Archive for the ‘Life Hacks’ Category

Free text using your computer!

Posted by Mikko at 22 February 2010

Category: How-To, Life Hacks, Mobile

Tags:

Hello guys. I’m gonna talk about a free service which saved me a considerable amount from my SMS expenses, Chikka. I’ve been using this service even way back in elementary, around seven years ago.

For those of you who are already acquainted to Chikka, you know very well that the most popular way to use their free text messaging service is through their very own Chikka Text Messenger. I personally don’t prefer this method because of the following reasons:

  • They don’t have a Linux version of their messenger.
  • In case you’re a Windows user, you still have to install it.
  • Their messenger is also quite bloated, the only functionality I want is to send text messages.
  • Lastly, you need to register an account which takes a short time (but then as the famous quote goes, time is gold).

If you frequently login to a chat server that uses XMPP such as GTalk or the chat inside GMail, here’s an easier (for me, at least) way to do things. Basically, you just have to:

  • add 63[9-digit-number]@chikkatalk.com as your buddy, and
  • send a chat conversation to your new buddy and you’re done!

No registration needed. You may add as many friends as you want!

5 Comments

Utilize Google Calendar’s SMS Notifications for class schedules!

Posted by Mikko at 9 November 2009

Category: Google, Internet, Life Hacks, Mobile

Tomorrow is the start of classes for the second semester in UP Diliman. Students will be confronted with new class schedules. Yikes!

Fortunately for those who are lazy enough to take a peek on their form 5 from time to time, there’s this Google Calendar SMS notification for you. Google will text you your next class minutes or hours before your class, based on your preference.

You just need a Google account (which is free) to enjoy this free service! Continue reading “Utilize Google Calendar’s SMS Notifications for class schedules!” »

8 Comments

Use your Globe Broadband account in Starbucks, for free!

Posted by Mikko at 17 August 2009

Category: Internet, Life Hacks

Tags:

Did you know that most Globe Broadband packages comes with WiFi minutes?

These WiFi minutes can be used in any WiZ hotspot (Wireless Internet Zones) around the country, including most Starbucks coffee shops.

Globe + Starbucks

Instead of paying a hundred bucks an hour for Internet on your next visit to Starbucks, just don’t forget to copy your Globe Broadband username and password and redeem your two free hours per month. The format of the username is [alias]@globelines.com.ph where alias is the username you gave when you applied. The default password is your account number which is reflected on your bill.

If you are quite unsure of your username or password, you may call their hotlines @ (02) 9198888. The number is toll-free if you dial the number from a Globelines landline, local landline or Globe Telecom mobile number.

6 Comments

Quick Hack: How to remove icons mounted disks / volumes in Desktop (Ubuntu)

Posted by Mikko at 11 August 2009

Category: How-To, Life Hacks, Linux

Tags:

Screenshot of a volume on desktop

In some Linux distributions that uses GNOME Desktop Manager such as Ubuntu, an icon of a volume or partition appears on the Desktop whenever you mount them as seen on the screenshot on the left.

Although it was made that way for the easy access of the volume, other people just want to get of rid. At the top of the list are the people who have minimalistic desktops, those who are obsessive-compulsive about their icon arrangements, etc.

Gladly, there’s a very quick hack to do it without the use of any third-party software such as Ubuntu Tweak. To do it, press Alt+F2 to open the Run Application window. Then paste this command:

gconftool -s --type bool /apps/nautilus/desktop/volumes_visible false

That’s it. No restart required! To undo its effect, just negate the false on the command to true.

If you enjoyed this post, you might considering running into my other Linux posts.

2 Comments

Compilation of Tips on Taking UPCAT Articles

Posted by Mikko at 3 July 2009

Category: Life Hacks

Tags:

University of the Philippines College Admission Test or the  UPCAT is just a month away (August 1 to 2, 2009). I believe most, if not all, test takers have started preparing for the big day. Some have harnessed the power of the Internet to look for UPCAT tips. As a response, here’s a compilation of high-quality UPCAT related articles and tips.

Tips on Taking UPCAT

  • Tips on Taking UPCAT by The Geek Brewery
    • Sample: Don’t answer questions the way they are ordered. Try answering in random order. Some easy questions are scattered on the end part, especially in the Math part.
  • What to Expect from UPCAT by Academic Clinic
    • Sample: Most of the test items are written in English, though a number of them are written in the vernacular.
  • How to Increase your Chances of Passing the UPCAT by Academic Clinic
    • Sample: When in Doubt, Leave it Blank
  • TIPS for UPCAT Takers (ACET, too) by Dine Racoma
    • Sample: Know where your building is located and plan how to go there and be there on time.
  • Tips for UPCAT Takers by Mukamo
    • Sample: Read the comments area and get some stuff.
  • UPCAT Tips 2nd Edition by oyie is forever.
    • Sample: Water is the best choice of beverage. Others end up making you a bit more thirsty. Plus it gives you a feeling of freshness without the heavy feeling that comes with soda.
  • UPCAT Tips by Isobar
    • To slack off some time and haggardness, familiarize yourself with the testing center days before the exams so as to know how you can be comfortable at the date of the exam.

