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iTunes movie purchases can not be re-downloaded

Ok, I admit up front that this is more of an [informational] rant regarding the iTunes Store. In addition to iPhone / iPad apps, I purchase music, television and movies. I rented a movie once but was disappointed by the asinine expiration rules of digital rentals.

  1. After hitting play I have 24 hours to finish the rental (is a problem)
  2. I have 30 days from the date of rental to watch (unlikely problem)

Digital rentals should be leisurely. The most unusual of renters should be able watch 10 minutes of a film every other day if they wanted. Once it’s finished, done. No more access to the rental. But that’s rentals and I will rarely if ever go down that path again.

My rant is about movies downloaded from the iTunes Store. Earlier this month I was packing up for a trip to Whistler, BC for a weekend of snowboarding. Last minute I decided I’d download some epic snowboard / ski films for downtime at the lodge. I opened the iTunes Store and purchased The Art of Flight, All.I.Can and One for the Road. Easy. The weekend happens and I capture lots of GoPro Hero2 footage. I’m running out of disk space on my MacBook Air so I start deleting previously viewed movies from iTunes.

Once home, I sift through the GoPro footage – deleting a good portion of the files and recovering some disk space. After reviewing my homemade clips, I decide I want to watch The Art of Flight again. I had grown so accustomed to how the iTunes Store treated app, music and television purchases that I assumed the same applied to movies.

  1. Purchase and download [iPhone / iPad app, music or TV show]
  2. Use app, listen to music or watch TV show
  3. Grow tired of app, music or TV show
  4. Delete
  5. Months later decide to use, listen to or watch show
  6. Re-download free of charge

Who hasn’t done that?

You can re-download songs, apps and TV shows from the iTunes Store however you will not be able to re-download the movies.

Lesson learned. Digital movie purchases aren’t really yours to keep unless you really do keep them in your possession. I guess if I plan on keeping my Air as a main machine, I’ll have to consider carrying an external drive with me to hold my iTunes Library. So continue enjoying the freedom of re-downloading purchases from iTunes free of charge – just don’t forget movies are not re-downloadable.

P.S. If it’s a bandwidth thing, Apple can start saving some immediately if high-def (HD) and standard-def (SD) variants of videos were not bundled. If I want to purchase the HD version, don’t force the SD download as well. Note: even if you pause and delete a SD variant during download, the iTunes Store will continually attempt to serve the file until you accept.

P.P.S. If you’re contemplating picking-up the GoPro Hero2 and want to send some referral love use this link. I’m enjoying mine – Early powder morning at Stevens Pass.

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Unstandard Theme, WordPress 3.0+ ready

Finally. Neglected but not forgotten, the Unstandard WordPress theme update is available for download. The jump from version 1.2.1 to 2.0 includes a complete re-write and supports post thumbnails (no more fiddling with custom fields), custom backgrounds and nested menus. The design has been modified slightly but still includes multiple color options as child themes (which should make it easier for everyone to customize their own flavors). Enjoy!

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Sweetcron SocialCubes for your online activity

Running Sweetcron as your lifestreaming software? SocialCubes is my contribution to the community. Don’t know what Sweetcron is? Check out my mini review from a few weeks back: Set it and forget it, Sweetcron personal lifestream application.

SocialCubes theme

The software really is "set it and forget it". As I continue to drop little bits of information online, http://this.isdereks.com picks up the little pieces and combines them into a single – easy to scan – view.

Note that SocialCubes is not intended as a full public release meaning the project is online as an example to download, modify, and build off of. The SocialCubes project will be updated as I update my own site to reflect new features to the overall functionality of the theme.

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Welcoming WordPress 2.7 with an updated Grid Focus release

WordPress 2.7 is available for download. The update packs a number of new features that any current or new WordPress user will welcome with open arms.

WordPress Upgrader

Automatic updates

WordPress 2.6 already offered immediate plugin updates directly from within the admin Dashboard. 2.7 adds a little more convenience by providing that same functionality PLUS core – WordPress upgrades – updates.

The WordPress Upgrader will give you the option of downloading, installing, and upgrading to the latest WordPress version from your Administration Panel.

