Nothing major, just did a quick backup then hit the upgrade button. While things may have changed significantly in the backend code, there really isn’t much to show you here. WordPress MU (the multiblog variant of WordPress that is used on WordPress.com) is now built into the maintstream code. Thus endeth the tyranny of MU, a code branch I personally despised. Custom menus make it really easy to create a special nav menu. I’ve already used this, and it’s a…
Here is the list of stuff I load onto my machine right after firing it up for the first time: 7-zip – open source package for handling zip, tar, gzip WinSCP – ftp, scp, sftp Putty – in case I need to talk to a server, this is my preferred SSH client TextPad – all the text editor I need for just about any task. Don’t forget to tell it to syntax highlight PHP and turn on line numbers! (not…
I’m an unabashed history nerd. I love history, and I’ll admit I’ve had a real chip on my shoulder for the History Channel for the past two years, since they stopped doing history and started running shows like “MonsterQuest”, “UFO Hunters” and “Ice Road Truckers”. No offense to those shows, I’m sure they’ve got their audiences, but they most certainly are not history, and neither is most of the other content that’s filling the schedule at History. Its easy to…
I use Skype a lot. Be it to communicate with developers in the Ukraine, or to talk with the relatives spread around the globe, I pretty much leave it on all the time. I prefer it to my cell phone for calls. So it’s funny to me to complain about the service, as in close to 7 years of use, this is about the only problem I’ve had: they apparently don’t understand the meaning of “Block This User.” In addition…
I stumbled on this neat trick the other day while having a look for information on a Russian website. If you are browsing using the Google Chrome Browser and open Google Translate in one tab, when you surf to any foreign language sites, it will offer to translate the site for you. You click yes, and bang, you’ve got that site in English. The actual translation is as good as the library they have, hence Spanish is pretty good, while…
2 weeks after go live, BayStatePowerWashing.com is now fully indexed in Google. The site initially had Google position only for it’s own name, due to the use for frames in the old site design. Here is a sample of some of the results: residential power washing massachusetts – #1 commercial power washing massachusetts – #3 power washing weston ma – #1 power washing shrewsbury ma – #1 Excellent progress. Even better news is that the site owner has the ability…
I’ve been listening to this netcast for the past two days on the way to work, a major savior for me since the weather has made for epic commutes. It comes from the folks at the BBC and the British Museum and it’s called “A History of the World in 100 Objects.” From their “about” page: At the heart of the project is the BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 objects. 100 programmes, written and…
I was listening to a netcast this morning (This Week in Media) and the host Alec Lindsey put forward the suggestion that many content related businesses were planning on developing specific content for the iPad. I had a couple thoughts… Why would you funnel development dollars into creating something for a single platform, when that platform has not yet been released. How could you develop effectively for a platform, when that platform has not yet been released. The suggestion was…
Over the past few weeks I pulled together a new site for my friend Ryan Mowry, owner of BayState Power Washing. The site is built in wordpress and uses a fairly standard template. Points to consider: This is a test of a new localized SEO tactic. The site hadn’t been indexed yet by Google yesterday, the last time I checked. Site is fully editable by Ryan. We did include a blog, where Ryan will be posting information of use to…
Demand Media has been a constant topic of conversation among online journalists of late. It all began with this article in Wired entitled “The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model“. Plenty of other companies — About.com, Mahalo, Answers.com — have tried to corner the market in arcane online advice. But none has gone about it as aggressively, scientifically, and single-mindedly as Demand. Pieces are not dreamed up by trained editors nor commissioned…