Mofomon » tech

Recovering from a wordpress update error – “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.”

mofomon — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:49:50 +0000

I just experienced my first WordPress update error. I have to say, I was a little freaked out.
I tried to auto update 5 of my plugins. The update page came back and said there was an error, when I tried to navigate to the updates page to try it again the page went blank and I got this lovely message:
“Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.”

This message appeared on any page associated with the admin/dashboard area. I believe some refer to this as the website being stuck in maintenance mode. Luckily the front end of my blog/website was still running fine.

Here is how I fixed it:

Logged into my blogs root folder via ftp
Opened my wp-content folder which houses the plugins folder.
Renamed plugins to plugins.old
Made a new folder called plugin

Tada! Everything works again. Now you can either reinstall all your plugins or do what I did. I deleted the plugins directory, renamed plugins.old to plugins and tried that. I was able to get back into my admin area and just had to manually update those plugins that were not updated and probably caused the error to begin with.

What do you mean I can’t view this on my mobile device

mofomon — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:26:29 +0000

Have you ever been browsing on your phone and you come across the warning/error message “This content is not available on mobile devices”? It might be a picture, a website, a file, or a youtube video.
This annoys me. You have provided the content on the internet, what do you care what device I’m using to view it? This is equivalent to telling me I can only read my newspaper in my kitchen, not my bedroom, and definitely not in the office. That would be absurd right? Because once you have te newspaper you should be able to read it anywhere, right?
Well, this is absurd. Content on the internet should not be censored this way. I thought it was the information highway, free exchange of information, etc. If this was the case, let me view what you have already made available online using any web capable electronic I own.
Internet content providers should not be able to block phones, googleTV, netbooks, laptops, tablets, or whatever else may be invented in the future.
I understand that some content providers are trying to protect their content for misuse, however, a different way of implementing that has to be found. A better method.

Social Bookmarking Plugin

mofomon — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:08:45 +0000

I upgraded my social bookmarking plugin from Sociable to Share This! I think it looks sleeker and should be easier to use. At least I hope.

I was really hoping they had the google+ button already but it looks like you need to do that manually. You can see the instructions here.

Looking to game on your Windows phone?

mofomon — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:46:22 +0000

For those of you who have Windows based phones, check out this game:

Satalaunch

The game play is conceptually similar to angry birds in that it’s a gravity-based puzzle-game. This current version is free to play and free to download, and you will see absolutely no ads.

Word is there will be releasing a second version with downloadable content allowing users the ability to edit and share levels they create and can directly download their levels into the game (or download other user creations). The website where users will be able to do this is www.satalaunch.com. I believe the level designer is live now!
Look out for several new game-play elements adding a layer of depth to gameplay that would make this game a true-puzzler such as worm-holes and resource management.

Don’t believe me about needing to have this game? Gizmodo called it an App Everyone Should Have.

Iphone users feeling a bit jealous? Don’t worry. They are currently working with an iPhone development company to port it over the iPhone which we expect we will have done soon!

Play on!

Playing SataLaunch

I just want to see everything in detailed view

mofomon — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:07:51 +0000

When I am looking for a file, whether it is a document or a folder where a document may be… I want to see everything in detailed view. This way, with a single click I can organize things in date order or by name or size… Anyway, the possibilities are endless, you get what I’m saying. I had this all set up o my PC until a few weeks ago where it just decided that everything would be arranged by icons. This makes it really hard to browse alphabetically for files, skipping from column to column. BOO. I had to fix it.

To do this in Vista:

Open a folder you want to view in this manner.
Set it to the view you prefer.
Next, click Organize in the toolbar, and then click Folder and Search Options.
In Folder Options, click the View tab, and then click Apply to Folders.

For those of you who are particular about how you view things while browsing for files, do that. Also take a look at this page on the Microsoft website which outlines other customizations you may want to make (like opening every folder in it’s own folder).

Enjoy seeing everything as you want it to be seen!

I want a tablet

mofomon — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:12:40 +0000

So, last week I got it in my head that I want a tablet. Why? I don’t know. What will I do with it? I don’t know. Ever since I decided this I’ve been trying to figure out what to buy. Do I get the Motorola Xoom
? Do I get the Ipad? Wait Ipad 1 or Ipad 2? Do I wait for more Android 3 tablets to come out? Should I look at a Kindle
instead?
So far my choices are expensive ones, the Xoom and Ipad don’t run cheap. I just sat down and tried to figure out what it is that I exactly need on my tablet device. You know what it boiled down to? Can I play Angry Birds. Yeah, seriously. That’s my only qualification. Based on that, I think an Ipod touch is in my future. It has wifi. I can play music. I can take pictures. Best of all, I CAN PLAY ANGRY BIRDS.

