Vipin's cogitations

Magento Customer Partner

2011-07-03T01:04:00.001-07:00

Magento Customer Partner : Cutomer Partner extension is a revolution , you can make your store as ebay .The main motive of this extension is – “cutomer can upload their product as well”

How to use Magento Customer Partner

Complete Guide
how to use this module.Click Here
Feel Free to Call-us : +91-9213552189 | (+91)120-434-6653 or Drop an email at sahu.vipin@webkul.com

Magento Custom Module

2011-06-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

Magento Custom Module : Magento Custom module development is an integral and most important part of the Magento Development .Default magento setup with sample data is good but not sufficient .Every-time you need something more with your store , so here it comes the magento module .Magento releases the magento widgets in magento 1.4+ .

Magento widgets is an awesome idea and very handy to use for small functionality and easy to made for developers . so lets have a narrow look when we need widgets and when we need modules

Magento Module and Magento Widgets : Magento module and widgets both are important to enrich the functionality of magento .lets say you want to add a product carousel in your store then you can use magento widgets . Both of them will work brilliant so why we need module ?

Magento Module : Magento module is very useful for the bigger functionality lets say if you want to convert your store to an ebay store then you’ll choose magento module (Magento customer partner ) cos widgets will not be useful in this case .Widgets are useful for tiny functionality (e.g – twitter widgets , facebook widgets or social share )

Why we need Magento Module : The simple answer is coz everytime we want extra functionality but using magento module you can handle everything from the magento back-end .magento module is divided in to two parts

1 – Magento Module Front-end

2 – Magento Module Back-End

Magento Module Front-end : This module front-end is responsible for displaying the output of your module in to your magento store .

Magento Module Back-end : Magento Module back-end is useful for managing the module and adding the parameters

Different Custom Module : Magento have different kind of module to enrich the functionality in different different area .Some of them as given below

1 – Magento Shipping Module

2 – Magento Social Module

3 - Magento Checkout Module

4 – Magento Product Module

5 – Magento Seo Module

6 – Magento Language Module

And many more . Webkul has a great expertise in custom magento module development . We are the community Developer in Magento Responsible for more thatn 50+ Magento modules and 250+ magento Templates

Magento language pack installation

2010-12-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

Magento language pack installation : Manual language magento installation is very comman problem in magento store . you can find some very popular language package in magento connect e.g. suppose that if you want to install dutch language package so just follow the simple steps

1) Install the language pack from the magento connect.(http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/Gui/extension/364/magento-community-modules--dutch-netherlands-language-pack)

2) Go to Sytem->configure->Genral and set the localization according to your language.

3) Now flush your Cache and after again login you magento will be ne desired language pack.

enjoy :)

Reset Magneto Password in localhost

2010-10-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

How to Reset Magento password in localhost : This is very basic problem when you are playing with magento and very important . Magento Reset is very easy . It is very easy when your magento store is hosted on server but it is little trciky when your magento store is in localhost . How to Reset your password in localhost- >

Go To :

1 - Login in to PhpMyadmin .

2 - Jump in to Magento's database .

3 - Go to admin_user table and edit the table .

4 - put a "password" (which you want) and select MD5 from function dropdown (Important). as Per the image

http://webkul.com/magento-tutorial/how-to-reset-magento-admin-password

Oscommerce configuration problem during installation

2010-10-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

I found this problem during oscommerce magento migration . I installed oscommerce on my MAC everything was fine except that warning , i tried various chmod options and finally find the solution

Problem: Warning: I am able to write to the configuration file: /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/oscommerce/catalog/includes/configure.php. This is a potential security risk - please set the right user permissions on this file.

Solution: chmod 444 configure.php . That's it enjoy :)

Why Iphone is Important for Iphone app development

2010-09-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

iPhone simulator is great, but ultimately, you’re going to need to test your application on actual hardware. Why? Well, it’s important to realize that when the simulator is running your application, it’s actually running it using the hardware capabilities of your com- puter. This means that performance-wise, your application can behave quite differently in the simulator on your computer versus on an actual iPhone. These differences in hardware can even make certain bugs only appear on an iPhone and not in the simulator.

Not only is running your app on an actual iPhone prudent for testing purposes, but there are also certain capabilities that are not available on the simulator that are available on the iPhone. These capabilities include the accelerometer, Core Location, and others. Conversely, there are application programming interfaces (APIs) that are available only on the simulator and not on an actual iPhone. In the latter situation, you should obviously avoid those APIs. I mention it here because it is a common mistake that new developers make when coming to the platform. They look at the documentation for Mac OS X on a particular API and assume that the API works the same on the iPhone. Because the simulator uses the desktop version of some libraries, when they test on the simulator, their code appears to work. The end result, however, is that the application works fine on the simulator, but when the developer goes to compile it for actual hardware, the compiler can’t find the requested API, resulting in an unresolved symbols compi- lation error.

So the point here is that you need to run your application on the iPhone or iPod Touch that you’re using for development. To do this, you need to obtain a development certificate from Apple, load the certificate into Xcode, and configure your build target to use it. I am not done yet on Iphone App Development Stay Tune ... :)

Shop By in Magento

2010-08-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

Its Magento age for e-commerce platform and when you are dealing with such CMS based platform you'll need to sort your data in terms of categories . Magento inbuilt provides a ShopBy feature to sort the data in terms of attributes e.g price,categories ,manufactures etc .

How to Enable the SHOPBY Feature :

First i'll suggest to have a look of layer structure of Magento .There are dozens of article on this topic so lets have a google .
Solution: set anchor "YES" for category from admin panel.admin panel->catalog->manage catgeory->open any category and set anchor "yes".also make sure that you didn,t remove "shop by" block reference from catalog xml file.

Thats it. Enjoy :)

Resources : http://webkul.com/magento-tutorial/shop-by-feature-in-magento

Objective-C concepts – Interface

2010-08-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

As you know from the previous post the language behind the iphone apps development is Objective-c . There are dozens of tutorials available in the web based on objective c but i'll explain the basic and core logic's to write iphone apps based on objective . Lets start -

Objective-C can be divided in two three parts -

1 - Interface

2 - Implementation

3 - Main Body

The further explanation is given here : http://vipinsahu.com/objective-c-core-concepts/.

In the next tutorial i'll explain more about implementation and main body with some good examples so stay tuned . Thanks for enjoying the article

IPhone Development Tutorial - Platform

2010-08-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

Hi folks , This time not JOomla nor PHP :) . I'm going to start new series of iPhone application development Step-by-step and skin-by-skin .Before Jumping in to development , i'll start with the platform . Here we go -

MAC : If you are goin to start iphone development and you dont have a MAC system then it is not possible .There are some alternative to MAC (e.g Hackintosh) but they are not perfect .

Objective-C : Objective-c , you can say C in OOP concept . Objective-c is quite different from C/C++ in terms of syntax . If you are going to start the IPhone development you must have a very good hand on Objective C . For the objective C you can use OPEN SOURCE package GNUSTEP in Linux .Xcode is sufficient in MAC for objective-c .

Xcode : Install Xcode in your MAC system , It is a nice IDE with all the modern editor's feature(e.g auto-complete,Curly braces etc ).You'll develop all Your code in XCode .

You can test your Application in Simulator but simulator has its own limits . You can not test some of the Iphone features in simulator (e.g - Camera , accelerometer etc ) . I'll suggest to purchase an Iphone .

In the next Section i'll explain the hello world in Objective C . Stay tuned

Vipin Sahu

http://vipinsahu.com
http://twitter.com/vipinsahu

APC vs MemCache in Joomla and magento

2010-06-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

Many times people get confused about the cache hander what should be used for the site performance . Here i'll elaborate some of the concept about the caching and cache handler .

PHP is little slow as compared to another programming language . The normal flow of the PHP is as follows

Request -> Scanning and lexing ->parsing ->Compilation (OpCode)-> OutPut(OpCode Processed )

So the OpCode caching can improve the site performance up to great extent .

APC : Apc is a cache handler mainly used for single server caching . APC uses the OpCode caching , the flow is as below

APC caching is must faster than memcache but not for the distributed system

Memcached: Memcached is also a cache handler and used for the distributed system , even facebook uses the memcache . Memcache is little slow .

Useful in Joomla and magento : Magento is resource hungry . APC can resolve this problem . Install magento in a Linux with APC installed and it will work like a rocket . You can also use APC and Memcache in Joomla in a very straight way . just install the cache handler and select the cache handler from the global configuration . Thats it :)

Resource :

1 - http://webkul.com/joomla-tutorial/memcached-in-joomla

Webkul

2010-05-26T22:36:00.001-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Webkul

View more presentations from vipin sahu.

How Site Performance improves Search Engine optimization

2010-04-10T01:21:00.000-07:00

Search engine optimization ..ahh really a much discussed topic . I am not gonna explain SEO but surely explain how site performance improves your site rank .As mattcutts explained that google does not use meta tag in Search ranking but google uses your site performance in search ranking .

