Now since I doubt a whole lot of readers will go ahead and read the definition of netiqutte, I’ll just quote my old post here:

Netiquette (Internet ettiquette), is on it’s own unique to the online community you are participating in, be it a forum, a blog, a newsgroup or even just an IRC channel. Keeping in touch with our Filipino root’s and culture, it wouldn’t hurt and others certainly wouldn’t mind if you kept your manners. We’re known as a polite and hospitable people after all.

What exactly is a Social Networking Site?

A social networking site is a website where individuals can set up an online profile, describing his/her interests, and add links to other profiles. Generally, users are able to post personal information, including photographs, videos, and blog entries. One social networking site, MySpace, is extremely popular both with individuals and with music groups, who can post their songs on their profile pages and advertise their tour dates. Many bands will attempt to solicit as many “friends” as possible on social networking sites, so that more people will be aware of their music.

Social networking sites are popular with people all over the world, particularly teenagers and people in their twenties. Because social networking is so popular with teenagers, some people are concerned that teenagers and kids who post personal information on MySpace and other social networking sites are at risk of being solicited by pedophiles. As a result, some social networking sites have taken precautions to monitor the information provided by underage patrons; however, there is no way to enforce proof of age or identity, so this issue is currently unresolved.

Social networking sites can be a great way to stay in touch with a large group of people. If you have news you’d like to share with everyone you know, you can simply post it on your own personal bulletin board, and it will be distributed to everyone on your friends list. Social networking sites can also be helpful for connecting with new people, whether on a business, friendship, or a romantic level.

quoted from Wise Geek

If you’re still unsure what a social networking site is, it’s an online place to “eyeball” in the loosest sense of the word, to share info, socialize, chat, play games, what have you.

Friendster, Facebook, Plurk, Twitter, MySpace, etc. These are popular SNS that our kayabayan’s frequent to.

Guidelines on surviving a social networking site

Read the Terms of Service (T.O.S.)

The T.O.S. is basically a long legalese of do’s and don’ts on the SNS that it’s owners put out when you sign up for their service. But really, who reads them? You? How about you over there? You in the back? No one right. Let’s change that. The T.O.S. is there for you to read, not an annoyance to prevent the owners from getting sued in case something bad happens (tho that’s usually the case). Read it, if not, turn to the next item..

Do not upload things you don’t want others (e.g. your boss, wife, bf, etc) to see

Yes, some services like facebook provide some means of controlling who gets to see what but what if you account gets compromised? What if you accidentally posted it as public and comeback five minutes later with the whole internet now hounding your heels? Practice some restraint. Don’t upload something you really don’t want to leak out.

Credit where it’s due

If you found something on the internet and you want to share it, try to give where credit is due. It’s not only polite to do so but it gives praise and attention to the original creator of what you’ve shared.

Rules, rules, rules

We got rules everywhere so you surely shouldn’t expect the internet to be free of them. The point is though, if that you can’t/wan’t to read the T.O.S of the SNS you’re on, make sure to at least learn some of the rules of the trade.

• Don’t Spam – oh yes, even in SNS sites like facebook or twitter, we have spam. It’s part of life but you really shouldn’t participate as you can either have your post deleted, account disabled, or even recieve a permaban on your account. If you haven’t seen what spam is like, just look at the nonsensical post shown below:
  
• Advertise with moderation – If you want others to see something (and subsequently like it), don’t put it on every post you see. It’s stupid and will likely get you flagged as a spammer, get your post deleted or get banned. Save yourself the trouble and do it properly.
• Get some common sense – This should be the Golden rule but really, it seems like a lot of people forget about it.
• Don’t be stupid – While some people lack common sense, some people are simply down right stupid. If you see something like the image below, will you click it?
  
  If you did click it, then you’re being stupid. Chances are, your computer is riddled with bazillion spywares that are either spamming your accounts or stealing your important information. Learn some internet smarts.

