Well.. sort of. The mockups for Shuttle have been sumbitted to Matt Mullenweg and he has said they will be incorporated into future releases. Of course, now that the project is out of the Shuttle team’s hands we can only guess as to when this will be pushed to the public.

Shuttle has turned out to be a functionality improvement, not just an aesthetic improvement. Wordpress has always lacked a polished and finished backend. It is obviously designed by developers. It serves it’s function, but this new backend will go a long way towards the proliferation of Wordpress as a corporate tool. (nudge nudge rundle).

Mockups can be found here and the full writeup by Khaled is linked to in the first sentence of this post.

Me? I’m not really bothered by them at all. Except when I have to go to bed thinking “Are Newscorp’s lawyers going to be breathing down my neck tomorrow morning?”

Screwed

So I help run a little community free hosting place. I won’t link there because I would like them to be kept out of this. But anyways, one of the “hostees” requested a domain and I registered it. Domains are my job or whatever.

Anyways, fast forward a few months and I find out that said hostee gave his login info to someone else who uploaded a phishing script aimed at MySpace users. Apparently they collected thousands of users’ login information, along with emails and some social security numbers.

I don’t have all the details, but the hostee compiled a list and then published it in an IRC channel. It got posted to Gen[M]ay, the thread got dugg, and I am sitting here sweating bullets.

Whats the big deal?

I will tell you. Since I registered the domain, my contact info is the first when you whois the domain. Life: 1842, Koray: 0. So when I found out, I suspended the account, cancelled the domain, and contacted MySpace. I haven’t received word back from them but suffice it to say, I am going to have to talk to some lawyers. Suddenly, I’m a bit more afraid of them.

“But Koray, lawyers aren’t too bad.” Well when they work for Newscorp, owner of FOX, MySpace, The New York Post, FX, Sky, The Times, DirectTV, and a bunch of other stuff, they tend to be a bit more business and a little less friendly. But who am I to judge right? I haven’t spoken to them yet. I’m just saying, if you were in my place you would be a bit scared too.

So what are you going to do?

Well, I’m going to cooperate with MySpace. Do whatever I can do to seperate myself and the hosting community from this mess, and hope for the best. What else can I do?

But here is the kicker ladies and gentlemen. People who used the same password across multiple services got screwed a bit deeper. Several MSN and Yahoo mail accounts were hacked as well. Not to mention MSNIM and Y!IM respectively. So yeah, Lawyers out the ass.

Am I blowing this out of proportion? Maybe. Maybe no one will care. I doubt it. But what can I say. I just wanted to write about it and share with you, my few readers, that tonight I will probably dream of Judge Judy and Monty Burns’ lawyers. If I can get to sleep.

We live in an age of stimulation. Where interaction is key to success. The internet has traditionally been a fairly passive experience. In most cases it’s a read-only deal. But now with the advent of Web 2.0, we can observe how much more interactivity plays a role in how we browse.

Take a look at television, another traditionally one sided activity. So many game shows now include a way for the viewer to add input. Be it American Idle’s voting or the new short-show sponsered by Pontiac Torrent where you try to guess what happens next who’s name escapes me. Television is becoming a two way deal because network’s realize that people like doing things. ABC takes the whole thing a step further with their new show, evidence. A show where you get the evidence you need to solve the murder before the detectives in the show do. You get to play an active role, not just be a silent observer.

Back the the web though. Interactivity and viewer stimulation does wonders for a site’s success. Using techniques and technology (like AJAX) to make the user feel involved really does make the difference. Take something as simple as commenting on a blog, this provides an aspect of interactivity. The viewer feels he has the chance to give feedback and opinion and therefore he will come back, given you have comment-worthy content. Blogs with commenting always do better than blogs without, unless the blog without is already well established before it makes the switch.

Bottom line is that people love to do things. So give them things to do.

Overclocking. A lot of us cringe when we hear the word. Most of us look at the word longingly, as if it were a mountain we know we could never climb. A mountain that if climbed, would surely end in disaster. A mountain only a few crazy swedes had summited. But overclocking is more like a hill. Now more than ever. And with some knowledge and a little bit of luck, you too can be well on your way to overclocking.

Believe it or not, we can do some pretty drastic overclocking without ever opening our PCs. A little BIOS trickery and you’re set. But a lot of people have no idea how to overclock, or even what it really is. CPU clock speed is determined by a lot of things, but the easiest to change is the Front Side Bus. It’s accessible right from the BIOS and can be altered successfully without much risk.

So lets get started. Reboot your computer and enter your BIOS. How you do this varies from computer to computer, but it is usually done by pressing F1 F2 or even delete during the bootup process. Once in your BIOS you are going to want to find the menu that allows you to edit your CPU settings. I’ll take the time now to let you know that most pre-built name brand computers (I’m looking at you Dell boy) won’t let you access this menu. That or they go out of their way to make it very hard. Try anyways, my gateway laptop allowed me to without much trouble, though I hear thats rare.

