Internet Explorer (version features “automatic crash recovery” so if a single tab crashes due to, say, a bad plug-n, IE will automatically restart that tab alone without touching the other open websites.

However, when the entire browser comes to a halt, try this tip.

Start the task manager (Alt + Ctrl + Del) and sort the process list by “memory.” Now select iexplore.exe processes that are consuming the least amount of memory (from bottom to top) and end them one by one by hitting the delete key.

Your frozen IE application should terminate in the second or third attempt. Restart the IE browser and it will show a dialog asking you to confirm whether you really want to restore the previously open websites – say Yes and that’s it!

This trick comes very handy when you have dozens of iexplore.exe processes listed in task manager or when you are running multiple instances of Internet Explorer and only one of them has become unresponsive while others are working normally. I don’t know the logic but the trick always works for me.

After the migration in complete, all your older blog links will continue to work and visitors will be redirected to the new site.

Why move to WordPress.org?

Like most other people, you started your first blog on WordPress.com because the service was free, you weren’t required to have any technical skills and there were plenty of widgets, themes and plug-ins to help you quickly customize the blog.

Then, as your blog was getting popular, you found certain limitations. For instance, you could not monetize your blog traffic because WordPress prohibits the use of Google AdSense and other forms of advertising on free sites. There are thousands of beautiful themes for WordPress out there but your choices were limited. WordPress.com doesn’t allow JavaScript so you couldn’t use advanced tracking software like Google Analytics.

Other than Google ads and themes, a big reason why you may want to move from wordpress.com to a personal web domain is branding.

Step 1: Get a domain name and rent some server space

To move your blog from WordPress.com to your own domain, you first need to have a web domain and some server space where you’ll host that blog.

Though you may buy web domains at reasonable prices from site like GoDaddy or Network Solutions, I recommend Google Apps that costs $10 per year per domain. In return, you get all the Google goodies (like Google Docs, Gmail, etc.) but the best part of the deal is that your registration details will stay private – people won’t be able to see your address or phone number from the whois record of your domain.

Web hosting services that you may want to consider for hosting your WordPress blog include Dreamhost, Rackspace, Media Temple, Blue Host and KnowHost. Digital Inspiration is hosted on Dreamhost.com PS and am fairly satisfied.

Step 2: Transfer posts from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

Now that you have the basic infrastructure in place, let’s setup a WordPress blog. All web hosting companies offer 1-click WordPress installation so this shouldn’t be a tricky thing but make sure that you install WordPress software in a sub-directory – see instructions.

Next go to your old WordPress.com admin dashboard, click Tools –> Export, and save the XML file to your local computer (fig. A). Now, in your new site’s WordPress admin panel, click Tools –> Import and then choose WordPress. Select the file you previously downloaded. On the next page, choose the authors, and check the box that says “Import Attachments.”

Everything from your old WordPress.com blog, including images and other attachments, will now be automatically imported into your new WordPress.org blog.

Step 3: Redirect visitors and search engines to your new blog

Your new WordPress.org blog is a copy of your old WordPress.com site but search engines and human visitors will still land on your old site as they know nothing about the new one. Therefore we need a mechanism to redirect traffic coming to the old WordPress.com addresses to your new blog.

This is not that difficult either. First, login to your domain registrar (the company with whom you registered the domain). Then change your domain’s DNS settings so that your domain points to WordPress.com servers.

Important: Make sure that you write down the existing nameserver addresses, as you will need them later on.

Once you have noted that information, change the DNS name servers to ns1.wordpress.com, ns2.wordpress.com and ns3.wordpress.com. The domain registrar, in some cases, may request you confirm the change in name-servers.

From your WordPress.com blog’s dashboard, select Upgrades -> Domains. Enter the URL of your new domain, and click “Add Domain to blog.” Then click “Map Domain” when asked to confirm that you wish to add this address to the blog. You cannot have www in the URLs and also don’t put the trailing slash.

Domain mapping is a premium service and will cost you $10 per year. You can pay with either PayPal or a credit card of your choice.

