Facebook in trying the be The Big Brother

Facebook is being a tattle-tale lately. Just like a bratty sibling who knew the naughty things you did and just waiting the right time to blakmail you to the parents.

I just found out that Facebook saves all our search histories. Yes, that means all that honest-to-God searches in Facebook about "Swimming in Jello" and even that Ex or Crush of your that you have un-friended (Gasps!).

Yes, it is all there, documented and hidden in your Activity Log. I've just checked mine and it does feel embarassing (even to myself) when I look back at those lists of people stalking that I do on sleepless nights and boring days.

Good thing is that the search is only Private to you, but who knows when Facebook will decide to release it to Public. Another good thing is that the search history could be deleted and you could erase all evidence. Yay!

Here's the link on the How-To: http://thestir.cafemom.com/technology/149843/facebook_saves_all_your_creepy?next=11#comments

As for me, this knowledge shall deter me from Facebook stalking people again. I am quite sad about it, but I guess I have to find other more useful activities.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Welcome back...

Hi,

Kicking in the coming of the new year with a new look for the blog.
I decided to go with a fusion of 'minimalist and retro' concept (if that was ever such a thing).

Minimalist - just going with a simple layout. Only one main post, my picture album, archive and most important disclaimer. None of those link/moving gif/logo shit that clutters the page. I'm trying to cut the time ppl hover in the blog in order to increase your productivity time.

Initially I had already decided on another clean minimalist template. Simple layout and a white background. decided to scrap it off because it looked more like a wedding invitation website rather than a blog. So, I injected some funky colours into it.

Retro - going with this bold colours. I am just short of a slow spinning disco ball. Inspiration came from early chapters of Steve Jobs autobiography where the first official apple logo was introduced and also from a retro roller skating rink (I'm not going to tell from which movie because it's just too cheesy).

So, tell me dear silent imaginary readers. What do you think? "Yay" or "Nay" for the new blog theme?

Websites I Found

• Pick The Brain 

I love productivity and motivational websites. Motivation is a constant wavering thing within me. I could be fueled with positivity for a day, a week or two and feel the total opposite, fearing the bleak future in the next following day. Pick The Brain is one of them, having useful articles that I could use. I just pick one of the articles that is related to certain areas that I am lacking, and read them.Hopefully at the end of it, I'll see a silver lining.

• Bitch In a Bonnet 

This is website I chanced upon by luck of Google search terms. I am currently reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and was intrigued to read and understand more about the characters, mainly Fanny Price and Henry Crawford. This guy covered 3 Jane Austen books with detailed and satirical musings.

• Wondermark

Amusing piece of comics that has a feel of ye olden days of yore. The 'feel' goes together with the book I'm currently reading, Mansfield Park.

• Serenity

This is a real gem. A collection of podcasts given by sister Yasmin. Topics mainly revolves around Muslims lives. Her podcast are good and most of the time it makes me realise, masyaallah, I should have done better with my life.

• The Holstee Manifesto

New Template

Kicking the new template around.

I am trying to implement a minimalist (sort of) and energetic concept. Also experimenting with complimentary colour pairs.

Which explains the bright orange background piercing your corneas, some dark blues and getting rid of irrelevant boxes and keeping to just one post on the main page.

I am trying to save readers from wasting their time going through my blog.

Let me know what you think of this new layout?

12_How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

My blogging activities started way back when you want to get on the internet, you have to 'Dial-Up' the internet first. Blogging back then had the basic skeleton of WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get) and you had to know HTML codes to create a web content like add pictures, sounds, link, etc. Which consequently mean, a blogger is a computer nerd back then.

Why so, did I took the pains of self-learning HTML? Didn't I have better things to do?

