A new phpBB update is upon us.  Its name is 3.0.6 and it is available here.  There are quite a few improvements and updates, the most notable being a better spam filtering captcha system, the inclusion of a quick reply pane as a default option, a better caching system to improve overall speed performance and a better automatic upgrade script.

Now the (very) painful upgrade process can begin, hopefully for the last time before benefitting from the enhanced upgrade script.

I will also soon release revised versions of the forum templates.

A quick update to report that there have been many useful enhancements to the Mihalism image hosting system recently.  The backend continues to improve with many new options.  This solution is moving fast and may soon provide a good alternative to imagevenue, tinypic and the other traditional providers.  Soon everyone will be able to run a hosting solution :-)

Here’s the changelog:

1. More bug fixes to help improve stability and reliability.
2. Fixed Webpage URL Upload not posting to “Upload To” album.
3. Cleaned up code base to make it easier to edit & understand for mod developers.
4. Added wildcard IP address bans. Example: 123.456.*.* or 123.456.321.*.
5. Fixed random string generator not outputting correct value.
6. Improved stability of new URL upload options.
7. Fixed Imagick issue with thumbnails.
8. Fixed iFrame uploader not working.
9. Fix Internet Explorer 6 warning slideout returning false positives created by Internet Explorer 8.
10. Added “Advanced Debugging Tools” to Site Settings page. Basically linking hidden debugging pages.
11. Added page to Admin Control Panel to show recent PHP error logs to help debugging.
12. Added page to Admin Control Panel to show System Information such as hard drive space remaining, RAM use, and more.
13. Converted MySQL Driver to use MYSQL_*_TABLE constants for easier table renaming when using multiple sites.
14. The design of Advanced Thumbnails has changed for people with the most recent version of Imagick Image Library.
15. And a few more minor updates, tweaks, and changes.

Get it here.

I have been running a small hosting solution for my projects for a while using the Mihalism Multi Host software. I really like this little piece of software and I was surprised to hear that development had been halted after version 4. Luckily the developers are back in action and have just released version 5, which is available here.

The trouble is, for people like me who need to upgrade from version 3, there is no upgrade script from v 3.1 to 5.0. One needs to first upgrade to version 4. This is what I just did and I thought I would share how to do it as the developers are providing support for version 4 users but not currently to version 3 users.

First step

As a first step I did a backup of the whole folder where the Mihalism and the images reside.  In my case it was the /hosting folder:

tar -czvf images_backup.tar.gz hosting/

Then I did a backup of my whole sql database, using MyPhpAdmin.

Second step

I downloaded the v 3 to v 4 upgrade script, which is available here. I am also hosting a copy here:  multihost_3_1_0.

I unzipped the file, which gave me a folder called “upgrade”.

I downloaded version 4.0.2 of Mihalism Multi Host from their official website.  I unzipped it and uploaded the resulting folder on my server.  I called this new folder “hosting2″.

I then uploaded the upgrade folder into hosting2.

Third step

I copied the following from my old Mihalism version 3 (folder hosting) in my new Mihalism version 4 (folder hosting2):

- the files folder and its contents;

- the config.php file.

I then ran the upgrader by accessing /hosting2/upgrade/ from my web browser.  The upgrade went smoothly except for the upgrader’s inability to overwrite my config.php file:

Now that was not much of a problem, as the upgrader gave me instructions on how to update the file.  Or so I thought.  Actually, the file it was attempting to write was not hosting2/config.php (the one I had moved over from my previous version) but hosting2/source/includes/config.php.

I edited that file as per the instructions, I changed the name of my new version from hosting2 to hosting so that links to my legacy  files would not be lost.  I then deleted the upgrade folder and the install.php file and I was done!

I just did it and it seems to be working all right!

M

Update: I have now updated from v3 to v5. Everything works perfectly!

I have been tracking various iphone skins and themes available for a number of phones for over a year, and the enthusiasm of iphone wannabes does not seem to abate! Here is an updated and revised list of links for iphone skins and styles for non-Apple phones.

Nokia Phones

iPhone theme for Nokia N80 [source - download]

iPhone theme for Nokia N6300 and Nokia 40 Series [source - download]

iPhone theme for Nokia 5800 and S60v3 [source - download]

Motorola Phones

iPhone theme for Motorola RAZR V3 [source - download]

iPhone theme for Motorola V3c/KRZR [source - download]

iPhone theme for Motorola KRZR [source - download]

iPhone theme for Motorola RIZR/KRZR [source - download]

iPhone theme for Motorola V3x [source - download]

iPhone theme for Motorola MAXX V6 [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola RAZR V3 [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola V3i [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola KRZR [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola L7 [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola V3r [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola e398 [source - download]

iPhone DRM for Motorola RIZR [source - download]

Sony Ericsson Phones

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson w810i [source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson w900i [source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson k750, w700, w800, w810[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson k610i[source - download]

iPhone Black theme for Sony Ericsson k750, d750, k600, w800, w700[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson K800, K790[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson w850[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson k800, w850[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson k750, w800[source - download]

k800 iphone theme for Sony Ericsson k800[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson k800[source - download]

iPhone theme for Sony Ericsson w900[source - download]

Google Android Phones

iPhone theme for ahome Android app [source - download]

How to turn your Android phone into an iPhone[source]

PocketPC phones

iPhone skin for PocketPC[source - download]

iFonz skin for PocketPC[source - download]

iphone theme for PocketPC[source - download]

iphone emulator for PocketPC[source - download]

Blackberry Phones

iphone themes for BlackBerries[source - download]

bPhone theme for BlackBerries[source - download]

iPhone theme for Blackberry Pearl 81xx[source - download]

iPhone theme for Blackberry Curve 83xx[source - download]

iPhone theme for Blackberry 87xx[source - download]

iPhone theme for Blackberry 88xx[source - download]

iPhone skins and styles for other popular phones

Leo S60 iPhone theme for Symbian OS S60. Works with Nokia N70, N72, 6630, 6620, 6680, 6681, 6682, 6670, 7610, 6260, 3230, 6600 Samsung SGH-D720, SGH-D730 Panasonic X700, X800[source - download]

iBored theme for Sidekick[source - download]

iPhone style for BenqSiemens E71[source - download]

Java iPhone theme for most java-compatible phones[source - download]

The new release candidate of AutoMOD for phpBB3 has finally been released.

One of the common problems with phpbb is that the forum design expands in width when users post images that are too wide for the forum. Here are two fixes to this problem.

There is a fairly advanced mod for phpbb3 that allows you to apply an automatic image resize in forum posts, together with an optional lightbox. You can find it here.

For those of you who are interested in a less advanced solution, here is a little hack that will automatically resize all posted images down to a width of 550px wide.

Preview

With this hack, images that are too large to fit, like this:

are automatically resized in a size that fits, like this one:

Download

Download the file from here.

After a tremendous start for the Skype-on-iphone app, some are asking the US FCC to investigate AT&T for the restrictions it imposes on Skype usage.

A useful tip for webmasters:

Click to Play

A useful tip for webmasters:

Click to Play