PHP 4 and MySQL 4 End of Life Announcement

Our approach with WordPress has always been to make it run on common server configurations. We want users to have flexibility when choosing a host for their precious content. Because of this strategy, WordPress runs pretty much anywhere. Web hosting platforms, however, change over time, and we occasionally are able to reevaluate some of the requirements for running WordPress. Now is one of those times. You probably guessed it from the title — we’re finally ready to announce the end of support for PHP 4 and MySQL 4!

First up, the announcement that developers really care about. WordPress 3.1, due in late 2010, will be the last version of WordPress to support PHP 4.

For WordPress 3.2, due in the first half of 2011, we will be raising the minimum required PHP version to 5.2. Why 5.2? Because that’s what the vast majority of WordPress users are using, and it offers substantial improvements over earlier PHP 5 releases. It is also the minimum PHP version that the Drupal and Joomla projects will be supporting in their next versions, both due out this year.

The numbers are now, finally, strongly in favor of this move. Only around 11 percent of WordPress installs are running on a PHP version below 5.2. Many of them are on hosts who support PHP 5.2 — users merely need to change a setting in their hosting control panel to activate it. We believe that percentage will only go down over the rest of the year as hosting providers realize that to support the newest versions of WordPress (or Drupal, or Joomla), they’re going to have to pull the trigger.

In less exciting news, we are also going to be dropping support for MySQL 4 after WordPress 3.1. Fewer than 6 percent of WordPress users are running MySQL 4. The new required MySQL version for WordPress 3.2 will be 5.0.15.

WordPress users will not be able to upgrade to WordPress 3.2 if their hosting environment does not meet these requirements (the built-in updater will prevent it). In order to determine which versions your host provides, we’ve created the Health Check plugin. You can download it manually, or use this handy plugin installation tool I whipped up. Right now, Health Check will only tell you if you’re ready for WordPress 3.2. In a future release it will provide all sorts of useful information about your server and your WordPress install, so hang on to it!

In summary: WordPress 3.1, due in late 2010, will be the last version of WordPress to support PHP 4 and MySQL 4. WordPress 3.2, due in the first half of 2011, will require PHP 5.2 or higher, and MySQL 5.0.15 or higher. Install the Health Check plugin to see if you’re ready!

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Another Lawsuit Arrives To Challenge The Anonymity Of YouTube Users

Suing YouTube commenters is all the rage.  Hot on the heels of the news that a Manhattan judge has ruled that Google must turn over the names of anonymous YouTube commenters to former model Carla Franklin, we have another case involving legal action against users of the video site. There’s a bit of back-story involved, [...]

Access

Microsoft issues Windows Phone 7 to manufacturers

Microsoft released its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system to its manufacturers, a benchmark described by Windows Phone Engineering corporate vice president Terry Myerson as “the biggest milestone for our internal team.” According to Myerson, WP7 represents the most tested mobile platform in Microsoft history–almost 10,000 devices ran automated tests each day, with over half a million hours of active self-hosting use, more than 3.5 million hours of stress test passes and 8.5 million house of fully automated test passes. “We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback,” Myerson notes. “We are ready.” Microsoft is slated to release the final version of its Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools on Sept. 16, enabling developers to recompile their WP7 applications and games prior to the early October relaunch of the Windows Phone Marketplace storefront.

Microsoft will spend about $400 million to promote the launch of Windows Phone 7 according to Deutsche Bank analyst Jonathan Goldberg, adding his forecast doesn’t include the millions the software giant has already committed to pay its handset manufacturer partners to offset non-recurring engineering costs. Goldberg derives his estimate based on conversations with Microsoft brass during a recent visit to the company’s Redmond, Wash. headquarters, with execs anticipating that overall spending will reach billions of dollars once its operator and manufacturer partners’ marketing spending is factored into the equation. TechCrunch adds that according to another source, Microsoft will invest more than a billion on WP7′s launch, half of promotion and half on other development costs.  ”This is make-or-break for them. They need to do whatever it takes to stay in the game,” Goldberg says. “It’s still wide open. They don’t have to take share from Android or Apple, so long as they can attract enough consumers switching from feature phones.”

In July, Microsoft confirmed reports it is offering financial incentives to developers to stir interest in new WP7 applications, with senior director of mobile services and developer product management Todd Brix telling Bloomberg the company is providing everything from free tools and trial handsets to software development funding, even offering revenue guarantees in the event apps fail to sell as expected. Brix declined to state how much Microsoft will spend to woo developers to WP7, but said it is a larger sum than the company invested in previous compensation programs. “We are investing a lot to attract developers big and small to Windows Phone 7 to let them understand what the opportunity is and provide as many resources as we can to help them be successful on our platform,” Brix said. “We’re open for business and we want to work with them.”

