Automattic, the creators of WordPress, released WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” today. Normally I don’t blog about the WordPress updates, but this one was pretty significant, as there is a whole new Dashboard design and a few under-the-hood performance enhancements.
So far, I really like the new Dashboard design. It seems to be fairly clean and well thought-out. Every aspects of the WordPress menu-system is available via a nice sidebar, in which categories can be expanded and collapsed. This is much better than the previous design where the user had click around in trial and error until the correct menu was discovered.
There is also some AJAX goodness in the Dashboard interface, giving nice, fluid visual animations to the menus while allowing the user to drag and drop various interface elements to their preferred spots.
As for under-the-hood enhancements, there are too many for me to really care to go into detail about. Perhaps the single enhancement that stuck out to me is the ability to automatically upgrade to new versions of WordPress. To date, any updates to the system had to be done manually. Although the manual updates weren’t difficult, I won’t miss them. Too tedious for my liking.
This upgrade went really smoothly, especially for a major upgrade. Hats off to Automattic for a job well done.
Public Service Announcement
With Apple’s recent transition to using glass with black bezels in many of their products (iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPod touch, & 24-inch LED Cinema Display), I was beginning to feel like my site design wasn’t very Apple-esque.
Since this blog is primarily Apple-focused, I sought out for a new theme. The winner is iNove. What I love about this theme is the overall professional look to it. Everything is cleaner and more organized from the previous theme, GlossyBlue. The colors are neutral, the page bar at the top is consolidated and sleek, and the sidebar looks especially nice.
In the past I have consulted with my audience when it comes to design, as you look at it more than I do. I see the WordPress Dashboard more than the actual site. However, this time I felt the theme was just right. It fits, and it reminds me directly of Apple’s current lineup. To me, this theme screams MacBook Pro, therefore being perfect for MacGeek Pro. Dot net.
Just for Fun, Public Service Announcement
AT&T here in Lincoln, NE (and Omaha, I presume) flipped the switch on 3G this morning, bringing mobile broadband yumminess to my iPhone 3G. What can I say so far? It’s fast. Not quite as fast as using WiFi, but very, very close. This will be handy when out and about in Lincoln. When I am at home, I will probably still connect to my home WiFi.
However, I am resolved to keep my iPhone running on 3G for a little while in order to test performance. Mainly, I want to observe the hit on battery life, since Apple says using 3G may affect that. I noticed after using 3G for about three hours today, I had knocked my iPhone down to 80% battery. For some perspective, though, I was using my iPhone constantly during that time, instead of the occasional glance every 20-30 minutes.
I am very glad AT&T rolled out 3G here in Nebraska. I had inquired last month at my local AT&T store, and the representative said it should be up and running by Thanksgiving. Looks like that goal has been met. I have to say, with all the griping I have heard people say about AT&T, I haven’t had any problems with them. Well, other than they are nonexistent when I travel to South Dakota, my homeland.
I’ll add updates if I find out anything noteworthy in the next day or two.
Apple, Celebrate Good Times, Public Service Announcement, Review, iPhone
Courtesy of MacRumors.com
This morning Apple held their “The Spotlight Turns to Notebooks” event and surprise, they released new notebook computers! In all honesty, this is an event I’ve been waiting a long time for. Now, I love my iPhone to death, and use it countless times every day, but it is time for the Mac to shine again.
Sure, Apple had the MacBook Air in January, but the Air didn’t really apply to me. I want two things in a notebook: storage & power. At the time of my last notebook purchase, the MacBook satiated me compared to my iBook G4 of yore. Two years later, I am toying with the idea of upgrading within the next year. My next logical step would be the MacBook Pro, but the thing has looked like an old PowerBook G4 for it’s 3 year existence.
Well, Apple stepped up the sexiness factor of the MacBook Pro today. Take a look after the break. Read more…
Apple, Celebrate Good Times, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Macintosh, Public Service Announcement
The time has come again to unleash the Macolantern, my annual October desktop image! Downloadable here.
I posted this on Flickr last year, but that was when I was running Tiger. So here is the Leopard version. :)
Happy October!
Apple, Celebrate Good Times, Just for Fun, Mac OS X, Public Service Announcement, Rant
