Posted 4 months ago at 12:41 pm. 2 comments
Delays Delays and More Delays. Can’t do much when tests count so much for your grade.
Bumped.org Site Planning
March 2008
- Windows XP Blue Skin for Aim 6.8
- Chatroom Trial on /Tek/
- Bumped.org Front Page Converts to Blog
- Stylin Profile Blog replaces WebApps
- Stylin Profile Blog creates Facebook & Myspace Page
- Upcoming Page for /Tek/
- PSU Blog gears for Maximum Attack G
April 2008
- RPG Game Project Starts Planning Mode
- Web Apps Blog comments Disabled
May 2008 - July 2008
- Untitled Purple Aim 6.8 Skin
- Skins will be gloss like (ex. Vista Skin’s Bottom Bar)
Posted 4 months ago at 3:07 pm. 5 comments
As Randy Falco, CEO of AOL, gets closer to his dream of making AOL the most profitable advertising network, users were treated with a brand new ad inside the buddy info. These ads now take up a considerable amount of space at the bottom of the buddy info. The window is now stuck at a much larger width than before
This did not set off well with the AIM userbase, as there have been complaints about this new ad system:
“THANK YOU PEOPLE FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THIS IS!!! I HATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE BUDDY INFO BOX, I CAN’T STAND IT!! ITS ANNOYING AND POINTLESS AND MAKES THE BUDDY INFO LOOK LIKES ITS NOT ABOUT BUDDY INFO AT ALL” ~DanceStar
“EPIC FAIL FOR AIM.” ~nj
“AIM MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO WAKE UP” ~a concerned mother
” SUCH A SMALL CHANGE AND I WANNA RIP MY EYES OUT >> GET RID OF THE ADS !” ~Robby
“Your actually doing negative advertising for these companies. SCREW VERIZON…the first company to buy the ad. I make a point to never buy any product of people you advertise for. STOP ALREADY.” ~jimmy
As you can see from all those CAPS LOCKS, people are enraged over this! I did notice that there was not much complaints against the text ads AOL placed in the buddy info, maybe they should reconsider implementing that instead.
In other news, AIM has added more integration with AIM profiles by adding a “Profile Buddies” tab in the Buddy Info.
Also Note AimAdHack now removes these Ads.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 9:55 pm. 0 comments
Google released a little web application called Google Talk Chatback Badge, where can chat with everyone who visits your website. Google hasn’t added any robust new features against its current competition. We might as well call it the Charlie Brown of chat widgets. Unlike MeeboMe, and Aim Wimzi, you have to click on it in order to initiate a chat session, and there are tons of useful features left out to give that could give this Plain Jane a boost. Its only shining quality is how neat and tidy it looks with the rest of your site.
Color Schemes
It could use some colors. white and blue reminds me of the old days of the web. At least the quote bubble is curvy.
Flash Embed Option
It needs a Flash version. iFrames are too exploitable, and I’d even advocate for web browsers to ask whether to load content in an IFrame just to reduce javascript attacks by a considerable amount. Since its iFrame, there is no anyway to put this on your Myspace page, so people please don’t ask about it.
Badge Saving For Later Use
Currently, it just generates a code everytime you visit the page, which defaults to your real first and last name, or whatever name you set up in your Google Account. If you had previously set up a nickname, it will get lost if you need it again for whatever reason. You’ll have to retype the nickname again to generate the code.
Guest Names For Each Person
Guests should be able to set their nickname and each Guest should be assigned a unique number. Currently all Guests respond as Guest, making it confusing at times.
Thats about it. Knowing Google, these suggestions, if they do consider them, will get added quietly.
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 6:00 pm. 15 comments
Many people ask if its possible to cancel or remove your AIM or AOL screen name and account.
Depending on which account you have, you may or may not be able to completely cancel your account
If you have..
- A Free AIM Account: You WILL NOT be able to cancel.
- A Free AOL Account: You WILL be able to cancel.
- A Paid AOL Account: You WILL be able to cancel.
