Word Salad » Tech Salad

AT&T Voicemail to Text Feature now available for $10 a month

Joe Harouni — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:26:28 +0000

Of course you could always try Google Voice…

Firefox users can now DISLIKE on Facebook! UPDATE: fixed at http://www.dislikes.info

Joe Harouni — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:22:46 +0000

After you install the experimental plugin, you’ll notice that every item in your Facebook News Feed has an easily accessible “Dislike” option sandwiched in between the “Like” and “Similar Posts” options. Once you indicate your less than favorable reaction, a thumbs down icon will appear under the post that ostentatiously calls out your dislike, with your name attached, for your Facebook friends to see (with the major caveat that they also need to have the plugin installed).

Update: http://www.dislikes.info is the latest release and it works.

via Mozilla.

Happy holidays from Gmail – Free Snail Mail Postcard!

Joe Harouni — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:46:53 +0000

OK. So you are a company with a million bajillion dollars. What do you do:

a) Feed the Homeless
b) Cure Cancer
c) Give out one free holiday postcard + stamp for free to everyone in America?

Google picked c and I’m happy about that. Just don’t send one to yourself. Loser. The DIY Dreidel is HI-LARIOUS.

Happy holidays from Gmail.

Geeky Chuck Norris Programming Jokes

The Chef — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:02:07 +0000

1. When Chuck Norris throws exceptions, it’s across the room.
2. All arrays Chuck Norris declares are of infinite size, because Chuck Norris knows no bounds.
3. Chuck Norris doesn’t have disk latency because the hard drive knows to hurry the hell up.
4. Chuck Norris writes code that optimizes itself.
5. Chuck Norris can’t test for equality because he has no equal.
6. Chuck Norris doesn’t need garbage collection because he doesn’t call .Dispose(), he calls .DropKick().
7. Chuck Norris’s first program was kill -9.
8. Chuck Norris burst the dot com bubble.
9. All browsers support the hex definitions #chuck and #norris for the colors black and blue.
10. MySpace actually isn’t your space, it’s Chuck’s (he just lets you use it).
11. Chuck Norris can write infinite recursion functions…and have them return.
12. Chuck Norris can solve the Towers of Hanoi in one move.
13. The only pattern Chuck Norris knows is God Object.
14. Chuck Norris finished World of Warcraft.
15. Project managers never ask Chuck Norris for estimations…ever.
16. Chuck Norris doesn’t use web standards as the web will conform to him.
17. “It works on my machine” always holds true for Chuck Norris.
18. Whiteboards are white because Chuck Norris scared them that way.
19. Chuck Norris doesn’t do Burn Down charts, he does Smack Down charts.
20. Chuck Norris can delete the Recycling Bin.
21. Chuck Norris’s beard can type 140 wpm.
22. Chuck Norris can unit test entire applications with a single assert.
23. Chuck Norris doesn’t bug hunt as that signifies a probability of failure, he goes bug killing.
24. Chuck Norris’s keyboard doesn’t have a Ctrl key because nothing controls Chuck Norris.
25. When Chuck Norris is web surfing websites get the message “Warning: Internet Explorer has deemed this user to be malicious or dangerous. Proceed?”.

Got any more? Comment them below…

via codesqueeze.com.

No related posts.

Teens post fake Facebook profile, are sued.

The Chef — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:56:43 +0000

In “I totally would have done this in high school” news, four techno-hooligans setup a a fake Facebook Profile for a dweeb they pick on in high school. After amassing almost 600 friends, most of which had no idea the profile was fake, it finally came to the attention of the kid’s mother, and she did what any suburban housewife with too much free time on her hands and a jumbo mortgage would do: she sued.

Read on for highlights from the profile and the foundation of the lawsuit.

- The section describing “Personal Information” and “About Me” contained the statement “obamas pretty cool…but hes black sooo…”

- Defendants described the plaintiff enjoying and/or engaging in sexual acts.

- Defendants described the plaintiff as being homosexual and engaging in sexual acts with other males.

