Kayla

Personal Assistant - Banking On Forgetfulness

There are some companies out there banking on forgetfulness to upgrade programs. The script looks cool and the answer to all, but we can be a bit more proactive and save ourselves $120 dollars. Since my last Personal Assistant post was about WordPress I thought I would do one more to seal the deal on blogging for a few more weeks.

There are tools out there that will automatically upgrade your WordPress installation. One in particular that seems to be the most recently updated (that’s another problem, who is upgrading the upgraders?) is WordPress Automatic Upgrade. This plugin does not seem to exactly run on its own, but the next time you login to your blog and see the new version message, the plugin can be started and ran in an automated mode. So really you are not doing anything to upgrade except clicking a button or two.

WordPress Automatic Upgrade upgrades your wordpress installation by doing the following steps.

1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.

Give this one a look and say goodbye to one more thing to do. Since many of us are only keeping up with WordPress as the base of our website, this is really a time saver.

As for other php scripts, remember to sign up for update mailing lists and RSS feeds to get those upgraded as soon as possible so that your site is not in danger. These days hacking is hardly ever about just defacing or deleting data; hackers want to go in completely unnoticed to add pages to your site to help SEO rankings and the like. Speaking of all of that, don’t forget the WordPress Exploit Scanner.

Flickr photo from inparadiso

The Future of Photo Sites

The future of collective photo sites is headed on a clear course to success. One site in particular, We heart it, is a social photo bookmarking site that continues to be starred as a favorite among many photo lovers. When you come across a site like that you realize why photo sites grow to be so popular. It just takes more preparation and effort to put something into words. With photos it’s a mood, a thought inside, a fleeting moment captured with one snap that even still can be altered into something more meaningful. A photo can also reveal something magical, like jellyfish floating through their blue world, that otherwise you would never see. With all of the ways we have to express ourselves online, photography is probably the most passionate way. A special photo can speak to us in its own language and just when you think they’ve whispered everything - you find another unique photo to heart.

Whispering Tweet Nothings

Tweet Nothings: Endearments, often whispered, between Twitterers. For example, They sat in a corner all evening, whispering tweet nothings.

I’m doing a little experiment right now where I am not casually @replying to anyone on Twitter. Sometimes I feel all of the replies I see on Twitter are covering what is really important. That’s not to say what people are saying back and forth isn’t important, I just think it’s watering things down a bit. It’s really rare to come across a Twitter profile that is a clear stream of good posts from that person, it always shocks me a little when I do come across those. I want to be like that as well.

I’ve started to direct message others instead and make better connections with everyone. I am actually currently behind on this because it’s definitely a lot more work than just @messaging them. But I think in the end it’s going to be more rewarding and sweeter. I mean, tweeter.

Personal Assistant - Google Sitemaps

I’ve decided to start a Personal Assistant Series each weekend on my blog. Many of us could use a personal assistant whether in house, a “virtual” assistant (think AskSunday.com), or an e-assistant like Sandy (IWantSandy.com). But with these options there could be expenses involved which are more than you planned for or the work could not be up to par with your standards.

I am looking for ways to do common things that will allow you to focus successfully on the good stuff. I’m starting with something essential today which is keeping your sitemaps updated. It’s a tedious little task that you should stay on top of. But thankfully there are ways that these sitemaps can be updated automatically. If you have WordPress this post in particular is for you.

Arne Brachhold created the Google (XML) Sitemap Generator for WordPress.

“Everytime you edit or create a post, your sitemap is updated and all major search engines that support the sitemap protocol, like Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo, are notified about the update.”

Nothing could be better than that. This plugin works like a charm while you are busy posting and updating! Click here to view more information for the Sitemap Generator for WordPress. Then all you have to do is update the address of your sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools. Other services are notified automatically.

Photo above from ASurroca on Flickr. (And the story that goes with that photo is a *must read*)

YouTube Results in Google Searches

There is an epidemic. For about a year, I didn’t really notice it so much, but I think the virus must be spreading. YouTube video results showing up in Google searches is just not a nice thing. We’re searching Google for web pages, not for YouTube videos. I don’t mind seeing news or even book results. Those are usually relevant and links that I will click on. But I am using Google as a research tool to find information, not videos! If I want to search for videos I will take myself manually to video land. I do not need my hand held here.

Video results in searches also take up valuable real estate spots. Sometimes a spot is on the first page of results or it could be a few more pages in. No matter where the video pops up, it isn’t very fair. The worse thing about it? Much of the time the video has nothing to do with what you are really searching for and is a complete waste of time. (Most people would say YouTube itself is completely a waste of time.) So there you have it. I love Hannah Montana just as much as the next person, but it wasn’t relevant to my search…

Google gives us control to have a customized start page. They give us free email and free web apps. But what we can never have personalization for is how what type of search results we get. This is because it would cause imbalance in their advertising programs. And if that is really the case, how would sticking YouTube videos help any of us out in that area? Am I missing something?