Sound logic right? Maybe I should take a day or two to think about this before I go out and get my ipod touch? hmmm.

Yay for my new pocket knife

mofomon — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:02:31 +0000

So I posted a while back that I had “lost” my trusty pocket knife and wanted a new one. I just want to thank Armen V. for making that happen.

It is on my key chain and making me happy.

Happy New Year!

mofomon — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:55:30 +0000

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. May 2011 bring you happiness and health!

I hope everyone is having a pleasant 1.1.11. I’m starting off the new year by backing up my laptop! Something I meant to do all of 2010…

If you’ve been looking to do the same, here is a post on Lifehacker that walks you through using one utility.

I’m on Twitter. @mofomon

mofomon — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 19:31:30 +0000

Guys. I’m on twitter. Add me: @mofomon

I’ve had a twitter account for a really long time now, but recently I have actually become involved. I never realized what a rich community it is until I spent a few hours a day finding, following, and reading the tweets of tweeters that provide information that is pertinent and interesting to me. I’m making an effort to get involved and provide a valuable contribution myself. Follow me and let me know that you did and I will follow back.

For those of you that are also bloggers, check out this article on How to Use Twitter – Tips for Bloggers.

Happy blogging/tweeting!

Donkey Kong Country Returns!

mofomon — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:33:20 +0000

I’ve been playing Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii for a few days now and I just need to say that these multi-player co-op side scrolling games are my favorites. Between this and the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game, I’m totally set.

I enjoy the 3d games too but there is just something about the side scrollers that I love. The added multi-player capabilities just make it that much better since I can play with friends and we can help each other get through the game.

<3 Wii

Blackberry themes

mofomon — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:01:37 +0000

For those of you looking for themes for your blackberry, check out the crackberry site. I haven’t found a great one for the torch yet, so if you see anything awesome, give me a heads up.

Internet Shopping

mofomon — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:10:41 +0000

I pretty much love shopping on the internet. Buying things I know I want/need without having to take the extra time to run to the store? Bonus win.
I shop on all kinds of websites, on-line only stores, stores I go to often which also have on-line stores, ebay, amazon… the list goes on. Sometimes, though, I need to use some kind of aggregator that can pull from multiple shopping sites and help me find what I need. Google shopping is a good one, but I recently found ShopWiki.com which works pretty well. ShopWiki is a guide designed to help consumers find specific products on the Internet with ease. They have buying guides that can help you decide the best products to buy in the category you are looking for and where to buy them. ShopWiki basically crawls other online stores to provide you with a wide range of results to look through.
For example, if you were looking to do some Home Improvement (something I don’t know a ton about and would need a buying guide for), you could start on their Workshop and Home Improvement page and from there move into the related guides like Tools and Hardware, Circular Saws, Miter Saws, Power Drills, Hand Tools, and Workshop accessories.
Or, more likely in my case, I want to figure out what new games to buy for my video game consoles so I would start in the Video Games section and then move on to the Game Guide. Maybe the newest Call of Duty is in my future…

Anyway, check it out. Happy Shopping.

Removing the “Antivirus 2010″ (or whatever year) Virus from your PC

mofomon — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:48:16 +0000

For those of you who were duped into getting the Antivirus 2010 (or other previous year) virus, there are a few simple things you can do to remove it.
Symptoms of the virus are the Antivirus 2010 running and the fake Windows Security Center. It pretends to scan your computer and list a variety of infections that cannot be removed unless you first purchase the software. It also randomly displays fake security alerts on your computer stating that you are infected or have some sort of security risk. If you click on these alerts, it will prompt you to purchase the software. These fake alerts, along with a fake Windows Security Center that advertises Antivirus 2010, are used to further scare you into thinking you are infected so you purchase the software. Sometimes it also brings up a fake blue screen of death. It can also hijack your internet browser (like internet explorer or Firefox) and display a message stating that the website you are trying to access is dangerous and then it prompts you to purchase the software to continue.
First thing you should do it reboot into safemode with networking. To do this restart your computer (Start–>Restart). While it is booting, before you get to windows, press F8 to being up the boot menu allowing you to choose “safemode with networking.” Select that choice and allow the PC to continue to boot. Once logged in and booted up, open your internet browser go to http://malwarebytes.org/ and download the free version of Malwarebytes. When the download is complete install Malwarebytes. After installation run the software by doing a complete scan. Once the scan is complete, it will display the infected files and prompt you to restart to remove these infected files. Agree to this restart. After the restart is complete and your computer is booted back up in normal mode, run your virus scanner to make sure you have removed all residual problems. (if you don’t have antivirus software, get AVG’s free antivirus)

You should be good to go now.

You can also take a look at this website for more information regarding the virus and removal info.