Some video sites allow you to download a show but they are broken up into multiple FLV files. The attached Avidemux Tinypy script will allow you to choose folder and join all the FLV files that are found inside and save it in a MKV container (more video player friendly).

If you need to join other file types, modify the following lines:
ext="flv"

If you need to save as another file container type, modify the following lines:
adm.setContainer("MKV")
and
outputFile = inputFolder+"\\"+directoryName+".mkv"

Pardon the messy code, it was done as a quick and dirty script.

Click here to download the script

I was inserting records into a MySQL table using php and got an error that says:
Query error: Incorrect string value: '\xE2\x82...' for column 'message' at row 1 - Invalid query: INSERT INTO `my_table` (`message`) VALUES ('The price is xE2x82 500')

The original string in the ‘message’ field is actually
The price is € 500

This error is surprising given that the string is actually in UTF-8 encoding and the field in the MySQL table is declared as utf8_unicode_ci type.

The solution that I found it is to call the php function utf8_encode to encode string before inserting into the MySQL table.

Recently after migrating to Windows 7, I’ve been encoutering the this message a lot from Outlook 2003.

After poking around a bit (like removing and re-adding my mail account, removing and re-adding my personal and archive folders, etc), the only solution that worked for me is to force Outlook to recreate the OST file. For those who are interested the location of the file is at:

Windows 7:
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\

Windows XP:
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\

Just rename all the files with the .ost extension to something else and try to start Outlook again.

This morning Outlook gave me a big scare. Nope, it didn’t deliver a particularly nasty email, but it crashed as soon as it started. Here’s a look at the nasty error message:

No amount of begging and coaxing would make Outlook start normally, so I started Outlook on Safe Mode and after it managed to start without error, ended it in hopes that it will fix whatever stuff that is wrong when the program quits. And guess what? It did.

So, for anyone who encounters the above error, the first thing you can do before trying the myriad of troubleshooting suggestions found on the internet, give Outlook a chance to fix itself by starting it in Safe Mode. To start Outlook on Safe Mode go to Start -> Run and type:
outlook /safe

I recently purchased a Compaq C749TU via the Citibank Malaysia Shell Card promotion (stated as HP Compaq PC700 Notebook on their promotion). It came with FreeDOS and since I have an unused version of Windows XP, I decided to install on it. Read the rest of this entry »