OK there I was about to boot up iTunes when my Apple software updater informed me of iTunes 10 and something called Ping.

So as I usually I installed the latest version of iTunes that usually also includes a few bug updates etc and I was interested in what this “Ping” actually was.

The first thing I’ve noticed with the installation is the shiny new icon on my desktop for the latest version, after clicking and waiting for iTunes 10 to boot up I also noticed the option for “Ping” in then left hand of the screen.

I clicked it and was confronted with the option to turn Ping on, then update my profile etc.

Now supposedly this new addition to iTunes is meant to be a cross between Twitter and Facebook, it’s been described as “Social network for music” it allows us to follow artists and friends via iTunes and post recommendations and status updates!

If you are a fan of a certain band you’ll now get updates from them via “Ping”.

Now I’m not personally sure that I will be utilising this new option on iTunes 10 it seems a good idea, but I suppose its early days, so for now I’ve got Ping turned on just to see how it runs and if it’s of any use to help build my ever-growing list of downloaded albums.

Something else I noticed is that now the list view of your music includes the album artwork, but this is only available for albums where you have five or more tracks from the album.

This version of iTunes also seems to have a slight update when you sync your iPod, instead of the screen just telling you that it is syncing your iPod it now shows you a progress bar and which tracks and how many it is actually syncing, a nice touch as at least you know now how long it will take to sync your iPod after you have connected it and strangely it does seem faster syncing my iPod than the earlier version of iTunes.

I dare say there are some other updates and changes that I haven’t noticed yet and will do in time, but for now a question to those that have downloaded the latest version of Apples flagship.

If you’ve not got the new version yet then you can download it direct from Apple..

Are you using Ping and if you are what do you think of it?

Those of you who visit my blog on frequent occasions will have seen some updates I’ve made to the Toolbar at the bottom of the blog, if you haven’t then check it out now while you’re reading this post

I added the New Twitter Button to see how it would work on the blog and so far it has been used several times, it’s not a replacement for favourite Topsy Button, but it look good

I’ve also added a translation option for those visitors whose first language isn’t English, the translation option is also in the Wibiya Toolbar that is at the bottom of the screen on my blog along with Twitter that I mentioned above. It sits along with some other grouped buttons to keep the bar tidy.

From left to right: Donate, Blog Links, Translate and RSS Feed.

When you click on the Translate button you will get a selection of languages that you can translate the current page into, there are now eleven languages listed and hopefully these will cover most of the readers that visit Blazing Minds.

So there you have just some of the new options that you can now find on Blazing Minds to use Twitter and translate the posts in to other languages, so check them out and also check out some of the other buttons on the Toolbar

It’s been a fair while since I last did any updating to the Blazing Minds Toolbar, so I’ve updated it with a few minor updates, moving the icons around a bit to make them fit together better. I’ve also improved the RSS feed on the Toolbar so now when there is a new post on Blazing Minds and you have the toolbar installed in FireFox, IE and Safari you’ll be the firt to get the update in the toolbar.

There are several improvements that I will be doing with the Blazing Minds Toolbar over time, but for now, I would appreciate anyone to give it a go, ut’s easy to uninstall if you don’t like it, so no worries there, I would also like it if anyone has any ideas on what you think should be added to the Blazing Minds Toolbar to improve it in any way

So if you would like to give it a go, then just click on the download button below and thanks in advance for trying it out

Got the message in my WordPress dashboard today that WordPress 3 was available to upgrade to, “Awesome” I thought, so I clicked the upgrade button and got ready to use the new version of WordPress….

But a problem arose while trying to upgrade and I kept getting the error:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 2516315 bytes) in /home/mydomain/public_html/blog/wp-includes/http.php on line 1363

OMG! So now it would be a case of doing a manual upgrade, which I hate doing as it seems to be such a cumbersome method, so after checking with a friend, who’s in the know with these sort of things they recommended me doing the following to make this work.

1. Open up the file wp-settings.php which is in the main directory of your WordPress installation
2. Find the line that reads define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’32M’);
3. Change it to define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);
4. Then start the upgrade process again.
5. Hopefully everything should have updated for you.

The problem is memory limit and by doing the above you give your PHP a little more memory to play around with and therefore giving WordPress that extra elbow room it needs to update correctly.

Please note, I’m not a PHP expert, so please BACK UP you WordPress installation before any upgrade that you make.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Now the majority of us use social networking sites such as Twitter, FaceBook and FourSquare, but how would like it so that you could earn from these sites when you use your iPhone, you would then read on..

Those wonderful people over at IZEA, the comapny that has brought us SponsoredTweets and SocialSpark, have now launched WeReward.com which pays you to use your iPhone when you check in and compete tasks around the globe, it integrates the three popular social networks Twitter, FaceBook and FourSquare, so you can still get your badges and share the way you always have and all this can be done with a handy app for your iPhone, simply Download the App to your iPhone, select your desired social network, add your PayPal and your away earning.

Every point you earn you earn a penny, the more points you earn the more money you will make, so rather than using FourSquare on it’s own, use the app and take the advantage of earning something while you are out and about visiting old and new places.

So what are you waiting for! Download the App today and start making the most out of your Check ins etc

It’s been quite annoying lately using my Orange phone to surf the internet, specially when some sites are blocked by the Orange Safeguard.

The Orange Safeguard is set up to block sites which Orange rate as only been suitable for those over the age of eighteen and it can be quite annoying as some sites such as FourSquare are blocked by the service and “checking in” is impossible to do via my mobile phone.

So this morning I surfed the net looking for advice on how to remove this service ans came across a lot of websites and forums saying it’s really hard to do and that it takes forever to do. A lot mentioning that you have to go into an Orange shop which proof of your age and get them to phone up and sort it all out which can take up to thirty minutes.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.
Now there comes a time when you are probably looking for a new mobile phone and with so many on the market these days, you are generally spoilt for choice, but, if you are looking for one with a great then check out the SANYO Incognito™ SCP6760 that is available for a crazy price of  $129.99 from Boost Mobile.

The sexy looking phone is available with free shipping when you sign up to the unlimited plan that is available from Boost Mobile, this is really a great looking piece of kit and for those wanting to look like they have some style then this is certainly the mobile phone for them.

The Sanyo Incognito comes with a 2MP camera and a handy VGA camcorder plus the added benefit of a music and video player.

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