Thankyou to everyone who’s been sumbling my site

Bookmark to:

Now blocking filesharing is nothing new, most ISPs throttle the ports which software like BitTorrent uses simply because the infrastructure can’t handle the volume of traffic which filesharing generates, but Virgin blocking Skype is alot more sinister and smacks of anti-competitive behaviour. Added to this the fact that an unwanted side effect of these practices is that online games also get blocked (currently EVE, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Call of Duty 4, and World of Warcraft on Tiscali and Virgin) and you’ve got a situation which will see alot of unhappy internet users.

Skype is a VoIP service which allows users to make phone calls through their computer at a fraction of the cost of using the phone. Virgin obviously feels that this is cutting into their profits as they offer a phone service as well as cable TV and broadband. Basically Virgin would rather you paid to use their phone line to talk to your mates than spoke to them for free (If they’ve got Skype) or paid Skype (If you’re calling a normal phone line). Virgin have decided that they can’t beat Skype in a fair fight and so have done the equivalent of kneecapping the other competitor.

Now I’m the last person to be saying that the government should get involved in what is basically a business arrangement between the ISPs and their customers but we keep being told that the government wants everyone online (their motives for this aside), if this is the case then they need to give the ISPs a slap and make sure that internet access is available for all to use as they want. I’m of the opinion that unless its kiddie porn or some other unsavoury nastiness, then its none of the ISPs business what I use my internet connection for.

I’ll be updating this post with links to relevant info as I get it (I’ve got my trusty researcher on the case as we speak, collating information and such.) Though if you guys have any useful links feel free to post them in the comments.

Keep the Net Free (not as in beer, that would be unreasonable)

Out

Bookmark to:

From The Blog Herald:

New Features in WordPress 2.5 I’ve been alerting you to many new features in WordPress 2.5 like the new Media Library, automatic upgrades and improved tag features, and here are some more goodies to look forward to with next week’s release:

• Search Improved: The long requested improvements to the WordPress built-in search functions have been implemented and search now includes Pages as well as posts. Those using Plugins or search add-ons might want to try it out and compare which does the best job for your search efforts, though some search Plugins might not work with the new improvements.
• Avatars Built-in: Ryan Boren makes it official, avatars using the Gravatar Plugin is now incorporated into WordPress. Weblog Tools Collection wrote up the information on the new get_avatar() function to help WordPress Theme developers update their Themes and those who want to write Plugins based on the new avatar function.
• Upload More Than One Image: The new Media Library will finally return back to pre-WordPress 1.5 days with multiple file uploading (the crows goes wild!).
• New Image Size Options: With the addition of a “medium” size, WordPress bloggers will now have thumbnail, medial, and full size options to resize their images on the go.
• WordPress Plugins Installer: Developers are working overtime to add an easy to use Plugin Installer, which should also include alerts and announcements of updates or advisories about the Plugin on the WordPress Administration Panels.
• Improved Embedding and Searching: WordPress 2.5 offers improved embedding without the need for Plugins to handle images, audio, video, and more from various off-site services and self-hosted. The Media Library also will feature searching, so you don’t have to flip through the numerous pages and pages of thumbnails to find the image you want to reuse.
• No More ALIGN: WordPress Theme designers are required now to include CSS classes to accommodate the new alignment options for images and video: align-left, align-right, and align-center. They also need to include padding around image and video files so the text doesn’t squish against them, and users don’t come using to the Support Forums asking how to fix this.
• Don’t Touch! I’m Editing Here: A problem many multiple bloggers blogs have had with WordPress is the inability to tell when two people are working on the same post at the same time. They’ve just added a new feature that tests for “post edit collisions” and notifies you if someone is working on the same post as you are.
• Plugin and Theme Authors Get More Hooks: A serious attempt to totally “hook up” WordPress has been underway in the last few versions, with even more in this version. Adam Brown has put together WordPress Hooks Database in an attempt to track all of the new and deprecated hooks. If you are a WordPress Plugin or Theme author, it’s time to get up close and personal with WordPress Hooks.

