In this DevX tutorial, Octavia Anghel shows how use PHP to create images based on the SVG libraries available to any browser.

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML specification for producing vector-based graphic content that you can create, modify, and manipulate dynamically from programming languages. Here, you'll explore the most important techniques and libraries for integrating SVG with PHP to create diverse graphic contentâ€"from simple shapes to complex graphs.

They show a few different ways to get the job done including a straight 'echo' call with the output, sending a converted SVG document over with a PHP header or including another (or multiple) SVG documents into another and outputting them. They also talk about tools like the phpHtmlLib library, the PEAR::XML_SVG package and the PEAR::Image_Canvas package.

On The Bakery blog, there's a new article introducing dAuth:

The authentication (not authorization) system with a focus on security, using techniques such as challenge-response, customizable multiple-stage password hashing, brute force (hammering) detection etc.

The dAuth system is based around a challenge-reponse authentication system and handles ensuring the user is who they say that are, but not that they're authorized to be looking at what they see.

They include a graphic to help explain how the process flows and some talk about the changes made from some of the previous versions including detection of brute-force attempts, preventing the disabling of the fallback, and session hijacking compensation.

There's some brief bits about the installation of the tool and some final words to shove you in the right direction.