tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80572641797189435282024-02-07T14:06:25.521+01:00Vlayke's useful stuffTips on useful technology, gadgets, software and similar.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-46343999364546611212015-06-08T10:12:00.001+02:002015-06-08T10:15:48.248+02:00Hola - Good while it lastedMy very <a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2013/10/hola.html">first real post</a> here was about an interesting and free service <a href="http://hola.org/">Hola</a> that allows you to set tabs in your web browser to appear as if you're browsing from different countries. I was very excited with this tool.<br />
<br />
But it turned out, that the service isn't quite what it pretended to be. While they perform the function for, you that they say they do, it also appears that they use your computer for others to access the internet.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://adios-hola.org/images/logo.png" /></div>
<br />
In short:<br />
If you're using Hola, someone from oposite side of the planet could be using your connection to do whatever they want to do. This could include illegal activities. Problem with this is that those illegal activities will appear to have originated from your PC/mobile device and you could be in trouble for them.<br />
<br />
A web site <a href="http://adios-hola.org/">adios-hola</a> explains things in detail.<br />
<br />
What to use as an alternative? There is always <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a>. It's not as intuitive, but it gets the job done.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-52244620127792832982014-08-06T09:39:00.000+02:002014-08-06T09:39:15.163+02:00<h2>
Getting more time out of your laptop battery - Part two</h2>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In the
previous post we've been talking about some of the more obvious ways to get a
few more minutes, or maybe even an extra hour or so, out of your laptop battery.
Things like movable components, wireless connections and display brightness all
significantly influence how much time you will be able to spend editing your
spreadsheets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Here we
will add some of less obvious options that can also help to redirect a bit of
electrical juice towards things that you would want to use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<b><span lang="EN-US">Shut down unneeded applications</span></b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you're
anything like me, you will probably have a few applications up and running all
the time. The thing is that you may not necessarily perceive them as running,
because they will reside in your system tray, all silent and inconspicuous.
However all of them are consuming some system resources and with that
electricity. What’s more, lots of these applications only make sense when your
computer is online. Different cloud storage applications like Dropbox, Box,
OneDrive, Google Drive and so on provide you with no benefit when you’re not
connected to internet. What they will do, however, is to see if connection is
available every so often. And that may actually be more power consuming than if
they were connected and idling. Similar story applies also in regards with
various communications applications like Skype, Viber, Yahoo messenger and the
like. Seek out any such applications that you do not need while offline and
close them. If your system is low on memory you may actually speed it up a bit
at the same time. Just don’t forget to turn them on, when you’re back online </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPx-VZvOpzpWcZ-5MrHqsQScgV84R5lUCHwe0X9pjk1GpFNXxTKZmOELXm_hRyJPKQi9Xi1GFSHWTRnNXmc26GDs7wH5W-kLyOMwlKqbyrZ-Ie0R6tI_o9DR9N9Jrd05BSM8a7-ZOMlM/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+11.51.09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPx-VZvOpzpWcZ-5MrHqsQScgV84R5lUCHwe0X9pjk1GpFNXxTKZmOELXm_hRyJPKQi9Xi1GFSHWTRnNXmc26GDs7wH5W-kLyOMwlKqbyrZ-Ie0R6tI_o9DR9N9Jrd05BSM8a7-ZOMlM/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+11.51.09.png" height="202" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Some of the applications that are constantly running can be found in the System Tray<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b><span lang="EN-US">Choose which graphics adapter is in use</span></b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hmmm? What?
You may not be aware of this, but lots of newer laptops actually have two graphics
adapters. Especially if your laptop has an Intel i5 or i7 CPU. One is a
so-called builtin graphics adapter and will be from Intel. The other is
typically referred to as a “discreet” graphics adapter, since it’s an addon
component and not directly integrated into the system board. Two main
manufacturers of these are nVidia and AMD (formerly ATI).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Integrated
adapter is typically more than sufficient for any “office” work that you have
to do and is not power-hungry. Discreet adapter, on the other hand, can be
useful for graphically-intense applications, such as games or other
applications that do 3D graphics. But it’s also a power-hog and will drain your
battery in no time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Depending
on your adapter manufacturer the process of selecting adapter might differ
slightly, but in general you have two options. One is to assign applications to
one or the other graphics adapter individually.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wRLHWDs03gRzIyFo7Ld0vUz4MfL0ve7kRpod0UM2wDQAQvnK7nFwP3brhJOLeuj77kyQl8A0UchxpAYsWXHPTwMcH9FylfS1yomjRlYwV_vNg_4uXycNDmAUd8jnsf0sYmTyyt820y8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+12.33.43.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wRLHWDs03gRzIyFo7Ld0vUz4MfL0ve7kRpod0UM2wDQAQvnK7nFwP3brhJOLeuj77kyQl8A0UchxpAYsWXHPTwMcH9FylfS1yomjRlYwV_vNg_4uXycNDmAUd8jnsf0sYmTyyt820y8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+12.33.43.png" height="304" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">AMD driver allows for individual applications to be assigned to a specific graphics adapter<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The other is to have the system
choose the integrated graphics adapter automatically when you’re on battery
power. Second option may be better if your consideration is solely to prolong
battery power, but be aware, that it may degrade performance of some
applications (especially games).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnk5zFEw88JlJP3bFNMJX2c40VBc8BToWmk1cL9Frwma8lzQdLcxwAzDNJ9H6JbguZFTcuEmjuE4zyqOqf09A31BYSanvlhLCDOmkttDj126Dw-hQMf9HCWqAh61wGcBawLbfvpr3IEM/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+12.35.22.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnk5zFEw88JlJP3bFNMJX2c40VBc8BToWmk1cL9Frwma8lzQdLcxwAzDNJ9H6JbguZFTcuEmjuE4zyqOqf09A31BYSanvlhLCDOmkttDj126Dw-hQMf9HCWqAh61wGcBawLbfvpr3IEM/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+12.35.22.png" height="303" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Choose type of graphics adapter depending on whether you're on battery power or not<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3>
<b><span lang="EN-US">Make sure your laptop doesn’t overheat</span></b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Some
laptops are better at heat dissipation, some are worse. But heat is always a
bad thing, on many levels, for a laptop. First thing is that electronic
components will run more efficiently when they are cool. If they run more
efficiently, they use less power. Also prolonged elevated temperatures can cause
damage to internal components and things may start to fail. Second thing is
that if your laptop heats up, its internal fan will turn on to cool it down and
that will use up additional power. So keep your laptop cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">How can you
do that? Allow laptop to radiate heat. That is most easily achieved if it has
least contact with flat surface and most contact with air (providing that the
air is cool, of course). There are lots of products on the market that help you
do that. There are passive laptop pads that simply enhance the natural airflow
or active ones, that have builtin fans. Problem with those things is
portability. I personally prefer a set of vacuum rubber feet that you can
attach from below and they distance laptop from surface on which it rests, which
increases its cooling area.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQthgvq0rwhwx6oV7QIQEMmPwbJmtDpnttpoHHkXdGkAshZQzpym9C-175lrGc0W2QqgKiTeLJ5l2siyf_8M_6bcLMeUu4A7dEXRdTqiKeulsXSAhfCwKid550ZYWTlx08g8bfdjuxWM/s1600/51Gs1Waji8L._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQthgvq0rwhwx6oV7QIQEMmPwbJmtDpnttpoHHkXdGkAshZQzpym9C-175lrGc0W2QqgKiTeLJ5l2siyf_8M_6bcLMeUu4A7dEXRdTqiKeulsXSAhfCwKid550ZYWTlx08g8bfdjuxWM/s1600/51Gs1Waji8L._SL1500_.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Cooling laptop feet<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">Make your CPU run more slowly</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This one
goes into a similar category as the graphics example above. Namely, reducing
the performance of your laptop in order to conserve battery power, while still
leaving sufficient amount so that you can do what you need to do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">CPUs today
are probably overkill for most tasks, apart from some specialized ones. If
you’re running your text-editing or spreadsheet application, then CPU power is
one of the last things that you lack for. The problem is, that even if that is
so, your CPU may not be aware of this fact. While it is true that CPUs have
certain automatic flexibility that allows them to increase or decrease their
frequency (and with that how much power they require), they usually do this in
a fairly limited fashion in order to provide you with the snappiest experience.
So in a battery-extending scenario we would want to throttle our CPU to a level
where we can still do our tasks, but have CPU run at a fraction of its maximum
rate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is something
that can easily be achieved by creating or simply modifying a power profile.
