tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51088942024-03-05T12:50:52.934+01:00SHALLOW HACKER ㋡Welcome, please be safe, thanks so much for visiting, I'm not a hacker, but young me wanted to be ;-)Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.comBlogger299125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-10378890272899952842021-06-09T01:10:00.015+02:002021-06-24T00:49:31.458+02:00TokenHome liquid real estate<h2 style="text-align: left;">Introduction</h2><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;">This post is inspired by <a href="https://nftplazas.com/labs-group-real-estate-nft">this article</a> I read on 7th June 2021. Since no details were provided I decided to design my own implementation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 16px;">TokenHome is a fictitious platform that</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> makes real estate more liquid, not only giving those with less disposable income access to the benefits of real estate investment, but also providing home owners with a flexible way to safely borrow against their home without fear of losing their home (as with legacy mortgages).</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;">I’ll update the post if any new caveats, insights, etc come to mind, so watch this space.</p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">This is how it works. </span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">The actors involved</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">“homeowner” who wants to safely borrow against their home</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">“tokenholder” who wants to invest in the property market in a tokenised way (will become clear below)</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">“TokenHome” the ficticious organisation that matches homeowner and tokenholder and acts as an intermediary. [I've since discovered that 1 or more real entities exist that use the name "TokenHome". This post has nothing whatsoever do with any real company or organisation of any kind. "TokenHome" is used here in a 100% ficticious context.]</span></li></ul><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">What happens from the homeowner’s point of view?</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The homeowner wants to borrow against their home so they approach TokenHome.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The homeowner can choose an amount they want to borrow from TokenHome. They pick an amount and a duration for the loan. They can pick more than one combination, e.g. a €50k loan for 5 years and a €5k loan for 1 year.</span></li></ul><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">What does TokenHome do?</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">TokenHome creates a basket of tokens for each loan duration, where the value of each loan is divided amongst the tokens.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">E.g. Continuing the above example that would be 2 baskets, one contains tokens the total of which represents €50k; the other tokens that collectively represent €5k</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">For simplicity let’s say the 50k basket is divided into 50000 tokens each with a loan value of €1; the 5k is divided into 5000 tokens each with a loan value of €1</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The tokens are put up for sale on TokenHome’s web3 marketplace. This can also be an auction.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">When all the tokens in a basket are sold to any number of buyers the homeowner and a representative from TokenHome pay a visit to a solicitor and a new deed for the property is drawn up in which the ownership of the house is divided legally between the homeowner and TokenHome according to the % loan amount relative to the latest official value of the house (WOZ).</span></li></ul><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">What does the homeowner do now?</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The homeowner receives the proceeds of the token sale (minus half the solicitor fees - the token buyer pays the other half (not TokenHome). </span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The interest on the loan is the increase in WOZ value. </span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The homeowner can chose one of two courses of action:</span></li><ul class="ul1"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">Either repay the loan before the deadline + the weighted difference in WOZ value + the solicitors fee (to update the property deeds). In this case TokenHome must comply, the loan repayment incl any WOZ difference is paid out to tokenholders and the tokens destroyed. Note that the payout may be identical to the value paid for the tokens for short term loans, so there must also be a reward system for tokenholders that either involves transaction fees or the utility tokens (see later on). There are now numerous existing tokenomics models from which a suitable reward system can be adopted.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">Or not repay the loan. In this case TokenHome is no longer obliged to “sell” their stake in the property back to the homeowner. The deeds remain as they are until sale of the house, at which point the homeowner is legally bound (also arranged when deeds were modified) to sell the property at minimally the WOZ value.</span></li><ul class="ul1"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">TokenHome is legally bound to comply to the sale at this point, but homeowner can be offered the option to sell only their share of the property to the buyer. (The buyer would of course be made aware of everything). This may be attractive to the homeowner in a difficult market, as the buyer may be happy to pay less for the same house, even if it means they don’t have 100% ownership.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">If the buyer chooses to sell 100%, the token holders receive their relative share of the proceeds and the tokens are destroyed.</span></li></ul></ul></ul><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">And what about the token holders of nobody is selling?!</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">When a property is sold, whether or not TokenHome’s name stays on the deeds, TokenHome will unlock any profit the token holder may have made on the sale for withdrawal. The token holder can take it or leave it. </span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">Token holders can sell their token at any time they choose on the open market (interwebs). The underlying asset will be viewable on the TokenHome marketplace, including WOZ value. Any unclaimed profits made from house sales will also be visible. </span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">TokenHome has no obligation to buy back tokens from tokenholders, although they are free to make offers to <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>buy tokens from tokenholders like anyone else.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">Tokenholders never have any right to the property. They are purchasing a financial instrument. Clearly TokenHome will need to comply to NL’s new strict crypto law, as well as having the necessary licenses to issue financial instruments (the tokens - see also below)</span></li></ul><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"></span><br /></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">The relationship to crypto</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">TokenHome will be a DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation) secured by PoS (proof of stake) and structured according the latest best practices for DAOs, regarding:</span></li><ul class="ul1"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">governance (decision making). This will use a voting system linked to size of stake of governance token (see below) </span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">tokenomics, which includes things like token types, supply, distribution etc. For example it is common at the moment to use a utility token for transaction fees etc and a governance token, for establishing a stake in voting on governance of the DAO.</span></li></ul><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The utility token and the governance token have nothing to do with the tokenised loans however. For these non-fungible tokens will be used, now well known as NFTs. There are already standards for NFTs (one really, ERC-721) although it tends to be customised somewhat depending on the use case. The standardisation ensures such things as wallet compatibility at least.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2">The project would do well to start on Ethereum, but in parallel work on launching on multiple L1 and/or L2 networks, such as Polygon, Cardano, Kusama, Solana, Near.</span></li></ul><div><br /></div><h2 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;">Real estate market value</h2><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.1px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">The Dutch real estate market approx total value in 2019 was $184.3 Billion. Considering the large gains in the property market, I'd say this is likely to be ></span><span style="font-size: 16px;">$</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">200B today [24th June 2021] (</span><a href="https://tinyurl.com/globalrealestate1920" style="font-size: 16px;">https://tinyurl.com/globalrealestate1920</a><span style="font-size: 16px;">).</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">If that entire market was captured on a crypto platform it would currently come in at number 3 after Ethereum and before the stablecoin Tether.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;">Global real estate is today likely to be ><span style="font-size: 16px;">$</span>10 Trillion, considering it was just under this in 2019.</p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;">That's approximately 14x the Bitcoin market cap and 7.5x the market cap of all crypto as it stands today [24th June 2021]. It's only 5x the total crypto market cap at its recent all-time-high on 12th May 2021, but all in all a significant figure. </p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><h2 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;">Addenda</h2><div><br /></div><div>Updates that don't fit neatly into the blurb above.