Russell Beattie

Updates from this weekend...

* I finally got started on a Mowser Publisher FAQ, and posted it on the new Mowser Wiki at http://pub.mowser.com. Some of the highlights include details on the transcoding process, how to use Mowser as your mobile site, specifics on the headers, and updated links to additional info. I've also included a section for "Known Bugs" so please feel free to edit the Wiki and add any problems and/or sites that you find.

* I got rid of the "history" page in Mowser... Not many people were using it, but if you did, sorry but I had to wack it. The problem is that I slapped it together originally using just a plain-ol' browser cookie, which I knew didn't work well on mobile phones, but I included it anyways. Well, after looking at the logs and realizing that for a vast majority of phones I was calculating and delivering a new cookie per *each request* (including images!) I finally gave up on it. For my own internal stats, I'm now using a hash which combines the user agent, IP address and the day's date. This isn't unique enough for me to provide a user history, but it's good enough for me to guesstimate unique daily users. This is one less chunk of data for me to deliver which will make pages all that much more faster, so I think it's an improvement.

* For the record Mowser has received about 2.5MM mobile page views so far in October. (Thank you again Google!). I've also gotten god knows how many "hits" which, since many of them are for converted images I have to actively process, my server is starting to groan a bit. Time to add a bit more caching I think.

* My ad earnings per day are still going up. I've cross $10/hr (for an 8 hour day) which is a milestone I had previously set in my mind during mid-Summer when I noticed that In-N-Out Burger was looking for counter people at that salary and was, for a moment, impressed and almost interested. :-)

* The Library clips blog posted that they are using Mowser as their mobile site. Rock on. :-)

* I started working on a Bookmark This Page feature with links out to popular social bookmarking sites, but some of the logins don't work (for del.icio.us for example)! Argh. When I debug that, I'll get it launched so that users can use Mowser to both access and easily save links to their favorite bookmark sites while mobile.

* Dr. Doval came over last Thursday and listened to me *again* go over the general business plan and pitch for Mowser. If you can imagine how many times he's heard variations of it over the past year, then you can imagine how much patience you'd have to have to listen to it Yet Again, just only slightly differently than the last time. It helps a ton verbalizing what I'm trying to do though, so I appreciate it immensely. Thanks Diego!

* October marks a full year since I've had a real job, and any sort of regular income. This has not been without pain, as I had to move out of the wonderful Little Yellow House over the summer, lost my health coverage, had my car repossessed and had to get a loan from my parents *and* Miker to get the car back (I missed exactly 2 payments, the bastards, after not missing a payment for 3 years on two cars, and paying off all but $4k of a $20k car - the *last* time I buy a GM car for the rest of my life), I'm also on the hit-list for more than a few credit card companies, etc. However, now that the site is starting to get traction, I can tell you that it's been worth it. :-D

* I threw up a DICE resume this weekend to try to find a short term PHP or Java contract so I can start paying off some of my bills before someone name Big Louie arrives on my doorstep looking to break my kneecaps. If you know of anyone looking for a techie give me a buzz... just text RUSS to 41411 to get my info. :-)

Okay, back to work!

-Russ