Adding static Group Tags using the Buddypress Group Tags plugin is pretty simple. We just need to change a few lines of code to change our input method.

Buddypress Group Tags plugin version 1.2.2

A code editor, I like;

Mac – Esspresso

Windows – notepad ++

Lines 197 -199 determine what input objects are used for the tags. We want to add static buttons for choosing tags.

Replace lines 197 – 199 with our custom code.

The code to add custom, static buttons looks like this:

<input type=”checkbox” name=”group-tags” id=”group-tags” value=”insert tag name here” />insert tag name here<br>

And here is the code in action with two check boxes. One is a Business tag, and the other is an Event tag.

<label for=”group-tags”>This Group is a;</label>
<input type=”checkbox” name=”group-tags” id=”group-tags” value=”Business” />Business<br>
<input type=”checkbox” name=”group-tags” id=”group-tags” value=”Event” />Event<br>

If you want to remove the Tag Chooser you simply remove line 201 which is:

gtags_show_tags_chooser();

now save the file and make sure you overwrite the file on your server.

Keep in mind, if you auto update the plugin it will break this edit. You will then have to redo the steps above.

Verizon and Motorola are set to release a new phone on the 23rd, one day before the big release of Iphone 4. We have already seen many images of the Droid 2 and the Droid X. It’s no secret the big release is going to be one of these two phones.

Droid 2

Droid X

Click for more pictures

Current Droid owners are all chomping at the bit to receive the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update (me included). Motorola has officially announced the current Droid will receive the update, but give no timeline. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the 2.2 update when we see the Droid 2. I would imagine the Droid and Droid 2 should be close enough that one rom would work on both. The Droid 2 has been seen with some kind of new UI often called ninjablur. It would make sense that Motorola would cook up some kind of UI for its new phone and put it on par with the HTC Sense UI.

My best guess is on June 23rd we will see the Droid 2 hit the shelves and the current Droid will receive the 2.2 update.

The original Droid launched a mere 7 months ago (November 6, 2009). The news of a new Droid so soon has me a little upset. The current Droid was met with loads of hype and myself like many others adopted it early. This feels slightly like a slap in the face, releasing a new version of the same phone so soon. The only way I will feel any better about this, would be if Verizon offered some kind of upgrade option for the current Droid owners that bought the Droid when it was first released.

If for some reason the Droid 2 launches, with Android 2.2, and the current Droid doesn’t receive a timely update, I will feel more betrayed. Some users have rooted the Droid and Installed a custom 2.2 rom. The future might take me down this path if we dont see an update anytime soon. Not only can you take advantage of what 2.2 offers, but you can overclock the stock CPU in the Droid. Some people are seeing stable performance running at 1ghz. Below is a video of a Droid user running 2.2 at 1ghz.

The current life cycle of Android is fast and furious, but that is no excuse to leave the people who paved the way for the success of the Droid hung out to dry.

If you are a current Droid owner what are your thoughts? Do you feel a little isolated if they launch a new Droid so soon?

The brand name Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm licensed to Verizon Wireless.

UPDATE

After posting this I found an update to the Droid Does line up website. This seems to confirm that we will most likely see the Droid X on the 23rd and not the Droid 2. The official page lists the Droid X as coming soon and does not mention the Droid 2.

http://phones.verizonwireless.com/droid/x/

Are you an outdoorsman? Maybe an adventurer? Are you really rough on your phones? If you answered yes to any of those questions, the Casio G’zOne Rock is worth a look.

The G’zOne Rock is the successor to the G’zOne Boulder. The phone is resistant to water, shock, dust, vibration, humidity, salt, fog, solar radiation, altitude, and high and low temperatures. As impressive as all of that sounds, it’s only the tip of the ice berg!

The G’zOne Rock has a set of six tools called the G’zOne tools. These include a compass, thermometer, pedometer, astrological calendar, tide data, and sunrise-sunset times. Out of the plethora of tools I found only two useful; the compass and the thermometer. I felt like the other tools were not well thought out and not useful at all.

