There are a lot of new database systems popping up that can be interpreted by the newbie as “memcache, but with persistence”: MemcacheDB, Membase, redis, Project Voldemort etc. I’ve seen the term “persistent Memcache” being thrown around a lot, which is an oxymoron in itself, as the term “persistent” undermines the implied ephemeral nature of a “memory cache”. We must be careful not to mislead those impressionable by buzzwords into adopting the wrong technology for the wrong uses.
It’s not uncommon to hear the comparison “like a persistent version of memcache” being thrown about, and it is understandable why it is used. While brave new ground is being covered by these new DBMs, this simile acts as a straightforward introduction to these new technologies and how they work. If you’ve worked with web development or MySQL for any tangible amount of time, chances are you’ve had experience with Memcache and its simple key/value data model. So it’s a great technique to help tame these wild and mysterious new technologies so that we understand them better in terms of what we already know.
However, we must be careful not to let this comparison transcend the fundamental differences between these systems. I fear that many regard “persistent Memcache” as a drop-in replacement for the original Memcache so that they don’t need to worry about cache timeouts or its ephemeral nature. Whereas the important distinction to make here is that these systems are databases, and Memcache is a cache, and nothing else. For best performance, it is important that both are still used in a way that complements their design and intended usage. I am worried this likeness will foster poor data model design, as developers feel more secure with interchangeably using their caches as databases, and vice versa, adopting the wrong technologies and software design paradigms on this premise. Sure, many of these “NoSQL” persistent databases can be used as a cache, but to engineers building high performance systems, it is important to keep the distinction in mind to avoid unnecessary overheads.
First, go grab yourself a copy of Fluid for OS X completely free. Learn more about Fluid. Fluid lets you create “site specific browsersâ€, essentially a browsers that are dedicated to individual sites that you can run as if they’re a native app on Mac OS X. Once you’ve downloaded Fluid, start it up, and you’ll see a window asking you for a URL and icon.
Drew Wilson just released the latest Valio Bundle, and we’re proud to be featured alongside a number of other fantastic apps and resources that help designers and developers rock.
What does $49 get you?
We won’t list everything here, but some of our favourites on the list include:
Today we’re releasing Map View (beta) into GoSquared’s Labs. Check it out.
What is Map View?
Map View is the same beautiful map that you will instantly recognise if you’ve been using GoSquared LiveStats. We’ve cut out everything else to leave just the map – allowing you to show off the locations of all your visitors to anyone you want without the worries of showing email addresses, user IDs and other personally identifiable information.
How does this fit in with my business?
Map View is ideal for large screens and projectors. We received a ton of feedback from customers who wanted to run just the map from LiveStats on a big screen in their office or their reception area. We also realised it’d be beneficial for everyone if we could offer Map View to those who wanted it, without the extra burden of all the extra information around visitors, pages, and referrers.
Do I need a GoSquared Account to try out Map View?
You sure will, if you don’t have one already. You can sign up for GoSquared from just $9.99 per month, or have a play on the free account right now.
What’s Geckoboard you ask? It’s a really slick lightweight dashboard that allows you to bring together all of the various services you use on a daily basis into one place. The GoSquared widget in Geckboard shows how many people are on your site right now with an easy to read gauge, comparing the current figure to the 7-day min and max.
Head over to Geckoboard now and check out the service for yourself – they have a number of reasonable premium plans from just $9, and a free plan so give it a go!
Perhaps we’re crazy. For 3 days only this week we’re offering 12 months – that’s 365 whole days – of GoSquared Plus (normally $24.99 monthly) for just $50.
What does $50 get you?
500,000 pageviews per month for 12 months.
Full access to LiveStats for real-time traffic monitoring.
Trends for those who are allergic to Google Analytics.
Unlimited real-time traffic alerts for traffic spikes and lulls.
Monitoring for up to 5 sites.
Team sharing with as many colleagues as you want.
We’re really excited to be able to give this away at such a discounted price – but we can’t for long! This offer is only available this week until Friday. Get it while you can!
