Kamis, 06 Juli 2006

Why does Notepad open when I type www.google.com in IE ?

CNet describes a simple trick to run program files or open any local document from the Internet Explorer address bar by typing a valid web address like gmail.com or even wwww.google.com

Microsoft calls this IE shortcut a feature but it's just a matter of time before clever hackers exploit this "feature" and Microsoft will end up issuing a patch.

Here's the trick [harmless version] that you can even try on your own Windows XP computer.

• Right click on the Desktop and create a new Shortcut

• Type notepad.exe or calc.exe

• When you are asked to name the shortcut, say www.microsoft.com or www.google.com

Now start Internet Explorer, goto the address bar and type whatever web address you assigned to the desktop shortcut. Press Enter.

If the shortcut is then deleted--or the characters "http://" are added before the "www" in the browser address bar--then IE will once again connect to the Internet as expected.

Source: Microsoft: Shortcut 'trick' is legitimate feature

Ray Ozzie Effect: Microsoft takes a U-Turn on OpenDoc Support in Office 2007

Microsoft was never ready to include ODF Support in Office 2007 [or 2008].

So a group of software companies initiated the OpenOpenOffice Project to build an external add-in that will bring OpenDocument support in Microsoft Office suite.

Today, Microsoft reversed it's stand on OpenDoc support and they are launching an Open XML Translator project on SourceForge.net that will let users convert Microsoft Office documents to OpenDocument. Because Open Office XML is backward-compatible, the translator will work with older versions of Office.

Update: Microsoft has officially confirmed that is sponsoring open source project for Open XML-ODF file translation. The prototype is already available on Soureforge.net.

Brian Jones, program manager for Microsoft Office, says that ODF support for Office was built following requests [or, pressure] from Governments - there's no strong demand for ODF support from corporate or consumer customers.

What caused Microsoft to change their decision ? It's either the O3 project or the Ray Ozzie effect. I think it's the latter.

Search for Google on Yahoo, you'll see a special search box

Yahoo hates sending traffic to the Google search website.

When you make a search for Google or Google.com on Yahoo search, rather than showing the organic search results directly, Yahoo will draw another search box on top of the results that says "Want to search the Web?" (see screenshot)



What's even more interesting - Yahoo employs this evil trick only for Google. Try searching MSN or Ask.com on Yahoo and you won't that special search box.

McAfee Database has 200,000 Virus Definitions

While the number of virus attacks have reduced in the recent years, the virus growth hasn't slowed down.

McAfee has added the 200,000th definition to its threat database today and they expect to see 400,000 virus definitions by 2008.

After a lull in their efforts, virus writers have spent the past few years creating more of this software than ever before, said Jimmy Kuo, a research fellow with McAfee's Avert Labs.

Between 1999 and 2002, McAfee's database held steady at around 50,000 definitions, but since then, the number of different worms and viruses created has jumped, he said.

Read full story @ Computerworld Security

How to Leech Pictures from Flickr or Google Images

Looking to download all the images that you see on Google Image results or Flickr pages ? Here's some help.



There are basically two ways to hack these photo services. The traditional and more painful approach is to make a search on Google [or Flickr or Yahoo], wait for the results page to load and then click the individual photos to open them full size and finally save them to your hard drive. Not recommened.

Don't get turned away, there are some very easy-to-use options that let you create an entire catalogue of images from Google or Flickr for offline viewing. Let's look at some of them:

» Google Image Ripper - This online service extracts the full size images [no thumbnails] from Google index and displays them in one page. You can then save the full page with attachments to build your offline gallery of Google Images.

» Flickr Leech - Type in the Flick tag, username or just a short description and this web based free leeching service will extract hundreds of images from Flick on just one page. This service make Flickr browsing a breeze.

» Google Grab - Unlike the previous two services, Googlegrab is a desktop software that leeches full scale images and download them to your local hard disk automatically. Works for PC and Mac. [via Philipp]

Tip for Webmasters and bloggers:

If you like to prevent Google Images from indexing hosted on your website or blog, place the following robots.txt file in your server root:
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /

To remove all files of a specific file type (for example, to include .jpg but not .gif images), you'd use the following robots.txt entry:
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /*.gif$

Related: Download PostSecret Photos | Higher rankings in Google Images

Google included in Oxford English Dictionary as a Verb

Did you Google her name or pictures on the web ?

Just like Xerox means Photocopying and FedEx refers to shipping something, the term Google has become synonymous to searching for information on the web.

Now even the widely respected Oxford English Dictionary have also put their stamp of approval on the tremendous popularity of the term Google.

Google [a trademark] has been officially included as a verb in the Oxford Dictionary of English during their recent quarterly update.

Google hates when people use their company name as a verb, they even sent a Cease & Dessist notice to WordSpy for promoting the term Google as a verb. I am waiting to see how the Googleplex residents react to this inclusion by the Oxford.

On the funny side, Google is added to the dictionary along with the F word. Look the screenshot above.

Dear Amanda, Will you work for me ?

Amanda Congdon has stepped out [or maybe, forced to step out] of RocketBoom Studios.

While producer Andrew Baron is still searching for a "better than Amanda" replacement, Amanda has already received some exciting "public offers"

» Jason Calacanis has an open invitation for Amanda to join Netscape - Jason has excellent cloning skills, he did that for Digg and now he may be planning a Rocketboom clone.

» Noah, producer of 88Slide, has also opened the doors for Amanda. "I don't have Calacanis level deep pockets, yet, but I'm confident I could crack this production puzzle too. "

» Om Malik suggests that Podtech must hire Amanda. Is Scoble already thinking on those lines ?

Rocketboom may never be the same again without Amanda. I think someone like CNet or Yahoo or Digg should hire both Amanda and Andrew and make them work together.

Personally, I am no big fan of Rocketboom but I do subscribe to a couple of video podcasts on iTunes. Here's a list of my favorite shows:

GeekBrief.TV
Hosted by Cali Lewis [Neal Campbell and Luria Petrucci], Geek Brief has all the right ingredients to keep you entertained. They even got Andrew on the show just hours after his breakup news got public.

commandN TV
Hosted by Amber Mac of G4TechTV, this is clearly my favorite technology video podcast. Alongwith Leo Laporte, she also does Inside the Net for TWIT.tv.

88Slide
I never heard of this excellent daily entertainment vodcast until the producer, Noah Bonnett, emailed me about it. Unlike other podcast, 88slide is not about news or opinions but it's kind of a game show. Rachel Smith, the host, asks a new question, viewers send in their replies via email or SMS and the lucky one gets a prize like an iPod Nano. Each episode is shot on a different location across the country. Great fun.

Butt Out Loud
Molly Wood is the face of CNet TV and Buzz Out Loud. Her informal video podcasts are superb with the right blend of humor but you really don't know when the next episode is gonna arrive. Molly, great stuff but can you make the video Buzz Report more regular ?