Want to Optimize WordPress Speed? Here’s What You Need to Know

Speed optimization is the part of any website and if you are running any WordPress website then it must have great speed to enhance the user-experience. There are few tips and tricks on how to improve the speed of a WP website with available tools on the web.

Facebook Instant Articles vs AMP vs Apple News for WordPress

A mobile content revolution is afoot. Content distribution giants like Facebook, Google, and Apple are delivering content to mobile users in new and innovative ways, leaving content publishers scrambling to keep up. It wasn’t very long ago that having a fully-responsive site was enough, but that is no longer true.

In the past month, AMP articles have been added to Google Search results and Apple News has opened its doors to all publishers. And in April, the Facebook Instant Articles program will begin accepting applications from interested publishers.

Content publishing is a tough game. Publishers have to be at the leading edge of change as the web evolves to avoid losing viewership to more nimble competitors while simultaneously publishing the best content possible. As a publisher, if you take your eye off of either prize there’ll be bounce-rate-hell to pay.

WordPress is the most popular content publishing platform on the web, and the WordPress community has proven itself wonderfully adept at accommodating the constant evolutionary demands that are thrown at it. But before you start integrating the latest mobile optimization plugins into your WordPress website, you need to know which new formats to embrace and which ones you’re better off skipping.

A Tale of Three Platforms

Facebook Instant Articles (FBIA), Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), and Apple News (no acronym necessary) are similar in concept but used in very different ways. All three make static content such as blog posts and news articles load more quickly on mobile devices and provide a more immersive and app-like experience. However, each platform is implemented quite differently:

• Instant Articles are only shown to users of the Facebook mobile app;


• AMP format is being used by Google search (but only in mobile browsers for now) and by Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Medium, and Nuzzel; and


• Stories published to Apple News are only available to iPhone and iPad users.

In this article, we’ll explore all three publishing platforms so you can decide which formats make the most sense for your content and audience.

WP Engine Employee Spotlight: Will Ruff, MDR Sales

In this blog series, we talk to WP Engine employees to learn more about their roles, what they love about the city they work in, and hear from them what they like most about working at WP Engine.

What is your position here at WP Engine?

I am a Market Development Agent. The team I work on is called called the MDR team, MDR standing for Market Development Representative, which is part of the sales team here at WP Engine.

How did you first learn about WP Engine?

I had seen them at SXSW a few years ago and they seemed like pretty cool people. At the time I had just left an agency that built sites in WordPress but I didn’t have much sales experience. After many odd jobs, and a year and a half selling phones at AT&T I saw WP Engine was hiring for sales, so I thought I’d apply.

Can you describe a typical day in your role?

It’s mostly making phone calls, sending emails, and researching businesses who are a good fit for managed hosting. But month-to-month our focus changes which is pretty refreshing. This role was brand new in October and my duties included taking leads generated from the marketing team and calling them up to see if we can learn a bit about their business. The other side of it is prospecting, which is what I focus on now — trying to find brand new companies who could benefit from managed hosting.

Did you have any odd jobs prior to WP Engine?

I did door to door sales years ago in NY in the winter, selling Verizon FiOS. I unloaded trucks at Target a few years back. In college I delivered wings until around 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

What are some of your favorite things about working at WP Engine?

It’s the people. Everyone’s got an entrepreneurial mentality, everyone’s really focused, and more than happy to help you grow. I didn’t like sales before this, but when I started here it was easy to get into it since more often than not, the biggest selling point for me is the people who work at this company.

What have you gained from working here?

I’ve definitely overcome the fear of rejection. When you’re picking up the phone and calling people to try and start a business conversation, it’s not much different from knocking on a door. But there’s a lot of cases where people appreciate it because we take the time to research their company and they like that we reached out to give them options.

What are some of your hobbies outside of work?

Acting and writing. I am signed with a talent agency in town and occasionally audition for commercials and TV shows. I’m also taking acting classes right now and in 2014, I self-published a novel on Amazon. Also, you can occasionally find me dragging people from WP Engine downstairs to do stand-up comedy at the Austin Ale House. FYI I’m not the only one here who’s done it.

What is one of your favorite things about Austin?

I like that there’s a lot of people who aren’t from here. You could be meeting people from Chicago or California or Alabama…everybody is really friendly and unique.

If you could paint this office any color you wanted to, what would it be?

