Dave Caolo

I love my iPhone, but there are two simple things that would make it better.

1. Temporarily disable the home button.

Along with music and photos, my iPhone has a few Sesame Street videos and kiddie games installed, which I whip out when my kids run out of patience in public (iChalky and Jirbo Match are hits). The problem is that the kids sometimes navigate away from the application or video and get into other stuff. Recently, my daughter deleted some photos I hadn’t exported to my Mac.

It’s hardly the end of the world, but it would be nice to put the phone in “Kid mode” and prevent them from navigating away from a video or application.

2. Return to the last application.

Sometimes a friend will share a YouTube video via Twitterrific. When I click it, the YouTube application launches. When I’m through, my only option is to go back to the home screen and then re-launch Twitterrific. I’d like an option to return to the last application.

Two humble wishes. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Shawn Blanc published an article on iTunes 8′s Genius feature. Not everyone likes it, but I sure do, and that’s because it accommodates the way I listen to music.

I don’t sort music by album, artist or rating. I sort music by mood. Specifically, I listen to music that compliments or enhances my mood. Until now, that’s meant lot of skipping around or compiling time-consuming playlists. With Genius enabled, I simply select a representative song and click a button. iTunes (or my iPhone) does the rest.

For example, I listen to mellow music while I’m working. One of my favorite tracks is Björk’s Vökuró, and the playlist that Genius created* for me based upon it is great: Portishead, Boards of Canada, Thievery Corporation, Radiohead.

Conversely, the Genius playlist I started with Van Halen’s Panama is just as good: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cult. As Shawn mentions, it gets better as more people use it. I’ve also noticed that results are better with large iTunes libraries.

Michael Mistretta complained that Genius “…will simply be used to sell you more music.” Perhaps, but that’s not what I’ve gotten out of it. Truthfully, I think Complete My Album is more of a cash grab.

I was glad to see Shawn’s article, because I think Genius gets less press than it deserves. It’s a huge feature.

*Here’s that playlist in iTunes as an iMix (I don’t make anything off of it).

One of my recent goals was to create a ready-to-go installation of WordPress. Today it’s complete, and I’ve written to share a bit of it with you. Specifically, these are the plug-ins I include in any basic installation. Of course, not every project is the same, but this is always my starting point.

1. Akismit eliminiates comment spam and trackback spam effectively. You’ll need a WordPress.com API key to enable it. I occasionally see something sneak through, but those occurences are the exception, not the rule. Akismit is the first plug-in I set up.
2. Thank Me Later sends first-time commenters a single email thanking them for their participation. Customize the time delay between receipt of the comment and deployment of the email, the body of the message itself and more. It’s not essential, but a nice touch.
3. WordPress.com stats provides real-time statistics in your dashboard. Again, you’ll need a WordPress.com API key to enable this one.
4. WordPress Automatic Upgrade makes it very easy to apply updates. After some simple configuration, you can install WP updates from the dashboard. It’s a real time saver.
5. WordPress Database Backps does just what the name implies — creates a backup for your blog’s (or WP-powered site’s) database files. For some real fun, check out my super-simple instructions for setting up automated, off-site backups.
6. Share This lets visitors share your articles with their favorite social sites without having to leave your blog.
7. All in One SEO Pack certainly isn’t a replacement for SEO best practices (see “WordPress and SEO“), but it makes certain aspects easy.

So there you have it, my basic WordPress starting point. What’s yours?

President elect Barack Obama and Vice President elect Joe Biden’s official website, Change.gov, has been launched. I’ve visited Whitehouse.gov several times over the years. It’s pretty much a news portal. Not Change.gov.

There’s a blog. Imagine — an official Presidential blog. I only hope that it stays in place and is used to its fullest potential over the next four years.

There are clear definitions for our country’s immediate problems: the economy, the war in Iraq, healthcare, security and The USA’s role in the world. Each offers initial steps towards a resolution and gives readers an opportunity to share their own ideas. Another page asks, “Where should we start together?”

