I created a new website on the main URL. Gradually I'll migrate content from here to there

Update: They changed something, right now Firefox works natively, no need to spoof the user agent anymore

Old article left for reference

As you might know, WhatsApp Web works only on Google Chrome... or that what they want us to believe! I don't know if they put such a limitation after some "money incentive" from Google, or just because they don't have enough funds to do testing on Firefox (I can understand this, they were valued just 20 billion dollars).

The truth is that on Firefox it will work very well, this is how to enable it:

First of all, download UAControl.

Install it and restart Firefox. Then search "chrome user agent" on Google and click on the first result. Copy the user agent (which is a browser identifying string). Then go to UAControl and add Chrome user agent for the address "web.whatsapp.com"

Voilà! Magically, now WhatsApp Web works also on Firefox!

After pairing:

Notifications are working also:

What's weird is that if I go to see on my BlackBerry Z10, WhatsApp says that's connected to Firefox!!!

Update:

A few hours after my post, the store opened again, and the method to get the apps outside the "walled garden" is still working.

So it looks like it was a coincidence - real planned maintenance a few hours after a security issue.

--------

On the CrackBerry forums xsacha opened uo the floodgates by releasing a way to download any app from the BlackBerry store on a PC, for "backup" or other less legit reasons.

A few hours laters, every BlackBerry in the world can't access anymore to the store, for planned maintenance.

Yeah... "planned"

When I want to buy cheap chinese stuff, instead going on ebay, that's a scammer paradise, I always go on Dealextreme.

The main problem is getting the stuff. Italian mail is SLOW and something sent from China will arrive after MONTHS.

The great thing, is that there's free shipping on everything. I need a plug converter? Good, it's less than a dollar, with free shipping, no minimum to reach!

In August I needed a lithium battery for a Canon 1000D, I searched and I found one for $6. A few days after ordering it, I received this message:

We’re writing to inform you that the package RI********CN from your order 140908******1 has failed to pass the airline security check as it contains lithium batteries/knives or products that contain liquid which are now under extra scrutiny in world air cargo services.
We therefore have switched it to another delivery channel to ensure the order is sent to you as soon as possible.
Here is the new package tracking number RE*******SE.

Did you notice something different in the package tracking? I only noticed when I received it: there was a SWEDISH stamp???!?!

I go on the website to leave a review and I see now a small european flag.

I click it, I'm shocked! If it's shipped from Europe, that means I can get it in a few days!

But the rules are a bit different:

1. The stuff is a bit more expensive (VAT?)
2. Minimum order for free shipping is $30

But, going to see coupons, they gave me an 8 dollars one!

But the minimum amount is $50, what can I buy? I'm used to do $5 orders, 50 it's a lot. Also I need to understand what they mean with "coupons cannot be used with other discounts", because the hottest stuff is already carrying a discount...

This is a screenshot published by WinFuture, about the upcoming Windows 9 beta.

Finally multiple virtual desktops, OS X style, on Windows. I wonder which keyboard shortcut will they choose to show this view. F9?

In September, I made a small accounting app for a company. To make it more "safe", instead to save data locally, I opted to save them on the cloud, to have them available on all devices.

I try some homemade solutions, as I liked to have total control over my data. Then, since there were many problems - security, reliability, speed - I chose to use a solution that's already done. I opened an account on

• Parse.com
• Kinvey
• StackMob

and I evaluated all of them. I found them almost the same. At the time, Parse was recently acquired by Facebook, and StackMob was joking on their quality of service, publishing a guide to migrate to their servers. I trusted them, and I wasted some months developing my app over their cloud.

Then, in december, I go on their website and I read a shock news: StackMob is enthusiast to join PayPal!!! This is a disaster!!! PayPal/eBay is known to pay millions to buy companies to cripple them (for example: Stumbleupon) or even just close them!!!

What a pity…

I told myself: "Well, for my next apps, I'll use Parse, for now I gonna keep StackMob"

Then, just randomly, I go to see their website and I see that their service is under immediate closing!!! THEY CLOSE TODAY!!!! Again, a vital service shuts down without sending a fucking email to their customers!!! What the hell!!!

Luckily I managed to export my data, but I have to waste a lot of time to replace every StackMob function with a Parse equivalente.

Assholes.

If you remember, in August I lost four years of notes because, with just 30 days warning, when I was in holiday, and WITHOUT SENDING AN EMAIL TO THEIR CUSTOMERS, Catch shutdown their service.

Now, we get to know that they shutdown because acquired by Apple, and probably they were too busy counting their millions to send a warning to their customers. Bastards.

All computers have an internal clock on the motherboard. The clock is very simple and has no support for time zones.

Windows assumes that it's the local time. If it's 12:30, it assumes that it's 12:30 in your time zone.

The rest of the operating systems instead assumes that the time is in Coordinated Universal Time, which is definitely a much better choice: knowing that this is a standard, is a breeze to change time zone or daylight saving time change.

For example, if you have two Windows on the same computer, both have no way of knowing whether the DST is set, then would both change the time for DST, causing endless problems. However, if the base is UTC time, there is no way to be wrong; = UTC +2 Daylight Saving Time, Standard Time = UTC +1

So, we set Windows to use UTC as the time base:

We can create a new text file with Notepad and write this text:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]
“RealTimeIsUniversal”=dword:00000001

after saving, change the file extension to. reg and run it. That's it!

Or you can use Regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation and create a new 32 bit DWORD entry called RealTimeIsUniversal and set it to 1

Otherwise, you can download the REG file that I created for you

I did some shooting in HD and I edited it with ease with iMovie '11.

Once I edited my video, I exported it and I was shocked: lots of compression artifacts, terrible to watch in HD! In the shadows, the faces of people, there were those huge ugly pixels.

How the hell is this possible??

I went immediately to see the original recordings, and those artifacts were not present. So I went to see the files that iMovie creates as intermediaries for faster processing, and those were perfect.

So, I think, I've chosen a low compression bitrate. I choose an absurdly high bitrate and I got with a 1 gigabyte-per-minute video. With the usual compression artifacts.

Out of curiosity I import the project in Final Cut Pro X, and export it with the same settings

I get a small file, without those ugly compression artifacts.

Here is a comparison of the same frame with the same export settings from iMovie and Final Cut Pro X:

Here is the original video

My conclusion is that iMovie intentionally reduces the quality of exported video to avoid a professional use...

A few days ago in Google Play appeared iMessage for Android.

It's not a fake app, it actually works: the problem is how it works.

Since Apple doesn't allow chat between other brands' devices, messages are sent to a Mac Mini located in China, and then sent to the final destination.

The app is free and doesn't show any ads. They don't have a way to make money from this app, yet this "Daniel Zweigart" pays at least $100/month to house his Mac Mini in an internet datacenter: how he could pay for it?

There are two ways:

1. he is a philantropist and does it for the glory
2. it's a smart way to steal your Apple ID

Now, if your Apple ID, is "fake" like mine, registered without a credit card just for downloading the free single of the week from iTunes, there are no problems.

If your Apple ID is real, stealing the password leads to problems like those:

• They can buy apps for thousands of dollars, especially if those apps are made by their "friends"
• They can see all your iPhone photos
• They can block your iPhone just for fun, making a nice $600 decoration for your shelf
• They can reset your iPhone, losing all your data
• They can delete all your data from your Mac, as happened to that Wired journalist who lost years of personal photos
• They can see your passwords if you were crazy enough to sync the keychain on the cloud
• They can see your iWork documents, if you saved on the cloud
• They can send spam to your iMessage friends
• They can impersonate yourself and scam your iMessage friends
• and so on...

Ps: works perfectly on BlackBerry 10, but it's not available on BlackBerry World. If you want to download it, connect your Google Play account on barinstall.com