For my profile, requesting access to “read_feed” resulted in an array 2,054 lines of data containing gps coordinates of all my check-ins, photos I’ve been tagged in, and everything someone has said on my wall in the last 6 months as well as the full name and facebook ids of my friends who posted on my wall.

To give you a visual perspective, here is an extremely zoomed out screenshot of the data returned with just feed permissions.

Below is an array of the “basic information” you give sites when you login with your facebook account:

Array
(
    [FB] => Array
        (
            [Me] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 15601718
                    [name] => Jodi Wilkinson
                    [first_name] => Jodi
                    [last_name] => Wilkinson
                    [link] => http://www.facebook.com/jowilki
                    [username] => jowilki
                    [hometown] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 123456789101112
                            [name] => Roanoke, Virginia
                        )

                    [location] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 123456789101112
                            [name] => Reston, Virginia
                        )

                    [work] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => Array
                                (
                                    [employer] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123456789101112
                                            [name] => KZO Innovations
                                        )

                                    [location] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123456789101112
                                            [name] => Reston, Virginia
                                        )

                                    [position] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123456789101112
                                            [name] => Co-founder, VP of Products
                                        )

                                    [start_date] => 2007-03
                                )

                        )

                    [education] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => Array
                                (
                                    [school] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123456789101112
                                            [name] => Degrassi High
                                        )

                                    [year] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123456789101112
                                            [name] => 2002
                                        )

                                    [type] => High School
                                )

                            [1] => Array
                                (
                                    [school] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 123456789
                                            [name] => Example University
                                        )

                                    [year] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 1234567891123145
                                            [name] => 2006
                                        )

                                    [concentration] => Array
                                        (
                                            [0] => Array
                                                (
                                                    [id] => 1234567891123145
                                                    [name] => Information Technology
                                                )

                                        )

                                    [type] => College
                                )

                        )

                    [gender] => female
                    [email] => email@example.com
                    [timezone] => -4
                    [locale] => en_US
                    [verified] => 1
                    [updated_time] => 2012-04-18T00:14:05+0000
                )

        )

See Graph API Reference and click on each link to see more examples of data that is available. I’m not one of those super privacy freaks, I just think everyone should be informed when they allow other websites access to their Facebook data. I think it becomes more of a reality when you see it in this format. Logging in via Twitter, for example, is generally a better option because it does not provide websites or developers access to your email address. It also has less personal information for the most part. Twitter discloses your “display name” which can be a pseudonym and doesn’t require your real first name or last name.

The first step is to have a shell script you want to run. For the following example, I have a shell called HelloShell.php located in /var/www/example.com/public_html/app/Console/Command/ . See Cake’s Console and Shells guide for more details on writing shell scripts.

I use the cake console pretty often for the bake functionality, so I always add a path to it so I can access from any directory.

To do this, I edited .profile in my home directory and added this line at the bottom to the location of my cake console:

export PATH=/var/www/example.com/public_html/lib/Cake/Console:$PATH

I believe you have to logout and back in for it to take effect.

Now type: cake -app /var/www/example.com/public_html/app hello

If your path is set properly, you should see the output of your HelloShell.php script. Now we’re good to go to setup the cronjob.

Type crontab -e to open up the editor.

Here are the settings I used to run my cronjob every 30 minutes:

*/30 * * * * /var/www/example.com/public_html/lib/Cake/Console/cake -app “/var/www/example.com/public_html/app” hello

You can also output to a log file with various levels of verbosity:

*/30 * * * * /var/www/example.com/public_html/lib/Cake/Console/cake -app “/var/www/example.com/public_html/app” hello –quiet >> /home/myusername/hello_cron.log

Hope this helps someone!

I just developed a new plugin for WordPress that pulls the latest images, captions, and links from your latest Pinterest activity and shows it off on the sidebar. There are several customizations you can make to it to match the look and flow of your site.

You can read more about it and download the plugin for free from the WordPress plugin directory.

There will be a lot more great features to come once Pinterest opens their API to developers.

Feel free to post any questions in the comments or ask me on twitter.

<?php
echo $this->Form->create('Post');
echo $this->Form->inputs();
echo $this->Form->end('Submit');
?>

This method puts Cake’s automagic form elements to work and will save some time and shave off a couple lines of code if your form isn’t too complicated.

I have no real experience working with cars, and the install definitely took a lot longer than expected, but I think this is a task that most people can handle. My install was complicated by the fact that the shop that diagnosed my battery drain also removed the fuse to the radio (fuse 42, fyi) and didn’t tell me about it.

I ordered most of the parts I needed off of Amazon.

The stereo I bought was the Sony Xplod CDXGT55UIW. It has both USB connectivity with iPhone support and an AUX port for connecting anything else. It definitely beats the tape deck in my old radio.

Here’s the full list of items I needed:

Scosche Dt2B Radio Removal Tool (Euro Din)

This is needed to remove my factory radio. See this YouTube video for details on how to use it. Some of the reviews said they were flimsy, but I didn’t have a problem with them.

Metra 70-1784 Radio Wiring Harness for Audi 88-99/Volkswagen 80-Up

This harness connects to the wiring harness that will come with your aftermarket stereo. It allows you to simply connect the color coded wires together. The Metra harness comes with the wires already stripped, so that is a nice plus.

Metra VW/Audi/European Vehicle Antenna Adapter (40-VW53) (40-VW53)

This is an adapter for the radio antenna. It is easy to just plug in.

American International VW-K1008 Single DIN Installation Dash Kit

You will want a dash kit for the install so it will sit flush with the dash and fill in the space around the stereo. If you don’t care what your car / radio looks like, then you can skip it. I picked this dash kit because I didn’t like the look of the Metro one on amazon. I ordered it from Sonic Electronix for $7.99.

Posi-Products™ Car Stereo Connector Kit

This item is optional. They are little wire connectors that really speed up the install. Instead of soldering or shrink wrapping wires together, you simply twist the two wires together and screw these caps on and you get a tight / sealed connection. Check out the link above to Crutchfield, they have super fast shipping.

In addition to those mentioned above, I needed a couple tools : a star screwdriver (for two bolts that you have to take out to use the dash mount kit), pliers (could probably get away without if you buy the Posi connectors), and a razor blade (I used for stripping wires).

For installation instructions, there is already a great how-to over on the New Beetle forums. It was very helpful with my install and includes step-by-step and photos.

A couple things I have to add to it that I learned:
- The hardest part of the install was fitting all the wires and antenna adapter back in along with the radio. I ended up pushing the harness and wires as far down into the dash hole as possible. It is tricky, but not impossible (kind of felt that way at first!)

- After I connected all the wires and plugged everything in, I put the key in the ignition and tried to power it on…nothing happened. I really didn’t know how to troubleshoot it and burned a lot of time trying to figure out why it wasn’t working. I figured I must have wired something incorrectly. As I said earlier, check your fuses. Mine had been removed and as soon as I popped in a fuse to position 42, it powered right up. Here is the New Beetle Fuse Diagram to reference.

- I have a CD changer that is located in my trunk. I just ignored it in my install as I don’t plan on using it. It is the blue plug.

- If you have a Windows Phone, you can’t play music via USB but you can charge your phone. An android phone shouldn’t be a problem as they allow mounting as usb. I bought a 8gb micro USB flash drive to put music on and just leave it in all the time. It is small enough that it won’t get bumped into and the face plate can be removed with it in.

Overall it took me a few hours to install this since I had issues and lack car skills. If everything went as planned, I would say it would have taken an hour or so. Feel free to ask any questions. I’m no expert but I am happy to answer easy questions Good luck!

Here is the final result: