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	<title>athe.la blog</title>
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	<link>http://blog.athe.la</link>
	<description>how to internets with style</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:18:49 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
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		<title>Get Value or Default Value Based on a Null Check [UPDATED]</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/get-value-or-default-value-based-on-a-null-check-updated/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/get-value-or-default-value-based-on-a-null-check-updated/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:18:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=471</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<pre class="brush: csharp; title: ; notranslate">
public static TReturn GetValueOrDefault&lt;T, TReturn&gt;(this T obj, Func&lt;T, TReturn&gt; expression)
    where TReturn : class
    where T : class
{
    if (obj != null)
    {
        return expression(obj);
    }

    Type type = typeof(TReturn);

    if (type.IsValueType)
    {
        return (TReturn)Activator.CreateInstance(type);
    }
    return null;
}
</pre>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Xbox 360 Media Remote Code for Samsung TV (Series 5)</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/xbox-360-media-remote-code-for-samsung-tv-series-5/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/xbox-360-media-remote-code-for-samsung-tv-series-5/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:37:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[offbeat]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Because it took me between 10 and 15 minutes to find this information out, I&#8217;m going to post here to remind myself. The code is 0060. I went through the codes on this pdf: [download.microsoft.com]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Because it took me between 10 and 15 minutes to find this information out, I&#8217;m going to post here to remind myself.</p>
<p>The code is 0060.</p>
<p>I went through the codes on this pdf: <a title="Xbox_360_Media_Remote_New_TV_Codes.pdf" href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/3/B733E99D-A660-4036-A4AD-787138076A18/Xbox_360_Media_Remote_New_TV_Codes.pdf" target="_blank">[download.microsoft.com]</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Get Value or Default Value Based on a Null Check</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/get-value-or-default-value-based-on-a-null-check/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/get-value-or-default-value-based-on-a-null-check/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:32:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[c#]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=441</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just coded a little application and very often I was having to check to see if the object was null before attempting to access one of its properties.  If it was null, I would use an arbitrary default value.  This ultimately was to prevent the dreaded NullReferenceException. This bit of code was repeated over and over <a href='http://blog.athe.la/get-value-or-default-value-based-on-a-null-check/' class='excerpt-more'>[...]</a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just coded a little application and very often I was having to check to see if the object was null before attempting to access one of its properties.  If it was null, I would use an arbitrary default value.  This ultimately was to prevent the dreaded NullReferenceException.</p>
<pre class="brush: csharp; title: ; notranslate">string output;
if (myObj == null) {
    output = &quot;Unknown&quot;;
}
else {
    output = myObj.Name;
}</pre>
<p>This bit of code was repeated over and over again making my method very long. Bad. And it looked very messy so I made a little helper method:</p>
<pre class="brush: csharp; title: ; notranslate">public static TReturn GetValueOrDefault&lt;TReturn&gt;(object obj, TReturn defaultValue, Func&lt;TReturn&gt; expression) {
    return obj == null ? defaultValue : expression();
}</pre>
<p>This also uses the lovely TReturn so you it can handle any type.</p>
<p>Using this helper method is very simple:</p>
<pre class="brush: csharp; title: ; notranslate">return GetValueOrDefault(myObj, &quot;Unknown&quot;, () =&gt; myObj.Name);</pre>
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		<title>My First Tweet</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/my-first-tweet/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/my-first-tweet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:26:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[offbeat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=435</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I used My First Tweet to look up my first tweet! It now seems rather stupid that I would tweet, &#8220;signing up to twitter&#8221; having just signed up to twitter. Forever a joke.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I used <a href="http://myfirsttweet.com/">My First Tweet</a> to look up my first tweet! It now seems rather stupid that I would tweet, &#8220;signing up to twitter&#8221; having just signed up to twitter. Forever a joke.</p>
