"This site may harm your computer" Google Bug

Today morning, as usual, the first thing I did after I sat on my computer was to search for things (in this case a wallpaper or picture from which I could draw inspiration for a website that I was working on...). However, something interesting happened. Instead of going directly to the images or search results, I'd get the "This site may harm your computer" message from Google.

No matter what site I tried to search for, or what the website was (even some of google's own websites come up as 'Malware' for some reason) I am constantly getting the problem. Of course, even this blog was listed as 'potential malware' for some reason. [Update: The problem seems to have fixed itself now, in about 5 minutes after I encountered it. Therefore, it is safely possible to assume that if you experience the same problem, just wait for a while till some Google engineer does some script-fu with the servers and makes things alright]

Clearly, there is some kind of problem with either the google server or my Internet connection. I'm thinking that it's most likely the former. Or, could it be that Google just hates me because I use it so much and rarely click on any ads?

Don't believe me? See for yourself. And no, these screenshots have not been retuched in any way, shape or form.






Something tells me that some one might be getting yelled at as I type this.

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Disable Annoying System Beep on Linux (Ubuntu/Kubuntu)

I've been using Ubuntu (well... technically Nubuntu, as I am most certainly a Linux/Unix Newbie) quite a bit lately (more on that later...!) and if there's one thing that has annoyed me so far, it's probably the little old antiquated system beep that my computer makes when I accidentally press a key I'm not supposed.

The beep is loud (I've fallen off the chair quite a few times because of it), useless (well... sort of), annoying and just plain unnecessary. So, I finally decided to get rid of it. Of course, like any other linux newbie I decided to do a quick search on the interweb to find out how to fix the problem.

The first article I came across, from the how to geek, was a bit useless because it was for Ubuntu Edgy! Since I'm using the 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) version of the operating system, there is no 'System Beep' tab when I go to System > Preferences > Sound! But then I found another article from arsgeek that helped me handle the problem. Except, the instructions on arsgeek could have been a little better... so I'm publishing what I did on my blog.

First, I pressed Alt + F2, which brought up the run application command, and typed in the command as stated on arsgeek with a sudo in the front. Like so:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

And checked the box beside 'Run in terminal' and clicked Run.

Then, I typed in my password when Terminal asked me to type it... and Gedit open with the blacklist file.

I copied and pasted the entry:

#silly speaker beep
blacklist pcspkr

at the bottom of the file, and saved the file > Closed Gedit. Finally, on the terminal window that was still open I typed in (I could have of course restarted my system... but I didn't want to waste the 20 seconds):

sudo rmmod pcspkr

And that was the end of the annoying speaker beep problem, in Linux!

More on my experiences with Linux later!

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Adding annotations to Pictures in Leopard

Unfortunately, for some weird reason, Preview does not allow one to add annotations to a picture file by default. You can, however, add annotations to a PDF file quite easily without changing things around (so you can just go to Tools > Annotate and start annotating). But if you want to do the same for a screenshot or any other picture file, you'll have to add the annotation tool in the toolbar!

To do this, first open Preview (simply click on a picture file). Then right click on the Toolbar > Customize Toolbar > Drag and Drop the Annotate Button to the toolbar and click Done.

Then, when you open a picture file, you'll be able to use the Annotate button to draw arrows, squares, circles, and much more! You can even add notes to a picture, in case it's a picture of your cat that you'll be e-mailing to icanhascheezeburger!

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Text to speech conversion on a Mac

Here's a quick tip (well.. technically quick because its easier in Leopard!) for all you mac fans out there, who are looking for a better way to proof-read your work. Why not get your Mac to read out the text to you, and then you can see if there is a problem in the text?

Here's how you can get your mac to read any text that you want with it's super-powerful text to speech conversion feature. (Windows also has this feature, but its a bit more annoying and a bit more complex to use... more about that later)

First, click on the Apple button on the top left hand corner of the screen and click System Preferences. Then click on Speech and click to the 'Text to speech conversion tab'. Finally, just check the box beside 'Speech selected text when the key is pressed' and click on Set key. Then hold down a combination of keys (I set this to Command + Option + S, but you can set it to anything you prefer).
Now, to use text to speech conversion, just select a bunch of text (with your mouse... as if you were about to copy the text).. and press Command + Option + S. You're computer's voice (Alex for Leopard) will read it out to you. Alex is really smart, and he can understand things like commas, names, numbers and even dollars. It'll even try to read special punctuation to the best of its abilities, so you'll be able to hear if you've missed a comma or forgotten to close a quote. So it's perfect to use this to proof read your essay that's due in 6 hours.

