I set up my new website and I am transferring my posts to it so please bear with me. You can visit my new blog here. I am still going to be maintianing this blog but that blog will be updated faster and regularly than this.
Blogged with Flock
As most of my readers have noted, I am a sucker for an app related to “social web” . I was among the first people to blog about and try out Chatsum. So,I found out about Peekko from a friend and decided to try it out. First of all,Peekko is also a firefox/flock extension that allows you to chat with other Peekko users about a common website/page. Peekko runs over an irc chat server. Here is a screenshot of Peekko runnig in firefox:
As you can see Peekko is craddled at the bottom of the browser window so as to conserve screen real estate. You can customize the chat window. Also,you are allowed to register your nickname but not a channel. The Peekko toolbar shows you the number of people chatting on a channel and you can toggle both the toolbar and chat window on and off. For those privacy nuts,you can browse without getting any info sent to the Peekko server by just checking the browse invisibly button. Also, you can embed a chat window in your website so that visitors can see what is being said in a channel. Almost all irc commands work here. Though,I have been using chatsum for some time,I very much prefer peekko becuase it has more users onlnie and i am assured to find someone in the main peekko window anytime of the day. Another feature that clinches the deal for Peekko is its translation bot,rbot. You just need to register yourself for the language you speak and rbot will translate all the chat transcripts into that language. Right now, transaltion is supported for about 8 languages including frech,spanish,portuguese,italian and russian.
Technorati Tags: peekko.firefox, extensions, flock
Finally,the long awaited release of the Songbird media player has arrived.For you who don’t know what it is(duh),it is a media player built on firefox’s browser engine.It is open source and will run on all platforms but currently runs on only Windows.It is highly customizable with moudules created by users called extensions.I am testing it out and will blog more about it later in the day.It looks and acts like iTunes on steroids. Here is a screenshot of it : 
Technorati Tags: songbird, open source, media player, itunes, gecko, free,
I got an invite to the private beta test of Ma.gnolia somewhere last week. Ma.gnolia is a new social bookmarking service with a twist. Ma.gnolia describes itself as “Found in the new search”. When I first saw it,I thought,it was one of those ridiculous del.icio.us wannabees with extra dots and vowels.(As someone asked,”Where does that darned dot go again?”) . But that isn’t so, Ma.gnolia does have a twist indeed.It allows you to save your bookmarks publicly and privately.Then, Ma.gnolia also allows you to interact with other users in the community by joining groups,making contacts,creating member profiles and sharing boomarks in groups. It is extremely easy to make contacts with other users.You just go to their profile pages and click on an icon to make them your contacts.From then,you can see their recent bookmarks on your page.You can also create groups or join some groups.After you join a group or create one,you can also see the most recent bookmarks from the group on your frontpage.You can aslo see the most recent bookamarks from the Ma.gnolia community. Each bookmark on Ma.gnolia has it owns page you can rate it and also see a preview of the webpage.Also the page shows the name of users that have it on their bookmarks.Also,when bookmarking pages,you can add tags to these pages.Ma.gnolia has a tags page which allows you to see you tags,your contact’s tags,your group’s tags and everyone’s top tags.Most used tags are in bold and in bigger fonts. Also on the profile pages of each Ma.gnolia user,you can find his/her top tags,a bio that the user wrote about him/herself,the user’s recent bookmarks,his/her contacts and groups. Finally,Ma.gnolia allows you to import bookamarks from your browser.Currently,you cannot import bookamrks from Del.icio.us, Blinklist, Furl or Simpy though plans are in place to allow this soon.Ma.gnolia is also creating an API. My only gripes with Ma.gnolia is that,it takes some time before the bookmarks you upload appear on your bookmarks.There is a bookmarklet for your borwser that allows you to add bookmarks to Ma.gnolia from your borwser. There are rumors in the works saying that a toolbar/bookmarklet like the del.icio.us one is being created. Ma.gnolia is currently an invite only beta. You can sign up for an invite on its webpage. A more indepth review can be found here. A screenshot of Ma.gnolia: 
Technorati Tags: ma.gnolia, social bookmarking, web 2.0, bookmarking,
Sorry folks,I know I haven’t been blogging up to expectations for the passt month.I have been extremely busy and have also been trying some new beta services out.Tommorow,I am going to blog Ma.gnolia which is another social bookmarking site with a twist. Also I will talk more about the new features in Chatsum and also talk about the new Gtalkr. There are lots of other sites that I will review.So please hold on to your pants till tommorow.Thanks a lot.
*END OF PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT*
Technorati Tags: ma.gnlia, chatsum, gtalkr, social bookmarking
I just found out this new service called Muiso which I beleive is trying to challenge both Last.fm and Pandora.It was released somewhere in December,2005 but just recently received blog media coverage and so an influx of users are signing up.I was the 98th user to sign up when I did so today. I am still in the mode of testing it so I will be back with more on it.Here is a screenshot of its desktop application:
You can sign up for it here.
Technorati Tags: music, pandora, last.fm, web radio,
UPDATE:replaced created with saw.Really bad mistake.Should learn to focus when typing and not write whatever is in my mind and also proofread.
I dont know why i found it remarkable.Ah well, “SHAKE YOUR BOOTY AND WAVE YOUR SWORDS AT THE RIAA.“
Jellybarn is a photosharing social community. It allows you to create free and private communities for friends and family. The communites are created through Jellybarn’s website or through your site with the use of their API. Jellybarn is based on flash instead of Ajax but it is fast. The interface is really slick. The above screenshot is my profile before I had uploaded any pictures.You can upload pictures,save contacts and create groups,create projects,maintain events,email photos and have an onlnie journal.
There are lots of options for uploading images.There is a java uploader,a jellybarn uploader client for Windows and Mac.You can also upload images by email and through your cell phone.
You can create projects with your pictures such as DVD movies, postcards and photo books.
Jellybarn is an excellent service for an alpha service but it still has a lot of road to cover. Jellybarn is currently an invite only beta.I do have a few invites to share.
A more thorough review can be found here.
Technorati Tags: sharing, photosharing, imageesharing, social community, jellybarn
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
January 16, 2006
Paul Eibeler, CEO
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. and Rockstar Games
622 Broadway
New York, New York 10012 C/o Blank Rome
Dear Mr. Eibeler:
As you may know, three homeless men in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, were beaten with baseball bats last week by two teenagers. One of the victims, an African American gentleman, died because of the attacks. This has made headlines around the globe, as has discussion of a likely video game connection to these baseball bat beatings.
Your company has made and distributed the most popular violent video game series of all time—the Grand Theft Auto games. In these GTA games, beating innocent people to death with baseball bats is a featured entertainment activity. Your company has also distributed Manhunt which features the same kind of virtual reality baseball bat beatings. This game is so sociopathic that it has been banned from certain countries. Additionally, your company, during this past holiday buying season, launched the incredibly brutal “brawler� game called The Warriors, which also features death by baseball bat. The Warriors is based upon the 1979 movie of the same name that was yanked, in effect, by Paramount Pictures because of all the copycat violence it was spawning.
You also know, Mr. Eibeler, that huge numbers of academic, scientific, and medical studies prove that violent video games like this, when played by teens, lead to specific acts of teen violence. There are no studies that rebut these findings. You also know that your company has designed and marketed the aforementioned violent games for sale to minors. Your company even went so far as to embed explicit sex scenes in the GTA: San Andreas game which criminal deception resulted in a vote of 355-21 by the US House of Representatives to condemn your company’s acts. That also garnered you the “Worst American CEO of 2005 Award� by MediaWatch.
Finally, you need to know, Mr. Eibeler, that there have been many, many killings linked by law enforcement officials and others to your company’s violent murder simulation games sold to teens. Most significantly, Mr Eibeler, there have been killings of homeless people directly linked to your company’s Grand Theft Auto games. Baseball bats have been used in some of them.
You have until five o’clock p.m., Tuesday, January 17, 2006, to announce a recall from all retailers of all of the aforementioned three game titles—The Warriors, Manhunt, and all versions of the Grand Theft Auto games—or I and others shall proceed to secure appropriate remedies against your company in these regards.
Please govern yourself accordingly—for a change.