• Stop proliferating Chain Letters – I’m going to put emphasis on this one because.. GOD.. WHAT ARE YOU FIVE? A lot of admins automatically mark these types of posts as spam so why bother at all? It certainly doesn’t benefit anyone except… well no one at all. o_O. Below are some examples:

  
  
  

This post is still a work in progress (and requested by a friend who’s current sideline is SNS moderation). If you have any suggestions, please don’t hesitate to comment. If you like this, please share it

• Read your favorite magazine online for free (and legit)
• Online Etiquette 101 – Online Games
• Online Etiquette 101 – Forums
• syl re-plays RF Online
• OpenSocial: Google’s SNS portal

What is SecuROM?

SecuROM™ protects your intellectual property – and thus your revenues – better than any other copy control solution on the market. It’s the most powerful and highly advanced way to keep your ideas safe. Its compatibility rate is unmatched, and SecuROM™ ’s easy implementation (which can be completed in minutes) allows for extremely fast turnaround times. Sony DADC´s engineers are constantly working on further enhancements to keep you ahead of casual consumer copying and professional piracy.

That’s the definition from SecuRom’s website.  So from there, with the emboldened casual consumer copying, we can already deduce that it’s not for the customer’s safety nor convinience but for the publisher (yep, it’s not even for the developer of the game, just the company the brands it).

SecuRom is a method of ensuring that only a pressed CD or DVD may be used with games that require a CD to play.  It’s a simple security measure to ensure that people who play the game actually bought a copy.  So in practice, what SecuRom prevents customers from using personal copies (copied and burned) or virtual drive softwares that emulate an optical disc.  They do this by (geeky part ahead, skip to next paragraph if you don’t want it.):

• putting erroneous data onto the disc with the same data headers.  Any burnt copy will have false data on it hence making it unreadable or detectable as an unauthorized copy
• sitting in the background looking for virtual drive software or anything to bypass their security
• limit the number of installations of a specific copy of a game (and even the number of installations on the same machine)

Now while that sounds fair, virtual drives have beneficial uses most especially to gamers who often switch between games or for safe keeping of your prized optical discs (prized because they usually cost an arm and a leg).  How many of us have lost, scratched or damaged their discs that rendered them unreadable or unusable?  At that point, it would mean that you need to buy a new copy of the game to play it.. again.  See where this is going?

Is it worth all the press?

No and yes.

No, because let’s face it.  SecuRom is part of the dark ages of the internet when everything is propriety.  You don’t own what you’re using.  You’re just renting it.  SecuRom automatically assumes that you’re a pirate the moment you try to back up your disc or emulate it.  In that sense, the gaming community doesn’t take kindly to how they think they’re treated by game publishers (like pirates) such as EA (as is the case with Spore) and SecuRom’s creator, Sony DADC.

The irony of the situation is that SecuRom and similar types of DRM is sending more people down the dark side of PC gaming which means getting cracked, DRM-free software instead of buying them.

Yes because since EA doesn’t bother to tell it’s customers about what SecuRom is nor the risks it carries, it’s up to gamers who dove into the pit (yes, you can consider installing your PC with a SecuRom protected game as such Spore) to keep everyone else from falling to the trap.

All this considering EA announced there’s no more crappy games from them. =/  No crappy games, more crappy DRM.

• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!

With the advent of broadband and cable, things changed and so did our activities online.  Socializing, doing business, banking, bills, movies, free PSP game downloads, calls and/or video conferencing or having plain old fun with friends, everything we do now is roughly online.   Can you imagine doing your daily internet tasks on a dial up?  Suicide right?

Two years ago, we’ve gotten our taste of DSL speeds via Smart Bro and true to the rumors, it was quite a broken service.  It was stable roughly 40% of the time so when the contract expired, we immediately switched to Globe broadband and their basic DSL plan.  The changeover was quite good with the service roughly stable at around 80% of the time, still not up to my expectations but good enough.