Resources :

1 - http://searchengineland.com/google-now-counts-site-speed-as-ranking-factor-39708

2 - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

3 - http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/site-speed/

4- http://www.rustybrick.com/use-google-page-speed-tool-to-speed-up-your-site.html

5 - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

How to make a image module -Joomla Module development

2010-02-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

Joomla module development is a kind of fun .You can make your module in your own way ,if you are a newbie you can start form the hello world .There is a lot of tutorial over hello world joomla module development . Here we'll discuss how to pass parameters in Joomla module . lets start

There must be two files for making a joomla module

1 - .php file

2 - .xml file

XML File description :

xml file for joomla is straight forward nothing to do a lot , only take care when you are attaching your files and defining the parameters ,have a look

the best way to write xml for your joomla module, is to dig already exist joomla module from joomla extension directory

PHP File description :

This is the main file where you can show your PHP skills

defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');

This line is used for no external access in your joomla.

global $mainframe;

$mosConfig_sitename = $mainframe->getCfg('sitename');
$imagefolder = trim( $params->get( 'imagefolder' ) );
$speedView = trim( $params->get( 'speedView' ) );
$speedRemove = trim( $params->get( 'speedRemove' ) );
$speedTitle = trim( $params->get( 'speedTitle' ) );
$imgbgcolor = trim( $params->get( 'imgbgcolor' ) );
$imgbordercolor = trim( $params->get( 'imgbordercolor' ) );
$imgtitlename = trim( $params->get( 'imgtitlename' ) );
$imgtitlebutton = trim( $params->get( 'imgtitlebutton' ) );
$imageheight = trim( $params->get( 'imageheight' ) );
$imagewidth = trim( $params->get( 'imagewidth' ) );
$divwidth = trim( $params->get( 'divwidth' ) );
$divheight = trim( $params->get( 'divheight' ) );
$document =& JFactory::getDocument();

The above defined variables are the parameters ,you can pass your variable using

$imagefolder = trim( $params->get( 'imagefolder' ) );

This will grab your images from the image folder .Now this is the time to write some code for this.

That's it .This small piece of code will grab your images from your folder .we are not done yet on joomla module development , if you have any query or suggestion please drop a mail in my mailbox or just comment it out .enjoy ;)

Image results for vipin sahu

2010-01-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

Finally i am feeling like a celeb.Today when i checked myself in google with the string "vipin sahu" i found something very strange

OMG! its me ;) its really cool . Thanks Google :)

Twitter Live Search-stream widget in Joomla

2010-01-26T23:04:00.000-08:00

Twitter introduces his search widget which is really awesome , you can add this widget in you joomla site or joomla blog as well

First of all go to twitter search widget, here is widget link . You will see something like that

Now below this click on finish and grab code . Copy the code , now go to joomla admin and go to module manager now click on new button as select the custom HTML module and press next

Now select custom HTML
now click on the wyswyg editor's HTML icon and paste the twitter code . Publish this module and open your Joomla site you will see the result as in my blog

How to make video streaming site's like youtube

2010-01-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

Video streaming really a very awesome and a very new type of technology ,we experience at Webkul. Every time million's of user around the world open the YouTube but you know how these video sites work .There is a lot of technologies on streaming media , we will explain some of them :

Concept:

So how this video streaming works .Mainly you can stream your data on two standard protocols

Protocols:

1- HTTP

2- RTSP+RTP

Helper Media(Video Player):

For a normal site you can stream your media(video) over HTTP but the main disadvantage with HTTP is stateless ,HTTP is a stateless protocol and HTTP don't know about the state of the helper(Helper means video player ) . There are so many free open source video player but we at webkul are using Flowplayer .

Flow player is really an awesome video player ,you can easily customize and mold as per your need. There are so many conditions for making a streaming a video site like

1- You are using a hosting web space

2-You are using a dedicated server

3- others ;)

Actually there are some software for the encoding and decoding of your media file . Generally all the video player(flow player) supports .flv extension for streaming , means you can not stream your .AVI or .DAT extension with video player like flow-player . so thats the reason that you must have a encoding-decoding (conversion) software

Video Conversion:

This is the very most important aspect for making a video site . If you don't know how to convert videos in to desired format then its really hard to make a video site

Software Requirement and platform:

There are so many open source software for the video conversion like ffmpeg,mencoder etc. We are using FFMPEG for the video conversion really very handy and easy to use .

we are using Ubuntu (Linux) operating system as a platform for the video site .Ubuntu is simply awesome ,very user friendly , very large community and apt-get is just God :-o

For the Scripting language we are using PHP , I think no need to explain PHP now a days so we can say this "how to make video site using open source".

Host or Server:

If you are using a hosting account then make sure these softwares are install in your host and if you are having a dedicated server then hureeeeh ,you need not to be worry about anything .

So i think that the basic example it sufficient now starts with mechanism

Video Conversion and Thumbnail Generation:

As previously said we are using Ffmpeg so now how we'll use ffmpeg with PHP. For all this purpose we are using exec function . The video conversion commend is

exec("/usr/bin/ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -f flv -b 500000 ".$fileFlv);

$file : This is the variable for the source media file which you want to convert e.g example.avi

$fileFlv : This is the variable for the converted flv file e.g example.flv .For more on PHP and FFmpeg check here .

so now you have a converted .flv file now its time to grab thumbnails from the video

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image 2>&1");

$file : This is the variable for the source media file which you want to convert e.g example.avi.

$image: This the variable for the grabbed thumbnail from the video

For more in thumbnails generation please have a look Here .

Get length of the Video File :

This is also a useful technique , suppose you want to generate more than one thumbnails in specified interval let say you want nine thumbnails of the video . So at this point you must get the length of the video

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." 2>&1 | grep Duration | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sed s/,//")

$file : This is the variable for the source media file which you want to convert e.g example.avi. For more on video length calculation please have a look Here

So if you calculate the length from the commend , now you can generate nine thumbnails like this

$cmd = exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." 2>&1 | grep Duration | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sed s/,//");

$array = explode('.', $cmd);

$time = split(':',$array[0]);

$total = ($time[0] * 3600) + ($time[1] * 60) + $time[2];

$second = "5";

$second2 = ceil($total*1/8);

$second3 = ceil($total*2/8);

$second4 = ceil($total*3/8);

$second5 = ceil($total*4/8);

$second6 = ceil($total*5/8);

$second7 = ceil($total*6/8);

$second8 = ceil($total*7/8);

$second9 = $total-5;

So in this way you will get nine equal interval as described here as $second1, $second2 ....... . Now you can make nine thumbnails from the video as like

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image1 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second2 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image2 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second3 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image3 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second4 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image4 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second5 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image5 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second6 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image6 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second7 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image7 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second8 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image8 2>&1");

exec("$ffmpeg -i /mnt/videos/process/".$file." -an -ss $second9 -t 00:00:01 -r 1 -y -vcodec mjpeg -f mjpeg $image9 2>&1");

So now you have have converted FLV file and nine thumbnails with flow-player . I think this is sufficieint data to conquer the world .enjoy ;)

If you don't want to stream your video in HTTP you can use RTSP+RTP as well for this you have to use streaming server like DSS(darwin streaming server) or RED5 . I'll suggest to use darwin its open source and handy to use

We are not done yet on the streaming media, if you have any problem or suggestion drop a mail in our mailbox or just put a comment in the commentbox .we'll respond you as soon as possible thanks .....

Method Varien_Object::__tostring() cannot take arguments in Magento

2010-01-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

I downloaded a new Wamp server on my computer all things were working fine but when i try to install magento , i got a error like

Method Varien_Object::__tostring() cannot take arguments in C:\wamp\www\magento\lib\Varien\Object.php on line 488

After digging a lot finally i got the solution actually there is a conflict between Magento and higher version of PHP like php 5.3+ . So there is a step by step solution :-

File: /lib/Varien/Object.php (Line 484)

Change from

public function ___toString(array $arrAttributes = array(), $valueSeparator=’,')

to this

public function __invoke(array $arrAttributes = array(), $valueSeparator=’,')

and go to File /app/code/core/Mage/Core/Controller/Request/Http.php (Line 274)

Change from

$host = split(‘:’, $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);

To this

$host = explode(‘:’, $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);

For more information please refer magento discussion board .enjoy ;)

How to use jquery in Joomla

2010-01-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

Jquery really an awesome Javascript library and Joomla is an awesome CMS as well but the problem came when you use Jquery in joomla .The reason is joomla is based on mootools java script library . I used jquery in a module development.Here i'll explain how can we use jquery in module(Plugins,component etc) development
as the arrow(red) explains we have to use the jquery in noConflict() mode .You have to put this code in the php page of your module and CSS files which are in use ,you can add them in XML file like below

"filename module="mod_name""example.css"/filename"

(** "" are <>)

Thanks for enjoying this article

Refreance

http://webkul.com/joomla-tutorial/how-to-use-jquery-in-joomla-module-development

Tips to Improve Google Rank(Search Engine Optimization) with Joomla

2010-01-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

How to improve your site rank , Google page rank or search engine optimization these are the hot topics of Discussion . I heard from many people that the Joomla is not good for the S.E.O . First of all i want to clarify that Joomla is an awesome C.M.S and very search engine friendly .Joomla in-build search engine friendly (S.E.F) is very good despite that there are also so many extensions available in the Joomla extension directory which are really very good. We'll discuss Here more on Joomla Search engine optimization in a very lucid manner . So here we go...

