Aldersoft

Microsoft released their August updates. I would suggest waiting a few days in light of their last fiasco. See the details below

Security Update Guide - Microsoft Security Response Center

And the cycle of life continues.

What’s new for developers? (July 2024) The latest monthly updates that extenders should know about, including WordPress 6.6 and 6.7 news.

WordPress 6.6 Released

On July 16, 2024, WordPress 6.6 “Dorsey” was released to the public. For more information on this release, read the WordPress 6.6 announcement. New features include: Colours and Font Sets, Quick Previews for Pages, Rollbacks for Plugin auto updates, The ability to Override the ability to customize content in synced patterns, Performance Updates, Accessibility Improvements, etc.

See the WordPress 6.6 Release notes for full information.

Version 6.6 On July 16, 2024, WordPress 6.6 “Dorsey” was released to the public. For more information on this release, read the WordPress 6.6 announcement. For Version 6.6, the database version (db_version in wp_options) was 57155 and Trac revision was # # . A full list of tickets included in 6.6 can be fo...

I have used IDrive for years for my clients and myself and it has never let me down.

PCMag Awards IDrive with 4.5/5 Stars and Editor’s Choice for Cloud Backup
https://blog.idrive.com/2024/06/26/pcmag-awards-idrive-with-4-5-5-stars-and-editors-choice-for-cloud-backup/

You need to try this.

“Playground is going to change everything.” https://wordpress.org/playground/

Video Tutorial: LifterLMS Aircraft Builder

LifterLMS has recently released Aircraft, a Page Builder that works using Gutenberg Templates and is compatible with other builders such as Core Gutenberg, Astra, Kadance, Elementor, Divi, etc.

New LMS Page Builder Demo: Aircraft by LifterLMS Build beautiful eLearning website homepages, sales pages, and more with the LifterLMS page builder called Aircraft.

WordPress 6.5.3 Maintenance Release WordPress 6.5.3 is now available! This minor release features 12 bug fixes in Core and 9 bug fixes for the block editor. You can review a summary of the maintenance updates in this release by readi…

Ubuntu 24.04 Released

Here is a review of the recently released Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
There is an interesting discussion about moving to Ubuntu over Windows 10 and 11.

See DistroWatch Article below.

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

Here is a nice video of WordPress 6.5

Many thanks to our WordPress Meetup Leader Ryan Santschi for posting this.

Exploring WordPress 6.5 In this lesson, we will explore some new features that landed with WordPress 6.5.

WordPress 6.5.2 was released last week and just works. There some very exciting features. You really should run it under PHP 8.2 or higher, although I ran it in a couple of sites using PHP 7.4.
Read more below ...

WordPress 6.5 Take control, build it your way Elevate your site-building experience with WordPress 6.5. Explore more avenues to make it your own with new features and enhancements that transform how you create with WordPress. Meet the Font Library Stay in control of an essential piece of your site’s design—ty...

The Default Windows Mail App is Changing: Here's What to Do Now

Frankly, that is why I suggest you use ThunderBird for your email client. However, thank you to MUO (Make Use Of and author Kris Wouk for the article below.

The Default Windows Mail App is Changing: Here's What to Do Now The venerable Windows Mail and Calendar apps are going away to be replaced by the new Outlook app. We've got a look at your available options.

WordPress 6.5 release delayed 1 week

You can relax today, the new scheduled release date for 6.5 is Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024. There will be a Release Candidate RC4 released Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024.

WordPress 6.5 release delayed 1 week Based on community feedback on the Unblocking WP6.5 – Font Library and Synced Pattern Overrides and Font Library follow up posts, there has been a change to the WordPress 6.5 release schedule and a…

SCAM Alert: LibertyHearing

I ordered hearing aids from Liberty Hearing back in December. Consumers Reports rated them very highly, so for $200 I figured it would worth it to try them. It is now now March, LibertyHearing when asked never responded or promised they were on the way, but they never provided me with a requested tracking number. I have notifed Consumers Reports, Pi**ed Comsumer, and Master Card. Master Card is now trying to get me a refund.
Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). Also I have noticed many posts on the Internet from people who have been having the same issue.

