Yes the annoying update/upgrade notice that appears at the top of the admin screen can be a bit annoying. It can also be quite dangerous. DANGEROUS you say…how so?

Well if you have designed a CMS for a client using wordpress and added extra things even its its simple things like changing the admin images or the memory usage. All will be wiped when the client upgrades and their precious site suddenly looks different or doesnt work at all.

Taking the top update nag isnt the only way to update via the admin panel of course buts its the most obvious one.

So lets get rid of it:

First open: wp-admin/includes/update.php

Scroll to line 135 (if file is in original condition)

Find this line:

add_action( 'admin_notices', 'update_nag', 3 );

And simply comment it out like thus:

/* add_action( 'admin_notices', 'update_nag', 3 ); */

or

// add_action( 'admin_notices', 'update_nag', 3 );

Both will work, once uploaded hey presto no more top update nag. Nag nag nag…your not my Mum Wordpress!!

• Pre-installation Wordpress checklist
• Login directly from a page in Wordpress using a sidebar login form
• Display your Wordpress posts on other pages
• Using Google Adsense for Search in Wordpress
• Page Templates in Wordpress

The Blackberry Bold 9700 is a fantastic little phone! It really is and as a test I’m actually writing this review on my new 9700 on a bumpy bus to Dundee.

So what can I tell you about it? Well let’s start with the look and feel of the thing. The combination of polished black, chrome and the tactile leathery finish on the back give the 9700 a sleek, sexy and professional business look. The leather feel back also helps grip when typing on the dinky full qwerty keyboard.

Its definitely the most stylish looking business orientated smart phone I’ve seen.

And it really is smart and works for your business. Setting up your emails is super easy and they come through immediately! Not only that but a multitude of email attatchments can be downloaded and opened, even microsoft office documents.

Of course its all about the apps these days and there is plenty useful apps to choose from. Ubertwitter is one of mine and of course the Wordpress app allowing me to write this review on the bus. Totally awesome! I love how easy it is to update my websites on the move.

Aside from the powerful business functions the 9700 boasts the usual features like mp3 playback and a 3.2 megapixel camera. One of the best featurews for me though and a real iphone beater is the use of SD card memory, allowing me to expand and swap my memory cards, something the iphone won’t let you do!

In conclusion I love the new BB Bold. The design and proportions are just right, it helps me make money and I can run various aspects of my business on the move and of course look good doing it.

I think its an iphone beater!!!

What are your thoughts?

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• Opencart – Possibly the best open source shopping cart software!
• Christmas Shopping – Doing it online!

Just yesterday my bestest buddy and I ventured down to Edinburgh Grosvenor Hilton Hotel where Knowledge to Action Ltd where holding a free seminar.

Their website found here: http://www.knowledgetoaction.co.uk is how shall I put it a bit spamy looking. You know the type a one page hash of sales jargon and impressive figures that are too good to be true.

However it was my friend who found it and I hadnt seen the website until today. Anyway it was free and I thought what the hell it sounds quite interesting.

So the speaker talked for over 2 hours and to be honest didnt really give to much away……obviously! It was basically an extended sales pitch and drive to recruit people on their intensive course where you are taught Greg Secker’s proven strategies by experts. Fair dos I spose.

There was some quite interesting info in there though and it definitely wetted my apetite to investigate the Forex market more. I dont think I will be joining Knowledge to Actions course costing £2000 though, plus you have to get down to London which is even more expense! No, I think I would much rather invest that £2K in the market and have a bash once Ive read up on the basics a bit more. This of course was frowned upon by the speaker who informed us all that the money was well spent on the course as you will lose your first £2k if you dont know what you are doing.

I wondered about his and Im sure a lot of the successful traders today didnt take their course or any other. My friend has a degree in economics and we are both fairly intelligent and we picked up some good tips from the seminar, we will do a lot more reading and maybe do some investing this summer, funds permitting.

The types of investment can vary and I still dont fully understand some of them as the seminar just touched upon them briefly. Some require a bit more initial capital and others can be utilised with a smaller budget.

All in all if you are interested in starting to invest in Forex then dont be afraid of going to this free seminar, it does have some useful tips if you can cut through the bull and sales pitch.

