Category: Metal (Technical)

Dedicated hosting: Around the world in (almost) 80 minutes

This site is now hosted by a Danish Company, EasySpeedy. After becoming fed up with Layered Technologies, and the prospect of 55 hours of out-of-my-control downtime looming, I moved. The main reason for choosing EasySpeedy (I’d had one positive reference for them, and they’re a bit of an unknown in rating sites such as WebHostingStuff)… Continue reading Dedicated hosting: Around the world in (almost) 80 minutes

Zend Certification

I noticed today that there are only 9 Zend certified developers in the country. Being a ZCE would definitely enhance most developer’s job prospects, but at $125, it’s not that cheap for individuals, especially those just starting out, where it would have the most impact. Perhaps one of the conferences can arrange some low cost… Continue reading Zend Certification

Wanted: PHP developer

If I can find the right person, I’m considering hiring a PHP developer (and this has nothing to do with those deadlines I said I was missing in my last post. Well OK, not much…). The person doesn’t necessarily need much experience, but must be talented and able to learn quickly. They’ll be working closely… Continue reading Wanted: PHP developer

Of hosting, the Slashdot effect and, sigh, Telkom

My recent article, MySQL’s response to Oracle’s moves, was Slashdotted. We all know what that means. Luckily I host in the US, with layeredtech. The site seemed to survive the onslaught, except for a few complaints that may have been about the stylesheets not loading. Layeredtech customer service leaves something to be desired, and I’ve… Continue reading Of hosting, the Slashdot effect and, sigh, Telkom

MySQL’s response to Oracle’s moves

I’ve recently written two articles on this topic for Database Journal, the earlier, written after the InnoDB purchase, entitled Oracle’s purchase of InnoDB, their release of Oracle Express, and the effect on MySQL, and the most recent, just after the Sleepycat purchase, entitled Pressure on MySQL increases as Oracle purchases Sleepycat, with more to come.… Continue reading MySQL’s response to Oracle’s moves

Solar power breakthrough

Thanks to Muti, I came across an article from IOL announcing a solar power breakthrough pioneered by South African researchers. The article claimed that the new panels will allow a house to receive all of its electricity from the solar panels, even in winter, and that the panels will be available in South Africa within… Continue reading Solar power breakthrough

DA site broken into

I was amused to read that Damien du Toit recently gained access to the DA’s site. He did so with the first technique that came to mind, and the first username/password combo he thought of. Interestingly, as far as I know, this didn’t appear in any of the mainstream press.

b2evolution dawn spam

I’ve had my first wave of automated spam attacks since upgrading to b2evolution’s dawn release (and applying a tweak or two of my own). Much of it is rather pointless, a stupid comment with no URL, just an obviously fake mail.com email address. Presumably the bot is still being fine-tuned. Ah well, I’ve had a… Continue reading b2evolution dawn spam