There we go, a compilation of good UPCAT tips from different websites.

If you have questions regarding the exam, feel free to comment on this blog entry. I’ll try my best to respond to it as fast as possible. :D

17 Comments

Mount a partition in Ubuntu automatically at startup

Posted by Mikko at 2 July 2009

Category: How-To, Life Hacks, Linux

Tags:

Everytime I boot Ubuntu, I have to mount all the partitions I need to get them up and running. But seriously, I find it annoying. Here’s a workaround that worked for me.

Identify the partition you want to automount. Mount that specific partition and open its content using File Browser. Keep in mind it’s mount point, the ones found on the location bar.

Advanced knowledge in using Linux IS NOT A prerequisite. :D

Mount point

Open System Monitor (System -> Administration -> System Monitor). Go to the File Systems tab and find the corresponding Device of the mount point. The format would be something like /dev/sd[a-z][1-9].

Unmount the device by going to Places -> Computer. Right click the partition and click Unmount Volume.

Now, open terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal). Navigate to /dev/disk/by-id by typing this command:
cd /dev/disk/by-id.

Get the list of files and directories on the path by typing ls. Find your appropriate device. If it’s /dev/sda3, it should end with something like -part3. Copy the file name and paste it somewhere else such as a text-editor. Continue reading “Mount a partition in Ubuntu automatically at startup” »

3 Comments

Bypass image proxy for Globe Telecom 3G/EDGE/GPRS

Posted by Mikko at 19 June 2009

Category: How-To, Internet, Life Hacks, Mobile

Tags: ,

Globe Telecom uses a transparent proxy on it’s http.globe.com.ph access point. This means when you open a website, it passes thru their server for caching or whatever purpose it might server before it reaches your cellphone or computer.

Before caching
URL of image when not cached.

I’ve noticed though that they replace the URL of images inside <img> tags with another URL on their server for caching. This, in turn, causes some problems with web applications that requires authentication and generates images on the fly such as StatCounter. This replacement/caching process is only done when Globe Telecom detects that you are using a web browser on a computer or on a mobile phone (I curl-ed this website and the output did not have any URL replacements).

URL of image after caching!
URL after caching. Notice, the cached and compressed image is in Globe or a third-party partner’s server.

As a workaround, you can spoof your User-Agent by modifying the headers of your requests. You may do this in Firefox by:

  1. Going to about:config. A warning will have to scare you but just continue.
  2. Then, find the general.useragent.extra.firefox setting. Using the filter above may help you find it.
  3. Once you find it, double click the entry and change it to whatever you want. For it to work, it should not contain words like Mozilla, Firefox, Safari or other web browsers. I’ve changed mine to MikkoFox. :D

about:config screenshot

Have fun browsing without cached images. :D

10 Comments

Remove Update Manager pop-up in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

Posted by Mikko at 3 June 2009

Category: How-To, Life Hacks, Linux

Tags: ,

Ubuntu 9.04 indeed was the fastest version of Ubuntu I had in my laptop. Before, boot time gradually increased as each version is released. But Jaunty Jackalope broke the trend, it was faster than it’s predecessor Intrepid Ibex.

Update Manager

But the release had a very noticeable annoyance, the Update Manager pops up a couple of times if you don’t have an updated system. It was unlike before when Update Manager only issues a notification on the notification area.

Fortunately, there’s a quick fix for that. Just go to your terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) or press Alt-F2 and paste this:

gconftool -s --type bool /apps/update-notifier/auto_launch false

That quick fix just fixes the annoyance, no side-effects or whatsoever!

For more Ubuntu, Linux or tech-related news, you may subscribe to The Geek Brewery thru RSS or email.

5 Comments

Students’ Life Lines

Posted by Mikko at 25 November 2008

Category: Life Hacks


Illustration by Diane Cheney

I am one of UP’s centennial freshmen, a n00b to College life. Entering in such a very liberal University wasn’t easy. As expected, there was “culture shock”. But believe me, it was fun.

