Vooks Will Crush eBooks

I paid for and downloaded my first Vook, Crush It!, an ebook with embeded digital media, like videos.

The funny thing is I already own the physical Crush It! book, and have read it twice. But the added value of watching videos from Gary Vanerchuk, which gives the book enormous value.

I would really like to see Vooks available for all mobile platforms. You can buy a Vook for the computer desktop, which is still pretty cool, and watching the videos is much nicer on a large screen.

Vooks will crush eBooks. Once authors and publishers see the possibilities Vooks have over eBooks, value will increase for the reader and drive more profits to the author and publisher.

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WordPress Releases New iPhone App

This post is really a test using the new WordPress iPhone App, http://iphone.wordpress.org, version 2.1. I really want to test the picture upload feature.

You do have the ability to manage comments, but if you use a comment plugin system like Disqus, you can't moderate those comments.

I do like that you can create pages with this tool. I also like that I can manage multiple blogs.

I don't like that I can't insert a place holder god a photo, so I have no idea how the format will look. And how do create a linked word? Doesn't seem exist.

This is a great tool for creating quick, non-complicated posts.

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Two New Features I Love In Windows 7

I’ve been using Windows 7 for a few months, and I’ve come to enjoy two features not seen in Windows XP or Windows Vista.

The first is a fast list that is shown when you click on an item in the task bar and move the mouse up just slightly, this menu below will show up. It doesn’t work for every application, but for applications like browsers, you can quickly selected a web page you’ve visited recently. Kind of cool.

The next neat feature I really like, and in fact, one that ups the coolness factor, is the built in search. When you click on the start button, the expanding menu now includes a search box. If you’re looking for an application or document, start typing the name or key word, and a list of files or applications meeting your criteria show up. This has given me an increase in productivity when it comes to finding the application and documents I want to open.

I’m still not a Windows fan boy, but Windows 7 has been a lot easier to use than previous versions.

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5 Step Web Hosting Disaster Recovery Plan

In light of a recent web hosting snafu at MediaTemple, I wanted to share 5 things you can do to recover from a web hosting disaster. Most of these require some time to set up and your vigilance. But if followed, you can rebound from a disaster in a short amount of time.

1. Create your disaster recovery plan. The easiest part of a disaster recovery plan is to actually have a plan.This plan should include:

• A list of the sites you maintain
• A list of user names and passwords for your sites
• The databases names, server addresses or IP, user names and passwords, that are used for your list of sites
• FTP user names and passwords for each of your sites
• Your web hosts tech support number
• Have a backup web host decided in case for some reason you need to move quickly
• Know how to get into your domain registrar so you can change Name Servers if needed
• Name, number, email of a web professional that may be able to help restore your systems if needed

I recommend having it on paper, and online. Use Google Docs if you don’t have a word processor.

2. Create an automated backup of your site. This one step is vital to a disaster recovery plan. If you don’t have a complete backup, database and disk files, recovery is not in the cards. There are plenty of options available, and most hosting companies provide a backup mechanism. Automate if you can. At the very least complete a manual backup.

A word of caution here. Make sure you understand what your web host will and won’t back up for you. I found out the hard way when a previous host revealed they hadn’t been backing up my sites because I had to many files. Defeats the purpose of backing up.

3. Test your backups as least once a week. When you get your backups, whether they are in archived format or not, make sure the files are readable and can be use if and when the time comes. This is an advanced procedure, the longer between tests put you at greater risk for having a problem. For example, if for some reason you are unable to open the archives that hold your database SQL files, you would not be able to restore them again. This could be disastrous.

4. Put backups in multiple locations. If you keep all of your backups on the web server your sites are on, and it goes down, how will you get to your backups? I recommend you keep them in several locations.

• GMail is a great storage place for backups. Create a new account just to hold your backups.
• Copy your backups to a local hard drive.
• Keep a copy on another web site or service like Amazon S3.

5. At least once a month practice a recovery. If you run a critical web site, or you host sites for others, I would highly recommend you practice a complete recovery at least once a month, at the very least once a quarter. Using your plan to recover from you local backups, knowing how the restore process works with a database and FTP program to move files is important. Don’t wait until the something has happened just to find out you don’t have everything.

Technology fails. People fail. Both of these things can cost you time and money. You can never be too prepared. It doesn’t take much to get your plan in place. I’m sure there is more you can do, so by all means, add that to your plan. What else would you recommend?

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Two Impressive Ecommerce Plug-ins For WordPress

I’m asked frequently what ecommerce plug-ins I have used and recommend for WordPress. There are several options, but two stand out.

WP e-Commerce Plug-in For WordPress

WP e-Commerce is a free plug-in and can be installed right from the plug-in section of your hosted WordPress admin tool. There are several modules for this product including drop shipping, digital downloads, members only, and an affiliate option. These modules are reasonably priced, but can add up if your trying to be cost conscious.

Support for this plug-in comes from a forum on their site. Understand that a majority of questions about product issues are answered by community members. The website also encourages you to buy a documentation file for $35. I’ve never seen this before, but I suppose it’s their way of reducing the need to answer support questions. I should also mention the documentation isn’t written by the plug-in developer, but rather a user of the product.

If e-commerce isn’t your WordPress sites sole function, I would use WP e-Commerce. It’s simplicity and feature rich free version should be enough for the casual seller. A list of features can be found here.

Shopp Ecommerce Plug-in For WordPress

The next application I want to share is Shopp plug-in for ecommerce. This plug-in is not free, and you will pay for enhanced features. But the thing I really like about this product is it’s breadth of features. From the WordPress Dashboard integration to the drag and drop functionality of putting products in the shopping cart.

You’ll find advanced features like inventory management, multiple shipping types, data export for Excel and Quickbooks, and various language translations. One of the major features I think sets this product apart is the cross selling option. Like Amazon, you can give your buyers the ability to buy other products that may be related, or up sell them to something of more value. Other products in this space are rushing to implement this feature, it’s that important.

Support comes from a forum on the companies website, which seems to be pretty active. Take a look at the features here. While having to pay for modules may seem costly, these modules make the product a commercial grade ecommerce system that integrates into WordPress.

I’m finding Ecommerce is becoming a natural extension of the WordPress platform. I’ve installed both products, and find them to be the best available at this time. I would like to see these companies extend their products to work with mobile themes. As an example, if you are running the WPtouch plug-in, which gives iPhone users an elegant theme, you can’t use the shopping cart to buy products. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a mobile compliant site.

What ecommerce products have you used the integrate with WordPress? What has been your experience?

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