Daily News and Articles

2019-01-31T06:39:00.004+11:00

Dems hysteria over Starbucks CEO Schultz is all about power, not political views – Tucker Carlson

Democratic outrage over Starbucks founder Howard Schultz’s presidential campaign shows they care only about power, not political agenda, Fox anchor Tucker Carlson said.

While Schulz’s political views are “indistinguishable” from those of establishment Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, his third-party campaign status is the only thing that matters, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in his latest remarks on Tuesday.

What Democrats really want, what they're not kidding about, at all, is political power… Poor, hapless Howard Schultz and his overfunded midlife crisis just got in their way. So, they have to crush him,” Carlson said.

Schultz, a billionaire responsible for putting a Starbucks in every strip-mall in America, quit the firm last year. The former coffee kingpin announced on Sunday that he is “seriously considering” a shot at the presidency in 2020, as an independent candidate.

Schultz was immediately lambasted by the liberal establishment and media. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg warned that Schultz would “just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the president,” while liberal think-tank head Neera Tanden announced that she would spearhead a Starbucks boycott.

2019-01-31T06:26:00.002+11:00

Federal Reserve says it will be ‘patient’ on rate hikes, a change likely to please Trump after he criticized earlier increases

The Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to raise interest in 2019, a change that is likely to please President Trump and Wall Street investors who urged the central bank to hit the pause button on any future interest rate increases.

The Fed opted Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged -- at a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent -- and the central bank signaled it was unlikely to hike soon.

“In light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures, the [Fed] will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate,” the Fed said in a statement.

The wording was a noticeable change from last year when the Fed said that “further gradual increases” in interest rates were likely. That phrase was dropped from the statement.

The Fed described the U.S. economy as “solid,” a slight downgrade from last year when the central bank called it “strong,” but Fed leaders remain upbeat and said the most likely path for the economy is sustained growth, low unemployment and modest inflation.

“I don’t see a recession” in 2019, said Fed chair Jerome Powell earlier this month. “The U.S. economy is solid. It has good momentum coming into this year.”

2019-01-31T06:24:00.000+11:00

Injury reported in presidential motorcade incident outside White House

One man was injured in an incident involving President Donald Trump's motorcade outside the White House on Wednesday.

According to reports from the scene, a protester jumped in front of Trump's motorcade, and a uniformed Secret Service officer started to confront him, when they were both struck by one of the vehicles.

2019-01-31T06:22:00.003+11:00

Apple prevents Facebook from offering research app that could monitor online activity

By Hamza Shaban
Apple announced on Wednesday that Facebook violated an agreement by distributing a data-collecting app to consumers, bypassing Apple’s normal review for an app intended for the public.

Apple said it is cutting off Facebook’s ability to offer the app to consumers.

The announcement comes after TechCrunch revealed Facebook has been paying some users $20 per month to install a research app on their phones that can collect intimate information about their online behavior and communications.

Apple’s developer program allows companies to create their own apps for employees, giving them a way to test and use apps outside of the app store, which are not subject to the same privacy and data policies as those intended for public consumption. But Facebook used this process to sidestep the app store and offer a research app directly to consumers, which Apple has ruled is a breach of the agreement.

“We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization, Apple said. “Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple.”

Since 2016, Facebook had allowed users aged 13 to 35 to exchange their privacy for payment through a Facebook research app on iOS and Android devices, TechCrunch reported. In some advertisements for the app displayed on Instagram and Snapchat, teens were targeted to participate in a paid social media research study, and if they tried to sign up were asked to get their parent’s approval through a Web form.

According to the report, the app could have given Facebook access to a young person’s emails, web browsing activity, instant messages, photos and videos sent to contacts and location data.

acebook told The Washington Post in a statement Wednesday that the nature of the data collecting app was not secret. “It wasn’t 'spying’ as all of the people who signed up to participate went through a clear on-boarding process asking for their permission and were paid to participate,” the company said. Facebook added that less than 5 percent of the users who participated in the research were teens, who signed parental consent forms. But Facebook declined to how say how many young people actually signed up for the app.

Following TechCrunch’s report, Facebook said it is shutting down the app to Apple customers.

Last year, Facebook yanked a data-security app called Onavo from the app store after Apple ruled the app violated its data collection policies. Onavo, which was billed as a virtual private network designed to keep users safe from malicious websites, allowed Facebook to track and analyze users’ activity on their phones, the Wall Street Journal reported, giving the company insight into rival apps and new software offerings.

Facebook did not respond to questions about it is still operating the same app for Android users.

The latest privacy-related issue at Facebook comes on the same day the company will report its quarterly earnings. Last period, the company disclosed slowing user growth, as it loses users in Europe and invests more resources in combating misinformation on the network.

2019-01-31T06:17:00.003+11:00

Trump digs in on border-wall funds as congressional negotiators prepare to convene

President Trump warned Wednesday that lawmakers would be “wasting their time” if they do not discuss a wall or physical barrier along the southern border as part of a deal to stave off another government shutdown. But some Democrats said their starting point in the new negotiation is no money for physical barriers of any kind.

“The wall doesn’t work. You can go under. You can climb over. You can go around,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.), a member of the bipartisan House-Senate conference committee created as part of a deal to end the 35-day partial government shutdown Friday. The group meets for the first time Wednesday afternoon.

“The bottom line is, is my position is no,” said Cuellar, who represents a district along the U.S.-Mexico border and said he was reflecting the unified stance of House Democrats on the conference committee.

The comments underscored the difficulty the 17-member committee will have in resolving the central dispute that led to the shutdown in the first place and threatens to prompt another one when short-term government spending runs out Feb. 15.

The president continues to demand funding for his long-promised border wall, while Democrats — emboldened after they forced Trump to back down last week and accept a short-term solution with no wall money — do not want to give it to him.

The president’s message was delivered in a morning tweet hours before the committee was to hold its first meeting.

“If the committee of Republicans and Democrats now meeting on Border Security is not discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier, they are Wasting their time!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

In a separate tweet, Trump referred to a “Fox & Friends” segment about migrant caravans heading in the direction of the border — a tactic Trump also employed last month before negotiations broke down over his demand for $5.7 billion in border-wall funding.

Despite some uncompromising positions being staked out ahead of their first meeting, other lawmakers expressed optimism that the committee, filled with dealmakers rather than hard-liners, could find a path toward agreement.

“There’s good people in that conference committee,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), another committee member. “I think we can come to an amiable conclusion if we’re left to our own device.”

2019-01-31T06:12:00.003+11:00

What Is the Irish Backstop, and Why Is It Holding Up Brexit?

LONDON — The Irish backstop — convenient shorthand for a devilishly complex subject. It sounds almost like a fence, but the issue is about not having a fence at all — an apt paradox for a problem that may not have a solution.

And it has become one of the overriding sticking points in Brexit, Britain’s halting, seemingly interminable effort to leave the European Union.

Government officials debate it daily, in London and on the Continent, and ordinary Britons and Irish people are discussing it, too, if only to say that they don’t understand what it means.

2019-01-31T06:10:00.002+11:00

For the Kremlin, Venezuela Is Not the Next Syria

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has long made the buttressing of beleaguered despots a pillar of his foreign policy — most successfully by deploying the military in Syria — to drive home the point that outside powers should not dabble in other countries’ internal affairs.

On the face of it, the upheaval in Venezuela would seem to check all his boxes. Venezuela, however, is not Syria.

It is separated from Russia by thousands of miles of ocean; there is no allied regional power like Iran that Moscow can rely on to do the dirty work on the ground; and with the Russian economy suffering long-term anemia, the Kremlin does not really have the means or the domestic support for another costly overseas adventure.

Nevertheless, the question “What should Russia do?” is raised daily by newspaper columnists and television pundits.

