WordPress for iPhone/iPad v2.6 Released

Attention Apple-gadget-owning WordPress users! Have you been using the WordPress iOS app for iPhone and iPad? Or maybe you tried it a while back and thought it wasn’t for you? Either way, the new release — v2.6 — will knock your socks off. Why? A bunch of reasons:

• Video. Record, upload, attach, and play videos within the app. Yay for being able to catch your friends’ and co-workers’ most embarrassing shenanigans creative moments with iPhone video and publish them immediately for all the world to see on your WordPress site.
• A total rewrite of the way local drafts are handled, to prevent the unintentional loss of your pending posts.
• Autosave/post revisions. Bam! One of the “oh, thank goodness” features of the web app makes it into the iOS version.
• Easier setup. Faster and easier process for adding your sites to the app.
• Media Library. We’re gradually getting closer to the media management you’re used to in the web app.

There are also numerous bugfixes and performance enhancements in this release, so if you haven’t been using the app lately, you should consider giving it another try. I’m personally pretty excited to start using the iPhone version more often now that there are all these fixes and new features. Especially the video upload. You know, for those creative moments that make life fun.

You can read the full 2.6 release post on the WordPress for iOS blog, and can download v2.6 from iTunes/the app store. Happy mobile blogging!

* * *

Not an iPhone user? We’ve still got your on-the-go back! Check out the WordPress apps for Android, Blackberry, and Nokia (beta). They’re all 100% GPL, of course, and we’re always looking for contributors to the development projects, so check the blogs if you have mobile dev skills and want to get involved.

Ear Mounted iPhone Camera Is Like Tivo for Your Life

Looxcie, the ear-mounted, sci-fi styled video-camera now works with your iPhone. The Bluetooth camera is like a Tivo for your real life. When running, it is constantly filming. When something happens that you might want to keep, you hit a button and the last 30 seconds of video are dumped into your iPhone.

The only problem is the quality, a rather poor 480×320 at just 15fps. This is no Canon 5D MkII. But that’s hardly the point. The idea is that you don’t have to sit back and observe. You can join in the action and shoot clips after they happen.

The companion app, which first cam to Android, can be grabbed at the App Store. With it you can view the live video streamed from the Looxcie, and organize, edit and upload clips. This is the part we like the most: why carry yet another screen around when you already have a perfectly good one. The Looxcie also doubles as a Bluetooth headset, although really you should never use one of those anyway.

The app is designed for the small-screen of the iPhone, but you can also use, pixel-doubled, on the iPad. That makes this one way to add a camera to Apple’s tablet.

The app is free, on Android and iOS, and so it should be: the camera itself is a crazy $200.

Looxcie product page [Looxcie]

See Also:

• Wearable Camera Not Quite Ready For Its Close-Up
• Looxcie, A Futuristic Wearable Bluetooth Camcorder
• Concept Case Adds Camera to iPad

Mining Flickr to Build 3D Models of the World

Microsoft’s PhotoSynth tool is jaw-droppingly awesome. But, because it’s a Microsoft project, the technology is unlikely to appear on some of your favorite non-Microsoft online apps, like Google Maps or Flickr.

However, our friends at ReadWriteWeb stumbled across a very similar tool — at least in terms of the end result — developed by the University of North Carolina in conjunction with Swiss university, ETH-Zurich.

The team has developed a method for creating 3D models by pulling in millions of photographs from Flickr and using some fancy algorithms to generate 3D models of local landmarks. Perhaps even more impressive the results can be generated using a single computer in under a day.

Project lead Jan-Michael Frahm touts the project’s efficiency saying, “our technique would be the equivalent of processing a stack of photos as high as the 828-meter Dubai Towers, using a single PC, versus the next best technique, which is the equivalent of processing a stack of photos 42 meters tall — as high as the ceiling of Notre Dame — using 62 PCs. This efficiency is essential if one is to fully utilize the billions of user-provided images continuously being uploaded to the internet.”

While the results are cool and would make an impressive addition to any number of geo-based services, more serious use cases include helping disaster workers get a better idea of where they’re headed and the extent of damage.

So far the researchers have released a movies demonstrating the technique on landmarks in both Rome (get it? built in a day…) and Berlin, and the results are impressive. For more information on how the process works, check out the UNC website.

See Also:

• Photosynth Returns With More Mind-Blowing Photo Tricks
• New Flickr Is Bigger, Wider and Uncut
• ‘Unwrap Mosaics’ Take Video Editing to a New Level

Can WAI-ARIA Build a More Accessible Web?

Accessibility in web design has come a long way since the days of table-based layouts with single-pixel .gif spacers. But even current best practices are far from perfect.

Today, we’ll tell you a bit more about these accessibility troubles as they relate to dynamic web apps — fitting, as today is Blue Beanie Day. For four years now, design guru Jeffrey Zeldman has encouraged web authors to wear a blue beanie on November 30 to show their support for web standards. Also, you’re encouraged to take a picture of yourself wearing a blue beanie and upload it to a Flickr pool. So, with standards quite literally on the brain, we’ll tackle the topic of rich web apps.

One of the coolest things about web apps is that elements refresh inside the browser without reloading the page. But most screen readers used by those with disabilities can’t parse these changes, so users who rely on them will remain unaware of any dynamically refreshed elements on the page. That’s just one of the many problems that WAI-ARIA, an emerging specification for Accessible Rich Internet Applications from the W3C, is hoping to solve.

At its core, WAI-ARIA is a means of annotating page elements with the roles, properties, and states that define exactly what those elements do. Take a navigation element as a simple example. In HTML5 we might do something like this:

<nav>
    <ul>
        <li>Home

        <li><a href="/about/">About</a></li>
        ...etc...
    </ul>
</nav>

While it might seem that the

tag would defining the nav element’s “role,” not every browser will understand it (just because the browser can display it, does not mean it understands the tag). Also, the purpose of a navigation element may be obvious to most users, but to a screen reader being used by somebody who can’t see, the navigation strip could be just a jumble of words. Leveraging WAI-ARIA’s syntax, we can double up to ensure screen readers will know that this chunk of code is navigation:

<nav role="navigation">
    <ul>
        <li>Home</li>
        <li><a href="/about/">About</a></li>
        ...etc...
    </ul>
</nav>

The

attribute is what’s known as a landmark role and is designed to let non-visual browsers know where they are.

It seems simple, and indeed when the spec is finished and fully supported by all the major screen readers, WAI-ARIA promises to make the web more accessible without overly complicating your markup. Unfortunately, there are numerous problems with WAI-ARIA at the moment, which make support uneven and can be confusing for web authors trying to do the right thing.

Our friends at A List Apart recently waded into the confusion and uneven support with two great posts on WAI-ARIA and how you can use it (and not use it) on your sites. The first article, The Accessibility of WAI-ARIA, dives into what WAI-ARIA is, what it’s trying to do, and why it’s not yet a panacea.

The second piece is more hands-on. ARIA and Progressive Enhancement looks at how ARIA fits within the progressive enhancement approach to web design. That is, when starting with valid HTML and enhancing it with CSS and JavaScript, how can you also work the WAI-ARIA attributes into your code?

The ARIA and Progressive Enhancement article also has a very informative table listing the varying levels of support in the latest versions of popular screen readers. Unfortunately, one of the main problems with WAI-ARIA today is that there’s no way to know the level of support a user agent has. Unlike CSS or JavaScript, there’s no reliable way to test which features a user agent supports (if any).

As Derek Featherstone writes in his ALA piece:

The problem that we have right now is that ARIA is an all or nothing deal. And writing scripts that respect both an ARIA supported methodology and a non-ARIA methodology is going to be incredibly difficult, because we have no reliable way of knowing the status of a user agent’s support for ARIA—it depends on something we can’t detect: the right combination of browser, assistive technology, and full ARIA implementation.

For more information on the various levels of support in screen readers and web browsers, have a look at Accessible Culture’s article, HTML5 plus ARIA “Sanity Check.” The post highlights some of the bugs, pitfalls and gotchas in current screen readers, as well as some workarounds and other non-ARIA solutions.

As Detlev Fischer writes in the first of the two ALA articles, “as long as older screen reader/browser combinations incapable of interpreting WAI-ARIA still constitute a significant part of the installed base, web designers who care for accessibility should use WAI-ARIA markup only to enrich their sites.”

In other words, use WAI-ARIA, but don’t rely on it. Make sure you have fallbacks in place until the spec is finalized and browser/reader support more widespread.

