norbt : Tool to pass information securely.

A norbt (short for no robot) is a web page with encrypted text. The key to encrypt and decrypt the text is the answer. When you create a norbt you decide the text, title, question and answer(key) for your norbt. Anybody can create a norbt. Evey norbot has a unique link that you can put any where.


Where it comes handy?

• If you want to share information over the internet.
• Protect the personal information from Web Crawlers.
• Just as a game

Click here to access the homepage

Get your photos into cartoons

Are you flexing your muscles to get an ArtWork done in Photoshop? No need, BeFunky will do it for you. BeFunky is a web application, that can create various kinds ArtWorks. Below are the some screenshots taken from BeFunky.

 

How can you remember passwords easily?

Today internet is robust and a playground of phishers. Each and every people are part or users of various services like email, file sharing or social networks. Most of the people are following / using a single password for every account, thus making themselves vulnerable.

How can you have a multiple password and remember them easily. There are lot of ways you can achieve this. But I follow the below.

A pattern that you remember always.

Let us divide the password into three parts.

Part 1: Some food / place you like most.
Part 2. Word to make a sentence.
Part 3: Service you are about to use.

Most Secure password should be a mix of Upper and lower cases, special Characters and number. So use them to make a proper sentence.

Let us consider Part 1 as 'Hotdog', Part 2 as 'is password for' and Part 3 as service say 'gmail'. Now the completed sentense is 'Hotdog is password for gmail.'. After replacing with symbols and numbers, it is 'Hotdog$password4gmail.' (Hotdogspassword4gmail, s being replaced with a look like '$'). A hard to guess phrase.

This method is good for remembering the password recovery questions also. Questions like 'who is your favourite author?' can be answered as 'Hotdog$answer4author.'.

Hope this will help you to create a strong and hard to guess password.

URL Shortners - The risks involved

Most of the people on twitter, tweets with shortened URLs. Have you ever thought of the risk involved in those links? Since the shortened URLs won't give you much details about the page you are about view, you might be fooled. We cannot blame twitter or shortened URL providers for the cause, so be cautious rather than be a fool later.

What should I do

• Avoid clicking
The best option is to avoid clicking on the link, if you don't trust / know the person who tweeted.
• Long URL addons
There is an addon for mozilla, Long URL Please which will help to expand the shortened URL into the actual long URL.

Click here to read what Symantec says.

Jump breaks in blogger

Now you can introduce Jump Breaks in your blog. No need of editing your html manually or writing JavaScript. Just put
<!-- more -->
in your blog (Edit HTML Mode) or click on jump break icon while in Compose mode.
Click here to the read the article.

Read more »

How to make your own search plugin for Firefox

Firefox search engine plugins are xml files stored in the Profile folder of Firefox.
In the profile folder you can find searchplugins folder.
A sample xml looks like the one below.

<SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/" xmlns:os="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
<os:ShortName>Technology Freaks me out!!!</os:ShortName>
<os:Description>Search Tyrants World</os:Description>
<os:InputEncoding>UTF-8</os:InputEncoding>
<os:Image width="16" height="16">data:image/x-icon;base64,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</os:Image>
<SearchForm>http://tyrantsworld.blogspot.com/search</SearchForm>
<os:Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://tyrantsworld.blogspot.com/search">
  <os:Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/>
</os:Url>
</SearchPlugin>

1. os:ShortName
The name to be displayed on the search plugins select box.


2. os:Description
Any description as you want.


3. os:InputEncoding
Encoding to be used while searching. Usually it is UTF-8


4. os:Image
An image to be displayed along with search enging name. You can add the site logo or favicon. Image data should be provided as a base64 encoded string. A free online converter can be found here


5. SearchForm



6. os:Url
The search action. In the above xml search action is "http://tyrantsworld.blogspot.com/search". os:Url should have an argument "os:Param". os:Param name is the name of the search box in the web page and value should be {searchTerms}

Using google as a calculator

Do you know that google has a feature to calculate? Yes it has. Just type the calculation on the google search box and hit "Enter". It shows the results.

Google supports complex calculation as well as trignometric calculations too.

• Normal



• Trignometry

Ascii logo generators

Today I found out some cool stuff. Logo / signature generation in ascii characters.

1. 
   