<!-- tweet id : 805324347 --><style type='text/css'>#bbpBox_805324347 a { text-decoration:none; color:#CC3366; }#bbpBox_805324347 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }</style><div id='bbpBox_805324347' class='bbpBox' style='padding:20px; margin:5px 0; background-color:#DBE9ED; background-image:url(http://a1.twimg.com/images/themes/theme17/bg.gif); background-repeat:no-repeat'><div style='background:#fff; padding:10px; margin:0; min-height:48px; color:#333333; -moz-border-radius:5px; -webkit-border-radius:5px;'><span style='width:100%; font-size:18px; line-height:22px;'>signing up to twitter :D</span><div class='bbp-actions' style='font-size:12px; width:100%; padding:5px 0; margin:0 0 10px 0; border-bottom:1px solid #e6e6e6;'><img align='middle' src='http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/plugins/twitter-blackbird-pie//images/bird.png' /><a title='tweeted on May 7, 2008 8:17 am' href='http://twitter.com/#!/soniiic/status/805324347' target='_blank'>May 7, 2008 8:17 am</a> via web<a href='https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=805324347' class='bbp-action bbp-reply-action' title='Reply'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Reply</strong></span></a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=805324347' class='bbp-action bbp-retweet-action' title='Retweet'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Retweet</strong></span></a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/favorite?tweet_id=805324347' class='bbp-action bbp-favorite-action' title='Favorite'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Favorite</strong></span></a></div><div style='float:left; padding:0; margin:0'><a href='http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=soniiic'><img style='width:48px; height:48px; padding-right:7px; border:none; background:none; margin:0' src='http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1521812487/image_normal.jpg' /></a></div><div style='float:left; padding:0; margin:0'><a style='font-weight:bold' href='http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=soniiic'>@soniiic</a><div style='margin:0; padding-top:2px'>Dan Cooper</div></div><div style='clear:both'></div></div></div><!-- end of tweet -->
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		<title>Weird iOS App Store Parsing Error</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/weird-ios-app-store-parsing-error/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/weird-ios-app-store-parsing-error/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:05:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[bug]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usability]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=422</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every so often I get this bit of text that says &#8220;K2.HTML.Lockup.Updated&#8221; below the apps in the app store.  Anyone know what it means? I tweeted about it and didn&#8217;t get any tweets back but I got a lot of hits on this website when that phrase came up in my twitter feed. Looks like <a href='http://blog.athe.la/weird-ios-app-store-parsing-error/' class='excerpt-more'>[...]</a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every so often I get this bit of text that says &#8220;K2.HTML.Lockup.Updated&#8221; below the apps in the app store.  Anyone know what it means?</p>
<div id="attachment_423" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/K2.HTML.Lockup.Updated.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-423" title="K2.HTML.Lockup.Updated" src="http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/K2.HTML.Lockup.Updated-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sometimes it says &quot;K2.HTML.Lockup.Updated&quot; and sometimes it says &quot;K2.HTML.Lockup.Upd...&quot;</p></div>
<p>I tweeted about it and didn&#8217;t get any tweets back but I got a lot of hits on this website when that phrase came up in my twitter feed.  Looks like many other people are getting it to.</p>
<!-- tweet id : 144543253205757954 --><style type='text/css'>#bbpBox_144543253205757954 a { text-decoration:none; color:#CC3366; }#bbpBox_144543253205757954 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }</style><div id='bbpBox_144543253205757954' class='bbpBox' style='padding:20px; margin:5px 0; background-color:#DBE9ED; background-image:url(http://a1.twimg.com/images/themes/theme17/bg.gif); background-repeat:no-repeat'><div style='background:#fff; padding:10px; margin:0; min-height:48px; color:#333333; -moz-border-radius:5px; -webkit-border-radius:5px;'><span style='width:100%; font-size:18px; line-height:22px;'>iOS App store parsing error :) K2.HTML.LOCKUP.UPDATED <a href="http://t.co/NSUW5TU4" rel="nofollow">http://t.co/NSUW5TU4</a></span><div class='bbp-actions' style='font-size:12px; width:100%; padding:5px 0; margin:0 0 10px 0; border-bottom:1px solid #e6e6e6;'><img align='middle' src='http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/plugins/twitter-blackbird-pie//images/bird.png' /><a title='tweeted on December 7, 2011 10:26 pm' href='http://twitter.com/#!