Social Network Publishing

How to shoot the Moon with a Point and Shoot Camera

Vouliagmeni Moon Photo with Point and Shoot Camera

Believe it or not, it is possible to shoot the Moon with an average point and shoot camera. In fact, for as long as you dispose of a reasonable optical zoom (300–400 mm equivalent) and the possibility to switch to manual settings, you should be able to catch some details of the surface of the moon. Of course there will be a lack of detail and sharpness, but at least you won’t end up with just a white spot on a black background.

As today the Moon is at it’s closest to the earth for this year, I did a test run last night and brought back the following shot:

Vouliagmeni Moon May 4, 2012

This is about as good as it could get

The above was shot with the following

F-stop: f/6.3

Exposure time: 1/250

ISO-speed ISO-400

Focal-length: 49 mm

35-mm focal length: 389

Exposure Program: Aperture Priority

The idea was to figure out different settings to catch at least some of the texture of the surface of the moon.

Vouliagmeni Full-moon May 5, 2012

Tonight I found a nice spot, just above Vouliagmeni’s Limanaki to catch the moon rising above the Varkiza Bay.

Click to view the bigger version for more detail.

This time I went for Shutter Priority and ISO 200 which resulted in an Exposure Time of 0,77 sec. Also I used an Exposure Bias of +0.7 step.

Of course this is not the kind of quality you could expect from a professional picture, but it shows what you can do with most any point and shoot.

Vouliagmeni Moon Variations

The temptation to pull such pictures through Photoshop is evident and I have not resisted just for the fun.

And a cooler version, filtering out some red which we usually see when the moon rises at the sea:

Incoming search terms:

¶ Posted 06 May 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Digital, Editing, Facebook, Full-moon, Greece, Images, MySpace, nestoridis, Photo, Photography, Social Network Publishing, Twitter, Vouliagmeni, yorgo, YORGOO Media, YouTube

How to Preview your Mobile WordPress for iPhone and iPad

iPhone Simulator or Emulator for WordPress?

Subsequent to last week’s Ycademy Seminar, I read on Bianca Gubalke’s blog a post about the difficulty to create a WordPress Mobile version without having recourse to a preview tool. As I agree with this statement, I will show you here below a simple method to preview your WordPress Mobile version for iPhone, iPod and iPad.

iPhone Simulator

The first question is: Do we need an iPhone Simulator at all? I have not seen a single free online iPhone Simulator which would render the mobile version of our WordPress sites. Online Simulators are therefore useless for our purpose.

Semiomantics Mobile Developments

iPhone Emulator

Free online Emulators I have come across do not generate a preview of the mobile WordPress version. There are some paid solutions which are however pretty cool and accurate, namely the MobiOne emulator included in the Studio version. There is a 14 day free trial, thereafter a $99 fee.

Surprisingly the emulator included with TheAppBuilder does not render the mobile version — this would be a real plus since it’s a free tool until you want to publish your app to a store.

There is a much easier to use solution out there which is accessible to anyone and available for Mac and Windows:

Preview your iPhone, iPod and iPad App in your Browser (Mac and Windows)

The quick solution to Bianca’s and still many other people’s problem has been solved by Apple itself. The Safari Browser is equipped with Developer Tools which allow to preview websites under multiple user agents amongst iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Here is how to get there:

1. Download Safari

2. Once Downloaded, go Edit -> Preferences-> Advanced

3. Tick “Show Develop menu in menu bar”

4. From the Develop Menu under User Agent select Safari iOS 4.3.3 — iPhone

5. Your Browser will switch to the Mobile view; reduce browser width to minimum to get the best idea of what it would look like on an iPhone.

To get an iPad preview, just switch the user agent to iPad.

Conclusion

There is no more excuse for not customizing your Mobile WordPress version, namely if you work with WPTouch Pro :-).

¶ Posted 03 May 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: and, Apps, Facebook, for, How, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, MySpace, Preview, Social Network Publishing, to, Twitter, Web, WordPress, YORGOO Media, your, YouTube

Mobile Developments for Small and Home Business

The rapid expansion of the Mobile Web and the success of smartphones and tablets open new opportunities and imperatives for Website Developments. In as much as Semiomantics is concerned, the focus is set on two main issues:

Conversion and integration of web content into an App
Publishing on Multiple Platforms
Optimization

Conversion and integration of web content into an App

Whether it is a simple blog or a shop, a photo site or a video library, a directory or any other content, your website can be converted and integrated into a mobile App. Production cost will vary in function of the complexity of the development. I mention cost at this point because for the time being, App developments are still relatively expensive, but that’s the price to pay for a seat in the front row.

The mobile web and mobile devices and platforms offer today many features designed to enhance conversation, feedback and interaction which are much more dynamic, flexible and user-friendly than those offered on traditional websites. Also, an App is much easier to use on a smartphone than surfing a website.

