CRE Loaded Dreamweaver Extension

Posted on November 25, 2007
Filed Under Technical Resources | Leave a Comment

I’ve been actively working to get the CRE Loaded Dreamweaver Extension complete but had ran into issues with the differences in template code between versions.  The CRE BTS system, unlike other template engines changes its core so frequently that building templates in the past has been an expensive endevour.   The only real reason why many template houses charge so much money for templates for CRE has everything to do with the complexity of the code in making it work relatively cleanly across many installations.

This version of the CRE DW Extension will have only basic layout and foundation tools for building templates as testing and feedback from users will be most beneficial in determining what is working and what isn’t.

Check the download section later in the week.

 

Joomla OpenSEF Download Link

Posted on November 24, 2007
Filed Under Technical Resources | 7 Comments

Joomla Search Engine Friendly

Its been my opinion that the best open source freely available component for Joomla SEF is the OpenSEF Component. Unfortunately further development on the component seems to have fallen off the map as many claim to be furthering development yet none seem to post any progress or updates. Regardless, since there didn’t seem to be any download link for this in the Joomla Forums or the Joomla Component Index today I figured I’d make it available here.

Download the OpenSEF Component RC5 Service Pack 2

Download: Joomla OpenSEF Component RC5 Service Pack 2

Itronix Rugged Laptop Driver Software

Posted on November 22, 2007
Filed Under Products | 98 Comments

General Dynamics Itronix Rugged Computers – eBay – Sofware

Itronix Rugged LaptopSome time ago I purchased a handful of Itronix computers through ebay in hopes that I would have affordable entry level computer durable enough to give to my youngest daughters. Each computer was sure to suffer some battle scars as the machines get hauled around which had me concerned. After a great deal of searching I was glad to discover that eBay had several rugged laptops from Itronix listed and all reviews for the item were quite positive. Retailing originally at or about $3,500 it became clear that I had found the ideal solution. A great buy considering other options, after upgrading memory and hard drives the total investment proved to cost less even combined than a well put together desktop system. My girls are happy with their new found mobility and rugged features of the laptops so I’m happy.

I ended up winning the bids on three IX-250 models and a single IX-260 all in relatively flawless condition as each was a corporate lease return item. The only issue I discovered was the absolute lack of support software and system drivers necessary to load an Operating System on each as these machines are on average, 3 – 5 years old. However, after spending many days of searching downloading and installing software, I decided to package each of the driver packages up in case someone else finds the need for the software. Below is a basic outline and download link should you consider similar options.

Itronix Go Book IX 250 – Software Drivers

The Go Book IX-250 is a great entry level machine for children and of all those I’ve stumbled upon, I’m glad I found several with CD-ROM’s as not all are equally equipped.

Each has a P4 CPU running at 850 MHz and CD-ROM and a touch screen with stylus. Naturally with the plummeting cost of memory and storage devises, I quickly upgraded to 512 meg of RAM and a 60GB shock resistant IBM hard drive. An affordable WiFi card and new stylus for each put three of my girls in command like never before. No fighting over the computer anymore and each machine is capable of running several learning game software programs they love and plenty of MSN and chat features keeps em busy for many hours a day.

IX 250 Software Download  For Additional downloads for the Itronix Computers is available in the Downloads Area

Itronix Go Book IX 260 – Software Drivers

Itronix Rugged LaptopThis single machine I purchased for myself after having my Dell crash on me only to discover that tech support with Dell was vastly lacking. Not only was the Dell computer tech support call forwarded to India, the language barrier proved so difficult I still haven’t been able to resolve the problems related to hardware to this day. So Dell is OUT and an affordable travel worthy bullet proof tough book is in. Costing about $500 and change the IX 260′s feature an 1.7ghz CPU that can be upgraded along with the RAM and HD to compete with similarly older machines but still providing the forgiving design characteristics of a rugged laptop should a coffee cup spill over onto the keyboard.

After my brother examined the machine, he set out to purchase several off of ebay for his construction company for off site estimators and project appraisers. His wife, a professional real estate insurance agent often finds the need to photograph properties and would love to have a solution that could survive traveling woes and the Rugged Itronix seems to be a sure win as computing power is not as essential as durability in both their occupations.

Should you end up with the Itronix IX-260 please find the software drivers here.