Six months ago, Globe installed our 4Mbps line.  It as upgraded from the previous 512kbps DSL plan which admittedly sucked partly because of the frequent disconnections.  Sure the old plan was enough for me but having a broadband speed that allows you to download an anime episode in less than 5 minutes is sort of a dream come true.   I sort of went crazy over the early days of having that kind of speed and did broadband speed tests via speedtest daily.  Talk about paranoid.

I know that getting a good connection here in the Philippines is a trial and error thing.  Some people get good service from Globe, others from PLDT or even BayanTel.  If you’re thinking of getting broadband installed make sure you take note of 3 things:

1. How far is your home from the switching station/data center/whatever they call it

If you’re an electrical engineer, or have some knowledge along those lines, this is a no brainer. If you’re not then read on. Current or electricity can only travel a set amount of distance before loosing power or succumbing to noise. This is why power lines have step up transformers and telecommunications use a distributed network. Applying that to your internet connection, the closer you are to the source, the better the service.

2. How many of your neighbors are on the same connection

Congestion is the main problem of ISPs in our country. If you know that everyone’s on the same ISP, don’t even think of applying unless it’s your only choice especially if the businesses around you are computer shops.

3. Take note of current promos and what your neighbors are paying for

It comes as a surprise to most people that their bill is charged differently from another person when they’re recieving the same service (ergo, 1Mbps cost someone 995 while another person was still paying 1495 for exactly the same speed). Ask around to get the “current price” of DSL/Broadband service pricing and ask the ISP of your choice if that’s the current rate. You’ll be surprised at the discrepancy when it comes to billing.

Well theres my story and my tips. What’s your story guys?

• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!

While the computer industry argues that Paper (and print on the meduim) is dead, a lot of people still want their information from magazines.  Enter  Mygazines, a community driven site that allows its users to upload and share magazines online so you can read for free without paying.  The site currently hosts a wide range of titles ranging from MacWorld, EGM, CGW and even Popular Mechanics.  If you’re interested in a particular magazine, do a quick search or browse through the categories.

Click to enlarge

These online magazines open up in a flash flip-book style; which offers you control via mouse clicks or the keyboards keys.

You can check out Mygazines here.

• Online Etiquette 101 – Social Networking Sites
• Download Free DSi and Nintendo DS Games
• Need free file sharing? Look at ADrive
• Online Etiquette 101 – Online Games
• Free WP-Theme: Black Bead

Instead of paying up to bypass the quirks of the mentioned file sharing service, why not go free?

ADrive offers 50GB upfront with a 2GB file upload limit. Sounds interesting? It is especially when you notice the big Free sign on the site. Yes using ADrive is absolutely free.

The main uploader for ADrive is a Java applet so if you don’t have JRE installed, you’ll be prompted to install it. Once installed, you can just drag and drop files into the applet and it’ll run the upload all by itself. Of course if you don’t want Java installed or can’t use it, you can use the manual uploader but that takes the fun out of it.

ADrive allows all file types on their servers but you can’t stream from them (no formal announcement if they will be enabled but from their FAQ, I’d say we’ll see it in a future update). If you need to edit something that’s already uploaded like a Word file, don’t worry. You don’t need to re-upload it since ADrive has a feature to do that. Works with Word and Excel files only though.

The good news about ADrive is that files are kept on their servers until you delete them (or I’m guessing they receive a C&D for questionable materials).

All you need is do to avail of ADrive’s service is to sign-up for the service and you’re good to go.

If you’re looking for something simpler though, I suggest FileDropper. The interface is a no-nonsense one but there’s a 5GB limit.

Hindered by FileDropper‘s $.99 plan? Don’t worry. FileDropper is offering Free accounts for bloggers and social network site members like Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, etc. The offer expires on May 15. Not sure if it means our free accounts will do to but I’m guessing not.

• Capcom introduces One Save file per game DRM
• Free Nintendo DSI Points
• Free Nintendo DS Lite Games Download
• Download Free DSi and Nintendo DS Games
• Free PSP Go Games Downloads

Convenience because you usually just need to have a compatible browser installed and an internet connection and necessity because a lot of web services now are simply those that we can’t live without.

