Category: blogs

Mobile

One of my biggest frustrations with the blogging world as of late is the lack of compatibility for mobile devices. More and more, people are accessing the web and online content via mobile devices like the nexus one, droid, iphone, ipod, blackberry, palm, etc.

Many mobile gadgets due a decent job of parsing/displaying data for reading. Newer gadgets will even render complete HTML content as well. Hell, the new breed of pda/phones have chip speeds equal to computers of only 5 years ago. Clearly, processing power isn’t the problem.

The big problem is trying to squeeze webpages meant to run on a computer screen onto a device a fraction of the size. To their credit, most mobile device makers have ingenious rendering or zooming techniques. That said, its still extremely annoying, especially if you are surfing a lot.  Even worse, most professional sites often incorporate scripts/plugins/flash that won’t run on most mobile devices. And again, the problem is not from processing speed. No, as usual it boils down to petty proprietary rules, squabbles over licensing, poorly written software, and last but not least, greed. All of which are sad, pathetic, and stupid. For the corporate aspect, companies need to get their act in gear or perish. The need for mobile access is far from stale and is only going to increase. Not to mention, in today’s economy, companies need to encourage access any way they can.

For a medium wholly dependant on exposure, I’m really surprised more folks haven’t updated their sites/blogs to accommodate mobile exposure. Hell, my blog isn’t even that popular and I’ve had a mobile version for several years. [1]To be fair, I upgraded my mobile app months ago and just realized tonight I hadn’t activated the change. While the old app did the job, the new one is sooooo much nicer. Feel free to give me … Continue reading  There is already a niche industry to handle the demand. More people/companies just need to realize and take advantage of it. 

For myself, I consume most of my online content via my phone now. Its just easier with my schedule and time constraints. Sadly, for the blog world, commenting or interacting is still painfully awkward or even impossible at times. Not to mention, extremely frustrating.

The point of my little ramble? All you companies and dedicated bloggers out there, upgrade your sites for mobile consumption already! Sheez, bulky computers are so 90’s. :p

/rant

References

References
↑1 To be fair, I upgraded my mobile app months ago and just realized tonight I hadn’t activated the change. While the old app did the job, the new one is sooooo much nicer. Feel free to give me feedback on it.

Stats

Well I guess it was inevitable. brettcajun has finally overtaken Large Tony in referrals to my blog. lol I know Brett will be happy as he has been scheming for years on how to overthrow Tony. And, for the first time in his life, Brett gets to finally say, “I’m on top!” heh heh

In other boring statistical analysis news, my poor blog has finally dropped below 20,000 unique hits in any given month. *sniffle*  I guess it was inevitable since I haven’t mentioned the words “porn” or “sex” in a while. [1]Seriously, even just mentioning either word spikes the hits Well that and I haven’t really been blogging as much lately. ANY-way…

The blogging bug seems to be nagging at me again so expect to see more updates. I might even do a new video, who knows? lol

References

References
↑1 Seriously, even just mentioning either word spikes the hits

Third-Party Logins

Trying to get on the easy log-in bandwagon, I finally found a plug-in that allows (and actually works) users to log in using 3rd party accounts like Google, Yahoo, Openid, Blogger, etc. You’ll notice on the right side of the page a new section called 3rd party log-ins. I tested it and found it to be functional with a few caveats. If you are already a registered user, your log-in will still function from the sidebar or the log-in page.

Caveat #1

If for some reason leaving a comment invokes the captcha test, you will see the captcha but you’ll see some funny code regarding my header failing to load.  Don’t fret, after you pass the captcha just reload my blog page and you’ll see your comment. This was already happening as I use a hack to rotate my header images.

Caveat #2

Sadly,I could not get the Facebook login to work. I tried very hard but it was beyond my understanding and I didn’t have the time or patience to sort thru it. I may revisit it later, but I have removed that option for now. Anyone familiar w/Facebook’s API’s and/or the RPX plugin I’m using, feel free to help a brother out. :p ***Update – I got it working, you can log-in using Facebook. It will not currently post activity to your wall but its a start. ***

Caveat #3

And lastly, none of the social log-ins will allow you access to hidden content on my blog. Gasp! I know. lol  I can’t change that at current. There is no hand-off built in to allow private content on WordPress. Not that it really matters as I haven’t really been adding much of anything in that arena lately.

