Saturday, March 08, 2014
International CES 2014 Conference Session Videos
Sunday, March 02, 2014
#AllSee Gesture Recognition
Monday, October 24, 2005
GMail As A File Server
This blog contains two seperate write-ups on setting up your GMail as a file server, you pick which is best for you.
HOW-TO: Use your Gmail account as a personal file server
This is a fairly simple and useful trick to score yourself a gigabyte’s worth of free online file storage. If you already have a Gmail account, you can use it as a central file server that is accessible from anywhere you can access Gmail. If you don’t have a Gmail account… read on. We’re going to install a shell extension that will allow you to mount your Gmail account as a virtual drive on your desktop, so you can perform basic file manipulation operations without having to go through the web-based interface. Drag and drop, batch copy, create folders and delete files as you normally would in Windows Explorer, and be able to access your virtual drive from virtually anywhere.
There are some limitations and caveats associated with this how-to: Gmail doesn’t support files larger than 10MB, so you won’t be able to store large movie files or anything, but you wouldn’t be doing that anyway ‘cuz it’s illegal, right? Also, the Gmail drive shell extension only functions under Windows XP, but you’ll be able to access and download any of your files via any operating system and browser combination supported by Gmail.
Be advised that this trick is completely unsupported by the Google folk and so may cease functioning at any time — particularly following upgrades to the Gmail service. As far as we know this isn’t illegal (we actually read the EULA for you — that’s love, people), but we can’t guarantee Google won’t go all RIAA on us and crack down on this app, either, so use at your own risk.
Also, it goes without saying that none of you would dream of using something like this to shuttle around any illegally-obtained or un-DRM’d music, right? ‘Cuz that would make you a criminal, and we can’t advocate that. This is only for personal use storage of your, uh, extensive Powerpoint collection, k? Buckle in and let’s roll.
Ingredients
- Gmail account
- Gmail Drive shell extension
- Windows XP PC
- To access your files elsewhere, a browser that supports Gmail. Here’s the official list:
-
- Fully supported browsers:
- Microsoft IE 5.5+ (Windows)
- Netscape 7.1+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Mozilla 1.4+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Mozilla Firefox 0.8+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Safari 1.2.1+ (Mac)
- Will work with Gmail’s basic HTML view:
- Microsoft IE 4.0+
- Netscape 4.07+
- Opera 6.03+
- Fully supported browsers:
First up, download the Gmail Drive shell extension. The download page says you need to have Internet Explorer 5 or higher for installation; this just refers to the fact that Internet Explorer is infernally wed to Windows Explorer and you need a version of the Windows Explorer based on the IE5+ engine. If you’re running Windows XP you should be all set with this. No need to actually launch that browser — we wouldn’t conscionably recommend that to anyone.
Installation is as simple as running the Setup program. When the installer is finished running, it will tell you you can begin using Gmail Drive right away, but you may actually have to restart your machine before you can access the new drive. If you don’t see it in the list of locations under My Computer, just try restarting. Otherwise, you should be seeing Gmail Drive showing up just any regular storage device would:
Double-click the Gmail Drive icon, and you will be prompted for your login information:
Enter your deets and Gmail Drive shell extension will happily enumerate your files and log you in:
If you already have files stored in your account from attachments you’ve received, etc., you will see them in the Explorer window after you’ve logged in. Otherwise, if you have no files or if you’ve just created your brand spankin’ new Gmail account, you’ll just see an empty Explorer window:
Let’s drag and drop some files into our new virtual drive. We’ll choose some image files that we shot ourselves because, as far as we know, it’s not illegal to copy these yet. Just open an Explorer window with some files you’d like to store on your new file server, select them, and drag and drop them into your Gmail Drive just as you would with any regular file transfer. You’ll get a dialogue window with an animation involving a cute little phone that for some reason is sending a letter — some tribute to ye olde modems of yore?
Regardless, it means Gmail Drive is whisking your files happily away and posting them to your Gmail account. When the transfer is finished, you’ll see icons for your files in your Gmail Drive:
Fabulous. Now — if you have another Windows XP machine you use regularly — your work PC, for example — you can just set up the Gmail Drive shell extension there and have Explorer-type file manipulation on that machine, as well. This could be a really handy solution for sharing files between your two locations. But since we already know how to use Gmail Drive, let’s take a look at what happens when we log in to our Gmail account from a regular old web browser.
Go to the Gmail login and enter your account information:
When you log in, you’ll see a number of new messages - one message per file you just uploaded. Messages corresponding to files that have been uploaded via Gmail Drive appear with a “GMAILFS” prefix in the header, following by the filename and the file size:
Since we’ve uploaded images, we can view our photos right from within the Gmail interface:
From here, we can forward the images on to friends, or download them to whatever machine we are on and have instant access to them at any time. Plus, we benefit from all the handy built-in features of Gmail itself; we can easily search for our files by name and tag them to organize them however we wish. All this from the installation of one simple and free utility.
