Saturday, January 28, 2012

Apache OFBiz™

What is Apache OFBiz?

Apache OFBiz (The Apache Open For Business Project) is an open source enterprise automation software project licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0. By open source enterprise automation we mean: Open Source ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Open Source CRM (Customer RelationShip Management), Open Source E-Business / E-Commerce, Open Source SCM (Supply Chain Management), Open Source MRP (Manufacturing Resources Planning), Open Source CMMS/EAM (Maintenance Management System/Enterprise Asset Management), Open Source POS (Point Of Sale), and so on.

Apache OFBiz is a foundation and starting point for reliable, secure and scalable enterprise solutions. Use it out-of-the-box (OOTB) or customize to suit even your most challenging business needs. With OFBiz in place, you can get started right away and then grow your operations as your business grows, without the huge deployment and maintenance costs of traditional enterprise automation systems.

Apache OFBiz is a project of The Apache Software Foundation.

Being open source under the Apache 2.0 license and driven by a community Apache OFBiz offers both flexibility by design and by access to code, and a solution where you're not alone but rather can work with many others to get things done.

For answers to your questions you might find the following documents useful:


Apache OFBiz offers a great deal of functionality, including:

  • advanced e-commerce
  • catalog management
  • promotion & pricing management
  • order management (sales & purchase)
  • customer management (part of general party management)
  • warehouse management
  • fulfillment (auto stock moves, batched pick, pack & ship)
  • accounting (invoice, payment & billing accounts, fixed assets)
  • manufacturing management
  • general work effort management (events, tasks, projects, requests, etc)
  • content management (for product content, web sites, general content, blogging, forums, etc)
  • a maturing Point Of Sales (POS) module using a rich client interface
  • and much more all in an open source package!

Who is Using Apache OFBiz?

It's hard to say who and how many organizations are using Apache OFBiz because you don't have to tell us when you use it, but there are lots of public sites.

1800flowers.com

actionenvelope.com

ameniti.com

alcazararearugs.com

Alcazar Furniture

antwebsystems.com

anytimecostumes.com

barielle.com

bebepeque.com

brandsparadise.com

bt.com

http://www.cache.com/

borngifted.co.uk

actusbike.com

Reference

1. https://cwiki.apache.org/OFBIZ/apache-ofbiz-user-list.html

2. http://ofbiz.apache.org/



Friday, January 27, 2012

Install Linux Mint’s New Cinnamon Desktop on Ubuntu

Credits:

Tired of Ubuntu’s Unity desktop environment? Try Cinnamon, the latest desktop environment from

Linux Mint. Cinnamon offers a more traditional, GNOME 2-like layout, but it’s based on the modern GNOME Shell — and you can install it on Ubuntu.

One day, Cinnamon will be Linux Mint’s default desktop environment.

It’s forked from GNOME Shell instead of being based on GNOME 2, so it can take advantage of modern technologies and shed GNOME 2’s outdated software.

Cinnamon vs. MGSE vs. MATE

Linux Mint has quite a few different desktop environments. Mint G

NOME Shell Extensions (MGSE) offers several extensions that modify the way GNOME Shell works — Cinnamon builds on MGSE and replaces it. Linux Mint also includes the MATE desktop, which is a fork of the outdated GNOME 2 desktop environment. Cinnamon is more forward-looking than MATE, but doesn’t abandon GNOME’s traditional interface like GNOME Shell does.


Installing Cinnamon

You don’t have to use Mint to get the Cinnamon desktop. It’s available in a personal package archive (PPA) for Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04.















First, you’ll need to bring up a terminal and run the following command, which adds the personal package archive to your Ubuntu system as a software source:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:merlwiz79/cinnamon-ppa

Press Enter when it prompts you
















Second, download a list of available packages by running this command:

sudo apt-get update

Now you’re ready to install Cinnamon’s packages with this command:

sudo apt-get install cinnamon cinnamon-session cinnamon-settings

Type Y and press Enter when prompted.









Use another Linux distribution? You can find instructions for your distribution, or just a link to download the source code, on Cinnamon’s official download page.

Starting Cinnamon

Cinnamon doesn’t replace your existing Ubuntu desktop envi

ronment. It just adds a new option to your login screen. You’ll need to log out before starting Cinnamon.














After logging out, select Cinnamon from the login screen and log back in.









Using Cinnamon

Cinnamon comes with a single panel on the bottom of th

e screen, just like Linux Mint’s GNOME 2 desktop environment did. At the left side, you’ll find a menu that’s more similar to Linux Mint’s traditional applications

menu than it is to GNOME Shell’s full-screen applications menu. Unlike GNO

ME Shell, the panel also contains a traditional window list.

At the right side, you’ll find music and network icons, a clock and workspace switcher. The music applet is particularly polished — it lets you control music players from your panel.














You can launch the Cinnamon Settings application from the menu, but it has few options at the moment. Linux Mint want Cinnamon to be much more configurable — another difference from GNOME 3 — but most options aren’t available yet.


