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Impressive Tool for deciphering what a font in an image is

Today I came across this very interesting problem. One of the client’s image logo sent over to me was too low of resolution. The printing company I went to engage wanted to recreate create the image from scratch and thus asked me what font was being used in the image.

I was at a loss. Obviously the client was of no help, she was just an marketing executive . Doing a quick search over the internet I quickly realized I was not the first to face such a weird problem. Thankfully there is already a tool available that helps to decipher via a process of reverse engineering from a raw image file. It was truly impress. Check it out here

http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

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A possible solution to an interesting problem

A few months ago I was having supper with Steven and Pasha. That night we were discussing about how to make a site grow organically. Steven raised a very interesting question. Most new websites face the problem of generating new and meaningful content on a timely basis.

The ability to constantly generate new and meaning content on a site requires that the site be in the first place in the form of a content management system. [1]

The second requirement is that either the administrator or his team of people constantly login to the system to create new contents. There is the problem of training and gaining familiarity if we are engaging a team of people new to the system.[2] Also suppose if it is just one person generating the content, that person will be required to commit alot of time and effort to generate such a content. [3]

The obstacle is a formidable one for budding webmasters.

I have been helping Jim with the administration of SingaporeRental for close to a year now. Apparently we were constantly met with problems 2 and 3. This resulted in a bottle neck which slowed down the content generation speed on SingaporeRental.

Today finally being somewhat free and unoccupied with things I decided to do a little RnD. This little RnD process which I got myself engaged in proved to be fruitful afterall. Hopefully with this new implementation problems 2 and 3 can be solved for SingaporeRental.com

I have meanwhile setup the same architecture for a few more the sites under my ownership just for RnD purposes only.

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Surprise popularity of Joomla 1.5 Component Simple Thickbox Gallery

After being frustrated having spent a long time looking for a simple gallery component on the Extensions.Joomla.org site to display my portfolio, I decided that I should write my own. To do so, I simplying incorporated the jQuery library, the Thickbox library and created a Joomla 1.5 component that required almost zero configurations.

Users simply installed the components, select the section or category they want displayed and Viola! the page was automatically created for them.

I used it for my own company site to display my portfolio and suddenly had an interesting thought. I might as well have it packaged nicely and submitted to the Joomla Extensions directory.

It took me two weeks and some minor changes here and there (mostly paperwork) to finally get it approved.

After a few days I went and had a look at my Google analytics account which I had installed for my company site a long time ago.

I was in for a surprise. Site traffic surged from a daily volume of less than 10 visitors a few months ago to as high as 400 daily visitors these past few days. It was totally crazy. Visitors were mostly from the US and Europe. So I guess my idea of coming up with solutions to solve potentially painful situations does seem to be a very sound.

Currently I have identified a painful situation that is being experienced in SMEs. I am working on coming up with a solution for them via the use of technology. Hopefully it will help them save time, effort and lead to increased effeciency in their work process.

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SWFupload and Joomla integration revisited

After trying 1 hour and getting no where integrating SWFupload fully into the Joomla Administration backend. I finally called it quits.

The problem is that while the SWFupload component shows up nicely in the front end any call by the component to the scripting backend always results in a login request page. This is despite attempting to follow official instructions on the Joomla Documentation Site.

Finally I created a fileuploader.php file that does not have foreign access restricted by the Joomla CMS permissions.

To prevent crackers from exploiting this file as a possible entry point to crack any Joomla systems installed with my soon to be launched Joomla 1.5 component, I have limited file upload type to just XML types only. Now it works fine.

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Learning how to use Ektron CMS

Browsing through the Ektron manuals as well as watching all the videos on YouTube does help alot with the picking up of Ektron CMS.

Today I finally created a template page and registered it as a template in the EKTRON CMS. I am currently using it as a sandbox within which I test all the user controls that come along with the Ektron CMS.

It applied a templated to my page called test by first including it as an option in my Content Folder which holds my content object

I then assigned the template to my content object.

Thereafter I went to the command prompt and inserted the command IISRESET. This forced the Ektron CMS to clear off its cache and create a new one. Thus my changes are updated nicely.

Strangely, even though I haven’t programmed in C# for quite a few years already I could understand up to 80% of the syntax used. The main part that I found to be tedious at tackling was its convention. There is the aspx file, the aspx.cs file (if you are using C#)

within the aspx file itself there seem to be a few lines at the top registering some assemblies the source of which I have no idea where from.

As compared to typical open source technologies like PHP, this is mainly the downside of Proprietory technologies like ASP.net. PHP being open allows you to investigate through all the codes that were used in the implementation of a system. Try investigating the source of where a function came from in ASP.net and sooner or later you will hit a wall. The function was compiled and hidden within a DLL file of which location you have no idea where. Ouch!

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Video Conversion with Virtual Dub

I tried to convert a video from VOB format to AVI format. It took me quite a while. This is because there are so many different softwares around and most of them at first appear to be free but attempts to force payment from the users when users really try to do any video coversion.