Bookmark to:

(Note: clicking on the ‘read more’ link will lead you to what looks like a broken page, this is due to the embedded music player, everything still works as it should its just the layout thats screwy. Wordpress can’t handle the <object> and <embed> tags. If anyone has any suggestions for fixing this feel free to let me know in the comments)

Trent Reznor has finally left interzone, after describing them as ‘greedy assholes’ and encouraging fans to steal his music during his last tour. The Nine Inch nails have released part of their new instrumental album Ghosts I-IV for free through their website and for a nominal payment of $5 (US Dollars, which is £2.50 in my money) you can download the whole thing DRM free. The popularity of this move was demonstrated when the NIN website went down due to high traffic over the weekend.

Ghosts I-IV is also the first offering from a fairly big name I’ve seen to carry a creative commons license. Released under an Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license, you can basically do whatever you want with it as long as you credit the creator, don’t sell it and do it under the same license. This brings up some interesting possibilities, especially as you can order a version of the album which includes all the tracks in multi-track format encouraging remixes and sampling (its $75 though, or I would have ordered that one). I look forward to hearing some fan remixes in the future, let me know if you’re planning any and I’ll promote them here (if I deem them worthy of course :P)

This is indicative of a growing trend in the music industry as more artists become disillusioned with the traditional music industry and release their work online. With the recent controversy over the RIAA not passing on money made from suing those who copied music to the artists, whose interests they claim to be representing, I can only see this as being another nail in the coffin of a dying industry. The men in suits have lined their pockets for long enough and the artists are taking control.

Good on you Mr Reznor, I salute you.

Here is a selection of tracks from Ghosts to whet your appetite:

Bookmark to:

Entrecard is a social link-swapping service where you earn credits for clicking on the widget on others sites and use those credits to get your125×125 ad shown for a day on other peoples. You’ll notice the widget at the top of my sidebar there. Over the past week or so I’ve been using it daily, and the results have been quite something.

Previous to the 9th of February, I was averaging between 15-30 hits daily. From the 9th, when I started using an Entrecard dropping technique suggested at powerdropping.com, my hit rate has pretty much doubled. I’ve been getting more visits just from dropping my card on other people’s sites. I’ve had real spikes from buying ads with my Entrecard credits with a peak of 102 hits on the 22nd. My Entrecard ad price, the number of credits I recieve when someone buys an ad on my widget, is 5 times higher than when I started. Which means that I don’t have to drop as much.

The only problem with this technique is that it is quite laborious. First of all you have to bookmark the 300 sites suggested by powerdropping and organise them into batches (opening them all at once would take your browser hours). I’m not sure how other browsers do it but in Firefox you can open all the BMs in a folder in tabs at once, I’ve got 10 folders of 30 BM’s each. I open on folders worth of pages at a time and work my way through, dropping as I go. I’d love to be able to automate the process. Maybe with a greasemonkey script which clicks drop buttons automatically, though I don’t even know if that’s possible (or ethical). I’d also like to be able to automatically return drops on people who drop on me. Not being a coder I don’t even know where to start developing something like this.

In conclusion, if you want to build traffic, and keep it, use Entrecard. I’m no longer dropping on the 300 daily (I still drop on them every couple of days when I’ve got a spare 20 mins though) and have discovered a few blogs which I’d never have come across other wise. I’ve built traffic and expanded my intake, wins all round I reckon.

Bookmark to:

Its basically a link trading system, you ’sell’ space in your widget for EntreCard credits, which you can then use to ‘buy’ space on the widgets of others. Since signing up yesterday afternoon I’ve seen a phenomenal leap in traffic. This may simply be down to people checking my site out due to its appearance on EntreCard, so I’m not singing from the rooftops just yet, but if this signifies the start of a tren then I can see I’m going to have to start producing some content for this poor old site on a more regular basis.

So here’s my thinking, I challenge you to challenge me to write about something. I’ll pick one challenger per week (possibly more depending on how lazy I feel) and then I write about the subject given. The challenger will get a link and possibly other things aswell (If I can figure out what I can give away for free.)

When it comes to the subject matter of the challenges, anything goes really. This being a creative exercise on my part don’t be too surprised if I come out with a limerick, cartoon, stream of conciousness, or whatever. You only get to set the topic of the challenge, not the form the reply takes.

Click here to post a challenge.

Bookmark to:

This curiosity has led us to where we are now, in a world beset on all sides by crises of our own making (allegedly.)

The earth is heating up, this is undeniable, arguing about whether its our fault or not is not going to help us ride it out. Neither is listening to the luddite eco-warriors who tell us to do away with all our wasteful technology, gas guzzling vehicles and other wonders of the technological age. These people would have you living in mud huts, shitting in a hole in the ground and scrabbling around in the muck for your dinner when it is not necessary.

