Our Geek Space

Virtualmart – This is a package of solutions (components, plugins and modules) to create online shopping web sites with Joomla . It provides many tools to make an e-commerce solution.

Joomla – CMS (Content Management System) Open Source based in Php and mysql.

We are building a couple of sites using this combination: www.uruguaycompras.net and deportes.universia.edu.uy (coming soon).

In our opinion Virtualmart (VM) is the most complete open source solution to build this kind of sites. After installing Joomla we add the component and a lot of modules and plugins (see the instructions: http://virtuemart.net/documentation/User_Manual/Installation.html)
After that you can configure your virtualmart solution with different ways of payments (e.g. paypal, on delivery, etc.), different providers, different currencies, different vendors and so on.
VM has a complete back-end administrator to manage all the information and all the shopping process.

This picture shows the administrator panel.

From our experience, VM has two problems without solution until now. We expect to solve these issues and share this stuff to all the community.
The problems are:

• multi vendor management – this module is in alpha version to developers. You cannot manage two or more providers. For Instance: we have a site for a reseller company and they sell products of different vendors. VM solution doesn’t consider this situation.
• multi currency solution – VM allows to manage as many currencies as you want (more than 100 for default, and you can also add others if you want). But in the checkout process and in all the shop gallery you don’t have the possibility to show more than one currency.

We expect that in the next two weeks we could have another post sharing these solutions.

Tweet This Post 

We showed the first prototype of the game developed for the “Plan Ceibal” (www.ceibal.org.uy). The game is web based and specially designed for children using a XO computer.

Plan Ceibal

The One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc. (OLPC) is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of an affordable educational device for use in the developing world. Its mission is “to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.”

“Uruguay is the first country in accept the challenge”

Worldbank.org – Uruguay’s Plan Ceibal: The world’s most ambitious roll-out of educational technologies?

The Game

Moove-IT and El Abrojo (a Uruguayan Social Organization who works with poor children) are working in the development of an online game for the XO computers.

This game is financed by the IMM (Government of Montevideo) and his main objective is promote good habits between children. This tool is an online game in which the children works with themes relative to the daily environment care. Each child works in groups with their classmates and also with other schools in any location of the country.

They will be able to: build houses, create commercial areas, create rural areas, maintain clean the neighborhood, and manage parks, among others things.

The points are generated by answering simple questions and doing simple tests. The tests and the answers are validated by the collective. This means that players themselves determine whether an answer is correct or not.

Here you have an initial slide of the game with some screenshots. (The slide is in Spanish)

We will put this Game on production in April 20, 2010

Tweet This Post