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H: What is a cloaked message in Facebook
A coworker of mine is trying to figure this out and I haven't heard of it before. What is a "cloaked" message in Facebook?
AI: Your coworker MAY be talking about a Firefox plugin called CloakGuard. It requires all users to have the plugin installed and allows you to obfuscate certain portions of your content on Gmail, Facebook, and a few others using a password.
Not sure how well it works and haven't personally tried it. Here's a few videos showing it in action. |
H: How do I unlink my YouTube account from my Gmail account?
My YouTube account has been automatically linked to my Gmail account, but I want to keep my YouTube account separated from my Gmail account. I heard that the feature to unlink accounts was available. Is it? If yes, how do I access it?
I have tried phwd's solution and it's telling me that my account was permanently linked. Is their any way to get around this?
AI: You want this Unlink YouTube and Google Accounts
It is available via Account -> Manage Account -> Unlink YouTube and Google Accounts
However, if you signed up for YouTube after May, 2009, you can't unlink them. |
H: Text Only Facebook reader?
Is there a way I can read Facebook updates, see events, and view profiles in a text only sans JavaScript format? This is because I often surf using CHAP Links and Facebook is unusable in that tool.
AI: No. There use to be a Facebook lite version but that has been discontinued. Your best bet would be the mobile version at http://m.facebook.com. |
H: How do I cancel Google voice?
I would like to cancel my account so that it doesn't exist any longer. How do I do that?
AI: See this thread on the Google Voice forums.
Uncheck all your phones and turn on Do
Not Disturb. |
H: Is there a way to create a link to a particular position inside a Google Doc?
If I have shared a Google Doc with someone so we both can edit it, is there a way I can send that purpose a URL that, when clicked, takes that person to the Google Doc and scrolls down to a particular position? e.g.:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWJy3jZ323434343TBndDlqM3Y3dg&hl=en&target=Section%203
this example would search for and find the text "Section 3"
Is there a way to do this kind of deep linking into Google Docs?
AI: Create a bookmark (insert -> bookmark). Then you can add #name_of_bookmark to the end of the url.
eg:
http://docs.google.com/document/d/15xm3Bx4Elnjbg0VNY#name_of_bookmark |
H: What are some good online note annotation sites?
What are some good online note annotation sites?
What I mean by note annotations is something like Notable App which allows you to capture screenshots by URL or upload an image, make annotations and notes on that image and then allow you to share it with others.
Edit: I'm not looking for an app thats take down notes (I know many that are like this: Springpad, UberNote, Evernote, etc.). I'm looking for an app that helps me in getting feedback for a design by 'attaching sticky notes' to a site, much like how you might print out an image and then add notes to it through sticky notes.)
I'm currently using Notable App, but do others exist? Is there a better alternative? No specific criteria but there must be a free version of it.
AI: It's not quite out yet, but Coda Notes Safari extension looks to be exactly what you are after.
Free Range Feedback is also worth a look. |
H: Twitter Search API
How come when I do a search through the Twitter API, the results are so delayed, as opposed to how it is on the search.twitter.com?
I am writing a little joke script that responds to people in real time.
Any ideas?
AI: If you're looking to do real-time responding you may want to look in to Twitter Streaming API. You can use the filter method and supply 'track' keywords that function much like search but the result are streamed to you in real-time. |
H: How do I organize my labels in Gmail?
I have more than 100 labels in my Gmail account. They are currently displayed as a long list on the left side of the screen, and it's becoming quite difficult to use. Is there a way I can group certain labels? For example, I'm subscribed to a number programming mailing lists and want to group those labels as "Mailing lists" and collapse them, like folders in a file-system.
AI: I use the Nested Label ability in Gmail Labs. It works very well for maintaining a hierarchical system of labels. |
H: Remove past events from Google Calendar
I sync my Google calendar with Outlook.
I have recurring daily entires in my Outlook calendar which I would like to remove from Google calendar (and Outlook if necessary) when they are in the past.
Any suggestions on how I can do this?
AI: Edit 2022-03-25: Link below is dead.
Here is the active thread for this problem over at google support forums. There are some workarounds in that thread that might help you. |
H: What online computer language interpreters are available, so I can practice programming from my iPhone?
I want to play with interpreted code on my iPhone without jailbreaking. I'm familiar with tryruby for ruby. Are there any other online interpreters out there that I can use.
AI: Taken from Is there a web application that can replace an IDE like Eclipse?
You will want to check out http://ideone.com/
It is a mini IDE and debugging tool mainly used as a clipboard.
Example The following counts from 1 to 10
class ForDemo {
public static void main(String[] args){
for(int i=1; i<11; i++){
System.out.println("Count is: " + i)
}
}
}
Selecting Java in the side bar of ideone will give us
Main.java:4: ';' expected
System.out.println("Count is: " + i)
^
1 error
Then fixing that gives us the following shortlink http://ideone.com/gGqZy which you can share
I posted the output below
# 1: hide edit 3 seconds ago
result: success time: 0.03s memory: 213312 kB returned value: 0
input: no
output:
Count is: 1
Count is: 2
Count is: 3
Count is: 4
Count is: 5
Count is: 6
Count is: 7
Count is: 8
Count is: 9
Count is: 10 |
H: How can I filter my FaceBook news feed to a specific application?
For example, suppose I wanted to see all the recent news-feed entries for mafia wars. Is there a way to filter your feed down to a specific application?
I can do this using the Facebook iPhone app client, but haven't figured out a way to do it in the browser interface to the site.
AI: It does not seem to be possible. There is chatter in the Facebook Support Community but nothing to suggest that it is a feature right now.
There was a time where you could at least have priority of the filters by dragging but that seems to have been removed in the redesign.
For now until Facebook brings it back , you are going to be stuck with a add-on like Feed Filter or just stick those people you know use mafia wars into a Friend List . |
H: Accessing a password-protected iCalendar feed from Google Calendar
I want Google Calendar to show the events from a remote ics feed protected by HTTP Basic Authentication.
The URL is like:
http://user:password@host/path/eventList?site=calsite&format=calendar
But Google Calendar fails to load this URL ("could not fetch the URL").
How to achieve this?
AI: Google Calendar does not have the option to access password protected feeds.
Try using Yahoo Pipes, which will generate an obfuscated feed url to use in Google Calendar.
I've done this to access password protected RSS feeds in Google Reader.
To clarify:
password protected iCal feed => Yahoo Pipes => Google Calendar |
H: How to change color of event in Google calendar?
Is there a way to change the color of display of an event in Google Calendar like MS Outlook allow you to do with it's category ?
AI: In the web interface, on the left there's a list of your calendars. Each has an arrow that reveals a dropdown menu. In there, you can select a new color.
Note that this won't necessarily be reflected on other devices like iPhones.
Also note, where you see 'category' in Outloook, read 'calendar' in google calendar. it doesn't have the concept of categories. Just create a new calendar. |
H: Any alternatives to Google Apps for your domain?
I'm specifically interested in a webmail service, but I will appreciate suggestions to replace other components too.
AI: Zoho offer a pretty comprehensive range of products, most of which are free for a limited number of users/projects/whatever...
Calendar
Challenge
Chat
Creator
CRM
Discussions
Docs
Gadgets
Invoice
Mail
Meeting
Notebook
Office for Microsoft Sharepoint
People
Planner
Polls
Projects
Recruit
Reports
Sheet
Show
Viewer
Wiki
Writer
Even though the functionality overlaps, they integrate with Google Apps in some places, so you could have a hybrid solution. |
H: Is there any way to turn off friend suggestion on Facebook?
Imagine that I have two friends - Alice and Bob - and I want to prevent Alice from showing up in Bob's friend suggestions ("people you might know"). Can I do that?
AI: You cannot do that directly, but you can ask Alice to block Bob and then Bob will not see her.
To block Bob, Alice can go to Bob's profile and click "Report/Block this Person" and check the "Block this Person" box, or she can go to Account » Privacy Settings » Block Lists » Block Users and enter Bob's name or email address. |
H: Can I use Gmail for my email domain?
I use my own domain for email, so that I can use multiple email addresses when shopping online, subscribing, etc.
These are all redirected to Gmail.
I have created some addresses under that domain for use when sending in Gmail.
What I would like to do is send mail without the need to register each address separately, or create a new email address in "Google Apps for your domain".
Is there a method to register the whole domain with Gmail so that I can send email in this way without needing to verify a new address?
[Original answers suggested Google Apps for your domain. I didn't known about this, and I think it will be useful for me, but it doesn't obviously allow this feature.]
