Codexero - Random Ideas, Downloads, Politics in the Maldivian isles.

Is it true that Dhiraagu is broken?

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:00:00 PDT

Update1: Some of the links have been fixed by Dhiraagu since then.

Web surfers like you and me hate it like hell when we see 404 (Page not found) errors. This happens because the website is not properly maintained or simply because of poor design. Its very difficult to believe when companies like Dhiraagu slaps on our face with a 404! Hello Dhiraagu, I am a loyal customer... but I just can't take the 404 slap. So I decided to slap you back with this post.

Broken links/resources that I found on the official Dhiraagu Website:

http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/includes/menu.js
on
http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?

http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/mobile/prepaid/images/new_banner_2.jpg
on
http://dhiraagu.com.mv/

http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?g=desc
on
http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php

http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?g=price
on
http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?

http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?g=faq
on
http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?

http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?g=app
on
http://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/internet/parental_control.php?

These are just the ones that I came across. Possibly there are more of them.
So what are you going to do? Call 123 and slap them???

Ultimate online security explained

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:55:00 PDT

You are probably here because you are concerned about the security and privacy of your online presence. You maybe shocked to know that major search engines and social networks like Google,Yahoo, Bing and Facebook keeps track of what you search and which other websites you visit. In this article I am briefing about password security, email encryption and online privacy.

Use a strong password

Use uppercase and lowercase characters together with special symbols. Good passwords are generally more than eight characters long. Make sure you use a different password for every online service. Most password managers such as Passpack have in-built strong password generators.

Protecting your passwords and accounts

Enable HTTPS
You may find this option under account setting on some web services. If available set the option to "Always use HTTPS". If you re not using HTTPS when log in to web sites your credentials will be transmitted in plain text. This is a highly risky because a WiFi hacker or a network sniffer can easily see your credentials. Therefore before supplying your credentials to the web site make sure that the URL starts with https, not http.

Enable 2-factor authentication
Some web services like Gmail, Hotmail and Facebook support 2-factor authentication, which means that you will get a one time security code by SMS when you attempt to login with the correct password. You will need to enter this security code to access your account. So even if your account password gets stolen it would be of no use to them. You will find this option under account setting/setup in supported web services.

Use an online Password manager
For this purpose Passpack or Lastpass gets the job done. Both of these services offer free plans. Choose your preferred online password manager to store all your online credentials. Visit the service website and learn how to get started. Make sure the service supports 2-factor authentication. Both Passpack and Lastpass supports 2-factor authentication which requires a Yubikey (a USB device which generates one time passwords - OTP which costs US$ 25).

If you don't want to spend a few dollars on the Yubikey your choice might be Lastpass, which provides a cross-platform portable software called Lastpass Sesame which generates an OTP. This service is only available to Lastpass premium service (US$ 12/yr as of writing this article). For the cheaper choice I prefer Passpack free plan with Yubikey, So you only spend US$ 25 for the Yubikey and that's it. If you are using Passpack Make sure you backup your data and store it in a safe place, in case you lose your Yubikey.

What is an OTP?
One time password (OTP) is a unique password which is generated by a security token device or application. Each time you use the device a different password is generated, effectively defeating key stroke loggers. Therefore you don't have to worry about your OTP being recorded since after you log off, the password used for that session becomes invalid.

Mind your online privacy

Are you aware that some ISP's are injecting their own content into your search results? And some websites are tracking your online activity? Read on to learn how to defeat them.

Setup OpenDNS

When you type a URL in your browser your ISP forwards the request to a server which translates the address into an IP address which is send back to the browser. Some ISP's hijack Dynamic Name Server (DNS) queries to inject advertisements into your search results. OpenDNS gives you complete control over your internet so that you can filter inappropriate web sites and be protected from malware sites. You can configure you internet router or your PC for OpenDNS. Go to OpenDNS website to create a free account and learn how to setup OpenDNS for your internet. Please note that some ISP's does not allow you to use third party DNS.

Stop Cookie tracking

There is a neat little plugin called Disconnect for Chrome and Firefox which will prevent websites to track your search results and other websites you visit. Install these plugins and say goodbye to cookie tracking.

