By Jeffro on May 17, 2013
In late 2012, VaultPress announced that they had acquired security company Code Garage. At the time, the acquisition seemed like a talent grab more than anything else. Even though VaultPress stated that they would continue to work on the Code Garage product, it didn’t make much sense to have both services. When I initially reported on the acquisition, I told Code Garage customers to watch the situation closely because at some point, Code Garage was going to close up shop in favor of VaultPress.
VaultPress has now confirmed that they will be shutting down Code Garage after July 1st.
Today we’re happy to announce a migration plan that provides Code Garage users with the protection they’re used to — while letting us improve security and backup services for everyone by focusing our resources on VaultPress. Through July 1, all Code Garage customers are invited to migrate to VaultPress. To sweeten the deal, your first two months are on us — you won’t see a charge from Code Garage or VaultPress for two months after the migration. After those 2 months, your Code Garage bill will remain unchanged – you’ll keep paying what you’ve been paying as a Code Garage customer.
If you’re not interested in migrating, we’ll maintain your service at Code Garage through July 1, and give you your last month free.
Any Code Garage customer that migrates to VaultPress will automatically be placed on the VaultPress Lite plan with the addition of daily security scans. For a detailed look at how Code Garage was founded and how Timthumb played a role in the company’s success, read this blog post by founder Peter Butler.
Posted in News | Tagged codegarage, migration, security, vaultpress |
By Jeffro on May 10, 2013
The wait is over for those that have wanted an affordable offering from VaultPress. The service announced on May 8th that a new service level called VaultPress Lite would be available for an astoundingly cheap $5.00 per month, per site. The plan covers the basics:
- Daily backups that happen automatically, so you can focus on creating, not logistics.
- Automated site restores, so you can restore your entire site with a single click.
- Thirty days of saved backups, so you can go back in time to restore the last clean version of your site.
Customers also have access to their support staff as well. Since VaultPress launched, there have been a number of people who have exclaimed their jubilation of being able to easily restore their sites after a catastrophe. I bet it only takes one experience like that for VaultPress to seem like a bargain, regardless of the price.
Posted in News | Tagged backup, security, services, vaultpress |
By Jeffro on December 28, 2012
Automattic or more aptly VaultPress, has acquired security company, CodeGarage. This is the first time I’ve ever heard about CodeGarage but they appear to be a VaultPress alternative. Looking over the pricing and plans for each service, I see that CodeGarage was definitely cheaper as you can monitor 5 websites for $25 a month while VaultPress charges a flat fee PER website. The acquisition appears to be a talent grab as well as being a learning exercise. As an example, CodeGarage has a great pricing structure that allows businesses to have multiple websites monitored for a nominal fee, something which VaultPress doesn’t have.
I have to say though, I’m a bit perplexed as to why Automattic/VaultPress would continue to build and expand upon CodeGarage considering the existence of VaultPress. Even though it was not announced, if I were a customer of CodeGarage, I’d be watching the news very carefully to watch for any hints of the service shutting down and everyone having to migrate over to the VaultPress platform.
Posted in News | Tagged acquired, codegarage, security, vaultpress
By Jeffro on December 3, 2012
The WordPress iOS team has released version 3.3 of the popular mobile app. Thanks to 3.3, the app now has sounds such as clicks, refreshes and a crumple sound when you discard panels on the iPad. Since I use my iPhone on vibrate all the time, the sounds are a minor addition. However, they are a nice touch for the app overall. Outside of the addition of sounds, the release boasts more than 20 bug fixes and stability improvements. The next version looks like it will include a new Notification feature for WordPress.com and Jetpack enabled blogs. A new Visual editor is also in the works.
Posted in News | Tagged ios, iphone, mobile
By Jeffro on November 27, 2012
Adam Whitcroft has released a 300 icon kit for web and user interface design called Batch. Each icon is a single Photoshop layer making blend modes and scaling a breeze. According to the license, WordPress theme or plugin authors should be able to use these in their works:
You are free to use Batch (the “icon set”) or any part thereof (the “icons”) in any personal, open-source or commercial work without obligation of payment (monetary or otherwise) or attribution. Do not sell the icon set, host the icon set or rent the icon set (either in existing or modified form).
While attribution is optional, it is always appreciated.
Intellectual property rights are not transferred with the download of the icons.
This icon set previously had a price tag attached to it. Adam explained why that’s not the case anymore.
Posted in News | Tagged free, icons, resources, Themes |
By Jeffro on July 6, 2012
For those of you looking for in-depth reviews of both paid and free WordPress plugins, you may want to add WPNuggets.com to your feedreader or bookmarks. The site is brand new and so far, features three different plugin reviews. From what I’ve read thus far, Adela does a good job of describing how the plugin works as well as outlining the good and the bad. Considering the large breadth of plugins available for WordPress, Adela shouldn’t be running out of plugins to review anytime soon.
