New WordPress Podcast: WP Late Night Starts Tonight!


There’s a new WordPress Podcast in town: WP Late Night. Hosted by yours truly, along with Dre Armeda (Sucuri.net) and Ryan Imel (WPCandy.com), WP Late Night will be a bi-weekly live streaming video podcast all about WordPress!

I’ve been itching to get involved with another WordPress podcast for some time now. I had such a great time on the WordPress Weekly show with Jeffro that I knew it was only a matter of time until it happened. The show will be live streaming tonight (Wednesday) at 8pm EST. You can watch the show live on the WPCandy Stream page.

For more information on the show, and ways to participate, make sure you check out the WPCandy.com announcement post.

End of an Era – My Final SitePoint Podcast Episode


If you haven’t heard by now, I have officially stepped down from the SitePoint Podcast. My final episode was released on November 11th, 2011. This episode was released exactly 3 years and 1 day after the first episode of the SitePoint podcast, which was released on November 10th, 2008. I still can’t believe it’s been three years since the launch of the show.

The initial talks about starting a SitePoint podcast actually began over a year before the first episode was released. It took a full year to organize, plan, prepare, and record the first show.

I’ve had an amazing time recording the show over the years. We recorded a live show at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas 2010. I did some really fun interviews with Matt Mullenweg (of WordPress), Andy Peatling (of BuddyPress), Roy Rubin (of Magento), and multiple SitePoint book authors. We even won the Podcast of the Year award in 2010 by .Net Magazine!

Aside from the great shows we’ve recorded over the years, what I’ll miss most is chatting with my friends every few weeks. I’ve developed a strong friendship with Patrick and Stephan over the past few years that, as Patrick put it, extends far beyond the show. It’s been fun watching all of us grow, personally and professionally, since the start of the show.

It’s going to be strange not being on the show, but as they say all good things must come to an end. I’m confident this isn’t the end of podcasting for me, just the end of this chapter of my podcasting career. Until the next chapter!

Live SitePoint Podcast at BlogWorld Expo 2010!


Thursday kicks off BlogWorld Expo 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year the entire SitePoint Podcast team (including myself) will be doing a live show! The live show is scheduled for Friday, October 15th at 2:00PM Pacific Time. If you are attending BlogWorld make sure you stop by and say hi to the podcast team!

If you can’t attend BlogWorld this year, don’t worry! The show will be livestreamed on the SitePoint Podcast’s USTREAM channel. It will also be released in the podcast feed as usual next week.

I am also doing a book signing for Professional WordPress at the event!

SitePoint Podcast Interview for Professional WordPress


Last week Hal Stern, David Damstra, and myself had the privilege of being interviewed on the SitePoint Podcast for our new book Professional WordPress!SitePoint Logo

I had a great time discussing our book with hosts Patrick O’Keefe and Stephan Segraves. We covered many different topics including how the book came to be, what separates our book from the rest, and how our book is a solid compliment to the Codex. We also had a great discussion about the difference between a WordPress Theme and a Theme Framework, which I think a lot of people are still a little confused by.

Professional WordPress Book CoverIt’s a little strange being on the other side of the interview table, but I’m starting to get use to it. Promoting a book is a lot of work, but in the end the payoff is well worth it. If you haven’t had a chance to order this book what are you waiting for? Order a copy today and support your favorite WordPress developers!

Also be sure to subscribe to the SitePoint Podcast, which I’m a regular co-host on, if you haven’t already! We discuss the latest news and happenings in the world of web development and design.

My Interview on the WordPress Weekly Podcast


Yesterday I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jeff Chandler on the WordPress Weekly Podcast! It was great to be back on the show, even though the spotlight was on me this time. I’ve been participating on the WP Weekly podcast since the start (episode 1) so it was fun to reminisce a bit about how we both started into WordPress and how the podcast came to be.

Hal Stern also joined in at the beginning of the show to discuss our new book, Professional WordPress. Jeff and I also discussed many different topics including the challenges of running a business around open source, secret projects in the works, my thoughts on WordPress and how it compares to other open source CMS solutions, and much more! Be sure to check out the episode and let me know how I did!

WordPress Weekly Podcast Episode 40


On Friday I joined Jeff and Keith for episode 40 of the WordPress Weekly podcast.

WordPress Weekly podcast logoI joined the hosts at the beginning of the show to discuss a couple topics. The first topic was the freshly released WordPress MU 2.7 final. The second topic was the BuddyPress beta 2 that was released earlier in the week. I’ve had some lengthy exposure to both so it was fun to chat with the guys about my experiences.

Starting next week WordPress Weekly is moving to WPTavern.com, the new WordPress centered community created by Jeff Chandler. I wrote a guest post for Jeff last week titled The Bittersweet Taste of Bleeding Edge Software. The community is really starting to grow so if you haven’t already head over to the Tavern and get signed up! You’ll learn something, guaranteed!