You can however take steps to ensure that your account is canceled down the road by following the suggestions
Remove Your Screen Name in Aim 6.8
- Open AIM 6.8
- Click on a Screen Name
- Uncheck Remember Me
- Uncheck Remember Password
- Press Delete On your Screen Name
Canceling your Paid AOL Screen Name
- Head over to Cancel AOL
- Look for “Free AOL / Cancel My AOL Bill”
- Press Continue
Canceling your Free AOL Screen Name
- Visit Cancel AOL
- Find the Frequently Asked Questions at the Right
- Click “How do I cancel my free member account”
For Aim Users only: If you followed the first step, your screen name will now be removed from Aim’s drop down list. However, there are few important things you should remember. Screen names will eventually become deactivated due to inactivity. This means you should never log into the screen name at all. This includes checking Email and posting on AOL’s message boards. Each time you sign on, you initially reset the clock for the screen name to become deactivated.
Another way to getting your AIM Screen Name deactivated is a bit more nefarious as it requires you to do a Terms of Service violation. Essentially once you have done a Terms of Service violation your account will most likely become suspended and nobody will ever be able to sign on or use it again. This is until AOL dumps the inactivated and suspended screen names, which can take years before its placed back into rotation. Most of the time this never happens for suspended screen names.
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago at 9:00 am. 14 comments
The Pepsi Stuff contest launched a while ago. The sweepstakes cooperates with Amazonmp3, by allowing you to spend points to download a free mp3. I not really a big deal downloading free mp3s, but its a new frontier for major record labels making up for their mistakes with the RIAA.
Each mp3 costs 5 bottle caps. If you were to buy Five (2 Liter) bottles that would equate to $7.59 per mp3. It may be likely that a 2 Liter Pepsi bottle is on sale, which would typically end up with 1$ per (2 Liter) Bottle equating to $5 per mp3.
Now lets check the price for a (24oz.) 6 pack of Pepsi. The total price equates to less than $5.99. The twelve (12oz) cans costs around $5.49, but they only nets you 2 points.
Pepsi Cola Price Summary
- $7.59 per 1.00 mp3 (2 Liters)
- $5.99 per 1.20 mp3 (24oz 6 pack)
- $5.49 per 0.20 mp3 (12oz 12 pack)
If we decide that $1 should equal 1 point, then the only purchase that makes most sense in this chart would be the 24oz 6 pack, which appears to be the best deal in this situation. Now why is there such a dramatic decrease in points with the 12oz 12pack? Maybe they are secretly promoting their 6 pack bottles?
Points per Product
- 20 oz or 24 oz = 1pt
- 1 lliter or 2 liter = 1pt
- 12oz can 8 or 12 pack = 2pts
- 16.9 oz 12 pack = 4pts
- 24oz 6 pack = 6pts
- 32oz cup = 1pt
Now the question to you is:
Do you think these points are unfair, and will you be participating or boycotting this promotion and why?
There are others who agree with me. Maybe Pepsi should increase the points on some of them.
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago at 2:50 pm. 0 comments
Creative has just informed their customers that the Creative Zen 32GB MP3 Player is now available for purchase in the Creative Store. This release comes days after Apple iPod Touch which will also be available for 32GB. Conspiracy? Hmm… Even though Creative announced this 32GB player a few months ago, it was only available for purchase outside of the U.S. Interestingly enough, lots of news sites reported it as being available, even though most stores listed it for preorder.
The iPod Touch 32GB retails for $499 to cover the costs of the enhanced touch screen and wifi capabilities. Creative Zen retails for $299, a slight price decrease from the expected $349. Creative Zen supports a more wider range of video, and has an expandable SD card slot for storing pictures and music depending on firmware. Zen’s only setback is its firmware update. The firmware update on the original Zen models has caused numerous bugs and WSOD (white screen of deaths) where some were forced to downgrade their firmware.
Posted 5 months ago at 8:03 pm. 0 comments
The Transcend TS2GSDC 2GB Memory Card was accidentally listed for $1,268,210,425.88. Yes thats right $1,268,210,425.88. You save 28% from its original listing as $1,772,767,261.98. Save BIG At Amazon.com! Check out the name of the company who is retailing this.
