Lost’s Matthew Fox (Jack) and the greatest band in the entire galaxy – Tenacious D – will be double-teaming SNL on December 2. Too awesome.
Year: 2006
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AIM 6.0 Beta
The newest version of AOL’s instant messaging app is out. But, to be honest with you – I’m not that thrilled. Ever since Lighter AIM came out, I haven’t looked back.
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FeedDemon 2.1 Released
I’ve been using FeedDemon for Windows for a while now, and was very pleased to find out a new version was released today. You can read more about the changes in FeedDemon 2.1 here. I especially like the new ‘Blue Vista’ style that’s included.
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The Good Fight
The war against comment spam is an uphill battle. WordPress users have a number of tools at their disposal that help with combat it. Based on Lorelle’s declaration of war on spam, I’ve decided to take the same steps here on my site.
Comments are no longer moderated. And you don’t have to be a registered user. If it’s a legitimate comment, it gets posted right away. If it’s spam, one of three tools are going to get medieval on your buttocks: Akismet, Bad Behavior and Spam Karma 2.
So far, since going forward with this test last week, I’ve had zero false positives. I don’t know how long this system will remain this rock solid… but I’ve got high hopes for it.
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Jaded.
To think, just five years ago, I was actively engaged in the Augusta State University Political Science Club. We helped over a hundred students on campus register to vote during one voter registration drive. We held a mock election for the 2000 Presidential race… I was entrenched in politics. I loved politics.
Now, I can’t stand it.
I’m tired of all the hate ads. I’m tired of candidates criticizing their candidates without offering anything substantive. I don’t care that “so-and-so bought this land” and “so-and-so is a big, fat liar”. What are YOU going to do to help my country? What are YOU going to do to help my state? What are YOU going to do to help my county? What’s that? No answer? I’m voting your stupid, ignorant, complacent rear off the island!
For too long we’ve lived with a two-party system. For too long have Democrats and Republicans been in control. They’ve grown complacent. They’ve shifted far too much towards the center. So much so, that the parties are indistinguishable from one another. Today is our opportunity to make a difference.
I’m voting Libertarian today. I know, I know, some races are too close to call, and you feel like if you vote for a candidate that’s not a Dem or Rep you’re throwing away your vote – but you couldn’t be more wrong. A vote against the establishment is a vote for real change. The more support Libertarians get in this election and the one’s that follow, the more the power structure in our government will change.
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New Audacity Released
The Audacity developers have been busy with many new features over the past year. We’re pleased to announce Audacity 1.3.2 (beta), which contains dozens of new features and capabilities. Because it is a work in progress and does not yet come with complete documentation or translations into foreign languages, it is recommended for more advanced users. For all users, Audacity 1.2.5 is a minor bug-fix update that addresses some problems with Audacity 1.2.4, but does not add any significant new features. It is complete and fully documented. You can have both Audacity 1.2.5 and 1.3.2 installed simultaneously. Also, we have just made available a set of 92 LADSPA plug-ins for Windows (for both Audacity 1.2.x and 1.3.x).
Audacity is a great, open-source audio editing application that is perfect for creating netcasts.
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Happy Halloween
It’s my job to hand out candy tonight, while Kim brings Tyler over to see her family. I volunteered to be on candy duty. So, here I am sitting on my front porch, laptop in hand, seasonal music playing… and I’m waiting. We’ve had a few children come by, but not many at all. I blame the poor turn-out thusfar on a couple of things…
- We’re a new section of the neighborhood. Many people might not know where we live.
- Our street is poorly lit.
- It’s still early.
Perhaps I am over-reacting a bit, who knows?
Regardless… Halloween used to be one of my favorite holidays. This was partly due to my dad’s extreme dislike of it. Growing up in the Bronx, he had heard more than enough horror stories about sicko’s giving kids needles, bad candy, and the like. So his distrust of Halloween was understandable – at least now, anyways. As a kid I didn’t understand that he was just trying to protect me and my brothers.
