Wish you all a very Happy Christmas and joyful New Year 2013

MercuryMinds wishes a Merry Christmas and joyful New Year to all our customers, at this beautiful time. MercuryMinds is extremely happy with the progress for the year 2012 and we have shaped out some good plans for the future.

MercuryMinds achievements for the year 2012:

  • Officially partnered with Mobicart to enhance M-Commerce application design and development.
  • Mobile-WebAward declared MercuryMinds as winner for “2012 Best Mobile Websites and Apps” recognizing one of MercuryMinds M-Commerce project “TheBlueDoorBoutique” in its first annual international Mobile-WebAward competition.
  • NASSCOM declared MercuryMinds as one of the award winners under “Innovation Category“ in their NASSCOM Emerge 50 Awards, 2012.
  • NASSCOM membership for MercuryMinds Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Moving forward, we have a very good Pipeline, through which there will be more products and services from MercuryMinds targeted for the near future. MercuryMinds vision for the future is to provide ultimate shopping experience through Web, Mobile, Social, and TV by research, strategic consulting services and development of bespoke products and solutions. Happy holidays.

MercuryMinds Wishing you Happy Christmas and New Year 2011

Christmas is the time of the year when we wait for jingle bells and wishing our near and dear ones the best of everything we ask from life. No celebration is complete until we pray to god and wishing others. So, what can be better than sending wishes to all our Clients, Customers and supporters.New Year count down is about to begin. May the dawn of New Year leads you to the path of beautiful tomorrows and brings abounding joys, filling your heart with love and home with happiness and wishing you Merry Christmas and a wonderful year 2011.

We wanted to Thank You for the year of 2010, and to wish you, your family and your business to step into the New Year of good health, happiness and success.It’s been a great year! A lot has been achieved thanks to your being with us.

MercuryMinds Wishing you Happy Christmas and New Year 2011

Google and PowerReviews Partner on Product Reviews

PowerReviews is the most widely deployed review platform in the world with an exclusive focus on retailers and brands. Recently Google announced the “Google Product Reviews Program,” which will begin featuring full-length product reviews and user ratings from participating retailers & manufacturers wherever it’ll help users with their shopping, including in Google search results & advertising programs. On Google Product Search, for e.g., we’ll feature your logo alongside representative reviews from your site, increasing brand exposure for your web store at a key point in the conversion process.

“PowerReviews,” a leading provider of customer reviews, as a partner to this program, to share premium user generated product review content from client sites. Ratings and review content will appear wherever it’s relevant for shoppers, including Google search results, Google Product Search, and Google advertising programs. PowerReviews social commerce solutions support more than 1000 retailers and brands on over 3,500 websites. In 2008, PowerReviews released In-line SEO™, which optimizes user-generated content for search and has been proven to significantly increase product page search traffic. Recognized as the customer reviews Solution Leader in the Internet Retailer Top 500 survey, PowerReviews works with over 1000 retailers and brands on over 3500 websites, including Staples, Drugstore.com, Gardener’s Supply, Diapers.com, Callaway and Jockey

Now, the company is extending its search suite by giving retailers the ability to automatically feed full-text product reviews to Google, increasing brand exposure for the retailer, while providing consumers with immediate access to opinions from other customers as they research and complete purchases. The study conducted by PowerReviews and the e-tailing group found that fifty percent of all overall shopping (in-store on the web) involves researching products online first. What’s more, the majority of shoppers (57%) begin research with a search engine. With this new offering, we continue to help retailers and brands leverage their product reviews by increasing traffic and exposure from Google.

Google Product Reviews helps retailers capture purchase-ready searchers at every stage of the shopping process and will be able to offer the full Google Product Reviews program to all of its clients, enabling retailers and manufacturers to attract more customers by leveraging reviews across all relevant Google properties. PowerReviews operates Buzzillions. Com, and works with over 1,000 retailers and brands on over 3,500 websites.

Want to implement PowerReviews at your Xcart or Magento store? Contact our sales team at sales@mercuryminds.com for more details.

php code optimization

Hi friends ,
PHP is becoming very popular scripting language and you may know this from the prabhu’s article published in this post.
It is easy for anyone to program with the help of PHP,but most the people failed in the speed (ie optimazation) section .
If your site is loading slowly then you will definitely lose the traffic.
So i am giving few tips on how to improve the performance of PHP as well as how to write the code effectively.

Use caching:

Making use of a caching module, such as “Memcache”, or a templating system which supports caching, such as Smarty, can help to improve the performance of your website by caching database results and rendered pages.

Use ini_Set in all PHP files:
Since we are not going to execute script in all the pages for long time and also we wont use long query in all the pages.
So ,always use the ini_set in each and every pages.
ini_set

Use output buffering:

PHP uses a memory buffer to store all of the data that your script tries to print. This buffer can make your pages seem slow, because your users have to wait for the buffer to fill up before it sends them any data. Fortunately, you can make some changes that will force PHP to flush the output buffers sooner, and more often, making your site feel faster to your users.

