Jon For Rent

New Year Means New Passwords

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:35:17 -0800

Every year technology is getting better and faster & although technology is advancing there is always a security risk. The most common way to break security is with a password. My suggestion is ...

Every year change your passwords for your most important sites!

If you didn't already know there is a list of the most commonly used passwords on the net. So you don't have to click around to find it, here is the list of the top 10 most commonly used passwords of 2009:

123456

password

qwerty

12345

jesus

12345678

1234

abc123

letmein

test

Here is a link to the top 500 most commonly used passwords, this list was created in 2008 but I am sure it still stands - http://www.whatsmypass.com/the-top-500-worst-passwords-of-all-time

I can't help but get angry that people would really use these passwords! Come on people, you can be a little more original. If you are one of the lucky people using one of these passwords then for gosh-sakes change it now!!!

Here are a few tips for creating a better password:

No less than eight characters long
Use capital and lowercase letters
Use at least 2 numbers
Do your best to avoid using common words

Stick to these tips and you should be golden in creating a secure password.

If you are like me and have a hard time figuring out a new secure password for every website you sign up to. Then you can try to use the tools that Steve Gibson of GRC.com has provided

Perhaps you want a password that is slightly easier to remember. If that is the case then try this site out http://www.safepasswd.com

You may have a hard time remembering the passwords you just created. To make life easy you can use LastPass which is great and universal across all browsers and operating systems. LastPass takes over remembering your passwords and even generating them if you allow them to. You just have to remember one password, but make sure that one password fits the rules I gave above :) .

Hopefully this is helpful and sets you on the right path to being more secure in the year 2010!

Welcome to the new site!

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:16:19 -0800

Welcome! I have finally come to my senses and completed the blog project that I have been working on for months. If you're interested in knowing more about it then read on.

The blog is created with Ruby on Rails(2.3.6) and being currently hosted on Heroku. Which I have spoken about Heroku on the old blog.

My blog project was on hiatus for some time till now since I have a lot of free time now. So I will be written a lot more :) .

I might release the code on Github if people want it. The code is really basic just very customized for a minimal purpose. I was starting to get sick of wordpress having me update something EVERYDAY ... come on software shouldn't be a pain in the ass to use.

I have setup the blog to be pretty minimalistic. There is a VERY simple admin panel which requires a username and password. I decided to use HttpAuth instead of a full blown authentication system because a system like that is a complete waste of time and resources for one user. Currently just posting everything in basic html, might switch to textile or markdown. I am still thinking which one would be easier.

This is what I am using on the site currently:

Blueprint CSS Framework
JQuery
Ruby on Rails --version 2.3.5
will_paginate
friendly_id --version 2.2.7
coderay
rack-codehighlighter

I am not done with the code, it still needs work. I started writing test code for it with cucumber but once I added the admin section everything went to hell and I decided to skip the testing for right now on this one project since it's a personal one. I am planning to write testing for it though just because this is unfinished and adding a new feature could easily bork it.

Espresso crashes on opening a Rails Controller

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:26:00 -0800

If your Espresso.app crashes upon opening a Rails controller then these is two things you have to do so it doesn't keep happening to you.

Update to the latest MacRabbit Espresso 1.1 [Link]
Install the Rails.sugar which I mentioned in my blog post [I Love Sugar in my Espresso | GitHub Link]

I have recently tested this and my ruby on rails controllers no longer crash. This should fix your problem :)

Thanks again to MacRabbit for such an awesome and beautiful developer app!

Why I Like my Tmobile G1

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:05:00 -0700

I bought a T-Mobile G1 just about over a month ago and I love it. I have not regret the purchase what so ever. Now why do I like my Tmobile G1 so much?

Well because the phone OS (Android) is an open platform to an extent considering the cell network providers have set a few limits. I really have had no problems with any of the limitations that have been set. The market allows you to download a pay for app for 24 hours and within those 24 hours you have the option to return it for a full refund. That has to be one of the coolest things that they have given you that option unlike other markets that do not offer a refund at least android give you a time period to try it.

I have a bunch of app suggestions for all the Tmobile G1/Android users out there, check it out. I will be linking them all to Cyrket which is a site that mirrors the Android Market and that way you have a browser friendly representation of the application description and comments. If by chance Cyrket goes down just do a search in the market place for the apps. My linking is just to help you have a better view of things.

Barcode Scanner

This Application is a must for all types of users. The barcode scanner does exactly what the title of the application is. It will scan almost any type of barcode. A great example and a perfect first time use for it is on Cyrket.com which right next the the icon of the app has a QR Code(3d bar scan code). Download the Barcode Scanner from the market and whenever you see a barcode just point your G1's camera to it and watch what happens :).