One thing you may notice from the pictures, this phone is very aggressive looking. I often referred to it as the “G.I. Joe” Phone. The aggressive look of the phone fits right in with the outdoors man attitude of this device.

Overall the hardware was extremely solid. I felt this phone could take the abuse of an “on the go” lifestyle. The button layout was on-par with similar style phones making the phone very familiar feeling. On the outside of the phone (the lid) you will find a round display with some touch controls. I often opted not to use those, but others might find it useful.

The sound quality of the G’zOne Rock is decent. Not bad, but not great. The cellular reception nestle safely into the “Average” category.

Overall this phone is a good idea but falls just short. The tools are cool but not useful enough. However, if your super hard on phones, and need one that will withstand the elements, this phone really shines. I would have preferred a slightly better camera to offset the need of carrying another device.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Audible has quietly rolled out a public beta for its Android app. With no surprises, the app downloads, plays and organizes your Audible audiobook collection.

To join this open beta you must join the Audible for Android Google Group. Once you join the group you will get a download link. The group has several email options- luckily, it has a “no email, I’ll read it online” option.

The app is pretty basic. Once you have signed in with your Audible account, your audiobooks will be loaded onto your SD card.  Audible for Android has a nice interface and allows for pretty good organization of your books. The books play in the background, of course, so you can browse the web, check your email or anything else you might want to do while listening to a book.

To get the Audible for Android app, join this Google Group

Image via Android Central.

*This is app is for playing Audible Audiobooks. Audible accounts start at $7.49/month

This app is still a beta and is not complete. To be fair I’m going to hold off on rating the app until it officially launches.

Need a book to get started with? I highly recommend Ring World, by Larry Niven or World War Z, by Max Brooks.

I decided to install and play with Buddypress this weekend. The first thing I wanted to do was move the admin-bar to the bottom of the page. Buddypress is still very young and I expect this to be a feature you can add with a simple click.

To make things easy you might want a code editing program. This will add numbers for each line. It will make it super easy to find the right code to change. I recommend Notepad++ on the PC and Espresso on the Mac

First things first. If you havent already renamed your custom.css and site-wide.css file, we need to do that first.

You can find the files in Themes > bphome > CSS

Rename custom-sample.css to custom.css and site-wide-sample.css to site-wide.css

This will activate a custom css for us to use without modding core files.

Using a code editing program (listed above) add this code to  site-wide.css:

/* Relocate Admin-Bar */
body { padding-top: 0px !important; }
#wp-admin-bar {
bottom: 0 !important;
position: fixed !important;
top: auto !important;
}
#wp-admin-bar ul {
bottom: 27px;
}
#wp-admin-bar ul li:hover ul ul, #wp-admin-bar li.sfhover ul li ul{
bottom: auto;
position: relative;
}

/* END Relocate Admin-bar */

You should have a fully functioning admin-bar at the bottom of the page.

This will not break when you update!

Like most people with a first generation Ipod touch, I was feeling a little left out with the cool features in Version 3.0. Not to mention it costs us a cool $10 but its free for everyone else. Heres a simple way to upgrade your Ipod touch without paying Apple a cent.

How to Upgrade or Update iPod Touch to OS 3.0 Firmware For Free

1. Download and install iTunes 8.2 or higher version.
2. Download iPod Touch 2G OS firmware 3.0 Apple Device Software Update IPSW file, First gen Ipods HERE and Second gen HERE
3. Plug in and connect the iPod Touch to computer.
4. Run iTunes 8.2 or higher.
5. Select the iPod Touch from Devices list.
6. Optional but recommended, take a backup of the iPod in case of accidental file lost.

7. Now there are two ways to update iPod Touch. For user who want to clean and fresh upgrade the iPod Touch, without retaining any existing songs, musics, videos, movies, apps and other media or data files on iPod Touch (mean you will be losing all files stored on iPod Touch), follows these steps:

1. In Windows environment, press and hold Shift key and left click Restore.

In Mac OS X system, press and hold Option key and left click Restore.

