Unicode can be an issue that's hard to resolve, so it's guide to use the guidance in this document and ALWAYS use unicode where possible.

via HOWTO Use UTF-8 Throughout Your Web Stack

#development

When you press Win + left/right it will now correctly occupy half the screen, which was annoying me for a while. Essential app.

2011-07-12 PuTTY 0.61 is released

PuTTY 0.61 is out, after over four years (sorry!), with new features, bug fixes, and compatibility updates for Windows 7 and various SSH server software.

via PuTTY: a free telnet/ssh client.

#windows

Many gamers now look at the listing of a game in the store, and if there is an inapp purchases link and they see 100 of x, 200 of x, 300 of x where x is energy, credits, bux, dollars, street cred, or whatever just skip the game - even though it might have interesting mechanics. Just be brave and proud and ask for a subscription instead of hoovering money out of my pockets. It's a black mark on the state of gaming in my opinion.

It's a clear indication that the game is not made to have the most fun with, but to make the most money out of you by artifical limiting the experience. Where a subscription allows the same steady income without affecting the game experience. Just say no.

The fact that f2p iap titles sell well just proves my argument that "the game is not made to have the most fun with, but to make the most money out of you by artifical limiting the experience". I didn't say these games are not financially successful, because they are.

If the free2play games are so much fun to play, you'd expect to see a lot of sequels in the charts to build on previous success. In the top grossing list (which favour inapp free2play titles) there are no f2p sequels as opposed to 2-4 paid sequels.

So it seems the only way to get people to play your f2p iap title is to make it appear like a new experience by reframing the theme, from restaurant to club to bakery - or from vampire to gangster to army.

Is this because people get jaded from the f2p model?

#games

If you are looking for guidance on how how to format your code, you could do worse than to base it this coding standards styleguide.

via WordPress Coding Standards

#link #php #wordpress

This is great for the following reason:

It will help supporting Firefox because there will just be two versions that matter: the up to date version, and the old version (which is any older version).

This simplifies any solution and troubleshooting, it either works in the current version, or Firefox will update - if it's connected to the internet. Which means eventually, Firefox is always up to date and there will no old versions and therefore no issues.

via Features/Desktop/About Version - MozillaWiki.

#web

Once you understand Linux file permissions, the next step on the road to enlightenment is learning how to check the permissions for a file or directory.

via http://articles.slicehost.com/2010/7/17/checking-linux-file-permissions-with-ls&hl=en&strip=...">Slicehost Articles: Checking Linux file permissions with ls

#linux

Linux file permissions are strange and wondrous things. Start down the path of understanding by looking at the core concepts behind them before moving on to practical applications.

via Slicehost Articles: Linux file permission concepts

#linux

I wish all Wordpress Plugins had their settings in ONE menu, and all entries in this Plugin Settings menu MUST be named identically to the plugin.

Not "broken links" plugin with settings -> permalinks -> "link checker" because I will never find it.

Time for a wordpress plugin settings corrector plugin

#wordpress

The other day I was provided with a new Ubuntu server with a large data drive. It seemed a good idea to move (among other things) the mysql data folder onto this drive.

[code language="bash"]

sudo mv /var/lib /var/media/lib
sudo ln -s /var/media/lib /var

[/code]

However when trying to start MySQL it will no longer start:

[code language="bash"]

service mysql start
start: Unable to connect to system bus: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory

[/code]

The whole reason I did use a symbolic link was to avoid issues like this. What to do? It turns out AppArmor does not allow mysql to read out of the new /var/media/lib location, as noted in the my.conf file:

[code language="bash"]

# * IMPORTANT
# If you make changes to these settings and your system uses apparmor, you may
# also need to also adjust /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld.

[/code]

Simply open the mentioned file, duplicate the /var/lib/mysql lines and correct the path to the new locations. Restart AppArmor (or reboot) and Mysql can be started. Verify this by running:

[code language="bash"]
ps -ef | grep mysql
[/code]

#sql

Currently playing:

1. Kard Combat (http://www.kardcombat.com/)
2. Wooords (http://toucharcade.com/2011/07/25/wooor ... word-game/)
3. Reckless Getaway (http://www.polarbit.com/our-games/reckless-getaway/)
4. Shake Spears! (http://www.gamezebo.com/games/shake-spears/review)

Or apps wise:

1. Due (http://www.dueapp.com/)
2. Air Video (http://www.inmethod.com/air-video/index.html)
3. Kik (http://kik.com/)
4. ShoppingList (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shopping ... 58413?mt=8)
5. InstaCast (http://vemedio.com:80/products/instacast">http://vemedio.com/products/instacast)

#ios

Sends an E-Mail to one or multiple E-Mail Addresses if new versions of plugins are available. My patch got accepted which adds an option for a single notification per plugin change instead one per 12 hours.

via WordPress › Mail On Update « WordPress Plugins

#wordpress

Buying the game today for  £50-£65 from Origin will not only give you a holographic dancer (!) and allow you to change the color of your lightsaber (!), but also get you early access, before everyone else! How early is this access that you pay a £30 premium for?

