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  • 2 Reasons Why I Hate Firefox

    Mozilla Firefox

    Image via Wikipedia

    I said I was a fan of Firefox in the article showing massive updates of Firefox plugins. Yep, and I still am. No, I didn’t plan to give up using it. I’m not playing around here. The truth is, although I hate Firefox in some aspects, it doesn’t keep me from using it. There is an old Chinese saying that “one rails badly at what he loves most”. That’s a proper description of me and Firefox.

    Nothing is perfect, and Firefox is not an exception either. Below are 2 critical matters about Firefox, which Mozilla should improve in my opinion.

    1. Startup time. This is nothing new but platitudes, and people complaining about it are all around. To balance between the startup time and functionality, I have to limit the number of extensions I’m installing. Even so, I’m not quite satisfied by the time Firefox takes to launch and get ready to work.
    2. Promotion. This is a specific problem happening in my country. Google became Mozilla’s partner in 2005 and started to support the promotion of Firefox. Because the promotion is highly profitable, most webmasters were trying every means to make money out of it. Since then the situation became uncontrollable. Ads about Firefox floated all around the pages, some of which even prevented other browsers from visiting them. That’s unbelievable!

    As to the browser itself, Firefox is a great program with quantities of powerful extensions. And I just wish it could get better. By the way, are you ready for Firefox 3? It’s coming in no time!

    Zemanta Pixie

  • Picks of the day (06/18)

    by Burn-A-Bee
    by Rage of Reason
    by kdynamic
    by DaffyDuke
    by rollasoc
    by rexboggs5
    by tino.valen
    by Ilse Watson
    by Pirate Neilsouth
    by Samanth.a

  • Zemanta – Blogging in a Brand New Way

    Preface

    Once I thought I could not write without Windows Live Writer, but I was wrong. I would not give up WLW just because I did not have the reason to. And now, here comes the very reason: zemanta. Since zemanta only works in a browser, I have to stop using WLW.

    What is zemanta?

    Zemanta is a browser-based extension which makes your blogging easy and creative. There are 2 types of it available: a Firefox extension or a WordPress (or other blogging platforms) plugin. Zemanta will help you blog in so many ways, including automatically searches for the related links, tags, pictures and articles according to what you’re writing currently. Using zemanta to blog

    • saves time – relevant content from around the web brought to you as you’re typing.
    • drives traffic – search engines love better tagged content. Plus, Zemanta links your posts to others across the web having related conversations.
    • works everywhere – you can use Zemanta on any popular blogging platform or browser

    screenshot

    For more info read the FAQ or watch the screencast.

    Pros and cons?

    We do everything based on some counting nowadays. Usually, the list becomes long and the decision is hard to make, but not for this one.

    • Pros: Everything you need is provided automatically. That’s amazing and convenient.
    • Cons: The number of pictures inserted to your post can only be 1 for the moment. And the position of the picture is fixed to top left or top right. If you ever want to insert a 2nd picture, you’ll have to copy the one present and paste it somewhere else. Then select another image.

    Where can I get it?

    Zemanta Pixie

  • Where do we go from here?

    It’s been nearly 2 years since the foundation of this blog. I barely knew nothing about blog, rss feed, or even WordPress at that time. All I knew was to share some metal music with you metalheads. ^^

    Decision
    I kept doing so for some time until I went back to college for my graduate study. Because at the mean time, wordpress.com was unreachable. The situation doesn’t seem to get any better nowadays. So I have no choice but to give it up.

    Acknowledgment
    It’s never easy to make a decision like this, for I’m really touched by you guys. Even this blog was updated only once in a year, I’ve still got approximately a hundred subscribers. Oh, there were someone wanted to contribute to my sharing project here too, Sol Niger, Earl, thanks. And thank you all, metal lives forever!

    Blueprint
    And now, here comes the question: where should I go from here? The project can’t go anywhere since I’m not able to update this blog normally. Fortunately, I bought my own domain name not long ago, and I’m trying to resume the sharing project there. URL: http://dengkefu.com/blog
    Since it’s new, there are not many posts yet, but I’m going to add more, and open a whole section on metal music there.

    Future
    Also, I have a plan. I hope some of you can help me with the whole sharing project. Try to be more than a subscriber, be a contributor! Here’s how: simply sign up on my new weblog ralphdunn.com and I’ll promote your account role to contributor. Then you’ll be able to submit post there.
    I know, I know, it’s not profitable and seldom people would like to do that. But I still have the faith that there were someone like me, willing to share what he/she likes. All they need is a platform to do so. Although this plan may not be mature, I prefer giving it a shot.
    Any questions about the plan or how to use WordPress, feel free to contact me via “ralphdunn at gmail dot com”

    Note: This article was imported from my other blog “Metal Union”, so there may be inconsistency in it.

  • Stop Hotlinking with htaccess in WordPress


    I didn’t store any images in my site before, because I don’t want to see any of my bandwidth consumed by others who are hotlinking my files. Even when I started to use magazine-style themes, which require a lot of images, I didn’t upload images here.

    Everything changed when I found a script called timthumb by Darren Hoyt. You can utilize this script to display custom-field image in whatever size you want. The only handcuff of the script is, you’ll have to upload your own image or it won’t work. It is so convenient that I decide to obey the rule.

