Since WordPress released a new version, I decided to buy a new desktop PC. No. Not really. In my last post, I mentioned that my lappy’s days are numbered. Well, those numbers are dwindling very fast since I have bought me parts already that would run if only I had the money for a monitor. But no, I didn’t. So my lappy’s life is still prolonged due to my financial crisis. Another week and I’m sure I’ll be able to buy the monitor and other accessories so I can finally do some work properly. At home.

I used to be an Intel advocate, but seeing AMD’s improvements with their chips, I decided to go the Athlon way. So for the processor, I bought the X2 4400 chip. For the board, I bought the nVidia chipset powered ECS board. And an nVidia GeForce FX6600LE for the video. Although I have the nVidia powered mobo and video, my purpose for building this machine is not for games. Well, not just for games. The main reason I chose this mobo and video card is the price. Dirt cheap and practical, who wouldn’t? Also, the mobo has built-in audio (which I don’t mind using since I won’t be recording any songs that need clarity), a lot of USB ports (which I seem to be running out of lately), and gigabit ethernet. And a 2GB Transcend DDR2800 stick of RAM.

Things I have to do next would include dusting off the Linksys Wireless B router so my wife can still use lappy while I use Dek. OK, that’s not my desktop’s official name yet, but I think I’ll stick with it for now. Add to that the reconfiguration of my table, for the nth time, to accomodate the new member of the family.

Shopping for the parts for Dek was a breeze, thanks to the helpful folks over at PC Express Gilmore. It was surprising to find out that the prices went down, and a lot, compared to last week’s prices. Good thing I waited, but I think if I waited for another week, the prices will go down further. But it was just another itch I had to scratch.

So a lot of the items in my shopping list got crossed out, but I had to add another item to the list, a SATA power cable for my DVD burner, since the power supply unit that came with the casing only had one SATA power connector. And an internal card reader in place of a floppy drive. Hopefully, I’ll be able to buy the monitor et al. before the week ends.

In a more geeky note, I just got my prescription glasses. I look like a dork then. Now I look like a certified geek. I feel better now.

WordPress 2.5 is now out. Now I understand why they opted to skip 2.4 altogether and go directly to 2.5. There were a lot of changes and a lot of testers were complaining about the new layout of the Write page. Some plugins don’t work, but most of what I use do. Although there’s a new tag management system built-in, I’m still using Christine’s Tag Managing Thing since it allows me to merge, split, and edit tags AND categories in one place. It didn’t work initially, though, and I had to edit the code, but it was a simple hack and all I needed to do was remove the size attribute of the terms list and add a height attribute to the merge list. All in all, WordPress 2.5 is looking spiffy and a lot smarter.

In a non-WordPress related note, some of you may be wondering about the new site you get redirected to. It’s not actually a new site with new content. I decided to merge all my posts, tech-related or not, into a single site, hopefully making it a bit centralized. Gormful will still be maintained, as well as my Unintelligible site, but both will be redirected to this site.

My lappy’s days are numbered as I’ll be getting a desktop very soon. It’s just not practical to do some work on a lappy. A desktop is still a better choice for work and play. I guess my lappy’s purpose will be reduced to twittering and posting entries. Lappy = glorified word processor.

Oh well. Thanks also to Vance for the heads up on WordPress 2.5 being released. The instant I saw his name on the comment dashboard and I knew 2.5 has been released.

WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate 3 is now available for download. Might be the last release candidate before the stable release. Yay!

Lately, I’ve been playing around WordPress 2.5 RC1 and it was refreshing to use the new Admin interface. It is cool to the eyes and it loads up pretty quick. I must say I’m impressed with the changes and updates Automattic made to WordPress.

Some of the new features are a welcome addition too, like the tag management system they have put in place. It displays like the category management page and mimics its features too. From the tag management page, you can add, edit, and delete tags much the same way as categories. It’s no Tag Managing Thing, but if you prefer using core features than plugins, this is a very great addition.

Another feature worth mentioning is the automatic plugin upgrade system. In RC1, you need to input your FTP credentials in order to perform the automatic upgrade. In WordPress 2.5 RC2, however, you don’t have to. The process involves downloading the plugin from the WordPress plugin repository, unpacking the update, removing the old package, installing the latest package, and if the plugin is active while auto-updating, it will deactivate the plugin first before installing the new version, then reactivate the plugin. It will then tell you that the plugin is updated successfully. And it’s all automated. One thing to note though, is that you should beware of using the automatic plugin upgrade, as outlined by this article. Some of the issues outlined in the article was already addressed, but not all, so if you are not sure if the automatic upgrade will wreak havoc on your blog, make sure you have a backup and perform the plugin upgrade manually. I tried it on some plugins that query the database and so far, no issues. Lucky me.

