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Netflix and Xbox: Awesome!

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Prepare to never watch cable TV again. For that matter, prepare to never go to the video store, buy a DVD or even leave your couch ever again! If you have an Xbox 360, there is NO reason why you shouldn’t splurge and get the new Netflix feature that runs on your dashboard (you have to get the new Xbox dashboard, NXE).

What is amazing about this is that if you have an Xbox 360, you can access your Netflix account and watch movies streaming instantly to your tv through the Xbox. You get access to Netflix substantial online library (over 10,000 movies) but what is more interesting is that they are adding HD and Blu Ray grade films to their library – which means you won’t have to rush out and buy a Blu Ray (or PS3) player anytime soon!

All you need is:

  1. Internet connection
  2. Xbox 360 (with NXE dashboard) and Xbox Live Gold Membership (about $48 per year)
  3. Netflix account ($8.99 per month)

Once you have these three items, access the Netflix feature on your Xbox dashboard under “video marketplace”. You will get an access code. On your computer, log into your Netflix account (www.netflix.com/activate) and punch in the access code you got from your Xbox. Voila! You are now ready to start adding movies to your queue to watch instantly on your Xbox.

Enjoy! But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Upgraded to WP 2.7

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Just upgraded to WordPress’s new 2.7 software. Looks great as they have totally overhauled the backend and the way you can use the admin cp.

Haven’t tested out all the bugs yet and get a feel for it, but there are a few problems that you should be wary of off the bat. Not all plug-ins work – so before you upgrade, make sure you deactivate all plugins.

For example, the Drop-Down Admin plugin and the Tiny MCE Advanced plugins were not compatible with my 2.7 upgrade. I wasn’t able to access the left side menu on the admin cp (Drop Down Admin must have negated that somehow as when I deactivated it, I found it) and I couldn’t access the “visual” feature for posts (it seems the Tiny MCE Advanced plugin conflicted as well).

I have now deactivated all plugins and will bring each one online one by one in order to see which work.

Some Interesting Gifts for the Holiday Season

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It’s that time of year again – time to feel the crunch of getting gifts for everyone on your list. This is easily the most stressful time of year for us as we look to keep everyone on our social networks happy. Really the best thing you can do for a loved one is not just buy them something but rather, make them something. Like they say, you can give your money, but giving your time is something else.

That said, here are some pretty cool gifts you may want to consider – for yourself or for whomever. Some of them are what I would consider big tickets, but they could be a gift for a family as opposed to just an individual.

  • Flip Mino – ranging in price from $180 to $200, this tiny little gadget allows you to film whatever you like, up to 60 minutes of footage. It has a nifty little switchblade USB for easy uploading to your computer. It also comes loaded with software that make it a snap to upload to YouTube.
  • Milwaukee M-Spector Digital Inspection Camera – wanna feel like a spy? Put the power of an over-budget action film into the palm of your hands as you use this nifty little device to look in between walls, under doors, and in car engines to diagnose problems. You can get really creative with the uses of this device – but I will leave that to you.
  • Sorapot – This architectural beauty merges the art of tea with modern feeling. It can be an heirloom piece that could be passed down throughout your family – novel idea. Great gift for the sophisticated, health conscious and wise!
  • Silver Sonic XL – Yeah, I just saw the infomercial on this one. I remember a similar product advertised last year and I thought it would be an excellent product for someone who is hard of hearing but also for someone who likes to watch TV when everyone else has gone to bed. Or maybe someone who wants to practice stalking. He, he, he.
  • The Roku player for Netflix – Simply an amazing idea. What if I told you that you could watch any movie you wanted on your TV whenever you wanted? Well, that is what this little device can do for you and it is only $100 to buy. That’s it. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you can use this little device in tandem with your membership and get access to Netflix’s total library. Never go to the movies again – or even the video rental store!
  • Electronics Workshop 1 – This is a great way to get your kids interested in science and in tinkering with things. It is for all the techies in all of us – but this comes with a story. You read the story and as you read it, you recreate the experiments that go along with the story – a novel (I know, bad pun!) idea. I want one for myself!
  • EasyBloom Plant Sensor – Give the gift of gardening! This is a pretty amazing little device that I think could have future applications that may take this to a new level. What it does is it analyzes your soil and environment and helps you estimate the optimum growing potential of your garden.
  • Admetior Digital Spoon Scale – Tired of trying to figure out how much is a splash, a dash, or a touch? Well, this little spoon gives you measurements of your favorite herbs and spices by weight – to the nearest gram. This won’t get you an audition on Top Chef or anything, but it will help.
  • Polar FT80 with GPS – This watch helps you collect data to optimize your work out and training sessions. It really helps with cardio training as it tracks your heartbeat. The watch also looks nice and you can wear it out. Plus, this model has a GPS feature which is helpful in measuring distance running, etc. There is also a cheaper model without the GPS.