If you want to delete browser history, cookies and auto-complete data download CCleaner. CCleaner cleans your PC including registry, temporary files and browser history.

Email encryption

Emails travel over networks before it reaches its final destination server. Emails are often intercepted by hackers and government agencies. And worse, the email provider may handover your entire email archive to government agencies if requested. Make all your emails readable only to the intended person by using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption. If you are using Thunderbird as your email desktop client, Lifehacker has a good tutorial on how to setup PGP for the client. If you are using Outlook go and grab Gpg4Win and browse through the documentation to learn how to setup email encryption for outlook.

Supporting the 20K campaign!

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:53:00 PDT

The brutal autocratic government of Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom was replaced by president Nasheed by the peoples' choice. During the campaign Nasheed promised cheaper and affordable food, housing and transport. However within two years after he was seated, prices went high, private land was ripped away from the owners and we are witnessing rising air transport costs. More than 30% of Maldivians are jobless because they have no opportunity. And surprisingly the government is repeatedly "urging" the jobless but talented youth to come forward and be helpful to themselves and the country! OK, we came forward to find a few opportunities for youths holding the ruling party's membership. And now what? Members of the parliament are getting extremely high wages and bonuses. Recently they passed a bill unanimously approving a 20k bonus. Some MP's later retrained from taking the bonus due to rising public riots and campaigns against the 20k bonus. The following video is a part of the 20k campaign. Watch now!

Dhivehi Websites - all that I found.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:41:00 PDT

These are some of the websites I came across. All these websites are in thaana font. You are most welcome to suggest more dhivehi websites or blogs to add to the list.

Thaana font installer for everyone.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:30:00 PDT

Dear fellow Maldivians.
When we thought that our language and alphabet were on the verge to extinction we were blessed with the freedom of expression. The new era of freedom cut loose the talented journalists and bloggers living in deep dungeons and caves. The result? News and information in the form of Magazines, broadcasts and electronic media started to show on air,cloud and shelves. Font installation is an easy process, but there is a little chance that there are less priviledged fellow Maldivians who find it difficult to find thaana fonts and install them on their PC. So I decided to create this little utility called the Codexero Thaana font installer for all you guys. There are two versions available, which are the 64-bit version and the 32-bit version.
Download the 64-bit version for newer PCS/Laptops
Download the 32-bit version for older PCS/Laptops

So, enjoy!

Damn tiny computers for developers and geeks.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 06:20:00 PDT

We are living in a very blessed age, with information super highways and terabytes of data at our finger tips. Tablets, laptops and smart phones are cool, but geeks with innovative ideas and lust for entertainment and control would love plug computers.
Plug computers are tiny computers mostly running Linux operating system. Features and components vary from device to device. Some of the plug computers have HDMI ports, USB ports, Ethernet ports, Wifi and expansion card slots. You can connect a portable hard disk to one of the USB ports and use the device as a DLNA server which streams audio and video to supported devices.

There are hundreds of uses including Security surveillance, web hosting, Media streaming etc.
A good practical use would be developing and deploying an IM bot which executes certain tasks such as updating your Facebook status, Sending an SMS etc, when you message the IM bot. Cool huh! All you need to do is command the bot through your favorite chat application.

What about running Smoothwall on the device? Smoothwall is a powerful open source firewall for the Linux OS. If your router's built-in firewall isn't enough for you, then Smoothwall is the answer.

In fact some of these devices are a development platform, on which you can deploy various applications. Its definitely a must have gadget for the geeky Geeks. Enjoy!

Keep track of your online life.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 04:13:00 PDT

With dozens of social networking services, micro blogging and location aware services etc, it can get a lot confusing. Fortunately a group of tech enthusiasts had come up with an idea, on which they build the "Memolane". It is a service which integrates your online networks such as Facebook, twitter, Google services, etc. Later on you can view all your online activities in a neat time line.

However I was concerned about privacy here. Their terms and conditions say that they will fully co-operate with any authority and hand over the personal data if deemed necessary.

To add up, its a very nice service. Checkout the CEO/ Co Founder's Memolane http://bit.ly/pc82T2
And the following video from the site may convice you to sign up for the service which is free.

Memolane - See, Search & Share from Memolane on Vimeo.

