So, my family just tried to use the ‘high’-speed internet for our Macbook Pro in this rinky-dink sort of hotel. (My Blog). It didn’t work out well. Google.com took something like 30 seconds to load? I think I lost count. Anyway, it provided non-secure Wifi to use, and an Ethernet port next to the desk. We figured the Wifi would be more convenient, so we were just using that.
My dad had this idea to use the Ethernet cable instead of the Wifi. Went to the front desk, plugged it in, and BOOM! It’s actually mediocre speed! That’s what’s letting me write this post now.
Anyways, the moral of this story is to never use Hotel Wifi, just give up the portability and plug in the Ethernet cable.
The Twitpocalypse is upon us! What the heck is that? Well, each little tweet that people send on Twitter is assigned a unique identifier on Twitter. This is a value in a signed integer, and there just happens to be a limit on the signed integer. It is 2,147,483,64; and when it exceeds this value, the values suddenly becomes negative and some 3rd party Twitter apps not prepared to handle this will become corrupt, crash, and who knows what else. Hence the ‘calypse’ .
Here’s what the 2 billionth, 147 millionth, 483 thousandth, 64th tweet said:
Sorry, people, I know this is my first post in a while. That’s because of the amazing amount of assignments I have been given towards the end of the year. Well, this is the second to last day of school and the first day with no homework! [metaphor] [I know it seems like this is a little dramatic for a sixth-grader, but believe me, my teachers give A TON of homework]
Anyways, I’ll be sure to get back to posting for the summer.
This post will be about my current desktop. I have a mac, so customization is a little restricted, but I personally think it looks pretty cool. I will be outlining the steps to make this desktop, so if you’re interested in being more productive and fast, I would check this post out.
Here’s what it looks like:
What should I go through first? I’ll start from the top:
[i made the opacity for each of the entries about 60% to make them blend into the dark background]
Weather Updates: This one is pretty simple. I already went over it in my famous Geektool article here. To reiterate, here’s what you do:
Download the weather fetcher script here.
[weather]
Here’s my Geektool setup for weather [shell entry]: ~/Scripts/weather -cf 2 94303
This tells the weather script to get the forecast for two days in my area code, 94303.
Change your area code and it should work. If you don’t change “~/Scripts/weather” to where it actually is, it won’t work, so CHANGE IT!
I used a different script in the picture above. The one I talked about has more features, but if you just want something simple, add this to a new ‘Shell’ entry in Geektool:
Quote: I found this inspiring quote from thinkexist.com. To add it, I just used a simple echo command:
echo '"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment"'
Then, I added another one, because it’s easier to format and I wanted it in a different typeface:
echo "~Ralph Waldo Emerson"
Todo.txt: Todo.txt has helped me a lot to get things done quickly. All it is is a simple list that displays tasks you need to do. All you need to do is open TextEdit in Applications and save a file called “todo.txt” wherever you want. You also need to download todo.sh to help access it very quickly(After you unzip it, you’ll only want ‘todo.sh’, nothing else). All you need is a series of commands to modify your list.
To use todo.sh, just access it on the command line and append it with commands. In English, this command:
~/todo/todo.sh add Get a Haircut!
would add ‘get a haircut!’ to your todo.txt. To remove:
~/todo/todo.sh rm Get a Haircut
I would do that once I got a haircut. To append
~/todo/todo/sh app 5 by Friday!
that would change ‘Get a Haircut’ to ‘Get a Haircut by Friday!’. This is assuming that todo item is number five down on your list, otherwise, just use the correct number.
Those really are the only commands needed to get things done quickly with todo.txt!
To display your todo.txt, just use this command:
cat ~/todo/todo.txt
The Todo Applescript:
I also wrote a simple applescript to quickly do things to your todo.txt, without having to open Terminal and the command line. All you have to do is type in your todo command from the command prompt, so:
For years Wikipedia has been my go-to site for every little UBI (Useless bit of Information) I need on the web. It delivers it quickly and accurately (most of the time), and I don’t know if I could go without it. But let’s say you come across a typo in the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Don’t leave it there, of course! Volunteer to the community and fix it! What do you do if you want to write a page about some passionate topic of yours? Don’t ‘request’ it to be made, MAKE IT! What do you do if you don’t know how to fix it or make it? Read this article.
Create an Account
To get started on this Wikipedia, you’re going to need an account. Theoretically, you can ‘edit’ anything you want without your account, but there are some bad sides to it, like your public ip address put in the logs.
You can always login/logout in the top-right corner of any Wikipedia page.
Basic Editing
Learning the basics of Wikipedia editing is pretty much all you need to know to be able to be a Wiki wizard.
Note that some articles have a semi-protection policy, which means that you can’t edit them if you’re not really trusted by them (only registered for four days or less, or have 10 or less edits). The page can also be completely blocked out from edits, so you can’t edit them no matter what. This usually applies to pages containing celebrities, living people, point of views, etc.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get started!
