Have something you want other people to read but not spam bots and search-engine crawlers? TxtNinja will turn your plain text into an image to keep the bots at bay.

Why might you want to forgo plain text? One of the more popular reasons is to mask your email to keep spam bots from sucking it up as they scan web pages. Leaving your email@someprovider.com in the open makes it ripe for picking. TxtNinja allows you to turn that plain text into:

The result is an image file which is human friendly but not machine readable.

TxtNinja allows you to change the font, font size, color, background, and supports international character sets for a dozen non-English languages.

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• Convert text into unsearchable images with TxtNinja (0)

TxtNinja Stashes Your Text Inside Images [Security] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 11, 2009.

The date is 7 July 1947 and the place is Roswell, New Mexico. Something has crash-landed in the desert – but what is it? The debate is still raging today and AWitnesses reported shiny silver debris scattered over the impact site. Was it the remains of a flying saucer, as the Roswell Daily Record suggested, or just fragments of an errant weather balloon? Stories and conjecture were rife, and from them came the most famous conspiracy theory in the history of the species. Were aliens being hidden from the rest of the world by the United States government?

Conspiracy theories are a thoroughly modern cultural phenomenon. In loose terms they explain historical events as being the work of secret and powerful conspirators. After 9/11, conspiracy theorists insisted the hijackings were the work of the American government. Black helicopters in the sky – that must mean that secret and wealthy juntas are up to no good. Even the humble light bulb isn’t safe from suspicion: was the everlasting light bulb designed in 1930 and then suppressed to bolster bulb makers’ future profits?

A conspiracy theory’s recipe is disarmingly simple: all you need is an occurrence, the suggestion of a dark cabal, a wilful disregard for evidence and a creative mind. Critically, however, once released the tale takes on a life of its own and begins galloping around the globe. As it travels, self-appointed experts begin picking it over, searching out ‘the real truth’. Layers upon layers of detailed information are added to what may originally have been an overheard whisper, a lie or just a simple misinterpretation.

Government cover-ups of extra terrestrial life might have been the mainstay of conspiracy theories for decades, but today the world of computing is an equally fertile breeding ground. Fuelled by never-ending debate on web discussion forums, conspiracies relating to computing and the internet abound. Here we examine 10 of the top PC-related theories and try to decide, once and for all, whether they are rooted in reality, or are nothing more than the result of too many paranoid and furtive imaginations. The truth is out there.

Hidden messages found in the Bible

The Theory: Michael Drosnin claims to have found hidden messages in the Bible using specially written software. Some say it’s an elaborate hoax tailored to make money from book sales, but other conspiracy theorists cite rather more sinister motives, given that Drosnin gained the ear of top officials in the Israeli Mossad and the United States Department of Defense.

In his book The Bible Code, Michael Drosnin describes how he used software to search for hidden messages in the Hebrew Old Testament. The messages allegedly foretold events that occurred thousands of years after the Bible was written. More importantly, other messages are warnings to the present age, the exact time at which computer technology would have been able to unearth them.

PC Plus analysis: Scientific papers presented analyses of Drosnin’s results and concluded that they’re statistically significant. More recent papers, also reviewed by experts, say that they’re not. We wouldn’t dare join a debate being held by such eminent mathematicians, but perhaps the Bible itself has something to say on the subject. According to 1 Corinthians 1:27, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong”. In the light of this verse it would seem surprising that God would have left messages that could only be discovered by a powerful computer, and which would be argued over only by academics. But you’ll have to make your own mind up on that one.

SETI program is a smokescreen

The Theory: The US government knows that little green men exist – and it also knows that we’ll never find them by listening for radio signals. So to keep us off the scent, it promotes futile SETI research.

SETI stands for the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. It works by pointing large radio telescopes into space and listening for radio signals that have the hallmark of intelligence. To date, the scheme has found nothing, despite over two million years of processing time being clocked up in the SETI@home program, where volunteers contribute PC time over the internet to analyse signals.

