Microsoft Jumps into Bookmarking

Microsoft Labs recently launched ThumbTack, which is a bookmarking website geared less towards social bookmarking and more for research bookmarking by allowing you to store full text copies of the page.

ReadWriteWeb has reported that the concept of storing the full text page is a powerful concept, it falls short by messing up pages that use javascript and does not grab embedded pictures and videos.

Only time will tell if this little application will make it out of the R & D department.

SQL Server 2005 Crash: Non-yielding IOCP Listener

A client of mine recently had their SQL Server hang up and crash. The error log displayed a dump and the error "Non-yielding IOCP Listener". After a bit of research I have discovered that this error is in result of a bug in SQL Server 2005.

Microsoft has released cumulative hotfix patches to resolve this issue but they did not include them in automatic updates, citing that if you are not experiencing this specific problem, then the updates are not necessary.

For more information, visit the knowledge base article kb941689

iPhone 2.0 Not Meeting Expectations - FollowUp

Below is a video that compares the speed of the iPhone 3G in their commercial to the iPhone 3G in real life. Apple has missed the mark if this new iPhone is supposed to be the solution to slow transfer speeds.

The Rise and Fall of Twitter

To funny to not post. This was done by the team at Crunchbase comparing the rise and fall of twitter to the rise and fall of Germany.

Stones Thrown at Giant's Just Bounce Off

Ex-Google employees and an IBM refugee banded together to attempt to solve a problem, a problem that has not been solved by giant's Google or Microsoft. Cuil's approach to search, is that the internet has grown and that search provider's such as Google, Microsot, Yahoo and AOL have not grown their search databases to match it, leaving websites and pages from being indexed and unable to be searched.

The three founders, Costello, Patterson & Power set out on a quest to improve the search industry. They raised $33 Million in VC funds, created a huge uproar in the social media landscape and within weeks they are nearly off the radar.

Cuil came to the battle with a loud horn and a bunch of stones. They stormed the battle field with their horns blaring and began throwing stones at Google's massive castle walls. The problem here is the shear size of the footprint that Google holds in the market. Even if Cuil's goal was to replace MSN in the search industry, they will most likely run out of money before they make any real dent.

Google, Yahoo, and etc, despite an obvious deficit in search indexing, have already monetized their products, have created complimentary services and products that will allow them to maintain a much higher rate of loyalty from their customers. A newcomer such as Cuil will be hard pressed to gain the market share needed to allow them to monetize their products. If they cannot monetize, they cannot get cash flow, if they can not generate cash flow, the $33 million drips away and they will find investors reluctant to hand over more funds.

Cuil appears to have followed Jerry Maguire when he asked "Who's coming with me?". I wish the team at Cuil the best of luck and if they survive and prove to be successful, I have a feeling they will experience more low points than highs over the next few years.

HowTo: Change Dreamweaver to Default HTML Editor on Windows Vista

I encountered this problem on my work PC when I went to "edit" an .html file and Word opened...

To do this, we have to edit the registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this, then please do not attempt this hack. As usual, please back up your registry before you begin hacking away, as your registry controls your entire operating system.

1. Click start -> type "regedit" into the search box and press enter
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSSES_ROOT -> .htm -> OpenWithList and verify that "dreamweaver.exe" is listed as a key. If not create it.
3. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSSES_ROOT -> applications -> dreamweaver.exe -> shell.
4. Create a key and name it "edit".
5. On the default string that is within the edit key, double click on it and set the value to the following(assuming you have Dreamweaver CS3 and you installed into the default path, otherwise edit as necesary, include the double quotes) - "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Dreamweaver CS3\dreamweaver.exe", "%1"
6. Press ok and exit regedit by hitting the x in the corner.
7. Open IE, click tools -> internet options.
8. Navigate to programs -> select the drop down for html editor and choose Dreamweaver. Press OK and you are all done.
   

HowTo: How to Get iLife Back After a Fresh Install of Mac OSX

A while back thru Apple Developer Connection, I received the new version of Mac OS X, Leopard. I was delighted to have the newest OS from Apple for my MacBook Pro. From natural choice I chose to install from a fresh hard drive, meaning that I erased the hard drive and installed a fresh copy of the OS.

Once I was in the OS I was excited to try all the new features, especially spaces, but I was disappointed to find that I no longer had Photobooth or iPhoto which is two applications I began to enjoy with my new mac laptop. I figured that they were lost to me, until recently when I chatted with a Genius at the Genius Bar of our local "Apple Heaven". This "Genius" informed me that I can take my original equipment cds that came with the laptop and install the software onto Leopard. I was originally unaware of this being a "PC Refugee", so I am so delighted to find out this information that I am sharing it with all of you.

1. Load the install disk 1 into your mac
2. navigate to the drive in finder
3. open optional installs
4. follow the prompter.

Congrats, you once again have iDVD, iPhoto, iWeb, Photobooth and more. Enjoy.

HowTo: Convert Cellpadding & Cellspacin into CSS

A while back a friend of mine were working on a project together. He used tables heavily for layout design and I used a good mix between styles and tables to manage layout. We had to work together which means we had to meet each other in the middle. We came upon the problem of converting HTML's table attributes CellPadding and CellSpacing into CSS attributes. Below is the equivalents of cellspacing="0" and cellpadding="0" respectively in CSS.

table { border-spacing: 0; }

table { border-collapse: collapse; }

I hope this helps others. I still have not perfected this. But I hope I am getting closer

Review: Beware the Hype for Software as a Service

I first stumbled across the article Beware the Hype for Software as a Service when I read Dharmesh's rant pertaining to how awful this article was on OnStartups Blog. My first thought is quite simply when did Business Week begin inviting non high school graduates to write for their publications? One thing that I remember from high school is we were taught to research a topic before we write about it. This article has developed such an outcry from techie entrepreneur's that it lead me to my thought that maybe this was intentional. Maybe the author was taking advice from Dosh Dosh's article on How to Say Nothing in 500 Words, particularly the point #2 "Take the less usual side." But this is under the assumption that the author uses real information to back up their claim, not "SUVs are not cool. They never were." (Which I have to make a personal note here, when my wife and I found we were expecting our 3rd child, we had to upgrade, and gas prices being what they were, we purchased a 2004 Ford Expedition with the Eddie Baur edition with 50,000 miles for over $10,000 less than what a brand new minivan would have cost. I love our SUV and it has more features than I could have afforded otherwise. Thank you high gas prices! FYI, for work driving I drive a 10 year old Jetta (35mpg)) Despite whether it was intentional or not, lets move on with dispelling this article for what it is, an attempt of someone who is using scare tactics to "stop time" and prevent the natural evolution of software delivery. But before I begin my rebuttal, from the views expressed by Mr. Marks, email, online stock brokers, Google, GoToMeeting, and etc are all bad because they are not Federally insured...

