Internet’s global invasion must come with localization.

Google recently localized their Google Webmasters Central Tools to four more languages; supporting up to 26 languages to press date.

The four languages made available today are Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi and Thai.

Now, there are more reasons for webmasters to use this tool. There’s no need for non-English webmasters to suffer the pain of understanding jargon (for them) English terms.

Hey, guys. I’m making this post after having successfully migrated my blog from the crappy slow DreamHost to the uber-cute-named A Small Orange.

Here’s it.

Requirements

• Patience. Patience is a virtue.
• Preferably an FTP client. An online FTP client would do.
• Access to your mySQL server; I recommend using PHPmyAdmin in managing your database although using the console would do.
• Basic knowledge on mySQL.

Back-Up

First of all, you have to backup your blog’s files. Access your blog’s root thru your FTP client. Copy all the files in your blog’s root to a hard disk destination of your choice.

After backing-up all the files, the next move would be backing up the entire database. Thru your SQL interface (PHPmyAdmin is again recommended), access your SQL server then your blog’s database.

If you are using PHPmyAdmin, just click the Import button at the top, then check the tick box below that says something like “Download File”. Save the imported SQL file to a hard disk destination of your choice.

But if you’re not using the nifty tool, you have to do it your own provided you have knowledge on it. You may also ask your web host to do it for you.

Copying the Data to New Host

Then, we’ll be making something senseful. Access your new SQL server (your new host’s SQL) thru PHPmyAdmin or console. If you’re using PHPmyAdmin, just click the Export button above, then upload the file you just saved on the hard disk destination of your choice to your SQL server and have it copied there by itself. Again, if you’re not using PHPmyAdmin, you may ask your new web host to do it for you.

Yey, you already have a copy of your database on your new host. Then, we’ll be copying the blog root files you saved in the hard disk destination of your choice. Using your FTP client, upload it to your new host. On some modern FTP clients, drag-and-drop would do the entire job.

CHMOD Time

Ooops. we’re not that done yet. You still have to set the chmod of the following folders and its folders and files to 777:

• /wp-content/themes/
• /wp-content/uploads/
• /wp-content/plug-ins/

To change a folder’s chmod, you may use your FTP client. If you’re using FileZilla, just right-click the folder and click file attributes. Type the value ‘777′ on the textbox then check Recurse in files and subdirectories then click okay.

Before I forget

I almost forgot this one. Using your favorite text editor (Notepad’s one), modify your local copy (the one on the hard disk destination of your choice) of wp-config.php.

The file looks like this:

/** WordPress's config file **/
/** http://wordpress.org/   **/// ** MySQL settings ** //
define('DB_NAME', 'yourdbname‘);     // The name of the database
define(’DB_USER’, ‘yourdbuser‘);     // Your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘yourdbpassword‘); // …and password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘yourdbhost‘);     // …and the server MySQL is running on
// Change the prefix if you want to have multiple blogs in a single database.
$table_prefix  = ‘wp_’;   // example: ‘wp_’ or ‘b2′ or ‘mylogin_’
// Change this to localize WordPress.  A corresponding MO file for the
// chosen language must be installed to wp-includes/languages.
// For example, install de.mo to wp-includes/languages and set WPLANG to ‘de’
// to enable German language support.
define (’WPLANG’, ”);
/* Stop editing */
$server = DB_HOST;
$loginsql = DB_USER;
$passsql = DB_PASSWORD;
$base = DB_NAME;
define(’ABSPATH’, dirname(__FILE__).’/');
// Get everything else
require_once(ABSPATH.’wp-settings.php’);
?>

Now, you have to change the values in bold to your new hosts’ configuration.

Last Step?

Uhm, the last step. You have to login to the place where you bought your domain aka domain registrar. Change your nameserver settings (steps differ from a nameserver to another) to your new host’s nameserver. It usually sounds and looks like ns1.yourhost.com, ns2.yourhost.com and in some cases ns3 to ns4.

After setting, wait for at most three days for the change in DNS info to propagate around the world. Your blog at your old host will be the one displayed when the viewer’s ISP’s DNS server hasn’t received the DNS update.

Enjoy.

Ooops, the lastest step.

Check your blog once it propagates around the world. If you experience problems, try rechecking your wp-config.php. You may also try disabling some plugins. My PHP Speedy plugin caused me some problems in migrating.

Waaaaaaaaaa!

Lately, I’ve been busy finishing our research project with the great help of Kuya Franz. Our graduation is over but still I lack some requirements which I need to get my high school diploma.

