Discuss New York http://www.discussny.com/ Discuss New York is a New York Forum full of friendly people and great conversation. en Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:13:02 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.discussny.com/dnystyle/misc/rss.jpg Discuss New York http://www.discussny.com/ Finally Got An iPod Touch http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8388-finally-got-ipod-touch.html Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:06:15 GMT Image: http://www.bigdan.us/wp-content/uploads/ipod-touch-third-generation-300x300.jpg ... As some of you that I’ve talked over the past few weeks know I recent got myself an iPod Touch. I’ve had it for a few days shy of a month now and have held off on writing my review until the shiny new toy syndrome wore off. For those that don’t know the iPod Touch is basically an iPhone without the phone, it runs that same operating system as an iPhone and has all the same features except the GPS and phone. That’s not to say you cannot use the iPod Touch as a phone though as long as you’re connected to the internet (via Wi-Fi) and have Skype you can pretend you have an iPhone.

I’m very impressed with the iPod Touch or as I like to call it iTouch but that sounds a little funny. My biggest reason for not buying one sooner was the price. I felt for the storage capacity, lack of expansion options (SD cards, etc), and perceived features that it was a rip off. What really pushed my to buy one is a buddy of mine bought one which means I got my mitts on his to play with for a few hours and I was impressed. Before him getting one I really only got to play with the iPhone or iTouch briefly and didn’t really get to experience the device.

Funny for it being an iPod I hardly use it to play music actually that’s because I’m afraid to take the thing out on my walks for fear that if I drop it $300 is down the drain. I use my cheaper MP3 players for walk as if a drop them or whatever they’re cheap enough to replace.

First off the overall interface is very slick, response to touch input is instantaneous, fluid, and the gestures are natural.$ The iTouch is really like having a mini-computer in your pocket. Safari, the built in web browser does everything I can do on my computer albeit on a much smaller screen which has some drawbacks but overall with panning and zooming the mobile browsing experience is a heck of a lot better than I’ve seen on any other mobile platform.

One of the really cool things to me is Google has sync services so that I can sync my mail, contacts, and calender with the iPod’s built in apps. I love that, open an email in Mail, the it’s marked as read on the Gmail site, reply show’s up in Gmail’s sent folder. Update a contact’s email address on Google it shows up on the iPod. That’s just to cool but then again I’m easily amused.

The best thing about the iPod Touch in my opinion is all the applications available for it. The availability of apps is mostly due to the iPhone’s dominance in the cell phone arena but us Touch users benefit from that as a vast majority of iPhone apps work on the iTouch. There are a lot of great free apps. I expected to be stuck paying for anything useful but was pleasantly surprised at the amount of useful fully functional free apps. So far I’ve spent about $70 on apps and I’m done unless something great comes along. Most of my app money went to games. I just couldn’t pass up Bookworm, I’ve spent hours playing it online and I love it just as much on the iTouch. Other games I bought include Bejeweled, Chuzzle, Yahtzee, Tetris, Wheel Of Fortune, Pac Man, Uno, Jeopardy, and Monopoly. Bookworm, Uno, and Tetris are getting the most play right now. All hovered around the $5 mark, not to bad at all for a fully functional game with a great interface. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy aren’t done very well (big surprise their PC games suck too) and I wouldn’t buy them again.

On the productivity side I bought the CNN, BeejiveIM, Tapatalk, Hippo Remote, Appbox Pro, and iKeepass apps. The CNN app is definitely worth the $1.99. BeeJiveIM is an instant messenger client which is good but I’m not sure it’s worth the $5.99 as Meebo does the same thing but it’s free. Tapa-A-Talk is really awesome it’s $2.99 but allows to browse an enabled forum with a really slick interface, it’s free for webmasters to install. Appbox Pro is one of those $0.99 apps that too many features to list here but it’s infinitely useful. iKeepass is a neat app that allows you to view and copy your user names and passwords on your iTouch should you use Keepass for password storage on your computers, which I do. It’s a little difficult to setup but that’s not the application’s fault it’s because you apps cannot directly access files from other apps on the iTouch. Hippo Remote is an app which connects to your desktop computer over VNC and runs scripted actions, like media center and iTunes control. It really is quite cool. If you have no clue what any of that means just stick with the free iTunes remote.

