freeCSScart

While Were Waiting… iPhone Apps

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:58:10 +0000

While we are all eagerly awaiting the revival of freeCSScart, we thought it would benefit the users of this site and others to learn about another project. Fresh Apps.

Have you ever been on iTunes looking for new apps and just been left with a feeling of emptiness? Wishing that there was something more out there? Some kind of program or site that could help you find new iPhone Apps and fresh apps that a community gives approval for? Well… it is sure that iTunes does NOT provide that. And after searching the web, I was convinced that there is nothing out there that could compel me to believe that there is a site that could provide everything that iTunes was missing. Until one day…

I came across a site called FreshApps. They claimed to be the different one… The site that could help you find cool new iPhone Apps. Well… at first I was a little bit skeptical. The site’s first impression was good, with clean design and the content was so easy to find. But the site seemed to be nothing more than a good looking iPhone ranking site. That is, until I noticed that they have taken it much farther than that.

You see, the idea behind FreshApps is that users, like you and I make apps fresh! That means if you like an app, or if you have downloaded that app, you make it fresh! And the more people make it fresh, the better the chances of it showing on the homepage, where Apps are ranked by their freshness. But, according to the site, they do not rank just by most freshness. Because if they did,Ã‚Â then all the classic apps would always be on the homepage, like Wikipanion, Google Earth, Remote, etc. But, FreshApps instead takes into account the activity that surrounds the App. For example, if an app has been recently made fresh a whole bunch of times, and there is some conversation about the app on the site, then that app is made more fresh overall! Which means that new, unpopular apps that are good, will be able to compete with the app giants! That is why I think FreshApps is so different, and so much more applicable than iTunes when trying to find some good apps.

They also have a lot more to add then just that… You can also rank apps by the most discussed, or the highest freshness, or the newest. Not only that, they also have a powerful RSS feed, the best I have found. Finally I can have a comprehensive Apple iPhone Feed.

Criticisms:
Fresh Apps is by far the best thing I have seen yet, but, there still is room for improvement.

I would like to see a more robust search. Not just tag’s or keywords.
A more powerful commenting system, maybe similar to that of Digg.
An iPhone web friendly version of the site.
A more powerful user area.
The ability to suggest Apps based on current apps that other users have that you also have.
Faster loading times… I know the site is in beta, but I would like to see faster load times for the images.

Overall, I am a FreshApps fan. I have found better iPhone Apps on Fresh Apps then I ever have on iTunes. I can already think of 4 or 5Ã‚Â good apps that I found, just through Fresh Apps, that I would have never found through iTunes.

Status Update: freeCSScart

admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:14:33 +0000

I know it has been quite sometime since we have updated. There are some questions out there like – Is freeCSScart dead? What happened to freeCSScart?

Well, let me be the first to ensure you that freeCSScart is not dead. It is alive and well! We have a small development team that works on this project, so the daunting task of a freeCSScart able to compete with the other great ecommerce carts out there is a daunting task. Because of that, we are behind schedule. With that said, we believe that freeCSScart has some great features and has a very pleasant user experience.

FreeCSScart will continue in our ALPHA stage until we belive we have the feature set is solid. Then we will release freeCSScart to the world as a BETA. There is no timeframe for release.

We would like to thank everyone who has been a constant fan of freeCSScart, and belives in the idea!

The Encryption Altercation

jjmancini — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:36:45 +0000

Once again we have arrived at a crossroads and we need your input.

Here is the scenario:
FreeCSScart allows for the ability to sell digital goods, like photos, software, subscriptions, etc. But the problem lies in how we allow the purchaser of the product to activate it. Herein lies our problem; universal yet unique encryption algorithms. Every store needs the ability to customize the order and the uniqueness of their product encryption.

Example:
A store sells an amazing “flash menu”. It is a digital good. They require that each purchaser of the product get a unique product key that allows it only to be used on a specific domain and that only that product can be used there. Thus, they need an encryption that includes:

Date and Time
Product ID
User ID
Custom Field (Url or any other unique specific information)

Now all this information needs to be sorted scrambled and encrypted and then decrypted by flash so that it can read the product key.

