Akismet for Textpattern We all love Akismet, the powerful anti-spam plugin that we all use on our WordPress blogs (even if it fails sometimes). We all know that Akismet has been ported over to over 20 systems and platforms, namely Movable Type, Drupal, phpBB, Blojsom, Bloxsom, Geeklog, Nucleus, b2evolution, PunBB, Expression Engine, Coppermine, Lifetype, Simple Machine Forums, Phorum, tDiary, MyBulletinBoard, PostNuke, Joomla, and EZ Publish.
 But if you notice the list of blogging/forum/CMS software up there, you will notice that Textpattern is missing. While not necessarily the biggest blogging software out there, Textpattern is not without a fanbase of dedicated users, and I find myself liking Textpattern’s lightweight, simple, no-frills layout.
It comes as no surprise that Michael Manfre was able to develop an Akismet plugin for Textpattern. The plugin is in every way like Akismet on WordPress, and in addition to checking all comments against the Akismet server, it will notify the Akismet server about false positives or false negatives when you change the status of a comment.
So Textpattern users who want to protect their blogs from spam, download and use Akismet. WordPress and other CMS users have been using Akismet for years, and even if the occasional bad comment or two passes, it has proved that it is up to the challenge to protect our blogs from spam.
Chitika | Premium gives you control over your adsThose using Chitika to monetie their blogs should be glad to learn that there is a new WordPress plugin that will help you to easily manage your Chitika ads on your WordPress blog.
Chitika|Premium is a CPC search-targeted advertising solution brought to you by Chitika. It can be run on the same page as Google AdSense, or on its own as an AdSense alternative.
 Chitika|Premium ads sample
This plugin allows you to easily change the display of your Chitika|Premium ads through a settings page in the WordPress admin interface. It allows you to change any of the following features:
- Ad size
- Link and text color
- Background color
- Display position (above or below your post)
- Channel
Installing Chitika|Premium is just the same as any other plugin. Download it first, then extract, and then you need to fire up your favorite FTP client, and log in to your WordPress installation. Then do the following steps:
- Upload
/chitika-premium/ directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
- Activate the plugin Chitika|Premium through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Chitika | Premium’ to activate the display and add your username and change any display settings.
If you are using a version of WordPress earlier than 2.5 your configuration screen will be in ‘Options’ > ‘Chitika|Premium’
If you have any problems using Chitika | Premium, don’t hesitate to contact the plugin developers.
Integrate Plurk to Firefox with PlurkybarThose who have switched microblogs from Twitter to Plurk have been disappointed at the lack of Firefox add-ons available. Need proof? Off the top of my head, without googling, I can name a few Twitter add-ons for our favorite browser: Twitterfox, Twitbin, TwitKit, Twitterbar and so many more. Plurk, on the other hand, has very little selections to speak of.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Plurk’s horizontal timeline scheme, and I try to use the mobile interface as often as I can. In fact, I was able to devise a way to use the mobile interface solely. I installed Mozilla Prism and made an application out of Plurk. But constantly updating it manually can be a pain.
Enter Plurkybar. Apparently, the developer, Martin Gomez, has the same concerns as I do. Looking for a Plurk add-on for Firefox, and finding only TwisterMc’s Plurk Firefox Sidebar, which he found too simple, he set out to develop Plurkybar. Here’s what he says about his creation:
Plurkybar is “an immensely simple Plurk sidebar for Firefox.” Just download it and you’ll be able to plurk within Firefox without having to have a dedicated window or tab. It automatically refreshes every minute so that you’re assured that you get the hottest, freshest, latest plurks available in your timeline.
Installation isn’t as smooth as going to the Mozilla Add-ons site, though. You have to select “Open with Firefox” if you want to install it there and then, or “Save File” to install it later. If you downloaded the it, just double-click the .xpi file to install Plurkybar. Once you’ve installed Plurkybar, just hit Ctrl+Shift+P to run it, and it’ll open up in your sidebar.
It’s a bit rough around the edges, but that’s why it’s version 0.1. Martin’s actively encouraging feedback and suggestions though, so why don’t you give Plurkybar a try?
WordPress 2.6.5 Security UpgradeWordPress 2.6.5 is now available for download. I know some of you guys aren’t too keen on going through another security upgrade and would want to hold off upgrading until 2.7 gets released. The Automattic team, however, is recommending that everyone upgrades immediately. But According to the update page,
The security issue is an XSS exploit discovered by Jeremias Reith that fortunately only affects IP-based virtual servers running on Apache 2.x. If you are interested only in the security fix, copy wp-includes/feed.php and wp-includes/version.php from the 2.6.5 release package.
