moises' blog

the antisocial web

2011-04-02T02:37:00.001+08:00

the social web is not the internet. the internet is information. the social web is information your network knows. your network does not know everything.

if searches do evolve into something social, the internet as we know it is going to end. it is basically going to be one big popularity contest. eventually, everyone will read the same articles, view the same videos, buy the same products, all because your friends like them. quality content you might like won't get to you, because none of your friends like it.

it's happening now. twitter is spamming me with "news" from friends who read from the same sources. my facebook feed is full of links and articles that i have seen days, weeks ago from reddit.

google is the last one standing, but they just added a +1 button. so if your friends click +1 on a search result, you'll get that, whether you like it or not.

let's keep the antisocial web alive. let facebook do social searches. that's their thing. google, your thing is search. stick to that.

i don't think i'll be switching my default search engine back from bing.com to google anytime soon. almost a full month and i really haven't noticed.

chrome web store is online!

2010-12-09T02:36:00.002+08:00

To celebrate the opening of the Chrome Web Store, I've made all of my Google Chrome extensions available through it! Click on the following links to install them via the Web Store:

Football LiveScores

Basketball LiveScores

Reddit Submitter

Football live scores for chrome

2010-11-23T06:02:00.003+08:00

Created a Google Chrome extension which shows the latest football scores. Get it from the following link:

Football Live Scores

Again, the data used is from scorespro.com.

Screenshot:

Todo:

- (almost) real-time notifications when a goal is scored.

basketball live scores for chrome

2010-11-17T02:43:00.005+08:00

I made a Google Chrome extension that shows the latest scores of basketball games:

Basketball Live Scores

Data used is from scorespro.com. The scores are uploaded every 20 seconds, so it's almost real time.

Screenshot:

Reddit Chrome extension

2010-11-12T19:50:00.004+08:00

I created a Google Chrome extension for my new favorite website, Reddit. You can install it frome the Chrome Web Store:

Reddit Submitter

The Reddit icons used are by Eli Burford. http://eliburford.com/

photobooth in apple stores

2010-11-12T17:00:00.004+08:00

Everyone loves Apple stores. And when in an Apple store, what does everyone do? Photo Booth on the big-ass iMac. What if there was an application (or applescript) to automatically upload all Photo Booth photos, as soon as they are taken, to a Twitter or TwitPic account?

Dibs on this project! Working on it now. This is my idea, my idea, I tell you (shakes fist)!

No, seriously. I'm working on it now.

DOSRunner on googlecode

2010-11-12T00:23:00.001+08:00

Created a repository in Google Code for DOSRunner today. (http://code.google.com/p/dosrunner) It's under the MIT license, so if anyone finds it useful.

why everyone should use project hosting services

2010-09-29T22:56:00.004+08:00

... even for open source projects. I have a new PC at home, which is awesome, but someone thought reformatting the older PC's hard-drive was a good idea.

Sad to say, but gsmGPS is now dead. Not because I've grown tired of it, but because I've lost all of the sources.

All my other projects are still alive, though. Thank Google Code for that.

snarltraynotifications: code to bypass the default balloon

2010-08-09T10:08:00.005+08:00

Did a few updates to Snarl Tray Notifications (see the project page) - the app now hides the original message; only the Snarl notification is visible. It's usable now, except for messages requiring interaction with the mouse.

You may also notice, it has an icon now. Thanks to Sekkyumu at deviantart. The icon display code is temporary, as I plan on grabbing the original icon from the original message, so we'll see what happens.

Until the next update!

Snarl Tray Notifications

2010-08-08T09:33:00.005+08:00

I mentioned Snarl being a notification system option when I wrote about setting up SSBs in Windows. Windows notifications are bearable at best, displayed only with text, and a pale yellow balloon background. My frustration also stems from the fact that I code for both Mac and Windows, and although aesthetically I like Mac and Growl, I must admit that I still go back to Windows (Bootcamped in an MBP) due to its usability.

