I’m using this nifty plugin from Scott Yang which was pointed out to me by Alistair. It’s actually replacing a bit of code and mod_rewrite rules I had to do the same thing, I wish I had thought of this sooner. I could see something like this making it into the core.
Watch Pando Interview
The PandoMonthly interview from last week is now on Youtube, check it out when you get a chance:
One Million Spam Blocked
Interview with Anil
Two weeks ago I blogged about a radically simpler WordPress, a topic first broached with Anil Dash at the PaidContent conference. The full video from that conversation is now online and only about 20 minutes:
MSN Search Standards
Sam Waudby writes in that the new MSN is (almost) standards compliant. That is really nice. There is one or two silly things, but I think it’s significant that 99.9% of the page including the advertising is XHTML 1.0 Strict. I’m going to point to that the next time someone whines about an ad system messing up their validation. “If Microsoft can do it…”
PubSubHubBub
WP.com is now Pubsubhubbub-enabled, and the code we used to do that is now available as a plugin as well. It took me 30 seconds to add to this blog using the dashboard “add plugin” functionality and searching for “pushpress.” I love it when we’re able to do these simultaneous releases, it falls in line well with WP.com’s goal of all its useful code being available to everyone, for example the custom CSS release.
IntenseDebate auto-login
WordPress.com User Accounts now auto-login to IntenseDebate blogs no matter where they’re hosted, any website in the world. Connect services like Facebook’s and Twitter’s always require at the very least a click or two, and in worst case can be a full login and several bounces to the origin site, which increases the friction of commenting and can actually decrease the number of comments you get. (Oh noes!) This is much smoother, and faster. Previously this was only available if you actually hosted on WP.com, now it’s for any website, anywhere.
Happy Birthday Om!
Today the legendary Om Malik celebrates his 50th time around the sun. For many that know him, Om defies definition: He’s first a writer, and finally always a true friend, but in between he’s an investor, photographer, oenophile, closet Bollywood fan, critical thinker, and sartorialist. He’s also been my friend and confidant for over a decade now, and I cannot wait to see what his next 50 years bring for him and the world.
Here’s some snaps of Om over the years, from 2008 to just a few weeks ago when he was blonde for a few days. Happy birthday, buddy. 😀
More Blue Skies
It’s been a gorgeous day today, highlighted by a mini-picnic with Heather, Richard, Tantek, and [forgot name] in Yerba Buena park for lunch. I’ll leave you this Friday with Ella’s version of “Blue Skies”. For extra credit compare it with Robert Glasper’s rendition.
WordPress Skills
WordPress + Education
There’s a new mailing list for discussion of WordPress and education. If you’re passionate about these subjects be sure to join the conversation.
The Verge has a pretty epic feature on the history of Palm, Treo, and WebOS. Not many people know this but I started and ran the Houston Palm Users Group after getting a Handspring Visor in high school. PalmOS had apps, connectivity, handwriting input, infrared beaming…
Microsoft iPod
What if Microsoft designed the iPod package? Great video and music. I’ll have to watch this again next time I’m working on a new website, less is more. Hat tip: sillybean.
Biting
When did it get so cold??? I am cold to the point of desperation there. Now I know, some of you native (or born-again) Notherners are reading and thinking “42 degrees? Ha! That’s jogging weather!” and you are probably right. But how should I get warm? I’m not conditioned to deal with this.
Aix-en-Provence
Touring around Aix-en-Provence
Rob Paterson writes Why do corporation die so soon and cities don’t? Corporations are Machines and Cities are Networks. Along the way he brings it back to WordPress and the Wikipedia.
New Mac Mini
I’ve been looking to get the two noisy linux boxes under my desk into a closet somewhere, because they’re so loud. One is a very very old PII or something running Gentoo that I had to put by the window and open because one of the fans was breaking down and the box was overheating, which caused it to make an alarm-like sound for hours at a time. AHEM. The second box is a fairly new Dell but it’s a server-class machine with TB+ of storage and it sounds like a plane taking off sometimes. The Dell is running Ubuntu, and also using the third screen on my desktop full-time. Having Linux right there (and on the same mouse/keyboard thanks to Synergy) is incredibly helpful for debugging and testing things, plus I could run X-chat full-time. When the new Mac minis came out they caught my eye — something not as dog-slow as my Powerbook, with a proper monitor and keyboard/mouse, could really be a great OS X experience and I’d still have all the command-line goodness at my fingertips. I ordered the maxed-out one online (they didn’t have any in stock at the SF store) and it arrived. So far so good! Almost as fast as my PC (AMD FX55 + 4GB).
Security Advice
Security advice from Bruce Schnier:
“If possible, don’t use Microsoft Windows.” There are some other good tips there too, like microwaving CD-Rs and deleting cmd.exe.
Fewer Bugs in Open Source
Research proves what open source folks have been saying all along: “An analysis of the 5.7 million lines of Linux source code shows that it contains fewer bugs per thousand lines of code than commercial counterparts.”