During the process of finishing it, I started to love microcontrollers, again, for the second time in my life. It was a really fun experience; especially the learning process. I learned a lot of things from kuya Franz; from Hi-Tech C (a C compiler for embedded systems) to active pull-ups and pull-downs, to Proteus VSM and a lot more.

Before, I only knew programming PICs and 8051s using assembly language; now I can do it in C (in just three days; but I’m still not that good at it). I found it lot easier to do it in C rather than doing it in assembly because there’s no need to worry on 16-bit to 32-bit operations, no need to assign variables to RAM addresses. It’s also a lot better ’cause it saves you a lot of your previous development time (that’s the best thing in programming microcontrollers with C).

It was also my first time to see an oscilloscope work. I was amazed of its function and how it measured the period of the signal’s transition from high to low and vice versa brought by the counting of the microcontroller’s internal timer. We (kuya Franz and I) were able to make the timer accurate (not precise) up to the fourth-decimal-place (0.0001) as attested by the Philips oscilloscope.

I also learned how NOT to make a spaghetti circuit in a breadboard. I was able to put some stuff in the breadboard in a much neater way than I used to. (in the picture, kuya Franz cleaned up some of my dirty connections).

I also saw an In-Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP) programmer, again for the first time in my life. It was a nifty useful. With ICSP, there’s no need to remove the microcontroller from the circuit to program it thus reducing the risks of microcontroller breakdown. I also saw a Zilog development board; which according to kuya Franz costed approximately PhP 90,000.00 when it was still out in the market (fortunately he got one for free courtesy of Zilog).

I also found a PIC Simulator alternative; it’s called Proteus. Proteus is a package of ISIS (circuit designer and simulator) and ARIES (circuit [the real one] CAD). With Proteus, you can test a lot of microcontrollers. It also gives you the freedom to simulate your own circuit. It has a wide library of microcontrollers, resistors, transistors, power sources, LCDs and other electronic components. It’s the best simulator and circuit design tool I’ve ever met in my entire lifetime.

I got a lot more jargon to say, I warn you. Another thing, I used to be familiar only with Atmel products specifically its 8051 line. But our research study forced me to learn PICs. I studied its white-paper thoroughly just to get familiar with its SFRs or special function registers. I’m amazed cause I learned that PIC products’ timer0’s don’t have a timer run bit. It’s a free-run timer and runs all the time. I also learned that their operating voltage ranges from about 4.5 to 5.5 volts. Amazing!

I also loved the way we ate our merienda. Yesterday, we ate our merienda with a calculator. We discussed on what prescaler to use for timer0. We ended NOT using prescaler so we had to set a bit to a particular logic just to realign the prescaler to the WDT (watchdog timer). It was a nerdo moment!

Hahaha. I really learned a lot from kuya Franz, and it was a nice experience. He told me that I can go to their house if I want to learn something new from his projects. He encouraged me to continue learning embedded systems; which is a part of my plan for this summer. Weeeee, microcontrollers are the best.

That’s all for now!

Hey guys, I found this nifty piece of PHP file. It contains a PHP function for checking Google Pagerank. I had a hard time finding for a good code. I saw some working codes but too bad they were PHP classes which I’m not very familiar with.

The PHP file’s homepage can be found here.

Anyway, please don’t abuse the use of this Google Pagerank check PHP function. It has been reported that Google bans I.P. addresses of abusive servers.

Have fun with the code!

Graphs, graphs and graphs.

Isn’t it lovely to see the Philippine Stock Exchange Index rise and fall? How about making one for blogs? Let me call it the Blog Readership Index.

Yes, again I’m starting a new project. I’ve coded the backend’s core, frontend’s not finished.

Overview/Specifications

Blog Readership Index aims to be a good measure of blog readership. It also aims to track growth or decline in blog readership levels.

Here’s the project’s homepage.

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who can understand binary and those who don’t.

I’ve encountered this “quote” on our Embedded Systems class last year. I love its geekiness.

Anyway, this shirt is available at ThinkGeek.com.

program.asm <- program namin

Fort and Wej’s stuff, not yet available. Hindi pa sila nagpapadala ng copy eh.

NOT AN EMO POST. ;D

Scenario: Computer bugged down. Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) appears at startup after Windows XP’s Welcome Screen. Loads smoothly on Safe Mode.

Their Action: Checked bootlog.txt. Discovered that drivers did not load correctly. Checked the drivers, status is installed properly.

Their Plan: Check registry keys at registry editors.