Posted in News, Plugins | Tagged Plugins, Reviews, wordpress |
By Jeffro on May 4, 2012
In what I believe is the first of it’s kind, PressNomics aims to bring together the various commercial entities that are successfully making a living around WordPress. The conference is being held in Chandler, Arizona which by the way, is a great name for a city between November 8th and 10th, 2012. There is room for around 150-200 attendees with ticket prices starting at $150.00. The tickets go on sale starting in June but most of the attendees will be personally invited. While Joshua and Sally Strebel are among those organizing the conference, this is not a Page.ly focused event. Among the list of confirmed speakers thus far include Mark Jaquith and Mikkel Svane, the CEO of ZenDesk.
When I asked Josh why he’s helping to put on this event, here was his response:
I had this idea for a while and finally decided to execute on it after discussing it with others. People seem to agree that having a meet up of sorts to discuss best practices and learn from each others experiences and stories would be helpful. The programming is for the benefit of the businesses that drive the WordPress economy, not so much the end user of WordPress. + it is a good excuse to get together with our peers.
Sounds like a great idea to me. There is already a lot of collaboration between commercial WordPress entities in the community but I think this will do a lot of businesses some good to get together in person, especially to share success and failure stories. One thing worth noting is that this is definitely not a WordCamp event as illustrated via their disclaimer.
This is not a WordCamp, and it has not been endorsed by or is affiliated with the WordPress Foundation. WordPress is a trademark of the WordPress Foundation, respect.
While organizing an event like this is not easy, it has to be considerably easier to be able to put on a conference about a specific aspect of WordPress with 0 restrictions.
Related But Not Required Reading:
– The Concept Of A PressNomics Conference
Posted in News | Tagged commercial, conference, economics |
By Jeffro on May 1, 2012
While WooThemes was experiencing a crisis that involved the loss of 6 months of data along with their main website going offline, they still managed to provide great customer service. During the entire ordeal, WooThemes kept customers and the public updated with what they knew and what they were doing to fix the problem via their status blog. Their status blog was updated multiple times a day. Many people commended the company on Twitter for doing such a great job and it’s definitely deserved.
I wish companies whether they be WordPress based or not would so something similar when a crisis hits. Customers want to know what happened, what’s currently happening, who’s doing what, etc. When a crisis hits and takes a website offline, people don’t want a canned response to a support ticket or email, they want information. Information keeps customers calm or at least, calmer then they would be without it. I personally hate that feeling I get when a company seems to shove me off and pretends as if nothing is wrong. As for information, inform the masses, not just a few. That way, everyone is on the same page. Use your company site as a means of controlling the conversation so people don’t have to guess what’s happening.
Posted in News | Tagged crisis, support, woothemes |
By Jeffro on April 24, 2012
ManageWP, the service that makes it a breeze to manage multiple websites from one location has announced that they are currently developing an iOS application specifically for ManageWP. This move takes the ease of managing multiple websites to the next level. While the app is not yet available, there are a couple of screenshots of what the final product might look like.
The first screenshot shows a concept of what the dashboard might look like. I have not tested the app itself but it will be interesting to see if they manage to pack all of their sites functionality into the iPhone app while still maintaining ease of use.
ManageWP Dashboard Concept Image
What may be the most exciting part of this news is that the app will also be available to use on the iPad. With more screen real estate and the retina display on the newest version of the iPad, this combination should make for a great experience.
Pricing has yet to be determined and in some aspects, this could get tricky. While the app is no use to non ManageWP customers, will the company end up charging for the app for existing customers? Considering there are three different service plans, I could see them offering the app for free to those who are middle and top tier plan customers. I know that the folks from ManageWP monitor this website so if you have feedback on how they should go about this, please offer your feedback within the comments.
While there are alternatives to ManageWP, they are certainly experiencing healthy growth. Earlier this year, they hit the 100,000 managed websites milestone. They have also obtained 2,000 paying customers. Speaking of paying customers, I encourage you to read through the comments of a post I published about a week ago where a number of folks chimed in that while ManageWP is awesome, their prices are a bit too high to digest. Based on feedback I have observed, there are two camps. One that says ManageWP is worth every penny that they currently charge and one that says the prices are just too high.
If you believe their prices are too high, consider the following. They currently have a staff of 20 or so people with plans to add more. They are an international bunch and the company is growing rapidly. There is the infrastructure, hardware, etc that they have to pay for. In my opinion, they shouldn’t price themselves out of business. They should simply charge what they feel is right for the service.
Posted in News | Tagged apps, ios, ipad, iphone, managewp |
By Jeffro on April 18, 2012
As part of their Make Waves series, iThemes will be conducting a free webinar with Dre Armeda of Sucuri.net to discuss how to lock down a WordPress installation. In this webinar, viewers will learn how to reduce their risk of being attacked by hackers and malware threats. The webinar takes placed on Wednesday, April 25th at 1 P.M. CDT. I’ve linked to Sucuri a number of times during the year because these guys know what they’re talking about when it comes to website security.
Posted in News | Tagged securi, security, webinar |
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In late 2012, VaultPress announced that they had acquired security company Code Garage. At the time, the acquisition seemed like a talent grab more than anything else. Even though VaultPress stated that they would continue to work on the Code Garage product, it didn’t make much sense to have both services. When I initially reported on the acquisition, I told Code Garage customers to watch the situation closely because at some point, Code Garage was going to close up shop in favor of VaultPress. 