The free apps: I’ve installed many free apps, lots of them were useless and got deleted after a few minutes of fiddling with them. The free apps that have made the cut, at least for now are:
  • Google App: By far this is the most used app on my phone. Since I’m a heavy user of Google services it’s really helpful. Basically the app is just shortcuts to the mobile version of Google sites with integrated search and the ability to search by voice. It’s pretty neat, the only thing lacking is a link to Google Voice but I suspect that has more to do with Apple than an oversight on Google’s side.
  • Facebook: Phenomenal app$ it’s like a whole new Facebook.
  • What’s On: TV listings. I mainly use to peek and see if I need to turn on my TV and schedule and recording. I’m surprised at the quality for a free app.
  • AOL Radio: Free radio station streaming.
  • New York Times: Decent app, not really much to see here.
  • Tweet Deck. To update Twitter and Facebook statues. I’m not a huge Twitter fan so I don’t use it much.
  • Skype: I renewed my Skype subscription and can now make and receiving regular phone calls on my iPod.. Cool eh? It does Skype to Skype voice and text chats too.
  • Bank Of America: Really good app for keeping up with your BOA accounts and using the bill pay services.
  • Wordpress: Nice app for managing your blogs, comments, posts, etc.
  • Dropbox: This is another great app although a bit limited by lack of a built in text editor IMHO.
  • PayPal: Nothing really to see here, check your PayPal balance and send money if need be. Unremarkable when compared to BOA app.
  • Accuweather: Provides a lot more information than the iTouch’s built in weather app. Advertising is prevalent but worth the eye sore IMHO.
  • GoDaddy: Who doesn’t get idea for websites in the middle of the night? Great app to look and see if domains are available and buy them if you want.
  • MySpace: Meh not much to see here, error prone just using MySpace on a computer is.
  • Shoutcast: Another radio streaming app, I listen to these stations at my desk so it’s nice to be able to walk around the house with them.
  • WCBS TV: Local TV’s stations app with local going ons, pretty neat.
  • Yahoo Messenger: This app is done very well but I use BeejiveIM to access Yahoo a majority of the time making this app redundant.
  • Meebo: Is just like the online Meebo service one sign on to connect to all your instant messenger accounts. It’s a great app online and a great app on the iPod. It kind of makes BeeJiveIM a waste of money other than BeeJiveIM storing your credentials locally where as Meebo stores them online, that can be a security concern for some.
  • Remote: This is a free app by Apple that allows you to use your iPod as a remove control for iTunes. It’s a pretty neat app. I’m only disappointed in the fact that it offers no control over the radio feature of iTunes which I use quite a bit.
Wow that was an exhaustive list. I didn’t expect to list a majority of my apps but I started typing and they all just came out. :p As you can see I’ve been playing around with my iPod a lot. All apps are listed by name if you want to check any of them out hit the app store and search for them.

Even with all these positives any electronic device has it’s drawbacks here’s the drawbacks from my point of view:

Accessory Pricing: It seems that anything marketed to work with iPod or with a dock connector carries an absorbent price tag even on none Apple hardware. I guess they figure if you can afford an iPod they can rip you off on the accessories. Cases really surprised me, the cheaper ones hover around $20 with $30 seeming to be the median price on cases. These are just plastic cases that probably cost more to ship then actual raw material costs. Can you spell R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S? Even Apple itself charges $79 for a replacement pair of earbuds. With the integrated microphone and remote you can really only order replacements from Apple. Oh well we always knew Apple was a little ridiculous with pricing anyhow but at $79 a pop I only wear the Apple ear buds when I’m making a call through Skype which is rare.

iTunes lock in: I knew this going in so I really cannot complain about it. If you want your iPod to work and sync properly you have to use the iTunes egosystem. Jailbreaking seems to be a crap shoot. In and of it itself the iTunes lock really not a bad thing, other than your restricted only to what apps Apple approves and iTunes is pretty bloated on both the Mac and Windows side. Changing my iPod to sync with my Mac was not an easy feat either.

