Cranial Soup

Boost Your Klout Score by Playing Facebook Games

2012-07-21T23:41:00.000-04:00

Be careful about how much trust you put into a Klout score, because certain Facebook users with too much time on their hands, that do nothing but play games all day, could potentially beat the Klout scores of some of the most influential people on the internet.

Based on this, the following information could potentially allow you (or anyone else) to game the system and increase your Klout score without doing much to influence anyone....time wasting activity of 0 merit.

No, I didn't deliberately do anything black hat to boost mine, it just happened to work out that way and I didn't even notice the boost until Gail Gardner from Growmap pointed it out to me, on Twitter. After taking a closer look at my stats, I realized exactly what had happened and why.

Before I go any further, I need to state that I do not place any merit on Klout scores because I know they are crap, can be gamed, and do not fully reflect anyone's true influence or reach on the internet, or even on the short list of social networks that Klout supports.

That said, here is how I accidentally managed to boost my Klout score...

I am an avid daily player of three Facebook games. I have lists of Facebook friends that play those same games, and I post bonuses and achievements to my wall, visible only to the list that plays the same game. This keeps my wall clear of game activity, allowing only my real posts to show to everyone else. I also hide all posts made by others to my wall, so only I can see them. Nobody wants to visit someone's profile and see nothing but game posts or have to sort through game posts to get to the real stuff.

Most of my comments and likes on my posts are on those game posts that YOU can not see, because you are not on any of my game lists.

Other players mark a bonus as claimed by liking the post...and they also use auto-collector apps to claim bonuses, which advertise themselves as comments to your game bonus posts. (it's a thanks message and an announcement that the bonus was auto-collected by whatever app they are using)

When you connect Klout to your Facebook account, it sees EVERYTHING...not just your public posts, or posts visible to all friends/friends of friends. It sees your HIDDEN posts to various lists, too. And it factors that activity into your score.

So, to increase your Klout score through the roof...

1. Play Facebook games (at least a few of them that are supported by an auto-collector).
2. For each game that you play, have at least 50 friends that also play (you can find them from the game's fan page).
3. Set permissions for all posts to your wall by other people to "only me" so others will not see people posting game crap to your wall.
4. Create lists of game players and configure the game's permissions in Facebook's privacy settings for posting visibility to show game posts you make to your wall only to that game's list.
5. Play the games often and freely post every bonus you get to your wall so your gamer friends can collect them, like, and auto-comment on them.

Short list of Klout boosting games (the ones I play):

Monster World
The Sims Social
SimCity Social

I am sure there are plenty of others, but I don't play them. You could probably get a good list of games to try from the list of games this Facebook app supports: Game Feed Bonuses Collector

How to make people want to stop forwarding all those "funny" emails

2011-11-04T15:13:00.001-04:00

I used to have a bunch of friends that would forward me emails almost every day containing jokes and other crap. You know the stuff I am talking about. You have probably received a ton of it yourself over the years and know at least one person that is a compulsive forwarder of such crap. I say "used to" because they no longer send me this stuff. They don't want to. They now want to selfishly deprive me (and their other friends) of it, at least in the form of emails.

I have a reputation of building websites and blogs for little or no reason other than to temporarily amuse myself. My friends know this about me.

One day I decided to set up a blog to post all those "funny" emails that friends were sending to me, and then sent each of them a link to it, explaining that I was not going to forward the stuff they were sending to me.

I told them my intention was to make money off it by slapping ads on the blog. I then asked them to double the amount of "funny" emails they were forwarding to me if they could, because I needed more content for my new site. Most of them complied with my request and temporarily increased the number they sent out.

When they started decreasing them, I sent out emails to the slackers and politely informed them that they needed to work harder to amuse me. I started making requests for specific types of forwards. I included links to items on Amazon.com for stuff I wanted, explaining the ad revenues from my site were being put towards obtaining them. I even warned them when they sent me doubles, explaining that they needed to check my blog and send out only new material that was yet unpublished.

I sent out occasional Thank You emails with photos of myself with some "new item" I had just acquired, supposedly paid for with ad revenue earned from their "funny" emails, and encouraging them to keep up the great work. (I actually made very little from the blog, less than $1/month)

Today I receive very few of these email forwards. :-D

What I essentially did was take what some people view to be a fun activity that annoys their friends and turn it into a boring repetitive task in which they receive no pleasure from, view as work, and I receive profit when they do it.

In other words, I exploited them and let them know about it. I took the fun right out of it.

My actions made them think about what they were doing and some even decided the best use of their time would be to set up similar blogs (that nobody reads) instead of forwarding this crap to others. I exploited their selfish nature by making them think I was benefitting from their actions more than they were.

It was a brilliant bit of reverse psychology.

Gardens of Time Game Guide: Speakeasy Blitz

2011-06-22T08:46:00.001-04:00

In case you were having trouble locating all 62 items in the game, here is a list of their co-ordinates and a screenshot with a grid to help you find them. They are in letter-number format, so locate the letter on the side, then the number across the top or bottom of the image and where they intersect, you will find the item. Click on the image to open it full size.

Even if you memorize where everything is, it will still be pretty difficult (if not near impossible) to click them all within the 60 seconds they allow you. Best I have been able to get is 43.

Please do not ask where any specific item is in a comment. Look it up in the screenshot. It's all there, mapped out for you.

Good luck!

Amythyst ring Q-31
Ankh Q-12
Axe O-2
Banana K-4
Baseball bat Q-14
Bell C-17
Books E-14
Bowl N-15
Bowling pin H-12
Brass trophy N-3
Broom R-6
Buckle E-2
Buddah K-7
Butcher knife M-30
Camera I-20
Cane P-24
Cannon Q-18
Checker board P-7
Cigar N-26
Computer monitor K-28
Cork N-17
Crown B-9
Cue ball M-26
Curtain F-28
Dart G-28
Dart board F-25
Deer mount F-22
Dice O-30
Feather K-18
Fish D-13
Footprints P-22

Gold bars P-10
Hammer K-15
Hat R-23
Heart I-22
Horn N-18
Hourglass P-21
Ladder H-21
Lantern I-25
Lighter P-29
Lock K-31
Mole J-22
Money bag J-19
Monkey L-16
Phantom mask O-19
Piano keys E-9
Pitcher J-24
Playing card M-1
Plug H-31
Scissors P-18
Seahorse F-18
Spoon P-16
Spring G-17
Spyglass K-26
Star H-4
Table lamp H-27
Thermos N-4
Triangle K-21
Wallet R-20
Wheat penny R-3
Wheel L-14
Wrench K-3

I will post other guides like this one, if and when I can find all the items, then find the time to map them.

You'd be amazed at the things you can fix with a toaster oven...

2011-04-26T01:48:00.001-04:00

This is a guest post by a friend of mine that wishes to remain anonymous. His only desire is that this information is shared with the public and that more people can put it to use.

I just baked BlackBerry Cobbler (a BB 9630). It came out perfect.

The phone took a dive into a sink full of water while its owner was doing dishes, and went unnoticed until the sink was drained. It was deader than a door nail when I received it.

I took it apart, rinsed it as clean as I could with tap water, and then with 97% rubbing alcohol. I let that evaporate and then placed the printed circuit boards in the toaster oven, on top of strategically-placed screwdriver bits so-as to space the board off the aluminum foil lining the oven tray. Then I set the oven for 180 F for about 20 minutes. I did not toast the battery in the oven for safety reasons.

Just a tip.

Also I have baked laptop wifi and video cards, desktop pci cards, laptop motherboards, desktop motherboards and xbox consoles with the red ring of death (the larger items in a full size oven). Quite literally, if it's toasted anyhow, what does one have to lose other than 20 minutes? Sometimes items need their solder to be reflown, and this wet-phone-drying/toaster oven reflow soldering method honestly has saved both myself and those around me a ton of cash. Reflowing solder should be done at 230 F or so for about 20 minutes.

Plastic bits on the board? Plugs? Wires? No worries! Heck, part of the BlackBerry cobbler I baked tonight (the 9630, that is) was more than 60% plastic, and I didn't even bother removing the camera before baking it. I kept the temp about 180 F since a solder reflow was not required, but if a reflow might benefit the item I do not hesitate to turn it up to 230 F.

Never leave the oven unattended, not even for a moment, just in case plastic bits start to disfigure - but they shouldn't, as plastic typically melts at a higher temperature point than solder.

Don't bake the outer shell of the phone though - bare boards only.

Never bake a battery unless it is soldered onto the board, in which case go for a higher blast of heat for a shorter period (say, broil for 7 minutes).

Next time your phone hits the sink (one of my older BlackBerry phones took a 20 minute trip into the clothes washing machine) or your laptop video or wifi card dies (these are prone to overheating due to poor cooling, sometimes they can flex some, breaking solder joints in the process, and can benefit from a reflow), etc, pop the circuit board into the oven for a little bit. What's the worst that can happen? I've fixed newer HP laser printers I was literally given because they didn't work, simply by reflowing their main boards. $75 a pop at yard sales is a nice profit for me simply having put my toaster oven to work.

When you're done, do not budge the toaster oven until it has been off for at least 20 minutes. It would suck major donkey scholng to bump a board with molten solder and have an IC with a 500+ solder ball grid array slide just enough to short circuit things even worse than they were, when some patience to let the boards cool down adequately could have had the item fixed.

In this day and age, when things seem so disposable and inexpensive, so much waste gets created and is disposed of. It's a shame if that little toaster goes under-utilized and our broken disposable electronics aren't even considered for repair.

It should be noted I do not cook, thus my toaster oven is solely dedicated to the task of baking printed circuit boards. Tin and lead vapors/molecules in or on my food doesn't appeal much to me. Then again I prefer fast food, so...

Give it a baking in the toaster oven before you toss it, you may be pleasantly surprised at how perfect things come out. And you'll learn how stuff is assembled and disassembled in the process!

And for those of you that would like to use this information but need an inexpensive toaster oven, I found this one for you on Amazon:

The Single Most Important Book I Was Ever Exposed To

2010-09-07T12:56:00.001-04:00

When I was a kid, Ed Emberley's Make a World was a library book that my younger sister and I monopolized. One of us would check it out, and keep it for as long as possible, renewing it for the maximum number of times allowed. Then the other would grab it before the librarian could put it back on the shelf, and repeat the process.

We did this for years. I am really surprised my parents never bought us a copy, but to their credit, they remembered this and bought my daughter a copy when she was about 5 years old.

Ed Emberley teaches that if you can draw a few basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, lines, dots, and a few numbers and letters), you can draw anything that you can imagine. From building a heart shape from two circles and a triangle to more complicated things like castles, dragons, and even the Canadian flag, Ed shows how easy it really is.

But it's not "just a drawing book"...it's a whole lot more. It's a child's first technical how-to manual. It sets them on the right path for acquiring the skills needed to self-educate.

Image by Austin Kleon via Flickr

It's really good for teaching kids how to follow step-by-step instructions, especially ones that contain no text...a skill that will come in handy later in life if they have to build IKEA furniture.

It also teaches a valuable life skill by changing how you look at the world. It teaches that anything in life that seems too complicated and hard to do, is made much easier when you analyze it and break it down into much simpler parts. The earlier in life a child learns this, the more doors will be open to them, and the list of possibilities greatly increased.

It's not enough to tell a child that they can accomplish anything in life that they set their mind to. They need to be taught how, and this book is a great place to start.

Purchasing this book through my Amazon affiliate link will not increase your price and is a great way to show your appreciation to me for introducing you to this book.

CaSe Matters

2010-07-28T18:14:00.002-04:00

Budding young web designers and developers usually learn this pretty quick, when creating a page on Windows and not using the same case as the files and folders they are linking to. They often will use lowercase in all the URLs, regardless of the case of the actual file and folder names. And this will work fine when viewed on their Windows machine. But as soon as they upload it to a server that is running something else, like Linux, it stops working. Their page is full of broken images and dead links, because they used something like mypicture.jpg in place of the actual file name of MyPicture.jpg and about.html in place of the actual file name of About.html.

Or they upload an Index.html and wonder why when they visit their site they still see the default index.html page provided by their web host and why when they check on the server there are now two index files and not one.

For the domain name part of the URL it doesn't matter. That part is not case sensitive.

example.com is the same as Example.com is the same as EXAMPLE.com

For the rest of the URL it could matter, depending on what operating system is being run on the server that is hosting the site.

If the server is running Windows, case doesn't matter. The reason for this is because you can only have a single file or folder of a particular name in a folder, regardless of the case used in that file or folder name.

index.html is the same as Index.html is the same as INDEX.html

All three will lead to the same page.

In Windows, adding a file or folder of the same name with a different case to a folder, overwrites the original. Only one can exist.

If the server is running Linux, case matters, as you can have multiple files and folders of the same name within a folder, each having a different case.

index.html is not the same as Index.html and not the same as INDEX.html

In Linux adding a file or folder of the same name with a different case to a folder, does not overwrite the original. Linux will allow all three to exist in a folder, and each are considered different. If you change the case of a file or folder in the URL path and the server is running Linux, and that variation does not actually exist on the server, it will result in a 404.

And if you upload a file of the same name but a different case, it will not overwrite the original. You will have both on the server, and lowercase is the default index file. This is the reason why the place holder index.html supplied by your web host is still seen, even though you have uploaded your Index.html file, and why you see two index files when you view it in your FTP client.

It is always best to assume the server runs Linux when creating links to pages on the web and when typing URLs into the addressbar of your browser. It is the only way to ensure that if case matters, that you are using the correct URL.

It is also best to use all lowercase in the folder and file names of your website when creating the files and folders, regardless of what operating system you are using locally. Always assume the site will be run on a server that is case sensitive. That way there is a set standard of practice you follow that leaves less room for error.

Step 1, before you begin coding, should always be to fix all your file and folder names so you won't have to worry about it later.

How can you rank well on search engines, without fussing with SEO?

2010-07-02T16:07:00.002-04:00

If you want to rank well on search engines without fussing with SEO, then pretend it's 1995 and there are no search engines that will list you, because you can't afford the high fees for inclusion.

Now, how are you going to, in an ethical way, make people want to visit your site, stay awhile and explore, come back often, and share what they find with others?

Your site should work well and not be broken.

Make sure all links to pages on and off your site actually lead to where you want them to.
Make sure you don't have broken images.
Make sure the content loads correctly in all the major browsers.
Make sure your pages adhere to W3C standards and they validate.

Your site should be designed for people.

Make sure your template is pleasing to the eye and not painful to look at.
Make sure it has good navigation and is easy to discover and find the content your site has to offer. Good use of sidebar links to important stuff. Links to similar content pages on your site.
Make everything within 2-3 clicks of the main page.
Break up huge amounts of text with related images to help the eyes stay focused where they should be,
Your site should load fast. Use real thumbnails for your images and not just merely resizing with HTML.
Don't overwhelm people with ads.
Remove spam promptly.

Your site should invite people back.

Give your visitors multiple ways to be notified and access new content (RSS feeds, email subscription, follow on Twitter, a Facebook fan page.) Make sure new content reaches them wherever it's convenient to them.

Your site should encourage sharing.

Make sure you don't use frames. Every page should have its own unique URL that shows in the address bar.
Use Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Google Reader/Buzz buttons.

Your content should be unique and of high quality.

Don't copy other people's stuff, write your own.
Check your spelling and grammar.
Put thought into what you write.
If you post YouTube videos, add some unique commentary that doesn't exist anywhere else on the web.
For every sentence you quote from another source, write 3-5 of your own. So if you quote 3 sentences, you will have to write 9-15 to balance it. Don't quote in every article. Don't quote any more than what is necessary, less is much better than more.
If you are supplying information, make sure it is complete, accurate, and up to date.
Write about stuff people will care about enough to want read it. Don't write about what you had for lunch unless your a restaurant critic.
If your site is a blog, link out in every article to quality related content. Linking out to pages on other good blogs has the bonus in that it may earn you a trackback link on that page, or at the very least attract the eyes of the author of that blog who will stop by and check out who is linking to him.

Interact with your visitors and make them feel important.

