On a number of my websites, I was using the old Amazon ECS web service to pull in a handful a related products based on a keyword search. I used a hacked up version of the Filzhut.de amazon_functions scripts. When March 31st of this year rolled around however, Amazon shut down the ECS service in favor the newer Associates Web Service (AWS). This was no surprise: Amazon AWS 4.0 was released back in mid-2005 (if memory serves me correctly), though it was a little buggy at first. Flash forward to 2008 and it was clear that I would have to come up with a new way to display Amazon products on my websites.

My needs were straightforward:

• As simple as possible: not too many files, called with a simple include statement
• Support for both PHP 4 and PHP 5
• No dependencies on PEAR packages
• Keyword search driven
• Random results
• Caching

I assumed it would be easy enough to hit up Google and find a prefab PHP microapp out there that would do the trick. Unfortunately, most of the stuff I found was not compatible with AWS 4.0 or was PHP 5 only. 

No worries, I thought, I'll just put Paul Reinheimer's Professional Web APIs with PHP book to good use. Using his scripts and guidance, I pasted together some code that would satisfy my needs, tested it out, and started to deploy it. Then on March 31, I noticed none of it was working! As it turns out, the code in Paul's book, published in July 2006—after Amazon AWS 4.0 had been released—was not AWS 4.0 compatible! After some forehead slapping, I leafed through the book and noticed that it didn't say anywhere what version of Amazon's web service the code was compatible with. Given Amazon's multiple offerings, that seemed like an oversight. I visited Paul's website, the Wrox forums, the author's notes on Amazon.com, but nowhere was there any mention of AWS 4.0-compatible code available. It was starting to look like I'd have to put a little more elbow grease into this.

I'm not one to reinvent the wheel though, so I hit up my bookshelf again and grabbed some code from Brett O'Connor's del.icio.us Mashups that would handle making the REST request to Amazon and process the results using the Snoopy library. Next, I pasted in Simon Willison's simple Instant Caching with PHP code for the caching mechanism. I was still having trouble making sense of the very deeply nested arrays in Amazon's response however, despite this using this handy function to make the output more manageable. In the end, I got some help from Christian Kamau, who created the code to output those tricky arrays into clean lists and randomize the output.

The result is PHP Anaconda, a simple Amazon AWS keyword search script that accesses the web service via REST and returns either three random results or the first ten results. There's nothing mind blowing here, it just does the job I needed it to, and since I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants this functionality, I've made it available for download:

• Get PHP Anaconda here
• See it in action here (left column)

There's a lot you can do with this code if you're willing to dig a little deeper. For those adventures I recommend the Amazon AWS Developer Guide. Have fun navigating the Rio Amazon, and watch out for piranhas. 

WordPress has the capability to serve your pages in the language of your choice. The WordPress community has already translated it into many languages, and there are themes, translation files, and support also available in many other languages.

With a client project I'm just about to roll out, I had to present all the content in Canadian French but keep the administrative interface in English. The translation tasks mostly fell into the realms of content, interface and layout graphics, making it a fairly smooth process. However, I did come across one small hiccup regarding post meta data dates and times, and wanted to document and share the solutions here.

In particular, I needed to translate this meta data:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 5:37 pm and is filed under [category].

into French:

Cette entrée a été inscrite le mardi, 17 juin 2008 à 17 h 37 et elle est classée sous [category].

It's simple enough to translate text in single.php, but what about the date and time which are generated using the WordPress function, the_time()?

First, the file wp-includes/locale.php needs to be translated to include the French names of the days of the week and months. Using the FR .po file available from the WordPress Subversion repository, I edited the locale file. This can be downloaded here, and is intended to be used with WordPress version 2.0.0.11.

Next, you'll need to edit the two instances of the time function in single.php:

<?php the_time('l, j F, Y') ?>

<?php the_time('G \h i') ?>

Along with the translated text, you should now have this in your single.php template:

Cette entr&eacute;e a &eacute;t&eacute; inscrite le <?php the_time('l, j F, Y') ?> &agrave; <?php the_time('G \h i') ?> et elle est class&eacute;e sous <?php the_category(', ') ?>.

And there you have it!

I missed the launch by an hour, but still managed to grab a few accounts for my name and business name, such as samstevens@ and stevensmedia@. My plan was to simply forward these for now to my Gmail accounts.

Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find the email forwarding option! I did end up finding it, under the Mail Plus features.That's right, to simply forward a @ymail.com address, Yahoo! requires me to pay $19.95/year. Who are they kidding?

Combine this with no IMAP access and an extremely cluttered web mail interface, and all we have here is a money grab attempt with no strong value proposition.

I want Yahoo! to survive as an independent company, I really do, but they're going to have to get a helluva lot craftier than this if they want to swim in the same pond as Google and Microsoft.

If you'd like to show your Firefox colors, download this nice wallpaper created by motionblur to honor the release of Firefox 3.