Where

Ever out and have no clue what you want to eat or maybe you're running low on gas and need to find the closest gas station or maybe your are in the mood for a movie and would like to find the nearest theater to you? Well this is the app that does it all and more! Where is the swiss army knife of location based searches for your G1. You will be sure to use it @ least once a week if not more.

Power Manager

Another app that is a must! Everyone knows that the battery on the Tmobile G1 just sucks! If you didn't know now you know but this app helps extend the battery greatly. Hard to believe an app would to the trick but it does. It has extend my battery time from half a day to over a day and that with active use of the phone. So this is for sure a must and make sure that "monitoring" is switch on when you open the app. This would most likely be your first pay app but trust me it is worth the $1.00.

My Account by T-Mobile

This is a T-mobile made app which gives you direct access to your tmobile account. This is totally useful if you are using this phone on the Tmobile network. Gives you minute totals, Text msgs used, and what your bill currently due is. Even gives you the option to pay for it thru the phone.

Phonalyzr

I have MyFavs on Tmobile and this app has helped me figure out who I talk to the most amoung other things. Phonalyzr has managed to save me a great deal of money and if you have MyFavs on T-Mobile and can't figure out who you talk to the most this app should help you figure that out! Also it's cool to see some stats on your phone usage ... I am a statistics nut :P

Linda File Manager

Sometimes you have to access your SD Card Memory card but how can you if you don't have a file manager? Well Linda File Manager is pretty straight forward and does the job great.

Twitter Applications

I got two of these and I like them both but it all depends on the person so I recommend you try both and see which one fits your needs.

Twidroid

A beautiful twitter client for the G1, well designed and pretty feature reach. The application is not as snappy as others but your sacrificing the speed for a good looking UI. It allows you to shorten URLs, post an image, and even look at what the latest buzz on twitter is.

Twit2go

This twitter client looks like a basic client but really has some comparable features to twidroid just not as pretty. It is my current twitter client of choice because it is slightly more battery friendly and has a simple layout. God choice for people that want to get right to the point.

Astrid

An open source task list app ... this is one of my all time favorite apps on the G1. It is a pleasure to use, both simple and feature rich. It has the ability to sync your tasks with RemeberTheMilk.com and this is a major plus for me just because this allows me to review my tasks on my computer and make an altercations if necessary or even add some more tasks while I am using RemeberTheMilk.com after that I open Astrid and sync the changes from the website.

Alarming!

Simple and great add-on to the default alarm clock that is on the G1. Worth the $1!

Ringdroid

Do you hate paying for Ringtones? Have you ever downloaded a ringtone off the internet and find out it sounds like crap? Yeah I know your pain why deal with all that when you have perfect mp3s on your computer that can easily be a ringtone. Well Ringdroid assists you in cutting that mp3 down to the clip that you want as a ringtone. In simple words its a audio editor on the G1. So if you want custom ringtones then you have to download this :)

Rings Extended

This replaces the normal ringtone picker and allows you to branch off to other methods of picking ringtones for you phone. This is great with Ringdroid in fact it is a must! If you don't like the idea of Ringdroid this is still a perfect replacement for the default ringtone picker on the G1.

PixelPipe

Taken a bunch of pictures with your G1? Don't know what to do with them? Well do what I have done and upload it to Flickr or any other image hosting service with PixelPipe. PixelPipe is the middleman that will allow you to send any of your photos to any of the services they support. You do have to sign up online to use it but if you end up taking a lot of photos it could be worth it for you.

SMS PopUp

SMS Popup This is one feature that you would have thought would have been included within G1 but it wasn't and thank goodness the developer of SMS Popup created this. All it does is pops up a little window on your screen when you get a TXT, it's really nice and again something you would have thought it would have been in Android.

Handcent SMS

Good alternative to the built messenger. It has a built in soft keyboard which really is handy when you typing those quick messages back and it's just not worth it to slide the real keyboard out. It doesn't support MMS from what I can recall. I stopped using Handcent SMS mainly because of that but for basic texting it's a great app.

SnapPhoto and SnapPhotoPro

The camera on the G1 sucks ... really was disappointed when I got my G1 and it came with no flash and the camera was not as night friendly as I wanted it to be. Well SnapPhoto(Pro) allows you to enable the camera to go in "Night Mode" which enhanced the lighting intake for the camera allowing your picture to come out just a tad better. Also nice feature that both version of the app has is image stabilization based on the accelerometer built into the G1. SnapPhotoPro has one feature that I really liked ... to take a photo all you have to do is point the camera and tap on the screen instead of using the camera button, personal I think this is a better method since the camera button somethings doesn't do the trick.

Documents to Go

I personally haven't used it but from what I have it works as advertised with some minor bugs. Documents to Go allows you to Create, Edit, and View Word and Excel sheets supporting version up to 2007 so it's pretty compatible. It's not free the app costs $20 but if you are constantly reviewing docs and spreadsheets on the go this is going to have to be an app you install.

