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asterisk posts

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Reveal the passwords behind the asterisks

Snadboy's Revelation
If you had a nickel for every time you've had to reset a password because you were used to logging in automatically were out of luck when you had to reinstall an application, we're betting you'd have at least a nickel by now.

Snadboy's Revelation is an unfortunately named application that makes recovering long forgotten passwords a snap. Sometimes. All you have to do is run the application and drag and drop a little target button over to an asterisked-out password. SnadBoy's Revelation will show what's hidden beneath those big black circles and let you copy the text to a clipboard.

Unfortunately, this won't work with all passwords. A lot of newer programs hide your passwords somewhere else, so those asterisks are really just place holders. For example, SnadBoy's revelation won't help you recover any website passwords stored in Firefox or Internet Explorer. But the application is still more than worth its price, considering it's free.

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Audio, Business, Utilities, Hardware, Open Source, VoIP

Asterisk 1.4 released

AsteriskAsterisk 1.4 is out for blood. Asterisk would like you to waddle toward the 1.4 release like a zombie, download it, then go rip your company PBX out of the wall, power cords and all and dash it upon the rocks below in the ravine. Asterisk is very cheap alternative to outdated and expensive systems for private branch exchange (PBX) telephone systems. The 1.4 release includes support for a unified messaging approach, where all your faxes, voice mail, and email messages show up in the same place. So all you PBX zombies go rip your phone system out of the wall and replace it with the open-source VoIP system that now even supports Jabber for you to message all your other zombie cohorts when there are donuts in the conference room. Delicious.

[Via InternetNews]

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Play Zork over the phone with Zasterisk

ZasteriskWhat do you get when you combine the Z-Machine text adventure engine with open source phone exchange system Asterisk? Zasterisk, a novel combination of voice recognition and text-to-speech that allows you to play Zork and other Infocom text adventures over the phone. Is this something anybody really needs? Well, duh, no. Is it pretty cool? Yes. However, I take no responsibility for the looks you're going to receive if you shout "attack baby hungus!" into your cell phone on a crowded train.

[Via Waxy.org]

Filed under: Audio, Business, Hardware, Macintosh, Linux, Office, Productivity, Open Source

Asterisk, the open source PBX

asterisk pbxI've been looking at Asterisk for a while, but didn't get into it because I just felt it was too complicated. Now that NerdVittles has posted up a complete, step-by-step how-to on installing and configuring Asterisk for the newbie. For those who don't know, Asterisk is a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) in software. It runs on Linux, BSD, and OS X and provides a wealth of phone options for your home or small business. Essentially a PBX is a private telephone switch, so making a digital version within *NIX allows you to completely control what happens to phone calls as they come in. Most important: Asterisk, being open source, has a ton of cool modules for use.

Whilel Asterisk can handle "normal" calls, it is particularly tuned to VoIP, and handles a wide variety of codecs. I like the features a small business would need, such as hold music, unlimited conference rooms, and a great voicemail system. There are even folks like iCAN that provide configured boxes for you. Another great example of open source at work.

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Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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