PC Plus analysis: The well-known Drake equation allows us to work out how many civilisations in the galaxy we might be able to hear radio signals from. The equation itself is widely accepted, but there’s considerable debate over the values of the variables it uses. Today’s best estimates suggest there may be two or three such civilisations. Needles and haystacks immediately come to mind. So if it’s well-known that the technology will have a very low rate of success, why bother using it? Are the conspiracy theorists correct on this one? Well, wait a minute. NASA might have had a SETI programme at one time, but it doesn’t any more. The fact that SETI research now receives no public money seems to derail the idea that the US government are using it to distract us from the real way to reach aliens.

Government in Wi-Fi safety cover up

The Theory:Forget mobile phone masts – school kids are now at risk from Wi-Fi access points in schools. Government is aware of the health risks but is suppressing the truth.

This is a classic conspiracy theory because it’s pretty much impossible to prove. Most scientists believe that low-power Wi-Fi doesn’t constitute a health risk, but the only way to know for sure is to carry out large-scale tests over many years using kids as guinea pigs.

PC Plus analysis: We’re not doctors, but we are clued up in electronics. In Europe Wi-Fi access points have a maximum output power of a tenth of a watt – but a mobile phone can transmit two watts. As you double the distance to a transmitter, the field strength drops fourfold. Doing the sums, we conclude that if being two metres from a Wi-Fi access point for six hours a day is supposed to be harmful, using a mobile phone pressed against your skull for a second a day is 10 times worse.

Government eavesdrops on emails

The Theory: Project Echelon – a joint initiative by the British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand governments – intercepts our phone calls, texts and emails. Powerful computers scan their content looking for certain incriminating keywords.

The government is keeping tight-lipped about this one, but, according to civil liberty campaigners the system can intercept satellite communications, snoop on mobile phones and tap into the public telephone system.

PC Plus analysis: Quite frankly, after 9/11 and 7/7 it would be rather surprising if the American and British governments didn’t intercept communications. The motive and the technology are both there.

Microsoft prolonged high-def format wars

The Theory: Microsoft fuelled the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. While consumers held off on buying either DVD replacement for fears of picking the wrong standard, the software giant planned to steal a march and launch a high-definition download service.

According to the theorists, Microsoft supported HD DVD even though it knew that Blu-ray would win in order to draw out the battle as long as possible. In the meantime, their alternative – in the form of Windows Media Video 9 – would be brought to market allowing movies to be downloaded at up to 1,920 x 1,080 resolution.

PC Plus analysis: Microsoft might have had cause to extend the format war, but if they did it wasn’t a great success. Blu-ray sales are now starting to pick up, but Microsoft’s download service is nowhere to be seen, and until average broadband speeds improve, it’s barely practical for many. This one looks fanciful.

No code unbreakable for the CIA

The Theory: The US government has powerful computers that are vastly faster than the speediest known supercomputer and can crack any encoded message.

In 2002, a 64-bit encoded message was cracked. It took 331,252 PCs working together for almost five years. T oday’s 128-bit ciphers would take 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 times longer to crack, and the best experts can suggest is that by 2055 it would be possible to crack them using $42,000billion worth of specialist hardware. That would seem to derail this particular conspiracy theory, but if the US government manages to develop a practical quantum computer then even a 128-bit encrypted message would be instantly crackable.

PC Plus analysis: The fact that any government would crave this capability is indisputable – but most experts agree that none of them has it. One thing’s for sure: if the government had this technology then there’s no way the CIA would shout about it. As a result, this is one theory that will run and run.

Google collects data on our surfing habits

The Theory: Every time we use Google, the words or phrases we enter are recorded so that the company can learn about our surfing habits. Whether your interests lie in the realm of politics or, shall we say, something more ‘adult’ in nature, our darkest secrets are laid bare.

Motives differ depending on who you listen to. Some say that Google sells the information to advertisers who inundate you with tailored spam. Others suggest that the security agencies are given tip-offs on people searching for bomb-making information.

PC Plus analysis: Google admits that it uses cookies to track your surfing habits and then processes this information to present you with relevant advertisements while you search. But the real crux of this theory is whether Google can link all that information to you as an individual. This is far more unlikely, as the company would need the cooperation of your ISP in order to identify you from your IP address. With all this in mind, we don’t advise panicking just yet.

