A new look

I have always had a fascination for blue as it looks cool and professional at the same time. However, there has been a big itch inside me to try something new. Unfortunately, I ended up with something blue.

This time I decided to do a makeover of my blog and to keep away from blue. I tried various themes and finally choose the Cutline theme which is all white. The themes is clean and simple and I like it. I have retained the custom header for now while I get something good to replace or even try to make a custom header myself.

As for something useful, I had tried Slax a while back and would write about it in the coming days.

Key Figures of this blog

Didn’t you think this one was coming? Of course, when reaching some important milestone, it is always satisfying to turn back and have a look at how we progressed and what we have come across.

Here are some key figures of this blog.

Blog Stats

Lifetime: Since July 25, 2006

Hits: 50020 as of yesterday

Posts: 133

Comments: 178

Top Post: Dell Inspiron 6400 – Part 4 – Installing Ubuntu 7.04

Most Active Post: Draw regular shapes using The GIMP

Other Stats:

Here are the stats about Operating Systems, Browsers and where my readers are located. These statistics have been taken from Sitemeter

1. Operating Systems: No surprises here. Win XP has a clear edge over others. The best part was the runner up. Linux at around 34 % just says a lot of people are currently using alternative operating systems. Have a look at how this graph looked was the last year. Readers using Linux have increased by 20%. Cool isn’t it? I am just curious what OS falls into the Unknown category.

2. Browsers: Again, Firefox is the clear leader. A vast majority still use IE too.

3. Reader Distribution: It is great to know that I have had atleast one reader from almost every continent on this planet. I am also more than eager to know what makes up “Unknown”. Antartica? Maybe. Maybe not.

Yet again, Thank you readers.

Graphs created using Zoho Sheet

50,000 Hits and counting

Dear Readers,

Yesterday, this blog reached a milestone. 50,000 hits. It has been two and half years since I started writing here and and it feels great after all the posts and comments. I agree, this is nothing compared to most other mainstream blogs who have as many hits a day. But, this is a personal blog and to have reached this milestone without knowing even one reader in person, makes me very happy.

At this point, I would like to thank each one of you.

I am planning to do a post on the statistics of this blog more like the one I did sometime last year.

Cheers.

~B

WordPress 2.5 Image Upload Solution

The newly released WordPress 2.5 has media uploading issues. The suggested solution is to add a few lines of code in the .htaccess file.

One more important thing especially for Linux users is to upgrade to the latest version of Flash which is available for download from Adobe. The latest version I installed on Ubuntu was 9.0 r124.

This can be checked out by opening a new tab in Firefox and typing about:plugins. Check under Shockwave Flash and the version number should be there.

This is not only applicable for custom WP installation but also for blogs hosted at wordpress.com.

BTW, the lines of code that should go into the .htaccess files are this.

<IfModule mod_security.c>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>

If you do not have a .htaccess file, create one and place it at the root of your website. If you already have one, add this code at the end of the file.

Happy Uploading

More twitter!

As I started using Twitter regularly, I was looking at tools to use the micro-blogging service. I use my IM to update Twitter but there are times when I don’t want to login on IM. For such days, I installed Twhirl, a twitter client for Windows and Mac. Twhirl is based on the Adobe AIR platform. Adobe AIR is available here. Twhirl is pretty cool and it has the most complete feature set to use Twitter.

Next, I added a Twitter badge to my blog here. WordPress does not allow scripts in widgets. So I just have to be content with an image linking to my Twitter page. Badges can be added on Myspace, Blogger, Typepad and web sites.

As a final note, I post stuff that mostly does not matter to most people out there, but once in a while, I do post something useful.

Upgraded to WordPress 2.5

I just upgraded to WordPress 2.5 on my local installation and it rocks. The upgrade took me less than 5 minutes

First impressions are change in the UI which is clean and easier to use, the editor has undergone some changes – it looks better, the Write Page has undergone significant changes.

Thats for now. I have not explored much, but will do so in the coming days. More details at that time.

New Look

I have been trying to give a make over to my blog. You might have noticed that themes have been changed so many times within a few minutes, header graphics being changed and such.

Finally I am done. I have decided to retain the same theme even though it does not show my tag line. Added a new header graphic sans blue. Updated my About page which I hadn’t bothered with for long long time.

I kinda seem to like it. I invite you readers to judge the header graphic and how well it goes with the theme. Please leave your comments. BTW, the header graphic can be obtained here. They provide cool header graphics. I have them covered in one of my earlier posts.

Work mode

After coming back from yet another vacation – yes, I was on vacation for about 2 weeks – I am back to Work mode. I have been quite busy catching up with what is left over and also a few other things.

A friend of mine got married and we had lots of fun at the wedding. Marriages seem to be the place where most of our friends gather these days. A few were missed since they could not attend but everything went well.

In the mean time I am thinking hard on what to write.

Inserting photos from other services

With my WordPress storage fast depleting, I was trying to include photos from Vox and it works

Last time I tried to include from Flickr but could not get it done. But this time on target.

Update: Well, I am running out of options again. The picture does not seem to load today.

I am going to try Picasaweb

Update: Trying to insert from Picasaweb.This requires some work. Copy the code from HTML to embed in website and take the src portion to get the photo alone. If you want to direct your reader to the web album, you can post the entire code.

Update: I setup my Flickr account to post photos. But that was not what i wanted. So below I try to just post the image and not an entry from Flickr. I have made the Photo public. No success. So I think I just can continue with Picasaweb.

Sorry for too many updates. Just one more image posting to confirm things are in order. Looks like they are.

Update: I removed the image I had posted yesterday from Picasaweb. Today I tried Photobucket and I am impressed. They give me a direct link which I can use to post here. The image below comes from there.

Casual Read

One of my friends has recently started blogging. Titled Casual Read, her blog speaks about inspiration, attitude, positive thinking and a host of other things that we come across in everyday life.

Her post today talks about priorities in life. So if you are interested head over to Casual Read have fun.

You can also reach there using the first link on my Blogroll