Tooltip.js 0.5.0 Released - Davey Shafik:

I just pushed out Tooltip.js 0.5.0. I had planned to release 0.4.0 tonight, indeed I had written the ChangeLog? and tagged the release...

(Via Planet PHP.)

Gtalkr, Web-Based GTalk Client:

A few weeks back I introduced you folks to Meebo, a browser-based IM aggregation client that leveraged technologies collectively known as AJAX. Now meet Gtalkr, a Flash-based implementation of Google Talk. I have been playing around with it for a few days, and as a Mac user, I can finally enjoy the GTalk IM Service. It is fairly simple product to use. Go to this website, use your Gmail ID and log in. Nothing to download, nothing to install. But ease of use is not the only thing. In many ways it is like GTalk plus. (I wish it looked prettier, but it works nicely

(Via Om Malik's Broadband Blog.)

Report: RSS Is a Target for Worms:

Security researchers at Trend Micro are warning that RSS is a lucrative target for future bot worm attacks. What's worse, they're saying the onslaught will hit once RSS becomes a feature in Internet Explorer with Windows Vista. This isn't a surprise. Once you have a technology that brings in data to the desktop and it becomes popular, it's going to be attacked.

(Via Micro Persuasion.)

Danger Level Rises For Perl Flaws:

(Via Packet Storm Security Headlines.)

Dyad Security on Tuesday warned of a so-called "format string vulnerability" in Webmin, a Web-based administration utility written in Perl. An attacker could gain complete control over a server running the vulnerable software by exploiting this "new class" of flaw, the security research company said in an advisory.

K Desktop Environment - KDE 3.5: A Visual Guide to New Features:

Konqueror has now become the second browser to pass the arduous 'Acid2' css compliance test. Apple's Safari browser was the first, which makes use of Konqueror's advanced rendering engine KHTML. Thanks to some fixes that were integrated back into Konqueror from Safari improvements, and the hard work of the KHTML programmers, Konqueror can now boast a high level of CSS compliance.

Emphasis is mine. I loved Konqueror. When I was a pure Linux user, Konqueror was the browser I used every day! Still do when I am on Linux.

TextWrangler 2.1.1:

TextWrangler is my text editor of choice, and Bare Bones Software has just released TextWrangler 2.1.1. This is a minor release to be sure, but I'm all for mentioning TextWrangler at any point I can.

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Just upgrade. You just have to try this editor if you have a Mac.

worldnic DNS servers down, (Mon, Nov 28th):

(Via SANS Internet Storm Center, InfoCON: green.)

Cricinfo - Grace under fire

A short summary of some of the greatest innings by the Pakistan Cricket Captain Inzamam.

Inzamam-ul-Haq has often talked of the need to handle pressure as being the key to succeeding in international cricket. His best innings, as detailed below, have been compiled when the pressure has been at its greatest, and Inzamam at his most unflappable.

And from here:

Inzamam also has a great sense of timing, and not just with his square drives. He performs when it matters most, and he makes his performances count. Seventeen of Inzi's 24 centuries have been in a winning cause, a proportion second only to Bradman. Inzamam's performances also lift the batsmen around him. When he goes beyond 30, it is like a rising tide, and Pakistan's average score per batsman jumps up by 10 runs, as pointed out by The Numbers Game. And though it appears unlikely that Inzamam will catch up with his great contemporaries in the number of centuries, he does have more scores of 50+ in international cricket than Brian Lara (156, to Lara's 153). Tendulkar is well ahead on this count at 184.

Bytonic Software

Jake2, a java port of quake2. Beware. You can end up losing half an hour or so if you start up the game! Click on the web start thing, it downloads the engine, and then asks if you want to download the demo, or play with existing files you may have. I chose to download the Demo, which is 38MB. It installed it, and of I went. Its fun!

Sifry's Alerts: Happy 3 year Birthday, Technorati!

Firefox Extensions For Bloggers:

We are always on the lookout for a little extra productivity here at Performancing, let's take a look at some top Firefox Extensions for bloggers..

(Via Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed.)

There are two extensions here that I did not know about. The first one is the session saver, which is something I've long wanted. The other is the capability to re-arrange tabs. Now it seems I might have a reason to switch to Firefox, away from Safari. That and the little annoyance I had with the gap site. I'm probably going to wait though, for Firefox 1.5, and hopefully not too many extensions are going to be incompatible.

Apparently gap.com does not work with Safari. Since when did this crap start happening again. We're back to 1998/99 when "This site works best with crapola browser" messages/signs were prevalent. :(

It seems history does repeat itself.

