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Block for Apple Maps: Our Latest Free, Open-Source WordPress Plugin

Jeff Paul on June 26, 2020

Apple Maps Gutenberg Block

Block for Apple Maps is our latest free WordPress plugin that enables site owners to easily create, configure, and display embedded Apple Maps on web pages and posts. The plugin adds a new Apple Maps block to the WordPress block editor, also known as Gutenberg.

We’ve been tinkering with embedded Apple Maps since Apple announced the MapKit JS API in 2018. Following some major improvements to their Maps service, and with some clients interested in evaluating alternatives to other popular solutions (for reasons ranging from API pricing to privacy policies), we thought we’d use Apple’s annual WWDC conference this week as an excuse to finish up our work and bring our Block for Apple Maps plugin to life.

With Block for Apple Maps, site owners can embed a responsive Apple Maps component on any page or post that uses the WordPress block editor.

The block offers several customization options, including:

Changing the map’s center point by looking up a location
Adding markers to annotate specific point of interests
Selecting the satellite, hybrid, standard, or muted standard map type
Showing or hiding controls, including the compass, zoom, and rotation
Setting the map height

Tim Hoang on June 23, 2020

Recently, Director of Client Delivery for 10up Europe, Lily Bonney, and I co-hosted a webinar on recruiting, onboarding, and maintaining company culture at a distance with Onezeero, a UK-based tech recruitment partner. As organizations increasingly recognize the benefits of working from home, many are asking, “How do we still maintain our ‘essence’ at a distance?” From transparency during hiring to clear systems, processes, and company values, we’ve learned how to attract, onboard, and grow remote talent. Lily and I shared how 10up fosters meaningful connections and cultivates a vibrant team culture.

10up at WP Engine Summit/2020

John Eckman on June 8, 2020

WP Engine Summit 2020

In two days, 10up is taking an active role in WP Engine Summit/2020. The Summit, taking place on June 10 from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm CDT, will feature a keynote by Robert Herjavec from SharkTank and break down open source trends, technologies, research, and campaigns that accelerate digital breakthroughs. This year, it will be held online through a combination of live and on-demand virtual content and creative networking. Registration is free.

10up Statement on Racial Injustice

John Eckman on June 5, 2020 • 1 Comment

George Floyd Mural

George Floyd mural outside Cup Foods at Chicago Ave and E 38th St in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mural by Xena Goldman, Cadex Herrera, and Greta McLain, assisted by Niko Alexander and Pablo Hernandez. Photo by Lorie Shaull under CC BY-SA license.

Last week saw yet another incident in a long and tragic history of police and other violence against Black Americans in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. This comes on the heels of a series of similarly senseless and devastating deaths across the country — Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, among a painfully longer list of names. In the aftermath, we’ve seen an outpouring of support and outrage, through worldwide, large-scale protests.

We are heartbroken, witnessing both the continued legacy of racial and structural inequality and the ensuing violence and property destruction that further hurts communities already reeling from the pandemic.

As a company, we want to be clear that we are opposed to police brutality and violence. Further, we are opposed to discrimination in all its forms. This specifically includes discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, but also gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, and age.

Catch 10up’s President and CEO in make|SHIFT, A Documentary Highlighting How Creative Technology Transformed Advertising

Christine Garrison on May 27, 2020

make|SHIFT

make|SHIFT explores the history of modern advertising and the role that creative technology played in its evolution.

The full-length documentary, produced by WP Engine, highlights the makers, agencies, and brands who had the courage to harness new technology, test new business models, and question the status quo. It professes to “feature more than 40 of the top marketing and tech minds in the industry, from developers and designers to creative directors to founders at some of the most innovative agencies in the world” — including 10up.

Our president and founder Jake Goldman and CEO John Eckman are both featured in the film, which will be released on Thursday, May 28 during Ad Age’s Publisher’s Panel and streamed live at makeshift.film.

Helen Hou-Sandi Presents At WordSesh Americas 2020

Helen Hou-Sandi on May 26, 2020

Helen Hou-Sandi WordSesh Americas 2020

WordSesh is a live, highly-curated, free virtual conference centered around WordPress. WordSesh Americas 2020, happening this Wednesday, May 27, includes 12 sessions that touch on topics like headless WordPress, client services, and communication skills.

I am excited to be a part of the lineup, sharing how developers can make the most of a development tool they are probably already using: Github.

Github is used by many developers to build and manage both public plugins and themes and private work. My session takes a closer look at GitHub Actions, a newer feature to help with automation for repetitive tasks like testing and deployment. It will cover WordPress-specific Actions, tying multiple Actions together in a workflow, and ideas for how to continually improve development processes.

Deep Dive: Gutenberg’s Create-block Scaffolding

Fabian Kaegy on May 22, 2020

Fabian Kaegy on Gutenberg Times Live Live

Yesterday, I was a guest on Gutenberg Times Live, discussing the inner workings of the Create Block scaffolding tool and the creation of new templates. The “WordPress/create-block” tool is a Command Line Application that facilitates the building and registering of new block plugins to help developers extend the capabilities of the WordPress block editor.

The discussion revolved around my pull request, Create block: Add support for external templates hosted on npm. I demonstrated how this proposed solution makes it easier to create new block templates.

You can watch the video on the Gutenberg Times YouTube Channel.

Ads.txt Manager 1.3 Now Supports App-Ads.txt

Jeff Paul on May 13, 2020

In March 2019, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) finalized app-ads.txt, an extension of the original ads.txt standard that provides publishers a mechanism to declare their authorized digital sellers. By August, Google began blocking the serving of unauthorized ad inventory based on app-ads.txt files.

Today we’re happy to share that our WordPress plugin, Ads.txt Manager, now supports both ads.txt and app-ads.txt file types.

app-ads.txt WordPress screen

Advancing Content Creation With Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: A New Whitepaper From 10up

Phil Crumm on May 7, 2020

Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Digital Content Creators Whitepaper Cover

Extensive experience working with some of the world’s largest content creators has given 10up unique insight into the needs of digital publishers: increasing audience engagement, improving workflow efficiency, enhancing search engine performance, and growing revenue. As market challenges in digital publishing mount, parallel growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies offer important opportunities for content creators that will only grow in importance in the future.

While still relatively new and not yet widely adopted within the publishing industry, AI and ML can already provide forward-thinking content creators a chance to get ahead of the competition.

Our new whitepaper, Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Digital Content Creators examines how AI and ML are spurring innovation in content management, personalization, and website experiences. It also highlights real world solutions — including ClassifAI, our plugin that augments WordPress-powered websites with AI/ML technology — that help digital content creators save time and streamline workflows.

Helen Hou-Sandi on May 4, 2020

!!Con 2020 (pronounced “bang bang con”) features two days of ten-minute talks celebrating the joyous, exciting, and surprising moments in computing. This pay-what-you-want conference is happening online May 9-10, 2020 and I am excited to share that I will be speaking at 1:00 pm EST on Sunday, May 10.

My talk, Sparking Musical Joy at Home With Magnetic Stripe Swipe Cards and Tiny Code, shares how I, a programmer and not a human jukebox, used a Raspberry Pi, magnetic stripe swipe cards, stickers, and a tiny Bash script to help my children enjoy curated music on their own terms.