ThreeParts » Online Tools http://www.threeparts.com A youth ministry internet and technology blog Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:02:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 ThreeParts Now Uses Facebook Connect For Comments http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/20/threeparts-now-uses-facebook-connect-for-comments/ http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/20/threeparts-now-uses-facebook-connect-for-comments/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:30:39 +0000 John http://www.threeparts.com/?p=260 UPDATE: I’m now using Disqus to manage my comments, which allows for Facebook Comments.
Deleting <?php comments_template(); ?> will cause all previous comments not to be displayed.  Don’t worry – you haven’t lost them, but they just won’t show up on previous posts.

If you’ve read any tech news this morning, you’ve probably heard the buzz about Facebook’s new commenting widget for websites.  After reading this great post about installing it on a self-hosted Wordpress blog, I was able to quickly get it up and running.  However, the post does misinform soon-to-be widget installers on a few things.

First of all, in step three, it says:

Open index.php with notepad or Dreamweaver from your Wordpress theme and add: xmlns:fb=http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml for php you can add:
<?php
xmlns:fb=”http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml”;
?>

This is misleading.  In most wordpress themes, this line of code should be placed in header.php, near the top.  Also, Wordpress doesn’t typically pull in this line of code with PHP.  Rather, you should add it to the existing HTML  tag, so your final line of HTML should look something like this:

<html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml” xmlns:fb=”http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml”>

Secondly, it does not describe where to place the new Facebook comment script in single.php.  The answer is simple:  find <?php comments_template(); ?>, delete it (see update at top of post), and replace it with:

<script src=
“http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php”
type=”text/javascript”></script>

<fb:comments></fb:comments>

<script type=”text/javascript”>
FB.init(”YOUR_API_KEY_HERE”, “<path from web root>/xd_receiver.htm”);
</script>

Don’t forget to use your API key in place of ”YOUR_API_KEY_HERE”.  I hope this may clarify some confusion for any of you who were having problems getting it up and running.

]]> http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/20/threeparts-now-uses-facebook-connect-for-comments/feed/ 44 Tynt Tracer Lets You Monitor When Your Content Is Copied http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/19/tynt-tracer-lets-you-monitor-who-is-copying-your-content/ http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/19/tynt-tracer-lets-you-monitor-who-is-copying-your-content/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:09:46 +0000 John http://www.threeparts.com/?p=256 Ever wonder when someone is copying content from your blog and posting it somewhere else?  Yeah, I usually don’t either.  But now that we’re talking about it, wouldn’t it be great if you could track this easily?  That’s exactly what Tynt Tracer allows you to do.  It’s a pretty simple service with pretty awesome benefits.

According to Tynt, the service is design to do these things:

  • Give you actionable insight into what content your users find most engaging
  • Drive traffic back to your site using your copied content with no extra effort or cost
  • When your content is copied, Tracer automatically adds an attribution link to claim it as yours

I can’t wait to get my beta account – which, like many other people out there, I am waiting in line for.  Sign up now for a chance to use this great service.

]]> http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/19/tynt-tracer-lets-you-monitor-who-is-copying-your-content/feed/ 5 Monitor Your Social Networks Through Email http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/18/monitor-your-social-networks-through-email/ http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/18/monitor-your-social-networks-through-email/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:32:59 +0000 John http://www.threeparts.com/?p=242 NutshellMail

UPDATE:  You can also use this service from NutshellMail.com, rather than just the Facebook application.

Yesterday Mashable broke news about a new Facebook application that monitors your social networking and email accounts and sends recent activity straight to the email address of your choice.  The application, called NutshellMail, allows you to select at what times and on what days you want to receive email updates.  It only informs you of certain Facebook activity, including new messages, friend requests, group invites, friend invites, and unread pokes.  However, you can also get updates from LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, and any other email address that you dread checking all of the time.  I’m extremely pumped that it doesn’t tell me every time your mom threw up on my super wall or asked me to be an interior decorating pirate.  Whew.

NutshellMail is enormously beneficial for me.  I have two Facebook profiles, manage three Twitter accounts, have two personal email addresses, a work email address, and a profile on all of the sites I listed above.  Rather than logging into all of these every day with the possibility of being distracted from my real work, I can simply read the email from NutshellMail email as I do several others throughout the day to catch up on the latest.

Installing the application is pretty easy – just go to the application page, click “Go to Application”, and follow the instructions.  Don’t forget to check your inbox to verify your email account so you can start receiving updates.

Hope many of you find this free application as beneficial as I do.

]]> http://www.threeparts.com/2009/02/18/monitor-your-social-networks-through-email/feed/ -1 Free Online Money Management Tools For A Weak Economy http://www.threeparts.com/2009/01/26/free-financial-tools-for-a-weak-economy/ http://www.threeparts.com/2009/01/26/free-financial-tools-for-a-weak-economy/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:56:02 +0000 John http://www.threeparts.com/?p=191 Not to beat a dead horse, but the economy is hurting.  And churches aren’t immune to the effects of it.  It is more important now than ever to manage your money and manage it well.  Fortunately, there are some extremely useful and free tools for doing this.  Spend your money paying off your debt rather than paying for something you can get for free.

  • Mint - This online money management tool allows you to set up all of your accounts online.  Credit cards, checking/savings accounts, car loans, investments – if you can name it, they’ve got it.  As long as you have online accounts setup with all of your financial institutions, Mint can import the information and keep it up to date at all times.  Your information is safe, and there’s even an iPhone app so you can check it anytime, anywhere.  See your net worth, get notifications when bills are due, and categorize transactions.  You can set up budget categories for transactions so you can see if you are on budget throughout the month.  Mint does have competitors – here’s a table that compares Mint with Geezeo and Wesabe.
  • Finfo – “We bring you up-to-date information about college tuition, the cost of living, and more.”  Ironically, part of being in a tough economy is finding a new job.  Finfo helps you analyze how to salary you are being offered compares with the cost of living in that area.  In also helps you plan when sending someone to college, and offers budgeting tools as well.
  • MyCheckFree – If you’re bank doesn’t offer online billpay, MyCheckFree is a site that allows you to pay your bills for free.  Though there are a limited number of payees, it can take some of the stress off of organizing and sending your bills in on time.
  • Online Billpay – This is available through most online banking sites, and is often free.  If your bank doesn’t offer online banking, I would highly recommend finding one that does.  With online billpay, you can setup payments in advance to be withdrawn from your account when bills are due.  Many banks, such as mine, will even send paper checks to businesses that don’t accept online payments.  I don’t pay a dime for postage, and it saves me that hassle of writing a check and sending it in on time.  I know when my money is coming out of my account and what my balance will be when it all goes through.  To top it off, I can setup recurring payments for rent and any other bills that don’t fluctuate in price.  If your bank does charge for this service, weigh the benefits and decide if it is worth it.

It’s inevitable that there’s a ‘must-have’ tools that I didn’t cover.  I’d love to hear how you’re managing your money.

]]> http://www.threeparts.com/2009/01/26/free-financial-tools-for-a-weak-economy/feed/ -1