I use facebook. Not like a lot of people who are actively doing stuff there every day, but I use it occasionally to contact pepole who seem to have adopted it as their only form of electronic communication.
I received this message from one of my “friends” the other day. It smacks of SPAM.
I’M SORRY TO HAVE TO SEND THIS! Reply Facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated,there have been many members complaining that Facebook is becoming very slow. Records show that the reason is that there are too many non-active Facebook members and, on the other side, too many new Facebook members.
We will be sending this message around to see if members are active or not. If you are active please send to at least 15 other users using Copy Paste to show that you are still active. Those who do not send this message within 2 weeks will be deleted without hesitation to create more space.
Send this message to all your friends and to show me that your still active and you will not be deleted.
Founder of Facebook, Mark
I’m going to go out on a limb here and: a) not forward it on. b) guess that my account will be just fine.
Anyone know any better? I doubt that my facebook account is going to be deleted, I’m worth too much even if I access it infrequently.
So it seems it’s available as of not too long ago (Wed arvo US time). I’m just about to download and check it out. A beefy 230mb. I don’t even know if it will make my life easier. Actually, there is one thing that does really bug me, and no it’s not the lack of cut and paste as every man and his dog seems to think. It’s the inability to set up a meeting with invitees from the phone! Looks like this is included in the new software.
I use a lot of the google tools like gmail, google calendar, google analytics etc etc. When I started using Google Gears so that you could use these web tools offline it started creating shortcuts on my mac that could be put straight into the applications folder and used to start them like normal local applications, including putting them in the dock for easy access. I did a bit of digging around and created similar shortcuts for other services as well and thought it might be useful for other people. I’ve included:
Google Mail – email, the greatest time waster of the 21st century.
Google Calendar – track where you’re supposed to be right now.
Google Docs – online document storage, creation and collaboration.
Google Reader – read news (rss) feeds to your hearts content.
Google Analytics – get stats about your website.
Google Webmaster Tools – understand how google is interacting with your website.
Google Adsense – place adverts on your website and get paid by google.
Google Adwords – advertise with google.
Remember the Milk – a great web based todo list manager.
These currently load safari as the browser. You can download the files here.
Technical bit – not an expert, just enough knowledge to cause havoc
To modify the shortcut, just right click or click while holding the control button on the keyboard and select “Show Package Contents”. You need to change the name in the Info.plist file, change the url in the launch.sh file and change the icon file. You can then make any shortcut you want. You’ll need to do this if you use Google Apps for Your Domain.
I assume you can also change the browser in launch.sh by changing the line ‘/Applications/Safari.app’ to ‘/Applications/Firefox.app’ or any browser of your choice that you have installed. I don’t know if you can just set it to start in the default browser. Does anyone know?
If you want to change the icon, you can replace the icons.icns file. BTW, if you want a tool to create the required icon file in a snap, check out img2icns.
So, Jodes has a new job. I don’t. We’ve moved to Melbourne to work on our sun tans! Cool huh? Jodes had already flown down last week and I drove down… if you could call it that. Recently returned Miller the Cat was supposed to be sedated but just looked wasted and whinged incessantly like he usually does whenever we take a ride in the car. I broke down 9km the Sydney side of Gundagai (about 3 hours in), got towed to Albury (~200kms?) had some guy repair the vehicle (wasn’t sure that it could be done and he did a great job), and was back on the road under my own power by about 4:30pm. The rest of the drive was uneventful, if you don’t count the dodgy sausage roll I bought at a BP servo in Euroa. About 2 hours after that I was heaving up on the side of the road. Lucky me!
Anyway, after about 16 hours I made it to Melbourne in one piece, just a little lighter (less money due to towing and repairs and less in my stomach), Fun!
Have you ever lost a cat? We’re on the move to Melbourne and we’ve relocated temporarily to Jody’s folks place and the relocation hasn’t been kind to our little (big) cat who has decided that he’s found somewhere more interesting to spend his days. I’m sure it’s got nothing to do with the personality clash he had with the in-laws dog, Rosie.
Anyway, if you see Miller, let me know!