2.6.5 contains three other small fixes in addition to the XSS fix. The first prevents accidentally saving post meta information to a revision. The second prevents XML-RPC from fetching incorrect post types. The third adds some user ID sanitization during bulk delete requests. For a list of changed files, consult the full changeset between 2.6.3 and 2.6.5.
So there you have it guys. Don’t hold off upgrading because you want WordPress 2.7 to be your next version of WordPress. You can update to 2.6.5 by just replacing two files, wp-includes/feed.php and wp-includes/version.php and upload (overwrite existing files) them to your wp-includes folder.They are also skipping 2.6.4 to prevent confusion with a fake version that had fooled some people a few weeks ago.
You can download WordPress 2.6.5 here or you can use the Automatic Upgrade plugin if you’re not too keen on manually uploading the files.
Six Apart launches TypePad Connect Beta Six Apart has launched the beta version of TypePad Connect, a Disqus-style commenting service that includes MyBlogLog-like profiles. The new comment service has a sleek new interface and great features like threading, easy pagination, OpenID sign in, email notifications of replies and the ability to reply via email. The comments are protected by TypePad AntiSpam.
TypePad Connect lets you style your comments so that it will look the same way with the rest of your blog. It also features a Gravatar-like profile picture system. Apparently TypePad Connect is a way for Six Apart to create a service that helps bloggers connect with their readers and other bloggers, in a more open, more powerful, and more meaningful fashion.
Typepad Connect is also integrated with the new TypePad Profiles. TypePad Profiles takes advantage of things you’re already doing and automatically updates itself, to keep your profile up to date and interesting. So if you have your Twitter synced to your profile, your status will be updated to reflect your current Twitter update. And finally, feeds, Microformats, and Open ID is also supported by TypePad Profiles.
These new profiles and comments are not just available for TypePad bloggers but for ANY blogger or web site for free. TypePad Connect is available for all of the major blog platforms. That means if you’re on TypePad, Moveable Type, WordPress, Tumblr, or Blogger, you would be able to use this new service without paying a thing.
What do you think about this new service? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
Strip! removes off-topic links from commentsLately we’ve seen an increase in people that leave comments that are actually responding or even sharing their thoughts in the blog entry. But sometimes they include an off-topic link at the end of the comment.
The said comments aren’t spammy, but linking to off-topic sites isn’t something I consider good commenting behavior. In fact, comments like these give the impression that the person who did this was insincere and is only using my blog as part of SEO. Frankly, this blatant promotion annoys me at times, because there are way too many comments to edit and links to delete, and I don’t have much time for that. A plugin that will automate the process of removing links through a single mouse click would be a godsend.
Strip! by Markku Seguerra is a WordPress plugin that allows you hide links from a given comment. This gives you a button to strip any given comment of links, and unlike other plugins that offer a similar function, Strip! also gives you the option of restoring the links with the same button.
Strip! has been tested on WordPress 2.6, but may still work with older versions.
Installation of Strip! is easy: just upload to your WordPress installation using your favorite FTP client, and activate through the plugins page. You’d see the strip/unstrip buttons right away. I’ve been using Strip! on my personal blog since the time he unveiled it at WordCamp Philippines, and I’ve been satisfied with it so far. You can download Strip! from here.
What other commenting behavior do you find annoying? If you use other plugins to combat comment off-topic llinking, tell me about it.
Journalists Get Free TypePad Pro AccountsNewly laid-off journalists can get a free TypePad Pro account from Six Apart, thanks to their TypePad Journalist Bailout Program. With the mantra “Because your Tumblr and Tweets, while clever, will not pay your bills”, SixApart aims to support online journalism. According to SixApart, “During a time when so many great journalists are worried about losing their jobs, we want to do what we can to help.”
Of course, a blog can’t replace a full-time writing gig, but it’s a start. A pretty good start, if you ask me, because those who try this program out get the following:
- A free TypePad Pro account worth $14.95 per month. This is the service that powers big-name media blogs. Professional technical support is even included.
- Enrollment in the Six Apart Media advertising program, ads “that pay a lot more than simple Google text ads.”
- Promotion on Blogs.com, to jumpstart traffic, and a very effective way for those in the Journalist Bailout Program to cross-promote their sites.
The only thing journalists need to do to avail of this program is to send Six Apart the link to their last piece for a newspaper, magazine or broadcast journalism venue to bailout@sixapart.com. They say that this program might end soon, but there’s no word yet on a definite date, and response to the program has been overwhelming.
