But I am enjoying being outside. It was so beautifully warm today.

And. It is a good way to reflect.

Time for mind blogging.

I like being outdoors.

I really like living in Switzerland. I think it is great that people take such meticulous care of their houses and gardens.

This afternoon I went to see “Wien 1900 – Klimt, Schiele und ihre Zeit” at the Beyeler Museum. I liked the architecture and poster designs. And Klimt’s landscapes.

I didn’t like the additional shopping area they added for Wien 1900 merchandise. One shop is enough.

A couple of Wikipedia links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egon_Schiele
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

You’ve probably heard of poetry slams. But there are also science slams: 10 mins to present your research project. There is one in Freiburg im Br. on 29th November and 17th January. I would love to go and see one.

The incredibly influential a. of Handmade 2.0 invited me to a new web app called Pinterest. We have been blogging since January 2003. And it has been an incredible journey…. Thank you a. for the billions of emails, links and ideas. I am truly amazed at the amount of data we have collected.

I am still trying to figure out how to use Facebook as can be seen occasionally in my tweets. I worry that a platform like Facebook could replace the web. That would be the end of HTML pages, simplicity, transparency and diversity.

That’s why it’s important to support and use other platforms and tools. Try out WordPress and Drupal. Learn HTML. Write your own articles. Voice your opinion. Become involved. Think before you click re-tweet, like or comment.

It is my belief that after the fragmentation of the media scene and citizen journalism and the removal of the gatekeepers, we will see consolidation and the rise of new media giants with new gatekeepers.

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This is a chiperoni post.

A Sunday evening in mid-November

I kept getting an error message.

I decided to deactivate all plugins before starting the auto upgrade. È voilà. The install went thru.

I still had the auto upgrade plugin installed from 2.7 installed. Maybe that was the problem? Or another plugin clashes with the upgrade process?

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This is a chiperoni post.

Auto upgrade from WP 3.0 to 3.0.1

I just installed WordPress 3.0. Everything seems to be running smoothly.

And I found a new minimal theme to try out: Carrington Text.

Me and WP go back a long way.

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This is a chiperoni post.

Installed WordPress 3.0

He makes an excellent point which matches my own experience. Most people don’t see the added benefit of using Twitter. The uses are difficult to grasp. Especially since Twitter turned off the SMS service for the rest of the world, which is the single feature that got me started on Twitter. Connecting the mobile world with the web world – at no extra cost – was a killer app in 2007. Unfortunately it didn’t last. Read this 2008 article, What Twitter’s global failure means for Africa by @whiteafrican.

In addition to not understanding Twitter uses, many people don’t like reading online. Reading deadwood media is more relaxing for the eyes, still more portable, less battery-dependent.

My suggested uses
Listed below are some of my Twitter use cases.

Search
Twitter Search is great for non-mainstream, niche topics. Many bloggers have added Twitter to their publishing toolset. Un-normal people everywhere in the world that are at the scene, on the ground have access to mobile phones and send out tweets. The data is raw, not confirmed, and unfiltered, but it gives a voice to the unheard and a different opinion from mainstream media outlets that dominate western opinion (commonly known as the gatekeepers). Google now searches Twitter and displays recent tweets:

The use:
In addition to all the mainstream media I hear and read, I read tweets on currents affairs as a supplement.

Traffic
Twitter generates traffic for your website, photo stream, blog, online shop. If you want to be noticed by the early adopter market segment, Twitter is the place to be. I would compare it with blogging in 2004 to 2005, when it was easy to google bomb yourself into the top 10 search results. One thing is certain, web traffic streams are constantly changing. Maybe Twitter will be discarded. The key is good content. Regurgitating or copying content that is not your own will not help you in the long run. Writing yet another review on an over-hyped topic is destined for oblivion. A good example how to build a web audience in a consistent way is Handmade 2.0.

The use:
Since generating traffic for websites is part of my day job, hanging out on Twitter helps me to figure out the changing traffic streams.

Tech help
I use Twitter to get feedback and help on technical topics. I share my knowledge and experience.

• Where can I get a copy of Ubuntu Linux in Blantyre?
• Should I use Drupal?
• Who offers training courses for Typo3 in Switzerland?
• How do I convert the character set in my re-imported MySQL database to UTF-8?
• Photography, web programming tips, etc.

The use:
Share knowledge, learn!

Connect
Still fascinating after 14 years on the Internetz: connecting with others. Discussing. Reviewing.

For example, every Sunday evening on German TV there is a murder mystery called Tatort. It’s an institution for some. A distraction for others, ironing clothes for the work week ahead. With Twitter you can review the latest Tatort in real-time.

The use:
As in the C.S. Lewis quote: We read to know, we are not alone.

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This is a chiperoni post.

Twitter for the masses

My non-programmer’s workaround is:

• Rename the .htaccess file on the WP level. The WordPress blog displays.
• Login and go to Settings > Permalinks and re-save settings, or copy old .htaccess file content and upload by FTP to the server.

I would like to understand why this happens. Immediately after upgrading the WP install, there are no visible problems… but 2 -3 days later I come home to see that my site is down.

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This is a chiperoni post.

Auto-upgrading WordPress and the .htaccess file

A couple of days ago there was a lonely s at the end of the file. Amakhala scared.

And:
I am seeing a lot of “MySQL server has gone away” error messages in different context,
e.g. when I updated the WP install, when I try to access the website, in the right-hand area displaying categories.

I asked the hosting company and they pointed me to this link (which I haven’t tried yet).

