I'm Using WordPress, Now What? Starter Edition

Here is the PDF of the presentation on GitHub.

The following is a list of plug-ins that we discussed during the presentation. All links are valid as of this post but not be in the future.

JetPack
Web hosting with BlueHost (*affiliate link)
Editorial Calendar
Security
SEO
Analytics - Clicky or Google
Cache - W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache
Backup - BackWPup or VaultPress
Social Sharing

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One Billion Smart Devices

According to Gartner, in 2013, the number of smart devices in use world wide will eclipse one billion. That is a huge number. That represent something like 15% of the earths population. But actually, the number of devices sold isn't a one to one relation. For instance, I have several devices, and I would assume many others have several devices.

There is one fact that companies just cant escape, if they have a major online presence, it needs to be optimized for a mobile experience, or you will lose business. It's not a matter of maybe any more, it's a fact.

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5 Tech Stories Worth Reading

Netflix Headed For A Brick Wall?
It was bound to happen, subscriber backlash over pricing, and recent news that major content providers are cutting ties with Netflix. Read more of the story here: http://thom.ws/mUNE5C

Is Steve Balmer Actually Surprised At The Crappy Windows Phone 7 Sales?
Steve, you have to actually build a brand, a community, and a solid app store before you can start to capture market share. Oh, and if you have to battle the retail sales folks for pushing people away from your product, you will have an even harder time selling your product. You have some serious holes in your plan. Read more here: http://thom.ws/qgZ7yI

MOG Launches Free Version Of Music Service
MOG announced today that they are offering an ad-supported free version of their music service. The interesting thing here is they are trying to gamify the service, giving users free music,  based on the amount of sharing, playlist creation, and the number of referrals to the service. This could be interesting. According to their press release "Tastemakers and influencers can easily get a lifetime of free on-demand music." Read more here: http://thom.ws/o4P0CC

Chegg Buys Zinch In A Move Towards A Social Education Platform
You may not have heard of either of these companies, but they are leaders in their own industries. Chegg is an online book rental service for college students, and Zinch is an online service that connects high school students with college recruiters. On the surface, this is an odd acquisition, but more and more companies are buying complimentary services and products to increase their over all sales. Read more here: http://thom.ws/nvLUNG

Samsung Wants To Own Your First, Second, And Third Screen
Samsung is making a push to build technology that directly competes with Apple and it's AirPlay technology. The company has had some success in the past, but this push could be fueled by the back and forth patent infringement claims made by both Apple and Samsung. Read more here: http://thom.ws/qZK9T4

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5 Tech Stories Worth Reading

1. Hauppauge Digital Broadway Box Streams Live TV To Your Mobile Devices
Hauppauge have this week launched their new Digital Broadway Box which has been designed to provide an easy way to watch live TV on your mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets whilst on your home network or while travelling. All you need is access to a Wifi connection.

2. Yahoo Is About To Spin Off A Billion Dollar Business
Yahoo is going to spin off its Hadoop unit this week, a Giga Om report says.

Hadoop is an open source software framework pioneered by Yahoo that's useful to handle tons of data in the cloud, which is exactly the type of thing that is really hot these days. We wrote previously about Yahoo's impending Hadoop spinoff; it's a potential billion-dollar business that's not in Yahoo's core, and so would be best spun off with Yahoo retaining a stake.

3. How NextDrop Is Using Cell Phones, Crowdsourcing To Get Water To The Thirsty
In cities where the water coming from pipes is anything but reliable, a new service alerts people so they don't have to sit at home all day waiting for the tap to turn on.

4. All-You-Can-Watch MoviePass Brings Netflix Model to Theaters
MoviePass, a new $50-per-month service for film fans, will let subscribers watch unlimited movies in theaters using their smartphones as tickets.

Using an HTML5 application (native smartphone apps coming soon), MoviePass will let users search for a film, find a local show time, check in to the theater and go straight to the ticket-taker.

