How to use the word “Google”

We all know that Google become word in famous dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and the Oxford. But do we really know how to use “Google” as noun, verb?

This is the definition of Google from Merriam-Webster dictionary.

to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web

Normally, we think Google means searching the internet, but the correct meaning is searching the internet by using Google search engine. So, obviously the following sentence is wrong.

I googled her on Yahoo and she seems pretty interesting.

You can’t google on Yahoo!. You can google only on Google search engine. So that if you have to use Yahoo! or MSN or whatever alternative search engine, you’d better use the term “search” instead of “google”.

Anyway, this is for your information. If you use the wrong word, you can get embarrassed in front of crowds or even worse you can get sue as Google is the brand to protect. Knowledge is gold. Knowing the correct usage can’t give you any trouble at all.

Reference : Google Blog

Gmail IMAP access

May be I’m pretty late to blog about this. But you know what? I’ve got IMAP access in my Gmail. See the picture below:

According to Gmail blog announcement of IMAP, they’ve started rolling out this feature since 24-Oct. But I’ve got the news late and when I check it out, it’s already there.

So now you can access Gmail using POP client, or IMAP for free. Now I’m wondering who would pay $19.99 per year for Yahoo! Mail Plus.

How to check Firefox cache usuage

Hopefully, everyone knows how to adjust cache size in Firefox. In case, if you don’t know, I’ll let you know again.

• Go to Tools –>> Options
• And then go to Advanced tabs, Select Network.
• You will see cache size as shown below.

You can adjust to whatever the size you want. But one thing that made me confused is that what size is enough for me? 50 MB is more than enough? Or is that too small? Do I need to clear frequently? Blah, blah, blah!!!

Now I’ve got the solution. You can type in the address bar “about:cache”. It will show you how much cache space is used and how much free space left. For me, I am using only half of cache size. So I shouldn’t worry about cleaning up again and again. But it will all depend on your browsing habits. If you’re using very high speed internet, you might browse a ton of flash sites and videos, so maybe your cache may full. It is ok to leave your cache as it is, but if you assign more cache space, in case if you revisited the old video or flash page, you don’t have to download it twice.

Notepad bug in details

I have told you guys a brief explanation about how Bush Hid the facts notepad bug occurs.

It is because of IsTextUnicode function. This function is used to guess opening files are using which types of encoding (the traditional ANSI encoding or the Unicode encoding).

For a long sentences, it’s fine. But for a short word, it become pretty tricky. Let’s go into details.

To store “Hello” in notepad, it will convert to encoding. There are many types of encoding notepad support. Most encoding starts with their specific prefix to tell the program what types of encoding they are using. But the tricky things happen because Notepad also support encoding with NO prefixes, such as the traditional ANSI encoding (i.e., “plain ASCII”) and the Unicode (little-endian) encoding with no BOM.

Confused? See below Hello in different types of encoding.

48 65 6C 6C 6F This is the traditional ANSI encoding. (No prefix)

48 00 65 00 6C 00 6C 00 6F 00 This is the Unicode (little-endian) encoding with no BOM. (No prefix)

FF FE 48 00 65 00 6C 00 6C 00 6F 00 This is the Unicode (little-endian) encoding with BOM. (FF FE is prefix)

FE FF 00 48 00 65 00 6C 00 6C 00 6F This is the Unicode (big-endian) encoding with BOM. Notice that this BOM is in the opposite order from the little-endian BOM. (FE FF is prefix)

EF BB BF 48 65 6C 6C 6F This is UTF-8 encoding. The first three bytes are the UTF-8 encoding of the BOM. (EF BB BF is prefix)

So there is still a chance that short word with traditional ASCII or Unicode (little-endian) encoding with no BOM might start with EF BB BF, which is UTF-8 encoding prefix. Or maybe FF FE which is prefix for Unicode (little-endian) encoding with BOM.

When that happens, Notepad function IsTextUnicode might guess the wrong encoding as that prefix of other encoding. Remember no matter what encoding you saved with notepad, Notepad will try to guess again when you open the file.

But I don’t see this bug in Windows Vista anymore. So I think Microsoft guys have already developed improved IsTextUnicode function or make Notepad to open in saved file encoding.

