Parsing RSS feeds in PHP remains a common requirement for content aggregation. This guide covers practical patterns for fetching feeds, caching results, extracting content, and sanitizing output — with implementations that work reliably in production. Basic RSS Feed Parsing PHP’s SimpleXML extension provides a straightforward way to parse RSS feeds: <?php $feed_url = ‘https://example.com/feed.xml’; $feed…
Flash is dead on the web. Adobe ended support on December 31, 2020, and all modern browsers removed plugin support years ago. If you need to view Flash content in 2026, you have two practical options: the Ruffle emulator or running legacy applications in isolated environments. Why Fresh Player Plugin and PPAPI Don’t Work Anymore…
SSH connections dropping during idle periods is a persistent issue in production environments. Both client and server configurations provide built-in keep-alive mechanisms designed specifically for this problem. Stop running while true; do uptime; sleep 30; done — there are proper solutions. Client-side configuration Per-user SSH config Add to ~/.ssh/config: Host * ServerAliveInterval 60 ServerAliveCountMax 3…
When verifying file integrity on Linux, you’ll typically reach for one of several checksum utilities. A natural question: which one is fastest? The answer depends heavily on whether I/O or CPU is your bottleneck. Disk I/O Dominates on Most Systems In realistic scenarios with typical storage, disk I/O is almost always the limiting factor. Test…
MKV files encoded with AC3 or DTS audio won’t play sound on most iOS and Android devices. These are proprietary formats with licensing restrictions—mobile players either don’t support them or refuse to decode them by default. The video plays fine, but you get silence. The solution is straightforward: re-encode the audio track to AAC or…
Vim is generally fast, but dozens of plugins can create noticeable slowdowns. Since Vim’s core remains single-threaded, any blocking operation in a loaded plugin will freeze your editor until it completes. Rather than disable plugins randomly, use Vim’s built-in profiling tools to identify the actual culprit. Profile Vim Startup Time The fastest way to find…
The HP DesignJet 500 and similar wide-format plotters handle posters, technical drawings, and large documents well—but they require careful configuration. This guide covers printing a 24″ × 36″ PowerPoint poster on a 36″ roll, though the process generalizes to other sizes. Understanding Your Hardware Constraints The DesignJet 500 accepts roll media up to 36″ wide….
The /etc/fstab file defines how Linux mounts filesystems at boot and controls mounting behavior for both the system and individual users. Understanding its format and options is essential for reliable storage management. File Format and Fields Each line in /etc/fstab represents one filesystem. Fields are separated by whitespace (tabs or spaces), and lines beginning with…
If you’re using an iPhone set to English but living outside the US, you’ve probably noticed US holidays cluttering your Calendar app. This happens because iOS ties holiday calendars directly to your region setting — not your language preference. Why US Holidays Appear by Default The Calendar app automatically subscribes to holidays based on your…
Playing YouTube audio in the background on iPhone is restricted by design—the official YouTube app only supports it with a Premium subscription. Here are the legitimate approaches and their tradeoffs. Browser Method (Safari/Firefox) The most common workaround uses Safari or Firefox to trigger iOS media controls: Open Safari and navigate to youtube.com (or youtube-nocookie.com) Play…
Displaying RSS feed items on a webpage is a practical way to aggregate external content. Here’s a production-ready approach using PHP’s SimpleXML to fetch, cache, and render feeds as HTML. Basic Implementation This function handles RSS parsing with built-in caching, error handling, and output escaping: <?php function output_rss_feed($feed_url, $item_count = 10, $show_description = true, $show_pubdate…
SSD storage is standard across modern hosting providers. DreamHost and competitors have shifted entirely to SSD-backed shared hosting. The marketing claim of “200% faster page loads” deserves skepticism, but SSD-backed hosting does deliver measurable I/O improvements for realistic workloads. This post covers practical performance measurement techniques on a shared hosting account where you lack root…
Free VPNs on iOS have legitimate uses—testing geolocation-dependent content, accessing region-locked resources, or bypassing network restrictions. But understand the tradeoffs: free providers often log traffic, inject ads, sell bandwidth, or disappear without notice. Use free VPNs only for non-sensitive browsing. For actual security work or traveling to high-risk regions, a paid provider with a documented…
When SSH fails but the daemon still runs, or when kernel panics strike, you need automated recovery without physical access. This guide covers three essential techniques: forcing reboots when the system is unresponsive, auto-recovery from kernel panics, and alerting you when it happens. Force a reboot when SSH is unresponsive If a server stops responding…
Shrinking an ext4 filesystem on LVM is riskier than expanding—it requires the filesystem offline and careful size planning. The operation can take hours on large volumes, and mistakes can destroy data. This guide walks through the safe path with verification at each step. Prerequisites Before starting: Backup everything. A full backup of the data being…
A toggle-on-demand terminal you can summon and hide with a single keystroke is useful for quick commands without cluttering your workspace. This guide walks you through creating one using GNOME Terminal and basic shell scripting. Prerequisites You need xdotool and wmctrl installed to manipulate windows: # Debian/Ubuntu sudo apt install xdotool wmctrl # Fedora sudo…
WhatsApp doesn’t have a native iPad or iPod Touch app, but you can access your messages through WhatsApp Web, which works reliably on any tablet with a browser. Here’s how to set it up and what to know about using it. Setting Up WhatsApp Web on iPad WhatsApp Web requires an active WhatsApp account on…
Chrome on Linux uses NSS (Network Security Services) for certificate management. Install the certutil utility from your distribution: Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint: sudo apt install libnss3-tools CentOS/Fedora/RHEL: sudo dnf install nss-tools Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S nss Extract and Import the Certificate The most reliable approach is to extract the certificate directly from the server and import…
The Linux kernel handles video mode configuration through bootloader parameters and kernel graphics drivers. Modern UEFI systems use Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) automatically, but you can override modes when needed. Legacy BIOS systems still use older mechanisms if you’re maintaining older hardware. UEFI Systems: Modern Video Mode Configuration On UEFI systems with GRUB2, add video…
Hadoop 2.x reached end-of-life in 2016. This guide covers setup for learning purposes and legacy system maintenance only. For production deployments, use Hadoop 3.x or later, which includes performance improvements, better YARN scheduling, HDFS erasure coding, and improved security. Cloud-managed options like AWS EMR, Google Dataproc, and Azure HDInsight eliminate most operational overhead. This guide…