This is my 'grandmother story' (cerita panjang melalut) version:

It was during the summer of 2003. I decided to stay in Cardiff instead of following the masses of Malaysian friends returning back home for 3-4 months. The days are long. VERY long. Sun rises at 4am and sets at 9pm. Once could only do so much of wandering around and window shopping after work before one gets bored. Somehow I ended up in the Engineering School computer lab (I might deny this, but the computer lab is subconsciously my favorite place to hang out), which already had broadband that time and while surfing sites, I decided creating a website is a more useful evening activity,rather than counting passers-by from Starbucks window or watch idiots on Big Brother, which makes the viewers even bigger idiots.


At first it serves to alleviate my boredom and put my thoughts in writing. Then it became a way to communicate with families back home. Showing pictures, telling them what I did, where I went or what happened, trivial things.

I used angelfire at first. then i tried multiple blogging clients at the same time now most of them  are now lost in cyberspace, except for Blogger. I had to say from 2003, the internet evolved very quickly. I only need to use HTML for like 2-4 months and then WYSIWYG editors are available. This is when I started to believe it's useless to learn computer coding because it'll become obsolete sooner or later.

Started out at first as 'try-try saje'. Then slowly evolving into 'suka-suka' and now it has become a habit for me to blog.

Here's a link to my first post on Blogger. Please take note that the contents are mostly juvenile.

*Oh!! And I just checked my first website  is still ALIVE. Like OMG! Though some links are broken, but nevertheless... lol.

The Elephant in the Room

I read a letter written by a guy lamenting his woes to the world about having to fight his inner 'demons' on a daily basis. Even though this brother says he is married, but he still can't curb his urges. And who does he blame for all his problem? Women.(!!!)    To him, that is just one simple word to sum up all the evil that is going on in his loins.

I do agree with you brother, on some points, but you can't just blame us women for your own problems.

Yes, I do agree with him that all women should cover up to guard their modesty. But in this world we are living now, it is very difficult to have that ideal kind of living. Even in our own 1Msia, we have various kind of people living in this country and we all know how 'un-modest' some people can be nowadays in terms of dressing, let a lone behaviour.

Yes, I do agree that life can be rough sometimes. I don't know about you, but for me I feel that as a Muslim, living in this modern world today is not without its own challenges, not just in my own Islamic country, but also in the rest of the world.

Put aside the negative stereotyping by others and mischiefs done by 'irrelevant believers' that caused the stereotyping to start, our iman are still being 'attacked' and tested from every known angle whether we are aware of it or not. There's temptations coming from the TV, cinemas, Internet, books, songs in radio, neighbours, people on the street and many more. It is very difficult to go around one day without having to face these temptations, unless you're living as a hermit in a cave on top of a mountain without any means of communication and contact with the rest of the world (but temptations could come in many forms too).

For example, say you wanted to go to a site to look at innocent and funny pictures of cute cats and kittens, but the adverts that supports these sites are far from 'innocent'. Then one of the scenes in the latest HPotter movies is also quite 'suggestive', even if it was a movie about kids fighting evil wizard with magic. Top songs on the billboard, sings about profanities and body parts and still we whistle to its tune because it's 'catchy'.

My point is, temptations are every where around us. A few ways to guard yourself is to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and do no evil.

I am going to share a website that could help this brother and others. The topic that it discusses might be different from his actual problem, but in some ways is quite similar. Even if you don't have this kind of problem, I would still suggest you watch and listen to it because we can learn something useful.

I've come across one very interesting and informational website driven by a brother who talks about the 'elephant in the room' - problem of porn addiction in the muslim community. Yes, I said that right, 'porn' and 'muslim' in the same sentence. He says that the porn industry is one of the most lucrative industry and generates the most money in US. Sex really does sell huh?

With Internet access, practically anyone in this world have access to porn. A shocking statistic data reveals that the half of the Top 10 countries accessing porn sites are Islamic countries! Quite shameful as it is, but numbers don't lie. These countries should change their names either to Pornistan or Pornisia. (Even saying 'porn' like half a dozen of times in just this entry might just have increased the traffic to this blog alone!).

