The Sun's Financial Diary » Tech

How I Grabbed a Video From Good Morning America and Used It in My Post

Sun — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:10:14 +0000

Yesterday, when I was writing the post on shopping and credit score, I thought it would be nice to include the actual video in the entry so people who missed the program on TV can watch it while reading the post. The problem is on Good Morning America, there’s no code to link to the video and embed it in my story. I also searched YouTube, but didn’t find the video. It seems that the only solution is to grab the video from GMA myself and post it. But how? There’s no URL to where the video file is actually stored on GMA. If I can find the address of the video, then I am sure I can download it and use it. So now the problem becomes how to find the URL of the video that is hidden.

As I was searching for solutions, I noticed that there are quite a few commercially available software can get the job done. But I don’t want to pay for something that I may use only once in a while. I want to use free tools.

After some Googling, I found all the tools I need to download and convert the video and they are all free. If you are interested in doing this yourself (not videos on GMA of course), you can follow these simple steps to download any videos whose URLs are hidden, as long as the videos are downloadable

Step 1: Download and install a software called URL Snooper, the software that lets you locate URLs of video and audio files so you can download them. After the URL Snooper is downloaded and installed, run the program. Then go to GMA and click the video that you want to watch and download. In this case, it’s the Watch Where You Shop from yesterday (actually it’s the day before yesterday).

Step 2: As the video Watch Where You Shop is playing on GMA website, URL Snooper successfully detects the URL of that video (the last one in the following picture). That’s all you need to download the video.

Step 3: Now that you have the URL of the video you want to download, the next job is to get a downloader, if you don’t already have one, to download the video. The downloader I am using is Orbit, which is also free. Once your downloader is ready, whatever it is, highlight the last URL in URL Snooper (the one for the GMA video), right click your mouse and Copy Selected URL(s) to Clipboard.

Step 4: Now paste the URL to Orbit by clicking New and the URL will be automatically added. Click OK and the downloading starts.

Step 5: The download won’t take much long (depending on the size of the video of course) and when it’s done, you will have the video in flash video format with FLV as the file extension. You can play the video with a FLV player (I am using IrfanView). If you want to convert the video to a more common format, such AVI, you can use another free tool called FLV to AVI Converter.

Add the video file you just downloaded to the converter then click CONVERT. The conversion will start and it won’t too much time to complete.

Now that you have the video in AVI format, you can upload the video to YouTube and share it, just as I did

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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How I Grabbed a Video From Good Morning America and Used It in My Post

Using Old Extensions (Add-ons) in Firefox 3

Sun — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:21:16 +0000

Did you download Firefox 3 already?

Yesterday, the Download Day, was a big day for Firefox as it released its latest version 3.0. When the Download Day was first announced last month, I pledged to download the free browser within 24 hours after it’s release to help set a Guinness record.

I have been using FF for years and always got the latest update when it became available. While FF is great, the biggest headache as I experienced is its memory consumption. I am using quite a few extensions and always have a lot of tabs opened. If I don’t restart the browser for a couple of days, its memory usage just keeps growing. It’s not rare to see that Firefox uses some 700MB of my memory. I have tried many memory tweaks with pretty much no luck. Since Firefox 3 is supposed to do a better job in keeping memory usage under control, I decided to get the browsing software as soon as it is released.

Anyway, I got the software yesterday and it looks good so far. The only problem is that the browser is up-to-date, but not all the add-ons. Some of my favorite ones have been disable due to incompatibility with FF 3. One of them is called AutoCopy, which allows me to copy the text by just selecting it, no Ctrl-C needed. It’s a very convenient extension. Losing it all the sudden caused a lot of pain.

So I searched a little bit and found this workaround to let me continue using the add-on until the FF 3 compatible version is available.

Download the AutoCopy add-on file (you can find one at here, then right-click to Save Link As);
Change the file extension from .xpi to .zip (from autocopy-v0.6.4.xpi to autocopy-v0.6.4.zip) and use your file compression/decompression application such as WinZip or 7-Zip to extract the files;
Find the install.rdf file in the extracted file folder and open it with a text editor (Notepad);
In the file, find this section

{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
1.0
2.0.0.*

and replace 2.0.0.* with 4.0.0.* and save the file.

Drag and drop the install.rdf file onto the autocopy-v0.6.4.zip file. It will ask whether you want to overwrite (or add) the file, install.rdf, to the archive. Confirm;
Change the file from autocopy-v0.6.4.zip back to its original name autocopy-v0.6.4.xpi;
Grab the autocopy-v0.6.4.xpi and drop it into your FF browser. A window will pop up:

Click the Install Now button once it becomes clickable and the install will begin.

However, the installation may fail if another window pops up with the following error message:

If this happens to you, then there’s a little extra work to be done before you can enjoy your old extensions. According to this discussion, the above problem can be easily fixed by adding a new value to the Firefox configuration:

Open a new tab and type about:config in the address bar;
Right click inside the window and select New->Boolean;
A new window will pop up and enter extensions.checkUpdateSecurity as the preferred name;
Set the default value to false in the next window;

Now repeat Step 7 in the above installation process and you will see the following window:

Restart your Firefox and enjoy your favorite, old extensions again

I have used this method to install two more add-0ns, MinimizeToTray and Page Title Eraser, and they all work like they used to so far. This method may not work with all the add-ons, so you have to try to see. Until those extensions get updated, I will keep the extensions.checkUpdateSecurity value and use this workaround.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Using Old Extensions (Add-ons) in Firefox 3

My Little Christmas Gift

Sun — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:04:21 +0000

I usually don’t get Christmas gift. Not that I don’t want one, but nobody gives me, including my wife. We give each other gifts at anniversary as well as on birthdays, but not Christmas. This year, however, I did get a little Christmas gift, a Pocket Loox N100 portable GPS navigator. But it wasn’t from my wife.

About two weeks ago, I got an email from TigerDirect at midnight with an ad of the Pocket Loox N100 on sale at $99. Though we have a GPS on our 2005 Odyssey, I always wanted one that I can carry with me, one that’s small and not too expensive. One that we can use if we travel. The minute I got that email and saw the price, I went immediately to the site to check it out. Meanwhile, I did a quick search to find some reviews of the device (on Cnet.com and gpsmagazine.com) which made me feel it is the one that I want. Then, without wasting too much time, I ordered one before it was gone the next day.

Since receiving the device, I have used it a couple of times just to test it (I don’t need a GPS just to go from home to work) and here are my quick observations.

Pros:

It’s small yet elegant. Loox is shorter than my Razor phone, but slightly wider and thicker. I can carry it in my pocket without feeling too much extra weight.
The touch screen is clear and sharp. Some people complained the reflective screen makes it hard to see what’s on the screen at certain conditions, I found that can only happen at some extreme angles.
The map and the navigation are quite accurate. Though there are errors, they are marginal.
It’s not just a GPS navigator, but also a multimedia player. I can use it to play MP3 music and video.
It supports both 2D and 3D maps with street names and POI information.
It supports Day/Night modes, so I can switch between them to have different contrast on the screen for different driving conditions.
It shows speed limit information and alerts me when I exceed the limit. This is actually very helpful.
A fully charged battery can last up to four hours and the packages supplies a car charger so I don’t have to worry it runs out of battery when driving long distance.
The device only needs to be calibrated once as long as the battery stays. And when it’s turned off, the previous session will be saved.

Cons:

The biggest drawback is its slow response. When I turned it on the road, I had to wait several minutes before it was ready due to bad reception of the GPS signal.
If I quit current session and restart the navigator, it takes about 50 seconds to just load the map.
Every time the navigator is restarted, I have to choose a map before starting navigation. No default selection.
Making a change while driving is quite difficult because of the small screen and small buttons. And because of the small size, it won’t be easy to see the map and road names if the navigator is mounted on the windshield.
Build-in speaker isn’t very helpful even when the volume is high. To hear the turn-by-turn instruction, I have to use the ear phone.
Though it can be used as a multimedia device, the pre-loaded maps use most of the 2GB capacity of the miniSD card. To play movie with it, a higher capacity card is needed.
The package doesn’t include a case.

