Personalize Your Blogger.com Favicon

I was wondering the other day, if could change my Favicon on blogger. I was please to find out I could with a post over at Happy Blogging.  His Post was fairly clear, but thought that I'd do one with my spin on it.  As Intend to do a few Blogger related posts in the near future.

It's fairly simple if you know your way around in Blogger and HTML. If not, I hope this post helps.

First, you're going to want to have a favicon already posted somewhere on the web.  Preferably on a site that is yours. :)  You CAN easily upload the icon in .PNG format to a Blogger Post, as blogger won't allow you to upload a .ICO file, the Microsoft extension name for an icon. If you have a Google Sites account, you can upload your image there instead of Blogger. But for the sake of this post, lest say your image is located at:

http://linuxnuts.org/files/wanker.png

With your favorite text editor, well, ok, actually I don't care if its YOUR favorite text editor, but with a text editor that won't "hold" all the HTML code and formating, if you were to cut and paste to it. Replace the "real" place your image is where the {image url} is in the code below.  I find that the Find and Replace function comes in real handy at this point in my Text Editor. 

The HTML Link Code:

<link href='{image url}' rel='shortcut icon'/>
<link href='{image url}' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>
<link href='{image url}' rel='icon'/>
<link href='{image url}' rel='icon' type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

So this should give you something like this in your text editor:

<link href='http://linuxnuts.org/files/wanker.png' rel='shortcut icon'/>
<link href='http://linuxnuts.org/files/wanker.png' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>
<link href='http://linuxnuts.org/files/wanker.png' rel='icon'/>
<link href='http://linuxnuts.org/files/wanker.png' rel='icon' type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>


Oh, and Happy Blogger also has a Favicon Link Generator that you can use.

Then, you'll want to go to your blogger dash board, such as the one displayed below. Dashboard > Design > Edit HTML 

I do a CTRL-F to search for the </head> tag  while I'm in Chrome and place the code directly above it. As in the example. 

And that will give the results like I've got here on Pimping the Penguin. No more Orange Blogger Icon for your Blog.  

If you Change your template, you stand a chance of loosing your modifications, so keep that in mind. 

Blog on....! 

From The Blender Guru | How to Make a Realistic Asteroid in Blender

How to Make a Realistic Asteroid in Blender


Hey FOSSY and FREE fans... Andrew Price has done an excellent job over at Blender Guru with a Tutorial ( That's another word for "How To"  for you people in Adobe Land" )

In his words "This tutorial will demonstrate the importance of the displacement
modifier and how using it can produce amazing results in just a few
clicks."

So grab a cup of coffee (using a Photoshop CD as a coaster, of course)  and watch this video, and maybe even fire up a copy of Blender!

And Keep Pimpin' that Blender FOSS Andrew!! 

Google Analytics, and what good is it to you?

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Why would you want to use Google Analytics? - I'm checking it out, and it proves that my sites are woefully lacking in outside interest. - Something I'm wondering on how to fix.  But one has to know what's broken before they fix it.  This is what this site can help you with, and they've got a few cool tools there to target what area's that you want to promote, or at the very least, it'll let you know what posts you've created that have brought traffic to your site.

This is what they say about their site.. 

"Google Analytics provides powerful tracking for anyone with a web presence, whether it be a small hobby website or a giant online enterprise. It's one of the most powerful web analytics solutions on the market - and it's free for anyone to use"

I can tell you from first hand experience, that just because you've gotten a URL that's been "Slash Dotted" it won't mean instant traffic.  First it's got to be a topic that captures a lot of people's interest, and brings them back. And it has to be well presented. 

So, if you're a blogger just trying to figure out what's going on with your site, these tools are great. Blogger has some built in features, that are quite useful,  this is more of those features but on steroids.   

Happy Blog, Navel gazing!

R_

Podcasting Woes, Friends and Foes..

Today on Facebook, one of my geeky cool friends Linc (of TLLTS.ORG fame) asked a simple question.. 

