Problems for RackSpace Cloud users with WordPress after migration
This is a very specific technical entry for WordPress users of the RackSpace Cloud (formerly Mosso), who have been part of the big migration on that platform today.
This would be boring and incomprehensible to anyone else...
We'll start with the easy part:
FOR USERS OF THE WP-DBMANAGER PLUGIN
There is a red alert that shows up on the dashboard for users of the wp-dbmanager plugin.
The alert reads
Your backup folder MIGHT be visible to the public To correct this issue, move the .htaccess file from wp-content/plugins/wp-dbmanager to (your specific path).
Firstly: don't panic. It's a false alarm. When RackSpace migrated your file to a new path, they ran an automated script to change any hard-coded references from the old absolute path to the new one. Unfortunately this script did not catch any entries in the database, and plugins that wrote the path to the db were still looking for the old path.
In this case the trusty WP-DBManager plugin was baffled, because it looked for an .htaccess file in the old path backup folder and couldn't find it, therefore sparking an alert.
To fix this, all you need to do is uninstall the plugin through the Database button (DATABASE tab on the left hand nav - choose the uninstall option - NOT through the plugin menu) and then reactivate the plugin from the plugins tab as usual. This should remove the alert and bring things back to normal. Finally, check that all the settings are as they should be.
DATABASE SEARCH AND REPLACE
Unfortunately there are likely to be other functions and plugins that write absolute paths onto the databse. The implication is that you have no choice but to either run a sql script that replaces the old path with the new path EVERYWHERE (not just in one table) - if anyone knows what that script would be, please add it as a comment. It's too late at night here for me to find out.
Otherwise the good old way still works:
1. Back up your DB (don't do anything before you do this!).
2. Download a copy of the database, open with a text editor, replace all old paths with the new.
3. Restore the corrected database.
4. Test.
MFI and Woolworths – websites on the brink
On the day after the two emblematic retail groups Woolworths and MFI had gone under in the UK, their websites showed the signs of disaffected (and potentially jobless) web staff - and who can blame them.
At Woolies they couldn't be asked, so the website simply reported that the site was "undergoing essential maintenance", which is a euphemism for "we took the servers down for now, buy us out, let us keep our jobs and we might be back.".
(click to enlarge)
At MFI, there was a nice letter from the administrators telling customers what to do. A lonely "<div>" tag at the very bottom was the only sign of employee apathy:
(click to enlarge)
Understanding Website Statistics – Five Pitfalls to Avoid
Website statistics: what's wrong with the following statements?
1. My website gets 20,000 hits a month!
2. My website gets three million unique visitors a year!
3. Our statistics show that users spend an average of 30 minutes per visit to our website!
When you boast to your friends that your blog gets 10,000 hits, or tell your boss that your company's website has one million annual unique users, you may be setting yourself up for a fall.
Like most statistics, website stats can be misleading, and this article shows you some common pitfalls when quoting site numbers.
Website statistics – common mistakes:
1. Using ‘hits’ as an indicator – ‘hits’ are an old-speak term that expresses, well, absolutely nothing about the popularity of a website. A ‘hit’ refers to any file or part of a webpage that is downloaded by a user. For example, if your web page has seven images on it, then it will be counted as eight hits (the page itself is one hit, and then each image counts as an additional hit). It is no indication of traffic or popularity or anything meaningful about your users. quoting it shows you haven’t got a clue.
2. Annual unique users – website unique users (or ‘uniques’ as old hands like to call them) are a well accepted measure of a website’s popularity, but only when used daily or monthly. Not yearly. It is ignorant to say that your site gets ‘x unique users a year’. Here’s why: your website tracking code can only count ‘uniques’ by leaving a ‘cookie’ on the user’s computer when he or she visits your site. A cookie is a small file that the website checks for whenever the user views the site. The cookies tells the site that it 'knows' the user, and that it should not count him or her again after her first visit. Once you understand this mechanism, some of its flaws become evident: if a user accesses the site through two different browser types (for example Chrome and Internet Explorer), then they are counted as two separate visits. Visits from two different computers (e.g. at home and at work) are counted separately too. Overall, the industry has come to accept these compromises, and treats ‘uniques’ as a good indicator, for lack of a better statistic. However, this works well for a period of up to a month. Longer than that, and your statistics become too distorted. For example, over the course of a year a single user is likely to get rid of the cookies on their computer at least a couple of times, or even replace their computer entirely. If each one of your unique annual users looses the cookie that counts them as unique twice or more over a year, then your annual count of unique visitors could be half, a third, a quarter or even less than what your stats package is showing you. There’s no way around it: annual uniques are a fallacy.