Bookmarking a website and then accessing (loading) it at a later time is one thing; accessing an app with the content already downloaded to the device is a completely different story. Surfing the web on a smart device is in many countries relatively slow and linked to excessive cost for bandwidth. The App is a onetime download and thereafter only updates will need to be downloaded, which saves time and bandwidth.

Communication between the user and the App owner or amongst the users can take place using all mobile features, from email, over SMS to Push Notifications which will display an alert immediately. Skype integration (or other communication plugins) is a plus.

Publishing on Multiple Platforms

The mobile web has been dominated by Blackberry first, today by Apple (iOS, iPhone, iPad), Android Operating System by Google and Microsoft with Windows Mobile. Producing for multiple platforms is costly but seems to become a necessity for as long as no uniform standards prevail.

Like publishing a website, App publishing has to do with visibility, traffic and sales. Mobile web users are active on Google, Facebook and in App Stores to find what they are looking for. This is a key issue: Apple’s App Store with over 500 000 Apps has become a real search heaven. If your name, brand or product is not available there, you are losing out on the potential of the mobile market.

App Store Optimization and Marketing

You can write the best App in this world, if it cannot be discovered by interested people, it’s worthless. As mobile web users surf the stores to find Apps corresponding to their needs, it is important to

Optimize the App you submit to a store and to monitor downloads and reviews
Market the App inside and outside the store.
Make sure search algorithms can detect and become aware of the existence of your app and as the case may be optimize for top ranking.

For the time being it is not clear how Search Engines will deal with Apps nor how App stores will make more App related info available to bots, however it can be expected that sooner or later Google will include App results as they have included Video and Images or Local Content into their search returns.

Incoming search terms:

alert update app

¶ Posted 02 May 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: and, App, Apps, Business, Development, Developments, Facebook, for, Home, iPhone, Mobile, MySpace, nestoridis, Semiomantics, Small, Social Network Publishing, Twitter, Web, WordPress, yorgo, YORGOO Media, YouTube

Customizing CSS in WP Mobile Theme

Common Changes

Common Changes

This post lists some CSS snippets to customize WPTouch Pro.

Remove the Page Title Area

Note: When removing the page title area we recommend using a child theme’s stylesheet and applying the code below to its corresponding stylesheet, per the instructions on applying custom CSS.

In the iPhone theme:

.page-title-area { display:none !important; }

In the iPad theme:

.page .title-area {display: none;}

Remove reflection on calendar icons and post-thumbnails

.idevice .post .thumbnail-wrap { -webkit-box-reflect: none; }
.idevice .calendar-box { -webkit-box-reflect: none; }

Change the size of the Post Thumbnails

Change every instance of 46px to your desired size

.post .thumbnail-wrap { height: 46px; width: 46px; } .post img.attachment-post-thumbnail { width: 46px; height: 46px; }

Remove rounded corners on Post Thumbnails

.post img.attachment-post-thumbnail { -webkit-mask-box-image: none; }

Remove “Comments are closed” text when comments are disabled in WordPress

p.nocomments, #respond { display:none !important; }

Remove comments completely

#respond, ol.commentlist, a.com-toggle { display: none !important; }

Remove comment # bubble

.comment-bubble { display:none !important; }

Remove ‘breadcumb’ text in category and search pages

.archive-text { display: none !important; }

Use custom color for the mobile header

#header { background-color: #ffffff !important; }

where #ffffff can be customized to suit.

Remove “HelloBar”

#hellobar-container, #hellobar-wrapper, #hellobar-pusher {display: none;}

¶ Posted 01 May 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Customizing, design, Devices, Facebook, for, Mobile, MySpace, Semiomantics, Social Network Publishing, Theme, Twitter, Web, WordPress, WP, YORGOO Media, YouTube

Eval base64 Hack Solutions

eval base64 on WordPress or other Sites

WordPress and other CMS powered sites are often targets for hackers who mass-inject some code into php and or html files.

What to look for

The cases I came across so far showed a hack just before the closing body tag in form of a short script pointing to an external source. Also, in some cases I found some php file in the uploads folder (in WP the uploads folder should not contain any php files).

Once the script executed, a long string starting something like this:


<?php /**/ //eval(base64_decode("aWYoZ...

is placed on php and/or htm/html files. This eval base64 encoded and injected PHP code will hit all php archives.

How to get rid of the hack without destroying your site

To start with: change your passwords (FTP and Admin). Make sure your site script WP and Plugins are updated.

Check your footer.php (theme folder) and delete eventually the script added by the hack (or just load your backed up footer.php and replace the file).

Check your uploads folder for php files and delete them. Check your plugins folder for unusual php files and as the case may be delete them.

If you are not familiar with Ruby, PuTTY and Shell access, then there is a relatively simple solution available by running a php script from your root. The script will back-up the hacked files, replace the hack with another string and save the repaired file.