___________                            __   
\__    ___/__.__.____________    _____/  |_ 
  |    | <   |  |\_  __ \__  \  /    \   __\
  |    |  \___  | |  | \// __ \|   |  \  |  
  |____|  / ____| |__|  (____  /___|  /__|  
          \/                 \/     \/      

click here to access the website.







 _____  __    __  _____        ___   __   _   _____  
|_   _| \ \  / / |  _  \      /   | |  \ | | |_   _| 
  | |    \ \/ /  | |_| |     / /| | |   \| |   | |   
  | |     \  /   |  _  /    / / | | | |\   |   | |   
  | |     / /    | | \ \   / /  | | | | \  |   | |   
  |_|    /_/     |_|  \_\ /_/   |_| |_|  \_|   |_|   


click here to access the website.





__    __  _____   _____       __    __  _____   _____  
ooooooooooooo                                                .   
8'   888   `8                                              .o8   
     888      oooo    ooo oooo d8b  .oooo.   ooo. .oo.   .o888oo 
     888       `88.  .8'  `888""8P `P  )88b  `888P"Y88b    888   
     888        `88..8'    888      .oP"888   888   888    888   
     888         `888'     888     d8(  888   888   888    888 . 
    o888o         .8'     d888b    `Y888""8o o888o o888o   "888" 
              .o..P'                                             
              `Y8P'                                              



click here to access the website.





 _______                    _   
|__   __|                  | |  
   | |_   _ _ __ __ _ _ __ | |_ 
   | | | | | '__/ _` | '_ \| __|
   | | |_| | | | (_| | | | | |_ 
   |_|\__, |_|  \__,_|_| |_|\__|
       __/ |                    
      |___/                     


click here to access the website.







 _______                    _   
        _ ._  _ , _ ._
      (_ ' ( `  )_  .__)
    ( (  (    )   `)  ) _)
   (__ (_   (_ . _) _) ,__)
       `~~`\ ' . /`~~`
       ,::: ;   ; :::,
      ':::::::::::::::'
 _jgs______/_ __ \__________
|                           |
| Tyrant                    |
|___________________________|



click here to access the website.

Good online image editors

Now don't have to worry about editing an image. No need to download and install Photoshop, you can save the space by using online image editors. Here are the few applications I found on net.

1. pixlr

A good replacement for Photoshop/Gimp. You have the all the options even Layers, History etc.


2. pixenate

pixenate is similar to pixlr. But do not have Layer / History options.


3. cooltext

An online logo generator. You can create logos / buttons online for you blog or website.


4. FotoFlexer

Again another version of image editor. This is a good tool to apply various effects to your photos. It can edit photos even from flickr, picasaweb or you can upload and edit online.


5. PicResize

An online image resizer. Upload your images, select the resize option. Done.


6. Aviary

Aviary is just not an image editor, but a vast collection of application. You have screen capture tool, vector editor, effects editor etc...


7. picnik

picnik is an another online image editor. It comes with premium and free version.

Finance Managers

Have you ever been in a situation, where you lost track of you account balance? Do you frequently log on to your bank account and verify your expenses? Have you ever confused between the account balances of multiple bank accounts? I was in this situation many times So I started searching for good finance managers to keep track of my accounts and generate reports based on various options. I found the following applications online version, mobile with Desktop synchronization and Desktop version

1. fncentral

fncentral is a web based free person finance manager. You can add multiple accounts in fncentral. Each every transaction can be add to the respective accounts. It comes with a good reporting tool. You can generate report with category wise, or by accounts or monthly flow etc. Even you can plan your expenses by putting limits to your transactions.


2. Pocket Finance Diary

This is windows mobile finance manager that i have been using for last 2 years. PFD also supports multiple accounts and comes with a handy reporting tools. PFD is 30 enry trial version, but PFD Lite is absolutely free.


3. Jabp

Jabp is a global finance manager. The program developed in java and supports all most all the mobiles phones and operatings. System. Jabplite is the J2ME version of Jabp. They do have lot of option to sync between your mobile version and the Desktop version. Only one problem i found with Jabp is the GUI of Desktop version. But since you can sync your mobile with computer, this is the best choice.


4. Money Manager Ex

Again a cross platform Finance Manager. Money manager Ex works well with windows and Linux too. Comparing with Jabp, MMEx have a good reporting features and fairly good GUI.

All these softwares, I used under Linux and all are open source. Hope next time when you are in a spending mood, hope one of these softwares help. If any of you have a better option, please let me know. I am always open to suggestions.