Once this is completed, you need to set your personal domain (abc.com) as the primary address for the WordPress.com blog. In your WordPress.com admin panel, go back to Upgrades and select Domains. Select the checkbox for the domain you just added and click Update Primary Domain.

Step 4: Reverse the DNS Nameserver changes

Change your web domain’s DNS servers back to the original nameserver settings. Save the changes, wait for a while and now both your personal web domain (abc.com) and the old WordPress blog (abc.wordpress.com) will take you to the new site.

That’s it. Incoming links, search engine traffic, RSS readers, and everything else will get redirected to your new site. You will however have to renew the domain mapping upgrade from WordPress.com every year if you wish to keep your WordPress.com address redirecting* to your new site.

[*] WordPress.com uses a 302 redirect with domain mapping which means a “temporary redirect” and therefore search engine bots will continue to index your old site in addition to the new one.

Opera, hoping that Apple will change their policy, has developed a version of the Opera Mini browser for the iPhone and they’ll showing a preview of this iPhone App during the Mobile World Congress that happens in Barcelona next week.

An email from Opera PR says:

“We are thrilled to offer journalists and partners an exclusive preview of Opera Mini for iPhone during the year’s biggest mobile event,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software.

Safari vs. Opera for iPhone

Opera says Opera Mini for iPhone offers up to six times faster download speeds than Apple’s own browser, and up to 10 times smaller data traffic.

The Opera Mini for iPhone will only be shown to members of the press but Apple will have to approve the app for everyone else to experience Opera on their iPods and iPhones.

That may not happen anytime soon as Opera is yet to submit their Opera Mini iPhone App to the Apple App Store for approval.

Traditional Balinese dances are the oldest form of performing arts in Bali. Traditional dances can be divided into two types, sacred dance called Wali and entertainment dance called Bebalihan. Wali (sacred dance) is usually performed in some ritual ceremonies only because it has strong magical powers and only can be performed by specific dancers. Bebalihan are usually performed in social events. In addition to entertain, Bebalihan also has other purposes such as: welcoming guests, celebration of harvests, or gathering crowds. Bebalihan has more variations than Wali.

Pendet is the presentation of an offering in the form of a ritual dance. Unlike the exhibition dances that demand arduous training, Pendet may be danced by anyone. It is taught simply by imitation.

Younger girls follow the movements of the elder women, who recognize their responsibility in setting a good example. Proficiency comes with age. As a religious dance, Pendet is usually performed during temple ceremonies.

All dancers carry in their right hand a small offering of incense, cakes, water vessels, or flower formations. With these they dance from shrine to shrine within the temple. Pendet may be performed intermittently throughout the day and late into the night during temple feasts.

The original Pendet dance is performed by 4-5 young girls (before their puberty) in temple yards. Pendet dancers bring flowers in small Bokor (silver bowls containing flowers in a ceremony). They spread the flowers around the temple. This dance is a symbol of welcoming God in some ritual ceremonies in Bali. Pendet actually has simple dance movements. These movements are the basic dance movements of Balinese dance. Pendet has undergone later development with variations and now is not only performed in ritual ceremonies but also in some social events. Pendet since has been known as a welcoming dance.

Source : Wikipedia.org

The houses have dramatic curved roof structure with multi-tiered, upswept gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. The term rumah gadang usually refers to the larger communal homes, however, smaller single residences share many of its architectural elements.

Form

A communal rumah gadang is a long house, rectangular in plan, with multiple gables and upsweeping ridges, forming buffalo horn-like ends. They normally have three-tiered projections, each with varying floor levels. They are broad and set on wooden piles that can reach as high as 3 metres (10 ft) off the ground; sometimes with a verandah running along the front face of the house which is used as a reception and dining area, and as a sleeping place for guests. Unlike the Toba Batak homes, where the roof essentially creates the living space, the Minangkabau roof rests on conventional walls. Cooking and storage areas are often in separate buildings.

