Technology – Page 23

Upgrade To WordPress 3.0 Manually And Successfully

June 19, 2010 by Raj Agrawal 28 Comments

6 essential steps to be followed for manually upgrading to WordPress 3.0 or any other version, the error free way

WordPress 3.0 a.k.a ‘Thelonious’ was released yesterday with a huge bag of improvements like Custom post types, MU merge, menu editor, Twenty Ten theme, over 1200 bug fixes making it more stable, secure and faster than ever before. But, my upgrade attempt wasn’t quite smooth.

On an average, every 4 out o f 10 WordPress upgrades are not successful in the first attempt. This is not a official stats but is in accordance with what is observed on WordPress related forums. I ran into a problem while upgrading to 3.0 where my Admin Panel was not accessible at all and it barfed up a 404 error. My first thought was to re-install WordPress (I never followed the etiquette of disabling all plugins before the upgrade process), but I decided to play wiser this time. I disabled only those plugins that were active in frequent communication with the database like WP Super Cache, WP Database backup and some security plugins to save my efforts. Deleting cached pages from wp super cache did not help. Surprisingly, WP Security Scan plugin was causing all the mayhem!

In simple words, always follow these essential steps before any manual WordPress upgrade/re-install:

Put your blog in maintenance mode with a easy to use Maintenance Mode plugin. Follow BloggingWithSuccess’s steps on how to install and use this plugin. Though this is optional, i recommend using it as it communicates with the readers clearly about what is going on
Like i said earlier, disable only those plugins that are active in frequent communication with the database like WP Super Cache, WP Database backup and security plugins. If you do not understand what this means, you should disable all plugins before the upgrade to be on a safer side
Login to your blog’s ftp server with your preferred FTP program
Overwrite all extracted files from the zipped WordPress file except for WP Content folder (It contains your blog’s themes and plugins which you don’t want to lose) and wp-config.php file
After the files have been overwritten, append /wp-admin/upgrade.php to your blog’s home url in the address bar and hit the enter key. This is to perform the final step in the WordPress upgrade process. So, you should be directed to the upgrade page which will look like this:

Click “Upgrade WordPress” and you are all done.

Update: I have noticed that on this version of WordPress, the links in admin panel are breaking down when a “certain number” of plugins are activated. If is the case for you then you should deactivate the unnecessary plugins and active only the important ones until a patch is available.

So, how has your WordPress installation experience been ever since you started using it?

11 Ways To Watch FIFA World Cup 2010 Live Online

June 11, 2010 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Quality, free and direct streaming links with no need for downloading software, no sign ups and no survey fill ups.

At last, the day has come. With billions of football fans from all over the world waited in desperation for the first World Cup match South Africa Vs Mexico. Approximately 4,50,000 visitors are expected at this event, according to HT.

While most among the billions cannot make it to South Africa to see the show in real. The live experience can still be absorbed by watching this beautiful sport event streaming online. I am sharing a list of working links where you can watch FIFA World Cup 2010 event on your computer hassle free.

Host Stream

Live Sport 1

Rojadirecta

CBC Sports

From Sport

Free Football

Live Soccer TV

Free Football TV

Iraq Goals

If you find more links that are direct and do not require any formality to complete before watching the matches, do share them in the comments section.

Single Room That Transforms Into More Rooms, The Technology

May 4, 2010 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Optimizing a small space to make it much more usable, probably the future of small and cheaper homes.

Few years ago in Hong Kong, genius architect Gary Chang implemented the concept of what he defines as the “Domestic Transformer” into his living space of 330sq. ft, making it wholesome with an entertainment room, study room, living room, kitchen and the bathroom to name a few. The Domestic transformer is capable of transforming into 24 rooms! It seems unbelievable to visualize such marvellous home actualize.

Gary Chang followed the so-called ‘Hong Kong’s principle of utilizing every inch of available space’ making this technological marvel an inspiration.

(Interview of Gary in his transformer room)

Another well known marvel called The Kinetic Apartment was a project completed with Design4D and based on the same idea as the Domestic Transformer, the only difference being that it has 3 basic transformable rooms and uses only a 30Sq.ft space.

The single 30 sqm room consists of three basic elements. These are a red rotating media wall which can be positioned to serve any space, a solid black work surface which extends the length of the flat and a white screen wall which unfolds to reveal functions and define spaces. An automated lighting system and touch screen media centre add an extra layer of digital luxury to the apartment – www.dexigner.com

Though this technology has not been widely commercialised and also currently an expensive deal, with constant R&D it may soon become cheap and a most preferred home for many. But, would you really prefer living your life in such compact houses?