Moving On To Something I'm Passionate About

I've been writing on this blog for nearly 5 years. Lately it's slowed to a trickle and I think it has to do with two things:

1. Microblogging on Twitter and FriendFeed
2. The blog had no focus, it was just what ever

Because there was no focus, and I can microblog on Twitter/FriendFeed fast, blogging here just fell behind.

This year I'm really going to focus on two sites, GalacticWriter.com and MyCareerVoice.com. These are the things I'm passionate about. These are the places I think my writing will have an impact, and be therapeutic for me too.

I still love tech. I still write computer software, probably always will in some fashion or another.

I may occasioanlly write something here, but I doubt it. Plese visit my main website, ThomAllen.com for all that is new.

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Happy Holidays One And All

I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. I really appreciate everyone's help this past year, and I hope to return the favor.

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iPhone Twitter Tip: Favorite Tweets For Later Review

[singlepic id=36 w=320 h=240 float=left]I read a lot of my Twitter (you're a Twitter user, right?) messages on the iPhone. I don't always have time to look at the cool links in tweets, so I found favoriting a tweet lets me go back later on the computer and look them up quickly. As you can see from the photo to the left, I use Twittellator Pro, and there is a cool little star that you tap, and its tagged. It's as easy as that.

What cool Twitter tips do you have?

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Organize Your Crap

Advice from a seasoned IT professional.

Clean Up Your Desktop

Seriously, stop cluttering your desktop with icons. Shortcuts and documents are easily organized into folders, imagine that. Shortcuts are just as effective on the start menu. The computers I use have no more than four icons on the desktop. At home: Recycle Bin. At work: My Documents, My Computer, Recycle Bin, shttpd.exe. There's just no need to have 20 documents, 15 shortcuts, 22 favorites, and 10 PDF's. ORGANIZE YOUR CRAP.

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Gmail Adds Tasks But Still Has A Ways To Go

Google Labs introduced Tasks as an add-on to their Gmail product yesterday. I've spent the past week looking for a good task manager, specifically one that works on the iPhone, and on the Web. So it was a timely surprise to see they added this feature.

The official Gmail blog gives some instruction on how to turn tasks on, and where you can find the task list. I'm not sure I like the list opening up in the same location as the Chat. That's part of the reason I don't use the Gmail web based chat tool. It's clunky.

However, the coolest part of tasks is I can select one or more email, and under the More Actions drop down, choose to create a task. Even Outlook doesn't support this nativley.

Here are a couple of other features of note:

• You can pop out the task window and move it around on your desktop. This should eliminate neededing to keep the Gmail screen focused in your browser.


• You can create different lists. A tasks list wouldn'e be complete without the ability to group items.


• Creating sub tasks is easy with an indent feature.


• The ability to add a due date and add notes. This is very cool. If you want to keep a running tab of things as you progress towards completion, the notes section is just the place.

I think I'll spend some to create a simple Getting Things Done (GTD) workflow using Gmail Tasks. Shouldn't be too difficult with the ability to create seperate task lists.

The biggest draw back, and maybe the deal killer for a lot of people, is that tasks are not support on the mobile platform yet. That is a real disappointment for me. Remember The Milk and many others have web/mobile combinations, and you would think Google would have made that combination a priority.

I suspect a mobile version will quickly follow once the features catches on. Makes no sense to use tasks if you spend most of your time on a mobile device.

One more feature I would like to see added are notification of uncompleted tasks sent with the daily events list.

[update]

Thanks to a great question from @utahcon, he brought up the fact it was difficult at first to find the Tasks link. So here is a picture of where you can find the link. Also, don't forget, use the keyboard short cut Shift-T when you have items selected to create a new task.

[image title="Taks Link In Gmail" size="medium" id="991" align="none" linkto="full" ]

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New iPhone Case

New iPhone Case, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Picked up a new case for my iPhone. I like the cool green color.

- Taken at 1:45 PM on November 14, 2008 - iPhone upload by ShoZu

This photo was sent via ShoZu from a mobile phone.