The times I went trick-or-treating were great though… I remember when I was around 10 or 11 and me and my friend Tory Richardson went around the neighborhood we lived in in Karlsruhe, Germany and amassed an amazing amount of candy. We went from door to door like mad men. I swear we both filled up around three pillow cases each filled to the brim with candy. Man, I miss those days.
Nowadays, kids can’t really go off and do that sort of thing. You never know who is out there, or what ulterior motives they might have. I worry for the day when Tyler asks to go off on his own and Kim and I will have to make a decision regarding whether we’ll let him or not.
I know that day will come soon enough. Until then, I’ll be happy to just hang out here, on my front porch, passing out candy.
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WordPress 2.0.5 Ronan Released
The newest release of WordPress was released a little while ago. Being the upgrade junkie that I am, I went ahead and applied the latest updates. So far, so good.
You can read more on the release here: WordPress Development Blog: WordPress 2.0.5 Ronan
I have not experienced any conflicts with any of the plugins I have installed.
One step closer to 2.1… Can’t wait to see some of the new UI work by Bryan Veloso.
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Internet Explorer 7
I bit the bullet and loaded IE7 on my laptop this morning. I figure that I have avoided it long enough. I’m not certain that I will load it on my production machine here at the office… but I have a feeling that I will be making that change sooner rather than later. If you’re interested in picking it up, head on over to Microsoft’s IE page to update your computer
What’s IE7 mean for us at PowerServe? Hopefully not much… IE7 won’t be pushed out via Automatic Update until November 1st. Between now and then, we’ll be checking sites out in the new browser and make sure nothing breaks. Already this morning we’ve been through dozens of client sites making sure that nothing goofy happens to the layouts, that scripting still works, etc. And, as luck would have it, nothings been broken (yet).
What’s IE7 mean for our customers? A better more consistent internet browsing experience. The technology built into IE6 was buggy and problematic. Sites rendered properly, but didn’t adhere to standards that well. This meant extra work for our developers in trying to create a site that worked in multiple browsers because code that worked well in most browsers didn’t render well in IE. IE7 should solve this…
IE7 will also bring RSS feeds to the masses. What’s an RSS feed? It stands for Really Simple Syndication. Think of all the time you spend visiting your favorite websites checking for updates. If those sites offered an RSS feed (like our blog does!) you wouldn’t have to visit the site to know if new content was added. Using an RSS reader (like the one built into IE7) you’ll get notified when sites you frequent are updated. It’s not a new technology… but it’ll be new to a lot of people who’ve never even heard of them before.
IE7 also has a number of security improvements, including a Phishing Filter. The Phishing Filter checks sites to see if they match fraudelent websites. Ever get an email that looks like it was from eBay, PayPal, or a Bank asking you login to their site and update your personal information? Chances are that email was a scammer trying to get your personal information – social security number, credit card number(s), bank account info, etc. IE7 will (hopefully) protect you from these malicious activities by warning you when you visit a site that is not to be trusted.
I could go on, but I’ll save you the trouble. If you’d like to learn more about the browser, and download a copy for yourself, head on over to the Windows Internet Explorer 7 website for more info.
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Tinkering
I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago (or has it been longer?), but I’ve been tinkering with some new design directions for a while now. I’ve put some basic changes in places for now… but more will be on the way.
One of the areas where I’ve been trying to pay close attention to is the custom options available to templates in WordPress. There are lots of customization possibilities available… and I have started to explore alternate formats for Single Entries, Pages, and more.
It’s been several months since I migrated the site to WordPress from Blogger, and I haven’t looked back. As a matter of fact, I’ve started recommending the software to clients… One installation we recently launched is a new site for First Baptist Church of Augusta. It’s an evolving project, which is why I hadn’t formally announced its launch until now… but the site has been live for over a month now. WordPress’ flexibility and extensibility make it an ideal platform for blogging or as a CMS…
Anyway… that’s all for now. Move along now, there’s nothing to see here. ;)