Happy 2012!

It's been a long 2011. Happy new year! :)

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LEGO 404 page

Very nice #404 image by LEGO :)
(via +Sebastian Schmidt)

I think I'll start a collection! What's your favorite 404 page?

Reshared post from +Daniel Waisberg

Greatest 404 page I have ever seen!
Had to be from LEGO...

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How to build a brand identity

Excellent comment by #xkcd :)

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Earth time lapse from the International Space Station

Earth time lapse from the International Space Station

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Document Management for WordPress

WP Document Revisions is a document management and version control plugin for the popular content management system, WordPress. Built for time-sensitive and mission-critical projects, teams can collaboratively edit files of any format — text documents, spreadsheets, images, sheet music… anything — all the while, seamlessly tracking the document’s progress as it moves through your organization’s existing workflow.

The plugin by Ben Balter looks quite interesting and full featured. Looking forward to a chance to try it out and in real environment!

Full details and screencast at http://ben.balter.com/2011/08/29/wp-document-revisions-document-management-version-control-wordpress/

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How to add Facebook / Twitter / etc authentication on WordPress

In the old days of the internet, it was quite accepted that on each site/forum/whatever you encountered and wanted to participate in a discussion, you had to make a new account. Nowdays, both due to privacy concerns as well as getting used to be automatically logged in, we have ended up seeing that many people are turned off when they are not able to comment on a site with their Facebook login. For a small blog this means a significant loss in engagement and a chance for more visitors.

I have been looking for a solution for my #WordPress blog, initially trying a Facebook-related plugins (also with integration with Facebook pages), then trying out #Livefyre, which is a complete authentication/comment solution. Livefyre and similar solutions (which I've tried) though will ignore comments that come in from other sources, like the recent Google+ integration I've added. So comments on Google+ were imported in the WordPress database but never shown. Back to the standard WordPress comment module then, but I still needed authentication from social networks.

Which when I found the Social Connect plugin. It allows users to register and loggin via their Twitter, Facebook, Google, Yahoo or WordPress.com account.

Installation is as easy as an WordPress #plugin. For Facebook and Twitter integration you will need to create an application on each of them and enter the related API keys in Social Connect's options page. The options page has all the links to guide you through the process.

If everything goes well you will have a the login icons on your comment forms and login page. You will also find a widget for your sidebar available. If there is a problem with your them and the icons don't appear in the comments form, you can call them just with a line of PHP like this
_ <?php do_action( 'social_connect_form' ); ?> _

Users who use the icons will also be added in your WordPress database.

You will find Social Connect at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/social-connect/

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Introducing... the MacPhone in 1984

Follow the link to see concept work done by Hartmut Esslinger, designer of the Apple IIc. Among them, a design for a future (for 1984) phone in co-operation with AT&T.

http://fudder.de/artikel/2007/07/17/origin-of-the-iphone/artikel/

[Update] see also: Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group
http://www.amazon.com/Appledesign-Apple-Industrial-Design-Group/dp/1888001259
(thanks +Charis Tsevis)
[Update] the book mentioned above is rare to find (Amazon sells it used for $500), but here is an excellent source on the issue with information and photos copied from the book http://liquidpubs.com/blog/2010/11/08/apple-their-tablet-computer-history/

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Wikipedia, point taken

The internet told you to stop putting Jimmy Wales' face on the donation banners so now you show us the alternatives. Ok, point taken. I made a small donation, please bring Jimmy back! :)

That said, here's the donation link in case you've missed it https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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2012 is around the corner!

Ready for a fresh start? :)

Photo by +Lawrence del Mundo

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Starbucks, best identity of 2011

Underconsideration/Brand New declared the evolutionary change of Starbucks as the best identity in 2011. I tend to agree although I could have also gone for Voices of Youth.

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/the_best_and_worst_identities_of_2011_part_ii_the_best.php

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#Productivity #GTD :)

#Productivity #GTD :)

Reshared post from +Kimberly Shoemaker

hehehe

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Excellent #HTML5 work!

This really pushes the boundaries of what we consider can be done with HTML :)

Reshared post from +Marcin Wichary

We open sourced the code behind Stanisław Lem doodle and I wrote an article describing it. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/doodles/lem/
http://code.google.com/p/stanislaw-lem-google-doodle/

Embedded Link

HTML5 Rocks - Case Study: Building the Stanisław Lem Google doodle

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This will hurt

Hackers claiming to be the group Anonymous said they had obtained around 4,000 credit card details, passwords and home addresses on Stratfor's private client list, which was posted on information-sharing website Pastebin.