The house is largely constructed of wood; an exception being the rear longitudinal wall which is a plain lattice woven in a chequered pattern from split bamboo. The roof is of a truss and cross-beam construction, and is typically covered with thatch from the fibre of the sugar palm (ijuk), the toughest thatch material available and said to last a hundred years. The thatch is laid in bundles which can be easily fitted to the curved, multi-gabled roof. Contemporary homes, however, are more frequently using corrugated iron in place of thatch. Roof finials are formed from thatch bound by decorative metal bindings and drawn into points said to resemble buffalo horns – an allusion to a legend concerning a battle between two water buffaloes from which the ‘Minangkabau’ name is thought to have been derived. The roof peaks themselves are built up out of many small battens and rafters.

The women who share the house have sleeping quarters set into alcoves – traditionally odd in number – that are set in a row against the rear wall, and curtained off by the vast interior space of the main living area. Traditionally, large communal rumah gadang will be surrounded by smaller homes built for married sisters and daughters of the parent family. It is the responsibility of the women’s maternal uncle to ensure that each marriageable woman in the family has a room of her own and to this end will build either a new house or more commonly additionally annexes to the original one. It is said that the number of married daughters in a home can be told by the counting its horn-like extensions; as they are not always added symmetrically, rumah gadang can sometimes look unbalanced. Adolescent boys traditionally live in the village surau, a small mosque.

Architectural elements

Each element of a rumah gadang has its own symbolic meaning, which is referred to in adat speech and aphorisms. The elements of a rumah gadang includes:

* gonjong, hornlike roof structure
* singkok, triangular wall under the ends of gonjong
* pereng, shelf under the singkok
* anjuang, raised floor at the end of one style of rumah gadang
* dindiang ari, the walls on the side elevations
* dindiang tapi, the walls on the front and back elevations
* papan banyak, front facade
* papan sakapiang, a shelf or middle band on the periphery of the house
* salangko, wall enclosing space under a house that has been built on stilts

Some symbolisms of the house, for example, relate to the gonjong reaching to god, and the dindiang tapi, which is traditionally made of plaited strips of bamboo, symbolizing the strength and utility of the community which is formed when individual Minangkabau become part of the larger community instead of standing alone.

The pillars of the ideal rumah gadang are arranged in five rows which run the length of the house. These rows divide the interior into four long spaces called lanjar. The lanjar at the rear of the house is divided into bedrooms (ruang). According to adat, a rumah gadang must have at least five ruang, and the ideal number is nine. The other lanjar are used as a common area, called the labuah gajah (elephant road), for living and ceremonial events.

A number of rice barns (rangkiang) ideally accompany a rumah gadang, with each having a different name and function. The rangkiang sitinjau lauik, contains rice for the family, particularly for adat ceremonies. The rangkiang sitangka lapa contains rice for donation to poor villagers and for times of famine in the village. The rangkiang sibayau-bayau contains rice for the daily needs of the family.

Ornamentation

The Minangkabau traditionally embellish the wooden walls, pillars, and ceilings of the rumah gadang with bas-relief carved wooden motifs that reflect and symbolize their adat. The motifs consists of profuse floral designs based on a simple underlying geometric structure. The motifs are similar to those of the Minangkabau woven songket textiles, with colors thought to have been derived from Chinese brocades. Traditionally, the motifs do not show animals or humans in a realistic form, although some may represent animals, human beings, or their activities or behavior. The motifs are based on the Minangkabau concept of aesthetics, which is part of their view of their world (Alam Minangkabau) in which expression is always based upon the natural environment. A well-known adat aphorism says, ‘nature is our teacher’.

Ninety-four motifs have been observed on rumah gadang. Thirty-seven of them refer to flora, such as kaluak paku (‘fern tendrils’), saluak laka (‘interwoven rattan’), pucuak rabuang (‘bamboo shoots’), areca-nut palms, and lumuik hanyuik (‘washed-away moss’). Twenty-eight motifs refer to fauna, such as tupai tatagun (’startled squirrel’), itiak pulang patang (‘ducks going home in the afternoon) which symbolizes co-operation and homecoming wanderers, and kumbang janti (golden bumblebee). The remaining twenty-nine motifs refer to humans and sometimes their activities or behavior, such as rajo tigo (three kings of the realm), kambang manih (sweet flower, used to describe an amiable girl) and jalo takambang (casting a net).

