Things in my Life

2016-08-11T13:01:00.000-04:00

If you run a website and embed videos, you need to read this. This trick will help you keep your viewers from wondering off your page when they get distracted by YouTube's suggested videos/

YouTube will show suggested videos at the end of your video. Sometimes these videos are called Recommended videos. These are the videos that show up when your video ends. See pic to refresh your memmory

This is very annoying as your viewer will be distracted by these suggested videos and move off your channel or worse, your website.

I run an online store and embed videos on my website. My customers love the videos, but the last thing I need is losing my customers to other "Suggested Videos" by Youtube. These suggested videos will temp your customers away from your website onto YouTube. This is a very bad thing for e-commerce merchants using youtube.

In my YouTube video (see below) I will show you how to stop the YouTube suggested videos. You will learn that how to simply stop YouTube from distracting your customers with Suggested Videos which appear at the end of your video. Learn how your video simply stops and this keeps your customers focus on your website. Watch and learn this simple trick which will keep your customers on your website and you will enjoy higher conversions and lower bounce rates.

Inventory Management Shopify - Why and Why not track inventory

2016-01-17T11:35:00.002-05:00

This is a tutorial on why you would use Shopify's inventory function.

Shopify offers a simple inventory management tool as part of its package. You may use the tool but are not required to. Today I am going to talk about the pros and cons of using inventory management and Shopify.

Why use Shopify's inventory control?

Inventory control is useful if you are a large business and need to track your inventory. However if you're a small store, like me, visual inventory control is simple and effective. By using Shopify's inventory control feature, you can always see how many items are available in your inventory to sell and which inventory items need to be restocked. This is especially useful if you rely on a drop shipper.

The Shopify inventory control feature has option that allows to stop selling or keep selling even if you are out of stock. This gives you lots of flexibility and offers control and options.

Option #1 Sold Out.

Shopify allows a product to show that it is "sold out". Make sure that you show related products on your product page. You hate to lose a sale because a customer leaves your store in disappointment. Related products are easy to show. Enable this feature in your theme's product page layout.

"Sold Out" is useful in creating a sense of urgency. For example, you might be selling several styles of signed, limited edition prints. Shopify's inventory control will allow you to show your customers how many prints available to sell and when it is "sold out". If your product page redirects your customer to other prints for sale, you would have created urgency to buy another style print before those also become "Sold Out".

Watch this online.

Option #2 Don't use any Shopify's inventory controls

Most of us have multi channels selling our products. Multichannel - that's just a fancy way of saying eBay, Amazon, Etsy and your bricks and mortar store. Keeping track of your inventory available for sale in all your sales channels is a daunting task. There are apps to manage this but for most of us the apps are too expensive and too complex to manage.

Since most of our stores are simple operations, we can manage our inventory visually by looking at what's on our shelves. But what happens when the item is out of stock?

Option #3 Selling out of stock items.

Every now and then it happens. You're out of stock. Shopify has a way to address the out-of-stock issue. If you use the inventory control function simply choose to "sell through". My definition fo selling through means that the customer will purchase something that you do not physically have in stock to ship. Its not a sin to do this. Perhaps the item is in transit and will arrive shortly and you will be able to ship it in a timely manner and save the sale.

When you allow your customer to purchase something you don't have in stock, you need to contact your customer directly and give them a realistic delivery date or suggest an alternative item that would fulfill their needs. For a small shop, this is a feasible option. I suggest doing this by phone as its the most expedient method. Most customers don't mind waiting a few days or hearing about an alternative option. If the customer does not want to wait a few days or want an alternative item, you can always refund them their money.

To allow a product to "sell through", click the box that says "Allow customers to purchase this product when it's out of stock" on the product page.

If you don't use the inventory control function, by default, you will sell through.

Option #4 Hide the Product

You can change the "Visibility" until you get inventory in stock. I do not advise hiding the product unless you are never going to sell this item again. Hiding products will confuse your customers and Google. And you may forget to "make it visible" when you do get it back in stock. If it's not visible - you can't sell it.

To control Visibility, click the "Visibility" box at the top right hand side of the product page.

Option #5 Another strategy.

In my shop, Good Life Tea.com I use a combination of inventory control systems. I sell a combination of tea and tea ware. Monitoring the amount of tea I have on hand is easy because it's very visual. I simply look on the shelf and see which glass jars are getting low. But my tea ware is another story. Since I keep some on the selling floor and some in my storage area, it's hard to see how much inventory I have. So for my tea ware, I use Shopify's inventory controls. However, since I do not use Shopify POS, my inventory is not exact. If I did use Shopify's POS then my inventory would be accurate, since the POS and E-commerce would be integrated. (I tried the POS and it was not adequate for me because I sell tea by the ounce and Shopify POS does not accommodate this style of inventory. I use Shopkeep for my POS)

Pro Tip

For my tea ware, I set the inventory count to about 1/4 of my total stock. This means if I have 12 red tea pots, I list 3 in my Shopify inventory. I do this because from my experience, I know that out of 12 teapots I will sell about 3 by Shopify and 9 in my store. By referring to the inventory page, I get a good picture of what inventory needs to be ordered.

I hope my insights have given you some pros and cons of using Shopify inventory control system. The important take away is that it is a tool that can be turned on and off for specific items products that you sell. The inventory control can be used as an approximation tool of how much you have on hand. Even though it is not entirely accurate, it provides clues as to what to reorder so that you are never out of stock.

My Shopify Wants

I would like to get email notifications when my inventory levels get low. This would help me keep tabs. Also make the POS work for ounces.

Broadband After Breakfast Report

2011-05-12T15:51:00.000-04:00

Dr. Sam Samanta from FLCC Victor Campus spoke about his new Associates Degree program that will guarantee students jobs that pay
in the mid $30K with local manufacturing employers. The program was designed with input from the local manufacturers who have the jobs to
fill now and into the future. The program can accommodate up to 15 students in the fall term and is a combo of academics and hands-on
computer-automation training. This program is ideal for those who want to have a high paying job fast. And in this field there is room for
personal growth.

In summary 2 years, low cost education, employer specific training. high paying many unfilled jobs. This is a winning combination. Perfect for
HS grads, young people looking to make a career move, ex-military and recently unemployed. Interested persons can contact me for an intro
to Dr. Sam who can best explain it.

Below is the link to the program. Unfortunately, FLCC presents this program in boring academic jargon instead of the jobs that await grads.

http://www.flcc.edu/ictech/

Robert OBrien
http://cdgacoworking.com/
www.NancyWiley.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Google AdWords

2011-05-09T11:12:00.001-04:00

If you haven't tried AdWords in a while you should. Now with Google
customer support and a $75 start up coupon its worth the experiment.
In the past, I tried it and it was a frustrating DYI effort. Sure
there's lots of tutorials and online help, but who has time. Now with
customer support to help, you can have highly targeted, relevant ads,
on a budget you set, running in about an hour. With this hand holding,
the Google AdWords rep greatly improves your chance of success instead
of wasting $ and time like I did in the past. And there is on-going
support too.

Combine this with their free Analytics and you have some powerful
tools at your disposal. And Analytics is free too!!

How cool is that.

Robert OBrien
http://cdgacoworking.com/
http://WonderLandBook.com/

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

My Rochester: Nancy Wiley | Democrat and Chronicle

2011-04-27T12:54:00.001-04:00

via democratandchronicle.com

My wife the famous artist makes the Rochester Newspaper.

Check out her websites

www.NancyWiley.com
www.WonderlandBook.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Did you ever use the Commodore 64 PC?

2011-04-09T19:17:00.001-04:00

I did and its back as a real computer for those who want a bit a nostalgia. Back in the stone age this was the thing to have.

via finance.yahoo.com

Commodore USA

The Commodore 64 is being re-released for the modern computer user.

