A few weekends ago I had the need to combine RSS feeds and was not satisfied with any of the solutions I found on the net.  A few hours later, I had a general proof of concept script working - which is now called RSS Fusion.  The site will fuse together multiple rss feeds and attempt to retain as much information as possible.  Currently it only works on RSS, and does not retain enclosures (podcasts) but I will look into adding that ability in the future.

Check it out: http://www.rssfusion.org

Merry Christmas!

post/read comments

In conjunction with the new WPMU release and release numbering, i'm proud to announce the release of the WPMU Ldap 2.6 plugin!  This release does require WPMU 2.6 due to the utilization of some new hooks.

Download it now!

Important Upgrade Notice! - If you are upgrading from the previous 1.3 versions that did not have support for local user creation, its important that after the upgrade you login as the local administrator, and with the "Fix Ldap Meta" option on the plugin configuration page.  This will populate the ldap_login meta value for all accounts (except the local admin) so that existing users are able to login.

Changes:

• Removed ugly hacks for the retrieve password form utilizing a new filter in the trunk.
• Freshened up the look of the admin pages

The Post Expirator plugin allows the user to set expiration dates for

both posts and pages. There is a configuration option page in the

plugins area that will allow you to separately control whether or not

posts/pages are either deleted or changed to draft status.

The plugin hooks into the wp-cron process and runs every hour.  It was designed and developed to work with Wordpress MU, however it will not work in the mu-plugins folder due to how the plugin activation is setup to register the cron hooks.

It can be downloaded from the Wordpress Plugin Directory - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-expirator/

Let me know if anyone encounters any issues and I hope you enjoy it!

The Wordpress 2.5 series code changes made quiet a few changes to the authentication and cookie setting bits of the wordpress core.  These changes made alot more sense, and actually allowed me to make the plugin more stable.

Here are a few of the major changes:

• Remove override of wp_setcookie function - no longer needed!  This also means no more conflict with the admin ssl plugin!
• Removed experimental wp_munge hooks - no longer needed!
• Custom pluggable.php is no longer needed, and is totally remove from the release.
• Revamps logic for local users - removed chunks of unnecessary code!
• Enhanced error reporting sent back on authentication failures
• Support for local users!  You can now create local users and use them as well!  Local users can be regular users or admins, it doesn't matter, they all work!
• Using the new "Add User" screen, it's now possible to LDAP users to the blog that have never logged into WPMU.  As long as they exist in your LDAP directory, they can be added!

There are also 2 mailing lists setup:

• wpmu-ldap-users - All SF tracker changes are posted to this list.  Please continue to post bugs and features to the SF Trackers.  On top of that, it can also be used for general discussion and hopefully more timely resolutions to problems.  Subscribe Here
• wpmu-ldap-commits - This list is used to notify others of SVN commits.  It is setup as an announce only list.  Subscribe Here

This is why everyone should use twitter!  If you don't know what it is, watch the video!

PHP sessions are handy little things, however it's a bit tricky to correctly get a custom timeout to work correctly. There are a few key ini settings:

session.gc_probability - The probability that the garbage collector will run and clean up old session data.  The default value is 1.

session.gc_divisor - The divisor to use with the probability.  The default value is 100.

session.save_path - The path for session values to be saved.  The default is /tmp, however it is important to change this to a custom folder for the application - especially if you are in a shared hosting enviorment.  The garbage collector does not discriminate, and it will delete ANY session data that is older than the set limit, not just ones that correspond to your application.

session.cookie_lifetime - How long to keep the cookie written to the client machine valid.  Defaults to 0, which means the cookie will expire at the end of the broswer session (at logout or when closing the broswer).

Now, before you start anything, make sure you have a writable folder setup for your application that you can use to store your session data.

Start your session with something smiliar to:

ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', '86400');
ini_set('session.gc_divisor', '1');
ini_set('session.gc_probability', '1');
ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime', '0');
ini_set('session.save_path', /path/to/sessions/myapp);
session_name('myapp');
session_start();

Setting the above configuration well make sure your session files are saveed in a seperate folder, they will expire in 24 hours, and the garbage collector will run everytime session_start is called to cleanup expired sessions.

The problem with alot of other infomormation is that they will suggest setting the cookie_lifetime to be the same as the gc_maxlifetime.  The problem with this is that when the cookie value is set, the expiration date is not updated as the user continues to be active in the application.  The session data on the server side is updated.  So, if this is the case, after the value of cookie_lifetime has expired, even if the session data on the server was just updated, your session will be invalid, and you will be required to login again.

