The Weber Report

So where've I been?  Essentially it boils down to my leaving Eponym.com to pursue other opportunities in the web development market.  The good news is that there aren't any hard feelings between me and my former colleagues, they are even allowing me to maintain my blog for free!

Also, please rest assured that Eponym is doing fine and my leaving the company doesn't represent any problems or issues with the service.  It will continue into the future albeit, with a slightly changed upgrade model.  If you have any questions regarding Eponym or it's services, please use the “Contact Us” form located on the bottom of the Eponym Homepage or use the Eponym Help Blog (which is amazing since I wrote it).

Expect me to continue work on the ole' blog on into the future!

Normally, embroidery is a topic I wouldn't normally discuss with anyone.  It's a fairly mundane and well… worthless topic of discussion for the most part.  Recently however, one of our sister companies, Scrubshopper.com (a leading retailer of medical scrubs), made a very fascinating and expensive purchase. 

The machine in question is a Tajima embroidery machine capable of re-creating almost and picture, text, or design imaginable on a piece of cloth.  This thing is not only fascinating to watch, but spits out some darned impressive results.  The machine requires several days training for the operators to understand how to use it's complex functionality, but once complete.. the results are pretty amazing.

Anyways, us Eponym guys found ourselves in their building watching this machine for a while the other day and I decided to shoot some footage of this “robot” in action. 

They also set me up a nice 10% off coupon for all of you!  Just go to http://www.scrubshopper.com and enter the coupon code “dustin” (without the quotes) when you are finishing the order. 

Meanwhile, Click Here to check out this amazing machine in action!

Tagged:  Tajima Embroidery Machine, Tajima, Embroidery Machine, Embroidery, Scrubshopper, Scrubshopper.com

I don't want to be tooting my own horn, but have you checked out our Blog Directory yet? 

This thing is really rolling now that we have had a LOT of submissions and most of the categories are filling up.  We worked hard on this thing, so I want you all to really dig it… making me feel like our hard work has helped you in some way.  Or, you can just fiddle around with it a bit, I bet you'll find some interesting places to visit when you are “working” at work. 

Not sure what the directory is all about?

“What is the Eponym Directory? How 'bout we start off by telling you what we're not. First of all, we're not a
directory that claims to have more blogs indexed than any other search engine. And second, we don't allege to have
a temperature-
controlled warehouse up in Oregon that accommodates millions of computers with the sole job of
archiving every blog ever written about the therapeutic effects of the right hair gel.

In fact, we're not even sure
when quantity started becoming more important than quality. For now, though, we've decided to blame
Hardee's
“Monster Thick Burger” for this trend — 1400 calories for only $5! Quite a bargain, huh? Actually,
if you think about it, how many people really want to pay $5 for a massive heart attack? 

That's why we created the Eponym Directory, because we don't want to fill your arteries with unwanted sludge
and fat, we want to give you search results that will fill you up without killing you. Regular search engines
excel at indiscriminately collecting a large amount of content, but to take our hamburger metaphor a little
further — the first two pages tend to be nothing but bun.
We want to give you that perfect bite — the right blend of meat, cheese, bun, and condiments on
the first page.

Lookit: We don’t have any shareholders to please. We're just a few programmers, bloggers, and designers who
got fed up with finding only auto-created content and
corporate-manufactured sites every time we wanted to read what others were saying about last night's
“American Idol,” or the latest in the
Coke + Mentos phenomenon.
So, we created the Eponym directory. And how do we know that the blogs that show up on our search engine are the
best? Because we hand-picked and categorized them ourselves.

Sure, we have some creative programs and a sweet
ranking system to help us provide the freshest, most popular search results — but those results only come from
blogs that pass the Eponym test for quality. And by “quality,” we don’t mean two slabs of microwaved beef,
three slices of processed cheese, four strips of greasy bacon, and a half-gallon of mayonnaise (and for an extra
charge, your own defibrillator). We mean a juicy burger grilled in our own backyard with ingredients that we
picked out ourselves.

Go ahead — try us out. You'll see. We're delicious!”

Click Here to check it out!

Tagged: Eponym, Eponym.com, Eponym Blog Directory, Directory, Blog
Directory, BETA

I'm slowly starting to recoup after getting back from the honeymoon.  This week, I'll be playing catch-up and getting started on some new and exciting projects we have lined up.  Of course, in normal fashion, I can't really talk about what I'm working on… but I think it's pretty neat stuff.

Meanwhile, Eponym continues to prosper and grow as we head in a new direction.  We hope that we can continue it's success and not get too excited and eager over the possibilities!

