Office Hackery

Modify Hosts File in Mac OS X - Mountain Lion

2013-05-17T15:38:00.002+08:00

I'm liking my new Mac and I think switching from PC to Mac is a good decision. I also started to setup my development environment on Mac and as I do, I learn lot of new things everyday. One new thing I learned is how to edit Hosts File in Mac to map hostnames to IP addresses. To edit the hosts file, just follow these steps.

1. Open the Terminal app, either by using Sportlight or by going to your Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

2. Type the following command

sudo nano /private/etc/hosts

Enter your password when asked.

3. Now edit the hosts file. You edit existing line or add new line.

4. Press control+o to save the file and contro+x to exit the editor.

5. Flush the DNS to apply the changes.

dscacheutil -flushcache

6. Test it by accessing the hostname in your browser.

Thats it!
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Intelligent Ringer App For Android Phone That Adapts To Noise Around You

2013-04-02T11:33:00.001+08:00

Are you annoyed with people who does not turn or lower down their phone's ring volume when they are in a meeting or in movie house? your not alone. If you don't want to be such pain in the as*, you can make your ringer more adaptable in your environment by installing Intelligent Ringer app. It is a free app that listen to you the ambient noise level and automatically set your phone's ringer volume. This app also is smart enough to know if your phone is in your pocket by using proximity sensor. You can change default settings, like Pocket Factor, volume accuracy, microphone sensitivity, and maximum / minimum volume.

Intelligent Ringer app respects your silent and vibrate settings so don't worry about it if you intentionally turn them on.

Download Intelligent Ringer App

Add A Self-Timer Feature To Your iPad's Camera

2013-03-26T11:07:00.000+08:00

Nowadays you will see people using their iPad as camera. During my son's recognition yesterday, I hardly got a clear shot from the back of the crowd because camera phones and tablets (specially iPad) were blocking my view.

No this is not a rant blog. Actually, I wanna help those who regularly use their iPad as camera. I want to share an app that is handy when taking self portrait, the Self Timer Camera. With this app on your iPad, no need to ask someone to take photos for you. Just set the timer between 0-15 seconds using the slider interface and pose for the shot.

All shots are saved in your camera roll album where you can share it in Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Self-Timer Camera app has also an iPhone version.

Download Self-Timer Camera for iOS

More Android Phones Activated VS. Babies Born Daily

2013-03-22T20:59:00.001+08:00

Here is an interesting statistics i found from this article, apparently there are more android phone activated everyday than babies birth. The statistics says, there are about 1.3 Million Android Activations each day compare to only 300,000 births.

Remove Reply To All Button In Outlook To Prevent Unintentional Email Replies

2012-12-25T21:16:00.002+08:00

Unintentional replying to all if you don't intend to is embarrassing and sometimes can get you in trouble. One sad story I previously read is about a woman who got fired after she accidentally sent a snarky email about how she disliked her supervisor. The email was intended to few close colleagues but she accidentally sent it to all. If your an outlook user, you can prevent such thing from happening to you by removing the reply to all button. It can be done in Outlook by following the steps described after the jump.

In Outlook 2003 and 2007.

- Press the Alt key and drag the Reply to All button off the toolbar,
- Or click the down arrow on the far right of the toolbar and then choose Add or Remove Buttons, select Standard, and uncheck "Reply to All".

*you must to complete these steps in both the main Outlook window and Outlook's message window.

For Outlook 2010 (source).

- Click File tab, choose Options, and select Customize Ribbon.
- Choose Respond in the right pane and click Remove.
- Click New Group twice. Rename the first New Group (Custom) as "Respond (Custom)" and the second as "Reply all (Custom)."
- At the top of the left pane, click Main Tabs from "Choose commands from."
- In the left pane, expand Home (Mail) and Respond.
- In the right pane, select Respond (Custom).
- Add the commands "Post reply," "Reply," "Forward," "Meeting," "IM," and "More" from left frame to Respond (Custom) in the right pane one by one.
- In the right pane, choose "Reply all (Custom)."
- Add the command Reply All to "Reply all (Custom)."
- Select "Reply all (Custom)" and use the Down button to move it under "Send/Receive (IMAP/POP)."
- Click OK.