All I would say is look out for the contradictions, one minute its easy to make money with this system and its so simple, next the speaker cant complicate things by telling you any of the “secrets” now! Hum, oh well make your own mind up.

No related posts.

Opencart v1.4.0 has been released and is available to download here.

First off lets review the store front. This continues to improve and has definitely done so with this new release, it is probably now the prettiest cart out of the box! For those without the skills or time to change the template it offers a good look to simply start selling…it hardly needs any setting up and is simply thebest option for any online selling noobs out there. It does however give a wealth of functionality and flexibility for the more expert user but i digress. Being a ‘designer’ (perhaps not a very good one) the overall look is a bit young and cartoony for me, I dont like all the little icons and never have, these are easy to get rid of if you want to however. On the plus side the new drop down boxes for currency and language are cool and a nice improvement. Overall its very neat and tidy; a great platform to sell from.

OK lets review the admin side (user: demo password: demo). This is the area that has seen the most change. It now spans your screen instead of being fixed width and has a much more professional look. The menu bar is very nice with its see through dropdown list although it sometime does take a few mouse hovers to get the dropdown to actually drop (I noticed this in previous versions too and may be an Internet Explorer thing). The functionality has been improved and my quick whiz through the admin screens shows me a higher level of control to the administrator and the improved layout makes it so much easier and intuitive to work with. The admin really is a marked improvement from the previous version and as usual has great out of the box functionality, with Google Base, Sitemap and Talk all ready to blast off! Oh yeh and there is a neat new advanced search feature, plus the initial search allows users to search via category…..awesome!!

Code and database wise Im not sure what has changed as yet, I havent had a chance to delve that deeply, however as far as Ive seen people have upgraded and reuploaded their database without any problems.

I think Opencart is fantastic and will be huge like Magento (eventually). The one area that has to be improved upon to capture more users is the upgrade/module system. If there could be a more Wordpress-like automatic upgrade of core files, database and modules that would just be incredible and Im sure Opencart would take over the world and become a leader in its field! For now though Im just happy to be a small part of it and shall contribute anyway I can. As should you, if you download this free software why not contribute something to the cause, donate some money, write a review, link to the site and moan at your host to setup an auto install feature for Opencart.

Please let me know what you think of the new Opencart v1.4.0 below:

• Opencart – Possibly the best open source shopping cart software!

I decided to start a classified ads website for my local area a few months ago. I searched Google for a couple of days and couldnt find software that was quite right.

I found Noah’s Classifieds and although I was not totally sold buy their website and demo of the software, I did find the recent feature of a bridge to Wordpress very interesting and useful. So having found nothing better I decided to purchase the latest E-Commerce SEO version at $199.95 and the Wordpress Noah Premium Widgets at $49.95 (I believe the actual bridge is free).

So having just spent $249.90 I was eager to get started. The email arrived from Steve (the owner) with the script and plugins etc, it also contained a link to a video guide for installation.

I watched the installation and carried it out without to much bother. So I had a Wordpress installation with a Noah installation in a sub folder. I then initialised the premium widgets/plugins and the bridge. I then set about getting used to Noah (as Im pretty good with Wordpress I thought I would leave that until last), this I found was no easy feat. The admin is poorly laid out, illogical and clunky. The code is also not the best Ive seen, a lot of use of tables and inline styling. It also feels like it hasnt been built from scratch, more like its been adapted from something else.

Anyway having fiddled around with it a bit I decided to make a start on my Wordpress theme. Upon trying to log into the Wordpress admin area I found I couldnt. It threw an error and gave me no access. I asked Steve for help and he couldnt understand my priblem and why I was having difficulties and told me to simply start again. Install Wordpress then Noah then initialise the bridge. I did this and it seemed to work until I tested out the functionality of the bridge and widgets.

The bridge hardly functioned at all; I created an account in Wordpress and tried to login to Noah with those details….it didnt work. I also found out from another Noah user that the bridge only works one way! So it only works if users register through Wordpress…well it didnt even do that for me, but even so releasing the bridge in this state seems like its only half done.