- Defendants directed disturbing, vulgar and sexual comments to certain girls, which “Given that these girls communicate amongst their friends, the impact on Plaintiff is substantial.”

The mother is concerned that her baby boy’s sullied reputation will affect his future endeavors and selection by college athletic coaches and directors. The boy and his siblings have had to change athletic clubs (WTF is an athletic club?) and coaches and the boy was forced to switch advisors at school and has been alienated by friends.

via [Chicago Now]

Keep your Internet Security software up to date

The Chef — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:38:16 +0000

After an email account was recently hijacked, I reviewed the security and back-up software of my various computers. I had let the Norton Internet Security subscription expire on a rarely used desktop. This was the culprit.

There are three levels of protection for your computer:

Basic Anti-virus
Internet Security
Backup and Protection Suite

The bare minimum any computer needs is Internet Security.

The three main (paid- there are some viable free software packages) competitors in this space are:

McAffe
Norton
Kaspersky

McAffe has the unfortunate stigma of being least-respected in the blogoshpere. Tech geeks love Kaspersky, claiming it is the “lightest” of the three with the highest detection rate. And what of Norton? The Kapersky crowd is quick to throw it under the bus, likening it to McAffe, but Norton has a demonstrably higher detection rate than McAffe. Also, in the latest release of Norton Internet Security 2010, the resource footprint is markedly lower than previous iterations. To prove this they include a nifty performance monitor and tab.

In the end, I chose Norton Internet Security 2010 because it was significantly less expensive than Kapersky and I was familiar with the product. Its improved resource consumption was necessary for my slightly underpowered laptop. Further it does “pulse updates” every few minutes to ensure that the newest threats are neutralized the moment the community is aware of them. I was unable to confirm if Kapersky did the same.

I want to also note that I used eSoftware Doctor to purchase a downloadable copy of my 3-User Norton Internet Security 2010. The prices were the best I could find on the web and I had the download link and activation key in my inbox within an hour.

I mentioned Backup and Protection Suites as being a class higher than strictly Internet Security products. One such suite is Norton 360. The reason I stayed away from this product- while ideal for most casual users- is because of the strain on system resources that such products require. Quite simply, it would have crippled my AMD TL-62 3GB Vista Home Premium laptop.

Instead, I have had at my disposal for several months, a copy of Acronis True Image 11 (a newer release of which is True Image 2010) that has very favorable reviews on newegg. It’s competitor is Norton Ghost. While it excels as best-of-breed backup software, I find that I am using Acronis for everyday tasks such as basic version control for my web development and compressed transfer between my desktop and laptop.

Never one to shy away from a legitimate reason to buy something from newegg, I finally pulled the trigger on a Western Digital 1TB portable, ruggedized Hard Drive for $99. The HDD handily held compressed archives of both my main computers. Further, scheduled incremental backups are scheduled weekly. In the event of catastrophic failure, I could restore either computer in less than an hour through either windows or the boot menu.

Are you as prepared?

MySpace Lays the Smackdown on Facebook Twitter App

The Chef — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:18:22 +0000

I didn’t know there was a contest but apparently there is…

MySpace beat Facebook to the punch by using the Twitter API to push myspace updates TO twitter. Currently, Facebook only has the option to update your Facebook Status FROM twitter.

via [Mashable!].

I hate signing in twice- link your facebook account to gmail!

The Chef — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:21:08 +0000

Link your commonly used online accounts to Facebook!

Didn’t realize you could do this but you can link your facebbok account to a number of online accounts you already use, such that if you are signed in to it, facebook will sign you in as well!

Its under Settings –> Linked Accounts from your Facebook home page.

What to do when your gmail account is hacked (aka Cyber-Rape)

The Chef — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:35:34 +0000

This is the location of the Nigerian Hacker sitting in a cyber cafe, attempting to have my contact list wire money to an accomplice in the UK

The longest 15 minutes of my life was waiting for the password reset instructions for my hacked gmail account this morning. The second longest 15 minutes were those that followed AFTER I logged into my account and was promptly kicked out of the session, and had to start the whole process over again.

