Some things I’ve been up to:

1. fastAmazon has been selling better than I expected so I was busy with updates on that.
2. KudosCMS has just gotten version 1.1 released and 1.2 is in the planning stages which will include the ability to add custom plugins.
3. Foodizu has seen some new updates and I’ve been busy working on the iPhone app that will feature over 40,000 recipes when it launches. (Lots of yummy tasty food)
4. DBStract has been getting some new updates as well, but mostly they’ve been in the backend as I’ve added new infrastructure to how it handles it’s thousands of databases.
5. New articles for QuickPipe.com, which will be getting added this week.
6. Being a dad, and watching my daughter learn new things every week.
7. Being forced to watch Monsters Vs Aliens, 101 Dalmations 2, and madagascar 2 over and over and over and over

Otherwise, I’ve got some new projects on the horizon that I’ll be talking about more soon.

I’ve decided to list it on themeForest and see how it does there, so check it out if your interested, it’s just $12 dollars to pick up and install.

Today, I’m releasing the newest version of this CMS, which has been branded KudosCMS.

KudosCMS is simply a very simple Content Management System, you add elements to your webpages and editors can then edit those elements.

This image pretty much shows how you add KudosCMS to your web pages.

Again, useful for when you only want to edit certain pages, or edit certain parts of a page. Or when you have clients who want to edit content without changing the rest of the site, and don’t need a large Content Management System.

Oh yeah, and to celebrate the launch of this new CMS, I’ve set up that you can get $10.00 off if you use the coupon code “twitter”

A few things I’ve learned:

1. Ask, Say, Do – a cool little technique for teaching a child to do something. Instead of taking complete control of a situation and doing everything for the child you start by asking them what they think they need to do first (giving them an opportunity to say what the first step is). If they ’say’ it correctly you move on to ‘Doing’ but if they don’t you then ’say’ what they need to do first. ‘Do’ is all about the child doing with you assisting – rather than the other way around. Then when the first step is complete you go through the cycle again (ask, say, do).
2. Telling not Asking – instead of saying ‘do you think it’s time for a bath now?’ saying ‘it’s time for a bath now’ – the first option gives the child the option to say no and then leaves you needing to convince or negotiate. The second option might also get a ‘no’ but is less likely to get that result. I guess it’s about assertive instructions rather than open ended ones.
3. Quality Time – I’ve always tried to set aside time for one on one time with my daughter. I spend as much time after work with her as I can. Some days, we do a field trip to the park or even to the mall, and some days we just stay home and color or read or watch a movie. Weekends, we usually start off with a big breakfast together, then we continue that with some coloring and books and toys. Some days in the summer, I take her out to the local farmer’s market to pick up some local fresh produce. Quality time throughout the day is important to your child.
4. Escalation Trap – most parents have experienced it. It’s a pattern whereby you as a parent only seem to get your child to do anything by escalating your efforts to get their attention – ie shouting, screaming, threats and craziness. The child also uses the same technique to get what they want – (tantrums). When this pattern takes over a family things can get pretty crazy as everyone’s pattern of behavior is to only respond to escalated behavior and to get their way by escalating.
5. Accidental Rewards – where you reward bad behavior – sometimes just to make a child stop behaving badly (buying the toy they want when they’re throwing a tantrum in the supermarket) or sometimes inadvertently by giving the child attention when they’re doing something antisocial (laughing when the child throws blueberries at their grandmother). The problem with these accidental rewards is that the child learns that the behavior can get them something and they’re sure to repeat it.

Those are the most important rules I’ve learned so far, but I’ll have more tips for you about my experience being a dad as this goes.

Just insert this javascript link into the bottom of your pages to automatically change them to pirate speak after the page has loaded.

<script src="http://l.yimg.com/d/lib/ydn/js/pirate1252961643.js"></script>

I had been using mediatemple’s grid server since April but it was just having too many latency issues that made for a less enjoable experience.

I decided to move to a VPS on slicehost where I have had an account for a while.

The move was fairly smooth, but server migrations are something I’ve been doing for 10 years so they generally are.

Overall, I’m preferring slicehost over mediatemple and can see staying there for a while to come.

On top of that, last week also saw the silent launch of wphive.com, which is a wordpress site that allows for thumbs up, thumbs down of articles.

One of the interesting things about working on wphive, was that I decided to use absolutely no plugins for the submissions and voting areas, all of it was custom coded to be handled inside the theme itself, and was fun to write.

Deciding to do it differently, I took the SOAP route rather than the usual REST route a whole new Amazon script from scratch.

The two I’ve made so far are: http://www.netbookcentral.info and mobile-phone-cases.info.

Also differently, was how I decided to change the URL structure as well as having some meta tags dynamically generated by the product display.

How these will do I’ll wait and see.

So far, August has been a busy month. Got some new updates for DBStract currently with some beta testers, and will be rolling them out shortly, as well, surveyti.me and foodizu will both see some new features coming shortly.

Otherwise, there hasn’t been a lot else to report, just been working a lot.