Battery Life: Admittedly I haven’t played much music on my iPod BUT battery life just surfing the net and playing games isn’t good at all. I get about 3-4 hours of browsing with a full charge and depending on the 1.5-2 hours game play. It doesn’t seem that bad but when you consider taking this on a trip even to go wait in a doctors office the lack battery life is going to come into play.

Fingerprints: This is more of a gripe then complaint but this thing is a major headache to keep clean, not just the screen but the back too. My case helps some but not with the screen.

So That’s my review. I do really like the device. I still wouldn’t say it’s worth every penny but it’s pretty darn close. I was miffed to find out after I ordered that if I had went Wal-Mart and spent $50 more I could have gotten the 64 GB version which is $100 more from Apple. I bought the 32 GB version from Apple figuring it would be cheapest from the source but I guess not. Ah well, I still have close to 20GB free space even with my apps and most of my music on it for now I’m happy.



More... ]]> Member Blogs Big Dan http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8388-finally-got-ipod-touch.html The James Bulgar saga http://www.discussny.com/phoebes-diva-forum/8387-james-bulgar-saga.html Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:36:18 GMT In 1993 in Merseyside, UK, two 10 year old boys abducted a toddler from a shopping precinct whilst his mother was distracted shopping, walked him out... In 1993 in Merseyside, UK, two 10 year old boys abducted a toddler from a shopping precinct whilst his mother was distracted shopping, walked him out of the precinct and took him on a 2 mile walk to a railway line where they tortured, mutilated and murdered the 2 year old child. It was a horrific crime, whereby 2 boys, children themselves, hit the toddler with iron bars, bricks and threw paint in his face until he died, and then placed the child on the railway line where his body was cut in half by an oncoming train. Doubly horrific to think that this crime was commited by 10 year old boys.

The case made further history with the boys convicted of murder, being the youngest convicted killers and they were recommended to serve a minimum of 8 years.

In 2001 the boys were released from prison, given new identities and lifestyle. One of these boys has recently committed a further crime, an unconfirmed sexual offence, and is now back in prison following the breach of his release conditions.

The mother of the murdered toddler wants the Justice Secretary Jack Straw to release the exact details of his new crime that has led him back to prison and feels it is the peoples right to know. At the current time no information has been given on the details of the crime from the government.

there are mixed views on this, some people say that the mother of the murdered child has no right to know details of a further committed offence and are questioning why she wants to know. It is my personal view that the boys will always be of interest to the mother, they were the last ones to see her child alive and saw him take his last breath, it is entirely natural that the hatred against these two would be paramount in her mind when their names are mentioned and I feel that she has the right to know.

Do you think that people who commit abhorrent cruel and sadistic murders as these two did, at such a young age, should have ever been let out. I dont believe they should have. As an adult, it is one thing to murder someone in self defence or in a fight that got out of hand etc. I am not saying its right to murder, it isnt in any degree and of course everyone who does should pay the price, but it is a completely different matter to get enjoyment out of prolonged torture and mutilatation, oblivious of the victims pleas and their agony.

What do you think? ]]> phoebe1966 http://www.discussny.com/phoebes-diva-forum/8387-james-bulgar-saga.html Fake But Implants turn out to be bathtub caulk http://www.discussny.com/headline-news/8385-fake-but-implants-turn-out-bathtub-caulk.html Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:48:37 GMT Bathtub caulk butt jobs land N.J. women in hospital | Healthquest | NewJerseyNewsroom.com -- Your State. Your News.... Bathtub caulk butt jobs land N.J. women in hospital | Healthquest | NewJerseyNewsroom.com -- Your State. Your News.

