Google "Hacking"

One skill I think all college students need (and most people in general) is knowing how to use Google hacks, the art form of knowing how to make Google more efficient.

I'm going to give a quick run down of the some of the most basic "hacks":

1. Search in Quotes
If your searching for say a car model Honda Civic will return all sites with the word Honda or Civic on them where "Honda Civic" will find sites with only the the two together

2. Site:
If you know what site you want to search say mlb.com your search should look like this:
site:mlb.com search term
or you want something from the wisc.edu site
site:wisc.edu

3. Filetype:
When I want to find a torrent the 2nd easiest way (After Pirate bay of course) is Google!
Type: Filetype:torrent "name of what your lookin for" in Google and it will find it
Want an excel file with some stats you need already entered? lets say crime stats
filetype:xls crime stats
This will find file type xls (excel file type 97-2003). To figure out what type of file format you
need look at the files made by the program in windows its Filename. file type i.e. example.xcl is an excel file example.doc is a word file etc... (note: this will not work in most cases for Filetype:mp3)

4. Google OS search
Last tool I will put in this post is Google Operating system based searches i.e.
http://www.google.com/microsoft.html
http://www.google.com/linux
http://www.google.com/mac.html
and www.google.com/bsd
These are great when you have a computer problem or are looking for programs for your computer.

This is a very short list of some of the google services / hacks that you can use to same your time and make google work harder for you. It is however a good starting point to jumping in and learning to google hack.

Not google hacks per say but also useful:
1-800-goog(4664)-411
Googles free 411 number, great to find business and phone numbers

And text google at googl (46645)
Great for directions From 123 Timbucktoo to 321 Klamazoo
Google will then text message you with the directions
Flights text carrier and number ie UA 123 (United flight 123)
Google will then text you your flights information
Last is finding business just send a text with category or name ie Restaurant or The Diner and a zip code: 12345 so the final message looks like Restaurant 12345
A text message with some results will be sent to you

Ending note
I know I haven't been around I'm working on getting back on the ball. Please e-mail or post any computer/device questions you have and I'll try to post an answer

Linux a few months in

So now I've been running Ubuntu 7.10 for since January and have seen the light. I look at my friends XP installs, and even tho I used XP for years, I just can't begin to go back to it. I'm by no means a computer genius, I can't program beyond basic web pages and ti-calculators so I'm not going to be building my own Linux from scratch anytime soon, but a version like Ubuntu were I can choose how much bloat I want and have everything a laptop would need is great. Also, one thing Ubuntu has over windows is a much friendlier community around it. Anyone can go into the irc (the grandpa of all instant messaging programs) room #ubuntu and get help 24/7, with windows or even macs I don't think you have that sense of community around it. On top of that with a few commands you can do things that would take much more work in windows, for example right now my touch pad functions like an ipod scroll wheel so on long pages I don't need to lift my finger.
All major linux distributions come with live disks, a disk which lets you boot into linux without needing to install it. I encourage anyone who ever has opened cmd in XP/Vista or still remembers DOS commands to give it a try. At first things like having to use command prompt to gain admin status might be annoying but the added benefits and security of linux pay off in the end. Linux is great for the low end user (office, internet, minesweeper) or the ultra high end (programing, servers , etc...) its not great for games (I do have Counter Strike source running on it however) since most are for windows and you have to use WINE (windows emulator) or one of its forks. Nor is it great for people who can't tell the difference between an OS, Computer Manufacture and processor (Ummm.... I'm running Dell on XP). I think however with Vista requiring so much processing power and the death of XP the market will move to use linux since it allows decent hardware (my core 2 2.2ghz often runs clean at 800mhz) to run new programs. The cost of running linux in the end with free software, less hardware requirements and good free tech support just blows Vista out of the water.

