Dev Sandalian

I’m using Opera 9.5 on my machine with Zenwalk Linux for the operating system. Sometimes an error is occuring on Zenwalk when I compiling source code etc and I have to force shutdown my machine. If it happens when Opera is performing connection to mail server or checking for RSS updates, big chance that there will be a crash and destroy all my mail account and RSS feeds.

So I wrote a simple shell script to perform backup Opera’s files everytime I start my machine. I save this file as opera-backup.sh.

#!/bin/sh
SOURCE="/home/sandal/.opera"
TARGET="/home/sandal/.backup"
FILE=`date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M`
tar cfzP $TARGET/$FILE.tgz $SOURCE;

Then I add this shell script into Autostarted Applications (XFCE Menu - Settings - Autostarted Applications) so everytime I start my machine it will backup my Opera files. Whenever Opera crashes again, I can simply restore it from backup.

And by the way, Opera has released Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta, currently for Windows Mobile version.

Today I’ve made a country database and upload it on Google Code page under the project named Siomay. The list containing 253 country names with their ISO2 Alpha, ISO3 Alpha, IANA internet name, UN vehicle code, IOC olympic, UN ISO numeric and ITU calling.

Download SQL dump and use it at your will. Please leave any comment if you have something to share.

This morning I checked my web based application (it generate PDF for reporting purpose) located at my client’s office. They said that PDF report no longer viewable by browser but open download dialog instead. I got information that they just reinstall some application because of virus attacks.

I checked the browser (Firefox) configuration, nothing seems wrong.  I checked Adobe Acrobat and nothing’s seem wrong either. Then I found a simple trick to solve the problem, thanks to Google.

Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat\Reader\Browser and you will see a file with .DLL extention. Copy the DLL file into Firefox’s plugin folder, it’s something like C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins. Then restart Firefox and try to open a PDF file or drag and drop a PDF file into Firefox.

Problem’s solved.

Opera Watch reported that they’re preparing something called Opera Dragonfly. There’s no clue what the dragonfly could be but a teaser said:

“I won’t say quite yet, but I do think that, in my opinion, it is the most important project we have on going at the moment, and probably since I’ve been at the company. It won’t directly affect everybody, but will hopefully become invaluable for those that it does.”

So I’m thinking that the dragonfly will be a developer tools to dealing with HTML/CSS/Javascript just like firebug in Firefox.

It’s great if the dragonfly is realy a developer tools, since the current developer tools available for Opera is not very handy and rather dificult to use. Let’s wait for the dragonfly.

You might questioning what happen with Opera Mobile version 9 and why Opera Mobile jumps its version from 8.65 to 9.5.

Opera Mobile is intended to be a replacement for Opera Desktop in a mobile device. To achieve the same browsing experience between desktop and mobile, both browsers must have the same method to display the website. Since the latest version of Opera Desktop is 9.5 so Opera Mobile should have the same version and same rendering engine. Opera Mobile 9.5 using the same rendering engine as Opera Desktop 9.5 called Presto.

By this way, Opera hopes that there’s no difference between browsing using PC or mobile gadgets. Opera also said that this version is a lot faster than previous and the GUI was completely rebuild to increase user experience. And hey, it runs widgets just like Opera for desktop!

Now I’m waiting for Opera Mobile 9.5 to be available for Symbian UIQ 3.

Choosing full or partial RSS feed has become a hot issue among web developers. Some said that RSS feed should be short, which mean is partially. It uses less bandwidth for delivering the feed content into visitor’s RSS reader. And then they can choose which news to read, hit the link and open up the page using their own web browser.

What’s wrong with this methode? Nothing’s wrong, unless you’re submitting your RSS feed into some planets or agregator. Thus your article will displayed partially and reduce your chance to be indexed by search engine.

But this method can give you statistic of your website’s reader, because they have to click to read full content of your article. You can see what topic they like most, which entry they like to read etc.

While using full RSS feed give you some advantages. The best to mention is your chance to be indexed is bigger than using partial RSS feed when you submit your RSS into planets or agregator. Also, it ease your visitor to read your article. They only need to look at their RSS reader and read all that. No need to click to save more bandwidth. Only content delivered, no ads, no banner, no images etc.

Talking about pay per view ads, using full RSS feed will reduce the chance of your page to be read. Thus, reduce your earning, may be.

So, decision is yours. You have to consider your audience, take a survey about their internet speed.

I myself prefer partial feed. I receive a short description of the article and click the only interesting article. Save my bandwidth, and save the author for I give him more income from his pay per view ads displayed on his homepage/blog. What about you?

You can also read a debate about using full or partial RSS feed.

I’ve written a silly trick to add friend in Friendster without email address a long time ago. But this time I’m serious, a trick how to add friend in Friendster without email address or even last name. Seriously.

How it can be done?

Very simple. Just add your target’s friends first, as many as possible. Wait until your request to your target’s friend is approved. Then you can add your target as a friend without any difficulties. Sound great, eh?

Leave me a comment if you like my method ^_^

Latest news from Opera, they had launched Opera Mini 4 beta 2 with many bug fixes and some new features. This version will not overide your previous Opera Mini installation, so you can still use them both for comparison.

Here’s an overview of some of the notable changes/additions with Opera Mini 4 beta 2 (since beta 1), yeah I copy and paste this from Opera page:

• Now you can add the search engine of your choice to the start page, just like in the Opera desktop browser. Hey, now you could put Google Search on the start page.
• Shortcut keys
• Browse in landscape mode — view the Web on a wider screen (Shortcut key: ‘*’ and ‘#’)
• Native menu for BlackBerry phones
• Lots of optimizations for BlackBerry phones
• Content folding – Collapses long menu lists (like those found on sidebars of webpages), so you don’t need to scroll through them to get to the page content. Note: This only works in “Fit to width” mode, not desktop.
• Supports secure connections for banks, eBay, etc.
• Small fonts have been enabled
• Simplified setup process
• Improved image quality
• Improved cookie support
• Ability to edit the current URL
• Added ‘Full screen’ mode
• Dialogs now use web 2.0-ish look and feel
• Added support for more phones
• Fixed a ton of bugs

Too bad I can’t try this Opera Mini since my mobile phone is old enough.. *sigh!*

I’m a kind of Opera addict, that’s true. And today I read Opera’s CEO (Von Tetzchner) interview and see some cool things I would like to write down.

“We are being copied, but we would like to focus on features and giving users a good experience. We favour a fairly minimal UI, but not requiring you to install a lot of plug-ins. We know there is an Opera plug-in for FireFox, which is actually 15 different plug-ins in one. Now adding one or two plug-ins is OK, but if you add 15 to 20 then it impacts performance.”

That’s pretty cool. Using an application with a bunch of useful function without any horrible add-on plugins, and without high gauge on your machine

I’m not joking. You can get a free copy of Zend Studio for free, sure no warez to mention. Simply register to WeberDev.com and submit your code and you have made your chance to win a free copy of Zend Studio and many more cool stuffs every month!

Last month I got one year subscription of PHP|Architect and this month I get a free copy of Zend Studio, they made me very happy. So I will post more codes to win more prizes ah.ha.ha.