The BookArc for iPad is a thing of beauty. It’s gorgeous to look at and a perfect companion for the iPad. If you’re considering getting the Apple iPad dock, skip it. Get this instead. It works in portrait or landscape. It’s sturdy. It doubles as a halfpipe for pixies when turned upside down.

You need it.

Horizontal Button:

Tweet

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" data-count="horizontal" data-text="Check out <?php the_title(); ?> on < ?php bloginfo( 'name' ); ?>" data-via="cdharrison">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Vertical Button:

Tweet

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" data-count="vertical" data-text="Check out <?php the_title(); ?> on < ?php bloginfo( 'name' ); ?>" data-via="cdharrison">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Simple, No-Count Button:

Tweet

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" data-count="none" data-text="Check out <?php the_title(); ?> on < ?php bloginfo( 'name' ); ?>" data-via="cdharrison">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Customizing Output:

• Change out data-via="cdharrison" to your your own Twitter handle.
• The inclusion of data-text="Check out < ?php the_title(); ?> on < ?php bloginfo( 'name' ); ?>" isn’t necessary, but it’ll give you greater control over the intial text.
• I’ve added these to my sidebar.php (and are only displayed on pages using my single.php template) but this can be customized to be included on pages, archive pages, etc.

Updates:

• rawurlencode(get_permalink()); isn’t necessary and can actually cause the widget to report incorrectly if placed outside of the loop. Fixed code examples.

<?php
	$numposts = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE (post_status = 'publish' AND post_type = 'listing')");
	if (0 < $numposts) $numposts = number_format($numposts);
?>

Simply replace post_type = 'listing' with whatever you’ve named your custom post type. Then, to get the number to display somewhere on your page, simply insert the following code where appropriate:

<?php echo $numposts ?>

8-Point Flower is the first of several pattern packs I’ll be releasing over the next few weeks. (If you like these, please let me know!) It’s inspired by Islamic geometric patterns (which are pretty fascinating/incredible, I might add).  The zip file contains: 6 PNGs (2 transparent versions not shown); Adobe Illustrator CS5 (.ai) files – single block or large pattern; and a Photoshop CS5 (.psd) file. Older versions of Illustrator or Photoshop should open the files. Best of all: It’s free and it’s licensed under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

Grab Pattern Pack 01

Using Datasets in Photoshop

I’ve got a lot more weight to lose. So much so that I’m starting to consider seriously trying to get on The Biggest Loser or gastric bypass surgery. I refuse to give up. That’d be the easy way. I’ve got a long way to go and I’ve only just begun. I need to push myself harder. I need to be more realistic about what I can and cannot eat.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

I hope she made it to hers. I hope she’ll pay it forward.

So about those Extensions… They ability to add them isn’t turned on by default. (Probably because your average user doesn’t even know what extensions are, what they can do, etc.) But it’s easy enough to turn on:

1. Open up your Safari Prefences and click on Advanced.
2. Select the checkbox next to ‘Show Develop menu in menu bar’.
3. From the newly appeared Develop menu, select ‘Enable Extensions’.
4. A great place to find extensions is http://safariextensions.tumblr.com/ – It’s not an official resource, but I’m sure that’ll come in time.
5. Install extensions. Enjoy!

(I’d love to see Chris Pederick’s Web Developer extension – which is available for both Firefox and Chrome – ported over to Safari 5!)

Follow me on Rdio.

There are three ways to use Rdio: a mobile app (Blackberry, Android or iPhone), a desktop (AIR) app, or via the web. I downloaded the AIR app and synced my local library. (It checks to see if songs you have are available on Rdio. It doesn’t actually upload your files.) Your friends can then see what kind of music you listen to you. As you add friends you’ll start seeing what’s hot in your network’s rotation. This is arguably the most interesting aspect of Rdio. As you add songs to your Collection or to playlists, your friends will see this in a social stream.

Pros:

• Subscription plans are flexible. Either opt for web-only for $4.99/month or $9.99 for mobile access + sync.
• It’s easy to discover new music based on what your friends are listening to.
• If you’re listening to something via web browser and open the AIR app, it matches what’s playing in the browser. (You can then close that tab or browser window.)
• Listen to your music anywhere.
• Add any song to your collection.
• Last.fm scrobbling supported!

Cons:

• There is no free plan. Competitors like Pandora or Last.fm have free plans. You can try Rdio for three days, but after that you have to choose a subscription.
• The AIR apps “Match Collection” feature revealed that only about half of my library was available through Rdio. If you have a large collection of music, Rdio may not have everything available.
• I found a lot of albums had Clips only. I’m sure this will get fixed in time.
• US only. For now.
• As far as I can tell, there is no way to play a collection or playlist from the AIR app. If you hit play, it plays from your Queue. If you want to listen to anything else, you have to initiate it through the website first.

So, should you subscribe to Rdio? I’m still torn. Are you using it? Do you plan to subscribe? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Oh. And I have one invite left. ;) If you’re itching to check Rdio out, tell me why. Best answer gets it.