Nirlog.com

Few years ago I was looking for a virtual host management system, that’s when I came across Virtualmin. The features satisfied my requirements and of course you can’t beat the free, price wise . I’ve been using it in an environment with 100+ virtual hosts since then, and don’t have any regret on my choice. It’s running all these years without any problem.

What is Virtualmin

Virtualmin is a free and open-source virtual hosting management system designed to make virtual hosting quick, reliable, and secure. It’s a Webmin module, which supports the creation and management of Apache virtual hosts, BIND DNS domains, MySQL/PostgresSQL databases, and mailboxes and aliases with Sendmail, Postfix or Qmail. It utilizes existing Webmin modules for these servers, and works with any existing system configuration, rather than needing it’s own mail server, web server and so on. There’s also a commercial version of Virtualmin that you’ve to pay for, called Virtualmin Pro, which includes some extra features and support.

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I’m planning to buy a new laptop (MacBook or MacBook Pro) after the Leopard is released, and have been wondering which one of the new apple laptops provide a better value. Here is a nice break down of different components of MB and MBP.

First of all, both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro come in three models. I’m assuming that for people who are considering both the MB and MBP lines, the $1099 MB model is too underpowered and the $2499 and $2799 MBP models are too expensive, so the models they’ll consider are the $1299 and $1499 MB models and the $1999 MBP model. I’ll ignore the $1499 MB as well as it’s just the $1299 model with a 120 GB hard drive and in black. The bigger drive is a $150 option for the $1299 model.

There’s no doubt that both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro are excellent laptops, but I think I’ll go for MacBook Pro, for it’s bigger screen (just 0.4 pound heavier than MB), faster performance and discrete graphics processor (vista aero compatible). Probably it’s worth the extra money.

WordPress is reporting that a cracker gained user-level access to one of the servers and modified the 2.1.1 download file. The hacker managed to modify two files in WP 2.1.1 to include code that would allow for remote PHP execution. The 2.1.1 package does not seem to have been compromised when it was initially released, WordPress encourages all users to upgrade to 2.1.2 to patch the security hole.

Long story short: If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past 3-4 days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately.

If you’re reading this in your RSS reader, just wanted to let you know that I’ve changed the look at Nirlog.com. Now I’m using a new theme WP-Multiflex-3, by Ainslie Johnson. My previous theme called WP-Andreas09 was also by Ainslie. I like the new theme, and I think many blogs will be using it, but I’m one of the first to have it, so I don’t mind . It supports Widgets, the cool thing is that the header too is widgetized in 3 sections, top, middle and bottom, which can be placed where you want or left out if you don’t want them. The theme is also SEO friendly, where space is left for your “keywords” and “descriptions” in header.php, and title appears before the the blog’s name. I love the RSS Subscription button at the header too.

It has changed the way we communicate and do business, with it’s ease of use, price (free for end users), and effectiveness, e-mail has taken our productivity to a whole new level. But there’s a darker side to it. Now people are getting addicted to emails. The misuse and addiction is doing just the opposite, costing businesses millions of dollars in lost productivity. But there’s a hope, reuters put it this way — “Alcoholics have one, and so do drug abusers. Now people addicted to e-mail also have a 12-step program designed to tackle their obsession.” Here are the 12 steps to manage your e-mail:

1. Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes.
2. Commit to keeping your inbox empty.
3. Create files where you can put inbox material that needs to be acted on.
4. Make broad headings for your filing system so that you have to spend less time looking for filed material.
5. Deal immediately with any e-mail that can be handled in two minutes or less but create a file for mails that will take longer.
6. Set a target date to empty your in box. Don’t spend more than an hour at a time doing it.
7. Turn off automatic send/receive.
8. Establish regular times to review your e-mail.
9. Involve others in conquering your addiction.
10. Reduce the amount of e-mail you receive.
11. Save time by using only one subject per e-mail; delete extra comments from forwarded e-mail, and make the subject line detailed.
12. Celebrate taking a new approach to e-mail.

In an open letter, Apple CEO Steve Jobs urges the recording companies to abandon DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies. This is quite surprising to everyone because Apple, with it’s ipod and selling songs (with DRM) from iTunes store is clearly the one most benefiting from DRM. But Jobs thinks there’re 3 ways ahead: continue on the current course with DRM; Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors; or to abolish DRMs entirely. Apple clearly favors the third option.