For more on the Windows Phone 7 RTM:
- read this Windows Phone Blog entry

Related articles:
Analyst: Microsoft will spend $400 million to market Windows Phone 7
Microsoft paying developers to build apps for Windows Phone 7
Microsoft adds new web experiences to Windows Phone 7     
Windows Phone Marketplace adds private beta distribution
Microsoft cuts Windows Phone Marketplace app submission fees

Consulting Services

We offer the following professional consulting services and solutions:

• Server architecture and multimedia library builds for all major video encoding and playback formats, specializing in Apache Linux RHEL/Centos (or other Linux flavors, Ubuntu / Fedora)
• Front end display solutions; specializing in popular Open Source content management and delivery systems (CMS)
• Website hosting, both internal and external (commercial) server platforms, clustering
• Back end automated management accounting and billing solutions, specializing in WHMCS, cPanel, and WHM
• Multimedia and video system integration into existing websites and platforms
• Advanced development and customization; Ajax, Javascript, PHP, CSS, all Adobe suites (Flash, DW, Ill, PS, PRM, SB, etc) all HTML flavors, and dynamic database integration
• Expert knowledge in SEO (vSEO) techniques, site structure, and search engine return performance, well versed in SEM management as well
• Video advertising, marketing structure and management systems
• We also offer turn-key multimedia and video dedicated servers pre-built, configured, and fully loaded. Fully ready to go solutions for hosting, commercial, or other use – and at extremely affordable prices!

Contact us today for a quick and easy professional consultation by phone or online by form, whichever you prefer.

Free Video and Multimedia Open Source Website Software Supported

We currently offer and fully support two excellent free HD video/multimedia website software scripts and systems (and we’ll be adding more soon). Both of these video website software scripts are HD video, multimedia, and social media sharing websites — also known as “YouTube Clone” scripts, primarily because they have the same features and functionality of YouTube. We offer both of these video sites virtually turn-key configured and ready to go. Both can be easily and automagically installed in just a few clicks on every video and multimedia website hosting package we offer too. Read more below…

Check out our example HD video and social media website here (#1), and our second example HD video and multimedia website here (#2).

Note: The embedded video examples below are re-sized at 550×253 to fit our blog page and mobile. Check out the full size HD video examples here.

Our example video website #1 and the video embed above, is from a custom version of Clip Bucket V2 with our Open Sunrise Template and HD Gold Flowplayer addons installed. Clip Bucket V2 was created by Arslan Hassan and his team of talented developers international. We’re impressed, it’s packed with features right out of the box and hits the scene running — no pun intended. In our humble opinion it’s clearly one of the best HD video sharing/social media open source software scripts available online.

Clip Bucket is fairly new to the game too for video software scripts, but already has a solidly built foundation, incorporates full video encoding in all major PC / Mobile formats, offers tremendous upside potential, and has a growing community which helps support it’s continued development. We will be contributing the development, and building many more addons for Clip Bucket V2 (download some here). We have several already which are due to be released in the next few days — hit us up on the Clip-Bucket forum or drop us a line to check on the status. Example video website #2 and the video embed directly below is from Vidiscript, another excellent free and open source video script we offer and fully support. The example website Blue/Gold template, white label (your brand) HD video player and MP3 player will be our first module addon releases for Vidiscript with more in the works. VS was just recently acquired and now under new ownership, but we’ve heard there won’t be any changes to the open source licensing, just more overall support, plugins, templates, and good stuff continuing to happen.

That’s good news too, we like Vidiscript’s overall build and potential. It has a solid platform to customize and develop further. Some unique features include an MP3 player and Flash game embedding baked right in (see below example), full HD video and mp3 encoding system which supports all major video and multimedia formats. We plan on releasing some addons for Vidiscript, the current template on our example #2 video website will be our first template released which should be done by next week, and available on our downloads page.

Both of these excellent HD video and multimedia open source scripts can be easily installed automatically with a few clicks under your Ultimate Admin GUI Control Panel screen on ANY video and multimedia website package we offer. Plus all of our server packages come turn-key ready for you to start creating your video and social media empire. Everything you would need has already been pre-configured for HD video/multimedia encoding via upload, multiple HD player choices for playback/display for PC/Mobile, and ready to deliver that HD experience at blistering fast speeds to your viewers. If you have other video scripts or multimedia software you want to install on your server account it’s not a problem, just install and go.

