Jul
5
2011
WordPress 3.2 “Gershwin” is now available to the world, both as an update in your dashboard and a download on WordPress.org. Version 3.2 is the fifteenth major release of WordPress and comes just four months after 3.1, reflecting the growing speed of development in the WordPress community and our dedication to getting improvements in your hands as soon as possible. This release is dedicated to composer and pianist George Gershwin.
The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter. The first thing you’ll notice when you log in to 3.2 is a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin. If you’re starting a new blog, you’ll also appreciate the fully HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, fulfilling our plan to replace the default theme every year. Start writing your first post in our redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, my personal favorite feature of the release. All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing, but when your mouse strays to the top of the screen your most-used shortcuts are right there where you need them.
Under the hood there have been a number of improvements, not the least of which is the streamlining enabled by our previously announced plan of retiring support for PHP4, older versions of MySQL, and legacy browsers like IE6, which allows us to take advantage of more features enabled by new technologies. The admin bar has a few more shortcuts to your most commonly-used actions. On the comment moderation screen, the new approve & reply feature speeds up your conversation management. You’ll notice in your first update after 3.2 that we’ll only be updating the files that have changed with each new release instead of every file in your WordPress installation, which makes updates significantly faster on all hosting platforms. There are also some fun new theme features shown off by Twenty Eleven, like the ability to have multiple rotating header images to highlight all of your favorite photos.
This new version looks amazing so far. The only problem I found was a message after I updated saying that I was running an old version of explorer (Image above). Quite strange, since I’m using the last version of Internet Explorer.
Jun
21
2011
Google released its Google +1 (“a.k.a plus one”) button to compete with Twitter’s Tweet button and Facebook’s Like button. First, if you have a Google account, you can join the +1 button experiment to start voting and rating sites. Then you can incorporate the +1 button into your Blog to let users and visitors vote for your site.
You can join this experiment by clicking here. Make sure you’re signed into your Google Account. Click ‘Join this experiment’. Search for something you love on Google.com. Click the new +1 button, and make your mark on the web.
Please note, this experiment is browser-specific. From within each browser that you want to +1 from, you will need to repeat steps 1-2. Also, it may take a while before you see the button in search results, and it may occasionally disappear as we make improvements. Your feedback will help us make it better!
To add the +1 button into your blog, just go here and follow the steps. Then paste the code into your blog. If you are not used with code, just add a text widget in WordPress (Appearance -> Widgets) and paste the code there. If you are more used to editing your source code, you can paste the code at the bottom of each article, so people can vote easier for every new article you write.
The +1 button let people who love your content, recommend it on Google search. Enjoy!
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Comments Off on Add the Google +1 button to your Blog Jun
15
2011
When you embed YouTube videos on your blog, you are helping to show the variety of great content on YouTube. This practice often adds context to what you’re watching. With the recent launch of “As Seen On” YouTube pages, we’re connecting those conversations around the web to deepen the connection to the YouTube videos you’re watching.
There is now a place on YouTube to find videos mentioned on your favorite blogs & sites. It provides a way to find new and interesting content while helping you dive deeper into the conversation around a video.
The “As Seen On” links on the video pages will direct users to these pages to surface more content and commentary. As a blog or site owner, this is another way all that hard work you put into building your readership can pay off and generate even more traffic for your site. You might even get your site exposed to a whole new audience via people who encounter it for the first time on YouTube, so keep up the great work!
So, make sure you keep embedding YouTube videos on your blog and your feed might eventually get tracked by YouTube.
Jun
10
2011
The US Supreme Court ruled against Microsoft Corporation on Thursday in its appeal of a record $290 million jury verdict for infringing a small Canadian software firm’s patent. The justices upheld a US appeals court’s ruling that went against the world’s largest software company in its legal b attle with Toronto-based i4i. The Supreme Court rejected Microsoft’s argument to adopt a lower standard to replace the long-standing requirement that a defendant in a patent infringement case prove by clear and convincing evidence that a plaintiff’s patent is invalid.
i4i sued Microsoft in 2007, claiming infringement of a patent relating to XML in documents by Word 2007. At a subsequent jury trial, Microsoft had argued the patent was invalid but the jury rejected that claim. It then appealed to the supreme court, saying the trial court’s requirements had put an “overly demanding” standard to its invalidity defence: it had had to prove its defence by “clear and convincing” evidence, rather than the more relaxed “preponderance of evidence”. The difference would be similar to a criminal v civil standard of proof, between “beyond all reasonable doubt” and “balance of probability”.
i4i said Microsoft sought a radical change in patent law and that any change should come instead from Congress, which has been considering patent legislation. The legal battle began in 2007 when i4i sued Microsoft for infringing its patent relating to text manipulation software in 2003 and 2007 versions of Word, Microsoft’s word processing application.
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8
2011
Today, 8 June, 2011, Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai, Limelight Networks and other 200 organizations around the globe, turned on IPv6 for the world’s first mass test of the second-generation networking standard. The Internet needs more addresses, due of the lack of IPv4 addresses. That’s why Google and other websites are testing this new protocol. Test your IPv6 connection to see if your computer and connection are ready for IPv6. Learn more about IPv6 readiness
Test your IPv6 connection here
Many organizations are participating in World IPv6 Day without having actually made any changes to their networking environment or Website, thanks to Akamai. The content delivery network signed up 30 customers from around the globe, about one percent of its customer base, to its Akamai IPv6 Service, Champagne said. The service allows customers who don’t have IPv6-enabled Websites to still be accessible to users browsing the Web using machines with IPv6 addresses.
The differences in the IPv4 and IPv6 standards mean that the two address spaces are generally separate and cannot overlap. That means users with IPv6-enabled devices can’t access Websites hosted on servers with IPv4 addresses, nor can IPv4-enabled devices access sites hosted on IPv6 servers. Dual-stack configurations and tunneling services have been used to help bridge the two parallel networks. Akamai’s service is another method customers can use, Champagne said.
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Comments Off on IPv6 day: test your connection May
23
2011
It’s been a while since I last checked the WordPress Extend directory. I have found some very nice and fresh WordPress themes there. Also added two themes from other sites to the list. Check them out below. Four beautiful free WordPress themes.
1) Blog-O-Folio
Blog-O-Folio is a free 2 column WordPress Theme suitable for any and all of your corporate, portfolio or personal blog needs. With a wide variety of tunable theme options and functionality to merge your portfolio with the blog, it is now ultra easy to maintain your blog and portfolio at the same time.
Download Here
2) Liquorice
A simple and clean vintage looking theme for you to build on using Google’s font API Lobster font. Custom background feature enabled.
Download Here
May
10
2011
It has been announced that Microsoft Corporation had acquired Skype Communications today, May 10th 2011. Microsoft paid US$8.5 billion for Skype. The company has been incorporated as a division of Microsoft, called “Microsoft Skype Division”. Microsoft will acquire all of the company’s technologies, including Skype, with the purchase.
Skype was founded in 2003 by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and Dane Janus Friis, and was initially released as a simple computer-to-computer, or computer-to-telephone program.
In a deal that took about a month from offer to signing, the software company outbid competitors Google and Facebook, which sources said offered to partner or buy Skype for $3 billion to $4 billion. They planned to use the provider of Internet telephone services to keep users glued to their online communities.
Microsoft’s interest in the popular service highlights a need to gain new customers for its Windows and Office software. Skype has 145 million users worldwide on average each month and has gained favor among small business users.
Microsoft Stocks went up from 25.40 to 25.70 intraday, after the purchase was announced, and further gains are expected for the rest of the week.