Eric Mann's Blog

  • Developer Evangelism

    I absolutely love attending tech conferences. They’re great opportunities to reach out to friends in the community, make new connections, and catch the leading edge of what’s going on with the technology I use. Over the past several years, I’ve attended several conferences and met hundreds of people. My favorites, though, are the tech representatives […]

  • Context Managers in PHP

    These days, I spend far more time writing and reviewing code in Python than I do PHP. It’s been a refreshing change of pace, and it’s fun to learn the different patterns present in various programming languages. One of the nicer patterns in Python is the Context Manager. It’s a pattern that PHP can learn from and leverage.

  • Release Freeze is Coming

    I will not ship any WordPress-related code or updates during the month of December. This is so I can take time to focus on family and 2019 planning. I encourage you to do the same.

  • I Won’t be at ZendCon

    Next week kicks off the latest version of ZendCon in Las Vegas. Though I had, for a time, expected to be there … I won’t be. You should know why.

  • Mastodon: Social Media Made Social

    March 23, 2008 was the day my friend Sean introduced me to Twitter. It was a foreign concept to me. A website that would forward text messages from you to a group of friends – and forward any messages they sent back to you. I was hooked. Sean had called the system “crack” and, honestly, […]

  • System76 Oryx Pro – First Impressions

    The past few weeks have been exciting! I recently purchased the new Oryx Pro by System76 and have been absolutely loving the new machine. Here are some photos and first thoughts from my setup experience. Unboxing First and foremost, it took a bit longer for my machine to arrive than I’d expected. I was one of […]

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  • Configuring Yubikeys, GPG, and Keybase

    Rather than use GPG and SSH keys housed on individual machines, I embed my GPG private keys on Yubikeys by default. This allows me to keep my keys somewhat portable (i.e. I can use them on multiple devices) while preventing my keys from leaking if anyone accesses my machine without my permission. This is the same workflow I […]

  • Disclosure: SQL Injection in Cart66 Pro

    Last month I discovered a critical SQL injection vulnerability in the no-longer-developed yet still actively used Cart66 Pro plugin for WordPress. Here are the details …

  • Introducing Secure Updates for WordPress

    Today I introduce the a new plugin that provides secure updates for WordPress: DGXPCO.

  • Open Letter to the Democratic Party of Washington County

    I hereby resign my position as a precinct committee person of the Democratic Party of Washington County.