Unicorn photo from Wikimedia Commons/CC

See Also:

• Microdata: HTML5’s Best-Kept Secret
• W3C’s Unicorn Validator Checks Multiple Standards at Once
• Using Microformats in HTML5
• Add Semantic Value to Your Pages With HTML 5

10 useful new WordPress hacks

Remove comments autolinks

If someone leaves a comment containing a url, the url will be automatically transformed to a link by WordPress. This can be useful, but personally I don’t like to see many links in comments, especially when they’re a bit spammy.
This is why I decided, on the latest CWC theme, to remove comments autolink. Doing so is pretty easy, just paste the following into your functions.php file. Once you saved the file, you’ll notice that autolinks have disappeared.

remove_filter('comment_text', 'make_clickable', 9);

» Source: http://www.wprecipes.com/wordpress-hack-remove-autolinks-in-comments

Automatically notify your users of new posts

If you run a private site using WordPress, then it could be useful to notify your users when a new post is published. The following snippet will get all user emails from your database and will send an email to them automatically when a post is published.
Of course, you shouldn’t use that code on your blog as it does not currently have any unsubscribe option.

function email_members($post_ID)  {
    global $wpdb;
    $usersarray = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT user_email FROM $wpdb->users;");
    $users = implode(",", $usersarray);
    mail($users, "New WordPress recipe online!", 'A new recipe have been published on http://www.catswhocode.com');
    return $post_ID;
}

add_action('publish_post', 'email_members');

Twitter style “time ago” dates

Displaying dates using the “5 days ago” format is becoming very popular on blogs, thanks to Twitter popularity.
I have seen lots of complicated tutorials to use this format on your WordPress blog, however many people don’t know that WordPress has a built-in function to do the same thing:

.

Paste the snippet below anywhere within the loop, and it will display your dates using the “time ago” format.

Posted <?php echo human_time_diff(get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp')) . ' ago'; ?>

» Source: http://www.phpsnippets.info/display-dates-as-time-ago

Display post thumbnail in your RSS feed

Introduced in WordPress 2.9, the

function is very useful to easily add and display a thumbnail attached to a post. Unfortunately, there’s no built-in way to display this thumbnail on your RSS feed.

Happily, the function below will solve this problem. Simply paste it in your

, save it, and the post thumbnail will be automatically displayed on your RSS feed.

function diw_post_thumbnail_feeds($content) {
	global $post;
	if(has_post_thumbnail($post->ID)) {
		$content = '<div>' . get_the_post_thumbnail($post->ID) . '</div>' . $content;
	}
	return $content;
}
add_filter('the_excerpt_rss', 'diw_post_thumbnail_feeds');
add_filter('the_content_feed', 'diw_post_thumbnail_feeds');

» Source: http://digwp.com/2010/06/show-post-thumbnails-in-feeds/

Block external requests

By default, WordPress does some external requests in order to get the available updates and the WordPress news shown in your dashboard. Personally, I don’t mind them, but I’ve recently had clients who didn’t wanted any external requests. So, I’ve blocked them using this interesting hack.
Simply add the following line to your

file:

define('WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL', true);

If you need to allow some external requests, it it easy to create a whitelist, as shown below:

define('WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS', 'rpc.pingomatic.com');

This line of code have to be pasted in

as well.
» Source: http://digwp.com/2010/08/pimp-your-wp-config-php/

Easy debug mode

When things go wrong, you can always use the super useful WordPress debug tool,

. By default, you have to paste a line of code in your

to make the debug mode available.
By if you need to easily access the debug mode even when your site is live, you should edit your

file and replace

define('WP_DEBUG', true);

by:

if ( isset($_GET['debug']) && $_GET['debug'] == 'debug')
  define('WP_DEBUG', true);

Once done, simply add a GET parameter to the url of the page you’d like to debug, as shown below:

http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/about?debug=debug

Of course, for obvious security reasons you should replace the name debug by a random word of your choice so no one will ever see your site in debug mode.
» Source: http://yoast.com/wordpress-debug/

Use WordPress shortcode in theme files

WordPress shortcodes are a super easy way to add content such as rss feeds, google maps, galleries and more into your posts or pages. But what about being able to output shortcodes in your theme files?
A built-in function exists, but most people never heard of it. The function is called