Eventually I came across this post http://tigredefogo.blogspot.com/2007/05/tutorial-how-to-convert-dvd-vob-mpeg-2.html. It was a life saver. I managed to download the version of  VirtualDub MPEG-2 that can edit Mpeg 2 files. as well as the necessary codec AC-3 ACM Codec.

Once done I not only could VOB files to AVI files without stupid watermarks, I could also indicate the exact range of frames (time in minutes and seconds) to include for conversion.

Pasha did recommened it to me before. But I guess the version i downloaded was not extensive enough and I did  not configure it properly too. Anyways two thumbs up for Virtual Dub!

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Making mod_rewrite work for Apache server on Windows XP

Last year I set up an Apache 2.2 server on my computer to do some developement work using EzPublish in multiple virtual host environment. One day, I happened to raise a question to Steven on how to get it configured so that mod_rewrite works on my server and I could debug my script locally instead of always having to test it on some remote server. I got the response from him that it does not work in Windows environment. Due to the fact that this particular feature was not critical to the whole operation, I left it as that.

Two days ago out of curiosity, I downloaded this new PHP social networking software called ElGG . Apparently it uses mod_rewrite extensively and provides no other alternative methods to access its function. I was thus forced into a corner. Hence I did what I did. I went to google.com and started researching. Interestingly, I read that some actually got mod_rewrite working on Apache server running on Windows XP.

I spent the next two days researching on the Apache architecture. The result I got was this assuming you already have multiple virtual host setup:

  1. uncomment LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so in your httpd.conf file
  2. add the following lines to your vhost.conf files

    <Directory “…”>
    #Tells your Apache webserver to detect for the .htaccess file in your directory
    AllowOverride All
    </Directory>

  3. The below was copied lock stock and barrel from Joomla. Copy and paste it into a .htaccess file on your webserver and place it at the root location

    ##
    # @version $Id: htaccess.txt 10492 2008-07-02 06:38:28Z ircmaxell $
    # @package Joomla
    # @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 – 2008 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
    # @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU/GPL
    # Joomla! is Free Software
    ##

    #####################################################
    #  READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE
    #
    # The line just below this section: ‘Options +FollowSymLinks’ may cause problems
    # with some server configurations.  It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
    # be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
    # your .htaccess file.  If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
    # beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url’s.  If they work,
    # it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
    #
    #####################################################

    ##  Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
    Options +FollowSymLinks

    #
    #  mod_rewrite in use

    RewriteEngine On

    ########## Begin – Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits
    ## If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below
    ## This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla!
    #
    # Block out any script trying to set a mosConfig value through the URL
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} mosConfig_[a-zA-Z_]{1,21}(=|\%3D) [OR]
    # Block out any script trying to base64_encode crap to send via URL
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode.*\(.*\) [OR]
    # Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (\<|%3C).*script.*(\>|%3E) [NC,OR]
    # Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
    # Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
    # Send all blocked request to homepage with 403 Forbidden error!
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]
    #
    ########## End – Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits

    #  Uncomment following line if your webserver’s URL
    #  is not directly related to physical file paths.
    #  Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root)

    # RewriteBase /

    ########## Begin – Joomla! core SEF Section
    #
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index.php
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.feed|\.pdf|\.raw|/[^.]*)$  [NC]
    RewriteRule (.*) index.php
    RewriteRule .* – [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]
    #
    ########## End – Joomla! core SEF Section

If you are still having problems after all these steps contact me. I will help set it up for your nicely. 🙂

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GMap2 is not defined on ThingsToDoSingapore.com

Apparently it seems the Google Map API isnt all that stable after all. On and off while loggin into my site ThingsToDoSingapore.com I encounter this problem of  GMap2 not defined.

GMap2 is apparently the core object class that one instatiates a map object from. I have been researching over the internet to find a work around this problem but it seems this is a very common problem that one faces when using the Google Map API.

This is very painful indeed as it is costing me traffic volumn. Ouch!

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Increase Adsense Revenue: Google Adsense Revenue Sharing Sites For Backlinking

This page is for my personal reference. The original is here

It has been under 6 months since I joined Google as an affiliate, during which time I have built up a respectable second income here on hubpages; most of this income comes from AdSense whilst Amazon is very much a secondary source. Publishing online content is a steep learning curve for those that wish to successfully monetise their efforts, it certainly requires a lot of smart working and at times purely hard working as well as a whole lot of patience. As I approach my 200th page of content here on hubpages (this is hub number 198), I have finally begun to develop and implement a clear strategy for success with AdSense which involves significant amounts of time but has shown me enough to suggest that it is one which will pay dividends for the long term. This AdSense strategy involves multiple sites all of which can generate you plenty of extra AdSense revenue whilst enhancing the performance of your primary content.

