Tomorrow I’ll be attending WordCamp Boston! I’ll be speaking about WordPress Security. I’m also giving an Ignite presentation on the top 20 WordPress plugins you’ve never heard of.

I’m looking forward to seeing many of my WordPress friends that I haven’t seen since WordCamp NYC. I’m also looking forward to meeting new people in the community, many of whom I’ve only spoken with over Twitter. One of the best things about working with WordPress is the community behind it and WordCamp is the best place to meet new friends and see old ones.

This will be my first trip to Boston since I was a little kid so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to watching the Colts win the AFC Championship in a Boston bar surrounded by Patriots fans. Hopefully I make it back alive! I’ll be sure to post both of my presentations from WordCamp Boston in my recap post when I return.

Popularity: 4% [?]

By StrangeWork.com: I’ve been receiving a lot of spam comments on my WordPress blog recently. I decided to increase my defenses and stop comment spam once and for all. Using the below three plugins you can virtually eliminate WordPress comment spam from your blog!

All plugins work with WordPress 2.5.1

Akismet – Most blog owners know of Akismet. Akismet is an excellent comment spam filter developed by the creators of WordPress and comes pre-installed on a WordPress blog. Akismet is 100% free for non-commercial use but does require an API key provided by their website.

Simple Trackback Validation Plugin – This plugin checks if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to. Basically if the trackback was sent by a spam bot, this plugin will detect it and block it.

Bad Behavior – This plugin is a PHP-based solution for blocking link spam and the robots which deliver it. Bad Behavior works with other link spam solutions by acting as a gatekeeper, preventing spammers from ever delivering their junk, and in many cases, from ever reading your site in the first place.

Using this three-pronged plugin approach will stop 99.9% of your comment spam. Now you can enjoy a spam free blog!

Popularity: 7% [?]

By StrangeWork.com: Have you ever come across a topic you wanted to blog about, but didn’t have time to write at that moment? So you put it off and come back to it later, right? Of course, but what happens if you forget about the original topic you wanted to post about? I’ve had this problem a few times, so decided to find a plugin to help me out. Enter the WordPress Todo List Plugin.

The Todo list plugin is a great way to help organize topics you want to write about. With it’s simple interface you can easily add and manage your own Todo list. The plugin also displays on your dashboard to help keep your Todo list fresh on your mind.

For easy access I created a bookmark directly to the add new item page for quick additions on the fly.

I highly recommend this plugin for anyone wanting to get more organized with blog topics.

Popularity: 10% [?]

I just added a new module to my sidebar to show my Twitter updates (stalker vision . The module is from a WordPress plugin called Twitter Tools create by Alex King.

The plugin is very easy to setup and only contains 1 necessary PHP file.

1. Download Twitter Tools Plugin for WordPress

2. Upload the Twitter Tools plugin into your plugins directory via FTP. From your root FTP folder the path would be: \wp-content\plugins\

3. Login to your WordPress blog admin account. The web address is by default: www.domain.com/wp-admin

4. Click on the Plugins tab at the top of your admin page.

5. Twitter Tools will be listed as a plugin, but will not be active. Click the “activate” link to enable Twitter Tools to run.

6. Click the “Configure your settings here” or from the Options tab > Twitter Tool

7. Save your Twitter.com username and password into the module. Your all set!

From the Twitter Tools admin page you can add and remove various options. Here’s a quick example:

Show Tweets/Updates on Sidebar

1. Open your Wordpress theme sidebar file called sidebar.php. From your root FTP folder the file would be located: \wp-content\themes\[YOUR THEME FOLDER]\sidebar.php

2. Add the following code anywhere you would like your Twitter tweets to appear:

<pre lang="php"><?php aktt_sidebar_tweets(); ?></pre>

Your tweets will automatically be displayed on your sidebar for everyone to see! For more features be sure to view the Help Documentation

Alex King created a solid Twitter plugin so be sure to support Alex.

Popularity: 8% [?]