You know, that thing that you are aware of but have never used? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">You can
access power profiles either through Control Panel or from the battery icon I
the System Tray. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzNYhVMTZXKLUrm7VOi0PPMRTHSL1srxJxkJSlzMreOtUG72vvklHeThEYek4LFmxKiipgPdS1PXc8IxJssoTGw7wcUiToSGWaSPkL1AMUWzT5CqQ_AlMi9HzwUOrTN6uy1NwWGo0ifU/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.03.05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzNYhVMTZXKLUrm7VOi0PPMRTHSL1srxJxkJSlzMreOtUG72vvklHeThEYek4LFmxKiipgPdS1PXc8IxJssoTGw7wcUiToSGWaSPkL1AMUWzT5CqQ_AlMi9HzwUOrTN6uy1NwWGo0ifU/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.03.05.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Power plan selection<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There will usually be couple available. Select the “More power
options” and then “Change plan settings” on the “Power saver” plan, when a new
window opens.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrz4yF6aNf6fWt8cTGS0PkETSi5sM37jqz0JAtfxjAHrIBvb-2SkdxmFT2OPLaJT_AR93WhtadIuBs4DJQECPVj3NB6m8sNWTLoEAjbCmVBkk61AEO0kF0POMQl-p0bS5XGf6noqhmhs/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.03.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrz4yF6aNf6fWt8cTGS0PkETSi5sM37jqz0JAtfxjAHrIBvb-2SkdxmFT2OPLaJT_AR93WhtadIuBs4DJQECPVj3NB6m8sNWTLoEAjbCmVBkk61AEO0kF0POMQl-p0bS5XGf6noqhmhs/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.03.16.png" height="297" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Main Power Options window<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the next screen click on the “Change advanced power settings”
and yet another window will present itself.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCbTWJA4w27YVeO2WwzjzpsOGUw3YzhzVs2jJDhZby1VF7G40Y-uDLRMUFp1lk3Xa1ugfPiuNm8Lh1wFz8NbgHEfuSEhPMrp05IDmRnxpiKmpYpA1CJaES-9HgDDW7dUSpSfNb-GAKmo/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.03.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCbTWJA4w27YVeO2WwzjzpsOGUw3YzhzVs2jJDhZby1VF7G40Y-uDLRMUFp1lk3Xa1ugfPiuNm8Lh1wFz8NbgHEfuSEhPMrp05IDmRnxpiKmpYpA1CJaES-9HgDDW7dUSpSfNb-GAKmo/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.03.28.png" height="298" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Advanced Power Options<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now scroll down until you reach the
“Processor power management” section. There will be two subsections there, that
we’re interested in. They are entitled Minimum and Maximum processor state. By
default values will be 5% for Minimum and 100% for Maximum, both when the
system is on battery power or plugged in. You will probably want to leave
Minimum set to the default value. Maximum value, however, should be decreased.
I found that for me 50% works fine, but you may go even lower. Depending on
what kind of performance still suits you and how powerful your system is.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarqm50noBu2PgFBtkw9k0L-7BRBMlZgcyCwjK4qFpblcla31Leq-nYZlgxuu2g7NPTxsqOGILYWaxXeoYfQJ5sSKh19gZyTlzQpYKzeZj1LA8bh9Yi4tZYzydWoZHUvhk4t8oFPjZ96s/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.04.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarqm50noBu2PgFBtkw9k0L-7BRBMlZgcyCwjK4qFpblcla31Leq-nYZlgxuu2g7NPTxsqOGILYWaxXeoYfQJ5sSKh19gZyTlzQpYKzeZj1LA8bh9Yi4tZYzydWoZHUvhk4t8oFPjZ96s/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-30+13.04.16.png" height="320" width="299" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Processor power management settings<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Once you
set the values, confirm them, close all the dialogue windows and in the system
tray choose your Power saver profile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Here we
are. With some or all of these approaches you will definitely be able to extend
your work (or play) time a bit. That’s always nice on those long flights or on
sunny afternoons, when there’s no power outlet around.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Enjoy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-81891731613464304432014-07-28T16:12:00.001+02:002014-07-28T16:13:33.590+02:00Getting more time out of your laptop battery - Part oneThere are some things that are never available in sufficient quantities. For those of us, who are technology obsessed battery capacity is certainly one of them. I'm not going to write about smartphone batteries here, since it's my firm belief that until miniaturized atomic cells become available, not much will change :-) I will write about laptop batteries and how you can do more work with them, when power plug is not available.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is going to be a two-part post, since it became a bit lengthy during the writing :-)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are a few simple and obvious things to take into consideration, when you want to prolong your off-the-electric-grid time:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Minimize the amount of components with movable parts</li>
<li>Turn down the screen brightness</li>
<li>Disable wireless transmissions</li>
</ul>
<div>
Then there is at least one not-so-obvious thing that you can do:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Shut down unneeded applications.</li>
<li>Choose the graphics card appropriate for your type of work</li>
<li>Make your CPU run more slowly</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>
Movable components</h3>
Components with movable parts will use more energy than a lot of other things in your laptop. There are two main such components in your laptops: optical drive and hard drive.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ask yourself how often have you used your optical drive in the last year.Chances are, you haven't. In general we don't burn CDs anymore as we used to. We use USB drives (flash or otherwise) when we need to physically transfer data to someone else. We install software from either online sources or the same USB drives can be used for that purpose as well. And even if you've installed something from a CD or a DVD during the initial setup of your laptop, how often do you need to do it now?</div>
<div>
The thing is, that optical drive, even if you don't use it, will still be an active part of your system. It will be checked during the boot of your laptop, to see if there's a bootable media in it. This will also add a few annoying seconds to your boot time. During operation of your system, it will be checked for contents whenever you open your file management application, such as Windows Explorer, or even when you have an "Open" or a "Save" dialogue window open in your Word, Excel or any other application. Every time you do this, a considerable amount of electrical power is spent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>So, if you still have an optical drive in your laptop, consider removing it.</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Chances are, you will want to fill up the hole in the side of your laptop with something. There are plastic kits that fit into your optical bay, that are made for just such a purpose. It's possible your laptop actually came with such a thingy. If not it's easy to order one from the Internet and they shouldn't cost more than a few bucks or euro. They usually look like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWSOdWWv_E87GP82GaG_tJwArAMthsS3Bp818bK7kSljw55WEKoF_uZxK5NDsOBBQy0dfB_A8VOXoPEsRVyCPsvSSuHCqjvysThyJCt0YLNjaHlBy6dxqTWBMcKHp7kMvBmnEF4AyY0c/s1600/Optical+Bay+-+travel+bezel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWSOdWWv_E87GP82GaG_tJwArAMthsS3Bp818bK7kSljw55WEKoF_uZxK5NDsOBBQy0dfB_A8VOXoPEsRVyCPsvSSuHCqjvysThyJCt0YLNjaHlBy6dxqTWBMcKHp7kMvBmnEF4AyY0c/s1600/Optical+Bay+-+travel+bezel.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Apart from saving you some electricity it will also make your laptop a bit lighter, as well.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Regarding the standard hard drive, there's not too much to say. If you can afford it, replace it with a Solid State Disk (SSD). For one thing it's going to spend less electricity, because there are no movable read/write heads and no rotating magnetic platters. Another thing is that it will make your laptop feel run much faster than before.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Display brightness</h3>
<div>
Another, and probably more significant consumer of power in your system is the component that you cannot be without. Your display. The larger it is and the higher resolution it has, the more power it needs. Brightness is also a very important factor. With the screen at full brightness versus minimum one, you can get an additional half an hour out of your battery. That is, of course, an estimate, but not too inaccurate one.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Wireless transmissions </h3>
<div>
If you're working on battery power, chances are you're either on the move or you're somewhere where infrastructure is less-than-perfect. In either case it's probably also likely that the work that you have in mind is not of an online sort. If that is the case, then turn off your wireless radios. </div>
<div>
You have at least wireless radio in your laptop, most likely a Bluetooth one as well and maybe even a 3G/4G also. All of these devices are constantly looking for connections. And often, if there are no connections, that makes them look even harder, which takes even more power.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Good solution is to turn them off.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you are running Windows 8, there is a "Flight Mode" option, that you can enable, by clicking on the network icon in your taskbar and then selecting Flight Mode from the top of the menu. If you don't need wireless but still require Bluetooth, then select the second option from above instead.</div>
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstQ2y4JFZEC4O6P1foe06kpK9r89Jl8LlsJLj2YvnXmCmPp05Q4OixXI5eFEEKf8XV68WKh2RaVX_CblATplzaNPtGHFcZmT9_ZhcHYYszQ18s3eCrx1w3k76qTeOe5JeElcvPC-QHBk/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-28+15.59.45.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstQ2y4JFZEC4O6P1foe06kpK9r89Jl8LlsJLj2YvnXmCmPp05Q4OixXI5eFEEKf8XV68WKh2RaVX_CblATplzaNPtGHFcZmT9_ZhcHYYszQ18s3eCrx1w3k76qTeOe5JeElcvPC-QHBk/s1600/Screenshot+2014-07-28+15.59.45.png" height="318" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
That's it for part one. Part two will talk about some less obvious approaches, that may also prove useful.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-21178459386376660062014-05-29T19:12:00.003+02:002014-05-29T19:12:50.088+02:00Excel 2010 multiple documents, multiple windowsThis one is short but sweet. It has to do with multiple windows and/or multiple monitors.<br />