AI: Yes - use Google Apps for Your Domain.
It's free for up to 50 users.
Free GAFYD (as provided by Tobbe below)
UPDATE This answer is no longer valid if you don't already have a Google Apps account. Google Apps is no longer free for new signups!! (Thanks to asalamon74 for the update) |
H: Am I to trust my user/password to some apps that claim to be integrated with Twitter?
I have seen a couple of webapps that say something along the lines:
"Use your twitter account-> User ___ password __"
And then they take you to some other page.
After all this phishing warnings and all, why should I trust in one of those apps?
AI: What sites should do is use twitters oAuth to sign in, it will redirect you to twitter where you will be asked if want to share details (never your password). External sites will soon no longer be able to sign users into twitter using a username and password so behaviour like this will soon be going the way of the dodo.
To see it in action, I have built a site for the stack apps api that uses twitter oAuth called stack of twits. |
H: How can I send my emails in Thunderbird to Gmail?
I had, a long time ago, a non-free email account. Once I opened a Gmail account I forgot about it, but I still have all the emails stored (in Thunderbird format).
I would like to be able to join them with my current Gmail account, as it is always difficult to search for old emails. The ideal will be keeping the fields like To, Cc, etc, but just forwarding everything to Gmail could be enough.
I'm talking of about 700Mb of information.
Any ideas?
AI: You could add your Gmail account as a new IMAP account to Thunderbird. From there you can just drag them from your old account folder to the Gmail/[All Mail] folder.
See http://email.about.com/od/gmailtips/qt/How_to_Import_Mail_from_Mozilla_Thunderbird_in_Gmail.htm for steps. |
H: Blacklisting only a few senders from Gmail's "Forward a copy of incoming mail" feature
I have two Gmail accounts, one trusted and one for "untrusted" websites.
98% of the "untrusted" websites are actually nice, they don't send me any spam, all of the emails they send are actually important (hotel booking notifications, replies to comments, etc). So I have set my untrusted account to forward all emails to my trusted account.
Now how to deal with the 2% of spammers? In my untrusted account, I filtered them to be deleted directly, but even though, they are forwarded to my trusted account :-(
How to prevent these few messages from being forwarded?
Note: I don't want to log into my "untrusted" account more than twice a year.
AI: You can forward all incoming messages via the Forwarding and POP/IMAP settings tab. But you can also forward messages by creating a filter. Unfortunately, there's no way that I know of to order the filters and stop processing the remaining filters if an email matches certain criteria.
I have started using aliases for each website, such as [email protected] and [email protected]. I use these aliases in the To field of the filters to apply the correct labels etc.
If you have the ability to change your email address on the sites of the 'spammers' to something like [email protected], you can create a filter that applies to all emails sent to [email protected] (negative filter) and forward these messages to your trusted account.
Edit:
If you don't have the ability to change your email address, you can create a filter that filters out all emails that don't originate from a spam site. You can use a filter on the From field that looks like [email protected] AND [email protected]. It translates to "all emails that are not from site1.com and also not from site2.com". |
H: What are the alternatives to Facebook/Meetup for Event Planning
I'm looking for an online webapp to manage event planning.
Here's the list of ideal requirements I'm looking for:
To be able to propagate invitations to friends through either email and/or social network(s)
Can export a specific event entry in vCalendar format
Exposes an external API to retrieve a feed of events for a specific user/group
Displays a link to an RSS/Atom feed of events for a specific user/group
Displays a list of people who are invited and their status (attending/maybe/not)
Has a description field for the event
Has attached comments
Bonus:
Includes a rating for specific events
Includes a photo/video gallery or a way to link to an external gallery (Flickr/Youtube).
OpenID login
Note: To preserve cleanliness please only put one option per answer.
AI: We always use www.doodle.com to manage our meetings. It's specially helpful to find a time/date slot that fits everybody. Give it a try.
I'm in their Outlook Connector Beta Program, with that, my outlook calendar is always in sync with it.
And here the individual points:
To be able to propagate invitations to friends through either email and/or social network(s)
=> via email
Can export a specific event entry in vCalendar format
=> yep
Exposes an external API to retrieve a feed of events for a specific user/group
=> Yes, they have an API, but couldn't find it now.
Displays a link to an RSS/Atom feed of events for a specific user/group
=> no idea, but there is a subscribe link
Displays a list of people who are invited and their status (attending/maybe/not)
=> Absolutely
Has a description field for the event
=> Yes
Has attached comments
=> Yes |
H: Multiple dropbox accounts on one PC?
Is there a way to have a PC connect to multiple dropbox accounts?
I have a personal dropbox account which I use to sync files across multiple PCs and that all works fine.
However, someone who wishes to share documents with me (and several others) has suggested using dropbox to share the documents. They've setup a new dropbox account for just this purpose but I can't see how I can use this without unlinking my computer form my account.
Any ideas?
AI: Dropbox supports sharing content across multiple accounts.
On the Dropbox website, using the
account you wish to share from,
create a new folder (e.g. "my
project")
In the top toolbar, select "Invite to
folder", enter the email addresses
for the recipients (make sure it's
the email they already use for their
Dropbox account).
Each recipient will get an email
asking if they wish to accept the
share. When they do, the new folder
(e.g. "my project") will appear and
synch in their personal account.
The recipient can reorganise as they
see fit. just move the location of
the folder in their account (say to
move it into a "shared" folder or a
"Projects for Matt" folder) - it
won't affect anyone else who is
sharing it (only changes to the
contents of the folder will) |
H: Can I trust Dropbox and similar services?
Is there any verification that the encryption used can not be bypassed by the operator or should I actually use some encryption of my own like TrueCrypt?
edit In the light of this complaint against Dropbox by Christopher Soghoian, should the answers given to my question be revised?
edit2 it's getting better and better...
Bottom line: everything you never ever want to be made public should be encrypted by yourself.
AI: If your files are of a very sensitive nature then you should already be taking measures to secure them regardless of any promises or the good reputation of the service.
If however these files are of 'normal' sensitivity then the risk of bad press will usually be enough to guarantee they're good behaviour, after all your files are probably worth less to them than your (even potential) subscription fees. |
H: Online regex preview tool
Is there any good regex webapps out there?
I'd like to be able to set which type of regex syntax is used, enter some text and a regex and get matches highlighted. Preferably with different colors so it's easy to detect what in the regex is causing the match.
AI: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
http://www.rubular.com/ (Ruby)
http://regexpal.com/ (Nice and clean GUI)
http://www.regex-tester.de/regex.html (PHP)
http://www.debuggex.com (JavaScript and PCRE) |
H: Can I use Google analytics to get page view stats for several pages over time
I'm looking for a way in Google Analytics to get separate page view counts for a number of pages, aggregated by day, week or month
For example:
Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4
Page1 34 45 56 78
Page2 54 67 75 34
Page3 56 23 56 43
Can GA produce this kind of thing in a single report?
AI: OK. Hang on there, I'll try to be short. There's not an exact way to do this, but here's the thing that most resembles this:
Create a custom report
To do this, open the dashboard report for your site, and in the sidebar click "Custom Reporting -> Manage Custom Reports -> Create new custom report"
On the new screen you need to add one metric and one dimension
Drag and drop a PageViews metric (under the Site Usage category) and a Page dimension (under the Content category). The whole thing should look like this:
If you click Preview Report, it should give you pageviews per page, just as you want, but it will be for a predefined period (span of the two latest weeks)
Open the dropdown in the upper left corner to select a different time period, click the Timeline tab, then check the "Compare to past" checkbox. Fill in the periods you need to compare and click Apply.
The report should give you page views for the periods you have chosen (per page) and a percentage change between the respective periods
The downside to all of this is that you have to select periods every time you view the report, because there's no way to hardcode a period. The other disadvantage is that you can compare only two periods. I'm not aware of any way to overcome this, but I hope this helps a bit. |
H: How can I fully and immediately unsubscribe from Facebook?
I know that there's a way to suspend the Facebook account and it should be removed after 2 weeks.
However I would like to immediately and definitively remove my account, so that in their servers would no longer be any reference to me. In many countries that have privacy laws, companies are forced by law to provide a full opt-out option.
AI: Short answer : you can't.
Long answer : just remove all the information you have on your account, change privacy settings to the lowest possible.
This article explains how to remove your account : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/11/how-to-permanently-delete-your-account-on-popular-websites/
But be warned that it is not immediately removed (they say at least 14 days). |
H: How can I sort emails in Gmail by size?
Google has started to warn me that I am almost out of space in my Gmail account. How can I sort my messages by size to identify any expendable large emails in my account?
AI: This is not possible at the moment. If you look at the list of search operators, you'll see that the closest thing you can do is filter out all emails with an attachment.
An alternative would be to use an IMAP client (such as Thunderbird) and then use that interface.
Since you want that feature, express your needs over at the feature-suggestion site of Gmail.
Update 2014-02-20: Gmail has now size: and larger: operators. |
H: Web app to send Bulk SMS
Any recommendations for web apps for sending bulk SMS to several mobile numbers?
AI: Clickatell and Commzgate support bulk messages - both have easy-to-use web APIs as well. Both these services are quite expensive though.
If most of the SMSes you are sending are local, you can setup an SMS gateway (ozeki, visualtron etc), a GSM modem and send SMSes using a purchased SIM card. Remember to test using a prepaid SIM to avoid running up a large phone bill in case the automated system malfunctions. |
H: How to link to a friend in your facebook status update?
I want to say in my facebook status update that I heard so-and-so things from my friend "Chuck Turnbull". And I want the text of "Chuck Turnbull" to appear as a link to his profile. How do I do this?
AI: In the status update type @ followed by the freinds name and then select them from the list:
alt text http://cl.ly/1apF/Screen_shot_2010-07-08_at_13.27.36.png
alt text http://cl.ly/1aIq/Screen_shot_2010-07-08_at_13.28.36.png |
H: Are there any good Recipe Suggestion Web Apps?
I'm looking for a web app that will allow me to input a bunch of ingredients I have lying around and will output some recipes I could make with all or most of the ingredients.
Does such a tool exist?
AI: Sounds like www.supercook.com is exactly what you are looking for. It sorts recipes by how many of the ingredients you have and what you'd need to go to the store for (if any). You can also have it exclude items you don't like.
Supercook is a new recipe search
engine that finds recipes you can make
with only the ingredients you have at
home. To begin, simply start adding
ingredients you have in the green box
on the top left. The more ingredients
you add, the better the results will
be.be. |
H: Where can I see my total Amazon S3 usage?
I don't seem to be able to find a total amount of data I have stored in Amazon S3.
Total per bucket is okay, entire total also, and both would be best.
AI: Go to aws.amazon.com and click Account > Usage Reports
After signing in, select Amazon Simple Storage Service from the Service drop down and then select TimedStorage-ByteHrs from the Usage Types drop down. Select the period of time you want to be reported and use the buttons at the bottom to download the report.
The usage report gives a storage total for each bucket and each day, which is necessary to bill properly for additions and deletions. If all you need is the current total, just select a custom date range that includes only yesterday. If you download in CSV format it should be an easy matter to open the file in a spreadsheet application and sum the storage totals for all the buckets. |
H: What are the existing services for sharing code?
I was wondering what are the existing service for sharing code. The only one I know is http://pastebin.ca/
What are the other alternative and what feature do they have ?
AI: There are 4 that I know of:
http://bitbucket.org/ (for Mercurial Version Control)
http://github.com/ (for Git Version Control)
http://www.codeplex.com/
http://sourceforge.net/
The big difference in features are that options 1 and 2 seamlessly integrate version control and allow you to have public and private projects. So you will be able to work with others on code without the whole world seeing it.
Options 3 and 4 allow version control but I am not sure how tightly integrated they are with certain version control systems. Also, my understanding is that you can't keep projects private in those 2 systems.
In general the Ruby community used github, the python community uses bitbucket, microsoft runs codeplex, and sourceforge is all about open source. Though I believe you can use any language with any of them.
For code snippets I think http://ideone.com/, http://friendpaste.com/, and http://jsfiddle.net/ are good. JSFiddle is especially awesome for editing and sharing Javascript. |
H: How do I share a link in Google Reader that I do not subscribe to?
I really enjoy using Google Reader. I subscribe to the sites I frequently visit/read and often share/like/star those links. But I have yet to see how I can share a link on a site I don't normally read/subscribe to.
This is something that Delicious does very well, and I use a bookmarklet within Chrome to achieve this.
How do I share a link in Google Reader that I do not subscribe to?
AI: Use the Google Reader Bookmarklet
It allows you to click a link on your bookmarks toolbar and it automatically shares the page you're currently on through Google Reader, exactly what you want I think. |
H: In Gmail, how can I attach an attachment from one email to another, without saving the attachment first or forwarding the message?
I often need to attach attachments from one email (or multiple ones) to another, without wanting to forward the original message. In a desktop client I would simply click and drag the attachment from one message to the other, but that doesn't work in Gmail. Having to first save the attachment is a pain... Is there a way this can be done?
edit
In particular, I am looking for an easy solution to a situation where I want to consolidate multiple attachments from different messages into one new message. For single messages I'll live with forwarding and changing the message per below answers...
edit 2
Mailbrowser, per @phwd below, is a pretty good solution for multiple file forwards. Find the file you're looking for, copy the file location and paste it in the file upload dialog. No click and drag, but a lot quicker than manually saving and re-uploading.
AI: The way I do this is to click the Forward option and then type in a new Subject and clear the message text so I have an new message but with the attachments in place.
I'd be surprised if there's a quicker way than this; entering a new Subject doesn't take that long. |
H: What are some good Web Tools to help me format my code for blogs?
What are some good Web Tools to help me format my code for blogs?
I'd like to be able to copy & paste my code into textbox/textarea and have the web tool format it nicely for various popular blogging sites.
Features: Color, indentation, line numbers, etc.
Languages: C/C++/C#, VB.net, XML/HTML/Xaml, Ruby, etc.
Bloging sites: Blogger, Wordpress, etc
AI: GitHub's gist service has a rather neat embedding tool and recognises loads of different languages. I've use this to embed code snippet occasionally.
Also anything based around GeSHi works great, I've had good experiences with the CodeColorer plugin for wordpress. |
H: How do I list dates of latest posts for all feeds in Google Reader?
I have lots of feeds in Google Reader. Some of them are inactive for a long time. I'd like to clean it up.
What I'm looking for is a way to list all feeds with date of their latest post. That way I can see which ones are dead. Is it possible?
I think I saw this in Google Reader few years back, but I can't find it now.
AI: Your stuff | Trends
Then under "Subscription trends" click "inactive" |
H: Is there a way to forward my Yahoo mail to my Gmail account without paying?
I looked around a little bit on Yahoo and it looks like if I upgrade, I can forward my email. But I'm a cheapskate and I hate checking different accounts. Is there anything I can do?
AI: update: It seems like Yahoo closed the loophole below, but I was able to forward my new @ymail.com email account by using this link. YMMV: another regular @yahoo.com email did not work... source
I've been forwarding my free Yahoo email to my Gmail for a long time, now...
Try changing your location setting:
You can forward Yahoo email without
having a Yahoo Plus account for FREE.
Just change your location setting to
Yahoo! Asia. Then your mail settings
will allow you to forward or use POP
to synch or forward to GMAIL. [This
works like a charm!!! This does not
change your time zone]
via WikiHow |
H: How do I migrate a Gmail account to a G Suite Account?
I've had a regular Gmail account for years. I recently obtained a personal domain and set up G Suite on it (the free version).
I would like to migrate as much as possible of my existing Gmail account over to an account in the Google Apps for my domain. This includes but is not limited to email, documents, calendars, etc. - As much as possible.
AI: There is no easy way to do this. Email is the hardest part.
This is the guide I followed:
http://base6.com/2009/06/15/migrating-from-gmail-to-google-apps/
Exact Steps I followed:
Documents (Not in the guide):
Share all of your existing documents with full privileges with your new apps account.
Email (From the comments on the guide):
In your Gmail account (From where you want to import all your emails to your Google Apps statndard account) go to ‘Settings’
Then click on ‘Forwarding POP/IMAP’ tab.
Then select ‘Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded)select allow POP for all’
Now go to your Google Apps account.
Go to ‘Settings’
The click on ‘Accounts’ tab
In the section ‘Get mail from other accounts:’ Click on the link ‘Add a mail account you own’
A new window pops up, just follow the process of providing your Gmail Account information
Probably 2nd page into it, it will ask for username, password, etc. and it will have a drop down menu next to Pop server: select the 1st ‘pop.gmail.com’ in the list
do not check mark leave messages as gmail does not support it
Check mark label and give it a good label like: ‘My Gmail’ or something.
Then click Add Account and it will go through the verification. Once you verify the account. You are done.
Now you can go back to the inbox and you should see your ‘My Gmail’ label. Click on it and it should download all your emails from your Gmail account. Please note that you will lose all the emails in your Gmail Account.
