Category: Services & Products

Many of you may need to upgrade your Lifetype time to time, therefore I think it may be useful if there is a simple guideline (from a user point of view) to go thru those steps … on top of the detailed wiki article in Lifetype (don’t forget to read it, it is a must). Here is the guideline:

• First, backup your data using MySQL export tool, e.g. phpMyAdmin. Save this export dump to your local PC.
• Then, you have to backup the changes you have done to your Lifetype engine before. In most cases they are changes in your template, plugin, javascripts, resources etc. Therefore, create a directory in your local PC, and ftp the following possible changes from the server and save in this local PC directory as backup :
  • The files / directories under /gallery/ – these are your resources files
  • Any files / directories of your current template under /templates/
  • The files / directories of the plugins your installed under /plugins/
  • The javascripts like prototype.js, scriptaculous.js etc.
  • The .htaccess file – that may include some Apache changes
  • The config.properties.php in /config/ – that is your current Lifetype settings
  • The files you changed in /locale/, in case you have set up your own language files or changed any text strings.
• Then, rename your current Lifetype directory to something else – e.g. lifetype_old, blog_old etc. You can remove this directory later if your upgrade is successful.
• Third, download the latest version of Lifetype, upload to your server.
• Fourth, unzip the new Lifetype, and rename the new Lifetype to your original directory name – e.g. lifetype, blog etc. And also rename the config.properties.php as something like “config.properties.php.original”.
• Now, copy all the changes you backed up to the new Lifetype installation – gallery, plugins, config.properties.php, javascripts etc. in the right places.
• Lastly, run the wizard.php … and the rest is done by the script.
• That’s it !!

Hope it helps.

Yes, may be it’s a bit late to cross post this article, but I reckon it’s never too late to have something useful about how a geek can start up a business … especailly in a list of proverbs !!

And my favorite one is:

Jump when you are more excited than afraid — lack of fear is irrational, and too much fear is debilitating. Make the jump into your business when you have considered the fear, and come out more excited than afraid.

Here you go … Entrepreneurial Proverbs from O’Reilly. Enjoy and learn !!

It all started from a very simple idea … put up something nifty in the sidebar of my blog. Of course, it is easy to put up Google adsense, Amazon Omakase, RSS etc … but what about something better, something easier to manage (in my blog) ? Like widgets ?

Since the good old days of Windows Active Desktop, Apple Dashboard, and Yahoo Konfabulator, widgets are really not new stuff. But we now have Vista sidebar gadgets, and after Newsweek declared 2007 is the year of widget, I am sure we will see a lot more about widgets.

However, what really really really caught my eye is the following blog post:

If you were going to invent the portal today, would you?

Just some excerpt …

My point is that all content needs to be loosed in the smallest particles possible (widgetised) – then it will reform itself into valid and relevant units, driven by the consumers of that content. One unspoken issue underlying this is the concept of ‘portal death’.

Check that blog post, check out the concept behind widget and widget sites like widgetbox.com … widget is going to change the Internet and the world again.

Weeks ago I requested a PISS to help me to schedule my appointments with mobile phone and finally someone made it !! The solution composed of the mobile phone (which has GPS equipped and appointment details recorded), then connect to a watch (via Bluetooth) to tell you the time … Great stuff !!

Resources : Just in Time Watch

It’s not my own web idea, but the whattheduck.net illustrate one web idea that I found very interesting …

• First the site, pretty much like a “new media”, is run by Aaron Johnson. This site hosts the Comic Strip “What the Duck” (a photographer), and you won’t find it in other traditional newspapers, magazines. In other words, the website is the only media that you can see the strips.
• However, unlike other comic strip web sites, you can copy, download the strips to your site, blog, forum, newsletter etc. Royalty free, quite a breakthru model.
• And somehow, each of the strips has no caption / title. Instead, viewers (i.e. site visitors) can send in their suggested caption of the strip as comments (This “tradition” began from strip #49). And Aaron will pick the best one (from his point of view) and apply to the strip. I think it’s a new and novel way to let the site vistors to participate in a comic strip.
• Then, how Aaron make money ? You can buy all kinds of goods from this site, all with the “What the Duck” logo or theme – T-Shirts, baseball hats, clock, badge etc. etc.

The only complaint I have about this site is … mac.com is really slow.

Anyway, not bad, not bad … I hope you enjoy the strips and that good idea as much as I do.