Allow commenting and respond to comments as soon as humanly possible.
Give your visitors a means of contacting you privately, either by supplying an email address or a contact form.

Spread the word.

Become a highly respected member of a large community with similar content.. Put your link in your profile and signature. If people respect you, they will click the links.
Reach out to blogs by reading and participating in discussions. Never leave a "nice post" comment. Put some thought & work into your responses. You want to catch the attention of other readers and the bloggers themselves, and make them ask "Wow! Who is this guy?" so they will click your name and visit the site it links to. Always make your comments increase the value of that bloggers page.
Participate on social media sites and interact with people in a positive way. Get conversations going. Again, you want to make people ask "Who is that guy?" which will lead to them checking out who you are (your profile) and where you came from (your site).
Find an ad network that gives away free advertising. (I happen to really like Project Wonderful, personally)

If you do all of the above, quality inbound links will happen on their own and between the fact that others think high enough about you and your site to write about it and link to it, combined with having a great site, structurally, that makes it easy for spiders to find your content, you will get the ranking in the search engines that you deserve.

Above all, be patient, work hard, and don't engage in any "evil tricks". Good ranking does not happen overnight.

How to Get Google Buzz Alerts Out of Your Inbox (and keep them out)

2010-02-10T16:06:00.001-05:00

Google Buzz is the new social networking and sharing tool from Google that many are now trying out. It has a feature that some may find annoying:

Whenever you comment on an item, if anyone else comments after you, it is sent to your inbox, much in the same way as an incoming email. If you are especially active on Buzz, that could be a lot of stuff in your inbox, and for especially popular items, they could keep coming back like a bad penny.

There are two ways to stop it.

Stop following that item.
Create a filter to automatically label it, skip the inbox, and archive it.

Here is how you set up the filter:

Step 1: Open one of the items in your inbox.

Step 2: At the top, under the “More Actions” menu, select “Filter messages like these”.

(click image to view full size)

Step 3: Type “updates.google.com” in the “from” box and then type “Buzz” in the “Subject” box. Now click “Test search”. All of the Buzz items should show below the box. Click “Next Step”.

(click image to view full size)

Step 4: Place a check mark in “Skip the inbox” and “Apply the label”. Then select from the label dropdown list “New label” and type in “Google Buzz”. To archive and label the ones currently in your inbox, place a check mark in the box next to “Also apply filter to conversations below”. Then click “Create Filter” and you are done.

(click image to view full size)

From now on, instead of the messages ending up in your inbox, they will be archived under the label “Google Buzz” on the sidebar.

Forget getting more Twitter followers, here's how to keep the ones you have

2009-09-13T13:21:00.002-04:00

How to annoy people on Twitter (or at least me).

Don’t do these things and you will be more likely to keep the followers you have and get more followers by being recommended by them.

1. Copy & paste quotes from famous people instead of letting your followers read what you have to say.

2. Send them an automatic DM with a link to your crappy site, a free gift, or some valuable secret info you want to sell for the low price of $49, as your very first communication with them.

3. Send them a DM thanking them for following you when you are the one that just followed them first.

4. RT every link posted by Robert Scoble ASAP. Since we are all following him already, it's not likely we saw it when he posted it 30 seconds ago, right?

5. Tweet links to pages that look like a bad ebay ad, selling some new method of getting millions of twitter followers overnight, how to get your site on the front page of Digg, how to get tons of traffic for your website, or how to make a fortune on Adsense.

6. Do searches and tweet people you are not even following, attempting to sell them a $100 mini flashlight, just because they mentioned a flashlight in one of their tweets.

7. DM people unsolicited links to photos of your hairy scary ass or other equally ugly body parts that you really should keep covered.

8. TWEET IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

9. Tweet the same message 10 times in a row.

10. Make sure at least 1 tweet per hour contains the words "FREE LAPTOP".

11. Tell every Windows user to "just get a Mac"

12. At least 50% of your tweets should be about how great your iPhone is.

13. Have your ENTIRE lifestream feed into twitter from friendfeed, then go on a huge "like" spree with every LOLcat posted there in the last 6 months.

14. Follow and unfollow the same person repeatedly.

15. Publicly welcome every new follower you get.

16. #Make #every #word #in #your #tweets #into #hashtags #and #toss #in #a #few #extra #popular #but #irrelevant #ones #just #for #the #hell #of #it. #Don't #forget #to #finish #by #making #one #up #that #is #complete #nonsense. #ljhgliu

17. Use URL shortening services to make links that point to links already shortened by other shorteners.

18. Beg for retweets.

19. Post many tweets in a row for #followfriday with just a bunch of names and no explanation of why anyone should follow them. Every childless person on twitter should follow that stay-at-home mom that tweets diaper changing and toilet training tips, right?

20. Use a service that auto-tweets spammy paid ads from your account.

Adding RSS Feeds for Labels on Blogger

2009-08-17T01:41:00.001-04:00

If you take a look at the bottom of this page, you will see that in my Labels section (I called it Categories) that each one has its own feed icon, and that it’s set up to be displayed in multiple columns.

If you would like to know how to have feed icons like mine, with or without multiple columns, I have recently written an easy to follow tutorial to explain how.

What is especially nice about having individual feeds for your labels is that it allows your readers to subscribe just to the content they are interested in most and nothing more.

