Tech-Freak Stuff » Wordpress

Blogging on WordPress is just a Phone call away!

Rohit Sane — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:45:20 +0000

WordPress has always been a great free Blogging platform. Now, it tends to go bigger and better with the feature of Audio posts coming in! Just imaging that you call a Phone number, talk for 1 hour and all that you have talked is being uploaded to your blog in the form of an Audio post. Its like Blogging on-the-go[wherever and whenever you want] Isn’t that amazing?

This idea is really turning me ON and I sincerely think that it will have a lot of takers as many people don’t like to type their entire thoughts and most people hate reading long blog posts. So if the Audio alternative is available, it will really be great!

“Post by Voice” feature rolled out by WordPress.com is pretty easy to handle too. You need to call a phone number, enter a secret code given to you, Record your Blog post, and its its all done! WordPress will handle all the back-end functionalities.

<< Image Credits : Flickr >>

Enabling the Post by Voice feature is just a click away from your WordPress Dashboard. Click on the My Blogs Link under the Dashboard section in your sidebar and generate a Unique Secret code for your Blog. [I hope you understand that if you don't keep this code as a secret, you may be getting uninvited guest posts on your Blog]

After you have generated the Secret Code, you can locate your blog and Enable this feature. This feature is powered by Twilio API. After Activating this option, you can call the phone number listed on the My Blogs screen, enter your secret code when prompted, and follow further instructions for Publishing your Audio posts online!

I know you would have some serious Doubts. Some answers to FAQs :

The maximum length of a recording is 1 hour.
If there is 10 seconds of silence, the recording will end.
You do not need a space upgrade in WordPress.com to use Post by Voice.
Normal calling rates will apply for the phone call.
This feature is NOT yet available in Self-Hosted WordPress.org

Why I use 2 WordPress plugins for Retweet Button on my blog

Rohit Sane — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:37:27 +0000

Twitter is fast becoming the center for Businesses promotion and Targeting the users. Marketers are not leaving any stone unturned to do solid publicity about their Product on Twitter. In this age, it is most important to market your Blog properly on twitter and get the most out of it. It is very essential for the proper growth of your blog on the Social Media Scene.

You can use various Twitter ReTweet plugins on your WordPress blog to help your visitors share your articles on Twitter. You may have observed that I use Two ReTweet buttons on my blog. Do you know why?

I recently faced a problem with the Tweetmeme plugin as it was not updating my Twitter Status even when I was retweeting a lot of posts on various blogs using this plugin. So, I started using the Topsy plugin too along with the old Tweetmeme one. The reason why I dint remove the Tweetmeme plugin was, It is the most used Twitter Retweet plugin. Most people are very comfortable using it. So, I am still keeping the Topsy plugin if in-case that Tweetmeme stops working anytime.

Note: Tweetmeme Button was not working for sometime on All the blogs because there was some maintenance work going on as a small bug was being corrected.

Now I am listing for wordpress plugins which basically help your readers to ReTweet the posts on your blog. Most of them give you and option for Selection between different button sizes and Tweet using your username i.e. An @ reply will also be send to the Twitter account you specify in the settings.

TweetMeme Button

The most used WordPress Plugin for Twitter ReTweet function.

Topsy Retweet Button

The second most popular WordPress plugin for the same.

Note: A small difference between the Tweets which the Tweetmeme and the Topsy button send out is that, the Tweetmeme button sends out the tweet with the Title of Post Specified for SEO purposes i.e. The title you specify in the All in One SEO pack. The Topsy button sends out the tweet with Title specified in your Blog post.

Retweet.com Button

It is the official wordpress plugin from Retweet.com showing number of retweets of a post.

Twitter ReTweet

This plugin supports custom URLs, so it is perfect for Google Analytics Campaign Tracking.

Do let me know which one Plugin you use and Why? I am curious to know the reasons..

WordPress Application for Nokia S60 and Meamo platforms under development

Rohit Sane — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:04:28 +0000

You may have heard about updating your blog through your Mobile phone. Did you like that Idea? Many users of WordPress are already doing it pretty easily especially the ones who own an iPhone, a Blackberry or a Google Android phone. This was possible only because WordPress released the official applications for Android and BlackBerry.

But understand the fact that Nokia is the largest Mobile phone Producer in the world and its flagship S60 operating system doesn’t yet have a WordPress application designed for it. I think WordPress has finally realized its mistake for taking so long to develop an Application for Nokia S60 OS. We have also heard about the Nokia Meamo platform which is expected to be the successor of the S60 Operating System platform. WordPress is developing an Application for it too.

The Qt framework is used to built this application which means that it will be able to support both the S60 and Maemo platforms. The early Alpha built of this App is almost ready so Testers and Developers can help the WordPress team with their inputs and find bugs.

The beta testing of this App is going to start within a nest few weeks. I just hope that this App makes it easy to access the WordPress blogging platform for a vast community of Nokia Phone users.

How to prepare yourself for Shifting from Blogger to WordPress?

