BytesWired

Firefox extensions are really great tools to enhance your surfing experience and really save you a lot of time (or is it other way round?). There are lost of extensions available freely. Some works like a charm and some just not worth to try.If you are a blogger and rely much on advertisement on your blogs to survive (who doesn’t?!), there is one Firefox extension that your readers shouldn’t know about.

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As crazy as it may sound, a few months ago Japanese scientists successfully created a prototype battery that can be recharged with pee and now it’s on sale!!!

Excerpt from WeirdAsiaNews:

soaked a piece of paper in a solution of copper chloride and sandwiched it between strips of magnesium and copper. This sandwich was then laminated between two sheets of transparent plastic.

When a drop of urine is added to the paper through a slit in the plastic, a chemical reaction takes place that produces electricity.

NoPoPo (Non Pollution Power) are currently available in Japan only and it can produce 1.5 volts that last for 90 minutes. It’s rechargeable for up to 10 years but each time its recharged it has less power than before.

via WeirdAsiaNews

Firefox browser allows user to install extension or add-on that adds more functionality than just a browser. Extension is a small software modules works like a plugin to enhance your browser. There are so many extension available for Firefox, from displaying weather forecast to spell checker, and more!

Everyone has their own favourite extension. Below are my 6 favourite Firefox extension (I do have more, but just keep it 6 at the moment ya) which I want to share with you.

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Have you encountered a situation whereby you want to remove a Windows program but fails for some reasons. Probably some missing files or installer configuration that it needs to perform the uninstallation process. Modifying registry key to remove program list may not be your cup of tea and could possible crash your Windows. Do not mess up with registry keys at all cost if you are not familiar with it.

Fortunately ,there is a quick and simple solution. Try Windows Installer Clean Up from Microsoft.

This software will list out all installed products in you Windows. In order to remove the installed product from Add/Remove Program list, you just select the program and click on Remove button.

When you remove a list, what it does is remove any related registry keys and Windows Installer configuration files pertaining to the software you want to remove.

Please note that removing the list from Add/Remove Program does not mean it will remove the installation files (in Program Files or any other folders). You still need to manually remove the previous installation files.

Download Microsoft Windows Installer Clean Up now

Apparently, Excel 2007 cannot multiply correctly if you want to know the answer to

850*77.1

The correct answer is 65535 but it gives 100,000, instead. This bug was first reported in Microsoft Excel Group last week and Microsoft has already confirmed it. A quick fix will be available soon.

David Gainer from Microsoft explained the problem (excerpt from his blog):

This issue was introduced when we were making changes to the Excel calculation logic in the Office 2007 time frame. Specifically, Excel incorrectly displays the result of a calculation in 12 very specific cases (outlined below). The key here is that the issue is actually not in the calculation itself (the result of the calculation stored in Excel’s memory is correct), but only in the result that is shown in the sheet. Said another way, =850*77.1 will display an incorrect value, but if you then multiply the result by 2, you will get the correct answer (i.e. if A1 contains “=850*77.1”, and A2 contains “=A1*2”, A2 will return the correct answer of 131,070).

So what, specifically, are the values that cause this display problem? Of the 9.214*10^18 different floating point numbers (floating point on wikipedia) that Excel 2007 can store, there are 6 floating point numbers (using binary representation) between 65534.99999999995 and 65535, and 6 between 65535.99999999995 and 65536 that cause this problem. You can’t actually enter these numbers into Excel directly (since Excel will round to 15 digits on entry), but any calculation returning one of those results will display this issue if the results of the calculation are displayed in a cell. All other calculation results are not affected.

For full details, click here.

Joel, a former Excel developer, and now, running own software house, also explained the problem from technical point of view. It’s a good read for those who curious about this issue.

Before I try to explain this, I should disclose that I did work on the Excel team, but that was thirteen years ago. I haven’t been there for a long time. I don’t even think I know anyone on that team any more. I’m just trying to explain the bug a little bit as a public service.

The first thing you have to understand is that Excel keeps numbers, internally, in a binary format, but displays them as strings. For example, when you type 77.1, Excel stores this internally using 64 bits:

0100 0000 0101 0011 0100 0110 0110 0110
0110 0110 0110 0110 0110 0110 0110 0110

The display is showing you four characters: “7″, “7″, “.”, and “1″.

For full details from Joel, click here.
[tags]Microsoft Excel 2007[/tags]

DriverMax is a Windows application that helps you to backup all the drivers in one common place thus saving you a great amount of time if there is need to reinstall drivers in future. It works on both Windows XP and Windows Vista and best of all it’s free! However, you need to register in order to get the free registration key.

Recently, the company behind DriverMax, Innovative-Solution, release a new update, DriverMax 3.0. It’s main window has a sleek user-interface compared to the previous version. A link to their web site that keeps track of popular hardware is also provided.

To view previous post on DriverMax, click here.

Download DriverMax 3.0.

If you are developing mobile application for Windows PocketPC and Windows Mobile using Microsoft Compact Framework, you may need to deploy Compact Framework to targeted mobile device in order to run your application.

It is crucial to determine what version is currently installed on targeted device and if the installed version fits your application requirement. Different builds may work differently and thus may break your application if installed wrong version.

How to Check If Compact Framework Already Installed on Mobile Device

There are few ways to check if any compact framework has been installed. However, I will show you the basic ways to determine compact framework installation.

1. On your device, go to My Device -> Windows and run cgacutil.exe. The version will be displayed on screen.
2. Check if \Windows\mscoree.dll file exists. If this file is exists, that means the compact framework has been installed.

Now you know Compact Framework already installed on the mobile device and want to know which revision and builds is being installed.

How to Determine Compact Framework Version

In order to check the version installed, you can access the registry key on targeted mobile. The registry key that you want to look at is

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework

All versions of Compact Framework installed will be listed in this key. Take not that all Compact Framework 1,2 and 3.5 (beta) can co-exists at the same time on the same mobile device. Thus, you may see both versions on the list if both versions already installed. For more information on what the revision number means, please refer to table below.

Compact Framework Version List

There are 2 tables below that list out all builds and revisions for Compact Framework 1.0 , Compact Framework 2.0 and Compact Framework 3.5. (There won’t be a CF 3.0).

Watch out for this space as it will be updated regularly. Subscribe my feed to keep updated.

It is very common nowadays that you need to register an account in order to gain access on certain web sites. However, it can be quite a hassle and time consuming. More often than not, the email you provided them will end up being spam.

BugMeNot, is a website that allows user to share logins and passwords for sites that requires registration. In a way, it allows user to bypass compulsory registration (that’s their tagline, by the way) without requiring you register yourself. Yes, you can just hop into this site and search for the site that requires registration. Look at the list of accounts available and give them a try.

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Pownce, is another project from the founder of Digg.com, Kevin Rose. It’s a mini blogging site just like Twitter where you can quickly send messages to group of friends or make it available public about any events.

Once registered, you can download a desktop software runs on Adobe Flex that allows you to send text messages, events, share links and files with your friends online. It’s like a instant messages with more.

However, Pownce still lacks of API that allows users to take advantage to develop their own plugins. Even with all the cool features, it is not easy to convince your friends and families to change their IM to Pownce. Moreover, since it is only available by invites, it’s limits the number of users using it.

Interested to try out Pownce? I have 5 invites to giveaway! The first 5 commentator for this post will get it. Just leave your name, email and blog if you have one and will shoot an invite for you.

Today, I am going to talk about Digger.

No, I am not talking about people who submit sites for Digg.com. Neither nor I want to talk about people who are looking for gold.

I am talking about a this Digger (look screen shot below). Does it ring a bell? Does it?? Well, if you used to own a PC which running on DOS mode, you are probably familiar with this cool game from Windmill Software back in 80s. Windmill other popular games include Styx! Really love that game very much back then!

For those never heard of it, you probably missed a cool game here. Fortunately, you can still play Digger now, for free.

I remember my brothers and I used to plan out how to play so we can gain the most point in each level. Moreover, it is easy to start playing and pretty addictive as well (don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

For those who played this game before in the 80s, hope it brings back some good memory to you all.

You can download the game for Mac, Windows, Java or original DOS from www.digger.org. It has whole loads of information about digger; like extra packs and even source code.

Drop a comment if you enjoy this game. I know I do!