I was just 6 years old when the Commodore 64 computer went on sale in the summer of 1982. Although I already owned a computer at the time -- a ZX Spectrum -- I remember my excitement about possibly getting my little hyperactive hands on the newly released Commodore.

At the time, the Commodore computer cost $595 and came with a whopping 64 kilobytes of memory. It also contained a graphics and sound card that stood apart from other computers of the day.

Now, nearly 30 years later, the Commodore brand has taken on new management and is re-releasing its flagship computer, this time with all the amenities of a modern-day computer packed What a hoot. Its back. I used this back in the stone age and now its back as a full featured retro computer.

My Next Show

2011-04-03T10:02:00.001-04:00

I'm going to the Artist Doll & Teddy Bear Convention organized by the Susan and Terry Quinlan of the Quinlan Museum. The show is going to be in Philadelphia on May 12-14 (Thursday -Saturday).

I'm excited to see that so many artists will show their work. I applaud the Quinlans for keeping the show affordable.

Click here to see a list of attending artists http://www.quinlanmuseum.com/convention/participants.html

The deadline for the show is APRIL 18 for artists, collectors and vendors.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Posted via email from nancywiley's posterous

Top 10 Reasons why Gmail is so popular

2011-04-02T09:06:00.001-04:00

10. It works as advertised and even better

9. Its free and there is lots of room for your mail

8. you can find your old emails using their search function

7. Its mobile on our phone

6. It has an intergrated calender and task manager

5. You can SMS using it. Much easier than using my damm phone.

4. It is a phone too and thats free too,

3. Its video phone too and thats free too

2. Sorts your mail into conversation threads.

1. gets rid of spam

I dont even use most of its features and its a timesaver. You can now use it with your domain name too.

You can theme up your account too

find out what new here.http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about_whatsnew.html

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Hilarious ending. Funny coffee video.

2011-04-01T19:18:00.001-04:00

Black Coffee: Trails of Tarnation - Chapter 1 from New Picture Agencies on Vimeo.

By Nick Gurewitch from his current project http://www.trailsoftarnation.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

I think Harry Potter did it.

2011-04-01T18:24:00.002-04:00

Missing Bronx Zoo Cobra Has Been Found

After a week of mystery, the Bronx Zoo cobra has been found.

The infamous snake, who last week absconded from her zoo quarters and has been at large ever since, was found early Thursday at the Bronx Zoo Reptile House.

The pencil-thin Egyptian cobra, which has spawned a hugely successful Twitter account (which on last count had over 200,000 followers) and countlessmarketing opportunities that come with becoming a beloved meme, is "alive and well," the zoo said

Complete article at huffingtonpost.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Happy Birthday Gmail

2011-04-01T18:16:00.002-04:00

2004: Google unveils Gmail. It will change webmail … and a few other things as well.

Seven years ago, if we wanted to talk to somebody halfway around the world, we’d open up Outlook, Eudora or some other bulky piece of software on our desktops and type an e-mail.

Most of us had webmail, which was a convenience on the road since we could access it from any computer, but it wasn’t enjoyable. Web inboxes were slow and cumbersome, messy with checkboxes and radio buttons, and often so riddled with spam they had to be emptied frequently lest they reach capacity.

Gmail changed all that. It was fast and elegant just like a desktop app. There was so much storage, you never had to delete anything. In fact, you couldn’t — there wasn’t even a Delete button! And you didn’t miss the Delete button, because it was almost entirely spam-free.

Gmail was so slick and easy to use, many of us switched to it full-time and have never gone back.

On its seventh birthday, it’s difficult to ignore the enormous influence Gmail has had not only on web-based e-mail services, but on rich web applications in general. Several of the concepts introduced by Gmail, which were at the time on the bleeding edge of application design, have since been adopted by the web’s mainstream.