Rohit Sane — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:50:45 +0000

It is always difficult for migrating from one CMS to another! Even I took about 6 months to prepare myself for shifting from Blogger to WordPress. I know it was a long time, but I finally succeeded in a clean migration from Blogger to WordPress without loosing any traffic. For a proper migration you must be ready to take on any challenges that come your way. So, Let me give you some tips to prepare yourself for the shift:

Get information about what Self-Hosted WordPress is all about.
Get a temporary domain Name. Dot CO.CC is preferred.
Get a web-hosting account and Install WordPress on your Domain name using Fantastico De Lux.
Start using WordPress on that Domain name.
Get information about Plugins and Themes in WordPress. Understand How to use them and Start using it. (Which directories are used to store them and How to activate and Modify them)
Understand how Permalinks and Other settings work in WordPress.
Test various Plugins which you are planning to use on your New Permanent Blog (which you will shift from Blogger to WordPress)
Test the theme which you are planning to use on your Final blog, and edit it as per your needs.
Write about 5 posts to get used to the WordPress publishing Platform.
Understand the different Compatibility issues between the different Plugins and Themes, and How to solve them.
Make a note of every difficulty you face while working with WordPress and Solutions to your problems.
Understand and Accept the fact that WordPress is different from Blogger or any other Publishing Platform and getting used to it will take some time. Don’t lose hope if you are getting confused.

Following this small Advice will help you stay calm after your Final shift from any CMS to WordPress.

This is the First Part in the Blogger to WordPress Migration/Conversion Series. Stay tuned for the exact Step-by-Step guide of the conversion and the Changes you need to make after successfully migration to WordPress from Blogger for proper functioning of the CMS.
Image credits: Million Clues

What is encrypted code in WordPress themes?

Rohit Sane — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:03:18 +0000

Recently there has been a lot of Buzz among WordPress users regarding the use for free themes! Some Free themes were found malicious, which included encrypted codes into them. So this has given rise to suspicion in the minds of a theme users against the theme creators.

Some Bloggers don’t give proper credits to the Theme creator and remove their names from the Footer Credits. This has caused a lot of Theme designers to take this unusual step!

For keeping somethings in the Theme as unknown to the Theme user, the designers tend to encrypt it and embed it into the theme. They attach encrypted codes into a separate PHP file in the theme or into some important file in the existing theme. This encrypted code is not understandable to normal users.

What does this Encrypted code do?

This Encrypted code can do many things!

It may cause your theme to work in a weird way.
It may corrupt your database.
It may cause Hacking of Internet accounts of your Blog visitors by your Theme Developer.
It will show Footer Credits of the Theme designer.
It won’t show any observable results.

Removing this Encrypted code may cause your theme to show some annoying behavior. It may cause harm or Destroy your Database. It is also possible that this encrypted code is completely redundant and removing it won’t affect your theme in any way.

Isn’t it shocking? Of course, it is!

I have experienced this before in one of the themes I was testing for this Blog! Let me share my experience with you.

I won’t disclose the name of the Theme, but it was a Freely available theme. It contained a file named RELAY.PHP(Have a look at it here) I was not able to understand anything from this file, So I consulted a good friend of mine named Shashank, who is a WordPress genius.

He observed the file and told me that the encrypted code in the theme is sending unusual information about my Blog visitors to the Theme developers. It was sending the following information about my Blog visitors to the Theme designer:

Server Address
Server Software
HTTP user agent
Server Signature
HTTP Referrer
Required URL

I was quite irritated upon hearing this and I interrogated more about this topic. Shashank also told me that because of these requests by the encrypted code, I was unnecessary wasting bandwidth. He also told me that removing this file from my theme won’t affect the theme in any way because it did not contain any WordPress functions that my theme depended upon. So, I removed this Relay.php file from my theme and the Theme worked fine even without it.

I faced such encrypted code yet again in one more Theme! It was placed in the Header.php file, but to my surprise, it was affecting the Footer of the Theme. It contained the copyright information about the Theme designer. Deleting the code caused my Database to be deleted and I was left totally irritated. Thankfully, I was not testing it on this running blog.

How to find this encrypted code in WordPress themes?

There is a WordPress Plugin named Theme Authenticity Checker[TAC], which checks all your Uploaded themes for any possible malicious Encrypted codes. Using this plugin is highly recommended!

How to check, What does this Encrypted codes do?

I am specifying two online Decoders or Decryptors whatever you call them! Taree Internet Online Decode Tool and Raxor GzInflate Decryptor. For your general information, remember that these codes generally start with “eval(gzinflate(base64_decode(…“ or “eval(gzinflate(str_rot13(base64_decode(…”

I think now I have given you enough information about these malicious codes in WordPress themes. If you need some more, you can always ask in comments!!

Tech-Freak Stuff moves to WordPress with a Completely new Theme

Rohit Sane — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:47:10 +0000

It has been long since I have been planning to make the final move, and finally the day has come! Tech-Freak Stuff moves to WordPress with a total revamp. I have been talking to a lot of people regarding my move to WordPress, but finally I myself somehow managed to migrate Tech-Freak Stuff. I hope you guys like the new look!

This new theme is designed by a Friend whom I met on Twitter: Shashank Mishra.

This is just a note to all our Beloved Readers who have always supported me and Helped me with my doubts regarding Small and Big issues. The detailed story of the Blogger to WordPress migration is coming soon.

Note: This theme is still Under Construction so there are a lot of bugs. Please report all the Bugs that you figure out in the Comments Section of this post. Thanks!!