. It takes one parameter, the shortcode you’d like to display. I’ve heard you can ad more than one shortcode as a parameter, but I haven’t tried it yet.

do_shortcode('[gallery]
');

» Source: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/do_shortcode

Allow upload of more file types

If you ever tried to upload some not so common filetypes, such as Textmate’s

to your WordPress blog, you may have experienced an error, because WordPress simply doesn’t want you to upload some other file type.
Fortunately, you can add new file types to WordPress whitelist. Doing so is quite easy, just paste the following piece of code in your

, and you’re done.
Note that file types have to be separated by a pipe.

function addUploadMimes($mimes) {
    $mimes = array_merge($mimes, array(
        'tmbundle|tmCommand|tmDragCommand|tmSnippet|tmLanguage|tmPreferences' => 'application/octet-stream'
    ));

    return $mimes;
}

add_filter('upload_mimes', 'addUploadMimes');

» Source: http://www.wprecipes.com/wordpress-tip-allow-upload-of-more-file-types

Google Docs PDF viewer shortcode

Google Docs is definitely the easiest way to read documents in .pdf, .doc or .xls online. So, if you want to share a PDF file with your readers, what about creating a shortcode that will open the PDF in Google Docs instead of forcing download?

Simply paste the code in your

.

function pdflink($attr, $content) {
	return '<a class="pdf" href="http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=' . $attr['href'] . '">'.$content.'</a>';
}
add_shortcode('pdf', 'pdflink');

Once you saved the file, you’ll be able to use the shortcode on your posts and page. Here is the syntax:

[pdf href="http://yoursite.com/linktoyour/file.pdf"]View PDF[/pdf]

» Source: http://www.wprecipes.com/wordpress-tip-create-a-pdf-viewer-shortcode

Detect the visitor browser within WordPress

Well, this hack is not so new, but it still remains one of my favorites. What this code does is pretty simple, it detects the name of the visitor browser and adds it to the

function.
That way, you can correct browser-specific problems extremely easily. The function has to be pasted in your

file.

add_filter('body_class','browser_body_class');
function browser_body_class($classes) {
	global $is_lynx, $is_gecko, $is_IE, $is_opera, $is_NS4, $is_safari, $is_chrome, $is_iphone;

	if($is_lynx) $classes[] = 'lynx';
	elseif($is_gecko) $classes[] = 'gecko';
	elseif($is_opera) $classes[] = 'opera';
	elseif($is_NS4) $classes[] = 'ns4';
	elseif($is_safari) $classes[] = 'safari';
	elseif($is_chrome) $classes[] = 'chrome';
	elseif($is_IE) $classes[] = 'ie';
	else $classes[] = 'unknown';

	if($is_iphone) $classes[] = 'iphone';
	return $classes;
}

The function output will look like:

<body class="home blog logged-in safari">

» Source: http://www.nathanrice.net/blog/browser-detection-and-the-body_class-function/

Like CatsWhoCode? If yes, don’t hesitate to check my other blog CatsWhoBlog: It’s all about blogging!

10 useful new WordPress hacks

Apple seeds iOS 4.1 SDK as app downloads top 6.5 billion

Hot on the heels of last week’s Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) media event touting the Sept. 8 release of the iOS 4.1 software update, the computing giant seeded the iOS SDK 4.1 Gold Master to registered developers, promising the introduction of new services as well as a host of bug fixes. iOS 4.1 is highlighted by the launch of Apple’s long-awaited Game Center service, enabling developers to more effectively incorporate multiplayer gaming tools into their applications–available as both a set of APIs and as a stand-alone iPhone application, Game Center also features social media tools, making it easier for consumers to discover new titles as well as live opponents. According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, iOS devices now outsell mobile gaming units from traditional videogame giants like Sony and Nintendo.

Also new in iOS 4.1: High Dynamic Range photo capabilities, which Jobs said can combine several different photos, taken quickly together, to produce clearer images. He said the platform also will enable users to upload HD video over WiFi, rather than requiring users to plug their device into a computer. iOS 4.1 additionally fixes bugs impacting the iPhone 4′s proximity sensor, Bluetooth capabilities and the performance of the iPhone 3G–users have complained that iOS 4 slowed iPhone 3G devices. Jobs said Apple will unveil iOS 4.2 in November, touting iPad additions like multitasking and folders.