5. Top 10 Reasons Geeks Should Love the Tour de France This Saturday, the 98th edition of the Tour de France starts in Province of Liège, kicking off three weeks of bicycle racing. Twenty-one teams of nine riders each will have to endure 3,400 kilometers of racing and 23 mountain passes to reach the finish line on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. It’s an event full of incredible human achievement and endurance. But it’s also full of geeky goodness. I decided to update my article from 2009 encouraging you to enjoy the race.

BONUS

6. Apple “steps up its game”, new iOS 5 firmware to block downgrades
Apple has started to introduce new security checks in its new iOS 5 software that could possibly restrict owners of an iPhone, iPad or iPod from downgrading the firmware on their devices, the iPhone Dev-Team has revealed.

7. Companies Are Erecting In-House Social Networks
What would Facebook look like without photos of drunken nights out and tales of misbehaving cats? It might look a lot like the internal social network at the offices of Nikon Instruments.

8. Take that Netflix, HBO Go app sees big growth 
If you don't believe cord cutting exists and that there isn't any competition between Netflix and cable programmers, then you needn't read on. If on the other hand, you at least see the potential for Netflix to some day snatch customers away from the cable guys, then take note: this weekend HBO expects to see the 3 millionth download of the HBO Go app, which debuted on May 2, a company spokesman told CNET. There are 28 million HBO subscribers in the United States so the 3 million downloads would indicate that roughly 10 percent of the company's audience has tried out the app.

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5 Tech Stories Worth Reading

1. Sources: PopCap In Late Stage Acquisition Discussions With EA For $1 Billion+
PopCap Games is in late stage acquisition discussions for a sum of over $1 billion — we’ve now heard from two sources that the buyer is Electronic Arts.

2. Google Invests $102 Million More Into California’s Alta Wind Energy Center
According to an official company blog post today, Google is increasing its investment into California’s Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) by $102 million, bringing its total investment in the renewable energy facility to $157 million.

3. Tips for taking good handheld photos at night
The problem with taking photographs in low-light situations is that the camera has little alternative but to leave the shutter open longer to soak up more light. These tricks and tools will help you take better nighttime photos, without having to pack a tripod.

4. Music Discovery Platform exfm Goes Mobile With A Killer App For iOS
The artist formerly known as Extension Entertainment, now known simply as exfm, has officially gone mobile today, releasing its first mobile app for iOS. I’ve been enjoying exfm for a few months now through the startup’s Chrome extension, so I’m very excited to be able to finally bring that experience with me on-the-go.

5. A New Mobile Social Games King In The U.S.? Former Facebookers Take Storm8 To 210 Million Downloads
On the heels of PopCap’s billion dollar acquisition comes some interesting news from the social games front: Game developer Storm8 is today announcing a few impressive stats. Among other things, the company is claiming that it has become the “largest mobile social games developer in the U.S.”, boasting over 210 million downloads across iOS and Android. While those numbers are certainly impressive, with Angry Birds raking in over 200 million downloads, I think Rovio, Zynga, PopCap, Outfit7 and quite a few others might have a thing or two to say about that, each of which has fairly sizable user bases in the U.S. Then again, Rovio is in fact Helsinki-based and Outfit7 is international as well so Storm8′s claim to American soil likely stands — at least in relation to the Angry Birds and Talking Tom Cat makers, respectively.

BONUS

6. Google Launches New DOM Snitch Chrome Extension To Keep You Safe From Malicious JavaScript
Google has this week announced via its security blog a new tool its created called the DOM Snitch which is an experimental Chrome extension that enables developers to identify insecure practices commonly found in client-side code.

7. Amazon’s “state of the cloud” — it isn’t stacking up
When it comes to the cloud, just forget about the stack. Cloud computing is evolving beyond the data structure of interchangeable layers, said Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President at Amazon, during his “state of the cloud” address at GigaOm’s Structure conference.

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Pulse Ups The Ante On Mobile News Consumption

Pulse, an iPhone app that presents news and blog feeds in a grid fashion has upped the ante with their latest release.

