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Urchin Customers Reactly Badly to Google Analytics

I don’t know how many other people like us there are – people who paid for hosted Urchin before today’s announcement. But I bet that all of them are pissed.

OnoTech – Google: Start acting like a real business or you’re doomed

There are other stories like this beginning to float to the surface about the change Google made shutting done the paid Urchin service and giving it away as Google Analytics.  Looks like another case of Google doing what Google wants without much input from customers.  Not much of a conversation I guess.

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PHP Voice Framework

PHP Voice (formerly known as PHP VXML) contain four classes that assist in developing voice application using PHP. It supports Speech Synthesis Markup Language 1.0, Speech Recognition Grammar Specification 1.0, Voice Browser Call Control: CCXML 1.0, and Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.0.

freshmeat.net: Project details for PHP Voice

There amy be something here, but I’m not sure.  I guess I’ll need to grab the code and have look:)

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XOAD: AJAX For PHP

XOAD, formerly known as NAJAX, is a AJAX/XAP object oriented framework for PHP that allows you to create richer Web applications. It uses JSON and native PHP serialized objects to communicate. Special attention has been paid to security. It supports server side events (observation) and client side events (XOAD Events). Server and client extensions allow features such as HTML manipulation and caching. It is extensively documented, and includes tutorials and examples.

freshmeat.net: Project details for XOAD

I really need to get ahandle on AJAX.  Take a look at this example from XOAD.  There is a lot of potential in education here.  Makes me think that the JS versions of CALI Lessons could be converted to AJAX to get a lot of the Flash features.

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Blogging Systems Reveiwed

“With published numbers saying there are approximately 70,000 new blogs being created each day, and the total number of blogs doubling every 5 months, it’s no wonder that everyone and their dog is wondering whether to setup their own blog for a chance at fame, or perhaps a book publishing deal. The question then becomes: What software should you use? SitePoint has just published The Blog Software Smackdown which takes a look at Movable Type, WordPress, and Textpattern. Pick one, and take your stab at fame or notoriety.”

Slashdot | Blog Software Smackdown

WordPress does well in the review.  I must admit, I hadn’t heard of Textpattern before.  If you’re thinking of hosting your own blogging system, this article is a good read.

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Get a Dell? Paypal it!

Dell said on Monday that its online store now accepts PayPal as a form of payment. The company said it was interested in giving customers more choice in how to complete their transactions, and tech-savvy users of the site are ideal prospective customers. PayPal has approximately 86.6 million accounts, and in the third quarter processed more than $6.7 billion in transactions between its users.

BetaNews | Dell Now Accepting PayPal Payments

Makes sense.  With Ebay’s recent acquisition of Verisign’s payment gateway business, we’ll certainly be seeing more of this sort of thing.

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Google Analytics: Track Site Visitors Like the Pros

Google has officially launched Analytics, a robust new web analysis system that provides site owners with traffic metrics and massive amounts of useful marketing data. Based on technology originally developed by a Californian company called Urchin that Google acquired in March, Analytics integrates with Google’s popular AdWords system, and will vastly improve the quality and quantity of data provided to existing AdWords users. Those of you that don’t use AdWords can still use Analytics by adding a simple javascript snippet to your web site.

Google to offer web traffic analysis services

Neat, I’ll have to try this out.

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Libraries, Patrons Clash Over Audiobooks

Yo, Libraries: say No to DRM – Excellent article by Doc Searls about the mess libraries are getting into trying to distribute audio books. In a nutshell, libraries are trying to offer audio books for download, but the major vendor in this area only offers the works in WMA format so patrons cannot use their iPods.  This leads to a lot of frustration.  

Providing a service that allows patrons to downlaod and listen to audiobooks is a very good idea.  Getting locked into a format battle between closed systems is not.  Librarians need to take a closer look ath the technology involved in these sorts of decisions before committing.  Audiobooks in a format that allows use by the greatest number of patrons while protecting the author’s rights would be ideal here.


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