Opinioneer

8June2008

Magento vs the world

Posted by Opinioneer under: On My Projects.

I haven’t written in a long time but late is better than never.

I have spent the last few weeks evaluating e-commerce platforms and I’ve been trying to make one platform in particular work for my needs.

Well, you can’t turn a donkey into a race horse.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time on Magento. It is a new open source e-commerce platform that, quite frankly, is one of the best I have seen. It has great features, fantastic back-end, and in theory is easy to customize. But all that is somewhat theoretical.

One thing that it has going for it for sure is its design. It has the best designed admin panel. Period. It also has a few features that are quite unique and won’t be found elsewhere. But this post is not about all that.

Once you get past the “wow” factor, or, ” is this really open source?”, and you start playing with it, a few ugly heads start appearing.

It is SLOW. And I mean unacceptably slow by any standards. I have tried installations in dedicated servers and it still is SLOW. That, right there, ended the love affair for me.

The back-end, admin panel, can be confusing. I am running a cheap shopping cart script that does pretty  much everything you would want it to do, and it is so much simpler to learn, a 10 year old could operate it. Not to mention that it is at least 10 times as fast.

So don’t let the “open source” free software fool you. It certainly wasted plenty of my time, effort and money, and delayed my plans for launching a store by several months, only to come to the conclusion that Magento is still too young to come out and play.

Having said that, given that it still is in version 1.0, once it grows up a bit, I am certain it will be one of the best solutions out there. And I say one of the best, because by the time it is ready for prime time, I am sure there will be more competition.

Even then, Magento is not for everybody. If you are just launching a shop you are better off with another solution. I foresee myself migrating to Magento a year from now, depending how my plans progress, depending where Magento is then, and assuming no other solution is offering the one unique feature that initially got me interested in Magento.

To wrap this one up, don’t be fooled by open source. As much as I am I big proponent of it, it is cheaper to pay a monthly fee for a hosted solution from an established provider, than trying to make Magento work. Just the hosting fees to run Magento on a decent host, in order to have decent speeds, are more expensive than paying a hosted, tried and tested solution.

Nevertheless, keep an eye out for it. It has potential.

20April2008

Instructing others

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Zen.

A man should first direct himself in the way he should go. Only then should he instruct others.

- Buddha

10April2008

Should Google or Facebook buy Twitter?

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Web Now.

My relationship with Twitter sounds like that of so many other Twitter users: “Everybody was raving about Twitter so I decided to give it a go, but I couldn’t see any value in it so I stopped using it. Then, several weeks/months later I decided to give it another go and then got hooked.”

Sure, I’ll admit I am semi-hooked on Twitter. Which, of course, got me thinking; Where does Twitter fit in the webscape? How does Twitter plan to make money? Or have businesses these days, formally rejected the notion that revenue and profitability is one of the goals of a company?

And that’s when I started putting two and two together.

Twitter is perfectly positioned to sell the most targeted ads possible. You tell theme what you are doing exactly when you are doing it. Let’s say you twit “I am getting hungry” and automatically a link to a delivery restaurant in your area appears. Or maybe you twit “I am planning my ski vacation”. Well, there’s a million ads that could be served there, ranging from travel agencies, to ski resorts, to ski shops, to… you name it.

The core of Twitter is answering the question of “What are you doing?”, while answering the same question is a very prominent feature in Facebook. The two differ in how they distribute the data you give them. If Facebook bought Twitter, Facebook would be opening up a little, but at the same time it would be reaching more people for a longer time. Combining that with the data it already has from peoples profiles, it could, theoretically, serve extremely targeted ads.

But Facebook is probably too focused on its own thing to bother with trying to figure out how to integrate Twitter. So how about Google?

Google is probably the master in delivering content relevant ads, it has the advertiser base in place, and with some tweaking it can make Twitter ads happen. It really is no different than placing ads to anything else online, be it a blog, a RSS feed or a search.

Ok, this is how far I went with those thoughts. No need to go further at this time. We’ll wait and see what happens.

2April2008

WirelessCareer.com Creates a Career Network Exclusively for the Wireless Industry

Posted by Opinioneer under: On My Projects.

The new career service launched by WirelessCareer.com makes it easier for wireless industry professionals to connect with companies in the wireless/mobile space.

WirelessCareer.com announced today the launch of a new and unique career network, exclusively servicing professionals in the wireless industry.

