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You have to watch them, both are classic stuff…

With perfect password manager, I thought I had the complete set of tools in my Mac for getting things done. But today I realized, I’d overlooked ethereal. I use it sometimes and it’s a gem without which it would be very difficult to solve some network problems. Ethereal is a free and open source packet sniffer application, used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and protocol development, and education. It has all of the standard features of a protocol analyzer.

I was happy to see Ethereal for Mac OS X listed at the top of the download page. But, was confused with the choice I had to make between Fink Project and DarwinPorts. I was not sure what they meant or which one was better. So, after Googling a while and reading the FAQs, I found that the number one goal of both projects were to port open source Linux/Unix softwares to Mac OS X. They just differ in the packaging approach they’ve taken. DarwinPorts was written from scratch to try a different approach to a packaging system, where as Fink Project utilizes robust package management tools dpkg and apt-get from Debian Linux Project . So, I decided to try ethereal with Fink Project and this is how I did it.

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This is a new technology called Heliodisplay images that requires no screens, monitors or other physical surfaces to be able to project and display its images. Very cool, straight out of Star Wars but it costs $ 20,000 at this moment and is expected to be affordable as technology advances.

via: Robin Good

After switching to Mac, my Samsung notebook with Windows Xp has been free, so I decided to test dual booting Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux in this laptop. The downloading, burning cd/dvd and installation was easy and straight forward. Only special thing I had to do was to modify the menu.lst file in Ubuntu. This is how I did it:
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I’ve switched to a Mac and it took quite some time for me to find an ideal password management tool. Of course OS X has an excellent KeyChain Access for password and other confidential information management. Also there are some third party softwares, but most of them are good for personal usage only (by single user). Previously at work we’re using Anypassword in windows for password management. What I needed was a similar tool that stores passwords in an encrypted file (database), so that multiple admins can view/edit it from different platforms (at least from Mac and Windows). In search of this perfect program I’ve tried many password managers available for OS X. So, here they are; some good for single user and some good for system admins, among them I found one perfectly fit for me.
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Apple MacBook and MacBook Pros are so hot that the owners have figured an undocumented use of these laptops. Now they’ve started to use them for frying eggs and bacons, and of course the bonus point is keeping the coffee warm by placing it on top of the MacBook power adapter.

With the help of lip-reader expert the Daily Mail have deciphered the vile stream of racial and personal abuse by Marco Materazzi, which led to the violent outburst of Zidane.

First Marco Matterazzi called the French star the Italian equivalent of ‘n*****’, and then insulted both his mother and his Muslim background by saying he is the ’son of a terrorist whore.

It had been revealed that earlier in the day that Zidane’s Mother is seriously ill. Wikipedia entry Zinedine Zidane is also suggesting the same thing as Daily Mail.

Both Zidane and Materazzi refused to comment on the incident. Zidane’s agent Alain Migliaccio said, Zidane told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn’t tell me what. Reportedly, the deaf forensic lip-reader Jessica Rees was employed to analyze the video sequences with the help of an Italian translator. According to these reports, Materazzi spoke in Italian - a language understood by Zidane due to his time spent with Juventus F.C. - and first told him: "Hold on, wait, that one’s not for a nigger like you." As the players walked forward, Materazzi allegedly said: "We all know you are the son of a terrorist whore." Then, just before the headbutt, he was seen saying: "So just fuck off." According to Brazilian TV Rede Globo, a lip-reader claimed that Materazzi twice called Zidane’s sister a prostitute. Earlier claims about Materazzi having called his opponent a "dirty terrorist" have been denied by Materazzi, who reportedly said: "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I’m ignorant. I don’t even know what the word means."

I’m not sure if Zidane’s response was justified but it’s certainly understandable. Some times verbal abuse causes more damage than physical assault.

Zidane wins the Golden Ball despite headbutting Italian player Marco Materazzi. I cheered for France yesterday and am a big fan of Zidane, but still think what he did was inexcusable and deserved a red card. I’d been thinking about that moment all day long, just wondering what might have Materazzi said to him!? I feel very sorry for Zidane that he had to end his career this way. I think his action cost France the world cup, but still think he’s one of the greatest players of our time and deserves the Golden Ball.

This is what happened yesterday

This is the guy - Marco Materazzi, who provoked Zidane

I’m using SkypeOut to call my family and friends for quite some time because it’s cheap, convenient and recently the voice quality got better. But I think I found a better alternative, it’s called JAJAH,  a new Internet Telephony service that also allows you to make cheap long distance calls and free calls to registered phone numbers. You might ask why we need Jajah when the Skype is doing so well. Yes, Skype is doing well but Jajah works little differently and I think much better. Here are the key differences:

• No need to download and install any software.
• You initiate a call from the web browser, input your number and the number you want to call. Jajah connects two standard telephone machines, whether they are landline or mobile, local or anywhere else in the world.
• You can make free calls to registered telephones in certain zones. For these free calls, they’ve a fair use policy which limits your free hours to about an hour a day.
• Here is the rate information

Yesterday I called home (Nepal) using Jajah and talked about 5 mins. for free. I was amazed by the ease of use and quality of voice, then I bought $10 credit and talked for about an hour. My $10 credit is still there but I used up the $3 they provide you for free.

I think Jajah takes the VOIP to a new level. The fact that there’s nothing to install , no headphones and microphones and being able to use the standard telephone sets makes it more appealing to regular and not so technically savvy users. If you need to make frequent long distance calls, I highly recommend you to give JAHAH a try.

Stephen Hawking, the famous British astrophysicist and best-selling author is asking How can human race survive the next hundred years? He asks:

In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?

As I write this I saw 18645 answers and no doubt there will be more. There’re all sort of answers. Some suggesting to “get rid or the nuclear weapons” where as others think ‘we’ll go underground or to other planets”.

Recently Hawking was here in Hong Kong and he spoke about finding new homes in outer space for human survival because he thinks some disaster might destroy earth. He says:

It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species, Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.

All this reminds me of Year 2012, Wayne Chen is talking about.