So, I was checking my mail today and a mysterious package arrived from Amazon. Now, it could have been anything but to my complete shock and awe, it was from Mike Potter at Adobe. Here are some blurry photos from my phone:
I had added the cookbook to my Amazon wish list shortly after Flex 3 was released, as I wanted to dive in and learn everything I could about the newest version of Flex. I really appreciate the gift, and to all of the Adobe team, thank you. You guys have delivered a great product, and you really know how to reach out and touch the community.
If anyone wants a brightkite invite, just let me know. I have 3 left, so the first 3 to comment will get the invites.
The MyBlogLog WordPress plugin is receiving a very belated face lift and a few bug fixes (thanks to those who reported them). Now, as a disclaimer, this code is relatively untested and was dug out of a very old archive from my days at cloudspace (the company who initially partnered to create MyBlogLog), so use it at your own risk. If you find any bugs, just drop me an email using the contact form and I will try to help in any way I can. This release has been activated on at least 2 WordPress 2.3.3 installs, so yes, it works with 2.3.3!
Check the project page to download the latest plugin file.
Oh, and still no readme.txt. 
Well, it’s been over a year since I released my Wordpress MyBlogLog plugin, and I’m still getting emails about it. Honestly, I’m very surprised that this thing still works. If you’re using the plugin now, or want to, let me know! I think it is time for a big code overhaul, and perhaps some new features but there is no sense in developing this plugin if there’s no demand. If you’ve got an idea, post it up and I’ll do my best to get it out there in the wild with the next release. I did notice the guys over at MyBlogLog have been hard at work improving the JavaScript and their own feature set as well which means I should probably update the plugin pretty soon. Also, I am aware of the missing readme file! Please, I know about it, and I’ve posted about it. I promise, next release, you all will get an extensive readme!
Anyways, it amazes me how far MyBlogLog has come since the day I registered and alpha tested it. Really, you have no idea how simple the idea was at the time. Todd, Eric, Steve, John and the rest of the crew over there at Cloudspace and Yahoo, my hats off to you guys.
Well, its been awhile since I’ve had a chance to post. A lot has been happening with my work and college. All leading up to the probably graduation in May 2007, so I’ve been unable to post as often as I would have liked.
So what’s been going on? Well let’s see…
- The web speculates that MyBlogLog is in acquisition talks…
- Apple updated, well, everything in their line yet again
- I have left my position with FuJ Tech, and will continue to work on freelance projects
- I recently learned that MediaTemple’s Grid service is actually not a grid. So much for that idea.
- Sony’s PS3 has about as many issues as the Xbox360 had at launch, but with almost double the initial pricetag
- The Nintendo Wii is selling like crazy, as predicted, and I for one will be buying one once I raise some funds.
- Windows Vista is practically out, and Acer is saying not to bother with the ‘Basic’ version.
Did I miss anything? Oh well, check the Digg section or my ma.gnolia for daily link updates and news stories.
Well, most gadget aficionados, myself included, are awaiting the release of many new products in the coming months. From the newest product from Nintendo, the Wii, to the Sony Mylo, and Microsoft’s Zune there are a myriad of new toys to be had. The target market for most of these devices lands smack in the middle between highschool kids, and college students. Call it a coincidence, or just fate, but this happens to be the same target audience which MySpace has succumbed to. The horribly crafted pages of MySpace.com lend themselves to the artsy hands of anyone with a small amount of knowledge of the web. By making the web this easy to influence, MySpace has created what some call a cult of personality much like Apple did with the iPod, but without the Jobs. The independent souls of MySpace can go from zero to hero in a matter of keystrokes. Digg helps nicely with this effect.
More on the history, and philosophy after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Zune, iPod and MySpace: A Short Study’
I just had to cross post this. If for no other reason than to show off, gloat, or otherwise inflate my ego. That or just to prove how incredibly crazy the web really is. Small world, huh?
MyBlogLog Fun Friday Stats
I saw this amazing link on Digg today and thought I needed to make my stance on MySpace heard. MySpace.com is quite honestly the most rebellious and anarchistic social networking site I have ever seen. Users can pretty much do whatever they want to their profile, post what they want, and befriend who they want. All in all, this sounds like a wonderful Utopia of social goodness and web based interaction. The problem with all this freedom is that at some point that animated GIF background, your flash based video and music player (which autostarts no doubt) will make your content illegible and probably annoy any potential viewer. On top of the usual suspects, there is illiteracy. The article actually graphs the millions of grammatical and spelling errors that MySpace is chock full of and I must say, it is very, very scary.
Anyways, enough ranting. Enjoy the link.
Updated - February 20th, 2008
There is no readme file for my plugin, and for that I apologize. If you need further instructions, just drop me an email and I’ll do my best to lend a hand. Though, this plugin is quite out of date and I would heartily recommend using the sidebar widgets HTML plugin instead, as it does much of the same thing and is included with the new Wordpress distribution.
A few months ago the company I work for (cloudspace) built an awesome link tracking system called MyBlogLog. Ever since, I’ve been trying to use it with Wordpress. After upgrading to Wordpress 2.0, I decided it was time to integrate MyBlogLog into Wordpress without opening the template code. I spent about an hour or two learning the Wordpress plugin API and came up with the MyBlogLog Wordpress plugin. At the moment, it only integrates the actual link tracking code and the Top 5 Links script. The plugin allows you to enable or disable the Top 5 Links script and set its colors. The plugin hooks the main tracking script in just before the content of the site and the Top 5 Links code is inserted just after the Meta section of your template. As far as I know, there are no template specific issues thus far and everything should be working. I wrote this plugin for myself, but I figured others might find it useful as well so I am going ahead and releasing the plugin here.
Continue reading ‘MyBlogLog Wordpress 2.0 Plugin’
For some reason every Web 2.0 application I have ever used, and pretty much every web application period (that I’ve used) fails me on this one stickler that I have. Let me update my data in bulk. Spending hours tagging photos, bookmarks, and the like is not what I think of as convienient, ‘cool’, or fun. If I wanted to do that, I’d use paper and scribble every URL on a post-it note and throw it in a hat for tag-soup. Really, why add AJAX if I can’t add the same tag to many different items at once without going to another page? Why have a really nice fading modal box for deletion if it still refreshes the page (ma.gnolia)?
A lot of these applications are very sweet, money making ideas but frankly, until I can do everything with ease… I won’t use the application nearly as much. When I can right click a link in the browser, tag it, and send it on its way I will be a little happier. When I can tag a ton of items at once, and add/edit/delete them on the fly, I will be willing to pay for the service. Unless of course it costs more than a candybar a week, cause then I just can’t justify it… I’ll build it myself.
Just kidding, sometimes.