</div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 16px;">Non-profit DAO</span></h3><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of critical importance is that TokenHome is not a monolithic enterprise slurping up real estate for profit. This needs to be a NON-PROFIT organisation (DAO), so that small groups of individuals cannot funnel profit from any of the properties owned by TokenHome into their own pockets. TokenHome takes small transaction fees for the various interactions made. These go into the treasury. Any profits made from property sales, where TokenHome owns a % of the property go to NFT holders. If TokenHome holds NFTs, then these profits will either be distributed (airdropped) amongst holders of TokenHome’s utility token ($TOKHOM) or go into the treasury or both. It’s probably wise however that TokenHome NEVER holds NFTs.</li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A non-profit that owns huge swathes of real estate is much friendlier than a for-profit owning huge swathes of real estate. </li></ul><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Solicitors and activities in the physical world</h3><div><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Since we don’t live in a fully fledged crypto world yet, there will be activities that need to be carried out physically: phone calls, meetings, deeds being signed in front of solicitors, etc. How will this work.</li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The DAO will delegate these activities to solicitors and selection and delegation will be done by the DAO proposing and voting. As with other existing crypto DAOs, there will be a governance token ($TOKGOV) and % ownership of this token = stake in voting. </li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ideally, once a number of solicitors have been vetted and selected, the delegation of activities will be randomised. Perhaps randomness will be weighted by % governance stake. This reduces the risk of bias/ bad actors etc. Perhaps parties involved in the day-to-day activities - e.g. the solicitors- would need to operate in a PoS manner, perhaps even with an additional token, so that they also have something to lose by being bad actors.</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Netherlands ⇒ Global</h3><div><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Although this concept has been written up from a Dutch viewpoint, the goal of the DAO should be to establish a legal non-profit entity in as many countries in the world as possible in order to give everyone everywhere access to the 2-sided benefits of this platform (exposure to the real estate market and risk-free borrowing, as stated above).</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Critical legal stuff (critical to the health and survival of the platform)</h3><div><div><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">NFT holders never ever ever have a legal claim on the underlying assets. In order to prevent powerful entities grabbing up actual real estate. This needs to be made legally watertight.</li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Every single NFT is always backed 1-to-1 with a tangible asset. This is outlined in the main text, only reiterated here for its importance. NFTs are only actually sold to buyers (this may not be entirely clear above) when the deeds of the property have been legally updated passing the % ownership to TokenHome. So when NFTs are put up for sale on the marketplace, it’s a case of buyers committing to a purchase and locking funds, but these do not pass to TokenHome until the deeds are modified, at which point the purchases are finalised and the NFTs transferred to the buyers. If the deeds do not get updated, buyers’ funds will simply be released. </li><li class="li2" style="font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Since the DAO will potentially own large amounts of real estate (globally) the power distribution and rules surrounding the DAO must be very carefully formulated to ensure that no one entity can take control. </li></ul></div></div><div><br /></div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-52177746721255862162015-09-24T14:36:00.001+02:002015-09-24T14:37:31.124+02:00Get Facebook Notifications on Chrome DesktopJust visit the mobile Facebook site <a href="http://m.facebook.com/">http://m.facebook.com</a> in the Google Chrome desktop browser and you will be prompted to allow notifications. If you accept, Chrome will enable Facebook notifications, which will appear in the bottom right corner of your PC.<br />
Sick of seeing them? Just follow these steps to switch notifications in Chrome off: <a href="https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?hl=en">https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?hl=en</a>.<br />
<br />Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-82062191841014365282015-04-19T03:40:00.000+02:002015-04-22T02:15:28.157+02:00Run Android Apps in Google Chrome Browser (yes really!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNPHEJVl8471PXe-_HURZyRecetPyWjFYHl8nITv1x-RTrurpN7x5YWqRrv74ta5-gCDxpeAQ2R99ZU36eWKLBXljWzmBW9b7urHv0lSEpsEVAHcqzRkyaqWcIDY2ENwrac1LtA/s1600/Candy-Crush-under-Chrome.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNPHEJVl8471PXe-_HURZyRecetPyWjFYHl8nITv1x-RTrurpN7x5YWqRrv74ta5-gCDxpeAQ2R99ZU36eWKLBXljWzmBW9b7urHv0lSEpsEVAHcqzRkyaqWcIDY2ENwrac1LtA/s1600/Candy-Crush-under-Chrome.png" height="332" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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This guide will show you how to run Android apps in Chrome.<br />
You can run Play Store and non-Play Store apps. You just need the APK file for the app. I'll show you how to download the APK file for Google Play Store apps. For non-play Store apps you'll need to figure out how to get the APK yourself.<br />
Then you can run Android apps like Candy Crush (not sure if that will be convince or deter you!) on your desktop just using the Google Chrome browser!<br />
<br />
<b>Follow these steps.</b><br />
<ol>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXezdpWlEVoTX0XGcFO-l7CpLGK4v10LdCxT2kNf2qv5QY6GNQFUh7o_EUg7Am23kfxdZx87hucH-dq2IpZnsq0BDn9UrV73BQwNfpZYUFPEpuJNVUJKL8nd57NTgJQ1d0AjnxA/s1600/Chrome-apps-icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>
<li>Install the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-welder/emfinbmielocnlhgmfkkmkngdoccbadn">ARC Welder</a> app in Google Chrome. (This is a <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc">proper Google developer app</a>)</li>
<li>In Chrome, click the "Apps" button in the Bookmarks bar.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXezdpWlEVoTX0XGcFO-l7CpLGK4v10LdCxT2kNf2qv5QY6GNQFUh7o_EUg7Am23kfxdZx87hucH-dq2IpZnsq0BDn9UrV73BQwNfpZYUFPEpuJNVUJKL8nd57NTgJQ1d0AjnxA/s1600/Chrome-apps-icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXezdpWlEVoTX0XGcFO-l7CpLGK4v10LdCxT2kNf2qv5QY6GNQFUh7o_EUg7Am23kfxdZx87hucH-dq2IpZnsq0BDn9UrV73BQwNfpZYUFPEpuJNVUJKL8nd57NTgJQ1d0AjnxA/s1600/Chrome-apps-icon.png" /></a> This button is on the bookmarks toolbar, so you might need to go to Chrome settings, then "Bookmarks" > "Show bookmarks bar" to display it. Or go to the local apps page directly: <a href="chrome://apps/">chrome://apps/</a>.</li>
<li>Run the ARC Welder app with the following icon.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEispC1kSe3Tbcz1dPQ4HrRzw4kWbjVu8upXXleKcFJs3jcOXc8eOTZhLU_hAgerTV-dBTUm0uxHsmVIY43bdy9w4J6No2OnHDTpPGP5pfo7tqo9feH2wUepQHSKIDsbmqmtelrhdA/s1600/ARC-welder-app.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEispC1kSe3Tbcz1dPQ4HrRzw4kWbjVu8upXXleKcFJs3jcOXc8eOTZhLU_hAgerTV-dBTUm0uxHsmVIY43bdy9w4J6No2OnHDTpPGP5pfo7tqo9feH2wUepQHSKIDsbmqmtelrhdA/s1600/ARC-welder-app.png" height="200" width="169" /></a></li>
<li>Click the round orange plus button and select your Android app's APK file (for non-Play Store apps you need to acquire the APK from whatever )<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEFZJOlLGE6ODtEdA1d7w7w4da3eJBspdLgc_MHQDnp0eB8keathKkC_KnApViBPXLagSR7UpUB-wSWZ2zwPxaPTrrU4PmdyUG-r7muODhODSJvxpfRE0VIvdvBpgAO5wU0eVBAA/s1600/ARC-welder-pick-APK.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEFZJOlLGE6ODtEdA1d7w7w4da3eJBspdLgc_MHQDnp0eB8keathKkC_KnApViBPXLagSR7UpUB-wSWZ2zwPxaPTrrU4PmdyUG-r7muODhODSJvxpfRE0VIvdvBpgAO5wU0eVBAA/s1600/ARC-welder-pick-APK.png" height="171" width="200" /></a></li>
<ul>
<li>If you don't already have the APK file and want to get it from Play Store, do the following:</li>
<ol type="a">
<li>**UPDATE** before using the APK Downloader extension described in steps (b) to (f) below, you could try getting the APK via <a href="http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/">http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/</a>. If you'd prefer downloading direct from the Play Store, continue following steps (b) to (f) below. (credit for this tip: <a href="http://ubuntuportal.com/2015/04/how-to-run-android-apps-with-app-runtime-for-chrome-arc-welder-in-ubuntu.html">ubuntuportal.com</a>)</li>
<li>Install the <a href="http://codekiem.com/2014/08/07/official-apk-downloader-v2-download-apk-files-from-google-play-store-to-pc/">APK Downloader extension</a> (Note! the Chrome version of this extension did not work for me, the APK downloads failed. I had to use the Firefox version of the extension instead. So if you have Firefox, I recommend trying with Firefox first.)</li>
<li>Go to the Play Store page of the Android app you want (e.g. <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp">WhatsApp</a>)</li>
<li>Click the "Download APK" button.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKeHRMRZ9AonQRos4NmkcWCEtDZbUf2_mc1jO8mZ1AzRpnJbRrPbjvrv6Lz7HJopYIe873yZ0CGlu9u2owV9UY2PUc3g6ijrdQa51P81CouZjoeuWfRBkzASVWMiRIdXfaWTqiA/s1600/whatsapp-play-store.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKeHRMRZ9AonQRos4NmkcWCEtDZbUf2_mc1jO8mZ1AzRpnJbRrPbjvrv6Lz7HJopYIe873yZ0CGlu9u2owV9UY2PUc3g6ijrdQa51P81CouZjoeuWfRBkzASVWMiRIdXfaWTqiA/s1600/whatsapp-play-store.png" height="134" width="320" /></a></li>
<li>The first time you click "Download APK" you will be redirected to the APK Downloader options page, where you need to fill in your:</li>
<ul>
<li>Google email address.</li>
<li>Google password (if you don't like the idea of typing your Google password into a third party app, you could turn on <a href="https://www.google.com/landing/2step/">2-step verification</a> for your Google account and generate a device-specific password instead.) </li>
<li>Android device ID (use <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.redphx.deviceid">this Android app</a> to get it). Note, unfortunately you need to have a valid Android device ID that is associated to your Google account. If you don't have a physical Android device, you could install and run an Android emulator like <a href="http://www.bluestacks.com/">Bluestacks</a>, <a href="http://www.andyroid.net/">AndY</a>, <a href="http://www.amiduos.com/">DuOS</a>, or <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/android-x86/">Android-x86</a>, register it on your Google account and use the device ID from the emulator (get it using <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.redphx.deviceid">this Android app</a>).</li>
<ul>
</ul>
<li>After entering the email, password and device ID you can pick Android version and device name. If you're not sure what you want, just choose "Jelly Bean 4.3" and "Samsung Galaxy S5". If you run into problems with the app later on, perhaps come back and pick a different version here.</li>
<ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Once you've saved the APK Downloader settings, click the "Download APK" button again in Play Store to download your APK.</li>
</ol>
</ul>
<li>ARC Welder will offer you some options. Decide what you want then press "Launch App". The Android app will now be launched in a separate window (it might take a few seconds, or maybe longer for larger more complex apps). The app will now be accessible in the Chrome Apps tab. Type "chrome://apps/" in the address bar or press the "Apps" button in the Chrome toolbar to get there.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXezdpWlEVoTX0XGcFO-l7CpLGK4v10LdCxT2kNf2qv5QY6GNQFUh7o_EUg7Am23kfxdZx87hucH-dq2IpZnsq0BDn9UrV73BQwNfpZYUFPEpuJNVUJKL8nd57NTgJQ1d0AjnxA/s1600/Chrome-apps-icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXezdpWlEVoTX0XGcFO-l7CpLGK4v10LdCxT2kNf2qv5QY6GNQFUh7o_EUg7Am23kfxdZx87hucH-dq2IpZnsq0BDn9UrV73BQwNfpZYUFPEpuJNVUJKL8nd57NTgJQ1d0AjnxA/s1600/Chrome-apps-icon.png" /></a></li>
<li>If you want to change the settings of your Android app, for example make it fullscreen (very useful for video apps like Showbox or Koekoek TV!) then delete the app from the Chrome apps overview and run ARC Welder again with different settings to reinstall the app from the APK. Note, to run apps full-screen, choose "Maximised".<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2nGXz2JBGMQjcxLp1DpK4af6RS0mB4JqeEqEMsWrt-2fM1sk00unRZqne35FCD8uPYUyMw7kMu0pRShilvDVzDzYpbrSDNwb8eYCvWT7cUb__dWj10_fDygq-NffgJ0IySpfWQ/s1600/arc-welder-app-settings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2nGXz2JBGMQjcxLp1DpK4af6RS0mB4JqeEqEMsWrt-2fM1sk00unRZqne35FCD8uPYUyMw7kMu0pRShilvDVzDzYpbrSDNwb8eYCvWT7cUb__dWj10_fDygq-NffgJ0IySpfWQ/s1600/arc-welder-app-settings.png" height="400" width="221" /></a></li>
</ol>
<div>
OK, you're done! Enjoy running Android apps in Chrome on your PC.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Some history on this post..</h4>
<div>
I was inspired to write this post because I was fairly sure it would get me page views ;-) just being real. But I really think people will find this useful.</div>
<div>
I've run Android apps on the desktop before using emulators. Indeed I posted about <a href="http://shallowhacker.blogspot.nl/2013/07/whatsapp-from-your-phone-computer-at.html">using Bluestacks to run WhatsApp</a> in 2013 and that post is number 3 in my most visited posts of all time.</div>
<div>
Recently I revisited this topic because I wanted to get Candy Crush Soda running on PC for my wife and the desktop version of this game (via Facebook) is a bit slow.</div>
<div>
Anyway I just want to credit some sources for the information above, although I can't remember exactly how I came to the info, I did save some links on my journey.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cscotho.com/2014/12/27/showbox-watch-any-tv-show-or-movie-free-of-charge-on-any-platform-ultimate-tutorial-for-maclinuxwindowsiosno-jailbreakandroidno-rootchromeos/">This post</a> talks about Archon, a custom version of the Android Runtime extension. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.omgchrome.com/run-android-apps-on-windows-mac-linux-archon/">This post</a> talks about it too and I arrived here via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/2gv035/you_can_now_run_android_apps_on_chrome_for/">this reddit post</a> while searching about the <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/android-x86/">Android-x86 emulator</a>, which I have also run under VMWare Player successfully. That's also a nice way to run Android, but it requires installing VMWare player and at the end of the day, I'd rather just run a Chrome app!</li>
<li>I eventually stumbled on <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/02/google-arc-welder/">this Engadget post</a> which I think pointed me in the direction of the ARC Welder extension.</li>
<li>Today, just before posting, I searched a bit to see how redundant this post was and found <a href="http://lifehacker.com/how-to-run-android-apps-inside-chrome-on-any-desktop-op-1637564101">this ancient Lifehacker post</a>. I also found this <a href="http://lifehacker.com/how-to-run-android-apps-inside-chrome-on-any-desktop-op-1637564101">very recent and nicely written guide</a> that is similar to my post above, although I point you at the APK Downloader extension which that post doesn't!</li>
</ul>
</div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-83799493543750252102014-11-09T02:23:00.000+01:002014-11-10T18:35:00.212+01:00Kill Windows Processes That Won't Die with "Ultimate Process Killer"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJB8qpWlYmpcnN3hZkRo9SgBE3phvZxSrtLZ6Z5CKGXhfjkAuklK1L-0-ALrdz-b_ePpBYrMnh1N8M2sHSZ2T1o3M1MBGscqcXqEwMJWkSML5OYLyBjWvTBiFvsrwjpV-ZgGGoWg/s1600/2014-11-09_021332.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJB8qpWlYmpcnN3hZkRo9SgBE3phvZxSrtLZ6Z5CKGXhfjkAuklK1L-0-ALrdz-b_ePpBYrMnh1N8M2sHSZ2T1o3M1MBGscqcXqEwMJWkSML5OYLyBjWvTBiFvsrwjpV-ZgGGoWg/s1600/2014-11-09_021332.png" height="235" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
When trying to kill a process in Windows, you probably head for one of the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Processes tab in Windows Task Manager's, where you try killing the process (tree)</li>
<li>Or <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653">Sysinternals Process Explorer</a>, which may succeed where Task Manager failed. </li>
</ul>
However, if Sysinternals Process Explorer can't kill a process, you'd be forgiven for thinking that there is no hope and for wondering why Windows is still so darn stupid ;)<br />
<br />
However, this evening I succeeded in killing a very stubborn process using a utility named after a future Arnold Schwarzenegger movie: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ultmprokill/">Ultimate Process Killer</a>.<br />
It's <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ultmprokill/">free on Sourceforge</a> and I was able to use it to successfully kill a process in Windows 7 that refused to be killed by the options mentioned above. I even tried suspending and unsuspending the process in Process Explorer, which I saw suggested somewhere, but that also didn't work for me. By the way, I have no idea how well it will work on other versions of Windows, but I recommend you give this tool a shot if you're out of other options.<br />
<br />
I was alerted to the tool here: <a href="http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-kill-stubborn-process-that-fails-to-end-process-in-task-manager/#comment-1120014170">http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-kill-stubborn-process-that-fails-to-end-process-in-task-manager/#comment-1120014170</a>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-54879328517682552802014-09-15T17:33:00.000+02:002020-03-29T16:17:56.877+02:00AppInfo Lists Tweaks by Install Date<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zNxqKYHlpKn2w1OM_AH1S7piddeqtGW1kHMMapb3zC7T58Wth7CTfqYsZSAiPMeMFMnRBoe2Zh2yofc50Un6cCvmZdxV2nIIWF78XkzqUfmHuX435mtWKYqfKgyPl5ctALJJQA/s1600/AppInfo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zNxqKYHlpKn2w1OM_AH1S7piddeqtGW1kHMMapb3zC7T58Wth7CTfqYsZSAiPMeMFMnRBoe2Zh2yofc50Un6cCvmZdxV2nIIWF78XkzqUfmHuX435mtWKYqfKgyPl5ctALJJQA/s1600/AppInfo1.jpg" width="212" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-rIo7RjtsAHbw5fFT1zuR1Ms1xFSchn0zZBULpBaQIW1vPwSuFM809vzhoqjyX68VTBUbjdIGXvj3WDbMVVhp-UR_yHtzYMr2f4GzFlk6toxXG1V6gGo8drbPTelneY1SwkHtg/s1600/AppInfo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-rIo7RjtsAHbw5fFT1zuR1Ms1xFSchn0zZBULpBaQIW1vPwSuFM809vzhoqjyX68VTBUbjdIGXvj3WDbMVVhp-UR_yHtzYMr2f4GzFlk6toxXG1V6gGo8drbPTelneY1SwkHtg/s1600/AppInfo2.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The AppInfo iPhone tweak is unmissable on a jailbroken iPhone, giving you access to all sorts of information:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>A list of your apps from the Apple AppStore</li>
<li>A list of Cydia tweaks and repositories</li>
<li>Springboard tweaks</li>
<li>iPod music</li>
</ul>
<div>
Most of which can be exported as a simple or detailed list that you can email (to yourself).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Extra noteworthy is that the lists of AppStore apps and Cydia tweaks can be sorted:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Alphabetically</li>
<li>Size</li>
<li>Date Installed</li>
</ul>
<div>
Install Date helps you remember which apps or tweaks you installed most recently. Can be very useful, for example to help you identify sudden problems you may experience with newly installed apps or tweaks, like sudden increased battery drain, poor performance, or crashes.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This Cydia tweak can be found in the BigBoss repository, usually shipped by default in Cydia.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-48367435278362337142014-09-14T04:34:00.000+02:002014-09-14T04:34:04.590+02:00Send iPhone photos to PC Instantly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUq-Q9x0_SqDwlhSpUv3YYUYB1_R3eMAlfDHEWepwOXlZGfemXRuZp8WUDqQtyyZsi_Fc92r5yKNGzunotCDWGpB-JIDwOiu2BAEe1ORDP0FRkC0blTh8tIoRhAnOKM-_hjnFMKA/s1600/2014-09-14_041827.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUq-Q9x0_SqDwlhSpUv3YYUYB1_R3eMAlfDHEWepwOXlZGfemXRuZp8WUDqQtyyZsi_Fc92r5yKNGzunotCDWGpB-JIDwOiu2BAEe1ORDP0FRkC0blTh8tIoRhAnOKM-_hjnFMKA/s1600/2014-09-14_041827.png" height="293" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This is a pretty random post, but it may just stick at the back of your head and save you a minute or two.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
How do you get a photo or pic (e.g. a screen capture) from your iPhone to your laptop/desktop PC very quickly?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I usually email it. But today I couldn't be bothered to wait that long. First, the Gmail progress bar always annoys me, then I can't copy paste the image straight out of Gmail.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Alternative? Facebook. Share the image directly from your iPhone's camera roll or photo stream to Facebook - make it PRIVATE if you want by selecting "Only Me" under Audience.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Then navigate to facebook.com, hit your profile and right-click to copy the photo/pic.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This took me a matter of seconds. Simple, trivial, but very satisfying!</div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-39196563855186143412014-07-22T10:58:00.003+02:002014-07-22T10:58:54.802+02:00Free Summer Vacation Music Tip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XrP66IseO46mBwjgIDMtg4p6KphvWhwEfeJR3xpWWUQNK1pjM1TV91HR_WO6g4Pka011WJx2solXESb_nsD9cs4EKxqf9cfys0RzlSZXaEicTzct1X9qcOLEFNI1OetxU4AulA/s1600/spotify-logo-primary-horizontal-dark-background-rgb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XrP66IseO46mBwjgIDMtg4p6KphvWhwEfeJR3xpWWUQNK1pjM1TV91HR_WO6g4Pka011WJx2solXESb_nsD9cs4EKxqf9cfys0RzlSZXaEicTzct1X9qcOLEFNI1OetxU4AulA/s1600/spotify-logo-primary-horizontal-dark-background-rgb.jpg" height="180" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
If you need a nice juicy supply of new tunes for your Summer vacation, you can use a 1 month free Spotify Premium subscription - easy to cancel before you actually get charged.<br />
Spotify Premium will let you download as much music as you like legally, for free, on your phone/tablet/laptop.<br />
You can cancel before the month is up and you will not be charged!<br />
Even if you've done it before, you can do it again, just sign up for Spotify using a different email address.<br />
So here are the steps (and some Tips!)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Sign up for Spotify (NOT with Facebook but with an email you don't use much) <a href="https://www.spotify.com/signup">https://www.spotify.com/signup</a></li>
<li>Then log on to your new Spotify account and opt for 1 month free Spotify Premium.</li>
<li>Use PayPal to pay for it (other payment method also probably ok)</li>
<li>Download Spotify on your phone/laptop/tablet, <a href="https://www.spotify.com/download">https://www.spotify.com/download</a> then open Spotify, browse the app and put all the music you like into PLAYLISTS. It's important to make playlists as this allows you to save the music 'offline' for listening to later without an internet connection. I recommend making a new playlist for each whole album you like. But you can also organise your playlists into music genres or mood, or whatever you like!</li>
<li>IMPORTANT, you need to select the 'OFFLINE' setting in each of these playlists, so that the music actually gets stored on your phone/tablet/laptop and you can listen without an internet connection. Note that if you selected a lot of music, this may take up quite a lot of space.</li>
<li>Note: Spotify never lets you actually download mp3, so you NEVER get to permanently keep the music. But it's perfect for vacation!</li>
<li>Cancelling your subscription before actually paying anything is easy. Just go to <a href="https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/cancel">https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/cancel</a> and choose to cancel you subscription.</li>
<li>Or! you can stay subscribed to Spotify Premium and pay a reasonable monthly amount to get lots of music indefinitely!</li>
</ul>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-67504201833404584862014-05-18T05:04:00.001+02:002014-05-18T05:04:51.850+02:00Fix Windows Installer "Invalid Drive" error<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Problem</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may get an error like this when trying to install something on Windows (Windows 7 in my case).</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="216px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6Ki8wc3HAZkPBK2OJEDJLF48z4xQApDo-cxmnpHquCKZ9BaWw1kbVr278axqGkEJlUA6nnEPtLRTdtAM_0yyEycSjQ8YJG8yzwkIvXqKinEE8y1WIIhzMCaVR2ESN08gfA" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="456px;" /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may assume it is caused by an inaccessible network drive (e.g. H in my case) and that disconnecting the drive will solve the problem. It didn't for me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rebooting also didn't solve the problem.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I found </span><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282183" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this Microsoft article</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which was rubbish.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then finally I found </span><a href="http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/eb7eac8e-0508-4b60-8afa-1d060a68c42d/windows-7-instalation-of-programs-fail-with-error-1327invalid-drive-f" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this Microsoft Technet article</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the top answer over there solved my problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Solution</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Technet article recommends checking the following 2 registry locations:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the first location I found this. Note how there is one reference to drive H, the rest are to a system var %USERPROFILE%.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="339" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/7X7W3DFKL1DTMGi9ahVMqCHxZFqA8vEzp_RDCZtjG4Q7tN1cNZugWAVsAChlKnTtv8rTi5AqCjMudbJME12Q5w09UMRbU0jKVf9aAMuk5n5Fw6T0IDKD58wRHcMJYy2aZw" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0rad); border: none;" width="640" /></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simply modifying the path H:\Favorites to %USERPROFILE%\Favorites solved the problem immediately. The installer ran perfectly without throwing up the "Invalid Drive" error.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-7609717517849078722014-05-04T05:12:00.000+02:002014-05-04T05:26:50.431+02:00Don't be fooled about Net NeutralityThe provocative title is so that I can air a grievance that I have about the way internet providers (cable companies and mobile operators) are presenting the Net Neutrality discussion that is flooding the interwebz right now.<br />
<br />
Basically articles about Net Neutrality are way too long and are often misleading. I will try to continue in that line ;-) At least the way-too-long is almost unavoidable. Misleading I try not to be.<br />
I must admit I am still fully comprehending it myself, but the term Net Neutrality should speak for itself. To me it means what it says, but to add a couple more words to make it nice and clear.<br />
"Net Neutrality is about having a neutral internet."<br />
<br />
However, the EU likes to define it as:<br />
"the principle according to which all internet traffic is treated equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independently of its sender, recipient, type, content, device, service or application." (<a href="http://euobserver.com/news/123746">citation</a>)<br />
<br />
Right, well at least my definition is clear, the EU may need to work on theirs.<br />
<br />
My personal grievance however is that the providers are selling very hard at the moment the idea that to ensure Net Neutrality, bandwidth-hungry services like Netflix should pay them (the providers) to sit on a separate infrastructure and therefore not clog up the net for all the other services, apps and web sites out there. Otherwise when the first episode of the new season of Game of Thrones is aired exclusively on Netflix, internet connections everywhere may just stop working because the Netflix traffic is so high.<br />
<br />
This view is the view of internet providers, be it fixed wire (adsl, cable) or a mobile provider who sells data bundles. (no citation).<br />
Of course it's great for providers. They basically want companies like Netflix to give them cash that they can use to build their infrastructure. Or pay their CEOs bigger bonuses. Whatever, it's additional income, but of course the providers say they will use this cash to build better networks and that it's the only way to stop networks getting clogged up with other bandwidth hungry services like Netflix.<br />
<br />
Right. So the providers want this new revenue stream. That's clear. But is it better for the end user and let's not forget the original topic, is this pro- Net Neutrality?<br />
<br />
No of course it's not neutral. It's Net Non-neutrality.<br />
<br />
There is nothing neutral about a company like Netflix paying providers Comcast and Verizon for a guaranteed high bandwidth pipe to get all those TV series in HD to the people at home. It's not neutral. It's just not, It's a company paying a fee to get special treatment. But this is where you start to realise why Net Neutrality is getting confusing.<br />
<br />
I say that in the topic of Net Neutrality, you either have<br />
1) 100% Net Neutrality<br />
2) or you don't have Net Neutrality.<br />
<br />
And when you don't have Net Neutrality (let's call it "Net Non-neutrality") all you can do is justify why you don't.<br />
<br />
And there are two flavours of this "Net Non-neutrality":<br />
1) Positive Net Non-neutrality<br />
2) Negative Net Non-neutrality<br />
<br />
For me the Positive Net Non-neutrality can be justified ("justifiable Net Non-neutrality" if you like).<br />
<br />
Negative Net Non-neutrality is where net traffic is selectively disadvantaged on the network. Bad, bad, bad. Everyone knows it's bad and everyone basically agrees with that (sorry, impossible to find citation). That would for example be a situation where an provider prioritises one type of traffic over another. E.g. the network is busy so the provider lets Skype traffic through before Facebook traffic. The reason they decide to do this isn't important for now: it could be because they themselves think it's giving their customers a better service (experience) of because Skype paid them to do that.<br />