/soniiic/status/144543253205757954' target='_blank'>December 7, 2011 10:26 pm</a> via <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/download/ipad" rel="nofollow" target="blank">Twitter for iPad</a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=144543253205757954' class='bbp-action bbp-reply-action' title='Reply'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Reply</strong></span></a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=144543253205757954' class='bbp-action bbp-retweet-action' title='Retweet'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Retweet</strong></span></a><a href='https://twitter.com/intent/favorite?tweet_id=144543253205757954' class='bbp-action bbp-favorite-action' title='Favorite'><span><em style='margin-left: 1em;'></em><strong>Favorite</strong></span></a></div><div style='float:left; padding:0; margin:0'><a href='http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=soniiic'><img style='width:48px; height:48px; padding-right:7px; border:none; background:none; margin:0' src='http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1521812487/image_normal.jpg' /></a></div><div style='float:left; padding:0; margin:0'><a style='font-weight:bold' href='http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=soniiic'>@soniiic</a><div style='margin:0; padding-top:2px'>Dan Cooper</div></div><div style='clear:both'></div></div></div><!-- end of tweet -->
<p>I&#8217;m guessing it&#8217;s a parsing error and it&#8217;s what Apple use to display that particular app&#8217;s last updated date.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>The most incredible thing on the internet today or How I Learned to Love the GLOW WebGL wrapper</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/the-most-incredible-thing-on-the-internet-today-or-how-i-learned-to-love-the-glow-webgl-wrapper/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/the-most-incredible-thing-on-the-internet-today-or-how-i-learned-to-love-the-glow-webgl-wrapper/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:38:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[offbeat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WebGL]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=416</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is the most incredible thing on the internet today is a visual demonstration of the GLOW wrapper for WebGL.  It renders all sorts of animated animals in real time using lots of vector pyramids flowing through a sphere. It looks great and runs so quickly.  When you visit the site remember you can click the animation <a href='http://blog.athe.la/the-most-incredible-thing-on-the-internet-today-or-how-i-learned-to-love-the-glow-webgl-wrapper/' class='excerpt-more'>[...]</a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is the most incredible thing on the internet today is a visual demonstration of the GLOW wrapper for WebGL.  It renders all sorts of animated animals in real time using lots of vector pyramids flowing through a sphere.</p>
<p>It looks great and runs so quickly.  When you visit the site remember you can click the animation to morph between 9 or so animals and move your mouse to change your view of the sphere.</p>
<div id="attachment_417" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/horse-glow.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-417" title="Horse Glow Example" src="http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/horse-glow-300x215.png" alt="" width="300" height="215" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Displayed using lots of little vector pyramids in 3D in real time</p></div>
<p>On the GLOW website there is the <a href="http://empaempa.github.com/GLOW/examples/complicated/">animation</a> in WebGL and the <a href="http://i-am-glow.com/?page_id=183">tutorial</a> showing what techniques were used to make it.</p>
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		<title>An Open Letter in Support of Jubilee Church&#8217;s Planning Application</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/an-open-letter-in-support-of-jubilee-churchs-planning-application/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/an-open-letter-in-support-of-jubilee-churchs-planning-application/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:30:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=404</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I attend a church in Worthing that is currently looking to move in to a warehouse in an industrial estate in Worthing.  We were asked to write letters of support to the council and our local councillors to encourage them that this would be a good thing for the community.  Below is my letter that I wrote <a href='http://blog.athe.la/an-open-letter-in-support-of-jubilee-churchs-planning-application/' class='excerpt-more'>[...]</a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I attend a church in Worthing that is currently looking to move in to a warehouse in an industrial estate in Worthing.  We were asked to write letters of support to the council and our local councillors to encourage them that this would be a good thing for the community.  Below is my letter that I wrote in support of the planning application.</p>
<hr />
<p>I am writing to support the proposal of Jubilee Church’s change of use request. It is my understanding that there has been some opposition to the change of use and I would like to state my own reasons for why it would be good for the community on a local level and for Worthing on a wider level.  I have attended Jubilee Church for ten years and thus have some insight on Jubilee Church’s intentions for the use of this particular site.</p>