The End of Nerd Week


This past week was an insanely busy nerd week for me.

On Tuesday I recorded the 7th episode of the SitePoint Podcast with special guest host Sarah Milstein. We dedicated the episode to talking about Twitter and the many uses it has, both personal and business.

On Wednesday my business partner and I attended the New York WordPress Meetup for a presentation by Johnathan Andersen on WordPress as a CMS: The Strategy of Content Publishing. Johnathan did a great job presenting how he utilizes various plugins and custom fields to transform WordPress into a CMS.

On Friday I joined Jeff Chandler on the WordPress Weekly Podcast to ask Dan Milward of the WP E-Commerce plugin some questions. It was a fun show and I’m looking forward to getting back to the round table discussions like the earlier days of the podcast.

I’ve also been pretty active on the WP Tavern Forums. WPTavern.com is a new site started by Jeff Chandler of WordPress Weekly with a focus on all topics WordPress. It’s a great site for sharing your experiences with WordPress and learning lots of valuable information. Get registered and get involved!

Oh and did I mention my company launched two new website redesigns in Thesis? MattBites.com and RetroRenovation.com. MattBites.com was migrated from TypePad and launched with WordPress and a fresh clean look provided by the Thesis theme. RetroRenovation.com was redesigned using Thesis with help from Kenneth Smith. Both sites look amazing and we are really excited to see them go live!

This has been an awesome nerd week and I hope to have many more like it!

Official SitePoint Podcast Launches


By StrangeWork.com: I’m excited to announced to launch of the Official SitePoint Podcast, which I am a co-host on!

SitePoint Podcast LogoWe have been working on this podcast behind the scenes for over a year now, so I’m extremely excited to see the show finally launch! I’m joined on the show by some really talented and knowledgeable friends from Sitepoint: Patrick O’Keefe, Stephan Segraves, and Kevin Yank.

The SitePoint Podcast will feature top news headlines as related to Web Developers and Designers. We will also feature a main discussion topic each episode. New episodes will be released bi-weekly. On the first episode we discuss how the Internet industry is affected by the current economy situation we are facing worldwide.

This is a new and exciting venture for me and SitePoint, so I’m anxious to see how it’s received. Take a listen and be sure to post comments and feedback on the blog post at SitePoint.

Gillmor Gang and my Identi.ca Twitter Bridge


By StrangeWork.com: Today I joined Steve Gillmor on his IT podcast The Gillmor Gang to talk about my new Identi.ca Twitter Bridge! Also on the show were Marc Canter (Broadband Mechanics), Evan Prodromou (Identi.ca), and Kevin Marks (Google).

Gillmor Gang IT Podcast LogoOn Monday I decided to make the switch to Identi.ca full time, but to do this I needed a way to post messages from Identi.ca to my Twitter account. After searching for a solution that would fit my needs for a bit I decided to just create one, thus the Identi.ca Twitter Bridge was born.

Steve Gillmor registered shortly after the application launched. I didn’t know at the time, but Steve hadn’t updated Twitter in over a month. Now he was sending all of his Identi.ca updates to Twitter. Steve was pretty vocal about his thoughts on the app, which was great. As a developer I always want to hear feedback on applications I build and launch. Having someone at Steve’s level review an application I created was a real treat!

Identi.ca Microblogging LogoI joined in the later half of the show and talked about my application, how it works, and where it is going. I also spoke on some new features that will be implemented, including the option to disable @replies on posts to Twitter. Steve isn’t a fan of this feature (bug as he calls it) and decided to deactivate his account. I respect Steve’s decision, but as a developer I have to give the users some flexibility with options. Not all users are the same, so I have always programmed to please the majority.

Steve also mentioned he is in the early stages of organizing a Microblogging conference and extended an invitation to me! I think a central gathering of techies to help define what Microblogging is and where it needs to go in the future is an excellent idea! I also hope they have developer specific sessions as well, and if so I’ll probably submit to be a panel member of some sort.

WordPress Weekly Podcast Records Tomorrow


By StrangeWork.com: I’ve been invited by Jeffro to participate in a weekly podcast on TalkShoe.com called WordPress Weekly.

WordPress Weekly Podcast on TalkShoe.comWordPress Weekly will discuss WordPress related news, tips and tricks for using WordPress, plugins, updates, and everything else involving WordPress. We will be recording new episodes every Friday evening at 9PM EST on TalkShoe.com.

Be sure to join us during the live taping of WordPress Weekly and get involved! Call in to the show and ask questions, give suggestions, or tell us about your experiences with WordPress.

We plan on having a great time and I’m sure it will be entertaining. Hope to see you there!

WordPress Weekly TalkShoe Information:

Talkcast Name: WordPress Weekly
Talkcast ID: 34224
Phone Number: 724-444-7444