Joseph Rosensteel has an outsider but savvy perspective on the updates and technology around Apple TV. Definitely a worthwhile read. I’ve experienced a lot of this frustration myself — I have a large library of things bought through iTunes, I like the interface of the Apple TV (though I liked the old one a little better), and Airplay is handy, so I want to love the Apple TV. The market is so bad right now that most review sites like Wirecutter recommend Roku, which for me came with a branded remote button for a service that is out of business (Rdio) and has an interface that feels DOS-like.
Apple HDCP
New bbPress
TB Quickmove
James Lee sent me a link to TB Quickmove, an extension for Firefox Thunderbird which lets you move messages into folders with hotkeys, which is what I really really needed. I only wish I could map regular letters.
Art Direction Plugin
WordPress “Art Direction” Plugin, from Automattician Noel Jackson. Basically allows you to do what Jason Santa Maria does for his blog without all the custom code and template hacking, just a simple plugin.
The app that changed my life is Simplenote, linked to Notational Velocity. I have Simplenote on my phone and Notational Velocity on my computer, and I’m obsessed with to-do lists and lists about my to-do lists. It allows me to have my lists on my phone and my lists on my computer, and they sync… if you are a list freak, with lists of lists, it will change your life.
— Lena Dunham
From a talk with Kara Swisher on Re/code. Listen to the whole podcast, Simplenote comes up at the 48-minute mark. Hat tip: Toni Schneider.
What If
What if there was a gathering of the leaders, speakers, visionaries, teachers, mentors, and founders of the web? What if there was non-stop, extensive discussion of the pressing issues of web development and practice? What if this meeting of peers had the nicest people you will ever meet, every one of them so friendly and accessible that it makes you appreciate humankind? What if you were given the opportunity to meet with the very people who shaped your education and development in your most formative years? What if this magical event ended too soon?
I wanted to say goodbye, at least for now, to all of the wonderful people I met at South by Southwest Interactive this year. I feel really privileged.
Update: Doug Bowman has some similar thoughts.
WordCamp Milan Photos
Day two in Milano; WordCamp Italy.
Alexia Tsotsis writes on how Technology Is The New Smoking.
For small business owners, WordPress is a well-trusted company, Yelp is a brand in trouble, and Facebook is on a downward path. Those are some of the findings out today from a survey of 6,000 small business owners from the second half of 2015 conducted by Alignable.
You can see the whole thing here. WordPress came in with a NPS of 73, Shopify at 29, Godaddy at 26, Squarespace at 11, Wix at -7, Weebly at -13, Web.com at -61, and Yelp at -66. Here’s how a Net Promoter Score works.
Live from WordCamp
It's a bright and early morning here in San Francisco, I'm at the Swedish American hall for WordCamp 2006. The first of our brilliant volunteers are here and the wifi is strong. Life is good. See you guys on the other side of this crazy event.
Doors in Barcelona
As I walked around Barcelona after everything was closed, I was really taken with the graffiti on the roll-down doors. Here’s a gallery of a few snaps.
Mike Hearn has a great and thought-provoking post on why he thinks Bitcoin is at a developer-caused impasse, and he’s ending his participation. I ended up selling most of my Bitcoin last year, but if I hadn’t this would definitely make me reconsider.
Stop Spam Better
Got enough testers for now. Thanks! I’m looking for a few people who do (or used to) get a lot of comment spam who are willing to turn off all of their other spam prevention methods and try a new plugin I’m testing out. Drop me a note on my contact page with details about your blog and how much spam you get. I’ve been dogfooding it for the past few weeks and it’s been working great.
BarCampTexas
I’m going to be in Austin this weekend for BarCampTexas. I’ll bring lots of WordPress stickers, so find me if you want one. Anyone else going to be in Austin?
WP in Jakarta
My Dad is in Jakarta and has signed up for the WordPress Meetup there. The world is so small.
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!
On Stage and Flickr SxSW
A photo of me during the Blog Showdown presentation, Hat tip: Joe Clark. I’ve had a couple of people ask how best to tag me in a photo, I’ve seen some use “mullenweg” or “matt” or “mattmullenweg” but the best bet (and the one I watch) is “photomatt“. (Also, my happiest moment ever.)
Gmail Invites
Gmail invites. The only thing I get on my Gmail account (mmmmmm@gmail.com) are people begging for invites, which has gotten very old very fast. It’s almost as bad as the people who stumble across my old Orkut entry and feel it’s my duty to invite them. I’ve given out one account so far, and it was to Simon.
Open Proxy Checker
Check if comments come from an open proxy, an excellent way to stop the recent spam attacks some have been experiencing.