2019-01-31T06:06:00.003+11:00

Venezuela protests: Maduro rejects calls for fresh elections

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has dismissed calls for new presidential elections amid fresh protests against his leadership.

In a show of defiance, he insisted his victory in polls last spring had been legitimate.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president last week, prompting an escalating power struggle.

In an interview with a Russian news agency, Mr Maduro said he was prepared to hold talks with the opposition.

"I am ready to sit down at the negotiating table with the opposition so that we could talk for the good of Venezuela," he told Russian news agency RIA in Caracas.

Mr Maduro said that if the US and others wanted a fresh vote, they would have to wait until 2025, but added that he would support early parliamentary elections as "a good form of political discussion".

He added that he was not prepared to accept ultimatums or blackmail, and insisted that he has the backing of Venezuela's military, and accused deserters of conspiring to plot a coup.

"Military deserters have become mercenaries of the Colombian oligarchy and conspire from Colombia to divide the armed forces," he said, without providing further details.

2019-01-31T06:01:00.002+11:00

Corsica gunfire: Bastia attack leaves one dead and several hurt

One person has been killed and six injured after a man opened fire in the town of Bastia on the French island of Corsica, police say.

The suspect began firing on the street at around 16:25 local time (15:45 GMT) in Bastia's Montesoro neighbourhood.

After the attack, the suspect reportedly returned home and security forces have surrounded the building.

The motive for the attack is still unclear, though initial reports have ruled out terrorism.

The suspect is said to be in his 60s and has at least one previous conviction, media reports say.

One of the casualties is said to be a police officer.

2019-01-31T04:54:00.004+11:00

Polar vortex brings deadly cold snap to US states

Cities are all but shutting down across the US Midwest as the region shivers through a deadly cold snap known as a polar vortex.

At least six people have been killed across several states as a result of the arctic weather.

Temperatures have dropped as low as -30C (-22F) in Chicago and -37C in North Dakota.

Freezing weather will chill 250 million Americans, and 90 million will experience -17C (0F) or below.

wenty million people in the continental US will experience temperatures of -28C or lower by the week's end.

Snow is expected to fall throughout Wednesday, from the Great Lakes region into New England. As much as 24in (60cm) is forecast in the state of Wisconsin, and 6in in Illinois.

States of emergency have been declared in Midwestern Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois, and even in the Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi.

"This could possibly be history-making," said Ricky Castro, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Illinois.

How did the fatalities occur?

A man was killed by a snow plough in Chicago and another man froze to death in a Milwaukee garage.

An 82-year-old man died from hypothermia outside his home in Pekin, Illinois, NBC News reported.

Roads made dangerous by ice and snow have also caused fatal accidents - a young couple died after a collision on snowy roads in northern Indiana.

How is it affecting daily life?

Hundreds of schools have been closed in the affected states.

At least 1,300 flights were grounded early on Wednesday, mainly out of Chicago O'Hare and Chicago Midway international airports, said FlightAware.com.

Amtrak, the US inter-city train operator, has cancelled all rail services to and from Chicago on Wednesday.

2019-01-31T04:48:00.004+11:00

Less fallout, more danger: US ‘low-yield’ warhead pushes Doomsday Clock closer to midnight

A new “low-yield” US warhead is less powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima but more capable of igniting a nuclear conflict than bigger nuclear weapons, analysts believe.

Dubbed W76-2, the weapon is now being produced by the Pantex plant in Texas, according to Donald Trump’s nuclear posture review which he signed last year. The Trump administration – whose boss has already shown a fixation on building up nukes – claims the new “low-yield” warhead would give the US a more “flexible” deterrent.

The new “mini-nuke” has less velocity than the Hiroshima bomb as it was designed by taking away one stage from the original two-stage W76 thermonuclear device usually mounted on Trident ballistic missile. The new warhead’s explosive power was reduced from 100 kilotons of TNT, to around five.

Now, an enemy (Russia, for example) could no longer count on Washington being afraid of using its huge nuclear arsenal due to the unimaginable civilian casualties, the US administration says.

However, less damage doesn’t mean no damage at all as the ‘Little Boy’ bomb, which the US dropped on Hiroshima, killed up to 80,000 people in 1945.

Some US mainstream media noticeably voiced concerns about the new weapon and the impact it will have on international peace. Defense News, for instance, cited some non-proliferation advocates who argue “all nuclear weapons are strategic, not tactical.”

Some Democrats in Congress worry that installing a low-yield and high-yield warhead on the same missile creates a dangerous situation where an adversary cannot know which system is being used, the paper wrote. Therefore, it would react as if the larger and deadlier warhead has been launched.

That aside, the W76-2 could give birth to other low-yield projectiles, reducing the threshold for using nuclear weapons, Mikhail Khodarenok, a Russian military expert said. Such nuclear munitions could easily be launched from the B-21 Raider, a US heavy bomber currently under development by Northrop Grumman, or the F-35 jet, he believes.

Other pundits are already sounding the alarm about the danger of the US building low-yield nuclear weapons. “I think it is time for a new meeting of major countries that have nuclear weapons to develop a new treaty or a new agreement that restricts what can be developed and what cannot be developed,” General Paul Vallely, formerly second-in-command of the US Pacific Command

2019-01-31T04:44:00.004+11:00

Calls for ‘disgraceful’ Labour MPs to be kicked out of party after siding with Tories on Brexit

Labour MPs who voted with Theresa May’s Tory government on key Brexit amendments on Tuesday have caused uproar among key party figures, with some suggesting they should be deselected.

Some 14 Labour MPs sided with the Conservatives and voted against a Brexit amendment tabled by their party colleague Yvette Cooper, which sought to prevent a no-deal scenario by extending Article 50 past deadline day, March 29.

“alternative arrangements” to the Irish backstop, avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.

In voting with May’s administration, they defied Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who had instructed his MPs to vote for the Cooper amendment and against the Brady proposal.

It’s led to calls from prominent Labour activists – such as Owen Jones, the Guardian journalist, and Paul Mason, the radical left-wing journalist and author – to deselect the offending MPs from the party. Mason insisted that Labour needs to expel the “xenophobes” and replace them with socialists.

Ash Sarkar, senior editor at Novara Media, argued that the Labour MPs had assisted the Tories in making no-deal more of a reality, claiming they had “utterly failed the people who got them elected.”

Caroline Flint, a former Europe minister, and Laura Smith, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich, joined veteran Euroskeptics Graham Stringer, Kate Hoey and Dennis Skinner in voting against Cooper’s amendment by 321 votes to 298.

Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North, and John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, both of whom have been long running critics of Corbyn, voted with five other colleagues to back the Brady amendment – much to the dismay of Labour supporters.

Corbyn and May met in private after PMQs on Wednesday in an attempt to find common ground on Brexit. The Labour leader had previously ruled out negotiations with the PM until she took the prospect of a no-deal off the table.

Prime Minister May now has two weeks to broker key changes to the EU Withdrawal Agreement with Brussels, before MPs have another meaningful vote on her deal.

Early indications show that May has a tough task ahead to get the necessary concessions from Brussels. Numerous EU officials have told the UK government that the Brexit deal agreed late last year is not up for renegotiation in the wake of Tuesday’s parliamentary votes.

11 facts you need to know about Cinco de Mayo

2013-05-06T16:32:00.000+10:00

11 facts you need to know about Cinco de Mayo

By Makenzie Bowker

Cinco de Mayo is about more than an excuse to gorge yourself on guacamole
Holiday celebrates Mexico's victory over France at Battle of Puebla

Cinco de Mayo may be a day devoted to eating tortilla chips and wearing sombreros for you and your amigos, but there's much more to the holiday.

Before you enjoy your margarita and guacamole, educate yourself!

We compiled some fun facts to help you get in the spirit!

In case your Spanish is muy rusty. Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for the fifth of May.
The holiday celebrates an unexpected victory. The holiday actually celebrates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The Mexican army won the battle despite being smaller and ill-equipped.
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day. That occurred 50 years prior to the Battle of Puebla. It is celebrated on September 16.
Cinco de Mayo is a bigger deal in the United States. In Mexico, the day is observed with political speeches and battle reenactments. Many of the actual celebration and battle re-enactment take place in Puebla.
In fact, the world's largest Cinco celebration takes place in Los Angeles. This year's Festival de Fiesta Broadway is expected to draw 300,000 people. Cities like New York City, Denver and Houston also throw large parties in honor of the day.
Chandler, Arizona, even celebrates the day. There are Chihuahua races and even crowning two of the dogs king and queen.
Cinco de Mayo is even a popular name for a song. Musical artists like War, Senses Fail and Liz Phair all have songs titled after the holiday.
Americans consume up to 81 million avocados on Cinco de Mayo, according to the California Avocado Commission. The creamy food is used for guacamole, a popular Mexican dish.
According to Smithsonian magazine, more than one person has claimed they invented the margarita. Carlos “Danny” Herrera reportedly developed the drink for an actress at his Tijuana-area restaurant in 1938.
There are 367 U.S. tortilla manufacturing establishments, according to the United States Census. Tortillas are often referred to as the "bread of Mexico" and an integral part of the Aztecs' diet.
33.6 million U.S. residents come from Mexican heritage, according to the United States Census.

How To Access Your Folders From Your Taskbar

2012-10-31T15:08:00.001+11:00

How To Access Your Folders From Your Taskbar

This is an easy way to get to the folders on your system without having to open a Windows Explorer Window every time you want to access files. I find it very useful to have this feature as it allows me to access my Folders and Drives immediately and saves me a lot of time.

This works in Windows XP:

1. Right Click an empty spot on your Taskbar (Between your Start Button and your System Tray).
2. Click Toolbars.
3. Click New Toolbar.
4. A Small Window will Open that allows you to pick the folder you wish to make a Toolbar. If you want to access your Desktop Without having to minimize all your windows. Just Pick Desktop. If you want to access ONLY your My Documents Folder, Select that. Any folder will work for this.
5. Click OK.
The New Tool bar will appear at the bottom of your screen next to your System Tray.

If you find this to be not useful, Repeat Steps 1 and 2 and then check click the Toolbar you created that has a check mark next to it. And it will disappear.

How Linux OS boots

2012-10-31T15:02:00.000+11:00

How Linux boots

As it turns out, there isn't much to the boot process:

1. A boot loader finds the kernel image on the disk, loads it into memory, and starts it.
2. The kernel initializes the devices and its drivers.
3. The kernel mounts the root filesystem.
4. The kernel starts a program called init.
5. init sets the rest of the processes in motion.
6. The last processes that init starts as part of the boot sequence allow you to log in.

Identifying each stage of the boot process is invaluable in fixing boot problems and understanding the system as a whole. To start, zero in on the boot loader, which is the initial screen or prompt you get after the computer does its power-on self-test, asking which operating system to run. After you make a choice, the boot loader runs the Linux kernel, handing control of the system to the kernel.

There is a detailed discussion of the kernel elsewhere in this book from which this article is excerpted. This article covers the kernel initialization stage, the stage when the kernel prints a bunch of messages about the hardware present on the system. The kernel starts init just after it displays a message proclaiming that the kernel has mounted the root filesystem:

VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.

Soon after, you will see a message about init starting, followed by system service startup messages, and finally you get a login prompt of some sort.

NOTE On Red Hat Linux, the init note is especially obvious, because it "welcomes" you to "Red Hat Linux." All messages thereafter show success or failure in brackets at the right-hand side of the screen.

Most of this chapter deals with init, because it is the part of the boot sequence where you have the most control.
init

There is nothing special about init. It is a program just like any other on the Linux system, and you'll find it in /sbin along with other system binaries. The main purpose of init is to start and stop other programs in a particular sequence. All you have to know is how this sequence works.

There are a few different variations, but most Linux distributions use the System V style discussed here. Some distributions use a simpler version that resembles the BSD init, but you are unlikely to encounter this.

Runlevels

At any given time on a Linux system, a certain base set of processes is running. This state of the machine is called its runlevel, and it is denoted with a number from 0 through 6. The system spends most of its time in a single runlevel. However, when you shut the machine down, init switches to a different runlevel in order to terminate the system services in an orderly fashion and to tell the kernel to stop. Yet another runlevel is for single-user mode, discussed later.

The easiest way to get a handle on runlevels is to examine the init configuration file, /etc/inittab. Look for a line like the following:

id:5:initdefault:

This line means that the default runlevel on the system is 5. All lines in the inittab file take this form, with four fields separated by colons occurring in the following order:
# A unique identifier (a short string, such as id in the preceding example)
# The applicable runlevel number(s)
# The action that init should take (in the preceding example, the action is to set the default runlevel to 5)
# A command to execute (optional)

There is no command to execute in the preceding initdefault example because a command doesn't make sense in the context of setting the default runlevel. Look a little further down in inittab, until you see a line like this:

l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5

This line triggers most of the system configuration and services through the rc*.d and init.d directories. You can see that init is set to execute a command called /etc/rc.d/rc 5 when in runlevel 5. The wait action tells when and how init runs the command: run rc 5 once when entering runlevel 5, and then wait for this command to finish before doing anything else.

There are several different actions in addition to initdefault and wait, especially pertaining to power management, and the inittab(5) manual page tells you all about them. The ones that you're most likely to encounter are explained in the following sections.

respawn

The respawn action causes init to run the command that follows, and if the command finishes executing, to run it again. You're likely to see something similar to this line in your inittab file:

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1

The getty programs provide login prompts. The preceding line is for the first virtual console (/dev/tty1), the one you see when you press ALT-F1 or CONTROL-ALT-F1. The respawn action brings the login prompt back after you log out.

ctrlaltdel

The ctrlaltdel action controls what the system does when you press CONTROL-ALT-DELETE on a virtual console. On most systems, this is some sort of reboot command using the shutdown command.

sysinit

The sysinit action is the very first thing that init should run when it starts up, before entering any runlevels.

How processes in runlevels start

You are now ready to learn how init starts the system services, just before it lets you log in. Recall this inittab line from earlier:

l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5

This small line triggers many other programs. rc stands for run commands, and you will hear people refer to the commands as scripts, programs, or services. So, where are these commands, anyway?

For runlevel 5, in this example, the commands are probably either in /etc/rc.d/rc5.d or /etc/rc5.d. Runlevel 1 uses rc1.d, runlevel 2 uses rc2.d, and so on. You might find the following items in the rc5.d directory:

S10sysklogd S20ppp S99gpm
S12kerneld S25netstd_nfs S99httpd
S15netstd_init S30netstd_misc S99rmnologin
S18netbase S45pcmcia S99sshd
S20acct S89atd
S20logoutd S89cron

The rc 5 command starts programs in this runlevel directory by running the following commands:

S10sysklogd start
S12kerneld start
S15netstd_init start
S18netbase start
...
S99sshd start

Notice the start argument in each command. The S in a command name means that the command should run in start mode, and the number (00 through 99) determines where in the sequence rc starts the command.

The rc*.d commands are usually shell scripts that start programs in /sbin or /usr/sbin. Normally, you can figure out what one of the commands actually does by looking at the script with less or another pager program.

You can start one of these services by hand. For example, if you want to start the httpd Web server program manually, run S99httpd start. Similarly, if you ever need to kill one of the services when the machine is on, you can run the command in the rc*.d directory with the stop argument (S99httpd stop, for instance).

Some rc*.d directories contain commands that start with K (for "kill," or stop mode). In this case, rc runs the command with the stop argument instead of start. You are most likely to encounter K commands in runlevels that shut the system down.

Adding and removing services

If you want to add, delete, or modify services in the rc*.d directories, you need to take a closer look at the files inside. A long listing reveals a structure like this:

lrwxrwxrwx . . . S10sysklogd -> ../init.d/sysklogd
lrwxrwxrwx . . . S12kerneld -> ../init.d/kerneld
lrwxrwxrwx . . . S15netstd_init -> ../init.d/netstd_init
lrwxrwxrwx . . . S18netbase -> ../init.d/netbase
...

The commands in an rc*.d directory are actually symbolic links to files in an init.d directory, usually in /etc or /etc/rc.d. Linux distributions contain these links so that they can use the same startup scripts for all runlevels. This convention is by no means a requirement, but it often makes organization a little easier.

To prevent one of the commands in the init.d directory from running in a particular runlevel, you might think of removing the symbolic link in the appropriate rc*.d directory. This does work, but if you make a mistake and ever need to put the link back in place, you might have trouble remembering the exact name of the link. Therefore, you shouldn't remove links in the rc*.d directories, but rather, add an underscore (_) to the beginning of the link name like this:

mv S99httpd _S99httpd

At boot time, rc ignores _S99httpd because it doesn't start with S or K. Furthermore, the original name is still obvious, and you have quick access to the command if you're in a pinch and need to start it by hand.

To add a service, you must create a script like the others in the init.d directory and then make a symbolic link in the correct rc*.d directory. The easiest way to write a script is to examine the scripts already in init.d, make a copy of one that you understand, and modify the copy.

When adding a service, make sure that you choose an appropriate place in the boot sequence to start the service. If the service starts too soon, it may not work, due to a dependency on some other service. For non-essential services, most systems administrators prefer numbers in the 90s, after most of the services that came with the system.

Linux distributions usually come with a command to enable and disable services in the rc*.d directories. For example, in Debian, the command is update-rc.d, and in Red Hat Linux, the command is chkconfig. Graphical user interfaces are also available. Using these programs helps keep the startup directories consistent and helps with upgrades.

HINT: One of the most common Linux installation problems is an improperly configured XFree86 server that flicks on and off, making the system unusable on console. To stop this behavior, boot into single-user mode and alter your runlevel or runlevel services. Look for something containing xdm, gdm, or kdm in your rc*.d directories, or your /etc/inittab.

Controlling init

Occasionally, you need to give init a little kick to tell it to switch runlevels, to re-read the inittab file, or just to shut down the system. Because init is always the first process on a system, its process ID is always 1.

You can control init with telinit. For example, if you want to switch to runlevel 3, use this command:

telinit 3

When switching runlevels, init tries to kill off any processes that aren't in the inittab file for the new runlevel. Therefore, you should be careful about changing runlevels.

When you need to add or remove respawning jobs or make any other change to the inittab file, you must tell init about the change and cause it to re-read the file. Some people use kill -HUP 1 to tell init to do this. This traditional method works on most versions of Unix, as long as you type it correctly. However, you can also run this telinit command:

telinit q

You can also use telinit s to switch to single-user mode.

Shutting down

init also controls how the system shuts down and reboots. The proper way to shut down a Linux machine is to use the shutdown command.

There are two basic ways to use shutdown. If you halt the system, it shuts the machine down and keeps it down. To make the machine halt immediately, use this command:

shutdown -h now

On most modern machines with reasonably recent versions of Linux, a halt cuts the power to the machine. You can also reboot the machine. For a reboot, use -r instead of -h.

The shutdown process takes several seconds. You should never reset or power off a machine during this stage.

In the preceding example, now is the time to shut down. This argument is mandatory, but there are many ways of specifying it. If you want the machine to go down sometime in the future, one way is to use +n, where n is the number of minutes shutdown should wait before doing its work. For other options, look at the shutdown(8) manual page.

To make the system reboot in 10 minutes, run this command:

shutdown -r +10

On Linux, shutdown notifies anyone logged on that the machine is going down, but it does little real work. If you specify a time other than now, shutdown creates a file called /etc/nologin. When this file is present, the system prohibits logins by anyone except the superuser.

When system shutdown time finally arrives, shutdown tells init to switch to runlevel 0 for a halt and runlevel 6 for a reboot. When init enters runlevel 0 or 6, all of the following takes place, which you can verify by looking at the scripts inside rc0.d and rc6.d:

1. init kills every process that it can (as it would when switching to any other runlevel).

# The initial rc0.d/rc6.d commands run, locking system files into place and making other preparations for shutdown.
# The next rc0.d/rc6.d commands unmount all filesystems other than the root.
# Further rc0.d/rc6.d commands remount the root filesystem read-only.
# Still more rc0.d/rc6.d commands write all buffered data out to the filesystem with the sync program.
# The final rc0.d/rc6.d commands tell the kernel to reboot or stop with the reboot, halt, or poweroff program.

The reboot and halt programs behave differently for each runlevel, potentially causing confusion. By default, these programs call shutdown with the -r or -h options, but if the system is already at the halt or reboot runlevel, the programs tell the kernel to shut itself off immediately. If you really want to shut your machine down in a hurry (disregarding any possible damage from a disorderly shutdown), use the -f option.

Best Keyboard Shortcuts

2012-10-31T10:31:00.000+11:00

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

internetbrowser

type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it

For Windows XP:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

How to Use Facebook and Twitter Without the Internet

2012-10-30T12:45:00.000+11:00

by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

As Hurricane Sandy makes its way up the Eastern Seaboard, many are without electricity. Without power you could lose your access to Internet via Wi-Fi and, potentially, access to mobile networks. If that happens, how can you still post on Facebook and Twitter to let your friends and family know that everything is fine? Or ask for help?

You can use good-old text messages.

To tweet, first you need to enable your mobile phone on Twitter.com, so do it now while you can. Go to your Twitter homepage, then to “Settings” and then “Mobile.” Insert your cellphone number under “Activate Twitter text messaging,” and then you’ll have to text “GO” to the number 40404.

Once you’ve done that, you should receive a text message telling you that your phone is now activated. You should also see new settings on the webpage that allow you to enable or disable text notifications.

Now, to tweet, just write a text and send it to 40404.

To find out more about how to use other Twitter functionalities without an Internet connection, check Twitter’sofficial guide.

If you’re more of a Facebook fan, worry not. You can update your status via SMS as well and the social network also gives you the ability to subscribe to your friends’ updates and even use Facebook chat. Again, to access these functionalities, you first need to link your mobile phone to your Facebook account.

Log into Facebook.com and go to your “Account Settings,” which you can find under the arrow next to your name on the top bar. Then go to “Mobile,” introduce your number and click on “Activate Text Messaging.” You’ll have to select your country and your carrier. Once you’ve done that, follow the instructions on the screen and text the letter “F” to the number 32665.

Finally, you will receive a confirmation number on your phone. Insert that number on the page. You should then receive a text message that will confirm that your phone is activated.

Now, to update your status, you simply have to write it in a text and send it to 32665.

Top 10 Tech This Week

2012-10-29T15:20:00.000+11:00

by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

1. iPhone Bluetooth Personal Massager
A new app called Vibease allows men to control a woman’s vibrator from afar, allowing couples to keep intimacy alive even when they're miles apart.

2. Windows Surface Review

Microsoft’s new Surface looks, and in many ways, acts like a tablet, but at its core, it’s a Windows Personal Computer. That makes Surface an excellent companion device for Windows desktops and laptops, but also makes it unlikely to challenge the iPad.

3. Macbook Pro

Apple unveiled a new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro at Tuesday’s event in San Jose.

Check out all its specs and details: http://on.mash.to/P9iOcY

4. RHA Headphones

These RHA SA 950i headphones set themselves apart from the crowd with a triple punch: They’re relatively cheap, they’re feather-light, and most importantly, they crank out some spectacular sound.

