Fixed: Can’t Resize Uploaded Images in WordPress
Here's one with an easy fix. If you've just installed WordPress on your server and can upload images but WordPress doesn't let you resize them in the same form, SSH in to your server and do the following:
yum install php-gd
service httpd restart
And you're done! ...At least, as long as you're using an RHEL-compatible Linux distro. If not, use your package manager of choice, or manually find and load the php-gd extension!
Exchange 2007 OWA/ActiveSync with Two SSL Certificates
Yes, it is possible. It's not pretty by any means (a proper Class 2 SSL Certificate is the best way to go), but it can be done. Click Continue Reading for the process.
Howto: Find the Serial Number on a new Dell Monitor
I picked up a few Dell P2210t 22" widescreen LCD monitors the other day.
Very nice!
As part of my asset acquisition process, I have to document serial numbers and assign an asset tags to each new asset. When I turned the monitor around, though, I ran in to a problem:
WTH?
Hey, uh, Dell? Did you forget something?
Well, actually they didn't. Apparently all of the required labeling is too much of an 'eye sore', so Dell has decided to hide it:
Pretty Sneaky, Dell
I would have appreciated it if Dell would have made more of an effort to point out where it is (I actually had to refer to the unpacking diagram to show me), but that's it. Hidden with the USB ports is a small little pull-out card. Now that I know it's there, though, it does make it easier to get a serial number off of a monitor when I have to figure out which asset belongs to which program when someone has inevitably pulled off the asset tag.
Fun Fact - Number of times the word 'ass' appears in this post: 6.
After 5000 Tweets: A Review/HowTo of Twitter
I recently hit the 5,000 tweet mark on Twitter, and figured that it's as good a time as any to write something about my experience on the abbreviated social networking site. It also seems appropriate as I permanently deleted my Facebook account (well, I'm in the process, anyway).
Click 'Continue Reading' below for the wall-of-text review.
Rogers Marketing: Opt-Out is Hard-ish To Do
It seems like ages ago I'd gone and opt'ed out of Rogers Marketing 'services' - I made sure that I'd chosen opt-out options for email, snail-mail, and SMS, and all was well. However, a few months ago I started receiving telemarketing phone calls on my Rogers-provided cell phone. I did the individual opt-out each time they called, a different company/number would call each time.
While updating other parts of my account today, I decided to double-check the marketing settings, and found this:
Click for the full-sized image
Err, that's great Rogers - you're not going to have anyone call my work number, but why isn't my cell phone in the list, and why can't I add it?
A quick call to Rogers (meaning twenty minutes of hold time) later and I had an answer (sort of) - the rep that I got instructed me to http://www.rogers.com/optout and enter the relevant details to opt-out of all marketing on that number.
After doing this, my cell number still isn't listed in the Marketing Opt-Out in my Rogers My Account section, but the site did say that it may take 1-2 weeks for the changes to take effect. Only time will tell, but next time the telemarketers call, there will be a few more questions as to how they got my number.
Rogers Wireless Hijacks Wildcard DNS Records
Although I can't confirm when this happened (it may have happened a while ago and I just never noticed), I was browsing the internet last night on my Google Nexus One and noticed that, when I mistyped http://imdb.com, I was redirected to http://www20.search.rogers.com (which doesn't work outside of Rogers' network) instead of receiving a normal Not Found error. This all smacks of the infamous VeriSign Site Finder fiasco.
I'm no fan of browser redirects in any form, and I'm even less of a fan of Yahoo which Rogers partners with to, among other things, provide results on their hijacked landing page. But what can you do? It's their service, and there's no opt-out link on the page.
Well, the answer is to manually opt-out. Unfortunately, you need to have a rooted/jail-broken phone to do this. As stated above, I have a Google Nexus One which runs CyanogenMod, but this should work with any other rooted Android phone and even jail-broken iPhones (although the paths are different -- you'll need to alter them as applicable).
