While some people are waking up to presents underneath the Christmas tree, my family spends Christmas Day a little differently. Although celebrating Christmas has transcended the original pagan or Christian traditions and now people who are ordinarily unaffiliated with either set of beliefs celebrate the day, today is almost like any other day in my household.
Note that I had said almost any other day.
Christmas Day is the day my family washes the couch set and every square inch (or meter for you metric system folks out there) of carpet in the house. This is my first year home for the holidays, which should make the holiday season even more special, but this annual arduous task, along with other errands and tasks, is starting to make me think otherwise.
But hey, the holiday season is supposedly about being together with family, right?
...Right?
Merry Christmas to you, Reader and see you in the next decade.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Hello (Again) World!
I have converted to Wordpress! A friend of mine suggested that I check out Wordpress because it is intended to long form posts, which is exactly the kind that I have found myself to be making and Wordpress offers a few features that I like, so I will be using this from now on.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Taiwan Pride is Castrating Me
As a rare person of Taiwanese descent but raised in America, I have the expectation from my parents and family to marry a Taiwanese girl. But I have told them time and time again that it is a nearly IMPOSSIBLE dream. Why?
Let me break this down for you, Taiwanese style:
According to Google, Taiwan has a population of close to 23 million people and let's give an overestimate of 1 million Taiwanese people overseas.
Of 24 million Taiwanese, presumably half are female.
Of 12 million Taiwanese females, let's again give a ballpark, yet overly generous estimate that 25% of them are in the same age group as I am. Hey, I'm willing to marry someone somewhat younger or older than me, so 12.5% in either direction is pretty good.
That leaves 3 million Taiwanese females within the desired age group. Of the 6.6 billion people in the world, my potential parentally approved pool of wife is 0.09% of the world population.
But that's just the parental expectation. I want to be looking for love too, so what are the chances that in that group of 3 million Taiwanese females that they are not already married when I meet them, have common interests as I have, have the same cultural background as I have, that this girl has an interest in me, and by a huge leap of faith that I have an interest in her? Keep in mind that I have not even brought up the issue of looks - after all, beggers can't be choosers, am I right? (Although 0.09% is a far cry from begger status.) My already infinitesimally small chances of finding the perfect wife has gotten much dimmer than it was before...
...And don't even get me started about actually finding the one for me. Taiwanese people are scattered over the globe.
I mentioned that I would like my wife to have the same cultural background. Although it may seem redundant to say so if my parents want me to marry a Taiwanese girl, I mean to say that she was raised in the same background. See, I am what I consider to be "white-washed": so brainwashed by the American culture that I identify myself closer to the American culture than to the Taiwanese culture. Sure I speak the Mandarin language and have a better understanding of Taiwanese and Chinese culture than foreigners, but I definitely do not pass off in any way as a true Taiwanese. Therefore, the most culturally compatible type of people for me is Taiwanese-American.
If I were to obey my parents' wishes, I have told them already not to expect grandchildren. So much for continuing the family name. My odds of being struck by lightning or winning the lottery are better than those of finding a pre-approved wife.
Maybe I should just mail order.
For the full story and others like it, check out my blog: http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
Let me break this down for you, Taiwanese style:
According to Google, Taiwan has a population of close to 23 million people and let's give an overestimate of 1 million Taiwanese people overseas.
Of 24 million Taiwanese, presumably half are female.
Of 12 million Taiwanese females, let's again give a ballpark, yet overly generous estimate that 25% of them are in the same age group as I am. Hey, I'm willing to marry someone somewhat younger or older than me, so 12.5% in either direction is pretty good.
That leaves 3 million Taiwanese females within the desired age group. Of the 6.6 billion people in the world, my potential parentally approved pool of wife is 0.09% of the world population.
But that's just the parental expectation. I want to be looking for love too, so what are the chances that in that group of 3 million Taiwanese females that they are not already married when I meet them, have common interests as I have, have the same cultural background as I have, that this girl has an interest in me, and by a huge leap of faith that I have an interest in her? Keep in mind that I have not even brought up the issue of looks - after all, beggers can't be choosers, am I right? (Although 0.09% is a far cry from begger status.) My already infinitesimally small chances of finding the perfect wife has gotten much dimmer than it was before...
...And don't even get me started about actually finding the one for me. Taiwanese people are scattered over the globe.
I mentioned that I would like my wife to have the same cultural background. Although it may seem redundant to say so if my parents want me to marry a Taiwanese girl, I mean to say that she was raised in the same background. See, I am what I consider to be "white-washed": so brainwashed by the American culture that I identify myself closer to the American culture than to the Taiwanese culture. Sure I speak the Mandarin language and have a better understanding of Taiwanese and Chinese culture than foreigners, but I definitely do not pass off in any way as a true Taiwanese. Therefore, the most culturally compatible type of people for me is Taiwanese-American.
If I were to obey my parents' wishes, I have told them already not to expect grandchildren. So much for continuing the family name. My odds of being struck by lightning or winning the lottery are better than those of finding a pre-approved wife.
Maybe I should just mail order.
For the full story and others like it, check out my blog: http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Utilize Gmail's Search Feature
I have an irrational fear of unread emails. Anytime I get the chance to check my email, whether if it's on my laptop or when I'm on the go and happen to steal some poor soul's unsecured Internet and can connect my iPod Touch to their wifi network, I ALWAYS try to make sure I have no unread emails left over. But I have automated emails sent to me, such as Facebook or Google Voice text messages, my top two most received emails. However, there is not a single trace of emails from either of those two addresses in my inbox right now. How do I do it? No, I don't click on the little checkbox next to each email after I read it - try deleting 20 emails on a busy afternoon. I use Gmail's search bar.
I will gush about Gmail and its awesomeness in a later blog entry, but I have four accounts tied to my Gmail account: my primary Gmail address that has my full name in the address, my business/Internet affairs Gmail address, my old Hotmail account, my university email account, and my old Yahoo email account. Any and all emails that get sent to any of those email addresses will end up in my primary Gmail account, which I can check easily on my laptop, on my iPod Touch, and on virtually any device with an Internet connection. One username and password allows me to see emails from 5 email accounts. That must require one heck of a organization system.
On top of using Gmail's labeling and filtering system, which will also go into my Gmail promotion topic, the search bar is indispensable. To apply the search bar to delete the aforementioned bulk of emails I receive on an hourly basis, I simply type into Gmail's search bar "label:facebook OR label:texting". Since I told Gmail to tag all incoming email from Facebook with the label "facebook" and the same for Google Voice texts, the search parameter I usually look up will find all emails matching those criteria and allow me to simply select all the automated emails and delete them in three clicks rather than having to hunt through my inbox, tick off each email individually, and delete them.
The use of Gmail's search bar is endless. Here is a full list of search parameters one can use to find exactly what they want in his or her inbox. With well over 7 gigabytes of storage space for emails, Gmail users will naturally accumulate hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands of emails. Keep in mind that you can combine search parameters. In my example, the "OR" operator tells Gmail to look for emails that either have the 'facebook' label or the 'texting' label. If I did not include that operator, Gmail will only look for emails have both labels, which is not what I want.
Bottom line:
For the full story and others like it, check out my blog: http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
I will gush about Gmail and its awesomeness in a later blog entry, but I have four accounts tied to my Gmail account: my primary Gmail address that has my full name in the address, my business/Internet affairs Gmail address, my old Hotmail account, my university email account, and my old Yahoo email account. Any and all emails that get sent to any of those email addresses will end up in my primary Gmail account, which I can check easily on my laptop, on my iPod Touch, and on virtually any device with an Internet connection. One username and password allows me to see emails from 5 email accounts. That must require one heck of a organization system.
