tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2025138474185612312011-11-27T16:51:41.034-08:00Rickynoreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-64231849385172501142009-01-08T01:44:00.000-08:002009-01-08T02:06:44.214-08:002009-01-08T02:06:44.214-08:00

We have decided to take impulsifly offline.Recap:- took about 3 months to ramp traffic up to 200 visitors / month- return flight was not immediately intuitive for everyone- received surprisingly good anecdotal responses, surprised to find that a number of visitors clicked through to book flights- never formally contacted the airlines to organize data feed & commission.- was approached by an ad

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-77298301995282996822008-09-01T05:02:00.000-07:002008-09-08T22:41:19.211-07:002008-09-08T22:41:19.211-07:00

Hey our scrapers are working again!Edit: 9/9/08It's blocked again. Doh.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-48978099999870910572008-07-04T03:48:00.000-07:002008-07-04T03:53:13.037-07:002008-07-04T03:53:13.037-07:00

One of the carriers seem to have our data gatherer blocked.This is going to be tough, lets see if we could convince them otherwise. in the mean time, we wouldnt be able to provide you with the proper fare comparison we had promised, so please use one of the other flight aggregators instead.I know our service is so much faster and easier to use than the other guys (heh), but I would much rather

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-31049980216678968502008-06-16T04:47:00.000-07:002008-06-16T04:56:05.932-07:002008-06-16T04:56:05.932-07:00

Google analytics show a number of visitors gets 'bounced' at the homepage. Bounce here means they did not proceed to use the service (either by closing the browser or navigating to another site - like hitting the back button). I don't have anything more to work with, but I think it has something to do with our layout. I'm guessing the homepage isn't generating enough excitement for the visitors

Rickynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-24508870741327222232008-05-24T22:08:00.000-07:002008-05-24T22:09:44.661-07:002008-05-24T22:09:44.661-07:00

I think it's about time we get a logo. Got any ideas?

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-25484002975216184152008-04-29T03:30:00.000-07:002008-04-29T03:32:33.351-07:002008-04-29T03:32:33.351-07:00

Someone pointed out that flights between Ballina Byron & Sydney for Virgin is missing. Thanks!! It has been added and data should start appearing in a day or two. I hope you find what you are after :)

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-55794798123750937682008-04-17T04:51:00.000-07:002008-04-17T04:57:39.006-07:002008-04-17T04:57:39.006-07:00

One particular compliment we've been receiving particularly consistently is how practical the application is. And I just want to say how pleased we are that you notice :) quite a bit of effort have gone in to do away with redundant texts, redundant images and well, redundant clicks.Having said that though, one particular criticism we've been receiving also very consistently is the layout. It's so

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-36762973063356138362008-04-14T05:03:00.001-07:002008-04-14T05:03:13.666-07:002008-04-14T05:03:13.666-07:00

some tasty destinations are Nagoya, Honolulu and Vanuatu!More to come! Woot!

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-35968703469035895452008-04-05T23:46:00.000-07:002008-04-05T23:49:26.098-07:002008-04-05T23:49:26.098-07:00

It's getting there! I've played around with the prototype for a bit, and man, looking at oversea destinations is much more exciting than looking at local destinations. Even though Sydney to Perth is a longer travel than to many places, the fact that it's overseas just give me such a buzz.I havent added any new carriers yet (such as VAustralia). Oh the possibilities.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-4144078491537305672008-03-31T04:21:00.001-07:002008-03-31T04:21:59.705-07:002008-03-31T04:21:59.705-07:00

International Flights are coming soon... (!!!!)

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-13091008900998377002008-03-25T03:02:00.000-07:002008-03-25T03:05:02.047-07:002008-03-25T03:05:02.047-07:00

Played with Facebook for a bit, and drafted up a page for impulsifly. Seems like a really good way to share information and build community - but it also looks like alooooooooooot of work. I wonder if we'll see jobs for Facebook admin soon... PR, must have facebook experience heehee.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-74348748630442592008-03-22T16:28:00.000-07:002008-03-22T16:37:07.731-07:002008-03-22T16:37:07.731-07:00

Updated the table to highlight weekends instead of every second column. (Thanks Mr TC!) This makes so much more sense because the data is so much more meaningful.Reminds me of a post from Seth Godin about generic sorts (alphabetical order, date order) being obsolete. I agree with it mostly and I want to adjust our destination in order of popularity + cost somehow.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-77817457753983694722008-03-21T18:17:00.000-07:002008-03-21T20:12:09.304-07:002008-03-21T20:12:09.304-07:00

I have removed the 'Whats New' section.The first reason is because it just took too long to load. (Bad Feedburner!) I'd originally intended for this blog to be the news section. New entries are then converted into page content via a conversion service provided Feedburner. However, Feedburner simply took too long to load! And there is no good reason why we should delay the user from getting to

