitor and get great quality video that can be monitored from anywhere in the world alongside 24/7 audio monitoring for peace-of-mind.

My favorite feature is adding the Foscam as a playlist on a hacked Apple TV, so you can have the baby monitor up on the big-screen with audio. You could even set the Apple TV up on picture-in-picture and watch the game while still keeping an eye on the little one.

An authentic Foscam can be found online for around $80 shipped, but you might have to wait a while for it to come in from China. If you are willing to take a risk, knockoffs can be found on eBay in the $50 range.

For the past month I have been working in my spare time at work on upgrading the brains of the City of Round Rock’s television channel.

A good chunk of the products I am using for the latest version are from Blackmagic Design. Boy, are they slick.

So far, I have been most impressed with the Smart VideoHub. It offers a lot of flexibility and power in 1RU and can be controlled from an iPad. This means that when it is time to go-live for a public meeting we will be able to do so remotely and with ease.

The OpenGear Converters are going to allow us to make the move to a HD channel as soon as Time Warner is ready to let us come into the 21st century. We can start producing content in HD and down convert it for cable at the last minute. Once HD becomes possible, it will be as simple removing the down-conversion.

I am excited to see the SmartView Duo in action, but it has yet to arrive. It looks like an awesome piece of equipment and coupled with the Smart VideoHub, monitoring will be a piece of cake.

Also, a big thanks to B&H for being so easy to work with. Their Texas government sales team is a dream.

I know this reads like a big ad, but sometimes it is worth it to talk about companies with great products and service. In all honesty, Blackmagic Design and B&H straight rule.

Today I was working on a new project that needed some very basic Facebook integration via the “Like” button. For hours, the Open Graph protocol meta information was not properly working for liking or sharing the page.

I found that if you test your page after entering the proper meta information using the Facebook URL Linter, your information will be indexed and immediately ready to go. If you need to make changes, run the URL Linter again and the info will be updated.

I was playing around with the Facebook Graph API using the PHP SDK to upload photos and was having some issues.

I kept getting “CurlException: 26: failed creating formpost data” and was certain my code was solid. Turns out, this indicated a permissions issue with the photo I was trying to upload to Facebook. I checked, and certainly enough, my photo permissions were “No Access” to the picture for users other than myself on Mac OS X. I then set the permissions for “Everyone” to “Read Only” and all is working fine and dandy now.

Here is my working code for uploading a photo from the same directory as the PHP page communicating with Facebook:

	$facebook->setFileUploadSupport(true);
	$args = array(
		'message' => 'I am awesome.',
		'image' => '@' . realpath('awesome.jpeg')
	);
	try {
		$data = $facebook->api('/me/photos', 'post', $args);
	} catch(FacebookApiException $e) {
		echo "ERROR: " . $e;
	}