Global Geek News Blog

Greetings Readers!

As many of you know, WordPress 2.7 launched yesterday.  I immediately updated from my 2.6 installation as I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  I decided it would be a good idea to blog my first impression of the new software with a more detailed post possibly coming later after I have had some time to enjoy the new version.  With that said, here are my thoughts about WordPress 2.7.

Lets start with the upgrade process.  While the upgrade process could have been painless, poor documentation made it a bigger hassle than it should have been.  Unlike previous documentation which told you to copy every file except a certain few such as the ones for plug-ins and stuff, the new documentation doesn’t say that.  It merely says to delete the old WordPress files, not mentioning anything about plug-ins or files that should not be deleted.  This caused me some concern, so I decided to back up all the files from my Geek News Daily podcast before attempting to install.  Come to find out, deleting the old files wasn’t even necessary.  All I had to do was copy everything except the wp-content folder and tell it to overwrite all of the older files.  Doing this allowed me to get all of the new stuff while not deleting any of my themes or plug-ins, something which in the past had been a more painful process.  Had the documentation stated this, the upload and install process would have been rather painless.  After uploading all the new files, upgrading was the same as in the past where you just went to the upgrade page and hit a button.

As soon as I got it upgraded, I started to explore the new UI.  For those unfamiliar with 2.7, the UI is completely changed.  Now you can do things such as make simple posts straight from the dashboard instead of having to go to a new posts page.  I will admit that having the navigation on the left instead of the top takes some getting used to, but the drop down menu system is nice.  There are a couple of things with the new UI that don’t make much sense.  For example, under the Posts drop-down, Edit is placed higher than Add New.  I don’t know about you, but when I go into WordPress, it is mainly to add a new post rather than edit an old one.  That said, I think adding a new post should be given priority in the order of items listed in the Posts tab.  The same goes for pages in the Pages tab.  There is also a new feature called Turbo which supposedly lets you cache all of the images on WordPress to make loading faster.  I haven’t tried this feature yet, but it sounds like a nice one as the new interface doesn’t feel as snappy as the old one.

There is one major feature that is my absolute favorite.  Like the WordPress one click upgrade for plug-ins, you can now do that for WordPress itself.  Doing this will update you to the newest nightly build of WordPress.  This is great compared to the old upgrading method which required you to download the latest version, unpack it, upload it, making sure to save your plug-ins and themes before going to the update page and then updating the install.  Now all of this is handled by WordPress with a single click.  This saves a ton of time and effort and was something that I thought strange it wasn’t included with 2.6 since this functionality was given to upgrading plug-ins.

I have only found one bug so far, and that is that I cant seem to get the inserting of a photo to work properly. In Firefox, the uploading took me away from the blog page which made me lose progress, only to have it go to a blank page when I tried to insert the photo.  When I tried to do this in Opera, it gave the normal pop-up which gave me the interface to upload a photo with while not making me leave the page.  Unfortunately it still didn’t work right.  While I got it to insert the photo into the post, it did not keep the formatting I told it (centered and medium size).  Not only that, but it didn’t put the caption box around the image, instead it just put the caption as regular text next to the image.  To say the least, these bugs are very frustrating.

Those are my first impressions, but so far I really like the new Wordpress install outside of the bad upgrade documentation and very buggy picture uploader.  My only other complaint is that I think the UI could be a bit more colorful as it is rather bland compared to the old versions.  If my opinion of the new version changes, I will be sure to write up a full review of the software.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

With all the excitement surrounding Facebook Connect this week, I thought I would help WordPress users like myself get it working on your site.

If you aren’t sure what Facebook Connect can do for you and your WordPress site, I found a video showing off a Facebook Connect WordPress plugin.

If that is cool enough that you think you want to install it on your blog, you can download the Facebook Connect plugin here.

To see just how to get the plugin up and running so you can utilize Facebook Connect on your WordPress install, here is a how-to video.

That is all you need to integrate Facebook Connect into your WordPress site!

I will be integrating it with the Global Geek News Blog, Global Geek News and Geek News Daily in the next day or two.  Check back to play with it once its up and running!

Follow me on Twitter!

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Readers!

I have some rather suprising news for you today.  I have been banned from Digg.com!  For those who don’t know what happend, I will catch you up to speed before I post all correspondence that I had with Digg support.

