Author Archive

Google back links updated

All my websites have their back links updated (increased) in Google Webmaster Tools today. I also expect that PR will be updated soon. However the link command on Google shows no changes yet.

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Facebook Valued at $15 Billion — Microsoft Takes $240 Million Equity Stake

Facebook and Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft will take a $240 million equity stake in Facebook’s next round of financing at a $15 billion valuation, and the companies will expand their existing advertising partnership. Under the expanded strategic alliance, Microsoft will be the exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for Facebook, and will begin to sell advertising for Facebook internationally in addition to the United States. …

read more | digg story

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Install MySQL Community Server 5.0.45 Without Installer on Windows Vista

  1. Download the zip file from here.
  2. Unzip it to your d: drive. Here’s what you should get after unzipping: d:\mysql-noinstall-5.0.45-win32. Rename this folder to mysql5045. (d:\mysql5045)
  3. Open folder d:\mysql5045. Copy my-small.ini and rename the copied file to my.ini. Open my.ini using notepad. Under line “[mysqld]“, enter the following lines:basedir=D:/mysql5045
    datadir=D:/mysql5045/data
  4. Run your command prompt as administrator. And enter folder d:\mysql5045\bin
  5. Type mysqld-nt.exe –install mysql5045 –defaults-file=d:\mysql5045\my.ini
  6. Type net start mysql5045 in command line. If you see the following, mysql 5045 is installed and running!The mysql5045 service is starting.
    The mysql5045 service was started successfully.
  7. IMPORTANT! type mysqladmin -u root password “your-new-password”, to set a password for your root account. The default install will leave no password required for your root account.
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Connect Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Emulator to the Internet on Vista

The easiest way to connect Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone emulator to the Internet in Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista is to cradle the emulator, however the problem is… (with a step by step guide and images)

Here comes again. There was one of my old projects on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone needed to be changed a little and re-released. I just re-installed my laptop couple weeks ago. Which means I have to install all the mobile SDKs and setup my development environment once again.

Finding and installing those SDKs is easy. The problem only comes when you trying to get internet working on your emulator. The method I was using before is to get NE2000 card working on the emulator. In order to do that, you will need a virtual network drive (or something) installed first on Windows Vista. And I found that my VPN always having troubles after I install it. That’s why I won’t recommend this method to anyone trying to set it up the first time.

So I figure as long as I can cradle Windows Smartphone 5.0 emulator, I should be able to access the Internet by using pass-through.

To cradle Windows Smartphone 5.0 emulator on Windows Vista. You will need:

  • Install Windows Mobile Device Center (it really is Vista version of ActiveSync). Select DMA for Allow connections to one of the following
  • Open Device Emulator Manager from Tools menu of Visual Studio 2005
  • Open your emulator by selecting Windows mobile 5.0 Smartphone Emulator, right click and select Connect
  • With the emulator selected still in Device Emulator Manager, right click and select Cradle

Image: Windows Mobile Device Center Settings

Image: Device Emulator Manager in Visual Studio 2005

If you see nothing happened to your Windows Mobile Device Center, it doesn’t mean you missed some steps from the above. It happened only because the Device Emulator 1.0 is the one comes with Visual Studio 2005 has this cradle problem on Windows Vista.

The solution is to download Microsoft Device Emulator 2.0 and by installing 2.0, it will replace the old one. Read this note from its download page: “DeviceEmulator 2.0 has taken a few design changes to work with the Windows Vista operating system that enables the emulator to be cradled using the Windows Mobile Device Center”.

This is the result after upgrading to Device Emulator 2.0 and cradling the emulator: Smartphone Emulator 5 Cradled

I would select “Connect without setting up your device” . The emulator should have Internet access now.

Windows smartphone emulator with Internet access

Links:

Microsoft Device Emulator 2.0

Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1

Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK for Smartphone

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SQL Injection vulnerability on Plesk 8.2.0

I just read this one from SWsoft forum.

There is a SQL injection vulnerable security hole exists on Plesk 8.x.x. Yes, it’s even on 8.2.0, which is the latest stable version.

It’s /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/class.Session.php.

Here’s the fix.

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Linux common commands

1. Check folder size

$ du -hs /path/to/directory

2. Zip a folder

$ zip -r filename.zip /path/to/folder

3. Mount a portable harddrive / usb drive

$/sbin/fdisk -l

4. Check memory usage

$ free -m

by look into the free column of -/+ buffers/cache line, it’s the free memory that can be used by applications.

5. Check if a package is installed (RedHat Enterprise/Fedora/Suse/CentOS)

$rpm -qa | grep PACKAGE-NAME

6. Check file system size
du -h -x

7. Check file system space
df -h

8. Install rpm package
rpm -ivh PACKAGE-NAME

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Monster Hunter Freedom 2 Highly Recommended!

MHF 2 is available now! Monster Hunter 2 on PSP. Its release date is August 28, 2007 on gamespot.

I am not sure if I can pick it up in a local store in Toronto today. But I will.

There’s never a game which I can keep playing for 180 hours now. I know. It is crazy!

It takes a lot of time to gather all the resources to make your own weapons and armors. Different weapons have different element property which means different damage for the same monsters. Even poison the monsters or put them into sleep. Armors have different skill points. Once you reach levels you will be able to have different techniques such as auto mark monster on the map, more hit points and etc.

The most fun part is the multi player. I have couple friends often come to my place and we play a 3, 4 hunter’s quest for a big dragon. We’ve done some request over 10 times just to gather enough resources to make a anti-dragon bow ;)

I’ve been play Japanese versions only. The technical words may not be correct.

Here’s an amazing video of 4 hunters vs one of latest big bosses.

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Comodo Firewall 3 Beta2 is Out!

I just visited Comodo’s Beta Corner today and found that beta 2 was out! Great news! For 4 months I’ve been waiting for Comodo’s amazing free firewall product that supports Windows Vista. And it’s finally almost here.

Being one of the many Comodo firewall fans, I was going to change to Windows XP after I got my laptop back in May. The reason is that Comodo firewall version 2.x doesn’t support Windows Vista. However, lucky for all us, they had an announcement version 3 which supports Vista, 64bit Windows and it’s almost alpha.
Well, that was the waiting history. :)

The next update will be a RC and I am going to definitely put a RC version on my day-to-day use laptop!

Thumbs up Comodo!

See the release date from here:

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Most Useful Firefox Add-ons

Firefox is great. Why?

It’s fast and html/css standards well supported. The greatest feature of firefox is it’s extension infrastructures.

you can find almost everything you needed for your surfing pleasure or web programming.

Here’s a list of them which are always installed with my firefox. You can download them and find more info from by clicking on the links

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Take apart a friend’s PSP

My friend’s PSP is not working no more. The “R” trigger button seems always be pressed by an invisible force;) .

The syndrom is that he can start a game, but cannot quit a game by pressing Home button. Once the back to home screen is shown, there’s no response by press any button except the home key itself.

Also in MHP2 (Monster Hunter Portable 2) , the hunter is always running. (appears just like when R button is pressed)

We think it’s because the PSP is busy responding to the pressed R button.

Thus, the immediate solution I had was to take apart the psp and do so some inspection and cleaning.

It’s not difficult to open the cover at all, there are 4 screws inside the battery compartment, 2 on the back of the psp located the other side. and another one on the side opposite to the UMD door.

Open the front cover was easy too. Same as the plastic right trigger.

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