Tidbits from Brian - Issue #12
When you can't seem to catch a break...
Have you ever had those months where it seems like the entire world is working against you? That was my mine.
First, the amp blew in my car. So I had to drive around for weeks without music, waiting for the replacement part to come in (not cheap, either). I now know what my worst nightmare is: silence. 😅🦗
Next, I got sick. One of the downfalls to running your own business is that you don't get sick days. So you just have to push through and do what you can between naps and Theraflu. Support tickets and development become a lot harder when it takes all of your energy just to sit up.
Then, to throw another wrench into the mix, my brother and business partner also got sick. Usually, we cover for one another. But we've never both been sick at the same time. So let's just say it hasn't been a fun month. Or rather, we wish we could have just fast-forwarded at times.
We're not quite back to 100% yet, but getting there. At least I'm cranking up my synthwave playlist again. 😄 🔊 Just hoping for a smoother October.
Updates ✍️
We pushed out a new version of our Perfmatters plugin. It includes additional autosave intervals and many improvements for lazy loading, including CSS background images. We've been fine-tuning this over the past couple of months and are happy now with the results. It works great with pretty much every solution out there, including Elementor, GeneratePress, Astra, Oxygen, Divi, Avada, etc.
We pushed out a new version of our Novashare plugin. We added a new inline content option to show in feeds (this was highly requested). We have quite a few developers that use our plugin, so we've added three more filters to let you further manipulate things. A few bugs have been fixed as well.
Ever need some lightweight progress bars for your WordPress site? I wrote up a quick tutorial on how to easily do it with only CSS, no JavaScript or jQuery.
Interesting things 🔎
Misc.
NASA crashed into an asteroid to test planetary defense. Reminds me of the Armageddon movie. Really cool.
What does the population distribution per country of 8 billion people look like? Check it out.
Random and yet really interesting. Check out these 100% AI generated campsite photos.
How bad is your streaming music? Let a sophisticated AI judge your awful taste in music. 😆
Loving the new AirPods Pro 2. The bass is SO much better!
Sad to hear about Peter Eckersley's passing. He truly helped change the internet as we know it.
Billionaire no more: Patagonia founder gives away the company to help save the planet. Wow.
Ever need to monitor the changes on a site and get notified? I've been using Visualping lately, and it works great!
WordPress
Jetpack's performance team has taken over WP Super Cache development.
Enjoyed this post from Eric on why writing is a challenging but needed profession in WordPress.
Here's another good read from Mark at WP Mayor on WordPress blogs; competition, integrity, money, and reputation.
What's new in WordPress 6.1? Carlos does an excellent job, as usual, of rounding up everything you need to know.
WordPress is considering a plugin-first approach for faster core development. I have mixed feelings about this.
Notifications are really bad right now in WordPress. Some ideas are discussed in this podcast from WP Builds on how we might fix it.
The WordPress plugin directory has surpassed 60,000. 😅
DevKinsta version 2.8.0 is out! It includes native Apple Silicon (M1) build, offline mode, and file/folder selection for syncing.
Acquisitions: CodeinWP team has acquired WPShout, and PublishPress has acquired MetaSlider.
Performance
I'm now using the Orion Browser as my secondary browser. Loving the direction it's headed! Incredible performance and privacy.
Interesting discussion on the idea of WordPress supporting SQLite.
No more EV certificate overhead in Chrome 106. This really only impacts big brands still using them, but still a step forward.
In WordPress 6.1, there is a massive improvement to database performance. Database queries in WP_Query are now cached.
A data center in Tel Aviv is now available at Kinsta. 🇮🇱⚡️
Marketing
Snagit, the app I use for taking screenshots for documentation and blog posts, is 20% off right now through September 30!
Twitter is testing an edit button. Don't worry; there will be rules. I know I've deleted a few tweets before due to typos. Could be nice.
Discovered this awesome little hack when editing long documents in Confluence.
Screenshot any tweet. Check out the MightyShare Bot.
Trello finally got more label colors. It's about time.
A new HTTPS report is being rolled out in Google Search Console.
Bitcoin (not financial advice)
Probably one of the easiest explanations of how a ledger works and why it's important.
Swan acquires Specter Solutions. This is great news! Looking forward to the changes.
Stablecoins can now go live on the Bitcoin testnet with the launch of Lightning Labs project Taro.
Long but excellent read on why the U.S. should reject Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
Bitcoin Lightning Publisher is a new paywall and donation plugin for WordPress to accept instant Bitcoin Lightning payments.
Bitcoin payments company Strike raises $80 million in Series B round.
Great chat about entrepreneurship in Bitcoin with the CEO of the Lolli app. FYI: I use Lolli every week. A must-have!
Fidelity will launch Bitcoin trading in November of this year.
Estonia approves first Bitcoin and crypto bank after new legislation. 🇪🇪
Israel grants first Bitcoin and crypto license to local exchange. 🇮🇱
Looking for a job in the Bitcoin field? Check out Bitcoiner Jobs.
An interesting read on why Bitcoin will 5x in the next three years.
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If you're ever in the Scottsdale, AZ area, hit me up, and we can grab a coffee! ☕️👋