I upgraded to Firefox 3 this evening on my main workstation. I read about the new features, then set about upgrading my extensions.

I would love to find a way to do a simple list export of all my extensions. I've found a couple of add-ons that will export the extensions, but all I want is a simple list that includes the extension name and version. Any tips?

These extensions upgraded automatically:

• ColorZilla 1.9
• Digg Firefox Extension 0.6.2
• Greasemonkey 0.8.20080609.0
• IE View 1.3.7
• Image Zoom 0.3.1
• Link Diagnosis 1.2.1
• Live HTTP Headers 0.14
• Mahalo Share 1.3.12
• OperaView 0.6.1
• PDF Download 1.0.1.2
• Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic 1.7.1
• Popup ALT Attribute 1.3.2008052801
• Print/Print Preview 0.6
• RankChecker 1.3.2
• Screen grab! 0.95
• Search Button 0.5.2
• SearchStatus 1.25
• SEO For Firefox 2.7.1
• StumbleUpon 3.18
• Tamper Data 10.0.4
• TwitterFox 1.5.5.4
• Web Developer 1.1.6

I replaced these extensions with new versions or better extensions found at the Firefox Add-ons site:

• del.icio.us 1.2 => Delicious Bookmarks 2.0.58
• LoremIpsum Content Generator 0.4.3
• Smart Digg Button => Digg for Firefox 0.6.2
• Word Count 0.4 => Word Count Plus 1.2.1

This extension was upgraded by finding a hacked version at a user's website:

• FEBE 5.3.1

This one was manually upgraded by editing the version number in the file, "\Profile\extensions\pasteandgo2@holio.lin\install.rdf":

• Paste and Go 2 0.8

These are the extensions that I still need upgrades for to work with Firefox 3. The ones marked with an asterisk are those I consider "essentials":

• Bookmark Duplicate Detector 0.6.4
• Enhanced Bookmark Search 0.1.04.1
• * Copy Plain Text 0.3.3
• SEOpen 0.8
• * TinyURL Creator 1.0.4
• MetaTags 2.3.5.2

Firefox 3 is running smoothly thus far save for one issue that needs a fix: In previous versions of Firefox, I could type a search query into the search bar then hit Enter to run the search. In Firefox 3, hitting Enter doesn't initiate a search from the search bar. Instead, I have to use my mouse to click the magnifying glass icon in the search bar. I found the "searchbutton.enter_key" setting in about:config but I am unsure what the new value should be and if this is even the right setting to edit to re-enable the Enter-to-search functionality. I didn't turn anything helpful up browsing the mozillazine.org forums. Perhaps I'll just shut down for the night and find my problem gone at reboot tomorrow morning? Fingers crossed!

UPDATE: My problem with Enter-to-search didn't go away. My manual edit of the Paste and Go extension didn't work either. As a temporary measure, I've applied this hack to allow Firefox to use "incompatible" extensions. I just couldn't live without Paste and Go, Copy as Plain Text and TinyURL creator!

UPDATE 2: Enter-to-search is resolved! In about:config, change the value of searchbutton.compat_mode to true. Restart Firefox.

tweeternet is a one page Twitter primer that I just put online in an effort to streamline my own efforts at describing the social networking and microblogging service.

I've linked to several blog posts about Twitter that I feel are best-of-breed. If you think I've missed one, just tweet me. Similarly, I'm pulling in my del.icio.us links tagged with "twitter" to provide a small directory of Twitter tools, applications and resources. If you'd like to suggest an addition to this, add me to your del.icio.us network and share the link.

My first impression was: "So what?" [cue: Miles Davis] Do I really care what other people are doing every minute of their day? No, I don't.

However, it wasn't long before I started to see the value of the 140 character info share commonly called a "tweet." There are plenty of useful tips and pointers I get throughout the day from the people I'm following.

I also see ways that businesses can benefit from using Twitter internally. The informal format of the tweet enables quick, collaborative sharing between co-workers and work groups, and provides relief from email and IM fatigue.

Certainly, the meteoric rise of Twitter is backed by true usefulness, and even the service's continual problems with scaling don't seem to be problematic enough to rock the boat in any serious way. (In fact, the scaling problem might actually be creating traffic-spiking buzz for Twitter.)

I do see a significant problem with Twitter though, and it's on the rise and difficult to control. That issue is "Twitter noise."

While I appreciate learning about twitizens' latest blog posts, their unique solutions to daily problems, and the links and resources they're generously sharing, I really don't want to know what you're eating, when you're sleeping, and what tickles your funny bone. Simply put, tweeting this kind of stuff is a waste of everyone's time, and I'd like to see "professional tweeters" put an end to all the "Good night!" and "I love sushi!" tweets once and for all. The "twitterverse" is growing exponentially and the more we can curb the small talk, the better the quality of the signal to noise ratio will be, ensuring a viable service for more than just a financial quarter or two. Failure to "cut the fat" will result in a stale and stunted has-been, with users bailing out in favor of the next great collaborative web app.