"Can someone please point me to a hosting provider that is not a dick?"

I too, had some hosting issues. GoDaddy, 1and1, etc...  These hosting companies make an offer that seems reasonable, and good, etc... and then... WHAM! You've got a podcast that's not getting out, people try to download it, and Phhttziled bandwidth happens.  Back before I gave The JuicedPenguin.com oggcast over to Terryf,  I had issues with 1and1.com I had also had issues with GoDaddy  prior to that with my RandomizedRadio.com Podcast. 

MY solution? Post your audio files on The Internet Archive. http://www.archive.org  It's not hard, they're not "assholes", and they'll host your show for you. I've yet to hear a bandwidth problem to be complained about by them, I've yet to see them shut someone off for "honest" content.  And when I say "honest" I'm talking about content that doesn't infringe on some copy write issue.  

 As for the Blog, I'm going to stick with Blogger for most of my blog stuff. Yea, its' not as powerfully configurable as WordPress, but then it's also not as cut down to the nubs as Posterous, and Posterous is nice and simple,  you just can't easily advertise or add AddSense, Adwords etc to it.  So, if you're just a casual blogger/podcaster I'd go with Blogger for your blog, setup your blog for enclosures, use the Flash Widget that Internet Archive gives you, edit the the width of the Flash Widget to something less then the 640 pixels that is in the code, (really not that hard to do, I set my to 440, you just replace the "6" twice in the code) and go on with your life...

Got Questions? Ask them here in the comments! :) 

Pimping: Motho ke motho ka botho

Install Neverwinter Nights in Ubuntu

I was checking out the above blog (Motho ke motho ka botho) this past weekend, and I find it to be a cool blog, much like my own, the owner writes about his experiences with Linux and his Computer. A Chronology of stuff that he's done and put on the blog so he can go back to and review it later. Being able to backtrack to what you do, is part of doing good documentation.  It's not something that I've done a good job at,  after all, it's just my computer, right?

True, it is just my computer, but also part of the geek element to Linux and other open source projects is to put down (via a blog, forum, or?)  how you did what you did not just for you, but because someone else might have the same problem and they might find your solution helpful.  You never know what you might blog about that will help some other person trying not to pull all their hair out.  

Currently in the Linux Desktop world, the distribution of Ubuntu is the most popular.  Even if I don't run or use a modified version of Ubuntu, it NEEDS to be there, and it NEEDS our support. Even if I don't agree with all of the modifications and changes that happen to it, I still need to be supportive of it.  Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu needs user support, and I don't mean just money, but support with their mission. I know I've not been the best example of this, and I'll make a conscious effort to be more supportive of the Ubuntu Team. 

Here's one definition of Ubuntu:

Ubuntu: "I am what I am because of who we all are." A translation offered by Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. Similar to a saying: A single straw of a broom can be broken easily, but the straws together are not easily broken."

Open Source, and Linux need to be able to get along in a world where there are monetary Goliaths pounding away at the public with commercials.  Linux is not created by one person, one company or just one idea.  It's a compilation of many ideas, many desktops, and many ways to get the job done. 

I have to applaud anyone who hangs out in the Ubuntu forums and helps out. - I know they were there when I needed some help.  How about you? I guess now that I've been a Linux user for over 3 years,  and have had a few experiences I could help out a bit more.   The Ubuntu Forums are the most active, and probably where one could do the most good.  Linux Mint, also.  I'm currently using Linux Mint LTS, and plan on keeping it that way, as I don't like to change every 6 months.  I personally prefer to find my buttons and labels and widgets in the same place more or less.  But it doesn't mean that you or I couldn't help out. 

But back to the previously mentioned blog, and game.  It's just really cool that there's someone out there doing something like this, creating some well written blog posts that others can find and use for their personal enjoyment.  And he's helping his community out by giving away machines with Linux on them.

And for that, I'd like give a shout out, and...

Pimp His Penguin....