Ben Meredith, Author at BenandJacq in the Browser

November 29, 2014January 8, 2015

The Best Wireless Company Just Got Better!

I love Republic Wireless. Give me 10 minutes of your time to convince you why you should switch from one of the “big name” wireless companies, and I will work hard to do just that. I’ll take 30 minutes if that’s what it requires.

The only frustration as a participant (active!) in the refer-a-friend program is that every few months it feels like they shut down the program and overhaul it. I’ve missed at least two referral bonuses because they recently (as of October 31st most recently) shuttered the program.

So in light of the program being shut down, and me missing some referrals, I have now transferred my link (http://benlikes.us/republic for those keeping score at home) to a simple affiliate link. This means, dear reader, you no longer get $20 off for using my link. But you’ll still get $1000 off per year, so that’s something.

I get paid a small commission for every person who uses my link and signs up for service, but it doesn’t increase the cost to you at all.

They’ve recently announced that they’ll be releasing the new Moto X (2014 edition) as an option, which is phenomenal. Reading the reviews around the web, you’ll soon see that the new Moto X is an upgrade in every way from the already-good first generation X.

It’ll be available for order on December 10th. Why not use my link to start saving $1,000?

Have you seen the new Moto X on Republic Wireless? Save thousands! http://benlikes.us/republic Share on X

December 4, 2014January 8, 2015

Phone lessons: How I’ve used stickers to make my smartphone even smarter.

When I place my phone on the little sticker on the top of my bicycle saddle, I hear a pleasant little “blu-doomp!” that tells me the following sequence has been triggered:

Send my wife a text that says “Just got on my bike”
Open the Map My Ride application.
Tap the “start workout” button.

Once I hear the “blu-doomp!” indicator, I watch my phone for 1.5 seconds until the workout starts, then put the phone back in my pocket (or my amazing Novara Gotham Rack Trunk from REI) and take off.

Photo of bicycle saddle with NFC sticker — That little beauty there on the seat works all the magic.

The smartphone in my pocket (a Republic Wireless 1st generation Moto X) has an astounding amount of computing power. The one in your pocket does, too.

The one thing that computers do better than anything else is speed up repetitive tasks. You can tell a computer using one line of code to copy the paragraph you are currently reading 1,000 times, outlining each paragraph with a different-colored box, and it’ll be finished before you get done reading the paragraph the first time.

Computers are good at repetition.

App developers seem allergic to harnessing that power as it relates to end user experience and NFC, most likely because geeks like me are the only ones who put in the time to get it set up.

(As an aside, the market is ripe with need of an open-source standard uniting the internet of things with the internet in our pocket. I doubt any of the Googles or Apples or Microsofts in today’s world could pull it off. It’ll have to be a newcomer. But that’s another post entirely.)

The magic of NFC (Near Field Communication, or the technology powering the little sticker on my bike) has not taken mass-market hold as I’d imagined it would by now, apart from Apple Pay and Google Wallet with their 45 minutes of fame earlier this year.

Have you made your smartphone smarter? Use stickers! Share on X

You can do a nearly infinite number of things with NFC stickers. Here’s my top-of-the-head starter list:

A sticker in your car that sends a text to your spouse that says “just got in the car” (I use that one), while opening the navigation app and beginning to play music from your most recent playlist.
A sticker on your nightstand that puts your phone on vibrate, turns off cellular data, and opens the alarm clock app for you to confirm wake-up time.
A corresponding sticker placed on the way out the door to turn on cellular data, launch your podcast app, or load up a live traffic app.
A sticker on your desk at work that toggles between “Home” and “Work” profiles.
A sticker on a keychain that automatically toggles you between “on the clock” and “off the clock” for an app like Freshbooks for freelancers.
A sticker that places a call to your mom in a spot you see about every other day, to remind you you haven’t talked to her in a while.

I recommend the Trigger app, to make even a newbie Android user into an automation guru, if you’re willing to put in the minimal time.

Or, if you’re local, I’m more than happy to get your automation set up. Contact me for an estimate on what you want automated.

You should start using that super-computer in your pocket like it was designed to be.

January 8, 2015November 5, 2015

Better Click To Tweet: My Second WordPress Plugin

Better Click to Tweet is my second official plugin in the WordPress repository. Like most second plugins, this one is far more advanced than its older brother. For starters, I am beginning to grasp more advanced concepts like internationalization, and this plugin comes ready to translate into different languages, depending on the language of your WordPress install.