It also allows each individual author of a multi-author blog to each have their own personal feed, if you tag the posts with the author’s name.

http://appsapps.info/tutorials/rss-labels.html

AJ's Cleaner FriendFeed Widescreen Theme for K-Meleon

2009-05-01T01:53:00.002-04:00

AJ Batac has created a lovely theme for the new FriendFeed, that not only makes it look good, but adds in some extra functionality, like highlighting comments made by people you follow in yellow, and your own comments in blue, and a few other nice things.

Since you can't install GreaseMonkey in K-Meleon, you'll have to apply it using the userContent.css file. Don't worry, it's pretty easy to do.

First, in K-Meleon, go to the Edit menu and under Configuration, select User-Defined Stylesheet. This will open a file named userContent.css in Notepad.
Go to this page, locate and click the button that says Show code.
Copy all of the code, except for the first line that says @namespace url(http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml);
In the userContent.css file, go all the way to the bottom and locate the line that tells you not to edit anything below it.
Paste in the code you just copied, right above it.
Save the file.
Go here and say thank you to AJ.

Update: AJ released a new version on 5/29/2009. I corrected the link to point to the new version.

Fix Firefox Not Remembering to Keep You Logged Into Sites

2009-03-31T18:50:00.001-04:00

The Problem:

Lately, I have been hearing a lot of complaints from people that Firefox does not remember their preferences to stay logged into sites, after they close Firefox and run it again.

The Cause:

The cookie database file is corrupted.

The Fix:

WARNING: This will log you out of ALL sites till you log into them again!

You may also lose certain site preferences that depend on cookies. You may have to configure those again. These would not be settings that are stored on the site's server. They would be settings specific to your PC and not set if you used the same site from another computer. While it might be a bit of a bother to reconfigure them, it's not a common thing to store site preferences this way and it should only affect a very small number of sites, if any at all.

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Google search. If you have configured it to turn safe search off for images, set it to show more than 10 results per page, or to open links in a new tab or window, you will have to set it again.

You will not lose any saved password information stored in the password manager. You will only lose all of your cookies.

Ready?

Make sure Firefox is closed.
Go here:
- On 2k/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\(your name)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
- On Vista/Win7: C:\Users\(your name)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
- On Mac OS X: ~/Library/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/ or ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/
- On UNIX/Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/
In that folder you will find a folder that has a bunch of random letters & numbers for a name and ends with ".default".
Open that folder and find the file named "cookies.sqlite".
Delete "cookies.sqlite".
Run Firefox and log into all your sites again.

Firefox will create a new cookies.sqlite file with the necessary info and you shouldn't have a problem any more.

Converting and Encoding a URL Containing Extended ASCII Characters (Delphi utility with source)

2009-01-27T03:57:00.001-05:00

It has come to my attention that some programming languages do not always make it very easy to convert and encode a URL.

While helping someone with bug testing and adding Last.fm support to a media player, we came across a problem with opening URL's to the correct page on last.fm's site when the title, artist or other tag info contained extended ASCII characters.

Example:

Artist: Bjørn Lynne
Title: Methydias Cloudship

This would be the correct URL on their site for this song:

http://www.last.fm/music/Bj%C3%B8rn%20Lynne/_/Methydias%20Cloudship

But in AHK, which does not support unicode, attempting to come up with the URL resulted in this incorrect one:

http://www.last.fm/music/Bj%F8rn%20Lynne/_/Methydias%20Cloudship

The problem was that you have to convert the URL from Ansi to UTF-8 before you encode it.

At first he wasn't sure if he could fix the problem, as that was what he thought he was doing in the first place.

So, while he decided to take a break from bug fixing to go play with his kids, because all coding and no play can make a coder and his family miserable, I decided to go ahead and make a little helper utility for him, just in case he couldn't resolve the issue.

Now I am not too sure on the particular details of how he fixed it, but he did and didn't need my little utility, after all.

But I am not one to let code go to waste, and my intention was to help someone resolve a problem, so I decided that this code will still do just that, one way or another. I am pretty sure that there is someone out there somewhere that could find this useful for something.

So, here it is, a small command line utility for Windows that will accept a parameter of a URL containing extended ASCII characters, convert the URL to UTF-8, then properly encode it, and finally, open that URL in the system's default browser.

I have included the Delphi source in case you may need that, too.

While testing this with various browsers, I noticed something peculiar. Certain browsers will display the URL in the addressbar differently than what the URL actually is. Although it is properly converted and encoded, the addressbar will display the original extended ASCII. I suppose this is to make it look pretty.

The following browsers exhibited this behavior:

Firefox 3
Opera 9
Chrome 1

Additionally, while both Firefox and Chrome copied the correct URL to the clipboard from the addressbar, Opera did not.

Opera copied extended ASCII, instead.

Internet Explorer did not exhibit these behaviors and displayed the actual URL used, in the addressbar.

Rest assured, this application does work properly, even if your browser isn't displaying what you think it should be showing in its addressbar.

Now I don't care if you use either the code or the compiled utility in an open source or close source project, for non-commercial or commercial purposes, and you don't have to give me any credit or compensation if you use it.

My goal was to help someone and if this can help you in some way, feel free to use it in any way you wish. I have released both the utility and the source into the public domain.

This application and its source code is dedicated to the Public Domain.

Download: Delphi encodeURL utility with source

How to Download Microsoft TechNet Spotlight Videos

2009-01-12T02:11:00.002-05:00

Microsoft offers a lot of great presentations on their TechNet Spotlight site.

The problem is that for some of them they will offer downloads, and some they will not, or they will not offer everything for download, as is the case with the Advanced Malware Cleaning presentation. They only offer the Powerpoint slides for it.

