Pneumonia confirmed. Time to chill and get better.
Really enjoying The Nostalgia Trap podcast. Thanks for the tip, Micaiah!
https://overcast.fm/+CJLfrnENc
I lied. Another test. This is our old, crazy Seattle loft space.
Last test for the night, I hope. Looks like image posts with links are going to be problematic.
Testing a Facebook image post that contains a separate link, using Advanced Custom Fields.
Testing a Facebook image post that contains a separate link, using Advanced Custom Fields.
This one has a link.
Another test.
OK, relying on the WordPress Featured Image feature doesn’t work super well. How about now?
This is a Facebook photo post. You should also only see this once, accompanying a photo of the grimlins phenomena.
If this works how I expect
You should see this post on Facebook without an image, and you should see this only once.
“You really let yourself go!” #snapshot
This is a test
Testing the approach from my previous post. I’m linking to this article in the Washington Post about NPR’s tweet storm of the Declaration of Independence.
This is a second paragraph.
Content Bundle Approach to Simulcasting WordPress Posts
I wonder if it makes more sense to take a ‘content bundle’ approach to posting across the #indieweb, rather than heavily relying on automation apps like IFTTT and Zapier.
Here’s what I’m thinking. Let’s say I want to post to WordPress and simulcast this post to Twitter and Facebook. Twitter and Facebook’s character limitations and post format defaults might influence how you compose your WordPress post since you know there are spatial and formatting limitations on both those networks.
Instead of constraining our own WordPress content and formatting by these concerns, why not add custom fields to your WordPress for each network you want to broadcast to — in this case one for Twitter, and one for Facebook. After composing your WordPress post, you now have a spot to optionally add a Twitter and Facebook-friendly version.
Since WordPress custom fields are accessible in Zapier, you can now set up a rule to post only the content of these fields as your Facebook or Twitter message. This enables you, on a post-by-post basis, to deliver platform-specific versions of your content. These versions don’t have to dramatically differ, rather you can easily tweak tiny details to suit the platform.
Here’s a visualization of what this could result in, at a minimum. I will do some experiments and post back.
Testing a post workflow of iA Writer › WordPress › Micro.Blog › Twitter (and simultaneously WordPress › Zapier › Facebook).
Downloading Previously Purchased Apps After Moving App Stores
If you’re wondering how to download apps you previously bought after moving to a country with a different version of the Apple App Store, here’s some crucial info.
Basically, when you navigate to the app you’d like to download in the App Store, it will appear as if you need to buy it again. Click buy. You will then get a message that says you’ve previously purchased the app in a different store and so no payment is necessary. You can now download the app.
It’s a really shitty interaction (as is the whole idea of geographic content restrictions to begin with in the context of the internet) because you have to go out on a limb and click buy on something with no assurances you won’t be charged for it.
Apple should really fix this.
TIL you can put earbuds in the wash and they come out clean and working better.
Curious what efforts there have been to standardize the #design of the required privacy notice UI on every Euro website…
#Idea — indie type designers and WordPress theme designers should get together to create and sell exclusive type-driven themes.
The themes could feature and take full advantage of a given designer’s type family. A profit sharing agreement could be made to enable the combo theme/premium typeface to be sold as a single package.
Fun times and sunshine!
More dispatches from today’s sick day — watching Jeopardy episodes on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXr69xEKpuy9QrV58ArH07YDUVj9zgiBZ
Ableton has released a nice, interactive tutorial series called Learnig Music. / A list of active #indieweb sites / Hum, a nice personal URL shortener WordPress plugin. / Bandcamp Daily continues to be awesome — How Japan’s Landscape Inspired a New Kind of Electronic Music. / Violet Peña‘s webdesign aesthetic is really fun. / CSS Grid Garden was probably the resource that helped me get #CSSGrid. / Standard Ebooks is a not-for-profit project that produces lovingly formatted, open source, and free public domain ebooks — it’s a loved up Project Gutenberg, and a brilliant way to expand the #commons.
Self portrait
At this point I’m thankful that the Prez is basically just fucking with memes all day. Let him keep sabotaging himself and his party.
To continue the Lynchian vibe, up next is season one of the HBO series Carnivale.
Why my stuff looks broken
If you’re wondering why I’m sending out all these weirdly formatted test messages, it’s because I’m experimenting with a new way to engage with social media — I’m using my self-hosted/built WordPress installation, along with a @microdotblog test account, and some helpful automation rules from @zapier as my way of engaging with Twitter, Facebook, and other corporate social media services.
I’m attempting to follow the POSSE (Publish Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere) approach, as the #indieweb folks call it.
The independent web is really at risk right now. Corporate social media networks dominate, and the original promise of the internet is strained. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We have the tools, technology, and protocols to carve out our own internet presence on our own terms. This is my attempt at doing so.
Re-watching episode eight of the new Twin Peaks seems like appropriate fever dream fare.
Summer flu, muscle aches, and binging on a Michael Palin travel series from 20 years ago.