So earlier today I wrote a post upon The Blog Herald regarding VaultPress (a service by Automattic/WordPress that securely backs up your entire blog) that was at best speculative and at worst slanderous.

In his wisdom my Editor (that would be Franky) pulled the article offline, although unfortunately other sites have picked up my sloppy article which is currently tarnishing VaultPress’s good name.

I personally owe a lot to the folks at Automattic, whose software & services have turned blogging from what use to be a chore to an enjoyable experience.

In fact just today Isaac from Intense Debate (a service that is literally saving my skin from human spammers) went out of his way to create a fix for my micro blog so that I could continue to enjoy using the p2 Theme by Automattic.

Since it was my big mouth that created this whole farce, I’m going to be spending the rest of tonight contacting bloggers/journalist who republished my sad piece of journalism in order to clear VaultPress’s name.

If anyone runs across any reprints please email me a link at darnell.clayton@gmail.com so I can resolve my lapse of judgement. Thanks!

Note: Apologies to Matt, Paul and the entire Automattic crew.

Remember The Milk (iPhone App)

Founded by 2 Australian dudes, this elegant GTD (or “Get Things Done!”) app will help keep you focused on your game plan without giving you a case of eyesoreoitus (as most GTD apps are extremely ugly).

The UI (or user interface in geek) is designed for new comers and guru’s alike, and despite the price is worth every penny.

Price: $25/year (subscription)

Note: There is also an app for my Android and Blackberry pals too. Palm Pre is sadly lacking.

Evernote (iPhone App)

Evernote is the greatest note taking app! You can create audio, image or text notes right from your iPhone! I use this for random notes/ideas that I have at 3 AM in the morning, and have yet to find a better product online.

While the app is freemium (or free with premium features), I would recommend upgrading to the pro edition as that gives you the ability to save notes on your iPhone.

Price: $5/month or $45/year (subscription)

Note: And once again there is an app for my Android and Blackberry friends. Oh, and Palm Pre is supported too!

Instapaper (iPhone App)

Basically this is a great service if you want to save any webpage you find on the iPhone for later viewing (say on your iPad or notebook). There is a limited free version, but in my honest opinion its worthless unless you upgrade.

It’s a great time saver too! (although don’t use it as an excuse by telling someone you “Instapapered it” and never bother to read the document again).

If you’re into reading newspapers, online magazines, college papers (online) or blogs, this app is for you.

Price: $5

Documents To Go Premium (iPhone App)

This app has saved me over $300 as I no longer have to buy Microsoft Office!. Basically its a third-party office suite for your iPhone that includes Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (if you enjoy that program).

You can also configure the app to retrieve documents inside your various email accounts, enabling you to view attachments (including .pdf files! WOOT!) saving you time from powering your notebook and reading the attachment.

For you padawan geeks out there, it also supports saving (and creating) files in Google Docs, Box.net, Dropbox, Sugar Sync and Mobile Me (the last 2 I would never use. Ask why in the comment section).

Don’t go for the cheaper Documents To Go in the app store (you’ll only be disappointed, trust me on this). Plus its a universal app (so if you have an iPad you won’t have to buy this twice).

Price: $15

Note: There are Android and Blackberry apps available. Palm Pre fans, they have you in their hearts!

Skype (iPhone App)

Okay so this technically won’t save you any time, but it will save you money calling your friends and family around the world.

And the best news is that it works over AT&T’s 3G signal! Yea! The app is free to download, although I highly recommend a subscription offer (voicemail plus a number).

It’s also good to use as a secondary number if you don’t want someone calling your iPhone in the middle of the night.

I’ve had Skype for a few years now, although the only reason I’ve continued with the service is due to the iPhone app (it’s that good).

Price: Under $30-60/year (depends what features you get).

Note: Android and Blackberry fans get the hook up once again, unlike Palm Pre lovers who are out of luck.

Any others?

Yeah, there are probably a zillion apps I would also recommend, but these 5 are “must have” for beginners.

If anyone else has other suggestions (aside from games), feel free to enlighten us all in the comment section below (if you are not a spammer of course!).

The rumor turned out to be half true, as Twitter was only hiding them from users’s profiles, so the tweets could be searched (if you knew what you were looking for). Thus my first major geek drama ended as quickly as it began.

But…

…it made me nervous about where my data was. But being the typical slacker at the time I did what all typical slackers (and average politicans) do when a crisis emerges–nothing.

Fortunately my friend DPOM* (who is also my spiritual mentor) wasn’t pleased with my slackerhood (he daily kicks my butt) and motivated me to move ALL of my data upon my own servers, with the exception of Tumblr (because we both think its cool!).

*I’ve nicknamed this friend DPOM (which is an acronym for Daysman, Preserver of Men) although he is known by a much more popular name by many of my friends in the US and abroad.

Fast forward to today and my blogs are now hosted upon WordPress instead of Blogger, and after stumbling upon VaultPress I decided to pay premium to back up my data in 9 different locations (11 copies total).

But I still wanted to secure my tweet data. REALLY bad!

I decided that I was going to start a second blog, mainly because I didn’t want to host the tweet data here. But the question was, which domain was I going to buy?

I looked into Darnell.TV, but didn’t like the name (as I didn’t want it to be known for videos) and Darnell.cc appealed to me but DPOM thought it was stupid (we always debate) so I didn’t purchase that one either.

Months passed…then a year…but despite DPOM’s insistence, I refused to do anything about Twitter unless I had a domain ready (I’m the “need end vision” type of guy).

Then I heard that the .CO domain was available so I quickly snapped up Darnell.CO and (to the annoyance of GoDaddy) called custom service 4 times in 8 hours (or was it 5? It wasn’t 6! I think?) to verify if my purchase went through (since there was a backlog of registrations).

I used the Twitter Importer plugin (by Brad Touesnard) as well as adopted the p2Theme WordPress skin (seen below in the video) and thus Darnell.co was born!

Unfortunately Twitter Importer only imported 4 months of data (ghetto!!!) but I’ll be content with what I have.

I’m using Twitter Tools to post tweets from my microblog to Twitter, and I’ll be blogging through HelloTXT iPhone app (I’ll link a review of the app later) as well as the official WordPress app when I need to insert some images (HelloTXT sadly doesn’t upload them to my micro blog).

So thus I spent half a day setting up a micro blog in order to satisfy my weary soul (and DPOM’s too!).

And while I will still blog longer entries (like this one) here, I’ll be posting most of my frivolous thoughts upon Darnell.CO from now on. See you there!

On a side note, I need to stop jotting random thoughts into Evernote/RTM when I sleep.

I wish I was a robot. Or maybe a Cylon. What if I am one? Hmmm….

–Posted from my iPhone

We broke the story that Mel told Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his love child, “You’re an embarrassment to me. You look like a f***ing bitch in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault.” RadarOnline.com had heard the tape.

Now, in a blockbuster world exclusive, RadarOnline.com is posting the audio of Mel’s disgusting outburst. You can listen to it here.(RadarOnline.com)

After previously making slurs against women and Israelis, I was willing to “overlook” Gibson’s outburst due to the fact that he was drunk and displayed some remorse for his comments later on when he was sober.

After this though I’ll be boycotting all of Gibson’s movies (past & present), since the last thing I want to do is condone his actions, especially since we both “share” the same faith (albeit I’m of the Protestant variety).

The sad part about this whole dilemma is that I actually once defended this (formally) great man after he made The Passion of the Christ.

For now I’m glad I held off seeing Edge of Darkness, as well as his Amazon flick, and despite his excellent skill as an actor (and a director) I’ll spend my money and time else where.

Farewell Mel, and as they say in Israel, Shalom! (as you really need to find some)

–Posted from my iPhone

Unfortunately the service is thus far limited (note: 30 invites a month!!! Are you kidding me?!!!) and is in beta so the chances of me signing up immediately slim to none.

But I always love a good challenge so to up the ante I’ve decided to express to the WordPress high priests why they should unlock the VaultPress temple and allow this WP convert inside.

Since poetry is the language of the heart (well truth be told red blood cells are, not to mention oxygen, but lets not get all scientific on ya’ll here) I’ve decided to express my desire in that fashion which you can read below.

Here is the video of VaultPress in all of its glory, followed by a poem underneath. Update: Apparently VideoPress and WordPress still do not mix too well. Here is the YouTube video instead.

Roses are red
And violets are blue
But if I don’t get VaultPress
My blogs will be screwed

Life is uncertain
Especially for geeks
If they don’t back up blogs
Their lives become bleak

Blogger has Google
To back up content
All I have is my PC
Of which I repent

I need a company
With servers tried and true
In multiple locations
And inexpensive dues

Because if a nuke
Strikes near my coast
My blogs will live on
(Although I’ll be toast!!)

So Dear WordPress priests
Please let me inside
The VaultPress temple
Where my blogs will safely abide

The only question I have
For the VaultPress guys and gals
(Which I’ll ask only once)
Do you accept Paypal?

Poem by Darnell Clayton

So, dear ticket masters, do you have a golden ticket for me? Pretty please with WP cherries on top? (the red ones, not the blue ones as those are trademarked by your b2evolution brethren).

Due to my inability to make the AT&T December cutoff, I can only choose one (as iPhone 4 will cost me $500 instead of $300, unless I add a 2nd line).

However if I choose the iPad, it will set me back $1,000 total (as I plan to purchase the keyboard charger plus a case to go with it).

So what is the hold up? The iPhone 4 is my dream phone. Let me explain.

When I purchased the original iPhone (refurbished of course), I loved everything about it. It was sturdy, tough (I know because I dropped it quite a few times), it was my beastly smartphone.

Unfortunately it lacked a video camera, and even if you jailbroke it, the 2 mpx camera wasn’t anything to boast about.

It also lacked 3G too, making Internet browsing over EDGE (aka 2G) “almost decent.”

Then came the iPhone 3G, which also lacked video but came with the 3G speed. I opted to skip this phone and wait for the iPhone 3GS which had 3G and video support (albeit 3.1 mpx).

My biggest issue with the iPhone 3GS was its fragility, which made it too delicate to leave in the hands of clumbsy people.

So I had to sacrifice a quality design for awesome features–until now.

The iPhone 4 has HD video, LED flash, is built like a beast (metal and “glass,” or rather a very hard plastic) and gyro to boot!

So the question remains, should I skip the iPhone 4 and just get an iPad 3G? Or should I hold off on Steve Jobs greatest creation and embrace my iDream?

I guess well find out at the end of June!

–Posted from my iPhone

I’ll save you the video from my spiritual blog, but basically it looks like my country is being led by incompetant fools (to put it bluntly), which is (believe it or not) one of my biggest fears.

My fury with BP who is humerously called Beyond Petroleum (although they should rename themselves Broke & Penniless after everyone sues them out of existence) is increasing by the day as their actions have destroyed the lives of millions of people, not to mention thousands of animals (if not hundreds of thousands).

No one seems to know what to do, and worse, everyone is simply blaming each other for what is happening while more animals and businesses die thanks to the “black gold” in liquid form.

All I ask my leaders (especially political) is that they know how to perform their task, and if not then to seek out those who do.

Right now neither of that is happening in my country (at least on the Federal level), resulting in our country being help hostage by the stupidity of a few.

Perhaps it’s time I consider entering the green field (as a few if my relatives have), and try to find a solution to help us become energy independent from oil, instead of semi-dependent on it.

Note: Sorry for the rant, as I usually will publish those privately.

However this situation is getting out of hand, and I’m tired of “Oilgeddon” dominating the news cycle.
–Posted from my iPhone

While video comments help take this to the next level (thanks to YouTube and Seesmic), there is nothing more annoying than a long video comment post (which is almost as annoying as a commetor writing a novel).

I love short and pithy comments, and would love it if there was a similar enforced limit for video comments as well.

Hence this is where 12seconds comes in. Basically what I want is either a plugin or a script (for my BlogSpot friends) that would enable a user to post a video comment.

But I would also love it if one could also post it from their notebook as well as their iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, etc. by having the user click on a link which would launch the video app.

They then could record their (brief) message, and that would appear in the comment section along with a link back to their 12seconds profile (in order for them to reap some SEO love).

So there is my idea for you 12seconds! And you don’t have to even send me a 3G 64GB iPad! (although I would not mind if you did).

Now that I’ve (finally) typed this out, the next step is how do I contact 12seconds (or someone similar) to help build this? Hmmm…..

(Image Credit: Engadget)

Okay, I don’t have any spies inside Apple HQ (you’ll have to contact Michael Arrington for success in that department) but looking at last year’s clues I have the feeling that the next iPhone HD (aka iPhone 4G) is going to be classified as a medical device. Yes seriously.

Before I delve into the latest iRumor, here is a video from last year debuting iPhone 3.0 OS.

This idea apparently was inspired by a diabetic who pleaded Steve Jobs to make managing diabetes much easier.

Life Scan announced this app at the WWDC last year, but unlike the various other apps (ranging from multi-player games to enterprise apps) Life Scan never appeared in the app store–and Steve Jobs never breathed a hint about this app again.

I suspect that as soon as this app was revealed, Uncle Sam (or the US Government for you non-yanks) got involved, and that Apple and Life Scan had to go through some medical approval process before being allowed to mention this app again.

I also suspect that this feature (or app) will ONLY be available upon the upcoming iPhone (which could be called iPhone HD or iPhone MD).

Again, I have no hard evidence on whether or not this is true (so you’ll have to tap your own sources as Apple is as secretive as the Kremlin), but I have a feeling that Steve Jobs is going to unveil iPhone MD in a few days.

And when that happens, we will hear a loud, rusty, breaking sound, as Android devices everywhere are seen as “green junk.”