Adding a wordpress column that has an edit post link

if you are tyring to use manage_posts_custom_column in the wordpress admin and you don't want the title of the post you might have found that wordpress doesn't place a link to edit post on the first column.

The first column is typically the_title() and in admin gets and edit link applied to it.

The solution was surprisingly simply. Wrap edit_post_link() around whichever column data you want to have a link.

Upgrading Picasa from 3.0.0 to 3.8.0 on Ubuntu

The short answer: You can do it by downloading the Windows version and double clicking it. If you already have wine installed it will just take care of everything. If you don't have wine installed grab it via the software manager before going anywhere.

Don't Worry!

• It remembers all of your starred photos
• It remembers all of your organization as far as Folders go

What Sucks!

• Transferring any groups of images you've stored in "Albums" sucks, but it can be done!

1. Make sure Picasa is closed
2. Navigate to your home directory (ie. Adam)
3. Hit Ctrl+H to display hidden folders
4. Navigate through to
   .google > picasa > 3.0 > drive_c > Documents and Settings > YOURNAME > Local Settings > Application Data > Google > Picasa2Albums
5. Here you'll find a file with a crazy name filled with numbers and letters, double click it
6. These .pal files are what store your Album data, so copy all of them or open a new window
7. Navigate to:
   Applications > Wine > Browse C Drive > users > YOURNAME > Local Settings > Application Data > Google > Picasa2Albums > CRAZY NUMBERS
   The reason the directory structure is so similar is because a program named Wine was installed along with your original Picasa installation, but in a non-standard directory.

Why you should upgrade

Note that most of these reasons were, for whatever reason, poorly marketed.

• The area that displays the basic exif data now sits on the left instead of over top the image
• You have extended exif data available through the (i) button
• There is an easy to overlook (and poorly advertised) double arrow button above the tray that lets you hide the basic fixes menu! You can actually view images in full screen!
• You can install the Picasa to Facebook add on! To do this download the .pbz file (here) and then navigate to your downloads folder and copy it. Applications > Wine > Browse C Drive > Program Files > Google > Picasa 3 > buttons and paste it. Boo ya!

Notes

• After the first install make sure to go to Tools > Folder Management and remove your music directories and any other directories picasa shouldn't be browsing. If you click on Pictures folder at the top do not click on the Pictures buried in your "My Documents" or it will start registering duplicates.
• I don't think face-movie features work, I personally don't care. They are dumb
• I don't know how effective face recognition features are.

Deets: I am running Ubuntu 10.04, Wine 1.2, Picasa 3.0.0 > 3.8.0, Chrome setup as the go to browser (System>Preferences>Preferred Applications)

Keyboard Shortcuts

First of all, I am more of a point and click guy for getting things done. I know a couple of keyboard shortcuts, but I tend to find a menu to get things done. There are a couple of exceptions, but not too many. Here are two new ones to add to your repertoire.

• F2 and F3.

Easy to memorize right? F2 is they shortcut to rename a file when in the file browser (Nautilus). When I first switched over to Ubuntu from Windows not being able to click-pause-click to rename a file was one of the obstacles I stumbled over (and over again). It was a dumb way to rename a file, but it was ingrained in me. In Ubuntu I've gotten in the habit of right clicking the file then hitting 'r' on the keyboard to jump into renaming. Today I found F2. It seems once you find a way to do something you continue for quite some time even if you think that it is slow and there ought to be a better way to get things done.

F3 is a shortcut for Nautilus as well and it splits the main browsing screen in half. You can also use tabs for a similar effect (ctrl+t or file>new tab), but I've found this little trick to be more visually appealing. In both instances you can highlight files from one window, or tab, and drag them to another.

Also 10.10 came out! I'll probably wait till the next release as 10.04 is treating me fine, but who knows. It is hard to resist a free upgrade.

iPad

I have access to a hand-held gps, a cell phone, and a desktop computer. I haven't owned a smart phone. I haven't found the need to own one. There have been maybe 3 circumstances in the last 2-3 months where I would have enjoyed having one; looking up inane facts, and movie show times. And I was probably within reach of a desktop computer 30 minutes later. If it really were an "emergency" couldn't you just call someone who you thought might be at a computer, text Google, or call an operating service?

At $560 for the cheapest iPad (wifi, 16gig) and $700 if you add the 3g card, that you have to pay additional charges to actually use ($25/30 days), they seem a bit overpriced. Since I already have a desktop computer that I for-see lasting me at least another 5 years (tg it's Ubuntu), I was trying to figure out what iPad was actually offering me that seemed to be sucking me in. If you think about the percentage of your day not spent near a desktop computer, where having a computer could be useful, what percentage do you come up with? I fall into the travel laptop category... which is a hole in my day that doesn't much need a computer

The only two things this has over any other computer are 1)Touchscreen 2)Portability. It is larger than an iphone/ipod touch, but smaller than a laptop.