If you have any trouble, please email me directly at my email link, bottom right of page.

Comments

Into every life a little drama must fall. Some very kind and generous person left a snotty comment on my previous post. [1]Which has been deleted. I do not tolerate personal attacks. Here is the kicker though, the comment was directed toward my buddy brettcajun!

Oh yeah, it takes a real man to trash someone behind their back. *sigh* I probably shouldn’t be surprised, jealousy is truly an ugly emotion and it is very clear to me said person is just that. Btw, going out of your way to point out the flaws in others only serves to reveal you own. (And to said individual, kindly take your pissy bitterness elsewhere. This is your only warning.)

I forwarded the comment in its entireity on to Brett and I know he’ll be up in arms. Lol. If he wishes to repost it, its his call. For my part, I’m done with it.

** Update – per Brett, this pathetic person has spammed several blogs related to Brett’s. What a gem of a human being? **

References

References
↑1 Which has been deleted. I do not tolerate personal attacks.

Testing

I downloaded a new app for my G1 which allows me to update the blog on the fly. Not that I’m gonna be writing long-winded posts on a qwerty but not a bad idea. It has a very small memory footprint which I like.

The interface is a bit bare but simplistic and clean. It offers limited editing and the option to attach pics. It did a good job of pulling down categories and supports tags as well.

Not sure how often I’ll use it but its nice having the option. [1]This post was written and published using the app.

References

References
↑1 This post was written and published using the app.

Uptick

In news of the probably not-so-exciting category, I’ve noticed a huge jump in scam related spammy email lately. My email filter does a pretty darn good job of filtering out the crap but I do often quickly scan thru it to catch any false-positives. So anyway, you probably remember the old Nigerian money scam and its many 100’s of variants. Usually written in poor English about someone somewhere in the world trying to access or “free up” millions of dollars from a deceased/deposed person of some sort and “if only you would help” you could have a small percentage (in the millions) for your time and effort.

What this tells me is that people are once again falling for crap like this. It could also just be unscrupulous souls trying to take advantage of the poor economy and people who are desperate for cash. While I’m sure the latter is part of it, these folks focus on scams that work. I get about 10-20 a day now which is a huge spike. Used to, I’d see one every week or so. To see this many all at once is scary to think about.

If you’ve been living under a rock somewhere just try to remember “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is”. In other words, don’t be an idiot.  Of course, I prefer my granny’s version, “believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.”

Pervasive

Another Dore Alley [1]Its officially called Up Your Alley now but locals still refer to it by its original name. fair has come to a close. Everyone I talked to thought this year’s fair was a bit subdued. A quick scan of Facebook and twitter afterwards revealed an over all consensus. For my part, I agree but it made it more enjoyable for me.

As ho hum as I was feeling earlier, I did have a good time. I even stayed beyond my normal 2 hour limit. I ended up hanging out with Chris aka @Wildcuddler from twitter and his friends @bucknsj and @puppychow79. Even better, they are both on twitter so now I get to stalk them. heehee. Seriously though, they were both very nice and made such an adorable couple. We were also joined by a tag-tail. [2]someone who attaches themselves to you or your group in the hopes of hooking up. *g* but even he was sweet and I rather liked having him along.

The event itself was a bit smaller this year. And while it did get crowded, it was so nice not being jam-packed in wall-to-wall bodies with barely enough room to breath. It might sound hot but after about 15 minutes of it, you get rather annoyed. Normally, I can go the whole circuit twice and be lucky if I run into 5 people I know. Not so this time. I ran into a whole slew of friends (and bloggers) in the span of about an hour. I ran into roblog and his hot husband entering the gates. Shortly beyond that I ran into Victor from v-hold and his scruffy hubby and then Wade from beyondbuffalo. There was @repete from twitter and his hubby, several random tricks from years past and even a co-worker. lol It was a whole stream of walk, stop, flirt, chat, flirt some more, then continue on your way. I even saw my ex. I ran into my flickr buddy Andy, who I totally have the hots for. His smile is even more endearing in person. Such a sweetie he was. I could go on and on but you know I am not a name-dropper …  heh heh

There was plenty of the obvious. A grope here, a smile there, a quick chest or butt rub followed by grunts and groans.  Oh yes, it wouldn’t be Dore w/o the blatant sexual innuendo and aggression. There was one beefy guy wearing ass-less chaps that I would have followed around like a puppy had he already not had a hubby in tow. Bastard. lol

