Blogsome not as good as I originally thought

My quest to not have my own server has been foiled. To do what I want with my blog I'm going to have to either run the site from my house or find a decent host (GoDaddy.com just increased storage space - $4 for 5Gb).

Issue #1
Blogsome uses a multiple user version of WordPress and has placed a template manager (Smarty) between the php code and the template. However, the template tags need to be created with Smarty to link to the WordPress PHP code and it seems there are a lot of tags missing that would make Blogsome a really great system to use. Most of the WordPress tags are supposed to work in Blogsome - but, after seeing all the issues on the forum and experiencing it for myself, most of them don't.

Issue #2
Another issue is the XMLRPC problem where a "\" is placed in the front of every double or single quote. So if your main method of posting items is from an application that uses the Meta Weblog API, such as Flickr and Flock, then Blogsome is almost unusable.

Issue #3
It appears that email is not an option. Though I have the ability to add pop3 settings it doesn't actually work.

Flickr Adds Photo Printing

It seems that Flickr has added the ability to print photos. It doesn't come as a shock since Yahoo recently buddied up with Target to offer photo printing. I had been a fan of using Walmart to print my pictures - cheap and easy - but Flickr's prices are now pretty comparable to Walmart.

Flickr also gives many more options in the sizes of the photo such as a 4xD photo. The "D" sizes are more suited for digital camera pictures so there's no extra cropping of your already lopped off heads. I've put together a little comparison and included SmugMug since I'm thinking of using either them or Flickr. Though Flickr now has an extra plus for them because I can pick up my photos at Target and don't have to pay for shipping - or wait for them.

Size	Flickr	Walmart	SmugMug	Recommended Resolution
4x6	$0.15	$0.15	$0.25	900 x 600
5x7	$0.59	$0.58	$0.99	1050 x 750
8x10	$1.99	$1.96	$2.99	1500 x 1200
20x30	$19.95	n/a	$21.99	4500 x 3000
5x5	$0.99	n/a	$0.99	750 x 750
4xD	$0.20	n/a	$0.25	900 x 600
5xD	$0.65	n/a	n/a	1050 x 750
8xD	$2.15	n/a	$2.99	1500 x 1200

Blogsome, WordPress, Blogger

I started using Blogger a while ago just for fun and have accumulated a certain set of requirements.  First I don't want to have to host it and it must be free.  Other than that there are 5 main items that I would like to have.  I've become accustomed to doing posts via email - have only used Bloggers editor a few times.  The template must be fully editable.  I don't need serious stats but I'd like to know approximately how many hits I'm getting.  I'd like to have the ability to set up other pages within the blog.  And finally I'd like to categorize all my wonderful, insightful, extremely knowledgeable and useful blog posts.

There are a ton of blog systems out there but I'm just looking at a few - Blogsome, WordPress, Blogger.  Here's the breakdown.

	Blogsome	WordPress	Blogger
EMail	Yes - Must have pop3 account	No	Yes - Easy to setup
Template	Yes	No	Yes
Stats	Yes	Yes	No - but can do your own
Pages	Yes	Yes	No
Categories	Yes	Yes	No

Looks to me like it's time for a change.

Flock

Flock, a new browser based from Mozilla, has released a pre-beta version. After just a few minutes of looking at it the browser seems to be taking the best of what Firefox is and adding all the social services. Favorites can be integrated with Del.icio.us, clicking a toolbar button brings up a blog editor from which you can choose all the blog accounts that you have set up, and you can drop photos from flickr into your blog post via the blog editor interface.

The only down side so far is that I'm prompted with a login box for del.icio.us every time I open the browser. All I have to do is hit enter but that's a bit annoying.

The blogging thing is nice, has some nice features, but I'm not sure how useful it is since most blogging can be done via email now. A little GMailThis! toolbar bookmark works just fine. However, if you're going to post a lot of pictures in your blog the best way would be to load them into flickr then just drop the photos into your text in the Flock editor - very easy and very cool.

I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface with just a few minutes of looking at this but it could very well be my next browser.

Link

A Beep in the Night

Here's a little break down.

~5:00am - BEEP!  Ugh, one of the smoke alarm batteries is dead.  But which one?  I stand in the hallway to listen for another beep but one doesn't come - I go to bed.

BEEP!  Looks like it's every 5 minutes, I note the time and lay back down.  4 minutes later I get up and stand in the hallway.  5 minutes go by and I walk back into the bedroom to look at the clock - BEEP!  #@$%!  Ok, so it's 10 minutes not 5.  I note the time and lay back down.

5 minutes later BEEP!  Alright, so it's 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes.  Forget it, I think I know which one it is so I take that smoke alarm down by unplugging it from the house and removing the batteries (which required a trip downstairs for a screwdriver).  I set the alarm on the counter and walk away - BEEP!.  Stupid thing is still beeping with zero power.  I go out and stick it in the car.

10 minutes later BEEP!  Wrong alarm.  I take another one down and put it in the car as well (hearing a faint beep as I close the door).  I'm fairly positive I won't be hearing a beep again and can now get some sleep.

10 minutes later my son wakes up.

ASP.NET Jumpstart: Introduction to the Media Share Library Starter Kit

"The Media Share Library Starter Kit enables you to easily create an application that allows registered users to present a collection of media items (such as movie DVDs, music CDs, books, and more) for other registered users to borrow. Users will be able to look through a library of items collectively held by the group using the application and request to borrow specific items from the registered owners of the items. The idea of the Media Share Library Starter Kit is to provide you with a framework that you can use to quickly organize a library collection that can be shared with a larger group of people."

Link

Inquisitor

A pretty good search tool that uses ajax.  I really like how they are probably writing a cookie for whatever search term you type in so that if you hit the back button the text you typed is still there.
Link

Google aggregator

Google has added reader.google.com to their list of services.  The interface for Googles' Reader is very similar to GMail and Google Groups, uses Ajax, labels, the ability to star an item, blog it, or gmail it.  I have all my feeds sorted into folders in NewsGator and when I imported them through an OPML file Reader took all the folder names and automatically made them labels.  I'm an avid user of NewsGator and I like seeing all of the articles for my feeds in one list.  That way all I have to do is scroll down and scan the items to see if anything is interesting.  With Reader I have to click the title of an article to see the article - a little annoying.

But it's not too bad - especially for it's first day in beta.

Fasterfox

Performance and network tweaks for Firefox.
Link

Ning

Ok, this is pretty cool.  Ning gives you the ability to take some of the more popular social websites and fully customize them and host it on ning.com.  Link

Degradable Ajax

Interesting article on using ajax but still allowing your page to be viewed by browsers that don't support it.  Link