So far I think Pulse is the best iPhone app on the market. And now you can access the app on any web enabled device using their new website, pulse.me. This is huge. Another feature that rocks this app is the ability to save an article for future reading. In the past I've had to email the link to myself so I could read it when I had time.

And Pulse now allows you to send article links to Instapaper and Evernote. Again, this is huge on many levels. The ability to send content to Evernote is great for me because I use It throughout my day.

Take some time to check out Pulse, you'll be glad you did.

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Could Microsoft Survive A Windows Phone 7 Failure

I've been reading all about the new Mango release of Windows Phone 7, and all the companies that are tied to the success of the product. Would you like to be one of the companies who have bet the ranch on a timely release of a Microsoft Operating System?

This isn't like other products Microsoft has failed gain market share with, and eventually cancelled, like the Zune. This to me is a make or break product line for Microsoft. The future is mobile. And if they are unable to keep up, they deserve to fail, and fast. There is no way Microsoft can say they didn't see this coming. As I've said in the past, they have an enormous developer base. They should have been tapping into that long ago. They should have an app store that rivals Apple's iTunes App Store.

If you're a Windows Phone 7 user, what are the missing pieces? Do you feel you have backed the right horse? Could Microsoft survive a Windows Phone 7 failure?

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Mozy Changes Backup Plans and Pricing

Mozy sent me an email this morning, which I'm sure went out to all their customers, outlining new pricing plans. According to the email, MozyHome Unlimited has been discontinued, and they are moving to a tiered storage structure:

50GB of storage for $5.99 a month for one computer.
125GB of storage for for $9.99 a month for up to 3 computers.

Not having an unlimited plan will force some to rethink what they backup. Most will probably fall into the 50GB plan, but with hard drives reaching the terabyte range, full hard drive backups will cost considerably more.

Mozy competitor Carbonite.com still has an unlimited plan which only costs $4.57 a month. I wonder if the move by Mozy will signal their competitors to follow suite, or keep plans and pricing the same.

Do you use Mozy? What has your experience been? I've used Mozy for a long time, and they have been 100% reliable. I've never had a problem backing up or restoring.

Update: Several people reminded me today that they have terabytes of data backed up on Mozy. After calculating the costs, yeah, it skyrocketed for sure. For example, if you have 1 Terabyte of data backed up on Mozy, your looking at something like $110 a month now up from basically $5.

• 1TB of backed up date - 125GB of alloted backup space = 975GB of storage not covered under the high end plan
• 975GB / 20GB = roughly 50 20GB block of storage that you must pay for each month
• 50 20GB blocks * $2.00 a month = $100 per month
• $9.99 monthly cost + $100 overage cost per month = $110
• That looks like a +/- 95% increase in cost

My math could be wrong, and if it is, I apologize, love to have someone gently correct me.

I wonder how many others have that much data backed up on Mozy. At $5 for a terabyte, I wonder if they were losing money. I think businesses should make money. And if this is what it takes for Mozy to make money, then I'm all for it. I just know several people who are looking for cheaper solutions now.

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One Final Mobile Post

Just installed the latest version of the WordPress iPhone app. The release notes say my mobile photo posting issue has been resolved. Well, if you can see this post, then it for sure is resolved. And a big thanks to those who made it happen.

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My Wife Rocked Dinner

I am so blessed to have a wife who cares enough to fix a five star meal.

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The Windows Phone 7 Land Rush

Windows Phone 7 is about to hit the streets, and there is a lot of buzz being generated. My first impression of the phones are so-so. Nothing to write home about. The device is simple, and according to Steve Balmer's keynote address at PDC2010, Microsoft wanted to put the most important features front and center on the main screen.

Microsoft is late to the mobile party as it were. Apple owns a commanding lead in the smart phone arena, with Android and BlackBerry having large user bases. But Windows hasn't had a game competing device or OS until now. If Microsoft does this right, and doesn't strong arm developers as much as Apple does, the Windows Phone 7 app store could be the piece that makes this phone a winner.

