Spoon Graphics - Free Illustrated Sneaker Graphics
CSS-Tricks - Screencasting Setup (very cool!)
Cuzoogle - It’s About to Get Sunny in Philadelphia Again!
PSHERO - Text in Stitches Tutorial
Smashing Magazine - 75 (Really) Useful JavaScript Techniques
Go Media - Vector Freebie from Jimiyo (animals)
PSDTUTS - Mascot Design in Real Time Order, the SOSFactory Way
Last night while checking the stats on GrandmasterB, I noticed a something new in the Plugins box on the admin panel. The Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin, is well, just that…a plugin that will automatically upgrade your Wordpress installation. I’m usually not one to mess around with things that claim to be “automatic”, but this plugin actually works. I decided rather than try it out on my live version of GrandmasterB dot com; I would try it out on a local install I have for development.
The installation was very easy, just like every other WordPress plugin. The only thing that I had to do was unzip it and upload it to the wp-content/plugins directory and activate it. After activation you will need to create a new directory in your WP root and name it ‘wpau-backup’ and CHMOD it to 777 (check out the Q&A with GrandmasterB - August 21 for more detail on directory permissions). to enable the plugin to do it’s thing. The great thing about this plugin is that before upgrading your WordPress installation it does a complete backup of your install and database before doing the upgrade. It guides you step-by-step through the process and provides you with the links to download the backups before you continue on.
Through the entire process I think it probably took about 10 minutes to complete; which really isn’t too bad. The great thing about the plugin is that it does exactly what it’s supposed to and it is “automatic”. If you manage multiple blogs and spend a lot of time upgrading them all to the latest version of WordPress; I highly recommend this plugin! If you’ve installed it already on your blog, let me know what you think of it. I’d be interesting in hearing your opinions.
~ GrandmasterB
After the success of the RSS Feed Icons - Glassy Set that I released back in June; I have decided to release another set of RSS Feed Icons to the masses. I have been doing a lot of grunge artwork lately with paint spatters, scratches and stains so I figured I would try my hand at putting together a set of Grunge Icons. However, this time I decided to mix it up a bit and include not only the 128×128 icons, but a matching set of 64×64 as well. This set includes the colors that you see above: blue, green, purple, red, orange and yellow. The icons are saved in PNG format with transparency to fit into your design with ease.
Download: RSS-Feed-Icons_Grunge.zip (136 KB)
If you have any suggestions for future freebies, or would like to request a custom design of your own shoot me an email and I will get back to you ASAP! I have opened the doors to the GrandmasterB design center and I am now taking on new design projects. Whether you are looking for custom banner ad design, print or web design…GrandmasterB can do the job. Check out the new Design Services page and see the services I am offering.
~ GrandmasterB
Well that was an interesting first week of football hey? Teams that everyone had winning, lost. The league MVP goes down for the year and finally we have some results to check out.
Before getting to the standings and records there are a few administrative things to take care of. We lost two blogs before this whole thing started. Banned in Hollywood and The Sports Dungeon dropped out so there are 23 blogs fighting it out. We will toss in the extra $20 to make it still the same prize money. Thanks everyone for getting picks in on time, it went smooth, so keep it up.
Okay here are the results.
1. Zoner Sports 13-3
2. The Sports Dollar 11-5
3. Don Chavez 11-5
3. NESW Sports 11-5
5. Inside Plays 11-5
6. The Chocolate Dog Blog 11-5
7. The Blue Workhorse 11-5
8. Juiced Sports 10-6
9. Machochip 10-6
10. Tailgating Ideas 10-6
11. My Sports Rumors 10-6
12. Buzz Pirates 10-6
13. Brahsome 10-6
14. Busted Coverage 10-6
15. Sports Opinion 9-7
16. The Sports Lounge 9-7
17. Mac Gs World 9-7
18. NE Patriots Draft 8-8
19. Yep Yep 8-8
20. Waiting for Next Year 8-8
21. GrandmasterB 8-8
22. CoverTwo 6-10
23. Women Like Sports 5-11
Congrats to Zoner
Sports for grabbing the early lead. Looks like GrandmasterB has some ground to gain. 8-8! Man I suck!
I’ve been eagerly awaiting the fall television premiers since early August, and tonight my favorite show on FOX returns…Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I still need to watch the season one finale and get caught up before tonight’s premier. When the first season ended my DVR went on a recording spree and deleted the finale, so I had to wait until it aired again last week and get it recorded again. I don’t know what it is about this series that I like so much…could be the fact that Lena Headey plays Sarah Connors, but I’m fairly certain that Summer Glau keeps me coming back every week. Yeah…that’s gotta be it. Summer is packin’ heat and ready to kick ass!
GrandmasterB is also ready to kick some ass. After a lackluster month of blogging, I’ve decided to refocus my efforts and concentrate on building up the flagship of the GMB-Network. In July I had my biggest month ever, and rather than busting my ass to capitalize on the success I mailed it in last month and didn’t do nearly as well as I could have. Of course, I’m not one to make excuses but a lot of my time was spent working on the new forums for the MountainWest Sports Network and a custom wordpress theme for a client. I didn’t have much time for anything, so I’ve gotta cut myself a little slack…but not much.
