Phishing of RapidShare accounts became prevalent around a year ago and has been a right nuisance. Numerous unsuspecting users have been caught out by these thieving sons-of-bitches, who in turn resell the stolen accounts.

RapidShare has finally put in place a precaution to prevent account stealing and I suggest everyone that owns a premium account to activate it!

Just don’t be naive enough to set your RapidShare account password the same as your email address password !

Cøbra

“…

./mysql.server start
Starting MySQL
. ERROR! Manager of pid-file quit without updating file.

…”

If you’ve ever had to configure a CentOS system from scratch you may have noticed yourself running into issues when ( some of many examples) it came to the MySQL installation whether it be the default yum install, manual RPM packages or even compiling from source, well not so much the installation itself but when it came time to start it. It simply would not start, and the error logs reveal nothing.  I have come to this issue myself and faced with much frustration and no answers even from the MySQL developers themselves I think I have finally found a fix.

I decided to check the SE Linux permission settings (no idea why), and it seemed to fix the issue. Depending on your host, you may have a very relaxed setup on a fresh install, others may not be so. In order to tweak these settings via SSH, run this command when logged in as root:

yum install -y system-config-securitylevel

If it’s already installed, you can go ahead and enter the manager.

system-config-securitylevel

This will reveal a blue screen, perhaps unsusual to the sight of a blank SSH screen:

From this screen, you can use tab to switch between options, the arrow keys to move up and down, and space to select. In order for the most relaxed possible (though perhaps not preferred depending on what you’re using the server for) you could select these options:

Now, tab onto the “OK” button and hit the space bar. The manager will exit. MySQL should now start with no issues regarding the PID manager.  Don’t forget to set your root password.

-Erratic.

As I am sure you’ve all noticed, the entire network has had a bit of downtime over the past few days. This is due to some problems our host has been enduring with the network. There were multiple issues, some of which I am unsure of the full extent however it had to do with network connectivity issues to the entire data center, not just Katz.

We’re now making efforts to move the entire network to a new data center, and we’re also working on a more redundant system where we will have spare servers already online if we’re to have issues with network connectivity etc.

Another thing we plan on is actually “balancing” our users across multiple data centers to ensure reliability and minimal downtime. We’re hoping to get Katz Forums back online by the end of the week.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE - 29 September 2008:

We’re currently waiting on RAM upgrades for our servers. There has been a delay on ordering hardware, and our servers are currently struggling to handle the load. We’ve been assured that the new RAM should be installed in the coming 48 hours. How accurate the time frame is we’re unsure though remain hopeful.

We’ve opted not to accept submissions for the previous few days, as we’ve had no real way of updating the site as we’re running a modified version of the code to use less resources. We’re also planning on Katz Forums making a return once we get some hardware upgrades.

-Erratic

UPDATE - 01 October 2008:

Katz Downloads is now back to normal. Downloads are being accepted again. DNS updates will take a while to propogate.

-Cøbra

UPDATE - 03 October 2008:

We’re trying to get the latest database backup from the previous hosting company. If that fails, we’ll have to bring back Katz Forums on an older (mid-September) backup.

-Cøbra

In my current job, I’m part of a team where I have to deploy 100s of computers. This involves setting/hooking up computers (monitors, keyboards, mice, network and power), and one of the most annoying things has got to be the USB connector. Not just in this job, but generally speaking.

USB connectors

The normal rectangular USB connectors, male and female, both being almost identical with half of the insides solid… goddamnit, why am I explaining this thing, just look at the image alongside to remind yourselves.

What I’m getting at is, how annoying is it when you’re trying to plug in your USB device and it’s the wrong way around. Grr, it’s bloody annoying. You then look at your device’s USB connector, then look at the USB slot on the PC, then plug it in correctly. It’s even more annoying when you’re trying to plug it in in the back of the PC. Who the f**k designed these things? (Answer to that is Apple, HP, Intel, Microsoft, etc.)

God knows how many people have destroyed the connectors on their USB devices in this way.

FireWire connector

So how come industry leaders come up with such an un-user-friendly design? I mean, look at Apple’s FireWire. Granted, it’s slightly larger and isn’t anywhere as successful as the USB, but the connector is a beauty… with its amazing two angled corners.

All the USB designers had to do was make at least one corner angled or make it obvious which way it’d go in.

That’s all folks, rant over. Hope you enjoyed my first blog entry.

- Cøbra

Plot: A frustrated office worker learns that he is the son of a professional assassin, and that he shares his father’s superhuman killing abilities.
Source: IMdB

Overrated, When I saw all the movie trailers about this movie, and all the fuss I expected this movie to be a great piece of art, but when I watched it I was shocked, don’t get me wrong some of the action scenes were great, but thats it, they’ve used the wrong actor to star in the movie, storyline was very simple, the only upside in this movie is that we’ve seen the crack… yeap, the only damn good thing in that movie is Angelina Jolie’s butt crack!, oh and of course the bullet thing, but I’m sure many will go with the crack.

I don’t know how the movie got a 7.2/10 rating in IMdB, I would give it a 5.9, but to be fair, the movie is not a total disaster, its still “enjoyable” I guess, but they could’ve made this movie a lot better if they just gave it more “UMPH” if that makes any sense.

I recommend watching that movie if you have nothing to do, as I said you’ll enjoy some of it, but if you’re into details like I am, you’ll have a lot of *yawn* moments.

Article by el_jentel1

Plot: A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who’s trying to repair his image.
Source: IMdB

Simply hilarious, I enjoyed every minute of that movie, Will Smith proved that he can do any role in movies, I’ve seen many movies about “Unpopular Superheros” but in Hancock, some how they made it look realistic heh.

