Last night Netenberg updated Joomla and WordPress.

Updates:

- Joomla 1.5: 1.5.13 -> 1.5.14
- WordPress: 2.8.2 -> 2.8.4

If you are using these software’s I suggest you upgrade.

Just like with the operating system running on your home computer, your server can create archives (“zip” files, compress files, to put it differently). While creating archives through SSH isn’t as straight forward as with your own computer, it is possible. We’ll be going over how to create three types of archives today: tar (.tar), gzipped tar (.tar.gz) and zips (.zip).

Tar

A tar archive is an archive that compresses all files included as a single file.

tar -cf archive.tar list of files separated by spaces

Gzipped Tar

A gzipped tar is a tar archive that has also been run through gzip to compress it further. This results in a smaller filesize.

tar-cfz archive.tar.gz list of files separated by spaces

Zip

A zip archive is the most popular (and widely support) archive type. With a zip archive, each file included in compressed separately. In theory, this would provide better compression due to the varying types of files that may be included. In practice, this zip archives are usually larger than their tar equivalents.

zip archive.zip list of files separated by spaces

Some of our most successful traffic leaders and sales generation has come from running a contest. This week you should sit down and plan a contest. You will need to determine the following…

The Prize
Choose a prize that is in your budget and something that people will want. I usually like things that people would not necessarily buy for themselves but would want like a bigger screen or a mini camcorder (Vado). If your looking for an inexpensive prize try giving away an Amazon gift certificate away.

The Rules
Check with your local government gaming rules to ensure that you are not violating any laws before you decided on the rules. Ensure the rules fit your needs. For example you could say that those that purchase are automatically entered in to the draw where others need to send in a postcard to enter.

Once you have planned out your contest you should push it out to the public. There are lots of sites to submit your contest to that will drive traffic to your site.

When your theme is displayed in the Appearance section of the WordPress administrator interface, it is possible for a small screenshot to be displayed along with it. This allows users to see a quick preview of what your theme looks like with activating it or, in recent versions of WordPress, clicking the Preview button. The screenshot will also allow users to quickly differentiate it from the other themes listed in their Appearance section. If you’re planning on making the theme you’re creating public, then you should defiantly include a screenshot.

To include a screenshot in your theme, you first make take a screenshot of what your theme looks like. Methods on how to do this will vary depending on your operating system and image editing software available to you. Begin by taking a screenshot of your theme loaded in a browser. Next, load this into an image editor (anything capable of cropping and resizing will work) and crop out the browser frame in the screenshot. Then, resize your screenshot to 300×225 pixels (you may need to do some more cropping to get the ratio correct).

Once you have the screenshot resized, save it as screenshot.png in the root of your theme folder (where your style.css file is located). Then, you’ll be able to view your screenshot in the Appearance section. It’s that simple.

Some weeks, this roundup of blog posts seeks to stick within a certain theme or topic area. Other weeks, we get a somewhat random assortment of articles from around the blogosphere. Today, we’re taking the latter approach. There’s a little something for everyone here, whether you’re interested in politics, saving money, or the use of laptops at the local coffee shop.

Jessica Gottlieb has never really wanted to work outside of her home, so she’s not as concerned about the concept of a glass ceiling. However, she has learned that Sarah Palin has made her a feminist. She is “unwilling to raise a child in a country where a woman like her is held up to be the ideal.” What do you think? Are you inspired or annoyed by the former Alaska governor?

Meg Fowler takes a moment to consider some of the “common facts” that we seem to “know” about Vancouver. It’s common knowledge that we get a lot of rain and we happen to avoid extreme temperatures, but this has been the summer of our discontent. These characteristic features of Vancouver are quickly being thrown out the window, baking us in some of the highest temperatures in Vancouver history.

Damien Riley is cognizant of the troubles that some people may be experiencing in this economy. Without too much effort, he says, it is possible for a single income family to save $1025 a month in household expenses. Get rid of your landline, refinance your car, and only buy your groceries once a month.

John Grohol offers an interesting perspective on the social media phenomenon, telling us that Facebook reinforces relationship jealousy. While you could use social networking sites like Facebook to connect with people from your past, you could also be faced with some rather severe psychological effects as a result too. Since people tend to add ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends to their lists, current significant others could get jealous.

Dragon Blogger approaches a subject that is very near and dear to the mobile bloggers in the audience: Should Starbucks ban laptops? It’s a well-known fact that notebook users in coffee shops tend to hog up the tables for longer periods of time, on average, than non-computer users. This can take away from the seating availability for other customers and could be digging into the profitability of the coffee shop. As a possible solution, laptop users could be restricted to a certain section, not unlike smoking sections in restaurants.