Disabling the Global Menu


You might notice Ubuntu’s global menu bar still appears at the top of the screen. If you want to get rid of it, just run the following command, then log out and back in:

sudo apt-get remove appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-gtk appmenu-qt

Want it back? Just replace “remove” with “install” to reinstall the packages:

sudo apt-get install appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-gtk appmenu-qt


Cinnamon is still new, so don’t be surprised if some features are rough around the edges. Still, it’s an impressively modern take on a traditional Linux desktop layout. Cinnamon and Linux Mint are projects to keep an eye on.

Reference:

How-To Geek

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Open Source Apps That Could Improve Your Life

Credit
Cynthia-Harvey

Tis the season for New Year's resolutions. But if you're like many Americans you may have already fallen off the wagon. One study by psychologists at the University of Scranton found that 36 percent of the people who made New Year's resolutions had already broken them by the end of January, and less than half (44 percent) were still going strong in July.

Fortunately, the open source community has created a lot of tools to help you keep your promises to yourself. We last researched these types of open source apps in 2010, so we updated the list for 2012. We found apps to help you improve your financial situation, lose weight and get fit, quit smoking, break a bad computing habit, start your own business, get organized, make better use of your time, take up a new hobby, learn a new language, improve your mind and become more spiritual. At the end, we've also included a list of suggestions for those few people whose resolution is to try out an open source application for the first time.

As usual, feel free to make use of the comments section below to note of other apps we should consider the next time we update this list.

Improve Your Financial Situation

1. Buddi

Designed for home users who have "little or no financial experience," Buddi aims to offer all the features most people need while keeping the interface as simple as possible. It tracks account balances, transactions and budget categories, and it creates simple reports. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

2. Financisto

This open source Android app lets you track your budget from your smarphone or tablet. Key features include Quicken and CSV import, support for multiple accounts and currencies, recurring transactions, budgets and advanced reports. Operating System: Android

3. HomeBank Now nearly 17 years old, this personal finance solution boasts powerful filtering and graphing tools. It imports and exports data to other financial software, and it offers helpful features like auto-completion, transaction reminders and a "car cost" report that tallies up all your vehicle-related expenses. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

4. iFreeBudget

This extremely simple double-entry accounting budget is aimed at home or small business users. The interface is very basic, but the Android support is nice for tracking purchases as you make them. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, Android

5. jGnash

Java-based jGnash offers double-entry accounting for your home finances. It imports data from Quicken and Microsoft Money, and it tracks investments and supports multiple currencies. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

6. JStock

This portfolio manager offers near real-time data from 24 world stock markets. Two features that set this project apart are the cloud-based storage option and the integrated chat capabilities for exchanging tips with other investors. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

7. KMyMoney

This app from KDE claims to be "the BEST Personal Finance Manager for FREE Users, full stop." If you've ever used Quicken or Microsoft Money, you should find it easy to use, and it also imports and exports Quicken files. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

8. Money Manager Ex

With "all the basic features that 90% of users would want to see in a personal finance application," Money Manager Ex offers a very user-friendly, simple interface. Key capabilities include AES encryption, one-click reporting, the ability to run from a USB drive without an install, depreciation tracking, investment tracking, international support and import from CSV and Quicken file formats. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

9. StockManiac

StockManiac describes itself as an "investment time machine" for private investors. It tracks transactions and stores documents related to your portfolio, and it makes it easy to track multiple accounts and multiple portfolios. It automatically updates stock prices with Internet data, and it includes a feed reader that lets you keep up on relevant news. Operating System: OS Independent

10. UnkleBill

One of the newer double-entry accounting apps on our list, UnkleBill offers a particularly attractive interface, complete with a cute UnkleBill cartoon character who offers tips and advice for new users. It supports multiple users and multiple accounts, and it creates PDF reports. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Lose Weight/Get Fit

11. Cronometer

If you're on a restricted calorie diet, this app can help you track the calories in the foods you eat as well as other health data. The link above will take you to the free Web app; you can find the source code at SourceForge. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, iOS

12. eFit Calorie Counter

With a database of nutrition information for 10,000 foods, this app helps you plan meals and count the calories you consume. It also includes a helpful recipe creator and a tool for tracking your body measurements. Operating System: Windows

13. iDiet

This app supports multiple diets, including Atkins, Summer Fresh, The Zone and Body for Life. Simply input the diet you're following and your goal. The app calculates how many calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc. you should be eating and then tracks your actual food consumption to see if you are staying on your plan. Operating System: OS Independent

14. My Tracks

This Android app uses your smartphone's GPS to trace your path when you go running, walking, biking or hiking. When you're finished, you can import your time, distance, speed and elevation change to a spreadsheet so that you can track your fitness or share your stats with others. Operating System: OS Independent

