Archive for the Category »Geek Stuff «
This is not something new, but the question “Can i download those videos from Youtube?” keeps popping up now and then.
- Step 1: Download Firefox
- Step 2: go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3590
- Step 3: download the Fast Video Downloader addon
- Step 4: Restart Firefox
- Step 5: Now you will be able to see a small icon on the right corner of your browser’s status bar.
- Step 6: Now go to any youtube, metacafe, google video page and when the video starts loading online, click the icon on the status bar and FF will automatically start downloading the video
Here’s some more interesting addons
Foxy Tunes - Control your music player from the browser.
Forecastfox - Accuweather report
BlogRovr - Keep track of all your favourite blogs
DownThemAll! - A download manager
Tab Effect - Give your browser the MAC look
Gspace - Use your G-mail as a drive
FoxyProxy - Xlnt proxy switching tool
Two posts in one day!!!. I think i might have a fever…
There are a lot of torrent clients out there and people swear by tools like Azereus, utorrent etc but i’m a leecher and i love a leecher’s client and hence…i love bitcomet. With the default installation of bitcomet, the performance wil be average but with a little tweaking and a good net connection you can pump up your threads to upto 100+ KB/s. So…Lets pimp up that comet.
- Make sure that you have the latest version, it helps with speed and stability.
- Press Ctrl-P to open up preferences.
- In the Connection tab, its usual to set unlimited download. For the upload, it depends on how fast your internet is, Having the upload under 10 is not recommended, if you have good net connection, you’ll want to set it slightly higher.
- Go to Advanced>Connection
- In the Maximum connections per task row, the default is auto, change that to 20-600
- Finally, in the Connections to keep per task row which by default is set to auto, should be set to around 50-Max connections per task.
That’s it you can see a significant difference the next time you fireup the comet. Don’t forget to let me know how it turned out.
Here’s a small tweak that lets you search for mp3’s on google..
Here’s the syntax
“Band or Artist name here” last modified mp3 “index of” -html -htm -php -asp
Example: If i want tracks by metallica. I’d type this in the google search box
“Metallica” last modified mp3 “index of” -html -htm -php -asp
Enjoy!
All the browsers are basically configured to be dial-up friendly. But what about broadband users? yup broadband users will not be able to unleash the full power of their browser unless……they do a little tweaking.
The following tips will make Firefox and Internet Explorer load web pages quicker than before.Well i can guarantee that it’ll work with firefox but with IE……we’ll…
FireFox Optimization
Open Firefox: and load a webpage…see the time it takes to load the page
- Type about:config in the adress bar
- Filter with keyword ‘network’
- Double click network.http.pipelining and set it to true
- Double click network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to set value from ‘4′ to a higher value like 10
Now Try loading the same webpage and see the difference
Internet Explorer Optimization
- got to Start> Regedit>
- Hkey_Current_User > Software > Microsoft >Windows >Current Version > Internet Settings
- MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server & Max ConnectionsPerServer (indicates max no of connections per page)
- Double click and increase the default values to(Decimal) 10. Close regedit
Now Test IE and see the difference
Right click on desktop and make a new Text Document
open it… and type:
Bush hid the facts
dont put a period.
save it
close it
re-open it
What do you see?… weird huh?
Explanation:
This is not an easter egg or a weird pun by notepad developers, the app breaks if you type
“this app can break”
“this api can break”,
“alex can not sing”,
“and even “abcd efg hij klmno
Look carefully at the sequence of strings “xxxx xxx xxx xxxxx” they are all in the format
4-3-3-4
Its because of the difference between ASCII and Unicode. It’s just a matter of Notepad defaults. When you save the file, in the “Encoding” field, the default drop-down is set to ANSI. So Notepad saves as ANSI. But if you do a File -> Open, the default Encoding is set to Unicode. That’s exactly what happens when you double click a saved file. Notepad knows the path, but not the Encoding. So it uses the default Unicode encoding, which spits characters as explained above.
So no consipiracies….i dunno what bush hid…its just an MS App
Ripping(Recording) Songs directly from the web.
1. Go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and Install Audacity….Its free
2. Install Audacity in your system
3. Once Installation is complete, fire up the application
4. Let’s select the input source. Since we are going to rip tunes from the internet, Click the drop down menu and choose “Stereo Mix”
5. Open the website/listening post of your choice choice and queue up your favourite track(Do not start playing..yet)
6. Now Hit the record button in Audacity
7. Play the track from the web.
8. Hit Stop to stop recording and save your file (File menu >> Export as Mp3)
It’s a very simple process, but might require some practice.
Note: This post is dedicated to gaurav who in spite of being a comp geek for 7 years still does not know how to use the keyboard efficiently.
Surprise…the Windows Key does more than just launch the start button. Here’s the list
Windows Key + Tab: Cycle through the buttons in the Task Bar.
Windows Key + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows Key + E: Launch Windows Explorer
Windows Key + F: Launch Search for Files
Windows Key + Ctrl + F: Launch Search for Computers
Windows Key + F1: Launch the Help and Support Center
Windows Key + R: Launch the Run dialog box
Windows Key + Pause/Break: Launch System Properties dialog box
Windows Key + M: Minimizes all open windows.
Windows Key + Shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows Key + L: Locks the workstation
Windows Key + U: Launch the Utility Manager
Windows Key + Ctrl + Tab: Moves focus from Start, to Quick Launch toolbar, to system tray
Windows Key + L: Log off Windows
Windows Key + P: Starts Print Manager
Windows Key + C: Opens Control Panel
Windows Key + V: Starts Clipboard
Windows Key + K: Opens Keyboard Properties dialog box
Windows Key + I: Opens Mouse Properties dialog box
Windows Key + A: Starts Accessibility Options (if installed)
Windows Key + Spacebar: Displays the list of Microsoft IntelliType shortcut keys
Windows Key + S: Toggles CAPS LOCK on and off
Lets take a look at some of the common terms used by bloggers
Blog client
This is a software to manage (post, edit) blogs from operating system with no need to launch a web browser. A typical blog client has an editor, a spell-checker and a few more options that simplify content creation and editing.
Blog Farm
A website constructed from a group of linked weblogs.
Blog feed
The XML-based file in which the blog hosting software places a machine-readable version of the blog so that it may be “syndicated” for further distribution on the web.
Blog hopping
To follow links from one blog entry to another, with related side-trips to various articles, sites, discussion forums, and more.
Blogroll
A list of blogs.
Blogsite
Not to be confused with a simple blog or blog site. A blogsite is a web site which combines blog feeds from a variety of sources.
Ping
A TrackBack system that notifies the original poster of a blog post when someone else writes an entry concerning the original post.
RSS aggregator
Software or online service allowing a blogger to read an RSS feed, especially the latest posts on his favourite blogs.
RSS feed
The file containing a blog’s latest posts. It is read by an RSS aggregator/reader and shows at once when a blog has been updated.
Slashdotted
The Slashdot effect can hit blogs or other website, and is caused by a major website sending huge amounts of traffic.
TrackBack
A system that allows a blogger to see who has seen the original post and has written another entry concerning it.
Permalink
A permalink is a URL that points to a specific blogging entry even after the entry has passed from the front page into the blog archives. Permalink is a term made from permanent link and is often simply stated so as to be human-readable.
Deep linking
Deep linking, on the World Wide Web, is the act of placing on a Web page a hyperlink that points to a specific page or image within another website, as opposed to that website’s main or home page. Such links are called deep links.
Critics say that the term ‘deep linking’ is unnecessary: deep linking is nothing other than hyperlinking.
Link Rot
Link rot is the process by which links on a website gradually become irrelevant or broken as time goes on, because websites that they link to disappear, change their content or redirect to new locations.
Courtesy : Wikipedia
So you know what a blog is…..Great now meet the blog’s ugly cousins..
Flog
A combo of “fake” and “blog”. A blog that’s ghostwritten by someone.
Gulog
A combo of “gulag” and “blog”. Indicates a blog that is so dismal and depressing.
K-log
aka “knowledge log”, a type of blog usually used by knowledge workers and posted on a company intranet for sharing company knowledge.
Milblog
No it does not stand for “mother-in-law Blog”. Its a term for blogs written by members or veterans of any branch of military service.
Moblog
A combo of “mobile” and “blog”. A blog featuring posts sent mainly by mobile phone, using SMS or MMS messages.
Plog
Political blog - blog containing mainly politically-oriented material.
Splog
A term used to refer to a ’spam blog’.
Celeblog
A blog detailing the lives of movie stars, musicians, and other celebrities, often featuring paparazzi photos.
Dark Blog
A non-public blog.
Vlog
A video blog; a vlogger is a video blogger.
Boreblogging
Writing about personal matters that are barely interesting even to the writer.
Courtesy : Wikipedia
Blogging is fun and everyone seems to be doing it. So how can you make your blog stand out?. Good Content….Ok!! but that’s not enough. If you need visitors to keep coming back to your blog a certain degree of eye-candy is required. I’ll be posting a series of articles on
- Blog Security
- Design
- Content management
- AJAX
- Widgets & Plugins
Later we’ll also see how to make some moolah with your blog. If you’d like to see info on any particular topic just post a vote in the poll below and it shall be done. In case you have a specific issue, drop me a line or post a comment.