When I consider that, and President Elect Obama’s agenda for technology, I feel awed. As a public servant, the President ought to provide his people with a forum. Still, this blows me away.

Change indeed.

When President Bill Clinton was inaugurated on January 20, 1993, Maya Angelou read the poem On The Pulse Of Morning, which she wrote for the occasion. It’s just as appropriate today. The last two stanzas:

The horizon leans forward

Offering you space

To place new steps of change

Here, on the pulse of this fine day

You may have the courage

To look up and out and upon me,

The Rock, The River, The Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastadon then.

~

Here on the pulse of this new day

You may have the grace to look up and out

And into your sister’s eyes

And into your brother’s face,

Your country,

And say simply

Very simply

With hope –

Good morning.

I’m proud of you, America.

I manage 8 WordPress blogs. Creating timely backups for all of them is a pain. So, today I put an automatic solution in place that results in hands-free, off-site storage of weekly backups. Here’s how.

You’ll need a paid Backpack account (the free account does not offer file storage) and the WP-DB-Backup plugin. First, we’ll set up Backpack.

One of the cool features of Backpack is that each page has a unique email address. Anything sent to it gets posted to that page. We’re going to take advantage of that feature. First, create a new Backpack page with a name like “WP Databse Backups.” Note the email address in the page’s footer. That’s the address we’re after.

Now it’s time to install the WP-DB-Backup plugin. As usual, just drop it in /wp-content/plugins on your server. Next, activate it via the “Plugins” page of your WordPress control panel. After that, click “Manage” and then “Backup.”

There are several options for you to fiddle with. For our purposes, look at “Scheduled backup.” Select “Once Weekly” (or whatever schedule you like) and place the email address you got from the Backpack page in the field labeled “Email backup to.” Finally, click “Schedule backup” and you’re done.

There you have it! Automatic, off-site backups of your WordPress database. Since each backup has a unique name based on its creation date, you needn’t worry about overwriting anything. Have fun!

Micah at Reel Distraction attended the Shining Halloween Party at the Timberline, which was used for the external shots in the movie, and followed up with some great photos.

There were wandering actors and creepy props, like a Big Wheel in the hallway, “Redrum” written on visitor’s bathroom mirrors and, of course, the simulcast of the movie. Really fantastic. Check it out.

Update: More pics on Flickr.

Even the most dedicated health fanatic eats a value meal once in a while. With that in mind, I’m allowing myself to violate my own promise to be more positive. Forgive me.

It doesn’t have to be, of course. But the people in charge think you’re stupid.

This became apparent to me when that asinine Friends was a hit. Six beautiful, young New Yorkers spent all of their time drinking coffee out of enormous cups or solving serious problems in their gymnasium-sized apartment. Problems like, “Rachael can’t find the right shoes and her mother is coming to visit! What is she going to do? She really needs those shoes.”

It ran for 10 years.

Shows that actually engage your grey matter (other than the part that says, “Lift Bud Light to mouth”) get canned because their smaller audiences can’t sustain the obscene cash flow that executives demand. Despite critical acclaim and armfuls of awards, shows like Arrested Development and now Pushing Daisies are canceled. Battlestar Galactica is among the best shows on TV, and Sci-Fi treats it like Sloth.

Perhaps there ought to be a Quality Network. We’ll call it QN – TV For People Who Are Insulted By Knight Rider. Smaller audiences, smaller budgets, reduced broadcasting hours and a couple dozen KILLER shows.

It’s starting to happen on cable (Mad Men is a fine example). While the Big Four networks pump out another season of Wife Swap, cable is producing television we actually want to watch.

NBC’s The Office seems like an exception, until you realize it was saved by iTunes. NBC wanted to can it.

Now you know why I don’t watch much TV.

One more thing: Get off my lawn.

I saw one of those polar bear mounts that was given away at Blizzcon ’08 (click to enlarge) while running around Ironforge this afternoon. It’s even cooler than I expected. Check out the Murloc riding shotgun. I sent this guy a message, but he must have been AFK.

Still, pretty sweet.