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Women In tech and harassment they face

By AJ | Published: October 28, 2011

Read this article of a woman in tech where she explains the harassment she faces in this industry.

Have these men forgotten that programming was primarily considered a women’s profession at one point? Have they forgotten that Ada Lovelace is usually cited as the first programmer? And above all, have they forgotten their decency? I think there wasn’t any decency in these pigs to begin with.

What if their mothers wanted to be in tech?

I think what women in tech need are more women and more support from the community. Let me rephrase that, what everyone in tech needs today is more women. Also, to boot off anyone who is found guilty of behaving like this.

Posted in Announcement, Social, Technology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Test from mobile

By AJ | Published: October 1, 2011

This is a test post from my phone.

20111001-234944.jpg

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Android’s ACTION_CALL is restricted, duh!

By AJ | Published: February 16, 2011
I have an Android app called CallHelp (Call Help). It is a simple application where you have a one large button which supposedly calls  911 (emergency number). Intention of the app is to have a quick way to call 911 by pressing the button and keeping it pressed till the time they do not want to call. Releasing the button will/should call 911.


Problem with current implementation is that it does not automatically call 911. It just pulls up the dial screen with 911 number pre-filled. I was trying to figure out a way to make calls but I guess I cannot do it. This is because the Android Intent called ACTION_CALL is restricted to non-emergency number and I have to use ACTION_DIAL for this.

So, the fun part is that I cannot create my app the way I want to because it just won’t dial 911. After releasing the huge button in my app, you have to press “Call” on the next screen. This just fails my app’s core purpose.

I think this app has a good usage. For example, someone moving through a dark alley might want to keep such a ‘setup’ ready in case something happens. You know, at least there will be a call to 911 (say, even if the phone drops etc.).

Older post about this app.

Posted in Programming, Technology | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Redesigning personal website

By AJ | Published: November 18, 2010

I have been ignoring my personal website for long now but not anymore. Though I will still use WordPress, I am inclined to play with my own theme this time. We shall see.

Posted in Personal, Random Thoughts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New T-Shirt Design – A true friend’s definition

By AJ | Published: September 7, 2010

A true friend always understands your arghs

Posted in Design, Programming | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

SSH RSYNC Dreamhost Backup User

By AJ | Published: August 8, 2010

I hope this helps someone. I was trying to have rsync setup with Dreamhost’s 50GB free backup plan to backup my machine without having to type the password again and having to interfere with it.

So, I did the following:

1. I created the Backup User using the CPanel and once created, logged in using SFTP into the backup user account (it gives you a different account/username).

2. I then created a directory named .ssh in the root of this new account (remember I am logged in sing SFTP)

3. Put my “id_rsa.pub” in this directory and renamed it to “authorized_key”.

By now, I thought things were fine and fired the command:

“rsync -e ssh -av @.dreamhost.com:~/”

Please make sure that you do not generate SSH key with a passphrase and also have right permissions.  It needs 700 for the private key.

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My Problems with Facebook's New Security Settings

By AJ | Published: December 29, 2009

Recently, when I logged-on to Facebook.com, I was given an info box on the top saying that the way Facebook deals with security has changed (yet again!). I saw a couple of malfunctions and a lot of BS hence, wanted to document it.

I believe FB has made my account more open and public. I think the reason is that the race now is after the real time search and indexing. Since, Google et al. have started to put some real time search results from Twitter feed (I think FB also), FB esp. has aggressively started a campaign to make as much info on your wall, feeds, account public as possible.

This is what they have to say on FB Information about Your Recent Activity on your wall. (…and it sounds Satanic).

Also, when I tried to control my settings, to my surprise all of the options in sharing were checked. I, as a good user, chose the option they gave me: “Keep all the previous settings”, as I did not wish to change my privacy settings. So, you have to take a look at this screenshot to see what they did.

FB tells you to keep all the previous settings, but they do not keep their promise.

FB tells you to keep all the previous settings, but they do not keep their promise. Everything on the list is checked. Wow! Those were NOT my previous settings.

In other words, I am extremely angry and IMHO you should be too. Although, I was really disappointed by Facebook’s but then I logged on to Orkut.com and saw this:

Orkut is Google's never-ending joke.

Orkut is Google's never-ending joke.

Look at the pink circular-band. It looks like an AIDS or breast-cancer relief campaign more than a Social Network and it sucks.

Posted in Random Thoughts, Technology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Birthday, Frank Zappa

By AJ | Published: December 21, 2009

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A Very Simple Android Application for Safety

By AJ | Published: December 16, 2009

I finally got to play with Android and I tried to make it useful enough. This application is not a big break-through or something 2.0-ish. Its a very simple call app but I am under this assumption that this will prove to be useful (at least it will be for me if I had an Android phone). Yes, I do not have Android phone and I do not even have an iPhone. I just happen to suck!

The application is about Calling for help when you are walking through a dark or a possibly unsafe place. Hoping that you are getting phone signal, I have always wondered that instead of fidgeting with your phone to dial 911 and keeping your thumb on the “green call” button, why not have an application where there is a big fat button that when released calls 911. Thats what I have tried to do here in this application. A 200px button when pressed and held, does not do anything, but when released, dials 911. So, you can save yourself from a surprise event like someone attacking you from behind and leave the calling for the app to do.

Here is the .apk file of the application. I call it callHelp application. I think its a good idea to improve this application to include a setting where you can change the emergency number (I’d suggest keep 911). Right now this feature is not there because I am not even sure if this application works on a handset.

If you are interested in looking at the source code, you can do that here at Github. Source code at Github.

So, if someone out there tries it, please let me know how goes it! thanks.

Posted in Programming, Technology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

guthub.com

By AJ | Published: December 13, 2009

guthub.com redirects to guthub.com. I wanted to register for the domain guthub.com mainly because of the fun that I’d have with it and I *would* have eventually redirected to github.com. But sucks, that they already do. :)

Posted in Random Thoughts | Tagged | Leave a comment

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