Today we got the notification that netenberg had released the Fantastico updates for WordPress 2.3.1 after having 2.2.2 for the longest time. We’ve recently started using Fantastico to set up our initial installs of WordPress, but had done upgrades manually. Today, we tried the auto update feature for the first time- and have this warning: MAKE SURE TO DEACTIVATE ALL PLUGINS BEFORE RUNNING UPDATE. We’re not totally sure this guarantees an un-borked update, but, we’re pretty sure it helped after we reinstalled.
Fantastico is a script that runs from Cpanel on our server to help you automagically install a whole bunch of different Open Source software. It’s really handy, but, be prepared to be at least 30 days behind on most update packages (37 in this case).
Our main reason to switch to 2.3.1 was to familiarize ourselves with the new version of WordPress before the next seminar, but, I’ll give you the immediate highlights:
- ST Visualize Advanced Features plugin is no longer required- giving everyone access to different levels of CSS tags, the paste from Word function, clean up mess code function, type color, etc. It’s been a plugin we couldn’t live without- esp. for the glyph finder- so it’s easy to find the ©®™½€ etc.
- The plugin list now tells you if there is a newer version! Long overdue.
- The tag feature helps you organize your posts and categories with yet another tool.
I’m sure we’ll discover other great features as we explore- but, as a warning to all- always disable plugins before updating.
Having problems posting often enough? Always on the go when you see something that you want to share? Have a cell phone? Utterz might be the answer.
Although you’ve always had the ability to post via e-mail- without some serious pluginage, you would have a hard time adding cell phone multi-media to a post. Enter Utterz. Snap a pic, record a podcast, or a quick camera video and post it to your WordPress blog (even though they left WP off their FAQ-but use it for their own blog) with a simple call to their number (and yes- you pay for the call).
Utterz – Frequently Asked Questions
Utterz is the first way you can instantly blog your experiences, thoughts and ideas, anywhere, using all the capabilities of your mobile phone. Utterz mashes together the voice, video, pictures, and text you call or send in and creates an ‘Utter’ that can immediately update your existing web pages on sites like Blogger, Facebook, LiveJournal, MySpace and more. [See FAQ how do I grab a widget, how do I use auto-posting and how do I embed my Utter?]
Just remember, if you are posting (utterz) of audio or video- remember to add text to make your post searchable- or you’ll just be uttering to yourself and your subscribers.
Not quite sure what the revenue model is- maybe they’ll make you listen to an ad before you post, or because the site aggregates public “utterz” they will be a high value site and end up with revenue from Google ads etc. Read what Robert Scoble has to say about it here: http://scobleizer.com/2007/09/17/utterz-like-twitter-but-with-audiovideo/
There is a lot of buzz about Twitter as the dawn of instant mobjournalism- instant “Twitterquakes” when something relevant happens to a large group of people who are connected. An earthquake or terrorist attack would instantly fill the twitter-ether with reports.
You don’t have to use Utterz as a social media tool- just a way to post- but, the options are out there.
Youtube is definitely the 1000 pound gorilla in hosting online video, but there are other options. The main reason to go with other options is video quality. When YouTube recompresses your video, sometimes it can go to fuzz. This should improve now it’s all H.264 instead of Flash video, but, in the meantime- consider some of these options- all allow you to embed your video in a blog.
- Blip.tv
- Viddler.com
- Screencast.com
- revver.com
- google video (which may soon just be youtube since Google bought YouTube)
There are others- you can find some excellent indepth info here: Online Video Hosting
The main decision you have to make is how “findable” do you want your video to be? ALmost everyone looking for video will tend to go to the best known sites. YouTube has the biggest audience, and if you have something viral- you want it there (although it probably will end up there if it’s truly destined for greatness).
If you just want others to be able to link to it- any site will do.
The last issue is how you embed it in your site. We use a plugin called WPVideo to embed social media site video. There are other plugins out there- you can always trust Lorelle to write about a subject like video embedding plugins in depth- and of course she has: Video, Music, Podcasts, Audio, and Multi-media WordPress plugins.
We’ve also tried uploading our video to our server- and then watching the bandwidth suck out of our server, we’re still scratching our head why we ever went this route (other than some of our video was put up before YouTube existed).
Happy video posting!