New RSS Bandit released:

Dare Obasanjo announces that a sizeable new release of RSS Bandit is now available. I downloaded and installed this and it looks great. This is a free RSS News Aggregator and is my favorite of the free ones out there. His post explains what’s new, but I really like that it synchronizes to NewsGator now.

(Via Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger.)

Ten Signs of a Cheap Blog:

I was thinking about blog design as i trawled around with nothing much todo late last night, and thought i'd try to make two lists. This one, what makes a blog look cheap, and what makes a blog look professional - negative one first eh? Here's what for me, makes a blog look cheap and nasty...

(Via Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed.)

I don't like most of the points he makes. My criteria for a good blog is a blog with interesting content. A bad/cheap/boring/unprofessional blog would be a blog that has boring content. For instance, my favorite blogs either do not have their own domain name, or post daily links without a write up. So what? Everything that Robert or Dave post is interesting. But more than that, it seems like their blogs are a personal project that involves effort. The blogs have a personality. In fact to me thats what makes a blog. They are personal sites, not professional sites.

Ofcourse those two are exceptional (l33t) bloggers. But still, that is the criteria I use for all blogs.

Firefox Canvas based First Person Shooter!

And it works in Safari! At least on the version (2.0.2) I have installed.

FIREFOX 1.5 - Hot off the Grill!:

The most noticeable improvement in the user interface is the ability to reorder tabs via drag-and-drop. With Firefox 1.0, users had to view tabs in the order in which they were opened. Navigation is significantly faster, as Mozilla has implemented "intelligent caching" on the forward and back buttons

(Via digg.)

Arrrgh, I plugged my new iPod into...:

Arrrgh, I plugged my new iPod into my old Mac and lost everything on it. Never got a confirmation dialog asking if it was okay if it wiped out the music and audiobooks that I painstakingly took hours of my time to set up. Never mind that the originals are on the other side of the United States. Honestly, how dare they design software that's so brutal?

(Via Scripting News.)

Uhoh... now that is a severe bug!

GCC 4.1 Released:

Luineancaion writes "Looks like GCC 4.1 has been released. From what I know this includes the GNU Classpath merge and means that Azureus can now be used in a 100% Free-Software system. Thanks to everyone that worked on it, and keep up the good work!"

(Via Slashdot.)

Thanksgiving day seems likes a release day for opensource software. Cool.

PHP 5.1.0 Released! - Ilia Alshanetsky:

Yes, it is true, PHP 5.1.0 is finally out!

(Via Planet PHP.)

Uhoh... now do we stick with 4.3/4.4, upgrade to 5.0 or 5.1? Do we have to run a third instance of apache with php 5.1, and passing of calls to the third instance, via proxypass? Or is 5.1 backwards compatible with 5.0. I think the PHP scene is horrible in these regards!

Next Generation: Xbox 360 'Overheating' Problems Emerge:

Forum posts are suggesting early teething problems for Xbox 360, with some units overheating.  —  For the most up-to-date game industry news, opinion and analysis, read Next Generation every weekday morning. www.Next-Gen.Biz

(Via tech.memeorandum.)

Are all these problems for real?

The fine art of programming - John Lim (PHP Everywhere):

Here's a list of excellent online programming guides that i am compiling. I will add more links as time permits.

(Via Planet PHP.)

Front Row Enabler 1.0.1 - MacUpdate

Blog Stats Software Reviews - SiteMeter:

In this first post of our blog stats package reviews let's see if the aging SiteMeter still stands up to the new kids on the block.

(Via Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed.)

Slashdot | Xbox 360 Very Unstable:

There have been several postings over at Xbox-scene complaining of crashing Xbox's on new games, with default settings on single player. Crashes on Xbox Live and on startup have been reported too, and Project Gotham Racing 3 crashes before finishing the first lap. Screenshots and Video are available showing the crash."

Looks like the XBoX 360 launch ain't going so well...

What with the crashes and people fighting and stuff...

Microsoft Getting Into Free Mail Hosting:

Microsoft is releasing a new email hosting service with a twist: they will allow you to use your own domain, and host your mail on their system for free. The new service is part of the Live suite of services that Microsoft announced last month, and will likely be ad-supported. The service is called Windows Live Custom Domains, and is currently in beta status

(Via The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog.)

IronPython cometh:

Jim Hugunin, the daddy of both IronPython (Python for the .NET CLR) and Jython (Python for the Java JVM) demos IronPython.


(Via Sean McGrath, CTO, Propylon.)

Introduction to netcat, the "TCP/IP Swiss Army knife":

Decent introduction to some of netcat's capabilities for those who have never heard of it before.

