Month: April 2007

Andertoons 2.0 – This Time It’s PostgreSQL

andertoons2 Comments

One of the big changes we made in the new Andertoons.com was changing from a MySQL database to a PostgreSQL database.

An enterprise class database, PostgreSQL boasts sophisticated features such as Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC), point in time recovery, tablespaces, asynchronous replication, nested transactions (savepoints), online/hot backups, a sophisticated query planner/optimizer, and write ahead logging for fault tolerance. It supports international character sets, multibyte character encodings, Unicode, and it is locale-aware for sorting, case-sensitivity, and formatting. It is highly scalable both in the sheer quantity of data it can manage and in the number of concurrent users it can accommodate. There are active PostgreSQL systems in production environments that manage in excess of 4 terabytes of data.

Yeah, I don’t understand it either, but if you go by their logos alone…

Psql

Mysql

…I’d bet an elephant could kick a dolphin’s ass any day of the week. So that’s good.

Enjoy!

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Sketch Fighter 4000 Alpha

andertoons1 Comment

I’m a low-grade gamer. War simulations, RPG stuff and the like are way beyond me (I’m currently playing Lego Star Wars II, FYI).

But this game really caught my attention. It’s Ambrosia Software’s “Sketch Fighter 4000 Alpha” and it’s straight out of every 13-year old boy’s study hall notebooks:

Sketchfighter

The whole game looks, well, sketchy – like it’s all been done with a ball point pen.

It simple to play, and is full of nice little touches like the smudgy eraser marks left behind after laying waste to some baddy.

A great idea, and well executed! Check it out!

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The Price Is… Where?!

andertoons

Having just read a slew of articles on business transparency, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret; I’ve been hiding money at Andertoons.com.

It’s not nearly as sinister as I’ve made it sound. Take a look:

Costs1

See how there’s no pricing listed? The idea is/was to get you to choose your usage, and then show you the cost in the cart to avoid people simply picking the cheapest option every time.

Costs2

I’ve been wondering, though, if perhaps this isn’t a hinderance to customers.

I mean, it is kinda off-putting, and it gives off a very “I don’t trust you to be honest” vibe.

Plus, how many folks are just confused? And it really doesn’t stop users from finding the lowest cost and choosing that should they wish to.

So, recently I changed it to this:

Costs

We’ll see how it goes, but I’d love any thoughts, opinions, or limericks you’d care to share regarding this.

Thanks!

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MST3K + Chad Vader = I’m In Heaven

andertoons5 Comments

I forget exactly who turned me on to Chad Vader, but it’s one of those ideas that’s so well executed that even had I thought of it, I could never have pulled it off as well.

A recent episode shows Chad working with the RiffTrax folks (MST3K alum and personal heroes Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy) on the second of the God awful Star Wars prequels, “Attack of the Clones.”

Is it just me or did Murphy looks a lot like Billy Joel in that video?

Anyway, here’s a short look at the results:

(Hat tip to Satellite News!)

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