Bliz's piece of web pollution

Changes after google took over youtube

2006-12-08T04:08:00.000+08:00

hm...after google took over youtube there have been some changes...

recently the youtube interface was upgraded...what i particularly liked was the improved comment system. in the past, to view comments that were left out on a video's main page, you had to click on "show all comments", now, you can navigate within the comments...

haha...ya...i'm a comment whore...i like to read comments on youtube and other video sites, on digg.com, on slashdot, engadget and other blogs and websites...it simply is interesting because some are humourous...and to read about different people's perspective on something allows you broaden your mind and gain new insight...

but of late i've been receiving youtube message spam...i think google's take over have raised the site's profile among spammers...i'm wondering how to counter this...

Maximize screen estate of Firefox

2006-04-25T23:30:00.000+08:00

I shall show you how to maximise screen estate of your Firefox browser.

Disclaimer: By following the instructions here, you are doing so at your own risk!

Firstly, install miniFoxFlat theme. Select this as default. Restart browser. This is either the smallest or one of the smallest theme.

Secondly, install Stop-or-Reload Button extension. Restart browser. What this extension is to convert the reload and stop buttons into one button. When the page is loading, the button will be the stop button. When the page is not loading, the button will be the reload button. So it effectively changes two buttons into one button.

Thirdly, install UI Tweaker extension. Restart browser. Go to Tools>UI Tweaker Options>Menu Hacks and check 'Remove the 'Go' menu'.
This 'go' menu is basically a history of the particular tab you are on, and you can access the history easily using the history or back/forward buttons anyway. Then, go to Toolbar Hacks and check 'Remove the forward and back button drop down arrows'.

It removes the triangle on the right of those buttons. In case you want to access the drop down list, you can right click on the forward or back button. Restart your browser. This is what it should look like:

Lastly and most importantly, you have to customise your navigation and bookmark toolbars. Right click on bookmarks and click on customise. Ensure that for the bottom row, the drop down menu is at 'Icons' and check 'Use Small Icons'

You will realise that your bookmarks in Bookmarks Toolbar Folder now becomes 'Bookmarks Toolbar Item'.

Now, almost every other button are movable. Move all of them(buttons, reload button, navigation, search, bookmarks to the top row. While you are there, you may also add or remove any buttons by draging them in or out of the customise toolbar window. Right click on bookmarks again and uncheck Navigation Toolbar and Bookmarks Toolbar. Your bookmarks in bookmarks toolbar folder will still be there. This is what you should be getting:

Enjoy!

Recently, I just discovered an extension called 'Compact Menu'. It may be useful for creating even more real estate. I have not tried it yet.

O yeah...I just remember another way to maximise screen estate...and that is to press F11 to activate fullscreen. It's just that I prefer it this way.

In case you were wondering why I only have two bookmarks in my bookmarks toolbar folder, that is because I prefer to keep other bookmarks in the main bookmark folder. These two are javascript bookmarklets left 'outside' for convenience.

Feel free to comment. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

Technorati Tags: firefox, browser, hacks, screen, estate

Sony BMG Settlement

2006-03-25T01:04:00.000+08:00

Technorati Tags: settlement, sony, rootkit, DRM, BMG

Nipped the problem in the bud but(sorry, pun not intended) was no match for the digg effect

2006-01-07T04:13:00.000+08:00

From digg.com: Student arrested for deadly F5 attack You just gotta read the comments on digg
A longer report than the link on digg: http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=261925

The intent was wrong. But legally he did no wrong...unless he overrode the F5ers' free will with jedi mind trick. He might have violated the AUP but is it legally binding?

"Forchione said school officials noticed that Lake High’s computer system was slowing down and called a technician who discovered the problem and its source."

