Tips and Tricks

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Wed, 28 Nov 2012 07:29:25 +0800

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Tue, 27 Nov 2012 05:36:29 +0800

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Mon, 26 Nov 2012 01:56:25 +0800

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Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:02:18 +0800

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Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:18:13 +0800

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Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:52:06 +0800

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Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:14:39 +0800

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baergypsy: Chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse.

Sat, 28 May 2011 16:06:38 +0800

baergypsy:

Chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse.

thediaryofayoungman: 10 QUESTIONS FOR A JEEPNEY BARKER Jeepneys...

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:08:48 +0800

thediaryofayoungman:

10 QUESTIONS FOR A JEEPNEY BARKER

Jeepneys are considered as the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. This form of transportation is usually manned by two people: the driver and the barker. The barker is responsible for calling out route and destination and ushering the passengers.

Meet JUN-JUN (left), a young jeepney barker.

QUESTION 1: Ilang taon ka na? (How old are you?)

JUN-JUN: Ten. (Ten.)

QUESTION 2: Matagal ka na ba nagtratrabaho bilang barker? (Did you work as a barker for a long time already?)

JUN-JUN: Kakasimula ko pa lang po. Nagsimula ako nung nine years-old po ako. (I just started when I was nine years-old.)

QUESTION 3: Nag-aaral ka ba? (Do you go to school?)

JUN-JUN: Hindi na po. Tumigil na. Nahihirapan po kasi sila nay at tay sa pagpapaaral sa aming magkakapatid. (Not anymore. I already stopped. My parents are having a difficult time sending me and my siblings to school.)

QUESTION 4: Lahat kayong magkakapatid huminto na sa pag-aaral? (You and all of your siblings stopped receiving formal education?)

JUN-JUN: Yung kuya ko na lang po. Siya po ung panganay. (My eldest brother still goes to school. He is the first born.)

QUESTION 5: Anong grade ka tumigil? (At what grade level did you stop?)

JUN-JUN: Grade 5. (Grade 5.)

QUESTION 6: Hindi ka ba nahihirapan kasi ang bata mo pa lang pero nagtratrabaho ka na? (Aren’t you having a difficult time working since you are still young?)

JUN-JUN: Tinitiis po kasi kailangan. (I suffer but I just deal with it since I need to work.)

QUESTION 7: Magkaano naman kinikita mo kapag napupuno mo ang isang jeep? Tapos, nakakailang jeep ka sa bawat araw? (How much do you earn daily? Then, how many jeepneys are you able to fill each day?)

JUN-JUN: Sa isang jeep, inaabot lang sa akin, sampung piso hanggang bente pesos. Depende kasi sa driver. Ung iba masungit. Marami akong napupuno na jeep araw-araw. (For one jeepney, I earn ten to twenty pesos. It depends on the driver. Other jeepney drivers are unkind. I fill many jeepneys averyday.)

QUESTION 8: Kung mabibigyan ka ng pagkakataon magaral ulit, papasok ka ba? (If you were given the chance to go to school, will you study?)

JUN-JUN: Opo! Gusto ko po mag-aral. (Yes. I want to study.)

QUESTION 9: Ano ang pangarap mo? (What is your ambition?)

JUN-JUN: Ganyan po kuya. Katulad niyo. Mga nagiinterview. Ung parang sa TV. Gusto ko po kasi magsulat. (I want to become an interviewer like the one on TV. I want to write.)

QUESTION 10: Masaya ka ba bilang isang barker? (Are you happy as a jeepney barker?)

JUN-JUN: Opo, basta natutulungan ko lang ang mga magulang ko. (Yes as long as I am able to help my parents.)

FB SYMBOLS

Fri, 20 May 2011 01:18:46 +0800

FB SYMBOLS

FbSym – Are you wondering how to spice up your next Facebook...

