I found this fascinating quote today:

OpenX is a free, open source ad server that manages the selling and delivery of your online advertising inventory.obwiki.net, A Superb Ads Server and Rotator | Openx | obwiki .net, Aug 2009

You should read the whole article.

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Anyone still arguing the importance of backups? Just wait for a disaster to strike and you know what it means, but only a little too late to be of any real good.

At a time when most websites and blogs are built using databases, a sound backup system is nothing but crucial.

As you never know when your server is going to come down, your webhost is cancelling your account (for valid reason or not), your site got hacked or for whatever reasons your database becomes inaccessible, perhaps having a ready backup is the least painful and expensive option.

There are several ways to achieve the goal of having backups done:

Manual Backup

If you’re on cPanel type of webhosting, there is a “backup” option but this has to be done manually. If your account has more than just a handful of DBs, this method become rather tedious and keeping up a good discipline to carry out regular backups becomes a huge challenge.

So what then?

Automatic Backup

After trying two PHP based scripts and failed to make them work, I came across phpMyBackupPro that works out of the box.

If you want something that may represents the list below, phpMyBackupPro is probably the way to go:

• FREE (GPL License, donation accepted)
• Run on PHP and mySQL
• Platform independent
• Backup all or selected databases
• Multiuser
• Backup databases from different accounts on several MySQL servers
• Easy to use interface
• Schedule backups of all or selected DBs independently of each other
• Available in more than 10 languages
• Even comes with 3 CSS stylesheets
• Many many more features here

So do you feel like giving it a try? Go download the script here.

Here are a few sample screenshots of the system (click to enlarge):

Login screen

Intro

My Test Backup

It took 27 seconds to backup 40 DBs with a total of 39MB in size. That was fast! Imagine having to do this manually in cPanel…and if you set this up on automatic schedule, it’s such a pleasure!

It’s really worth trying… get your copy now!

Related Articles:

• How To Test Your Blog Backup

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The immense popularity of Twitter has created all sorts of demand for more services. Currently much of the tasks are rather manual such as following, direct messaging etc.

But thanks to sweet souls out there, it’s now possible to automate some of these tasks using services which are mainly available for free.

If you prefer to auto-follow all your followers, Tweet Later can do just that for you. On top of that there are many other goodies such as auto-reply, email digest and so on.

Auto-reply setup involves creating a filter to auto-forward Twitter emails to TweetLater. It’s preferable that you choose your Gmail account for this stuff. If you did, make sure your Twitter’s email is setup under this account too. There’s a step-by-step tutorial provided in case you need one.

Another service that is quite similar to Tweet Later is SocialToo.

So go check out and pick the one you prefer or both.

Happy Tweeting!

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In the last post I shared with you how to setup a multisite Wordpress blogs where there is only one installation of Wordpress codes that is required no matter how many blogs you have and run.

Before I talk about the productivity benefits, I would like to point out that there are many alternatives out there to choose from and you get similar outcomes with little differences between them.

I was told of a plugin called WP-Hive that could let you have a multisite configuration in Wordpress. I did give it a go and quite impressed with its simplicity in installation. Just drop the plugin, activate and you’re good to go. Personally, the only minus point is that I found no way to keep a separate database for each blog. I consider this as very important so that any problem with a blog can be dealt with without affecting others.

Another very popular option is the WP mu. I have yet to test this out for now. May be a little later in the future.

Now, should you go for a multisite configuration? And improve your productivity?

My straight answer is a resounding yes! And it’s not said without good reasons so read those below:

1. Ideally time required to maintain our blogs shall be minimal so that we can spend more of it on tasks which are more productive if not profitable. Blog maintenance may include tasks such as core code updates and theme and plugin updates.
2. If you run WP blogs, I found that plugins got updated very frequently. I am using around 25 of them and I see 2 or 3 updates almost everyday. Even though most plugins have one-click update feature nowadays, imagine having to log in to each of your 10 blogs and do a couple of clicks for plugin update…every day or so. Wouldn’t it be better to just one tenth of the work? The choice if obvious. And it doesn’t matter which blog you’re at the moment. Updating a plugin in that blog will render all other blogs (no matter how many of them) get updated too!
3. And think about when you installed a new plugin to a blog and you liked it and wanted your other blogs to have it too. You will then need to upload it to every blog which is tedious. With multisite, upload once and it is instantly available to all your blogs. It’s just a matter of whether you want to activate it or not.
4. Theme updates and addition is another big plus too. Imagine having to upload a theme and have it available to all your sites. This is marvelous.
5. Your file backup size will be significantly smaller which translate into easier handling and faster download or upload times.
6. You are better organized this way. I mean you can assign a single folder on your server to cater for all your WordPress sites, just one instead of a folder for each domain. In my case I have two main folders on my system – one for WordPress and another for Drupal as both are configured as multisites. I cannot be happier than this

Conclusion

So for just a one time effort, you get the benefits for a long time to come. I can’t help but to strongly recommend that you go multisite route!

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Yes, it’s possible.

As I was coming over from Drupal to WordPress, one single feature that’s on Drupal but missing in WP is the ability to run multi sites using just one codebase. This is achieved while individual blogs are still treated as separate entities meaning all control panel, themes and plugins etc are unique to a blog i.e. independent of each other.

The benefits of this are particularly apparent when it’s time to do script maintenance or upgrade since there’s only one set of codes to worry about. If you have more than just one or two WP blogs, the ability to have a unified installation is truly godsend.

So for over 1 year using WP for most of my blogs, I was quietly hoping to find a way to achieve Drupal-like feature above.

Then one fine day as I was surfing for plugins, I came across Nerdaphernalia’s Virtual Multi Blog that offers a script (originally used as a plugin) that lets you create multiple blogs using domains and subdomains all out of just one installation. That makes me really really excited.

WARNING: Before you go ahead, doing this on live blogs will be too risky. I used my domains that lay dormant for testing and familiarization. Only then I convert my live blogs to this new setup. Still, do all this solely at your own risk and I will not be responsible for any outcome.

These are the steps in bullet points:

• Download the script
• Extract files
• Read the instructions – Hmm at first the installation doesn’t look that straight forward as the author is a programmer and leaves out lots of the basics. Nevertheless, I just keep cracking at it as this is my only chance to make my WP life a lot easier later. Suffer a little pain now for a lot more gains later – need to motivate myself (perhaps you too)
• Place the “multiblog” folder in the wp-content/ directory
• Move the wp-config.php and wp-config-vmb.php files from “multiblog” to the directory in which you installed WordPress
• In the wp-content/multiblog/config/ folder, rename mb-autoconfig-sample.php to mb-autoconfig.php. Open mb-autoconfig.php in a text editor. Input your database login information
• I proceed to advanced option as I plan to convert several blogs to use the multiblog system

  In wp-content/multiblog/config/, rename mb-users-sample.php to mb-users.php. Open mb-users.php in a text editor. Populate $vusers[] according to the instructions there. For this example we have:

  $vusers[] = 'catblog.com';$vusers[] = 'dogblog.com';$vusers[] = 'mutts.dogblog.com';$vusers[] = 'catblog.com/celebrities/morris';$vusers[] = 'dogblog.com/fido';

Save and close the file.

• Now this is a critical step. Create a symlink for the add-on domain in the root directory that points back to the root directory. I can’t help much here and my best advice is to go back to your hosting support and ask for help. If you’re on Bluehost, there’s one easy way out. Say your WP is installed under domainA.com and you wanted to share the codes with domainB.com. In your Control Panel V.11 go to Domain Manager-Add Domain. Enter your as domainB.com and under “Choose Addon Directory and Sub-domain” go for “Use an existing directory” and select “domainA.com”. So whenever someone accesses domainB.com, he/she will be taken to domainA.com and this is what we wanted as all WP installation is under domainA.com. Yeah, it’s not very clear I know but all we do here is to redirect domainB to domainA. If you’re on different hosting, the process may be different so go ask them.
• Tips: If you’re stuck, always read the multiblog-readme.htm within the download file or go to the author’s site for description and readers’ comments
• Now with your web browser, go to each blog and set things up as normal through WordPress. WAIT! If you intend to keep each blog using their own config and database files, SKIP this step and proceed to the next
• Go into the wp-content/multiblog/config/ directory and make a copy of mb-config-sample.php. Rename it to mb-config-VUSER.php (See below for how to determine the VUSER.) Open that file in a text editor and set the database information and, optionally, the $table_prefix. If you use the same database for multiple blogs, you must set a different $table_prefix for each. If you don’t set $table_prefix, it will be auto-configured.

  If you use the “Easy Setup” method, then your VUSER is the domain or subdomain, plus directory if any, except that all non-alphanumeric characters are replaced with an understroke (‘_’), and any ‘www.’ is removed. (Non-alphanumeric = anything not a letter or a number.)

  If you set up the $vusers[] array in mb-users.php, then the current VUSER for a blog is whatever that value is, cleaned up as described in the previous paragraph.

  For example: With “mutts.dogblog.com“, the VUSER is “mutts_dogblog_com“. For “www.catblog.com/morris“, the VUSER is “catblog_com_morris” and the config file is mb-config-catblog_com_morris.php. (Note the difference between dashes and understrokes!)

• Now with your web browser, go to each blog and set things up as normal through WordPress. If you’re lucky, it may work out-of-box but if not go back through the instructions above until done.

That’s it! Hopefully you manage it ok so far. The truth is that it took me several trials before the whole setup worked. Pay special attention to database info in several config files that you have throughout the scripts. It’s also important to keep trying until you succeed and don’t ever give up. You’ll appreciate it and definitely it worth all the efforts.

It’s hard to accept that I finally have two WP blogs running side by side using just a single installation. OMG, it’s simply awesome!

Good luck and enjoy.

P.S. Stephen, your plugin is fantastic and thanks so much for sharing.

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Why named it Chrome? I don’t know but will it make the king of the browsers? Will it forever change the way we use the Internet? Only time will tell but for now it looks extremely promising.

One thing very obvious is that Google keeps their minimalist thinking right into yet another product. Chrome’s layout is so clean and what else, clean!

Google is clearly determined not to make just another browser and here are some of the claims:

• Faster (than… you know who)
• Secure browsing
• Stable, crash control.

It is also released as an Open Source application. That will mean third parties are able to participate in Chrome’s future developments.

Watch what the team behind Google Chrome has to say…

Google has also done a very good explanation in this comic:

I noticed the URL bar acts both as address and search bar at the same time. So it saves you from installing a dedicated search bar somewhere on the browser.

It’s too early to hear serious issues about this new browser so just keep your ears to the ground for now.

Feeling excited and wanted to try it out, download Google Chrome here.

Once again, Mac and Linux users will have to wait for their version of Chrome to be released.

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First, why do you need to write blog post offline?

Listed below are some of the reasons I could think of:

• Posts can be prepared anywhere even at places without Internet connection. All you need is your laptop and this may increase your productivity significantly. So you’ll never loose that elusive great inspiration again.
• Some blog systems text editors are not that user-friendly. You may find certain features are hard to achieve such as inserting table, inserting and manipulating images and media etc.
• Have the ability to schedule posts to be published at a later time instead of immediate publishing. In some systems this feature is available but may not be obvious to the post author.
• If you own more than one blog, ability to manage all of them from a single place can be a lot easier.
• Post layout preview is available where you can see how a post will look like when published according to the theme or template in use.
• While word processors could handle some of these features but most may not support publishing posts directly from them. Having to copy from a word processor and paste into online blog editor may not be so elegant.

Most of these were addressed by a powerful software tool from Microsoft and it is called MS Live Writer. And, it is FREE.