Content : "Content is king" Really content is king If your site have good and healthy content , you need not to be worry about the page rank etc... Google will automatically find your site .Relevant data also has its importance . So Relevant data + Healthy(Good content) = No Worry ;)

SiteMap: SiteMap is also a very good technique in respect with site richness as well as Search engine optimization. In WebKul we uses Xmap Sitemap .Xmap is really an awesome component it generates dynamic SiteMap But never Forget to add this site Map to Google Webmaster Tool.

SEF URL's: Search engine Friendly Url's are also key points for the SEO actually what happens Joomla generates little wired URL's which are not search engine friendly Joomla in-build SEF extension is quite good but there are also some extensions which are really veru awesome like Artio

Canonical SEO(301 Redirect) : Generally guys thinks that like www.example.com or example.com or example.com/index.php are same but its not true make sure all your urls follows the same url weather they are www.example.com or example.com.

Check Your Not Found Pages: Not Found links are not good for Search engine optimizations. To check your Not Found pages use the Google Web-Master tool

Robot.txt: Check you robot.txt file, robot file participate a very good role for the dead links are not found pages please refer Mattcutts blog For the Robot.txt

Hide PDF , Printer Icons: If there is no use of PDF icons on your page Hide them because they down your page in Deep Web :-o , Which are not Search engine friendly.

Don't Use Very Large No of META Tags and Meta Description: This is very Silly but important aspect never use very large no of meta tags as well meta descriptions too but i'll always suggest them to use meta tags and meta descriptions.

Use Heading Tag(h3): Heading tag also play an important role in S.E.O .I'll suggest, make you page heading as h3 heading Generally Joomla follow this rule automatically but some templates don't follow this concept.

Healthy Backlinks : Healthy Backlinks plays a tremendous role in Joomla as well as any site's SEO , But Make sure these links are healthy(good) generally guys make spam links which is bad :(

Update and Update: Really Site content update is the most important concept .Update your site content regularly ,this we'll really help your site .

We are not done yet There is a lot on Search engine optimization .For any query or suggestion drop a mail in our mailbox or just comment it out Thanks :-o

contd......

How to use Memcache with Joomla

2010-01-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

There is lot of queries and questions over Joomla like joomla is too slow and blah blah types ... so here we go for the performance of joomla (or u can say any php Site)

The basic principle with any dynamic site to speed up is to reduce the load on the site or in technical words reduce HTTP requests every elements on the web page generates a HTTP request and this HTTP request hits the web server and blah blah ... there are tons of material is available on the web on this
So the concept is ,you can Speed Up your site in two way
1- Front end Optimization
2- Back end Optimization

I'll Tell all these above mention methods and concept in the next .This is the time for memcache
so whats the hell Memcache is ;) Memcache is an awesome memory cache handler .
Even Facebook usese This cache handler .First of all check that your memcahce is install on your webserver
For this, use simple phpinfo() and CTRL+F memcache if you don't found anything Then means its time to install the Memcache . I uses Ubuntu as my OS and i'll describe
How to install memcache on ubuntu:Simple type as below

apt-get install memcached php5-memcache

to restart the memcache use

/etc/init.d/memcached restart

and after that restart the Apache

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

if all things goes right , Now you can see memcache on phpinfo()

So now how to use your Memcache with Joomla

When you install the memcache Joomla automatically genrate the options for Memcache what you have to do is ,Just follow the setting as marked .

Don't change anything with sessions settings(its all up to you) :
If you did all things right you will surely get the result

Enjoy this tutorial if you got any problem or have a question Drop a mail in my mailbox or just comment it out thanks ;)

Image Inside FaceBook Dialog Box

2009-12-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys im back after a long time digging some API things ,this time FaceBook API and Google MAP API .Facbook API is really awesome thats why Facebook has tons of application So lets start ....

Facbook Replaces Java Script Alert Box with Its dialog box which are really awesome and looks very cool specially the glassy transparent border:

Simple Dialog Box:

To write Simple Dialog box is very simple .Nothing special is here what you have to do is Just copy-paste the below code in your page

Image Inside FaceBook Dialog Box:

Now its the time for Image Inside Dialog Box This is also very simple but there is a little trick .Place your content inside fb:dialog id="ID_NAME" and call this id using html tag like input . Put your image in the fb:dialog-content tag .Whole sample Code is Given below

The Working example of both the codes are here. for any quesries just drop a mail in my mailbox or just put a comment . Enjoy :)

Vipin Sahu
Follow me on
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How to install joomla in Linux (Ubuntu)

2009-11-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

Installation of joomla on ubuntu is little tedious and if you follow the simple rule as in windows you will get error in installing the sample data. so here we go,

Step by step tutorial:

I am assuming that in your linux Apache,Mysql and php is working fine if u are a newbie follow the instructions below

Installing Apache:

open the terminal and type the following command

sudo apt-get install apache2

if you are login from the user account it will ask for the password after interning the password apache will install automatically, For testing purpose wether apache is running or not open the browser and type http://localhost .It will surely show "it works".

Installing PHP:

open the terminal and type the following command

sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

if you are login from the user account it will ask for the password after interning the password PHP will install automatically.After the PHP installation restart the apache web server

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

For testing purpose weather php is running or not make a php file in "/var/www"
(folder path) 'test.php' open the php file using any editor im using gedit so open as

gedit test.php

and type simple save the file and open the browser and type

http://localhost/test.php and it will show the php information.

Installing Mysql:

open the terminal and type the following command

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

it will install the mysql automatically now create password for the mysql root user open the terminal and type mysql so now u r in the mysql console .To create password type

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('yourpassword');

here 'yourpassword' is your password and u can put anything on password.

Installing PHPMYADMIN:

open the terminal and type the following command

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

during the installtion it will ask about the web server and mysql password choose apache as web server and type your mysql password . now open apache.conf file using

gedit /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

and add this line to apache2.conf

Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf . now restart the apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Test for phpmyadmin: open your browser and just type http://localhost/phpmyadmin it will open the phpmyadmin

SO now your system is ready for the joomla installation

Joomla Installation:

Extract joomla in "var/www"(Folder path) now open the bowser and type http://localhost it will show the joomla folder as below

just click on the joomla folder it will ask about the language select the language and click on next button now the main thing came as the image describes

Dont bother about the warning just click on the next button and follow the instructions as joomla installation in windows at the end a textbox will appear just copy the text from the textbox and create the file "configuration.php" and copy the whole text to this file and save this file in "var/www/joomlafolder"
and follow the instructions .I am very sure that this tutorial will help you in the joomla installation for any quesries just drop a mail in my mailbox or just put a comment . Enjoy :)

Vipin Sahu
Follow me on
twitter

How to Import CSV into Magento

2009-10-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is very common question in magento that how to import csv files in magento .so lets start

1-login to your admin panel and go to system->import/export->profiles.

2-Now click on the import all product .

3-choose upload file and select your CSV file and press continue and edit .

4-After that click on the "Run Profile" and select the imported file .

5- finally click on the run profile in Popup

simple hunhh but the main problem came when your CSV doesn't match with the magento CSV

format for that purpose procedure is as below

Step 1 – Add a new product manually
add a new product manually to the catalog, assign it to a category, and fill out all fields that will be necessary to your store. The obvious ones are price, description, quantity etc. It’s important that you fill out all fields that you know you are going to need for all the products you import.

Step 2 – Export Your Products
Now we want to export your product to a .csv file so that we can view the fields that are required to import. Go to System >> Import/Export >> Profiles. Now click on Export All Products then Run Profile. Click on the “Run Profile in Popup” button. Once the export is completed, go to your var/export directory on your Magento install and you will find the .csv file there for you to download.

Step 3 – Analyze The .CSV File
Now if you look at your .csv export file you will see the field names that you need to match up. Now just start filling yours in and creating your csv file ready for import. This step is extremely important. Otherwise Magento cannot match what you are trying to import and the importing will fail. At a most basic level, here are the fields that I imported:

store
attribute_set
type
sku
category_ids
status
visibility
tax_class_id
weight
price
name
description

Step 4 – Import Your New .CSV File
Now go to System >> Import/Export >> Profiles. Now click on Import All Products. Change “Type” under Data Format to CSV/Tab Seperated. Now click on Upload File, and browse for your .csv file and click “Save and Continue Editing”. Now go to “Run Profile” and select your file from the dropdown menu. Click the button underneath to run the import. Enjoy...

Why 'C' is so fast !

2009-09-29T10:25:00.001-07:00

"Why 'C' is so fast !" This is very normal question that hits every geeks mind .

Newer languages have the features like Garbage collection,dynamic typing etc which make it easier to write the code but these richness consumes performance of the the application .'C' does'nt have the feature like this .Many languages and platforms, such as Java (with its Java Vitual Machine) and .NET (with its Common Language Runtime) have improved performance over the years with advents such as just-in-time compilation produces native machine code from bytecode to achieve higher performance.

The normal Answer of this question might be the that the "c" code is more machine oriented thats why c is so fast but keep in mind that it all depends on the programmer how he writes the code (memory leak, buffer overflow... ) .

