Cosmin Ghiu Thoughts

WordPress 2.3 Release Updates

This Monday September 24th 2007 the much anticipated Word Press 2.3 is set to come out. I cannot wait for it since my blog uses WordPress 2.2 and I love this version. Now with the WordPress 2.3 version there are a few great updates from I have gathered.

Tags – Yes Tags are finally part of WordPress. I can not wait to test out the functionality of tags within WordPress. I know there are alot of plugins available for this, but having it as part of the WordPress package will be sweet.

The remaining updates you can read about in a post by Aaron Brazell calle the Top 10 Things You Need to Know about WordPress 2.3.

Happy 25th Birthday Emoticon

 

 

This post is dedicated to the 25th birthday of the first ‘emoticon’. Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes – a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis – as a horizontal “smiley face” in a computer message.

I remember back in 1994 when I first accessed the internet via a Prodigy ISP account on my brand new 133Mgz Packard Bell Personal Computer… I was paying ‘per minute’ to access the internet so I quickly learned what emoticons were

So here’s to all the emoticons that have grown out of the legendary three keystrokes from Mr. Fahlman.

New York Times and Wall St. Journal Dump Pay for View

 

 

Now this is newsworthy.

New York times has dumped their pay for view of articles along with the Wall St. Journal.

Let this be an example to other online edition of newspapers to drop their pay for viewing services as well. Since newspapers began doing this a few years back I have never bothered signing up. Why would I sign up to view an article on the internet when I can do a quick search and find out the news elsewhere for free.

I of all people understand technology is not free and requires dollars to run a website but when it comes to news and press it should be ‘free press’.

Your thoughts?

Top 5 Micro Blog Websites

Have you twittered today?

If you don’t understand what that means then you haven’t heard of ‘micro-blogging’. According to Wikipedia, micro-blogging is:

“Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or the web.”

In other words, it is a new tool that allows you to write as it is known “micro blog” posts. The truth is, many people start blogs, but few actually have the patience and content to write consistent posts with quality content. Also, due to the fact that people for the most part need to access the internet to view your blog post be it directly or via an RSS feed, micro-blogging takes the blog to the cell phone which I am sure you are like myself it is always in your hand!

So to like all new technologies there are a few participants in this niche that provides a service (of course what is nice it always starts off ‘free’).

Let’s begin by giving you the Top 5 Micro Blog Websites so you can create an account and take micro-blogging for a test drive:

 1. Twitter - This is the main player according to the industry currently. It was started in July 2006 and has been growing rapdily ever since. This free service gives you the options to post status updates via Text Messaging (SMS), e-mail, or web browser. The great thing about Twitter is the fact that it has opened its platform to allow third party developers to build applications on top of it! Take a look at my cosmin ghiu twitter account.

 

2. Jaiku – Jaiku is considered the main competitor to Twitter. Most features are similar to Twitter as well. We already seem to have the Google / Yahoo competition brewing!

 

 

  3. Tumblr - My personal favorite due to the fact that it inlcudes a variety of features. Text is a staple, but also photos, quotes, links, chats, videos, and what is nice is the fact that you can select different templates for your micro blog along with being given the option for a ‘custom’ template if you want to get into the CSS of your template.

I also love the clean and elegant design of the site and the great usability factors throughout the website. Of course take a look at my cosmin ghiu tumblr account.

 

 4. Pownce - Pownce is one of the latest entries into this space. It was started by Kevin Rose (Digg.com founder). Besides text messaging, it allows users the ability to share links, files, and events with anyone on their contact list. It has a nice Web 2.0 design and feel to the website. Should be interesting how they continue to grow.

 

5. Frazr – Last but certainly not least is the international entry known as Frazr. This is the Twitter of the French and German markets. Of course it is very similar to twitter in its functionality.

The main reason I put this one last is to highlight the fact that micro-blogging is here to stay! It is not just an American niche but one that is expanding globally as well. According to Wikipedia since May 2007 there are over 110 international micro-blogging websites services. All have similar features with a few bells and whistles extra.

Now only to find a way to penetrate the micro blog directly to mainstream internet users and bloggers. Whatever that formula is, I will be on the lookout.