Ben Balter writes about technology leadership, open source, and modern collaboration at scale. His essays blend engineering mindset with management, community building, remote work, and transparent communication—shaped by years of experience at GitHub and in public-sector tech.
183 articles from this blog
Analysis of technical capabilities of U.S. federal .gov domains, covering server status, IPv6, CDN usage, CMS popularity, and cloud hosting.
An overview of WordPress as a powerful, user-friendly, and community-supported content management system (CMS) for publishing.
Explores resistance to disruptive tech like open source and cloud computing, analyzing why businesses often stick with legacy systems despite clear advantages.
Introduces WP Document Revisions, a WordPress plugin for document management, version control, and team collaboration on files.
A technical guide on integrating Google Analytics social engagement tracking with WordPress Jetpack's Sharedaddy plugin using jQuery.
Analysis of why daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial are unsustainable, highlighting their negative impact on small businesses and legal complexities.
Discusses web hosting company Bluehost's legal compliance and trust issues after revealing a customer's identity for a satirical site.
Discusses the ethics and legal guidelines of excerpting content online, focusing on adding value over just avoiding copyright issues.
A developer shares insights from a WordPress meetup talk on HTML and PHP basics, explaining how to edit code without breaking a site.
The article argues for using WordPress as a document management system, leveraging its core features like custom post types, revisions, and permissions.
A guide to building a WordPress plugin that uses regex to convert Microsoft Word footnotes into a web-friendly format for the Simple Footnotes plugin.
A talk on using WordPress to build and control your personal brand online, covering key steps and recommended plugins.
Analysis of U.S. government domain seizures for copyright infringement, highlighting due process concerns and technical misunderstandings.
Analyzing the unofficial XML API behind George Washington University's course schedule and campus map iPhone app, with provided endpoints and a PHP wrapper.
Twitter challenged a court gag order to notify users about a government data request, setting a precedent for digital privacy rights.
A WordPress plugin that adapts The New York Times' open-source text highlighting and deep linking feature for easy installation and use.
Analysis of a court ruling extending Fourth Amendment warrant requirements to emails stored on third-party servers, challenging the Stored Communications Act.
Analysis of Comcast demanding fees from Level 3 for Netflix traffic, highlighting net neutrality concerns and the future of internet access.
Google's white paper argues China's internet restrictions violate WTO rules and hinder global e-commerce by blocking access to information and trade.
A WordPress plugin that imports Twitter mentions as comments, integrating tweets into your blog's native comment system.