IX 260 Software Download
 For Additional downloads for the Itronix Computers is available in the Downloads Area

Military and Law Enforcement Grade Computing

Itronix Rugged Laptop Military UseA few final notes on the computers is that not all of them come equipped for you to install an Operating System via a CD-ROM or DVD. Since many of those on eBay are either Law Enforcement turn-ins, these Military grade computers very rarely have the kinds of common peripherals that normally come in your average laptop. Ideal for contractors, construction related businesses or just a person that wants to toss the computer in the back seat of his H2 before he heads out fishing as I do; then these are ideal computers. I figured if the Military and Police Departments find them rugged enough to use than my three youngest daughters will find them difficult to destroy. Weaning kids on computers is not really avoidable. The idea is to get them started on computers that can survive spilled juice, a drop down the stairs, bumps and bangs getting in and out of a car among all the other potential hazards was my goal. These computers, each less than $300 was WiFi capable, touch screen and multi media capable, have proven to be great first computers for children.

CRE Loaded Releases Major Update

Posted on November 16, 2007
Filed Under Real Estate Websites | Leave a Comment

Chain Reaction Ecommerce (CRE), makers of the popular open source shopping cart CRE Loaded, announce the release of CRE Loaded 6.2 SP1 with several new services, partner tie-ins, and essential updates and fixes. All CRE Loaded 6.2 storeowners (applies to Standard, Pro and Pro B2B applications) can visit www.creloaded.com and download SP1 for FREE.

New CRE Loaded Admin Panel Features

CRE MerchantSM for the best rates in credit card processing.
CRE MessengerSM for free in-store sales and customer-service chat.
New Partner Integrations available inside the CRE Loaded 6.2 SP1 admin panel:

PayPal Pro integration and PayPal certification – CRE Loaded

In addition to the integration of PayPal certification and PayPal pro features, this service pack update also includes the addition of BuySAFE transaction bonding service. The BuySafe transaction bonding service is used to enhance customer trust and security.

Additionally, features in this update included with CRE Loaded brings the MyStoreRewards pay-per-performance buyer-loyalty program as anticipated.

CRE Loaded with Godaddy.com

Google Feed support enhancements.
Enhanced Create Order and Edit Order functions for better product selection.
Enhancements to Sub-Product handling to provide more consistent functionality.
Major enhancements to the Affiliate presentation and reporting to reduce confusion.
Enabled editing of product prices when editing an order.
Fixes applied to the backup.php and backup_mysql.php to better support compression.
Corrections to the PayPal IPN module to support Invoice Number and Printing.
Easy Populate Advanced Import / Export updated to work in a PHP 5.2 environment.
Several enhancements to better support special characters, such as apostrophes, in product names and attributes.

A major change to Sessions to provide more stability.
Correction to Date handling for Spanish-language sites.
Several enhancements to Coupon handling and functionality.

Why you should avoid paid links like the plague.

Posted on November 13, 2007
Filed Under Design | 1 Comment

AVOID PAID LINKS – OR SUFFER GREATLY

Here is a small little blurb about a recent discovery I encountered with a client of mine that got brutally crucified by Google for selling paid links. I’ve never entertained the idea of selling advertising of any kind on my site aside from Google Ad Sense and after doing some detective work on options available for future reference one thing surfaced as an absolute dangerous practice.

Selling links seems to be this little fad that site owners feel they can beat ole google at its game and I’m simply going to say this. You play with fire, you will get burned eventually. Selling links is deception in the eyes of many SEO experts and although I haven’t been able to find many people outright calling the practice “Black Hat” I’m under the belief its exactly that.

Reciprocal Link Exchange Programs – Fraud?

Long long ago before people got beat up with the reciprocal linking fall out, I was involved with a client that was smack in the middle of financing and producing a PHP script that would put most link farm solutions to pure shame. Had it not been for the brutal reality of reciprocal linking rising up and taking many by surprise this person would have continued investing tons of cash in his dream machine application. At the time this person felt it could be marketed globally for hundreds of dollars a copy.

I’ve never liked the notion of people exchanging links because of the cheaper than cheap appeal and quite honestly it looks like fraud to many. I’ve always asked myself “why would a Realtor link to another Realtor anyway”? Or any industry for that matter. I’m sure Google has asked that same question a few times I’m sure. I mean seriously, people who sell clothing or watches or even jewelery online don’t have links to competitors even if they are in different markets.