<p><span id="more-404"></span></p>
<h1>Jubilee Church’s positive impact on the local level</h1>
<p>According to the latest published figures of the <a href="http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/community/shocking_worthing_child_poverty_figures_revealed_1_3234938" target="_blank">West Sussex Annual Public Health Report 2011</a>, it has been stated that almost 40% of children living in Northbrook and Broadwater live in a low-income environment.  One of Jubilee Church’s main ventures in Worthing is to provide numerous activities for the youth and provide opportunities to learn and develop specific skills.</p>
<p>For now, Jubilee Church hosts many events for the church youth throughout the year.  We have a strong youth leadership team who host regular meetings in rented community buildings.  For this we mainly use the Glynn Owen Centre in South Farm Road and are grateful for the continued use of this facility.  However, with a permanent building to make our own, we can do so much more.  We won’t be limited in time or clashes with other events.</p>
<p>Also with a permanent building we can provide skills training that we could not offer elsewhere.  With my skills in IT and the fact that I am a leader of the 12-16’s youth group, I have been asked if I would like to provide IT training to youngsters in the area.  We would use the IT facilities at the proposed site to host this.  The IT training that would be provided could be quite broad in respect of all IT areas: word processing, spread sheets, staying safe on the internet, writing CVs, and even designing their own web page for themselves.</p>
<p>With the church’s vision and optimism, I am confident that should the church be granted this change of use, we would be able to provide the above to the youth of the surrounding areas and encourage them to use their own skills and merits for the benefit of themselves and of their own community.</p>
<p>The addition of the all-day café and a small food service would be welcomed by the workers in the surrounding area to have a bite to eat and relax from their normal working environment.  They could also use Jubilee Church’s facilities to host business meetings which they themselves don’t have the ability to host on their own.  The presence of a popular, open and relaxing environment in the estate would benefit other businesses in the local vicinity.</p>
<h2>Jubilee Church’s involvement in the community of Worthing</h2>
<p>Jubilee Church provides the poor and disadvantaged people of Worthing with hand-outs from the <a href="http://www.jubilee-church.co.uk/Groups/123883/Jubilee_Community_Church/In_The_Community/Food_Bank_Website/Food_Bank_Website.aspx " target="_blank">Food Bank</a>.  Over 8 tonnes of food has been collected from supermarkets in Worthing by the generous shoppers and this has been shared to hundreds of people who are struck by a short-term crisis of poverty.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>“In 2010, the Worthing Food Bank fed 1,034 people a 3 day food supply, that is 9,216 meals.”<br />
</em>- Worthing Food Bank, <a href="http://www.jubilee-church.co.uk/Groups/124975/Jubilee_Community_Church/In_The_Community/Food_Bank_Website/News_and_Events/News_and_Events.aspx " target="_blank">News and Events</a></p>
<p>Food Bank is managed by the members of Jubilee Church in partnership with the Salvation Army. With a permanent building, our presence in the community would strengthen and we could provide more to the needy than ever before.</p>
<p>At Christmas it is traditional that local Worthing churches host their own Christmas services that are very popular among the population of Worthing.  With a permanent building, we could invite the community of East Worthing to come celebrate with us more intimately than ever before.  What is stopping us from hosting our own Christmas meal for those in the community?  To a lot of people, Christmas is their only opportunity to experience church and I feel that if we give them the best experience we can, we can change their outlook on church as a whole and breakdown misconceptions that a church is a lonely place to visit.  I hope you agree that the surrounding areas would greatly benefit from a giving, loving church that first and foremost wants to care for our community, not only at Christmas but all throughout the year.</p>
<h2><strong>The loss of a potential space for industrial use</strong></h2>
<p>After writing about what benefits this change of use will bring, it would be narrow-minded to not comment on the apparent loss of working industrial space in the estate.  I can imagine that you might think that changing the use of this building in the middle of a business estate would make it stick out like a sore thumb; the only building in the neighbourhood that doesn’t have industrial status.  However I would like to voice that it is only half of the building that will be used for the above activities.  The rest of the building is still used as an industrial business and will continue to function as such even should this change of use be granted.</p>