Here’s my list of top web services that I’d drop dead if I couldn’t use them.

Delicious

Making bookmarks available anywhere you go makes delicious at the top of my list. You don’t only get to keep those numerous important links handy, you get also to share them with friends. Now how cool is that.

Digg

Digg is both famous and infamous for me for a number of reasons but overall, having digg as a source for some of my current events kept it in the top 5. Yes most digged stories are biased towards one idea but theres the usually an interesting read to compensate for that. If I wanted mature discussions on the Topic though then it’s Shoutwire for me.

Multiply

I honestly don’t have a thing for social networking sites like Friendster and Facebook so a private community like Multiply is the thing for me. It’s a great place to upload unlimited hours of video and unlimited number of photos and keep them private. If you choose though, you can let everyone access your stuff.

Flickr

While Multiply holds my pictures, Flickr still holds some of it’s share. I loved the service particularly because it integrates well with several Web-based apps and services I use. Great place for conversation too.

Gmail

At first, Gmail‘s approach at tagging over folders was a real challenge to get used to but now it’s like second nature. It’s flexible and it’s extendable with interesting mods like Gmail Drive. Plus who doesn’t like a 6 GB mailbox? Unless you’re a fan Yahoo Mail‘s Unlimited offer that is.

Netvibes

Netvibes is not only my start up page but also my main RSS reader. Although it does so much more than just hold RSS like iGoogle and My Yahoo, I use it to keep things and places that I like to keep updated on organized. Now that Netvibes has launched Ginger, it’s become much more harder to part with.

Skype

VoIP is a must for families with members abroad which is why Skype is stuck on this list. Skype to Skype calls are more common to us (my family) than cellphone to cellphone which is why having VoIP on my PSP is such a great treat. Too bad I still have to find a matching/compatible headset is still a pain though..

Meebo

Meebo is one of the most indispensable services in my bookmarks because it allows you to connect to several IM formats without installing any software. There’s even support for file transfer.

YouTube

YouTube is last on my list because aside from being a good time waster, it’s flooded with almost the same videos with very unsearchable tags. I find it indispensable for tutorials though it’s hard to find the right video sometimes.

Zamzar

Converting .docx to .doc is a nightmare to some especially in emergencies. Luckily, Zamzar is there to give you a lifeline. I’ve used it quite a lot of times till I learn to Tame my Office 2007.

That’s it for my list. What’s on your’s?

• Diablo III Beta is now Live!
• Lost “Welcome Back” free games from PSN
• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!
• StarCraft 2 Patch 1.1.0 Now Live
• K-On! Houkago Live PSP Game

While CAPTCHA has been proven quite effective from keeping bots (and some humans as well) away, over the past few years, hackers have been hard at work at cracking it’s security.

With the successful hacking of Windows Live Mail’s CAPTCHA, Websense reports that Gmail has also fallen victim.

Apparently, one out of five attempts at registration succeeds with the CAPTCHA-breaking request. Now that number may look at bit low but think of that 20% in terms of the hundreds (or thousands) of e-mail accounts that hackers will register at a time.

It’s believed that there are four main advantages to breaking into Gmail.

1. Signing up for a Gmail account gives access to its other services as well.
2. -xxx-@gmail.com is unlikely to be blacklisted by spam filters (I know mine don’t).
3. Google’s services are free.
4. It maybe hard to track as millions of users worldwide are using various Google services on a regular basis.

Google can implement a harder CAPTCHA system but I doubt it’ll be in action anytime soon.

So while waiting for better security measures from the gmail team, what can you do to prevent SPAM from filling your inbox?

1. Keep your anti-spam filters updated.  Bot-driven Gmail and Hotmail accounts may pass through them but at least you get most of the trash out.
   
2. Read the excerpt of an email before opening it. This is common sense to most netizens but there’s still people who are either very careless or are simply gullible.  Usually you can tell if it’s spam with the first few sentences.
3. Check the email address it if makes sense.  Like the excerpt, if the address doesn’t make sens, it’s likely to be from a spam bot.
4. Check against your contacts.  If your email is a personal one (family use, etc) and you get some message that sounding formal, it’s likely to be from a spam bot.