Google Earth is subject to censorship

The Theory: Google has succumbed to insidious pressure from world governments to keep their secret geographical sites from prying eyes. Google Earth has brought us what was previously available only to the military: high-resolution satellite images of the entire planet. But some censored areas, it’s suggested, are pixellated to prevent us from seeing the juicy details.

PC Plus analysis: This has all the hallmarks of a classic conspiracy theory, but it’s actually a fact – as the screenshot of a Dutch military base shows quite clearly.

US government set up Facebook spy network

The Theory: DARPA (the US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) used funding to help set up Facebook so that it could use it to collect information on citizens.

DARPA’s former Information Awareness Office stated that its aim was to collect as much information as possible on everyone. Funding was cut following protests by civil rights activists, but it has been suggested that Facebook now fulfils these aims at no cost to the American taxpayer.

PC Plus analysis: There can be no better conspiracy theory than one in which the US government is the alleged antagonist, because one thing’s for sure: these guys don’t kiss and tell. On the face of it, the theory seems plausible, but we’d have to question the point of it – dissident US citizens surely wouldn’t be so stupid as to use the social-networking site as a hub for terrorist activity, and we doubt that the White House is interested in pictures documenting just how trashed college students got during Spring Break. Surely the CIA has developed better ways of collecting information on the people that it’s interested in by now.

Conficker was written by the Chinese government

The Theory: The Conficker worm has received no shortage of publicity in recent months. According to some, it was written by the Chinese government as a test bed for advanced cyberwarfare. Because its creators could upload new instructions to infected PCs, nobody knew what Conficker might be able to do – and that’s what made it so scary. It also made it the stuff of conspiracy theories. In this particular one, the Chinese government will use it to bring the internet to its knees.

PC Plus analysis: This goes against the more conventional theory that suggests the Ukraine is the worm’s source. The fact that it doesn’t infect PCs with a Ukrainian keyboard layout might be a red herring, but virus expert Eugene Kaspersky is 60 per cent certain that Conficker does have its roots in the Ukraine. He also believes that its purpose is less sinister than has been suggested. But before you dismiss this talk of cyberwarfare, we should point out the concept does have legs – the Georgian government accused Russia of perpetrating a cyberattack on official websites just before the country was invaded in 2008, and Estonia experienced a cyber-blackout in 2007.

The lunatics are taking over the internet

To a degree, all the conspiracy theories we’ve discussed here have a grain of plausibility about them. That’s what makes them so fascinating. As we researched this piece, we did however uncover many which were at the other end of the sanity spectrum. For starters, it seems that digital set-top boxes contain hidden cameras and microphones. For proof, head to www.wimp.com/spyfind. This explains why the government is so keen to force the digital switchover. In reality, the story was a spoof. An artist bought a set-top box, inserted a camera from a phone and unleashed the story on a credulous American public hungry for news about the impending arrival of digital TV.

As you’d probably expect, Microsoft is the subject of many theories. You wouldn’t however expect its Wingding font to be the focus of political paranoia. If you write ‘NYC’ in the Wingdings font you get the skull and crossbones symbol followed by the star of David followed by a thumbs up. The unhinged have interpreted this as a coded attempt to incite racial violence in New York – which, of course, is utter rubbish.

RFID is a new form of barcode that can be read from a distance. But this isn’t to make checkout quicker. Oh no. It lets Them track your movements after you’ve bought the goods. Seems the government is in on the act too – see www.bit.ly/12F6mb.

And finally, an oldie but a goody. Apparently the microprocessor wasn’t invented here on Earth at all: it was the result of reverse engineering technology from an alien spacecraft recovered near Roswell, New Mexico on 7 July 1947. Which brings us neatly back to where we began.

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Computing’s Greatest Conspiracies originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 10, 2009.

Filed under: Security, Text, Web services

If you want a bit of text to be human-readable, but not read or indexed by bots, TxtNinja has got you covered. It converts your text to a GIF, with customizable size, font and color. Potential uses include concealing your email address from spammers, sending sensitive information over IM, and getting around text filters on forums.

The downside of TxtNinja is that the choices of fonts and colors are very limited, and they aren’t common web fonts, either. Your TxtNinja GIF, unlike a real ninja, is unlikely to blend in with its surroundings. This isn’t a particularly big deal, though, and you can use it to your advantage if you happen to want your text to stand out.

