Being a Filipino, with many friends and relatives in the Philippines, I sometimes need to call someone in the Philippines to their landline of mobile phone. And in some cases, the person I need to contact may not be near a computer or may not even know how to use the computer well like my mother. So I am going to exclude talking about Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, MSN/Live/Windows Messenger and others.

Now based in San Diego, California, Every now and then, I receive a random call from a telemarketer promoting some service to call the Philippines saying they have an extremely low rate to call the Philippines. Cheapest than most overseas long distance calls.

Not being rude and also being open-minded to listen to the various options I may have to call the Philippines, I often entertain these people and I just always ask the bottomline. How much? And not a single time has any one of these telemarketers matched the prices of what I was currently paying to call the Philippines

And to share what I have been using and why, I am sharing my review in comparing several companies that you can use to call the Philippines.

• Directoph
• Skype
• PinOnSale
• Vonage
• Packet8

See who wins the review! Download the comparison table document here.

If you find this helpful and you know people that need to call the Philippines, or if you are in the Philippines and have relatives abroad that need to call you, feel free to pass this blog post to them so we all get to save some money and use the money to save for more important things like sending money to the Philippines.

Sexy Breast Mouse Pad Design

And remember it is nice to have good ergonomics. We don’t want you having any Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. So these mousepads are padded in the right areas.

Ergonomic Padded Breast Mouse Pad

Hat tip goes to Alfredo for sending me an IM about it.

And I was still confused on what route to take as I have seen other people with a lot of proficiency in Joomla and still making their websites rank high for SEO purposes like the works of Jun Macarambon and Dennis Agulo.

But I received the task of doing some research at work to compare various CMS’, Drupal emerged as the winner. The research was a long and detailed process, which I do not even want to repeat in this blog post. And after my own research, Drupal was my winner and after I have done my research, I was happy to find other websites starting to come out that reinforces my decision. Here are a few things I found on the net which may want you to choose Drupal also over other CMS’.

The IBM Development Team thinks Drupal is the best for them

IMB Software Engineers: Louis Weitzman, Alister Lewis-Bowen and Stephen Evanchik did their study and posted the results here.

Drupal Wins Overall 2007 Open Source CMS Award

Wow, Drupal won the best CMS, after always being second from Joomla, this year, Joomla is second.

A lot of popular and probably high traffic sites use Drupal

JumpTV, MTV UK, The New York Observer, Ozzy Osbourne, Playboy Germany, The World (by BBC World Service) and Us Weekly Online, a longer list of notable sites using Drupal can be found here.

I myself am sold by the power of Drupal, now the next step is actually learning it. Learning Drupal is not that hard and there are several mini Drupal tutorials here and here. And one of the best teachers of Drupal is the community. Learn from other Drupal users in in the official Drupal forum. And in the learning process you can play both roles as Drupal student or Drupal teacher depending on your current Drupal knowledge. You can always be a Drupal pupil to Drupal experts better than you. And you can play Drupal instructor to followers with less Drupal knowledge.

Now if the forum is not enough, You can always buy Drupal books, I 3 books I recommend are: Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress, Pro Drupal Development and Drupal: Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites. One thing I like about books compared to online forums is, I could easily bring a book to the restroom when needed since being in the restroom is always a waste of time. Might as well learn Drupal in the process.

• .docx
• .xlsx
• .pptx

This simply means you are not yet running Microsoft Office 2007 and is probably still running MS Office 2003 or lower. And isn’t in frustrating knowing that your old Office cannot open these files and you think you have to buy the new Office 2007 package?

Actually you can still open MS Office 2007 files with these file extension in Office 2003 using the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. If you need a copy, you will need some update packs and simply download the compatibility pack here. No more problems in opening .docx, .xlsx and .pptx anymore.

Through the widespread banner ads and pay-per-click ads, GoToMyPC has become popular and I decided to search for an open source alternative for me not to spend money.

I searched for “gotomypc opensource alternative” in Google and the first result was an entry from Wikipedia shown on the screenshot below:

Click thumb to view larger image

As you notice, it indicates an open source alternative:

[edit] External Links. GoToMyPC Web site for software installation and computer access. TightVNC An open source alternative …

I checked out the page but I no longer found the opensource alternative in Wikipedia.

Click thumb to view larger image

So I checked the cache from the search result hoping that the old text is still there and I was right…

Click thumb to view larger image

Then I found out about TightVNC and decided to use that link instead. http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html

After what I encountered regarding my search on an opensource alternative for GoToMyPC, it occurred to me that maybe GoToMyPC themselves have been editing their own Wikipedia entry or they may have hired bloggers to edit GoToMyPC entries found in Wikipedia just like Microsoft who allegedly paid bloggers to look for Microsoft entries in Wikipedia and edit them for Microsoft’s advantage.