The Question:
What encryption method would you prefer?
This question goes out to all the people that will be using the “sell digital goods” side of freeCSScart. You are going to have to create the decryption for your product keys inside of your products. Here are our options:

SHA-2
RC4
AES
Simple ASCII Encryption (Made by freeCSScart)
(Your Suggestions Here)

Once this product key is encrypted, it would also need to be decrypted, which leaves us with only injective encryption processes (So not MD5).

We would like you to add your input. Please just use the comments field below (If no comment field exists, please click on the title of this post).

The Endless Debate – Ruby vs. Php?

jjmancini — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:25:44 +0000

A while ago, we asked the freeCSScart community a question… the question was, which language would you prefer freeCSScart to be programmed in?

You can see all the answers here.

Fact: freeCSScart is community oriented.
Fact: We are creating this product for a niche market.
Fact: We desire to create this product around the communities desires.

Because of those simple facts, we have decided the following. The freeCSScart client-side, will be created in Php!

Right now, the admin panel is in solely Ruby on Rails, that will stay the same. But for the client-side, we have decided to create it in Php. The client side is the area that the users of the actual shopping-cart process will see.

Thanks for the community input! We will be asking more questions soon.

A New Image…

jjmancini — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:48:26 +0000

It seems the polls have spoken – but the decision is up to us, and belive us, it was a tough decision. First of all let us say what a wonderful competition this has been! We have seen some amazing skills and submissions represented and we want to thank everyone who submitted a design.

We could not make up our mind 100%, so we decided to give a first and second place. First place will still receive the full prize money and if the second place accepts, we offer them half of the prize money. If you are the developer of one of the winning submissions, please contact us info(at)freeCSScart(dot)com. So the winners are…

First Place

We agreed with the voters and #4 is our first place winner!

Second Place

We absolutely loved this persons submissions and would like to use these logo’s as well. Thus, the second place winner is…

Congrats to the winners!

hmmmmm… Let’s try this again.

jjmancini — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 06:44:39 +0000

It seems we had a major problem with multiple votes in our freeCSScart logo competition. So we had to get rid of the old polling system and put in this new one which does not allow for multiple votes. So please, re vote for your favorite logo! The voting period will be extended till Wednesday.

Vote Here!

See the Top 5 Logo’s Here!Ã‚

Vote for your favorite freeCSScart logo!

jjmancini — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:45:49 +0000

Well, the competition has ended and we must say there were a lot of amazing submissions! Great job to everyone who submitted! We had 117 replies and over 5000 views! But the time has come to choose a winner! So without further ado, here are your options.

How to determine a winner:

please look at all 5 logo’s before voting
some submissions may have more than one design, just pick your favorite and vote for that number
the voting will last until September 19th
please use the voting link to cast your vote
those who have submitted a logo into the top 5, have the opportunity to “re-create” the logo. Please post it in the forum if you wish to do so.
enjoy!

You can cast your vote here.

Here are your top 5 logos in the order of submission.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Go Cast Your Vote Now!!!
We reserve the right to chose the winning logo even if it is not the one with the highest number of votes.

Poll Results: What is your favorite freeCSScart logo?

jjmancini — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:12:00 +0000

Some Big Websites that use Ruby on Rails

jjmancini — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 00:21:42 +0000

We were trying to find a list of sites that use Ruby on Rails, but we could not find any simple ones that list the good sites, thus we decided to make our own list. Here it is in no particular order:

Enjoy…

Have you Ever Tried Ruby on Rails?

jjmancini — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:53:26 +0000

We have been seduced, and her name is Ruby. The initial version of freeCSScart had been developed in php, but as we continued to play more and more with Ruby on Rails, we were dragged away and enticed by her simple, power. So after months of developing in php, we have officially decided to swith development into 100%, pure, simple, Ruby on Rails.

This is great news for you! Becuase it means faster page load times, quicker database querys, and most of all, more AJAX sweetness! Yes ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is even more powerful than we could expect it to be!

And those rumors that you heard that it takes about 1/5th of the time to develop in RoR as it would in php or some other language, well, we agree!

We are planning to have a “mini-alpha” release for the 15th in Ruby on Rails. This “mini-alpha” will showcase our css and design engine! Therefore be checking your e-mails and make sure you are signed up for our e-mail list, because we will be accepting only the first 200 people for this “mini-alpha” release.