Gmail Captcha System

I found that my Gmail Notifier for Mozilla/Firefox stops working suddenly. Guess what? Gmail put a Captcha challenge in the login box!!! I can't believe it...

Maybe it is just me? As I used this unofficial Gmail Notifier so frequently that Gmail has blacklisted me... :-(

Well... if this cannot be solved, I will be forced to use the official Gmail Notifier...

Do you Yahoo?

I don't. Luckily I don't.

Why? Because Yahoo discriminates against non-IE browsers! For non-IE browser, Yahoo sends a more primitive version of their main page (I tested it with Firefox 0.9.3 and Opera 7.54).

And even for IE, the main page looks different in different machine! This is ridicious because both of them are using the same IE (IE6 SP1) and OS (Windows 2000 SP 4 Chinese Traditional)! Apparently they are testing out the new main page, but this is no excuse.

The screenshots are captured at the same time. All those machines are using the same broadband line. I've cleared the cache, and reloaded it several times, but it still give me the same results... O__O|||

Sorry, Yahoo! Google is the way to go.

Open with Firefox

These Mozilla programmers are just great!

Before, we have the IEView that open page in Mozilla/Firefox with IE; and the Launchy that launches applications from Mozilla/Firefox in a similar way (e.g. browsers, FTP clients, text editors). Now, we even have the ability to open page/link in IE with Firefox!

Once the FirefoxView extension is installed, your IE will gain an extra option in the context menu:

Get a life - Switch

It's time for a switch! Do I mean switching to Apple or Firefox? No. I mean switching off your computer and get a real life...

Hmm... I personally should seriously consider this. Thanks limaCAT for the great link!

4 more invitations

Gmail is giving me 4 more invitations to use:

Invite a friend to Gmail!
You have 5 invitations left

Thanks for using Gmail and helping us improve the service. We're ready to expand our test to a few more users, and because you've been a trusted early tester of Gmail, we're looking for your help. Please invite a few more people who you think would like Gmail and could help us make it even better.

Null Pointer Exception in Blogger

When publishing my previous post, Blogger gives me the infamous null pointer exception:

HTTP Status 500 -

---

type Exception report

message

description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

org.apache.jasper.JasperException
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:254)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:295)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:241)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:247)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:256)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:494)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.invoke(StandardContext.java:2415)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:180)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorDispatcherValve.invoke(ErrorDispatcherValve.java:171)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:172)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:174)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:223)
	at org.apache.jk.server.JkCoyoteHandler.invoke(JkCoyoteHandler.java:261)
	at org.apache.jk.common.HandlerRequest.invoke(HandlerRequest.java:360)
	at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket.invoke(ChannelSocket.java:604)
	at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket.processConnection(ChannelSocket.java:562)
	at org.apache.jk.common.SocketConnection.runIt(ChannelSocket.java:679)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:619)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)

root cause

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.pyra.blogger.PostCache.setPostFilename(PostCache.java:1162)
	at com.pyra.blogger.Post.assignFilename(Post.java:448)
	at com.pyra.utils.Archiver.assignPostFilename(Archiver.java:406)
	at com.pyra.blogger.Blog.addPost(Blog.java:626)
	at org.apache.jsp.PostEdit_0002daction_pyra._jspService(PostEdit_0002daction_pyra.java:726)
	at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:137)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:210)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:295)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:241)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:247)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:256)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:494)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.invoke(StandardContext.java:2415)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:180)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorDispatcherValve.invoke(ErrorDispatcherValve.java:171)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:172)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:174)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
	at org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:223)
	at org.apache.jk.server.JkCoyoteHandler.invoke(JkCoyoteHandler.java:261)
	at org.apache.jk.common.HandlerRequest.invoke(HandlerRequest.java:360)
	at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket.invoke(ChannelSocket.java:604)
	at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket.processConnection(ChannelSocket.java:562)
	at org.apache.jk.common.SocketConnection.runIt(ChannelSocket.java:679)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:619)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)

---

Apache Tomcat/4.1.24

One "Step" of Computer

A friend of mine has just sent me a link of Windows XP SP2 Chinese (Traditional) version. But what's interesting is this:

如果您只要更新一步電腦，請勿按一下 [下載]： Windows Update 即將提供較小、較適合的下載。若要接收此下載，請開啟 Windows XP 中的「自動更新」功能，以接收最適的 SP2 下載。如需接收 Windows XP SP2 的詳細資訊，請參閱 「保護您的電腦」。

Apparently someone in Microsuck mistyped 一「部」電腦 (one computer) as 一「步」電腦 (one step of computer)... LMAO! Maybe he/she was using speak recognition for inputing (as 部 and 步 sounds the same in Chinese)?

