800 Posts!

It's that time again -- and if you are a regular at Techman's World you know what I am talking about. Every 100 posts I do a post that covers what changes have been done to the website, and maybe some of the news I covered.

Disqus Performing Scheduled Maintenance again, some services won't be available

Well, I guess it is that time of the month again (no pun intended at ALL). Disqus is performing scheduled maintenance, and some services might load fine and some might have issues.

More changes coming for search

If you have been following Techman's World recently, then you know about the search box changes. I ended up ditching the Blogger gadget, and instead replacing it with a search form for Google.

Now I am proud to say that Techman's World is moving away from Google also, and now in its place is Gawk.it. This is a search engine that aims to redefine search imo, and it indexes comments as well as the blog posts.

So by the time you see this post, the search box will be replaced with Gawk.it's search form. If you wish to use Google at the moment, just open your browser's developer tools and highlight the Google attribution and form, and uncheck the display: none rules.

I would like to give thanks to Kevin Marshall for helping me get this set up, and I hope you all enjoy better search. If you want to submit feedback, you can in the comments below.

Recycle Bin coming to SkyDrive soon

Ah SkyDrive, it is Microsoft's personal cloud service. I was using it since its roots, and I love it. Have you ever deleted something on SkyDrive on accident, and couldn't get it back? A good example is if you upload something to SkyDrive, then deleted the local copy of the file off of your computer's storage device. Well it appears from certain reports that a Recycle Bin feature is in fact in the new SkyDrive, but Microsoft has not flipped on the switch yet.

The code appears to be some sort of on/off switch. And there are reports that when the feature is switched on, there will be an menu option for it to the sidebar on the left.

Right now no one knows how the feature will work, but it is expected to work similarly to how the Recycle Bin works on Windows. Perhaps if you delete a file in a SkyDrive folder and it is moved to the local Windows Recycle Bin, it is moved to SkyDrive's also?

Another thing we don't know is when this feature is coming. We see hints of the feature coming, but we don't know when it is coming. It might be a while until we see this feature if it is included in the next SkyDrive update, which might take a long time depending on what Microsoft wants to do.

Either way, let me know of your thoughts in the comments below.

Closing summer with some DISQUS "swag"

You all know Disqus, right? Well if you don't know they power the community here on Techman's World. It is our commenting tool. It powers comments, and our community widget.

Introducing "Search This Site 2.0"

If you have been visiting my blog the last day or two, then you know that the normal search box is now gone, and in its place is another, but it is different. Before I dive in too deep, let me give you a little bit of back story.

Microsoft has a new logo

Do you remember that Microsoft Store logo? Well if you remember that, you already have a gist of what the new logo looks like.

Finally- More settings for Disqus 2012 in the admin panel, including language support

While there was all of these Disqus problems I wrote about a few days ago, I just noticed this feature in the admin panel. I'm not sure if I caught this zero-day, but at first I thought it was just normal settings from the classic Disqus - but Disqus 2012 was enabled. I know, silly me. Of course, this tutorial/in depth look is about Disqus 2012, so make sure you have your option checked like mine.

I've uninstalled RealPlayer, and installed VLC

If you were looking at the article I posted the other day about RealPlayer using Flash to play MP4 videos. I said that I might uninstall RealPlayer, and I did later that day. Personally I find that RealPlayer is bloated, and consumes a lot resources (I can't show you a CPU graph, because I'm not installing that software again). And I guess it also loads lots of plugins as Flash is an example.

Uninstalling RealPlayer was very simple, and the uninstall looked normal. it was no fancy graphic uninstaller like some programs. After uninstalling, the RealPlayer uninstaller did not reset my icons for my media files. Now I have broken icons for my flv files and other files that I don't open in Windows Media Player, or MediaGo. Guess I have a project to do.

DISQUS comments and availability here on Techman's World

If you have been on Techman's World lately, you might have noticed some issues with the comment embed not loading. Now if you live in the US, you might not have these problems because they mostly happen during 12-3 AM. If you live in countries like Australia, where it would be already be the next day and the time would be in the afternoon, then you might be getting these issues.