Not to single out Realtors specifically but this market and the Realtors who represent it, I find I have a great deal of compassion for. I’ve been providing services to Realtors for 11 years having started out in the print industry and I’ve always been amazed at how “industry firsts” approach Realtors for every stupid gimmick, gadget, and fad wasting time and resources the moment they are out of the gate. Intelligent Realtors know that fundamentals never die and all the car magnets, door hangers, balloons in the air and faceless institutional advertising mean little in providing a service to clients. But some one sold Realtors on a bag of tricks that was based largely on black hat principles working under the white hat pseudo facade. That trick was forecast almost 5 years ago as a negative that would surface to bite, and that was reciprocal link exchanges. What is a safe alternative then?

Paid Links ARE Bad – Is There A Safe Alternative? I think so!

About a year ago on one of my blogs I DON’T cross link to this one began by publishing “Content” written from those who wish to provide a link leading to their sites. Today that blog, which again, I don’t link to from here or the reverse, has risen from a nothing site to a PR6 blog ranking #1 in google for every single one of my chosen keyword terms. WHY? Well I have a theory and its one I’m going to start practicing here at my personal blog as well as the blog at the college I maintain. My theory is this;

Content is King! End Theory!

Look at it this way. A standard ole hyper link is about as exciting as watching dust settle on my Hummer because I can’t afford the gas. But when a person asks me for a link, I reply and say yep no problem, you write content or an introduction about what it is that you want the link to and I’ll give you the link, NO COST. It needs to be RELEVANT and it needs to be in some way related to a category that I have in the blog and it shouldn’t compete with that blog. I gain search engine food, the content, and you gain a one way link or several if need be to articulate your article.

I’m starting this practice for this blog now that I have the updated scripts installed and anyone who provides content related to something in design, testimonial, art, templates, Joomla, Open Realty, you name it. I’ll even entertain competing content links providing the article is intelligent and informative. Tutorials are the ideal. If my THEORY is correct, the results garnered on my 6 other blogs will replicate herein. The old saying should ring true; “you follow the same recipe, you get the same results”. That being the subject of yet another post forthcoming.

In conclusion: You want links on other peoples sites? You want those links one way? You want links that are relevant and in my opinion more effective than any paid link could be? Then offer unique well drafted content to site owners. Paid Links will hurt you if you are caught by Google offering them or even buying them as I understand it, so don’t do it.

For more information on the subject you can visit a few sites of people I have a great deal of respect for. Matt Cutts, Greg Boser, and more to follow.

Template Monster Conversions – CMS CSS / XHTML

Posted on November 9, 2007
Filed Under Design, Products | 5 Comments

Real Estate – CMS – Joomla – WordPress – Open Realty Template Monster

It seems to be an increasingly popular request by people wanting to take a design they find in a template club or template house and have it converted to function with a CMS. The converting of stock templates from Boxed Art, Template Monster, and other template suppliers into a fully dynamic solution for popular CMS can be a rather complex chore. Many of these template suppliers provide visually attractive designs in largely static variants that are all to often also coded using standards now since expired.

Taking one of these designs and converting it to a valid XHTML / CSS layout then porting the template to work with Joomla, Open Realty, WordPress among others is really a task best suited for the Rapid Template Design Series. This single minded approach assists myself and my partner with the kind of conversion speed necessary to put the RTDS through its paces.

But how much is a conversion to one of these flavors of CMS solutions? Lets look at just three in summary to help you get an idea.

Joomla – Converting templates to XHTML / CSS for Joomla CMS $125+

Joomla as many would agree, is likely the worlds most popular and effectively built CMS solutions available today. What once cost corporations and government agencies tens of thousands of dollars in the past can now be done for a fraction of the cost. What I mean by that statement is that CMS solutions were and quite honestly still are expensive investments. With the availability of applications like Joomla the cost can be reduced and better allocated toward training and features in design that better suit the visitors needs.

Taking a template from one of the template suppliers and converting it is by no means a quick operation as many things need to be taken into consideration. When such requests are asked of us we always recreate the design in XHTML / CSS valid layout prior to porting it to Joomla.

