Category: how to
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Deploying a tiny Mastodon server on DigitalOcean
Given the current bin-fire state of Twitter it seems entirely reasonable that everyone I know there is building a survivalist-style-bunker on Mastodon. But there’s a pretty immediate roadblock that faces every person trying to set up a new account: which server to choose? While Twitter is monolithic – one site, one account, one @name –…
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How to bulk upload Apple In App Purchases (IAPs) via Transporter
It’s easy to create single In App Purchases via iTunes Connect – but if you want to add tens or hundreds, here’s how to upload them in bulk using Transporter v2.1.x on Mac.
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How to programmatically search the Facebook Ad Library
In this godawful year of all godawful years, it’s good to keep an eye on who’s trying to sell what to you, why, and for how much. Facebook’s Ad Library API lets you see the detail – here’s how to access it.
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The NewZealand Arcade Machine Story
When I was a kid, I used to go for swimming lessons in the local leisure centre. In the lobby there were three machines: one that vended miscellaneous swimming items (cheap goggles, earplugs, etc), one that sold various less-than-healthy snacks, and one arcade game machine playing a game called The NewZealand Story. I never played…
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How To: Write a RTing Twitter bot in PHP
File this one under “stuff I’ve been meaning to look up for ages”: yesterday I finally sat down and wrote a Twitter-bot. You know the kind – a dedicated account that looks for updates containing a certain word or phrase, then retweets them – I often end up being tweeted by @redscarebot, for example. Anyhow,…
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Booking Japanese train tickets from outside Japan
I’ll say this upfront – if you’re visiting Japan as a tourist, probably using a Japan Rail Pass, there’s really no need to book tickets before you go. I’ve hauled myself around most of Honshu, Kyushu and Hokkaido on dozens of trains, usually booking a day or two, at most, before traveling. But then, sometimes…
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How to: Read Flickr API JSON via jQuery
I always prefer to read API data in XML, but there are times when that becomes problematic – especially due to cross domain access policies. If you’re working on a single app it’s possible to solve that by proxying the XML with a local PHP script, but if you’re working with the browser only –…
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Block WordPress Registration Spam with a Custom Captcha
The WordPress platform is a great way to run a blog or website, but it is under constant attack from spammers. Even if you prevent anonymous commenting, require user registration and implement the WP-reCAPTCHA plugin, you might find yourself – as I did – receiving dozens of automated, spammy registrations per day. However they’re getting…