andy skipper dotcom

Linux is filthy.

andy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:13:47 +0000

“One trick that is commonly applied to avoid disk activity is to put the shmlog on a tmpfs. This is generally not required, but doesn’t hurt.”

You can put your shmlog on my tmpfs any day.

Magento and Ubuntu Lucid Lynx

andy — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:48:50 +0000

I’ve just had lots of fun getting Magento 1.3.2 to work nicely with Ubuntu 10.04 – the problem is with the version of PHP installed by default in Lucid Lynx. Versions of Magento under 1.4 appear to have trouble with any PHP version over 5.2.10, and Lynx ships with 5.3. So, in order to run Magento webstores from older versions, you’ll need to downgrade your PHP version. This can be done by opting to use the repositories for Karmic instead of the Lynx. Here’s a script, nabbed from this page here which will automate that for you:

#!/bin/sh

# Script to install PHP 5.2 from 9.10 on 10.04
# And pin it so it does not get updated

PKGS=`dpkg -l | grep php | awk '{print $2}'`

apt-get remove $PKGS

sed s/lucid/karmic/g /etc/apt/sources.list |
  tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/karmic.list

mkdir -p /etc/apt/preferences.d/

for PACKAGE in $PKGS
do
  echo "Package: $PACKAGE
Pin: release a=karmic
Pin-Priority: 991
" | tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/php
done

apt-get update

apt-get install $PKGS

Links for 2010-05-18 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Feed Shark - Ping your blog, feed, or podcast for free!

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Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Getting Started on Natural Language Processing with Python

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Tue, 11 May 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Browser Usage Graphic

andy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:59:36 +0000

An excellent browser usage chart

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Tools for HTML Email templates

andy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:46:40 +0000

This is as much for my own reference, but here are some tools to test and refactor HTML templates such that they’re more widely compatible with the plethora of mail clients out there in the wild:

Litmus Email Testing – freemium model, multiple client testing areas, spam-like content detection. Looks good!

MailChimp Inbox Inspector

MailChimp CSS Inliner – converts styles to inline, which is more cross-client compatible. Smashing Magazine says “Code Like It’s 1999 (Literally) and Use Inline CSS”

Campaign Monitor Email Testing Tool

Great 24ways article

Clever cross-platform HTML video embed code

andy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:48:11 +0000

Camen Design have released a very clever HTML snippet which will embed a video in the page, using HTML5’s tag by default, and falling back to QuickTime or Flash/FLV automatically, without worrying about JavaScript, which means it’ll work properly in RSS readers and email clients that don’t support JS. And, since the default output is the tag, it’ll work on an iPhone.. Here’s what it looks like:

Download Video: Apple iTunes "MP4" | Open Format "OGG"

Go get it, spread it wide

Warning – Chrome 4 does not like the Wordpress admin

andy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:39:40 +0000

As I’ve just found, to my chagrin, Google Chrome v4 appears to have an issue with Wordpress’ cookies – attempting to log in to the admin dashboard results in the login page refreshing. You have been warned!

Wordpress forum post

Chrome issue ref

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Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

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Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

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Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

Interesting take on a manifesto for Agile development, not just Alt.Net

Unbelievable 3D Projection on Buildings

andy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:55:34 +0000

Projection on Buildings from NuFormer Digital Media on Vimeo.

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Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Bargain Sony PS3 Consoles - Latest cheap console, bundle, games and accessory deals | PS3Bargains
Buy cheap Sony PS3 consoles, games and accessories with our regularly updated offers and bargains. Online prices compared with consoles starting at £195

New PS3 Bargains list

andy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:57:48 +0000

I’ve just set up a new site where I’ll be listing the best PS3 console, bundle, accessory and games bargains and deals in the run-up to Christmas. If you’re on the look-out for a good deal, have a look here:
PS3 Bargains

Matthew Good – While We Were Hunting Rabbits

andy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:22:36 +0000

While We Were Hunting Rabbits from Sam Bradley on Vimeo.

A good friend of mine in Toronto turned me on to Matthew Good recently, and I’ve been gobbling his back catalogue like it’s about to disappear completely. This is my current fave, and the video is fantastic to boot. Enjoy.

Provisioning Profiles in XCode

andy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:36:10 +0000

A very small hint to anyone tearing their hair out with the installation of provisioning profiles in XCode – shut XCode altogether after installing them, and re-open it. This was the only way I could get my application to recognise them – YMMV. Yours sincerely, Irritated of Hampton Wick.