Synapseal Arclights

There are two types of spammer these days.

• Spammers who control vast spambot hordes
• Human spammers

In recent years, since the internet has reached more folks, some master spammers have taken it upon themselves to hire third world citizens to sit in internet cafés and sign up for forums and blogs and such with the purpose of spamming whatever links the master spammer needs spammed. Since these folks are working for pennies an hour, there is no shortage of them.
We will not be discussing the aforementioned human spammers, as there's really no way to keep them from your blog or forum without disabling comments altogether or shutting your forum down.


Dealing with spambots is another kettle of fish.

Spambots are programmed to do two things:

• Scour the web, looking for email addresses. These bots are programmed to look in blog comments, guestbooks (yes, people still have guestbooks), blog posts, and some will look anywhere that is hyperlinked.
• Seek out and attempt to sign up to forums, blogs, etc for the purposes of spamming. When a bot successfully signs up for a forum/blog/etc, it will start spamming its payload. Since bots are programmed to act in a certain way, they are pretty easy to keep out of forums, blogs and whatever.

Over a decade ago, a fellow wrote a nice PERL script called . I am not typing the name out here, because it proved so effective at neutralizing spambots that the next generation were programmed to avoid sites with any mention of it (I like it already).
What it does is generates a page of fake URLs and fake emails. Each time the page loads, it generates a new set of these spurious URLs and email addresses. Every URL on the page is linked to a new instance of the page, thereby providing yet more URLs and email addresses for a hungry spambot. The script is designed to wait 10 seconds before loading, so as to tie the spambot up, and be easy on the system hosting it (spambots can make thousands of requests per second, potentially overloading the machine but for this 10 second pause between requests).
Back when was released, hard drives weren't very big, and it was possible to cause the machine a spambot was running on to crash due to a full hard drive (YAY!). Today, with the availability of terabyte hard drives, all does is keep the little buggers occupied until their master finds them loading their hoppers with fake information and resets them. Just keeping the spambots occupied with one instance of is a "good thing", because as long as they're busy waiting for all those lovely (but fake) email addresses, they're not on your neighbor's website sucking up their info.

On my website, I have lots of different things for folks to do. Conversely, I have lots of ways for spambots to find their way to the that I've installed for their use.

If you run a site with forms, you can create a form field that is hidden to users of regular browsers (be mindful of users of screen readers, and let them know not to fill out that field), and when that field is used, it automatically sends the submitter to the playground.

On my regular web pages, forum pages, and pretty much any other page that doesn't contain forms, I have a link that is hidden via CSS that says "Sign my guestbook" (spambots love guestbooks). This link has a warning for those humans who use screen readers.

Is the warning necessary?
No, most humans can see that they're someplace they weren't planning on visiting, and they can back out or go somewhere else. I just like to keep folks apprised of the spam trap.

If you'd like to use the installed on Novarata, just link to http://www.novarata.net/guestbook/ (you can click it now and see how it works - I think it's pretty neat)

Have fun annoying spammers ☺


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How often have you seen something like this on a discussion board you participate in?

Company Details - PIRATES OF YOUR WALLET
Incorporation Date: 19-01-2000
Registered No.XXXXXX
Address:XXXXX
SOMEPLACE, SOMEWHERE

E-MAIL:::spam@ftc.gov


We are mobile phones wholesalers,we deals on all brands and models of mobile Phones.very good prices. we have mobile phones accessories such as battery,charger,keypad,housing,datacable....

We have been able to provide best prices base on the fact that we are major distributor here in United Kingdom and we order our product directly from the manufacturer. So we have been able to give out best prices for our entire product...

Goods Condition.....
We have the product in stock and we can supply you according to yourinterest. Also note that all our product are brand new, factory seal in their original pack,including 1 year international warranty and 90days return policy for detective return.

Please check our prices.........

Original Apple Product...