How to get your Google+ (Google lus) invite!

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:24:00 PDT

Update: Google+ invites working normally.

Google+ is the Google version of Facebook with better privacy and features. The top story on twitter and web is Google+ and the top search terms include "Google+ invitations". Google+ is still in the Beta, so only few people who are lucky, are allowed to peek a look at the service. My sister (unica princesa) sent me an Google+ invite. According to Lifehacker traditional invitaitons doesn't work anymore.
So how did unica princesa succeeded in inviting me. Ok, here is what she did.

First,create a new Circle then add a new friend to that circle by email —the person you want to invite to Google+.
Then post to your stream and mention your friend in that post.
Ask your friend to check their email.

This method may or may not work, but there isn't any harm in doing so.. Go ahead, tell a friend already on Google+ how t give you an invite.

One of the coolest features of Google+ is the voice and video chat feature. No wonder why FB was hasty to introduce this feature. In my short experience I feel that Google+ is way better than Facebook.

Are you interested? I can try to invite a few guys, so that you can too have a peek at the Google+ before everyone does.

Crack your own Windows7 Password! Break into the Windows system.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:03:00 PDT

Hi guys, good day to you.
Before we break into the Windows system lets prepare for the final challenge.
Most of us use Microsoft Windows in our daily office tasks. If you are a gamer, programmer or a journalist you are most likely be using Windows. Of course you can do without Windows, but it has become a sort of culture to use it, because majority of the users seek simplicity.

For geeks and Linux fans, running a smart OS like Linux from a flash drive would be more than fun. There are tons of possibilities such as running BackTrack, GParted, Ubuntu and other Linux flavors each of which is designed for special purposes. BackTrack is a security testing and assessment tool built n top of Linux kernel while GParted is designed for disk management. Ubuntu is a full featured operating system.

Preparation

Download your flavor of Linux from these download links.
GParted     - Disk Management
BackTrack -Security Assessment and Testing
Ubuntu        -Full featured OS.
Xubuntu      -Full featured OS.

Download a Live USB creator tool.
UNebootin - Available for Mac, Windows and Linux
Live USB Install    - Available for Windows and Linux
Universal USB Installer - Available for Windows
FUSBi                         - Available for Windows and Linux
YUMI                          - A multi boot installer (Windows only).

Installation

After downloading your favorite flavor of Linux and live USB creator tool, lets jump head first into installing Linux.

Run and install the live USB creator tool. In this case I am going to use UNebootin to install GParted (Disk Management Linux).

Firefox running on GParted (USB boot).

See the video to see the steps of installing..

Cracking your Windows password
I used GPart to reset my Windows password. I am not sure about other Linux flavors have included the utility needed to do this.

Boot from the newly created Live USB GPart.
Now you will need to mount the drive using the utility Mount-gtk found in System Tools.


Mount-gtk Utility

Look for your System Drive / Partition. If you are not sure you can mount all the drives, then open every drive from the file explorer ( can be found on the Desktop). This way you can be sure which media is your system Drive. Notice that in the above screenshot you can see "/media/sdb1" , "/media/sdb3" etc. These are actually the path(s) to the root of the drive. Find out which one of these is your system drive by using the file explorer.

Now launch LXTerminal which can be found in the Accessories menu. My System drive (Windows drive/partition) name is "/media/sdb3". So I type "chntpw /media/sdb3/Windows/System32/config/sam". Note that in Linux, file and folder names are case sensitive.

After you press enter you will be prompted with a few options.. Now to clear the password type 1 and hit the enter key. You will be prompted again to write the hive files. Type y and then press enter.

Congratulations! You successfully broke into your own system... Next time don't forget your password!

Automate your digital life, be the smarter guy who is always a step ahead..

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:43:00 PDT

Back in the stone age communication was so difficult that it may take more than a year to send a message from Asia to America. Only the people of that time can truly value the ease of communication today. However it came with a side effect. Our real life interaction is being replaced by virtual interaction through social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, MySpace etc.

COmmunication has developed to such an extent that our digital life is becoming a mere mess. Suppose you write a post on your blog,and you tweeted the link. And you also realized that you should share the link with your friends on Facebook,MySpace etc. However doing all those tasks manually and repetitively everyday can become a boring and difficult task. Thats where IfThisThenThat (ifttt) comes in.