Last week I made a wrote one of my insightful blog posts about Cisco’s predictions on internet traffic in 2013.  It happened that a similar blog post from Om Malik made it to the front page of Digg about the same story.  To give Digg readers another view, I posted my link into the comments on I believe it was Thursday.  Due to my inability to link properly, I only got a single person to visit my blog from posting the link in the comments.  Saturday morning I woke up and went to Digg a story that I saw on my Digg RSS feed to find that my account was invalid.  I did some searching to find that all signs of my existence on Digg had been completely removed.  Being completely confused as to what was going on, I contacted Digg support only to find out I was banned.  The following is all of the emails exchanged between myself and Digg support with a few thoughts thrown in.  At the end is my thoughts on the whole issue and I will discuss it further on the next Global Geek News podcast.

Support,

This morning I woke up to find myself logged out of Digg when I went to Digg this story: http://digg.com/space/Giant_Tsunami_on_the_Sun_Captured_By_NASA_s_STERO_Spacecraft
Figuring Firefox just deleted my cookies as it does on occasion, I went to login only to have the strange error claiming my account, pcnerd37 is invalid. Can you shed any light on what is going on? Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Digg’s Response:

Thanks for getting in touch with us at Digg.com regarding your account.

Your account was reported to us for abusive activity in comments. Specifically, spamming Digg comments with your blog “Global Geek News has a great blog post about this story, www.globalgeeknews.com/blog”

As explicitly stated in the Digg.com Terms of Service located at http://digg.com/tos section 5.1 USER CONDUCT:

5.1 By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to use the Services: to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Digg users;
Also, note that in our Terms of Service, we reserve the right to, “Digg may remove any Content and Digg accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all.”

We are willing to unban your account once we receive notification from you that you have reviewed the Digg.com Terms of Service and re-affirm your agreement to those terms.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions.

Thank you,

-The Digg Support Team.

Ok, so I screwed up in two ways on the linking, not only did it not link but I apparently forgot to link to the direct article, but with the story remaining the top post on the blog, the main blog link will still take them to the right story.

Digg Support Team,

I have reviewed your terms of service, which I have always agreed to, and find the complaint without merit. The link which I failed to copy correctly, leaving off the part to the direct article (oops), was for more information on the post in which the comment was left. As a service to my fellow Digg users, I attempted to post a link to a blog post where more information on the dugg story could be found. It was not intended in any way to be “spam”. If you want to get real technical about it, since I left off the http://, it was not even hyperlinked in the comments.

The Terms of Service section you quoted me seems to lack application here as I was not trying to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other digg users. I was merely trying to give them a link for more information on the story which I believe to be in the spirit of Digg. Furthermore, I find actions taking against me were overkill. The appropriate response would be to delete the post and send a warning email, not delete or ban the account. Banning would be understandable if it was a case of repeated “abuse”. I would suggest it is time to review your policies for interacting with loyal Digg users.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I will be podcasting and blogging about this experience on Global Geek News.

Sincerely,
Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Digg needs to better define the terms such as “abuse” that it uses in its terms of service to help avoid confusion. Everything else here is fairly self explanatory.

Digg’s Response:

Hi Jeremy,

In addition to section 5.1 on the Terms of Use, we would also like to specifically direct your attention to section 5.7 which states that you agree not to use the Services:

to submit stories or comments linking to affiliate programs, multi-level marketing schemes, *sites/blogs repurposing existing stories* (source hops), or off-topic content;

Also, the Digg FAQ directly addresses this policy as well:

Is it ok to put my website link as a signature in comments?
No, it is not okay to advertise anything of any kind in the comments section. We ask that, as a story commenter, you keep your comments on-topic to the story you’re currently on. Any irrelevant links, spam, etc. could result in an account ban for the offending user.

-Digg Support

Digg is trying to pull relevant policies out of its butt, but they aren’t doing a very good job as shown in my response email.