Don’t copy variables for no reason:

Sometimes PHP novices attempt to make their code “cleaner” by copying predefined variables to variables with shorter names before working with them. What this actually results in is doubled memory consumption, and therefore, slow scripts. In the following example, imagine if a malicious user had inserted 512KB worth of characters into a textarea field. This would result in 1MB of memory being used!

$description = strip_tags($_POST['description']);
echo $description;

There’s no reason to copy the variable above. You can simply do this operation inline and avoid the extra memory consumption:
echo strip_tags($_POST['description']);

Avoid doing SQL queries within a loop:

A common mistake is placing a SQL query inside of a loop. This results in multiple round trips to the database, and significantly slower scripts. In the example below, you can change the loop to build a single SQL query and insert all of your users at once.

foreach ($userList as $user) {
$query = ‘INSERT INTO users (first_name,last_name) VALUES(“‘ . $user['first_name'] . ‘”, “‘ . $user['last_name'] . ‘”)’;
mysql_query($query);
}

Produces:
INSERT INTO users (first_name,last_name) VALUES(“John”, “Doe”)

Instead of using a loop, you can combine the data into a single database query.
$userData = array();
foreach ($userList as $user) {
$userData[] = ‘(“‘ . $user['first_name'] . ‘”, “‘ . $user['last_name'] . ‘”)’;
}
$query = ‘INSERT INTO users (first_name,last_name) VALUES’ . implode(‘,’, $userData);
mysql_query($query);Produces:
INSERT INTO users (first_name,last_name) VALUES(“John”, “Doe”),(“Jane”, “Doe”)…

Use single-quotes for long strings:

The PHP engine allows both single-quotes and double-quotes for string variable encapsulation, but there are differences! Using double-quotes for strings tells the PHP engine to read the string contents and look for variables, and to replace them with their values. On long strings which contain no variables, that can result in poor performance.

$output = “This is the content for a very long article
which is a few hundred lines long
and goes on and on and on

The End”;

Changing the double-quotes to single-quotes prevents the PHP engine from parsing this string in an attempt to expand variables which, in this example, don’t exist:

$output = ‘This is the content for a very long article
which is a few hundred lines long
and goes on and on and on

The End’;

Few more tips:

->Upgrade your PHP version.

->Use “echo” is faster than “print “.

->Use “Unset” or “null” your variables to free memory, especially large arrays

->Use require() instead of require_once() .

->Use full paths in includes and requires, less time spent on resolving the OS paths.

->Use $_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME'] is instead of time()

->Use of error supression (@) is very slow.

->Use of $row['id'] is 7 times faster than $row[id].

->Use of error messages are expensive.

->Use of count() in the for forloop is expensive(The count() function gets called each time)
->Use of “else if” statements are faster than “switch/case” statements.

->Use <?php … ?> tags and dont use short tags.

->Use of “++$i” is faster than “$i++”.

->Avoid magic like __get, __set, __autoload.

->If a method can be static, declare it static. Speed improvement is by a factor of 4.

Good communication

GOOD communication is a gift you give others. Communicating effectively requires technical proficiency, but all the technical skills in the world will not help you communicate effectively if you are not interested in other people and in the world around you, and if you are not prepared to share and participate in a give-and-take. Think about how you would like people to treat you. Do you remember the person’s name? Do you greet people in a friendly manner? Do you speak to them with courtesy and respect or are you loud, abusive and critical? Is your overall demeanour pleasing? A good communicator knows that what we communicate non-verbally can be more meaningful than the words we use. Take a look at yourself in a full-length mirror and analyse what you see. Posture, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and appearance clearly communicate our attitude to others. Are you sending a non-verbal message that supports your words? Or, do you need to stand a little straighter, fidget a little less, smile a bit more? These are simple adjustments you can make immediately.

A great communicator focuses on the person with whom he is speaking. Great communicators like former American President Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger share a common trait. When they meet someone, they focus so completely on that person for the time they spend together, even if it is only for a few short minutes that they make the other person feel like the most important person in their universe. While your focus may not have quite the same impact as a famous personality, it will definitely enhance the effectiveness of your communication.

A good communicator knows that vocal quality is important in communicating attitude and in enhancing the effectiveness of a vocal message. Grammar and vocabulary alone will not help you if the sound of your voice puts a listener to sleep, assuming they can even hear you. No one wants to listen to someone who mumbles, drones on in a monotone, squeaks or speaks too slowly or too quickly. By working on your diction and the pitch, pacing, and modulation of your voice, you will become a much more interesting speaker. A good communicator is positive and polite. Whining, complaining, blaming and making excuses are detriments to good communication. So are criticism and insults. Work on eliminating the negatives from your conversation and watch what a positive effect that has on your ability to communicate.