• "Microsoft Vista is not a failure" - no, really it was not a failure... so explain to me Mr. Marks how when releasing new software, your market share goes down does not mean it is a failure? Yea they sold 150 million copies.. but that is peanuts to how many copies of XP have been sold, plus most people are being forced into Vista because MS will not sell anything else. Apple has been gaining market share for a while, in fact in October of 07 it was announced that they have gained 2% market share. Employees of MS have even publicly stated that Vista is a "work in progress"... all this ='s failure to me.
• "Myth 1: SaaS is cheaper" - your answer here should have been not always... but most of the time it is. Ok in comparison, Quickbooks can cost $300 a license. To use his example, 10 users would cost $3000. With Freshbooks it will cost you $1068. Quickbooks releases new versions once a year with new features (and you have to pay another $3000), Freshbooks releases new features whenever they want (you may see one next time you log in, no additional charge).
• "Myth 2: SaaS reduces hardware investment" "you still need fast access to the Internet."- What an idiot... access to the internet is not hardware! Anyways it truly does reduce hardware investment. Most SaaS applications can be accessed via an internet enabled cell phone. I bet your cell phone cost a lot less than your computer? What reduction of IT hardware does create is an environment where you do not have to be tied down to an office. True mobility comes from being able to access your data from anywhere, including allowing your staff to do the same. That is a key benefit of SaaS and decreased requirement for hardware.
• "Myth 3: SaaS is quicker to setup" - Gene, find a new job, please. What does Ikea furniture have to do with software? Despite the author's feeble attempts at discrediting the model of SaaS, SaaS is easier to setup. Think of it this way, when you needed Quickbooks, you had to call Intuit or drive to Office Depot. When you need Freshbooks, you type www.freshbooks.com into your web browser. Now if your homepage is Google you can save some keystrokes and just type freshbooks into the search box. This does not even consider what it is like for a company to implement an ERP system such as Oracle's Applications... much of the time any employee who will use it will have to receive training on how to navigate the interface and know what codes to enter to get a desired result. Not to mention usually 6 to 18 months to implement software of this nature. Good luck with that.
• "Myth 4: Your data is secure and backed up" - Gene, do you have aluminum foil covering the ceiling and windows in your bedroom? I also ask you this Gene, how many times have you left it up to your staff to swap the tapes in your tape backup or make manual backups of your data and they screwed up? Most SaaS providers make your data their highest priority. I am not going to say that it is 100% secure, but nowadays nothing is. Hell your identity used to be hijacked by someone going thru your garbage and looking for a void or torn up check.
• "Myth 5:" - WHAT? Software needs to be FDIC insured if you are going to use it? That doesn't make any sense. Currently working for a provider of Online Banking Software, the rules are not different. In fact, there are screwups here almost every week. Majority of them caused by user error which result in having to restore tables or refresh data from the core system. But your data here is no more secure here than in Google's servers or SalesForce's.

If you read the fine print:

Gene Marks, CPA, is the owner of the Marks Group, which sells customer relationship, service, and financial management tools to small and midsize businesses. Marks is the author of four best-selling small business books and writes the popular "Penny Pincher's Almanac" syndicated column. He frequently speaks to business groups on penny-pinching topics. More penny-pinching advice from Marks can be found at www.xxxxxxx.com

(I refuse to put in his web address to possibly improve his search rankings.) Conclusion After looking at his website, he says he hates spending money on technology but he owns a technology company??? He markets his company thru the use of webinars, video tips, a monthly newsletter and whitepapers. Not to mention his website has a nice design to it. Gene Marks is nothing more than a fool, but one who is decent at marketing. The first line on his website states that he hates spending money on technology, which from the above is obviously a lie, he just hates spending money on new technology. What he has done here has created a controversy, he has written about a topic that many tech enthusiasts hold dear which has boosted his traffic. He plays on fears that are commonly held amongst less technology educated people and builds their trust through feeling like they are not alone. He takes them by the hand, and then most likely robs them blind with costs for server hardware, server setup, configuration services, licensing fees and support contracts. It is disappointing that BusinessWeek would let such a joke fly thru the net of their established organization. I honestly expect better. Chris *note: I am founder of a SaaS company which makes me biased, but I have been down the road and seen quite a bit, I am harsh on Gene Marks' article because it offends BusinessWeek subscribers' intelligience to think that this is good journalism.

HowTo: Index a ColdFusion Site for Search with VSpider

So in my studies of learning ColdFusion and working on my first few projects, I came into an issue. I was redeveloping the public website for the company I am currently working for. The previous site was poorly built with little or no code reuse ability and quite a bit of static navigation and content.

I redesigned and developed the entire site. When I finished I entered the coldfusion administrator and re indexed the search collection. I performed a search to test it and was immediately alarmed. My search results were displaying code... I was confused and immediately grabbed my book on ColdFusion to learn that the built in search indexing collection could be prepared two ways, by reading the raw source code and indexing it (which is fine for completely static pages) or by using the search spider that is built in from Verity.

The clear solution is to use the Verity Spider. So this post is dedicated to how I was able to index my dynamically generated site with the Verity Spider.

