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indian hosting

2007-06-14T23:05:00.000+05:30

indian webhosting low price free domain

Types of hosting

2007-06-14T22:52:00.001+05:30

Internet hosting services can run Web servers; see Internet hosting services.

Hosting services limited to the Web:

Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.
Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. A shared website may be hosted with a reseller.
Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains, under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a provider. Resellers' accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server.
Virtual Dedicated Server: slicing up a server into virtual servers. each user feels like they're on their own dedicated server, but they're actually sharing a server with many other users. The users may have root access to their own virtual space.
Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. Another type of Dedicated hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full administrative access to the box, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated box.
Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing the user the modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The server is leased to the client.
Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and expensive type of the web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or changes.
Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization.

web hosting india 2

2007-06-14T22:51:00.001+05:30

Hosting reliability and uptime

Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim for a 99.9% uptime, but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment.

A popular claim from the popular hosting providers is '99% or 99.9% server uptime' but this often refers only to a server being powered on and doesn't account for network downtime. Real downtime can potentially be larger than the percentage guaranteed by the provider. Many providers tie uptime, and accessibility, into their own Service Level Agreement, or SLA. SLAs may or may not include refunds, or reduced costs if performance goals are not met. One must be extremely careful when selecting a new company and they should read all terms and conditions carefully. A potential customer should also check out the webhosting company's Acceptable Use Policy AUP in order to avoid potential cancellation of services due to activities that are considered a violation.

web hosting india

2007-06-14T22:49:00.000+05:30

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Webhosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.

Service scope

The scopes of hosting services vary widely. The most basic is webpage and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service for free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.

Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, and ASP.NET). These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is also required.

The host may also provide an interface control panel (e.g. cPanel, Hosting Controller, Plesk or others) for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other services like e-mail. Control panels and web interfaces have been causing some controversy lately as Web.com claims that it holds patent rights to the hosting technology with its 19 patents. Hostopia, a large wholesale host, recently purchased a license to use that technology from web.com for 10% of retail revenues^[1]. Web.com recently sued Go Daddy as well for similar patent infringement ^[2].

Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are commonly used by larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company. To find a web hosting company, there are searchable directories that can be used. One must be extremely careful when searching for a new company due to the fact that many of the people promoting service providers are actually affiliates and the reviews are biased.

few hr 4 my final exam’s-still blogging

2006-12-15T21:04:00.000+05:30

ohhh..!!

Dis z d peak time when all of my collageous r burnning their ass in book’s

but my god.. my addiction of blogging n surfing can’t let me do so..

wat i still hv to prep one more subject of “System analysis and design” …

hope after dis blog i do…!!

well ma xam is from 10.00 am tommorow n i don’t knw wat will happend in d paper..

well i m 100% sure i have to appear in the same exam next year

hahahaha..!!

Finally i am switching to paid domain

2006-11-24T18:45:00.000+05:30

A couple of months ago when i started this blog i dont have any plan to a buy paid domain for my blog but as i feel my readers, friends and some anonymous user like this blog so i move it from www.pankajkala.blogspot.com to www.pankajkala.com. I am adding two new section in this site.Personal development and Health i.e yoga and spirtuality. As i think whether you a geek/student/IT professional or have your own IT or any other business without personal development and health you cant grow more as if you with these 2 things you fill find change in yourself and your carrer.These two things affect you both personally and professionally.So just wait for these two section i hope you like it. Thanx for all your support and suggestions.

Run Linux and get money back on your new PC

2006-11-22T11:15:00.000+05:30

UK freelancer Dave Mitchell bought a new Dell laptop, replaced its copy of Windows with Linux - and got money back from Dell for never using the Microsoft OS. When he started [the computer] for the first time, he clicked the box that said "no" on the Windows licence agreement that asked him to agree to its terms. The text of this agreement states users can get a refund for the "unused products" on their new computer if they get in touch with the machine's manufacturer. He photo-documented the whole process, and wrote Dell a letter asking for his refund for the unused copy of Windows. Without argument or asking for the photos or the Windows install disc back, Dell sent Mitchell a refund for £55.23 (over 100 bucks). Mitchell said he was "pretty gob-smacked" it was so easy. — Gina Trapani

Flash Drive Problems

2006-11-22T11:10:00.000+05:30

Flash drives are ingenious little devices. Most people are catching on to the incredible ease of use of flash drives. Heck, I have one that boots up to my favorite linux security distribution. This allows me to run an entire operating system via USB. So, even if you had Windows on your computer, I could bypass that and boot to linux - if your computer had USB booting capability. But i digress. Flash memory is great until it bombs out on you. You may get messages saying that your drive isn’t recognized or it may do nothing. What are you to do? Flash drives use the FAT file system. This makes it very readable across many different operating systems. Sometimes that file system just gets whacked out. When this happens, you errors about the medium being unreadable. Sometimes, the master boot sector of your flash drive can get hosed. This will give you messages about the drive being unformatted or it won’t read the drive. You plug in your flash drive and your computer may not detect it as a drive. Some of the tools already on this blog will help you recover data off of your flash drive. If it’s a flash card from a camera, you could try this free photo recovery software.

6 Tools to Help You Recover Data

2006-11-22T10:42:00.000+05:30

I don’t think I have to say that data loss is everyone’s nightmare. At home, data loss could mean years worth of photos, videos, financials, and documents lost. In business, data loss means money out the window. Many times, however, you want to recover data, but you don’t want to pay the exorbitant fees that data recovery companies charge ($150-$250/hour). Let me introduce you to some free data recovery tools. 1. NTFS Reader - NTFS reader is a great little program that comes in a boot disk image. This allows you to boot from a floppy disk, read an NTFS partition, and copy the files to the floppy. This is probably the fastest way to get your files off of a non-booting NTFS partition.

2. Restoration - Restoration is a utility that allows you to recover items that were deleted out of your recycle bin. It is a very successful tool.

3. Boot Sector Recovery - Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting that boot sector back on track. This little utility simply does the job.

4. DIY DataRecovery - They have a great little repository of free utilities waiting for your perusal. DiskPatch is a great set of tools for repairing partitions, boot sectors and the like. iRecover helps recover lost data. Go check it out.

5. HDCopy - HDCopy allows you to make an exact copy of your drive. You can even push it over to another drive. Ever been stuck with too little space and you wanted to put all your stuff onto a new, huge drive? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

6. Recoverdm - Recoverdm allows you to recover disks with bad sectors. Now, having said that, it’s not for the faint of heart. You should be well versed to use this utility.

Remember, once data loss occurs, use that drive as little as possible. This keeps the sectors from being overwritten. Also, you don’t want to be turning the computer on or off, if possible. This will greatly increase your chances for recovering your valuable data.

You’re probably reading this because you have the time to do it yourself or you don’t have the money to purchase commercial data recovery software or services. Just remember, if this is your business and you have really critical data on your drive, it may be time to dig into your wallet. This is especially true if time is of the essence. Also, if your configuration involves RAID or complicated implementations, this also may be time to dish out the money.

Windows Live Hotspot Locator

2006-11-21T13:32:00.000+05:30

Windows Live Hotspot Locator of course locates hotspots. You just put in your country, state, city, and zip code. You also put the distance and the access fee either free, paid, or both. It works very nicely and you can view the results on a map as well.

5.5 Gen. iPod and iTunes 7

2006-11-17T12:44:00.000+05:30

Today at Apple's It's Showtime event, Apple revealed quite a bit of new stuff. To start off I'll talk a little about the 5.5 gen. iPod. The new iPod looks basically the same but it has a 60% brighter screen. The iPod also has longer battery life and new headphones. It will have gapless playback (which I think goes for all iPods as an update) and even text based search I'm really not to sure how this function works yet. iTunes 7 is now available and you can download full length movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, Flightplan, and many more. And get this, on the 5.5 gen. iPod you can now download games at $4.99 each such as Pac-man, Tetris, Bejeweled, and more. There are many other new things in iTunes 7 so got to the iTunes 7 overview page for more info.

DiscountClick Online Marketing Services

2006-11-17T12:35:00.000+05:30

DiscountClick is a service that helps you market your website. DiscountClick also helps you with SEO (search engine optimization) including placement in Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Netscape, Ask, and Altavista. They help you with text link advertising as well. DiscountClick has marketing charts, graphs, and keyword ranking results that find where you currently stand in all the major search engines. DiscountClick includes a Keyword Density Analyzer, Traffic Metrics, both Organic and Pay Per Click Traffic and Rank Reporting Utilities. Analyze URLs and perform effective on page SEO optimization for your website or your customers sites. They say they guarantee your satisfaction. DiscountClick charges as low as $50 a month for search engine promotion which wouldn't be too bad if you used it for a couple of months. So you might want to check this out if you'd like to get some hits to your site and get some good rankings in the top search engines.

Ask Ms. Dewey

2006-11-16T09:22:00.000+05:30

Tired of searching via Google and getting almost instant results? sick of getting info as speed as lightning? Got some time to waste around…than this is the perfect search engine for you:

Miss Dewey

It’s annoyingly slow and made completely from Flash, you may get ecited initially with the humor and most probably with Ms. Dewey herself, but other than that it’s all pointless.

Who is the real Miss Dewey?

In real life Miss Dewey is Janina Gavankar a classically trained pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist.

Gickr: Create animated Gifs

2006-11-15T18:02:00.000+05:30

Gickr is a service that allows you to create animated Gifs online. There are a couple ways that you can do it though. You can either search Flickr for pictures, use your Flickr account, or you can just upload images to Gickr and create your animated Gif. You can also choose from different sizes and speeds for your Gif. It's really easy to use and it's fun so try it out. Technorati Profile

Creative ads

2006-11-15T16:22:00.001+05:30

Link Alert the Firefox Extension

2006-11-15T14:47:00.000+05:30

Link Alert is a Firefox extension that puts a small little icon next to the cursor when you hover over a link. The little icon next to the cursor identifies what you're about to click on like a Word document or Zip file. It works for many different types of links including the following: new windows, secure sites, email links, javascript, word documents, excel spreadsheets, PDF files, Zip files, applications, text files, images, and RSS feeds. This comes in very handy and useful. Have fun!

2006-11-15T14:46:00.001+05:30

Many of you may have already seen this but this is the first picture of the Zune manufactured by Microsoft. The scroll wheel looking thing is just four buttons and it has an FM tuner and FM transmitter built in.

Vista Soft Drink

2006-11-15T14:44:00.000+05:30

Microsoft handed out these free Lemon-Lime Talking Rain sparkling water drinks to employees. The can has a Windows Vista logo on it and a web address for them to learn more about Vista. It seems that they're trying to build hype within the company also.