15. SportsTracker

Whether you're training for a specific event or just want to track your progress toward a more healthful lifestyle, Sports Tracker makes it easy to set up a plan and track your statistics. It also integrates with several popular heart monitors. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

16. TurtleSport

If you have a Garmin fitness device like the Forerunner or the Edge, this app can retrieve your data and create reports. It also integrates with Google Earth and Google Maps so that you can see where you've been. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Quit Smoking

17. QuitCount

This Linux-only app helps keep you motivated to stop smoking. You tell it the day you quit, and it keeps a running total of how much money you've saved, how much tar you didn't put into your body and how much time you have added to your life expectancy. Operating System: Linux

18. Smoke Reducer

Smoke Reducer keeps track of how long it's been since your last cigarette. It plays an alarm when it's time to smoke again, gradually lengthening out the time between smoking sessions until you stop completely. Operating System: Android

Stop a Bad Computing Habit

19. Amanda

Short for "Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver," Amanda is one of the most popular backup solutions available. It's designed for businesses or other other organizations with a large network of computers that needs to be backup up regularly. Operating System: Windows, Linux

20. Areca Backup

Not backing up your system is one of the worst of the bad computing habits. Fortunately, Areca Backup makes it fast and easy to copy your files to an external drive, and it offers advanced features like compression, encryption, delta backup and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux

21. BleachBit

How long has it been since you performed basic system maintenance on your PC? BleachBit helps speed up your system and protect your privacy by cleaning out your cache, deleting temp files and other junk, and erasing cookies. It also includes a file shredder to eliminate completely all traces of files containing sensitive or personal information. Operating System: Windows, Linux

22. AxCrypt

If you store personal information or data from your small business on your PC, you really should encrypt those files, especially if you are using a laptop. Downloaded more than 2.4 million times, AxCrypt integrates with Windows Explorer to make encrypting or decrypting individual files fast and easy. Operating System: Windows

23. TrueCrypt

If you don't want other people to be able to access any of the data on your drive, try TrueCrypt. It encrypts entire drives or partitions on the fly. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

24. KeePass

If your bad habit is using the same password for everything, KeePass can help. It stores unique passwords for every site or service you use in an encrypted database—you just have to remember one master password, and KeePass does the rest. Operating System: Windows

25. PWGen

Using easy-to-guess passwords is just as bad as using the same password all the time. PWGen creates strong passwords for you, so you won't be tempted to use "password" or "123456." Operating System: Windows

Start Your Own Business

26. Apache OFBiz

The Apache Open for Business Project includes much of the software you need to run a business—ERP, CRM, e-commerce, warehouse management, fulfillment, accounting, point of sale, and more—all in one free package. If you need support or consulting services to help you get started, check out the list of service providers on the site. Operating System: OS Independent

27. PrestaShop

If you're considering starting your own online business, PrestaShop might be for you. This award-winning shopping cart has been used to power more than 100,000 online stores, and it's very easy to use. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

28. Magento

Acquired by eBay last year, the Magento e-commerce platform powers more than 110,000 sites, including stores for Office Max, Harbor Freight Tool and The North Face. The community version is free; paid professional and enterprise versions and an SaaS version are also available. Operating System: Windows, Linux

29. Zen Cart

Designed in part by actual small business owners, this e-commerce tool is aimed at users without a lot of technical skills. The site includes plenty of tutorials and links to other services that are helpful when you're starting your own online business. Operating System: Windows, Linux

Get Organized

30.Data Crow

If your resolution involved organizing a large collection of CDs, DVDs, books or other stuff, Data Crow can help. This self-proclaimed "ultimate media cataloger" connects to online services to provide detailed data about the items in your library, and it even includes a feature to help you keep track of who borrowed your things. Operating System: OS Independent

31. Dia

Need to create a flowchart or org tree? Dia is the perfect tool for the job, and it's free. Operating System: Windows, Linux/Unix

32. GanttProject

If you're organizing a very large project, you may want to check out GanttProject. It's similar to Microsoft Project, and it allows you to divide a project into smaller subtasks, assign people to each task, and schedule it all. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

33. FreePlane

This fork of FreeMind (see below) has been racking up thousands of downloads. It offers traditional mind-mapping features, plus some advanced functionality. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

34. FreeMind

This mind-mapping software makes it easy to organize your thoughts, plan your activities, brainstorm or take notes. It's like an electronic whiteboard that lets you draw arrows and lines between words to show the relationships between your ideas. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

35. Gourmet

Gourmet helps you organize your recipes. It imports recipes from multiple formats, including websites, plus it generates shopping lists and counts the calories in the meals you're making. Operating System: Windows, Linux

36. OpenProj

OpenProj offers similar features as GanttProject and Microsoft Project. Note that the feature that allows you to export to PDFs is not open source, but the rest of the software is. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X.

