WordPress 3.5 & Windows: Plugin Update and Install Issue Quick Fix

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

Anyone got plugin update or install issue after updating to WordPress 3.5? Is this your error message:

Download failed. Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable

This issue is not limited just to plugins, it’s affecting themes, and whole WordPress, you will not be able to update anything at all!

Here is ticket connected to this issue: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/22900

So there are 2 things you need to do:

Go. to wp-includes/class-http.php and find this 2 lines:

if ( ! is_writable( dirname( $r[‘filename’] ) ) )
return new WP_Error( ‘http_request_failed’, __( ‘Destination directory for file streaming does not exist or is not writable.’ ) );

And comment them out (just add // in front of them)

This is actually secondary check and its unnecessary, also any path returned by get_temp_dir() method should be writable by default. So this needs to be removed or make it compatible with Windows!

Second thing that you need to do is to add one line of code in yours wp-config.php file:

define( ‘WP_TEMP_DIR’, ABSPATH . ‘wp-content/’ );

This issue is already fixed for WordPress 3.5.1 version, but this is quick fix so you can do it now.

Did this fix worked for you?

JetPack 2.0 Publicize – Facebook special characters problem quick fix

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

New WordPress Jetpack 2.0 plugin update comes with great Publicize module, that all of wordpress.com users love. But there is a problem with publicize posts in Facebook, special characters from various languages are not shown right. Instead that characters the html code is shown in their place.

There is quick fix for this problem, you should go to your dashboard, than plugins and editor.

Chose Jetpack by WordPress.com and click sellect, than on right find jetpack/modules/publicize.php and than in the file find this line:

$string = mb_convert_encoding( $string, ‘HTML-ENTITIES’, ‘UTF-8’ );

and add // before this line, it should look like this:

//$string = mb_convert_encoding( $string, ‘HTML-ENTITIES’, ‘UTF-8’ );

Click on Update file and that is, your issue with publicize Facebook posts and special characters is solved.

Please comment if you have any issue with this fix.

Jetpack 2.0: Publicize to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr; Post by Email; Photon; Infinite Scroll

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

Jetpack 2.0 just knocked me out today. This just shows how mature and scalable the WordPress platform is. This is a giant step to reach and socialize every wordpress installation just like it’s done with the wordpress.com blogs. I personally was cheering for Publicize module in this version, but Photon and Infinite Scroll have just blown me off. And finally, as a developer, I have a lot of new API’s to play with, and all of them are coming from jetpack.me fabulos kitchen.

I think that this update will also make a lot more developers use wordpress.com services to provide infrastructure for their themes and plugins.

Thank you Matt & WordPress team for this great platform – this is not just a plugin for me any more, this is way bigger!!!

Now I’m more eager to see new modules like translation and developer mode, and also the revamp of stats module. And now I have to add a few jetpack.me modules to my wishlist:

  • Management module (controlling all of my jetpack connected websites from same dashboard)
  • SEO
  • Collaboration (same time writing and editing – very possible if all processing is delegated to wordpress.com servers)
  • More API to play with

What do you ppl think, is there any other plugin that we will need once when the jetpack comes to 4.0 version? And what modules will be in the jetpack 4.0?

Jetpack 2.0: Publicize to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr; Post by Email; Photon; Infinite Scroll.

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

WordPress team worked on parallel data download for WordPress.com stats, its great thing to hear. Before it needed 10-20s just to start displaying stats, now its a lot faster.

 

This fix is also speeding up JetPack stats for WordPress.org sites.

Also for hard core users there are new keyboard Toolbar Notification shortcuts.

WordPress.com News

We’ve just released two improvements that will make WordPress.com even more efficient for you, leaving you more time to create content.

Site Stats

If you get a lot of traffic to your blog, your stats were sometimes slow to load.  We know you like to look at your stats often, think about how all those seconds added up.  Now, your main stats page loads all of its data in parallel:

This loads your whole stats page two to three times faster, which means less time spent staring at a spinner and more time for interacting with your readers and creating content.

Of course, if you’re a Jetpack user, you can partake in the speedy stats goodness on your WordPress.com stats page as well!

Toolbar Notifications

We’ve made your Toolbar Notifications faster to interact with also. Now you can navigate the Notifications menu from your keyboard.

Keys:

  • n : Open/Close the…

View original post 62 more words

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

Please read Matt blog post about JetPack plugin and if you are using it please rate it!