Use Dual Screens On Two Different OSes:

This program will let you use two screens on two different computers as if they were connected to the same computer, even if one is running Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP and the other is running Linux!

(Via digg.)

Simple Sharing Extensions for NetNewsWire:

I created a Simple Sharing Extensions exporter for NetNewsWire followed links as a proof of concept. The OPML SSE exporter is written in AppleScript. It iterates through each subscription feed and its items, outputting every feed and the descriptive data about the items you have opened in a browser.

(Via Niall Kennedy's Weblog.)

Control the 'text drag delay' time in Cocoa applications:

I recently wrote a bit for Macworld, discussing the recent tip here on dragging text snippets to the Dock. In that writeup, I provided a brief overview of OS X's two modes of text dragging for those not yet familiar with the ...

(Via macosxhints.)

Archive pre-existing email with Gmail:

While this is similar to this previous hint about archiving email to Gmail.com's 2+GB storage for each user, it's a different approach.

(Via macosxhints.)

The Server Side: Websphere Community Edition available for download:

IBM has made Websphere Community Edition available for download. WAS-CE is based on the open-source Geronimo project from Apache. It was announced a few weeks ago; it's only recently actually become available, as promised

(Via PlanetJava.org.)

Dell Finally Goes for AMD:

this great guy writes "You read it correctly. It had to happen one day. According to Forbes 'Dell Inc has informed its Taiwan contract makers of plans to develop devices based on Advanced Micro Devices Inc's microprocessors, and these suppliers are awaiting orders for global shipment, the Economic Daily News reported, citing industry sources.'"

(Via Slashdot.)

Wow! x86 Macs, AMD Dells... what next? Open-source Windows?

How to Import Your Blog Into Google Base:

He makes an interesting point. If enough people start doing this, could Google just kill anyone trying to build a site that searches all kinds of consumer generated content - not just blogs? Fodder for a holiday-shortened week.

(Via Micro Persuasion.)

Google Base blog import instructions:

Google Base launched last Tuesday as a new repository of information for distribution across Google's network of sites including Google search, Froogle, and Google Local. You can add your existing content to the Google Base for broad distribution with only a few easy steps. I'll show you how.

(Via Niall Kennedy's Weblog.)

This actually makes sense. Your data generated for a blog is public anyway. You want it to be out their. Plus the reliability of a database system at the scale Google has released Google Base should make for a good backup. At first I thought it might be possible to use the Google Base as a replacement database for your blog. But I don't think thats possible. Hopefully Google will add some API's that will make it easier to add data like you would to a normal database.

Plus the bit about google advertising and all. I'll probably play with this idea over Thanksgiving or something. Haven't had the chance to try out Google base just yet.

SSE - Simple Sharing Extensions - A Microsoft innovation on RSS:

Ray Ozzie and the team at Microsoft is working on an exciting new innovation  to RSS called SSE, Simple Sharing Extensions.  There is a draft specification in place, and sample code will be ready soon. Microsoft has released the Simple Sharing Extensions specification under the Creative Commons license, the same license that covers the RSS 2.0 specification.

(Via Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing.)

Pakistan is playing England right now. That was some innings from Shahid Afridi! :D

images
Originally uploaded by awasim.

Waiting for Inzi to get his century!

Holy crap! He equaled Javed Miandads record of 23 centuries! Congratulations to Inzamam-ul-Haq! :)

I just installed wordpress 2.0beta1. Doesn't look that much different from 1.5.

Not sure which version wordpress.com is using though.

SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System :

A couple of weeks ago Microsoft revealed a beta version of its free on-line security scanning tool Windows Live Safety Center. The scanner, which currently requires the use of Internet Explorer, uses an ActiveX control to scan the visitor's system for malicious software, open ports, as well as for non-security performance issues. The screen shot below shows the tool's scanning options.

There are so many good links on digg.com, I'll just point you to the site, instead of linking to individual articles.

Is Web 2.0 a Bubble?:

OK, so I took most of the day off. I had a nap. Let the week all soak in. And I asked myself “if Bill Gates gave me $200 million, what would I buy?”

I kept thinking of three companies: NewsGator and either VoiceStar and Ingenio.

(Via Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger.)

Would'nt it be a better idea to buy something like memeorandum. Imagine integrating memeorandum in to MSN, and then modifying the algorithm so it worked on various different categories, instead of just politics/tech. Sure memeorandum can be gamed right now. But the algorithm is good and with a little tweaking I'm sure it can be made better.

There are so many categories, cars, computer games, sports, music, fashion, shoes... Memeorandum would give people a method of tracking the hot topics in all these categories, and the various discussion on blogs that follow. I'm just astonished that the big3 have not bought this algorithm yet. Or Amazon or AOL for that matter.