Wed, 18 May 2011 19:10:15 +0800

FbSym – Are you wondering how to spice up your next Facebook status message? If yes, then you should consider adding special symbols in the status. You can get these Facebook-compatible special symbols from the site Facebook Symbols, a simple to use website. The symbols can also be used anywhere else in Facebook where you can type text, for example, comments, descriptions, etc. Read more: FbSym: Spice Up Your Facebook Status Updates Using Special Symbols

Top 10 Fixes for the Web’s Most Annoying Problems Adam...

Wed, 18 May 2011 19:04:14 +0800

Top 10 Fixes for the Web’s Most Annoying Problems

Adam Dachis — The internet is wonderful, but it’s also a landfill for many annoying things. Here are our top 10 online annoyances and how you can fix them for a better browsing experience.

10. Too Many Ads

Full sizeAds are one of the most obvious (but nonetheless biggest) annoyances on the internet. It’s not necessarily because they’re ads, but because there are so many of them and they’re frequently intrusive. Fortunately, blocking them is easy. Just pick up a copy of an ad blocker for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and even Internet Explorer.

9. Excessive Flash

Full sizeLike ads, Flash might not be so bad if it was used in moderation. Or if it hadn’t become so bloated. Or it didn’t often overtake your CPU. If Flash is driving you nuts, you have a couple of options. If you’re looking for browser-specific solutions, you can pick up FlashBlock for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, or Safari. Additionally, on Mac OS X, you can useFlashFrozen for a one-click solution to an overactive Flash plug-in. You can also useClickToFlash for Safari on Mac OS X so that you have to click to load any embedded Flash movie on a web page.

8. Tedious Forms and Logins

While most web browsers save your passwords and help you fill out online forms, that’s only particularly useful if you use one web browser. While you might stick with the same web browser on all your systems, you’re often out of luck on your mobile devices. It’s also troublesome if you decide to eventually change web browsers. Using a password service that works across everything you use—on desktop computers and on your phones, portable media players, and tablets—puts this annoyance aside. Despite recent issues, I still like LastPass for the job. Of course, there are a few other great options should you prefer them.

7. Registering for New Accounts

Full sizeSometimes you want to try out a web service without going through the trouble of registering online. Sometimes you need to just use that service quickly and will have no use for that account later. Whatever the reason may be, registration means giving out your personal info and that’s not always something you want to do. Fortunately there are databases of public usernames and passwords for you to borrow in these cases. BugMeNot is a great option and comes in browser-extension form for Chrome and Firefox, plus you can access it via the BugMeNot web site which also provides a bookmarklet for virtually any browser.

6. Ugly and Confusing Web Sites

Full sizeNot all web sites have simple and intuitive user interfaces, and many are just plain ugly. If you want to improve a particular site, you can do that with Userstyles. Basically, they just override the CSS to make any site look different (and hopefully more usable). There are also extensions and add-ons that help as well. For example, you can alter YouTube (Firefox and Chrome), Facebook (most browsers), Twitter (using Greasemonkey), and—of course—Gmail (Firefox and Chrome).

5. Endless Social Networks

Full sizeEveryone (or every company, perhaps) is embracing social media. The upside is there are a lot of cool webapps. The downside is you’re going to have trouble managing all those cool webapps. Unsurprisingly, there are a handful of tools that help you manage your various social media accounts. For starters, check out FellowUp, Nutshell Mail, and our top five social media managers.

4. Unhelpful Search Results

A lot of sites have ineffective search options (you know, like ours—but there’s a workaround!). Most of you feel that even Google isn’t all that useful lately. You can, of course, learn a few techniques to help you create better Google search queries. You can also try some alternative search engines and methods if you want an alternative to Google. You’re not always going to find what you want, but learning a few new tricks and expanding your options can be a big help.

3. Fake Online Reviews

Full sizeWhen you’re shopping online, reviews can be helpful in making a decision. They can also be fake and misleading. How do you know? As we’ve previously discussed, the biggest tells are reviews with no caveats, were all posted shortly after one another, only really talk about product features and not the pros and cons of the product, and the usernames of the reviewers are all very similar. While there’s no magic browser extension to easily identify a fake review, if you look closely you can detect fakes pretty easily.