Complete article via wired.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Japan Explains Nuclear Problem to Japanese Kids

2011-03-31T10:03:00.001-04:00

via todaysbigthing.com

Anime used to help explan the nuke situation to Japanese kids. The ananlogy is that the reactor farted, but dont worry at least it didn't crap. The "doctors" the Fukushima 50 are giving it medicine - cold water. It should get better. But we will take precautions by putting a diaper on it.

Its weird alright. pictured is the crap and the worst case scenario the leaky diaper. Yikes....

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

What a waste

2011-03-31T09:44:00.001-04:00

via huffingtonpost.com

This is an arial shot of a undeveloped subdivision in Fl. The foreclosure crisis hit and this was never built. It perhaps should have never been started.

An unfinished section of cul-de-sac developments in Charlotte County, Florida. According to RealtyTrac, compared to the same period last year, foreclosures rose 40% in July in the Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties. Charlotte County's foreclosure rate rose 61 percent.

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Google Chooses Kansas City, Kansas, as Broadband Mecca

2011-03-31T08:03:00.001-04:00

via wired.com

Sorry Rochester that Google did not choose you for their experiment.
If Google can make internet access cheaper, I'm all for this. Go Google.

There’s no place like home — especially if you live Kansas City, Kansas, where houses will soon be connected to the net by fiber-optic cables that Google promises will deliver 1-gigabit-per-second internet connections — roughly a hundred times faster than a typical 10-Mbps cable connection.

With that fast a connection, it becomes possible to download a full-length feature film from iTunes in seconds.

More than 1,100 cities and town applied to be the testbed, highlighting the dismal state of broadband connections around the country. The Tuesday announcement came after more than a year of deliberations and a change of leadership in the project.

MORE via wired.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Japanese students find friends and safe haven in Rochester | Democrat and Chronicle

2011-03-30T15:11:00.001-04:00

via democratandchronicle.com

My cousins kids from Tokyo took refuge with the O'Leary's of Fairport NY. The kids enjoyed their stay in the US. They visited with Dan O'Leary's school and made a bunch of new friends. I did my part by acting as translator.

Meanwhile, things are not improving in Japan. The anxiety from the radioactive fallout keeps growing. I wish my Japanese part of my extended family the best. Be safe.

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

2011-03-11T17:14:00.001-05:00

Why is raven like a writing desk? asked the Mad Hatter to Alice

Answers are here.

http://www.wonderlandbook.com/raven1.html

http://www.wonderlandbook.com/raven2.html

http://www.wonderlandbook.com/raven3.html

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

The Hackerspace in Rochester

2011-03-03T21:20:00.001-05:00

Wiki

Interlock is a non-profit organization that provides space for its members and the local community to develop and share their interests in science, technology, art, and culture.

Who are we?

Interlock is the first and only hackerspace in Rochester, NY. Our goal is to provide the community with a place to share, learn, and develop ideas in a collaborative, social environment. Members have access to our space 24/7 and can use it to store and work on their projects, hold meetings, attend classes, or just hang out with other people doing extremely interesting stuff.

Interlock began in October of 2009 when a small group of like-minded technologists saw the need for a common work and play space for Rochester’s vast number of talented engineers, designers, and artists. The group was officially incorporated on December 1st, 2009.

What is a hackerspace?

A hackerspace is a physical location for individuals to gather, collaborate, socialize, work on projects, and make things. There are more than 350 hackerspaces worldwide that have registered withHackerspaces.org, a lot of which have been established for several years, while some are still in the early planning stages.

As a part of the hackerspace community, we are involved in a growing movement to expand, rethink, and refactor technology in a collaborative, creative environment. Participating in this community allows our organization the ability to expand and connect with like minds globally, from collaborating on projects to attending and supporting virtual and physical events sponsored by other hackerspaces.

Who are our members?

The members of Interlock Rochester have diverse backgrounds and interests, and there are no requirements for background knowledge. You do not need to be an expert in any given area of computing, science, mathematics, or art. We take pride in welcoming anyone into our community who has a genuine interest in learning, sharing, and collaborating on ideas and projects.

