Show Featured Image After Shareaholic - WordPress

Placing a featured image before the first content paragraph but after the Shareaholic social sharing links plugin. This is pretty simple, but just in case someone needed a quick solution, here is the code. In my case, my theme didn't support this, and I created a child theme so I could update without overwriting my custom changes. It's always smart to create a child theme.



My other Github code.

Link to image here.

read more...

30-day Geek Challenge: Your Geek Inspiration

read more...

Encrypting Evernote Notes

I use Evernote for just about everything. But one thing that I fear is someone breaking into my account, or their server, and accessing private data. I want to keep more personal info in Evernote because that's where most of my life resides. I wanted to share a quick way to

read more...

Today In Tech History - June 6: Tetris Is Born

Today in Tech History:

Tetris comes to market June 6th, 1984

read more...

Posting via Dropbox

Testing a new WordPress plugin that's let's you write a post using markdown, save it in a Dropbox folder, and WordPress checks periodically to see if there is a new file to Post via Dropbox post.

read more...

Posting via Evernote

Testing Zapier posting to WordPress with Evernote.

read more...

After A Few Days With Amazon fireTV

Once the Amazon fireTV was turned on, and connected my Amazon account without any action on my part, I was excited to get right into it.

The obvious difference between the fireTV and other streaming boxes is the fireTV is based on the Android operating system. The biggest difference with this box over others is the natural integration with Amazon Prime Instant Video. Just like the Kindle where books are the primary interface, Prime movies and TV shows are the primary interface, Netflix, Hulu and others are secondary apps.

Finding items to watch is as simple as speaking into the remote what you want, and it did a great job of finding nearly all the items I searched for. At first it was a little clunky, I was pressing the speak button and letting go then talking into the remote. Nothing was happening. Turns out you need to hold down the speak button until you are through speaking. Either I didn't see the instructions or I was trying to use it like Siri. The other thing that I thought was weird is I couldn't speak my username and passwords when setting up Netflix and Hulu? Seemed like I should be able to do that just as easily as speaking a search.

I like that the remote is very minimalist, however, the ring used to navigate left, right, up and down, should have some kind of arrows on it for those not used to that kind of interface. I was ok but my wife wasn't sure what to do to go back and forth.

I haven't had time to check out games, but I'll get there. I don't see games becoming a huge boon for this device as people aren't trained to use their streaming media box as a game console, they are using their Xbox for that.

Everything about this box is excellent. The thin size, speed, and simple remote make it a great choice. I'm certainly glad I picked it up.

read more...

Why I'm Ditching Roku For Amazon Fire TV

I've been a Roku fan for a while, owning versions 1 through 3 and several variations. I don't have cable TV and use streaming almost exclusively, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu Pro are my main stays. But throw in Plex streaming from a local server and Roku struggles.

The three things that sold me immediately on the Amazon FireTV (affiliate link) were

• Quad core processor - screaming fast


• 2GB of on board memory - reduces buffering


• Voice search - find things without using the crappy single character on screen search

I'm not a gamer, but games are included with this box. I'm sure that will be one way of bringing devs into the fold. I should be getting the device tomorrow and will post what I find, but in the mean time, go buy one right now.

read more...

Let Me Show You How To Spell WordPress Correctly

It's spelt WordPress. See the difference from Word(p)ress?

Believe it or not, I typed in the title of this post into Google, and there wasn't a single post on the first page of results that was just about spelling WordPress correctly.

The WordPress team has spent an incredible amount of time coming up with logo styling and use (here), and I see so many variations of the WordPress logo I can't imaging trying to police the problem. But when I am reading around the net, reading posts, articles, blogs, whatever, and people spell WordPress as Word(p)ress, I just want to scream. Especially by people who know it's spelt WordPress. Not some variation.

Why is this important? Well, it's not really, but it's like spelling my name, which is Thom, not Tom. Even people who have known me for many years write my name as Tom. Thom is my name. Thom is my brand.

When you spell WordPress as Word(p)ress, it loses something, like it's a fake name, like you don't really know what WordPress is.

So here it is. The one post I hope makes it to the top of the search pages, so every knows how it's spelt. Now I need to write a bot to go out on the web and correct all the mistakes.

By the way, the WordPress system automatically corrects the spelling of WordPress. Read more here.

<off-soap-box />

read more...

Apple iOS 7 Translucent UI Needs Help

I installed iOS 7 on one of my iPads today. The first thing that struck me was the change in the way folders and the system tray looked. Honestly, I didn't spend a whole lot of time studying every aspect of iOS 7 so some of this might not have been surprising with a little digging, but this really caught me off guard. As you can see from the image below, the folders and the system tray look skin color. I really wanted to puke. I thought, how could this be!

After my initial shock wore off, I changed the wallpaper and sure enough, the colors showed through what I guess is a translucent UI. I searched the settings to see if there was something that let change the percentage of translucency or even the color, and nope, nothing.

I do like the new fast app switch, but it took me a few minutes to figure out how to close down an app. It's not the old-fashioned way of hold and press the X, you simply perform the Android maneuver of sliding it off the screen. Closed.

 

This isn't a post knocking iOS 7, or Apple. Just my initial observation. I wish for a day I can control some of the UI look on my personal device. But that's another post.

read more...

