Achmad Z's Archives: September 2009

Sunday, September 27, 2009

IE8: Remove SpeedBit Search on new tabs

I myself got this problem, every time a new tab is opened on IE8 it always connect to http://search.speedbit.com/tab/.
It's quite annoying since it slowdown the new tab loading. Googling around, this problem occurs after we installed one of SpeedBit software like DAP (download accelerator plus) or Video accelerator. Even if we've uninstalled their software, this SpeedBit search is still there.
I've been looking the net and there's no tutorial on removing this SpeedBit search from IE8 (well, at least there's none on my Google first page search result). Mostly tutorials are for Firefox family where you can simply type "about:config" on the URL input and reset "keyword.URL" value.
So, this is it.. if you feel annoyed like me, there's simple way to remove SpeedBit search from IE8:

open windows registry editor
go to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AboutURLs
modify the value to "res://mshtml.dll/blank.htm"
close regedit.. try opening IE8 and open a new tab.. now it will show a blank page (not too aesthetic but it works.. ;P )

Bye bye SpeedBit search!

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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Scraping Dailymotion video tutorial -- How do we -scraper- work, part 1.

OK.. this is something that I plan to write a long time ago. I'm quite busy with my freelancing work. Now, I have plenty of spare time, so I decide to write this simple tutorial. As you know, I've created Youtube online video downloader and converter, I applied scrapping method on the site. I scrape Youtube video link, find the video URL, download to my own host and convert it to desired format.

Some of you maybe know that I've cloned video2mp3.net (what an attitude -- bad attitude, don't follow my path) to create my own Youtube online video donwloader and converter. The original always has much power over its clone! Video2mp3.net has feature that not only grabbing/scraping video from Youtube, they also provide grabbing video from Dailymotion and other video networking sites. Can't I do that on my site? Sure, I can, but I didn't have plan to integrate it on my site. So, here I am, instead of creating Dailymotion video grabber, integrate it on Youtube online video downloader and converter and keep it for myself, I decided to write the tutorial here on my blog, so you can write your own code (obviously, if you're a PHP programmer).

Let's begin the tutorial, of course I'll use PHP as the programming language. Dailymotion video URL will look something like this:

http://www.dailymotion.com/gb/featured/channel/animals/video/xa6peu_turtles-having-sex-d_fun
or this:
http://www.dailymotion.com/tag/funny/video/x3qcq8_regis-fait-du-fenwick_fun

and maybe some other formats

As we (scraper) work, we will access those URL using cURL (its better for anonymity to mimic normal browser activities)
view the source .. look at it carefully, find suspecting codes (look at flash player codes)
for example, this is the codes for video for the first URL above:

so1323913094.addVariable("video", "http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fcdn%2FFLV-320x240%2Fvideo%2Fxa6peu%3Fauth%3D1253493884-2e17ab4caaef077c3ca56479aebb09f7%40%40spark%7C%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fcdn%2FFLV-80x60%2Fvideo%2Fxa6peu%3Fauth%3D1253493884-6aec3e08374bf452359d46d7f464d85f%40%40spark-mini%7C%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fcdn%2FH264-848x480%2Fvideo%2Fxa6peu%3Fauth%3D1253493884-37ecd90e6d07910788842b1ff80a5da7%40%40h264-hq%7C%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fcdn%2FH264-512x384%2Fvideo%2Fxa6peu%3Fauth%3D1253493884-181a7bf56303ac7903de52bd67a93728%40%40h264");

WTF is that?!!! That's all video URL(s) that we needed. Let's
disassemble it! You know, that is an URL in encoded format. ( %3A = : , %2F = / , %3F = ? , etc.).
Scraper can use ' addVariable("video", ' keyword to find that line.

NOTES: some reference on URL encoded chars: http://www.e-planning.net/support/url_encoding.html

Daily motion is very generous, they provide us with all video format URL that we wanted. If you're smart enough, you'll see these formats: spark (FLV 320x240), spark-mini (FLV 80x60), h264-hq (848x480), h264 normal (512x384). Did you see it?
NOTES: not all Dailymotion video URL has all of those video format, like on second URL, it only has spark and spark-mini format

Those video URL(s) is separated by %7C%7C (||), so, scraper will use this chars to explode the encoded URL. Disassembling (explode - ing) the encoded URL, after urldecode, we got 4 video URL(s) like this (you may try this URL directly from browser to test it):

http://www.dailymotion.com/cdn/FLV-320x240/video/xa6peu?auth=1253493884-2e17ab4caaef077c3ca56479aebb09f7@@spark

http://www.dailymotion.com/cdn/FLV-80x60/video/xa6peu?auth=1253493884-6aec3e08374bf452359d46d7f464d85f@@spark-mini

http://www.dailymotion.com/cdn/H264-848x480/video/xa6peu?auth=1253493884-37ecd90e6d07910788842b1ff80a5da7@@h264-hq

http://www.dailymotion.com/cdn/H264-512x384/video/xa6peu?auth=1253493884-181a7bf56303ac7903de52bd67a93728@@h264

There you are, we have successfully scrapping/grabbing video URL from Dailymotion in various format. You may serve it to user or download it on your own server.
Ok.. that's it for now. I will write another video scraper-tutorial again if I have much time. LOL!

