Gowalla. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear that is "monkey" - a rather large monkey actually. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Gowalla is far from this; in fact, it's not a mammal at all.

Besides the obvious possibilities for a Drupal boom in 2010 (launch of Drupal 7), there are several other reasons that may spark an increase in popularity.

Government Interest

The fact that whitehouse.gov launched on Drupal was huge news in 2009, but with the recently published "Open Government Directive," the whitehouse site may be just the tip of the iceberg for Drupal.

In this week's podcast we discuss,

How to Win in a Recession Like a Ninja
Panelist: Colin Alsheimer

Snuggie Sightings - An Unlikely Marketing and Viral Success Story

By now you must have heard of them - the blankets with sleeves that keep you warm no matter what you're doing. Buy a Snuggie, and you can talk on the phone, eat a snack, read a book, or even cast spells, according to one YouTube parody video.

The End-User Needs Analysis defines the web site requirements and expectations from the customer or audience's perspective. The Internet is the ultimate open market and if you do not effectively meet users growing expectations of what a web site should offer they will find someone who can at the click of a button.

Objective goals are project expectations set to obtain concrete and measurable results.

Further Reading

Merchant accounts and processing gateways are Internet services that enable online processing of credit cards. Online merchant accounts are variations of the traditional credit card processing used by retail stores and phone order houses. A business must qualify for merchant account; each provider has a different set of requirements.

Processing gateways are an intermediary to get card information from your shopping cart to the merchant account. Often processing gateways are packaged with merchant accounts.

Merchant Account Tips

A shopping cart is an e-commerce web application that mimics a virtual store. It allows customers to browse and select a product(s), then purchase them at a virtual check out.

Most e-commerce is done with one of the many preprogrammed shopping carts that are available. While these packages should prove adequate for most e-commerce needs, custom programming is always an option for more advanced features.

Shopping cart tips

e-Commerce is the process of buying products and services online. The most typical form of e-commerce is an online catalog (shopping cart) that allows users to select products and pay for them by credit card. e-Commerce is a very popular mechanism for companies large and small to sell their wares on a world-wide market.

e-Commerce requirements

• Shopping Cart
  Online catalog that allows users to select products to purchase at 'check out'.
• Merchant Account
  

Social Media for business is hot right now; similar to blogging was four years ago for companies. Companies are in a mad dash to hire workers deeming themselves “Social Media Experts,” with most new Social Media jobs going to Millennials who grew up online.