According to research by CTIA, it is estimated that 3.6 million jobs depend, directly and indirectly, on the U.S. wireless industry. That figure, which amounts to approximately 2.5% of all jobs in the U.S., is expected to increase significantly. Research shows that in the next 10 years the US wireless industry will create an additional 2-3 million new jobs.

Despite the size of the industry’s workforce, there currently is no industry specific platform that enables efficient connections between job candidates and employers.

WirelessCareer.com is scheduled to launch a number of new features and tools over the following weeks that will make job searching increasingly more efficient. Taking advantage of social media applications, WirelessCareer.com is creating a distributed network that connects wireless professionals in a more personal and informal way.

“We felt that career networking opportunities for wireless professionals are limited,” said Victor Nelson, spokesperson for WirelessCareer.com. “We believe in keeping things simple, and the simplicity of the network we are creating is what makes WirelessCareer.com an indispensable service for every professional and company in the wireless industry.”

At this time, professionals may sign up to receive updates, and employers may post new opportunities by visiting http://www.wirelesscareer.com.

31March2008

On the way to CTIA

Posted by Opinioneer under: On My Projects.

It has been more than a few years since the last time I attended CTIA, but this year I hear it is the place to be. It is also a good time to launch the new service I’ve been working on for a while now. WirelessCareer.com is still in beta, but it is officially open to everybody.

Not much else to say right now because I have to get to the airport, but I will post more details in the next few days.

27March2008

Finally an inspiring theme

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Wordpress.

I think I have finally found a theme that inspires me to write. I have tried working around several themes but none really did it for me. They were all nice, each one had its pros, but this one seems more inviting.

Anyway, it’s been a while since the last time I posted anything and that is for a good reason. I am working on launching a WordPress based site that kicks butt. After all the testing is done, probably a few more weeks, the theme will beavalable as a Premium Theme.

All I can say now is that a theme like this has never been done with WP before. More on this soon.

9March2008

Prologue, WordPress, Twitter and the search for Creativity

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Wordpress.

I think it is not a secret that I am a big fan of WordPress and that I believe that it has more potential than most people can imagine. Turning WordPress into a Twitter like app is not that hard.

And many posts (see REv2, BloggingPro, VentureBeat, BlogHerald, Mashable and several hundred more) have been written about how Prologue looks similar to Twitter.

Of course Matt wrote in his Prologue introduction that even though they were inspired by Twitter to make this theme, they are not interested in developing a Twitter-like tool. He further points out how they use Prologue in a similar manner others use Basecamp.

That’s the obvious stuff. Here goes the conspiracy theorist:

What prompted this sudden release of a theme such as Prologue by Automattic?

a) We can look no further and take Matt’s post face value: they were using the tool internally and thought; “why not release it”.

b) They (Automattic) were standing by, watching Twitter grow like crazy, scratching their heads and thinking; “there is nothing special about Twitter that WordPress can’t do with a little tweaking”. So they built Prologue.

c) Twitter is establishing itself as the tool for microblogging and they figured they can capture some of that market and also benefit from the Twitter buzz.

The answer could be any of the above, or it could be any of numerous other possible scenarios. The truth is that I am not a conspiracy theorist so I have a different answer.

Matt and the gang are probably frustrated that almost nobody is coming out with any creative uses of WordPress, beyond the blog. They are probably wondering why people don’t see the capabilities that the WordPress platform has. So they decided to hit the nail in the head.

What better way to showcase the thinking-outside-the-box apps that can be built on the WP platform, than by laying down the foundation to build an application similar to Twitter, one of the most popular applications out there today.

This was just a thought I’ve had, but the mention of Basecamp in Matt’s post I think supports, intentionally or unintentionally, my thoughts.

Does the WordPress community lack innovators?

5March2008

Everyday Life is the Path

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Zen.

Joshu asked Nansen: `What is the path?’ Nansen said: `Everyday life is the path.’

Joshu asked: `Can it be studied?’

Nansen said: `If you try to study, you will be far away from it.’

Joshu asked: `If I do not study, how can I know it is the path?’

Nansen said: `The path does not belong to the perception world, neither does it belong to the nonperception world. Cognition is a delusion and noncognition is senseless. If you want to reach the true path beyond doubt, place yourself in the same freedom as sky. You name it neither good nor not-good.’

At these words Joshu was enlightened.