FBReaderJ

Looking for a free eBook reader that supports the epub or oeb format? The creator of FBReader has been working on porting the application over to android and has been doing a great job of it. It's open source and available to download from the applications website it is not available from the market. epub is starting to become more widely used so this might be a good fit for your ebook readers out there!

Do you have any suggestions or maybe an app I should add here that I might have forgotten? I would love to here it please comment.

I love Sugar in My Espresso

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:26:00 -0700

Earlier today I added a bunch of sugar packs to Espresso such as Rails and some themes. I was lucky enough to find most of them at Github. Here is how I did it.

http://github.com/search?type=Repositories&language=&q=.sugar&repo=&langOverride=&x=28&y=6&start_value=1

Super easy to add Sugars to your Espresso.

Let's take installing the Ruby on Rails.sugar as an example and just do this in Terminal:

:::bash
  mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Espresso/Sugars (One time deal after this you won't have to do it again!)
  cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Espresso/Sugars
  git clone git://github.com/insane-dreamer/rails.sugar.git Rails.sugar

That's it! What you just did is create the Sugars directory where your Sugars will go, next you changed into the Sugars directory, and the last step grabs the Rails.sugar files from the clone URL and places them in to the Rails.sugar folder.

Once you reload Espresso it will have the features from that Rails.sugar. Now just a heads up the Rails.sugar is just starting to be worked on and if you know what's up you should fork it and help develop it.

About upgrading your sugars all you would have to do is this(Once again we are working with the Rails.sugar):

:::bash
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Espresso/Sugars/Rails.sugar
git pull

Yup that easy! Just going to the the Rails.sugar directory and typing in "git pull" will update all the new files. It can not be any easier.

If you run into problems like git unknown command then you need to install Git just visit http://code.google.com/p/git-osx-installer/

You can also get Sugars and Themes at http://fileability.net/coffee/

I recommend checking out this for themes http://github.com/atinypixel/espresso-theme-library/tree/master

UPDATE (12/04/2009): Thanks to Jay for finding a more up to date Rails Sugar, I have updated the git clone line in my post. This one is much better since it has more to offer then the old one.

Making Espresso Terminal Friendly

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:02:00 -0700

So thanks to Macheist and all the people who paid for the Macheist bundle I got myself a copy of Espresso, but it didn't behave like Textmate so this is my method to fixing that :)

I been a happy user of CSSEdit for a very long time and it's part of my web dev tool belt. Another tool I use on a daily basis is TextMate. TextMate is the swiss army knife of text editors but that has it's cons and pros. Quick example is there is no visual presentation for CSS which would be great when you are trying for quick constant updates ... that's where CSSEdit came in play but with Espresso now in my tool belt TextMate will be use less for web dev I am thinking.

I love both TextMate and Espresso and with Espresso being so young it is a great editor already but it is missing one of the key features that I dug about Textmate ... being able to open files and folders from the terminal well I found a quick solution for that and for any of the terminal geeks out there I am sure they have already figured this out but for the one that haven't do this and you can do the same thing with Espresso now.

In Terminal type:

:::bash
cd ~ (that makes sure you are in your home folder)
open -e .bash_profile (Will open TextEdit with the .bash_profile file)

With the file open add this line to it

:::bash
alias esp="open -a Espresso"

Save it and quit TextEdit.

If you get a message saying ".bash_profile does not exist" then type in this command

:::bash
vi ~/.bash_profile
(On your keyboard press the I key once)
(Add this line)
alias esp="open -a Espresso"
(Press the ESC key on your keyboard once and type in :wq)

Close your terminal and open it up again. You should know be able to type "esp" in terminal alone Espresso will load up and if you type something like any of these in your terminal window:

:::bash
esp Filename.txt
esp ~/Sites/Folder
esp ~/.bash_profile
esp FolderName

It shall open it all within Espresso just like TextMate would. So you get the idea I hope.

Good Luck and Thanks to MacRabbit for creating such beautiful and useful applications!

Subversion book for the Amazon Kindle

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:28:00 -0800

As I wait for my Kindle replacement to get here I have created a Kindle friendly version of the Version Control for Subversion book which is based off the HTML files from the book's project site.

This book is under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 which you can read about by visiting this link http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

If you have a Kindle go ahead and click on this link to download the book: http://files.jonforrent.com/Version_Control_with_Subversion.zip

The book was converted from HTML to PRC format which is readable on the Kindle using the MobiBook Creator.

If you want a hard copy go grab your self a copy below "Version Control with Subversion" (C. Michael Pilato, Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick)

The main file(s) for this book and any upcoming information from the authors you can visit this site http://svnbook.red-bean.com/.

