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How to: Get all Facebook friends + emails into any address book!
With the release of Microsoft’s Invite2Messenger, we can now get all our Facebook friends out of Facebook, and into our address books. Useful for finding your friends on other sites, as well as for emailing them!
1. Go to: https://www.invite2messenger.net. If you get a warning about the security certificate, just allow it.
2. Choose Facebook (other sites are to come, including Hotmail, Bebo, LinkedIn, Hi5 and Tagged…)
3. Stick in your email, and click “Find Friends”
4. Once you have the list of all your friends and their emails, select the text on the page, and copy it into a text editor.
5. You now have the information, use find and replace to get it into this form:
name1,emailaddress1
name2,emailaddress2
etc…
6. To import into gmail, make the first line of the file:
Name,E-mail
and save the file as a .csv.
7. Go to gmail, then choose contacts. Choose import at the bottom of the page, and choose your file. Gmail automatically checks for duplicates before it adds the new addresses, and merges them when there are duplicates.
For other email providers, check their help on the file format needed. Gmail can export in some different formats, so perhaps it’s a good idea to put it through Gmail to get the others.
8. Go to twitter, last.fm, digg, friendfeed etc etc and use their friend finders to find out which of your friends are on those sites!
Hope this is helpful!
Much easier than trying to screenscrape the page…
Secrets of the Eee
Icons exist for the following programs that are no included on the Eee – perhaps these were planned for inclusion at one point.
Find these at /opt/xandros/AsusLauncher. Use ls | grep iptv in that folder to find the filename for iptv for instance.
- iptv
- kturtle
- kvisio
- openarena
- planner
- skool
- splashtop
- supermario
- xterm
- music store
- googleearth
- webstorage
Xterm is available by pressing ctrl – alt – T, but the others are not installed. We have seen evidence of Splashtop at CEE – perhaps the others will be used as well at some point…
Weirdly the xterm icon shows a prompt at C:\_ - not very linux like!
Taking a deeper look at the file located at /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/simpleui.rc we can see that the programs that provide iptv and the music store are Miro and a unusual application called ezpeer respectively.
There isn’t an easy way to tell what the web storage icon would be for, but an educated guess would be a gui to configure mount.gmailfs, a program that comes preinstalled on the eee that allows you to mount a gmail account as a file system. This isn’t officially allowed by gmail, so perhaps this is why it was not included in the final version.
Openarena is a open source program based on the source released for Quake 3 - again, this would be pretty cool!
More digging around shows that the themes are named accessibility (blue), business (silver), student (green), home (orange), perhaps these were originally meant to be more than just colour changes.
If you want, you can change the wallpaper by modifying the files with wallpaper in their filenames in the same folder. It should be possible to make a new theme, rather than replacing an old one – we will have to see!
Writing web apps with AppJet
AppJet bills itself as allowing “instant web programming”. As a relatively competent programmer, I had a look to see whether this tool would be useful to me.
The key feature of AppJet is that it allows you to write code and publish it without having to host it yourself. Any application that you make has a link when using it so that other users can view its source - this means that anything made is by default open source. This makes it pretty easy to learn, as you can check to see how other people are doing things very quickly.
AppJet uses javascript, both for client and server side - pretty unusual. It also includes its own libraries, meaning that you can quickly create Facebook applications, among others.
The demo application is a shoutbox, where users can write messages that persist. It’s viewable here. The source is here. As you can see, it has imported an AppJet library with the line import("storage"); at the top. This allows databases to be used effortlessly.
As mentioned above, there is a library that interfaces with the Facebook API, allowing easy creation of facebook apps - this may well be it’s killer feature in the long term. An example app is shown at http://appjet.com/app/537137228/source. The facebook library speeds up much of the fbml and fql that needs to be used otherwise
AppJet has developed it’s own virtualisation solution to allow users programs to run securely and without affecting each other - pretty interesting stuff!
Made anything neat with AppJet? Let me know in the comments!
Posted in websites Tagged programming, website
How to install KDE 4 RC 2 on Ubuntu 7.10 (screenshot tour)
If you’ve been following the development of KDE 4, then you are likely aware that the most recent release candidate was released a few days ago.
