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Some time ago I’ve wanted to post excerpt from the book I was reading on Safari Books Online on my Facebook wall. Everyone who have ever used Safari knew that their books are displayed in special way, so you can only use their applet to copy text (probably they’ve done that to avoid people copying entire books). As a result you’ll obtain text which would reside in your clipboard. To publish it on Facebook you need just to paste it into appropriate field and…

Yes, Facebook limits text to be posted to 420 characters, so if you want to post something longer you need to find other way. And that’s how Text Hoster was born. It’s web application written by me to host text which can then be posted to Facebook. When you’ll go to fb.liox.eu you’ll find a field to enter your text and Send button, I believe it’s self explanatory. When you’ll click Send simple check is done to calculate length of your string, so if it’s less than 420 characters then it would not be hosted as there is no reason for it. Then you’ll see a page with your text, full link to your text, bit.ly shortened link and Facebook share button. After clicking Share you’ll be navigated to page as the one below.

It’s typical representation of Facebook generated link, as you can see there is shortened version of the text and bit.ly link, you can also add short description to it. Now click share again and voila your text is on your Facebook wall (of course you should be logged before sharing or you’ll be asked to log in), when somebody would click on it he would be navigated to hoster page and able to read full text.

Within past three months I was called couple of times by my ISP’s (UPC) representatives. They offered me to change my Internet plan from 15Mb/s to 10, of course price would be lowered by 80-100 CZK, but I’ve declined it as I prefer to have faster than cheaper connection. Last call wast a little offensive as guy when I’ve declined his offer became angry and was very close to call me an idiot (at least it’s my feeling). He was trying to daunt me saying that they’re planning to lower rates for everybody in my block anyway, so I would stay paying more for the same what everybody else got. I’ve refused it as I got my contract signed for certain speed. But on Friday they’ve called me again and offered 25Mb/s for 25 CZK more (around 1.20 USD), obviously I’ve accepted it and since Saturday I’m enjoying higher speed. Don’t let anybody fool you, if you have a contract it’s obligatory for both sides, not only you.

Quick note how to list files without directories.

Windows:
dir /a:-d

Linux:
ls -l | grep ^-

Second command should work also in Mac OS X from terminal, but will have to check it just to be sure.

I’m reading Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy now (great book) and found this funny fragment.
*Marge Saunders would drive to the Safeway every Saturday morning in the Volkswagen and upon her return ask her husband, “Would you like to help me bring in the groceries?” Bob Saunders would reply, “No.” Stunned, Marge would drag in the groceries herself. After the same thing occurred a few times, she exploded, hurling curses at him and demanding to know why he said no to her question. “That’s a stupid question to ask,” he said. “Of course I won’t like to help you bring in the groceries. If you ask me if I’ll help you bring them in, that’s another matter.”

Remote Desktop Gateway is a role of Windows Server that allows you to connect with hosts in your network through its encrypted gateway. I’m quite impressed by this service and decided to write a little HowTo, so it would be easier for others to deploy it. I’ve actually hit two birds with one rock, because I’ve written it using xml and php, so it was opportunity to learn something useful. Final effect can be seen here. As you’ll notice thanks to xml and simple php form you can choose between English and Polish version of text.

Again thanks to Techcrunch I’ve learned about cool new Internet service - CC Everybody. It’s a blogging/forum service where you can start or reply to a post/thread by sending email to designated email address. You can even cc your personal @cceverybody.com address when you’re exchanging emails with your friends and entire conversation would appear on website. It’s quite cool, I’m thinking about using it to exchange funny pictures with my friends and family. I don’t know about storing email conversation there as everybody can see it, but maybe some discussions on general topics, why not. It’s still in beta, but Techcrunch offers 500 invitations, so if you’ll be fast you should be able to join. One thing that is annoying, as for me, is the fact that when you’ll send email to your designated @cceverybody.com address from the account you’ve supplied when registering, you still have to approve it on site before it would be published. Maybe it’s meant to provide you with more security, as you’ll have another chance to check if you really want to post this content. But I find it really unfriendly.

Today is the great moment in history of this blog. I’ve added Facebook’s Like button (). Yes ladies and gentlemen from now on you can easily show which of my posts you like:P

I must add that this button is here thanks to article of Mr. Ruhani Rabin.

UPDATE: There is simpler way to have Like button on WordPress blog. You can use Simple Facebook Connect plug-in, I’ve added it and it works great, plus it has other functions not only Like button.

Today I’ve received a call from my ISP, the lady who was talking with me offered me to change my current plan 15 Mb/s to new one 10Mb/s. She really made my day better. Still laughing when I think of it.

Just for the record, of course I’ve declined this “lucrative” offer:)

TechCrunch published interesting article about Boston’s Route 128 and why it lost with Silicon Valley, more here. I haven’t heard about it before. If I had then I would definitively tried to see this when I was there. It’s maybe not so surprising as MIT is there, so it’s normal that many of these bright people would want to stay there, but still. Second Silicon Valley, well how would you know:)

TechCrunch posted text about how Facebook is trying to help unpopular people by asking their friends to post more often on their walls, read more here. It reminded me that when I was 10 years old (more or less) I’ve had neighbors with exactly the same kid as described in article. He was a year younger than me and really nice guy, but not very popular. Even kids in the same age as he was preferred to play with me than with him. His mother was so desperate that she once come to me and my pal when we were playing, and dragged him by force to her apartment to play with her son. Yeah, I was shocked. My mate “escaped” after few minutes. Next day father of my neighbor approached me with very serious look in his eyes and told me that I’m stealing his son’s friends and that he doesn’t like it. I was really frightened (10 years old), but fortunately my other buddy was there with me, so it ended just with that. Anyway, as you probably suspecting, it doesn’t end up well to the kido. He became even more unpopular. So as TechCrunch already suggested, if you’re parent of not very “cool” kid, don’t try to make “artificial” friendships for him, it would end up even worst.