Sneaky

Questionnaire pawns people who don't read carefully. Click the image for a better view.

Brilliant kid calls 911 for help with his Math homework

Brilliant kid calls 911 for help with his Math homework.

Math Homework 911 Call sound bite 911 Calls sound bites

Operator: 911 emergencies.
Boy: Yeah I need some help.
Operator: What’s the matter?
Boy: With my math.
Operator: With your mouth?
Boy: No with my math. I have to do it. Will you help me?
Operator: Sure. Where do you live?
Boy: No with my math.
Operator: Yeah I know. Where do you live though?
Boy: No, I want you to talk to me on the phone.
Operator: No I can’t do that. I can send someone else to help you.
Boy: Okay.
Operator: What kind of math do you have that you need help with?
Boy: I have take aways.
Operator: Oh you have to do the take aways.
Boy: Yeah.
Operator: Alright, what’s the problem?
Boy: Um, you have to help me with my math.
Operator: Okay. Tell me what the math is.
Boy: Okay. 16 take away 8 is what?
Operator: You tell me. How much do you think it is?
Boy: I don’t know, 1.
Operator: No. How old are you?
Boy: I’m only 4.
Operator: 4!
Boy: Yeah.
Operator: What’s another problem, that was a tough one.
Boy: Um, oh here’s one. 5 take away 5.
Operator: 5 take away 5 and how much do you think that is?
Boy: 5.
Woman: Johnny what do you think you’re doing?!
Boy: The policeman is helping me with my math.
Woman: What did I tell you about going on the phone?
Operator: It’s the mother…
Boy: You said if I need help to call somebody.
Woman: I didn’t mean the police.

Bill Gates talks about philanthropy

Bill Gates talks about philanthropy in his keynote speech at the Carnegie Mellon University (Sept 22nd 2009).

Speak with Conviction - By Taylor Mali

We must all learn to speak with conviction and not...like...you know...Watch the video below, and you'll...you know...see!

Modern Warfare 2 - Amazing Knife Throw

This shot was either pure luck or bloody good. Either way, it is super awesome.

Hans Rosling talks about Asia's rise

Asia is rising in the world again. Hans Rosling a renowned statistician predicts the exact date at which Asia will overtake the west.

The most brilliant comedy clip I have seen in years!

Americans may get offended. On the other hand, it's from SNL (Saturday Night Live) an American TV show....

EDIT: Stupid Youtube removed the video for my country due to "copyright restrictions". Which translates to them being jerks; like they've never heard of "fair use". I found it on Metacafe. See below...

Some useful code for firefox users

For those using Firefox, you might be annoyed with the All Tabs Button on the top right side of the tab bar. This button is not only useless, it takes up space that becomes valuable in a tab bar full of open tabs. The method to remove this button is not so easy, but it is still possible by editing a particular file.

For Windows users:
1. Go to your profile folder (C:\Documents and Settings\******\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\3lwzvjk3.default\chrome) and locate a file named userChrome-example.css
2. Open the file in wordpad or any text editor.
3. Add this line to the file: .tabs-alltabs-button { display: none !important; }
4. Save and close the file.
5. Rename the file to userChrome.css
6. Restart Firefox.

For Linux users:
1. Go to your profile folder (/home/******/.mozilla/firefox/9t25yjxp.default/chrome) and locate a file named userChrome-example.css
2. Open the file.
3. Add this line to the file: .tabs-alltabs-button { display: none !important; }
4. Save and close the file.
5. Rename the file to userChrome.css
6. Restart Firefox.

Hope this helps.

Kenya Zimbabwe Match

A strange day for the openers of Kenya and Zimbabwe...

Google Sidewiki

Google Sidewiki is the latest addition to Google's tools and services. As a product just released to the world, it is too early to tell whether it will be a success. As an idea though, it is just the thing we the internet users have been looking for. It is quite literally an unbiased review/comment section for every web page on the internet. A consumer need not search the internet for reviews of a particular website. Instead, with Google Sidewiki, he need only click the Sidewiki icon on his Google toolbar to instantly see unbiased reviews of the website he is viewing.


Being an avid internet user, I can say that Google Sidewiki will be used to review not just websites, but the products on the websites too. In fact this is the purpose of such a review/comment section. I myself totally depend on reviews when buying any product. The collective human knowledge gives me the big picture about any product that I want to buy. My decisions based on unbiased reviews on the internet have never gone wrong enabling me to make the best decision possible. Such is the power of the internet. Google Sidewiki now brings that power even closer and more accessible to the average user, and I applaud Google for their clairvoyance in this respect. Since it is still new, the reviews are not sufficient to make informed decisions about products; but once people start depending on Google Sidewiki (which will inevitably happen) the reviews will be in sufficient amounts to make informed decisions using Sidewiki alone.

Google Reader

I am a follower of the official Gmail blog. It started when I saw a Gmail post on the Gmail site (before you login) and decided to follow it. I must say, they don't post drivel on that blog. It's all pretty useful stuff. So I pretty much frequented the Gmail blog and learned new useful stuff about my Gmail with every new post they posted there. That was also where I learned about Google Calendar and recently about Google Reader. This is the direct link to the post: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/find-great-stuff-to-read-in-google.html. I must say that I am now hooked to Google Reader and I can't believe that I lived without this useful tool for so long.

Google Reader is a web based feed reader. Basically, this means that a feed enabled website (most websites) can be viewed through this reader as posts whenever there is an update on the website. There are a bunch of websites that I check everyday for my hobbies, entertainment and latest news. Not all these websites have updates everyday nor are most of these updates interesting to me. Before Google Reader, I would visit each of these websites everyday in search of the latest updates. Most times I would just forget about one particular website and by the time I visit it next, I have already missed several posts which are no longer relevant for today. Even if they are not time dependent, I would feel lazy to go back read each and every post that I missed. Google Reader has simplified this process by bringing all the updates to all my favourite websites to one place. I can read the new post directly in Google Reader or I can click the link and go to the website to read it. To me, it is the most useful tool since the advent of email and I would never have known about it unless I read the Gmail blog (which is now one of my many Google Reader subscriptions).

Google Reader even enables me to read posts/updates on websites that are months old. Nothing downloads to your computer because everything just loads as you scroll down to older posts...and it just keeps going. I bet that it is possible to scroll down to the very first post of any website. I find Google Reader particularly useful for reading blogs, and webcomics. Below is a screenshot of my subscriptions.


Notice that the boston.com's "The Big Picture" is a feed that is not updated everyday; but when they do post(usually thrice a week), it is not a post to miss. I also find it useful to follow webcomics which I am a fan of. Some comics update everyday while others update only once a week. So instead of wasting time (I consider reading comics a waste of time) everyday checking the websites to see if there is an update, I just check my Google Reader to see if there are any new updates on the websites. Since the essence of the comic is in the post itself, there is no need to visit the website because I can just read the comic from Google Reader itself.


A word of caution though. When you first sign up for Google Reader, you will be given the option to subscribe to a bunch of "recommended websites" which I maintain are crap. Not only are they useless, they would intimidate you with hundreds of unread posts which you might be compelled to read, get frustrated with the volume and ditch Google Reader as a result. Just start with a clean slate go to your favourite website (eg. abstrusegoose.com) and click the following icon:In other websites, there might not be an icon. It might just say "RSS", "RSS feed" or "Atom feed". So long as you are able to subscribe to the feeds, you can add it to Google Reader. Click the Google icon:If it does not appear, just choose Google from the list of readers. It will then give you the option of adding it to your Google homepage or Google reader. Choose Google Reader and you are all set! Try Google Reader on a few webcomics (it's the best way to test it out) to start off and then decide whether to make Google Reader a part of your life.

A free CD/DVD burning software?

Want to burn CD's or DVD's without having to pay for expensive software? Well, CDBurnerXP is the perfect alternative for you. CDBurnerXP is a free software that allows you to burn CD's, DVD's, ISO's , audio CD's, bootable CD's, as well as data verification and multi language interfaces. For the average user, it's like Nero without the cost.

CDBurnerXP even burns Blu-Ray and HD-DVD's as well. The software currently works on all the major platforms including Windows XP, Vista and 7. It has yet to come out on Linux, which I'm hoping will be soon.

I am a fan of free software that work just as well (almost always better) than paid software. I don't know why; but free software just do what you want it to. Maybe it's because their makers are altruistic and genuinely want to make a difference in the world by making software that just work. Anyway, it doesn't matter. What matters is that the software is free and does the job. With the web becoming more open, it is only a matter of time before cloud computing (which are mostly free software/affordable) becomes ubiquitous allowing human knowledge to be shared by all. Overpriced junk posing as good software don't stand a chance in the new world unless they embrace the new direction the world is taking and reduce their prices to affordable levels.

An awesome free firewall for your Windows operating system

ZoneAlarm by CheckPoint has been my personal firewall for the past 4 years. Sick of the windows firewall that was as holey as Swiss cheese, I sought a reliable firewall that blocks all uninvited intrusions while enabling me to access the internet, without fear. In my search, I remember that I had to choose between ZoneAlarm's free firewall and the Comodo free firewall. For some reason, ZoneAlarm looked more attractive to me and I chose ZoneAlarm. Over the years, there have been many software that have received the "uninstall" axe from me when they did not perform to my expectations. ZoneAlarm exceeded my expectations in every form as did Avira Antivir (in my previous post).


This is the part where I give tribute to ZoneAlarm and Avira Antivir. There are thousands of software out there that do many things in the world. It is only once in a while that you come across a software that truly lifts your heart; like these two software. These software are never out of date. They are constantly being updated, work perfectly and have amazingly simple and cool interfaces. I wouldn't trade these free software even if someone gave me a fully paid Norton or McCafee Antivirus gift-wrapped on a silver platter.

It is incumbent on every individual who loves his computer to at least try out ZoneAlarm and Avira Antivir for their firewall and Antivirus needs.

A free Antivirus software

Antivirus software are considered a necessary evil in all windows computers. Necessary because if you don't have one, you will definitely have a virus in your computer before the end of the day. On the other hand, when you do have one installed, it consumes every ounce of resource your CPU can juice out. Norton and McCafee are the most common antivirus software in the world and the most notorious in scanning anything that moves in your computer thus hindering anything you do in your PC. Why these software need to scan every single byte that moves in your PC is beyond me. Norton was so terrible with their hidden firewalls and email scanners (that sent all my legit email to spam) that I would often just uninstall it and risk my computer to viruses just so that I could get some work done. That is until I found this beauty called Avira AntiVir.



This antivirus was like a godsend. It was everything that I wished an antivirus software should be. As a person who loves free software, this was the best because it is free for personal use. When I used it, I immediately felt the difference. It worked seamlessly in the background and I never notice when it scans incoming data. It was so quite in fact that I wasn't really sure that it was working and deliberately went to a "bad" website to test it out; and Avira immediately popped cautioning me that a virus was trying to enter my PC and is denying it access. That was so cool.

If that wasn't enough, the Avira virus database in Germany is updated EVERYDAY. So when the Avira on my computer searches for updates everyday, it always has a new list of viruses to download. The files are just a few kb and take less than a minute to download to my computer. Except for one popup that advertises it's paid versions (Avira AntiVir Premium and Avira Premium Security Suite) for corporations, there is no indication that the Antivirus is running on your computer (except for the taskbar icon of course).

I have always recommended Avira to everyone I meet. It is quite frankly the best free Antivirus software any individual can want. I have to assume that if their free software is so powerful and so awesome, their paid software must be PERFECT. I would recommend any company to give this Antivirus a try and see for themselves how it solves their security problems.

https for facebook no longer works

I'm very big on internet security; and I always use https to connect to websites that need login information. For some reason however, facebook does not allow connections to their website using https. It is the biggest social network in the world and it has stopped supporting HTTPS? What is going on? Do they want people to steal our identities? Access to facebook through https://www.facebook.com/ gives the following error message.


