Tumblr Staff

Now testing: Password protected blogs It just got crazy easy to...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:40:24 -0500

Now testing: Password protected blogs

It just got crazy easy to privately share posts with your family, friends, company, or classroom.

When you create a new blog, you’ll see a new option to make it “password protected”. Share this password with the people you want to see your posts, and lock out everyone else. Have fun!

You can password protect an existing public blog from its Customize screen. This feature is not available on your primary blog.

Tumblr Tuesday

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:14:57 -0500

If you’re like me and use the Gregorian calendar for your date-keeping needs, then you probably woke up this morning and exclaimed “Holy crap, it’s December already!” Strange but true!

For me personally, this date marks the unofficial start of my first ever real winter. You must understand, I’ve lived my entire life in a tropical climate. I’m used to spending winter on a beach with bikini-clad women waving palm fronds in my face. Now that I’m in New York, I’ll have to settle for them using Elm branches instead. So please, keep me in your prayers.

(I’ll prepare an alternate Tumblr Tuesday for any of you in the Southern Hemisphere who are offended by the weather patterns mentioned here.)

Crappy Santas
Every year, stores around the world become littered with crappy Santas. Beard length, hat placement, belly size, and suit hue are all standards that must be enforced, and this Tumblr blog is on the lookout.

Let’s Be Glad!
We can safely listen to holiday music without retribution now, right? Whew. Let’s Be Glad! posts festive seasonal tracks performed by indie bands. (Whoa, I didn’t say “Christmas” there even once!)

Rocketboom Blog
Rocketboom needs no introduction, but you may be unfamiliar with their blog. Rocketboom Blog, meet Tumblr. Tumblr, meet Rocketboom Blog. There! Now we’re all close friends and can go to the zoo together.

One Surrealist a Day
One Surrealist a Day, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, curates works from the world of surrealism. It features a great theme, precise tagging, and plenty of Salvador Dalí.

Beeriety
Beer. Beer. Beer. Beer. Beer. Beer. Beer. Also: Beer.

Who do you nominate for the next Tumblr Tuesday?

Tumblr Tuesday

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:28:21 -0500

Good news, Tumblr! We celebrate Thanksgiving here in the US this week, which means I get to spend the next few days enjoying traditional activities like hating on my extended family and Olympic caliber napping. This is just a typical weekend for me, to be sure, but now I have a legitimate excuse.

It’s also a good time to reflect upon what you’re thankful for in this crazy life. Me? I’m thankful for my not-massive-but-what-people-tell-me-is-totally-respectable Tumblarity. I’m thankful for kittens and inspirational quotes and New Moon and Lady Gaga and oversharing and even more kittens.

And of course, I’m very thankful for the following picks in this week’s Tumblr Tuesday.

Clients From Hell
Clients From Hell collects horror stories from designers who’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the finest examples of horrible people ever. How do they put up with it? Honestly, I don’t know. The last time I did freelance work I ended up shedding all my possessions and moving to the forest for six years because I lost all faith in humanity.

Daily Drop Cap
At Daily Drop Cap, you’ll find a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap every single day. Each letter has handy instructions that’ll allow you to easily add them into your website or blog. Not only do these drop caps make the web a more beautiful place, they even make Lorem ipsum text seem intelligent and witty.

From The Old Man: A Guide to Living
Your old man knows a thing or two about this thing called life. He’s a lot wiser than you give him credit for. He’s been around for a long time, and… You’re not even listening, are you? Why don’t you stop reading silly blogs and just get back to work.

Video Killed The Radio Stars
Apparently there were these things made in the 80s and 90s called “music videos.” I wasn’t born yet, because I’m obviously super young and hip, so it’s awesome that this site exists so I can learn about these people for the very first time. (Bell Biv DeVoe? What a silly name I never heard of before!)

Amazing Amazon.com Reviews
Most e-commerce sites let you leave reviews, but Amazon users have turned it into an art form. For example: As of today, this gallon of milk has 1,133 reviews, some of which are utterly brilliant. This Tumblr blog aims to collect the most amazing Amazon.com reviews ever made. It’s right there in the title!

Who do you nominate for next Tumblr Tuesday?

Check out the beautiful new Preferences page that Jacob...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:48:00 -0500

Check out the beautiful new Preferences page that Jacob designed.

20+ Tumblr Meetups coming up all over the world

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:10:59 -0500

20+ Tumblr Meetups coming up all over the world:

Including Brisbane, Santiago, San Francisco, Chicago, San Jose, Manchester, New York City, Philippines, Connecticut, and Nebraska!