Application Stores like iTunes, have given Apple the leverage it needs to remain strong and keep their lead. With over the top developer agreements, and total control over the hardware and software, they also control the experience. Microsoft owns the OS, but is allowing other manufactures to build the devices, which isn't necessarily and bad thing, but could be one reason it only achieves mediocre success. If I could wave a magic wand and command the Mobile division at Microsoft, that's what I would do. Users may kick and scream, but taking a queue from Apple, so what. The experience is second to none.

The application space for the Windows Phone 7 could be a land rush. And with the shear number of developers who write software for the Windows platform, and so have a good understanding of the language used to write applications for WP7, I would expect see the volume of apps built and sold in the WP7 store to dwarf that of Apples iTunes App Store. I could be wrong, but the numbers are in Microsoft's favor.

Microsoft is definitely muscling in on the mobile and cloud space. With the introduction of the Azure platform, and the WP7, Microsoft is finally starting to embrace anywhere computing as it's lead platform.

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Twitter Launches A Client For Windows Phone 7

Twitter released a version of their mobile device client for Windows Phone 7. This version of the client uses a platform and design they call Metro. This application also lets you view your Twitter data through Pivots, described as pages.

From the Twitter blog:

We dug into the platform with a development partner, IdentityMine, who helped us get started creating our application. We used an open source REST API library, Tweet Sharp, as the foundation for our app, and IdentityMine will release some significant improvements back into open source for everyone to use.

Wow, releasing this application back into the community as open source. That will let developers take the code and create their own versions, based off the work Twitter and IdentityMine have already done. Nice to see them ahead of the curve.

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Why Microsoft Shouldn't Aim At Google Or Apple

I read this Wired article today, and I had too cringe hearing Microsoft is taking aim at Google and Apple. Why would they want too? They own such an enormous desktop market, and they could own the mobile space too, but not trying to come at it from the rear. Utilize your existing customer base to build the best mobile experience for Windows users. The reason Android is catching on so quickly, besides the open software and the backing of Google, is it's really the only smart phone alternative to the iPhone at the moment. There are other platforms, but nothing at the level of an Android phone.

I'm not foolish enough to think Microsoft doesn't have a huge gap when it comes to mobile market share. I mean they haven't really put any effort into it for years. But that's what's cool about the opportunity they have. If they want to take something from Apple, take the fact Apple goes to incredible lengths to make the user experience the best on the planet. Whether you think that is egotistical, close minded, or plain and simple snobbery, it doesn't matter. They make products that people like. And Microsoft should focus on the same thing.

I think Microsoft is in the perfect position. I really hope they don't blow it by trying to "be" a bigger better Apple or Google, because they will fail.

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In Search Of The Ultimate Mobile Developer Machine

Here we go, please take a ride with me as I search out the ultimate mobile developer machine. Why mobile? Because I hate being tied to a desk. I have desk top machines, but I want something with equal power I can take with me. Here is what I am looking for:

Nothing larger than a 15 inch screen. Yes, 15 inches. Any bigger and it's like lugging around a desktop.
At least 8GB of memory. I would love to have the ability to upgrade to 16GB or even 24GB. Memory is a developers best friend. Next to CPU speed, it's the key to all goodness.
A hard drive fast enough to keep up with the RAM. I really like what is happening in solid state drives (SSD).
A CPU, well, let's look at 4, that will allow me to compile in a split second, let me stream video, rip a DVD, all at the same time.
I would love to have built in 3G connectivity, but the more I think about it, the more I would hate to be tied to a specific carrier. So maybe just a USB card will work.
Ability to read just about any memory card. At least 4 super fast USB ports.
Lightweight. This is a mobile machine, remember?

Honestly, that's about it. Nothing spectacular. The real trick here will be to find one that doesn't weight as much as your Mothers Cadilac, and doesn't cost as much as my last Child.

There are really two flavors, an Apple Mac, like a Mac Book Pro, or a PC which can run Windows or Linux. Since I do a lot of Windows development, Linux probably isn't a viable option. And I don't want to own a MBP just so I can run Windows on it. You think the simple choice is to go with a PC. But there is more too it than that. I have to make some additional choices, to make the right choice.