Read our full review of these headphones: http://on.mash.to/P9iKcY

5. James Bond iPhone Case

Element cases are some of the most highly engineered and unusual iPhone cases in the world, and now the company’s rolled out its latest creation, the Sector 5 FE (First Edition), a lightweight aluminum case created for the iPhone 5.

Check out this unusual case and a gallery of pictures here: http://on.mash.to/P9iyKU

6. Windows 8

Microsoft officially launched Windows 8 Thursday, a complete reimagining of the Windows OS that sports an entirely different look from its predecessor.

http://on.mash.to/P9iACq

7. 3D Printer

The Form 1 is “an affordable, high-resolution 3D printer for professional creators” that has raised more than $2.5 million, setting the record for a tech project on Kickstarter.

8. Apple's New iMac

Apple unveiled a new, ultrathin iMac that eschews the optical drive and comes in two screen sizes, 21.5 inches and 27 inches.

Learn more about the new Apple desktop computer: http://on.mash.to/P9iN8H

9. Samsung Galaxy Note II

The Galaxy Note II has a huge 5.6-inch screen and comes with a stylus that lets you do things like draw on photos.

http://on.mash.to/P9iF9s

10. iPad Mini

As expected, Apple unveiled the iPad Mini this week.

Check out our hands-on review: http://on.mash.to/SiM5l9

This week in tech was dominated by two of the world’s biggest tech giants, old foes Apple and Microsoft.

The company from Cupertino, as expected, unveiled the highly anticipated iPad Mini. But it also launched revamped versions of the 13-inch MacBook Pro and its desktop computer, the iMac. Apple then surprised everybody when it unveiled the iPad 4, just a few months after the release of its third-gen tablet. Alas, some people weren’t that thrilled by this surprise announcement, including some of us here at Mashable.

Microsoft also had its own big unveiling: Redmond’s new operating system, Windows 8, and the Surface tablet. The Surface marks the first time Microsoft has sold its own computer as well as its first foray into the tablet market.

It wasn’t all about the two old-school tech behemoths, though. This week brought us a sexy gadget that can help couples trapped in long distance relationships, the new Samsung Galaxy Note II and a 3D printer that raised almost $3 million online, shattering the record for a tech project on Kickstarter.

6 Apps You Don’t Want To Miss

2012-10-29T15:15:00.000+11:00

by Emily Price

It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released every week. But you're in luck -- here's our app roundup.

Letterpress

A new iOS game called Letterpress will change the way you think about word games. On a basic level, the two-player game has you try to outscore your opponent by creating words using colored tiles.

Using a letter will make that tile yours, turning it your color. Surrounding a letter with your color will make it darker, and will make it your letter permanently. The goal of the game is to have more letters in your color than your opponent when all of the tiles have been used.

He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe

He-Man fans will love He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe. In the game you play the role of He-Man, who is tasked with defending the secrets of Castle Grayskull against your mortal enemy Skeletor.

The iOS game has 27 different levels including boss fights with Beast Man and Skeletor himself.

Foursquare for Android

Foursquare updated its Android application this week. The overall design of the app has been tweaked, adding a brand new check-in screen. The update also makes it easier for you to share your check-ins with friends on Facebook and Twitter, and makes it easier to mention the friends you’re with in a particular check-in.

The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee

Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys released a new children’s app this week. Inspired by her relationship with her grandmother, The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee tells the story a girl and her mythical grandmother through an immersive storytelling experience including original music by Keys.

A daily journal has kids answer 365 daily challenges, and a virtual piano within the app helps kids learn piano, with notes that synchronize on sheet music corresponding to what kids are playing on the piano.

Xbox Smartglass

Xbox launched Xbox SmartGlass this week. The application lets your phone work with your Xbox 360 console, showing you unique content on your phone pertaining specifically to what you’re watching on your television.

With SmartGlass your phone becomes a remote control for your Xbox. You can also connect with your Xbox friends with your handset, and search through the full Xbox catalog of music, video, and games.

Flipboard for Android

Flipboard updated its Android app this week, adding an audio category for listening to segments from NPR's Fresh Air, PRI’s The World and more.

New SoundCloud integration also allows you to like and share music from your friends on SoundCloud.

It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released every week. But you’re in luck — we take care of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated smartphone applications.

This week a new word game caught our attention and an ’80s cartoon icon made its way onto iOS.

A popular musical artist released her own new app, and a popular Android app got a new musical integration.

Check out the gallery above for a look at this week’s app highlights.

Still looking for more? See last week’s Apps You Don’t Want To Miss for more highlights. Think we left a great new app off the list? Let us know about your own app highlights from this week in the comments below.

20 Tricks to Make Facebook Better

2012-10-24T15:09:00.000+11:00

by Mike Wehner for Tecca

From simple settings option, to browser plug-ins, these 20 tips, tricks and tools will take your Facebook experience to the next level.

Facebook is by far the largest social network on the web. While Mark Zuckerberg has made plenty of great calls in its design, the site — and the way people use it — isn’t as streamlined as it could be.

These 20 tips, tricks and tools will give help take your Facebook experience to the next level. From simple settings options you may have overlooked, to browser plug-ins dedicated to making the social network even better, you’re sure to find something on this list that will make your Facebook time even more addicting than it already is.

Tweak Your Facebook Settings

1. Appear Offline to Certain Friends

By opening your Facebook chat window, clicking the settings icon in the upper right corner and then navigating to “Advanced Settings,” you can customize your chat experience by appearing offline to certain people on your friends list. This tweak will be especially helpful for those of you with chatty acquaintances who like to talk your ear off when you’re online.

2. Reposition Your Timeline Photos

When uploading a new photo, it might not always appear on your feed the way you intended. Particularly long or wide photos have a tendency to be cropped awkwardly, but you can fix this rather easily. By clicking “Edit Photo” from your Timeline page, you gain access to a “Reposition Photo” option. Using this tool, you can move your photo around the preview window so that it appears as you intended.

3. Add Photos to Your Worldly Travels

If you’re a fan of Facebook’s “Places” feature, you can very easily decorate it with pictures to show off your various activities all over the world. On the main Places page, simply click “Add Photos to Map” and start tagging away! If you frequently upload photos directly to your Facebook profile using a mobile app for iPhone or Android, you might find that your map is already pretty well populated.

4. Easily Hide App Notifications

By going into your account settings, navigating to the “Notifications” tab on the left side of the page, you can browse the applications that have permission to populate your news feed. If find that a friend has spammed your feed with an excessive number of app notifications, simply deactivate the offending app. It’s easier than breaking off the friendship.

5. Upload Photos in High Resolution

Sometimes you’ll find that a gorgeous photo you wanted to share with your friends appears tiny and blurry after adding it to your social network profile. Remedy this by going into your Facebook albums and, before uploading a photo, click the “High Quality” box.

6. Use the “View As” Option to Tweak Your Appearance to Specific Friends

Knowing what your friends can see on your Facebook Timeline is an invaluable tool to ensuring your virtual reputation stays intact. From your Timeline page, click the settings icon next to “Activity Log” and then click “View As.” From here you’ll be able to see what specific friends see when they visit your page.

7. Download Your Entire Facebook History

Ever wanted to browse your entire Facebook profile at once — including every status update you’ve ever submitted? Facebook makes it easy. Under your Account Settings page, a small link will appear at the very bottom of the options list. Click “Download a copy of your Facebook data” to begin the process of securing your entire archive.

8. Forward Your Facebook Conversations

Having to repeat yourself is annoying in day-to-day life, and it’s even more of a bother when online. Rather than copying and pasting directions or instructions to multiple people, click the “Actions” tab at the top of any Facebook message thread to access the option to forward it to others. Ta-da! No more double-talk!

