July 2009 Archives

I have a blog which is used internally in the Lan. It is MovableType 3.34.
You know MT 3.34 is a version released two years ago. This time I want to upgrade it to MovableType 4.3.

This blog is running on a Windows server with IIS 5 and Perl version: 5.8.7.
The upgrade procedures I took are same as regular one. No problem.

1) Backup the database through MySQL admin

2) Download MovableType 4.3 zip file, and unzip it.

3) Copy all files to overwrite the old installation.

It is right time to do the upgrade.
The steps to upgrade is same as before. When finishing upgrade, the screen looks like below:

OK, let us look how better it is.

I use Shaw Cable's services for TV and Internet.
They still have some other service I do not use, say telephone.
Let us go through the full bundle of three.

TV Basic Cable $33.95

35 Channels, including The Knowledge Network, A-Channel, CITY TV Vancouver, KIRO - CBS Seattle, KING - NBC Seattle, TSC, W Network West, KOMO - ABC Seattle, KCTS - PBS Seattle, KCPQ - FOX Seattle, MTV, CBC Newsworld

It is announced that the Joomla 1.5.13 can be upgraded through Dreamhost one-click upgrade.

For security purpose, I upgrade my installation of Joomla 10 minutes ago.

This release contains 26 bug fixes, two moderate-level security fixes and one low-level security fix.

From VoipStunt to poivY. Now I start to use SmartVoip.

These three service providers are same compony with different name. And I also think they use same user database.
Because when I try to use same name of VoipStunt on Poivy, it show me that the user name is taken by other people.

They all provide free call to Mainland China on landline and cell when they are just launched. Later, the free cellphone call is taken away. And more later, the China is not free any more. Then I have to switch to another VOIP provider.

So if you have time to go through these three provider. It approves my point.
Voipstunt doesn't provide free minutes to China.
poivY has free call to China, with Landline only.
SmartVoip does provide free Landline and Mobile to China.

SmartVoip has a little bit difference from the others.
It ask for EUO$15 to top up the credit instead of EUO$10.

Everyone knows my blog is powered by MovableType. Actually I start to blog from MovableType 3.11.

There is a mt.js file in root of the blog. It is 20K after generating by MovableType 4.26.

Then to make it smaller. I use Yuicompressor which is provided by Yahoo Developer Network.
Then it is only 13K. And also I use gzip compress facility on Apache server. It is 4.1k when transferring to Web Browser.
Actually before minifiy its gzip size is 5.8K.
So it is clear to make a list.
Original mt.js
20.2K, gzip version 5.8K
Minified mt.js
13.1K, gzip version 4.1K

I have a small site hosted on Dreamhost.
Yslow Score with default setting is C, or 77.

Later I do the following optimization to increase it to B, or 89. Based on Yslow v2 test.

The key is to change .htaccess file.
Put following content into .htaccess file on root of the site.

I introduced SyntaxHighlighter before. Now it is 2.0 and has a new site.

I implement SyntaxHighlighter in my blog. It is easy for me to put any PHP, CSS, Bash, Javascript and SQL scripts in this blog.
It will shown in good standing.

To make it standard, I put the CSS files in the header of HTML. Put JS files in the bottom of the HTML file.

The most important update is the syntax is changed.

To make a site popular and get more visitors, you have to do all from the beginning.

Let's have a simple list of how to do the website SEO from the day one.

1. Basic analytic of site goal

2. Keywords analytic

3. Competitor website review

4. Web site content create

5. Sitemap, RSS feed

6. Search Engine Directory submit

As we know, all taxpayers resident in Canada must declare income from all kinds of sources, including those outside Canada, and must pay tax on their own taxable income.

There are three basic types of income.

Employment income
Most of our Canadians earn income through employment. Employment income includes all benefits the employee receives in connection with the services he provide to employer. So it is including any bonuses, gratuities, or honorariums, as well as any retiring allowance.
Basically, employer will withhold and remit to the Canada Revenue Agency on your behalf your income tax and Employment Insurance and CPP/QPP. The whole year records will be shown on the T4s.

There are many features I likes. Some are very helpful.

1) 4x optical zoom.
Most of other digital camera of this class has 3x only.
I don't care digital zoom. It just waste pix.

2) Face select and track
Face select and track adjusts the flash to correctly illuminate your subject to provide the best balance between your subject and the overall scene, eliminating the common problems of over and underexposed faces.

3) Optical Image Stabilizer
It puts a non-stop life in sharp focus.

4) Mode selection
Auto mode is let camera take care all settings. User just focus on the subject.
Easy mode has less settings.
P Program mode
Access advanced exposure compensation features while shooting mostly automatically.
Portrait mode will make your subject more clear and background blur.
Indoor mode Reduce blur and improve color accuracy when shooting handheld indoors.
Kids & PetsReduced focusing time freezes fast-moving subjects, so you won't miss those special shots.

I bought a digital camera at Costco.

Canon Powershot E1, White color. It is a package, camera and a compact photo printer SELPHY CP770.

The whole package price is $221.75 including tax and Electronic Fee $8.

The suggestion Retail price for Canon Powershot E1 is 199.99. SELPHY CP770 is 149.99.
So Costco has a good deal.

When you suffer websites, you may see these kind of Google Money Scam ads. It tells that you can make thousands money without any computer skills from Google.

It is really Scam.

Google officially provide the information about How to steer clear of money scams. It does help to identify which is the trick.

tpl file are smarty template files.

Sometimes I need to add php script, or php code into tpl file. That means I have to add php code into the smarty templates.

If you add php code directly, there is error code.

The right way is to add script like following way.

{php} your php code here {/php}

That's all.

Today I added a new Google AdSense wide Skyscraper ad unit on the right side.

The purpose is to test the number of Page impressions, not for ads earning. If it is for earning, I always think less is better. And I will save the best place for the only one ads.

There are more and more bloggers have Google AdSense on their blogs. It is good for blogger and also good for audiance.

First of all, the content is king. I believe it. The good content can attrack Users attention and also Google likes it.

Then If users come to your site or blog, finish reading the main content of the page. He may do a quick look at the other interesting thing on page. At that time, content related Ads is best supplemental content for them.

Do not leave too much white space on your site. Only if you design the white space.
Try all kinds of ads in your blog. There must be one suitable for you.

Now there five main browsers in the market.

Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft IE 8, Mozilla Firefox, Opera.

If we just think about Windows platform.
Firefox has best web application compatibility. For web standards, Google Chrome and Opera are better support standards. Everyone knows that Firefox has a lot of Addons. So for extensibility, Firefox wins.
There are also some very important for users.
Performance, Opera 10 and Google Chrome are loading faster than others.
Platform Support, Firefox and Opera support Windows, Mac and Linux systems.

I do have IE on my Windows. I have Opera and Firefox too.
Among these three, I use Firefox most often, because of addons I need only working on Firefox. Sometimes I use Opera. Opera Unite is very cool.

What happen in next year.