ITechLog » Easy Tips

reCAPTCHA error

Alex Costa — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:49:38 +0000

Today I had a few complaints from users not being able to download PDFs from one of the sites I manage. Users were not able to get beyond the registration page which kept hanging due to an error on reCAPTCHA. The error caused the $rep->is_valid to return null. I am not sure if the problem was in validating the reCaptcha words or if it was in sending a response back. The fix was pointed out by reCAPTCHA support in a Google group. I just want to make it more public here.

Update your current recaptchalib.php with the one from http://code.google.com/p/recaptcha/downloads/detail?name=recaptcha-php-1.10.zip

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Changing your YouTube video thumbnail

itechlog.admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:56:56 +0000

Is it possible to change a YouTube video thumbnail? The thumbnail is a still frame that represents your video. When you upload a video to YouTube, it generates 3 still images from the video to be used as thumbnails, interesting enough the default image appears to be the second still.

You can use this tool to check the available thumbnails to any video.

Changing the thumbnail

You can only edit your own videos and only use the thumbnails generated by Youtube. To change a video thumbnail follow these steps.

1 – go to http://www.youtube.com/my_videos and login to your account
2 – Select “edit” on the desired video
3 – On the following page, under, “Video Thumbnail”, click on the thumbnail you wish to use. Once you’ve chosen your preferred still, the border around it will become highlighted.
4 – Then click on “Update Video”

It may take a few minutes for the change to show, you may want to refresh your browser cache if the thumbnail does not appear.

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Google Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues

Alex Costa — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:49:34 +0000

Great tips on the use of Redirect 301 and rel=canonical among some other good stuff.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hSoXutuj0g

Technorati Tags: crawl, duplicate content, Google, redirect 301, rel canonical, search engine, search ranking

December 11, 2009 -- Microsoft’s attempt to bribe its way to the top
March 11, 2010 -- Request the Audible.com books application for Android
September 30, 2009 -- Google Wave
June 5, 2009 -- Keyword search and website ranking tools
December 13, 2008 -- SEO and Wordpress

Open .eps files on GIMP for Windows

Alex Costa — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:44:14 +0000

As usual this post is a self help note, but as it’s public I hope it helps someone else. If you want to open .eps or .ps files with GIMP on Windows you will need to install Ghostscript (download it from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/). After successful installation you will need to create an environment variable called GS_PROG on Windows. To do this just follow these steps:

Right-click on the ‘My Computer‘ Icon and select properties
Click on the advanced tab
Click on Environment Variable button
Under either User variables or System variables click on “New”
Set Variable name : GS_PROG
Set Variable path: C:\Progam Files\gs\gs864w32\bin\gswin32.exe – this is where yous gswin32.exe resides, make sure you type the correct path.

Click “OK” for everything and then open GIMP, you should now be able to open .eps and .ps files

Extra information: .EPS/PostScript (.PS) is a file that may contain 2D vector graphics, bitmap images, and text; includes an embedded preview image in bitmap format; often used for transferring image data between different operating systems. Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop or CorelDraw are the kind of programs that normally use/open these files.

Technorati Tags: .eps, Environment variable, Ghostscript, GIMP, GS_PROG, Microsoft, postscript, Windows

March 11, 2010 -- The future of gaming is OpenGL
March 19, 2009 -- IE 8 is ready
January 7, 2010 -- Linux ClearOS to rival Microsoft’s SBS
December 11, 2009 -- Microsoft’s attempt to bribe its way to the top
June 10, 2009 -- Microsoft Security patches June 09

Error 1062 – Duplicate entry ’2147483647′ for key 1

Alex Costa — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:19:14 +0000

CRE Loaded was giving me the error 1062 – Duplicate entry ’2147483647′ for key 1 – when trying to add a new product.

Cause: for some unexplained reason the auto_increment ID field on Table “products” has gone up to 2147483647 which is apparently the maximum number of rows permitted in an INT column.

Fix:

Go to your phpMyadmin interface
Backup your database (make sure you know how to restore it if needed)
Browse the products table (select to sort the fields by Descending order)
The top item should now have the ID = 2147483647
Change the ID to a number up from the previous item (e.g.: Previous was ID = 301, than change the ID = 2147483647 to 302)
Repeat same process with table “product_to_categories”
Return to table “products”
Select the SQL tab
run the following SQL Query : ALTER TABLE products AUTO_INCREMENT=303 (note that 303 is the next number up from the example on step 5, you should use the next number up in your situation)

It worked perfectly for me, hope this helps.

Technorati Tags: 1062 - Duplicate entry '2147483647' for key 1, CRE Loaded, Database, MySQL, PHPMySQL

April 21, 2009 -- Oracle to own MySQL

LinkedIn Timeout at Login

Alex Costa — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:52:46 +0000

I was having problem Login in to Linkedin.com from work (also was one of the company directors), I went through my whole network and firewall setup looking for any setting that could be blocking their site. I was getting a “Connection Timed Out” error.

The solution was also simple but still poses a question to me. I deleted the LinkedIn cookie from my Firefox and it started working straight away, the interesting bit was that as soon as my computer gained access also did the other computers on my network. So if you are having problem loging in to LinkedIn on your network and clearing your cookies does not sort it out, try asking you coleagues (who use LinkedIn) to clear their browser’s cookies. I will report this to LinkedIn to see if this has any foundation.

Technorati Tags: Cookie problem, LinkedIn Timeout, Social Networking

December 3, 2009 -- (Mis) understanding Social networking
December 6, 2008 -- Facebook Connect

Offline Blogging Tools

Alex Costa — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:35:44 +0000

Offline Blogging Tools let you comfortably write and effortlessly publish new entries to your blog. I personally like the easy to use Scribefire, a Firefox addon, but there are many others our there. Here is a shortlist…

Scribefire

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux

This is an addon for Firefox so you need to be using Firefox (clearly)

BlogDesk

Platform: Windows

BlogDesk is totaly free of charge and optimized for the blog systems WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, Serendipity and ExpressionEngine.

BlogGTK

Platform: Linux

BloGTK is a weblog client that allows you to post to your weblog from GNOME without the need for a separate browser window. BloGTK allows you to connect with many weblog systems such as Blogger, Movable Type, WordPress, and more.

Windows Live Writer (by Microsoft)

Platform: Windows

WLW is a desktop application for publishing to blogs and works with almost any blog provider in the world including Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, WordPress and more.

Qumana

Platform: Mac, Windows

Great for bloggers on the move. Qumana features include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, advertising insertion with Q Ads and more.

Technorati Tags: Blog, BlogDesk, BloGTK, Drupal, ExpressionEngine, Linux, Mac, MovableType, Qumana, Scribfire, Serendipity, Windows, Windows Live Writer, Wordpress

March 11, 2010 -- The future of gaming is OpenGL
January 28, 2009 -- Synergy – share mouse and keyboard cross platform
April 9, 2009 -- 96% of Netbooks sold last year have Windows – Why?
January 31, 2009 -- Is Mac Safer?
January 14, 2009 -- Old Novell Ad (I am a Linux)

Synergy – share mouse and keyboard cross platform

Alex Costa — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:47:08 +0000

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between
multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its
own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users
with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its
own monitor(s).

Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse
off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of
all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems.
Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop
together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires
a password to unlock them all.

You can get synergy working on computers running different Operating Systems, the sharing is done via your local network and hosts are linked via the hostname or IP address. Setup is very intuitive. To install just follow these steps.

For Windows download it from http://synergy2.sourceforge.net

For Macs you can use the SynergyOSx or QuickSynergy

For Linux you can use QuickSynergy

OpenSUSE go to http://software.opensuse.org
Ubuntu $sudo apt-get install quicksynergy
Other distros download it from http://quicksynergy.sourceforge.net

Watch this video with an idea of what is possible with Synergy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id3GHAruhAk

Technorati Tags: Cross-platform, Linux, Mac, QuickSynergy, Sharing periferals, Synergy, Windows

March 11, 2010 -- The future of gaming is OpenGL
May 12, 2009 -- Offline Blogging Tools
April 9, 2009 -- 96% of Netbooks sold last year have Windows -- Why?
January 31, 2009 -- Is Mac Safer?
January 14, 2009 -- Old Novell Ad (I am a Linux)

Gnomesu – Running Applications as Root on Linux

Alex Costa — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:59:38 +0000

Sometimes (just sometimes) a Linux Desktop user needs to run a program eg: Nautilus as the root user which you can easily do with the commandline $sudo nautilus. If you have the command line shell open why not do you file management throught it? Well it’s nice to have more options like a Desktop launcher (Shortcut) that will open an application as root and prompt for the root password (all as a GUI).

This can be achieved using gnomesu or kdesu, depending on the Desktop Manager. Installing is very easy, can be done via the CLI (Command Line Inteface) or usign your package manager by searching for libgnomesu0 and libgnomesu-common (for Gnome users), the kdesu comes installed as part of the base installation of KDE.

