Jun 02

2010

The Perfect Free Online Favicon Maker

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 02-06-2010

Tagged Under : ,

Do you know what a favicon is? I guess who do. For the benefit of those who don’t, let’s see a detailed explanation on Wikipedia, quoted below.

A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a website icon, shortcut icon, url icon, or bookmark icon is a 16×16 pixel square icon associated with a particular website or webpage.[1] A web designer can create such an icon and install it into a website (or webpage) by several means, and most graphical web browsers will then make use of it. Browsers that provide favicon support typically display a page’s favicon in the browser’s Address bar and next to the page’s name in a list of bookmarks. Browsers that support a tabbed document interface typically show a page’s favicon next to the page’s title on the tab. The Microsoft Windows Shell also uses favicons to represent “Internet shortcuts” to web pages.

You can search Google for more definitions of a favicon.

As we have seen above, a favicon is some sort of representation or identification for a website. This means that it can be used to brand a website or web pasge.

Sounds interesting? How do you add a favicon to your website?

The standard procedure for adding a favicon to your page is by creating a .ico file and uploading it to the root directory of your site. After that, there is a code you need to add to the head section (<head>) of  your index page. To effectively do this, you need need knowledge on the following fields:

Creating an Ico Image: Most photo editors will be able to help you create an ico image. I recommend Faststone. All you need to do is open any image file you will like to use and save it as favicon.ico. Simple!!!

Uploading the favicon.ico Image to Your Root Directory: Now that you have treated the image to use as your favicon, you need to upload it to your site. I recommend you use the file manager on cPanel of your hosting account or free Online FTP.

Adding the Favicon Code to Your Index Page: Are you still in your file  manager? Open your index page (index.html, index.php, index.htm… etc) and locate the </head> tag. Plce the code below immediately before the </head> tag.

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico”>
<link rel=”icon” type=”image/gif” href=”animated_favicon1.gif”>

If you will like to have a more spiced up favicon for your site, I recommend you use this free online favicon maker. It is easy to use and packed with many rich functions such as the ability to use animations, sideshow and scrolling text as your favicon.

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Jun 01

2010

How Fast Can I Convert to .pdf?

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 01-06-2010

Tagged Under : , , ,

At times, you don’t have certain software on your PC not because they are not necessary, but just for the simple reason that you have not had any use for it for a very long time.

A friend of mine, the proprietor of the DMC Enterprise gave me a document to scan and send to his email address in acrobat pdf format. Thank God he sent one of his employees to deliver the assignment to me. If not, he could have been very shocked that I don’t have a pdf converter on my PC.

I just told the messenger to be patient and that it will take me about an hr to be done. As soon as the guy left, I stated searching for Primoopdf, one very effective pdf printer I have used in the past. This time around, I was a bit reluctant searching for Primopdf because last time i did, i was told that I require the dot net framework for it to work. No timer for both downloads.

It just flashed through my mind that online software has never killed someone I know. I decided to search for “online pdf converter” and I found www.freepdfconverter.com

There, I could easily just convert the file to pdf format and save to my hard drive. They also have an option you can select so that the converted file is emailed directly to an email address you specify.

Easy!

Aside:
Cameroon GCE Results
GCE Results 2009
GCE Results

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May 30

2010

Automated Responses Suck

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 30-05-2010

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How will someone say this about AZ Blogging?

“Blog has little or no content and/or Blog is brand new and does not appear to be at least 30 days old”

Jesus Christ!! This is unbelievable.

I was looking for money making opportunities for my other blog, AZ Blogging when I applied to a certain blog advertising network and that is the response I got.

Was it just an automated response and no one ever checked the blog or they just wanted me on probation so that they can get some free service out of me?

I was a little crossed, but kept my calm and politely replied thus

Thanks for the Approval, Sir.

I am however suspecting that this is an automated response. Forgive me if it is not.
If you check my archives ( http://azblogging.com/post-archives/ )you sill notice that my blog has 99 posts and is over 10 months old.

Talking of ranks and stats, my blog has a Google page rank of 2 and Alexa less than a million.

I will be very grateful for a re-evaluation

Thanks

After that, I got a more meaningful reply. I guess this time, someone actually checked the blog.

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May 28

2010

How to Rotate or Flip a Video

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 28-05-2010

Tagged Under : , , , , ,

Have you ever taken a very good video shot with your video camera or phone and just want it is time for you to vie it you realise the camera was not well positioned and you need to rotate the video? Rotating a photo is very easy, but when it comes to videos, you must be a small geek to do that.

Oh! Not really. Why not let a software do the job for you? That is what software are for, right?

Free Video Flip and Rotate is the ultimate solution to this problem. With this small freeware application, you can rotate or flip a video through any angle.

how to flip or rotate a video

This software has a very simple interface that makes it easy to use. I bet you won’t need a tutorial for this. However, if you get mixed up, just remember after downloading, installing and luanching the software ,

–Download Flip and Rotate
–Install the software by simply double-clicking on the executive file and following the instructions
–Launch the software by following the path Start > All Programs > DVDVideoSoft > Programs > Free Video Flip and Rotate
–Select Input Video File
–Click the left “…” button to select an input file from your computer.
–Select Output Location
–Click the rigth “…” button to choose the location where you would like to save the output video file. Click Save.
–Select Flip or Rotate Option
–Click one of the seven buttons to flip or rotate a video.
–Click the Convert button along the bottom of the interface and wait the video to be processed.

Easy, right? Try it!

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May 27

2010

Do I Need A Laptop?

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 27-05-2010

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Just like mobile phones, laptops are fast becoming a necessity even in the less developing world, though I am yet to accept them as such. Generally, it seems the rate at which we convert mobile technology to necessities we can’t do without is increasing everyday.

A Laptop, in its direct implication in terms of portability, is a mobile technology. Here in Africa, it will cost an averagely paid citizens at least three months to save for the cheapest available laptop ($300.00). Considering the fact that no one keeps a laptop at the top of priorities and does nothing else but save for it, lets make this saving period about 6 months.

Why would I save up to six month’s hard earned cash just to get a laptop? The answer is obvious, Because it is a necessity. What type of necessity? A can’t do without? The type at the top of my scale of preference?

If my job or education is not directly linked to me having a laptop, then I don’t consider it a necessity for me. I have a PC at my job site and one at home and since most of my time I must be at the job site or home, I can’t label a laptop a necessity. Call me old fashioned. Ha ha ha. But that’s true!!!

You may want to say if I had a laptop when my PC was giving me a hard time, it could have been my savior. Well, that true too.

Worth a Read: Yaman Gensan 2009

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May 17

2010

CIWABA – Computer, Internet and Web Awareness for a Better Africa

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 17-05-2010

Tagged Under : , , , , , , , ,

…when the vision includes many missions and and endless number of projects, you may want to give it a “legal” identity and put together a small group to help.

Running an NGO has always been part of my dreams. I can’t resist the urge to help friends and relatives who are in need, and if I have the opportunity of extending that far and wide, why should I take chances?

I was very happy when I started a project to help bloggers and prospective bloggers blog free of charge, and also educating the less “literate ones” on blogging. I called this project “Pen 2 Net“.

When Pen 2 Net started off, I noticed that female bloggers in Africa needed much more care and attention – encouragement, so I planned for a service specifically for that purpose. I called it Bloggress.

I am an Unsigned African artist (HipHop) and I know the type of problems I face. I am not alone in that domain. I hoped for a platform that could help my music get heard out there. CamHooD is a project that will be of great help to all unsigned African Artists.

The Afroweb is small and still growing. Information in it can easily get lost in the great pool of the world wide web. As a result, I saw the need of building a search engine specifically for African websites. These sites which rank very low on Google will have a better chance of someone getting them using a customized search engine powered by Google itself. I called this African search engine AfroWebia.

In the pipeline are two projects I deem very important too. The next will be a blogging platform for Africans who do not want to blog independently and and another will be some sort of a Computer Literacy Site for the “caveman”.

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May 16

2010

Bara Mark, the Analyst of Bareta Online, Now Allowing Membership on His Blog

Filed Under (Computers and Internet, News and Politics) by Uncle Che on 16-05-2010

Tagged Under : , , , ,

Oh yeah, Mark again. Still the same guy I talked about a while ago. His blog is humbly sponsored by Pen 2 Net and he is very proud about that. He hosts two text links to the home page and donation page of Pen 2 Net.

Recently, Bara Mark contacted the Chief of Pen 2 Net’s Support Staff (my humble self) requesting membership on his blog to be open to the public. In my response, I almost asked why he would do that but held my question back because I know he has 100% rights over his blog and should make any move he likes at any time as long as they don’t go against the Pen 2 Net’s terms of service.

On Bareta Online features a page labeled Your Say, where readers can anonymously post any information for publication on that same page. Bareta needed just more than anonymity. He believes very much in “freedom of speech” and clearly thinks that many people also do. He thereby wanted registration so that people who have enough courage for that can clearly identify themselves with their opinions.

All was done as the chief requested. Default user level on Bareta Online is “Author”. Wow!

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Mar 17

2009

Mbarakanamozo of Cameroon

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 17-03-2009

Tagged Under : , , , ,

Do you have a friend or two who is so talented in what he/she does so much that you feel you want to be in that place? Have you found yourself asking questions like “where and when does he/she learn further”?

Everyone has a skill or two. Some are easily seen, while others are hidden. Some, where there easily seen or not are well utilized while others are just being “wasted”. Friends who make good use of their skills, talents or gifts are a good inspiration to us all.

The other day, after reading a post by Lainy, I told her what a good writer she is. I must have told her that several times, but what was special about this last time is that for once, I told her exactly why I think she is a good writer.

Lainy, you are such a good writer. Your writing is a perfect blend of conversational, narrative and descriptive.

Today, a friend, Bara Mark (aka Mbarakanamozo) of Bareta Online showed me a newspaper with on of his articles on the front page. Though I was amazed, it was not much of a surprise. I can recall that I have seen his article at the front page of the Eden Newspaper more than once. What is amazing about his writing is the fact that he is not a professional writer. It is just a hobby for him and what he writes is not even close to what he has studied in the University.

Bareta is a young Cameroon studying Microbiology in the University of Buea and currently residing in Buea. If you visit his blog expecting to see some Microbiology related talks, then you are wrong. He calls himself the analyst and believes very strongly in human rights and freedom of speech. He is no politician, but a dedicated student who always aims at leadership roles. If he were to stand for the presidential elections someday, I bet I will be his campaign manager. :D

Bareta’s most recent article as of today (Tuesday 17th March 2009) is MT.CAMEROON RACE,THE PEAK OF ANGLOPHONE MARGINALISATION. Oh, before I forget to mention, that is the article I saw on the front page of the Eden Newspaper.

Bareta was the very first candidate of Pen 2 Net. I love the courage he took. After making him are that WordPress won’t be the piece of cake that Blogger is, he still accepted my offer of migrating his blog to self-hosted WordPress and accepted a domain name which will be paid for by the Pen 2 Net project as long as his blog remains alive.

I wish I could find more talented Bloggers like Bareta and introduce them to the Blogosphere.

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Mar 15

2009

Lainy’s Musings – A Bloggers’ Celebration Kicks Off

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 15-03-2009

Tagged Under : , , , ,

Blog and Win at Lainy’s Blogoversary Celebration

This artistic piece which Lainy has themed LAINY’S HOTTEST BLOGOVERSARY WRITING COMPETITION: A BLOGGERS CELEBRATION! is interestingly rich, well organized and simple to follow but yet a very challenging food for thought…

Eh! I think I went a little bit too far for an introduction. Let’s rewind the tapes and listen to what the past says.

If you don’t include your blogs when counting your relatives, friends and colleagues, then I assume you are yet to be a blogger. Blogging is such a passion that anyone who is in NOT ONLY for the cash knows exactly what love for a blog means. No one can ever be able to pay back what he/she owes a blog. That is why no online system built would ever be able to actually evaluate the worth of a blog. Do you really believe Lainy’s Musings can be worth just $4,799 as Smart PageRank says? Certainly not. I believe Lainy realizes she owes her blog a great deal. That’s probably why she celebrates the anniversary of Lainy’s Musings.

LAINY’S HOTTEST BLOGOVERSARY WRITING COMPETITION:
A BLOGGERS CELEBRATION! is far bigger and more interesting than I could ever imagined. Organizing something of this magnitude is no piece of cake. It takes lots of time, patience and intellect and one can’t afford to move into it alone, unless you don’t have any friend. It is our (faithful friends, relatives, colleagues and fellow Bloggers) responsibility to see that she makes it with flying colors.

