Microsoft Developers Blog: Cotton Rohrscheib

I am no longer posting blog entries on my Microsoft Blog Account, instead, all of my past and future blog entries can be found on www.cottonrohrscheib.com/blog. 

I think that every developer has sat around scratching their head on this one before.  How do you recoup your hours of hard work and code crunching once your app is out of beta and ready for the world?  This article I ran across on Vitamin takes a look at this and offers up some suggestions.  Granted, it's harder these days to put a price on a piece of software when the world is used to free, free, free...  thanks Google.

Link to Vitamin Features » How to price your web application

The Eclipse Foundation has released the 1.0 of the Eclipse PHP Development Tools (PDT) project. Eclipse PDT is a set of tools and frameworks that enhance the productivity of developers using PHP, a popular, general-purpose dynamic language that is especially suited for development of web applications and web services. This is the first Eclipse project that targets the large PHP developer community.

Link to PDT Project

 Redirect 301 / http://www.greersferryrealestatecenter.com/

This is a cool tutorial with sample code that demonstrates how you can make search engine friendly URLs from Dynamically Generated Content. 

Link to Search engine friendly URLs with mod_rewrite

It looks like Trulia has made their powerful Real Estate Tool available as an API to the development community.  If you don't know about Trulia already and are actively involved in developing Real Estate Solutions you should probably visit their website, www.trulia.com, and research out their tool.  In my opinion this is probably one of the most thought out web 2.0 real estate tools out there, just don't really know yet how to harness it really.  I keep thinking on it and meaning to contact Rick, my main man when it comes to Real Estate Development to discuss this and keep forgetting, so hopefully blogging this out will remind me to do so. 

Link to Trulia Blog » Trulia API now open to the world!

This is a pretty good article I found on The Whir that discusses methods and ways that you can cut down on Commented Spam.  We have seen this trend growing over the past few months on everything from Photo Galleries to E-Commerce Sites and it's a nuisance that has to be addressed in my opinion.  Most of these, as the article goes on to say have to do w/ offshore drug scams for pharmaceuticals, etc.  Also, pornography links show up here quite a bit.  Alot of off the shelf scripts are enabled by default to allow for comments or product reviews, etc., and as of late I think that everyone on our team has been turning these off.  This is a good read just wanted to pass it along.

If you have a forum or blog on your Web site you may have noticed that some of the messages left in the comment area may not necessarily be relevant to the discussion and instead be promoting such Internet staples as Viagra and Prozac or nude pictures of celebrities. If you can relate, you've probably been hit with comment spam.

Source: Find Web Hosts | Stopping Comment Spam

This is just good stuff!  You can't make this stuff up! 

Link to Nepal Airlines sacrifices goats to help fix aircraft - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

I have this software on my telephone (cingular 8525) and it's really pretty cool.  I have used it several times to watch sports, get weather channel forecasts and even news.  It only takes a minute or two to load completely even in remote areas and it's streaming is pretty high-end, once it starts coming into your phone it doesn't hardly get interupted.  The sound and video quality are also pretty good considering it's rendering on a cell phone.  Very slick stuff.

Link to MobiTV® : Mobile and Cell Phone TV - Watch TV Anywhere

If Google does come out w/ their own Mobile OS will it be Linux based?  Oh I bet it is...  Can't wait to see this one. 

Link to Google is working on a mobile OS

This is a trend that I think is here to stay, we are in the process of going virtual ourselves.  SWSOFT has an incredible product w/ Virtuozzo, the more I learn about it the more I like it.  We plan on making a formal announcement when our VPS solution becomes ready.

Link to Web Host Industry News | Fat Jack Hosting Deploys Virtuozzo

I actually heard about this yesterday on CNN.  Not good at all.  I haven't been able to get any real technical details on the breach other that reports from Symantec and a few others saying that it's a big one...

Link to Web Host Industry News | Hackers Steal Data from Monster.com

someone forwarded me this and it's really good info, just wish i had a source to credit for it but figured it was worthy of passing along...

