Major minor update - 22/10/2005

Within this few weeks there were a lots of small small updates which I have added to the core mambo files as well as it's component. Here are a summary of the whole update process :-

1) New security module
- added a new security module to enforce a stronger password convention and avoid lame users from registering. (e.g: weak passwords includes - 123456, qwerty, abcdef, password, zxcvbnm).

2) Yahoo Messenger + MyChub integration.
- Yahoo users will enjoy it's messenger integration to user profiles. Thus, users registering with their YahooID/password will be automatically be connected in their profile.

3) Profiles - Testimonial Section
- Updated a testimonial section with lots of nifty features. Including 10 most recent.

4) Tighter Integrity of the Profiles
- User with incomplete profiles will not be able to interact with other users unless they update it.

SQL overflow & Podcast upload issue resolved (12/10/2005)

There was an issue with the podcast server (as all php based server), which limits all web upload to only 2MB. Well, moks found 2 solution which both were implemented in our podcast server.
1) Using a remote CGI script for upload >2MB.
2) Using FTP Javaclient / FTP server for the upload.
Thus, the issue has been resolved.

There was also an issue with the testimonial in the profile section which is screwed by the short URL. This has also been resolved using the $my->id & $is_registered variable to block the SQL overflow.

Minimalist Re-Design (10/10/2005)

Revamped the outer pages to adopt a minimalist design so that all the clutters are cleared. Thus, freeing system resources and making loading faster. This will also ease new users to preview the main features of mychub.org (profiles / chat / msg board).

Registered users will still enjoy the full features of mychub plus all the perks (too many to mention here).

Best Regards

2 New Servers and a webcam chat system... (10/8/2005)

I have added 2 new servers into mychub.org
1) http://audio.mychub.org/podcast
- this a new feature to allow us to podcast audio to users. (podcasting seems to be the rage right now).

2) http://video.mychub.org/mychubtv
- this a port of the existing mychubTV system.

3) SERVER NOT DECIDED YET
I have added a new webcam chat system for mychub.org. This will provide users with webcams to see each other in realtime using the new macromedia flash webcam feature.
(thanks chubamante for pointing it out)

Thing to do:
1) Search facility for the profiles
2) Hari Raya Greeting E-Cards

Testimonial Section & MyMessage minor update - Sept 2005

1) Just finished coding the Testimonial section in mychub profile. Thus, users will be able to add testimonials to their favorite profile. (only users with complete profile will be able to add testimonials).

2) Added a check / uncheck button to the messaging system so you'll be able to select all shown message for deletion. Thus, making msg housekeeping, a little simpler.

Mychub AJAX-ification process

MyChub is now moving to AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) based coding, this means no more reloading of pages, or flickering screens using pure xHTML and JavaScript. The system is fully browser based, it can be loaded on any supported browser connected to the internet, no matter if it is behind a firewall system. There is no need for users to download and install any plugins.

The "Who's Online" module have been AJAXified. Thus you can see users who logged on to mychub website dynamically in-realtime.

More modules and components will be ported soon to take the advantage of the flexible AJAX system.


Another Innovation from MyChub,
MyChub Webteam
www.mychub.org

MyChub MMS Gallery

We have finished coding the new MMS mobile gallery. This feature enables users to upload their pictures to the new mychub mobile server via their mobile devices (handphones / PDA). To send MMS pictures to the server users only need to send their MMS picture message to: mms@mychub.org

MMS rates depends on the 3G / GPRS provider. MyChub is providing this for FREE.

We could not have done this without the support of our sponsors! Thank you for believing in us.

MyChub TV online appearance

On this historic day 9 september 2005, mychubTV had it's 1st transmission in cyberspace. Although most of the content has been published online before. This is the first attempt to transmit a full length almost 2 hours worth of video streaming content.

As our technical engineers prepares the launching our full broadcast server, a team of media specialist are preparing something new and exciting for our viewers! Never before seen footage... of chubs & chasers!

* apparently there was was some bandwidth issue with the current server, so we are shifting to a temporary back-up. This would be a seamless migration and would not be noticeable for most users *

LATEST UPDATE (11/9/2005) : mychubTV is now transmitting 24/7 of video content. Kuddos to all the people who are sponsoring mychub and believing that we can do it.

Thank you for your support !
MyChub Webteam
Innovations & Creations

MyPrivate Message Improvement (20 August 2005)

After putting this request on hold. I finally managed to find the time to improve the MyPrivate Messaging system. Extra added features are :-

1) Sent messages - now user are able to know who they have sent messages in the past. However, these messages cannot be edited anymore.

2) Auto message prunning feature - i've sent a limit to only 1000 messages per user and 1 year validity. Thus, old messages will be automatically deleted if any of these conditions are met. This will optimize the usage of the messaging system database.

3) Badword list - added a feature to block users from using certain bad words. e.g: "certain so called alternative group which i shall not name." :: The logic to this is, to prevent the misuse / abuse of our well founded services.

Making The Thumbnail Feature (PHP Safemode friendly)

I've noticed that users sending their profile pictures weren't getting their thumbnail pictures updated. After a little investigation, the fault lays within the UID / GID owner of the file. (i'd suspect it's the new security policy of the server). Thus, newly created thumbnail are rendered as "chown" by the apache process rather than the mychub server.

Thus, a quick and dirty solution is to wipe the existing thumbnail file and re-creating a new one based on the file upload. Below is a snippet of the changed code:-

------------- START OF CODE ------------------------

if (file_exists($this->dest)) { $old_size = getimagesize($this->dest); if ($old_size[0] == $this->CalcWidth()){ unlink($this->dest); $exist = false;
}else{ $exist=false;

------------ END OF CODE -----------------------------

~ an optimised version of the code will be released later. Probably freeing the unused file checking procedure.

Minor Fixes for August 2005 (part 2)

A few more minor fixes to the website :-

1) Fixed some broken links to the video server, particularly Mike Prabawa's clips and added 2 new clips of his winning finale performance. Distributed the less accessed files to the slower server and the new ones to our fastest online server.

2) Optimized the backend function of the members modules so that only profiles with pictures will be shown online. This further enhances the overall speed of browsing as the server will only load account with pictures rather than the whole user stacks.

3) Changed the MySMS! service to an internal function so that the overall page loads faster and less dependent on outside servers. Added a security function so that abuses can be tracked and dealt with.

TODO:
~ find a better alogarithm mechanism for database access as the current operations requires 4 - 5 extra access cycles and this translates to a slower server functions. (nb. consider using optimized performance InnoDB engine rather than the current MyISAM)

Minor Fixes for August 2005

The private gallery will be closed for a few weeks as a sign of respect to one of our fellow friend who passed-away on 14th Aug 2005.

As a preventive security measure, mychub will now offer HTTPS - secure transaction services as an added feature to the website. you can use this feature by typing :- https://www.mychub.org
(this is still in the BETA stage)

Video Module Bug Fixed - July 2005

There was a bug in the video server module which prevents Firefox / Mozilla browser & Opera browsers from playing the video clips. (...probably an IE thing).

A workaround is by removing the CLASSID and EMBED tag - and replacing it with data="xxx" and type="video/ms-asx" code which is more cross-browser friendly.

Thanks 2 chubby_kung & hkchub for pointing out the bug to us.

More additions... July 2005

Added some new features into the msg system.

1. The most prominent is the integration of profile pictures into the messages so that users will be able to see who sent them messages and apply promptly.

2. I've also added picture integration into the forum. So this means that profile pictures will be seen in the forum too.