Now that you are in your CPU setting, find the FSB setting. This is where we get cautious. Don’t be a hero, increase your FSB by only 2MHz at a time. Save your settings, reboot, and see if it works. If it does, feel free to try two more MHz. And two more after that. Don’t get too over zealous, pushing it too far will result in a PC that won’t past POST.

If this happens, all is not lost. You are going to have to clear your CMOS. Check your motherboard manual on how to do this, it’s a really simple process.

There you go. You have overclocked your PC. You may not have increased your speed by leaps and bounds, but hey, it’s a bit more zippy and now you can tell your friends you’re an overclocker. If you have hit a wall with your FSB and want to push it further, there are ways. Tinkering with your vcore, RAM speeds, and cooling all help. But for now this should help you squeeze the extra 10% of preformance out that you know you deserve.

I’ll try to write some more detailed tutorials later, but until then, read some of the excellent ones at the Overclock.net forums.

Hah! I’ve been tagged by The man himself, Paul Stamatiou. Apparently, I get to share some information about myself, then pass it along. Like the book/music batons. It’s a neat idea that’s been spread through the blogosphere in various forms for quite a while now. And I like it. Networks people and makes the blog world a bit smaller. Personally, I’m flattered that Paul thought of me.

Anyways, lets get started.

Four jobs I’ve had in my life

• Like Mr. Stamatiou, Full Time Student.
• Tech Support
• SysAdmin
• Freelance Designer/Programmer

Four movies I can watch over and over

This one was surprisingly hard for me. Not much of a movie buff

• Monty Python & the Holy Grail
• Collateral
• The Matrix (1)
• Sin City

Four places I have lived

• Oberursel, Germany
• Badhomburg, Germany
• Fairborn, Ohio
• Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights, New York

Four TV shows I love to watch

• Lost
• Invasion
• The Office
• The Boondocks

Four places I have been on vacation

• Corolla, Outer Banks, North Carolina
• Longboat Key, Florida
• Great Smokey Mounains, North Carolina
• Cancun, Mexico (Sooooon)

Four websites I visit daily

Another hard one, because I decided to not include blogs. If I list one I have to list them all and I only have room for four.

• 9rules
• 4chan (/g/)
• Digg
• Google (Had to do it)

Four of my favorite foods

• Calamari (Best is at Areo’s)
• Chicken Costoletta (Cheesecake Factory)
• Chicken Parmigiana (Anyplace in Brooklyn)
• Bleu Cheese Filet (Longhorn)

Four places I would rather be right now

• Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
• Florida (or any place warm)
• The Mall (I like to shop?)
• A friend’s house.

Four bloggers I am tagging

• Dustin Diaz
• Mike Rundle
• Marco van Hylckama
• Kyle Neath

I guess I should explain the rules to the tagees. Though it is a bit self explanitory. Duplicate this list, just apply it to yourself. Pretty easy. And when you are done, pass it on to four others. Then they pass it on to four, and so on, and the world is a better place. Yay.

Web 2.0 is in a weird place. It sits in a precarious position, trying to balance profit and function. All too often I see your standard Web 2.0 setup, bright colors, big text, some ajax, and a funky name. This wouldn’t be too bad, except for that fact that it seems more and more of these have been created solely to flip. Instead of creating Web 2.0 applications that have a use, apps are being created solely to make money for their owners. This is bad.

Fuel to the fire

All these overnight apps do nothing for the progression of Web 2.0. They just give naysayers more material. I’m not in any way saying you shouldn’t be able to profit from a good Web 2.0 idea. In fact you should, money makes the world go ’round. I can’t expect a great app for nothing. But sites that just make up silly ideas (Organize your Oprah “O” magazine collection) and sites that just copy ideas (Organize your bookmarks, but this time, your bookmarks are in rainbow) are obviously there to make a buck. Even if it’s just for ads.

And then there was light

There are good examples of 2.0 however. Take Shopify, a Web 2.0 app that will obviously have a fee. What sets it apart? Take a look at the features. Why would you not want to use this? Shopping Cart + Paypal + Marketing, thats freaking awesome. A great idea executed correctly.

Now shopify hasn’t been released yet, but I am waiting for it. That’s what matters. When I look at it, I don’t see just another Web 2.0 app. I see something that will change how I do business for good. And that excites me. That rekindles the passion I had for the idea of a Web 2.0. Or 3.4, or Beta X RC 4 db.0, it doesn’t matter what it’s called.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the only good apps are the ones that charge. Wayfaring, which charges no money, is fantastic. What a brilliant, fun, idea. I’m always checking for cool new places to visit. Although I don’t end up doing a lot of the visiting, I am tracking tons of maps. It’s just plain good.

Koray, is Web 2.0 dying already?

To be rather blunt, fuck no. Saturation is something that comes with all great ideas. No matter what the idea, if it presents a way to possibly get rich quick, people will abuse it. This is natural. What we have to do, is try to sit tight and hope that a few real Gems make it through the tidal wave of cruft. Gems like Shopify and Mint and del.icio.us and digg and flickr and basecamp and writely and all the rest.

And that’s that

I know this was short and probably pretty damn unorganized, but I think I needed to say some things. Even if it’s just for myself. Web 2.0 doesn’t need to be getting the brush off. It doesn’t need to be getting the cold shoulder due to some bad examples. Especially when there are so many good examples.