A good communicator does not get caught up in his own rhetoric; he focuses on the other person. His conversation is “you focused” rather than “I focused.” I-strain, a indication of both arrogance and insecurity, is one of the taboos of good conversation, as are off-colour or discriminatory jokes, personal relationships and sexual proclivities, health or diets, personal tragedies, cost of anything personal, income, controversial topics (politics, religion), and asking for free advice from professionals.

A good communicator listens as much or more than he talks. Listening is one of the most effective ways to show interest in another person. Effective listening involves more than remaining silent. Nod your head in agreement, make little response noises, use prompters like “interesting” or “tell me more,” or ask pertinent questions to show you are paying attention. Open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer encourage the other person to talk. Look at the speaker when you listen rather than letting your eyes wander. Beware, though, of letting your eyes glaze over.

A good communicator participates in a give and take and contributes to the conversation. Read magazines and newspapers, especially the editorial pages, to keep abreast of what is happening in the world. At least 30 per cent of the reading you do should be outside your field of endeavour. Only being able to discuss topics relating to your work will make you a very dull person very quickly, even among your colleagues.

A good communicator develops technical proficiency. Call your local schools and colleges to see if they offer courses in English. A dictionary, a thesaurus or synonym finder, a good grammar book and language tapes are good investments for anyone wishing to develop or maintain language skills. A dictionary is also a good resource for the proper pronunciation of words.

A good communicator practises. Reading aloud quality publications will help you develop a comfort level in saying words and sentences correctly, thereby helping you learn proper grammar. Reading aloud will also help develop your ear for the language. Watching quality movies and television programmes somewhat above the level of grunt and punch action thrillers is another way to develop your ear for a language. A good communicator gets help. Most professional speakers work with speech or presentation skills coaches. While you may not want to resort to a personal coach, there are organisations like Toastmasters International (www.toastmasters.org) that can help you develop your oral speaking and presentation skills. Amateur acting groups, too, might benefit you even if you are not interested in becoming an actor. Do not hesitate to join either; you will find people at different levels of proficiency.

A good communicator masters the rules of etiquette and good manners since these are what grease the wheels of effective interpersonal relationships. Learn the proper way to make introductions and to greet people because that gets interactions started in a positive manner. A good communicator sparkles. Let your light shine through when you interact with others. The Roman Publius Syrius said, “Speech is a mirror of the soul. As a man speaks, so is he. Do the work necessary to make sure your communication skills reflect the image you want others to have of you.”

sqL injectioN

Hello PHP developers!! Working hard !! Writing some creative codes!!Delivering projects on time!!Writing optimized code.Do you feel proud that you are a good developer? If so you should know about SQL INJECTION,else you are not!! .Did you find any vulnerability in your code,especially in security concern?

SQL injection is a technique of inserting code,using the available vulnerability in your code.What is this vulnerability?.Its a window you create for hackers to get in.Let me explain a simple thing.

In authentication page,we have formal Username and password field,and “enter your mail id if you forget your password”.We check the database correctly and we will do the necessary things.If some one forgets his password and enter his emailid to recover his password.And we have select query like

*************************

SELECT fieldlist
  FROM table
 WHERE field ='$email-id'
**************************

Here $email-id is the id entered by the user.If I Am a hacker and try something like
ponna@gmail.com',then it will be executed like

***********************

SELECT fieldlist
  FROM table
 WHERE field ='ponna@gmail.com'';

***********************

Now it will return some sql error which is different from ‘unknown mail-id’

Let us try some thing legally,more technically.Like

***********************

SELECT fieldlist
  FROM table
 WHERE field ='ponna@gmail.com' or 'a'='a';

***********************

So whtever may be the first ,second condition is always true,so it will return all the rows,if db supports multiple return in single execution.

If you really understand this problem ,then reply me with the name of this problem,

and let me know more about SQL INJECTION.

India will be number 1 source of PHP developers soon

We know that 36 percent of the scientists at NASA are now Indians, but did you know that India will become number 1 source of PHP developers soon. In a research report released by PHPClasses, number of PHP developers in India has been steadily increasing in the last few years.And soon we will replace the current United States as the main resource for the PHP development.

If we look at the figures regarding the users in PHPClasses site US-based developers stands at the top with 11.8% of the total number of users followed by INIDA with a percentage of 10.5% running behind in the race are Brazil and Germany with 5.22% and 4.66%.An interesting fact to note is that few years back USA ruled the charts with 20% of all users whereas INDIA account for only 3%.

When we look up at this drastic change it is not possible to locate at the exact reason why this happened.But the fact that the developing a site in INDIA is quite less than what the US and the European market charges can not be denied.If the growth remains in the same pace we will have lots of companies developing php based sites and products like X-cart, Magento, OSCommerce etc. However the report also states that the number of certified professionals in INDIA are very less compares to the US and European countries.