For those times that you can “see” it in your head, but can’t quite make out the letters
Posted on June 25, 2006
Filed Under Internet & Technology | Leave a Comment
Covering all sorts of geeky topics, from Google search syntax to .htaccess mod_rewrite and Firefox keyboard shortcuts. Handy.
via eHub.
Playing with Feeds.app lite in Movable Type beta 3.3b3
Posted on June 25, 2006
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
If you look on my main page, and scroll down the sidebar you’ll see a section entitled “C3 News & Events” that has the last 5 entries on our news blog. Sure, it’s a great way to show off the caliber of material I’m very proud we’re covering on the C3 site. A View From Home is my personal playground and I really did it to see how the new Feeds.app lite works in Movable
Type 3.3.
It couldn’t be easier.
First make sure that you CHMOD 755 the index.cgi file at plugins/feeds-app-lite. Then, from the blog’s main admin page (new layout), select “Create a feed widget.” Enter the target RSS feed (or site URL and it will be autodiscovered, if possible).
Then simple options:
After you hit “save” you get the single line of code to stick in your template, or use the Widget manager to add it to an existing Widget. In Movable Type 3.3, Widgets are clumps of code you can link together so you don’t have to go digging in template files. Eventually, I’ll configure my templates to use them but for now I’m comfortable editing the HTML.
If it has an RSS feed (which is pretty much everything these days), you can easily get it on your Movable Type blog without going through the bother of installing the 3rd party plug-in yourself. No more jealousy over all the fun the Typepad folks are having. I’m not sure what’s the difference between the “lite” version of Feeds.app that comes with MT 3.3 and the so-called “pro” version. Anyone?
My only complaint is that since installing beta 3 my administration pages are really slow. Dreamhost was also having some MySQL issues around the same time, so I’m not sure what’s the cause and what’s the symptom here. The site itself seems fine, it’s just when I’m getting around Movable Type administration pages that it’s like going through mud.
P.S. I posted this entry using the new ecto for Windows beta that just came out. Except for the fact that I’ll have to go back and add the tags in the Movable Type interface since I like having them down in the comments section and I can only do that from the browser, it’s pretty good. Seems far more solid than previous betas I’ve tried and light years ahead of Blogjet which seems to be languishing. Once you get used
to WYSIWYG and inline spell checking in your blog editor, it’s hard to accept anything else. ecto delivers that and much more.
Do you read direct mail?
Posted on June 25, 2006
Filed Under Nonprofit | 5 Comments
This is why I was in Manhattan on Friday. Fund Raising Day in New York, sponsored by the New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Even though I’m not directly responsible for development, I wanted to attend this conference to have a macro view of the strategies we could be using to raise resources for C3. This thing was huge…over 1,000 attendees, multiple tracks, nice size exhibit hall.
It was interesting to say the least. We’re such small potatoes, that my attending this thing was kind of like a child who has one of those Fisher Price See & Say things going to WWDC. But I went in to learn about small ideas we could implement now, and big ideas we can plan for later that can help get us to the point that we may actually belong at one of those things one day. I like to think 3 steps ahead. I nearly fell off my chair when one speaker spoke about a “small” campaign expected to only raise $1.5 million and how many organizations look to fill in gaps of $300-400K in their budget through individual gift campaigns. I guess you can do that when you have databases of 300,000 people to call upon. So not us.
Many of the consultants in the sessions were saying that direct mail is dead (or dying), but easily 70% of the exhibit hall were direct mail vendors. One caught my eye and asked me about our direct mail plans. It led to an interesting conversation. I told him that we had no direct mail plans. He was shocked. Horrified, actually. He started telling me what I could do for as little as $25,000. That doesn’t even include the list broker for the mailing list or the postage. Most of the professionals I spoke to said that the cost-per-conversion for direct mail were getting so high, it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I tend to agree. I’d rather spend that $25,000 on a combination of traditional and online media in an attempt to build buzz and trust.