1. Make your site available on localhost, even if your site will not stay there. For example, http://localhost/mysite/


2. Create a text file called mysiteCmds.txt and save it to the verity folder within the ColdFusion directory. For Example, C:\ColdFusion8\verity\mysiteCmds.txt


3. In this document will be all of your commands for the vspider such as starting point, files to exclude from the index and so on. For Example, mine looks like the following:
   

   
   -style c:\ColdFusion8\verity\Data\stylesets\ColdFusionVspider
   -collection c:\ColdFusion8\verity\collections\mysite
   -exclude http://localhost/mysite/admin/*
   -indmimeexclude text/css
   -start http://localhost/mysite/index.cfm
   -cgiok



4. Then I open up the command prompt (start->run->cmd) and run the following line,

   vspider -cmdfile c:\ColdFusion8\verity\mysiteCmds.txt



5. Then you need to navigate to the CF Administrator (http://localhost/CFIDE/Administrator/) and add the collection under Verity Collections. Name it the same as you set it in the CmdFile, mysite. Be sure to select English Advanced.


6. Next you need a search form.
   

   
   <_cfform action="search.cfm" method="post" name="submitSearch" ><_INPUT class="btn" type="submit" value="SEARCH" /><_/cfform>



7. Last, you need to be able to display the results.
   

   
   <_cfsearch collection="mysite" name="results" criteria="#searchterm#" type="simple">
   <_cfloop query="results">
   <_cfset score2 = (score * 100)>
   <_span style="font-weight:bold ">#currentRow#. #score2#% : <_a href="#replace(url,"localhost/mysite/","www.mysite.com/")#">
   <_cfif title eq "">
   #replace(url,"localhost/mysite/","www.mysite.com/")#
   <_cfelse>
   #title#
   <_/cfif>
   <_/a><_/span>
   #left(summary, 150)#
   <_/cfloop>
   

   
   Remove the underscores, I had to add them so that the code would display.
   

Resources:

http://www.monkeyflash.com/coldfusion/using-vspider/
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/vspider.html


Chris

iPhone 2.0 Not Meeting Expectations

Apple appears to have made some mistakes with this recent launch of the new 3G iPhone. On top of a poorly operated scarcity marketing strategy as explained by Seth Godin, there has been problems with activations and signs of poor stability. David of 37signals.com describes his unhappy experiences with the new Apple device over the last week.

In summary, the increase in speed using the 3G network has been fantastic, that is when it works. David stated that he feels the phone dropped the 3G network and used the slow EDGE network approximately 80% of the time. The new 2.0 firmware shows signs of sloppy performance with consistent delays and instances where the device freezes for several seconds. David also told the readers of Signal vs. Noise that while the phone is on the 3G network it burns through battery life, causing the user to recharge daily.

I can imagine that the iPhone uses more power than most cell phones, but Apple needs to effectively match that power consumption with the appropriate battery. That is under the assumption that the new iPhone is under powered. Lets just hope for Apple's sake that this is not the case and that their iPhone is using more power than it should be, and in this case they can identify the problem and release a patch to the firmware to fix it.

The Apple iPhone has been on a consistent path to capture not only the majority stake of the US' market share of cell phones, but also on a global level. If they cannot quickly address these issues, they will see a drop off in consumer loyalty.

In Seth's post regarding the 5 principles of a scarcity campaign, Apple could have done a better job at making their customer's feel as if they were actually cared for and many of these issues would not have been as upsetting.

Review: Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job

So I read this book after completing Rich Dad Poor Dad which I reviewed. Before I completed this book I read John T. Reed's attacks on Robert Kiyosaki. Reed accuses Kiyosaki as being a fraud and he does not recommend any advice from the Rich Dad series. After thoroughly reading Reed's argument, I continued to read Before You Quit Your Job and I came to my own conclusions about the book and Robert Kiyosaki.

Negatives:

• Some of Kiyosaki's stories do not add up
• Some of Kiyosaki's advice is not good
• I guarantee that he exaggerates his accomplishments
  

Positives:

• Some of Kiyosaki's advice is great (i.e. Pay Yourself First, Creditors Last - at one point I was not happy with Chase Bank, I owed them several thousand dollars and a rep made a promise that he could not keep, I refused to pay them. 3 days before my stale account was being passed to litigation a very nice rep called me, I told her I refused to pay, she attempted to plead with me until I requested a settlement. I settled with Chase for 2/3's of what I owed them. About 2 months after the debt was settled my credit score went up about 8%.
• I walked away with some valuable information
• I was more motivated to reach my goals

I take it from Sir Isaac Newton and believe that for every force there is an equal and opposite force. For every offense there is a defense, for every hot there is a cold, for every plaintiff there is a defendant, for every author that speaks against the norm there is a critic that speaks against the author.

I cannot say that I know for sure that Robert Kiyosaki is a legitimate author, honestly attempting to improve the lives of as many people as he can reach (declared by his books) through financial education. What I can say is that Kiyosaki is a good author, that he provides some fabulous advice and some poor advice, and he is a strong communicator. I am a firm believer that quality advice and inspiration can be found in the strangest places. Considering the information age, anyone can publish a book and when reading any book, the information presented needs to be validated by the reader, just the same as researching a topic on WikiPedia.

If you are considering reading the Rich Dad Books but are hesitant, whats stopping you? Information can only be as dangerous as the methods in which it is used and if you walk away from the book with even the slightest bit of inspiration, motivation or good advice that improves your life, your business or your investments, then what did you loose in doing so?

Laws of Simplicity

I recently stumbled upon John Maeda's website titled The Laws of Simplicity, which offers an intellectual approach to design, whether it be a product, graphic or computer application. Maeda has been recognized for his outstanding work in design, and his current research and book are based on the fundamentals of simplicity.

On his website, The Laws of Simplicity, he lists what he sees as the 10 laws of simplicity:

• Law 1: Reduce
  The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
• Law 2: Organize
  Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
• Law 3: Time
  Savings in time feel like simplicity.
• Law 4: Learn
  Knowledge makes everything simpler.
• Law 5: Differences
  Simplicity and complexity need each other.
• Law 6: Context
  What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
• Law 7: Emotion
  More emotions are better than less.
• Law 8: Trust
  In simplicity we trust.
• Law 9: Failure
  Some things can never be made simple.
• Law 10: The One
  Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

I Strive to be a 'Rich Dad'

So I recently reached the back cover of the Rich Dad Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki. This must be one of the most controversial business books that I have read. Many criticize Robert Kiyosaki's best selling book, stating that they doubt he has done any of the things that are written within its pages.

