March 2011 archive

Facebook for Android: No Longer Screws Up Your Photos

Just a heads up for all of those Android users out there that have put up with the Facebook app buggering up photos shot in portrait orientation. For those who don’t know, portrait photos ended up being rotated into landscape orientation requiring manual correction via the Facebook website. Version 1.5.2 of Facebook for Android now corrects this …

Continue reading

Add Real Time Spell Check to Internet Explorer

A quick tip for tonight. If you use Internet Explorer a bit (if there is anyone left) you may find the lack of spell check a bit of a pain (unless it is provided by a JavaScript function on a particular website). It’s somewhat amazing that such a feature has not made it into Microsoft’s …

Continue reading

Pep Up Your Laptop Speed by Checking the Power Management Settings

A quick tip for this evening. Many of us have laptops and we do need to use them away from a power point when required. However, this often means that your laptop is running in a low power consumption mode designed to prolong battery life at the expense of performance. This can be a pain …

Continue reading

Webroot Social Media Sobriety Test

Some of us may have regrets of posting a message on one or more social media websites after having had a big night on the grog. Whilst I don’t drink (and as a result don’t have this particular issue) I can possibly see some merit in a sobriety test for social media sites for those …

Continue reading

Incoming Gadget: Nintendo 3DS

Recently, I posted a first impression of the Nintendo 3DS after having had a play with it during my trip to Japan with my wife just under a week ago. I was lucky enough to get out to Yodobashi Camera (???????) in Osaka on the morning of Friday 11/03/2011 before the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck in …

Continue reading

Specify a Particular Version of Java for Self-Hosted Applets

Yesterday, I looked at how you can run an older version of Java in parallel with an existing installation and then explicitly use the older version for all Java applications. Whilst this is an easy solution to implement it does create potential security risks for computers that are using older versions of Java containing known …

Continue reading

Run Parallel Installations of Older Versions of Java

Java Control Panel

Sometimes when you update software to the latest revision it can sometimes break stuff or cause unexpected behaviour to surface. One such example is a particular Java applet I use from time to time and Java 6 Update 24 that was recently released which completely breaks the copy and paste functionality due to enhanced security …

Continue reading

Nintendo 3DS: First Impressions (Japanese Model)

Promotional video for the 3DS

Last Thursday, I traveled to Osaka in Japan with my wife to go on a brief holiday and I planned to do a few things including getting a ride on a bullet train and checking out the Nintendo 3DS. Unfortunately, due to the earthquakes and ongoing aftershocks, I wasn’t too keen on trying the bullet train especially …

Continue reading

Japanese Toilets: Honoured to Accept Your Waste

Western people are growing accustomed to an increasing number of electric or automatic gadgets. Things like rubbish bins with automatically opening lids, garage doors and automatic reverse packing in cars are just a few examples. However, even for us western people, the concept of an electric or automatic toilet can be a bit of a …

Continue reading

Nuclear Power: A Polarising Technology

Just a quick one for tonight. For decades there has been debate over the benefits and drawbacks of nuclear power including aspects such as emissions generated during power generation as well as control and containment when the core needs to be shutdown in an emergency. Personally, I didn’t know where I stood on the concept …

Continue reading