It was only in college when I discovered my so-called Life Lines. These life lines saved me from boredom, weird assignments and insanity. Here’s a few of them:

  • Got something to search? Google is your friend. It’s your portal to virtually unlimited resources. May it be an assignment, jokes, games, parodies and list goes on and on.
  • But if you need extensive information on something, Wikipedia is always up to help you. In case that you’d need more, see the external links and notes below — links to their sources which in most of the time contains more extensive info are systematically listed. Another advantage of those links are they’re written in APA/MLA style. This means there’s no need to rewrite them for your bibliography.
  • What if you were given by your Panitikan ng Pilipinas class a job to research on Biag ni Lam-ang? WikiPilipinas.org offers sufficient Philippine-centric articles which are normally not easy to find in the Web.
  • It’s late midnight and you’re uber-bored writing your term paper. A good place to reenergize yourself is to watch CollegeHumor videos. They got very good originals that college students can relate to. They also have an array of high-quality third-party content. They also got a blog where they post funny graphs. [Someone in Plurk told me that CollegeHumor.com paid Paris Hilton to make an Obama/McCain campaign spoof. Cool.]
  • For group works that requires collaboration on a paper or a spreadsheet, Google Docs is helpful. Given a permission by the document owner, anyone from the group can make changes instantaneously visible to anyone. This makes collaboration an easy task — easier than giving each one a copy of the file for editing and compiling all changes in a single document. Another big advantage of this one is when a hardware (an external disk or removable drive) fails, you can always download it from anywhere in the world given that you have an active Internet connection.
  • Your teacher asked you to read a very thick novel. Shall we say the novel “Love in Time of Cholera”. SparkNotes offers comprehensive summaries of some famous pieces of Literature, may it be a poem, novel, etc. They also offer condensed online textbooks on science subjects and U.S. history.
  • Studying Law? As in the Laws in the Philippines? ChanRobles law firm has an online repository of Philippine Laws, the Philippine Constitution, Republic Acts among others.
  • As you may have noticed above, they’re life lines on the Internet. Now, let’s UnPLUG ourselves from our PCs/Macs. Join a special-interest organization. I’ve tried this and it’s actually a good outlet for people who love to talk about their interests but unfortunately have friends who aren’t interested with it. You learn new things (in my case, Linux stuff) while plowing new friends. You get a chance to talk and talk about geeky stuff without boring people.
  • Give yourself a break. Bond with nature. I bet most schools have an open-field or park. Give yourself a chance to roll on the grass, play frisbee with friends or have a walk with your pet. It may be costly but if you’re adventurous enough, have a discovery dive and discover what the open seas offer.

For the mean time, I’d stop here. I have more in mind, but let me reserve it for another post. Nyahahaha.

24 Comments

Tips on Taking UPCAT

Posted by Mikko at 29 July 2008

Category: Life Hacks

Tags:

Looking for UPCAT Tips? Here’s a compilation of UPCAT tips around the Internet.

Hey you, yes you reading this post. If you reached this post by Googling or Yahooing UPCAT tips, then you are on the rightest page on the Universe. If not, then you’re probably one of my loyal readers. :D

UPCAT or the University of the Philippines College Admission Test is the entrance examination to the Philippine’s one and only national university, the University of the Philippines. It is taken by thousands of graduating high school students who aspire to study in the prestigious University.

This year’s examination will be on August 2 and 3, 2008 — on different testing centers scattered around the country.

I know I am not the perfect person authority to write tips on taking UPCAT, but at least I passed the exam last year. Here are some simple yet useful tips on taking it:

  • For students from science high schools (like me), don’t review superadvanced lessons. Those topics are least probable to come out.
  • Don’t answer questions the way they are ordered. Try answering in random order. Some easy questions are scattered on the end part, especially in the Math part.
  • There are rumors that it is right minus (1/4) wrong. Try answering every question, if you get it wrong you get a 1/4 point deduction — meanwhile if you get it right you get a full point.
  • Read the stories in the reading comprehension as fast as you can. But remember, you should be able to understand them. The reading comprehension is one of the most time-consuming part.
  • Don’t bring too little or too many snacks. Chances are you’re gonna have a throbbing growling stomach or unexpected trips to the bathroom.
  • Have a great sleep! Be at your best shape and condition during the exam. This helps a lot.
  • Don’t overreview the night before the exams!
  • Take your time, but remember that it’s time bound. Don’t mind your seatmates. Most of my seatmates (those strangers) finished the different parts faster than I did — sadly I didn’t spot any of them here at UPD. Honestly, I averaged 10 unanswered question by the end of each part.
  • Familiarize the testing area in your Exam Slip. Do it at least a day before your examination. If not possible, try to go with someone who’s familiar with the place. This minimizes chances of getting lost.

Here are some of the topics (as far as I can remember) on last year’s exam:

  1. Basic Functions of Different Cell Organelles
  2. Simple algebra
  3. Some polynomial factoring
  4. Simple trigonometry
  5. Simple Electricity (V = IR; P = IV)
  6. Some rectilinear motion (free fall motion, a little projectile)
  7. Simple grammar and error spotting
  8. Triangles. Given two sides, identify the length of the third
  9. Some Earth Science

I hope it helps!

Good luck.

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