<p>It also shouldn’t be expected that the building would be void of people throughout the week.  Church is not just a Sunday event; we are a body of people that will use this building on a daily basis and it will provide to us so much value.  With the addition of the café I expect the new building to be busy and bustling throughout the week by local business men and women.</p>
<p>This building has been empty for years before Jubilee Church made the purchase.  Many other industrial buildings are available in the immediate area too.  If the change of use is granted, it would show to other businesses that this area is desirable and there is the opportunity for development.  Hopefully because of this, it would encourage other businesses that buying or renting on this estate is a good idea.  Buildings that are empty and unused reduce the desirability of the surrounding area.</p>
<h2><strong>My own personal involvement</strong></h2>
<p>I personally have agreed that I would be involved in interacting with the youth in the surrounding area and hosting youth events. I would also be happy to teach IT skills, including writing CVs, to the local people or youth in close proximity to the new building.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for your time reading this.  I hope this has encouraged you to grant the change of use for Jubilee Church’s new building and I look forward to hearing your decision.</p>
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		<title>A possible reason for why some spam comments on blogs don&#8217;t advertise anything</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/a-possible-reason-for-why-some-spam-comments-on-blogs-dont-advertise-anything/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/a-possible-reason-for-why-some-spam-comments-on-blogs-dont-advertise-anything/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:50:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spam Prevention]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=402</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve seen it a little bit on my spam filter on this site.  My thoughts are that they&#8217;re expecting blog authors to mark their comment as &#8220;Not Spam&#8221;.  This would then skew the spam filters a little more in their favour! Thus when they submit more posts to buy absolutely real genuine rolexs for rock <a href='http://blog.athe.la/a-possible-reason-for-why-some-spam-comments-on-blogs-dont-advertise-anything/' class='excerpt-more'>[...]</a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve seen it a little bit on my spam filter on this site.  My thoughts are that they&#8217;re expecting blog authors to mark their comment as &#8220;Not Spam&#8221;.  This would then skew the spam filters a little more in their <strong>favour</strong>!</p>
<p>Thus when they submit more posts to buy absolutely real genuine rolexs for rock bottom prices, they&#8217;re more likely to get their post past the filters. Still unlikely, but never-the-less more likely.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t regard comments as &#8220;Not Spam&#8221; until you see their comment history, and determine for yourself whether this is Spam or Ham.</p>
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		<title>All fake gamestation sites</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/all-fake-gamestation-sites/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/all-fake-gamestation-sites/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:53:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=398</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Gamestation have finally replied to my requests and have provided this list of all the fake gamestation sites they had. Some are quite funny and I would have loved to have found them when they were up! Trampstation Flamestation Moustachestation Grannystation Pigstation Tutustation Bikinistation Artificialinseminationstation Tentingstation Chavstation Legstation Bongstation Moiststation Stripstation Massdebatestation]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Gamestation have finally replied to my requests and have provided this list of all the fake gamestation sites they had.</p>
<p>Some are quite funny and I would have loved to have found them when they were up!</p>
<ul>
<li>Trampstation</li>
<li>Flamestation</li>
<li>Moustachestation</li>
<li>Grannystation</li>
<li>Pigstation</li>
<li>Tutustation</li>
<li>Bikinistation</li>
<li>Artificialinseminationstation</li>
<li>Tentingstation</li>
<li>Chavstation</li>
<li>Legstation</li>
<li>Bongstation</li>
<li>Moiststation</li>
<li>Stripstation</li>
<li>Massdebatestation</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Fake Gamestation Competition Hiding Something?</title>
