Code Benders

Everyone, everywhere should know about Metaweb, a company incubated by Applied Minds. Why? Because now that Google has purchased the company and Freebase, their growing open database of  ”entities” (think: logically ordered keywords), everything from content creation and SEO to distribution is going to change. Not overnight or anything. But it will change.

Don’t get it? I didn’t either. This video might help:

Anyone that manages a WordPress site knows that it can be a bit of a challenge to maintain site security. And, if you are managing a lot of them it can be quite an effort.

Today, I found myself cleaning out a site that had been the subject of a malicious attack. And  after securing the site, I came across a new WP plugin that is designed to scan and secure WordPress sites that are being hosted on Rackspace Cloud Sites.

The scanner automatically checks file permissions and provides a on-click correction for permissions. It also scans all of your posts for malicious code such as posts containing base64_decode (or edoced_46esab), script tags, hidden css elements or iframes.

So check out the JW Cloud Sites Scanner and send Jackson Whelan a big thanks (and donation if he gets that going)… thanks Jackson!

As you can tell from the title, I’m not a huge fan of partnerships. I mean, I’ve been in love with my wife for more than 2 decades now. And I’m grateful to have Matt as my partner in crime at CodeBenders. But when it comes to traditional business partnerships, I just don’t think much of it.

Just look at AT&T and Apple (dropped call anyone?) if you want to see how the law of unintended consequences can mess up a perfectly good relationship. But with Engine Yard, it is the unintended consequences that make supporting the company so worthwhile. Yea, there are other solid hosting companies out there, including some damn good Rails hosts. But, Engine Yard (like no one else) supports the Rails community. I for one feel lucky that guys like Yehuda and many others have the opportunity to work in an environment that supports the community so voraciously. Just watch Yehuda’s keynote at RailsConf this year and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Equally important, it’s because of these contributors that Rails developers are able to provide such a compelling service to our clients.

That’s why I’m proud to say that CodeBenders is officially an Engine Yard partner. And, I’m proud to put the EY badge on our site.

Alright, enough with the fanboy talk… back to work.