1. Remove the wp-content/blogs.php file as it is no longer supported in WordPress 3.0. It has been replaced with wp-includes/ms-files.php
2. Locate the .htaccess file in the root directory
3. Find the following line: 
   RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-content/blogs.php?file=$2 [L]
4. Replace it with:
   RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]  
5. This should fix the problem with broken images/files not showing up in the WordPress MU blogs.

The package is called:
sysv-rc-conf

(Install it using aptitude or apt-get install)

jQuery is a great alternative to adding the focus since its simply a matter of adding a few lines of code to your page. It will work on multiple browsers, whether it be Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

If you want the first visible element of the page to be focused:

<script type="text/javascript" >
$(function() {
$("input:text:visible:first").focus();
});
</script>

If you want a specific element to be focused, such as a search box:

For instance,<script type="text/javascript" >
$(function() {
$("input[name=\'MY_INPUT_NAME\']").focus();
});
</script>

will set the focus for your input element with the name “MY_INPUT_NAME”.

The workaround to this is to use the KB Advanced RSS feed plugin instead of the one that’s in WordPress. Replace the RSS Widget in Appearance ->Widgets with the “KB Advanced RSS” widget.

If you are using WordPress 2.8+ and want to set the cache to refresh more frequently, go to /wp-content/plugins/kb-advanced-rss-widget/versions/wp-2.8.php

Find this code:
// Regardless, we’ll flush the cache every hour. (WP should flush hourly on its own, though.)
$cachetime = get_option( $this->md5_option_ts );
 if ( $cachetime < ( time() – 3600 ) ){

Change the 3600 to the number of seconds you want the cache to refresh. For instance, 600 for 10 minutes. The plugin uses its own RSS caching system.

I give this plugin 5  out of 5 stars.  It works fine with WordPress 2.9.2 and WordPress 2.9.2 MU (even through the documentation states compatibility  up to 2.8) Formatting options, conversion to UTF-8, reverse listing option, and well commented code.

References:
 http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/kb-advanced-rss-widget/

How to rename your Apple Bluetooth Keyboard:

• Update your OS X to the latest version (10.6.3)
• Go to the System Preferences menu
• Select “Bluetooth”
• If you see your keyboard on the left menu, select the bluetooth keyboard, click on the gear menu and select “Rename”.If you don’t see your keyboard, click on the plus icon to discover the keyboard and then add it.

Solution: The workaround is to use iMovie ‘09 to import the video files from the camera. Connect the Canon camcorder to the Mac via USB cable. Open up iMovie ‘09 and go to File->Import from Camera. It should recognize the files and allow you to convert to a MOV format movie. You have the option to use the native resolution or encode to a lower resolution file. This should allow you to then open the newly encoded MOV file into Final Cut Express 4.

Step 1: Download the Excel Reader Library from CodeIgniter’s website.
http://codeigniter.com/wiki/Excel_Reader_Class/

Copy and paste the Excel_reader.php section into notepad or a text editor. Save the file in [CodeIgniter Folder]/system/application/libraries/ as Excel_reader.php

Step 2: Load the Library from your CodeIgniter Application
$this->load->library('excel_reader');

Step 3: Set the load path of the Excel file that has been uploaded
For example:
$uploadpath = "/var/www/uploads/test.xls";

Step 4: Run the Excel Reader Library
$this->excel_reader->read($uploadpath);
// Read the first workbook in the file
$worksheetrows =$this->excel_reader->worksheets[0];

Step 5: Set number of columns in your Excel file
$worksheetcolumns = 5;

Step 6: Run through the table and output the data
I’ve created a quick function that will go through the entire worksheet and output the data for testing.

echo "<table>";
foreach($worksheetrows as $worksheetrow)
{
      echo "<tr>";
     for($i=0; $i<worksheetcolumns; $i++)
    {
           // if the field is not blank -- otherwise CI will throw warnings
           if (isset($worksheetrow[$i]))
                 echo "<td>".$worksheetrow[$i]."</td>";
           // empty field
           else
                 echo "<td>&nbsp; </td>";
     }
     echo "</tr>";
} 
echo "</table>";


This should get you going with reading Excel files in CodeIgniter.

Historically, the 580 EX II had a $50 instant rebate during Winter 2009, so the rebate isn’t as good (unless you buy the 5D Mark II at the same time) The $100 off on the 7D looks like a great deal, especially for such a new camera. One of my favorite lenses for indoor use is the 16-35mm, $200 off w/ the 5D II is a good deal.

I typed up the hightlights from the flyers below.