To solve the notification problem, I hacked up a companion app to Snarl, Snarl Tray Notifications. What it basically does is grab the text from system notifications and push them to Snarl. It would be a lot better if I turned off the default balloons, but this will have to do for now. 4 straight hours of poring through the Win32 API are starting to hurt my eyes.

To follow the project's progress and download the latest builds, visit the project's Google Code site: http://code.google.com/p/snarltraynotifications/

Here's a screen capture of a Windows notification captured and passed to Snarl:
I'm still working on how to grab the original message's icon and message title, but it's looking a lot better now. Even better, you can download additional Snarl styles and choose whichever suits your taste.

SSBs on Windows and the Mac

2010-07-30T02:42:00.007+08:00

SSBs (or site-specific browsers) have been gaining a bit of popularity in the last couple of years. Basically "browsers-within-apps", they provide an easy way to access your favorite web sites from your desktop, complete with their own dock/taskbar icons, Application icons, and for many websites, even real-time update notifications.

To make SSBs, you have several options, most notable are Prism, and the popular Fluid.

SSBs with Fluid

If you are a Mac user, you have several options when it comes to creating/using SSBs. But the preferred way is through Fluid. Fluid app can easily create SSBs for websites, and you can even provide your own icon for the app. On my Mac machine, I use it with Flowdock and Gmail. It has a dock icon that displays the number of updates on the site, and it also notifies you via Growl, so you won't have to download a notifier app again.

To make an SSB with Fluid, download the Fluid app (from their site). Once downloaded, run the app, and give it the details of the site you want to make an SSB with:

Here I'm making an SSB for Flowdock. You can choose a custom icon to use with the app, but if not, it will default to the site's icon. Click 'Create' when you're done.

Once you are done, it adds a new app in your Applications folder, complete with the custom icon.

You can even pin it to the dock, like a normal app, and make it run on log-in. It even has support for Growl notifications, so if you receive messages/updates:

You get them. Real time. Try it out now; it takes just seconds to set up.

SSBs with Prism

Another option for Mac users, and the ONLY option (IMHO) for Windows users, is Prism from Mozilla. If you use Windows, this has everything you need - it can create a Quick Launch icon, a Desktop icon, a Taskbar item, and it can display notifications. The notifications aren't as pretty as Fluid (Fluid uses Growl; Windows doesn't have Growl), but I heard some people have had success with using Yip and Growl for Windows or Snarl with it.

To make SSBs with Prism, the easiest would be to download the Prism application or the Firefox plugin (I prefer the plugin over the app, as I already have Firefox).
Once you install the Firefox plugin (get it here), navigate to the website you wish to make an SSB with (using Firefox, of course), and go to Tools -> Convert Website to Application. A dialog box will pop-up:

Just select the options you prefer. Again, I created one for Flowdock, which is a nice little web app we use in our company to collaborate. You should check them out.

Once you have the SSB, just start it up from whichever icon you created. In my case, it created a Quick Launch icon:

If you enabled the notifications, you'd get cool little update boxes like this whenever you get updates from the site:

Imagine if you create SSBs with all the web services you use. You can even create one for RSS feeds. Or Meebo for chats. Or Google Reader. Or even Google Wave. You won't ever have to download web clients again.

Tools: Editor for Large files Windows

2010-07-01T21:17:00.004+08:00

Working on large files is mostly a pain. My hex editor of choice when working in Windows, XVI32, chokes when it tries to open anything larger than 500MB. It can do it, but it is incredibly slow. I would still recommend it for small file editing, though. In my case, I was just trying to edit a few bytes of a binary file.

Searching through trusty 'ol Google, I found this nifty little app called i.Hex. It is small, works on Windows 7 64-bit (my OS), and works fast. It does this by loading 64KB at a time. It even has a search function. It's free, and small, so you can't complain. If you often work with large files, this is the way to go.

i.Hex - http://www.memecode.com/ihex.php

Sculptris: ZBrush alternative

2010-06-23T01:21:00.004+08:00

Are you a 3D artist looking to make detailed 3D models ala-ZBrush but don't have the money to spend? I am a Blender user, and I must admit that the sculpt tool they provide is a little lacking, so it was quite a surprise to come across Sculptris.

Sculptris is a free ZBrush alternative. That alone makes it worth looking at. The screenshots look great, and though I haven't tried it myself, from their Gallery page, it seems feature rich and worth your time. For more, see their "trailer":

Pretty awesome. Only downside is, it's Windows only. No Macs. You do have Bootcamp, right?

Sculptris - http://www.sculptris.com

CoreFarm: distributed rendering for everyone.

2010-06-11T21:36:00.002+08:00

If you render using Yafaray, and are having to take all day to render your works, CoreFarm is for you. It is a render farm, open to everyone, using dirtributed computing. All you have to do is upload your works to the site for rendering, and users who participate get to help you in your render by giving you their idle CPU time. It is pretty much like SETI@home, but for Yafaray.

If you work with Yafaray, you have to check it out. The only requirement is for you to give back some of your CPU idle time in return. The only limitation is they don't have a client for Macs yet, but they're still in Alpha, so that will change (hopefully).

CoreFarm - http://www.corefarm.org/

Notepad++ alternative for the Mac

2010-06-06T06:55:00.004+08:00

One of my few gripes with Mac OSX is TextEdit. It works, but sometimes you just want to view text files as text files; copying and pasting into the editor, no formatting. I wanted a tool as close to Notepad++ as possible (or Programmer's File Editor, from way back in Win95). If you are looking for alternative editors, here are some (actually, just 2) suggestions:

- Smultron - open source editor. Syntax highlighting with HTML previews.
- TextWrangler - closed source, but free. Syntax highlighting.

Smultron is quite popular, so I put that in there for reference. Any of the two is more than enough as a substitute for the default TextEdit, but Smultron has quite a lot of bugs in Snow Leopard, so I use TextWrangler most of the time.

What Adobe should do

2010-06-03T02:59:00.003+08:00

...is to make an HTML5 Flash player. Flash will never die; people who use it chose it for ease of use. Most people who use Flash are Web Designers who could care less about the code. That was the whole point of Flash anyway - WYSIWYG web application development.

Make an HTML5 Flash player. Open-source it if you will, but just do it. HTML5 has the Canvas now. Charge a premium for it to developers if you will. If people can still use Flash over coding, they would.

Plus, Apple has to support HTML5. Unless they want to do a Microsoft. And don't believe that shit about multitouch and Flash; have you guys seen Smokescreen?

Smokescreen - iPad demo #1 from Chris @ RevShockAds on Vimeo.

If you design a Flash game for the Mac, it will be fun. Maybe no multitouch, but come on, Angry Birds doesn't need multitouch. It supports it, but it isn't essential.

Or, they could stop selling Photoshop (and their other tools) for Macs. But really, who uses Macs? everyone has iPhones and iPads (in the States), Apple wouldn't give a crap.

WinMerge for Macs

2010-06-01T02:03:00.002+08:00

Try SourceGear's DiffMerge: http://www.sourcegear.com/diffmerge/

I have been looking for a merge tool as easy to use as WinMerge, but for the Mac. I mean, the development tools provided with XCode, along with their merge tool, look beautiful, but sometimes you just want something that's simple and workable.

DiffMerge does the trick. It shows you the differences in folders and files, and lets you merge as needed. Only downside is you can only merge from left-to-right, and not vice-versa. But it is a minor caveat, given the ease of use and low overhead. A perfect addition to your dev arsenal.

DiffMerge was made for SourceGear, so you may want to check them out, too.

Jejemon Translator

2010-04-26T07:30:00.003+08:00

What is "Jejemon", you ask? No, its not the latest Pokemon. Why not let the Urban Dictionary enlighten you with an entry on it here.

Also, I hacked up a little something with PHP, to help you speak "jejemon". Check out Jejemon Translator.

