Tidbits from Brian - Issue #31
A funny reminder of a generational divide. š¤³
I had just finished running my weekly errands and headed to Jersey Mikeās for a sandwich. The teenagers preparing my food were all laughing about a video of some guy making a sandwich. Hereās how the short conversation went.
Me: Is this someone on social media?
Teenagers: OMG, yes, itās on TikTok. Have you seen it?
Me: No, I donāt have TikTok.
Teenagers: š¦š¦š¦
I finished ordering my sandwich in silence. It was actually kind of funny. I could feel the divide in our generations.
None of my close friends or family, including myself, are on any of these newer social media platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc. I think itās mainly because we didnāt grow up with them. Then, I suddenly realized I had become my parents. š
Updates āļø
We pushed out an update for our Perfmatters WordPress plugin. Here are a few of the changes:
Added new perfmatters_used_css_below filter.
Added new perfmatters_defer_js_exclusions filter.
Added new perfmatters_delay_js_fastclick filter.
Added additional DOMDocument flag to parent exclusion filters for better compatibility.d
Added GiveWP request parameter to excluded page builders array.
Updated Delay JS quick exclusion for WooCommerce Single Product Gallery with additional scripts to help with zoom and lightbox functionality.
Updated Delay JS quick exclusion for Cookie Notice with additional scripts.
Moved Script Manager CSS to stylesheet printed inline instead of from a PHP file.
We also pushed out a big update for our Novashare WordPress plugin. Here are a few of the changes:
Added new configuration option to add a Mastodon Username which will be added to the content of the post when shared.
Added new open graph integration for Rank Math SEO.
Fixed an issue that was causing an empty share block to throw an error in the block editor after saving the post.
Fixed an issue where hidden Pinterest images were showing thumbnail resolution versions when shared.
Fixed an open graph issue with SEOPress integration that was using the wrong filters for the main title and description tags.
Fixed a typo in the inline SVG code for the X network.
Interesting things š
Misc.
Google to delete Chrome incognito browsing data to settle lawsuit. Pretty sure we all knew this was happening. But itās glad to see them admit it.
RIP Google Podcasts. Another Google product bites the dust.
Iām a nerd at heart. This is an incredible read about the people who repair the cloud under the sea. āļøš Grab a coffee; itās a long one.
Mandatory broadband nutrition labels will reveal real speeds and hidden fees. This is badly needed. ISPs hide everything.
The FTC has announced a rule banning noncompetes. This is a pretty big change!
Google Drive now has native dark mode. The more dark mode, the better.
The Matrix is coming back for a fifth movie? š¤¦ We need to stop ruining all the amazing masterpieces that we grew up on. But they will milk them to death.
In 2012, I moved to Arizona šµ. My rent for a 1-bedroom apartment was $695/month. The same apartment is now $1825/month. Thatās a 164.49% increase in 12 years. Iām in a house now, but this is simply unsustainable. I can't even imagine the mental outlook of students graduating.
WordPress
WordPress.org just added Hostinger to their hosting page. Iāve never understood why we canāt see other companies on there, such as Kinsta, BigScoots, Rocket.net, or InstaWP Live. ā”
They keep updating Gravatar profiles with new features. You can now rearrange links, change colors, and choose a new custom URL.
Ari Stathopoulos tweeted that he will no longer contribute to Gutenberg. Honestly, this isnāt a huge surprise. Coding things for the block editor can be a nightmare.
WordPress 6.5 came out with some great improvements! However, they also broke/changed what happens after you activate a plugin, which has been kind of annoying. Looks like itās being worked on though.
WordPress.org got a makeover. I like the new look! They are embracing blocks.
Due to unforeseen SEO issues, Woo.com had to migrate back to WooCommerce.com. Google updates are heating up. š„
There is a merge proposal to add a feature to roll back a plugin update if it fails, just like we already have with WordPress core. This would be amazing!
What if you could register custom post types and custom fields directly in the WordPress admin? I would. It would be interesting to see this in core.
Performance
Divi 5 is getting closer to its release and theyāve been making a lot of improvements with front-end speed. Seems promising.
Spam comments can do quite a bit of damage. It increased this siteās HTML doc size to over 700 KB and resulted in 62,000+ DOM elements. š®
Iām a huge fan of the SpeedVitals TTFB test tool. Many donāt realize how much LCP is impacted by server response time. It also helps demonstrate how important things like Cloudflare Edge cache are.
Itās crazy how badly some themes and page builders are coded. Some developers just throw the !important class on everything and call it a day. š¤¦
I finally found some time to update our recommended Cloudflare settings doc with their new UI. If you arenāt using Cloudflare yet, I highly recommend it!
Joost de Valk released the AAA Option Optimizer plugin to help you cleanup and analyze autoloaded options in your database. A must have.
Should you host popular libraries like jQuery from Google CDN instead of your own CDN? The short answer is no. Not anymore. Hereās an excellent summary.
Apple touts a major 60% leap in Safari and WebKit performance. Check out how they optimized for Speedometer 3.0.
The new Speculative Loading plugin from the WordPress team is awesome! Prerendering is going to change the game. I have my thoughts here.
Marketing
You can now cross-post your Threads posts to the fediverse. This is pretty cool! Love seeing networks like Threads, Mastodon, etc., starting to work cross-platform.
Speaking of Threads, get ready as they're about to release their API to the public. This will allow developers to build applications around it.
Some big updates came out for Snagit. I especially love the faster video upload time. Use this all the time with clients.
Trello added a new collapsible list feature and list colors. Already changed up my Trello boards quite a bit!
Google explains why Reddit and forum threads are shown so often in search results.
I use Grammarly all the time; itās one of those tools thatās always running. Check out this beautiful concept mockup of a new UI for Grammarly, including dark mode. I kind of wish I hadnāt seen it now because I want it.
Google is bringing chat interoperability between Google Chat, Microsoft Teams and Slack to Workspace customers. However, a separate Mio license is required.
AI
Udio, an AI music generator, is by far the most impressive and fun tool Iāve seen since ChatGTP was first released. Here are a couple of songs I stumbled across:
My Man Sh*% In His Pants At Work (what you get when humans meet AI š¤)
They are making it a lot easier to jump in and try ChatGPT. You no longer have to sign up for an account.
Brave announces an AI search engine and offers insights on what SEOs and online businesses should know.
Free AI headshots for ugly people. This is hilarious and clever marketing. I found this reply funny.
BitcoinĀ (not financial advice)
Bitcoin deserves an emoji. You can make it happen by signing the petition.
BlackRock adds Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS as APs for bitcoin ETF.
Three more bitcoin ETFs went live this week in Hong Kong.
Bitcoin spurs major renewable projects from ocean thermal to hydro.
Coinbase integrates bitcoinās lightning network in partnership with Lightspark.
Zaprite users can now connect to Strike to accept lightning payments and can now connect to the Munity wallet. Both awesome updates.
Speaking of Strike, they are now in Europe! It took a while, but Iām sure many are happy to now have access.
Block lets Square merchants convert a part of their daily sales to bitcoin.
OpenSats received a $1,000,000 donation from the Reynolds Foundation.
This is probably one of the best technical writeups Iāve seen on everything pertaining to the bitcoin halving.
A deep dive into the state of bitcoin mining now that the halving has passed.
Block announced they finished work on their three-nanometer (nm) bitcoin mining chip, which will be part of a new mining rig.
If you're in the Scottsdale, AZ area, hit me up, and we can grab lunch! š„š