3. Average minutes per visit – I often hear statements like ‘my users are spending 45 minutes on average on my site'. No they’re not. Your workmate Kirsty looked at your site just before she went home last night and forgot to close her browser, so it remained trained on your website all night. In the morning, she came back, browsed it for a couple of minutes and then closed her browser. By doing this, she has skewed your stats big time – and the fewer users you have ,the more distorting the ‘Kirsty effect’ is. Some web statistics packages now use more sophisticated methods to track viewing time, for example by showing you the median time spent on your site, but if that’s not available, don’t quote this number. It’s not really that helpful.
4. Page impressions – a trusty statistic, page impressions (PIs) or page views (PVs) are still an old favourite, but they too are not without their problems, and it all depends on how your tracking code is set up, so be well informed about your settings before you start brandishing PIs. Here’s why:
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a. There are a lot of files that aren’t actually viewed and are sometimes counted as PIs, for example stylesheets (ending with .css) are also counted, and many sites have more than one, which are loaded every time someone visits your site, thus inflating your PI count. You have to check what's counted and what isn't before you use PIs.
- b. Every time a search engine indexes your site, it imitates a user, often by loading all your site's pages which may well be counted as page impressions. If you have many pages and your site is indexed regularly (for example by Google), you’ll get lots of irrelevant PI counts. Some stats packages exclude them and some don’t – you need to know which is yours.
5. Content groups and folder structures – and finally, you may want to beware how you present popularity of areas on your site. Most commercial website statistics packages allow you to define categories for different areas of the site, and then report on the popularity of those areas. The problem is that the categories in the tracking code often become obsolete in the time between when they were initially put in place and the many site changes and iterations since. You have to ask yourself how different areas are defined: is it by site taxonomy and structure, or simply by a category given to the page by the tracking code. Site taxonomies in themselves aren't a guarantee of accuracy either, because over time they erode, and an urgent patch here, a temporary page there - make them less reliable as an indicator of structure. I'm not saying that either of these can't be powerful analysis tools - they most certainly can be. It's just that you need to make sure you know what you're counting.
And that's really the endgame here –you need to make sure you know what you're counting. If you do, you can make more informed statements about your site's visitors. If not, well... Do not pass GO, do not collect 200 page impressions.
Web Design Companies with Rubbish Websites? Doh!
The web design space is getting crowded, and it's getting difficult to tell the good guys from the ones who try to sell you a falafel of sales jargon. Or does it?
It never ceases to amaze me when a company, purporting to design websites, lets its own site look like it was cobbled together by the work experience guy on a bad hair day.
It's true that sometimes there isn't time - the company is so good, and its reputation is such, that it simply isn't worried about marketing. I have come across a couple of these cases. Websites of this breed tend to have a minimalistic aura about them, like something created by a 'designers' designer', made in a fleeting sushi matt motion. And when you speak to them you know right away that this is the case. They don’t have to work with you. They’ll see if they can slot you in. Or sometimes they’re just too busy to help.
As for the rest of you - please pay attention: If a corporate (or myself on their behalf as is often the case), is looking for the best web design company for a project, the first thing we will check is your website. If it looks rubbish, we won't spend another minute worrying about it, and move swiftly on to the next candidate. Simple as that. You wouldn't buy clothes from a tailor who displays badly-made suits in their shop window, now would you? Or a hairdresser with pictures of the Perez Hilton cut adorning their salon front? Didn't think so.
We want to see what you can do, we want to see who you've worked with, and what you've done for them (a simple logo is no good, we want to know what you've actually designed), we want to see good usability and accessibility, we want to understand what you're about and what makes you special - and why we should work with you. We want a sense of your ethos and maybe that little bit of x-factor.
Your website is your shop window. Now show us your wares. Please!
Oh Sh*t – Google Chrome Doesn’t Really do THAT?!
Your passwords and indiscretions for world+wife to see.
OK - I admit it's a problem that's also inherent in Firefox, but Google’s new browser, supposedly built from the ground up, should really NOT do this. It's absolutely effing bonkers!
What am I on about? Google Chrome allowing users to view ALL their saved passwords for different websites, without any credentials. Not stars nor asterisks – the whole blooming thing in plain ascii, letters, number and pet names alike!
If you are viewing this in Chrome, click on the little options wrench on the top right, then select Options, and click on the Minor Tweaks tab.
Here you will see a button called "Show all passwords" - which does exactly that. I repeat – it shows ALL your passwords to anyone who uses your PC.