Do you think that GoTOMyPC will really make such a move to protect their own product?

I drove to city hall today in a motorbike and noticed just how much time I spent waiting at red lighted but otherwise empty intersections. I tell you, it sucks that I have to wait so much until the light changes on its own or until a bigger car comes by (for which the red almost instantly goes green). Infuriating! I must’ve wasted about 25% of my trip waiting on empty intersections gnashing my teeth but unable to run the red light because of traffic cameras.

So a little research led me to some very interesting little known hacks that will help me get the green light everytime! You want to save gas and truckloads of time? Do yourself a favor and read on.

First off, some disclaimers

The knowledge put forth here are purely academical in nature. We have researched the methods and gadgets herein described and tickle your fancy with some rather interesting possible applications. However, we reiterate that these are simply for academic purposes and that they should NEVER be used for anything illegal.

Now that those are out, you know that the information that comes next oughta be good. =)

How traffic lights work in the U.S.

Here in the good ole US of A, traffic lights work on a queueing system that puts premium on traffic density and waiting time. How would the traffic lights “know” that there are more cars on your side of the intersection or that you have waited longer than anyone else? It’s the same system they use in Mickey D’s drive-thru, where they embed a loop of wire that detects any nearby electromagnetic field (everything with matter emits an electromagnetic field of sorts, but the wires for these usually detect those coming from machinery like cars, trucks, etc). Meaning, a machinery of sorts that is bigger than the size of your small coupe or about the size of your regular sedan will trip it.

Someone on the net figured out how they can activate or trigger the device even if you are using a small car or even a motorcycle! The mechanism is simple - you just attach some powerful neodymium magnets to the underside of your cycle perpendicular to the road and you are set.

The above condition is all good for smaller vehicles, but still do not let you change red lights to green. It simply allows smaller vehicles to register as bigger ones and let them note that a big vehicle is on queue.

Pedestrian influence

Pedestrians also exert some control over traffic signals via pedestrian buttons such as these.

This photo is NOT by actiononline.biz

Getting the green

For real control over the traffic lights from a moving vehicle, one has to turn to a little-known feature of US traffic lights. Most intersection lights have an infrared scanner that allows emergency vehicles to pre-empt traffic light scheduling systems. Meaning, ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles emit an infrared signal that the sensors catch - which will make them turn green for the said emergency vehicle almost instantly! These are MIRTs or mobile infrared transmitters.

Of course, using a MIRT is almost always strictly for emergency vehicles (check with your local laws before using one as it could be illegal in some states). But human ingenuity always finds a way! There is this guy who discusses how to make one from scratch and there is another guy who teaches you how to use a normal universal remote to do the same job.

Getting away with it

This photo is NOT by actiononline.biz

Of course, there is one big problem: getting caught. Most heavy traffic intersections have traffic cameras that take pictures of cars getting into intersections and most of them can capture the tell-tale IR beam that comes from your remote control or MIRT.

So the solution then is not to actually use MIRTs, or, turn to methods of hiding your face (via heavilly tinted windows) and hiding your plate number via reflectorized license plate sprays.

Parting shot

We reiterate that this is purely academic conjecturing at methods of saving gas and time by making sure you always get a green light. These techniques and gadgets should NEVER be used for anything illegal.

Please use this knowledge wisely, if everyone has the technique and uses it indiscriminately then it would mean utter road chaos. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, eh?

This first video shows an algorithmic way of opening the lock. This process involves three phases. First phase involves getting the 3rd number of the combination while second and third phases involve getting the first and second numbers of the combination respectively. Now check below the second video.

The steps involved on the second video are quite similar to the one shown earlier but this one shows how you can get the third, first and second numbers real quick. In my opinion, the process is much simpler and more organized than the other.

This final video is the easiest and fastest way to pick a master combination lock. Unlike the former videos, this does not involve any computations and trials. You can use an aluminum can, a softdrink can, a soda can, or a Coke can.

From the three videos shown, do you agree that the brute force method using the drinks can is the best way to open the master combination lock?

Sure, its hard to take an app that uses a roadkill cat as a logo very seriously. But believe you me - it’s one app that can prove very useful.

If you read below, you will find out just what you are missing.

It is primarily a freeware viewer much like a free ACDSee, but can be used as an image converter, image resizer, and picture rotater. You can do gamma correction, brightness, contrast and tint to name a few. There are also filters available for it to make those special effects. You can even do these image manipulations by batch.

What sets IrfanView apart from the same software in its genre (like Microsoft PhotoEditor, ACDSee,  etc) is the wide range of files and devices that it is able to manipulate. It can open and edit pictures from the scanner, camera, JPG/JPEG, GIF, 8BF, etc. This author uses it to create ICO files for sofware logos and markings - all coming from JPG files. One can even make a screensaver from the pictures you select (with optional background music) which you can give away to your friends without IrfanView, therefore making it a lightweight screensaver compiler.