"C" is not an object oriented programming language just take an example if you write a output statement in java it creates a class file and which runs on virtual machine(JVM) but this doesnt happen with "C". If you add some features of oops like inheritance, classes etc it surely reduce the optimization of application

There are some others features like

Variables are not automatically initialized
No bounds checking on arrays
Unchecked pointer manipulation
No integer overflow checking
Statically-typed variables
Function calls are static (unless you use function pointers)

need comments thanks and enjoy

Vipin Sahu
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How to get duration/length of a video file

2009-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

If u are making a video site, the duration/length of the video file is very impotent factor caz thumbnail generation is totally based on the length of the video .I am using FFMPEG and linux shell script to get the duration of the video
code:
****
#/bin/sh
ffmpeg -i inputfile 2>&1 | grep Duration | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sed s/,//
The output of this video file is 00:00:12.00

explanation:
***********
what i am doing here is very simple (if you are a newbie in linux arena dont bother )
ffmpeg -i input file gives the input values of the file and i am using pipes to transfer the information and after that grep and streame editor(SED) plz refer this site for further reference

Linux shell programming

if you want to use this data to your PHP file you can easily use it with exec() e.g.
PHP CODE
------------
$file=sample.avi;
$time = exec("$ffmpeg -i /path/".$file." 2>&1 | grep Duration | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sed s/,//");
echo $time;

so cheers with FFMPEG and if stuck anywhere drop a mail in my mailbox

Socialism for Dummies!

2009-09-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor
and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on
socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same
grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had
studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that
socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the
effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

How to install magento sample data

2009-09-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Magento really a very awesome e-commerce software based on the PHP and totally open source
hard thing with the magento is the complex directory architecture and a large data base tables
but despite that Magento is very cool to use so here we go to install magento sample data :
1- First go to official magento site and dowanload magento sample data, the sample data

contains a SQL file and a media folder.

2- Open your PHPMYADMIN and create a database e.g. magento and open SQL tab and paste the sql file of the sample data and click on go.

now your sample data is installed copy your magento folder in the root directory and open your browser with http://localhost/magento or http://www.example.com/magento and follow the instructions If got any problem plz drop a mail in my mailbox

Vipin Sahu
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Motivation Motivation Motivation ....

2009-09-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Motivation the very basic and most important aspect of life means if you are fully motivated that's it ,there is no need for anything but primarily people are lacking with motivation, determination and focus on the Goal .You have only one life and if you want to become Bill Gates or Steve Jobs you dont have any option, all the work must be accomplished in this life so do it and do it very fast caz time is not waiting for you. What i know any person can do anything ,believe in yourself and do something different at least when you die you should have a wikipedia page :) and we born in this world u know why caz we can reform the life of any person if you are succeeded with 'laks' you will be Mahtama gandhi so its your moral responsibility to help out those people who really deserve for that.Think big and do one step ahead of your thoughts always remember you have only one life

so folks do it something very constructive and motivate the people caz every person is unique as per swami vivekanand :
"All the power is within you and you can do anything and everything"-Swami Viveknanad

Configuration of MUNIN on ubuntu

2009-09-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Munin is basically a memory tool and it represents your memory information through web interface like your Virtual Memory ,Input/Output operations and several things . MUNIN is based on the master-node architecture Master-Node means master connects to the nodes at regular interval and fetch the data from the nodes and the data stores in the RRD file .Charts and graph came out from these data

HOW to Configure MUNIN:
*************************
im using Ubuntu on my server so first install MUNIN by simply typing apt -get

apt-get install munin munin-node

Configuration of the Master:
**************************

Go to etc/munin/munin.conf The main part in this file is

dbdir       /var/lib/munin/
htmldir     /var/www/munin/
logdir      /var/log/munin
rundir      /var/run/munin/

[example.com]
    address 127.0.0.1
    use_node_name yes

above text  must be present in this file (similar types)

Configuration of the Node:
*********************
Go to /etc/munin/munin-node.conf the main part of this file is

#host *
host 127.0.0.1

above text  must be present in this file (similar types)

now restart the munin /etc/init.d/munin-node restart ,and restart the apache .now
open your browser and type like www.vipinsahu.com/munin .Im very sure You will get the
information of your server in the form of charts and graphs ....

Vipin Sahu
Follow me on
twitter

Cron Jobs with Apache module in PHP

2009-08-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Several times people got stuck how to run your PHP script using CRON JOBS .There are two ways to run your PHP script via CRON jobs, first check which type of SERVER API your sever consist .As per in the above picture mine sever API is apache 2.0 handler .

The most basic way to apply cron in this case is first install lynx(Text Based browser) on your server (in case of ubuntu apt-get install lynx) .After installing Lynx open the crontab file using crontab -e and put the sample configuration code. Suppose you want to execute your PHP script in every minute :

* * * * */01 lynx -dump http://www.vipinsahu.com/cron.php

This script will run in every minute. Put complate URL before your PHP file like here http://www.vipinsahu.com . enjoy :)

Php Image Merge with Trasparency (Jpeg and PNG )

2009-08-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

Php GD and awesome library yesterday i was playing with images in PHP and found some problem with images transparency after merging JPEG and PNG images .So here we go to Resolve this problem here is the Demo and sample code what i did :

$dest = imagecreatefrompng('mapCanvas.png');
$src = imagecreatefromjpeg('si.jpg');
imagealphablending($dest, false);
imagesavealpha($dest, true);
// Copy and merge
imagecopymerge($dest, $src, 17, 13, 0, 0, 60, 100, 100);

// Output and free from memory
header('Content-Type: image/png');
imagepng($dest);

imagedestroy($dest);
imagedestroy($src);
/*---------------------------------------*/
?>

Here $dest is the background image(PNG) and $src is the front image(JPEG) and after merging im saving the image in PNG with transparency and the function with BOLD are the GD functions and i think all the code is self explaintory .If got any problem with GD please mail me enjoy :)

How to Run Magento in Localhost

2009-08-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

This is very basic problem for a newbie in magento. Every time people stuck on the admin login page when you put your username and password in respective fields it doesnt allow to enter in to the admin section .So here we go to resolve this problem

Go to this page app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Session/Abstract/Varien.php

and find the session_set_cookie_params(line-78) and replace your code with this

session_set_cookie_params(
$this->getCookie()->getLifetime(),
$this->getCookie()->getPath()
//$this->getCookie()->getDomain(),
//$this->getCookie()->isSecure(),
//$this->getCookie()->getHttponly()
);

i am very sure that this trick will help you on localhost but this problem does not occur in webhost .so enjoy :)

FFMPEG video conversion and Image conversion with PHP

2009-08-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

ffmpeg is the best tool for conversion of videos and image(thumbnail) generation and anyone can use this tool with php very easily .suppose that i want to convert my videos in to .flv format and after the conversion we create images from that .flv video so for that i am writing a script using ffmpeg:

$fileToFlv="/var/www/test/input.wmv";
$fileFlv="/var/www/test/test.flv";
$Flvjpg="/var/www/test/test.jpg";
$videoJPGWidthheight = "120x72";

exec("/usr/bin/ffmpeg -i ".$fileToFlv." -ar 22050 -ab 32 -f flv -s 320x256 ".$fileFlv);

exec("/usr/bin/ffmpeg -i ".$fileFlv." -vframes 1 -ss 00:00:06 -s 120x72 -f image2 ".$Flvjpg);

i think that the variable are self explanatory but below im exaplaining each and every convention which i used here plz mail me if u ppl got any problem with ffmpeg

************************************
ar- audio rate
##############

(The "-ar 22050" flag sets an audio sample rate of 22050 Hz. It is usually necessary to set a sample rate when encoding flv files because the MP3 encoder only supports rates of 11025, 22050, and 44100 Hz.) That's the basic idea, but in practical uses you will probably want to take control over more of the quality settings)

ab -audio bit rate:
###################
elects an audio bit rate of 32 bits per second use "ffmpeg -h" to check

`-f fmt'
####
Force format.

`-i filename'
##############
input file name

`-ss position'
##############
Seek to given time position in seconds. hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported.

`-vframes number'
#################

Set the number of video frames to record.

`-s size'
############

Set frame size. The format is `wxh' (ffserver default = 160x128, ffmpeg default = same as source).

like :
----
`sqcif'
128x96
`qcif'
176x144
`cif'
352x288
`4cif'
704x576
`16cif'
1408x1152
`qqvga'
160x120
`qvga'
320x240
`vga'
640x480
`svga'
800x600

`-ss position'
##############
Seek to given time position in seconds. hh:mm:ss[.xxx] syntax is also supported.

