John Cox

Blogs · @wyome · Now · Shelf

Tagged business · everything

Interesting

Intro to OLAP - MySQL Performance Blog

This post introduces business intelligence (BI) and OLAP (online analytical processing) tools, explaining how they analyze data to provide insights into business performance through multidimensional analysis that breaks down measures like sales totals across dimensions such as time, geography, and product. It contrasts MOLAP systems, which use specialized pre-computed data stores for speed but require lengthy processing times, with ROLAP systems like Mondrian that query relational databases structured as star schemas, trading some performance for flexibility and ease of use. The post establishes that this series will focus on open-source ROLAP tools using MySQL, covering how they generate queries and handle aggregation to improve performance on large datasets.

Permalink

10 Reasons Not to Copy Amazon | Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog

Copying Amazon's design and business practices is risky because Amazon operates under fundamentally different conditions—massive scale, diverse customer base, complex marketplace model, efficient logistics, and deep pockets for experimentation—that make its strategies unsuitable for most retailers. The article argues that Amazon's apparent success often masks poor user experience that only loyal customers tolerate, and that design decisions Amazon makes for business reasons (like removing reassuring text to free up page space) get mistakenly adopted as best practices. Rather than benchmarking against Amazon, retailers should test their own site elements against their specific customers and business model.

Permalink

Screenr - Create screencasts and screen recordings the easy way

This is a marketing page for Articulate 360, an AI-powered learning and development platform that helps organizations create, distribute, and measure workplace training at scale. The platform combines instructional design principles with AI tools to transform existing materials like decks and documents into interactive training experiences, supporting features like multi-language translation, custom AI avatars, and analytics to track training effectiveness. It's positioned as an all-in-one solution that consolidates fragmented training tools and integrates with existing business systems across HR, sales, support, and other departments.

Permalink

Easy server monitoring with e-mail, SMS, iPhone alerts - Server Density

Zarpra is a managed IT services company that takes over application support and infrastructure management for organizations with neglected or undocumented tech stacks, providing documentation, stabilization, and ongoing support rather than piecemeal fixes. The company emphasizes establishing clear ownership and responsibility for systems, managing access controls and user administration, and handling daily IT operations without downtime—positioning itself as the missing "foreman" for companies whose technical infrastructure has grown chaotic through lack of coordination.

Permalink

Make an Editable/Printable HTML Invoice | CSS-Tricks

The author describes creating a lightweight, browser-based editable HTML invoice template that mimics FreshBooks' interface using simple `<textarea>` elements. The approach requires no special software beyond a web browser, can be hosted on a website for access from any computer, and preserves user edits if the page is accidentally refreshed. The solution is deliberately minimal but practical for those with basic invoicing needs who want to print or save invoices as PDFs.

Permalink

Facebook Groups Vs Pages: The Definitive Guide

I don't have a specific article to summarize here. What you've provided is a navigation page or header section from Adweek showing newsletter signup options and general site information, not the actual content of a saved article. To write a summary, I would need the text of the article itself—its headline, body, and key arguments or findings. Could you share the actual article you'd like summarized?

Permalink

assertTrue( ): Nine Questions to Ask during a Job Interview

Job interviews are a two-way process where you should actively assess whether the employer is right for you, not just answer their questions passively. A hiring manager pays close attention to the quality of candidates' questions as a measure of their preparedness, enthusiasm, and research—and good candidates invariably ask good questions. The piece offers eight strategic questions to ask (about your team, success metrics, management style, career advancement, and your predecessor's fate) while warning against early inquiries about time off, work-from-home flexibility, or compensation that signal poor work ethic or entitlement.