[via Amazon]
Continue Reading…
Posted 5 months ago at 6:13 pm. 1 comment
Stanford University will become a new media startup company… well not exactly but its certainly looking that way. They have brought together another project called Make 3D. Its purpose is to convert 2D images to 3D using complex algorithms. You will be able to walk through your image and view it at any angle. Its not 100% perfect and it can’t ever be considering its just a photograph where certain areas are stretched and wrapped around a 3D model.
Make3D joins VectorMagic in Stanford University’s student projects. This is not the first time that a project like this was attempted. Microsoft was previously working on a 3D Panorama project that stitched photos together creating a sort of collage that depicted every angle of a building. Carnegie Mellon University previously released a video on their own project but not much has been said about it since 2 years ago.
[via Make3D]
Continue Reading…
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 1:33 pm. 11 comments
A very frequently asked question. Not that its hard to do but I guess people can’t find it? Anyways follow the steps below on how to get rid of Aim Dashboard:
Disable AIM Today or Aim Dashboard from Popping Up In Internet Explorer
- Open Aim 6.5
- Click Edit
- Click Settings
- Click Sign In / Sign Out
- Click None
- Click Save
Disable AIM From Starting When Windows Starts
- Open Aim 6.5
- Click Edit
- Click Settings
- Click Sign In/ Sign Out
- Uncheck Start Aim When Windows Starts
- Click Save
You’ll need to do this to each and every screen name you have on the Sign On screen as its different settings per screen name. And thats all there is to this. BYE!
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 1:55 am. 0 comments
Hey we’re back again and with a brand new theme! Bumped.org will enter Season 2 where it focuses on primarily blogging as it did before but with more integration between each blog as they will now be referenced within posts. The firpst major update is this tek site which now has more readability features making it easier for you and me organize all the crazy amounts of information that happens on the site.
CSS Topic Headers
Tek now features CSS Topic Headers seperating information within a post. It should organize some of the things that were annoying before.
Download Now!
Downloads of files will be contained in this lovely green border of love! So now you should have no trouble finding the file
Image Borders will be used to contain the elegance of pictures as seen on web apps and psu blog.
BlockQuotes are back and retain the same style
The sidebar has now reduced in length significantly. Sidebars are now contextual and will suggest posts for you. Categories have been moved to category archives. More important stuff will appear at the top of the sidebar, and you no longer have to scroll far down to see what you want.
Bumped.org Site Planning & Structuring
Unfortunately parts of the site will shut down. Web Apps will be split in two and will be covered in a new untitled profile specific blog, the other half will become bumped.org the blog.
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January 08
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February 08
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Web Apps will be Discontinued.
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Lifey will be Discontinued.
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Forums will be Discontinued.
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Untitled Profile Blog will replace Web Apps
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Chatroom Trial Project
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New Skin for Aim 6.8
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March 08 - July 08
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago at 3:34 pm. 0 comments
Today Apple released at its MacWord 2008, several new features for the iPod Touch. The company plans to milk you for even more money with several new features.
Mail: View HTML Email, PDF, Microsoft Word, and Excel Attachements
Map: A Wi-Fi triangulation service will approximate the location you are at.
Home: Add up to 8 customizable home screens.
Stocks: View Stocks just like on the iPhone
Weather: View Weather just like on the iPhone
Notes: Take Notes just like on the iPhone
With all that said, its time for a major update for the whole website. See you after the jump! 
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago at 3:20 am. 0 comments
This new client plays catch up to features already existing on Windows. It’s built with AIMCC SDK, and now allows support for plugins (previously a Windows exclusive feature). There seems to be a little discussion about why should AOL develop a new Mac client when iChat does everything. From all the people who post on message boards, there’s still quite a few people who did not know that iChat could use the AIM network. Others have been begging for AOL for years to develop a new Mac application.
Some feel that AOL has abandoned Macs and left them outside in the cold to fend for themselves. It’s not that they didn’t have alternatives to choose from, there’s still Adium which has been serving the Mac community very well. However, with third party programs, you ultimately realize certain features will never be available to you and you’ll just have to live with it. So with all that in mind, pick the software you feel most comfortable with. You don’t need to worry about what so & so company is making. You can try it out by Downloading it here!