If they do want to get journalists to start blogging, this is a great start. Offering not only a free blogging platform, but also an advertising program to be able to profit from the blog is a brilliant PR move.
WordPress Plugin: WP-TunerWe all love WordPress, but sometimes it can get just really, really slow. And no matter how we look for the cause, sometimes there’s just no way to figure out what’s been giving your WordPress installation the hiccups. Thank goodness somebody came up with WP-Tuner.
WP-Tuner for WordPress is a powerful and easy way to answer hard questions about why your blog is slow or cranky. What’s causing the slowdown? Is it a plugin? Is it your host? This plugin will help you find out. One problem, though, with this particular plugin is that it’s not for the novice. Advanced WP users will be able to understand what the plugin tells them, but it may not be that obvious for everyone.
WP-Tuner is recommended to be used by:
- WordPress site administrators
- WordPress plugin and theme designers
- WordPress developers
WP-Tuner can also be used with a number of advanced ways, like hooking any WordPress action to it. You can even use it to time anything at all in WordPress.
Installing WP-Tuner is as easy as installing any other plugin: upload using your favorite FTP client, and activate via the plugins page. Be sure to read the plugin’s readme file and the associated help documents before using it.
Used with a bit of common sense, this powerful plugin will help blog administrators as well as software developers improve their WordPress blog performance.
The BlogStudio offers $1000 discountThe BlogStudio will automatically give a $1000 discount on all new design projects signed by November 30, 2008. Those looking to save some money without sacrificing quality for blog design can definitely check them out.
The reason they’re doing it, simply, is to challenge themselves. Founder Peter Flaschner says:
Why on earth are we doing this, you ask? Well, it?s simple really. Adam, Mike, and Lucia are super busy with some top-secret development work, leaving me with a bit of time on my hands. I?m sitting here feeling all guilty while the rest of the team is slaving away, so I thought I?d try a little experiment to see if I can single-handedly book a couple of new projects between now and the end of the month.
If you want to see their past work, you have to check out their impressive portfolio. You can contact them by requesting for a proposal, or by simply geting in touch with them.
nextMEDIA - Where to Look Next? Trends for 2009As always, if you want to see everything I am writing about nextMEDIA, please check out BrandingDavid.com where I’ve placed an index for all of the posts I am doing around the Splashpress Media network
Starting with an amazing slide of all of the trends and words that companies will need to know going forward, Lori’s presentation was very marketing and marketer focused.
What the lab does is allow people to get their hands on the latest technology in a comfortable, home like way.
“The current economy is an opportunity for digital media content producers” - Lori Schwartz
Even with the downturned economy, online advertising is expected to grow from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $28.5 billion in 2009.
Open platforms are driving ubiquity. Where there is OpenSocial, and Google’s Android where things are able to scale, and be developed in an interesting way that hasn’t been done before and creates new opportunities for developers, brands and advertisers.
The new consumer reverses the 80/20 rule. Where you used to spend 80% of your money on distribution, and 20% on content, but that has switched, and is continuing to change and grow. Content is everywhere, but attention is limited.
Lori then moved into trends for 2009 that everyone here at nextMEDIA needs to know if they want to take advantage of the opportunities appearing.
Beyond the browser is the first one she wanted to cover with it becoming the new operating system on computers where applications are hosted online in the cloud, and the only thing you have directly on your computer is the browser.
The second one was the semantic web, where the browser or Internet websites learn from the behavior or interests of the user. A great example that she tossed out there was StumbleUpon, which learns what things you are interested in and adjusts its display accordingly. This changes the advertising on search ecosystem, as you can’t just advertise on general search results.
She also showed off Cooliris, a plugin for Firefox that allows you to browse the web in a pictorial way, rather than flat text.
Personal branding was an interesting addition to her presentation as well, which made me happy. I wondered if personal branding would be mentioned at this conference filled with companies and corporations.
“People are establishing themselves as experts… and that makes them powerful as influencers” - Lori Schwartz
Gen X and Gen Y moms are big players online, in blogging, video, and giving opinions on products, services, and companies.
The new ROI is Return On Involvement.
She then shifted gears and started to focus on the transmission effect, where the length between our thoughts to the publish of that thought has become nearly instant. Content can’t be controlled, so now it becomes reputation management.
The new editorial is citizen journalism and the technology has grown in ways that you can live broadcast nearly anything to a large audience instantly.
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