*** Update *** Miller came back! Yes, he was away for 5 days and he just decided that one evening he would reward Jode’s continuous efforts to lure him from whereever-he-was. Anyway, it’s good to have him back!
I’m really into cooking at the moment. I don’t know what it is but I’m taking some more time to enjoy it. Given it’s Easter, I thought it was a prime opportunity to cook some Hot Cross Buns. I even put the crosses on them for effect, but unfortunately the only thing I’m religious about is eating them hot with Lurpak butter!
After all that, I forgot to include the recipe. I got it here and it worked a treat. I’ve never cooked bread from scratch before so I was very happy with how they turned out, all the way down to the sticky glaze
4 cups plain flour 2 x 7g sachets yeast 1/4 cup caster sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice pinch of salt 1 1/2 cups currants 40g butter 300ml milk 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup plain flour 4 to 5 tablespoons water 1/3 Cup water 2 tablespoons caster sugar
directions
Combine flour, yeast, sugar, mixed spice, salt and currants in a large bowl.
Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add milk. Heat for 1 minute, or until lukewarm. Add warm milk mixture and eggs to currant mixture.
Use a flat-bladed knife to mix until dough almost comes together. Use clean hands to finish mixing to form a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth. Place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm, draught-free place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Punch dough down to its original size. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Divide into 12 even portions. Shape each portion into a ball. Place balls onto lined tray, about 1cm apart. Cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm, draught-free place for 30 minutes, or until buns double in size.
Preheat oven to 190°C.
Make flour paste: Mix flour and water together in a small bowl until smooth, adding a little more water if paste is too thick. Spoon into a small snap-lock bag. Snip off 1 corner of bag. Pipe flour paste over tops of buns to form crosses. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until buns are cooked through.
Make glaze: Place water and sugar into a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Brush warm glaze over warm hot cross buns. Serve warm or at room temperature.
notes: • These buns are best eaten on the day they are made. Otherwise, freeze for up to 7 days. To defrost in microwave, place 1 hot cross bun onto a sheet of paper towel. Heat, uncovered, for 45 to 50 seconds on MEDIUM-LOW (DEFROST) (30%) power. Stand for 1 minute.
One other tip that I discovered when I made the Hot Cross Buns, particularly if it’s a little cooler in your house, is to put the oven on when you begin and set it to it’s lowest setting. You can then use the warmth of the oven to let it rise when proofing. Worked a treat!
It’s about time. We’re finally going to get a National Broadband Network (NBN). The Rudd government has “bitten the bullet” after making promises of delivering the NBN through the last election.
It’s been fraught with controversy however with Telstra, Australia’s ex nationalised telecommunications company until the last few years has had a stranglehold on the market, being excluded from the bidding due to a non-compliant bid. Good riddance I said. Telstra has been “servicing” the Australian public for many years. Yeah right. In a recent statement by the Telstra chairman (Donald McGauchie) he said that Telstra was “committed to ensuring the best interests of our shareholders, employees and customers,…”
And that’s the whole problem with Telstra really, they’ve been focused on shareholders (mentioned first) to the detriment of the customers (mentioned last – read Australian public). You would think that if you’re serving your customers well then you’re inherently going to benefit shareholders. I suppose the commercial versus public responsibility equation doesn’t always add up. It definitely doesn’t in Australia where we have one of the lowest population densities in the world. It’s expensive to provide service to those people that are not in the metropolitan areas.
Anyway, this wasn’t supposed to be a Telstra or a public vs. private rant. I for one (actually one of quite a few in Australia) am excited at the opportunities increasing Australia’s digital capabilities will bring. I do agree with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) though – the pipes are not enough! We need initiatives to build the value services that can use that bandwidth.
It will also be very interesting to see what comes of the pricing for using the network in the future. There’s already reports that it may be as high as $100/month which is way too high. My view is that it’s too early to tell.
Having grown up in a remote area, I’ve seen the limited investment that commercial organisations will make. There must be a reason for paying taxes though, so I think everyone should have the opportunity to have access to what is really becoming another utility for every household.