Tagged: Eponym, Eponym.com, Blog, Blogs, Blog
Service

I spent the major part of this week & last re-interpreting the original design and layout of the Eponym Help Blog.  It's not that my original design didn't work, it was just butt ugly.  Comparing the original design vs. the new one.. I think the design change is quite dramatic.

I switched it to a simpler two-column layout and used the color scheme from the sister/companion sites: eponym.com, search.eponym.com, & directory.eponym.com.  It seem's to be a great look (thanks to our graphics dude, John).  So truthfully, I sorta stole the color scheme from stuff that was already done.. but it wasn't easy to get it looking the way it does (at least for a color-blind programmer).

After the typical approval process (with several teams), we did bug testing and launched it today without even a slight bit of press.  In fact, we didn't even mention the change at all. 

Despite the lack of hooray's, I'd love to know what you think!

Leave a Comment below!

Tags: Eponym, Eponym.com, Blog, Blogs, Blog Service, Eponym Help, Eponym Help Blog

While continuing my work helping out with support and billing, I've also been doing some testing for the Eponym Blog Directory.  We quietly launched the Directory without any fanfare or real publicity.

We're wanting to see how well it does on it's own without media blitzes, plus we want to see how well the server can handle the load (remember, it's still in BETA). 

Basically, we don't want a server crash on it's initial launch.  Very soon though, that won't be a concern due to some changes that will occur with our hardware.  In the mean time, we are playing it safe.  We are still accepting site submissions, so be sure to get your favorite blogs in ASAP.

I've also been spending time working on/with a new system we are going to use to handle the large influx of support, billing, and technical issues that we are receiving from our blogger's.  It's not really an issue of Eponym having lots of problems, it's simply a part of having 30,000 blogger's all with their own unique feedback, concerns, and billing changes. 

Soon, we'll be releasing a very helpful on-line account, billing, and support ticket management system that will take some pressure off us humans.  Meanwhile, I'm installing the support/ticket system and thoroughly testing it prior to hitting production.

Tagged: Eponym, Eponym.com, Eponym Blog Directory, Directory, Blog Directory, BETA, Release

Only on my blog can you see this inside, super-secret, pre-launch picture of the Eponym Blog Directory menu system.  I hope I don't get fired for showing these off, but I just have to!  Click here to see the full size screen shot of the menu.   A shot of the blog specific page is located here.

Jim, one of my fellow programmers, enjoy's taking credit for stuff that I did, hah.  In this case, the credit is well-deserved and mostly true.  However, I did spend a considerable amount of time working with him and testing our latest release: The Eponym Blog Directory.  Thanks to our amazing graphics dude (John), the interface is incredible and looks impressive and modern. 
This project was a huge leap ahead as Jim & I coded the project entirely in Rails.  The menu (navigation system),   is totally AJAX'ified.  If you aren't familiar with this technology; it allows new content to show up on the page without the need to reload the entire page.  In simple terms, it looks really cool and works really well for what we wanted to do.

The incredible thing is how Ruby on Rails helps the proccess vastly.  In no way was this a simple undertaking, but I couldn't even imagine doing this directory in PHP or some other language; Ruby simply blow's them all away. 

Here's where YOU come in!  We need your help with getting the best blogs on the net in the directory.  We are going to be very particular which blog's we accept, but we simply don't know which one's are the best in every category in the world.  If you get a chance, spend a few minutes and add the blogs that you frequent often into the directory.  All you have to do is have the URL of the blog handy to add it.   Remember, we are looking for the best. 

Note: Although a personal blog on your cat named Chucky may be interesting, we only want it if lots of people agree that it's one of the best Cat blogs in the world. 

Later, we will process all of the submissions and rank them.  Only the best blogs will make it; based on their hotness, freshness, and coolness (with a bit of wizardry that culminates in an overall blog score).  Sounds fun doesn't it!  We spent a LOT of time tuning the forumulas to provide the correct amount of emphasis on each factor.  There's also an invisible Hand-of-God knob that allows us to make subtle ranking changes.  Overall, the system is really powerful and should be quite a hit as far as directories go. 

We're hoping the directory can show the world the talent that is held inside these walls and help generate some press for Eponym in general.  Do your very best to spread the word; the only way this directory can succeed is with your help.

Click Here to submit your favorite blogs!

Tagged: Eponym, Eponym Directory, Eponym Blog Directory, Eponym Beta, Eponym Release, Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Blogging Industry, Blog Directory, Directory, Beta

Status: I've been helping man the support system and spending every other moment contributing to our next big release!

