Integrating Skype into Pidgin

After a long time obsessing over Google Talk, I am now slowly turning my attention to Pidgin. I was inspired to take a closer look at Pidgin after an excellent tutorial on Lifehacker and so now I am experimenting with my Google Talk contacts on the Pidgin platform to see how it goes.

But I was disheartened to see that out of all the IM networks that Pidgin supports, the one it didn’t support by default was Skype. So in the interests of trying to be more organized in my life, I went hunting to see if there was any kind of a plug-in based on the Skype API which allowed Pidgin to support Skype contacts.

And there is! The Skype API Plugin allows you to add your Skype contacts to your Pidgin application. But there are some drawbacks :

  • You can’t make phone calls through Pidgin. So this would only be suitable for Skype accounts which you use for instant messaging only.
  • For the moment, you need to also have the official Skype application on (which kind of defeats the purpose of integrating it into Pidgin in the first place). But the developer promises to fix this in future releases.
  • The plug-in imports EVERYTHING from your Skype list, including regular phone number contacts. This one actually forced me to uninstall the plug-in in the end as I have about 150 regular phone number contacts in my Skype app which were then imported into Pidgin. So this plug-in would be best for people who don’t use Skype for regular phone calls.

But if you only use Skype for instant messaging and you want to merge your contacts with your Pidgin contacts, then this is an excellent plug-in to install (it even shows the Skype contact’s icon). There’s even a Linux version.

Granted, it’s a pain in the rear to also need to have the Skype app open but I am hoping that in the future, new releases will take care of these minor irritants. In the meantime, you can hide the Skype app icon from the Windows system tray and pretend it’s not there.

If you’re a Skype and Pidgin fan, this is one plug-in to keep an eye on.



Total Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday

Mark your calendars folks! Next Wednesday, starting at around 8:43PM EST, a total lunar eclipse will occur over the Americas. The next one is not due until December 2010, so if the sky is clear, get your derrière up from your computer chair and head outside to observe this rare phenomenon.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the shadow of Earth. You might expect the Moon to grow even more ashen than usual, but in fact it transforms into an orb of vivid red.

Why red? That is the color of Earth’s shadow.

[Via NASA]



In To Africa … a Computer Geek in Lagos

By Lyle Bateman
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Its been too long since I wrote something for Geeks Are Sexy. I’ve been in a fairly non-geek period of my life recently, focusing on my stand-up comedy side rather than my techie side. In that spirit, I thought I might combine the two sides a bit with some (hopefully humourous) recollections of my life as a system administrator in Lagos, Nigeria from 1993-1998.

Continue reading ›

Tags: , ,

Turn webpages into iPod-friendly reading files

By Mark O’Neill

In case it isn’t glaringly obvious yet, I love my iPod. So I am always looking for ways to expand its use beyond just playing music. It is an excellent device for carrying your email address book, reading e-books and for consulting Wikipedia. But you can also apparently turn webpages into text files for iPod reading with iPodulator.

The only downside to this plan is that it doesn’t show any images on the page and you obviously can’t visit weblinks.   All the service does is takes a webpage and turns it into a text file which you can then read on your iPod screen.

All you need to do is visit the website and insert the URL of the webpage you want to convert.   It will then give you a page which looks like gibberish but in actual fact it looks perfectly fine when you see it on the iPod.    Save the page to your computer then transfer it to the “notes” section of your iPod.

There’s even a bookmarklet available which you can click on to instantly turn any page you’re on into iPod format.   Webmasters can also create iPod-friendly content which they can advertise on their site.

When you die, go out geek-style

By Mark O’Neill

My favourite Star Trek movie by far has to be The Wrath of Kahn.   Not only do we get a good story but we also get Spock selflessly sacrificing himself for the sake of the ship.   As the movie ends, Spock gets shot out of the Enterprise torpedo tubes in his coffin.    As a Scotsman, I especially liked Scotty with his bagpipes.

Now you can have a Spock death too.   OK, you won’t be able to save the USS Enterprise from Ricardo Montalban but at the very least, you can be buried in a Spock coffin.

No word though on whether you can also have a Vulcan burial robe to go with it.    Or whether it’s possible to be shot by torpedo tube onto unstable planets with homicidal Klingons on the loose.   Ah well, you can’t have everything.

New Indiana Jones movie trailer released

By Mark O’Neill

indianajones.pngThis was going to be a good movie year for geeks but there has been one major set-back to ruin the party. The new Star Trek movie has been delayed from a Christmas Day 2008 release to a May 2009 release. God dammit Bones!

But as usual, Indiana Jones rides to the rescue! A new trailer has been released for “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” which is still slated for a May premiere.

Despite being an old man, Harrison Ford still looks as good as ever, running about and crashing into truck windows.   Then he runs down to the post office to crack his whip at the evil postwoman who tries to scam him out of his pension check.

This is going to be a good installment to the Jones trilogy and as usual, it makes archaeology look downright sexy.

I am really disappointed in the delay of the Star Trek movie.   I don’t understand the logic of moving it to a time when it is competing against two other major movies – X Men Origins : Wolverine and Angels and Demons.

10 Reasons Why Bloggers Hate Blogging

So you’ve been blogging for a while but you’re starting to hate it? You thought you could make easy money and order a brand new 24″ iMac to replace your old Windows box in less than a month or two? Don’t wait for the south pole to melt, drop it, there are better things to do.

I came up with different statistical patterns observed through researches I’ve made on the subject and you might be suffering from the Bloginozia virus. It gets transmitted by either visiting Wal-Mart too frequently, or by falling into one or more of the following clinical observations:

Continue reading ›

Use F-Secure’s HealthCheck to Find Security Holes

In my last post, I urged readers to patch weak applications. How do you know which ones to patch? The hard way to do it would be to go through your program files and open each application, check the version, and then see if there is an updated version at the vendor’s website.

Or you can use F-Secure’s HealthCheck application here. It automatically enumerates your programs and tells you which ones are unsupported, out of date, insecure, and unpatched. When possible, it provides a way to fix the these apps too. Unfortunately, it only works on Windows hosts using Internet Explorer 6.x or later. After running the application, I realized that my version of Java was outdated. Being a security expert, I always religiously patch my apps, so I could have sworn it was already up to date. If you are surprised by the results you found after running the HealthCheck, let us know below, and Happy Patching!