Twitter filtering and threading functionality would be helpful with keeping conversations tightly themed and easier to follow, but ultimately the quality of Twitter will depend on its users and whether or not we have enough self-control to filter out the noise we create–before we tweet it.

• Way too many ads
• Obtrusive ad positioning
• Article options are not clearly presented. I always have to hunt for the print link. I view the print version because…
• Pagination requires unnecessary clicking. I know it's just about throwing more ads at me! 
• No use of headings. We all know people scan content online. Hook me with some headings!

In case you're interested, the seven signs of quality linkbait are (with hat tip to Wells):

1. Relevant
2. Useful
3. Interactive
4. Unique
5. Comprehensive
6. Visually appealing 
7. User-centric

I hope I've saved you some time wading through SEOchat's version of this article! It seems to me that they've managed to get some link juice here for not following through on some of these qualities (specifically, visually appealing and user-centric.) Perhaps that's another sign of link bait worth mentioning: buck accepted standards of quality.

• Meetro
• Lefora 
• Webook.com
• DimDim
• Rogomo
• Trulia
• Syntagma and Moneyizer
• Kenshoo.com
• Mefeedia
• Sendloop.com
• Sonopia
• Cullensabcs.com
• SellABand 
• CushyCMS
• MeeVee
• Contactify
• Finalcrit.com
• Jodange.com
• Kiwihoo.com 

Seriously, where was marketing?!

Your Account

Not surprisingly, the first step to using YouTube is getting yourself a YouTube account. Note that you can use your Google account as your login if you already have one. Once you have an account, click "Account" at the top of the page to see what kinds of preferences you can setup, and to explore the tools available to you.

Your Profile

On the account page, there is a link for Personal Profile. Be sure to add some profile information to this form so that your users can "get to know you". (Don't forget that updates to your profile and channel customization can take up to 6 hrs to show up.)

Your Videos

Uploading Videos

YouTube has a comprehensive help section on how to upload videos. If you are uploading videos that are 100M or larger, you will need to use the YouTube Uploader. This is software that is installed on your computer. For additional information, please see this help topic. Be patient while your video is uploading–it can take 20 minutes to upload a 100+MB video! Also, your video will not appear immediately in your account.

Tagging and Categorizing

Tagging and categorizing your videos is an important step that's often rushed, but if done right, will yield benefits you probably don't want to miss out on. For ideas, check out popular videos in your niche and see how they have been tagged and categorized. Don't overlook the fact that choosing less popular categories might reduce the competition your videos have, and may help launch your videos to the most popular or most viewed in your category. With tagging, add as many relevant keywords as you can, and again, see if you can match them to other existing video content. This will help gain additional exposure for your video content.

Your Playlists

See this documentation to learn about Playlists and how to create them. Playlists can contain your own videos and/or the videos of others. Either way, putting playlists together is easy: select clips from the My Videos section of your account and add them to a new playlist, or visit the video you are interested in and click "save to favorites".

The benefit of playlists lies in providing videos that are organized into a niche-targeted context enabling your users to find related content quickly, without having to resort to using YouTube search. In providing this service, you can boost your web traffic without ever even recording a single video of your own! Look for quality videos with a low view count, and you'll help users find content that hasn't already "done the rounds".

YouTube Email and Bulletins

It's not too common for YouTube users to simply stumble across your channel. To help get the word out, YouTube provides you with a number of self-promotion tools, including email and bulletins. With YouTube email, you can reach out to other users who share similar interests and let them know about your videos, or send them thoughts about theirs. Bulletins allow you to create short messages that appear on your channel page, or leave messages on other users' channel pages. Share information about your status, newest videos or anything else that you'd like to broadcast to the YouTube community.

Video Responses

Just like with blogs, you can leave comments on videos posted by others, but with YouTube you can also leave video responses. These can be chosen from your existing videos, or you can create new videos in response to another user's video. Just remember to keep your response relevant, choose your target video well (preferably a high traffic video related to your niche), and respond early to get your video response noticed by others.

YouTube Groups

YouTube groups provide a way for users to discuss and share videos. You can browse groups by category, or create your own group from the YouTube Groups page. Contributing to YouTube groups provides you with a targeted audience to promote your videos to, hopefully attracting users to visit and subscribe to your channel. Joining an existing group provides you with a base of users to interact with immediately, while creating your own group requires you to wait for users to join before you have an audience to promote your work to.

Active Sharing

With Active Sharing enabled, your username and a link to your channel will be displayed next to videos you are watching for 30 minutes, and all of the videos you watch will be added to a "Videos I'm Watching" section in your Profile. This allows others users to discover you and your videos (and perhaps also your website), based on the fact that you share interests and watch the same videos.

YouTube and the YouTube community offers an effective method of online promotion, either through your own video content or the videos of other YouTube users. By putting YouTube's community features to work for you and your business, you have the chance to develop a new and viable source of customer acquisition.