DOSRunner

2010-04-02T05:26:00.006+08:00

DOSRunner is a Windows shell extension that allows you to run a DOS program easily with DOSBox, without having to do with DOS commands. Just right click the executable, select "Run in DOSBox", and play away.

It works with any version of Windows (from XP to Win7, 32/64 bit), as long as you have a version of DOSBox installed. (See their website for downloads).

Download:
Setup file: Download here

Requirements:
- Any version of DOSBox
- .NET Runtimes (For Windows XP users). You probably have these installed already.

How to use it:
1) Install DOSRunner using the setup file.
2) Setup will prompt you for the path of your DOSBox folder. Use the "Browse" button to find the dosbox.exe executable.

3) After installation, right click any executable you want to run in DOSBox, and select the "Run in DOSBox" option.

4) Play away.

- Uninstallation is as easy as clicking the Uninstall link under the "DOSRunner" Start Menu entry.

- If you want to use it with another DosBOX version, just use the DOSRunner Configurator tool in the Start Menu (Under DOSRunner).

NOTE: For this to work, you must not have modified DosBox to mount any path by default! just remove any mount commands you might have added to dosbox.conf.

If you didn't understand that, it probably won't be a problem.

Thanks!

[Blender] RC211v model - Finishing up

2010-03-09T04:11:00.003+08:00

Just the body kit and we are good to go for the final render. I have spent 9 hours total on this thing.

http://maranas.deviantart.com

[Game] 20XX

2010-03-03T01:14:00.004+08:00

Back when I was in college, everytime I went home to Quezon City from Manila, I would drop by SM North EDSA's Quantum. They had this little arcade game called "19xx". And it was fucking awesome. I would buy 5 tokens at 7 pesos each and have a great time.

This game I created as an homage to the legend. It isn't 19XX, but it's fast, it has lots of different enemies, and has the Big Boss fights everyone loves.

20XX - Download Here

Controls: Just press F1 for in-game help.

[Game] Missile Command

2010-02-19T07:43:00.004+08:00

Another day, another one of my old creations.

Yesterday we had Tank Commander. Today, I give you, wait for it:

Missile Commander.

The game is basically a clone of "Text Missile Command", but with graphics. And explosions. Originally just a test of my particle generation system in Game Maker, but turned out to be really fun, so I made a game out of it.

Controls:
Just use the mouse and click on any direction you want to shoot missles at.

Download it from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?w1tuyzmt01j

[Game] Tank Commander

2010-02-18T02:54:00.005+08:00

Was rummaging through my files in the old laptop when I found a whole folder full of games I made from back when I was in college. Those were the days. I'll try to upload them all, but for now here's Tank Commander.

Download it from here.

Didn't get that? Here's the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?ytj2zgdznm2

It's a top down shooter where you get to control a tank deep within enemy lines.

Controls:
W,A,S,D - drive the tank
Mouse - control the turret
Mouse click (left or right) - shoot with your machine gun (save your rockets, use this on infantry)
Mouse click + space - shoot a rocket (useful for enemy tanks and barriers)

Press F1 for the in-game help. Enjoy!

[Virtualization] Haiku on VirtualBox

2010-01-21T22:50:00.012+08:00

Remember BeOS? Those of you missing the BeOS's beautiful simplicity would be glad to know that Haiku, an open source OS project inspired by BeOS, is already in alpha1. The great thing about it is, it is mostly compatible with your old BeOS software.

So let's get it running in VirtualBox.

1) If you haven't already, download and install VirtualBox.

2) Get the latest haiku ISO file from the haiku project website. Unzip it to any convenient location.

3) In VirtualBox, Create a New Virtual Machine with the following settings:

Name: haiku

Operating System: Other

Version: Other/Unknown

Base Memory Size: 512MB. (you may be able to get away with less, but this one worked for me)

Select "Create a new hard disk". It is up to you how you want to set up your hard disk, but preferably, just select the Fixed Size hard disk and give it the amount of disk space you prefer. I gave mine 5GB.

