BizIII Blog

BizIII Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Now targeting a BizIII Revival after the first of the year.

There are a few things left to do.

Set up an intro and outro.
Set up a way to do interviews.
Set up a comment system

Then I will be ready to go.

Podsafe Music for the Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:53:00 +0000

There are just five tasks left to prepare for the podcast resuming.

One is to find some new music to use for beginning and end of the podcast.

Something that I can use without a fee, or a very minimum fee.
I will give credit on the website.
Something upbeat and catchy.
Something I can use everyday on the podcast.

I do not know the technical difference between

Copyright Free
Creative Commons
Podsafe
Free

Or any of the other designations for music. But I want something I can use without worry.

Podcast Duration

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:58:00 +0000

One of the descriptive items stored in the data base is podcast duration.

It is used on the podcast play screen.
It is used in the RSS Feed as one of the iTunes parameter.

I have entered the duration manually which means of course it is subject to error.

I am using a new routine called getid3 that gets information about an MP3 file including the duration.

I changed the file / database comparison program to include duration
About 10% of file duration did not match the database duration.
Most of them were off a second due to rounding. I brought up several on audacity to see exactly how long they were.
Several of them were apparently data entry issues - 3:12 instead of 3:21.
But some were off by a minute or more. Some of these the file was truncated.

So now I have a new task, to go through all the significant duration differences and see what the issues are. There is at least one podcast that is truncated and might need to be re-edited.

Created a new process to update database

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Created a process to automate the new podcast process.

Edit the podcast using Audacity

Clean up the podcast
Add music
Add MP3 tags for name, date, and comments

Upload the MP3 file to the web server

Run a new program that finds all the new podcasts and adds them to the database as follows:

URL
Name and Date and Comments from MP3 tags
File size and Duration derived

Then go to update program to add description and tags.

They will show up on podcast list when the date arrives automatically.

Completed the Converstion to the Database

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:43:00 +0000

The podcast meta-data is now all stored in the database. All the programs are now changed to use the database.

Next is the process to do new podcasts, upload them to the web server, and then update the database.

The Plan:

Edit the MP3 file
Add the MP3 tags
Upload to the Webserver
Generate the Database Update
Run the verify programs.

Getting something done every day

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Back to full implementation of the database.

For some of the processes, I read the database and created the podcast array and let the process read the array as it was doing.

But the major processes, I want to read the database directly. Only one more set of processes to do to be completely on the database.

IP 72.30.142.226 is Killing My Database

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:28:00 +0000

My database kept disappearing. All the data and table definitions were gone. The actual database name remained. It was as if someone had done a delete / define on the database.

As it turns out, that is exactly what was happening. When I create a database, I create a series of PHP/MySQL files to do all the things required to build and maintain the database.

Delete / define the database
Delete / define the tables
Load the tables
List the tables
Update the tables

It is a complete set of batch processes for maintaining the database. It can all be done using online tools, but it is an easy way to have to recreate things when required.

I thought maybe someone was running some of the batch processes, so I added an email notification for each batch job. It sends me an email whenever the job is executed.

Several mornings later I woke up to an email that told me IP 72.30.142.226 ran the database delete / define php program and zapped the database. I had the processes to immediately rebuild the database, but that was not the issue. Who was this killing my database?

72.30.142.226 is apparently part of the Yahoo search bot. From now on it is all speculation.

Can it be that to index the code it is being executed?
Is something more nefarious going on?
What could this be?
And most importantly, how do I stop it from happening.

I made sure that website had a robots.txt file with a disallow for the directory.

Anyone have a clue what is going on?

Adding a Database to the site

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:02:00 +0000

All the information about the podcasts were kept in an online array. I am now moving them to a database. I have a couple of things in mind as I do this.

I am trying to pay attention to the fact I could create a product for others to use - not so much for income as just to share.
I am tempted to read the database, create the array, and call it done - but I want to have it data base driven, so I am going through and changing each of the programs.
Like most programmers, I cannot get into the programs without making changes and cleaning things up.

The more things change, the more things stay the same

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:16:00 +0000

The podcast has been dormant for almost a year. I went through each of the podcast directories where the podcast was once listed.

Some of the directories are no longer there
Some of the directories have morphed into something else
But about 80% of the directories were still there with the BizIII entries.

For some of the directories, it would stay out there for an indefinite period demonstrating that once it is on the Internet, it will stay for a long time.

Other directories, like the Yahoo Podcast Directory, are long gone.