Apple iPhone (3G) 8GB Unlocked @220usd
Apple iphone (3G) 16GB Unlocked @ 260usd

Apple iPhone 4GB Unlocked @ 180usd
Apple iPhone 8GB Version Unlocked @210usd
Apple iphone 16GB version @ 220usd

Manufactured: Finland.....
Nokia N97 32gb unlocked @ 370usd
Nokia N97 16gb unlocked @ 340usd
Nokia N96 16GB Unlocked @ 320usd
Nokia Aeon...400usd
Nokia N95 8GB @250usd
Nokia N93i@210usd

HTC PHONES
HTC G1 unlocked cost 380usd
HTC OMNI unlocked COST 310USD
HTC Shift X9500 Unlocked cost 360usd
HTC Touch 3G (Unlocked) cost 250usd
HTC Touch HD (Unlocked) cost 350usd

Blackberry
Blackberry Storm 9530 @340usd
Blackberry Storm 9500 @320usd
BlackBerry Pearl 8120 @270usd
BlackBerry Curve 8310 @250usd
Blackberry Curve 8320 @240usd

Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 @300usd
Sony Ericsson C902 @ 320usd
Sony Ericsson Z780 (Unlocked)@ 320usd
Sony Ericsson G502 (Unlocked) 310usd

Sony Vaio CR420E/R 14.1" Notebook PC @ $450usd
Sony VAIO VGN-AR610E AR Digital Studio 17" Notebook PC @ $480usd
Sony VGN-FZ320EB 15.4" FZ Series Notebook PC @ $390usd
Sony VAIO VGN-FE770G 15.4" Notebook PC @ $380usd
Sony VAIO N370E/W Notebook @ $340usd

APPLE LAPTOP
Apple MacBook Air 80gb @$670usd
MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 17"/2.6Ghz/2GB/250GB @ $610usd
MacBook Pro 15in 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo 2gb/120/Superdrive @ $450usd
Apple 15.4" MacBook Pro - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz 2GB/200GB @ $630usd
MacBook Pro 15in 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 2gb/200/Superdrive @ $530usd
Apple MacBook Pro 17" TFT 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo @ $450usd
Apple MacBook Pro 17 Laptop (2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor @ $900usd

Shipping and Delivery....
Our delivery services are superb as we run a 48 hours delivering system via courier services like FEDEX to all parts of the world. We deliver all our order to our customer doorstep within 36hours of purchase..

Required Information....
Note that immediately we receive your address and your phone number, we will proceed with the transaction by giving you a Proforma invoice for your order which stated details of your order and other related information. .

We are devoted company base in Uranus and we strongly assure you that you will have a nice time dealing with our company.

Please do reply back as soonest, as we will be waiting for your reply.

E-MAIL:::spam@ftc.gov

Company Details - PILLAGERS OF YOUR TIME
Incorporation Date: 19-01-2000
Registered No.XXXXXX
Address: XXXXX
SOMEWHERE, SOMEPLACE

Well, the above is the sign of an internet forum spammer.

These groups use robots to sign up for forum membership and as soon as they gain access, they throw these ads up on whatever forums they get to first. These robots have gotten smart, and can fill out a CAPTCHA better than some humans can.

How Do I Know It's Spam?

"New User" "New Member" and a post count under 5 are good indicators. Remember, these degenerates blast as many posts onto the forum as they can at one time. Off topic posts (in the example below, a sales post outside of the classifieds subforum) are also an indicator. If in doubt, report it anyway, and let a moderator make the decision.

What Can I Do?

Well, since they're bots, responding to them is a waste of your time and everyone else's.

Every response you make just brings more eyes to the spam thread - which is what the filthy spammers are after.

The best way to deal with them is to report them. After you report them, post a simple response of "Reported" or "Reported as spam" and anyone else looking will know the offensive post will soon be gone.

Every forum has a method of reporting posts. Somewhere around the top or bottom of the spam post will be a or a or a button. When you click it, you'll come to a simple PM screen. Just put "SPAM" in the field and send it on. This feature is tied in to the emails of moderators, who will come and flush the thread from the forum.

Reporting mechanism on a VBulletin forum:


Reporting mechanism on a phpbb forum:


Remember: This works on almost every discussion board out there, and the quicker you report them, the quicker the filthy spam will be gone.

Have a nice day.


