Category — Technology

Seems like us normal people can download XP Service Pack 3 by clicking here straight from Microsoft. This is the regular 32-bit English version. I got this tip from Lifehacker this morning. Download now and will update how it goes. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: Well so far so good. I haven’t received any errors in terms of usage as of yet. The update process to Service Pack 3 took a good 45mins. I don’t see any drastic changes yet but time will tell.

Here is something cool to add to your wish list for mobility by Belkin. Its a portable surge protector click here to get more info about it. I have added this to my wish list.

I came across this website a little while ago called “Find Internet Tv” which basically as the name implies helps you find TV shows available online easily in one place. It comes in real handy when you have missed an episode of a show that you also forgot to record on your DVR like I do sometimes. It’s very comprehensive and includes pretty much all shows available online on different US channels but also includes some UK, Canadian, and a few Global shows.

Another website worth mentioning is “Tape It Off The Internet” which lets you search for shows on its website and provides you with multiple of options of viewing them which can include downloading them via Torrents or streaming them directly.

Lifehacker Gina Trapani wrote a nice article accumulating the top 10 Wi-Fi tips that can increase your signal range and make your wireless network secure. Tips include things like better router placement, extending your signal by using a repeater or a bridge, using  Wireshark to sniff your wireless network packets passing through, enabling WPA Encryption to make your network much more secure than using WEP, enabling MAC address filtering to restrict your wireless network even more, stop SSID (Network Name) broadcasting, using NetStumbler to detect other wireless networks with information about how secure they are and also for war-driving purposes, using portable routers share a wired connection in hotel rooms for instance, a nice youtube video showing how to use tinfoil to increase your signal range, and of course using DD-WRT Firmware to enhance your routers usability and adding more features making your $50 router into a $600 one. It also includes instructions on how to flash the firmware to your router.

Lifehacker Kevin Purdy points to a very interesting article on Wired’s How To Wiki about information regarding websites that offer you to hear music for free other than the already popular last.fm and deezer. Have a look at the list of websites and decide for yourself which you like best.

Engadget has come upon some new info with screen shots regarding Windows Mobile 7. It seems to feature new ways of interaction with touch screen devices for example multi touch recognition which would be similar to Apple. Some rotating and shaking action and some sort of camera gesture implementation. It appears too good to be true though. But then again Microsoft has thrived upon marketing itself hence the success over the years. Will this come to reality ? is a very big question on everyones mind but even if half of what is expected from what can be seen from these pictures is implemented then Windows Mobile would be much more closer to perfection (If there is such a thing when it comes to windows. HAHAHAHA!!!!)

I recently came across this cool new site called PhoneFavs which is basically a mobile version of del.icio.us. Maybe not as powerful but still really nice. Its mobile friendly as you can see and fits right in your mobile browser window without the need for scrolling back and forth. A nice way of organizing all the mobile sites you visit globally hence when you get a new phone you don’t need to worry about backing up your bookmarks.

Note: Operamini  also has a similar option which lets you synchronize with their Opera Link bookmarking feature which is free and easy to use as you can just bookmark any website you are browsing on your phone and it automatically syncs with opera link.

I originally came across this through Pocketpcthoughts.com mentioned by Paul Martin that you can easily configure your Windows Mobile 6 device into a Wifi Router hence using your carrier’s internet wireless connection from lets say your laptop. The updated thread is here of course from XDA Developers with complete instructions on how to accomplish this. The “cab” file to enable this can be directly downloaded from the creator Jongma’s site. Looks like a really great piece of software to make your windows mobile device even more lovelier than it already is. Harnessing the power of technology always brings me joy.

Web Worker Dialy has a nice article posted by Samuel Dean referring to four websites that contain free software apps of various kinds. These include:

1. tinyapps.org
2. Sourceforge.net
3. PC Magazines Download Center
4. Download.com

Nice hack when you really need to go on to the internet in extreme IT lock down policies. Of course use this at your own risk as posted in Lifehacker by Adam Pash. Basically you can open any app and press F1 to get to the help section and then go to tools and click on jump to url and you should be good to go.

One thing also possible is to use the portable version of firefox. To use this you can load it on a USB Drive and stick in your work computer and in most situation you can browse the web without any issues unless the access blocked at routers end but thats very unlikely.