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BackupMyBlog
After my misadventures in server admin the other day I found myself wondering why someone hasn't built a service to automagically backup blog databases. Since blogs are still about as complicated to manage technically as they were five years ago and the median blogger is trending less and less tech-savy, this seems like a golden opportunity for someone.
Amazingly just as I was thinking that Doug Martin left a comment about his new web service backupmyblog.com. After a quick sign-up process they install a small bit of software on your server that backs up your blog's database every day. Right now it is in beta and is free, but it will eventually be $20/3 months of daily backups. If you have several years worth of blog posts this may be a nice little service to give you peace of mind.
Needless to say, I've signed up.
Technorati Tags: blog backupAloha
So this is pretty much really embarrasing, but Aloha has been on my radar for a couple years now and I've avoided checking them out simply because some pimple-faced teenage record store clerk told me they were a prog band. Thankfully You aint no Picasso ran a little blurb about them today and I managed to overcome my very healthy fear of prog long enough to realize what I've been missing. I am not going to rest until I get my hands on their entire back catalog.
@#$!: Adventures in server administration
Disclaimer: You probably don't want to read this. It is more cathartic for me than anything else. I apologize in advance for the nerd angst.
If you've stopped by here lately, you may have seen a real nice error message leading you to think I screwed something up real good. Your thoughts would be correct, as I made the mistake of trying to upgrade my MySQL database. Luckily I resisted my natural urge to just plow ahead and backed up my databases before uninstalling MySQL. I used the seemingly helpful "export" tool in PHPMyAdmin, fully expecting to be able to use the "import" tool after the upgrade. That was the plan anyway.
Right after checking to make sure the exported file looked something like a database, I upgraded MySQL. Then for kicks I upgraded PHPMyAdmin too. Finally I tried to import my old databases back into the shiny new MySQL. That's when I noticed that my exported file was over twice the maximum allowed size. Why would PHPMyAdmin allow me to export a file twice as large as I can import? Because it hates me, that's why. I then tried to split the file into two smaller files, when I noticed that I had nearly 2 million lines of SQL from the Bad Behavior comment spam filter (which I highly recommend aside from that little issue). I know there is an easy way to get rid of the lines via the Terminal, but I'm not that smart so I manually scrolled through the whole thing and deleted chunks at a time. This was clearly the least effective way to do this. (Q: How long does it take to delete 2 million lines of code by hand? A: Over 45 minutes) So long story longer, after also screwing up the character type of my backup file somehow, I finally resorted to pasting in sql queries one line at a time. That is how much I care about you, gentle Moustache blog reader.
The best part of the story is this: I upgraded MySQL so that I could install gtd-php, a really nice looking Getting Things Done system. After all that trouble, it still doesn't work! I'm filing this one under "@ Someday Maybe".
Technorati Tags: MySQL PHPMyAdmin GTDLast.fm has support for iPods now
This might not be new, but I just noticed that you can now sync up your iPod with your last.fm profile. Exciting stuff.
Moustache Moustache Moustache Moustache
This is why we created the internet.
"Hyper-artsy and Uber-fartsy, it is all about the power and the glory of the most manliest manly man thing a manly man can have...a moustache."
Technorati Tags: moustachePersonal Referrals pages
This may be pretty common but I've never seen it before. Joshua Steimle, the owner of MWI (Salt Lake City's finest web development firm) has created a page of "People & Businesses I Trust." I really like this because I know who Joshua is from his blog, and have good reason to trust his recommendations for Web hosting, printing, and other services. I also know that he's more than forthcoming when he has a bad experience.
This whole "trusted referrals" thing may have a future. To break out my old SAT skills, Edgio is to Ebay as Personal Referral pages are to Judy's Book. Where Judy's Book aggregates reviews by service, the personal referrals approach aggregates by user. You may lose some quantity of reviews, but the quality goes way up. I'd totally dig pages created by experts about trusted resources they use. This could be spammed a million different ways, but what good thing can't these days?
Link found at Good Recruits.
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Some super quick book notes
. Believe me, this is the last place you should be looking help with accounting software! I recommend trying Amazon instead.Ever since I wrote my Amazon SLC Library Lookup script, I've been consuming books at a much higher rate than normal. Here are a couple of thoughts about some of the more recent books I've finished.
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - I had been wanting to read this for a while, and by the time I actually got around to reading it, the book had built up a tremendous amount of praise. Yet somehow this book is still underrated. The chapter about why crack dealers live with their mothers was particularly exciting.
Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers - Robert Scoble and Shel Israel's book about corporate blogging was set up in my mind to be Cluetrain Part 2. Thankfully it wasn't. By the end I found myself almost completely agreeing with their belief that nearly any business can benefit from blogging. Highly recommended if you thought corporate blogging was only for tech companies like I did.
The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture - This is a lot less about Google than I thought, and about 100x more stimulating than a book about Search has any right to be. I think The Search is best described as an authoritative history of the entire internet, the majority of which has been shaped by Google. Interestingly I came away from this book with a bit of a funny taste in my mouth that has only gotten stronger over the past few months.
The Republic of Tea : Letters to a Young Zentrepreneur - Essentially a large collection of faxes between a passionate, young entrepeneur and his equally passionate senior partners about the starting of a tea company in the early '90s. This is a really fascinating look at the birth of a company from the inside, without the warm nostalgia of retrospect. This book gave me about a billion ideas for my side project / pipe dream web app. Some of which I will probably discuss here soon.
Getting Real - I just finished this one tonight. It's a really quick read, especially if you have been reading the 37signals blog for the past year or so. Even so, there is value in reading it straight through and getting "the vision" and stuff. I waver on being a big 37signals fan and finding them a bit tiresome, but the book stays reasonably grounded. I think this is the perfect little book to give to the boss who doesn't really get it.
Technorati Tags: book review getting real republic of tea google search naked conversations freakonomicsThe Motion Sick
There was a period of time around 1994/5 when I was pretty much obsessed with bands from Boston. It started when I realized a large number of my favorite bands (Pixies, Sebadoh, Morphine) were from there and it got to the point where I was buying pretty much anything that was recorded at Fort Apache. So when I first heard The Motion Sick, I knew they were from Boston even before I checked their site. If you are down with the early-90's Boston sound, you are down with this. Their debut record is closer to a Weezer/Bright Eyes mashup than anything else, and there are a couple of week songs, but there are also some really pretty good songs too. How's that for a completely unhelpful review.
MP3 The Motion Sick - Satellite
Technorati Tags: music mp3 motion sick bostonRE: That KFC Tivo ad stunt
I meant to post about this awhile ago, but I figured it was so dumb it would kind of go away. By now you have no doubt heard all about the TV spot KFC made that you have to watch in slow motion to get a coupon code for a free sandwich. According to a little blurb I heard on NPR 90% of fast food ads are skipped by Tivo users. So obviously instead of finding a relevant way to market to their key demographics (which I assume are firefighters who want tiny little sandwiches called "Snackers"), they went with a cheap gimmick that will have astronomically diminished returns the next time they (or someone else) tries it.
The simple truth is that people generally don't want to watch fast food commercials. Trying to trick them into doing so offers no real lasting reward for anyone. Instead of spending big money on an ineffective television ad, why not find some way to create a conversation with consumers that will actually help people want to eat your food? Probably because the advertising budgets are all tied up in contracts with big ad agencies who find it easier to film a lame but safe tv commercial than find some new way to reach people. To paraphrase the famous IBM quote, no one ever got fired for making a tv spot. Of course, no one bought a Buffalo Snacker(TM) from one either.
This is reason number 1,412 why I have no desire ever to work in the advertising industry again.
P.S.- The secret code is "Buffalo", but they seem to have run out of Buffalo Snackers(TM). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to grab me a bucket of chicken.
Technorati Tags: tv television marketing advertising tivo kfc