MetalFire.com

MetalFire.com was hit by a virus and was completely scrapped.  I’m working to rebuild the site from the ground up.

If you run your own blog using Wordpress software you probably already use pretty permalinks.  When posting links somewhere it’s easier and better to use a short code.  Did you know that you can use the default permalink as a URL shortener in Wordpress even if you are using pretty permalinks?  Here’s how:  Every post has a unique post id.  You can find out the post id simply by looking at the link to edit the post (for authors, moderators, and admins).  Then you format the short code like this:  http://site.com/?p=x  where x is the post id number.

Example:

This blog is at

http://metalfire.com/url-shortening-wordpress/

and since the edit link ends in post=92 I know that the postid is 92 and therefore the shortcode would be:

http://metalfire.com/?p=92

Click on either and it will bring you to

http://metalfire.com/url-shortening-wordpress/

You want to use the short URL on sites like Twitter where you have a 140 character limit on posts.

Yes, it’s that simple!!!!

Testing out wordpress yet again. This post will be deleted soon.

In less than 20 minutes analog TV will be no more. Goodbye 20th century…

Windows 7 Under Construction

So, I just finished installing the new Ubuntu on my office computer.   I had a license for Vista from another computer but it wouldn’t install.  I wanted to use the copy of XP I put on it for another computer so I gave up on having Windows on the computer at all.  That is….until now.  It seems that Microsoft just released release candidate 1 for free until June 2010.  Now when June 2010 hits it will start doing things to let you know it will stop working soon.

You do need a license for it but Microsoft is providing them for free.  The only catch I could find was that they required a Windows Live ID (Microsoft Passport).  I’m not sure if there will be any limit (like one per windows live id) or not.

The only thing I’m afraid of with this new Windows is the death of XP.  Vista is OK but I think Windows 7 will be better.  It’s XP that I will miss.  XP runs better on slightly older machines.  The only reasons my old laptop is running Ubuntu rather than XP are licensing (I wanted to use that copy of XP for another machine) and the virus problem (XP needs a lot of Antispyware and Antivirus protection).   Both XP and Ubuntu run fine on a Pentium III 800Mhz Laptop with only 256MB of memory and a 10GB hard drive, although the Windows programs keep clogging up the hard drive and Linux programs tend to let you know what they put where.  Windows 7 includes an XP mode which I’ve heard both good and bad things about.  I would rather they have revamped XP with some new tools and called it Windows 7 Netbook Edition or something like that. What would really have been cool would have been to release XP to the public for free but we all know that won’t happen

The last couple of times I came up with ideas that I wanted MySpace to implement, they did so.  They also came up with MySpace apps which were a pain in the ass at first.  Interesting sidenote:  I actually knew about MySpace apps a couple of months before they implemented it because of my involvment in the developement side of social networking at the time.

Anyway in the past I asked for the following from MySpace and got them:

1) Photo albums like Facebook had
2) Photo tagging like Facebook had
3) status updates / friend updates like Facebook had
4) the ability to view more than 250 bulletins.
5) the ability to make individual sections of myspace private or available to certain groups
6) making a separate app request section in mail like facebook had so that our comments and messages wouldn’t be full of them.
7) autosaving of drafts like some other sites have (they still need to work on this) searchable messages (still needs to be worked on)
9) security against bad external links (still needs to be worked on)
10) the ability to move modules around like in Spaces
11)  Make MySpace mobile a website instead of a closed application and make it free.
12)  You should have the ability not only to block apps but to block your likeness and name from being used on them.  I don’t like the idea that someone can “own” someone who blocked the program.

