Olexiy's Blog

Moneybookers in Ukraine

2009-06-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

Dance and sing! Moneybookers has become available in Ukraine. Similar to paypal and UK based.
Now what about Paypal, are they going to be available soon?

Everyday comics about work

2009-06-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Comics I regulary read:

Working It Out
Working Daze
Dilbert

Good humour about work for everyday use.

Think global

2009-05-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have been named number 9th in TOP 50 web developers in the world:
http://smartlifeblog.com/50-freelance-web-developers-1-to-25/

Many thanks to you guys! :)))

Pricing

2009-05-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

Todays economy makes everybody think twice before investing money. It takes even more efforts to convince a client to pay for quality or your experience. Some companies or freelancers believe that their experience alone allows them to set higher prices. Just because they are in business for so long or if they have clients who payed them those costs.

There is nothing in these arguments that make potential client pay. I'm asking myself:

-if they are so experienced, do they know latest technology or use old-style outdated techniques that proved to work?
-even if they had clients who payed them at this level, was it just because those clients were not able to to find someone better?
-maybe I should find someone less experienced with lower fees?

Only experience with this particular client is what counts. Trust is gained in real life situations and real projects. Forget your experience and grades. Learn, learn every day for your success!

Liqpay

2009-04-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

From now on I'm using Liqpay system to process my payments. It accepts all major credit cards and service is provided by trusted Ukrainian bank.

First payment is often blocked by security departments of your bank but after you call to confirm it all next payments will go without any problem. Also did I mention there is no commision when you pay. So say goodbye to wire transfers and WU.

Best Buyers

2009-04-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

Who are best buyers? - Those who never ask a single question. Such sale comes as pleasant surprise for me. What is even more surprising is that they often come again to buy something else...

Trying HTC touch

2009-01-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Everything is good except that I cannot set-up internet... I have two computers at home connecting using wi-fi with each other. I use proxy server on one of them with IP check. Network works fine, sends ping from computer to smart phone and vice versa. Mysterious bug...

Happy Holidays

2009-01-03T12:08:00.001-08:00

Hello Everybody,

Happy new year and Merry Christmas. Let it be always happiness and health in your homes and offices! So turn this page and be ready for 2009...

Kindest Regards,
Olexiy

Best zoom level for google map

2008-12-22T01:59:00.000-08:00

It's an undocumented API call doing it. Here's how to use it:

var center = new GPoint( (maxLon+minLon)/2, (maxLat+minLat)/2 );
var delta = new GSize( maxLon-minLon, maxLat-minLat);

var minZoom = map.spec.getLowestZoomLevel(center, delta, map.viewSize);

map.centerAndZoom(center, minZoom);

That's it :)

Making Google Map based zip code locator script

2008-12-20T15:18:00.000-08:00

At first we need a reliable source of US-postcodes...
After some search I found a bit outdated usps database
provided by U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/zip1999.html

Data is provided in dbf format. Now let's convert it into
useable mysql format using this software:

DBF2MySQL converter:
http://server.bo-bo.si/index.php?call=2.1

Although this program is not much user-friendly it does good.
You just need to adjust settings in config.php file and create a directory
with the dbf file inside.

So we have a mysql table with the following format:

CREATE TABLE `us_postcode` (
`Zip_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL default '',
`Latitude` varchar(11) NOT NULL default '',
`Longitude` varchar(11) NOT NULL default '',
`Zip_class` char(1) NOT NULL default '',
`Poname` varchar(28) NOT NULL default '',
`State` char(2) NOT NULL default '',
`County` char(3) NOT NULL default ''
) ENGINE=MyISAM

Now let's work with this program:
http://www.sebflipper.com/googlemaps_demo/

Distributed under the terms of the General Public License (GPL)
It searches locations based on postcode and displays them on google map.
Apparently it can be taught to search our US postcode database.

Now we need to calculate distance between two points using mysql

http://www.douglaskarr.com/2007/09/15/calculate-distance/ shows nice example of such calculation:

$qry = "SELECT *,(((acos(sin((".$latitude."*pi()/180)) * sin((`Latitude`*pi()/180))+cos((".$latitude."*pi()/180)) * cos((`Latitude`*pi()/180)) * cos(((".$longitude."- `Longitude`)*pi()/180))))*180/pi())*60*1.1515) as distance FROM `MyTable` WHERE distance <= ".$distance."

