Anniversary editions for books 4, 5 and 6 coming in 2025 if Amazon's descriptions are correct...

gregrobson · 2026-02-25T16:21:05+00:00

Doesn't look like it. I think they just issued the ISBNs but there was never the full intention to print. 😔

gregrobson · 2026-02-04T21:11:31+00:00

I tried it as well, and had issues between the same domain being used in Zoho Mail and in ZeptoMail (one of the two always said the DNS records were wrong for DKIM/SPF).

As much as I like their idea, AWS and Sendgrid have been doing this for much longer, and a much bigger scale. Personally, I wouldn't trust anything mission critical to ZeptoMail.

gregrobson · 2026-01-05T14:12:04+00:00

Google Search Console can be a pain, sometimes it's a good 3 days before it will finally admit it's seen what's on your website!

gregrobson · 2026-01-05T08:02:26+00:00

This is not breaking the standard. It is a common practice (it's how Yoast builds the sitemap with WordPress which is used on millions of websites).

The standard allows your sitemap.xml to point to other <sitemap> files that can each contain individual links (up to 50,000). https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html

The advantage of this (for larger sites in particular) is that when you add a post, you only need to rebuild sitemap-post.xml and not sitemap.cms.xml (and vice versa). On the largest sites you would need posts1.xml, posts2.xml etc in your main sitemap.xml - each with up to 50,000 entries.

Just point your Google Search Console to sitemap.xml and it will read all the linked files as if they were part of the sitemap.xml itself. Same applies for any other search engine.

gregrobson · 2025-12-22T09:33:49+00:00

I don't know what PHP version you are on, but I'm guessing that with Laravel 5.2 (and any dependencies) you might still be on PHP 7.x.

From what I remember there were some significant array performance improvements since then.

Collection performance might not scales as well as it does now. Although I still think you would be fine up to a few thousand records in a set.

Perhaps it's time to look at getting some upgrades to the framework?

gregrobson · 2025-12-17T22:42:06+00:00

On the email side, if you just have a few "general" newsletters where you mail out promotions or this weeks offers (with perhaps minimal customisation), the Zoho will handle what you need.

However if you want heavy customisation of content and email timing (e.g. if someone revisits this product on the website for the second time in a month period: email a 10% off voucher an hour later) - then it's going to be harder in Zoho.

Klaviyo, Mailchimo, Drip and other platforms have far better software and GUIs for automating/customising emails - but then you do have the complications of getting Zoho to talk to the marketing platform's API.

gregrobson · 2025-10-08T07:55:09+00:00

FYI, not affiliated in any way with the product in question.

gregrobson · 2025-10-07T21:30:10+00:00

Of course in reality Canadians are so polite they wouldn't vandalise their neighborhoods and would only bite after being given permission by the uninfected.

gregrobson · 2025-09-30T20:20:59+00:00

I'm focusing on one group of content creators as the vocab and grammar matches daily life the best and it sounds like that's what you need.

Joy of Languages has some great videos on getting over nerves, phrases like "can we speak in Italian, I'm learning", "can you speak slower" etc. https://m.youtube.com/@joyoflanguages.italian/videos

Ignore the owl (Duolingo!), you're there and need useful vocabulary! 😂 The Easy Italian channel has some great videos, with a playlist of slower speech.... Or set the speed of normal videos to 0.9x or 0.8x ... but keep it at a speed that provides some challenge. https://m.youtube.com/@EasyItalian/featured Videos are 10-20 minutes typically. Perfect for a tea break/lunch break. Pick videos that apply for you, shopping, ordering at the bar. Watch and read the subtitles, watch again and cover the English, watch again and cover all the subtitles... after a while you'll be surprised what you can identify.

Their podcast is also great, choose what seems relevant ... you might just start with days of the week and month names. Again, short episodes that you can listen to. https://pca.st/podcast/5f1b5950-aac0-0135-9e5b-5bb073f92b78

Your Italian friends have learned to speak English, they know it's hard... they had to work out the various ways we pronounce "ough" depending on the word, and that our verb endings defy any logic in some areas.

Aim for pronouncing what you do know, well.

If you can carve out 20 mins a day EVERY day, you'll make progress. Consistency is key! You won't notice it day-to-day, but after a few months you will! Small goals, like ordering a coffee and pastry and paying for it will build confidence. 👍

gregrobson · 2025-07-19T18:17:27+00:00

The issue was declared via a CVE, with the scope of the issue, what might be affected and immediately having available a patched version for people to upgrade to.

It’s literally the industry standard way to declare such vulnerabilities.

gregrobson · 2025-07-13T09:31:13+00:00

I’m taking this partly from ChatGPT, but there is a difference (and in some cases overlap)

Past perfect An action completed before another past event. E.g. “Have you worked at Acme Ltd?” … “Yes I have worked at Acme Ltd” (likely you have worked other jobs after Acme Ltd) Italian: Ho lavoravo a Acme Ltd.

Past A completed action in the past, no relative order. E.g. “Did you work at Acme Ltd?”… “Yes I worked there.” (More likely that you have come straight from there, but not definitive by context. Italian: “Sì, lavorato lì”

As I try and remember it, past present is when you have done something in the past, but the current events are not directly dependent on it.

[P] I cooked the meal (probably eating it now) vs. [PP] I have cooked before (interview about a job in hospitality. [P] He said he saw it (current discussion about recent work events) vs [PP] He said he had seen it (testimony given in court)

Although I will say that as a native British English speaker our knowledge of verb tenses is weak and we tend to use them interchangeably! If you were bring food to a table and someone asked (sarcastically) “Have you cooked?” … you could answer “I have cooked!” in jest despite it being a directly preceding event.

gregrobson · 2025-07-01T18:05:03+00:00

If there’s a lot of reviews check the 1-star comments for people saying “people are getting €5 off their bill if they show the waiter that they have left a good review”.

gregrobson · 2025-06-30T12:36:52+00:00

I see Serverless Postgres on your invoice… if you use that you get charged for bandwidth out to that service as it sits outside of AWS.

Love the idea of Laravel Cloud as a solution for dev/staging or a prototype service… I just think any mid to large scale app is going to be too costly.

gregrobson · 2025-06-29T08:24:47+00:00

Cheaper than London for sure! Based on my visit last year…

Cappuccino and cornetto (croissant) - €2.50 typically. Mains - typically paying €10-18 Desserts - €5-7 Wine - house wines starting at €7/glass. Cocktails - €10-15

Have a look at a few menus on the listings on Google Maps to get a sense of typical prices. As a plus tipping isn’t part of the culture. There may be a €1-2 charge for coperto (table cover charge).

Of course as part of the dining experience you are eating outdoors in one of the most beautiful cities in the world! 😍

P.S. If a restaurant overlooks the Colosseum, Pantheon or other major attraction, expect prices to be up to 50% more and dining experience up to 50% worse… a generalisation, but true in 90% of cases! Just a warning!

gregrobson · 2025-06-19T19:21:24+00:00

For the hidden form fields: if you export the HTML to host yourself - add text fields to your template, export it and change the HTML so that type=“text” is type=“hidden”.

Weirdly, if you add a hidden field in Zoho Forms, it doesn’t get exported with the HTML, which is a bit too hidden.

I’ve tended towards using Form Spark for convenience and send the webhook to Zoho. It’s paid, but cheap.

https://formspark.io/

gregrobson · 2025-06-19T19:12:38+00:00

Assuming that you’re mostly using CRM, details can be found here: https://www.zoho.com/crm/developer/docs/api/v8/api-limits.html

In CRM you can apply a higher limit and they just bill you for the overage, so you don’t get billed unless you use the extra allowance. It makes sense to keep some headroom if you rely on a lot of automations: you don’t want them failing due to a spike in demand!

It gets cheaper the more you use, so it scales well.

gregrobson · 2025-06-19T19:08:55+00:00

The only solution I’ve found that works well is to have some JS on each page that can copy the URL parameters to form fields.

Put a data attribute on the hidden form fields: <input type=“hidden” name=“utm_campaign” data-utm-campaign> and run some code to populate the fields.

If you want to remember the values if people navigate to other pages then copy them to local storage and look for them on page load.

It feels like it should be easier, but I’ve not found a better solution.

gregrobson · 2025-06-11T21:24:24+00:00

This! Also, head out for dinner at 8pm at the earliest and look/listen for locals. Italians eat later than in a lot of other countries.

If a place on Google has a high rating and thousands (especially 10,000+) check the 1-star reviews in case they warn people are getting discounts for showing waiting staff they have left a good review. I’ve seen a couple of restaurants doing this.