To manually opt-out, do the following (assumes Android phone):
- Open a shell on your phone. You can use ConnectBot, Terminal Emulator, or adb shell.
- Assume root (su command).
- Remount the system partition in to read/write mode -- mount -o rw,remount /system
- Browse to /system/etc.
- Use your favourite text editor to open hosts.
- Add the following to the bottom of the hosts file -- 127.0.0.1 www20.search.rogers.com
- Save and quit!
You're done! You've just manually opt'ed-out of Rogers Wildcard DNS hijack. Now you'll just get the normal 'Not Found' errors, as when Rogers see that the domain you've entered doesn't exist and tried to redirect you to their search page, your phone will point that domain to itself and fail as it isn't running a webserver.
TL;DR Version: To prevent getting directed to Rogers' Search Page when you mistype an address, edit your hosts file to point www20.search.rogers.com to the 127.0.0.1 loopback address.
How To: Delete Your Facebook Account
Deleting your Facebook account isn't as it should be. If you simply browse to Account and then Account Settings, you are only given an option to Deactivate your account. All this does is temporarily hide your profile details from everyone, and does not actually remove any information what-so-ever from the site. All you need to do is login again and you can easily reactivate your account. To permanently delete yourself from Facebook's database of evil, you have to go through the following process:
- Click on Help Center in the footer.
- Select Profile under the Using Facebook heading.
- Choose Account Settings and Deletion (oddly, the first item on the list).
- Now click on the How do I permanently delete my account? heading.
- This will expand a wall-o-text explaining how to deactivate your account, which you don't want to do. Instead, read to the half-way point, where there is a link to submit a request to have your account deleted - click it.
- After reading the guilt-trip, click the submit button.
- In the new window, enter your password, and then the two words in the captcha box, then click Okay.
Note that at this point, your account still hasn't been deleted! After clicking okay on the last box, you'll see the following text:
Your account has been deactivated from the site and will be permanently deleted within 14 days. If you log into your account within the next 14 days, your account will be reactivated and you will have the option to cancel your request.
Yes, even though you went through 8 steps (the waiting is the 8th step) to delete your account, Facebook really wants to make sure you haven't accidentally done so! As such, if you login in anytime in that 14 day period, you're account will be reactivated (fortunately, it doesn't automatically cancel the deletion request).
So quitting Facebook is nearly as hard as quitting smoking, but it can be done. I've started the process, and in 14 days my account will finally be out of there! What will I do with all of my Facebook time? Probably put it towards Twitter instead....
Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer: 0x0000007e/0×00000006
An HP P4015dn - This morning, the bane of my existence
Windows 7 has been very good to me so far, but this morning I was literally pounding my desk in frustration over a printer issue. I just received two brand-new Dell Optiplex 780's and was in the process of configuring the printers on them when I happened across this little message:
Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer: 0x0000007e
Now here's the situation. The computers are running Windows 7 Professional x64. The printer (an HP P4015dn) is connected to a Windows XP x86 machine and shared normally. Of all of our printers, this is the only one directly shared with a computer due to a wiring issue I have yet to correct (although now I'm going to make an effort to fix it). I have several other computers running XP and Vista (x86 and x64) that already print this computer without issue, so I was rather stumped. Then I realized I had attempted to install the Vista x64 Postscript drivers instead of the Windows 7 ones.
Unfortunately, Windows 7 no longer provides a dedicated 'Printers' control panel, and the 'Devices and Printers' one doesn't have a Server Properties option to let you manage installed drivers. So, I stopped the print spooler service and manually deleted the drivers from C:\Windows\System32\spool\Drivers. When I tried to re-add the printer, though, I got this message:
Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer: 0x00000006
Hmm. Google wasn't much help, so I went to an old standby - I mannually added the network printer by choosing to create a local port (silly, I know). Here's how to get this working:
- In the Devices and Printers control panel, choose Add a Printer.
- In the new window, click Add a local printer.
