$^%&@*!

OK, so our new iMac is da bomb-diggity. We did SSC with it last night, all settings maxed, and it was a beautiful thing. We has new boss-movie, and it’s gorgeous.

But beating our head against the desk as we learn the new iMovie isn’t fun, especially when we run into a rendering problem that made us want to chuck the whole enchilada into the pool.

When we were exporting our new movie (no hints!) our super-sweet intros were coming out as black-screen. Sha-wha?

We’re not the first to see this; here’s the solution.

So we had to grab our original intro videos, which were apparently encoded “the wrong way” - bullsh!t - pump them into our old iMovie program, and re-export them with a new codec so the new iMovie would process them properly. Done, and done.

Apple, this is not acceptable. /glare@steve

So we’ve fixed the problem and are busily uploading and building and typing. Please, stand by.

Yes, we have the day off due to our participation of the Shuttle launch on Saturday! /win

Lassirra got hacked, and we hope those &^#*!*s DIAF, as well.

There are reports of a new, Flash-based keylogging scam. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not, but we’re going to be proactive, just in case.

We’ve installed Flashblock and, even though we’ve made sure we’ve installed the latest version of Flash on all our computers, we’re not allowing any Flash content on our machines at all.

WoWInsider has a nice roundup of links and an explanation of the whole shenanigans.

Tchann is a mainstay on the World of Warcraft customer service forums and has communicated with us his her thoughts on the ban-wave. His Her writing is clear, concise, and bereft of warlock-bashing. In spite of these short-comings, we asked if we could reprint some of his her conversations with us. He She relented, and thus, please quit your yapping and pay attention as Substitute BRK Day presents: Lessons From Tchann.

“The recent banwave focused on automation within the game. There are several degrees of automation that Blizzard finds bannable, ranging from delay mechanisms (/in) to third-party programmed gameplay (Glider). All of these are at the very least potentially actionable.

“Blizzard requires that we play based on what is possible through their .lua scripting code. When they find something possible through that code that they deem inappropriate, they will change the mechanics of the game to disallow that code from working. Bans do not usually result from exploiting code that wasn’t meant to work, although sometimes they might slap people with a warning - something I expect to see with the /in command, since Blues have cautioned us against using it.

“The next step up from that contains the special keyboards and keypress software. The keyboards themselves are perfectly okay to use, as is the software that makes them work. What can get a user actioned is when they use the macro software to include delays, since that bypasses Blizzard’s .lua code in order to automatically perform an extra action. The same goes for the keypress software in which you constantly hold down one key to spam a single action. This is the level of automation that Blizzard begins banning at.

“Then comes the botting programs. There are multiple kinds, not just Glider, and this latest banwave occurred after Blizzard included new Warden code to detect Glider in patch 2.4.2. Here is where things can get really tricky. Some botting programs will continually run in the background of the system, even if they are not currently being used, and Warden will pick up on that.

“There has been a slew of posts on the Customer Service Forum from players pleading innocence to have their accounts restored. As some of the threads progressed, the posters began to confess what might have gotten them banned - either they were sudden realizations of mistakes made, or admissions of guilt.

“Some of the things we’ve seen so far include:

- usage of keypress software
- afk botting
- downloading botting software out of curiosity for the code
- playing on a computer that has botting software installed
- botting
- hacked accounts

“It is also possible that some software out there is returning a false positive for a botting program. As with the Cedega issue, it took players discussing the problem en masse with Blizzard and Cedega to spur a resolution, one which culminated in overturnings of bans and an official apology. Nothing of that sort has yet to crop up, but as I said, it is possible.

“In the end, there is absolutely nothing to be lost by contesting the ban. If the player has an idea of what might have gone wrong - hacking, using the computer of someone who bots - then that is a firm standing ground to start from when contacting Account Administration.

“The one thing that should be kept in mind when contesting a ban is that your hands *must* be clean. A closer look at your account can bring things to light that may be unrelated but still actionable. But if someone is truly innocent, the odds are definitely in their favor. Blizzard does not want to drive away honest players, but they do take a hard stance on the activities they deem illegal, and the banwaves represent that.

