5tags » 2006 » October
Oct 31

Hackers have published code that allows an attacker to disable the Microsoft Windows XP firewall, but only on certain XP machines.

An attacker can send malicious packets to take control of a fully patched Windows XP PC - provided it is running Windows’ Internet Connection Service (ICS); a service that allows users to share their Internet connection with other users on a home network.

As Microsoft begin to phase out XP and begin to promote Vista is raises the question of how long XP will be supported. Personally I will not be purchasing Vista, but will be geting a Macbook Pro instead. Even if I bought Vista, I don’t think my computer could handle all of the effects, and it’s pretty powerful.

Oct 29

The following are some photos of somebody taking apart the SIXAXIS PS3 controller. For a larger version simply click the thumbnail.

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Oct 28

The latest version of the Wordpress blog engine is available. It is essential that you upgrade to this version to include the security fixes, and other improvements. For those of you that don’t have any idea to upgrade, this is your tutorial.

To begin, you must backup in case you make a mistake. Make sure you backup your entire wordpress directory including the .htaccess and also your wordpress database. If you are using Media Temple, you simple click backup, and you are good to go. If you are using another provider, they should have a one click backup tool.

I’m going to assume that you have installed your Wordpress in http://www.yourdomain.com/wordpress/

  • Download the latest Wordpress version at http://wordpress.org/download/
  • Deactivate ALL plugins - you must do this because not all plugins will work with the new version.
  • Delete the old WordPress files on your site, but DO NOT DELETE
    • wp-config.php file;
    • wp-content folder; Special Exception: the wp-content/cache folder should be deleted.
    • wp-images folder;
    • wp-includes/languages/ folder–if you are using a language file do not delete that folder;
    • .htaccess file–if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess, do not delete it;
    • robots.txt file–if your blog lives in the root of your site (ie. the blog is the site) and you have created such a file, do not delete it.
  • Upload the new files that you downloaded from Wordpress
  • Run the upgrader: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/upgrade.php
  • Update Permalinks and .htaccess. Update your Permalink Structure and merge the custom rules, if necessary, into your .htaccess file.
  • Install updated Plugins and Themes. Please review the list of Plugins that work in Version 2.0 and check if your Theme author has a new version.
  • Reactivate Plugins
  • Review what has changed in WordPress.
Oct 25
Inside Facebook
icon1 Sean | icon2 General | icon4 10 25th, 2006| icon3No Comments »

It seems Facebook is more of an American thing but I still found myself to create a high school profile. Facebook seems to be a My Space for more mature people. The site also includes a fairly nice design and does not allow any of the annoying this that My Space does like flashing banner ads, flash videos, or auto-playing music.

A writer by the name of Karel Baloun has just wrote a book about Facebook. Karel was one of the first engineers of Facebook and reveals everything in this tell all book. For the next few hours there is a free version from here.

As an early engineer, I reveal
the inside of Facebook’s
explosive growth as it became
the premiere online environment
for US college students.
Including, how and by whom
products were made, how you
can use them best, views on
what makes social networks
valuable, and where this
industry trends are headed.
You too can achieve startup
success, and attain any dream;
I will lead and inspire you
towards your greatest potential. -K M Baloun

Oct 24
9rules Round 5
icon1 Sean | icon2 General | icon4 10 24th, 2006| icon3No Comments »

9rules is a blog network featuring great, well written blogs. Anybody can open up Photoshop or hire a designer and make a website but can they write a “diggable” article? 9rules makes it easy for readers to see what’s new in the blogosphere without having to sort through the millions of blogs in the world. Each blog is neatly categorized and a list is generated of recently updated blogs. Why is this so important you ask? I have submitted 5tags to the round 5 submission. It would be great if this website was chosen because it would give me even more motivation to hammer out great, original content.

What Will I See From 5tags?

I am currently in the middle of writing some store reviews for several online shops detailing my complete experience with them. I have recently ordered several items from unknown websites and want the world to know if they are trustworthy or not. With the new launch of Media Temple’s grid server platform, I will be doing a complete review and also making some in depth tutorials on how to install Ruby on Rails and PHP web applications that take advantage of the grid server architecture. While I learn Ruby I will be sharing my knowledge with the readers, Ruby is a great programming language and I want to demonstrate the power.

Oct 24

Today Apple announced that their Macbook Pro line of notebook computers will now be equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. These new machines also allow for 3GB of RAM and the CPU speeds have been raised 0.16GHZ. At the same price points you will now receive more RAM and a larger hard drive. The new processor should speed up these notebooks around 40%.

I need a notebook for school next year and want to purchase one when Leopard comes out. I didn’t know if I wanted the Macbook or the Macbook Pro but prior to today it was hard to justify spending $500 more on a larger screen and better video card. I hope that the Macbook line will include Core 2 Duos very soon, but it would be wise for Apple to wait a few months so that the Macbook Pro sales raise.