9. Turn Chat Sign-in Off by Default

Can’t stand endless chat when you’re simply browsing your status updates? No problem. Click the settings icon in the main Facebook chat window, and click “Turn off chat” to have all future messages sent to your inbox, rather than pop-up in realtime on your screen.

10. Use Facebook to Design Your Business Card

If you’ve put a lot of work into making your Timeline page reflect exactly who you are, consider using it as a pre-designed business card. Clicking the “About” link — located under your name on your Timeline — lets you browse your social network details. In the Contact Info window is a small business card icon that will direct you to Moo.com, where you can customize a Facebook-flavored business card and place an order.

Web Tools That Optimize Facebook

11. Analyze Your Facebook History With Wolfram Alpha

For the most comprehensive breakdown of your entire Facebook history, Wolfram Alpha can’t be beat. Simply type “Facebook Report” into the main search bar, approve the app’s use of your Facebook data and wait for the system to break down your history. Once it’s finished, you’ll be treated to a seemingly endless number of graphs and data points showing your update history, most-liked photos and much more.

12. Schedule Facebook Updates With Sendible

Believe it or not, thieves are big fans of Facebook. By finding out when you’ll be away from your home, security experts believe would-be robbers target those who go on a Facebook hiatus. Sendible — an application that allows you to schedule updates even when you’re not near your computer — can keep your online persona active, even when you can’t.

13. Use Twitter to Update Facebook

Sometimes you just don’t have enough time to keep all your social networks up to date, but thankfully Facebook and Twitter play nice together with a little tweaking. Head to the Twitter app page on Facebook to begin the process of syncing your virtual social lives. After authorizing the Facebook app via Twitter, all your tweets will appear on Facebook as status updates.

14. Export Your Facebook Calendar to Your PC

Make sure you don’t miss any important events by exporting your Facebook calendar to either Microsoft Outlook or Apple iCal. Head to your Facebook calendar (located under the “Events” tab on the Facebook navigation bar) and click the settings icon. Click “Export,” and then choose either your Facebook birthday list or upcoming events. Your desktop’s calendar app should launch immediately, making the process even more streamlined.

Chrome Extensions for Facebook

15. Facebook Photo Zoom

Using this extension, you no longer have to click on the photos in your news feed in order to view them in full size. Simply move your mouse cursor over the image thumbnail and the larger version will pop up right in front of you. You can even adjust the zoom by moving the mouse back and forth over the photo itself. It’s like magic.

16. Revert Facebook Photo Viewer

If you’re not into real-time photo zooming, this extensionturns back the clock on your Facebook’s photo feature. Rather than displaying pictures in the new “Theater” layout, photos will appear on their own pages, complete with the full comments section and “Like” options.

17. Facebook Chat Notifications

Have you ever left a Facebook tab open on your web browser and missed an urget message from a friend? This handy plugin produces a pop-up window on your desktop to notify you when someone needs to chat, ensuring you never miss an important bit of info.

Firefox Add-Ons for Facebook

18. Like the Page

If you’re a Firefox user, you can use this add-on to instantly share any web page they come across, even when the site doesn’t have a built-in Facebook share button. A small “Like” icon will pop up at the bottom of every browser window, and all it takes it a click to share your find with the world.

19. FB Purity

This plug-in returns your Facebook to an earlier day, back when spammers and useless clutter wasn’t a hinderance to your browsing habits. You can hide any type of notification you wish, including birthdays, relationship updates, tagged photos, links and much more. You can make your social experience as simple as you wish.

20. Facebook Auto-Logout

Do you hate it when you accidentally leave yourself signed in to the social network, only to come back to missed chat messages and anxiety over whether someone else was browsing your digital life? This handy add-on will automatically sign you out of your Facebook windows if you’ve been inactive for too long, ensuring that nobody can snoop your info.

Facebook’s Secret Strength

2012-10-23T13:54:00.000+11:00

By Matthew Yglesias

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks to the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 conference on Tuesday in San Francisco

Since the May IPO that valued Facebook at $100 billion, nothing much has gone well for the social media giant. The price of shares steadily tumbled through the summer, down to about half their IPO value before a stirring talk by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Techcrunch conference in San Franciso yesterday helped give the stock a small bounce.

But as Facebook owners freaked out by the weak share price already know, there’s really nothing they can do to make Zuckerberg do anything about it. That’s because, as I noted when Facebook first filed its IPO paperwork, the company’s corporate governance structure is unusual. Specifically, there is no governance structure to speak of. An absolute majority of voting power is controlled by Zuckerberg personally, and there’s no requirement for members of the board of directors to be “outsiders” to the company. The firm is publicly listed and you can buy and trade its shares on the stock market, but the company is Zuckerberg’s personal fiefdom, at least until he wants to cash out some of his voting shares.

The current crisis in Facebook’s share price shows what a wise decision it was to preserve that personal control.

You can think of a stock price as driven by two separate factors. One is the company’s profits, or “earnings” in accounting-speak. The other is the price-to-earnings ratio—in other words, the total value of the company’s stock divided by its profits. The economy-wide P/E ratio bounces around quite a bit from year-to-year, driven by various manias and panics, but the long-term average tends to hover around 15. But individual companies can diverge quite a bit from this trend. A profitable company in an industry that’s in predictable long-term decline (think newspapers in 1999) or that has limited growth potential (an electrical utility that can’t really move into new markets) might have a lower P/E ratio. Alternatively, a new-ish company that’s poised to grow faster than the corporate sector as a whole may have a high P/E ratio.

So a firm’s share price has two different elements—profits, and what amounts to a prediction about future profits—and only one of them is really under the control of managers.

That’s not to say that managers don’t have influence over actual future profits. This is arguably the most important job they have. But delivering future profits and deliveringoptimism about future profits is a different thing. Ever since the 2008 crash, for example,Apple’s stock has traded at a P/E of around 15 with the markets expecting approximately average growth in profits. Quarter after quarter, Apple beats that—meaning you’ve made a lot of money if you bought Apple stock four years ago—but this hasn’t shaken the overall market’s conviction that the fundamentals for a consumer electronics company that’s lost its charismatic founder has only average prospects. Amazon, by contrast, has seen its P/E ratio soar from an already aggressive 50 to a crazy-high 314.

This kind of shift in sentiment is enormously important to the value of shareholders’ investments. But it’s difficult to change, and counterproductive for managers to focus on it. After all, the optimism level reflects something like average sentiment about the long-term merits of the current business strategy. But if formulating a strategy that leads to explosive long-term growth were easy, everyone would do it. Picking the right strategy and picking the strategy Wall Street and investors think is right are different things. Part of the genius of Facebook’s corporate dictatorship is that it lets Zuckerberg focus on finding the right strategy, rather than focusing on popular opinion about what the best strategy would be.

Even better, it frees Zuckerberg from the need to waste time spinning about issues that are totally out of his hands. Facebook’s financial future depends on many variables that are hard, or even impossible, to predict. One strength of the company is that, in principle, it’s totally global. It works just as well in Florida as in the Philippines. But maps of Facebook usage show weird blank spots, including all of China, where, for political reasons, the service can’t be accessed. Whether that billion-strong market is opened to the company has huge implications for its future. So does the question of whether India’s government gets its act together and lets the world’s second-largest country enjoy a couple of decades of China-style supercharged growth. If those 2-billion-plus people become as lucrative to Facebook as the average American, that’s great for the company. If not, the outlook is a good deal worse. Investor sentiment about the likelihood of these outcomes is an important driver of Facebook’s price, but there’s nothing Zuckerberg can do about it.