Variations

The rumah gadang is built in one of two basic designs: koto piliang and bodi caniago. These forms reflect different two variations of Minangkabau social structure. The koto piliang design reflects an aristocratic and hierarchical social structure, with the house containing anjuang (raised floors) at each end to permit elevated seating of clan leaders during ceremonial events. The bodi caniago design reflects a democratic social structure, with the floors being flat and on one level.

Large communal homes are entered through a doorway in the centre of the structure which is usually surrounded by a perpendicular porch with a triangular gable and upsweeping peaked ridge end. The variation with no entry porch is named bapaserek or surambi papek (“without veranda”).

The larger and more opulent houses, have higher walls and multiple roofs, often with five elements inserted into each other, and supported by large wooden columns. Variations on the number of columns are known as the gajah maharam (“elephant kneeling”), which may have forty columns resulting in a shorter and stouter form, and the rajo babandiang (‘design of grandeur’) with fifty pillars and a more slender form. An additional six columns are required at each end for the anjuang of the Koto Piliang variation.

A Minangkabau traditional council hall, known as a balai adat, appears similar to a rumah gadang. This type of building is used by clan leaders as a meeting place, and it is not enclosed by walls, except for the anjuang of the Koto Piliang model. The Pagaruyung Palace is built in the traditional Minangkabau rumah gadang architectural style, but one unusual aspect is that it has three levels. In West Sumatra some modern government and commercial buildings, and domestic houses (rumah gedung), have adopted elements of the rumah gadang style.

There has been a sizeable Minangkabau settlement in Negeri Sembilan (now in Malaysia) since the seventeenth century, with the chief of the Minangkabau still ruler there. The Negeri Sembilan Minangkabau, however, have adopted the Malay-style roof construction, with continuous ridge piece thatched with lengths of palm-leaf attached to battens. Although this has meant the loss of the characteristic curved roof and has blunter eaves, it is still considered dignified and beautiful. More orthodox Islamic influence has also led to variations such as modifications to the interior layout, as women are more restricted to the rear of the house than in the case of the matrilineal Sumatran Minangkabau.

Source : Wikipedia.org

There are however simple workarounds that will help you play your favorite DOS games on any modern computer just the way they worked on old 486 machines of the 90’s. The other good part is that you can download most popular DOS games from the web for free and legally.

Play Old DOS Games on your Computer

The easiest way to run DOS games on your computer is through DOSBox.

DOSBox, in simple English, is a free program that emulates an X86 based DOS environment on your new computer including speaker sounds, video graphics and other hardware. DOSBox is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X so you can practically use it to run DOS games on practically every computer.

You can simply install DOSBox via the command line but if that sounds too technical, there are graphical frontends for DOSBox that will let you run DOS programs through a simple GUI.

One of the most popular GUI frontends for DOSBox is D-Fend Reloaded. You can install this program like any other Windows application and it is ready for use immediately after the installation. To install a DOS game, simply use the import wizard or drag-and-drop the zip archive file (that contains the DOS program) into the D-Fend Reloaded window.

D-Fend Reloaded also offers game packages, containing both freeware and shareware DOS games, that you may install on your computer at once using a simple installer. You can play these classic games using DOSBox without having to configure anything.

Build an MS-DOS Virtual Machine for Playing Games

If the requirements are such that DOSBox emulators are unable to run your favorite DOS game, you can try running DOS inside a virtual machine using virtualization software like Windows Virtual PC, VMWare Player, or VirtualBox from Sun – they are all free solutions.

Microsoft offers a free copy of MS-DOS operating system that you may convert into a virtual machine or you can download the FreeDOS program from the Internet which is just like MS-DOS and completely free.

Once you have a virtual machine running DOS, you need a way to install DOS programs into the virtual machine. This can be done by burning a CD image of the DOS games and then attaching that CD image to the virtual machine.

Play DOS Games Online in the Browser

The installers for DOS games were initially distributed on floppy disks and the game authors may have never envisioned that people would be playing these games though the Internet without installation but that is exactly what you can do today.