Everytime I’m in this kind of incident, I get so intimidated (If I can’t solve the problem myself)! I feel that I’m a sore loser or something! I know those commands too, but why can’t I do what they do. From an error, they easily trace the poroblem. Then just a few seconds of recall, they can identify the exact problematic (!) registry key and type it in console from their mind. What the heck, how could they memorize those registry paths.

Damn, I forgot that I dreamt to be a programmer and not a troubleshooter! With my really bad memory, I think I can analyze better than recall. Anyway, analyzing is always better than recalling. Sarap silang sabihan, program nalang tayo! Yabang ko!

Weird post, I admit that. I’m a frustrated writer, so please bear with me. ;D

NOTE: If you feel that I am referring to you, don’t worry. It happens to me often, with different people. ;D

Hello.

Pagpasensiyahan nyo na po ako, namimiss ko na kasi ang magblog sa wikang Tagalog. Mahigit dalawang buwan ko na rin iyong hindi nagagawa eh.

Masaya ako ngayon. Bakit?

Uhhhhmmm, kasi nakagawa ako ng isang web application? Ganun na nga. Wala lang. Ganun talaga ako pag nabobore, biglang naiisipang magprogram. Mas okay naman iyon diba, kaysa magdrugs! Yung pinrogram ko pala, para sa First Screening Results ng Pisay na nirelease kahapon. Similar siya sa official results web application ng Pisay System, mas maganda nga lang ang akin at mas flexible. Hindi naman talaga natin napipigilan ang ating galing, diba? Hahaha. Ito nga pala ang link, bisitahin mo naman para makita mo rin ang aking kagalingan. Nga pala, PHP at mySQL gamit ko dun.

Uhhhmmm, kasi bagong gupit ako matapos ang apatnaputwalong araw (48) kong pagtitiis na sa aking huling gupit. Maikli na ulit ang buhok ko, yey. Noong ginugupitan ako, napansin ko na medyo naiintindihan ko ang alien language ng barberong gumugupit sa akin at nang asawa niya. Kaya naman pala eh, nagiIlokano sila! Wow, minsan lang kasi ang ako nakakarinig nang nagiIlokano sa GenSan eh.

Uhhmm, kasi nabalikan ko ang OSI Model? Hahaha. Napagusapan pala namin ni Batang Yagit ng Davao ang OSI model, geek stuff. Wala lang, out of the blue inisa-isa namin ang pitong (7) layers. Ang saya, diba? Haha. Hindi nyo yun alam noh? What? Hindi mo alam yung application, presentation, session, transport, network, datalink at physical! Hahaha, wala akong magawa. Kayo nalang bahala magresearch tungkol nun kung gusto nyong malaman. Tas napagusapan din namin ang Advanced Windowing Toolkit at Swing ng Java. Tas umabot kami sa PIC at 8051. Saya diba? Hahaha. Nakadrugs ba ako?

Ano ba ‘tong post ko na ‘to, pwede na pang ABSTRACT REASONING. Hehehe, nasa first screening yun ng Pisay. Kung mapapansin nyo, nababawasan ng tig-iisang ‘h’ at ‘m’ ang Uhm ko sa kada talata. Ang saya, hahaha.

Waaaaaa, wala akong magawa. Salamat sa pagsasayang niyo ng oras sa pagbasa ng post na ito. Weeeeeee, blog ko ito walang makekeelam. ;D

Introduction

3am has been labeled the Devil’s Hour. A lot of people claim that they have a lot of unusual experiences especially on this hour of the day. One of the most common 3am phenomena is the Saint Elmo’s Fire, colloquially pronounced in some places as santilmo. Join me in my quest on digging in the 3am Saint Elmo phenomena.

Before I formally start my investigation, I know some of you are not really familiar with the Saint Elmo’s fire so I feel obliged to define it.

Saint Elmo’s fire, as described by my trusted eyewitnesses, is like a floating ball of fire. Yeah, its floating without a trace of its source. They tend to be attracted to humans, like a magnet. That’s why they are freaky, imagine a chasing ball of fire.

Investigation

Some people say that 3am is also the darkest hour of the day. Eager to confirm this, I made my own experiment using a self-modified QSE159 phototransistor. The set-up: I created a circuit of a QSE159 phototransistor with an ADC (analog to digital converter). The ADC output lines were connected to the port pins of an AT89C4051 microcontroller unit by Atmel. The port 3 of the said microcontoller was interfaced with the computer’s COM ports (RS-232) for datalogging. A prototype datalogger was also created using Visual Basic 6. (more…)