Read on to learn about what to do when your gmail account is hacked and how to prevent it in the first place.

I am a bit of a techie. So shame on me for allowing this to happen but the Norton 360 subscription on my desktop has been expired for- oh- probably 18 months. Since I use my laptop for EVERYTHING, I keep that protected and up to date. The desktop is what I use for watching movies, playing games and occasionally surfing the web.

The first sign something was wrong this morning were the 6 text messages that woke me up asking if I was OK. Then I look at my desktop monitor and I see that my gmail is looged out. My Gmail is NEVER logged out.

I feel a swell in my throat. Try to sign in. No good. Run out to the living room and see that on my laptop gmail is also signed out.

Oh. F@#%.

Back to the desktop, whihc I know must be the culprit due to the Norton expiration. and I make my first mistake of the day. I try to sign into my facebook to warn everyone. As I log in and write on my wall I am kicked off within 60 seconds and cannot log back in.

OH. F@#%!

I immediately unplug my network cable from the computer (take that asshole) And power down my computer. But I know the damage has been done. My facebook and my main gmail account are compromised. “Screw facebook I think, I’ve been wanting to thin out my friends list forever now. Time to focus on getting back gmail-” and that is when I have a thought that almost causes me to throw up.

All of my banking and account passwords are stored in my “Google Tasks”.

Reeling, I SPRINT to my laptop and try to find out how to reset my google password. But, Clever Girl, the ass-hat has changed my secondary e-mail address. This is T-10 minutes in. Panic and Adrenaline kick in. My dog pisses the rug and is hiding under my bed.

I go through the not-too horrible gmail form. I urge you to take a look at it now so you will be aware of what you need to verify if this happens to you.

I was completely unaware and wasted valuable time trying to figure out things like “5 most recently contacted people” and “4 filter names you use” or month and day you opened your gmail account which I thought was September 2006 but I was more than a year off. thankfully this didnt matter. Within 15 minutes I got an email from gmail with reset instructions.

I go through it. Log on. AND SEE THE SPHINCTER-CLOWN CHATTING WITH MY CONTACTS! Like an idiot I type something in the chat window like “this is a hoax”. Why was this stupid? Well because it alerted him of my presence as being logged in. And since gmail allows you to end all other session remotely, just as I’m about to kick him out, HE KICKS ME OUT.

For the second time that morning I almost threw up.

I try the old password reset link but it doesnt work. I request another through that same form process and again wait 15 minutes. This time the second I log-on I kick him out. I change my password one more time for good measure and I copy his IP address and track him to Nigeria.

Gotcha!

I then got his phone number which he CLEVERLY entered into the account recovery options so that he could at any time in the future, text google and reset MY password to whatever he wanted.

I texted him later.

You found me... but I could find you.

The rest of the time since then was spent signing up for lifelock and changing all my account information. Only the next few months will tell if I escaped completely unscathed.

Notice how he knew my brother's name and the fact that I call him 'Mikey' not 'Mike' or 'Michael' probably by going through the recent chat history of whomever he was speaking to at the moment.

I think that his main focus was trying to get the wire transfer, but had he been a little more alert, they would have found a treasure trove of info which I have since deleted. I am also downloading all my gmail archive and deleting it from online as we speak. Talk about closing the barn door after the horse got out.

For my next installment, I will talk about how to prevent all this and what you should do to prepare TODAY.

Times are getting hard…The economically sensible iPhone case

scatmansham — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:01:35 +0000

Pray it doesn't rain.

Times are tough for most people out there. Gas is 400$ a gallon, hookers are doubling their prices and the housing market is plummeting faster than JFK Jr. (Too soon?) but there is no need to despair. Though your iPhone bill is probably in the range of 100+, a company has heeded the call of the drained and weary iPhone community with the creation of “The Recession case”.

This earth friendly and cheap case will keep your iPhone safe for at least 1-2 days, and let’s face it Applecare doesn’t give a shit about you so buy these cases at 99 cents a pop and hope to god it doesn’t rain.

Check out the product site here…

Case Mate