Author Archives: NeoSmart Technologies

A Clarification on WordPress

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
9

Day before yesterday, we posted an article about how WordPress was king of the blogging world, and how close to impossible it would be for it to lose its position. Amongst the comments, trackbacks, emails, and pingbacks directed our way, we find it necessary to clear up some points. For sake of communication and clarity, we’re using bullets to explain:

Most importantly: that wasn’t a review of WordPress. Just a discussion about how WordPress amongst others “spoils” developers!

  • WordPress isn’t necessarily the best engine, just the best platform. The difference is, it might not have the best code and features out there, but as a product together with its community, resources, and developers, it’s the platform for you to use.
  • The reason why WordPress will find it much easier to remain at the top compared to others that have taken the fall is that it’s open source, friendly, and free. That means people are more willing to help it out. Business 101: “open & flexbile” companies take much more and much longer to fail than “closed & rigid” companies do.
  • We’re not saying WordPress will remain the best product, but that even if a far better product came out (like the promising new-comer: Habari), WordPress will remain the tool of choice simply because of how widespread and prevalent it has become.
  • WordPress is not a company, it’s an open-source project. Automattic is the company. They come together, but WordPress is a separate entity, that continue developing and improving with or without Automattic. Don’t confuse the two.

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Atom isn’t RSS!!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
6

For the last time: Atom isn’t some new version of RSS! It’s not a different kind of RSS and it’s not some alternative-form of RSS either! Atom is one RDF-compliant standard, RSS is another. They have absoloutely nothing to do with one another, and they’re not compatible! You can’t mix and match the two, and pretending they’re one and the same only makes things worse for you and your readers. Nor is it a “sub-format” of RSS. Just because the both serve the same basic purpose at-heart, it doesn’t mean you can say they’re one and the same – that’s like saying OS X is another format of Windows!

What makes it extra-embarassing is when a blogging engine, attempting to sell itself to the more “technically advanced” bloggers out there, has this as a “selling point:”

RSS Syndication

With RSS, your content can be made available for syndication.  ExpressionEngine supports all major RSS formats, including the new Atom format.

Umm.. Hello? So much for “redefining the standard for publishing systems.” Somehow we don’t think that’s what pMachine had in mind when they made that tagline up for ExpressionEngine, their new up-and-coming blogging platform.

“Car 2.0?”

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
7

It looks like Bloggers and tech start-ups aren’t alone in going for smooth curves, design refreshes, and a new, prioritized take on how things look to the audience just as much as how they feel and what they do: automobile manufacturers have just joined the game! Case-in-point: the new Ford Interceptor. Talk about different!

It’s still a Ford, though it looks more like a cross-breed between a Mustang (the top of the car), a Cadillac (the overly deep body), and a BMW (the wheels and the rear – from what we can see of it). It looks rather eerie, and only too fragile.

According to MSNBC, this is part of a new plan by Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors to attempt to regain market share lost to Japanese automakers. It seems they don’t understand it’s not just about the way things look, it’s also about how reliable they are and how good of a name they have to back them. Give the average American a choice between equally priced BMWs and Cadillacs, you shouldn’t be surprised by the result.

WordPress 2.0.6 and FeedBurner Disconnects

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
14

This article provides a workaroud for WordPress 2.0.6 and chronic FeedBurner disconnects. It’s essential that you upgrade to WordPress 2.0.6 immediately in order to prevent your blog from being taken over by hackers! Upgrade, then follow these instructions to get it to play nicely with FeedBurner afterwards.

The Problem

After upgrading to WordPress 2.0.6 or WordPress 2.1 Beta, your FeedBurner feed will, at times, give you an “invalid xml” error, and “FeedMedic” will show you something like this:

Your server disconnected us before sending the full source feed content. If your blogging platform is TextPattern, this is a known bug, and a fix can be found here: http://forum.textpattern.com/viewtopic.php?id=11247

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How WordPress Spoils Developers

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
21

When you’re done reading this article, check out our clarification for more info.

WordPress took the online world by surprise. Undoubtedly the single most influential tool in the blog-boom, WordPress has not only revolutionized the web as we (used to) know it, but also completely changed the daily ins and outs of web development forever. It’s not just about the power and perfection of the package, but also the coding standards, community benefits, and open source modeling. In short, WordPress has changed the face of web scripting for everyone.

The most obvious impact WordPress has had – on everyone – is that there really isn’t much room for another blogging platform. No matter how good of a competing product someone might make, it’s near impossible for anything to ever overtake WordPress as the tool of choice for the job – no matter what that might be. WordPress isn’t perfect, and we’re the first to admit it. It certainly isn’t the most lightweight blogging platform nor is it the ultimate CMS, but that most definitely hasn’t stopped it from conquering the market.

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EasyBCD: 100% Clean Award

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
Reply

It takes bigger and more complex programs a little longer to be verified 100% clean, but EasyBCD has just been branded “100% Clean” by Softpedia’s product review team.

Not that anyone ever questioned the authenticity nor has it ever given anyone reason for concern, but it’s always good to have independant 3rd party verification from a trusted source.

You can download EasyBCD from Softpedia here — be sure to rate it while you’re there!

Opera is Good to Bloggers

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
1

Generally speaking, the one sector of the online world where websites attract far more attention & traffic than money is the blogosphere. Whereas other websites stand to benefit quite a bit from the meager investments they put into their site in the first place, bloggers must work long and hard for their 15 minutes of fame. And let’s face it: it doesn’t usually pay off (money wise).

That’s not to say that all bloggers are necessarily poor and hungry (ok, well maybe that’s exaggerating it a bit, but you get the point), but if you were to do a survey, you can bet the sites that pay more to stay up than they get via AdSense or YPN are blogs and the bloggers that own them. Another fact of life is that, for most people, seeing a website 5 minutes out-of-date isn’t that big of a probelm – especially when you keep in mind that around 90% of the internet is static, more or less.

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Performancing and PayPerPost!?!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
2

OK, a bit late it may be, but it’s the holiday season – we shouldn’t even be posting at all! (Just kidding of course, we’re always here, and always hard at work). But anyway, why!? Why did Perfomancing, one of the very best online services for bloggers, have to be bought up by the nasty, cheating, and totally immoral PayPerPost!?

For those of you not in the know, PayPerPost accquired Performancing on December 25, 2006 (Welcome to 2007 everyone, btw!), and are making sure everyone knows about it. Performancing is a great, friendly, and honest company; PayPerPost made their money through dishonest, bribery, and deception. Whereas Performancing was an honest service that most bloggers were proud to be a part of, PayPerPost’s very essence involved shame and denial – what a match!

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EasyBCD 1.52 Re-Uploaded

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
2

EasyBCD 1.52 has been re-published following a minor bug in the installer that would occasionally result in a failed install if TweakVI was queued to be downloaded & installed. The error has been corrected, and hopefully there aren’t any more issues that need immediate attending to until 1.6 comes out with quite a few new features.

(Re-)Download EasyBCD 1.52

How to Burn or Mount Almost Anything — For Free!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
14

Anyone that uses Peer-to-Peer networking software, beta-tests, or downloads more often than they brush their teeth, has (on one or more occasion) found the need to burn or mount a file. Sometimes the file is of a normal and commonly-used format, but not always. Everyone knows how to burn an ISO file, but knowing what to do with that mdf or pdi certainly might come handy one day – especially if you can do it for free and without having to waste a CD/DVD!!

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