You can create Triggers which will automatically tweet your link and share with your Facebook friends. You can even create a trigger which will SMS you if you recieve a new email. There are many possibilities. This is truly an amazing service.

ifttt is still in Beta and you will need an invitation code to join.
Use the invitation code CNETHOWTOALLSTARS to sign up for the service.

Enjoy!

Boost Router Wifi Signal With Poweful Custom Firmware.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:02:00 PDT

I live in a fairly large house. Recently I setup wireless internet at my home. It is cool because you don't have to play around with the messy cables. However when I am in my room the signal strength decreases gradually. Of course the obvious solution was to buy a much powerful (and expensive!) wireless router. Luckily a friend suggested me to flash my router with a more powerful and customiazble firmware.He suggsted DD-WRT. I did some research on this firmware before I rushed into playing with my router. As it turns out DR-WRT is the most reliable and powerful router firware available - for free!

One of the great features of DD-WRT is the ability to update DNS-O-Matic service, which updates dyndns,

opendns and more servers with my current IP. If you are using your PC as a webserver or if you are using openDNS service you will probably need this feature, since most of the ISPS give dynamic IPS. So every time you connect to the internet you are given a new IP address. This is just one of the many great features of DD-WRT.
There are more features like Wifi Hotspot, VPN, SSH access, Telnet access etc. And anyway after being convinced of the reliability of DD-WRT firmware I flashed my router, and behold, it was up and running in less than three minutes.

I looked around and saw Tx Power (transmit signal strength) adjustments. I put in the value seventy two in the input box and applied the settings. It significantly boosted the WiFi signal strength. Afterall my day was saved, and I saved huge bucks! Its time for a casual coffee with my friend :)

DD-WRT supports almost all routers out there. So turning a cheap router into an expensive and feature rich router for free is real.

Premium access to Megaupload, Rapidshare for free leagally.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:41:00 PDT

Talking about file sharing, it has always been cumbersome to deal with large files. Suppose you want to share a very large file such as a video you first think of raidshare, megaupload, hotfile, fileserve etc. After uploading you give your friend on the other side of the world the link to the file. It's fine if he/she happens to have a premium account which costs a lot of money, but what if she doesn't have a premium account. Of course Rapidshare, Megaupload and other services allow you to download the file, but without support for download resuming, and at a much slower speed.

Then the guy would google using keywords like "free premium megaupload accounts", "hacking rapidshare" etc. only to discover phishing sites. I hope this post shows up on his / her google results.

Watch the video to learn how to access the mega file sharing services for free legally!

Make the wild internet safe for children.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:46:00 PDT

Internet is a wild place indeed. It's wise to close all the paths to the wrong dens and caves, for the protection of our children. Then again some people may call this censorship, while the reality is quite the opposite. For those people arguing about censorship I like to say that there are ethical standards in every culture, tribe and community. For example would you call it censorship because we are wearing clothes?

Setting Up Filtering.
There is absolutely no need to buy and install parental control software, unless you specifically need to record and monitor what your kids or employees are up to. The solution to closing all the caves and dens you need to sign u for a FREE account at openDNS. They have a very user friendly documentation to setup their service.

For geeks it would suffice to say that you only need to configure your router / PC to use the following DNS servers.

Primary: 208.67.222.222
Alternate DNS: 208.67.220.220

You may also neet to filter all DNS traffic by using a firewall rule. For Dynamic IP addresses a light weight tool is provided by openDNS to update your openDNS account with your currrent IP address which is needed by the openDNS server in order to apply the filters you specified in your account. By using openDNS you can filter access to all illegal websites.

I did write about web filtering a while ago, but I thought I should refresh the article.

Go ahead and give it a try.

High profile cyber sex scandal in Maldives

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:10:00 PDT


Failed to identify the photo by running face recognition.