Bonus Sneak Peek: Now let’s move on to “the bleeding edge” of open source video tech online

Below is an example of a cross platform HD HTML5 video player (No Flash needed) which can stream both FLV PC or MP4 mobile via RTMP or HTTP for playback depending on the viewers browser. It’s a promising WordPress plugin called Stream Video developed by Rodrigo Polo, we like what it has to offer and are going to be developing it further for integration into our platform. There is a bug to work out with the flash fallback and mobile sniffer. Translation; meaning the player has trouble automatically recognizing a mobile or PC based browser, so it can deliver either a MP4 (mobile) or FLV (PC) video to the viewer.

This isn’t really a big deal though from what we can tell and we’re not scared, this can be easily fixed. It works about 90% of the time “as is” tested on Firefox, Chrome, IE8 and Opera. If you see a “stream not available for this medium” message then it hates your browser. Be a good guinea pig and try refreshing your screen again. Hey that’s why it’s called the bleeding edge of technology, right? If it worked 100% of the time we’d be filing this “Sneak Peek Bonus” topic under the “Stable / Production Ready” (yawn) section.

That’s all we have for now folks for HD video examples, but promise there will be more goodies coming real soon. We’re always busy trying to make Multimedia easier, now go relax and enjoy making your video and multimedia website… or two.

Get Started

Getting started with a multimedia and video package from BoonJack Media is simple and easy, hey it’s not just a slogan that’s how we do it. The real magic happens on our Partner Portal, the first screen shot below is the homepage listing all of the areas in the portal. We’ll start by clicking on the “Place An Order” icon.

This is step 1 on the ordering screen, you’ll want to select a product or service category first. The default category is our Multimedia packages, we’re going to select the “Marketing Expert” package, hey it says best value… sweet!

Moving on to step 2, we’re going to select a Domain for our multimedia package. There are three choices, 1) purchase a domain directly from us 2) Transfer a domain you already own to use with your multimedia package 3) Use a domain you own and change the domain nameservers to point to your multimedia account. We going to register a new domain cause that’s how we roll, and hey look – mysupercoolhdvideowebsite.com is available… awesome!

On Step 3 you can configure any options or domain addons for your multimedia package  and the payment terms, then click on “Update Your Cart” to continue.

Here’s step 3 (continued), we bought extras for our supercoolhdvideowebsite.com domain. Hey we know it could be considered excessive, but we just can’t help splurging!

On step 4 you can configure your domain extras and set your Nameservers (optional) for your domain. We are going to use the default anonymous Nameservers provided for free, because we dig our privacy. Confirm the order looks OK, then click “Checkout” or you can continue shopping and stuff your cart full of goodies.

On Step 5 fill in your account details and information. We recommend choosing a strong password and using a security question, better to safe as Mom always says.

Step 5 (continued), use your account details for your domain contact or enter a any new details here. Select your payment service either Authorize.Net or PayPal, both are excellent and accept all major credit and bank debit cards. Add any notes or other information to send to us, most people just type something in here like, “You All Are Awesome!” or similar. Read through our legal stuff, click agree to our terms and conditions, then activate your account!

That’s it you’re ready to deliver HD multimedia and video at unheard of speeds! Go ahead and access your client area dashboard now.

Your complete package details and instructions for your new multimedia website package will be emailed to you. We highly recommend saving this welcome email, but if you don’t it’s no problem. In your client area Dashboard, every email we send to you is saved and archived appropriately under “My Emails”.

Here’s some more screen shots below of the client area called “Your Dashboard” which is the one stop, one access point where you can completely manage every service under your multimedia account. Put quite simply, it rocks!

Client area  “Your Dashboard” continued… you’ve complete control with easy one-click logins to access all of your server account administration services.

Want more? No problem, just create your free account here and fill in your information, then browse around the Partner Portal with full access! BTW we provide that cool “Your Dashboard” page for free accounts too.

Below are all the screen shots you can click to view larger images, use the >> located at the bottom right to cycle through.

About

What we provide

BoonJack Media is a full service website hosting provider which specializes in Hi-Def or HD video and multimedia platforms.

There are many companies today which provide website hosting. Most offer some level of video and multimedia support too, however none can or will support HD video or multimedia playback adequately.

What makes BoonJack Media unique is our focus on delivering a fast and satisfactory user experience regardless of the content. HD quality video and multimedia is extremely popular for many practical business uses and we’ve built our servers around this demand. We provide full website services with all of HD video multimedia packages, and at an affordable price to meet any budget.