Orange. Syracuse alum.

If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would it be?

A bald eagle.

What tv show/movie are you ashamed to admit you love?

Dog Soldiers – it’s a werewolf movie that’s completely ridiculous, but entertaining.

Where is your favorite place to eat in Austin?

Hut’s Hamburgers.

Can you tell a joke?

I don’t know. What’s the perfect Austin joke?

…

Let’s taco bout it over breakfast.

Any random facts you could share with us?

I won third place in a guitar shredding contest in college.

WP Engine is currently hiring for positions in sales. See here for the full range of careers WP Engine is hiring for: wpengine-careers.com

The post WP Engine Employee Spotlight: Will Ruff, MDR Sales appeared first on WP Engine.

How to Create an Autoblog in WordPress

Recently, one of our users asked how they can create an autoblog in WordPress. An autoblog is an automated WordPress site that pulls content from other sources and publishes them. In this article, we will show you how to create an autoblog in WordPress.

What is an Autoblog in WordPress?

Autoblog or an automated blog is a website that automatically pulls content from other websites using RSS feeds.

Mainly the term is associated with content-scrapers and spam blogs. However, there are many perfectly good and profitable usage scenarios for autoblogging tools.

For example, an autoblog can be used to create a curated website that gathers news on specific topics and then presents them under one roof. An autoblog can also be used on company intranets and private websites.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to create an autoblog in WordPress.

Creating an Autoblog in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate WP RSS Aggregator plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The basic plugin is free, but for this tutorial you will need paid addons in the Advanced Feeds Bundle.

The pricing starts from $139 for a single site license with one year of support and updates.

Once you have installed and activated all the addons, simply visit RSS Aggregator » Add New to add a new feed source.

First you need to provide this feed source a title, and then provide the RSS feed URL.

Next you need to scroll down a little to the ‘Feed to Post’ section. Here you need to select a post type for imported feed items.

By default, the plugin will import posts as draft. If you want, then you can change that to published.

Don’t forget to check the box next to ‘Force full content’ option. Using this option, will allow WP RSS Aggregator to fetch full text of posts.

Next, you need to set up ‘Feed to post – images’ section. This is where you set up how your autoblog will handle images.

It can automatically import images from feed sources and store them in your WordPress media library. It can also fetch the first image in the content and use it as featured image. You need to set up these options to match your own needs.

The add new feed source page has many other options. You can review them and adjust them to meet your own needs.

You can use keyword filtering to import or exclude content matching certain keywords or tags. You can also add custom content before or after the source article.

Click on the Publish Feed button when you are done.

You can now visit your posts section, and you will see feed items imported into your WordPress site.

Repeat the process to add more feed sources if you need. You can check the status of your feeds by visiting RSS Aggregator » Feed Sources.

Quickly Adding Multiple Feed Sources For Your Autoblog

Adding each feed source, and configuring them one by one can be a tedious task. Here is how you can quickly add multiple feeds at once using the same settings.

Go to RSS Aggregator » Settings and click on Feed to Post tab. Here you can configure the default settings for the feed to post addon.

These settings will be applied to all the feed sources that you add in the next step.

Next, you need to visit RSS Aggregator » Import & Export. Under the import box, you need to add name and url of your feed sources.

Separate name and feed URL with a comma and a space. Add one feed source per line.

After that click on bulk import button to quickly add all the feed sources to your WordPress autoblog.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you create an Autoblog in WordPress.

Editor’s Note: Word of Warning

If you’re creating an autoblog that’s public, please do not scrape full content or images because you will be subject to copyright infringement.

The best use of an autoblog is either when it’s used inside a company intranet. If you’re creating a curated news site, then pull in summaries and link to original source for full article.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create an Autoblog in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Move GoDaddy Website Builder Site to WordPress

Recently one of our users asked us how to move a GoDaddy Website Builder site to WordPress. GoDaddy offers a website builder tool that allows users to create websites using simple drag and drop tools. However, many users quickly realize the limitations of using a tool like Godaddy’s website builder and want to move their website to a flexible and powerful platform like WordPress. In this article, we will show you how to move GoDaddy website builder site to WordPress.

Editor’s Note: This article has a lot of manual steps which can be time consuming depending on the size of your website. We didn’t want to write this article at first, but due to repeat requests we have written this for those who’re looking to switch from Godaddy website builder to WordPress.

