Cristi
Pandora is Open! (At least for a while…)
If you live outside the US and love listening to online radio, you might remember Pandora, probably the greatest free online service where you can listen and tune your music to your taste. Well, as Pandora is now only streaming to US-based listeners, what are people outside to do? Head to globalPandora, where you can listen to it without a problem (at least for a while, because we’re certain the site will be *nicely* asked to cease, although now that it’s proved possible, similar ones will pop-up soon).
We have tested the site and it works perfectly. Even a bit faster (and without ads) as it does via this program we’ve covered last week. So go ahead and enjoy while you can!
Pandora is now US-only; You have the right to remain… a listener!
Got an e-mail in my inbox this morning from Pandora with the thing all UK-based users of this service have feared: Pandora will stop streaming to the UK as of January 15th. They have been forced to isolate everyone except the UK for a while, in hopes they might still be able to work out a deal. I guess it did not work out.
Oh well, there’s always Last.fm or HotSpot Shield. Yeah, you read me right! While it’s been intended as a protection over your wireless connection, HotSpot creates “a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop and the wireless router. This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers and hackers from viewing your email, instant messages, credit card information or anything else you send over a wireless network. Which means you remain anonymous and protect your privacy.”
Well, who says you have to use it on a wireless connection? It is FREE, as we feared and you could possibly probably potentially use it to hide say, your “real ip” from the websites you’re visiting and make them think you’re IN the US, not outside eh?
Download free screen capture and screencasting utilities
TechSmith is giving away two of their most popular screen capture and screencasting programs: SnagIt and Camtasia Studio.
Along with snapping screenshots, SnagIt can capture scrolling long web pages, extract text from windows, annotate images and so on: quite a way from a regular Windows Print Screen.
While there is a catch (both apps are not the latest version but a decent version nonetheless), you can download them, and after you request your serial number, you can upgrade to the latest versions at a sensible discount.
Download a demo of Camtasia Studio 3 here and request a registration key from Techsmith here.
Download a demo of SnagIt here and request your registration key here.
You Got Hacked? Re-Secure Your System
One of my clients’ Linux server got hacked somehow recently and after discovering the hacker’s files on the server I proceeded to re-securing the system and removing all traces, files, programs of that user. While doing this I stumbled upon this nice article on how to remove a user and lock down all files and access for that user on your system. Maybe it’s a former company employee or like in my case, a hacker, you can take these steps to make sure that user cannot log in again… after changing your own and your root passwords to more secure ones. It may not be a complete security solution, here’s a few guidelines of how to restore a hacked system.
Apple Update Day and More
Less than a month away from its launch, Apple’s Leopard switches version to 10.5.1 with a fresh update that works out some of the annoying bugs and problems, including password management, nat issues and the annoying (to some developers, including me) file uploads via flash.
Apple has also launched the newest version of Final Cut Express, namely version 4. Final Cut Express 4 lets you edit footage captured in the most popular formats — including AVCHD (but only for Intel-based Macs). FCE4 also supports “Open format Timeline” (why big companies nowadays like to throw the word “open” around so much these days, beats me). But anyway, Open format Timeline allows you to import and edit video files with different resolutions, framerates, etc., without converting them first. Just drop them onto the timeline and edit.
Moving on, Windows users are not left unattended to by Apple, with a new Safari update. Even if it’s still in beta, it’s better to upgrade and benefit from “Windows-like behaviour” (now you can drag and resize the window from all edges), security updates, font smoothing and new key shortcuts. Get it here. But seriously, I’d be curious to find out how many people (developers specially) give Safari on Windows a chance.
IMAP Support for Gmail, FROM Gmail
Seems Google’s on a roll to give gifts to good nerd-kiddies this season, and they started early. Following the recent Gmail storage space increase, now we get the long-awaited IMAP support. The support pages have been updated and although not everyone has the feature yet, I am sure it won’t be too long. This is obviously a lot better than POP3 as you don’t have to sync mail all the time, and if you say move an e-mail into a folder in Outlook, it also gets labeled in Gmail, the status read/unread is updated, and so on. Really neat!
If the feature is not yet visible in your account, try logging out and then back in or try clearing your browser’s cache. If you still don’t see it, well, wait a little.
Make Good Money From Amazon Until January
If you’re an Amazon associate (if not, go ahead an become one), you can earn 20% commission on MP3 downloads from Amazon. There are currently over 2 million songs from 180.000 artists sold in DRM-free format on Amazon’s new MP3 downloads store.
This offering is valid through December 31st, when the commissions will go down to only 10%, so make that money while you can! More details on Amazon’s associate blog.
Brain-controlled Computer: Become Even More Sedentary
Soon you will be able to use your computer without moving a muscle! Or, if you consider your brain a muscle, then by moving one muscle. Neuroscientists at Keio University have developed an interface comprised of electrodes monitoring the electrical activity in the motor cortex, thus influencing the movement of an avatar in SecondLife.
While this is amazing news for the disabled, it will also render still other folks who now are spending countless hours in front of the PC (me included). Read more here. YouTube Video here.
More Gmail Storage Space for Everyone
I can finally relax (for a while at least). My Gmail account had reached 98% at one point and e-mails kept coming in, I had to delete my old ‘has:attachment’ e-mails. If you’re in the same situation, you can stop and catch your breath. Gmail is speeding up their storage increase counter to offer more space for regular users as well as those part of the Web Apps program.
Paid subscribers also get a much larger increase (probably by about 10 Gb or so). This is nice and with Yahoo offering unlimited storage for e-mail, and while prices on storage are going down every day, I can just say: “It was about time!” My inbox is now at 89%. Now let’s wait for that “Infinity+1” barrier to be broken.
New Look for Barnes and Noble too!
Seems all the shopkeepers are revamping their shop windows right before Christmas. As the holidays are coming, Barnes and Noble have followed the Amazon example and redesigned their website. Well, it looks like it has more of that web 2.0 stuff we’ve come to expect such as tag cloud, podcasts and flash scroller thingys. What? Oh yes, no RSS Feeds.
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