Netgear DG834G

Firmware Version    V2.02.44

ADSL Firmware Version    7.03.01.66

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Firmware Version    1.9Sky

ADSL Firmware Version    A2pB023o.d20h

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A new php.ini directive has been added with php-frm (Due to be incorporated into PHP Trunk in the near future)

How to correctly return a 500 Server Error Code rather than a blank 200

Either:

• Add to your main php.ini via eg /usr/local/lib/php.ini
• Or directly into the /etc/php-frm.conf

PHP.ini

fastcgi.error_header=”HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error”

/etc/php-frm.conf

Add the directive below this line – <value name=”php_defines”>

<value name=”fastcgi.error_header”>HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error</value>

Restart PHP-FRM (via /etc/init.d/php-frm)

So long as your server has either one of the following, you’ll see the effect immediately

• error_page      500   /50x.htm  (In nginx)
• ErrorDocument 500 /50x.htm (In Apache)

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Below is a snippet from my error log showing how, well ok, it’s because I used a == instead of an is_() function call.

[01-Mar-2010 08:52:19] PHP Notice:  Undefined index: **VARIBLE*** in ***FILE1*** on line 342
[01-Mar-2010 08:52:19] PHP Stack trace:
[01-Mar-2010 08:52:19] PHP   1. {main}() ***FILE2***:0
[01-Mar-2010 08:52:19] PHP   2. ***FUNCTION1***() ***FILE2***:262
[01-Mar-2010 08:52:19] PHP   3. ***FUNCTION2*** ***FILE1***:223


TIP: Build Xdebug externally and call it in your php.ini file:-

zend_extension=”/FULL_PATH_TO/xdebug.so”

I have tried out APM (PHP Monitoring) but I could not get it to function correctly, however this may be due to conflict with xdebug.

Do you have any recommendations for PHP error log monitoring. Most of the products I have seen have not been worked on in months if not years and with the developments in PHP5.3 and the upcoming PHP6 I would like to have background monitoring and database insertion of errors. (A sexy AJAX interface would be great too!)

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This is a review article on my choice of revision (version) control software.

• I have never used a Version Control System
• Source code already in place
• I edit on Windows XP PC (although I used to develop on my Ubuntu Linux Laptop)
• The Should I Date.com runs Ubuntu 8.10 Server Edition

Current programming / testing methodology

• Editting the PHP files with Geany
• Test code locally using a VMWare image of Ubuntu (with a Shared Drive on the Windows machine linked to the httpdocs dir)
• Upload via SSH with WinSCP to Should I Date.com

This programming methodology has been used for the past couple of months as I prefer hand coding.

Now however with the code base now becoming more mature I am finding the need to do more performance testing and bug fixing on the code already in place. This has lead to a few situations where for example, the modification of my Database class can have a massive impact on the functionality of parts of the website that I may have wrote several months ago.

I therefore felt it was time to implement a version control system to allow me to quickly “jump back” should I make a mistake.

Control Systems evaluated

Subversion (SVN), Mercurial (HG), GIT & Ubuntu (Canonical) Bazaar (BZR).

I currently have installed TortoiseSVN on my Windows box and a requirement is at most 4 clicks to upload the code I have just updated. There are extensions for HG & SVN & Bazaar, GIT has a similar Windows shell extension.

SVN is by far the most difficult to setup with an existing project, after 20 minutes of fiddling with svn import file:///, coupled with the fact I had problems connecting with svn + ssh I gave up on SVN.

Git was much easier to set up and get working and was not selected purely on the lack of decent Windows client available

HG and Bzr are very similar in their implementation and I liked HG’s inotify plugin.

Bazaar (BZR) chosen

Bazaar was chosen mainly due to Bazaar Explorer, a cross platform BZR, diff, merge platform which easily allows you to add, remove files and directories from the tree, to commit and update your tree. It is very extensible however and easily allows you to choose your own editor, diff, merge external applications.

My only annoyance of Bzr is that it does not appear to do a remote update when you sync with the host tree, which is easy to implement with SVN.

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Call me cynical but this will allow facebook to pull in more search engine results for an individuals name. I do hope that Google does not prioritise this or else you could have pages worth of useless content.

http://www.facebook.com/username/

12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13. Is when Facebook’s Username registration (landgrabbing) will begin

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WebStats Monitoring tools

At the moment the following trackers are enabled on my site and I’ll be writing a review of each of them in a fortnight (to give each tracker time to collect enough web traffic statistics to allow me to review them accurately).

• Pmetrics by Performancing.(The free/blogger version). Javascript based tracker.
• Google Analytics. Javascript based tracker.
• W3Counter. Logo based tracker.
• WordPress.com Stats. Img based tracker
• Firestats. Self Hosted tracker

My website (RickSeymour.com) for example.

41% of searches are for me, Rick Seymour (in one form or another)
18% Taxi Dispatch Software (Autocab Cabmaster Cordic) due to a review page I did Review of Taxi Booking Software. Which ranks me on high on Google searches for taxi related products. Ie Cabmaster (2), AutoCab (3), taxi booking system(9), taxi booking software(13). I’m planning on doing more reviews of XDA/HTC technology & software to increase this.
15% Events and Places I’ve been to
10% Dating Related
5% Local Issues for example my stories on Preston Bus Station, StageCoach taking over Preston Bus

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Being Transparent

If you have to hold back saying what you think you are not being honest with yourself, yes there has to be a level of decorum to what you put down, but if you have something to say you should feel that you can say it. I’ve got political ambitions (not MP style expenses crap that’s going on at the moment), community based, local government that you can’t make a living from, ie doing it because I want to rather than to live off it. As someone new to the scene, people need to feel that you give your heart, soul and your time to a project.

Which is why being transparent is so important, so show you are who you say you are…. one word….. Integrity.

Keep your licensing simple

The license for this site is Creative Commons (not a pure copyright), so if someone uses ANY of my text, words or video they MUST link back to where they found it, which allows readers of their content to verify what has been said. (So you don’t have to worry too much about being misquoted)

Legacy

Make them proud, a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk in that he wants his grand kids to watch the videos that he puts online and to be proud. As I said before with archive.org anything you put online, be that video or textual content is archivable, searchable and mashable. Be aware though that yes anyone can read what you put and it’s likely that anything you publish can be saved, copied and redistributed. Remember that this is your content, and the essence of you, being able to look back is as important for you as it is for anyone else.

HR Googling your name

Recently I had a conversation with Franky and he suggested that my website is too open, too much personal information on, that a HR department would Google my name and instantly not progress me to the next stage of interview. To me this assumes one thing, that firstly I want to work for a company that spies on it’s employees. I have no intention of ever being a robot, I’m an individual and any company that tries to stiffle that creativity and that individuality isn’t a company worth my time.

Creativity is what makes us human, it allows us to see a problem and come up with a solution, and I feel that is much more important in any business than employing a robot that looks at the clock every 2 minutes waiting for that 5pm to pass.

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I’m having a go with video editing, with narration, with reporting, with counseling. Covering everything from sex and relationships to philosophy to local issues. Following the Preston Bloggers talk from a professional blogger (and other influential bloggers I’ve met) I’ve tried to follow (and generate) advice for new bloggers.

One of the key motivating factors though has to be, keep it relevant, keep it local, keep it fun!

So at the moment I’m putting myself out there, seeing what targets and target audiences I hit.

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Download audio track

Ed Walker – Preston Bloggers Interview (4 minutes 2 seconds) via Box.net

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The most important piece of advice and help is “Have a go… find your feet”. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)  is of low importance at the initial start for a blogger, and you should more get used to using the tools that are available. (Blogger, WordPress etc)

What should I blog about?

What do you want to say and who to? Have a “ThoughtShower” (Brain storm for any 80s child and younger) and write down what you are passionate about.
Take out all the dross, pick out the keywords (that’ll define what the site will be about), what you are interested in.
Now use blog searches to find out more about those subject areas. What is  and what isn’t being typed about at the moment. Use these sites to emerse into the preformed community.

Profile/Brand building

Get to know the community. Make friends rather than make traffic
Commenting on other people’s blogs is key. Most of the conversation about your blog should not be on your blog, but on other peoples sites. Your blog should be your “Base of operations” – most of the work happens away from the blog
Use a BlogRoll on your site (Blogs that you also read)
Representation of a brand, be that an individual or a business. Traffic will come later
Consistent online presence, have a tag
Link Bait – purposeful comment that initiates conversations that can get quite heated.

Blog Statistics

Referral statistics – important to know who is talking about you
Blogging cycle – when is most appropriate time and day to post, better Monday and Sunday, not on Friday afternoon

Content Tips

Use strikethroughs and updates rather than deleting.
Feedburner & RSS feeds – get the word out. Don’t worry too much about advertising revenue in the early stages.
Video on the blog – embed yes, but use youtube to host your videos
Creative Commons – “Can’t really see how people would be able to my work on my website and use it as ‘fair use’ but be as open as you can. CC can generate comments much more than copyrighted information. People want clear instructions on what they can and can and do with your words.

External tools for your blog

Twitter – lots of people will read the comments more so than on a website.

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