JPC is a Java-based x86 emulator that can run some DOS programs on any modern browser with the Java plugin. The JPC site hosts a couple of popular DOS games including DOOM and Mario Brothers but for a more extensive collection, you should check out Classic DOS Games. The sites currently has 169 different games that you can play directly in any web browser that has the Java plugin installed.

JPC based DOS games may not run as fast as their DOSBox counterparts but there’s one advantage – you can try a game online before deciding if you want to download a copy to your hard drive.

Download DOS Games from the Internet

Now that you have everything in place to run DOS games on the computer, you are most definitely looking for some great games to play with.

Here are some popular sites where you can find and download most of your favorite DOS games.

1. DOS Games – With over 500 classic titles, DOSGames.com is a great place to look for your favorite DOS games. You can run these games using the free DOSBox emulator discussed above. The site is actively updated so it is likely that more games will be added over time.

2. DOS Games Archive – DOS Games Archive is another useful site with a very large collection of DOS games. The sites provides screenshots of the DOS games, user ratings, violence ratings, cheat codes and you can also find out if a particular game is supported on DOSBox. Many of the games listed on the site were commercial games that were later released for free by the game publisher.

3. D-Fend Game Packages – If you chose to install D-Fend Reloaded with DOSBox, then you can easily access hundreds of classic DOS games using this easy installer. Each game package contains a collection of about a dozen or so games of the same category and you can have them all on your machine with a click.

4. Classic DOS Games – This site also contains a wide range of DOS games categorized by their Genre, Company, Year Released, etc. All DOS games listed on this site are freely distributable because they are shareware, freeware, or because the copyright holder has officially and legally released all rights to the public domain.

5. Good Old Games – This site specializes at re-releasing classic commercial games for modern PCs at reasonable prices. Their selection includes many popular DOS-based games that are packaged with DOSBox for a seamless game experience on Windows Vista and XP. If your looking for a commercial game that has not been released as freeware, this may be the best place to look for it.

6. Abandonia – As the title suggests, this site has a very collection of games that are under the category of “abandonware” or titles that are no longer sold /developed by the authors.

7. Home of the Underdogs – One of the most popular abandonware sites with reviews of over 5,300 games for DOS and Windows. Other than game binaries, the sites also offers manuals for a number of games that are no longer commercially available.

If you are still using an older version of Windows (like Windows XP or Vista), you don’t have to feel left behind because, with some simple tricks, you can enjoy all or part of what these Windows 7 themes have to offer.

Use Windows 7 Themes with XP and Vista

First, launch the official Windows 7 themes directory and download some of the themes you like to your Windows XP or Vista desktop.

These files have a unique .themepack extension which is just another zip format containing all of the elements of a theme including the background images, Aero glass colors, sounds, cursors, icons, screen savers, etc.

To use these files on an older version of Windows, you first need to extract them as only Windows 7 can natively understand the themepack format. You can either change the file extension of the Windows 7 theme file from .themepack to .cab and then extract the files with a right-click, or install the free 7-Zip utility as 7-Zip can automatically hand the themepack file format.

Once extracted, your theme files will now be in a new folder that has the same name as your original themepack.

Aero Glass Border and Desktop Backgrounds

Now that you have all the required files, its time to activate the Windows 7 theme on your non-Windows 7 computer.

If your computer is running Windows Vista that supports Aero, simply double-click the .theme file that is present in the them folder you just extracted.  This will set your windows border glass to the color of the Windows 7 theme and your wallpaper to the default background of the theme. However, this background picture will disappear when you reboot your computer, so you need to set that as a permanent background.

Windows XP does not support Aero glass, but you can still use the background images from downloaded Windows 7 theme on your XP desktop. You can find the backgrounds inside the themepack folder itself or in a sub-folder named DesktopBackground. Pick any image, right click on it, and select “Set as Desktop Background.”

Windows 7 like Desktop Slideshows for XP and Vista

Most Windows 7 themes consist of multiple background images and Windows 7 will automatically change your desktop background at periodic intervals using one of the images from the themepack. Windows Vista and XP do not support desktop slideshows, but you can easily bring that feature use the excellent and free John’s Background Switcher program.

