This could potentially be the best blogging experience to date for me. The WordPress Droid App installed quickly and is simple to use. I’ll attempt a photo upload too.

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Expanding on it’s Open Source ‘hive mind’ philosophy, Mozilla’s Firefox browser now allows users to share their personal browser add-ons with the public. How is this accomplished? Through an add-on, of course! The Add-On Collector extension will allow you to publish any or all of your Firefox add-ons to the Mozilla Collections website.  Viewers can peruse others collections or add to their “favorites” for future review and use in their own browser.  Each collections page shows how many add-ons are included and how many subscribers there are.

All you need is to create an account, be using a current version of the Firefox browser and install the Add-on Collector extension.  Once installed, you can hand pick your extensions, add a comment for each (optional) and have them magically added to your own Collections page.  When you register for your own page, you’ll get to pick a username which will be part of link to your public collection.

I created mine and it can be found by clicking the link below:

https://addons.mozilla.org/collection/geak

Check it out and subscribe to make me a happy blogger!

Let me know if you start your own add-on collection by posting it in the comments section.

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I love soft pretzels.  I love pretzel bread. Which I like to call Bretzel. I like sandwiches on bretzel. But plain ol’ bretzel is a treat to eat on its own. There is a bakery in town that makes fresh, soft, bretzel sticks. I try to get some on the weekends. I discovered that the bakery in the small town where I work also makes bretzels in the shape of the traditional pretzel. I brought home a bag today. Not bad. Soft and slightly salty. Good salt is the key to good bretzel. The salt that comes with the store bought frozen “Super Pretzels” is really good.
What de-luscious bretzel bread encounters have you had?  Are you a closet bretzelholic?  Do share!

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Editor’s Note:

I was recently contacted by Eva Vespa of www.webhostingsearch.com asking if I would consider them for a  guest post.  A guest post? What!? Me?  Our ensuing email conversation went something like this:

Geakz: Are you a spammer?  Why would you want to guest post on my blog?  Geakz.com hardly has the readership you would be after.

Eva: We contribute to sites both large and small; part of it gives us a little oomph, and part of it gives the receiver blog/site a great article.  We’re also on digg and stumble upon but mainly twitter (@hostingsearch).  [Two examples of articles WebHostingSearch.com has provided other bloggers]:

http://elitebydesign.com/inspirational-political-websites/
http://sixrevisions.com/tools/6_tools_analyze_web_host/

Geakz: I would be interested in an article that would share the needed steps to allow someone to start their own, self-hosted blog – preferably with WordPress.   It would also be a plus if your article was an original to my site and not picked from a list of ‘canned’ articles being placed on other websites.

Eva: I can definitely work with that request as we have a couple writers in house that produce everything, then I edit and beautify it for publication.  About how long do you want the article to be?  And if you want us to include some images, what would be preferred size? I’ll throw it at the editors tomorrow and can get it back to you next week.

The ensuing article is what Eva and her team sent over.  I hope it helps anyone hoping to install a local Wordpress installation on their own machine!  It’s a great way to understand how Wordpress works  and offers a ’sandbox’ approach to blogging.  And if this inspires you to research hosting your Wordpress blog on a web Hosted service, make sure you utilize WebHostingSearch.com as a resource in finding the right company to host your masterpiece.  [Mr. Geakz received nothing in return for promoting this guest post.]

Hosting Your Own Wordpress Blog on Apache

Hosting a blog on your own local server requires two things:

1. Server software
2. A Content Management System [CMS]

Let us assume you choose the two most popularly used: Apache (server) and Wordpress (CMS).

Installing a Web Server and preparing it for Wordpress.

Apache is  freeware, meaning you can download it to your local computer without ever touching your wallet! The same goes for Wordpress, a CMS used by millions of everyday bloggers.  The following  steps will guide you through the initial steps to successfully host a Wordpress blog on your own server.

Note! Before installing Apache, make sure any other server application is closed.  Otherwise the installation will fail miserably. Also make sure you are aware of the safety risks of installing a web server on your personal computer before executing Apache.

1.  Install Apache
Start by downloading Apache HTTP Server version 2.2.11, over at Apache.org. Locate specific version Win32 Binary without crypto (no mod_ssl) (MSI Installer) and click on the link to the right. Follow the installation wizard and type in your server information:

• Network Domain: homeip.net,
• Server Name: homeip.net
• Email: your email.

Select the “For All Users-box” below and finish the installation. Your Apache files should be located on your C drive.

Then go to  http://localhost/ –  A message will tell you if the installation was successful.

2.  Install PHP & MySQL
So far,  you have a web server running on your local computer. But in order to make it compatible with Wordpress, you will also need to download and install PHP and MySQL, Wordpress’ two main components. Go to PHP.net and MySQL.com and download the software and install them on your computer. Make sure they are compatible with the Apache version you have installed.

3.   Install Wordpress
Now it is time to download and install Wordpress.  Head over to Wordpress.org and download the latest version. Extract the Wordpress files and transfer them to your servers root directory. Open wp-config-sample.php and configure the MySQL database details and rename the file to wp-config.php. Save and refresh your browser window.  Go to http://localhost/wp-install.php and finish the installation.