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Create Presentations With Your iPad And Show It On Your iPhone

2012-11-29T10:26:00.002+08:00

More and more people rely on their tablets as primary working machine while on the move because they are more handy and practical. Tablet like iPad is lighter than bringing your powerful laptop or notebook with you so it is worth exploring applications like Prezi that enables mobile users to create their presentations while on go. Prezi for iPad is free and perfect for building touch based presentation. Now with the recent release of Prezi for iPhone, showing off your presentation has never been easier and lighter.

The new iPhone app is read-only and primarily designed for showing presentations. With Prezi apps, your presentations are manage and stored in the cloud. Any changes you modified whether on your computer or iPad are automatically synced with your devices.

Photo Filters Are Now Available In Facebook For iOS

2012-11-29T10:07:00.000+08:00

If your an avid fan of Instagram and Path's photo filters then this maybe a great news for you. The iOS Camera app built-in filters like Cool, B+W, Neon and etc. are now in Facebook iOS primary app. The filter toolbar will appear once you tap the magic wand when you have chosen a photo to post as shown on the image below.

This move from Facebook overtakes Twitter which according to some leaked news, Twitter plans to add photo filters on their own app soon. In addition with Photo Filtering, the app update also includes multi-photo uploading feature which beats any social networking app when it comes to sharing several photos at once.

Photo filters and Multi-Photo features are available in the latest release of Facebook app (5.1).

Try it for yourself today and drop your comments about it!

Track Your Meals And Be Healthy With An App

2012-10-08T21:21:00.001+08:00

According to Geoff Neupert, the author of Six Pack Abs 365, 80% of the formula to have your own six pack abs is nutrition. If your like me who find it true then it would be helpful to track your meals with an app. Thryve is a food tracking app that do just that. But instead of logging how many calories your meal has, it tracks your food log a little different. First it let you take a photo of your food, then enter the ingredients, and lastly indicate how much of each item you ate. After an hour or two, the app will popup and ask you how the meal made you feel. The main point of this app is to remind you of the good and bad foods you had in the past and hopefully eat based on your experience. If your tired playing by the numbers then give this app a try. Download Thryve from App Store

Posted with Blogsy

No to Digital Martial Law

2012-10-02T16:02:00.003+08:00

As I browse my Facebook page today, I notice the black bar on my friends streams:

████████████████████████.
[ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛ ʙʟᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ.] (ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175)

My first impression was Facebook had another privacy thing going on. I turn my iPad on and read thorough Tech News via Flipboard app. I find none. So I switch on reading local news and there I learned that "Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012" is under petition at Supreme Court and the decision will be heard today.

What a shame this law would do. It will kill Filipinos Freedom of Speech specially for Bloggers like me. I am a Filipino and I'm proud to be. This law might have been good if the libel clause was not inserted on it. So I protest against it too. No to Cybercrime bill. No to digital martial law.

God Bless Filipinos. God Bless Our Government.

The Most Common PIN Number

2012-09-29T23:06:00.000+08:00

According to analysis conducted by Data Genetics, the most common PIN number used by people and accounted for 11% of the 3 Million passwords in the world is 1234. I am pretty sure that you are also guilty in using this PIN number once in your life and or 1111 which is 2nd place (6%) in the list. See the complete list of the PIN analysis after the jump.

So next time you already know what PIN to use if you want to be hacked :).

You can see the complete analysis at this blog of Data Genetics including the bottom list of the data.

Upgrade To iOS 6 Is Now Available

2012-09-20T13:27:00.003+08:00

Just earlier I received an unlock email notification for my previously AT&T locked iPhone 4. Thanks to this proven service, my iPhone is unlocked forever. Upon plugging my iPhone to my computer to complete the process, iTunes prompt me to upgrade to iOS 6. Since I plan to sell my iPhone 4 anyway, I opt to upgrade and here are the features that worth the upgrade.

- Maps app. Cool voice-guided turn-by-turn directions.
- Smarter Siri. It can launch apps, update your Facebook or Twitter status and make restaurant reservations. Unfortunately for iPhone 4 users, Siri is not available on your handsets.
- Facebook Integration. Similar to Twitter, Facebook is fully integrated on the entire iOS.
- FaceTime over your carrier's 3G connection. With iOS 6.0, your are free from Wi-Fi's mercy.

More new features after the break!

- Panorama Mode. Another powerful feature to add to already powerpacked iPhone Camera. Again not available in iPhone 4 and below but great a feature if you have iPhone 4s and iPhone 5.
- Photo Sharing using iCloud and Photo Stream. Share photos directly from your iPhone, iPad or iPod. You may now also share photos with non-iOS users.
- Redesigned Mail app. iOS added a VIP list so you'll never miss an important message from your wife, boss and mom. It is now also easier to add photos and videos in your email.
- Do Not Disturb (DND). You may now enjoy your relaxation time completely since iPhone will totally silence your phone and prevent screen from turning on when a phone call is received. Ofcourse you can make exceptions by adding your contacts to favorite list.

For complete list of features, visit Apple's iOS 6.0 page.

So, should you upgrade? NO for jailbreak users until a jailbreak is available and YES to stock users.

Pay Your MS Office License As Low As $99.99 Per Year

2012-09-18T10:47:00.000+08:00

Here is another reason to stop using pirated Microsoft software. Microsoft announced on their office blog the newest Office 365 subscriptions for consumers and small businesses which lowers down MS Office licenses pricing to:
- $99.99 annually or $8.33 per month for home users with Office 365 Home Premium subscription.
- $149.99 annually or $12.50 per user per month for small business with 1-10 employees with Office 365 Small Business Premium.

This move shows that Microsoft is redirecting toward subscription-based pricing instead of requiring multiple licenses for each device. Do you agree with this licensing model? let me know what you think, hit the comment.

iPhone 5 is Officially Here

2012-09-13T09:23:00.001+08:00

OK so it is officially here. Are you surprise? really? because I wasn't. I wasn't because all speculation which I had seen on the mock ups
were at least 99% correct. It is taller, thinner than 4s, 4-inch wider screen, aluminum body (I like the glass body more), 20% lighter than 4S, 8 megapixel shooter, faster A6 processor and smaller connector which they call lightning connector. Some of the new stuffs that I'm looking forward to are the new iOS 6, panoramic camera mode, and FaceTime HD!. Its pricing? the new iPhone will come in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB versions, with the 16GB version starting at $199.99. My overall impression of the new iPhone? Im a bit disappointed. Like I said before, I am more into looks and in terms of how Apple designed the iPhone 5, there's not much of a difference compare to 4S. It is simply an elongated iPhone 4.

Will I Upgrade to iPhone 5? Yes for sure because I'm an Apple user. My life is built around iPad, iMac, iPod and iPhone. Changing to new environment would be like moving to a new neighborhood. It would be a dumb decision for me.

iPhone 5 is Finally Here

2012-09-12T21:14:00.001+08:00

It is already September 12 but I live in the philippines which is 15 hours apart from San Francisco where the iPhone 5 launching is expected to happen. If your Apple fanatic, for sure you want pull the time so can you can confirm the rumors on how this newest phone would look like and what new features it would bring to already crowded competion of mobile devices. For now... We have to wait for few hours more. Gotta go to sleep. I'm excited on what tomorrow tech news would bring.

Posted with Blogsy

Attach More Than 5 Photos In iOS Email With Instamail Photo

2012-09-04T13:48:00.001+08:00

Apple iOS is arguably by far the most user friendly mobile platform ever invented in the past 10 years but sometimes its simpleness put limits to what user can do. If you already noticed, you can only attached at most 5 photos in one email in iPhone, iPod or iPad. This could be a problem for people who use to attached several pictures on their email. Fortunately you can overcome the said limitation with Instamail Photo app. Once your done downloading Instamail app from App store, just launch the app and hit the black middle button.

The app will automatically take you to your Photos and from there select as many photos you want. Once your have selected your photos, click Done and wait for Instamail Photo to attach the files to a new email. Once it is done, you mail app should show up. Enter the recipient email as you normally do and finally hit send. To verify if your email is already sent, just go to your Mail app sent folder.

Take note that this app uses your stock iOS Mail and Photos app. It also doesn't ask for any configuration or sign up process. One thing that could be an issue to you is it renames all sent photos as "instamailApp". Instamail Photo is free.

Download Instamail Photo

MightyText: iMessage for Android

2012-08-31T13:35:00.000+08:00

iMessage is one of the coolest thing happened in iOS 5. With it, you can send and receive unlimited text messages on your all iOS devices via Wi-Fi or 3G. If your Android user then sorry you won't have iMessage capability so I suggest you switch to iOS now :-) Ofcourse I am joking. No need to be bitter if your Android user since you can have an iMessage clone by installing MightyText. Let's discuss its features after the jump!