Convert text into unsearchable images with TxtNinja originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics:
Download Squad – Graphics – Web service – E-mail address – Mon people
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Convert text into unsearchable images with TxtNinja originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 1, 2009.

Filed under: Utilities, E-mail

Spam is a problem nearly as old as email itself. Sure, it’s 2009, but posting your email address on your website is still likely to invite spammers to let you know about the latest Viagra and Cialis deals. MailTo Encoder uses a bit of Javascript to obscure your address from spambots, while leaving it readable to actual humans.

From the user’s perspective, email links look exactly they way they normally would. The encoding and decoding all happen behind the scenes, thanks to some easy Javascript you can cut and paste. MailTo Encoder is a decent solution that gets the job done with minimal effect on the user experience, and it might beat setting up a contact form on your website.

MailTo Encoder hides your email address from spambots originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MailTo Encoder hides your email address from spambots originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 4, 2009.

Comments sections are neglected on many blogs. That is definitely a bad thing, because comments represent interaction between you and your readers. In this article, we’ll have a look at 10 great tips and hacks to enhance your blog’s comments section and give it the quality it deserves.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

• 5 Useful And Creative Ways To Use WordPress Widgets
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• 10 Useful WordPress Loop Hacks
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• 15 Useful Twitter Hacks and Plugins For WordPress
• Mastering WordPress Shortcuts
• 100 Amazing Free WordPress Themes For 2009

1. Add Action Links To Comments

The problem.
Whether or not you allow readers to add comments without having to be approved, you will often need to edit, delete or mark certain comments as spam. By default, WordPress shows the “Edit” link on comments (using the edit_comment_link() function) but not “Delete” or “Spam” links. Let’s add them.

The solution.
First, we have to create a function. Paste the code below in your functions.php file:

function delete_comment_link($id) {
  if (current_user_can('edit_post')) {
    echo '| <a href="'.admin_url("comment.php?action=cdc&c=$id").'">del</a> ';
    echo '| <a href="'.admin_url("comment.php?action=cdc&dt=spam&c=$id").'">spam</a>';
  }
}

Once you have saved functions.php, open up your comments.php file, and add the following code where you want the “Delete” and “Spam” links to appear. They must go in the comment loop. In most themes, you’ll find an edit_comment_link() declaration. Add the code in just after that.

delete_comment_link(get_comment_ID());

Code explanation.
The first thing we did, of course, was to make sure the current user has permission to edit comments. If so, links to delete and mark a comment as spam are displayed. Note the use of the admin_url() function, which allows you to retrieve your blog admin’s URL.

Source:

• How to: Add “Delete” and “Spam” buttons to your comments.

2. Separate TrackBacks From Comments

The problem.
Do your posts have a lot of TrackBacks? Mine do. Trackbacks are cool because they allow your readers to see which articles from other blogs relate to yours. But the more TrackBacks you have, the harder the discussion is to follow. Separating comments from TrackBacks, then, is definitely something to consider, especially if you do not use the “Reply” capabilities introduced in WordPress 2.7.

The solution.
Open and edit the comments.php file in your theme. Find the comment loop, which looks like the following:

foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>
    // Comments are displayed here
endforeach;

Once you have that, replace it with the code below:

<ul class="commentlist">
    <?php //Displays comments only
	foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>
       	<?php $comment_type = get_comment_type(); ?>
       	<?php if($comment_type == 'comment') { ?>
	    <li>//Comment code goes here</li>
	<?php }
    endforeach;
</ul>

<ul>
    <?php //Displays trackbacks only
	foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>
       	<?php $comment_type = get_comment_type(); ?>
       	<?php if($comment_type != 'comment') { ?>
	    <li><?php comment_author_link() ?></li>
	<?php }
    endforeach;

</ul>

Code explanation.
Nothing hard about this code. The get_comment_type() function tells you if something is a regular comment or a TrackBack. We simply have to create two HTML lists, filling the first with regular comments and the second with TrackBacks.

Source:

• Jamie asks: How do I display comments and TrackBacks separately?