Step 0: Getting Started

The success of your WordPress site depends on the WordPress hosting you choose. If you already have GoDaddy’s hosting service, then you can use that for your WordPress site.

If you want to move to a new host, then we recommend Bluehost. They are one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and they are an official WordPress hosting partner.

For WPBeginner users, they’re offering 50% off and a free domain name as well.

Step 1: Preparing to Move From GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress

WordPress has import tools for many services and tools like Blogger, Tumblr, LiveJournal, etc. But it does not have an import tool for Website Builder.

This is why you will need to backup your Website Builder site manually. It can be a little consuming, depending on how much content you have on your website.

Backing up GoDaddy Website Builder Content

If you have just a few pages, then you can backup by simply saving images and copying text into text files on your computer.

You can also visit each page on your website in your browser, and then press CTRL+S (Command+S on Mac) on your keyboard.

This will bring up the save dialog box. Make sure that you select ‘Webpage, Complete’ in the ‘format’ or ‘save as type’ field.

Repeat the process for all pages on your website.

Make sure that you have downloaded all your images and text. Disconnect internet on your computer and then open the files you have downloaded to double-check.

Alternatively, you can use the free HTTrack tool to copy the website on your computer.

HTTrack is a website copier. You can simply enter the URL of your website, and it will make a copy of it on your computer.

The problem is that, GoDaddy website builder and its templates store their files on different CDN servers. The name and addresses of these servers vary from one site to another.

This makes it harder to download all your image files. However, if your website is mainly based on text and you don’t mind losing images, then Httrack is the fastest way to copy your website.

Once you disable website builder, you will not be able to get back to your website. Take your time to make sure that you have a backup of all your website data.

At this time, you’re probably wondering why isn’t there an easier way. Probably because Godaddy doesn’t want you to switch. That’s why choosing the right platform is an important decision, but we’re glad that you have made the right choice to go with WordPress.

Backing up Your Link Structure

You will need to redirect people visiting old URLs of your website to the new URLs in WordPress. To do that, you need to have a list of all URLs on your website.

If you have just a few pages, then you can simply copy and paste the URL of each page on your site in a plain text file.

Alternately, you can use online tools to extract URLs from your site. You can use Klipper, a Google Chrome extension to save URLs in a txt file.

Don’t worry if you miss out a page. We will also show you how to automatically set up alerts for 404 errors in WordPress and redirect users in WordPress.

Step 2: Moving Website Builder Site to GoDaddy Shared Hosting

This step is only for users who will be using GoDaddy’s hosting service to run their WordPress site. If you are using some other WordPress hosting provider like Bluehost, Siteground, Hostgator, etc, then skip this and jump to the next step.

Disable GoDaddy Website Builder

If you want to use GoDaddy’s hosting service for your WordPress website, then you cannot install WordPress on that domain until you deactivate Website Builder service.

Simply login to your GoDaddy account and click on your username on the toolbar at top. This will display a flydown menu where you need to click on ‘Manage Website Builder’.

This will show your Website Builder account. You need to click on the options button next to your domain name.

It will bring you to the Website Builder options page. Under the overview tab, you will find a link to cancel your account. Click on it to deactivate Website Builder on your domain name.

Your website builder account will now be deactivated, and your domain would become available to host your WordPress website. It will take nearly an hour before your Website Builder account is fully deactivated.

Adding Hosting to Your Domain

Now that your domain is free from GoDaddy website builder. You still need to add hosting service to that domain.

Click on web hosting under account manager and then click on manage button next to your account.

This will bring you to the cPanel dashboard of your hosting account. You need to scroll down to the domains section and then click on Add on domains.

Now you can enter your domain name. The subdomain and document root fields will be automatically filled.

You also need to check the box to create an FTP account. Simply select a username and password for your FTP account. Finally, click on the add domain button.

That’s all you have successfully freed up your domain from Website Builder and added web hosting for your domain.

You can now jump to Step 4, to learn how to install WordPress and continue moving your website.

Step 3: Pointing Domain to Other WordPress Hosting Services

This step is for users who have their domain registered with GoDaddy and want to use it with some other WordPress hosting provider like BlueHost or Siteground.

Log in to your GoDaddy account and click on your username on the toolbar at top. This will reveal a flydown menu where you need to click on manage my domains.