This one is just too funny for me to pass out. I was literally laughing out loud while watching this on the news yesterday. I really don't feel bad for these people. First of all their vain enough to want but implants then they're stupid/cheap enough to go see a 'doctor' in a hotel room. What did they expect? ]]> Headline News Big Dan http://www.discussny.com/headline-news/8385-fake-but-implants-turn-out-bathtub-caulk.html Building a Datafeed Site – Step 3 http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8383-building-datafeed-site-step-3-a.html Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:30:31 GMT Image:...


In step 3, we’re going to actually display the data saved in the database! So far I’ve held your hand along the way, but now I’m just going to point you in the right direction, because there isn’t one way to do this. Merchants handle categories in their datafeeds differently, so you’re going to have to look at what the merchants you’ve chosen to work with are doing, and adjust accordingly.

Looking at my tea example, I wanted pages for Green Tea, White Tea, Black Tea and Oolong Tea. So (in theory, I don’t do it this way) we could make the Green Tea page /browse.php?cCategory=green+tea, and then pull in all the green teas. How do we do that? This is where you have to think.

What I’m doing is the following:

select * from products where MerchantSubcategory like '%green tea%' or MerchantCategory like '%green tea%' order by Name; That works nicely for my dataset. However, if you were using the Baghaus datafeed, your query may be

select * from products where Name like '%Tylie Malibu%' order by Price desc; Once you have your data, loop through it & display the products on the page, with a link to the product details page. You can use a list, or a table… whatever you’d like. In the end, you’ll be linking to individual products, like: /item.php?ProductID=466820102

And on item.php, you’ll do a quick lookup and display the product:

$cQuery = "select * from products where ProductID=" . (int)$_GET['ProductID'] . " limit 1"; $oResult = mysql_query($cQuery); $rsData = mysql_fetch_array($oResult); If you look at my tea site, you’ll notice I’m not using links like those in the blog post. Instead, I’m using .htaccess to rewrite the URLs, to make them “pretty”. You can learn about this in my Follow-up on Datafeeds Podcast blog post.

Finally, one problem you’ll be sure to run into is that merchants often have broken images in their datafeeds. This sucks, but there isn’t much you can do about it.

At first, I had a PHP script that made sure the image existed, and if so displayed it and if not, displayed another one. But, that slowed down the page display considerably. So instead, I use a bit of Javascript to replace broken images with a pre-defined image:

Warren Buffett once commented, “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing”.

In this datafeed series, I want to think the same thing. If I give you a finished site, you haven’t learned anything. However, if I give you the framework, and set you in the right direction, the finished product will be something you developed, not something you copied.

If you’ve followed from Step 1, and I know some of you have, you should be well on your way to a finished site. But if you’re waiting for a template to work off of, here it is:

Download the Zip

By no means is this a website that you can actually launch, but the framework is there for you to build off of.

As always, if you need help, leave a comment, email me, or find me on Twitter @esnagel




Building a Datafeed Site – Step 3 ]]> Member Blogs esnagel http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8383-building-datafeed-site-step-3-a.html Soap http://www.discussny.com/phoebes-diva-forum/8382-soap.html Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:07:49 GMT Does anyone remember this old sitcom. I used to love it. In these olden days, we didnt get many American sitcoms in the UK. This one was always on... Does anyone remember this old sitcom. I used to love it. In these olden days, we didnt get many American sitcoms in the UK. This one was always on late on a Friday night but cos I didnt have school the following day I was allowed to watch it, and I loved it.