3. Get Rid Of HTML Links In Comments

The problem.
Bloggers are always looking to promote their blogs, and spammers are everywhere. One thing that totally annoys me on my blogs is the incredible amount of links left in comments, which are usually irrelevant. By default, WordPress transforms URLs in comments to links. Thankfully, if you’re as tired of comment links as I am, this can be overwritten.

The solution.
Simply open your function.php file and paste in this code:

function plc_comment_post( $incoming_comment ) {
	$incoming_comment['comment_content'] = htmlspecialchars($incoming_comment['comment_content']);
	$incoming_comment['comment_content'] = str_replace( "'", ''', $incoming_comment['comment_content'] );
	return( $incoming_comment );
}

function plc_comment_display( $comment_to_display ) {
	$comment_to_display = str_replace( ''', "'", $comment_to_display );
	return $comment_to_display;
}

add_filter('preprocess_comment', 'plc_comment_post', '', 1);
add_filter('comment_text', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);
add_filter('comment_text_rss', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);
add_filter('comment_excerpt', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);

Once you have saved the file, say goodbye to links and other undesirable HTML in your comments.

Code explanation.
The first thing we did was create two functions that replace HTML characters with HTML entities. Then, using the powerful add_filter() WordPress function, we hooked the standard WordPress comments processing functions to the two functions we just created. This makes sure that any comments added will have their HTML filtered out.

Sources:

• How to: get rid of links in your comments
• How to disable HTML in WordPress comments

4. Use Twitter Avatars In Comments

The problem.
Bloggers find Twitter very useful because it allows them to promote their blog and stay connected to other bloggers and their own audience. Because of Twitter’s popularity, why not illustrate comments with Twitter avatars instead of the normal gravatars?

The solution.

1. The first thing to do is get the functions file here.
2. Once you have that, unzip the archive to your hard drive, and then open the twittar.php file.
3. Select all of its content and paste it to your blog’s functions.php file.
4. The last thing to do is open your comments.php file and find the comments loop.
5. Paste the following line in the comments loop:

   <?php twittar('45', 'default.png', '#e9e9e9', 'twitavatars', 1, 'G'); ?>

Code explanation.
Some months ago here at Smashing Magazine, an awesome plug-in named Twittar was released. Its purpose is to allow you to use Twitter avatars on your WordPress blog. Because of the number of requests I received from WpRecipes.com readers, I decided to turn the plug-in into a hack, for people who prefer hacks to plug-ins.

Of course, you could simply install the plug-in rather than insert its content into your function.php file. It’s up to you.

Sources:

• Twitter avatars in comments
• How to: Use Twitter avatars in comments

5. Set Apart Author Comments With Style

The problem.
For blog posts that have a lot of comments, finding the author’s comments and responses to reader questions is not always easy, especially if the blog don’t have WordPress 2.7’s threaded comments feature. Happily, it is possible to give author comments a different style so that readers can always quickly find your answers.

The solution.

1. Open the comments.php file and find the comment loop:

   <?php foreach comment as $comment) { ?>

2. After that line, paste in the following:

   <?php
   $isByAuthor = false;
   if($comment->comment_author_email == get_the_author_email()) {
   $isByAuthor = true;
   }
   ?>

3. Once that’s done, find the line of code that represents comments (it may vary depending on your theme):

   <li class="<?php echo $oddcomment; ?>" id="comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>">

4. Now we have to output the authorcomment class if the comment was made by the author:

   <li class="<?php echo $oddcomment; ?> <?php if($isByAuthor ) {
    echo 'authorcomment';} ?>" id="comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>">

5. The last thing we do is create a CSS class for author comments. Open the style.css file and insert the code. Replace the example colors with your colors of choice.

   .authorcomment{
   	color:#fff;
   	font-weight:bold;
   	background:#068;
   }

Code explanation.
Basically, this code compares each email address left by a commentator to the author’s email address. If they match, the $isByAuthor is set to true. When comments are displayed on screen, the value of $isByAuthor is checked. If it returns true, then the authorcomment class is added to the container.

It can be done more easily on Wordpress 2.7+ by just adding comment_class(); to the comment’s DIV, which automatically adds the class bypostauthor when you’re commenting on your own post (Thanks, Nima!).