Porn addiction, like any other disturbing addictions (like drugs, gambling, alcohol drinking,etc) are a disease that needs to be treated. Normally people collectively would scorn and scowl upon these addicts and eventually these actions will push away these helpless people away from the community and Allah. Once they're a far distance away from Allah and a strong supportive community, it is much easier for syaitan to enter and control their hearts and actions.

Link: www.purifyyourgaze.com


What I'm trying to say is, we can't avoid being in this troubling environment, it is something beyond one's control (unless one is very powerful and decides to revolutionise the whole media world itself). We can tell the whole world to cover up, but they just won't. But if there is one thing that you can control, and that is yourself. To purify your gaze, you must break the isolation, define your sobriety, master your emotion and use the problem as a way to find Allah SWT. May we all be under His guidance.

Link: www.purifyyourgaze.com

Synching and BackUp plans

For mobile workers who happen to:

• stores important data on a USB stick thingy
• has many workstations (lab, library, computer lab, home office)
• has their work stored in more than one computer (laptop, desktop, computer lab, etc)
• is always on the go

Then please consider these two softwares.

1. SyncToy
   SyncToy helps a lot in terms of keeping my folders up to date. I mainly do my work on my desktop computer at home and before I go to the lab, I will transfer the work Folder into my USB thingy and access and update my documents from there. Before I go back home, I'll repeat this routine again.
   
   Install SyncToy to your computers and you will be able to sync datas in both your USB flash drive and the folder inside your computer by just the press of a button. I've set my SyncToy to sync whatever files that was just added, recently edited or updated on either folder so you don't have to transfer them manually or copy the whole folder again (which takes a long time to wait). There are a few sync options to choose from if you wish to do something different.
   
   
2. Dropbox
   I can be absent minded sometimes. I would sync my USB the night before and planned everything that I wanted to do in the lab the next day, and only to find that I've forgotten to put my USB drive in my backpack. Facepalm!
   Dropbox works like a virtual USB storage online.It gives users 2GB free and you can drop any files into your 'box' and access that file from another computer even if it's halfway around the world, but you must have internet connection. Now, whenever I'm done, I'll save my a copy of my latest work into my Dropbox as a safe measure.
   It's also useful as a back up for image files if you go travelling or just a back up for safe keeping. (you'll never know when you need it).
   
   
3. Or something else. SugarSync.
   This is similar to #2, but it gives 5GB free to users. I haven't tried this one yet.

Have a go and see if your productivity and efficiency improves. No harm done, they're all free.

Photobook review

Here's one thing that I'm excited to share with all you people out there, especially photo enthusiasts. Now there is an alternative way of printing your beautiful pictures for display, rather than printing 4R size photos and slot them into generic photo album with tacky design covers, we now can print it on a shiny glossy paper and bind it nicely into a book. We can also arrange the pictures the way we like it, 4R, 3R, 8R, square, oval... you name it. It's like your very own published magazine, how wonderful is that??

It was my mum's birthday last month and I decided to give her a photobook as a gift. Coincidentally Photobook was having a special offer, 40% off that month, which was really good bargain. The service was quite fast (considerably for Malaysian standard), I've submitted the files on 31 March midnight and it arrived in front of my doorstep 7 days after.

Here's the verdict:

I decided to go with the debossed hardcover book with 40 pages. The linen hardcover that binds the book looks very good and keeps the pages intact. I don't think the pages will easily comes off with that kind of binding.

Also the cover material gives it a 'professional' look (at least for a layman like me). And the front cover pic seems to be embedded inside the cover. Let's hope that doesn't peel off easily too. Haha! Oh ya, the theme for my first photobook was babies. It's a collection of baby pictures of us adik-beradik (siblings) from all different years. All 6 of us.

The content was hundreds of baby photos (I'm not sure if there's a limit to the number of photos) on 40 pages of thick and smooth silk paper (to be precise it's 148gms silk). As you can see below, the book spine holds the pages properly.