It's fast, efficient and easy. What more could you ask for?

Also, if you are using Tiger, you won't be able to set a key (And Vicky will be the voice of the computer). So if you want to read a piece of text out loud, first select the text, Click the name of the Application in the menubar, Services > Speech > Start Speaking Text.

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Download Free Windows 7 Wallpapers

This goes out to all the Windows/Microsoft/Windows 7 fans out there, who are searching for ways to pimp-out your Windows Vista or Windows XP. Please note that I have not created any of these wallpapers or wallpaper packs, but merely put together a collection of the stuff so that all of you can download it freely and fast.

Oh and by the way you might also want to check out my ‘make your Windows Vista install look like Windows 7 tutorial’ if you really want to get on the Windows 7 bandwagon.

Official Windows 7 Wallpapers (from the Betas and from Vista Final Releases)

DeviantArt Windows 7 Wallpaper Packs (from fellow Windows loving artists)

Windows Se7en Pack 1 by ~Frnak

With some beautiful wallpapers this is probably one of the best Windows “Se7en packs” out there. It has the abstract art, the logos and even the colour schemes that are so prominent in modern Microsoft design. This pack even comes with regular screen and widescreen sizes, so that it won’t look distorted on your widescreen monitor or look like its stretched on your regular monitor.

Windows 7 Wallpaper Pack by ~maoractive

This pack is a great pack for those who want some cool ‘Aurora’ looking Windows 7 ish wallpapers without having the Windows 7 Logo pasted all over the place. It’s clean, simple, and mimics the style of the original Microsoft wallpapers found in the Windows 7 builds.

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Tremulous: Free Open Source Online Multiplayer Game

Here's a good computer video games that isn't expensive. It's free You don't need expensive consoles or super fast computers to play it. And you don't need Windows or Mac to play it because it runs on Linux too (You can however, use a Windows and Mac to play it too... if you wish to do so).

Plus, this games also has elements of a first person shooter game, real time strategy and additional multiplayer online game features. It's based on the Quake engine, and has two main skillsets of aliens and humans.

The game I'm talking about here is called: Tremulous.





It's free, open source (yes, that means hackable too...) fast and easy to learn. The objective of the game is this: There are two teams, humans and aliens. Each team has to build their own base and defend it, while attacking the enemy base to destroy it. Plus it looks pretty good too.

Naturally there are several unique elements in the game. For example, you need to be able to shoot (with several different kinds of weapons that work differently), build a base (both human and alien bases are different) and learn how to use an alien (because aliens can't shoot.)

Plus, since its free there are loads of people all over the world playing the game. You too can host your own game server from your very own computer (provided you have a good internet connection and a fairly fast computer) and all you need to play is a regular mouse and keyboard.

We'll instead of me telling you more about the game, why not give the game a try. May be you'll like it, may be you wont. But it's free.. so you've got nothing to loose.

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Wikipedia: The Free Encycopedia that can't always be trusted

Yes, I know that quite a lot of people use Wikipedia by now. But, sometimes I wonder - should I really trust an encyclopedia that is free. Here are a couple of reasons why using Wikipedia might actually a bad thing, especially when you are using it to do some research or learn more about a topic.

Wikipedia is free. But that also means that it has to rely heavily on volunteers to write articles to the website. Over the course of the past few years, the requirements for a proper wikipedia article have been updated, and now a days, most articles need proper and thorough citations for every point stated. This is a good thing of course, because it ensures better quality information.

However, this doesn't mean that someone who just wants to screw around with the system can't get away with doing something malicious. For example, when I was doing some research for a project through the ever handy Dictionary app, I came across this little "problem".

Clearly, it's possible to say that not everything on Wikipedia can be trusted when people misuse the website for fun. Also, there might be a possiblity of a person using another person's blog/private website (where certain information may be eschewed) and accidently presenting the wrong information.

Furthermore, another problem that wikipedia has is the biased information on controversial topic. Of course, in my opinion it is impossible to get rid of biases in even the best of encyclopedias and news paper articles (hey, we're humans, our prejudices sometimes just come through unintentionally).

Nevertheless, when you see articles like articles on the Gaza/Israel conflict, they always have a 'The neutrality of this article, and factual errors are being disputed' sign, meaning that the information might potentially be way off. Not good when you want to find out something for a project.

But, I guess there are some things that Wikipedia really excels in. For one, it gives you all the necessary information really fast in a well categorized wikipage. Plus, there are always ways to find out if the information in Wikipedia is correct or not. More about that in my future posts...

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