With MightyText installed in your Android, you can send/receive SMS from your computer or tablet. This application uses your Android phone number. Let say you happen to forgot your phone at home and someone texted you, the message will be forwarded to your computer or tablet. It uses internet to forward the message so your phone should have WIFI or 3G connection on it.

To use MightyText, you just need to follow 2 steps.

1. Install MightyText Android Phone App.
2. Set up MightyText on Computer or Tablet.

MightyText uses browsers plugin for it to work on your computer. Currently it supports Google Chrome, Firefox and IE.

Download MightyText

If iPhone 5 mockups Are True

2012-08-27T23:04:00.001+08:00

If the leaked schematics and mockups from this site is true then I am officially disappointed with the upcoming iPhone 5. I won't even bother going into the details of its new features because the design is plainly boring for me. I started using iPhone 3GS and then upgraded to iPhone 4. When the iPhone 4s was released, i thought twice before deciding to upgrade again because there were no enhancement in how it looks. Mobile phone overall appearance is a big factor for me when switching to newer model. Based on the recent iPhone 5 mockups, I don't like it. Although it has a bigger display, the design is the same with iPhone 4. I might change my mind in the future but if iPhone 5 was released today, sorry I wont buy it. Maybe it is just me. Your opinions are welcome. Drop a comment.

Posted with Blogsy

Apple Won The First Round By $1Billion Versus Android

2012-08-25T12:10:00.001+08:00

Jury from a San Jose court scored it in favor of Apple today. Sure $1B penalty for damages in patent infringement is litte more a jab than damaging blow for Samsung. But this win is more than money for Apple. For Apple, it is a start of a bigger battle against the japanese tech giant and other Android platform mobile companies. The win signifies that Apple can win this patent war agains anybody who they wanted to contest. Investors would now think twice in investing on these Android based technologies and probably would think wiser and diversify. One company aside from Apple will surely benefit from this victory is Microsoft. Unlike Android, Windows phone is far more like iOS and certainly not a target for Apple revenge.

This patent war between Apple and Samsung is far from over so keep tuning in.

Posted with Blogsy

New Facebook app for iOS Rewritten In Native Language

2012-08-25T11:24:00.000+08:00

Facebook has released a completely recoded app yesterday replacing the HTML5 approach that made the original Facebook app run on iOS and Android platform. With this release, Facebook had abandoned the design concept of "write once, run everywhere". The benefit? an enhanced and a lot faster app for iPhone and iPad. As for the other platforms, including Android, Blackberry and Windows phone, the HTML5 version will still be used. Changing it to native OS like this release for iOS is not impossible in the future.

Try the new Facebook app. Download it from the app center.

Posted with Blogsy

Security Flaw in iOS SMS

2012-08-20T08:30:00.002+08:00

Jailbreak developer pod2g had found a security flaw on how iPhone handle SMS messages. It does not involve code execution but he consider it to be severe because of the things you can do with the flaw. In layman's term, when you write an SMS and press send, your phone translate your SMS to PDU (Protocol Description Unit) language and then transmit it across the network to its recipient. PDU is a set of standard language for SMS technology. If a hacker understands how to create raw PDU text format, he can create a nasty message and change the User Header so it would appear as if it coming from a person you know.

Apple has claimed that the vulnerability lies in SMS technology and not in iOS itself. This is partly true because all phone that uses SMS are vulnerable but iOS devices are more tempting target because of the way how Apple handle SMS messages. Apple is well-known creator of simple UI so instead of raw message it provide users the simplest form. Of course this is not bad at all but a simple additional info is not bad either. pod2g suggests that Apple should display the original phone number and the reply-to to track the origin of the message.

Read the full article of pod2g here.

Call Me Maybe With My Disposable Mobile Number For iPhone

2012-08-13T09:34:00.001+08:00

Unlike Carly Rae Jepsen in her popular song "Call Me Maybe" trying to say. I am one of majority people who preferred not to disclose their personal number to people they don't know or close to. But sometimes there are situations that you may have no choice but to give it anyway and later on regretting it. Luckily, there is an app that can get you out from the situation. You can provide a number without actually giving your own by using disposable mobile numbers with Burner app. How it works is well explained in here. For only $1.99, you'll have a fresh Burner number with 20 minutes voice call and 60 SMS. Watch demo video after the jump.

