How To Save Your Facebook “A Look Back” Video

Today, Facebook celebrated 10 years of its existence and because of this august occasion they have decided to set up a program which compiles a personalized video which they call “A Look Back” and what others have been simply calling a “Lookback.” The Lookback shows you a highlight reel of your Facebook life. If you’d like to check it out you can go to Facebook.com/lookback. (Sidenote: In 4 days I will be celebrating 8 years on Facebook. Woah!)

The only problem with the video is, cool as it is, I don’t necessarily want to drive everyone to my Facebook page in order to see the video and I would like to be able to keep a copy for myself. Luckily, someone on the interwebs figured it out so I thought I would share it you, my readers. Below you’ll find my video uploaded onto YouTube and instructions for downloading your own video using Google Chrome.

(Note: The video it downloads is NOT the HD version just the 480p. If you know how to force it to grab the HD one let me know and I can add the info in here.)

And now, the instructions for how to do it for yourself!

1. Open the link http://www.facebook.com/lookback
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+J to open the Console.
3. Copy the whole code at http://textuploader.com/14qr and paste into the Console then press Enter.
4. The Console dialog will gives you a link to the video for download.
5. Right click the link and select “Save Link As” to download and save it.
6. Do whatever you’d like with it! Upload it anywhere!
7. Enjoy 🙂

In case you’re wondering, according to TIME Magazine Tech I have wasted this much of my life on Facebook assuming I have spent an average of 37 minutes per day on it since I joined. (An average person spends 17 minutes per day so I just increased it a lot.)

ProTip: Carry A Lens Cleaning Cloth For Your Mobile Device’s Camera & Screen

Glasses cloths also known as lens cloths, we all have them especially those of us who wear glasses. These microfiber wonders clean smudges and fingerprints easier than any tissue, toilet paper, or your shirt. If you have a high-end pair of sunglasses they probably came with one of these. Heck, some sunglasses brands even give you a pouch for your glasses made of this material. But I keep a cloth on me pretty much always for a very different reason, my mobile device’s camera and screen.

I hate how my phone’s screen gets smudged up after a day or two of use.

How To Browse Image Based Subreddits Like A Bawse

Reddit is a wide and wonderful world full of many different sub-categorized areas referred to as “subreddits.” Many of these subreddits are heavily photo/image oriented and browsing them on reddit itself can sometimes be somewhat tedious especially if you’re not looking to have a discussion about the pictures and just want a quick dose of laughs or cool stuff or whatever is striking your fancy. But there is a better, simpler way for this kind of thing that, while not perfect, is highly effective.

I decided to write this because this past weekend I was out for dinner with a bunch of friends and when I was speaking with my friend Justin (aka @The_Jmoney on Twitter) he was amazed that he had never heard of it before. It was then I realized that even fellow tech & internet geeks don’t know about this trick so I figured it’d be best if I shared it with the world.

The solution is super simple (and works in mobile browsers too!):

2 Modern Necessities You Shouldn’t Allow Your Employer To Control

When we get a job these days our employers often offers us certain perks and privileges that come with our job. They might offer/give you a transit pass, a cell phone with service, a company car, a corporate credit card, and a laptop among other things. Of course, you’ll likely get a company email address within the first few minutes you start your job. All of those things sound great, right? They most certainly are however, two of them are things that you should never link to your personal life and let your employer control.

1. Your Email

The first of the two things is the email account. No, I’m not advocating telling your employer you’d rather not use the work email address they’ve assigned to you, that would be silly. What I am saying is that you have to watch what you use that work email address for. I recommend business communication that has to do with your employer and your job from your work email account only and I have a very good reason for it:

12 Tips For 21st Century Summer Music Festival Attendees: A Festival Survival Guide

VELD 2012 far back from Main Stage on Day 1

We in Toronto are in our first weeks of warm weather and with it comes the parade of summer music festivals. I don’t care what kind of music you’re into, for the purposes of this article they’re all the same.

I saw a bunch of similar posts from various outlets and while some of them, like Notable.ca’s “Festival Season Packing Must Haves,” are really great and super helpful there were still a few things I found to be missing so I decided it was time to write my own. Also, I have kept this as unisex as possible although some of these tips do not make for the most fashionable advice the point of this is utility not fashion.

1 . Set Specific Meeting Times/Places To Regroup:

There’s a strong likelihood you’re going to get separated from your friends over the course of the day/festival. Take a look at the festival schedule before you head out and decide on (a) time(s)/band(s) during which you’re going to definitely regroup. When you get to the festival try to scope out a good rally point relative to each time or band and see it in real life. Places that make great spots for this are – for example – a portapotty/bathroom area or one of the booths selling stuff. Don’t pick a tree or bush unless it is REALLY, REALLY distinctive because you’ll never all be able to find it again. Also, choose a spot where everyone who’s still left standing is going to rally at the end of the day. There will be a rush of people trying to leave the festival area as soon as it’s over so unless you have somewhere super pressing to be that night you’re better off hanging back and meeting up with your friends.

2. Bring Cash, ID, & Maybe Some Plastic But Leave Your Wallet At Home:

Unless you know for a certainty that they’re going to take plastic at the venue you’re attending I recommend bringing some cash. Don’t go crazy because you’re going to be quite disappointed if you misplace it but remember that there’s a strong likelihood of there being vendors who won’t take plastic and direct you to an ATM which has a long line up AND charges you an arm and a leg for the privilege of taking out some money.

I very highly doubt you’re going to need your pharmacy’s reward card and your movie theater membership while at a summer music festival so leave your wallet at home. You’ll be fine with the cash, a piece of ID like a license, and a credit and/or bank card. The lighter you travel, the better.

3. Wear Clothes With Lots Of POCKETS! (Like Cargo Shorts/Pants):

These trusty cargo shorts of mine have 6 pockets in the front and 2 in the back. 2 of the front pockets fasten with velcro and 2 have zippers…talk about secure!

The more pockets you have, the better. You generally don’t want to be toting a bag around with you all day and if you have clothes which have a whole bunch of pockets  you can stay organized and comfortable. The alternative is to be jumping up and down while wearing a backpack, it’s annoying to say the least! Also, it is unfortunate but some people are jerks and try to pickpocket at these kinds of events. Pants/shorts with pockets that close up are going to make it that much harder to become a target and they also make sure things won’t fall out in general.

4. Bring A Portable Backup Battery & USB Charger: 

Visiting A Border City? Watch Out! Your Phone Might “Cross The Border” Even If You Don’t!

A problem that people have been having with over the air transmissions since they first started using them is that they refuse to respect international boundaries. Be they radio waves, satellite signals, TV broadcasts, or cell phone signals/networks they just don’t seem to like the idea of abiding by the imaginary lines that humanity has drawn up on maps to indicate where one territory ends and another begins. This worked out quite well for many Canadians in the 1990s when they would be able to pick up American satellite TV signals using gray market boxes beyond American legal jurisdiction and the Canadian government would do next to nothing to stop it from happening because as far as they were concerned they Americans shouldn’t have been broadcasting their signal into Canada. Of course, the Americans had no control over how far that signal bled into Canada because if they could control it they definitely would have!

Today though, I’m referring to a different kind of situation, one that works out way less advantageously for Canadians and Americans alike as well as anyone else in any other country who is visiting a border city/area. The situation is cellular network signals bleeding from one country into another and causing one to roam even when you’re in your home country. I have seen it happen numerous times when in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada which I often end up visiting during the summer months. You’re walking along on vacation without a care in your mind and suddenly your phone notifies you of an incoming text message that look something like these:

“Roaming? I’m roaming?!?!” is probably your reaction when you unsuspectingly see this message appear on your phone’s screen. As your brain tries to process this new, strange, and unexpected information your mind races at what kind of Twilight Zone you just unwittingly dropped into. You’re sure you haven’t been drinking and heck, you don’t even have your passport on you! How can you possibly have crossed an international border without noticing? Not to worry, you haven’t done anything of the sort! You have just become victim of those darn radio waves not respecting human lines on a map. The first time it happened to me was when I was walking in the pedestrian skywalk between Niagara Fallsview Casino and the Hilton Hotel and Suites Niagara Falls/Fallsview.

Windows Mobility Center: A Useful Tool In Windows 7 I Just Recently ‘Discovered’

I use Windows 7 Home Premium on my laptop (which is my main computer) and like to think I am well versed in its workings. Friends and family are often amazed when I tell them about different shortcuts that I have been using in various incarnations of Windows for years and which I don’t even think about anymore. However, I am often astonished as to how many things there about the Windows OS (Operating System) that I simply didn’t know about and how much better of an experience they make my in my day-to-day use of the Windows OS.

One such thing I stumbled upon not too long ago was the “Windows Mobility Center” (pictured at the top) and it happened completely by accident. It occurred a little after I had written my post “How To Change The Network Adapter Priority In Windows 7” and I am sort of happy I learned about it afterward because if I had known about it before I never would have done the research for and written that first post. If you read that post, part of the root cause of why I had looked for a way to switch the adapter priority was because I was leaving my WiFi on all the time so I could leave the Bluetooth on all the time as well but I found it was slowing down my connection speed because my computer was preferring to use the WiFi connection over the hardline connection. Now that I found Windows Mobility Center the problem became pretty much completely irrelevant. Why? Well, as you can see in the top picture, the Windows Mobility Center gives a user easy one button access to turn WiFi on or off in its top right corner.