For user who want to retain and save everything that has been uploaded and stored on iPod Touch or ensure that the media is untouched (not losing any files), follow these steps instead:

1. On the iTunes main screen, there should be 2 options: “Check for update” and “Restore”. Click on Check for update.
2. A web page showing the iPod Touch OS firmware 3.0 features and offering option to buy for $9.99 will be loaded and shown. Click on Cancel.
3. iTunes will return to the previous iPod Touch main page. However, the “Check for update” option has now been change to “Update.
4. In Windows environment, press and hold Shift key and left click Update.

In Mac OS X system, press and hold Option key and left click Update.

8. Locate and select iPod Touch OS 3.0 Apple Device Software Update IPSW file downloaded in step above.
9. The update process will start. iPod may reboot a few times. Do not disconnect iPod Touch until iTunes has completed updating iPod Touch.
10. Once upgrading is done, the iPod Touch will be on OS firmware 3.0, for free without any cent been paid.
11. Optionally, if you have choose to restore iPod Tunes to firmware OS software 3.0 at factory default, iTunes will offer option to either create a new iPod or restore it from backup. For user already created a backup of iPod, just restore the date files to upgraded iPod Touch.

Note: If there is an error when iTunes attempts to recognize iPod Touch, just unplug and plug the iPod back in again.

Originally found on mydigitallife.info

If your photography needs a little pick-me-up, consider panoramic.

Panoramic views are eye-catching and breathtaking, but they aren’t for every
situation. However, there are many situations that cry out for a panoramic view.
Stadiums, skylines, stages, group portraits, architecture, and nature scenes tend
to be the most popular subjects.

You don’t have to run out and buy more equipment. The camera you have will
work just fine. Instead you can use photo stitching in Photoshop CS3. Its
surprisingly simple and extremely powerful.

Step 1: Taking the pictures
Configure your camera to capture all photos identically, and take the photos in a
sequence. You want to take the photos scanning from side to side staying with
the horizon. Be sure to over lap your images by at least 20 percent.  Avoid
scenes with moving objects.

Step 2: Import
Open Photoshop, click file > Automate > Photomerge. On the left change your
layout to Cylindrical. On the right chose Browse and navigate to your images.
Once you have your images selected click OK and go grab a coffee, order pizza
or whatever you want while you let your computer do all the hard work.

Step 3: Edit
All the hard work is done! You should be looking at a rough panoramic. Most, if
not all of the time you are going to have to crop your image. All that is left to do is
edit.

Now that you have seen how easy it is to create a panoramic I hope you go out
and play with panoramic yourself!

*This was done in Photoshop CS3, it might be different in any other version or
software.

Please post any questions in the comments section and ill do my best to answer them.

43% of people lose irreplaceable files every year.

The price of hard drives have hit rock bottom. The amount of storage you can get on one hard drive is unreal. 5 years ago people couldn’t have imagined the size of hard drives now, not to mention the amazing prices.  With that being said, lets take a look at a few options to help you back up your data.

The 3 main groups of data backup are;

• Online
• Redundant
• External drives

Taking a closer look at each, we will determine the differences and try to find the right fit for each situation.

Online

Online backup uses the Internet to move your data from your computer to an off-site location. Most companies will provide this service and include a small program to automatically backup your data. This is a nice option in case of your computer being lost, damaged or destroyed. Lets say your computer burns up in a house fire. Your data would have been moved to a separate location for you to retrieve later.

Carbonite – $54.95 a year

• Free Trial
• Unlimited backup space
• Small program on your computer for automatic backup
• Secure
• File recovery is only a few clicks.
• Mac and Windows

Carbonite is easy to setup. When installing. it has visual and voice instructions. Once installed you basically forget it. It will run when your computer is idle to keep from slowing your computer down. Carbonite is a great option if you want dead simple data backup.

Mozy

• 2 gb online backup free
• unlimited backup 4.95 a month
• Mac and Windows
• Secure
• Small program for automatic backup

Mozy doesn’t offer a free trial like Carbonite. Instead they offer 2gb of free backup. This is enough for most home users.

