Since Oracle purchased Sun, Apple decided to switch its default database installed from MySQL to Postgres. Which is awesome. But I needed MySQL for a project I’m working on… That’s when I found this great MySQL install script that made install stupid simple. Then I installed Sequel Pro, which I’m quickly beginning to love. Up and running in no time. Sweet!…

Today I needed to move a ton of static media files over to a new server (we’re switching hosts at work.) In this case we previously had some of the large media files on a CDN that we’re moving away from and these files I now need to host on the same server as the rest of the stuff. Only problem is there is over 3,000 files and many of them large videos and images.…

Recently I was working on the Magento installation at work. No, I don’t recommend Magento, but anywho, it’s a large repository. Magento large. In the future I’m just going to use the word Magento in place of anything that is freaking huge. You should too. Git has worked just fine with over 20 commits on the repo since I started. But a few days ago I added a folder with about 70 or so large static files, images, videos and so forth.…

I started building sites with Django in 2008 and it’s a little crazy to look back and see the improvements and growth that Python and Django has experienced in that time. Remember trying to install everything with Macports? Environments were a beast to deal with. Then a few years ago Homebrew came along and its now pretty much the first thing I install on a new Mac to start setting up a local dev environment.…

Today I had the joy of installing an old Magento version on my local MAMP setup. Most everything went well. I first tried to install the old sample data with it but the download that was available was obviously not correct, resulting in tons of SQL errors. So I decided to just install it clean with no sample data. Everything went fine until I tried to log into the admin and PHP can’t store the session into a TLD like localhost, so it was time to fire up some virtualhosts with period in them so that Magento can work, cause……

Anyone who knows me pretty much knows I don’t hold much love for Magento. I respect the system and even more so the business the founders made by creating Magento, but every time I’ve worked with it, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that this should be simpler. A LOT simpler. I remember first hearing about Magento in 2007 when I worked at iFrogz and at the time it was the first full featured cart that actually looked decent.…

I started work at Listen this morning. It was the typical first day at work except that I really couldn’t have felt more welcome. Listen Technologies makes fabulous assistive listening and audio conferencing devices. And even though they are basically a Windows only shop they didn’t flinch at meeting my request for a Mac. Here was my desk: Yep, that’s a Macbook Pro with retina display. And to top it off when I got home from work a basket of cookies had been delivered welcoming me to the Listen fold!…

Yesterday while walking out in the yard in the slightly springtime weather my son held up a flower. He asked, “Dad, do you think this is edible” “No” “Whoops!” So yeah, be careful what you eat. Note that it had no effect on him and it probably was just fine but I’d rather not have him eating every plant he came across to test it. He likes watching all the survivor shows enough already as it is.…

Anyone who uses Google Adwords knows how valuable those star ratings can be on ads. They provide a higher click through rate and a better conversion rate as well. Thats because they convey trust. But in some cases they are just downright wrong. Maybe even to the point of being, dare I say, downright evil. Lets look at an example: Not a bad text ad. And I’m not just saying that because I wrote it :) No problem there except when you click on the ratings.…

After receiving a Nook simple touch for Christmas in 2011 I took my reading habit to an entirely new level in 2012. It was just too easy to pick up and read and it fit in my pocket, so I pretty much took it with me and read whenever I had some free time. Here’s a list of books I read in 2012. The Hunger Games 1, 2 and 3 Suzanne Collins The first book was excellent and then it went downhill for me.…