Your husband's secret site communications, your daughter's online diary, your co-worker's MySpace account - all there – all just a few clicks away. And if you happen on an Internet cafe using Chrome - you may well find Mr Ignorant’s most secret passwords for his email account: the same ones he uses for his bank and eBay accounts and for buying books on Amazon, and the rest of the poor unfortunate’s life (now over).
Oh - and for those who missed the obvious: if it's stored in a way that's visible to your naked eye, it's only a matter of time before some exploit/trojan/bad-thang will access it too. Passwords should not be visible. End of.
Call me melodramatic - but that's plain stupid!
Footnote: Firefox users - for info on how to protect your passwords click here.
Video Cameras for Cyclists – The New Video Helmet Camera Fashion
Video Cameras for Cyclists - Using video to film your cycling journey and protect you from drivers.
There seems to be a new fashion in England for cyclists to wear helmet cameras. My other half cycles to work, and I was intrigued by this trend. From my experience as a car driver in London, cyclists aren't really catered for by the capital's roads, and drivers are often unaware of them.
The principle of using a video recorder whilst cycling is supposed to fulfil two goals: it helps prove the actions of dangerous car drivers (and sometimes other cyclists), and it might serve as a deterrent if the driver knows his or her actions are being filmed.
It comes out something like this video, which was filmed on Mill Road, Cambridge. The description by the cyclist goes - "Cyclist doesn't indicate intention, keep well clear of other cyclist or look behind while moving out to pass another. Car driver fails to anticipate this is going to be a bad moment to overtake. It's fairly obvious that the faster cyclist is likely to want to pass the other. Would be better to drive more patiently. As usual, car subsequently gained no advantage, waiting over a minute at the next set of traffic lights.":
It seems cyclists are also keen to spot bad driving as well, and there is a spirit of activism to many of the YouTube cyclist helmet videos.
Good cameras seem to start at around £80, and these are the ones I found on Amazon Marketplace (prices correct at time of writing):
ATC2000 Action Helmet Camera 
Manufacturer camera description: The Extreme Cam is a digital video camera that enables the user to capture video clips of their sports activities. After capturing footage, the user can replay the video clips on a television or edit the movie on computer and share the video clips with friends through Internet connection or write back the footage creation to the console for carrying around. After capturing footage, you can replay your video clips on a television, or edit the movie on computer and share the video clips with friends through an internet connection. You can also save the footage back to the console for transport and the ATC-2K works seamlessly with most video editing software. The ATC-2K is a video camera only, it is not possible to take still photos. The ATC-2K will record varying amounts of footage, depending upon the memory card size and quality of video. For example, at 30 frames per second at 640x480, the camera will record 60 minutes of footage to the card. If however you reduce the quality of the recording and use 15 frames per second, it is possible to record up to 794 minutes of footage. Please note: ATC-2K requires a high speed branded Secure Digital card for external storage. Features: Multiple mounting design (bike, helmet, ...etc) Water proof Professional Helmet Cam looking Design 640x480 VGA CMOS sensor 32MB internal memory (NAND flash) SD memory card support up to 2GB USB interface A/V out interface Keys: (3 buttons) Shutter (Movie only) (one or two beeping sounds) Menu (one beeping sound) On/Off/Enter (two beeping sounds) Buzzer for key tones and other alert sounds Internal real time clock Operated by 2 x AA batteries Compatible with Windows XP/2000/Me
Hero Helmet Camera
Manufacturer camera description: Features: 54 min. high quality video w/sound, 3 megapixel sensor with glass lens, 3X sequence photo burst, programmable power off settings, always on mode lasts 3+ hours, mode lock for easy shooting Supports up to 2GB SD, 100? depth glass lens waterhousing, 130g flyweight.
GoPro Helmet Hero Quick Release Video Camera
Manufacturer camera Description: The Helmet HERO 3 is the ultimate waterproof action camera, waterproof down to 30 meters * A 3 mega-pixel waterproof camera, taking still photos and with a built-in 16Mb internal memory, upgradeable to 2gb via SD Card (Optional) * It is also a waterproof video camera and includes various helmet mounting options. * Capacity to shoot 56 minutes of colour TV resolution video when using a 2gb card (512 x 384 pixels), also capturing sound. * Includes 2 Flat surface & curved surface stick on mounts, 1 head mount with strap, 1 x Triple-pivot side arm assembly, 1 x vented helmet strap base mount & straps, 2 x quick release buckles, 1 Pivot adjustment thumb screw & nut.
