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Tonnes of new features
2009-08-24 09:13:00
Over the previous couple of months our TM Auctions application has improved in many areas. More backups, more regularly Even though our entire systems including all auction account data is securely backed up every night, it still left the possibility of losing a partial days activities. Now new pictures are backed up every hour, and all pictures ...
More About: Features

Inspiration is perishable
2009-07-09 05:11:00
Really great insights here from the 37 Signals founder Jason Fried. “Inspiration s are like fresh fruit, like milk – they have an expiration date – they don’t last very long” If you want to do something, you have to do it now, because the motivation will inevitably fade. The other comments I really enjoyed from this video are ...

Traditional media’s answer to declining revenue
2009-07-02 05:55:00
I came across an interesting read today about how traditional media companies (mostly newspapers) are adapting to capture and monotenize the web audience. The concept of a newspaper subscription will change completely. Instead of throwing a paper over your fence we will offer you: - a much more sophisticated package of print and electronic content - incentives for loyalty - and tools that ...
More About: Media , Answer , Revenue

Opera Unite – Will things change?
2009-06-17 05:45:00
Opera clearly has ambitious ideas on its mind with the release of Opera Unite. It is essentially a way for you to share files on your PC, over the internet, and turn your home PC into a file server. While the concept is not original by any stretch, what they are proposing has a certain freshness and ...
More About: Opera , Change , Things

When is internet banking going to get with the times?
2009-05-26 05:53:00
A few years ago I started using Quicken to manage my business and personal accounting. At the time it was a great tool to manage my tiny cashflow  – I was a poor student, and delivering pizzas  for $8.50 an hour plus tips a few nights a week. I had to be ultra careful with my spending ...
More About: Internet , Banking , Times , The Times

Reserve Auctions
2009-04-28 04:19:00
Following the recent article on No Reserve Auctions : On the other hand you could list an auction starting at $1 with a reserve of $20, and until a bid matches $20 or more, the item will not sell. In Thomas Multimedia’s auction platform, the reserve price is hidden from the buyer – in other words they ...

Some interesting numbers
2009-04-14 08:47:00
About 11.3 million Australians use the internet. Ninety per cent of them are aged 18 to 44 – that is, consumers in their prime. According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the internet is now the most trusted media source in the country. Ninety-five per cent of small-medium companies use the internet. source Is your business maximizing ...
More About: Interesting , Numbers

Search Category Suggestions
2009-04-11 06:11:00
Along with a host of tweaks to improve the accuracy of search results, TM Auctions search pages now suggest categories based on the entered keywords. This is a great way to get buyers looking in the right section right off the bat. Click on the image below for an enlarged version.
More About: Search , Category

Online shopping set to grow by 24% per year
2009-04-07 01:54:00
“More than 13 million Australians have access to the internet, and online consumer sales are expected to grow by some 24 per cent annually with predictions of over $30 billion in 2011.” This article quotes some research indicating that online shopping is set to grow exponentially over the next few years -  the indications for Australia ...
More About: Shopping , Online , Online shopping , Year , Grow

No Reserve Auctions
2009-04-03 08:31:00
This post in the first in a series of tips we will be publishing to give web auction site owners and auctioneers some pointers to making their auction site a success. Whether you use our web auction software TM Auctions or another web auction platform, the first hurdle is always engaging your buying audience. No Reserve ...

Close of business for April 2008
2008-03-11 08:57:00
After nearly 3 years of hard work - with virtually no breaks - it’s time for us to recharge our batteries at Thomas Multimedia. For April 2008 , business owner Steve Thomas will be backpacking around Asia and we do not expect any new work will commence in this period. Our existing clients will still have access ...
More About: News , Business , Close

Internet Applications
2007-04-10 03:04:00
I see endless possibilities for integrating the internet into all sorts of existing businesses. Indeed, in many cases, business is slowing (or quickly) venturing into the online world, realising the infinite benefits of basing their database online. Take a conventional video store for example. Clearly they usually run a program on a local PC, that is ...
More About: Internet , Applications , Web Development , Application , Intern