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There are several ways spammers obtain email addresses for their nefarious purposes.

There is no way you will avoid being spammed. You can reduce the opportunities for the SOBs to do it to you, though.

1. Spammers use robots to scour the web looking for email addresses.
2. Spammers buy lists of emails from hackers who've gotten their malware on a Windows machine.
3. Spammers buy malware and attempt to infiltrate your machine with it (this not only can get email addresses,but credit card numbers, etc).
4. They use brute force techniques to spam an email to every possible recipient at a particular domain, and the ignorant folks confirm their receipt.


1a) For regular users, this option is probably the best. So how do you keep your email address safe from spambots, but allow folks to get it to email you?
One way is to make your email address an image. Spambots cannot read images.

Novarata offers an email image maker. It works like this: http://www.novarata.net/hidemail.php?m=YOUR-EMAIL-ADDRESS-REVERSED
Huh? Whazzat?
Just take your email address and turn it 'round backwards (spambots can't read backwards email addresses, either) and stick the backwards email into the URL above right after the equals sign.

Like this:

http://www.novarata.net/hidemail.php?m=moc.elpmaxe@enoemos

at which point, the page will generate an image for you with the email in a readable condition:
When your email gets produced, just right click it and save it as WHATEVER-YOU-WANT-TO-NAME-IT.jpg (the save as dialog will think it's a .php file, but it's actually a jpeg image) and you can then upload it to any image hoster, such as Novarata Picpaste.
You can then link the image in to your blog, forum signature, or wherever you might wish for humans to be able to get your email address.

Please don't link the image to your email address, as that will defeat the purpose of it in the first place.

1b) Similar to the option above is another email obfuscator at Novarata. This will produce an ascii code that webmasters can use in their pages and it will produce a non-live email link. If we use our favorite test email, this is what'll happen:

spam@ftc.gov

is what spambots'll see in your page source, but humans will see

spam@ftc.gov

Users can then copy and paste the text into their email, but spambots'll be SOL.

1c) Novarata also has an email obfuscator that creates clickable email links that are human-usable. You can find it at Spam-Me-Not


2) Nothing you can do to avoid this. Once your email gets out there, it's going to be sold and resold among the spammers. The trick is not to get on the list in the first place.

3) You can avoid this by using non-Microsoft browsers and email clients. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook/Outlook Express are the top 2 malware vectors in a Windows machine. Using Mozilla Firefox, Google's Chrome, or Opera will almost completely negate any browser attacks. Using Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple's Mail will stop the majority of attacks via email.

4) There is no way to avoid spam sent using this method. What happens here is the spammer instructs their mailer to send an email to a@domain.com, and then to b@domain.com, and so on, up to dozens of characters and combinations. They also use dictionary attacks (sending every word in the dictionary [usually a "Baby's name" book] to a target domain. This method isn't widely used yet, as it's processor and bandwidth intensive, but as our internet gets faster and our hardware gets cheaper, it's only a matter of time before we see more of this.
If you get some spam, the most important thing is not to respond to it. Responding to spam will only get you more spam, as you have proven that you're a human (and not an inactive email address)

None of these methods are foolproof, as some misguided person is always writing a better spambot, but using these (and similar techniques) will go far in slowing down the spam you get.


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I do not like ads. I realize they're a good way for a web presence to support itself somewhat, but I still don't like them. I especially don't like the big honkin' 300x300 squares smack in the middle of the page.

On my phpBB forum, I've had good luck running a mod called Advertising Management to place ads in the various places.

I've been running a 728x90 banner under the first post for years, but have come to the realization that folks just roll right past it as they browse the forum.

I recently set up a SimpleMachines board, and found an adsense mod that had the ad inside the first post. "Hmmm", says I. "Can't avoid that one."

So, off I go to the great Google, and found this: How to put Adsense in first post of phpBB3. I did not do it exactly as it says, but it did provide me a good starting place.

Instead of adding anything to the style sheet(s), I included the styling in the ad code block itself.

