How many Google Products do you use everyday?

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Michael Sync

When I was reading the list of Google acquisitions and their products in Wiki, I got a thought to think about how many Google products I’m using everyday. I’m not just using Google for searching something on Internet. I’m using a lot of other products from Google too.

The list of Google Products that I use everyday

#1. iGoogle ( also known as “Google Personalized HomePage” ) + Search Engine (Of course!)

This is one of my favorite features of Google. iGoogle allow me to add the feed and Google Gadgets in my personalzied page. It make me very easy to check my email, my feed and etc in one place.. ( I’ll share the list of Google Gadgets that I used everyday. )

Note: Sometimes, I used to use Google Blog Search, Image Search, Video Search and Google group too but not so often.

#2. GMail + talk

Even though there are a lot of free email services, I’m still in love with Gmail. :) Very clean and attractive interface.

#3. Google Reader + Google Gear

Actually, I used to use “Firefox Toolbar Feed Reader” for reading the blogs’ feed. The problem with this FS feedreader is that it’s difficult to manage for so many feeds. So, I have changed to Google Reader that I think it’s nice.

#4. Google Note

#5. Google App

This is my email host for my blog “http://michaelsync.net”.

#6. Google Alert

I’m using this for tracking the incoming link of my blog and finding some news that I interest.

#7. Google News

Wow! There are 7 Google products that I use everyday.. I’m using blogger for reading some of my freinds’ blogs. I’m planning to use Google Absences and Google WebMaster tool also after moving my blog to self-host.

What about you? How many Google products do you use everyday?
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John Chow is the one who like to drink a beer all the time?

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Michael Sync

Just a random thought for today. :) I started reading John Chow’s blog since last two months. I think that his blog is nice one. (Of course! His blog is #3 in top 26 blogs about blogging.) One thing that I noticed in his blog is that he is always asking to buy a beer for him in each and every posts (even in “About Me” page) if we like his post. :)

I do understand the way he do but I feel kinda strange about it. What about putting this link in sidebar or something? :) As I said before, it’s just a thought..

Why I blog

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Michael Sync

This is a post that I wrote as a guest blogger in Myo Kyaw Htu’s blog.

Hello my name is Michael Sync. I’m currently running my personal blog on wordpress.com. I was invited by Myo Kyaw Htun to write one post about why I do blogging.

Sharing things

The reason why I blog is simple. I’m the one who believes in the concepts of sharing. And I believe that blogging is the best way of sharing things with everybody over the World. Before I had no idea about blogging, I used to email to my friends with the subject of “Sharing our knowledge” for sharing things if I think those are useful or cool. The most of emails that I sent at that time were the tip/trick, problems and solutions that I found in my real projects. I believe that all of my emails will help when they are in the same situation that I faced. So, you can say that I’m blogging for sharing things with everybody.

Keeping things as references

The another advantage for posting those tips/tricks in my own blog is that I can use them as a reference when I forget.. :) Initially, I used to keep as a note in text files or word files. but I lost everything when my harddisk crashed. I wanted a place where I put all of my valuable things that I loved without worrying anything. Blog came across for this need. I can put everything and it will serve me back immediately no matter where I’m. So, this is the second reason. I’m blogging for keeping things for my owns references.

Improving my writing skill

Another reason why I’m blogging is that it’s for improving my writing skill. Honestly, I’m not that interest in memorizing the vocabularies and a tons of rules of grammar. (maybe, there are a lot of mistakes in this article too. did you notice that? :) ) So, I know that I’m not gonna write anything if I don’t do blogging. (No writing means no improvement.) Now, I have a blog so that I could write something.

Expressing my feeling, thoughts and opinions.

Everybody has feeling. Sometimes, we feel so happy. but sometimes, sad. We need someone to talk and share the feeling and things. I would say that blogging is very good for that purpose too. You don’t need to kick the dog if you angry with your boss. You can go and blog about your feeling. There will be somebody who wanna share your feeling. At least, it will make you feel better. So, I’m blogging for expressing my feeling, thoughts and opinions.

Exploring the world and different cultures

I have a dream to go around the World. :) I wanna know with people from different countries and I wanna learn about their different cultures. Because, it make me see things from different points of view and it will make my life better. But going around the world is not that easy. The easy way to get to know with people from different locations is blogging. Now, I got a lot of friends from different countries because of my blog. So, I would say that I’m blogging for exploring the world and different cultures.

Source of extra income

Blogging is the source of extra income. :) but I haven’t done anything to earn money with my blog.However, I’m kinda interest about it.. :)

Okay. That is all about. I would like to say thank you to Ko Phyo for inviting me to write this post here. And, thank you all for reading my post.

ERR: iGoogle shows two “Cancel” buttons on Safari (Windows)

Posted on July 11, 2007 by Michael Sync

Apple - Safari

When I saw the chart below mentioned that Safari is the fastest web browser on any platform and the World’s best browser, I was very interest about it and download it immediately. I heard about that browser as Mac browser which is not support Windows OS. As I’m on Windows platform, I’m not sure whether Safari is the World’s best browser or not. And also, I’m not sure what make it better than Mozilla Firefox that I love. Anyway, it’s good that we can use it on Windows now.

But if you are a Javascipt or Ajax developer then you have one more browser that you need to take care ( Safari for Windows). Do you think that your script which is working great on Safari (Mac) will work on Safari (Windows) too? I don’t think so. Because iGoogle which is created by Google, the mother of Ajax, even has some problems with Safari.

Actually, I was not intentionally finding the problems on Safari. I was doing the way that I used to do on all browsers. But I accidentally found this funny issue on iGoogle page. What I did was I browse the iGoogle page and tried to change my theme for my personalized page. When I clicked the “Select Theme” link, I got the following screen which has two “cancel” buttons.

I thought that the right button support to be “OK” button and then, I clicked it again. (Check the picture below.) There are two buttons in “Location” Gadget again.. How funny it is!!! :)

Anyway, those issues are not that important since it can be done with minor changes. The important question is that ~
Safari Vs Mozilla Firefox, Which one is better?

Please tell me about your opinion in comment… Thanks.

Very easy way of installing WordPress on your Windows Box

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Sync

This article is written for those who wanna install WordPress software as a backup of their blogs on their windows machines. It is just one shot installation for all required softwares such as PHP, MySQL, Apache and etc without individual downloading or manual configuring.

Normally, it’s kinda hard to install and configure PHP, MySQL, Apache on Windows. You have to download each and every packages. You may need to download the separated packages (eg: UI and Service) for some softwares. You may need to configure some files (eg: *.ini) manually. It’s kinda troublesome.

Now, the way that I show you is very simple. You only need to download one package and this package will install and configure all softwares that you need. This post is not just for installing WordPress locally. You can use this post as a reference for installing PHP, MySQL , Perl and Apache on your windows.

Okay. Let’s start!

First, you need to download one useful tool called XAMPP.

What is XAMPP?

XAMPP website said that ~

Many people know from their own experience that it’s not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl.

XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.

XAMPP is a tool that helps you to install MySQL, PHP, Perl, Apache and some more useful PHP applications (eg: phpMyAdmin) on your OS in very easy way without configuring anything. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris. However, this post is created for Windows users only and all screenshots are captured on Windows Vista.

Installing XAMPP ver 1.6.2 (PHP 5.2.2 and 4.7.7, MySQL 5.0.41, Perl and Apache)

Note for those who has installed IIS on your machine: Before installing XAMPP, it is better if you stop IIS (Internet Information Service ) because Apache Web Server will be used port 80 so that if IIS is currently using that port then Apache won’t be able to start the Service.

1. Download xampp-win32-1.6.2-installer.exe from this link. and Click the installer.

XAMPP - Wrantty

( The Wranning Messagebox will be shown if your OS is Windows Vista. Just click “OK” but Ensure that you install this package in the location that you have “Write” permission. If you are not sure about that, please just install “C:\xampp\”)

XAMPP - Welcome

2. Click “Next”

XAMPP - Choose Location 3. Click “Next”

XAMPP - Options

4. Check all three checkedboxes under Service Section. And Click “Install”

(Wait 1 or 2 minutes while installing. )

XMAPP - Finished

5. Click “Finish” button to finish the installation.

This is all about installing PHP, MySQL and Apache on your machine. The picture below is the directory structure of XAMPP that you just install in your machine.

Let’s start installing WordPress in your machine.

Installing WordPress in your machine

1. Download zip file from http://wordpress.org. And Extract it in your machine. Then, Copy and Paste it under htdocs folder of XAMPP installation. (eg: C:\xampp\htdocs\)

2. Type “http://localhost/phpmyadmin/” in your favorite browser.

3. Type “wordpress” in “Create New Database” textbox and click “Create” button. (The new database called “wordpress” will be created in MySQL database.)

4. Type “http://localhost/wordpress/” in browser (The following screen will be shown in your browser.) Click “create a wp-config file through a web interface”.

5. Click “Lets go” link

6. Click “Submit” button. (You should note that the default password of MySQL Server is blank and the default user name is “root”. If you have the custom user name and password then please fill accordingly.And ensure that you have “Write” permission to wp-config file and WordPress folder.)

7. Now, you have finished configuring wp-config file and you are ready to start installing WordPress in your machine. In order to start the installation, click “run the install” link.

8. Fill the title of your blog and your Email address. You can also check whether you want your blog to be visible in Search Engines. This option is not important since you are installing WordPress in your local machine with the purpose of backing-up your blog or personal uses. Then, Click “Continue to Second Step” button.

9. It will show you that the database has been created and the default has been filled. It will give you the admin user name and the generated password for admin user. (I would suggest you to change this generated password to something that is easy to memorize for you.)

Now, the installation is done with a few steps. You can start log-in to your wordpress. :)

Thats all about installing php, mysql, apache and wordpress installation on Windows. It is sooo easy, isn’t it? :) Let me know if you have any idea or comment for this post… Thanks for reading..

Please change my Feed URL in your feed reader

Posted on July 8, 2007 by Michael Sync

Hello All,

I have deleted my old feed URL because it has the extra word “sUNt” in the URL.

<http://feeds.feedburner.com/michaelsync> is new feed URL. I would like to encourage you to subscribe my new feed url as soon as possible. The old one will be deleted after this month. For the time being, the old feed will be redirected to new feed by using Feed Burner Service within this month.

I think that there might be some users who has subscribed to wp feed “http://michaelsync.net/feed”. It would be great if you can change this feed to my new one <http://feeds.feedburner.com/michaelsync>. Because feedburner allow me to see how many people has subscribed to my feed while wp feed doesn’t.

Thanks a lot. Sorry for inconveniences.
~ Michael Sync

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