SquatCrunch

Via - Gigaom

SwitchABit, a Betaworks standalone company will merge with Twittergram, a service created by Dave Winer.

Congrats, Dave. Best wishes for success!

The bits and bytes are running a bit slow around here today. The web server is fine, but the database server has been sputtering on and off.

Thank you for your patience.

Via - Dan Brickley

Or, “but what do all those links mean?”

Shelley over at the Burningbird is changing things again! Try starting at the top, or at Bb’s RealTech, or the consolidated site feed, and meander for awhile.

New release of Wordpress:

Version 2.5.1 of WordPress is now available. It includes a number of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and one very important security fix. We recommend everyone update.

This release includes:
* Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages.
* Better performance for those who have many categories
* Media Uploader fixes
* An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7
* Widget Administration fixes
* Various usability improvements
* Layout fixes for IE

Q. Is there any way to get twitter @replies from people I don’t follow?

* Yes. Track your username on your phone or IM by sending: TRACK username. All updates containing your user name will come to your device when Twitter notifications are ON.

@ replies Default Setting is:

* Default: @ replies to the people I’m following
Thus:
I receive @replies from people I follow under the condition that I also follow the person they are replying to.

Via - How to change your Twitter @reply settings.

Finally, a new notice from the catz in the servers on twitter/home:

Via - Twitter.com

Due to some cache changes we made Friday, you may not be seeing all updates in your timeline (don’t worry, they’re still there!). Thank you for your patience while we fix this issue.

Fortunately I am not following many on my recently re-opened account. I added those I follow back into my rss reader. When the fix is in I will return to using the with_friends feed.

Not getting tweets from the people you follow on Twitter? @twitter_status is 1 day old.

Via GetSatisfaction.com

goldtoe, Official Rep, replied 1 day ago
Hey everybody -

This is a result of some of the caching changes we made during last night’s (Friday) maintenance window. While those changes have made the service more stable over all, there have been some unintended effects.

We’re aware of the problem and are working through it. It may take a bit to resolve but we are on it.

Keep your Wordpress software up to date. The latest major version is V2.5

If you are using the V2.0 branch, the latest version is V2.0.11. Worpdress states, “we have committed to maintaining our 2.0 branch with security and critical fixes until 2010. (Yes that’s 5 years after it was originally released in 2005.)”

“There is a wave of attacks going around targeting old WordPress blogs, particularly those on the 2.1 or 2.2 branch. They’re exploiting problems that have been fixed for a year or more.”

No time like the present, so go ahead update!

SquatCrunch has been testing and playing with Wordpress since V1.2, and we find that the dedicated Wordpress gurus just keep making it easier and easier to use and update their software package.

We recently did some updating and testing for a friend during which we performed several updates and a few restores. The restores were not required because of failed updates, but simply performed during a “what if” demo. What if the update fails? What if I do not like the latest version after it is installed?

When performing updates, first disable all plugins (third party plugins may or may not be compatible with the installation version) then backup your database and your exisiting files. If the update fails and you are unable to resolve it, you can then restore the backup database and files.

Once you have sucessfully updated to the new version, activate your plugins one at a time. This will help in determining any plugin incompatibilites. If a plugin causes errors, remove it from your plugin directory until you can find an update for it.

Wordpress updates we performed:

V2.0.10 to V2.0.11, then
V2.0.11 to V2.5, then
V2.5 back to V2.0.10, then
V2.0.10 back to V2.5

V2.2.3 to V2.3.3, then
V2.3.3 to V2.5, then
V2.5 to V2.3.3, then
V2.3.3 back to V2.5

The current Wordpress update process is sinfully fast, and easy as pie!

BeTwittered, a Twitter client has a Google gadget version, and a Mobile device version.

Thursday, April 17, Stanford University hosts the FCC Commission for a public hearing in Palo Alto on the future of the Internet.