It started as a search for a plugin to create simple, styled boxes in posts that would allow readers to click on a link that produces a ready-made tweet. Like this one:

The Better Click To Tweet plugin is simple, user-friendly, and translation ready! Share on X

Go ahead and click on the text above, it will pull up a tweet that links back to this post, and gives you the ability to immediately click to tweet it (it has an extra step to let you customize the tweet to your liking!)

I went in search of that functionality, and found a plugin that I liked parts of, but not how it handled the actual meat of the process. It’s pretty technical to explain, but the short version is that the original plugin doesn’t properly use the WordPress shortcode API (because it was written before such a thing existed), and it also makes some mistakes in calculating the number of non-Roman characters like © or ∆ or œ.

Also, at the time, the plugin I based mine off of had an annoying “powered by” link that appeared in every box. In addition to being annoying, it’s against the WordPress rules.

I was going to suggest some changes to the original plugin, but as I went to do so I noticed it had been pulled from the repo (the WordPress overlords were obviously displeased by the “powered by” link as well). So I set out rewriting the plugin from the ground up, using the official shortcode API, and some other tricks I learned.

Thanks to Canva for the great little icon!

Long story short, the original plugin is now back in the repo (sans the “powered by” link) but mine was released in the meantime.

Since its launch, my improved plugin has been downloaded more than 1,000 times, with only 3 support requests.

If you’re looking for a great way to drive twitter engagement on your blog, give my plugin a shot!

Here’s the official plugin on the WordPress repo.

Oh, and if you want folks to come read this cutting-edge journalism:

The story of how I got over 1,000 downloads of my second straight #WordPress plugin. Share on X

January 14, 2015April 3, 2016

How to Use the Better Click To Tweet Plugin with YOURLS and Bit.ly

As of version 3.0, The Better Click To Tweet plugin now supports the option to use the built-in WordPress shortlink system.

While this doesn’t change the allowable number of characters in the tweet (my plugin does the math based on Twitter’s built-in and unavoidable t.co shortened URL length), it does allow you to use the plugin alongside other plugins which modify the WordPress shortlink using services like bit.ly or yourls.org.

I am using a custom YOURLS.org shortener at http://benlikes.us for my shortened links, so I’ll teach you how to set that up, and also how to set up a bit.ly plugin I recommend. For Bit.ly instructions, skip to that section below.

Set up Better Click To Tweet and yourls.org

The plugin I recommend for use with yourls.org-powered shortlinks is YOURLS Link Creator, ~~though it hasn’t been updated in a while~~.

This tutorial assumes you’ve already got a functioning YOURLS install

The first step is to install both plugins, and configure the settings in both plugins. For that you’ll need your Yourls secret signature token found in the admin -> tools section of your YOURLS install.

Copy and paste that token into the setting page on the YOURLS Link Creator settings page at wp-admin/options-general.php?page=yourls-settings

Make sure to check the box labeled “Use YOURLS for Shortlink.”

Now, in the Better Click To Tweet settings at wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better-click-to-tweet, make sure to check the box labeled “Use Short URL?”

You’re done! Now the plugins will work together to deliver trackable links through YOURLS!

To ensure everything is working, click a Better Click To Tweet box in a post, and verify that the short URL is being delivered. If you are using a caching plugin or a CDN, make sure to empty the cache and update the CDN with all the applicable plugin files!

If you are having any issues, start a support thread on the WordPress.org forums. I actively answer those.

Set up #WordPress Click To Tweet boxes with yourls.org link shortening in 5 minutes! Share on X

If you’ve found this tutorial (and my plugin) helpful, the best ways to show it are to donate, review, and share about it using the box above!

Set up Better Click To Tweet and bit.ly

The plugin I recommend for creating bit.ly shortlinks is WP Bitly.

Once you’ve installed and activated both plugins, go to the WP Bitly settings near the bottom of the Writing Settings page at wp-admin/options-writing.php and insert your bit.ly OAuth Token. You can find that token by following the link on that page to https://bitly.com/a/wordpress_oauth_app and copy/pasting.

Once you’ve done that (don’t forget to save the settings), head over to the Better Click To Tweet settings at wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better-click-to-tweet, make sure to check the box labeled “Use Short URL?”

You’re done! Now the plugins will work together to deliver trackable links through bit.ly!

To ensure everything is working, click a Better Click To Tweet box in a post, and verify that the bit.ly URL is being delivered. If you are using a caching plugin or a CDN, make sure to empty the cache and update the CDN with all the applicable plugin files!

If you are having any issues, start a support thread on the WordPress.org forums. I actively answer those.

Set up #WordPress Click To Tweet boxes with bit.ly link shortening in 5 minutes! Share on X

If you’ve found this tutorial (and my plugin) helpful, the best ways to show it are to donate, review, and share about it using the box above!

January 15, 2015