In my previous post, I mentioned an Amazon S3 tool called CloudBerry S3 Explorer. I also have S3Fox organizer addon installed. I use them both, and I feel that I'm more comfortable with CloudBerry Explorer.
CloudBerry Explorer makes managing files in Amazon S3storage EASY. By providing a user interface to Amazon S3 accounts, files, and buckets, CloudBerry lets you manage your files on cloud just as you would on your own local computer. (source)
Now, I want to share how I use CloudBerry S3 Explorer to manage my Amazon S3 Account.
CloudBerry Explorer is availble as a freeware software. We can download it for free. It offers many features we need to manage Amazon S3 account, from a simple to complicated tasks. After I downloaded and installed it, I can start using it. First, I need to add my Amazon S3 account into the application. Go to File > Amazon S3 Accounts.
Few days after I had my internet connection, I had a phone call from Telkom Speedy representative. She asked me whether I have my internet connection working or not. She also welcomed me and said thank you for using Telkom service. I got information also if I have problem with the connection, I can call the customer support. I already know about this but I never try it until today.
Today, I got another call from them. They informed me that they've received my payment and asked me about their service so far. I told the guy that I don't have problem so far. I'm not sure about the other customers in other city, but here in Jogjakarta (in my place), I have a good experience.
Today, I got my Twitter account suspended. I'm still not sure why, but it seemed because Twitter mistakenly suspended my account. I was a little bit panic, but I believed that there was a solution for this situation. I just hoped that Twitter listened and did something on my issue. Of course, I was only one of hundreds, or thousands, or maybe millions of users who got such problem (at that moment).
To make the story short, I finally got my account un-suspended in two hours or less. So, what did I do to get my account back?
Being suspended, it does not mean that you don't have access to your Twitter account. When my status was suspended, I could still login to Twitter. I could see the timeline updates from people I follow. Being suspended means that I can't change any data, it's like being in “read-only” mode. If you think you don't do any illegal activities (see Twitter rules), and you want to have your account back, just do the standard procedure. The first thing I did was filling a ticket, explaining the situation. I also mentioned about the situation I wrote in my blog. I was not sure whether the information was useful or not, but at least I provide more details.
Few minutes after that, I was happy because my ticket status marked as “Solved”. Here, “solved” does not mean “Hurray, I get my account back!”. “Solved” also means “assigned to staff”, or “someone had been notified about the issue”.
I did not want to flood the staff by updating my tickets, asking for an emergency actions. It was around 1 AM (my time), and I could wait until morning, if needed. I was not sure about my ticket status. I also was not sure whether Twitter staff reviewed my request or not. I did not know what happened exactly with account. I just waited for feedback/action from Twitter staff.
I reloaded Twitter page randomly, just to check the status. Suspended, still. And then — after around 2 hours — I had my Twitter account back to normal. I was happy, and checked my ticket status, nothing changed. No comments, no feedbacks, … nothing. I was fine with that. Twitter was probably busy with other issues. The most important thing is that Twitter did something from there. Even if the machine did this, I'm still happy. :)
Lessons learned: it's fine to be panic but the next things are: don't panic, follow the procedure, and be patient.
After enabling media file preview in Google Mail, I decided to enable another Google Labs feature. It's Undo Send. This email feature will give us 5 seconds to decide whether we want to send the email or cancel it. I think this feature is very useful. In 5 seconds? I think it's enough. Or, not?
Yesterday, I enabled some GoogleMailfeatures offered from its Labs section — I've enabled some before. Google Mail Labs is a place to test some new features in Gmail. There are many features/applications we can test.
Google Mail users or those who use Google Apps for domain can enjoy this feature. Go to top right navigation, and there is a small icon to visit the lab section.
I enabled YouTube, Picasa and Flickr preview in mail features. If we enable this feature, we can see multimedia files preview inside our Google Mail account. The pictures/videos will be derived from the link inside the mail content. If there is a link to YouTube video, we can watch the video inline. Useful!
I watched Iron Man. I think it's a good movie. But, I will not talk about this movie, or make a review of it.
I'm interested in the story behind this movie related to… Flickr! If you see the image, just look closer to the two images inside. Looks similar, right?
The picture is from Jeremy Keith‘s Flickr album, and it was used in the movie! For me, the most interesting thing about this is about “how” his image can be used (in this movie).
Jeremy Keith has a detailed story about this. You should read the full story. Read about the communication between Jeremy and Ashley Kravitz.
Once I finally made it to Austin, I settled into a comfortable routine of geeking out, having fun and generally over-indulging. As I was making my way to the conference centre one morning, my mobilephone rang. It was Ashley.
“Sorry I didn't manage to get the form to you”, I said. “My laptop died on me. I know it's too late now.”
“Actually, there's still time”, she responded.
“Look”, I said. “Let's cut out the computers completely. Can you fax the form to my hotel? I can sign it and fax it back to you straight away.”
And that's exactly what we did.
If you need free mobile softwares, here is an alternative: Phoload.
Phoload is a new community website based on the idea that it should be simple, easy, and fun to discover and download free mobile phonegames and applications. Users of the website can rate, review and recommend the software they download. We also aim to provide a great service for mobile software developers. Phoload is designed to make it easy for developers to distribute their software through the website, directly to users who have compatible phones. (source)
WordPress.com users are very lucky. If you're one of them, get ready for the new WordPress 2.7 experience. On Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 8pm Eastern Time (8am, Friday in Jakarta), you should see a brand new dashboard at WordPress.com. If you use the self-hosted version like me, you need wait. I'm still not sure about the release date, but it says “sometime in December 2008“. A Christmas gift? :)
I already use the development version here (WordPress 2.7-RC1-10015), so if you're interested, here are some screenshots. About new features, navigations, and other new things, please head to WordPress official blog for complete details.
For all PunBB fans, PunBB 1.3 beta is already available. Few days ago, I download the beta release, did a fresh install, and I believe that the coming 1.3 will be MUCH better. Currently, the latest stable release is PunBB 1.2.17 (released on February 19th, 2008). Here is a screenshot:
So, what's new? Here are some of them:
Yahoo! Shortcuts for WordPress plugin intelligently enriches your blog post with great content from Yahoo! Maps, Finance, and beyond.
Even it's still in beta release, after I tried this plugin, I found that this is a very useful plugin. Especially I want to enrich my post with more useful information without spending too much time to find references. If you go to Yahoo! Shortcuts page, you will see some demos on how the plugin will work in your post. Look at the sidebar. In short this plugin will do these things:
Detect your post to find relevant information automagically — I think it's by keywords — that can be found using Yahoo! services. For example: maps/location, products, company information, people profile, photos, etc.
This plugin will generate some shortcut alternatives. Later, you will have options to deal with those shortcuts. In you entry editing screen, you will see a box containing information about how many shortcuts found in your entry.
If you decide to create shortcuts to Yahoo! services, just click on the “Review this Post” button. By doing this action, you will be brought to another editing screen.
