Web Reader's Digest: Collection of useful articles, free softwares, life experiences, and ideas

VPN service and why using them

2011-09-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in certain web services (like free online TV provider Hulu), and you are living outside the countries providing such services, it is not the end of the day. You can use VPN through which your IP shown to those service providers belongs to those specific countries and you can enjoy your happy days using those services.

You can give it a try at http://foxyvpn.com for the VPN, if you like (I have not tried yet). I may get a chance to try it, and report more details back to you here, on their service and performance.

Benefit of using TXT to record, and preferred free TXT editor

2011-07-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

It is worthwhile to record important things when happening, as a learning experience, e.g., how to solve a software problem. Such experience may have cost you a lot of time to find a solution, and the solution may be complex. After a while, it is hard to remember the details.

There were certain softwares which can help you record experiences or past happenings. However, I do not recommend you rely on any (complex) software to do so. The reason is simple: the format may become obsolete, the software may not be compatible with the newer OS, you may change your OS, or you do not want to pay for the software.

A TXT file is a simple solution, with careful planning of directory structure regarding where to place individual TXTs. TXT will never obsolete and can be easily opened by free softwares, under various OSs. Here we face two challenges:
1) Good directory structure so that you can easily locate what you are looking for;
2) Good naming convention of TXT file so that you can find it in a directory.

I do not recommend relying on the Desktop search engine (e.g., Google Desktop) to locate your files. It takes time to find out which file is the file you are really looking for.

Back to the directory structure and naming convention of TXT files, I have to say the best strategy is the one suits you most. Some simple guidelines are:

1) Top level directories shall cover very broad range (e.g., softwares), lower level ones cover narrower range (e.g., softwares_Windows, softwares_Linux), and so on;

2) There shall not be too many levels of directories, and not too few;

3) TXT names can use full names for description, with underscore or space between the words to make it readable; one may want to use acronyms to shorten the name, however, it takes time to translate the acronyms in your mind. If you insist to do so, please make sure to be able to understand the acronyms later by putting a separate file to explain the acronyms;

4) Data of events can be inserted into the TXT file names, e.g., 20100319_XXX_YYY.TXT. This can help sort the files according to the event dates. Creation date may be changed later if recovered from backup, and file may be modified in later days. So creation date or modification date shall not be used in sorting to locate the TXT according to the event's date.

At last, my preferred TXT editor is:
Notepad++.

It has multi-tab function, so that you can switch among several files quickly; it can also back up files before modifying it.

One problem I noticed that sometimes it may freeze (newer version may have solved this problem). You can just simply kill it and restart the software.

It was designed for programmers, and has many more functionalities than being simply used as a TXT editor.

Length of week in old times

2011-06-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

The week is longer than 7 in the past for some countries. For example, China used to have 10 days in a week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week#China

How to secure your Windows XP

2010-12-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/SecureXP.html

Some Windows XP myths. Some of them may not be true.

http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/XPMyths.html

Test your OS for Internet vulnerabilities

2010-08-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

How to teach your kids software coding and electronics

2009-07-31T22:54:00.000-07:00

Teach kid to code

http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=39

Teach kid software and hardware

http://marshallbrain.com/kids-programming.htm

The Teenager's Guide to the Real World (can also benefit adults)

2009-07-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

http://bygpub.com/books/tg2rw/tg2rwbooktoc.htm

"explains the immutable facts of life that every successful adult learns in one way or another."

Free picture viewers (similar to ACDSee)

2009-07-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

XnView

Faststone Image Viewer

List of free firewall softwares

2009-07-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php

Check the score and the word "Free"

The best two are: Comodo Internet Security and Outpost Firewall Free.

Free personal finance management softwares

2009-07-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

KMyMoney and GnuCash

http://www.movingtofreedom.org/2008/01/09/moving-from-ms-money-to-kmymoney/

Regarding high CPU consumption by GCALDaemon

2009-07-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

It is a Java program, so you will find java.exe consumes CPU 100% when GCALDaemon synchronizes with GCal from time to time.