37. PNotes

Much like real-world sticky notes, PNotes lets you leave virtual sticky notes for yourself on your computer. Interesting features of this app include audio notes, scheduling, password protection, encryption, transparency and more. Operating System: Windows

38. Stuff Organizer

Stuff Organizer makes it easy to organize and find any kinds of files on your computer—whether they're music, video, or just documents. Features include a compression extracting utility, tagging support and integration with several Web services that provide data about multimedia files. Operating System: Windows

Make Better Use of Your Time

39. eHour

If you're a freelancer, consultant or other professional who bills by the hour, eHour can help you track and bill for the time you spend on projects. It also has some multi-user capabilities suitable for small offices. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

40. Rachota

One way to make sure you're being as efficient as possible is to track the amount of time you spend on tasks. Rachota does just that—for both work and home situations. It's also portable, so you can take it with you. Operating System: OS Independent

41. RedNotebook

This innovative app adds a text editor to a calendar/to-do list app. The result is perfect for keeping a diary or making notes about upcoming events. Operating System: Windows, Linux

42. Makagiga

Makagiga offers the same schedule/journal functionality as RedNotebook, plus it adds a sticky notes widget and a feedreader. Other optional add-ons are also available. Operating System: Windows, Linux

43. qOrganizer

Like several of the other options in this category, qOrganizer offers a calendar, to-do list and an integrated journal. However, this one also adds special student-focused features, such as a booklet for tracking grades and attendance, a timetable for tracking classes and an extra loud alarm in case you've dozed off while studying. Operating System: Windows, Linux

44. Task Coach

Unlike many similar to-do list managers, Task Coach allows you to break tasks down into smaller sub-tasks. It also allows you to tag and organize tasks, and it integrates with some of most well-known e-mail clients, including Outlook and Thunderbird. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Take Up a New Hobby

45. Storybook

If writing a novel is on your to-do list for this year, Storybook can help you get started. It keeps an overview of characters and scenes in one place, helps you organize your book and includes features to help you maintain continuity. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

46. Celtx

Planning to tackle writing a screenplay or producing your own film? This "all-in-one movie pre-production system" can help you write scripts, produce storyboards, and much more. It boasts more than 1.5 million users in 170 countries. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

47. Stellarium

Have you always wanted to learn more about astronomy? Stellarium can show you the stars in the night sky as seen from any point on earth at any time—it's the same software used by many planetariums. You can use it to help plan your nightly viewing or just to learn more about the universe. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

48. Celestia

Like Stellarium, Celestia helps amateur astronomers explore the night sky, but this project goes one step further. It also lets you virtually "fly" throughout the galaxy and see how the stars would look from Mars, Jupiter or any other point in space. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

49. Gramps

Short for "Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Programming System," Gramps is one of the best acronyms we've ever seen on an open source project. It's a professional-quality genealogical program with a very active user community and more than 1,100 pages of online documentation to help you trace your own family history. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

50. GenealogyJ

Like Gramps, GenealogyJ is a tool for viewing and editing your family history, but it was designed for amateurs, not professionals. Java-based, it creates family trees, timelines, maps, reports and more. Operating System: OS Independent

51. Sweet Home 3D

Determined to spruce up your home this year? This app helps you create 2D and 3D layouts of your rooms, complete with a preview of how the finished product will look. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

52. LenMus Phonascus

Phonascus is a music theory and aural (ear) training program for musicians of all levels. It includes a wide variety of audio and written exercises, as well as a score editor for composing your own works. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

53. GNU Solfege

You might not have been born with perfect pitch, but you can get better with practice. This app will help you improve your ability to identify and sing intervals, chords, scales and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

54. ScoreDate

First, let's make it clear that this app is not at all about dating—the "score" refers to musical scores. ScoreDate aims to teach anyone the basics of reading music. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

55. Numismatic

Yes, there's even an open source project for coin collectors. Numismatica stores data related to your collection in a MySQL database that you can access through a Web app. Operating System: OS Independent

Learn a New Language

56. jVLT

The Java Vocabulary Learning Tool, aka jVLT, aims to help users learn vocabulary for new languages. You can make up your own cardset or use the pre-built sets to learn French, English, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, German, Czech, Finnish or Russian. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

57. Parley

KDE's flashcard program can be used to learn any type of information, but it's particularly well adapted to learning new vocabulary. In addition to standard flashcards, it also offers anagram, multiple choice, fill in the blank, conjugation and other types of exercises. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

58. Step Into Chinese

This app can serve as both a Chinese-English dictionary and a flashcard system for mastering vocabulary. It includes pronunciation, translation and contextual information for more than 26,000 modern Chinese words and concepts. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

59. Zkanji

Zkanji is an elaborate English-Japanese dictionary. Included features can help you learn to write Japanese characters, study vocabulary or find meanings for words you don't know. Operating System: Windows

60. ZWDisplay

ZWDisplay helps those studying Chinese learn to pronounce Chinese words and read Chinese text. Clicking the Chinese characters displays a pinyin pronunciation guide and an English translation. Operating System: Linux