HOWTO: Ruby on Rails on your Nokia N800

Sun, 27 May 2007 03:27:00 -0700

I got a few emails asking me how I did it. So why not do a HOWTO on the site right? It's pretty simple but I have yet to see a howto on this at least one that goes from start to end.

NOTE: THIS IS INSTRUCTIONS FOR OS 2007 AND NOT 2008. For 2008 visit this site

I thought I do it even at the risk of repeating someone else instructions. I know I will have these here for myself and anyone else that might need to know how to do it.

First make sure you have the latest firmware for your Nokia N800. Now I did this on a N800 I have never touched a N770 but I am sure if you have the hacked 2007 OS then this howto will apply for that as well. So you will need the latest IT OS 2007.

Before you start please note that install Ruby on Rails can be a long process even though I make it seem fast here it can seem at times like it has locked up your N800 ... just let it do it's thing and you will end up with a portable RoR developing machine :) . Remember give it time!

If you haven't done so you might want to add some virtual memory to your N800. How you do this is by going to your control panel and click on memory. Once the dialog comes up click on the virtual tab. Now add as much virtual memory as you can. Please remember to place the memory card near the battery this is what the N800 uses for it's virtual memory.

You will need to enable "Red Pill" mode ... what does this mean? Basically it unlocks the Repository's you have under Application Manager so you can install OpenSSH(or SSH).

So to enable Red Pill mode do this:

Open Application Manager
Click on the Application Menu(upper left hand corner)
Click on Tools and then click on Application catalog
Click on the New button
In the Web Address delete http:// and type in matrix
Click on Cancel
This will bring up a prompt with Red Pill or Blue Pill, click on Red Pill.
You can now click on the Close button for the catalog and you will be able to see a larger list of applications to install.
Optional ... If you do not see more applications listed then you might have to refresh the catalog which is listed under the tools menu.

What do you need installed? Not much just a few things. X Terminal (osso-xterm) and SSH.

Click on Browse installable applications
Click on the All button
Look for osso-xterm and ssh click on each one and click on install. You will have to do it for each package.
Close Application Manager

You should now have Xterminal and SSH installed :) .

Last steps ;) I promise.

Open your Browser on your N800 and type this in http://pierre.droids-corp.org/maemo/ (or this one from your computer) from there install the ruby_1.8.5, rubygems_0.9.2, and sqlite3-ruby_1.2.1 packages. Now you should have Ruby and Rubygems installed.

Open up X terminal type this in ssh root@localhost it will ask for a password type in rootme. Your now root on your N800. I suggest you run an update on your Rubygems so type this in:

:::bash
    gem update --system

This will run thru a process of updating your rubygem. If you encounter a error just run the command again it should follow thru after that. Now to install Rails :) . Type this:

:::bash
    gem install rails --include-dependencies

This will install rails and any other needed files that are required by rails. Again if you encounter an error just type the command in again.

That's it you have Ruby and Rails install now.

I have a few things installed that you might want to install yourself to help you work with your Rails app. Minimo which is a ported version of Mozilla for portable devices and I have leafpad installed. The built in browser has it's limitations and using Minimo will get you closer to using a more featured pack browser that will handle Advanced JavaScript such as AJAX and advanced CSS.

It can be hard to type code on the N800 but you can use a bluetooth keyboard for that :) it works very well.

I hope I didn't leave anything out if I did let me know ... I am really good at missing the small stuff :P, Good luck!

Final Class Project: Complete!

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:35:00 -0700

I have finally completed my project for CIM269a which is Beginner Javascript @ Saddleback College. Check it out!

This tutorial seems to be defunct(broken) with the latest release of MooTools 1.0(01/31/2007) So please use this as a reference to understand how mootools works but the code I used in the video is no longer valid ... I do plan on release an updated version of this video as well as a few others. I will update this post when that happens.

My project was to use a framework and show it being used as well as giving an example of how it can be used in a real life scenario.

I used Mootools for the frameworks just because it looks to me like an easier to understand framework and the functions that are built in are just perfect. The size and feature are just right.

I created a Video Tutorial of how to apply an Accordion effect to div blocks in a page and create a hands on feel to the site. I did do my best on exampling how to do it as easily as possible in the video ... It took me many tries to get the video just as close to perfect as I could.

If you enjoy and learn from the video fantastic that was my main goal and if you didn't really enjoy it or learned something from it but maybe got 1% of something back from it then hey you know that makes me happy also.

A real quick note I noticed that Mootools is now at revision 7273 in the SVN repository revision 83 and I still have revision 70 in the projects file zip. There was no changes that would affect the tutorial or the files. I decided not to update what was in the zip file.

What are you waiting for?!?!?! Go download the video and project files already!

You will need something like 7zip or IZArc or anything else that handles the 7z format to extract the movie. Also you will need Quicktime or something that handles MOV files to play the video.