Now the technician will discover digg.com

I won't include the school's website for good measure...but it can be found everywhere...
Technorati Tags: humour, digg

Now suprnova.org has a posse too

2005-12-22T03:09:00.000+08:00

Charles Darwin has a posse, so does Vader and Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I figured out that supernova.org has to have a posse too...so go ahead and steal this image:

Print it out, stick it on your bag, your file, your computer…

Use it as your forum avatar, signature, MSN avatar…

Anyway, here's the truth about SuprNova.org shutdown, exactly one year after suprnova.org was taken offline.

Technorati Tags: posse, suprnova

Ideas about being selfish

2005-12-06T23:34:00.000+08:00

In an ideal society, everyone is altruistic. By being altruistic, everyone helps each other and the result is a net gain with low deviation. In this society, many people are selfish. By attempting to get the best out of a system, there will be people whose gain is markedly higher than the average, and people whose gain have been negated by other people's attempt to gain, regardless of whether the attempt is successful or not. But the end result is a net loss throughout the system.

What I have just described is the state of today's routers(a device that forwards data packets between computer networks), but it is general enough to describe the state of other co-operative ventures such as file sharing, business, politics, travel etc... Much of today's routers are best described as 'selfish routers' - routers which attempt to take the shortest path.

The selfish router is like the selfish driver who wants to get home from work as fast as possible and hence takes the shortest/fastest route. However, as the network is not uniform, some roads become over-utilized while other are under-utilized, leading to congestion. In fact, the only drivers who get to reach home fast(gain) are those who left early, while the majority reach home slower(net loss) than they would without the congestion. As not everyone gets to head home from work early everyday, the people who gain are usually not the same everyday, yet everyone persists by taking the shortest/fastest route in their attempt to be the ones who reach home early, resulting in a net loss of traffic speed.

Today, file sharing is popular. Different p2p(peer-to-peer) networks exist: BitTorrent, Gnutella, FastTrack(kazaa), eDonkey. They all have anti-leeching technology: upload/download ratio and priority levels. This ensures that the system is not abused, but more importantly, it is to make the download speed as fast as possible, so that everyone benefits.

Kazaalite was a program which used the kazaa's fasttrack network to share files like kazaa. It is theoretically illegal as some kazaa hacking was probably done which violates the end-user agreement for using kazaa software. What this program does is to set your download priority level at the highest so that you can download things fast. This program when used by a few computer geeks can aid them in downloading things from kazaa fast. However, this is unethical as it is not fair to the other users who download things based on how much and fast they upload things, but I will mainly discuss this program and such from an academic point of view as opposed to a moral point of view. Without conducting a survey, I am unable to give exact numbers of users of kazaalite and kazaa but I will attempt to discuss the repercussions of using kazaalite.

Here goes:

Initially, kazaalite is released and those computer savvy geeks who are ever looking to circumvent rules and regulations will download this program.

These geeks can download stuff faster w00t!
At the expense of normal kazaa users
Normal kazaa users wont experience much decrease in speed
Bad karma generated

The number of kazaalite users increase due to spread by word of mouth or PM

More people can download stuff faster
At the expense of normal kazaa users
Normal kazaa users wont experience much decrease in speed

Now here comes the dilemma: should you spread word on this wonderful program?

If you do so then

Much more people can download
At the expense of normal kazaa users
You can win and influence friends
Who might chide you for taking such a long time to inform them of this gem
When everyone is using kazaalite……..
……there wont be any increase in speed of download :(

So what’s the recommendation?

What I did is that should you find such gem, just tell a few selected good friends and swear them to secrecy, or at least let them know the implications of everyone using this. Well, I believe that this is the game theoretic solution.

The bottom line is that selfish things exist everywhere. Sometimes one has to be selfish, at other times selfless...but even selfless acts could actually be selfish manifestations of your brain's attempt to achieve the game theoretic solution. I for one do not know whether the life is evolved for the furtherance of the self or community. Neither have I complete reading Republic by Plato to gain an insight into justice.

Just don't be selfish, okay?

