Archive for October, 2007
31st October, 2007 at 06:22 PM PDT · Filed under Review
Google is testing a new interface for its Gmail client with only a handful of selected individuals, so login to your webmail account to see if you’re one of the lucky few. You will realize that your account has been upgraded when a "Newer version" or "Older version" link appears in the top right corner.
So what’s new?
- More JavaScript used throughout the interface
- Filter similar messages option under "More Actions"
- Mute option under "More Actions"
- Completely revamped 3-pane (groups, names, person details) interface for the contacts list
The changes appear to be useful, but it seems this version is considerably slower than the older one. The Google Rumor Mill says the changes were to make Gmail faster, but that’s not true for me. Even scrolling the page is sluggish. I hope Google fixes this before it becomes official, but for now, I’ll stick with the old version.
31st October, 2007 at 03:15 PM PDT · Filed under Security
I recently acquired a new PGP key that you can use to create encrypted messages that only I can open. This move was spurred by my switch to Thunderbird, fueled by GMail’s newly added support for IMAP (now Yahoo! needs to follow along…). To sum it up, PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) uses public-key cryptography to create two keys: a private and a public one. Anyone can use the public key to encrypt a message, but only the holder of the private key can decrypt the encrypted message. You will need a PGP implementation such as GnuPG to send me encrypted messages.
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31st October, 2007 at 02:59 PM PDT · Filed under Review
I have used Windows Live Writer for three posts now, and I’m liking it. Aesthetically, it is very appealing. Functionality-wise, it’s very user friendly and serves well for most blog posts. The WYSIWYG editor is easy to use, responsive, and churns out (mostly) clean, valid XHTML. You have the basic formatting controls (bold, italics, underline, strike-through), image upload (with effects) support, tables, lists, links, and teaser cut off. WLM also handles hierarchal categories and WordPress’ pages. Lastly, there’s the trusty spell check with the squiggly red lines and plugin support.
Windows Live Writer has its limitations though. While it does the formatting functions well, Windows Live Writer has no support for using the other twenty or so XHTML tags like acronym and code without having to resort to the code editor. Even then, WLW tends to destroy code, especially code in pre tags, by removing the new lines and tabs once you do put it in the code editor.
My conclusion: try it if you need a blog editor, and see if it fits your needs, but don’t forget that there are already several others out on the market already.
31st October, 2007 at 01:46 AM PDT · Filed under Security
Using an encrypted SSH session as a way to tunnel your communications has several advantages: (1) system administrators cannot spy on your activities, (2) you will not become a victim for using an unencrypted wireless access point, and (3) you can bypass website and service blocks. I won’t cover how to setup a SSH server here though. *nix and BSD users already have sshd and man sshd_config to help them, while Microsoft Window users have plethora of articles on the subject.
What concerns me, then, is how to get ssh going automatically, possibly on the startup of your computer, so you have a tunnel ready to use when you need it. I won’t be using the ever popular PuTTY telnet/SSH client though; *nix’s SSH client is far more customizable and it’s available for Windows too. You can get ssh by installing Cygwin (a large package) or just OpenSSH for Windows.
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30th October, 2007 at 12:45 AM PDT · Filed under General
It’s nice and dandy that Facebook became a MySpace clone with its 3rd-party applications, earning Zuckerberg a little more for his pockets, but the volume of application invitations has become akin to the spam I get in my inbox. Presently, Facebook has no function to block these invitations, but some of you begging for some sanity in this mess don’t have to rely on Zuckerberg to get the wheels going. Grab the Greasemonkey extension for Mozilla Firefox and install Ali’s Auto-Block Facebook Apps script. When you visit your Facebook homepage (upon logging in, for example), new invites will be blocked automatically. Enjoy.
Update: Check out this funny video about the excess of Facebook apps. Echos my own opinion.
11th October, 2007 at 10:43 PM PDT · Filed under JavaScript, Software
My InvisionFree scripts have gone to Google Code! Updating the repository for me is a cinch, and server reliability is no longer an issue. In addition, there’s no more of that domain expiration business that plagued several forums over the last few days (with nasty advertisement redirects). I also took the time to update Quick Edit a bit, finally adding Safari support (took only two changed lines, too), and updated the design for the form. For those using an InvisionFree forum, I encourage you to go install the Quick Edit script immediately. Quick edit is so de facto nowadays, mainly because it’s so useful.
7th October, 2007 at 02:12 PM PDT · Filed under Interesting Stuff
I finally hacked the CueCat I have (well actually, I have at two or more). Too bad I have no use for a barcode scanner; I have no video archives to scan, no CD collections to scan, etc. Nevertheless, I felt a lure to do it because it was such an easy project. No soldering was needed; it only required pure brute force as you attempted to destroy one pin.
4th October, 2007 at 09:04 AM PDT · Filed under General
GrandCentral gives you a phone number that will be yours “for life.” Service began in 2005, but I only became aware of it when Google acquired the company back in July. When you get a call through your GrandCentral number, all the phones of your choosing will ring, and you are free to pick up on any of them. In case you don’t want to answer, you can send it to voicemail, and access it online or by phone. In addition, you can customize your ringback tones, your greetings—per group or person, or activate spam filtering.
My invite came only last week, but I’m already updating all my friends with my new number. For now, it doesn’t have SMS messaging (not that my cell plan paid for it anyway) or an easy way to make an outgoing call, but it’s saving me minutes, and that’s all I care. I have eight invites left, so if you want one, drop me a line. Available while supplies last.
3rd October, 2007 at 10:57 PM PDT · Filed under Interesting Stuff
Search Google for online anime and you’ll find 2,410,000 results. Watching episodes online have become a boom in the last two years, mostly thanks to the introduction to YouTube and its derivatives. Anyone with a decent Internet connection can upload a whole episode in under an hour, and with so many people uploading episodes, there’s such a lucrative market for websites to “index” these videos. The first site to do it (to my knowledge), was Keiichi Anime Forever, which is, ahem [bragging]my site[/bragging]. Os2 Anime began at the beginning of January 2006, and it became the largest (and only) index of episodes, totaling a few hundred series within two months. The idea took off, and there were a ton of copycat sites (it is an honor to be copied!) like PeekVid and Galbadia Hotel.
If you want to find anime episodes, or just episodes of any kind, try alluc.org and tv-links.co.uk. If absolutely no moral barriers cross your mind, you can check out movies at movieforumz.com.
3rd October, 2007 at 09:04 PM PDT · Filed under General
Now the black expanse has left behind its black, but now it’s asking for some color, or some image, or at least something. At least this is much better than the one that was up for a few months. It’s simple, and plain, yes, but I think I’m going to stick with it. (By the way, the CSS specifies the font size in pixels, which, I know, is a no-no, but I didn’t make the [original] theme. Can’t blame me!)
