How to Install telegram-cli in Ubuntu LTS (*.deb)

I’ve compiled an easy to install Ubuntu *.deb package for telegram-cli.

PART 1: List of telegram-cli DEB package binaries

  1. telegram-cli_1.0.6-1_amd64.deb

Install *.deb package by running this command (on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Trusty)

sudo apt-get -y install  libjansson4
sudo dpkg -i telegram-cli_1.0.6-1_amd64.deb

Running telegram-cli is as easy as typing

telegram-cli

PART 2: Running telegram-cli

For first time login, you may need to key in the authorization code, the code will be sent to your mobile device to allow ‘telegram-cli’ to log as your username.
Once the authorization CODE has been entered, you are free to use telegram. Telegram use the concept of ‘peer’ (contact) to send messages instead of phone number. So in order to get a list of your peer, you need to run “contact_list” command.

> contact_list
John_T_Doe
Jane_doe_2
Warrick_Brown
Mark_Nelson

To send message to a peer/contact (for example to Warrick Brown), just type

> msg Warrick_Brown "wassup, dude? want to hang out today?"

To quit, you can type

> safe_quit

Using a new Google API or Service? It might not last long…

I read an interesting analysis on the lifespan of some of the Google service and API that has been cancelled: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/mar/22/google-keep-services-closed

Based on the analysis at the time of the writing, Google service has a mean lifespan of 1,459 days.

An interesting point to ponder, especially if your applications/services depends on one or more Google services.

Screenshot below:
google-service

What to do when your Google disabled your Gmail account?

Recently I managed to get my gmail account disabled by Google. At first, I didn’t think that it would be a big deal since free email account can be registered every now and then, if it managed to get disabled/suspended.

gmail disabled

But…. It turns out I WAS WRONG.

See, when Google disabled a Gmail account, it also disabled all other accounts that associates with that account, including (but not limited to) :

  • Youtube (your videos will be inaccessible)
  • Blogger (all your blogs will be made inaccessible)
  • Google+
  • Google Play / Android Market (partially affects your Android phone and contacts, your paid apps will not be available)
  • Google Drive / Google Docs (you won’t be able to access your files /documents)
  • Google Code (loose access to your code repo)
  • And anything that is related to Google service

How does a Gmail account gets disabled ?

Officially Google states that each accounts holder must comply with Google Terms of Service.

Unofficially, there could be tons of reasons why Google disable a particular Google account, which includes:

  • Suspected partaking in spamming activity
  • Age factor (based on D.O.B data entered, those under 13yrs old aren’t allowed to use Google
  • Suspected using illegal credit card (in case of purchasing through Google Wallet or Google Pay)
  • When Google suspect that your account has been compromised
  • etc…

Anyway, they didn’t tell me exactly what I did and why they disabled my account (they tell me that they won’t disclose details to avoid their automated system from being compromised by hackers).

What they do is ask me when the last time I access my account, using which browser and what are the things that I do with my Google account recently before my account being disabled.

After that, within 24 hours, my account has been restored! So if you find yourselves in similar situation, then you should try get some help from Google Products (Gmail) forums. The people there are helpful, as long as you don’t get too emotional and push them too much.

Note that you should understands the Google Product Terms & Policy when you are using any Google Products. Because from what I’ve seen from the forum, there are also those who aren’t as lucky as I am, getting their accounts permanently disabled. Once it is permanently disabled, there are absolutely *ZERO* chances of recovering your precious data.

Be warned.

Mypapit GNU/Linux blog is now served with CloudFlare!

After long and careful consideration, I decided to enable CloudFlare for my blog.

CloudFlare is a content delivery network which aims to enhance website security and performance. CloudFlare CDN offers protection againts many forms of malicious activity including: spammers, email harvesters, SQL Injection, XSS, denial-of-service attack and suspicious web requests. Therefore saving valueable bandwidth from the web hosting machine.

My Personal Experience with CloudFlare
After a while using CloudFlare, I’ve notice that:

  • My site uses less bandwidth
  • The php-fcgi uses less (valueable RAM)
  • Less comment spam received from blogs
  • Site loads faster, not prone to being bogged down during peak hour

So far, so good, I love using CloudFlare…

Convert Audio files online with OggConvert.com!

OggConvert.com enables users to convert audio files to and from popular audio formats (MP3, OGG Vorbis, Flac, WMA, M4A, Wav) on-the-fly. The website feature a simple interface to accept input file and to provide feedback once the file has been converted.

Ogg Convert Logo

Best of all, it does not require registration!

Does anyone here still uses Java Applets?

When I was studying in the university (more than 10 years ago), I learn how to build and embed Java Applets on web pages using Java 1.0 (after that Java 1.2), the functionality is quite limited since there’s no default 3D support in Java yet. Compared to Flash (then Flash 3.0 during that time), Java Applet is more suitable for math and scientific application, generating graphs and kaleidoscope base on mathematical formula, and everything.

duke java logo

Heck, Netscape Navigator still rules the day during that time. But what about now? With the technology explosion, does anyone here still use Java Applets?