And yet, even though much of the uncertainty around Facebook’s future is out of the CEO’s hands, the market’s strong response to Zuckerberg’s talk shows that he can affectperceptions of the future outlook. A Facebook CEO who wants to do right by his shareholders would learn the lesson that he needs to spend less time running the company and more time talking about it. Indeed, the CEO of a normal public company that experienced this kind of share price collapse would essentially have to. He would have to, even though on some level it’s perfectly obvious that shifting focus in this way would be a poor use of his time. Freeing Zuckerberg from that kind of burden is the company’s best hope for navigating what continues to be a challenging environment for any company (Slate and its parent company included) that largely depends on online display advertising for revenue.

Facebook’s unorthodox, shareholder-screwing governance structure gives Zuckerberg precisely that freedom. There’s no guarantee that anything he does will vindicate the company’s once-lofty share price, but the fact that the CEO is able to ignore shareholder interests is one of the best reasons for optimism that he can.

Microsoft Exchange Cutover Migration to Office 365

2012-10-22T15:23:00.000+11:00

In this article am I running through a Cutover migration

The table below taken from Microsoft.com gives an overview of the different recommended migration paths.

Existing organization	Number of mailboxes to migrate	Do you want to maintain mailboxes in your on-premises organization?	Deployment option
Exchange 2010, Exchange 2007, or Exchange 2003	Less than 1,000 mailboxes	No	Cutover
Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2003	No maximum	Yes	Staged or hybrid
Exchange 2010	More than 1,000 mailboxes	No	Hybrid
Exchange 2010	More than 1,000 mailboxes	Yes	Hybrid
Office 365 for professionals and small businesses	Fewer than 50 *	Not applicable **	Cutover
Exchange 2000 Server or previous versions	No maximum	Yes	IMAP
Non-Exchange on-premises messaging system	No maximum	Yes	IMAP

Cutover – All mailboxes are moved into the cloud in one big hit. Best suited to smaller companies.

Staged – Mailboxes are moved in batches.

Hybrid – this enables you to move mailboxes over one by one. This requires the installation of an Exchange 2010 server. If you are not running exchange 2010 you can get an exchange 2010 hybrid license and you will need to setup a temporary exchange 2010 server.

Cutover Migration Plan Overview

Create migration plan
Add domain to office 365
Migrate Mailboxes
Change DNS records (aka redirect your email to Exchange online)
Create Distribution Groups and Contacts
Configure Clients
Decommission onsite Exchange server

Cutover Migration Pre-requisites\Considerations

Bear in mind any phones set to pick up emails via active sync (e.g. iphones, android etc) will need to be re-setup to connect to the office 365 mailbox. You will probably want to warn/pre-arrange with the end users.
Depending on the size of your mailbox store uploading all mailboxes can take quite some time. As you will not be able to use your current server in this time make sure you plan accordingly.
Microsoft enforce complex passwords for office 365 (although these can be disabled using powershell). You may want to pre-warn users about this.
You will need to have logon details for the Office 365 Portal
If you plan to run the full version of outlook on clients they must be using either Outlook 2007 SP3 or Outlook 2010
You will need to check for any 3^rd party applications that plug into outlook or exchange. For example disclaimer software as this won’t work on Office365
You will need to have a valid public CA issued SSL certificate to migrate mailboxes unless you use the IMAP solution (which I don’t recommend as it only migrates emails). i.e. you need to have an SSL certificate for your OWA website.
If you want to use “single sign on” you will need a Win2008 or 2008r2 server to install AD FS 2.0.
I recommend changing the TTL on your MX record to 1 (hour). You will need to change DNS records in step 4 so make sure you are familiar with how to do this (usually via your ISP)
I also recommend asking all users to have an email clear out and to empty their deleted items – meaning there is less data to migrate.

Step 1 – Create Migration Plan

Logon to the portal (portal.microsoftonline.com) and create your migration plan.

Run through the plan and choose the appropriate options. Note that the options below are for a “cutover” migration from exchange 2003.

As mentioned in the pre-requisites when managing credentials:

Note that if you select “same set of credentials” aka “single sign on” you will need a Win2008 or 2008r2 server to install AD FS 2.0.
The directory sync tool cannot be installed on a domain controller.

Once you have finished you will get your own customised deployment plan as shown below.

Work through the list following the instructions at each stage. Certain sections as discussed further below.

Step 2 – Add your domain (to office 365)

This is where you add your internet domain (i.e. yourcompany.com) to office 365. In order to confirm ownership of the domain Microsoft ask you to create a specific DNS record as shown below

Step 3 – Migrate Mailboxes

I recommend disabling the SMTP server on your current email server to stop mail being delivered to your old server.

Fill in the below details. Note that the “exchange server” field is for the active directory FQDN, the “RPC proxy server” field is for the internet domain address.

Once this has completed you now have a copy of all of your mailboxes on Office365! Don’t forget to assign license to the new mailboxes.

Step 4 – Change DNS records (aka redirect your email to Exchange online)

You will need to change the MX record to ensure that your email is now delivered to Office365 and not your email server. You can find the office 365 MX record in the domain settings of the portal

Note the autodiscover record will help when creating Outlook profiles for remote users.

Step 5 – Verify/Create Distribution Groups and Contacts

I recommend manually checking that all distribution lists and contacts have come across. Again this is done in the portal.

Step 6 – Setup Clients

Assuming the autodiscover DNS record has been created then setting up the new Outlook profiles should be a doddle. If for whatever reason you need to manually setup Outlook, please see my other article for instructions on setting up Outlook.
Start outlook with the /importnk2 switch to automatically import the old nk2 file to the new profile. See this article for further info.

You can also install Office 365 Desktop Setup (optional)

Sign in to the Office 365 portal by using the same credentials that you used to log on to Outlook.
In the Office 365 portal, in the right pane under Resources, click Downloads.
Under Set up and configure your Office desktop apps, click Set up.

Step 7 – Decommission onsite Exchange Server

After everyone is migrated it is recommend to uninstall the old exchange server.

7 Businesses You Can Start at Home

2012-10-18T17:14:00.000+11:00

By Erin Crum, eHow

If you want to work for yourself or want more time to spend with family, starting a home-based business might be the perfect solution. From selling handcrafted goods to online blogging, there are many options when it comes to starting your own business without a ton of money or a ton of space. Check out a few of the home-based business you could have up and running in no time.

Artisan

If you enjoy making crafts such as jewelry, home decor or pottery, consider starting a small business selling your creations through an online marketplace like etsy.com. Create the items that you would like to sell and take photos of each piece. Then list the items on the website and pay a small fee for each item listed. Shoppers find your item on the website, send you payments and you ship the items directly to the customers. It's a great way to put your creativity to work as your own small business.

Blogger

Successful bloggers can earn a full-time income through online posts, articles and regular columns. You can start your own blog through websites like blogger.com or tumblr.com. Find an area of expertise or a topic that you are passionate about and start writing about the latest news and share tips or insight in field. Sign up for a "pay-per-click" account by visiting a site such as Google Adsense, which puts advertisements on your blog. The more visitors to your site, the more opportunity to make money when visitors click on one of these ads.

Customer Support

Many companies outsource their in-bound customer service phone calls to work-from-home employees. Take phone calls directly from customers who have questions or need assistance in purchasing items. The requirements are that you must have customer service experience, a landline and internet access. Companies such as Alpine Access, LiveOps, West and Arise hire virtual customer service agents who work out of their homes.

Bookkeeper

If you are good with numbers and find yourself always helping out friends during tax season, put your skills to work. By starting your own bookkeeping business, you can sell your own services to individuals and small businesses while working from home. You will need accounting software and a reliable computer. Attract new clients by posting flyers and sending out mailings to other small businesses in your area.

Tutor

If you enjoy teaching, start you own home-based business tutoring students in your area of expertise. You can tutor students at their homes, in your home or at a library. Contact community groups and local schools to see how you can work with students who could use extra academic support. You can also join a online network and tutor students virtually, over the internet.

