Matthew Engel

For some people, this is really big news! Millions worldwide use Wordpress as their web development software, including myself. The newest release is a real milestone in their development as it contains new features that will change the way users work for now on. For starters, it has an automatic upgrade package, which eliminates the tedious need to do this yourself. Upgrading wordpress was previously extremely difficult and risky. I had even been locked out of my own blog in the process, which can be quite frightening. The automatic upgrade will make this a lot easier!

Read all about it here!

Recently, I have been learning alot about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is the practice of designing a webpage so that it can be readily discovered by Google. More specifically, it can be used to increase your page rank, anotherwords it will show you closer to the top of Google search results. I think I will write more about this later, but would like to ackowledge the help of my good friend Andrew Perry.

Andrew runs his own florist business (perrysflorist.com) and maintains a website for finding florists all over the globe. Find him at www.find-florists.com.

Today I spent at least one hour trying to fix some code on another site I am working on. It was such a pain to do, that I am writing the solution here so that others may learn from my struggles.

The problem was that I had a piece of php code outputing some nice html on the webpage, but I could not figure out how to edit the font of the html. Php uses the ‘echo’ command to output html, which is great and really simple. However, for the life of me I could not make the desired output in bold face, which was so frustrating. I was not sure if I would need to use css or not, but found finally found the quick and easy solution here.

Originally my code looked like:

Which I needed to change to:

Notice the bold html tags <b> are in quotes. This was critical to get it to work, but not sufficient. The critical part was actualy putting the periods! So annoying. Anyway, notice the additional periods after the opening bold tag quotation marks and after the php command itself.

The Stony Brook University Graduate School magazine (sbgradmag.org) is looking for writers to contribute their thoughts and ideas to an online forum. Get involved!!

XOHM is a new mobile internet technology which was officially released this week on Monday, September 29, 2008. I found about about it on Friday, 5 days later as I was shopping for a new highspeed internet provider for my home. As a current Cablevision customer, I am unsatisfied with the cost of my service, which has recently increased from $29.99/mo to $49.99/mo.

This led me to search for a new service, and I called just for comparison’s sake a T1 provider, who was extremely knowledgable. Apparently, a T1 line at the minimum costs $300 a month providing stable IP addresses and at least 1.5 mps (megabytes per second) for both up and downloadong files. I definitely, don’t need this service, however it would be appropiate for a corporate account. The sales person recommended I check out WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) which is being provided by XOHM using the 802.16e protocol. XOHM is currently running its platform off Sprint cell phone towers, and is partially financed by Sprint and Google, Inc among other equity stake holders. What is XOHM? For $25/mo XOHM provides ‘broadband’ like speeds to a mobile device such as a laptop or tablet PC that is within range of the XOHM network. The currently claimed speeds are between 2-4 mps for downloads and 0.5-1.5 mps for uploads. The $30 price package lasts 6 months, at which point the cost becomes $45/mo with NO CONTRACT!! This is a huge deal! (For all you newbies, uploading refers to the act of putting files up on the internet, usually on some sort of server. For example, sharing files with your friends via FTP or giving away files on BitTorrent are examples of uploading. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, then don’t worry you probably don’t do it anyway, but understand it is the opposite of downloading. Out current  infrastructure is optimized for downloading files from the internet, i.e. viewing webpages and is therefore much faster in this direction).

Accoding to Wikipedia “Sprint Nextel announced in mid-2006 that it would invest about US$ 5 billion in a WiMAX technology buildout over the next few years.^[6] Since that time Sprint has been dealt setbacks in defections of (Nextel) iDEN and 3G subscribers that have resulted in steep quarterly losses and led to a management shake up with Dan Hesse as its new CEO. On May 7, 2008, Sprint, Clearwire, Google, Intel, Comcast, and Time Warner announced a pooling of 2.5 GHz spectrum and formation of a new company which will take the name Clearwire.” Apparently, Sprint has been losing their profit margin as Nextel subscribers fade. They are investing in mobile internet technologies, properly so. However, forming larger private comglomerates may not be optimal for the customer if it leads to price fixing monopolies, but hopefully will come with a wave of new technological developments.

Currently, XOHM allows you to choose a PCI card, USB adaptor or laptop with built in WiMAX technology. The WiMAX PCI card could be switched from one machine to the next, giving internet access to any computer you choose that has the installed software package. Essentially, internet service, is tied to the card. It should also be noted that a less expensive home service is offered which requires a specific XOHM modem (80$) instead of the PCI card, for only $25/mo which becomes $35/mo after 6 months. You can cancel your service at any time. These speeds are roughly equivalent to High Speed internet access provided by Verizon which travels through existing phone lines. These are not fiberoptic cables, but rather copper wiring which can provide 3/1.5 mps (3 down/1.5 up). It should be noted, that for more cost, Verizon also offers Fios at 3 speeds: 10/2 ($42.99/mo), 20/5 ($52.99/mo), and 20/20 ($64.99/mo). The last package would only be appropiate for individuals uploading massive quantities of data. According to the Verizon rep I spoke with the most popular service in my area is 20/5 which hits the ~$50/mo price point. However, note that all these services require a CONTRACT!! How many times have I wished I could change cell phone providers effortlessly without violating my one or two-year agreement. It is impossible to get a cell phone plan now without these types of ridiculously cumbersome contracts. It prevents customers from jumping on the newest technology or nabbing deals offered by competitors. I hate it!