]]> phoebe1966 http://www.discussny.com/phoebes-diva-forum/8382-soap.html Pattersons out. http://www.discussny.com/government-politics/8381-pattersons-out.html Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:00:14 GMT Petterson is not running for Govenor and I am glade. I am hoping for someone smart to get in. Get us out of the hole the right way be smart about it.... Petterson is not running for Govenor and I am glade. I am hoping for someone smart to get in. Get us out of the hole the right way be smart about it. Governor Patterson started off good and then he want to Hell. What heppend to you Patterson did you just dropp your balls? I am glade that you are not running for election. The problem with New York is that Western New York picks up everything if New York City paid for their stuff instade of getting all of the breaks they do not need we would be fine. Let New York City pay for there own trash pick up, let New York city pay for there snow plows, Stop putting money into greedy pockets and giving rasies when they state doesn't have the money. Why should we pay for New York City's masses? You guy's make they mass you clean it up, you pay for what happends. Make New York City and Albany pick it up. Patterson your your doing everyone a favor by not running Andrew Cumo whould beat you hand down he's get my vote. You want to make it so much harder to live in Westen New York taxes are way to high now and you want to raise everything.:violent5::violent5: ]]> Government and Politics Darkskull http://www.discussny.com/government-politics/8381-pattersons-out.html Building a Datafeed Site – Step 2 http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8380-building-datafeed-site-step-2-a.html Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:03:35 GMT Image:...


By now, we have selected the niche and chosen a template, added some supporting files and created the database, and are now ready to populate the products table with actual products!

The first step, if you haven’t done so already, is to download the datafeed from the ShareASale website. While many merchants offer FTP access, and we could automate this a bit more, it’s easier when getting started to upload the data manually (yeah, uploading a zip of the datafeed is “manual” to me).

You’ll need to create a “temp” folder, chmod it to 777 so the script can write to it, and maybe change where your unzip program sits on your server (line 17)

The script to load the products table isn’t terribly long, but I’m not going to paste the whole thing in this blog post. So…

Download the file here

Then, upload the file to your website, go to yourdomain.com/admin-sas-datafeed.php and click on the “Choose File” button, then select the zip file from your computer, and click “Upload”.


What this does is unzips the .zip file, reads the .txt file and if there’s a new product, adds it to the database. If the product already exists, it gets updated. Finally, any product that wasn’t just added or updated, gets removed.

Repeat as necessary for each merchant that you’re working with.

This step isn’t very long, or difficult (considering I give you everything you need!) but it’s exciting as now you have a database full of products, ready to display on your website!

Next up… we’ll work on the display of the products.




Building a Datafeed Site – Step 2 ]]> Member Blogs esnagel http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8380-building-datafeed-site-step-2-a.html Building a Datafeed Site – Step 1b http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8379-building-datafeed-site-step-1b.html Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:56:06 GMT Image:...


The next step in building a datafeed website is getting the data into the database, but to do this, we need to build an administrative section to your website, and add some helper functions & files.

vars.php was a file seen in Step 1, which I use to store the mysql connection and other variables. Here’s a simplified version of the one I’m using:

Change lines 3-6 and 12.

Next, you’ll need to set-up an admin.php page, like so:

GreenWhiteAndBlackTea.com Admin



Change as necessary – this is just an index for your admin section.

and admin-password.php:

Set your username & password that you’d like on lines 8 & 9

Finally, in your MySQL database, create the products table:

CREATE TABLE `products` ( `ProductID` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `Name` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `MerchantID` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `Merchant` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Link` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Thumbnail` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `BigImage` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Price` float(8,2) unsigned NOT NULL, `RetailPrice` float(8,2) unsigned NOT NULL, `Category` varchar(50) NOT NULL, `Subcategory` varchar(50) NOT NULL, `Description` text NOT NULL, `Custom1` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Custom2` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Custom3` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Custom4` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Custom5` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Lastupdated` datetime NOT NULL, `Status` varchar(50) NOT NULL, `Manufacturer` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `PartNumber` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `MerchantCategory` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `MerchantSubcategory` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ShortDescription` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ISBN` varchar(25) NOT NULL, `UPC` varchar(25) NOT NULL, `SKU` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `CrossSell` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `MerchantGroup` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `MerchantSubgroup` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `CompatibleWith` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `CompareTo` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `QuantityDiscount` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Bestseller` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL, `AddToCartURL` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ReviewsRSSURL` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Option1` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Option2` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Option3` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Option4` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `Option5` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `bActiveProduct` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL, UNIQUE KEY `ProductID` (`ProductID`)) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;I’m wrapping up the script which loads the data, which will be posted tomorrow.




