Quick GMAIL Tip from Mr. IT

If your GMAIL account is starting to reach its 7 or 8GB quota there are couple quick things you can do to fix that.  GMAIL has a lot of search options built in, and once you know what they are they become very helpful.  Here's a link to all the search keywords: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7190.  I'm only going to give you a couple related to finding large emails.

Ok first, GMAIL gives you a search field that is very useful (much like its Daddy google.com) for finding anything you are looking for, you just need to know what you are looking for.  If you know you have one person that always sends you huge files and forward, start your search with them, type their name into the search field and look for everything that comes up.  If you know its garbage and you've already seen it a million times, just delete it, don't be a Cyber PackRat.  But if possibly what the send you are files that you treasure and want on your computer but don't really need to access them via the web, open the emails and save the files to your PC. GMAIL even gives you an option to "Save All Attachments" for emails with multiple attachments. Save Attachments -> Delete Email -> Empty Trash then watch your percentage of used space go down.

Secondly, if its not that easy you will need to try one of the following searches:

1. has:attachment - this is the most general of the searches, not all attachments are space hoggers
2. filename:(avi OR mov OR mpg OR mpeg OR mp4) - this one will find any emails with video file attachments in your inbox. You can probably tell by the subject lines if you need hold on to any of these, so start checking the selection box and deleting, this will free up a lot of space
3. filename:(jpg OR jpeg OR png) - this search will find the emails that have pictures attached to them. Now if its just one or two pictures it probably won't be a big deal.  But if someone sent you 5 or more pictures attached to an email that can end up being a large email, especially since pictures now a days can average from 2-5MB a piece.  "Save All Attachments" then delete the email.  Or if its just one of those emails with a lot of pictures like "the people of Walmart" emails just delete it, its only funny the first time...
4. filename:(pdf OR doc OR xls OR ppt) - I didn't really do this one because most documents that are in my GMAIL are generally important, but this might help some of you out a lil.  You could also do a shorter version of this (filename:ppt) since often times people who send forwards have inspirational or silly forwards that have PowerPoint documents attached.  Remember Google also gives you a Google Docs account with your Google/GMAIL account, it might be helpful for you to click "View" under the document name and open then save it to your Google Docs account, that way you can just delete the email but the file is still saved to "the CLOUD" so that you can access it anywhere.

After you are done with those go to your Trash then click the link to "Empty Trash Now".  Now you have done some Spring (or whatever season it is) Cleaning and you inbox should feel much lighter already! I lost 20% when I did this and I generally delete a lot of forwards so I'm sure some of you will lose a lot more!

If this didn't help you, you could also activate IMAP in your GMAIL then set up your account in the desktop app on your machine (Outlook, Windows Mail, Outlook Express, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, etc..).  Go to Settings and make the changes you see below then go to GMAIL's instructions on how to set up IMAP mail in your mail client.

The Best Words is Now The Best of Both Worlds: Wordfeud Has Arrived for iOS

Finally it has arrived! WordFeud on iOS, so all my Android friends can delete Words with Friends and tell your iOS buddies to get the more superior game if they want to play a real mans version of Scabble.  As I said in my previous blogpost, Word(Feud) with Friends???, Words With Friends is cool, but the only benefit was cross-platform play, now there's nothing that makes this game worth having.  I don't know who half the people I'm playing against are on WWF because they don't have a profile picture, and shaking my phone like I'm about to roll dice at the craps table when I need to shuffle my letters while secretly playing words in a meeting just aint cool man...

The WordFeud developers site posted on April 5th that WordFeud had arrived to iOS, but I wonder why AndroidCentral, Boy Genius Report (BGR), or Engadget (the main tech sites that I check) didn't have anything mentioned, or did I miss it?  Someone on AndroidForums even meantioned that they didn't see a post about it.  All of those sites made a big deal about WWF becoming cross platform, but when it comes to WF which is a much better game they are all quiet.

Well Dear iOS Buddies, I am going to finish my 3 current games on WWF then delete it forever, come see me on WordFeud, you know the name, the name don't change!

Here's the post from the WordFeud Dev Site:
http://wordfeud.com/blog/2011/04/05/wordfeud-for-ios-is-here/

Wordfeud for iOS is here

by wordfeud on April 5th, 2011

After about four months of development, Wordfeud for iOS is finally out. A big thanks to everyone who helped with final beta testing.