Select your domain from the list and click on the Nameservers button on the top and then select set nameservers.

This will bring up a popup where you need to click on custom and then click on the link to enter custom nameserver.

A new popup will appear with two fields. You can add your new WordPress hosts nameservers here. If your WordPress host has more than two nameservers, then you can click on the Add Nameserver button to add another line.

Click on the OK button and then click on the save button to store your settings. Remember that DNS changes may take upto 24 hours to propagate throughout the internet. Although it usually only takes a few hours.

Once your domain starts pointing to your new WordPress host, you can proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Installing WordPress

By now your domain should be pointing to your hosting service and you are ready to install WordPress. Whether you are using GoDaddy or any other hosting service, the process is the same.

WordPress is famous for its 5-minute install. Most hosting companies offer 1-click installers for new WordPress websites, which allows you to install WordPress on your website with just a few clicks.

For more details, see our step by step WordPress installation tutorial for beginners.

Step 5: Importing Website Builder Content in WordPress

As we mentioned earlier that you will have to manually backup your Website Builder content. It is not possible to automatically import content from Website Builder.

By default WordPress comes with two built-in content types called posts and pages. See our guide on the difference between posts and pages.

You need to create new pages or posts on your website and copy paste your GoDaddy website builder content.

Creating posts and pages in WordPress is really simple. See our detailed tutorial on how add a new post in WordPress and utilize all the features.

Step 6: Setting up Redirects

If you have the list of links from old website builder site, then you can go right ahead and setup redirects.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Simple 301 Redirects plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » 301 Redirects page. Enter your old URL under the ‘Request’ field and enter the new WordPress URL for that page in the ‘Destination’ field.

Click on save changes button to store this redirect. Repeat the process for all other URLs.

For more detailed instructions and other ways to setup redirects, take a look at our beginner’s guide to creating redirects in WordPress.

Step 7: Customizing Your WordPress Site

WordPress comes with thousands of beautiful themes both paid and free. Take a look at our guide on selecting the perfect theme for WordPress.

However, most powerful feature of WordPress is its extensibility, which comes from plugins. There are thousands of WordPress plugins that allow you to do almost anything imaginable.

Take a look at all the plugins we are using on this site in WPBeginner’s Blueprint or see our expert pick of must have WordPress plugins for business websites

We hope this article helped you move your GoDaddy Website Builder site to WordPress. You may also want to see our comparison of best drag and drop page builders for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Move GoDaddy Website Builder Site to WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

Looking for a Part-time WordPress Developer

We’re looking for a talented freelance WordPress plugin developer to work on our plugins, such as WP RSS Aggregator.

As a developer here, you’ll create kick ass products and help improve existing code. You’ll also create fanatic users by providing stellar high level support and writing easy to follow documentation.

The opportunity calls for a mixed set of skills. We need someone with expert level PHP / MYSQL skills, impeccable WordPress experience, and basic system administration experience (Apache/Nginx).

How to Pick the Perfect WordPress Theme

Have you ever picked a WordPress theme and started to put together a website only to realize that you’ve picked the wrong theme? With money and time already invested, switching may be out of the question and you may be stuck using a theme you’d be better off without.

Picking a theme is a bit like picking a car: It’s easy to get distracted by the beauty and power of a beautiful product and end up with a convertible two-seater when what you really need i9s a reliable sedan with comfortable seating for five.

I’ve found myself in that situation at least a few times. Trial-and-error has led me to develop an informal system for defining project requirements and evaluating and comparing candidate themes before making a commitment. In this article, I’ll describe the process I use for theme selection and how you can use it to increase your chances of selecting a theme that is a good fit for your next WordPress project.

Know What You’re Trying to Build

Never pick a theme until you know exactly what you’re trying to build. Picking a theme is fun, but planning website content is the most important part of the website creation process and the part that requires the most self-discipline.

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.

— Jeffrey Zeldman (@zeldman) May 5, 2008

Content first, theme selection second.

For a website to be effective, content must come first. Define the purpose of the website, the overall structure, and the media and text resources that will be used to build the website before you even begin to start looking at themes.

Create a catalog of all of the pages the website will include and what will be included on each page. Be as detailed as possible. For example, if you’re creating a business website that will include a page highlighting key company staff members, your description for that page might look something like this:

Staff Page: Profiles for four executive staff members. Each profile will include a photo, a bio between 125 and 150 words long, and one or two social icons.