- On the following screen, select Create a new port, and then choose Local Port from the drop-down list and click Next.
- When asked to enter a Port Name, use the full path to the printer. For example, if your printer share is called Dave and is a computer with the name PrintSrv1, you would enter \\PrintSrv1\Dave as the Port Name. If you receive an error saying The network path was not found, check the computer name and share name, then try again.
- You should be asked to install a driver. Manually download the correct driver (in this case, the HP Universal PostScript driver worked for my HP P4015dn) from the manufacturer's website and extract it to a folder on your computer. Then click the Have Disk... button in the Add Printer wizard and point it to that folder, then click OK and Next.
- Wait for it to install the driver.
At this point, the printer should be installed and functional. Print a test page to make sure everything worked alright, and then do a little dance (as long as no one is looking)!
Short: Wherein My Nexus One Saves Me Money
I found myself in need of a new microphone for my computer, as the cord on my cheap Staples-brand one broke. After spending the day looking around town for a nice set that fully covered my ears, I found these at Future Shop:
Razer Carcharias - Image Credit: hardwarelogic.com
However, at $99 CAD, they were a little outside of my price range. All was not lost, though - I walked up the counter and asked if the clerk could do anything about the price. After being initially rebuffed ("Sorry, this is the best price I can offer"), I pulled out my Nexus One and loaded up Barcode Scanner. I proceeded to scan the UPC code on the box, then do a Product Search. I showed the clerk that, according the results listed, I could get the same product from Wal-Mart for $69 CAD.
Five minutes later, I walked out with my new $69 headset. And I can honestly say, they are the best headphones I've ever owned.
Android: Force Terminal Emulator to Open the BASH Shell as Root
I love my Android phone, but the root side of it still has some quirks. The default shell, for example, is pretty bare-bones. Fortunately, there are ROMs out there like CyanogenMod that help with that side of things by providing little extras like, for example, the BASH shell. BASH is incredibly handy on an Android phone as the default shell doesn't allow you to scroll back through your command history using the track ball.
So while BASH is included in some ROMs, it's not the default shell. Typically, I've been using ConnectBot (available on the Android Market) which works well, however I'd usually end up starting out every session like this:
su -c bash
It's only one line, but really, it's annoying to have to type it out every time. I'm in the IT field, so my nature is to be lazy and automate everything. Enter Terminal Emulator.
Available for free from the Android Market, Terminal Emulator is very basic. It doesn't allow you to SSH to remote systems or anything like that - instead, it just immediately opens a local shell. As an added bonus, the preferences let you specify the Command Line to the shell executable.
I thought this was my answer. I set the Command Line preference to "/system/xbin/bash -" (the location on CyanogenMod 5.x.x -- this may differ depending on your ROM. Make sure the path is correct before hand, as if you set it incorrectly it's nearly impossible to get Terminal Emulator back up and running) and re-launched it.
Success! I was in the BASH shell! However, I wasn't root, and this did cause a problem. As soon as I typed su to become root, my shell was changed back to the default one. After doing a little more digging, though, I found my solution.
In the Terminal Emulator preferences, there's another option for Initial Command - Terminal Emulator will execute this immediately on open. So, I inserted the line I was using in ConnectBot (su -c bash) and voilà! Terminal Emulator now immediately opens with a BASH shell as root.
The TL;DR version: Install Terminal Emulator from the Android Market, open it, hit the Menu button, then Preferences. Tap Initial Command and enter su -c root -- now it will always open with BASH running as root.
Extra Note: If you are using an Android phone without a physical keyboard, simply hold the Menu button on your phone for a few seconds in Terminal Emulator to force the virtual keyboard to appear.
UPDATE: As it turns out, you can do this in ConnectBot as well. Tap-and-hold on the local connection, then choose 'Edit Host' and 'Post-login automation'. Note that if you do this, though, ConnectBot will enter the command, but you still have to press enter to active it.
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