Age of cyber crime has begun in Maldives. Most of the high profile cyber crimes are originated from the southern most atoll of the Maldives, which is Addu city.
In 2005 Dhiraagu web servers were hacked and several hosted websites were messed up. And now we are witnessing DoS attacks. Some of these attacks are so successful that it completely shutdown Internet services for some periods.

facebook.com/sharrru

After the highly organized attacks on Dhiraagu servers the hackers in Addu city switched their target. The hot topic in the Maldives is now the high profile cyber sex scandal which include cabinet ministers, MPs and prominent Judicial Service members. The hackers' initial aim was to earn some money through black mailing.

How did they do it?
The teenage group contacted the high profile figures through the social networking service "Face Book". The women in the picture is the profile photo of several facebook ID's the group used to contact the prominent figures. After a lot of sweet talking the group gave them "her" personal Windows Messenger ID.

Now the group has a virtual web cam which streams pre-recorded porn video. As the video chat session was going, the group was silently recording everything without the slightest hint to the victims.

The Black Mailing
After recording hardcore chat sessions, they threatened them with the recorded videos. Bank of Maldives has guaranteed money transfer to Addu city by unnamed government figures, according to sources.
The news was broken by the media regarding the arrest of several teenagers in Addu city during president Nasheed's visit to Addu which began on 17th Feb 2011. The government tried its best to confiscate all the videos before leaking to the public. Despite the efforts many tapes were leaked and available for anyone to see.

Police did not reveal much detail about the investigations. Even though this is a highly sensitive issue the public, independent bodies and NGO's continue to remain silent.

The Codexero BOT - An experimental IM bot

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:10:00 PST

UPDATE: THE BOT SEEMS TO BE OFFLINE. THE BOT HOSTING SERVICE IS EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS.
The codexero BOT is the result of my experimental approach to getting useful information within the IM client itself, in a hassle free manner. The error rate is at maximum since the back end for the BOT is hosted by a free web server. During the tests the BOT performed quite well, although some down times were experienced.

Currently the Codexero BOT can get the latest flight information, display word definitions and display information on places, people and things.
codexero@msn.com

Some useful commands:

info - Display information on a query, example: info Maldives
dict - Display word definitions, example: dict hello
flight - Display flight information, example: flight sq451.

I would appreciate any feedback provided.

Eavesdropping cell phone calls becomes possible.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:56:00 PST

It's bad news, or is it? Mr. Karsten Nohl, a German computer expert has published detailed information on the possibility of eavesdropping phone calls made by cell phones.GSM is the most widely used standard for mobile networks around the globe. The GSM standard was created by The GSM Association (GSMA)22 years ago. The latest GSM algorithm in use today is A5/1. Following the publicizing of the report, GSMA announced that work is in progress of revising the algorithm, which is called A5/3.

Eavesdropping phone calls maybe impractical due to the cost of the equipment and the technical knowledge required. However, since we know that our phone calls are prone to eavesdropping we aren't comfortable speaking on the phone anymore.

Karsten Nohl, Chris Paget – 26C3, Berlin

Google Wave Invitation Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:44:00 PST

If you weren't lucky enough to get a Google Wave invitation don't despair. Google Wave will be available for everyone in the near future, if not in a few weeks. Google Wave is an innovative idea in collaboration, chat and email. Watch the following video to learn more about Wave.

If you can't wait a bit longer until Google Wave is finally open to the public,I am giving away 3 invites.Soon I may be able to give away more invites. To get your invitation follow the guidelines below.

1 - Leave a comment for this post. Please specify your name and country. (Anonymous comments will not be eligible for the giveaway).
2 - Winners will be drawn randomly.
3 - Offer closing date will be notified soon(in this post).
4 - You must leave a confirmation comment upon receiving the invitation.

Good Luck.

Girl slavery in Maldives

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:51:00 PST

I came to know about the issue of "Jariya" or slave girls, after Television Maldives announced it. But numerous times I have heard that a certain socially isolated group of people actually support the idea of slave girls. Reportedly the issue surfaced when a girl(under 18 years of age) consulted a doctor in IGM hospital in Male'. The doctor who consulted her reports that the girl was sexually abused and she is pregnant. The Doctor also reports that the women who accompanied the girl informed that the girl was a "Jariya". But why would she say that? Interestingly IGM hospital had no records of her.

