where technology is simplified
How To’s
How To Read EXIF Data From Images
Jun 2nd
Digital cameras have become the established gadget of taking pictures. But few people realize the amount of information that accompanies the image. When the images are transferred to a computer several data points can be read from the image files. More >
Apple Hating
Aug 11th
What are you doing to me Apple? Well maybe not the whole of Apple. But the Apple software division. The reason for my Apple-dislike – Apple software update trying to push Safari with iTunes and Quicktime. I understand why any company would try to combine various software packages together. But software companies should understand the issue from a consumers’ perspective before making privacy policy decisions. Just because I use (maybe even like) one software product does not necessarily mean I will start using all their products.
Let’s talk about Apple’s Software Update situation. I am a user of the Quicktime product. This means I have to be extra careful not to install iTunes on my Vista laptop. Why? Because the default option of downloading Quicktime also includes iTunes as a package. See for yourself I am including the screenshot from Apple’s Quicktime download page.
So now I have Quicktime on my hard drive. I have dodged the iTunes bullet, or so I thought. But wait, Apple is not finished. The software update that occasionally tries to contact the “mothership” suddenly pops up with a default option to install Safari + iTunes + Quicktime. Whoa! What happened there? That was the magic of Apple Software Update system. If you use Quicktime, the Software Update “intelligence” automatically assumes that you will need Safari and iTunes as updates to keep company the lonely Quicktime software. You can clearly see the screenshot below as to what I mean.
How To Disable Apple Software Update
If you click ‘Quit’ the update will pop up again in a few days asking you the same thing over and over again till judgment day. How do you get out of the Apple Software Update cycle? Click Edit > Preferences and select Never to the How often question. Once done click OK and Quit to exit. And 3 – 2 – 1 … freedom. No more Apple updates for you.
PS. Apple … (sigh) … you should have known better.
Taking Screenshot Of Long Webpages
Apr 18th
Picnik is an excellent web-based tool for editing images online. But this application has more features than what meets the eye. The Firebox browser extension for Picnik allows you to take a one click screenshot of any webpage. This feature might fail to impress at first glance. But ask yourself a question. How difficult is it to take a screenshot of a website that does not fit in your browser window. Instead of taking multiple images of different sections of the website use the Picnik Firefox plugin. After the install simply right click anywhere on the page and click Picnik. Firefox will load a new tab which takes you to Picnik with the image pre-loaded. Edit it if you wish and download the new image to your computer. This is one of the best ways to take screenshots of long webpages.
How To Rotate Banners With OpenX
Apr 17th
OpenX is an open-source ad management platform. I wrote an overall review of OpenX (aka OpenAds) in my last post which discusses the benefits of the platform and also points out some of the cons. One of the most important uses of OpenX is rotating banners. Banner rotation is very easy with OpenX. But unless you know how to do it you might find yourself lost in documentation. It consists of 2 steps.
STEP 1: Launch Your Advertising Campaign
Follow steps to launch your first advertising campaign. This is explained in details in the presentation from OpenX (aka OpenAds).
STEP 2: Banner Rotation
After you have your first ad campaign up and running proceed to this step. Create a new advertiser and create a new campaign with the proper banner-size. Then select the publishing spot where you want to display the banner. If the spot already has another ad running then OpenX will automatically enter the new ad in rotation with the old one. Based on the weights or costs defined you can control how often any particular banner is displayed.
Top 10 Ways To Kick Your PC In The Nuts
Apr 9th
People abuse and kill their computers every day. This is causing PC’s to become extinct at a rapid pace. Here are a few ways to increase the rate of decay of your computer.
- Not installing antivirus or spyware protection on your computer.
- Not defragmenting the hard disk. Its effects are most visible if you never defragged from the time you bought your PC.
- Downloading any mp3 or exe files that your friends email you or send to you over instant message.
- Not using a password for your account or the administrator account.
- Downloading random celebrity porn videos from Bittorrent or any other file sharing or p2p networks. I know you do it, but do it responsibly.
- If you are a windows user and you install linux without partitioning the hard drive first. If you want to test Linux I encourage you to try Ubuntu on a virtual machine.
- Web browsing with Internet Explorer without any security controls enabled. Try this at your own risk.
- Pressing and holding the power button to turn off the computer every time.
- Not backing up any data from your PC to an external drive.
- Using your CD drive as a coffee-cup holder.
Bonus 11. Not switching to a Mac.