Get ShoZu for FREE at http://www.shozu.com and enjoy easy photo and video sharing to any email address and sites like Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, Picasa and more, all from your mobile phone

http://www.shozu.com.

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Thank You Vets For A Job Well Done

This video conveys one thing I think a lot of people hesitate to do, say thank you when they see someone in uniform. It's not because they aren't thankful for the persons service, but maybe a little hesitant to say something out loud. Using the suggested gesture for Thank You can be all that is needed. It shows your support and doesn't make it awkward for you or for them.

Please watch this video, and at the very least sign Thank You next time you see someone in uniform.

Thanks to Ash Buckles for sharing this via Twitter. Also don't forget to support our troops at eMailOurMilitary.

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Happy Birthday To My Fellow Marines

Traditionally November 10th has been the date which Marines celebrate the official creation of their Corps.

For those of you who are currently serving in the Marine Corps, thank you, and happy birthday.

For those that have already served your country as a Marine, thank you too. And happy birthday.

Please remember to support our troops, no matter what branch, and no matter where they are serving. Educate yourself on the sacrifices these men and woman make on this countries behalf.

If you were in the Marines, tell us about it. Leave your website link.

I have a bunch of photos I'll be posting to flickr today of me when I was in the Corps., and a few pounds lighter. I'll update this post with the link.

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Metallica At The Delta Center

Metallica At The Delta Center 2008, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Best picture I could take. The lighting changed so fast, half the time the screen was just black. And they were moving around, so a lot of the pictures I took were even blurrier than this one.

But the experience was incredible.

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Controlling Your Life With Nothing But Brain Power

I just watched a 60 Minutes segment discussing what I think is the most amazing use of computer technology I've ever seen. Neuroscientist have been able to capture electrons firing in the brain and allows a person to control electronic devices, such as computers, wheelchairs, and possibly robotic prosthetic. For me this is truly amazing.

One thing I thought was interesting, was the brain keeps firing electrons, whether the body can respond or not. It's like a gun; you can keep pulling the trigger even if the gun has no bullets. It fires, but does nothing. Just like the brain.

I told my wife if I'm ever in a position where I'm locked in my body, please have these people install this device in my head. Immediately.

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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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Morgan Burns The Zune

If you watch the TV show Chuck, undoubtedly you heard the Zune burn on last nights episode. To set the scene, Chuck is trying to figure out how to reach the Kill Screen on the video game Missile Command. Chuck realizes the sequence to win the game matches the Rush song Tom Sawyer. Chuck looks at Morgan, his trusty sidekick..

Chuck: “Morgan, hey, uh, buddy do we carry any rush cds in the store?”
Morgan: “No need I got’em all on my Zune”
Chuck: “You have a Zune?”
Morgan: “Are you kidding me, no, no, I’ll grab my iPod”

I was on the floor laughing for about 30 minutes. I had to rewind the TiVo so I could finish watching the rest of the show. It was great. Wonder how much Apple paid for that jab.

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Mash Your RSS With Yahoo! Pipes

Over the past several months I've started writing blog posts for sites other than my own. This is pretty cool, and I want a way to capture all of my posts in an RSS feed that I can display on my main site. This required some mashing of RSS feeds. Enter Yahoo! Pipes.

I've used pipes before but it had been a while. I fire the interface back up and it looks slicker with a more intuitive interface.

I started by adding several feeds this little widget. Plug in the feed URL and you now have a link.



Next I created a filter limiting the posts in the feed to a specific word. No even if I post on someones blog, I can filter out all but my posts. The cool thing here is the filter reads all the possible properties of the RSS feed and makes them available in a drop down. So you could filter on the Author, the date, category or any number of other properties.



And finally I wanted the latest posts at the top so I created a sort pattern using this little widget.



Once I have all of this ready to go I get a sample of what the output will look like so I can see if my filter is working correctly. If not I can go back and make changes. There is a refresh button that lets you see a new output each time yo make changes.



The end result is a nifty looking widget layout of the whole process.



