Ranching and Technology

Newletters - Paper vs. Electronic

2007-10-09T22:18:00.000-06:00

I hate to admit it, but I got stuck this week! I have a newsletter I've been doing for the Stables, mailing it out several times a year.

This month I switched many of the boarders to email instead of paper. Statements caused no problem, as Quickbooks has that option. I got my surprise while trying to convert the Word document into an HTML format. It took me a couple hours to make it look nice on my website, then I tried to put it into an email and it didn't work right!

It's too late tonight to figure it out, but for the next one I need to figure out how to write the newsletter once, and publish it to multiple formats. I'm open to any ideas!

All those pictures!

2007-09-24T10:08:00.000-06:00

On Friday of last week a friend and colleague, Doug Emerson published a short interview with me about getting pictures from a digital camera to the web. His past newsletters, "The Profitable Horseman", can be found at http://www.profitablehorseman.com/articles.htm

I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, but in the process was surprised that so many folks were having trouble with the basics of getting pictures "web friendly", so I wrote a really brief tutorial on the subject. Let me know if it is helpful.

For anyone that has suggestions on managing pictures and images, I'd like to hear about it! I have a lot of experience managing several hundred thousand images at a time from my previous work with a Fortune 500 company, but those kind of systems are a bit out of reach of the everyday horseman.

I'd like to develop some simple, easy to use systems for those of us that have a few hundred or even a few thousand pictures to manage. I will be looking around for an inexpensive package for this. If nothing jumps out, I may develop a small database just for this purpose, as I need it to manage my tack shop images.

First, I'll look to the Drupal ecommerce modules. I talked about Drupal (an "Open Source" project) in my previous post. If anyone has experience with this, email me and maybe we can chat about it.

What the heck is "Open Source"?

2007-09-17T13:00:00.000-06:00

I've been messing around with solutions for my next version of website. For me, "Open Source" was something I had to look at! Afterall, it can be some of the best quality products out there, and it's FREE!

People I talk to in the horse business ask the next obvious question to them, "What the heck is "Open Source"? Simply put, "Open Source" is a product that is put together by volunteer programmers around the world, believe it or not! One person or group then puts the pieces together, and you have some of the most vigorously tested software around!

Some of the more well known "Open Source" projects are the webserver Apache and the operating system Linux (like Windows is an operating system). These are 2 of the most popular "Open Source" products, and are being widely used by both large and small companies. Apache runs approximately 66% of all web servers across the internet! This is quoted from recent Google article "Web Server Software and Malware".

So, "Open Source"? For me, I am looking at a project known as "Drupal". Categorized as a Content Management System. I intend to use it to create a portal for the horse industry. Anyone with knowledge on this, please feel free to contact me.

Blogging around the Ranch

2007-08-30T13:30:00.000-06:00

I like to think that my background in technology has helped me to "modernize" the everyday ranch. As it turns out, the ranch runs pretty much as it used to, with hard work, hot and dusty days, and feedings twice daily.

So much for technology you say? NO, I say! Technology is still there, but it has a different role. I now have a website www.LegacyEquineLinks.com, a wireless network that reaches many parts of the ranch, an on-line store providing additional income, and even email addresses for those on the ranch who would like to have them!

I wanted to start publishing my journey, so that others can share in what I have learned, and hopefully I can learn from others that are imaginative and willing to share as well! Over the coming months I will share my successes and failures. Join me for this ride! Email me if you would like: egrap@3GRanches.com