Don’t see one near you? Organize it!

We now extract album art from uploaded music! Developers can...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:50:45 -0500

We now extract album art from uploaded music!

Developers can even add this art to Tumblr themes with:

{block:AlbumArt}
    {AlbumArtURL}" />
{/block:AlbumArt}

And access Artist, Album, and Track information like this:

{block:Artist}
    Artist: {Artist}
{/block:Artist}

{block:Album}
    Album: {Album}
{/block:Album}

{block:TrackName}
    Track: {TrackName}
{/block:TrackName}

Tracking tags just got a whole lot more useful! You’ll...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:04:12 -0500

Tracking tags just got a whole lot more useful! You’ll now see new post counts in your Dashboard.

Some tags you might want to check out: iPhone, NYC, politics, tech, Star Wars

Hey, what’s that? Some really neat new features will be...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:07:00 -0500

Hey, what’s that? Some really neat new features will be showing up in this menu shortly!

Just a reminder: You can share or hide your likes on the Settings page.

Tumblr just broke into the Top 100! Please welcome our new...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:38:00 -0500

Tumblr just broke into the Top 100!

Please welcome our new Director of Scaling and Sysops.

Watching the community grow so quickly over the past few months has been humbling and inspiring. It’s also presented huge new scaling challenges that have quickly become a full-time job.

So we’re psyched to be welcoming Andrew Terng to the team to make sure Tumblr is fast and stable while we get everyone in the world blogging. Andrew just moved back to NYC from California where he had been scaling Delicious at Yahoo for the past two years. Welcome, Andrew!

This is an amazing opportunity you guys have given us and we’re working hard to make sure your experience here only gets better. :)

Tumblr Tuesday

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:24:47 -0500

Whoa dudes! The official Tumblr app is shown in the new iPhone commercial for a few seconds. We’re truly honored. But there’s more!

In an upcoming episode of a popular hospital drama, a lead character searches Tumblr to solve a medical mystery! Plus, a top player in a well-known football league is planning to post a photo of his new touchdown celebration during next Sunday’s game! Lastly, I have it on good authority that a Tumblr balloon will be featured in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Ahh, fantasy is better than real life.

Commonplace
I know what you’re thinking. “Oh look! Text on photos! How original! Oh crap, I left the oven on!” I’d make an impassioned argument against your misguided thought process here, but you really need to get home before your stupid house burns down.

something something.
“Art” is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. That’s what Wikipedia says. I’m honestly not sure why those nerds think they can say anything on the subject.

Jazz Channel
Jazz is perhaps the great American art form, and Jazz Channel celebrates it. If you’re into jazz, you’ll love this site. If you hate jazz, you’ll still love this site. That’s the power of the rhythm of life, you jive turkey.

Fuck Yeah Subtitles
This is awesome. It’s like watching a video without all that annoying movement and sound and stuff. But seriously, looking at these screencaps is strangely addictive. I’m going to start watching everything in freeze-frame.

One Theme Every Day
This is perfect for the discerning reader that has no idea what they like. Every single day, this Tumblr blog picks a brand-new theme to cover. So one day it’s rainbows and the next it’s famous Eastern European dictators. Win-win.

Who do you nominate for next Tumblr Tuesday?

Newsweek has been doing some really awesome stuff on Tumblr. In...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:43:39 -0500

Newsweek has been doing some really awesome stuff on Tumblr. In addition to being great reporters and curators, they’re featuring a lot of the smart and interesting content created by the Tumblr community.

Check them out!

Thank you, Apple!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:01:32 -0500

Thank you, Apple!

Tumblr Tuesday

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:12:34 -0500

Hey, Tumblr. David is out of the office this week, so we’re all acting a little bit crazy! One of us removed all the credit from a reblog, and somebody else went and posted the same funny picture twenty times in a row.

Yeah, we’re hardcore.

Lunch Bag Art
Every day, the best dad ever creates these awesome brown lunch bags for who can only be the luckiest children in the entire world. If the bags are this good, I can only imagine what kind of marvelous foods are packed inside.

Homemade Polaroid
It’s rather amazing what just a few thick lines can communicate. Could they possibly tell us that we can find inspiration and beauty in everyday life? Certainly! (They also confirm that giraffes and balloons are highly underrated.)

Put This On
I’m so glad that Jesse Thorn and Adam Lisagor produce a web series for men about dressing like a grownup. I mean… I have this friend… He wears nothing but stupid t-shirts. He could really use something like this. So, uh, I’ll pass it along.

