Look at what Netflix has done to poor ol' Blockbuster. Blockbuster used to have over 3000 brick-and-mortar buildings and now they are around 2000 and dwindling daily. In fact, Blockbuster which has been around for 25 years is planning on filing bankruptcy sometime soon.

And look at Amazon's Kindle. This great product is killing book stores. When I was growing up we had small book stores all over my town. They have been going away ever since places like Barne's and Noble and Borders took over, but now even they are suffering from these types of products and websites.

What's next? Downloadable food? Look out Kroger.

Check out this link to see what others think:

http://www.helium.com/debates/132680-will-online-storefronts-wipe-out-brick-and-mortar-businesses

I awoke to an unfamiliar sound the other night. I'm not a handy-man, I'm a web developer, so when I discovered water shooting out of a busted pipe in my bathroom I went to the basement to try and shut off the main water line. No luck. I did not have a wrench big enough.

What I did next cost me seven precious minutes of saturation. I went to Google and searched for a way to shut off the water that was quickly 'liquidating my assets'.

I can Google. I Google quite a bit. But, in this instance the answer was not forthcoming and I was on my own. The only resources I could find from my search were completely useless.

Granted their were answers but in my state of panic nothing useful could come quick enough.

Now, don't get me wrong, this was in no way Google's fault. Google is a great way to find something you need, but not in a pinch. Imagine a search engine with some sort of panic search.....that would be awesome.

I like my blogs to be creative, humorous and somewhat personalized and congruent to my experiences regarding the current week. Not to mention they should be related to the industry in which I work. However, sometimes when the time comes to write my weekly blog I cannot think of anything that creates that 'light-bulb-above-the-head' scenario. So here is what I am going to do...

Below is a list of my bookmarks from this week. This will paint a picture of what I have been working on these past four days.

Magento - code for items in cart

Magento - change number of products in row on specific pages

Magento - moving blocks to different columns

Magento - editing language files

Magento - set product image size

Magento - display random products on homepage

Yes, lots of Magento. Two sites at once in fact. Keep in mind that these are only bookmarked because they contained the solution to the search term. Yup, that means we succeeded in all these (and more). Call us already! We know what we are doing!

1-800-338-8102

I read an article recently stating that Raytheon has developed an iPhone App for the PATRIOT Missile.

In this article it states:

"The company said last year it would develop several apps for both training and use in the field that would make the iPhone a veritable tool of warfare."

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-07/raytheon-creates-patriot-missile-system-iphone-app-keep-soldiers-skills-sharp

Here is another article in the same vein:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/12/27/zapp-the-taliban-115875-21924689/

So, you dropped some dollars on a fancy new phone, huh? Well good for you. Please, tell me all the things it can do. Please?

My phone was free. My phone makes calls. It also sends text messages. I can also receive calls. If I have my phone on me I can contact any of the people I need to from pretty much anywhere. I can order pizza from it too. One time I got a flat tire and was able to use my phone to call for help. Another time I was able to send a message to multiple people at once regarding a game of poker I was setting up. I can also put it on speaker if need be.

Oh, whats that? Your phone can access the internet? Wow, you can take pictures as well!?

I have a computer at home that has internet access. I have a camera. I work on a computer all day with internet access. Oh, you have a whole slew of annoying ringtones? Me too.

You can download games on your phone? I have a PS3.

Careful....don't spill water, or drop, or lose that new phone of yours. I once dropped my phone in the toilet and got another.....for free.

I can hear you know. "But Mike, this new phone can do all sorts of things in one convenient little device!"

OK, fine, but can you drop your phone and not care?

I posted this question to the co-workers the other week and the consensus is still undetermined. Here is how it all began... We were eating gourmet hot-dogs at a place near the office that has some really good hot sauce. We discussed how bad it would be to get that sauce in your eyes. It would be torturous. This got us on the topic of torture and I inquired about bamboo torture techniques. Basically, you bond someone to the ground underneath new bamboo and apparently, because it grows so quick, it will grow through the unfortunate person. This inevitably led to the question, "How fast does bamboo grow?". Back when I was in school finding this answer would have meant a trip to the library, or an encyclopedia or some other source of information that is not the internet. That could have easily taken an afternoon to find the answer. Well, I went online and had the answer in less than a minute. Which leads me to the topic of this blog. So, what is the answer? It is a given that questions like the one above are easy to find answers to, meaning that the internet is full of useful, easily accessible information. However, what about all the dis-information? Are the ideas and thoughts of all internet capable humans adding to the Global Knowledge of humanity or is it doing the opposite? I personally think all the world's information at anyone's fingertips has made humanity smarter, but also more dangerous. Oh, and bamboo grows 2 inches an hour!

This blog is merely here as a bragging right. We here at Chepri have designed and developed a whole slew of websites, from politically driven social network sites to online sausage peddlers and everything in between. We pride ourselves on great customer relationships and top-notch work. We can do ANYTHING. We have great designers, great developers and all in all, a great team. Do I sound pompous? Nope, that is confidence. Good. Your search is over....give us a call today! 1-800-338-8102

Every now and again I have the crew come over to hang out at my place. Mainly Dave and Brian.....the boss is a family man, so he can't get out and be crazy with us....though he has on one occasion. And Ron just can't seem to find the time to join in our craziness.
Anywho, there is usually a "small" amount of booze involved in these "meetings", as well as some Super Mario Bros. Wii.
What I've discovered at these "core team building skill sessions" is that playing Super Mario Bros. Wii with 3-4 people is awesome and a great way to build team work. Whether Dave has to press A to go into a bubble because Brian won't slow down or whether I press A to make another whiskey and cola and float through the level, we are enjoying the hell out of ourselves and working towards the same goal......get to that flag!
And those accidental evils that spring up when someone snags all 4 mushrooms is usually followed by an apology.
It really is a fun way to cut loose and still work as a team......just keep in mind that when the booze are gone keep it that way.

My co-worker and I share an office here at Chepri and we listen to music most of the day. Here is the question. Is it easing the passing hours of development or making us slowly slip into dementia? Or perhaps it is the type of music we listen to that determines how we act come 3:00. Well one thing is for sure....for some reason we are on a contemporary 80's music kick. you know.....the songs your mom listened to while doing the dishes and you couldn't stand. I really have no explanation as to why we are currently on this cheese binge. We'll sit there and sing along to the best of our ability and we even have some pretty boss moves to go along with our enthusiasm. In fact, right now we are listening to "missing you".....my god, and I am the one who requested it! Needless to say, it boosts our spirits and the work does get done. Next month we'll try out country and after that who knows......I'm sure we'll cross the line some day.

From Popular Science "Simply to survive, your brain requires a tenth of a calorie per minute. Compare this with a walk to the doughnut shop, when your body burns approximately four calories a minute. Kickboxing zaps 10 calories a minute. And when you´re hunched over a crossword puzzle? Your brain is blasting through a respectable 1.5 calories a minute." I think what I do here at Chepri is a little more challenging than a crossword puzzle, so I am giving myself a modest 2 calories a minute boost. This would mean I burn roughly a thousand calories a day just sitting at my desk. Awesome, because this is the only exercise I'm getting right now. This means that in a given work day, while sitting at my desk, I am burning enough energy to sustain a small framed woman who engages in minimal amounts of exercise.