Kayla Fleming
Kayla lives in Orlando, Florida and is a web geek, writer and photographer.
Online Shopping vs. Traditional Shopping
Shoes on a Wire from Dave on Flickr
This post started with shoes. Recently I ordered my mom several pairs of shoes from Zappos.com. Last week I got myself sneakers from Shoes.com. With all of the shipping and boxes this produced, it got me thinking about what is more or less “personal shipping.” If there are already trucks delivering massive shipments to stores everywhere, how is getting another box direct to your door helping the environment/gas/labor situation? Isn’t a better idea only buying things locally, and not online at all? But then - gasp. How can I say that anything online is not a good idea - most of my life has ended up revolving around computers and the Internet. The Internet is certainly an amazing thing.
I live downtown around many businesses that receive shipments on a daily basis. So if I order something online, in a way that makes things “ok” but what if you are like my mom; living in a rural area. Is that when personal shipping becomes less than the greatest idea? Or how about when I order online from Sephora.com when I am too busy or just don’t feel like going to the retail location which is less than 20 minutes away? In the big picture - is that truly wrong of me?
Amazon claims, “The efficiencies of online shopping result in a greener shopping experience than traditional retailing.” They cite this study which offers the following:
It is tempting to assume that the sale of products on the Internet is beneficial to the environment. For example, emissions from vehicles driven to shopping malls can be avoided, retail space can be reduced, and inventories and waste can be reduced. However, a product ordered online may be shipped partially by airfreight across the country and require local truck delivery. Also, the product is likely to be packaged individually, and the packaging may not be reused.
Our analytical approach can be adjusted for different assumptions about shipping distances, return rates or shopping allocations. By altering these critical parameters, E-Commerce can be found to be more or less costly than the traditional system. It is noted that different assumptions about population density (and thus, distances to retail stores) and order sizes would significantly change the results. Nevertheless, our base analysis case suggests that E-Commerce sales have a cost advantage and environmental benefits.
Hmm.
Personal Assistant - Banking On Forgetfulness
There are some companies out there banking on forgetfulness to upgrade programs. The script looks cool and the answer to all, but we can be a bit more proactive and save ourselves $120 dollars. Since my last Personal Assistant post was about WordPress I thought I would do one more to seal the deal on blogging for a few more weeks.
There are tools out there that will automatically upgrade your WordPress installation. One in particular that seems to be the most recently updated (that’s another problem, who is upgrading the upgraders?) is WordPress Automatic Upgrade. This plugin does not seem to exactly run on its own, but the next time you login to your blog and see the new version message, the plugin can be started and ran in an automated mode. So really you are not doing anything to upgrade except clicking a button or two.
WordPress Automatic Upgrade upgrades your wordpress installation by doing the following steps.
1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.
Give this one a look and say goodbye to one more thing to do. Since many of us are only keeping up with WordPress as the base of our website, this is really a time saver.
As for other php scripts, remember to sign up for update mailing lists and RSS feeds to get those upgraded as soon as possible so that your site is not in danger. These days hacking is hardly ever about just defacing or deleting data; hackers want to go in completely unnoticed to add pages to your site to help SEO rankings and the like. Speaking of all of that, don’t forget the WordPress Exploit Scanner.
The Future of Photo Sites
The future of collective photo sites is headed on a clear course to success. One site in particular, We heart it, is a social photo bookmarking site that continues to be starred as a favorite among many photo lovers. When you come across a site like that you realize why photo sites grow to be so popular. It just takes more preparation and effort to put something into words. With photos it’s a mood, a thought inside, a fleeting moment captured with one snap that even still can be altered into something more meaningful. A photo can also reveal something magical, like jellyfish floating through their blue world, that otherwise you would never see. With all of the ways we have to express ourselves online, photography is probably the most passionate way. A special photo can speak to us in its own language and just when you think they’ve whispered everything - you find another unique photo to heart.
Whispering Tweet Nothings
Tweet Nothings: Endearments, often whispered, between Twitterers. For example, They sat in a corner all evening, whispering tweet nothings.
I’m doing a little experiment right now where I am not casually @replying to anyone on Twitter. Sometimes I feel all of the replies I see on Twitter are covering what is really important. That’s not to say what people are saying back and forth isn’t important, I just think it’s watering things down a bit. It’s really rare to come across a Twitter profile that is a clear stream of good posts from that person, it always shocks me a little when I do come across those. I want to be like that as well.
I’ve started to direct message others instead and make better connections with everyone. I am actually currently behind on this because it’s definitely a lot more work than just @messaging them. But I think in the end it’s going to be more rewarding and sweeter. I mean, tweeter.
Personal Assistant - Google Sitemaps
I’ve decided to start a Personal Assistant Series each weekend on my blog. Many of us could use a personal assistant whether in house, a “virtual” assistant (think AskSunday.com), or an e-assistant like Sandy (IWantSandy.com). But with these options there could be expenses involved which are more than you planned for or the work could not be up to par with your standards.
I am looking for ways to do common things that will allow you to focus successfully on the good stuff. I’m starting with something essential today which is keeping your sitemaps updated. It’s a tedious little task that you should stay on top of. But thankfully there are ways that these sitemaps can be updated automatically. If you have WordPress this post in particular is for you.
Arne Brachhold created the Google (XML) Sitemap Generator for WordPress.
“Everytime you edit or create a post, your sitemap is updated and all major search engines that support the sitemap protocol, like Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo, are notified about the update.”
Nothing could be better than that. This plugin works like a charm while you are busy posting and updating! Click here to view more information for the Sitemap Generator for WordPress. Then all you have to do is update the address of your sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools. Other services are notified automatically.
Photo above from ASurroca on Flickr. (And the story that goes with that photo is a *must read*)