I deeply regret fate didn’t favor me this time. It didn’t give me enough opportunity to stand by Lainy while she journeys through this very demanding period, but then when I come to think of people like Windmill, Ivy and the other hundred plus who didn’t hesitate tagging her as “sister” by their numerous, varying and heart-originating sponsorship, something tells my guilt “come on, give Uncle Che a break” :D

Lainy has been very busy making sure all the “I”s are dotted and the “T”s cut.

Friday, February 20, 2009 – Another Contest in the Making

March 6, 2009 – Last Call for Blog Contest Sponsors…

Friday, March 6, 2009 – Complete List of Sponsors for the Blogoversary Contest of Lainy’s Musings

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 – What’s at Stake for the Lainy’s Hottest Blogoversary Competition?

Friday, March 13, 2009 – Thank You Is Not Enough

Sunday, March 15, 2009 – LAINY’S HOTTEST BLOGOVERSARY WRITING COMPETITION: A BLOGGERS CELEBRATION!

Today Sunday 15th March, marks the very first day of the contest for participants. Lainy told me yesterday that she hopes I don’t miss it, and I promised not to, but I was a little surprised when I couldn’t reach her by IM.

Where are you, Lainy? Taking a break? God knows you deserve one.
Clap
Clap
Clap

You have done a very great job.

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Mar 13

2009

Tried a New Browser Today

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 13-03-2009

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This is not the very first time I am seeing this browser. I first saw it on a friend’s laptop about a week ago but never aid attention to it. I am so happy and contented with Mozilla Firefox and don’t even want to try any other browser unless absolutely necessary.

However, my Firefox really made me angry today. Kept on crashing at an unbearable speed. I wanted to think of this as a temporal situation so I decided to get another browser that I could use just for today, hoping that tomorrow, I will find my Firefox working like magic.

I had a problem of choice. didn’t know which browser to go for, so I decided to check out some reviews. On the very first list I saw, Flock with second, after Firefox. After reading that it is based on Firefox 3 plus some kudos, I didn’t hesitate downloading and trying it.

Flock rocks!!! I find it difficult to believe, but to my opinion it is faster and more stable than Firefox 3. The only problem is that the edit screen looks kind of crowded and strange to me, but I believe I will get used to it. I will reserve Firefox only for tasks I can’t accomplish with Flock.

If you are looking for a second browser to add to Firefox, I suggest Flock.

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Mar 05

2009

I Had Some Serious Fun With Google

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 05-03-2009

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I have a friend who is so much in love with Google that at times, I wish he was one of their employees. With such great passion, I am he will rapidly turn into the type of employee Google likes. He is a web developer and has built several remarkable websites in my country including ubstudents.com, executiveassets.com, openuandi.com, cameroonfootballers.com, saboga.org, vcccul.org..etc all branded under his firm’s official website www.afrovisiongroup.com.

When asked why he loves Google very much, he simply replied to me
Those guys are always serious in anything they do. Just have a look at their services.
Yeah, he is right. For the same reason, I think Google is great. Most people know only about their search engine, but that is just a tiny part of Google. Even the search engine that is most talked about has services most people don’t about. Do you know about Google Adsense for search? I have used that. But last time I checked, it was taken towards the direction of Google Custom search.

I played around with Google Custom Search and built a search engine that searches only African websites. I named it Afro Webia. If you read the About Page of that search engine, you will understand why the site can be of some use.

I never intended being serious with it but as I continued toying, I discovered more and more ways of making it worthwhile. Right now, the project is still under development. Using some intelligent wildcats, I have been able to all all African second level domains and now I have to add the others manually. This means I will have to search them somehow. I am looking forward to meeting the admin of Afrikeo for some help, I will keep you posted whenever I make a move. Thank God Twitter is there, though I hardly use it.

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Feb 20

2009

What Actually Happened to Chrome?

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 20-02-2009

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I really don’t want to put it this way, but it seems Google couldn’t build the type of browser they ranted about for so long. For some reason, it seems they are not even promoting it. Remember the type of promotion they did for Firefox? If they could do same for Chrome, I am sure in less than a year 80% of the web will be Chromized.

What is wrong with Chrome? First of all, I get mixed up by “it is a new browser” and “it is built from Firefox”. Either way, it is supposed to be a very good browser if well done. If it was built from scratch, then several components not available on the web today may have been incorporated into it. If it was built from Firefox, Firefox is a good browser so Chrome should be better.

I can’t find any statistical data but I still hold grounds that if Chrome was what they said it is, then somehow one can tell it is popular. I haven’t seen any review that puts it as the best browser, yet.

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Feb 16

2009

Eureka Eureka – I Got It

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 16-02-2009

Tagged Under : , ,

Most of my friends think I am a techy and they always believe I can solve all of their Internet and PC related problems. I wish they knew better. What gives them that impression about me is the simple reason that I like adventuring into the unknown and never accept defeat as an outcome.

A friend of mine confronted me today and asked or help.  He was creating two documents in Microsoft Word; one had to serve as the table of content and the other had to bear the actual content itself. He wanted to create links on the table of content that point to specific portions in the content itself. He did so, but each time the links are clicked, the content document opens but doesn’t scroll down to the desire portion in it. Can I help him do some auto scrolling so that when he clicks on any chapter, say chapter 9 in the table of contents, it opens the content document and automatically scrolls down to chapter 9?

Immediately, I knew auto scrolling was not the answer. Microsoft Word 2003 is still primitive for such functions. However, I knew hyper linking and bookmarking would do just exactly what he wants. I created bookmarks in the content and links in the table of content but didn’t know exactly how to create a relationship between the two.

That’s when I gave up testing my intellect and turned to Google for an answer. I found this tutorial that says everything about creating hyperlinks in Microsoft Word.

Happy Happy!!!

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Feb 10

2009

My Head on Fire – Slow PC, Slow Internet

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 10-02-2009

Tagged Under : , , ,

My PC’s specs are good.
Pentium 4 with a 2GHZ processor and 512MB RAM.
I am using Windows XP service pack two and I have Firefox 3.

I really can’t understand why my PC is so slow lately. Since the original hard drive that came with it crash, my buddy has never been the same. Could it be my hard drive is not good? I have replaced my hard drive several times and each time I do so, my PC works very well for about a week and starts diminishing in performance. Does this entails I only go for bad hard drives?

I am considering buying a new hard drive again and reinstalling my computer at the start of next week.

Now, what’s the problem with my internet connection. Doesn’t anything around here work well anymore? At times, my internet connection goes so slow that I can’t sign into my Google Account or navigate to the Write Page of my wordpress blogs.

This is so frustrating. I have many projects at hand and I really need to get them done quick. I temporarily suspended CamHood so that I could hurriedly finish Pen 2 Net. I haven’t even looked at Noela‘s project, Bloggress, that I am helping her with. Most of the time I try to do something with Lainy, I feel like slowing her down since things are pretty slow this way. I just started Uncleche.net and….

Oh my God! I really need more help with myself now…

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Feb 07

2009

Paid Posts Against Other Writing Jobs

Filed Under (Computers and Internet) by Uncle Che on 07-02-2009

Tagged Under : , , , , ,

A friend of mine introduced me to a website for employers and freelancers. After registering on the site and writing a few tests, I checked out the marketplace. The jobs there were very interesting and tempting. Found many jobs on article writing, proofreading, copywriting, blog maintenance etc, but for some reason, I was not as thrilled as I thought I would.

I am a Blogger, so normally I must be interested in such deals, why was I not? For some reason, I prefer being paid to write content for my own blog than to do some freelancing and get a few dollars from it and conceal the deal. My blog is mine, and I will certainly write on it more passionately than anywhere else. Secondly, most of these companies that will ay you to blog form them already have a reputation and an agreement that enables more understanding as opposed to some harsh conditions that will be imposed to you by some individuals of one-man companies.

Averagely, a Blogger who has some pagerank and traffic will be paid higher per post, than a freelance poster is paid per hour but the truth is that the poster may get many hours of work and may end up being paid more. There is a lot of limitation on bloggers since they are required to keep a strict portion of paid to unpaid posts.

However, I won’t give up on Odesk. I do believe if I after filling up my profile and adding some experiences / skills, I may meet up with the requirements of most employers and potentially earn far more than what I earn blogging.

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