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.
WP in Jakarta
My Dad is in Jakarta and has signed up for the WordPress Meetup there. The world is so small.
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?
Apple HDCP
Future of Reading
10 media and tech luminaries on the future of reading, I’m number 10. Also includes Jimmy Wales, Marc Andreessen, Jeff Jarvis, and Kevin Rose.
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!
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.
Open Proxy Checker
Check if comments come from an open proxy, an excellent way to stop the recent spam attacks some have been experiencing.
Good Morning Vienna
I’m in Vienna through Thursday for the Blogtalk Reloaded conference. If you’re a WordPress user please come up and introduce yourself, I have stickers. 🙂
Spambot Stopper
I’ve been testing out a spam plugin that has been very effective. You can get Spambot Stopper on the WordPress support forums. It’s very simple, for more advanced protection check out the Combat Comment Spam page on the Codex.
House and Baby
Some snaps around my apartment with Lea, Hege, and her beautiful new baby.
The economic uncertainty surrounding basic income is huge, and the politics of bringing such a program about on a large scale are daunting. But something makes this radical proposal so exciting that people and governments are increasingly willing to try it. Basic income challenges our notions of the social safety net, the relationship between work and income, and how to adapt to technological change. That makes it one of the most audacious social policy experiments in modern history. It could fail disastrously, or it could change everything for the better.
From FiveThirtyEight, What Would Happen If We Just Gave People Money?
Boxely
Boxely is live, it’s like XUL but simpler and easier.
WordCamp Roundups
I’m still recovering from the conference this weekend. It was really amazing in both the people who attended and the quality of the presentations. Anyone have a good roundup post or liveblog any sessions? Leave it in the comments. The session pages are picking up pingbacks but seem to be missing some good stuff.
WordCamp Milan Photos
Day two in Milano; WordCamp Italy.
Plinky
Overcome Writer’s Block With Plinky Prompts — Automattic has bought Plinky and is promoting it from WordPress.com. See also: Thing Labs (makers of Plinky and Brizzly), TechCrunch, The Next Web.
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.
On Podcasting
More love from Apple.com: “IMHO WordPress is the best single user blogging system available (did I mention its free?) […] I came accross this really simple tutorial on how to use WordPress as a podcasting engine … take a look at it. What is so amazing is how easy it really is! Before you know it, you’ll have thousands of listeners, be listed in the iTunes 4.9 Podcasting Directory, and be a media darling.” We’re turning the media darling thing into a plugin in 1.6. Hat tip: Pete Quily.
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.)
Greek Blogger Camp
Day 2 in Greece, on Ios island at the Greek Blogger Conference 2008.