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WordPress 3.0: No more JPEG Support

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Beware, April Fool!

Of course WordPress will continue to “support” the JPEG format; after all, image rendering is the browser's job, the CMS is not involved when it comes to the actual rendering of images. This is my first April fool on my English blog. :saint: I've been doing this for a while on my German blog datenschmutz. Have you spotted any april fool postings on your favorite blogs? Please leave a comment, I'm curious!

Last Week Matt Mullenweg announced on his blog, that the upcoming WordPress 3.0 version drop the support for the JPEG file format. Increasing license costs and Microsoft's announcement to include SVG support in Internet Explorer 9 were the main reasons for this decision:

With the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 there is no more need for jpg – Microsoft finally embraces the SVG standard, thus helping to make the web a much more open place. JPEG does have some advantages, but they are simply out-weighed by the license costs.

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Apple iStore limits: How Pixelpipe got kicked

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If you refuse to play by Apple's rules, you have to leave the store. The popular Pixelpipe application was removed last week simply because the developers dared to scan the contents of the DCIM-folder, which enables the users to select multiple pictures (or videos) at once. Even though this folder simply contains the user's own photos, Apple requires to use the official (single-select) API. Weird and sad but true: the software was removed after a third party programmer had filed a complaint. Read more

datadirt Geek Supplies: Background-Template for formspring

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Foursquare.com is getting gold: hype-searching geeks are moving on, and these days their favorite URL is formspring.me: it's a really simple q-and-a platform – kind of like Twitter, but without the 140 character limit. The service lacks a lot features, it's still in a pretty early stage, which didn't keep me from registering though: formspring.me/datadirt.

formspring.meThe setup just takes a minute: like on Twitter, there's the avatar pic, the homepage URL, a short description and that's it. When it comes to eye candy, formspring.me offers a couple of templates, but the more brand-aware user can also upload their own background pic – now in 2 minutes, because I've compiled a Photoshop-template that speeds up the process of creating a custom formspring template a lot. Read more

How to convert and upload PDF-files to the Amazon Kindle for free

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GermanThis posting is also available in German.

After reading Max' rather euphoric review about the new Amazon Kindle 2 ebook reader, I also ordered the international version of the always-on e-ink reader. The hardware is pretty okay for this price (around ?200), so I was willing to put my fear of proprietary DRM-systems aside for once. Today UPS delivered my device, but the initial happiness about the hardware wouldn't last too long – to be exact, it abruptly ended when I found out there is no way to view PDF-files on the Kindle. After a little online research I discovered an acceptable workflow to upload my PDF-ebooks to the reader: MobiPocket Creator, a free ebook conversion software, turns PDF-files into PCRs, which can be organized and displayed with the Kindle.

Amazon Kindle

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