Updates from December, 2008 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • John Congdon 9:30 am on December 31, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: iPhone   

    The iPhone is and Amazing Device 

    I know everyone talks about how great Apple’s iPhone is.   I did something different yesterday.

    We did our year end inventory yesterday.  We use wireless scanners to control inventory, pick, ship, etc…  We have a limited number of scanners to go around, and to do year end inventory we need every body we can get to count.  This is a big warehouse and it takes time. 

    I was able to use SSH on my iPhone to connect to our scanner software that I wrote and was able to count inventory through it.  Granted, it wasn’t quite as fast and convenient as the wireless scanners we use, but in a pinch it was awesome.

    It’s just an amazing device that everyone should have.

     

  • John Congdon 10:50 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Ebonite’s The One Pearl: New Release 

    Ebonite just announce a new bowling ball release, [bowlingball value="6909"/].

    If you like the original ([bowlingball value="3874"/]), then you will want the new version.  The original was a major success a few years ago.  I couldn’t walk into my league without seeing one on almost every rack in the bowling center.  I was jealous at the time because I felt like the only bowler without one.

    Here are the specs for the [bowlingball value="6909"/].

    Take [bowlingball value="3874"/], add on some extra muscle and what do you get? [bowlingball value="6909"/]–a stronger, more aggressive version of The ONE.

    So, what exactly makes The ONE Pearl stronger? By pearlizing the GB 10.7 coverstock, we’ve added even more power to The ONE, giving The ONE Pearl more length and an even sharper approach to the pins, resulting in increased pin carry.

    Features:

    • Coverstock: GB 10.7
    • Weight Block: Centrex Symmetrical Mass Bias
    • Ball Color: Purple/Black/Red Pearl All colors do vary somewhat from the picture shown.
    • Ball Finish: 4000 with Abralon and polished with Powerhouse Factory Finish
    • Hook Potential: 41 (scale of 1-50)
    • Length: 28 (scale of 1-50, early to late)
    • Reaction: Length with Stronger Backend
    • RG Differential: 0.037 (Medium Flare) on a scale of .000-.080 Low Flare-High Flare
    • RG Average: 2.51 (Low) on a scale of 2.43-2.80 Very Low-High Break Point

    Recommended Lane Conditions: Medium-Heavy Oil

    [bowlingball value="6909,i150"/]

     

  • John Congdon 10:13 am on December 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Checkout by Amazon   

    Cart Level Promotions with Checkout By Amazon 

    I was recently trying to offer a cart-level promotion with “Checkout by Amazon”  and while looking through their Developer Guide, I became very confused.  Their promotion section lead me to believe that I could offer such a discount, but it wasn’t clear at all.  I tried googling it, and other research to no avail. :(

    I finally read through the XSD which is not the most fun things to use to try and solve a particular problem.  But the answer was there.  To offer a cart level promotion, you simple need <CartPromotionId>DiscountName</CartPromotionId> in your <Cart></Cart> section.  And then the same <Promotions> section that they have laid out in the documentation for item-level discounts.

    I hope that this helps someone find the information faster than I did.

    This answers the question: “How do I offer cart-level promotions in checkout by Amazon?“

     

    • sam 7:36 am on June 13, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks. This was very helpful.

  • John Congdon 2:52 pm on December 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: cloud computing, mosso   

    Mosso Cloud Services 

    I have been using Mosso Cloud Files for a few weeks now and I am very happy with the results. Using their API has been very straight forward and easy to use. Adding my files to their service and then changing the website to use those only took a few hours to do.

    They just added a blog post about their speed compared to Amazon’s CloudFront CDN. From two different 3rd party network monitoring and analytics services, they were able to prove they are faster. Twice as fast in most cases.

    Read the enire blog entry here: Mosso is Fast… and We’re So Much Faster, it’s Not Even Close!

     

    • Rob La Gesse 3:51 am on December 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      John, glad you are enjoying Cloud Files! Let us know if we can help with anything, and thanks for the post!

      Rob

      • John Congdon 1:02 am on December 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply

        Hey Rob,

        The only downside right now is the "beta" portion and the fact that maintenance is done on Tuesdays during normal business hours. But I am sure that will be over soon enough and this will be a real enterprise type of solution where maintenance is done at off peak times.

        Luckily we just use it as a CDN, so if we have to change a file during these times, we just serve them ourselves until we can get back into MOSSO.

    • Eric 9:50 am on December 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi John,

      We opted for Tuesday afternoons because many users perform backups during off-peak hours. We typically only put the system in "read-only" mode during the maintenance window and don't usually take the full 5 hours. We also wanted to put in a set time so that early adopters could reliably plan around those windows.

      But even better, we plan on removing the beta label and suspending the periodic maintenance windows early next year.

      Feel free to send any comments/suggestions to us. We'd love to hear your thoughts! <ej _at_ racklabs _dot_ com>

      • John Congdon 1:31 am on December 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply

        That makes sense. You are dealing with multiple business models, or uses for the cloud. We use it as a CDN more than a backup solution, where others are doing it vice/versa.

        Once I knew about the planned maintenance it was easier to deal with, but a couple weeks ago when I went to change an image and couldn't, I was frustrated. It took 2-3 times on chat to get a definite answer. He explained that it was still beta and was every Tuesday. All better now :)

        Great work over there at MOSSO!

  • John Congdon 4:00 pm on December 7, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

    Prop 8: The Musical 

    Ok, I have seen many tweets about this last week and finally watched it over on Jeff McCord’s blog. Very funny, insightful, and interesting.

    See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
     

    • Jeff McCord 8:23 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      You're my favorite John! Love the bowling podcast! I hope you and your fam had a very Merry Christmas! Here's to a great 2009!!!

      Jeff

c
compose new post
j
next post/next comment
k
previous post/previous comment
r
reply
e
edit
o
show/hide comments
t
go to top
l
go to login
h
show/hide help
shift + esc
cancel