Final step is to then go back to the Gmail Account and disable POP download and enable forwarding to your google apps email account.
Calendar (Directly from the guide):
On GMail calendar, goto Settings ->
Calendars -> Export Calendars to
download a ZIP of your calendars in
ICAL format.
On Google Apps
calendar, goto Settings -> Calendars
Contacts (Directly from the guide):
On GMail contacts, use the Export option to export each group in Google’s CSV format. Then export one more CSV of “Everyone (All Contacts)”
On Google Apps contacts:
Use the Import option to import the CSV of Everyone, leaving the “Add these imported contacts to: ” option unchecked.
Then use the Import option to import each group in turn, checking the “Add these imported contacts to: New Group… ” option, and enter the name of the group.
-> Import calendar and import the ICAL entries to your calendar.2. |
H: Facebook chat through instant messaging client?
Does Facebook chat allow access through an IM client like Google Talk does?
Specifically, is there a way I can access it from Pidgin/Finch?
AI: From the Facebook Chat Support information...
In Pidgin:
Go to "Accounts" and select "Manage accounts".
On the Basic tab, enter the following info:
Protocol: XMPP
Username: [Your Facebook short URL/number]
Domain: chat.facebook.com
Resource: Pidgin
Password: [your Facebook password]
Local alias: [Your name]
Click the Advanced tab, then enter the following info:
Connect port: 5222
Connect server: chat.facebook.com
(Untick the box labelled "Require SSL/TLS") |
H: How do convert a whole RSS feed into a PDF?
I want to take a blog and make a PDF out of the RSS feed so I can save it somewhere for offline viewing.
I want to save every single post into the PDF.
What's the best way to do that?
AI: xFruits
FeedJournal
FiveFilters PDF Newspaper
(source: webresourcesdepot.com)
A Google gadget
RSS2PDF
RSS2 can generate a PDF from
multiple feeds |
H: Is there any where to submit feature requests for Gmail (or other Google apps)?
For example, filters are particularly under-featured at the moment.
It'd be great if there was an avenue for people to whine about the things they wanted added, in the hope that Google will decide to add the missing stuff.
Is there an interface for this anywhere?
AI: Suggest a feature for:
Chrome
Earth
Finance
Gmail
Google Voice
Maps
Sites
Other products (use a Google search) |
H: How can I filter incoming email based on plus addressing in Gmail?
I currently have some basic filters in Gmail, but the other day I heard someone mention you could use a plus sign in your address to filter incoming email?
Can someone elaborate?
AI: This is your regular email address:
[email protected]
This is your email with plus addressing:
[email protected]
When you create a filter, just filter for messages sent To the one with the particular word after the plus (+) sign.
So your filter will look like this:
To: [email protected]
Now you can just hand out that email address with the plus and seed word and any incoming mail sent to that will be filtered however you want to deal with it. |
H: Replying from Gmail with custom POP3 settings and auto selecting the associated custom SMTP settings
I set up Gmail to add a POP3 and SMTP server for sending mail. Whenever I get mail to that new address though, and I press on reply it still tries to reply by default by using my @gmail.com address.
Is there a way that when I get mail to that new POP3 account, that it will auto select the associated SMTP account?
AI: Yes.
You need to add that email address as an account that you can send from (if you haven't aleady done that).
Then you need to turn on the setting to reply as the account sent to.
Both settings can be found under Settings | Accounts and Import.
See also: Gmail support |
H: Can you keep separate Sent folders in Gmail for each of your custom SMTP servers?
Is there a way to keep separate Sent folders in Gmail for each of your custom SMTP servers?
I already use labels to differentiate them by the way, but 2 Sent Mail folders would be ideal.
AI: Sort of.
You can create a filter that looks at the from: field and applies a specific label. You'd then need labels for each (sent-mail1, sent-mail2, etc.).
The messages will still end up in "Sent Mail" as well, of course.
I do something similar. I have filters to have all messages where a specific e-mail is in the from: or to: get a label for that address. |
H: What are some good choices for doing diffs between text documents?
I often have large chunks of text (like code or some data) that I want to do a diff on but am too lazy to create two new files, run diff on them both, and then scan the output.
Are there any good web apps that show you diffs?
What about ones specifically for code?
Or ones that do it completely in-browser to respect your privacy?
AI: Quick Diff Online Tool |
H: Is there a way to use Skype chat from within the browser?
Is there a way to use Skype's chat features from within the browser?
It would be great to be able to converse with your contact in situations where you can't necessarily install applications (while traveling, using others computers, etc.)
AI: I've heard of Imo.im but have never tried it. |
H: What's the quickest way to add a feed to Google Reader?
From a feedburner feed by clicking on the Google icon, it's 3 clicks.
From Google Chrome with Google RSS browser extension I've managed 2 clicks (must click subscribe when in Google Reader).
Anyone know how to do 1-click?
AI: The Better GReader extension for Firefox offers an "Auto Add to Reader" option that skips the interim screen from Google that asks if you want to add to Reader or iGoogle. You still need to click to confirm, though.
The "Subscribe" bookmarklet on the Official Google Reader blog does essentially the same thing.
(I don't think you're going to get around that confirmation in Reader. Even the "Add Subscription" tool in Reader itself requires two clicks to paste and accept.) |
H: Get Facebook to display my friends from a particular city
How do I get Facebook to show me just my friends from a particular city?
AI: Go to your profile
In your Friends box on the left, click See All
In the dialog box that pops up click Browse at the top
Select Show: By City
Select the desired City |
H: How easy is it to migrate all your 'Google Account' based services to the 'Google Apps For Your Domain' trial
Just received the following email:
I have services such as Reader and Picasa using regular Google Accounts.
Is there an easy way to import them in one step?
Do I have to export from every service on each account and reimport in to the GAFYD services?
AI: I just went through this transition. Some stuff is really easy to do - others are hard. Google provides info on how to move things across at their Help Centre, with a list of what can be migrated and how:
Data Transfer
You can transfer information from one
account to another for the following
products. For any other product,
transferring product information is
currently unavailable. This may change
over time, so check back here for
updates.
AdWords
Blogger
Bookmarks (Export and import)
Contacts (Export and import)
FeedBurner
iGoogle (To transfer data, create your own backup and restore it to the new account through XML)
Maps: Saved Locations
Reader
YouTube
Sharing Options
You can use sharing options with the
following products to share data
between accounts you own:
Analytics
App Engine
Calendar
Docs (For Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and Forms)
Maps: My Maps
Picasa
Sites
For the 2 you mention...
Reader - export & import subscriptions works really well, you just lose all your reading statistics etc - this didn't matter to me really.
Picasa - I changed my logon in the software on my computer and set all my albums to re-sync... laborious, but I'm back up and running. Annoyance: all my photos are now in a different place under a different username. The old one still works though. You'll lose comments & stuff too this way - again, this didn't matter to me as I only had a couple! |
H: Mark as read in Gmail
I'd like to know how I can mark all messages with a certain tag as read, all at once.
I have around 2000 unread messages with a certain tag, and I don't want to go through endless pages of "select all" -> "mark as read"
AI: There are two ways:
Perform a search to find all the messages you want to select. (You can use is:unread too)
Click select all
You will see that above the first item in the list there is a banner that says something like: All 50 conversations on this page are selected. Select all # conversations in "..."; click that link.
You can also do this with a filter, by creating the filter, choosing to mark the messages as read, and then choosing to apply the filter to the matching conversations. Then simply delete the filter. |
H: I want a new unique online identity - how to find one?
I want to start a new online identity and use a single common identifier on as many sites as possible.
What web apps or other methods are available for me to check if my proposed nickname is already in use?
I definitely want to avoid any service that might start cybersquatting on the name, if any are suspected of doing that.
Edit: agreed, this does make my online presence very searchable, and I'll give that some more thought.
AI: namechk.com will check 149 sites (although some don't seem to work). The check is done on the client-side using JavaScript, so name squatting is not easily possible. |
H: Is there a way to delete multiple Picasa Web Albums in one operation?
I have a bunch of albums that I need to delete from Picasaweb. Is there a way to do this, or do I have to go through them one at a time to delete them?
AI: You could use the Google Command Line tool.
google picasa list
google picasa delete --title "Your album name"
You would have to create a batch file to delete multiple albums by name.
Or try typing in part of an album name as a wildcard. Experiment with it. It will prompt you with a confirmation on every album that matches the wildcard as seen below:
yes | google picasa delete --title "2010."