Further reading:

• Gotcha, CAPTCHA
• Spammers crack Gmail Captcha
• Google’s CAPTCHA busted in recent spammer tactics

• Three new PSP bundles coming to Japan
• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!
• Online Etiquette 101 – Social Networking Sites
• Web services I can’t live without
• Protect yourself from malware

A disclaimer though, I’m a programmer so I’m not really very good at web aesthetics so forgive me if my work isn’t as polished as that of the other theme-makers. Can’t be everything right?

The concept is not purely original but I put the theme together to fit what I needed for Pinoy Tech Guy. A simple semi-magazine style theme with a Dom Tab (oh God I’m so in love with the Domtab right now). Since I’m already using the Block Magazine theme for Atma Xplorer, I can’t use it again so I set off to try and design my own.

It took quite a while but I finally got Canti, the character you’re seeing up there, to the point where I wanted to so I’m pretty much worn out. I hope to finish and upload the theme by tomorrow, after a good night’s rest. ^^

• Windows 7 Gets Official OS-tan Theme
• Handling multiple blogs; a Gaming AND a Technology blog comparison
• A blog revamp, banner advertising, and a forum on the loose
• Patapon Theme for your PSP
• Free WP-Theme: Black Bead

No more lost checks in the mail, no more application for specialized credit cards. Just fork over P250.00 for each transaction under P7,000.00 (above that is free) and you’ll get money from your Paypal Account transferred to your Philippine Bank Account in 5-7 working days. Easy right?

Click the image for a larger version

All you need are your bank’s (the one where you’ll transfer the money into) details which include Bank Name, Bank Code (9 digits), and Account Number. The question now that everyone’s asking is what in the world are the Bank Codes? Their obviously not the same as Swift Codes or Bank Identifier Codes that Money Bookers use since their just 8 characters as opposed to Paypal’s 9 digits. Hmm.. guess it’s a mystery till Paypal updates their site.

I’ll update the post when I find more information.

Update:

Paypal Philippines Bank Codes found so far

For more info, why not check out PMT’s post on withdrawing from Paypal funds from your Philippine Bank and the List of Paypal Philippine Bank Codes. A big thanks to PinoyMoneyTalk for finding out about this interesting morsel ^^.

Update 2:

Paypal finally releases the full list of bank codes on an ebay page.

[Source]

• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!
• The calm after the storm: Ondoy’s Aftermath
• The 8th Philippine Toy Con 2009
• Komikon 2008: 4th Philippine Komiks Convention
• 7th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention 2008

Netvibes is useful service that’s essentially a fully customizable start page. On it, you can add any supported widget like RSS feeds, notes, IMAP4 for emails, and others that you can drag and place anywhere you want.

Ginger not only provides some much needed backend optimizations to Netvibes but adds some tools and features so that anything on your page like feed, article, video, photo, song, widget, game can be used to create a shared, social content experience. Netvibes aims to contain everything you enjoy on the Web, available at a glance, all in one place. This means less time surfing for you and more time to enjoy the web.

Want news videos? Just add the CBS, USA Today widget

Want the latest on the net? Add newswire, digg and even wired..

For a quick comparison, click the links to see what the original netvibes and ginger looks like.

As of the moment, Netvibes is moving towards a social networking service that allows you to rate items in any feed or supported widget as a bookmarking feature. Netvibes has also included an activity stream so you can see what your friends are publicly starring and sharing as well but as of the moment, the internal messaging or PM system, is still down.

The biggest change for Ginger is that everything is now powered by the Netvibes UWA, meaning that all widgets are cross-compatible with OS X Dashboard, iGoogle, My Yahoo, Windows Vista Gadgets, the iPhone and other mobile platforms — and, by the public launch, Facebook widgets. Now you can add any widget from any platform to your Netvibes or vice-versa.

