foobar2000: A lightweight music player

I have searched everywhere for a decent music player that does not completely stall my computer just to play music. I first started out with Sonique. It was good, but the interface was not intuitive for some reason. I found it difficult to switch to different playlists because they were located in the wrong place; and it still was resource consuming.

The next option was Winamp. This was a very advanced player with so many features, that I figured that it was too complicated for me. Updating the player was like installing an operating system; and it would consume so much of memory that my computer would literally hang every time it switched to the next song. I couldn't do any other stuff if I had winamp running. I don't recommend Winamp for daily song playing although I do believe that their Shoutcast TV, Shoutcast radio and other online streaming services are very good.

Tired of the problems with the audio players that I had, I finally googled for a lightweight audio player and came across foobar2000.

foobar2000 is the least resource consuming music player on the web. It has a clean, simple, uncomplicated interface with all the functions other music players have. Although people can argue that Winamp is better because it has all the audio enhancing facilities; I say that your audio is only as good as your mp3 file and your physical speakers. The simple fact is, you just need a software to convert your mp3 files to data that can be interpreted by your speakers. Therefore, your output will only be as good as your input. Which means that if you have a 128kbps mp3 file, no matter the software you use, you will still get crappy sound.




Incidentally, foobar2000 is open source, free and is completely customizable. The original foobar2000 did not look like it does on my computer. I did some basic customization and rearranged some of the items to my preference. You can change the location of everything in the player. Although, I highly recommend reading the forums before making the changes yourself. There are also lots of downloadable customizations and plugins if you prefer. I myself feel that I have all I need with the basic player and don't feel the necessity for other plugins or skins. Try this player and I will guarantee that you will make it your basic player for all your audio files.

EDIT: foobar2000 is not open source as I mentioned in the article. The SDK is open source though. Strange! Thanks to Steve for the heads up.

How to Embed images in Gmail

Gmail is perhaps the most elegant and advanced free email services on the internet today. Google labs has made it even more flexible by allowing unbelievable customization. But the one thing that I was not able to do in Gmail was to embed images into my email messages. It's frustrating because an embedded image positioned in the right place in the body of the text has a significantly bigger impact than sending the images as attachments.

The suggestion on the internet by many people is to upload the image to a web hosting site and copy the image from there like text by dragging and highlighting the image. And then pasting it into your gmail message. But the process of selecting and copying the image is messy and very unreliable. You have to make sure not to copy any background text, tables, hyperlinks or any other doodles. If the image is the only item in the page, then it is difficult to select the image because it's difficult to know where to start dragging especially if it's an image that is bigger than the size of your screen. Also, I find that even after I have successfully copied the image, when I paste it in Gmail, the image still does not appear in the message most of the time; and I have to go back and repeat the steps until I get it right. Then I discovered a more simple and elegant solution that ALWAYS works.

You will need:
1. Google toolbar
2. An image on the internet.

I'm sure almost everyone who uses the internet has the Google toolbar. If you don't, you can stop reading this because you came to this post by accident. For the people who use the toolbar, lots of them do not activate the "Send to" button in the toolbar. Go to the Google toolbar Settings-->Click Options-->Click More-->Click Send to. That's it. You are done!



Now you need an image. If the image is not on the internet, you have to get it up there using photobucket or flickr or any image hosting site. Once you get it up, just go to that image url (see sample), click the "Send to" button and select Gmail. This will automatically embed the image into a new Gmail message. From there, you can copy it to another message or just use that message to send your email.

It's far simpler and less complicated than trying to highlight the image because this just works. This is a picture I took which has been uploaded to photobucket. Just go to this link and click the "Send to" Gmail to test this out.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56/irfan_mailme/DSCF0421.jpg

Ta-daa!


Incidentally, the "Send to" button will add any highlighted text with images on any web page (you can highlight this post- images and all and "Send to" Gmail to see this work). It's a very cool function that I use a lot. I hope this solves the image embedding problem for all Gmail users.

Add Google dictionary to your Firefox browser

Add the dictionary search to your firefox browser simply by typing a keyword and the search item.

To add the google dictionary to your firefox browser, search for the definition of a random word (Eg: Ameliorate) using google's "define: " function.


Now, simply copy the url (Eg:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_en___
SG215&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=define%3A+ameliorate&spell=1), go to bookmarks, click organize bookmarks, click new bookmark, and paste the url under "location".






Then search the url you just pasted for the word that you typed previously (ameliorate) and replace it with %s. (Eg: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_en
___SG215&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=define%3A+%s&spell=1). For the keyword, add a letter or word such as "d" or "dictionary" or "define"; or whatever you are comfortable with.



Click "ok" and go back to your firefox address bar to test the simple programming that you have just done.

If you typed "d" as your keyword, in your address bar, type "d ameliorate" and hit the Enter key to get the definitions of ameliorate.

By this way, you can apply it for any search you want to save for later use. All you will need is the url where you simply replace the item you searched before with %s.

The Dirty Receipt Trick

It's a new trick being used by retailers these days to prevent customers claiming damaged goods, refunds, and returns. I hereby give it the name it deserves - The dirty receipt trick.

The trick is simple. You select the items for purchase and head to the cashier. The cashier checks out the items, you pay for them and check the receipt to ensure that everything is in order and head back home. Upon reaching home, you find that the wonder broom that you bought with a 3 month warantee is broken in 3 places. You click your tongue in irritation and look for the receipt so that you could return it back to the store. Upon finding it in your jeans, you stare in horror at the condition of receipt. Blackened beyond recognition, the numbers on the receipt are no longer legible, useless for anything and certainly would not be accepted by the store.