2. Waiting to Download Files from File Sharing Services

Full sizeIf you’ve ever visited MegaUpload or RapidShare, you know that downloading a file from either site with any expediency requires a premium account. If you don’t have a premium account, you’re stuck with slower speeds and a countdown timer that forces you to wait. This is designed to annoy you into paying. While you can’t fix the slower speeds, you can bypass the wait times with a clever Firefox extension called SkipScreen. Supposedly Skipscreen was also ported to Chrome, but it currently appears to be missing. One less-robust alternative is RapidShare Download Helper.

1. Trolls

Full sizeThe internet can be a great place for a discussion, but not when the trolls come out to play. Mean-spirited people bring down the mood for everyone, so that’s why we've put together a guide on de-trolling your internet. It features several browser add-ons/extensions, plus some advice to help keep the trolls away. If that’s not enough, you can always try cognitive therapy.

Of course there are many money annoyances on the web, like captcha, . What bothers you the most? And have you found a decent solution? Let us know in the comments.

CSS3 Generator Helps You Create and Learn New Complex CSS...

Wed, 18 May 2011 16:12:49 +0800

CSS3 Generator Helps You Create and Learn New Complex CSS Code

If you learned learned to make a web site with us, or if you’re just picking up HTML and CSS, you may have wanted to learn a few more complex styles. One of the best ways to learn is by looking at other code, and CSS3 Generator can write custom CSS code for you so you can learn how it works (or just use it).

You start out with four sliders and a box. From there you can adjust the box’s border radius (meaning how rounded the corners are), its shadow, its opacity, and an overlaid gradient (if you’d like one). These styles are newer and sometimes a bit more complex, as they’re implemented a little differently between browsers. By using the generator you can make adjustments and see what they look like, then examine the code and learn from it. It’s a fun way to pick up these useful CSS3 techniques quickly.

CSS3 Generator | via MakeUseOf

Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain and Stress We’ve...

Wed, 18 May 2011 15:39:29 +0800

Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain and Stress

We’ve seen before that meditation can build up our brains and guard against information overload. Now new research shows how meditation works on our brains to help us focus more and possibly relieve chronic pain.

MIT and Harvard neuroscientists found that people trained to meditate are better able to control “alpha rhythms” brain waves, thought to be responsible for minimizing distractions. After learning how to meditate, research participants’ alpha waves were significantly amplified when focusing on specific body parts.

The findings suggest that those who suffer chronic pain—including stress—may benefit from meditation because of an increased ability to “turn down the volume on pain signals.” If you have chronic pain or stress, mindfulness-based stress reduction or meditation may help you ease that pain. (For a quick jump start into meditating, see our layman’s guide to meditation.)

Have you tried meditation yet? Have any advice or tips? Share them with us in the comments. Photo by h.koppdelaney

The benefits of meditation | MIT News

Google Music Streams ALL Your Music From the Cloud Google...

Wed, 18 May 2011 15:19:49 +0800

Google Music Streams ALL Your Music From the Cloud

Google Music! It’s pretty much the music service you would expect from Google: Streaming all your songs from the cloud, once you’ve uploaded your own music, and a bit of offline caching.

How do you use it? You use Google’s Music Manager on your desktop to add your songs to the service. It adds play counts and ratings as well. It’s a “full featured music manager”, so you can search and do all the other things you could in iTunes and Windows Media Player.

When you make a playlist, it becomes ready on all your devices: Phone, tablet and computer. It also has the equivalent of Apple’s Genius Mixes called Instant Mix. It works essentially the same way, and makes a playlist out of one input song.

Offline

But you don’t always have an internet connection, or a good enough one to stream music. So you can either select certain music to cache on your device, and the service automatically caches your recently listened-to music as well.

Google Music launches in beta today, and rolls out to US users for free gradually (while in beta). You can add in 20,000 of your songs total. UPDATE: You can request an invitation to Music Beta here.

