WordPress 2.8 Upgrade Is Here, With Problems

Most mornings I log on to my computer, check my email, take a quick look at Twitter and then get down to the business of writing. Throughout the day I’ll check in on my websites to see if they’re all working properly, monitoring my stats for any unusual activity.

Yesterday morning my plans were altered somewhat as I realized that WordPress had issued an important upgrade, version 2.8, with my admin panel alerting me to make that update now. With ten blogs to keep up and running, I would have dreaded this practice a few years back when the process involved turning off my plugins one by one, backing up my databases and ftping the files for each site.

Press Button Updating

These days, WordPress has made updating a snap which allows administrators to press just one button and wait for the update to complete itself. You still need to make sure you have your database backed up, but if you’re like me you already use a plug-in to routinely send backups to your email account or download to your computer.

Now, I don’t automatically do updates as soon as they are available for the simple reason that I know updates still take time to successfully complete. Usually, when there is any sort of update, a number of plugins routinely fail which means that they’ll need to be updated too. In most cases that’s a “push button” update too as the latest copy is available and ready to go.

Starting With The Smaller Sites First

To make things easier for me, I routinely start updating a smaller site, one with the least amount of articles/pages on it. On Thursday, those updates went lightening fast and were done before I realized it.

Several plugins had to be updated, but I did notice that SEM Google Analytics, a plugin for tracking stats failed and there was no replacement for it. So, I deleted the plugin and then checked the footer to make sure my analytics coding was in place — either method tracks stats and I certainly don’t want to miss a moment of keeping tabs on my traffic.

Matt’s Musings Goes Buggy

The first three or four blogs updated quickly and without problems, but when I attempted to update this site, which is my second largest blog, the update failed. Big time. Turns out that the SEM Google Analytics plugin was a bust, so I had to remove it, but when the file transfer protocol (FTP) ended, I could see the blog, but I couldn’t access the admin panel. Something was blocking my wp-admin files and, darn it, I could not figure out what that problem was.

Though I didn’t have a pressing work deadline on Thursday, I decided to quit while I was behind and move on to do my work. Matt’s Musings was still accessible to my dear beloved readers (that’s you!) but accessing the all important admin panel was beyond me. Literally!

Writing About WordPress

This morning I decided to return to this blog especially since I knew I would be writing something fresh today. Turns out that my original was story was to be shelved as this whole WP upgrade fiasco was my top news of the day.

To shorten what has already become a fairly lengthy story I’ll tell you what I did to gain access to the admin panel — I ended up going back and downloading version 2.7.1, the most recent update and uploading those files to this site. Bingo! Problem solved — I obviously have control over the blog again which is good news.

What I don’t have is the latest version of WordPress installed, at least for this site. And, I’m leery of updating three other large blogs including my flagship The Auto Writer site which has more than 1200 articles and pages on it. Sure, I’ll back everything up before I make that attempt, but the hassle of swapping out WP versions in the event that something breaks makes me want to drag this process out over a week’s time instead of the customary one or two days.

Sticking With, Not To WordPress

I’m not any less committed to WordPress because a few problems crop up from time to time, but I have been reading that some people are angry and planning to switch to Drupal or to some other blog or CMS platform. I’m sure my issue will be addressed by someone, somewhere but in the meantime I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and will simply punt this problem into the middle of next week.

See Also — WordPress Woes? Check Your Theme!

Industry Darling Tesla Motors Builds 500th Roadster

What a world we live in!

General Motors and Chrysler find themselves bankrupt, Microsoft offers up a new search engine and Amazon is about to roll out yet another Kindle ebook reader. Economic considerations aside, the development of new products and the selling of the same continue almost unabated, although having your day in bankruptcy court tends to slow things down a wee bit.

Hats Off To Tesla Motors

One “tech” company getting a lot of press, far more than what it probably should receive given the size of the company, is Tesla Motors. Tesla, in case you aren’t aware of it, builds a beautiful pure electric roadster that retails for about $108,000 or twice what you would pay for a Corvette. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, the car can go from zero to sixty in about four seconds flat and travel as far as 244 miles on a single charge. But, so far all we have seen are 500 Tesla Roadsters because these cars take an awfully long time to build.

No matter, Tesla isn’t letting its limited production schedule keep it on the sidelines, bad economy or not.  In March, Tesla announced a new model, the “S” which will be a four door sedan with seating for as many as seven people. This car won’t be nearly as pricey as the Roadster as Tesla hopes to build many more copies and aim the car down market, but only somewhat. With a $7500 federal tax credit, the Tesla S could cost buyers just a few dollars under $50,000 when it hits the market around January 1, 2012.

Tesla Expands Their Retail Network

Perhaps the most significant news about Tesla is that the company is finally expanding its retail network (showrooms) beyond its California base.  Until now, if you bought a Roadster and lived elsewhere, then the only hands on service you’d get would be from a handful of California shops. Beginning this summer Tesla will be opening new sales and service centers in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, London, Monaco and Munich.

I haven’t been in a Tesla showroom yet, but from what I’ve read it is similar to what customers would find in a Starbucks or Apple store, which means you can surf the ‘net in addition to test driving a Roadster or hanging out to learn more about Tesla and their business philosophy.

A Tech Company First

As I mentioned earlier, I called Tesla Motors a “tech” company because the automaker’s emphasis seems to be more on technology than on car building, which may explain why the company had so many problems getting the Roadster on the road in the first place (the original transmission was insufficient and had to be replaced).

Nonetheless, even if Tesla Motors remains a “bit player” in the world of automobiles the company has found its niche and continues to exploit it. Beyond a two seater sports car and with a sleeky four door sedan next up, Tesla Motors probably has a thing or two it can teach General Motors, a company who builds more cars in an hour than what Tesla Motors can build in a year.

After all, GM is bankrupt while Tesla Motors is humming along, proving to the world that a California tech company has what it takes to produce automobiles that customers want.

See Also — Tesla S Unveiled!