I always knew that Bluetooth devices were easy to be hacked but I just ignored that fact until I watched Nikita. I googled the ways and tried it out on my own Bluetooth devices and to my amazement, it was easy.

Pros of Bluetooth
1. Handsfree
2. Comfortable
3. Wireless
4. Legal (We don’t get caught by Police using Bluetooth devices while we’re driving)

Cons of Bluetooth
1. Easy to be hacked
2. May have radiation which we are yet to know of the effects or maybe companies are just hiding this fact from us.
3. Expensive
4. Battery operated

How to avoid being hacked
1. On your Bluetooth only when you need to use it especially on your computer.
2. Off your Bluetooth device when not in use, it not only gives people the opportunity to hack but it will eat up your battery as well.
3. Install security for Bluetooth on your phones and all, but I doubt it’s going to work at all. To start with most of our Bluetooth devices are programmed with only 1 key of security. My HTC Desire doesn’t even bother asking me the key, it detects by itself and just ask for confirmation on pairing with other Bluetooth devices.

I’m not going to teach here how to hack, just Google and you will find many ways to hack but do remember that you’re invading someone else’s privacy.

Download the picture below for a brief explanation regarding the job application for house officers.

1st step

Forms to fill in:

1. SPA 8i – Register and fill up the form online

2. MMC – Download the form in English or in Malay.

3. KKM – Borang Maklumat Diri(BMD) & *Borang Tapisan Keselamatan
You would need to come in person to KKM to fill in this form.

What do you need for BMD?
i) 1 Passport picture
ii) Bring the original & 1 copy of the following documents:
– IC
– Birth Cert
– SPM Cert
– Transcript
– Graduation Cert (Degree)
iii) Parents’ IC number

*For Borang Tapisan Keselamatan you will fill this form after you’ve received your letter of placement.

2nd Step(My opinion) – Hand in your form(MMC)/fill in your form(KKM)

i) Go to Putrajaya Presint 1 (Follow the directions to Presint 1).

ii) Go to Kompleks E
-Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia
Bahagian Sumber Manusia
Aras 9, Blok E7, Kompleks E,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62590 Putrajaya, Malaysia.

-Malaysian Medical Council
Bahagian Sumber Manusia
Aras 2, Blok E1, Kompleks E,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62590 Putrajaya, Malaysia.

3rd Step
Go for the interview(SPA). (They would call you to inform the date of interview or they would inform you when you hand in your documents.)

Tips: If you’re going to all the departments, go to Kompleks E 1st(KKM & MMC), then go to Kompleks C – SPA (because Kompleks C is situated after Kompleks E)

mpg321 is a command-line mp3 player.

Why & when to use it?
* On old computers
* If your GUI stops working and you need some music while you are solving the problem
* Play music from your server
* Learn command line and practice it
* For fun

How to install it on Ubuntu?:
Open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following command:

Key in Y and press Enter when you’re asked to install other required packages.

How to use?
Access the help menu:
Open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following command:

You will get a list of codes which you can use with mpg321.

--verbose or -v Increase verbosity
--quiet or -q Quiet mode (no title or boilerplate)
--gain N or -g N Set gain (audio volume) to N (0-100)
--skip N or -k N Skip N frames into the file
--verbose or -v Be more verbose in playing files
-o dt Set output devicetype to dt
[esd,alsa(09),arts,sun,oss]
--audiodevice N or -a N Use N for audio-out
--stdout or -s Use stdout for audio-out
--au N Use au file N for output
--cdr N Use wave file N for output
--wav N or -w N Use wave file N for output
--test or -t Test only; do no audio output
--list N or -@ N Use playlist N as list of MP3 files
--random or -Z Play files randomly until interrupted
--shuffle or -z Shuffle list of files before playing
-R Use remote control interface
--aggressive Try to get higher priority
--help or --longhelp Print this help screen
--version or -V Print version information


Example:

This code allows you to play a song without any details.

This code allows you to play a song with information of the file.

Of course it would be ridiculous to play music one by one file so we have to create playlists:

Open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following command:

(Find the location of your mp3 files by the command dir, cd, and cd...)
dir : Shows a list of all the files available in that directory
cd folder: Goes to folder directory (Replace folder with the name of a folder that you want to access)
cd.. Goes to previous directory

Example: Your music is located in /home/yourusername/Music so you should type cd /home/yourusername/Music

Then, create a playlist of all songs in this folder:

or create a playlist based on artist(Example abz)

*Tips: Replace abz with the artist name

To play the playlist:

Play it randomly:
*Little shuffle mode (Plays every file once in a random order)

*Big shuffle mode (Plays a random file and then plays another random file. mpg321 will go on until you stop it.)

Resources:
Command Line Warriors
Linux Dev Center

Its alternatives:
1. Amarok (If you’re using KDE/Kubuntu as it suites the theme and environment)
2. Songbird – My favourite, read the review.
3. Audacious – Lightweight and Winamp like, read the review.
4. Rhythmbox – It comes pre-installed on Ubuntu
5. Listen Audio Player
6. Exaile – Music Player for GTK+
7. Banshee – Play music and videos. Sync your ipod and G1.
8. orpheus – another Command-Line Interface(CLI) audio player

It’s the bar below, it can replace gnome-panel if you would like to replace it. I like both so I have both on my desktop.

To install it on Ubuntu:
open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following command:

Key in Y and press Enter when you’re asked to install other required packages.