Digg Support,

Thanks for your response. As far as your Section 5.7, had I posted the correct link that I meant to (again, oops), It would clearly not be repurposing the story any more than the Digg story which was just a repurposing of a release from Cisco. In regards to your FAQ, there are two main things. First, It states IRRELEVANT links! The intended link, which I will include was not irrelevant. Second, asking and requiring are two different things. Asking implies a courtesy, not a necessity. If you are going to quote it, please reword it to say what you mean. Last, I noticed you completely avoided the issue about how you deal with these situations and Digg users. I find this very curious as most companies that care about their users would have a clear and consumer centric policy when it comes to dealing with users. It is best to keep in mind that it is the users that keep you in business and relations with them should be as plesant as possible. If you look at product surveys, people believe that a large part of product satisfaction is customer service, something that Digg needs to work on. The Townhalls are a great step in the right direction but not enough to create a great user experience with the company.

Again, I would like to reiterate that I have no problem with your terms of service other than some poor wording, but attempting to scew it to a situation it does not apply is simply childish. I would like to give you the opportunity to publicly address these issues, especially how you deal with users on your site on the Global Geek News podcast. I do not have an exact time yet, but I will be bringing up these issues and believe it is only fair and in everyones best interest if I invite a representative of Digg onto the show to state their case and join in on the discussion. If you would be interested, let me know and I will set everything up.

Here is the link to the story that I meant to put in the comment but didnt realize until after the edit period was over that the link was incorrect: http://globalgeeknews.com/blog/?p=39

Sincerely,

Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

They seem to be having a hard time explaining themselves so I give them the opportunity to explain themselves and have a civilized discussion on my podcast. As it appears in the end, they don’t have enough interest to respond to that request. Thy didn’t respond after this email ripping into them, so I figured its time to email them to see what is going on.

Digg Support,

What am I to assume from the fact that you did not return my last email? I have stated I have no problem with your terms of service, yet I am still banned. Why? Unless I hear otherwise, I will assume your lack of a response means that you realized you have screwed up but aren’t willing to admit it. When it becomes apparent that this email conversation is over, that is when I will post my blog about this experience. My offer allowing somebody from Digg to come on the podcast to discuss various issues including its policies for interacting with users and how it defines its terms of service is still open. We typically record live on Thursdays if somebody would be interested in joining us. I finalize all show guests by Wednesday night, so you have until then to make arrangements to be on the podcast if you choose. Whether or not you are there, this will be discussed and I feel it is better for digg to be upfront and deal with this issue in an intelligent and civilized manner. If you choose not to take that path, I wish you luck with the bad publicity that results from the podcast and blog. I look forward to futher communications to resolve this issue in a way that can satisfy both parties.

Sincerely,
Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

I again ask Digg to have somebody on the podcast to talk about these issues but they still don’t respond to the idea.

Digg’s Response:

Hello Jeremy,

Sorry we didn’t get back t you sooner. We have unbanned your account. Please note, however, that your account will remain under review, and any violation of Digg’s Terms of Service may result in a permanent ban of your account.

For more information, please see http://digg.com/faq and http://digg.com/tos.

–Digg Support

Getting unbanned is a partial victory. Since this was the last email they sent to me, I have no idea how long I will will “remain under review.” There are still many other issues that need addressed but at least I can now Digg stories and leave comments (Not that I couldn’t as I do have multiple accounts).

Digg Support,

Thanks for getting back to me. I greatly appreciate being unbanned from my favorite social news website. How long will my account remain under review? All of my points from my previous two emails still stand including my invitation to be on my podcast. Thanks again!

Sincerely,
Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

That is basically everything that has transpired as of this time as it appears they don’t want to email me back or appear on the podcast.  There are still some major issues here, mainly revolving around how Digg interacts with its users.  Banning users with no warning and only giving the error “Invalid Account” is not how to deal with users.  If that wasn’t bad enough, their pathetic attempts to hide behind their “Terms of Service” and “FAQ” is laughable.  Unless there is a huge demand, I will reserve further comment for the next Global Geek News podcast since this is already an extremely long post.  If anybody from Digg reads this, the invitation to be on the podcast is still open but you don’t have much time to respond!  While I am not yet calling for a boycott of digg as I am still a loyal Digg fan, I will say becareful and when you have to deal with Digg, demand a higher level of customer relations than this pathic thing they have now!

Stay tuned for the podcast where I will talk about this in greater detail!

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings readers!