Improve Your Mind

61. Brain Workshop

Research suggests that dual n-back activities can improve working memory and fluid intelligence, and they also seem to help some ADHD/ADD sufferers. Downloaded more than 384,000 times, Brain Workshop lets you give your brain a workout by trying dual n-back exercises for yourself. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

62. CoolReader

If your resolution was to read more, this app can help. CoolReader lets you read e-books on your desktop, laptop or Android device. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

63. FlashQard

This learning tool is founded on two basic principles: different cards for different purposes and the Leitner System. Developed in the 1970s, the Leitner System is a proven methodology for spending more time on more difficult material and less time on materials that's already been mastered. As with many of the flashcard-type apps, this app lets you create your own cards or download sets that have already been created. Operating System: Windows, Linux

64. Genius

If you need to memorize something—anything—Genius can help. It's a spaced repetition flashcard program that can help you pass a test, master a subject, prepare for a speech and more. Operating System: OS X

65. The Mnemosyne Project

Another flashcard-type study aid, The Mnemosyne Project relies on a sophisticated algorithm to determine which card shows up when. Users also have the option of transmitting their data and progress to the project's owners, who are conducting a research project about the nature of memory. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, Android

66. Pauker

This flashcard app claims to help strengthen your ultra-short-term, short-term, and long-term memory. You can make your own cards if you want to learn something in particular, or you can use one of the many pre-written lessons, which include foreign languages, states/provinces and capitals, chemical elements, multiplication tables, musical terms and even European license plates. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X.

67. OpenCourseWare

The Open Courseware Consortium offers links to hundreds of "open source" university classes. Study nearly any subject you want with materials from institutions like MIT, Johns Hopkins, University of Michigan, University of California and dozens of others. Operating System: OS Independent

Become More Spiritual

68. BibleTime

The BibleTime free Bible study software includes data from more than 100 Bibles, commentaries and other reference materials. It's a good alternative to similar commercial software which can cost hundreds of dollars. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

69. Xiphos

This app works much like BibleTime and even links to the same set of free reference materials. However, Xiphos' modular design allows for user-built add-ons, including some that add journaling and prayer list features. Operating System: Windows, Linux

70. Zekr

Zekr brings the text of the Qu'ran to your PC with advanced search, read aloud and other functions. It's open source because the project owners believe you should "never profit off the prophet." Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

Give Open-Source a Try

71. Firefox

One of the most well-known open source projects, Mozilla's Firefox browser boasts fast performance, personalization capabilities, and good security. Now it also comes in mobile versions, including a version optimized for tablets. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, Android

72. OpenOffice.org

Now an Apache Foundation project, OpenOffice.org offers an office productivity suite that reads and saves in Microsoft Office formats. It includes a word processer, spreadsheets, presentations, database and graphics applications. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

73. OpenDisc

This project combines many of the most popular open source apps for Windows into one package. It includes LibreOffice, Firefox, Celestia, The Gimp, Inkscape, Dia, and many other very good open source progams. Operating System: Windows

74. PortableApps.com

This project also collects a ton of open source apps—only this time the apps are formatted so that you can put them on a USB thumb drive and take them with you wherever you go. The standard download comes with some of the most popular open source apps, but the site also includes a library of hundreds of other apps that you can add to your portable drive. Operating System: Windows

75. Ubuntu

Used by 20 million people every day, Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions and one of the most user-friendly to people who are switching from Windows or a Mac. If you have an older PC sitting around, it's easy to install Ubuntu to take it for a test drive—and it comes with a huge library of free apps.




Reference

http://www.datamation.com

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

How Small Business PrintedArt Uses Linux and Open Source

CREDITS:

Rikki Endsley

Sure, Linux is great for big organizations like Google, Facebook, and others, but what about small business? Take a look at PrintedArt. Founded in 2010, PrintedArt is an online shop that sells limited-editions of fine art photography. It now has three full-time and three part-time employees and eight sales representatives. According to President and CEO Klaus Sonnenleiter, Linux and open source play a number of roles in the company's success.

"We started with CentOS initially and our Web service is still run by CentOS," Sonnenleiter explains. "Our internal infrastructure is mostly Ubuntu server." He says the company is considering moving its Web server to Ubuntu, too, to simplify maintenance.

PrintedArt.com is a Drupal site, but Sonnenleiter says that several other content management systems were also evaluated. "Before settling on Drupal, we went through a major evaluation shoot-out between the different CMS options," he explains. "After looking at a fairly large number of options, Joomla, Drupal, Alfresco and Typo3 became the 'finalists'."

Drupal came out on top because of its layered API that lets PrintedArt plug into any place of the event model and create their own integrations and modules. "Aside from our own modules, we use mostly a standard line-up of relatively popular modules," Sonnenleiter says. Image modules, including ImageAPI and ImageCache, are particularly important for the PrintedArt.com site, as are Views and the Taxonomy modules. Ubercart, the free, open source e-commerce shopping cart module, is also a core part of the PrintedArt system.