To run: Alt+F2 → tint2
To auto-start it: open Startup Applications (System → Preferences → Startup Applications) and add the following entries:

Then save it.

To learn how to configure: Click here or download the pdf.

2. Gnome Do

What do I do with Gnome Do:
*Post to Twitter
*Message my friends on Pidgin
*Find my favourite software(frequently used) (How to use?)

but wait there’s more features as they are rich with plugins.

To install it on Ubuntu:
open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following command:

Key in Y and press Enter when you’re asked to install other required packages.

To learn how to use Gnome Do click here.

Audacious:
* Lightweight & Simple
* Multiple audio support
* Old Winamp alike
* Shorcuts similar as Winamp
* Streaming support & more
* Last.fm Scrobbling

To install it on Ubuntu:
open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following command:

Key in Y and press Enter when you’re asked to install other required packages.

Its alternatives:
1. Amarok (If you’re using KDE/Kubuntu as it suites the theme and environment)
2. Songbird – My favourite, read the review.
3. Rhythmbox – It comes pre-installed on Ubuntu
4. Listen Audio Player
5. Exaile – Music Player for GTK+
6. Banshee – Play music and videos. Sync your ipod and G1.
7. mpg321 – a Command-Line Interface(CLI) audio player. Read the review.
8. orpheus – another Command-Line Interface(CLI) audio player

For example, I googled SMPlayer on launchpad and choose the first choice that came up on the search.

Then see the highlighted words… ppa:rvm/smplayer

Then open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following commands:

This is the general command: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:”repository-name”
In other packages, copy the highlighted package name and paste over “repository-name”

As usual, it will ask your password, key in the password and wait until it has finished acquiring the gpg key.(Usually it will return to yourname@yourcomputername (Example: bleuwinter@bleubox)

Follow the instructions, if it ask you if you would like to continue to download 11.9MB (for example), key in Y and press enter.

1. New GDM Login (Though I hate it because of its colour)
2. New Default Icons (Pretty cool actually)
3. New Theme (New Wave & Human)
4. Ubuntu One (Online Storage – 2gb free)
5. Mozilla Firefox 3.5
6. Empathy (Supports Voice and Video chat) – You can switch to Pidgin(better looking)
7. Software Center (Replaces Add/Remove)
and more…

What else does Ubuntu 9.10 comes pre-installed with?
1. Open Office – Edit or view your documents, presentations, spreadsheets (Supports Microsoft extensions like .doc, .docx, .ppt and most other extensions)
2. Rhythmbox – Play music, rip cds, share music through DAAP on LAN, sync with Portable Player(iPod, MTP), manage cover arts, update status on Instant Messengers, stream radio online, subscribe to pod casts.
3. Totem Movie Player – It plays movies…duh. Well, it can stream and play videos from YouTube and BBC (which I’ve never succeeded) – Try Minitube for YouTube.
4. Evince PDF Reader – View PDF
5. F-Spot Photo Manager – Edit, upload your photos to Picasa Web, Flickr or SmugMug, 23 or export to Facebook, create DVD photo slideshow and more with extensions.
6. Gimp – Edit pictures or create animation. Check out Meet the Gimp for more tips.

There are many more software which is downloadable from Synaptic Manager or Ubuntu Software Center. Try Ubuntu Live CD or USB now. (You don’t have to install it on your computer, it will just run on your memory/RAM and you can decide later if you would like to install it.)
Checkout 10 things I Like About Ubuntu 9.10 (not by me)
How to make a Ubuntu Live USB?

Skype works fine with both voice chat and video chat as long as the drivers are properly installed (google your drivers if there’s a problem). Get it from Medibuntu which stands for Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu. Configure the sound devices(skype test as well) and video devices if the default doesn’t work(Ctrl+O or Skype Menu==>Options) and don’t forget to unmute the microphone. (Look at the images bellow).

Pidgin connects to almost all IM protocols (ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, Gtalk and more). The latest feature of Pidgin is video and voice chat but for some reasons I couldn’t use it. You can try and see if it works for you. Download and install the latest package from it’s official website.

Empathy which is almost like Pidgin but what it lacks it good looks and the integration with gnome notification(Pidgin works great with it). It will be the new default IM for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala but that doesn’t mean you can’t install Pidgin. Just download Pidgin or search it in the Synaptic Manager. Install Empathy from Synaptic Manager(Make sure you install Telepathy as well). Voice and video chat enabled and all you have to do is click on the microphone or webcam icon next to a contact in your list.

NB: Do remember that voice and video chat only works for Gtalk accounts on both Pidgin and Empathy.

pyGtranslator is a desktop standalone for Google Translate. Why use it?

1) Simple interface
2) Uses less CPU processor
3) Remembers your last history
4) You don’t have to open your internet browser

Dictionary is also a desktop standalone application which you can find it in the Ubuntu applications menu–> Office –> Dictionary. It’s name explains it all, it gives definition or meaning of a word.

Both applications uses internet so be sure to be connected to the internet.

1)Cedega

Subscribe to Cedega for a certain amount of fees(6 months – 25usd, 12 months – 45 usd) and install it on Linux. You could check out thegames database.

2)PlayOnLinux 

It is a frontend of Wine to run windows software on Linux. They have many choices to install PC games. All you need is original CD or DVD of the games, install it following the instructions and you can play it. You could try to install games that aren’t in the list as well but it may or may not work, trial and error basis.

3)PlayDeb 

Open Source games one-click install(provided you follow the 1st few steps)
You can filter the games by genre and click install this now below the game chosen.

Best alternative. =)