There are various PHP configuration issues I encountered when I tried to install Magento locally on a WAMP server. Mostly I got an error saying "PHP Extension "curl" must be loaded" in the installation page.

Not knowing what CURL is I went digging. The below 3 steps fixed it.

• Edit the apache/conf/httpd.conf file: Uncomment or remove # in front of

 #LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so 

• Edit the apache/bin/php.ini file: Uncomment or remove ; in front of

;extension=php_mcrypt.dll

and Continue reading Running Magento on Wamp Error CURL or MCRPYT »

Yesterday I was browsing the web for inspiration to find a generic poster font. I couldn’t find a specific set of guiding principles to help pick fonts for lets say concert poster. So I browsed through my fonts and I used a series of guidelines to choose one. Here is my list.

Must be Readable: The call to action is more important than how cool the font looks; if your font looks artsy but makes your message unreadable, don’t use it. This doesn’t mean you can’t use creative fonts; if it’s readable at larger sizes, use it.

Must be Balanced: Posters are typically 60-70% graphics and about 30% text. If your fonts are your graphics, balance their big sizes with smaller body text. Differentiate headlines from body text with size. That way, viewers will easily spot the most important information on the poster. Continue reading How to Choose Poster Fonts? »

I was have a lot of trouble building social link to the product page of a Magento website. I searched and found nothing except on extension that doesn’t work at all.

The instructions seem straight forward but it didn’t work for me. Sure I could use one of those Social Networking Bookmarking tools that work with JavaScript like Share this and Add this; but it doesn’t give you flexibility to customize and change.

So I hard coded it to work with my theme. Here are the code:

Facebook

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>&t=Check+this+out" target="_blank" title="Share this on Facebook" target="_blank"><img src="<?php echo $this->getSkinUrl('') ?>/images/icons/YOUR ICON HERE" alt="Share on Facebook" class="noborder"/></a>

Delicious

	<a href="http://delicious.com/save" onclick="window.open('http://delicious.com/save?v=5&noui&jump=close&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'delicious','toolbar=no,width=550,height=550'); return false;"><img class=noborder" src="<?php echo $this->getSkinUrl('') ?>/images/icons/YOUR ICON HERE" alt="Delicious" /> </a>

Google Buzz

			<a href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>&title=<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?>&srcURL=YOUR URL&srcTitle=YOUR SITE NAME" target="_blank" rel="nofollow external" title="Google Buzz This"><img class="noborder" src="<?php echo $this->getSkinUrl('') ?>/images/icons/YOUR ICON HERE" alt="Google Buzz This!" /></a><!--more-->

Twitter

		<a title="Send this page on Twitter!" href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Check out the <?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?> at <?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?> @YOURTWITTERACCOUNT" target="_blank"><img class="noborder" src="<?php echo $this->getSkinUrl('') ?>/images/icons/YOUR ICON HERE" alt="Follow bernos on Twitter"/></a>

To use this simple open the

[/php]view.phtml[php]

located the app/design/default/THEME/Template/product/of your magneto installation. Note that the location of the view.phtml may differ in some instances if your theme is using the template files in the base. Paste the above code with few updates like the your twitter account and the file name of your icons. And it should display in your product pages.

We have very exciting news we want to share. We thought you would like to know what’s been keeping us so busy…

In November of 2009, Office of the Chief Economist for the Africa Region at The World Bank led by Dr. Shanta Dervarajan identified challenges of satifying the demand for ‘accessible, transparent and interoperable data of the Africa Development Indicators (ADI)’ Continue reading dataVis: Visualizing Africa »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Mike Endale
202.269.2066
240.246.4572
hello@blencorp.com

