ScribeFire proved pretty simple to set up: just enter your blog’s URL and it fetches most of the technical details itself. You can add brand new posts or even work on your existing posts. One done, they can be published directly or scheduled for publication at a specific time. They can be saved as drafts or private posts as well.

ScribeFire supports categories, tags and custom fields. You can add a custom permalink as well. The only niggle is the inability to upload images from your hard disk. One hopes the developers are working to iron this out since it is a significant drawback.

~PD

WP 3.0 features the integration of WordPress with WordPress MU (multi-user), a slimline dashboard, a new default theme called TwentyTen that shows off all of the new WP’s bells and whistles, and lots of nice touches.

For one, now you can choose a custom name during manual installation instead of the default “admin” and a bulk update feature lets you update multiple plugins and your WP installation at the same time. Using custom menus, backgrounds and headers is much easier now, all possible from within the Dashboard instead of having to edit files. You can also generate short links. Various other new features make is easier to use WP as a full-fledged content management system as opposed to just a blog interface.

Oh, and lest one forgets, there are over 1,200 bug fixes as well. Check out the full list of features or watch a video:

~PD

1. Don’t make lame excuses about not updaing my blog
2. Redesign my site (eeeep!)
3. Put the entire site on a single CMS (double eeeep!)
4. Redo the Halvard Castle site (yes, it’s so hopeless that I’m not even linking it!)
5. Do a site for the Vakker book
6. Upgrade Web development skills (yes, Niklas, that means return to my JS books)
7. Learn something new this year (a language, a skill, whatever; JS doesn’t count)
8. Write more.
9. Finish the Shadow in Eternity IV novella (there, it’s in writing now!)
10. Go out more
11. Don’t pretend to be happy about things I’m not
12. Buy a vehicle, even if it’s a bicycle
13. Start on (and preferably finish) a new book
14. Be happier and complain less
15. Do my tax returns
16. Visit Europe
17. Stop being scared of pregnant women
18. Stop being scared of babies
19. Play more games
20. Start following football again

That’s all folks.

~PD

In any case, those who think self-indulgence is a bad thing obviously never had Cake-a-Mocha at the Corner House in Bangalore. So what do they know anyway? The following is my token resistance to the “enemy” and a dip into the pond of aforesaid self-indulgence till I can get within hitting distance of Corner House again:

1. Disgustingly detailed daily routine: If you really want to know about my run-in with the toothpaste tube this morning, I think your curiosity borders on perversion and… er… ooh, mail me and we’ll take it from there.
2. Talk about people using barely disguised pseudonyms: N made a bitter post in MW after M and K laughed at him, though B got to know of it only later. And by the way S only arrived at dinner after we were almost finished, which is when Sw discovered she’d forgotten to retrieve her bag. (Anybody who correctly identifies all of the people mentioned gets a medal.)
3. Put up boring holiday photos consisting of my companions and I smiling in front of famous monuments at odd angles: You’re lucky I don’t usually travel with people or take photos of/with them. Besides, my holiday photos are already here. And besides that they are not boring… *huff*
4. Mention excruciatingly embarrassing incident: Yeah, right.
5. Discuss sleazy details of love life: Hey, my mother comes here, for goodness sake! Not to mention various prospective employers, publishers and other people I’m out to impress.
6. How clever my pet is: The only “pet” I have is my plant Billy; I don’t think he has any brains, so this subject is redundant.
7. How cute and wonderful my children are: Don’t have any, as the titles on my DVD rack will testify…
8. Angsty rant about the unfairness of life, this world and the society we live in: Um… er… sorry, I feel quite “all together” right now, but stay tuned.

For the record, there were no puns in the title. Disappointed? Ha ha… made you read, didn’t I?

~PD

Apart from a spanking new and decidedly good-looking interface, it comes with a host of other features, including an IM client (yes, for Window Live users), RSS and newsgroup support, an innovative photo e-mail service, and even a blog writer.

In fact, guess what? This blog post is being made using Windows Live Mail’s Writer interface. It supports, apart from Windows Live Spaces, any WordPress-, TypePad- or Blogger-based blog.

And wow… this has to be a first. I’m saying something good about Microsoft. Go figure!

~PD

Postscript: Yes, it was too good to last. While Windows Live Mail is fine as long as you’re using it, it’s a right royal pain when you want to uninstall it! Having installed as a bunch of separate components, it’s only when your firewall pops up to ask for access that you realize the rubbish you’re left with after you’ve tried to get rid of it! Tsk tsk…

After months of blood, sweat and toil, The Timeless Land‘s cover has been finalized and it looks like we’ll be rolling out soon. Just to recap — yes, it has been a long time and you’re forgiven for having forgotten — the Shadow in Eternity series consists of:

• Book 1: A Shadow in Eternity
• Book 2: The Key of Chaos
• Book 3: The Timeless Land

Hoping to be back very soon with news of the book being out! Meanwhile, what do you think is going to happen? Who will die and who will live?

~PD

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this a new Web template for download, created in honour of a friend’s birthday. Download it here. The usual conditions apply, which are: do what you want with it, but I’d really appreciate it if you left the credits intact.

Certain design compromises had to be made to make it render correctly on certain browsers, but there were no known bugs at the time of release. If you find any problems, do let me know.

Meanwhile, enjoy Hey Kitty!, and let’s hope the designs keep flowing.

~PD

Jan 003 has been lovingly hand-coded and it has been tested on Firefox, Opera and Safari (on Mac OS), and IE8 and IE7 (on IE NetRenderer). Which means I haven’t actually seen in it on Windows yet. Thus, if anyone finds any niggles and bugs, please let me know.

In the public domain, Jan 003 is yours to do with as you wish, though a credit line or link back will always be appreciated. Download it here.

~PD

The Man on the Balcony is the third book in the Martin Beck series by this husband–wife team. The series is so-called because it features a Stockholm-based police detective of the same name as the central character, even though his colleagues appear to get just as much print-space.

Without further ado, read the review. More will follow as soon as I am able to get hold of the other books.

~PD

“I want not to have killed a person.”

Maya Subramaniam’s life is arguably far more complex than the average fourteen-year-old’s. As the youngest Halvard of the Sands of Time, torn between loyalty to her family and to her Watcher, and dogged by a prophecy that predicts her to be the cause of the destruction of time… Honestly, how much can one person take?

An adolescent caught in a world of grown-ups, Maya finds herself in the middle of a Warrior conspiracy to see the Ai’diyar Prophecy to its conclusion. Homeless and confused, convinced that she wrecks the lives of those she loves, Maya finds herself doubting her ability to see right from wrong.

As she and her friends stumble into the Timeless Land, she is faced with a choice that could have a devastating impact on reality as we know of it. In this third and final book of the Halvard series, Maya finally comes face to face with the Prophecy.

The question is, will it be an end or a beginning?

(Read about the previous books: A Shadow in Eternity and The Key of Chaos).

~PD