The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Via: Cnet

When I recently launched my new blog, it all started with a concept, domain search, domain registrration, wordpress installation, themes, plugins, some php hacks and so on… I just did everything following my previous experience but later realized having a checklist would have been much more helpful. I think it would have saved me a lot of time. There’re some excellent checklists about blogging in the blogosphere, and I’ve collected some of the best I could find. If you know of other good checklists related to blog and blogging please let me know, I’ll expand the list. So, here it is… enjoy the list of the checklists…

1. Blogging Starter Checklist - I learnt it the hard way but you don’t have to. I have put together a starter checklist for new bloggers. - By Rajesh Setty

2. WordPress: The Complete Post-Install Checklist - After setting up WordPress for several of my friends, I found that having a ‘checklist’ makes things go even faster - so I decided to write it all up and share with you. - By Ross McKillop

3. 21 Surefire Tips for a Successful Blog Launch - The 21 points included in this checklist will cover the basics of what you need to do during those all-important first two weeks of your blog’s life. - By Aviva

4. Top Wordpress Plugins - Some of the most useful and most popular Wordpress plugins. - By Vlad Akilov

5. 7 More Sure-Fire Headline Templates That Work - So here are 7 more sure-fire headline templates that will work when you’re aiming to score more readers. - By Brian Clark

6. 10 Most Misspelled Words in Blogs - Technically the following words aren’t misspelled. They’re misused. The reason you should review this list is because a spell checker won’t correct these for you. - By Johan Holmberg

7. 8 Steps to Growing Your Blog Community One Person At a Time - The real value in blogging comes from 1. How can you get 1 more person to visit your blog, engage and build a relationship with you? - By Ben Yoskovitz

8. WordPress and SEO - Bunch of SEO tips for your blog. These tips won’t flood your blog with visitors - no SEO tips will. Use these tips to improve your site. - By Thomas Silkjær

9. How to get traffic for your blog - List of 56 advices to get more traffic for your blog. - By Seth Godin

10. Free! Icons for your website or application - List of some amazing icons by various artists who have made their work available to the general public for a variety of uses. These icons are all free. - By Kirk Montgomery

11. My 50 favorite blogging resources - List of 50 blogging resources that can be helpful to any individual and corporation looking to get into blogging. - By Neil Patel

12. Fifty Writing Tools - At times, it helps to think of writing as carpentry. That way, writers and editors can work from a plan and use tools stored on their workbench. - By Roy Peter Clark

13. 10 Things You should Know About WordPress 2.1 - If you’re planning to upgrade your blog to Wordpress to 2.1 here’re 10 things you should know. - By Aaron Brazell

14. List of Popular Blogs - The biggest blogs in the blogosphere, as measured by unique links in the last six months. - By Technorati

“The only thing that matters finally is superior content. If you forget everything else in this list and focus on just providing great content, you can still win BIG in the blogging world!” - Rajesh Setty

Technosailor has an useful article about 10 Things You should Know About WordPress 2.1. This is a timely and useful post for those who’re planning to upgrade their Wordpress to 2.1. The new version will be released tomorrow and it is the major release since 2.0 branch was launched. This new version will have new features. Some of the notable features are:

• Auto-save of Drafts
• Better Image Upload Handling
• Deprecation of $tableposts, $tablecomments, etc
• Plugin Compatibility
• Native WordPress Migration Functionality
• MySQL Version
• New Visual Editor Interface
• Merging of Links and Categories
• Privacy Features
• Nonces

As for myself, I’ll test the Wordpress 2.1 on a testing site before upgrading my blogs. The main task would be to check the plugin compatibility and also I’ll need to upgrade the MySQL to 4.0+ before upgrading, since Wordpress 2.1 doesn’t support MySQl 3.xx

Update: Wordpress 2.1 is released

Like everyone else I’ve been following the wild iPhone rumors from a long time, and was really happy to see it happen today. Can’t wait to get my hands on it, although they’ll be releasing it in Asia only on 2008. This small device is packed with a lot of amazing features, it’s a:

Widescreen iPod
Revolutionary Phone
Breakthrough Internet Device
High Technology

Everything looks wonderful but I’m just wondering how effective the on-screen keyboard for typing emails and sms would be! Lets wait and see.

Useful links to give you a full dose of iPhone before you can get hold of one:
iPhone (Apple’s official iPhone page)
Watch the iPhone Introduction by Steve Jobs (video on demand, requires QuickTime)
Apple’s new calling: The iPhone (a good article by Time reporter, who got a sneak peak)
TUAW on iPhone (The iPhone category of The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
Engadget on Apple announcement at Macworld 2007
GigaOM on iPhone
Gizmodo on iPhone

Fortune has released the list of 100 Best Companies To Work For, and Google tops the list, with it’s free meals, swimming spa, and free doctors onsite. Engineers can spend 20% of time on independent projects. Google employs 6,500 people in the US, it is considered a Medium sized company, which receives 1,300 résumés a day and it’s job growth is 67%. Other rivals of Google are far down the list, Yahoo at 44th and Microsoft at 50th position. Go here to see what is inside the best company to work for.