IPChitChat is now LIVE!!!

I am pleased to announce that after months of development, our new website - www.ipchitchat.co.uk - is now live!

We originally hired a web developer to build this site but it didn't work out too well. His work turned out to be really shoddy. It's our own fault, we should have done better due diligence when choosing the developer.

After getting rid of the web developer there was so much work to do to try and get the site looking the way we wanted that we decided it would be quicker to start again. I'd learnt so much trying to fix the work he had done that I had confidence that I could do a better job myself. I'm not sure I'd do it again. You wouldn't believe the amount of hours work it takes to create a site such as this, particularly when it's all open-source (using free software) to save money. If we'd have spent a fortune on a top e-commerce system then I'm sure it would have only took half the time.

Anyway, it has taken a lot longer than planned to get this site up and running, and there may still be the odd bug or two that we need to iron out, but I'm happy with the results.

So how does this differ to our old site - ipchichat.com, you might ask? Well, it's like comparing a Mac to a ZX Spectrum. The old site was completely built by hand using html. None of the site is database driven and we had to use a third-party to provide our shopping cart and checkout.

In the new site, the whole site is run using a proper content management system. Everything is database driven, making it much easier to manage and make changes to the site on the fly. We've integrated a proper shopping cart system, and now have our own SSL certificate so users can checkout within the site. We've got a blog, a download area - where users can download user guides, firmware, etc. Users can properly manage their account information on the site, and see their order history. We've got different account types for regular shoppers, corporate accounts, and resellers; meaning that users will automatically get discounts on products depending on their account type. We've got an help-desk system where users can submit support requests, and they will receive a support ticket, which is managed through our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The list goes on. We've also greatly extended the range of products we offer.

Over the coming months we've also got plans to introduce even more features.

Check it out at www.ipchitchat.co.uk - you can even sign up to our e-mail newsletter.

Jaxtr - Making International Calls Easy

I've finally found the perfect service for the Expat. Jaxtr is a service which makes international calls easier, cheaper and much more convenient. It basically means that I can now make calls to the UK from my Australian mobile phone at a cheaper rate than calling from my home phone - even cheaper than using a calling card!

It works by assigning you a local number in your country that you can call, which is then switched through jaxtr's VoIP network to the destination number you have assigned overseas. So for instance, I simply go in to Jaxtr and enter my Dad's phone number in the UK, it then assigns me a local Australian number that I can use that will get forwarded to my Dad's number. Calling UK numbers from Australia using Jaxtr costs 1 jax per minute, and you can purchase 1000 jax for $10 US, so basically it costs 1c per minute. Of course you still have the cost of ringing the local Australian number, but on my Vodafone plan I get $150 worth of call for $29 so that's also really good.


Jaxtr works with most of the countries around the world and from my tests the call quality is really good.

http://www.jaxtr.com

Connected Ventures

I want to work for this company...

http://www.vimeo.com/173714

Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down

Why not have a nice cup of tea and a sit down :-)

Farecast - Airfare Predictions

If you're considering taking a flight in the foreseeable future, you might want to check out farecast.com. The good thing about Farecast is that not only does it help you find the cheapest flight, it also predicts when the price of the flights will rise or fall. It's a US website so the prices are in dollars but don't let that stop you. We live in a globalised world - you no longer have to use UK travel brokers to purchase flights from the UK.

Blogging for dosh

Apparently there are over 50 million blogs in the blogosphere now, ranging from occasional bloggers like me, to full-time professional bloggers, some of whom get more readers and subscribers than many national newspapers.

If you've ever wondered how people make money from blogging, take a look at the links below.

A lot of the top bloggers who blog about Internet marketing are now posting their income reports online. The reason they do this is because it establishes their credibility, which is particularly important if you want people to 'buy in' to your status as an expert on a particular subject. By posting their income report on a blog about making money by blogging, they are showing that they 'eat their own dog food' so to speak and know what they are talking about.

Two of the blogs that I subscribe to that are seen as authorities on blogging and Internet marketing are www.johnchow.com, and www.entrepreneurs-journey.com by Yaro Starak (a fellow Brisbanite).

In September, John Chow made $20,512.17 and Yaro made $10,899.83. Not bad eh. Most top tabloid journalists don't make that much.

You can read John Chow's income breakdown here , and Yaro's income breakdown here.

This is what is truly exciting about the Internet. You can literally start a business from scratch - you don't need money to make money. It doesn't cost a penny to start a blog.

I personally have decided against adding advertising on this blog. This was never meant to be a commercial enterprise - simply a means of communicating to friends and family now that I'm on the other side of the world. I have considered launching a couple of commercial blogs. I've even registered some domain names. At the moment though I don't want to commit to something when I know my website projects will be ready within weeks. If I try to do too much at once none of the projects will get the attention they deserve.

