Finding Similar Images using Google’s Site Search

Google Images includes a handy “similar images” option that lets you quickly find other images on the Internet that appear visually similar to the one you are looking at. To give you an example, here’s a Google Search for images that are similar to a Time Magazine cover that had the picture of Mahatma.

If you are searching for “notebooks,” use Similar Images to quickly filter images that are either related to notebook computers or paper notebooks. This is also useful when you are trying to find the original source of an image or when you are looking for an exactly similar image but of a different dimension – see example.

Google has recently updated the Similar Images feature to include support for the site: operator as well. That means you now have an easy option to show only similar images that are available on a particular website or domain.
To get started, use the site: operator to find any specific picture on a site – like site:apple.com steve jobs. Then choose the “Similar Images” option with any of the images in the results to find all the other pictures on that site that are possibly similar.
Here’s a screencast video that shows how you may use the site: operator with similar images to find all the ‘official’ magazine covers that are available on the TIME website.

Easily Find the Serial Number of your Computer

You’ve got a problem with your computer, you call their technical support team and the person on the other side requires the machine’s serial number (also known as the Service Tag) before he can even log your request.
If you using a laptop computer, you can easily find the service tag by turning the machine upside but for desktops, especially the older models, the sticker that holds the service tag is often placed at a more harder-to-reach location.
There’s a alternate way to find the computer’s serial number without you having to slide beneath the table.
Open the command prompt (Start – > CMD) and type the following command:

wmic bios get serialnumber

Another command that will also print the model number (or make) of your computer is:

wmic csproduct get name, identifyingnumber 

The system model number can also be found using the System Information program available under All Programs – > Accessories – > System Tools.
The above commands should work on Windows 7, XP and Windows XP Pro machine as wmic.exe didn’t ship with the previous editions of Windows. Refer to this page to learn about all other system details that you can retrieve with the help of wmic.exe command.

Keep your Mobile Phone Safe at a Public Charging Station

This is not an uncommon problem. Your cell-phone is running out of battery, you need to make an urgent call but left the charger at home. What do you do next?
If you are at an airport or a shopping mall, it is not that big a problem because these places often have charging stations installed that can be used to charge the battery of almost any mobile phone. It doesn’t matter whether your phone requires a Micro-USB connector, a Mini-USB or a 2mm charger, the kiosk will have a suitable charging port for you.

Mobile charging stations are convenient but at the same time, there’s a level of security risk associate with them.
Security researchers have warned that public charging stations may be configured to upload malware on your phone and, at the same time, data can also be downloaded from the mobile phone while the battery is getting charged.

Keep your Phone Safe While Charging at a Public Kiosk

There are basically two ways to charge a mobile phone’s battery. You can either use a power cord that plugs directly into an electric outlet or you can use a USB based charger that draws power from a computer’s USB port. If a charging station internally uses the latter option, it may put your phone data at risk.
It is however relatively simple to keep your phone secure even while charging it at a public kiosk. Just remember to power off your phone completely before connecting it to the charging station and you should be safe.
The mobile charging stations installed at airports can be considered safe but the same may not always be true for other public kiosks that are operated by unknown people. If you have no option but to use such kiosks, do turn off the phone first.

A Simple Way to Protect Images from ‘Casual Copying’

If you don’t want other people to download images from your website, don’t put them online because – the way the web works – it is almost impossible to prevent someone from copying or saving your images.
However there’s one little trick that may discourage the less-technical people from casually copying, or even hot-linking, to your web images. To give you an example, try saving the following image to your computer using the standard “save as” option.

The “save picture” option under right-click is still available for the above image but instead of downloading the actual photograph, all it would save is a blank image. Also, the URL for the image (under Properties) would appear as some junk characters (it’s called a data URI) and thus would deter the non-techies from hotlinking to that image.
Here’s how you may implement something similar for your own images:
The standard embed code for an image looks something like this:

What you need to do is change the value of the src attribute to point to a blank image and then add a new style attribute to render the actual image. Also make sure that the value of the height and the width parameters are exactly the same as the actual image.

This is like overlaying a completely transparent screen over your photograph and anyone trying to save the image will end up downloading that screen instead of the image.
Obviously, there are simple workarounds to get around the above method. For instance, a copy of the full image will still be available in your browser’s cache. You may look at the HTML source or may even save the image using screen capture but again, these techniques may not always be known to the non-technical users of your website.

JPEG or PNG – Which Offers Better Image Quality?

ou can save an image in PNG, JPEG, GIF and dozen other formats. I have a detailed guide on choosing file formats for your images but if you still feeling confused, this slightly exaggerated comic courtesy Louis should help you pick the right file format.

Which File Format Should You Choose?

The help manual of a popular screen capture program offers the following suggestions
GIF format is limited to 256 colors and is a lossless compression file format, a common choice for use on the Web. GIF is a good choice for storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a small file size.
PNG format is a lossless compression file format, which makes it a common choice for use on the Web. PNG is a good choice for storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a small file size.
JPG format is a lossy compressed file format. This makes it useful for storing photographs at a smaller size than a BMP. JPG is a common choice for use on the Web because it is compressed. For storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a smaller file size, GIF or PNG are better choices because they are lossless.
George adds – “JPEGs are for photographs and realistic images. PNGs are for line art, text-heavy images, and images with few colors. GIFs are just fail.”