I began reading this book with an open mind. I feel that his writings are sincere and knowledgeable. Yes, he is cruel in his presentation of the Poor & Middle Class, but he is doing so for a reason, to illustrate the philosophies included within the book. He says that your home is not an asset, I can relate with this statement. Because he says that a true asset is one that provides income, although a home can be used as an asset for a loan, it does not provide income. In fact in many cases it sucks up your income through the need for repairs and improvements.

I feel that people are free to their opinions, but I think that many of the people who harshly criticized this book probably never read it, or if they did, they read it with their mind closed shut and unwilling to understand the teachings that Robert was attempting to pass along.

Lastly, Kiyosaki was criticized for his lack of detail in how he made his way to the top. The problem is that this book was not intended to be a detailed account of what he did to become successful. It was to open up your mind to the possibilities and opportunities that lie in front of each and everyone's face. Opportunities are everywhere and you must have the 'Rich Dad' mind set to take advantage of them.

I recommend this book and support the efforts of the rich dad team.

I Cannot Wait to be a Hacker...

Ok, so when I was growing up I never knew what a hacker was until the initial days of AOL dial up internet, but even then the term hacker had a negative vibe. I also never expected to become a programmer. I had aspirations to become an engineer, I think more so because I thought that people would respect me. While in school I took C++ for engineers, and hated it, thinking I could never be a programmer.

So today, I am a programmer. I now also know multiple answers for what a hacker is. Ironically enough, I fit one of them and hope to become another. From pursuing the life of a serial entrepreneur, I have come to terms with being a hacker, someone who is a programmer / entrepreneur hacking away at code and business concepts to create something great. Which is what I am trying to accomplish with my startup, property management software. I am trying to create something great.

I recently finished reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Feriss, let me say that this book is an absolute must read. As I read the last page, I realized that I wanted to make a change in my life. I realized that I wanted to become a new type of hacker, someone who travels to new lands and not just embraces the native culture, but injects themselves into it. Learning the language, eating the food, and living the life of that native land. The best part is doing it all inexpensively.

In the book, Ferriss, encourages you to free your mind of the norm and embrace the principles and lifestyle of the New Rich(NR). The NR is not about having more money, but about having enough money to support a specific lifestyle. This lifestyle is ultimately defined as a liberation from the norm, being free to travel and try new things while the rest of the world is on the clock 9-5.

Ferriss enlightens you to the possibilities, he does this by teaching you some very key principles. All this from a man who is in his low thirties and travels the world for months at a time annually. I extremely recommend this book for anyone who wants a new perspective on lifestyles and wants to break free from the norm.

The results are in, Firefox 3 is in the lead

The Inquirer posted the results of a memory benchmark test where they tested 5 windows web browsers under average browsing conditions for 3 hours. The results were the following:

1. Firefox 3 - 111.8MB
2. Opera 9.5 - 190.6MB
3. Flock 1.2 - 191.9MB
4. Internet Explorer 8 - 194.4MB
5. Safari 3.1 - 636.9MB

The MB values represent the memory-set usage after roughly 3 hours of web browsing. Firefox 3 climbed on pace with the rest of the browsers until it plateaued at around 111. Safari just kept going, Internet Explorer also seemed to be on a path up. Opera and Flock plateaued as well. The Inquirer concluded that they felt Safari and Internet Explorer would have continued to use up all of the available memory if they were left open.

Last note, the machine used had 3GB of ram and was running Windows Vista SP1.

HowTo: Create a Text File with SQL Server 2005

I recently had the need to create a text file from within SQL Server. I have never heard of anyone doing this before, but since I started developing with SQL Server, it keeps amazing me on its capabilities. So when I decided this is what needs to happened, I put in the research to figure out how to do it.

It is actually much easier than anticipated. The first thing we had to do was to enable the xp_cmdshell stored procedure by executing the following (courtesy of Microsoft):

-- To allow advanced options to be changed.
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
GO
-- To update the currently configured value for advanced options.
RECONFIGURE
GO
-- To enable the feature.
EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1
GO
-- To update the currently configured value for this feature.
RECONFIGURE
GO

Once we had enabled xp_cmdshell, we could utilize the built in stored procedure that allows you to perform external processing. Basically you are performing a Windows command to create / append a text file. The syntax to do this is:

xp_cmdshell { 'command_string' } [ , no_output ]

I created a stored procedure to use when writing to a text file:

create procedure dbo.writeToFile
@msg VARCHAR(7800) = null, @file VARCHAR(200) = null, @overwrite BIT = 0
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @execStr VARCHAR(8000)

SET @execStr = RTRIM('echo ' + COALESCE(LTRIM(@msg),'-') + CASE WHEN (@overwrite = 1) THEN ' > ' ELSE ' >> ' END + RTRIM(@file))

EXEC master..xp_cmdshell @execStr
END
go

HowTo: Stop ColdFusion Cookies From Vanishing

I encountered this problem recently in my exploration of ColdFusion where I set cookies within the session start function of the application.cfc to track information about how a user found our site, what browser they are using and their general locale.  Using debugger, I could tell that the cookies set properly when I first entered the site.  Once I navigated away from the first page the cfcookies were dropped or missing.

It was driving me nuts.  I did about 20 minutes worth of research before I found a solution.  Basically if I had not set client cookies to no, ColdFusion would try to automatically handle cookies being set on the users machine and apparently it just causes problems.  So I set this by entering the following line of code into my application.cfc.

< cfset setclientcookies="no" >

After I set that, closed and opened the browser and the cookies worked properly.  Hopefully this helps others who have experienced the same thing as me.

Chris

Mozilla Firefox Turns 3

Today at 10am PDT, the extremely popular web browser, Mozilla Firefox, turns 3 today. This has been a long awaited event for fans of the sleek browser, which has been growing quickly in adoption as an alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The new version touts new features making it more secure, easier to use and quicker. Lets hope they are successful.

The team at Mozilla is trying to make Firefox be the number one software for the most number of downloads within 24 hours of launch in the Guinness Book of World Records. The target is 5 million downloads. You can help them out by visiting http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/ and making a pledge to download the new web browser.

