How to Detect Ad Blocking using Javascript and Google Analytics Event Tracking

For website publishers that depend on ad revenue, an increasingly pressing question is what is the percentage Internet users are actively using the ad blocking plugin AdBlock Plus or similar adblocking plugins, such as NoScript and Ghostery? Research by ClarityRay, in an answer on Quora, has produced statistics stating that on average about 9% of ad impressions may be blocked, that ad blocking is higher in the US and Europe, and that users of Firefox and Linux have an ad blocking rate of about 18% and 29%, respectively. In the case of Firefox, AdBlock Plus has over 15 million daily active users and the ad blocking rate for Android users is gaining to the point that Google has recently taken the step of removing Adblock Plus and similar ad blocking apps from its Android store Google Play, probably in an effort to defend Adsense.

Installing and Setting Up HaxeFlixel on Windows

HaxeFlixel is a Flixel port for Haxe the "universal" programming language and the NME application framework to support applications on iOS, Android, webOS, BlackBerry, Windows, Mac, Linux and Flash Player without requiring code changes for each target; Flixel is a popular library for developing 2D Flash games. This tutorial will teach you how to install Haxe, NME, HaxeFlixel, their dependencies, and try out one of the HaxeFlixel demos using Flash.

"Youtube swf args not found" Error

Fix the error using the new version of the Skunkworks FlashVideoBundle, which includes a FLV plugin for TCPMP player. The new version fixes the "Youtube swf args not found" error when viewing YouTube on smartphones and can be downloaded from Smartphone Experts. Registration is required.

PocketNester Plus 0.9 Settings for the Motorola Q

PocketNester is an NES emulator for the Windows smartphones that can be downloaded from
Modaco. The following are settings for the Motorola Q smartphone.

Under "Options", the proper setting for "Display" is "Landscape Left".

In "Controllers", select right for Up. If done properly there will be a 0x27 displayed next to the word Up. The other keys are shown below:

• Up (0x27) -> Right
• Down (0x25) -> Left
• Left (0x26) -> Up
• Right (0x28) -> Down

Record TVU Player Output Using VLC As ASF

TVU Player is a free P2PTV program that allows users to watch TV channels on their computers. It is possible to record the video using VideoLAN Client (or VLC) as an ASF file.

While TVU Player is running and streaming video, open VLC and go to File -> Open Network Stream. At the open dialog, select HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/MMS and enter 127.0.0.1:8901 in the URL. Click the Stream/Save checkbox, and click Settings next to it.

On the Stream Output dialog, click File in the Outputs section. In Filename, choose a location and file name for the output. In the Encapsulation Method section, choose ASF. Click OK on the two open dialogs of VLC, and the current TVU Player stream will start recording.

Mouse Problems in Excel

Sometimes when opening a workbook in Excel and clicking on a cell will cause mouse to act as if you were holding the button down, and you cannot click back off of it. The only way to get out Excel is to close Excel is by killing the process in the Task Manager. The problem is due to mouse drivers; the mouse drivers need to be updated and/or re-installed. If the drivers provided by the mouse manufacturer fail then the generic mouse drivers provided with Windows need to be installed.

Windows Mobile Smartphone Sound Settings

Many settings on a smartphone can be changed from the registry. PHM has a free registry editor for the smartphone. The settings are often easier to understand in hexadecimal format where number values go from 0-9 and then A-F. The PHM registry editor allows you to see numbers as either binary, hexadecimal or decimal. Decimal values can be converted using the Windows calculator in scientific mode. Entering a number in the calculator then clicking the radio button labeled "Hex" will convert the value.

Changes to the registry will go into effect after restarting the phone.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\SoundCategories - Various phone sounds including the ring, alarm and system volume. These also found in the Settings. The values go from 0-9. Setting HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\SoundCategories\InCall\InitVol to zero disables the sound when initiating a call.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Volume\Volume - Controls the earpiece volume. Its values go from 0-4293967295, in hexadecimal the upper limit is an 8 integer value: FFFFFFFF.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Phone\Vol - Controls volume during a call. Its values go from 0-65535, in hexadecimal the upper limit is an 4 integer value: FFFF.

The following two entries are for HTC phones:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\HTC\Startup\WAV - Name of the file to play at startup.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\HTC\Shutdown\WAV - Name of the file to play at shutdown.

Increase Font Size of GMail Midlet for Smartphones

By default, the font size of the Java GMail midlet may appear to small to read comfortably on a smartphone. The font size can be increased by starting the midlet then going to Menus > Go to > Settings. There you need to uncheck the third box "Use small fonts"; you will need to restart the GMail application to view the larger fonts.

I Think I'm Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese is a challege for many people due to the number of characters involved. There are about 80 characters for each set of hiragana and katakana. And in all there about 50,000 Japanese kanji about 2,000 of which are needed for general use. Knuckles in China Land and Slime Forest are two RPG games that can help you memorize characters and learn vocabulary.

Knuckles in China Land - The game features Knuckles from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. This game tests you by using characters that sound similar ka, ke, ko, etc. It includes about 6000 kanji with 1000 of them ordered from "more common" to "less common".
Slime Forest - This game throws characters at you based on similar looking characters like hiragana's sa and chi. It only lets you die 3 times every 8 hours, so you don't over do your practice. You can download additional still in development games to practice vocabulary and verb tenses.

Firefox Software Installation Disabled

If you try to install a Firefox extension and see this message "Software installation is currently disabled." Type about:config in the Location Bar and hit enter. Type xpinstall into Filter and look for "xpinstall.enabled," if it says "false" double-click it to toggle it to true. Restart Firefox and you should be able to install extensions.

Privacy For The Masses

Overview

Tor is a software created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that creates a network of virtual tunnels allowing improved privacy and security and privacy on the internet. Tor can be used to keep websites from tracking individuals users or to connect to services blocked by Internet providers.

Tor creates a private network by creating encrypted connections to servers on the Tor network where no individual server knows the complete path the data has taken. Tor can be used with any application with SOCKS proxy support.

Getting Tor

Tor can be downloaded for free for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and BSD. Using Tor depends on two basic programs Tor and Privoxy which can now be downloaded as a bundle for Windows. Privoxy is a program that modifies web page content by removing ads, banners, and popups, it allows software to interact with the Tor network. The bundle also includes TorCP which lets you monitor and control Tor.

Configuring Applications

In order, to use Firefox or Internet Explorer with Tor follow the instructions below:

Firefox 1.5

On the menu bar click on Tools -> Options. On the Options dialog that pops up click on General, then Connection Settings. Another dialog with come up, click the radio button "Manual proxy configuration". For HTTP Proxy, type localhost, and for Port 8118, then click "Use this proxy server for all protocols. Click OK to exit the dialogs.

Internet Explorer 6

Click Tools -> Internet Options. On the Internet Options dialog, click Connections -> LAN Settings (if you are using a broadband connection). In the dialog that comes up, check the box that says "Use a proxy server for your LAN". Then click Advanced, for HTTP the proxy address to use is localhost and the Port 8118. Check the "Use the same proxy server for all protocols". Click OK to exit the dialogs.

Miscellaneous

Sometimes Tor can be sluggish, it may be necessary to navigate a site without Tor, or an alternate proxy may be preferred, such as I2P. The Firefox extension, SwitchProxy, can be used to switch between Tor, other proxies, and connecting to sites directly. Install SwitchProxy by clicking on "Install Now" on the SwitchProxy extension site. Restart Firefox to start the extension. On the SwitchProxy toolbar, click Add and select the Standard Proxy Type, then click Next. Select a name for the proxy, such as "Tor," then enter localhost for each of the proxies and 8118 for each port. Click OK. The dropdown menu on the SwitchProxy toolbar can be used to switch between proxies, after selecting a proxy click Apply on the toolbar to apply the proxy to the current page.

Websites use IP addresses to determine your physical location and can use this information to alter the content of the website according to the location. Google, in particular, uses this information to redirect users to localized pages of their website in the language of the country from which the connection was made.

Create an ISO in Windows XP

ISO Recorder by Alex Feinman is a Windows power toy for Windows XP, 2003 and Vista that allows the creation of a images from CDs from an existing CD, as well as any from the contents of any folder. Instructions for the program are located here. He has also created a command-line CD buring tool called CreateCD.

Hamachi Quick HOWTO

Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual networking application with the ability create a secure network between computers regardless of firewalls or address translation devices (i.e. routers used for broadband connections). It has a simple and effective interface and can be used to create file sharing networks and/or gaming networks. A self-created network has a limit of 16 connections.

Downloading

Both the Windows and Linux clients are available on the Hamachi site. The latest Linux client can be found here. The Mac OS X client is available on site's forums.

Installation

The Windows installation is basic without any complications. Hamachi can also be run as a service in Windows. The Linux installation takes a more work, but still simple. A more detailed description is provided in the forums.

You'll need to have root privileges for installation:

tar xvfz hamachi-VERSION.tar.gz

sudo su

make install
tuncfg
hamachi-init
hamachi start
hamachi login

tuncfg is an additional program that is distributed with Hamachi, which depends on the tun kernel module being installed. To determine if the module is already installed

modprobe tun

If modprobe finds the module, it will not display a message, otherwise it will display modprobe: Can't locate module tun. For instructions on installing the module follow the instructions provided in the forums.

Hamachi comes with a "Magic Option" to force a connection through a specific port. In Windows, the option is located in Preferences -> System -> Troubleshooting. In Linux, for that option the following line in ~/.hamachi/config needs to be included (it may be necessary to create the file).

UdpPort <port>

If you are using iptables, add the following rule in /etc/sysconfig/iptables (Fedora):

-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p udp --dport <port> -j ACCEPT

Now you'll either need to create a network or join a pre-existing one (these are included in the README):

hamachi create 

or

hamachi join 

Seeing Other Users

To go online

hamachi go-online

To get the nicknames of the other users use

hamachi get-nicks

In Windows this is done by right-clicking and Set Label -> Default.

Sharing Files

In Windows, you can browse stuff by right-clicking a name and share stuff by right-clicking a folder in Windows, clicking the Sharing tab, then click on Share this folder and OK.

In Linux, you can share files using Samba and it will run the following commands:

iptables -t nat -o ham0 -j MASQUERADE
service iptables save

To browse files in Linux you can mount a computer's shares using smbclient:

smbmount //servername/sharename /mountdirectory -o username=username,password=password

USB DCU-11 Data Cable Instructions (WinXP)

Cable Information

Data Cable: KQ-U8A
Model: DCU-11
Serial Number: WT048000317
Made in China

Device Instance ID: USB\VID_10AB&PID_10C5\0001

Check the ID for your cable by looking in Control Panel -> System, click on the Hardware tab, click on Device Manager. If you've plugged in the cable it should be an unknown device labelled "usb data cable". Right click the device, click Properties. Click the Details tab and you should see the Device Instance Id for your cable.

Download Drivers

1. Enter to Windows Update site, http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
2. Click "Use administrator options" on left pane.
3. Click "Windows Update Catalog" on just under the "Update multiple operating systems"
4. Click "Find driver updates for hardware device" on the right pane.
5. Click "Other hardware" at the bottom.
6. Select "Silicon Laboratories Inc." from "Manufacturer name"
7. Select "Operating System" - "Windows XP Professional SP1" at the bottom is recommended, even if it isn't your OS.
8. Click "Search" button at the bottom right
9. Click "Add" button on the item Silicon Laboratories usb software update released on March 11 2004 (CP2101 USB Composite Device)
10. Click "Go to Download basket" on top center.
11. Enter download location and click "Download Now" button

Install Drivers

1. Extract files from 7873484.cab
2. Open slabw2k.inf with a text editor and change VID_10C4&PID_EA60 to your ID, repeat this for slabbus.inf
3. On the Hardware Installation Wizard select No, not this time for whether Windows can connect to Windows Update, click Next
4. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), click Next
5. Select Include this location in the search, browse the folder with the drivers files you've downloaded and click Next.