What if I don't want to or can't install Silveright? What if I want the high or low resolution video for offline viewing? Or the audio, too? Or what if I have issues with streaming the video and need to have a local copy in order to view it, at all?

I have seen some tutorials that require you to use various applications such as URL Snooper, Firebug, and VLC media player, to obtain an .asf file, but doing it that way is making it much more complicated than it has to be. Besides, you can't get everything. All you can get is a lower quality video intended for streaming purposes.

There is a simple solution, though. Whether the materials are offered with a download link on the page, or not, they do exist at the following URL's:

Powerpoint (ppt or pptx): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_pres.zip

Video - Hi Res (wmv): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_high.zip

Video - Lo Res (wmv): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_low.zip

Audio (wma): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_audio.zip

Just replace 2 XXX's with the number of the presentation, which in the case of the Advanced Malware Cleaning one, would be 359.

Add a TwitThis Button to your Blogger posts

2009-01-02T15:01:00.005-05:00

Wouldn't it be great if you could add a button to every post that would make it easy for your visitors to share your posts with their followers on Twitter?

The following is instructions to do just that, for Blogger layout based blogs.

Using the information at TwitThis, I was able to tweak their bookmarklet code a bit and use the image from one of the other codes to create this one that works in Blogger.

This will require you to edit the HTML of your template. While I have tried to make this as easy as possible, those that don't feel comfortable with this, should not try it.

The button will only show on post pages and not the main page of your blog. It's not wise to do this any other way, as the URL that will be supplied on Twitter will be the URL of the page in which your button is clicked. If it is on the main page, the post may not be there when someone reads the entry on Twitter or FriendFeed, and it is likely not to win you any new loyal readers, so use this only on post pages.

I have also added some comments in the code that will make it much easier for you to add additional buttons in the future, and have them appear on all pages or just post pages.

NOTE: If you have added the Google Reader code from one of my other posts, then you just need to add only the yellow TwitThis code above or below the Google Reader one. If you have not added that one, then you need to use ALL of the code.

1. On your Blogger Dashboard, click the Layout link for the blog you want to add the button to.

2. At the top of the Layout page, click the link for Edit HTML.

3. Where it says "Backup/Restore Template", click the link that says "Download Full Template" and save the .xml file to your hard drive. This file will help you restore your template, in case anything goes wrong.

4. In the "Edit Template" section, check the box at the top right that says "Expand Widget Templates".

5. Use your browser's search function to find this line:

<div class='post-footer'>

6. Find the 2 lines in your template that look like this:

<div class='post-footer'>
<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>

7. Copy and paste the following code between those 2 lines:

<div>
<p><span id='footer-buttons'>


<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>




<a href='javascript:(function(){TwitThisPop=window.open(%22http://twitthis.com/twit?url=%22+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+%22&title=%22+((document.title)%20?%20encodeURIComponent(document.title.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g,%27%27))%20:%20%22%22),%20%22TwitThisPop%22,%20%22width=600,%20height=500,%20location,%20status,%20scrollbars,%20resizable,%20dependent=yes%22);%20setTimeout(%22TwitThisPop.focus()%22,%20100);%20})()'><img alt='TwitThis' src='http://ajax.twitthis.com/chuug.twitthis.resources/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif' style='border:none;'/></a>




</b:if>
</span></p>
</div>

8. Click the button at the bottom of the page that says "Save Template".

If you get any red errors, leave a comment stating the specific error message, and I will try to help you out. If you get any errors beginning with "bX-", just try again tomorrow. Sometimes Blogger has issues with itself and waiting a bit can resolve them.

9. Look at your blog. If you have done this correctly, the button should appear on post pages only, and not the main page. Test the button by clicking it on a post and sharing one of your posts on Twitter.

10. If you would like to add other buttons to the footer of your posts, the comments in the code will help you decide where to put your button codes. One place will show on all pages, and the other will only show on post pages.

Credits: 99% of the credit for this goes to TwitThis. I just tweaked it to work on Blogger. No big deal.

EDIT 10-16-2009: Image URL was changed (Thanks Alex!)

Add a "Share This in Google Reader" Button to Your Blogger Posts

2008-10-08T11:49:00.005-04:00

Wouldn't it be great if you could add a button to every post that would make it easy for your visitors to share your posts with their friends in Google Reader, even if they don't subscribe to your feed?

The following is instructions to do just that, for Blogger layout based blogs. (Blogger Classic, Wordpress, and basic static HTML page instructions will be posted soon.)

This will require you to edit the HTML of your template. While I have tried to make this as easy as possible, those that don't feel comfortable with this, should not try it.

The button will only show on post pages and not the main page of your blog. It's not wise to do this any other way, as the URL that will be supplied in Google Reader will be the URL of the page in which your button is clicked. If it is on the main page, the post may not be there when someone reads the entry in someone's shared items, and it is likely not to win you any new loyal readers, so use this only on post pages.

I have also added some comments in the code that will make it much easier for you to add addional buttons in the future, and have them appear on all pages or just post pages.

1. On your Blogger Dashboard, click the Layout link for the blog you want to add the button to.

2. At the top of the Layout page, click the link for Edit HTML.

3. Where it says "Backup/Restore Template", click the link that says "Download Full Template" and save the .xml file to your hard drive. This file will help you restore your template, in case anything goes wrong.