About the new interface, it is easy on the eyes and a bit more organized that shows the designers are obviously keeping the user experience in mind to make it more user-friendly. One thing I’ve noticed on the Write page is that it has a subpage that lets you add links, and when you go to the Manage page from the Links subpage in Write, you don’t have to click on the Links subpage in Manage. You’re already there. The interface is clearly smarter than before.

Also, if you are using the WordPress.com Stats plugin, an overview is displayed, and configurable, on the dashboard itself. It can be configured to show daily, weekly, and monthly stats. The feeds in the dashboard can also be configured to the feed of your choosing. Pre-2.5, you can also do this, but you have to go into the code of the core itself. Pretty scary. 2.5 however makes it a whole lot easier to configure what you want to see and which feeds you want to read from the dashboard.

All in all, WordPress 2.5 focuses on the user-experience, making it very easy and user-friendly, so that the blogger can focus more on blogging itself.

Is there such a thing as too many social network memberships?

MySpace lets you add friends and share your interests. Facebook, Friendster, and Multiply, among others, do this as well. They integrate games and various applications to make the experience more fun. Then there’s LinkedIn where members share professional information with friends. Then you have StumbleUpon that lets you share sites that you like with your friends and other members. And then there’s social network sites for news like Digg, Reddit, and Mixx that allow you to share news sites with others. Twitter comes in to provide their members with a medium to either amuse or annoy their followers. People you follow would sometimes display flashes of brilliance in 140 characters or less, but most of the time, it’s just trivia.

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WordPress 2.5 will be delayed yet again. At least they’re not doing a Microsoft.

How would you define THE last straw?

It would be the last thing someone ever does to you before you retaliate. Although not from any dictionary, I believe it’s as close as it will ever get.

And lately, straws have been piling up. From demeaning policies to unfavorable practices, it has become quite clear what the goal of the company is. And it is to save their own asses.

I have no qualms about mentioning names of companies and people, but for now, I have to keep this post as vague as possible.

I just want to compare the current situation at hand with what has happened recently to Yahoo.

Lately, Yahoo’s stock has been going down. They were forced to lay-off 1000 people from various departments. The criteria for being laid-off has been very much a secret, but I’m sure those were fair criteria (performance- and redundancy-based, most likely). And of course, the conditions of being laid-off is more or less fair enough for those affected, which is everyone. Those who were laid-off were from various departments and positions, from rank-and-file employees to management, VPs and executives. And Yahoo has been transparent enough that they are losing money and that this is the last resort. I’m sure they have done their due diligence when it comes to laying-off people. Due diligence, in the sense that they thought of every possible scenario to save their personnel, hoping to retain them in their current positions. This laying-off is a result of the “recession” that is currently hitting the US.

Their situation isn’t really that different here. Having clients in the US, the company is also affected. However, instead of saving big with the minimal impact, the company chose the other path. “There’s no way my ass is grass. I’m gonna kick somebody else’s ass instead, and preferably, my subordinate’s.” So the company is saving some with the highest impact on its personnel.

And it doesn’t end there. The company dangled a tiny morsel of hope to those who were affected (criteria based on tenure, instead of performance), and let them fight it out, a la Survivor. This is so the affected will have a chance to stay. Meaning, the company is doing their due diligence, or at least hopes that’s how it seems to others. Among the unenlightened, this is their chance to stay. For the wise-enough, this is a proverbial kick in the career balls.

So in the land of broken promises and unfulfilled dreams, one can only do so much. That is rant and give the proverbial finger to the proverbial nut-kicker.

Tim Burton tries to outgore Quentin Tarantino with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Not as gory as Kill Bill or Reservoir Dogs, but I never expected Tim to depict gory scenes in his films.

I mean, looking at his track record, there isn’t any blood at all in his past films, such as Nightmare before Christmas, or Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. And Sleepy Hollow, although a horror flick, did not spurt as much blood as Sweeney Todd. Gory and dark, this film is not for kids, and a PG rating isn’t enough for the underlying violent tones of the film. Being a musical doesn’t even make it any lighter at all.

I can only make one personal comment on this film: I never would have wanted to see Johnny Depp sing, nor will I ever would want to again. Depp doesn’t suck at singing. It’s just not right for him. At least that’s what I think of him. I’d rather see him as a drunk pirate or a schizophrenic writer, but not a singing theater actor.

To each his own, I guess.

Here’s another tool for all those who want to get back at their nemeses. Guerrilla Mail lets you create a disposable email address that expires after 15 minutes. Fire away, trolls!

It’s that time of the quarter(?!) again. WordPress 2.5 is now out. Oh wait. Nope. Go back to your seats please. It’s not out. Yet. Sheesh.