But this is bad.<br />
In the latest draft EU “telecoms” package legislation "Measures to block or slow down the Internet would be allowed only in exceptional cases, e.g. where specifically ordered by a court." (<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fTEXT%2bIM-PRESS%2b20140318IPR39210%2b0%2bDOC%2bXML%2bV0%2f%2fEN">citation</a>) so there's not really any way providers can get away with Negative Net Non-neutrality as I'm calling it.<br />
<br />
Positive Net Non-neutrality is where net traffic is - let's say - given an advantage. And this supposedly happens without disadvantaging other traffic. This is what providers are promoting. What will give them a new revenue stream. But are they promoting it as Positive Net non-Neutrality? Er, no. Obviously. They are selling it as Net Neutrality.<br />
And the EU has basically flung the door wide open allowing for this to happen. They've proposed that:<br />
"Companies would still able to offer specialized services of higher quality, such as video on demand and business-critical data-intensive cloud applications, provided that this does not interfere with the internet speeds promised to other customers" (<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fTEXT%2bIM-PRESS%2b20140318IPR39210%2b0%2bDOC%2bXML%2bV0%2f%2fEN">citation</a>)<br />
So to me the EU voted for Positive Net Non-neutrality.<br />
To summarise what the EU voted (on <a href="http://euobserver.com/news/123746">Thursday 3rd April 2014)</a> on the topic of Net Neutrality. They voted in support of the proposals made. So what they actually voted was:<br />
- against Negative Net Non-neutrality<br />
- in support of Positive Net Non-neutrality<br />
In other words, providers can't block Netflix traffic, but they can charge Netflix for guaranteed traffic.<br />
See a problem here? The EU have given us a hint of Net Neutrality with one part of the law, but snatched it away again with the other part.<br />
But the important question really isn't, "Do we have 100% Net Neutrality?". The answer is simply "No!".<br />
The question isn't "How much profit will providers stand to make from charging the Netflixes of this world for guaranteed bandwidth?". The answer is "lots!".<br />
The important questions are:<br />
- "Is this going to be good or bad for the consumer in the long term?"<br />
But equally if not even more important:<br />
- "How will this affect, change and reshape the internet that we know today into something else?"<br />
Because it *will* change the internet that we know today.<br />
<br />
To fast-track (skip) my analysis on "Is it going to be good or bad for the consumer long term?" I am going to say that it will be GOOD! It will most likely benefit the consumer long term.<br />
<br />
My grievance however - and I find it a big one - is that we are being sold Positive Net Non-neutrality as "Net Neutrality" with the implication that we are getting a truly neutral Net. That's the name of the topic yes, but will the Net be neutral? No.<br />
<br />
That doesn't mean to say that we wouldn't be OK in a true Net Neutrality situation. I think it would.<br />
It will be interesting to analyse the pros and cons of Positive Net Non-neutrality and commercial network infrastructure growth versus true Net Neutrality and organic network infrastructure in an edit to this post or in a new post.Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-11844591036512742422014-04-29T14:48:00.002+02:002014-11-09T02:39:55.665+01:00Run Custom Windows 7 Search via ShortcutWe often put documents into folders in Windows and then forget where they were. But that's what's great about searching. In Windows 7 you just type a search string in the top-right corner of an Explorer Window and it's pretty good at finding your files.<br />
<br />
If you often search for the same type of file across a broad folder structure, you may find this tip useful as it will show you how to create a Windows shortcut that immediately performs a custom search. It basically just launches a Windows search page and starts running your pre-configured search query straight away!<br />
<br />
The sources below helped me to create my first direct Windows shortcut as follows:<br />
<ol>
<li>To make a shortcut in Windows, just right click inside a Windows Explorer window or on the Desktop and choose New > Shortcut.</li>
<li>Insert the following string as the shortcut path then click Next:<br /><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe "search-ms:query=hello&crumb=kind:pics&"</span></li>
<li>Give your shortcut a name and click ok</li>
</ol>
The above steps give you a shortcut that searches for pictures with search string “hello”.
You can of course change "hello" for another search string, but also make more detailed searches by playing around with other options. <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965711(v=vs.85).aspx">Take a look here</a>.<br />
<br />
Sources I used to write this.<br />
How to create a search shortcut.<br />
<a href="http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/36815-search-shortcut-create.html">http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/36815-search-shortcut-create.html</a><br />
<br />
How to use search-ms protocol<br />
<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb266520(v=vs.85).aspx">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb266520(v=vs.85).aspx</a><br />
<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ff684385(v=vs.85).aspx">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ff684385(v=vs.85).aspx</a><br />
<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965711(v=vs.85).aspx">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965711(v=vs.85).aspx</a><br />
<br />
Here are some more examples of search query strings. I.e. the bit that goes between the quotation marks in the example above.<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">search-ms:query=microsoft&</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">search-ms:query=vacation&subquery=mydepartment.search-ms&</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">search-ms:query=seattle&crumb=kind:pics&</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">search-ms:query=seattle&crumb=folder:C:\MyFolder&</span><br />
(source: <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ff684385(v=vs.85).aspx">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ff684385(v=vs.85).aspx</a>)Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-90826609782195229082014-01-29T00:46:00.001+01:002014-03-30T01:52:55.448+01:00Fix Too Many Notifications from a Facebook Page<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTuQCTSNClMoRhZaGe2AocVY3x8-J6XdiBVic2apuXh_8Pe2zQSLRxFFG0-NkEYtekfdJAP2ivNyUrcssdBA51-JJXvcwZoGAUzsLIIjm2HQViP1aejxcC9ixYcsm3LpnXOsnFw/s1600/2014-03-30_014432.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTuQCTSNClMoRhZaGe2AocVY3x8-J6XdiBVic2apuXh_8Pe2zQSLRxFFG0-NkEYtekfdJAP2ivNyUrcssdBA51-JJXvcwZoGAUzsLIIjm2HQViP1aejxcC9ixYcsm3LpnXOsnFw/s1600/2014-03-30_014432.png" height="140" width="320" /></a></div>
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Are you getting a whole load of notifications from a Facebook page that you have liked?</div>
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To stop getting notifications do the following:</div>
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1) go back to the Facebook page that is sending you all the notifications</div>
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2) click the "Liked" button</div>
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3) from the drop-down menu simply remove the tick from "Get Notifications" by clicking it (See picture above.)</div>
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You should now stop getting notifications from the page.</div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-80142939093172169282013-11-29T03:17:00.001+01:002013-12-04T06:24:35.318+01:00Fix Google Authenticator Codes Not Working<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbdrdiwV9Ti6rqr6ESM5QQ0Sp6w6rpQ6zwDCoOzngxMRbnr61OasDRbm8ocO185Kjm0jp3tw_F93r0OAa0Z46dH2ovFVZmgNQQOuD5ogDAijskyu-g3gQ_aPfGVyCeQQWu9rZ8iA/s1600/google-auth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbdrdiwV9Ti6rqr6ESM5QQ0Sp6w6rpQ6zwDCoOzngxMRbnr61OasDRbm8ocO185Kjm0jp3tw_F93r0OAa0Z46dH2ovFVZmgNQQOuD5ogDAijskyu-g3gQ_aPfGVyCeQQWu9rZ8iA/s1600/google-auth.png" /></a></div>
<div>
If your <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/google-authenticator/id388497605">Google Authenticator app</a> codes are not working, you might want to check the time on your phone is set correctly! </div>
<div>
This was really bugging me and eventually it dawned on me that this was the problem.</div>
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Notably some codes worked and some didn't. Now all codes work fine.</div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-67167958178657540632013-11-18T17:24:00.000+01:002014-05-04T02:21:32.346+02:00Windows XP is dead, but not Vista or Windows 7!As the local friendly tech support guy (for family friends and neighbours) I am slightly amused, or rather NOT so amused by the fact that I have been approached by people that have 'heard' that we all have to upgrade to Windows 8 because Microsoft will no longer support their existing systems very soon.<br />
<br />
Now seeing as I have been approached about this by completely different people, I can only conclude that Microsoft either on purpose or accidentally is pushing this bullshit through various channels to trick people into throwing out their existing PCs in favour of the brand new Windows 8.<br />
<br />
This sort of thing pisses me off no end, as so many folks are pretty clueless when it comes to this sort of thing and at the same time so dependent on their trusty home computers.<br />
<br />
So I'm just putting this post out to reproduce the true data from Microsoft themselves regarding when people need to change their existing home computer setup and when they DON'T need to do anything at all.<br />
<br />
Here's the details <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle">from Microsoft</a>.<br />
<div class="default-table-block" style="color: #454545; font-family: WOL_Reg, 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; width: 741px;">
<table class="table table4Col" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 45px; padding: 0px; table-layout: auto; width: 741px;" summary="End of support dates for Windows desktop products"><thead>