Rest assured that the added functionality is for convenience purposes. Automatic updates are initiated by a site admin and are not done automatically behind the scenes.

Significant Dashboard updates

Admin Dashboard screenshot

This latest update will take some getting used – navigation, shortcuts, and controls. Fortunately, most of the primary functions are available front and center (less digging through menus).

Sticky posts

Somewhere between normal posts and excerpts / asides. WordPress 2.7 provides a new editor option which allows users the option to "stick" post(s) to your front page. Great for featuring and protecting content that you do not want pushed off of the front.

Grid Focus WordPress theme update

Grid Focus updated for WP 2.7

A long overdue update for the Grid Focus theme originally released in May 2007. Grid Focus is WordPress 2.6 / 7+ compatible. If you want the threaded comments feature enabled, please update to WP 2.7 before installing. Save any personal modifications you may have made to the theme before updating (most of the code was re-written and cleaned up). More details, a summary, and demo of the update can be found on the download page.

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WordPress & Joomla theme users beware!

Thanks to Milo for giving me the heads-up concerning the discomforting news which targets WordPress & Joomla users.

Templates Browser is re-distributing public blog themes which are modified in such a way as to exploit the end user by inserting hidden spam or malware links. A quick search concerning the website pulls up the following links on AboutUs, Joomla forums, and Onnoot – here & here.

The links are inserted via an additional functions.php file which is included with the theme downloads. If you’re shopping around for public themes, I strongly recommend that you download directly from the original authors website.

Unfortunately, one of my own public themes – 5ThirtyOne V2 – is one of the "dirty" themes that has been modified and is currently being redistributed.

Spread the word and inform other WordPress & Joomla users – Digg this.

Take Care of your Hosting Issues

Make sure you have safe and secure hosting for your website. Sometimes unix web hosting is a more secure option, so do your hosting research before paying the big bucks. Take care of your website hosting issues today!

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Desktop wallpaper: Seattle Wooden Boatyard

Sample images of widescreen Seattle Boatyard desktop wallpaper

Widescreen 2560 x 1600 desktop wallpaper(s) – Free 8.2 MB ZIP

Yesterday evening I attended my younger siblings Greenlake Crew Awards Banquet held on the south end of Lake Union near the Center for Wooden Boats. Having been a considerable amount of time since my Nikon D80 had seen the light of day, captured public facing photographs, or taken snapshots of something other than various gadgets & toys, I lugged my dSLR along with me to the awards banquet. Not having any more than 10 minutes of free time before the banquet, I wandered around the boatyard for anything that caught my attention. I turned 4 images into widescreen desktop walls at 2560 x 1600 resolution.

Download 8.2 MB (zip): Seattle Wooden Boatyard (widescreen 2560 x 1600)

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WordPress Grid Focus

After much personal debate and the incident concerning the WP China Forums, I’ve decided to release the WordPress Grid Focus as a "theme". The decision was made after receiving a considerable number of emails requesting that a variant of the theme be made available for public use. I’m not expecting as much fanfare as the October Special theme which was based off of a pink October Breast Cancer Awareness month theme, but I do hope it may serve as a platform for others to build off of.

Index view small

I stripped out a few personal bits, removed some ad placement blocks, and allowed the title and tagline to be edited from the WordPress administrative panel. Feel free to visit the project page to find the download as well as a few details concerning the theme.

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Fonts 500 – The web’s Top 500 free font downloads

No longer free – $3 to download the entire collection

Fonts 500 screenshot

If there was ever a free fonts download website to garner any excitement it would be Fonts 500. The website has an incredibly large collection of free font downloads worthy of adding to your bookmark(s) collection. Font popularity is based on download activity from larger font resources found throughout the net. Previews are presented in a clean fashion with an option to input your own sample text. Incredibly easy to use, simple to navigate, and quite possibly the one site to visit for free fonts. Where do you look for free font downloads on a whims notice?

