Archive for October, 2011
If you are doing a great job on your blog and posting regularly, sometimes important posts fade away from the home page. Sound familiar? Today, we’re excited about introducing two new themes that come with a featured section for prominently displaying some of these posts.
The first theme is iTheme 2 designed by Themify, is a free theme inspired by the instantly recognizable Apple style design that is perfect for your Mac related tech blog. By activating it, iTheme 2 immediately revamps your blog to a stylish, Apple themed cool blog.
What’s great about iTheme 2 is not only the look but also its features. It offers three color schemes and a cool featured posts carousel on the home page. Go find more about the theme on its showcase page.
The second entry is Bold News, a premium theme from WooThemes. Same as other fantastic themes from them, Bold News is also packed with customizing features as well as a featured posts carousel on the home page. Get the full details on the theme showcase page. You can upgrade your blog to Bold News directly from the showcase, or from your dashboard under Appearance → Themes.
If you are doing a great job on your blog and posting regularly, sometimes important posts fade away from the home page. Sound familiar? Today, we’re excited about introducing two new themes that come with a featured section for prominently displaying some of these posts.
The first theme is iTheme 2 designed by Themify, is a free theme inspired by the instantly recognizable Apple style design that is perfect for your Mac related tech blog. By activating it, iTheme 2 immediately revamps your blog to a stylish, Apple themed cool blog.
What’s great about iTheme 2 is not only the look but also its features. It offers three color schemes and a cool featured posts carousel on the home page. Go find more about the theme on its showcase page.
The second entry is Bold News, a premium theme from WooThemes. Same as other fantastic themes from them, Bold News is also packed with customizing features as well as a featured posts carousel on the home page. Get the full details on the theme showcase page. You can upgrade your blog to Bold News directly from the showcase, or from your dashboard under Appearance → Themes.
Today, our ever-growing collection of themes grows by not one, but two with the addition of Modern News and Dusk To Dawn.
If your blog is news-oriented (or if you’re ripe to start a news blog), then Modern News, a new premium theme from StudioPress, is a great choice. Bright and stylish, Modern News offers six layout options, seven color schemes, a tabbed sidebar, and many more features. Get the full scoop on the Theme Showcase and purchase it as an upgrade for your blog.
Before I introduce our second new theme, it is important to mention that we are fond of all of our themes, even those that have been part of our collection since the beginning. However, there comes a time when themes retire after all their years in service. Today marks the arrival of that sunset period for two of our beloved classics: Dusk and Solipsus. Their successor, Dusk To Dawn, is a lovely free theme that captures the best qualities of both while introducing a unique new design that supports the latest WordPress features. We really think you’ll love Dusk To Dawn — so be sure to read about it on the Showcase.
Have fun!
Today, our ever-growing collection of themes grows by not one, but two with the addition of Modern News and Dusk To Dawn.
If your blog is news-oriented (or if you’re ripe to start a news blog), then Modern News, a new premium theme from StudioPress, is a great choice. Bright and stylish, Modern News offers six layout options, seven color schemes, a tabbed sidebar, and many more features. Get the full scoop on the Theme Showcase and purchase it as an upgrade for your blog.
Before I introduce our second new theme, it is important to mention that we are fond of all of our themes, even those that have been part of our collection since the beginning. However, there comes a time when themes retire after all their years in service. Today marks the arrival of that sunset period for two of our beloved classics: Dusk and Solipsus. Their successor, Dusk To Dawn, is a lovely free theme that captures the best qualities of both while introducing a unique new design that supports the latest WordPress features. We really think you’ll love Dusk To Dawn — so be sure to read about it on the Showcase.
Have fun!
With poker machines being games of chance and luck, players can be very superstitious when it comes to playing. As such, there are plenty of myths circulating that have skewed many players’ perspectives of pokies.
One of the most popular myths about poker machines is that players can predict when they will win. Many players believe that of they study the sequence of symbols, they can determine a pattern. This is simply not true. Unlike skill games such as poker, there is not amount of studying that can be done in order to help you win while playing pokies. This is important because it means that no players are more likely to win than others. The games operate on a random sequence, so that players cannot determine when the next payout will be.
Players also assume that casinos determine when a particular machine will payout its biggest jackpot. Because games run on random number generators, it is impossible for casinos to rig the outcome of any poker machines. It is also considered illegal for any casino operator to attempt to the fix the outcome of any games, so players should be well-aware that it is highly unlikely for a casino to set the time and date when a player will hit a big jackpot on a poker machine.
Another myths concerns the frequency of pokies’ payouts, assuming that a machine will not pay out a large jackpot if it has already done so recently. Like online pokies, land-based poker machines operate on random number generator software, meaning that there is no way a pokie can time its jackpot payouts. A machine may not payout a jackpot for 6 months, or it could only be 6 days or 6 hours – it is entirely random and a player should not let a recent win prevent them from playing any poker machine.
