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Disco burning software updated

Disco is one of the smartest looking and basic (yet powerful) CD/DVD burning solutions for your Mac. Yesterday it was updated with a maintenance release to V1.0.3, which includes quite a number of fixes for crashing that may have occurred. It has been almost 1 year since the last update so this is welcomed. Incidentally, the developer is offering this software for USD$19.95 (and there is a very good USD->AUD exchange rate) for a limited time.

Joomla migration of Google Maps API

It looks like I may have successfully written an alpha “migrator plug-in” that may work for migrating your com_google_maps component from Joomla 1.0.x to 1.5. Once I have tested this on the internal testbed migration sites for one of my customers, I will write it up here. This will be useful since the developer of the Google Maps API for joomla has no current migration plugins. Stay tuned….

OpenBSD – Akismet key could not be verified

If you are using OpenBSD to host your wordpress installation, and using the Akismet plug-in to block spam, you may come across set-up problems with Akismet.

The errors that can occur could be either or both of these:

  • There was a problem connecting to the Akismet server
  • The key you entered could not be verified because a connection to akismet.com could not be established

There may be a couple of issues here.

Apple’s Leopard

I took the plunge and decided to upgrade to Mac OS 10.5 a.k.a. Leopard this weekend. Here’s how it went… Initially I made sure I had two full cloned and boot-able backups that I made with CCC. After this I actually tried booting off them just to make sure. Having backups before such a major upgrade is a mandatory step for all people whom undertake any OS upgrade. Secondly I decided on the upgrade path.

Somewhere Back in Time

I have a short video I took of the Somewhere in Time Tour. It’s from the Powerslave guitar solo as played in Sydney. If you were at either of the events this should bring back some good memories! For a review of the evening in Melbourne, synultima has a [blow by blow review over @{.tweet-username} last.fm]4 On a side note, some bloke taped a bootleg copy of the 9th Feb show – you can get it while you can, but I can’t condone that.

Maiden in Sydney

These ones where taken with a better camera, so they came out pretty decent for being 5 meters from the stage! The setlist was great, and it was well worth getting Gold floor tickets. As for Acer Arena, they banned all bags and drinks being bought in (including water!) unlike Melbourne. That was annoying as I had to run back to the cloakroom to get my earplugs (33dB reduction!).

Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain

ScienceDaily have an article on new research on artificial sweeteners. Want to lose weight? It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. Cutting the connection between sweets and calories may confuse the body, making it harder to regulate intake. You can read the full article at ScienceDaily.

As easy as Apple Pie

A friend told me he had dropped his notebook PC, and it was going to cost more to repair than it was worth. I advised: Get a Mac. I started looking around for some information for him. Why would the Mac benefit his Computer Science course? Why would the Mac be more reliable? What does he need to know about compatibility? One of the articles I read was a blog post by The Shepherd’s Sons called “All Signs Point To Apple”.