Note: RubyGems was also updated to version 1.3.1.

The dense spider webbing really added a nice touch to the doorways. I just hope our guests at the office aren’t arachnophobic or we may end up meeting somewhere for lunch instead.

So, why all the ghastly excitement? Well, we really got into the Halloween spirit this year more than last because we had a hand in getting a big Halloween bash started here in downtown Knoxville called Scare in the Square. With All Hallows Eve falling on a Friday this year it fell into place perfectly. There will be a live band, costume contest, trick-or-treating among businesses, and other games for kids. It should be enough fun to make a werewolf howl!

Happy Hosting, Happy Haunting, and Happy Halloween!

Where we’re at with Slamdot 2.0

Okay, so this is what everyone wants to know. The truth is that we thought we were closer to being finished with the new version than we actually were. We had been utilizing a third-party billing and support application behind the scenes to handle those respective aspects of Slamdot 1.0. We did this through an API integration that allowed us to implement our own customer interfaces, while offloading the heavy billing and support lifting elsewhere. While that worked well for a while, we realized that this just wasn’t going to fly any more if we were going to accomplish everything slated for Slamdot 2.0.

We built our own billing system

So, we ended up building our own central billing system. The best part about this endeavor was that we got the opportunity to build it our way; the way we wanted it. So many inefficiencies existed in our old way of doing things that creating this software was a breath of fresh air. The remaining work to do before we can launch the new Slamdot involves hooking it into our new billing system and weeding out the old stuff.

Other distractions

Some other things delaying our relaunch have been tons of recent client work and a content management system that we developed to manage that workload. The good news is that we’ll be publicly releasing that CMS, which will include a free plan. Our new billing system streamlines the invoicing and account management processes of any future apps (like this one) that we decide to build.

When do we go live?

We don’t know yet, but we’re hoping to get everything launched by the end of this year or early next year. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but it’s the best we can do for now. We will start sharing screenshots and some of the things that we’ve learned throughout the development process. We apologize for the lack of updates and we’ll try to do better from now on. Thanks for hanging in there!

Overall, we’ve got some great things coming (hint: multiuser and reseller functionality) that we’re excited to start showing off here. We’ve been quiet lately as we’ve been working like crazy on the new Slamdot and now we’re ready to start blowing the whistle on some of the new features coming!

You can find more great icons for other web apps at the Flickr group for shared Fluid SSB icons. Very cool.

We’d like to thank Web Host Directory for featuring Slamdot. We certainly appreciate it, so thank you WHD!

We’re going to finish sprucing up the code and implementing the new goodies in Rails 2.0. Once we release the Rails 2.0-compatible version of Slamdot, it will include many of the major feature requests that we’ve received. One of those features in particular is the ability to share access to your account with friends, family, co-workers, etc.

We’ve already rolled out Rails 2.0 across our servers, so you’re free to go give it a whirl and see what all the excitement is about!

Step 1: Sign up for Google Apps

If you haven’t already done so, you’ll need to first sign up for Google Apps. There is a free plan that will work well for most people.

Assuming you already have a Slamdot account, you’ll already have a domain name to use with Google Apps. So, on the first step of the signup process, make sure that you enter the domain name that you’re using with Slamdot into the existing domain field. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

Step 2: Verify domain ownership

Once your account has been created, you’ll receive your login information and instructions for verifying your domain ownership. We recommend that you simply upload the HTML file that Google Apps generates to your public_html folder. This is by far the quickest and easiest option to get up and rockin’ right away.

Step 3: Enable services for your domain

Now that your account has been created, you’ll need to turn on the services that you wish to use from Google Apps. For example, you might choose to enable Gmail, Calendar, and Docs & Spreadsheets for your domain.

You probably won’t need to enable Google Page Creator since your Slamdot account includes web hosting space for your web site, including more powerful features like PHP, Perl, and Ruby on Rails to give your site a dynamic backend.

You should setup custom web addresses so that URLs like http://mail.yourdomain.com and http://calendar.yourdomain.com redirect to your Google Apps hosted applications.

If you’re going to allow Google Apps to handle your email hosting, go ahead and setup email accounts for any users that you created under Slamdot. In the next step, you’ll be routing your email to Google Apps, so you’ll want to make sure it’s ready to accept your mail.

Step 4: Modify your DNS settings at Slamdot

At this point, you’ve enabled the services that you want to use from Google Apps. Now you need to configure Slamdot to allow Google to take over email hosting, as well as setup any custom web addresses you created.

First, log into your Slamdot account with your email address and password (or OpenID). Click on your hosting plan from the Dashboard to access its Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab and proceed to the DNS link.

Here, you’ll need to remove any existing DNS records that may conflict with your custom web addresses that you created. For instance, Slamdot automatically created an MX record and an A record, called mail, by default when you signed up. If you’re going to be hosting your email with Google Apps, you’ll need to remove the existing MX record first by clicking on the trash can icon next to the record. If you used mail for your custom web address, you’ll also need to remove the existing A record for mail.

Now you need to enter the CNAME and MX records provided by Google Apps.

If you’re allowing Google Apps to take over your email hosting, then you need tell Slamdot not to worry about it any more. To do that, simply click on the Email tab and then click on the Edit Email Settings button on the right-hand side.

Toggle the radio button next to the word No and you’ll be all set. Click the Update email settings button to save your changes.

If Google Apps will be handling your email, go ahead and remove any existing email accounts at Slamdot. You can also delete any forwarders, mailing lists, autoresponders, or vacation messages you setup since they will no longer be necessary.

Step 5: Have fun with Google Apps!

Once Google Apps has verified that you’ve configured your DNS settings properly, your services will be provisioned. After a few moments, you can start playing around with the various services you enabled. If you’re using Google Apps for your email, you’ll need to reconfigure your desktop email software to use Google Apps for POP or IMAP access.

Should you have any trouble getting Google Apps to play with nice with Slamdot, shoot us an email and we’ll be happy to lend a helping hand. Good luck!