Data Firmware

AdBlock a Firefox memory hog Not if you slim your filters!

There are lots of articles out there talking about what a memory hog Adblock Plus is. And in my experience, especially on older machines, theyre right, if you leave it subscribed to a bunch of filter lists.

But have you ever actually looked at those lists? EasyList in particular is a huge collection of blocking rules for sites you probably will never visit. I use Firefox on a computer with only 1GB of RAM, and it really slowed me down.

So I took a look at my situation and realized: I mainly visit the same handful of sites over and over. Do I really need to waste that precious memory having Adblock check for ads from half-the-web?

So heres what I did:

1. Installed Adblock Edge, because I can block whatever I want, and the custom filter lists I create with it sync over to my other Firefox computers
2. Copied the filters from EasyList from sites I use frequently (a certain Tube site, a certain Centralized Comedy site, and, um, *ahem* a certain rodent site) and added them to my filter list. 
3. Spent a few days browsing in my usual habits, making note to spend just a minute or two on each site adding my own filters, by just right-clicking on the ads directly. The wildcard character comes in handy here.
4. Done!

This has resulted in 90% of ads being blocked for me. I also will use the "Open Blockable Items..." menu entry to check for third-party entries I might have missed. Anything that looks suspicious, I block it. If it turns out necessary for the sites function, I disable the entry, not delete it, so that it will be "greyed out" but still visible, so Ill know not to try to block it again if I ever get trigger happy.

Whats the point of saying all this?

This:

Screenshot of Firefox memory usage. Highlighted portion is Adblock Edge ID.

With five tabs open, Adblock Edge is taking up just half a megabyte of memory, and I have no ads visible. HALF A MEGABYTE, people.

They key here is numeric simplicity. Even a simple blocking filter like "*/ads/* removes tons of junk. I have maybe 200 active filters now, compared to the thousands that pile-up with those subscriptions.

Of course, I do use some simple filter subscriptions, like the Facebook Annoyances remover. Plus, there might be some sneaky beacons or trackers, so I have Ghostly and NoScript take care of that (you might also give Disconnect a try, though I found it interfered with sites often enough to be annoying.)

Id also given uBlock a try as a potential ABE replacement, and I liked it well-enough, and if you always use the same computer, go for it. But, at the moment, it has no syncing feature (and I respect that, for its goal of being as light-weight as possible). As Im "rolling my own" custom filters, I dont want to have to be blocking the same things twice over. ABEs use of Firefox Sync ensures that what I block at home carries over automatically to the work computer.

I know that some people just want simplicity, and using EasyList and the other filter subscriptions is great for that, especially for their auto-updating nature. I get that, I really do. Even I myself sometimes take a poke back at EasyList for updated YouTube ad-blocking strings. If I had the hardware power, maybe Id use the filter subscriptions too. But for people complaining about high memory usage, theres really no excuse for so much bloat. Slim it down and your browsing will speed up.

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Display your Blogger posts on a Google Map

In this post, well make a full-size Google Map that contains all the location-tagged posts from your Blogger feed. It will display full entries on the map.
If youre looking for a more simple map page that links to the posts, or for putting a map in your blogs sidebar as a widget, please see my other post.

UPDATE 2015-09
I edited the HTML file code below. Readers on Twitter alerted me to the fact that the RSS URL for blogs only goes so far back in time, meaning many older location-tagged posts were missing from the map. Ive replaced that URL format with another that seems to stretch all the way back.



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I keep a travel blog for friends and family, and usually tag those Blogger posts with my location. Usually, this just adds a location tag to the bottom of the post, with a link you can click to see that spot on a map. Pretty boring. But heres a nice way to plot all your geocoded (location-tagged) Blogspot blog posts onto a single Google Map. Great way to revisit old posts and visually, geographically see where and when you were.

For example, here is the map with location-tagged posts from this blog. Just click each one to view the corresponding entry in its entirety. All of the entries appear similarly.

Screenshot of my Blog Map

This entry, coincidentally, will be location-tagged in Busan; not because Im there, but because a man can dream. Anyway, lets get started.

Step 1 - Edit the code

Copy the code below and paste it into a plain-text document.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>GeoRSS Layers</title>
    <style>
      html, body, #map-canvas {
        height: 100%;
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
      }
    </style>
    <script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3.exp&signed_in=true"></script>
    <script>
function initialize() {
  var myLatlng = new google.maps.LatLng(49.496675,-102.65625);
  var mapOptions = {
    zoom: 4,
    center: myLatlng
  }
  var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById(map-canvas), mapOptions);
  var georssLayer = new google.maps.KmlLayer({
    url: http://www.blogger.com/feeds/blogId/posts/default?max=500&max-results=500
  });
  georssLayer.setMap(map);
}
google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, load, initialize);
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="map-canvas"></div>
  </body>
</html>

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Displaying your Blogger posts location tag on mobile templates other than Dynamic Views

Vanishing Location Information on Mobile

Im a big fan of tagging my Location on Blogger posts, especially on my travel blog, where I review restaurants, document my trips with tips for other travellers, etc. Blogger adds your location tag to the post in the post footer by default, which is great, but more and more people are browsing blogs on their mobile phones rather than the desktop.



As it stands, it seems if your Blogger blog is using the "Dynamic Views" template, the posts location information will be shown on both the desktop and the mobile view, including the address being a clickable link to a Google Map.

But I recently noticed that this is not the case for any other template. I tested out Bloggers other templates (Simple, Picture Window, Awesome Inc, Watermark, Ethereal, Travel, all of them!) and noticed that the location tag is not included when using these templates on mobile.

Heres a demonstration. Heres a test post I made, location tagged at beautiful Bass Lake. These are screen-shots from my phone. Notice the location info displayed here in "Dynamic Views" layout:



Great, I like that a lot. But what if Im not a fan of Dynamic Views, for one because it takes longer to load?

Heres the same post, with the blog template switched to "Simple":


As you can see, the location information is gone. How can we get it back?

A possible solution?

This can be fixed by adding a short bit of code to your blogs template, telling it to display the location on mobile. However, in my tests, this method only works:

• on SOME templates ("Simple" but not "Awesome Inc" for example) and
• seems to only work on blogs that do not use Google+ integration (i.e. still use the old Blogger profile)

Anyway, to try this, edit your blogs template HTML by going to (duh) Template -> Edit HTML.

*** First make a back-up of your blogs template, just in case something goes wrong ***

Now, in the HTML editor, you need to find this tag:

<b:includable id=mobile-post var=post>

This will contain the code for how your blog is displayed on mobile devices. You may or may not need to click the little arrow on the side to expand this entry.

Now all you have to do is add this bit of code to the spot where you want the Location displayed. For example, I like having mine displayed in the post footer, so I search for this (it was about 50 lines of code down from the mobile-post tag in mine):

<div class=post-footer-line post-footer-line-1>

Now then, right below this line, add in the special location-displaying code:

<span class=post-location>
<b:if cond=data:top.showLocation> <b:if cond=data:post.location>
<data:postLocationLabel/> <a expr_href=data:post.location.mapsUrl target=_blank><data:post.location.name/></a> </b:if> </b:if> </span>

And thats it! Now I save the template, and when I refresh my blog post, I see this:


The location details are back! Success!

Helpful Notes

If, like me, you are not a coder in any way at all, please take note: your blog HTML template is going to have multiple entries of the kind <div class=post-footer>. I wont even pretend to know what each of them does or why they all exist. All I can tell you is that this will only work if you put it in the section under that <id=mobile-post var=post> tag from above.

Also, as I mentioned above, Ive had limited success, depending on the particular blog template. Id love to hear your experiences with this. 

Credit

Credit for the majority of this idea goes to George B. Moga whose blog post here gave me the code used in this trick. I appreciate his support in trying to solve this.

P.S. This post is location tagged at beautiful Napa Valley, California. If the code works, you will hopefully see this post tagged (if youre reading on mobile) as such.

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Enable Two step verification for your Naver account

Today Ill walk you through a brief tour of enabling two-step protection on your Naver account.

Two-step verification, or Two-factor authentication (i.e. getting a code on your phone to sign-in), adds an important layer of security to your account. I have this set-up on my Google account. I didnt notice this until recently, but Naver (???) also lets you enable this security feature, though they refer to it as OTP. With all the hacking stories out there, its useful to "set it and forget it." Its pretty simple if youre already familiar with 2-step authentication, with one main difference: the Naver app itself is used for generating the codes. But well get to that.

Creating a Naver Account
The brilliant thing is that 90% of all this process can be done in English. Creating a Naver account and editing all major account settings on Naver can all be done in English (and Chinese), even though most Naver function beyond that are only in Korean. No Alien ID Numbers (??? ?? ??) or passport numbers are needed; but you will need a mobile phone to receive a verification code. I was required to enter a Korean (+82 prefix) phone number, but when signing-up from abroad, you can choose from an international country drop-down list.

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Enabling the Protection
Once youve created your Naver account (and it really is super simple), we can enable the Two-step verification.

While logged in, click ??? ("My Account") circled above.
From there, all your settings will be in English. Click over to the "Security" tab and scroll down to "OTP Sign-in (2-step Verification)". You might also want to take this opportunity to enable some of the other security features on this page.


The process is pretty straight-forward. Youll be taken first to an introductory information page.


The main difference between Navers OTP and that of other services (like Googles) is that the codes will be generated within the Naver App itself, not using a seperate stand-alone app (like Google Authenticator) nor by SMS text messages. That last fact is strange, considering that Naver will use an SMS message code to verify your phone number here. Why not just have an SMS option for receiving codes?

Part of the reason may be this:

The malicious application attacks a smartphone to steal personal information in the phone by pilfering authentication SMSs when the person uses an e-commerce payment service. [Korea Bizwire]

Note also here that the phone number you use here does not have to be the same number associated with your account (the number you gave when signing-up with Naver). For example, I didnt want to install the bloated Naver app, so here I used the number of a family member who does have the app. It worked just fine, though of course Ill need that persons phone when logging-in on an unknown/untrusted computer. Input the number, Naver will send you an SMS code, and input that code here.


Now it will tell you to install the Naver app (Android - iOS) to your phone, if you havent done so already.
Now its time to get the code from the app and input it here. For this step, youll need to put both the one-time code, and the apps serial number. In the future, youll only need the one-time code.

If youre not sure where to get this code, Ill show you now.


 Open the Naver app on your phone, tap the three-line "hamburger menu", and go down to ? ?? ("App Settings").


Tap the second item "??? OTP".


Here is your OTP code. You can do this each time you want to log-in to Naver on a new/untrusted computer.

Now back to the set-up:


Assuming you input the code correctly, youll reach a penultimate page asking you to choose a back-up email address.


And finally, take a look at the number and email to make sure everything looks good. If youre ready, click "Confirm" and youll now be required to enter the code when logging in.


This is the screen youll be presented with, from now on, after entering you Naver ID and password.
This could be really annoying to do every single time, so dont be a chump. If youre on your personal computer, just be sure to click the "Stay OTP Signed in" checkmark button before entering the code, and you wont need codes for that computer anymore. Set it, and forget it. Enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that no other computer will be able to log-in as you.

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Hopefully you found this guide helpful. Though, of course, nearly the entire process was in English so really such a guide is a bit unnecessary. Personally, that makes me glad, that Naver expands their English offerings. Navers services really are useful and powerful; not just "Korean Google". I think they could see a lot of expansion and growth by supporting even just a few foreign languages (English / Chinese / Japanese). As I wrote before, Naver Dictionary and Naver Translate can be used fully in English. Lets hope more Naver services continue to become multi-lingual.

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Follow allkpop com with these RSS feeds never miss your K pop fix

Everyone knows Im a big fan of RSS feeds. Last year, the K-pop fansite Allkpop removed their main RSS feed as part of their site redesign project. But dont worry, K-Pop fans, you can still follow them with the simplicity and non-clutter of RSS in a few other ways.

Here are some RSS subscription-ready links you can use to subscribe to their content:

Video uploads from AllKpops YouTube channel:
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/allkpop/uploads

Posts from their Facebook wall:
https://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?format=rss20&id=142273450007

Posts from their Tumblr:
http://allkpop.tumblr.com/rss

Results from Google News (surprisingly accurate at pulling-in Allkpop articles):
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&gl=us&q=allkpop&um=1&ie=UTF-8&output=rss

Posts shared to Reddit from the Allkpop domain:
http://www.reddit.com/domain/allkpop.com/.rss


I would actually be shocked if there are any K-Pop fans that use such an old-school technology like RSS, but God bless ya if you do, chingu.

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Download Free Photo Resizer HD Shrink Your Photos

Technological development can not be dammed. As well the smartphones camera. first smartphone has a 5 MP camera already looks cool, then expand again into 8 MP to date to 13 MP and will continue to evolve.

Megapixel effect on the dimensions of the captured images. for example, a smartphone with a 12 MP camera, then the dimension of the resulting photo is 4000 x 3000 px.  Certainly a very large size to be stored in a smartphone. (Read: Reduce Your Size Photo with JPEGmini For PC)

Capture Photo Resizer HD

With this app you can resize/shrink your photos before sending them by Email or uploading them to Facebook , Twitter or any other social services.

Features Photo Resizer HD

Thanks For Visiting. Enjoy!

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