To install on Ubuntu or Kubuntu:
Remove any previous version of KDE 4.
sudo apt-get remove kdelibs5 kde4base-data kde4libs-data
Install KDE 4 RC 2:
sudo apt-get install kdebase-bin kdebase-workspace kdebase-kde4 kdebase-runtime
When originally writing this, packages didn’t seem to be in backports, but you now should be able to get these packages from the gutsy-backports repository - if the last command threw some errors and the packages weren’t found, then add this repository:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main to /etc/apt/sources.list
I’d use nano, but that’s just me, remember to use sudo to edit it as it’s not writable by any old user!
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
After this, reload your apt data:
sudo apt-get update
Again, you only need to add the repository if it doesn’t download normally.
Log out, then at the login window, choose the KDE 4 session. (If a menu isn’t obvious to you, press F10 when you are typing in your username and choose from the menu that appears.)
You should be greeted with the KDE splash screen, which currently shows the team members who have created KDE 4.
Once you are logged in, you get the same flower background as was in RC 1, but now the taskbar is actually usable. The K menu is docked, as well as the clock but you cannot currently adjust it in anyway, or add new plasmoids to it.
Just a shot showing what it looks like when a few windows are open - there isn’t much contrast between windows, or between widgets and windows - its quite hard to tell the difference between active and inactive anything at the moment. The spanner in the top right will not be in the final release.
A close up of Dolphin, the new file manager. It’s much more streamlined that Konqueror, which is still used as the default web browser. Konqueror does still pop up from time to time when opening things, doesn’t seem that Dolphin has totally replaced it in this version. Dolphin shows previews of files, and has a way to tag and rate files.
Right clicking on the desktop allows you to add widgets - this screenshot shows most of the widgets available. There are lots of icons missing throughout this version of KDE 4.
You can chose to have a single image or a slideshow for your desktop background.
You can add new art using the Add Hot New Stuff interface - guess this gets it from kde-look?
The new run dialog, obtained by pressing alt-f2. It seems much more streamlined than before and autosuggests what you want.
This release is a definite improvement from RC 1, and would now be feasible for day to day use. Although I have concentrated on the visual changes, most of the most important changes from KDE 3 are under the hood. These include moving from Qt 3 to Qt 4 and DCOP to D-Bus, as well as all the new platforms such as Phonon, Solid etc.
Overall, I am looking forward to the final release to see how this all gets pulled together!
Eight features you didn’t know about in Ubuntu
Ubuntu has caused GNU/Linux based operating systems to have many reviews recently, most concentrating on the more flashy parts such as the infamous rotating cube or wobbly windows provided by compiz fusion, rather than the things that actually make it such a enjoyable operating system to use.
I tried to pick some features that I have not seen mentioned before - these are some of the things that change my everyday use of the computer, so I feel they are worth mentioning. Some of the below features are provided by Gnome, some by Compiz Fusion. All are not exclusive to Ubuntu, but as that’s what I have installed at the moment I’ll demo them on that.
1. Clicking on the date shows your calendar from Evolution. I have linked my google calendar, so that’s shown here. Although I love this feature, it’s really about the system wide integration that OSS seems to promote. Windows just tries to change the time when you click it’s clock.
2. Keep windows on top. I use this so often, whether it’s IM windows or when writing an assignment, it’s nice to have things kept on top. I often copy data from websites into a document using this technique.
3. Add emblems to files. Since using System 6 on the Mac and being able to label files I have missed this. There are loads of emblems that can be overlaid on file icons to remind you to do things. I often mark assignments as completed or work in progress using this.
4. The recently released Gnome Do. It’s awesome! This is new, but has a lot of potential. Try it!
5. Icons for removable media change to represent the media in question. I use this to easily distinguish between camera cards, iPods, and memory sticks. This is such a genius idea and makes things simpler when working quickly.
6. The scale plug in for compiz fusion rearranges your windows and scales them down to fit the screen. Useful when working with loads of windows. They are still updated in real time as well, so videos still play etc. Again, simple but effective.
7. Avant window navigator (AWN) provides a nice little dock that looks good and works well.
8. Representing virtual desktops as a wall seems more logical than a cube to me. Get this by pressing meta+E when running compiz fusion. Straightforward and easy to use.
So there you go, do you have any additions to this list? I’ve tried to link to tutorials or the pages for each corresponding bit of software where it’s not included in Ubuntu by default.
Pageflakes launches new portal for teachers
Pageflakes is a customizable start page that allows you to add small widgets or flakes that can display custom content. They have recently launched a prepopulated page designed for teachers.
