The project I am currently working on required the use of many segments. By default, ExpressionEngine allows the use of 10 segments.
The segments can be shown by the simple use of the segments tag: {segment_X} where X represents the number of the segment.
In order to increase the number of segments you have to actually make changes to two core files of ExpressionEngine.
I am no advocate of changing core files but I haven't found an alternative to get what I needed done, working in a different way.

For the following example I am using ExpressionEngine 1.6.8.

Increasing the number of allowed segments from 10 to 20 for example:

Step 1:

Find the directory named 'core' within the system directory of your ExpressionEngine installation.

Find the file named: core.input.php, line 303

Change it from:
if (count($ex) > 10)
to:
if (count($ex) > 20)

All works well if you are using the Input Class:

<?
global $IN;

$seg11 = $IN->fetch_uri_segment('11'); // these are interchangeable
$seg12 = $IN->SEGS[12]; // these are interchangeable

echo $seg11;
echo $seg12;
?>

But what if you want to use {segment_11}, {segment_12} respectively. It doesn't seem to work. This is the time to make the last change necessary by following step 2.

Step 2:
In the same directory as in Step 1,

find the file named: core.template.php, line 295

Change it from:
for ($i = 1; $i < 10; $i++)
to:
for ($i = 1; $i < 20; $i++)

That's it, you are now able to use {segment_11}, etc. within your templates.

As always changes to the core files of ExpressionEngine are done at your own risk.

This video is showing how to access/show the hidden smilies that can be used with Skype.
The background music is from the game Spy vs. Spy back in the days of the Commodore C64.

This should work with any version of ExpressionEngine that has the Metaweblog API Module installed. I currently have a 1.6.x version installed.



Once the module is installed we have to create a new file on our server and link to that file in the head section of our main index file.

If we do not do that posterous will show us an authorization error message. So we have to actually help posterous a little bit out to work with our ExpressionEngine system.

For this example let's assume the following:

1) Website Address: http://www.eesite.com/
2) Expressionengine Install: http://www.eesite.com/
3) Metablog API: http://www.eesite.com/?ACT=43&id=23



4) Weblog ID: 6



5) Name of saved RSD File: rsdinfo.txt (in the root folder of our website)
6) Location of rsdinfo.txt: http://www.eesite.com/rsdinfo.txt

The content of the RSD file, rsdinfo.txt, looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<rsd version="1.0" >
<service>
<engineName>ExpressionEngine CMS</engineName>
<engineLink>http://www.eesite.com/</engineLink>
<homePageLink>http://www.eesite.com/</homePageLink>
<apis>
<api name="MetaWeblog" preferred="true" apiLink="http://www.eesite.com/?ACT=43&id=23" blogID="6" />
</apis>

</service>
</rsd>

Lets link to rsdinfo.txt into the head section of your main index file.

<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://www.eesite.com/rsdinfo.txt" />

Example shown in my code editor:



Now that the hard part is finished lets go over to posterous.com and finalize the ExpressionEngine Autopost integration.

Login to your posterous account.

Select Manage from the top right hand menu,



Select the option to the left:



Click on the large 'Add a Service' button.



From the service list within the blogs category select 'MovableType'



Enter the ExpressionEngine login and site information and that's it!



Enjoy!

Working with the new 13" aluminum MacBook on a daily basis turned out to be one awesome addition to my office Mac Pro. It is small enough to carry around virtually anywhere and it surprisingly is powerful enough to do my daily work on it on the go or away from the office.

Working on it on a daily basis there were two things that really started to annoy me. It has two dim options activated by default. I decided to turn both of them off. Looking through the internet it seems I am not alone. I decided to put this in the tutorial section of this blog to visually show how to do it.

Both dim settings can be accessed through the System Preferences:



The first one is easy to find. It is accessible though the Energy Saver icon of the System Preferences. It particlarly annoyed me when I was reading something on the computer, like an e-book, or looking at the art work I am working on. After 3 minutes on battery the display dimmed significantly. I understand this is a energy saving setting but in my case I like to decide when I want to dim the screen especially when I am working. That is why we have the nifty F1 and F2 keys to adjust the brightness.



The default setting is shown above, it is set to 3 minutes. Just adjust the 'Display Sleep' setting accordingly. I pulled it all the way to the right where it shows the 'never' setting. First dim problem solved!

For me the second dim option was not as easy to find. Since the built in iSight is functioning as a sensor to adjust the dim of the screen I looked for anything iSight. I was on the completely wrong track and finally found it though the 'Displays' icon of the System Preferences. It particularly annoyed me when I had a light source behind me and moved my head. Almost every time I moved my head the screen dim adjusted. On the other side I have to say I am always impressed by the way Apple invents new things to improve the overall user experience. For me I rather have it turned off.



Above you can see a screenshot of the factory settings. To turn the ambient light function off just uncheck the 'Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes' option.

By no means is this anything new. I received quite a view question regarding the animated favicon that I decided to write a blog entry about it.

What is a favicon anyways?

A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a website icon, page icon or urlicon, is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage. A web designer can create such icons in several ways and many recent web browsers can then make use of them. Browsers that support them may display them in the browser's URL bar, next to the site's name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page's title in a tabbed document interface.

First off, be aware of the fact that not all browser support animated favicons. Some don't display it at all others only display the first frame of an animated favicon.

Following the basic steps of integrating an animated favicon:

1. 1. Create or get an animated GIF animation.


2. 2. Optimize it for 16x16 pixel (optional)


3. 3. Name your animated GIF file favicon.gif


4. 4. Duplicate your favicon.gif and rename the duplicate to favicon.ico


5. 5. Upload the favicon.gif and favicon.ico to the web root of your web server


6. 6. Integrate the following code necessary for your favicon to work and paste it between the
   tags of your web page
   
   
   
   <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.gif" type="image/x-icon" />
   
   <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
   

That pretty much sums it up. I hope this will help you in getting your own animated favicon on the web.