First post of the new year: Ubuntu and Me

My Windows Vista install got corrupted and when I called Dell tech support I was told I had to do a full re-install, there was no way to fix it. Since this was a week into school I was alright with it since I need to clean my computer anyway. I decided I was going to split my hard drive and install a version of Linux, the free operating system. The way it works is that there are 3 layers to any operating system (OS), A base layer known as the kernel, a middle layer that applications run on, and the GUI (graphical user interface) which is what you see (unless your using a text based OS like Dos). Linux itself is the name of the kernel, the next layer is the important part, each line of distributions (called distros) runs different programs , then unlike in mac or windows you get to choose a gui (all though they come with some program layers as well) the main ones being KDE or Gnome. I choose Ubuntu as my distro since I had heard a lot about its ease of use and that it was good with devices.
The last time I used Linux was Suse 9.3 (now above 10.0) many years ago. My issue then was that drivers for my modem cost money while the windows ones were free. Beyond that in general it just was too much work and Yast, the Suse hardware manager never worked right. That being the case I was a bit tense to give to a second try. I had been using Virtual PC 2007, a Microsoft free program, to run Ubuntu on top of windows. This let me use it but limited some of the features such as video effects and programs.
I download the disc image burnt it to a DVD and got ready to install it. I reboot, booted the disc and got to it, the install went fine. Then I rebooted and got to the Linux boot loader where I could choose to boot to Linux or Windows. Ubuntu load my video card and Wifi card perfectly (Nvidia and Intel). However my mouse didn't work right. I had to manually in a text editor modify my mouse settings. The file to do this xorg.conf is need to boot Linux. Anytime I screwed it up I had to re-write my settings and my desktop would reset. This can get quite annoying.
Later I reopened Vista, when I did this Vista re-wrote the master boot sector (MBR) with its own boot-loader, over writing the Linux one. Now I had a bad MBR that I couldn't get into Linux. This annoyed me, since now I had to re-write the MBR, I had to do some research and found a tool called WINBCD that fixed this problem.
Next was the learning curve with Ubuntu/Gnome and I have to say it is high. Alot of the things that can be simple in Windows can be hell in Linux like getting a mouse and touchpad to work and play nice. However, the support community of Linux is huge and most problems I found I could fix with a quick google search. I did however have to do a few re-installs before I got it right.
Linux has gotten easier to use but is not up to Windows or Mac in easy of use. Where it tops both OSs is stability, when set-up right Linux is very stable and secure. Also, Linux has a lot of free software for it that is equal or better to expensive alternatives on the other OSs. Such as open office, which is like a free version of word97-2003ism office suite, Music players, GIMP, a free photo shop competitor, and all of it spy ware free!
The other place that Linux wins is it ability to run on almost anything. Linux if great if you have an old computer sitting around or just want internet, e-mail and an office suite. If you want more it takes learning how to do it. If you need to specialize it for something like audio editing or programing chances are your already know enough to figure it out and what programs to install.
So to rap up my rambling here, linux is not for people that just like to boot up and not ever have to touch their computers control panel. However, if set up by someone else in the know it can be fine. In fact many of the cheaper laptops like the EEEpc and some desktops are starting to come with pre-configured linux striped to do just whats needed. Also there are easier to use versions of linux like Gos and Mint Linux. If a little frustration is worth the trade off for a lot of "free" software" then give it a try. I like it over Vista but wanted to be cautionary that it is not for everyone!

Ok, so my last post I was wrong no hacker wars, WHOO!!!!!
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So for whats new:
*Over thanksgiving I missed an episode of House (trust me this is major to me) and went to watch in on Fox's website only to find that they only post shows a week after they air. In the words of Monty Python "You're doing it wrong". In most cases people want to watch the show they missed the day before not after the next weeks episode. Fox is going to loose ad revenue it could get from people watching the show on their site instead of elsewhere.

*What the Wii needs:
I've had a Wii since the summer, I've owned 3 games at a time for the entire time I've owned and turned it on only a handful of times in the last 2 months, the reason? no great games. So heres my plea to Nintendo, if your not going to make new games that are fun, get old games that where only arcade light gun games like area 51 and put them on the wii. If the wii keeps going the way its going its niche factor will die in less then a year as the xbox 360 and ps3 drop in price.

*Facebooks SNAFU
Facebook's Beacon issue shows that facebook is not the golden site everyone thinks it is. For those of you not in the know beacon was a program that published what people bought from certain sites into the news feed. This was too much of a privacy concern for people and facebook back tracked. However, the only of value in facebook is its data, what it knows about its users allows it to target them for advertising. If facebook oversteps its bounds again it could see a flight of its base to the next new thing, like what happened to myspace. Google can't take down facebook but instead just sit and wait till facebook shoots itself in the foot.