By the way, if you find a super-duper coolio app, comment about it. I’m always looking for neat stuff.

I spent a lot of time cleverly avoiding the fine men in blue in my younger days. Not necessarily because I was doing something criminal, but because cops make me nervous.

I can’t walk into a grocery store by myself without a cop (or rent-a-cop) following me. They follow me into the dairy section, as if they know my devilish plans to steal all the string cheese in the United States. They follow me into the frozen goods section, because god knows Frozen Pizza is the easiest thing to hide under my shirt. And it makes me nervous.

I don’t try to put off an air of criminality. I don’t snicker and touch my fingers together a la Monty Burns as I walk in the door. So why the hell do they need to follow me? It makes me feel like I need to be stealing something. Like I should steal some cup noodles to validate the security guards existence. Perhaps this is his plan, I do not know.

All I know is that they make me nervous. I get fidgety around them. I get dodgy. No doubt only fueling their perceptions of me. But what can I do? I haven’t ever been beaten L.A. style by a cop. I haven’t even been seriously arrested. They just make me nervous. They want me to go over to the dark side. I know it.

I was sitting the the Starbucks express section of my Safeway reading a magazine and sipping on a Caramel Macchiato on Ice today. I don’t know if the safeway security guards get a lesson in obscurity. But if they do, the guard that decided to spend his time staking me out was late that day. Standing not 10 feet away, with his back to me, he must of felt like a detective. Cleverly looking over his shoulder every so often. Damn he was smooth. He would walk away ever so often. Then walk back at a jog, as if I was timing his rounds to make my move. He had to keep me on my feet after all.

Why though? I certainly don’t look like a deviant. Maybe I have some criminal sign pasted to my forehead that only law enforcement officers are privy to. I’m not sure. I haven’t ever stolen anything. Not even gum. It’s silly.

So in summation, cops, make me nervous. And if you are a cop, perhaps you will let me know what I am doing wrong. And how to remove the criminal label from my face. I’ve tried showering, it doesn’t work. Has anything like this happened to you? Because if so, let me know. I would really like to hear your story.

Also..

I upgraded to WP 2.0. It went surprisingly well. Without a single error or slip up. I pretty much like it. But thats another post all in it’s own. Look for a more normal post soon. I am thinking about a “What makes a good article” type post. Not because I know what makes a good article, but because its always good to throw around Ideas. What I try to do, how I try to do it, etc. And maybe I’ll learn something in return from commenters.

I’ll see you later folks.

Learn from me. Learn from others.

Don’t self impose deadlines.

Never set unrealistic deadlines for yourself. I only say unrealistic because its more practical than saying “Never set deadlines for yourself”, which is what I feel like saying. All it does is hasten production and detract from the end product.

Not only that, but it takes away from time you have to spend on the content. While designing this page (4 redesigns total) I had no time to post, and went over 3 weeks without a single post. Trust me, this is not good for traffic. Not only do your readers lose interest in your site, they lose faith in you as a blogger.

And if you find that you have to set a deadline for yourself, don’t announce this deadline. In fact, don’t announce you are even redesigning. Sure it builds the hype machine, but if you don’t follow through, you leave your viewers confused and more importantly disappointed. Announcing my redesign and making promises did nothing for me.

Make room for error

I came across quite a few unexpected errors when implementing this design. Errors that I had not accounted for. This probably more than anything pushed the design process back.

So when you are designing, leave time for error checking. I know this seems silly but hey, you would be surprised at the little things we overlook. A lot of little errors make a big problem.

Don’t leave anything for last

You better have a design process. Don’t pick and choose at elements of design. You need to have the design done, and the code thought out before you start work.

Make a checklist with goals, think over everything before you even start. There are lots of elements of design that you may forget about until the very end. Don’t fall prey to the “this can wait” syndrome, it can’t. Trust me. I “this can waited” so many things that I ended up with everything waiting in line, with nothing in front.

Have a plan

Have a damn plan of attack. Really. Nothing turns out how you expected when you just launch. Don’t be afraid to launch things piece by piece. I know a smooth transition is preferable, but you just can’t always have that.

End.

So the design is launched, although incomplete. I have minor tweaks that need to be made, things that need adding, and things that need addressing. If you see something that looks wrong, let me know. I need all the help I can get. So I hope you enjoy it. It was a learning experience to say the least.

Also, I plan to get out at least two more posts that I have cached. But after that you may see another week of no posts. Christmas and I’m off to ohio.

Fear not my faithful readers. I haven’t forgotten about the site. I have just been busy as hell. A few interesting twists of fate left me with no theme (migrating data from desktop to laptop) but I have completely rewrote the new design from scratch and it will be up tonight. I kind of took a break and ordered a pizza a few minutes ago. Because I am lazy, but it will be done tonight. Along with a real post, which I have been working on for about 2 weeks.

The BloxPress demo has arrived. I must say its the most flawless wordpress/AJAX integration that I have seen. It just looks and functions perfectly. Go check it out.