Permalink

How To Rise Fast At Work: A True Story - Forbes.com

Mark succeeded by becoming indispensable to his organization as a whole rather than by competing with peers or self-promoting to management. He started by systematically learning how every part of the company operated—what people did, how they worked together, and where inefficiencies existed—then made unglamorous improvements like ordering lunches and organizing supplies that genuinely helped everyone do their jobs better. His colleague Ted, by contrast, worked frantically to outpace his peers and impressed senior managers with his speed and ambition, but because he never moved beyond excelling at his assigned tasks or understood how the broader organization functioned, he remained stuck as a top performer rather than advancing into management and leadership roles. The article argues that Mark's approach of building institutional knowledge and facilitating others' success is more effective for career advancement than the traditional school-tested formula of individual performance and self-promotion.

Permalink

How I Hire Programmers (Aaron Swartz's Raw Thought)

The author proposes an alternative hiring process for programmers that replaces traditional interviews with three main steps: evaluating past work through code samples and demos, assessing intelligence through casual conversation (not formal interviews), and checking compatibility through informal team activities, followed by a final sanity check of assigning a small project. He argues this approach reveals whether candidates are genuinely smart, can execute, and work well with others better than standard interview questions do, though he acknowledges it requires a small sanity-check project to verify candidates haven't misrepresented themselves.

Permalink

Sarbanes-Oxley IT Security Compliance Checklist from JasonKolb.com - The life of a technology entrepreneur.

Kolb provides a practical security checklist for Web 2.0 applications organized into front-end, back-end, and network layers, designed to help companies meet Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requirements without expensive consultants. The guide covers protecting sensitive user information through encryption, password policies, and secure authentication methods; preventing common attacks like SQL injection and man-in-the-middle exploitation; and restricting database access and logging security violations. While not exhaustive, the checklist aims to serve as a starting point for entrepreneurs building secure web applications and a cost-saving reference for companies navigating SOX audit requirements.

Permalink

favikon

Favikon is a platform that uses AI to help brands and agencies find, vet, and manage influencer marketing campaigns by indexing 10 million creator profiles across nine social networks and updating them daily. Beyond discovery, it automates outreach, campaign management, tracking, and reporting through a single interface, while also offering "Favy," an AI assistant that can be embedded into existing tools like Claude or ChatGPT to answer questions about creators and run workflows. The platform serves influencer marketing teams, PR professionals, and newsrooms, with customers reporting significant time savings and improved campaign performance.

Permalink

Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Be Common APIs For Building Social Apps

Google launched OpenSocial, a set of standardized APIs enabling developers to build applications that work across multiple social networks simultaneously, rather than forcing them to write separate code for each platform. Unlike Facebook's proprietary FBML approach, OpenSocial uses standard JavaScript and HTML, making it easier for developers to adapt existing code and deploy across hosts like Orkut, LinkedIn, Ning, and Friendster. The initiative addresses developer frustration with the costs of maintaining applications across fragmented platforms and positions Google as a central intermediary controlling access to social network data.

Permalink

taoyue.com: Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men

The author argues that he avoids hiring purportedly "brilliant" men because they are typically fast-talking con artists who start projects enthusiastically but lack the discipline to finish them—the real problem being not intelligence itself but the combination of overconfidence and inability to handle repetitive work. Drawing on personal experience with charismatic failures like his former partner Carroll, he illustrates how such men generate excitement around grand schemes, then lose interest when faced with practical details and modest execution. Instead, he advocates for hiring ordinary, steady workers who possess five simple qualities: good health, thriftiness, clear communication, attention to detail, and courage—arguing that business success comes from extracting consistent effort from reliable people rather than depending on the erratic brilliance of talented misfits.

Permalink

Produzione e vendita di cravatte personalizzate - Cravattificio.com

This is the homepage of Cravattificio.com, an Italian company specializing in custom corporate accessories like ties, scarves, pins, and cufflinks. The page showcases their services—custom design, material selection, and timeless styling—followed by dozens of testimonials from satisfied corporate clients across Europe ranging from hotels and banks to rugby teams and engineering firms, all praising their professionalism, quality, and the dedicated service of staff member Silvana Bressan.

Permalink