How to Add Google to Firefox in Linux Mint as Default Search Engine

By Eric Z Ma, Dec 12, 2015

In Firefox on Linux Mint, Google is not in the default list of search engines. Linux Mint has its criteria for adding search engines while Google seems not in those suggested by Linux Mint because “Amongst commercial search engines, only the ones which share with Linux Mint the revenue Linux Mint users generate for them are included by default” while Google seems not share revenue with Linux Mint. » Read more

Google PageRank Update 2011

By Eric Z Ma, Jul 13, 2013

Update 3: Fclose.com sees minor PageRank updates on November 8, 2011. For example, some tooles and some posts get PageRank of 3 from 0. Update: Confirmed that Google updates the PageRank in toolbar on November 8 2011. Update 2: Google updates the PageRank in toolbar on August 05 2011. Update 1: Google updates the PageRank in toolbar on July 18 2011. » Read more

Verifying WordPress Blogs with Google Webmasters

By Eric Z Ma, Feb 24, 2017

Note: this may not be working anymore with latest WordPress and Google Webmasters. Considering this as a historical reference. Google Webmasters gives two methods for verification: Meta tag and HTML file. The meta tag method can not be used for ones that do not have the permission to upload plugins. And usually theses users such as me on ericzqma.blogs.mu do not have the permission to upload files to the root directory either. » Read more

Using Google Apps Account for GTalk in Pidgin

By Eric Z Ma, Jul 21, 2013

I believe many users are using pidgin and google apps. Google apps support Google Talk. Can we use it in Pidgin? The answer is yes. How to use Google apps account for Google Talk in Pidgin will be introduced in this post. Let’s use my email address as the exapmle: eric[at]zhiqiangma.info First add a new account in Pidgin. The configure the new account like this: Basic Tab: Protocol: XMPP Username: eric (First half of Email address) Domain: zhiqiangma.com (Second half of Email address) Resource: gmail.comAdvanced Tab: Connect port: 5222 Connect server: talk.google.com File transfer proxies: proxy.eu.jabber.org » Read more

Sending Email from mailx Command in Linux Using Gmail’s SMTP

By Eric Z Ma, Mar 22, 2016

The heirloom mailx command in Linux is still providing service for guys like me, especially when we need to send email automatically by script. gmail is great. Now, how to use gmail’s smtp in mailx/mail? gmail is a little special since gmail’s smtp server requires tls authorization. The good news is that mailx supports it. Let’s look at how to use it. » Read more