Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 March 16

= March 16 =

Display problem with right to left encoding
See the use of a citation template at Israel_Railways_JT_42BW - what I see is all the date (20 Apr 2007) mixed up. (chrome xp).

I have no idea if it is me, wikipedia or something else. Thanks.Oranjblud (talk) 01:55, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * It was Wikipedia. Now fixed. -- BenRG (talk) 03:15, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Actually, I guess it was you, since you created the page. :-) The problem and solution are explained at Help:Hebrew. By the way, questions like this should probably go to Help Desk, not here. -- BenRG (talk) 03:19, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * ok thanks I'll try to remember &#x200E Oranjblud (talk) 04:06, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Google translate api
Google has decided to shut down the free version of their translate API. But wouldn't it be easy for a programmer to automate access to the ordinary website, select a few parameters (like source and destination languages), and batch process a large text, albeit somewhat slowly? They could leave the computer on overnight, and have quite a lot done by the next day. Thanks in advance, IBE (talk) 08:45, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * You could easily write a program to do that, but equally Google could try and detect it and block it, e.g. limiting the number of requests from an individual IP address, or add captchas to some/all requests. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:05, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes usually web sites don't like you making any resonable number of (or sometimes any) automated requests without using their API and if enough people do it they will often take steps to limit it. If they don't have an API for that task, it generally means they don't want you doing it. Nil Einne (talk) 13:05, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * With Google's other free/paid services (like Google Maps), Google usually imposes some kind of daily rate limit. With the free Google Maps API, for example, you can only make 2,000 geolocation lookups per day. That's not usually a big problem (the 2,000 applies to each user of your API, not the host of the API, and it's rare for an individual computer to need to make more than 2,000 such lookups a day, though recently I had reason to want to be able to make several hundred thousand, so I found out about this damn limit) unless you are trying to do something like skirt around the boundaries of the paid/free system. I suspect there is some kind of rate limiting in effect on the translation service if they are moving the API to paid. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:29, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks to all, that definitely clears it up. Any more info most welcome - I find these threads interesting in general, even just for knowing how things work out there in the real world. IBE (talk) 05:40, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

MediaWiki Farmer not working
How can I allow mediawikiwiki:Extension:Farmer to add a config file? What should I chmod the directory to? -- J (t)  15:49, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Maybe try with a different extension --151.75.23.121 (talk) 19:56, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

why doesn't anyone
connect people who can do anything in twenty minutes with rails scripts but have no ideas whatsoever, with people who have great ideas but no ability to do anything whatsoever? --80.99.254.208 (talk) 16:34, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Because no-one with a functioning brain has "no ideas whatsoever". It's only the people who have no ability who imagine that those who do are somehow emotionless, uncreative husks.  87.113.82.247 (talk) 17:36, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * No, I've met people with no ideas whatsoever. They'll even tell you.  A lot of tech guys will ask each other for any cool ideas. --80.99.254.208 (talk) 18:27, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * So, you're seeking a human resources outsourcing firm whose specialty is locating unmotivated Ruby programmers, and matching them with managers who know nothing about technology? I know of no such firm, but I bet if you start it you can charge top dollar.  Nimur (talk) 18:51, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * There are many sites like "elance.com" where you can hire software people for small projects. If you want someone to work for free in exchange for a share in the profits of your world-changing idea you're going to have a harder time. --Sean 18:55, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Another example like elance.com (for everything, not just software) is Philip Rosedale's new venture, coffee and power. Microjobs might take off in the future, but it's just hard connecting producers and consumers. The basic problem may be getting people to agree on price, even when any "reasonable" price might be good enough for both parties. The underlying problem may be security - you need to be sure you are going to get paid on time. IBE (talk) 05:34, 17 March 2012 (UTC)
 * It's true that a good programmer can throw together a prototype surprisingly fast. But the difference between a "looks good enough" prototype and an actual website or software tool that people want to use is huge. This is why, for example, Google started as a couple of programmers who hired business people to deal with the business stuff, rather than a couple of business people who hired coders. Good software takes time and effort and skill. What's more, it generally takes good programmers to find and hire more good programmers, so an organization that starts off without a strong software culture will probably never develop one. Paul (Stansifer) 21:27, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Maybe this guy: http://teddziuba.com/2011/07/the-craigslist-reverse-programmer-troll.html 67.117.144.57 (talk) 08:30, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Microsoft GIF Animator
Where can I get Microsoft GIF Animator?---74.178.186.35 (talk) 19:16, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * 82.45.62.107 (talk) 19:22, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Hypervisor capable of performing a secure boot process
I want to experiment with secure boot, but I don't want to use a TPM or a processor with secure instructions (i.e., Intel vPro). Does a hypervisor (prefferably bare metal) exist that can verify the first stage of a virtual machine just like a system that can perform a verified boot? --Melab±1 &#9742; 20:45, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

How does a hidden link work?
I don't actually know what to call it, but one of the reasons I am asking is to find out the name of the concept.

If you go here and click on the image on The Mini Page, in the lower right corner of the page, you eventually see the words "Fun & Games". A hand eventually appears for you to click on. Then in the lower right corner, the words "HA HA HA" appear, and eventually, with the words "Mighty Funny's Mini Jokes", an arrow to click on. What can you tell me about those links that don't show up immediately?— Vchimpanzee  ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 20:49, 16 March 2012 (UTC)


 * It's an embedded Flash animation, a SWF file. You can do things like that with Flash files. ---Mr.98 (talk) 21:44, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you.— Vchimpanzee  ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 21:51, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Firefox addon shortcut
Is it possible to create a shortcut to my filter preferences in Adblock plus? I'm changing what I have blocked several times a day and right now it takes me 6 or 7 clicks to do it. 149.169.140.211 (talk) 20:53, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * See if the last entry in this FAQ helps RudolfRed (talk) 01:13, 17 March 2012 (UTC)