Alivad.Com

This entry is coming to you courtesy of FireFox.

I’ve been unable to post for a few days; WordPress 2.1 came out so I updated the site – as all good people should do; even if the new features are not immediately perceived as useful, it’s important to keep on top of security updates.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t post again after the upgrade! IE7 displayed a couple of script errors. With some experimentation it seems this isn’t in any way a WordPress bug but with the TinyMCE JavaScript WYSIWYG editor.

I waited a couple of days but alas, TinyMCE’s coders have not yet released any patch.

This problem is not isolated to just myself; it appears on WordPress’ support forum here, here and here among other places.

Happily, all works fine in Firefox – which I am guessing is the browser used by the TinyMCE developers.

Hot on the heels from my MCTS, I’m taking exam 70-305 tomorrow. This exam is a core component of the MCAD.NET and MCSD.NET certifications. I have an MCSD – in VB 6, mind you – and hadn’t previously seen a need to re-certify given the MCSD certification did not expire but I figure with the .NET framework almost in its third release, it was definitely time to get my credentials updated.

The bigger decision was whether to go for VB or C#. This is the topic of many a debate, with inflamed passions on either side! In the end, I opted for VB because this is regularly the language my employers choose. However, I wouldn’t want C# fans to get the wrong opinion: for many years I was a C/UNIX guy. And, I intend – when time permits! – to rewrite my Delphi shareware/freeware apps in C#.

I’ve opted for exam insurance. I feel confident, but I can’t pass up the free TechNet Plus Direct subscription.

As astute readers will see, this site uses WordPress. I’ve found a bug in WordPress. I originally submitted this on WordPress’ support site but didn’t get anywhere – not even a hint as to where I could modify the PHP source to alter the function myself.

Fundamentally, the WordPress URI is my ISP’s web space, and the Blog address is http://www.alivad.com/ – the name of my domain.

This works, in that WordPress shows links for posts, categories, pages, etc in the format I want, namely http://www.alivad.com/?blah

HOWEVER the previous and next page links at the bottom of the page are showing wrongly as http://www.alivad.com/davidmwilliams/index.php?paged=x

I can’t understand why the ‘davidmwilliams’ part is being added like that. (Well, I can understand where it comes from – it’s part of the URL for my underlying ISP web space, but there’s no conceivable reason why WordPress is appending it to the blog URL.)

However, finding just where to submit bug reports for WordPress is proving to be an adventure. Searching the forums suggests two bug tracking sites have been used previously, Mosquito and Trac. Mosquito no longer opens, and Trac requires a login but has no registration page. (Update – Trac now permits login via the same username/password as in the support forum.)

Microsoft have lately been touting their exam insurance. I thought it seemed like decent value already given that if you pass the exam you get 25% off your next voucher.

However, as a special deal right now if you buy exam insurance and take your exam before the end of January you will receive a free one-year subscription to TechNet Plus Direct – which is worth more than the cost for the exam voucher with insurance!

I think this is an excellent deal; I’m going to take it up. Don’t forget to visit the Microsoft MCP site and check out the certification planner to work out which exams you need to take to fulfill the cert(s) you seek.

My family has been enjoying the Nintendo Wii since its release in Australia. The composite video seemed fine enough, but I chanced upon the rare find of Wii component cables today. I bought them and plugged them in and the difference is phenomenal.

For the still undecided, Joystiq have a side-by-side comparison of Zelda’s introduction in both component and composite: http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/13/todays-most-progressive-game-video-wii-component-cables-480i-v/

This looks very nice: the GP2X is a handheld portable media player / games console which runs Linux. I’ve been waiting for this to come out in Australia and now here it is!

I’d be keen to determine what types of input devices it might be able to use; a small programmable device would be tremendously useful for many things. There is no end of possibility.

At the end of December, I finally had an opportunity to upgrade my certifications. I took two Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist exams, one for SQL Server 2005 and one for BizTalk 2006. I passed both (and was delighted to do so on the SQL Server exam; I felt I knew database technologies extremely well but I had not seen the new scenario type questions previously that Microsoft used in this exam. They felt tough at the time but, happily, I obviously performed well.)

When ordering my welcome kit I was somewhat surprised to see that my existing MCP MCSD wallet card will not be altered; instead I receive a new one with the MCTS certifications on them. It appears the MCP / MCSD / MCSE (and sadly, the MCDBA) certifications are being downplayed more and more with “new generation” certifications taking their place. I surmise the MCPD will be the new MCSD.

Another great gadget I like is the TV-b-gone. It emits a series of infra-red signals, being the “off” codes for many different makes of television sets. That’s right – this device single-handedly can switch off a row of televisions, irrespective of brand. http://www.tvbgone.com

A new model is available which allows the sequence to be restarted by holding down the button for a second. This is a great addition; previously, once the device was activated it would work through its sequence and this was uninterruptible.

What I’d love to see next is a LED counter or something which indicates how far progress is through the sequence. This can also help show the batteries are still working.

Now this is a must buy! http://www.usbcell.com/product/1?pon

These were announced a while ago but have only just now become available.

With USB ports being plentiful this seems a terrific way to easily recharge batteries with minimal fuss.

Most guides on how to handle spam mail include the advice, “Never reply to a spam message” – even if it alleges to have unsubscribe instructions. The reasoning is given that this merely confirms to the spammer that your e-mail address exists and is active. This is the same reasoning why modern versions of Outlook and other mail clients disable automatic downloading of images in unverified messages.

(As an aside, I’d add it is important to distinguish between genuine spam and general mailing lists that people get themselves onto; I’ve seen many a person continually deleting mailing list messages or adding the mailing list to their black lists. In these cases, the simplest solution is to unsubscribe from the list. I’m in favour of reducing Internet traffic!)

There is another extremely good reason, however, why people shouldn’t reply to spam. It’s incredibly unlikely that the e-mail address on the message is actually that of the spammer! Indeed, many spammers do use real e-mail addresses on the messages they send – but not their own; that of someone else who was on their spam list.

Periodically I get e-mails from people who have clearly received spam which, unfortunately, has had my e-mail address used as the sending address. The recipients write back to say “go away” or, most usually, something far more colourful. I used to be disturbed by this; I didn’t want people thinking I had genuinely sent spam but I soon learned there was no point responding. After all, why would that guy really care that he unfairly maligned a random stranger? And why add to Internet traffic by writing a response? And, I’ve learned, a lot of people retort with the quip “How did they send an e-mail using your e-mail address? You need better hacking protection“. How do you begin explaining that any e-mail address can be attached to a message – it’s not the case that it was sent from my computer. And how much trouble should one go to just to explain to yet another recipient of spam that spam exists, that spammers use false addresses, and that every single person on the Internet has this problem not just them?

Spam is a big problem beyond just the first message. So, people, avoid the hassle. Just don’t reply to spam!