I finally updated Exit171 to WordPress v2.3.1.  Version 1.5.2 worked well for a long time, but I knew I was several revs behind and missing out on some new functionality, e.g. widgets, themes, etc.  The upgrade couldn’t have been easier (it took me longer to backup everything than it did to upgrade).  I’ll be messing around with some new features in the coming weeks and probably a new theme.  Please let me know if you see anything that looks strange or broken.  Thanks.

Technorati Tags: wordpress,software,blogging

I just installed the Sphere Related Content Widget on my blog. It literally took me less than a minute to install and configure. You’ll now see an icon at the end of my posts… In a nutshell, when you click on the icon, Sphere finds other blog posts and media articles related to the content in that particular post. Cool stuff. It would be great to see this widget catch-on everywhere… so much easier to find relevant information.

Great write-up on blogging tools for the Mac. Except for Movable Type, I’ve tried all of these (yes, even iBlog) and have chosen WordPress for my blog Exit 171. I’m several months in with WordPress (100+ posts) and still loving it. I have about 10 plug-ins active and have only just scratched the surface. The customization capabilities seem endless. FYI, most of the tools mentioned in the article are also supported on Windows and Linux.

According to one recent estimate, a new Weblog is created every second. Everyone from your geeky IT coworker to your Uncle Marvin has one already. So why don’t you? If you’ve got something—anything—you want to share with the rest of the world, a blog is the place to do it. And it’s never been easier to jump on the blogging bandwagon. The tools and services required are inexpensive (and often free) and as simple (or as powerful) as you want.

[article at MacWorld] Thanks for the link Javiso!

Look out Blogger.com, here comes WordPress. I love WordPress and would love to see this succeed. We’ll see…

Wordpress starts hosted blogging service
Announced at Blog Business Summit in San Francisco today - Wordpress, the open-source (and free) blog publishing platform, has started a hosted blog publishing service.

To participate, you need an invitation. What will the offering be? Free, like Blogger? Paid, like TypePad?

No details yet but undoubtedly more will emerge very soon.

[via NevOn]

I decided to upgrade my blogging software, WordPress, from version 1.5.1.3 to 1.5.2. The update has only been out for several days, so I decided to wait a bit (yeah, all of 4 days!). The upgrade was pretty simple and almost everything looks good so far. I only had one plug-in (UserOnline) that didn’t work after the upgrade. No biggie, it wasn’t a crucial plug-in. Hopefully the author will post an update.

Please let me know if you see something wacky on my site. It may or may not be due to the upgrade. Thanks!

BTW, this is also my first post using Ecto - a popular desktop blogging client. I’m currently using a trial version for Mac OS X (there’s also a Windows version). Makes posting entries very simple. So far so good.

Bye bye Blogger.com… In order to take advantage of more powerful blogging software, I’ve decided to move away from Blogger.com. As easy as Blogger.com was to use, I wanted more functionality and flexibity. I researched some alternatives and decided to give WordPress a try. Other than my new hosting service (BlueHost), everything is free! I’m looking forward to some new functionality and experimentation with the hundreds of WordPress plug-ins available out there on the web.

So as of right now, no more This Just In or PicXels (my photoblog). My new blog is now Exit 171 and my photoblog is Exit 172 (yes, they’re both real exits on the Garden State Parkway that will get you to Woodcliff Lake). I’ll keep my former sites up for awhile and will also still maintain a couple of shared blogs on Blogger, but for the most part I’m now live with WordPress!