So here’s my list this time:

Myspace:
1) The ability to tag someone in a blog like you can in Facebook
2) Inbox folders (because Inbox, sent, and saved) just aren’t enough
3) the ability to create blank html box modules like Wordpress or Blogger
4) a calendar in the blog section…EVERY OTHER BLOGGING SITE HAS THIS
5) better implementation of RSS
6) the ability to do MySpace IM from the web and have it save chats on the myspace server
7) not masking external links but instead post-processing like Yahoo does in their e-mail You should be able to directly to the default pic and comment on it like on Fubar and other sites
9) the ability to sift through bulletings by assigning user groups
10) in myspace mobile you should be able to view pictures in bulletins
11)  someone should write an app that simulates the MUMMs from Fubar

Livejournal:
only one request for this site:
fix the mobile version of LJ.  That’s it.  Make it work and I’ll be happy.

Facebook:
1) organize the news feed on the home page better.  It’s a mess.  It should have dates next to the events and be organized by date.  It should also have the ability to view or not view types of events by clicking somewhere.
2) Inbox folders (because inbox and sent aren’t enough)
3) Give us a bit more control over the whole profile page like we had before.
4) Make it easier for us to find our friends and stop limiting the number of friends we can add
5) let us decide what parts of our profile to be made visible and to whom.  This whole regional thing is rediculous.
6) Notes should have a calendar.
7)  Very important and this one MUST be done:  Move the group messages to another folder besides inbox.  Sometimes I don’t even look at my facebook inbox because it’s cluttered with group messages.

WordPress.org:
1) implement OpenID
2) Have a centralized user database from friend’s list that admins can opt the sites into.  Wordpress.com would work.  Really, it’s not that hard.
3) Give it the ability to log into MySpace and get import the blogs from there.  It could make friend’s only blogs private until a friend’s list system can be implemented.
4) Implement a better way to view WordPress sites on mobile phones.

I’m sure I’ll think of other things after I’ve made this list.

So I’m testing out this new quickpress thing to see how fast it is. So I’ll just steal a link to an image off of the Ubuntu site and post it here.

Ubuntu example

And now for something completely different….

Yay!  Media Portal 1.0 (for Windows) is finally done!!!!  It’s out today.  Team MediaPortal has finally release a full release of their media center.

I know it seems crazy to be exited about a software release but hey, I’ve been using this program as a media center for over 2 and a half years!  And did I mention this program is free…

They are already working on version 2.0.  They wanted to stabilize a release of 1.0 first and then continue work on version 2.

Justin

oh yeah, I forgot…. http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

Yay….I actually reformatted my really old laptop (from like 2001 or 2002) and put Ubuntu 8.10 Linux on it.  I am now running brand new software on it and it’s so damn fast because I don’t have to use anti-virus software like I did with Windows.  I’ve actually got it running as fast as it did back when it was new with Windows ME on it (yes, Windows ME that buggy piece of crap released between 98 and XP, uggghh).   The only problem I’ve noticed is that the shutdown doesn’t work properly on it???? Other than that and the weird partitioning issue (had to make it 2 partitions because of the crappy old bios in it).  But I mean hey, to get a Pentium III 800Mhz Laptop with only 256MB of memory and a 10GB hard drive run that damn fast was worth it.  [tech note: partitions are sda1 : 7GB, sda5 :2.5GB (mounted at /home), and the rest as sda6/Swap. ]  Now if I can get the damn thing running as a media center….  Oh wait, one more weird issue—-it won’t show the battery status.  Now that’s an issue.  I’ll have to look more into that because using it to take notes might be difficult if I don’t know how much power it has.  I guess the Handheld PC is better for that purpose anyway.  In any event I now have a computer running that I didn’t have before and it has all the standard crap with a full office suite, which is basically what I had running on it under Windows but the anti-virus software was slowing it down to a crawl and the software on it (especially office) was really old.  Oh and it’s nice to hook up a USB flash drive or USB hard drive without it complaining about not being USB 2.0…

This is why you need an antivirus program when you use Windows.  I had one of these hit my other computer in October so bad it was easier to reformat than to try and fix.  I wondered what what happen with Kaspersky if I ever encountered one of these.  You don’t have to even click on any strange links to get one of these.  A simple visit to a regular site like MySpace’s home page is all it takes.

Justin