Here is the code I ended up with. For prosilver, it's pretty much as it goes on the linked page:

<!-- IF postrow.S_FIRST_ROW -->
<div style="float: right; margin: 3px 3px 3px 3px;">
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "YOUR-ADSENSE-CODE-GOES-HERE";
google_ad_width = 120;
google_ad_height = 240;
google_ad_format = "120x240_as";
google_ad_type = "text_image";
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</div>
<br><br>
<!-- ENDIF -->

Now, for subsilver2, you'll need to find

<div class="postbody">{postrow.MESSAGE}</div>

in your $forumhome/styles/subsilver2/template/viewtopic_body.html and place the code in the appropriate place.

The guy has code that puts an ad both next to and below the post content, but I see no real reason for two ads in the first post.

I chose to use a 120x240 ad size, as this isn't huge and eyeburning, and doesn't make a single line post into some cumbersome thing that is full of empty space. You can see the ad in action in Subsilver2 and Prosilver


 Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

---

I recently took a job for a fellow who ran a forum that used VBulletin software. I'd never worked with VBulletin before, but figured it couldn't be that much different than the other BBS software out there. . .

First request was to add the Google analytics code. This wasn't an issue.

Well, the client had seen my ad grid over at my forum and he wanted one for his board. "No problem", says me. . .

Well, I got into it, whipped up an ad grid using spam-resistant email addresses and looked up the procedure for installing code into VBulletin, and navigated to the ad management area and got the code inserted and then clicked "Save". *BOOM* 500 error! Every single time. "Hmmm", thinks I.

I then switch tracks and figure I'll use an include directive, so I look that up. I follow all those steps (for both .html and .php files) and . . .

. . . absolutely nothing happens.

I check my code, and it all looks like what it shows on those pages, but nothing is happening on the board. . .

So now I go back to the ol' "I'll include the html code in the ad management area." idea, but I figure I'll edit the templates directly, since the server obviously doesn't like saving my edits from the web interface.

I place "gilhooley" into the ad space, and save it (this small addition does save), and then I ssh into the host and grep for "gilhooley". . .

. . . and wait

. . . and wait

and grep finishes searching, returning nothing.

"Hmmmmmmm", thinks I. WTF is going on here?

I get the bright idea to search the database, and sure enough "gilhooley" is there, along with most other templates . Now everyone knows that editing code inside the database is how you blow stuff up. Why do I not like this? With VBulletin board, you need a kickass database server, because instead of reading the template from flat files like on other boards, any time a page is clicked in a VBulletin forum, the page structure has to be pulled from the database before the web server can display it.

It is then that it all clicked. VBulletin is what I call "money sink software". It keeps its cards close to its chest (and its templates in the database), thus creating the need to be hosted on a high-horsepower server (mo' money) so that it can work properly. Any actual support you get you need to pay for (mo' money).

In unrelated news, the client had purchased some official VBulletin add-on that made a portal/homepage, and that just stopped working out of the blue a few days back (makes one wonder how long he "bought" it for).

Just the closed source software way of doing business, I guess, if the business is the worship of Mammon.

P.S. I never got the ad thing working


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I've recently gotten lots of requests from friends of friends for web services. I figured with the increased interest, I'd put up some services and prices.

First off, I'm not a gee-whiz! webmaster. My philosophy is to make web pages that are accessible to anyone with a computer connected to the internet (this includes all those castoff boxen that we in the USA export to "needy folks"). I do not like closed source software, and feel there is no need for its use with all the open source offerings that are available. Websites that I hand code are simple and easily accessed by the blind, and folks using older hardware. I can also assist with basic shell scripting and cronjobs.

Just starting out, or have your own website and want to expand? I am a long-time *nix guy, and can set up a blog of your choice, a discussion board/internet forum, wiki, or just about any other software¹ you want.
Any software that is installed at your request will be installed, checked for function and the administration credentials (if applicable) handed over to you.

Have a website and would like to reduce its out-of-pocket expenses? I can set you up³ with Google Adsense or an affiliate program such as Google Ad Network, Commission Junction, or Amazon Affiliates.