A second script can be used to delete the backed-up hacks once we are sure that all works fine.

These scripts have been developed by Sergi Rodrigues Rius and published on his spanish website. They work on the most common php CMS.

Download from HERE.

Upload the search_and_replace.php into the root folder of your site and run it by opening the page in your browser.

Once you are sure all is working fine, run the second script (this can be done after a few days or weeks).

¶ Posted 26 April 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: base64, eval, Facebook, Hack, MySpace, Semiomantics, Social Network Publishing, Solutions, Tutorial, Tutorials, Twitter, WordPress, YORGOO Media, YouTube

Local Website Design

How to build a Local Website

How to build a Local Website

Go Local is the name of the game in 2011/12 and the success of bringing the global web developments back home is a trend of the time. First it was about tagging people, now we tag locations, be it on social networks such as Facebook or on Photo sites, such as Picasa or Flickr.

Based on the fact that surfers search for and prefer local business to cross border transactions, social networks namely have built in the local tags and stimulate users to hook media and events to geographically tagged locations.

How to dominate the local market?

In order to dominate the local market, you need to assess the use of the internet your neighbors make; chances are that they mostly hang out on social media, search Google and use email. This is of course an extremely simplified view but it gives an indication about where we need to build high visibility.

You also want to have an idea about how people access the net and websites; you will notice an increased use of mobile deices, which means that your content needs to be formatted and optimized for desktops as well as for tablets and mobile phones.

Finally you may notice that surfers prefer visual content to text, which impacts on editing and publishing for multiple platforms.

How to Dominate Google Top 10

In order to build high visibility on search returns, you need

a local website.
make use of all possible Google Listings pertaining to the geographic location.
great content and consistent publishing to provide useful information and trigger conversation.

How to Dominate Social Networks

To dominate social networks (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn) we need

optimized profiles.
Facebook Pages.
a consistent flow of information to trigger attention and conversation.
an optimized set-up to assure traffic back to our websites (let the social networks work for us instead of the opposite).

How to dominate the Mobile Web

To dominate the mobile web we need

mobile versions of our websites (tablets and smartphones).
mobile search optimization.
ideally an App.
easy to use interactive functions.

How to manage a Local Presence online

The answer is similar to managing a business online. There are three main elements I like to focus on:

an optimized workflow to assure maximum productivity.
high quality content and content providers.
an integrated publishing network to hit all the important targets with per platform optimized content.

How to monetize a Local Website

Ads from Local Business.
Ads from external Business wanting to do business locally.
Eventually by integrating a local directory.
Eventually by integrating a real estate classifieds feature.
Eventually by integrating a service and products exchange.
… and more.

How to get readers to the Local Website

Just a few ideas:

Talk about people.
Talk about events.
Talk about stories concerning the community.
Talk about Local Sports, Clubs, Associations.
Publish Pictures (people like to see their face and place).
Talk about local business.
Integrate a news wire from the major’s office.
Have a local Gossip column.
Let visitors contribute and discuss content.
Don’t forget rating.
Create competitions, contests, top 3 lists.
Exchange advertising space with local media to promote your site quickly an consistently.
Bring the conversation from social networks back to your site.
… and so much more!

I hope this post helps your brainstorming when creating your local project. I will publish shortly a detailed project for my demo community, Vouliagmeni.

¶ Posted 25 April 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: +, 10, A, an, Astir, Beach, Best, Blog, Build, Business, Class, Classifieds, design, Destination, Developments, Devices, Dominate, Facebook, Flickr, for, Google, How, Local, Management, Marketing, Master, Media, Mobile, MySpace, Online, Pages, Project, Publishing, Semiomantics, Social Network Publishing, to, Top, Twitter, Vouliagmeni, Web, Website, WordPress, WP, YORGOO Media, YouTube

Ycademy Online Seminar Apri 2012

Mobile WordPress and Social Media

The fast evolution of the mobile web has created new needs for publishers, whereas the objective remains to integrate mobile web targets into an existing workflow and to optimize productivity with the help of automated conversion scripts and tools.

What’s New on Mobile WordPress and Social Media

At Semiomantics the starting point for our development is the most comprehensive conversion plugin, called WPTouch Pro. WPTouch has released its latest version end of March 2012 with some adjustments for iOS 5.1 and many other fixes and developments:

* Added: Custom advertising options for iPad

* Added: Simple caching of desktop functions.php

* Added: Russian language file

* Added: Automatic archiving of previous settings in wptouch-data directory

* Added: Compatibility setting for BuddyPress Mobile AJAX support

* Fixed: Changing user-agent matching that may have interfered with advertising in certain scenarios

* Changed: Replaced include with locate_template in theme files, should allow child overrides of custom WPtouch Pro template files