I hope that this post will help someone else in the quest to conquer the php session timeout.  It definitely is not very clear, and can be very confusing!

Lost Parady #1 - Star Wars

Lost Parady #2 - Pirates of the Caribbean

Lost Parady #3 - Harry Potter

Lost Parady #4 - Lord of the Rings

Lost Parady #5 - Indiana Jones

To disable the stupid security warnings, you need to do the following:

1. Use a registry editing tool to navigate to the following
key:

2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center

1. Add the following value:
   
   
   Data Type:

   DWORD

   
   
   

   Value Name:

   UACDisableNotify

   
   
   

   Value:

   1
2. Restart the Security Center service for the change to take effect.

Thanks for a great 17 seasons!

Tâ™was the Night Before Christmas


and all through Woot Tower,


the staff seemed to be cross


and they grumbled and glowered.

âœWhatâ™s wrong, there?â called The Boss


from his executive suite.


âœYou better get merry


or youâ™re gonna get beat!â

âœNo, The Boss, weâ™re sorry!


Thereâ™s just so much stuff!


Weâ™ve got six hundred mousepads


we have to clean up!â

âœThe ones with the eagle?â


said The Boss from on high.


âœMaybe Iâ™ve been too harsh


on you hard-working guys.â

The Boss looked in his pocket


(all satin and silk)


and pulled out his fancy watch


that he had custom built.

âœItâ™s not yet midnight


in the Central Time Zone!


Maybe thereâ™s still a way


we can get you guys home!â

âœHome for Christmas?â they yelled


with excitable glee.


âœOh, our wives and our children


would us love to see!â

âœWell letâ™s get right to work!â


said The Boss with true grit.


âœIâ™ll roll up my sleeves


and help out with this sh-

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPDATE: SANTA NOW TRACKED TO BE CLOSE TO YOUR SPECIFIC NEIGHBORHOOD. ALL CHILDREN SHOULD PROCEED TO BED. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES AS WARRANTED.

âœOh, sir, you canâ™t say that!â


the workers explained.


âœNaughty words on the Internet


make our customers faint!â

âœAw, darn it all!â said The Boss,


his heart full of disdain.


âœMaybe we should just leave


this stuff out in the rain!â

Just then was a rustle


And the sound of some deer.


All rushed to the window


To see what was now here.

âœHo ho!â came the sound


of a voice deep and low.


Then a brief pregnant pause.


Then finally a soft âœHo!â

âœSanta!â cried the workers


as they ran to the sled.


âœI want a Robosapien!â


âœI want pistachios instead!â

âœI want a Mustek camera!â


âœA wrist radioâ™d be good!â


But Santa walked quickly to


where The Boss sadly stood.

âœOh, Santa,â said The Boss,


âœI just have too much stuff!


Iâ™d get rid of it cheaply


But my language is too rough!â

Santa gave a big smile,


pulled The Boss on his lap,


and whispered three simple words:


âœStocking of Crap.â

The Boss leaped in the air


as though shot from a gun


âœEveryone to the warehouse!


Weâ™ll have so much fun!â

And they packed through the night


with traditional rules


(that Iâ™m sure you recall


for youâ™re surely not fools).

YOUâ™LL WASTE MONEY ON SHIPPING


IF YOU DONâ™T ORDER THREE


YOUâ™RE RESPONSIBLE FOR PICKING


YOUR OWN QUANTITY

YOU HAVE TO PICK 3


AS THE AMOUNT WE WILL SEND YOU


YOUâ™LL STILL GET JUST ONE BAG


NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO

BUT THE CRAP THATâ™S INSIDE IT


IS WHAT YOUâ™RE SELECTING


AND YOUâ™LL WISH YOU GOT THREE


IN POST-PURCHASE REFLECTING

So make The Boss happy


And help us clear out our business


And all of us here at Woot


wish you guys Merry Christmas.

THE HOLY CRAP COMMANDMENTS v2.0:

I. Thou shalt expect nothing beyond one bag of some kind and your chosen quantity of crappy items (which should be THREE).

II. Thou shalt not whine and complain when some peopleâ™s crap turns out to be nicer than yours.

III. Thou shalt take a moment to consider whether you might be better off just not buying this crap.

IV. Thou shalt not order just one crap and blame it on anything but your own inattention.

V. To paraphrase Stephen Stills, shalt thou not get the crap you want, want the crap you get.