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Well there’s one thing I learned this weekend. People don’t know how to use ZIP files! You have to learn how to use them or you’ll be barred from downloading half the things on the internet. Don’t even attempt trying to start your own blog or website if you don’t know how to extract. Here’s a tutorial below that will show you exactly what to do with screenshots!
Verizon users read up! We finally have a site that allows us the freedom to use AIM, MSN, Gtalk, and Skype. It works perfectly on LGVX8300, just don’t try to edit your groups or you’ll get that insufficient memory crap.
How to Get AIM on your Cellphone for Free
Nimbuzz uses the WAP protocol so no text messages are needed and there is no need to download any applications. Now AT&T, Cingular, and T-Mobile users don’t really need to worry about this because they have applications already but if your still curious, here’s a list of how to access AIM, MSN, etc on your cellphone depending on your carrier.
Verizon Users
Verizon users need to have both America’s Choice Basic + VCast Vpack. If you have America’s Choice Select, or America’s Choice Premium, there is no need to read on. Select and Premium plans have unlimited Text Messages and you can use AIM from Get It NoW! for Free.
1. Open Verizon Wireless Mobile Web
2. Press Menu
3. Press Go to URL
4. Type Url: web.nimbuzz.com
5. Register and Login
6. Click Settings
7. Click Communities
8. Choose your Community and enter Login Information!
T-Mobile Users
T-mobile Users, can either use AIM from their cellphone’s desktop or use T-Mobile branded AIM through T-zones. If you have unlimited text messages you do not need to use Tzones Aim as it is much slower and painful to use. If you have unlimited T-Zones you can also MSN Method
For AIM
1. Press Tzones
2. Type AIM in Search Box
3. Press AIM and Sign In!
For MSN
1. Go to http://www.nimbuzz.com/en/getstarted/mobile/
2. Enter your Cellphone
3. Send Link to Download Java App
AT&T iPhone Users
Its odd how iPhone users get the least crippled software on their phones. iPhone users have a variety of choices to use but the most popular one right now is TinyBuddy, it works only for iPhone.
1. Click Safari
2. Type URL: http://x.aim.com/ty/
3. Sign in!
The Alternatives
Ebuddy and E-Messenger are the only major alternatives for Wap aim.
Ever since Windows Vista came out, I’ve been noticing a change in keyboard design. They have shifted towards smaller, more compact designs. I’ve found myself pretty much steering clear from those huge multimedia keyboards that dominated over Windows XP and 98 era. For some reason at that time, keyboard manufactures felt consumers loved those lavish big keyboards. Some of them take up a considerable amount of room for no reason at all. Remember the time when computer safety experts pushed those large ergonomic keyboards. These "Shamu" keyboards were split along the center providing you with the most awkward feeling.
What is up with the Huge Multimedia Keyboards?
I mostly shyed away from these type of keyboards mostly because they don’t fit well within the space of my desktop. I never could quite understand why companies pushed for multimedia keyboards that took up too much space. They added extra functionality such as buttons for your favorite websites, volume control, and sleep mode, the button thats pressed at the most inconvenient times. They might be useful to lazier people, but I don’t have need for it. I’m perfectly fine with controlling the volume manually through a knob on my speaker.
Logitech whats up with these big keyboards? The larger than life wrist rest makes this so uncomfortable for me. Not only does the wrist pad get in the way, I have to push the multimedia buttons so far away from me.
You see if Logitech could cut out the crap by taking the front silver peice off, I’d probably buy this. Its already sleek and refined, just cut off the wrist pad and we’ll have a deal.
Not only is this keyboard a fashion crime, its also HUGE. Slim it down some please…
How to Shop for A Slim Keyboard?
Its pretty easy to shop for one. All you have to do is look for the dimensions of the keyboard. Height x Width x Depth, are the 3 measurements used to figure out how it should fit on your desktop. When your buying keyboards online you can’t really predict how big it is without this. Most companies will tell you the dimensions up front. Logitech however seems to want to hide this information, may be they don’t want you to know. Stick to keyboards that are less than 9 in depth. You can pretty much see that keyboards without the wrist pad in the front have dimensions around 7 to 8 inches. Multimedia keyboards can go from 9 to 11 inches. Ergonomic keyboards always stay around 10 inches. Sometimes the dimensions are shown by Length x Width x Height, these websites list the width as the actual depth.
My recommendations for Slim Keyboards:
HP Multimedia Keyboard: PERFECT & CHEAP! Its silver with black, and its small enough to not bother you with big wrist pads. The depth is excellent 7.5 inches
Saitek Eclipse II: It has a detachable wrist pad with 9 inches average depth, volume control functions too.
Razer Tarantula: 8.6 inches of width isn’t bad for a keyboard with a large wristpad. Plus you can press 10 keys at the same time.
MaCally USB Slim Keyboard: Mac, Very Slim, can even curve when standing up. 6.5 inches depth is just WOW.