Building a Datafeed Site – Step 1b ]]> Member Blogs esnagel http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8379-building-datafeed-site-step-1b.html There is a app for that http://www.discussny.com/technical-support/8378-there-app.html Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:02:42 GMT I am loving the new android phone. It is true what they say.

"There is a app for that."

I have downloaded

  • Medical term apps.
  • Metal detector app.
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • dolphin app that is a browser that is like firefox
  • casino game apps
  • police scanner app
  • flashlight app
  • pdf viewer app
  • and about 20 or more apps that I can't remember.
]]> Technical Support Raven http://www.discussny.com/technical-support/8378-there-app.html Comedy Shows http://www.discussny.com/potpourri/8377-comedy-shows.html Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:39:23 GMT Going to see Gabriel Iglesias this evening can't wait!:rofl: ]]> Potpourri kim woodin http://www.discussny.com/potpourri/8377-comedy-shows.html JW is a pain in the buttocks and so is Theresa http://www.discussny.com/potpourri/8375-jw-pain-buttocks-so-theresa.html Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:56:17 GMT
Quote:
Originally Posted by THERESA (Post 67495)
an awesome big sister and a pain in the ass brother in law...lol j/k JW ♥ u too!
Hay who are you calling a pain :bootyshake: Look in the mirror sweetie :innocent: ]]> Potpourri JW http://www.discussny.com/potpourri/8375-jw-pain-buttocks-so-theresa.html Tiger Woods not getting a divorce/new family portrait proves it http://www.discussny.com/headline-news/8374-tiger-woods-not-getting-divorce-new-family-portrait-proves.html Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:23:06 GMT Tiger and his wife just posed for a new portrait. I guess they're staying together after all. :D

Attachment 2176
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: tiger woods.jpg Views: N/A Size: 61.5 KB ID: 2176  
]]> Headline News THERESA http://www.discussny.com/headline-news/8374-tiger-woods-not-getting-divorce-new-family-portrait-proves.html The dentist http://www.discussny.com/food-health/8373-dentist.html Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:57:56 GMT I had two appointments yesterday at the dentists office. The first one was with the hygienist and the second one was with the dentist to finish a... I had two appointments yesterday at the dentists office. The first one was with the hygienist and the second one was with the dentist to finish a root canal.

My first visit for my root canal, part of a small plastic flexible file broke off way up inside my tooth. Yesterday he spent a LONG time trying to get it out. He never did get it out. Hopefully it won't cause any problems. If it does, I will have to go to a surgeon. He will have to make an incision in my gum and remove it from the top of the root of my tooth. I am really hoping that doesn't happen. It doesn't sound like a good time. :(

Ray and I got home at 8:30 at night. I was in the chair with the dentist until 7pm! (that appointment started at 5pm) About 15 minutes before we got home, the novacaine was wearing off and it started to hurt really bad. As soon as we pulled in the driveway, he called the dentist and told them I needed pain meds. They called the scripts (pain med and antibiotic to be on the safe side) right in and Ray went right out to pick them up. He takes such good care of me. I think I can get used to it. :) My tooth doesn't hurt as much today as it did yesterday. Thank God I had the pain meds though so I could sleep last night and work today. I don't know how it would have went if I hadn't been able to sleep and had to work all day with my tooth killing me.

Thank you for taking such good care of me Ray. :kissing: ♥ ]]> Food and Health THERESA http://www.discussny.com/food-health/8373-dentist.html Building a Datafeed Site – Step 1 http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8372-building-datafeed-site-step-1-a.html Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:55:23 GMT Image:...


This is the first in a series of how to build a datafeed site. I’m building the site right now, and will share the experience with you.

This will be an intermediate to advanced method of using datafeeds to build a site. If you’re looking for a simple way to get started, go check out Pop Shops or Datafeedr. What I’m going to show you is how to build a high-quality site, driven by a datafeed, for free.