Dummy Firefox Update

I found that the current nightly that I'm using (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8a3) Gecko/20040823 Firefox/0.9.1+) shows a fake Firefox Update alert:

That's not anything special. But the next window caught my attention:

The Quality Feedback Agent is our old friend. Developer Tools is not something new either. But the names are a bit weird: error console? Document Inspector? Does it mean JavaScript Console and DOM Inspector? Anyway, it's intersting to see JavaScript Debugger included.

Also, take a look of this:

Mouse gesture is finally included! Is it real? Or was I dreaming...?

I have 1 invitation left

Wow! I gained one extra invitation!

Thanks for using Gmail and helping us improve the service. We're ready to expand our test to a few more users, and because you've been a trusted early tester of Gmail, we're looking for your help. Please invite a few more people who you think would like Gmail and could help us make it even better.

Introducing FiredFolk

Say hello to FiredFolk 1.0, the cut-down version of FireFox 0.9 with many useful features removed (and with many annoying features added)!

FiredFolk will have an new find toolbar and a popup information bar. But that's not all!

You will be happy to see view source, JavaScript console, and stylesheet switcher removed! These are the things that you NEVER need, right? We thought we did something right...

OK. End of joke.

The new additions are ok because the new find toolbar will not prevent us from finding as we type, and the information bar can be disabled.

We are happy to see that view source and JavaScript console will stay (at least for 1.0). But well... not sure about the stylesheet switcher, as Asa hasn't responsed yet. Let's give him some time to explain...

P.S. Isn't that Firefox 0.9 Feature complete? I'm afraid that if thing goes worse, I'll have to switch back to Mozilla suite. And oh yeah I'm one of those guys who subscribe to For The Record (a Mozilla community press response initiative), so don't flame me...

Official Gmail Notifier

Google has released its own Gmail Notifier!

You may like to compare this with the Mozilla/Firefox Gmail Notifier:

Welcome to Darwin again!

Thanks to this anonymous comment, the mystery is revealed again:

Welcome to Darwin!
X-11 Window System : manufactured by BOOKWALD co. ltd
TVC-BSD6.2.1 (C)2017 TAAVIC co. ltd

Last Login:wed July 12 23:48:47 on ttyp01

[annu:~] annu% su
Password:

annu:/Users/annu root# ********************

I'm looking forward for any more corrections!

BlogThis!

I've modified my theme so that the Navbar looks nicer now.

One of the useful functions of the Navbar is the BlogThis!, which gives me back the old plain text editor I love... I love its simplity, spell checker and the <strong>/<em> tag-buttons.

If you just want to say a few words, BlogThis! is quite convenience.

Do you see what I see?

OMG! After publishing an article, my Blogger gains a Navbar:

My layout!!! x__x

This will only affect blogspot users...

Mummy 7.2

Netscape 7.2 is out (though not recommended! Use Mozilla/Firefox instead...). It is roughly based on Mozilla 1.7.2. But unfortunately it seems to be using Mozilla's profile, so it may conflict with your Mozilla (but not Firefox and Thunderbird).

Related news in the blogosphere:

• Slashdot | Netscape 7.2 Released
• adot's notblog*: more gecko user agents on the web
• doron's blaahg: Netscape 7.2 is out!
• gemal.dk - Netscape 7.2 released
• Netscape 7.2 Released - MozillaZine Talkback
• MozillaNews - Netscape 7.2 Released

The Ultimate Antivirus Software

Everybody need 世紀末PC救世主伝説:

時は西暦２００Ｘ年

MS Blast、SQL Slammer、SoBig…凶悪ウイルスによる被害はあとを絶たず、弱き人々は悩まされ続けた。それはまさに暴力のみが支配する無法の荒野…人々は長らく救世主の登場を待ちわびていたのである。そう、凶悪ウィルスに敢然と立ち向かい圧倒的な強さを誇るあの男の登場を…

Here is a chinese blog post about this amazing antivirus software...

Get Firefox from Porn

Asa has done a little survey about Mozilla/Firefox's referrers. Almost one-third of the referrers are porn sites.

Take a good look of them (prepare for adult contents... you are warned), they have the Get Firefox button on them! Of course this is not especially surprising because Mozilla/Firefox is the best porn browser on this world. :-P

All or None

This CSS article is really nice: CSS - Auto-height and margin-collapsing.

So, a simple rule of thumb: if you are going to define a property, define also properties they are related to it... e.g. {margin, padding}, {background-color, background-image, color}.