Liberty Hearing Aids Reviews | libertyhearingaids.com @ Pi**edConsumer Liberty Hearing Aids has 75 reviews (average rating 1.0). Consumers say: Check on my order, I cannot get any information I cannot contact card customer service

WordPress 6.5 Release Candidate 2

Things are moving very fast on the newest release of WordPrrss. With RC2 released, WordPress is expecting to release March 26, 2024, just a couple of weeks from now. They are almost always on schedule.

NB. This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.

WordPress 6.5 Release Candidate 2 WordPress 6.5 RC2 is ready for download and testing. Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. Check out what’s coming in this release and how to get involved.

CISA Alert: Apple Releases Security Updates

Here are the latest Apple Security Updates.

Apple Released Security Updates for Multiple Products | CISA Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

CISA Alert: Adobe Security Updates

Are you still using Adobe ?
Most browsers now will display PDFs.

Here are the latest Update Alerts:

Adobe Releases Security Updates for Multiple Products | CISA Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

CISA Alert: Microsoft Releases Security Updates

Microsoft Releases Security Updates for Multiple Products | CISA Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

WordPress 6.4.3 Maintenance Release

WordPress 6.4.3 – Maintenance and Security release This security and maintenance release features 5 bug fixes on Core, 16 bug fixes for the Block Editor, and 2 security fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update yo…

WordPress: State of the Word 2023

If you are a web designer or developer, mark December 11 on your calendar. See the website

State of the Word 2023 – Madrid, Spain The countdown is on for this year’s State of the Word! If you missed the initial announcement a few weeks ago, mark your calendars for December 11, 2023. State of the Word is the annual keyno…

Let’s explore Spectra builder

Spectra is a block based builder tool for WordPress which extends the functionality beyond that of the standard WordPress Gutenberg blocks. To see an overview tutorial click the link below.

Spectra Tutorial: The Basics In 22 Minutes Today, let's go through the basics of Spectra, the WordPress visual website builder 👉 https://wpspectra.comWhen getting started, it can be overwhelming to a...

LibreOffice gets new features and improvements thanks to a community that works collaboratively! Here are some success stories: https://qa.blog.documentfoundation.org/2023/09/28/a-community-resolving-issues-collaboratively/

Episode 63: A WordPress 6.4 Sneak Peek Join WordPress Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, as she offers an exclusive preview of the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release, accompanied by special guest Sarah Norris, one of the Editor Te…

Rank Math rocks !!!

NASA NASA.gov brings you the latest news, images and videos from America's space agency, pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 is now ready for testing! This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-cr…

Group photo from the Conference 2023, second day! Now back to the talks, workshop and fun: https://conference.libreoffice.org/2023/

A short Review of Linux Lite

This had come a couple of weeks ago when I needed to put something new on my 15 year old AMD-Athlon (1 core) with 4 gb of memory and a 250 gb hard-disk. The main reason being that Linux Mint LMDE 4 finally refused to update any more. It had a good run.

I look at the current Linux distributions and had narrowed the field down to Ubuntu Mate, Debian, LXDE, etc. I tried a few but they were either way to slow or nor as functional as I wanted for my backup desktop.

Reading DistroWatch, I found an interesting distribution called Linux Lite. https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lite
As DistroWatch says "Linux Lite is a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Ubuntu's long-term support (LTS) release and featuring the Xfce desktop. Linux Lite primarily targets Windows users. It aims to provide a complete set of applications to assist users with their everyday computing needs, including a full office suite, media players and other essential daily software."

It essentially has everything I need, via its and Ubuntu's repositories. Also it has an extremely low memory footprint. I can typically run most things in 1GB of memory. The speed isn't blazing fast, but it is respectable and usable even with multiple applications running at the same time. EG. LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Gimp and Firefox. I can all of my WordPress work quite well.

So if you have an older machine and you want to make it useful again, give Linux Lite a try. I am a happy camper.

