6th August 2001
Even though it's not Easter, I've got a couple of eggs for you to hunt down anyway. MSN Messenger is a favorite among emoticon lovers (since it has built-in graphics for many of them). While the Help system lists the various images, there is an undocumented one waiting to be set free; Jake gets the credit for unearthing it. When you enter (%) -- you'll see a little set of handcuffs. I'm curious as to what Microsoft is trying to tell us with this one. Not to be outdone, my favorite Notepad clone, Metapad, contains an interesting text conversion Easter Egg that will appeal to the 31337 H4ck3r (Elite Hacker) in you. Okay, so it's an extremely annoying way to communicate, but what better way to irk your friends than to send them an entire email written in cyberscript? Sometimes you just have to be different. Open Metapad, click Help | About, then double-click the icon. Gross! Okay, now select some text, go to Edit | Convert Selected, then click on the new (fir57 1i573d) option. Don't have Metapad? Search for it on GOOGLE.COM.