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Posted by on 10th May, 2013

Chrome Extension code inspection

Chrome Extension code inspection

I was about to install an extension for Chrome and it was asking me for some permissions that I wasn’t ready to give up. I am sure it was ok, but I wanted to take a closer look, just in case. So, I know that Chrome extensions are just Javascript and some other files, right? I’d like to have a look. Where do I look, where are these files? You’ll find them here: The exact path is: clock.js C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\<User or Default>\Extensions\ Now, you need to find the Extension ID to find out which folder you need to look into. You find that here: Click on Chrome Settings here: When the menu opens, follow Tools > Extensions That will open the Extensions page. Here, look for your extension and lookup the ID. Find the folder with that ID and open it up and inspect the files. That’s...

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Posted by on 6th May, 2013

Explaining Bitcoin to my 9 year old

Explaining Bitcoin to my 9 year old

I decided I wanted to create an address for my son and store 1 Bitcoin in it and give it to him. This way, he could be part of this new technology, way before it was mainstream and watch the value of his single coin grow or shrink. So, inevitably, when I told him I had given him one Bitcoin, the questions began: A bitwhat? What’s a Bit… oin? Well, first, it’s Bitcoin… B-i-t-c-o-i-n. Bitcoin is money, but instead of it being a coin, like you know it, it is computer money. You know how email isn’t paper and is really computer mail..? An email is a message that is inside the computer and when you send it, the recipient can read it from their computer. The same with Bitcoin. The money is inside the computer and when you send it to someone that person then has the money in their computer and can use it to buy things online. Can I see it? Where is it? It’s computer...

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Posted by on 6th May, 2013

Running WordPress on Azure

Running WordPress on Azure

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. Today it power about 18.9% of all websites in the world. WordPress is a CMS [Content Management System] based on a PHP/MySQL framework that is very useful for many and most cases, especially if you need a website quick up and running with minimum effort. Now, can you run WordPress in on Azure? Azure is Microsoft and this thing is PHP and MySQL….and they don’t mix, right? Well, yes, you can….and much easier than you thought. Go to: https://manage.windowsazure.com to access your Azure portal Here you have access to everything you’ll need to tinker with your site: FTP, connectionstrings, IP, etc. That is it. It could not be simpler than...

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Posted by on 6th May, 2013

Bitcoin address collision

Bitcoin address collision

A Bitcoin collision is when two different people in the world randomly generate the same Bitcoin address. They would both have access to any funds in that address. Is that even possible? The answer: yes However, the chances of that happening are pretty much nil. Read on. A Bitcoin address consists of mainly two parts: an address (public key) and the key (private key) to that address. The address is the container for the funds and the key, well, opens the container. How this works, is that when you generate a new Bitcoin address, you are really generating a key pair. That is a private key is created first and the corresponding address is then mathematically computed and derived from that private key, so that there can only be one address for each key. Now, Bitcoin keys and corresponding addresses can be generated at will. Yes, you can create as many as you want. 100, 1000, 100.000? Go ahead, you can. In fact, when you create a wallet on...

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Posted by on 5th May, 2013

Create a Bitcoin paper wallet

Create a Bitcoin paper wallet

A paper wallet is nothing more than the information of a Bitcoin key pair, printed on a piece of paper. This key pair, contains the address of where the funds are stored and the private key is the key to send or withdraw those funds. In other words, it is a pre-signed check with bitcoins. A paper wallet might look like this: The reason we want this on paper, is because, ultimately, having this on paper and away from any digital access is the best place to have the key to your funds. Away from your PC. Anywhere else, your data could be compromised by spyware or key loggers. There are many ways of doing this and everyone seems to have an opinion and a better way of doing this. Many will argue that you have to generate the key-pair on a computer that is air-gapped, or, in other words, is completely disconnected and has never been connected to the Internet, in order to avoid any possible mal-ware intercepting...

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Posted by on 5th May, 2013

Why Bitcoin?

Why Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has been all over the news and many opinions have been posted and shared. Good news, positive opinions, bad news, negative opinions and everything in between. Just a year ago, the currency could be bought for just a few dollars. Just last month it was around $76 and jumped $12, to $90 in one single day. Two weeks later it was at $250 and then a hard crash to $60. Since becoming somewhat of a celebrity overnight, there has been quite a bit of demand and speculation about this new currency. Media sensation and  speculation made many people try to get a piece of the fortune to be made with Bitcoin. Many profited and many lost a small fortune by betting on Bitcoin. So, now that the bubble has burst and the dust has settled, the question remains: should you buy bitcoins? You’ll need to ask yourself what it means to you, since buying bitcoins means different things to different people. Here are a few reason why people...

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Posted by on 5th May, 2013

What is Bitcoin?

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is an entirely digital, global currency launched in 2009: it is a fully decentralized monetary system with no central authority that regulates the monetary base. What does this mean? Well, it is money, currency, that can be sent over the internet to transfer money or to make payments to anyone. However, it is not physical money. Think of how email allows us to send a digital message to anyone in the world, for free. Bitcoin is very much the same concept, but for money: Email is a digital version of paper mail. Bitcoin is a digital version of paper cash. You can store digital cash in your wallet or send a payments instantly to anyone, without having to register or sign up. You just send your bitcoins to the right address. Key properties of Bitcoin: Open source Completely open source, it is not managed, backed by, nor belongs to any central authority, country or government. It does not depend on any one economy or institution. RedundantUsing the internet, the...

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Posted by on 28th January, 2013

Single Arm Clock in HTML 5

Single Arm Clock in HTML 5

I t has been a long time since I have written an experiment and even longer since I have written any blog post, so here is my comeback. Now, I had already done a few experiments, but never one with HTML 5, so what better way than to try to implement an existing one? I took the Single Arm Clock and started playing with it. The Continue Time clock is an original, physical wall clock by artist Sander Muller. I had already tried this experiment this in Silverlight a long time ago, so let’s try this in HTML5. For this experiment, I decided to use the Kinetic JS framework, since it handles a lot of the manual work to working with Canvas objects. Toggle clock speed It didn’t go as smooth as I thought, nor nearly as fast as I had hoped. I don’t know why. Maybe I am getting rusty. My weekend is over and I am posting what I have. The most difficult part, which is to...

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