Lol! Came across this pic today via imageshack.us - click image for bigger.
4 Bord Gais Laptops For Sale On Ebay.ie
“Installation Failed” Fix for WordPress 2.8 Upgrade
11
Jun
Great news today that WordPress 2.8 “Baker” is available to upgrade for my blog. I am running a few WordPress blogs that were currently at version 2.7 so took the plunge to upgrade and noticed a few problems along the way. The following is summary of the problems I faced and the work around I used to fix it.
Please note this fix worked for me on 2 upgrades but does not promise a fix for your own problem, these tips may help you but do so at your own risk! Before proceeding with any of the following please back up your site and database!
The Problem
On previous occasions I used the easy”upgrade automatically” button option with no problem but this time around I kept getting this error in the below image:
I then de-activated all plugins and re-tried the auto upgrade but still got the same error as the above image, this was not making any sense to me so I searched through the WordPress Forum querying terms such as: Installation Failed, Could not copy file, upgrade failed etc. There was one interesting reply on this thread http://wordpress.org/support/topic/277858?replies=10 that suggested accessing your database using phpMyAdmin and repair your tables.
The Fix
Backup, Backup, Backup!
21
May
My Dell Inspiron 1720 Laptop recently was me giving trouble where by it started to hang for no apparent reason. One minute I’d be working away contently with very few applications running, next “Bang!” it would freeze with a constant (Vista) spinning icon and a screen that turned opaque white. Nothing I could do to rectify it only to wait… and wait… and wait… by running Windows Task Manager I noticed the CPU Usage was running at a near constant 90% all the time which was pretty high. I tried all sorts of tips from registry defrag to killing unnecessary startup processes even being suspect of Firefox sucking up resources but no luck to be had.
It finally ground to a halt and would not boot up so with the laptop still in warranty I called Dell to arrange a repair, strangely enough they sent out a repair tech a few days later who discovered the problem was a screwed up motherboard which was replaced. It was also recommended that I format my hard drive and re-install Windows (Bloody) Vista. At this point I decided to back up my laptop data to an external hard drive via USB. I left it transferring all files overnight and presumed all was ok with no error messages that anything went wrong with the transfer, having backed up I was happy to prepare for formatting the drive and re-installing.
Dell arranged a phone call and a talk through of the reinstall. All went well and at last the laptop is back to peak performance so tonight it was time to hook up my external drive and transfer my stuff back . BUMP! nothing there! yes there was a c: drive backed up with full windows directory etc. but no “My Music” – “My Videos” and worst of all no “My Pictures” aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
No pictures!!! over a years worth of photos… nowhere to be found. Family snaps, birthdays, events, creative pics… all gone… thank f**k I had uploaded a few of those pics to my flickr account…. and all for the sake of a couple of backup DVD’s!
Lesson learned? shit happens… (note to self) from now on always check an test your Back Up, Back Up, Back Up!
YoughalOnline.com Live Webcast – A Big Success
31
Jan
I am really pleased with the result of the second YoughalOnline.com Live Gig Broadcast which was streamed using Ustream.tv on Thursday 29th January 2009. The band “Little Big Man” performed a live set at Claycastle Recording Studio, Youghal and also an interview with front man Brian O Glanby.
1,570 viewers accessed the webcast over the hour with traffic coming mainly from Ireland, UK, USA, Netherlands, & Australia. We had a chat box enabled on the site and at one stage there was 144 active users chatting . Below is a screen shot of the Ustream Metrics for the broadcast.
Getting the Traffic
Part of the success of this webcast lay in pre-planning. A group of the people involved in this project posted the gig details on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace & Bebo also SMS Text, Forums, Email and traditional word of mouth. I also created a YoughalOnline.com Facebook group and also a Facebook App for people to install so they could watch the webcast from within Facebook.
Capella Hotel Castlemartyr 100 Million Closure – A short video documentary
05
Jan
A luxury resort hotel opens and closes in just 14 months. What happened and why was this 100 million euro closure not reported more widespread.
The Hotel opened by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2007 and closed its doors December 2008. This is a short documentary about that time, it was created by Supplevideo On YouTube…
Drumming Bear – Video Promo for Claycastle Recording Studio, Youghal
09
Dec
Below is a short video promo I completed recently for Claycastle Recording Studio in Youghal. It was all a bit of fun and a play on the popular YouTube video the Cadbury’s Gorilla Ad. My new YouTube widescreen settings are working well on this video as mentioned in my last post.
New YouTube Widescreen Settings + Embed Code – How To
26
Nov
You Tube have finally gone wide screen that’s 16:9 format or 1280px by 720px. I personally think its a great improvement since it now cuts down the time it takes for me to prepare video for You Tube. My video cameras shoot in wide screen and I would always have to re-render my 16:9 footage into a 4:3 box which produced letterbox black bars at top and bottom of those clips and also reducing the resolution of the video.
The Test
Today I tried encoding for the new wide screen format and uploaded a few test short clips to figure out what would be the best settings and came up with the following as the one that worked for me.
Using Premiere Pro CS3 I exported my final footage as follows:
Export to Adobe Media Encoder
NTSC
23.976 fps
HDTV 1280px X 720px
H.264 format Read the rest of this entry »
MidLake – Head Home – (Final Version)
14
Nov
Just because I like it….
www.myspace.com/midlake
www.worlds-fair.net/midlake
www.midlake.net
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Live Web Cast Gig with James McGrath & Band – Tonight 17th Oct 2008 9pm
17
Oct
As part of my work with YoughalOnline.com I will be broadcasting a live gig from Claycastle Recording Studio, Youghal. This will be the first time a live gig will be streamed live from the studio.
An interview and live music performance with James McGrath & Band will start @ 9:00pm for 45 minutes (approx). This will be the first of many live web casts planned for artists & musicians that will feature on www.YoughalOnline.com
Filming & Web Streaming by Youghal Online Productions, Audio & Recording by Claycastle Recording Studio
For more info on James McGrath visit:
http://www.myspace.com/jamesmcgrathmusic
CERN Large Hadron Collider – Explained in 3 minutes
11
Sep
First beam of the Large Hadron Collider
Geneva, 10 September 2008. The first beam in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN was successfully steered around the full 27 kilometres of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator at 10h28 this morning. This historic event marks a key moment in the transition from over two decades of preparation to a new era of scientific discovery.
Large Hadron Collider – Simpler Explanation
3V.ie Online Account Security Weakness – Beware!
03
Sep
Image via payzone.ie
I may have identified a possible security weakness with the 3V.ie (online customer account) service. This occurred recently while trying to retrieve my own 3V account details, this weakness would allow any person with prior knowledge that you have a 3V account coupled with your mobile phone number to access your 3V “Online Customer Service” browse your balance & purchase history etc. Here is a summary of user tasks taken from their website:
Online Customer Service
Sign on to the new Online Customer Service section of this 3V website using your email address and personal password to:
- Receive again the security details for any Voucher.
- Check the balance and transaction history on your 3V Vouchers.
- Redeem money left on your 3V Vouchers to your bank account.
- Transfer money from one Voucher to another Voucher.
- Request a replacement 3V Customer Card.
- Update your personal details or password.
- Change how you receive the security details when you buy a 3V Voucher.
You can also find the balance and transaction history for any 3V Vouchers quickly by clicking on the View Transaction History link on the left hand side of this page.
+Kieran McCarthy