Netvibes is part of OpenSocial.

• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!
• Web services I can’t live without
• Blogroll Page for WordPress
• A FREE PS3 for Xmas
• Save time with RSS

So what’s the run down?

To qualify, you need to subscribe via email to Internet Babel’s feeds, spread the word. Easy right? For more detailed instructions and guidelines (so you won’t disqualify yourself) head over to the contest page.

To those who haven’t heard of Internet Babel, it’s one of the better blogs about making money online, blogging, web design, SEO and general Internet chat or… babel.

Good luck to everyone who wishes to join in.

• Merry Xmas from Atma Xplorer
• Nintendo overhauls loyalty program, sends out free Wii and 3DS games
• Free 3DS Ambassador games now available for download
• Free Hardcore Six Videos and Six Pictures
• Free Nintendo DSI Points

What is Malware?

Malware is a type of software designed to take over and/or damage your OS in one way or another. Once installed, it can be difficult to remove but that depends on the severity of the malware program as well as the degree of damage it brings which can range from being annoying to rendering your PC inoperable.

The most common types of malware include:

• Virus – A program written intentionally to enter a computer without the users permission or knowledge which then attaches to files or boot sectors and replicates and spreads. Other viruses can cause serious damage to your files and system.
• Worms – they are stand-alone software that modify their host operating system, and are likely to be started as part of the boot process.
• Wabbit – Self-replicating malware. Unlike viruses, they do not infect host programs but repeatedly replicates itself on a local computer. They’re really something more of an annoyance than a threat
• Trojan – Harmful software that is disguised as legitimate software.
• Backdoor – Software that allows remote access to the computer system without the user’s permission
• Spyware – a Software that collects and sends information. Keyloggers are a prime example
• Browser Hijack – a script or program that alters a computer’s browser settings

How does malware spread?

The most common way malware spreads on the net is via email or blogspam. These seemingly random messages contain links to sites that, once opened, either runs a script that downloads or installs malware or presents a link to a file with a very tempting filename.

Here are other ways on how malware spreads:

• Downloading infected files using Peer-to-Peer file sharing programs (e.g. Kazaa).
• Downloading infected files from an untrusted source.
• Putting an infected computer disk (floppy, CD, USB Memory stick, or DVD) into your computer.
• Clicking on a web site dialog box.
• Connecting an unsecure computer to the network.
• Clicking random links from Instant Messaging (IMs)
• Randomly opening sites from any SERP (search engine results page)

How do you spot a malware site?

Take this example:
If you search for: ‘drunk dogs site:.cn’ chances are, you’ll get one of these:

Congratulations, you’ve just found a malware site.

There are a number of reasons why that site is suspicious:

• The plethora of “keywords” you see as the description. If you notice, a lot of comment and trackback spam nowadays are full of these. If you’ve ever wondered what they were for, you’re looking at the reason now.
• The seemingly random domain name. If you’re a legitimate person and not just a bot, would you register your site as www.ldwasdadwad.cn?
• The .cn TLD (top level domain). Although I’m not branding ALL .cn sites as malware sources, statistics and and security bulletins prove that most malware sites are hosted with .cn TLDs. If you want to read more on the read Computer World’s article on the subversion of Search Engines.

How do I protect myself?

• Never open a file from an unknown source. Although it’s probably over kill, I suggest that you mark all recently downloaded or installed items on your computer without your prior knowledge to be malware.
• Update your OS. If possible, download and install all security fixes. No matter how much you have Windows it’s always good practice to patch up your OS to prevent others from exploiting it’s holes.
• Install security software like AVs and ASs. Although some people don’t recommend using them, it’s better to be over cautious especially if you’re not the only one using your computer. There are tons of free security software out there like AVG, Avast and Adware to name a few. Try them out and see which works for you.
• Activate the Guest account. If multiple people are using your PC, restrict their access by using a guest account or equivalent. Sure, you may end up editing the Policies so they can save and edit files but at least they won’t be able to install malware behind your back, unintentionally or otherwise.
• Stop look and read that URL! Taking my example above, you’ll note how easy it is to spot if a site is legit or dupe. Just read the URL.
• Use common sense. The spread of most malware relies on carelessness on the part of the victim.  If a sudden message pops in your IM that looks as if it’s screaming “Hey click me I’m a spam site”, do yourself a favor and close the window.

