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Maybe you won't. But 409 people did.

I ended up searching for an atom2rss converter in order to convert the atom feed into an RSS2 feed that I could actually import into WordPress. To my great despair, none worked. Feedburner arguably lets you do that, but that also involves signing up.

In the event anyone else needs such a tool, you'll now find an atom to RSS2 converter on semiologic.com for use in pesky import procedures.

Enjoy.

Guide de l'habitat écologique et des énergies renouvelables – Mode de vie anti-cancer – Régime anti-cholestérol

Shortly after php 5.1 broke a throng of object oriented php scripts around the world, php 5.2 is about to bring carnage to scripts that rely on output buffers.

The symptom is simple and obvious to anyone who takes a few minutes to look into it: A blatant workflow error destroys variables before the output buffer is flushed. Adding to the insult, the php bug gardeners report that this is not a bug, but a feature.

Anyway, if you've the same problem I had, the fix involves moving the output buffer flush to the shutdown hook where it belongs:

# Fix php 5.2 output buffer problems
# Public domain, use and redistribute at will

if ( !function_exists('ob_end_flush_all') ) :
function ob_end_flush_all()
{
  while ( @ob_end_flush() );
}

register_shutdown_function('ob_end_flush_all');
endif;

'nuff grunting. The following WordPress plugins got an update as a result:

• Admin Menu
• Ad Spaces (obsolete)
• External Links
• Google Analytics

The following plugins were also updated recently:

• Bookmark Me
• Frame Buster
• Newsletter Manager
• Wysiwyg Editor (obsolete)

I can find lots of reasons to develop in php5 rather than php4. php5 is closer to what I'd expect from an object oriented language, and it's reportedly 25% faster. Not to mention the pdo class, which is wonderful to work with.

Then again, developing software that 50% of your user base simply cannot use doesn't make any sense.

Picture the results of a poll conducted on Semiologic for two weeks:

Your server's php version?

• php 5.1.x: 24% (82)
• php 5.0.x: 12% (41)
• php 4.4.x: 29% (100)
• php 4.3.x: 17% (57)
• Other php version: 3% (9)
• I don't know: 16% (56)

Total Votes : 345

It is all too clear to me that incompatibilities between php4 and php5 are to blame. And I predict that things will get even worse with php6.

I bumped into this unofficial php6 wish list recently:

cleanups

1. Get rid of the BC crap in ext/date (derick)
2. remove register globals DONE (pierre)
3. remove all magic_* and throw E_CORE_ERROR when set DONE (pierre)
4. safe_mode/open_basedir
   1. remove safe mode and throw E_CORE_ERROR when set
   2. unbundle safe_mode_exec_dir from safe_mode and keep it (rasmus) (take a look at this patch too)
   3. new ini option: open_basedir_for_include which would allow using include/require(_once) on an expanded set of directories (sara)
5. Make the call-time-pass-by-reference an E_STRICT error. DONE (dmitry)
   (…)

Also of interest, in PECL:

regexp

1. make ereg an extension
2. PCRE extension will not be allowed to be disabled.
3. core of PHP should be made to work with PCRE so that we can safely disable ereg
4. unbundle the regex library

It's like… tons of apps will be broken and will need to be rewritten. Not to mention that php4 and php6 apps will not easily be made compatible, which will most likely slow down host adoption of php6 even more.

Photo credits: LIRA-Lab, University of Genoa, Italy

One video (avi format) shows the robot experimenting with a rubber duck, while another clip shows Babybot examining a ball.

Via New Scientist.

Photo credits: GALEX/Chandra/Hubble/Spitzer.

Via New Scientist.

Via digg.

When a weak DC current is delivered to the mastoid behind your ear, your body responds by shifting your balance toward the anode. The stronger the current, the more powerful its pull. If it is strong enough, it not only throws you off balance but alters the course of your movement.

The researchers' main interest, in the end, is apparently gaming — as in giving you the very feelings that you are simulating in, say, a shoot-the-up game.

Via Nova Spivacks.