If you have any hints please let me know.

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This is a chiperoni post.

WordPress Woes

I installed the same MobilePress plugin and activated it a few minutes ago. Based on the plugin description, it should detect if you’re accessing the website with a mobile device and display a version optimized for iPhone and Barackberrys and others.

A couple of Mobilepress URL hooks to remember:

• ?mobile – display mobile version
• ?nomobile – render the standard WordPress theme / normal blog.
• ?killsession – kill any session data stored and render the correct version of a blog, based on browser / device type

In addition I just downloaded the latest WordPress app for my low and humble iPod Touch. According to @whiteafrican it is much improved compared to the last version.

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This is a chiperoni post.

Chiperoni goes Mobile (kind of)

At the day job and here.

I moved my blog from one install to the other. After importing the MySQL db, several characters were no longer displaying correctly.

There are a number of plug-ins and descriptions:

• How to Convert Character Set and Collation of WordPress Database
• Converting MySQL Database Contents to UTF-8
• How to fix funky characters on your blog

I tried a combination of UTF-8 Sanitize and Search and Replace for broken Umlauts and accents.

Any suggestions or further recommendations? Any other strange characters to fix?

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This is a chiperoni post.

UTF-8, Charsets and WordPress

Cyberwiter posted the above tweet on using social media to enhance your company’s online news room.

The article lists ways how to aggregate text, images, audio and video to make it useful for corporations and their target audience.

Ein gutgemachter Social Media Newsroom ist essentiell für die Online-PR: Er …

1. eröffnet einen schnellen Zugang zu den wichtigsten Unternehmensinhalten
2. lebt von aktuellen und vielfältigen Inhalten, die möglichst täglich erneuert werden
3. ist komplett per RSS abonnierbar und individualisierbar
4. basiert auf Pull-Elementen und nicht auf Push
5. spricht Journalisten wie andere Influencer gleichermaàŸen an
6. verweist nicht nur auf die eigenen, sondern auch auf fremde Quellen (Verlinkung)
7. öffnet seinen Pressespiegel für alle (Social Bookmarking erleichtert das)
8. ermöglicht den schnellen Kontakt für einen Dialog (Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc.)
9. nutzt Real-Time-Elemente (Livestreaming auf Basis von Twitter oder Friendfeed)
10. erleichtert die Vernetzung mit den Ansprechpartnern im Unternehmen
11. bietet reichhaltiges lizenzfreies Video- und Bild-Material (gerne auch Pod- oder Vodcasts)
12. fordert alle Besucher zu Copy & Paste auf
13. regt Online-Diskussionen auf anderen Plattformen (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc.) an
14. Integriert eigene Corporate Blogs und Microblogs
15. bringt die News des Unternehmens zum Laufen

The article lists a number of corporate examples.

The web consultant hiding here at Chiperoni headquarters (errr… me!) believes this is one way corporations can profit from new media technologies.

• Build a better online newsroom using these new distribution channels. Instead of sitting on the sidelines commenting on the quality of content. While I don’t know which services will survive the next couple of years, I do know that the real-time web is here to stay. Unless we run out off electricity to power all of the server farms.
• Start small. Grow incrementally. Bring lots of endurance and patience. Remember that most people stop blogging after 3 months. A large percentage of Twitter is dormant.
• Avoid PR speak. Press releases no longer target journalists alone. Publish useful content that supports the buying process. Read David Meerman Scott’s book.
• Aggregate useful content. Become a subject matter expert on the web.
• Offer a quality filter for your company’s specific area of expertise. Don’t try to copy private bloggers or twitterers. Be authentic and personable. But don’t swamp us with blog posts and tweets from your coffee break. And please do check for spelling mistakes. I expect a newsroom to have a higher quality.

And I’m not only talking. I have been using blogging technology and RSS feeds within a company context for over four years.

My experience… some traditional PR distribution services still don’t understand that it’s important to be included in Google News.

It is. Whether you like Google or not.

A newsroom is more than just collecting and archiving press releases…

To build a community around Twitter or Facebook or similar, you will need a concept and a company policy regarding behavior in your communities. And before you quote me wrongly. I am not saying your company should start a Twitter or Facebook channel. Think about your time resources and goals beforehand. Ultimately you will want to draw people to your site or sub-sites. And there may be a different way that is better suited for your corporate environment. And most importantly, read the TOS before you start posting your content on third party sites.

See my simple WordPress prototype here – a quick test install to demonstrate how WordPress can be used for a simple corporate newsroom.

I need to run and finish my MBA assignments for today…

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This is a chiperoni post.

Social Media News Room

For a couple of days, the WordPress installation at Chiperoni was broken. The framework of the website was displaying but all content within a blog post or page had disappeared. I could see the content in the admin view.

I finally found the culprit: version 1.01 of a plugin called Markdown from early WordPress installs was causing this display error:

Interestingly the site worked fine directly after installing 2.8. This error only displayed a couple of days later. And at first I didn’t link it to the upgrade.

Unfortunately I did not get much of a response at WordPress.org. Thank you to Esmi for responding. I appreciate your help. Let me just add: the lack of response is very different from the pioneer days in 2003 and 2004 when I first started evaluating and using WordPress. There are a huge number of queries and an individual – and dumb – question like mine doesn’t get any notice any more. The downside of going mainstream…

Apologies to all regular Chiperoni visitors for the recent downtimes and techie problems. There are plans to move to a new server…

Hope this post will help other WordPress users.

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This is a chiperoni post.

Broken WordPress Plugin Woes