WordPress 2.6 has been released and I’ve updated the site with it. I’ve also updated a number of the plug-ins I use on the site. If you experience any issues, please let me know.

The server that Gizmo Lovers lives on is making a physical move today, starting around 08:30 Eastern. So the site will be off-line for a bit, probably about an hour.

I just realized that Sunday’s post on the cable ‘Auto-Flip’ for TiVo software was post number 2,500 for Gizmo Lovers. I’m a little stunned by that, actually. I can’t believe we have that many posts already.

Even more stunning to me is that, at the end of May 2008 we had 2,498 posts, at the end of May 2007 we had 1,278 posts, and at the end of May 2006, 792 posts, May 2005, 367 posts, and May 2004, 86 posts. And May 2003? 10 posts – the first post was in April, 2003. That means year over year the pace of posting has been increasing – June 2003 through May 2004: 76 posts, 2004-2005: 281, 2005-2006: 425, 2006-2007: 486, and 2007-2008: 1,220 posts!

Hey, I suppose that means April was kind of the fifth anniversary of the site too. How about that. I can’t believe it has been five years either. Yeah, the site hasn’t existed in its current incarnation that long, but the foundations upon which the site is built have.

No wonder I often feel a bit tired. I don’t want to think about how much time those posts represent. There have definitely been days when I’ve asked myself “Why the hell do I do this?” But running the site has largely been a labor of love, and I appreciate all of you, the readers, for reading these posts. A special thanks to those who comment, since it helps me feel like I’m not just talking to myself.

And thank you to the companies, like TiVo and Sling Media, who have allowed us to review their products and given us sneak peaks before release. That’s one of the fun parts of running the site. I certainly hope to be able to bring you more product reviews in the future. (And if you have a product you think we should review, contact us.) Running this site has given me the opportunity to talk with people I never would’ve had the chance to talk with otherwise, company representatives, other bloggers, members of the media, etc. I’m thankful for those opportunities and experiences.

Thank you to the other bloggers who have offered me tips, tricks, and advice to help improve the site and our coverage. And I especially want to single out Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny, Alex Raiano of TiVo Blog, Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD, and Brad Linder of PVR Wire. We’ve had repeated contacts via phone, email, IM, Twitter, in person, etc. over the past few years. The blogging community really is a community. (I always dread making a list like that, for fear that I’ll forget someone and unintentionally slight them.)

Thanks also to Ben and Mark, our recent blogger additions, for their contributions to the site, and for contributions yet to come.

This is by no means comprehensive, there have been countless people who have contributed to the site, directly and indirectly, via personal contact, email, comments, posts on other blogs, boards, groups, and forums, etc. I could never list them all. I certainly couldn’t have carried the site this far all on my own.

But most of all, again, thank you to all of the readers who continue to read the words we put out there. Without the readers there wouldn’t really be a point to the site in the first place. So thank you, and I hope that you continue to read an enjoy the site. And leave a comment now and then just so we know you’re out there in the wilds of the Internet.

Thanks to everyone, and I’ll do my best to make it worth sticking around for the next 2,500 posts. (At this rate, that could be next year! OK, probably not, unless I somehow start doing this full time.)

Just minutes after I posted this I got an email from Gerry. Seems he was out of town for the weekend and hadn’t caught up on his email – but he was catching up on his blogs, and he saw this post. So, sorry, Gerry is getting his TiVo HD – well, he said it is for his mom (that’s very nice, isn’t it?) – so there won’t be a second drawing.

---

Well, this is kind of unexpected. I haven’t heard from the TiVo HD giveaway winner, GerryL. I emailed him (I’m assuming a he given the name) immediately after I selected the winner. Then again on Monday. And just now I emailed saying if I didn’t hear back by 8PM Eastern tonight I was going to have to select another winner, as the TiVo Rewards Program ends tomorrow and I don’t want the points going to waste. I did warn in the contest post that if I couldn’t contact the winner I’d have to select another.

So, GerryL has just over four hours in which to contact me or he forfeits the TiVo HD and it goes to someone else. I certainly hope the new winner is watching their email, as the program official ends at 11:59PM ET tomorrow, May 28, 2008. So I think I’ll give the second winner, if drawn, until noon to get back to me. And then I’ll have to draw a third, and if the third, if drawn, doesn’t get back to me by 8PM I’ll just give up and give it to a friend or something rather than see the points go to waste.

I really never expected it to come to this, and I hope it doesn’t – four more hours.

GerryL!

Gerry won with this comment, congratulations Gerry! And thank you to everyone who entered, I wish I had a TiVo HD to give each of you. While the TiVo Rewards program is ending, TiVo is planning to launch a new incentive program in the coming months, so I hope to continue doing giveaways in the future.

I hope you’ll all stick around and that you enjoy the blog.

Gerry, I’ve already emailed you – please reply ASAP so I can claim the reward for you before the program ends.

If you’re curious, it is a random drawing:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -Tw

my $draw = int rand(374);
print $draw . "\n";

You’ve got one day left to enter to win a TiVo HD. The deadline is Friday at midnight (Eastern). Enter now or forever hold your peace.

I can never leave things alone, and that includes my WordPress installation. I make a few changes to WordPress to get to to suit my needs and preferences a bit better than it does ‘out of the box’. For example, I don’t used the advanced editor (TinyMCE) because I prefer doing my markup by hand. But I do use some of the simple editor buttons on the basic editor, and I change them to better suit me – for example, I have the ‘img’ button prompt me not only for the URL and alt text, but also the width, height, and border, because I always include those. So I thought I’d share the diffs between WP2.5.1 and my changes, simple as they are. As well as some tweaks to the Sociable and reCAPTCHA plug-ins.

I’ll put this under a cut since it is long, and not interesting to most I suspect. Though I hope that this might encourage other WP users to try getting their hands dirty and tweaking things a bit.
Read the rest of this entry »

Overnight I upgraded the site to the latest version of WordPress, 2.5.1, as well as updating a slew of the plug-ins. (If you run a WordPress site, you owe it to yourself to check out Admin Drop Down Menus. I can’t recommend it enough.) If you notice any issues, please let me know. Thanks.

PS. Don’t forget the Style Selector in the upper-right for those of you who dislike the green-on-black color scheme.

Don’t forget, there is one week left to enter to win a TiVo HD.

This is it! The TiVo Rewards Program ends on May 28, 2008. That’s the last day to redeem points. And we have just enough points for one last big giveaway! This time we’re giving away another TiVo HD!¹ And ANYONE can win!

I’ll accept entries until midnight EST Friday, May 23, 2008 – that’s two weeks from now. Entering couldn’t be simpler – just leave a comment. That’s right – all it takes is a comment, and one comment only. Take note – if you leave multiple comments you’ll be disqualified.

Also, you MUST enter a valid email address in the email box when you comment. That is how I will contact the winner to get their shipping info. I won’t even consider entries without a valid email address. Don’t worry, they aren’t used for anything else. Since there will only five days to claim to prize after the end of the contest, if I can’t contact the winner, I will have to pick another. So make sure you enter your email correctly.

Now, get to entering and good luck!

¹If you already have a TiVo HD or a Series3 you can optionally take the WD My DVR Expander and a TiVo Glo remote instead of the TiVo HD.