ter Smitten's

For some stuff that couldn’t bare the daylight I needed some anonymity. Tor (The Union Router) is really suited for this purpose:

“Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.”

Here’s some more information about Tor:

Installation of Tor (for Firefox) isn’t to hard:

• First we have to add the repository:

  sudo apt-add-repository ppa:sevenmachines/tor
  
  Executing: gpg --ignore-time-conflict --no-options --no-default-keyring --secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg --trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --primary-keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 454FEDB228E1455D687C9CBE35DA01C261E46227
  gpg: opvragen sleutel 61E46227 van hkp sleutelserver keyserver.ubuntu.com
  gpg: sleutel 61E46227: publieke sleutel “Launchpad Default PPA” geimporteerd
  gpg: Totaal aantal verwerkt: 1
  gpg:               Geimporteerd: 1  (RSA: 1)
  

• After that we have to update apt and install the needed packages:

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install tor polipo

• Next, we have to configure polipo:

  cd /etc/polipo/
  mv config config.ori
  wget https://svn.torproject.org/svn/torbrowser/trunk/build-scripts/config/polipo.conf
  mv polipo.conf config
  /etc/init.d/polipo restart

• And finally we have to install the Torbutton Firefox plugin
  

  Torbutton

References:

• http://buchin.in/a-large-anonymizing-proxy-networks-introduction-to-tor-how-to-configure-it-to-mozilla-firefox.htm
• http://www.paroleinfinite.net/2010/05/26/installare-tor-su-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx/
• http://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-unix.html.en
• https://svn.torproject.org/svn/torbrowser/trunk/build-scripts/config/polipo.conf

IE6 denial

A problem all web designers know is making a website work in Internet Explorer 6. IE 6 is not standards conforming. So even when you, as a designer, stick to the W3C rules there’s quite a chance your website won’t render as it should. A few big websites (i.e. Youtube, Apple’s MobileMe) already banned IE6 and even Javascript guru Douglas Crockford has called for a global IE6 boycott. Although the market share is rapidly declining, quite a large portion still seems to be using it; especially in Asia and Africa (+/- 21%).

IE6 Percentage

Why? IE6 was released in 2001, and even failed to properly support the CSS 1.0 standard from 1996…

IE6 Why?

We have to stop this oldie hold us back and make the Internet a better place 🙂

Free the web suggests:

• make sure your browser is up to date
• help others to get up to date
• if you are a web designer, stop supporting IE6
• spread the word: Boycott IE6

Ajaxian follows a more aggressive approach: amelie()

I would suggest we all just copy and paste the following code onto your site:

<!--&#91;if lt IE 7&#93;>
<div style='border: 1px solid #F7941D; background: #FEEFDA; text-align: center; clear: both; height: 75px; position: relative;'>
<div style='position: absolute; right: 3px; top: 3px; font-family: courier new; font-weight: bold;'><a href="#" mce_href="#" onclick='javascript:this.parentNode.parentNode.style.display="none"; return false;'><img src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-cornerx.jpg" mce_src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-cornerx.jpg" style="border: none;" mce_style="border: none;" alt='Close this notice' /></a></div>
<div style='width: 640px; margin: 0 auto; text-align: left; padding: 0; overflow: hidden; color: black;'>
<div style='width: 75px; float: left;'><img src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-warning.jpg" mce_src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-warning.jpg" alt='Warning!' /></div>
<div style='width: 275px; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;'>
<div style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 12px;" mce_style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 12px;">You are using an outdated browser</div>
<div style="font-size: 12px; margin-top: 6px; line-height: 12px;" mce_style="font-size: 12px; margin-top: 6px; line-height: 12px;">For a better experience using this site, please upgrade to a modern web browser.</div>
</div>
<div style='width: 75px; float: left;'><a href="http://www.firefox.com" mce_href="http://www.firefox.com" target='_blank'><img src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-firefox.jpg" mce_src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-firefox.jpg" style="border: none;" mce_style="border: none;" alt='Get Firefox 3.5' /></a></div>
<div style='width: 75px; float: left;'><a href="http://www.browserforthebetter.com/download.html" mce_href="http://www.browserforthebetter.com/download.html" target='_blank'><img src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-ie8.jpg" mce_src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-ie8.jpg" style="border: none;" mce_style="border: none;" alt='Get Internet Explorer 8' /></a></div>
<div style='width: 73px; float: left;'><a href="http://www.apple.com/safari/download/" mce_href="http://www.apple.com/safari/download/" target='_blank'><img src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-safari.jpg" mce_src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-safari.jpg" style="border: none;" mce_style="border: none;" alt='Get Safari 4' /></a></div>
<div style="float: left;" mce_style="float: left;"><a href="http://www.google.com/chrome" mce_href="http://www.google.com/chrome" target='_blank'><img src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-chrome.jpg" mce_src="http://www.ie6nomore.com/files/theme/ie6nomore-chrome.jpg" style="border: none;" mce_style="border: none;" alt='Get Google Chrome' /></a></div>
</div>
</div>

< !&#91;endif&#93;-->

And IE6 users would get this nice notification when visiting your website(s):

IE6 No More

References:

• http://www.ie6nomore.com
• http://www.lightcubesolutions.com/blog/?p=68
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/06/death_of_ie6_plan/
• http://www.security.nl/artikel/33477/1/IE6_bijna_uitgestorven%2C_Google_Chrome_groeit.html
• http://ajaxian.com/archives/amelie-a-devious-plan-to-get-rid-of-ie6
• http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
• http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
• http://css-tricks.com/why-people-still-use-ie-6/

Yesterday I did an upgrade from cake 1.30 to 1.31 on my Windows 2003 server. Unfortunately there was a problem with the cache files:

<a href="javascript:void(0);"><strong>Notice</strong> (8)</a>: unserialize() [<a href="http://php.net/function.unserialize">function.unserialize</a>]: Error at offset 0 of 1391 bytes [<strong>CORE\cake\libs\cache\file.php</strong>, line <strong>176</strong>]

Fortunately, finding an solution wasn’t to hard. A removed trim() seemed to be the culprit:

cake/libs/file.php

• View file @ 07948a7

…	…	<div>@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ class File extends Object {</div>
195		<div>-    return $data;</div>
	195	<div>+    return trim($data);</div>

cake/tests/cases/libs/file.test.php

• View file @ 07948a7

<div>@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class FileTest extends CakeTestCase {</div>

<div>-    $this-&gt;assertEqual($result, $expecting);</div>

<div>+    $this-&gt;assertEqual($result, trim($expecting));</div>

References:

• http://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/commit/07948a733d59df06dd965355be1c62c1c27e57c2
• http://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/commit/7cde309