Chris

ColdFusion

Well I have been working for a new company now for almost a month. Part of the job requirements were for me to learn how to program web applications using Adobe's ColdFusion. So far I have to say that in just a few weeks I can now develop database driven applications with AJAX components. Not bad.

My initial thoughts were that I would hate programming in ColdFusion. But after building my first mini application and redesigning their commercial website using ColdFusion components, I am quite impressed.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with ColdFusion, it was one of the first application servers to allow developers to provide dynamic content using back end databases. It is very similar to Microsoft's ASP.net, Java Server Pages and PHP. It has a simple syntax that is similar to HTML and provides for ease of use programming. The latest version, version 8, has built in functionality for AJAX or dynamic interaction components, like popup windows, dynamic menus, and pods. Find more information about ColdFusion at wikipedia.

I am mid/senior level programmer using ASP / PHP, so learning ColdFusion has not been much of a challenge, not to mention it has been kind of fun. It is like driving a 10 year old Camry your whole life because of costs and then getting to see what it is like to drive a Cadillac. Not that I am comparing ColdFusion to a Cadillac, but it is nice to use a for profit application server that has quite a bit of built in functionality that does a bunch of work for the developer. But with every tool, there are pros and cons. The biggest con in this instance is the fact that ColdFusion is not cheap.

If you are interested in taking it for a test drive, Adobe has made available a development version of ColdFusion that is free to install and use. You have all the bells and whistles of the full blown version, except it is for development use. I recommend that if you have the resources to go with ColdFusion in a production environment, then you should definitely consider it as an option. It is powerful, easy and robust.

HowTo: Get Files From Mac OS X Leopard to Windows Vista

I started new work this passed week and the machine provided to me had no music on it what so ever, so I brought in my personal laptop. I have never attempted to copy data from Mac OS X Leopard to Vista before so it took me a little bit to find a method that worked. This is what I did:

1. On your Mac: System Preferences --> Sharing.
2. Check the box that says File Sharing.
3. Click options, I enabled FTP.
4. Make sure you have the permissions setup for your user account to read & write, as well as a password.
5. I used FileZilla, but you can use any ftp client.
6. Type into the host field the ip address of your Mac OS X computer.
7. Then for the username and password, use the same ones that you use to login to your Mac.
8. Once connected you are good to go. Download or upload as many files as necessary.

Hope this helps.

chris

Twitter Abandoning Rails? Is RoR Destined for Non-Enterprise Apps?

Ruby on Rails has gained in popularity since its creation by David Heinemeier Hansson back in 2004. It proved to be an intuitive web development framework. But in the last few years, critics have come to believe that RoR is incapable of powering enterprise level applications.

It appears that there may be some current rumors that would back up this claim. TechChrunch posted on May 1st that "Twitter is Said to be Abandoning Ruby on Rails". Twitter has been having quite a bit of performance issues as of late. It is probable that the poor performance can be narrowed down to increase in popularity and companies creating twitter accounts and spamming users to boost traffic. I hope that this is not the image that is perceived for our Property Stampede twitter account.

GigaOm recently posted that Ruby on Rails will be getting some Enterprise-Level Support. Benchmark Capital is in investing $3.5 million in New Relic Inc, which plans to use the funds to incubate RoR to a Enterprise-Level framework. It should be interesting, but I am rather skeptic. Lew Cirne hopes to boost the adoption of RoR like he did with Java, but Java had the support of Sun and IBM, which RoR is growing without any corporate support. It should be interesting none the less.

Chris

Review: LogoEase - 100% Free Logo Builder

So on first impression, the website is definitely eye candy. This logo builder was designed by a UK based design firm called Logo Quality. Upon using the tool I was impressed by its ease of use. You do not need to know how to use PhotoShop to use their tool. It is simple enough for a non techie as well as powerful enough to produce a quality logo. I recommend that you give it a try.

Chris

Get Ubuntu 8.04 CDs Free!

So Ubuntu is nearing its 8.04 release. If you act quickly, you can grab yourself a request to receive a cd for free. I requested both desktop and server 64bit cds. I am really excited for them to arrive, but most likely i will download the image as well. :D

Get Ubuntu 8.04

Chris

Review: HotStartupJobs.com - Looking for a new Job?

So I stumbled across HotStartupJobs.com, which aggregates all hot startup jobs from around the web. The application is still in beta and currently they do not offer search functionality, but it is promised that it is coming soon.

So far though they provide exposure for some interesting and promising jobs. So who is up for a job that possibly offers company equity in a fast paced environment? Sounds good to me.

Chris

HowTo: Marketing Efforts of a Startup -- Part 2

This article is part 2 of an article series, discussing how we are building brand awareness for our online property management startup. If you have not read part 1, please do as I will be continuing where I left off.

So I would like to start with a mini-update on Property Stampede's business and product development. We have business cards! We also designed a letterhead. We are about a third the way to our beta goal of 100 testers and 3000 units. We are moving a long quite nicely, and in fact we have had a few of our local beta testers ask if they can become shareholders. :D

As for product development, we are almost near completion of the main core components. We are on target for our May 15th private beta launch and we are looking really good for our public launch in September. We are extremely excited.

So now, lets continue on with the marketing efforts for the soon to be #1 online property management application.

Step 6: Create a Twitter Account
Now I realize that creating a twitter account seems like you are just giving in to the social media trends, but it is a powerful tool to keep followers updated. I am learning more and more about utilizing Twitter to increase our exposure. We created an account that reflects our name, propertystamped. We also used Twitter's Blogger widget to display our twitter feed on our blog. Then we used TwitterFeed to broadcast our blog posts to our twitter account. Lastly, follow other twitter users that make sense and that are related to your startup.

Step 7: Its Time to Get Viral
Once you have a lot of the building blocks in place, it is time to start getting viral. It is time to start offering expertise on your blog in regards to industry related news and topics. If you are not a good writer, then you better start practicing. Your ultimate goal is to create enjoyable content that people will want to reference or post on sites like Digg, reddit, and del.icio.us. You can start the seed by making those initial entries yourself into those sites.