Most website hosting providers primary focus is marketing their website hosting services, while supporting video and multimedia is merely lip service. Most hosting simply fails to meet the online demands of today’s memory hungry apps, not to mention HD video or multimedia. Basically resulting in lost opportunities with higher bounce rates for their clients.

Why?

The short answer, there is a strong need for a HD video and multimedia system which does not require expensive streaming to deliver a fast viewing experience. We also wanted to provide a complete, easy to use all-in-one website platform, including hosting services under one administration and management GUI (graphical user interface).

Today’s HD video and multimedia service providers has a huge gap in the overall quality, and speed of delivery today among companies offering this type of service. There are a lot of traditional video hosting companies and services out there, but when you take a look at the HD video hosting options, the choices become quite narrowed and display performance is poor.

Most of the “Better” providers offering HD and video hosting fall flat when it comes to speed of delivery, or require a streaming server. The streaming server hosting costs, compared to standard video hosting, can quickly become inconceivable for the majority of businesses with digital content.

These video hosting companies don’t offer website hosting services either, so it’s not uncommon for companies to have multiple logins, and accounts for their website services. This can be hard to manage, a nightmare juggling all the different account login names and passwords. For someone to put together tracking and analysis, or just to make a simple change on one account might affect your other services too. Managing your website definitely doesn’t have to be this difficult, we kept it simple by providing one simple administration interface, with easy one-click access to all services.

Whats under the hood?

Server Technology: We have built and developed a server architecture from scratch specifically for HD multimedia and video delivery with a focus on a high speed viewing experience for the majority of viewers, browsers, PC types, and ISP bandwidth variations from broadband to mobile. We’ve dubbed the servers as a “Cloud X Hosting” build, with varying versions and configurations which can be integrated into any existing system from Windows to Mac and various Unix/Linux systems. A wide variety of major libraries and coding are supported and pre-configured with dependencies already resolved.

High Speed Delivery: We run wide open and have the pedal to the metal 24/7. We don’t throttle bandwidth or allocate memory per account, all of our servers and accounts serve content on a first come first server basis, and burst unlimited memory on demand.

All Content is served upfront with high RPM solid state hard drives running 1TB per server with dual-raid with daily dual backups on and off site. Our servers are configured per account with 256MB for PHP apps, 1GB file management transfer as standard. Our database architecture is configured for large file handling, MySQL and PostGresSQL are fully supported and we run the latest version of PHPMyAdmin configured with all options.

The result is a very fast content delivery server that can easily handle large HD video and multimedia files without the need for streaming. If video or media streaming is required, we have pre-built PHP scripts available for free which can be easily implemented into the display system.

No Streaming Required: We also wanted to support media streaming, but without using RTMP. We felt PHP 5 was refined and powerful enough to support streaming. It’s more compatible, less restrictive, and is more cost effective compared to RTMP streaming. Hard and Soft costs of HD (or standard) video management on medium to large platforms can be trimmed by 10X and content delivery performance boosts of 15-20% without bandwidth or memory increases.

If video or media streaming is required for playback, we have pre-built PHP scripts available for free which can be easily implemented into the display system.

If RTMP Streaming is something you need or require, no problem. All of our video multimedia website hosting and server packages can easily integrate with any of the major RTMP systems, like: Wowza, Red 5, Flash Streaming Server, Sorenson, Akamai, Mediacore, and many other popular streaming servers.

No CDN Required: Our system doesn’t require or need a CDN for insuring fast content delivery across geography, an added cost savings benefit we pass on to you. Content delivery networks are great if you need it, most HD or standard video systems recommend or include CDN services for free. Which is usually because their service isn’t strong enough alone to delivery a decent across the board geographic viewing experience.

If you would need or require a CDN service, it’s no problem. All of our video multimedia website hosting and server packages can easily integrate with any CDN, like: SimpleCDN, Amazon Cloudfront, Limelight, Sorenson, and many other popular content delivery networks.

Encoding Included: All our packages included video and media encoding directly from your server account, so there is no need for a separate encoding service. We use FFMPEG, Mencoder, Xvid, x264 and can encode and deliver video in any major format for PC and mobile playback including: AVI, FLV, MP4, 3GP, OGG, F4V, MOV, VP8, and more.

For audio encoding we use FAAC and LAME, and support all major audio codecs including: MP3, WAV, MP4, and many more. MP3 Id3 and exif meta tags are also included and supported for audio and video.

If there’s is a certain rare or exclusive video or audio codec you need no problem, we can provide a player or containers to support it, or simply add the format engines and libraries for you.

