Are you plagued by horrible internet connectivity, and do you keep getting errors like this one, when you try to upgrade your Wordpress blog?

I kept getting the same error over and over again, and decided there’s a better way of overcoming this problem. Thanks to Nazham, he had some pointers on his blog to share on how you can edit the file (/wp-admin/includes/file.php) and modify this line:
$response = wp_remote_get($url, array(’timeout’ => 30));
to increase the timeout to something longer like 120.

However, this method apparently is overwritten when you upgrade your Wordpress …

I’ve been reading quite a lot about WordPress 2.7 (named Coltrane) and how it is a major upgrade over all the past 2.6 releases. I felt I needed to do the necessary upgrade and keep abreast with things. I do know of some people who have BROKEN their WordPress blog installations after an upgrade, so please, PLEASE do backup both your database and your web files BEFORE you embark on this project.
Then, spend some time reading the official WordPress upgrade guide which is found here.
It took me about 30 minutes …

I’ve been commenting on blogs for awhile now and wondered how these people just seem to have their pictures pop-up everywhere. Surely they can’t have uploaded their pictures onto every person’s blog, right? Duh, stupid question!
Anyhow, the answer is really simple – get a GRAVATAR. That stands for GLOBALLY-RECOGNIZED-AVATARS. WOW… what a great idea. So here I am traipsing over to www.gravatar.com (incidentally, they share the same database as Wordpress, and if you have a Wordpress account, you can log right in) to get myself an avatar.

Yup, go choose a …

Now that you’ve got your blog installed, what do you do next?
You don’t want your blog to look like a plain Jane one, so get cracking, and select a happening design theme, download it and install. Here’s an introductory chat about themes and plugins.

This clip does not cover the process of installing themes, but here’s a video clip by Steve Dougherty that illustrates in step-by-step form how to do it.

As for installing plugins, you could take a look at a step-by-step guide I’ve written on how to do so. It’s …

Plugins for WordPress are created to enhance your site and add extra functionality to it. For instance, you might want to have the ability to allow your readers to rate your posts, or to create an image gallery, or get WordPress to do your laundry (yeah rite!).
Most plugins are free – a good place to start downloading them from is http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
Step-by-step walkthrough to install a WordPress plugin
1. Download the plugin you wish to install. Unzip it on your machine.
2. Open your FTP client (Filezilla – highly recommended, and free!)
3. Connect …

Alright, you’ve done your research and you’ve decided to start a blog – either for corporate use, or personal. Both ways, you want to drive traffic (aka visitors, for the uninitiated) to your site. Watch this short 3 min clip that explains one of the first things you must do to get going.

Ruhani Rabin, Senior Developer at Integricity and Alex Lam, The Backpackr having a chat
Summary:

Generate content – related to your purpose
Socialize with other bloggers (virtual socializing is fine)
Leave pertinent comments on blogs that are similar to your own
Ask questions …