So we know that a lot of you might find this handy, but you don’t happen to have a Gmail account. Well, it’s your lucky day, peeps, because we have a few invites to give away. Obviously we don’t have enough invites for everyone, but we’ll give them away on a first-come, first-served basis until they’re all gone. Just make sure you use a valid email address when you post your comment, because that’s where we’ll send the invite to, dig? Don’t say we never gave you anything.
Second write-up:
File Server from Gmail anyone?
Hey ShockExciterz!
Another month..another job...we sure hope you readers out there are well and happening!
Heres an article from us to share with you all. How many of you have Gmail accounts? Ever wondered other what other ways to utilize your 1G storage? although GMAIL isn't the only ones offering 1G, others like WALLA.com for example too offers such services for free (of course less the hassle of "invitations")
Heres a neat trick we tried playing around with our online partners. Ready?
How about you guys turning your Gmail accounts to personal file servers? yup! accessible via mobile, pda, laptop, anywhere with a Microsoft PPC or windows based device with an internet connection. Easier to say, you have an additional 1G of storage for anything!
All this available via your desktop (of course..if you're a broadband user..thats a bonus..)
Today, we'll be sharing how you can do it. Simple customisation...3 year olds can do it..why not you?
Before that, we have to let you know in advanced that this section does not support graphics, so it will be based on text, for those whom are interested will be given a link to the file (including screenshots and a plugin you require, but you have to email us to get the file..;P)
Note that we have only tested it on Gmail, so far, we're testing on other email providers (of course those with juicy 1Gs of space hehe..)
This is a fairly simple and useful trick to score yourself a gigabyte’s worth of free online file storage. If you already have a Gmail account, you can use it as a central file server that is accessible from anywhere you can access Gmail. If you don’t have a Gmail account… read on. We’re going to install a shell extension that will allow you to mount your Gmail account as a virtual drive on your desktop, so you can perform basic file manipulation operations without having to go through the web-based interface. Drag and drop, batch copy, create folders and delete files as you normally would in Windows Explorer, and be able to access your virtual drive from virtually anywhere (ahem, as mentioned earlier..kinda long winded..).
There are some limitations and caveats associated with this how-to: Gmail doesn’t support files larger than 10MB, so you won’t be able to store large movie files or anything, but you wouldn’t be doing that anyway ‘cuz it’s illegal, right?(RIIGHT????!) Also, the Gmail drive shell extension only functions under Windows XP, but you’ll be able to access and download any of your files via any operating system and browser combination supported by Gmail.
Be advised that this trick is completely unsupported by the Google boys and so may cease functioning at any time — particularly following upgrades to the Gmail service. As far as we know this isn’t illegal (we actually read the EULA for you — that’s love, people yehawwwww), but we can’t guarantee Google won’t go all RIAA on us and crack down on this app, either (see? that's why you have to email us if you wanna use the plugin), so use at your own risk.
Also, it goes without saying that none of you would dream of using something like this to shuttle around any illegally-obtained or un-DRM’d music, right? ‘Cuz that would make you a criminal, and we can’t advocate that. This is only for personal use storage of your, uh, extensive Powerpoint collection, k? Buckle in and let’s roll.
Ingredients
Gmail account
Gmail Drive shell extension
Windows XP PC
To access your files elsewhere, a browser that supports Gmail. Here’s the official list:
Fully supported browsers:
Microsoft IE 5.5+ (Windows)
Netscape 7.1+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Mozilla 1.4+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Mozilla Firefox 0.8+ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Safari 1.2.1+ (Mac)
Will work with Gmail’s basic HTML view:
Microsoft IE 4.0+
Netscape 4.07+
Opera 6.03+
First up, download the Gmail Drive shell extension. The download page says you need to have Internet Explorer 5 or higher for installation; this just refers to the fact that Internet Explorer is infernally wed to Windows Explorer and you need a version of the Windows Explorer based on the IE5+ engine. If you’re running Windows XP you should be all set with this.
No need to actually launch that browser — we wouldn’t conscionably recommend that to anyone.
Installation is as simple as running the Setup program. When the installer is finished running, it will tell you you can begin using Gmail Drive right away, but you may actually have to restart your machine before you can access the new drive.
If you don’t see it in the list of locations under My Computer, just try restarting. Otherwise, you should be seeing Gmail Drive showing up just any regular storage device would:
Double-click the Gmail Drive icon, and you will be prompted for your login information:
Username:yourgmailaccount
Password:yourpassowrdlah!
Enter your deets and Gmail Drive shell extension will happily enumerate your files and log you in:
If you already have files stored in your account from attachments you’ve received, etc., you will see them in the Explorer window after you’ve logged in. Otherwise, if you have no files or if you’ve just created your brand spankin’ new Gmail account, you’ll just see an empty Explorer window:
Let’s drag and drop some files into our new virtual drive. We’ll choose some image files that we shot ourselves because, as far as we know, it’s not illegal to copy these yet. Just open an Explorer window with some files you’d like to store on your new file server, select them, and drag and drop them into your Gmail Drive just as you would with any regular file transfer. You’ll get a dialogue window with an animation involving a cute little phone that for some reason is sending a letter — some tribute to ye olde modems of yore?
Regardless, it means Gmail Drive is whisking your files happily away and posting them to your Gmail account. When the transfer is finished, you’ll see icons for your files in your Gmail Drive:
Fabulous. Now — if you have another Windows XP machine you use regularly — your work PC, for example — you can just set up the Gmail Drive shell extension there and have Explorer-type file manipulation on that machine, as well. This could be a really handy solution for sharing files between your two locations. But since we already know how to use Gmail Drive, let’s take a look at what happens when we log in to our Gmail account from a regular old web browser.
Go to the Gmail login and enter your account information:
When you log in, you’ll see a number of new messages - one message per file you just uploaded. Messages corresponding to files that have been uploaded via Gmail Drive appear with a “GMAILFS” prefix in the header, following by the filename and the file size:
Since we’ve uploaded images (download the document from the link we provide you below), we can view our photos right from within the Gmail interface:
From here, we can forward the images on to friends, or download them to whatever machine we are on and have instant access to them at any time. Plus, we benefit from all the handy built-in features of Gmail itself; we can easily search for our files by name and tag them to organize them however we wish. All this from the installation of one simple and free utility.
So we know that a lot of you might find this handy, but you don’t happen to have a Gmail account. Well, it’s your lucky day, peeps, because we have a few invites to give away. Obviously we don’t have enough invites for everyone, but we’ll give them away on a first-come, first-served basis until they’re all gone. Just make sure you use a valid email address when you post your comment, because that’s where we’ll send the invite to, dig? Don’t say we never gave you anything!
Here is the link!
http://www.shockexcite.com/gmail/HOW-TO.zip
Have fun!
ShockExcite Team
Copyright Notice
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Friday, October 21, 2005
Hacking Google Earth
Reposted from SearchEngineWatch.com
By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor
September 6, 2005
Google Earth's vivid satellite imagery has a serious goshwow factor, but the program also offers a lot of useful tools and data sharing features that make it a terrific research and learning resource.
When Google launched Google Earth last month, it followed its now customary pattern of taking a fee-based service and making it available for free. If you haven't yet tried Google Earth, download it and give it a try. The program currently runs on relatively new Windows based computers; this download page has full specification details.
Google engineers often say that the search engine of the future will resemble the computer on Star Trek. Well, Google Earth is certainly close: The interface for the program resembles a control console for a spaceship. It's also very intuitive and easy to use.
But once you've had some fun "flying around" the earth, what next?
For starters, try creating some "placemarks" for your favorite locations. Placemarks are just like bookmarks, but they're associated with a specific location on the planet.
To set a placemark, either search for a location or use the zoom and pan controls to zero-in on a location. Then click the push-pin icon in the lower-right of the console. This brings up a menu; click the placemark selection (alternately, you can also set a placemark by clicking Ctrl-N). A pushpin icon appears on the image you're viewing—drag it to the exact location you'd like it to be placed.
Notice the dialog box that has appeared on the left side of the screen. This lets you name your placemark and add a description if you like. A checkbox enables advanced features that give you even more control over a placemark, and you can also organize your placemarks into folders, in much the same way that you organize your favorites.
Now the real fun begins. Once you've created placemarks, you can "tour" them by ticking the check box next to each location you want to visit, then clicking the little "play" icon in the lower right corner of the My Places box. Google Earth will then fly you around from location to location.
You can also save your placemarks and share them with others, either by email, or by uploading them to the Google Earth community forum. I'll talk more about that in a moment.
Finding and saving placemarks is cool, but why stop there? Google Earth also lets you save search results related to a particular location. The easiest way is to simply drag the search result folder icon to the relevant folder in your My Places.
Another fun feature lets you fly along a route that's created when you request driving directions. Simply enter your starting and ending point into the "directions" search boxes, and once the route is mapped, click the play icon. You can control both the speed of the tour and how long you pause at each stop via the Tools > Options > Control menu.
I've just scratched the surface of what you can do with Google Earth. Although the Google Earth Support Page offers some basic information, you'll find a much better guide to the program's features in the Getting Started guide.
Sharing Google Earth Data
As I mentioned, you can share saved Google Earth placemarks, searches, directions and other data. The easiest way is to simply email the special KMZ file that's created whenever you save data. But you can also save these files to a network server, either internally or on the web, and anyone with access to that server can download and use your files.