Did you know that by default, you are unable to save a file larger than 4gb onto your thumbdrive? As technology improves, thumb drives nowadays come with very large spaces but are defaulted to disallow files more than 4gb of size.

Granted, file sizes more than 4gb are quite rare, so not all of you will face this problem. Even so, sooner or later, we will encounter this problem so it would be good to be prepared.

The solution is quite simple. Just follow a couple of steps below and your thumb drive will be ready to accept ANY file sizes.

Technical box: Thumb drives by default are formatted as either FAT16 or FAT32. Being a very old technology, the maximum file size a FAT32 can handle is only up to 4gb. To solve this, all we need to do is to reformat the thumb drive to NTFS format. (a format that Windows XP has been using)

Step One. Plug in your Thumb Drive.

Step Two. Right click on My Computer Icon and select Manage

Step Three. Select Device Manager. Find the your USB Thumb Drive to the right. Right Click that and select Properties.

Step Four. Go to the Policies Tab. Select Optimized for performance. Click OK to continue.

Step Five. Close all windows. You are done with the settings. Now you have to format your Thumb Drive. IMPORTANT: Make sure you have nothing in your Thumb Drive that is important. If you do, save it on your desktop first.

Step Six. Open My Computer. Select your Thumbdrive. Right Click and Select Format. IMPORTANT: Make sure you read Step Five before continuing, you have been warned!

Step Seven. In the Format window, you can now select NTFS as the File system. Doing this will finally allow saving file sizes that are more than 4gb onto your thumb drive. Click Start to continue and wait for the formatting to complete.

And you are done! Go ahead and try saving a large file onto your thumb drive. Note that you have to do this once for every thumb drive you have. So just repeat the steps above and you will be fine.

Another important note: Once you have selected NTFS as your File system for your thumb drive, you MUST now select Safely Remove Hardware before you remove your Thumb Drive. Failing to do so will cause files to be corrupted on your thumb drives.

This also proves one thing I have been telling my friends all these while, if your thumb drives remained in its original file format of FAT32, there is absolutely NO NEED to Safely Remove Hardware before you unplug your thumb drives.

Three Cheers to those who have been clicking on the Safely Remove Hardware all these years.

 

 

(photo by existentist)

Won’t it be fun if your website has an animated Tag Cloud with the tags flying within a box. Can’t imagine? You may check out from HieuUK’s web site (at the Tags section on your left)

When I first saw this on the web site, I was immediately attracted with this little animated tag cloud. So I decided to research on how this little widget works.

What I have discovered the tag cloud he made was using SWFObject.  “SWFObject is an easy-to-use and standards-friendly method to embed Flash content, which utilizes one small JavaScript file.”

Step One, get the swfObject.js from Geoff Stearns http://blog.deconcept.com/swfobject/.

 

<script type="text/javascript" src=”swfobject.js"></script>

Step Two, embed the tagcloud.swf file using the SWFObject.

 

var widget_so7565612 = new SWFObject("…/tagcloud.swf”, "tagcloudflash", "202", "200", "9", "#ffffff"); …. other scripts

One thing I respect the most is the way he designed the tag cloud to be very flexible. Just look at the possible modifications.

• Ability to change the box size
• Ability to change the background color
• Ability to edit the tag name one by one including its hyperlink, its font size, etc.

I would also like to highlight that any tag name with html code is written with URL Encoded Characters. For example: <a href=’http://google.com/’>Google</a> is written as

%3Ca+href%3D’http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2F’%3EGoogle%3C%2Fa%3E

Wow! That’s all. It is the most wonderful tag cloud I have seen so far. If you decide to implement this on your website or blogs, please do let me know in the comments below!

The problem with search engine is they only show you what is the most relevant to your search query. It doesn’t take TIME into consideration. Well, maybe it does, but not as flexible as you want it. Here is why.