List of best free and open-source software

2006-11-15T13:58:00.000+05:30

I just thought I would share this great resource for the best free and open-source software for Windows and Mac. Both the Windows and Mac lists have many categories such as web browsing, IM, email, RSS readers and much more! Here is a quote from the site " Free and op en-source software is good for you and for the world. This is the best software that we know of. No adware, no spyware, just good software." Go to the site at Open Source Windows and Open Source Mac.

2006-11-09T22:38:00.000+05:30

I am busy with film festical for 3 days so cant post much but i try my level best and dont worry i write about my experience on my film blog.

Lose Weight Fast With an HP Digital Camera

2006-11-07T12:49:00.000+05:30

HP have launched a new range of Photosmart Digital Cameras that have a slimming feature so that you can make your subjects look lean at the press of a button. Here's a quick, easy and safe way to lose weight and look fit instantly. And you don't have to stop the calorie intake, just buy an HP Digital Camera. Like the Weight Loss clinic ads in newspapers, the camera's LCD screen will also show a before and after version of the picture before apply the effect permanently. The slimming level can be adjusted using the arrow keys. And not just slimming subjects - this camera can also be used for the reverse job - thin people can look healthier, atleast in photographs.

Dell Computers preloaded with Google Software

2006-11-07T12:45:00.000+05:30

Dell Laptops and Desktop Computers may soon be shipped preloaded with Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search. Google is in discussion with Dell that could result in Google paying the computer maker up to $1 billion to have its software factory-installed on new Dell PCs. Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search are among the items that could appear on new Dell machines. Dell UK already bundles Firefox with new Dell computers. Google already has a Personalized Google Dell Start Page. Computer users often don't switch from the pre-loaded programs after they boot up a new computer, making this a lucrative market. Source: Google: Factory installed from Dell? | Google may strike big deal with Dell

Recover Data from Scratched, Defective , or Damaged CD Discs

2006-11-07T11:30:00.000+05:30

CD-ROMs maybe the most popular choice for storing data especially among the home consumers but they are certainly not the most reliable backup medium. Some experts believe that the average life of a CD written with the standard CD burner is anywhere between two and five years while the factory burnt CDs have higher life. The life of CD's may also depend on other factors like the storage environment, surrounding temperature, humidity, multiple rewrites and how often the CD is accessed by you. CD disc can easily get damaged by finger scratches, dust, incorrect handling or if someone tries to label the CD with a pen on the shiny side. Whatever be the reasons for disc generation, it should be kept in mind that your CDs won't last forever. To see this for yourself, find an old CD that was bundled with the first Pentinum-I computer you bought in 1995. It might throw some unpleasant suprises. While the best [though impractical] way to remain safe is to keep testing your collection of CDs at frequent intervals or taking backup of CD's itself on other CDs or external hard-drives, the big question is what can you do if the data contained in an old CD suddenly becomes inaccessible ? You ejected the CD to clean it with a cotton cloth but unfortunately, those precious family photographs on the CD are still unreadable. Don't lose hope yet. If you are lucky, those important files in the corrupted CD can still be retrieved with some of these free data recovery software: Unstoppable Copier - Available for Windows and Linux, this free utility can copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data. Normally when your computer is unable to copy a file from a damaged disk it will abort and delete the portition of the file it has copied. This program however will continue to copy the file right to the end. Any data that is not recoverable after many retries is replaced with blanks. CD Check - detects and recovers damaged files on CD-ROMs. CDCheck can also be used to check the health of your existing working CDs to ensure that the data residing inside is safe. IsoBuster - It supports all CD and DVD formats. Isobuster has tons of data recovery features and the basic version is free of cost. Advice: If you notice a scratch on the surface of a CD or DVD, immediately duplicate that disc before inviting problems in future.

The Blogging Scholarship...when this will happen in india?

2006-11-05T13:23:00.000+05:30

My friend Paul is one of the 10 finalist for this scholarship.He have been chosen as a top ten finalist for a $5,000 blogging scholarship for college students. The final winner is chosen via an online voteI hope he will win the scholarship and wish him best of luck. I am just waiting for the day when this kind of things happen in India.

200+ extremely useful firefox extensions that save time and effort

2006-11-05T08:28:00.000+05:30

Advertising : I want to ...

block ads on webpages : Adblock
block ads on webpages : Adblock Plus
automatically update adblocker filters : Adblock Filterset.G Updater
block Flash ads/content : Flashblock
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Archive/History : I want to ...

create a log of browsing history : Slogger
see sites visited today/yesterday/2 days ago/etc : History Menu
see thumbnails of pages in session history : Reveal
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Blogging : I want to ...

blog about the current page : Performancing for Firefox
blog to Blogger service : BlogThis
blog to LiveJournal/etc : Deepest Sender
comment about the blog page : coComment
know when blog content is under Creative Commons license : mozCC
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Bookmarking : I want to ...

add a bookmark-here link in the bookmarks tree : Add Bookmark Here
bookmark at del.icio.us : Bookmark with Del.icio.us
bookmark at furl.net : Furl Tools
bypass/customize the add-bookmark dialog : OpenBook
edit bookmarks easily : Flat Bookmark Editing
search the bookmarks : Locate in Bookmark Folders
store and sync bookmarks online : Chipmark
store and sync bookmarks online : Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer
sync del.icio.us and Firefox bookmarks : Foxylicious
sync Firefox bookmarks on different computers : Bookmarks Synchronizer
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Chat : I want to ...

chat on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) : ChatZilla
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Clips/Notes/Scrapbook : I want to ...

save a webpage : ScrapBook
save clips from web pages : Clipmarks
write a note about a webpage : QuickNote
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Customizing/Editing Website Display : I want to ...

add/remove/change some features for sites : Aardvark
add/remove/change some features for sites : GreaseMonkey
customize a page and save as GreaseMonkey script : platypus
manage user styles for sites : Stylish
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Discover : I want to ...

discover new sites being recommended by others : StumbleUpon
see useful sites for pages geographically marked with ICBM/geo.position tags : GeoURL
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Downloading/Files/FTP : I want to ...

automatically save downloads to different directories : Download Sort
download all the links on a page (filter by type) : DownThemAll!
download/upload files using ftp : FireFTP
manage file downloads : FlashGot
open the download manager in another tab : Download Manager Tweak
see download speed in a statusbar : Download Statusbar
stop opening blank windows for downloads : Disable Targets For Downloads
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Email/Gmail/Webmail : I want to ...

be notified when new mail arrives at Gmail account : Gmail Notifier
email the entire webpage : Amazing webpage emailer
insert custom signature into emails : Signature
insert smiley icons in messages : Smiley Xtra
manage multiple Gmail accounts : Gmail Manager
treat plain text email address as link : text/plain
use different Gmail accounts in different tabs : CookiePie
use disposable email addresses : Create disposable email addresses
use Gmail for space : Gmail Space
use Yahoo Mail with AJAX support : AJAX Yahoo! Mail
use webmail when mailto: link is clicked : WebMailCompose
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Financial/Stocks : I want to ...

see prices in different currencies : ViewMyCurrency
see stock prices in a ticker : StockTicker
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Google : I want to ...

add more links to Google search; remove ads : CustomizeGoogle
display my Adsense earnings : Adsense Notifier
enhance Google search results with more links : CustomizeGoogle
search Google and use other Google services : Google Toolbar for Firefox
view an unavailable page via Google archive : Cacheout!
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Internet Explorer/Other Browsers : I want to ...

view an Internet-Explorer-only webpage in Firefox : IE Tab
view the same page in Firefox when it is open in Internet Explorer : FirefoxView
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Images/Graphics/Maps/Video : I want to ...

click on Google images thumbnail to get full image : Google Images Re-Linker
map an address; get directions : Map+
save background/un-save-able images on various sites : Backgroundimage Saver
save all the images/media on a page : Magpie
show ALT attribute in a popup bubble : Popup ALT Attribute
zoom in/out on an image : Image Zoom
save video of a URL in clipboard : Clipboard-Save-As
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Links : I want to ...

copy the anchor text of a link : Copy Link Name
copy the anchor text of a link : Copy Link Text(CoLT)
drag a link or picture and open it in a new tab : SuperDrag&Go
double click on plain text url to open it : Text Link
download/open all/selected links on a page : Linky
number the links and use the keyboard to navigate : numberedlinks
see small icons to show different link types (secured, pdf etc) : TargetAlert
select and open multiple links in one action : openselectedlinks
treat a plain text url as a link : Fetch Text URL
treat a plain text url as a link : Linkification
wrap long links that require side scroll : MR Tech Link Wrapper
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Managing Extensions : I want to ...

backup instaled extensions : Firefox Extension Backup Extension
edit extensions options from Tools menu : Options Menu
install and manage extensions locally : MR Tech Local Install
list installed extensions and themes : InfoLister
list installed extensions and themes : ListZilla
restart Firefox with one click : Restart Firefox
see updates available for extensions : Update Notifier
sort the extensions list : Slim Extension List
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Mouse : I want to ...

use mouse gestures (auto/history/tab scrollers etc) : All-in-One Gestures
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Music : I want to ...

control iTunes using Firefox : FoxyTunes
launch windows media player for embedded video : MediaPlayerConnectivity
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PDF : I want to ...

open PDF files in a new tab : PDF Download
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Passwords : I want to ...

bypass mandatory registration of username and password for sites : BugMeNot
create new different passwords for different sites : PasswordMaker
remember my username and passwords on sites : Always Remember Password
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Performance/Speed/Tuning : I want to ...

edit userChrome.css/userContent.css/user.js : chromEdit
edit/delete/move the menu items : Menu Editor
minimize Firefox to system tray : MinimizeToTray
see page loading progress bar : Fission
see page loading statistics in a statusbar : Extended Statusbar
make the stop and reload button act as one button : Stop-or-Reload Button
speed up Firefox : Fasterfox
use colorful menu icons : CuteMenus - Crystal SVG
use colorful menu icons : CuteMenus2
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Print : I want to ...

remove unwanted text/image block before printing a page : Nuke Anything Enhanced
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Privacy : I want to ...

add/edit cookies : Add N Edit Cookies
block phishing sites : NetcraftToolbar
clear everything after the browsing session : X (Paranoia) Mod 0.6.5
clear the cache with one click on the toolbar : Clear Cache Button
see where form information is being submitted : FormFox
surf the web without leaving a trace in my computer : Stealther
use multiple proxy sites to surf the web : SwitchProxy Tool
use multiple proxy sites to surf the web : xyzproxy
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Productivity : I want to ...

add a powerful multi-functional preference bar : PrefBar
add bookmarks to history to make auto-complete URL : AutoMarks
add more search engines to Firefox search box : Mycroft
automatically reload a page every few seconds : Reload Every
automatically show/close the sidebar with mouse motion : Optimoz Tweaks
create a tiny url : TinyUrl Creator
disable the install default countdown delay : MR Tech Disable XPI Install Delay
drag a link to a text area : DragToScroll
enhance search engine results with more information : BetterSearch
navigate up one folder level on a site : Uppity
open links/mailto with external applications : Launchy
remove content from pages permanently : Remove It Permanently
restore all open pages after a crash : Crash Recovery
restore the browser exactly as closed last time : SessionSaver
see all open tabs together on screen : Firefox Showcase
see date and day in the status bar : Statusbar Clock
see more search result/image entries on pages : repagination
smoothly scroll up/down the page : SmoothWheel
switch between multiple sidebard : All-In-One Sidebar
track time spent browsing / on a project : TimeTracker
use a calendar : Mozilla Calendar
use a sidebar to control multiple functions : All-in-One Sidebar
use keyboard to go to next page/previous page : NextPlease!
use the keyboard for more functions : mozless
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

RSS/Feeds/Livemarks : I want to ...

