Facebook recently updated their Graph API to require an oAuth access token. Here is a quick guide that explains the easiest way to create an access token for your site.
It's Lenny's Fault
Blog and portfolio of Lenny Urbanowski
Simple jQuery script to automatically open external links in new window
05
Jun
Often times on sites it's useful to automatically have any external link open in a new window. This is a very simple solution that just overrides any link that starts with http:// or https:// and forces them to open in a new window. There are obviously other ways to accomplish this but this is the most simple method. This method consists of a simple jQuery function and forces external links to open in a new window. This is useful for any site with unpredictable content when you know you want external links to open in a new window.
Easy way to load Facebook news feed through RSS / atom10
05
Jun
Until recently you could import your facebook news feed using a json feed available through the Facebook Graph API without needing to set up an oAuth token. Unfortunately, facebook pulled the rug out from under us all when they started requiring oAuth tokens on the basic graph API. This caused many sites to start receiving the following error: "OAuthException An access token is required to request this resource." Pretty annoying. I was ready to jump through facebook's hoops and create a facebook app dedicated to providing access to the news feed when I realized each page has an rss feed built right in. IMO it's not AS good as the data from the graph API but for most situations it will get the job done.
Singing Weighted Companion Cube Duct Tape Wallet
12
May
Still scarred from having to burn my best friend alive I set out to create this weighted companion cube wallet completely out of duct tape. As an added bonus I included a voice chip so it plays the song from portal when opened.
Testing live sites before switching DNS / pointing the domain name
07
May
So, you're ready to launch your site. You've got it all set up on the production server and all you need to do is log in to your domain host and point the domain at your new server and hope everything is working. Hope everything is working? Yes, that seems to be how most developers think. I've encountered several people who use this method for launching a site.
Fear not friends there is a simple solution that will allow you to fully test your site on the live server before switching the DNS to make it live to the rest of the world.
Flush DNS cache
07
May
Most (if not all) modern operating systems keep a local DNS cache some are pretty good at keeping them updated some aren't. Either way from time to time when making DNS changes it is useful to know how to clear your DNS cache. This is just a quick reference of how to clear DNS cache on several popular operating systems.
VirtualBox Error: has 1 differencing child hard disks
18
Jan
Recently I went to start up my VirtualBox Windows 7 client and I got the following error:
"Hard disk '____.vdi' with UUID {___} cannot be directly attached to the virtual machine 'Windows7′ ('___.xml') because it has 1 differencing child hard disks."
I have no idea what 'caused this error and it took me a lot of searching to find a good solution to it. Since it took me so long to figure out I decided I would post the solution here for my own reference and hopefully to help anyone else that faces the same issue.
Get latest status from facebook fan pages in PHP (part 2: multiple entries)
27
Dec
This is a very simple way to get the latest posts from a facebook fan page. I previously wrote a VERY simple guide that just returns the latest single post (as this is all people want a lot of the time). If that is what you are looking for read this guide instead. By popular demand I created this additional tutorial that will show you how to display the latest 10 posts and display them with date. Also, this code will filter out things posted on your wall by other people and display ONLY things the owner of the facebook page posted.
Adding auto-fire to a computer mouse (555 timer)
23
Dec
Remember the auto-fire (turbo) button on old video game controllers? This project adds an auto-fire button to a mouse for use with video games or just clicking random things quickly (if thats what you're in to) using no more than a 555 timer, a capacitor and a couple resistors. My goal was to create it as cheaply as possible and without interfering with the normal functionality of the mouse.