Recently there’s been a flurry of questions regarding parental controls for Aim. So lets go through some different ways you can actually block or limit access to Aim. I’m sure your kids will hate you.
One thing I noticed during skinning Aim 6.0 is that most of the buttons you see are not pictures. Infact "Boxely" the engine that renders the program has the capability to create gradients on the fly. If you had experience with making web 2.0 style buttons on the web, you’ll know already that the secret effect that gives a button its shine or glossiness comes from where colors are placed along a gradient. If your new to this or don’t understand what I’m talking about, I’ll show you a little demo of how colors are handled in Aim 6.0.
Solid Brushes
Aim 6.0 has a Solid Brush function. solidBrush tells the program that the particular ID of what your editing will have ONE color. The solid brush markup goes like this…
<solidBrush id="textColor.defaultButton" fill="#000000" />
Note fill="#000000", this is where you place the HTML Color Code. #000000 is the color code for black text. If you want to change it to another color you would change the letters and numbers after the # sign. Also there must be 6 Letter/Number combination in order to work.
Linear Gradient Brush
Aim 6.0 also has a Linear Gradient Brush. linearGradientBrush tells the program that the particular ID of what your editing will have multiple colors. The linear gradient brush markup goes like this…
<linearGradientBrush id="gradient.aimWindow.windowContent">
<rotateTransform center="50% 50%" angle="-90"/>
<gradientStops>
<gradientStop offset="0%" color="#121212"/>
<gradientStop offset="100%" color="#363636"/>
</gradientStops>
</linearGradientBrush>
Ok woah what happened here!? This got way more complicated than the solid brush. Well a gradient needs more than 1 color to become an actual gradient. Most of the entries in your skins will use linear gradients. In theory all solid brushes should be able to convert to linear gradient and vice versa. Now there are a few rules with linear gradients though. It needs to have a gradientStops tag and that tag must be closed after your gradientStop offsets. You also must close the linearGradientBrush tag at the end of the particular ID. Another rule is that you should begin the gradientStop offset at "0%" and end at "100%". Your free to place whatever values you want between those two colors. Aim 6.0’s boxely engine will render the blending it will take to those positions.
GradientStop Offset.
This is particularly hard to visualize if your new to creating gradients in photoshop or paint shop pro. What you need to do here is start off with one color at "0%" and end at "100%". The percentage tells you where that particular color will start and continue to. At the same time that particular color will also blend with the next gradientstop offset unless you specify otherwise.
Now your not limited to just 2 colors, in my skin, I use 4 to 5 different gradient offsets. By positioning the colors in a certain way you can create an effect where the colors smoothly create a bump like effect, or abrupt colors that creates a sheen glass like effect. Lets take a look at one of the mistakes I used in my skin.
<gradientStop offset="0%" color="#f3f8e7"/>
<gradientStop offset="25%" color="#8cc110"/>
<gradientStop offset="51%" color="#abd747"/>
<gradientStop offset="100%" color="#abd747"/>
Now you may not see anything wrong here, but if your as picky as I am, you’ll notice that the send IM button’s colors does not match the bar beside it. Take a look at the markup. According to my percentages, these colors will blend smoothly. The farther apart the percentages are, the more smoother bump-like the colors are… [however this isn't always true since you can just use 2 similar colors at the top and 2 similar colors at the bottom to make use of the abrupt glass like effect.] Lets fix this up to create a similar style.
<gradientStop offset="0%" color="#abd747"/>
<gradientStop offset="40%" color="#8cc110"/>
<gradientStop offset="41%" color="#D9FF82"/>
<gradientStop offset="44%" color="#8cc110"/>
<gradientStop offset="100%" color="#abd747"/>
Ok now you’ll see a major difference. Take a look at the markup, I’m using 5 gradient offsets to achieve this effect. Note that at 41%-44% the brightest color is used. Then it continues back to the regular gradient. This can be cleaned up better since its kind of redundant to have 5 colors doing that style when I could just fake it with 4 colors.
<gradientStop offset="0%" color="#abd747"/>
<gradientStop offset="41%" color="#abd747"/>
<gradientStop offset="44%" color="#8cc110"/>
<gradientStop offset="100%" color="#abd747"/>
There, nobody will notice the difference unless they have really keen eyes. Thats all for this lesson.
Learn More About creating Aim 6.0 skins
- Download Aim Skins -
I’m not sure why this is the most frequently asked question. You can sign on 2 or more screen names by doing these simple steps. This method works in Aim 6.x series only. Aim 5.9 has different steps. Mac Aim 4.7 users will not be able to link screen names. Please read the last paragraph on which program you should get. Continue Reading…
You may not have a Nintendo DS or a Playstation Portable, but that doesn’t mean you are forced to play those cruddy games on your cell. All you need is a WAP browser, a data plan, and your set to go. Make sure to read the extra notes at the bottom of the post.