Site Update: Contact Form Added

Starting today, Techman's World will now have a contact form. Previously, you had only a few options to contact the people behind Techman's World, but one of the major ways to contact a site was missing -- a contact form!

Need a good format converter for Ubuntu? Check out FormatJunkie!

Project's
Official
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If you are a user of Ubuntu or use Linux, you might have known about the Ubuntu App Showdown. During that contest, this app churned out of a man named Alex Solanos. This app is called FormatJunkie. This app is an all around media converter. It converts a variety of audio and video formats, and even can convert ISOs to other disc images (in this case the CSO disc image). In addition to audio, video, and disc image files, this converter even converts images.

This applications has a nice interface, although some people think that the icons can be smaller. I personally don't think that is a problem, though.

Latest version of RealPlayer uses flash to display .mp4 videos?

While firing up real player to play a quick MP4 clip (otherwise I use Sony's MediaGo software), I wanted to right click on the video and try to set the video to replay over and over again. When I tried to do that, I got a little right-click menu that is flash. It had no options, but instead the normal flash settings and stuff like that. Right clicking anywhere outside the video does nothing as far as I can see.

Facebook will start truly deleting your photos

When you delete your photo's on facebook, did you know that you're photo's are NOT really deleted? In fact, those photo's can be looming around their CDN (content delivery network) for months to years, waiting to be seen again by a FB employee of someone else.

Well from this day forward, Facebook has changed its deletion policy. For now on, deleted photo's will no longer loom on their CDN for more than 30 days. Although this sounds good to people who are concerned with privacy, this still nowhere near as fast as Instagram's delete policy, where deleted photo's vanish almost immediately.

Disqus 2012 adds self deletion of comments? (Update: Disqus responds!)

I'm not sure about all of you, but I just experienced this new feature in Disqus 2012. When on a site that uses Disqus 2012, I now get this option to delete comments that I make. And the most interesting part about this is that I am not a moderator at said site.

Now of course this leaves a lot of questions to be answered. I'm sure that Disqus will probably publish an update to their change log, but once again I have a good eye for catching changes.

Here is all of the picture proof that you need:

 Now, take a look at the drop down.

 I'll go ahead and reach out to Disqus for comment. If I get a response, I'll post here.

Update: Ok, after a late response, Daniel Ha from Disqus has sent me a message back explaining that yes, this small change has been added. His exact text can be seen below. I'll ask if this functionality will also be added to the classic Disqus, maybe for compatibility reasons.

"We did make this small change and you are able to remove your own comments."

Another in depth look at the multiplayer in Black Ops 2

A few days ago, I posted the official multiplayer trailer of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. In that video a whole load of new grenades, weapons, and defense systems was introduced. Lots of questions are to be answered, and XPlay's look at the new multiplayer is going to answer a few questions, including mine.

Introducing the new SkyDrive (in depth look)

I wrote about it earlier today, and what do you know -- the new SkyDrive is out.

Two weeks after launch, Outlook.com obtains over 10 million users

Outlook.com adoption is outstanding. With over one million users jumping on in one day, it is a good sign that everyone is liking the new Outlook webmail service.

While the adoption rate has dropped off since then, the rate is still pretty high at over 10 million people adopting outlook.com in just two weeks.

If you want to see all of my Outlook.com coverage, including some other info about other online Microsoft services, you can click the Outlook.com Coverage link in the page bar at the top. There you can see info on how to claim email addresses using different methods, stats on adoption, and more. You can also expect a review of Outlook.com as well here on Techman's World due to the extensive coverage. Earlier today I posted about SkyDrive getting a new Windows 8 UI look, but the new changes have not rolled out to me yet. When they do, you can expect a SkyDrive in depth look as well.

Microsoft debuts revised SkyDrive website, includes Windows 8 UI

More recently, Microsoft has been giving some Metro remakes to its online services, and after some rumors and leaks, Microsoft is now finally ready to reveal this to the public.

Site Update: Unity Web Apps Integration Coming!