Posted 6 months ago at 7:40 pm. 0 comments
I don’t really care much about pingbacks and trackbacks but I guess they have their usefullness to the blogging community. Its not just bloggers who use it, but spammers as well. They use this easy oppurtunity to get their site listed because Akismet won’t moderate pingbacks. You’ll need a seperate plugin just to block them completely. I do recommend using two plugins to combat two different types of pingback spam which we’ll go into detail below
Blocking Pingback Spam from Spammers!
The plugin I suggest using is Trackback Validation Plugin. Its pretty good and has been filling in the holes that even Spam Karma left behind. It places all pingbacks on moderation allowing you to not have to wake up each day worrying about how someone found your post interesting but they didn’t agree with parts of it.. ya right.. You can try out the Trackback Validation Plugin.
Examples of Pingback Spam include:
Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts…..
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view…
May I use some of your content on my website?…
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….
Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin…..
Blocking Pingback Spam from You!
I am one of the bloggers who insist that pingbacks should only come from external sources, not your own blog. If you want to show related posts, you should instead use the related plugin. This isn’t really the point though, pingback spam from your own blog is irritating only because it automatically adds it self to the comments even when you just wanted to link to a previous entry. Since there is no internal option to disable yourself from sending pingbacks, you can instead use the no self pinback plugin.
So I hope you try those out because quite frankly I’m tired of this whole pingback mess.
Posted 6 months, 1 week ago at 11:21 pm. 5 comments
Usually, I consider this a bug but it has taken so long to get fixed that now I wonder if its actually a fix.
After upgrading from Aim 6.1 to Aim 6.5 the buddy updates box that shows when your away messages updated has gone missing.
The buddy updates box now only shows for RSS feeds, Aim Share, and Aim Profiles. However, all update entries still show up at settings.aim.com, just not in the buddy info.
If you want something there to show up, just update your profile, add an rss feed, or even share a link, and the box will come back but only for those entries.
Note: If you add an Aim Share link, there is currently no way to remove it from listing until it expires and that can take a long time.
Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago at 3:43 am. 1 comment
When it comes to antivirus software, I think programmers don’t realize they are unintentionally doing the same things they are trying to protect us from. They still produce pop ups and are hard to remove, it makes you wonder if these programs are viruses themselves. I did find that the majority of users hate their own AntiVirus software, and would gladly switch to another one if they weren’t so wary of the side effects. I know alot of you reading would chime in and say, they should use Grisoft or Avira, but this article is for us people with money, you know the ones who have jobs…
We’ll take a look at the Majors (Norton & Mcafee) and the Rookies (Kaspersky, F-Secure, Gri-Soft). More and more people are switching over to Kaspersky and F-Secure and I believe in the end they might become household names as soon as they start selling in Costco..
10. High Prices
If there’s anything that can deter you from buying any Antivirus Suite is its high price…
Product Name: Total Price/Amazon Price
Kaspersky Internet Security: $79.95/$49.99
Gri-Soft AVG Internet: Security $69.95/$54.99
Norton Internet Security: $69.99/51.25
Mcafee Internet Security: $69.99/$41.49
*F-Secure Internet Security: $59.90/47.92
I always say to myself, anything that costs more than a video game better be good. Its something we come to expect from software, and most of the time $49.99 seems to be the cap that most people would expect to pay. Keep in mind that these prices are for the 2008 internet security versions with up to 3 users. So its a good idea to retail below 49.99. F-secure was not listed on Amazon when this article was written, and its price is taken from its own website.
9. Toolbars And Junk
Aim Toolbar, Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, Decline Decline Decline!!! I’m not sure why there is this big obsession over packaging your programs with toolbars. Maybe there aren’t much complaints about them, but everyone I’ve talked to just don’t know how the Fun Web Products Toolbar appeared on their browser. Its even worse when the program that is supposed to protect you from things like that, installs one anyway.