Mumon’s Comment: Nansen could met Joshu’s frozen doubts at once when Joshu asked his questions. I doubt that if Joshu reached the point that Nansen did. He needed thirty more years of study.

In spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon;
In the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter snow will accompany your.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is a good season for you.

25February2008

Set up your online shop with WordPress

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Wordpress.

That’s right. It is now possible to set up your online store with the popular platform we all  love: WordPress.

I wrote a post yesterday about how people don’t think outside the box and don’t take advantage of WordPress’ full potential. As I wrote, AJ is one of only a handful of people who can look at WordPress and see it as more than just a blogging platform.

Well, before I had time to blink, AJ did it again, and this time pushed the envelope quite a bit. Thanks to AJ’s just released wpMarket theme, WordPress can now help anybody set up an online store in as much time as it takes to install WordPress.

To be precise, the theme works more like a product catalog, meaning it does not have shopping cart functions, but it does connect each product to a PayPal Buy button. I haven’t had time to play with the theme yet, but I can’t help to think that it could easily be converted to work with PayPal’s shopping cart and Voila!, you have a full blown online store without having to worry about the security aspect of shopping since PayPal runs the cart.

I am looking forward to seeing more of that!

24February2008

Thinking outside the Wordpress “theme” box

Posted by Opinioneer under: On Wordpress.

I have to write this in order to vent, because I am starting to feel like I am the one-eyed cyclops among the blind.

It seems that the discussion about premium WordPress themes has been heating up lately (and by lately I mean in recent months, not days) and I am thinking to myself, “so what’s the big deal”? What is premium? A nicer designed theme? A theme with more functions?

And then I come across the occasional arguments about whether WordPress is a blogging platform or a “true” CMS. And then, someone comes up with a magazine style theme and all of a sudden everyone responds like they’ve seen a miracle! “You can do that with WordPress?? Really??”

So I will say: Give me a Break. (that’s with a capital B, because I need a Big Break!)

First things first: Premium Theme?

WordPress has tons of functionality built in and can do almost everything you can imagine in your wildest dreams. The fact that 90% of WordPress users, theme designers and WP enthusiasts don’t pay attention is, well, unfortunate. There is nothing Premium about a fancy theme. Personally, I would start to call “premium”, something that extends the functionality of a platform beyond the obvious (and I reserve the right to change this definition if I think of something better). A magazine theme is starting to scratch that surface. But I want to see more!

So start thinking outside the (“title” and “post”) boxes and you will realize what WP is capable of. Unfortunately my PHP skills are limited so I can’t create out-of-the-box solutions myself, but my knowledge and understanding isn’t so I can give you plenty of ideas about things you can do using WP as the platform.

Secondly: Is it a CMS ?

WordPress is a CMS. You might have your own definition of what a CMS is, but CMS stands for Content Management System. WordPress helps you manage content. And the better you know how to customize WP the more ways you can manage your content. Perhaps a look at Webunload, AppBid (both of which where developed by AJ) and WP Contact Manager will give you samples of “outside the box” thinking.

I have tested several CMSs and have extensively used Article Manager by Interactive Tools, which is an amazing and very flexible system. But it comes with a price tag of $350. I started using it back in 2001 (it cost much less then!) when WordPress wasn’t even around. Let me tell you, when it comes to flexibility and user friendliness, it still holds its ground. In fact, it is possible to make Article Manager to behave like a blog, no problem. Having said all that, over the past year I have converted all my sites to WordPress.

I can’t customize WordPress by myself, the way I can customize Article Manager, but the beauty of WP is the availability of free themes, and of course the fact that I can have multiple installations without paying for a separate license each time.

Keep in mind that there is no perfect CMS. Each one of us has different needs, so perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Heck, even a Rolodex is technically a CMS.

To sum this point up, I have found WordPress to be able to do most things someone would need, especially considering the plethora of plugins. So, yes it is a CMS. Whether it suits your needs, or whether you can think outside the box and make it suit your needs is up to you.

Finally: Thinking outside the box

Here is how one site is run completely on WordPress: Lifescape Vacations. It is not a blog, and you probably wouldn’t be able to tell it is a WP based site if it weren’t for the comments being set to “on”, yet WP plugins (such as Tag Cloud and Flick RSS) help it be more socially interactive.

I won’t go into details here (because it will all be theoretical) but I am hoping that in a couple of months time I will have some impressive real examples of thinking-outside-the-box solutions based on the WordPress platform.