It wasn’t that hard for me to find a typo in this page about Pirahnas. The typo sentence says “In Venezualen rivers they are called caribes”. I think (think) there should be a comma after Venezualen. If I’m wrong, I’ll be embarrassed, but I’ll be okay, since the thousands of changes to Wikipedia an hour are always logged down in the Recent Changes page. In Wikipedia, you can undo, redo, do, whatever you want to the many pages.
To edit the page, just click “Edit this Page” on the top navigation bar. The editing page may look scary, but we have to be strong.
The Syntax of Wiki edit is actually quite simple. For example, a word typed with enclosed with quotes (“”) will be bolded. Easy enough to remember, right? Well, if not, then just use the nice navigation bar over the text box. A huge feature of Wikipedia is auto-linking. If you put a word in double brackets ([[ ]]), Wikipedia automatically searches its database for the best article and creates a link to it. Pretty cool, eh? If you want to link to something outside of wikipedia, the syntax is like this:
[http://thetechadvisors.wordpress.com The Tech Advisors]
Well, I edited the mistake. Put a little summary of what you edited in the ‘Edit Summary’ Box. Another cool feature is that you can make your edit a “minor edit“, so the Wikipedia admins and contributors don’t waste their time checking your very interesting comma addition.
Click “Save page”, and your change will appear immediately. Don’t fool around with this, because the admins will take your account and block your ip if you’re vandalizing Wikipedia. Don’t worry, you’ll soon be a Wikipedia Editing Master!
What if Editing just isn’t enough?
When you have a passionate thing you know a lot about, why not write an article on the web to tell people about it?
Here’s how you do it on Wikipedia.
Login to your Wikipedia account in the top-right corner of Wikipedia.
Go to this special page for people wanting to make a new page. It is located on Wikipedia here. Be sure to read all of the important information above regarding rules of making a page.
You’re on you’re way to making Wikipedia pages!
Now that I’ve told you how to do basic things for Wikipedia, I hope you use this knowledge wisely! Help the community and edit/make some Wiki pages! Thanks from Alex Hwang and The Tech Advisors.
UPDATE: I’ve added a new section on how to text Twitter updates on the bottom of the page. Thanks!
Tweet. Tweet. Tweet. You’ve heard of these things and this website called Twitter. It’s suppost to be bringing down Facebook, Myspace, Google, and Yahoo with these little message things called Tweets. You are skeptical, and so was I, until I tried out Twitter, one of the most awesome websites I regularly go on. Unfortunately, I had to learn Twitter by myself when it was still in its early stages. For you people out there looking to try out Twitter, this article is for you.
What is Twitter? Twitter is a social networking platform in which you display little messages (<=140 Characters) on your public ‘profile’, called ‘tweets’↑. These are called ‘updates’, and you are able to ‘follow’ other ‘tweets’ from friends and family on Twitter.
Note: Key Vocabulary is in Single Quotes ['']
What’s the difference between…Facebook statuses and Twitter tweets? When you look at this question from one side, you say that they are exactly the same thing. Although they seem the same, they actuallly aren’t. In Twitter, you can have a ‘conversation’ with other people, just using these little ‘tweets’. Facebook statuses tend to be about you, like ‘Alex is taking a shower’. With Twitter, you can communicate to the whole WORLD what you are thinking, like ‘just watched American Idol. Adam Lambert KILLED IT!!!’. I know this probably doesn’t make much sense, but you’ll see how great Twitter is later.
Twitter now makes it easy for you to find followers quickly, using email contacts and real-world people that are on Twitter. Enter your username and passwords for all your services to find if you have any contacts using Twitter. [don't worry, they won't store your password].
After that, there are a TON of celebrities/famous people, websites, and even newspapers on Twitter that you might be interested in following, like CNN, Ashton Kutcher, Lance Armstrong, and even, the one and only, The Tech Advisors!
To follow anybody, click the ‘follow’ button under the picture on the top-left corner on their twitter page.
Tweeting
The main point of twitter is to inform your followers, or friends and family, about what you’re doing. To tweet something, click ‘Home’ on the top-right navigation bar. Type your tweet into the box that asks you ‘What are you doing?”
Messages
There are two ways for people to message you in Twitter. They can reply to you, in which everyone [in the WORLD] can see the message, or they can direct message you, so only you two get to see it.
Replying
To message someone publicly, put in your tweet
@someonetomessage this is a message.
So, if I wanted to tell Lance Armstrong to bike harder, I would tweet:
@lancearmstrong why can't you bike faster?!?
Not that it’s true, of course.
Note that using @, you can message anybody, you don’t have to be following them or vice versa.
Direct Messaging
To privately direct message someone, click on ‘Home’ on the Navigation bar at the top. Then, click ‘Direct Messages’ on the right-hand sidebar.
Notice that you can only send Direct Messages to people following you.
Trending Topics
A very cool part of Twitter is that you get to see real-time news in the form of Twitter tweets. Go to ‘Home’ and look at ‘Trending Topics’ on the right-hand sidebar. Those are what the Twitter bot sees as the most popular things being tweeted about. For example, two weeks ago, swine flu was at the top of the list.
