So, I’ve had this WordPress app on my HTC Hero for a while but never used it until now. Now being defined as a prolonged moment of brain ache and lack of productivity. Also readable as I’ll try anything to kickstart my thoughts again and get back to work.

The first thing that I notice while using this app is that having upgraded my Hero to Froyo (Android 2.2) yesterday, my keyboard is lightening fast. I always thought that the keyboard on the Hero was a little laggy but now it’s really good and I’m using it in portriat mode and rarely hitting a typo.

Anyway, back to WordPress mobile blogging. So, I should really be the last person trying this out given my lack of current blog postings but hey, what the heck? The app seems quite nice, easy to use and uncluttered. I like that. I never use much text formatting in my posts but the buttons are there for that too and work fine.

Perhaps this will lend me to a new mode of downtime blogging from my phone? I could see it sparking interest in me for things that venture beyond the limit of Twitter’s payload and deserve more than the scowl of Facebook’s angry army of friends.

Nice work WordPress people.

Regular readers (ahem, cough) will no doubt notice that my rate of updates has been somewhat stifled in recent times; I don’t blog like I used to anymore.

So, what’s happened? Has everything in the world stopped or have I just stopped leading a life that gives rise to interest and the need to talk about it? Well, the answer is neither really. Like most Irish bloggers who started out in the early days, I too got a little carried away with the 3 P’s of the whole social media triangle: Perusing, Posting, Peering. In that time I learned of some great folk whom I can occasionally drop a line or whom I have at least vaguely introduced myself to such that if I add them on Facebook or Twitter they’ll generally reciprocate and that’s nice because it’s a link to a learned ear whom I can ask questions of or get feedback from.

However, in learning of these folk I also became painfully aware that a journalist, I am not, nor do I have a unique angle or skill to convey material that isn’t better done elsewhere. As such, in recent months (perhaps the last year) my blog has been retired to a personal rant zone, where I can feel free to get things off my chest and with the hope of extracting some sanity check feedback from the masses. I am still a blogger (badge of honour says est. 2001) but blogging my thoughts on a regular basis would only clog up the interweb with meaningless garble that I can simply link to in del.icio.us, snip to Posterous, relay on Twitter or humourously share on Facebook. Apart from the occasional flatulence of niggling societal imbalance, political angst, or corporate discontent the world does not need my contributions and as such I don’t have the audacity nor arrogance to believe that it does.

Blogging a Dead Horse?

The whole experience has been a very worthwhile journey and occasionally I get the odd question popping in about something I wrote years previous, giving me a warm fuzzy feeling that somehow I helped somebody with a small tech problem or provided an angle of required thought – for that alone it is worth 1 post per month or thereabouts but any more would be delusional.

These days I’m more vocal within the Twittersphere, a world whose frontend applications provide a mesmerising view of constant news streams from micro-bloggers and celebrities alike, sometimes useful, sometimes crazy, always entertaining and beyond all else, as addictive and impulsive as licking sugar from donut consuming lips.

Not that I presume you are but should you be missing me or my idle banter, feel free to follow me over on Twitter/jbwan perhaps I’ll say something that will make you smile or at least get you angry enough to tweet back. If you track me down on Facebook and I don’t respond to your add then please don’t take offence. I generally stick to adding folk whom I have at least met, know well through virtual mediums or whom are co-workers of some temporal existence.

Yes, today is 09/09/09 and for many it will be remembered as the day that The Beatles’ catalogue was re-released with remastered tracks for all to enjoy. Not me however. I will remember it as the day that I read Bernard Goldbach’s post about how he trawls through recurring digit dates such as 08/08/08 and 07/07/07, etc, for content he blogged about on those days and realising that in the 7 or so years of my blogging life, I have never posted content on one of those numerologist’s dream dates. Where have I been? While I will remember this day for noting the absence of these dates from my recorded life, I will also enjoy the irony that I now break that trend by noting it. Sweet irony…

Recently upgraded to WordPress 2.7 and I have to say that the developers have done a very nice job on the admin interface. Everything looks really impressive and there are plenty of new features that I’m looking forward to investigating further. Nice work WP folk!

Yes, yes it does. After a 6 year love affair, full of torrid scenes and much questionable content, I have finally switched my blogging software from MovableType to WordPress. I know, I know, I said I’d never do it but with the flick of a switch… it happened. That pretty much sums it all up too, as to why I eventually turned my back on MT and changed lanes to WordPress. Everything in WordPress is pretty much the click of a switch. Plug-ins are easier to manage and I never seem to have trouble finding what I want. Themes are more readily available and I can swap them at the click of a link every week if I want. The admin interface is straightforward and simple. I prefer the WYSIWYG window for editing text and managing pages, posts, comments, etc. Comment SPAM moderation is simpler and Askimet is decent enough so I don’t have to worry too much any more. Overall I finally have to admit that for my needs, WordPress is well, just better for everything that I need to do. So lost is the aspect of my personality born when I first installed SuSE 5.2 and told Windows users that they were missing out. Perhaps this is a major turning point in my entire outlook on life? Crikey JB, it’s only a style change and some new software – deep, very deep…