A couple of cool features are the ability to share your public pipes, clone someones public pipes and then modify for your use. At the moment its all free, which is cool. Draw back, there is no SEO for using the type of feed. So I wouldn't recommend it for your blogs main RSS feed.

If you are looking for a way to mashup several RSS feeds, Yahoo! Pipes is a great tool.

What services do you use to mash your RSS?

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View From Our Room At Snowbird

View From Our Room At Snowbird, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Fantastic view from our balcony at Snowbird. Wish there was actually snow on the ground. Oh well.

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Good Healthy Meal

Good Healthy Meal, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

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Eating Pumpkin Icecream

Eating Pumpkin Icecrem, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Gina eating pumpkin icecream. Ok, this is a first. She only ever eats mint chocolate chip. Had to document.

- Taken at 8:06 PM on October 10, 2008 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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Google Sends Me 98% Of My Traffic

I was looking through Google Analytics™ web analytics service this morning, and of all traffic sent to my blog from search engines, 98% came from Google. Of course the stats came from Google, so I'm not real sure how skewed the numbers are, but that tells me one thing. If I were to focused on making money with this blog, I would do all I could to make sure I capitalize on the Google way of doing things.

Last week I saw a quote that said if eighty percent of your business comes from twenty percent of your products or services, why are you not focusing more on the twenty percent? Are you willing to get rid of the eighty percent that isn't producing? If not, why? If eighty percent of my visitors are looking for help with problems, or for the latest Tumblr theme, maybe I should be looking closer at that.

Another interesting fact I noticed, is the search words are for things that I don't normally talk about, but for some reason my posts make it high enough on the search results that someone clicks through. For example, I have a post about removing sharpie ink from a dry erase board. I wrote that post a long time ago. Its not something I have ever talked about since, but I get a lot of traffic from that post.

The one post I get sear traffic from, by a margin of a 100 to 1, is a post I wrote on a Tumblr theme I created. Its not a spectacular theme, but, interestingly enough, for every 100 hits I get on my site, I get 1000 to this post. I've never written about Tumblr themes nor have I created another Tumblr theme since. I should, for all the traffic driven to my site.

So how do I capitalize on this? I've heard in the past write more about the things people are visiting your website for. My first thought was I don't care anymore about the sharpie ink problem. But maybe it's not so much about the ink problem as it is people are looking for solutions to problems. Now that I can get on bored with.

I'm not an SEO expert, but I would say you can target a lot more of your posts than you are. Think broader. Use a mind map on a topic. I know you can come up with 50 different ways to write how-to's, or creating solutions to problems, or even related problems. For example, I think I'm going to write a blog post on the abnormal passion people have with Sharpie pens. I'm one of them. I treat them like people. I give them names, have different types, thin, think, gigantic. It's almost as bad as a passion for Moleskines.

Give me some examples on how you can expand or broaden you existing blog posts.

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Faceoff On Ice

Faceoff On Ice, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Took this picture at the LA Kings vs. San Jose Sharks at the E-Center in West Valley City, UT.

- Taken at 9:26 PM on October 05, 2008 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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Speaking At Wasatch Business Conference 2008

Quick note that I will be presenting at the Wasatch Business Conference on October 23rd. If you haven't heard of WABCON, please visit the website here. So what is WABCON:

WABCON stands for the Wasatch Business Conference, a day-long event designed to educate business owners and leaders. Experts in the fields of technology, marketing, management, and finance join together in offering 50-minute seminars developed specifically to make your business more successful. Held in October each year, WABCON allows you to select pre-designed tracks by topic or create an educational track that meets your own specific needs.

At this conference I'll be presenting on the topic of Understanding Web2.0. That is a pretty broad topic, and I'll be covering just a few of the common Web2.0 features.

If you want to attend I have some discount codes (I was only given 10, so first come first served) that will give you a substantial reduction in the conference price. Please send me a request through the contact form here.

See you at WABCON.

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It's My Wifes Birthday Today

[singlepic=32,320,240,,center]


I've never wished my wife a happy birthday on my blog before. So today I thought I would.

Happy birthday honey.

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Show Me What You're All About

During this time of year political candidates feel like they are actually making an impact by putting a few signs around town, displaying their name and nothing else. When I see these types of signs I think what a waste of money. I don't know this person, its presumptive I would know you only by name.

Here is an example of someone who paid a large sum of money for a political sign and failed. This sign had to be 5 feet wide by 3 or 4 feet high.

[singlepic=31,320,240,center]

What's he running for? What does he stand for? Where can I find more information?

Opposite this sign, on the same fence, was another sign, only it speaks a different tune.

[singlepic=30,320,240,center]

This person has given me a couple of things, a slogan with some standard political rhetoric like leadership and change, a picture, but most important, he has his web address on the sign. Now I can look this person up on the Internet and see what he stands for and what his platform is.

If you are a political candidate and you have spent money on signs that tell me nothing you deserve to lose. People expect to be able to find you on line. They want to know what you stand for and why they should vote for you. It's not good enough anymore to just pitch your name and hope I remember you on election day, because I won't, and I hope no one else does either.

Does your personal brand make it easy for me to find you, or get to know you?

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Shiny New WordPress Embossed Moleskine

Shiny New WordPress Embossed Moleskine, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

- cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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WordCamp Utah 2008 Wrap Up

Had a great time at WordCamp Utah on Saturday. The Open Source Technology Center at Novell was great. There was plenty of water and snacks. And there were plenty of people in attendance.

I have to give thanks to Joseph Scott for pulling off such a great event.

Here are some pictures I took at WordCamp. I'm using the NextGen Gallery plug-in instead of Flickr. While I use the gallery feature to store pictures, audio and video, I didn't use it to actually show a gallery of photos.

After some struggle to get the gallery manager to work right, I think I finally have it figured out. I think the issue was more user error than application error.

[album=1,extend]

And a link to my presentation video from Ustream. Thanks to RockyMountainVoices.com and Jake Spurlock for the video.

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Night Shade Look Alike

Often when I wear this shirt, people look real hard to see if it's me. Like I'm wearing a shirt with my face on it.

No its not me. Thanks to the guys at Night Shade Books for the shirt. Got it at World Horror Con in Salt Lake City 2008.

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Mountain-Con 4 Wrap Up

Mountain-Con 4 concluded this past weekend, and I was able to attend all three days. All in all I can say it was a pretty good con. Every convention like this has its pros and "cons", and for a fledgling, read forth year, science fiction fan convention, its doing pretty good.

The Davis Convention Center was a great place to have this convention. Mainly because its built for this type of event; big rooms, large hallways, big bathrooms, close to restaurants, and most importantly, free wireless internet. Inevitably there is down time between panels or presentations, and its always fun to jump on the Internet and see whats happening.

There were plenty of things to do. Plenty of things see. Plenty of people to meet. Saturday is usually the day most people attend in their costumes. You can always count on Storm Troopers and Darth Vaders. Not so many Star Trek costumes this year. Not sure why.

Brandon Sanderson was there, the author tapped to finish Robert Jordans last book in the Wheel of Time series. That must be a daunting and stressful task. While there are always plenty of celebrity guests, I get a kick out of meeting all the lesser know, or unknown, authors and attendees. I always add to my rolodex at conventions like these. Heck, that's how I met Jeff Norris of iscifi.tv, and Paul Genesse, author of the Golden Cord.

I have to say a couple of things before I end. Basically wished for next year and beyond. I love to see the gaming room controlled better. Gamers had more space than anyone, and it was wasted. I would have like to see the dealers, more dealers, in the gamers room and move the gamers into the dealers room. Great opportunity missed to have rockin game demos, or significantly more dealers.

I would also ask to reconsider the cost of the Banquet. I would attend, but nothing is worth that kind of money except maybe my wife on a significant occasion. The event sounds fun but is out of reach for most people.

I would also hope your have secured guests for next year. You know as well as I do these people book way out. If your not first, you don't get prime guests, which draw more attendees.