For those that don’t spend their free time staring at their feed readers waiting for something to change, a major story has hit the blogosphere today about the AP issuing a DMCA takedown notice.  The notice was sent to the Drudge Retort, the left wing equivalent of the Drudge Report.  While sending such notices is not uncommon and I have sent a few myself, this heavy-handed action has set the blogosphere on fire as well as force the A.P. to reconsider its policies concerning copyright.  Since I don’t have time to recap the whole issue, you can read up on it HERE and I will continue onto my thoughts.

The real issue here revolves around fair use.  Are people allowed to take small quotes from the A.P. news stories for the purpose of starting a discussion while still linking back to the original story.  If you are looking to understand fair use a little bit better as it applies to this case, it would be a good idea to head over to the post at Ars Technica.  The concept of fair use is one of the most vital ideas to the blogosphere.

The blogosphere largely revolves on the ability to harvest bits and pieces of news from other sources and using them to stimulate a discussion on a topic while making sure to give credit to the original source of the story.  If old media juggernauts like the A.P. can successfully keep people from blogging about news stories they  consider copyrighted or exclusive, this will virtually kill many blog posts that use mainstream media for news on which to put their own spin.  News should be treated as public knowledge, not limited to a single source.  One of the great things about both old and new media is the idea you can choose where you get your information.  Competition brings out the best in everybody!

The line in the sand has been drawn.  On one side you have the blogosphere where people such as Mike Arrington are banning the use of A.P. stories on popular blogs such as TechCrunch and on the other side you have the A.P., an organization that is owned by 1,500 newspapers who wants to cry about something that has been used by many people as a great advantage with sites such as Digg.

Shortly after the story broke and the backlash began, the A.P. decided it needed to set guidelines for using its stories in blogs.  Jim Kennedy, vice president and strategy director of The A.P., called the letters “heavy-handed” and said they were rethinking their policies toward bloggers.  The A.P. hopes to work with the Media Bloggers Association to help define guidelines for the use of their stories on blog posts.  Despite this, the threat still remains to the current way blogging is done.  No matter what solution is reached, it will not please everybody and the bigger the issue becomes, the bigger the publicity headache the A.P. will have.

My advice to the A.P.: It takes seconds for news to spread across the internet so take every link back to your site that you can and be happy with that.

I could go on and on about this, going into each aspect of the story, but I have other things I need to do before I head home.  On the small chance I do a podcast this week, I will likely use some of the time to rant about this.

-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray

Greetings Globlal Geek News fans!

Sorry I haven’t posted a blog in a while, but they will now start appearing on a regular basis, likely daily. Anyway, on to todays topic, blogging!

I came across a story on Scientific American’s website about how blogging is good for you and decided I should give my thoughts on the article. This story is also talked about in the lastest Global Geek News podcast with my co-host Larry and special guest Alana Taylor.

I have been blogging on various topics for a number of years and I must admit, this story came as no real surprise to me. Basically, the article states the various physiological benefits of blogging that seem to be common among most kinds of expressive writing. These benefits include improved memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not. I honestly don’t find this the least bit suprising.

While I find that not everybody shares my opinion, I usually find blogging to be very therapeutic. There are many times when I find a particular topic or situation on my mind that it helps me express my thoughts and relieve stress by blogging. I find that expressing my thoughts on a blog or service like Twitter is a good way of venting or getting feedback about various situations.

Like most all people, I find it far easier to sleep at night if my mind is not racing about something that happened that day. If I type out my thoughts as they occur to me, I find that it becomes easier to fall asleep and stay asleep at night without as many bizarre dreams (assuming I don’t eat an entire pizza right before going to bed).

I do find it interesting that this has become an area of study and a form of therapy by many hospitals and doctors. The end of the article states that many hospitals have started hosting patient blogs as a form of patient therapy and to allow them to connect with other people who have been through similar experiences.

I believe that the community created by blogs can have a great affect on the blogger and readers alike. The ability to have a medium to interact with others that can relate to the same experience you are having is an amazing value to everybody involved. It is a great thing to know that you are not alone when you have to go through situations such as cancer treatment. By bringing other people into your life through a blog, this is also a way to share ideas with other people as well as open yourself up to a new world of possibilities.

So if you don’t a blog, I recommend you start at least one as you could find great benefits in your life.

Don’t forget to check out the latest Global Geek News podcast with Alana Taylor!

Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray