In this article, you will learn how to close, hide and resize the Facebook Ticker.

Facebook Ticker is a sidebar widget which shows you real time information such as status updates, friendships, photos, videos, links, likes and comments.

Close/Hide facebook ticker

1. Click the arrow-icon (refer image above) in the upper-right corner of ticker to hide it. Done!

Resize Facebook ticker

If you have a larger display, you can resize ticker by dragging the horizontal bar between ticker and chat up and down. It works on my 24” monitor (browser maximize to full screen).

Help! I don’t see the features…

If you don’t see the features, meaning you have not get the update yet. Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Rolling out a new feature could take weeks.

How to Close, Hide, Resize Facebook Ticker is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Absinthe, the untethered jailbreak tool for A5-powered devices (iPhone 4S and iPad 2) running iOS 5/5.0.1, has been released by Chronic Dev-team. There’s about 1 million downloads in a little over 3 days after release.

In this article, you will learn where to download the jailbreak tool and how to jailbreak your iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

Where to download Absinthe jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2?

You can download the latest version of Absinthe jailbreak tool from this iClarified’s page. The following are the current version’s direct download links for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating system:

Absinthe 0.3 (Win): absinthe-win-0.3.zip
Absinthe 0.3 (Mac): absinthe-mac-0.3.zip
Absinthe 0.3 (Linux): absinthe-linux-0.3.tar.gz

How to jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 using Absinthe?

Warning: Make sure you have backup your iDevice before using the jailbreak tool.

After you have downloaded the Absinthe, it is quite easy to jailbreak your iPhone 4S/iPad 2:

1. Launch Absinthe application
2. When prompted, connect your iPhone 4S/iPad 2 that you want to jailbreak to the computer via USB cable. Make sure you have remove any passcodes or VPN settings you’ve previousl set.
3. Click on the “Jailbreak” button and wait…
4. When the app tells you it is “almost done”, you need to unlock your iDevice and tap on the Absinthe icon (app icon with skull inside) to complete your jailbreak.
5. You’ll get a configuration error, ignore it. Your iDevice will reboot in a minute and you’ll get Cydia app, which allow you to install jailbreak apps!

For more information, please check out iClarified jailbreak wizard.

My two cents

Personally, I don’t jailbreak my iPhone 4S and iPad. Yes, you can customize a jailbroken iDevice to your preferences. So far, I don’t see any killer feature that make me want to jailbreak (No, installing pirate apps is NOT a “feature”).

Do you jailbreak your devices? What are the recommended jailbreak apps, customizations, and system extensions?

Untether Jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 (Absinthe) is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Shannen D. If you would like to contribute too, please contact me.

There is no doubt we have all become hooked on the internet. Smartphones, 3G and Wi-Fi are all common terms that no one thinks twice about. In fact, with greater and greater connectivity through the mobile network more and more people are switching to mobile broadband through dongles, or their phones, for their primary access to the online world.

However, the problem with this sea change is the limitation of a 3G mobile broadband connection to one device. Not everyone is a broadband expert and can often be defeated by the technical intricacies when they want to connect more than one piece of kit, be it a games console, laptop, or PC to mobile broadband.

The truth is, though, there are a few simple steps to take that will make this transition an easy one. It is worth mentioning that this may not be the perfect solution for everyone.

Mobile connections offer a limited data allowance when compared to home broadband so take care not to scoff down your allowance through multiple devices. Heavy usage from a number of different machines might result in some pretty unpleasant bills. That said, for checking Facebook, emails, or other light usage this could be the perfect solution.

There are a number of options from mobile network providers, which will enable you to share your connection with other devices or other people in a shared house. This will mean dipping in to your wallet, but may well pay off in the long run.

1. MiFi

Some companies, such as 3 mobile, provide widgets, which set up an ad-hoc Wi-Fi hotspot from your 3G connection and allow you to connect as many as five separate devices. This ‘Mi-Fi’ unit works through a broadband SIM and will work on anything from your iPad to your Nintendo DS and everything in between. Vodafone offer a similar device called a Wi-Fi Cradle that you simply plug your dongle into.

2. 3G Wireless Router

On the other hand, 3G wireless routers are also available for under £50. Essentially, these behave just like a home broadband router. One of the best value systems is the TP-Link TL-MR3420 300MBPS Wireless N 3G Router
, which you can pick up for less than £35.

After the initial outlay this couldn’t be easier and you don’t have to be a broadband expert to start using it. Your SIM from a regular mobile network or dongle will plug right into it. These nifty routers will simply connect to 3G and just sit there. When you turn your laptop on, it will find the router as a Wi-Fi connection and will join up.

The sheer usefulness of these items has been made apparent for many travellers and businesspeople, who worked out that it was cheaper to carry one of these around than pay the (often extortionate) Wi-Fi charges in hotels.

3. Internet Sharing Connection

There are ways and means of setting up Internet Sharing Connection (ICS) through Windows. The ICS means that you can connect other systems through one home PC. This method is a bit more convoluted. Firstly, you will need to find a way to connect your PCs, maybe through a crossover cable and secondly, you have to remember that if the main PC (the one with the dongle) is switched off, then so is the whole network.

Although this option is free it does require a little bit of technical knowledge and a familiarity with Windows. If you are undaunted by this, there are some guides available online that will walk you through.

Verdict

The variety of methods discussed shows that sharing 3G Mobile networks on a wireless LAN is not as complicated as it first appears. Many of the mobile providers have got the market in their sights and have produced ‘plug and play’ devices, whilst a small familiarity with Windows and a free afternoon could be your ticket to a free system.

Guest post: The above article is composed and edited by Shannen D. She is associated with many technology and designing communities including Broadband Expert as their freelance writer and adviser. In her free time she writes articles related to technology, mobile applications, etc.

3 Ways to Share 3G Mobile Broadband Connection with Multiple Users and Devices is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Now you can Google the query [ what is my ip ] to get your computer’s public IP address.

It is useful to quickly check the IP address assigned to your computer or network. If you are behind proxies, the IP address would be different from the actual IP address of your computer.

I like the new query but I wish Google would give more information about an IP address, such as country, ISP, etc..

Info: IP address (short for Internet Protocol address) is used to identify devices on the Internet.

Now Google Shows Your IP Address When You Ask “What Is My IP?” is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Apple iOS 5.0 or later supports “Over-The-Air” (OTA) software update that you no longer need to download few hundreds MB installation file using iTunes.

In this article, you will learn how to install iOS software update directly from your iDevice (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) with small download size.

1. Make sure your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch has iOS 5.0 or later installed.
2. On your iDevice, goto Settings > General > Software Update
3. If iOS update available, you will see the new iOS version and the download size and what’s new about the update.
4. Tap on “Download and Install” to install new iOS over-the-air onto your iDevice.
5. Download will start and install and restart your iDevice.
6. Done! Now you have latest iOS version!

Note: Apple iOS OTA software update only works when your iDevice is connected to WiFi, it won’t download software update if you are using mobile connection like 3G network.

How to Install Apple iOS OTA (Over-The-Air) Update on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

PDF file has security settings to prevent viewers from editing, selecting text and printing the file content. It is a great feature to prevent content theft. But it might turn out to be a nightmare if you, the file’s owner, forgot the PDF password.

I found a freeware to remove PDF protection password. *grin*

PDF Password Remover tool is a free tool for Windows to decrypt and remove password from any PDF file with “owner” password set that prevent viewers from editing, selecting text, printing, and make changes to form fields, etc.

How to remove PDF password?

Simply launch PDF Password Remover tool. At “Open PDF file” select your password protected PDF file you want to remove password. “Save PDF file” is where you want to save the result password-removed PDF file. Click “Convert” button to remove PDF password.

Note that the tool does NOT remove “user password” that prevents unauthorized access to PDF file.

Hope this tool is helpful. Let me know if you need some other tools to solve daily computing problems.

Download Free PDF Password Remover Tool is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Apple has released iOS 5 mobile operating system and the update is available via iTunes but many users failed to update their iDevices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). Some are getting random error codes like Error 3002 & 3200.

In this article, you will learn how to manually download iOS 5 firmware and update your iDevices without getting error messages.

Download iOS 5 firmware

Visit this page to download iOS 5 firmware (.ipsw file) for your iDevice directly from Apple’s server. Use your favorite download manager for faster and resumable download.

Manually update to iOS 5

After you downloaded the correct iOS 5 firmware for your device, follow these steps to update to iOS 5:

1. Quit iTunes software.
2. Disconnect your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch from computer.
3. Copy the downloaded iOS 5 firmware (.ipsw file) into the correct folder under iTunes folder:

   On Windows:
   
   %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\iTunes\{iDevice} Software Updates

   On Mac:
   
   ~/Library/iTunes/{iDevice} Software Updates

   Notes:

   • Replace {iDevice} in the path with: “iPhone”, “iPad” or “iPod” (without double quotations)
   • %APPDATA% is a Windows “Application Data” folder. It might be a different path depending on your Windows version. You can access your “Application Data” folder by running this command from the Run box (Windows+R): %appdata%
   • OS X Lion defaults to hiding user’s “Library” folder. To access it, open Finder > Go > Go to Folder… and type in: ~/Library (more info here)
4. After copying the .ipsw iOS 5 firmware file, connect your iDevice to computer using USB cable.
5. Launch iTunes, click on your iDevice in the left menu under “DEVICES”.
6. Click “Check for Update” button on the right to update your iDevice to iOS 5. It will pick up the local .ipsw file (no more online download) and update your device without any error.

This manual installation method is rather complex and troublesome. Let me know in comment if you have problem to manually update to iOS 5.

The good news is that all of the future iOS updates will be “PC Free” and incremental. Small size updates are downloaded directly on your iDevice. So this is the last time you ever need to download hundreds Megabytes size iOS update. Cheers!

[Thanks Digital inspiration for the iOS 5 upgrade trick.]

iOS 5 Firmware: Direct Download, Manual Update, Fix Error 3002 & 3200 is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

In this article, you will learn how to review every FB tags by anyone before they go on your profile page. (By default, friends’ tags are auto approved.)

How to enable Facebook tags review

1. Login to your Facebook account.
2. Goto “Account” (upper right corner), then Privacy Settings
3. At “How Tags Work”, click on “Edit Settings”.

   

4. At the popup window, make sure the “Profile review of posts …” is On, so that every tag of you will need to wait for your approval.

   

5. If the setting is Off, click on it and click “Turn On Profile Review” button in the next screen to enable it.
6. Done. From now on, you will get a notification message asking you to approve/disapprove tags whenever someone tags you. See screenshot below:

   

My two cents

Facebook tagging review is a good feature to stop spam tagging but it only works if you and your friends do not friend those spam profiles and manually enable the tag review setting.

If you are annoyed by the facebook messages of “[your friend] was tagged in [spam profile]’s album”, do yourself and your friends a favor, send this article to your friends. Ask them to review their tags.

Hopefully, one day, we can have spam free Facebook wall.

Image Credit: Dreamstime

How To: Review Every Facebook Tags of You and Stop Tagging Spam is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Do you know that you can quote a tweet with clickable links using Twitter’s Blackbird Pie? It is a handy tool but too troublesome to use: you need to copy tweet link, goto Blackbird Pie site, paste link, generate code and copy the code…

Luckily, there’s a Blackbird bookmarket for web browsers. Read on to learn how to use it.

How to use Blackbird bookmarklet

Blackbird bookmarklet is a web browser bookmarklet shortcut for Twitter’s Blackbird Pie tool to generate code for tweet with clickable links.

1. Simply drag & drop the bookmarklet to the bookmark bar of your web browser to “install” it.
2. Visit the tweet page you want to quote.
3. Click on the Blackbird bookmarklet to generate Blackbird Pie code on the same page.
4. Copy the generated code and you can paste it on any webpage to display the selected tweet with clickable links.

Even better, on Twitter user profile, click the Blackbird bookmarklet and you will get a “” link on every tweet to generate Blackbird Pie code for the tweet.

Blackbird Pie Bookmarklet: Easily Quote Tweet with Clickable Links is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Facebook Phonebook has raised privacy concern about sharing phone numbers of yours and your friends. In this article, you will learn how Facebook get your phone numbers and how to delete the data.

Why worry?

Few days ago, my friend asked me to check if his phone number appears in my Facebook Contacts or not. Yes, his number is listed. My friend, who is very concerned about his online privacy, was worrying that everyone could see his phone number. I explained that the phone numbers are not public and only for myself only.

Why NOT to worry?

Later, TechCrunch published an article about the Facebook phone numbers and here is the Facebook official response:

“Rumors claiming that your phone contacts are visible to everyone on Facebook are false. Our Contacts list, formerly called Phonebook, has existed for a long time. The phone numbers listed there were either added by your friends themselves and made visible to you, or you have previously synced your phone contacts with Facebook. Just like on your phone, only you can see these numbers.”

How did Facebook collect your phone numbers?

Basically, it is either…

1. Phone numbers are shared by your friends to you on their Facebook profile.
2. You have chosen to upload/sync contact information from your phone to Facebook. (you might not remember that…)

Tip: You can customize Facebook Privacy to decide who see your contact information.

How to delete Facebook contacts phone numbers?

If you are worrying about Facebook misuses your phonebook contacts, you always have to choice to remove imported contacts.

By removing imported and synced contacts, Facebook “Friend Suggestions” for you and your friends may become less relevant. Though your synched contacts will be removed, but it will still display contact info of your friends who have included it on their profiles.

Do you think keeping a copy of your contacts on Facebook is a good or bad idea, and why?

Why Facebook Has Your Phone Numbers? How to Remove the Numbers?

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