An article covering the story on "Haveeru" website showed a women in black clothes, which made me wonder whether there is any connection between the issue and black clothes. To the best of my knowledge many Muslims around the world wear black clothes including Saudis and Iranians, but it is not known that slavery is practiced in either of these countries.

This case is under investigation by the Maldives Police and Human rights commission. So far Maldives police remained silent about the issue, but Human Rights Commission of Maldives confirmed that "Jariyas" or girl slavery exists in Maldives.

In Maldives, the valid minimum age for marriage is 18 years. However, once in a while, illegal marriages(officially) are carried out by separatist groups in the society. So it is also possible that illegal marriage could be mistaken as girl slavery.

Slavery lasted in USA for as long as 3 centuries. Children, Men and Women were brought from Africa and sold for money. Slavery was ended in US by the amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. If you read history you probably know the unspeakable suffering of children,men and women from Africa who served the US and Europe as slaves. Every human being has full rights to live free, as any other human being. SAY NO TO SLAVERY.
R8DYDX8K8PFH

Emergency data destruction

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:47:00 PST

Do you remember the leaked pictures and documents from a Maldivian Minister's Computer? Are you planning to sell your PC? Even if you formatted your hard disk, your data is still there. Anybody with the right tools can recover your data easily. All your photos, personal documents may appear on social networking sites the next day.

Another Scenario
-----------------
You are an activist, secretly working to topple an autocratic government, and one day somebody knocks your door. You find out that they are from the secret service. And you have tons of information on your computer which they can use against you. What do you do?

So what's the solution. The easiest and best solution is to remove the hard drive and keep it somewhere safe. What if you need to destroy the data on the hard disk? Well, fortunately generous programmers have developed applications which wipe out the data completely from your storage device..

Darik's Boot And Nuke securely wipes data completely.. Its an ISO file which your can burn on to a CD or DVD, and all you need is to boot the Computer with the CD/DVD.

Download: Darik's Boot And Nuke

If you need to destroy individual files on your hard disk without completely destroying all the data then check out Eraser

Kutti Nasheed resigns DRP membership

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:30:00 PST

Member of Parliament Mr Mohamed Nasheed has officially resigned from DRP council and its membership on 1st November 2009.

In a letter addressed to the leader of DRP and copied to the Elections Commission he informed the party of his decision of resignation from its council and its membership. However he did not clearly state why he resigned.

I went through his blog today and found out that he had no political contact with the party since February this year. His decision is understandable. DRP is increasingly losing support because of its decision to desperately struggle to topple the elected government, and the ongoing investigation of fraud on its leaders.

Sure enough, MDP would have offered him its membership by now, with huge bonuses. Would he join MDP? Its more likely that he'll join the Gaumee Party, because Dr. Hassan Saeed is his best friend and his political goals and religious goals are very similar to that of Dr.Hassan's. We'll have to wait to see..

High speed robotics with the ability to catch a flying object.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:16:00 PST

An extremely high speed robotic arm which can close its fingers in 1/10 of a second was demonstrated at 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 12 - 17, 2009, Kobe, Japan. The system consists of visual and tactile sensors at a rate of 1kHz and a high-speed hand-arm manipulator.

The following video shows Ishikawa Komuro Lab's high-speed robot hand performing impressive acts of dexterity and skillful manipulation.

Amazing huh!

Maldivian Media Copyrights Protection Attempt!?

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:38:00 PDT

As most Maldivians are aware of, Maldives does not have any laws and regulations on copyright protection. This has led to many losses in the film and music industry in the Maldives. A guy buys an original DVD or CD and his friends will receive copies of it, and they distribute more copies to their friends and son on.

To battle this problem, film and music producers put malware on the DVDs and CDs that make use of the autorun feature of your Windows. So as soon as you insert the DVD or CD into your PC the malware executes itself disabling the task Manager, Folder Options, Hiding your Drives and altering many other system settings. After infection the system shutdowns itself after a certain period of time, normally after six minutes. The DVDs and CDs are only meant for players.

Though this attempt cannot prevent an average Maldivian from using the DVDs and CDs on their PCs, some common users fall victim to the malware. I believe that copying and distributing other peoples work without the owner's consent is totally unethical, but I also believe the rights of the end users. Why can't they play or watch the films on their PCs? The producers does not have the right to put malware on their production media and infect the end users.

