As you can see, I didn't download any source file, instead I was happy with using apt-get and the hpricot version from ubuntu repositories, although they are relatively old (for example rubygems is more than a year old). If I find any problem and need to update to newer versions I'll report that here ;-)

It's a pity they don't have a metapackage for ruby's development files (the ruby1.8-dev package), the same way there's a ruby metapackage which depends on the ruby1.8 package, so whenever ruby is updated it will update the ruby version as well, without the user having to worry about the version number.

Even more, I instinctively tried a naive sudo apt-get install rubydev and was greeted with a sad "Couldn't find package rubydev". It somehow proves that a metapackage called rubydev would be quite useful… at least for instinctive users.

Enjoy your screen scrapping!

Interesting stuff

Because most of the examples out there simply use "Arial" as font, they will never get the myriad errors I was getting, such as "Error: exception during transcoding: Font for alias 'Blah Blah Light Italic' with plain weight and style was not found" or the much dreaded "Error: java.lang.Integer cannot be cast to java.lang.String".

The problem is that there are more sophisticated True Type Fonts out there, which split the font in several files, one for each variation of weight and style, and if you try to embed a file for a non normal weight, normal style, the Flex compiler won't be able to find the definition of the shapes for the "normal version" and then will simply stop and let you wondering why it doesn't work.

So that's why we're specifying not only the source file but also the weight and style of the font, and that's what most of the examples never deal with — because Arial comes as a single file.

Then there's the other important thing: the private class to which the font file will be attached. Even if you simply use the embedded font with the new alias defined in fontFamily ("MyFontFamily" in this example), you still need to provide that variable, or you will get a big "Error #2136: the swf file contains invalid data".

More info

I assembled the solution to my woes taking parts from several sources:

• This thread from Kirupa gave me some hints about the font style and weight
• This thread from FlashKit has the answer to the error 2136 issue

and went to section.php expecting to find the id value inside $_GET['id']. Big surprise when it was actually empty. I suspected this could be something to do with that Apache module which tries to guess which file were you referring to when a URL was misspelled, since even if I commented out the rule it still executed section.php when entering /section in the URL. But if the .php file was completely unrelated to the rewrite pattern, (e.g. with RewriteRule ^kkkkkkk/(\d+)$/ /blablabla.php?id=$1) it worked. Very odd!

Since I personally never needed that feature, I didn't know its name (although I have seen it in a couple of servers before). After a while and several google searches, I could confirm the guilty and the one to blame was mod_negotiation, precisely the module which tries to guess which file you really wanted.

I haven't investigated exactly what is going on inside apache, although I guess that basically mod_negotiation is executed before mod_rewrite has a chance to parse the request, and when mod_rewrite is called it receives an overwritten and modified version of $_GET which is completely useless at that point.

So there are two options for getting mod_negotiation out of our way: disabling it altogether or disabling it at .htaccess level.

Disabling mod_negotiation

You can only do this if you control the server, be it a dedicated server, a slice server, or a local computer. This is how I did it with Ubuntu (Hardy Heron):

First line disables the module, second one forces apache to restart (obvious, but just in case someone got lost ;) )

Disabling at .htaccess level

If you're on a shared hosting or you need mod_negotiation for something else, there's still hope!

Just add this

at the top of .htaccess and that's it.

Curious cat strikes back

And out of curiosity… does anybody enable mod_negotiation on purpose? I personally find it more of an annoyance than a feature, specially when one wants to show only certain stuff and discovers that Apache is showing more than it should thanks to this evil module. Anyway, enjoy mod_rewrite ;-)

Here's the entire report.

Unfortunately, the web 2.0 effect is still inducing waves of pleasure amongst the cool-keyword-hunters. If we dare to introduce the term into our cheap market research report generator, it reduces both cloud computing and social networks to an almost statistical nothingness.

Entire report again.

Yet with a bit of luck cloud computing will push our all time favourite term –semantic web– back where it belongs. Disguised as the more glamorous and shiny term Web 3.0, of course.

Meanwhile, you can keep labelling all terms and situations with web 2.0, but do not be afraid of topping your pub chats with a little bit of cloud computing, even more if you're in London. You know weather is a great conversation topic here!

Damn geeks

First, we have a bit of a desperate cry by a certain Solomon Grundy:

Damn geeks. They've screwed up everything. They can't even get something as simple as the Internet right. No wonder 70% of financial application are still coded in COBOL and don't use the Internet as their primary avenue of communications.

from the comments at Adobe yanks speech exposing critical 'clickjacking' vulns. By the way, why do the Register guys have anchors for each individual comment, but do not show them? I had to use the very helpful Web Developer Toolbar once again for revealing anchors in the page (Information — Display anchors, just in case you need it). Damn geeks!

So yes, that's quite serious. It seems there's no way things can be done properly when the internet factor is in the mix. When in doubt, simply blame the Robustness principle: Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send.

Googleskepticism or just plain common sense?

Following the release of Google's Chrome, one had the immediate feeling that it was going to be a big news — not only appearing at generalist media but even prompting our families to ask us about that new system Google has released for competing against Bill's (literally). I wasn't impressed at all by the G-move neither did feel immediately compelled to download and test it (besides my computer doesn't run Windows anyway), so I just ignored the complete commotion. But it seems Ted Dziuba got a bit more irritated with all the publicity and media fueled bullshit and/or plain lies and simply ended up exploding:

I understand the argument that as web applications proliferate, the desktop operating system becomes less important, and emphasis is placed on the browser. That's all well and good, but let's be realistic here. It's a fucking web browser. It runs JavaScript a bit faster than other web browsers. That doesn't add up to a Windows killer.

[...]

People are calling Chrome a cloud operating system because it is a "platform for running web apps". It renders HTML and interprets Javascript, you know, like every fucking browser made since 1995. It's also got Google Gears built in. Great. I'll alert Tim Berners-Lee.

(emphasis added by me)

He also notes the big amount of nonsense that Michael Arrington managed (once again) to produce for the occasion, with allusions to the new and upcoming hot keyword - cloud computing. I would suggest Ted –and any of you–, only one thing: do not read Techcrunch, for your own mental health.

On confusing people

Only two words: Microsoft SDL.

Why did they have to use an acronym which is so well established is something that I can't understand. Furthermore, Microsoft SDL doesn't stand up for anything remotely related to media or games. Do not even think they are ditching DirectX for the true SDL. In fact, their SDL is the deceptively boring acronym of Secure Development Lifecycle. Which, coming from Microsoft, absolutely deserves a place on the IT fun saga with a special award in the "Irony" category!