4) Once that's done, you should be able to see the new virtual machine in the list. Select your virtual machine, then press the "Settings" button.

5) Go to the "Display" item. Give the virtual machine some video memory. I gave mine 128MB. You may get away with less, but again, this worked for me.

6) Go to the "Storage" item. Click on the CD-like icon in the tree, then click on the button beside the drop-down box with "Empty" as a value. (See the button marked with the red box in the screenshot). This will bring up the Virtual Media Manager. Just click on the Add button, browse to the Haiku iso you downloaded and extracted earlier, then select it from the list.

7) Go to the "Network" item. Click on "Advanced". Select any Adapter Type EXCEPT for the PCInet ones. They don't seem to work with haiku. The Intel PRO 1000/MT Desktop (82540EM) worked for me.
8) Click "OK". You are now ready to boot the ISO you downloaded. Select haiku from the Virtual Machine list and click on "Start".

Haiku boot screen

9) Once it boots, click on the "Installer" button. Read and agree with the license.

10) In the next dialog, click on "Setup partitions...":
11) Select the disk you created earlier. Then click on Partition->Initialize->Be File System. After initialization is done, you can close this window (By pressing the small square on the top-left corner of the window).
12) Select the drive you initialized in the "Onto:" drop down, and press Begin. This will install haiku onto the hard drive you created earlier.

13) After installation, close the virtual machine. Go back to the "Settings" of the virtual machine. under "Storage", deselect the haiku ISO you loaded earlier by clicking on the drop-down and selecting "Empty" (see screenshot). This will prevent the virtual machine from booting into the install ISO when you restart it. Click "OK".
14) You're almost there. select haiku again from your list of virtual machines, and press "Start". After a few seconds, you will be greeted with the Haiku desktop.

Haiku Desktop

GLTeapot demo (running at 227.5FPS) and Bon Echo (Firefox port) browsing Google

There you go. Your very own haiku VirtualBox. Don't forget to check out the following sites for software:
http://www.haiku-os.org/ - Haiku project page
http://www.haikuware.com/ - Haikuware - Software for Haiku OS
http://ports.haiku-files.org/ - Haiku Ports
http://zeta-games.com/ - Zeta Games - games for BeOS/Haiku
http://www.bebits.com/ - BeBits - BeOS software

[Tools] Keylogger utility

2010-01-07T23:28:00.013+08:00

I was playing around with CodeProject when I came across this article by Michael Kennedy on how to create global system hooks in managed code. I know local hooks are possible with C#, but for global hooks you would need to build a DLL in C++ (there are no methods for hooking to system events in C#.NET), then use P/Invoke to access the DLL in C#.

Using his managed system hook library, I created a keylogger that logs keyboard input into a textfile:

Download here

Note: It may or may not work with 64-bit PCs. I only tested it with 32-bit XP and Vista.

Usage:
Just run the program. It is hidden (there is no visible form); you will only see it in the Processes tab of task manager. It will save the log into the directory it is stored in.

To quit the program, just press Shift+F11.

Output Files:
The filename is of the following format: Month-Day-Year.txt
The keylogger outputs the key events as readable text. The words will be readable as much as possible, and the output is case sensitive. But, since other types of keys are also handled (e.g. Fn keys, Ctrl, Alt, Home, End, etc.), there will be non-readable portions.

Sample output:
Filename: 1-8-2010.txt
Contents:
KEYControl was pressed.
a
KEY Control was released.
the quick brown fox
is

KEYBack was pressed.
KEY Back was released.
KEYBack was pressed.
KEY Back was released.
KEYBack was pressed.
KEY Back was released.
was not megan
12345
asfaf

KEYHome was pressed.
KEY Home was released.
KEYEnd was pressed.
KEY End was released.
KEYDelete was pressed.
KEY Delete was released.
KEYDelete was pressed.
KEY Delete was released.
KEYDelete was pressed.
KEY Delete was released.
KEYDelete was pressed.
KEY Delete was released.

I am not responsible for anything you do with it. It is provided as-is, without any warranty of any kind.