If you think blogs are just for teens chatting about the latest pop princess meltdown, you could be missing out on more leads and better client relationships, according to Rich Brooks of flyte new media. Here's a digest of how he identified these blogging myths:

1. My customers don't read blogs - This is heard most often by business owners who don't completely understand what a blog is. Your customers might not subscribe to any blogs, or read one daily. But since blogs often rank high on search engines, if your customers use the Internet, you can capture their attention with a blog.
2. Blogging is for teenagers - While teens certainly took to blogging quicker than businesses, these days companies of all sizes and shapes have realized the benefits of a business blog. You wouldn't dismiss the telephone as a communication device just because your teenager spends hours each night on it, would you?

3. Blogging is just a fad - Didn't some say that about the Internet back in 1997? While much of the hype about blogs is just that, blogs are a powerful, easy-to-use communication tool, and communicating with customers and prospects will never go out of style.

4. Blogging takes up too much time - As business owners we have limited time in the day to market our services; blogging provides great return on that investment. It helps establish your expertise, generates loads of search engine leads, and delivers your message through three distribution channels each time you write.

5. Blogs allow people to leave negative comments - The fact is consumers can vent their frustration most anywhere on the Web. It's better to take on those comments where you have "home court" advantage. People are looking for transparency and authenticity from companies; the way your blog addresses negative feedback can actually help you win over new converts.
Brooks adds that blogging has proven to be an effective marketing tool for a wide range of businesses. "You can start a blog on your own through a (paid hosted) service like TypePad or by installing a blogging platform ... on your own server." In fact, all eNom hosting plans include your choice of free blogging platforms like WordPress, Simple PHP Blog, b2Evolution, geeklog and others.

Not a design whiz? Brooks advises hiring a professional Web design firm to develop and promote your blog and get you up to speed quickly. You can similarly engage a freelance copywriter to speak in "your" voice if writing doesn't come easily to you.

Want to start a blog but don't know where to begin? A great read is 21 Surefire Tips For a Successful Blog Launch

This really isn't a big surprise to me that Darren McFadden plans to turn pro at the end of this season.  I do sincerly hope that he is able to win the Heisman and that Arkansas will at least hit 11 wins this year!  If not, I might be blogging a whole lot more frequently about this down the road. 

Link to ESPN - Mother: Hogs' McFadden to turn pro after season - College Football

I am a huge fan of SWSoft, we run their Plesk Control Panels as well as their Virtuozzo VPS Software and have been absolutely happy w/ it.  Their software allows us to handle "seamless migrations" for our clients. No wonder that hosting companies who use PLESK software have a higher resale value.  This new Parallels software is already on a lot of computer systems right now, in fact I know folks who use Macs that are running it and have told me that it is near flawless.  I have heard rumors abounding that SWSoft might be considering an IPO in the near future, if so, I would recommend it to anyone looking to hit a stable company on their way to the top of the software industry. 

Link to Web Host Industry News | SWsoft Offers Parallels Software

Email used to be a  huge hassle for our web hosting company prior to our decision to outsource it about a year or so ago.  I am happy to report that it has turned into one of our biggest product rollouts ever.  We partnered with a reputable email hosting firm that had worked with larger firms across the world with a lot of success and now offer our clients an affordable groupware type of solution for just a few dollars per month.  We have totally eliminated the need to devote our manpower to support email and fight spam and viruses as well, this has allowed us to devote time to rolling out other products.  If there are still any web hosting firms out there still handling email in-house I urge them to consider outsourcing their email to third party providers, it's the best decision we have ever made, to learn more about our email hosting solutions you can visit: http://www.pleth.com/services=email_overview.htm

Link to Find Web Hosts | Advantages to Hosted Email

These JavaScript code-generating tools make creating useful JavaScript code a snap. Ranging from the Doc's bookmarklet's tool, to rollovers, and menus (popup and hierarchical), these tools can help you enhance your site in a jiffy.

Bookmarklets Perhaps the best kept secret in JavaScript, bookmarklets are one-line scripts attached to links that are easy to create and fun to use. Create your own bookmarklets with our new interactive tool. By Tomer Shiran.

 

Browser Sniffer Try out our new browser sniffer, that reports useful info about your browser, and key object and methods supported, essential from creating cross-browser gracefully degradable scripts. Includes tutorials on working with various JavaScript objects/functions. By Andrew King.

