Archive for August, 2008

PersonL ready for commercial (beta) release

PersonL is now ready for use for paying clients and we have already secured three paying clients (details to follow as clients go live).

This week we released the last of the vital/core features and the team is now focussing on the “wishlist/enhancement” items (some of which can be seen here). Immediately we will be building:

The PersonL Instance API (used by our clients to create customised job searches on their web sites if they choose)
The PersonL Instance Job Search (accessed directly via a link)
The White-Labeled PersonL Instance Job Search (which can be embedded into our client’s sites via iframe)
PersonL Joomla Plugin (this will be released open source to the Joomla community as an easy-to-use job search for any Joomla based site using the PersonL API)

PersonL also released new/refined packaging & pricing today which can be seen here: www.personlplace.com/Sign-Up/

Please send us your comments & suggestions as per normal…

August 29, 2008 | 0 comments | View Post

New PersonL Site Blitz!

Yesterday, I (proudly) sent the following mail to the office:

“We have just officially entered PersonL (last minute) into this years TechCrunch50 Contest

We had half applied, decided it was too late, and then they mailed me yesterday and asked me to complete the entry by tomorrow…

So we got cracking and churned out a much upgraded web site and content in just two days (planning, writing content and everything).

Well done to the team who did this: Martin (design and input), Pascal (most of the dev and styling), Tim (Powerpoint, Flash and graphics) and Ferdi (making sure it all came together).

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Rob helped out a bit on testing from a usability perspective. I wrote the content.”

The amazing thing is, i think it is the best website we have ever built on such short notice.

August 1, 2008 | 3 comments | View Post

PersonL sponsors CareerPlanet

CareerPlanet is an initiative designed to contribute, meaningfully, towards the development of a skills pipeline for South Africa.

In practical terms, CareerPlanet has a mobile network of computers and trainers who setup in shopping malls for a week at a time and assist kids to understand the “world of work,” profile themselves and have their minds opened to opportunities that they may never have considered before.

CareerPlanet needed a way to manage all the profiles of the kids attending their mobile kiosks, and PersonL was a perfect fit.

August 1, 2008 | 0 comments | View Post

The Google effect

Google has progressed from being known as a worldwide phenomenon, to simply a standard in the way we conduct our Internet lifestyle. I’m actually quite shocked that Word has identified ‘Google’ as a spelling error. It’s an indispensable tool used and loved by all. I must confess that it’s so effective, that I sometimes use it to find pages on websites for which I know the URL, because I know that Google will find what I’m looking for faster than me.

It’s almost too easy. No, wait, it IS to easy. Why? – because it’s made us complacent, lazy and incapable of thinking for ourselves.

Think back to the last time you did research for a project. You probably spent about 10 minutes on Google looking for references. Maybe you even tried a few variations on the keywords used for the search before you were confident that all relevant info available in the universe had been accessed. How about some images to go with that? – certainly. Just make sure you ignore the little clause that states ‘…subject to copyright’ before you download, and you’ll be fine. Research complete. I wonder how many business plans have been preceded by a 10 minute Google search?

August 1, 2008 | 1 comment | View Post