4. In the "Edit Template" section, check the box at the top right that says "Expand Widget Templates".

5. Use your browser's search function to find this line:

<div class='post-footer'>

6. Find the 2 lines in your template that look like this:

<div class='post-footer'>
<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>

7. Copy and paste the following code between those 2 lines:

<div>
<p><span id='footer-buttons'>


<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>



<a href='javascript:var%20b=document.body;var%20GR________bookmarklet_domain="http://www.google.com";if(b&&!document.xmlVersion){void(z=document.createElement("script"));void(z.src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/link-bookmarklet.js");void(b.appendChild(z));}else{}'>
<img alt='Share this in Google Reader' border='0' src='http://appsapps.info/blog/blogspot-layouts/gr-small.png'/></a>


</b:if>
</span></p>
</div>

8. Click the button at the bottom of the page that says "Save Template".

If you get any red errors, leave a comment stating the specific error message, and I will try to help you out. If you get any errors beginning with "bX-", just try again tomorrow. Sometimes Blogger has issues with itself and waiting a bit can resolve them.

9. Look at your blog. If you have done this correctly, the button should appear on post pages only, and not the main page. Test the button by clicking it on a post and sharing one of your posts in Google Reader.

10. If you would like to add other buttons to the footer of your posts, the comments in the code will help you decide where to put your button codes. One place will show on all pages, and the other will only show on post pages.

11. If you would like a larger button than the one that shows when you use this code, find the word "small" in the file name of the image URL used, and replace it with "large".

5 Tips for Studying with All Your Senses

2008-05-09T17:19:00.003-04:00

Most students need to study if they want to do well. There is no denying this fact. But for each student, and for each subject, the method of studying that is most effective will vary. One thing that is for sure, is that they will be using one or more of their 5 senses to accomplish it:

taste
touch
smell
sight
hearing

Which one works best is an individual thing. And most traditional study methods miss some of your senses.

For the next few weeks, try these and see if you get better results from the time you invest in studying:

Taste: Hey, Mom! Did you know candy can help your kids get better grades? And I don't mean as a bribe or reward for a job well done. I am referring to using candy as a study tool.

Lifesavers or any type of hard candy that comes in a variety of fruit flavors will work for this. Pick a different flavor for each subject and don't change flavors for it. (math = raspberry, english = pineapple, etc)

Whenever you are studying that subject, suck on a candy of the flavor selected for that subject. When it is time to take the test, tuck that subject's flavor in your mouth. This will help you recall info you learned while experiencing that flavor in the past.

TIP: Try not to eat any when you are not actively participating in something to do with that subject, as you don't want to associate other memories with the flavors.

Touch: While studying, drape a piece of fabric of a particular texture on your lap. Pick a different one for each subject. (velvet, satin, corduroy, flannel, denim, etc) Keep one hand on your lap in contact with that fabric, while studying, moving it around so you get the feeling of it and can associate it with the subject you are studying.

When it comes time to take the test, wear pants or a skirt made of the fabric that matches the subject. (lucky history pants, you might call it) This works the same way as the candies, associating your sense of touch with memory of the info learned while feeling it.

Female students can use this study tip a bit more easily than the guys, since they can get away with wearing more textures than the guys can. Unfortunately, if you are a guy you may be limited in the number of choices for textures that you can wear and you certainly wouldn't want to be laughed at for bringing your 'blankie' to class.

Smell: If you are using the candies from the taste method, you will get the benefits of smell as well, since those two senses are tied together. I could suggest candles or something similar, but the smell would be very difficult to take with you and duplicate at test time.

Sight: This is the one sense that is used most while studying, but most students don't use it to its fullest potential. Sure you are using your eyes when you study, but you probably aren't using them effectively.

Try writing out the material you need to learn in different colors, changing colors with each point. Decorate with a small related doodle for each. Try organizing it like a web page, with header and footer sections, where you write all the way across the page at the top and bottom, and at least 2 columns for the body of it. You might also want to break up the center section with an additional section where you write all the way across the page like at the top & bottom. It doesn't matter what goes in each section, just important that there is a lot visual variety to the page.

When it comes time to take the test, you might not be able to recall the info at first, but if you can visualize the page you wrote, remembering the position, the color, or the doodle may help you remember the words you wrote before.

I am a visual learner and never had to study for a test because I took my original notes in the way I just described.

Many years ago I had a history teacher that used to tease me in class, in front of everyone, for writing with a huge 10 color pen. Then one day he collected everyone's notebooks (because note taking was part of your grade) and saw what I had been doing with that big fat pen all this time.

He publicly appologized, passed my notebook around the class for all to see, suggested that everyone learn from my method, and promised never to tease me for writing with a "log" again.

Hearing: Turn off the radio, tv, etc. and go where it is quiet and nobody will be adding any distracting noise to your environment. (no, a library isn't good for this one)

Record yourself reading your notes, and play it back a few times. Yes, I know you hate the sound of your own voice, everyone does...but that is one of the keys to why this works.

While you are absorbing the material by hearing it, you are also making mental notes criticizing your own voice at various points, either consciously or unconsciously. They will help later when you take the test, to be able to stop, and then play back the audio in your head to recall the information again.

If you incorporate all of these methods of studying, within a few months you will know which ones you are relying on most for recalling information. Some subjects you are studying may require different methods, so keep the ones that work for that subject and stop using the ones that don't.

Good luck on your next big test. Let me know how it works out for you.