Use this information to identify the features you need out of a theme. Then as you shop for themes, refer back to this list to pinpoint themes that include built-in support for the features you plan to use.

The key in this step is to find themes that are built to do what you’re trying to do. Misapplying a theme is a recipe for frustration as you try to bend the theme to fit your vision – a vision it was never intended to fulfill.

Many of the most popular themes in the WordPress Theme Directory, such as Sydney , are very image heavy and are ideally suited to be used as portfolio websites for creative agencies. If you are building a blog you would be happier avoiding a theme like Sydney in favor of one designed with your type of project in mind, such as Twenty Sixteen.

Sydney or Twenty Sixteen? Choose the theme that best fits your content.

Getting Hit By A Car: The True Measure Of The WP Engine Community

Recently, one of our San Antonio support techs, Daniel, was hit by a car while riding his bike into work. His bike is his main source of transportation, and he couldn’t get around easily without it. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt, but the accident left him with a gnarled and mangled bike that looked more like abstract art than a functional mode of transportation. Still, Daniel showed up to work, and apologized for being late.

Upon hearing the news, WP Engine rallied, as it’s done so many times in the past.

Within minutes, a colleague had spun up a contribution site to try and raise a little cash to help offset the cost of a new bike.

That’s when the WP Engine magic happened.

WP Engine employees pitched in. They pitched in a lot. And they did so quickly, so much so that we raised $500 for a new bike and a new helmet in less than two hours. It happened so fast that we had to ask folks to stop contributing.

No one was forced to do this. No executive put out a call to action. There were no “it-would-be-nice-if” conversations. This was a grassroots effort by employees to help out their coworker and friend. They recognized the need and took action. That’s the power of WP Engine. That’s who we are. That is what it means to work here.

Like a lot of startups and young companies, we talk a lot about our culture and our core values. A strong culture is a major differentiator and helps not only attract talent, but it also serves to retain the right kind of talent.

Over the last five years, we’ve managed to preserve our unique culture by hiring people who fit well within it, and by nature can help maintain and improve it. It’s not an exact science, but it works.

We can write our core values on a piece of paper, or on a poster. We can stick them to the wall. But they mean nothing if you don’t practice what you preach. And the act of practicing should be natural, not forced, and not a chore.

And when we see that culture in action, like with Daniel and his bike accident, that’s when it all really clicks.

For two years running Austin Business Journal has named us one of the best places to work in Central Texas, and actions like this are one of the key reasons why.

We’re a lot more than a company. We’re a community. We look out for each other.

That community affects our customers too. Because when someone feels like they’re part of something special, as most WP Engine employees do, it inspires them to volunteer their best every day. When people are engaged and give their job their all, our customers benefit in the form of a better platform and better support. It’s sort of contagious in that way. We thrive on serving our customers and giving them a glimpse of who we are and what we stand for. It’s a relationship that not all companies have with their customers.

Ultimately, it comes down to us having each other’s backs, and the backs of our customers, and it’s what inspires and influences how we conduct business every day.

It’s incredible to be a part of it; to see it from the inside. It’s both humbling and inspiring. It’s truly awesome, and truly unique. It’s truly WP Engine.

Want to be part of the WP Engine community? We’re hiring.

The post Getting Hit By A Car: The True Measure Of The WP Engine Community appeared first on WP Engine.

Customizing Front-End and Backend Login for WordPress

Whether you want your users to log in from the front-end or backend of your websites, WordPress allows you to fully customize the experience for both.

Occasionally, when building a WordPress website you might think that the built-in login page doesn’t exactly meet your needs. Sometimes, you might want the login form embedded into your site’s front-end. Other times, you might need functionality that isn’t available using the default /wp-login.php page.

We’ve previously looked at how to completely customize the WordPress login page, exploring ways of merging it into your site’s branding. In this post, we’ll look at how to extend some of the functionality offered in that post with more practical examples.

This post looks at front-end and backend login customization in two sections. In the first part, I will explain how to handle the login process from the site front-end. We’ll look at how to:

• Include a login form into posts and widgets


• Redirect the user on successful login


• Set a custom login page


• Conditionally display a login/logout link in a menu

Note that we’ll explore just the login task, letting WordPress take care of redirection on failed login, password reset, user registration and data editing. All these tasks deserve careful attention and will provide us with more to dive into and explore in the future.