The absolute first thing you need to do is pick a niche. I’m not going to help you here, but because I’ve been talking with Deborah Carney (aka Loxly), I’m going to build a tea site. Loxly manages the American Tea Room affiliate program, so I’m going to use their feed, along with Art of Tea (both ShareASale merchants). After the site is “done”, I’ll look at adding a CJ merchant feed in there.

To find merchants in ShareASale that have datafeeds, login and look under “Find/Join Merchants” and click on “View those with Datafeeds“. To keep things simple, pick a merchant (or two, or three) with a couple hundred products. If you choose ecampus, with 2.7mm products, you’re on your own.

Choosing a domain name isn’t extremely important, but as Vinny O’Hare reminded me, have the keyword in there. So I’m building out GreenWhiteAndBlackTea.com. Just make sure you keep the domain under 35 characters, so you can use it as your AdWords display URL.

Set-up the hosting, and make sure you create a MySQL database when you do this. We’re going to save the datafeed in MySQL, to make a dynamic site. Don’t worry, I’ll give you the products table structure… all 41 fields!

Next, find a template from Free CSS Templates that matches the theme of your niche. You’ll see on GreenWhiteAndBlackTea.com I’m using the Begrimed theme.

Themes from Free CSS Templates include a single index.html file, but I want you to break this into 3 php files: header.php, index.php, and footer.php. Index.php should include header.php, then have the content unique to the index page, then include footer.php. My index.php file is simply:

Welcome to GreenWhiteAndBlackTea.com

This is Begrimed , a free, fully standards-compliant CSS template designed by FreeCssTemplates for Free CSS Templates. This free template is released under a Creative Commons Attributions 2.5 license, so you’re pretty much free to do whatever you want with it (even use it commercially) provided you keep the links in the footer intact. Aside from that, have fun with it

Sed lacus. Donec lectus. Nullam pretium nibh ut turpis. Nam bibendum. In nulla tortor, elementum ipsum. Proin imperdiet est. Phasellus dapibus semper urna. Pellentesque ornare, orci in felis. Donec ut ante. In id eros. Suspendisse lacus turpis, cursus egestas at sem.



Don’t worry about vars.php right now.

That’s enough for one day. Next, we need to download the datafeeds, and get them into MySQL.




Building a Datafeed Site – Step 1 ]]> Member Blogs esnagel http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8372-building-datafeed-site-step-1-a.html Running for Boobs http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8371-running-boobs.html Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:26:04 GMT If you follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/esnagel) (which you should) or are my friend on Facebook, you’ll notice I’ve been doing a lot of...
If you follow me on Twitter (which you should) or are my friend on Facebook, you’ll notice I’ve been doing a lot of running this week. Well get used to it, because I’m participating in the Affiliate Summit East 2010 Nike+ Challenge, where Affiliate Summit will donate $1 to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade for each mile run (up to $5,000).

This actually works out perfectly for me. First, I’ve been meaning to run more, and now I have a reason to. Second, if you put a challenge in front of me, I’ll probably take it (except for the Ole 96er – I will not participate in eating contests anymore).

Finally, there’s been too much breast cancer in my family, especially lately, so anything I can do to help raise funds for awareness, access to care and finding a cure, I’ll be sure to help.

My goal is to run 250 miles over the 24-week period. While outside, I’ll be using my Garmin Forerunner for accurate recording (then converting the Garmin tcx file and uploading it to the Nike Running site) and while inside (treadmill running), I’ll be using the Nike+ kit.

In addition to Affiliate Summit’s donation on my behalf, I’ll be donating $1 for every mile I run to Roswell Park here in Buffalo. Roswell Park is America’s first cancer center, founded in 1898. The people at Roswell Park do great things for their patients and are focused on their mission to understand, prevent and cure cancer.

Your encouragement is greatly appreciated! There will be plenty of days I don’t want to run, and my running buddies have already been a great help this week.




Running for Boobs ]]> Member Blogs esnagel http://www.discussny.com/member-blogs/8371-running-boobs.html