Reference : MSDN blog

Now Gmail space is over 4 GB and counting

Long long ago, based on the counter speed of Gmail page, I wrote an article that Gmail will reach 3 GB in 2008.

But recently, Google increased the speed of the counter and now Gmail has got over 4GB already. Some people even suggest that Gmail will reach 6GB at January 2008. If you’re using Google Apps like me, they’ve adjusted the storage boost for our custom email addresses too. If you’re Premier Edition users, now you will get a mighty 25 GB space instead of 10 GB.

Some of you might say that Yahoo! have already offered unlimited storage for their email. Are you aware that Yahoo! not only they reserve the right to delete MISUSED accounts but also limit their attachment size at 10MB (Gmail now allow 20MB).

We all love Google, don’t we?

Got Google Pagerank

Many new bloggers are now enjoying the green indicators of Google PR. Obviously, Google updates many new sites yesterday. I’ve got PR 3!!!!

So that Bridge to Nova is no longer a newbie in the world wide web anymore. We are grown-up now. You may have read that many pro bloggers are talking about you shouldn’t care PR. But I’ll tell you that you really really should. At least, it is a pride and my bragging right. Trust me, all those probloggers would blog and brag about their PR if they’ve got +1 or +2 increases. Cashquests have got a great article why you should care about PR. Have a nice weekend all.
Excuse me, I’m going to open champagne now.

How to lock computer in Remote Desktop Connection?

I really love the Windows Remote Desktop Connection. No matter what critics are saying, Microsoft usually deliver the best in the software business.

When I remote to the server, sometimes I want to leave for a while and I want that computer to be locked. I’ve tried Windows+L, but it’s not working anymore.

So I googled about it. Now I’ve got the solution. It is quite easy to do that. Simply create shortcut as follow.

• Right click on the Desktop
• Choose New –>> Shortcuts
• And then in the dialog box type the following

rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation

After that give the shortcut whatever name you like. Next time, when you want to lock your computer, simply double click on that shortcut and it’s all set!!!

Reference : mydigitallife.info

Top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t get a Mac

Apple is giving reasons what they think is imperative for making the change from a PC to a Mac can be found on their website and their famous “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” ads. After I’ve seen most of the Apple ads and have read their long lists of conviction, I don’t see any apparent reasons why Windows users should switch to Mac. Let’s start the list!

1. It just works.

Huh? What do you mean it just works? Many Mac ads will tell you that all people that own Mac are really satisfied with their computer and Mac never crash. This all turns out to be a pack of lies. It does crash a lot.

Normally, Windows crash because of third party faulty hardware, for Mac, it’s simply because their OS is suck. Just wonder why Apple Sweden website is running Solaris, not Mac OSX. Maybe they know their OS is not reliable.

For those who doubt whether Mac really crashes or not, watch this youtube video. It’s a proof that Mac crashes a lot.

2. You can even run Windows.

Apple just invented BootCamp and then came out and say “Come all Windows users, buy our expensive hardware; you can still use your Vista”. If you can indeed run Vista like on your normal PC, I wouldn’t complain. But you know what, all the function keys will drive you crazy.

**F5 changes the volume instead of refreshing.
**F4 lowers the volume instead of dropping a combo box.
And if all that weren’t bad enough, THERE’S NO RIGHT CLICK BUTTON!!! So besides being pretty, there is no point using the hardware for Windows.

3. Macs run Microsoft Office.

Come on! This is the funniest thing of all. I am really wondering about this. I mean Microsoft Office runs on Microsoft Windows. It just ported to Mac doesn’t mean we should switch to Mac. I just ask myself why should I switch when it’s the exactly same on the Mac?

4. Instant video chats.

Yeah! Yeah! Go and tell your grandmas. All PCs users are having great video chat, conference with Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! and so on since a long time ago.

5. Design that turns heads.

I won’t deny Mac looks stylish, neat and tidy. The problem is that their focus on design hinders them from creating practical Machines. If you have ever used the small round iMac mouse, you may have probably too suffered from aches in arm and hand.

