Magento Community Edition version 1.8.0.0 was released on September 25, 2013. Its highlights, as listed in the release notes, include: Major overhaul of tax calculation formulas, correction of rounding errors, and additional assistance with configuration. Optimized cache adapters for single-server systems. Upgraded Redis cache adapters for multi-server systems. (To set up and use Redis with […]

As a guy who does a lot of writing, I’m constantly aware of my predilection for procrastination (and alliteration). If I can put off writing something, I will. It’s not because I don’t love writing; it’s just that putting a dent into a blank page can be a significant psychological barrier (can a nonexistent dent […]

If you aren’t already familiar with JetPack, it’s a plugin for WordPress that brings a host of very useful features. It is developed by the developers behind the WordPress.com platform, and brings many of the benefits of that platform to self-hosted WordPress sites. JetPack recently saw a new release, which includes several additions that make […]

Content curation is a powerful technique for building a following for a blog and on social media. It’s also a great way to build relationships with other influencers in your niche. The basic principles of content curation are easy to understand: brands and individuals use their blog and social media channels to highlight content relevant […]

WordPress is used on over 20% of websites. It’s a huge success story and with good reason. WordPress is a powerful content management system with just the right combination of ease-of-use and configurability to appeal to both web development professionals and amateur web masters. However, a fly in the ointment of WordPress’ success is the […]

This past month, Nexcess was in London, England for MagentoLive UK 2013. We were honored to sponsor such an amazing event that brought together so many incredible minds. Those in attendance had the opportunity to see enthusiastic and informative presentations by a variety of authorities from the Magento community, including our own, Chris Wells. We […]

More than 20 percent of the world’s websites now run on WordPress. That’s a huge achievement for the Automattic team. Unfortunately, this massive user base presents hackers with a seductive challenge: the chance to exploit and control millions of sites at once. All they have to do is find the chink in WordPress’ armor, and […]

For the majority of my PHP career I didn’t store objects in a session. Not that it’s a difficult thing, I simply didn’t have a need to in the past. Now that I do, I have discovered a peculiar (in my opinion) aspect of it. This came about because the session data on a certain […]

Modern eCommerce is heavily dependent on actionable data-driven insights to maximize sales. Big data is something of a buzzword, but there’s no doubt that in the absence of accurate date, eCommerce retailers would be at a significant disadvantage. Useful data comes from an enormous diversity of channels, including web analytics, remarketing, customer relationship management, affiliate […]

Fraud is a serious problem for eCommerce retailers. While less than 2% of eCommerce revenues are lost through fraudulent transactions, in a trillion-dollar industry, that’s no small potatoes, particularly in an industry segment with low margins. But, possibly more significant than fraud itself is the amount of time and effort that small retailers put into […]