This is a Podcasting 101 Series that will take you through the various phases of podcasting, beginning with the basics and working up towards the more advanced levels over the next few weeks. http://www.nmpnetwork.com

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WordPress 2.7 Delayed – Earlier this week, I sent an email to the WordPress hackers mailing list explaining how it was getting close to the beginning of November and we have yet to see a beta release of 2.7. Considering everything that has changed in the backend added with the features that have been implemented, I suggested that the new version will need at least a week in the publics hands in order to bake and have as many bugs discovered as possible. Ryan Boren, one of the lead developers of the WordPress project agrees which means WordPress 2.7 will be delayed from its scheduled November 10^th release date. As of right now, it looks like the release will be pushed back a week but no dates have been set in stone.

WordPess Meets LinkedIn –Those of you who have Linked In accounts will now have access to a WordPress application that is available from the LinkedIn Application directory. This app will allow your network of people to be notified of when you publish a new post. You can even opt to display your WordPress blog on your LinkedIn profile and your homepage where it will appear as a drag and drop module in the right-hand column. Like everything WordPress does, this application is open source. – http://publisherblog.automattic.com/2008/10/28/wordpress-for-linkedin/

Revolution 2 Launches – Brian Gardner who acclaimed success in the WordPress premium theme market has launched his new project called Revolution 2. These new themes are released under GPL and are open source meaning you can download and use them for free. So far, Brian has released 10 themes which range from a simple two column style design to a full blown magazine style. However, if you need theme support, you’ll have to purchase a support plan. If you’re in the market for a new theme, definitely give these ten a look through. – http://www.briangardner.com/blog/revolution-two-launches-early.htm

Plugin Of The Week – Moderator – Moderator is a combination of an Adobe Air application that can be run on your desktop and a WordPress plugin. Moderator enables users to moderate comments from their desktop instead of having to login to their WordPress administration area to handle that task. After installation, minimizing the desktop application will display a number in the Windows Taskbar which is the number of comments that are in the moderation queue. This is a very cool plugin and I think this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of doing administrative tasks to your WordPress blog from the desktop. – http://www.danieldura.com/code/moderator

Popularity: 19% [?]

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There is a lot of truth in the advice that credit cards are not a substitute for not having money. Every time you use a credit card this should be the theme replaying in your mind. And you would do good to remember the following too.

Do’s.

Always plan for the purchases that you need and those that you want. You need the essentials, and you want everything else. The ability of making a distinction might help you plan wisely.

If caught up in financial difficulties, it’s always good to talk to the issuer who might re-schedule your payments. If you simply default, that only helps to build up an unfavorable credit history and you might find yourself being denied credit next time.

Unless it is an emergency, staying within your credit limits will help you a great deal. If you must spend over the limit, ensure you are within the manageable levels, say within 30 percent.

And if your mails are flushed with more favorite deals than you currently are enjoying, you may approach your issuer for a better deal. They want to retain you as their customer, so they will listen.

Dont’s

Do not use your credit card to make house hold purchases. It’s expensive in the long run

Do not just pay the minimal amount. You will end up paying exorbitant interest. The quicker you clear the debt the better.

Do not use the credit card to purchase things you can’t afford.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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The Chinese are credited with coming up with numerous inventions including gunpowder, umbrellas, chopsticks, paper and paper money.

Lamentably, (from Chinese point of view) the honors of coming up with plastic money went with early American capitalists.

From the time John Biggins, the inventor of a first bank issued card, had his first eureka moment in 1946, credit cards have evolved to become one of the most versatile ways of paying, and this is why.

Once issued with one, the need to carry around unsafe, dirty and bulky cash is significantly diminished. I say diminished because some small scale merchants (who perhaps are scared of technology) will still insist on being paid in cash. Further, credit cards enables you to build up a credit history, but only if you always pay on time.

In some countries such as UK, if you buy goods using a credit card and the goods turn out to be faulty, they are usually insured for a period of time, say two months, and you can be indemnified even for total loss. Credit cards are safe, and even if gun-totting miscreants help themselves to your wallet, you can make hit back by simply calling the credit card company and canceling the stolen card. Another thing going for credit cards is that you can keep track of your transactions, and it’s thus easy to keep track of your expenditure.