To create a desktop slideshow, click the add button and choose “A folder on your computer.” Now select the Windows 7 theme folder that contains all the background images. The program allows lot of tweaking but you can skip that because the default settings are very similar to what you need for simulating Windows 7 behavior on your XP or Vista computer.

However, John’s Background Switcher by default shows the name of the image in the top right hand corner of the picture.  To remove this, click the “More…” button that has a gear icon on it.  Uncheck the box beside the 3rd entry which says “Show picture info on the top-right corner of the screen.”  Now click Ok, and then click Ok in the main window, and your desktop slideshow is all ready.

For RSS-enabled Windows 7 Themes

Some Windows 7 themes download images from the internet (via RSS feeds) when switching desktop backgrounds.

To know if the theme you are looking to port on your Vista or XP computer uses RSS or not, open the .theme file in a text editor like Notepad. Then search for the string “RssFeed” without the quotes. If you find that string, copy the link address of the RSS feed and, you can then use the “RSS photo feed” option in John’s Background Switcher program to create an RSS powered desktop slideshow on your XP or Vista machines.

Windows 7 Sounds, Cursor, Screensavers, etc.

Most Windows 7 themes only contain a glass color and desktop backgrounds.  However, some may contain screensavers, sounds, cursors, and icons as well. The good part is that you can use the elements on your Vista / XP theme as well.

Sounds - You can copy the sound files (.wav) to the default media folder (C:\Windows\Media), and if you have set the Windows 7 theme in Windows Vista as described above, it will automatically these sounds.  Else, you will have to manually change your sounds from the Control Panel.

Icons - If the Windows 7 theme that you plan to use with XP or Vista contains a different set of desktop and system icons (.ico files), you may follow the directions below to apply them on your version of Windows:

• For Windows Vista – Right-click on the desktop, select Personalize and choose “Change Desktop Icons.”  Select the items you which to change, click “Change Icons,” and browse to the location of new icons that are part of the Windows 7 theme.
• For Windows XP – Right-click on the desktop, select Properties and choose "Customize Desktop" under the Desktop tab. Select the items you wish to change, click “Change Icon,” and browse to the location of the icons from your theme.

To change icons of individual programs, simply right-click on the program shortcut on your desktop, select Properties, and click the button that says "Change Icon" in the Shortcut tab. Browse to the location of the icon extract from the Windows 7 theme and select the one you want to apply.

Screensavers – For using a Windows 7 screensaver inside XP or Vista, just copy the relevant screensaver files (.scr) into your Windows system folder usually located at C:\Windows\System32.  Now, change your system screensaver using the usual method. Please remember that not all Windows 7 screensavers will work correctly on previous versions of Windows.

Cursors – You can copy the Windows 7 cursor files (.cur or .ani) to C:\Windows\Cursors on XP or Vista, and then apply the new set using the mouse settings under Control Panel. Use the [Control Panel\Cursors] of the .theme file (see example) to understand the default cursor mappings.

Outlined below are the four steps to get this done in a matter of minutes, provided you are in an Apache environment and can run PHP. If you’re not, these steps can easily be adaptable to other technologies.

Step 1: Set up a domain mirror

If your site lives at www.myawesomeblog.com, you’re going to want to set up a subdomain at mobile.myawesomeblog.com. You want to set up your subdomain as a “mirror” of your main site, meaning the subdomain is really just pointing to your existing site.

Step 2: Create global_prepend file

The next thing we’re going to do is a create a PHP file which will be automatically prepended to every page of our site. Call this file something like "global_prepend.php" and throw it at the root of your server:

This code uses a PHP function called ob_start() to read in your entire HTML source, run some rules on it, and then send the output to users’ web browsers… all in real time. The first "if" statement simply checks to see if the user is coming from our special “mobile” URL, and if so, runs seven replace statements on the code. Here’s what each line does:

1. Changes all URLs to “mobile”-ized URLs.
2. Strips all linefeeds, carriage returns, and tabs.
3. Trims multiple spaces down to one (HTML doesn’t recognize more than one space in a row).
4. Changes any anchored images with alt text to plain text anchors.
5. Strips all stylesheets, images, inline styles, scripts, and comments (including RDF).
6. Tells search engine robots not to index or crawl the mobile version of the site so as to not create duplicate listings.

