WordPress Error

As I was saving that last entry, I received a WordPress error. It read like this:

WordPress database error: [Table 'wp_post2cat' doesn't exist]

Apparently if you are using an old version of the Google Sitemaps Generator plugin for WordPress, you should upgrade to the newest version as that is the cause. Here is the link:

http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/google-sitemap-generator.3.0.zip

Hope that this helps some of you out there like it did for me.

BlogRush – What is it?

The other day a co-worker, Scott, tells me about this new blog syndication network called BlogRush. It’s a simple widget that you place on your site and it will show blog entries of other blogs. How is works simply is for every time the widget loads from one of your pages, you earn a credit. That credit in turn will buy you a spot on someone else’s widget. You show a blog, your blog is shown. A simple one-to-one exchange. So sites that you have no affiliation with whatsoever can potential drive people to your blog. How cool is that?

They also have a pretty nice referral system where the impressions on the sites of people you refer also earn you credits. Could be really cool if you get a lot of people to use you as their referral.

I’ve had it running for about 4 days now and so far it says I have 173 credits. I don’t really have any confirmation that my blog showed up on any other blogs but why would they lie? So far I would have to say that I like it.

On negative thing that I have noticed is that it seems that my site is running slower since I installed it. I actually read that on another blog about BlogRush today and that’s what made me realize it. In fact, their site is slow currently and I hope that this is not an indication of how things are to come, but rather a sign of growth exceeding projections. Hopefully they will straighten this out soon.

So go out there and add it to your blog. And while you’re at it, it can’t hurt to refer me so check them out here. Also if you have tried it, let me know what you think. I would love to hear other experiences with it. If you haven’t, give your opinions on it.

Installing Ubuntu on an XP Box

I was online tonight and after reading a couple of articles and thinking about this for some time now, I have decided to install Ubuntu on my home computer and dual boot it with my XP that lives there now. I should have done this as a play-by-play blog entry but I think after an hour, I can catch you up.

10:15pm-ish: Burned Ubuntu disc onto CD and shut down computer to boot from CD.

10:20pm-ish: After turning on the computer, it boots straight to XP without regard to the disc sitting in its drive. I wonder how this is…

10:22pm-ish: Changed boot.ini file to have just the default info according to Microsoft’s site. Shut down

10:23pm-ish: XP immediately boots up. YAY!!!!! I’m beginning to wonder what’s going on.

10:45pm-ish: After several changes to the boot.ini file followed by several shut downs, I have no clue. Keeps booting directly to XP. There is no stopping it. I add this “/REDIRECT” to my boot.ini and…

10:46pm-ish: Not sure if it was the “/REDIRECT” or me randomly pushing F-keys while the boot happened but I got to the BIOS info. I can’t see anything in there that specifies booting from the CD drive. I’m not an expert in this at all but I thought it was right there. Ended up not doing anything.

11:00pm-ish: More restarts and more XP screens. Starting writing this down now.

11:20pm: Finally found it buried in the BIOS. BTW, if you push F8, F11, F12, and DELETE, one of those opens the BIOS. Good for me to know.

11:24pm: I have seen the Ubuntu install screen. Happiness is here finally.

11:27pm: The OS seems to be loading. I am answering the questions as to where I am and how I want my drive partitioned.

11:29pm: Used default partition and it took about 10 seconds.

11:31pm: I am asked if I would like to import any accounts from my Windows login. This is really cool. I pick my browser settings for IE and FF and move on.

11:33pm: I have to say that this is pretty easy. I get a “Ready to Install” window. Cool.

11:34pm: Official start time. Let’s see how long this actually takes.

11:44pm: Install done and restarting computer. I hope this works.

11:47pm: I am loading Ubuntu now and am very happy that I finally got this to work.

11:50pm: Downloading and installing updates. Everything seems to be working. I can connect to the internet perfectly. This has been a really easy process once I got past the initial “How to boot from a CD” fiasco.

I’ll have more to come once I get a change to bounce around in here.

UPDATE – I got it installed and everything working. I went to check to make sure XP would load correctly and it did perfectly. I did receive a hardware found message that I read I would see. It finished what it needed to do and did a reboot. This is where the trouble started for me. Upon the load, I see a GRUB Error 17 (or something to that matter) on the screen and nothing happens. It just stopped in its tracks. I push the power button to shut it down and start it back up and same thing. It will boot Ubuntu with the disc in but no Windows. I read online that I need to put something called SuperGrubDisk so I go to its site and get an ISO for a bootable disc. Thing is, my Ubuntu CD that I have in the box won’t come out because it’s running the OS currently. So I’ll burn it from another computer and load it tonight when I get home. But as of now, my computer is a nice paper weight.

iPod Touch versus iPhone

So I am at a crossroads. I keep hearing all the hype with the new iPod Touch (iTouch, horrible name but I keep calling it that for some reason). So I have decided to upgrade my iPod to the new iPod Touch. But as I am reading other blogs and talking to friends, I’m wondering if I should get the iPod Touch or just an iPhone. At first I think that is a stupid question. I am a T-Mobile client and just got the new Dash from them a few months ago. And being a T-Mobile client, I am NOT a AT&T client. There are several unlock software options out there but why would I want another phone?

It seems idiotic that this question is even a question. I like my iPod now but it doesn’t have video and all the cool features the new one has. I am always one who likes to have the coolest geek toy out there and I think the iPod Touch is it right now.

I think back to a few months ago when I knew people racing out to get the new iPhone. They weren’t too happy a couple of weeks ago. I hope I won’t end up like that if I was to get an iPod Touch. I doubt it with all the heat that Apple took with how they handled the iPhone situation but you never know.

In the end, all I am looking for is a new MP3 player and the iPod Touch sounds like it will do excellently. But on the other hand, all the features like e-mail and EDGE network are nice.

I would like someone to tell me why I should get one over the other. Right now I am leaning towards the iPod Touch but if anyone knows an argument for or against my opinion, please share.

What do People Look for in a Blog?

I’ve been blogging for maybe a year now but nothing serious. Picked it up more in the past few months with my discovery of WordPress. It’s a truly great tool. I’ve never been much of a writer nor do I think I ever will be one. But I do feel that I have a lot of opinions about different topics and find this as a good way to get those out. But I got to thinking about what people look for in a blog.

Blogs are an important part of the internet today. Quite possibly the foundation of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. But why are some blogs more popular than others? Are they better written, have better content, what? I read quite a few blogs on a regular basis and wonder what those guys have that the average Joe doesn’t. I watched a video blog on ProBlogger.net last night that mentioned one blog that happens to come at the right time. He did a blog asking people what they thought about who had a chance to win American Idol and before he knew it, he had tons of people looking to talk about American Idol and who would win at his blog.

That seems like the easiest way to “make it big” in the blogsphere. That one hit that gets you noticed. Many blogs would love to have one article featured on Digg or one of the other popular book-marking sites out there. This will usually work to get a lot of users to your blog for a short period. But if my personal experience is common, I very rarely go back to a site that I have dugg.

I’m not sure of the magic mix to get a successful blog going but hopefully I find out someday. Would be fun to look back at this entry and think to myself that this was all crap and something else pushed me over the hump. If you like what I’m doing and want to know more, subscribe to my blog via email or via my RSS feed. Always feel free to leave me a comment, I like to hear what people have to say.