I could go on and on, and whatever the doomsday prophets say, plastic money is here to stay.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Before you take out a home loan or make any major purchase, you should be aware that any prospective lender will want to take a look at your credit report. Your credit report is a record of all of your past financial dealings, and any loans, credit cards, judgements, bankruptcies or other major financial transactions are listed there. Along with your credit report will come your credit score, which is a three digit number between 300 and 850 that represents a distillation of all of the above. That score represents your entire financial life, and your ability to obtain financing for any major purchase depends on having a good one. What if you don’t have a good record? Should you go to one of those companies that promise to repair your credit? What you should do is repair it yourself.

The idea of credit repair is a myth. There is no magic solution to fixing problem credit, and any company that promises to do so is only interested in your cash. Your credit report and score are maintained by three separate credit bureaus that keep pretty accurate accounts of all financial dealings done under your Social Security number. There is no way to quickly “fix” a faulty credit report. You can, however, fix it yourself and fix it for free. It just takes time.

The way to repair your credit record is to start paying your bills on time and paying off your debt. More than one third of your credit score is determined by your past ability to pay bills and to pay them on time. Start doing so now. It may take a year or two, but steadily paying your bills without making any late payments goes a long way towards repairing a credit score. Another third of your score is determined by your ratio of debt to available credit. If your credit cards are maxed out, you need to pay off or pay down your balances. It’s tough to obtain a loan when you are already in debt to the gills.

Stop using your credit cards, if possible. Don’t cancel them; just stop using them, particularly if you have a balance to pay off. You want to reduce your debt. Pay cash when you can. And check your credit report for problems. You can obtain a copy for free from the free credit report Website.

Repairing your credit record takes time and discipline. There is no quick solution other than paying your bills, paying them on time, and waiting for the damage to heal. After that, you should be in good shape to obtain your home or car of your dreams.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Most consumers are aware that a history of paying bills late or not at all can hurt one’s ability to obtain a loan. All financial transactions are recorded by three credit bureaus and offered to lenders upon request in the form of a credit report. That report contains the all-important credit score, which determines whether or not the borrower is a good risk for a loan. If you have a poor payment history, you could be out of luck when you try to obtain a loan. The same applies if there are errors on your credit report that suggest that you may pose a greater risk to the lender than you really do. Traditionally, it has taken months to straighten out problems on a credit report, and borrowers who are eager to close on a mortgage or home equity loan may not have months to wait. What can be done? A relatively new mortgage-related product known as rapid rescoring can, in some instances, fix problems on a credit report in as little as three days.

We have covered the topic of credit repair in previous articles. The notion that there are companies that can fix bad credit reports is a myth. If you have a history of not paying your bills, no company you can hire can make that particular problem go away. The only way to fix that is to become responsible, pay your bills and retire your credit card balances. On the other hand, if you find yourself ready to buy a home and suddenly discover that there is an error on your credit report that will impair your ability to qualify for a loan or your ability to obtain a good interest rate, there may be a solution. Companies that specialize in rapid rescoring work with both lenders and the credit bureaus to expedite the process of removing errors from a credit report. It’s not magic; you will need to provide written proof that the error is legitimate, but once you submit it to your lender, they can pass it on to the rescoring company, who will handle the rest of the transaction. The process is often completed in three business days, although it can sometimes take as long as two weeks. Still, that’s a tremendous improvement over the one to three months it may have taken in the past.

Rapid rescoring has turned out to be a lucrative business for the companies that specialize in it, and lenders love it because it helps more buyers qualify for loans. While it is a nice service to have available, most consumers would be better off preventing such errors in the first place. The best way to do that is to regularly check your credit report for errors and keep it up to date. You can obtain a copy for free from the free credit report Website. In a pinch, however, rapid rescoring has been a tremendous last-minute tool for saving borrowers from being turned away from the house of their dreams.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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If your credit is messed-up like mine use to be and you are thinking of doing something about it.It’s time to stop just thinking and do something about.Do you know the longer you wait to start fixing your credit,the worst it get and it take longer to repair your credit

It is not my place or goal to make ethical decisions for anyone.But to provide you with the credit repair information you need to make an informed decision It’s the decision of the person whose family can’t buy a home, or a new car, or get credit cards– and with numerous derogatory credit items often if they can get these things– the interest rates are so high they can’t make the payments…