Step 3: Create global_append file

Next, we need to create a tiny PHP file which will automatically get added to the end of every file on our site. This is the code that actually outputs the page to the browser. So the flow is like so: Suck code into buffer, siphon fat away, spit contents of buffer into browser.

The code for the global_append file is below. Call it something like "global_append.php" and throw it at the root of your server:

Step 4: Enable prepends and appends using .htaccess

If you don’t already have an .htaccess file at the root of your server, open up a new text file and add these lines to it:

php_value auto_prepend_file /localfilepath/global_prepend.php
php_value auto_append_file /localfilepath/global_append.php

Then save it to the root of your server with the filename ".htaccess". If you already have an .htaccess file, just add the above lines to it.

* Important Note: If you copy these two lines from your web browser, you might need to delete the carriage return and make your own. Sometimes a browser’s carriage return will cause your .htaccess file to fail (you’ll know immediately if it has failed because your site won’t come up).

Assuming your subdomain is live, you should now be able to hit your site in a web browser using the special mobile URL and see a nice, compact, imageless, styleless, scriptless version of your site. Good Luck !

Demo:

Directions:

Step 1: Add the below code where you wish the clock to appear on the page:

<script language="javascript" src="liveclock.js"></script>

Step 2: Inside the tag itself, throw in the following onLoad event handler, as follows:

<body onLoad="show_clock()">

Step 3: Finally, you have a big decision to make. This script requires one of the below two .js files to operate…which one to download depends on how you wish the script to display itself. The first .js file allows you to display not only the time, but date as well, while the later, just the time. There’s a 3k size difference between the two files, just so you know:

Download ONE of the following two files, and upload to the directory where your webpage resides (click on file, or click with shift key depressed in NS):

- liveclock.js (6k)
- liveclock_lite.js (3k)

Should you choose the later, make sure to change the reference in the code of Step 1 to correctly reference its name. Furthermore, both files require some editing inside to configure the clock’s style, which you can do through any text editor, such as Windows Notepad.

The Best Mobile Applications for Twitter

Now that’s one way to use Twitter from your mobile phone. You also have a wide variety of mobile apps for Twitter that not only offer a much better experience than Twitter’s mobile site but they also integrate with some of your phone functions like the built-in camera. Have a look!

1. Twitter Apps for BlackBerry

1a. OpenBreak – Originally known as TwitterBerry, OpenBreak is one of the most popular Twitter apps for BlackBerry. You can take a picture with your BlackBerry camera and directly post it to Twitter via TwitPic or yfrog using TwitterBerry.

The app will automatically recognize #hashtags in the tweets and a notification icon will show you the number of new messages in your Twitter timeline just like your BlackBerry displays notifications for unread emails or missed calls.

1b. UberTwitter – Another popular Twitter client for BlackBerry, UberTwitter is location-aware so it can automatically update your location based on the cell tower information even if your BlackBerry phone doesn’t support GPS (like Google Latitude). The latest beta of UberTwitter also includes support for Twitter Lists.

1c. Seesmic – With Seesmic, you can track all your saved searches and Twitter lists inside your BlackBerry phone. Just like most other BlackBerry apps, Seesmic can run in the background and notify you of new direct messages and @replies via the famililar notification icons.

2. Twitter Apps for Nokia Phones

2a. Tweets60 – As the name suggests, Tweets60 is a native Twitter client for Nokia S60 smartphones that is available in both free and pro versions. This application is primarily for users who just want to quickly update their own status on Twitter as well as follow what their other friends are saying on Twitter.

The pro version supports additional features like the ability to post images to TwitPic and follow search terms on Twitter.

2b. Gravity – Gravity is a hugely popular and powerful Twitter client for Nokia S60 smartphones. With Gravity, you can manage multiple Twitter accounts, save links from tweets to your delicious account, post pictures to any of the Twitter-friendly photo sharing site like TwitPic of YFrog and it obviously supports all the other Twitter functions like retweets, direct messages, favorites, etc.

