Why Paypal sucks?

You know that I'm a Programming Books author, and I published my book on Lulu.com. Of course they pay me for the sell of my books...They used to send me paper checks every quarter...But here on Peru you got only 1 month to check the paper check before it becomes useless...Sometimes, due to lack of time (Mostly for work), you can't get to the Bank and get your money...I got that problem a couple of months back, so I changed my remission setting to work with my Paypal account.

Everything seems to be nice and ready...But...When I sign up for Paypal, they didn't ask for my country...Which doesn't seems to be a bad thing...But...Yesterday I searched for Paypal in Peru...I received a big surprise when read that people state that Paypal allows people from Peru and most Latin American countries to use the service to pay, but not to withdraw they money...Can you believe it? Why didn't they told me that when I sign up for the service?

If you search for his info on the Paypal site, you're going to be lucky if you find it quickly...

The same day, I wrote Lulu asking them about my payment...The told me...

We're going to pay you by the end of this month

Everything was nice, you may thought...But after I discover that I wasn't to able to withdraw my money...Everything started to suck...Big time...I wrote Lulu again telling them my problem...And gladly they we're kind enough to understand me and freeze the payment until November 15.

Now...Why on earth didn't Paypal inform the users about this as soon as they sign in? I don't know...But that's not really a cool thing...I know that they to have some kind of agreement with Latin American Banks...But can't they send paper checks like Lulu do?

Every information on the Lulu site is clear enough to be sure that you're going to get paid and when...Also, they're LiveChat is really useful.

By saying this...I recall again my frustration about living in a Latin American country...Are we being discriminated? Why can't we use widely used services if we're supposed to live on a globalized world...

Now...I only to wait till I got my paper check to reclaim my money...But that's not a nice as it looks...Most banks on Peru make you wait for 3 months until they pay you...Why? Because being a foreign paycheck...They say the need to contact the bank, make sure the paycheck is real, that it has funds and some other related stuff...But 3 months? For Christ sake...They're banks! Why I can use my credit card to pay or withdraw money in any country of the world but can't check a paycheck in less than 3 months? Maybe it's because they love to take money but don't like to give it away...

I really hope, I don't have any more problems regarding this issue...Because of this...I haven't received any money since July, 2007...And that my friends...Really suck...

Greetings,

Blag.

The Twitter phenomena

No one can deny that Twitter is a huge success...Thanks to it many Microblogging sites appeared, by say, Indenti.ca, Plurk, Pownce. Those sites are good, but most of the people who left Twitter slowly back to it...

Of course...Twitter is far from perfection...We must take a look at this nice pictures at least twice a day...


A lot have been already talked about the scalability problems of Twitter, they are using Rails, and planning to migrate to PHP...Meanwhile, we must suffer the consequences of a too rapidly grow system...

Many people just can't stop Tweeting...I'm one of them -;) I really feel bad if I can't post at least once a day...Or at least read what my friends are saying...

Another example, that it's not tightly related with Twitter but shows how can a website can be degrated is Hi5. It started as a good site, a good choice for Social Networking...But let's face it...It really sux right now...I got millions of users doing whatever they want with the system...I don't any Geek is using it anymore...In the same path is Facebook which is recently starting to take control over it's app's.

It's great to give user control over Social Networking sites, but when you give them enough rope...You take the risk of loosing everything...

I know that Twitter is not facing the same problems as those websites, but SPAM accounts
and people following millions of users (And those millions of users following millions of users), are slowly killing it...

Everyday I get notifications of people following me...99% of the times...I don't even know them, or the don't speak Spanish neither English, or they are not related to SAP, Programming or anything interesting. People follow people just to get millions of friends...Or to be the Promo Queens...Anyway, that's not a good thing...

I really love Twitter and I don't want it to die...But...Only time knows...

Taken from http://ephemerist.files.wordpress.com

Greetings,

Blag.

What's more exciting...First TechEd or Second TechEd?

That's a question I started to ask myself today...Last year I attended TechEd at Las Vegas, and it was awesome! It's was first time ever...And I thought nothing could beat that...But with the upcoming TechEd at Las Vegas...I started to doubt it...

First time, I didn't knew exactly what to expect...I knew that I was going to meet face to face a lot of my best friends...I was going to participate in some great Blogger's Only Round Tables and have a lot of fun...

This year...My second time...I know exactly what to expect...Meet my old friends, meet new friends face to face, host my own BoF Session, participate on RIA's Hacker Night...And that's why this year, I'm more excited than last year...

Last year was awesome...This year is going to be a blast! So many great additions to the show...Really cools guys/gals are going to attend...Hacker Night is going to accept more people...DemoJam is going to be superb with ESME...Palazzo Hotel rooms seems to be cooler that Mandalay Bay's ones...

I really can't wait for Sunday 7, when I'm going to head to the airport to catch my flight...Only 11 more days...And I can't wait!!! I'm going nuts -:) Believe me...We're going to have a SAP Mentor Kickup Meeting, so a lot of nice things are going to come out...

I just can't stop saying...If you can attend a TechEd...Do it! Don't miss the best event of the year...Don't miss Community Day...Don't miss DemoJam...Don't miss RIA Hacker Night...Don't miss meeting the SAP Mentors...Don't miss getting involved with most amazing, growing and welcoming Community ever...

Greetings,

Blag.

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Why I wrote about Programming in Spanish?

Some of you might think..."You're from Peru, right? You mother language is Spanish, right? Why wouldn't you write about Programming in Spanish?". All are valid points, but...