The last component of getting viral, is using a tool like Google Reader to subscribe to blogs and news feeds that are related to your industry or startup. Pick enough feeds so that it builds a pretty handsome list of new posts daily. Go through them and pick ones that you can provide a valuable comment to. Do not spam other blogs, if you do not have something valuable to add to the discussions then it is better not to post than to post something that could possibly tarnish your image.

Step 8: Visit Local Business Organizations
Not everyone has the luxury of starting their company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley, but I can venture a guess and say that there is at least one business organization within your community. Reach out and find out what organizations are in your area.

We are fortunate here in Buffalo to have many organizations tailoring to the needs of general business networking and specific industries. One organization that I used to be in and I still get together with some of my co-participants, is BNI. BNI has a vast network of professionals and most cities have many BNI chapters. It is a networking group that only allows one person from each industry or profession. As a member you are allowed to visit other chapters anywhere in the world twice per year. So part of my marketing strategy is to go to as many chapters as I can and directly interact with professionals that provide the best opportunity for referrals. Remember, it is all about "Who You Know, Who ..."

Step 9: Begin Assessing Your Traffic
I know at this point it may seem like assessing 5 unique hits a day is pointless... but I argue that it is definitely not. You have to gauge what sources are worth your time for viral marketing. If you posted 5 comments in a month on www.whatever.com, and you only got 2 unique referrals, well then I think you should stop wasting your time or figure out why no one is following the link to your blog. Now if you have 2 comments on www.whateverelse.com in a month, but you collected 22 unique referrals, well then you better post more on that site. To be effective in viral marketing you have to know what works, otherwise it is like spinning your tires on ice, you will not get far very quickly.

Step 10: Know Your Target Audience, Create Keywords, and Start PPC
At this point, you are up and running. You are building a brand and making people know about who you are. It is time to use your viral marketing statistics to determine what keywords have worked well to this point. Once you pick your keywords, its time to take a crack at Google AdWords, Overture, or MS' Ad product (can not remember the name, have never used it). Start small until you are sure those keywords are reaching the right audience and increase from there.

I hope the above steps help you get a little bit further. Right now that sums up our efforts to date, but soon we will be exploring making a YouTube Video, hosting a webinar, and releasing Press through a service like PRWeb. It should be a fun ride and I will post my summary on here with Part 3 in the near future.

Chris

Indentured Blogitude?

I was reading Gigaom and learned about Indentured Blogitude. I never knew that something like this could possibly exist, that our society is so hung up on social networking that they would force bloggers to work in such environments and work to death. Its sad.

See the conditions for yourself:



Chris

p.s. h31p m3...

Alexa Rankings Revamped. Are they any better?

Little by little the importance of Alexa Rankings have been dwindling. Based on statistics that Amazon received from its Alexa Toolbar, it generated the Alexa Rankings. From a tech standpoint, this statistics have been understood to be inaccurate. Alexa has recently listened to the call of users to take into considerations external sources for data outside of just its toolbar. Is it too little too late? Many tech bloggers believe it is.

I had a chance to look at Compete and quantcast, which offer public traffic statistics as well. The realm of internet traffic statistics is changing. Pretty much ten years since the release of the alexa rankings, their tools are still less than spectacular and the data offered is hard for the average person to comprehend. These new tools focus on usability and innovation and that is just what they are delivering.

It will be interesting, Amazon has a long road a head of itself if they are going to reclaim their high seat.

Chris

Top 10 Bad SEO Ideas

When I stumbled across the Complete List of SEO Tools, I also stumbled across this gem Top 10 Bad SEO Ideas.

Two of my favorites from the list of 10 are:

2. Stuff Keywords In Invisible Text: An accountant once asked that I take over her professional website and host it for her. She said she wanted to upgrade the website but she was not ready to yet. When transfered the files over and viewed the website to make sure it was working, it was covered with invisible text. The funny part was that the invisible text was only repetition of her company name... not even top keywords. It was really kind of funny and sad at the same time. I could not blame her though because she had no idea, I just wish I was able to meet the person that built her website for her...

8. Implement your site in Flash: This one is for all the flash gurus who build beautiful looking websites yet end users cannot find their sites to appreciate them...

Chris

Complete List of SEO Tools

I was doing my daily crawl of blogs when I found this page listing the Complete List of SEO Tools. It truly is a complete list.

As time goes I will select my favorites from this list and add them to the links page.

Chris

We are in a recession...

So it is official, we are in a recession. But what is interesting is, that here in Buffalo it has not seemed that way.

Buffalo is a phenomenon, the subprime crisis, real estate bubble and credit crunch have not been a factor in the lives of the average Buffalonian. Since most major companies have left Buffalo long before the real estate bubble, we have not experienced large growth in demand for real estate or rising home prices. In fact, home prices and demand has been steady for years. One thing is for sure in Buffalo, there is a great chance that your home value will not change more than 1-4% in either direction, but more often than not it has gone up a mere 2 or 3 % over 10 years. So there was no bubble to burst here in Buffalo.

With a weak dollar, Buffalo has blossomed. This passed holiday season, Buffalo retailers have had some of the best sales numbers they have seen in years. Waves of Canadian's drove the short distance over the Peace Bridge to take advantage of a weak dollar and cheaper sales tax. It was probably one of the strongest influx of out of town funds this city has seen in a decade.

The weak dollar has also created an environment for businesses to be far more competitive with foreign companies, allowing US exports to climb quickly.

Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke has been pushing interest rates lower and lower. That means very inexpensive loans, in fact one of my colleagues in the financial industry has been telling all of his business owner clients to run to the banks and take out a loan. What is interesting is how it is affecting our local economy...

I recently updated my resume on monster.com. Within 2 business days I was contacted by 7 local recruiters and 2 non local. Normally it is the other way around. Every recruiter has had multiple jobs available for me to be presented to. From what I can tell, they are so many jobs available and not enough talent that the companies are accepting less qualified candidates with the understanding that they will be trained. For years, this has been unheard of in Buffalo.

As the Nation as a whole experiences rough times, Buffalo is blossoming... strange.