HINT: No need to include "google" in interactive mode
Are you SURE you want to delete album "2010.8.09"? (y/N): y
Are you SURE you want to delete album "2010.08.09"? (y/N): y
Are you SURE you want to delete album "2010.08.14"? (y/N): y
Are you SURE you want to delete album "2010.07.29"? (y/N): y
Are you SURE you want to delete album "2010.06.09"? (y/N): y |
H: How do I join a new network on Facebook?
I'm accepted to a college, and I want to join its network. How do I do that?
AI: Click to the Account menu on the top-right, and go to Account Settings, and there is a Networks tab. You can find networks to join there, and in your case, you will need to provide an email from your school (@yourschool.edu), where you will receive a confirmation email. |
H: Is there a limit to how many items a filter can search for in Gmail?
I've setup gmail to capture all of my newsletter type mail using a single filter:
from:(railsstudio OR vistaprint OR shutterfly OR Weaknees OR snapfish OR
lobster OR rentals OR
vrbo OR "world vision" OR benihana OR
madcap OR "Denver Center" OR "Great
Harvest" OR "Olive Tree" OR "Cold
Stone" OR Tivo OR Maggiano OR
Marriott)
I then apply a label to all of those messages.
Is this a good approach to label mail from a lot of sources? Is there a limit to how many items can be in my "OR" list? Is there a performance tradeoff between one OR filter and lots of single filters?
AI: I would not worry about performance since it won't significantly affect your experience in Gmail, especially since this only gets applied to incoming emails.
I think in this case it is a matter of personal preference. If you really want to have everything wrapped in one filter, then your approach is fine. I would personally recommend separate filters, though, so you could turn on/off individual filters for troubleshooting purposes, or if you change your mind on what labels you'd like to have applied.
For example, if the word "rentals" is too generic and false positives start getting labeled, you'd have to edit that long filter text. If you had a separate filter for each keyword, you could simply edit or delete one filter. Also, if you add a lot more keywords to filter by, it might be easier to just add them as separate filters rather than deal with squeezing more characters into one long filter list.
I don't see any harm in labeling mail from a lot of sources. It all comes down to how precise your filter is and whether the keywords affect only those emails you want and none other. In the end the filters are meant to help you organize your email, and that's exactly what you're using them to do. |
H: Rotating a PDF in Google Docs
I have a PDF on Google Docs, but the image is sideways. I would like to rotate the document so it can be read, but I don't want to install any PDF editing software.
Is there an easy way to do this?
AI: Google Docs doesn't support it, but there is Rotate PDF which is a free online service. |
H: How do I download a YouTube video?
How do I download a YouTube video?
I have used various solutions in the past that do not seem to work any longer (KeepVid and various Greasemonkey scripts). Is this just no longer possible?
AI: If you're using Firefox as your browser, there are a wealth of addons available for the purpose. Personally I use NetVideoHunter. It suits the way I work. Other options are;
Video DownloadHelper
1-Click YouTube Video Download
There are plenty of others..
For Google Chrome, you could try:
YouTube Downloader - 1.1
Opera has a number of widgets available for the same purpose, but I know nothing about them, like wise Internet Explorer, I haven't used that in years...
Alternatively there is a really useful bookmarklet at Clipnabber. |
H: Attach multiple files to an email from Google Docs
I want to email two files as attachments to a single email in Gmail without downloading them from Google Docs. When viewing all items in Docs, the "Email as attachment" item is disabled in the Share dropdown menu.
First off...why? Second, is there any way around this?
AI: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=58225
"Keep in mind that it's not possible to email multiple docs as attachments."
Looks like your only option is to download multiple docs (More Actions > Export > Download) and attach the resulting zip to an email ... or to go through the "Email as attachment" process multiple times. |
H: FriendFeed backdating feeds?
I have just created a FriendFeed account for the following:
Twitter
Facebook
Delicious
Wordpress RSS feed 1
Wordpress RSS feed 2
These are all personal things that I want stored in a single place.
FF has only imported 60 items.
Is this normal and is there a way to make it backdate all the way to the beginning of my Facebook / Twitter account etc? (There is a large amount of data altogether.)
AI: RSS feeds are meant to be used to follow news, so it will give you the latest updates. It is meant to be checked quite often.
In this approach, there is no need to provide RSS "file" with a list of all items since the beginning, it's not the goal of it. This is why most RSS feeds contain only a fixed number of latest elements. Since a RSS feed is simply an XML file provided by the sites, they don't have interest in having it contain all data since the beginning, as it would be too voluminous, especially to check often.
So to answer you, this is why most of your RSS will miss the first elements. And Friendfeed can't do something about it.
It could be different for the ones accessed via some API (like maybe Twitter and Facebook, I don't know), maybe these ones could give you the totality of updates.
But my guess is that Friendfeed's purpose is to centralize updates from different services. As such, only the most recent are necessary, no need for them to import the whole archive. I don't think there is any setting in FF for that. At least I have not found one. |
H: Is there a way to not have the new gmail Signature add "--" before it?
Gmail now supports multiple rich-text signatures. However it prepends "--" before the signature. Is there a way to disable this?
AI: Yes
In "General" settings, under the signature text box, check the check-box that says
Insert this signature before quoted text in replies and remove the
"--" line that precedes it. |
H: What's the difference between the 'Move to' and 'Apply label' features in Gmail?
I'm confused about the Move to and Labels feature in Gmail.
What's the difference between the two?
Why does the Move to option not appear sometimes?
AI: It seems as though there are 3 modes when viewing Gmail messages:
1. Mailbox Mode:
Invoked by: clicking a mailbox on the top left (e.g. Inbox, Starred, etc.).
Interface: Blue
URL: ends with #inbox, #starred, etc.
Top left button:
For Spam and Trash: Delete forever
For all the rest: Archive
Buttons available: Labels and:
For Inbox, Spam and Trash: Move to
For all the rest: Move to Inbox
Dragging a message will: Move it
2. Label Mode:
Invoked by: clicking a label on the left.
Interface: Green
URL: ends with #label/[my-label].
Top left button: Remove label "[my-label]".
Buttons available: Move to and Labels.
Dragging a message will: Move it
3. Search Mode:
Invoked by: pressing the Search Mail button.
Interface: Green
URL: ends with #search/[my-query].
Top left button: Archive (There will also be the text Search results for:[my-query] to its left).
Buttons available: Move to Inbox and Labels.
Dragging a message will: Label it
Note that when you drag a message you can drop it on: Inbox, Starred, Spam, Trash, or one of your labels. If you are in search mode and drag a label onto a Mailbox, it will say Label, but it will actually Move the message.
You will notice that modes 1 and 2 behave almost exactly the same. When you click through to a message from a list, it will show the exact same buttons the list had.
Notice how Move to is only available when the concept of a folder is used. For example, the Inbox acts as a folder since a message can't be both in the Inbox and Spam (or Trash). Similarly, when you press on a label to go into Label Mode, it treats the label as if it were a folder (even though it may be tagged with multiple labels).
When you Move a message it will remove the label/folder you are currently viewing from the message and apply a new one. For example, say a message is marked as label-a, label-b, and label-c. Now you click on label-b on the left to enter Label Mode. Next, you move the message to label-d. What happens is label-b is removed and label-d is added. The other labels remain on the message. The message will now be labeled: label-a, label-c, label-d.
Similarly, if a message is in the Inbox and you Move it to the Trash, it will be removed from the Inbox and moved to the Trash.
When you use the Label feature, you simply choose which labels to add or remove. Nothing will be done automatically for you. |
H: Snopes.com Can't highlight text - why?
Does anyone know why I can't highlight text when visiting Snopes.com? Give it a try and see if it works for you - This is something that happens on every computer I've visited Snopes from, if I had to guess I'd say 3 or 4, in both Windows and Linux, Firefox and IE.
It's not the main screen, but if you view a topic and/or a legend (any of them, they all do it) you'll see what I mean. This has bothered me for a couple of years now, and I know its not specific to my computer...I just want an explanation as to why.
AI: Looks like they have some script mayhem specifically preventing it.
Check this out when viewing the source:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var omitformtags=["input", "textarea", "select"]
omitformtags=omitformtags.join("|")
function disableselect(e){
if (omitformtags.indexOf(e.target.tagName.toLowerCase())==-1)
return false
}
function reEnable(){
return true
}
if (typeof document.onselectstart!="undefined")
document.onselectstart=new Function ("return false")
else{
document.onmousedown=disableselect
document.onmouseup=reEnable
}
-->
</script> |
H: Is there a WordPress plugin that will tweet when a scheduled post is posted?
I know there are tons of Twitter/WordPress plugins out there, but so far I have not been able to get one to do what I need.
