Extraface

This is a test of the WordPress iPhone app that enables you to easily update WP blogs from your iPhone. I will be disappearing this entry shortly after it has been published. For those of you who do see it, the secret word is “intaglio”.

Update: Might as well leave this up and turn it in to a review.

It was pretty smooth sailing for the most part, with a v. forgivable snag or two. Setup was easy — after a username/password/URL, it set up my blog for iPhone updating with no problems. Some might worry about storing that authentication information on their iPhone, but for me the security tradeoff is worth the convenience. I might start password-protecting my iPhone main screen, though.

The new entry creation process was easy and straightforward, and included all of the fields I wanted. To publish a new entry, instead of hitting a “publish” button, you tap the Status menu, change your entry to “Published” and tap Save. As you’re writing you also have access to a Photos tab, and I didn’t notice at the time that if you hit “+” in the bottom right corner, you get the option to grab a photo from your iPhone Library or take one on the spot and integrate it into your blog entry. Neat. There’s also a full preview available with the app’s integrated Safari browsing.

My first time through, after I saved my draft, I pressed “Posts” and got ejected back into the iPhone main interface, meaning the app had crashed. It did so gracefully, and when I went back in, my saved draft was still there.

As far as the overall experience of writing via iPhone, it’s great in a pinch or when I want to publish something quickly, but I expect it’ll introduce auto-correct errors like the one that crept into this entry — when I first published it, the iPhone in its wisdom changed “the secret word is intaglio” to “the secret word in intaglio.” Also, I initially didn’t capitalize each word in the title of this entry as I usually do, because it seemed like a great deal of effort to pull that off on the iPhone. That’s not a big deal when time is of the essence, but I’d stop short of trying to write longer entries on the virtual keyboard.

Via Weblog Tools Collection, WordPress for iPhone also features “Auto-recovery - This will recover posts which have been interrupted by phone calls.” Not bad for a free, 0.3MB application that sits on a mobile phone.

Here’s the Official announcement at WordPress, a detailed write-up at Weblog Tools Collection, and a link to download it via iTunes.

Update: Capn Ken encountered a crashy bug as well. And Lance has a review of a similar app for TypePad blogs.

I’ve got great neighbors. One of the first people I met when I moved to my neighborhood in East Atlanta was Ms. Lenora. I think I first bumped in to her on my morning dog walks. She fills me in on the latest news about her grandkids, goings-on in the neighborhood, and her gardening. She has lived here for decades, and is an anchor of the community. Whenever I pass by her place I’m always compelled to wave, and often I’ll stop and we’ll chat for a while. She’s part of what makes the area really feel like home.

For her own reasons that she’d be glad to tell you about(more in the video below), Ms. Lenora takes care of a monument to General McPherson on our street. Year-round, she does what needs to be done out of her own pocket and with her own sweat — she plants new flowers, prunes what needs to be pruned, pulls the weeds, and does whatever needs doing to keep the monument looking beautiful. She does a fantastic job, and it always makes me happy to stop and pull over and hear from her about the latest additions to the flower beds. If you’ve perused my Flickr photos, you’ve seen quite a few pictures of the monument:

A couple of nights ago I was coming back from dinner and noticed a Channel 46 news truck set up down the street to do a live report. Of course, when you see the local news your first instinct is that something bad must have happened, so I pulled over and asked the reporter what was going on. She explained that she had put together a story about my friend Ms. Lenora and her volunteer care of the monument. Another friend captured the report and shared it:

It also turns out that I know the reporter in another context; she’s a participant in our community message board, EAV Buzz. As soon as she filed the story, she hit the board to tell us about it. Although Ms. Lenora herself doesn’t have an internet connection, I like to fill her in on some of the discussions from time to time, and I’m making her a copy of the above news report, so she can watch it whenever she wants. We’re all very grateful for the hard work and care she puts in.

As an aside, the annual festival commemorating the Battle Of Atlanta is coming up. If you’d like to visit the monument and learn more about what all happened in this area during the Civil War, that’s a great time to stop by the neighborhood. More info at batlevent.org.

Congratulations to Lady Rogue, creator of my favorite new local business, for the excellent article in Daily Candy yesterday. I first heard of the new group when I received a mysterious follow request from @rogueapron on Twitter several months ago. It’s a traveling, underground dinner club, with food expertly sourced and prepared by a professional chef and beer/liquor pairings hand crafted by a local boozemaker. The prices are incredibly reasonable; at the first event carnivores paid $10, which included both food and accompanying booze, and vegetarians payed $5. I went to the inaugural St. Patrick’s Day event and lent a hand as volunteer photographer. The food, atmosphere, and company were all fantastic and I’ve been anxiously waiting for the upcoming BBQ event, whose date is yet to be determined.

Here are my photos from the St. Patrick’s Day event:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

If you’re interested in helping the group by playing host to an event, you can sign up here(FAQ on hosting). Donations and volunteer helpers are also always welcome. They have a mailing list and a Facebook group to let everyone know of upcoming events. Once an event is announced, I recommend jumping on it as space is limited and these things tend to fill up.

• In case you haven’t already been acquainted with Giant Rolling Eddie Murphy Head, I think it’s best to lead off with that even though it’s one entry below this.

  As bonus coverage, here’s some serene video of the head’s travels.

• Usher: Love In This Club - The best damn animatronic all-animal band this side of Tijuana performs a classic club ballad. In many ways much more entertaining than the live Gorillaz show I saw in Boston a few years ago. [via Mr. Harris]

• Anil Dash: Blogger - Jheri Curls, pointed analysis of contemporary media and culture and PYT’s have never looked so right together. [via Jeremy Zawodny (congratulations and best wishes at Craigslist!)]

• The Cat That Hated People - I’ve been chasing this Tex Avery short ever since the dawn of YouTube. On this most recent viewing, I realized the cat’s voice characterization sounds a lot like Loren Feldman’s Shel Israel Puppet.

• Ikea Furniture Name Generator - Having spent way too much time in Ikea lately, I can appreciate that my Swedish furniture name is DAF.
  

Lance reported yesterday that BarCamp Atlanta’s dates are now set for October 17-18, 2008. The official planning site has been updated as well. Keep an eye out for the registration form.

Last year’s BarCamp Atlanta kept my brain whirring for 2 days and introduced me to friends and colleagues I’ve kept in touch with throughout the year, including Michael Ivey, David Cohen, and Andy Edmonds. I also resolved to show up at at least one AtlHack or Atlanta Ruby Programmers Meetup, but that hasn’t quite panned out yet. There’s still time for me to make good on that.

It’s not just for web or hardware geeks — if there’s something you’re passionate about doing, sharing, or teaching, whether it’s cooking, crafting, drawing, car mileage-per-gallon shaving, or anything else, bring it to BarCamp Atlanta and share what you love with others. The more diverse the crowd is, the smarter we all become.

More information about the general BarCamp format here, my coverage from last year’s here. and if you’re a business looking to facilitate and be a part of awesome things locally, talk to Michael Mealling about becoming a sponsor.