Jetpack

This has been a pretty exciting year for Jetpack, with numerous updates like countries being added to stats, subscriptions, contact forms, Jetpack comments, Carousel, and there’s some even more exciting things in the pipeline.

But despite the incredible adoption of the plugin and positive feedback we’ve been getting, Jetpack only has 3 of 5 possible stars on the plugin directory. That brings me to two points:

First, if you are having any trouble with Jetpack please let us know on the support forums (it’s even better than comments here). As the plugin says in its sidebar, “57 of 58 support threads in the last two months have been resolved.”

Second, if you’re a user of Jetpack please consider rating it in the directory. You need a WordPress.org account to do so, but once you log in it’s as easy as clicking the stars in the sidebar. Our rating…

View original post 40 more words

Best VPN service providers for Android

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

After some time of using my Android phone, I hit a giant wall. Content blocade in certain countries in our World. Did you know that if you go to China most of your web will be gone… And even if there wasn’t any “great firewall” there are other issues from your internet service provider like HBO access area, or iBBC… Solution for this problem is VPN. What VPN actually do is mask your identity and gives you IP address from country you want. So you could be in south pole, but your Android will think its in US, UK, or any other place in world, you will still need an internet connection to do it. Here is list of hand picked provider that I found on my way of digging under the wall.

1. Hide My Ass!

A VPN service with great brand name, and service that I use today.  There are many reasons for me switching to it, first of many is support of Open VPN protocol so I could use it on all of my devices, and unlimited data. Also neat feature is that they provide only one plan, so no need for any confusion and choosing which one to get. So they have 256 servers in 49 countries. With amazing 29,500 available IP addresses.

So here are some specs:

  • 260 servers in 49 countries
  • Hide behind 29’500+ IP addresses
  • New IP every time you connect
  • PPTP / OpenVPN protocols
  • Unlimited bandwidth usage
  • Android and iOS support

They plan is 11.52 $ a month with 43% off if you get 12 month contract for 78$. And that is a huge discount and it makes Hide My Ass my first choice for Best VPN service provider. So click here and get your new VPN for Android device.

2. Pure VPN

Pure VPN is founded in 2006 in Hong Kong, they say: We Do Not Just Provide VPN Service.. We Provide Freedom on the Internet…They have more than 50 servers, and they are located in 15 countries. They have Standard, PureGold and Unlimited plan. They support PPTP, L2TP and here is my experience with it.

I used Standard plan, only restriction on it is 30GB of data. So no torrenting or p2p sharing. Mostly that services are not used on phones. I was amazed by speed, youtube, facebook, twitter, skype… All apps and services I was using worked buttery smooth. This plan starts at 9.95 $ per month.

For those who wants to be able to switch between all gateways and servers they should use PureGold plan, and than could change between 15 countries as many times as you want. This plan starts at 15 $ per month. It also gives you dedicated IP. For unlimited traffic you have Unlimited plan that starts at 18 $ a month. I will write again, speed on Pure VPN was first class, everything was fast with no speed restrictions at all. More info about Pure VPN.

Also please share your opinion on this or other providers, and I will include them in this post. There are also some budget VPN providers, and if I get my hands on them, you will get review of them here.

*Links to VPN providers are affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog!

Jetpack 1.4 Comments: how to fix it

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

WordPress Jetpack just got new version 1.4 and here is post about it:

Jetpack Comments Now Available at a Launchpad Near You.

And it finally adds Jetpack comments:

Jetpack Comments has arrived!

We’re breaking down the barriers between you and your audience. When someone reads an article on your site and wants to comment, they can now use one of their existing social networking accounts to post a comment. No longer do they need to create yet another account and profile.

And it looks great, just like on wordpress.com bloogs:

But, users already have problems activating it, even if other commenting plugins were working before.

Problem is that most themes, changed way of commenting by adding custom commenting form instead of WordPress comment_form() function.

What to do?

So if you want to fix it by yourself there is a way, you just need to know little php, and not even to program in it just to recognize this comment form code in your theme.

But first, WARNING don’t do this if you are not sure what you are doing, and always backup your site before using any of this!!!