But then, what do I know?

Update: All these companies are talking about User Generated Content. Memeorandum gives a pretty good way of tracking that on blogs. An alternative to tags and stuff. And unlike digg its automated.

PHP Editor Review - Review

I can't believe opensource editors like Anjuta, and Bluefish got a higher score than BBedit. Wow!

I wonder if any of these editors have the ability to edit files on a remote server via ssh. They didn't the last time I used them, which was about a year ago. Thats a long time in the computer world.

The Vaults of Parnassus: Python Resources

High Performance Enabled SSH/SCP [PSC]

Google Analytics hates Safari:

Google Analytics, a free website traffic analysis tool from Google, doesn't work in Safari. Actually, that's not entirely correct. You can log in using Safari, and you can see most of the application, however if you try to view reports showing the analysis of your website (kinda the whole point of the tool) then you're out of luck, Safari user. Sure, the service is free and it works with Firefox (or any other Mozilla based browser) but I use Safari almost exclusively, and I bet I'm not the only Mac user like that.

What is the deal, Google, don't you love Mac users?

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Google Purchases Riya for $40 Mil:

With Riya's software Google uses face recognition technology to identify people in photos. The system can also recognize text such as street signs.

(Via digg.)

I just found this:

Conflicting reports are coming in over Google's rumored acquisition of Riya. Now Shel Israel, a consultant to Riya is saying, Google has NOT bought Riya. Who wants to play To Tell the Truth?

HOW TO: Create a secure PHP login script:

This article explains how to create a secure PHP login script that will allow safe authentication. Features remember-me function using cookies, validates logins on each request to prevent session stealing.

(Via digg.)

Windows rootkits in 2005, part two:

In our previous article, we discussed current rootkit development techniques. In this article, we take it a step further and focus upon upcoming, cutting edge trends in rootkit technologies. Then the third and final article in this series will discuss various methods of rootkit detection and countermeasures that can be used by security professionals.

SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System :

Today, Microsoft release new security advisory for Memory allocation denial of service attack via RPC.

O'Reilly: What Is Screencasting

Mac OS X System Startup:

This page briefly describes the sequence of events that happen when Mac OS X boots.

Google Base is live (and a beta):

No surprises - Google Base has gone live as a beta. There were a number of reports from the usual reliable sources that this time it was really going to appear (and not disappear). I did some quick random searching against a number of simple topics and found a surprising number of results - heavily skewed toward listings of the job wanted sort.


(Via The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog.)

MacDevCenter.com: An Introduction to Tiger Terminal, Part 5:

In previous parts of this Tiger Terminal series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, & Part 4), I introduced the OS 10.4 version of the terminal.app, shell basics, CLI network utilities, and shell scripting. In Part 5, I'll show you how Tiger Mac OS X runs regularly scheduled commands and scripts to execute recurring jobs, like system maintenance and backups by comparing the "old" way, using the Unix tool called cron (for chronological), with the new Tiger method of using the launchd daemon.

Firefox 1.5 going live today!!:

"On November 9th 2004, Neowin was one of the first to announce the official release of Mozilla Firefox 1.0. We get word from resident Firefox aficionado supernova_00, that Firefox 1.5 is slated to be released sometime today."

(Via digg.)

SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System :

If you are a lynx user, prepare yourself to upgrade it.According to an advisory from iDefense, there is a Command Injection Vulnerability on it, that "could allow attackers to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the underlying user.".

:)

Anyterm - A Terminal Emulator in your browser:

Anyterm is a AJAX implementation of a terminal emulator, using the ROTE terminal emulator library. It works through an Apache module and a javascript display library, and is configurable by way of an htaccess file.

(Via digg.)

macosxhints - Speed up Samba file copying speeds:

I've had absolutely horrible speeds while copying files from my Samba server, and it was starting to drive me nuts. Well, for those of you that experience this, there is a very easy fix.

An Overview of Cryptography:

Everything you ever wanted to know about cryptography but were afraid to ask...

(Via digg.)

Linus's World:

"How open-source god Linus Torvalds got his groove back after a mini-insurrection among Linux insiders."

(Via digg.)

VPN flaw threatens the Internet:

A flaw in a key Internet security protocol used by major networking products could open systems up to denial-of-service and other kinds of attacks, experts have warned

(Via digg.)

Bloggers Beware, You're Not Immune To Jail Time:

Blogging can make you money, yes. But blogging can also put you in jail if you aren't careful.

(Via Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed.)

