Blogging

Yes, today is 08 08 08. The most significant thing happening today is the 2008 Summer Olympic Games (link is to English version), being held in Beijing, China. Without trying to make some political statement, I’m pretty surprised more athletes or countries didn’t refuse to participate. Does that mean something?

A neighbor is getting married today. That will be kinda cool for them, having 080808 as their wedding date. It will definitely be the subject of discussion for years to come.

Today is a Friday, and yeah, I’m working. the weather in Salt Lake City, UT is very cloudy, and in places it’s raining.

I purchased a single MP3 from Amazon this morning. It’s Tracy Lawrence, Find Out Who Your Friends Are. The cost was $0.99. I heard the song on Pandora.com, and they make it easy to buy songs directly from iTunes or Amazon. I buy a lot of songs this way.

What are you doing on 080808?

If you’re a Flickr user, and want to post photos to your blog, you know there is no way to add categories or tags to the post. There could be a plug-in solution, but I couldn’t find it. Seriously, I looked for a long time. If there is one that does what I’m proposing, please let me know and I will update this post and back out what I’ve done.

This solution isn’t for the faint of heart. And I’m not 100% sure how secure it is. But I know for a fact it works just like I want. Here is the scenario and my hack:

1. Create a new WordPress user for Flickr posts. Doesn’t matter what you call it. Just make sure it has posting rights.
2. Add you blog, or modify and existing entry, in your Flickr account. How to do this is beyond the scope of my explanation.
3. Use the new WordPress user you created in step one in your Flickr blog settings.
4. Modify you xmlrpc.php file that sits in your WordPress root folder, with the below code. It would be in the same place as wp-config.php.

Here is where it gets a little hairy. Find the line which has this code snippet. Mine starts on line 1578, but yours may differ. It’s in the function mw_newPost($args):

if (is_array($catnames)) {

foreach ($catnames as $cat) {

$post_category[] = get_cat_ID($cat);

}

}

Just above the code on line 1578, add this code snippet:

if ( $user_login == '*NEW_USER_NAME*' ) {

$catnames[] = ‘*CATEGORY*’;

$tags_input[] = ‘*TAG1*’;

$tags_input[] = ‘*TAG2*’;

}

Save the file. Flickr gives you the ability to create a test post. I would recommend you do that before calling it good. Make SURE to remove any entries in the Settings/Writing/Update Services box before testing or your test post will show up in your RSS feed and anywhere else that you ping a new post.

Now, when you post from Flickr, using the correct WordPress user, you should have an entry in the category you choose, with the tags you want. You can add as many tags, or even categories as you like.

Again, there may be a more elegant solution that I haven’t found, but for now this solves my problem. I suppose you could use this for any outside service that uses XMLRPC to post to your blog.

I’m also interested in hearing about potential security issues with this solution.

Photo courtesy of poolie.

It’s August 1st. We are in the dog days of summer. The time where you’re just about fed up with hot weather, and ready for the fall cool down to happen. Not to mention you’re ready for the kids to go back to school. Pools are your best friend, and you get up early just to go for a run

NaBloPoMo theme for August is HOT. So, I’ll be writing post about things that are hot. And they won’t necessarily be about the weather.

Play along if you would like, visit the web site here.

Photo by PieterMusterd

Joseph Scott mentioned to me at PodCampSLC that he was interested in having a WordCamp here in Utah. I thought it was a fantastic idea. So over the past few weeks we’ve talked about it and it looks like the event is going forward.

Because this is a community event, it’s important that everyone get involved early. We only have a few months to put a great camp together. Please join us on April 10th at 6:30, Applebees in Draper, for a first draft WordCamp Utah meet-up. There’s a lot to cover and we need as many people as possible to help out. Let us know you’re coming on upcoming.org.

Another thing we want is bloggers to present topics at WordCamp. There will be a spot on the WordCamp Utah site to register and sign up to present.

This is a great opportunity to meet other WordPress bloggers, learn more about the platform, network, and get some great ideas to succeed.

We only have five days before PodCampSLC kicks off. The current schedule we have at the moment:

9-10 Come by and get your name tag, get a seat, and schedule your discussions
10-11 Kick off and Keynote by Michael Harper, Professor, Utah Valley University
11:15-12:15 Attend Session 1, join another discussion, or start your own
12:15-1:15 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Attend Session 2, join another discussion, or start your own
2:45-3:45 Attend Session 3, join another discussion, or start your own
4 Wrap up, comments and final thoughts

There will be a Podcasting Genius Bar — Completely open access to recorders, cameras, software, and experts. Michael Harper, from UVSC/UVU, is driving this offering. Please contact Michael with suggestions or to volunteer — harpermi AT uvsc DOT edu.

We need to be out of the building as soon as we can after the wrap up.

Bring your friends, business associates, anyone who is interested in sharing ideas or learning more about new media. Thanks, and we’ll see you there.