The picture above is of a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, WiMAX Edition roughly $449. I think this is incredibly overpriced. Note that for a relatively cheap (~$100) PCI card you can turn your exiting laptop into a highspeed internet powerhouse! This is definitely the way to go, as I have often wanted internet access in my car to access emails or directions while on the road.

In summary, I think this could be a great service for people who need the internet on while traveling. It is a great technology and you should keep your eye on and your ears open for WiMAX this coming year. But you should know, as of right now it is only available in Baltimore, MD. XOHM is planning on moving into the Chicago and Washington DC markets throughout the next year. I asked if NY was on the horizon, but got no commitment from the consultant I spoke to.

Hi, I added a new plugin this week to my site which allows me to display photo thumbnails on my blog through flickr. This is extremely convenient and looks pretty cool on my front page. It also creates a /photos page where all the albums are displayed. I’m still trying to figure out how to customize that page. Right now, my problem is that on the photos page, the flickr widget is set to display photos in a very small format, and I would like them to be larger. It probably requires editing the css or php code for this template page. The plugin’s homepage explains in brief detail that this is possible, but not how to do it. In summary, I would highly recommend this plugin for creating a photo blog with embedded thumbnails. I was hesitant at first to use flickr because it meant that these images were now property of flickr, but I realized that this was not material to me. It should be noted that almost any image on the web is free game for someone to download and use in any way they see fit. For instructions on how to install and download this plugin, click here. The help forum is here.

I would like to acknowledge the source of the photo in my header which is a futuristic skyline of Manhattan in 2011. The original breathtaking photo is here.

In addition, several of the other skylines I have featured on this site come from Ken Gibson’s page, roadtripamerica.net. I have used his pictures of Seattle and Pittsburgh as headers throughout the rest of my blog.

Also, I have added a new plugin this week called Flexi Pages. It is excellent!!! Widgets have ben giving me TONS of added flexibility to how I display content on this site, and these features are intuitive to use and easy to install on your site. Specifically, the flexi pages widget lets you hide pages from your sidebar, display all or no sub-pages, or display sub-pages only on their parent page. this is what I have elected to do on my ‘Travel’ page. You will notice that the subpages are only visible from /Travel.

The flexi pages widget can be found here, in Srini’s Wordpress Laboratory.

I still have to figure out why my comments aren’t displaying properly with this theme.

Theres a million things I could write about here, but I will keep it tight. Focused, here we go. Spit it - wordpress right here.  Just updated the theme, customized the header.php file. I am using the Cutline Theme v1.3 designed by J. Angelo Racoma. This is an amazing theme, but I don’t want you to use it, too, because our blogs will look the same. Here’s the skinny anyway, just in case you are using it already.

Here is a link to the Cutline theme homepage

One thing I did not figure out how to use was the archives page. But instead I substituted this with my own Travel page, which is nice. That page needs to be seriously updated to fit into this new theme. On his site, Racoma explains how to edit the header so you can customize the pages which are displayed right under your banner.

Specifically, here’s the code I had to edit in my header.php

<li><a <?php if (is_archive() || is_page(’archives’)) echo(’class=”current” ‘); ?>href=”<?php bloginfo(’url’); ?>/travel/”>Travel</a></li>

Notice I changed the ‘archives’ text to ‘travel’ between <a>text</a>

Another I had to do was update my permalink structure. He explains this really well, and I would highly recommend NOT using the default permalinks structure since that will leave your pages looking awkward with unseamly URL’s like matthewaengel.com/blog/pageid=3? This looks ridiculous, and instead I can make matthewaengel.com/blog/travel. Much cleaner, nicer, and it actually servers a purpose.

So to get this to work exactly the way I wanted, it was necessary to update my header and change the permalink structure. Eventually I would like to get my archives page functioning, but this is in the future. For now I am still thinking what categories I should develop, and would like to begin focusing my writing on alternative energy technologies and the current political situation.

Right now I am looking for wordpress plugins to modify this site. Specifically, I need a plugin which allows me to collapse pages, and have them expand using a mouse roll over, or at least hide subpages in my right sidebar.

I like this new theme, it is much clearer, but does need modifications. I will look into replacing the header with a custom photography, and then fill in the about pages and modify my side bar.

I have decided to update this website. It has been in the current format for roughly, one year. I want to make a page which is easier to read. Probably there will be more words, and less pictures. However, I will keep all my original pages intact so you can still access them.

Matt