“Your guildmate mentions having called Billing. Billing and Customer Service are unable to aid with overturning bans. That all rests with Account Administration, which is only reachable through email. Since the banwave hit, AA is going to be flooded with emails, so it will take a while to receive a response. Repeatedly emailing them is unnecessary - just one that calmly (that part is crucial) explains the argument against the account action. And then, unfortunately, patience is required.

“Please let me know if there’s anything I can explain further, or if I did not state something clearly, Tchann”

“Dear BRK, I needz a WoW-blog host!”

Well, we use Hostmonster and have never had a problem. Well, other than when we broke their server in January with 5000 people smashing their Refresh button during our 1,000,000th Visitor contest. But otherwise, never a hiccup.

“What’s your traffic like?”

Well, here’s our history since we transfered to Hostmonster, sometime in the middle of last December.

Hostmonster is BRK Approved, but we get no money from them if you sign up, so there’s no need to say, “BRK Sent Meh!”

As for comment-spam, everybody uses Akismet, yes? Good. Now the next layer of prtection is WP-SpamFree. It gets the stuff Akismet doesn’t.

Number Uno: WTF is wrong with our Search? We’ve used the default search widget, our custom Google widget, and two addon widgets. All of them go to PayPal when we try to seach. We don’t have a clue how to fix this.

Numer Dos: The Powered by WoWHead code has changed.

This:

<script src=”http://www.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js”></script>

Does not work anymore. Update your html to:

<script src=”http://www.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js?lol”></script>

We don’t know the in-and-outs of why this works, but it does. We couldn’t get our WoWHead links to work until we implemented this change.

We rolled into Iceblood Graveyard and found the nearest Horde priest defending the pass. He started to cast Psychic Scream, we popped Bestial Wrath. That Horde priest ran and ran and ran, but Hobbes took him down. It was beautiful. You know how it feels, don’t you. Alliance captured IBGY, we stayed to guard it as the others went for the two towers and Captain Galavanger.

And then that chat rolled by, and we just knew some Horde hunter had done the exact same thing to an Alliance priest that we had done earlier. We laughed and laughed. Golly it’s great to be a hunter.

Note: Tonight we realized that our screenshot preference had been reset to TGA. We have now put it back to PNG and expect much better quality screenshots again.

How does one accomplish this? By modifying one’s config.wtf file, like so:

“Dear BRK, I guess this would not be considered a typical BM hunter question but here goes anyway. Basically, I am disabled with fairly limited use of my arms/hands but can still use a keyboard/mouse although not the quickest to be sure.

“What I am looking for is advice on keybindings/macros to help make playing my BM hunter a bit easier for me. Right now I use the basic setup with WASD for movement and mouse clicks for the majority of my abilities although I do use 1-5 for my most used abilities. As far as macros/keybinds go it is easiest for me to use the keys located in the close vicinity of WASD including numbers 1-5 as it just physically takes me to long to move my hand to the other side of the keyboard. With that in mind I am open to any and all advice as I am new to the whole setup and use of macros/keybinds.

“I have considered switching to ESDF for movement as it might open some more keys to be used. What are your thoughts? Does BM require too many abilities to work with my limitations? Thanks! Mictord”

Let’s talk about keybindings. WoW makes it very easy to make individual keys and key-combinations perform just about all of the actions you’ll need to play a BM hunter. To set up this functionality, please read this post about the basics of keybindings.

Tada, you know how to keybind, now let’s talk about macros. To learn the real basics of macro-work, read this. There’s no point in duplicating effort, is there.

Great. Know you know macro basics and keybinding. Let’s mix ‘em together for one-hand use.

We want you to make your Pet Attack Macro now:

/petattack
/cast Hunter’s Mark

Put the icon for that macro on an used action bar space. Go into the Keybindings setting and make that action bar space assigned a Shift-W keystroke.

If you’re using your WASD keys to maneuver, now all you have to do is Shift-W to start your pet attacking and cast a Hunter’s Mark. That’s very little extra finger-maneuvering and it might help.