Search
One of the most talked about features of Twitter is its search function. It is really very cool, you can search all the real-time tweets that people and news have tweeted. It connects to the trending topics I talked about above. For example, if I wanted to see what Obama has been doing lately, I would just search [again, on the right-hand sidebar] for ‘Obama’.
Change your theme
My theme, as you can see, is a very sleek black one. To change your theme from the regular blue one, click on ‘Settings’ in the Top-right corner and click on the ‘Design’ tab.
Update Twitter on the Go
Another huge feature of Twitter is the ability to update it from your mobile phone. You can even create your own blog – a ‘micro-blog’ that is, and embed it on your website, Facebook Profile, or Myspace page. Sadly, I can’t text from my phone, thanks to my parents [comment if you petition against that decision , maybe I'll be able to text], anyway, let’s get started to setting up your phone.
1) Put in your phone number
Click on ‘Settings’ on the top-right navi bar. Then, click on the ‘Devices’ tab.
Put your phone number in the box, prepending it with a ‘+’.
If my phone number was ’555-5555′, and I lived in a city with an area code of ’555′, I would put this in:
15555555555 [That's 11 5s after the 1]
Check the box that says
It’s okay for Twitter to send txt messages to my phone. Standard rates apply.
2) Hit Save and you will be given a code to text to a number on the Twitter network. That number is 40404. Once Twitter receives that text, you can start texting on your phone!
Twitter will send you notifications and updates from people you follow. To change your status, just text Twitter your status. For example, texting reading the tech advisors to the designated number, your status would be ‘reading the tech advisors’.
There are many commands to control twitter from your phone.
Some important ones:
ON: Turns ON Twitter text messaging you
OFF: Turns OFF Twitter text messaging you
ON username: Turns ON Twitter text messaging updates from username
OFF username: Turns OFF Twitter text messaging updates from username
Am I trying to find a site that I’ve been to before?
try to remember specific key words and phrases from the site.
TITLE, header, url, BODY
Example…
I want a new dog for my birthday. Researching about dogs can be a lot of work, so I’ll use the mega-powerful search engine, Google, to help me.
What’s my purpose? To research different breeds of dogs to my taste to find a perfect match.
Cool.
What NOT to do: search dogs or cool dog breeds
Let’s say I’m smart and I didn’t start out with a vague search like above [What NOT to do]. Let’s say my friend also said that small puppies are mean and annoying. Now, we can get started.
With the information we have, we can search for “large dogs -small” on Google. The ‘-” takes out any webpages that have ‘small breed’ in them.
Let’s say my friend also said that you should definitely get a Golden Retriever or Labrador.
Update: More about site:If you’re doing a research project, for example, and you need only credible information from reliable sources, you might want to search using site:. Example:
Remember that you can mix and match all these items together like I did in the last example, and Google has made it easy by clicking ‘Advanced Search’ next to the search box. You just enter your terms and it formats it for you.
Also, remember not to search vaguely like ‘dogs’ or ‘cats’. That search returned 191 friggin million results. The only way to sort through that is use the tips above.
So, you guys, I have lead you on the path to better searching. Use it wisely, and it will definitely make your life better.
I’m big on getting things done, and searching through thousands of emails can sorta, kinda set you back. You can get things done searching quicker by using these easy search tips in Gmail.
How to use these
The first thing you all should know is that you insert these operators into the search box right at the top of your
screen.
Basic Operators
from:
What it does: Specifies the sender.
Example: from:John Doe would find all your emails that are from John Doe.
to:
What it does: Specifies the receiver.
Example: to:Alex Hwang would find all your emails that were sent to Alex Hwang.
You probably won’t ever need this one unless you have multiple email addresses controlled in Gmail.
subject:
What it does: Searches for words in the Subject line
Example: subject:Meeting would find all your emails that have meeting in the subject line.
This one is extremely useful because most of the time you remember subjects, because that’s what you stare at on the home page.
Basic Search Formatters
OR:
What it does:Allows you to specify multiple queries, matching term A OR term B
Example:from:John Doe OR from:Alex will give you search results from John and Alex.
-(hyphen):
What it does: Allows you to exclude messages from search, if you don’t want them.
Example:dinner -Amy searches messages that contain dinner, but not Amy.
” ” (quotes):
What it does: Allows you to search exact phrases.
Example:subject:”movie with Amy” will search for messages with the exact subject, movie with Amy.
():
What it does: Allows you to group words used to specify terms that shouldn’t be excluded.
Example: subject:(english science) will search for messages with both english and science in them.
These are some of the basic operators for Gmail. There are a lot more here, at Gmail Help. I hope I got some of you started in searching through your big pile of messages in your inbox.
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I also wrote a simple applescript to quickly do things to your todo.txt, without having to open Terminal and the command line. All you have to do is type in your todo command from the command prompt, so:
