The guys over at Interspire are building their own shopping cart, called StoreSuite. They’re hoping to release this year, and they’re blogging about it on a daily basis. So what’s the differentiator? From what I can tell, they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what everyone else did wrong, and trying to do it right.
Here’s the Product Comparison page:
Product removals from this page are done by Ajax, so there’s no waiting for page refresh.
Page design is done using Drag and Drop, which is a big departure from normal template design.
And of course, you’ve got to have a tag cloud to have Web 2.0 credibility. 
You can browse more of StoreSuite’s features here. I’m waiting with anticipation!
Nate Whitehill has an interesting post on why so many blogs are here today and gone tomorrow. Chief reason: it’s hard! Sure, there are lots of crappy blogs (“craplogs?” “crogs?”) out there pumping out spam, paid advertisements, cloned postings and so forth, but if you really want to generate high quality original content on an ongoing basis, you’d better be prepared to spend a lot of time and energy on it – and most people don’t like this plan. Again, from Nate:
Just like going to the gym, blogging takes months of hard work to see any noticeable benefits. In my four months of blogging, only recently am I starting to see these benefits – including financial return, people linking to my posts, and a decent number of subscribers, readers, etc.
I remember when I was a kid in Cub Scouts reading Lord Baden Powell’s remark, “Fitness can be neither bought nor bestowed; like honor, it must be earned.” I guess success in blogging is the same.
I’ve been listening to The Art of Exceptional Living
by Jim Rohn on CD during my commute. His message is very much like Covey’s – particularly in his emphasis on the seventh habit (self-improvement). The audio suggests it might have been recorded in a church, which is apropos because his speaking style has the staccato rhythm and emphatic re-enforcement of a Baptist preacher. He illustrates his philosophy of success with references to his own biography, which he breaks down into the first six years of his working life (“pennies in my pocket, no money in the bank, late on my bills, creditors are calling, behind on my promises to my family”) and the second, in which he became a millionaire, thanks to the instructive example of a successful boss. Takeaways:
- Reading is foundational. Get a library card and use it. Build a personal library. Spend time every day reading difficult material to expand your intellect. The best money you can spend is on your own self-education.
- Keeping a journal will help you capture what you’re learning. Use other forms of capture such as photography.
- Be prepared to work hard – not just at your job but on yourself. “If you work hard at your job, you can make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune.”
- You cannot change the world, the economy, the political situation, your negative relatives, etc. – you can only change yourself. This is the starting point. If you will change, your situation will change for you.
- Life is seasonal, so you must:
- Learn to deal with winter. Difficult times will come, and they won’t change, but you can: you can become stronger, wiser, better.
- Learn to take advantage of the spring. You must be prepared for opportunity, for it always follows adversity.
- Learn to care for the crop in the summer. Weeds and pests will always try to take it from you.
- Learn to reap in the fall without apology if you have succeeded or complaint if you have not.
- Personal development is critical to success. You must master five abilities:
- the ability to absorb
- the ability to respond
- the ability to reflect
- the ability to act
- the ability to share
- Do what you can, the best you can and rest very little.