Flashes:
$15 instant rebate for the Canon 430 EX II ($30 if you buy the 5D Mark II)
$25 instant rebate for the Canon 580 EX II ($50 if you buy the 5D Mark II)

Lenses:
$30 instant rebate for the Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM ($60 if you buy the 5D Mark II)
$80 instant rebate for the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM ($160 if you buy the 5D Mark II)
$100 instant rebate for the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II SM ($200 if you buy the 5D Mark II)
$130 instant rebate for the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM ($260 if you buy the 5D Mark II)
$500 instant rebate for the Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM ($1000 if you buy the 5D Mark II)

Cameras:
Canon 7D (body only) $100 instant rebate = $1699 – $100 rebate = $1599 MSRP
Canon 7D EF 28-135mm IS kit $100 instant rebate = $1899 – $100 rebate = $1799
Canon 7D EF 18-135mm IS kit $100 instant rebate = $1999 – $100 rebate = $1899

Source:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/03/05/its-spring-rebate-season-for-canon/

Option 2 (Thanks to eremit)
mysql_query(“SELECT * FROM names ORDER BY name COLLATE ‘latin1_general_ci’);

See: MySQL Reference – Case Sensitivity in String Searches and MySQL Reference – Character Set Support

Option 3:

The MySQL query for case insensitive ORDER BY is to add the LOWER() to your field name. For instance:

mysql_query(“SELECT * FROM names ORDER BY lastname”);

will be: mysql_query(“SELECT * FROM names ORDER BY LOWER(lastname)“);

How do you get video on the Intel SS4200?

Without any video port, I could see myself spending a lot of time trying to install an unattended Windows install w/a perfect answer file. So, I wanted to find out a way to get this to work with a video card. The Intel SS4200-E has one PCI-Express X1 slot. If you haven’t looked, PCI-Express X1 cards are in the $100-150 range, which costs as much as my Intel server. Ouch. Newegg offers an PCI-Express X1 to X16 adapter card, but its too much hassle since you would need to take apart the case to use it.  I decided to go for the route of buying the PCI-Express X1 adapter cable to plugin to my PCI-Express X16 card. Ebay has auctions for PCI-E X1 to PCI-E X1 extension cable  in the ~$6 range shipped. However, shipping is slow since the only sellers that carry this item are out of the country.

[Disclaimer: Modify the cable adapter at your own risk. Use a cheap video card and take your time cutting the adapter. Always wear proper safety gear including googles. I take no responsibility for any damages.]

In order to use the X1 cable on your X16 card, you will need to dremel off one of the sides to make it fit.  I opened up the end of the shorter slot so that the X16 card fits properly. Basically, one of the slots will fit into the adapter, while the other side is like 1/8 the length of the card. Be careful not to damage any of the pins in the adapter. After you are able to get the adapter to fit onto your video card, connect the other end to the Intel SS4200 PCI-Express X1 slot. Power up the computer. You should see the AMI Bios screen if the adapter works properly. Amazingly, there are a lot of options in the BIOS. An interesting one is the RAID capability. I will be testing out the additional features in future blog postings. Please see the photos below on my install.

1) Install amanda-client by using aptitude or apt-get install.

2) Determine which disk partition to backup by typing in “df”.

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used  Available Use % Mounted on
/dev/hda1 10000      1000         9000      10% /

In this example, you will back up “hda1″. Add this entry to the Amanda server configuration in

/etc/amanda/disklist
myservername     hda1     user-tar

3) Edit Amanda hosts file
/var/backups/.amandahosts

[your Amanda server IP]  backup

Example:
myhost.com backup

4) Update hosts.allow

amandad: [your Amanda server IP]

5) Add exclude.gtar to exclude any directories you don’t need to download.
/etc/amanda/exclude.gtar

For example, to remove temp files from backup:
./tmp

6) Open up any firewalls to allow backups to go through.

http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/How_To:Set_Up_iptables_for_Amanda

7) Restart inet.d

/etc/init.d/openbsd-inetd restart

I noticed with the latest version of WordPress, an older template may not display the sidebar correctly. If you look at the source code, you notice a lot of HTML code is missing in the sidebar div. The easiest fix I found was to update the “sidebar.php” file in the template.

To get your old theme working, you will need to edit sidebar.php and have the following:

<div id="sidebar">
<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('sidebar') ) : ?>
  <?php endif; // end of sidebar1 ?>
</div>

This must exist somewhere within your sidebar.php. Older themes don’t have a sidebar div and thus would break. I usually place this code after the first “<div id=”content-right”>” section.