Sonnenleiter says that in most cases the company creates their own modules rather than customizing existing code, with the exception of attribute-based pricing in Ubercart. "In its current form, it is limited to substitutions and additions, which are typical for product attributes that cover minor tweaks to a product," he explains. "For our model, we needed more complex price formulas that support prices being recalculated based on a dynamically generated item size in combination with the material chosen by the customer. There is unfortunately no clean way to plug into an API for this, so we reluctantly chose instead to create a patch that we apply to each new release of the uc_attribute module."

Using Git for Drupal Deployment

With limited resources, PrintedArt's complex Drupal infrastructure can present maintenance challenges. "We needed to choose between investing far more than we were comfortable with into day-to-day IT infrastructure work, or setting up a system that is rigid enough to allow a simple process without limiting us too much," Sonnenleiter says. "We found a good compromise through the use of Git as our deployment tool."

Although it might not be the original use case for Git, using it as a distributed repository for everything – including code, metadata, and files needed for the system to work – provides the fix PrintedArt needed.

"We maintain dev, staging, test, and deployment branches of the entire system, and thus we are able to bootstrap a fresh system within less than half an hour – whether it is for testing new functionality, verifying that no regression has occurred, or for disaster recovery," Sonnenleiter explains.

In addition to free and open source solutions, PrintedArt does use some commercial tools, too, such as page layout tools. "We use Apple's iWork suite of office products and we use a fairly large number of image manipulation tools, including open source and commercial applications – Lightroom, iPhoto, Pixelmator, HDR Darkroom, GIMP, HQPhotoEnlarger, and many more," Sonnenleiter notes. He says that the right tool is determined on a case by case basis, with functionality as the first factor followed by maintenance cost. "Purchase price is really a very minor factor in the cost of maintenance," he says.

"ImageMagick produces all our image derivative formats," Sonnenleiter says. "We do not publish the original hi-res formats of the images in the collection. Instead, we create resized derivatives using ImageMagick. The same process works when sending images – collection images or customer-supplied ones – into production. ImageMagick creates the file with the proper size and density for the print process from the original we have on file or that was submitted with a print order."

Open source even runs the phone system at PrintedArt, which uses Asterisk as their voice response unit that routes calls. "Since most of our extensions are remote, we allow all our sales agents to connect via SIP from their extension or to have incoming calls routed to their cell phones," Sonnenleiter says. "Voice mails are automatically copied to email, and we also use the Asterisk conferencing capabilities as our call bridge."

Linux by Proxy

And then, of course, there's Google, which runs PrintedArt's email, calendar, and other office infrastructure. "In addition, we use Capsule running as a Google App as our CRM," Sonnenleiter adds. "We also use MailChimp as a Google app, and we are evaluating Producteev as our project and todo-list manager."

Open source gives PrintedArt the advantage of being able to customize things the way the company needs them, Sonnenleiter explains. "It's not a way to get cheap software, since the purchase price is almost always a very minor factor in the cost of running a complex software system," he says.

The hidden cost of maintaining the system and making sure it runs correctly is a bigger issue for the company. "Asterisk, for example, has run in my basement for many years without creating any maintenance overhead, whereas any of the phone systems I have used in the past all needed constant attention." The fact that Asterisk is also open source and available without an initial investment just makes it even more appealing.

CREDITS:

Monday, January 23, 2012

FABULOUS ANDROID APPS

1) Fuze Meeting HD
Need an audio- or video-conferencing solution for your Android device? Look no further than this app from FuzeBox. You can invite schedule and start meetings, as well as invite attendees from your address book, and even upload PowerPoint decks, Word documents, PDFs, and HD movies and images from your device. The app is free but the conferencing service is not, though there is a free trial period.

2) News Republic
Are you a news junkie? Now your Android device can help you stay on top of all the breaking news with this app. Its feeds include many of the top news agencies, and it will organize relevant stories for you through its interactive interface.

3) Vlingo
Need to text, call, tweet or set your Facebook status and your hands are already occupied? That's no problem if you have Vlingo, which allows you to operate your Android phone with your voice. It even works with a wireless Bluetooth headset.

4) Seesmic
This Twitter client integrates streams from Twitter, Facebook and even Salesforce.com Chatter into a single client, allowing you to stay on top of all your messages from various sources. Unlike many clients, it supports multiple accounts, giving you the ability when composing a message to send it out via one of your accounts or all of them at once. You can also customize a large number of features.

5) SpringPad
Need help keeping track of notes and tasks and simply organizing important information? This app can help. You can save lists, tasks, products and recipes with relevant links.

6) The Weather Channel
Keep up with everything you need to know about the weather with this app. It features hourly, 36-hour and 10-day forecasts and live video from the TV channel.