I have lots of scheduled posts. When a scheduled post goes like, I would like a Tweet to go out announcing it. There seem to be lots of plugins that will tweet when you publish a post, but so far none of the ones I have tried will do it on a scheduled post. Right now, I am using Twitter Publisher, which does not do what I want.
Anyone using something that works?
AI: You don't necessarily need a plugin to do that. Here are 2 alternate methods:
FriendFeed
You can use FriendFeed (details here, disclaimer it's my blog).
FeedBurner
If you use FeedBurner to manage the RSS of your blog, you can go to the Publicize tab, then click on the Socialize sidebar link and set-up FeedBurner to post on Twitter when a new post comes up (it has more options then FriendFeed). |
H: Is there a way to search labels based on stemming in Gmail?
Say I have the label Home/Family/Kids and Home/Family, is there any search expression that can match both of these with a single term? For example, I want to use a search query like label:Home/Family*.
Note that using Home/Family/Kids OR Home/Family is not a good solution since I have many labels and this wouldn't be practical.
AI: Using the complex OR is annoying, but being the only workaround I suggest you use it with the combination of the Quick Links Lab feature.
Quick Links by Dan P
Adds a box to the left column that
gives you 1-click access to any
bookmarkable URL in Gmail. You can use
it for saving frequent searches,
important individual messages, and
more.more.
You will be able to save the complex searches and recall them when needed. |
H: Can I modify the format of the text used to post to Twitter by Typepad?
I dislike the format that Typepad uses when posting to Twitter to alert my followers that I've created a new blog post. Is there a mechanism to change the format?
AI: As I answered in the question "Is there a Wordpress plugin that will tweet when a scheduled post is posted?", if you use FeedBurner to manage your blog's RSS feed, you can set it up to post to Twitter automatically. It even offers a bunch of options about the format of the tweet.
If you use FeedBurner to manage the RSS of your blog, you can go to the Publicize tab, then click on the Socialize sidebar link and set-up FeedBurner to post on Twitter when a new post comes up (it has more options then FriendFeed). |
H: Moving Google Analytics Accounts Within GA
On my google analytics page I have a bunch of "accounts" in my overview that I want to move under 1 "account" as "profiles"
How can this be accomplished without losing past data?
AI: Not possible, see: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Analytics/thread?tid=3016c4995db25139&hl=en |
H: Is there a web app that validates XML?
I have a plain old XML document and an XML schema document. Is there a simple web app that can validate whether the former conforms to the latter? I'd rather not go with a heavy solution if I don't have to.
(Would someone retag this, please? I hate to be a bad tagger, but I don't have the rep to create new tags and all the relevant tags I can think of would be new.)
EDIT:
Great suggestions so far, but now I'm looking at a schema with include tags. Is there a web app that can handle those, or am I now asking too much?
AI: There are a number of web applications which will validate an XML document against a particular schema.
http://tools.decisionsoft.com/schemaValidate/
http://www.xmlvalidation.com/
http://www.xmlme.com/Validator.aspx
http://www.xmlforasp.net/SchemaValidator.aspx
I think it's a case of picking and using the tool which has the interface that you like the most as they all do the same job. |
H: What technology is behind Web App X?
Is there some app/blog/site on the net that describes what technology is behind each Web Application? I would love to read about which wonderful technology that is powering the big WebApps like Reddit, Digg, Facebook, Stackexchange and so on.
Something similar to this for DuckDuckGo
AI: High Scalability has a lot of very good articles on how the 'big' sites run and scale. |
H: Help Me Understand How Apps and Pages on Facebook Work and How to Use Them
I run a website that has a Facebook application in order to post status updates and other messages to our member's pages. We also want to use Facebook to post updates about the site and accumulate fans, likes, etc. We need to have an application in order to be able to post to member's pages, but our application doesn't actually do anything - if you go to our app page it just directs you to our website.
Questions:
Should we have both a Facebook page and a Facebook application or just an application?
What exactly is the difference between the two?
How do other websites manage this?
Relevant pages:
http://apps.facebook.com/withfit/ - Our current app, doesn't really do anything.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/apps/application.php?id=251128963105 - Our applications profile.
AI: Depends what you mean by post to walls. If you really want if showing on their wall so that they and all their friends see it then yes you need an application. This might be annoying to all your users friends and they can block you. If you just have a page updates you post to the page will show up on the home screen (not profile) of your fans. Remember not everything on facebook shows up it's like SEO you have to do FBO |
H: How to create a map of a fictional place with Google Maps
The wiki for one of the video games I play has a map of the game world powered by Google Maps. You can see the map here.
How would I go about creating a map like this for my own project?
Is this done through the Google Maps API?
AI: The Google Maps API has a custom map tiles feature. |
H: May I create a Facebook Page for a client?
A client has requested that I see about creating a Facebook page for her organization - a nonprofit. She does not use Facebook herself, though I do. I am not a member of the organization, if it matters.
Is it possible, or even appropriate for that matter, for me to create and manage a page for the client? Will there be any way to transfer control of the page at a later time to a member of the organization?
AI: Yes, it is perfectly possible, and appropriate to create pages on behalf of an organisation (or brand or product for that matter). It's very rare that a client will be able to manage their online presence, especially if they are none-technical : that's the reason why they employ marketing agencies after all.
Create the page via http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/manage/ - be aware that in order to set the "pretty url" (e.g. faceboom.com/my-charity), the page needs to have a minimum number of people "connected to it" (fans). Currently this figure is 25.
After the page it set up, you can add additional Admin users to allow them to control / edit the page. I guess you should therefore be able to transfer ownership by adding the new owner, and then removing yourself (though I haven't tried this so I can't confirm). |
H: Do I always see all the tweets of people I'm following on Twitter?
Just a idle curiosity here, but I've wondered if at certain times I'm not seeing all the tweets by the people I follow.
A couple of things have led me to this conclusion:
At the moment I'm on pretty much all day (some days) and I would have thought that with the "N new tweets" messages and the occasional reload I'd see everything, but sometimes I see a tweet which is clearly a reply to something someone else posted earlier when I don't remember seeing it.
There are some people I hardly see any tweets from at all, yet when I check their profiles they have recent activity.
I'll freely admit that I can't remember all the tweets I see during a day, but I'm not following that many active people so I'm fairly likely to remember if X or Y posted.
I should add that I use the web interface (rather than a desktop app or any other feed) to view Twitter and I'm using Google Chrome on Windows-XP (just in case it makes a difference).
AI: I would say yes you do receive them all.
Certain replies unless you follow both users are not able to be seen.
Cases for replies and mentions :
Your account is protected mentions
sent to people who aren't following
you will not be seen.
You will only see replies in your
home time line if you are following
both the sender and recipient of the
tweet
You will see mentions not replies in
your timeline as long as you are
following the sender
Even during the heaviest traffic times in World Cup I was able to see all the user tweets.
The home timeline only receives 20 tweets without the refresh using the more button or the "N new tweets" message. That way it might seem to someone that they are not receiving all the tweets.
For example if X users > 20 posted at 2:30 pm during a World Cup game , it would appear to you that person Y's tweet is missing. It is there , it is just that the timeline only displays 20.
To verify this , you can test with the following tabs open on your browser.
http://twitter.com/home
http://snapbird.org/ (Search your
friends' tweets and blank for the
search term)
http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/home_timeline.xml
(Inspect in web developer mode using
your firefox or chrome browser)
Looking at these three will tell you that you are in fact getting all your tweets.
Edit
If you inspect a user's timeline and are sure that it does not match up with the three above then I would suggest to check http://status.twitter.com/ to see the current status of any errors that are occurring site-wide.
If you think it is more localized you can submit a Twicket : http://help.twitter.com/requests/new
Think your Twicket is taking too long shoot a mention to @delbius the lead on Twitter's Trust and Safety team. |
H: Where are responses to a video listed on YouTube?
In the new skin I can't find out where video responses to a video are listed, nor which video a video is in response to. Is the information still available, or did Google forget about it in the redesign?
AI: There should be a panel below the video containing all video responses, including a link to the video it's a response to.
To find out whether a video really has responses, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/video_response_view_all?v=vidid
Replace vidid with the video's id. If there aren't any video responses, you'll get an error message telling you this. |
H: OpenID, Gmail, Facebook, Yahoo login for WordPress
I am looking for a way to allow users from different sites
OpenID
Gmail
Facebook
Yahoo
AOL
to login with their respective username/id.
An example can be seen on this page
Is there something like this for free for WordPress?
AI: Word press has an openid plugin. I am not sure if it works with the other login services.
