Written by Rich on March 13th, 2008
The first thing I need is an idea
- Search engine
- Blog/Podcast network
- Social networking
- Video/Photo sharing
Luckily I didn’t start this challenge completely from scratch or it could take 14 days just to come up with a good idea. I’m going to keep it under wraps for another day while I finish work on the business plan. I know I said this wasn’t going to be set up a business but I think a business plan will be useful for two reasons:
- It will help me focus the project by forcing me to write down everything I want to do and how I want it to operate before I start coding.
- If this does take of like crazy I don’t what to be stuck with a dotcom that burns cash then dies a sad death. To prevent that I’d like to have options to monetize it written down.
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Tags: babysitting co-op, babysitting group, zoombug
Written by Rich on March 12th, 2008
I read a number of blogs about micro ISV’s and there are lot of people taking on “Zero to MicroISV in X days” projects. The general concept is simple, take a limited budget (less than $50), a limited time frame (7 to 21 days) and build a micro ISV that makes a small profit. Due to restrictions with my current employment I can’t setup a business but that shouldn’t prevent me from undertaking a modified version of the challenge.
So here it is, in 14 days I want to build a Web 2.0 site that can grow to 10,000 users in a year. It all starts here tomorrow…
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Tags: babysitting co-op, babysitting group, zoombug
Written by Rich on March 11th, 2008
Today I heard the phrase QA Driven Development. This is the opposite of test driven development where developers get code off to QA before it is fully tested so that QA can report bugs, missing features and other deviations from the original specs.
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Written by Rich on March 4th, 2008
I’m talking at this months Sydney PHP Group. The topic will be “Better code, less effort” where I’ll be discussing using MVC, DAO & CRUD to help you write better code in less time. It will also cover adding some bling with AJAX auto-completes and lookups, and search pages. If time permits I’ll also cover wizards.
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Tags: PHP
Written by Rich on January 10th, 2008
We’re currently renovating our house (like so many other SLUG members) and buying lots of materials from auctions to save money. In Sydney there are a number of companies like Grays and Auction World that run multiple auctions each week. Sadly we often miss the inspection days because we notice the auction too late. It would be really good if these companies could provide RSS feeds for:
- Auctions Notices - covering inspections days, auctions starting and closing
- Items – listing all of the items as they become available
- Biding for each item – so we can monitor bidding for specific items
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Written by Rich on January 2nd, 2008
A couple of days ago there were a few emails on the SLUG mailing list started by someone experiencing problems with a PHP script. Towards the end of the discussion I suggested:
While you’re redeveloping you should also read about Cross-site Scripting and why you should escape user input before sending it back to the browser.
Which received the response:
Isn’t PHP fun?
Once again we have seem to have someone pushing the misconception that PHP is unsafe compared to other languages. The problem isn’t PHP. Like most programming languages it does exactly what you tell it to. The problem is that most PHP programmers are self taught hobbyists who have never heard of:
- Cross Site Scripting
- Cross Site Request Forgeries
- SQL Injection
- Session fixation
- etc…
I know I can write Java, Perl and Python code that is just as unsafe by following the practices that these amatures follow. While I haven’t done much .NET or Ruby I suspect I the same applies to them too.
My point here is pretty simple. Imagine if you hired a handyman to hang a picture. If he turned up, pulled out his electric drill and a screw then proceeded to hammer the screw into the wall with the back of the drill you would blame the handyman, not the drill manufacturer. It’s the same with PHP. If you want to hire inexperienced programmers to develop your website then expect stuff to go wrong.
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Written by Rich on December 31st, 2007
I’ve been using Linux powered servers since 1995. About 18 months ago I decided to try using Linux on the desktop. I’m mostly happy with it but there are a number of things that annoy me and at least once per month I seriously think about switching back to Windows.
Some things are my fault:
- Buying a laptop with an NVIDIA card (I’m never going to buy another NVIDIA product)
Some things are out of my control:
- Needing to test applications using IE
- The Australian Tax Office only supports Windows
- Being unable to sync the contacts/calendars between my phone and Evolution
Some things aren’t important but still frustrate:
- The built-in webcam and microphone don’t work
- The external microphone worked with Kubuntu (which killed the audio after a kernel upgrade) but not Ubuntu (which I use)
- I’ve never been able to use the digital TV tuner that came with the computer
While I can do 100% of my day-to-day tasks that only covers 95% of what I do each the month. Being unable able to do the other 5% has become very frustrating and is almost enough to make me switch back to Windows. I just keep feeling that if I hold off long enough that I’ll be able to do the last 5% with Linux (or Reactos will become a viable option).
Update: I’ve made some progress on syncing contacts between my phone and Horde Groupware Webmail Edition using SyncML which I then hope to sync with Evolution.
Posted in Linux | 3 Responses »
Written by Rich on November 30th, 2007
This years Open Source Developers Conference finished yesterday. A group of us have been asked to put together a proposal to the Open Source Developers Club to host it in Sydney next year. If you’re interested in being involved, as an organiser or helper, then send me an email ASAP. We’re going to start discussing it next week so that we can have the organising committee and proposal ready by mid-December.
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Tags: osdc
Written by Rich on November 22nd, 2007
There’s a good article at Follow Steph covering 12 Tips on How to Prepare Your Laptop for a Presentation. I’d like to add a 13th one:
If you’re presentation uses a web browser then clear your browser cache/cookies/history and tidy your bookmarks.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Written by Rich on November 11th, 2007
Every couple of weeks I stumble upon a new idea for something that could make a good business. It may be original or just something I’d like to try. Currently I capture these by adding them to a page on my blog but I feel there should be a better way to do this. It should include the ability to quickly:
- Capture the idea (concept, name, how it would make money, etc).
- Evaluate the idea (potential, risk, effort required, etc).
- Decide which ideas are worth further investigation while still tracking those that aren’t.
- List ideas based on date added, risk, potential income, time/effort required to implement, etc.
How do you capture and manage your ideas?
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This site contains my personal ramblings on Linux, PHP, Java, .NET and anything else that I feel is important.