Get Steam Specials via RSS Feed

steam-specials-via-feed43

This is just a little hack I’ve used so I can subscribe to the “Specials” that are periodically released and published on the Steam website.

If you’re interested in letting your Feed client simplify your life by bringing the Steam updates directly to you then I suggest you subscribe to the feed that I’ve setup (via a great free service call Feed For Free).

The Steam News – Specials feed:

http://feed43.com/4758788726706067.xml

The Steam News – Announcements feed:

http://feed43.com/7724635415454743.xml

When I searched for a feed for these Specials I came across one forum post after another asking the same thing. We all know how annoying that can be, so to remedy the situation I decided to post a solution myself. icon wink Get Steam Specials via RSS Feed

As you can see below, these pages don’t have feeds of their own, but the very awesome Feed For Free site will let you pull the updates straight into your feed reader with ease. See my Google Reader pictured below.

steam specials via feed43 300x123 Get Steam Specials via RSS Feed

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Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error

If you’ve for whatever reason noticed that your WordPress website is generating errors similar to the following then I may have a solution for you.

Warning: getimagesize(/home/.some-dir/example.com/folder/httpd.www/wp-content/uploads/some-image.jpg) [function.getimagesize]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/.some-dir/example.com/folder/httpd.www/wp-content/blah/blah/blah.php on line 123

I noticed that some pages that generated image information were printing errors out on my pages with private server file structures included. Generally you don’t want to see this printed out to the public. icon wink Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error

I’m not guaranteeing a fix for you, but rather what worked for me.

If you are getting an error link the one that I’ve listed above, more specifically the “failed to open stream: No such file or directory,” then you may be about to fix it in only a few minor steps.

Things you will need:

  • FTP (I use FileZilla)
  • phpMyAdmin
  • Ability to add a new plugin to your site
  • Patience

Procedure

Single quotes must be the normal ascii quotes. Chances are, if you copy and paste from my blog, they will be the wrong type so double check that as it could give you problems. icon wink Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error

  1. First and foremost, make sure to backup your entire database to a safe place. I’m not liable in the case that you don’t backup your database and this procedure borks your blog (or any other case for that matter). icon wink Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error
  2. Create a new file named “abstest.php” and upload it to your blog’s root directory after entering the following code into it:
    <?php define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__).'/'); echo ABSPATH; ?>
  3. Open a new browser tab and navigate to “http://www.your-website.com/abstest.php“. You should find a short page with the printout of your servers absolute path.
  4. Check that the path provided by this test file matches the base path printed out by the getimagesize() error exactly. In my case, my server had changed slightly so the differences were similar to the following:
    /home/.some-dir/example.com/folder/httpd.www/
    /home/example.com/folder/httpd.www/
  5. If you find a mismatch, then you’ve found your problem and the rest is simple. If not, then my tips will most likely not solve your particular WordPress error(s).
  6. If you’ve found a mismatch, then continue: Open a new browser tab and navigate to your phpMyAdmin interface. Select your WordPress database, then click Search. I searched all tables for a match of the path that was different, in my case it was “.some-dir/“.
  7. If there are matches found then you need to click the SQL tab at the top (preferably in a new tab) and paste the following (making sure to edit it to match the table and fields you need) and run it to find and replace that changed part of the path.
    update TABLE_NAME set FIELD_NAME = replace(FIELD_NAME, ‘find this string’, ‘replace found string with this string’);
    For more information on SQL find and replace, either search Google or read this.
  8. After replacing all of the affected tables and strings, your images should be properly address. You’re not done yet though.
  9. Open WordPress Plugins and add/install a plugin named “Regenerate Thumbnails“. After installing it, make sure to activate it. icon wink Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error
  10. In your Admin panel, find the Tools menu and expand it. You should see a menu item labeled “Regen. Thumbnails”…click it. This will open a page with a start button. Clicking this button will begin the process of correcting your thumbnail dimensions as well as other metadata. It will take some time depending on the number of thumbnails you have accumulated.
  11. After the progress bar reaches 100% it will notify you that it is complete. You’re all done! You may need to clear your cache to refresh any pages that still generate the previous error message.