**Interjection – I’m sitting at Firewood in the hood as I write this and I’m sitting next to a group of guys who are whining about not being part of the ‘pretty crowd’ yet they can’t stop talking about all the ‘hot’ guys they saw. I’m half tempted to lean over and point out the stupidity of their conversation. Its one thing to not go and ridicule but its another thing entirely to go and then whine about it because you weren’t the center of attention. And that’s forgetting for a moment that ‘pretty’ is a subjective term at best and two, if you’ve ever been to Dore or Folsom, you know the mix of guys is amazing. You see everything; freaks, cock, boobs, piss, average, bears, muscle, hair, smooth, porn, drag, leather, sex, etc. Oh did I mention porn? [3]That said, there seemed to be fewer porn boys out and about this year as well. It runs the entire gambit so going and then whining about not being ‘included’ just annoys me to no end. /rant **

Ok back on topic, sort of. I was particular struck this year by how pervasive our technology has become in our everyday lives. For my own part, I was twittering and texting at down times throughout the day. Of course, I had to stay in contact with the boy. Then there was the moto group, coworkers inquiring if my ass was hanging out, and random tweets and FB updates. I had 3 different random strangers stop me to tell me they read my blog, which tickled me to no end. (Eddy, Derrick, Paul, I told you I’d mention you!) I also met several folks who met thru the various online social sites. One might say, it was a cornucopia of interconnected web-addicts all decked out in leather, lace, and gear!

All said, it was a good event. Fun, frolic, and friends all at one time. What’s not to like? [4]Oh, there will be a forthcoming ‘post’ in a few days about other activities, so you know what to do. It was a nice end to my rather uneventful but extremely well-timed vacation as I go back to work tomorrow. I’m back on my new (old) shift which I’m very excited about.

And how was your weekend?

References

References
↑1 Its officially called Up Your Alley now but locals still refer to it by its original name.
↑2 someone who attaches themselves to you or your group in the hopes of hooking up. *g*
↑3 That said, there seemed to be fewer porn boys out and about this year as well.
↑4 Oh, there will be a forthcoming ‘post’ in a few days about other activities, so you know what to do.

Why Daddy?

Funny moment.

The boy asks me other day, “Daddy, why do people blog or read blogs?” He actually prefaced it with a request not to get upset. I guess he thought I might have been offended. lol He was so adorable. Anyway…

Don’t go getting irate. It was an innocent question. He has just recently started making the transition to online social/networking sites. I answered but was amused because blogging is such a pervasive part of our culture, I was surprised he honestly didn’t know.

I explained about how I got started, how it helped me, and how it has enriched my life in so many ways. He had the typical outside-looking-in look on his face but he seemed to understand. 

Give me time and I’ll convert him! heh heh

Sub-scribe!

When attempting to leave a comment, you will now notice a tiny checkbox below the “add comment” button.

I added a nifty little plug-in that allows users to subscribe to a particular post’s comments. [1]Keep in mind this has nothing to do with subscribing/registering as a user. So now anytime you comment on a post, follow up comments will be emailed to you, if you so choose. This is a post by post option and you have to post your comment for it to function.

I find this a very useful feature on other blogs as it saves me the effort of having to track other user comments to my replies. I figured why not add it here as well.

I had a little confusion this morning as it only shows the checkbox if you are NOT the administrator. I kept thinking it wasn’t working. Live and learn.

References

References
↑1 Keep in mind this has nothing to do with subscribing/registering as a user.

New

I’ve finally started adding new blogs to my RSS reader again. I’ve been blog hopping [1]hopping from link to link and found a few new ones that struck my fancy. Its been a while and I guess I was overdue. I also deleted a few that haven’t been updated in months.

I’ve gotten a few questions about where my blogroll went after switching to the new blog database. I decided not to add it back as it got a bit childish at times. I’d find blogs that linked to me and then discover later they’d remove me if I didn’t link back. I used to auto-follow but now that I have so many, I only follow blogs that I actually read. It isn’t meant as an insult or anything negative and shouldn’t be taken that way. And if you read my linking rules, you already know that.

Oh, and I’m doing one of “those” posts later this week. You better be logged in beyotches!

References

References
↑1 hopping from link to link