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How-to create a "Table of Contents" Navigation

Quite a number of months back I released the Foliage Mod WordPress theme which included a Table of Contents (TOC) styled navigation block in the header. A recent post on ScriptyGoddess prompted me to upload the download & tutorial post straight away which is what you find here.

In as little as 8 lines of HTML, and 5 lines of CSS, the TOC Navigation block can be duplicated on your own site ready for even more styling.

Sound HTML structure

Of all the possible options to choose from, ul and ol lists are a definite favorite and one of the most useful structural markup elements available. The TOC Navigation begins as an unstyled ul unordered list:

<ul id="toc">
<li><span>Introduction</span> <a href="#">Chapter 1</a></li>
<li><span>Storm clouds looming</span> <a href="#">Chapter 2</a></li>
<li><span>Sun breaks</span> <a href="#">Chapter 3</a></li>
<li><span>Lost and confused</span> <a href="#">Chapter 4</a></li>
<li><span>The pot of gold</span> <a href="#">Chapter 5</a></li>
<li><span>Nom nom nom</span> <a href="#">Chapter 6</a></li>
</ul>

Sans CSS, the unordered list retains the familiarity of a standard list of links as seen with this sample page.

CSS = Table of Contents

Using a few simple lines of CSS + a single image file, that mundane HTML list transforms into a much more familiar navigation structure similar to that found towards the front of a book or sleeve.

#toc {
	list-style: none;
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
#toc li {
	background: url(dot.gif) repeat-x bottom left;
	overflow: hidden;
	padding-bottom: 2px;
}
#toc a,
#toc span {
	display: inline-block;
	background: #fff;
	position: relative;
	bottom: -4px;
}
#toc a {
	float: right;
	padding: 0 0 3px 2px;
}
#toc span {
	float: left;
	padding: 0 2px 3px 0;
}

With a short snippet of CSS, we remove the list-items, apply a background-image to each item, float navigation links to the left & apply a background-color to cover the background-image beneath, float the description to the right & apply a background-color to cover the background-image on the right, and finally clear each item with the br tag.

Download

The entire basic structure of and styling should take no longer than a few minutes, after which most of your time may be properly spent styling the navigation block to match your site. Check out a working sample or download the code pack directly above.

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Refreshed: Grid Focus

UPDATE #2: A variant of the Grid Focus is now available for download. Feel free to visit the project page for details.

UPDATE #1: I’ve since updated. Feel free to see a preview of Gridded Focus on Flickr.

I spent some time today today making use of some new Moleskine Gridded Journals, a mechanical pencil, TextMate, MAMP, and Transmit to get Grid Focus from paper to front page finished product in about 12 hours. I’d like to take the time to thank the amazing Mr. Vinh for helping me realize a few important points – via email, and Mr. Watson for allowing me to use the helpful grid background. Make sure to check out Vinh Khoi’s Grid Computing and design.

Moleskine Gridded Journal

I decided that it was time for a 5thirtyone.com refresh. For a number of months, I had successfully used and shared the October Special WordPress theme. Although the theme featured SEO optimization by Neil of Pronet Advertising, and a number of contextual advertisement placement opportunities, I was not content.

I wanted to be able to write – both shorts and longer entries. Due to the presentation of the theme, and my own anal-retentiveness, the layout demanded lengthy posts which matched or exceeded the height of the sidebar in order to look "balanced". Anyone who has or is using the theme will surely agree. The demand to write longer entries dissuaded me from updating the site on a regular basis – which explained the dry content periods.

So what was there to do? A full refresh. The creation of a layout that would be both forgiving and open to accepting shorter posts when laziness overcomes all that is blog-productive.

Grid Focus Screenshot

Inspired by content-rich grid focused sites such as the New York Times & Subtraction, the result is Grid Focus – a layout which imitates the background image used to aid in lining-up various elements.

Next on the blog house-cleaning list? The age-old question concerning time limited discussions (comments) on older posts. I’ve received a rather noticeable number of repeat comments on older posts due to some readers neglecting to take the time to read. I’ve contemplated this topic before, and find myself mulling over the idea again. I’ll follow-up the time-locked comments discussion with a realignment & refresh of older public themes and their distribution method(s).

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