The best thing about this book is that it gives your total control on how you want to arrange the pictures in each pages. This can be done by using the software that I've downloaded from the site. Big, small, rectangular, oval, diamond shaped borders, you name it. It's up to you honestly. Below is an example of the pages inside the book.

It took me 4 intensive and very focused days (and nights) to scourer through a dozen of albums just to find the right pictures, scanning them (fortunately the scanner is brilliant enough to be able to scan 6 pics at the same time and saving it as 6 different files), editing and restoring old, dull and damaged photos using Photoshop (now I have created a customised set of action for automation that's quite reliable for batch processing) and arranging them into the book. Phew.. that's a lot of mumbo jumbo.

So, here's a good tip...
Honestly if you ask me, it would be easier to just create a photobook with photos that are already in digital format, you can cut 75% of the process I've mentioned above and just focus on the photo arrangements. Which will eventually be the final outcome of your book.

I know a lot of wedding photographers includes this kind of photobook in their service, but why just limit it to just weddings?? You can create a book about your travels, your family, even your cat, anything! And why let other people do it for you when you yourself can design your own book. Get that creative juices flowing!

Go on to Photobook, have a look and try it out for yourself.

(ps: Photobook didn't paid me a cent for this promo, I'm just a customer who's happy with the service provided).

clueless?

I am totally addicted to this puzzle-game called Klueless 4...

Try to google it and find the official link (this is sort of like a introduction on how the game is played).

Try it if you dare, but with caution... if you are easily obsessed with something, then play only during a long weekend..

LOL! Catz...

more cat pictures

There's a geeky toyol?

You might think, "Where's my review on the new gadget?". Well, I've written it already but I'm yet to take some good pictures. You see, I lost my camera battery charger a couple of weeks ago and can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm saving the last of the battery energy for this coming weekend event at Tasek Gelugoq (I hope the battery lasts!).

In my house, if we lost something, it is as good as gone. We had this joke about having a toyol-tech-geek in the house, since all that was missing was mostly our electrical and electronics stuff like, chargers, cds, remote controls, rechargeable batteries and extension cords. But that is tahyul isn't it? The house is neat, but we have soo cupboards, with many compartments, that it's impossible to turn everything inside out without making a mess and see a frown on my mum's face when she looks at our rummaging activities.

Normally, when someone kept/hid something properly in good will that it will be safe and sound, like not somewhere where people will usually keep something in it. Later, when they want to get it back, they forgot the place where they've kept it. Itulah, susuk comel sangat.

And normally, after you've bought a replacement for it, or when you don't need that thing anymore, it will nonchalantly surface into existance in front of our face... Sokmo lagu tu la.

****
On another note, here's a website for all you IT inclined girls out there, like me. Clearly shows that liking gadgets doesn't mean you can't be fashionable ;P

Link: http://www.techboutique.co.uk/

Quran Explorer

Read! In the name of thy Lord who createth

(http://www.quranexplorer.com)

The above site is a brilliant one. It's a brand new site just launched last September. Though new, it has a lot of potential and very, very cool and informative.

If you have a broadband internet connection, I'd strongly suggest you to click on "Launch Quran Explorer" button and listen to the recitation (you can choose among 5 reciters) and tafseer.

Categorising Blogger.

Succeeded in setting up the categories section... followed the step-by-step instructions from blogger-tricks using its "Easy Method". Not at all complicated as I thought at first.

The only thing left is to categorise my previous posts! Huuu~~

Another interesting link on categorising is added below. It uses GreaseMonkey,I am unable to comprehend after reading it a few times... but I think it is doing some stuff by altering the codes in Blogger... Tested it...and you can see a link on yesterday's post that leads to nowhere...
Greasemonkey Method: Update for Firefox 1.5 and Greasemonkey 0.6.4 - Freshblog