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How to add Emoticons in Gmail

I still don't understand why Gmail has no emoticon feature, still!! Gmail stands high among its peers in many ways. But Yahoo looks colorful for its set of emoticons and this particular feature grabs and retains many users. The more I thought of it, the more I wanted to search for any third party tools to power this feature into Gmail system.

I found an awesome tool to achieve this. A Greasemonkey script. Yes, as you would have guessed by now, it works only with Firefox. Never mind. Cheer up Firefox fans. One more reason to vote for our favorite browser!

Here is the screenshot of available emoticons:



There are two methods to add emoticons into the mail.

1. Drag and Drop.
2. Copy and Paste.

Both are easy methods. Self Explanatory.

Enjoy!!

Here is the script.

Update Firefox for better security

Our favorite browser Firefox has a new version 2.0.0.7 now. Even though it is a small update, it is very much advisable to update the browser for better security and stability.

Download Firefox 2.0.0.7

Are you annoyed with Adobe Acrobat Reader? Read PDFs with Foxit

Most of us have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDF files. Just to READ. Nothing else. Rarely people use those additional features in Acrobat Reader. But for this simple reading requirement, we are forced to install such a huge software that which eats heavy memory.

Comparison on a 55 KB PDF file on a P4 system with 512 MB RAM:


You can see the huge Blue Bar that represents Adobe reader's Memory eating nature. If you just need to read a PDF, Foxit is best.

Foxit has many tools too but most of the users will not need all that. One notable feature is the ability to convert the PDF file into full Text file.

Download Link:

Foxit

iPhone hack no 2. This time, by a teen!

We had written about the iPhone hack last month. In one months time, the iPhone has been hacked for the second time. This time the hacker is a 17 year old teen. Welcome to the club mate!

Here is a full report by CBS News:

iPhone's Network Lock Hacked By Teen

Highlights of the hack:

• The hack lets you use the iPhone with carriers other than AT & T.
• That includes overseas operators too! Woww.. what a hack :)
• The hacks needs both software and hardware skills. Means, soldering and software alterations.
• The hacker has put the new version (!?) on ebay for sale. The bid was more than $2000 on friday.

Apple may introduce an invulnerable version when it introduces iPhone to European market.

Top 8 sites to waste your time

The most popular sites in the world are simply time wasters. Where there are millions of visitors, the site seems to be eating ones time. Let us list the top 8 time wasters.

8. StumbleUpon

If you are not sure what site to browse, SU is the place for you. Millions of pages indexed. You are sure to bump on one of it. Can customize categories. Can browse videos, images, autios and many more.

7. Myspace

Keep on browsing profiles. You will not realize that you have spent hours on it. The site doesn't need introduction. More often, people browse through profiles just to see photos. Such an useless time killer. Tell me honestly, how many users browse this site just to get connected to people? It is spoiling youth by letting people create obscene profiles.


6. Google Earth

If you start searching your home in google earth, you will not end up doing only that. Will start searching for all known placed in your area. The pleasure you get when you identify known places, it feels like magic. It feels like you are driving physically on the roads.

5. Miniclip

It has 1000s of games. Covers all categories. Fun is never ending. So do the Ads. Shit loads of ads all around! Just like a fish market All flash based mini games. Easy playing but yet so addictive.



4. Yahoo Games

If you are the one that likes to get challenged by human players, this is the place for you. Interactive games at its best. Pool game is so addictive. So realistic. I have played it all night, many nights. :)

3. Flickr

This is a photo supermarket. Millions of photos. Wide variety of cultures. People from all over the world have photos uploaded there. From all continents. Great photographs. The human nature of getting interested in what happens in next door makes this site one of the most visited.

2. Youtube

Addiction at its peak. It is like drug. Can find anything in video format there in Youtube. Again, one can spend hours and hours in youtube. I was seeing Mr Bean clips for 6 hours non stop! Piracy is freely supported in Youtube. They dont seem to worry about this growing problem. 70% of the videos uploaded here are pirated. They simply dont want to stop it. Can anyone deny it?

1. Orkut

The king of useless sites. Orkut is becoming the most popular and dangerous site in the world. People are becoming addicts to Orkut. The main reason why Orkut is the most popular dating site (though the creators don't like it to be called a dating site, it IS, OF COURSE a dating site) is that it is kept FREE till date. Unlike other dating sites, there is no premium membership. Lots and lots of complaints are being made against Orkut. Particularly from India. The creators have to do something to stop Orkut being misused.

Dekhona, An Indian attempt to mock Youtube

The immense popularity of youtube is tempting many entrepreneurs to mock (i dont want to use the word 'copy' here) it. We have seen various small video sharing sites popping up regularly.

Dekhona is one such thing but targeted for India. Indian clips are uploaded. Or at least that is what the creators thought would happen. When I browsed through the videos, I could see many non-indian videos that are available anywhere else. So the purpose is not served, as far as I am concerned.

Most of the clips are adult oriented. The admin team needs to work around to bring in many more visitors and uploaders of all ages. They need to control the videos that are featured in the home page.

The site is totally free.

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