DistroWatch.com: Linux Lite News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

Thinking of switching to Altima ? Here is my experience.

I got a great offer from Altima Telecom a few weeks ago. Strangely enough the offer came via Koodo my Cell provider. Koodo has been owned by Telus for a while now, however, they have just purchased Altima as their internet, phone and TV provider out of Montreal.

BellMTS has been raising my rates for high speed internet continually for the past two years. It was at the point of $250/month for 50 mbs internet over twisted pair, BellMTS Fibe and phone. It was getting out of hand.

Altima was offering all of that plus more for around $90/month. We decided to keep BellMTS Fibe TV,as my wife did not want to learn all new channel numbers and with the additional cost to buy a PVR, it was worth it to continue with BellMTS for Fibe TV. So now I am down to around $70/per month for Altima and $50/month for BellMTS Fibe. Total savings $130/month.

There is a catch though, the equipment is a "Do It Yourself" DIY installation. If you don't have it already, Shaw will install their Fiber Optic cable or Fiber Coax (still copper wire) cable to your point of installation at Altima's expense.

You are expected to connect their "high Speed Internet" kit. This was made up of a coax/fiber to digital converter, an internet modem/router (mine is a Calix U6 WiFi 6 Router). Altima provides reasonable documents for the average home setup and person with an average skill level. Just hook the Shaw coax/fiber optic cable into the plug on the top of the converter, run a provided category 6 cable from the converter to the modem/router, move your category 5/6 cables from your old router to the new one and you have internet.

You will need to do some tweaking, like changing the router password, changing the SSID if you want, etc.

If you are switching to Altima's phone system, whatever you do, don't waste time trying to figure out your old provider's phone wiring. I wasted a week trying to do that and never did succeed.

Rather I opted to get a new 5 phone wireless base system from Staples. The VTech one I got on clearance for $100. Its base station plugs into the L1 phone jack on the Altima router. Now you have VoIP phone service from Altima. You should try everything out first before you "cancel" your old phone service. Read Altima's documents carefully. You don't want to lose your phone number.

At one or more points you will need to log a Case with Altima. Two magic words: make sure it gets sent to Technical Support and two, you are "on-boarding" when you are still setting up. I tried many times to get through to their Customer Service. I think by phone I only got a call back once. Make sure you create a Case instead. It gets through pretty fast and if you label it technical support, you will get a good person on the other end. (Thank you Ahmed and Jeremy).

The first person I talked to must have spent 3 hours on the phone with me as we tried to figure out my MTS 30 year old rats nest of wires. I finally took his advice and bought the VTech mentioned above. The next person I talked to got a few strange problems fixed for me. We couldn't do outgoing nor incoming calls. The next day it was all fixed.

Another word of advice, buy yourself a decent power bar. I had to find space for 5 power cubes. 2 for Altima, 1 for the VTech, 1 for the old BellMTS modem used now only for Fibe TV and 1 for my Alarm system. Lowes had them on sale for under $20 for two six outlet (3-4 power cubes).

Now that it is all done, things are working great and the speed of 75 mbs is quite reliable when tested with various speed testers.

I hope this helps. Please share your experiences in the comments below. I would love to hear your stories and solutions.

For more details on sales etc, please consult https://altimatel.com/
below.

Altima Telecom : Unlimited High-Speed Internet Provider Get the speed you need at an affordable rate. Unlimited Internet, Free activation, Free device rental. 30 days money back guarantee !

Still a great product. I've used it for 15 years and IMO better than MS-Office. Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers world-wide.

Welcome to June! But let's take a quick look back at May, and what we did in the community. New updates, meetings, interviews and more: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2023/06/01/libreoffice-project-and-community-recap-may-2023/

It will be interesting to see what's coming.

New features are coming to LibreOffice, thanks to students in the Google Summer of Code! Better encryption, APNG support, a search field in the options dialog, and more: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2023/05/29/projects-selected-for-libreoffice-in-the-google-summer-of-code-2023/