Today I have some news to relay to you regarding Unity Web Apps integration. I have covered it in the past, and now I am looking to add this to the site.

For now, all integration with Unity is going to be slim, meaning that for now it is going to be a bookmarked app. As I learn more from the API, I might even be able to set up notifications, menu options, and more.

If you want to take a look at the Unity Web Apps API, go here. It is actually very simple, and personally I found it odd that it wasn't hard. You do have to put this in between <script> tags. Right now, many popular websites support Web Apps integration, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, GrooveShark, and more.

If you want to provide feedback on this, you can in the comments below.

Faults in online security these days

Recently, a Gawker Reporter's entire online presence is hacked, and all his devices wiped. This was a very interesting report, and it shows the faults that companies have for security systems. The sad part is that some of these faults are because of humans themselves.

Outlook for Mobile

For about 9 days now, Microsoft has had its Outlook.com email service out, still in its preview phase. If you didn't know, if you have opted in on the Outlook.com interface, you'll also see it on the mobile interface.

My horrible experience using Safari for Windows

Me being myself, I use many web browsers in my day. Of course you all know that I use Chrome as my default, but I also use IE (for testing stuff only), Firefox, Opera, and Safari for Windows. If you never knew, I do use Safari for Windows, and I use it basically for one thing - hits development tools. Specifically, the ability to change user agents from the develop menu. I can change from IE 7, 8, and 9, Opera 11.64 (outdated, but I'd just use Opera by itself anyways if I need to use it), mobile Safari for iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and so on.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Multiplayer Trailer released

If you are interested in Black Ops 2, I have some more trailers to feed you. Previously the trailers were focusing on single player, but this trailer focuses completely on multiplayer.

Disqus now #1 in the top 3 for referrals

After visiting my traffic stats today, I have some good news to share with you. Usually sites like Reddit and Google are high up in my stats, but long behold, Disqus comes out on top. I have seen this coming for a while.

Man Orders TV Through Amazon, Gets Military Grade Assault Rifle

When you order a TV though Amazon, the last thing you would expect to arrive at your door is an assault rifle, even military grade. Well it did happen, and it was actually quite odd.


When D.C. resident Seth Horvitz ordered a flat-panel TV on Amazon, he didn’t expect to get a military-grade assault rifle in return. Horvitz ordered the TV, a Westinghouse 39-inch LCD, for about $320 from a third-party electronics seller on Amazon.

Did you know the web browser on the PS3 uses the WebKit layout engine?

Welcome to "Did you know?," a new series of posts that point out things that you might have known, usually to help make a product better.

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Many people use the PlayStation 3 as their game console. But it can do much more then games. On this post, I'll be talking about the recent updates with the web browser.

In the 4.10 system software update, several improvements came along for the web browser that is built into the PS3. It introduced some limited support for HTML5, and had better performance loading dynamic content, such as the classic Disqus and Disqus 2012.

Update on my GRUB2 background image changing in Ubuntu

Hello all. A few weeks ago, I posted an article (probably while still panicking) talking about my background image changing for GRUB2 after installing XFCE4 (apt-get install xfce4) from the Ubuntu repos. Well I have finally figured out what happened. It seems that installing the base XFCE install DOES change your GRUB2 background image, and without your consent. There is no install message or nothing in the terminal when you install XFCE4 from the repos, which makes me now pitty the Xubuntu developers.

Now, I have no idea to change it back, because I don't know where the purple background image is located, and I'm not one to mess with config files that much -- especially if you are dealing with your bootloader. I do have a source of light, though. I have heard of the Grub Customizer package, but I'm still not sure if this works with GRUB2.

I summed this up nicely in a nice sentence. This is for when I am booting into Ubuntu. It doesn't make sense, doesn't it?

Power Button >> GRUB2 with "Debian: The Universal Operating System picture" >> Kernel Boot with same image >> Ubuntu splash and so on

Ah well, I know one thing though. I'm never installing XFCE again from the Ubuntu repos, and I might never install it again period if I am still having a sour taste in my mouth when I do feel like installing it again on another machine.

I should mention, though, that this does not really affect my overall opinion of the desktop environment itself, because this has to do with the Xubuntu maintainers of XFCE.

Thumbs Up Chuck Norris

You all know Chuck Norris, right? He probably one of the most popular TV stars of his time, and probably still is to some people.

This gif might not be as funny as the deskpalm, but I still believe it is. So, give a thumbs up to Chuck Norris!!!

Let me know of your thoughts below.

Want to talk with the team at Outlook.com? You can at this Gizmodo page

If you are a fan of Outlook.com, and want to ask the developers a question, you can right now for an hour over at this Gizmodo page. All you have to do is post a comment in their comment thread, and they'll reply to your comment with an answer in a timely manner.

Click here to go to the Q&A page. Hope all of your questions get answered.

Google Chrome claims one-third of global browser share, according to StatCounter

It looks like Google Chrome is soaring again. This time around, it is making it way up the global charts.

As you can see from the chart above, Chrome is soaring up the charts, while IE is sitting still, and Firefox is falling. Safari is also on the chart, sitting at around 7%, and has seemed to gone up. As far as Opera goes, it either went up or went down depending on how you see the image, but from my perspective it seems to either went down or has stayed the same.

Windows 8 might now allow you to boot directly to the desktop

People who do not really like Windows 8's Metro interface will not have a nice day anymore. It seems that Microsoft will not have an ability to go directly to the desktop after booting, and instead you might have to go though the "Windows 8 Style UI" interface.

If you use Disqus at your site, do Daniel Ha a favor

You guys know Disqus, the comment system we have here, right? Well recently they are wanting to collect traffic stats that your website is getting from Disqus 2012 and Disqus discovery. All Daniel wants you do do is fill out this simple form. You can choose to take a picture of your referrals, or you can enter the info manually.

A sad thing about free email accounts these days...

Ah, email. We love you , and hate you.

Ya know, many people in this world use email. Most of those email accounts from from popular web mail providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail (and pretty soon, Outlook.com), AOL mail, etc. One of the main requirements of having a free email account is to actually use it, and use it often.

You see, when you don't use your email account, it gets discarded -- and most likely deleted. That is the sad part about free email accounts.
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So, here is where I make this post interesting: Do you think that email accounts should be deleted after inactivity? Obviously there are reasons to delete email accounts that are inactive, such as to save server space (although that is probably not a factor these days).

You can weigh in your thoughts in the comments below, this time there won't be a poll unless I change my mind (with is not often).

My favorite website for downloading YouTube videos and more

If you have ever wanted to download a YouTube video, there is plenty of tools out there, from web applications/websites to full on desktop applications. Today I'm going to be talking about my favorite online tool, called File2HD. Not only does this website allow you to download YouTube videos, you can actually download any file from any website, that means JavaScripts, Images, CSS files, etc.

Microsoft's Service Status Page also gets a Metro style update

In addition to Outlook.com, other Windows Live services are going to get makeovers with the new Metro (or right now, "Windows 8 Style UI" due to a dispute).


SkyDrive's update is coming real soon, with some new leaked screenshots (I'll make a post about this later). This post is about the status page, so lets talk about that.

Over a million people have switched to outlook.com in the first day!

Ever since the launch of the Outlook.com preview, tons of people have jumped onboard. Currently there are millions of people enjoying the preview, but what is especially facinating is how many people are using it within the first day. In the chart below, you can see that the level of the line going upwards is a good sign that people are loving Outlook.com.

Opera 12.01 has arrived, stability and bug fixes in tow

If you are a user of Opera, you should be getting an update by now. This new release, Opera 12.01, contains numerous bug fixes and stability improvements from the previous big update, Opera 12.


This release contains a true load updates, such as fixing auto complete issues with the address bar, to fixes for HTML exploits. Below is the links for each change log. Most users are using Windows, so this article was mostly based off of the Windows change log.



Windows Change Log | Mac Change Log | Linux Change Log (UNIX)


Your browser should automatically download the update, unless you are on Linux and then you would have to use your package manager/update manager. Otherwise, an alert is in the bottom right of the browser, where the bottom bar is.

Grab your Outlook.com domain when you can

Microsoft's new Outlook.com email service looks very promising, but I have to give a fair warning to existing Hotmail users who also might want their address under the @outlook.com domain. You see, you won't automatically get your hotmail addresses under the @outlook.com domain. You'll have to register a new email address.

My failed attempt to take a screenshot in Diablo 1

If you all know, I am a big fan of Diablo, specifically Diablo 1 because I haven't played 2 (and its expansions), and of course I didn't play the third one.


I have been playing though it for the third time, and wanted to take a few screenshots of my armor, but I got a weird screenshot when I took one. I know the Diablo game flashed red when I pressed Print Screen, but I didn't know what that meant. And I still don't.

Guest Post - Rediscovering Disqus

Well what do ya know, Techman's World has its first guest post. Mr. Paramendra sent this in, his original post is below.

Poll: What email service do you use?

With Microsoft recently releasing its new Outlook.com email service, I got a thought to ask the community here what email service they use. When I talk about email services, I'm talking about personal email services, not something like Google Apps Gmail and Microsoft Exchange. I'm talking about services like Yahoo and normal Gmail. You can vote in the poll below (you can enter another email service not listed in the “Other” box), and/or post a comment with your thoughts in it. If you have any thoughts on Hotmail and Outlook.com, and what the fate of Hotmail is going to be, I suggest you go here.

What are your thoughts on Hotmail and Outlook?

With Microsoft announcing Outlook.com, many are wondering about what is going to be happening to Hotmail. Is it going to be merged, ditched, or what? In today's post, I'm asking you that question. What do you think about Hotmail and Outlook.com, and what do you think is going to happen to the already existing Hotmail service?

Microsoft Launches Public Preview of Outlook.com email service (Update: In depth look added)

Image via Engadget. Outlook.com is property of Microsoft Corporation.

Today Microsoft has launched a new email service, currently in its preview phase. This service is called Outlook.com, and it is built from scratch instead of remodeling the current Hotmail email service (I personally use that for my personal email, as well for Techman's World). This is also to surface Microsoft away form Hotmail's bad rep.

Help support a great podcast network - Jupiter Broadcasting

If you have been on the site lately, you know that there is some references to the Linux Action Show, TechSNAP, and Coder Radio. Well that podcast network does not get paid by big companies to do their shows, they rely on donations, affiliates, and some ads (pretty much GoDaddy ads).


If you shop online a lot, you can contribute to them without even lifting a finger, especially if you shop on Amazon a lot. Their Firefox and Chrome extensions can auto tag their affiliate websites for you when you visit them.


For example, Amazon is automatically tagged when you visit a product. If you go and buy that product, that tag still stays. A small portion of your purchase is contributed to the network, so they can continue to make great shows. So go ahead and support them, they appreciate it.


So, what about the shows? I'll explain a little bit about them.


Linux Action Show - This show is a hub of Linux news and reviews. The current hosts are Chris Fisher and Matt Hartley, both having experience and a background with Linux. They frequently review new distros, as well as new versions of distros. They also cover news about Linux. They also have a "runs Linux" segment on the show where they find interesting products that run Linux. You can submit a candidate for the runs Linux segment on their sub-Reddit. 

TechSNAP - This show is more tech oriented, from a broad view, and not focused on one particular subject in the world to tech. They are a much geekier show then you think, talking about server stuff, databases, and so on. The hosts of the show are Chris Fisher and Allan Jude. Allan Jude lives in Canada, not the US, so they (I guess) Skype each other to do the show.

Coder Radio - I already explained this show in a different blog post, go here to see it.



How to help:

You can help support Jupiter Broadcasting by installing their Chrome and/or Firefox extensions. This extension does cover most of Jupiter Broadcasting's affiliates, but it does not cover them all (due to the affiliate denying auto tagging sessions using extensions and such). You can always visit jupiterbroadcasting.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see all of the affiliate links, as well as options to donate via Amazon or Paypal. Other options such as Google Checkout are in plans.