So obviously I looked to Steve for support and found none, he simply replied “nobody else seems to have these problems”. Which is obviously a lie as there is numerous people unhappy with the software and Steve’s lack of support, he replies to your emails quick enough if you are interested in buying Noah but as soon as you hit any problems you will be lucky to get a reply!

After countless attempts to get it working, contacting Steve (to get no reply) and visits to the ‘cleverly’ called Norum which is the owners forum (which also uses a horrible forum script, thats slow, clanky and looks rubbish) that is rather sparsely populated and you will need to wait for a reply if you get one at all. Steve also doesnt support his product through the forum, he lets other Noah customers do the work for him.

It got to the point where I was so annoyed with everything I asked for a refund, to which Steve replied with an email basically saying that nobody else had any of my issues and that other noobs to the software manage fine and so its my fault. Doing his usual and not addressing the issue raised. I pushed the matter further and now receive no feedback whatsoever.

I thought I would check the terms and conditions on the Noah website and found these two lines:

“REFUNDS: Payments made to Noahsclassifieds.org are final and shall NOT be refunded under any circumstance.”

“REFUNDS: Payments made to Noahsclassifieds.org are final and shall NOT be refunded under any circumstance. Unless you elect for a 30-day Money Back Trial Period.”

I dont remember an option for a 30-day money back trial period when I made the purchase….funny that!

I suppose its my own fault. If you look at the Noah website, the checkout system, the forum. Non are particularly good and well designed so why would the classifieds script be any different. I hope by writing this review that people looking to purchase a classified script will avoid Noah like the plague and realise the lack of support should you run in to difficulties.

Im currently looking into other options and think I found a good alternative which I will write a review on when I have tested it. Still Im angry that I have wasted over £150 on rubbish that I no longer want to use and have no hope of getting a refund for.

UPDATE: I have found a really good out of the box classifieds software called ikiclassifieds. Its very easy to setup and has excellent admin customisation options. It also boasts excellent adsense and banner ad integration. You can set top ads (featured ads) and homepage placment ads payable via Paypal. Overall the site is excellent with phpBB included. Ihavent customised the code too much as I havent felt the need to, eveything is almost perfect straight out the box…a highly recommended bit of software. Support is slightly slow (think the time difference effects it) but so far so good, they have answered all my comments etc. I also think its quite new so cant wait for updates!

You can purchase it here:

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OK so if you are anything like me (a man) then the thought of jostling in crowds in town centres is about as much fun as fighting off a bunch of savage, knife wielding, bobbit feminists whilst being naked!!

So of course the solution is to do it all online….which I do. This is of course not a new concept and would have thought that any man who hadnt thought about doing all their Crimbo shopping online probably deserves to trawl around shops being beaten to the best deals buy a wiley old Grandma. The rest of us however are smarter than that……so where do you shop online? I’ll give you my top five online stores below:

1. Well Presented Gifts
My number one site for some cool, unique gifts is Well Presented Gifts. Why oh why I here you ask, well for a number of reasons. Firstly they are cheaper than most if not the cheapest for the products they sell, not only that though is that on certain products you can get free gift wrapping! So you dont even need to wrap the damn things, Just stick’em under the tree and your done. Being pressed for time and a bit of a lazy sod this is perfect for me….I use their online shop…easy….they wrap it for me….easy. They will also send it to any address you want which is great for the relations scattered across the country. EASY! Definitely my top site for reliability, ease of use and extra freebies like wrapping!

2. Prezzy Box and Fire Box
In jointly at number 2 is Prezzy Box. Well actually I never used to like it due to the design, it was always a bit cramped and busy. Its still pretty busy but is sporting a nice new colourful look which I like. There are some really good products on there and a lot to browse through. One of the main things I like is the easy way in which to search for gifts. They have a ‘Gift Wizard’, which asks you 6 questions about the person you are buying for and it displays results to suit that person…again saving you time and frustration. Cool time saving tool if in a rush. Not the cheapest shop online though.

Pretty similar to Pressy Box is Fire Box, even the designs have become closer. Fire box is really awesome, it has so many cool products which you dont really need but want them all the same. Also has some cool search features….check out the ‘Randomiser’ and see what you get. Again its pretty expensive….I sometimes look for ideas there and then do a more in depth Google search to find a better deal (sorry Firebox…but you are a bit pricey).