In the second part of this post, I will show you how to add greater functionality to the built-in login page. We’re going to:

• Customize the HTML structure of the login page header


• Get the most from the built-in login page with additional form fields

We’ll also look at several examples to acquaint you with functions, actions and filters available for the handling of the login process. I’ll assume you’re familiar with the key concepts behind action and filter hooks. If you’re not, before going through this post take the time to have a read over A Quick (and in-Depth) Guide to WordPress Hooks.

Let’s start diving into login customization.

Tech And Tacos: President Obama Kicks Off SXSW 2016

SXSW Interactive started off with a bang, as President Barack Obama visited Austin to participate in a SXSW Interactive keynote presentation at the Long Center for the Performing Arts. SXSW Interactive guests were invited to enter an online lottery to win a ticket to attend the president’s keynote presentation, which marked the first time a sitting president participated in SXSW.

Prior to the event, around 2,000 SXSW Interactive goers gathered outside the Palmer Events Center, forming a long line as they waited to be seated to hear the president’s speech.

The presentation began with Hugh Forrest, the Director of SXSW Interactive, who stepped on the stage with enthusiasm, referring to the president’s visit as “the most special event in 30 years at SXSW.”

Taking the form of an interview, Obama’s presentation touched on 21st century civic engagement and community service. Evan Smith, CEO, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Texas Tribune interviewed Obama. The president began his speech with love for Austin, claiming that he likes any excuse to visit the city.

Obama is known for choosing a new place to eat every time he comes to town. This time, the president chose Torchy’s Tacos for lunch. “I had The Democrat…but then I had The Republican…and then The Independent because I wanted to give all a proper hearing,” Obama jokingly said,, referring to the names of several popular tacos available at Torchy’s.

.@BarackObama's bill at Torchy's Tacos in Austin comes to $18.40. He calls Austin Mayor Steve Adler a "cheap date." pic.twitter.com/doWp2uMKKd

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) March 11, 2016

Obama then expressed his true reason for visiting SXSW: to recruit SXSW Interactive attendees to come up with new ideas across different platforms to solve various problems in technology, civic life, and in the White House. “We can start coming up with new platforms, new ideas across disciplines and across skill sets to solve some of the big problems we’re facing today,” he said.

For example, the president said, when the government determined that some of the software it used was outdated, the government brought in top talent from Google, Facebook, and other innovative companies to upgrade the outdated systems to more modern technology.

The president stressed the importance of harnessing technological skills to form digital purpose so millions can be helped. He said there are different ways for people to get engaged to make a difference.

One topic Obama touched on was how difficult it is to vote. “We make it hard to vote. It’s easier to order pizza, or book a vacation than it is to select who’s going to represent your government,” he said. He mentioned that we need to redesign our systems so there’s not a low rate of voter turnout.  “We’re trying to engage folks for how we can create safe, secure systems for people to vote online, and to be more aware of who they’re voting for,” the president said.

Another topic President Obama addressed was the belief that the government doesn’t do any good, or that they haven’t proven to do any good, for its citizens. Obama rebutted the claim with the example of those who look on their phone to check the weather. “Well, the government has a geolite satellite system rotating over earth,” he said. He also brought up the fact that the government is what keeps others from invading our country.

Continuing his talk on technology, Obama said that he hopes we can one day extend the digital space to communities that might not be able to afford it. ConnectED is an initiative that aims to deliver high speed wireless Internet to 99 percent of classrooms by 2018.

“It’s not enough just to focus on the cool next thing. We’ve got to harness that technology so that everybody can use it,” he said.

The end of the interview touched on Apple and the FBI and privacy concerns, where Obama urged against “absolutist” views. The key, he said, is strong encryption and only accessing data from someone’s phone when the issue is important and there is probable cause.

Time ran out before the attendees could ask the president questions, but Obama jokingly interrupted Smith saying they could go one more minute because he is the president, afterall.

The post Tech And Tacos: President Obama Kicks Off SXSW 2016 appeared first on WP Engine.

A Hand Picked Bundle of Free and High Quality WordPress Themes and Plugins

A revamped collection of WordPress themes for hairdresser, mobile first portfolio, blogging, agency, business, real estate, kids, magazine, medical, and more types of websites in as many styles as you can imagine.