Archive for February, 2010

• The Need for Browser Speed – Opera 10.5 Hits a High Note

  by Bradley in Tech News on February 17th, 2010 Post a comment

  Decades after Maria Callas brought down the house at the Met, Opera Software has released its new 10.5 browser version out to critical acclaim. While Google is actively working to shift the browser into an OS, Opera has released a new browser that outpaced Safari, Chrome and Firefox without breaking a sweat.

  While the browser wars have drawn interest from some of the largest software firms, Opera continues to focus on user experience and innovation stemming from its 1994 origins as a side research project. Recent benchmarks from Computer World demonstrate the Windows version of Opera 10.5 Beta is 15% faster than Safari, which has long been the leader in load times.

  The major improvement in the browser is due to Carakan, an improved Javascript engine which uses less memory and executes scripts seamlessly. Opera, which has long been a leader in mobile browsing with its Mini product, must also contend with new engines such as Google Chrome’s V8 and Apple’s Squirrelfish Webkit (Doctor Seuss goes to Cupertino.) With fully integration with Windows 7, native HTML 5 and CSS 3support and improved security, the Opera 10.5 Beta is seeking alpha.

• Brand Building with Dot ME – An Interview with Bruce Marler

  by Bradley in Domains on February 8th, 2010 4 Comments

  This month we’re rolling out one of the lowest .ME domain name prices on the market, and recently spoke with developer Bruce Marler about the extension. Bruce is building out a network of ME sites through his company Localtek which is expanding to help bring small and rural businesses online.

  You recently launched Oklahoma.me after the success of its sister Missouri.me site. How has working with local business owners and consumers shaped your views on the potential for the ME extension?

  When we first came up with the concept for our community site platform and branding using the .ME extension we felt confident that the .ME extension would resonate with the general public. Well, to say the least we have been proved correct. We continue to get amazingly positive feedback on using .ME from people that are not from the tech industry, in other words, real consumers and business owners.

  As a matter of fact just recently we had the VP of Marketing for a very large regional bank stop a presentation to talk about how great the .ME extension is for branding, this is a very conservative company and to have a company such as that talk about how .ME works great for geo and community level branding says a lot.This is not the only time something like this has happened but this example goes along way.

  Did you have a particular vision when you began investing in ME domains? Did the personalization aspect draw you to the extension?

  ME was really one of only a few extensions that had been repurposed that actually made sense, it is pronounceable, short, and extremely brandable. Although in the beginning I had planned to use the .ME names I acquired during landrush as an investment the names I selected were based on the ability to use them for community and personalization. .ME is perfect to create a personal brand. There really is no better extension for this, as a matter of fact I invested in several first name .ME domains just for this reason.

  Major brands such as Wordpress (WP.me), Universal Pictures and Facebook (FB.me) are now using ME domains for promotions – how do you think businesses can use the extension to create memorable brands?

  -With .ME you can create a perfect call to action or verb related site with a name that makes an impact, people remember it.

  -You will see more of this, I am already starting to see .ME showing up in searches I make for different terms I have searched for, they are being developed and I truly think this is just the beginning.

  - Call to action names have always been popular with branding, now think about having it attached to a domain extension that makes them personalize the action being requested and it takes it one step further.

  Dot ME has come a long way from its origins as the country code of Montenegro in the past few years – where do you see the extension heading in the near (and far) future?

  - The extension is going to grow in popularity for both personal branding and for company branding initiatives. Our plans are to take our state geo platform and launch in many more states which takes the brand to a end user level and not just the tech crowd which are typically the first people that see new extensions like this.

  - With the reaction we have had from real customers and end users there is no doubt .ME is here to stay, with the hard work the .ME registry is doing it will only take it further.

  - Add to that the fact that Facebook, Wordpress, and others are using the extension and the millions of people they have as users and this extension, more than any other new extension, has the ability to soar in popularity due to the comfort level people will have with it as it is already part of their everyday internet lives.

• Less (Projects) is More – An Interview on Project Tracking

  by Bradley in Domains on February 6th, 2010 Post a comment

  We’re big fans of applications that improve the organization and planning for web development projects. So, when we came across Less Projects (at new project tracking software app from the fine folks at Less Everything), we wanted to learn more. We recently spoke with Steven Bristol, a leading Ruby on Rails developer on the how less is more when it comes to project management:

  WF: When compared to other apps such as Basecamp what sets Less Projects apart?

  Basecamp is a great product, and the folks at 37signals are top notch, but these two tools really approach the problem of project management from very different perspectives. Basecamp is centered around messages and communication between client and consultants. The problem for us is that we don’t want to talk to our clients that much. We want to talk to understand their needs and then we want them to get out of our way so we can make something extraordinary for them.

  

  Less Projects

  So for us, Basecamp has the wrong emphasis. That’s exactly why we created LessProjects. The focus of LessProjects is getting things done and letting you know how much more you have to do in this iteration and to do that it has to be easy to manage iterations. It’s a task based system where tasks are assigned to iterations. Each task has a status, can be assigned to someone and can easily be moved between iterations. There is also the sticky notes view where you can see your wall of tasks as if you had push-pinned them all to a wall yourself.

  WF: Your team uses Rails – how has Ruby allowed you to improve the effectiveness of your applications?

  I’ve been writing Rails since 2005 and we use it almost exclusively here at Less. Since why Rails is better/great has been discussed ad nauseum, I won’t bore you with it again here. I’ll just say: Rails is better, Rails is faster, Rails is more secure, Rails feels like home, Rails feels like it loves me (the developer).

  WF: Less Projects features a clean, intuitive design – how did the front end and back end development process work in tandem?

  My partner, Allan Branch, is a designer, and I am a developer; we both do pretty well with UI. LessTimeSpent.com started as an Allan project where Allan did the design for the whole site and then said “See what I’m trying to do? Now go make it work.” LessProjects started at a Steve project and every time I tried to explain the UI to Allan or any of the Less Guys, I just got blank stares back at me. So I built it, basically as it is today. Then Allan came in and designed it (recently Allan updated the design but the UI is essentially the same). That’s how it goes at Less. Either we work together, as we did with LessAccounting.com, or one of us takes the lead and the other jumps in later.

  WF: We really like your saying, “Be Yourself. Be saintly. Be Love.” – how to you recommend developers keep their projects organized, enjoyable and, most of all, effective?

  The most important thing to do to achieve these goals is to stay focused. Only check twitter and gmail twice during your work day. If a lot of people IM you, turn it off. The next level of focus is to really know what you want, and build only that. If you only have a vague idea, start building anyway, but only start if you are comfortable with the fact that you will throw some large parts of your work away when you realize that your vision has shifted. The most important part of job satisfaction is launching something. If you don’t ever get to launch then you are the tree in the forest that fell and no one heard you. Even if it’s scary to launch, do it. If you’re wondering if your app is ready to launch right now, then it is. Don’t worry, no one’s going to look at it anyways (not at first). Launch it and feel good. That’s what we did with LessProjects, we launched it when it was little more than a glorified to do list. We launched a few more times since then and we’ll launch a few more before we’re done. We still consider LessProjects an Alpha version. It’s been out for almost a year and it’s still free (pretty soon it won’t be free). Stop what you’re doing right now and launch. And then go celebrate.