* Changed: Algorithm to reload settings; may have caused settings to be lost in a certain scenario

* Updated: All translations based on 2.6 strings

* Fixed: An issue with Register and Lost password links in Classic

* Fixed: Video issues with jwPlayer and other video sources and plugins

* Fixed: An issue which could cause the Share button not to show in Classic mobile theme

* Fixed: Improved appearance for Embedded Google maps

* Fixed: Issues with Tweet text encoding in sharing options for Classic

* Fixed: Search form issues with Skeleton theme

* Fixed: Admin issues for non-English languages

* Fixed: Issue where style.min.css was never loaded in child themes of Classic

* Fixed: Broken admin icons when SSL was enabled in the admin

* Added: Hungarian language

* Changed: Adjustments for memory management in Classic iPad theme

* Fixed: An issue with MapPress embeds

* Fixed: An issue with JetPack videos

* Fixed: An issue with Smart Youtube plugin videos

* Fixed: Issue with blank spaces in custom user agent string

Why to use advanced Mobile Web Developments

The above recent change-logs indicate the extent of considerations necessary for a serious development of an integrated mobile WP based solution. The reason for such complexity lies amongst others in the following:

Increasing WordPress complexity and advanced plugin developments.
The multitude of mobile operating systems, browsers and devices of different sizes, display resolutions and aspect ratios.
The improved algorithms of Mobile Search.
The complexity of Semiomantics’ unbeaten optimization for conventional and mobile search.
The popularity of mobile and smart devices and the automated Mobile Search privileging mobile site versions.
The popularity of Social Networks and their ever changing integration parameters.

The Goal of Semiomantics Developments

At Semiomantics we aim to make complex matters simple for day to day use. As an author or business, you don’t want to spend your time with technical issues or sitting logged into social networks to keep up with the continuous stream of information and exchanges. You want to do your business and be assured that your message gets spread broadly and that visitors requests are piped to proper destination without your intervention.

Semiomantics Developers are trained to build high end customer specific solutions assuring optimized productivity and workflow.

The Goal and Agenda of the Ycademy April Seminar

Based on the above, the Seminar will provide all necessary updates and upgrades for existing and new installations of high end websites, namely those built on Semiomantics XO and EVO frameworks.

During numerous Workshops we will knock participants personal sites into shape to comply with the highest standards.

1. Mobile Web

We will go step by step through the set-up and development of the customized version of each participants author site. This includes the following workshops:

Build a Mobile Child Theme for your Website.
Build OS specific Icons.
Build a Start up screen (image).
Build Mobile specific WP 3.0 menus.
Custom Links and Icons.
Integrate Advertizing: Adsense, Admob, Custom Ads.
Custom Post formats for the Mobile theme.
Test Plugin compatibility and create your mobile plugin menu.
Embed media for Mobile content, YouTube, Vimeo or self-hosted standard h.264 encoded media.
Specifics for tablet computing, namely for the iPad and other touch tablets.

2. Mobile Social Networks

We will focus on Facebook in particular. Mobile Facebook is quite restrictive; it is therefore important to learn about what is visible on mobile FB and what cannot be accessed, respectively, how we may work around some of these restrictions.

In fact: Mobile Facebook is quite disappointing, be it whether you access it via the App or the browser. Custom content on app driven canvas pages and page favorites don’t display! Even promoting their link on the wall will not trigger any display. There are some workarounds by using different browsers where you can modify browser settings and simulate a desktop browser, but that’s not a solution for the masses.

Facebook is not here to promote YOUR site but just to grab your content for it’s own purpose.

We will show you how to work around the problem and take advantage of the FB App and Mobile Site to get most out of it. The goal is to achieve that Facebook works for you and not you for Facebook.

We will also come back to the desktop version of Facebook, showing how to build the most neutral and minimalist Facebook page for full and perfect control of all your content.

Schedule

The Ycademy Online Seminar will take place on April 28/29, 2012 starting daily as usual at 1 p.m. London Time and closing at 9 p.m. London time.

Materials

All materials and scripts are provided and included.

Tickets and Discounts

The cost for this seminar is $85; discounts as usual for Ycademy Pros (please mail Bianca at bianca(at)ycademy.com for the coupon code.

Click on the below image to get your ticket.

Incoming search terms:

mobile developer seminars

¶ Posted 16 April 2012 † Yorgo Nestoridis § Social Network Publishing § Social network Publishing Model § Social Network Publishing on Google § Social Network Publishing Seminar ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Advertising, and, Apple, Best, Coaching, design, Development, Developments, Devices, Facebook, for, Icons, Marketing, Media, Mobile, MySpace, Network, Online, Optimization, Pages, Publishing, Seminar, Seminars, Semiomantics, Social, Social Network Publishing, The, Touch, Trainings, Twitter, Web, WordPress, Workshop, Ycademy, YORGOO Media, YouTube

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