<br />
In my <a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2013/10/doing-presentations-replicating-your.html">previous post</a> I mentioned that multiple monitors are a very effective way of working. If you have a single widescreen display, then even there multiple windows can be useful. If you have different application, like <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/word">MS Word</a> and <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/">MS Excel</a>, then this does not represent a problem. You open those two applications, put them side by side and go to work.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAfXUMByw0NHiGo1LN1An3hb80kYLY3quLG1SnHS9nEFqHKAYKMAWjt1myF_S7OTgeeQYdSzSa9811XEfQuxXg7oNdBBQG2stYOmKSKr7sc5-qF8KkrXBG4Py1NQG7eq02nWNVQhN_5Ss/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.03.45.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Word and Excel - side by side on same screen." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAfXUMByw0NHiGo1LN1An3hb80kYLY3quLG1SnHS9nEFqHKAYKMAWjt1myF_S7OTgeeQYdSzSa9811XEfQuxXg7oNdBBQG2stYOmKSKr7sc5-qF8KkrXBG4Py1NQG7eq02nWNVQhN_5Ss/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.03.45.png" height="225" title="" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Word+Excel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Problem is that sometimes you would like to have couple of documents of the same type opened and some applications do not always play nice when we want to do it. As far as MS Office is concerned this has been less and less an issue as the new version have been released. In version 2010 pretty much all components allow you to open different documents in separate windows by default. Except for Excel. In Excel, if you open multiple spreadsheets they will open in the same main window. And you will be hard-pressed to get them side-by-side. Normally you could open two documents in a single main Excel window.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpt1rExLRkdTWluZiSBan0o3QN5x_V-_79IzSSjO3Qftcgg3pts_UjqnFG5jOk1HzZr4bE8hkjZafC3-AKJTdgYyTfoCaYDH7Ccxw9-zsvhKQxldHc6RLjqmKWrayZKL5QL5cJTrMTA94/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.11.07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpt1rExLRkdTWluZiSBan0o3QN5x_V-_79IzSSjO3Qftcgg3pts_UjqnFG5jOk1HzZr4bE8hkjZafC3-AKJTdgYyTfoCaYDH7Ccxw9-zsvhKQxldHc6RLjqmKWrayZKL5QL5cJTrMTA94/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.11.07.png" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Excel spreadsheets in a single window</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
That, however, doesn't work very well if you want to spread them across separate monitors with different resolutions.<br />
There is a workaround.<br />
<br />
In order to open multiple documents in separate windows you first need to open a document, like you normally would. When the document is open you then right-click with the mouse on the Excel icon in the taskbar. There select the "Excel" entry.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJeIE7uHYMDOhM8Gk50Md4lHqx0PtX4NJlGsFEbUvpmv16spytCLWGFO6CH_y6wraYNf0A14qiFfcGwVDD6e2D0K-DSbxw1xbAWN37FM5w5V625omUH8nR1WBeIoe716k6GX7X8bisT8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.05.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJeIE7uHYMDOhM8Gk50Md4lHqx0PtX4NJlGsFEbUvpmv16spytCLWGFO6CH_y6wraYNf0A14qiFfcGwVDD6e2D0K-DSbxw1xbAWN37FM5w5V625omUH8nR1WBeIoe716k6GX7X8bisT8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.05.38.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open a new Excel instance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Voila, a new Excel window has just opened. All that you need to do is open that additional spreadsheet in the new window, position it besides the original one and you're good to go.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Rc70hF1ULQFuGY1h2ALZQgRZiqOvauHkr-QHBmHzlXCAs1f3O4ax_yjxvXXVw74qZg-C6J0Yj3fjxqbJxe7_82GXA_ndy1xMcAtRAvG9TjpPa7AhHlkfcOwW9zPSzN-ZePUuUL0nsK0/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.08.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Rc70hF1ULQFuGY1h2ALZQgRZiqOvauHkr-QHBmHzlXCAs1f3O4ax_yjxvXXVw74qZg-C6J0Yj3fjxqbJxe7_82GXA_ndy1xMcAtRAvG9TjpPa7AhHlkfcOwW9zPSzN-ZePUuUL0nsK0/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-29+19.08.24.png" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two separate Excel windows</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Enjoy,<br />
VlaykeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-21025161945708240772014-02-03T17:02:00.001+01:002014-02-03T17:02:30.548+01:00How to watch Google PhotospheresI'm fairly certain you all know what panorama photos are. If you don't it's those veeery wide photos, that you can take with most of today smartphones and with some digital cameras, that allow you to move from side to side in order to capture wide views of (usually) nature. If you don't have a device that supports this, then you can also use some software tools to make panoramas from multiple overlapping horizontal shots. End results are something like this:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1F2FtMvjqlXh_NFQXOpbvg8M_tgyRSXphNAwAGJgcP-cBKO8hz2geFTemmlN4rfvTKBZ-ztBRW12vkOa6Iu2aQVGiY895EFD9kemy3T3ySgUmamNGeff23Q3ShbYr32npcF0oc_ZPQC0/s1600/2013-11-06+12.24.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1F2FtMvjqlXh_NFQXOpbvg8M_tgyRSXphNAwAGJgcP-cBKO8hz2geFTemmlN4rfvTKBZ-ztBRW12vkOa6Iu2aQVGiY895EFD9kemy3T3ySgUmamNGeff23Q3ShbYr32npcF0oc_ZPQC0/s1600/2013-11-06+12.24.50.jpg" height="77" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panorama of Lago Maggiore, north of Italy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Panoramas are swell and perfect. But the only cover <i>some </i>of the story. Google came up with a way to also add all the missing parts, by allowing you to create a sphere photo. Basic idea is the same. You move your camera around and the software stitches it together. Only trick is that you move your camera <i>all the way </i>around. And up. And down.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquMBOD9EkJOOs6a_yq7RwzeqnlfUCV3awuZcr0GGP_AL-rc7jy-IFzndsJLVOIHAxM0PnR7zpEy4fCAs8C9bkrPAi1tAJX_E3hHffgJgohyphenhyphenGgGGOJXSO4O4Ur4AvD7tBddEc9_frcbZg/s1600/Photosphere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquMBOD9EkJOOs6a_yq7RwzeqnlfUCV3awuZcr0GGP_AL-rc7jy-IFzndsJLVOIHAxM0PnR7zpEy4fCAs8C9bkrPAi1tAJX_E3hHffgJgohyphenhyphenGgGGOJXSO4O4Ur4AvD7tBddEc9_frcbZg/s1600/Photosphere.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So now you have a photo that puts you on the spot somewhere and you can rotate to your hearts content. The only problem is that it's a bit difficult to actually view that photo, if you're not an owner of an Android phone.<br />
Sure, someone can send you their Photosphere, as they're called, and you open it on your PC. But you only see this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaYOMtR1h2AJUAh7qTh6LZpbIVDUT0ytTqWsLmyT_jCFdgMnOmx3_yL027NgPIApAbM8OfF0OuwT-q7ySs5X5wqqGuvrLPg6yDm-4Vth6X2K-MmuMjynvrR78D5NdzF_7H2xLNrDtDBdI/s1600/demo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaYOMtR1h2AJUAh7qTh6LZpbIVDUT0ytTqWsLmyT_jCFdgMnOmx3_yL027NgPIApAbM8OfF0OuwT-q7ySs5X5wqqGuvrLPg6yDm-4Vth6X2K-MmuMjynvrR78D5NdzF_7H2xLNrDtDBdI/s1600/demo2.jpg" height="158" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The picture is nice, but it's a bit out of shape in lots of places. And it does nothing for your desire to be "on the spot".<br />
<br />
Luckily there is a web page called <a href="http://photosphereviewer.net/">http://photosphereviewer.net/</a>. Smart people there allow you to point your web browser to location on your disk, where you have photospheres that your friends shared with you. And then you can watch them in all their intended glory. And in case you don't have one handy, they have several examples on their page. That's also where the above pic is from.<br />
<br />
Have fun,<br />
Vlado<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-27683079498905818962014-01-17T07:19:00.000+01:002014-01-17T07:22:08.097+01:00How to locate the browser tab that is source of an (annoying) sound<h3>
You're going crazy, but you still cannot find where the sounds are coming from!</h3>
It's something that probably happened to everyone of us at some point or other. We have lots of tabs opened and in one of them the designer has chosen to add a component that plays some music automatically. Or starts a video. Or has an add that has to talk to us...<br />
Usually if we open the tab, we'll spot the culprit at that time, mute it and be done with it. But it could happen that we will close the browser (or it will crash) and when we re-open it with all the tabs, we won't have any clue where that cursed sound is originating.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0S5S6FysDpYFF5Hk5LbBUDGyFf0IEVc_5U5jOtD3weVz9-YfqbQdiZ8q3qC4bV5T5CiOMYsEFoP7pdvvnANxjgCcs7uC7i8pK_iAfX9jj1l9gjx5UKvEiuz35P0s_WpoPRNBzfggd4g/s1600/Annoying-noise-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0S5S6FysDpYFF5Hk5LbBUDGyFf0IEVc_5U5jOtD3weVz9-YfqbQdiZ8q3qC4bV5T5CiOMYsEFoP7pdvvnANxjgCcs7uC7i8pK_iAfX9jj1l9gjx5UKvEiuz35P0s_WpoPRNBzfggd4g/s1600/Annoying-noise-008.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So what to do?<br />
<br />
There are multiple solutions to this problem. I'll list as many as I can come up with, starting with most complicated ones (and maybe least useful) and going towards simpler ones.<br />
<br />
<h4>
1. Reload the tabs</h4>
This option is fairly complicated, because it involves lots of work, depending on the amount of tabs that you have open.Basically you have to go to every tab and reload it (press F5 to speed up the process). When you reach the tab that is the source of the sound, playback will be interrupted while it reloads and you'll know that you have located the guilty party. Apart from having to go through every tab to find the problem, you may reload some pages where you were doing things and inadvertently loose some data. But sanity is more important, eh?<br />
<br />
<h4>
2. Use Volume Mixer control to disable the sound in the web browser</h4>
This option is more of a workaround than the solution. It stops you going crazy, but it doesn't really help you finding which tab is the problematic one. It simply mutes all the sound that the web browser generates. Problem with this is that it will also mute the sound in the tabs of that web browser that may actually be useful to you. It's all or nothing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaVOLHuHXZvl-2KWHw1fZVbc2ntVTBkmmDIAyTKkORb0PYBaRbGhE4w3GrMGfaBOEwKAwDLArQ33ZxHp2kXNCi-pmVViLbJooa-Gmaw6EBwBesmfKF77-89xqXoNQVxtpWzJ6zn5cWeAE/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+06.50.50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaVOLHuHXZvl-2KWHw1fZVbc2ntVTBkmmDIAyTKkORb0PYBaRbGhE4w3GrMGfaBOEwKAwDLArQ33ZxHp2kXNCi-pmVViLbJooa-Gmaw6EBwBesmfKF77-89xqXoNQVxtpWzJ6zn5cWeAE/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+06.50.50.png" height="191" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
