Mike's Thoughts

So here we go, Wordpress 2.7. Although it’s in beta, it is showing some very good promise. I have yet to have any hiccups in working with it, other than some issues importing my blog from my old server, thought that isn’t the fault of 2.7.

The interface has been completely revamped and offers a cleaner look, along with a Dashboard that offers more than the old one ever did. No longer does the WordPress Development Bog take up half of the screen. Instead, you see the Blog, Recent Comments, QuickPress, “Right Now”, and information about your theme. QuickPress is a new feature that allows you to quickly add a new post to your blog right from Dashboard. It doesn’t have all of the rich editing capabilities, but it offers a quick and dirty way of creating a new post. “Right Now” shows a breakdown of the numbers of posts, pages, categories, tags, and comments from your blog. The comment section is color coded to give you visual queues as to what needs you attention.

The navigation links formerly along the top of the admin pages have been moved to modular sections on the left hand side of the page which can be expanded or compressed similarly to the way you would a folder in Finder or Windows Explorer.

One of the greatest features of 2.7? Its automation. Need to upgrade to the latest version? Simply click the update button and your system will automatically download, and apply the update. Admittedly, this feature has not worked for me, though I could just be jumping away from the update screen before the process completed. This idea extends wonderfully to plugins. Now, you can search for plugins right from the Plugins administration page. Simply choose the one you want, and the plugin is downloaded, extracted, and added to your system. Just like any plugin you would have installed the old way, you must first activate the plugin before you can use it. 2.7 also offers you the ability to upload a zip file containing the plugin, and WordPress will automatically unzip and install it.

Overall, 2.7 is a wonderful and welcomed change. It seems to be more professional, and allows the administrators and post contributors to log in, and get done what they want to get done, quick.

Ok, so I’m sure you know by now, that I thought, for some reason, it would be fun to host my own server, on my own laptop, in my house. This presented several problems:

• Low power from the laptop
• Limited manageability, especially while I’m away at RIT
• Unreliability the likes of which I have never seen

To remedy the situation, I switched my website hosting (the stuff I pay for) from Microsoft (why I ever did that in the first place, I don’t know), to Linux. This allowed me to transition everything over to a reliable host with more power than I had had before. This means that my blog should run quicker and smoother, and shouldn’t go down every other week! >:|

In short, I’m back! I’m going to continue to write as much as I can, about everything I can. As I mentioned on my blog’s home page, I have encorporated better PHP support, so if you would like to comment on my blog, please register by following the link on the right side of any page in my blog. It’s quick and painless, and you only have to do it once!

Everything is up and running, thought I am still transitioning over a couple of minor things that didn’t come over so nicely (blog tags, images, etc). But everything should be in working order in the next few days. To celebrate, I applied a new theme, which I have found to be my favorite so far, along with Wordpress 2.7 Beta 3. I will be posting about Wordpress 2.7 in the coming days as I have a chance to play with it, but first impressions are good. Very good!

Until then…

So, my PS3 of not even 1 year, pooped out on me last week. I thought it was just a fluke, but when I went to watch my brand-new BluRay movie, my horrors were confirmed. For some reason, the system froze mid way through playing a game, and ever since restarting it, the system will not recognize any disk whatsoever: not BluRay, not DVD, not CD. I had just installed the 2.43 firmware, so I am leaning toward pointing fingers at that….

Matters only got worse after calling Sony. First of all, you have to sit through AN AD on your phone for some stupid game. Then, when you finally navigate through 90 menus, the system reads you the same crap you can get online. Uh, thanks, but no thanks. Finally, you are prompted to press 0 to talk to a rep. The rep was clueless, and was baffled as to why my contact information would show up in there system! Hmmm… maybe because I registered the stupid thing half a year ago! The rep was all over the place, and told me that I needed to find my receipt, otherwise I would need to do an “out of warranty repair,” though he never said what that was. He gave me a reference number, and I proceeded to hang up, furious. I called home, and discovered that I had scanned the receipt…it’s like I knew something like this was gonna happen. I then called Sony back, and got the most insulting rep ever. After giving him my reference number, he asked why I was calling… um, read the damn info! The rep was extremely rude, and was obviously upset that I, the sucker who bought the piece of junk, had to call in. He then read off some crap about another form I had to fill out online. Fine, thanks for that.

So now I wait… supposedly they’re gonna send me a box or something. I am shocked at this situation, and believe me, if my system doesn’t come back in impeccible shape, I’m gonna do a lot more than rant on my blog! Sony, you’re on notice:

PS. If you want to make your own On Notice board, check out: http://www.shipbrook.com/onnotice/

So, I have officially completed my first month of service with Verizon. Let me tell you, I have never been so impressed over a phone, and believe me, I’ve had my share of phones. Having used Virgin Mobile for years (along with Boost Mobile, but don’t get me started with them…WORST CELL SERVICE EVER!!!), making the switch to Verizon was like going from having needles in your eyes to being pampered like a king.

The call quality with Verizon is second to none. With my previous Virgin Mobile phone, I could only get a pocket of service while at work, and of course, the pocket wasn’t at my desk! With Verizon, I can literally use my phone anywhere. The data is lightning fast, though I have opted to block the mobile web.

To check your usage, you can either register on the MyVerizon site, via the site on your phone, or by calling one of three numbers depending on the information you want. After calling one of the numbers, you receive a free text message with the information that was just read to you. The nice thing about the usage statistics, is that the data is updated within minutes of the completion of a call or text message.

Despite what I have heard about their customer service, I have had nothing but exceptional service. After looking at the “MyVerizon” site, I noticed data usage on my bill. Now, keep in mind, the charge was only nominal. I merely wanted to understand WHY I was charged. After sending an email over to Verizon, I received a response the next day. The rep sent me a copy of their data usage guidelines, and told me that even “accidentally” navigating to the mobile web home page, will yield a charge. So, I guess that that could be an inconvenience, but you do have the option to turn off, or add, remove or upgrade your plan and features at any time during the month via the MyVerizon site, all without extending your contract. The rep even went ahead and gave me a credit for the usage. Now that’s service!

Now, yes, I’ve only had the phone for a month, but as of now, I am absolutely loving this phone and the service. The coverage, combined with the ability to change my plan (or my features) in the middle of the month, is a deal that is all too sweet. My phone, by the way, is the new LG Dare. I plan on posting some info about it in the next week or so, but in the mean time, you can check it out here on Verizon’s site.