It spent almost exactly one week waiting to be reviewed by the Apple people (which seems to be the norm these days). Thankfully, it was approved on the first attempt.

NaS - Street Disciple: A Throwback Hip-Hop Treat from 1999/2000 (Free Download)

Street Disciple not to be confused with Street's Disciple the Double CD released by NaS in 2004.  Street Disciple is a CD that my friend Deebo and I created in 2000 from tracks that were supposed to be release by NaS on his CDs I am and Nastradamus but didn't make it on the albums due to bootlegging.

Well Deebo and I felt like these were quality tracks and they deserved an album, so we created Street Disciple, NaS released an album called "Lost Tapes" 2 years later, which much like our album was filled with previously unreleased tracks and was an instant classic (like ours).

The name Street Disciple came from the verse NaS spit on the Main Source song "Live At the BBQ".

"Street's disciple my raps are trifle, I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle"

After coming up with the title, the next step was to pick the tracks that make the album then order them so that it felt like an actual album and not just a compilation of tracks.  We even had to name a few tracks that were untitled when we got them.  Once that was done, it was about designing a Nas-esque CD cover, but of course at that point all of his covers were just up close pictures of him.  So we released the first non-head shot NaS cd and gave the people a picture of him in the streets on the front and other images of him to show various personalities on the inside, cd label, and back. And like that a classic was created.

The download link is below the track listing, download and enjoy.  Leave comments on the blog if you like it.

1. Fetus (Belly Button Window)
2. Find Your Wealth
3. Blaze A 50
4. Hustlers & Killers
5. Livin' the Life (Freestyle Session)
6. Drunk By Myself
7. Everyday Thing (feat. Dr. Dre)
8. Day Dreamin', Stay Schemin'
9. Gotta Love It
10. Music Makes... (This Thug Calm Down)
11. Nature Shines (Interlude) (feat. Nature)
12. The Hardest Thing To Do...
13. Silent Murder
14. Sinful Living (Interlude)
15. Sometimes I Wonder
16. Poppa Was A Player (feat. Ron Isley)
17. Triple Treat (feat. Nature & Noreaga)
18. Wanna Play
19. Afterlife (Interlude)
20. Among Kings

Download Link: http://db.tt/Bz5ZR7EC

Hip-Hop Versus Crap

Check out my homeboy Johnny Walker Black, he has a few entries for the Ludacris Magnum Live Large Contest, if you like his flow then simply 'Like' the video.  Feel free to leave him some comments and what not.

http://www.youtube.com/user/hiphopversuscrap

Project 1


Project 2

Winning Can't Be Losing...Sheen Hop =Winning!

Honestly I've loved Charlie Sheen's roles in TV and movies from the beginning, and Two In A Half Men is hit! One of my favorite online DJs, DJ Steve Porter put together two great mixes for you.  The first one is a spoof off of his Street Hop with a great shout out to Allen Iverson, but the second one is excellent it feels like a full song just like when Street Hop came out.  Enjoy people.

SHEEN HOP



WINNING aka Trump Fires Charlie

Word(Feud) With Friends???

After a month and some change going by of Words With Friends (WWF) being on Android OS, I have concluded that I still like WordFeud (WF) better. WWF is a good game but in comparison to WF is lacking in so many departments. I'll break it down for you.

WWF Good (Compared to WF)

• Ability to play against iOS and Android friends
• Ability to play against iOS and Android friends (I listed this twice because it holds the most weight for now...)
• Beautiful Bright Interface
• Nice Sound Effects (if you are into that sort of thing, but for me I'm using playing it places I shouldn't be playing games and I prefer silence
• Tells you if a word is not a word a lot quicker than WF

WWF Downfalls (Compared to WF)