Default layout of the Teacher’s Pageflakes page
The default items on the page include a teaching timetable, a calendar, email, online file storage, some educational bookmarks, photos tagged education, a todo list and a google search box.
The email can be linked with most major webmail services, and the calendar can import an iCal calendar, so that means it will sync with Google Calendar for instance.
Everything can be customized, and there are literally hundreds of other flakes you can add.
Downsides are that the timetable is only for a one week repeating schedule - schools I have worked at have a two week timetable, so I wouldn’t be able to use that aspect of it.
I already use firefox extensions for checking gmail, though a smaller look at my calendar would be useful.
All in all, a good idea, but not sure I would use it. For people who don’t already use RSS feeds etc then it’s brilliant - very accessible for the average user.
Posted in Uncategorized
Retrievr - search for flickr images using sketches
Ever wanted to draw a picture of what you want? Try Retrievr, it lets you draw a quick image, and in real time searches for images on flickr that look like your sketch. Really quite amazing - no idea how it works, but it’s good!
Posted in Uncategorized
Yahoo to place adverts in PDF files
As reported by the BBC, Yahoo have reached a deal with Adobe that allows them to place adverts in a panel inside Adobe Reader. This is the first time that Adobe have allowed dynamic adverts inside their software.
Luckily, there is a myriad of alternatives now that the PDF format has been opened including:
For Windows:
- Foxit Reader (Shareware)
- CadKas PDF Reader (Shareware)
- Sumatra PDF (OSS)
For Linux:
For Mac OS X
- Skim
- Preview
So, for the more computer literate of us, this won’t make a lot of difference anyway.
Posted in Uncategorized
Installing NoMachine NX on any modern Linux including Ubuntu 7.10
NX is a remote desktop type piece of software that lets you log in remotely to another linux computer. It is useful in that it lets you log in simultaneously with other users - that is, you can use it as well as another user as you log into a new session. It also works over SSH, so it’s secure. The data is compressed as well, so it’s pretty quick. In my experience, it’s much quicker than VNC, especially over the internet.
The server only works on computers running an X server, but the client works on any OS, so you can connect securely from Windows PCs to your home Linux box. This is really useful in public libraries, or when you are at a friends house, as you can use your own PC at almost native speed without any hassle.
Diagram showing how NX works. (Copyright NoMachine)
This only works to a normal X11 server, so Compiz Fusion or Beryl (or any other compositing window manager) doesn’t work over the connection, it’s only for standard window managers such as metacity, Kwin etc are fine.
Right then, let’s get going!
On your Linux pc (this tutorial is for Xandros, Debian and Ubuntu, though there are packages for Red Hat, Mandriva and Fedora as well), open a terminal and run:
sudo apt-get install openssh-server
To install the ssh server. This allows you to connect remotely using a normal shell. For more info on this, check the Ubuntu community page.
mkdir ~/nxdownloads
cd ~/nxdownloads
to make a directory to store the relevant packages.
wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.0.0/Linux/nxclient_3.0.0-84_i386.deb
wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.0.0/Linux/nxnode_3.0.0-93_i386.deb
wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.0.0/Linux/FE/nxserver_3.0.0-79_i386.deb
to download the files.
run
sudo dpkg -i nxclient_3.0.0-84_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxnode_3.0.0-93_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxserver_3.0.0-79_i386.deb
to install the packages.
run
sudo /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --start
to start the server, changing start to status will let you know if it’s running or not.
On your Windows computer, download nxclient for Windows and install it. Notice how much more complex it is to download and install Windows software!
Once it’s installed, run it, and enter the IP address of your Linux computer to connect, give it a session name for your own reference, and choose your connection speed.
The next screen lets you choose what window manager to log in to, default is KDE - for Ubuntu, change that to Gnome.
Next, put in your username and password on your Linux computer - this is just your usual username and password.
The first time it will ask you if you trust the fingerprint of your computer. Say Yes - in future if you get this something has changed, so you might want to double check things. You should in theory only see this once.
Wait a few seconds for it to log in, and you will get something like this:
Brilliant!
I use this on my old laptop to make a poor mans thin client, I boot it up, then connect to my real computer to get the most out of it.
If you want to use this over the internet, remember to forward port 22 on your router to your Linux computer. You might want to use DynDNS.org to set up an alias for your dynamic IP address if you have one to make things easier.