In summary, it’s an affordable device that does the job of getting me to my destination and I can use it both on and off the road. There are many GPS navigators out there that are more powerful and with more functions, but at less than $100, the Loox is enough for me.

*Photo from gpsmagazine.com

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Fraudulent Email in the Name of Bank of America

Sun — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:00:12 +0000

There’s an email in my Inbox this morning. The “From” field says “Bank of America” and the subject of the message reads “Account Suspension Case #00302353213″ and the body of the message seems legitimate

The first sign that this may be a fraudulent email I noticed is the mail says there was an unsuccessful access on “24 June 2006.” It could be more believable if it says “January 5, 2007″ than “24 June 2006″ as I checked my account last night and do we really use the “24 June 2006″ format?

When I move the mouse cursor over the “click here” link, it shows the following URL

http://www.fracchetti.it/alessandro/blog//content/www.bankofamerica.com/cgi-bin/common/update%20your%20account%20information/sign%20in/

and the page at the above URL again looks authentic

In fact, all the links at the bottom of the page are real BoA links, except the three on top right which point to the same URL but with no actual page associated with them.

Actually, I think an easy step to determine whether it’s an authentic message is to check exactly where it is from, not what it claims where it is from (the email address). In this case, the email address Bank of America is already suspicious. Once I clicked the Full Header option (not the compact header which only shows From, To, and Subject) from my Yahoo email, the entire path of how this message reached mailbox is revealed:

From Bank of America Fri Jan 5 10:34:38 2007
X-Apparently-To: —@yahoo.com via 206.190.39.155; Sat, 06 Jan 2007 07:53:18 -0800
X-Originating-IP: [70.86.247.130]
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta352.mail.mud.yahoo.com from=alert.bankofamerica.comcom; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 70.86.247.130 (EHLO server3.polaristar.com) (70.86.247.130)
by mta352.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Sat, 06 Jan 2007 07:53:17 -0800
Received: from nobody by server3.polaristar.com with local (Exim 4.52)
id 1H2ttm-00039v-En
for —@yahoo.com; Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:34:38 -0600
To: —@yahoo.com
Subject: Account Suspension Case #00302353213
From: Bank of America
Reply-To: b-SEA-707363805-1@alert.bankofamerica.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Message-Id:
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:34:38 -0600
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname – server3.polaristar.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain – yahoo.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID – [99 99] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain – server3.polaristar.com
X-Source:
X-Source-Args:
X-Source-Dir:
Content-Length: 1337

Though this apparently is a scam email, Yahoo’s DominKey failed to flag it. And the email was send from server3.polaristar.com which has nothing to do with Bank of America. Using a free IP lookup tool at IP2Location.com, I found the sender’s location is at Dallas, Texas.

After determining that this is a fraudulent email, I forwarded the entire message to BoA for further investigation. In the reply email, BoA says

Thank you for contacting Bank of America to report a potentially fraudulent mail, commonly referred to as a “phishing” email. We take your security very seriously and will investigate this matter immediately. If our investigation determines that the email is fraudulent, we will take steps to have the site shut down.

I only hope they can really do what they promised to do “have the site shut down.”

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Fraudulent Email in the Name of Bank of America

10 Best Firefox Extensions from CNet and My Own Favorites

Sun — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:34:41 +0000

Over at CNet, they have a list of 10 best extensions for Firefox 2.0. Actually, some of the bests are very popular addons. So if Firefox is your default browser, chances are you are using some, if not all, the extensions already. If not, then you should download the lastest Firefox 2.0 (yes, it’s 2.0!) and starting using them.