This post had been saved as draft for a very long time and I finally resolved to wrap it up today and post it. You may notice that towards the end of this essay the sentences do not really connect well. Erm...I couldn't be bothered towards the end. It is my first serious piece of essay on this blog. The quality of the ideas could have been a lot better had I did a lot more research. The writing could have been more elegantly done.

Please feel free to comment. Do you agree or disagree? Do you have anything to add? Don't be selfish and keep you comments to yourself!

Technorati Tags: selfish, routers, game theory, file sharing, essay

The rootkit of all evil?

2005-12-04T23:21:00.000+08:00

BBC: Sony is in trouble but we might be the ones who lose out in the end, says technology commentator Bill Thompson.

Okay...this may seem like just another opportunity for me to bash Sony but the truth is that I couldn't forget this wonderfully-coined term - rootkit of all evil - and I've decided to share it. Just reeks of coolness...love puns, especially those that do not appear to be forcibly contrived...I couldn't confirm which was the source that first coined this term though so I just provided the 'I'm feeling lucky' link from a google search.

Technorati Tags: Sony

Yet another of Sony's antics...

2005-12-04T01:44:00.000+08:00

Secondary Screening: "Not content with simply knowingly infecting its customers' computers with security-hole inducing spyware, Sony is now sponsoring a "guerrilla" graffiti ad campaign to promote the PSP, covering inner city neighborhoods with images of kids playing with its overpriced, crippled handheld..."

Looks like there's more of Sony antics to come...first the rootkits, now this...I wonder what's next?

Technorati Tags: Sony

Sony bowed down to pressure from bloggers

2005-11-18T01:59:00.000+08:00

14 days after Mark Russinovich first reported about the installation of rootkits in your computer by Sony in his blog, Sony bowed down to pressure from bloggers and began to pull controversial CDs and offer swap.

It's CONSUMER 1 OVER-ZEALOUS SONY 0

Anyway, I would like to reiterate this:
In order to prevent rootkits from installing on your computer, if you are using Windows Operating System, it would be best to disable autorun of your CD/DVD drives. This prevents the creators of CD/DVDs to make your computer run programs just by your insertion of the disc. While autorun is a useful feature, it can be exploited by virus makers to run code without your knowledge. Annoyances.org has an article on how to disable autorun. If you have no experience in editing the registry, my recommendation will be to install TweakUI.

However, if you really cannot leave live without the convenient of autorun, there is another way and that is to install a Host Intrusion Prevention System like AntiHook 2.5 to provide realtime protection, on top of rootkit detectors.

Technorati Tags: computer security, rootkits, sony

The self-destruction of Google? How not to earn money from ad-sense

2005-11-10T01:43:00.000+08:00

From digg.com: Firefox Extensions recommended by a Google engineer (Matt Cutts). Matt Cutts introduces Ad-block, a Firefox extension which when combined with Filterset.G, a popular Ad-block script, blocks Google's Ad-sense advertisement. It does not seem to make sense to me...it's contradicting...a Google employee potentially decreasing the amount of ads viewed (just kidding...how much damage can it do?)...Also, Google is paying $1 for each new Firefox user you refer. Well, this move is obviously against Microsoft and could pay off the $1 as the stakes for internet dominance are high. However, I dare say that Firefox users are on the whole more tech savvy than Internet Explorer and are more likely to use Ad-blocking programs. This is a far cry from the earlier days of the Internet where the majority still uses dial-up. The first Ad-blocking program was created then, and along with it was complains from Ad companies that it was wrong etc...

Anyway, I would recommend visitors to my blog to try Firefox. Here's an interesting link providing 13 good reasons to switch to Firefox: Kill Bill's browser. When I first accessed Kill Bill's browser, I thought it was just a play on the movie Kill Bill just to justify the bruceleesque(not burlesque...I just coined this term for pun) bright yellow and black theme. Only when I saw the words Microsoft did it hit me that it was a double pun on the creator of the aforementioned company's founder. It was a little cruel though but I hope that he will take it like a joke. What was more cruel(to me at least) was that I did not realise the double pun fast enough...I've always pride myself on being good with puns and such.

