Robot.Floss

My coworker Larry sat down earlier this week and made a chart of HTML5 support across a bunch of browsers, or as he put it…

There  are several sites out there that can test a browsers compatibility with  HTML5 and CSS3, but nothing that really shows what’s supported across a  number of browsers. So I took the liberty of testing a number of  browsers on Windows and Mac and compiled a matrix. The test results were taken from http://www.findmebyip.com.

Thought you might be interested.

Download the PDF.

Popularity: 2% [?]

You can find directions on how to fix the Woot Watchter yourself or you can download it here at RobotFloos.

Instructions:

1. Depending on your operating system, go to the following directory:
   • OS-X: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles//Extensions/{a92aadf8-193f-4a62-8740-5cce81775afc}/chrome/
   • Windows 7/Vista – C:\Users\[Your UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Your Profile Name]\extensions\{a92aadf8-193f-4a62-8740-5cce81775afc}\chrome\
   • Windows XP – C:\Documents and Settings\[Your Account Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Your Profile Name]\extensions\{a92aadf8-193f-4a62-8740-5cce81775afc}\chrome\
2. Rename the file “wootwatcher.jar” to “wootwatcher.old” in case you ever want to revert back to it.
3. Now, copy the wootwatcher.jar file from the .ZIP file to the directory
4. Relaunch FireFox and enjoy your w00ting!

Popularity: 4% [?]

All of my Mac Mozy Pro installations have started to freak out. I contacted Mozy support, and it turns out this is a known bug with Moxy Pro 1.6.0. The newest update to 1.6.2 fixes the following problem:

Symptoms:

1.) Mozy Fails to Launch at Start - Under System Preferences -> Account -> Login Items, for all of the users the Mozy Status item is set to launch, but the item is marked as “unknown” rather than “application”. Also Mozy Status does not appear in the Activity Monitor after startup.

2.) Mozy Becomes Hyperactive – About once a minute a “Mozy has finished backing up” window appears. However, no files have been backed up.

The Cure:

1. Force quit Mozy – you may need to do this via the Activity Monitor (Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor)
2. Remove Mozy from your startup items (System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items)
3. Uninstall Mozy (drag and drop Mozy from the Applications folder to the trash can and recycle it)
4. Restart computer
5. Install Mozy 1.6.2
6. Restart computer (because you didn’t remove the Mozy preferences file, you will not need to re-enter your account information)

Popularity: 18% [?]

When you build iMovie projects, the program copies all of the imported assets in to a directory specifically for that project. However, if you import a new file with the same name as an existing file, the import will not be updated in the project.

Example:

1. You have a video and add a narrative called “My Narration.mp3″ that is 1:00 long saved to your desktop.
2. Later, you edit the MP3 on the desktop and add 15 seconds to it bringing the length to 1:15.
3. If you delete the narration from the timeline in iMovie and import the new version of the MP3 from your desktop, you’ll end up with the old copy that is 1:00 long, not the 1:15 version.

In other words, the original file you imported isn’t replaced, which makes sense to me as I can imagine scenarios where a user might accidentally change a file. The problem is iMovie never tells you that the assets haven’t been updated.

Here is what should happen:

1. iMovie should compare the two files and determine if they’re different
2. If the files are the same, it should prompt you that no updates have been made to assets
3. If the files are different, it should prompt you to overwrite the original asset or to add the second asset in to the project (and it should automatically rename the asset for you)

Popularity: 8% [?]

While reorganizing my MP3 collection, a large number of files were incorrectly renamed. Instead of having an extension of mp3, such as “SomeSong.mp3″, they’re now “SomesongMp3.mp3.” I decided to correct the problem. First, I needed a list of all files with the phrase “mp3″ before the extension in the filename. I fired up search and looked for: “*mp3.*”

That should result in a list of all files with the phrase “mp3″ in the filename before the extension to be displayed. However, in Windows 7 it now means “Show me everything with the phrase ‘mp3′ anywhere in the filename.” Also, the asterisk and question mark now mean the same thing – this is most likely a side effect of the new, crappy implementation.

The asterisk should mean “any number of characters”, and the question mark should mean “a single character”. For example, “*.mp3″ should show list all files with an mp3 extension. And “?.mp3″ should only show all mp3 files that have a filename that is 1 character in length and an extension of “mp3″. It has always worked this way, and it should stay this way. Otherwise it is too hard to limit the search results to a more specific range.

I thought that it might be a UI option for ease of use, so I dropped to the command line. The result was the same. I’m not sure why Microsoft in blissful idiocracy has changed the way the wildcards work when searching in Windows 7, but it is a massive inconvenience, especially if you’re working with files in the command line.