• Can't save opponents to a friends list so to have easy access to play them again later.
• Crashes, Force Closes, and Corrupts Games on Android OS. They have come out with several updates since the original launch so I'm sure at some point they will get this right. The quick fix is to uninstall and reinstall the game, which forces you to log back in with your username so that it can redownload your game information (or for the geeks go to Application Settings and clear cache and content).
• The button to Resign the game is on the main screen, so it can accidentally be hit
• Its cool that if you shake the phone it Shuffles your letters, but can I just get a button? I don't want to shake my phone a bunch of times while I'm attempting to figure out what words I can make from my letters.
• The Ads pop up after every word you play and the load a lot slower. So it seems to take longer to exit out of them
• Its too easy to make super ridiculous point words because the Special Blocks are closer together so like a 4 letter word can get Triple Letter and Triple word, opposed to you needing make a 5 letter word in WF
• Lack of options (Maybe that’s the former Blackberry User in me, but I like having options)
• Only 1 board. WF has a standard and random boards to play when you get tired of the same special tile placement
• The Chat function is a bit slower. But honestly the Chat function in WF is the best in the world, hit me on Twitter or GChat if u want to talk trash for real...lol
• I feel like there are a few other things that I didn't like about WWF compared to WF but I can't think about them right now. But if anyone else has any complaints leave it in the comments section. LOL

To sum that up WWF just seems be lacking and very buggy.

The WordFeud developers site posted this about a month ago, which pretty much means the slight upper hand that WWF had over WF will be taken away from them.

http://wordfeud.com/blog/2011/02/09/wordfeud-for-ios-sneak-peek/

Wordfeud for iOS sneak peek

by wordfeud on February 9th, 2011

Wordfeud for iOS is coming soon!

Wordfeud on iOS and Android - side by side

 Wordfeud for iOS

Update: WordFeud for iOS is now available check out this blog for more info: http://riprock81.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-words-is-now-best-of-both-worlds.html

Take Android Screenshots Without Being Rooted (via Android Central)

I tend to take screenshots and post them then people ask me "how did u do that?"

My only answer is "Root Root Root". LOL, but Rooting isn't for everyone so here's an article I found on the Android Central Tips & Tricks site for Screenshots for Non-Rooted users. I will say honestly its easy as pie once you are rooted, but once again being a SUPERUSER isn't for everyone.

Take Android screenshots without root | Android Central

Posted on Friday, Apr 2, 2010 by Jerry Hildenbrand

Hey everyone.  Here's a quick tip that often gets overlooked amidst the madness. Since everyone loves to show off their Android homescreen setup, Let's talk about how to do it if you're not rooted and not running a home replacement. This works for all devices regardless of any home customizations done by the handset maker. Hit the break to follow along.

The first step is setting up the SDK on your computer. We covered that for Windows users in-depth here, so we will touch briefly for you folks running a Mac or Linux.

• Make sure you download the correct sdk for your platform.
• Make sure you're up to date with the Java Run Time Envrionment from Sun.
• Mac users: Update this from the Apple menu, Ubuntu users sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre.

After you have the SDK all set up, the hard part's over.  Just follow along and you'll be taking screenshots in no time.

1.  Plug your phone into your computer and start up the ddms tool. On a Windows machine, you open your SDK\tools folder and double click the icon (see the picture below). On Linux or a Mac, open your terminal in the sdk/tools and enter ./ddms

The Android sdk\tools folder

2.  Make sure you select your device from the list in the right pane of the ddms application, then select device -> screen capture from the menu bar.  See the picture below.

The ddms utility window

3.  Grab your phone, set up the image you want to grab, and hit the refresh button (see the image below).  When you're satisfied with the results, click save and tell the ddms app where to save it.

The screen capture interface

And that's it!  All that's left is to hit the forums and share your screenshots with the world.

Wine Spotlight (February 2011)

I had a couple wines that I purchased from BWI Liquors in Hanover, MD that I figured I'd share with ya'll.  Both are sweet wines, probably enjoyed best with chicken, fish or seafood, not really made for a steak or a red/meat sauce pasta.  But I'm not wine connoisseur so ask the owner of the liquor store before you buy it or read the back of the bottle it might tell you a lil better than I can.

The first picture, the Cantamessa is a sweet red wine.  It was a little bubbly but very sweet.  Comparable to Jam Jar but had a better taste.

The bottle in the picture on the right made by the Four Cousins is a Natural Sweet White wine that was very good.  It tasted like a dessert.  This was my second time enjoying this wine. It has a great price on it but doesn't taste cheap at all.

I'm actually going to get a couple bottles, including both of the wines below, this evening.  My wine rack is completely empty.  Well it only holds 6 bottles at a time so as soon as its full it ends up empty after a few good meals.  Enjoy!

  

Old School Love Song that Goes Wrong...