If you had any problems with the above mentioned procedure, I would suggest restoring your database using your backup copy and either trying again, paying someone to do it for you or just forgetting about it. icon wink Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error

If it works then great! If not then sorry you’ve wasted your time. It worked for me, so maybe it will work for you as well. icon biggrin Solution To WordPress getimagesize() Error

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WP-UserAgent and WP-TwitterBadge

I’ve just pushed a few updates to my WP-UserAgent and WP-TwitterBadge plugins. If you’re already using them then you should be able to update via your WordPress Admin area shortly.

If you’re not using them yet, feel free to browse around and check into them!

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WP-UserAgent v0.9 Released

I’ve just released an update for the WordPress plugin WP-UserAgent. The update changelog is as follows:

v0.9

  • Added detection for Venenux GNU Linux and Oracle Linux.
  • Added detection for Laconica and MovableType trackbacks.
  • Cleaned some of the code for trackback detections.

You can find out more about WP-UserAgent as well as a download from the main page.

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Finally updated to phpBB 3.0.5

After weeks of postponing the phpBB 3.0.5 update, I’ve finally gotten around to installing it on my BimmerMania.com forums.

I’ve not been very impressed with phpBB since I first started using in way back when the 2.x branch was the latest stable.

Now that phpBB3 has been bombarded with spam, I’ve been forced to try new anti-spam measures.

I’m very disappointed in their community support for this issue, but I was able to find a great post that covers several options. It’s entitled Preventing Spam in 3.0 and it’s been the best sort of spam solutions I’ve found for phpBB3.

If you’re having problems with spam bots on your phpBB forums, then I would highly suggest that you look into these solutions and pick one that works for you.

In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for phpBB to release some sort of solution to all of this and become as reliable and stable as WordPress has been.

Easy theme and plugin (a.k.a. mod) installs, updates and uninstalls would also be highly appreciated. As well as a one click automatic update system for phpBB itself.

phpBB still has a long way to go before it will be as friendly as the current WordPress admin panel, but all of this manual work isn’t enough to convince me that a better solution is available…so I guess I’ll be sticking with phpBB3 for a while.

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New WordPress Twitter Badge Plugin!

wp-twitterbadge-01

After coming across this nifty little Twitter Badge at Techie-Buzz while reading a Google Chrome OS article, I realized how cool their little Twitter link was and I instantly new it was going to be on kyleabaker.com as well. icon biggrin New WordPress Twitter Badge Plugin!

wp twitterbadge 011 New WordPress Twitter Badge Plugin!

After a quick look at the source code of the page, I had decided to build a quick plugin for WordPress to insert the same code. So the plugin process began.

I didn’t want to hard code it into the footer of my K2 theme, because I frequently update to the latest K2 theme nightly builds. This way would save me a lot of trouble and even make this neat little Twitter Badge available to thousands. And so…WP-TwitterBadge was born.

wp twitterbadge 021 300x229 New WordPress Twitter Badge Plugin!

I traced the code back to an embeded script from go2web20.net and realized how n00b friendly this script would have been to install anyway even without an easier plugin to install it for you, but the fact that it would save me time in the future was well worth it.

Basically, if you’re not using the WordPress plugin, you just link the script and set a few variables. This made it very easy to make it customizable as well!

Just mimicking their own setup page, I was able to make a quick Options page featuring a live preview (as all of my plugins have so far icon wink New WordPress Twitter Badge Plugin! ). I even coded the preview with way less script than they used on their own page since extreme error checking is really not needed (everything is live so you can see the problems there).

wp twitterbadge 031 300x182 New WordPress Twitter Badge Plugin!

At a rate of 20-30+ new downloads per hour I would say that this plugin is by far my most favored project…considering that it hasn’t been reviewed yet (no trackbacks thus far) by anyone whereas others already have.

If you’d like to checkout this little Twitter Badge on your own site, just head over to the plugin page or search for “WP-TwitterBadge” from your “Add New Plugins” page in WordPress and install it from there. If you like it, pass it on!