Add RSS feeds to web-based/desktop readers or reader extensions : LiveLines
read RSS feeds : Sage
read RSS feeds : Wizz RSS News Reader
reload all LiveMarks : Reliby
scroll LiveMarks feeds in a tickler : RSS Ticker
see newsfeeds/blogs raw xml with styles : Feedview
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Search : I want to ...

add search engines to context menu : ConQuery
automatically resize the search box for longer terms : Searchbar Autosizer
change the order of search engines : Search Engine Ordering
choose from a list of search engines : Groowe Search Toolbar
choose from a list of search engines : Hyperwords
delete a search plugin : SearchPluginHacks
preview thumbnails of search results in Google/Yahoo/etc : Cooliris Previews
preview thumbnails of search results in Google/Yahoo/etc : GooglePreview
search 1-25 custom chosen sites : Roll your Own Search for Firefox
search via contextmenu thru customized bookmark keywords : SmartSearch
Back to Top of the Page
Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Search Engine Optimization : I want to ...

see Alexa information, search engine backlinks for a page : SearchStatus
see Google Pagerank in statusbar : Google Pagerank Status
see information about the site : About This Site
see search engine link counts and ranks for the page : SEO Links
see search engine backlinks, analyze links, keyword density etc : SEOpen
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Security : I want to ...

allow javascript/java/plugins/etc only on trusted sites : NoScript
control more javascript options : JavaScript Options
see cookie information on page dialog : View Cookies
manage cookies : CookieCuller
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Tabs : I want to ...

add a close button on each tab : Tab X
change colors for different tabs : Colorful Tabs
duplicate a tab : Duplicate Tab
manage tabs (add/move/etc) : Tabbrowser Preferences
manage tabs (multiple links/duplicate/close same domain/etc ) : Tab Mix Plus
marks some tabs as permanent : PermaTabs
move to next/previous tab via keyboard : SwiftTabs
toggle the tab bar via chosen key : HideTabBar
use multiple tab rows : superT
undo/reopen the tab I just closed : Undoclosetab
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Text (Copy/Cut/Paste/Spell/Translate) : I want to ...

automatically copy the selected text to clipboard : AutoCopy
copy plain text (without formatting/html) : Copy Plain Text
fill web forms with name/address/email etc : Autofill
fill web forms with name/address/email etc : InFormEnter
find the meaning of selected word in a dictionary : DictionarySearch
find the meaning of selected word in a dictionary : Dictionary Tooltip
find the meaning of selected word from Google definitions : Inline Google Definitions
find the selected word with search plugins : Context Search
highlight a paragraph and navigate with keys : Paragrasp
highlight every instance of a word/phrase on the page : Context Highlight
increase/decrease/back-to-normal text size of the page : Text size toolbar
paste a url and load the page in one step : Paste and Go
resize text areas in forums : Resizeable Textarea
see all tabs in one window : Viamatic foXpose
spell check text in form fields : SpellBound
translate selected text using google translation service : gTranslate
write in WYSIWYG mode in a text area : Xinha Here!
Back to Top of the Page
Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Weather : I want to ...

see weather information : ForecastFox
see weather information (+ radar images) : Forecastfox Enhanced
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Web Development : I want to ...

change user agent for certain sites : User Agent Switcher
find the color code of a given pixel : ColorZilla
capture screenshots : ScreenGrab!
capture screenshots : Pearl Crescent Page Saver
check the validity of links on a page : LinkChecker
copy and format selected text/title/url : Copy URL+
debug ajax/css/html/javascript : FireBug
debug javascript : JavaScript Debugger
download an entire website : SpiderZilla
edit CSS stylesheet : EditCSS
find whois information of the site : domainFinder
inspect the DOM of HTML, XUL, and XML pages : DOM Inspector
inspect the selected element with DOM Inspector : InspectThis
measure pixel width with a ruler : MeasureIt
modify http/https headers and post parameters : Tamper Data
preview the Adsense ads that might be shown on a page : Adsense Preview
run automated tests on a site : TestGen4Web
see anchors on the page : Show Anchors
see color contrast page information : Colour Contrast Analyser
see cookie information for a page : View Cookies
see current page's heading structure in a sidebar : Document Map
see errors categorizxed by type : Console2
see GET and POST parmeters of the page : UrlParams
see how a page will look on mobile screen : Small Screen Rendering XPI
see http headers of a page : Header Monitor
see IP address of the site : ShowIP
see web development references in a sidebar : DevBoi
see Xpath information : XPather
simulate WAP browsing by viewing WML : wmlbrowser
test nightly versions of Firefox : Nightly Tester Tools
validate html : HTML Validator
view css styles; view html in another app; validate css/htmlWeb Developer
view page html source constructs directly on the page : X-Ray
view rendered source : View Source Chart
view source with an externall app : ViewSourceWith
write lorem ipsum content for test page : LoremIpsum Content Generator
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Suggestions/Corrections : Comment in blog : wordpress : I want a Firefox Extension to ...

Firefox-2 and Fedora-6

2006-10-31T18:29:00.003+05:30

If you hadn't already heard the oh-so-happy news, Firefox 2 has officially been released. Go now, and get the goodness for yourself. Seriously, stop what you're doing, and go download the awesomeness yourself. Right now.

Coming just days after the launch of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2 offers a refreshed user interface, anti-phishing protection, improvements to the built-in search feature, tabbed browsing changes, the ability to restore an interrupted session, better support for Web feeds, inline spell-checking, support for microsummaries and a number of other enhancements.

Upgrading seems to be pretty painless, and I'm honestly surprised by how few extension incompatibilities I've run across. In my personal installation, SessionSaver (who's functionality is now integrated into Firefox by default) and Reveal were the only ones that were angry and annoyed. I've never had so few extensions stop working after an upgrade, especially so soon after a major release.

Get Firefox 2

If you're still not sure, you can still take this puppy for a spin without having to install anything. As of this writing, v2.RC3 is the latest version of Firefox available at PortableApps.com, but the public release should be up there soon. In more obscure news, Fedora Core 6 (Zod), the latest version of the Community-driven and RedHat-sponsored Linux distribution has also just been released. According to a buddy of mine, who beta-tests and troubleshoots FC releases, remarked that FC6 is "very shiny." I'll probably be getting the install DVD from him in the next few days. Download information can be found at the Fedora Project website. If the jump from FC4 to FC5 is at all telling, Fedora users should be in for a real treat this time around.

Dell The Journey

2006-10-31T18:29:00.001+05:30

Screencasting: Screen Capture Software Review & Tricks

2006-10-31T14:48:00.000+05:30

Screencasting to help your mom is a handy guide to help you choose the right screen capture software on a Windows PC, Mac OS or Linux Platform. Screen Capture software are used to to capture screen video, grab scenes from dvd movies or even a playing screen saver. How often friends visit you to learn how to use email, how to search Google or how to install a software. Or how do you teach Outlook Express to your Mom who is sitting miles away. Just screencast it. Record your desktop computer activity with narration and share it as a video. Screencasting is a process of creating interactive demonstrations and software simulations. You take a series of screenshots of a running application. The software records your actions and instantly create a simulation or Screencast. The movies can be in a variety of formats like Standalone EXE, Macromedia Flash SWF, AVI format or the Windows Media Video (WMV) format or as streaming presentations from a website. You can even burn the simulations / demonstrations on a CD for mailing them to your Mom. Screencasts can be used for describing software projects, reporting bugs, and explaining interactions. Just as a screenshot is a picture of a user's screen, a screencast is essentially a movie of what a user sees on his monitor. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, a movie is worth a thousand pictures. Creating a screencast helps software developers show off their work. It is a useful skill for ordinary software users as well, to help report bugs (the movie takes the place of potentially unclear written explanations) or to show others how a given task is accomplished in a specific software environment.