You can follow below steps to reduce the time java.exe consumes CPU:

1) Stop and remove GCALDaemon from Windows services, so that it won't sync with GCal in a frequent manner;

2) Run GCALDaemon\bin\sync-now.bat only when you want to sync with GCal.

Free Word editors

2009-07-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/)

As powerful as MS Office softwares, including Word

AbiWord (http://www.abisource.com)

Less powerful than OpenOffice, however, much faster

PolyEdit Lite (http://www.polyedit.com/free.html)

Less powerful than AbiWord, while faster; similar to Windows WordPad (写字板)

A scientific fiction exploring effect of AI on society

2009-07-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

In the book, AI would replace the human in the corporations, bringing unemployment.

Purchase of digital books remotely stored is equivalently to "borrowing"

2009-07-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.pcworld.com/article/168654/amazon_removes_ebooks_from_kindle_store_revokes_ownership.html

Physical form books are safer to store, without worrying about hard-drive failure, losing digital license, etc, though consuming some storage space.

Look for strange callers from the list

2009-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

http://whocallsme.com

If you have ever received or missed a call from a strange caller, you may look for it and related complaints from the list. They are, in most cases, telemarketers.

"This is a user supplied database of phone numbers of telemarketers, ..., SCAM artists..." (They are artists now)

Refill your car tank WELL BEFORE the gas runs out

2009-07-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

http://forums.finalgear.com/questions-and-answers/does-running-out-of-fuel-in-a-petrol-car-damage-the-engine-8549/

Because then the small particles at the tank bottom will find a way to enter the engine. Refill when the gas is depleted to one quater.

Never start the car engine when it is already running

2009-07-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl760g.htm

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090120210126AAEi8aR

"you will damage both the starter and flywheel"

The simple rule: every time before starting the engine, look at the engine speed gauge. If it is more than zero, then it is running, and do not start the engine.

How to use Google Voice outside of USA

2009-07-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.intjgeek.com/2009/07/google-voice-in-canada.html

If you get a Google Voice invitation, and are not in USA, above link may provide a solution.

What is the effect on credit score when closing a credit card?

2009-07-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

http://credit.about.com/od/creditreportscoring/qt/closecardscore.htm

According to the link, there is no effect when there is no balance on that card.

Contactless credit card payment

2009-07-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

They are more and more popular.

http://www.ratecreditcards.ca/blog/visa-paywave-and-mastercard-paypass-gaining-popularity/

Are they compatible between the 3 credit card companies? There are dual reader now.

http://www.casauto.com.tw/en/in-products-03.aspx?id=P_00000039&cid=C_00000010&pname=EZPROX&cname=Contactless+Reader

(I am not advertising this product. It is searched from Google)

Are they secure and safe without leaking information over the air? Would the rader scan all your contactless credit cards in your wallet? Someone has already expressed the concerns.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/24/rfid_credit_card_hack/

TSMC laying off employees 5% annually

2009-07-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

http://danielnenni.com/2009/07/14/blogging-from-taiwan-tsmc-and-40nm-yield/

"a portion of the 5 percent of company employees rated “improvement needed” or “unacceptable” and unable to reach performance targets, are let go."

Internet radio list

2009-07-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.radiotower.com/

Good to play as background music player, while working or browsing.

Collection of Old Computers

2009-07-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/

As old as 1975; good site to observe how computer evolved.

http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp

It has links to ebay links selling those olddies.

Use blog as an open bookmark

2009-07-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

It is a good idea to use blog as an open bookmark, containing the links to the interesting and useful websites/pages, and with some short comments. This is what I am using.

It is easy to search the past blogs, from the search box at left top. It is also easy to read them from the Categories.

Google Bookmark (http://www.google.com/bookmarks) could do some job, but it's somewhat limited for this purpose.

Universities shall encourage Open Source Softwares

2009-07-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2009/01/enough-is-enough-higher-education-wake.html

http://blog.linuxtoday.com/blog/2009/01/proprietary-bar.html

Dual-boot with Windows/Linux would be a good choice.

If the homeworks are required to be done in Word, you can use OpenOffice and save it in Word format. There is Word viewer for you to check if the format looks fine in Word's view.