Mozilla Spoofing Vulnerability

Be careful when you're viewing webpages opened with JavaScript under Mozilla/Firefox: they may be fake!

The vulnerability is that Mozilla/Firefox is able to open XUL files in remote server. XUL is an XML format for user interfaces. It is a feature. But unfortunately someone can create an XUL that looks (and functions) like Mozilla/Firefox.

This trick only works for popup window if no taskbar and status bar. If you open the XUL with normal window or tab, you'll notice that it is fake. In case if you don't have Mozilla/Firefox (you should), here is a screenshot taken by me:

Beware when you are viewing popup page from untrusted sites. ;-)

Mozilla + Novell + IBM = XForms!

The Mozilla Foundation has announced a project to implement XForms in collaboration with Novell and IBM. Wow, cool!

XForms is the next generation web form for XHTML 2.0. It features not just more powerful widgets, but also the seperation of purpose, presentation, and results (I'm not sure how it seperates as I haven't thoroughly read it yet).

More information:

• Mozilla and XForms
• Novell and IBM to Implement XForms in Mozilla
• Reports from Mozilla Developer Day 2004
• XML.com: What Are XForms?

Mac Firefox Theme Update

Hmm... some elements in Winstripe will be taken back to Pinstripe... Not bad. :-)

Ask the W3C

WaSP features a nice discussion of various W3C standards. The discussion is not a new one (dated December 2002), but many stuffs are still new to me. Among various things, CC/PP surely caught my attention: that's what I needed! The quiz of sematic markup in XHTML is also a great article. I knew about this discussion via 柏強的城市探險記.

Feeling Lucky Today?

Why not give GOOGLE a try? ;-)

Welcome to Darwin!

Thanks to this comment, the mystery of Madlax Operating Systems is revealed:

Here is a text version if you can't see very clearly:

Welcome to Darwin!
X-11 Window Systems : manufactured by BOOKWORLD co. ltd
TVC-BSD6.2.1 (C)2011 TAAVIC co. ltd

Last Login:wed July 12 23:48:47 on tty01

[annu:~] annu% su
Password:

annu:/Users/annu  root# ********************

I can't really see some of the charcters on the third and fifth lines. TVC-BSD6, TAAVIC and tty01 (tty must be correct) are just my guess... I'm looking forward for any corrections...

NS5 vs GITS

I've watched the movie I, Robot with my friends yesterday. It is good.

In the story, the robot inventor Dr Lanning talks hypothetically about robots evolving. This theme comes up repeatedly. Several characters talk about the possibility of robots having souls, what one calls a ghost in the machine. Hey! You mean ghost in the shell, right? I know you mean that...

No? Then why the logo of NS5 (the intelligence robot in the firm) looks so much like that of S.A.C. 2nd GIG?

The anime Ghost in the Shell has a strong influence on industry for a long time. For example, the movie The Matrix has many things resembling that of Ghost in the Shell the Movie.

Gmail Notifier not working?

I found that that the notifier is not working since yesterday. It cannot login no matter how many times I tried. What the...

But wait! An update is already out to fix this problem! Thanks doron!

Doom 3 and Nvidia

If you run into problem when playing Doom 3 with a Nvidia display card, you should upgrade your Nvidia display card driver like me...

When I was using the driver from Windows Update (dated Oct 2003), all I saw is a white/grey screen:

After upgrading to the latest driver (dated July 27, 2004, that's less than 2 weeks ago!), it is back to normal:

P.S. I've seen some suggestions like installing an older driver and using NVEmulate. But it doesn't work (for me)... :-P

Taking back the web

I can't believe that I became one of the targets of the fourth community marketing campaign (I knew this activity when it was announced on August 2):

Hi Ming,

We noticed and appreciate your recommending Firefox at your weblog (http://minghong.blogspot.com/2004/06/firefox-091-screenshots.html), and we were hoping that you would further help get the word out by adding a small Firefox button to your blog. The image is hosted at mozilla.org and the code to add it is some very simple HTML.

(omitted by me)

Thanks,

Blake Ross
Mozilla Foundation

OK by me! In case if you didn't notice, the text in my Firefox banner was changed to take back the web, so I think you won't be able to find it in the official banner page. But I don't mind if it is put on the official page :-P

As a side note, I've put a Mozilla banner here long long long long... time ago. I also have a Thunderbird banner in my Mozilla Thunderbird page.

Level Completed

Time for some power-ups:

• Mozilla 1.7.2
• Firefox 0.9.3
• Thunderbird 0.7.3
• Opera 7.54

The 3 Mozilla releases are created to fix 4 possible security vulnerabilities. Opera should be similar, but the changelog is not yet updated.

