Redirecting URLs that Include Numbers
Redirecting stuff with .htaccess generally is pretty straightforward, but there can be a lot of confusion when it comes to targeting patterns that include numbers. I think this largely is due to the syntax used for matching numbers in regular expressions. It’s sort of unintuitive until you get the hang of it. So to help in that regard, this tutorial explains the basics of matching numbers with .htaccess, and then provides some useful examples that should get you there. Continue reading »
Things that kinda suck about Apple/Mac
I dove into the world of Apple/Mac over five years ago. Overall I think it’s a huge step up from anything Windows related, but there are some things that I feel kinda suck about Mac OS X and Apple products in general. This post rounds up some of my thoughts, hopefully to help promote discussion and encourage some much-needed improvement. Continue reading »
Clever Popup Ad? No Thanks.
So these days, I’m seeing more “clever” popups when visiting various websites. For example, do a search, see a result, click to visit.. and then before any content is shown, I’m hit with some annoying popup ad for whatever thing the site is trying to push. Continue reading »
WordPress Plugin Updates!
It may not seem like it, but I’ve been super busy updating books, plugins, and websites with all sorts of new goodness. I just finished updating all of my free WordPress plugins that are hosted at the WordPress Plugin Directory. Here is a complete list: Continue reading »
Amazing Keyboard Shortcuts
Well, they aren’t really that amazing, but for Windows and Linux users, they sure save time. Continue reading »
Everything is Relative
People love to argue. Often, to resolve conflicting opinions, people will “agree to disagree,” saying something like, “it’s all relative.” The idea behind this common statement is that everyone believes in their own version of the truth, which may or may not happen to prove true for other people. Saying that “it’s all relative” also implies that every version of the truth is equally valid. Unfortunately, important discussions are often abandoned to the familiar tune of universal relativism. Continue reading »
Upgrading Tag Functionality
Before today, the extent of my concern with tags involved local post tags via UTW and meta keywords via Autometa. Wanting to dive deeper into tagging, I added metadata Technorati tag links as icons appearing after each local tag link, generally located within post meta information. Adding the icon links is easy. Go to the UTW Options panel and in the “Global Formatting Settings” section, select the Technorati Tag. Then simply add the following (or something similar) to your index.php […] Continue reading »
Phish Phight
I love reading these things.. Your online credit card account has high-risk activity status. We are contacting you to remind you that on March. 13, 2006 our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with Chase Bank’s User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved. We encourage you to log in and perform […] Continue reading »
Pathetic Phishing Attempt
For a good laugh, consider the following email message: Subject: Attention! Several VISA Credit Card bases have been LOST! Good afternoon, unfortunately some processings have been cracked by hackers, so a new secure code to protect your data has been introduced by visa. You should check your card balance and in case of suspicious transactions immediately contact your card issuing bank. If all transactions are alright, it doesn’t mean the card is not lost and cannot be used. Probably, your […] Continue reading »
Tools to check your site’s health
Perishable Press is now over 12 years old. It is a lot of work keeping everything updated, maintained, and well-secured. Fortunately there are a gazillion free online tools for checking your site’s health. Everyone has their favorites. In this quick article, I share mine. Continue reading »
Theme Update: shapeSpace v1.7
shapeSpace is the starter WordPress theme that I use to build sites like Plugin-Planet.com and DigWP.com. I use it because it includes all of the most commonly used template tags and a minimal amount of clean markup. Additonally, shapeSpace includes a robust set of custom functions that make it easy to add and modify theme features and functionality. Continue reading »
Phish or Die
Ahh, the joys of stealing from people… Dear Customer Of The WellsFargo Internet Banking We Have Noticed That Your Wells Fargo Online Bank Account Needs To Be Updated, because we have made a new updates on our online banking service and we lost some information of our customer online banking accounts, we are sorry for that but you should update your Wells Fargo online bank account. To verify your online account and access your bank account, to be able to […] Continue reading »
Protect Against WordPress Brute Force Amplification Attack
It seems the WordPress xmlrpc.php file is the target of another type of attack. Before, it was the XML-RPC Pingback Vulnerability. Now, it is the Brute Force Amplification Attack. This post explains what you need to know and then cuts to the chase with several ways to protect your site against this new malicious exploit, as well as all other related threats. Continue reading »
Monzilla Media Website Update
Monzilla Media After working more than nine months developing Perishable Press into a valuable online resource, which houses a growing library of notes, examples, and ideas related to the creative universe of Perishable, we feel well-prepared to press ahead with the next phase of our secret plans. About a year ago, we purchased the domain, monzillamedia.com, after deciding on a business name and refocusing our goals. Since that time, we have been sharpening skills and preparing for business. Now, as […] Continue reading »
Redirecting Hash Fragments with .htaccess
During this year’s site redesigns, I noticed in the server logs some 404 errors for various WordPress comments. These 404 requests each involved a fragment identifier (i.e., character string beginning with a pound sign, #) being interpreted as its HTML entity hex equivalent, %23. It may not seem like a big deal, but these days every detail counts, so it’s wise to clean up as many 404 errors as possible. Thus, here is a simple .htaccess technique for redirecting hash-fragment […] Continue reading »
7G Addon: Stop Aggressive Scanning for Uploads-Related Targets
Around the end of December 2019 and then now well into January of 2020, I’m seeing a massive spike in aggressive malicious scanning for uploads-related targets. In particular, there are massive numbers of requests for URL targets involving uploadify, plupload, and similar. Typical scans hitting upwards of 30K–50K requests per attack. Just relentless exploit scanning on steroids. Continue reading »