Author Archives: J.J.

Introducing WP Screencasts

Today, just in time for WordCamp San Francisco 2008, Shiny New Toy is taking the wraps off a new website we’ve been working on: WP Screencasts.  WP Screencasts is a compilation of instructional training videos for managing web content with the WordPress platform. If you are a current client of ours and we’ve built a [...]

WordPress Charity Scavenger Hunt

Right on the heels of WordCamp is the WordPress Charity Scavenger Hunt.  Proceeds from this event - which looks like it will be very fun - will benefit 826 Valencia.
To play a little six degrees of WordPress separation…

The WordPress Charity Scavenger Hunt benefits 826 Valencia
826 Valencia was founded by Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers won the 2008 [...]

The Shiniest New Toy

I don’t often write about the intimate happenings of my personal life here.  My personal blog is the place to learn more about that.  But every once and a while, something pretty special happens.  On August 4,my second son, Jude, was born.  Complete details are here.

WordPress Plugins We Always Use

Akismet is an obvious choice for any list of WordPress plugins we always use.  But there’s plenty of other plugins that we find ourselves installing every single time we build a site with WordPress.  If Matt and the Automattic crew ever decide to make these part of the core WP software, Holly and I certainly [...]

WordCamp San Francisco 2008

WordCamp returns to San Francisco next Saturday, August 16 at Mission Bay Conference Center.  WordCamp is one of my favorite tech events of the year mainly because of the wonderful folks in the WordPress community that attend it.  If you are interested in blogging and all the other possiblities of the WordPress platform, WordCamp [...]

WordPress as a CMS

For years, WordPress has made its mark as a blogging platform and the marketing of WordPress has supported that notion.  But WordPress ninjas all over have known for quite some time that WordPress has many uses beyond blogging.  Ever since the inclusion of page hierarchies allowing WordPress sites to be set up with page parents [...]

MeltingSpot

One of the first projects Holly and I undertook under the Shiny New Toy name, MeltingSpot, is now live.
MeltingSpot, a free email newsletter and website, is an Internet version of the American “melting pot” society - a place where Americans and immigrants come together to close the culture gap. Read MeltingSpot for advice on how [...]

Red Pill or Blue Pill

In my previous post, The Online You, I talked about the challenge of using social media to properly portray yourself to people you may end up doing business with while providing a complete picture of who you are and all that you are about.  So exactly are Holly and I tackling this issue with Shiny [...]

The Online You

One of the biggest challenges when diving into the online social media world and beginning to participate is figuring out how to represent yourself.  Of course, there’s the general ethics that basically equate to “love your neighbor.”  These exist as much in the physical worlds as they do in the online world.  Along the same [...]

Four Things I love about Twitter

I can easily jump in and out without missing a beat
Of all the social networks I am a part of, Twitter is the one that is most compatible with my workflow.  I’m a short attention span kind of guy and feel like participating with my friends on Facebook involves me dedicating an hour here and [...]