There are peoples in the world who’s cultures are so desperate for survival that they are resorting to terrorism, genocide, and war on an unprecedented scale just to get people’s attention. They fight over land, religion, ideology, tribal issues (generally what their Darren said about our Shaun over 5 centuries ago.), but mainly they fight and scream and lash out simply to get noticed. In a global culture, which is what humanity is becoming thanks to our technology, those who don’t have the same access to information, technology and progress as the so-called ‘World Leaders’ will resent that fact and demand their fair share.

These problems may be solved by technology, with some technology solving both at once. For instance: The Middle East became rich on the proceeds of oil, now the oil is running out and the various factions are fighting over what’s left, egged on by the former cold war superpowers. The Middle East also has another asset, one that is not going to run out so easily; sunlight. Take Iran as an example, instead of ploughing money into a nuclear program that the Americans are never going to let them complete, why not spend the money researching solar power? From what I’ve heard Libya is already pursuing this direction after giving up its nuclear ambitions. Enough electricity could be generated in North Africa and the Middle East to serve not only those areas but much of Central Africa and Europe as well. Using both conventional solar panels and solar furnaces.

Technology is more than iPods, plasma screens and mobile phones with irritating ringtones. It is an extension of human evolution, one which we can control. Technology lies at the confluence of science and engineering, the scientists work out what can be done and the engineers work out how to do it. In this age of instantaneous communication and unprecedented public access to information, there is no reason why solutions to the problems of the world cannot be found in the realms of technology.

Our technology is so pervasive, getting into every facet of our lives, that instead of being used in cynical attempts to make fast money (iPod, Windows, mobile phones etc.) why not use it in applications where the short term gain is minimal but the long term benefits are available for everyone? Use the phonmenal technological power available to us to lift people out of poverty and ignorance, provide limitless energy and break our dependence on finite reserves of fossil fuels.  Why are these things not being done? I don’t have an answer, but I’m sure your government could provide you with one if pressed.

Bookmark to:

Yesterday when trying to read the first message in my inbox, firefox would do its loading thing in the status bar, get to done, and the little loading thingy in the top right corner (the Gmail one) would still be there, and it wouldn’t let me read the mail. Also when clicking on a contact to compose a mail the same would happen.

Another glitch is the fact that it won’t let me send emails. When I click one of my contacts to send them a mail, the above happens. When going the long way round using my full contacts pag, selecting the contact and hitting compose, the same happens. When hitting reply on a mail that I happen to be reading the box comes up but the formatting buttons aren’t displayed and the text box for the body of the reply cannot be selected and typed in

There are a couple of graphical glitches too. My contacts online/offline indicators are displaying the standard placeholder images as are the formatting buttons when I click the reply button on a mail I’m reading.

I have no idea whether this could be a problem on my end or theirs but its beginning to interfere with my work.

If anyone out there has experienced the same problem I’d appreciate them letting me know.

Update: This problem only seems to manifest in Firefox, If I use an IE tab in firefox it works fine.

Bookmark to:

Google Shared Items is a great little app that sits on your Facebook profile and lets people know what you’ve been reading in Google Reader. That’s all well and good but you have to manually share the items in the first place. What I’d like to be able to do is automatically share anything I post here and on Gaming Moments (which reminds me I must get the tech boys over there to add the twitter plugin to the blog, anything that spreads the word, right?)

Google reader lets you do this quite easily, you tag the feeds you want to share under a separate tag (eg. Shared) and then in the Tags tab in your google reader settings you click the little share icon next to it and presto you’ve got a feed built from all the feeds in that tag/folder.

Then you hit the problem, the Facebook app doesn’t seem to share folders, only items.

So, to get around this I thought there must be something that lets you display a feed on your Facebook profile, I was right, up to a point. There are supposedly three apps for facebook which allow you to display a feed on your profile they are Feeds, Feed Invasion, and My RSS.

Feeds doesn’t work, and someone should get around to deleting it from the available applications on Facebook.
Feed Invasion also doesn’t work, and only displays one feed
myRSS does but has formatting issues. It takes up too much space and the headlines’ font size is too big. Nothing that can’t be fixed though.

Bookmark to: