Ithacaweb Network http://ithacaweb.net The Internet Guru Group of Genius! Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:59:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Android Apps http://ithacaweb.net/android-apps/ http://ithacaweb.net/android-apps/#comments Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:59:08 +0000 Information Icon http://ithacaweb.net/?p=70

Music and sound apps

Apps for when you’re traveling

  • TripIt: keep track of trips and plane flights for upcoming travel
  • Google Translate: translate tons of languages into tons of other languages. You can also do voice-recognition-to-text for English, then translate. This app will even do text-to-speech (voice synthesis) in many languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, and German.
  • Yelp: Find great restaurants nearby. Pro tip: scan the reviews to discover good dishes to order.
  • Compass: also handy when you’re traveling

Social apps

  • Twitter: official Twitter app for Android. This app can take empty/missing pictures in your contacts and populate your contacts’ pictures with their Twitter profile pictures, which is nice.
  • Seesmic: another fantastic Twitter app for Android
  • Google Buzz widget: an easy way to post to Buzz from your phone. By the way, I’ve noticed myself using Buzz more and more recently. When I started on Twitter, it took me several months to warm to the service. I think the same principle applies to Buzz. Buzz fills a nice niche between Twitter (microblogging) and regular blogging. It’s great when you want to throw out one quick idea, but you need more than 140 characters. You can read my Buzzes (or follow me on Buzz) if you want.

Cool demos / showing off

  • Google Skymap: move your phone to see where stars are. Like augmented reality for the sky.
  • Tricorder: shows all the different sensor readings of your phone. Includes accelerometer and tilt sensors, GPS and lat/lon, wifi, cell phone strength, compass, acoustic data–even solar activity.
  • Metal Detector: an app that detects metal. I still don’t know how it works (maybe it uses the magnetometer sensor that allows the compass), but it actually does work on many types of metal
  • Google Earth: most of the eye candy of Google Earth, but on your phone
  • LED Scroller: enter a message and your phone turns into a faux LED scrolling sign. Kinda low-tech, but impresses people more than I expected.
  • Hypnotic Spiral: makes a swirling spiral that you can control
  • The Schwartz Unsheathed: a light sword that makes cool sounds as you move your phone.

Signal strength apps

  • Wifi Analyzer: walk around and see a dynamic graph of wifi signal strength. Great for picking the right place to sit in an airport or cafe to get the best wifi signal
  • Antennas: shows a Google map with nearby antennas on it. Good for monitoring your phone’s signal strength
  • RF Signal Tracker (two versions, Donut and Eclair): another app to measure cell phone tower signal strength

QR Code and Barcode apps

  • Key Ring: scan your loyalty and other membership cards (e.g. Safeway, or your gym). Then use this app instead of carrying a bunch of membership cards around. I wish my phone could replace everything in my wallet.
  • App Referrer: shows all your installed apps. Click on an application and it will generate a large QR barcode on your screen that your friend can scan to install the same app.
  • Barcode Scanner: scan barcodes and QR codes. Very handy to install applications and visit urls. Note that the “Barcode Scanner” app (like App Referrer) can also show QR codes for applications — just press the options button. Can also show QR codes for contacts, bookmarks, and the clipboard.

Core apps / misc

  • My Tracks: records where you go using GPS and lets you upload a “track” to Google Maps
  • Navigation: get turn-by-turn directions as you drive
  • Movies: check movie times and see ratings from critics vs. audiences
  • Wheres My Droid: If you lose your phone and it’s in silent mode, this app will help you find your phone. I’ve tried Mobile Defense and that’s also very nice.
  • WordPress: Upload images and blog from your phone
  • Amazon.com: mobile shopping, plus add things to your Amazon wishlist
  • Shopper: Google app to scan barcodes and show product search results
  • BBC News: see the latest in world news. This is an unofficial widget.
  • News and Weather: customizable news, plus this app shows weather in your current location. Wish I could enter 3-4 cities and flick between weather reports though.
  • Weather: see the weather in multiple cities
  • Google Finance: check stock prices and news
  • Google Maps: see where you are

Google also offers a lot of mobile apps, but I just wanted to highlight some applications.

What did I miss? Which Android Apps?