Internet Applications
2007-04-10 03:04:00
I see endless possibilities for integrating the internet into all sorts of existing businesses. Indeed, in many cases, business is slowing (or quickly) venturing into the online world, realising the infinite benefits of basing their database online. Take a conventional video store for example. Clearly they usually run a program on a local PC, that is ...
More About: Internet , Applications , Cat , Inter , Application

Top 5 Movie Scenes of All Time
2007-03-18 15:17:00
I feel privileged - how many people can honestly say they have cut themselves on a pair of barbeque tongs? Well i’ve done it and it hurt like… ok it didn’t really hurt, but who would’ve thought it was possible? As amusing as web development talk is, I think its time to break it up a ...
More About: Movie , Time , Scene , Scenes

The Golden Rule of Design: KISS
2007-03-03 17:46:09
A sincere thanks goes out to my borderline insane visual communication from my latter high school years - it all started when we had to build a scale house out of paper materials, architecturally acurate to the last detail. What I failed to see that my fantastic H shaped house had a roof that was incredibly complex, nearly making me the project deadline trying to figure out how to build a roof for the thing! My teacher told me something thing that really stuck, and it continues to be a good way of kick starting the creative process when I find myself staring aimlessly into space. The rule is called KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid. The stupid part is a reflection of how many of us tend to act out of instinct - so many ideas are floating around that we want to do everything and anything. When one sits down and start scribbling how this will work, perhaps only one person can make sense of it - can you guess who? The user is not stupid, the designer is stupid for expecting others to reali...
More About: Design , Kiss , Gold , Desi , Sign

PHP and why you should use it
2007-02-03 05:33:01
PHP is a programming language that is arguably one of the most easy to learn, cost efficient and common languages out there. It is used primarily to create dynamic website content. By dynamic I mean that it flows and it can change in a way that static website content can not. Here is a classic usage for php; Situation - A shop owner wishes to supplement their traditional shop with an online shop, in the form of a 500 product website. Solution A: Build a static website, and make 500 separate pages to accommodate each and every product. Solution B: Build a dynamic website, create 1 product page and create 500 database entries So what is the difference? In any case, the shop owner / web developer is going to have to process 500 products. Sure this sucks, at least initially. PHP starts flexing its muscle when we get to the ongoing management side of things. The shopowner has decided that the product pages would convert better if the pictures were at the top of the page, instead of at th...
More About: Php , Should

Web Design Standards Compliance
2007-01-29 05:29:02
Welcome to the Thomas Multimedia Web Desi gn Blog! First Topic: Web Design Standards While this topic might sound boring already, there are some good reasons why websites should be developed to comply with web design standards. Web standards are created and modified by a group called the W3C. The W3C, AKA the World Wide Web Consortium are an organisation that has been around since 1994, fine tuning how website language should be written. They are the recognised authority on web languages. Some common languages can be used to create virtually any website or application. You may have heard of HTML. HTML is the predecessor to the recommended XHTML. Other languages include CSS which controls the style of a website and XML/RSS which can be use to syndicate content across different sites. The benefit of writing a web standards compliant website are many; cross-browser compatability: The website will display correctly in all web browsers (eg. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera)...
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PHP Server Side Includes
2007-01-29 05:29:02
One of php's most practical solutions is a server side include. Consider the navigation at the top of every page on this website. At time of writing there is 7 unique pages on thomasmultimedia.com.au, excluding this blog. If I were to add a new page to my site, would I not have to update each and every page to show the new link? What a horrible sounding job -- what if I had to make 2 or 3 changes to each and every one of those pages? In the context of 7 pages this might take say 10-15 minutes to open, change, save and upload 7 files. But what about if I have 20, 50, or 1000 different pages? This could take a day, if not a week! What a horrible way to spend a week... and yet i'm sure someone, somewhere, in a deep, dark dungeon has slaved away at this menial task for hours on end. All bow to King server side include! A Serve r Side Include is a fairly ordinary file that is created for a website. It can contain any kind of web friendly content, but the most common usage is to displa...
More About: Php

Web Design Standards Compliance
2006-10-09 12:28:00
Welcome to the Thomas Multimedia Web Design Blog! First Topic: Web Design Stand ards While this topic might sound boring already, there are some good reasons why websites should be developed to comply with web design standards. Web standards are created and modified by a group called the W3C. The W3C, AKA the World Wide Web Consortium are an ...
More About: Compliance