This problem actually started a while back. I think it's about a month old. I hope Facebook resolve this situation soon. Facebook already faces many questions with regard to their privacy policies, and this situation will only make things worse!

Gmail Labs that you should activate

I know for a fact that there are lots of people out there who still use Yahoo mail or Hotmail as their primary emails. To say that these email providers are obsolete is an understatement. Gmail has revolutionized email and continues to do so everyday. The stand alone Gmail without any lab experiments activated still beats Yahoo mail and Hotmail by miles. If you add selected lab experiments to your Gmail, you get to use email in its futuristic form. I never thought that email could have inline video embedding, ever! Gmail however, has made this possible in one of their lab features. I have summarized the most useful lab features available below.

1. Youtube previews: This is the video embedding feature I was talking about. Right now, it only supports youtube videos; but I'm sure this will expand to other video formats very soon.

2. Tasks: This creates a small notpad thingy where you can make notes or just jot down your daily tasks. A very quick and efficient way to write down and check your daily tasks.

3. Superstars: I recommend using either superstars or Gmail's inbuilt labels feature. Use one; not both. The function is to organize mail and keep your mail in easy to find categories. Personally, I use labels and don't see a real need to add superstars.

4. Old snakey: It's a game...and it gets pretty tough as you get to the higher levels. I like games like this that are simple yet challenging. It's also the only game on the list. You can add it...or not. It doesn't have anything to do with email; but whenever you need some fun, "old snakey" is always there.

5. Canned responses: This is perfect for those emails that require the exact same reply over and over again. Just store your template and use it whenever you need to.

6. Navbar drag and drop: This is required to rearrange your layout in your main Gmail page. The ability to customize your layout by moving your chat box, calendar box or labels box to optimum positions can have a significant affect on the way you work.

7. Forgotten Attachment Detector: This feature is genius. The amount of embarrassment this has saved me is too much to measure. It is a must have for all email users.

8. Multiple Inboxes: This is perfect for people having multiple email accounts. You can have up to 9 inboxes in your main page. It can also filter messages within your inbox, or sent items or even drafts and display them in your main page as a seperate inbox.

10. Undo send: This too is a must have embarrassment saver. It gives you a 5 second window to undo the message you just sent.

11. Search Autocomplete: This is a very useful feature for suggesting contacts, labels and attachments in the Gmail search button in the Gmail main page.

12. Inserting Images: I wrote a post not long ago where I described how you could add images to your email inline with the text using the "Send to" button on the Google toolbar. This lab feature now enables you to do exactly that. It looks like the Gmail team really do listen to their customers which is more than what can be said for the Hotmail team.

13. Google Calendar gadget: I use google calendar for my work. This gadget is perfect for reminding me of my appointments without having to go to the calendar homepage.

14. Add any gadget by URL: This is a good feature to activate; but since most of the google gadgets are not designed for Gmail, it might be not work as it should. Still, no harm in having a look through the gadget library and trying out some of your favourite gadgets in Gmail.

There are other gadgets which I'm sure are useful to lots of users; but lab features in the list I have compiled are perhaps the most important and most useful of them all. If you are still using Yahoo mail or Hotmail, I have only one piece of advice....ditch those pieces of s*** and switch to Gmail which just works!

Also, do check out the Gmail blog which is updated whenever there are new features added to Gmail or Gmail labs.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com

Paranoid Billboard

The British have gone paranoid. Check out the photo of a billboard below to prove it.


Of course, you can improve the wording at this website (http://jamesholden.net/billboard/). I've attached my improvement below.

A small bug in Gmail

Just discovered a small bug in Gmail. If you activate "Always use https" under Gmail settings, you will not be able to use the "Send to" function in the Google toolbar.



The following error appears.
I am a strong advocate of https rather than http. Https encrypts any data sent through that particular site and is important to prevent data theft. More about https later...