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Sesame Street: Mad Men

2011-02-27T10:36:00.001-05:00

via youtube.com

I can wait for the next season to become available on Netflix, but in the meantime I have the muppets.

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Show of my wife's paintings during Feb

2011-02-01T12:05:00.002-05:00

My wife's paintings will be shown at the Rabbit Hole in Honeoye Falls during the month of February

Posted via email from nancywiley's posterous

Hackerspaces Mini-doc on PBS - Learn how to do stuff and make friends.

2011-01-31T08:04:00.001-05:00

via wired.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Hackerspaces Mini-doc on PBS - Learn how to do stuff and make friends.

2011-01-29T12:27:00.001-05:00

via wired.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

B&B and Bistro Getaway - YNN, News - Naples NY

2011-01-27T07:17:00.001-05:00

via rochester.ynn.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

New Startup Brings Strangers Together Over Social Meals - Mashable

2011-01-26T18:03:00.001-05:00

3 hours ago by Jennifer Van Grove

Family-style dining is inherently social. New Y Combinator-backed startup Grubwithus launches today in San Francisco and applies this intimacy to a dinner with strangers model in the hopes that diners will build new relationships over a social meal.

Grubwithus is the product of longtime buddies from Berkeley, Eddy Lu and Daishin Sugano who, earlier in life, left corporate jobs to start a cream puff business. When the franchise grew in popularity, the entrepreneurial pair expanded the chain to Chicago. But the dislocation uprooted Lu and Sugano from their friends, before they happened upon the clever idea that became Grubwithus.

Grubwithus, now live in Chicago and San Francisco, offers price-fixed, family-style meals at vetted restaurants with the intention of bringing together singles and couples who want to meet new people in their neighborhoods. Users can reserve a seat at a limited-capacity table and pay for everything — meal, tax and gratuity — in advance. Of course, potential diners can also review the menu and the other people attending before booking.

The founders work with interested restaurants to orchestrate the offering and plan the meal. Sugano describes the model as the opposite of Groupon’s, which he feels brings in the type of consumer who is only interested in a cheap meal. “Restaurants,” he says, “love us because we bring in new customers and not Groupon cheapskates.”

Users reserve meals to meet new people, and restaurants like it because the diners will spread the word, Sugano says.

Lu and Sugano launched an early stage version of Grubwithus in August 2010 and found immediate interest from the Chicago community before being admitted to Y Combinator’s startup incubator program. Today, the startup touts a 3,000-person member base that is growing steadily.

The dinner with strangers concept is not entirely original — a scaled down, more simplistic version of the idea has been a popular mechanism for connecting people in professional circles and on college campuses. Grubwithus takes the age-old idea of bonding over food and makes it accessible to anyone hoping to meet new people.

The idea has grown over time to allow for do-it-yourself Grubwithus group meals. The process is fairly manual to start, but soon users will be able to use the site to organize their own dinners; Grubwithus does the dirty work of booking a location, setting the menu and managing the finances.

This side dish offering caters to anyone looking to organize a birthday dinner, bachelor party or meet-and-greet, and simplifies the group dinner setup process, while also eliminating the awkwardness of splitting the check.

Grubwithus is a promising Y Combinator startup with an ingenious, but early stage product. “We have our heads down, our blinders on, and are just pounding away at the product,” says Sugano.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Frederic Poirot

via mashable.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

You Wasted 34 Hours in Traffic in 2009 - Wired.com

2011-01-25T21:08:00.001-05:00

No, it wasn’t your imagination. Traffic hasn’t been quite so hellish since the economy imploded, but now that things are picking up, you can expect congestion to increase as well. It’s already gotten so bad that the average American spent 34 hours sitting in traffic last year — and paid $808 for the privilege.

So say the brains at the Texas Transportation Institute in their annual Urban Mobility Report (.pdf). The study found traffic in 2008 was better than it had been in at least a decade, but the stop-and-go grind returned in 2009 as the economy improved.