First, will I choose to stop developing Windows applications. Honestly, that's the key question. I can develop everything but Windows applications on a Mac. I know, I know, running Parallels or VMWare Fusion gives me a Windows machine on the Mac, but I don't want to do that. It doesn't work all that well on my iMac, and I know it doesn't do any better on a MBP.

Throw my hat in a ring, and stay there for a while. Honestly, I'm not sure 100% which ring the hat will fall in today. OK, enough of that, off to find The Ultimate Mobile Developer Machine.

What would you recommend?

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My Take On 2010 Technology Predictions OS Wars

In my first post I talked about the platform wars, today I want to talk about the Operating Systems (OS) Wars.

There are really only three operation systems on the market people will generally know; Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux. There are a couple of operating systems that are getting some buzz, but most people don't know they are using them, or don't recognize the fact they are operating systems. These are mobile or light weight OS's, like Google's Chrome OS, Android, Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Palm Pre.

Desktop Operating Systems
Hands down the winner will remain the Windows, specifically, Windows 7. Personally I've been using Windows 7 for a few months now, written several blog posts on it, and can say it's just as stable as Windows XP. Sorry non-windows fan boys, but it is.

Next up will continue to be Apple's Mc OS X. The real issue most people have with the Mac OS is that it will only run on Apple hardware. Many have tried, some have succeeded, but most fail to run the Mac OS on anything other than an Apple computer. The cost for Apple computers typically keeps the average user from purchasing, and so never get an opportunity to use Mac OS X. Snow Leopard, the latest version, 1.6, is a fantastic operating system. It has all the bells and whistles you could want. But at least in 2010, it will stay behind Windows, and I don't think Apple cares one bit.

Finally we have Linux. A real geek operating system. This system isn't for the faint at heart. While distros (that's what a version of Linux is called, a distro, or distribution package) from Ubuntu and Red Hat slip in consumer features such as a graphical user interface, pre loaded applications, and the ability to manage various hardware features, you still have to have some technical understand of computers, and how to use command line tools.

Personally, I like Linux. I think it's a solid operating system that stands up to the most rigorous user. But in the coming year for desktop operating systems, Windows 7 will take even a wider market share.

Mobile Operating Systems
As I stated above, several new mobile operating systems will make some waves. I know a lot of geeky friends will want the Google phone to take over the world, it just won't. There needs to be a lot of baking before that phone will make a huge dent. You will see lot's of hype, but just as the iPhone hasn't succeeded in world domination, neither will the Google phone. But it will be cool to see what happens. What I'm hoping Nexus One does, with it's unlocked phone (meaning it's not keyed to any service provider) is to push the major manufactures to lower their prices for unlocked phones. People want choices, which is what Nexus One will give them. That will be fun to watch.

The net result of the OS War in 2010 will be negligible. Operating systems have become boring. As long as it's stable, doesn't require continual reboots, market shares will remain the same. Companies who produce operating systems make a huge capitol investment, and it takes several years, if ever, to recoup their costs. The average consumer is also averse to change. Updates are considered to be an annoyance, imagine having to upgrade the entire OS every couple of weeks.

I think the next big thing for operating systems will be slimmed down versions built specifically for an application. Linux does this, Chrome could do this. This will be the disruptive play; targeting hardware and applications. It's happening now I understand, but it will get even more specific over the next year or two.

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Google Offers Mobile Friend Finder With Latitude Service (But Not For The iPhone)

Google pushed out a new product today called Google Latitude. It basically lets you find friends in geographical locations via Google Maps. This is pretty cool. Loopt has been doing this for a while, and so have others. I'm not really sure I see the value in this, other than its a great way to stalk your friends. If I really wanted to know where someone was, I would just ask them.

The interesting part is it wasn't released for the iPhone. It does work on the Android of course, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. But with GPS and mapping so tightly integrated into the iPhone, I'm really surprised this was left out of the initial release. I hardly ever used mapping on my Windows Mobile device.