You can download a 10-day trial version of Gravity from the Ovi Store.

2c. Snaptu – Snaptu is an all-in-one application that lets you manage your Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and even your Google Picasa account from the mobile phone. Snaptu’s Twitter application provides all the basic Twitter functionality – status updates, direct messages, @replies – while their Facebook component lets you update statuses and you can also read and write messages using Facebook email.

Snaptu works with any Java-enabled mobile phone including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola models.

3. Twitter Apps for Windows Mobile

3a. Tiny Twitter – This is a free Twitter application for Windows Mobile that provides all the basic Twitter functionality. One of the unique features in Tiny Twitter is that you can temporarily suspend a Twitter user so that his tweets won’t appear in your timeline though he would still remain in your follow list.

3b. PockeTwit – This is another popular Twitter client for Windows Mobile with support for multiple accounts. You can take a picture from your camera and post it directly to Twitter via PockeTwit. The application features a nice sliding interface so you can drag the tweets to the left to see all the actions that you can take on that tweet. PockeTwit is free and open-source.

3c. Twikini – The app integrates with Windows Media Player so you can tweet the name of the song that you are currently listening to. Twikini can shrink URLs using Bit.ly or TinyURL so you have more space for text and it also displays Twitpic images inline. If you have a GPS enabled mobile phone, you can also add your location to the tweet with Twikini. The app costs $4.95 though a 14-day trial is available for free.

4. Twitter Apps for Android Phones

4a. Twidroid – This is probably the most popular Twitter app for Android phones – the basic version is free but you’ll have to get the PRO version in case you want to manage multiple Twitter accounts from the same application.

Twidroid supports all features of Twitter including Twitter lists. You can shake your Android phone to fetch the latest tweets but this again requires the pro edition.

4b. Seesmic – With Seesmic for Android, you can capture photos or record videos and share them on directly Twitter via yFrog. The app will also let you share you current location on Twitter. You can configure Seemic to notify you with a custom ringtone (or a blinking light) when there’s a new @reply or direct message for you on Twitter.

5. Twitter Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch

5a. Tweetdeck – TweetDeck is a brilliant application that you may use to manage both Facebook and your multiple Twitter accounts from the iPhone or iPod Touch.

The app will automatically sync with TweetDeck Desktop so if you have created any custom search columns on the desktop, they’ll also become available inside the mobile app (and vice-versa). Just shake your iPhone to check if there are any new updates.

5b. Tweetie – This $3 app is one of the most popular Twitter client for iPhone with a very impressive UI. There’s an offline mode so you can do things like reading past tweets, following new people, replying to tweets, etc. even without a data connection. You also get a bookmarklet that lets you post links from Safari directly to Twitter via the Tweetie app.

5c. Twittelator – One of the unique features of Twittelator is that it lets you record and tweet both audio and video clips from your iPhone. You can even tweet the name of the song that’s currently playing on your iPhone. The basic version of Twittelator is available for free on the iTunes store.

5d. Echofon – This is light-weight Twitter client for the iPhone that is free and supports nearly all the basic function of Twitter. The $5 pro version of Echofon supports push notifications so you’ll get an alert when another Twitter user sends you a direct message or mentions you in his or her tweet.

Screenshots of Twitter Mobile Apps

More ways to use Twitter on mobile phones

If you can’t find a decent Twitter application for your mobile phone, you should check out Dabr. This is like an improved version of Twitter’s mobile site.

Dabr will display a more detailed profile of Twitter users so you can quickly decide whether or not to follow a particular user. It will auto-convert Twitpic and other picture URLs into thumbnails so you can view images directly in your Twitter timeline without having to click the click. And since Dabr is a mobile website, you can use it from just about any mobile phone, not just a smartphone.

Another option is email. Just associate your Twitter account with Posterous and then you’ll be able to post updates on Twitter by sending emails to twitter@posterous.com. Whatever you put in the email subject will be converted into your Twitter status.

This email to twitter option will be quite handy if your phone plan allows unlimited email but you need to pay for every extra byte that you download on the phone (lot of BlackBerry plans are like this).