For Kilometers:

$qry = "SELECT *,(((acos(sin((".$latitude."*pi()/180)) * sin((`Latitude`*pi()/180))+cos((".$latitude."*pi()/180)) * cos((`Latitude`*pi()/180)) * cos(((".$longitude."- `Longitude`)*pi()/180))))*180/pi())*60*1.1515*1.609344) as distance FROM `MyTable` WHERE distance <= ".$distance."

Free Alternative

2008-09-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

WinZIP, WinRar -> 7-Zip
Photoshop -> The Gimp
Corel -> Inkscape
MS Office -> OpenOffice
Adobe Reader -> PDF -Xchange Viewer

Kiev 2008

2008-07-25T06:54:00.001-07:00

Vladimirsky Zlatoverhy

Abstract thinking

2008-07-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

How to fight absence of ideas? No hope and no way. You seem to be on a way from point A to point B. Just sit and wait until you reach B. That seems to be a right way of dealing with this problem.

Next question. What I should do while I wait for B. It does not matter what, but it has to be positive.

How can I affect the speed of going from A to B. What can be done? Nothing...

Eurovision 2008

2008-05-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Ukraine has placed second this year. Russia is the first

Calculated values in PHP Finance

2008-05-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

We have just released a new version of PHP Finance Manager. It has new updated dashboard page and new conceptual feature - calculated values.

These are variables which can be displayed along with the query results or functions calculated using variables, income and expenses categories. Functions' results are recalculated each time their operands change and stored in database.

Please let me know what you think about this feature. http://www.greedyduck.net

What am I doing?

2008-05-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

-Releasing new product (Google maps portal software)
-Enhancing PHP finance Manager with calculated values
-Enhancing PHP Availability Calendar XL with new homepage and search function
-Product database project for Swiss client
-Classifieds ads project for US client
-Job board (waiting for confirmation)
-2 Online stores (waiting for confirmation)
-supporting past projects...

Nothing serious... any new projects to discuss? :)

Language test

2008-04-24T06:24:00.001-07:00

IELTS band score -7!

A Problem with the Amazon Affiliate Program

2008-03-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com provides linking to third party products. This is a place where users have a chance to list their used books. Some organizations use this system to spread the literatue without even thinking about profit. Those books usually cost only $0.01. While this feature is certainly useful for the users, some people think it is not good for the affiliates.

Used books have very little value. There are books which can be read several times. It gives us pleasure and entertains to read them again and again. While other books which you read only one time are worthless. Once read they take place on a bookshelf and getting dusty. One can try to sell them at a bookstore or just give to somebody else. Anyway you can hardly make anything out of this deal.

There are several book swapping sites like paperbackswap.com , bookmooch.com and whatsonmybookshelf.com which provide a system to trade used books. Users earn points by sending books to other members and use those points to request books they like. Such sites are usually free, making profit from advertising and affiliate programs with the bookstores.

Bookstore affiliate program usually works in the following way. If someone buys an item being referred from a partner site, publisher gets a commision depending on the item cost. So if you referred a book costing $50 you will get up to $6 at Amazon. Commison rate depends on how many books you referred in that period. On the other hand if you refer a book costing one cent you will get nothing in commision.

Publishers strive to maximize their profits. And non-profit sites try to use Amazon to spread books almost for free. These goals have nothing in common. Amazon affilate program has to be changed to allow blocking of low cost third party sales.

SiteHeart

2008-03-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

There new payment method provided by Provatbank. It is online chat system which allows to pay directly from and to visa card. Let's check it! >>

Saints-Peterburg

2008-02-25T06:04:00.000-08:00

It was cold and rainy. I wish I visited this city in summer or spring :)

Whatsonmybookshelf.com update

2008-02-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

We have just added book search in Germany, Canada, UK, France, Russia and Japan. Spain and Italy is coming soon.

Getting ready to go international!

crosslinking and PR

2008-01-24T04:26:00.000-08:00

Not sure when it happened but now Google sees the difference between links
http://site.com/
http://site.com/index.htm
http://site.com/index.php

So from now on we should use only one way of linking to the site root, otherwise Google will consider that these are different links. As a result you will get lower Page Rank.

Sural Saray Hotel ***** Side

2008-01-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

Missing you sunny Turkey!

Choosing CMS for template sites

2008-01-21T01:23:00.000-08:00

After testing about 10 popular open-source cms - most seem to be community- or blog-oriented, not suitable for the corporate sites. Some of them require copyright to be placed. This one is good - http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/
Based on smarty templates (http://smarty.php.net/) and stores them in database.

Biocom

2008-01-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

I have plans to launch a bioinformatics portal www.biocom.biz I wonder if there is a market for sceintific programming...