Author: harry

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HR-XML

HR-XML runs more conferences than any other organisation I have ever known. The most recent email I received is for…..

HR-XML’s Global Partnering and Integration Summit is the singular event during the year tailored to the interests and information needs of those within the field of HR services. Time-pressed technologists, strategists, and executives will benefit from a program that reads like a who’s who of leaders within the industry. This is your chance to network with peers, partners, and business prospects as wells as enjoy all the attractions of Las Vegas.
Below are just some of the sessions on the Summit program. ***SPACE IS
LIMITED*** So register today at:
www.partneringsummit.org
snip…………

I noticed that Rony Kahan from indeed is speaking at it on the following topic:

OpenID and Microformats: A New Approach to HR Data Sharing on the Web
Rony Kahan, Co-Founder, Indeed

I did not see any speakers from simplyhired.com. I would have thought to see someone from both parties getting involved with HR-XML. Looks like Indeed might be taking steps to ensure they get to help set whatever standards are coming.

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Checking Page Rank

I tend to check the PageRank on some of my sites once in a while and I can never remember which site I used the last time. This meant I farted around looking for one that doesn’t involve a catchpa or try to sell me something while I am using it. With this in mind I wrote my own PageRank Checking tool, now I no longer need to go hunting anymore.
I am seriously considering creating a whole suite of tools to check things like:
Yahoo and google backlinks
pagerank
indexed pages
alexa ranking
quantcast ranking
etc etc
When I want to see any one of these things it would be nice to see them all.

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Simplyhired.com indeed.com and Vertical Job Search

I am not sure if anyone else has been watching indeed.com and simplyhired.com. I have, and it is turning out to be an interesting fight. Both sites have Google like aspirations except they are in vertical job search. This is something I have been watching for far too long hence my interest.
Indeed, Inc. was founded in 2004
Simplyhired. was founded in 2005
There is not much between them as far as start dates are concerned but I reckon we will see some very different tactics on capturing market share.
For instance:
Just recently indeed.com branched into the UK market with indeed.co.uk. This sent shivers down my spine because I run a Job Search Engine and started imagining the end of my website due to indeeed’s expansion. Looking at simplyhired’s growth over the last few months my fears were compounded. It is simply staggering. Around mid to late April this year their popularity shot up by over 100% according to alexa and quantcast. I reckon this is in large part due to a partnership with myspace (one of their major investors, Fox Interactive media owns myspace) .
My advice to indeed would be to find partners in viral or social networking organisations and do it quickly.
My advice to simplyhired would be to watch indeed’s internationalisation. I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks but entering international markets is a tough cookie to crack.
Another interesting thing is simplyhired’s move with jobomatic.com. I think this is a great idea and will definitely capture them decent content and a lot of traffic.
I am seeing simplyhired branching out in some very lucrative directions but I am not seeing (I may be missing things) the same focus from indeed.com. Perhaps I am not seeing indeed’s long term goals ie. why internationalisation etc……..

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Luton Estate Agents

Mike Willis are a bunch of cowboys. We used them to rent a flat for us. I have never dealt with a firm that lied through thier teeth as much as these guys. Here is a list of some of their failings:
1. Failure to pass on money from the tenant on more than one occasion
3. Failure to carry out spot checks on the property as agreed.
4. Failure to advise us that there was a problem with the washing machine for over 4 weeks.
5. Failure to arrange an electrician to complete works on the property.
Do not use Mike Willis for anything, they are by far the most unprofessional firm we have ever dealt with.

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Vanishing software

I recently came across this article.
Making that vital development decision
please don’t go off and read it. I was looking forward to reading it until I read the first paragraph.

I believe that within five years, all software development will be based on one of two virtual-machine technologies: Sun’s J2EE, which is based on its JVM (Java Virtual Machine), and Microsoft’s .NET Framework, which is based on the CLR (Common Language Runtime).

I made the interesting parts bold.
This article was written in “Jun 13, 2002”. What this means is that in a couple of weeks time 80% of all development work on the planet will cease. No more work will be carried out on Linux, Windows, macintosh, not to mention more than 80% of all dynamic websites.
After reading that sentence I was unable to continue. Anyone who believes something like that or expects me to is hardly qualified to make a rational judgement about J2EE or .NET.

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Debian and ymessenger

If you get a dependency problem with ymessenger on debian ie.
debian:~# dpkg -i /home/harry/ymessenger_1.0.4_1_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package ymessenger.
(Reading database … 156541 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ymessenger (from …/ymessenger_1.0.4_1_i386.deb) …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ymessenger:
ymessenger depends on xlibs (>> 3.3.6); however:
Package xlibs is not installed.
dpkg: error processing ymessenger (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
ymessenger
Convert the rpm to a deb package using alien as follows
alien -c /home/harry/rh9.ymessenger-1.0.4-1.i386.rpm
then
dpkg -i ymessenger_1.0.4-2_i386.deb

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iGoogle

I just noticed that if you click on iGoogle from that point forward if you go to the normal google page it redirects you to iGoogle. What were they thinking.

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Tandem Canada

Some people are mad and some are crazy but there are some people who we are unable to categorise. I know two of these, it’s Jennies parents. If you are wondering why I think they are doo lally have a look at Tandem Canada.
I am insanely jealous. Paul’s a fit bugger and has been cycling longer than I have been alive but it’s has to be Pauline that takes the biscuit. She didn’t start cycling until a couple of years ago.

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Is DMOZ dead?

It has been more than three years since I tried to upload UKlug to DMOZ. I submitted UKlug to it again today. I am not expecting much from DMOZ. Is it just me or is DMOZ either dead or dying. I got burned a few times asking people what was going on with my listing but because it is a free service they treat you like the scum of the earth. Not a particularly pleasant experience.