]]> http://ithacaweb.net/android-apps/feed/ 0 Upgrading from WPMU to WP 3.0 http://ithacaweb.net/upgrading-from-wpmu-to-wp-3-0/ http://ithacaweb.net/upgrading-from-wpmu-to-wp-3-0/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:15:49 +0000 Information Icon http://ithacaweb.net/?p=57

Now that 3.0 is officially released, you may have seen an upgrade notice in the backend of your WPMU install. While the process is generally just clicking the upgrade button, there are a couple of additional steps to fully smooth out any merged changes that occurred.

First, backup your database(s) and the entire wp-content folder. Then hit the Upgrade button.

You’ll notice immediately after doing the auto-upgrade that there’s a yellow message in the admin area that states the following:

The wp-content/blogs.php file is deprecated. Please remove it and update your server rewrite rules to use wp-includes/ms-files.php instead.

So, go ahead via ftp or through your web hosts control panel and delete the blogs.php file from the /wp-content/ folder. It’s been moved and renamed to /wp-includes/ms-files.php for you already.

You’ll now need to update your .htaccess file so your uploaded images will continue to display properly for your users. Find the line that says:
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-content/blogs.php?file=$2 [L]
and change it to this:
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]
You will also need to add a nonce salt to wp-config.php. You’ll get a warning about it and it will look similar to this:
define( 'NONCE_SALT', '6xF{&bvT_PAsmbnG<72.dJH>D8R8M!M{~r.U]-~j:rG!g!0(g7hvz)+/h9 IY7Ge' );
Stuff it in there with your other salts.

If you decide to upgrade manually, replacing the new files, make sure you snag the new TwentyTen default theme, as well as make the above changes. Feel free to finally dump Kubrick & Classic.

One of the things you will instantly notice is the renaming of the menus. Now that you’ve completed the basic upgrade, make sure your entire network gets updated by visiting the Super Admin -> Update page. As before, this will step through the blogs (now sites) a chunk at a time, applying any needed database changes.

Additional notes:
Since you are upgrading from WPMU, you are already running a network of sites. Please DO NOT follow the Create a Network instructions, as you will not need them.

If you’re running our multi-site plugin, no worries! It has worked smoothly for us and reportedly others who have upgraded MU.

In case you are running a version of WPMU earlier than the 2.9 branch, please step through upgrades manually to 2.9.x as outlined in the codex. Then you can continue as above.

]]> http://ithacaweb.net/upgrading-from-wpmu-to-wp-3-0/feed/ 0 How to build a Website http://ithacaweb.net/how-to-build-a-website/ http://ithacaweb.net/how-to-build-a-website/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:08:48 +0000 Information Icon http://ithacaweb.net/?p=15

How to build a Website

Building your own website will require three things. You will need a domain name, a web hosting package and web pages or a WordPress Theme. The steps on this page show you how to build a personal or business or corporate website for any type of product or service.

1. Choose a Domain Name:

You can order everything you need at one time, domain, hosting and a website template. Simply browse through our themes selection, choose a theme, click the “order” button and choose your ordering options. This will give you everything you need to build your website including submission to Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and all other major search engines (included free with any WordPress  hosting package). Or, you may want to search for an available domain name first. Once you have found an available domain you can register it from the linked page in this paragraph.

2. Order Web Hosting:

Once you have chosen an available domain name you’ll need to order web hosting space to build your web site. To order a theme, domain and hosting all at once see step #1. You can go to our hosting page and select the hosting package you need. Selecting reliable server space is critical to any business. If your clients cannot open your page you could be losing valuable business. At Ithacaweb you know your website will always be up and running. Your site will be hosted on the same quality web servers that we host our websites.

3. Build Some Webpages:

Once you have a domain name and hosting space, you’ll need some web pages to place online. You can learn HTML coding, purchase software and build your own web pages from scratch, or you can select a pre-built WordPress Theme and build your website by following the included step-by-step instructions. Optionally, your website theme can be set up by any professional web developer. WordPress themes are built using basic HTML and PHP so they will work with any hosting company that supports WordPress (PHP and mySQL) and can be setup by anyone. For more details on building your website using WordPress Themes, check our theme FAQ. section, or see our Theme plugins page to view plugins included with Ithacaweb WordPress Themes.

4. How Do I Build the Website?

Once you order a WordPress website you’ll be directed to an area to select from various FREE WordPress Themes and download/install your theme directly into your website with a few clicks of the mouse.  You will also find extra help and e-mail support in our WordPress Theme support center. All theme source files and images are included in the download. The instructions include help with; page editing, BLOG post administration, meta configurations,  search engine optimization tips and tricks, uploading media, and a bunch more.