We know that bad things happen to good people. Maybe you got injured or sick and couldn’t work, or co-signed and the creditor didn’t tell you that the payments weren’t being made, or you were a victim of credit fraud, or maybe you just got in over your head and now your creditors and the bureaus are making you and your family pay for that mistake….not to mention the money you are paying because you need credit repair

Thanks to the many laws that have been enacted by our government for your benefit,, It is often easier and cheaper for a creditor or bureau to remove a derogatory item than it is to fight it. For them to successfully argue that a debt is yours requires them to find the “original” document and original signature. If the original document is in a warehouse in Alabama, it could get very costly and time consuming to find. And remember, if they can’t find it and verify it within 30 days, it must be removed. Few creditors will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars in man hours to find a signature to prove you owe them money that they know they will never receive anyway.

Learn how to get good credit by improving your credit scores and removing bad credit. Fixing your bad credit is possible, simple, and legal! If you have debts that are affecting your credit scores and your ability to buy a home, a car, or get personal loans, etc… You really only have 3 choices…

{1} Pay Your Creditors
{2} File Bankruptcy
{3}Fix Your Credit

Stop thinking and do something!
The very worst thing you can do is to Do Nothing!

Popularity: 1% [?]

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I was searching around today for a way to use Tweetburner more with my blog posts and came across this plugin for WordPress that takes Twitter Tools by Alex King and adds the Tweetburner support to it.

This plugin is a modified version of the Twitter-tools plugin, written by Alex King. Twitter Tools is a plugin that creates a complete integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. One of those features is tweeting you’re blogposts to Twitter. The URL’s of your blog posts are translated to TinyURL’s by Twitter, to stay within 140 characters. This modified plugin uses Tweetburner.com to shorten the URL’s.

What is Tweetburner.com?

Tweetburner.com lets you track what happens with the links you share on Twitter, and shortens it on the way too. For example http://trebel.nl/blog/2008/03/28/wordpress-plugin-voor-tweetburnercom/is translated into http://twurl.nl/ybetg8 and they offer personal statistics for tracking the clicks and shares of your ‘twurls’.

This is a modified version of Twitter Tools, so if you already have Twitter Tools installed, you will want to uninstall it first before installing and activating this plugin. It will replace your current version of Twitter Tools and also give you the Tweetburner capability.

You can pickup this modified plugin at http://rebelic.nl/tweetburnercom-plugin/

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Several months ago, I started simulcasting my Friday Night Shows on video services, such as uStream and Stickam. Over time, there have been a number of issues with these services and recently, I started simulcasting again after being off video for a time. What I have found, at least for my purposes, is that none of these video streaming services can handle 1 to 2 hour long sessions, reasonably.

Last week, I recorded my show using Stickam. The recording went well, or at least, seemed to, and it even let me save my recording. All was good until I went to look at the saved recording and oops! it was gone! Not even an archived copy, nothing, as though I had not even attempted a recording at all! At least with uStream, I had something I could look at, however, it was usually in segments and not a complete show.

Anyway, I have decided to drop the video all together for now and concentrate on the audio podcasting for the show. Making the audio better, more music beds, etc. and not worry about doing video, with the exception of the occasional YouTube video or screencast.

I will talk more about this on my next episode of Podcaster Training so that I can better explain exactly what is going on here, so that I don’t discourage someone from doing video. That is not my goal here. My goal here is to keep you informed as to what is happening on my show and I will continue to keep up with the video streaming services and when they are more up to par with what I am doing, then try it again!

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Popularity: 12% [?]

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I have been using WordPress for some time now, and thought I would talk about just one of the plugins I use currently called PingpressFM. If you are familiar with the service called Ping.fm, and you use this service for microblogging updates to sites such as Twitter, Tumblr and others, and you also run a WordPress blog, then this is the plugin for you!

Now, if you use Ping.fm, you know you can go there and input up to 140 characters, including links, and it will send out to the various services that you are subscribed to, automatically. PingpressFM works the same way by accessing Ping.fm and sending your blog post title to each of the services you subscribe to along with the permalink to the blog post. In this way, you don’t have to make a separate post to Ping.fm or your other microblogging services as this plugin does it for you as soon as you publish your post.

You can download this plugin from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pingpressfm/

Popularity: 10% [?]