It’s as easy as pie!  You now have your own WordPress blog hosted on your own server.

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I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time now.  A little sumpin’ sumpin’  that gets under my skin.  Another fine example of a lousy user interface experience.  Also known as ” L.U.I.E “  (pronounced ‘Louie’).

I like the convenience of Verizon’s web based texting service.  It’s just plain quicker for me to type from my keyboard than on my phone, especially when I’m sitting at work on my PC.   Sometimes I have more to say than my clumbsy thumb feels like tapping out on a tiny phone keypad.

Introducing the Verizon “text message security code verification box”!  Let the trumpets sound! We’ve all seen and used these at some point.  Yes, even on blogs.  Peck in the alph numeric code like chickens eating feed to prove we’re humans and wah-la, the message is on its merry cyber way.  Why do we have to jump through these hoops?  To keep spambots out of your cell phone inbox.  See an example below from Verizon’s website…

This should be simple enough, right?

WRONG!  Evidently that is a capital “I”.  ( I <– this is what the capital letter should look like with the upper and lower horizontal whozits protruding over the vertical whatzit. Whatever font Verizon is using makes it non-distinguishable between a lower case “l”).  This is the equivalent of unisex alphabet.  Or letters that have not gone through puberty yet.  Alas, I have failed the human being test and  I let out a goat-like utterance.  Next I get to enter a new code!  Of course this same ambiguity appears with the letters ‘X’, ‘S’, ‘C’ ‘Z’, et-frigging-cetera.  Numbers are the only safe bet here.  But Wait!  Is that a zero or a lower case  ‘o’?  ‘Nuff said.  You get my point.

And what’s up with those wonky horagonal lines?  Are they supposed to make me distinguish between both capital and lower case letters?  They don’t. They get in the way and make me feel like I’m in some carnival fun house or my chair’s missing a caster .   You can do better than this Verizon.  Really.

This topic is now open for discussion.  Thoughts?

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I came across this nice Wordpress plugin today that will add some classy bling to otherwise bland looking, in-line notes.

For instance, a ‘normal’ tip here at Geakz.com would look like this:

Tip:  Don’t Eat Yellow Snow.

But through the magic of WP-Notes, this tip looks like this:

But in actuality this should be a WARNING, so I’ll draw your attention to it thusly:

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There are plenty of recipe and cooking web sites on the World Wide Web.  Many cooks are seeking a sense of community for publishing their favorite meals, sharing family traditions or discovering new creations.  For me, the ability to easily document a weekend dish I’ve tried for future reference is key, otherwise I’m left with a mish-mash of recipes scribbled on a multitude of different sized pieces of paper and filed who knows where around the house.  So when I came across WeGottaEat.com a week ago, I was drawn to the intuitive, clean and easy-to-use layout.  You decide how involved you want to get.  I thought I’d take the time to hi-light a few features, so let’s take a look under the lid:

Registration is straight forward. Once you’ve chosen a user name and password, an email verification presents a link back to their site where you can then tweak your settings; page color, change your password and more importantly – start logging your recipes.

If you’re feeling uninspired in the kitchen, need to research someone else’s variation on Chicken Alfredo, or are looking to add like-minded chefs to your ‘friends’ list, the Discover Food page is where you need to start. 

Clicking on ‘People’ at the top will show a ranking of the most popular members.  User ‘Matriarchy’ is in a comfortable 1st place with 578 recipes to date.  Selecting "Search" is probably the best way to find something new.  You may also find something unique by searching under ‘text‘, ‘ingredients‘, or under several headings for ‘categories‘ and ‘features‘ which will assist visitors with dietary needs.

Their Blog page is used for sporadic updates.  There is no comments section like the typical blog, so to get more of a feel for what’s going on in this community, visit their Forums page.  Here you can have your say and read other member’s feedback, questions, concerns and ideas for improvement. Their ‘forum’ layout is not conducive to viewing categories of questions and topics.  Only the last eight or so entries are viewable on any page requiring the reader to click the ‘next’ button more than needed.  This is tedious. Every entry is treated as a ‘category’.  They would be better served by using a shiny new www.lefora.com forum – it’s free and true to a standard Forum layout.

You can download all of your own recipes (RTF or XML only), view your friends, change the web site’s colors, change your User picture and edit your password from the Settings page.  (An Adobe PDF format for downloading would be nice.)

I especially like the ease of starting a new recipe and entering ingredients.  You start by adding a Title and description for your masterpiece.

You can also add ‘tags‘ at this point. Once this is complete, you’re ready to start adding ingredients, directions, notes and categories.

It’s easy to go back and edit any of these sections during the process. You can print out a "Products I Need" shopping list.  You have the ability to add a note under each shopping item too.

If you want to try my recipe for "Pork It To Me! (or "Goulash A Go-Go!")  You can check it out here: Pork It To Me! My three year old, who is picky about eating anything new, said:  "Dad. Good Chicken."  That’s just what the cook wanted to hear.

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