Google, Cell Phones, Social Networking and Al-Quada

Tomorrow Google is set to make an official announcement on a possible phone operating system (os). This system so far called gphone, could be many things, a series of online phone apps, a full os, free cell phone applications, or much ado about nothing. All that is known is that in the past few months google has taken out a lot of patents for cell phone related software. One of the few "known" features is that it will include the ability to send text messages in other languages no matter what language your phones key pad is in. However, Google even being the massive juggernaut it is will face some major road blocks. For one, unlike computers, where the hardware is close enough that OS's (mac, windows,linux, etc...) don't need to be written for each device (dell, hp,etc...), cell phones are more spread out and what works on a nokia might not work on a LG.An even bigger issue is the cell phone companies themselves, unlike in Europe where you often buy the phone separate from the carrier, in the US phones come locked and with a plan. If the cell phone companies (Verizon, AT&T, ect...) feel that google's Gphone will interfere with their services and loose them money they'll try and stop it. Even worse Google is fighting with some of the those companies over radio spectrum rights right now.

Google is also suppose to roll out its Facebook apps tomorrow but I wonder now how much they'll matter. Google seems to have given up on its own social networking and instead is building an alliance of other social networking sites. The goal of Googles group is to create a common code for social networking apps, or simply to make it that an app for myspace will work on flicker, orkut, and all the other social network sites on board. Compared to Facebook that uses a proprietary code for its apps (they'll only work on facebook and its not a standard coding language) Google is looking to make a series of interlinked sites to combat Facebook. Also, Google will use Google Ads to try to make it worth peoples time to program in their code since it will be for profit.

Finally, Al-Quada has supposedly declared E-Jihad on our western butts. Well, at least according to a post on www.Debka.com, an Israeli ran intelligence website. As a long time reader of Debka I can tell you they often get these things wrong, but when they reported on AL-Quada threat to New York earlier this year the NYPD took the information seriously (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/892166.html) . According to the the report Al-Quda is planing a nov 11th internet blitz against 15 websites that are either "Zionist or anti-Islam). If the goes well they plan further attacks. This wouldn't be the first "e-war", we got attacked electronically back during the conflict with Serbia and Estonia more recently got hit hard in an e-attack. If I had to wager a guess I would give creditability to the report. In recent months the US and our allies have done a good job have taking down Al-Quadas e-network and website, prompting their response. Also Al-Quad's MO seems to be attacking our military and finances. They like to do big attacks, embassies, the WTC, the navy, etc... Nothing truly is stopping them from hitting soft targets like schools, malls, buses, etc... I expect an "e-war" to be no different, expect government , businesses and banks websites to be their target not your blog, facebook, and other "soft internet targets." They will go for targets that will cause market damage, and cause issues beyond computers.

Do It Yourself: download your Wisc Mail

It happens from time to time, your sitting somewhere where you don't have an internet connection and need to read that e-mail your professor sent you. Well, there is an answer, you can download your wisc mail using a client like Thunderbird (from the same people who make Firefox). I could try to write a guide but DOIT already has http://kb.wisc.edu/wiscmail/page.php?id=5320 . If you use Gmail it also has a guide in options to set up the account to be downloaded. Being able to pull up your email without a live connection is great. And in the case of thunderbird the easy to set up filters are amazing. My set up filters all my email into its own box, a e-mail from my mom gets its own folder and each of my classes also gets its own. I'd be interested to find out how easy you find it to set these things up. E-mail me with any issues you have so I can explain them on my blog .

DIY: speed up your computer

I know I haven't posted in a while, so heres my first do-it-yourself post:
Often people come to me with computers running much slower then the should be. The most common problem is overloading the RAM. Think of RAM as the short term memory of a computer and the hard drive as the long term. If you click alt-ctrl-del (or alt-ctrl-esc in vista) and then click "processes" you'll see everything you have open. All those buttons next to the clock in windows are open programs eating memory and slowing your boot time. The method to fix this is easy.
Go to start menu->run-> type "msconfig" and hit enter
now click the start up tab
you should see a list of programs, click the box next to any program to stop it from booting up at start up. Certain programs like itunes or aim will eat up memory running in the back ground so close them. If its from Microsoft don't close it, other programs if your not sure look it up on google. This should speed up your computer and boot up.