Source:

• Highlight Author Comments in WordPress

6. Display Total Number Of Comments And Average Number Of Comments Per Post

The problem.
On your blog’s dashboard, WordPress tells you how many total comments your blog has received. Unfortunately, there’s no function for displaying this information publicly. Displaying the total number of comments on your blog and average number of comments per post can be very helpful, especially if you have a page for advertising opportunities.

The solution.

<?php
$count_posts = wp_count_posts();
$posts = $count_posts->publish;

$count_comments = get_comment_count();
$comments  = $count_comments['approved'];

echo "There's a total of ".$comments." comments on my blog, with an average ".round($comments/$posts)." comments per post.";
?>

Code explanation.
Introduced in version 2.5, the wp_count_posts() and get_comment_count() functions allow you to easily retrieve the total number of posts and comments, respectively, on your WordPress blog. To derive the average number of comments per post, we have to do a bit of simple math, using the PHP round() function to make sure we end up with an integer.

Source:

• How to: Display your average number of comments per posts

7. Display X Number Of Most Recent Comments

The problem.
By default, WordPress provides a widget that outputs a list of however many of the most recent comments. This is great, but sometimes you want this functionality without a widget.

The solution.
This hack is very simple: just paste this code wherever you need a certain number of the most recent comments to be displayed. Don’t forget to specify the actual number on line 3 (after the LIMIT SQL clause).

<?php
  $pre_HTML ="";
  $post_HTML ="";
  global $wpdb;
  $sql = "SELECT DISTINCT ID, post_title, post_password, comment_ID, comment_post_ID, comment_author, comment_date_gmt, comment_approved, comment_type,comment_author_url, SUBSTRING(comment_content,1,30) AS com_excerpt FROM $wpdb->comments LEFT OUTER JOIN $wpdb->posts ON ($wpdb->comments.comment_post_ID = $wpdb->posts.ID) WHERE comment_approved = '1' AND comment_type = '' AND post_password = '' ORDER BY comment_date_gmt DESC LIMIT 10";

  $comments = $wpdb->get_results($sql);
  $output = $pre_HTML;
  $output .= "\n<ul>";
  foreach ($comments as $comment) {
    $output .= "\n<li>".strip_tags($comment->comment_author) .":" . "<a href=\"" . get_permalink($comment->ID)."#comment-" . $comment->comment_ID . "\" title=\"on ".$comment->post_title . "\">" . strip_tags($comment->com_excerpt)."</a></li>";
  }
  $output .= "\n</ul>";
  $output .= $post_HTML;
  echo $output;
?>

Code explanation.
As in the last hack, we use the $wpdb object here, too, this time with the get_results() method. Once the comments have been retrieved by the WordPress database, we simply use a for loop to concatenate the comments into an HTML unordered list. The $pre_HTML and $post_HTML variables, initialized at the top of this code, allow you to define which content should go before and after the comments list.

Sources:

• How to: List most recent comments
• Huge Compilation of WordPress Code

8. Easily Prevent Comment Spam

The problem.
Comment spam is such a pain for everyone. Akismet is a good solution, but why not block spammers outright instead of just marking their comments as suspected spam? This code looks for the HTTP referrer (the page where the request comes from) and automatically blocks the comment if the referrer is incorrect or not defined.

The solution.
Paste the following code in your functions.php file:

function check_referrer() {
    if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']) || $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] == “”) {
        wp_die( __('Please enable referrers in your browser, or, if you\'re a spammer, bugger off!') );
    }
}

add_action('check_comment_flood', 'check_referrer');

That’s all. Once you’ve saved the file, your blog will have a new level of protection against spam.

Code explanation.
This code automatically rejects any request for comment posting coming from a browser (or, more commonly, a bot) that has no referrer in the request. Checking is done with the PHP $_SERVER[] array. If the referrer is not defined or is incorrect, the wp_die function is called and the script stops its execution.

This function is hooked to WordPress’ check_comment_flood() function. This way, we can be sure that our check_referrer() function is called each time a comment is posted.

