A month ago, WordPress released version 2.5. It is a radical change from the versions that proceeded it. It has been rewritten to be more powerful, robust, and attractive. Before I upgraded, I wondered how it could get any better, and why such an overhaul was even necessary. Boy, was I shortsighted. The new version is fantastic, and much easier to use.

I don’t understand why it is labeled version 2.5, when it should have been called 3.0. It is a major shift from the interface it once had. At any rate, 2.5.1 is now available. If you use WordPress and haven’t stepped up to version 2.5, now is the time. You won’t regret it. Of course, before upgrading, make sure your theme and plugins are compatible with the new version. So far, I haven’t had any trouble with my existing configuration on compatibly or performance issues. WordPress continues to be a fantastic product and keeps raising the blogging bar.

It’s a good idea to check for updates for the Flash Player on your computer on a semi-regular basis. All too often, people don’t realize their version is out of date. Adobe needs to find a better way of notifying users of new releases and security updates. I have received such notices in the past, but only when using Internet Explorer, but never otherwise. And back then it was only when a whole new version number was made. The latest version today is 9.0.124.0. This update fixes some important security issues. Get it now.

Check your version of Flash: www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about
Download the latest Flash: www.macromedia.com/go/getflash

After endless years of waiting and wondering, Microsoft is finally going to release Service Pack 3 for Windows XP. The service pack is supposed to be available on April 29, 2008. For more info, read this article from Download Squad.

This past weekend, I set out to create a strong, complex password for my favorite log-ins. I did so, and went about changing my passwords online. I soon ran across several sites that had a 10-character limit on passwords. In total, three to four sites on my list had this limit. Even worse, the website for managing my AT&T Wireless bill only allows an 8-character password.

Fortunately, most of the sites I visited have a 20-character limit. That is way more than I will use, but a good number to use as a ceiling. Limiting passwords these days to 8-10 digits is surprising to me.

This weekend I decided to try the Mac disc burning app called Disco, now on version 1.0.3. You can install the program and burn up to 7 discs before purchasing. Intrigued, I gave it a try. I was absolutely floored to find the download was a mere 1.8 MB! Wow. What a stark contrast to the large, bulky disc burning suites I’ve used in the past, which are filled with extras I’ll never use.

I have burned a few discs with Disco already, with great success. It supports double-layer DVDs, disc spanning, and also works with .iso and .dmg files. It does that, and more, while staying small and very simple. I really appreciate how lean this program is. It has a small option set, but those options include the most important ones.

It has a fantastic transparent interface, with attractive animations and progress bars. Enabling Smoke creates graphical smoke to animate the burning process. Apparently, you can even blow into your microphone to blow it around on the screen. That sounds very cool, but my computer doesn’t need such frills slowing it down. I have not enabled the smoke feature.

As it turns out, for a limited time, Disco’s creators are offering the program for $10 off, making it only $19.95. What a bargain! Compare that to the $80 price tag for Toast Titanium. Disco doesn’t try to live up to the complexity of an application like Toast, but it does everything I need, in style, for a fraction of the price. I have already registered my copy. It’s great!

Below is a screenshot of its simple interface.

I’ve read great things about FireFTP for Firefox (currently v0.97.1). I installed it a few days ago on my Windows laptop, and it is truly excellent. All I want in a FTP client is simple file transferring. FireFTP completely meets my needs, with ease. After seeing it in action, I was convinced to uninstall the nagging SmartFTP program I’d been using prior. Download the FireFTP extension for Firefox, if you want a small, efficient way to transfer your files. It works on all platforms.

The new Rolling Stones concert movie, Shine a Light, was released to theaters on April 4th. It is also in IMAX! I absolutely had to go. This Monday, Laura and I went and saw it at the IMAX theater in Raleigh. I was very excited about seeing this since I am a huge Stones fan, and I’ve never seen an IMAX concert movie before.