The Daily What
The Daily What delivers something interesting, funny, or cute with astonishing consistency. Following this Tumblr will easily fulfill 95% of all your random internet needs.

Baubauhaus
This well-curated design and photography blog pulls together great content that you probably haven’t seen before. Add some art to your life.

Who do you nominate for next Tumblr Tuesday?

Tumblr Tuesday

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:49:25 -0500

Happy Tuesday, Tumblr! You survived another Monday, which is a start. The real question is: Will you survive after all those embarrassing photos of yourself from Halloween surface and spread around the web? I submit that you will, if only because you’ll be distracted by your addiction to all things Tumblr, including the following Tumblr Tuesday selections. They won’t judge you, even if your friends and family will.

The Day in Photos
The fine people at DailyMe run this exemplary photo blog which captures the news of the day. Everything is generously tagged, which is helpful when you’re looking for that perfect AP photo of a cute baby panda.

These Are My Dreams
If you’re into analyzing your dreams, you’ll want to stay awake for this. Zing! TAMD is a collective dream journal, which means this blog has a legitimate excuse for reading like the script from a Spike Jonze movie.

Black and WTF
This site makes me wish the internet had been around since photography was invented. Think of all the epic memes and intergenerational lulz we’d be sharing with our grandparents right now.

Fuck Yeah Venn Diagrams
Imagine if John Venn could see us now. He invented the Venn diagram in 1881 to demonstrate all hypothetically possible relations between sets and today we’re using them for comedic purposes. And I’m looking him up on Wikipedia. Madness.

Toby, Dave & Ian Explain XKCD
xkcd is, of course, a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. Toby, Dave & Ian Explain XKCD is a Tumblr blog of answers, speculation, evidence, and interpretation.

Who do you nominate for next Tumblr Tuesday?

Reblog This Film Festival: Recap Last week we had the honor of...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:05:04 -0500

Reblog This Film Festival: Recap

Last week we had the honor of showcasing a few of the incredibly talented filmmakers on Tumblr. Spending the night with our esteemed film community in Hollywood was absolutely spectacular.

But even if you couldn’t make it, we’ve immortalized the event on tumblr.com/films. Go check out these unbelievable short films, print out a poster, and reblog your photos from the red carpet!

Theme designers! You can now include liked posts in your...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:50:00 -0400

Theme designers! You can now include liked posts in your themes.

Get instructions in the Theme Docs.

See it in action on garyvaynerchuk.com and Newsweek.

Try it on your own blog with The Atlantic and Papercut themes.

Tumblr Tuesday

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:34:09 -0400

Reblog This Film Festival was last night in Hollywood, and it got me thinking… Sure, I could be bummed that it’s sunny and beautiful in Los Angeles while I’m stuck in a rainy New York. But then I realized I don’t need to go to Hollywood, I can bring Hollywood to me.

Let us now imagine what each of these Tumblr blogs would be like if they were turned into movies!

Watch It Grow
In a world filled with weak facial hair, one man fights against dirty looks and accusations of being a molester for the glory of possessing the most epic mustache of all time. Life as we know it hangs in the balance. With explosions!

Zombify
Terror. Dread. Cute zombies! A small, depressed town in rural America is overrun by the cutest and most adorable zombies that audiences have ever seen! The ignorant townspeople initially fight their invaders, but eventually learn to work with them to make a better world. With explosions!

From Me To You
A mild-mannered NYC photographer and collector finds more than he bargained for in a creepy old antique store. He’s forced to fight for his life as a shadowy government agency hunts for the secret he unearthed. With explosions!

Legos!
A young girl finds that the scenes she makes with her Lego building blocks turn into real life. She decides to use this power to help find her widowed dad a new wife, and learns along the way that you can’t force love and that pirates are awesome. With explosions!

Tom Oatmeal
Tom writes steamy romance novels, but has never felt love himself. After a horse bites off Tom’s hand, he hires a quirky female assistant to help him meet his upcoming deadline. Through a series of hijinks, both learn that you just might find the love of your life when you least expect it. Sadly, these two hate each other with a passion and will both die alone. With toast!

What? I like toast. Who do you nominate for next Tumblr Tuesday?

Photo

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:18:00 -0400

Now testing: “Read More” breaks Inserting a break...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:44:24 -0400

Now testing: “Read More” breaks

Inserting a break will truncate your post so readers need to click “Read More” to view it in its entirety.

Themes can even style them using the new {block:More} tag!

{block:More}
    Read More
{/block:More}

You can add a break with the plain text and Markdown editors with the simple tag:

These are only available in Text Posts at the moment.

Woo!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:45:00 -0400

Woo!