You can find the Volume mixer, by clicking on the volume icon in your notifications bar and then clicking on the <i>Mixer</i> link.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Bg0CVcU88aqcZN3bFmzVfMjIP5xh2fdHXNH_R_B0VES1G5XAp_3nyRGJERHumUpMdPfCV9Txo2R0CoV1Mkrk6kqHqz52VPp6_iGSK5EzQkU-nmFg6iuhbhc05dDHDyWWcM6H0pJye8k/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+06.53.15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Bg0CVcU88aqcZN3bFmzVfMjIP5xh2fdHXNH_R_B0VES1G5XAp_3nyRGJERHumUpMdPfCV9Txo2R0CoV1Mkrk6kqHqz52VPp6_iGSK5EzQkU-nmFg6iuhbhc05dDHDyWWcM6H0pJye8k/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+06.53.15.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
3. Youtube? No problem.</h4>
Youtube has implemented a useful feature a few months ago. If you're watching a video on Youtube, the tab where the video is playing will display a well known triangle icon that means play. This helps you to quickly determine which of your Youtube tabs is responsible for the noise. This functionality is browser-independent.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJtMNipgp52PfFo-0Tj4o1vC7DG-6JWcZ5vruSI5fBcvzdSuDWVjUivcfoWSZ8Jjrru5hxFIRdjDuj9OIJw3gBY9kfoGOTb1Y6M8BdlvaVLj78AKfQ8jqhIGt1b3SLTaHNtTGVB3DfL8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+06.57.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJtMNipgp52PfFo-0Tj4o1vC7DG-6JWcZ5vruSI5fBcvzdSuDWVjUivcfoWSZ8Jjrru5hxFIRdjDuj9OIJw3gBY9kfoGOTb1Y6M8BdlvaVLj78AKfQ8jqhIGt1b3SLTaHNtTGVB3DfL8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+06.57.34.png" height="17" title="Click to view larger image" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view larger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
4. Chrome - all is known ;-)<br />
Since Youtube is Google's subsidiary it's probably not surprising that Google took previous feature and integrated it as a generic functionality into the Chrome web browser. Now any pages that generate sound will have a speaker icon in shown in the tab header which will allow you to spot the annoying web page at a glance.<br />
In the example below three out of five tabs are playing video. However one of the three tabs has the video muted, so the speaker icon only shows up on the two active ones.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-yopMbk558PobJqAbfSqiQG50JFTv7swCsTO4xnf3z0OjvAtSX-kqV7dWVrw7SbE6p0SWfD3XrCNf6UWaYuJlaVJzaYxuXTKu4d8uR1PD7whDXIGu4cy6hb7Xzz9UW7vgOlzP-eMcNA/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+07.01.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-yopMbk558PobJqAbfSqiQG50JFTv7swCsTO4xnf3z0OjvAtSX-kqV7dWVrw7SbE6p0SWfD3XrCNf6UWaYuJlaVJzaYxuXTKu4d8uR1PD7whDXIGu4cy6hb7Xzz9UW7vgOlzP-eMcNA/s1600/Screenshot+2014-01-17+07.01.14.png" height="20" title="Click to view larger image" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to view larger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Enjoy some good music and don't loose your mind over it,<br />
VlaykeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-77971762965658375462013-12-13T09:08:00.000+01:002013-12-13T09:08:44.501+01:00Who or what has access to your Google account and how to revoke that accessLike Facebook, one of the conveniences that Google offers is that it allows you to use your Google account in order to login to different websites. In IT circles this is known as a SSO (Single Sign On) functionality. It's another way of saying, that you don't need to create an account for every single site on the internet. Instead you create one with a well know and (hopefully) trusted provider and use that everywhere. One of the ideas behind this is that you can now have one fairly strong password, which would further secure your online identity. On any site that supports this, you will then have an option to create a local account, or to use your Google login instead.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphengtAlWEcRz5KewkoD8kN3DNJi745sAxPVSCN6ZkGJ9Xp7AVClsV-a7BLJH_tblEwy5UE3mQqxGkeJYwaHjXzQ8ajbmKG20fna5INdvMFl4nxHhGfIDYULQP55AycrLBoOy7Czj-EX8o/s1600/Google+accounts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphengtAlWEcRz5KewkoD8kN3DNJi745sAxPVSCN6ZkGJ9Xp7AVClsV-a7BLJH_tblEwy5UE3mQqxGkeJYwaHjXzQ8ajbmKG20fna5INdvMFl4nxHhGfIDYULQP55AycrLBoOy7Czj-EX8o/s1600/Google+accounts.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
I can just hear you asking now: "But wait. Doesn't that mean that all those sites will now know my Google login credentials?"<br />
Thankfully, the answer to that is: "No, they won't." :-)<br />
<br />
The way how this works (in fairly simplified form) is that other sites have decided to trust Google (or Facebook) to provide the authentication services instead of them. When you come to a www.tripit.com or www.linkedin.com and use your Google login, these sites will essentially ask Google if it can verify that you are, who you say you are. Google will say "yes" and with that the site will let you in. Your password will not be seen by these sites.<br />
That's the good part of the story.<br />
<br />
What about the bad?<br />
<br />
There are actually a few, potentially, bad sides. And you have to weigh each one on its own to see if convenience outweighs the risks, as far as you are concerned.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Google knows (sinister music)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Since your Google account to login to the other sites, Google will know which sites you're visiting. So if you're keen on protecting where on the net you go, this may be an issue for you.</div>
<ul>
<li>Sites know (sinister music)</li>
</ul>
Depending on the site, there may be a substantial level of information that they will get from Google about you, when you use Google authentication. On the upside, the site where you're logging in with your Google account will always let you know what level of information they want from you, before you allow them to actually access that information. Major problem here is that, often, there is no way of reducing requested privilege level and still be able to use Google login with that particular site.<br />
Here is <a href="https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3466521">a bit of information</a>, regarding the access levels and what they mean.<br />
<ul>
<li>You forget that others know (no music)</li>
</ul>
<br />
In my opinion one of the hidden risks with this is that it's maybe too convenient. Lots of sites today use this capability. In some cases you may want to try out a particular site or a service that they offer and you then forget you did so. However the site in question still retains visibility in your personal data.<br />
<br />
For the first two things there is no tool. You have to use your head. Unfortunately :-)<br />
For the last thing, however, there is <a href="https://accounts.google.com/IssuedAuthSubTokens%E2%80%8E">a nice page on google.com</a>, that allows you to check all the sites and services that are at this time allowed to access some or most of your information. It also allows you to easily revoke access to any and all such linked sites and services.<br />
Ha, actually, just as I was re-checking the facts about this functionality, I came across an <a href="https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions">updated and nicer version of the page</a>, which serves the same function. :-)<br />
<br />
I'm willing to bet that most of you, will be slightly amazed, when you see all the connected sites and services, when you visit these pages for the first time.<br />
<br />
Have a nice Friday the 13th and enjoy,<br />
VlaykeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-67382556151285846662013-12-05T14:35:00.000+01:002013-12-05T14:35:02.419+01:00Gmail - One account, infiinite adressesSo, you've got a <a href="https://mail.google.com/">Gmail</a> account? Are you registering for a <a href="http://slashdotheadlines.p.slashdot.org/slashdot_daily_newsletter.html">technical newsletter</a> here, <a href="http://britev.si/">shaving forum</a> there, <a href="http://www.miles-and-more.com/">loyalty service</a> in another location? On top of that there are lots of websites or services, like free wireless at in cities or at the airports, that would like to have your email address.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dS-7ovM0Yq8/UQrIfizEWQI/AAAAAAAAKtg/4DcQV1qnE1M/s251/Gmail%252520Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dS-7ovM0Yq8/UQrIfizEWQI/AAAAAAAAKtg/4DcQV1qnE1M/s251/Gmail%252520Logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Lots of these services require you to confirm that you can actually be reached through an email address that you provide, before you can use them. As a result quite a few people have taken to create a separate email account just for these registration purposes. It's one of the ways to combat the amount of emails that you get in your inbox and minimize the risk of appearing on someone's spam list.<br />
Problem with this approach is that now you have TWO accounts that you have to use and check. At least when you need to check for confirmation emails or maybe when you need to recover passwords that you forget.<br />
<br />
Well, with Gmail, there is a way to have a single account but at the same time have virtually unlimited amount of email addresses associated with it. Actually there are two such ways :-D<br />
<h3>
D.ot.s a.re (semi)imp.ort.ant</h3>
<div>
If you're like me, then you created your Gmail account in <i>firstname.lastname@gmail.com</i> format. Some people do it in <i>firstnamelastname@gmail.com</i> format. Or you use whatever other type of account name you like. Doesn't really matter. What matters is that Google will deliver emails to your account even if punctuation is different than what you specified as your username. So, if your default email address is <i>firstname.lastname@gmail.com</i> then also emails to <i>firstnamelastname@gmail.com</i> will reach you. As well as <i>f.irstnamelastname@gmail.com</i> or <i>firs.tnam.elast.name@gmail.com</i> or <i>firstnamelastnam.e@gmail.com</i> or any other combination in between.</div>
<div>
Neat, eh? :-)</div>
<h3>
Gmail+?</h3>
<div>
You probably know that Google is doing its best to compete with <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>, with <a href="http://plus.google.com/">Google+</a> service, for the status of social network king. If it will succeed or not remains to be seen. But it seems (may be a coincindence) that a bit of that "plussiness" has spilled over to Gmail.</div>
<div>
It seems like that, because another way to generate additional email addresses is to add <b>+</b> sign at the end of your username and follow it with a string of characters. For instance <i>firstname.lastname+shawingforums@gmail.com</i> Or <i>firstname.lastname+technewsletters@gmail.com</i></div>
<div>
Of course you could combine this with the first technique but that would likely complicate things a bit.</div>
<h4>
How does this help me?</h4>
Well, one of the things that you can fairly effectively do in Gmail is creating filters for your incoming emails. The thing is that if you wanted to create a filter for every loyalty program, forum or newsletter, and you weren't using either of the above tricks, then you had to create a lot of individual filters that were based on sender addresses. And additional problem was that, relatively often, sender addresses change. Which means that it can happen that one of your filters stops working all of a sudden and you may have a hard time figuring out why.<br />
With <i>firstname.lastname+loyaltyprogram@gmail.com</i> you just need to create a filter that will rely on your receiving email. And it can be one filter for all loyalty programs for which you registered with that particular address. If sender address changes at any time in the future or if your registration email is provided to some third-party company, then all the extra correspondence will be automatically treated with the same loyalty filter and will not clutter your inbox. Plus (hehe) you will have a better overview in regards with how your email information circulates around the internet.<br />
<h4>
What this nifty feature will not do?</h4>
<div>
Email addresses (more properly called aliases, for those of you that are detail nazis) generated like this are for receiving emails only. You will not be able to use them for outgoing emails. Any mail that you send will still be sent under your original <i>username@gmail.com</i></div>
<div>
Also, the login name (what you type in combination with your password when you login to Google services) can only be your original username, that you picked when you subscribed for a Google account.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Enjoy,</div>
<div>
Vlayke</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-72959604462542790582013-11-28T20:38:00.001+01:002013-11-28T20:38:25.397+01:00XBMC SubtitlesI've had a request, after my previous <a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2013/10/xbmc-when-watching-movies-or-tv-shows.html">XBMC post</a>, to write about the subtitles in this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC">HTPC</a> application. So here goes.<br />
<br />
One of the things that you can easily do in <a href="http://xbmc.org/">XBMC</a> is to get a subtitle for any movie or TV series that you watch. Most of the time the process can literally be a single-click away.<br />
<br />
XBMC is a very extensible platform, through the use of plugins, that you can add to it. One of such plugins is a subtitles plugin. It allows you to connect to one or more subtitle sites on the internet and can be configured to automatically fetch the first subtitle that seems suitable to the title you're currently watching. In some cases it may make mistakes and either download subtitles for the wrong episode or maybe subtitles which have a bit of delay. If that happens, you can simply initiate the download again and then it will allow you to select the subtitle file manually.<br />
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<a href="http://addons.xbmc.org/addon-data/cache/images/25f5d95a609f7be436a3dd8b804ae3_icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://addons.xbmc.org/addon-data/cache/images/25f5d95a609f7be436a3dd8b804ae3_icon.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So let's see how this can be setup.<br />
<br />
Open your XBMC and move to the right where you will find the <i>System </i>menu.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjwTOvJtFMm56nhgE_j-BTFY67uhxZbBXrwrRc8gj69Uc4oVD-xUQ267cHx5sks1ln-5Dtt23XEILfFNuFNK9R6wkaDeazdnTBM5UbqeEsqVFW8gelaoRS9oX8EPRyF-YIdb0bI_6TXU/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.04.04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjwTOvJtFMm56nhgE_j-BTFY67uhxZbBXrwrRc8gj69Uc4oVD-xUQ267cHx5sks1ln-5Dtt23XEILfFNuFNK9R6wkaDeazdnTBM5UbqeEsqVFW8gelaoRS9oX8EPRyF-YIdb0bI_6TXU/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.04.04.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
When you enter it there will be the <i>Add-ons </i>section.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyP3xB_Tr2Vj_0iIBBKfOusf7eLIyH8cXso-GZ8PuwCFw3hSieJanRnoWmbJIMtE3Ki8fzlkAx5nuP5yc63f0Z_4gaRGMZRthoQfY97Xn7uaimAX-AAjHg0_LNAbJn6FENtWdp0iH7aE/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.05.21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyP3xB_Tr2Vj_0iIBBKfOusf7eLIyH8cXso-GZ8PuwCFw3hSieJanRnoWmbJIMtE3Ki8fzlkAx5nuP5yc63f0Z_4gaRGMZRthoQfY97Xn7uaimAX-AAjHg0_LNAbJn6FENtWdp0iH7aE/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.05.21.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Once you enter that, go to the <i>Get Add-ons </i>and there, under the <i>XBMC.org Add-ons </i>entry, you will find the <i>Subtitles </i>section. The only selection there will be the <i>XBMC subtitles</i>. Open that and you will have an option to download it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRBsTdqv2JS_cnb0ariJjksUzLrHqWRxa-b1VwFZMIn3pcKinTvUU70HswzvVy0E7f3uwWBEw7BD46SE1BRxywHAsiFAi5FXq3pQq9bpRHjdkRsbHFJlwoVHInsO-eUgb-QmT-NhpXa3g/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.06.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRBsTdqv2JS_cnb0ariJjksUzLrHqWRxa-b1VwFZMIn3pcKinTvUU70HswzvVy0E7f3uwWBEw7BD46SE1BRxywHAsiFAi5FXq3pQq9bpRHjdkRsbHFJlwoVHInsO-eUgb-QmT-NhpXa3g/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.06.16.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Once it's downloaded you will need to set how it will behave. Enter the plugin again and choose the <i>Configure </i>button. First you will set up the languages that interest you.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbO6C6zAtfiQnFvSMhb373N1UItRdei6Va0JH07ieHuHabiU0yMr1qRiN4DIBO8csIdwia6V9-T_BriBP0Nz7IiI4IvzQE2JM4JUZKGGexLX5vZhRwFW9aqnrc-P4QECCp9-Gj1baxqik/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.16.19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbO6C6zAtfiQnFvSMhb373N1UItRdei6Va0JH07ieHuHabiU0yMr1qRiN4DIBO8csIdwia6V9-T_BriBP0Nz7IiI4IvzQE2JM4JUZKGGexLX5vZhRwFW9aqnrc-P4QECCp9-Gj1baxqik/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.16.19.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Then you should decide which subtitle provider or providers you will use. This may depend on your language selection, since not all subtitle providers will offer subtitles in the language of your choice. For English subtitles I have good experience with OpenSubtitles.org. Be mindful that some subtitle providers require that you create an account. In that case, you will have to provide login credentials to the subtitle plugin so that it can retrieve the subtitles properly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyT6S5Ijwj5x_uDCqT9s6vpFI9s2dO_P9q8bTFI-vObPFIQuSUhWpcbhm_Oue7-BdOg6Dep-1-aXjzu5d301h_wLIUdK6tEvg2W4eMrAa28c2WlTgbNrPE4a3dADeX6O2kbSqQrwLISl0/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.16.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyT6S5Ijwj5x_uDCqT9s6vpFI9s2dO_P9q8bTFI-vObPFIQuSUhWpcbhm_Oue7-BdOg6Dep-1-aXjzu5d301h_wLIUdK6tEvg2W4eMrAa28c2WlTgbNrPE4a3dADeX6O2kbSqQrwLISl0/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.16.38.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Finally you should go to the <i>Advanced Options </i>tab and check a few entries there. If nothing else, go all the way down the list and check the option which says <i>Auto Download first "sync" subtitle</i>. This will enable the one-click capabilities for you later in the playback window.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAHespOoa2ZpL5UMy68v8buJgv3x1L8dR4GkmOgn-SvShZtyh_cpKwl7HNBCM1rpAGCi_V38rdj_uoULrjb8q8mpG-f1kgIeI2ziKciIVpcYamyMtNe6zg4MSsoBZ93kKzHJIx4D31k8/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.17.36.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAHespOoa2ZpL5UMy68v8buJgv3x1L8dR4GkmOgn-SvShZtyh_cpKwl7HNBCM1rpAGCi_V38rdj_uoULrjb8q8mpG-f1kgIeI2ziKciIVpcYamyMtNe6zg4MSsoBZ93kKzHJIx4D31k8/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+13.17.36.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
We configured the Add-on settings. Now we need to let XBMC know that it will be using this plugin for subtitles. In order to do that, we head back to the <i>System </i>menu and on top locate and enter the <i>Appearance </i>section. Here we move to the right, where there is a <i>- Settings </i>option under the <i>Skin </i>entry.<br />
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<br />
In the <i>Settings </i>screen we locate the <i>Add-on Shortcuts </i>section and then on the right look for the <i>Video OSD </i>entry. There we need to make sure that the <i>XBMC Subtitles </i>is selected.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGG7AYJYBEK8ClGse7fBGcNY104wHhuputEPXBTLvZKC_R8YyJRvwMDGZJl9E2dlnJxOQxCQZPOBQdJMsDY4zCNUwSnptBtYYFr2JqPBnVuIfz1B32_x4MW96bjbmOkPQ4ghRV8rMG5Qk/s1600/Screenshot+2013-11-28+14.52.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGG7AYJYBEK8ClGse7fBGcNY104wHhuputEPXBTLvZKC_R8YyJRvwMDGZJl9E2dlnJxOQxCQZPOBQdJMsDY4zCNUwSnptBtYYFr2JqPBnVuIfz1B32_x4MW96bjbmOkPQ4ghRV8rMG5Qk/s400/Screenshot+2013-11-28+14.52.16.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
After you're done, go back to your <i>TV Shows </i>or <i>Movies </i>section and open the title that you would like to watch. During playback all that you will need to do is to click on the subtitle button and the appropriate subtitle will be downloaded automatically.<br />
<br />
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Enjoy,<br />
VlaykeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-41421823610010997862013-11-26T15:09:00.001+01:002013-11-26T15:09:11.263+01:00XBMC – When watching movies or TV shows is just easy - Part 2<a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2013/10/xbmc-when-watching-movies-or-tv-shows.html">Part 1</a><br />
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Even though you can install <a href="http://xbmc.org/">XBMC</a> on virtually anything, from an <a href="http://www.android.com/">Android</a> phone, <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/?cid=oas-us-domains-iphone.com">iPhone</a> (if jailbroken), <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a> device, and there are even <a href="http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMCbuntu">Linux distributions </a>that are made with sole purpose of running XBMC, I’ll again do the KISS thing and simply install it as an application on my Windows PC. You can go to <a href="http://www.xbmc.org/">www.xbmc.org</a> and on the right hand side you will see a nice, large "<a href="http://xbmc.org/download/">Download</a>" button that will help you to transfer the installation package to your PC.<br />
When you transfer it (it's around 50MB at the time of writing) you simply go through setup like you would with any other piece of software. Defaults will work fine and when setup runs its course, you have the application itself installed and ready to run.<br />
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When you first run it, you will be presented with a nice, large user interface that is designed (also) for TV use. As such, you can completely disregard mouse and simply use your arrow keys to move around the interface. Enter will get you in a particular menu, while Backspace will go one level up. Full list of keyboard shortcuts can be found <a href="http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Keyboard_controls">here</a>. Of course, mouse will work just as well.<br />
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Now we will want to let XBMC know where media files are located. We will enter the "Videos" menu, then "Files" and finally "Add Videos..." section.<br />
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First we will add movies to the database. You will get an option to name the media files in the location. If you have more than one location where you store movies then name your location, so that it makes sense to you. I will simply call it "Movies". Then browse to the location where your movie files are. This can be on your PC or somewhere else on your network. Maybe another PC or on a NAS server. In my case it will be a local drive with Y: letter assigned to it.<br />
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When you locate the folder where your movies are stored, you confirm it. Then you will be able to let XBMC know, that the folder contains movies in the content selection. This allows XBMC to scan the folder and identify the movies and put up all sorts of nice things about them, such as title image, list of actors, summaries and so on. When you get asked if you want to refresh the info for all items in the path, answer "Yes".<br />
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Movies are added, so you need to add your TV series as well. Process is the same as before. Only difference is that you now you specify content as "TV Shows". When you're done you again answer affirmatively to the "refresh info" question. You should now have Movies and TV (or whatever you named them) in your list of libraries.<br />
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And that's it! You're done! After the scan of your files is finished and you back out of the menus, you will be able to see two new entries in the main screen. One will be "Movies" and other will be "TV Shows". If you move over them, you should already see what content XBMC was able to find and catalogue.<br />
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And if you enter the individual selection, you will be able to see your media files and start watching them.<br />
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This completes the initial XBMC posting. Sometime in the future you can look forward to information about remotes, subtitles, TV streaming and similar.<br />
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Enjoy this greatly,<br />
VlaykeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-39252196089479661922013-11-26T15:08:00.000+01:002013-11-26T15:08:29.636+01:00XBMC – When watching movies or TV shows is just easy - Part 1It didn't start out like that, but this post will be divided into few parts. It's a bit too long for a single entry, in my opinion. So, here's the 1st part:<br />
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You probably watch movies on your PC now and then. You may also watch TV series there. I used to use quite a few different applications to do that over the years. I eventually went for the KISS approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid) and was using <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-media-player">Windows Media Player </a>with some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec">codecs </a>thrown in. It did its job quite well. Especially with my unwillingness to install extra software that was either bloated or not too user friendly (at least for my taste). That’s one of the reasons why I was avoiding <a href="http://www.videolan.org/">VLC player, </a>for instance. Even though it is extremely capable player and plays practically everything that you throw at it, it’s simply just a bit too ugly and just slightly less intuitive than what I want for my daily use.<br />
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With things like movies and TV shows I am a bit of a organizational freak as well as a hoarder. I like to have things arranged into seasons. I like to know if I have actually watched something already or not. I don’t mind if I can see some sort of art-work associated with that movie and/or TV show. And I also like to have English subtitles for everything. Even the shows that actually are in English. Sometimes you can’t watch stuff at full volume or with headphones and sometimes you don’t want to concentrate too much with unusual accents and subtitles can help out a lot.<br />
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One day I crossed my internet-browsing path with a piece of open source software called <a href="http://xbmc.org/">XBMC</a>. It’s quite simply one of the best written pieces of software that I’ve ever used. Especially if you consider that it’s free of charge. I love using it and really cannot recommend it enough to anyone who uses PC to watch movies or TV shows.<br />
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It’s very likely that in the future I’ll delve into some additional use-cases and tweaks for XBMC, but for now, let me just explain how it works and in the following parts, how we can set it up.<br />
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Apart from its ability to let us watch movies or TV shows, XBMC can be used also to watch live TV. That does require either a TV tuner in your PC or an IP TV subscription. But on top of that you can also use it for your audio collection and listening pleasure as well as for watching pictures.<br />
The whole program is extremely customizable and made with TV screens in mind. That means that it will work if you watch it from afar and does not require mouse as a primary (or indeed at all) method of interaction.<br />
It also allows you to access media from any number of sources. Either local disks of your PC, network locations such as other PC shares or your NAS device that you may have somewhere at home or some other source.<br />
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Before you install XBMC it makes sense to check how your media files are stored and, if necessary make some adjustments. While you can have your movies stored on different location, as well as your TV series, it's best if the two types of files are not mixing on the same location.<br />
For start let's assume that you will have two basic folders. You name one "Movies" and another "TV". Into each one you put your respective content. Again it's a good idea here to make subfolders with names that reflect titles of your media. For instance: "Star Trek The Next Generation". And in there you can dump all the files with episodes of that show. If you have more than one TV show it's fairly likely that you already have organization like this. For TV shows, if you wish, you can make subfolders for every season, but you don't really have to. After this you're ready for XBMC.<br />
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I hope this whets your appetite a bit :-)<br />
Next time I'll go over the setup process and how we add some media into the player.<br />
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Enjoy,<br />
Vlayke,<br />
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<a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2013/11/xbmc-when-watching-movies-or-tv-shows.html">Part 2</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-82515219812743365692013-10-24T12:58:00.001+02:002013-10-24T12:58:36.045+02:00Editing messages in Skype?If you're using pretty much any IM (instant messaging) application and/or app, chances are that you sometimes mitsype something. :-)<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.skype.com" title="Skype.com">Skype</a> allows you to edit your sent messages in a very easy manner.<br />
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Your last message (the one that you just sent) can be edited, by simply pressing the UP arrow key. When you do that the affected message will get highlighted and text to modify will appear at the input box. Then you can simply modify that message, like you would if you haven't sent it yet. Person on the other side will, however, be able to notice that you did the editing, since there will be a small icon of pencil at the end of the edited line.<br />
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Messages before the last one can also be edited. But in that case, you'll actually have to right-click with mouse on the message that you wish to edit and then select "edit message" from the selection.<br />
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You can go even further. You can actually delete the embarrassing message.<br />
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Of course this only helps if person on the other side wasn't there, when you typed it... :-)<br />
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If you have any suggestions for something that you would like to see here, let me know in the comments. Maybe there's an easy solution available for that too.<br />
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Enjoy,<br />
Vlayke Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-65716567378198255032013-10-18T21:59:00.001+02:002013-10-18T22:01:36.674+02:00Doing presentations? Replicating your desktop or extending it?<h4>
In the <a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2013/10/moving-windows-in-windows.html">previous post</a> I've stated that I'm a big fan of keyboard shortcuts. I'm also a big fan of working on multiple monitors. I find that it does wonders in almost any work type to have windows open on different displays.</h4>