Hardware:

• iPad: (16Gig, WiFi, $560), (16Gig, Wifi+3G[$25/30days], $700) I'd like to say the 3G version is a better investment. So if you need 3G you can activate it, but $140 for a safety feature seems a bit excessive.
• Wireless Keyboard: $70 - If this were going on a trip with me any where that I needed to type more than a few sentences I would want to bring this along. I am a bit annoyed that it is bigger than the screen. Maybe there is a way to hook in one of those gelly keyboards via usb. After all, it isn't like you really need it to be wireless, the screen isn't even 10in. How far away were you planning on sitting from it?
• Case/Stand: $50 The case can be propped up in two positions so that it can be used in collaboration with the keyboard.

Software (Purpose - Name - Price: Notes):

• Web Browser - Safari - Free: Though Flash doesn't work, youtube and facebook do! Plus it is a webkit browser like Chrome, so it can support some fancy styles in CSS.
• Ebook Reading - iBooks - Free: Not actually bundled but you can download it from their app section. There is also a kindle app so that it can tap into amazon's kindle service. Honestly that makes a lot more sense, as then you can share books between that and the kindle (with page syncing).
• Photo Viewer - Photo - Free:
• Maps - Google Maps - Free: Goes in full screen mode. The 3G iPad can plan out directions for you. Though honestly I want google earth with maps of my area pre-downloaded.
• PDF Viewer - Built in
• Word Editor - Pages - 9.99: A separate purchase from the app store
• Spreadsheet - Excel - 9.99: A separate purchase from the app store
• Presentation - Keynote - 9.99: A separate purchase from the app store

Notes & Epiphanies:

• You can turn it sideways!~
• It can aggregrate mail from gmail in it's own iMail (or you can just visit the site...) Though I must admit it would be nice to have your emails stored on your iPad.
• 178 degree viewing angle.
• "Syncing" videos/movies you buy is probably going to blow and involve going back and forth with itunes. I'd love it if it were like Amazon's Kindle service and could just make a notation that I have purchased Star Trek and am now legally allowed to watch it anywhere/anytime.
• Instant on/off.
• 10 hour battery life
• There is a netflix app?!
• There is a Pandora app?! That you can't use while using any other feature of the iPad... uhm..what? Apparently this is called multi-tasking, we all do it constantly, but it isn't built in to the iPad. Thank heaven that you can have multiple web pages open at the same time. I am guessing their reason for this is to reduce the load on the computer.

So after all of that the only part of it that I currently do now is read ebooks. I have a kindle for that, and I really like e-ink a lot more than an led / lcd / staring at a light bulb. The newest kindle (with free 3g) is only $190, hell you could buy 2 DX Kindles (9.7in screen, free 3g) [or 5 kindles with wifi!] for the price of one 3G iPad (+$25/30days 3g). I must admit that playing with great looking photos on the iPad was really cool and interactive. Besides that... is it actually easier to relearn an interface to fill a non-computing gap in your day, that might not even exist? I am all for making better computers that are intuitive to use, but I feel like these slates / tablets are trying to fill a market that doesn't really exist. At least they don't exist if you have ever owned a computer (lap/desk). Perhaps these are toys for our younger generation. The users that need access to one very portable and fast computer. One that isn't focussed on word processing or older forms of communication (like writing). If that is the case then the iPad is going to sky rocket in popularity when it introduces a camera for video calls and a mic or bluetooth headset making it into an oversized phone.

Baby Flamingos at Woodland Park Zoo

Two new baby flamingos were born recently at Woodland Park Zoo. One was born 10 days ago, and the other only three days ago. If you enjoyed these photos visit my portfolio on flickr.

New Ubunt Font Released

You can grab it from the packages site.
Click on "all" under "Download TTF..."
From there you just double click to install.

To implement the font you need to navigate to: System > Preferences > Fonts
Once there you can change all of the fonts from Sans to Ubuntu, and Sans Bold to Ubuntu Bold.
There is no mono-space Ubuntu font yet, so just leave that one alone

This is just me, but I found the following settings to produce the most readable content

• Application Font: Ubuntu @ 11
• Document Font: Ubuntu @ 10
• Desktop Font: Ubuntu - Bold @ 10
• Window Title Font: Ubuntu - Bold @ 11
• Fixed Width Font: Monospace @ 10

Another really pretty font, if you don't dig Ubuntu is Aler. It is available for free! To install it simply double click on the font and click "install font"

Simple enough right? God I love Ubuntu.