Each Burner number is good for one week. After that, it will automatically expires unless you buy more credits. An additional 30 days, 50 voice minutes and 150 texts costs about $2.50.

Incoming calls on a Burner line either redirect to your main mobile number or go straight to voicemail, at your preference. Now you'll never worry again of being trapped on the same situation.

Download it now

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iPhone Jailbreak Tweak To Increase Battery Life

2012-08-08T23:29:00.002+08:00

For the best technology ever invented for the past decade, iPhone's battery life sucks. It should have been a perfect tool if I don't have to charge it everyday. I know many people would agree with me on this one so methods that will help extend its battery usage are more than welcome. BattSaver is one app that I recently tried but requires a jailbroken iPhone. What it does is, it checks for the features of the iPhone that are draining its battery life and suppresses them. Features like WiFi and cellular connections. It has four (4) saving strategies.

1. Normal mode will disable all radio signals when your iPhone goes to sleep and saving your battery's life. If you expect messages or emails, no worries because your device will check for new mail every 15 minutes.

2. Aggressive mode is almost similar with normal mode except it completely disables your mobile data connection if your already connected on a valid Wi-Fi. In this mode, your data radios will be enabled every 45 minutes to retrieve emails and notifications.

3. Ultimate mode which i find useless since it is almost the same as enabling Airplane function of your device.

4. Lastly, Custom mode is for you if you want to be completely in control on how BattSaver will behave.

This jailbreak tweak is available for download in the Cydia Store for $2.99.

Customize The iOS Home Screen Icon Of Your Website

2012-07-27T23:18:00.001+08:00

Add link to Home Screen on iOS safari creates shortcut of any website or web mobile app in Home Screen of your iPad, iTouch and iPhone. iOS creates thumbnail image of the website by default and sometimes the image generated is not that good. Fortunately for website owners they can customize that icon with their own. Learn how to replace the default Home Screen icon after jump.

First, you need to create an icon with png extension using any available tool or you can use any existing icon you already have. Just take note of the following standard icon sizes: iPhone or iTouch (57x57), iPad(72x72), iPad retina (114x114). The safest resolution is 72dpi.

Now to add the icon on your website, simply add the following code on the top of your default website file (default.html, index.html, etc.)

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/your-custom-icon.png"/>

You may also have different icon for different devices. Just put the size on each href tag.

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="72x72" href="/your-custom-icon.png"/>
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="144x144" href="/your-custom-icon.png"/>

Now when your user decides to add your website or web app to their home screen, the icon you created will be used in place of a scaled-down thumbnail of the page itself.

Edit Video From Your iPhone

2012-07-26T10:33:00.001+08:00

One thing iOS built-in video recorder lacks is the ability to edit the video that you have recorded. Well I cant blame Apple since after all they call it a recorder and not an editor. If you insist on having one on your phone then you might want to try Videlicious. It allows you to create cool movies with different theme of your choice. Just follow the steps on the app's screen to build a movie of your own.

Step 1: Choose your video or set of photos from your library or record a new one.
Step 2: Record your story.
Step 3. Choose the background music of your movie.

Thats It! Videlicious will process your video and then you can either watch, share or create another movie.

Download it now from the app store

View Instagram Photos On Your Desktop PC

2012-07-26T10:18:00.001+08:00

Instagram the 1 billion app which bought by Facebook a couple months ago and arguably the best app of the decade. Whether your using iPhone or Android phone, it is fun sharing photos with Instagram. How about you if you don't have iOS or Android device yet? really? if you insist so then you can use the following desktop apps but please take note that it is only good for viewing and searching photos. Yes, posting via desktop is not possible as of this writing. Apps for desktop viewing of Instagram photos are available after the jump.

1. Instagrille - is very nice app that lays your Instagram photos in Grid which interface is similar to Instagram app so familiarity would not be a problem.

2. Webstagram - is a web app but not as appealing as Instagrille. The good thing about being a web viewer is that no installation needed. I recommended this one if you want to use desktop viewer temporarily.

There are other apps in the web that serve the same purpose but these two are the one I tested so far. You happen to know that works for you, please share at the comments section.