6. No hunting for drivers.

Apple stated that USB and firewire devices will be working at Mac without having to install drivers. Well, that happens to PC since introducing Windows XP five years ago.

7. You can take it with you.

Apple website stated that most popular applications for Mac and PC use the same file formats, making it simple to exchange documents with friends and coworkers or move existing files from a PC to a Mac.

That is not true. We don’t have to be genius to know that switching to the Mac means we will be sacrificing the diversity of software available for the PC. Sure, you get the essential word-processor and web-browser. But you will get Gtalk with only chatting, who would want Gtalk if you can’t make voice chat?

8. 114,000 viruses? Not on a Mac.

Apple says their OS is based on UNIX, so it is more secure. But, in reality, the reason is that they can’t make OS from scratch like Windows, so they adopted FreeBSD and put some make-up on it.

Of course, there are many viruses for Windows, but Apple forgot to state that there are many Antivirus choices for Windows users as well. Most PCs users who’ve got antivirus never really suffer from virus problem too. Mac is not virus free (Bad boys can release viruses) and Antivirus choice is very limited if there’s any.

9. More fun with photos.

Apple is saying their so-called great invention program named iPhotos that will revolutionize the way we look at digital photos.

Maybe Mac users are new to digital photos on the computer but Windows users reached that stage of evolution ages ago.

10. Hollywood-style movies.

It seems that Apple thinks that they’ve revolutionized computing by developing mediocre software for viewing digital photos, editing video, burning CDs and DVDs and listening to music. Well they haven’t!

So don’t be fooled by Apple ads. You have nothing to gain by switching to a Mac. Apple has proved it on their website already. Who would want a mouse with just one button anyway???

Why Yahoo! search is far far behind Google

I’m always wondered why Yahoo! can’t defeat Google yet? I know that Yahoo! acquire many many companies and tried to be in front of Google in the search war.

But except simple search terms, Yahoo! search results are far far behind Google. Yahoo! results usually look spammy and irrelevant. Anyone with one week experience of both search engines can tell you that Google is a clear winner.

Why? why?
Well, the answer actually lies within Yahoo! itself. After you’ve built a new website, if you want your site to get indexed by Google, everyone can submit for free. Even though Google have adwords program with sponsored search results, Google clearly states that no one can buy search results.

For Yahoo!, even though there are free search submission available, they also accept paid submission. For Yahoo! free submission, it took ages for your site to come up.
There are two types of paid submission for search results.

For Yahoo! Search submit basic

When you initiate your Search Submit Basic subscription, a nonrefundable annual fee of $49 per URL is charged. This annual fee also includes account setup and a basic quality review of your pages. You can submit a maximum of 5 URLs per domain into the program.*

For Yahoo! Search Submit Pro

Pricing is based on cost per click – customers are charged each time a user clicks on one of the customer’s search listings. The specific cost is based on the type and category of content provided for inclusion in the algorithmic search results.

See? Despite having Sponsored search results program like Google, Yahoo! also have paid submission to include in their search results. So Yahoo! search results are clearly biased.

My advice is that you shouldn’t rely on Yahoo! as long as they have their biased programs, their search results will be their sponsored less relevant webpage presented to you to increase Yahoo! revenue rather than the best relevant results to your keywords.

Just another forward email

Well, I’m sure most of you might read this since a long time ago. For me, I’ve also read it a long time ago and just get it again. I want to share with you as this made me laugh anyway.

A call from China… Ring.. ring… !!!!

Caller: Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan?

Operator: Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller: No, I want to speak to Annie Wan!

Operator: Yes I understand you want to speak to anyone. You can speak to me. Who is this?

Caller: I am Sam Wan. And I need to talk to Annie Wan! It’s urgent.

Operator: I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what’s this urgent matter about?

Caller: Well…just tell my sister Annie Wan that our brother Noe Wan was involved in an accident. Noe Wan got injured and now Noe Wan is being sent to the hospital.
Right now, Avery Wan is on his way to the hospital.

Operator: Look, if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn’t an urgent matter! You may find this hilarious but I don’t have time for this!

Caller: You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator: I’m Saw Ree.

Caller: Yes ! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!

Operator: That’s what I said. I’m Saw Ree .