7) SlideScreen
This app replaces your traditional home screen with one that shows summary information for SMS, Gmail, phone calls, Calendar, Google Reader, Stocks and Twitter, making seeing all your important information at once a snap.

8) iTriage Mobile Health
Use this app to help take better care of yourself. It was designed by two emergency room physicians to help users identify their systems and find a health care provider.

9) Mastercard ATM Hunter
This highly useful app uses your phone's location to find the nearest ATMs. You can even sort according to criteria including: drive through, 24-hour service, wheel chair accessibility and surcharge fees.

10) TiKL – Touch to Talk (PTT)
Turn your Android phone into a walkie-talkie with this app. It provides push to talk capabilities between Android phones without additional hardware and without using minutes. Communication is near instantaneous on 3G and 4G networks.

11) Phonebook
Looking for an alternative to manage your contacts? Phonebook displays your contacts with contextual information like missed calls, unread text messages and even birthdays.

12) Amazon Kindle for Android
Want to read an electronic book, newspaper or magazine but don't have your Kindle with you? Or don't have a Kindle at all? It's not a problem with this app, which allows you to read any of 900,000 Kindle-formatted books with your Android device. And Amazon's Whispersync that your last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights will sync across your various devices.

13) aCurrency
This currency converter provides exchange rates for more than 160 currencies and updates the rates hourly. Its widgets provide access to historical charts.

14) Thinking Space
Thinking Space is a mind mapping application that allows you to visualize, structure and classify ideas. You can create nodes, add notes to them and arrange them, all with a UI that makes it a snap to work with. The maps you create with this app are also compatible with PC-based Xmind and Freemind.

15) MightyMeeting
Manage a library of PowerPoint presentations directly from your Android phone with this app. You can use the app to share the presentations via e-mail, blog, Twitter and Facebook, and you can also start or join Web meetings using it.

16) JuiceDefender
Is the battery on your Android phone consistently running on empty? JuiceDefender can help you extend it! The app intelligently manages your mobile connectivity and other battery-sensitive components to ensure your phone runs as efficiently as possible. For example, the default mode switches your phone from battery-intensive 3G mode to the less-draining 2G mode when you're not actually using the phone, and it turns of the Wi-Fi radio if the charge goes below a certain level. The Advanced Mode allows you to tune the app's triggers based on your individual needs.

17) Wertago for Nightlife
Need help keeping track of the hottest nightclubs and parties? Wertago helps you find the best places to party and coordinate with your friends.

18) Free Dictionary Org
This simple, no-nonsense English dictionary provides definitions, synonyms, pronunciation and spelling.

19) Skifta
This app turns your Android device into a global remote control. Certified by the Digital Network Living Alliance (DNLA), Skifta allows your Android device to stream onboard media to any DNLA-enabled device, include TVs, stereos, PCs and the Sony PlayStation 3.

20) Save MMS
Ever get a picture through an MMS text message you wish you could save for posterity? This app lets you automatically save pictures, audio and video received in MMS text messages to your SD card. You can then access the saved files from your Pictures and Music apps.

21) Bluetooth File Transfer
With this app, you can explore and manage the files on any Bluetooth-enabled device, receive files and send contacts. It's built on FTP and Object Push Profile (OPP).

22) Kongregate Arcade for Android
Want to stay up on the newest and hottest Flash games around? This app gives you free access to more than 300 games from the Kongregate community and fully integrates with your existing Kongregate Web account.

23) Howcast for Android
Need to know how to change a tire, make banana pudding or survive a long airport layover right now? Howcast puts instructional videos in 25 categories right at your fingertips. Each video also comes with text instructions.

24) TED Mobile
Since 1984, the world's best and brightest have gathered at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conferences to spend no more than 18 minutes talking about the thing that fascinates them most. It's always illuminating, and with this app you can search and watch more than 700 TED Talks right from your phone.

25) Handcent SMS
Handcent SMS supercharges your texting with full support for SMS and MMS, group sending options and backup and restore features for SMS and MMS. Other features include the ability to customize your look with themes and SPAM filtering options.

26) TuneWiki
A replacement for your Android's default audio player, TuneWiki is a social music player that provides timed, subtitled lyrics to your music in more than 40 languages. It also includes charts and real-time maps of what people are listening to around the world.
27) eBuddy Messenger
This comprehensive IM client allows you to connect to multiple MSN (Windows Live), Facebook, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, GTalk, Hyves and MySpace accounts all at once. It shows all your contacts in one list and runs in the background. IMs are sent as data, not SMS.

28) Evernote
This app allows you to log, index and search all manner of information, from notes to audio to photos. For instance, you can take a photo of a white board and Evernote will recognize the text in the photo, index it and then allow you to find it later by entering a search term from the information on the white board. It even synchs with the Web.

29) EverPaper
EverPaper is a simple but excellent Instapaper client. It doesn't support folders yet, but it's under constant development. It also syncs with EverNote.