    Then the hotlinking protection problem comes into my sight. Most of the online articles talk about how to add some rewrite rules into your .htaccess file to stop hotlinking, but they don’t take WordPress into account, neither do they explain the meaning of the rules. Now that WordPress also uses the .htaccess file to achieve the permanent link function, if you don’t put those rules in the proper order, either the protection doesn’t function or the permanent links are not reachable.

    So, if you happen to run into the same problem as I do, let’s figure it out now. Here’s how: simply put these lines below into your .htaccess file and everything is under control. I’ll explain the codes later.

    # BEGIN WordPress
    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?ralphdunn\.com/ [NC]
    RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png)$ – [F]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
    </IfModule>
    # END WordPress

    EXPLANATIONS

    1. The line “RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$” means allow empty referrals, that is, an image could be shown by opening its link in the address bar.
    2. The line “RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?ralphdunn\.com/ [NC]” matches any requests from ralphdunn.com URL. Just replace “ralphdunn” with your own domain name.
    3. The line “RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png)$ – [F]” matches any files ending with the extension jpeg, jpg, gif, bmp, or png. A 403 Forbidden error code will be displayed instead of an image.
    4. The rest of lines are used to get the permanent link to work.
    5. “NC” in square braces means Not Case-sensitive, while “F” means 403 Forbidden.

    MORE INFO

    • For detail information and alternatives, visit altlab. There is also a strong hotlinking testing tool located at coldlink.
    FOOTNOTES

    Playboy

    Image by delunita via Flickr

    1. Hotlinking protection is implemented through judging the HTTP_REFERER sent by your browser, and if you’re using Firefox, you may simply modify some configuration in about:config or install a certain plugin to hack it. Because it is way out of the current topic, I don’t think further discussion should be made here. Go google it yourself, and you’ll find it’s easy.
    2. The Greek codes are regular expressions. If you plan to get an in-depth understanding of them, here’s a book you may refer to: Mastering Regular Expressions.
    3. For those who have done reading this long post, the photo is your reward. ^^
    Zemanta Pixie

  • Massive Updates of Firefox Plugins

    Firefox 3: Recorde Mundial no Guinness

    Image by leorolim via Flickr

    This is not an common scene we could see everyday. Maybe it’s not a big deal for you, but for me, it is. With only a few plugins installed in my Firefox, I’ve never seen that many plugins updated at the same time before. (“that many” means three. ^^)

    I know, I know, you all have already got the news that Firefox 3 is going to be available at 17th, June. I just can’t help feeling so excited about it, because I’m using Firefox 2 currently. I’ve tried a beta version of Firefox 3 re-encapsulated by PortableApps, and it works just fine. These are several features you should know about it. However, being a perfectionist, I prefer a more stable version for long term usage.

    By the way, Mozilla is holding an event for Firefox 3 named “Download Day“, the purpose of which is to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours. If you’re a Firefox fan just like me, feel free to join us and spread it, then enjoy the web!

    Zemanta Pixie

  • A Random Walk down Flickr (6/13)

    Neville Longmore Abstract Artist

    parrs41

    claud dreamer

    toddland

    +SQUID+

    nhoc_ti_2819

    Omar Junior

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  • Snippely – Adobe AIR application to organize snippets

    Snippely is an Adobe AIR based app. I don’t know how this app came into my sight, it’s just there, awaiting me to explore its advantages. It does help, especially when you have lots of code snippets to organize.

    As you can see, the UI is simple and easy to use. The snippets are organized in groups. Code highlight is also supported if you choose the right type of your content. Actually, I install the Adobe AIR platform all because of Snippely. Below is the description by the author:

    Description

    Snippely is a basic text and code organizational tool. Instead of storing bits of code, quick notes, and memos in text files all over your hard drive, this application will let you save and organize "snippets" in one convenient location. A snippet is a collection of one or more pieces of code and notes. Snippets are stored in groups for organization and quick retrieval.

    A snippet is composed of a title, description, and one or more ‘snips’. You can add any number of note and code snips in a variety of different languages (more to be added). When not being edited, the snip will be syntax highlighted according to the language selected. Snips are also sortable so you can organize your snippet however you want. Since everything is saved to a local database as you work, there’s no need to worry about pressing the save button or submitting a form.

    Visit its project page for everything you need.

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  • Euro2008

    Since I”ve been watching euro2008 games these days, this wallpaper is definitely recommended.

    Artist’s Comments

    Euro Trivia::
    // 13th edition of the UEFA European Football Championship, a quadrennial football tournament for European nations.
    // The tournament, which is being hosted by Austria and Switzerland.
    // A total of 16 teams are participating in the tournament.
    // Austria and Poland have both made their first appearance in the tournament.
    // Each nation had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of which had to be goalkeepers, by 28 May 2008. If a player was injured seriously enough to prevent him from taking part in the tournament before his team’s first match, he could be replaced by another player.
    // The official Euro 2008 song is "Can You Hear Me" by Enrique Iglesias.
    // After receiving 36.3% of the vote, Trix and Flix were chosen.
    // The slogan for UEFA Euro 2008 was chosen on 24 January 2007: Expect Emotions.
    // UEFA announced that total of €184 million has been offered to the 16 teams competing in this tournament, increasing from €129 million in the previous tournament.
    // UEFA Euro 2008 Official Site [link]
    // Travel guide for the tournament [link]

    For more information and downloads, just click the picture above. ^^

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  • Random Picks for Today (6/13)

    you'll find what i'm talking about in the original photo  obscure, texture

    timing, perspective

    contrasty

    paint-like color, magic realism, garykapluggin.com