PHP Mysql Connection Using OOPS

2009-07-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

php is fully functional oo programming language .php mysql connection is not a very big deal but

using php classes it is little different

class database
{
private $host_name,$user_name,$password,$con; /* properties*/
public function connection($host_name,$user_name,$password) /* method*/
{
$this->host_name = $host_name;
$this->user_name = $user_name;
$this->password = $password;
$con = mysql_connect($host_name,$user_name,$password);

if (!$con)
{
die('could not connect' .mysql_error());
}
else
{
mysql_select_db("code",$con);
}
return $con;
}
}

$dbo = new database(); /* object creation */

if(!$dbo->connection("localhost","root",""))
{
echo "connection falied";
}
else
{
echo "connection established";
}
?>

as shown above i created a class database and inside the class i created a function connection and at last i created a object dbo and by that object im using claas

Big and Little Endian Byte Order

2009-06-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

Towers of Hanoi in C

2009-06-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

The tower of hanoi problem is very popular example in recursion and in stack data structure .The basic problem is that you have three pegs source, aux and destination and in the source peg there are N different sized disk (for the better understanding lets assume N=3).Now you have to move these disks from source to destination using aux peg but the Rules are :

1-only on disk move at one time
2-no disk rest on smaller disk

problem solving Process(recurrsive) is

1-move n-1 disks from source to aux as dest intermediate
2-move the bottom disk from source to dest
3-move n-1 disks from aux to dest using source intermediate

Algo Implementation
Suppose we have a function hanoi(N,src,aux,dest)

hanoi(N, Src, Aux, Dst)
if N is 0
exit
else
hanoi(N-1, Src, Dst, Aux)
Move from Src to Dst
hanoi(N-1, Aux, Src, Dst)

the no of moves required is (2^n-1) where n is no of disks at source peg
Code Implementation
The following code is tested under gcc/dev-c/c++ compiler.Please include math.h for the pow function

void hanoi(int x, char from,char to,char aux)
{

if(x==1)
{
printf("Move Disk From %c to %c\n",from,to);
}
else
{
hanoi(x-1,from,aux,to);
printf("Move Disk From %c to %c\n",from,to);
hanoi(x-1,aux,to,from);
}

}
int main()
{
int disk;
int moves;
printf("Enter the number of disks you want to play with:");
scanf("%d",&disk);
moves=pow(2,disk)-1;
printf("\nThe No of moves required is=%d \n",moves);
hanoi(disk,'A','C','B');
return 0;
}

Unix System Programming : Exec()

2009-05-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

Fork function copies the parent process image, many times we want that the child process execute a diffrent process
not the parent so in this case we use the Fork-Exec duo.The traditional way to use the fork–exec combination is for the child to execute (with an exec function) the new program while the parent continues to execute the original code.The POSIX syntax for the Exec family is

   int execl(const char *path, const char *arg0, ... /*, char *(0) */);
   int execle (const char *path, const char *arg0, ... /*, char *(0),
               char *const envp[] */);
   int execlp (const char *file, const char *arg0, ... /*, char *(0) */);
   int execv(const char *path, char *const argv[]);
   int execve (const char *path, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);
   int execvp (const char *file, char *const argv[]);

actually the Exec is a family of six functions we can devide exec function as tree whose left
node conatain Execl(execl,execlp,exece) function and right node contain Execv(execv,execvp,
execve) function

Execl: Execl family of function uses the command-line-argument in an explicit list

Execv: Execv family of function uses the command-line-argument in an argument array 

Example 1: execl.c

int  main(void) {
 pid_t childpid;

 childpid = fork();
 if (childpid == -1)  {
     perror("Failed to fork");
     return 1;
 }
 if (childpid == 0) {                            /* child code */
     execl("/bin/ls", "ls", "-l", NULL);
     perror("Child failed to exec ls");
     return 1;
 }
 if (childpid != wait(NULL)) {                  /* parent code */
     perror("Parent failed to wait due to signal or error");
     return 1;
 }
 return 0;
}

compile and execute the code as
linux-eq25:~/Desktop # gcc execls.c
linux-eq25:~/Desktop # ./a.out execls.c
total 27980
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8417504 Apr 10 06:22 01 - Dil Aesa Kisine -  Kishore Kumar @ Fmw11.com.mp3
-rw------- 1 root root 6497040 May 24 06:16 Hum Dil De (Papuyaar.com).mp3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    2880 Mar 20 17:07 MozillaFirefox.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    1431 Mar 20 17:07 Office.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    4405 Mar 20 17:07 Printer.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   35984 May 24 04:16 Project1.pdf

as shown per the output execl fucntion call the child process as ls-l

Unix System Programming : Fork()

2009-05-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

In the Unix System Programming Fork() is the most basic and very importent function so lets start

A process can create a new process by calling fork. The calling process becomes the parent, and the created process is called the child. The POSIX syntax for fork is

pid_t fork(void);

actually fork function copies the parent's memory image so that the new process receives a copy of the address space of the parent.suppose that i have created a programme fork.c as below
Example :

int main ()
{
printf("Hello World \n");
fork();
printf("Hello World after fork \n");
}

Compile and run this code as gcc -o fork fork.c and excute the code ./fork you will get the result like this

linux-eq25:/sahu/testc # gcc -o fork fork.c
linux-eq25:/sahu/testc # ./fork
Hello World
Hello World after fork
Hello World after fork

Example -2

int main(void){

pid_t childpid;

childpid = fork();
if(childpid == -1)
{
perror("could not create process");
return 1;
}
if(childpid == 0)
printf("i am the child process %ld \n",(long)(getpid()));
else
printf("i am the parent process %ld \n",(long)(getpid()));
return 0;
}

Compile and run the code as above the result will be like this

linux-eq25:/sahu/testc # ./fork
i am the parent process 5521
i am the child process 5522

How to Install Software online in Suse

2009-05-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

Many time i encountered with the query that the suse does'nt have online software installation feature like Ubuntu but its not true Suse also have similar features

Suppose if you want to install a CHMviewer software like chmsee so , go to software.opensuse.org and type the software name and click on the install button you will get the desired result enjoy :)

css sprites in joomla

2009-05-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

After analyzing my website with YSlow i felt that how to reduce http request in joomla b'caz joomla has its own set of rule for defining the .CSS and .JS files .I am using Minify for the combination of java script and css files .For the joomla there is a seprate component com_minify

like in the below example before the css sprites

baseurl(); ?>templates/system/css/system.css" type="text/css" />
baseurl(); ?>templates/system/css/general.css" type="text/css" />
templateurl();?>/css/editor.css" type="text/css" />
templateurl();?>/css/template_css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

here as shown there are four css files which genrate four HTTP request by using com_minify we can add above four css files in one like this
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/components/com_minify/?f=/templates/system/css
/system.css,/templates/system/css/general.css,/templates/Templatename/css/
editor.css,/templates/templatename/css/template_css.css" type="text/css" />
in this way we can reduce three http request

Flash File is not loading in Internet explorer, working fine in Firefox

2009-04-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

After perplexing a lot finally i got the stone .In genral flash having no problem with firefox but having some problem with IE actually IE did'nt recognize the embed code value so here is the solution
change your param name

<param name="movie" value="demo.swf">


to

<param name="movie" value="http://yoursitename.com/demo.swf">


plz consider your flash file path if you put your flash file in a folder add the 
folder name like that

<param name="movie" value="http://yoursitename.com/Foldername/
demo.swf">

Linux(KDE/GNOME) Graphical Task manager

2009-04-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

I read various qureries on the Task manager in the linux simliler to the windows (CTRL+ALT+DELETE) types so if you are using kde(im using suse11.0) the short cut for the task manager is CTRL+ESC, select the process which you want to kill and press the KILL button as per the above figure .If u want a command line task manager in linux you can use TOP and ps -aux I am using ps -aux ,suppose u want to kill firefox so you can short the process using grep like this
ps -aux | grep firefox this cmd will show the output like this

root 8653 0.0 0.1 13584 1552 ? S 18:39 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/firefox
root 8658 6.2 15.2 581132 155256 ? Sl 18:39 1:15 /usr/lib64/firefox/firefox
root 8982 0.0 0.0 4284 740 pts/3 R+ 18:59 0:00 grep firefox

choose the process id(like 8653) and type the cmd kill PID

For the GNOME user you can use the cmd gnome-system-monitor this task manager is similer to the kde task manager

Speeding Up Your Joomla Web Site

2009-04-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

Joomla a great CMS and a very wonderful community the power of open source b'caz the open source matters but there are some problem with the joomla websites . The most and frequent problem is loading or site speeding. Genrally the joomla sites are slow but you can make it faster

1-First of all use the FIREBUG and YSLOW plugin of firefox yslow is a best plugin for site speeding analysis install the yslow and chek the performance of your joomla site

2-You can use Gzip compression using joomla admin panel but joomla admin panel gzip working for a few files so first of all gzip all your files as per yslow suggests for the GZIP i am using smartoptimizer this is a nice tool only you have to extract the code of smartoptimizer in to the root directory of the site folder(public_html) and change the cache folder permission 777 of smartoptimizer (chek the config file) and put this code in to your .htaccess file just below the Rewriteengine on

ExpiresActive On
ExpiresDefault "access plus 10 years"

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*\.(js|css))$ smartoptimizer/?$1

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule ^(.*\.(js|css|html?|xml|txt))$ smartoptimizer/?$1

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule ^(.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|swf|css|js|html?|xml|txt))$ smartoptimizer/?$1

FileETag none

3-enable the cache from the joomla admin panel .

4-put all the CSS files at the TOP of the page and all .JS file at the bottam of the page

5-minify all your .js files as per yslow suggests

6- optimize your sql if you are using phpmyadmin then open your database and select the table and optimize it

7- From the joomla admin panel by clicking yes to the Debug setting you can see the Sql queries
You can change or tune the quesries

8-XSSI scripting is also a good method for reducing http request

enjoy :)

PC to Mobile calling Using Asterisk 1.6(chan_mobile) part-3

2009-04-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

Hi guys this is the final tutorial of chan_mobile on asterisk after completing all the configuration as per my past tutorial.first start asterisk console using asterisk -vvvvvvvvvc (asterisk in verbose mode) and type

*CLI> mobile show devices
the output should be similar like that
*CLI> mobile show devices
ID Address Group Adapter Connected State SMS
TytnII 00:1F:00:6D:22:29 0 blue Yes Free No

here ID is your phone name which you included in mobile.conf and also in extensions.conf address can found by typing mobile search in asterisk *CLI> this address must be included in the mobile.conf .adapter is blue(caz im using blueZ) and connected status must be yes if not plz restart your asterisk when all the things done .again open your asterisk in verbose mode you will get a message in asterisk *CLI>
== Parsing '/etc/asterisk/cli.conf': == Found
-- Bluetooth Device TytnII has connected.
-- Bluetooth Device TytnII initialised and ready.

Now open your softphone (im using SJphone) and dial the extension 300 (as i use 300 in my extensions.conf
exten => 300,1,Dial(Mobile/TytnII/yourmobileno) this will call the number as per specified and you will get something like that on your asterisk *CLI>
== Using SIP RTP CoS mark 5
-- Executing [300@internal:1] Dial("SIP/3000-007eed30", "Mobile/TytnII/9213552189") in new stack
-- Called TytnII/yourmobileno
-- Mobile/TytnII-9c82 is ringing
and in this way you can make call from pc to mobile enjoy :) .i followed this tutorial

PC to Mobile calling Using Asterisk 1.6(chan_mobile) part-2

2009-04-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

last night ,again a night out this time not for movie but for calling using asterisk for pc to mobile.for pc to mobile calling I am using asterisk 1.6 and chan_mobile module.Initially it was little perplexing but after some googling a got a lot helpful sites .I explained in my last tutorial how to configure your asterisk for chan_mobile .this time i'll explain the configuration details of files associated with chan_mobile,bluetooth and asterisk. The steps are here

1-First and most importent part of calling is you must have a paired bluetooth dongle(Adapter) with your mobile. I am using Suse11.0 and for the bluetooth im using bluez modules .Here im not explaning how to pair your mobile with pc caz there is a lot of matarial exist in the internet.

2-After pairing you have to configure your bluetooth associated files so open your hcid.conf
using #vi /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf and put the details similer like this dont copy paste understood the concept .My configuration is like this

# HCId options
options {
autoinit yes;
security auto;
pairing multi;
passkey "12345";
}
device{
name "ASTERISK PBX %d";
class 0x3e0100;
iscan enabled; pscan enable;
discovto 0;
lm accept;
lp rswitch,hold,sniff,park;
}

after configuring hcid the second file is mobile.conf open #vi /etc/asterisk/mobile.conf and add teh configuration of your mobile.my mobile.conf file is like

[TytnII]
address=00:1D:E9:36:A9:8D
port=0
context=from-pstn
adapter=blue
nocallsetup=yes

here you can find address and port directly from the asterisk CLI>mobile show devices

you have to put above configuartion below the adapter configuration in mobile.conf.

Third file is extension.conf open file using #vi /etc/asterisk/extensions.conf and add something like that
exten => 300,1,Dial(Mobile/TEST1/yourmobilenumber)

restart your asterisk 1.6 using asterisk -vvvvvvvvgc . and call to this no which you placed in the extension file this will redirect you to Digium. You can download mine configurations files

hcid.conf
mobile.conf
extensions.conf

cherrs :)

Chan_mobile(bluetooth) implementation on asterisk part-1

2009-03-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

after perplexing last night, finally i find the zenith so here we go how to configure chan_mobile.so on asterisk.This tutorial is inspired with Asterisk and chan_mobile

1-I am using asterisk 1.6 which supports chan_mobile .and the chan_mobile can be found on the asterisk-addons 1.6 compile both asterisk and asterisk -addons
2- bluetooth services must be active to run bluetooth dongle This can be found here

3- pairing is also a very importent task but im not describing here caz so many article is there on the internet on pairing

4-start bluetooth service as root as /etc/init.d/asterisk/bluetooth start.

5- to see the bluetooth dongle type- hcitool dev . there are various option you can see directly by typing hcitool

6-After installing asterisk-addons, chan_mobile.socan be find at /usr/lib/asterisk/modules

for the further reading plz follow this article

Some Importent links realted with asterisk and chan_mobile are

1-http://voip-hype.com/cellmobile-phones-on-asterisk-with-chan_mobile/

2-http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/

3-http://www.chan-mobile.org

4-http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/chan_mobile

Howto increase MPlayer volume

2008-09-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

As you know Mplayer is the God of all video player .Mplayer does'nt bothered to any type of media format
(e.g. .Dat,.Avi,,Mpeg....blah blah) but there are some technique's how to use Mplayer effectively first of all
type this in your konsole
mplayer -h
This will show you the shortcut for using Mplayer like
MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (Family: 15, Model: 6, Stepping: 5)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2
Usage: mplayer [options] [url|path/]filename

Basic options: (complete list in the man page)
-vo select video output driver ('-vo help' for a list)
-ao select audio output driver ('-ao help' for a list)
vcd:// play (S)VCD (Super Video CD) track (raw device, no mount)
dvd:// play DVD title from device instead of plain file
-alang/-slang select DVD audio/subtitle language (by 2-char country code)
-ss seek to given (seconds or hh:mm:ss) position
-nosound do not play sound
-fs fullscreen playback (or -vm, -zoom, details in the man page)
-x -y set display resolution (for use with -vm or -zoom)
-sub specify subtitle file to use (also see -subfps, -subdelay)
-playlist specify playlist file
-vid x -aid y select video (x) and audio (y) stream to play
-fps x -srate y change video (x fps) and audio (y Hz) rate
-pp enable postprocessing filter (details in the man page)
-framedrop enable frame dropping (for slow machines)

Basic keys: (complete list in the man page, also check input.conf)
<- or -> seek backward/forward 10 seconds
down or up seek backward/forward 1 minute
pgdown or pgup seek backward/forward 10 minutes
<> step backward/forward in playlist
p or SPACE pause movie (press any key to continue)
q or ESC stop playing and quit program
+ or - adjust audio delay by +/- 0.1 second
o cycle OSD mode: none / seekbar / seekbar + timer
* or / increase or decrease PCM volume
x or z adjust subtitle delay by +/- 0.1 second
r or t adjust subtitle position up/down, also see -vf expand

* * * SEE THE MAN PAGE FOR DETAILS, FURTHER (ADVANCED) OPTIONS AND KEYS * *

but this is not enough to use mplayer completely
Howto increase MPlayer volume so

try it out #mplayer "file name.avi " -softvol -softvol-max 300
here 300 is the three times of the original volume
basically there are two technique to increase the volume 1-Audio filter 2-softvolume
enjoy.....

How To Install Flash 9 Beta For Firefox

2008-09-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

So here the solution for flash 9 installtion for firefox in RPM based linux (Suse) .This problem always occur when u wanna play an online video and ,site told u that u don't have an upgraded flash version so follow the step by step tutorial :
Download the Package from here:
http://gwenole.beauchesne.info//en/projects/nspluginwrapper
Unzip the file Using tar -xvf file name
go inside the unzipped folder and type these command
./configure
make
make install
if have any problem type vi README and vi INSTALL

i hope this tuts should help enjoy

Ohhh! Gosh This is Indian Cricket Team

2008-07-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

ohh god i am tired, once again indian cricket team losses one more final .This time the indian coach also has been changed but indian team position at final remain same no change at all. As per your knowledge i am not a regular bather [:D] but today prepared myself before 3:30 and with a fresh bath this time i was confident that india will surely conquer this Asia Cup but one more defeat [:(].I think indian player came into pressure at finals so beside a coach they need a man who ponder their mind at finals so that they make matches in to victorious matches as per the indian i always want to see that my country always conquer this is not possible all the time but at least please don't make these defeats as a tradition .
all the best indian cricket team .....

download youtube videos

2007-09-25T13:51:00.001-07:00

hello friends

there is a simple trick to download youtube videos without any software

just take a example of a youtube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzPD4D9HKCo

if u want to download this video place voobys insted of youtube

http://www.voobys.com/watch?v=NzPD4D9HKCo

enjoy.................

Doob jana re..............

2007-09-05T02:28:00.000-07:00

aaj maine dilse
baadlo se milke) - 2
sapno ki baarish se kaliya sajake
mahki umango se khushbu churake
halki si boondo mein
lahro ki goonjo mein
gum ho jana re
(doob jaana re
mujhko doob jaana re
tere paas aana re
mujhko doob jaana re

chalte chalte maine yun hi
jaane mere dil se aisa kya keh diya) - 2
(kyun ye mausam bhi hai lagta ab suhana re
dhadkane bhi saath mere gungunati re) - 2
khamosh aanho ke simte irade
masum palko pe sapne sajake
halki si boondo mein
lahro ki goonjo mein
gum ho jaana re
(doob jaana re
mujhko doob jaana re
tere paas aana re
mujhko doob jaana re

badlo se dil ka rishta hai purana re
hai safar anjaan lekin aazmaana re) - 2
maine na socha na samjha na jaana
rukte kadam phir bhi aise kyun chaahe
halki si boondo mein
lehro ki goonjo mein
gum ho jaana re
(doob jaana re
mujhko doob jaana re
tere paas aana re
mujhko doob jaana re

Optimize BitTorrent To Outwit Traffic Shaping ISPs

2007-09-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

These days, nothing gets an internet service provider more hopping mad than peer-to-peer file trading. Depending on where you live, P2P can account for between 50 and 75% of broadband internet traffic. We mostly have the popularity of BitTorrent to thank for this crazy amount of data going to and fro.

But if you've been paying close attention to your BitTorrent transfers lately (or if you've simply been reading the news) you'll notice that ISPs have begun to take drastic measures to slow that flood of data currently clogging up their pipes.

Even though many of them deny it, most ISPs actively engage in traffic shaping, bandwidth throttling, connection denial or some such tactic to keep the amount of bandwidth consumed by high traffic applications on their networks to a minimum. While this does often ensure better performance for everyone in the neighborhood, it can mean painfully slow transfer speeds for those dabbling in P2P -- legit or not.

While there are valid arguments for and against shaping, we're not here to debate. We just want the fastest BitTorrent transfers possible.

Methods of Fooling ISPs

So how to get around an ISP that's throttling your BitTorrent traffic? You can try encrypting or your traffic, changing the default port number, or disguising your transfer as something it's not (like an FTP transfer).

The RC4 encryption offered by many popular BitTorrent clients will obfuscate not only the header but the entire stream, which makes it considerably more difficult for your ISP to detect that you're using BitTorrent.

Of course, none of these methods are guaranteed to work -- in the end, there's still an obscenely huge stream of data being sucked out of the ether and onto your hard drive -- but running some sort of encryption or obfuscation is worth a try.

How To Encrypt to Your BitTorrent Transfers:

Not all torrent clients support encryption. Check your documentation if your favorite isn't listed below.

Azureus/Vuze
Azureus (which now calls its official client Vuze) is written in Java and therefore cross-platform. To turn on encryption, head to the Tools menu. Select Options, then Connection, then Transport Encryption. Check the "Require encrypted transport" box and select RC4 in the "Minimum encryption" drop-down menu.

Azureus/Vuze also offers an "Allow non-encrypted outgoing connections if encrypted connection attempt fails" option, which means you'll still be able to hop on torrents that don't have any encrypted seeders.

µTorrent
µTorrent (and now BitTorrent which is based on µTorrent) is a Windows-only client. In µTorrent, open up the Preferences panel and select the BitTorrent tab. Select Protocol encryption and then choose between "enabled" and "forced." µTorrent's "Enabled" option mirrors Azureus' option to allow unencrypted connections when no encrypted clients exist. It will give you more connections, but it won't be as effective at defeating traffic shapers.

µTorrent/BitTorrent also offers a option to 'Allow legacy incoming connections' which lets non-encrypted clients connect to you. This improves compatibility between clients but again, makes your traffic more vulnerable to shapers.

BitComet
BitComet is another popular Windows Client (98/Me/2000/XP). To turn on encryption in BitComet, head to the Options menu and choose Preferences. Then go to Advanced > Connection and select "Protocol encryption." There are options for "auto detect" and "always."

As with the others, "auto detect" will connect to more peers, but it won't hide traffic as well. You'll need to play with the settings in your program to see if it has any affect on your download/upload speeds.

Other clients that support encryption include KTorrent (Linux), rTorrent (Linux, Mac) and BitTornado (Windows).

Now For the Bad News

ISPs are taking advantage of more sophisticated shaping technology all the time, and many of the newer shapers won't be fooled by encrypted traffic. For instance, Sandvine (the shaping tool many believe Comcast and other ISPs employ) won't be fooled by obfuscating your traffic.

So what can you do beyond obfuscating?

The short answer is not much. There is no fool-proof way to do beat the shapers. You best choice is probably to switch to an ISP that doesn't employ anti-BitTorrent traffic shaping. In the long run, this also has the benefit of sending an effective message to your ex-ISP.

For a list of ISPs to avoid, have a look at the list maintained on the Azureus Wiki.

But what if you have no other option when it comes to ISPs? Start by calling customer service. Call now and call often. Disgruntled consumers often cost an ISP far more money than a large amount BitTorrent traffic. And by all means, try the encryption, though your results may vary considerably depending on what shaping tools your ISP is employing.

Adobe's Novel Approach to E-Books

2007-09-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

If Stephen King's recent move to pull the plug on his e-serial The Plant is any indication, consumers aren't yet ready to read lengthy fiction off a small screen.

Software company Adobe (ADBE) believes that e-books will go beyond digital versions of novels and is working on technology that makes them useful tools for business travelers and students.

On Monday, Adobe announced the release of its new e-book software, the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.0. Adobe also unveiled version 2.0 of the Adobe Content Server, a system that secures and prepares Adobe PDF files for online distribution and purchase.

"We don't necessarily think that that's the narrow range where e-books should be pigeonholed," said Kevin Nathanson, group product manager for Adobe e-books. "We look at it as part of a much broader universe."

Adobe said that BarnesandNoble.com will feature a range of new Adobe PDF-based e-books on their e-book website. Adobe will also sell books on its own e-books website.

Adobe entered the e-book fray in 2000 with its purchase of e-book software developer Glassbook.

But Adobe is taking a different approach from competitors such as Microsoft. It will go after two target markets where it thinks e-books have the most value: the higher education market and the mobile professional.

Adobe is targeting students and business workers with Internet-connected computers. They may not read an entire textbook or research report, but could readily use e-books to search multiple books, take notes or highlight text.

"We believe that the early adopters are people who have a value for time saving, and reducing the bulk of papers they lug around," said Michael Looney, Adobe's senior director of e-books.

So instead of focusing on the latest bestsellers, Adobe is bargaining with publishers to produce content that's usually considered reference material.

Analysts say that's the right approach.

"We see those as the growth markets that are going to bleed over into the consumer market," said IDC analyst Malcolm Maclachlan.

While rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and RCA/Thomson race to convert titles into their respective e-book reader formats, Adobe hopes to appeal to publishers who have already published content in its Portable Document Format (PDF).

"The vast majority of books that are printed today already exist in PDF," Nathanson said. "There's a virtual universe of compelling content that's available in the file format."

Electronic pages captured in PDF look just as they would on paper, preserving all the fonts, graphics and layout. PDF files can be read by Windows and Macs.

"If (a publisher) already (has files stored in) PDF, you have a pretty good e-book right off the bat," Nathanson said. "The costs of conversion are practically nil."

Users will be able to download Survivor II: Field Guide exclusively as an Adobe PDF e-book before it is released in print. The guide comes equipped with an interactive score sheet so readers can keep tally of who will be banished from the popular television show.

Adobe will feature mostly trade publication e-books and broader consumer titles on BarnesandNoble.com. But the company is also working with educational publishers, institutions and the professional marketplace to develop titles.

Adobe's e-books can also be printed, which according to the company is a significant advantage over competitors.

Publishers will be able to set up Adobe Content Server to determine whether users can print the e-books, copy them, or have them read aloud. Publishers can also define how many copies of a book a user can make, if they can be lent out to other users, or whether books will expire after days, weeks or even a semester.

"Security is a big issue," Maclachlan said. "Book publishers don't have a piracy problem right now. But when you start talking about printing, people start to get nervous."

While RCA/Thomson is marketing its e-book devices to the mass market, Adobe is betting that early adopters would rather download a device to a PC or laptop rather than buy a new piece of hardware.

"People may want to pick those up, but if we look at the penetration (of dedicated e-book devices) so far it's still relatively minimal, it's in the gadget category still," Nathanson said.

Nathanson is hopeful that the partnership with BarnesandNoble.com could lead to more downloads of Adobe e-books than for competitors that require dedicated devices.

Google Moves Into Wi-Fi Arena

2007-09-03T05:40:00.000-07:00

Online search leader Google is preparing to launch a wireless internet service, Google WiFi, according to several pages found on the company's website Tuesday.

A Wi-Fi service, which offers a high-speed connection to the internet, would take Google even further from its search roots and move it into the fiercely competitive world of internet access providers and telecommunications companies.

The Google website has several references to Google WiFi but provides few details. One page refers to a product called Google Secure Access, which is designed to "establish a more secure connection while using Google WiFi."

A separate page offers a free download of Google Secure Access, carrying the headline: "Your wireless connection is almost ready to use."

Google declined to comment. The company launched a sponsored Wi-Fi hot spot in San Francisco's Union Square district in April with a startup called Feeva.

Speculation about a forthcoming Wi-Fi service from Google has been rife since August following an article in Business 2.0 magazine, but the company has refused to discuss its plans.

Analysts have voiced concerns that Google could extend itself too far beyond its core business, while acknowledging its vast financial and engineering resources could produce results.

"Becoming a service provider would be quite a stretch for Google, but considering the billions of dollars Google could throw at the problem it could become a reality," Ovum analyst Roger Entner wrote in the wake of the Business 2.0 article.

"Depending on how Google can adapt to these challenging areas and how committed it is to the space, it could become a home run or could break the bank."

Google, which is rapidly expanding beyond its core internet search service, introduced an instant messaging and telephony service called Google Talk in August.

Its shares were up 1.6 percent to $308.64 in morning trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

The Indian Hacker

2007-08-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

SWARMS OF Pakistani hackers, dozens of downed Indian websites and no desi cyberwarriors
on the horizon. No surprise that when an Indian hacker, by the net name of True Indian
announced himself, he was mobbed by the media. Infotech experts believe this hacker might be
Indian, but he’s definitely untrue.
True Indian claims to have defaced two websites: pakgov-.org and, more recently, lashkar-etoiba.
org. Very patriotic, ex-cept that Pakistan’s official site is pak.gov.pk, the Lashkar’s
markazdawa.org. A Lashkar online rep, Abul Braa, notes that even the domain name is misspelt:
“The real word is Taiba.”
The names under which the sites are registered are fraudulent: pakgov.org’s owner claims to be
“Mushraff, Parveez” while lashkar-e-toiba.org gives an Osama Bin Laden e- mail. Also, these
sites lack pedigree. Lash-kar-e-toiba.org was only created two months ago, just before True
Indian claimed to have hacked it. And it is hosted on a yahoo server computer. Yahoo is a
common site for make-it-yourself websites.
Website attacks are verified by a number of net groups. One of them, attrition.org bluntly listed
the pakgov.org attack a hoax. Fredrik Ostergren of alldas.de’s says his e-group, “Can’t find any
defacement for [lashkar-e-toiba.org] in our database nor the nickname ‘True Indian’.” True
Indian, who says he’s a 28-year-old Mumbai e- security consultant, has hinted these groups
don’t want to acknowledge an Indian.
True Indian says he carries out his attacks through DNS hijacking — taking over a website by
assuming the site owner’s e-mail identity. According to Srijith K. of India Cracked, a site that
tracks anti-Indian hacking, DNS hijacking was simple in the net’s early days. Today, he says, “it
is really very difficult.” True Indian refuses to explain his technique. He did not answer
questions e-mailed to him.

Exploit The Power Of Google

2007-08-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Google is world's most popular and powerful search engine which has the ability to accept pre-defined commands as inputs and produce unbelievable results.

Google can be used in much more effective way than what we generally know. While browsing on internet I found about the immense power of Google.

Google's Advance Search Query Syntaxes

Below discussed are various Google's special commands and there explanation.

[ intitle: ]

The 'intitle:" syntax helps Google restrict the search results to pages containing that word in the title. For example, "intitle:login password" ( without quotes ) will return links to those pages that has the word "login" in their title, and the word "password" anywhere in the page.

Similarly, if one has to query for more than one word in the page title then in that case "allintitle:" can be used instead of "intitile" to get the list of pages containing all those words in its title. For example using "intitle:login intitle:password" is same as querying "allintitle:login password".

[ inurl: ]

The "inurl:" sysntax restricts the search results to those URLs containing the search keyword. For example: "inurl:books" (without quotes) will return only links to those pages that have "books" in there URL.

Similarly, if one has to query for more than one word in an URL then in that case "allinurl:" can be used instead of "inurl" to get the list of URLs containing all those search keywords in it. For example: "allinurl:etc/passwd" will look for the URLs containing "etc" and "passwd". The slash ("/") between the words will be ignored by Google.

[ site: ]

The "site:" syntax restricts Google to query for certain keywords in a particular site or domain. For example: "books site:amazon.com" (without quotes) will look for the keyword "books" in those pages present in all the links of the domain "amazon.com". There should not be any space between "site:" and the "domain name".

[ filetype: ]

This "filetype:" syntax restricts Google search for files on internet with particular extension (I.e. doc, pdf or ppt etc). For example: "filetype:doc site:gov confidential" will look for files with ".doc" extension in all government domains with ".gov" extension and containing the word "confidential" either in the pages or in the ".doc" file. I.e. the result will contain the links to all confidential word document files on the government sites(do it on your own risk, I won't be liable for anything :-))

[ link: ]

"link:" syntax will list down webpage’s that have links to the specified webpage. For example: "link:www.vipin.ac.in" will list webpage’s that have links pointing to the "vipin" homepage. Note there can be no space between the "link:" and the web page url ( applicable to all commands, so it will not be specified again).

[ related: ]

The "related:" will list web pages that are "similar" to a specified web page. For example: "related:www.vipin.ac.in" will list web pages that are similar to the "vipin" homepage.

[ cache: ]

The query "cache:" will show the version of the web page that Google has in its cache. For example: "cache:www.securityfocus.com" will show Google's cache of the Google homepage. If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document. For example: "cache:www.securityfocus.com guest" will show the cached content with the word "guest" highlighted.

[ intext: ]

The "intext:" syntax searches for words in a particular website. It ignores links or URLs and page titles. For example: "intext:books" (without quotes) will return only links to those web pages that has the search keyword "books" in its webpage.

[define:]

The “define:” syntax works like a dictionary. It defines the word written just after it. For example: “define:Vipin” (without quotes) will return the various definitions of the word “Vipin Sahu”.

There are many more other options. But I think these much are more than enough for normal searching. Because the options which I'm not specifying could be used for malicious purpose.

Black Hat Hackers

2007-08-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Black Hat Crackers

The Internet abounds with hackers, known as crackers or "black hats," who work to exploit computer systems. They are the ones you've seen on the news being hauled away for cybercrimes. Some of them do it for fun and curiosity, while others are looking for personal gain. In this section we profile five of the most famous and interesting "black hat" hackers.

Jonathan James: James gained notoriety when he became the first juvenile to be sent to prison for hacking. He was sentenced at 16 years old. In an anonymous PBS interview, he professes, "I was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see what I could pull off."

James' major intrusions targeted high-profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat Reduction Agency server. The DTRA is an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies from nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and special weapons. The backdoor he created enabled him to view sensitive e-mails and capture employee usernames and passwords.

James also cracked into NASA computers, stealing software worth approximately $1.7 million. According to the Department of Justice, "The software supported the International Space Station's physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space." NASA was forced to shut down its computer systems, ultimately racking up a $41,000 cost. James explained that he downloaded the code to supplement his studies on C programming, but contended, "The code itself was crappy . . .certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed."

Given the extent of his intrusions, if James, also known as "c0mrade," had been an adult he likely would have served at least ten years. Instead, he was banned from recreational computer use and was slated to serve a six-month sentence under house arrest with probation. However, he served six months in prison for violation of parole. Today, James asserts that he's learned his lesson and might start a computer security company.
Adrian Lamo: Lamo's claim to fame is his break-ins at major organizations like The New York Times and Microsoft. Dubbed the "homeless hacker," he used Internet connections at Kinko's, coffee shops and libraries to do his intrusions. In a profile article, "He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night," Lamo reflects, "I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. It kind of redefines the term multi-jurisdictional."

Lamo's intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white hat hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it's legal. What Lamo did is not.

When he broke into The New York Times' intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times' LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter.

For his intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 16, 2007. Lamo is currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker.
Kevin Mitnick: A self-proclaimed "hacker poster boy," Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offenses may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as "the most wanted computer criminal in United States history." His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown.

Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offenses that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although there were numerous offenses, Mitnick was ultimately convicted for breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation's computer network and stealing software.

Mitnick's mischief got serious when he went on a two and a half year "coast-to-coast hacking spree." The CNN article, "Legendary computer hacker released from prison," explains that "he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system." He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura's home computer, which led to his undoing.

Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and is now a computer security consultant, author and speaker.
Kevin Poulsen: Also known as Dark Dante, Poulsen gained recognition for his hack of LA radio's KIIS-FM phone lines, which earned him a brand new Porsche, among other items. Law enforcement dubbed him "the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime."
Authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. During this pursuit, he further drew the ire of the FBI by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information.

His hacking specialty, however, revolved around telephones. Poulsen's most famous hack, KIIS-FM, was accomplished by taking over all of the station's phone lines. In a related feat, Poulsen also "reactivated old Yellow Page escort telephone numbers for an acquaintance who then ran a virtual escort agency." Later, when his photo came up on the show Unsolved Mysteries, 1-800 phone lines for the program crashed. Ultimately, Poulsen was captured in a supermarket and served a sentence of five years.

Since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist. He is now a senior editor for Wired News. His most prominent article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.
Robert Tappan Morris: Morris, son of former National Security Agency scientist Robert Morris, is known as the creator of the Morris Worm, the first computer worm to be unleashed on the Internet. As a result of this crime, he was the first person prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Morris wrote the code for the worm while he was a student at Cornell. He asserts that he intended to use it to see how large the Internet was. The worm, however, replicated itself excessively, slowing computers down so that they were no longer usable. It is not possible to know exactly how many computers were affected, but experts estimate an impact of 6,000 machines. He was sentenced to three years' probation, 400 hours of community service and a fined $10,500.

Morris is currently working as a tenured professor at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He principally researches computer network architectures including distributed hash tables such as Chord and wireless mesh networks such as Roofnet.