On top of using Gmail's labeling and filtering system, which will also go into my Gmail promotion topic, the search bar is indispensable. To apply the search bar to delete the aforementioned bulk of emails I receive on an hourly basis, I simply type into Gmail's search bar "label:facebook OR label:texting". Since I told Gmail to tag all incoming email from Facebook with the label "facebook" and the same for Google Voice texts, the search parameter I usually look up will find all emails matching those criteria and allow me to simply select all the automated emails and delete them in three clicks rather than having to hunt through my inbox, tick off each email individually, and delete them.
The use of Gmail's search bar is endless. Here is a full list of search parameters one can use to find exactly what they want in his or her inbox. With well over 7 gigabytes of storage space for emails, Gmail users will naturally accumulate hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands of emails. Keep in mind that you can combine search parameters. In my example, the "OR" operator tells Gmail to look for emails that either have the 'facebook' label or the 'texting' label. If I did not include that operator, Gmail will only look for emails have both labels, which is not what I want.
Bottom line:
- Use Gmail's search feature to easily find the exact emails you're looking for
- Experts have yet to name a fear for unread emails, so I cannot officially declare that I have a problem ^__^
For the full story and others like it, check out my blog: http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
Monday, December 14, 2009
iTunes Song And Playlist Management
I recently reformatted my computer and had to back up then later restore my music library. I have had many experiences doing this process, but somehow I still forgot to save my playlist this time around. Therefore, I found my entire music library but have no playlists.
For those unfamiliar with iTunes, there are traditional sense of playlists that one can drag and drop desired songs into the playlist and those songs will be found in those playlists. However, Apple included 'smart playlists', a programmable set of criteria that will search your library and pull songs that follow the rules you had set up. For example, one of the preset smart playlist is one of recently added songs. The smart playlist will check all songs for their date added and play any song that was added in the past two weeks.
As I was lamenting over the loss of my old playlists, I thought of an ingenious idea. Seeing how my playlists reflect the song's general mood and the comment field of the song is encoded into the file and will be preserved when the file is moved, I figured I could modify the comments field for the songs, use the smart playlists to generate my playlists, and not have to worry about saving my playlists.
Essentially, I am tagging my songs with keywords that I can generate custom smart playlists around. For example, I edited the comment field for Journey's 1983 love ballad "Faithfully" with the word "romantic". If I tell a smart playlist to play only songs with the word "romantic" in the comment field, "Faithfully" be show up there.
Bottom line:
For those unfamiliar with iTunes, there are traditional sense of playlists that one can drag and drop desired songs into the playlist and those songs will be found in those playlists. However, Apple included 'smart playlists', a programmable set of criteria that will search your library and pull songs that follow the rules you had set up. For example, one of the preset smart playlist is one of recently added songs. The smart playlist will check all songs for their date added and play any song that was added in the past two weeks.
As I was lamenting over the loss of my old playlists, I thought of an ingenious idea. Seeing how my playlists reflect the song's general mood and the comment field of the song is encoded into the file and will be preserved when the file is moved, I figured I could modify the comments field for the songs, use the smart playlists to generate my playlists, and not have to worry about saving my playlists.
Essentially, I am tagging my songs with keywords that I can generate custom smart playlists around. For example, I edited the comment field for Journey's 1983 love ballad "Faithfully" with the word "romantic". If I tell a smart playlist to play only songs with the word "romantic" in the comment field, "Faithfully" be show up there.
Bottom line:
- iTunes's smart playlist is a very useful feature, accessible through File -> New Smart Playlist
- Each song's comment field encoded into the file, so it will stay with the file wherever it goes
- Combination of the smart playlist and comment features allow for powerful playlist manipulation
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Synchronize and Back Up Your Data!
If you are a college student, you need to read at least the bold points.
Just a decade ago, prices for hard drives were still being analyzed at megabytes per dollar. Now the same figures used for those comparisons can be made for gigabytes on the dollar. There is simply too much disk capacity these days for the personal files typical computer users will ever need. Yet when their hard drive fails, they are in a state of despair. They need to recover their files or forever lose them.
So Why Do I Need To Back Up My Data?
Well, why not? Other than the cost of a new data storage (which really isn't an excuse with free cloud computing storage), there really is nothing to lose and the security of your files' preservation to gain. Whether its computer hard drive failure, file corruption, natural disaster, the computer gods seeking retribution, backing up your hard drive just makes sense.
Call me crazy, but I maintain files across three external hard drives (1.5TB, 500GB, and 160GB), one internal hard drive in an enclosure (40GB), and one internal hard drive (500GB). This gives me a grand total of 2700 gigabytes of storage. Although I do have some vaguely obtained files from the Internet that take up quite a bit of disk space, my files only occupy a very small fraction of all the storage space I have. Therefore, I keep anywhere between two to four copies of the same files across the various hard drives I have at my disposal.
Again, call me crazy and now you can call me paranoid, but I'm very fearful of losing my files. It has happened to me before on multiple occasions. Sometimes a hard drive will become corrupt without prior notice. Sometimes an external hard drive will stop responding to the computer it's connected to. Whatever the reason, your data can be accessible one day and good as gone the next.
With external hard drive prices steadily decreasing and cloud computing's popularity increasing, there really is no excuse to synchronize and back up one's data. Especially during the holiday season, alternative hard drives can be bought for fairly inexpensive prices. Here are some backing up and synchronizing solutions.
Hardware: External Hard Drives
These handy devices are like the hard drives in your computer, except you can easily unplug it from one computer and hook it up to another, instantly being able to access your files on the hard drive. Even in the age of the Internet, these devices serve as indispensable life savers and handy file transporters for files greater than a few megabytes.
One of the technology blogs I keep up with, Gizmodo, lists daily deals on technological gadgets, including external hard drives. This is the link to their dealzmodo page: http://gizmodo.com/tag/dealzmodo/
Hardware: Internal Hard Drives with Enclosure
This is for the amateur tech enthusiasts and above. A more inexpensive method of having an external hard drive is to essentially assemble one yourself. After all, those pre-built external hard drives are really nothing but an internal hard drive with a pretty case over it. You can go out and buy an internal hard drive, an enclosure, and assemble the entire thing to mimic an external hard drive to save yourself some money.
Software: File Sychornization
Sure you can just drag and drop your files from your computer's hard drive to your external hard drive, but that certainly won't impress the ladies. What you need is a software that automatically does that for you and can do it periodically and follows all the rules you tell it to.
I personally use Syncback, which I find to be far too superfluous for the average user but has been good to me nonetheless. I have the program synchronize my files across my various external hard drives and even my cloud computing storage at different intervals of time, so I never have to worry about remembering to synchronize my files because it's done for me.
If you prefer to use other programs, check out Lifehacker's top 5 recommendations here: http://lifehacker.com/398696/five-best-file-syncing-tools
Software: Cloud Computing
You've probably heard the term "cloud computing" before, but you may not know what it means. Essentially, it is doing computer tasks where most of the work is done on some other computer that's connected to the one you're using over the Internet. In this case, we'll be looking at FREE cloud computing disk storage.
I have been faithfully using and recommending others to use Dropbox for a long time. The service will give you 2 gigabytes of FREE cloud computing storage and makes it extremely easy to access, manage, and even share those files. As long as you have a device that has Internet, you can access your Dropbox files. PCs, Macs, and even mobile devices will all be able to download and read the files you've uploaded to Dropbox.
Using the term 'upload' does not even accurately describe Dropbox's most novel feature. Once you install the Dropbox program on your computer, it puts a folder in your computer's "My Documents". Anything you put in this folder is locally cached on your computer and will be instantly synchronized to your Dropbox account. Within mere moments, you will be able to access the same files you've just put in Dropbox on your computer with ANY device with Internet. This makes it easy for college students and anybody always on the go to synchronize their files and print files from various computers without worry.
Even in my first term of college, I found Dropbox to be immensely helpful. I always save my files for class in Dropbox and I have had to access those files during class on my iPod Touch on multiple occasions. When I need to print something while I am on campus without my laptop, I can be assured that I can easily print my files because they are all in my Dropbox account, which I can easily access through their website. I just log into any computer, log into Dropbox, download my file, and print. No need to remind myself to dump my files onto a flash drive, carry the flash drive with me, find the USB port on the computer, and so forth.
Just to reiterate in order get the point across, Dropbox offers 2 gigabytes of free storage to anybody who signs up, and even more space if you refer people. For every person you refer, you get 250 megabytes of additional free storage for both you and the person you invited. So in return for reading this article, I ask you to help me (and yourself) get more FREE storage space by signing up for Dropbox with my referral link:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ1NTU5NDk
And don't think Dropbox can only be used to back up and synchronize your files. Lifehacker has a guide on many other uses for Dropbox, from secure password management, portable applications, and remotely controlling your computer: http://lifehacker.com/5358983/use-dropbox-for-more-than-just-file-syncing
Bottom Line:
So this holiday season, do yourself a favor and go get a nice, inexpensive external hard drive and set up a back up routine. You and your hair that won't be pulled out will thank me later.
I merely touched upon the basics of file redundancy and synchronization, if any tech enthusiasts would like to chime in, go ahead and do so in the comments. For the full story and others like it, check out my blog:http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
Just a decade ago, prices for hard drives were still being analyzed at megabytes per dollar. Now the same figures used for those comparisons can be made for gigabytes on the dollar. There is simply too much disk capacity these days for the personal files typical computer users will ever need. Yet when their hard drive fails, they are in a state of despair. They need to recover their files or forever lose them.
So Why Do I Need To Back Up My Data?
Well, why not? Other than the cost of a new data storage (which really isn't an excuse with free cloud computing storage), there really is nothing to lose and the security of your files' preservation to gain. Whether its computer hard drive failure, file corruption, natural disaster, the computer gods seeking retribution, backing up your hard drive just makes sense.
Call me crazy, but I maintain files across three external hard drives (1.5TB, 500GB, and 160GB), one internal hard drive in an enclosure (40GB), and one internal hard drive (500GB). This gives me a grand total of 2700 gigabytes of storage. Although I do have some vaguely obtained files from the Internet that take up quite a bit of disk space, my files only occupy a very small fraction of all the storage space I have. Therefore, I keep anywhere between two to four copies of the same files across the various hard drives I have at my disposal.
Again, call me crazy and now you can call me paranoid, but I'm very fearful of losing my files. It has happened to me before on multiple occasions. Sometimes a hard drive will become corrupt without prior notice. Sometimes an external hard drive will stop responding to the computer it's connected to. Whatever the reason, your data can be accessible one day and good as gone the next.
With external hard drive prices steadily decreasing and cloud computing's popularity increasing, there really is no excuse to synchronize and back up one's data. Especially during the holiday season, alternative hard drives can be bought for fairly inexpensive prices. Here are some backing up and synchronizing solutions.
Hardware: External Hard Drives
These handy devices are like the hard drives in your computer, except you can easily unplug it from one computer and hook it up to another, instantly being able to access your files on the hard drive. Even in the age of the Internet, these devices serve as indispensable life savers and handy file transporters for files greater than a few megabytes.
One of the technology blogs I keep up with, Gizmodo, lists daily deals on technological gadgets, including external hard drives. This is the link to their dealzmodo page: http://gizmodo.com/tag/dealzmodo/
Hardware: Internal Hard Drives with Enclosure
This is for the amateur tech enthusiasts and above. A more inexpensive method of having an external hard drive is to essentially assemble one yourself. After all, those pre-built external hard drives are really nothing but an internal hard drive with a pretty case over it. You can go out and buy an internal hard drive, an enclosure, and assemble the entire thing to mimic an external hard drive to save yourself some money.
Software: File Sychornization
Sure you can just drag and drop your files from your computer's hard drive to your external hard drive, but that certainly won't impress the ladies. What you need is a software that automatically does that for you and can do it periodically and follows all the rules you tell it to.
I personally use Syncback, which I find to be far too superfluous for the average user but has been good to me nonetheless. I have the program synchronize my files across my various external hard drives and even my cloud computing storage at different intervals of time, so I never have to worry about remembering to synchronize my files because it's done for me.
If you prefer to use other programs, check out Lifehacker's top 5 recommendations here: http://lifehacker.com/398696/five-best-file-syncing-tools
Software: Cloud Computing
You've probably heard the term "cloud computing" before, but you may not know what it means. Essentially, it is doing computer tasks where most of the work is done on some other computer that's connected to the one you're using over the Internet. In this case, we'll be looking at FREE cloud computing disk storage.
I have been faithfully using and recommending others to use Dropbox for a long time. The service will give you 2 gigabytes of FREE cloud computing storage and makes it extremely easy to access, manage, and even share those files. As long as you have a device that has Internet, you can access your Dropbox files. PCs, Macs, and even mobile devices will all be able to download and read the files you've uploaded to Dropbox.
Using the term 'upload' does not even accurately describe Dropbox's most novel feature. Once you install the Dropbox program on your computer, it puts a folder in your computer's "My Documents". Anything you put in this folder is locally cached on your computer and will be instantly synchronized to your Dropbox account. Within mere moments, you will be able to access the same files you've just put in Dropbox on your computer with ANY device with Internet. This makes it easy for college students and anybody always on the go to synchronize their files and print files from various computers without worry.
Even in my first term of college, I found Dropbox to be immensely helpful. I always save my files for class in Dropbox and I have had to access those files during class on my iPod Touch on multiple occasions. When I need to print something while I am on campus without my laptop, I can be assured that I can easily print my files because they are all in my Dropbox account, which I can easily access through their website. I just log into any computer, log into Dropbox, download my file, and print. No need to remind myself to dump my files onto a flash drive, carry the flash drive with me, find the USB port on the computer, and so forth.
Just to reiterate in order get the point across, Dropbox offers 2 gigabytes of free storage to anybody who signs up, and even more space if you refer people. For every person you refer, you get 250 megabytes of additional free storage for both you and the person you invited. So in return for reading this article, I ask you to help me (and yourself) get more FREE storage space by signing up for Dropbox with my referral link:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ1NTU5NDk
And don't think Dropbox can only be used to back up and synchronize your files. Lifehacker has a guide on many other uses for Dropbox, from secure password management, portable applications, and remotely controlling your computer: http://lifehacker.com/5358983/use-dropbox-for-more-than-just-file-syncing
Bottom Line:
- Back your files up to save yourself the hassle and worry of missing or corrupt files
- Synchronize your files across various hard drives with free and easy to use programs
- Use free cloud computing storage to readily access your files from anywhere
So this holiday season, do yourself a favor and go get a nice, inexpensive external hard drive and set up a back up routine. You and your hair that won't be pulled out will thank me later.
I merely touched upon the basics of file redundancy and synchronization, if any tech enthusiasts would like to chime in, go ahead and do so in the comments. For the full story and others like it, check out my blog:http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Taking Care of Your Batteries
Most batteries found in today's gadgets will be based on the lithium-ion technology. This is the standard chemistry found in current generation technology because of its advantages over nickel-cadmium and other types of batteries. However, most people are still unaware of how to maintain their batteries to prolong their lives.
To check if your battery is indeed lithium ion, closely examine the battery itself. It should state somewhere that it is lithium or lithium ion. Some manufacturers may choose to abbreviate it and simply call it "Li," the chemical symbol for lithium.
Once you ascertain that the battery in question is indeed lithium-ion based, these are a few things you should keep in mind to extend its storage capacity in the long term:
My Cell Phone Died! Quick, Where's The Charger?
Most lithium ion batteries have a fail safe mechanism that shuts off the device and conserves what little power the battery has once it reaches critically low power levels. However, if one were to neglect the battery and allow it to stay depleted, it will use up its reserves and be unable to hold a charge anymore. But don't overreact - it's okay to let your device drain the battery, but find a way to charge it ASAP!
Don't Be A Fool, Keep It Cool!
Lithium ion batteries are really sensitive to heat. Make sure that your battery stays cool: heat can slowly destroy the battery's ability to hold a charge. If a lithium ion battery is exposed to higher temperatures over a long period of time, it will lose its ability to hold an effective charge.
Some experts suggest people to get belt clip and attach their cell phones to it instead of leaving them in their pockets because the body heat can adversely damage the battery in the long run. Since that might look extremely dorky and the actual difference of doing so cannot be measured for all lithium ion batteries, it is up to you to decide if you want to do that
For laptops, consider getting a cooling pad and/or using compressed air to blow dust to promote better ventilation. Cooling pads are simply fans that blow additional air into your laptop to promote air circulation to drive out heat. If dust accumulates in your laptop, it will hinder the air's ability to drive the heat out. Go to your local electronics store and buy cans of compressed air to blow into the laptop to get the dust out.
It's Okay To Charge Regularly!
There is a myth out there that you should wait until your battery is completely depleted before recharging or else its ability to carry a full charge will diminish. This is a carryover from older battery technologies, such as the nickel-cadmium battery. Lithium-ion batteries do not suffer from this memory effect problem as much as nickel-cadmium does and it is okay to charge your device even if it is only partially depleted. However, devices must be able to accurately gauge the battery's power level and if one were to consistently recharge when the battery is not depleted, the software will become confused and often report inaccurate power levels. Sometimes it will tell you that the battery is low when the device can run fine for a few more hours. Therefore, you should always try to recharge once you deplete the battery, but it's not the end of the world if you don't.
Bottom Line:
And in the end, all batteries will lose their charge. You should be lucky if you can still get a good amount of battery life out of the same lithium-ion battery 2, 3, or even 4 years down the line.
For the full story and others like it, check out my blog: http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
To check if your battery is indeed lithium ion, closely examine the battery itself. It should state somewhere that it is lithium or lithium ion. Some manufacturers may choose to abbreviate it and simply call it "Li," the chemical symbol for lithium.
Once you ascertain that the battery in question is indeed lithium-ion based, these are a few things you should keep in mind to extend its storage capacity in the long term:
My Cell Phone Died! Quick, Where's The Charger?
Most lithium ion batteries have a fail safe mechanism that shuts off the device and conserves what little power the battery has once it reaches critically low power levels. However, if one were to neglect the battery and allow it to stay depleted, it will use up its reserves and be unable to hold a charge anymore. But don't overreact - it's okay to let your device drain the battery, but find a way to charge it ASAP!
Don't Be A Fool, Keep It Cool!
Lithium ion batteries are really sensitive to heat. Make sure that your battery stays cool: heat can slowly destroy the battery's ability to hold a charge. If a lithium ion battery is exposed to higher temperatures over a long period of time, it will lose its ability to hold an effective charge.
Some experts suggest people to get belt clip and attach their cell phones to it instead of leaving them in their pockets because the body heat can adversely damage the battery in the long run. Since that might look extremely dorky and the actual difference of doing so cannot be measured for all lithium ion batteries, it is up to you to decide if you want to do that
For laptops, consider getting a cooling pad and/or using compressed air to blow dust to promote better ventilation. Cooling pads are simply fans that blow additional air into your laptop to promote air circulation to drive out heat. If dust accumulates in your laptop, it will hinder the air's ability to drive the heat out. Go to your local electronics store and buy cans of compressed air to blow into the laptop to get the dust out.
It's Okay To Charge Regularly!
There is a myth out there that you should wait until your battery is completely depleted before recharging or else its ability to carry a full charge will diminish. This is a carryover from older battery technologies, such as the nickel-cadmium battery. Lithium-ion batteries do not suffer from this memory effect problem as much as nickel-cadmium does and it is okay to charge your device even if it is only partially depleted. However, devices must be able to accurately gauge the battery's power level and if one were to consistently recharge when the battery is not depleted, the software will become confused and often report inaccurate power levels. Sometimes it will tell you that the battery is low when the device can run fine for a few more hours. Therefore, you should always try to recharge once you deplete the battery, but it's not the end of the world if you don't.
Bottom Line:
- Don't let your batteries be out of power for too long, find a charger before it dies.
- Keep your lithium-ion batteries cool at all times, heat is their biggest enemy.
- It's okay to recharge lithium-ion batteries even when they're not depleted, but do so when possible.
And in the end, all batteries will lose their charge. You should be lucky if you can still get a good amount of battery life out of the same lithium-ion battery 2, 3, or even 4 years down the line.
For the full story and others like it, check out my blog: http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Launchy - The Awesome Keystroke Launcher
Launchy, the keystroke launcher. It cannot even be simply described as an application keystroke launcher because of its limitless possibilities. I have been using this program for a long time now and I can say that it has boosted my productivity.
What is it?
Essentially, Launchy stays hidden in the background of your computer most of the time. When you need to call upon it, use your designated shortcut (I use shift + esc) and type in the command you want to run. Once you make sure it understands your command, press enter and it will run the command. For example, if I wanted to start Firefox, I hold shift + esc, type "fire" and press enter. Because I have launched Firefox so many times, Launchy recognizes that I want to start Firefox when I start typing its name.
Why use it?
Most people have a desktop full of icons in order to launch their favorite programs. But they have to dig through menus and folders to access the other files they want. With Launchy, you simply tell it to catalog your folders and it will match the file you're looking for with the command you type in. Say I store a file under my personal folder that Lauchy has cataloged and it is titled "spreadsheet1". If I call up Launchy and start typing spreadsheet1, it will know that I am calling upon that specific file and open it immediately. It saves me time from having to go through my folders and find the file.
Also, a real example from my own practices, I told Launchy that I want to start Facebook when I type "fb". So now, regardless or not Firefox is open, I just press shift + esc, type "fb", and press enter. If Firefox is not open, it will open Firefox and open a tab with Facebook loaded. If Firefox is already open, it will open a new tab and load Facebook. I do this with many of my websites that I access on an hourly basis.
Lauchy runs in the background? But won't that take up my precious computer resources?
Launchy has a low memory footprint and does not require much CPU process to use. If you tell it to manually catalog your files, you should never experience a slowdown with your computing experience. Right now, Launchy is using a mere 5 megabytes of RAM, which is 0.5% of 1 gigabytes, the standard for netbooks these days.
One last thing:
With Windows 7 and its native ability to change wallpapers, I don't have to show my desktop icons because I can start my applications with Launchy. Therefore, I get to admire my amazing set of wallpapers, such as the one below.
Bonus points for the Tech savvy:
There is actually a way to tweet with Launchy. Let me know if you're interested.
What is it?
Essentially, Launchy stays hidden in the background of your computer most of the time. When you need to call upon it, use your designated shortcut (I use shift + esc) and type in the command you want to run. Once you make sure it understands your command, press enter and it will run the command. For example, if I wanted to start Firefox, I hold shift + esc, type "fire" and press enter. Because I have launched Firefox so many times, Launchy recognizes that I want to start Firefox when I start typing its name.
Why use it?
Most people have a desktop full of icons in order to launch their favorite programs. But they have to dig through menus and folders to access the other files they want. With Launchy, you simply tell it to catalog your folders and it will match the file you're looking for with the command you type in. Say I store a file under my personal folder that Lauchy has cataloged and it is titled "spreadsheet1". If I call up Launchy and start typing spreadsheet1, it will know that I am calling upon that specific file and open it immediately. It saves me time from having to go through my folders and find the file.
Also, a real example from my own practices, I told Launchy that I want to start Facebook when I type "fb". So now, regardless or not Firefox is open, I just press shift + esc, type "fb", and press enter. If Firefox is not open, it will open Firefox and open a tab with Facebook loaded. If Firefox is already open, it will open a new tab and load Facebook. I do this with many of my websites that I access on an hourly basis.
Lauchy runs in the background? But won't that take up my precious computer resources?
Launchy has a low memory footprint and does not require much CPU process to use. If you tell it to manually catalog your files, you should never experience a slowdown with your computing experience. Right now, Launchy is using a mere 5 megabytes of RAM, which is 0.5% of 1 gigabytes, the standard for netbooks these days.
One last thing:
With Windows 7 and its native ability to change wallpapers, I don't have to show my desktop icons because I can start my applications with Launchy. Therefore, I get to admire my amazing set of wallpapers, such as the one below.
Bonus points for the Tech savvy:
There is actually a way to tweet with Launchy. Let me know if you're interested.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Further Proof That Women Are Complicated
The ladder theory gives a pretty reasonable explanation at the social dynamics between men and women and how their relationships with each other work.
On the other hand, this counterintuitive article has guys everywhere reassessing their approach to women.
I'll stick to my own game and won't be letting anyone cramping my style.
On the other hand, this counterintuitive article has guys everywhere reassessing their approach to women.
I'll stick to my own game and won't be letting anyone cramping my style.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sick Like No Tomorrow
I have been ill for close to a week now, today would be day 6. But that's not the reason why I haven't been updating this blog. My schedule and activities really took off and I'm trying my best to juggle my life, especially since I've been sick. I'm usually a healthy person, leading a healthy lifestyle but lacking the 30 minutes to an hour exercise a day. Whenever I get sick, I gargle saltwater frequently and chug orange juice. Normally I bounce back within a few days, but this time, the first time I've been sick in college, it's really hit me hard. Before I could take a step back from everything and just focus on recovering, but in college everything goes on with or without you and you need to keep up just to prevent yourself from falling behind.
So now I'm lying in my dorm bed sipping on some tea (which surprisingly does help with the illness) and doing some work to stay caught up with my classes. I decided not to go to my GE classes but I know I will need to attend my chemistry class because competition in intense in that class and it's really hard to make up for not being in lecture. On the positive side, I aced my online chemistry quiz yesterday while having coughing fits and not really understand the material from lectures. I thought I had did fairly decently on the quiz before submitting, but even I was surprised when the system reported that I had scored 100%. Here's to magically knowing all the right answers.
Still, I wish I could get rid of this illness, even if it's an excuse to be comfortable all the time and carry around a tissue box. People give me odd looks when I have my tissue box in my arm, but they ask for me for a tissue when they need to sneeze. Maybe I should do everyone a favor and wear a hospital style face mask to class. But ironically, there's a double standard for wearing a face mask in public: if you do wear it, you can still interact other people but you're protecting them by not infecting them, but once other people see you with the mask they will try to ostracize you to prevent themselves from getting sick. If you don't wear it and cough or sneeze, people think you're not being courteous and shielding yourself away from other people.
Midterms next week. This fun is never done.
So now I'm lying in my dorm bed sipping on some tea (which surprisingly does help with the illness) and doing some work to stay caught up with my classes. I decided not to go to my GE classes but I know I will need to attend my chemistry class because competition in intense in that class and it's really hard to make up for not being in lecture. On the positive side, I aced my online chemistry quiz yesterday while having coughing fits and not really understand the material from lectures. I thought I had did fairly decently on the quiz before submitting, but even I was surprised when the system reported that I had scored 100%. Here's to magically knowing all the right answers.
Still, I wish I could get rid of this illness, even if it's an excuse to be comfortable all the time and carry around a tissue box. People give me odd looks when I have my tissue box in my arm, but they ask for me for a tissue when they need to sneeze. Maybe I should do everyone a favor and wear a hospital style face mask to class. But ironically, there's a double standard for wearing a face mask in public: if you do wear it, you can still interact other people but you're protecting them by not infecting them, but once other people see you with the mask they will try to ostracize you to prevent themselves from getting sick. If you don't wear it and cough or sneeze, people think you're not being courteous and shielding yourself away from other people.
Midterms next week. This fun is never done.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Photo Journal
http://picasaweb.google.com/victor.sk.lin
I have an interest in photography and photo journalism and will start to keep a running photo journal. Since I believe candid photos capture the essence of life better than posed photos, having a camera at the scene of a photo worthy moment is crucial. Unfortunately, I already have a number of devices on me on a day to day basis and the only one that has a camera is my LG Vu CU920, with a 2.0 megapixel camera without flash. I won't let that be my excuse for poor pictures because there are amazing works of photography taken by iPhones on the Internet.
I have an interest in photography and photo journalism and will start to keep a running photo journal. Since I believe candid photos capture the essence of life better than posed photos, having a camera at the scene of a photo worthy moment is crucial. Unfortunately, I already have a number of devices on me on a day to day basis and the only one that has a camera is my LG Vu CU920, with a 2.0 megapixel camera without flash. I won't let that be my excuse for poor pictures because there are amazing works of photography taken by iPhones on the Internet.
Never Become a Leader
I often get asked the question "do you want to become a leader in your field?" Everyone else in the room raises their hand, so out of fear of exclusion, I do too. But I think I would make a horrible leader and here's why.
This is one of my grand plans if I ever become the leader of a nation:
I would put "those who could use some exercise", to be politically correct, on machines that generate electricity, such as elliptical bikes. Due compensation will be paid to the participants. If these machines are implemented on a large scale in the same facility in close proximity to homes and businesses, this would cut the demand for energy while providing a source of renewable energy. Jobs would be created and money would circulate through the economy. Physical fitness in the general population will improve and health problems will decrease.
Yeah, I should never become a leader.
This is one of my grand plans if I ever become the leader of a nation:
I would put "those who could use some exercise", to be politically correct, on machines that generate electricity, such as elliptical bikes. Due compensation will be paid to the participants. If these machines are implemented on a large scale in the same facility in close proximity to homes and businesses, this would cut the demand for energy while providing a source of renewable energy. Jobs would be created and money would circulate through the economy. Physical fitness in the general population will improve and health problems will decrease.
Yeah, I should never become a leader.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Fathers, Be Good to your Daughters (because you have to)
"A bundle of joy" is an idiomatic expression in English that means a newborn baby, implying that the baby is a bundle that will bring joy to his or her parents and all those around him or her. But nonetheless, the baby will keep his or her parents up, go through potty training, throw tantrums, go through a rebellious teen phase, suck tens of thousands of dollars towards a "college education", and ultimately visit his or her parents once in a while to beg for money. This is typical of both children of both genders, but what is the difference between the two?
It turns out, there's a BIG difference between raising a daughter and raising a son. I have extensive child care taking experience but zero parenting knowledge, so correct me if I'm wrong if any parent out there is reading this. Keep in mind that these are just sweeping generalizations and there are obvious exceptions to the rule.
Males, and by extension sons, are generally introverts and keep to themselves. They're emotionally independent and dislike showing affection unless it's with their partner. Hygiene and shopping for new clothes are kept at a minimum, whatever will please the parentals and the ladies. Usually their biggest expenses of their parents' money will be cars, computers, and big purchases.
Compare that to females, otherwise known as daughters to their parents. They're very in touch with their emotions and can be very "demonstrative" about it. Affection is common with anybody close to them, may it be their family members, close friends, or their significant others. Hygiene is of utmost importance, not to mention spending nearly an hour just to shower, put on make up, do the hair, etc. Shopping, for some unknown reason, is a widely popular pastime for all females. Their biggest expenses happen to be on numerous small items in comparison to the boys, such as various bags of clothes, accessories, make up, etc. Generally speaking, it's much easier to control a son from spending a large sum of money at once than it is to control a daughter from spending numerous sums of money that add up to a long credit card bill.
The actual parenting facet of raising a child also differs for the genders. Sons, for the most part, can be left alone to discover the world on his own. Occasionally you might have to bail him out of jail and give him a stern talking to or perhaps ground him to teach him a lesson. And then there's the awkward sex talk. But for girls, parents have to worry about the sex issue on a completely different level. Fathers have to worry about their daughters showing too much skin, staying out too late with her "high school boyfriend" who always has a five o'clock shadow and rides a motorcycle, and whether or not she'll ever tell him that she's pregnant.
In short, I hope my guys will only carry the Y chromosome. I'll still love any daughters if I do end up having children, but I'll lose even more hours of sleep.
It turns out, there's a BIG difference between raising a daughter and raising a son. I have extensive child care taking experience but zero parenting knowledge, so correct me if I'm wrong if any parent out there is reading this. Keep in mind that these are just sweeping generalizations and there are obvious exceptions to the rule.
Males, and by extension sons, are generally introverts and keep to themselves. They're emotionally independent and dislike showing affection unless it's with their partner. Hygiene and shopping for new clothes are kept at a minimum, whatever will please the parentals and the ladies. Usually their biggest expenses of their parents' money will be cars, computers, and big purchases.
Compare that to females, otherwise known as daughters to their parents. They're very in touch with their emotions and can be very "demonstrative" about it. Affection is common with anybody close to them, may it be their family members, close friends, or their significant others. Hygiene is of utmost importance, not to mention spending nearly an hour just to shower, put on make up, do the hair, etc. Shopping, for some unknown reason, is a widely popular pastime for all females. Their biggest expenses happen to be on numerous small items in comparison to the boys, such as various bags of clothes, accessories, make up, etc. Generally speaking, it's much easier to control a son from spending a large sum of money at once than it is to control a daughter from spending numerous sums of money that add up to a long credit card bill.
The actual parenting facet of raising a child also differs for the genders. Sons, for the most part, can be left alone to discover the world on his own. Occasionally you might have to bail him out of jail and give him a stern talking to or perhaps ground him to teach him a lesson. And then there's the awkward sex talk. But for girls, parents have to worry about the sex issue on a completely different level. Fathers have to worry about their daughters showing too much skin, staying out too late with her "high school boyfriend" who always has a five o'clock shadow and rides a motorcycle, and whether or not she'll ever tell him that she's pregnant.
In short, I hope my guys will only carry the Y chromosome. I'll still love any daughters if I do end up having children, but I'll lose even more hours of sleep.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
I've succumbed to yet another facet of the Internet and signed up for Twitter. A class I'm taking, with 500 other classmates, is using Twitter to keep a log of our personal habits. Since I just started this blog, I might as well use Twitter for my shorter thoughts and this blog for my longer ones.
follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gotlactose
#tech
follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gotlactose
#tech
"Does this dress make me look fat?"
No, not at all honey. It's your fat that makes you look fat.
Maybe this is why I'm single.
Maybe this is why I'm single.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Why Girls Like Pink (and Guys Don't)
I was reading an interesting infograph about obvious facts proved by science (found here on the fourth image), and apparently some people believe women are more attracted to pink than men are because they pick up on the red shades often found on ripe fruit and the skin of the opposing gender to read their body language.
Basically, the two deductions I've made from this article is that women are evolutionary inclined to be better at picking out fruit and subsequently cooking food and that men cannot read body language as well as women can. So the next time you women refuse to make a sandwich, remember that us men just can't help ourselves: we're genetically not as talented to make our own sandwich or read the body language of you women walking away with a stern look and crossed arms.
Basically, the two deductions I've made from this article is that women are evolutionary inclined to be better at picking out fruit and subsequently cooking food and that men cannot read body language as well as women can. So the next time you women refuse to make a sandwich, remember that us men just can't help ourselves: we're genetically not as talented to make our own sandwich or read the body language of you women walking away with a stern look and crossed arms.
Google Voice
An emerging product of the expanding line of free Google web apps is Google Voice. Currently in closed beta and can only be obtained via invite requests directly to Google, Google Voice is a new way of call forwarding.
A Google Voice user is assigned a regular telephone number, free of charge at the time of this writing. When people call this number, the Google Voice user can assign which phone numbers to forward that calls to. Say I want my parents to be able to reach me on my cell phone and my house phone. I just give them my Google Voice number and have them call that without having to worry about calling me on my house phone first before trying my cell phone because Google Voice will make both the house and cell phones ring. If I have a rather chatty girlfriend and she calls me on my house phone, I can tell Google Voice to reroute the call to my cell phone and she would never know the difference. Then I could just step out of the house and she can continue to prattle on about how her fight with her B.F.F. Jill.
Another feature of Google Voice is its free SMS service. Without having to pay for a texting service, Google Voice gives mobile users free texting that's extremely similar to regular texting. People simply text you by entering your Google Voice number and it'll show up. The downside is that Google Voice is not a traditional cell phone service provider, so you would not be able to use certain texting features that require you to input your cell phone service provider. Even if you don't want to use the Google Voice interface to text, you can also text by email and be notified of new texts with your Gmail email account.
Google Voice also records and transcribes any voicemails that come in. If I miss a call, Google Voice lets me know just like a regular cell phone would. However, the key difference is Google Voice can play back the voicemail as a MP3 file so I can easily hear it as many times as I want. It can also attempt to translate the speech to text so I can easily read the voicemail as I would hear it.
And all these services of Google Voice can be modified through any data-enabled phone or through the Google Voice website. There, users can have micromanage control of the greatest little detail of how Google Voice handles incoming phone calls: what time certain people can call you, customized greetings tailored to a particular contact or group of contacts, whether or not you want the system to screen your calls for you, which phones to ring at what times when a particular someone calls you, etc.
And most services is free. So far the only charges I have seen is for international calls.
For iPod touch/iPhone users: to truly mimic a real texting plan, have Google Voice forward SMS messages to your Gmail, then set up Gmail with a filter to forward all texts to your Textfree email address. The Textfree iPhone application has a lite version that is free of charge and supports free unlimited incoming texts. If you turn on push notifications for Textfree, any incoming Google Voice SMS will be routed to your textfree email address and provided that you have wifi or 3G access, you would get instant notification of new texts without having to check your email.
Update: A friend who followed my directions made me realized that Textfree only serves as an alert system. You cannot send out Google Voice text messages with Textfree. You would have to use the Google Voice website or reply the Google Voice email to respond.
A Google Voice user is assigned a regular telephone number, free of charge at the time of this writing. When people call this number, the Google Voice user can assign which phone numbers to forward that calls to. Say I want my parents to be able to reach me on my cell phone and my house phone. I just give them my Google Voice number and have them call that without having to worry about calling me on my house phone first before trying my cell phone because Google Voice will make both the house and cell phones ring. If I have a rather chatty girlfriend and she calls me on my house phone, I can tell Google Voice to reroute the call to my cell phone and she would never know the difference. Then I could just step out of the house and she can continue to prattle on about how her fight with her B.F.F. Jill.
Another feature of Google Voice is its free SMS service. Without having to pay for a texting service, Google Voice gives mobile users free texting that's extremely similar to regular texting. People simply text you by entering your Google Voice number and it'll show up. The downside is that Google Voice is not a traditional cell phone service provider, so you would not be able to use certain texting features that require you to input your cell phone service provider. Even if you don't want to use the Google Voice interface to text, you can also text by email and be notified of new texts with your Gmail email account.
Google Voice also records and transcribes any voicemails that come in. If I miss a call, Google Voice lets me know just like a regular cell phone would. However, the key difference is Google Voice can play back the voicemail as a MP3 file so I can easily hear it as many times as I want. It can also attempt to translate the speech to text so I can easily read the voicemail as I would hear it.
And all these services of Google Voice can be modified through any data-enabled phone or through the Google Voice website. There, users can have micromanage control of the greatest little detail of how Google Voice handles incoming phone calls: what time certain people can call you, customized greetings tailored to a particular contact or group of contacts, whether or not you want the system to screen your calls for you, which phones to ring at what times when a particular someone calls you, etc.
And most services is free. So far the only charges I have seen is for international calls.
For iPod touch/iPhone users: to truly mimic a real texting plan, have Google Voice forward SMS messages to your Gmail, then set up Gmail with a filter to forward all texts to your Textfree email address. The Textfree iPhone application has a lite version that is free of charge and supports free unlimited incoming texts. If you turn on push notifications for Textfree, any incoming Google Voice SMS will be routed to your textfree email address and provided that you have wifi or 3G access, you would get instant notification of new texts without having to check your email.
Update: A friend who followed my directions made me realized that Textfree only serves as an alert system. You cannot send out Google Voice text messages with Textfree. You would have to use the Google Voice website or reply the Google Voice email to respond.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Keeping TABS on Everything
When Internet Explorer dominated the browser wars, the user had to open a new window to see multiple websites in the same session. However, with the popularity of Mozilla Firefox and similar implementation of their concepts in Opera, Safari, and even IE7 onwards, tabs are here to stay. For those unfamiliar with the concept of tabs (I know of a few in the generation before me), each browser window can have multiple sites loaded and easily navigated between either on the tab menu bar on top of the website or by simply pressing and holding "ctrl" and "tab" (and "ctrl", "shift", and "tab" to navigate between tabs in the opposite order).
However, developers of Firefox add-ons (also known as extensions, plug-ins, etc.) have taken tabs another step further. With the tools I have found, I am able to monitor my Gmail, Google Voice, Google Calendar, and Google Reader while I browse the Internet and do my other activities on the computer. When a new email, text message, voicemail, or RSS article comes in, the tab's icon updates itself to reflect the number of unread items.
An example of my current set up in Firefox:
Install them in any order and ignore Firefox when it asks you to restart until you have installed all the add-ons. Then go ahead and restart Firefox. When you restart Firefox, you may notice some icons to be already tinted in orange. To get rid of this, right click on the tab and go to "PermaTabs" -> "Permanent Tab". That will let you close that tab. Go to the websites that you want to keep an eye on, such as Gmail. Once Gmail is fully loaded, repeat the same steps as you did to get rid of the orange tint. Then right click on the tab again and choose "Faviconize Tab" to make the tab as small as possible to clear up space on the tab menu bar.
Let me know if you have some issues or want the same functionality for Google Voice. I do not have an Apple computer to try this on, but this should also work on Mac OSX. Don't take my word for it, so your mileage may vary. Comment if it works in Mac OSX.
#tech
However, developers of Firefox add-ons (also known as extensions, plug-ins, etc.) have taken tabs another step further. With the tools I have found, I am able to monitor my Gmail, Google Voice, Google Calendar, and Google Reader while I browse the Internet and do my other activities on the computer. When a new email, text message, voicemail, or RSS article comes in, the tab's icon updates itself to reflect the number of unread items.
An example of my current set up in Firefox:
As you can see in this screenshot, my Gmail tab is focused on. If you're familiar with Firefox, you may notice that only my blog's tab is the normal size and the other four tabs are much smaller and have an orange tint to their background. That is because there are add-ons installed that allows the tabs to become permanent tabs (as distinguished from regular tabs by the orange tint), so that they're always there even when I close my windows and restart Firefox and it doesn't close when I try to X out of them, and "faviconized" to shorten their tab size. You might be able to notice a green numerical zero under the first tab, the Gmail tab. That signifies that there are zero unread messages in my gmail account. The following tab is for Google Voice, then Google Calendar, and finally Google Reader. Google Reader has this unread count functionality as well, as well as Google Voice.
If you're interested in setting this up, simply install all the extensions found here, compiled and partially written by Lifehacker's founding editor Gina Trapani:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collection/iconpermatabsInstall them in any order and ignore Firefox when it asks you to restart until you have installed all the add-ons. Then go ahead and restart Firefox. When you restart Firefox, you may notice some icons to be already tinted in orange. To get rid of this, right click on the tab and go to "PermaTabs" -> "Permanent Tab". That will let you close that tab. Go to the websites that you want to keep an eye on, such as Gmail. Once Gmail is fully loaded, repeat the same steps as you did to get rid of the orange tint. Then right click on the tab again and choose "Faviconize Tab" to make the tab as small as possible to clear up space on the tab menu bar.
Let me know if you have some issues or want the same functionality for Google Voice. I do not have an Apple computer to try this on, but this should also work on Mac OSX. Don't take my word for it, so your mileage may vary. Comment if it works in Mac OSX.
#tech
Sunday, October 4, 2009
"I Like Your Shoes"
Being a guy has its perks: there are never lines in the mens room, we don't bleed from between our legs on a monthly basis, and amongst a plethora of other benefits. Of course, being a guy has its downsides: any time you get physically close to a guy, you have to prevent yourself from doing anything that might seem homosexual, unless both dudes are homosexual. You never, ever talk while in the men's room, especially at the urinals. But what I'm getting at here is that our social interactions are really simple too. You do something wrong to another guy, you say you're sorry, then you guys go back to gaming or just chilling.
It's not the same with females.
A direct comparison with the perks of the guys shows a glaring list of disadvantages of being female. I wouldn't have the experience to comment on the advantages of being a female, other than the ability to have a poor attitude (the vernacular term would be "bitchy") and blame it on the monthly cycle. But in regards to social dynamics, female interactions can be tremendously more complicated than that of males and they tend to have more drama than their male counterparts. Something as trivial as hair can merit hours of attention and criticism. Buying clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery, etc. tends to be a favorite pastime for many women. And upon displaying an ensemble of purchased clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery and what have you, women often find themselves in situations where they complement each other's clothes, shoes, accessories, and jewelery.
"I like your bag, where did you get it?"
"Oh this old thing? ON SALE 40%"
"No way!"
There must be an underlying reason for this stark difference between male-male and female-female interactions. Is it because men tend to be social introverts, often found participating in alpha male situations to prove his worth to his peers and potential mates? Or is because women, as social extroverts in comparison to men, need to glorify inanimate objects on their persons to boost the self-esteem of the collective and to reaffirm their self-worth?
It's not the same with females.
A direct comparison with the perks of the guys shows a glaring list of disadvantages of being female. I wouldn't have the experience to comment on the advantages of being a female, other than the ability to have a poor attitude (the vernacular term would be "bitchy") and blame it on the monthly cycle. But in regards to social dynamics, female interactions can be tremendously more complicated than that of males and they tend to have more drama than their male counterparts. Something as trivial as hair can merit hours of attention and criticism. Buying clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery, etc. tends to be a favorite pastime for many women. And upon displaying an ensemble of purchased clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery and what have you, women often find themselves in situations where they complement each other's clothes, shoes, accessories, and jewelery.
"I like your bag, where did you get it?"
"Oh this old thing? ON SALE 40%"
"No way!"
There must be an underlying reason for this stark difference between male-male and female-female interactions. Is it because men tend to be social introverts, often found participating in alpha male situations to prove his worth to his peers and potential mates? Or is because women, as social extroverts in comparison to men, need to glorify inanimate objects on their persons to boost the self-esteem of the collective and to reaffirm their self-worth?
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Not Another Failed Attempt
As you may or may not have noticed already, there is link to another website with the same name as this one: GotLactose. As an aspiring web designer, I coded that website by hand and relied on nothing but Internet guides and Microsoft notepad to write it. No fancy WYSIWYG programs (e.g. Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage, etc.) and no copy and paste jobs from templates. That being said, it was a pain to update that website for blogging purposes. Instead, that website can be used to show off my amateur web design skills while I blog here.
And Blogger offers RSS feeds for their blogs. I'm an avid user of RSS feeds, so I got excited when I noticed that feature.
And Blogger offers RSS feeds for their blogs. I'm an avid user of RSS feeds, so I got excited when I noticed that feature.
The Akupo Monster
I forgot to mention that I ran an Avira AntiVir Personal virus scan on that computer and nothing malicious came up.
AOL and AIM rant
Another disappointed AOL customer.
Actually according to AOL, I'm not a paying customer. Therefore, I cannot get any customer support from them. For a few years in the past decade, I was a AOL dial up customer until I switched to broadband. Once broadband became cheap enough for most people to afford, AOL really went downhill. But AIM was still a faithful instant messaging service and I did not have any problems with it. Yet.
Again, for years I was faithfully using the official AIM client to use my screen name to talk to my contacts. However, once I found out that AIM was probably running adware, spyware, or any extraneous software along with their program I decided to jump ship. Going along with my open source software craze, I found Pidgin and have been happily using it since. It's a multi-protocol chat client, which I use to go on MSN, YIM, AIM, and for it to notify me of new Gmail email.
This setup of 4 different accounts has been operating fine for months. Given that Pidgin is free and open source, I am able to have patience and understanding in its limitations. Generally speaking, I can just Google any problems I have with Pidgin and resolve it myself. However, AIM started to go wonky today. I thought the problem was isolated to Pidgin, but AIM failed to work on Meebo, Gmail, and the iPod Touch AIM application. Therefore, I have reason to suspect that AOL is having problem with my screen name. My friends who I have asked have all reported no problems with their screen names and my alternative screen name works. Of course, I can't open a support ticket with AOL to resolve my issue because I'm not a paying customer.
I'm having AIM withdrawal.
Update: Good news everyone! My impatient rant paid off and I can sign back into AIM again! Let's cross our fingers and hope this doesn't happen again.
Actually according to AOL, I'm not a paying customer. Therefore, I cannot get any customer support from them. For a few years in the past decade, I was a AOL dial up customer until I switched to broadband. Once broadband became cheap enough for most people to afford, AOL really went downhill. But AIM was still a faithful instant messaging service and I did not have any problems with it. Yet.
Again, for years I was faithfully using the official AIM client to use my screen name to talk to my contacts. However, once I found out that AIM was probably running adware, spyware, or any extraneous software along with their program I decided to jump ship. Going along with my open source software craze, I found Pidgin and have been happily using it since. It's a multi-protocol chat client, which I use to go on MSN, YIM, AIM, and for it to notify me of new Gmail email.
This setup of 4 different accounts has been operating fine for months. Given that Pidgin is free and open source, I am able to have patience and understanding in its limitations. Generally speaking, I can just Google any problems I have with Pidgin and resolve it myself. However, AIM started to go wonky today. I thought the problem was isolated to Pidgin, but AIM failed to work on Meebo, Gmail, and the iPod Touch AIM application. Therefore, I have reason to suspect that AOL is having problem with my screen name. My friends who I have asked have all reported no problems with their screen names and my alternative screen name works. Of course, I can't open a support ticket with AOL to resolve my issue because I'm not a paying customer.
I'm having AIM withdrawal.
Update: Good news everyone! My impatient rant paid off and I can sign back into AIM again! Let's cross our fingers and hope this doesn't happen again.
Friday, October 2, 2009
End of First Week of College Classes
Today marks the end of my first formal week of college classes.
Back in high school, there was a bunch of hand holding and busy work in classes. Teachers would show students how to do every little task to the greatest detail, tell students when a draft of a paper was due so they have time to revise it, and do meaningless worksheets to reinforce the week's lesson. I will say that college has afforded me great freedom in time management: no more are strict time periods of classes, everything is based on your own schedule and is up to you the individual to decide how to spend that time. One professor of mine teaches out of his expensive paper bound textbook and I have heard from upperclassmen that the only material on the midterm and final exams come from that textbook only. This implies that lectures are a waste of time because from my experience, the professor just displays the same thing found in the textbook on the screen. Nonetheless, I will be a faithful student and attend all the lectures.
Back in high school, there was a bunch of hand holding and busy work in classes. Teachers would show students how to do every little task to the greatest detail, tell students when a draft of a paper was due so they have time to revise it, and do meaningless worksheets to reinforce the week's lesson. I will say that college has afforded me great freedom in time management: no more are strict time periods of classes, everything is based on your own schedule and is up to you the individual to decide how to spend that time. One professor of mine teaches out of his expensive paper bound textbook and I have heard from upperclassmen that the only material on the midterm and final exams come from that textbook only. This implies that lectures are a waste of time because from my experience, the professor just displays the same thing found in the textbook on the screen. Nonetheless, I will be a faithful student and attend all the lectures.
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