Google APIs Error ‘Access Not Configured’
Posted on in apis, googleIf you’re working with the Google APIs, one of the error messages you may come across as:
403: Access Not Configured
All this simply means is that you haven’t set the service to ‘on’ in the APIs console and accepted the terms and conditions. Once you’ve done that then you request will function as expected.
How to Enable Emoji on iOS Devices
Posted on in apple, emoji, ios
The Future of Debugging
Posted on in video, youtubeSource: @Grumpydev
3D Views of the London Underground Stations
Posted on in ldn, tubeIt’s not very often that I come across a site which I find truly amazing. I came across Station Maps by Andrew Godwin this evening and found them completely fascinating. I have a long standing interest in the London Underground system and to see the stations in this way rekindled that greatly.
It’s truly amazing how complex Bank and King’s Cross St. Pancras are.
Oyster Card Travel History Now Online
Posted on in ldn, london, oysterI’ve just had the following email from TFL explaining that they’ve now placed all my Oyster travel journeys into the online portal. Can’t wait to see if they expose this data via the API too.
I am writing to let you know we now offer an enhanced service for checking your journey history online.
You will need an Oyster online account to access the service. If you do not have an account, you can create one by visiting tfl.gov.uk/oyster.
You will be able to see all your journeys made from the date you open your account, whether you use pay as you go, season ticket, Travelcard or a Bus & Tram Pass.
PHP is Mostly CRUD
Posted on in mongodb, phpI recently got the book “MongoDB and PHP” by Steve Francia which had an interesting paragraph in the first chapter that talks about how the use of stored data has changed in recent years:
With all the problems with ORMs, you may wonder why programmers use them at all. People were willing to make the compromises to adopt ORMs for one big reason; PHP applications are by and large CRUD applications. Rarely do they use all of the rich features the relational database provides, so giving them up seemed a small price to pay for the benefit of simplified access to the data. Additionally, there weren’t really any other good options. For very simple projects, one could write SQL in one’s code, but this was hard to debug and even harder to ensure that it was done securely. PHP is famous for enabling SQL injection attacks, as inexperienced developers pass variables right into the SQL without sanitization.
Which lead me to think about how my own use of data has changed over the years.
Virtualmin, ProFTPd & Passive FTP
Posted on in daemon, linux, proftpd, server, virtualminThe current version of Virtualmin ships with an issue for ProFTPd on CentOS due to two modules that it needs to track connections not being loaded. There is a quick fix for this, you’ll need to edit the iptables-config file located at:
[root@pluto ~]# nano /etc/sysconfig/iptables-config
Add the end of the configuration file, add the following line:
IPTABLES_MODULES="ip_conntrack_netbios_ns ip_conntrack_ftp"
You can now restart the iptables service with the following command and FTP should work through passive mode:
[root@pluto ~]# service iptables restart
Forcing SSL Protocol Using PHP or Apache’s mod_rewrite
Posted on in .htaccess, apache, mod_rewrite, phpThere are quite a few circumstances where you may need to force a site, app or page to serve over a secure SSL connection. In PHP development there are two ways to approach this problem depending on your setup. If you’re using Apache to serve your site and you have the ability to use .htaccess files then you can use a rewrite rule to simplify this task server side.
Using Apache mod_rewrite to force SSL
If you can use the mod_rewrite function below to enforce this server side.
Use PHP to force page to serve over SSL
You may be in the position where you only need to redirect a certain page (although you could easily modify the rewrite rule above to do that) or you don’t have the ability to use .htaccess files then you will need to handle this within your actual PHP script.
Toronto Food & Place Reviews
Posted on in 4sq, canada, foursquare, google places, toronto, travel, yyzAs you probably know, I was in Toronto for a couple of weeks earlier this year. In a new respectful habit I’m trying to force myself into I’m making my views on locations visited know via Foursquare and Google Places. The list below contains all the name worthy places I’d visited and a short review of each venue.
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Having been to Pearson a few times, I can safely say that it’s becoming a fairly known path for me. There is a large number of places to eat, drink and shop throughout the concourses. All of the airport staff are helpful and willing to assist you with anything you need. There are plenty of facilities around and always within reach of the gates. Enjoy every experience I’ve had with this airport and I’m sure most others do too.
Crowne Plaza Fallsview
While visiting Niagara Falls I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Fallsview hotel. The hotel isn’t similar to others in the area and it retains the old aura of a time gone by. The entrance hall, hallways and fittings all reflect the level of service that is provided by the staff. I spent two nights in Niagara Falls and both were pleasant. The bedrooms were clean, tidy and stocked full of helpful items. The service was great and there is a Starbucks at street level. The location is great to wander around Niagara Falls too, with the Maid of the Mist tours just a few minutes walk across the road.
Niagara Falls
For a very long time, Horseshoe Falls has been on the list of places I’ve wanted to visit in the world. While in Canada this time around I had the chance to actually go and stay in Niagara Falls and see the majestic Falls in all their glory. Along with doing the usual tourist things like Maid of the Mist (see below) it was also good to visit Clifton Hill which is very similar to Blackpool and the old English seafront arcades. The entire tourist area is a delight to walk around in with plenty of places to eat, buy and wander around. I was so awestruck by the sheer size and power of the Falls that I would recommend that every person in the world should go see.
Air Canada Centre
I was fortunate enough to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers play live at the Air Canada Centre whilst I was in Toronto. The venue is in a great location downtown and easy enough to get to by subway, streetcar and by walking. The ACC staff are extremely friendly and I had the pleasant experience of having ‘Lou’ as our usher for the night. Before the event started Lou spoke to myself and others seated nearby about his experience working at the ACC, he had missed two events in 30 years of working there which is an incredible!
The facilities were great, clean and easy to locate. The merchandise for the concert was easy to find too!
Maid of the Mist
Along with seeing Niagara Falls, one of the other things I wanted to do was to take a trip on the world famous ‘Maid of the Mist’. Be careful if you want to go and visit this fantastic attraction and head over to the dock early in the morning. The queues build up extremely quickly and you can end up queuing for hours. The whole process was a pain free experience though, although it’s very wet when you’re in front of both the American and Horseshoe falls.
The trip itself takes around 15 minutes after leaving the dock. If you can get onto the boat quickly then do so, as you’ll want to find yourself a good vantage point. Staff were most friendly and even offered to take photos for me too!
Crescent Beach
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Old Fort Erie
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Courtyard by Marriott
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Coach House Restaurant
Review content.
Teds Collision
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Steam Whistle Brewing
Review content.
CN Tower
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Elephant & Castle
Review content.
The County General
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A&W
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Frans
Review content.
Pizza Pizza
Review content.
Teriyaki Express
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Urban Eatery
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Starbucks
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BMO Field
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Tim Hortons
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Sears
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Yonge & Dundas Square
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AMC Cinema
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The Pickle Barrel
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Banksy on Advertising
Posted on in banksy, graffitiPeople are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.
– Banksy