Solaris Networking - The Magic Revealed (Part I):

Many of you have asked for details on Solaris 10 networking.  The great news is that I finished writing the treatise on the subject which will become a new section in Solaris Internals book by Jim Mauro and Richard Mcdougall.

(Via Sun Bloggers.)

Part II

Amazon Tags:

Amazon is integrating user tagging into product pages

(Via TechCrunch.)

What with Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc. moving towards bringing a richer environment for us customers via tags and such, 2006 is definitely going to be different from past years. But this leads me to wonder if this will set up a divide between the blogerati (people who blog/are aware of web 2.0 and such) and the rest of the internet using population. What about the normal average shopper, who has problems working with email/IM/web browsing. You know, the simple things. How will this affect them?

Ina Fried/CNET News.com: Microsoft eyes making desktop apps free:

Even as Microsoft readies a host of new ad-supported online services to battle rivals, the software maker has been mulling a plan to offer free, ad-supported versions of some of its desktop products, CNET News.com has learned.

(Via tech.memeorandum.)

GUIs with PHP and Winbinder - SitePoint Blogs:

In case you missed it, Aaron Wormus has some excellent slides up about building Windows GUIs with PHP: Winbinding your PHP (PDF).

(Via Planet PHP.)

TechCrunch reviews Yahoo Shoposhpere....:

TechCrunch reviews Yahoo Shoposhpere.

(Via Scripting News.)

Javascript Libraries Roundup:

A comprehensive list of almost all Javascript libraries out there. Cool AJAX and Javascript Effects libraries, all in one place with links to documentation and examples. Its a must see for all webmasters, web designers and developers.

(Via digg.)

VoodooPad Lite:

VoodooPad Lite is the stripped-down free version of VoodooPad. VoodooPad is a new kind of notepad. It’s like having your own digital junk drawer, where you can jot down notes, web addresses, to-do lists… Anything on your mind. VoodooPad automatically links each page together, to form a miniature world wide web just for you! Anybody familiar with WikiWikiWeb will feel right at home with VoodooPad.

(Via Cool OSX Apps.)

I like the idea of Lite applications. There are two that I have tried. The first is textwrangler. It does most of what I need, and hence, no upgrade to the non-lite version (BBEdit). The other is NetNewsWire Lite, and its bigger brother NetNewsWire. I actually shelled out money for NetNewsWire, because I needed some of the features it had to offer over the lite version. I wonder what the result for VoodooPad shall be!

Google Launches Web Traffic Analysis Service:

segphault writes to pass along that Ars Technica has an interesting article about the recently released Google Analytics. Analytics is Google's new traffic analysis service that helps you to know everything from "how your visitors found you [to] how they interact with your site." Analytics is also built to integrate with AdWords if you are already utilizing that service.

(Via Slashdot.)

Nice. More of your data analyzed by the Google Computer Farm. Cool. I wonder if Robert Scoble is having a tough time not blogging about this, what with his no GYM (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) thing going on.

Here is an interesting post about what to do with Web Traffic data.

Now let's say you already do know who your referrer is. You are using VisitorVille, Google Analytics (Nick's discussing that one), or another web statistics software. The referrer, basically, is who links to you, and the statistics software will tell you how often someone clicked on that link. Now what do you do with that information? It depends on the category the referrer belongs to. I'd like to break it up into six categories; the Google searcher, the Slashdot stampede, the smaller site, the authority blogger, the mainstream news, and last (and least) the spammer.

SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System :

Simple advise for SSH:

Run ssh on a non-standard port.
Choose good passphrases, and enforce them with PAM or other wrappers
Monitor your logs, and then conciously look at blocking and/or reporting the abusive netblocks

More Effective Use of Shared Memory on Linux:

"Making effective use of shared memory in high-level languages such as C++ is not straightforward, but it is possible to overcome the inherent difficulties. This article describes, and includes sample code for, two C++ design patterns that use shared memory on Linux in interesting ways and open the door for more efficient interprocess communication."

(Via Slashdot.)

New Server Chip Niagara:

"Sun recently announced their latest release in server technology. The UltraSparc T1 processor, code-named Niagara, has eight computing engines on a single chip, with each core capable of handling up to four tasks at once." With this new processor Sun hopes to get a leg up on the competition. The Niagra chip is being billed as an "eco-friendly" chip because of its low power requirements. From the article: " [...] removing the world's Web servers and replacing them with half the number of UltraSparc T1-based systems would have the same effect on carbon dioxide emissions as planting 1 million trees."

(Via Slashdot.)