I could do with some extra cash but I have not signed up for Ad-sense. Why? Coz I've figured out that based on the pathetic number of hits my site gets, the pittance I would receive wouldn't even be enough to justify irritating readers. Also, with my advocating of stuff such as Firefox and Ad-block, readers of my blog won't get to see many Ads anyway. Perhaps I can consider ad-sense when my readership increases significantly.

Technorati Tags: ad-sense, browser, Firefox, Google , Microsoft , webtrends

Do your part for blogger by flagging splogs

2005-11-10T01:28:00.000+08:00

Of late, there have been a proliferation of splogs or spam blogs. When you click on 'Next Blog' and get directed to one, just 'flag' it by selecting the 'Flag' button next to the 'Next Blog' button. One person cannot make a dent but if everyone who use blogger 'flags' splogs, then it is possible to significantly reduce splogs and make blog surfing a better experience. Even if it can't make a dent, at least you know you've tried.

Thanks

Technorati Tags: blogging, splogs

SONY installs malware on your computer

2005-11-04T19:32:00.000+08:00

Sony installs rootkit on your computer when you use some of their CDs with built-in copy-protection. By doing so, it exposes your computer to danger as the rootkits hides files with specific filenames, allowing viruses to exploit this and make themselves undetectable by many anti-virus software. This is discovered by Mark Russinovich and first reported in his blog. It is subsequently reported by BBC, The Inquirer and the Washinton Post.

In order to prevent rootkits from installing on your computer, if you are using Windows Operating System, it would be best to disable autorun of your CD/DVD drives. This prevents the creators of CD/DVDs to make your computer run programs just by your insertion of the disc. While autorun is a useful feature, it can be exploited by virus makers to run code without your knowledge. Annoyances.org has an article on how to disable autorun. If you have no experience in editing the registry, my recommendation will be to install TweakUI.

Technorati Tags: computer security, DRM, malware

USB power plug idea

2005-10-10T21:01:00.000+08:00

I have a proposal:

Replace electric wall sockets with powered USB ports. I know it's a crazy idea, but it may very well be a good one. What do you think?

Specs: 5V DC, 150-500ma

Pros:

You can charge your iAudio/Pod/River, PDAs, handphones
You can plug in USB LED lights, fans, pencil sharpeners....any USB powered gadget
USB being a standard means that you do not have to bring along any travel adapters when going overseas
With devices using the standard 5V USB wall socket format, you can get rid of wall warts
You're house will look cool and by extension, you will too

Cons:

Based on current USB specs of 5V DC and 500ma, maximum power is a puny 2.5W
No grounding for appliances
Near impossibility to get the world to use this standard
With ever changing(and improving) computer hardware standards: AGP>PCI-Express, IDE>SATA etc...it's a matter of time before the USB standard will be replaced by something better, rendering the devices obsolete

Conclusion:

Maximum power of 2.5W per socket is really too small and powering a 100W light bulb will require 40 sockets...definitely a messy site...maybe the sockets can have different color coding to represent different voltages and currents
It's a crazy idea after all
However crazy this idea is, the idea of not requiring power adapters when traveling is nice. Perhaps the best that can come out from this idea is for the world to converge towards using one electric wall socket standard. It will be relatively easy for the power stations to do the voltage conversions. The toughest part will be rewiring buildings. If you look at things objectively, you will discover that the reason for many different standards in the world due to historical baggage and laziness.

Technorati Tags: technology, electricity, idea

'He lay there - his eye out of its socket, his tongue cut, his body limp and twisted'

2005-10-10T17:47:00.000+08:00

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 'He lay there - his eye out of its socket, his tongue cut, his body limp and twisted' -
How democracy activist in China's new frontline was left for dead after a brutal attack by a uniformed mob.

Technorati Tags: China, Human Rights

My first post

2005-10-08T23:33:00.000+08:00

Test

Technorati Tags: tags