http://blog.johnlawrence.net Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:16:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en One of the comments that I received from my last post (15 Twitterers Every Linux User Should Follow) was that Twitter is pretty closed and not really in line with the whole Linux way of doing things. Well, that is true, though probably not an issue for the less fanatical ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/04/12-identica-linux-users/ It's surprisingly hard to find users on Twitter that are worth following in amongst the inactive accounts and mundane updates, but there are some real gems. Below is my list of the best Linux related twitterers. To follow any of them just click on their name to go to their ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/02/15-twitterers-linux/ Quite a few people have asked me recently for the GTD Workflow wallpapers I had on my old site. These had got lost when I moved over to the new design, but I've finally had a search through some old backups and tracked them down. Enjoy! PNG: 1024x768 1280x800 1280x1024 1440x900 JPG: ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/02/gtd-workflow-wallpaper/ After 2 years I've finally updated my WordPress plugin and decided on a new name (it started out life as SocialList, but someone else has that name now). Hopefully I'll keep more on top of things this time! PopuList allows you to track the popularity of your posts on social bookmarking ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/01/populist-for-wordpress/ Prompted by an article by Andreas Gohr [splitbrain.com] giving a PHP function to get StumbleUpon rankings for a given URL I decided to revisit the SocialList Wordpress plugin I wrote in 2007 (I see someone else has taken the name for a different plugin now, guess that's what I get ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/01/determining-stumbleupon-rankings/ Possibly useful to anyone testing a site in Firefox, I just found out you can view the error console in a tab by going to the URL: chrome://browser/content/places/places.xul Also of interest: Library (bookmarks): chrome://browser/content/places/places.xul Downloads: chrome://mozapps/content/downloads/downloads.xul Add-ons: chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul You'll need to copy and paste these into your address bar as links don't work, also they only work in Firefox ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/01/firefox-chrome-urls/ IsMyLcdOK is a small program to easily check for dead/paralysed/stuck pixels on LCD monitors. There's not much to it: Just run and then walk through the battery of onscreen tests designed to isolate any problem pixels. The only trouble is it's Windows only. There are some alternatives for other platforms, but ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2009/01/lcd-checker-html-version/ A quick question: How many people know your mothers maiden name/first pet's name/frequent flyer number etc? More than you'd think. Every time you sign up for the latest website, service or  account you're asked for details like this as a security procedure in case you forget your password. Often this information is all ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2008/12/insecurity-questions/ Reading through Maximum PC's list of 50 skills every real geek should have I noticed 'Downloading flash video' from sites like YouTube was on the list. So, cunningly avoiding the many easy ways to do it, I decided to put together a quick shell script, after all it can't be ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2008/12/youtube-download-shell-script/ Simple one-purpose site Ding It's Up sends you an email (or text/twitter message) when a site you specify comes back online. Pretty useful stuff, but not content to let something remain simple I decided to make a bookmarklet so that when I'm on a site that's down, I can just hit ... http://blog.johnlawrence.net/2008/12/ding-its-up-bookmarklet/