purelocke

Problem opening Maxthon Portable

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 17:34:00 +0000

Maxthon is a browser that uses both the Trident ( IE ) and Gecko ( Firefox ) browser engines. This browser is available in a portable version, and this quick tip is about how to resolve an issue when opening Maxthon Portable, and it gives you an error saying "Another instance of Portable Maxthon is starting. Please wait for it to start before launching again" ( it should also apply to most cases when you receive an error upon starting the program ).

To resolve the issue, go to the Portable Maxthon folder > Data and look for a file named PortableApps.comLauncherRuntimeData-MaxthonPortable.ini. Delete this file ( don't worry, it will be recreated once Maxthon has successfully opened ) and then try to start Portable Maxthon.

Resources:

What is that ï»¿ on top of my web page?

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 08:12:00 +0000

ï»¿ is the BOM or Byte Order Mark of the Unicode standard. To solve issues where the BOM appears on top of your web page, simply open it in a note editor like notepad++ and change formatting to Unicode in UTF-8 without BOM and then save the file.

The BOM should not appear anymore when you view the page on a browser after doing this formatting change.

Resources:

Byte order mark ( Wikipedia )
Notepad++ is an open source text editor. You can download notepad++ here.

Disable Speed Dial in Opera

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:50:00 +0000

Opera's Speed Dial feature offers a quick way to access sites that you regularly visit, but in some cases, like in mine, you may just prefer a blank page and the address bar when you open a new tab. To disable Speed Dial in Opera:

In the Opera address bar, type in about:config or opera:config. This enables you to access Opera's Preferences Editor.
On the Preferences Editor, under User Prefs, look for Speed Dial State. Set the value to 0 ( values: 0 - folded, 1 - normal view, 2 - Read Only and 3 - disabled ).
Click Save under the User Prefs section for the setting change to take effect.

Video player for .dav files

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:21:00 +0000

Trying to view recorded CCTV footage, I had to find a player for playing the .dav format that the CCTV DVR system was recording to. I found 2, the first one was able to open the file but did not properly display the video while the second one actually was able to play it. If you are trying to open a .dvr file, you can also try using any of these 2 and see if it works for you.

Stop Simplenews from sending out a newsletter ( Drupal )

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:50:00 +0000

This tip is for people using Drupal and a module called Simplenews for maintaining and sending out newsletters to an email list.

There might come a time when you need to stop simplenews from sending newsletters - maybe because of issues with the module or the Drupal site, or you accidentally sent the wrong newsletter to a certain list of users. Whatever the reason, below is a quick way of stopping Simplenews.

Backup your database first. You can use a module called Backup and Migrate to do so.
Open phpMyAdmin, and look for under your Drupal site's database the simplenews_newsletter table.
Determine the node id of the newsletter you are sending ( going into the edit page would show you the node id on the url ). Look for that node id on the simplenews_newsletter table, and click on the edit button on the left of the row ( pencil icon ).
Change the s_status from 1 ( which means sending ) to either 0 ( unsent ) or 2 ( sent ).
Empty the simplenews_mail_spool table ( this is where all the email addresses and status per message is stored ).

You can use TRUNCATE to do this, as in the code below:

TRUNCATE TABLE simplenews_mail_spool

WinFF - Open Source Video Conversion Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:00:00 +0000

WinFF is an open source GUI for the swiss army knife of video conversion - ffmpeg. Supports most of the codecs supported by ffmpeg including flv, avi, asf and wmv. Features a simple and easy to use interface, and can do multiple conversions at the same time.

Platforms

WinFF runs on Windows ( Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 ) and Linux ( Ubuntu, Debian, Redhat and Suse ). There is also a portable version for Windows.

Resources

Creating a database in iWeb's PanelBox

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Tue, 31 May 2011 04:09:00 +0000

iWeb is a Canadian web hosting company that offers shared hosting, managed and unmanaged dedicated servers and colocation.

What is PanelBox?

PanelBox is custom cPanel interface used by iWeb for its hosting accounts.

Creating a database

To create a database in PanelBox, first login to your account. The default url would be /cpanel.
Under General Options, click on Database.
Select whatever Database you want to setup > either MySQL or PostgreSQL. For this guide, we'll be using MySQL.
Name your database and click on "Create Database".
Now you need to create a user for the database you just created. Hover again over MySQL, and select "Add new user".
Name the user, and give a strong password. Click "Create User" to proceed creating a new database user.
Next step is to add the user you created to the database, hover over MySQL and select "Add User To Database".
On the Add User To Database page, select the user and database you created and hit "Submit".
Manage User Privileges page should appear next, check "All Privileges" and then click on "Make Changes".