The CLI installation route on Gnome

Debian based distros (eg.: Ubuntu)

$ sudo apt-get install libgnomesu0 libgnomesu-common

Suse Linux

$ sudo zypper in libgnomesu0 libgnomesu-common

Note that on Ubuntu you have to activate the root user account and give it a password:

1 – Go to Main Menu>>System>>Administration>>Users & Groups
2 – Unlock the Application (requires user password)
3 – Select Root account, activate it and under properties change password

Usage:

1 – Testing: press ALT+F2 and at the prompt type gnomesu Nautilus, a password prompt should appear, so type the root user password and Nautilus should open with root previledges.

2 – Desktop Launcher (Shortcut): (CTRL+ALT+D to show Desktop)

right-click on your Desktop
Select “Create Launcher”
Add Name: (Can be anything eg.: Nautilus as Root)
Command: gnomesu nautilus (nautilus is the application I want to use, you could use any othereg.: gimp, gedit, etc)

That’s all

Technorati Tags: Gnome, Gnomesu, Linux, Root user, Suse Linux, Ubuntu

June 20, 2009 -- OpenSuse Factory
December 24, 2008 -- PHP-GTK installation Errors on OpenSUSE
December 18, 2008 -- Fix Broken package – Ubuntu
December 13, 2008 -- ATI Radeon Mobility X700 Video card on Ubuntu
December 4, 2008 -- Enable DVD & Multimedia support in Ubuntu Linux

Enable DVD & Multimedia support in Ubuntu Linux

Alex Costa — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:08:44 +0000

Full DVD support on Linux is an old issue. It has to do with the Linux distros not being shipped with the w32codecs and the libdvdcss2, for legal reasons in some countries. The users must then download and install them by themselves with no clear guidance.

Here are the simple steps for installing these libraries under Debian based distributions.

The GUI Route: (CLI users forgive me but if there’s a GUI, users diserve a choice.)

1 – Download the w32codecs

2 – Download the libdvdcss2

3 – Double click on the packages, one at a time and use the Package Installer to install them quickly and painless

The CLI (Command Line Interface) route

cd Desktop

wget -c http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_20071007-0.1_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i w32codecs_20071007-0.1_i386.deb

wget -c http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.9-0.0_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.9-0.0_i386.deb

See this relared post about OpenSuse and SLED10

Technorati Tags: DVD Support, libdvdcss2, Linux, Ubuntu, w32codecs

December 24, 2008 -- PHP-GTK installation Errors on OpenSUSE
December 18, 2008 -- Fix Broken package – Ubuntu
December 13, 2008 -- ATI Radeon Mobility X700 Video card on Ubuntu
December 8, 2008 -- Gnomesu – Running Applications as Root on Linux
December 4, 2008 -- 3G Mobille Broadband – Huawei E156G – USB Dongle on Linux

3G Mobille Broadband – Huawei E156G – USB Dongle on Linux

Alex Costa — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:36:33 +0000

I acquired a 3G Mobille Broadband – Huawei E156G – USB Dongle and really wanted to get it going on my Linux (Ubuntu) laptop. After much looking around and trying several unsuccessfull ways of doing it found a very easy and working solution.

Basically Linux will recognize your Huawei E156G USB Dongle and you can check that by listening to your USB devices, just run the following command on yor terminal lsusb this should output something like this:

Bus 005 Device 002: ID 12d1:1003 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E220 HSDPA Modem

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

if this is working, follow the tutorial on this post 3G Mobile Broadband with Ubuntu-EEE

Technorati Tags: 3G Broadband, Connectivity, Huawei USB, Linux, Ubuntu

December 24, 2008 -- PHP-GTK installation Errors on OpenSUSE
December 18, 2008 -- Fix Broken package – Ubuntu
December 13, 2008 -- ATI Radeon Mobility X700 Video card on Ubuntu
December 8, 2008 -- Gnomesu – Running Applications as Root on Linux
December 4, 2008 -- Enable DVD & Multimedia support in Ubuntu Linux

ITechLog » Easy Tips

reCAPTCHA error

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Changing your YouTube video thumbnail

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Google Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues

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Open .eps files on GIMP for Windows

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Error 1062 – Duplicate entry ’2147483647′ for key 1

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LinkedIn Timeout at Login

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Offline Blogging Tools

Scribefire

BlogDesk

BlogGTK

Windows Live Writer (by Microsoft)

Qumana

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Synergy – share mouse and keyboard cross platform

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Gnomesu – Running Applications as Root on Linux

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Enable DVD & Multimedia support in Ubuntu Linux

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3G Mobille Broadband – Huawei E156G – USB Dongle on Linux

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