Travel Money Maximiser

Another great tool from Martin Lewis' site.

First he helped us find cheap flights. Then he helped us make cheap international calls. Now here's a great resource to help you get the most foreign currency for your pound. It's not much use to us anymore but bear it in mind if you ever come to visit us in Oz (so you can buy me plenty of beers!)

Travel Money Maximiser - MoneySavingExpert.com

John Smeaton - a hero of our time

It seems John Smeaton has become a bit of a cult hero on the web.

Only in Glasgow would a member of the public tackle a man on fire and get a boot in. There's now numerous sites and videos on the web dedicated to (mostly taking the piss out of) John Smeaton.

I know I shouldn't, but you've got to laugh about the whole affair. I think the terrorists must have been been watching too much A-Team, for it's only in The A-Team that you can drive a Jeep full of propane into a building and cause a dramatic explosion. Surely everyone knows cars don't necessarily explode when they're set on fire, except on TV.

JohnSmeaton.com
John Smeaton on YouTube

Mashable

Being a bit of a web geek, I like to keep track of developments in the web2.0 space. There's a lot of new websites popping up everyday now taking advantage of advanced web scripting languages that add interactivity and social networking. Some of them are actually quite exciting and are making a lot of money. Near enough every week I see a new site and think I wish I'd have thought of that!

Mashable is a site that keeps track of these developments and is quickly becoming one of my favourite blogs. They do a lot of research into the features of the various sites and extensively compare them against similar sites in the same category. Some examples of great posts are:

Essential sites for summer travellers: I've used Yahoo Travel Planner a few times now and found it very useful, but by the looks of it there are even better sites out there for planning trips.

90+ online photography tools and resources: an unbelievably extensive guide to the best sites for photo sharing, editing, printing, buying, selling, searching, remixing and free hosting.

11 things you can bet on (legally): The one category they're missing is People - Celebdaq has been around for years.

Google to save the planet

It seems Google are not content with just 'organising the world's information'. They're now branching into developing clean energy technology to help address climate change.

They're taking the Toyota Prius hybrid car as a start and further developing this by plugging them into solar charging stations, and then using Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology to demonstrate how electricity might be transmitted back and forth between the plug-in-hybrid and the electricity grid.

The performance data so far looks pretty good. The plug-in-hybrid Toyota Prius is getting 73.6 MPG as opposed to 40.9 MPG for the standard Toyota Prius, and the CO2 emissions has gone down from 0.577 CO2e/mile to 0.376.

You can read all about it and view their performance data at www.google.org/recharge/

Finetune

I've just discovered Finetune. It struck me today that while I've now got quite a large collection of music on my iPod, covering lots of different musical genres, I'd say 90% of the music is what you'd call commercial from well known artists past and present. I'm often reading reviews of great music on independent labels but very rarely take the time to be adventurous and download something that isn't in the Amazon top 50.

With Finetune, much like LastFM, you can explore playlists that other people have created and listen to them online. There's some great stuff out there and it's definitely encouraging me to broaden my musical horizons!

Do My Stuff

Why didn't I think of that? Website DoMyStuff lets you outsource your tedious tasks to people in your area who bid on your to do's. So for instance, you could offer out payment for someone to clean your car, do some painting, gardening, etc and the person who bids the lowest amount gets the job.

There's loads of really good web2.0 sites popping up at the moment. If only I could think of that one killer idea!

Update Checker

I really like the new Filehippo Update Checker. It scans your installed applications and checks to see if you have the latest versions installed.

This is important because it's not just your operating system that can contain security vulnerabilities that need patching - applications need patching too, and many of your standard installed applications such as Realplayer and Adobe Reader are regularly updated by the vendors to plug security holes.

I also love the fact that this update checker is only 100k and doesn't need installing. You can just run the exe and off it goes - no installation files that adds the app to your Startup folder or makes changes to the registry of system files.

Free Hugs

This won most inspirational video at the You Tube awards. I thought it might be Danny Wallace at first - certainly the kind of thing that he would do:

30+ hacks and extensions for Gmail

I've been a Gmail user for 15 months now so these hacks and extensions could be quite useful.

Oz weather

Great article comparing the weather between the major cities. Rach is set on that we're moving to Brisbane but I'm still open to the possibility of trying out other areas. I guess I better make my mind up soon, if all goes well we've only got 3 months to go!

eggbaconchipsandbeans

eggbaconchipsandbeans

Oh my god, a blog about Cafe's, whatever next!