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Online math help

Here I found another interesting a site that provide online math help. If you are looking for help on your math lesson, Guaranteach might suit your need. They have more than 20000 lessons that you can access. The interesting part is, this lesson is in video format. Another interesting fact is that they provide some interesting method to detect your learning style. This of course will be great advantage for you, you can maximize your learning process by learning on your own style. Don't worry about the quality of the tutorial, the lessons is teacher approved and more importantly, you can access it whenever and wherever you want it. Don't ruin your math learning because you're shy to ask a question in the class. With those thousands online tutoring that Guaranteach has, I believe you will overcome your difficulties on math lesson.

Did they provide video only? No. This is getting more interesting about Guaranteach service. Like a normal class-teaching, they also has quizzes and progress report. Isn't it great? Now, you can measure your learning progress just like normal without exposing your result to your friend (well, honestly, I, sometimes got bad mark on math that I really really shy on it -- being laughed by my classmates). Before applying for their service, you may try it for free. They provide up to 5 lessons videos that you can watch, so you know how's their lessons quality. The registration is quick and no need for credit card (obviously, most of us -- student -- didn't have any credit card yet). Go try them out!

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

What the hell is Mesothelioma? Why does its keyword variations value so much on Adwords?

Recently I download list of high paying keyword on Adsense and just found out that a lot of mesothelioma variations shows on that list (like 'mesothelioma lawyer', etc.). I wonder what is this mesothelioma things and why the hell it's value so high on Adsense.

So, I'm searching on Google for meosthelioma definition and got very good explanation from Wikipedia. Here's the brief intro on Wikipedia about mesothelima:

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. In this disease, malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs. Its most common site is the pleura (outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it may also occur in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the heart,[1] the pericardium (a sac that surrounds the heart) or tunica vaginalis.

Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways. It has also been suggested that washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos can put a person at risk for developing mesothelioma.[2] Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking greatly increases risk of other asbestos-induced cancer.[3] Compensation via asbestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in mesothelioma (see asbestos and the law).

The symptoms of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall) or chest wall pain, and general symptoms such as weight loss. The diagnosis may be suspected with chest X-ray and CT scan, and is confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination. A thoracoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera into the chest) can be used to take biopsies. It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space (called pleurodesis), which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or sometimes surgery, the disease carries a poor prognosis. Research about screening tests for the early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.

Wow... so mesothelioma is a scary disease and spread a lot on industrial countries! Now, at least I know why it valued so high on Adsense, maybe there are so many people searching for this keyword variations like searching for a lawyer so they will get compensation for their disease. Of course they are so many competitors among this lawyer business, so, no wonder it values so much.

This post is posted using justsayitonce.com, another test to make sure its reliability to post a long notes/bulletin like this one.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

CKEditor on JustSayItOnce.com

OK.. after testing it twice, it's decided that I will use CKEditor on JustSayItOnce.com. You can test it on 'Post to bulletin, notes or blog at once' page. However there are some notes about it:

FS always drop bulletin post that contain HTML codes.. I will deal with it later, don't know what HTML codes does Friendster accept on its bulletin board

Spacing between paragraph or new line using <br /> is too far.. don't know how to fix it either

MySpace did not accept Numbering and Bullets tag, it replace it with two dots.. weird indeed!

Some feature that not tested yet: font formatting and image insertion .. (well.. actually there are lot more of features that I haven't used yet)

For those who want to know my CKEditor settings, here's the code snippet :

<script type="text/javascript">

CKEDITOR.replace( 'notes', {

toolbar: [

['Source','-','Cut','Copy','Paste','PasteText', '-', 'Undo','Redo','-','Find','Replace','-','SelectAll','RemoveFormat'],

['Font','FontSize','Bold','Italic','Underline','Strike','-','Subscript','Superscript','-', 'NumberedList','BulletedList','-','Outdent','Indent','Blockquote','-','Link','Unlink']

],

on :

{

instanceReady : function( ev )

{

this.dataProcessor.writer.setRules( 'p',

{

indent : false,

breakBeforeOpen : true,

breakAfterOpen : false,

breakBeforeClose : false,

breakAfterClose : true

});

this.dataProcessor.writer.setRules( 'li',

{

indent : false,

breakBeforeOpen : true,

breakAfterOpen : false,

breakBeforeClose : false,

breakAfterClose : true

});

}

},

enterMode : 1,

shiftEnterMode : 2

});

</script>

Read CKEditor documentation to know what those means..

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Second test using CKEditor on JustSayItOnce.com

Apparently it looks messy on Blogger, Facebook and maybe WP also (I didn't check it yet).

The worse thing is: FS reject the bulletin.. maybe FS didn't like HTML codes on bulletin so he drop it.. :)

OK.. I've changed the CKEditor configuration.. let's try it again and compare it to previous result. Here we go...

Numbering:

three

Bullets:

three

Bold italic underline ~~strikethru~~

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Monday, September 7, 2009

PHP: Convert US state name to its state code, v.v.

Recently I got a task that involving converting US states name into its corresponding abbreviation (US state code). I think I will share my codes since it would be pain in the ass to write the whole 50 US state names, so you can just copy and paste my codes to speeding up the coding process.
You can see the whole codes on devzed server here.

This is an example how you can use my codes:

<?php
include "usstates.php";

//get Arizona state code
print_r(state2code("Arizona"));
echo "<br />";

//which state does WY refer to?
print_r(code2state("WY"));
?>

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