1. Open notepad and paste in the following line of code

<iframe src="http://www.bing.co.uk/" width="100%" height="100%" />

Change the web address to whatever site you’d like, I tried a few search engines -  at the time of writing, Google doesn’t seem to work in iframes anymore but it did when I first tested this…

2. Save the file with the extension .hta (e.g. browser.hta) and run it

You can then use this to download a proper browser or use it to browse but there are limitations as to what you can view in a HTA.

Notes

• Firstly, if you are trying to get around restrictions imposed by an Administrator – don’t. It’s naughty. I’m not responsible if you get thrown out of school or college or sacked from your job.

• Secondly, a HTA is a HTML Application and consists of some form of HTML, as above, and generally, scripts supported by Internet Explorer, such as VBS. A HTA executes without IE security restrictions; it executes as a fully trusted application, if it is allowed by the policy. If it doesn’t work, maybe the extension has been blocked or the system has been locked down very tightly.

• Thirdly, it won’t get you past any firewall restrictions or proxies. #justsaying

You have a really cool idea for an event and people always go on and on about not organising anything. No one ever does anything exciting. We need to go somewhere. Blah blah blah.

So you stick a Facebook event up for something exciting and different and invite said people. You use Facebook because everyone you need to invite uses it and it is the easiest way to arrange something with a number of people you don’t see regularly. You make arrangements, get good deals, try and get hold of people on and off Facebook and try to accommodate everyone in trying to get it sorted.

But this is what always happens (click to enlarge):

And here’s what we get:

1) The people who commit.

Whether it is a Yes or a No, thank you – have a drink on me. Thank you for making your vote count and for making the organiser’s life that little bit easier.

2) The Maybe’s

The people who might like to be part of it but can’t really be bothered or aren’t fussed either way. You are all an organiser’s worst nightmare. Maybe? MAYBE WHAT?! Anyone in this group should be assumed to be a no-show unless stated otherwise.

3) The people who don’t respond.

You recieved an invitation. Reply to it you ignorant bastards. I mean that in a nice way, of course

There you have it. A breakdown of the RSVPs on Facebook events. It’s pretty simple really.

Upon entering and thinking long and hard about what to choose from the menu (I was tempted to break from the norm and try the chicken), I opted for a Wicked Zinger Meal, accompanied by the only side order worth having (gravy) and a Pepsi.

I was summoned to the counter of dreams by the employee who used the traditional greeting of

“Can I take your order?”

This is where it all went downhill. At first, I was half tempted to reply with:

“No you bloody well can’t! It’s mine!”

and the other half of me was tempted to reply with:

“I should hope so or there’d not be much point in you standing behind that counter and I might as well serve my own food!”

Eventually, I settled for a simple, conventional:

“Yes, thanks”

and walked towards the magical chicken desk.

“I’d like a Wicked Zinger meal please”

“I’m Sorry?”

I am met with a blank, glassy eyed stare and a look of desperation. Sorta like the look you’d expect to get from a goldfish out of water. I repeated just in case he hadn’t heard:

“I’d like a Wicked Zinger meal please”

“You can’t apply here, you need to go online”

This was my turn for a look of confusion and I did my best impression of a goldfish. Truly a work of art it was. What on God’s green earth was going on here.

“Go to Google and type in….”

I cut him off at this point, politely, I might add. I was not entirely sure whether he was infact inferring that I should get apply for a job there and serve my own god damn food instead of hassling him, trying to teach me how to use the internet or just plain could not understand what I was saying.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt and repeated, slightly louder and slower in a hugely stereotypical manner

“Can… I… Get… A… Wick…ed…Zing… er…meal…please…?”

“OHHH! DERP HERP DERP LOL”

And he proceeded to take the rest of my order. By this time, of course, I had celebrated 6 birthdays, gotten married, moved house 3 times and bought a timeshare apartment on a beach in Spain.

I keyed in the PIN to pay for my ‘fast’ food, every button press filled with pure disgruntlement, took my food and thanked the minion for doing his job before going on my way.

All would have been well if it hadn’t been for the fact that

HE GAVE ME CRAPPY BASTARD BEANS

WHEN I ASKED FOR SOME AWESOME

GOD

DAMN

GRAVY!

I stumbled across this nifty utility:

Android ScreenCast

It allows you to view and record your screen and explore your Android device on your computer. Rooted devices can also accept input controls (keyboard and mouse). The tool is java based so is cross platform.

Installation

The instructions on the link above are very simple and should be sufficient for a basic installation. Try that first. If you have any trouble, this guide will go into more detail and provide alternative methods of getting you up and running. Since my main OS is Windows, this guide will focus on the Windows based components of the SDK but very similar methods apply if you are running Linux or OSX.

- Download and install the latest Java Runtime Environment here
- Download the Android SDK here: here
- Run the SDK by launching SDK Setup.exe and install the latest version of “Android Platform Tools” via the updater.

If you are unable to download the components via the SDK interface (for example, if you are behind a proxy that requires authentication), then you can download the latest version via your browser using the following method.

 

Standalone SDK Component Download

You only need to do this if the updater in the SDK does not work.

View this XML file http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml containing the latest SDK file names. Locate the Android Platform Tools for your OS.

<sdk:archive os=”windows” arch=”any”>
<sdk:size>10075800</sdk:size>
<sdk:checksum type=”sha1″>ee7f70ed0c15286d6dbca85b57eb3d1950cc8ec4</sdk:checksum>
<sdk:url>platform-tools_r04-windows.zip</sdk:url>
</sdk:archive>

The archive file name is the information we are after; platform-tools_r04-windows.zip

The address to put in your browser is therefore

http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r04-windows.zip

The file should be downloaded, unpacked and the root folder placed in the platforms directory within the SDK to give a path similar to

android-sdk-windows\platforms\platform-tools_r04-windows

Connecting to your phone

Connect your phone by USB and make sure USB debugging is enabled.
Settings->Applications->Development->USB Debugging (Debug mode when USB is connected)

Check that it is detected as an ADB device. If you are unsure about this, you can check whether it is connected correctly using the command

adb devices

adb.exe can be found in the Platform Tools directory or the Tools directory of the SDK. If your phone is connected correctly, the command will return it’s specific ID will be displayed as a connected device.

In this case the device ID is 0123456789ABCDEF

You can now launch androidscreencast.jnlp which should successfully connect to your phone.

Running in Offline Mode

Since this is essentially a web based java application launcher, every time you run it, it connects to a webserver to download the appropriate (and latest) java runtime files. There are instances where this may be undesirable and this section explains how to run AndroidScreenCast in “Offline Mode”

Files required

androidscreencast.jnlp download
androidscreencast.jar download
ddmlib.jar download (note that this .jar file is different to the file of the same name found in the Platform Tools directory)

You must have the Android SDK and Platform Tools installed as described previously.

Place all three files in the same directory (in this guide I will use the directory C:\AndroidScreenCast)

Since all the application files are now local, the launcher (.jnlp file) needs to be edited to reference the local copies rather than the web based ones.

Codebase

<jnlp spec=”0.2 1.0″
codebase=”http://androidscreencast.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/AndroidScreencast/dist/” href=”androidscreencast.jnlp”>

<jnlp spec=”0.2 1.0″
codebase=”file://localhost/C:/AndroidScreenCast/” href=”androidscreencast.jnlp”>

Resources

<resources>
<j2se version=”1.5+” href=”http://java.sun.com/products/autodl/j2se”/>
<j2se version=”1.5+”/>
<jar href=”androidscreencast.jar” main=”true” download=”eager”/>
<jar href=”ddmlib.jar” main=”false” download=”eager”/>
</resources>

<resources>
<jar href=”androidscreencast.jar” main=”true” />
<jar href=”ddmlib.jar” main=”false” />
</resources>

Save the changes, ensure your device is connected and run the androidscreencast.jnlp

The application will now run without downloading the runtime files every time. The main disadvantage to doing this is that if there are any updates, you need to change the files manually. Otherwise, functionality is identical.

Any comments/questions/problems, post below

Have fun!

Note:

To stop the screen turning off when in use, enable the following

Settings->Applications->Development->Stay Awake (Screen will never sleep while charging)

Thanks!

And what better way to spend your night than shopping at 2.30am. A casual leisurely shop. No crowds, no queues, no hassle, no…

…wait…

…what was that? Did you see that?

No. It can’t have been. Why would there be a pineapple in the electronics department at 2.30am? I must be seeing things. Its the alcohol. It has to be. I mean, Pineapples don’t just….

OH HOLY CRAP

It’s real. Its happning. The pineapples are everywhere! And for the love of all that is good and holy

THEY LIKE JUSTIN BIEBER!

And to make it even worse, they are organising and recruiting a strike force. I heard it is called operation codename: Freebird. I caught one of them in the act. Something big is going on here guys.

A stealthy escape from the Pineapple infested 24 hour ASDA followed, but not before they tried to block the escape route

But even then, they were still there.

OUTSIDE. IN THE REAL WORLD

They have ASBOs, drink White Lightning at the local bus stop and beat up old people with stolen traffic cones. They steal cars and joyride (but wear seatbelts, so they aren’t all bad I suppose)

I also heard that they are replacing the entire England football team.

As we previously saw however, the pineapples tend to originate from Costa Rica so will have to cunningly pass themselves off as English. Unfortunately, the only way to do this, is to be absolutely rubbish at football.

I didn’t have a pineapple.

The realisation of my lack of pineapple chilled me to the core. I called several close friends and family and told them not to be alarmed. Not to panic. Everything was going to be ok. It was so disturbing in fact, that I had to rectify the situation. Right there and then.

I jumped in my car (after putting some clothes on), and headed for the local ASDA, hoping and praying that they had pineapples. They did…

For £1!

I was in luck, so I picked up my pineapple and all was good. It was beautiful, from Costa Rica and was sweet and juicy. So the label said.

All was good until I became complacent. The pineapple took advantage. First it was little things here and there, like using my computer when I went to get some food (with even worse taste in music than me!)

but then I went for a shower and came back to find this

“Using my headphones?! Drinking my cider!?”

I’d had enough and I tried to drag the pineapple off the bed and show the business end of a fruit knife but in doing so, it tripped me over and smashed me over the head with the cider bottle and ran off.

I haven’t got a pineapple anymore.

The Highway Code has a few things to say about Merge In Turn.

Lane discipline: 134
You should follow the signs and road markings and get into the lane as directed. In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily. Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching road works or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed.

In other words, when directed to do so, traffic should merge into the appropiate lane(s), in turn. Generally one after the other. Like taking turns in a game. The same also applies in uunusual situations such as in the approach to road works or accidents, which are generally signed to indicate as such.

Road Works: 288
Where lanes are restricted due to road works, merge in turn (see Rule 134)

I also conclude from this that it does not mean to merge when you turn a corner.

Well, why Merge In Turn? Well, it smooths the flow of traffic at congestion points (argueably, the congestion points should be widended to eliminate them but that is a different matter). Traffic flowing in two (or more) lanes and merging when necessary will move quicker and more safely and cause less of a tail back than traffic sitting queuing in one lane.

The signage may involve traditional road markings such as curved arrows as the lanes begin to narrow and merge into one from two (circled in red below):

In the case of roadworks or a blocked lane, the signs may be akin to the following:

Placed at various intervals on the approach to the closure, annotated with corresponding distances.

These may sometimes be preceded further up the road by signs indicating that the lanes merge or to Merge In Turn. They usually say something like “Lanes Merging” or “Merge In Turn” and if you are really lucky, they have a pretty little picture of some lanes joining together. So given the complicated nature of these signs, I can understand how they could be misunderstood.

Oh, wait. No. I can’t. It really is that simple. MERGE. IN. TURN.

Here is a list of ways describing how NOT to Merge In Turn:

• Move over to the open lane or sit in the left hand lane as soon as possible MILES before they merge. Then spend the next few hours you are queuing glaring at those who understand how to perform a Merge In Turn manouver who will obviously overtake and merge in you while you queue unnecessarily.
• As above but get annoyed by all the people who understand how to Merge In Turn overtaking you so pull out and actually STRADDLE the two lanes blocking any traffic in either lane from progressing and merging correctly.
• As point one but obstruct the flow of traffic by refusing to let those who overtook you merge in front of you even though they have followed the Highway Code and performed the manouver correctly.

I’m sure there people have had similar experiences with the incompetence of other road users when it comes to Merge In Turn and the ones I listed above are just a few I have had the misfortune of experiencing.

So to those who do not know how to Merge In Turn (and if you disagree with any of what I have said in this post, you don’t know how to Merge In Turn) I urge you: Stop glaring at me, take your self rightous self down to your nearest book shop, buy a copy of the Highway Code and perhaps a dictionary in case any of the words are too complicated for you, and read. Read, learn and understand. When you’ve finished queuing, that is.

To the Manager

I am writing in order to bring to your attention the recent sub-par evening I was unfortunate enough to be party to at your fine establishment.

The point at which things turned sour occurred some 30 minutes after entering the premises and was largely due to the overreaction of one of your members of staff. Note that when I say ‘largely’, I mean entirely. Also note that I use the term ‘member of staff’ in the generic sense as it was unclear as to whether the individual was employed directly by your business or hired through a contract/agency. It also contains the word ‘member’ which I feel accurately describes the individual in question.

The incident played out as follows: It was not a busy night and myself and an associate were talking. A playful shove was administered in his direction, entirely in good nature. I did not ask him but I am sure he would have agreed to it had I sought his permission beforehand. In fact, I am confident he would sign a disclaimer to show his prior approval, post-dated. Permission issues aside, he unfortunately tripped over an object behind him and briefly fell to the ground. He has trouble with his legs. They’re bowed.

It was at this point, a bouncer, clearly under some sort of power trip mindset, accosted both myself and my associate and dragged us outside using significantly undue force and was unnecessarily violent towards us. To further add insult to injury, said bouncer also (laughably) implied that he actually owned the establishment we had been ejected from, referring to it as “his bar”. As annoyed as I was at the situation, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to argue semantics at that moment in time but for the record, just, no. Really, no.

I have witnessed many almost identical situations in various other venues in and outside of Sheffield and bouncers have never acted in such a manner. They have responded in a calm, professional way and assessed the situation on its individual merits. One might even go as far as decided to use even go want to do look more like. Common sense and the capability of rational thought was clearly something that had escaped our  dear friend in this instance.

In conclusion, I wish to reclaim my entry fee in full on the grounds that I was ejected and injured unfairly in this incident.

I wish to also make you aware that I intend to pursue this matter further. By that I mean, I am fully prepared to go to the extent of pretending to boycott your place of business and being unduly smug about it for two reasons:

1) It will give me a sense of self satisfaction and give me a chance to complain endlessly about this, the most severe case of injustice I have ever experienced.
2) Actually boycotting your business will achieve nothing beyond inconveniencing myself as you will continue to make money from all the other people who are happy to spend some or all of their nights out there.

I would also put forward a claim for emotional distress, loss of earnings and personal injury but I am not emotionally distressed, have lost no earnings and sustained no lasting injured. Also, I really cannot be bothered.

tl;dr Got kicked out, moaning about it.

Regards

L Caesar

There was an element of truth behind it all in that when audio and video were transmitted in analogue form (ie. a waveform – think sine wave), the signal travelling in the cable was very susceptible to noise and interference. This caused the signal to degrade and become noisy, resulting in a loss of clarity at the receiving end – especially over longer distances. Your picture may not have been as sharp and crisp as it should be or your audio may not have been as clear as it should be. Using better quality cables helped rectify some of these issues, though not without cost. Higher end cables cost considerably more than the basic options – though put side by side, it was often possible to see or hear the difference and so this outweighed the cost. With the theory there to support the technology, it made more sense.

Examples of analogue connections include:
- SCART
- RCA
- Component – YPbPr (though this is a ‘High Definition’ interconnect, the signal is still transmitted in analogue form)
- Wire connection to speakers

Digital Connectivity
Fast forward to today where most, if not all new current home AV systems are digital or have an option to use a digital method of signal transmission.

Examples of digital connections include:
- HDMI
- SPDIF
- Optical

For anyone that is even slightly technically minded, they will know that digital is all about 1′s and 0′s. Either on or off. The signal that is sent down these cables is sent in 1′s and 0′s in varying ways depending on the content that is being transmitted.

Now this is where a bit of logical thinking comes in.

With your old analogue signal, if it deteriorated a little bit due to bad quality cable, that part of the information was lost. However, if the ’1′ in a digital signal is affected by some noise and gets a bit weaker by the time it gets to the other end, it is irrelevant. The receiving equipment will still see it as a ’1′ (as long as the interference doesn’t cause it to drop below the threshold) and thus the signal received is exactly the same as the signal sent. There is no loss, noise or degradation.

In a round about way, what this means is that for most general applications, in terms of functionality, a cheap HDMI cable will do exactly the same job, and will do it to exactly the same standard as a HDMI cable costing several times as much.

Footnote
This is not the end of the story, however – there are some instances where buying a slightly more expensive (‘slightly’ not ‘ridiculously’) is worth it.

1. The REALLY cheap and nasty HDMI cables are not built as well and the internal wiring or even the housing for the connector may be prone to breaking. The better built, more expensive cables will usually be up to taking some heavier abuse.

2. As I mentioned there is a threshold at which point a digital ’1′ or ’0′ may not be explicitly clear to the receiving piece of equipment due to interference or signal degradation. For a digital signal, in a typical home environment, this would likely only happen when using cables over long distances. It is probably worth getting a slightly better quality cable for longer distances (>5m) or very (electrically) noisy environments.

Makes you think doesn’t it