»Macromedia Captivate - Earlier Macromedia acquired RoboDemo and reintroduced it as Macromedia Captivate. Captivate can be easily integrated with other Macromedia Software (Macromedia Breeze, Director, Flash, Authorware), but works just fine in standalone form for those wanting to capture screen action and output it in another format. With Adobe acquiring Macromedia, Captivate 2.0 may acquire some powerful video editing capabilities from Premiere Pro. » Qarbon Viewlet Builder - [read detailed review] Qarbon patented the Screen Capture technology and call their flash movies as Viewlets which are basically .swf files. Qarbon seems to have the best Flash file compression algorithm around. However, another software called ViewletCam is required to enable moving screen captures. [Qarbon has discontinued ViewletBuilder for Mac] » TurboDemo - [read review] - TurboDemo is supported on Microsoft-Windows (95 and higher), Macintosh, UNIX and Linux. Their client are the who's who of the corporate America. Turbodemo projects can be exported to plain Text files, which are editable and can be imported back into Turbodemo. Excellent user support. » Techsmith Camtasia Studio 3.1 - [read review] From the developers of SnagIt, Camtasia is cheaper and much easier to use. It is essentially a desktop recording solution with the capability of Flash file export. Camtasia movies can be converted to a variety of media formats for use with standard flash plug-ins, Windows Media Player, Quicktime, Real Media etc. Camtasia is used even by Microsoft to create product demonstations. These software cost $149 to $499, which is more than most people want to spend for this purpose. Fortunately there are cheaper or even free alternatives available: » Windows Media Encoder - encodes other formats to WMV which can be progressively download and can even broadcast a live event from your webcam. Windows Media Encoder Tutorial. » Wink - It creates flash tutorials and can also reproduce the screens of the tutorials in a PDF file. » BB FlashBack - An effective screen record from BlueBerry Software. » Wincam 2000 - Record everything on the computer screen with easy to use frame-by-frame editing. » Demobuilder - [review of DemoBuilder] A very powerful software which can export to Flash and EXE files. » vnc2swf Screen Recorder - captures live motion of a screen through VNC protocol and converts it a Flash movie. Source code available. » WildPresenter 2.1 - Unlike competing Flash development products like Swish or Xtivity, WildPresenter is more than just a Flash Presentation tool. WildPresenter is a feature-intensive suite of useful products packed in one neat timeline-driven interface. » DemoStudio - GPL-licensed screen capture application for Microsoft Windows (open source). DemoStudio records by default to AVI format, but provides an excellent tool called DemoStudio Producer for converting these into Flash (SWF) files. » CamStudio- GPL-licensed screen capture application for Microsoft Windows (open source). CamStudio is a simple, straightforward program to record screen activity to AVI or SWF format. You can also record audio from your speakers or microphone. Rendersoft CamStudio was acquired by eHelp and incorporated into their RoboDemo software. CamStudio is also available on SourceForge. » Istanbul: GTK-based Open Source Istanbul for Linux has the simplest user interface you can imagine. Launching it displays an icon in the notification area that you click to start or stop recording your screen. Istanbul can stream video to an Icecast server or create a file using Ogg Theora, a free, efficient video codec. » Wink - Wink (not open source, but free for business or personal use) creates a compressed Flash file, which can be easily embedded in Web pages and is usually smaller than the Theora files created by Istanbul. Flash files are good for representing simple, schematic user interfaces, while the Theora video codec is often preferable if most of the screen is filled with changing or moving complex pictures.. » Screen Capture OCR - Kleptomania and CaptureText allow you to copy text from error messages, window dialogs preserving the formatting and layout. Read more about OCR Scan to convert hindi into editable text for magazines and newspapers. » Screencasting on a Mac - Use Snapz Pro X or create screencasts on an Apple Mac using free software tools like osxvnc, X11 and vnc2swf. Don't be confused by the Image Capture program found in the Applications directory of Mac OS X. Another program iMovie, bundled with Mac OS X, is a capable low-end video editor. Meredith prefers Screencasting over Podcasting: I think Podcasting is cool, but not for me. I'm a visual learner, so listening to my favorite bloggers takes more mental energy to absorb than reading their blog entries. When I click on a library tutorial see static pages of text, I rarely even bother to read it. When I see a movie that illustrates step-by-step how to accomplish the task, I am more likely to stay for the show. Screencast software are also being used for debugging software problems. Software Tutorials and Traning software companies like TotalTraining.com, lynda.com and vtc.com use Screen Capture Software create QuickTime video tutorials of software training and educational training. See some sample videos for learning Macromedia Captivate. Which simulation software is best for you ? Here are some comparisons by actual users of these simulation software: 1 .Qarbon ViewletBuilder vs. Techsmith Camtasia 2. Techsmith Camtasia vs. Macromedia Captivate 3. Macromedia Captivate vs. Qarbon Viewletbuilder Pro 4. Comparison of Macromedia Captivate with Robodemo 5. ScreenCasters - An exhaustive review of screencasting software based on output quality, file size, ease of use, and other basic issues. And if you cannot afford any of the commercial software, don't loose heart - you already have a tiny free screencast software on your PC - the little Print Screen Key in combination with the Alt To copy/capture the current window, hold down ALT + Print Scrn at the same time. To capture the entire screen, just press Print Scrn. Open a new document in MS Word, MS Photo Editor, or Adobe PhotoShop. Paste the screen shot choosing Edit->Paste or or pressing CTRL+V.

Dell recommends 2 GB of memory for Vista

2006-10-28T08:45:00.000+05:30

After Samsung, Dell is the second major company that tells its customers that Vista may need more system memory than what Microsoft is listing in its system requirements. According to a report in the Seattle Post Intelligencer (SPI), chief executive officer Kevin Rollins promoted an upgrade to 2 GB.

You may be used to the procedure of doubling your system memory every few years or so, when a new operating system is introduced. We have seen this tradition with Windows 95, when the memory went from 4 to 8 MB in the mainstream or more recently with Windows XP when most users went from 128 MB to 256 MB. Windows Vista won't make an exception, even if you are already running your XP with a comfortable 1 GB of RAM.

Ubuntuclips.org launched

2006-10-27T13:36:00.001+05:30

The goal of this site is to introduce new users to Ubuntu by way of short video clips that highlight Ubuntu's features and demonstrate how to complete common tasks. If you know of our have any clips that would help new users get started please submit them here. The site is sponsored by SFU's Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology.

Ubuntu now more popular than Mac OS X!

2006-10-27T13:26:00.000+05:30

Whats up everyone? I was just taking a look at Google Trends and I found out something interesting. Apparently Ubuntu Linux has not only surpassed its major competitor in Linux ( SuSE ) in popularity, as well as the distro it's based off of (Debian) , but it seems to have also surpassed another major competitor. Yes, that's right! Apple Computer's very own Mac OS X has also been defeated in popularity by Ubuntu! Check it out for yourself. Here is a screenshot I took not 15 minutes ago. The blue line you see shooting up to the sky there is Ubuntu itself, while Mac OS, SuSE and Debian seem to all hang around the same general level of popularity. I've purposely left Windows out of this graph because if added, all of these OS's crawl near the bottom of the graph in an almost flat line compared to Windows' wild lead. Just thought this was pretty cool! Free software is definetly making some serious progress.

Inside of Hard Drive

2006-10-27T13:04:00.001+05:30

Nice video to know internal mechanism of harddrive.

XBOX360 India

2006-10-27T12:30:00.001+05:30

Cool XBOX -360 video-Must watch

XP Users: Turn on ClearType!

2006-10-27T11:35:00.000+05:30

Run Windows XP and want to have the benefit of easier to read, less-jaggy fonts system-wide? Yeah, I thought so too. Right-click the desktop, select Properties, head over to the Appearance tab and click on the Effects button. In the window that opens up, check the second box that says Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts and select ClearType from the drop-down menu, then OK out of all windows.

Those steps will just enable ClearType on your system with the default settings. If you want to fine tune the appearance, download the ClearType Tuner from Microsoft and use its wizard. It can do things like adjust contrast and LCD screen striping.

After browsing around online on a friend’s computer I realized how horrible everything looks, my site included, without ClearType enabled.

Google Releases “Docs & Spreadsheets”

2006-10-27T11:34:00.001+05:30

Google has merged its separate Writely and spreadsheets web applications into Google Docs & Spreadsheets. The new service will further Google’s strength as an online office suite, currently competing with Zoho.

Intel Launches IT@Intel Blog

2006-10-27T11:33:00.001+05:30

Intel, the corporation responsible for your speedy Mac, has launched the IT@Intel Blog. It seems like all the big companies are catching on to this business blogging trend; I love it. A quick look around the blog will get you a page about the authors and there are some heavy hitters in there, including the director for the Platform Capability group and the manager for the Enterprise Collaboration & Engineer group at Intel. I have read the first few posts and if things keep up, it will be an interesting blog to watch.

Rohit Bhargava, who handles some of Intel’s PR needs, has more on this as well as Intel’s partnership with Second Life. The IT@Intel blog isn’t Intel’s first foray into blogging, they actually run quite a few blogs and I can tell you there will be one more coming soon.

CNET TV Launches

2006-10-27T11:20:00.000+05:30

CNET has launched a new site dedicated to video clips for everything from news to reviews. Anyone familiar with CNET knows that they are no stranger to video. Nearly every product review is accompanied with a short video review. CNET decided to take this familiarity with video and sprout an entirely new site.

As with all CNET ventures, CNET TV is new user friendly. Videos have RSS feeds and users have the ability to download videos to their iPod. Currently the site is divided up into several channels: News on CNET, Gadgets & Gear, Tips & Tricks, Gaming, Car Tech, Shows, Movies & Music and Tech News. Each channel has a playlist of many clips, each averaging a couple of minutes in length.

I commend CNET for taking the initiative to create a site like this. Bringing video and TV to the web is inevitable and large media corporations are embracing is, such as CNN with their Pipeline. However, in some aspects CNET TV is just a glorified video podcast site and does not fully immerse the user as watching a TV does. Maybe they should have just named it CNET Vidcasts?

Fedora Core 6 Launched

2006-10-27T11:18:00.000+05:30

Linux users will be pleased to know that Redhat’s Fedora Project has unveiled Fedora Core 6 today. Due to the high traffic of the Redhat site today, downloading FC6 over BitTorrent is probably the fastest method. Fedora Core 6 features numerous improvements such as an AIGLX framework merged into Xorg, support for Intel-based Macs and a better installer. Update: Check out this FC6 review.

First HD-DVD laptops from Toshiba

2006-10-14T21:31:00.000+05:30

Toshiba will be first to market with a laptop capable of playing HD-DVDs, followed closely by Acer. The launch of Toshiba's Qosmio G30 computer in May will put the company ahead of other firms backing the HD-DVD format, having already released the first HD-DVD player last week. The Qosmio G30 will take advantage of its HD capability by including TV tuners for digital and analogue programmes and a high-definition multimedia interface to connect to other devices such as HD televisions. It will cost around $ 2,000. Acer's Aspire 9800 also includes a built-in TV tuner, as well as a DVI port to connect it to an HDTV. Acer will launch its laptop at the end of May. Toshiba had originally planned an April release for its first laptop fitted with a HD-DVD drive.

iPodulator Pro

2006-09-21T23:10:00.000+05:30

Your iPod rocks.Make it rock more.. Everybody loves their iPod. And now they will love it more. With iPodulator Pro 2, a Mac and PC software program, you can rock your 'Pod with more games, webpages straight off the 'net, and all your personal notes. iPodulator Pro 2 is also light on your wallet, coming in at the price of free. iPodulator Pro 2, can your iPod do this?

The Web, on Your iPod

The web offers unlimited content. The problem: you don't have unlimited time. Your iPod is always with you, and now you can bring the web along with it. iPodulator Pro 2 puts any website or RSS feed you name on your iPod in a text-only version. And it gets better. iPodulator Pro 2 can copy most of the links on webpages to your iPod, so when your reading a page on your iPod you have all the links there, ready for clicking. (RSS feed support limited, if it doesn't work use the website instead)

Your iPod is a Jukebox...and Now Arcade

The games on the iPod are fun and timeless. Parachute never fails to entertain, Brick is a timeless classic, Solitaire is guaranteed to help you pass the time, and the newest addition, music quiz, is a great laugh. But the Apple iPod is powerful thing, and the world's most popular MP3 player can do more than just play music. iPodulator Pro 2 has a top-notch catalog of text-based games, including trivia, choose your own adventure, madlibs, jokes, and more, all ready to be instantly transferred to your iPod. Games are powered by the excellent iPodArcade. Did we mention that the games catalog is ever-changing?

iPodulator Pro 2: iPod Notes Done Right

iPods have built-in support for notes, but they are never used. Why? Because creating and editing them is a major nuisance. Not anymore. With iPodulator Pro 2 you have instant access to all of your notes. Your notes created with iPodulator Pro 2 have absolutely no size limit. Paste an article into a note and read it on your iPod later when your on-the-go. Or type your shopping list into a note and have it instantly synced to your iPod. Create, edit, delete. Made easy with iPodulator Pro 2.

Keeping Up to Speed

Any websites or notes on your iPod will be updated automatically as long as iPodulator Pro 2 is on and your iPod is connected. Now your always in the know.

Bend the Rules

iPods usually have a size limit on text, but not anymore with iPodulator Pro 2. It will bend the rules and give you your text, in full.

Download iPodulator Pro 2 Now

A new way to test your bandwidth

2006-09-20T10:54:00.000+05:30

Applications that test bandwidth speeds have been around for years, but Speedtest.net takes the concept a step further.

The site allows you to select servers to ping from around the country on an interactive map and graphically displays connections as they travel with varying speeds along the way. It also lets you store results of tests for your computer and sort them by date, time, speed and distance.

Finally, Speedtest provides a simple way to share your results with others--taking the practice of monitoring bandwidth into the Web 2.0 realm.

GMail Hacks/Tips

2006-09-20T09:22:00.000+05:30

I’ve been using GMail since 2005 and have always thought it was the best email service. With the large amount of space it offers, and the amazing features the possibilities are endless. The filter feature is easily the best feature of GMail. You can use it for its purpose - to filter spam and other unwanted emails. Or use it in some unique ways such as bookmarking, and storing recipes. Here are some nifty hacks/tips that allow you to get the most out of your GMail account.

GMail based blog - Fix for it This is an awesome idea to allow you to blog via GMail. Who needs an SQL database when you can save your posts to GMail? .
Encrypt all GMail traffic
- This is just a simple tip allowing you to encrypt your whole session. When you go to GMail.com only the login is encrypted. When you go to GMail.com. At https://gmail.google.com the whole session is encrypted.
Make a GMail partition
- This is a simple yet brilliant idea to make use of that 2.7 gigs and counting of space GMail allows. This will create a new partition� in explorer. You can then save files/folders to your GMail account via the explorer interface. Create one simple filter so none of the files clutter up your inbox and you’re set. I believe this is against the GMail terms of service, but I’ve been using it for a while with no problems.
Linux on GMail
- This awesome hack allows you to have a Linux file system installed on your GMail account. It will give you basic *nix commands such as cp mv rm and ls. This is by far the neatest of all these.
Use GMail as notepad
- It’s such a simple yet effective idea. Using GMail’s ability to save drafts you can edit and save text just like notepad. There are actually more advantages to using GMail as a simple notepad such as spell check and the fact that you can access the documents from anywhere.
GMail skins
- Tired of the same old default GMail theme? Not anymore. Use this simple firefox plugin to change the color and basic layout of your GMail account.
GMail manager
- This firefox plugin allows you to manage multiple GMail accounts from firefox. It will give you basic stats about all your GMail accounts, and can check for new mail at a user defined interval.
GNotify
- This one is actually by Google. It’s a simple yet totally needed plugin. It tells you when you have mail with a very unobtrusive notify box in the lower right hand corner of your screen. It also opens a new tab in your browser with the email and subject already filled out when you click a mailto: link. This is a must have for people who depend on their email.
gDisk for Macintosh
- gDisk is a software that turns your GMail account into a portable hard drive so you can always have your important files accessible accross the Internet.
GTDGmail
- GTDGmail is a Firefox extension that integrates the highly effective methodology of “Getting Things Done”� into the popular email service Gmail.
Mp3 Player
- GMail actually comes built in with an mp3 player.
Gmail cryptography plugin
- FreeEnigma brings cryptography to webmail, with an ingenious set of free and open browser plug-ins that work with Yahoo, Gmail, and others. The plugins implement a version of GPG and scramble and de-scramble the text in your webmail before you send it and after you receive it.

Read Banned Books

2006-09-18T23:36:00.000+05:30

Its quite an irony that every year attempts are being made to ban/challenge several of the literary classics. Be it George Orwell's 1984 or J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, or Heller's Catch 22 or Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind - these books are being challenged/banned for several reasons (mostly stupid). And the primary reasons for being challenged/banned are::

Institutions (Schools/students/community etc.),
Initiator (Parents/Religious Organizations/Government etc)
Type (sex/adult content etc.)

For e.g. few of my favorite books being banned for stupid reasons are:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language

ALA (American Library Association) is celebrating 25th year of Banned Books Week (Sep 23-30, 2006) and Google Books has joined their hands to bring some of these banned books to people. Get the list of available banned books on Google Books here. Read ALA's president post in Google Blog | Learn more about the banned books here

iLounge Reviews the New iPod Nano

2006-09-18T23:27:00.000+05:30

iLounge was quick to snatch up the newest iPod Nanos and pump out a great review. It’s probably the most comprehensive iPod review ever published, with comparison pictures from every angle, pictures of the new software features as well as Nano accessories. The verdict: they love everything about the new Nano and have confidence that it is fairly scratch-resistant. If you still worry about scratches, a new Invisible Shield for the Nano should be in stock this Friday. Update: It seems like iLounge has been busy; they also reviewed the new iPod with video (the so-called 5.5G iPod).

FreeDel 2006, September 16-17,2006

2006-09-14T01:26:00.000+05:30

Freedel is back! This years event Freedel 2006 is jointly organized by the Indian Linux User's Group, Delhi Chapter (ILUG-Delhi), and the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The event will be held at the Bio-Informatics Centre, JNU Campus in New Delhi. Mark your dates now, on September 16 and 17, 2006 .

The focus this year is on FOSS in education. Getting schools, colleges and universities to start using FOSS. Not just to teach students, but also as part of the institutes infrastructure. Apart from educational institutes, the talks are also directed at the government, NGOs and small businesses.

Talks shedule http://freedel.in/talks.shtml Registration http://freedel.in/registration.shtml

The All New iPod Shuffle

2006-09-14T01:12:00.000+05:30

The world’s smallest digital music player and just $79, the 1GB iPod shuffle lets you wear up to 240 songs⁽¹⁾ on your sleeve. Or your lapel. Or your belt. Clip on iPod shuffle and wear it as a badge of musical devotion.

One size fits all

You know what they say about good things and small packages. But when something 1.62 inches long and about half an ounce holds up to 240 songs, “good” and “small” don’t quite cut it. Especially when you can listen to your music for up to 12 continuous hours.⁽²⁾ In fact, iPod shuffle just may be the biggest thing in small.

Ready to wear

Clip it to your coin pocket. Clip it to your bag. No matter where you clip your skip-free iPod shuffle, you’ll have instant access to music. And iPod shuffle’s anodized aluminum enclosure goes with absolutely everything. Put it on, turn it up, and turn some heads.

Top 15 Security/Hacking Tools & Utilities

2006-09-14T00:52:00.000+05:30

1. Nmap

I think everyone has heard of this one, recently evolved into the 4.x series.

Nmap (”Network Mapper”) is a free open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, although it works fine against single hosts. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. Nmap runs on most types of computers and both console and graphical versions are available. Nmap is free and open source.

Can be used by beginners (-sT) or by pros alike (–packet_trace). A very versatile tool, once you fully understand the results.

Get Nmap Here

2. Nessus Remote Security Scanner

Recently went closed source, but is still essentially free. Works with a client-server framework.

Nessus is the world’s most popular vulnerability scanner used in over 75,000 organizations world-wide. Many of the world’s largest organizations are realizing significant cost savings by using Nessus to audit business-critical enterprise devices and applications.

Get Nessus Here

3. John the Ripper

Yes, JTR 1.7 was recently released!

John the Ripper is a fast password cracker, currently available for many flavors of Unix (11 are officially supported, not counting different architectures), DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Its primary purpose is to detect weak Unix passwords. Besides several crypt(3) password hash types most commonly found on various Unix flavors, supported out of the box are Kerberos AFS and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 LM hashes, plus several more with contributed patches.

You can get JTR Here

4. Nikto

Nikto is an Open Source (GPL) web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web servers for multiple items, including over 3200 potentially dangerous files/CGIs, versions on over 625 servers, and version specific problems on over 230 servers. Scan items and plugins are frequently updated and can be automatically updated (if desired).

Nikto is a good CGI scanner, there are some other tools that go well with Nikto (focus on http fingerprinting or Google hacking/info gathering etc, another article for just those).

Get Nikto Here

5. SuperScan

Powerful TCP port scanner, pinger, resolver. SuperScan 4 is an update of the highly popular Windows port scanning tool, SuperScan.

If you need an alternative for nmap on Windows with a decent interface, I suggest you check this out, it’s pretty nice.

Get SuperScan Here

6. p0f

P0f v2 is a versatile passive OS fingerprinting tool. P0f can identify the operating system on:

- machines that connect to your box (SYN mode), - machines you connect to (SYN+ACK mode), - machine you cannot connect to (RST+ mode), - machines whose communications you can observe.

Basically it can fingerprint anything, just by listening, it doesn’t make ANY active connections to the target machine.

Get p0f Here

7. Ethereal

Ethereal is a GTK+-based network protocol analyzer, or sniffer, that lets you capture and interactively browse the contents of network frames. The goal of the project is to create a commercial-quality analyzer for Unix and to give Ethereal features that are missing from closed-source sniffers. Screenshot available here. Windows binaries available here.

Works great on both Linux and Windows (with a GUI), easy to use and can reconstruct TCP/IP Streams! Will do a tutorial on Ethereal later.

Get Ethereal Here

8. Yersinia

Yersinia is a network tool designed to take advantage of some weakeness in different Layer 2 protocols. It pretends to be a solid framework for analyzing and testing the deployed networks and systems. Currently, the following network protocols are implemented: Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), IEEE 802.1q, Inter-Switch Link Protocol (ISL), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP).

The best Layer 2 kit there is.

Get Yersinia Here

9. Eraser

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS. Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License.

An excellent tool for keeping your data really safe, if you’ve deleted it..make sure it’s really gone, you don’t want it hanging around to bite you in the ass.

Get Eraser Here.

10. PuTTY

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator. A must have for any h4×0r wanting to telnet or SSH from Windows without having to use the crappy default MS command line clients.

Get PuTTY Here.

11. LCP

Main purpose of LCP program is user account passwords auditing and recovery in Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Accounts information import, Passwords recovery, Brute force session distribution, Hashes computing.

A good free alternative to L0phtcrack.

LCP was briefly mentioned in our well read Rainbow Tables and RainbowCrack article.

Get LCP Here

12. Cain and Abel

My personal favourite for password cracking of any kind.

Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols. The program does not exploit any software vulnerabilities or bugs that could not be fixed with little effort.

Get Cain and Abel Here

13. Kismet

Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic.

A good wireless tool as long as your card supports rfmon (look for an orinocco gold).

Get Kismet Here

14. NetStumbler

Yes a decent wireless tool for Windows! Sadly not as powerful as it’s Linux counterparts, but it’s easy to use and has a nice interface, good for the basics of war-driving.

NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses:

Verify that your network is set up the way you intended.
Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.
Detect other networks that may be causing interference on your network.
Detect unauthorized “rogue” access points in your workplace.
Help aim directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links.
Use it recreationally for WarDriving.

Get NetStumbler Here

15. hping

To finish off, something a little more advanced if you want to test your TCP/IP packet monkey skills.

hping is a command-line oriented TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer. The interface is inspired to the ping unix command, but hping isn’t only able to send ICMP echo requests. It supports TCP, UDP, ICMP and RAW-IP protocols, has a traceroute mode, the ability to send files between a covered channel, and many other features.

Get hping HereYa I’ve stayed away from commercial products in this article, perhaps I’ll cover those another day.

Why Windows takes so long to shut down.

2006-09-12T16:11:00.000+05:30

We all have been there. It is 4:55 and you want to get out of work...But you want to make sure your system is shutdown for the night. You dutifully close all of your applications and start shutting down 5 minutes later it *finally* powers off It happens to more machines that it should. I decided to see what the problem might be. I searched google, forums, and newsgroups for an answer. The biggest culprit is a problem unloading the current users profile. This can happen when third party, or even Microsoft applications have not properly cleaned up when exiting. Windows will keep trying to unload the profile until Windows finally decides that it can't and should shutdown. Even if you find the application causing the problem - it may be impossible to do anything about it. This is why Microsoft released the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service This free utility automatically cleans up user profiles and prevents you from playing the timeout wait game. Once you run the setup wizard it will look like the installer did nothing. If you open up your services list (Click start, then run and type services.msc now click ok), you will see that a new service is running in the background:The idea of this program is to reclaim resources when a task is finished (memory, handles, etc). It accomplishes this by monitoring for users to log off and verifying that unused resources are reclaimed. This approach is superior as it works for any known reason that profiles do not unload and also will keep working to address new unknown issues. Now when you go to shutdown, logoff or restart it will happen within seconds. Instead of minutes.

Why windows takes so long to start up.

2006-09-12T16:03:00.000+05:30

Most of us have had a brand new computer at one time. It's a great feeling. You boot up windows and within 30 seconds you are surfing the net, checking your email, or playing your favorite game. 10 months down the road things aren't so nice anymore. You power up your computer and it seems to take forever to load. Even when you are careful about what you install it seems that each day it takes longer for it to boot. It's not your imagination - and there are a couple of good tips to keep your boot time short and sweet. As always - backup your system before you start any of this. If you make a mistake you might need to restore from backup 1. The prefetch cache The first tip I want to talk about is the windows prefetch. Windows XP has this feature that loads commonly used programs - at boot time. Here is how it works: Yesterday you used MS Word, and Duke Nukem 3D. Today you boot your system to check e-mail. It sees parts of these two programs in the prefetch folder and loads them into memory before windows completes the boot process. The benefit is faster application launch times. If you really wanted to use MS Word, it would pop up really quick when you double clicked on it. The problem is most people have been running windows for years, and the prefetch gets clogged with stuff that you almost never use. Windows takes forever to boot because it is prefetching a 1.0 copy of Napster, and you just want to check your email before you have to go to work. What can be done about it? Well there are a few things we can do to tweak the prefetch cache. One method is to disable it partially, and this can be done quite easily. Simply browse to the windows folder (Ex: C:\Windows) and under there you should see the prefetch folder. Go into the prefetch folder and delete all the files (Careful! It should look like this c:\windows\prefetch) And here is a screenshot of one if you still have questions The first thing to note is the next reboot will be slow. This is because windows needs to relearn the prefetch for system files. Subsequent boots will run much faster since the sludge of programs has been removed, and only new ones are in the cache. The trouble is that it will only help you for a while - until the prefetch gets clogged up again. We need to edit a registry key to tweak it. Open regedit and browse to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters Under this key you should see a value named: EnablePrefetcher It has 4 possible values: 0 - Disabled : The prefetch system is turned off. 1 - Application : The prefetch only caches applications. 2 - Boot : The prefetch only caches boot system files. 3 - All : The prefetch caches boot, and application files. We don't want to disable it entirely. This would actually make boot times *longer*. This is because this feature is also used to speed up the loading of boot files. That is why we are going to pick the number 2 option. It allows us to keep the advantage of caching system files, without continually clogging the system up with applications. Set the value to 2 and reboot. The 2nd time you boot it should boot much faster. Remember that the side effect is that launching individual applications once windows has loaded will now be slightly slower. 2. Hard drive fragmentation Over time your hard drive will become fragmented. An over simplified explanation of fragmentation is when your files and folders are not all stored in the same spot. For example lets say you had a large movie file. If it were fragmented the first 5 megabytes are at the beginning of the hard drive, and then next 5 are at the end. It takes longer for windows to read the file than it would if it were all in the same spot. The point is that if each file is stored in a linear fashion, and the drive does not have to move all over the place to read it - it will load faster. XP has a built-in defrag tool, and it is simple to run. Open "My Computer" right click on the boot drive, and go to properties. Now click on the tools tab. Click "Defragment Now" and the following window should appear: Before you click on the "Defragment" button you want to close all applications and be aware that it might take hours to complete. If you leave something running it might keep windows from completing the defragment operation. Click on the defragment button and you can walk away. Or you can watch it defrag your hard drive:3. Disconnected network drives I am using networked drives all the time. If you have ever put your machine on a network and connected to a shared drive, this can slow you down too. If you have a drive that is still mapped, but cannot be reached it will slow down windows during boot time. This is because windows will wait...wait...and wait some more for the remote server to respond. To clean these out open "My Computer" and go to the tools menu. Click on "Disconnect Network Drives" It will open a window that looks like this: 4. Spyware & Adware These can have a big impact on your start times. If your PC gets loaded with spyware, it spends a large portion of its boot time making sure those pesky programs are loaded and ready to throw popup adverts at you all day. To check and clean your system of spyware there are three free programs that I highly recommend: 1. Microsoft Windows Defender 2. Ad-Aware 3. SpyBot Search And destroy 5. File and Printer Sharing One other item that can significantly impact is the "File and Printer Sharing" feature within windows. Obviously, if you are sharing your printer, or folders you don't want to disable this - so this tip is not for you. If you never use it, then why waste your time waiting for it to load? Here is how to turn it off: Go into the control panel. Click on "Network Connections"Now right click on "Local Area Connection" and click on properties Uncheck the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks"Click OK, and reboot. That wraps up our windows startup optimization.

How to Remove Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications

2006-09-12T15:02:00.000+05:30

Windows genuine advantage notifications occur when your computer hasn't passed the validation test. The validation test can be failed due to being sold a pirated (non-genuine) copy of XP, or because you have changed your XP product key to a software-generated key. The failed validation installs three types of notifications on your computer: one on the log in screen, one log in timer, and one balloon. It also stops updates from Microsoft and disables your ability to install IE7 and Windows Media Player 11. This solution can get rid of all three notifications, even though you will still not be able to update. Unfortunately, you can only update if you buy a valid Microsoft product key again.

Steps

If you have only just installed Windows Genuine Advantage notifications, simply using the system restore function will remove the program. Then refuse to accept the GWA update next time Windows updates... otherwise, proceeed as detailed below.
Open System32 by either A or B of the following methods: a) Click "Start", "Run", then type-in "System32". Click "Okay" b) Find System32 manually by clicking "Start" > "My Computer" > "(X:)" (Replacing "X" with the drive letter of the host of Windows) > "Windows" > "System32".
In "System32", go to "Tools" > "Folder options" > click on the tab, "View" > Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types". Now you can begin...
Check to make sure the window that comes up has a full screen of various files. The files are in alphabetical order, which makes it easier to locate the specific file.
Find "WgaLogon.dll" and rename it "WgaLogon.dll.bak".create an empty copy of WgaLogon.dll:

Right click on a blank space in System32 and select "New" > "Text Document".
Leave the text document empty and label it "WgaLogon.dll". Press Enter (on your keyboard).
You may get a warning from the above step that says, "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?". Click "Yes" on this warning.

7. Be ready to complete the next two steps very quickly! Find "WgaTray.exe" in "System32" and delete it. You will then have 5 seconds to find "WgaTray.exe" in the Task Manager (the next step). 8. Immediately open Task Manager. You can do this by pressing the Ctrl, Shift, and Esc keys simultaneously or right clicking the Taskbar and selecting "Task Manager". Click on the process tab and end "WgaTray.exe". 9. Restart your computer once you have finished. All the notification messages should be gone.

Check out Blogmusik Before It’s Pulled off the Internet

2006-09-10T17:55:00.000+05:30

Blogmusik.net is a site that lets users search for songs and play them (streaming) immediately via a Flash player that looks like an iPod. Use does not require registration. However, if you create an account you can also save songs and create playlists. The library is quite extensive - I was listening to Eminem, R.E.M., Metallica and Frank Sinatra earlier this evening and it seemed to have just about everything I was searching for.

I have the feeling, based on the fact that there is absolutely no information about any licensing deal or even basic company information, that this is an unauthorized use of copyrighted material. ~~I suspect that the library is simply a very large music collection sitting on a server with a nice looking Flash UI tacked on.~~ See the comments below for additional information. It certainly is fun, but I can’t imagine it will be making the RIAA and its worldwide counterparts very happy. Enjoy it while it lasts.

The service has an associated blog here, and Myspace page here.

my upgrade from Pentium 4 to Pentium D

2006-09-09T17:09:00.000+05:30

After the launch of dual core 2 by intel i am planning to upgrade my machine just waiting for the right time and the right time is when i have enough money in my pocket to upgrade my P4 machine. So finally the day comes and i changed my whole machine except my old TVSE gold keyboard(becoz that is one who care of my fingers from last 3-4yrs).My new machine configuration is now with 2.66 dual core processor,865 intel main board(i want to buy the 9 series model but most of them are expensive and some dont support dual core),160GB SATA,DVD-RW,17" TFT Samsung,iball cabinet.This all cost me around Rs25,100.00 but sach kahu toh waat lag gayi i dont have a single penny in my wallet. my pc shadow on my old Hdd platter(eheh i dissect the hdd) my old dissected Hdd

Vista Beta 2 Download Available

2006-09-07T19:00:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has decided to offer Windows Vista Beta 2 (build 5384.4) to the public for free. I can only assume this is Microsoft’s way of letting everyone know that they have an actual working product and that progress is being made regardless of the delays. This is a great strategy to let people know what to expect in the next version as well as get a sneak peek of what they will be paying so much for. Screenshots show that the beta is of the Windows Vista “Ultimate” type. Microsoft seems to have a knack for releasing betas of upcoming software. Several weeks ago, the Microsoft Office 2007 Beta was released.

Microsoft mentioned last month that Vista will be offered in more flavors than the regular home and professional. There will actually be, get this, seven different kinds of Vistas: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, a Home Premium with MCE, Ultimate, Professional, Small Business and Enterprise Editions. You can find out about the differences between each type of Vista on Softpedia.

Life After Windows Vista

2006-09-07T18:37:00.001+05:30

Windows Vienna is the codename for the operating system that comes after Microsoft’s Windows Vista. I’m not yet sure why Microsoft is worrying about the OS after Vista, when Vista isn’t anywhere near getting out the door. This information comes from Neowin.net where they discuss how this info was discovered from famous Microsoft blogger, Robert Scoble. Apparently Scoble replied to a thread on Channel 9, an MSDN related site, regarding a Blackcomb video with the following: since this video was shot the codename for Blackcomb has indeed changed to Vienna. I haven’t gotten the story on this yet, though. Windows Vienna used to be codename Blackcomb. Microsoft is still remaining fairly secretive about Vienna and I don’t blame them. Vienna probably won’t come out until 2010. While Windows Vista is intended to be a technologies-based release, with some UI changes (in the form of the Aero set of technologies and guidelines), Vienna is targeted directly at revolutionizing the way we interact with our home and office PCs.

10 Things Every New Mac Owner Should Know

2006-09-07T17:57:00.001+05:30

This is a list of 10 things every first time Mac owner, particularly Mac Mini owner, should know about their new computer and operating system. This article should answer some burning questions, enlighten you about some features you did not know about OS X and just all around be helpful. 256 Won’t Cut It Upgrading to 512MB of DDR RAM is suggested and will get you off to using a Mac on the right foot while an upgrade to 1GB will really unleash some speed. More RAM means you can have more applications open at the same time and decreased boot times. I recommend 1GB for photoshop or other intensive application users. Any memory rated DDR333 or higher will suffice. If you can find one with a CAS latency of 2 or 2.5, get that over one with a CAS of 3. If you’re not sure to go Crucial’s Mac section should be just what the doctor ordered. No Need to Defrag Whenever a PC is acting sluggish the first thing you hear people ask is “Have you tried defragging the hard drive?” However, this is not the case with Macs. Based on the proven and reliable Unix architecture with a Mac OS Extended Journaled file system, you don’t have to worry about defragmenting your hard drive to boost access/reading/writing times; it is done for you automatically. (Technically, it is not being defragged but things are just put in their place with journaling) Whenever your mac detects that it is fairly idle or you attempt to use a heavily fragmented file, it will start fixing up your filesystem. This might explain some noises coming from your computer in the middle of the night (assuming you left it on). Closing Unresponsive Applications The Mac equivalent of CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up a system tasks profiler for force quitting unresponsive tasks is CMD-OPTION-ESC (or Windows-ALT-ESC if you are using a PC keyboard). Just select the frozen application and hit Force Quit. If a program is completely frozen, it will appear in red text. Where Did That Window Go? You will quickly learn that when you minimize your applications, they go to the dock. Specifically the items to the right of the bar in the dock menu are open finder windows or applications. This is similar to the area where minimized applications go in the windows task bar. Also, if a finder window is not minimized, but behind another open window you can bring it up by clicking on the finder icon in the dock. Updates You will want to occasionally check for updates from Apple by accessing the Apple menu and clicking on Software Update. I recommend heading over to Apple > System Preferences > Software Update and setting your Mac to automatically check for software updates weekly and download important updates in the background. System Profiler The System Profiler, accessible via Apple > About This Mac > More Info, is the one stop shop for finding out anything about your Mac. Similar to Windows XP’s Administrative tasks and Device Manager, the System Profiler is easy to navigate and offers you a plethora of system information from application versions to the MAC address of your ethernet card. Expose Apple introduced Expose to OS X to make your life easier, so go ahead and use it to your heart’s content. Go to Apple > System Preferences > Dashboard & Expose and play with some of the settings to make those menial tasks more convienient to execute. My favorite Expose tip is setting an active corner to open up Dashboard. One simple mouse movement and Dashboard launches. Login Items A major annoyance with some applications is that upon installation they will automatically set themselves to run when you boot your computer. For Windows XP, you would usually run msconfig to remedy this problem. However in OS X you can access a similar menu in Apple > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items. From here you can add, remove and hide items that launch when you login. Eject Optical Media This is probably only a problem for those that are using non-Apple keyboards, that lack a CD Eject key. Press and Hold F12 for 2 seconds to eject any CD or DVD. An alternate method is dragging the CD icon on the desktop to the trash. This will not delete it. You can also use the Command-E keystroke. Keyboard Shortcuts If saving time and being productive is the name of the game, then keyboard shortcuts are for you. The next time you are browsing around the menus of your favorite applications, take a glance at the right side of the menu to see if you find any shortcuts that can help you out. Here are a few to get you started. Command-? Mac Help Command-A Select All Command-C Copy Command-D Duplicates current item Command-E Ejects selected volume, media, or server Command-F Find Command-H Hide current application Command-I Opens Get Info dialog for selected item Command-J Toggles View Options Open & Closed Command-K Connect to server Command-L Creates Alias for selected item Command-M Minimize a Finder-folder to Dock Command-Option-M Save as above but minimizes all open Finder-folders Command-N Opens up new Finder window Command-O Opens selected item Command-Q Quits active application Command-V Paste Command-W Closes Finder-folder window Command-Option-W Same as above but closes all Finder-folders Command-X Cut Command-Z Undo Command-Del Moves selected item to Trash Command-Shift-A Opens the applications folder Command-Shift-N Creates a new folder in the selected workspace Command-Shift-Del Empty Trash Command-Tab Rotate through open applications and switch to highlighted app Command-~ Same as above but only flips through open windows in the selected application

Create Cool Apple iPod Ads with Your Photo

2006-09-04T13:32:00.000+05:30

Ever thought how Apple creates those impressive iPod People Advertisements as shown in this picture ? The very innovative Apple iPod commercials feature dark black silhouettes against bright-colored animated backgrounds. The people are shown in dancing postures holding and listening to the iPod with white earphones that stand out against the colored background and black silhouettes [download apple ad movie here] Now Jennifer has a very simple tutorial to convert your photograph into an iPod ad using Photoshop. The ad looks best when you are in an action pose like playing a game, dancing or even jogging. Today, Photojojo points to MacMerc which has even more detailed instructions and step-by-step guide for creating iPod people ads with your own pictures. This creates a better version of the iPod since it also shows how to create people shadows on the floor which give that 3D look to the iPod ad. And if you hate Photoshop or don't have the "advanced" skills, just send your picture to ipop my photo and they will "ipodify" it for a fee. The final results are very impressive and they also include the iPod with the white earbuds even if they were not part of your original photograph. Happy iPodding.

Download Mosquitotone: Teenage Repellent turns favorite Ringtone of Students

2006-09-04T13:00:00.000+05:30

Technology vs Teenagers - Who is winning ? Mosquito device sends out a high pitched irritating noise that can only be heard by young men as most people over 25 do not hear sound at this frequency range. The purpose of Mosquito is to prevent unwanted gatherings of youths and teenagers in shopping malls and around shops or chase them away. Not only shopkeepers, Railway companies have placed the device to discourage youths from spraying graffiti on trains and the walls of railway stations. When Compound Security System developed Mosquito, they would never have imagined that the device would actually help kids and teenagers in their classrooms. The sound emitted by the Mosquito Teens Repellant is now converted into a Cellphone Ringtone. Since adult teachers cannot hear the sound because it's too high-pitched, school children can receive text message alerts and incoming calls on their cell phones without the teacher knowing. Download Mosquito Ringtone | Mosquito Tone Mirror

Top tweaks for a very faster PC

2006-09-04T12:56:00.000+05:30

Follow the tips directly after a clean install of Windows XP Defrag the hard drive. Even if XP tells you that it does not need to, do it anyway. It has much tolerance for what "needs" to be done and what should be done. After all, if it was really efficient, there would be no need for you to read this page. Defrag again after installing your applications and games. After that, there should be little need to do it again for awhile unless you delete/uninstall/reinstall a lot of stuff. Read all steps here - Super Tweaks for Windows XP by Black Viper

Free tweaking tool for optimizing Windows system

2006-09-04T12:51:00.000+05:30

Fresh UI is a tool for configuring and optimizing Windows. It comes loaded with hundreds of useful hidden settings in Windows such as: customizing the User Interface (UI), optimizing system settings, optimizing hardware settings, customizing Windows application settings, control user environment with policies. Fresh UI is organized by section for easy navigation and completed with detail description for easy reference. Great tool! Fresh UI is organized by section for easy navigation and completed with detail descriptions for easy reference. Fresh UI: for Windows XP, 2000, Me, 98, 95, NT Download here