Source:

• Yoast.com

9. Keep WordPress Backwards Compatible With Versions Older Than 2.7

The problem.
Released some months ago, WordPress 2.7 introduced a totally new commenting system, allowing you to thread comments and display them on separate pages. Although this is great, keep in mind if you are creating a theme for a client or for online distribution that many users still haven’t upgraded their installation to version 2.8 or even 2.7. This code allows 2.7+ users to benefit from the new commenting system, while keeping the old system functional for people with older versions.

The solution.
You’ll need two files for this recipe: the first is a WordPress 2.7 compatible comments file called comments.php. The second is a comment template for older WordPress versions called legacy.comments.php. Both of these files go in your theme directory.

Paste this code in your functions.php file.

<?php
add_filter('comments_template', 'legacy_comments');

function legacy_comments($file) {
	if(!function_exists('wp_list_comments')) : // WP 2.7-only check
		$file = TEMPLATEPATH.'/legacy.comments.php';
	endif;
	return $file;
}
?>

Code explanation.
This code creates a function called legacy_comments(), which is hooked to WordPress comments_template function. Each time WordPress calls comments_template(), our legacy_comments() function is executed. If the wp_list_comments() function doesn’t exist, the code automatically loads legacy.comments.php instead of comments.php.

Sources:

• Making your theme’s comments compatible with WordPress 2.7 and earlier versions
• How to: make your comments template compatible with WordPress 2.7 and older versions

10. Display Most Commented Posts From A Certain Period

The problem.
Number of comments is a good way to measure a blog post’s popularity and is a good filter for displaying a list of your most popular posts. Another great idea is to restrict a list of your most popular posts to a particular period, like “Last month’s most popular posts,” for example.

The solution.
Simply paste the following code where you’d like your most commented posts to be displayed. Don’t forget to change the dates values on line 3 according to your needs.

<ul>
<?php
$result = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT comment_count,ID,post_title, post_date FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_date BETWEEN '2009-06-01' AND '2009-07-01' ORDER BY comment_count DESC LIMIT 0 , 10");

foreach ($result as $topten) {
    $postid = $topten->ID;
    $title = $topten->post_title;
    $commentcount = $topten->comment_count;
    if ($commentcount != 0) {
    ?>
         <li><a href="<?php echo get_permalink($postid); ?>"><?php echo $title ?></a></li>
    <?php }
}
?>
</ul>

Code explanation.
The first thing we did was send out an SQL query to the WordPress database using the $wpdb object. Once we got the results, we used a simple PHP foreach statement to display the most popular posts from a certain period in an HTML unordered list.

Source:

• How to: Display the most commented posts of 2008

Related posts

You may be interested in the following related posts:

• 5 Useful And Creative Ways To Use WordPress Widgets
• Power Tips For WordPress Template Developers
• 10 Useful WordPress Loop Hacks
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• 15 Useful Twitter Hacks and Plugins For WordPress
• Mastering WordPress Shortcuts
• 100 Amazing Free WordPress Themes For 2009

About the Author

This guest post was written by Jean-Baptiste Jung, a 27-year-old blogger from Belgium, who blogs about WordPress at WpRecipes, about practical Web development tips at Cats Who Code and about Photoshop and Web design at PsdVibe. You can stay in touch with Jean by following him on Twitter.

(al)

© Jean-Baptiste Jung for Smashing Magazine, 2009. |
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Post tags: comments, CSS, hacks, twitter, wordpress

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10 Handy WordPress Comments Hacks originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 23, 2009.

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store

For some, the recently released iTennis game in the iTunes App Store looked extremely familiar — that’s because it was a rather blatant ripoff of code provided by the iCodeBlog, a site known for its free iPhone coding tutorials. The original tutorial, written by Brandon Trebitowski, was apparently compiled and submitted by Peter Sheen of BlaBlaIncTech and placed on sale for $.99USD on iTunes in late May.

Trebitowski revealed the theft through iCodeBlog yesterday, and Jonathan Siegel got in touch with us regarding the situation. As response has gotten out through iCodeBlog, there has been a backlash through both BlaBlaIncTech’s site and the App Store. As a result, around 4:45 Pacific Time, the game was pulled from iTunes.