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-84664772183188495702008-03-16T05:22:00.000-07:002008-03-16T16:08:34.200-07:002008-03-16T16:08:34.200-07:00

Added the "What's new?" section to the site. We've been making quite a bit of changes, so this section just serves as a notice board. In addition to publishing system notices and updates, we'll also use this space to publish upcoming special events - when we do have special events.Oh and the current layout is only an initial effort, it'll get revisited later.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-61555194732200058092008-03-13T06:03:00.001-07:002008-03-13T06:08:44.523-07:002008-03-13T06:08:44.523-07:00

Updated various texts around the site to be more descriptive.In particular the older Home Page did not give a complete summary of Impulsifly. We know most visitors wouldn't even notice there were words on the home page :) But we would like to give good information to those who happen to cast a glance (it's our 2 second pitch).Another area that got a major revamp is the faq section. We have added

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-36675732617407202262008-03-11T04:33:00.000-07:002008-03-11T04:44:10.905-07:002008-03-11T04:44:10.905-07:00

Added - unfortunately I cant share the report site (have to add users one by one). But I'll post graphs here from time to time.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-65789088673544872382008-03-10T04:05:00.000-07:002008-03-10T05:43:08.526-07:002008-03-10T05:43:08.526-07:00

At... http://impulsifly.com.auI am smiling as I type this, it's a wonderful feeling. Ofcourse now the real work begins. We have just taken the first step to a long and hopefully fulfilling road, it has certainly been great fun so far!

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-35494908251889829902008-03-09T04:22:00.000-07:002008-03-09T04:49:54.937-07:002008-03-09T04:49:54.937-07:00

Firstly, some minor update to UI:- autoscroll to make the expanded return flights row visible if it is hidden.- fixed a small calculation bug that sometimes thinks the top row shouldn't be visible.And I have also cleaned up application resource management, to make redeployment easier. There is still a lot that can be improved, but I think we have made a step in the right direction - because

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-79965950292046509602008-03-06T04:29:00.000-08:002008-03-06T04:36:06.013-08:002008-03-06T04:36:06.013-08:00

Added more cues to suggest clicking on the destinations will yield return flights.This has been a bit of a recurring theme where users did not discover the return flight function. Hopefully the new visual cues will address it.On the backend, we have reconfigured the service to send compressed data across the wire. This reduces the transfer size by a factor of 10, so it would improve response time

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-87909336765206641862008-03-04T00:45:00.000-08:002008-03-04T02:35:43.642-08:002008-03-04T02:35:43.642-08:00

Completed porting Impulsifly into a distributed architecture.The data gathering side sits on a server with unlimited bandwidth (hostjava.net, these guys are economical - but have bad support and performance).Whilst the client facing end stays with Metawerx which offers excellent support and performance, but is on the stingy end with traffic quota.This way, we can run intensive data gathers

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-60364388904729117402008-03-04T00:32:00.000-08:002008-03-04T00:45:06.694-08:002008-03-04T00:45:06.694-08:00

Went to the Sun seminar at Darling Harbor today, and amongst various things (including an excellent presentation by James Gosling) one of the points that really struck home was the focus on 'Time to Delivery'. To keep VCs interested, you need to deliver something in 3 months. Because that is how long your first round of funding is going to last. You will then get another 3 months after that.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-30251671024971517132008-02-23T06:43:00.000-08:002008-02-23T06:54:35.138-08:002008-02-23T06:54:35.138-08:00

The application has been deployed. (Yep, we are live!)The URL is a very modest http://tc786.metawerx.com.au/impulsifly/selectfromcity.htm - I'll look at hooking it up with our domain name next.There were a few minor issues, but no biggies and Metawerx has been very helpful. Their response time really struck a positive impression.Just for the record, the changes we made were:Logging locationsData

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-27402047728318049752008-02-20T02:58:00.000-08:002008-02-20T03:01:15.895-08:002008-02-20T03:01:15.895-08:00

Registered the domain www.impulsifly.com with Crazy Domains, $12 per year.We are not too sure about the name... I think it sounds Okay, but I just feel we could do better, possibly a lot better.

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202513847418561231.post-61890536423719359012008-02-18T04:30:00.000-08:002008-02-19T04:46:23.863-08:002008-02-19T04:46:23.863-08:00

Migrating all posts from old blog:16 Feb 08 Started the spunkification process. It's exciting and dangerous :). Exciting because there are so much funky techniques that could be introduced into every corner - and dangerous for that very same reason. Whilst Web2.0 is all the buzz, good functional Web2.0 websites are still a minority. This is what we are gonna try to do:

Rickynoreply@blogger.com0