• Online Etiquette 101 – Social Networking Sites
• Software Review: Week 4
• Site move complete
• The Storm superworm
• Save time with RSS

Now you just need to type the URL of the site you need to test and it’s automatically done for you.

Enter Browsershots

Here’s a test run on Atma Xplorer (click for the full version):

Browsershots also allows you to download these images conveniently packed into one zip file.

Under Linux (Ubuntu) :

• 6.06 Opera 9.24
• 6.06 Firefox 1.5.0.13
• 6.06 Konqueror 3.5
• 6.10 Firefox 2.0.0.8

Under Windows:

• XP Internet Explorer 7
• XP Internet Explorer 5.5
• XP Opera 9.24
• XP Safari 3.0.2
• 2K Internet Explorer 6
• 2K Firefox 2.0.0.4
• 2K Firefox 1.5

Under Mac:

• OS X 10.4 Firefox 2.0.0.1
• OS X 10.4 Safari 2.0.4

Note that you have to wait on it (this means reloading then extending your time) since only 30 minutes is allocated per session and click the Extend button from time to time to prevent your request from timing out.

As and added resource if you wanted to install IE6 and IE7 on your PC here’s how to do it:

If you already have IE 7 version running, then all you do is download the standalone IE 6, this is going to enable you to run both IE 6 and IE 7.

And if you haven’t installed IE 7 yet this is what you can do so that IE 7 doesn’t replace IE 6:

• Download IE 7 from Microsoft, if you haven’t already done so
• Unrar the exe file
• Delete the folder that is named ‘update’
• Delete ie4unit.exe
• Delete spuninst.exe
• Delete spupdsvc.exe
• Delete install.ins
• Create a new text file called iexplore.exe.local and save this file in the same folder
• Run iexplore.exe to open IE 7

• ISO tool Patching Guide
• Create an XMB-Icon using ISO Tool
• Blizzard Product Roadmap Leaked!
• Need free file sharing? Look at ADrive
• Yet another contest

Also, currently available for Windows users is a desktop uploader. Users will now be able to do bulk file uploads. A Mac version of the uploader is in the works but no news on a Linux version. You’ll just have to check if it works with WINE.

Now people who have digital cameras and laptop computers will find it hard to resist uploading videos on you tube. Those who have the largest digital cameras will definitely not be able to stay away from the luring ringtones of youtube. Indeed dvd is losing its value.

• Need free file sharing? Look at ADrive
• Google on your TV
• AdSense for Youtube Publishers

If you notice that your gmail’s URL is no longer a set of long gibberish to:

http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox

or if you see a link to an “older version” at the top of the page, that means you can now enjoy the new features. What features are new in Gmail 2.0?

• Faster loading from a rewritten Javascript backend
• Mail prefetching
• A new contact manager
• More options for gTalk
• A bit of GUI tweaks and improvements

Changes within Google aren’t for eyecandy only. Load times are quite faster especially since messages are prefetched when Gmail loads so wait when loading a message is almost non-existent. Because of the URL changes, you can now use the back button of your browser and bookmark different areas of your gmail. The messages are prefetched when Gmail loads so you don’t have to wait too much until a message is displayed.

What sold me was the new contact manager. It’s much more intuitive than the previous version with better options to manage your contacts with the ability to add addresses from other IM networks. Contacts can be exported in vCard format. If you want to see the new contact manager and you don’t have the new version of Gmail, don’t worry. It’s a separate application that can be found here.

Note that most Firefox plugins that formerly work flawlesly with Gmail doesn’t work with the new version. Check for updates or alternatives if you want to keep using them.

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