Now that you have setup the database, you should be able see it under MySQL > Current Databases.

Random Image Banners in Wordpress

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Sat, 14 May 2011 17:02:00 +0000

There are lots of different ways to get this done, either by using one of many Wordpress plugins, or just writing custom code. But for this tutorial, we'll be using a Wordpress plugin called WP Bannerize.

Download the plugin from this page. Extract and upload to your server, location should be your_wordpress_directory_root/wp-content/plugins.
Login to your blog, and on your left sidebar, click on Plugins. Look for WP Bannerize, and click Activate to enable the use of the plugin.
Once the plugin is activated, you should be able to see on your admin sidebar the WP Bannerize controls. You can now start adding banners by clicking on "Add new".
Browse for the image, and fill out other attributes like destination URL, etc.
Now that you have your banners ready, you need to insert into your theme the following:

<?php if(function_exists( 'wp_bannerize' )) wp_bannerize('limit=1&random=1'); ?>

Note:

The default code would just be:

<?php if(function_exists( 'wp_bannerize' )) wp_bannerize(); ?>

but adding limit and random makes your banners appear in random order.

Help Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:56:00 +0000

Last March 11, 2011, an 8.9 earthquake hit near the east coast of Honshu, Japan. The strong quake also caused tsunamis that caused more damage to residential areas, farms and vital infrastructures like the Sendai Airport and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Thousands have been confirmed dead, and thousands more are missing.

You can get more information and extend help through any of the following ways:

Google Crisis Response page (2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami) - Has a donate button whose proceeds will go the Red Cross Japan. Also on the webpage are other resources like Person Finder,Maps and Latest News.
CNN | Tsunami aid and relief: How you can help - Has links to different organizations that are currently accepting donations and help for the people who have been affected by the quake and tsunami.
Yahoo 7 news | DONATE FOR JAPAN - Links to different charitable organizations where people can channel through their support.
Unplgged | The Japan Earthquake: How to Help - Links to sites, and mentions other ways to donate like via text and iTunes.

Lightroom automatically opens when USB drive / Memory Card is inserted

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:10:00 +0000

Just a quick tip to stop Lightroom ( in this case 3.2 ) from automatically opening when inserting a USB drive / Memory Card.

Open Lightroom, from the main top menu, select Edit > Preferences.
Under the General Tab, look for Import Options.
Uncheck "Show import dialog when a memory card is detected". Click OK to save the setting change.

AVG 9 ( Free Edition ) now available for download

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:36:00 +0000

For PC users who are looking for an alternative free anti-virus software, and for those who are current users of AVG 8.5, the most current version of the popular free anti-virus is now available for download.

I just wished the "Game mode" feature was also a part of the free version, but I guess AVG still needs to keep features that will give users a reason to upgrade to the "Full" version.

Links

Understanding robots.txt

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:29:00 +0000

Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team, presents and discusses how Google handles the robots.txt file. Watch the video below, follow and share comments on Matt's blog or discuss the video on YouTube.

Resources

Robots exclusion standard ( Wikipedia )
Block or remove pages using a robots.txt ( Google webmaster tools )
Robot Control Code Generation Tool
Search Engine Optimization 101 ( Nettuts )

Google to release a new Chrome-based OS in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Google announced on July 7, 2009 that they will be releasing a new browser-based ( Google Chrome ) OS sometime in 2010 ( according to them, it will be in netbooks by the second half of the same year ). Google Chrome OS will be open sourced this year, so developers who will be working on it once it is in private beta, could give their hands-on experience on the current state of the OS at that point. According to the announcement, Chrome OS will be a light operating system, with a ( Google developed ) windowing system and the Chrome browser as the user facing application. Many are really excited with the announcement, but there is also a large camp who are really skeptical of how impactful this new OS will be. The hype around the new operating system is pretty strong, but the lack of information about the mysterious product maybe the only cause for this. Google is not alone in pursuing a web-centric OS, with Crunchpad and Intel's Moblin also having the same goals - to make machines that rely more on the network than on traditional desktop apps.

For further reading:

Fontsquirrel: Free and High Quality Fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:48:00 +0000

Fontsquirrel aggregates free, high-quality fonts that have all commercial-use licenses for designers and font addicts.

Fonts are available in OpenType and TrueType, and are further categorized according to "style".

