If you played a bit with ASP.NET Membership and configure it for using encrypted password storage (enablePasswordRetrieval=”true” in web.config), you must add new section to your configuration, to specify cryptographic algorithm and keys. If you want to generate your own it could be a little bit tricky, but there is a great tool that generates configuration section based on your needs…

I came across this funny comics on Microsoft Vista…

It includes AJAX extension itself including AJAX Control Toolkit and source code release. I have to say that I took a break for a couple of weeks in ASP.NET AJAX area, but now I am working on my personal project – AJAX enabled e-shop for photos and pictures. I think it will be a good test for this final release . I am really excited to see what I can do with it .

From the article:

Firebug, an extension I wrote for the Firefox, makes web development much easier. Combined with your favorite text editor, Firebug is a great IDE for JavaScript/AJAX technologies. Read full article here.

I am currently working on WordPress 2.0.7 translation to Czech language. There was an older one for version 2.0.4, but there were so many changes in recent releases of WP so I decided to make a new translation. It is still under development, but I expect it to be released in a week time period, so if you are interested in it be patient and return back in a week.

I was really happy that I am not alone on current state of software development. I am thinking about this problem nearly every day! I have been developing software for nearly ten years through all different languages and platforms, but I have to say that I must agree with Bjarne Stroustrup on his view. If you are real born developer who love construction challenges and employed as professional programmer I think you should read this article for sure. I know that our world is only about making money and be profitable, but what about quality, perfection and elegance. NOBODY will pay it these day . That is really sad reality, but for me there is an alternative – open source projects! Or maybe at Google?

Strange things are happening these days (actually a few last years) and as one of people that know well methods of totalitarianism (not only from Orwell’s 1984) I have to say that it is more than strange, it is really dangerous! It starts with people with free mind and ends….

From original article that can be found here.

WASHINGTON A new Bush administration policy for reviewing scientific documents before publication has angered some U.S. Geological Survey scientists, who say the elaborate internal review of their work may impede them from conveying information to the public.

I am just wondering about our mother earth and growing earnings of industry companies that ruins it… Who else than scientists should we trust in (not blindly of course). I thing that there is a lot of historical parallels to efforts like this…

Joe Stagner anounced a new AJAX Security Webcasts series starting next thursday. Through the fact that it is primarly targeted to ASP.NET world, I think it can be usefull for any AJAX developer. Here are the links to register for all five in the series.

• Live From Redmond: AJAX Security Basics- The Building Blocks to Protecting Your Applications Built with ASP.NET AJAX
• Live From Redmond: How Hackers Reverse Engineer and Exploit an ASP.NET AJAX Application
• Live From Redmond: The Brave New World of AJAX Hacking (and prevention using ASP.NET)
• Live From Redmond: The Next Generation of AJAX Attacks – A New Generation of Attack Theories
• Live From Redmond: Best Practices: A Look at Developer ASP.NET AJAX Security Mistakes

There is an new exploit for WordPress. It was reported here. I did couple of tests and have to say that it works for me only on versions previous to current 2.0.6. But according to source:

WordPress < = 2.0.6 wp-trackback.php Zend_Hash_Del_Key_Or_Index /
/ SQL injection admin hash disclosure exploit
(needs register_globals=on, 4 <= PHP < 4.4.3,< 5.1.4)

Under 2.0.6 I was unable to run it… But if you have any previous version I can only recommend you upgrade!

After some time I released new version of my WP plugins: WP-Plugin List, WP-Outage and WP-Custom Logo. There are still marked as version 1.0, because there were no significant changes only some bug fixes and optimalization. I am already working on another two plugins that will be released in a few days. First one is named WP-Link Checker and is targeted for checking URL availability while writing post/page. Another plugin I am already working is about acronyms. Yeah, there is a lot of acronym plugins, but they usually store data in hardcoded collections, which is really not flexible solution…. So if you are interested, let me know or make a donation to my WP plugin work. Happy using