This plugin can do also other services like
Quickly register and login users with their existing accounts from Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, Windows Live, MySpace, AOL or OpenID |
H: Mint alternatives for Canada
Any suggestion for True North habitants?
AI: Check out https://www.quickenonline.intuit.com/quickenweb/pages/iam/login_main.jsf and http://yodlee.com/ymc_home.shtml.
I found most of my into on the forum http://forums.redflagdeals.com/there-mint-com-substitute-canada-745910/.
It looks like there could be an issue because Canadian banks don't generally allow outside access to their accounts. Mint was just purchased by Intiut so they probably haven't had time to get Canada integration since Mint was a smaller company. I would try the Intuit one first as they are such a large and old org that if they don't support Canada then no one probably does.
Also, Wesabe.com would have been another option but they have closed down as of this month. |
H: How can I convert 1930s dollars to today's (cost of living adjustment)?
Google Calculator can convert one currency to another at today's exchange rates, but often I'll want to convert one currency to itself at a different time.
For example, what would $1,000 in 1930 be worth in today's dollars?
Is there a Web app to do this?
AI: Slap it into WolframAlpha (although I still dislike the guess-the-syntax game)
Here is what you can use.
compute the current value of a historical quantity of money
$1000 (1930 dollars)
compute historical equivalent value of today's money
1000 current dollars in 1930
convert one historical quantity of money to another
$1000 1930 dollars in 1975
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=+$1,000+in+1930+be+worth+today
This returns
$ 12952.10(2010 US dollars)
Also gives the purchasing power.
(source: wordpress.com) |
H: What is the best site for sharing large files among a specific group of people?
What is the best site that would allow for sharing of large files among a selected group of people? There wouldn't be a large number of files, but they are too large to email.
Edit: I'd like a free site that would allow for sharing of files that are between 500 MB and 1 GB.
AI: I am a big fan of Dropbox, they also have good clients for various OS platforms.
2 GB of online storage for free;
Then, if you invite friends, they will give you both 500 MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 18 GB). |
H: Does WordPress allow me to mark posts as private?
Suppose I want to start a blog. I would like the "professional" stuff to be public, but the "personal" stuff should only be accessible to friends and family (i.e., accessible only to those users to which I give permission). Can WordPress do this?
AI: WordPress for sure. See Set blog content visibility (Classic Editor):
Content visibility is about controlling who can see your blog content. WordPress allows you to control the visibility of your posts and Pages on an individual basis. By default, all posts and Pages are visible.
There are several ways to set the visibility for your blog content. You can set it on a per post/Page basis for public, private, or Password Protected, or make the entire blog private and Password Protected through the use of WordPress Plugins. |
H: Why am I getting an "invalid blogml" error importing into BlogEngine.net
I have a WordPress blog that is hosted on hostgator.com. I am looking at switching to BlogEngine.net. I found the BlogML project up on CodePlex to help with the migration. It has a tool called "WordPress BlogML Export 1.0a". This is a replacement for export.php which can be uploaded to wp-admin/ on a WordPress blog.
I did this and then exported my blog from WordPress using this new export script. However, when I use the BlogEngine.net import tool, and give it my exported BlogMl file, it says "Invalid BlogML."
Any idea on what might be invalid?
AI: Download the source code to the BlogML project and use the binary in the
Schema Validator\bin\Release
directory to see what problems your BlogML file has. If there aren't any, the problem is probably on their end. |
H: How many songs can I skip on Pandora?
When I do a "thumbs down" or "I'm tired of this song" in Pandora, it will usually skip to the next song immediately.
If I do this too many times, Pandora says:
"Unfortunately, our music licenses
force us to limit the number of songs
you may skip"
How many times can I skip a song?
When does the count reset?
Is there anywhere I can look to see how many skips I have left?
AI: From the Pandora FAQ
There are two types of skip limits:
All Pandora listeners are limited to 6
skips per hour, per station.
Listeners to the free Pandora service
are limited to 12 total skips per day,
across all stations.
NOTE: The hourly limit is based on a
rolling sixty-minute interval for each
skip. So if you give four skips at
12noon, then you give another two
skips at 12:30pm, you'll have another
four skips available at 1pm-- one hour
from the four you gave-- then if you
still haven't given any other skips in
the meantime, you'll have all six
skips back at 1:30pm.
NOTE: The daily limit resets all at
once overnight, and is not based on a
24-hour interval.24-hour interval.
I don't think you can look up how many skips you've used or have left. |
H: How can I keep track of the links I shared?
Sometimes I share a link on twitter or google buzz and later something reminds me of it and I want to find it again, finding it is very difficult to search on my old tweets or Buzzes.
How can I keep better track of my shares independently of where I shared it from?
AI: Sign up for a bit.ly account and use it to shorten them. You can then look back at all of your previously shortened URIs.
If you want to add more data such as notes and possibly share that list, try a social bookmarking service such as Delicious. |
H: What's the difference between "Like" and "Star" an item in Google Reader?
I'm confused which one should I use to mark an item as favorite.
AI: The like will show up as part of a count, and people you are sharing with will see when you like something. Your stars are private and only you can see what you have or haven't starred.
If you want to track something to look back at later, use a star. |
H: How can I close my account on Yahoo! Answers?
Is there any straightforward way to do it? I'd also like to keep the original Yahoo! account.
AI: See this question on Yahoo Answers.
TLDR: You have to delete your questions and answers separately. |
H: Is there any way to get a squatted username back?
When trying to find a unique branding for a product, it's hard to find an online username that's free on all desired sites. Even though the .com might be free, someone (real/fake/inactive person, bot, squatter) inevitably has registered that name somewhere.
Is there any way to petition for an already taken username on any of the popular sites?
AI: If you're still trying to decide on a name, you could run it through namechk as suggested in this answer.
You might be able to reclaim the name by contacting the site's administrators, but you'll probably have more luck if you own a registered trademark on it.
Some sites have policies against namesquatting:
YouTube
Twitter |
H: Search tips for Facebook
I'd like to do a search for video's that a friend posted, I've spent 15 minutes manually searching through their posts' and I still haven't found it.
Can I filter out everything but video links?
Any other advanced search tips?
AI: Yes you can. Type your search into the top search box then click the "See More Results" button at the bottom. Then on the left side of the screen select "Posts By Friends". Then there is a drop down box at the top of the screen labeled "Show". Select "Video" from that to see only Videos posted by friends. |
H: Online Stop Watch Using Pure Javascript and HTML and CSS ( No Flash!)
Is there an online stop watch that is constructed using pure Javascript, HTML and CSS, without using Flash?
There are a couple of flash-based online stopwatch websites, but since I don't prefer flash based websites, so I'm now looking for alternatives.
AI: CubeTimer is light and stupidly simple to use. |
H: Is there any online spreadsheet app with VBA support?
I know that a lot of them support importing spreadsheets from Microsoft Excel but what if the file contains VB code?
AI: Check out Zoho sheet: http://sheet.zoho.com/vbaobjectexplorer.do and http://vbmacros.wiki.zoho.com/
I haven't experimented with it but they claim some VBA support. Looks interesting. |
H: What is the best website for runners to record their training?
I'm looking for a site that would allow a runner to very easily:
blog about each training
enter number of miles/kilometers run
have some kind of social media aspect where others can give advice, etc.
RSS feeds
number of miles run is totaled
data dumps from Garmins etc. are possible so all kinds of stats can be recorded
AI: Dailymile is a social network for runners, triathletes, and cyclists. We make it easy to share your workouts, races, and other cool stuff important to athletes.
Allows you to sync with Nike+ or Garmin devices.
UPDATE: the Dailymile website closed down in 2019 |
H: How can I make Google Adsense use US dollars
I have Google Adsense on my site and at some stage I was asked to select a currency and selected Australian dollars. However I would prefer to go back to US dollars as that is where most of the advertisers are from and so the exchange rate doesn't affect reporting.
Can this be done?
AI: It is not possible. See this help document. The only way to change currency is to close your account and create a new one. |
H: Why does Gmail keep popping up a div labeled 'Original Text'?
In Chrome, every time I click on something like Select: All, I get a popup div from Gmail that says
Original Text: XXX
where XXX is the list of options to the right of select.
What is this? How do I get rid of it?
AI: Try completely closing your browser then reopening your browser and gmail. |
H: Migrating Feedburner feeds to another account
I would like to migrate all my Feedburner feeds to another Google Account. I've been looking to add another user as Administrator like it is allowed in Google Analytics but haven't really found the option.
Does anyone know how I can give my new Google Account access to the feeds in Feedburner in my old Google account?