What happens when you accidentally send your pet to the wrong mob? The game is pre-programmed to allow us to hit Ctrl-2 to make the pet follow us again, but you can make make a macro and make

/petfollow

assigned to Shift-E, for example, to accomplish the same thing. Or you can simply adjust the keybinding for the pet’s action bar directly and change it from Ctrl-2 to Shift-E, or whatever suits you.

Do you use the same sequence of shots for attacking a mob? You can make a simple castsequence macro and assign that to an easily-pressed key combination.

/castsequence reset=5 Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot

Place this macro on an unused action bar spot and, using keybindings, assign this macro to Shift-A, perhaps. This macro allows you to press a single key combination and accomplish multiple things with repeated pressing. The first time you press Shift-A you’ll cast Serpent Sting, then press Shift-A again and you’ll cast Arcane Shot. With the casting of Serpent Sting, your Auto Shot will commence; you don’t even have to worry about starting that. The reset function will ensure the castsequence sequence resets after 5 seconds of macro-inactivity; you’ll always cast Serpent Sting first.

Let’s go out in the field and test it all out.

You maneuver into position with the WASD keys and hit Tab to target the nearest mob. Hit Shift-W - your Pet Attack Macro - to send your pet to attack and casting Hunter’s Mark at the same time. Once your pet attacks the mob and lands a Growl, your hit Shift-A to cast Serpent Sting, Shift-A again to cast Arcane Shot, then let your Auto Shot, which started all by itself, burn the mob down. Rinse and repeat.

Of course you aren’t limited to using the Shift key in your keybindings, either. You can use Alt and Ctrl to make any key perform at least four different functions, (perhaps the Ctrl, Alt, and Shift keys can be used in combination, but we’ve never tried it.)

Some pieces of hardware you might consider, too: the Belkin Nostromo n52 Speedpad and the Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard. We link to both in our Amazon store on the sidebar, but we’re not going to link directly to Amazon in this post; we don’t want it to seem as if we’re only publishing this letter just for the chance to earn money from referrals.

Both the n52 and G11 have extra keys that allow you to program even more macro functionality for single-hand use. The keyboard has 18 customizable macro keys on the left of the keyboard that allow you to program 54 macros, and you can still program the keybinding/macro combinations we gave here. The n52 is advertised as allowing 104 commands easily accessible with just one hand, but using the same hand and the n52 simultaneously with a keyboard is probably not advantageous.

Although we have no practical experience recommending things for those with limited-use of their extremities, we sure hope this helps some. At the very least, we’re sure the comments shall be chock-full of other ideas and suggestions.

Edit: Some comment-ideas already, the Ideazon Fang Gamepad,the CH Products Multi Function Panel and the Ergodex DX1.

Why did we choose the Belkin? Because it comes with configuration software that runs natively on a Mac. Why didn’t we choose the Apple wireless router? Because it was $100 more than the Belkin. Were we concerned? Yes, nervous even. But we were able to get the Belkin up and running pretty easily.

Did we use the “check for an upgraded firmware” feature? Yes. Did it find a new firmware? No. If one goes to the Belkin website, will one see a new firmware? Yes. If one downloads it and installs it manually, will it work? Yes.

If this had been an Apple product, none of this would’ve been necessary; it would’ve happened automatically. Is that worth $100? Not today.

Edit: And then we installed the 802.11N upgrader on our MacBook. /crash everything

Apparently Apple’s N-spec does not play nicely with any non-Apple brand basestation, so our MacBook was rendered Internet-inoperative. Some research indicated that we needed to downgrade our MacBook back to G-only, so we got Pacifist, the original Mac 10.4 install disks, and put the original IO80211Family.kext package back in our system. Reboot and all fixed.

Now the 20″ iMac isn’t N-compatible (Intel Core Duo chip, not Core 2 Duo). Thus we couldn’t install the N-upgrade on that machine, thus it never had a problem. Of course our flower iMac has a PowerPC chip so it isn’t close to N-compatible.

How long has N-spec been in negotiations, a year?

Dear IEEE,

Get your sh!t together, pronto.

Love, BRK.

Brigin, the author of ThePositiveWarrior and the only tank from whom we’re unable to pull aggro, has been hacked. This marks the third member of our guild to get the keylogger up the keister.