Now Selling Cheap Podcast Hosting:

With all the chatter about podcasting this morning, fine folks at Netcraft are providing some hard data on how hosting companies are dealing with videologs and podcasts. And it is all good news for podcasters and video bloggers. Why? because storage and bandwidth prices are still in a swoon, so much so that you can get five gigabytes of disk space and over 250-300 gigs of data transfer for less than $5 a month. Cheap is the main reason why everyone is trying to get into the podcast hosting business, including Yahoo. Rich Miller points to this offer in his post.

(Via Om Malik's Broadband Blog.)

David A. Vise/Washington Post: AOL to Have Reruns on Demand:

America Online Inc. and Warner Bros.  Entertainment Inc. are planning to put thousands of episodes of once-popular television shows like "Welcome Back Kotter" and "Chico and the Man" on the AOL.com Web site, where high-speed Internet users can view them for free.

(Via tech.memeorandum.)

Accessing media in legal ways is getting easier and better and all thanks to Apple, iTunes and the iPod raising the stakes. Especially for people like me, who don't like having a TV, and don't have a TV. I prefer to watch what I want, when I want. Times limited. If I have to wait for something, I'd rather not.

I watched Chico and the Man, when I was doing O'Levels (Highschool) in Pakistan. Or was it earlier? Don't remember. But those were the days! :)

Go to sleep at 9pm, wake up at 3 A.M. connect to BBS/Internet. Phones are not busy at that time, and most BBS systems were run during night hours by other college students. Downloading a Six disk linux distro over a 14.4 Kbps connection which dropped every 12 minutes. Took a month to download! But I finally got to see what the big deal was about Unix, the shell, X, fvwm95 and VI!

Take apart the computer to see what it looks like... $0
Understanding how to assemble a computer back from its components... $1000
You mother seeing all the parts spread out on the bed, exclaims "You broke it!!!"... Priceless!

Struts for the Complete Beginner (Part 3):

In yesterday's instalment (and the one from the day before), all you ended up with was a (very simple) login form. But no application consists of only a login form. So, let's create something real with Struts—let's display some data from one of the PointBase databases that is bundled with the IDE.

(Via Sun Bloggers.)

PHP-5.1 around the corner - Mike's sudden inspirations:

Here's a tidied up excerpt of the current NEWS file with all relevant changes since PHP 5.0, which may help on the decision to upgrade (even from PHP 4 )

(Via Planet PHP.)

Essential Mac OS Software, Tips and FAQ's:

The tips, hints and FAQ's are useful to any Mac OSX user, but the trouble with software today is there is way too much of it. How do I know what's great (or essential) for me? Everybody is going to have their own particular tastes.

What I'm going to try to get out of this (if possible) are applications that are:

Free - yes, I admit it, when it comes to personal software, I'm a bit of a cheapskate.
Are recommended by more then one person.
available on other platforms (like Unix and Windows) as well. They would have preference over Mac-specific ones (although I'm expecting some of those as well).

(Via Sun Bloggers.)

The Big 3?:

Richard MacManus talks about The Big 3 in this piece, and there is a trend to think about three companies -- Google, Microsoft and Yahoo -- as the leaders in online. But I don't think that really works, because well, there are three more that are probably just as powerful as the others, but in different ways. Who are are they? Why don't we make this a game. For 15 points each, which three companies are also leading? (And when the question is asked that way I can't imagine many people won't be able to name them.)

(Via Scripting News.)

Amazon, Walmart, ebay

If your Apache ever runs out of semaphores... - Henri Bergius:

If you get this error message when trying to start Apache, then you're out of semaphores:

# apachectl start
Ouch! ap_mm_create(1048576, "/var/run/httpd.mm.22903") failed
Error: MM: mm:core: failed to acquire semaphore (No space left on device): OS: Invalid argument
/usr/sbin/apachectl start: httpd could not be started
The easy fix is to just remove all semaphores owned by Apache:

# ipcs | egrep apache | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -n1 ipcrm;
Got the fix from cacti forum.

(Via Planet PHP.)

I've had this problem before. Really bad when it happens on a production server, as the server is down for a few minutes while I remember/lookup the command. Thankfully its only happened once.

PCs Plagued by Bad Capacitors:

Hawaiian Rules writes "CNET has a story detailing a new threat to Dell PCs, Apple iMacs and other computers with Intel boards. This has been documented on BadCaps.net for some time, but the article also discusses what to do if you suspect you've got a case of the bad caps."

(Via Slashdot.)

Switching Pains: BBEdit 8 to Zend Studio 5 - Clay Loveless:

I really want to be using Zend Studio 5. Really ... but I keep experiencing sharp pains that make me want to bag it.
Continue reading "Switching Pains: BBEdit 8 to Zend Studio 5"

(Via Planet PHP.)

