Just a quick reminder, I’m going to be in Austin at SxSW next week and if you see me please introduce yourself. I’ll have a stash of WordPress stickers at all times. š There is also shaping up to be a little meetup on Saturday at Barcamp around 6, so block that out. Finally I’m speaking on Monday.
Number 16
PC World did an article on “The 50 Most Important People on the Web” and I came in at #16 and the youngest on the list. Thanks to everyone who emailed and wrote, it was a very pleasant way to wake up this morning.
Blank Slate
Daring Fireball: Blank Slate talks about basing your work off a template vs. starting from scratch. I think both can be valid, there are enough (over 1000) WP templates out there that finding one that’s close enough to what you want and customizing from there can be a great way to bootstrap and get started quickly. But longer term, invest in design. (This reminded me I have a long todo list for this site to catch up with.)
71Miles on WP Framework
71Miles is a cool new travel site with a twist PM readers will find interesting — it’s built with WordPress. How? Adam Rugel writes “The nuts and bolts of our site is WordPress, it’s our foundation and content management system. We extended it to manage our content feeds: Google Calendar XML for the events calendar, map, and mobile product and Kayak’s brand new hotel API for the hotel deals. We tricked out the custom fields in WP to do a lot the work for us, and we’ve got the categories set up so that we can scale to roll out dozens of editions (NYC, LA, Chicago…). At any rate we’re loving the platform…” Definitely one of the coolest uses of the WordPress framework I’ve seen in a while.
One Man Star Wars
Last night I saw the One Man Star Wars Trilogy performed by Charles Ross. The Force is strong with this one. Last night I was there as “press,” but I had independently bought tickets for Thursday night and I’m thinking about going again, it was pretty entertaining. Afterward I was able to interview Charles for a few minutes, and Glenda has uploaded a video of the interview to Youtube. (Warning: Low light.)
Podcast 8
Podcast #8, which I mistakenly call #7, includes comments on podcasting, wallets, chipping, McDonalds, and Microsoft Office 2007. Hopefully this one shouldn’t sound all chipmunk in flash players. 3:30.
USPS and Speaker.gov
Jim Amos just wrote in that Campbell-Ewald launched a new WordPress-powered site for the US Postal Service, called Deliver Magazine. Congrats to Jim and Naoko McCracken! Ryan noticed the other day that Nancy Pelosi has a WordPress blog at Speaker.gov called The Gavel. Cool domain name, and good to see WP being used in the political realm, especially since none of the Presidential candidates for 2008 are using WP (yet). If you come across or instigate WordPress being used someplace cool, be sure to write in.
MooPress
Jeremy Keith just pinged me via IM that Moo.com, the cool printing guys, use WP to power their entire site.
In Sacramento
I’m heading to Sacramento tomorrow for the SacStarts dinner and also to meet Joseph Scott, who’s been contributing some neat code to WP.
Nearthwort Interview
I was interviewed on the Nearthwort podcast, which bills itself as sthe “multi-dimensional adventurer’s handbook.” It definitely has a different flavor.
Automattic is Hiring
Automattic is now accepting applications for two positions, one development and the other systems. For me it’s a dream job because I get to work with the smartest group of people I’ve ever met. Who knows — it might be a good fit for a photomatt.net reader.
WordPress Rap
The fellow who did the WordPress song video has now done a rap song for version 2.1. š
XFS vs ZFS
Kevin Burton looks at XFS vs ZFS, and feels XFS is a better choice.
Math for the Masses
Math for the Masses, WordPress.com now support Latex formatting. Happy Friday!
IdeaExchange
Salesforce’s IdeaExchange, Yahoo! Suggestions, Feedlounge & WordPress Ideas – What Do They Have in Common? A neat look at different people’s takes on the suggestions part of user feedback. I like seeing how other people approach a similar problem, especially if they’re older than us, because there’s always something to learn.
Podcast: John Roberts of OpenDNS
I had lunch with John Roberts of OpenDNS today, and we chatted a bit about OpenDNS and what surprised him about the business. 4:26.
Buzz TV
Technorati Buzz TV yesterday: “Before Jesus was a carpenter he was a… gay escort?” No blog reactions at the time of this post. Has Technorati gone tasteless, or are you going to subscribe to the videocast and use Technorati more now? I’m curious about your thoughts.
Podcast: Glenda Bautista
Valentine podcast #6, with the inimitable Glenda Bautista, discusses Fall in New York City. 2:05. Bonus music: Autumn in New York sung by Billie Holiday.
Podcast: Pageflakes
Podcast #5 with Ole Brandenburg of Pageflakes is up, we talk about the importance of personal start pages. 3:14.
Small Handheld Recorder
I’ve gotten some great recommendations for podcasting equipment for when I’m at home, but because I spend so little time at home that’s not practical for 95% of the time when I’d want to be podcasting. Once I was interviewed by NPR and the lady had this awesome pocket thing with a fuzzy mic on the end, the sound quality was great on it. Does anyone have recommendation for something I could carry in my pocket that sounds better than what I use now?