Vimeo, OAuth and CakePHP Session Security Settings

Posted by Timothy on Jan 12, 2011 in PHP, Programming, Software

So after ripping my hair out for a good 2-3hrs trying to figure out why my Vimeo OAuth requests wasn’t returning any sessions variables, I finally figured it out.

CakePHP’s Configure::write(‘Security.level’, ‘medium’); sets PHP’s session.referer_check and denies any other hosts from setting session variables. I was wondering why half my sessions vars were gone and it would appear I was logged-out. Setting Configure::write(‘Security.level’, ‘low’); seems to have fixed the issue. But anytime you read ‘Security Low’ in the same sentence, it leaves you with some sort of uncomfortable feeling.

I’m not exactly sure what the status of this is. But I found a link that pretty much explains it all. session.referer_check PHP ini var should be decoupled from ‘High’ and ‘Medium’ Session Security levels

Crocker Park – Westlake, OH – Valet Parking Incident.

Posted by Timothy on Dec 19, 2010 in Random Babble

Valet services towed my car while their valet parking lot wasn’t properly marked. Guest Services and Security didn’t seem to care. Their attitude as "Oh, well. you have to take care of it." Couldn’t get anyone to acknowledge there’s a problem and they screwed up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/icebrkr/sets/72157625632082980/

[Update]
Crocker Park head of Security returned my phone call (and the 5 other groups of people) and expressed his concern in the way this matter was handled. He apologized to me and ended up sending me a gift-basket along with a $25 Gift card. A few days later I was reimbursed the towing fees (gift card).

iCE Breaker’s Noisy Android!

Posted by Timothy on Nov 30, 2010 in Android

Here’s a ringtone / notification pack for your Android phone (and others, I’m sure). They’re ‘android-like’ female voice-prompts you can use for notifications. You can also use some of these with Tasker for certain Android related states/events.

iCE Breaker’s “Noisy Android”

Boxee + Boxee Box = BleedingMedia Video App!

Posted by Timothy on Nov 27, 2010 in Gadgets, Programming

I’ve only had my Boxee Box for a week or so and I’m already interested in how to make apps and see whatever else this thing can do. I have a good friend who runs a video site based around the UFC and MMA. We’ve always sort of tinkered with different support apps and ideas on how to promote each others pet-projects. I figured, HEY! Boxee App would be perfect! So I got to work. Using the PC version of Boxee as my development platform, I started investigating how to make this thing ‘Go’! It’s unfortunate the PC version is a few versions behind the times, but it seems all the same. After some tinkering, I have a beta version of the BleedingMedia.com Boxee App!!

BleedingMedia.com Boxee App

SlingCatcher, Roku, Boxee + Box.

Posted by Timothy on Nov 27, 2010 in Gadgets

So I’ve been tinkering around with ‘set-top boxes’ for approx. a year or better. Purchased a SlingCatcher on an impulse buy while wondering around Best Buy *Shudder*. It works. It just doesn’t work well. It locks up, crashes, doesn’t always play videos correctly and doesn’t seek very well at all. But it got me through the year. I recently picked up a Roku from woot.com at 50% off since it’s a refurb (Again, a minor impulse buy). The Roku was neat because it has so-called ‘apps’. Most are just browser wrappers for garbage content– But the NetFlix ‘integration’ was superb! I was able to edit to my ‘Streaming On-Demand’ Queue which from what I hear, not a lot of NetFlix apps allow you to do. Then along game the Roku update! They cleaned up the UI a little bit. Things seem a little snappier AND they introduced Hulu Plus! Armed with Hulu + NetFlix what more can you ask for? The only drawback to the Roku HD was it couldn’t access a file-share. So I couldn’t play any of my own content I’ve already had. This caused a bit of a problem— Having to flip between HDMI-1 to HDMI-2 and having 3 remotes :-\ I could only deal with this for so long. I was really getting frustrated having to select a new source each time I change my mind on what I wanted to watch. So I waited. and waited.. and waited for the Boxee Box! The Boxee Box also has ‘Apps’ and it also allows you to mount file-shares. Unfortunately there’s no Netflix, nor Hulu on Boxee. So I’m still stuck with having to flip between sources, but there’s at least some other content with Boxee unlike the SlingCatcher.