Good job to everyone who volunteered. I know the amount of work that goes into putting on events. Sleep for a few days. Then get on next years event. Please.

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My Request For Government Bailout

News over the past few days has been all about money the US Government has been giving to ailing financial institutions in hopes of keeping them from collapsing. I'm not a financial expert, but I'm sure the layman can recognize what a sham this is.

So this morning I thought it was appropriate that I ask the US Government to give me a few Billion dollars to help bail me out. I'd even take less, say several hundred thousand. That would do it. Hey, it's my money too. All those tax dollars I've put in the coffers over the years. If my elected officials are going to squander it, I want my share back.

I got some great responses from Twitter friends. Here they are:









As you can see there are plenty of people who want their money back. Please give US our money back, don't waste it on these poor management schmucks who have been fleecing Americans for years now.

Wow I'm hardly ever political on this blog, but man that felt good. Sorry RacerX996, I edited your comment. Those reading this post can also find the original on my Twitter account for your reading pleasure, and to get the full affect.

[Update]

Thanks Christopher Penn.

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In memory of lives lost on 9.11.2001

[caption id="attachment_834" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Remembering Lives Lost On 9-11-2001"][/caption]

It's been seven years since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 took place. Over 3000 lives lost. And many more have been lost in the fight on terror since. Whether you're a support of the current actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, our duty as Americans is to remember the lives lost in New York and Pennsylvania. We should also remember our military men and woman who gave their lives fighting terrorism since that day.

In Memorium

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Worlds Largest Diet Coke Can

  

Worlds Largest Diet Coke Can, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

I took this picture at some road side gas station in Idaho. Couldn't pass it up. I think they must be the biggest soda cans in the world.

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Baddest Bike In The World

Baddest Bike In The World, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

This is one monster machine, the Suzuki Hayabusa. Very cool. Crappy lighting, sorry, phone cam sucks.

- Taken at 12:46 PM on September 04, 2008 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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UTOSC 2008 Was A Smashing Success

The 2008 Utah Open Source Conference was a smashing success in my book. I want to thank Clint Savage, and everyone else involved in putting on the event. Everyone involved had a great attitude and did everything possible to make us feel comforatable. 

I wasn't able to get to the conference until later Friday afternoon, having missed many of the great keynotes on Thursday. I was able to sit in on Howard Taylors address on The Free Content Business Model. Howard is a great presenter no matter the topic. The next presentation was given by Joe Brockmeier on How to bootstrap a community.

On Friday night my wife and I attended the geek dinner for UTOSC guests at Tucanos Brazilian Grill, at the Gateway. Food and fun was had by all.

Saturday started early, 8AM, learning about Ubuntu LTS. Next up was Linux Multimedia. This was probably the best presentation I attended. Mainly because I am interested in creating a home media center. Brandon did an excellent job, despite having sever technical difficluties getting started.

I was able to have lunch (catered by Sugarhouse BBQ), with several friends who were attending the event. I made some great contacts, got some great schwag, and learned a lot. I can't until next year, it's sure to be even better.

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CouchCast Review Of Accelerando

Today we reviewed the Sci-Fi book Accelerando.

If you’ve been reading current science fiction, and particularly if you’ve been reading the discussion around current science fiction, you’ve probably heard of the concept of the Singularity. If you haven’t, briefly, it’s the idea that technological development is an exponential curve, which means that technological change will keep getting faster and faster until it vertically spikes. This is the Singularity, since beyond this point whatever exists afterwards will probably be incomprehensible to those of us who live on this side of the spike.

Visit CouchCast.org for all of our shows. Come and be part of this sometimes wacky, sometimes funny, and sometimes techie podcast. Hosted by Robert Merrill, Matthew Reinbold and Thom Allen.

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The Neighbors

The Neighbors, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Great band playing at Jordan Landing. Mostly classic rock.