“The first thing you might notice is that is installs it’s own ‘Norton Toolbar’ into whatever browser you’re using. And it locks it in. Seriously, you cannot remove it without uninstalling Norton” ~Amazon Reviewer
8. Pop Up Ads!?
Previously when we bought any Internet Security Suite, some would come with a pop up ad blocker. Since the internet has changed and IE now has one built in there isn’t any need for all that anymore. But still (Mcafee! I’m talking about you) there is no point in having Pop Up Ads telling me to purchase some overpriced license renewal earlier in the year. These ads don’t come up often but periodically you’ll just see it there thinking your loaded and full of money!
7. Unnecessary Blocking
Blocking malicious websites might be a good idea for those of us who just stumble on them. But what happens when it starts blocking websites you know and love.
“One web site in particular (Home Shopping) will load OK…but if you go to the various topics (Jewlery, electronics etc.) it will not open them at all…and a blank screen is all you get…the only way to get those things to open is to COMPLETELY disable the Kaspersky program” ~Amazon Reviewer
6. Complicated and Hard to Find Settings!
You usually won’t see this problem in Norton and Mcafee, but as soon as you scurry away to the alternative antivirus software, they stop being nice and start being real! This is the Real World! F-Secure’s firewall really hates p2p programs by blocking every connection attempt. When I try adding some rules to the firewall, I feel like a complete idiot when its asking me about IPv6, UDP, and TCP. I only set those things up in my router. I never had to worry about that on Mcafee, but now I have to figure out what the hell they are talking about.
“The worst thing is after I block a certain activity, there’s no way to go back and find out where to unblock it. Ok, if you are computer expert, I think you will figure out a way to unblock it. I’ve gone through help file, searched google, and forums for answers and still could not find the solutions.” ~ Amazon Reviewer
5. Constant Alert Pop Ups
You’ve seen those Mac commercials where PC has to allow or deny everytime something happens. Most people think Vista’s UAC is annoying, well why not add another layer on top of that when you install Norton, Kaspersky, and F-Secure. Norton doesn’t trust what your doing. Kaspersky wants to ask what muscle your going to use next, and F-Secure thinks everyone your inviting over is High Risk! I think Mcafee handles this somewhat well and tries to keep it to a minimum.
“…Apparently, this program has no brain. For example, I have the Live Search Toolbar installed in Outlook. It had to ask me if it was OK to run that dll file. In fact, each program that called up a process from a shared dll has to ask permission before it could run… ”
4. Tech Support
Tech Support should be the last and final straw for any problems you have. Just hope they are not outsourced, otherwise expect them not to help you since ”its not our fault.”
“I had to pay three dollars a minute to use the technical support telephone number. Of the seven minutes I was on that call, I was on hold for more than half the time (still being charged). When the technician finally emailed me instructions to resolve my technical issue, I quickly discovered he had sent me instructions for an issue completely unrelated to mine. In essence, I spent 21 dollars on hold music. ” ~Amazon Reviewer
3. Hard to Uninstall
Its always easy for spyware to install on your computer, but why is it soo hard to uninstall… hmm. In essence the same thing happens with Mcafee, Norton, and Kaspersky. Try removing them and you learn you’ll need an additional uninstaller to uninstall where the uninstaller left off…
“…you have to use an uninstaller from the Symantec web page, to guarantee that you remove its hidden installations that the uninstaller from the Add/Remove programs from the control panel will miss.” ~Amazon Reviewer
2. Resource Hog
Nobody likes a hog, the ones who don’t play fair and doesn’t share. Mcafee, Windows Defender, Kaspersky, Norton, are all resource hogs. They come in, dump their tub o lard and take your precious time loading some obscure feature for whatever reason.
“Internet loading will be drastically crippled. Expect frequent system choppiness due to automatic downloading and background processes.” ~Amazon Reviewer
1. IT KILLS YOUR COMPUTER!!
It has happened to me, and many others. For some reason whether its our fault or not, the program just can’t take it anymore and boom, blue screens of death, constant crashing, and in my case, java just went up and left. The last thing you want to do is call tech support, so off we go reinstalling Windows. I know the Mac user is laughing their butts off but you know your day will come soon! *SHAKE FIST*
“You’re better off with a virus than this POS. Two days after loading this tumor it was doing an update and froze my computer like a two week old penguin turd…Way too busy, not allowing you the use of your own computer. Had to run a recovery on my system” ~Amazon Reviewer
