So after reading this post at 37signals I decided to remove the Sociable WordPress plugin that inserts links to all the popular social bookmarking websites on the net.  They have a very good point that a blog post is all about the content and not the linking or how to get linked.  People already know how to post to the sites and it’s easy, if your content is good it will get posted and moderated to a homepage.  So I thought i’d remove it remove a distraction from the site.  Now I just have to focus on quality content, or any content at all in my case as postings are few and far between.

[tags]37signals, social bookmarking, web 2.0[/tags]

After installing Drupal 4.7.4 yesterday for testing on project I am working on, Drupal 5 beta 1 gets launched today. So I just got done installing it and it was a breeze with the new installer script. After installing the php5-gd library and configuring cron, I now have a working Drupal 5.0 beta 1 system working. I’m just glancing over the administration and it already looks to be a huge improvement in the usability of the administration of a Drupal site. I am extremely stoked about this release as I’m increasingly relying on Drupal to get work done whether it be in my personal or professional life. The drupal folks have done a stellar job this year in increasing the profile of drupal and is definately the premier Open Source CMS on the market. The new default drupal theme is hands down 100% better than the old default theme.

If you are evaluating CMS’s you’d be stupid not to take a look at drupal. The code is clean and easily extendable and you can pretty much make it do anything.

Drupal, keep up the good work! Can’t wait for the official release of 5 to start using in projects.

**Update** you can check out my demo of Drupal 5.0 beta 1 at http://test.zemote.com/drupal

[tags]drupal, CMS, joomla[/tags]

Check out Tony Duggins lead singer of The Tossers solo project Undone.

On the heels of the aquisition o YouTube by google, people may not be able to directly with GooTube, but many can probably still make a good deal of money in the video arena. Niche’s are where it’s at. The problem with YouTube is that it is not easy to search video and find relevant content you want in between videos that are totally irrelevent. People that do niche video sites will not get 1.65 billion from google, but stand to make a healthy living.

So what niche are you interested in? What are you waiting for, go build your youtube for your niche.

[tags]YouTube, YouTube, Google Video, Video, Niche[/tags]

On Robert Scoble’s blog today, Robert suggested we all buy playstation’s and HDTV’s on credit at Best Worst Buy and and justify it by saying it’s only $140 in payments.

I think it is extremely irresponsible for anybody to suggest buying tech toys on credit if you can’t afford it. In a world where consumer debt is at an all time high, one should not be promoting people to go buy things on credit just to keep up with the Jones’s. These are wants, not necessities.

What happens in an emergency, you’ve run up your credit cards on toys that you can’t afford, and an emergency comes along like your furnace going out in the middle of the winter… Get that credit card out and dig yourself deeper into debt. Once someone starts living on debt, it is hard to get out of the vicious cycle.

Scoble, I am hereby calling you out as this being one of the most irresponsible thing you’ve ever said. Everyone else should be saying the same thing!!!

[tags]Robert Scoble, Scoble, Scobleizer, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, HDTV, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, Playstation, Playstation 3[/tags]

Google released their Docs & Spreadsheets online Application today and it supports blog publishing to what seems like any type of blog. I ‘m currently writing this post in a Google Doc and will be publishing it from google’s publish tools. I’m curious to see how this works out and if I can add images inline and they automatically get posted and how it all works. I can see it not being the most efficient way to post to a blog already. We’ll see, here we go…. now with the post.

**Update** So I posted this and a title wasn’t added. Not sure what I have to do to get a title added. I should probably read the google docs first. I hate to read technical docs 🙁 So far I will not be making this my blogging tool of choice. But I find it a great way for someone to create and read word and excel docs without ever having to install an office suite on their machine. Have we finally come to an age that we know longer need an office suite on our machine? For most users google Docs & Spreadsheets will be able to handle most if not all their document needs. The power user probably still wants to keep excel and word handy. All google needs now is a online presentation suite and a database and google office will be complete.
[tags]Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google, Office, Online tools, word, excel, office killer[/tags]

Was just wondering if there are any Chicago readers heading to Tech Cocktail?  Shoot me an e-mail and we can hook up and chat over a beer.

[tags]Tech Cocktail, Techcocktail, Chicago[/tags]

Google updated their online RSS reader yesterday and I have to say it is more visually apealing than Bloglines and very easy to use.  I find it fits into my RSS reading workflow extremely well and has shortcuts.  I’m not sure if the old version supported shortcuts as I never really used it.

If there are any bloglines users out there, I recommend checking it out.  I think you may convert.  Some of the shortcuts you know and love still apply.  I even convinced my wife to drink the RSS Kool-Aid with Google Reader today.
Here is my RSS reader History.

1:  Onfolio – About 2 years – Purchased by Microsoft and it doesn’t look as if they are going to support Firefox anymore 🙁 I loved this app, one of the very few apps i’ve ever purchased.
2:  Rojo – Very short time, maybe 2 weeks
3:  Bloglines – for the last 3 months – Hated the Uglyness of the interface!
4.  Google Reader – Today -> the future!!! Pretty and Functional

[tags]Bloglines, Google Reader, RSS[/tags]

My new chair. I finally spent some money and bought a decent chair because my back is in pain for sitting at a computer 16 hours a day in crappy chairs. I’ve sat in hundreds of chairs over the last month and it was down to Eurotech’s Ergohuman Chair, a Herman Miller Aeron, and a Steelcase Leap Chair, and this won out over the Aeron and Leap chair. Now I just need it to come in and then I can do a proper review on the chair.

So until I can do a proper review, check out this YouTube video. The chair comes in Mesh and leather, i’ve opted for the leather and I am not completely convinced of the durability of mesh chairs. Supposedly the mesh stretches and starts to sag after a period of time. I don’t know about the validity of that, but I liked the leather more than the mesh model. Now I just have to get my boss to pony up some money for a new chair at work too.
[tags]Ergonomics, Ergonomic, Ergonomic Chair, Aeron, Herman Miller, Steelcase Leap Chair, Eurotech, Ergohuman, office chair, Mesh Chair, Back Pain[/tags]

Unless it is absolutely necessary.  Chris Pirillo’s post titled “10 ways to Eliminate the echo Chamber”.

I’m taking Chris Pirillo’s advice, and i’m not going to check my feed reader for one week.

During this week, i’m going to blog every day at least once about an Idea that is original and not being talked about in the blogosphere, or at least that I know of because i’m not seeing my feeds :)  You can call me out if I post about what some other blogger is saying.  I’m done talking about
[tags]Echo chamber, original, thinking, writing[/tags]