Amsterdam for $50,000

You have got to be kidding me that some actually paid $50,000 real money for the virtual city of Amsterdam in the game Second Life. Why?

Link:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=125

Are you on a no fly list?

Check your name for terrorist matches on a No Fly list.

Link:
http://nofly.s3.com/

Microsoft Codename: Tahiti?

Codename "Tahiti" is a fast, easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups of friends or coworkers; anytime, anywhere. Use Codename "Tahiti" to put your heads together and collaborate.

From what I see Tahiti will let you share your desktop or a specific application to upto a group of 15 people. Each person gets a customized mouse pointer, can request control of the shared application or desktop, push documents (handouts) to the other users and even track changes if working in a Word document.

Now if Microsoft can out a bit more effort into the website to make it render properly in Firefox. No excuse for not making a website cross browser compliant.

Link:
http://codenametahiti.com

TaskFreak and PHProjekt: Two of a kind

TaskFreak is an open source task management application written in PHP. I like the simple and clean interface and may use this at some point in the future.

Link:
http://www.taskfreak.com/


PHProjekt is an open source groupware suite. Basically its more of a complete project management solution. A little to busy for my liking and the interface design needs some work. This is one to check back on after a few more releases - just not ready for prime time yet.

Link:
http://www.phprojekt.com/...

How popular is your website?

Popuri.us tries to answer that questions by providing information about your website like: Google Pagerank, Backlinks from Google, Yahoo and MSN, Bookmarks in Technorati, Bloglines subscribers and more.

Link:
http://popuri.us/

Request Delivery Intercept from UPS

A new feature from UPS that will have most saying "Finally!". Basically the new intercept features lets you:

• Return to Sender: Return the package to the shipper
• Deliver to Another Address: Reroute the package to a new address
• Reschedule Delivery: Hold the package for delivery on a future date
• Will Call: Hold the package for pickup by the consignee

Good Job UPS. FedEx. Hello, you there?

Link:
http://www.ups.com/.../delivery_intercept.html

Is ThinkAll back in business?

ThinkAll, an internet software scamming company, may be doing business again under the SSL connection. They are supposed to be shut down per the FTC. Someone at the FTC needs to hear about this.

Live ThinkAll Link (SSL Connection):
https://www.thinkall.com/home.htm

How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords

This is a great post on how easy it can be to hack your passwords. Do you see the need for a strong password now? I hope so.

Make Password can give you some assistance on creating lists of passwords and then you can use RoboForm to store them. Roboform is a must as it makes recalling passwords a snap and lets you assign unique passwords for every login. No more worrying about a website 'stealing' your passwords. Imagine if you use the same password on every login and one of the websites is upto no good - kinda scary.

Link:
http://.../how-id-hack-your-weak-passwords/

PAD Crawler makes polling my PAD Database easy

I have created a database for PAD** files called PadDatabase.com. This database currently holds information on more than 48,000 applications and growing weekly. The problem that I ran into was I needed a way to poll the PAD files to check for new information, check for PAD files not longer in existence, PAD files that have been introduced into the database from blacklisted companies (I have many and maintain an active blacklist). So, like any good developer, I wrote one.


PAD Crawler is a PHP application that gives me all the tools I need to easily and effectively crawler and poll the entire database. Right now it includes a PAD Crawler, Duplicate Finder, Validity Checker and a Cleanup Tool. This is purely an internal tool to Veign and probably will never been seen by anyone else.


** - PAD files are small XML files that fully describe an application and are commonly used by shareware and freeware authors to distribute information about an application.

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment

The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is a tool that will find computers on a network and perform a detailed inventory of the computers using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Through use of the detailed inventory data, the tool will assess and report whether the computers can run Windows Vista, where to find drivers for devices on the computers, and provide recommendations for hardware upgrades, where appropriate.

The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool does not require the deployment of agent software on the computers being inventoried and assessed. It provides a secure, quick, and easy way to determine which computers, in a networked environment, are Windows Vista ready.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Access blocked websites from your work

Unbl0ck lets you access blocked websites, through a proxy, from any location which blocks websites. Ooookkkkkk. Does anyone else see a problem with this?

Let me see if I can explain. You're at work and really want to get to Youtube so you can see the latest video from lonelygirl15 and can't since your work has banned that URL. So you call up Unbl0ck and get access. All is good. You feel like you got one over on the man and sit there in your cubicle with your red streamline stapler and cup of free coffee proud of yourself. Another day and another video and whats this, work has banned the Unblock URL? Ooops, didn't see that one coming. Dork...

Link:
http://unbl0ck.com/

Data Dots provides a cool way to protect your stuff

DataDots are a state of the art identification and anti-theft security system applicable to most assets. The product consists of polyester substrate micro-dots, each the size of a grain of sand, onto which unique information is laser etched. These unique dots come pre-mixed in a UV based adhesive for ready application onto assets such as cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, laptops and other electrical equipment, business assets, cell phones, tools, Powersports equipment, and other high value items.

Data Dots:
http://www.datadotusa.com/index.htm

DataDots Demo (video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za3tiSjC5Pg

DataDots on CSI (video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-_tmwsz7E


DataDots are a good options but what about RFID powder. Remember that? With that technology you will not only be able to identify if an item is yours, but you can do it with an RFID scanner without the need to actually approach the item.

OT: What really happened in the McDonald's Scalding Coffee Case

She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonald's refused.

After reading this I have a totally different opinion about that court case. At first I thought this was someone just trying to make a dime. When, in fact, it was a 79 year old woman only looking for McDonalds to pay for her medical expenses, nothing more. When McDonalds refused, she then took legal action.

Read more about it:
http://www.siegfriedandjensen.com/cases.html#sub1

Asirra forces you to spot the cats

Long gone are the days when you have to prove that you are human by typing in a jumble of mangled letters and numbers that even a human has trouble deciphering (I often get it wrong). Here comes Microsoft to the rescue with the Asirra project. The short is that the Asirra project provides the code that lets you prove your human by choosing all the cats from a series of pictures of dogs and cats.

Not sure this is the solution to the anoyounce so many people have with CAPTCHA* but I think its moving in the right direction. Computers will get faster and deciphering letters and numbers will become trivial no matter how mangled they are. A better solution is needed.

Link:
http://research.microsoft.com/sn/asirra/installation.aspx


* CAPTCHA is Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart

Gotta make that money man

If you haven't noticed by now I run Google Ads on my blog to help offset my hosting costs (have around 20 domains generating lots of traffic each month so I need as much help as I can get). Smashing Magazine has a pretty good article on how to maximize your income from Google Adsense. Read up and be on your way to earning six figures from your blog.

Link:
http://.../google-adsense-facts-faqs-and-tools/

Find out about yourself by searching on your name

Search in Google: Do a search for "Firstname Lastname" (include the quotes) and see if anyone is talking about you. I have about 21K websites that have my name listed on them in some way. I'm popular, I feel special - now if I could only get past having only 2 friends in MySpace.

AOl Stalker: Remember when AOL did that bonehead thing and release search data from 1000's of its users? This website lets you search through what others have searched for. Anyone search for you? I downloaded the entire 600K search log but never did anything with it. I was truly amazed on what some people search for - kinda of scary...

ZabaSearch: This search knew of most places that I lived with phone numbers and addresses.

Name Statistics: See how popular your first and last name is. Accurate? Don't hold your breath.

Inkjet printer prints one page per second, with video

An inkjet printer that can print one page one page per second to be available next year? Watch the video and be prepared to be impressed.

Link:
http://texyt.com/silverbrook+memjet...

Create the strangest Windows wallpaper ever seen

A member over at the DonationCoder forum pointed out a way to make some really strange Windows wallpaper by letting Windows do all the work.

The quick and dirty steps:

• Create a small 4 pixel (or multiple pixel) bitmap with each pixel being a different color
• Set that bitmap as your Windows wallpaper and let Windows stretch it
• The result is a psychedelic wallpaper when multiple (greater than 4) pixel images are used and a gradient if 4 pixels are used.
  

To see the exact steps and some samples check out the thread about this.

Link:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=7833

Firefox 2.0.0.3 released

Get it while its hot.

Link:
http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0.0.3/

Fully trick out IE7 with IE7Pro

Since I don't use IE7, or IE for that matter, I really haven't been able to test it but from what I hear this is the shiznit (word thrown in to connect with the younger, more hip readers).

Some of its offerings:

• Easier Tab Management
• AD Blocker
• Super Drag and Drop
• Mouse Gesture
• Save Page to Image
• Proxy Switcher
• Crash Recovery
• Tab History Browser

If the product is anything like the design of their website then it must be impressive - nice website guys...

Link:
http://www.ie7pro.com/

HELP: Looking for a local spam tool to run inside of Outlook

Must work with a Bayesian filter, just like SpamBayes, except support a white list of my contacts in Google - having the ability in Outlook to mark email as Spam and Not Spam is something I like. This gives me easy access to all incoming emails.

My current tool is SpamBayes.

Anyone know of such a application?

PlayStation 3 may get a price cut

You think. A $700 gaming console didn't sell as well as expected. Nope, never saw that coming...