Docks in Ubuntu

Mac's use a nifty looking dock at the bottom of the screen instead of the bar we Ubuntu users have. I thought it sounded like a novel idea, and figured there was a reason that all of the mac users like it.

Reporting back after trying AWN, Docky, and a few other no name ones: They all suck

They are a little fun at first but none of them are ready for prime time. Here are the major disadvantages I noticed. They didn't all have all of these problems, but they all had some.

• Transparency. Sure it looks nifty to have a "3D" dock, but it eats up resources and compiz needs to be enabled to use it! The only thing I've found pretty that compiz adds as are the drop shadows behind windows and even those piss me off when I have two windows side by side! Transparent window titles is a silly idea, that is where the most important data is that I need to see. I can live without the smooth maximize and minimize. It is nice little bit of gloss, but if I am closing a window it is because I want it out of the way, the faster the better.
• Stacks / Organization / Drawer It is terrible to try and put all of your web browsers in a folder labeled "Web Browsers" with a web browser icon. I just wanted to have access to each of the browsers in one spot. This goes double for the bar that is already there, just don't bother using the Drawer feature, terrible. End Result: Just lay them all out across the top bar, there is plenty of space up there.
• Window Management So I thought window management and program management would be the two main reasons for these docks, to nicely combine the two and look pretty. Wrong-O. They all stink. Docky uses the ugliest transitions to let you know you've clicked on an icon, a different ugly one for when the program loads, heck the dumb thing changes size when you hover over it. All of them had issues combining the icons for the launcher and the windows that were opened. I don't know if it is a "mac-standard" to keep these separate, but it is confusing as hell. You have notepad open and accidentally click on the launcher instead of the window? Well you are going to fire up another copy of notepad. "Slightly annoying" you say? Try doing it with Picassa or Virtual Box, not so funny.
• Themes Dear lord these can be hideous and annoying to "rate". I am sure there are some OK ones out there, and the 4 in AWN that look nearly identical aren't bad, but the majority of them are painful to look at. There is one that is supposed to model ancient china or something; wooden panel, samurai icons that all look the same. Oh yeah, that one made me stop and think about who made that one.

This isn't an in depth review, it is just some advice; "Stick with what Ubuntu has given you, it works better than you think" The one change I have made after all of this is a simple one.

1. Right click on the divider of the Window List on the bottom panel
2. Select Preferences
3. Change "Window Grouping" to Always
4. Hit Close

Best of luck staying organized,

Knoxy

Wordpress get_post issue

When you run get_post it doesn't apply paragraph tags to the content because it hasn't been run through the filter.

Blogger doesn't let you drop code in nicely so visit the actual site for more info.

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/get_pagepost-and-no-paragraphs-problem

Bicycle Videos From The Bike Tutor

• How to tune up your bike
• How to clean and lubricate your bike
• How to overhaul wheel bearings
• How to fix a flat
• Why wd-40 is bad for your bike chain
• How to adjust your derailer
• How to tape drop handlebars

Yehuda Moon, Bike Comics

 Best of the best

http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-04-16
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-04-17
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-04-20
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-05-01
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-05-08
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-05-09
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-05-10
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-05-31
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-06-15
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-06-18
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-06-19
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2010-07-03

Google Font API - Strange Glitches

Google recently released fonts that are accessible to all free of charge. Web designers can now reference them and expand our typographic possibilites. Pretty nifty. Here is where shit hits the fan. If you download these fonts to use in mockups in Photoshop all web browsers (barring chrome) have a glitch where they call on the regular font from the system instead of the italic/bold/bolditalic font.

This glitch only effects Droid Sans, and Droid Serif. Which is strange in itself. So there are two take home messages I have for you:

1. If you want to speed up your page loading by downloading these fonts, just skip Droid Sans and Serif, there is some goofy glitch that isn't worth your time.
2. If you want to use these fonts in mockups install the fonts directly to the Adobe Commons font directory, not the system font directory. 
1. This can be done by navigating to C:\Program Files\Common Files\ Adobe
2. Then either creating or entering a folder called "Fonts"
3. Place any extra fonts in here

I had a heck of a time working this out because the new version of Adobe CS5 doesn't create a Fonts folder. Chaos!

So there you have it. Feel free to check out the font api. If you are in to typography you will be seeing these fonts pop up everywhere in the very near future.

Sharing Files over Virtual Box

Virtual Box is a program that lets you run another operating system inside of your operating system!

Pretty nifty. It hogs resources, which is expected. What is really cool is that you can share files between the two "computers." Heres how:

1. Install and launch virtual box
2. Click on Settings, navigate to Shared Folders and add your new folder (via the folder + icon on the right)
1. You aren't allowed to use spaces in the reference name, fyi
3. Boot into you guest OS (windows in my case)
4. Install the "Guest Additions" via Devices > Install Guest Additions
5. Choose to install Direct3D stuff too! And don't forget to click accept to get through all the mumbo jumbo
6. Now to map that network drive
1. Open up file explorer and click on Tools > Map Network Drive
2. Browse to Entire Network > Virtual Box Shared
7. Seamless Mode: You can have the desktop to windows vanish and the windows on Windows appear to be seamlessly integrated with your normal desktop.  If you want to do it here's how
1. Go to Machine > Fullscreen
2. Go to Machine > Seamless Mode
8. Boo Ya - Rock on

Note: After installing guest additions your mouse isn't locked into the virtualbox window. Very worthwhile even if you aren't sharing files across the box.

MegaPixels and Print Resolution

Image reproduction seems like tricky math, so here is the breakdown.

A high-quality print is made at 300ppi, a medium 200ppi, and a low quality at 150ppi.

So here is a breakdown of image sizes for my Nikon D90 12.3 mega pixel camera

• Large Image 12.2MP: 4288px X 2848px
• High Quality (300ppi): 14.3" x 9.5"
• Medium Quality (200ppi): 21.44" x 14.2"
• Low Quality (150ppi): 28.6" x 19"
• Medium Image 6.9MP: 3216px X 2136px
• HQ: 10.7" x 7.12"
• MQ: 16" x 10.7"
• LQ: 21.4" x 14.2"
• Small Image 3.1MP: 2144px X 1424px
• HQ: 7.14" x 4.7"
• MQ: 10.7" x 7.1"
• LQ:14.3" x 9.5"

It is important to note that you might want to crop after you take the photo. It is interesting to think though, that you can get away with shooting at small if you just plan on printing 4x6s at Ritz.

Another interesting representation of the data is how many pictures you can take at that setting. Here are my stats for my 4Gig SD card:

• Raw (Large + WB Data): 260 images
• Large: 534 images
• Medium: 943 images
• Small: 2,000+ images

In the end I suppose it is dependent on how many back up SD cards you have and how much space you have left on your card. If you need those shots you can always lower the resolution.

Auto-Login From Hibernation

The Problem:
When you close you laptop it hibernates. Later when you open your laptop and hit the power button it asks for a log-in password. You have the computer set to auto-log-in, but no dice.

The Solution (Folder hierarchy is specific to Ubuntu 10.04):

1. Boot up that laptop
2. Press Alt+F2; this brings up the "Run Application" Dialog Box
3. Type in "gconf-editor" and hit "Run"
4. Hit the plus box next to "apps" then "gnome-power-manager"
5. Click on the "lock" folder
6. Uncheck the boxes next to "hibernate" and "suspend"
7. Making these changes automatically applies them, so you can now close the window.
8. Celebrate by testing it!

If anyone was wondering

Photography wishlist on Amazon. here

Third contender

On my list of wants. This really nice 35mm (effective 52mm on my DX format dslr). It seems wrong that the 50mm (70mm effective) is about $70 less.

Other important factors:

• af-s would work on a d5000 if Melinda ever gets one (70$ more than the af version though...)
• 1.8 f-stop is one hell of a wide aperture (1.4 is an extra 200+$)
• and the price comes in at just under 200$, maybe I should look into used lenses though...

Clean your contacts

No, not your contact lenses. If you own a wireless mouse where you have to either dock it in a recharge station, or swap out little Lithium batteries, then I say "Clean your contacts".

I figured my mouse was just dying it's inevitable death by struggling to seat properly in the charger. When I checked the contacts they were dirty, I cleaned them and voila. Like magic, it works properly.

...lord knows how they could have possibly gotten dirty.

Clearing your swatches in photoshop

Stop dragging swatches to the bin in photoshop and just download this swatch packet. It has one color in it! Glorious, all you have to do is hit replace swatches, and voila.

http://dodona.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/how-do-i-clear-my-color-swatches-in-photoshop-cs3/

Great Videos on Wordpress

Check out these great vids over at theme forest for tips and follow alongs on Wordpress development.

http://blog.themeforest.net/wordpress/wordpress-for-designers-day-1/

More videos are there they just aren't listed.

Next step in photography

After losing my dad's tripod I need to think about what my next major photography purchase will be.

Tripod or Flash

They are going to run me about the same amount of money. A tripod means I can shoot more landscapes, and a flash means I can shoot people better.

I am leaning towards the 600 flash, and would probably go for a tripod from the local Ritz. mmmr decisions decisions.