What I have discovered is that when you use a certain string, the Google Translate frame inserts itself into the main frame, causing it to load again within that frame, in turn this causes it to reload within that frame and this continues until your browser decides it’s had enough and stops (or in the case of Internet Explorer, until it locks up). This kind of self-looping is often referred to as recursion.

First off, I want to say point out that I did try and ask various people how to contact Google to report this bug, but nobody got back to me.

It seems nobody wants to take responsibility for the Google Translate project and I was all up for reporting it as I heard other people have received T-Shirts for doing so. But, no T-shirt for me, so I guess I’ll just publish on my site instead and see if they fix it.

Also last time I provided feedback to Google, they created a solution, but never emailed me back to thank me or anything. (The “Go to Google.com” that appears on the Google regional search (eg: Google UK) is a direct result of my feedback, it did not exist until about a month after I submitted my feedback).

Don’t get me wrong, I like Google, but it’s not nice to be ignored.

Okay, so onto the actual bug…

Google Translate Recursion

I discovered this after trying to translate a URL from a Wikipedia.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Devil%27s_own.jpg

I narrowed this down to the apostrophe (‘) in the URL…

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/’

I realised it would work on any domain…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/’

However, it did not, or does no longer work with just an apostrophe…

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=%27

Bad Request
Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://%27

Redirects to home page.

Interestingly enough though, it does work when translating Google’s very own search:

http://www.google.com/?q=%27

A pretty poor show by Google if you ask me.

I do wonder though, who will get there first? Will Google fix it or will someone exploit it?

There’s only one way to find out… Post!

Enjoy.

Update 04-Sept-2009: It seems to me that this bug has been fixed. I await my Google T-shirt…

Related posts:

1. Getting started with Quercus in Google App Engine Last year an article was written on a blog about...
2. Google AdSense won’t let me in! Back in 2004, I signed up my old site “hm2k.org”...

I’m sure we’re all familiar with URLs that look like this:

http://www.example.com/?nav=page

These type of URLs aren’t particularly “friendly”, they are known as dynamic URLs. As a rule of thumb search engines such as Google don’t like them as much as “static URLs”.

However, Google has recently released an article on this very subject entitled Dynamic URLs vs. static URLs, I recommend you give it a read so you fully understand what we’re talking about.

Google suggests that many search engine crawlers do not like dynamic URLs as much as static URLs.

A “static” or “friendly” version of the above URL could be as follows:

http://www.example.com/page.html

Here’s how it’s done…

Solution 1

Apache’s mod_rewrite can be easily used via a file called “.htaccess” to turn dynamic urls into friendly urls.

Here is an example of how it’s done:

#Turn on the Rewrite Engine
RewriteEngine on
#Set the base path
RewriteBase /
#Check that the lookup isn’t an existing file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
#Check that the lookup isn’t an existing directory
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
#Check that the file isn’t index.php (avoid looping)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^index\.php$
#Force all .html lookups to the index file
RewriteRule (.+)*\.html index.php?nav=$1 [QSA,L]
#Note: QSA=query string append;L=Last, no more rules

This will rewrite all paths ending in “.html” to your index file.

From there, it’s simply a case of tailoring the rewrite to your requirements.

Checkout the mod_rewrite cheat sheet for more help on rewrites.

Solution 2

If you ARE using PHP, a better way might be to just hand over ALL the path information to your “index.php” and handle it from there.

The rewrite to do that looks something like this:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^index\.php$
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php/$1 [QSA,L]

As per above this will only rewrite paths that don’t exist.

It doesn’t work out any slower than the above solution, as either way you’re passing it to PHP, and rewrites are fairly slow to begin with.

In your “index.php”, you can parse $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] (or $_SERVER['ORIG_PATH_INFO']) for the path information. It may be quicker and easier to explode the path by “/”, and find the information you need using a foreach rather than using regex in preg_match.

Related posts:

1. Creating subdomains from directories using mod_rewrite in Apache .htaccess The idea was to have the ability to create unlimited...
2. Word separators in URLs In the world of web development and search engine optimisation...
3. 50+ PHP optimisation tips revisited After reading an article some time ago entitled “40 Tips...
4. suPHP and .phps PHP code highlighting support Today a user on one of my web servers asked...

However, as you can see his article was all about using the irssi IRC client on Linux/Ubuntu.

I decided that some people may wish to know how to do it on Windows.

Here’s how…

There’s tuns of IRC clients out there for windows, you can even find IRC clients in your web browser, such as Chatzilla in Mozilla and Opera has one too, not only this but you can also get ported versions of Linux clients. Not only that, bug large IRC networks such as EFnet even have their own webchat.

We’re not going to use any of these, we’re going to use the most renowned IRC client in the world: mIRC.

What makes mIRC such a great client is it’s usability. You’ll learn this once you start to use it.

Installing mIRC is easy, just download mIRC, run the exe file and follow the simple on screen instructions.

Once installed you need to setup “logging”, so go to Tools > Options, then IRC > Logging.

From there you can setup logging to your preferences. If you need help understanding any of this, just hit F1 at any time, and look for the section on Logging.