A common situation that pokie players encounter is seeing the machine they’ve been playing payout a jackpot to the player who sits down after them. They believe that if they have continued playing, they would be the one to hit the jackpot. However, this is not the case. Again, the random number generator dictates the sequence of symbols and the outcome changes with every second that passes. For the first player to hit the same jackpot as the new player, they would have to spin the reels at exactly the same second and place the exact same wager.
These myths can be damaging to avid poker machine players, as they hinder your gameplay experience. It is best to go into a casino and play without any preconceived notions about pokies, so that they can play without anything holding them back.
- Jake R Taylor, Australasian Gambling Specialist
Earlier this year we announced our partnership with Major League Baseball to bring their Fan, Modern, and Retro blog themes to WordPress.com.
Well, it’s playoff time, and we think there’s no better way to show pride in the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals (go Cards!), Texas Rangers, or Detroit Tigers than by donning their colors and logo on your WordPress.com blog. It’s like a digital rally cap — no true fan should be caught without one!
Head over to the theme showcase to activate an MLB theme on your blog, or start a new blog just for this occasion, and get root, root, rooting for your favorite team!
Earlier this year we announced our partnership with Major League Baseball to bring their Fan, Modern, and Retro blog themes to WordPress.com.
Well, it’s playoff time, and we think there’s no better way to show pride in the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals (go Cards!), Texas Rangers, or Detroit Tigers than by donning their colors and logo on your WordPress.com blog. It’s like a digital rally cap — no true fan should be caught without one!
Head over to the theme showcase to activate an MLB theme on your blog, or start a new blog just for this occasion, and get root, root, rooting for your favorite team!
You guys use WordPress.com in all sorts of creative ways, documenting the adventures you take…
mikeslagter.wordpress.com
…the people you meet…
paolonovelli.wordpress.com
…the characters you create…
legomyphoto.wordpress.com
…the meals you prepare…
whenharrymetsalad.com
…and the places you live.
mcalisterium.wordpress.com
And you share a ton of amazing photographs. So be sure to show them off! Here are three tips on using photos to make your site more visually appealing:
- Upload your very own custom header image to give your site a unique look and feel. Some themes even allow you to use featured images to display different header images on specific posts and pages. For a design that’s 100% unique to you, try out the Custom Design upgrade.
- Don’t make readers squint to view your photos. Generally speaking, bigger photos are better, as long as they’re properly aligned. Check out the Get Flashy tutorial on Learn.WordPress.com for tips on aligning and resizing your images.
- If the majority of your content is image-based, consider using a photography theme that will put your photos in center stage on your site. Visit the Theme Showcase to find one that’s perfect for you.
Want to browse other awesome photo blogs? Check out Freshly Pressed and the photography tag pages.
You guys use WordPress.com in all sorts of creative ways, documenting the adventures you take…
mikeslagter.wordpress.com
…the people you meet…
paolonovelli.wordpress.com
…the characters you create…
legomyphoto.wordpress.com
…the meals you prepare…
whenharrymetsalad.com
…and the places you live.
mcalisterium.wordpress.com
And you share a ton of amazing photographs. So be sure to show them off! Here are three tips on using photos to make your site more visually appealing:
- Upload your very own custom header image to give your site a unique look and feel. Some themes even allow you to use featured images to display different header images on specific posts and pages. For a design that’s 100% unique to you, try out the Custom Design upgrade.
- Don’t make readers squint to view your photos. Generally speaking, bigger photos are better, as long as they’re properly aligned. Check out the Get Flashy tutorial on Learn.WordPress.com for tips on aligning and resizing your images.
- If the majority of your content is image-based, consider using a photography theme that will put your photos in center stage on your site. Visit the Theme Showcase to find one that’s perfect for you.
Want to browse other awesome photo blogs? Check out Freshly Pressed and the photography tag pages.
It’s impossible to overstate the influence of Steve Jobs on technologists, particularly his passion for beautiful, usable products. We work harder and have higher standards because of the bar set by Apple’s experiences, and I don’t know what WordPress would look like today if not for the inspiration he gave all of us. As the shock at his premature loss has given way to a celebration of his life it’s been amazing to read all of the personal anecdotes of those lucky enough to have known him.
Yesterday one of the tributes I noticed was the website Boing Boing switched their theme to one reminiscent of the original Macintosh interface, one of the several times Jobs would make a ding in the universe through his work. It seemed fitting, and we wanted to make it available to all of you, so our theme team worked through the night and here it is:
Dress up your blog with retro, chunky-grade pixellated graphics and evoke some serious computer nostalgia. This theme is a whimsical homage to the days in black and white, celebrating the magic of Mac OS. It displays your menu items, year archives, and categories as folders and icons on the evoked desktop.
For all the memories it brings — and its throwback design — this theme has modern functionality under the hood. Create your own custom menu to replace the first set of icons in the sidebar, upload a custom header image to display below the blog title, or set a custom background. Also included are two footer widget areas and a full-width page template that drops the sidebar.
Originally created by Stuart Brown, Retro MacOS is now available in your WordPress.com dashboard. You can activate the theme there as usual, from Appearance → Themes, or directly from the Theme Showcase.
I want to leave you with two quotes:
We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.
When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
And finally:
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Do something great.