Links:

Conficker Removal Toolbox

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:51:00 +0000

I recently needed to remove Conficker on some Windows XP machines, and downloaded some of the removal tools available from Anti-Virus companies and Microsoft. I also used a Portable copy of ClamWin, which was useful as Conficker would not allow the installed AV to run updates. I've zipped and uploaded the following tools to Mediafire, to serve as an emergency copy and for others to use if they are not able to download from the different AV vendor sites ( a Conficker infected machine will have difficulty downloading from AV sites ).

You can use the Conficker Eye Chart to check if you are infected by Conficker.

If you want to try and download removal tools directly from their sources ( or if you are in a different machine that is not infected ), you can use this list provided by the Conficker Working Group. You can also check their Home page as well as their FAQ to read more about Conficker.

If you want to download the removal tools that I've collected as the Conficker Removal Toolbox, you can follow this link. The list of things that you'll find in the zip file are:

Symantec Downadup Removal Tool
BDTools from BitDefender
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
ClamWin Portable ( extracted and updated on April 26, 2009 )

Resources:

Convert Documents to PDF with the Document Converter Express

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:41:00 +0000

Neevia Document Converter eXpress is a very handy online tool for converting your documents to other file formats right on the browser. I tested and used it for converting PNGs to PDFs, and the conversion process was fast and completed without any problems. I used the "Wait for conversion in browser" option, but you can also specify an email address and have the link to the download page emailed to you instead. The file size limit for uploads is 1 MB.

The supported Output formats are:

PDF
PDF/A
PostScript
EPS
BMP
JPEG
TIFF
PCX
PNG
GIF

Neevia Document Converter eXpress is a free online tool, but the company also offers paid desktop programs for creating and modifying PDFs.

Link: Neevia Document Converter eXpress

Portable and Free eXpress CheckSum Calculator

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:53:00 +0000

I've been recently downloading Linux distros, through bittorrent and direct iso downloads, and one of the tools that I found very helpful in checking the validity of the files that I download is the eXpress CheckSum Calculator. You can match the values calculated by XCSC against the given and previously generated checksum values for files that you download online. The tool supports CRC32, MD5 and SHA-1. If you need to find the checksum for a group of files, you can also use another program from the same developer, the eXpress CheckSum Verifier (which is also portable and free).

Details :

Developer : Irnis Haliullin Cost : Free Supported OS : Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/Vista Supported algorithms : CRC32 (Cyclic Redundancy Code), MD5 (Message Digest number 5) and SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm). Download Size : 263Kb ( Self-extracted EXE file )

Resources and Links

Firefox 3 hits 8 million downloads in 24 hrs.

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:22:00 +0000

Congratulations to Mozilla and the Firefox team for the very successful Firefox Download Day and being just a step away (awaiting confirmation) from a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. The total downloads after 24 hours totaled around 8 million, with almost the whole civilized world joining the download spree, and the United States topping the list of countries with completed downloads. As a side note, Opera also released the version 9.5 of their desktop browser last June 12, which also had great reviews and buzz going around, getting downloaded 4.7 million times for the first five days after it was launched. The great numbers of downloads for both browsers in such a short span of time will definitely affect the current Usage Share of web browsers ( Firefox has 17.76% usage share, while Opera has 0.69%, as opposed to the 74.83% of Internet Explorer - As of April 2008 ) cutting more into the considerable piece of the pie commanded by Internet Explorer.

I've been using Firefox 3 ever since downloading and installing it on my main system, and I must say it runs much faster, with I believe the memory leak issues in the past being resolved in the current version. I still see spikes in memory usage, but it is much lower than Firefox 2, which really became a memory hog with like email, some web apps, and a few more tabs open. I've read mixed reactions to the Smart Location Bar ( also known as the "Awesome Bar" - this feature is an autocomplete function that uses your browsing history and bookmarks ), but overall I really like it and it has given reliable results that matches what sites I want to go to. Another feature that I like is the Anti-Virus integration when downloading files - Firefox 3 ( on Windows of course ) integrates with the installed and running AV software and scans the file being downloaded automatically. I personally scan everything I download, and this feature actually does save me time, and for some who are not so security-minded, it may save their PC from malicious software and files. The new "One-Click Bookmarking" also sounds great, but have not played around the Bookmarks Organizer on my Firefox much, as I've migrated my growing list to Google Bookmarks.

Resources and Links:

Firefox 3 Released Today

noreply@blogger.com (Sirius) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:10:00 +0000

The latest version of the Firefox web browser was just released today.