Here’s the deal, folks. There are lots of people out there doing lots of nefarious things to try to get your account. They want it, they don’t care how they get it, how much effort you’ve put into your toon, or what level of h3ll they’re going to go to when the Universe - in whatever guise you wish to give it - exacts Its ultimate revenge.

We are Mac users and are not qualified to present a Complete and Total List of How To Protect Your PC, but we’re gonna give it the good ole BRK-College Try. Hopefully some comments shall point everybody in the right direction and perhaps we’ll even condense it all into a grand bal-mal of a Save Ur Assets post.

Protect Your Sh!t By Doing These Ten Things

1. Just Say No to Vista and Internet Explorer. (Edit: We have decided not to provoke an XP/Vista slamdown in the comments and just say this: Whether you run XP or Vista, get a little knowledge and make sure you understand how to make all the security features work in your favor.)

2. Right this second, install Firefox or some other browser that isn’t a disgrace.

3. Add a no-script extension so your fancy new browser doesn’t march you into trojan-horse city, population: your toon.

4. Click the checkbox on your WoW login window to have the launcher store your username so you never type it again. This way, a keylogger may get your password but they won’t get your username.

5. Never reuse your WoW username and password anywhere else. It may be too late to change your username, but go out and change your password tonight! Yeah YOU! Do it, sassafras.

6. We’ve heard good things about Spybot, but whatever, an anti-spyware program is mandatory.

7. Hey! Become a Mac User! /flex

8. Be extremely wary of URLs ending in “.jpg .html” and “.scr” and, in fact, just never touch em at all.

9. Get the latest version of Java. Older versions are totally exploited.

10. Of course, an Anti-Virus and Firewall are 100% essential. We’ll link to Avast and their free products, but others can recommend as they desire.

Right now there is a massive effort underway to hijack your account. If you read this blog and nothing else, you know three fully-Tier4-geared people who’ve been hacked. Do not think this won’t happen to you.

Protect yourself, starting right the h3ll now.

Edit: We are of the opinion that our guild’s former forums were the source of our troubles. As of two weeks ago, we have purchased a new server, URL, etc. Now what we want to do is see what we have to do to make sure the BRK Forums are secure. Our host should be doing that, but we want to get the low-down from them directly.

/rant on

We just upgraded to Wordpress 2.3.2 and almost threw a conniption.

If you ever do documentation, make sure to put the steps in the proper order.

This is totally, TOTALLY wrong:

1. Download upgrade files from Wordpress

2. Modify the wp-config.php file.

3. Upload the upgrade files to your server.

4. Oh yeah, make a backup of your files before you upload or you’ll lose everything, because this little upgrade will overwrite your precious modified files and themes and everything.

5. Now that we’re thinking about, you might want to not overwrite those all the files you’ve modified. Save them separately. We’re not going to provide a way for you to know exactly which files you’ve modified, but save them anyway.

/target WP HQ
/cast nuclear bomb

The correct way to do things:

1. Make a backup of your entire WP folder system.

2. Make another backup, you skipped step 1.

3. You rat-b@stard, make a d@mn backup!

4. Save a copy of your backup on your local machine, not just the server.

5. Jeebus, make a f-ing copy of the backup!

6. Download the WP upgrade.

7. Did you make the backups? Seriously, don’t skip the backups.

8. Make a separate copy of your original wp-config.php file, name it wp-config-original.php and save it on the server and on your local machine. Do NOT lose your config settings!

9. Copy the variables from the wp-config-original.php file into the new wp-config.php file.

10. Did you make that backup of your original WP installation? This is your last chance, hoser.

11. Upload the upgrade. If you nuke your Themes and Plugins and Content, you’ve got backups.

12. Goto http://www.yourblogname.net/wp-admin/upgrade.php and let the upgrader run.

13. Launch your blog and pray to Elune you made your backups.

Note: Do not use this list as a “BRK must know what he’s doing” guide to upgrading WordPress. We just know that backups must be done BEFORE any upgrading or modifying and it totally pisses us off when the WP upgrade instructions screw that up.

/rant off