		<link>http://blog.athe.la/fake-gamestation-competition-hiding-something/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.athe.la/fake-gamestation-competition-hiding-something/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:48:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Cooper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.athe.la/?p=381</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To help launch their new-look website, Gamestation recently held a competition for their customers to find other websites that &#8220;stole&#8221; their new design.  The competition encouraged customers to investigate websites that ended in &#8220;station.co.uk&#8221;.  I found a few but it never got recognised on the website and I never heard back from anyone. I asked <a href='http://blog.athe.la/fake-gamestation-competition-hiding-something/' class='excerpt-more'>[...]</a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To help launch their new-look website, <a href="http://www.gamestation.co.uk/">Gamestation</a> recently held a competition for their customers to find other websites that &#8220;stole&#8221; their new design.  The competition encouraged customers to investigate websites that ended in &#8220;station.co.uk&#8221;.  I found a few but it never got recognised on the website and I never heard back from anyone. I asked gamestation&#8217;s customer support for some details of the competition and they were as helpful as a brick wall.</p>
<h3>The competition page</h3>
<p>Confirmed websites such as <a href="http://www.grannystation.co.uk">grannystation.co.uk</a> and <a href="http://www.chavstation.co.uk">chavstation.co.uk</a> were found and posted on the <a href="http://www.gamestation.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HubArticleView?hubId=148280&amp;articleId=148287&amp;catalogId=10202&amp;langId=45&amp;storeId=10651">gamestation&#8217;s competition page</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_382" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 208px"><a href="http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Gamestation-Snoops-Win-Prizes-.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-382" title="Gamestation - Snoops Win Prizes" src="http://blog.athe.la/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Gamestation-Snoops-Win-Prizes--198x300.png" alt="" width="198" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Screenshot as of 7th November 2011 of the competition page on the gamestation website</p></div>
<p>As soon as I figured out that all the fake websites adhered to a simple naming pattern, (plus with me being a bit geeky and excited about writing something new) I wrote a powershell script that attempted to visit every site.  The script took in the English dictionary of words between 2 and 8 characters long and appended &#8220;station.co.uk&#8221;.  If it found a link to the gamestation.co.uk website, it would log it and move on to the next.</p>
<h3>The script, it ran&#8230;</h3>
<p>Lo-and-behold it found two more that had not been posted on the gamestation site.  I didn&#8217;t really care if I won the grand prize, I just did it for the fun and wanted to investigate all the work that the designers went to to create these sister sites.</p>
<p>I found <a href="http://www.tutustation.co.uk">www.tutustation.co.uk</a> and <a href="http://www.bongstation.co.uk">www.bongstation.co.uk</a></p>
<h3>I contacted customer services&#8230;</h3>
<p>I entered the competition and checked back daily to see if my new findings were detailed on the site. Nope. Long after the competition ended, I emailed customer services and these are the responses I received:</p>
<blockquote><p>Sorry but this competition does not run anymore . I no longer have access to any information regarding this.</p>
<p>Regards,</p>
<p>Syd W</p></blockquote>
<p>I responded by saying &#8220;I know it doesn&#8217;t run anymore, that&#8217;s why I&#8217;m asking. How come you have no information regarding the competition? I would just like a list of the websites that were involved. Some information is available at [link to competition page] but it&#8217;s old and that information was available before the end of the competition.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>I would [...] like to apologise for any confusion. A list of the &#8216;fake&#8217; websites and winners can be found by following the link below:</p>
<p>http://www.gamestation.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HubArticleView?hubId=148280&#038;articleId=148287&#038;catalogId=10202&#038;langId=45&#038;storeId=10651</p>
<p>I apologise for any confusion this may have caused, and please do not hesitate to contact us with any further queries you may have.</p>
<p>Regards,</p>
<p>Sam F</p></blockquote>
<p>Haha, this is the same link that I had just emailed to them! I ask again: &#8220;I&#8217;m afraid that is not the case. I found http://tutustation.co.uk/ but that is not listed. Why can&#8217;t you provide the full information?&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>The competition regrettably is now over. If you have submitted your answer to the competition providers they will contact us direct if you are winner.</p>
<p>If you have any further queries please don&#8217;t hesitate to contact us.</p>
<p>Regards,</p>
<p>Charlotte H</p></blockquote>
<p>Their excuse of the competition being over implies that I should have asked while the competition was running! What a joke.  At least now though I have learned from this email that the competition providers are a separate company to gamestation, yet at the bottom of the competition page it clearly states: &#8220;The promoter of the competition is Gameplay (GB) Ltd. trading as Gamestation&#8221;.</p>
<p>For now I don&#8217;t think I will ever find out what the other fake gamestation sites were. Maybe I did find them all? My curiosity is not yet satisfied.</p>
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