In compiling the report, the researchers used real-time traffic data for 439 urban areas to determine how far we’re going and how long it’s taking us to get there. The bottom line? Gridlock forced us to spend an additional 4.8 billion hours in traffic in 2009, wasting an additional 3.9 billion gallons of fuel. All told we blew $115 billion in traffic last year when you consider things like wasted fuel, lost work time and shipping delays.

It’s hard to put those numbers in context because they’re so damn big, but the researchers break it down for us.

You folks in Chicago and Washington had it worst, wasting on average 70 hours sitting in traffic last year. That’s more than twice the national average of 34 hours. For the sake of comparison, we spent an average of 14 hours in traffic in 1982 (when the institute started issuing the report), and it cost us $24 billion in today’s dollars.

Breaking it down further, traffic congestion cost the average commuter $808 last year, up from an inflation-adjusted $351 in 1982.

Rounding out the top ten most hellish commutes were:

Los Angeles/Long Beach: $1,464 / 63 hours

Houston: $1,322 / 58 hours

Baltimore: $1,218 / 50 hours

San Francisco: $1,112 / 49 hours

Boston: $1,112 / 48 hours

Dallas/Fort Worth: $1,077 / 48 hours

Denver: $1,057 / 47 hours

Seattle: $1,056 / 44 hours

The researchers see a small silver lining in this, though: Increasing traffic is a sign of increasing prosperity. “The tie between the economy and congestion is not unexpected,” Tim Lomax, a research engineer with the institute, told NPR.

It could have been worse. The study found public transportation eased the strain. We’d have lost another 785 million hours it weren’t for the nation’s bus and rail systems (such as they are).

The researchers offer many of the solutions you’d expect from a transportation institute:

Maximize use of the system we have by, for example, quickly removing stalled cars.

Increase capacity — i.e., build more roads — and expand public transit.

Change our traffic patterns by carpooling, commuting at off-peak periods and telecommuting.

Provide toll roads, carpool lanes and other choices for faster, more reliable trips.

Diversify land-development patterns to make walking, biking and mass transit more practical.

Realize that traffic in urban areas is going to suck, but doesn’t have to be bad all day.

Infrastructure advocates were quick to seize on the report as further proof that the nation’s infrastructure is, in a word, a mess and we need to seriously reconsider how we spend our transportation funds.

“The Urban Mobility Report is an important reminder that too many Americans are stuck without good options for efficient, safe and affordable travel in our cities and towns,” James Corless, director of Transportation for America, said in a statement. “It is especially timely as Congress prepares to reset priorities for investing our transportation trust fund. However, we must note that flaws in the UMR’s analysis could lead to faulty conclusions about what the report indicates.”

Corless’ biggest gripe is with the suggestion that we pave our way out of this mess. “American taxpayers,” he says, “will never stand for being asked to turn over their wallets and their neighborhoods in order to build that kind of highway capacity.”

Better, he says, to fix what we’ve got, invest in technology that can better manage traffic, increase rail and rapid bus service in the most congested corridors, and link transportation funding to smart growth.

We’re already seeing steps in that direction. The federal Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery discretionary grant program — aka Tiger I and Tiger II — is a deliberate step away from our outdated “pour more pavement” approach. It is an effort to bring reason to transportation funding.

That’s not all. Last year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood leveled the playing field for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists when allocating funding for transportation projects. The Obama Administration has been pushing for healthier communities with the creation of “active transportation systems” that include walking and biking. And don’t forget the data that show more people are biking to work.

The fact is, 60 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2030, when, by some estimates, there will be 2 billion cars on the road. That will require — no, it will demand — that we embrace multimodal, not car-centric, transportation systems.

Photo: biblicone/Flickr

via wired.com

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien

Cananaigua NY - ITownVideo

2011-01-22T11:38:00.001-05:00

via youtube.com

This is the city I live in. Its a beautiful area.

Posted via email from Stuff important and amusing to Rob OBrien