Dave Kellam just wrote in about The Carpetbagger, a new WordPress-powered blog from the New York Times. It’s currently linked to from the front page of nytimes.com. This is the last one I blog for a while, I promise!
Tired/Wired
Tired: Being hired by Yahoo. Wired: Being bought by Yahoo.
WP2 Thoughts
WordPress 2.0 “Duke” is available! Like 1.5 when it first came out I expect it will take a few months before the full implications of this release are realized. There are some surface changes (see 5 little things I like about WP 2.0) that still need some polish in places, but I think the underlying architectual changes are really rock solid. Interface changes are easy to iterate on in future versions. WordPress.org also has a rocking new design from Matt Thomas, and there will be some more action there in the coming months.
Northen Voices
I’ll be speaking at the Northern Voices conference in a few months. Will be my first time in Canada.
Microsoft CodeCamp
I’m still in Vienna, but this Saturday morning I’ll be at Silicon Valley CodeCamp speaking on How to say no. My Mom would be so proud. Extra: my keynote from Blogtalk is online at Google video. You may or may not be able to tell, but I was fighting keeping my eyes open (it was 5 AM for me). Next time I speak overseas I’m going to factor in an extra day ahead of time to adjust my sleep fully.
New York City Meetup
So I’ll be in New York City (for the first time) from June 18th through the 22nd for the Collaborative Technologies Conference. The trip looks like it’s going to be really busy, but if there’s enough interest I’d love to do a WordPress meetup on Saturday or Sunday. Leave a comment if you’re in the New York area and would be interested in getting together.
New York and Durham (Houston?)
Two reminders for upcoming appearances: This Saturday I’ll be presenting a 24-hour art collaboration with Evan Roth at Seven on Seven at the New Museum. On Monday I’ll be in Durham, North Carolina to speak at Duke University. If you’re interested in the latter, leave a comment and I’ll make sure you get the details. We don’t have a ton of room but I’d like ma.tt readers to be able to attend. After that I’ll be in Houston briefly if anyone wants to do a meetup.
Z-Type is a game that helps you practice typing. Fantastic to play when you’re switching to Dvorak. Hat tip: Lloyd.
WordCamp Shanghai
WordCamp Shanghai at Fudan University.
Health.com Switches
Health.com switches from Typepad to WordPress and adds two main WP-powered sections to their site. Check out their new site, great design too.
Groupon WP
Groupon has been in the news lately as a rumored 6 billion dollar acquisition target, and of course their blog is powered by WordPress. On that fact alone I’d say, go for it Google!
WordPress Japan has decided their official character nameSkiing in Deer Valley
I went skiing for the first time in Deer Valley. Includes a video of the one time Barry fell, but not the 15 times I fell.
Bad ALT
J.K.Rowling’s Site
Compare the flash and text-only versions of J.K.Rowling’s Official Site. Separate but equal, right? Hat tip: Jakob.
The Memos
Memos from 1972 made in Microsoft Word, incredible. The superscript feature always bugged me too.
It Is Time
The live redesign has started. There will be constant and possibly dramatic changes to this site’s structure, layout, and design until it is done. Check back often and feel free to comment at any stage of the process.
Planned Anarchy
No street signs. No crosswalks. No accidents. A fantastic Wired article about how removing the artificial safety nets we set up for ourself actually makes us safer. The illusion of safety is a very dangerous thing. This is totally applicable to software design too. If you put up a big notice saying “Don’t do this” people won’t read it, you have to design the interaction to encourage people in the right direction.
Comment Spam Kills Sites
The Daily Whim asserts that MT Plus Comment Spam Equals Dead Site. Pretty scary stuff.
We have a great Simplenote for Mac client, and a super clean web version, but nothing first-party for Linux. If anyone is experienced with Linux desktop development and would be interested in creating something extremely minimalist like our Mac app please get in touch!