I’m a little divided as to who should own the NBN in the long term though. Public Private Partnerships don’t have the best track record in Australia. I think that a National Broadband Network is Infrastructure and should remain in public hands due to the commercial sacrifices that will ultimately be made. On the other hand, the government is not in the business of running telecommunications companies. I guess I’ll just reserve judgement and get on the bandwagon when something goes wrong.
Have you ever sent an email and immediately wished you could undo it? I just saw this article on the Google Gmail Blog that lets you enable a feature that gives you a few seconds to recover from the unfortunate send-finger-twitch with an undo link.
Anyway, if you’re a gmail user, you should be able to enable it by turning on Undo Send in Gmail labs under settings. Nice one!
Michelle’s 31st birthday was last week. To celebrate in style, a picnic in the park was in order. We had to move as we were taking up the space where a wedding had been booked. After the mad rush it turned out we’d planted ourselves right where the bridge made her entrance. We gave our congratulations and sang the wedding march (quietly).
Wordpress is an amazing tool. It’s probably one of the easiest tools to use when if you want to “blog” or record your thoughts for the anonymous audience that is the web. This simplicity also means that there are certain things that have been left out, however the smart folks over there at Automattic made sure that Wordpress can be extended by the community through themes and plugins. Today I wanted to give you the essential Wordpress plugins that I’ve found to be the best at covering the most important holes. I’ve recently been getting into blogging a lot more and have found an interest in Internet Marketing so I’ve got a list that I’m now installing on every blog. Sorry for another essential Wordpress plugins list but, to be honest, the other lists I’ve found haven’t really suited my needs (I really wanted to write crap here but I showed some restraint) or they were very out of date (as I’m sure this post will be in 6 months time). So here we go:
Make your blog search engine friendly (Search Engine Optimised – SEO) – All in One SEO – donate if you like it.
Make sure you back up! – Wordpress Database Backup – Note that this will only back up what’s in your database, which is just about everything. It will not back up your files or anything else in the wp-content folder where Wordpress is installed as far as I’m aware. I’ve also recently found another plugin (WordPress Online Automated Backup) that backs up to an online service in an automated fashion. I’m not sure if this backs up your whole blog either though but it’s much easier in concept as you don’t need to do anything after it’s configured.
Check your stats – Google Analytics for WordPress – I’ve recently been learning of the wonders of Google Analytics and the power within. This tool is great for understanding who is visiting and doing what on your site. Massive!
Update google when you post – Google XML Sitemaps – This gets the updated information to your greatest friend (and potentially all powerful overseer), Google so that your info is always up to date in search engine land.
Let people share your content – AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget – This will add the little button at the end of the post that allows someone to post this link to digg, delicious, facebook etc. Social bookmarking is the term I believe. I love it when all I have to do is install a plugin. I hate coding. It’s a shame that I know the word coding and what it means.
I’ve included the relevant links to each of the plugin locations but I’d strongly recommend you use the new search and installation feature from within Wordpress as this makes installation so much easier. These are installed over the default Wordpress plugins which I think are also essential. Happy plugin fun!
*** Update 13 April 2009 *** I’ve found another essential plugins for wordpress:
Give people access to your RSS feed… and measure it! Feedburner Feedsmith. This lets you redirect the default feed address of your wordpress blog (http://www.myexampleblog.com/feed to your feedburner location by default so everyone gets the feed from the same place. You get to measure all the goings on with Feedburner this way
I use facebook. Not like a lot of people who are actively doing stuff there every day, but I use it occasionally to contact pepole who seem to have adopted it as their only form of electronic communication.
I use a lot of the google tools like gmail, google calendar, google analytics etc etc. When I started using Google Gears so that you could use these web tools offline it started creating shortcuts on my mac that could be put straight into the applications folder and used to start them like normal local applications, including putting them in the dock for easy access. I did a bit of digging around and created similar shortcuts for other services as well and thought it might be useful for other people. I’ve included:
Wordpress is an amazing tool. It’s probably one of the easiest tools to use when if you want to “blog” or record your thoughts for the anonymous audience that is the web. This simplicity also means that there are certain things that have been left out, however the smart folks over there at