Is China’s “Great Firewall” blocking your blog?
By Bitwik on February 26th, 2010 | No Comments
The “Great Firewall” is getting much attention these days. This is because of the Chinese government’s attempt to block much of the free media’s content from their citizens/prisoners. Unfortunately, many sites have been blocked for some time, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and most blog related sites. This is an ongoing effort to keep free speech from proliferating the Chinese government and keeps most citizens at bay under strong control.
Some companies have not been blocked and are going strong even under such strong attempts to control the media. One of these companies is Bitwik Blog Hosting. So far, many in China have been able to blog freely using Bitwik’s servers and are doing so with vigor. This is exactly what bloggers need right now in the current state of affairs, a way to express their thoughts with such conviction! Bitwik has been able to successfully fly under the Chinese government’s radar for quite some time now. It is wonderful to see that blogging is still alive and kicking in China. As long as Bitwik keeps up their good work maintaining your blog’s freedom, you can keep proclaiming your’s, even from China.
Introducing WordPress for BlackBerry 1.0
By Bitwik on February 25th, 2010 | No Comments
WordPress has finally released its application for BlackBerry users. With the WordPress for BlackBerry users can edit and manipulate their WordPress blogs on the fly. Although the app is lightweight it is packed full of features that are essential for WordPress powered blogs. For example, you can now write, edit, add rich media and manage the conversation with ease from any model of BlackBerry phone. The WordPress for BlackBerry allows you to add as many WordPress blog accounts as you wish. Adding links from the BlackBerry is now easier than ever due to the “link assistant” which dramatically speeds up the process. You can add photos and videos directly from the BlackBerry phone itself, from your media library, or from an SD card. Managing your comments has never been easier. You can manage one comment at a time or in bulk with many options available. In a nutshell, WordPress for BlackBerry is a must for all who wish to have full management of their WordPress powered blog. BlackBerry is now a major competitor in the blog-on-the-fly world making it a great option for those who are pondering the thought of getting one for themselves. Check out the video for a breakdown of many of the features now available in WordPress for BlackBerry!
Release of Movable Type 5 has been postponed
By Bitwik on December 23rd, 2009 | No Comments
As we near the original release date of Movable Type 5, we are sorry to announce that the date has been pushed back to January 5th 2010. We know this may cause an inconvenience to those that are waiting to release their sites til after the new release. However, those at Movable Type are telling us that it is for a very good reason that they have postponed the release. It turns out that there’s a few bugs that need to be ironed out in order to make MT5 production grade for all users.
Some MT5 fans have been a little agitated by the delay, saying that it would’ve been better to not announce a release date and then put it off. Although true that it is a tad frustrating, the developers have every intention on making this release unlike any other. They also tell us that there are many features that are gong to be included in MT5 that will make this “delay” a thing of the past, not to be remembered. So, let’s patiently await the release of MT5 and all of it’s features, which is scheduled to launch on January 5th 2010.
Even after the launch in January, it is always recommended to wait before upgrading your blog to the latest version until all bugs have been fixed. This is for a good reason as the wonderful folks from SixApart tell us, “We’ve determined that there are a few issues we need to resolve in Movable Type 5 before the official worldwide launch.” However, this is not a bad thing, because as we well know, good things come to those that wait.
WordPress 2.9 will be here soon!
By Bitwik on December 18th, 2009 | No Comments
We are just as excited as you are about the upcoming updates to one of the most popular blog platforms. With WordPress 2.9 you will find new feature such as “trash” for comments, posts, and so on. This means that it’s possible to recover elements that have been deleted until the admin permanently deletes them.
WordPress 2.9 also sports image editing, a new release of TinyMCE, and improvements in media embedding. Comments for pages have been added to the default “Kubrick” theme, so blogs can now have comments on pages as well as posts. When setting up new blogs, the default first post will be more informative about how to use WordPress as opposed to the old-style “Hello World” post which gave you no information on how to use WordPress. This feature is great for those that are very new to the platform or are just getting started with blogs in general.
WordPress 2.9 also includes a slew of changes for WordPress developers, with 84 changes listed on the Codex. Changes range from improved documentation for the WP File System to support for new post types and limiting checks for “blog by email” to every five minutes. Plugin users can now report on the Plugin Directory whether plugins are compatible with a version. This data will be used with the WordPress compatibility checker so users can get a sense whether a plugin is compatible with their release of WordPress or not.
Assuming no major bugs are found, WordPress 2.9 should be released “before the end of the week.” The release candidate download is now available for those that are interested in giving it a test drive. However, we will be patiently awaiting the full release which is only days away from being launched!
Updating to WordPress 2.9 will be a piece of cake since the automation tools within WordPress does most of the work for you. So, whether you are new or experienced in the world of WordPress, you will be excited to know that the features and usability of WordPress 2.9 has made the blogging experience an even better one! Feel free to let us know what you think of version 2.9 as we near it’s release soon.
Elegant Themes – Designer WordPress Templates!
By Bitwik on October 1st, 2009 | No Comments
With the popularity continuing to climb higher and higher, WordPress powered blogs are here to stay! With that in mind, let’s take a moment and talk about something that WordPress bloggers often find exciting. The almighty WordPress “theme”. Although there are many hundreds (or even thousands) of these templates available on the Internet, none can hold a candle to the ones created by ElegantThemes.com.
What makes these templates stand out from the rest? Well, seeing is believing in this case. Please view them for yourself and see what you think. What is even more spectacular is that Bitwik is now offering these designer templates to all customers that really want to give their blog fans a warm and professional feel without the high price that usually comes with such a look. Each of these templates come with all of the needed plugins as well as the Photoshop files so design changes are much more customizable to fit your unique needs.
Not only are these templates designed with the user in mind, they are extremely affordable if one ever decided to purchase an account of their own. However, Bitwik clients can sit back and enjoy, since all of these templates are now available to all. If you see a template that you like, let us know and we will gladly get it for you.
Feel free to check out some of the previews of these wonderful templates by clicking here.