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Since pretty much everyone I know is replacing their old desktop PCs (if they even have them anymore) with laptops, the whole thing becomes even simpler. Pretty much every laptop has some sort of video-out port. It will either be VGA, or some version of HDMI or Display Port. And practically every laptop that I've seen allows for a separate output on this video-out connector.</div>
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This means that if you own a laptop and have a workspace that you use all the time, it makes a lot of sense to put a monitor there. Especially since you can get a 24" full HD monitor for less tan 160€ these days.<br />
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And turning this functionality on is usually as simple as using another keyboard shortcut (Windows+P).</div>
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In any case, what is also interesting is that if you attach a projector to your laptop, it's like having an external monitor. I don't know why, but apart from some of my colleagues, who do presentations for a living, almost no one ever uses ability to have separate desktops on laptop monitor and on the projector.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
There are a lot of reasons why it makes very good sense NOT to show your desktop during presentations:</h4>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Primary desktops are often messy and un-professional. What I mean with this is that there are often a lot of icons there. Shortcuts, documents,... In some cases it's nothing special in other cases there may be a document or two with sensitive names and you may be showing them to the whole auditorium.</li>
<li>IM and email pop-ups. Unless you're extremely conscientious you likely don't close your IM programs (Skype and the like) before you start a presentation. If you are showing your primary desktop, then you can at least expect to see people who just signed-in to pop up there. Or, there may be an embarrassing beginning of a message or email that shows up briefly. Not really how you leave a good impression on your audience.</li>
<li>Reference look up. Obviously, when you're presenting about a certain subject, you know EVERYTHING about it, right? But what the audience may not know is that some of your knowledge is due to the notes and reference documentation that you have on your own screen, while they're looking at your presentation.</li>
<li>Power Point Presenter view. If you're using Power Point as your presentation software of choice, then Presenter view is something that you absolutely have to use. While slides are being shown normally on the projector, you can see your current slide, notes as well as previous and a few next slides on your laptop screen. Perfect in order to keep your flow going through the presentation.</li>
</ol>
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</div>
<div>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbiWfTM7py8BidGLWZd5u3BQYVf3OZK36uxaCwMiCEEkjj25MSxlVRf9e3ZlH0Nho51_GoeDNsN2qq4Ky_N7_P149rJuyXb6NNP-un4dpPlxrpr4ZZB83ZfxcSqLsY3BZGa56EJ7_Oje0/s1600/Screenshot+2013-10-18+21.49.53.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbiWfTM7py8BidGLWZd5u3BQYVf3OZK36uxaCwMiCEEkjj25MSxlVRf9e3ZlH0Nho51_GoeDNsN2qq4Ky_N7_P149rJuyXb6NNP-un4dpPlxrpr4ZZB83ZfxcSqLsY3BZGa56EJ7_Oje0/s1600/Screenshot+2013-10-18+21.49.53.png" height="215" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, is there any reason NOT to extend your desktop? As it turns out, there is at least one that is valid and another that sucks, but is realistic:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>You're doing a demo of a product. Such presentation can be problematic, if you're sitting in front of an empty primary screen and the product that you're demoing is projected behind you. Then you either have to crane your head back or even turn your back on your audience. And both of these things do nothing to enhance your presentation. So in this case seeing the same thing on the projector and on your laptop can be useful.</li>
<li>If you have a crappy presentation tool that doesn't behave well in two-screen mode. So far I've only seen one such tool, but my hatred towards it is not diminished by that fact. I'm talking about a product that looks slightly like Acrobat Viewer but is in fact not. It's called Lock Lizard and is a tool that allows for presentation of copy-protected content. The tool is crap in more than one sense, but it really excels in how it doesn't work if you want to use it in extended desktop deployment, while presenting. So unless you really go out of your way to trick it, you simply have to revert to single desktop mode.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div>
My conclusion here is that multi monitor environments rule! It doesn't matter if we're talking about a standard monitor or a projector, most of the time it makes excellent sense to extend your desktop. And it Just Works™.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Enjoy,</div>
<div>
Vlayke</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-48263076411376746012013-10-16T19:55:00.001+02:002013-10-16T19:55:30.660+02:00Moving windows in WindowsFirst let me say that I love keyboard shortcuts. While I like GUI point-and-click interfaces, I also believe that a lot of tasks can be accomplished more efficiently and quicker just with a keyboard. Mouse is useful in lots of occasions, but if I can accomplish something with my fingers on the keyboard I'll do it that way.<br />
<br />
Windows 7 brought a few interesting keyboard shortcuts with it. The ones that I'll mention here have to do with how you can manipulate application windows within a single or across multiple screens. You may be familiar with these, but I'm sure some people will find them new. And maybe even useful.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>1. Maximize window: </b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s1600/Windows+key.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s200/Windows+key.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3_kDzx2sPwxbKNYsqp-2m-9tnYZFVwTdTJqcOSkRRxnpylgTtUpRVj8g_m-ha1OYFRgCk3jMZcUUh6TZXvVj3tP78xdgDJ6Kb43rk6GGTnbNLxzD33NkXIrBmEvQv9jpLx5HC3vjs9I/s1600/Up+Arrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3_kDzx2sPwxbKNYsqp-2m-9tnYZFVwTdTJqcOSkRRxnpylgTtUpRVj8g_m-ha1OYFRgCk3jMZcUUh6TZXvVj3tP78xdgDJ6Kb43rk6GGTnbNLxzD33NkXIrBmEvQv9jpLx5HC3vjs9I/s200/Up+Arrow.png" width="50" /></a><br />
In the past, if you wanted to use keyboard, you had to press alt+space and then "X" to achieve this. Now a single sequence does the same.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>2. Restore and minimize window:</b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s1600/Windows+key.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s200/Windows+key.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxEDQNddVUjMhJnWOezmUCUhWmQ5HH8yLXBXZwkgA-4pPfxlSrmxqtyFzF0sh51ufxYIA_yJeJ86CYpOSZI-3J5m8qiIXSn_EBvya7_PBspQxwAUQbjGNwTcouisgefwoQO34ISvJrYk/s1600/Down+Arrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxEDQNddVUjMhJnWOezmUCUhWmQ5HH8yLXBXZwkgA-4pPfxlSrmxqtyFzF0sh51ufxYIA_yJeJ86CYpOSZI-3J5m8qiIXSn_EBvya7_PBspQxwAUQbjGNwTcouisgefwoQO34ISvJrYk/s1600/Down+Arrow.png" /></a><br />
Depending on the state of your window, this combination will either restore maximized window to its "un maximized" size. Or if window is already "un maximized" it will minimize it. In the past combinations of alt+space and "R" or alt+space and "N" did the same. Now it's a single sequence for either of the two actions.<br />
<br />
So far, so good. We've only covered enhancements to already existing functionalities. But with Windows 7, some new actions were also introduced. For instance, if you grab window by the title bar, with the mouse, and drag it to the left or right edge of the screen it will "stick" to that edge. On top of that it will change its shape so that it takes up exactly one half of your screen. With that you can have two documents open, side by side, if you need to reference things, while you write about them, for instance.<br />
But if you use multi-monitor setup, this becomes slightly trickier. The reason for that is that Windows may have trouble determining if you want to drag one document to the right edge of your screen to "stick" it there or if you want to drag it to the screen on the right side of the one you're currently using.<br />
So now the keyboard shortcuts come to the rescue :-)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>3. Stick window to the left:</b></span> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s1600/Windows+key.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s200/Windows+key.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJAHzLyWoK2FVL2px7oIrRHidBWBwfJ9tKT91FYmp5jo_SK7-NKZi9-AedX1QGZY9QQXQgUMm8Wqgcom4ZX5eTL5Bau4z28Khx0XYOWmQNqEHMGWu-Ilbe_FCMJdZkg9eLItFpEGjbOc4/s1600/Left+Arrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJAHzLyWoK2FVL2px7oIrRHidBWBwfJ9tKT91FYmp5jo_SK7-NKZi9-AedX1QGZY9QQXQgUMm8Wqgcom4ZX5eTL5Bau4z28Khx0XYOWmQNqEHMGWu-Ilbe_FCMJdZkg9eLItFpEGjbOc4/s200/Left+Arrow.png" width="50" /></a><br />
If your window is maximized or "un maximized" this combination will move it to the left side and stick it there. If your window is currently in the right "stuck" position, then it will first be "un maximized" and after a second use of the same combination it will come to rest on the left side.<br />
If your window is currently residing on the right of your two screens, the first combination press will stick it to the left edge of your right screen, next combination press will stick it to the right edge of your left screen. One combination press more will put it in the middle of your left screen and final repeat will put it all the way on the left...<br />
Whew... That sounds complicated. In reality it's actually extremely intuitive. Just try it out on your web browser now.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>4. Stick window to the right: </b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s1600/Windows+key.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoamrtsL3wuJ7MInxdIO6HkMiNM3i8uU4o6ROwQ3yksUf0nI0venxL-OpNr-rXTRBNfWTzzSf9qpv0Ba6Z34hols8An-T0d_xWtYA1C0xjBTl6IS9LHtwujz4wM0Tfu8tO8y9ZMn9FdfU/s200/Windows+key.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-t_uFLLe-kSRGZzz-CuZ6xUxui4IgZrrvmrxluJ84Fz-aTrk9QXpScmilbGF6io68xVTpl9Dm0hVpQsJAhfhLEzY87v11pSlIDmYGrmSj0xPJV4GhbwoAegEHDL1nwmYg8fqhpFbt8OY/s1600/Right+Arrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-t_uFLLe-kSRGZzz-CuZ6xUxui4IgZrrvmrxluJ84Fz-aTrk9QXpScmilbGF6io68xVTpl9Dm0hVpQsJAhfhLEzY87v11pSlIDmYGrmSj0xPJV4GhbwoAegEHDL1nwmYg8fqhpFbt8OY/s200/Right+Arrow.png" width="50" /></a><br />
By now, I think it's pretty obvious that this does the reverse of what previous combination did.<br />
<br />