Full Website Platform: Full website services with a complete Administration GUI system, very large list of features and options are included in all of the packages we offer. This doesn’t mean that you would need to drop you current website host to purchase one of our multimedia packages. The full website service platform is simply there as an option, like gravy on your mashed potatoes.

Our multimedia packaging and pricing covers all levels and needs for any business looking to deliver fast, high quality HD video and multimedia, and can be simply integrated into your current website hosting system.

You can use the full website services platform to manage all of your websites or not, the choice is yours. If you can’t find a package you like or want to custom build your own, no problem. We offer a “Custom Package Builder” you can utilize to roll your own multimedia package for as little as $4 a month.

High Performance For All: All of our multimedia packages and any “Custom Package Builds” deliver the same high speed HD video and multimedia content performance, regardless of the package level or price. Most HD or standard video companies limit or restrict the speed or delivery performance based upon the level or price of the package you purchase.

We don’t, in fact the only difference between all of our packages and pricing is the amount of storage and bandwidth needed, they all have and include the same features and options too.

For instance our “Marketing Expert” package priced at $9 per month with 1 GB of storage and bandwidth delivers the same high speed HD video and multimedia performance that our top level package does, known appropriately as “The Bigtime” package.

Flexible Monthly Service: Our packages and pricing are simply month to month, with no contract commitment or requirement. You can cancel at anytime, or upgrade, downgrade at any time easily through your administration GUI, known as the Partner Portal. Automated billing is handled through the portal too, with your choice of PayPal or Authorize.Net which accept all major credit or bank debit cards.

White Labeled: We understand the need for businesses to privately utilize services online, and we’ve went to great lengths to ensure complete anonymity for our clients. Competition is fierce, every little edge matters today, co-branding with a service provider negates any competitive advantage and drastically inhibits growth in

sales of your customer base or offerings.

All of our packages are “completely” white labeled or private, with your branding only.

Which simply means BoonJack Media is not related to your website or multimedia package on any front-end, back-end, or website display, period.

We anonymously support our clients, and provide free anonymous nameservers registered privately offshore, or you can use your own. Your HD video and multimedia is delivered directly from your server account and website as well, unlike most video hosting providers which provide you a link to your video from their server to include on your website.

Open Source: BoonJack Media’s platform was built with and around open source architecture and software. We could have went with licensed, proprietary systems and software, but this would mean much higher costs for our clients, and a restrictive environment for our service offerings which we could not guarantee anonymously or white label.

You have complete control to add any service or software to your account desired, change the code, add any branding, or integrate into any other service or system too.

Support and Knowledge: We offer full support for every account, and provide an easy to use support ticketing system built into your administration GUI’s email system for quick and efficient communication with our team of experts standing by. Our Knowledgebase includes a wide range of tutorials both written and videos, step by step instructions, and help icons are just a click away conveniently provided throughout the entire platform.

I think that about cover’s the overview of our services, and why we’re a great choice for you to deliver HD video and multimedia for your business. If you have any other questions just drop us a line, we’ll be glad to help.

Really Fast HD Video?

Yeah we think so, but see for yourself HD Video Examples.

You can also view more examples of HD video and Hi-Def music on our demo sites, or our portfolio for some live action. The video titles have the types of video format parameters listed, check it out here.

If you have existing content on other video websites like; Youtube, Google, Dailymotion, Yahoo, Vimeo, Revver, Vzaar, BitsOnTheRun, Facebook, or any others you need transferred, no problem. Our platform supports easy integration, and video embeds for your website. If you are interested in moving or archiving all of your video content, we can help there too.

Where Can I Learn More or Get Started?

You can learn more on our Getting Started page which provides a guide for signing-up, with some cool screen shots too.

What Else Do You People Offer?

We provide full web development solutions for existing or customized platforms and systems, graphic and flash design services, video and audio solutions. We also provide consulting solutions for a wide variety of online services. If you have a project big or small, we can help!

Here’s our portfolio from some of our clients that don’t mind if we show off work we’ve done for them.

We specialize of course in multimedia and video systems, software, and platforms, but we have a lot of experience with the latest online technology in general. It’s a nature of the beast sort of thing, call it a prerequisite from building and developing multimedia website platforms.

Give us a shout, we’d be glad to help in whatever way we can. We’re a hard working team, straight shooters and will provide solid answers with efficient, affordable, high performance technology solutions to get the job done right.

Blog

Welcome to our blog, current news on multimedia and video, our random thoughts, and general related articles about online technology today.