The question now is: can an "intelligence" company like Stratfor survive such a disaster?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/26/us-stratfor-hacking-idUSTRE7BO0GM20111226

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How to import your Google+ posts in WordPress

It's not actually any kind of magic, thanks to Google+ API and developer +Daniel Treadwell we have the the Google+Blog WordPress Plugin which you can find here http://www.minimali.se/google+blog/

The plugin is free with a backlink which can be removed for a well-worth $10 (Hi Daniel, I'm currently waiting for my download link :)). Installation is as easy uploading any #WordPress plugin. You will need two pieces of information:
1) a Google+ API key which you can get from https://code.google.com/apis/console/ (first enable the Google+ service from the list of all Google services and then you can find your API key on the "API Access" page
2) Your Google+ ID (the number in the URL of your profile)

The plugin works like a charm, it imported 200 posts and a few hundred comments in a seconds :)

[Update] Note for the future: one thing missing from this plugin is the ability to add attached images in the WordPress media library so that they can have their own page and comments. Here is the relevant function (just need to find some time to experiment now :))
http://wpscale.com/download-image-and-attach-into-post-programmatically-in-wordpress-3/

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Damn alarm clocks! :)

Damn alarm clocks! :)

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An Apple Christmas tale

How Apple beat IBM in Steve Jobs' first retail war
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/25/charles_eicher_christmas_1984/

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No Google, wrong match :)

No Google, wrong match :)

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Merry Christmas! :)

Merry Christmas! :)

In album Munich, Dec/2011 (24 photos)

SIXT ad, Munich airport

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Microsoft planning to remotely kill all IE6 installations :)

Microsoft planning to remotely kill all IE6 installations :)

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Technolog - IE 6 deep-sixed in Microsoft browser overhaul

You may be waiting for the ball to drop for 2012, but Microsoft has another countdown underway that the company deems more urgent: Getting rid of Internet Explorer 6, a decade-old version of the Web ...

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Some very nice designs!

Some very nice designs!

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Getting Festive: Free Holiday Card Giveaway From 99designs » News » Design Festival
Have you or your business sent out your Holiday or Christmas cards for the year yet?? 99designs asked their amazing

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Very nice round-up of all possible choices for publishing on ebook on the big stores...

Very nice round-up of all possible choices for publishing on ebook on the big stores (Amazon, Apple, Nook, etc)

Reshared post from +Guy Kawasaki

(Wed01) Good guide to publishing an ebook:

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/291424/how-to-self-publish-an-ebook/1

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He only read the top of the email, not the email chain below

Lesson 1: When in trouble you can always do better than the "who has time to read emails?" defence! :)

Murdoch said: "I am confident that I did not review the full email chain at the time or afterwards," in part because Myler's note had been sent to him at the weekend.
Lesson 2: don't read mails over the weekend :)

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James Murdoch: I didn't read crucial phone-hacking email
News International boss was sent email in 2008 showing practice went beyond rogue reporter

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CSS "Magic" :)

CSS "Magic" :)

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Experiments with background-clip: text
Experiments with background-clip: text - Background Image for Text

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Apparently if you have a DSLR you take more time taking photos

So only compact cameras allowed in the London Transport Museum

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"Tight schedule" forced ban on DSLRs, says London Transport Museum [update] - British Journal of Photography
advertisement. advertisement. Go to BJP homepage. AOP Awards Logo. Search. Mobile; Facebook; Twitter; Rss; Store Finder; Newsletter; Subscribe. Home; News; Gear; Daily; Features; Blogs; BJP TV; Jobs; ...

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Vovo_panico, an elderly comedian from Brazil is getting an average of 179.81 re-...

Vovo_panico, an elderly comedian from Brazil is getting an average of 179.81 re-tweets!

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On Twitter, The Most Influential Person Is…
A new study from Hewlett-Packard Labs has analyzed trends and topics on Twitter in order to suss out how certain Tweeters influence the trending topics that

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It is said that the most ingenius ideas are the most simple in design

The Wheel. The Toaster oven. And, yes, now the ultimate Snow Man. :)

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Apparatus for facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman - Asperas, Ignacio Marc
A building component for facilitating a construction of a snow man/woman. A spherically-shaped body is provided that has an outer surface and an interior, the interior substantially lighter than when ...

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Come on, chicken slaying is always fun! http://imgur.com/a/PrLrB #PrivacyFail

Come on, chicken slaying is always fun! http://imgur.com/a/PrLrB
#PrivacyFail

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We are Greeks and we're all right, thank you for asking :D

#greek_crisis

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Come on Wikipedia, you're teasing the internet now

:)

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Productivity is a finite resource

When you start depleting it, eventually you will run out. At that point, the only way to be productive again is to not try being productive :)

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Why Crunch Modes Doesn't Work: Six Lessons
Executive Summary. When used long-term, Crunch Mode slows development and creates more bugs when compared with 40-hour weeks. More than a century of studies show that long-term useful worker output is...

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