Free Course: Computer Programming I (using C)

2007-11-13T05:43:00.001-05:00

University of Washington CSE 142 - Computer Programming I

This is a complete basic introductory course (using C) for beginners that have no previous programming experience, that was offered at the University of Washington during the fall of 2000 (taught by Martin Dickey).

If you have never studied programming, this course was designed for you.

Access to slides, homework assignments & solutions, exams & solutions (everything except the lectures and quizzes):
http://www.online.cs.washington.edu/cse142/

Here are the lecture videos. It may seem as if they are listed out of order, but they are actually in the proper order in which they should be viewed. Whoever uploaded them numbered them wrong. The entire set of videos is Closed Captioned.

Lecture 1: Overview and Welcome
Lecture 2: Problems, Algorithms and Programs
Lecture 3: Variables, Values and Types
Lecture 4: Arithmetic Expressions
Lecture 5: Input and Output (I/O)
Lecture 23: Style
Lecture 6: Conditionals
Lecture 7: Functions
Lecture 8: Function Parameters
Lecture 9: Iteration
Lecture 10: Loop Development and Program Schemas
Lecture 11: Complex Conditionals
Lecture 12: Functions and Design
Lecture 27: Switch Statement
Lecture 24: Structuring Program Files
Lecture 13: Pointer Parameters
Lecture 14: Arrays
Lecture 15: Linear & Binary Search
Lecture 16: Sorting
Lecture 17: Multidimensional Arrays
Lecture 18: Structures
Lecture 19: Strings
Lecture 21: File Input/Output
Lecture 20: Nested Data Structures
Lecture 26: Recursion
Lecture 25: Recursive Binary Search
Lecture 22: Course Wrap-up and Review

If you want to download them for offline viewing, you can use this site with the URL's provided above.

The textbook they used in this course:
Problem Solving and Program Design in C (Hanly and Koffman)

How to impress your boss

2007-10-16T19:35:00.001-04:00

This will either get you a raise...or get you fired.

The Diet

2006-12-18T10:42:00.001-05:00

I decided to stop thinking about it and just do it...start the diet....today.

The way it works:

Fruits, vegetables, beans: They don't count ...eat as much as you want.

Grains: Whole grains are 1 point per serving. Anything else would be 2 points per serving.

Dairy products: 1 point for every gram of fat, 1 extra point for being an animal product.

Meat & Seafood: 1 point for every gram of fat, 1 extra point for being an animal product.

Candy: 1 point for every gram of fat, 1 extra point for being loaded with sugar and not having any real nutritional value.

Alcohol: off limits.

Anything else is 1 point per gram of fat and an extra point if it contains sugar, honey, or any other high calorie sweetener.

The idea is to stay under 20 points per day for 6 days in a row. Eat whatever you please the 7th day. Then repeat.

The best way to break this down would be 3 meals a day and 1 snack...each limited to about 5 points.

Now before you just jump up and say "I can do this!", I must warn you, it's not as easy as it sounds and the first week is the toughest.

You will be thinking of all the things you can't have...thinking there isn't anything you can have. You will get frustrated, feel deprived.

But soon you will change the attitude and fall into a different sort of thinking, and focusing on what you can eat instead. That's when the fun begins. You will start getting quite creative with your cooking.

Another warning: It is almost impossible to keep this diet and eat meat. This works best as a vegan diet, or at the very least, a vegetarian one.

If you are worried about getting enough protien, remember that there are other sources of protien in this world other than meat, and you can eat all the beans you want. Dairy products kill 2 nutrition birds with 1 stone, so take advantage of low fat & fat free in that category, in place of meat.

If you find yourself having a serious craving for something, and you don't want to blow it, and you can't limit yourself to just a tiny taste, just put it off till your treat day.

That's right...it's a TREAT day...not a cheat day. This is the key to success. Taking that 1 day off a week allows you to have all the things you are depriving yourself of and makes your chances of sticking to this diet greater. You can't undo 6 days of super healthy eating in 1 day! So don't worry about it on day 7 and just be happy treating yourself. This is the day without guilt! It would be a great day to go out to dinner to a restaurant with family or friends and not have to worry if there is anything on the menu you can actually eat. Your social life shouldn't have to suffer just because you are on a diet. Social drinking is allowed on treat day, as long as it's done in moderation, so go ahead and have a beer or glass of wine with dinner.

And yes...you have to take that day off each week. You can't skip that or make it less frequent. The idea isn't to become some super hero known as "Diet Woman" or "Diet Man". The idea is to be serious about being healthy, and serious about not setting yourself up for failure.

A note about eating out: If you want to eat out with friends and family on a day other than your treat day, consider Chinese food. You can always get stuff that is steamed rather than fried at most Chinese restaurants. Or pick some place that has a fantastic all you can eat salad bar packed full of healthy stuff, like Charlie Brown's (I don't know if you have this restaurant in your area, most locations are in NJ)

Now I haven't decided if I am going to post my daily menu, because then I would feel like I have to provide all my recipes along with it and that would be a lot of work putting it all together to post every day.

How to Share Your Pandora Music Stations

2006-12-17T07:59:00.000-05:00

At mouser's request, I wrote and posted a detailed tutorial giving 2 different methods of sharing individual stations from Pandora.com with others.

The first method is for those that have and use rss readers.

The second method is a bit more of a pain in the butt, but anybody can do it without an rss reader.

Complete with screenshots, a link to my Pandora rss feed, and a station of Christmas music that I just made.

http://www.donationcoder.com/blog/?item=756

Enjoy and post your Pandora links for the rest of us to listen to.

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