For example, if you type Penang into Google, you’ll get to see all links that is related to Penang. You’ll get tourism links, maps, wikipedia entry and a couple of hotel guides to make your stay in Penang pleasant.

 

What if you want to know what happened in Penang recently? Do you type What Happened in Penang? Or Penang Happenings? You’ll get unrelated results! Take a look.

Nothing important right? The first link actually gave you link that comes from the year 2007. That is exactly not what you wanted. What if I tell you there is a way around this? Take a look at the screen shot below. I asked Google to show me web pages that are created only within the last 24 hours. Won’t that give me the latest news and happenings in Penang? Take a look.

Oh look. Very recent happenings in Penang. Now, that’s more like it.

This is, of course, not limited to Penang. You can search for any location in the world. What if you want to know the latest election results of your country? Latest promotion in your local super mall. Latest news on your favourite celebrity?

Haha, even the latest torrent in Mininova is displayed. Latest YouTube of her and latest lyrics of her songs too. If are her fan, you’ll be very excited to check it out right?

 

Tell me how to do it

Now, how to make this happen? It is actually very simple. It is one of those hidden options within Google which is rarely visited and appreciated. This is what you have to do.

Step One. Beside the Search TextBox, there is a link called ‘Advanced Search’. Click on it.

 

Step Two. In this page, look for ‘Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more’. Click on it to see more options. The one you are looking for is called 'Date: (how recent the page is)’. Select ‘past 24 hours’.

Step Three. When done, click on Advanced Search button and you will be brought back to the search result page with all the fresh results.

Step Four. Now, beside the Search Button, you’ll see the Date selection choices, so you can continue to use it. It will go away after a while, so you have to go back to Advanced Search to find it again.

 

So there you have it, the easiest and best way to search for the most recent news on just about anything you are interested in. Now go ahead and search for your blog’s name and see what you get!

(photo by TheGiantVermin)

Got this over email and it made me burst out laughing. One of those gems you get from forward mails. Let me know if you laughed too. If you do, you must have worked as IT support sometime in your life.

Take a look.

 

 

---

Customer:     "I've been ringing 0800 2100 for two days and can't get through to enquiries, can you help?".

Operator:     "Where did you get that number from, sir?"..

Customer:     "It was on the door to the Travel Centre".

Operator:     "Sir, they are our opening hours".

---

Customer:    "Can you give me the telephone number for Jack?"

Operator:     "I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand who you are talking about".

Customer:    "On page 1, section 5, of the user guide it clearly states that I need to unplug the fax machine from the AC  wall socket and telephone Jack before cleaning. Now, can you give me the number for Jack?"

Operator:     "I think you mean the telephone point on the wall".

---

On another occasion, a man making heavy breathing sounds from a phone box told a worried operator:
"I haven't got a pen, so I'm steaming up the window to write the number on".

---

Operator:      "I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop".

Customer:     "OK".

Operator:      "Did you get a pop-up menu?".

Customer:     "No".

Operator:      "OK. Right-Click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?"

Customer:     "No".

Operator:      "OK, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?".

Customer:     "Sure. You told me to write 'click' and I wrote 'click'".

---

Operator:          "OK. In the bottom left hand side of the screen, can you see the 'OK' button displayed?"
Customer:         "Wow. How can you see my screen from there?"

---

Customer:  "I deleted a file from my PC last week and I have just realised that I need it. If I turn my system clock back two weeks will I have my file back again?".

---

Operator:         "Ridge Hall, computer assistance; may I help you?"

Customer:        "Yes, well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect."

Operator:         "What sort of trouble??"

Customer:        "Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away."

Operator:         "Went away?"

Customer:        "They disappeared."

Operator:         "Hmm So what does your screen look like now?"

Customer:        "Nothing."

Operator:         "Nothing??"

Customer:        "It's blank; it won't accept anything when I type."

Operator:         "Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out??"

Customer:        "How do I tell?"

Operator:         "Can you see the C: prompt on the screen??"

