2004 December
Today I tried to migrate my weblog from Movable Type into WordPress. I like the WordPress interface a little bit better and it manages multiple categories more efficiently. I’m already using dynamic templates with Movable Type, so I wouldn’t really benefit from WordPress’ dynamic system. The switch was just too much of a pain for it to be worthwhile. The WP installer is great — literaly takes five minutes. However, I would have to spend hours modifying my template code because I make extensive use of MT plugins. In the end, I gave up on the effort because I wouldn’t have gained amything from the switch.
However, it was a fun experiment. I’m now more familiar with the WordPress templating system, which is well done! Until Matt and the WP worker bees roll out some more killer features that trump MT, I’m going to stick with Six Apart’s baby. I’ve been very happy with the progess made in version 3.0 so far and the quick response about the server load issue made me a very happy user. WordPress is a great system, but in the end I just wasn’t compelled to make a switch. Maybe in the future.
I talked to Om Malik today, who has also been toying with the idea of switching to WP. He agreed with me that after experimenting with it, there just wasn’t enough reasons to make a switch. So when I roll out a new design for his site in the next few weeks, the site will still be powered by Movable Type.
This morning, I booted up iTunes to see if I could purchase a song from Rare Earth, an R&B band that James Lavelle sampled for the U.N.K.L.E. project. U.N.K.L.E. opens every show with this song, and I wanted to hear the original in its entirety. The song is available on iTMS, but of course you have to purchase the whole album to get the song, because the RIAA knows that kids like me wouldn’t buy any of the other songs.
Shame, shame, shame. This model is already broken, which explains why P2P is growing in popularity once again.
Apple markets the iTMS as being able to buy the music you want on demand. Well, I think this is a load of garbage. Take a look at the Rare Earth album. Supposedly you can buy tracks for 99 cents, right? Well, the Rare Earth album only has seven tracks and yet the album costs $9.99. Well, it must be because two of the tracks are long, right? Well, Apple has never made a distinction about that. Apparently, only “radio friendly” singles are 99 cents a pop. Sheesh.
The other offering that pissed me off lately was The Complete U2. I’m a U2 fan and I wanted to download some of the tracks from that package that I can’t get anywhere else. However, for all of the unreleased tracks, you have to buy the whole set. I already own numerous U2 albums on CD and I don’t feel like purchasing them again. The set is way too expensive, priced at $140.
This is from yesterday’s logs:
#reqs: #pages: %bytes: URL
-----: ------: ------: ---
48: 44: 2.44%: http://www.best-deals-online-gambling.info/
37: 33: 1.18%: http://www.best-deals-weight-loss.info/
27: 25: 1.03%: http://www.top-deals-online-pharmacy.info/
23: 23: 0.67%: http://www.top-deals-pills.info/
22: 20: 0.99%: http://www.best-deals-hotels.info/
19: 19: 0.70%: http://www.best-deals-diet.info/
18: 18: 0.90%: http://www.best-deals-tramadol.info/
17: 13: 0.54%: http://www.top-deals-viagra.info/
15: 15: 0.79%: http://www.best-deals-levitra.info/
10: 10: 0.02%: http://www.best-deals-roulette.info/
Has anybody else noticed this happening lately? Apparently the owners of these sites think I’m going to give them a visit because they’re bombing me with fake traffic.
I added a script from Flickr that displays my latest 6 photos to the front of my site today. The process was very easy since Flickr generates the code for you. I got it up and running in less than a minute. What an amazing service. Flickr will be all the rage in 2005, just like when Blogger or LiveJournal started up.