With our 40,000+ blogs, we've been hit pretty hard lately with support, billing, and abuse requests.  It hasn't been a problem to keep up with it, but I'm helping out whenever needed.  I don't mind showing our customer's how important support is to Eponym!

All other free time has been devoted solely to researching and contributing, in differing ways, to our next big release.  I'm excited to get this thing released… but I need to be patient for just a little while longer.  It's pretty cool if you ask me.

Tagged: Eponym, Eponym.com, Eponym Support, Eponym Directory

Status:  Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off… or you could call it “dynamic”.

If I could describe my latest work here at Eponym, it would be.. varied.  I seem to have a new assignment, task, or goal about every five minutes.  They all tend to mostly revolve around Eponym Support and our up-and-coming and not-so-touted-yet-super-secret project we'll be releasing.

Jim and I have been working pretty hard on it and almost all of the team have contributed to the project in varying degree's.  John, our graphics guy is getting close to finishing the pretty side of it.. so now it's just left with fine tuning and launch (which may be delayed depending on what my boss desides on timing).

Whatever the case, I think it's pretty exciting and it will be a great addition to Eponym.  If only you knew what I was talking about, right?

Tagged: Eponym, Eponym.com, Eponym Support, Eponym Directory

This is a duplicate post from what I posted on the Official Blog today, but it's worth it:

We quickly rolled past 25,000 blogs today.  That's correct, I said
25,000!  It's no surprise why things have quickly become so busy around
here.

The future is looking bright here at Eponym as I share a sense
of excitement with every single person on the Eponym team and all of our bloggers.

Status: Jim and I have worked our butts off on our newest super-secret release and we've moved on to testing and deployment issues.

Just because we have finished the back-end, doesn't mean it looks good.  Thankfully, John, our graphics man does an amazing job of styling this kind of stuff.  We have no doubt that our soon-to-be newly released graphics layout for Eponym and the stuff Jim and I have been working on will WOW some people.

I'm really ready for this stuff to get out there.. I'm tired of seeing how cool it looks and no one else being able to see it!

However, I know that the process of testing is way more important than instant gratification.  Our goal is to release the new stuff without even a hint of problems from our bloggers.  Hopefully, that goal will come true.  (It really should considering how much testing we've done)

Meanwhile, we continue on.

Status:  Although it seems like time has flown by, I'm still working with Jim on our Blog Directory/Search Engine project.

I'm still learning Ruby on Rails, but I'm catching on a lot more now.  Truth is, I've never seen a programming language that is so honkin' sweet.  I've also found myself using more slang and pseudo-gang hand signs with my co-workers, so I will just say this:

“This stuff is going to be pimp when it's done.”

John, one of our graphics guy, is almost complete with a re-hash of the main site.  It's gonna be so nice when we bring it all live!

Status: What can I say.. I'm a slow learner!  I'm still working with Jim learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails.

The Blog Directory project is coming along nicely though, I think it's gonna blow the socks off all the competition that exists out there right now.

I suppose only time will tell, but I feel very confident about it!

More importantly though, we hit our 10,000th blog yesterday.. which is utterly astounding.  It set off a random celebration around here and sent Jim running around the office yelling like a crazy school girl.

It was actually pretty entertaining; we were all standing around one computer refreshing the Eponym admin system… all of us yelling out the number of blogs we had left until we hit 10,000.  Yep, we were yelling and yep it was sad. 

10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Greg put up the official announcement here on the Official Eponym Blog.

Status: After a fairly lengthy meeting Monday morning, we decided Ruby on Rails would be a good programming language for me to learn.

Thankfully, Jim, our “expert” in Ruby here at Eponym volunteered to give me a crash course in the finer aspects of Ruby on Rails.

Even more important, he is a patient teacher: which will help us to pound out a pretty good start to the Blog Directory fairly soon.  We have a lot of work to do, but I'm excited to see it all come together.

Ruby on Rails is so powerful and feature-rich.. and Ajax-Enabled.. WEB 2.0 here we come!

Do you want to discuss your Eponym blog?  I started up an informal Eponym User Forum that you can check out here.  The point is for you, the Eponym bloggers, to talk things out and discuss problems and solutions.

If you weren't aware, I am one of the programmers of Eponym.com.  Just keep in mind that I have a responsibility to my company, so I can't provide free support or help.  However, I will discuss things and be open to helping out with what I can.

If you are interested, Click Here to read more about it and see what's being discussed.

Tagged: Eponym user forum