New theme on the Honeypot

I’ve moved onto a different theme on Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot; not that I was unhappy with the the theme I was running before, but I wanted to try out the latest and the greatest new theme from FreshPress themes. It’s called Freshtweet and is as nice and clean as you would like a theme to be. It has some funky features too, like some cool AJAXy features and integration with social networks.

I like the cleanliness of the theme, something you don't tend to find on most themes nowadays. They're a bit too busy with slideshows and carousels. Now it's fine if you get some sort of Orange County web design firm to do it for you, but too many people try to fudge around themselves and end up making a complete hash of it.

Happy I found this theme .. it works for me.

Loving my HTC Magic

Image via CrunchBase

Ever since I got my new Android-powered HTC Magic, I've been more in touch with everyone and everything. The device is a joy to use, letting me access music, video and content anytime I want to (thanks to Wifi and my data contract of course). I was using a Windows Mobile powered device before that, but I must say that this is miles ahead. It's much easier to use, has more devices built into the phone and just gives you access to so much more functionality.

Thanks to my connectivity, I don't really need access to a satellite internet provider, but it's nice to imagine that if I wanted, I could get the same sort of access anywhere in the world. I wonder if there's an Android device with the sort of built in capability yet.

What makes a good website?

So, what's your favourite website? Do you like ones that are strong on graphic design? Ones with your favourite colour? Or just ones that have all the information you need (like Wikipedia, I love Wikipedia). It's great to see the vast variety that's available online, sites of all shapes and sizes. And it doesn't matter if they're built by an Irvine web design company or a teenager coding alone in his bedroom; anyone with the right skills and passion can come up with something compelling that people will visit.

And it's these visitors that help the site grow. Whether it's by providing opportunities to monitise the site, or by providing a vibrant community that attracts more people to the site .. the people who frequent it are the life blood that pumps through it's virtual veins.

Getting all your streaming media

Image by Roo Reynolds via Flickr

Streaming services come in a variety of shapes and forms. Youtube for example, allows you to watch videos that people around the world create and upload. BBC's iPlayer for example, lets you catch up with TV that you may have missed. A professional live video streaming service will allow you to publish a stream in real time, as soon as it happens; which is something quite powerful and useful.

Have you noticed that videos and streaming TV are getting more and more predominant on the Internet. It's partly due to the fact that people have more bandwidth than they ever used to, and to the fact that the technology to make streams available is getting more and more common. This reduced barrier to entry results in the spread of this technology with more and more people getting comfortable and, dare I say, dependant on it.

How's your internet connection

Are you happy with your Internet connection? Is it too slow, too expensive, too .. what? You're not still on dial-up by any chance are you?

If you are, there are a bunch of options you way want to consider. First of all, there's ADSL. It's quite commonly accessible, available to most people through their phone line. If not, there's cable. Most countries have some sort of cable network available, through which they can get high speed internet. If none of those options are available, have you considered satellite internet? There are a number of options for a satellite service provider which cover different areas around the world.

Just look at all the options you have, look at the costs and the service you get. It's nice to have so many options, isn't it?

My Blogger Blog

I created this blog some time ago to experiment with what Blogger brought to the table. I had originally started playing with it way before Google acquired it. It's improved since then, but I don't think it's moved on as much as it has. My frame of reference is always tied to WordPress, as that's the blogging platform I tend to use most of the time; but it's always good to keep an eye on what's available and what new ideas are hitting the scene. It's like being into racing cars, but keeping an eye on the neighbour's Yamaha rhinos, just to see what's happening down that darkened alley.

I don't think I like the way Blogger doesn't have categorisation around posts, though the labels to allow a certain amount of taxonomy control. Still, can't help comparing it to what you can do with WordPress, especially now that it supports custom taxonomies.

Stay Connected

Image via Wikipedia

The more time passes, the more connected we all get. And it’s great because we can keep in touch with one another regardless of where we are. Tell me, can you live with your phone for example? I find myself more and more dependant on it .. and new I also have data which is great!

I’ve recently added a GPRS package to my phone and it’s been great playing around with some of the applications that require a data connection. GPRS is convenient, but unfortunately it’s no high speed satellite internet. I’m actually looking to upgrade my phone, so maybe my next one will have a 3G connection or something a little bit quicker than GPRS, just to be able to do things quicker, and use things like video which require a faster connection.