• Dec 23, 2003

    Use Bloglines subscribe to email mailing lists

    Bloglines just pushed out a new feature they call email subscriptions. I've been using Bloglines as my weblog RSS feed and newsfeed aggregator for quite a while and always been pleased with the fast response times and easy-to-use interface. This new feature just about makes wanna be a Bloglines pimp.

    So what the heck is this new feature email subscriptions? Let me quote Bloglines first:

    Email subscriptions are great for announce-only or broadcast mailing lists that don't provide RSS feeds. They are also useful as temporary email addresses.

    What Bloglines does is to setup an email account for you upon request (just click a link) and you can then use this email address to subscribe to your favorite mailing lists or newsletters (like the Mozilla Links newsletter). Any email you receive in that email account then appears in your "My Blogs" section just like any other newsfeed or blog RSS entries! How cool is that? Not cool enough for you Mr./Ms. Cynic? Think of this: you have a way of reading emails without an email client (whether web-based like Hotmail or application-based like Thunderbird or Outlook Express), AND a free "junk" email account just like those described here that you can use for any purposes. What's more, there is a measure of permanence to these accounts since the email address is yours to keep until you choose to delete it. Even better, Bloglines will be adding the ability to reply to messages soon.

    If you haven't tried out Bloglines yet, give it a shot. You may just like it. Oh and Bloglines doesn't pay me to do any pimping like this. I'm not even sure how they make money in the first place.

  • Dec 22, 2003

    Movable Type 2.65 released, version 3.0 details dangled tantalizingly

    Movable Type 2.65 has just been released - mostly a bugfix release with a few added features. The mt-send-entry.cgi fix is included (it already was included in any MT 2.64 packages after the flaw was discovered and summarily fixed), of course. As is a security issue with the XML-RPC server, details of which are, I think, intentionally undisclosed to prevent exploitation in the interim. MT users are encouraged to either upgrade to 2.65 or grab the fixed version of XMLRPCServer.pm immediately.

    Added features include an Atom syndication template and 2 template tags <MTIfNonEmpty> tag and <$MTEntryModifiedDate$> tag. In particular the <MTIfNonEmpty> tag frees you from having to install the MTIfEmpty plugin to achieve a similar effect.

    Details about Movable Type 3.0 were also released, tantalizingly dangling nice new features in front of MT users' collective monitor-reflecting eyes/glasses.

    Support for the Atom API is promised - yummy! Read Mark Pilgrim's article on the Atom API if you're clueless about it.

    Comment registration will also be added in response to comment spammers. Nice, but I'm still thinking I'd rather not comment on someone else's weblog if I had to register first - I'm doubtful it will be well-received, but I'd like to be surprised at what Six Apart can do. Surprise me, Six Apart, you hear? What I'd really like to see is something along the lines of Jay Allen's MT-Blacklist incorporated into MT. It is by far the most indispensable MT plugin I've ever used.

    It also seems that moblogging will also make an appearance, judging from this bit in Movable Type's news article:

    Additionally, for those interested in posting from mobile devices, we expect this to be a welcome release.

    The rest of the announced features seem pretty mundane. I'm pretty sure the developers are hiding the good stuff from us.

  • Dec 21, 2003

    Ungreeking, a color wheel, and GIFs

    Some things that could prove useful to myself in future:

    • ungreek is what you could call a lorem ipsum generator - it generates placeholder text from a variety of sources including the Old Testament, the US constitution and even the Internet RFC 1630.
    • 4096 Color Wheel is a color wheel written in JavaScript. Nice to have an instant swatch at the side.
    • Pixel2Pixel is a PHP script that allows you to change any color in your GIF images on the fly. Just upload your image and choose what colors you want changed.

  • Dec 18, 2003

    Easy .htaccess

    Dot HtAccesser is a web-based tool that generates .htaccess files for you via a simple form. Writing the right .htaccess file isn't exactly rocket science, but we are fortunately spared reading up when in doubt, especially when the official Apache .htaccess tutorial is so sparse.

  • Dec 17, 2003

    Email addresses for dodgy websites/people

    killMAIL and Mailinator are 2 of, I think, many free online services that give you an instant, disposable email address. Great for use on websites which want your email address for apparently no reason other than to send you product updates, offers and other emails that you never want. Or you may be worried they will sell your email addresses to spammers. Or maybe there's that insurance agent who has been bugging you for your email address so that he can send you "more info".

    Whatever your purposes and needs, I'm sure you'll find services like this useful from time to time.

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