TuscanyCircle is undergoing some aesthetic changes today. Enjoy the show.

Update: The changes are mostly done now. I expect to fix some minor issues as I encounter them. Feel free to let me know of problems you see. For the most part, though, the new look is now in place. You may have to reload/refresh the page or possibly purge your browser's cache to see the new look intact.

Due to an increased number of spammers and hackers, I'm afraid I'm increasing security on TuscanyCircle's front door. When logging in, you'll need to pass a CAPTCHA. Should be straightforward. If you don't like the selection, you can request another via CAPTCHA form, and you can even choose an audio version. To make up for this annoyance, I've also extended the login time (how long you stay logged in). Visit the site at least monthly, and your login session should remain active, on any given terminal, for over 3 years. » read more »

When TuscanyCircle goes offline, I am in the habit of updating Twitter about its status. If TuscanyCircle is ever usurped or shut down by government enemies (to America, to liberty, to truth), I will update one or more of Twitter, Google Buzz, Blogger, or Bambuser (live video)*. » read more »

TuscanyCircle has had https capability for a long time. Https encrypts all the information passing between TuscanyCircle and your browser, insuring any interception (by bad guys) is rendered useless. It's currently enabled only for logging in. However, it can be turned on for all of TC. Would you like this? » read more »

Thanks to Google Translate, TuscanyCircle is now available in over 50 languages, but only on the web (not RSS*). In the right column, I've added the Google Translate widget which does the translation. It seems to work relatively well. It will leave untranslated those things it doesn't recognize, of course. Mousing over blocks of translated text will reveal the original English. This new tool just saves readers the step of copying-and-pasting text into Google Translate directly.

*Google Reader supports translation of RSS content.

For those readers of TuscanyCircle who get their content by RSS (good for you!), which feed(s) do you use?

The main one: http://feeds.feedburner.com/tuscanycircle
All active posts (new, changed, and commented): http://tuscanycircle.net/view/active/feed
Just new nodes: http://tuscanycircle.net/view/recent/feed
Just new comments: http://tuscanycircle.net/crss
Just the front page: http://tuscanycircle.net/node/feed
Thread specific feeds, e.g.: http://tuscanycircle.net/crss/node/2168 » read more »

TuscanyCircle's news marquee has been retired. Instead, a new navigation menu link, "news", has been provided. This link goes directly to the news sources commonly referenced on TuscanyCircle, presently numbering 122 and growing. There you'll find an Atom feed, too (like RSS). You're encouraged to explore the gamut of information available via these sources, each of which is superior to TV news.

I am testing a new feature of TuscanyCircle. When complete, this is how it will work: » read more »

• I start broadcasting from my phone or webcam.
• TuscanyCircle will automatically be updated to announce the live broadcast. This will be done via a new blog entry.
• Twitter will then be notified of the new blog entry.
• Those so registered (via Twitter) will be notified via SMS of the broadcast. Of course, all the standard means of following TC content will be updated, but Twitter's SMS is the fastest mechanism to date.

My new webhoster has screwed up TuscanyCircle by corrupting its databases. I'll fix them as soon as I can. So far, the symptoms have been mild. I hope nothing more drastic shows up as a result of their idiocy, but keep me informed if you see things are messed up.

Try as I might, I could not get TuscanyCircle's Facebook "wall" to be made publicly visible. I have no intention of using FB for social networking—it's just another delivery vehicle for TC content, as far as I'm concerned—so I don't want to manage FB's "friends". However, to make this work, the Twitter-like links on the wall needed to be public to all FB users. Facebook's obtuse privacy settings have had me bamboozled since I created the account. » read more »