Mine looks like this:

Now to connect to a channel, say #SEO on EFnet, with the nickname NOTHM2K, you can do the following:

/nick NOTHM2K | /server irc.efnet.net | /join #SEO

Once you join the channel the client should start logging straight away.

So what can you actually do with your logs? Well you can view them, search them or generate stats from them. Just like most things you archive.

You can view your logs by doing:

//run $mircdirlogs

Note: the double slash is important, it means execute rather than plain text

As you will be on the “EFnet” network, you will likely see a folder called “EFnet”, if you have setup your logging like me, you will find your daily timestamped logs in there. You can get to the folder quickly by doing:

//run $+($mircdirlogs,\,$network,\)

To open the current log of the channel you’re currently in you can do:

//run $window($active).logfile

Note: Please make sure you have associated .log files with a program otherwise you will get an error and the file will not open.

To search through a log file for a specific string of text you can download grep for windows or use findstr which comes with windows. From mIRC do:

//run cmd

When a command prompt opens from there you can use grep or findstr. We will be using findstr…

findstr /?

Note: This returns the help information

findstr /s /C:”hello HM2K” *.log

Note: This will search through all files that end in .log in the current dir and subdirectories for the string “hello HM2K”.

Or for those that prefer mIRC scripts, here’s findstr for mIRC…

alias findstr { ; v0.1 by HM2K (Updated: 23/05/08)
if (!$3) { echo -a Usage: /findstr <path> <file-match> <string-match> | halt }
var %win = @findstr
if (!$window(%win)) { window -e %win }
var %files = $findfile($1,$2,0)
var %i = 1
while (%i < %files) {
filter -fwn $findfile($1,$2,%i) %win $+(*,$3,*)
if ($filtered) { aline %win $findfile($1,$2,%i) }
inc %i
}
}

To generate stats you need third party software such as mIRCstats or pisg (recommended), however if you do use pisg, it might make sense to use the eggdrop or windrop (for windows) IRC bot to generate the logs instead.

There’s lots and lots of other neat tricks in mIRC for logging (take a look at $findfile) and beyond. I invite you to take a look at some of my mIRC scripts, which some of you may find useful.

PS. If you like mIRC, please register.

Related posts:

1. Twitter for mIRC I signed up for Twitter quite some months ago, but...
2. Why I registered mIRC For those that don’t know… mIRC is communication software,...
3. Migrating from Windows to Linux These days I find myself playing less and less games...

It’s content was mainly made up of what I was researching around that time, including a few controversial topics such as hacking, trojans and warez distribution. (Oh the joys of being under 18, or at least I was at time of original creation).

Thus, I got a reasonable response saying:

Hello [name],

Thank you very much for updating your account information. I have reviewed
www.hm2k.org and concluded that it does not comply with our AdSense
policy. Our goal is to be able to extend our service to as many web
publishers as we can. Unfortunately, after reviewing your site, we are
unable to accept it into our AdSense program at this time for the reason
listed below:

-Unacceptable site content

Please check for a separate application disapproval email for detailed
instructions on how to resolve this problem. Please feel free to reply to
this email for reconsideration when you have made the changes.

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Trinh
The Google AdSense Team

And I did understand, it was fair enough at the time…

Since then I had completely revamped “hm2k.org” 2 or 3 times, then finally in January 2007 I decided to completely redo my site, using the wordpress blog system, a whole new domain, a new design, all new content, and a new vision. It’s a whole new site.

Let’s now fast forward to over 4 years later since the original application was submitted, to April 2008…

My blog is getting ever more popular and I wish to cash in on this, but how? My first port of call is Google AdSense.

By this point I’d already had a Google AdSense account for quite some time for my business, which is absolutly fine, this time however, it’s personal.

So, I try and login to Google AdSense using my Google Account that i’ve had for quite some time now, and I receive the following message:

An AdSense account was not found under the Google Account associated with xxxxx@hm2k.org. Please check to make sure you are signing in with your approved AdSense login and password. If you’ve forgot your login, click here. If you’re not an AdSense publisher, sign up for an account.

So I try and signup again, using my existing account as per above.

So I click on signup, and go through the steps…

I get to the step entitled: “This is the account information you entered”…

It says “Which best describes you?”

I click: I have an email address and password (Google Account) I already use with Google services like AdWords, Gmail, Orkut, or the personalized home page.

It says: “Would you like to use your existing Google Account for AdSense?”

I click: “I’d like to use my existing Google account for AdSense.”

A login box saying “Use an existing Google Account” comes up, I login…

The page reloads and it gives me an error saying:

A user with the email you specified already exists
Please select a different Google Account login to access this account.

My first issue is the fact that neither of these errors are very descriptive, the second problem is that they are conflicting errors, they don’t agree with each other. I feel like I’m going round in circles and that neither error is telling me what’s really going on…

Not only do I post on the Google AdSense group, I also proceed to contact Google saying that I’m having “login problems”, which is the only way I can describe the problem I’m seeing.

I got no response from the group, but the response I got direct from Google is as follows:

Hello [name],

Thanks for writing in. I’ll be more than happy to help you with your
password issue. Based on your description of the problem, I’ve provided
two options below. If neither of these helps you log into your account,
please feel free to reply and I’ll help you further.