My ‘Bookmarker’ Adsense Strategy

The strategy is entirely simple and is in fact nothing more than you should expect to have to do to become financially successful on hubpages, and basically involves numerous means of ‘backlinking’. Please note that this strategy assumes that you already know how to optimise your hubpages for search engine traffic (SEO) and using keywords, otherwise you should research these things first; it also assumes that you know what a dofollow backlink is. This method works equally well with articles published on other good self publishing sites including Squidoo, InfoBarrell, Ehow, and HowToDoThings. It also assumes

  • Write your keyword optimised, informative, presentable hubpage (Primary Content).
  • Submit a bookmark of your hubpage to as many revenue sharing bookmark sites as you can, e.g. SheToldMe, Xomba, and RedGage. Use alternative search terms and in the description if possible – never copy and paste parts of your original hubpage (Secondary Content)
  • Have a look on the first few pages of google for any additional possible dofollow backlinks to your content, using your primary keyword phrases. Additional backlinks such as this do not pay but can be invaluable.
  • Write a shorter yet unique version of the primary article on your personal blog, with a backlink from the post to your primary content (Secondary Content)
  • Submit a bookmark of your blog post to exactly the same bookmarking sites, again using any possible new keywords and search phrases (Secondary Content)
  • – THIS STRATEGY IS ONGOING AND GROWING, IT WILL DEVELOP WITH TIME!

My Traffic Growth In 6 Months

This hubber does 0-6000 in under 6 months! Impressive?
This hubber does 0-6000 in under 6 months! Impressive?

It may not seem advanced, it may seem difficult and time consuming, but so many people have asked how I am gaining views at such a rapid pace – and this is how. I still have so far to go, so many more backlinks to build, so much more time to find and utilise. I have no secrets, nothing that many of you don’t know already, I just backlink in places which also directly boost my AdSense earnings. Is this strategy working for me? The picture above suggests so and I expect that the curve will keep on heading north over the next 6 months – the answer is yes. I am still only using 4 bookmarking sites, and haven’t yet finished using them, there are also another dozen or so to go! If you wanted to take your backlinking one step further then you could even bookmark your bookmarks!

SheToldMe.com

SheToldMe was the first Adsense Revenue sharing site that I used, and with great success. I soon found, following a Google page rank update, that my hubs bookmarked through SheToldMe were performing better in the search engines than my hubs which were not. This initial success prompted me to bookmark every single one of my hubs, and the improvements in my traffic have been clear for me to see. SheToldMe gives you 100% of the Ad Impressions attributed to each of your bookmarks, a scheme which is now making me a respectable $5-$10 extra per week. Remember that these bookmarks are ‘dofollow’ so each bookmark benefits the page of content that you link to, the direct earnings and 50 visits a day from these posts are nothing but an added bonus. All of my hubs are now bookmarked on this site.

Xomba.com

My success with SheToldMe led me to explore other bookmarking sites which shared Adsense revenue, and this led me to discovering a number of sites including this one – Xomba.com. It works just like SheToldMe but has a greater ‘page rank’ and more traffic because it is a lot more established. It is still early days for me with Xomba and I have only bookmarked 20 of my hubs, however I am already seeing AdSense revenues from them and my bookmarks are of course ‘dofollow’. Traffic to my hubpages, my primary content, has not yet been evident but the most important thing for you to consider is the positive effects on the search engine placement. I suspect that my direct AdSense Revenue from Xomba will eventually far exceed the $5-$10 a week that I generate from SheToldMe despite it only sharing 50% of ad impressions with it’s users.

Snipsly.com

Snipsly is another AdSense Revenue sharing bookmarking site, this one paying a generous 80% of impressions with its users. I am currently building up my portfolio of back-links on Snipsly and it is one which will benefit you more in the long term rather than the short, purely because it is yet to be truly picked up by the Google monster. I haven’t seen much in the way of revenue or traffic yet from Snipsly, yet I know that bookmarking now will see rewards in the future. I can fully recommend Snipsly for it’s easy to navigate wordpress theme, in fact I believe that it can outgrow any of the other sites listed on here. To find out more about Snipsly.com, check out my dedicated article ‘Snipsly.com – Make Money From Your Bookmarks’.

YouSayToo.com

YouSayToo.com is one which is best used with your personal blog, and basically links your blog to it’s website. Every time you publish a blog post it replicates and backlinks it to their site, giving you a 50% share of AdSense Revenue as well as giving your blog numerous dofollow backlinks. The trick for hubbers is to use their blog posts to link their hubs, with each blog post then being linked on your YouSayToo.com account. This one is entirely automated, if only they were all made like this!

List Of Other Revenue Sharing Backlinking Sites

I have so many hubpages to retrospectively bookmark, and so little time at the moment, that I haven’t even signed up to these sites just yet. The potential for improvements in search engine placement and increased AdSense revenue is huge when considering just how many variants of each bookmark I can create, each counting as a dofollow backlink. It is a slow but sure process that I will complete – and each six months on hubpages will see a new hub updating you on my progress. It was little over 3 months ago that Ryan Hupfer interviewed me and published a blog post charting rise to 1000 page views per day, now that he is gone it is left for me to tell you all myself. I hope that you enjoyed this light piece, I will leave you with that list of backlinking sites now!

Once again this page is for my personal reference. If you are thinking of looking for the original  article please go here.

Non-Revenue Sharing Sites

Remember that it is the dofollow backlink which is most important, AdSense is just a bonus, so you should take advantage of all available free backlinks. These sites offer free backlinks to your own content, all dofollow, but do not share any AdSense impressions with you:-

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