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Hey, a Post!

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Not too much to say here.

On most weekdays when I’m not at work, spending time with my wife, or exercising I’m reading or programming. As much as I wish I could eliminate the first part of that equation, it is just a constraint that I have to work with for now.

I’ve been learning a lot about Rails. There is really no better way to learn that to just try to make something. For all that I read beforehand, I still had to reference the books tons, even for elementary things. I’m becoming more comfortable with it, but still have a ways to go.

One site I’ve been reading a lot lately is Mark Cuban’s blog. I think this guy is my hero.

Narrowing Down a Path

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I spent a fair amount of time this weekend working my new Rails project. While I got a lot of work done, it reminded me how much work I could be doing if I actually had more time to do it. I’ve come to realize that I probably won’t be founding any HUGE startup soon. I simply don’t have time to manage anything that requires lots of time and involvement from me. I get home at 6:30 – 7 on average, which leaves little time to accomplish everything I want. 

Maybe this project will be really successful, but even if it isn’t, it should provide me with a solid foundation for more ambitious projects in the future. If by summer ’09 I can be a Ruby/Rails expert, I’ll have a lot more opportunities to do the type of things I want to do. 

Also, I’ve been blogging a lot less. Somewhat paradoxically, that’s not a sign that I’m doing less work, but a sign that I’m doing more. If there ever comes a time when I give in I’ll make sure to write about it, but I don’t expect that to happen… ever. 

For the few of you who continue to read this, thank you, and I hope you’re making progress towards your goals. 

Matt

Updates

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Been fairly busy, but have been making some progress.

I started on a Rails site yesterday and I’m off to a nice start. It’s amazing how much of the syntax you forget when you go from reading about it to actually programming it. I constantly have to look up the most basic syntax issues, but hey, at least its actual progress.

Getting to experiment with the code to see how it affects the site is enjoyable.

I have about 4 hours of discretionary time each weekday. Some days I spend about 3 of that programming; others none. On average I get about 2 in by the time I eat, shower, and spend time with my wife.

Domain Name Services

Mazur 1 Comment

One of the ideas I’m considering working on is a project to help people find great domain names for their websites.

Before I start (if I start), its important to evaluate the competition. Based on my research, here are the major players and what they bring to the table.

Bust a Name – Created by Ryan Stout, this is one of the top places to find unregistered domain names. The application lets you enter multiple keywords then it will search for different combinations and display the unregistered ones. The site was made with Ruby on Rails (!) and makes heavy use of JavaScript. What differentiates this from the other sites is that it’s not searching a precompiled list of available domain names. You can search for uncommon keywords and it’ll still test the combinations.

Nameboy – Similar to Bust a Name but without the great interface. I don’t think they offer anything important that Bust a Name doesn’t.

Ajax Whois – My personal favorite – you type in a domain and they will show you which extension are available. Some of the other sites do the same, but I really like Ajax Whois’s clean interface. GoDaddy bought this site from the original owner, Carl Mercier. He might have been the first to use Ajax for domain searches.

123finder – Unlike Ryan’s site, 123finder has long searchable lists of unregistered domain names. You can sort by category, such as “Frequent Words”, “Scrabble Dictionary”, and “Italian Words”. Most of the names listed are garbage and their site is ugly.

PickyDomains – This is clever. You describe what kind of site you’re making and for $50 they find a domain for you. People can suggest domain names too and if it’s chosen, that person gets half of the $50. If you’re not satisified with your results, they’ll refund your money.

DomainsBot -You type keywords and they search their database for matching domains.

MakeWords – Pretty much the same as DomainsBot. It’s amazing how much their cold white and grey interface impacts my desire to search their site. It’s possible they have a much better selection than DomainsBot, but because of their design, I have no desire to play around with it.

Domainology – Type in a keyword and this’ll search for your keyword + various other common words. For the ones you’re interested in, you can then ask it to check the availability of the .com, .net, .org, and other extensions. Ugly site too.

Freshdrop – This is another great site. They compile a list of all the recently expired ‘dropped’ domain names and let you search them using lots of easy to use filters. I think all the listings are auctions, so you have to bid, but most are $10 and it looks like you can find some pretty good domains that way.

Summary: This is a saturated industry, but there’s still room for improvement.