Your login email address is xxxxx@hm2k.org.

If you know your current password and you’d like to change it, please
follow the directions on this page:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=9915

If you’ve forgotten your existing password, please visit
https://www.google.com/adsense/assistlogin . On this page, you’ll be able
to submit your email address to us. We’ll then automatically send you an
email with a link that will allow you to reset your password.

Additionally, I’m happy to let you know your application complies with our
program policies and has been approved. Please check your email for a
separate application approval message providing instructions on accessing
your account and getting started with AdSense.

Additionally, please be aware that because your application was previously
disapproved, there may be a delay of 48 hours or more before Google ads
begin appearing on your site. We appreciate your patience.

For additional questions, I’d encourage you to visit the AdSense Help
Center ( http://www.google.com/adsense_help ) or the official AdSense blog
( http://adsense.blogspot.com?utm_source=txft ). Alternatively, feel free
to post your question on the AdSense Help Forum (
http://groups.google.com/group/adsense-help?utm_source=txft ).

Sincerely,

Kalpana
The Google AdSense Team

Apart from this email being very unhelpful towards my actual problem, it does clearly say that my application was approved. However, I wait 48 hours and receive nothing.

What’s going on with my account? I can’t login, is it active or not? I don’t know! How could I know?

Browsing my old emails and browsing the web I discover I can have my website appealed, and re-reviewed, but only if you’ve been banned for invalid clicks.

Stupidly (perhaps), I fill out the online appeal form anyway, with limited details, as I’ve not actually been banned for invalid clicks, so I don’t really have anything to provide.

This is the response I get back:

Hello,

Thank you for providing us with additional information. However, after
thoroughly reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into
consideration, we have re-confirmed that your account poses a significant
risk to our advertisers. For this reason, we are unable to reinstate your
account. Thank you for your understanding.

As a reminder, if you have any questions about your account or the actions
that we have taken, please do not reply to this email. You can find more
information by visiting
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Google Ireland Ltd.
Gordon House
Barrow Street
Dublin 4
Ireland

Registered in Dublin, Ireland
Registration Number: 368047

It looks like a generic error they just send out when the appeal fails, there’s also a distinct lack of personal touches like there’s been in the past.

I conclude that my appeal application failed because firstly I wasn’t banned for invalid clicks, and secondly because I didn’t supply enough details about invalid clicks, which is mainly down to the fact that I never had an account in the first place to even generate invalid clicks.

I have come to the end of my tether with this…

Will I ever get a personal Google AdSense account?

And just when I think all is lost, I receive a reply…

Hi [name],

Thanks for writing in. I am sorry to know that you are still not able to
access your AdSense account. Please follow the steps below to resolve
this.

1. Please make sure that your AdSense account password is different from
your Google Account password.

2. You can reset it at https://www.google.com/adsense/assistlogin?hl=en_US

3. Once your passwords are different, you will need to log in to AdSense
with the AdSense email and password .

4. Once you log in to your AdSense account, please migrate using
https://www.google.com/adsense/migrate-login-1

Additionally, please know that your AdSense password is different from the
password you use to access other Google services. Our records show that
you have successfully reset he password for other Google services, but the
password for your AdSense account has not been reset. I suggest you visit
the link above and reset your password one more time.

We appreciate your continued patience and understanding.

For additional questions, I’d encourage you to visit the AdSense Help
Center ( http://www.google.com/adsense_help ) or the official AdSense blog
( http://adsense.blogspot.com?utm_source=txft ). Alternatively, feel free
to post your question on the AdSense Help Forum (
http://groups.google.com/group/adsense-help?utm_source=txft ).

Sincerely,

Parvathi
The Google AdSense Team

SUCCESS!

After following the link to reset my password, receiving the email, then following THAT link, entering in a password over 7 chrs long, then returning to the login page, I can login!

I find there is a new set of terms and conditions, last updated 2008-02-25, I understand the gist, so I accept.

I then reach the migration link, as per the above email. I click “Yes – I’m the only one who logs in to this AdSense account” and press continue…

Which best describes you?
> I have an email address and password (Google Account) I already use with Google services like Gmail, Orkut, or the personalized home page.
Would you like to use your existing Google Account for AdSense?
> I’d like to use my existing Google account for AdSense.

Now I get the “Use an existing Google Account” dialogue box, where I can enter my Google Account details.

Final step is “Confirm your chosen AdSense login”, I confirm.

I AM IN! I AM ACTUALLY IN!

Just to check I’m not dreaming, I logout, and log back in, it accepts my Google Account details, no problem!

Once again, Google saves the day!

Problem solved, Well done Google!

Related posts:

1. Using Your Own URL as Your OpenID with WordPress Today I decided to join stackoverflow.com, which requires you to...
2. Gmail needs an API Yesterday I spent some time investigating Google Wave. A very...
3. Transfering domains from Godaddy.com to TuCows OpenSRS I need to transfer a bunch of domains from Godaddy...
4. I forgot my Windows logon password! What should I do? Reinstall? NO! So how do you...