A Web Developer Must Have Add Ons (FireFox)

I am a big fan of Fire Fox browser and using it over the past five years. As a web designer, I have add many extension to my FireFox.

1. Web Developer Toolbar

A handy tool which gives you lot of features. You can control or view every minute details of a web page.


2. MeasureIt

A small ruler to calculate width of TD or images.


3. IE Tab

Add on that enables IE inside FF. Very useful to view the page layout in IE and FF together.


4. Page Info Forms and Links


Adds form and link information to page info dialog. Easy tool to verify the hidden fields instead checking the source code.


5. JavaScript Debugger

A very powerful, but need to have good knowledge in debugging.


6. Firebug


Its really cool tool. My fav option is right click on the page, select Inspect Element. It shows the selected element tag in source. More accurate than FF default "View Selection Source".


7. Extended Statusbar

Add on that displays page load time, transfer rate etc. Handy tool to understand your page loading time. As FF do not support FasterFox now, I am using this instead.


8. View Source Chart

Nice add on that displays page source formatted with colors. Its really easy to identify the table structures.

Strange oracle errors

Recently I faced some problems with the oracle db connection with java. I googled every site searching for an answer and what I got never helped me. I have a Java program that reads records from a file and pushes the file into DB. In order to connect DB, I used thick driver for connectivity.
Weird! Even though i specified the right URL "jdbc:oracle:oci:@tnsname", it started saying "Invalid Oracle URL Specified". As the task was marked high priority, without worrying about the error, I moved to thin driver. Strange! It says "Connection reset by peer. Socket write error".

Connection reset by peer

I started searching the Google, most of the answers was it is related to network. But I could not find any error with network. I checked the trace file in DB Service and found ORA-0600 Critical Error. Later I realized that thin client do transfer a files with size more than certain KB ( not sure about the threshold size). My file was of 30 KB.

Invalid Oracle URL Specified

So again I started trying my luck with Thick driver. Entire internet said include Oracle path into system library and so. But this was due to a wrong classes12.jar included in the system. Now program started running.

Closed Connection

This problem I faced because I forgot create a variable called ORACLE_HOME. When we use thick driver, it searches for ORACLE_HOME environment variable.

Now I rectified all the problems. Now I made a checklist for me.

• 
  If file transfer required, go for native implementation of connectivity - Thick driver.


• Make sure that ORACLE_HOME variable is defined.

Synchornize Thunderbird To Mobile

In this blog I am trying to explain how I used to sync my office task to my windows mobile. One of the option to sync my office task is by using ActiveSync from Microsoft. But due to the security policy of my company, I cannot do that and moreover I needed Microsoft mail client.

Being a big fan of Mozilla Suites, I am using Mozilla Thunderbird at my home and office. So quest for an utility that could sync my Thunderbird, ended up on Calendar project of Mozilla (Lightning).

In order to sync Thunderbird to your pc all you need is,

• Mozilla Thunderbird


• Lightning


• Provider for Google Calendar

Now to sync the Thunderbird and Mobile, first we have to convert the Thunderbird mail to a event in Google Calendar. So the event will be uploaded into your Google Calendar.

[Note : In event creation, there is Invite Attendees option. If you do not remove the attendees, a mail will be send to them about the event]

Next step is to create an account in NuevaSync and its free of course. So once you created your account, allow NuevaSync to access your Google Calendar. You can find more details here about NeuvaSync and how to set up with different mobiles.

Beauty of this process is, if you have added any reminder to your events, your mobile gives an alarm as per your settings in the event. Bravo! you never gonna miss or forget an important mail or event send by your client, because your mobile starts alarming.

Image searching to the new heights

Today i was juz googling and suddenly a thought struck in mind. How many different searches i can do? Here are my findings.

1. TinEye
Its an online image searching website. You can search images to find where it came from, how many different versions of it (modified or different resolutions). All you have to do is upload the image in question or give an online link of the file.














2. retrievr
Retrievr is an online image search tool where you can search by drawing the colou combination. Even though sometimes the results are not so accurate, the brain behind it should be appreciated.
















3. Bing
In bing, there is an option of finding the similar images. All you have to do is search an image. Once the results are shown, move the mouse over an image and wait for the option to come. There you can find

Show similar images




4. Google Images
In google images, after search you have an option to search the results based on colors