Maverick Web Creations » Programming

Maverick Keyword Researcher Preview 7 – Microsoft OCI

admin_mwc — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:30:23 +0000

This module of the Maverick Keyword Research was inspired by John Jonas’ Outsourcing Online Research post. John hired a programmer to create a tool to fetch the OCI values from Microsoft but his programmer found it hard to do it with PHP so he wrote a Windows program to do it instead.

I found a way to do it in PHP and it was not as hard as I thought. My tool saves a lot of time because I can get the OCI values of multiple keywords automatically one at a time.

If a keyword has commercial intent, the OCI value will be displayed as it is. If a keyword has no commercial intent, the OCI value will have a negative sign in front of it. I followed John’s format for this because it makes sense.

I am almost done with the Maverick Keyword Researcher. A couple more tweaks and bug fixes and it will be ready for launch.

Twitter API Background Image Updating Bug?

admin_mwc — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:28:08 +0000

I am creating a PHP script to automatically change my Twitter account’s background image and profile image. So far, the code is working for the background image change but Twitter’s servers seem to be slow in recognizing the changes.

I have submitted a report to the Twitter API team about this issue and I hope they can tell me why it isn’t working.

My script is able to upload the background image to Twitter but it does not get displayed instantly. I end up seeing no background image and just my Twitter background colour. My Twitter account’s XML file does not display the right background file but if I click on the “save changes” button in “settings -> design”, the background magically appears.

Check out my video of this strange background image bug below. Click on the full screen button for a better view.

I hope this issue would be fixed soon because I would love to automatically update my Twitter profile’s avatar automatically with 3rd party services like Daily Mugshot and Gravatar. It would also be great to randomly update my Twitter background everyday too.

Encoding PHP Files with ionCube Encoder

admin_mwc — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:58:05 +0000

I started encoding PHP files of my site, Oasis Fanatic, a few years back when it got hacked. Thankfully, the hacker did not deface my web site or damage my database. He or she just wanted to use my web server to attack another web server.

Why Encode PHP Files?

I thought if I could encrypt the source code, potential hackers would have a hard time trying to decrypt the source code to try and hack the web site. Some people encode their source code to protect their intellectual property. Another benefit of encoding your PHP files is they run faster than normal PHP files.

What Do You Need to Install to Run ionCube Encoded PHP Files?

You need to download and install the ionCube loaders on your web server. You may be able to contact your web host to install it for you. Once you have installed it properly, you should see a “with the ionCube PHP Loader” message on a “PHP info” page.

How Can You Encode PHP Files?

There is an online option or a desktop software option. For smaller projects, the online encoder works fine. Fro huge projects, it makes more sense to purchase the software. It is quite pricey but it is a worthwhile investment if you use it often on one or more projects.

The source code of your encoded files look something like the example above. It is not impossible to decrypt this but you would have to be very skilled and determined to do it.

Who Needs ionCube PHP Encoder?

Web developers, software companies and webmasters who want to secure and speed up their web sites could utilize this encoder. Try the online ionCube encoder first and see if it works for you.