3. I want one of those
Well I guess this is the big daddy of online gifts shops. Its first in Google but 3rd on my list. Ahuge array of stuff to look at your bound to find something for under the tree and in the stocking! I also like the “Things we didnt know” widget at the bottom of the hiomepage and they have a cool blog too.

4. Dot Com Gift Shop
Only just found this site and it differs from your ‘Fireboxs’ and the likes. It is a bit more grownup and has a nice selection of ‘homey style’ gifts. My girlfriend assures me that the “Retro-Spot” category is excellent and I am to buy it all.

5. Zavvi
Just the best place to get your games, DVD’s, CD’s and Books. Definitely one of the cheapest around but also one of the quickest deliveries Ive seen, especially since its posted from Jersey. i have literary ordered stuff late one day and got it the next. They are branching out into other areas and now sell products relating to Health and Beauty, Electronics, Clothing and loads more. Worth a gander for sure.

So thats my top five. Please feel free to add your favourites using the comment form below (unless you are a savage, knife wielding, bobbit feminist).

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• Simon Amstell – Do Nothing

Well I recently wrote a post about CreditSafe and MarketSafe being horrible, unethical companies (Read it here).

Anyway I checked my analytics account and that post has had quite a few visitors each month, so I checked on Google for the key term “Unethical Companies”, sure enough Im there on page 2. I also noticed that this blog seems to get no traffic from Yahoo at all. So I did the same search there and noticed one of their ads on the right hand side (Google has the same one I just didnt see it).

I thought it was so funny for some reason I burst out laughing and thought I would write a wee post about it and show the snapshot of the ad (to the right).

Im not a huge fan of eBay and they have sailed close to the lines of being unethical in my experience (I class Paypal as being eBay too). But I didnt realise they have started selling unethical companies…..and who are the scum bags that are buying them. NOTE TO SCUMBAGS: I did a quick search for “Unethical Companies” on eBay and zero were listed….HAHA

• Creditsafe, Marketsafe; Unethical Companies That Should Be Avoided
• Simon Amstell – Do Nothing
• Christmas Shopping – Doing it online!
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My girlfriend and I watched every episode of Buzzcocks when Simon was at the helm. So when we heard he was coming up to our home town of Perth we were very excited. However come the beginning of August I had completely forgotten about it…luckily my birthday is at the end of August and my girlfriend bought me tickets for the show in Perth Concert Hall on 2nd November.

I wasnt exactly sure about what style and format Simon would entertain us with. That is I knew it would be clever, sarcastic and razor sharp but having never seen any stand up from him I wasnt sure on the delivery and content. Mr Amstell did not disappoint! Infact he exceeded my expectations.

Not only was he funnier than a fart in classroom full of 10 year olds but he was truly profound and left me with a philisophical feeling I had forgotten I could have. He was inspiring me to think in the moment and follow thought processes I had abondoned for work commitments and fretting over the future.

Im unsure if all my fellow audience members were thinking and feeling the same as me. Most I think appreciated his openness and well linked, flowing humour but I marvelled at his vulnerabilities exposed, then analysed in a genius like fashion only to be topped of with a large helping of humour.

For me at least he made it impossible not to like him, even with his ‘God Brain’ arrogance (a man after my own heart), spikey sarcasm, and confident awkwardness; all of which could put some people off.

I can honestly say its one of the best stand up perfomances I have ever seen and if you really listen to what he talks about you should take more than laughter away from the show. It seems true what they say that a good stand-up comics have high IQ’s. I only wish that my ‘God Brain’ was planet sized like Simon Amstell’s. Oh well….

When there is nothing that can be done…..do nothing!

• Creditsafe, Marketsafe; Unethical Companies That Should Be Avoided
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• Opencart – Possibly the best open source shopping cart software!
• Christmas Shopping – Doing it online!

Bank of Robbers

The title read thus; “Important news about changes to your Bank of Scotland Current account” it should have read something like this; “We have thought of a new way to screw more money out of you”

The changes are to the overdraft fees. Bank of Scotland are no longer charging a debit interest rate but will be charging a pound a day for every day you are in your overdraft (for overdrafts upto £2,500)! At the moment I am charged around £12-13 per month for being in my overdraft all month, with the new system I will be charged more than double that at around £30!

