Managing Cron Jobs with PHP

The cronTab, or Cron Table, is a Linux system process / daemon which facilitates the scheduling of repetitive tasks thereby easing up our day to day routine. In this tutorial, we’ll create a dynamic PHP class that, using a secure connection, provides us with a means to manipulate the cronTab — via Nettuts+

Social Network Tools Have Two Edges

Officer Trey Economidy of the Albuquerque police now realizes that he should have thought harder before listing his occupation on his Facebook profile as human waste disposal.

After he was involved in a fatal on-duty shooting in February, a local television station dug up the Facebook page. Officer Economidy was placed on desk duty, and last month the Albuquerque Police Department announced a new policy to govern officers’ use of social networking sites.

Social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter can be valuable assets for law enforcement agencies, helping them alert the public, seek information about crimes and gather evidence about the backgrounds of criminal suspects. But the Internet can also get police departments into trouble — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Barcode scanner for zebras

photo.

The system, dubbed StripeSpotter, only requires a small amount of human input. Users draw a rectangle around the zebra’s side, then this part of the image is automatically sliced into a number of horizontal bands and each pixel is made fully black or fully white, creating a low-resolution version of the zebra’s stripes.

Each band is then encoded as a StripeString, a sequence of coloured blocks with particular lengths – for example, white for two blocks, black for three, white for one – and the collection of StripeStrings forms a StripeCode, the zebra equivalent of a barcode — via benno.newsvine.com

VMware takes over Mozy backup service

VMware has added another cloud service to its lineup, hiring Mozy’s workers and acquiring its assets.

Mozy is an online data backup service that serves businesses and consumers. Since EMC owns Mozy and is majority owner of VMware, the deal involves related organizations. But the companies say the change will help VMware boost its cloud offerings — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Net giants challenge French data law

Google and Facebook are among a group of net heavyweights taking the French government to court this week.

The legal challenge has been brought by The French Association of Internet Community Services (ASIC) and relates to government plans to keep web users’ personal data for a year.

The case will be heard by the State Council, France’s highest judicial body.

More than 20 firms are involved, including eBay and Dailymotion — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Interpol chief calls for global electronic identity card system

The head of INTERPOL has emphasized the need for a globally verifiable electronic identity card (e-ID) system for migrant workers at an international forum on citizen ID projects, e-passports, and border control management.

Speaking at the fourth Annual EMEA ID WORLD summit, INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K Noble said that regulating migration levels and managing borders presented security challenges for countries and for the world that INTERPOL was ideally-placed to help address — via redwolf.newsvine.com

How-To: Plastic Bag Crochet

Research suggests that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. The city of San Francisco has banned plastic bags in large markets and pharmacies for a few years now. Most of the time I carry my foldable tote in my handbag so I usually never have to have a plastic bag in my hand. But what about the plastic bags you may have lying around in a drawer or garage?

Back at Maker Faire Austin back in the fall of 2007, I had a chance to film Cristen Andrews from cristencrochet.blogspot.com for a CRAFT Video where she showed me all the fun things she made from crocheting plastic bags, how to create the plastic bag yarn, and how to start crocheting.

Here’s her tutorial with step-by-step photos on how to create your plastic bag yarn — via CRAFT

Motorcycle Wallpaper: Todd McLellan

Our second set of motorcycle wallpapers are from the photographer Todd McLellan, who shot the bikes for the famed Canadian artist William Fisk to use as reference. The motorcycles are from a private collection: The collector has a couple hundred of them and I would love to shoot them all some day, says Todd. You can download four of the best right here — via Bike EXIF

Tourists convicted of dumping dog in Weymouth

Two holidaymakers who were caught on CCTV dumping a dog in Dorset have been convicted under animal cruelty laws.

The dog – originally called Brandy but later renamed Ginger – was filmed in Weymouth sitting on grassland as a car was driven away in September.

Michael Hartley, 54, of Daisy Meadow, Preston, pleaded guilty at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court. Jennifer Hadfield, 56, of Briary Court, was found guilty — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Husband ‘cut up wife Emma Ward with saw’

A man murdered and dismembered his wife at their home near Norwich then told police she was missing after leaving him for another man, a jury has heard.

Nicky Ward attacked Emma Ward in their bedroom and cut up her body in the bathroom, prosecuting counsel said.

No body has been found, but jurors heard that evidence revealed she had been killed by Mr Ward between April and June 2010.

Mr Ward denies murder, at Norwich Crown Court — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Dry copper kills bacteria on contact

Metallic copper surfaces kill microbes on contact, decimating their populations, according to a paper in the February 2011 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. They do so literally in minutes, by causing massive membrane damage after about a minute’s exposure, says the study’s corresponding author, Gregor Grass of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. This is the first study to demonstrate this mechanism of bacteriocide — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Café Wall Illusion Table by ExoticTiles

This table is made from hand-cut and hand-glazed trapezoidal tiles. It comprises four concentric circles (believe it or not!) around a central disc. The way the brain processes contrast information causes one to perceive the circles as narrowing. Each circle contradicts the ones beside it. See wikipedia for more info on the illusion.

The table is 36 1/4″ in diameter, edged in aluminum and weighs 44 lbs. It has a detachable wrought iron base that can be replaced to transform it from a coffee table to a kitchen or dining table — via Etsy

Simple life Manhattan: a 90-square-foot microstudio

By choosing a studio that measures just 12 feet by 7 feet, Felice Cohen can afford to live in Manhattan’s Upper West Side where apartments rent for an average of $3,600 per month. She pays just over $700 for her 90-square-foot microstudio. After a bit of adjustment she now loves living smaller, simpler and cozier — via *faircompanies