First go to your Dashboard – Appearance – Editor
This is editor for your theme files, on the right side you will see list of files that you can chose to edit.
Find comments.php and select it

Now hard part! You need to find comment <form> and </form> tags, and to select all of the lines betwen them, including <form> and </form>

For my theme was like this:

<form action=”<?php echo get_option(‘siteurl’); ?>/wp-comments-post.php” method=”post” id=”commentform”>
……
</form>

Copy all that lines and save somewere on your system, just in case you wont to return to previous state (And DO NOT forget to backup your site before all of this)

Now delete that lines and replace them with just this one line:

<?php comment_form(); ?>

Now click on update file button and go to your theme and check if is working.

Great you DID IT, you mastered replacing custom commenting form with WordPress default one.

If by any case you mess something,  mostly bad selection of <form> </form> you need to return all lines that you saved, or in extreamly bad cases recover your site from backup (don’t be scared this happens only if you play to much with code, and you don’t need it in this case)

PS just one more hint you can choose 3 themes for Jetpack comments go to Dashboard – Settings – Discussions and pick:

  • Light
  • Dark
  • Transparent

Have fun with your new Commenting system!

UPDATE:
Please consider rating this great JetPack plugin, Matt posted on JetPack blog call for help. Please give them rating they deserve – rate it now!

Google Maps 8bit for NES

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

Great news for all gamers today, Google is launching Google Maps for 8bit devices, such as NES, and there is a version for Game Boy in development right now! Here is an image of the new cartridge:

This is a great step in backward compatibility with one of the first mass used computer systems in the world.

In our pursuit of new digital frontiers, we realized that we may have left behind a large number of users who couldn’t access Google Maps on their classic hardware. Surprisingly, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was unsupported, despite its tremendous popularity with over 60 million units sold worldwide.

Our engineering team in Japan understood the importance of maps on retro game systems. With the power of Google’s immense data centers, and support from Nintendo and Square Enix, we were able to overcome the technical and design hurdles of developing 8-bit maps. Today, we’re excited to announce the result: a version of Google Maps for NES, with beautiful low-res graphics, simple and intuitive controls, and a timeless soundtrack.

There is also a great video presentation, demonstrating how you can use the new 8bit version:

There is also a playable beta version embedded here, but be careful with dragons:

Sorry, they closed this version, so no more preview.

Microsoft Partner Presentation

Posted on by Bojan Cincur

I’m probably writhing this in order to remind myself never to go to events like this again.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon Microsoft Partner Presentation. And unfortunately for me, it wasn’t as bad as I expected – it was a lot worse.

I can’t remember everything they said that day, but here are a few things:

They praised Steve Jobs a little bit, and said that Android took over “the invincible” iOS family.
However, users should not forget that their firm, Microsoft, had invented the consumerization of IT.
Also, Android or iOS don’t have the security nor the services and applications (they actually said that only they have secure services and applications).

Its really hard to write down all this stuff without screaming!

Then they switched to presenting new Windows 8…

So, Windows 8 works on wire, wireless and on other means of communication. (? !??)
Everything that we need already exists in Windows 8.
Internet Explorer 10 comes in 2 different versions: metro and usual.
New METRO interface, with live boxes which were never seen before.
Applications are the core of Windows 8.
Applications now work together.
We have the application which is secure and looks like Twitter.
ARP processors can’t run all applications or services.
The first thing they presented on usual interface was Task Manager.
In order to be able to use Windows 8 we need to learn a new “sign” language.

It seems that we should all go and switch to Windows 8, because it’s “perfect” for everything.

And than they presented Microsoft Lync:

It’s a nirvana – I have everything on Lync!
Before Lync, Microsoft had to pay Verizon a 8,000,000.00 $ every year for audio conferences.
Instant messaging, audio and video calling/conferencing and telephony – Lync.
And you can do all that without exiting your running applications

Hm, has anyone here heard of Skype, oh they even bought it last year!?

And that was all, luckily. Problem with the conferences of this kind is that they do it in a kind of monologue – they are on one side, partners on the other. There can be no questions until the presentation is over, and no applause before they finish their chapter.

In the end it seems that they haven’t learned anything. Since someone was able to take the iOS down from the throne in just a few years, Microsoft is probably the next big target, next “invincible” to fall. And trying to stay on the throne with a few copies and tricks will not help them. Winter is coming!

My friend Nataša Đukanović was with me at this event and she wrote a great article in Montenegrin about it. It can be found here: http://digitalizuj.me/2012/03/konzumerizacija-it-i-windows-8/