<tr><th class="matS" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-left: -1px; padding: 18px 0px 16px; vertical-align: top; width: 186px;"><span class="para" style="color: #454545; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px;">Client operating systems</span></th><th class="matS" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-left: -1px; padding: 18px 0px 16px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><span class="para" style="color: #454545; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px;">Latest update or service pack</span></th><th class="matS" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-left: -1px; padding: 18px 0px 16px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><span class="para" style="color: #454545; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px;">End of extended support</span></th><th class="matS" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-left: -1px; padding: 18px 0px 16px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><span class="para" style="color: #454545; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px;"><br /></span></th></tr>
</thead><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 186px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<span class="leadInPhrase_summary" style="font-family: WOL_Bold, 'Segoe UI Bold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Windows XP</span></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<a class="navigationLink" data-id="pageContainer2_ID1EBBFHA" href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/learn-how-to-install-windows-xp-service-pack-3-sp3" style="color: #0072c6; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Service Pack 3</a></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<a class="navigationLink" data-id="pageContainer2_ID1EBBBHA" href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-support-help" style="color: #0072c6; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">April 8, 2014</a></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 186px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<span class="leadInPhrase_summary" style="font-family: WOL_Bold, 'Segoe UI Bold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Windows Vista</span></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<a class="navigationLink" data-id="pageContainer2_ID1EBBFFA" href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/learn-how-to-install-windows-vista-service-pack-2-sp2" style="color: #0072c6; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Service Pack 2</a></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
April 11, 2017</div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 186px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<span class="leadInPhrase_summary" style="font-family: WOL_Bold, 'Segoe UI Bold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Windows 7 *</span></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<a class="navigationLink" data-id="pageContainer2_ID1EBBFDA" href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-windows-7-service-pack-1" style="color: #0072c6; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Service Pack 1</a></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
January 14, 2020</div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 186px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<span class="leadInPhrase_summary" style="font-family: WOL_Bold, 'Segoe UI Bold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Windows 8</span></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<a class="navigationLink" data-id="pageContainer2_ID1EBBFBA" href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/buy" style="color: #0072c6; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Windows 8.1</a></div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
January 10, 2023</div>
</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(237, 237, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 3px; padding: 18px 0px 18px 22.21875px; vertical-align: top; width: 162.78125px;"><div class="table-cell-content">
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="para" style="color: #454545; font-family: WOL_Reg, 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;">
* Support for Windows 7 RTM without service packs ended on April 9, 2013. Be sure to install Windows 7 <a class="navigationLink" data-id="pageContainer2_ID0EBFHBDA" href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-windows-7-service-pack-1" style="color: #0072c6; font-family: WOL_SB, 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Service Pack 1</a> today to continue to receive support and updates.</div>
To start with, most important to know is that "Extended Support" means that <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy">you get security updates</a>. Security Updates are the first line of defense against all the nasty viruses and stuff on the internet, you need to have these. If you're not getting these, then you're in for a potentially virus-ridden computer, maybe not immediately, but eventually.<br />
<br />
This means, good people of planet earth, that if you are running Windows XP you need to take action before the 8th of April to either get your current computer upgraded to Windows 7 or Windows 8, or buy a new computer (that will have Windows 8 on it automatically).<br />
<br />
However, if you are running Windows vista, or Windows 7, or Windows 8 already. You don't have to change anything. Just keep the date for Extended Support of your version of Windows in mind!<br />
<br />
To check your version of Windows, click <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Check-Your-Windows-Version">THIS LINK</a> for instructions.<br />
<br />Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-85681581717961835442013-10-19T03:35:00.001+02:002013-10-19T03:35:23.455+02:00FB LNKD GOOGAfter babbling about smart watches I couldn't hold back on this one either.<div>There are 3 interesting tech stock. Sure, a lot of people are interested in them.</div><div>These are stock to buy and keep on buying for the next 5 to 10 years.</div><div>These are fundamental companies of the interwebz today and for the coming decade. Sure there are others, but I like these guys.</div><div>Facebook isn't going any-bloody-where despite what pundits waffle about te death of social. It's next financial results will show</div><div>nothing less than a boom that will no doubt eclipse its last astonishing set of stats. Next to Google, it is set to gobble up a whole lot of tasty advertising budget.</div><div>Google is just doing things right. From the buzz around Google Glass to the plodding ascent of Android. They are by far the smartest company on the planet.</div><div>LinkedIn is Facebook for serious work peoples. Let's face it. And there the revenue for</div><div>job ads can only go in one direction. I mean, Monster-who?</div><div>That was fun.</div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-19222982737600975092013-10-19T02:33:00.001+02:002014-11-09T02:29:14.347+01:00iWatch and iSeeThis post is simply intended to vent my feelings about the smart watch.<br />
<div>
I'd like to first throw out the prediction that the smart watch will be a big device and make tech companies plenty of money.</div>
<div>
It's hard to say how long it will last, but I'm guessing like.. forever :)</div>
<div>
You see, a watch is just something on your wrist. But let's face it, a smart watch is not a fucking watch is it. It's a personal computing device, just like your phone is today. In fact I really hope that Apple does not call it a watch or even use the word watch in their keynote. And I really believe that the smart watch (I'm allowed to call it that) has the potential to save Apple from a bit of a long term downturn (it'll take a while for iphone fever to lessen, but the 5c doesn't really cut it in my opinion).</div>
<div>
Apple need to make their wrist-worn iDevice as damn hot as the first iphone. </div>
<div>
Everyone knew it was a smartphone and yet it blew everyone - and the entire smartphone (if you could call the Pre-iphone generation smartphones) market - away.</div>
<div>
It must be beautiful, sophisticated, elegant, have a great screen (curved obviously) and a decent battery life, weight and pricing. It must also work seemlessly with the ifamily, but that's a given.</div>
<div>
The market for that device is there. If the device is good enough.</div>
<div>
I invisage this market breaking out into ever more sophisticated wrist/sleeve-worn devices, with ever more beautiful curved/flexible super high def screens.</div>
<div>
The screens on devices that eventually enter this market will not stay like the Galaxy Gear, although it may be Samsung that makes the first move, they will get wider along the wrist (like those longish bracelets). That is also a very natural dimension considering TV dimensions (more natural than phones even).</div>
<div>
Well I certainly look forward to Apple's offering in this space. I'm sure they can make it happen, just please don't call it a watch Apple. Let's have the iPulse please ;-)<br />
<br />
UPDATE (2014)<br />
Ok, they called it the fucking Apple Watch. And it ain't curved (except at the edges). But hey, I think it's a beautiful product and they did a damn good job - on paper - at least. Let's see what the finished product looks like in 2015.</div>
<div>
And another thing. I wrote this before I bought my Oculus Rift DK2. In all honestly I lost interest in smart watches after catching the VR bug. VR is going to take us as a human race to places we cannot currently imagine.</div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-59134303218296550862013-07-31T19:53:00.000+02:002013-12-04T02:56:51.530+01:00Cancel Your Spotify Premium Trial InstantlyClicking the link below will direct you to the Spotify website and cancel your Spotify Premium trial <u>immediately</u>. I repeat, it will cancel immediately, so if you are logged in and you click the link, that means you just cancelled.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/cancel/"><b><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/cancel/</span></b></a><br />
<br />
If you're not looking to cancel and just want some information about Spotify, here are some useful links.<br />
<br />
To just view your Spotify account info go here.<br />
<a href="https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/">https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/</a><br />
