When you get a ringtone from a website or from a CD rip (like in iTunes), you might like the song but you might not like the part that is playing as your ringtone.

Here’s one way to put a ringtone in a Blackberry:

1. Get the mp3 file of the song that you like.
2. (You’ll need software to do this)  Crop the part that you like (a 30 second interval) - using T-Mobile for example you can create a ringtone up to 30 seconds.

One audio editor is Audacity and is free and can be downloaded from here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
3. Save it to ringtone file onto the BlackBerry using your desktop software.

While I was playing with Rails 2.1 I decided to try the SQLite3 support that comes built into OS X instead of using MySQL. Upon trying to run a migrate command via rake I was created with:

	rake aborted!
	no such file to load -- sqlite3/database

After some digging around I found out that (for at least a few people) having the sqlite3-ruby-1.2.2 gem installed creates this problem… The following resolved it:

	gem uninstall sqlite3-ruby

	Select gem to uninstall:
	 1. sqlite3-ruby-1.2.1
	 2. sqlite3-ruby-1.2.2
	 3. All versions
	> 3

	daorriss$ sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby -v=1.2.1
	Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
	Successfully installed sqlite3-ruby-1.2.1
	1 gem installed
	Installing ri documentation for sqlite3-ruby-1.2.1...
	Installing RDoc documentation for sqlite3-ruby-1.2.1...

After that rake db:migrate worked without a hitch. But if anyone could tell me what could cause the problem with sqlite3-ruby-1.2.2 I’d appreciate it..

From CNET News:

Borland Software has sold its CodeGear development tools division to Embarcadero Technologies for about $23 million, the companies said Wednesday.

CodeGear sells the products that Borland used to be best known for–its JBuilder Java development tool, Delphi, and C++Builder. More recently, CodeGear has created development tools for PHP and Ruby.

Two years ago, Borland CEO Tod Nielsen announced a plan to sell off the tools division separate from its application lifecycle management product line. The tools division has been hurt from competition from free, open-source products, notably the Eclipse IDE.

CodeGear products are aimed at individual programmers, while the lifecycle management suite is designed for teams of developers, testers, and architects.

Since then, Borland hadn’t been able to find a buyer.

Embarcadero brings in more than $60 million in annual revenue selling database management and design tools. The acquisition gives it access to the millions of developers that use CodeGear software, it said.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9937966-7.html

It’s about time.. Borland is in the Open ALM death throes and CodeGear needs a fresh senior management structure. And since Embarcadero doesn’t have a developer community, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that they’ll happily be expanding the TeamB partnership. So this will no doubt be a win for CodeGear, it’s developer community and Embarcadero itself.

As for Borland… $1.49 and 5 bucks will buy you a third-rate Whopper value meal at Burger King. Thanks for screwing over my shareholder value guys… I really appreciate it…

This Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 adds Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_05 to your Mac. This update does not replace the existing installation of J2SE 5.0 or change the default version of Java.

For more details on this update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307403

Please note what the aforementioned article says:

This release is only for Mac OS X v10.5.2 and later, and should not be installed on earlier versions of Mac OS X. This release is for 64-bit Intel-based Macs only and cannot run on PowerPC-based or 32-bit Intel-based Macs.

If you don’t want to wait for Software Update to refresh for you, just go here:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/application_updates/javaformacosx105update1.html

If you have a developer preview of Java 6 on your system you’ll need to remove the /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0 folder and the 1.6 alias (or ’symlink’) if it exists.

Has this ever happened to you?

Read the rest of this entry »

Installing WebLogic 10 on a Mac in OS X isn’t supported by BEA. But it’s possible. Here’s how.

Read the rest of this entry »

Between being hacked a couple of weeks ago and some database problems the blog hasn’t been feeling well..  Hopefully everything is restored and back online now. 

I got a reminder last weekend about just how critical it is to secure your WordPress-based Blog.

Mine was hacked…

My own fault, to be sure… Turns out that the installation scripts can be very easily hacked and SQL-injected. The end result is that your tables for your blog will end up being destroyed. Fortunately for me my hosting provider does regular backups.

So, after recovering my data the next step was making sure I didn’t have that happen again. After a bit of research and looking at a couple of websites I found the following steps can pretty well resolve future problems.

Restrict access to your wp-admin directory.

This one is probably the most important. Simply block all access to your admin pages except from the IP address of the location you will be accessing the admin pages from the most. It’s very hard to spoof an IP address and as long as no one knows the IP address you manage your blog from, it becomes even more difficult.

In the wp-admin directory create a file called .htaccess and have it include the following:

	AuthUserFile /dev/null
	AuthGroupFile /dev/null
	AuthName "Access Control"
	AuthType Basic
	order deny,allow
	deny from all
	# whitelist home IP address
	allow from xx.xx.xx.xx

Replace “xx.xx.xx.xx” with your local IP address (or the IP address of your router or firewall). If you’re unsure how to determine that you can always go to a website like http://whatismyipaddress.com/ and you can find out from there.

This one step will block most of the script kiddies and quasi-hackers out there.

Place an empty ‘index.html’ in the plugins folder.

I have no idea why the WordPress distributors don’t do this but the wp-content/plugins folder in the WordPress distribution is left wide open to be viewed by all. So anyone can see what plugins you run and exploit them as appropriate. Rather than make another .htaccess file, just put a blank index.html file in here and call it done.

Remove the ‘version’ string from theme files

Use this tip with a bit of caution - it could cause stats plugins for WordPress to stop working. If you don’t know what those are, then feel free to use this tip.

1. Go to Wordpress dashboard, click on Design -> Theme Editor -> Header (header.php)
2. Find and remove this.bloginfo(’version’) and save the file.

If your themes are locked, then go into the theme from the wp-content/themes/<themename> directory and name the changes from there.

You can also read the Codex for more information on making the file writable.

Remember to re-apply these changes when you upgrade.

When you upgrade to a newer version of WordPress most of the ‘quickie’ upgrade guides have you replace your old version of your WordPress files with the new version. These guides often entail removing the current directory contents and replacing them with the files from the newer WordPress release. Just make sure to set these changes you’ve made aside so that you can re-apply them after you upgrade.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hands cramping up from too many video games?

How about controlling games with your thoughts instead? Later this year, Emotiv Systems Inc. plans to start selling the $299 EPOC neuroheadset to let you do just that.

The headset’s sensors are designed to detect conscious thoughts and expressions as well as “non-conscious emotions” by reading electrical signals around the brain, says the company, which demonstrated the wireless gadget at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Wonder what it’ll look like? Hrmmmm….

From MyWay

About time, if you ask me.  Blu-Ray, proprietary and region-centric tho it may be, is the better format.

TOKYO (Reuters) -
Toshiba Corp (6502.T) is planning to give
up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, conceding
defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp
(6758.T), a company source said on Saturday.

The move will likely put an end to a battle that has gone
on for several years between consortiums led by Toshiba and
Sony vying to set the standard for the next-generation DVD and
compatible video equipment.

Toshiba to give up on HD DVD, end format war: source - Yahoo! News