Leefe rates the world... » Tech

Can’t go outside mum, the neighbours look angry

Leefe — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:57:48 +0000

Look mum, I know I promised to go outside today and do some planting…
…but the neighbours look a bit angry.
And I really don’t want them to blow up at me!

Some funny screen captures from Minecraft. Click for a larger view, or visit on flickr.

Pruning wiki users, is there an extension for that?

Leefe — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:52:25 +0000

If you manage any wiki you know that spamers love them. They just drop by, register a new users, and add some link spam.

Now, there is an extension for MediaWiki wikis to remove all the spam pages, Nuke. But what do you do about all the spam users? Is there an extension for bulk blocking users?

I would like one that does he following:

Lists all users
That aren’t blocked
With how many posts they have made
And a check box to add them to the bulk block list
Then select the duration, reason, and click bulk block

Once you have cleared out all the spam pages you need some way to mass block all the zero post users that will just post link spam again in the future.

I found the MediaWiki Extensions Matrix/user rights page, but there is nothing there that seems to fix my purpose.

Any suggestions on what extension to use?
Or will I just have to write it myself?

Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac 2.3.3 includes a time machine

Leefe — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:35:43 +0000

Opening Word 2008 this evening I was prompted by Microsoft AutoUpdate to update itself to 2.3.3. But little did I know that the new update would include a time machine to download future updates.

AutoUpdate 2.3.3, download tomorrows updates today

An update to AutoUpdate generally means there is something else that needs updating. (Would you just update your updater just for the hell of it?)

Running the new version of AutoUpdate I was prompted to with the following dialogue box. Download Microsoft Erro 2.2.7. Oh, that’s Microsoft Error Reporting, not an error to download.

But wait a sec. Why is it downloading future updates?

How can it be downloading a 27/09/11 update today?

Must be the new Microsoft time machine updater, Download tomorrows updates today.

Reading the Office for Mac updates section of the Microsoft site I see that Microsoft Error Reporting for Mac 2.2.7 was actually released on 22 September 2011, not 27 September. So why is AutoUpdate claiming it is released tomorrow? And why does it think it is 25% bigger (2 MB vs 1.5 MB on the Microsoft site)?

Maybe I just got the special version of Microsoft AutoUpdate 2.3.3?

Minecraft login failed! Has my account been hacked? Try updating Minecraft

Leefe — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:21:04 +0000

I have been trying Minecraft since last year and I just started getting login errors this week.

You open Minecraft, enter your Username and Password, then get the Login failed window.

Searching Google for this problem I came up with posts about passwords being hacked/stolen. So I diligently went and reset my password.

After which I was about to login to the Minecraft site, but still getting errors from the Minecraft game! And if you try to report it on the support page failed, nothing appears if you click the My account was hacked button!

There is a happy end to this story

With nothing else seeming to work I downloaded the game again. Starting the new copy of Minecraft I found it was 1.8.1, with a slight change in login interface, and it accepted my username/password combo.

I can play Minecraft again!

Minecraft 1.7.3 not downloading 1.8 update

It would appear that the problem is that Minecraft 1.7.3 can no longer login. And also is not downloading the update to 1.8. You have to go do it yourself.

This should really have been handled better by the developers. If people expect Minecraft to update itself and it just fails to login you are going to have quite a few people panic.

Developers, please think about providing better error messages next time.

Pay less, Talk more, but don’t try to use the Internet in Sydney CBD (with Vodafone)

Leefe — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:32:17 +0000

Photo taken while standing outside Wynyard station trying to access the Internet on my iPhone and getting lots of nothing.

Out of TouchPad

Leefe — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 05:07:30 +0000

Add around Sydney CBD are these signs advertising the wonders of a new device. Wouldn’t you just love one? Doesn’t it look great?

Well, you are too late, and so are the ads.

HP has already canned the TouchPad. And, in a fire sale of a discontinued product, Harvey Norman sold the $599 device for $99. Selling out of the thousands it had in stock in under a day.

iTunes Wild Wild West in German? This is Australia not Austria!

Leefe — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:50:24 +0000

Browsing the Australian iTunes store I came across Wild Wild West. But that Plot Summary is not in English.

It appears that Apple has confused us with Austria (perhaps). Unfortunately my German isn’t good enough to read the summary or listen to the Trailer. Although it is funny to watch Will Smith and Kevin Klien dubbed into German.

Reading the reviews, it appears that it was the correct language in January, although all reviews from July warn of the language error. So something to avoid.

I wonder if having the wrong version of the movie available in iTunes Store causes licensing issues?

(Don’t believe me about the error? Have a look here.)

Software Update asks me to install 2 copies of iTunes 10.4

Leefe — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:31:42 +0000

Today, in its infinite wisdom, Software Update decided that I needed to install 2 copies of iTumes 10.4. Now, while I understand that Software Update must have been very excited about the release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, I think I’ll let it cool down for a bit before choosing which iTunes update I should install.

(Both versions listed have the same description “iTunes 10.4 now designed for OS X Lion”.)

VodafoneAU – Don’t URL me, I’ll URL you (vfau.me/dcg4n)

Leefe — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:29:59 +0000

Received an SMS purportedly from Vodafone today.

Upcoming correction to data charges from 08.07.11 may affect your service. Please head to: http://vfau.me/dcg4n for more information

Following the link you end up at the page http://i.three.com.au/VFMarketing/2011Q2/DataUsageCommsGp1011 and a 404 error message.
So they are going to change the way they charge for data, but don’t really want to tell you what they are changing it to? And why do I get a Three URL?

Doing a whois of the vfau.me domain I see that it was registered to Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited in March 2011. So probably is legit.

I can see that this domain is running Yourls, the open source URL shortener. And, interetingly, looking at the admin URL I see that it is called Brody’s cuddly URL shortener.

So, who is the afore mentioned Brody? And, thought I think their bear is kinda cute, is this really what you might expect on a corporate site?

Can a VHA person please explain what this message is about, and fix your URLs.

Notes about this from other people:

What R U Up 2? (Geordie Guy, 2011.06.29)
Simply breathtaking new development (Vodafone forum)
Upcoming correction to charges from 08.07.11?? (Vodafone forum)
Data usage (The url it is probably meant to redirect to)
Changes to data charging (Discussion on Whirlpool about the change)
Vodafone Glitch Made BitTorrent, VoIP Data Free (Gizmodo, 2011.06.28)

100 contacts on LinkedIn, how 1337

Leefe — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:37:42 +0000

Got my 100th contact on LinkedIn. Oh, how 1337.
(For those not in the know, replace the numbers with letters and you get ‘Leet‘)

A bit of synchronicity?