I mean if there really were any Superheros in the world, thats exactly how I’d imagine them, and Charlize Theron, that woman gets more beautiful every time I see her in a movie, and btw, I KNEW IT, when I saw the scene where.. hmm, don’t want to spoil the movie for those who haven’t watched it yet, you’ll know what I’m talking about later.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, then I highly recommend it, good storyline, acting, effects… you’ll enjoy watching it.

However, the ending scene could’ve been a lot better, for example if they gave more explanation, like flashbacks on what they were talking about (Smith & Theron), it just needed more details, but still, the movie is hilarious.

Article by el_jentel1

“CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper “Ocean’s Eleven” and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show,” died Saturday at age 50.”
Source: CNN

I first heard the news from my friend UltimA, to be honest I was shocked when I heard it, I went on a searching spree to find out what happened.

Bernie Mac was not in politics, not a religious icon, but damnit he was one of the greatest comedian out there, he made a lot of people laugh.

You may have seen him in many shows or movies, such as Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, The Bernie Mac Show, the good ol’ Def Jam Comedy and many other shows, he was also one of the original Kings of Comedy with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer, according to CNN: “The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.”

Its really sad news, all I can say is rest in peace Bernie Mac, you cheered a lot of people with your comedy and jokes, and you will definitely be remembered.

Article by el_jentel1

Ok, so we’ve covered the ads, experience..etc angles for new webmasters, we tried to give advice on everything to start a good and a clean website but we forgot the most important one.

The looks of the site, by looks I mean the template/skin, I’m not talking about creating your own skin or making lots and lots of customizations, I’m talking about the looks of any skin out there, every skin is “beautiful” in its own way but sadly I see sites that turn one of the best skins to the ugliest disasters out there.

When you want to edit your site’s skin, try to be organized about it, if you’re going to add a new block make it match the skin and place it in an appropriate place, not just in any freakin empty space, also make sure that your website looks the same in all most common used web browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, IE, Safari..etc, the easiest way in doing that is to make sure that your site has a valid XHTML and CSS template, sometimes that doesn’t always work and some specific fixes needs to be added (another reason to hate IE!), but try to do your best.

I’ve seen sites with a container width 800px, and they add another block in header or footer that just expands and stretches the hell out of the website, if you don’t know what you’re doing then my advice to you is just don’t do it.

Keep your website professional, in looks and management, your site’s looks is a huge factor on your return traffic, if your site is messed up, a user will visit once with the typical “oh god, wtf is this” comment, but if you keep your website clean in every angle, your site will be more interesting to your guests and visitors.

Keep the scene clean people.

Article by el_jentel1

I’m sure most of the scene webmasters know about WCDDL by now, if you don’t know about it, its a DDL script developed by WarezCoders team, till now almost 90% of all DDL sites are either using kDDL or EvilDDL (most use kDDL though).

As we all know, everyone tries to copy the success of another, I mean don’t get me wrong go ahead and congratulation if you were able to have a successful DDL site of your own, anyways, most tried to make their own DDL site using kDDL script, I’m sure most found out that kDDL is poorly coded and needs a lot of fixing and tweaks first to get the site working.

Now with the release of WCDDL, webmasters will not have a problem starting a DDL site, I have checked the script and I have to say its very good, whether you’re advanced in PHP or just a beginner you’ll be able to handle that script, specially with the “Modules How-To” explanation provided at WC.

Now to get to my point, I know for a fact that a lot of webmasters have been looking for a working ddl script for years, I’ve seen hundreds of requests threads in different forums, most weren’t able to find one or weren’t able to make the old scripts work, thats one of the reason why the DDL scene is not as big as Scene forums and blogs.

If you’re planning on using WCDDL script and make a DDL site, here is an advice, try to be original and not just another webmaster with the only purpose of making a fast buck, the Scene has been ruined by noob webmasters that fill their sites with pop ups, fake and misleading links, noobish and terrible layout, no knowledge of HTML/PHP whatsoever…etc

Try to do some research first, if you want to make a DDL site, don’t just buy a domain, get hosting and install a script and think you have a DDL site, read, work hard on your site, make it standout.

As I said, many webmasters were waiting for a fully working DDL script, and WarezCoders team provided it, so don’t ruin that by your childish dreams of becoming a millionaire over a night, the “Scene” world was all about sharing and giving, now most don’t care about any of that, its all about the $$$.

Keep the scene clean people.

Article by el_jentel1

This is like THE simplest, easiest way to make a certain web page only viewable by certain IP[s].

<?php
/*****************************
* Fetch IP
* You can also use:
* $ip = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
* Instead of:
* $ip = getnv(”REMOTE_ADDR”);
******************************/

$ip = getenv(”REMOTE_ADDR”);

// Add authorised IPs here
// example: $myip[0] = “127.0.0.1″;

$myip[0] = “IP_HERE”;
$myip[1] = “IP_HERE”;

/************************************************
* If you want to add more IPs, just copy the $myip line
* and change the IP and [0] accordingly
* [0] = first IP, [1] = second, [2] = thrid, and so on.
*
* Also if you are going to add another IP, don’t forget to
* edit the if line, for example, if you added a third IP
*
* this:
* if ($ip == $myip[0] || $ip == $myip[1])
*
* should be:
* if ($ip == $myip[0] || $ip == $myip[1] || $ip == $myip[2])
**************************************************/

if ($ip == $myip[0] || $ip == $myip[1]) {
?>

Your Site Content

<?php
}
else {
echo “Your IP is not authorized to view this page”;
}
?>

Of course there are many other ways in doing this, like using array(”ip1″, “ip2″), but this is the easiest one to understand for people who don’t know much about PHP.

This can basically be used for paranoid security, htpasswd + that script will make your page very secure.

Enjoy.

Article by el_jentel1