If you find any other great gift ideas – please leave comments. As always, remember to check woot.com as they have great stuff on sale all the time – it is like Black Friday everyday!

Embed YouTube Videos into WordPress MU

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I am in love with WordPress MU, as most of you know out there. Love it, love it, love it. I get giddy just thinking about it.

That said, there are a lot of limitations. For starters, you have to modify themes you upload on your computer then upload the modified version to be used on your site – and since your MU site will host endless blogs over it, you can really only use one theme for all your sites. If you wanted to make any changes to an individual theme, you would have to customize it then upload it for that particular blog. But, I am sure there is a way around all of that but I digress.

For now, I want to show you what I found as to how to embed videos to your posts on your blogs in WordPress MU. You have to just download a file and manipulate a little code.

Using your favorite editing software, download the file kses.php from your MU install (wp-includes/kses.php). Search for the code that looks like:

add_filter('content_save_pre', 'wp_filter_post_kses');

And simply comment it out like this:

add_filter('content_save_pre', 'wp_filter_post_kses');

Upload the modified kses.php file and voila! You are ready to embed video to your MU blog posts!

Supercrunching: Another Reason to Pay Cash

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Let’s face it, as we advance technologically, our privacy disappears. And in its stead we have a new version of discrimination – only this time it isn’t by a person or a group of people, but rather by a cold “unbiased” machine such as a computer linked to a data base.

What am I talking about? Well, I am talking about “super crunching” which requires large amounts of data to be collected, compiled and spit out about people and the information will describe their actions, buying patterns, past history, etc. In fact, some of the information that is collected on you you may not even recall yourself!

I recently listened to a program on Coast to Coast that interviewed a Yale professor who seems to be very supportive of this – which to me seems pretty naive. It cannot be solely a positive thing; regardless of how we may feel about it it is here. Google is a pretty good example of this as Google is a private company that wants to catalog and store as much information as it can. Other companies use these large databases of information for many purposes, such as to estimate your “pay pain” or how much of a discount you would need to purchase your product. Based on the data compiled, they can formulate a picture of you and your future and place in society and determine your economic footprint.

It is a tool that can be used for both good or for evil. Fears about insurance companies accessing your spending habits may lead them to increase your rates because you are buying alcoholic products or perhaps buying lots of fast food. Regardless, this information can be used against you in some situations which begs the question – why not pay cash for everything? After all, our economy is crumbling and it is based on creating debt and not acquiring savings. If you pay cash for everything not only are you exercising good economic principles for yourself (and the economy in which you live) but you also keep private your spending habits so companies can’t get a hold of this information.

Unless you willingly give it out – such as with surveys, etc.

It is interesting to note, however, that as data storage technologies advance, our privacy deteriates. The more data that can be stored and accessed the easier it is to compile this data and the more it will be used. And you thought keeping up with your credit report was a problem.