Chris

Review: SearchWebJobs.com

Through one of my daily news feeds I caught wind of a new jobs site that focuses primarily on web related jobs, SearchWebJobs.com. I like this idea. It allows you to look for jobs that are Full Time, Part Time and Freelance in categories Design, Development, Management, Tech and Other.

Very simple design. Easy to use and powered with minimal advertisements.

It is free for both the job seeker and the job poster. I recommend you give it a try.

Chris

Featured on BusinessWeek.com... ME!!!

So I really hope this is not my only 15 minutes of fame, because there is still quite a bit I have yet to do, but its still really exciting.

About a week ago in an effort to promote my property management application startup, I commented on an article on BusinessWeek.com about maintaining your day job and being the founder of a startup. Within about 6 hours of me posting the comment, I received an email from Ron Cassalotti, Director of User Participation with BusinessWeek.com. He was emailing to inform me that one of the editors saw my comment and wanted to use it in a piece about reader participation. I sent him the headshot that he asked for and waited.

He responded today to inform that they used it and gave me the link to where my comment was featured... right on the Business Week homepage. I am not sure how long it will be there, but it is sure neat to see.

Finding the Right Color Scheme

It is some times hard to find a color scheme that works well and it can be sometimes very time consuming. Here is a little tool that I found that may help in that quest. I have used it myself several times and it definitely helps in quickly picking images that help smoothen out a design.

http://www.colorspire.com/color-schemes/creator/web-layout-1/A13034/A13034-431416-4A2A2B-FFC1C4-431416/

I will add this link to the links page.


Chris

Save A Developer. Upgrade Your Browser.

I recently came across a website with a distinct cause, one that I support 100%. That site is savethedevelopers.org and their purpose is to improve the health of developers across the world by decreasing the stress involved in developing cross-browser compatible websites.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about when I say cross-browser compatibility. Web browsers, like Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari and Opera read code, the code that web developers create. Each web browser renders the code differently, basically converting the text into a website you can view and interact with. Cross-browser compatibility is basically developing a website or web application that operates properly on all of the major browsers. Here is the major problem, Internet Explorer 6 never played by the rules, the rules in place to make it easier for developers to make one website that looks and works the same on all browsers.

Here we are nearly 2 years since Internet Explorer 7's release and roughly 25% of all of the internet users in the world still us IE 6. Which leads us to the purpose of savethedevelopers.org is to decrease that percentage to a number that would allow developers to spend less time focusing on making their website cross-browser compatible and more time on features that enrich and improve the user's experience.

You can help the cause like I did, by visiting the site and copying code onto your site that will prompt users browsing with IE 6 to upgrade their browser. So that leaves me with my closing statement...

Save a Developer. Upgrade Your Browser.

Windows on Linux??

One of the main things preventing me from going Mac was the inability to run Windows on it. With that obstacle now out of the way with my use of VMWare Fusion I can live a bit more of a windows free life. But then I learned something new that made me even more excited... Windows on Linux!

Lifehacker has posted how you can run a virtual windows installation on your linux box just like how you run virtual windows on your Mac. It is not as easy to accomplish than using VMWare Fusion, but for a techie like me, I am not shy at all.

Over the next few weeks I will grab a spare box and begin my tinkering and will post my results here.

Chris

Review: ApartmentRatings.com Should Find a New Developer

I came across a news feed that apartmentratings.com had accidentally displayed their source code on their homepage, so I ventured over to take a look. I have never visited the site before and unfortunately by the time mozilla loaded the page they had fixed the error. Darn.

Seeing as apartmentratings.com serves a similar audience to my startup property management software website I decided to have a further look. I did a search for Buffalo, NY and the above picture was my search results...

I was quite disappointed to see that their sql developer does not know how to write a proper sql query. Somehow his query had populated search results with one record being populated 10 times, in no respectable order either. To make matters worse, is this site has no 'beta' stamp on it giving it some leniency for errors and it is covered in ads... slightly destructive to the websites appeal.

In my opinion, the vision behind apartmentratings.com had merit, until they decided to execute it poorly.

Chris

A Geek in Politics???

Congressman Bill Foster is a geek. Foster, a physicist with a PhD from Havard won the 14th Congressional District of Illinois this passed week. People were surprised to find out that he enjoys to program. Read the full article at CNet.

Just a shame he is not republican...

HowTo: Marketing Efforts of a Startup -- Part I

Ok, so Property Stampede LLC is still in its infancy. We don't have a finished product nor an office. We are working on setting up the mail server and have not decided on a design for our business cards. And yet, we already have users signing up for our early beta. We must be doing something right...

Before I go on with this post I would like to tell you a bit about my experience and knowledge in marketing. I have been self employed for 3 years. Being self employed I have learned a great deal about word of mouth marketing and first appearances. I have learned that customer service far surpasses technical expertise. Not to say that anyone can be an IT Consultant, but what I am saying is that by no means am I the most decorated consultant out there. I have no formal training, I have meet people that blow my mind away when it comes to technical expertise, but I have been extremely successful with my clients.

I have had my blog for almost 4 years, actively writing for almost 1 year. I have learned a great deal about online and offline social networking through my involvement in BNI, local chambers, linkedin and others. Building networks is important and essential to marketing a product, services or yourself.

The two things that I have learned is that great customer service and strong relationships with friends, family, colleagues and other complimentary professionals will build a great foundation towards a successful marketing campaign.

Now to our marketing efforts for the soon to be #1 Property Management Application on the web.

Step 1: Tell Everyone
Hey we are starting a company! Tell everyone! Tell family, friends, co-workers / colleagues, and clients. You may be surprised who is and who isn't interested.

Step 2: Get Domain Names
Its hard to find a good domain name... but guess what? You have to. You have to find a domain name that makes sense but contains at least one of your top keywords. Once you find a domain name, find one for your blog. Once you have those two, think about if your business is one that will go global in the future, if so register those domain names in the countries you think you would expand to first.

Step 3: Update Social Networking Profiles
For those of you who are knee deep in social networking sites, this is a no brainer. But for those of you who are just getting your toes wet, go sign up with linkedin, facebook, myspace and twitter just to name a few. There are hundreds more, many that surround specific industries. Pick the best ones to match your startup and be thorough. Fill out the entire profile and begin networking. If there is a Q n A section, join in the discussions and share your expertise. Don't be a slouch and don't just spam plugs of your startup the whole time. Provide valuable information and people will learn about your startup.

Step 4: Focus on Your Easiest & Cheapest PR, Your Blog
Be transparent. Tell your audience how your progress is going. Tell them what you are trying to do and your planned time line on completing it. Remember proof read and stay professional... but keep it personal.

Step 5: Tell Everyone! Again...
Tell everyone again. Point them to your blog. If you wish you could select the people who you think would be genuinely interested in your startup and sign them up for email subscription to your blog. Let them know that you signed them up and that they could unsubscribe at any time. Get traffic to your blog.

Listed above is just some of the things that we have done up to this point. I will post part two sometime next week.

Chris

The US Navy Makes a Much Needed Move

The US Navy announced this passed week that they are no longer going to purchase non-open systems and technologies for their IT infrastructure. This is a bold move, and one that I think is long overdue. I think tax payers deserve to have government agencies make purchasing decisions based on what is best for there agency and its customers, not because of the perks and free meals the sales rep from Microsoft provides you.

I commend government agencies that force users to use office solutions like OpenOffice, StarOffice or google apps. I commend government agencies for building their own servers and workstations and taking the time to load them with FREE Linux / Unix based operating systems.

I hope that more agencies follow in the Navy's lead, its about time that revenue from our hard earned tax dollars is spent more effectively.

You can read the full article at FCW.com.

Chris

New Google Product: Google Ad Manager

With Google's recent approval by the EU to acquire DoubleClick, there are combining their efforts to provide publishers with more advanced and intuitive tools to manage the sale of ad space. Google announced the beta of Google Ad Manager. Google Ad Manager will be a tool to manage small sales teams that focus on selling ad space on websites. This is really being created as a new feature from within Google Adsense and will be accessible from within the setup tab of your Google AdSense account. I am interested to see what power this feature will offer and will post more as I get to see the tool myself. The full announcement can be found at Google's Official Blog.

Chris

New Startup: Property Stampede LLC

I realize that I have not been the most consistent blog author lately and I am sorry, but I have an excuse.  So here it is...I have been secretly been involved in a startup, Property Stampede LLC.

Property Stampede LLC will be operating PropertyStampede.com which will be the first website of its kind, where property management software is joined at the hip with a rentable real estate search engine. Property Stampede's goal is to solve two problems, one for property managers and one for users looking to rent real estate.

Problem 1:
There are many many applications out there that claim to be a complete solution for a property management firm, but few really are. Very few offer the ability for the property manager to maintain complete accounting records. Even fewer offer online transactions allowing tenants to pay rent electronically. But most importantly, none of them allow a property manager to simply click a button and have their vacancies immediately marketed to the public. Not one!

Problem 2:
There are many websites out there where a user can search for an apartment or office space. Very few allow that user to compare the rent of a specific unit to comparable units in the neighborhood. Even fewer allow that user to look up neighborhood amenities, such as parks, hospitols, places of worship or airports from within that site. But most importantly not one of them allow that user to fill out an application for residency online. Not one!

Solution:
By combining these two services into one application, we can solve both of these problems. We can provide a property manager with a much more feature rich, cost effective and complete industry solution. Allowing the property manager to increase their appearance of profesionalism to the property owners and tenants. It also allows us to offer an improved method of locating rentable real estate by having a more complete listing service and as well as offer more advanced features that our competition can not. Creating a much more powerful feed of prospective tenants to property managers for no additional cost, allowing property managers to keep marketing costs down.

So if you are a property manager or real estate investor who is currently dissatisfied with your methods of tracking real estate and are fed up overpaying for marketing, I challenge you to learn more about our product by visiting our blog at www.stampedeblog.com.

Chris

Apple Macbook Power Supply

Ok, I am slightly embarrased to write this post seeing as I claim to be a computer technician, but I must. I recently had a problem attempting to charge my laptop with my power supply. The LED would no longer light up, my Macbook Pro would recognize the AC supply but would not charge.

So I went online and signed up on Apple's concierge to meet with a Apple Genius. He diagnosed it, verified that it was not working properly, and then notified me of my blunder...

The powersupply that I had brought in, which I thought was mine was a 60W AC Power Supply. A Macbook Pro uses an 85W. My wife and I bought our laptops at the same time, hers a Macbook, and at some point we swapped power supply's. My laptop burnt out her power supply.

Here is the problem, Apple should not have made the power supplies identical. They should have had some type of differentiation on them other than the fine print on the side that says 60W and 85W. Luckilly they replaced it under warranty, but man I feel embarrased.

Chris

Google Blacklist

Most likely a highly debateable topic is the mysterious 'Google Blacklist'. For the less familiar Google's Blacklist is a list of websites who have either violated Google's Terms of Service or have manipulated the system to get high rankings on their search engine. In short, Google's goal is to have the most relevant search results for its users and ad buyers. They do this by analyzing the links in and out of a website as well as the content on the website. The more relevant the content and the links in and out of the website the higher in the ranks your site will sit.

The blacklist is for websites that cheat or try to manipulate the system. There is a good article that goes in depth about one specific website that was ranked 1st, but is now blacklisted and finds itself on the seventh page of Google's search results. To read the full article go to BMighty.com.

I will later post how you can protect yourself from angering the Google gods so to speak and find your site on the black list.

Chris

Mac OS X: Cannot change volume

My wife recently had an issue where she could not change the volume on her laptop. When she turned it on, she would here the chime from the operating system as it shows the mac boot screen, but when in itunes, she could not get any sound from the laptop. I asked her some questions and did some research using Google and found out what had happened.

A few days ago she used her headphones to listen to some music without disturbing our napping infant. Well ever since then this problem has existed. I found out on the mac forums that someone else had a similar issue. When they plugged in their headphones they could hear sounds but when their headphones were pulled out there was no sound. The solution is to plug a pair of headphones into the headphone jack and unplug them repeatedly. For the guy in the forum it took 9 cycles of this to get his sound back, for my wife it took approximately 8. Strange but it worked.

Hope this helps.

Chris