First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
So after 14 hours of airport time punctuated by suddenly realizing I left my keys in the security tray at LAX, I landed at an Airport. And the first thing that struck me was that I could be anywhere.
It was very early in the morning, so almost no one was talking, but hey i am in an Airport so that really doesn't help narrow my location. I looked out the windows and saw the usual assortment of plane logos. I am astounded that I still recognize as many as I do. It was raining and bleh so I couldn't see sky lines.
The Signs were in French and English so I had narrowed down my location to Canada or Europe. Both are places I have visited multiple times so that was a good sign.
The rest of the airport looked shabby and rundown. There were exposed pipes and drab color choices. I ached to escape from the building.
I was sure I would know as soon as I saw the cars outside. i was wrong. Everything looked like all the cars I usually see. Same boxy shapes with melted corners. They did have the big yellow license plates so I was comforted that I had gotten on the right plane but I was starting to feel sad that someone had changed France since the last time I was here.
I heard people speaking french so I started to assume I was where i thought I went but I really wasn't sure. I thought they had committees to make sure that no matter what part of France you were in, YOU WOULD KNOW YOU WERE IN FRANCE?
Finally fatigue and heavy traffic overwhelmed me. I nodded off dreading a vacation in a McCity somewhere in Europe instead of a Parisian adventure I was promised. I started mentally counting down to the time of my departure...
Suddenly I snapped awake. Matt was screaming my name. I was facing the window when my eyes popped open. What greeted them made me smile like a mad man.
Beautiful buildings and restaurants with dirty orange neon telling me that there was wonderful food to be found within. The streets were filled with equal parts cars, little boxy trucks and people of all sorts on scooters and motorcycles. and then I heard that beautiful sound...weee-honnnn wweeeee honnnnn WEEEE HONNNNN
A passing police siren. A french siren!
Speaking of Sirens, I took note of the women of France. As I have mentioned before, there is something about the french woman that is infinitely more interesting to me than any other. There was a woman riding a scooter in the rain yet she was wearing an ensemble that included these cute low heel almost pixie-like boots. Young women walked the street in outfits that coincidentally matched the umbrella they held above them. Older women walked in Business Sexy clothing that let you know exactly what gender they were without ever sacrificing their apparent ability to do business.
And there was smoking. Just a "matter of fact, I am having a coffee and I need to smoke to complete the look" cigarette hung from the mouths of people. Not in a haphazard manner but just sorta there in their mouths.
I don't know what was up with the airport. Maybe it is a test to see if you really want to be here. Maybe the French haven't gotten around to fixing it up. Maybe they have just sacrificed it to the heathen outsiders that used it knowing they have much better things in the city. All I know is I am in no hurry to get back to that aberration on the landscape of French culture.
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.
Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.
Thanks! :)
Some of you may have noticed that right now you cannot add books from Amazon to your Vox library. Giving people a glimpse into what's on your night stand is important to many of you, so I just wanted to reassure you that we are doing our best to get this bug fixed. I'll keep you posted.
So sorry for the inconvenience.
Hope you have a great weekend!
daisy