I know I don’t read 98% of the direct mail I get, even from organizations that I already have a relationship with. I throw it on Eric’s pile and it usually goes out with the next recycling pick up. How about you? Are you persuaded by those letters? Do you learn about causes that way? I’m not talking about for-profit direct mail, I’m thinking of non-profit stuff only. Ironically, one of the speakers who said direct mail is dying made an exception for animal conservation groups…he said that they have the highest conversion rates. No one can resist pictures of cute & cuddly baby animals, I guess.
Two geeks on a train
Posted on June 24, 2006
Filed Under PocketPC | Leave a Comment
I’m on the way home from Manhattan yesterday and the guy sitting next to me first spends some time on his Blackberry, then I notice out of the corner of my eye that he’s online with his Sprint PPC-6700, which under the hood is similar to my Cingular 8125 (they’re both HTC devices). I was using my phone to catch up on email.
He noticed my Today screen and started asking me questions about some of the plug-ins I had (notably Resco Today and spb Diary). That launched us into a 30 minute geek-out about the phones…he reads all the same websites I do, tries all different applications, hates Palm OS and has been a Pocket PC devotee for years. We both hate ActiveSync 4.x compared to version 3.8.
He gave me a quick demo of the new 2007 version of Pocket Informant that he’s beta testing (didn’t see all that much different). I showed him why I thought spb Diary was better than Pocket Breeze (which he had). He thought it cool that the Cingular 8125 has a better built-in dialer than the Sprint version. I liked that his device had Start and OK hard buttons so he didn’t have to hack it like I do. We both complained about how buggy and underpowered the HTC phones are, but both thought it’s worth it in the end. We didn’t even exchange names or business cards, and I don’t want to think of what the guy sitting in front of us thought overhearing our conversation.
Months ago I played with PhoneAlarm, a handy way of displaying alarms and configuring profiles from the Today screen. I uninstalled it because it slowed the phone down too much. The guy on the phone showed me his device running PhoneAlarm Lite, a much lighter version with the main features but not all the bells & whistles.
I installed it this morning and it’s perfect…I can have the phone tell me when I have voicemail or a missed call, but not bother me about email. And it’s a quick way to switch between home and meeting settings, as well a flight mode. Best yet, it takes very little resources…under 500 kb of RAM.
Here’s what my Today screen looks like now. As you can see, I keep it simple and clean.
I’ve had this phone for 4 months, and truth is I rarely see another one in my daily life. Same with the T-Mobile or Sprint versions. I think it’s because it’s aimed at the business user, but corporations aren’t adopting them like Blackberrys. So they tend to go with folks like me and my anonymous buddy from the train who read computer magazines for fun. Too bad. Despite the bugs (and there are plenty…not recommended for the non-tech type who isn’t ready for under-the-hood troubleshooting), it’s a fantastic little device. I went to this conference and I was able to take notes on the sessions, check my email, look up references, check my train schedule home, text message with Eric about an issue with the kids and read a bit of a novel all with one little machine that fits in the side of my purse and I still had 30% of the battery life when I got home. Mind you, I wasn’t actually talking on the phone that much, which helped.
Movable Type 3.3 beta 3
Posted on June 23, 2006
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I’m back from a long day in New York City attending a fund raising conference and I’m tired, but I’m awake enough to install the new beta of Movable Type (version 3.3 beta 3).
They keep making the installation easier and easier. Upload the files and instead of going in and editing a mt-config.cgi file, you simply run mt-wizard.cgi from your browser (don’t forget to CHMOD it to 755…no getting around that, I think). You still only get to set the database functions (and now mail preferences) but it’s in a nice screen rather than a text file (click to enlarge):
I’m assuming they’ll add more config options in the next beta (would love to adjust the throttle so I can get trackbacks again).
Another new feature is the inclusion of a lite version of Tim Appnel’s Feeds.app plug-in. I’ll play with it this weekend.