WASHINGTON, DC; March 16, 2010–On Tuesday March 16th, 2010, The World Bank went live with a new application called dataVis. BLEN Corp, a DC based IT firm, released the demo for the first Data Visualization app that was custom built for the World Bank’s data source Africa Development Indicators (ADI). Commissioned by the Office of the Chief Economist of Africa, led by Dr. Shanta Devarajan, the application will be released for use later this year to 18 million subscribers. The application was designed to accommodate ADI, a data source on the African Economy. This data source belongs to the World Bank, it has economic data that has been collected since 1965, from 53 countries. The data includes indicators such as social, economic, financial, natural resources, infrastructure, governance, partnership, and environmental. With over 1,000 indicators and countless data points, ADI was inaccessible, difficult to share, and un-scalable. The data deemed to be useless when no one was able to use it to it’s full potential.  Due to this outstanding challenge, the World Bank contracted BLEN Corp as the firm that would recreate the platform to visualize the ADI data. We used cutting edge data visualization technologies; we created the application as an open source app that uses web 2.0 features such as AJAX, EXTJS framework and lightweight Flash components.

dataVis allows users to search for particular indicators, filter data, scale and measure information based on parameters the user has selected. dataVis makes the data easier for anyone to use, application features include; sharable data by embedding charts on to websites and online publications, exporting capabilities, and easy to search tools. Essentially this application will save more time and money. It is a cost effective tool that allows researchers at the World Bank to report on trends and changes.

An estimate of 18 million users including libraries, corporations, 400 institutional subscribers, economists, & governments will be using the ADI dataVis application annually. It will have a significant affect on business processes and the functions of the Africa Region within the World Bank.  For more information on dataVis please go to www.blencorp.com or contact hello@blencorp.com at 202.269.2066

To see dataVis, please check http://datavis.worldbank.org

About BLEN Corp
BLEN Corp is a small, minority and veteran-owned technology company located in Washington, DC. We are a full-service information technology and marketing company committed to delivering quality support services and products on time and within budget. Our creative designing team has extensive experience in producing end-to-end graphics works for your marketing needs.

###

Photo Credit: Business Week

“It’s about seeing the world as it can be, not as it is.” That is what KR Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, said in conclusion of his 60-minutes interview. Video below the fold

Bloom Energy’s innovation — called BloomBox — sounded a little like the next Google for energy; something out of a science fiction movie. The BloomBox is a layered fuel cell with a ’secrete’ coating that takes oxygen from one side and fuel on the other. In the middle, there is a beach-sand — I KNOW, a beach sand! — coated ceramic sheet of paper that plays as a catalyst to mix the oxygen and fuel molecules. The mixture at the end of the process will be electricity.

How wonderful is that?

Continue reading The Next Big Thing: Energy in a Box »

Have you ever wondered about difference between looking at a map upside-up versus upside-down? How about what is left and right?

Which way is really the right way of looking at it?

For some, this question might be very simple. The right way is the ‘conventional‘ way, because it is what society settles on. That might be true, but I beg to differ.

When I was in college, I had a really good friend who taught me a lot of great things about life. One of the most important things that I always struggled to accept was the notion that ‘the opposite may also be true.’ I still remember vividly how my decisions used to be very abrupt. I am still amazed how quickly I used to draw conclusions or have a strong opinion.

Continue reading The Opposite May Also Be True »

I’m sure I am, as many of you, have favorite blogs where you get your get your creative inspiration from. One of my favorite blogs in that department is idsgn.org . This morning, I turned on my RSS aggregator and boom this image shows up. It is a campaign that was set by designers to help Haiti.

I am moved beyond words by the simplicity of the message and the creative touch.

Credit: The ‘Coming Together’ typeface, Viktor Nübel’s contribution in white

Continue reading Visually Communicating: Ampersands for Haiti »

From the good people at justin.tv

A couple of friends have asked me how I connected my Twitter, Flickr and other sites with my Google Buzz.

Here is a tutorial

1. Login to your Gmail
2. Click Buzz on the left Corner

Continue reading Tutorial: Connecting Twitter, Flickr or other sites with Google Buzz »