It’s speed and ease of use is also of note.

Of course no software is perfect: IrfanView cannot be used to open CYMK files properly because it is primarily an RGB file editor because it does not allow for color-managed viewing.

Then again, it packs all this punch in a 1.37 Mb executable. Oh and did I mention that it is free? Get your copy at http://www.irfanview.com/

As I just came in work, I receive an email from Michael Weisfeld with an attached file of Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts from BNET. And in his email he asks…

Check this out… Benj are there any not on there

So here I go and I check it out. And I can say this spreadsheet is really like almost complete. A lot of things listed on it I am not even aware of. So I really appreciated the almost complete MS Excel keyboard shortcut cheat sheet. But as I looked through it, although the list is quite impressive, there were still a lot of keyboard shortcuts I personally do on Microsoft Excel that were not there.

I guess I find these shortcut keys way faster than pointing the mouse somewhere, I got used to these and they are just dialed-in to my system, and I love playing the piano as well so I like my fingers playing on the keyboard more than me playing the guitar. Before I used MS Excel, I was also a Lotus 123 user running on MS DOS during don’t ask me when. And during those days it was really a keyboard shortcut workout on spreadsheets.

The keyboard shortcuts I use frequently were really designed to have no shortcut, but in MS Windows, generally, the Alt key activates the menu bar of your open application and you can press the underlined letters to navigate through the menu using your keyboard.

I did notice that MS Excel 2007 totally has a different menu bar that my navigation shortcuts are visually not on the menu. But they still allowed it to be available and they still work. Actually if you are really an old school Lotus 123 DOS mode user, all commands you can get to by pressing the slash key. And I noticd even up to today, MS Excel 2007 still supports it. (Probably MS Word will still support many WordPerfect keyboard shortcuts.)

More Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

The shortcuts below are keyboard sequences or keys and are not keys press simultaneously. They are keyboard sequences that navigate through the old Microsoft Excel 2003 menu bar that is still supported on MS Excel 2007. Note again, not simultaneous, these are key sequences.

• Delete a Column Shortcut
  Alt, E, D, C
• Delete a Row Shortcut
  Alt, E, D, R
• Insert a Column Shortcut
  Alt, I, C
• Insert a Row Shortcut
  Alt, I, R
• Adjust width of Column to Auto-Fit highlighted cell(s) contents Shortcut
  Alt, O, C, A
• Adjust height of Row to Auto-Fit highlighted cell(s) contents Shortcut
  Alt, O, R, A
• Adjust width of Column Shortcut
  Alt, O, C, w
• Adjust height of Row Shortcut
  Alt, O, R, E
• Hide a Column Shortcut
  Alt, O, C, H
• Hide a Row Shortcut
  Alt, O, R, H
• Unhide a Column Shortcut
  Alt, O, C, U
• Unhide a Row Shortcut
  Alt, O, R, U
• Paste Special - Values Shortcut
  Keyboard Right Click Button, S, V, Enter

Is there any other keyboard shortcut you use often that is not here? Add a comment below to list more.

Special mention to a few people: Terence Spencer D. Teves a former partner of mine in a small business that while working we used to try to out do each other on who knows the most keyboard shortcuts. And to Reginald Philip Alto and Ed Gacho used to talk about the same thing when I used to work with them teaching as a college undergrad chemistry lecturer at the DLSU Chemistry Department. I guess this also helped in knowing more keyboard shortcuts.

In my point of view, if US government computers have really been hacked, it is not necessarily China who has done the hacking. Why is this so? It’s because when you hack into a computer, you will leave tracks and authorities can trace these tracks and will lead them to the hacker. In the US, the systems are so interconnected and if anyone does a cybercrime, the crook can be easily traced. As many of us know, all computers in the world basically use the same system, software and servers, whether Linux or Windows, Apache or IIS and all have the same security problems. Thus, it is of high probability that an unsecure server of China may have been hacked and was used to hack into the US government computers therefore hiding tracks to the real culprits. Who knows, the crooks may have actually come from England?

I would also like to voice out my opinion regarding this issue. Lately, I’ve noticed that China has been the center of controversy for various issues like Mattel products from China recalled, some food containing formalin, Hong Kong residents being hesitant to buy poultry from China and recently, this alleged hacking activity. For me, the “Sleeping Giant” is slowly becoming a powerful and influential country that could rock the whole world with its tremendous power. Do you think that these events are some of the means of stopping China in becoming a superpower? Are Chinese people really hacking into US government computers? Or are there just lame people (not necessarily Chinese or from China) who want to destroy China’s credibility?