Parsing an RSS with DOM and PHP:

I have a little script that I thought I'd share for anyone out there looking for a simple way to parse an RSS feed (well, any XML doc, but I use it for RSS).

AJAX PHPMyAdmin Database Manager Alternative

About wikiCalc 0.1:

The wikiCalc program is a web authoring tool that creates normal web pages. It is for creating and maintaining web pages that include data this is more than just unformatted prose, such as schedules, lists, and tables. It combines some of the ease of authoring and multi-person edit ability of a wiki with the familiar formatting and data organizing metaphor of a spreadsheet.

Cool. Is this app going to be Visicalc for Web 2.0 apps? Emphasis in the quote is mine.

Spam from Iraq:

Brian McWilliams, author of Spam Kings, writes about the sudden growth of Iraq's IP space, and a surge in spam emanating from it. Part of the problem is that Iraq's newly created ISPs have yet to issue acceptable-use policies, leaving open the possibility for a spam industry to arise within the country. And, as Brian notes, "junk emailers are often born out of an amalgam of technical skill and economic hardship. Iraq's certainly got a lot of both of those elements right now."

(Via O'Reilly Network Articles.)

XML RPC worm - New Variant - ELF_LUPPER.B,:

(Via SANS Internet Storm Center, InfoCON: green.)

Apparently this worm is no big deal!

I can't say that it's the most elegant worm ever, it's certainly not the fastest spreading, and I suspect that it is one of the easier ones for the Internet-Powers-That-Be to stop spreading completely -- turn off the IP address that the worm is downloading its code from. Sure, we end up with a cycle where the author moves to another IP and re-releases the worm. But eventually even the most stubborn virus author will get bored with that game.

If all you have as a hammer ...:

One of the questions I (and others) get hit a lot with is "why 3 Java tools?" (they are speaking specifically about Netbeans, Java Studio Enterprise and Java Studio Creator). It's perhaps worse now that all three are Free.

(Via Sun Bloggers.)

Some Recent Work with AJAX:

IT Architect has a quick review of some recent work being done w/ AJAX. You might also want to check out Greg Murray's technical article about AJAX. Very succinctly, Greg introduces AJAX and describes the anatomy of an AJAX interaction.

(Via Sun Bloggers.)

Some useful links for AJAX.

PHP Server API Differences:

If you've written code that's had to run under more than one web server environment (even PHP as CGI vs. PHP as module under Apache), you've probably run into headaches like $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] being unavailable Server APIs (SAPIs) vary.

Gates, Ozzie memos throw down the services gauntlet:

Gates writes, “This coming “services wave” will be very disruptive. We have competitors who will seize on these approaches and challenge us – still, the opportunity for us to lead is very clear. More than any other company, we have the vision, assets, experience, and aspirations to deliver experiences and solutions across the entire range of digital workstyle & digital lifestyle scenarios, and to do so at scale, reaching users, developers and businesses across all markets.

(Via The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog.)

Its funny. I think there is at least one other company that has already seized on the opportunity and run with it. They did it, when they sold their hardware business, in effect turning the companies interest towards consulting. Besides supporting Java in the enterprise they seem to be supporting PHP. The small businesses web application framework. I'm still not sure how the services industry can benefit the small companies though. They can't afford the exorbitent fees that the mid-size to large companies can. Can anyone explain?

Its an interesting world we live in.

Camino 1.0 Beta 1 released:

Earlier today, the Camino project released Camino 1.0 Beta 1, a major update of its web browser for the Mac OS.

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

I've got a wordpress.com blog. Cool!

BBC Radio's experimental audio-tagging project:

BBC Radio is experimenting with a project to let radio listeners mark up its downloadable audio in order to produce useful, user-centric guides to the gigantic corpus of audio that the Beeb produces every day. Online Journalism News has a great explanatory article on it, off the back of Tom Coates's blog entry on the project

(Via Boing Boing.)

This is cool. In effect, the BBC is using the user generated content approach, and they are doing it for audio. Nice.

Blogspot Spam Gone? | Google's Services | Google Mini, For Free:

Wouter Schut in the forum reports Google seemingly got rid of Blogspot spam blogs. Indeed, loading a random Blogspot page for several times I didn't hit on any splog either. This could mean Google's blog search (and its backlinks-indicator) improves as well. It remains to be seen if this is a temporary success for Google, or if spammers are already preparing a counter-attack after all, their splog attempts over at Blogspot were often extremely easy to see through (like a new posting exactly every hour).