 

Dialog Boxes This tool automatically creates the code you need to add custom cross-browser dialog boxes (alert, confirm, prompt, and our own IEBox) to your site for that polished professional look. For Windows users only. By Peter Belesis.

 

News Fader Add a customizable news fader to your site with our newest Web-based tool. Compatible with News Harvester, this cool tool lets you configure your own fader interactively, and automatially spits out the code, just cut and paste! Available for all DHTML browsers and platforms. By Peter Belesis.

 

Pop-up Menu Builder Enter your options and this tool automatically creates cross-browser live pop-up menus. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.

 

Remotes Automatically generate the code you need to launch a popup window or remote using JavaScript. This in-page tool lets you tweak the various window variables to your heart's delight to get it just right and can load any URL into the remote. By Tomer Shiran.

 

Rollover Builder Instant JavaScript Rollovers - just add water! The Doc's new cool tool lets you build custom link rollovers the easy way for Netscape 6.X and IE 4.X+. Pick your parameters, and the tool creates the code. Cut, paste and roll away! By Tomer and Yehuda Shiran.

 

Search Remotes Put an end to old fashion Web searching with the Doc's new search remote builder. Wherever you're surfing just select some text, click a button, and presto you're searching the Web with your favorite search engines. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.

 

Universal Related Popup Menus Upgrade today to the latest version of our related popup menus: change one "parent" menu and all submenus are redefined. A complete rewrite, version 2 features unlimited submenus and multiple menus per page. And of course, it's open source, so keep those ideas coming. By Andy King.

 

Window Builder Tool Is he a doctor or a mechanic? Sometimes it's hard to tell - when he's not dishing up scripting prescriptions, he's building new tools. Spawn new browser windows the JavaScript way, with the Doc's new WindowBuilder tool. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.

I don't know if anyone caught the Busch Race in Montreal this weekend but IMO Robby Gordon got Robbed big time!  I don't know what has caused NASCAR to treat him so badly but obviously something has motivated them to single him out.  I'm not a huge Robby Gordon fan but I can spot a foul when I see it.  Bad Deal NASCAR, you need to probably look into this and fix it... 

Link to NASCAR.COM - Confusing finish leaves drivers, fans speechless - Aug 4, 2007

In what could be the largest data security breach in the world to date, information on 40 million credit card accounts might have been stolen. The massive breach follows several high-profile data loss incidents that potentially exposed American consumers to identity theft. The incident also comes as the public expresses increasing concern over identity theft.

I think that something that needs to be brought to the attention of consumers is that in instances like this, it wasn't the actual online process itself that failed, the issue came from the backend card processor that the website transmits information to for authorizing a transaction.  In my opinion, the Government needs to step in and enforce stronger regulations for security for these processing companies.  Pleth primarily uses two processing companies, three really if you want to count PayPal.  We only deal with processors that we know are reputable and maintain stringent security practices.

Link to Credit card breach exposes 40 million accounts | CNET News.com

Pleth recently added ColdFusion 8 as a managed hosting option for our clients.  Since this is a new technology for us we have brought in a veteran ColdFusion developer to assist with application development.  I have personally been playing around with it on my test box and have to say it's really pretty cool as far as a development tool.  So far I have only worked with it in CodeCharge to develop a forum and make some minor mods here and there but my next project will be on a smaller scale in Eclipse so that I can take some time to learn the language a little bit better.

Link to Web Hosting Articles - ColdFusion 8 Beta Launches with Free Hosting Accounts

Also had the opportunity to spend some time with Paul at Sushi Samba in Chicago and my partners and I all agree, besides obviously being extremely intelligent and talented, this guy is hilarious.  He must be a hoot to work with.  He kept reminiscing about an old trailer that he used to live in, said he could still hear the rain hitting his roof...  

Link to Paul Stahura of Demand Media

I hate it we missed this party, I have heard rumors that it was a big night!  These guys were a whole lot of fun to talk with.  I think that the photo below is of Carson Daly at Sushi Samba in Chicago however, I think this because I believe I was seated on the couch across from them, but then again, who really knows... ha.

Link to Demand Media reseller party a big hit