What is the best Facebook-like plugin for WordPress?

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Answer by Noumaan Yaqoob:

There is an official Facebook plugin (WordPress › Facebook " WordPress Plugins) in the WordPress repository. There are a few reasons which make it a much better choice:

1. Facebook itself is one of the contributors of the plugins in coordination with Automattic the company behind WordPress.com. Other contributors to the plugin is an impressive list of developers, including Samuel Wood.

2. It is regularly maintained, tested, and used by thousands of websites. So if there is a bug or something it quickly gets fixed.

3. It is easy to use and integrate into any WordPress powered website.

My second choice would be Simple Facebook Connect (Simple Facebook Connect).

1. Simple Facebook Connect is very easy to use and is written by Samuel Wood who is one of the core contributors of WordPress. This means that the plugin follows the coding practices of WordPress.

2. It is very well documented, and the plugin author himself is very active on WordPress forums. Most questions related to the plugin get resolved quickly.

The answer also depends on which features you need for your website. For example, if you just need a like a button along with other social networking buttons such as twitter and google+ then you probably don't need either of above mentioned plugins, you should then use a plugin like Digg Digg WordPress › Digg Digg " WordPress Plugins.

You can also obtain code for Facebook social plugins and implement them into your website. Social Plugins this way you can only get the plugin you need.

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Photographs From Umrah Pilgrimage

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Here are some photographs from the Umrah Pilgrimage. Most pictures were taken inside and around Masjid-al-Haram. All pictures were taken from my iPad mini. These images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please feel free to use these images with good faith, in educational, commercial, or personal projects. Attribution will be appreciated but is not required.

Creative Commons License
Photographs of Masjid-al-Haram by Noumaan Yaqoob is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://sabza.org/photographs-from-umrah-pilgrimage.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://sabza.org/contact/.

Makkah Al Mukarramah: 21.419833; 39.820633

Installing WiFi Drivers in Debian 7 Wheezy

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Debian has set up a Wifi drivers page to help users install drivers for their devices. I have a Realtek WiFi adapter in my laptop and this page helped me install drivers with in minutes. There is a list of different WiFi devices with the name of their manufacturers and model numbers. Identify your device from the list, there is a help page link next to device names with further instructions on how to install drivers. Follow the instructions, it is possible that you will have to restart your system after installing the drivers.

Ubuntu 12.04 vs Debian 7

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This weekend I had some extra time so I decided to get back to my old hobby of trying new Linux distributions. I stopped using Linux altogether because on my previous jobs I had to work on Windows. My new job gives me the freedom to use whatever operating system I like. So yesterday, I installed Ubuntu 12.04. The installation was smooth like always, Ubuntu correctly detected all the hardware and installed drivers for them. With in less than an hour I was on the beautiful Ubuntu desktop.

Screenshot of Ubuntu Desktop

I am not a fan of Ubuntu’s unity interface. I didn’t like the dasher as it occupied lots of screen space. I think user interface designers should understand that people read right to left so a menu bar on right is very distracting for people who mostly work on the web. People like me, don’t really need a menu that big. I tried to auto-hide dasher which worked but it was not that sensitive to the pointer. I also hated that in this open source operating system, my desktop search feature is showing me results for paid apps. After trying Ubuntu for a while, I decided that I don’t like it.

I decided to try Debian and instead of stable I went for testing version of Debian Wheezy which is the next Debian release. Debian has recently announced release candidate 1 for Wheezy which means it is pretty stable now. I downloaded the DVD image and burned it. Like always, Debian installer was quick, smooth and ugly. It is very ugly, and if you didn’t know Debian you would feel that you are installing an ancient operating system. It works very nicely and its pretty straight forward but I think they should improve its looks before the final release.

During the installation Debian Installer detected my network and informed me that it does not have drivers for my Realtek wireless adapter but since I was installing from DVD the installation continued without network connection. After the installation when I logged on to Debian desktop my first impression was, wow!

Screenshot of Debian Desktop

Debian Wheezy uses Gnome 3 and it looks very pretty. Prettier than Ubuntu and if you are like me and like simpler interfaces then you would say that it is prettier than Windows 8 too. Debian also has a dasher but it is hidden under Activities button which is like Start button in Windows. Unlike Ubuntu’s dasher, Gnome3 gets out of the way and lets you do whatever you want. There is no link to some cloud based service and there are no unwanted search results in dasher for paid apps. Debian does not want to use your desktop to sell anything. So when you search for an app it shows you the app you are looking for which makes it faster than Ubuntu and Windows 8.

Another great thing about Debian is that it comes with more free apps pre-installed than Ubuntu or Windows8. And since Linux apps are usually smaller in size and less resource incentive, these apps don’t take much space and work out of the box. There is Gimp and Inkscape both preinstalled in Debian Wheezy.

Debian dektop applications menu

The only apps I downloaded were Google Chrome and VLC media player. Google Chrome is based on open source software but it is not free software (free as in freedom). So it can not be included into Debian, same goes for Firefox which imposes trademark restrictions and hence is not included into Debian. Debian comes with IceWeasel web browser which is based on Firefox but compliant with GNU philosophy.

Overall, I would say that Debian outshines Ubuntu by functionality, openness and stability but thats just my opinion. I will be using Windows 8 and Debian for the time being. I will keep an eye on Ubuntu but I highly doubt that Ubuntu will ever get better again. It will keep getting shinier and glossy but it does not feel free to me any more.

Spartacus Season 3 Episode 1 – 6 Review

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During last few days I watched Spartacus season 3. So far I have seen the first six episodes. I was waiting for it for long.

Unlike previous season, this season has a very exciting story line of war. There are several surprising plot twists that keep audience interested to know what is going to happen next.

The graphic sexual content was a bit too much for my taste. Some of it was not even necessary and could have been avoided for more tasteful depictions of the Roman culture at that time.

The character of the new villain Marcus Licinius Crassus is perhaps the most interesting character in this season. His character does not considers himself above any men, women, or slaves. He is humble, and victories don’t make him arrogant. This makes him even more dangerous, to him the war is just the war that will offer him not just the glory but much greater victory of earning respect and a place in history. He is wise, cunning, and brave. He has also shown kindness and affection for people around him. So I would say he is a more realistic villain. Or perhaps as he said in his own words “Let the history decide who stands as hero. Let us play our parts”.

The background music this season is not much different than the earlier season. The visual effects are the same, choreography of battle scenes is not as good as it was in the first season but it is more gory, violent, and crude. This crudeness was may be something felt necessary by the makers of the show to depict the horrors of war.

The human experience

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I m in the holy Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Me and my wife are here to perform umrah pilgrimage. I don’t like to talk much about religion or spirituality, I believe that I am a fairly non-religious but god fearing person. I try to do good. What I liked about Makkah is that there are people from all over the world. They are here to perform umrah or they are here for business. Which makes Makkah a very beautiful city.

It is nice to see people from all over the world in the haram shareef. Performing the same rituals saying the same prayers, dressed alike, and feeling the same emotions. They are all tired of travel, walking, they are all thirsty and hungry. They all speak so many different languages.

Surprisingly unlike the old days when our grand parents performed hajj or umrah here today most people in Makkah can speak and understand a little bit of both Urdu and English. I noticed that if you speak English people are more respectful and polite.

I m sitting in my hotel lobby, will write more when I get chance.