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WordPress Plugin WP-UserAgent 0.8

wp-useragent-0-8-img1

I’ve just updated WP-UserAgent to version 0.8, covering a lot of ground over the past few days. As I’m working to reach a stable and solid 1.0 release, I’m also working towards a feature complete plugin.

Version 0.8 offers support for detecting ~90 different web browsers and ~35 different operating systems (counting each version of windows).

wp useragent 0 8 img1 294x300 WordPress Plugin WP UserAgent 0.8

Easy access to WP-UserAgent settings is worked right into the Plugins page. No more need to search for options to edit!

Once you find the options page, you’ll find a cleaned up look and feel, along with a real-time preview of how your changes will appear.

wp useragent 0 8 img2 300x240 WordPress Plugin WP UserAgent 0.8

If you’re in need of a cool geeky WordPress plugin, why not give WP-UserAgent a shot? It’s an interesting way to find out a few details about your subscribers and other visitors!

Find out more details, changelogs and downloads on the official WP-UserAgent plugin page.

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NC State ACM/AITP Website Update

acm-aitp-site-upgrade-2009

I just finished (or reached the publishing or pushing live step) the update to the NC State ACM/AITP website.

The improvements over the previous design are pretty drastic when it comes to user interface and ease of use.

I ended up going with a K2 theme for Drupal since I’m such a big fan, but it just didn’t seem right for the site at first. I ended up going through and modifying a great deal of a barely and poorly done version that I came across online so I had to finish up most of it myself, but that just allowed for making it suit my (read ‘our’…for the club) needs.

acm aitp site upgrade 2009 300x120 NC State ACM/AITP Website Update

After working with the html and tweaking it hardcore until I got it clean so it passes HTML Validation inspection it was time to tweak the CSS.

This became a breeze with Opera’s Dragonfly developer tools. I was able to select an element and tweak the style sheet live so I could see real-time results. After making an adjustment it’s as simple as updating the actual stylesheet.

After tweaking the style almost obsessively for hours the first day I decided it was time for a break. It wasn’t long before I got back into the groove the next day and finished it up (for the time being).

I really have to say that I am in love with Dragonfly now. I’ve used Firebug in the past and to be honest I’ve never been a Firefox fanboy…it’s a good browser, but it’s not pushing standards support at the rate that I want and Opera is just better at a lot of the things that I use and need from a browser… anyways, I got used to Firebug a while back and Dragonfly vs. Firebug isn’t a fair competition because the both are still very different, but I find Dragonfly being easier to use ever second compared to Firebug.

After getting the code working it was time to push the update. As a result, the NC State ACM/AITP club now has a much friendlier outlet on the web!

Now I have the pleasure of tackling any smaller issues such as stylesheet problems. icon biggrin NC State ACM/AITP Website Update Updating the content will now be much less of a pain now that it can be updated directly from the browser for most everything.

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WP-UserAgent 0.5.3.3 Released

I’ve just uploaded an update to my WP-UserAgent plugin that improves a great deal on the settings page in the administration panel.

This update also has several backward compatibility fixes. Just looking forward and trying to make sure everything works fine in other versions of WordPress since not everyone uses the latest version.

You can find a list of changes to version 0.5.3.3 and the download on the same page.

I’ve also updated the download page to reflect the browsers and operating systems that are currently detected.

If you know of one that is missing and would like to see it added then feel free to let me know in the comments on the download page. If you can post a user agent string sample as well then that would be great, but if not then it’s not necessary.

If you are using a browser and/or operating system that is not listed then please just post a comment letting me know what browser and/or operating system you are using. I should be able to do the rest. Thanks!

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WP-UserAgent: A new User Agent plugin for WordPress, by me!

I’ve posted a modified WordPress plugin that you can download, extract and upload to your WordPress plugins folder to use.

I call it WP-UserAgent…a much more generic name than before. I prefer generic names. icon wink WP UserAgent: A new User Agent plugin for WordPress, by me!

After activating it, it will show the operating system and browser of each user and comment for all of your posts and pages.

Enjoy and feel free to suggest improvements!

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