It was absolutely fantastic. I loved every minute of it. If you like the Stones, it is nothing short of a must-see. It is a stunning production. The picture and sound were simply incredible. We sat directly in the middle of the theater, and the sound was nothing short of out of this world. Amazing quality and clarity.

I have been to five Stones concerts, and I have several DVDs from their past tours. Even considering that fact, the setlist played for Shine a Light was incredible. They played a lot of rarities in this movie. Several of them I have never heard them play live. Not anywhere. “She Was Hot” from the early eighties was a fun choice, which they’d never done before on stage, to my knowledge. “Some Girls” and “Far Away Eyes” were both extreme rarities, too. “Loving Cup” was so great to hear them play live, which I think they have rarely ever done. That one was a duet with Jack White, which sounded quite interesting. But the magic moment for me was when they played “As Tears Go By”. Superb!

Still, I wish they played one or two new songs. At one point, I heard them rehearsing the chords for “She Saw Me Coming” from their last album. I was hoping they’d play it, since it is one of the best from that album. They didn’t include it in the set, though. Bummer. Also, I wish they hadn’t played “Satisfaction” or “Tumbling Dice”. They were both unnecessary, considering they are so played out, and this concert was performed at the Beacon Theater, not a stadium. They should have replaced those with something a lot less played. Still, they were solid performances.

The band puts on a great show for this movie. Their age is no secret, and the shots in this movie leave nothing hidden about their wrinkles. In my eyes, their wear and tear are a testament to how long they survived. Even in their 60s, the Stones put on a show that you’d expect to see of someone half their age.

A tip of the hat to Martin Scorsese for directing this masterpiece. I’ll surely buy the DVD when it comes out. If you plan to see it, you must see it in IMAX! Accept no substitute. Trust me.

This weekend, I deployed a new site theme. I don’t make a habit of writing a blog post about such changes, but my new theme, Elite, is a drastic change. I think this theme is the prettiest I have ever used. It is modern, dark, and easy to read. All photos are automatically aligned to the left, for better or worse. Photos with a white background may not blend as well as I’d like on the dark canvass, but I’ll overlook that potential problem. Also, the theme fails the W3C Markup Validation check, but for minor reasons. The main drawback to this theme is that, oddly, there is no header on the page that shows the name of my site. For that reason, I am writing this post to assure you that you are still at blitzcraig.org! Enjoy the new look.

In a recent post about Yahoo, I mentioned that I use Gmail, but didn’t find Yahoo Mail lacking. I have changed my mind about that. Gmail is clearly better in every way compared to Yahoo Mail. That goes without saying, but in a recent test, I was made sure of it. This post is about the features. I’m talking about the ads.

In using Yahoo Mail some lately, I found it to be so littered with large, animated ads, it is painful to use. The new Yahoo Mail is worse in that aspect than the Classic view. Ads are everywhere–and they are big. I had several tabs open within the Mail window (Home, Inbox, Sent, etc.), and each tab had animating ads running all at the same time. Also, after composing a new message and sending it, an ad is displayed on the right side of the screen that is so large, it literally takes up almost half of my monitor.

It isn’t only the flashy ads in the Mail site itself. The advertisement taglines sent with all outgoing messages are really annoying, too. Yahoo used to have ones that simply mentioned the message having been sent by Yahoo. Today, it is a random text ad, shown below a horizontal line that doesn’t quite line up with the message window, or the text below it. Obnoxious and tacky! Fortunately, Gmail doesn’t do this.

One can sign up for Yahoo Mail Plus ($20 yearly) to ditch the ads. That is too expensive for my taste, especially since free accounts already get unlimited storage. I suppose anyone could use AdBlock for Firefox to block the ads within Yahoo Mail, but it won’t do anything about the taglines in your outgoing messages.

Overall, Gmail has so much more class and tact. Google doesn’t charge for the extras that Yahoo is asking users to pay for. If you use Yahoo and are willing to change your email address, I’d suggest ditching it. Gmail is so much faster and snappier than Yahoo, by a mile. You’ll certainly be thankful when you don’t see anymore flashing ads!