WordPress – Converting templates to XHTML / CSS for WordPress $125+

WordPress stands in my fully biased position as the ONLY blog worthy of attention by serious site owners. I make such a bold statement like that after spending several years working with this marvel of publishing prowess and I have found no application quite like it anywhere on the web.

When serious businesses want to improve market effectiveness many opt in for WordPress. Every single real estate site I’ve ever built that ranked and did so well, did so because of WordPress. I can go on for hours on the ways we achieve this but very few words would articulate what WordPress is prepared to provide out of box.

The simple fact is no one wants a site that looks like someone else’s (carbon copy that is). So many times we take clients Photoshop concepts or templates from a variety places and convert them to work with WordPress after XHTML / CSS validation is achieved. The powerful benefits in the RTDS makes this possible for a fraction of the cost of a custom design and reduces turn around to an afternoon in most cases. WordPress template conversions are particularly suited to my field of expertise.

Open Realty – Converting templates to XHTML / CSS for Open Realty $125+

Open Realty is one of the premier Real Estate Listing Managers available today. One of the difficult things that has troubled Open Realty site owners is the lack of good quality templates at turnkey prices. Custom designs begin on average at $350 and quickly go up depending on integration and features.

Using the RTDS with client provided designs reduces costs to well below $200 on average. Frequently I encounter people who wish to have an attractive template monster design converted to operate with Open Realty. I’m happy to say that in the three years I’ve been building templates for Open Realty I’ve only encountered two designs that could not be effectively converted. Some designs are simply better suited for CMS systems like Joomla with an Open Realty Integration.

Open Realty Joomla WordPress Integrated – Converted templates as XHTML / CSS $425+

Not yet in my product list, the conversion of a commercial template from a template club to an integrated solution is by no means a simple procedure. However with the code snippets we use for integration we are able to bring together truly impressive designs in a valid XHTML / CSS solution to site owners at a fraction of the cost of full blown custom coding.

Feel free to contact me with questions regarding templates you are considering for conversion.

Morgan Carey – REW PREN Hacking – Timely Apology

Posted on November 2, 2007
Filed Under Real Estate News | 12 Comments

Well articulated apology given by Morgan Carey

Morgan Carey, the owner and co founder of Real Estate Webmasters provided a rather lengthy and well articulated apology today regarding the disparaging events that victimized the PREN forums earlier this week.

Informative, clear, and certainly well presented, Morgan Carey stated that upon careful examination of the evidence being presented by PREN administrators and technical staff, he was able to successfully ascertain that the hacking could very well have been a rogue employee. After Morgan Carey conducted his own exhaustive internal investigation, Carey appears confident in his findings as he expressed his apology directly to PREN by stating;

“… PREN although I will never agree with your practices of allowing anonymous users to post defamatory statements regarding REW, I do think this staff member crossed the line.”

Mr. Carey continues on with the apology by stating his concerns regarding the apparent rivalry between his forums at Real Estate Webmasters and the forums for the Pro Real Estate Network. The 1,000+ word post went into lengthy detail regarding what Morgan believes to be the true nature of the unfortunate disruption regarding the PREN forums and states that similar although unrelated attacks on his own forums have taken place over the span of Real Estate Webmasters lofty presence on the internet. Webmasters and forum administrators would certainly agree that sites that are on the top in stature and presence do in fact become targets of malicious attacks and defamation which is simply a painful reality we all face.

Morgan Carey, more apologetic than sympathetic in his post made several references to the rivalry between his forum and forum(s) in a less than direct way which could leave some to conclude that the motive was entirely predatory. Predatory attacks do take place as we see headlines of such behavior between rivals all the time. Morgan Carey was careful to disclaim such motives outwardly but the voice of his message leaves an impression that such a motive may have been the case. When one considers that no fewer than 7 (seven) forums did surface as a result of rivalry or differences in authority and opinion by former long standing members and co-founders of REW; rivalry seems to be an appropriate conclusion in the hidden suggestion of such.

Rogue REW Employee Hacks PREN forums?

As it appears, the most informative and important facet of this event is the revealing of Morgan Carey’s internal investigation. The investigation apparently netted REW staff the conclusion that it may likely be the fact that REW’s own employee perpetrated the malice against the PREN forums. Interestingly enough, each of the forums, REW and PREN, do in fact use the popular vBulletin forum software to power their growing communities. An employee with knowledge and familiarity of vBulletin could in fact compromise passwords.

However, a question sits on the tongues of the curious; Was this event by direct command or was it fully without express knowledge of Morgan Carey that the compromised password and act of violating the PREN’s forums was ensue (ensue not always clear). Either way, from a legal stand point we discover that REW could very well be fully liable for the acts of its employees rendering express knowledge moot in the eyes of the law.

Since Morgan Carey is not known for his technical ability but rather his SEO prowess, does lend a level of credibility regarding his denial of involvement. The mining of vBulletin passwords is a lofty task for the non technical as the software does not divvy up such information easily. Compromised passwords take the kind of knowledge only the very skilled would possess.

Alternatively, a plugin could have been installed allowing vBulletin administrators (or assigned powers to be) to see and or edit passwords on a whim. Morgan states that such an ability is not in their means and not part of their administrative practices. It is known however that vBulletin third party developers have made available many expanding additions to the software that give more control and power over their forums. Some are less than ethical in my biased opinion. Some of these plugins provides forum owners casual access to information perceived to be private as in private messaging between members as well as monitoring of other member interactions. Interestingly, such features would not likely be installed without the express knowledge of a forums owner.

Bench warmers on the sidelines still express opinion regarding these events as clearly drawn lines of bias or should I say indifference riddle the forums and blogs around the web. One thing is for certain, should the investigation conducted by the US Justice Department net contradicting evidence to this latest explanation, many may conclude the outer most extremes of webmaster ethics in ways that could harm the entire industry. Webmasters have been coming under increasing fire in recent months as an apparent trend in forum moderation seems to also include censorship, deception and outright policing of member interaction in what is perceived to be a community or publicly accessible forums. Fallout and swift changes in pledge of allegiance may surface.

PREN administrators oppose the notion in Morgan’s apology that they participate in the practices of allowing anonymous or guest users to make posts. PREN policy is “policy” not “police” and albeit more open to the freedoms not afforded elsewhere with opinions, guests and the anonymous are not permitted persons to make posts.

Morgan Carey’s apology, although clearly sided and albeit carefully written with disclaimer verbiage, does seem genuine rather than damage control motivated on the surface. Conclusions I’m sure will meet with disagreement, Morgan’s timely apology presents some logical answers that will be the subject of many forums and blogs today I’m sure. The rogue employee findings does answer some very interesting questions which will be discussed abroad. Such a finding would not be impossible or even out of the question as you may very well agree.

Regardless of differences between those pro or contra, Morgan Carey’s apology was timely and appropriate as was foreseen just 24hours prior. We eagerly await the feedback we are sure to see across the web. As an active member of Real Estate Webmasters forums myself I’ve been hesitant to visit and make posts because of perceived rivalry between the forums even though I’ve found interaction with REW members rewarding in the past. As the Administrator or Moderator of many forums across the web, situations like this leave me in a state of empathy and concern for those determined to undermine one another. Lets hope this isn’t the case!

PREN Recovered Hacked Posts

Posted on November 1, 2007
Filed Under Real Estate News | 2 Comments

Hacked posts in PREN potentially recovered

Alleged hacking by Real Estate Webmasters – Morgan Carey – May have done little damage.

After careful examination of the backup inventory it was discovered today that it may be possible to recover many of the deleted posts perpetrated by the user of the compromised moderator account.

Today, after being notified that the FBI will be looking at the server logs, I was expressly instructed to stand down on any updates, repairs and modifications in my attempts to recover the missing posts in Pro Real Estate Network Forums. Luckily, the vBulletin software features many essential characteristics beneficial to commercial forums that forever secure it in my preference as the ideal commercial tool for building large well managed communities. Had it not been for some of the applications features for backup and recovery the data that had PREN owners so very concerned, could have been lost forever. Essential to the government during its investigation into the allegations of Morgan Carey’s alleged intrusion, PREN owners and administrators vowed to cooperate with the investigation by providing critical historical data archived as a procedural practice since the forums inception.

PREN administrators, eager to assist in the investigation, express appreciation and gratitude for the absolutely stellar cooperation received by RackSpace, the company that manages the many servers used for PRENs business ventures. Gladly we can adequately defend and boldly protest that vBulletin itself was not compromised by a flaw or security threat present in the application as once considered.


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