AI: With your old account, go to the Feedburner dashboard, click on a feed. Unde the feed's title, you will find a "Transfer feed..." link. |
H: Skype Telephone number Formatting in browser
How do I turn off the Telephone number formatting in the browser window.
AI: You have to deactivate or uninstall the Skype Add-on.
In newer versions there is also the option to just turn the highlighting off in the settings of the Add-on.
Here is a link to the Skype FAQ:
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA657/How-do-I-use-Skype-Click-to-Call |
H: Deleting a status tweet accidentally published on Twitter
I accidentally posted to Twitter what was supposed to be a direct message. Now, people are replying to me and asking me about that tweet.
Can I delete it?
AI: You can delete your old tweets, just click on the "trash can" icon. However they may remain around for a while in searches and the like. They'll also stay on people's Twitter home page until they refresh the page.
Voila! Gone forever... almost. Deleted updates sometimes hang out in Twitter search. They will clear with time.
Source |
H: Why don't I see the text from Google's excerpt when I visit a site?
Sometimes, after opening a Google search result, I discover that the text from the excerpt is nowhere to be found on that page.
Why does this happen?
AI: It's not lying.
The content could be from a cached version of the page. However, in this case if you view the source for that page you find the following:
<div style="font-size:18px;font-weight:bold;padding:5px 10px;width:420px;
border:1px solid #bcbcbc;background:#FFFFAF;"><a name="windowsffport">
LastPass Portable for Firefox</a></div>
There are actually 27 instances of the word "Portable" on the page. It's just that the text isn't visible on the default "Recommended" tab of that page. If you click on the "Windows" tab that text becomes visible. |
H: How can I change the security settings of Google App's Exchange protocol?
I'm using Google Apps's Exchange protocol. When I use it on my iPhone, I notice that it sets the phone to automatically lock after a minute and this value cannot be changed. I'm wondering if there is any way to tweak this value in Google Apps.
Update: I'm using the Standard Edition of Google Apps.
AI: Tweaking the security settings is a feature of the Premier edition, as described in this support article.
Edit: From this thread, it appears Google has changed this. If you delete your Exchange account, then disable and re-enable the mobile sync service in Google Apps, it appears that this reverts the policy to not require an automatic lock. |
H: My Facebook Friends count is constantly changing
I tend to keep numbers in my head a lot, so if I see <X> friends today that's okay. But tomorrow or later tonight that number changes to <X-1> or <X+2>. This also happens a lot during the end/start of a semester, <X-15> or <X+15>.
Are my friends just constantly changing their privacy settings or deactivating/reactivating Facebook? What is the reason for these fluctuations?
AI: I believe that the only things that affect your friend count are: if someone friends/unfriends you, someone activates/deactivates their account, or if someone deletes their account permanently. I don't think there are any privacy settings that would prevent you from seeing which friends you have.
Deleting a profile:
You'll notice that the query delete facebook has been constantly on the rise, but a few months ago, there was a sharp fluctuation; this was probably because of Quit Facebook Day where people permanently deleted their Facebook accounts. It could just be that people are fed up with the privacy issues and are deleting their profiles.
Deactivating a profile:
I know that I've had friends that find themselves on Facebook way too much and deactivate their account in a attempt to be more productive. This usually fails though, as they reactivate their accounts shortly after.
Unfriending:
As far as unfriending you, you seem like a pretty decent guy, so that's probably not the reason the numbers are changing : ) However, you could try to use one of these methods to see which friends are being removed from the list. Once you find someone that is no longer on your friend list, you can try to access their profile. If you can access it, that means they unfriended you. If you can't, they either unfriended and blocked you, deactivated their account, or deleted their account. |
H: Is there any importance to the letter-case in bayimg URLs?
When I create an image using http://bayimg.com, I get a URL such as http://bayimg.com/NANmnAaCJ, and the image is hosted at http://image.bayimg.com/nanmnaacj.jpg.
I know that some URL shortening services use mixed case to get an extra 26 characters. However, that doesn't seem to be the case for bayimg.
Why is the URL in mixed case? Can I simply ignore the case and only keep the lowercase version (or is there some kind of hidden feature or future concern I need to worry about)?
AI: bayimg.com is using lighthttpd to host its website. lighthttpd can be hosted both on Windows and Unix based operating systems. Typically for non Windows hosting, the case does matter. So 2 resources by 2 different URLs where only the case of the path differs could refer to 2 different resources.
Even if different case variations give you the same result, I'd not assume that they will always point to the same resource. Use the exact URL with casing that they give you.
You never know they may even have some computers hosting on Windows and others on a Unix based system. Maybe you just happen to hit one of their Windows servers via DNS load balancing.
There is mention in RFC1738 - Uniform Resource Locators (URL) that the scheme should be case insensitive (example: HTTP://), but there is no mention about the path of the URL, so don't assume 2 different cased URLs are the same, even if they happen to point to the same resource for you on your test. |
H: How to use Gmail as a repeater
I am trialing "Google apps for your domain". I would like to use one address as a repeater for a club.
Forwarding only seems to work for one address but it looks like a rule will work.
Is it right that Gmail will only do this for verified addresses?
Is there another way to do this?
AI: You should be able to use Groups to achieve this, which at the most basic level are just mailing lists.
Access your GAFYD control panel (e.g. https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/yourdomain.com/
From the top navigation bar, select Users and Groups, then the Groups tab
Create your new Group, if you just want to send emails out to the list, the "Announcement Only" would probably be the best option.
After you've created the Group, you get the option to enter the emails of members, which supports adding recipients from outside your domain.
Groups can go beyond traditional email distribution lists - they allow for a shared inbox, self-managed lists etc. There seems to be plenty of online help describing all of this via the links from the group management page. |
H: How do I add a rel=me in the body of a Google Sites page?
Does Google Sites support rel="me" on links? I'm finding with straight HTML it strips it right out and replaces it with rel="nofollow". The same thing occurs if I try rel="nofollow me".
Is there any way to get the rel attribute to work with Google Sites?
AI: Google Sites automatically adds rel="nofollow" to all external links. There is no way to override or remove this - Google Support Post.
Internal links (links to pages within your own site) are no affected by this - you can add rel="me" to internal links and it won't be stripped out / replaced. |
H: How can I scrub the entire internet from an accidental content publishing?
If I post an image or html page with content I regret (say to blogger, jaiku, twitter, wordpress.org), I know I can take down the page and then I may need ask archive.org to remove the page.
Are there other steps I should take to finish scrubbing the internet of accidental postings?
Are there any steps I should take when publishing my content to make it easier to retract?
AI: You'll never be able to ensure that it's not archived/captured somewhere.
Depending on how quickly your content gets crawled by the search engines you probably need to ask them to remove it. (How to get content removed from Google) Even if you do this with the big three search engines there are countless other bots crawling the web that may have captured the content and, even if you could find out what they are, there's no guarantee you'll be able to get them to remove the data.
As for how to prevent such accidental leaks in the future: Utilize whatever tools you have to publish in the future. Even setting to publish 15 minutes into the future still keeps the general immediacy but allows you a few minutes to change your mind. |
H: Facebook: tagging things you're not "related" to
I know I can tag my friends and groups in Facebook status updates using the @-notation. In addition I would like to tag groups I don't belong to or pages I'm not a "fan" of, like
Went to see @"Hot Tub Time Machine". You should too.
I am aware of the alternatives:
Joining the group to be able to tag it
Attaching a link to my status update
Pasting bit.ly-ed link to the page.
I'm trying to keep my facebook profile clean of ephemeral groups and my feed simple and readable, and I like the idiom of @tagging. Is this possible?
AI: As taken from Facebook's Help page, you cannot. I use the same alternatives as you do.
Tagging allows you to more actively
mention your friends and other things
you are connected to on Facebook.
An extra alternative you may want to add to your list is to use the Facebook Like Feature on websites. This way at least users can like your status. For example in this case , The Internet Movie Database.
fencliff likes Hot Tub Time Machine
(2010) on IMDb.
Maybe movie theaters will grab in on this idea. |
H: Can I set a reminder for Google Tasks based on their due date?
Is it possible to be notified before a task is due, similar to how you can set notifications for events on Google Calendar?
AI: Google Tasks does not provide email alerts.
As mentioned by @Antoops, you can set alerts for Google Calendar events which may provide the functionality you are looking for.
It would be nice to see Google add the ability to set alerts for tasks, but I think they have left it out on purpose (since a task list is something you should check regularly by design vs. being pushed alerts/reminders)
This support thread has further reading on this feature request. |
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