Links for 2008-03-01
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Bastard pop net label, including Scissor Sisters mash-up remix album. Free MP3s/torrents.
We’ve been running a music industry search directory for a number of years now as a sub domain on the 99th Floor Elevators blog here and have long been planning to update the resource as its been running on a creaking five year old php script, which is as far removed from Web 2.0 as you can get, bursting at the seams with horrid session iDs and other unsightly stuff !
Anyhow, we’ve moved the directory over to its own stand-alone domain name at Buzzsonic.dj and a new script from those clever Malaysian programmers at Indexu (since bought out by French owners I understand). There’s still some work to be done, especially cleaning up the database and adding tags but its looking OK so far. There’s going to be a forum added hopefully for more interaction and you can actually post comments and “tell a friend” already on any of the directory entries you might want to share or shout about.
Any suggestions are actively encouraged naturally.
Since the blog makeover a couple of weeks ago I’ve been bombarded by comment spam for some reason. Its one of the things that makes blogging work and not fun. So, I finally activated Askimet (Automattic Kismet to give it its full name) on my WordPress install (didn’t really pay attention to it before for some reason?). Its actually working wonders right now and since activating the plug-in its halted more than 2,200 of the most bloodcurdlingly despicable types of spam you can imagine that up to now I’ve been having to edit manually daily.
Askimet comes installed by default in Word Press but you have to activate it in the Plugins area in your admin area and get a free APi key. A five minute task that’ll save you hours of work weekly.
Related Links
Askimet FAQ ( Askimet)
Blogging downloads Software Word PressHere’s a really useful widget for people with blogs or multiple memberships at social networks, bookmarking sites and the like. If you’re like me you probably have profiles at a bunch of different websites, Flickr, MySpace, Digg, YouTube and such. With ShowYourself you can combine all your profiles on the web into one neat looking widget that you can put on your blog, your MySpace page or anywhere on the web.
With developer Dustin Bachrach’s app you type in your usernames for the sites you use and clear the checkboxes for those you don’t. The ShowYourself widget-builder lists around two dozen popular destinations, from AIM to Last.fm to YouTube, and you can easily add others.
Via Lifehacker.com
Related Links
Yahoo Widgets (Yahoo.com)
WordPress Widgets (Wordpress.com)
I rambled on here about finding flights and deals online in the ‘traditional’ manner using meta-searchers so you dont have to visit each individual travel site etc, but there is an even more time efficient way by using RSS. I’m assuming that readers have some entry level knowledge of RSS, if not, read this to get some background on the format that’ll help save you bundles of time.
I use the Sage RSS reader in my Firefox browser. Its a great lightweight way of reading RSS feeds without having to log-in to an online reader or fire up a desktop stand alone ( I use Feed Demon for more heavy duty feed trawling). Once you’ve installed Sage in Firefox you can open it in a browser sidebar to view your feeds.
The “big three” online travel agents, Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz all now offer various RSS feeds.
internet RSS Search Engines travel Web 2.0Joining in the fray of predictive holiday and flight search is Hotwire, following on the heels of Farecast and Fare Compare. A Fare Prediction shows if the lowest fare is rising or dropping over the next seven days for the specific dates and cities searched (according to the Farecast website). So, in laymans terms they basically ‘predict’ when its cheapest to go.
Hotwire’s offering is called Trip Starter and my seaching for a trip to Las Vegas from my local airport at Fort Myers returned a graph showing airfare and hotel price fluctuations by the month.
Best time to fly, according to Trip Starter is January, February and September. Best time to stay, July, August and December. They advise to avoid the crowds, go during the first three weeks in December or on weekdays in July.
One advantage Trip Starter has over its rivals is that by plugging in the results to Hotwire affiliate Trip Advisor they are able to offer local guides, events and maps, something Farecast and Fare Compare dont offer right now.
Courtesy iExploreFlorida.com
planners travel Web 2.0Late last week Google quietly acquired data visualization software tool, Trendalyzer from its parent company, Gapminder. They are already making the tool available for free here and the software developers have moved into Google’s Mountain View HQ.
Trendalyzer generates moving graphics and other novel effects in the display of facts, figures, and statistics in presentations.
The Official Google Blog reports, “We hope to provide the resources necessary to bring such work to its deserved wider audience by improving and expanding Trendalyzer and making it freely available to any and all users capable of thinking outside the X and Y axes.”
via Paid Content
Related Reading
A Word In Motion (Official Google Blog)