When you use multi-monitor setups and you disconnect the secondary monitor weird things may happen. Most of applications will automatically "jump" back to remaining monitor. But there can be an application or two that misbehave in such situations. They may stay on the location where they were, when the secondary monitor was still connected. And in some cases even shutting them down through the Task Manager and then opening them again will put them back on that non-existent monitor.<br />
Added bonus to knowing above combinations is that now, you can move the application to your screen with no effort at all.<br />
<br />
Enjoy,<br />
Vlayke<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-50627109045076382932013-10-14T18:32:00.001+02:002015-06-08T10:15:30.745+02:00Hola<div dir="ltr">
8.6.2015 [Edit]<br />
Hola was revealed to be a problematic tool. Please check my warning post <a href="http://vlayke.blogspot.com/2015/06/hola-good-while-it-lasted.html">here</a> on details.<br />
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<br />
I don't live in the US. However either myself or my colleagues travel there on a fairly regular basis. For us the US is a source of good deals and sites like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/">Amazon</a> are especially handy, especially with their predictable delivery times and willingness to deliver to hotels. <br />
The thing is, I could order most of things directly home, but then postage and customs costs would completely negate the original bargain. <br />
So I invested in a service called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DBYBNEE?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0">Amazon Prime</a> which allows for free expedited shipping. Fast shipping for me is important if I want to be sure that package will get to the hotel while I'm still there. <br />
However, all of this is not too relevant here. What is important is that, besides free shipping, Amazon Prime also gives you access to a huge library of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_1?rh=n%3A2858778011&bbn=2858778011&ie=UTF8&qid=1381766516">streaming video</a> (both TV shows and movies) that you can watch for free, as long as you're a member. <br />
If you're located in the US, that is... </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
So now I was in a situation where I paid for something but couldn't access it, due to not being in the right place. <br />
There has to be something that can be done about it. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
So I started to look on the Web. Like with pretty much everything else, there were a lot of people that had <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=access+amazon+prime+outside+us">similar problems like I did</a>. Most of the suggestions revolved around <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vpn">VPN</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</a> solutions. I looked at some but couldn't find anything that would just work in the way I wanted it too. <br />
There were a few things that I expected from the solution with which I would be happy :<br />
- it has to be free. I already paid money for my Prime subscription. I don't want to pay more to get my original purchase "activated". <br />
- it should Just Works™, with as little impact as possible to the other things that I have to do on my PC. <br />
- it should work all the time. <br />
- you have to be able to set your "exit" location. In other words: where the website, that you're visiting, thinks you're from. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
None of these parameters is a deal-breaker for me, but the more I could find in a single solution, better I would feel about it.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
VPN solutions looked good on paper, but had a few problems. You have to pay for them (understandable) in general all your traffic will go through the VPN. And while I only need to be seen as someone from the US, I may want to use some other location also. So that's not perfect. <br />
Proxy alternatives didn't pan out much better. While they are often free, they seem to be much less stable in terms of longevity. In other words, one may work today, but not tomorrow. Also performance can be questionable. And, again, it's not too simple to direct traffic from different sites as if it comes from different countries. So proxies didn't seem to work out too well for me either.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I then focused for a bit on <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">TOR</a>. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.torproject.org/"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHYI_vNaqZUy6G8oqolHcUxRNTBYs-9fhcBQbreBqY4frOrvqL31_Qe78_oL1BNvcF87BwmupEDZVohgCYNCcnQD04B0TIsrHQsfTX3HUSiP-hKUKOQTKnT_v5f8-fwvFrwFf57XYEOck/s200/tor.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I may write a bit more about this product/project at a later time as online privacy is something that I'm a bit concerned with, but I usually give in to the comfort of convenience. In any case TOR, in theory, offers ability to present yourself as if you're from a country of your choice, but in practice it's something that again proved slightly complicated for me and also performance left something to be desired due to all the hops that the traffic needs to make inside of the network.</div>
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So...</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I wasn't happy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I then looked around a bit more. And I found something called <a href="https://hola.org/">Hola</a>. </div>
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<a href="https://hola.org/"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXUXXsAO7nnn6MTqvg5Abrbd8OmskQp1jQZwgIbCrtO-PFLyWQLMS80H1z06VKlammxztk8HONDfiBxGu0jT6bYjXGr1qjW7183c8UxLGkihhhKhPW0hQxJG426Xz9jYxPKf9xQQq_6U4/s400/Hola.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I'm not sure why I haven't run across this service earlier, but it provides everything I was looking for! It's available primarily as a browser plugin, but if you need to move non-browser traffic then there is an application for Windows and Android available.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
So, what does it do?</div>
<div dir="ltr">
It does exactly what I wanted. It convinces the website which you open, that you're from a country of your choice. In my case, the US. Most web sites work by default, for some you may need to find a plugin, which can be found on Hola's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HolaUnblockerScripts">Facebook page</a> (simple <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=hola+scripts">Google search</a> will do the trick).</div>
<div dir="ltr">
If you're using the web plugin, then you can actually have different tabs open to different sites and a choice of a separate country in every tab.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
It's free.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
It's (at least it seems) reliable.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
And it Just Works™.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
So, if you want to access something that may be blocked from from external access and you either travel a lot or simply don't live in a country where the content is presented, then I would say that this is a service for you. So far it worked for me on pretty much any site that has blocked content. Obviously there may be exceptions, but I haven't found one yet.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Enjoy,</div>
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Vlayke</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057264179718943528.post-71545252654112068412013-10-12T11:18:00.000+02:002013-10-13T11:53:49.566+02:001st post! :-)Hi all,<br />
<br />
A bit of introduction about what will be happening here:<br />
<br />
Over the years I've been and still am an avid user of all that is technological. I like computers, mobile devices, gadgets,... At the same time I'm lucky enough to work in a computer-related job.<br />
Nevertheless I'm often frustrated to find that a lot of things are <i>just a bit </i>too complicated. <i>Just a bit </i>counter-intuitive.<br />
I'm also very, very happy when I find some small nugget, some small thing that Just Works™. Once every so often I let my friends know about it and more likely than not, they are similarly excited about something that makes things simpler and works as it is supposed to.<br />
<br />
So, what I'll be doing here will be to share some those discoveries with you, who will stumble upon this blog. Due to the nature of how I come across my discoveries, updates will likely be sporadic, at best, but I'll see if I can keep them going.<br />
<br />
Since I like a lot of different things, you may find things here that will be "WOW, this is insane! I cannot believe I never knew about this!" or you may have a "Meh, who cares..." reaction. Hopefully it will be more of the former than the latter.<br />
<br />
To kick things off, I'm linking to an article that I've written more than five years ago, when I was working for a company called NIL. At the time <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7">Windows 7</a> was just released and I was trying to combine 64-bit version of Win7 (which is what pretty much everyone is using today (unless you moved on to <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/meet">Windows 8</a> of which I'm not the greatest fan) and <a href="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/index.html">Cisco VPN client</a>. Problem was that at the time Cisco wasn't making a 64-bit version of the client. So I stumbled across a solution that worked for me.<br />
The article is today likely irrelevant, but we have to start somewhere. On NIL's page it's broken down into five parts and I'm linking to it here:<br />
<a href="http://blogs.nil.com/blog/2009/05/20/64-bit-windows-7-cisco-vpn-client-and-xp-mode-part-1/">Part 1</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.nil.com/blog/2009/05/28/64-bit-windows-7-cisco-vpn-client-and-xp-mode-part-2/">Part 2</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.nil.com/blog/2009/06/16/64-bit-windows-7-cisco-vpn-client-and-xp-mode-part-3/">Part 3</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.nil.com/blog/2009/06/24/64-bit-windows-7-cisco-vpn-client-and-xp-mode-part-4/">Part 4</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.nil.com/blog/2009/07/22/64-bit-windows-7-cisco-vpn-client-and-xp-mode-part-5/">Part 5</a><br />
<br />
Enjoy,<br />
VlaykeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15488272480752455766noreply@blogger.com0