Firefox 3 is a leap into maturity, as the beloved Mozilla product moves forward with great features that make it easier for its users to experience the "new and dynamic" Web. Some of the key features are Improved Memory Management, Instant Web ID ( anti-phishing ), Smart Location Bar and Improved Bookmarking process. If you want to know more about what Firefox 3 brings to the table, Lifehacker has a great rundown of the Top 10 Firefox 3 Features, or you can read in full the Firefox Features page.

Download it here.

Useful Links :

"Don't Give Up On Vista" - Apple Ad

noreply@blogger.com (purelocke) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:01:00 +0000

There's a hilarious web ad from Apple being shown around popular sites. It combines a top banner ad saying "Don't Give Up on Vista" with a tower ad on the side which involves the "Mac" and "PC" characters from the well-known Apple Mac advertisements.

Watch the video capture below ( via MacRumors ):

Update to Safari 3 Beta for Windows - Ver. 3.0.4

noreply@blogger.com (purelocke) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:10:00 +0000

Safari for Windows has just been updated to 3.0.4 , with new features added and of course improvements in "Security and Stability". I've been using Safari for Windows for testing purposes and have found the initial release buggy and slow at times. Hopefully with this upgrade, Safari on Windows would work as "smooth" as Firefox and Opera.

Links:
Safari download page.
"About the Safari 3 Beta Update 3.0.4 for Windows" .

Marvel Comics offers free issues online

noreply@blogger.com (purelocke) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:05:00 +0000

Marvel Comics now offers free back issues of familiar titles like X-Men and Spiderman. The digital editions could be viewed online and there are no options to download. The viewer has a pretty decent interface, and has options for different viewing modes, has a zoom function, and usable next / previous buttons.

Link to complete list of free issues.

Congratulations to the 2007 Weblog Winners

noreply@blogger.com (purelocke) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:58:00 +0000

Congratulations to the winners of the 2007 Weblog Awards - you all deserve the compliments and the recognition. Some of the notable winners:

Best Blog - PostSecret
Best Technology Blog - Engadget
Best Literature Blog - Neil Gaiman's journal
Best Podcast - This Week in Tech

For the complete list - visit the 2007 Weblog Awards site.

Make your vote count - 2007 Weblog Awards

noreply@blogger.com (purelocke) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:12:00 +0000

2007 Weblog Awards : Last few days of voting for your favorite blogs, podcasts, vidcasts and independent content sites - besides voting for those that you've followed over the years or just recently, discover new content from the different categories showcased.

A Blogger Experience Comparison - 2006 vs. 2007

noreply@blogger.com (purelocke) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 02:01:00 +0000

I'm really not sure when all these changes happened to Blogger, but after not opening this account for a whole year, exploring the control panel has been a surprise and a pleasure. What prompted me really to open Blogger was Prism , which is a Mozilla product that works the opposite of what new and modern browsers are -it is simple and takes away the menu clutter and lets you just play with a specific web application. And so, while I was opening my "Web Apps" in Prism I thought of Blogger and wanted to see how it would feel to blog without the distraction of my web mail open in another tab and an article from Wired on another. Just you and application staring face to face. And so I was really surprised to find that you can now customize your sidebar and easily add content to whatever part of your blog. This was not so when I started using Blogger - I remembered sites that featured clever ways of creating Tags for blog entries, for inserting a header image ( which I wrote about 2 years ago ) and for other things that the platform lacked ( or that other blogging platforms offered ). The templates are basically the same as before ( as I remember ) except for 1 or two additional templates. But right now, choosing a template is much easier. Testing how fast it was to setup a blog - I could very well say that it is easier and much more polished than before - setup could take as fast as 5 - 10 minutes including inserting a widget, adsense and tags to the sidebar. Looking back - to add content to the sidebar meant editing the HTML and knowing what you we're doing, which is in contrast to what is capable through the control panel right now, adding anything is just a few clicks, copy-paste and save away. Letting users add javascript without opening the HTML makes customization fast and easy.

Note: The new blogger template customization tool needs you to upgrade first - which means that customization that you've done with your current template would be lost, but you can always go back or revert to your old template if you wish to do so. For this blog, I used the new template for a couple of days but reverted back, as I'm more used to HTML than XML ( you can download the XML and edit it elsewhere to customize, etc. ,but the point of the tool is to give the user freedom to change parts of the blog without understanding the code )

Overall - improvements may not be "astounding" for most, but they sure made me feel that the product as whole has matured a lot. And after a year of silence, it's nice to be blogging again.