Customer:        "What's a sea-prompt?"

Operator:         "Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?"

Customer:        "There isn't any cursor: I told you, it won't accept anything I type."

Operator:         "Does your monitor have a power indicator??"

Customer:        "What's a monitor?"

Operator:         "It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it's on??"

Customer:        "I don't know."

Operator:         "Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that??"

Customer:        "Yes, I think so."

Operator:         "Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall.

Customer:        "Yes, it is."

Operator:         "When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one??"

Customer:        "No."

Operator:         "Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable."

Customer:        "Okay, here it is."

Operator:         "Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer."

Customer:        "I can't reach."

Operator:         "Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is??"

Customer:        "No."

Operator:         "Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over??"

Customer:        "Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle - it's because it's dark."

Operator:         "Dark??"

Customer:        "Yes - the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window.

Operator:         "Well, turn on the office light then."

Customer:        "I can't."

Operator:         "No? Why not??"

Customer:        "Because there's a power failure."

(photo by Mzelle Biscotte)

As we join more and more social networks, more time will be spent on checking them. Most of these social networks have one thing in common, the newsfeed (made famous by Facebook and now copied many many times over).

Newsfeed’s purpose is to show you a stream of activities happening all over the network. Since you are only linked to your friends, or people you would like to follow, the newsfeed is very relevant and unique to you. This, in theory, is the very core reason why everyone goes back again and again to a social network. We just HAVE to know what is up with our friends, don’t we?

But to check status presents another problem, we don’t want to check it every other minute just to see if there are new updates. Our keypresses would be like ‘alt-tab’ ‘F5’ … wait … ‘alt-tab’ back to whatever we are working on. We want the updates to be sent to us as soon as there are new ones.

I found a desktop software that does just that. And not just for one, but many famous Social Networks. The most prominent ones are Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. I am sure in future updates, this software will link to even more Social Networks.

The best part I like about this software is that it consolidates all updates into one single feed. So be it from Twitter or Facebook, it will be displayed in a single list sorted by date and time. That make sense to me, after all, I want to know what happened at what time, doesn’t matter to me where the information is coming from.

This software is called AlertThingy. How to get it up and running? No worries, just follow the step-by-step below and you’ll be on your way.

Step One. If you haven’t got it, install Adobe AIR first.

Step Two. Download and install AlertThingy.

Step Three. Once installed, launch the application and the first button you should click is . It is a setup button.

Step Four. In this page, you can begin to subscribe to the Social Networks that you have an account it. Click on each Social Network, enter the relevant information Some Social Network requires your to authorize the access (example: Facebook). No worries, no Username and Password will be required, so it is safe. You just have to login at Facebook.com itself and not through this application. By the way, there may be more than one authorization required, so don’t be surprised when you have to click on ‘Allow’ again and again.

Step Five. Give it an account name for each Social Network. Just type anything you want here, it is just for your own use.

Step Six. Once you have added all Social Network you are connected to, you are done. Open the application (it will be situated at the bottom right of your taskbar.)

As mentioned, all updates will appear in one single list sorted by time. Very convenient.

Do note that this application is not just to view updates, but also to update INTO your Social Network too! Just Click on the buttons. Different Social Network will look different, so you have to try it out for yourself.

One final note, a community is never complete without having someone that loves to spam. So if you want hide someone’s status updates, just click on Options, Filter and choose ‘Less Interesting’.

 

There you go, hope this application brings more productivity to you in terms of less time spent on refreshing and waiting for updates! By the way, if you have Twitter account, please follow me at http://twitter.com/laskersaw.

If you are using any alternative application, please do let me know at the comments.

(photo by Joe Shlabotnik)

Generally, we know that all plants produce oxygen, human release carbon dioxide. Both of them exchange air with each other to sustain life. Therefore, the more plants around us , the better and better for human health.