What happened to the receipt you ask yourself? The answer is simple - dirty tricks by the retailer. The new scam is to print receipts on some weird kind of paper that when rubbed, blackens itself so that the numbers are no longer visible. The tricks works brilliantly when the customer puts the receipt into the pocket of theirs jeans or trousers. The act of walking causes the fabric to rub against the receipt thus causing it to blacken and hence saving the company from any returns or refunds that the customer might claim.

But wait, the trick doesn't end there. The paper is so cleverly designed that if by chance, you are smart enough to save the receipt until you get home and file it away safely so that no more rubbing can take place, another phenomenon occurs. The letters and numbers on the receipt start to fade for no reason at all. After a month, the letters are barely visible and again the receipt is useless for claims.

The audacity of companies to play such dirty tricks on their customers is unbelievable. Such actions should be challenged vehemently by consumer groups and be put a stop to. Unfortunately it's one thing to write about it, and a totally different thing to convert the writings to actions. I don't know if anyone else has written about this, if so, other consumers can write more articles and hopefully the issue will become big enough to challenge big companies to issue legible receipts.

Tuesday Blues!

Mondays are NOT the worst days of the week. In fact Mondays are actually pretty good days. The average Monday is the day that you meet up with your colleagues after that boring weekend. It's the day that you relax at work. It's also the day that you take time organizing your table, organizing your email, checking your favourite websites and spacing out until it's time to go home. Everyone including your boss is not in the mood to work that no one bothers you for the whole day. Whoever came up with the term "Monday Blues" is an idiot. Or maybe he just never went to work on Tuesdays. Because Tuesdays are the quintessential worst days that you can ever have in a week.

My proposal is to change the slogan to the "Tuesday Blues". Before you start having a go at me, consider your average Tuesday. You arrive to work late because you've overslept due to your body clock still working in "weekend mode". Disheveled and grumpy, you are harangued by bosses, co-workers, and even clients for work related matters. Meetings take place. Deadlines are set, and you start to panic. You realize that your entire week is destroyed because you would have to do OT to submit that report by Friday or get the sack. You work late, but after 3 hours at the computer, you realize that your efforts barely justify the hours put in and you call it a day. You come home grumbling and damning your boss to hell. Your mood is foul and your spouse decides to leave you alone for the rest of the day.

Compared to the average Tuesday, the rest of the week is pretty docile. Wednesdays and Thursdays are much better since you are now numb to the work related stress and are accustomed to the work environment again.

And Friday is a no-brainer. Everyone is happy in anticipation of the weekend; and any new work is postponed to the following week.

The cycle then repeats until you die or retire; whichever comes first. In all earnest, I really don't need to explain this. The average white collar worker, realizes the phenomenon; but sometimes we do need a reminder to call in "sick" on a Tuesday and not on the typical Monday to feel really better for the rest of the week. And that why we need to change the slogan to the "Tuesday Blues". Done!

I usually can't think of those things til later.

"I usually can't think of those things til later" That's what Horton said just after he released the tree trunk (while saying "This is where we get off!") which catapulted the vulture into a mountainside. I don't know if it's true for everyone; but I know that's true for a lot of people. They usually end up kicking themselves for days afterwards for not realizing the perfect comeback for the moment. The truth is, to be able to comeback the way you want to, takes practice, and I am sorry to say, some above average intelligence. You got to think on your feet you know. Spur of the moment stuff that'll put the guy in the spot. This means that you have to know things that the other guy doesn't. You also have to recall facts that are old, obscure and may seemingly not be relevant to the case. I guess the most important talent is the ability to identify when the conversation has crossed the boundary of "nice". Too often the victim is pushed onto the backfoot by continuing to "nice" long after the other guy has crossed the boundary. You can't please everyone, and as soon as you realize that the other guy has switched to rude or aggressive behaviour that's the moment that you need to turn yourself onto the same page. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, be prepared to make it as ugly as he is going to push it.

I have to say that some people are definitely better at "talking" than others. The natural talent is undeniably obvious as they identify ugly situations quickly and respond accordingly. They are admired because of their talent and end up doing big things later in life. Most of the great leaders fall into this category. Since there are more great leaders than ordinary people, I guess we can safely assume that most of us fall into the category of not being quick on our feet. I guess that's why the world still has enough nice people to go around.

I know that most of you guys must be thinking "You hit it right on the button pal. So what do us good guys do? What do I do when I am caught in the situation you talk about in your blog?". Well, lucky for you, I have a few methods that are guaranteed to work in those difficult situations.

Step 1: As he is pushing you back with his intimidating talk, put your hand to his face and say "Talk to the hand".
(Ideal outcome: He turns around and walks away. You turn to your admiring onlookers and bow twice to quell the ensuing applause.)
Step 2: If he doesn't turn around and walk away, he's going to blink absurdly at your reaction and come at you again with more verbal barrages. So your next step becomes quite simple. Clench fist....and POW! Right in the kisser!
(Ideal outcome: He falls flat on the ground with the crowd cheering you in the background.)
Step 3: If he didn't fall, quick turn and RUN!

There you go, 3 simple steps to punch the arrogance out of the nincompoops for the next 5 years.

Wise Tip: Just to be sure he remembers for the lesson for FULL 5 years, you might want to kick him a couple of times while he's on the ground to be absolutely certain! And if you want to make him remember for the next 10 or say 20 years, I got no objection. It's always good sense to plan for the future.

One of the coolest clips I've ever seen!