IT Crowd

“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

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.