AdSense: Remove White Space in Search Results

Saturday, September 29, 2007

When you add a Search Box on your website using 'Google AdSense for Search' with the option: "Open results within my own site", the search results are opened in an iFrame of a very large height. This would cause a large block of white space to appear after the search results. You can remove this extra block of white space by adding the following variable value to your AdSense code on your search results page:

var googleSearchResizeIframe = true;

This would adjust the height of the iFrame according to your search results.

And if you need to specify a minimum height for your search results, include your search code in div tags and use the Cross-Browser solution for CSS min-height.

100% File Compression

Friday, September 21, 2007

Can you imagine compressing a file by 100%, i.e. compacting a file to 0 bytes? Sounds too astonishing. Well, don't be stupefied when you read that its possible to compress any file to 0 bytes.

BARF! or Better Archiver with Recursive Functionality can achieve a file compression of 100% by recursively compressing the file. The BARF compressor will compress any nonempty file by at least one byte. Thus, by compressing already compressed files over and over again, it is possible to eventually reduce any file to 0 bytes.

BARF is free, open source software, released under the GNU GPL. Its code is written in C/C++ and can be downloaded from the BARF webpage.

How it Works?
BARF uses recursive compression to compress the file. BARF compresses the files by using one of the 257 compression algorithms by selecting the best one at each stage of recursion. At each step it adds an extension .x or .x?? to the existing filename. This technique ensures that there is no disambiguation while decompressing the files.


I know most of you would like to try this out. But, some of you won't understand the technical jargon on the BARF webpage. So, here are the steps to try out file compression with BARF!

Steps for an Amateur:

1. Download the barf.exe(1 MB approx.) file and copy it to C:\Windows\System32.
2. Open the Command Prompt (Start>Run and type 'cmd').
3. To compress a file, type: barf c <filename>
   To compress multiple files: barf c <filename1> <filename2> ...
   To compress all files in the current directory: dir/b | barf c
   
4. Repeat the above compression step repeatedly until the file is compressed to 0 bytes or any other desired size. Make sure to append the filename with the extension(.x or .x??) at each step.
   
5. To decompress a file, type: barf d <filename>.x
   To decompress multiple files: barf d <filename1>.x <filename2>.x ...
   To decompress all files in the current directory: dir/b | barf d
   
6. Repeat the decompression step until the original file is created. Make sure to remove one level of extension(.x or .x??) at each step.
   

Note: Replace <filename> with the complete name of the file with its path and extension.

Tutorials for Mobile Phone R&D

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Do you like to do R&D with your cell phones? Hey, I'm not talking about Research & Development over here, this R&D stands for Repairing & Destroying :-)

I found an exciting site for all those jerks like me who love to play with the screw drivers - people who enjoy doing R&D (secondary meaning) with their mobile phones and other electronic items. Without wasting much of your time (I know by now you would have started anticipating to open up your cellphone), I am giving away this link: www.repair4mobilephone.org

The website contains tutorials which would help you to upgrade, repair or disassemble a mobile phone of any brand including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC among others. The site also has do-it-yourself guides for mobile components like IrDA, Bluetooth, Battery and many other parts and accessories.

The few tutorials I went through were really good and I also tried a couple of them. Luckily, I was able to screw back the devices (mind it, I already have a good success rate in this).

And like all other stuff posted on this blog, I don't provide any guarantee on the content provided by third party websites. So, unscrew your cell phone at your own peril...

Happy R&Ding!!!

Imagine Cup 2008

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Imagine Cup is the annual worldwide technology competition organized by Microsoft. It provides a platform for young people to apply their imagination, passion, and creativity to technology innovations that can create a better world. Each year competitions at imagine cup are based around a theme, which focuses on building technology solutions for real world issue.

Imagine Cup 2008, the sixth edition of this premier student technology competition, invites students to step up to the challenge of creating a sustainable environment. The theme for the current edition of Imagine Cup is - "Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment". Students get an opportunity to compete in a multifaceted competition that comprises multiple categories, each catering to a different technological or artistic affinity for cash prizes totaling more than $170,000 (U.S.).

The students can compete in nine competitions set up under three main categories - Technology Solutions, Skills Challenges and Digital Arts, each reflecting this year’s theme. Technology solutions comprises of Software Design, Embedded Development and Game Development. Skill challenges include Project Hoshimi Programming Battle, IT - Information technology and Algorithms. Digital Arts enables students to compete in Photography, Short Film and Interface Design challenges.

The world cup finals of Imagine Cup 2008 would be held in Paris, France. You can register for any of the nine competitions at: www.imaginecup.com