Archive for September, 2009
Slicehost Setup: Ubuntu + Nginx + PHP + MySQL
Running Apache on my 256MB slice was not fun. I kept getting “swap” warnings from slicehost, and some mornings I wake up to find my server hung. So I decided to re-install fresh and run Nginx with PHP. Installing Ubuntu (Jaunty), Nginx, PHP, and MySQL is easy following the slicehost guides: http://articles.slicehost.com/ubuntu-intrepid The hard part [...]
The Best Shipping Company
USPS – United States Postal Service – head and shoulder above the rest! http://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm I used to be a powerseller on ebay, so I shipped a lot of boxes, and trust me, Priority Mail from the USPS is the BEST. Here’s why. 1) Fastest shipping company – Priority Mail is 2-3 days. UPS and Fedex [...]
Companies that store passwords in plain text
One of the very first thing I learned from Trung as a web developer is to Salt/Hash passwords before storing them in the database. This means that even if my database is compromised, all my user’s passwords are “safe” because it is encrypted. In fact, it also means I never actually know what my user’s [...]
How I made $40K with Google Adsense
I am writing this down 1) to boast about my success 2) to prove that it can be done and 3) a diary entry so I won’t forget it in the future. I was inspired to go into Google Adsense / Google Adwords because when I first started out as a web developer, I wanted [...]
Skype Sucks
F*@K Skype. 1) Many times messages are delayed, and you will receive them hours if not days later. Come on, it’s not that hard to write functional instant messaging software. The concept has been account for decades! 2) The local TV News station has been sponsoring Skype traffic broadcasts. That means they drive around the [...]