<br />
There's also the customer services contact form.<br />
<a href="https://www.spotify.com/about-us/contact/contact-spotify-support/">https://www.spotify.com/about-us/contact/contact-spotify-support/</a><br />
<br />
I don't know how long these links will stay valid and if they will work in all countries in all circumstances (e.g. for Facebook and non-Facebook connected accounts) please let me know if they don't work for you and say what country you are in.<br />
<br />
Source: <a href="http://community.spotify.com/t5/Help-Accounts-and-Subscriptions/Can-t-delete-Premium-Account/td-p/209556">http://community.spotify.com/t5/Help-Accounts-and-Subscriptions/Can-t-delete-Premium-Account/td-p/209556</a>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-85033616233547503082013-07-11T02:20:00.001+02:002015-03-31T14:12:58.576+02:00WhatsApp from your Phone & Computer at the same time (PC/Mac)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazlYAa5PRT92KDd3Kxl5nwsSjX_iNQD6NnsmY69L1vtXQes3nublYoQAdylSX1XLWzxflvQJlnRmTsQ1rlsSkQaph1A-eOgd3uwwO_DrhmxhSOFhm-a-JhS63t0VQmQnP9o3xRw/s1600/WhatsApp-BlueStacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazlYAa5PRT92KDd3Kxl5nwsSjX_iNQD6NnsmY69L1vtXQes3nublYoQAdylSX1XLWzxflvQJlnRmTsQ1rlsSkQaph1A-eOgd3uwwO_DrhmxhSOFhm-a-JhS63t0VQmQnP9o3xRw/s320/WhatsApp-BlueStacks.jpg" height="320" width="185" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
** UPDATE March 2015 **<br />
WhatsApp now has a web interface, which you can use on all mobile devices except for iPhone. So if you have an Android device or Windows Phone, check out <a href="https://web.whatsapp.com/">web.whatsapp.com</a> first as it may save you a lot of hassle! If you're on an iPhone however, please read on..<br />
** UPDATE March 2015 **<br />
<br />
I implemented a nice way of using WhatsApp on my laptop and also staying in sync with WhatsApp on my iPhone. This will work with Android too (but you may prefer to use <a href="https://web.whatsapp.com/">web.whatsapp.com</a> instead).<br />
<br />
List of things you need:<br />
<ol>
<li>You must have a <u>second SIM card (i.e. a second working mobile phone)</u> that is <u>not already being used for WhatsApp.</u> E.g. an old prepaid phone. As long as it has a working SIM card and you are able to receive an SMS message on it.</li>
<li>A free program for your computer called BlueStacks, which you can get for PC or Mac at <a href="http://www.bluestacks.com/">http://www.bluestacks.com</a>. <br />** UPDATE March 2015 **<br />Alternatives to BlueStacks are: <a href="http://www.andyroid.net/">AndY (free!)</a>; <a href="http://www.amiduos.com/">AMIDuOS ($10)</a>. <br />Note AMIDuOS seems to have a reputation as a very accurate Android emulator and has a free 30-day trial. AndY is recommended above Bluestacks <a href="http://www.androidauthority.com/bluestacks-vs-andy-best-android-emulators-pc-414036/">HERE</a>, but I have no personal experience with AndY.<br />** UPDATE March 2015 **</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How to set it up (with BlueStacks):</div>
<ol>
<li>Download and install BlueStacks. Bluestacks is like a virtual Android phone that you can run on your computer.</li>
<li>Open BlueStacks, open a browser and go to:<br /><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp</a> (short link: <a href="http://sn.im/-whatsapp">http://sn.im/-whatsapp</a>)</li>
<li>Download and install WhatsApp</li>
<li>Sign up for a new account with your 2nd mobile phone, confirm the account and you're ready to go! (Make sure you know what the phone number is that you used for the new account. Be aware that if someone else signs up for WhatsApp with that same phone number later on, it will disable your new account. So don't pass it on to someone else. Either keep it or throw it away!)</li>
</ol>
<div>
How to use your new setup:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>When you want to start a new WhatsApp chat, choose the option to create a Group Chat and add your other account (the new one you just created) to the chat. </li>
<li>Then add the person you want to chat with to the group chat and you're away. Now you can send messages from either your phone or your computer. </li>
<li>TIPS:</li>
<ul>
<li>Obviously the person you're chatting with will see it's a group chat with two people, so make sure the user name you pick clearly shows it's you! Maybe add the word "work" to one of them so they see it's your work account. Or add "mobile" to one and "home" to the other.</li>
<li>Start the Group Chat on your main phone, <u>not</u> on your computer (BlueStacks). This way you keep control of the chat from your main mobile phone and can add/remove other chat members or end the chat most easily.</li>
</ul>
</ol>
<div>
Alternatives:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>If you want a great messaging app that has a desktop and a web application and has a big focus on security and is free! Check out Gliph! <a href="https://gli.ph/compare.html">https://gli.ph/compare.html</a><br />Then you only need 1 phone (1 SIM card) and the web app is so good, you can just use your phone's native browser!</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Any questions, hit me up on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/shallowhacker">facebook.com/shallowhacker</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cheers,</div>
<div>
Josh</div>
Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-86119068154897134512012-08-28T01:58:00.001+02:002012-08-28T02:02:46.975+02:00Emoji That Work on Facebook iPhone AppI decided to post all the emoji from the iphone emoji keyboard on my Facebook status to see which ones would be displayed in the iphone App.<br />
Even though you can type in any iphone emoji you want when updating your status and can even actually post your status with any iphone emoji in it without getting an error, many of the emoji don't actually display in the iphone app when you refresh it to see what you posted.<br />
The image in this post shows all the emoji that I was able to see in the Facebook iphone app after submitting my status. NOTE: Unfortunately, what emoji you can see depends on what you are viewing Facebook with. Below is what you can see in the iphone App, but when I checked it with the Google Chrome desktop browser, very few emoji were displayed :-(<br />
<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig0UQ6mPG0YL1tqVJmOMbvrqFyHH4aQ7p6BjOq3rdxNatyKt9qfKG4GlS2DiAKkP3YXfUBRPuN6-CskUNp845xyaVPJcGKs5kQINfQLsLhJZC7JKCBJQjyUhF-xBSV7ZLXo1LK7Q/s640/blogger-image--1941059808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig0UQ6mPG0YL1tqVJmOMbvrqFyHH4aQ7p6BjOq3rdxNatyKt9qfKG4GlS2DiAKkP3YXfUBRPuN6-CskUNp845xyaVPJcGKs5kQINfQLsLhJZC7JKCBJQjyUhF-xBSV7ZLXo1LK7Q/s640/blogger-image--1941059808.jpg" /></a></div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-62375273472908504262012-05-15T16:53:00.004+02:002013-10-19T02:38:09.904+02:00Sign up for Dropbox here to give me more spaceIf you are not yet signed up for Dropbox, but plan to sign up for it soon. Please sign up for it via this special referral link:<div>
<a href="http://db.tt/CFJPmGeP"><b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">http://db.tt/CFJPmGeP</span></b></a>.<div>
If you follow the link, then sign up immediately, Dropbox will give me some extra storage space as a reward for referring you and I'd really appreciate that!</div>
<div>
For those who don't know what Dropbox is, it's a really user-friendly online storage service. Highly recommended!</div>
<div>
<br></div>
</div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-12964704078126878272011-12-16T00:16:00.001+01:002011-12-16T00:32:57.693+01:00How To Fix Windows Offline File Sync Error<br />
When trying to sync offline files in Windows you may sometimes get an error “parameter is incorrect”.<br />
<br />
Before I show you how to fix it, I'll tell you what's most probably gone wrong. This quote is a post I found in the digitalspy forum (see my sources) and explains it beautifully.<br />
<i>"The simplest explanation is that you've exceeded the maximum path and/or file lengths.</i><br />
<i>On Windows-based platforms, paths must be less than 248 characters, and file names must be less than 260 characters. 'Path' includes all the nested folder names, eg "C:\MyPrograms\Microsoft Office". 'File Names' include the extension</i><i>."</i><br />
<br />
Now here's a great way to identify which path or file is causing the problem.<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Get the Path Scan app from here <a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/Path-Scan.shtml">http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/Path-Scan.shtml</a> (This is an older version of Path Scanner but you need it because it works with UNC paths - i.e. paths that start with double-slash '\\' - whereas the newer version of the program on the official web site does <u>not</u> work with UNC paths, it only works with paths starting with a drive letter, e.g. c:\ and that's useless because the path length problem is all about the length of the full UNC path.)</li><li>Now go online and sync with your server so you can see the sync error "parameter is incorrect" again. </li><li>Look at the error to check the path where the problem occurred.</li><li>Paste this path into Path Scanner <b>and don't forget to add a wildcard, e.g. it must end with ‘\*’</b></li><ul><li>E.g. \\file-abc01.work.intern\home$\joeblow\*</li></ul><li>In Port Scanner set the "Display files with more than" option to 261 char.</li><li>Then click Scan to locate the files for which the path is too long and do something about them.</li><ul><li>E.g. Back up the file and/or folder that is causing the problem somewhere else, then delete it from the original location and try to sync again.</li></ul></ol><div>Sources</div><div><a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=744475">http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=744475</a></div><div><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/dfsfaq.mspx#EPBAC">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/dfsfaq.mspx#EPBAC</a></div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-12059652992416724242011-08-13T15:21:00.001+02:002012-06-19T18:34:35.913+02:00Unsync and Remove iPhone Contacts From FacebookThis post explains how to:<br />
- See which of your iPhone contacts are already copied to Facebook<br />
- Stop synchronising your iPhone contacts to Facebook<br />
- Remove any contacts that have been copied from yor iPhone to Facebook (by the Facebook iPhone app).