Any Android 2.2 Android device can download the updated Google Music app and get this service (provided you’re in the beta).

Google Music Beta

How to Choose the Perfect Pair of Headphones

Wed, 18 May 2011 15:13:56 +0800

How to Choose the Perfect Pair of Headphones: Whether you’re at home or on the go, many of us...

How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Really Need? The general rule...

Wed, 18 May 2011 14:53:15 +0800

How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Really Need?

The general rule of thumb for what counts as a full night’s sleep has been eight hours for as long as anyone can remember, but it’s not an arbitrary number at all. Two studies, one at the University of Pennsylvania and the other at the Walter Reed Research Institute, tested dozens of sleepers and found that sleeping even seven hours a night will slowly add up to a costly sleep debt.

The studies lasted about four years and posted their results in 2003, but most people stilloperate under the old assumption that five or six hours of nightly sleep is enough to operate indefinitely, without any consequences. While it’s true that a small percentage of people can actually pull it off, the number for most of us is a rock-solid eight hours—anything less and we begin to suffer major losses in everything from attention span to reaction time.

The participants in the study were tested in a controlled laboratory setting for a period of two weeks. Those who slept eight or nine hours didn’t show any signs of slowing down when tested, but the four and six hour groups were found to be impaired to the point of being “the cognitive equivalent of being legally drunk” at the end of the two-week period. Sleeping in on the weekends won’t necessarily make it better, either. We just need to sleepmore.

If you’re having trouble meeting your eight hour quota, here are some tips for sleeping better. The strange flipside, however? One study suggests that adults who sleep between 6 and 7 hours have a lower death rate.

How Little Sleep Can You Get Away With? | The New York Times

Add a Remote and Mic to Your Favorite Earbuds (Without Ruining...

Wed, 18 May 2011 14:37:58 +0800

Add a Remote and Mic to Your Favorite Earbuds (Without Ruining Them)

So you've found the perfect pair of headphones, but you want to keep your iPhone headphones’ remote and microphone. Here’s a DIY solution to get the best of both worlds. Hit the link to know more.

Hot To Make Any Pair of Headphones Smart Phone Capable | Tested

Predator Locks and Unlocks Your PC with a USB Thumb...

Wed, 18 May 2011 14:28:00 +0800

Predator Locks and Unlocks Your PC with a USB Thumb Drive

Windows only: If you’re sick of locking your computer and entering your password every time you come back to it, Predator will ease the process by using a thumb drive as a “key” that instantly locks and unlocks your computer.

Whether you hang out at a lot of coffee shops or are just really paranoid about who in your home is snooping through your machine, Predator gives you a few basic security tools to keep people out. Namely, it turns your USB thumb drive into a key. When you unplug it, your computer will automatically lock itself up, playing an alarm if any intruder enters the wrong password when they try to unlock it. When you plug it back in, your computer will go back to exactly the way you left it, no password typing necessary (however, if you lose your key, you can still type in your password to get access if you need to). Not only does that bring significant “cool” factor to the program, but depending on the length and complexity of your password, it could actually be faster than typing it in. You just plug it in and go. See the above video for a demo of Predator in action.

Predator is a free download for Windows only.

Use an Empty Browser Window to Help Light Your Face During Video...

Tue, 17 May 2011 18:09:34 +0800

Use an Empty Browser Window to Help Light Your Face During Video Chats

Video chat is fun—so long as you can actually see the person you’re chatting with. Webcams aren’t exactly the best when it comes to low-light situations, so if you’re in a room with very little light (think: hotel) your webcam may have some trouble seeing you. The solution? Use the light from your monitor.

Home and technology blog Unplggd noticed that your monitor lights you pretty well when there’s a lot of white light coming from your monitor. If you’re video-chatting with someone, simply place an empty web browser window behind the video chat window to essentially turn your monitor into a (rectangular) ring light. Of course, you don’t have to use a blank browser window as any blank white window will do, but who’s video-chatting without a web browser installed? It’s easy, quick, and probably already running on your computer anyway.