I just wanted to give a quick kudos to the Typepad folks for being one of the best in the industry when it comes to dealing with splogs. Since they’re a paid service I don’t come across splogs on Typepad very often, but when I do their support is easy to contact, very responsive (I had a reply from “Carla” within 3 hours), and they obviously understand the problem and how to deal with it.
Category Archives: Asides
Mac Woes
After a security update my 12″ Powerbook asked me to reboot, after which it decided that it will only boot to a command line. I have no idea how to even start to fix this, I can navigate around it like it’s Linux but there is no indication of what went wrong or how to fix it. I’m going to take it to the Genius bar in hopes they can do something, but all-in-all this is pretty disappointing.
LonelyBlog15
A Tribute to Lonelygirl15, new blog from the creators of the original Lonelygirl15. From Tech Republic, “Our entire backend that supports the Web site is free because we use WordPress,” Beckett said. “Five years ago, you would have had to buy UNIX boxes and build a custom content management system.”
BMR: FutureSex / LoveSounds
Binary Music Review, FutureSex / LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake: 1.
bbPress Integration
Simpler integration with WordPress and bbPress, this is getting really cool.
Lloydomattic
Feeling Automattic. Lloyd Budd, of Flock/Mozilla fame, has joined Automattic full-time. 🙂
Design Matters
Robert Accettura writes in that Lenovo, makers of the Thinkpad, is now blogging on WP. (And it’s surprisingly good.) Check out this post on their keyboard drainage system.
Blogging from Space
The Day Has Come, Anousheh Ansari Space Blog. This is the last post before the first woman space tourist heads into space. Is there wifi up there? This Xprize blog is part of our upcoming VIP program on WordPress.com. Update: This BBC article says “Ms Ansari says she will write the first blog from space.” I never would have guessed WP would be used from space!
SLAs
When 100% is not 100%, this is related to one of the things I mentioned in my presentation yesterday at Future of Web Apps. You would think for how much they’re charging Rackspace could afford a less draconian interpretation of their “100%” promise, either that or they should invest more into their infrastructure.
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg has launched, it’s the tool I used to generate this heatmap of the WP.com front page.
Spam + Blogs = Trouble
Wired had an article out last month called Spam + Blogs = Trouble where I share some of my perspectives on the whole spam thing. It’s a good article, but I strongly disagree with Anil’s comments at the end around a global identifier or “Internet Social Security number.” Akismet has shown we don’t need to boil the ocean or make commenters jump through hoops to get effective spam protection on blogs (and blog hosting services).
At Web Apps Summit
I’m here at the Web Apps Summit,one of the few folks online thanks to EVDO. The presentations have been really great thus far, and they only look like they’re going to get better. The venue (Palace of Fine Arts theatre) is really big, there must be 500+ people here.
New Servers
We’re looking to expand into a third datacenter for WordPress.com and related Automattic stuff. I’ve been asking around for quotes, but it occurred to me I should blog what we’re looking for because someone reading might be able to provide what we need, or know someone who could. One line summary of what we’re looking for: 22 boxes, AMD 3800 or similar, cheapest HD, 1-2gb of RAM, Debian AMD64 (this is important), private and public 100mbps network. I’d be happy to post more info in the comments if anyone wants it. A per-server monthly price including space and bandwidth is what we’re looking for.
Happy Pals
Happy Pals is a plugin for WordPress to denote relationships within links.
MySpace Spam
This is an example of a MySpace spam profile, it’s very convincing—see if you can spot the ad. I think this phenomenon is under-reported. They are using data from your profile—location, age, romantic preferences—to highly target messages and “adds.” Seventeen hundred friends. It would be interesting to know the growth of spam on social networks like MySpace is as high as email or comments. The incentives are there.
Automattic Adams
Job Interview
Seth Godin: The end of the job interview. Hear hear.
WebWorkerDaily
Om has launched a new blog called WebWorkerDaily, it’s hosted by WordPress.com as part of a new program we’re making public soon.
Scooped by a Source
Scooped by a Source. “‘I think you’re assuming that there is any value left in the scoop,’ wrote Jeff Jarvis, blogger and citizen journalism advocate, in an email. ‘There isn’t. You can’t control the biorhythms of news anymore. The world doesn’t much care who reported what first. Bylines matter to writers, not readers.'”
Web Scaling Books
I’ve read two really good books on scaling large-scale web applications lately: Building Scalable Websites by Cal Henderson and Scalable Internet Architectures by Theo Schlossnagle. (Original titles, eh?) Both dispel common myths and misconceptions about scaling. While neither maps directly to the approaches we’re taking at Automattic, they’re both must-read for developers approaching or past the million/day pageview mark. I only wish I had more time to discuss my thoughts on the various concepts in the books—particularly Cal’s.