WordPress 2.6.3 Is Out

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Another call for upgrades. After recently releasing version 2.6.2, and annoying the heck out of me to upgrade, WordPress goes and releases version 2.6.3. And yes, annoys the heck out of me by telling me to upgrade.

However, it is simple to do an upgrade. WordPress gives you their handy Three Step Guideline. Simply put it is:

  1. Unzip the file
  2. Upload the latest contents of the wp-includes and the wp-admin folders.
  3. Upload the root contents of the latest version (ex: index.php, license.txt, readme.html, wp-app.php, etc.)

Don’t just overwrite your current wp-content folder with the new wp-content folder (from version 2.6.3) because you will overwrite everything and that could mess up any modifications you may have made (plugins, themes, etc.). Those files must be handled one by one.

Then finally, just log back in to you admin panel (http://example.com/wordpress/wp-admin/upgrade.php) and you should be set. If not, you may have to take the settings from your old config.php file and write them to the new config file (wp-config-sample.php, located in the new version files). If that is the case, just simply take your old settings (config.php), place them in the new config file (wp-config-sample.php), rename the new config file (to, you guessed it, config.php) and then upload it (overwrite when asked). That should do the trick.

To the Miami Arena: Schmapped!

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To the Miami Arena

Originally uploaded by jonnylons

I just learned that this photo got on Schmap Miami. I was informed in a message to my Flickr account and was asked permission. Pretty cool, actually, to know that some random picture I took is being broadcast onto a public website.

Then again, isn’t everything on the web public? You betcha!

If you want to visit Schmap, go here.

Converting Your InvisionFree Board to SMF

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This is something I had to grapple with recently, but for the “hobbyist” web designer, as I consider myself, this is how you do it step by step.

You will need a couple of things before you begin.

  1. An InvisionFree message board (IF).
  2. The latest installed version of Simple Machines Forum (SMF) on your host.
  3. Access to your MySQL database (password is enough).
  4. The InvisionFree to SMF converter.

Once you have all these necessary items, begin by reading the next section.

Step 1 Uploading the Converter Packet

Using your FTP, upload all the IF to SMF converter files – there are basically two for this process. Since you are using an IF board, you will have retrieved the converters for IPB (Invision Power Board) 1.3. IF, previously, was using IPB as the basis for their free system, and the IPB version was from 2003 (!). So the converter packet will reflect this.

Take both files (convert.php and invision_to_smf.sql) and upload them to the same directory as your SMF is installed on your host (should be something like www.yourexample.com/forum).

Step 2 Getting the old IF data

You will need both the path to the SMF board you installed and the path to where you data is on the old board at IF. To do this, you must log into your Admin CP at your old IF board and navigate to InvisionFree Network > Support Ticket. Once there, request your data from your old IF board – you will have to pay a fee, depending on the size of your board (IF support takes PayPal). They will provide you with a link – very important (see next step).

Step 3 Accessing the Converter

Now you can begin the conversion, which is simple. Navigate to where you uploaded your converter packet – again, it is the same file on your server as where the SMF board is located: www.yoursite.com/forum/convert.php. It should loook something like that.

Once there, you will be asked for the path of your SMF board (it should auto-detect that) and the path of your old board (use the link that IF support gave you for your data dump). Type in the password to MySQL and voila! You just made your conversion, you little genius!

Working on new themes…

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Well, things will be changing quite a bit on my website here. This is not only to let you, my dear reader, know but also to document what the heck I was doing on my Sunday afternoon off.

To update your themes for WordPress, you have to go and find new themes. You can do that here.

The next thing you need to do is download the file to your computer. Once you have done that, unzip/decompress the file so you have it ready for upload.

Then, finally, upload via your FTP to your website’s server. You need to locate the file wp-content/themes. That is where all your default themes are. Upload the unzipped/decompressed theme files there.

Next, your login to your WordPress ACP (admin control panel). Go to Presentation and select your themes there. Voila! New digs!


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