BizIII Accounts

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:34:00 +0000

In producing a podcast like BizIII and registering the podcast on directories and other sites, there are dozens of accounts created. Going back now to verify the accounts are still there is a long process of guessing user names and passwords, verifying the site is still active, and verifying it is a site I want to be using.

I am now using RoboForm so when I do capture user / password the information is captured in a way that I can easily access it.

I guess over all I am surprised at how much is still there, how much the footprint remains even after many months of the podcast being dormant.

Social Systems - Bookmarking

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:28:00 +0000

I have been working on the BizIII website - a little bit every day. Today I was verifying all the social bookmarking sites.

It creates perspective to see what was important some months ago - del.icio.us and other social booking marking sites were important. Today social systems are all about social networking sites.

I was interested to find out that both Google and Yahoo still have social bookmarking sites.

Tending a Web System is like tending a Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Yesterday I said I was reviving BizIII. I have started going through the website, blog, RSS feeds, and all the various pieces that comprise a Web Application.

Because it has been in disuse. It is like going back to a garden.

There are weeds. (broken and obsolete links)
There are bugs. (code that does no longer works because of environment changes)
There are new crops (newer and better ways of doing things)
There are dead crops (affiliate and ad accounts that are no longer active)

There is always the decision about whether to start over, or to start cleaning and improving. I I am going to try cleaning and improving for now.

The plan is to do a little bit everyday.

BizIII Revival

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:10:00 +0000

I am going to revive the daily podcasts. I am going through the process of reviewing website, blogs, and all the links to get everything up to date.

Steady as she goes

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:25:00 +0000

I have not made any posts for a while. The Podcast has been "steady as she goes". The infrastructure has remained somewhat constant for a while. That is soon to change. The first change is to add Database support.

The site is data driven using tables and files, but I am going to switch to MySQL.

I read back over some posts from a while ago, and first mentioned moving to MySQL in May of 2006. How time flies. One of the things holding it up was that the current web hosting does not support MySQL.

BizIII becomes a Vlog

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:07:00 +0000

Starting next week, BizIII will add video. We are recording both audio and video, and will release as both a video and an audio. It will add a level of complication, but we are anxious to see where it leads.

BizIII Administration

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 04:36:00 +0000

Continue to enhance the BizIII Administration functionality. It is set of webpages that contains links to the sites that support BizIII.

Google Adsense

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 02:43:00 +0000

Enhanced the Google Adsense on the website.

We use the BizIII website as a lab for what we discuss on the Podcasts. We reviewed Google adsense and all the varieties, and then added some to the website.

Adsense has the following types

1) Content (Text ads and Links)
2) Search
3) Referrals

We added more referrals and both types of content adsense.

Podlinez - Podcasts on the Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:04:00 +0000

"Podlinez is a free service that lets you listen to podcasts on your phone."

BizIII is now available through Podlinez and can be listed to on the phone.

Listen By Phone

podlinez.net

How to Construct Your Privacy Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:55:00 +0000

"Constructing a privacy policy is a simple process. Simply fill out the questions below and submit it to us - we'll send you a Web page to post to your site."

Most every website needs a privacy policy. This website contains a fill in the blanks tool to generate a privacy policy.

SpringWidget

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 08:08:00 +0000

Get this widget!

snap.com

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:37:00 +0000

Added snap.com to the entire website.

snap.com adds a visual of the webpage when you mouse over the link.

It is implemented for the website using javascript. I added it to the DWT once and it was there.
It replaces other mouse overs.
It does not work for relative links, only absolute links.
The first time it is used for a linked to webpage, it creates the image.

It is certainly fun to see for a while. I will evaluate after a while and see if I still like it.

Internet Presence

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 08:08:00 +0000

Enhanced the BizIII Internet Presence Page

The idea is to loosely keep track of where BizIII exists on the Internet

Podcast Directories
RSS Directories
Website Directories
Social Network Sites
Social Bookmarking Sites
Video Sharing Sites

As with other things on the website, it serves as an example and an illustration for things we discuss on the podcast.

Evoca

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 03:18:00 +0000

Added functionality to allow visitors to leave a voice comment.

The functionality is provided by Evoca.

See the BizIII contact page.

Podtrac Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:50:00 +0000

Set up the Podtrac Podcast Survey on each page.

Modified the menu entries to compress into less space to make room for the survey.

Google Site Map

noreply@blogger.com (Les Bain) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:08:00 +0000

Installed some PHP code in order to generate a Google Sitemap File.

Modified the PHP code to generate an entry for each Podcast.