10 of my favorites that didn’t not make to their best list are

Adblock and Adblock Filterset.G Updater: make you have no AdSense ads to click even if you want to. I wonder if everybody uses Firefox with this extension, how can bloggers make money from AdSense?
Auto copy: so you don’t have to Ctrl+C anymore
del.icio.us: how could they miss this piece?
Performancing: for blogging of course and you can make money with them as well
Inline Google Definitions: if you want to translate English into other languages
FlashGot: of course you have to have FlashGet
Gmail space: turn your 2GB Gmail box into an online storage
Gmail manager: switching between multiple Gmail accounts is a snap
Minimize to tray: so you can leave the space at the bottom of your screen to other applications that don’t have this ability
Crash recovery: restore all your tabs after restart

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A Portable Keyboard?

Sun — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:02:34 +0000

Yeah, and you can get one for only 10 bucks.

But who's gonna carry a keyboard anyway?

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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A $20,000 Mirror?

Sun — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:22:15 +0000

Have some spare money to spend on high-tech toys this holiday? How about a mirror? A talking mirror?

This mirror, invented by Hollywood special-effects expert Craig Barr and named one of the Best Toy Inventions of 2006 by the Time Magazine, is not an ordinary mirror that we would hang in our bathroom or in the hallway. When integrated with your home security system (got one?) and actived, Basil, the guy on the mirror, will show up and warn you, for example, when your survalence camera picked up a stranger approaching your house.

Interested? You have to dig a little deeper to add this piece to your collection as it's available at $19,995. Or go cheap and get an alternative:

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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A $20,000 Mirror?

Virus Found In iPod

Sun — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:09:00 +0000

Reuters reported today that a small number of Apple’s iPods shipped last month may carry computer virus:

since September 12, less than 1 percent of Video iPods — pocket-sized devices that can play music files and video clips – left its contract manufacturer carrying the virus RavMonE.exe, which affects computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system.

For more information, check Apple’s tenical support website.

Original Post on The Sun's Financial Diary

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Virus Found In iPod

Your Newly Purchased iPod May Carry Virus

Sun — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:01:38 +0000

Reuters reported today that a small number of Apple's iPods shipped last month may carry computer virus:

since September 12, less than 1 percent of Video iPods — pocket-sized devices that can play music files and video clips – left its contract manufacturer carrying the virus RavMonE.exe, which affects computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

For more information, check Apple's tenical support website.

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File Backup: How I Do It

Sun — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:07:00 +0000

Jonathan of MyMoneyBlog is having an interesting discussion on online file backup. It seems that while nobody doubts the importance of backing up files periodically, it’s hard to put everybody in the same boat when it comes to how important files should be stored, especially those files that you don’t want anybody else to access. Mentioned in discussion is a company called Mozy, which offers online file backup and users can choose their personal 448-bit key to encrypt their files before uploading to Mozy’s file server.

For me, I never heard of Mozy before and have no idea how they run their business. However, I don’t have a good feeling of storing my personal files in somebody else’s server, even I own the key. True, my personal information is every where, at banks, credit card companies, and phone service providers. But these places at least I consider to be reliable, relatively speaking. For Mozy, nobody even knows how long their will exist, and their reliability and confidentiality are separate issues. I won’t put my file in the hands of a total stranger.

The files I backup include Quicken generated transaction files, saving bonds records, monthly expenses spreadsheets, and other non-financial files such as papers I wrote before, research files, resumes, and some articles I collected, etc. Those are more for record keeping, rather than for security concerns. And here is how I do it:

Install two physical hard drives in my computer (not two logical drives on one hard drive), one for system programs and the other for data storage;
Save one copy on each disk so even if one crashes, which is likely to be the system disk, I still have another copy on the separate disk;
Buy another external hard drive and copy everything I think important in the external drive. This external disk is just for backup so it is off most of the time to prevent any possible damage.

Of course, no place is 100% safe and secure and none of these methods will work if you simply FORGET to backup!

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