If you’ve used the SimpleXML functions in PHP, you may have noticed some strange things happening with CDATA values in your XML file/string. All I needed to do was extract the value of my CDATA fields, however these were always coming back blank in the structure that simplexml_load_file returns. Finally, after hours of trawling google, [...]
We have been having problems sending emails from our mail server (running Kerio) to a particular domain over the past few weeks. We kept receiving bounce emails with the following: 550 Rule imposed. Sender using invalid hostname in greeting as per RFC specification. After trying all manner of solutions, it turned out to be a problem with [...]
Skype today released the first Beta of Skype for Mobile, which allows users of most new mobile phones to run a version of Skype on their phone. The Beta allows you to: Send messages to your contacts Receive calls from Skype contacts (charged at SkypeOut rates) Make calls to Skype contacts if you live in [...]
WordPress today released version 2.5.1 of the the blog software. This release contains mainly bug fixes and a security update. From their release notes, version 2.5.1 includes: Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages. Better performance for those who have many categories Media Uploader fixes An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7 Widget [...]
I’m always on the lookout for great open source mac applications, and now there is a site that summarises the best open source applications available for Mac OSX: www.opensourcemac.org It’s a simple and easy to view list of all the best open source (free) applications for Mac OSX. I found a few new ones I [...]
Recently I needed to change the end of one of our domains from .com to .org. However we wanted to maintain any old links that pointed at the .com domain. Using mod_rewrite you can achieve this move seamlessly for users, and keep all the parameters in tact. Simply add the following lines to your .htaccess [...]
If you’ve downloaded AVI files and tried to play them in Quicktime, only to discover that they don’t play with any audio, then try installing A52Codec. It provides a codec for AC3 audio in quicktime, with the following features: Multi-channel decoding of AC3 audio (can do full 5.1 decoding). Implemented as a core-audio component so [...]
Installing the GD library is easy on CentOS thanks to yum. Simply type: yum install gd gd-devel php-gd And all your GD fun is installed and ready to go. I was trying to install the Perl module GD::Graph and it wouldn’t compile, complaining: GD.xs:7:16: error: gd.h: No such file or directory After installing the GD-Devel [...]
Microsoft today released the RDC Beta 3, finally replacing the old Beta 2 which expired a number of weeks ago, and has been displaying a “Beta Expired” message everytime you run the thing. More from Microsoft is available from their Mactopia blog. New features in this Beta include: Full help topics, with non-english language support [...]
Recently my Bluetooth on my MacBook Pro stopped working without warning. The bluetooth icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen displayed with a line through it, and showed “Bluetooth Not Available” when I clicked on it. This was REALLY annoying as I use a bluetooth mouse on my Macbook Pro. Thankfully, it was [...]
I use MSN, Skype and GTalk to keep in touch with work colleagues all day everyday. I’ve always wanted to be able to do it on my mobile phone, however you usually have to pay a monthly fee to do this, and you have to run a different client for each protocol. Now, there is [...]
I’ve been looking for a simple way to convert XML into an array in PHP, like the Perl library XML::Simple does. The best bet with PHP is SimpleXML, which provides a pretty simple interface for parsing XML in PHP. Take a simple example XML file: <list type=’randomlist’> <item> <name>Item Number 1</name> <code>ITEM1</code> </item> </list> To [...]
Cyberduck (the excellent SFTP/FTP client for Mac OSX) has just released the first beta of Version 3 of the most excellent SFTP/FTP client. Version 3 adds support for: Amazon S3 WebDav Apple Quicklook Version 3 is looking like it will be particularly cool, especially the Quicklook and WebDav support. Help out the testing process and [...]
I have been involved in the development of an exciting new tool that has will be officially launched this week at DesignEx in Sydney, Australia. Greenfly is an online Product Design tool that helps designers determine the environmental impacts of their products. It produces real-time assessments relating to Global Warming, Energy Use, Water Use and [...]
As a developer, it is really important to have a reliable code repository. I use SVN (subversion) for all my projects and have been looking around for a decent way of outsourcing the repository – I want it accessible to all my staff all the time, it should also be secure and redundant. We have [...]
I now use Microsoft Word 2008 (Microsoft Word 2007 if you are on windows) to edit my Word Documents. It has heaps of handy new features that I like and makes my documents look heaps better than the older versions of Microsoft Word. However this can cause problems for people who don’t have Microsoft Office [...]
The following is a really useful .htaccess configuration options to allow certain IP address to access a site without a password, while requiring everyone else to enter a password: AuthName “My Secret Page Here” AuthUserFile /sites/apache-passwords AuthType Basic Require valid-user Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 171.231.12.8 Satisfy Any Some really handy examples are [...]
PC Authority, a major Australian Technology magazine has launched a new website today. It includes reviews, forums and sections from the magazine itself. It looks quite impressive on first impression and their A-List is an excellent reference for finding quality tech gear.
Opera released Opera Mini 4.1 yesterday, which is an update to their very handy free mobile phone browser service. As previously noted, Opera Mini is much faster than regular browsers on your mobile, as it actually redirects your requests to Opera’s servers which then compress the pages so they display better on your phone. This [...]
The team working on Firefox 3 have released Beta 5 today for download. From their release, “This milestone is focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3.” I’ve been using Firefox 3 (Beta 4) for a few weeks now and have been very [...]