How to get rid of the Malware.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Click your Start Menu and Select Run.

Type shutdown -a and press OK. Repeat this if the dialog box (displaying the countdown) on your screen does not close.

Click your start menu and select Run.

Type msconfig and press OK. The System Configuration Utility should open.

Select "Startup" tab.

Look for entries with random names (normally 3 or 4 letters).

Uncheck the suspected items (You may need some knowledge of the processes running on your PC). Then click Apply.

If you did it right then you have disabled the malware. Now you need to restore the system settings.

Download and install TweakUI from Microsoft

Download Remove Restrictions Tool: http://www.box.net/shared/mtueogguog

Run the RRT Utility and Click "Enable All" Button.

Now open the TweakUI utility.

Select MyComputer > Drives from the tree menu. Select all drive letters and click OK. Now Log Off and then Log On again. If you still can't see your drives in MyComputer then click Start Menu > Run. Type Regedit and click OK. This should open your registry editor.

Now Press Ctrl+F.

Type NoDrives and click "Find Next" Button. Wait for the search to finish.

If you see "NoDrives" Entry in the right pane of the Regedit window delete the entry.

Press Ctrl+F again. Click "Find Next" and wait for the search to finish. Delete any entries in the right pane with the Name "NoDrives".

If you followed the instructions correctly then it should fix the problem. If it doesn't then Check the CodeXero Remove Restrictions Utility.

Have a great day!

Innovative Microsoft Mouse Concepts.

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:48:00 PDT

There’s no doubt that cats will be desperately trying to get their hands on these mice because these mice look and feel tastier than ordinary mice. These concept mice from Microsoft are far better than the ordinary computer mouse. Go ahead, inspire yourself by viewing the video.

Maldives, a haven for terrorists?

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:53:00 PDT

President Nasheed has confirmed that hundreds of Maldivians are fighting alongside the Taliban in Pakistan. In an interview given to CNN-IBN on his visit to India he said that many Maldivians going to Pakistan for Islamic studies have joined radical Islamic groups, who are then recruited and send to the front line to fight against the Pakistani Army. After his return he abstained from replying to reporters regarding the issue.
Many Maldivians are opposing his statement saying that it is an attempt to attract US and EU funds to fight terrorism. However there could be some amount of truth in it, but the total number is very unlikely to be that high. Maldives is supposedly a 100% Islamic country, but how many people actually practice Islam?
Maldives is facing a financial crunch, if prolonged could create chaos in the country. To stay in power, President Nasheed has to find a way out of the current financial situation. If he fails in doing so its very likely that the main opposition party (DRP) would win the next election. In his campaign for the election, President Nasheed promised to hold a mid-term election. After his inauguration when a reporter asked him about the mid-term election he declined to confirm it.

In many people’s eyes President Nasheed has done too many grave mistakes, therefore its time he steps down.

Google Wave Alternatives

noreply@blogger.com (Prince of Isles) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:59:00 PDT

So you have signed up to supposedly Google Wave invitation sites? Have you? Unfortunately most of the sites are spam sites, therefore you never receive an invitation from them.

Google Wave has been around for some time, but within a limited and closed group of people. Many interested users are desperately looking around the web to get an invitation. Google Wave is supposedly an innovative solution for social networking. Users actually interact with each other in a live virtual environment. They see each individual letter of a message as it is being typed (not before it is typed ;-) ). Google Wave will likely revolutionize Social networking. Are you abandoning Facebook or Myspace?

If you are not among the lucky guys who received Google Wave invitation and if you can't wait to take a glimpse of it then you are at the right place. However the solution is not as good as Google Wave itself, but at least you can try some of the features of Google Wave.

The solution is Pygowave, which is web based and open source, from http://pygowave.net

Alternative desktop Google Wave Clients.

Waver is based on the iphone version of Google Wave.

To try Waver for yourself Download and install Adobe Air from http://get.adobe.com/air/?promoid=BUIGQ (15 Mb).

Download Waver from http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/marketplace/index.cfm?event=marketplace.offering&offeringid=16581

Note: To use this application you need a Google wave account.

Enjoy waving!