Here are some of the benefits that’s worth noting:

• Insert images and manipulating them easily. You could add drop shadow, photo frame, watermark etc so it saves you from opening your image editing software except for more demanding tasks.
• Painless table insertion and editing. Some blog systems don’t provide easy way for you to insert tables. May be they don’t like you using tables
• Scheduled publishing – set your post to be published on a date and time you prefer. You may write several posts in advance and get them posted at an interval you chose while you sunbathe by the beach for a week.
• Able to work on multiple blog systems, sites and posts from one central place is simply fantastic.
• You can view your post as normal, web preview, html codes etc.
• Editing is much more efficient as there’s little time lost to uploading-edit-uploading cycles.
• The benefits are extendable and can be suited to your need as numerous plug-ins are available to choose from.
• Suitable for many web platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint and many others.

I am keeping this one to the last. Imagine something goes down while you are writing a blog post, say the browser crashes, a disconnection or power blacks out and you’re already on the last sentence just seconds before you hit the "publish" button. If your blogging platform doesn’t have the auto-save feature, you know what you ended up with. So having a tool that auto-save your article every few minutes is definitely a life saver. It can also serve as an offline backup of your posts on top of other backup mechanisms you have in place.

There are many more pluses than I could write and you may find other features that appeal to you too.

One little snag is that not all blogging systems are supported so if you’re don’t belong to Blogger or WordPress family, chances are your blog type may not work with Live Writer. Also, whenever a blog platform is updated, Live Writer may take a while to follow suit and some new features may not be available immediately.

Alright! If you need it or just want to give it a try, download windows live writer for free now.

Also, there are more bells and whistles you can add on by getting the plug-ins here. Yes, they are free too.

I hope that Live Writer will make your editing and posting a lot more enjoyable and productivity boosting.

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There’s hardly anyone who never came across PDF files as adoption of this Adobe’s flagship format is truly widespread.

However there has been some negative voices regarding its’ equally popular PDF reader application i.e. the Acrobat Reader. It’s really not about the quality of the software but some people are just not comfortable with its’ domination perhaps. It’s similar to Microsoft-bashing group out there.

PDF Readers

Among the biggest complaints about Adobe Reader is it’s bulky size and it’s incessant nags of update notices. Personally I didn’t find these too much of a trouble but if there are alternatives that’s available then why not.

After quite a long period of searching and tried-and-dumped a few PDF readers, I finally settled with Foxit Reader. I simply fell for it’s loading time as it is lightning fast. Some other readers that I tried were rather buggy, made URLs become inactive, stuffed with ads, etc.

PDF Converters

My other mission was to have a PDF converter. It was like “how did these people create all the PDF documents” and I don’t know how to do it. So I ended with PDF995 but later on find PrimoPDF more appealing.

Most of this applications work by emulating as a printer driver. Whenever you wanted to convert a document or file to PDF format, there’s a little trick needed to happen. You basically “print” that document to the “PDF printer” such as PrimoPDF and voila! the file is converted. There’s no real need to print hard copies in the process but that’s how it’s done. I discovered that some converters may render URL or hyperlinks inactive. So with that shortcoming, my search continues.

As I was working with some MS Words documents that need conversion to PDF, I found out that Open Office’s Writer handles the job perfectly. First, it reads Words files without problem and does the PDF conversion smoothly too. This feature is built-in without help from any third party applications.

While all the above more or less satisfy my needs, there’s one guy who amazes me with tons of resources related to PDF. Read all about it here. At one moment I thought I knew a lot about PDF stuff just to be entirely smashed by Hong Kiat the next. He is showcasing 80 cool PDF tools that will satisfy most things you wanted to do with PDF formatted files.

So if you’re into online PDF converters, offline converters, readers, creators plus tips and resources, head over to Hong Kiat’s blog now.

It’s 80 of them altogether and the best thing is that almost every single one is…FREE! It can’t be better than that right?

Enjoy it.

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While Google Analytics (GA) is a favorite web statistics service out there, there are others who are also trying to steal the spot. So Woopra is one of them.

You may find someone who swear by GA or any other analytics but its’ worth checking out how Woopra can help you monitor your website performance and perhaps outperform GA in certain areas.

Age wise, Woopra definitely can’t beat GA as the latter has been around for many years but Woopra is still in beta state. Anyhow don’t let this sway you away as yet.{openx:43}