Is Google targeting a service like BrightKite.com, where I can check in at a specific location, or upload photos and give it a geo tag? I can see better uses for this service than just seeing who around me. I would also like to be able to update my social network too, like FriendFeed or Twitter, with a link to my latest location.

I'm not sure if this was intentional or chance, but the map on the Latitude home page was in my general area. Weird, huh? Stalking at its best.

[image title="Google Latitude" size="full" id="1051" align="none" linkto="full" ]

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Ubuntu 8.10 Caters To The Mobile User

Looking at the new Linux flavored operating system; Ubuntu 8.10, the latest direction is towards the mobile user. It's obvious more and more users are going the laptop route, and that has been an issue with operating systems like Ubuntu, possibly because of integrated or proprietary hardware.

I've been running Ubuntu on my HP laptop for about 7 months now. It has had issues, specifically with audio drivers and power management. The two issues I'm hoping the 8.10 release will fix are (1 and 2 are basically the same);

1. The auto detecting of my USB headset (affiliate link) when it's plugged into the port
2. The volume control works with my USB headset
3. Manage my battery better. Ubuntu burns through a fully charged battery in under an hour. I should get 2+. It's a new battery.

I'm installing the OS right now. I'll run through my own set of tests and write up a secondary post letting you know how it goes.

By the way, my Ubuntu midnight release party was a bust. When the clock turned over, all I saw was Ubuntu 8.10 coming soon... disappointed. I couldn't download for another 9 hours. Oh well, I have it now.

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Facebook Opens API To Mobile Developers

This is a very exciting addition to the Facebook developer platform. One major application I'm writing will definitely take advantage of these new features, specifically SMS. I use Facebook via my mobile device most of the time. I'm exciting this new addition to the API will bring richer applications to market.

Reading more about the SMS feature of the API it seems there is a throttle on the number of messages that can be sent out. That makes sense seeing how there is a cost to send out messages. However, I can also see this is as a drawback if you are writing an application and need to send out notifications each time an action occurs.

There seems to be 3 main parts of the SMS API.

1. User opt-in


2. Design features


3. User opt-out

One really cool option is a user can interact with an application via SMS. I assume this means I can send commands back to an application and have it perform some type of function. It will remain to be seen if this can be a feature that is usable or not.

The next part of the API is access to the profile and canvas areas. This gives mobile developers the ability to make mobile applications act more like the full web based version. And if I'm not mistaken, you can write one application that can be used via the web or on a mobile device. That is very cool.

As a budding Facebook application developer I hope to take advantage of these features. I hope there is more to come regarding the mobile API.

Link to the Facebook Platform for Mobile.

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Hidden charging system of the Power Pack

Laura Moncur asked if someone would provide pictures of how the hidden power cord system looks in the Power Pack. Well Laura, here they are.

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Meet my new friend, the Power Pack

I went online yesterday to REI.com looking for a replacement pack, Outdoor Products Power Pack, for the one that unexpectedly broke. There is a store near by and I wanted to know if there was one in stock before I drove all the way there to discover it wasn't. Fortunately REI.com they have an online chat system, and I was able to confirm the store did indeed have several in stock. Yee Haw!

I got the pack I was looking for quickly, and decided to pick up some new handle grips and bar ends for my mountain bike. I can honestly saw that because of the online support system, I not only did I purchased what I was looking for I also bought additional items. I'm extremely excited about my new friend and loaded it up as soon as I got home.

There was one notable difference, the pocket which holds the power cord system seemed bigger and easier to use. One of the really cool features of this pack is the ability to connect the power system to your laptop, internally, and plug the power cord into the wall without removing the laptop from the pack. This makes it nice if you're traveling and want to recharge in airport or restaurant.

If you're in the market for a new laptop bag system I would recommend this. It's very versatile. I use it when I go mountain biking (removing the laptop of course), have taken it on hiking trips, and bought a CamelBak water system (the UnBottle 100oz) that fits nicely inside. It's real inexpensive, REI.com has it for around $65, and that is cheaper than you can get most laptop cases for. The quality is good, although one of the adjustable shoulder connectors broke, the pack itself is in great shape.

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