December 04, 2008

Scammers On Craigslist Are Fun To Mess With

Posted at: 11:41 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

Don’t be fooled by scammers on Craigslist. I was selling my 1987 Jeep Wrangler hard top on Craigslist and got a reply back from someone interested. When I sent him a reply, this is what I got.

First of all, he said “items” and I was only talking about one thing. Second, if his only way to pay you is a certified check, there is something wrong. I may be mean to telemarketers and scammers, but it is fun sometimes. This is my exact response to his reply.

My response

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December 03, 2008

Post-Commit Hooks With Subversion On Dreamhost

Posted at: 10:03 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

When I was working at my old job, we started using Subversion (SVN) as our versioning software which I really enjoyed. Now that I am working on my own web application, I am using SVN as well. Currently I am using Dreamhost for my hosting and they have SVN pre-installed on their servers, all you need to do is activate it. The installation is very easy through the web panel, however, if you want to get more advanced, you will need to know basic command line.

I wanted to setup SVN so that when I commit to the server, it automatically updates the site with the newest content. Normally you have to manually go in and update the site to the latest revision. After reading through the Dreamhost Wiki, I found out how to accomplish this in only about 5-6 quick steps. I say quick in the fact that if you do it right it is quick. I had a few issues based on false information in the wiki, but I finally got it working and they updated the article.

Read the article here.

Once I got it working, I tested it out and it worked wonders. It made my life a lot easier because not only was it one less step, but I didn’t have to go into command line after every save and commit. If you are using SVN, I would highly recommend establishing a post-commit hook so that you can save time and energy.

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November 30, 2008

Facebook Grabbed The Wrong Status: I’m Not A Woman

Posted at: 10:00 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

I went on Facebook to change my status tonight and my status was set to “Timothy is loving the beautiful snowfall and trying her best to focus on her academics“. Now the fact that I am not in school anymore is the one that I am concerned with. It’s not the fact that I am a “him” and not a “her”.

I wonder if Facebook even realizes the mistake or if it is just my account. Oh well, funny anyways.

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November 21, 2008

Manage Your Money Trends "Mint"y Fresh

Posted at: 10:32 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

Mint is free fully functional personal budget management system. It allows you to add all your accounts into their secure system and track purchases and watch trends. I have added my checking account, savings, “brokerage (another savings)”, paypal and my student loans. With my student loans in there, it lets me know how much I owe on them and what my debt to asset ratio and what my net worth is.

I can name each transaction that I make with each account, categorize it and then tag them for later searching. It will send you emails when there is unusual spending on a specific account or merchant. It is a very robust system that I would highly recommend to anyone who has a lot of accounts.

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November 05, 2008

Verizon Fios Now Allows DVR Management Via Internet

Posted at: 2:16 am by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

Verizon Fios just launched a new feature that I requested over a year ago. I am not saying that I was the only one to suggest it, but I was at least one of them.

Verizon now allows customers to manage their DVR from anywhere there is internet access. This is an amazing feature because it will allow “average” customers (not tech savvy) to go online and add/delete from the DVR while at work or on the road.

For example: Let’s say that you leave for work in the morning and at noon you find out that the President is going to be delivering a speech in a breaking news situation. You can go online and add that as one of your scheduled recordings. Don’t have room, delete other items to make space. I am not sure if it is all customers right now or just the ones with the Home Media Center plan. They might roll it out to all DVRs if the community responds well to the feature.

This is an exciting feature that I think many will like if it is marketed properly. I would want a summary of the encryption it will run and be able to see a certificate. If they can fully answer that question, I do not see a single negative aspect of this feature. Isn’t technology awesome that you can remotely control your DVR when you are nowhere near your TV. I knew it was possible, but I wasn’t sure how others would perceive it. Only time will tell if it will be available to all customers which I really hope they do.

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October 24, 2008

Tiny Paste Is An Awesome Twitter Tool

Posted at: 11:45 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

Tiny Paste is a tool that is used for twitter to allow you to type more than the 140 characters that twitter allows. You type what you want to say, hit submit and it will turn it into a tiny url that you can add into your tweet. Once the person clicks on the url, they will be able to read it from there.

There is also a firefox plugin for Tiny Paste which you can select the text you want in the browser, right click and convert it into a url. Very handy when you are trying to quote something and you need more than 140 characters.

Enjoy!

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October 23, 2008

Check Out "Palin As President".us – This Is Hilarious

Posted at: 11:44 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Entertainment and News, Tech and Web

A friend of mine told me about http://palinaspresident.us. You go on the site and you see the oval office with Sarah Palin sitting behind it. You can click on all the different objects in the office and they move or make comments.

For example:

• There is a poster of the movie “Maverick” and someone from the Dallas Mavericks
• Inside the door on the left, there are burning books
• On the wall there are blank frames and if you click on them, she says: “Learning’s hard”, “Didn’t graduate”, “BS here I come”
• If you click on the curtain directly behind Palin, she says “Where did Russia go?”
• There is a 6 pack of beer on the seat that she calls “Joe 6 pack” and the light bulb she calls “Joe Light bulb”

I would highly recommend checking this site out for fun

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October 20, 2008

Pandora Music Service: Your Free Online Music Adviser

Posted at: 11:49 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

I know I am behind the times with Pandora, but some people haven’t been brought into the light yet. Pandora is a free online music adviser that was created by the Music Genome Project. You enter in an artist and it will return you a set list of songs that are similar. There are over 400 musical attributes that Pandora uses to determine how types of music are similar. Examples of these are rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies and displayed instrumental proficiency.

I have been using it for about 1 hour and it has picked all songs that I have liked. I keep hearing about it from my friends, so I figured I would get on the bandwagon. I would highly recommend this FREE service if you are allowed to listen to stream music at work.

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October 16, 2008

I Actually Was Able To Order Domino’s Pizza Online

Posted at: 11:07 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

Tonight, my friends and I decided to order Domino’s pizza for dinner. I was about to call when I remembered you can order online. The last time I was there, my local store didn’t participate, but they finally decided to get on-board. I ordered the food online and we watched as the food progressed on the “Pizza Tracker“. Basically they tell you when it is being prepped, cooked, boxed and in route and the times that the step was started. It is a really cool feature and was very excited to try it out. Try it for yourself and see how you like it

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October 14, 2008

Scrabble On Facebook Is Really Fun

Posted at: 11:57 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Tech and Web

My friend Vasken and I were bored a few weekends ago while I was in Plymouth and we played Scrabble on Facebook. It was really fun because unlike Scrabble in real life, you are bound by time constraints. In Facebook, you can play your next move whenever you have time or are online. You can have multiple games going at the same time and can continue to play in all your games simultaneously.

By the way, I won! Actually, he had me beat the entire game, but the last word in the top left corner, “HA” a triple word score and “AD” which gave me the points I needed to win.

Check it out if you have time. Scrabble Beta on Facebook

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