<br />
<br />
The simple instructions to Stop Synchronising and to Remove Contacts from Facebook are as follows:<br />
1. Go to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/contact_importer/remove_uploads.php">https://www.facebook.com/contact_importer/remove_uploads.php</a><br />
2. Click the "Remove" button.<br />
3. On the Facebook app on your iPhone, on the left-hand side scroll down to "Friends" and tap it.<br />
4. On the Friends page press the arrow icon in the top right corner<br />
5. Press " Sync Contacts"<br />
6. Press the "Syncing" switch to turn synchronisation off.<br />
Please note. Any of your friends that are already on Facebook and have chosen to share their phone number with you will NOT be removed.<br />
<br />
If you just want to see which of your Contacts have been copied to your iPhone, follow this link:
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php">https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php</a><br />
It shows not only Contacts copied from your iPhone but also Contacts added via Facebook's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/find-friends/">Friend Finder</a> and/or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/invite.php">Invitation Tool</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/facebook/posts/10150353502026729">This is what Facebook has to say</a> about synchronising contacts from iPhone to Facebook.Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-16128607330690389552011-08-03T21:24:00.004+02:002011-08-29T18:18:45.390+02:00How I Fixed Mac OSX Lion NTFS issueAfter I upgraded my Macbook to OSX Lion, my NTFS-formatted USB drive would no longer mount... GREAT! %$#@<br />
<br />
I use an free open source NTFS driver for Mac called NTFS-3G (<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/catacombae/files/NTFS-3G%20for%20Mac%20OS%20X/2010.10.2/">You can get it from SourceForge here</a> - grab the dmg file).<br />
However NTFS-3G is built on top of a piece of software called MacFuse (part of the NTFS-3G installation) and unfortunately MacFuse only provides a 32-bit interface, whereas OSX Lion has a 64-bit kernel. I found the explanation of the problem <a href="http://superuser.com/questions/316341/install-ntfs-3g-with-read-write-on-os-x-lion-using-macports">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I was able to solve the problem when I came across a little gem on this site:<br />
<a href="http://www.fatframe.com/2011/07/25/macfuse-issues-mac-os-10-7-lion">http://www.fatframe.com/2011/07/25/macfuse-issues-mac-os-10-7-lion</a><br />
This guy has posted a custom compiled version of MacFuse, compiled for 64-bit.<br />
<br />
I downloaded this guy's custom compiled version (look for the link to the zip file half way down the page) and just installed it straight on top of my existing MacFuse version. Then rebooted.<br />
It solved my problem! I can now mount my NTFS USB drive and I have read/write access.<br />
<br />
(N.B. I sometimes see an error when I connect the drive saying it can't communicate with the drive, but when you actually try to access the drive it works fine.)<br />
<br />
If you have never had NTFS access before (e.g. you just bought a new Mac or just never tried it before) you have 2 options.<br />
EITHER<br />
1) Install the open source NTFS-3G driver (from SourceForge as mentioned above) and then install the custom build of MacFuse on top of it. I'd recommend a reboot in between.<br />
OR<br />
2) Or go for a commercial NTFS driver <a href="http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/">like this one from Tuxera</a>.<br />
<br />
Further reading: Check out <a href="http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1103929">this thread on macrumours.com</a> for other people's experiences.<br />
<br />
Good luck.Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-60344659718436077292011-07-13T13:32:00.000+02:002015-12-10T00:36:14.309+01:00The Future of Social<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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A freind of mine made a comment (on Facebook) that he thinks social sites are "a fashion" and won't be where we get all out info from. He's right I guess (or is he?) but the point is that this got me thinking about where social media is really headed.</div>
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We all know things chop and change at an incredible rate here on planet internet(/webz/whateverz) and tomorrow's Facebook and Google+ sure ain't gonna look much like it does today (well litterally it will, but not figuratively.. doh, you know what I mean ;-).</div>
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What I envisage is the following. Our actual social profile will be a metaphorical cloud that hovers above all the social sites we interact with, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ (to take these as examples).</div>
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What on earth am I talking about? Well let's look at it from my personal perspective as a social media user. Why do I use social media? To interact with others of course. Other people, other brands, other celebrities (maybe). Do I really as a user want to have to care if I'm on Google+ or Facebook, or if my "friends"/"followers" are on Twitter or Google+? No, why should I need to remember who's where? It simply gets in the way of my activities.</div>
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What I want to be able to do is communicate with my contacts from a client (whether it be a web client or an app) by simply choosing an individual or a group, just like Facebook's friend lists and Google+ circles. I do not want to have to first think whether I need to cross-post to Facebook cos half my buddies aren't on Google+ or vice versa, my cool Google+ friends have exited Facebook in a puff of smoke.</div>
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A contact should not be tied to a social network. If I want to contact my friend Joe Smith, I should simply have to select Joe Smith and send him a message, without having to be concerned if he's on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, and without him having to be concerned that he's set up all kinds of forwarding mubo jumbo either.</div>
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I see the contact Joe Smith as a bubble, that contains all Joe's contact info, including his various social network subscriptions. When I send something to Joe's bubble, I want my message to be made visible to him on all his social networks, or perhaps just the one where he's currently "online".</div>
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Bear with me.. not only do I want to be able to contact Joe in this fashion, but I also want to be able to do it from inside whatever network I happen to have open in front of me. You see I'm not saying i'm using a cool 3rd-party client here. I should be able to do this natively from any social network specific client, including web.</div>
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Now we all know Facebook does everything in its power to stop others poaching its users. But why should another network need to poach if we had a friendly way where social networks could share info without actually poaching it.</div>
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I'd like to be able to, from inside Facebook, put my friends into friends lists, but not just my Facebook friends. If my buddy is on Google+ I want to be able to put him in a Facebook friend list. Facebook should be able to connect to Google+ and without actually "importing" my friend's info, allow me to pop him in a friend list. And vice versa. In Google+ I want to add my friend who's only on Facebook to a Circle: should not be a problem.</div>
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If the social networks came together on this they could spend less time fighting over users and poaching prevention.</div>
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Also let's say I'm in my Twitter client, and my buddy is on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, and Twitter knows this (because I've allowed Twitter to connect to these other networks) then as far as I'm concerned if I mention that person or DM that person, I just want Twitter to make sure that person gets the message. So I want it to pop up in their Facebook, and Google+, as well as in their Twitter (or as I said before a smart system may simply look where that person was online first. So if they were online on Facebook it would only appear there and not in Google+.)</div>
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Remember I'm looking at it from my, the user's, point of view. I spend too much time thinking about who's in what network and on what list. That has to become more transparent. We have open social networks (OpenSocial?) but i'm talking more about an open social API. If we can do it for security (OAuth) let's do it for interchanging social info and it needs to be a real time exchange of info.</div>
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This may be a long way away, but seeing as there are at least two major players that will probably not be going anywhere anytime soon (Facebook and Google+) and possibly 3 (Twitter) it seems to me we have an inpasse on the social network front. There ain't gonna be "one ring to rule them all". Google+ has now made sure of that. So how long is it gonna be before these guys put the user first and open up the boundaries a bit?</div>
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Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-13974819931263153502011-06-25T21:34:00.000+02:002011-06-25T21:34:29.927+02:00Identify Your Mac AirPort Extreme ChipsetDo the following:<br />
<ul><li>Go to "About This Mac" (top left under the Apple logo)</li>
<li>Click "More Info..."</li>
<li>Choose "AirPort" on the left-hand side (in the "Network" section)</li>
<li>On the right-hand side look for "Card Type = AirPort Extreme"</li>
<li>The "Firmware Version" underneath should indicate what chipset you have. E.g. "Broadcom BCM43xx" </li>
</ul><div>Hopefully this will help you out. Maybe you want to know this because you're hoping to use <a href="http://www.aircrack-ng.org/">Aircrack</a> to do some WEP cracking :). <a href="http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=compatibility_drivers#compatibility">This page lists compatible aircrack chipsets</a>.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108894.post-69791584244824155792011-06-19T02:31:00.000+02:002011-06-19T02:31:41.217+02:00Make Your Blog Mobile-friendly!This is a quick heads up for Blogger bloggers that may have missed it.<br />
<br />
Blogger now lets you easily switch on an option to present your mobile readers with a special mobile formatted version of your blog.<br />
<br />
If you've ever read stuff on a mobile device that's not formatted for mobile you'll know how annoying it can sometimes be navigating a non mobiel-friendly web site, even with mobile browsers like <a href="http://www.opera.com/mobile/">Opera</a> doing a good job at solving that issue.<br />
<br />
To switch on the mobile template view in Blogger, just<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Go to your blog's "Settings" tab</li>
<li>Click "Email & Mobile"</li>
<li>Then where it says "Mobile Template (beta)" choose "Yes" and your done!<br />
</li>
</ul><div>You can hit the "Mobile Preview" button to see what your blog will look like too.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098461771622863529noreply@blogger.com0