- Taken at 9:20 PM on August 17, 2008 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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Monster Bus

Monster Bus, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

I never had a bus like this when I was in school

- Taken at 12:25 PM on August 16, 2008 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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Speaking At WordCamp Utah 2008

I'm excited that WordCamp has been scheduled for Utah. I'm an avid WordPress fan, developer, hack, and bigot. OK, I love other software too, but I really do use WordPress for a lot of projects.

Joseph Scott of Automattic has worked really hard to get this WordCamp going, and I think there is a fantatic lineup of speakers. You will be rocked by Cameraon Moll, Ash Buckles, Alex King, Richard Miller, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, and myself. I'll be talking about using WordPress with podcasts, video and other media.

The event will take place September 27th, at the Novell Open Source Technology Center in Provo, UT. Registration is cheap, includes a t-shirt and lunch. It's on a Saturday so there shouldn't be an excuse for not coming.

If you want to learn more about WordPress, its future, and some of the really cool things that can be done with the tool, please come.

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CouchCast With UTC CEO Richard Nelson

Join us as we interview Richard Nelson, President and CEO of the Utah Technology Council and also the CEO of the Technology Councils of North America, which is TECNA.



Visit CouchCast.org for all of our shows. Come and be part of this sometimes wacky, sometimes funny, and sometimes techie podcast. Hosted by Robert Merrill, Matthew Reinbold and Thom Allen.

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It's Hot And My Brain Is Fried

I hate writing posts like this. I don't really have anything of value to share. I cooked for 20 people on a BBQ. The grill was hot, the weather was, and I had a hard time staying cool. The things we do for our Family. After I was through cooking, I didn't even feel like eating. Here's to hoping I can write another day.

Thanks to EvaMen for the picture.

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Hot New Star Trek MMOG On The Way

According to a CNN.com article, Cryptic Studios Inc. has purchased the license rights to create the game. There had previously been an attempt to create a Star Trek themed game but it seemed to have ended in failure.

Personally, I'm stoked to see this happen. Even the basic premiss of starting as "the captain of a small Starfleet or Klingon Empire ship", and then have to work your way up the chain sounds very fun.

My one hope for the game is there isn't an ending. Space is endless, and so the game should be. Allow users to create their own planets, solar systems and galaxies. This includes species and technology. Being able to extend the game will mean a longer life. Let's hope this happens.

My biggest fear is that CBS sticks their big fat nose into the production somehow. They really don't know how to manage the franchise and seem to screw things up more than they help. So please, CBS, stay out. Let these guys do what they do best. And listen to the fans.

Photo from the CNN.com article, and I originally saw the story on myextralife.com

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Worlds Best Refreshment

Worlds Best Refreshment, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

Nothing like a grande diet coke

- Taken at 6:53 PM on August 05, 2008 - cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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080808

080808, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

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I Lived 080808

Yes, today is 08 08 08. The most significant thing happening today is the 2008 Summer Olympic Games (link is to English version), being held in Beijing, China. Without trying to make some political statement, I'm pretty surprised more athletes or countries didn't refuse to participate. Does that mean something?

A neighbor is getting married today. That will be kinda cool for them, having 080808 as their wedding date. It will definitely be the subject of discussion for years to come.

Today is a Friday, and yeah, I'm working. the weather in Salt Lake City, UT is very cloudy, and in places it's raining.

I purchased a single MP3 from Amazon this morning. It's Tracy Lawrence, Find Out Who Your Friends Are. The cost was $0.99. I heard the song on Pandora.com, and they make it easy to buy songs directly from iTunes or Amazon. I buy a lot of songs this way.

What are you doing on 080808?

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Modern Medicine Is Just Hot

Today's note will be fairly short. I just wanted to give a shout out to those in the medical profession. Tonight I watched an episode of Hopkins, a semi reality show about Doctors at John Hopkins Hospital. It's mind boggling what these Doctors are able to do. I have a Daughter who has been on the receiving end of their medical marvels.

No matter how much I bitch and moan about about the cost of medical care, I am glad that people are willing to get their hands dirty to save lives.

Picture courtesy of Gustty

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Could This Be A Hot Solution To My Flickr Post Problem?

If you're a Flickr user, and want to post photos to your blog, you know there is no way to add categories or tags to the post. There could be a plug-in solution, but I couldn't find it. Seriously, I looked for a long time. If there is one that does what I'm proposing, please let me know and I will update this post and back out what I've done.

This solution isn't for the faint of heart. And I'm not 100% sure how secure it is. But I know for a fact it works just like I want. Here is the scenario and my hack:

1. Create a new WordPress user for Flickr posts. Doesn't matter what you call it. Just make sure it has posting rights.
2. Add you blog, or modify and existing entry, in your Flickr account. How to do this is beyond the scope of my explanation.
3. Use the new WordPress user you created in step one in your Flickr blog settings.
4. Modify you xmlrpc.php file that sits in your WordPress root folder, with the below code. It would be in the same place as wp-config.php.

Here is where it gets a little hairy. Find the line which has this code snippet. Mine starts on line 1578, but yours may differ. It's in the function mw_newPost($args):

if (is_array($catnames)) {

foreach ($catnames as $cat) {

$post_category[] = get_cat_ID($cat);

}

}

Just above the code on line 1578, add this code snippet:

if ( $user_login == '*NEW_USER_NAME*' ) {

$catnames[] = '*CATEGORY*';

$tags_input[] = '*TAG1*';

$tags_input[] = '*TAG2*';

}

Save the file. Flickr gives you the ability to create a test post. I would recommend you do that before calling it good. Make SURE to remove any entries in the Settings/Writing/Update Services box before testing or your test post will show up in your RSS feed and anywhere else that you ping a new post.

Now, when you post from Flickr, using the correct WordPress user, you should have an entry in the category you choose, with the tags you want. You can add as many tags, or even categories as you like.

Again, there may be a more elegant solution that I haven't found, but for now this solves my problem. I suppose you could use this for any outside service that uses XMLRPC to post to your blog.

I'm also interested in hearing about potential security issues with this solution.

Photo courtesy of poolie.

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Book Review: It's Your Ship

My personal trainer recommended a book the other day called It's Your Ship, by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. As a former United States Marine, I try and read leadership books written by those who served in the military. I connect with them. I understand their leadership styles and I always learn something.

Leadership comes in many forms. Good leaders make adjustment to their surroundings and the people they are working with. But the principles remain the same. Captain Abrashoff is the kind of leader hard to find in the corporate world.

The style most identifiable, and the one he uses as an example over and over, is giving those that work for him the responsibility, authority and resources to make things happen. He knows you build people up and give them what they need to succeed, and your own success will follow.

There's plenty of example situations, and he does a good job of dissecting both wins and losses. I happen to consume this book by audio CD, and I must admit by the 5th CD I was a little bored. The references to Navy process and protocol was a little much, and it felt like he was losing focus on leadership, and instead droned on about the Navy and his crew.

I whole heartedly recommend this book. Aside from the military flavor, he does play both sides of the isle, indicating how a business can use the same leadership principle he did in the Navy.

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CouchCast With Comasts Frank Eliason

Join us as we interview Frank Eliason, Digital Care Manager at Comcast on how he started something of a phenomenon using Twitter to help people with their Comcast challenges, under the name @comcastcares.

When discussing his experience with social networks, Frank notes that Twittering about people’s fragged modems at work wasn’t the first exposure he’d had with Internet community-building:

My first experience in social media was not listening to Customers, but rather communicating about the health of our daughter Gianna, who was born premature. Years later when she was diagnosed with cancer, we again communicated through our website.

She passed away in 2004, shortly before her 4th birthday. What is interesting is how her website put us in touch with so many great people from around the world. Some of the closest friends I will ever have. In Gia’s memory when possible we work to support many of the charitable organizations that were there for us.

Visit CouchCast.org for all of our shows. Come and be part of this sometimes wacky, sometimes funny, and sometimes techie podcast. Hosted by Robert Merrill, Matthew Reinbold and Thom Allen.

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