The man with two faces

Look what I've found when wandering in the city: the man with two faces!

KO in less than 5 days

Remember what I posted earlier? I've finished the game already! WHAT?! It is even shorter than Tomb Raider AOD...

Anyway, look like I can freely explore the city now:

Hmm... I wonder what's wrong...

Bad Gateway

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.

---

Apache/2.0.49 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.0.49 OpenSSL/0.9.7c-p1 Server at minghong.webhop.org Port 80

I'm sure my server is a Windows box, using IIS and port 8080. Why Apache and Port 80... That must be the biggest mystery of this century (*jokingly*).

Testing Meme Propagation In Blogspace: Add Your Blog!

This posting is a community experiment started by Minding the Planet to see how a meme represented by a blog posting spreads across blogspace, physical space and time. It will help to show how ideas travel across blogs in space and time and how blogs are connected. It may also help to show which blogs are most influential in the propagation of memes. The original posting for this experiment is located at: Minding the Planet; results and commentary will appear there in the future.

Please join the test by adding your blog (see instructions, below) and inviting your friends to participate — the more the better. The data from this test will be public and open; others may use it to visualize and study the connectedness of blogspace and the propagation of memes across blogs.

The GUID for this experiment is: as098398298250swg9e98929872525389t9987898tq98wteqtgaq62010920352598gawst (this GUID enables anyone to easily search Google for all results of this experiment). Anyone is free to analyze the data of this experiment. Please publicize your analysis of the data, and/or any comments by adding comments onto the original post at Minding the Planet; Note: it would be interesting to see a geographic map or a temporal animation, as well as a social network map of the propagation of this meme.

---

Instructions

To add your blog to this experiment, copy this entire posting to your blog, and fill out the info below, substituting your own information in your posting, where appropriate.

Required Fields

(Note: Replace the answers below with your own answers)

1. I found this experiment at URL: http://blog.codefront.net
2. I found it via "Newsreader Software" or "Browsing the Web" or "Searching the Web" or "An E-Mail Message": Browsing the Web
3. I posted this experiment at URL: http://minghong.blogspot.com
4. I posted this on date (day, month, year): 03 August 2004
5. I posted this at time (24 hour time): 08:40:00
6. My posting location is (city, state, country): Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Optional Survey Fields

(Replace the answers below with your own answers):

1. My blog is hosted by: Myself
2. My age is: 22
3. My gender is: Male
4. My occupation is: Student
5. I use the following RSS/Atom reader software: Bloglines, OpenWiki
6. I use the following software to post to my blog: Blogger.com
7. I have been blogging since (day, month, year): 7 Oct 2003
8. My web browser is: Firefox

---

Hmm... I think I did something similar before. But definately not that site... :-P

Firefox 0.9.3 is coming soon

Yes... yet another security update... Firefox users are advised to update when it is out.

500 USD Reward for Security Hackers

The Mozilla Foundation today announced the Mozilla Security Bug Bounty Program, an initiative that rewards users who identify and report security vulnerabilities in the open source project's software. Under the new program, users reporting critical security bugs - as judged by the Mozilla Foundation staff - will collect a $500 cash prize. The new initiative was launched with funding from leading Linux software developer Linspire, Inc., and renowned Internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. (Emphasis by me)

Pretty cool, isn't it? ;-)

Spider in the Sky/madlax

Recently I have started playing Spiderman 2 the Game. It is a third-person action game like Tomb Raider (without the puzzle-solving part). The game is quite nice because it runs nicely on my sloooooow PIII computer (as smooth as Tomb Raider 5 or below). Of course I didn't turn many of the effects on (e.g. shadowing). Also the detail levels are set as normal or low. :-(

For instance, all the levels that I played took place in the New York City (Manhattan, to be exactly). The city is beautiful. I can crawl on any surfaces, swing between buildings, and even commit suicide by jumping out of the city:

I can do that because the city was transformed into Laputa (the buildings are floating on the sky) by the evil Doc Ock.

When I was playing that level (and the level after it), I occasionally heard someone shouting Put me down! and I gotta be sick!. Finally I found some criminals are being left at the top of some buildings. No wonder they are shouting like that. I, as a hero, immediately release them: by killing them. Hee...

The game is actually quite easy (too easy) as what you need to do is to follow the instruction: follow the arrow that indicates where to do; follow the flashing light to unlock the door or defuse the bomb; etc.

Edited: It is not that easy... The boss in the third Laputa level is quite strong... It keeps throwing rocks to me... Help...!