Oct 24

I recently got the Nintendo DS web browser from Lik Sang. Lik Sang is a company from Hong Kong that sells import video games and accessories. Lik Sang has been involved in many lawsuits with Sony over the selling of the Japanese PSP. Today Lik Sang announced that they are out of business!

“Blame it on Sony. That’s the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally ‘won’, few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.”

-Lik Sang

It was only a month ago when I placed an order at Lik Sang and it came in no time. They were one of the best companies I have done business with and I really hope that they can overcome this and hopefully come back.

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

Oct 21
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This is an advertisement for the Commodore in 1983. It’s amazing how bloated our ads have become today. It’s a nice simple, and to-the-point ad.

You can click it for a full version.

Oct 21

General shortcuts

Turn Full Screen Mode on or off F11
Cycle through the Address Bar, Refresh button, Search Box, and items on a web page TAB
Find a word or phrase on a page CTRL+F
Open the current webpage in a new window CTRL+N
Print the page CTRL+P
Select all items on the page CTRL+A
Zoom in CTRL+PLUS
Zoom out CTRL+MINUS
Zoom to 100% CTRL+0

Navigation shortcuts

Go to home page ALT+HOME
Go backward ALT+LEFT
Go forward ALT+RIGHT
Refresh page F5
Refresh page and the cache CTRL+F5
Stop downloading page ESC

Favorites Center shortcuts

Open Favorites CTRL+I
Open Favorites in pinned mode CTRL+SHIFT+I
Organize Favorites CTRL+B
Add current page to Favorites CTRL+D
Open Feeds CTRL+J
Open Feeds in pinned mode CTRL+SHIFT+J
Open History CTRL+H
Open History in pinned mode CTRL+SHIFT+H

Tab shortcuts

Open link in new background tab Middle mouse button or CTRL+left mouse button
Open link in new foreground tab CTRL+SHIFT+left mouse button or CTRL+SHIFT+middle mouse button
Close tab (closes window if only one tab is open) Middle mouse button on the tab or CTRL+W
Open Quick Tab view CTRL+Q
Open new tab CTRL+T
View list of open tabs CTRL+SHIFT+Q
Switch to next tab CTRL+TAB
Switch to previous tab CTRL+SHIFT+TAB

Address Bar shortcuts

Select the Address Bar ALT+D
Add “http://www.” to the beginning and “.com” to the end CTRL+ENTER
Add “http://www.� to the beginning CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
Open the website address that is typed in the Address Bar in new tab ALT+ENTER
View list of previously typed addresses F4

Instant Search Box

Select the Instant Search Box CTRL+E
View list of search providers CTRL+DOWN
Open search results in new tab ALT+ENTER

Common tasks

To do this Do this
Disable all add-ons Windows logo key + R > iexplore.exe –extoff
Turn on AutoComplete Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Use inline AutoComplete
Change tab settings Tools > Internet Options > on the General tab, under Tabs, click Settings
Delete all data Tools > Delete Browsing History
Find and install add-ons Tools > Manage Add-ons > Find More Add-ons
Print part of page Select part of the page you want to print, press CTRL+P, click Selection, and then click Print
Change website address suffix* Tools > Internet Options > Languages
Display the Menu Bar at the top of the screen To display temporarily: press the ALT key
To display permanently: Tools > Menu Bar

* For example, if you chose “net” for the website suffix, pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER would add “http://www.” to the beginning and “.net” to the end of the address in the Address Bar.

Oct 20

scrybe.gifScrybe is an new an amazing web application that can organize your busy life. Unlike other organizers Scrybe has the benifits of both online and desktop organizers. We love to use desktop organizers because they are fast and always available even if we don’t have an internet connection but we also like web organizers because they allow us to see our data from anywhere. Scrybe takes advantage of your internet browser’s offline functionality and allows you to update and read your data without an internet connection right in your browser. When you get a connection, your data is simply uploaded.

Scrybe is more then just a simple calender. It allows you to use different time zones, import data from Excel, create lists, and more.

Some official features include:

  • Seamless offline access - without any installations
  • Rich and fast like a desktop
  • Intuitive zoomable calendar views
  • Organize your thoughts with bookmarks, web snippets, images and files
  • To-do lists integrated with your calendar
  • Share and collaborate with friends and co-workers
  • Elegant, compact and handy print formats
  • Easily work across multiple timezones
  • Import and export from other apps easily. Your data is yours!

Another feature is the ability to add text and images on web pages you browser to your “notes” section of Scrybe. You simply highlight what you want and click a Firefox bookmark toolbar button. A popup will appear with a text editor for you to edit the text and format.

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When can I use it? Scrybe is currently in beta but if you would like to beta test it then visit their website.

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