Link:
http://.../personaltech/playstation/

Crossloop makes connecting two PC's easy as pie

"CrossLoop is a FREE secure screen sharing utility designed for people of all technical skill levels. CrossLoop extends the boundaries of VNC’s traditional screen sharing by enabling non-technical users to get connected from anywhere on the Internet in seconds without changing any firewall or router settings. It only takes a few minutes to setup and no signup is required."

Link:
http://www.crossloop.com/

FREE: Get Visual Basic 2005 for free (not the express edition)

Microsoft must be hurting to get Visual Basic 2005 to be accepted in the development world as they are now giving copies away for free and I'm not talking about the Express editions.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/business/vb2005upgrade/

Eyetracking on a website, know what users are looking at

Knowing what and how a user looks at your website can give you a huge edge over your competition. There was a blog post sometime back showing an eye tracking image for Google search results but this one goes a bit more in-depth and provides some very useful information.

Increased white space, removal of unneeded images, use of sub headings and bulleted items all means the user will have a better reading experience and retain more of the information they have read.

Link:
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070312ruel/

Tinglets opens the door for other JavaScript bookmarks

tingelets are a set of bookmarklets that you can place in your browsers bookmark bar. When clicked, they highlight a certain tag or set of tags in a specific color or background tile. They are very handy for quickly looking at web layouts in different browsers. You can either highlight tags directly or type in a tag, id or class name to highlight the matching element(s).

I can see many of these JavaScript bookmarklets to assist users. In fact I have a great idea of one that I will se if I can get developed.

Link:
http://www.tingelets.com/

Online password creator needs ideas

I created an online password creator to help me in setting up password lists in databases. Basically I had a need for more than 10K random passwords, with hash values, as a default password for a member database.

Well, I am now looking for ideas on how to make the tool better. So, here is your time to let me know what you would like to see, features you want added, or just general ideas.

If you have an idea for a new online tool please feel free to email me directly (email address in my profile) and I just might create your tool.

Link:
http://maord.com/

Send SMS messages for free

I know, I know, there are 100's of sites that allow you to send SMS messages for free. Don't believe me, just search Google. Well, here are two that I like:

• txtDrop.com: http://www.txtdrop.com/
• Oops, second will have to wait as they are relaunching their website sometime in March. Just going to have to check back here.

At least you got one...

OT: New clouded leopard discovered

Story:
http://news.yahoo.com/.../borneo_clouded_leopard

Pretty amazing that an animal this size can go undiscovered for such a long time.

1-800-Free-411 Has 6% Market Share of U.S. 411 Market

That's huge for a service that most people, that I talk to at least, have never heard of. I blogged about 1-800-Free-411 a while back and looks like there are going strong.

Read on:
http://.../1-800-free-411-has-6-market-share-of-us-411-market/

I never trust these hosting review reports

Host Buyer's Guide Virtual Private Server Hosting is a report and review of some VPS hosting companies, very few at that. Just not sure you can trust these reports since it seems that most of the companies doing the reports have vested interest in the companies they are reviewing, either through referral fees or ad revenue. For instance, with this report, where is the reports on The Planet** or GoDaddy which are two pretty big players in the hosting market.

Link:
http://www.webhostmagazine.com/bg/review_vp.asp


** Did you know that The Planet had acquired EV1 Servers?

Yet another Javascript thingy

This one produces Nice Titles on your hyperlinks. I think I could find a place for this in some up coming website designs and since overLib is no longer developed this one could work (even though its development is slow too).

While you're there check out his other browser experiments, as he calls it.

Link:
http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/nicetitle/

Sony VAIO UMPC goes after OQO

The specs on the Sony VAIO looks interesting and the price is right. Compared to the OQO which is considerably more, with respect to the Ultra Mobile PC (UPMC) market, Sony may be headed in the right direction. Low cost, great specs, small footprint and include a keyboard and you have something people will actually purchase.

If Sony or OQO wants to send me one for extensive testing my address is on the right - go ahead, I'll wait...

Sony VAIO:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...

OQO:
http://www.oqo.com/

SeaMonkey is the Swiss Army knife of web applications

The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to deliver production-quality releases of code derived from the application formerly known as "Mozilla Application Suite". Whereas the main focus of the Mozilla Foundation is on Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird, our group of dedicated volunteers works to ensure that you can have "everything but the kitchen sink" — and have it stable enough for corporate use. Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing made simple -- all your Internet needs in one application.

Link:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Super Elastic Bubble Plastic from the 70's and 80's

I remember my youth and attempting to blow a liquid balloon and only ending up feeling like I was blowing my brains out with this highly toxic smelling Bubble Plastic. This 'toy' was strange to say the least, kinda fun, probably dangerous...

Looked for a picture but couldn't locate anything.

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Elastic_Bubble_Plastic

Super low prices over at Jungle Crazy

Jungle Crazy lists products from Amazon that are at least 70% off the retail price. I have been checking the site for the past few days and was amazed at some of the discounts.

Link:
http://www.junglecrazy.com/

Don't store my blog email

In order to help combat spam I will be regularly changing my blog email address. To find out the current email just look to the right as its in my profile area.

Hopefully this won't be too much of a hassle for my readers.

Love's open source

Open source has come a long way in the recent years to compete with commercial projects on most levels. If you want to see if there is an open source solution for a commercial product that you are drooling over but can't afford to purchase then check out Open Source as Alternative.

I am always looking for great open source projects to blog about and this site has open my eyes to a few more - blog posts coming...

Link:
http://www.osalt.com/

Thats one way to stop viruses

Windows Live OneCare deletes users Outlook data files:
http://.../OneCare_Deletes_Users_Outlook_Files/1173474996

OT: Big Wheel races

Count me in!

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWnff376PEI

What can we see out of logos in 2007?

Logo trends for 2007 outlines some of the design elements you are likely to see out of logos designed this year.

Reflections need to go bye-bye. Been there, done that...

Link:
http://www.logoorange.com/logo-design.php

Retail Me Not: Coupon codes for online stores

ReatilMeNot works kinda like BugMeNot but provides coupon codes instead of login credentials. Its probably me but I am so turned off by the dark design of these two sites. In fact, so much that I prefer DealTaker for my coupon codes. Judge for yourself.

DealTaker coupon codes for GoDaddy:
http://www.dealtaker.com/GoDaddy-coupon-code-a528-c40.html

RetailMeNot coupon codes for GoDaddy:
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/godaddy.com

You tell me which is easier to use...

Link:
http://www.retailmenot.com/

Google Analytics over a secure connection

Just in case you want to use Google Analytics over a secure connection (https page) without triggering popup warnings in IE and partial secure connection warning in Firefox. All you need to do is alter the following:

Change the source URL to the JavaScript from:
src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js"

To:
src=" https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js"


Read more on this:
http://www.google.com/support/analytics/...

AutoPatcher: Create a portable CD of all Windows updates

AutoPatcher is based on the functionality of these special updates, automating their installation process. This way, with only a few mouse clicks and two minutes of your time, AutoPatcher is able to continue with the installation of the items you selected. In short, AutoPatcher combines the advantage of both Windows Update (presentation and description of updates and automated installation), and the special administrative updates (portability and installation without the need of an Internet connection).

Link:
http://www.autopatcher.com

See what Windows Ultimate is all about

Retail kiosk video showcasing Windows Ultimate:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Little known META tags that can be very useful

Just add enclose the entire meta row in < > and add to the HEAD section of your webpage. Also, read about my proposed META tag for social websites.

No Snippet of the page will appear in the Search Results (Googlebot only):

• meta name="googlebot" content="NOSNIPPET"
  

Google will not provide an archive link in Search Results (Googlebot only):

• meta name="googlebot" content="NOARCHIVE"

Don't use the title or description located in the ODP (dmoz):

• meta name="robots" content="NOODP"

Do not use the title located in the Yahoo Directory:

• meta name="robots" content="NOYDIR"

Prevent Search Engines from indexing your page:

• meta name="robots" content="NOINDEX"

Prevent Search Engines from following links on your page:

• meta name="robots" content="NOFOLLOW"

Additional Information:

Robots can be replaced with a specific Search Engine Bot like:

• meta name="googlebot" content="NOFOLLOW"

Meta content values can be combined into a single meta entry like:

• meta name="robots" content="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW"

Find out where that email came from

Email messages, as in the case of their non-electronic cousins, have "envelopes" of a sort. In the case of email the envelope is composed of a series of "Headers". These are just a series of lines of characters which precede the actual email message. Email programs such as Outlook do not normally display these Headers when displaying a message. From these Headers however, the email program is able to extract important information about the message, such as the message encoding method, the creation date, the message subject, the sender and receiver, etc.

Read on:
http://www.johnru.com/active-whois/trace-email.html

So that's Google too?

A fairly complete list of all Google Subsidairies:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/...

How to create a Desktop shortcut to run Windows Defrag

1. Right click on the Windows desktop
2. Select New -> Shortcut
3. In the location field type in %windir%\system32\dfrg.msc then click Next
4. In the Name field type in Defrag (or your choice) then click on Finish

You will now have a desktop shortcut directly to the Defrag utility

Followup: Best Buy confirmed to use a secret website

Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

Original story:
http://.../more-trouble-for-best-buy.html

This story:
http://.../hc-watchdog0302.artmar02,0,6935166.story