“IT Crowd” is a promising looking new sitcom starting on Channel 4 this coming Friday. At the moment you can download the first episode to watch from the Channel 4 website. I have and it is very funny especially for someone who works in IT it reminds me a little of the humour of the BOFH. I recommend that the next thing you do is follow this link to download the episode direct: http://edge.channel4.com/theitcrowd/episode1_c4web.wmv
WP2.0 is nearly here
Overnight WordPress 2.0 entered the public release candidate stage and I thought it was time to update after running a test blog for quite a while.
Upgrading was really smooth after I had run the recommended backup and this is my first post written using the new rich text editor.
My Must Have WordPress Plugins
Richard has been asking me for a while what WordPress plugins I use on this site. As Darren Rowse of has recently put up a list of his active plugins in a post called I’ll Show you Mine if You Show me Yours (WP Plugins). I thought it was time to share my list of “Must Have” WordPress plugins. So here is my list of must have WordPress plugins:
- Spam Karma 2
- No other comment spam blocking plugin works as successfully for me.
- Gravatars
- Easily integrate gravatars within your site.
- InSeries
- Provides navigation controls for next/previous within a connected series of posts.
- WP-ContactForm
- A drop in contact form.
- WordPress Database Backup
- An excellent backup plugin.
- WP-CC
- The original WordPress Creative Commons licensing plugin.
- Subscribe To Comments
- An excellent plugin which allows your readers to subscribe to the comments for a post.
- CJD Notepad
- Draft posts to your hearts content.
- WordPress Version Check
- Ensure you get visible notification of new WordPress releases within your dashboard.
- FixBack
- Fixes trackback and pingback URLs when publishing draft posts.
- Permalinks redirect
- Ensure everyone is viewing my posts via their one true permalink.
These lists don’t include every single plugin that I am using but they represent the plugins that I would install on a new WordPress install before I even started posting 
nano-itx seen in wild
I hate to imagine how long I’ve been waiting for Via’s nano-itx boards to be released. It seems that they are finally escaping out into the consumer world. I won’t be holding my breath though as there imminent release has been reported more than once before! But I want one, I’m not quite sure what for yet but I’m sure it will complement the Epia SP mini-itx board that powers this server.
Purchasing your tax disc on-line
Yesterday when collecting my car from the garage after it had passed it MOT the customer service adviser mentioned that with my new style Computerised MOT certificate I would now be able to apply for my tax-disc on-line.
In turns out that to apply for a tax disc on-line you have to meet the qualifications set out here and then you go to this new e-government website and fill in you details.
I can’t wait to try this out when I have to renew my tax disc next year. Much easier than a trip to the post office to join a queue
WordPress v2.0 Beta 1 Available
WordPress v2.0 Beta 1 was made available late last week and by the looks of the activity over on the special beta forum a lot of people are giving it a good test!
There is a growing list of plugins which have been tested with the beta for compatibility which can be found on the codex and everyone is welcome to contribute. I for one have to work on my version checker plugin to make it WordPress v2.0 compatible as the current css leaves it overlapping the main logout and profile links.
Behind the curve
I’ve been behind the curve for a while now. But no longer as I now have a wordpress.com blog! Not exactly sure what I’m going to write on it but it will definitely be WordPress related. Go read westi.wordpress.com now!
coComment
February 6th, 2006
The new kid on the block coComment is getting a lot of buzz at the moment. It’s invite only at present but I registered this morning an an invite code was winging it’s way to me within the hour. First impressions are good.
The ability to keep track of all those blog posts that I’ve commented on is something I’ve wanted to be able to do easily for a while. (via Climb to the Stars and Weblog Tools Collection)
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