30) Yelp
Yelp for Android determines your current location and then lets you search for nearby businesses, read reviews and so on. It also lets users filter by "Price," "Open Now," "Special Offers" and "Hot on Yelp."

31) Time Recording
Time Recording is an app that lets you manage your time sheet, including options like tasks, target time, hourly rate, paid overtime and multiple data/time formats. It also supports CSV export.

32) CallTrack
This app logs your phone activity to your Google Calendar, allowing you to track who you've called or received calls from and when.

33) ActionComplete
ActionComplete is a robust task manager. It is built around projects you create, which are made up of individual actions that serve as milestones in the project. The app is based on the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology created by David Allen in his book: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

34) Google Chrome to Phone
Run the Google Chrome browser on your computer? This app lets you share links, maps and currently selected phone numbers and text between your computer running Chrome and your phone.

35) SMS Backup +
This app automatically backs up SMS, MMS and call log entries to a separate label in your Gmail account.

36) Fusion Voicemail Plus
Centralize all your voicemail boxes, including mobile, home and office, on your Android phone with this app. It can receive and display FAXes too.

37) Parcels
This handy app lets you track all your packages in one place. Carriers supported include: Apple, Fedex, UPS, UPS Mail Innovations, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon.de, DHL Express National (Germany), DHL (Germany), DPD Standard (Germany), GLS (Germany), Hermes, TNT, TNT International (Netherlands), TNT National (Netherlands), OnTrac Shipping, LaserShip, Posten (Norway), Post (Austria), Post (Switzerland), Posten (Sweden), USPS, DHL (USA), DHL Express (GB), Home Delivery Network (GB), Japan Post Int. Mail, CNE Express, Royal Mail, Spee-Dee Delivery (USA), Parcelforce.

38) Read It Later
A simple, reliable tool that adds Instapaper to your sharing menu, so you can quickly tag articles as you browse.

39) Astrid Task Todo List
Get yourself organized with this todo list app. It features tagging, timers, reminders, smart task sorting and even tracks partial progress. You can sync your todo list with Remember the Milk, which can sync with Gmail.

40) Mint
Manage your money and keep track of your budget while on the move using Mint. It gives you up-to-date information on your accounts and lets you edit transaction info right on your phone. And it's password protected to make sure your information stays safe.

41) aCar
This app allows you to track the maintenance, fuel mileage and expenses of your vehicles. It provides notifications when it's time to change the engine oil, air filter, oil filter, etc.

42) GDocs for Android
This editor/viewer for Google Documents allows you to create, edit, view, import, export, send documents and sync them with your Google Docs account.

43) Dial Zero
Need to get in touch with customer service and don't want to wait on hold? Dial Zero maintains an index of more than 600 companies and how to cut through their automated answering services to get a live human being in no time.

44) Dropbox
Dropbox is a client for the Dropbox cloud-sharing file storage service. It makes it easy to get files onto your phone without explicit synching. You can add files to it from any of your computers and then access them from any other computer or phone.

45) Wikidroid
Use Wikipedia often? Wikidroid formats Wikipedia articles for your device with a sleek interface. It even includes voice search and bookmarks.View all of Wikipedia's articles formatted perfectly for your device in a fast and sleek interface.

46) Memory Booster – RAM Optimizer
Keep your Android phone running at its fastest with this app. Memory Booster optimizes our phone's memory by recovering memory leaks, flushing temporary libraries and defragmenting your phone's memory.

47) ESPN ScoreCenter
Get comprehensive ESPN sports coverage on your Android phone with this app. It provides near-real-time scores and schedules.

48) handyCalc Calculator
The app adds just about every calculator function you can think of to your Android phone, allowing you to put your scientific calculator in the drawer forever.

49) NewsRob
This is an excellent, plain but functional Google Reader client with built-in syncing for off-line reading.

50) TunIn Radio
Browse and listen to radio -- live, local and global.
Listen to the world.TuneIn is a new way to listen to the world through live local and global radio from wherever you are. Whether you want music, sports, news or current events, TuneIn offers over 50,000 stations and 1.2 million on-demand programs for you to choose from. The TuneIn Radio app lets you take this entire experience with you on your Android device.

51) Mobile9 client

mobile9 is an app store and more. Truly open, truly social. Millions of members are sharing the fun and billions of free downloads served.

52) WiFi Key Recovery
Have you ever forgotten the password of your home WiFi network, or the one you setup for your parents a few months back?This application will help you recover the password of a wireless network you have connected to with your device in the past.You can then either tap on an entry to copy it, or export the list to SD, or share it using the standard Android sharing facilities.It does not crack the network, or use the MAC/SSID address to deduce the password. It simply reads it from the device itself. Essentially it parses the wpa_supplicant file.


53) GAE Proxy
GAE Proxy App is a GAppProxy / WallProxy / GoAgent client for Android System.








Credits:
1.Thor Olavsrud
2. http://www.datamation.com
3. Android Market