In an attempt to contact someone from BlaBlaIncTech, I headed over to the site to find no contact information except for a support chat that was spammed with nearly 15,000 comments regarding the theft. While I was writing up this post, BlaBlaIncTech removed the link to its guestbook from the front page of the site. Ten minutes later, the game was gone from the App Store. Ten minutes after that, all mention of iTennis was gone from BlaBlaIncTech’s site.

TUAWLifted tutorial code winds up in $0.99 App Store tennis game originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lifted tutorial code winds up in $0.99 App Store tennis game originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 9, 2009.

Microsoft is warning users of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 that a security hole in certain parts of Internet Explorer allows hackers to remotely install malicious viruses on unsuspecting users. The company is currently working to fix the breach.

The hole, apparently caused by the interaction of IE and ActiveX, has been used for about a week to install viruses on users who click certain links in spam emails. Microsoft’s stopgap solution, available here, is to disable that video software, and the company is hard at work to fix the problem. Doesn’t bode well for Microsoft’s push into antivirus software, does it? [via AP]

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Microsoft Warns Users of Serious Security Hole in Software [Security] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 7, 2009.

Filed under: Internet, Windows

NetDrive is a Windows utility that lets you treat remote FTP sites as if they were local drives. The first time you connect to an FTP site, you have to create a profile. But once you’re connected you can copy files to and from the FTP site using Windows Explorer or any other file explorer of your choosing. No FTP client required. To disconnect from the FTP server, just bring up the NetDrive window again and hit the disconnect button.

You can also configure NetDrive to automatically map an FTP site as a Windows drive every time your computer boots up. This could come in handy if you want to use a file backup utility to automatically back up files to an FTP server, or if you constantly need to copy files to and from your web hosting server.

NetDrive includes profiles for a few anonymous FTP servers including the KDE, GNOME, and FreeBSD projects as well as Adobe, Apple, HP, and Microsoft servers. You can also create your own profiles.

[via Inspect My Gadget]

Map FTP servers to Windows drives with NetDrive originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Map FTP servers to Windows drives with NetDrive originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on June 29, 2009.

Here’s the top 20 via sizlopedia.com

1. Mailinator is one of the best and top rated disposable email services that gives you a temporary mailbox on the following address format e.g. something@mailinator.com
2. MyTrashMail is another good temporary mail service that gives you a mailbox in the address format e.g. something@trashymail.com and also gives you secure temporary mailbox if you signup
3. MailExpire stands out in the crowd by giving you the option to have a temporary inbox ranging from 12 hours expiry to as long as 3 months
4. TemporaryInbox is yet another simple and easy to use temporary email service that gives you an email address in different formats
5. MailEater gives you a free temporary email inbox in the format e.g. something@MailEater.com
6. Jetable not only allows you to set the life span of your temporary email inbox but also allows you to forward the mails in your temporary inbox to your real email address
7. SpamBox gives you a temporary email address in the format e.g. something@spambox.us and also allows you to set the lifespan of your inbox
8. GuerillaMail lets you generate a temporary email which expires in a time of 15 minutes and also tell you how to offer a temporary email service on your site.
9. SpamHole provides you a 2 hour long temporary email inbox at the address format e.g. something@spamhole.com
10. 10MinuteMail generates an easy 10 minute email inbox for your temporary email needs
11. DontReg is one bigger, better, faster and safer temporary email inbox solution
12. TempoMail is one new temporary email inbox services that give you spam-free mailbox
13. TempEmail aims to give you a fast, anonymous yet secure temporary email inbox
14. PookMail is a multi-language temporary email inbox service that gives an email address in the format e.g. something@pookmail.com
15. SpamFree24 is a new multi-domain temporary email inbox service which is growing rapidly
16. KasMail requires registration, allows up to 25 aliases, can set aliases to expire after a certain amount of time.
17. SpamMotel requires registration, provides mail forwarding, mail can be accessed through desktop e-mail clients, can reply to e-mail from your real e-mail address using SpamMotel e-mail.
18. GreenSloth requires no registration, receive-only, e-mail expires automatically after a week
19. AnonInbox requires no registration, simple, no frills.
20. Spam.la is a fast disposable email service which requires no registration, no frills. You can see all spam being sent to all Spam.la accounts, or just your own.

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Need a Temp Email Address? originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on May 20, 2009.