When this song comes on it has a great feel, the beat takes you away to an island or somewhere relaxing.  The title of the song just screams about being in love.  Seems like a song you should play on your wedding day or something, right.  Wrong... Ok I can get past the singers loud moments of scream singing that remind me of Biggie's Player Hater song, but at about 1:30 this song just goes wrong for the first time of many times.  Its hilarious to me, dude is keeping it real.  I just think he could've used some other words instead of saying.

"I have never met someone like you, so unpretentious and so kind, All I want to do is be with your baby, and DO IT to you all the time"

LOL, make love, hold you, something a lil less bold would've kept the song loving and chill.  But I guess to each his own.  For me I cracked up everytime he told her just wants to be with her and DO IT to her all the time.

The song is still a nice song, but because of word choice his intentions are less subtle than R.Kelly's 12 Play.

Here's another Four Tops Song for your entrainment and amusement.  This joint had good intentions too, but its no way I'm going to be excited about a chick name Catfish, no matter what you try to tell me. LOL



"Catfish, makes my, nature rise"

My NFL Week 17 Picks & Playoff Predictions

My NFL Week 17 Picks 

& 

Playoff Predictions

Ok here we go with the quick rundown and just so you know my picks are submitted into a pool every week so I do think about my picks before I make them because at the end of the games I like to collect money.  I have only won once this year, but I've been amongst the people battling for the pot on Monday Night several times.  With that said he's the quick rundown.

Atlanta over Carolina: They are in Atlanta, yeah they lost to the Saints but the Saints are the Superbowl champs, who are the Panthers? Road Kill.

Pitt over Cleveland: This will be a tough matchup but I think the Steelers will have the most heart and the most to play for to pull this one out.

Minnesota over Detroit: This could be a close joint, but the Viks looked good last week if they can keep that going they should be able to win without any issues.

Oakland over KC: Oakland has been amazing against divisional opponents this year and they will be the first team to be undefeated in their division but not make the playoffs.

New England over Miami: The Dolphins can't beat the Patriots, unless they decide not to show up today because they got their #1 seed clinched.

New Orleans over Tampa Bay: this was a hard pick for me but I think the Saints will be able to pull this one out mainly because they are at home.  I have a feeling it will be down to the wire though...

NY Jets over Buffalo: The Jets know they need this to make the playoffs and I think they won't allow the Bills to come into NY and play the spoiler role.

Baltimore over Cincy: Cincy has played the Ravens hard in the past few years but I'm confident that the Ravens who are now aware that they have the best WR core, will run the Bengals out of town.

San Diego over Denver: Honestly I picked this because Rivers said its a privilege to play in the NFL and even though his team won't make the playoffs he's going to play today.  And because in one of my fantasy football leagues I'm in the championship with Rivers as my QB (I added Tebow on the bench to give Rivers some encouragement to do better, it worked for Aaron Rodgers in my other Championship I won last week).  

Green Bay over Chicago: The Packers at home will show the Bears why they were predicted to win the division before all of the injures and what not.  Aaron Rodgers has been amazing this year and he will show his talent today against the Bears to give his team playoff hopes.

Indy over Tennessee: The Titans stink and Indy knows if they lose this and the the Jags win, then they are out of the playoffs, its not going to happen.

Philly over Dallas: Vick will use this game as a bounce back game to prove to the people that have started to talk and doubt him based on last weeks performance that him and his young teammates can take this all the way.

San Francisco over Arizona: The Niners beat them in Arizona, I expect nothing less than that from them at home.  Plus I think this year every first game for the new coaches that take over teams, they have won, I expect this to continue for this last game of the season.

NY Giants over Washington: The Giants are an up and down team and have looked more down than anything lately, but I think they will win this game today but it won't be a blow out. I think it will be a game that has a difference of one score in the end.  The win will mean nothing because they still won't make it to the playoffs.

Houston over Jacksonville: If MJD isn't playing I don't think the Jaguars will have what it takes to beat Houston for the 2nd time this year.  They need this win and Indy to lose to make the playoffs, the chances of both happening are probably Vegas odds that could win someone their whole salary by betting just a weeks worth.  

Seattle over St. Louis: I'm only picking this because of home field advantage and as most people know the 12th man in Seattle has helped them win plenty of games.  On top of that the Rams have been horrible on the road this year.  But on the other hand if the Seahawks are smart they will throw this game so that they don't go down in history as the worst team to ever make the playoffs at 7-9, in my opinion.