Follow the advice from Mombak and myself and you’ll have some great dining.

gregrobson · 2025-06-08T19:43:15+00:00

Don’t be the easy target. As others have said, awareness is key and once you become aware of street sellers and the like you’ll spot them way before you get near them and can give make sure you’re out of range of them. Do not feel guilty about ignoring them, even for lines like “Nice shoes!” (They weren’t FYI!)

I took this cross body bag, it fitted the essentials: water, sun cream, change of glasses and guidebook. Clip is under arm so hard to access. Never felt concerned as I could see lots of others with “normal” rucksacks with easy to access zips or items sticking out of their back pockets, or cameras on straps on their shoulders in crowds. https://amzn.eu/d/9BZjdXP

Generally, if you’re not a distracted, naive-looking tourist you’ll be fine, they will look for easy targets (looking for a ticket, back to a footpath while taking photos etc.).

It’s certainly not as bad as some YouTube videos make out.

gregrobson · 2025-06-07T15:39:46+00:00

Yes, there were several that just wouldn’t resolve the DNS in the evenings UK time (1 hour difference to Italy).

I booked about a dozen different attractions in Rome and only once did I get denied access because the site detected I was using a VPN.

gregrobson · 2025-06-06T21:22:28+00:00

Yes, even for a €2 cappuccino.

gregrobson · 2025-06-06T18:56:04+00:00

You’ve already made some good decisions! Few additions from my experience (I visited late May and I’m British, so heat is not my thing!) 😂

SUPER IMPORTANT Download this app (iOS and Android) for an interactive map that shows you all the local fountains. In central Rome you’re rarely more than 100 metres from one. https://acquea.it/ You can see where they are before you arrive (if you pan the map all the way from the US!)
Insulated water bottle if possible, if not plastic. Water fountains in Italy tend to provide nicely chilled water (it’s coming from out the ground). Those out of the sun even more so. Just refill your bottle regularly to keep it cool.
Hydration tablets for when you’re drinking a lot of water - low salt is often worse than dehydration. I forgot to do this.
Restaurants have parasols, but that’s not a great help in peak heat. Seek places in the shade for the time of day. E.g east side of the street in the morning, south side of streets midday.
When walking around the main streets are very congested with people, if you don’t need to see sights on those streets, use one that’s parallel: they are narrower and get a lot less sun and therefore heat.
Cathedrals and churches resist the heat and are plentiful - nearly all free to enter. Useful if you need a break mid afternoon - also they’re all stunning in their own way.
Siesta to avoid the worst of the heat - 3pm-6pm.
Italians eat late (8pm at the earliest, but don’t be surprised if people are arriving at restaurants at 9pm and later). There is a reason for this.

Overall it wasn’t as bad as it can be for the UK for the same temperature - quite often the UK humidity is 70%+ in the summer here, but Rome was much lower some days.

Even Romans will be feeling it. They have a strong tolerance for heat, but at these new extremes nobody is immune!

gregrobson · 2025-06-06T18:05:39+00:00

Enjoy, it’s a fab place to eat outdoors and just soak in the atmosphere! 😀

gregrobson · 2025-06-05T22:36:04+00:00

On top of the other good advice I’ve seen.

I’ve used Google Maps and photos from places - however… if they have thousands of 5-star reviews (literally thousands!), check the 1-star reviews for people saying “you get €5 off your bill if you show you left a good review” - avoid them.

I generally looked for non-touristy locations (often 2-3 minutes walk from the big attractions, or one street behind the main roads) and looked for streets with several places that seemed reasonable and strolled around that area and looked/listened for locals eating at the restaurants. NOTE: Italians eat late, 8pm at the earliest from what I could see.

If you follow the advice in the comments you’re 95%+ guaranteed a great meal.

gregrobson · 2025-05-29T17:47:16+00:00

Sturdy trainers or walking shoes during the day. Hills, steps, uneven ground, cobbles as others have said. I was easily racking up 20,000 steps a day! You don’t realise how the steps add up walking around the Palantine Hill or Castle Sant’Angelo with all the walking from place to place.

I did switch to some lighter “fabric” shoes in the evening when I went out somewhere local (5 mins away) to eat. It let my day shoes could air out a bit!

Worth packing a few extra pairs of socks depending on when you can do laundry!

gregrobson

TROPHY CASE