You can still do it from the command prompt, but now you have to do something along the lines of this – which still isn’t a perfect cure:

for %a in (*.*) do @echo %~na

Popularity: 21% [?]

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is decent, but it presents too many security problems. If you love Firefox or Chrome, and you should, then eliminate the threat of IE to your system. Whether by the built in Windows firewall or from another vendor, block all of IEs access to the internet and don’t let up.

I’ve made this a standard practice for years. And when I must use to IE, I’ll tweak the firewall, take care of business, and then return everything back to its locked down state. A few months back I let the rule slide. Like clockwork, a few days later my girlfriend was surfing around on IE, hit a malicious website, and my computer went to shit. I then spent the rest of the weekend formatting and reinstalling.

Be smart. Stop IE.

Don’t chance it. Ban IE. I promise your life will be happier and your computer safer.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Update (March 2, 2010): I’m leaving this post here for but it is massively out of date in that Android has moved well past Cupcake at this point. Besides, if you want the best Android experience you should be running CyanogenMod. At this point, unless you know what you’re doing and a really bound and determined to roll your own old school phone, so to speak, you shouldn’t be loitering here.

Do you want the US version of Cupcake and you want it now? Mine got pushed to me on the 23rd, and here it is for you. Crown me a saint.

WARNING: Make sure your phone has a full battery or is charged. You don’t want it to die during this process.

Instructions

1. Download the US Cupcake 1.5 (this is hosted here, not elsewhere, so it will work)
2. Rename the file “update.zip”
3. Copy update.zip to the root of your SD card
4. Turn off your phone
5. Turn it on while holding the home key
6. When you see the triangle + exclamation mark icon, press alt + L
7. Then press alt + s
8. The update will apply
9. Then press home + back to reset at which point the radio update will be applied
10. Viola! Cupcake!

Popularity: 12% [?]

I love my G1 and I abuse it to no end. For instance, I’ve easily tried 250+ (if not 350+) apps on it. That much installing and uninstalling can lead to problems. And I finally decided I needed to hard reset my phone, because it would easily become sluggish and unresponsive during simple tasks.

Before I did the hard reset, I downloaded the UK version of Cupcake, because I have no patience and the US version has not been pushed out OTA (over the air) yet. I’ve used it for a few days, and I think it is finally pointing Android in the correct direction. But when the US version rolls out (the UK Cupcake is missing Amazon MP3, IMing aside from gChat, no voice search, and a few other things), I’ll need to downgrade and upgrade back to RC33 and then grab the US Cupcake OTA.

I hard reset my phone, and then it took me a frustrating amount of time to find the proper downgrade and upgrade files. To save other people some time and frustration here are the files – these are the official, OTA, and properly signed files. Also, if you’re not aware each update to Android has a radio update too. Radio updates are included in the update packages, so there is no need to go hunting for those.

Warnings:

1. Do not trust your battery during an downgrade or upgrade. Plug in to a wall.
2. Do not interupt your phone during these procedures – let the G1 finish its business. It will often reset, then continue the update, or will apply the radio update on reboot – so follow the on-screen prompts carefully and be patient.
3. I will help to a degree with questions pertaining to this. Anything else should be directed to a G1 forum.
4. I am not responsible if you fuck up your phone.

DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO THESE DOWNLOADS OR I WILL TAKE THEM OFFLINE IMMEDIATELY. BE KIND TO MY BANDWIDTH!

Note: These are the OTA, signed files. You cannot use these to root your phone.

G1 – RC29

1. Download and unzip the RC29 file
2. Format your SD card to FAT32 and place
3. Place the DREAIMG.NBH file on the SD card (do not place it in a subfolder)
4. Turn on the phone while while holding the home key
5. When you see the triangle icon, hit ALT+L
6. Now press ALT+W to wipe the phone
7. Turn the phone off
8. Power the phone in to bootloader (power it on while holding the camera key)
9. The G1 will detect the RC29 image and it will proceed from there
10. Follow any on-screen prompts

G1 – RC30

1. Download and unzip the RC30 file – what you want is to have a file that is called “update.zip”
2. DO NOT unzip “update.zip” – leave it the way it is
3. Copy update.zip to the root of your SD card
4. Turn on the while while holding the home key
5. When you see the triangle icon, hit ALT+L
6. Press ALT+S at the menu
7. When prompted, press the home and back buttons
8. It should reboot and now update the radio
9. Finally it will reboot to the normal Android screen
10. Viola, you’re done.