I charge $50/hour for general web coding, with a one hour minimum for new customers. Each hour is billed in 15-minute increments.
Maintenance contracts¹ (maintaining the site after installation) / training fees (teaching you how to use your software) can be discussed.

Package deals
♘ Install Wordpress blog software - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.

♘ Install GetSimple blog software - $45 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $20.

♘ Install phpBB forum software - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.

♘ Install Simple Machines forum software - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.

♘ Install MediaWiki software - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.

♘ Install Piwik web analytics. Installation includes the setup of 10 pages - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35. Each additional page setup - $1

♘ Install Open Web Analytics software. Installation includes the setup of 10 pages - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35. Each additional page setup - $1

♘ Install Friendika social web software - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.

♘ Install Gallery photo management software Version 2 or 3 - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.

♘ Install Pligg web software - $65 ♠ If you sign up for Dreamhost using this link, the installation price will be $35.


Why Dreamhost? They offer excellent customer service, really inexpensive hosting and 50GB for your personal files. They've been my webhost of choice since 2006, and having worked with other hosting companies, my opinion still stands.

If you have any questions, feel free to call me or send me an email: .


[1] Other than installation, I do not work with VBulletin and some other closed source software packages.
[2] Calls from cell phones may be charged at customer's contract rates.
[3] Acceptance to affiliate programs depends upon passing the provider's requirements.
[☠] All prices subject to change.
[$] Don't have much money? C'mon down to Barter Town


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I've just gotten a new Archos Arnova 10 android tablet, and written an initial review. You can find the review over at the forum.


It will be returned, and I'll be getting a replacement. How disappointing


 Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

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Something seems to have clicked lately, and I've gotten on to a bbcode-making kick. These bbcodes are for phpBB3.

Google Voice
This bbcode will allow the user to emplace a Google Voice call widget in their posts or signatures. Example

BBCode usage:

[gvoice]{SIMPLETEXT}[/gvoice]

HTML Replacement:

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://clients4.google.com/voice/embed/webCallButton" width="230" height="85"><param name="movie" value="https://clients4.google.com/voice/embed/webCallButton" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="FlashVars" value="id={SIMPLETEXT}&style=0" /></object>

Help line:

[gvoice]Your Google Voice ID number[/gvoice]

The "Google Voice ID number" can be found in the widget's code.

---

The following Amazon bbcodes require you have an Amazon Affiliates account.

Amazon BBCode
This one isn't new, and I found it at this site, where apparently it's been in use since phpbb2. It works fine in phpbb3, though. Amazon BBCode Example

BBCode usage:

[amazon]{SIMPLETEXT}[/amazon]

HTML Replacement:

<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=novarata-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins={SIMPLETEXT}&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Help line:

[amazon]The item's 10-digit ISBN or ASIN number[/amazon]

---

Amazon ad with caption
I took the bbcode above and ran with it a little bit, and mixed-and-mashed it and came up with an Amazon bbcode you could caption. Amazon w/caption Example

BBCode Usage:

[amzcap]{SIMPLETEXT},{SIMPLETEXT1}[/amzcap]

HTML Replacement:

<div style="width:120px; float:left; margin: 0 .5em .5em 0;"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=novarata-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins={SIMPLETEXT}&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> <p style="font-size:.8em;line-height:.95em;text-align: justify;">{SIMPLETEXT1}</p></div>

Help line:

[amzcap]Amazon ASIN/ISBN,Text description[/amzcap]

Amazon ad with word wrap
This one's the same ad as the two above, but it allows you to wrap your content around it, and you can place it on the left or right side. Amazon w/wrap Example

BBCode Usage:

[amzwrap]{SIMPLETEXT},{SIMPLETEXT1}[/amzwrap]

HTML Replacement:

<div style="float:{SIMPLETEXT}; padding:6px;"><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=novarata-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins={SIMPLETEXT1}&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> </div>

Help line:

AmzWrap: [amzwrap]Choose left or right for float,Amazon ASIN or ISBN[/amzwrap]

---

That's all for now! Have a good day!


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. . . isn't an Android tablet at all.

It's a Barnes & Noble Nook Color.



The Nook Color is a very powerful device for its price point. At the time of this writing, you can get a Nook Color for $225.
Here are its specs:

• PCB: Foxconn ML1 S 94V-0
• CPU Processor: ARM Cortex A8-based Ti OMAP 3621 @ 800 MHz (same processor as Droid 2 and Droid X)
• GPU Processor: PowerVR SGX530 Graphics Rendering: Open GLES1.1/2.0 Hardware Scaling: 854x480 scaled to 1024x600 Video Formats: .3GP, .MP4, .3G2 ** Video Codecs: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, ON2 VP7 ** Image Formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP ** (same GPU as Droid 2 and Droid X)
• RAM: 512MB Hynix H8MBX00U0MER-0EM MCM (Stacked Chips 2x256MB each die mDDR)
• Internal Flash: 8GB Sandisk SDIN4C1-8g
• Removable Flash: 32GB via microSDHC
• Radio: Chip ID Ti wl1271 (kernel reports wl1273) Chip supports bluetooth transmit/recieve and fm radio functions through the same antenna, but is not enabled in software drivers. Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Security: WEP/WPA/WPA2/802.1x Mode: Infrastructure
• Display: 7" 1024x600 IPS Display w\VividView Cypress Semiconductor TTSP Gen 3 (TMA340) Touchscreen , kernel driver , reference LG Display LD070WS1 (SL)(02) LED Backlight Pixels per Inch: 169 Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Colors: 16 Million Viewing Angle: 178° (same as HTC 7 Surround and HTC 7 Mozart)
• Audio: Ti TLV320DAC3100 Codec 3.5mm Headset Jack (TRS 3-Pole) - no mic input Single Rear Speaker PWM Headphone Amp Headphone Detection Mic Amp and ADC (Mic input not available) Audio Formats: .3GP, .3G2, .MP4, .AMR, .MP3, .MID, .XMF, .MXMF, .RTTL, .OTA, .IMY, .WAV, .OGG, .ACC ** Audio Codecs: ACC, ACC+, AMR, MP3, MIDI, LPCM **
• Power Management: Texas Instruments TPS65921 PMIC Integrated Power Management IC with 3 DC/DC's, 4 LDO's, USB HS Transceiver
• Battery: "Barnes & Noble" labeled 3.7V 4000mAh 14.8Wh Li-ion battery Battery Life: ~8 hours
• Physical Specifications Dimensions: 8.1" (205mm) L x 5" (127mm) W x 0.48" (12.2mm) D Weight: ~15.8oz (~422g)
• Micro-B USB 2.0 High-Speed
• Accelerometer
• Input Virtual QWERTY Keyboard On-Screen Soft-Keys ** 'n' Home button Power\Lock button Volume Up\Down buttons

So let's see. .
☑ High-horsepower hardware
☑ Can run Android
☑ Can run Android w/o needing to be a nerd to do it (as easy as putting in a memory card).
☑ Can run Android w/o voiding any warranties (this is the best part, IMHO).
☑ Your Android operating system and user environment are secure, as you can take out the microSD card and it all goes with you.

No, it doesn't have GPS, phone, cameras or microphones, but if you can do without those features (and the price that goes with them), this could be the Android tablet you've been looking for.


 Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

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From http://www.prozilla.genesys.ro, which has disappeared in the ebb and flow of the internet data stream.

ProZilla is a download accelerator for Linux which gives you a 200% to 300% improvement in your file downloading speeds. Its features:

• Supports FTP & HTTP including redirection (ProZilla & ProzGUI).
• Resume Supported (ProZilla & ProzGUI).
• Complete acceleration: The file will be downloaded as fast as possible as your bandwidth allows if not otherwise specified (ProZilla & ProzGUI).
• Unlike certain other download accelerators available for Linux, this really works.
• The number of connections that prozilla uses can be specified (ProZilla & ProzGUI).
• FTPsearch support now permits fetching Mirror locations and pinging them and selecting the fastest server is automatically done (ProZilla & ProzGUI).
• Downloading the same file in parts from several servers at once to increase speed (ProZilla & ProzGUI).

I use this program a lot. It really speeds up your downloads if you're downloading from a server that limits its speed.

Prozilla will use concurrent threads (you specify how many in the ~/.prozilla/prozconfig file) to download any file, but it works best for large files.
You'll need to be careful with the thread count, as you can overwhelm your down speed if you use too many.

I have a patched version of the last prozilla release prozilla-2.0.4-patched.tar.bz2
This source code should compile on any modern Debian-based distro (it compiles locally on Debian and Ubuntu).

You're on your own with the ProzGui (I prefer the command line when possible).


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GNOME is a desktop environment / graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software and was created by two Mexican programmers, Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena. It is an international project that includes creating software development frameworks, selecting application software for the desktop, and working on the programs that manage application launching, file handling, and window and task management.

GNOME is part of the GNU Project and can be used with various Unix-like operating systems, most notably Linux and as part of the Java Desktop System in Solaris.


This is a live demonstrator of GNOME 3, and contains some freely licensed demo files, some of which are:

• Movies: Sintel, Big Buck Bunny and the GNOME 3 videos from www.gnome3.org.
• Music: Out of it (by Brad Sucks), Breadcrumbs (by Josh Woodward), Orphan Songs (by Orphan Songs) and Accords et Âmes (by ZAM'S)
• Book: Producing Open Source Software.
• Pictures: several pictures from Flickr.

I couldn't find a torrent for this, so I made one: GNOME_3-Hybrid-DVD.iso.torrent

More info


Spread the love, y'all.


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I just found the py3createtorrent python script today, as I was trying to create a torrent file for the GNOME 3 DVD.

I'd been using ktorrent to create torrents (and rtorrent to seed them), but since I don't run KDE or ktorrent, (I run windowmaker) it's kind of a PITA.
I love my command line, and was happy to find this python script.

Like all things linux, it takes a bit of work at the beginning to configure it, but once that's done, it's as simple as

py3createtorrent file-or-folder-name trackers

Part of the configuration allows you to add as many tracker URLs as you like, and you can call them by whatever you named the array ("trackers" in the above example), whereupon it adds all those URLs when it generates a torrent.

It requires python 3.x, and it's licensed under the GPL. It runs wherever python does, which includes (among others) linux, OS X and Windows.

HOORAY! No more adding each tracker URL one at a time (GOODBYE KTORRENT)!

py3createtorrent - RobertNitsch.de


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Today we'll be going over how to convert a directory full of jpg images to a PDF document.
This exercise requires ImageMagick¹ and PDFTK. Windows users will also need CYGWIN for the bash shell and Perl if they want the "rename" command to work.
Imagemagick is pretty standard in linux, and is available for OS X and Windows. PDFTK will need to be installed via your linux package manager, and binaries can be downloaded for OS X and Windows.

The most common response when asking Google "convert jpgs to pdf" is:

convert *.jpg output-name.pdf

and this is okay if you only have a few jpegs, and they're not very big.
The reason for this is that when doing this operation, the system has to cache each and every JPG in memory AND also it has to cache a temporary PDF while it converts and adds each JPG. If you've got 100 JPGs or a couple dozen huge JPGs, you can crash your system doing it this way.

I found part of this script on one of the helpful linux forums and it's much easier on the system, as it converts each JPG individually to a PDF and then concatenates all the PDFs into one big one at the end of the operaton.

To get the ball rolling, you'll need to get all your JPGs in one directory.
You'll then need to make sure they're named with number prefixes. If you have fewer than 99 JPGs, you can name them 01-blahblah.jpg through 99-blahblah-jpg. If you have several hundred, use 001-blahblah.jpg through 999-blahblah.jpg. These numbers are the order in which your JPGs will be made into pages. It's very important to have a leading zero for single-digit numbers, as in linux and OS X, "10" comes before "1", but not before "01".

Now here's the script that does it:

#!/bin/bash
for i in *.jpg ;
do convert $i $i.pdf ;
rename -v 's/\.jpg\.pdf/\.pdf/' *.pdf;
done
pdftk *.pdf cat output book.pdf

You'll need to tell the system (linux and OS X) that the script is executable. To do so run

chmod +x scriptname

Line 1 tells the system it's a bash shell script
Line 2 tells bash to look for all files ending in "jpg"
Line 3 tells bash to call the ImageMagick 'convert' command and convert each JPG to a PDF
Line 4 tells bash to call the rename command and change the converted PDF filename from 01-blahblah.jpg.pdf to 01-blahblah.pdf (this step is aesthetic², and isn't necessary for the production of the final ebook - I'm just finicky about file names)
Line 5 tells bash "You're done! Miller time!"
Line 6 tells bash to call pdftk and concatenate all the pdfs it finds in the directory to one file named 'book.pdf' (you can change this after the script is done)

So there ya go, a method to make PDFs out of a bunch of JPGs without stressing your system.


[1] This script can be modified so that it works on any image type that ImageMagick recognizes (which is a bunch).
[2] If you don't want the rename part, just put a # in the front of that line (like line 1) before you run the script.




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Today we'll be going over how to convert a html page to a PDF document. Pictures linked the html page are will be included¹.
Yes, you can "print to PDF" from a lot of programs, but that method can include artifacts you didn't want. The following procedure will produce a PDF that is virtually identical in content to the HTML page it was spawned from.
This exercise requires GhostScript and html2ps². Windows users will also need CYGWIN for the bash shell and Perl if they want the "rename" command to work.
GhostScript is pretty standard in linux, and is available for OS X and Windows. html2ps will probably need to be installed via your linux package manager if you run Debian or Ubuntu (or use Debian/Ubuntu repos), or compiled from the source code OS X and Windows (Windows users'll need cygwin installed to do this).

This script is really simple. It takes a single html document³ as input, and turns it into a postscript document, then turns the postscript document into a PDF. If you want to turn a bunch of html pages into one PDF, you can modify this script from t'other day.

Here's the really quick-n-dirty script. Copy and paste it into a text document (but don't use .txt on the end):

#!/bin/bash
html2ps "$1" > "$1".ps &&
ps2pdf *.ps &&
rename -v 's/\.html\.pdf/\.pdf/' *.pdf &&
rename -v 's/\.htm\.pdf/\.pdf/' *.pdf

You'll need to tell the system (linux and OS X) that the script is an executable. To do so, in a terminal run

chmod +x scriptname

Line 1 tells the system it's a bash shell script
Line 2 tells bash to run the html2ps command on whatever html file you pointed it at and name it whatever-its-name-is.ps
Line 3 tells bash to call ps2pdf and convert any files ending in .ps to a PDF
Lines 4 and 5 tells bash to call the rename command and change the converted PDF filename from 01-blahblah.html.pdf to 01-blahblah.pdf (this step is aesthetic, and won't affect how the PDF actually works.


I wrote this script because I think the resulting PDF is much more professional in appearance (no "page numbers" or "file:///blah/blah/blah.html" appearing mysteriously).

[1] If you want images in your PDF, they'll need to be linked properly. That is a howto for another day.
[2] I'm not sure where the home page is, but you can also download the source from Debian
[3] If your original HTML document is not within specifications, either html2ps or ps2pdf can take a dump on you. Please validate your html for best results.




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There are several ways to watermark images, and several reasons why you should.

We're not going to discuss the "why", but one method of the "how".

There are two common ways to add a watermark: a semi-transparent image and a text string. Most folks think of the semi-transparent image when they think "watermark", as this is the most common. Here is an example of semi-transparent watermark: Draco rear block

Working with a semi-transparent image can be a pain, so IMHO, using a text string is easier (everyone has fonts on their system, but not everyone can make a semi-transparent image). You can see examples of a text string watermark at my Vz58 pictorial.

I've wrangled some scripts together that run on linux, may run on OS X and probably won't run on Windows. Two of these are batch scripts and will add a text string to all images in a directory with the press of the "Enter" key.
Two of them are "single file" use scripts that are preset to use 32 pixel and 16 pixel sized fonts.

All scripts are set to use Times New Roman. Since they're all open source, you can change the settings as you like.

You can find these scripts at the Novarata wiki

Enjoy!


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