This is truly good news. Even though I had to go through that whole phase when they were trying to determine if a blog is real or not... it might actually be worth it in the end. I guess one of the biggest deterrents against splogs would be the ability to not post quickly using the blogger/Metaweblog/whatever API. Thats the problem I was having, since Marsedit would use this API to post to my blog at blogger. There is rate at which you can post to a blog, and if you pass that Rate then you're flagged as a splog. Then they review your blog, and if you're not a splog, its whitelisted. Thats what I found out through my experience.

The reason I didn't move to hosting a blog on my laptop at home, is simply because its not reliable. Today the service was out at home, I was at work, and nothing could be done about it. And secondly, I have too much invested in my current site to try and move. For now, I'll stick with it. At least they are now actively trying to improve the service.

Running the server at home though with word press was lots of fun. So much fun, that I don't think I'll take that blog down. Who says you can't run two blogs?

What Is TurboGears (Hint: Python-Based Framework for Rapid Web Development):

TurboGears is a Python-based framework that enables you to quickly build database-driven, ready-to-extend web applications. In this article, Matthew Russell takes you inside this framework for a look at its internal mechanisms, then introduces you to its creator, Kevin Dangoor.

(Via O'Reilly Network Articles.)

Damn, Another Python Web Framework! I've come across about a zillion Python based frameworks now, do we really need more? I'll let you know, after I read the article. :)

macosxhints - 10.4: How to set up a wildcard DNS:

I like to use a wildcard DNS entry for my localhost. The reason? If I want to establish a new virtual domain in Apache for testing, I need only go in and create my own arbitrary virtual domain (like railsdev.localhost), and the DNS side will "just work." On Linux machines, you can just edit /etc/hosts and put a *.localhost entry in. This didn't appear to work on OS X, so I instead enabled a local nameserver and went down that path.

PostgreSQL 8.1 Available:

PostgreSQL 8.1 has been posted, though not officially announced as of this moment. This release includes two-phased commits, improved SMP and overall performance, a new role system replaces the older user/group, autovacuum is now within the backend rather than a separate contrib module, and various improvements, performance enhancements, and bugfixes

(Via Slashdot.)

Multiple inheritance in JavaScript

MacOSXLabs expands to MacEnterprise:

The original MacOSXLabs website was chock full of real-world advice on how to deploy Macs in higher-education labs

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Morfik and Rapid Development of Modern Web Apps:

Bobby Jasper writes to tell us that The Firebird Database Community News has an interesting writeup on Morfik, a new development tool for beginning web applications. Morfik boasts increased developer productivity going so far as to draw comparisons between themselves and the current industry as VB 1.0 was to GUI development. After five years of development they are getting ready to release an evaluation version of their software, might be worth a look.

(Via Slashdot.)

more stats weirdness

server.asp
Originally uploaded by awasim.

Windows XP is 60% as expected. But Linux is 10%, and OS X 14%.

However, here is the weird. Check out the entries for Unix. There is Linux... and Microsoft Unix!!!! Who out their is still using Xenix? :)

Stats

server-1.asp
Originally uploaded by awasim.

I was just going through some stats for my blog and I noticed something weird. What in the world is Ask Jeeves 2.X? Rss aggregator or something?

And Firefox at 44% ahead of IE at 39%. Safari is at 9%, out of which a significant portion is me checking out my post after publishing....

What do you call things like Flickr, Microsoft Gadgets, Google Maps, Amazon Affiliate parts?:

What do you think? What do you call them when you’re telling other Web developers about these objects? In fact, calling them Internet Connected Objects makes sense too (and there’s even fewer hits on Google and MSN for a search on that).

By the way, anyone have a directory of ICC’s?

(Via Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger.)

I'll go with ICC's. What I'd like to see though is tools to make it easier to make these ICC's. And Cross framework ICC creation. An ICC that will work on the OS X dashboard, konfabulator, Microsoft Live, Vista sidebar, KDE/Gnome desktops... That way I can keep track of the weather (it gets chilly all of a sudden here in Austin, TX), when its time to pray, or system stats, like network usage and such.

Check out Widgetarium is an IDE for creating Dashboard Widgets.

I wonder if Microsoft will release/work on a tool like that? There was a rumour that Apple was working on an IDE as well, but I can't seem to find the link.

I think its funny that Robert Scoble suggest a new Acronym on the same day as Jon Udell writes about the Acronym Finder!

I've been trying to find out what /var/spool/blackhole/mime directory is used for. Blackhole is a Spam/Virus/Address blocker and works with qmail. I did a search on google, but it didn't yield much. I thought this might be a good experiment to try different search systems, so I have tried Yahoo and MSN Search. I got no results from search.msn.com. Yahoo gave results that were similar to Googles.

All in all, the search did not yield the answer I was looking for.

test post