What really yanks my noodle is the robbing bastards are trying to make it sound like they are doing me a favour by saying; “At Bank of Scotland we’re committed to fees that are clear and simple to understand”.

So not only are they trying to pull the wool over my eyes, pretending to do me a favour but they are insulting my intelligence by saying I cant comprehend a simple interest rate and it must be simplified for me!!!

These new overdraft charges I feel are purposely made to penalise people like me, who live in their overdrafts, the very people who are probably struggling to cope financially and should be aided not made worse off. Yet again the banks find away to penalise the poorer ranks of society.

Of course all Banks will be looking for ways to wangle that little bit extra from everybody after their almighty f*&^ up. They screw up, losing billions of pounds, we the tax payer foot the bill and we are thanked by increased charges masked with PR smoke blown out these jumped up bankers arses! And what can we do……not much really, change your bank maybe? Well they are all just as bad. Phone them up and complain maybe? Hah…if you can be bothered waiting 20 mins on the phone to do it! No there isnt much that can be done which is so frustrating, just write a rant on a blog nobody cares about.

Bank of Scotland a friend for life? Aye right

My letter from was from Mike Regnier, Director, Personal Current Accounts.

Well all I can say Mr Regnier is if this was your idea I hope you sleep well at night with the knowledge that you are robbing the damn people that have bailed you out and keep you in business and your slippery mitts quaffing champagne.

UPDATE:
Well I have spoken with my feet. After banking with Bank of Scotland my whole ‘banking’ life I have now transfered all my accounts over to Alliance and Leicester aka Santander. They offered me 0% interest on my overdrafts for 1 year and there after the charge 50p a day for being in your overdraft with a cap of £5 per month (this is even less than the interest charged on my overdraft by HBOS BOS). Also they do not charge for the simple use of having a business bank account. Indeed I have always found this strange that banks feel the need to take a cut of every process that happens in a business account…..doesnt seem fare, aparantly Santander think so too.

My sister too feels put out by Bank of Scotland and she has transfered to Alliance and Leicester. Alliance and Leicester also offer a referral insentive. If you refer somebody and they take up their current account then £25 each will be your reward.

So I hope that any Bank of Scotland customers reading this speak with their feet and jump ship for a better deal. Dont stand for their shoddy new charges. Please do not feel “loyalty” to them…they havent to you! After all its business! And they just arent running theirs very well so try somewhere else.

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Well Im sure Im not the only one but my listing has disappeared in Google Local Search results.

Ive got quite a few businesses listed but only one ever got displayed for some reason? The listing that appeared was for the key term “Web Design Perth” and my website www.webdesign-perth.co.uk was the one displayed (although I have two others business websites listed which dont appear?) before I added this one it was www.thepathwebdesign.com that was displayed. It had been displayed no problem for over 1 year in a prominent position.

I recently added another business to my Local Business Centre account and now nothing shows up. No listings are displayed anywhere in the local results!!

Because I am no listed prominently in the proper organic listings I rely on the local results to get a bit of traffic! I dont think anything I have done anything that would cause this to happen but if anybody has any ideas why my listings have been dropped please use the comment form below and share.

I have noticed that there has been some recent Algorithm changes and now Google has introduced ‘Place Pages’ which display more information on the buisiness and take away the need for the user to actually visit the website, I think this will detriment the businesses and web designers. The business will suffer because the user might not visit the website to get the latest info and deals, plus if you run Google Adsense then this could reduce your revenue (and Googles, although it will offset because more people are staying on Google and clicking as they go). Obviously web designers will lose out because business owners will say why do I need the expense of a site when Google lists me front page with all the information I need. So now its an even harder task to talk them around as to why its a good thing, and it is!

Well Im a bit pissed off anyway, if Google are going to drop my sites from Local search the least they could do is put them on page one for the key terms I want……where is Google CEO’s phone number again…phone him and get him to sort it personally for me…

Any thought about anything above anyone?

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• Opencart – Possibly the best open source shopping cart software!