Ride safely!
Geek Footnote: of course a camera implanted in your head is the first step to joining The Borg.
Fujifilm FinePix F50fd Digital Camera Review – The difference 12 Megapixels Make
Fujifilm FinePix F50fd Digital Camera - an Honest (though gushing) Review
This is a review of the Fujifilm FinePix F50fd 12 million pixel camera which, at the time of writing, was selling on Amazon UK - here
This isn't one of those technical reviews of lens polarity or whatever it's called. I have no great notions of my own worth when it comes to taking pictures. In fact, I'd probably say I'm the master of point-and-click, and I live by the adage that if I take enough pictures I'm bound to get some good ones, and with today's digital cameras I can take about as many as I like. Statistically I am a good shooter, no matter what.
I bought the Fujifilm FinePix F50fd, because I had to submit some images to official publications, and those taken with our old 5 megapixels kept getting returned to me with the polite "could we please have a higher resolution version of this image?". I needed a camera that took very high resolution pictures, and where the quality of the result improves and bypasses the shooter's lack of skill and eye. The pictures had to be good, which means the lens and whatever automatic magic happens inside the bodywork - it should get me shots of a good enough quality. Not grainy, not fuzzy, and as impressive as possible without too much adjustment. Did I say point-and-click?
And the verdict? The Fujifilm FinePix F50fd doesn't disappoint and takes some mean shots. I've never actually been bothered enough to love a camera. I absolutely love this one. The day shots are crisp and clean, and the night shots exceptionally good. Because of the high resolution, I can enlarge a small detail of a picture and save it - there and then - as a new, high quality pic. It's great. Even better news is that since Fujifilm has launched the next model up ( Fujifilm FinePix F100fd
It has a range of pre-set options (like landscape, or fireworks, or taking pics in the snow) and if you can't be bothered with the settings, you just click the little wheel to automatic, and it does the rest.
The technical detail summary for the FinePix F50fd is as follows:
* 12 megapixel Super CCD HR VII and Real Photo Processor II
* Wide view 2.7-inch high resolution screen
* Advanced hardware-based Face Detection technology (2.0)
* Portrait Enhancer and automatic red-eye removal
* 25MB internal memory plus xD-Picture card, SD and SDHC compatibility
* ISO 100-6400
* 3.0x optical zoom
* Playback features including Face Zoom and Micro Thumbnail (100 shot) view
* IR Communication (IR simple)
* VGA movie capture of 30 frames per second with sound
* PictBridge™ compatible for direct printing without a PC
Danny rating: 5 out of 5.
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How Do I Repair a Corrupted Word File? (Corrupted Microsoft Word Files that Won’t Open)
How to repair a corrupted Microsoft Word file that would not open?
"Corrupted Word files" refers to files that you tried to open in Word, and couldn't for some reason. Sometimes you would get a message that they are corrupted, whereas other times Word would simply say that it can't open them.
Follow these steps:
1. Check that the corrupted Word file name is in the format "name.doc" (where name is the name of your file, then a dot (".") then the extension "doc". For example danny.doc. If it isn't, right click on the file, select "Rename" and change the file's name to this format.
2. Some newer versions of Word (e.g. Microsoft Word 2007) have a repair option. To see if yours does, open Word, select File--> Open, choose the corrupted file (but don't open it yet). You will notice that next to where it says "Open", there is a little drop-down arrow. Click on this and change the option to "Open and Repair", then click on it.
3. If the above didn't work, the next option (which usually works) is to open your corrupted Word file with Open Office - a free office suite that is compatible with Microsoft Word documents. Here's how:
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- Download Open Office from OpenOffice.org - it's completely free, but is a big download, so will take some time, depending on your connection speed.
- Click on the downloaded file to install it and follow the installation wizard.
- From your Program Files menu open "Openoffice.org Writer" (Go to Start--> Programs--> Openoffice.org --> openoffice.org Writer)
- Now use Openoffice Writer to open your corrupted file (File-->Open)
- Once opened, save it again using File--> Save As and ensure you change the "Save as type" in the menu to Microsoft Word 97/2000/xp (or the version that you have).
- Open your reclaimed file in Word.
4. Still no luck? The next step is to use the free WordRepair utility as a last resort. It was free at the time of writing, and does a good job of opening corrupted Word files, but you lose all your formatting, and hence it is the last on this list.
If all the above didn't work, it is likely that your file is in a really bad way. If you are a business and it is business critical, then there are professionals who may be able to help. If your corrupted file is encrypted or password protected, then your changes are lessened still.
Good luck!