Nowadays, majority people prefer living and working in air-conditioned spaces. According to Kamal Meattle, there are three species of plants suitable for indoor which are

1) Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum) - Meattle named it as “The Specialist Plant”. It is most popular plant we always see. It is easy to grow on its own.

 

 

 

 

 

2) Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) - “The Living Room Plant”. I think it is suitable to place it at your living room because it can grow up pretty large.

 

 

 

 

 

3) Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata) - “The Bedroom Plant”. From my own research on the Internet, some people named it as snake plant. It is the most oxygen producer. Hence, it fit the name as the bedroom plant as 1/3 days times we will spend to sleep in our bedroom.

 

 

 

 

These 3 plants used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compound, filter air, and boost general health. A single person needs a minimum of 11 plants, and certain climates with less sunlight could require a bit of hydroponic growing, but Meattle swears by the health, productivity, and atmosphere benefits.

You may check out Meattle's presentation at the TED 2009 conference.

Images & Source from http://lifehacker.com/5149643/three-plants-that-give-you-better-indoor-air

(photo by challiyan)

I used to do web programming instead of web designing. Therefore, I lack of skill in css style sheet. When my friend (web designer) told me that is a possible to assign more than one class in a html element, it was a great news for me.

It is pretty simple. I assume that you have some basic knowledge in HTML & CSS, then it will not be too hard for you to understand the concepts, take a look at the sample html code below:

<div class="class1 class2">Hello World</div>

The div element are assigned 2 classes, which are class1 and class2. Both of them separated by a space in the class attribute. You are sure to have questions when you reach here. I did! “What if both of them have a same style?” The answer is, the second class will always override whatever styles that they have conflict with from the first class.

Let’s take an example:

<style type="text/css">
  .class1 { background-Color: #f0f0f0; color:Red; font-size:10pt; padding: 10px }
  .class2 { color:Blue; text-decoration:underline; font-size:16pt; }
</style>

<div class="class1 class2">Hello World</div>

Result:

 

 

 

With this method, you can add more effects to elements without having to create whole new style for that element. I like to use multiple classes for things that I want to keep standard across my entire web site. Bear in mind that this method is not supported by old browser. So you have to make sure you list the more specific and important styles in the first class.

Cheers and happy CSS-ing!

The India Tata’s Moto will launch their cheapest car in the world by end of March. It is given the name Tata Nano (good name?). The company hopes to reach out to lower income group and give them the ability to own a transportation. This is a good thing indeed.

I was reading the news from Kwong Hwa Yit Poh – chinese newspaper. Below is the extracted news:

 

世界上最便宜的汽车─印度塔塔汽车公司生产的“塔塔Nano”将於周一上市。

“塔塔 Nano”售价仅2000美元（马币约7285令吉），号称全球价格最低的汽车，塔塔希望能让更多印度人能买得起汽车。虽然它的问世吸引了很多眼光，但分析认为，Nano第一年估计只能卖出 3000至5000辆，远低于塔塔原先的计划。第二年有望增加200%，达最高1万5000辆。

Nano为了降低售价，极尽俭省之能事，不配置音响系统，没有转向助力、电动车窗和空调，甚至仅仅保留一支雨刷。除了外形能够让人捕捉到一些时尚感，该车甚至采用了很多过时的技术。

The reason that Tata Nano is so cheap is because it excludes a lot of features that are normally taken for granted in a car. But after looking at it, I am pretty sure I can accept it.

• I don’t listen music while I driving.
• I don’t need power steering if it’s a small car like Perdua Kancil. 
• The car has air-conditioning
• Saves fuel

That’s it! What else do you need? To me, a car’s primary purpose is to bring you from one location to another. I don’t live in my car, I use it to bring me somewhere. We don’t spend our time to upgrade the public transport do we? We get in, get out when we reach our destination.

Hmm… suddenly I have a crazy thought…. If some car company implements “Customize your car”, I will surely cut off a lot of unnecessary features. Haha! :D

References: http://www.kwongwah.com.my/news/2009/03/23/1.html