Jobs said Apple has now shipped 120 million iOS devices and activates 230,000 new devices every day, adding the latter figure doesn’t include upgrades–a not-so-subtle jab at rival Google, which recently said it activates 200,000 new Android devices a day. (“The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services,” Google told Fortune in response to Jobs’ comment.) Apple’s App Store now offers consumers their choice of more than 250,000 applications–downloads from the digital storefront total 6.5 billion.

For more on the iOS 4.1 SDK:
- check out the iOS Dev Center

Related articles:
Apple issues iOS 4.1 beta update to developers
Apple adds iOS 4 application section to App Store
Apple issues iOS 4 update to iPhone 3GS and iPod touch
Apple now accepting iOS 4 app submissions

New online video platform Dovie takes flight

The online video platform space just got a little more crowded with the launch today of Dovie, which is billing itself as an affordable, accessible, all-in-one video platform. The Portland, Ore.-based company says its mission was to develop a simple solution that would help publishers “create a video control cloud with enough power to launch an online TV show, channel or network from a desktop computer.”

Dovie is offering a no-contract $29 introductory plan that includes all the services features, adaptive bitrate streaming, advertising, analytics, encoding, hyperlinks, overlays, playlists, revenue sharing, ad targeting, white labeling and the ability to fully style player and playlist embeds with custom CSS. The system supports delivery of channel playlists and multiple forms of advertising including text and banner overlays to handhelds and notebooks like Apple’s iPad and iPhone.

Dovie is targeted at the non-technical, said the company, which says it’s also deep enough for larger enterprise use. The platform was built on HTML5, CSS and Javascript which “allows users to completely customize their embeds and delivers the same experience to every platform.”

Dovie says the platform allows content managers to swap out branding on white-labeled players and update all forms of advertising on the fly, even after embedding on remote sites.  Account holders can plug into ad major networks, the company said, with ad revenues are shared equally between Dovie and users. It also includes overlay advertising controls, so advertising managers can upload, schedule, cap, pace, and prioritize and target ads on a per-video basis. All account levels include unlimited impressions of hyperlinked banner and text overlays.

 ”A generation from now, online video will be remembered like the Gutenberg press, something that gave life to a totally new era of communication and inspired a bottom-up approach to media.,” said J.R. Storment, Dovie president and COO.

For more:
– see this release

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.

Everything is Multimedia

Multimedia is basically everything considered “Content” within any given website. From photos/images, videos, text, graphics, Flash, JavaScript, and HTML 5 coupled with interactivity. The great thing is there’s no secret formula, or secret code you need to discover on “how to make multimedia happen” on your website nowadays. The Code resources are abundant, driven and led by organizations which power the web 3.0 movement.

The abundance of online resources available today is constantly growing, updating, and evolving all related to multimedia. Your only requirement is you’ve got to be plugged into it 24/7/365, knowing the difference between what works well, and what software and systems aren’t worth your effort. Having that time to spare while keeping up on the ever-changing world of multimedia is the real secret to making it happen for your business online today.

• So how can I plug into it all (but without that 24/7/365 part) you ask?

That’s a rather simple answer really, but first we should provide some more details about our multimedia efforts – while we try our best to be brief and not bore you into being a bounce stat.

BoonJack Media has spent several years in online multimedia, video technology business successfully – we’ve contributed to the video craze in various market sectors since 2004. Through the years we’ve been researching various systems and software continuously, trying to stay plugged-in to it. We’ve been developing our multimedia asset management platform for many years too, with the idea of making multimedia easy for anyone to utilize for website publishing. We’ve debunked countless systems, software online for multimedia and deemed most of  them worthless, but we’re always looking for the winners. We’ve installed, configured, tested, corrupted, consumed copious amounts of delicious java while reading support-forum threads until the birds start chirping, meticulously stripping away all the pump, spin and hype – trying to literally break it too discover the inner workings, the true reliability of the software and systems we ultimately adopt.

Out of thousands of R&D hours spent, we only settle for the best software and systems for our multimedia hosting platform. All of which are thoroughly proven, tested solutions which are rock solid, effective, and simple for anyone with average computer skills to manage, simply put…

Check out our Packages and other Stuffhere or below