Regards, Jack Thompson
Here is a letter a lawyer sent to TAKE-TWO makers of GTA and other so called violent games.This is one of the dumbest letters ever written. Is this guy really a lawyer? If so then he is a disgrace to the Florida bar.Common,my pet lizard is even wiser than he is.Lol,whats so hilarious is that he doesnt even have facts to prove his claim of studies revealing that such video games lead to specific acts of teen violence.
Ah well,I guess it is his way of getting publicity.
Well Mr John B. “Jackass” Thompson,come to my house for my GTA games and you will see what a baseball bat can do to such a dumb like you.
Pirated of this website.
Technorati Tags: gta, videogames, violence, humor, vidoegameviolence, gta, games, rockstargames,
I discovered this firefox extension just before christmas and because it was in its development/alpha stage,there were no screenshots or testimonials of it that I found so I decided not to blog about it.It is called Chatsum.It is a free extension for firefox that allows you to chat with other chatsum users that are looking at the same website as you. Emails were sent to those who had signed up to beta test it saying that Chatsum is going to be released on Wednesday. I am counting the number of hours till Wednesday. Though,I have not tested it,testimonials from people who accidentally got to try it out are glowing. Screenshots and the overall concept shows that this addon will be very welcome.
Here is what the authors said the fuction of Chatsum will be:
Chatsum lets you:
Here is a screenshot of Chatsum:
I will blog more about it when I try it out on Wednesday.Oh, and i just found out that,there will also be a Dashboard Widget which will work with MAC OS X Tiger.Also,there will be a version of Chatsum for Internet Explorer(lost half of my readers right now 
)
Technorati Tags: chatsum, firefox, firefoxextensions, widget, beta
Yesterday I tried to access my website from a university computer. Unfotunately the entire domain blogspot.com was in the list of blocked websites. Luckily I remembered a recent article…
O’Reilly points out how to use Google translator service (language tools) as a free proxy to bypass the restrictions. Basically they provide a url which performs an english to english language translation, your connection is directed to a google.com page so this page won’t be blocked (unless google.com is on the black list, which is unlikely).
The en|en is an english to english translation. If you use fr|fr you get a french to french translation and so on. The proxy method helped me bypass the restriction and access my blog. But remember it does not hide your IP address.
Based on their idea, I simpy used this link to access my blog.
http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=http://killeroid…
You can replace the killeroid…. with your blocked url and bypass the block.
In the same page comments, they point to another quick way using the Google Mobile Search – a tools for searching and viewing the Web on your mobile phone (more info). Google may alter images, text formatting and/or certain aspects of web page functionality to suit best for mobile phone view. Based on this concept, the url which let me access my blog was
http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=killeroid.wordpress.com
Though the formatting, sidebar and css was gone, a limited amount of content was accessible.
Often some websites are blocked on university and office computers to prevent access to restricted websites with improper content. Although I was surprised that they had blocked all blogs from wordpress.com on the server, this tip helped me access my blog. Read more tips to privacy and security by protecting your IP address.
Courtesy of this website.
Technorati Tags: google, free, proxy, mobile, blog, restricted, restrictions
After lots of rumors,Google has finally releases GOOGLE PACK. Google Pack is a free collection of software from Google and other companies. The pack helps you browse the web faster and safely by removing spyware,malware and viruses. Google pack can be downloaded in just a few clicks.You can add or remove some of the ware before downloading the pack.If you do have some of the software already on your pc, it will only be updated if a newer version is available.
Here is the list of the software that can be downloaded:
GOOGLE SOFTWARE:
ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE:
Though all the software in the google pack is free,some of the software may offer paid versions that provide additional features or ongoing updates.What I know of is the Norton AntiVirus,it come 6 months of free updates but after that you have to get a paid subscription to get more updates from Symantec.
So long folks.I am going on vacation with my dad and will be back on the 1st of January.I will be without a laptop for the whole period.The only gadget I will be taking with me is an MP3 player.I hope to catch up on my reading.You guys have a roaring New Year.
So,i found this page here. andI thought it was massively hilarious.So what do you think about it.leave a comment.
Many of you have probably already seen this in forwarded email form,
but it’s actually one of the funnier things I’ve been
forwarded. Everything you always wanted to know about Chuck Norris but
were afraid to ask. Enjoy.
22 Chuck Norris Facts
1. Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.
2. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
3. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
4. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
5. Chuck Norris defines love as the reluctance to murder. If
you’re still alive, it’s because Chuck Norris loves you.
6. Chuck Norris isn’t hung like a horse. Horses are hung like Chuck Norris.
7. If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.
8. Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his mother’s womb.
9. There are no disabled people. Only people who have met Chuck Norris.
10. Chuck Norris can win a game of Monopoly without owning any property.
11. There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Chuck Norris allows to live.
12. In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World
Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and
those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever gotten.
13. Chuck Norris invented cancer because he was tired of killing people
14. In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Chuck Norris could use to kill you, including the room itself.
15. Chuck Norris is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.
16. Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
17. When Chuck Norris goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.
18. Chuck Norris has two speeds: walk and kill.
19.When Chuck Norris jumps into a body of water, he doesn’t get wet. The water gets Chuck Norris instead.
20. Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
21. Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.
22. When Chuck Norris runs with scissors, other people get hurt.
Update (12.13.05): Click here to read new original Chuck Norris facts.
Technorati Tags: funny,
Though,I saw this website a long time ago,I have given it much thought or gone to take a closer look at it since I thought it would be like all those other start pages.Being bored yesterday,I went there to take a look at it.I signed up for an account and it was created for me instantly.The page has a really nice interface.You can add your own feeds to it.You can also choose to display the already preconfigured feeds.The already preconfigured feeds include,web 2.0 blogs,major new sites,major sports sites among others. Overall,it is really easy to add a site’s feed.You just need to click on the add a feed button,then enter the url of the feed,and you are done.
Also,there is an online calender,game and a 2GB mailbox for every user.The mail system is really fast.
Overall,i would give it a 10 out of 10 just because it is really easy to use and configure and it has a really nice look.
Well,it seems almost everyone in the blogoshere today is blogging about music piracy. Is today a national music piracy day or what? Though,I am against the RIAA’s efforts,it is getting really annoying to go to blogs and find almost the same articles.I need something else to read.
Ahh well,I am blogging about private file sharing software.Specifically Grouper.
Grouper is a private file sharing software in its beta form.It is seems to me that it has been in a very long beta stage.I always get notifications to update it almost every two weeks.
So,Grouper as its name suggests makes you share your files in groups.You either create groups to share your file in or join specific groups to share your files in.Download speed largely depends on the connection and bandwith of whoever you are downloading your files from.
This is a personal screenshot from an old build of grouper:
On the left in the smaller panel,all your groups are listed.Those you created and those you joined are listed under the private tab.Meaning,only people in those groups can see and download the files you share in the group.In theory,this works really well because only your people you trust can see your files to download.But in the real world,people you trust dont have all the files you want to download and so you have to invite strangers to your groups or join groups made by strangers to get the content you want.You can also choose to share your files publicly.This way,everyone can download them without being a member of the group inwhich you share them.Every user of grouper has a profile and a signature video which you can watch.Grouper also has tools which help you create your own homemade videos.
Grouper is very easy to use.A new user gets the hang of it really easily and thier support system is really fast.
Unfortunately,Grouper has no mechanism in place to stop the spread of viruses and spyware.Five minutes after starting to use Grouper,I got popups on my screen.I will suggest to anyone switching to grouper to be really wary of files downloaded of grouper.Also,another disadvantage of grouper is that,during the morning and early evening,most people are not online.Most of grouper users come online at night.Meaning,connections are really slow due to the fact that almost everyone does their download and uploads at the same time.Technorati Tags: filesharing, grouper, music, musicpiracy, RIAA, mp3, privvatefilesharing, network, grouper
Hmm,so this is a screenshot showing the visual style I use on my pc.it is called the Longhorn Inspirati and can be found at DeviantART.com It is really awesome.Download it and apply it and then tell me you hate it.PS:Sorry for this subpar post but I am at this really boring family get together and I am using my cousins laptop to blog.I am just tired of listening to all my relatives yappering and yappering so I decided just to blog about this visual style since i use it and have even convinced my gf to use it since it looks really awesome.
Technorati Tags: Windows, desktop, visualstyle