Guest Hosting The Unofficial KickStarter Podcast KickCast

@KTData invited me to guest host an episode of his KickCast podcast, which is all about KickStarters. You gotta love technology. Here is the video recording of the session.

 


Watch live video from KTDataVision! on Justin.tv

read more...

Review: Learning Java

This is a pretty decent book. I'm new to Java but have an extensive development background.

I appreciated the exercises and examples. The only thing I really struggled with was Eclipse. I haven't used Eclipse in the past and so there was a steep learning curve for me.

I think this is a great book to get a decent understanding of the basics of Java. I will need a different book as a guide as I dive deeper into Java.

* Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this book to review.

read more...

Review: Bootstrap

As more and more opensource frameworks hit the market, few if any contain documentation on their use. The Bootstrap framework has a great website dedicated to the features and simple use. Most throw code in github and call it a day. For some people, a little instructional help or code example and they will be off and running.

I recently completed Bootstrap written by Jake Spurlock. Full disclosure, I know Jake, but he didn't ask me to review this book. I'm interested in Bootstrap and was hoping to find a great reference. While I like web based reference material, the difficulty lies in needing to refer to the online documentation while you are learning or need help. Having a copy of this book in hand is worth the price of admission.

There's nothing earth shattering or mind altering here, but that is a strength I think. Jake walks you through the framework and gives some great examples and potential uses. I rate this book a 4 out of 5, mainly because 5's mean there is no room for improvement, and everyone should have to stretch. This book should be in your library for sure.

 



* Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this book to review.

read more...

Ouya Is Still In Beta Mode

After spending a week with my Kicstarter backed Ouya, I must say, it's still in beta mode. I'm keeping in mind it's a $99 console, but honestly, I didn't want to have to do that. I don't want to make excuses for the device just because it didn't set me back $400.

I let my Son-in-law who is a very avid gamer take it for spin this past weekend, and he wasn't impressed. His first surprise was how cheap-ish the controller felt. Compared to an Xbox controller, he has a point. Second, we tried to play a few games, but they wouldn't load, and we tried to download a few games, but the download speed was so slow that it took an hour to download one game. Again, not impressed.

I'm not calling this device a failure, far from it. I know that it will get better over time. But I certainly thought the software part of the system would be a lot more solid than it is.

read more...

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

read more...

Use Ubuntu To Access A Failed Windows Hard Drive

My daughter brought me her HP laptop that was running Windows Vista, but now won't boot. Like many users, she had years worth of data and no backup. All she wants are the photos and a few assorted documents. After trying various hard drive utilities, with no luck, I decided to try and create a bootable Ubuntu (Linux) USB stick. I know from past experience that booting Linux on a USB stick should get us by Windows but still allow us to get files off the hard drive.

Following these directions (I am using a Mac, but there are options for Windows too), I was able to create a bootable version of Ubuntu 12.10. Rebooting the laptop with the USB stick plugged in, I was able to boot to the USB stick, and start up Ubuntu. And like some kind of magic, the Ubuntu Desktop appeared. Bringing up the File Manager tool, and finding the folder where the photos and documents are located, I was able to download all 20GB worth of files to another USB hard drive I had plugged into the laptop.

Now we can rebuild the system using Windows Vista (because the system was built specifically for Vista, mainly because there aren't any Windows XP/7/8 drivers for the video/network/sound cards.

I might be able to make Windows 7 work, but it will be a stretch. I may just install Ubuntu 12.10 on the laptop and call it good. She'll have a system that is easy to use and will give her fewer problems. I guess it also means I'll have to do a little training.

read more...

Opening Day For Microsoft Store At Citycreek Utah

People are lining up to be one of the first inside the new Microsoft retail store in Citycreek, downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are a few pics.

[gallery]

read more...

Article: Flipboard: Now You Can Publish Your Own "Magazine"

Would you use Flipboard to curate your own magazine? I think its kind of a cool idea. I'm not sure I would spend a lot of time building a magazine product, but I'm sure many will be using it to promote their content. Flipboard: Now You Can Publish Your Own "Magazine" http://readwrite.com/2013/03/26/flipboard-expands-platform-enables-users-to-create-their-own-magazines

Lead image downloaded from the ReadWriteWeb article. It's not used with permission,

read more...

Mobile Cameras No Longer About Megapixels

A feature of the iPhone that is very annoying is the low megapixel rear facing camera. For the longest time I wondered why can't Apple fit a really nice 13MP camera in the iPhone. And they could. But maybe it's not about megapixels any more. I ran across this from HTC today, http://www.htc.com/www/zoe/, the Ultra Pixel Camera, which will appear in the new HTC One. The company claims a 300% performance increase over a 13 megapixel camera. I'm not really sure what that means, but the specs talk about "advanced CMOS Sensor, ISP, and optical lens system that captures significantly more light than most 8 or 13 megapixel cameras."

I know most people are used to measuring a cameras value by the number of megapixels (I am/was one of those people). However, of the picture quality can be improved digitally, then I guess I don't care what the megapixels are, only that it produces a very high quality true image.

This Verge review of the HTC One kinda puts the Ultra Pixel camera to the test and didn't care much for it.

read more...

Android 4.2.2 Arrives For My Nexus 7

This little message popped up when I turned on the Nexus 7 today. w00t!

read more...