Here’s a list of useful CakePHP resources I’ve used recently:

CakeForge – Great resource for Open Source CakePHP applications. This site has many more applications than the CakePHP Bakery.
http://cakeforge.org/

Bakery – How to use different CSS files in CakePHP
http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/view/some-ideas-to-organize-your-css-files-and-autoload-them-in-cakephp

Giga Promoters – CakePHP tutorials and scripts:
http://www.gigapromoters.com/blog/category/cakephp/

I’ll be updating this list as I find more resources.

SQL Command

$sql = "SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM [TABLE] WHERE ORDER BY modified_date DESC LIMIT 10) AS tbl ORDER BY tbl.modified_date"

This will retrieve the last 10 rows while sorting by date chronologically. I used this SQL command for the graphing API I was using (LibChart). This allowed my graph to display the most current data on the right side as opposed to the left.

 In Debian, go to the src folder for scponly:
cd  /usr/share/doc/scponly/

There should be a file in there called “groups.c” 

main()
{
printf("root users\n");
return 0;
}


As you can see, this is just a “dummy” file to output a sample command and 0 to WinSCP program. Harmless. Compile the file.

gcc -o groups groups.c

Copy the groups file to /home/[SFTP USER]/usr/bin

cp groups /home/[SFTP USER]/usr/bin

This should fix the error message. You will need to copy the groups file for all SFTP users and also update the .sh file to copy the new groups file when creating new users. I tested this in WinSCP Version 4.2.4 and it resolved the warning message problem.

Security Fixes with VMWARE 2.02

• New: Exception handling privilege escalation on Guest Operating System This release addresses a security vulnerability in exception handling. Improper setting of the exception code on page faults might allow for local privilege escalation on the guest. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2009-2267 to this issue.
• New: Directory Traversal Vulnerability on Linux-based hosts This release addresses a directory traversal vulnerability that is present on host systems and that may allow for remote retrieval of any file from the host system. In order to send a malicious request, the attacker will need to have access to the network on which the host resides. The issue is present on Linux-based hosts only, not on Windows-based hosts. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2009-3733 to this issue.

There’s a number of workarounds listed in the VMWARE Server 2.02 Release notes

Download the latest version of VMware Server 2

One of the key features is the ability to control the volume levels of the guitar on one track and the rest of the instruments (vocals/drums/bass) on another track. For instance, you can turn off the guitar track so that you can only hear the drums, vocals, and bass to jam along with. Or, if you wanted to learn how to play a guitar solo, you can listen to the guitar part by itself. It also features a slow mode which plays back the music down at half speed to help with learning. It keeps the music at the same pitch in the slower speed, which is a nice touch. There is also a synchronized tablature page that will show you what frets to hold down while the music is playing. You can also review your learning progress by using the recording mode.

As an experienced guitar player, I found some minor flaws with the application. First, the volume levels quiet down significantly when you enable the recording mode. This makes it hard to match up your guitar playing with the original recording. I would have preferred to have separate set of track levels for both playback and recording modes. There is also missing notation on the tablature for slides and bending of notes, which is noted in the “stuff you should know” section. Another thing to consider is the limited availability of songs — there are only 3 songs per game. They are planning to release several versions of the game for different rock genres and bands including White Zombie, Sum 41, Fall Out Boy, Tracy Lawrence, and many more.

Overall, this application does a good job at teaching you how to play songs on the guitar. It is a lot more fun learning to play songs with this app than using sheet music. The synchronized tablature/notation page is my favorite feature. One feature I would like to see is the ability for the tablature notes to flash when it is being played. I also liked the ability to control the levels of the songs for easy learning, especially since the tracks are from the original master recording. It is nice to play along with the original band recording, especially if you are fans of the music. This is an excellent app for people who are looking at new ways for learning how to play the guitar.

PROS: The songs are the original master recordings, synchronized tablature page, ability to record own guitar tracks, ability to change the levels of the original guitar track and the mix without the guitar, slow mode, an innovative way to learn guitar

CONS: Limited song selection, recording mode volume too low, missing notation for bends and slides, the app ignores the mute switch on the phone, uses a lot of power, no in-game purchase of additional songs.

*****

Jammit: Classic Rock Guitar Vol. 1 is available for $6.99 in the App Store.

View my review in the iProng magazine

By default, TinyMCE will remove a lot of HTML tags including empty ones (such has having a DIV spacer), select options, certain styles, etc. To get around this, you will need to change the option “extended_valid_elements”, which is before the setup : function(ed) line. Note: This will allow your users to add in any kind of HTML tags they want. Replace the “extended_valid_elements” line with:

valid_elements : "*[*]",
extended_valid_elements : "*[*]",

This will fix the problem with TinyMCE removing tags from the HTML Source mode.