Precise dates will be revealed at a later time.

Via http://www.swtor.com/preorder/faq">Preorder FAQs | Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's time to find another hobby.

#games

Really interesting project for online frontend design. You will need to have an existing site live, but from then on WebPutty will speed up making amendments significantly.

via WebPutty: Simple, fast, and powerful CSS editing and hosting.

#web

I was fedup with the poor experience of editing my host file, which is often needed when developing websites. So I quickly created an AutoHotkey script for the purpose.

15:03:50 - me: anyone knows a host editor app that works under windows 7
15:04:51 - me: fed up trying to first find the hosts file, then not being able to save because I again forgot to run notepad with admin privileges.

Download @ Host Editor 7 - Hassle free host editing for Win7-XP - DonationCoder.com.

#hosteditor #windows

Rupert Murdoch will today face the humiliation of the Commons issuing a unanimous all-party call for his scandal-ridden News Corporation to withdraw its £8bn bid for BSkyB, the great commercial prize he has been pursuing to cement his dominance of the British media landscape.

In an extraordinary volte-face, David Cameron will disown the media tycoon by leading his party through the lobbies to urge him to drop the bid. Murdoch can defy parliament and press ahead with the bid, prompting a Competition Commission inquiry, but he risks finding himself ostracised by a political class that once scrambled to bend to his wishes.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with MPs no longer wishing to be associated with a news organisation that might give them certain favours. I still have yet to find a convincing argument on BSkyB being related to the phone hacking scandal. Until then there must be other, presently unknown, reasons for this change in direction.

via The Guardian.

#technology

WindowsPager: One of the more accomplished virtual desktop solutions that work well with Windows 7

#windows

WorkFlowy - Organize your brain.: Great way to organise and outline information

#web

It's always fun to discover new apps, and a good way to see which apps are used most is to look at the first home screen. So here's mine, where is yours?

The apps you can see are (apart from the built in Apple ones):

1. Captio - Send yourself a quick note with just one tap.
2. Simplenote - An easy way  to keep notes, lists, ideas, and more.
3. Action Lists - Getting Things Done made easy.
4. moneyStrands - Personal finance software.
5. UK & ROI - navFree navigation software.
6. http://wfco.de/iphone/ShoppingList">ShoppingList - The shopping tool for your iPhone or iPod touch.
7. Dropbox - Bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily.
8. Due - The missing reminder app fit for your homescreen (multiple alarms)
9. http://vemedio.com:80/products/instacast">Instacast - Instant access to podcast subscriptions, stream or download episodes wirelessly, follow show notes and enjoy audio and video podcasts on-the-go.
10. Tiny Tower - Tower people management game

#ios

We think that the next generation of consoles won't have these limits any more. Games might have more realistic graphics and more on-screen, but what's the value of making something more realistic and better animated if you have poor AI?

via Ubisoft "extremely limited" by PS3, 360 News - - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net.

They might think they want better AI, but once the Xbox 4 and PS4 are out they will be back competing on graphics and violence.

#games

When administrating a database server, you will definitely have to put a backup solution into place. I normally run mysqldump on the database and save it to a file. However when the database server has several dozens or more databases, setting up a process for each instance quickly becomes unwieldy.

Instead, I wrote a batch file to automatically create SQL backups by quering all databases. Simply set up a scheduled task to run it at the desired interval.

Contents of dumper.bat:

[sourcecode language="plain"]
@echo off
mkdir dumps
mysql -N < list_dbs.sql > dbs_list.txt
for /F "tokens=*" %%A in (dbs_list.txt) do ping localhost -n 2 > nul & echo dumping %%A & mysqldump --add-drop-database --database %%A > dumps\%%A.sql
[/sourcecode]

Contents of list_dbs.sql:

[sourcecode language="sql"]
SHOW DATABASES;
[/sourcecode]

I have noticed that the database server becomes quite highly utilized even with the the pause between dumping each database, so as with all solutions please test it in your environment first before implementing if this is an issue for you.

#sql