Even when this might seem kinda unusual...I prefer English over Spanish...It's true...I love speaking, writing or reading in English...So why I don't write about Programming in English? Easy...Spanish, while it's being speak by a lot of people from a lot of countries is not widely supported...I mean...Best programming books are written in English, and let's face it...Many Spanish speakers doesn't speak or read in English, so they are forced to read on-line manuals, translated books (Not all good books are translated), so in fact, they are loosing a lot...

I have asked a lot of people about ABAP related stuff, and they told me...I haven't learn that because there's no info available on Spanish, and of course, I'm not trying to state that my books are the best solution available in Spanish, but at least, they are in a language that all of my Spanish related colleagues can read and share...By knowing the English language I had been able to read a lot, so I know exactly the type of quality I want for my books...A lot of pictures, example and easy to understand terminologies.

I remember that when I was working on my first ABAP Book..."El Arte de Programar SAP R/3" I contacted someone from SAP Press...He told me..."We would love to publish your book, but only accepted languages are English and German"...No complains about it, they had their way to work, and it's cool...But I don't know German and there's so many great book on English written by friends of mine that I didn't want to overwhelm Spanish speakers with another book in English written by someone who could actually do the same on Spanish...

Of course, I'm planning to do translations of all my books into English...No doubt about it...Many people has asked me to do so...So I'm not going to fail them...But I just feel that my books should come first in Spanish and then in English.

Sometimes I feel like the Latin American market is not being taken in account by most of the enterprise companies...Even when there's a lot of people from Latin America working on those products...

This year, I run Community Day Lima (A event hosted by SAP worldwide) because SAP doesn't hosted in Peru. Why? Because there's no enough people involved on SCN (SAP Community Network), why? Because all the information is presented only in English...So it becomes an vicious circle...Companies doesn't support Latin America, because there's not enough Latin American people, and Latin America doesn't get involved in Companies because they doesn't know English...

I know that this is very hard to change...But I really hope that someday I could be able to see mixed communities...Having separate spaces for both English and Spanish speakers (About other languages...Wrote your own rants!...)

If you want to know more about my books, check my On-Line Store...

Blag's Books

Greetings,

Blag.

Adobe...You're doing a great job with developers!

This monday, is was on Twitter like always...And talked about my upcoming Flex Book (Only in Spanish...English version to come later)...Suddenly I got a message from Areez Gangji from Adobe.


Of course, I said yes...Wondering how long it would take them to get to Perú...Wonderful news when my wife called me yesterday (Only 2 days before) telling me that she had received an Adobe Package for me.

When I opened (Big package), there were 4 giant Flex 3 (Both Flex and ActionScript) posters...But not your average kind of poster...They were Geek Posters! All the Flex and ActionScript keywords and core language features...

And that seems to be too much...But there were more...5 nice and fancy Flex stickers...One for my wife's laptop, another for my own laptop and 3 more to keep on reserve -;)

Sorry I haven't took any pictures...But my camera is full of my daughter's pics -;)

Anyway...As I said in the title...Adobe is making hell of a good work by making Developers feel good and recognized...I have wrote books on Euphoria, PHP, Java and Ruby but haven't get any poster, sticker or e-mail...Which is kinda sad -:( Actually it wasn't...But with Adobe's personal approach, it had become sad -:'(

Just for the record...SAP haven't send me posters or stickers for any of my R/3 or NetWeaver books...But hey -;) I know almost all the crew and they had give really cool presents in the past -:D So no complains! You guys/gals do a great job as well -:) But if someone could give me a bunch of stickers at TechEd Vegas 08, you will make my life complete -;)

Greetings,

Blag.

The Blag Show - Episode # 1 - Are you really running a show?

Watch the first episode of my brand new show The Blag Show.

Greetings,

Blag.

Demo Jam at Las Vegas TechEd 2008

You know that I love TechEd...I love Community Day...And I really love Demo Jam.
If you haven't been to any TechEd and you're wondering...What's that Demo Jam thing?

The answer is very easy...Teams show their projects, people get amazed and a winner is chosen.

Last year was a blast with Majority Desk. More info on Blag on TechEd (Las Vegas) - TechEd Day 1.

This year, of course we're having Demo Jam! So if you're going to Las Vegas, you better not missed it!

Photo courtesy of Chip Rodgers.

Greetings,

Blag.

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SAP Community Day Las Vegas Agenda at a Glance

Mark Finnern Chief Evangelist of the SDN and BPX Communities just posted a very nice blog about Community Day - Las Vegas 2008.

SAP Community Day Las Vegas Agenda at a Glance

The most amazing thing for me is to see my session SmallWorlds - Building a Community Clubhouse on a 3D World Environment listed on the agenda -:D

This year's Community Day is going to be really awesome! The SCN Dream Team (Dan McWeeney, Rich Heilman, Thomas Jung and Ed Hermann) are going to do some amazing Mentor Hands-on session, that you can't miss -;)

So...Go ahead and made my Community Day! -;)

Greetings,

Blag.

Technorati Tags: sdn blogger

Blag's best blogs picks from 2008...Soon to come

Last year, before TechEd Vegas, I wrote a blog called Blag's best blogs picks from 2007. In that blog I posted the best blogs of the year (According to my own personal thoughts of course)...So this year...I'm planning to the same -;)

This year I'm going to include more categories, and more blogs per category (When needed)...So it's going to be far better than last year...

In case you want to know...My blog search is going to be from January 1st to December 16, 2008.

You can expect this blog on Dec. 17, 2008...Exactly 1 year after -:)

Greetings,

Blag.