G1 – RC30 to RC33

1. Download and unzip the RC30 to RC33 file – what you want is to have a file that is called “update.zip”
2. DO NOT unzip “update.zip” – leave it the way it is
3. Copy update.zip to the root of your SD card
4. Turn on the while while holding the home key
5. When you see the triangle icon, hit ALT+L
6. Press ALT+S at the menu
7. When prompted, press the home and back buttons
8. It should reboot and now update the radio
9. Finally it will reboot to the normal Android screen
10. Viola, you’re done.

G1 – RC33 to UK Cupcake

1. Download and unzip the UK Cupcake file – what you want is to have a file that is called “update.zip”
2. DO NOT unzip “update.zip” – leave it the way it is
3. Copy update.zip to the root of your SD card
4. Turn on the while while holding the home key
5. When you see the triangle icon, hit ALT+L
6. Press ALT+S at the menu
7. When prompted, press the home and back buttons
8. It should reboot and now update the radio
9. It may reboot a time or two, and then it should go to the classic “Android” boot screen.
10. Viola, you’re done.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Today I’m headed from Oklahoma City back to San Francisco. Before I arrived at the airport, I downloaded the User Agent Switcher for FireFox and added a profile for the iPhone. A lot of airports allow free wifi access for iPhones, and the User Agent will allow you to pretend that your computer is a iPhone. And it works perfectly.

I tried connecting to the airport’s wifi without the User Agent addon enabled, and I was promptly asked to pay for access. I turned on User Agent, selected the iPhone profile, and viola! Free wifi. After 15 minutes I’m asked to watch a 15 second add, and then access continues.

Knowledge is glorious.

Here are the iPhone Agent settings you need to use once you’ve downloaded the User Agent addon:

• Description: iPhone
• User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)
• App Name: AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko)
• App Version: Version/3.0
• Platform: Mobile/1A542a Safari/419.3

Popularity: 3% [?]

Update (Feb 26th, 2009): The current version of the Xanga Importer is version 3. The code and instructions have been updated for WordPress 2.9.2. If you experience problems please let me know and be sure to indicate which version of WordPress you’re using!

Note: For those of you looking for a way to import Xanga posts in to WordPress without reading techno mumbo-jumbo, then scroll down until you see the heading “Downloading and Using”.

Fixing the Xanga Archive Importer

I’ve used Xanga since April 2003, so when I started up www.popeonabomb.com as a mirror to the blog, I of course wanted to import Xanga posts in to wordpress. I looked around for solutions, and eventually I discovered the Xanga Archives Importer (list at the WordPress).

I imported my posts, and I noticed that the Importer failed to properly handle some comments. Specifically, it decided that the majority of comments were Anonymous. I started poking around, and I discovered the problem only existed for posts from mid-June of 2005 and newer. The import code determines the author of a comment by the URL embedded in the comment. During June of 2005, Xanga changed the way they linked to a commenter’s blog.

Prior to mid-June of 2005, the URL had the format: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=the_users_name

After mid-June of 2005, the URL has the format: http://www.xanga.com/the_users_name

The import code hasn’t been maintained in a while, and when it encounters a comment with the new URL format, it fails to distinguish the name of the commenter. The name isn’t found so the import decides the comment is anonymous.

I am not sure why this bug had never been addressed. I found 5 versions of the original code (with the last update occurring to the original on May 13th, 2007) and each contains this error. And the error has been around since 2005.

Either way, I updated the code. Now if a comment is found to be anonymous, the code will attempt to process the author’s code using the post-June of 2005 URL format. Since Xanga does allow anonymous comment, if the author is still found to be anonymous, it is presumed to be an accurate result.

Downloading and Using:

Note: The importer requires that you have a premium Xanga account. If you do, then download an archive of your blog. (When logged in to Xanga, go to the private view of your site, and from the settings menu choose “Webblog Archives”)

1. Download my latest version of the importer here (Verison 3).
   If you need, you can download my original update to the importer here.)
2. Extract the PHP file, and upload it in to the /wp-admin/import directory.
3. Your Xanga archive comes in a zip file, extract the contents to a folder on your desktop
   Note: You cannot upload the zip file itself, so be sure to extract the contents!
4. In WordPress go to Tools -> Import -> and from the list choose “Xanga”
   Earlier versions of WordPress may find the option under Manage -> Import -> and select “Xanga”.
5. Click the “Browse…” button and select a Xanga archive .HTML file to upload
6. Click “Upload and Import”
7. The posts will be imported and you’ll be told how many posts and comments were imported.
   Note 1: If you accidentally upload the same file twice, don’t worry – it won’t upload duplicates
   Note 2: It does not currently upload the title of the post – the post will be titled with the date. I hope to update this soon.

Viola.

Popularity: 72% [?]