Dropbox

• 2gb free, 3gb with referral program more space can be purchased
• Sync files between multiple computers in real time
• web based access

Dropbox is a different kind of backup. Dropbox basically sets up a folder on your computer that syncs online. You can also sync the folders between multiple accounts. Easy to use, fast and secure drop box is one of my favorite tools.

Redundant backup

Just like it sounds, your data gets backed up in multiple places. This is the best way to make sure you don’t lose any data. The only problem is a fire could take out all your data because its all in one place.

Raid

Im not going to get into raid options or talk much about it. Raid is highly used for redundant backup. However, its not the easiest to setup keeping a firm footing in the geek realm. Read more about RAID HERE

DROBO starting at $499

• Total backup
• Redundant across multiple drives
• Easy to manage
• Software included
• Automatic
• Use your own drives

A DROBO is sorta like raid. It saves data across multiple hard drives. Unlike raid you don’t need to set anything up. You can use any hard drive size, make and model you want. If a drive goes bad, the light turns red. Pull out the old drive and replace with a new one, the DROBO will do the rest.

External Drives

• Cheap
• Fast
• Easy

External Hardrives have been around for many years. They are a great option and available all over. You can get HUGE externals for almost nothing. They typically don’t have a software option for automatic backup. However, I like toysync from Microsoft. It will automate the process.

Please post any questions in the comments section and ill do my best to answer them.

If you have read part 1 and part 2 but didn’t find what your looking for, then your in the right place! Welcome to the exciting and costly world of Digital SLRs! This is by far my favorite camera category.

Two main players in this category have set themselves apart from the rest; Canon and Nikon! When purchasing a DSLR you have to keep in mind one thing…Your not buying a camera, your buying a camera system. I say this because DSLRs don’t have fixed lenses. That means you can swap out a certain lens for another, example; a close range 50mm for inside pictures swapped out with a 80-300mm zoom lens for wildlife pictures. Each manufacturer uses its own mounting system. A Nikon lens would not work on a Canon camera. When you buy a camera and then buy a bunch of lenses, you want to make use of those lenses if you upgrade to a newer camera.

What does SLR mean? Short version: uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. Read more HERE

When it comes to DSLRs the lens is more important than the Camera body. You can get great photos with a good lens and a lesser body. The versus; a bad lens and a great body will not produce great image quality. Most DSLRs come with a 17-50mm lens. Most of the time the lens that comes with the camera is not worth much. Exception is the new canon 17-50mm IS lens, its not horrible.

We are gonna start with the entry level cameras for both Nikon and Canon.

Canon Rebel XTI (the XSI replaces the XTI and is also a great camera) - The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi offers an unbeatable combination of performance, ease-of-use and value. It has a newly designed 10.1 MP Canon CMOS sensor plus a host of new features including a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, the exclusive EOS Integrated Cleaning System featuring a Self Cleaning Sensor and Canon’s Picture Style technology, all in a lightweight, ergonomic body. The Digital Rebel XTi is proof positive that Canon continues to lead the way with their phenomenal digital SLRs.

• 2.5 inch LCD
• 10.1 mega pixels
• A whole slew of picture settings
• RAW support
  

Nikon D80 – For passionate photographers a D-SLR with a 10.2-MP DX-Format CCD, Nikon’s high-resolution Image Processing Engine and 3 fps continuous firing. Typically Nikon has better low light performance. I personally use Canon so I cant say either way.

• 10.2 megapixel
• Instant 0.18 sec. start-up with fast 80ms shutter response
• 2.5 inch LCD
• 11 Auto focus points

Both of these cameras are designed to be your 1st DSLR. All Canon and Nikon DSLRs take GREAT pictures. In the future ill talk about camera lenses and what you should be looking for.

To compare more cameras a great site to visit is DPreview.

A Great place to rent expensive lenses is lensrental.com

Please post any questions in the comments section and ill do my best to answer them.