The extreme press coverage is no doubt due to the simple fact that it is Google offering the service. Amazon has had some what similar services for a while and has received a fraction of the press that Google has or will garner over this platform. However, there is still some very important differences about Google’s offering.

1. It’s dead simple. Amazon’s services still require a lot of very technical IT knowledge to utilize. If the video demos of Google’s version are to be believed, the developers need not worry about these system details.
2. It integrates with Google’s account services. This means it’s very easy to build a web application that allows logging in via Google. I’m not sure if this is a pro or a con and I believe only time will tell on this one.
3. It only has support for Python. Sorry PHP and Rails developers. However, they have said they will release other languages after some intial feedback. My money is that PHP will be the first.

So here’s my thoughts. When they open it to PHP, a ton of PHP developers will flock to it. It will be free, or at least very cheap, and much easier to manage then a shared host or a dedicated server. Google will continue to roll out objects/modules that make it easy to integrate with other sites and services, and since it will be on the Google infrastructure, it will be easier for Google to aquire the popular apps and integrate them into their services.

So who wins?

Google does because it means more page inventory that they can sell advertising on. More data in their database that they can organize and present in different ways. More adoption of their technologies like GFS and Big Table.

Developers do because it means scalability and rock bottom costs. It means a farm system for exit strategies. It means feeling like you are “part of Google” without being employed there.

Who do you think wins?

• FriendFeed Comments WordPress Plugin – Development on a Shoestring –
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• Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger, Reno Blog >> The Terri Patraw Experience: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (allegedly) – Good example of blogger integrity in the face of threatening lawsuits
• Little Einsteins: Race for Space DVD Giveaway – My first giveaway on disneyfrontier.com

I’ve been a member of Flickr since 2005 and have over 13,000 photos on the site. I’m always impressed that they keep adding features without changing the overall experience. And while the photobucket sharing teens have no idea what Flickr is, the rest of us web geeks seem to put Flickr on a pedestal without second thought. But now Video? With YouTube, Vimeo, Revver, Viddler, and countless others out there, why does Flickr need Video? Here’s why it simply makes sense:

• People like to take videos on their digital cameras. Every time I upload my latest batch of photos to Flickr, there are a few AVI files – short videos – taken on my camera that have no where to live. I could – and have – uploaded some to YouTube, but video of daughter getting her ears pierced seems out of place there.
• It’s part of the photostream. One of Flickr’s best features is the photostream. You can easily browse from photo to photo using the next button. When taking photos, I often switch from taking photos, to recording a short video, and then back to photos. Why not allow for viewing online in the same fashion.
• My family goes to Flickr to look for family updates. Now they will be able to see the photos and videos in one place. My Mom will love seeing video of the grandkids.

There are many Flickr users who use high-end cameras and share on Flickr because their photos are art. This feature isn’t for them. However, there are far more users who upload from their point-and-shoots that will finally have a home for those AVI files that litter the photo directories on their hard drive.

In my continuing effort to duplicate existing categories associated with posts as tags, I offer up this plugin. Remember, my goal is to phase categories out in favor of tags. So I don’t want to do just an abrupt change over switching my categories to tags. Instead, I want to duplicate them, and transition away from categories. First in the templates, then cleaned out of the database.

DOWNLOAD here

Here’s the process:
For each post, get a list of the categories. For each category, determine if the category (term_id), exists in the wp_term_taxonomy table. If it does, it will have the taxonomy of “post_tag”

Does the category already exist as a post_tag?

If Yes
Retrieve the term_taxonomy_id for that term, and insert it into wp_term_relationships. Also, update the count in the wp_term_taxonomy table for that post_tag – important for tag clouding.

No
Create a new record in the wp_term_taxonomy table referencing the same term_id but with a taxonomy of post_tag. Set the count to 1 on insert.

In either case:
Retrieve back the term_taxonomy_id, and insert that into wp_term_relationships for the post.

The property hasn’t operated for the past 25 years. It is closed to the public, owned by a private party, and for sale for a pithy $10,500,000. We had to travel about 10 miles on an unmaintained dirt road to get there. Once we were there, we could only look at it from a distance, but it’s quite amazing. The picture above is accurate – green green grass surrounded by palm trees set against a hill of saguaro cactus. It’s an oasis in the middle of no where. Check out this photo from there site.
This isn’t a historical picture and it shows how far it is from any kind of civilization.

After we took a few minutes to absorb the uniqueness, we drove back down the road a piece and picnicked under some shade trees while the kids played and climbed in the dried river bed – sounds like the desert eh? Apparently, we’ve had much more rain this winter than is normal – I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much it rains in the desert, so I was disappointed to learn this isn’t normal. Due to the rain, the desert was very green. Flowers were in bloom and it looked very similar to areas of Nevada that I’ve 4×4′d in. We stayed out there until it started to get too windy and the sun started to fade.

Picture from the River Bed

Picture of the hillside. Flowers in bloom.

In order to copy categories to tags, I need to better understand how tagging is done in the database. There are three WordPress tables that make up categories and tags. These tables also contain the names of your blog roll categories.

1. wp_terms
2. wp_term_taxonomy
3. wp_term_relationships

1. wp_terms: This table stores the actual category or tag name. It also stores the slug (the name used in the URL for category and tag pages). The slug is usually the lower case version of the tag with spaces replaced by dashes. There is also a term group field. I’m not sure how/where this is used.
2. wp_term_taxonomy: This table defines if the term is a category, post_tag or link_category. For each item in your wp_terms table, there is an entry in the wp_term_taxonomy table. However, there may be multiple references to the wp_terms table. For example if you have category, tag and blogroll category named Internet, there will be one entry for Internet in the wp_terms table and three entries in the wp_term_taxonomy table. Also, if a category is a child category of another category, the parent category is stored in this table. The id stored in the parent category references the wp_term’s term_id, not the term_taxonomy_id – so it’s not exactly a recursive table.
3. wp_term_relationships: This simple two column table maps the terms in wp_terms to the object – i.e. the blog post.

Here is a simple ERD of the relationships:

Later, I will post the actual SQL/PHP code I use to duplicate my categories as tags. Stay tuned.

Anyway, good times.

Check out the complete list here: Utah Business Magazine – The Magazine for Decision Makers

Congrats Steve. If you have a chance to grab the magazine, you’ll actually get to see his mug in it.

Instead, I was surprised to find that it looked at my current subscriptions and made recommendations based off those. It did a pretty good job, too. The list provides the number of subscribers to the feed, the title, description, and the number of posts that blog does in an average week.

Clicking on the title allows you to preview the feed in Google Reader with the option to subscribe. Pretty nice feature. 

Check it out – Google Reader’s Discover Feature