Translator

If you speak more than one language fluently, become a freelance translator. Many companies need paperwork and documents translated by fluent or native language speakers. Find freelance translating work through Welocalize.com or sdl.com. You will need to pass a language fluency test and have good grammar and punctuation.

How to Hide Pinterest Activity on Facebook

2012-10-15T17:12:00.000+11:00

by Amy-Mae Elliott

1. Edit Your Settings

If you've enabled Facebook to auto-post your Pinterest activity, it's easy to change your Pinterest account settings.

Just hover over your name on the top-right of the screen. Select "Settings" from the menu that appears.

2. Change Facebook Timeline Settings

Now, scroll down until you see the Facebook settings section.

Where is reads "Add Pinterest to Facebook Timeline," select "Off."

You have now stopped Pinterest from automatically posting to Facebook.

3. Change the App Settings

Alternatively, you can edit the settings of the Pinterest Facebook app so that it only shows your Pinterest content to certain people -- either individuals or lists you have created.

To set this up, click the drop-down menu at the top-right of your Facebook homepage.

Choose "Account Settings," then "Apps" on the left hand-side of your display.

Scroll down your apps list until you see Pinterest. Once you click it, you'll see the "Posts on your behalf" section.

A little lower down, next to where it reads "Who can see posts this app makes for you on your Facebook timeline?" click on the "Friends" box.

4. The Pinterest App

If you now select "Custom," you can manually enter names of people you know would like to see your Pinterest content, or enter the name of a pre-made list.

You can also select people you'd like to hide your Pinterest content from by entering their names in the "Hide this from" box.

5. Opt in to Manually Send to Facebook

Even if you have stopped auto-sharing to Facebook from your Pinterest account, you can still send the occasional Pinterest post to Facebook.

To do this, simply tick the "Facebook" box as you use the Pinterest bookmarklet tool.

6. Share to Facebook

Or hit the "Share to Facebook" option after you've clicked on the "Pin It" button.

This also gives you more options, such as the ability to create the custom privacy options we outlined in slide four.

7. Your Pinterest Activity in Your "Recent Activity"

If you do choose to share the odd Pinterest pin to Facebook, you will see your Pinterest activity show up in the "Recent Activity" module on your timeline.

8. Remove Pinterest Content From Your News Feed Altogether

If you'd rather not see any kind of Pinterest content from people you are friends with on Facebook, you can mute the entire platform.

It's easy to do this: Simply find a Pinterest post and hit the small arrow on the top right.

Select "Hide all by Pinterest" and your news feed will become a pin-free zone.

9. Mute Certain Facebook Users

If Pinterest isn't a huge issue in your feed in general, but there are a few people who post excessively, you can "mute" those loud few, rather than stop seeing Pinterest content altogether.

To stop seeing Pinterest content from one contact, find a recent Pinterest-related post from that person and click on the small drop-down arrow on the top-right.

Select "Unsubscribe from activity stories/music and videos (this changes dependant on the nature of the content) by NAME" and those kind of posts will not appear in your stream in the future.

Pinterest‘s social integration is very well-done, and has contributed to the fast growth of the sharing service. However, you may not want to broadcast everything you do on Pinterest to your Facebook friends. Similarly, you might not be interested in every single thing your Facebook acquaintances pin.

We can help you out. Our simple walkthrough gallery demonstrates how to stop Pinterest from posting on Facebook, how to tailor your settings so you only share Pinterest content with certain people, and how to prevent others’ Pinterest-related posts from cluttering up your news feed.

10 Facebook Tips for Power Users

2012-10-15T16:45:00.000+11:00

by Amy-Mae Elliott

1. View Photos Full-Screen

You can browse Facebook photos in full-screen mode, making for a better gallery viewing experience.

In an album, click on the first image, then hover over the photo. A floating menu will appear along the bottom of the image.

Click on "Options" and you'll see the ability to "Enter Fullscreen." Now you can browse with a clean, black background.

To return to normal mode, simply hit the Escape key or the "X" on the top-right of your display.

2. Hide What You Read

If you like Facebook's new social reading apps, but don't want to broadcast to the world what you read on your coffee break, adjust the settings accordingly.

For apps that you're already using, head to "Account Settings" from the drop-down menu next to "Home" at the top-right of your display. Go to the "Apps" tab.

Now click "Edit" to the right of the relevant app. In the box that opens you'll see "Posts on your behalf - Who can see posts this app makes for you on your Facebook timeline?"

Use the drop-down menu to select "Only me." You can also follow this same process as you sign up to new apps.

3. Create a List Based on Your Interests

Have you taken advantage of Facebook's "Lists" functionality?

Similar to Twitter lists, you can create lists based on your interests and then tune in for a targeted catch-up on certain topics.

To create your first list, simply click "More" next to the "Interests" section on your homepage menu. Click "Add Interests," then "Create List."

Your lists can be comprised of people, subscriptions and friends. Once created, you can choose to make them private to you, or share them with the world.

4. Populate Your Map With Pics

You can retrospectively add locations to images you've already uploaded to Facebook, making for an interesting map that shows all the places you've been.

To populate your map with photos, click on the "Photos" box under your cover photos and select "Add Photos to Map."

You will then be able to scroll through all your images and add the relevant geo data.

There's more information about adding imagery to your Facebook map here.

5. Reposition Photos on Your Timeline

If you want your timeline to look as lovely as possible, you can fine tune how your images appear.

If an image is off-center or you can't see the main focus of the photo, reposition it to look better.

Click the "Edit or Remove" pencil icon on the top-right and select "Reposition Photo." Click and drag it until it's in a better position.

6. Hide From Friends In Facebook Chat

There's bound to be a few people you'd rather not chat with on Facebook. Hiding, or appearing to be offline to certain friends, is simple.

Just click on that person's name in the chat window, as if you were about to start a conversation, then hit the cog icon in the top-right.

From the menu, click "Go Offline to [Name]." You are now hidden.

A more detailed walk-through of this process can be found here.

7. Pre-Approve All Tags

Did you know you can set your Facebook account to require pre-approval before any tagged content appears on your timeline?

To set this up, select "Privacy Settings" from the drop-down menu on the top-right of your Facebook page.

Next to "Timeline and Tagging," click on "Edit Settings."

Look down for "Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your Timeline" and "Review tags friends add to your own posts on Facebook" -- set these both to "on."

We have previously offered a more detailed look at this process. It can be found here.

8. Hide Annoying Content From Your News Feed

What appears in your Facebook news feed is subject of much discussion, but you can control it, to a certain extent.

From the homepage, click on the pencil icon that appears when you hover over "News Feed," and select "Edit settings."

Here you can hide posts coming into your stream from certain people, certain apps and certain pages.

If you really want to drill down to customize your news feed, we have previously offered some useful tips here.

9. Create a Secret Group

You can create a "secret" Facebook group that only you, and the friends you choose to share it with, can view. It's a fun way to share members-only content with a select few.

To start your secret group, click "More" next to the "Groups" area on your homepage. Select "Create Group" on the next page that loads.

Once you've named your group, choose a fun icon from the drop-down menu, add friends and then check the "secret" option.

You will now see your new group under the "Groups" area in your homepage. Click on it to post to the group and view content from others.

10. Upload Images in High Quality

Finally, Facebook's default photo upload functionality is not high resolution.

If you want to ensure your images are the best quality possible, always check the "High Quality" box as you upload.

It will take a little longer, but the better images should be worth the wait.

Facebook is a platform like any other — with a little practice you can get really good at using it. To help you out, we have pulled together 10 tips that we think will be useful for “power users” of the social network.

Whether you want to make your timeline look better, fine-tune what appears in your news feed, or create a secret Facebook group, we hope there’s a tip here that will improve your Facebook experience.