5. Choosing Website Theme Options:

View our WordPress Theme plugins page to see what type of plugins are built into Ithacaweb WordPress Themes by default.

What makes WordPress stand out from other content management systems is that they are not just single page websites. WordPress Themes have many built-in features like, drop menus or art and photo galleries, contact forms, quote forms, Mp3 and Podcasting, PDF galleries, Paypal compatible shopping carts, Paypal order forms, Flash animation and more. We are always developing new themes and new plugins in an attempt to allow any user to build and set up their own top quality website. Professional developers and large corporations use WordPresss to represent themselves every day. For some examples, you can view our list of WordPress users.
Theme Options: If you are selling products on-line you’ll need a shopping cart. Most WordPress Themes are compatible with shopping carts and require a simple plugin to activate into the theme. This shopping cart is free to setup and is really about as easy as ecommerce setups get. Here are some other options when building your website.

See our WordPress Theme plugins page for comprehensive details on what is included.

  • Shopping Cart: WP-Ecommerce: This cart is free and very easy to set up. You can sell unlimited products from your website. It also allows several  payment credit card processor options of choice.
  • Adding Other Plugins: Almost any type of application or script can be added to any WordPress Theme because they are built in basic HTML and PHP. We also have a section in our support area that features free scripts and add-ons.
  • About Flash: With WordPress Themes, the theme logo and all text displayed in the Flash animation is controlled by one file. This file can be easily edited with any text editor to add your company name, slogan and phrases. Flash software is not required for editing. Additionally… all themes include a graphic logo option. You can rename one file and then add your graphic logo to the pre-defined logo image. You do not need to use the included Flash header on your website.

6. Search Engine Promotion & Keywords:

All Ithacaweb WordPress hosting packages include submitting your site to search engines for no additional charge. You will also find in our theme support center comprehensive page optimization help as well as meta tag configuring information, XML site map help, robots.txt info, and in-depth search engine submission help to help build your website.

]]> http://ithacaweb.net/how-to-build-a-website/feed/ 0 Your Internet Guru – The Finger Lakes http://ithacaweb.net/your-internet-guru-the-finger-lakes/ http://ithacaweb.net/your-internet-guru-the-finger-lakes/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:50:22 +0000 Information Icon

Your Internet Guru – The Finger Lakes (The Finger Lakes)

Date: 2010-06-09, 12:13PM EDT
Reply to: job-xmrf4-1783177509@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

WEB DESIGNER/DEVELOPER, HOSTING SERVICE and MARKETING

We are seeking clients to join our team of successful websites. We specialize in many main stream content management systems (WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, ect…) migrating older websites and new into these platforms. We migrate from platform to platform when the job calls for it. Customized plugins, modules, themes and templates.

FLASH media sites and electronic promotional kits!

Internet Marketing through Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, vimeo and a bunch more….

Custom coding for large database management of data through a variety of markup languages. Hosting for development and production regionally located in Ithaca, NY. Marketing solutions through print/media and the evolving social networks of today. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a high-spirited, competitive team in a dynamic growth company.

RESPONSIBILITIES
- Work closely with you to produce website infrastructure, social network marketing, digital banner ads, html emails, and other services.
- Design and build new templates and themes for content management systems
- Browser tested and approved under main stream browser platforms
- Design and build marketing solutions that promote new products, services art and media
- Hosting your website with optimal speed and up time with today’s standards

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS

- WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal and more!
- MySQL, MS SQL
- Adobe Photoshop, Flash, etc. enabled
- Coding PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion, Witango, and more….
- Cross-browser compatibility
- Clean, semantic XHTML
- Experience with javascript and AJAX
- Experience with PHP/MYSQL based websites and server side technology
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- Ability to work quickly, while maintaining a high level of quality.
- Design abilities are very important along with our level of technical expertise.
- Hosting with development area regionally. enabled

REQUIRED
- Your website content, photographs and feedback before and during the process of constructing your website
- Your direct involvement in the maintenance project

TO APPLY
Email your information to the address above.

  • Location: The Finger Lakes
  • Compensation: DeterminedOnAgreement
  • Telecommuting is ok.
  • This is a part-time job.
  • This is a contract job.
  • This is at a non-profit organization.
  • This is an internship job
  • OK for recruiters to contact this job poster.
  • Phone calls about this job are ok.
  • Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1783177509

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