Connect Google Talk to AIM, MSN, & Yahoo

2006-09-04T09:11:00.000+05:30

Google has opened up their Google Talk servers for federation with other Jabber servers, you can use Google Talk to connect to your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo or ICQ. Here's how, step-by-step with screenshots. First, download and install the free Jabber client called Psi. It's a fine Jabber client, and you might want to keep it, but you won't need to once you've set everything up. The Psi wiki has a great step-by-step for connecting to Google Talk. Follow their instructions and you'll be able to see your Google Talk contacts. Next, go to Service Discovery and browse the Jabber server ursine.ca and you'll see the transports available. Click on a transport and Psi will gather data. Right-click on a transport to register. Registration involves entering your username and password for the given IM network. Once you do, Psi will connect to that network and retrieve your contacts. You can also add new contacts. Once I had "registered" each of my IM accounts, I had a lot of system messages. Basically it asked me to confirm that I wanted to add each of these contacts. Once I did, they showed up in my Psi contact list. Once you've done so, you can chat with your friends on AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN -- all using Google Talk. You can also add contacts directly within Google Talk. Just use the format [screenname]@[transport.dns.name]. For example, to add my MSN/Hotmail screen name you would enter pankajkala@hotmail.ursine.ca What's the deal with ursine.ca? You can use any Jabber server you'd like -- you'll find a complete list here at www.jabber.org/network/ -- ursine.ca was just the server I used. This process works, although in my experience, the MSN transport has not been reliable. One of my friends reported an weird "echo" effect. Everything she typed was returned back to her as if from me (I saw none of her messages). I've also sent IMs to MSN contacts, only to have them immediately appear "offline." As with any of these kinds of hacks, your mileage may vary. But you've got to admit -- it is very cool to be able to use Google Talk as a universal IM client.

Windows XP Must-Haves

2006-09-04T00:02:00.000+05:30

I currently have a dual-boot Linux and Windows XP Professional . I use linux from last 2 year but I was a full-time Windows user for over a decade, so I will discuss some of the applications I have loaded on my new XP installation. Feel free to leave a comment at the end if I am missing some application you can’t live without.

XP Powertoys

Microsoft’s own Powertoys represents one of the few things I cannot live without on a fresh XP install. Powertoys are a collection of small yet helpful tools such as Image Resizer and Tweak UI .

The MCE Theme - XP Energy Blue 2

I was ecstatic when Microsoft released the theme that their Media Center Edition version of Windows uses, XP Energy Blue 2, as I can’t stand the default Windows XP theme. It features a slicker menubar with a seemingly Web 2.0 dual-color glare effect as well as a slightly retooled color scheme for Explorer. It makes the task of computing in Windows much more tolerable.

Adobe Acrobat Enterprise Edition

Everyone knows that the standard version of Adobe Acrobat is pretty much bloatware. It takes a long time to load when opening a PDF and can cause your system to feel like it’s 10 years old. Adobe realized that not everyone fully utilized the extraneous features of Acrobat so they released a lightweight version with the Enterprise Edition suffix. You can download the Enterprise Edition here. Alternatively, you can ditch Adobe’s offerings all together and opt for Foxit Software’s Foxit Reader. It promises to be a small and fast PDF viewer.

Image Editors

Not everyone can justify spending several hundred dollars on a professional image editing application such as Adobe Photoshop when all they want to do is occasionally crop something. There are two free alternatives: the GNU Image Manipulation Program and Paint.NET. If you are familiar with Microsoft Paint, you shouldn’t have much of a problem becoming familiar with Paint.NET’s interface. It is based upon the .NET architecture to provide for a more robust image editing experience. Some Paint.NET highlights include layer support and an unlimited history.

For those pursuing a more feature-rich application, GIMP is the way to go. The only downside to GIMP is that the menu system is nothing like Photoshop or Paint, so it definitely takes some getting used to. GIMP has a nifty feature for taking screenshots which can come in handy.

The capabilities of GIMP are up there with the current Photoshop, although slightly less. However, GIMP is open-source and free making it a massive bargain compared to Photoshop. If you just can’t get anything done in GIMP due to the foreign menus, Scott Moschella has taken the GIMP source code, made the menus more Photoshop-user friendly and released it as GIMPShop. Download GIMPShop for XP.

Productivity Apps

This probably goes without saying but Mozilla Firefox should be your browser of choice.Mozilla Thunderbird makes a great email client and Open Office is a fantastic open-source productivity suite.

As far as simple text editors go, the standard Notepad leaves much to be desired. Some great and free solutions include Notepad 2 and the spiffy Notepad ++. Both offer basic amenities such as line numbering and colored text. Notepad ++ is slightly more advanced with tabs, syntax highlighting and auto-completion. Either of these are fantastic upgrades for those that dabble in HTML all the way to advanced coders that want a simple and lightweight editor. Alternatively, if you like to do a lot of HTML and web coding, the Nvu web authoring suite is for you.

Spyware Removers/System Performance

Since we are talking about Windows here, you will need some form of protection and defense against spyware.Some of the more mainstream spyware removers include AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy and Microsoft AntiSpyware. CCleaner also helps speed up your system by getting rid of superfluous crap as they put it.

The standard defragmenter gets the job done, but it is bereft of features and uncanny. I prefer Power Defragmenter (freeware) or the full-scale Diskeeper application. Power Defragmenter provides a GUI for the Sysinternals defragmentation engine allowing for faster defrags, higher efficiency and increased ease of use.

After you have cleaned up your hard drive, start focusing on running applications and system resource hogs with Sysinternals’ Process Explorer. This application provides you with extensive information that the Task Manager can’t - The unique capabilities of Process Explorer make it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work.

Now it’s time to benchmark your computer to see if your tweaks have done anything. The SiSoft Sandra benchmarking suite is a great way to track system performance and compare it with other computers. Futuremark’s PCMark and 3DMark series of benchmarking applications are slowly becoming the industry standard. AquaMark used to be a great GPU-intensive benchmarking application, and still is, but their publisher isn’t in existence anymore.

Internet Utilities

I’m not one to web develop on my PC but when there comes a time that I need to edit something on my server, I use either WinSCP or FireFTP. Both are small and free FTP clients with FireFTP integrating into Firefox. WinSCP can handle SSH activities but when you really need a terminal, there is no replacement for Putty. WinSCP’s terminal is emulated but Putty’s terminal is the real deal - colors, tab-complete, etcetera.

The ChatZilla Firefox extension lets me hop onto IRC quickly and easily, but if I want a more feature-rich IRC environment it’s always been XChat or mIRC. My other messaging duties are done with Google Talk and Gaim. Gaim is a big step-up from AIM, boasting an ad-free IM client with support for several instant messaging protocols as well as tabs and chat logging.

When thinking about BitTorrent clients for Windows, several come to mind: Azureus, uTorrent, BitComet and BitLord. Azureus has all the features and extensive plugin support but is slowed down considerably by its use of the Java VM. uTorrent is quite the opposite with a lightweight application that doesn’t hog system resources. You can find out more about other BitTorrent clients with this detailed comparison chart on Wikipedia.

File Utilities

WinRAR with its support for folders, unlike WinZIP, is a well-needed upgrade from Windows XP’s compressed folders. UltraISO is also a nifty application strictly for dealing with ISO images. Great if I want to edit or add a file to an ISO image rapidly. WinISO doesn’t seem to have as many features as UltraISO but is still a solid application.

What Else

I know I am leaving some spaces open such as media players, but I would like to hear what you guys can’t live without on Windows. I know I am a big VLC and iTunes proponent when it comes to media.

Boot Camp Installation Tips

2006-09-03T23:23:00.000+05:30

Last night, I finally got Apple’s Boot Camp to work properly and dual-boot Windows XP SP2 Professional on my client Intel Mac Mini. I ran into a few problems at first so I’ll go through my whole experience so that the same things don’t happen to you. Overall, my only regret was not giving Windows enough space as I found out it runs pretty darn fast.

Boot Camp Preparation

Before you can attempt Boot Camp you need to update your firmware, as mentioned in the Boot Camp instructional pdf, from apple.com/support/downloads. After installing Boot Camp and flashing the firmware you are going to want to make sure you have sufficient storage space for Windows. Boot Camp won’t even install unless you have 10GB free. I have an 80GB hard drive in my client mini and attempted the Boot Camp process but was given several errors ranging from some files couldn’t be moved (prompting me to backup my client drive, reinstall OS X and restore) to disk errors requiring me to reboot with the OS X disc and perform a disk repair. Lots of Space Before Boot Camp can partition your hard drive to accomodate for Windows, it has to allocate that space by moving all of your OS X files scattered throughout the disk, into one portion of the hard drive. If your hard drive is filled and fragmented, this can be a very challenging task for Boot Camp and will likely result in a few errors the first time around. Here’s what you can do. Delete stuff you don’t need and have more than enough space for your OS X partition and Windows Partition. OS X partition had about 15GB free while the Windows partition was going to use 15GB total. If you really can’t find anything else to delete to make that space, turn to iTunes and look at your podcasts. I had subscribed to many video podcasts taking up gobs of space. I deleted a few, emptied the trash and had about 10 extra gigabytes. I would also recommend defragmenting your hard drive before attempting Boot Camp but that is not yet possible as the defragging application I use, iDefrag, isn’t yet compatible with Intel Macs. If I were able to defrag hard drive before Boot Camp, I would have likely gotten away with smaller partitions and had no errors. Close ALL Apps When you open Boot Camp for the first time there is a small warning saying that you should close all applications. Apple really means it. I thought I could get away with having Adium and Firefox open, but 10 minutes through partitioning hard drive I was given an error stating that some files couldn’t be moved as they were in use. So try to close everything, Quicksilver, Gmail Notifier, Safari, iTunes, things like that.

Windows XP Installation

Once the window above pops up, choose start installation after ensuring you have a working Windows XP SP2 Home or Pro disc with a cd-key, as well as the Macintosh drivers CD that Boot Camp prompted you to burn earlier.Insert the Windows disc and click Start Installation. NTFS versus FAT32 Everything should progress nicely with the Windows installation, I was surprised that even Bluetooth wireless keyboard worked fine during the installation. You don’t need to hit F6 to install any drivers, as is almost per usual with other PC motherboards utilizing non-chipset RAID or SATA controllers. After some of the menus and pressing F8 to agree with the installation terms, you will be given an ultimatum - use the NT filesystem or FAT32. There are some pros and cons for each so I’ll just make a little list.

Pros

FAT32: You can access your Windows partition from within OS X.
NTFS: Metadata support and overall speediness.

Cons

FAT32: It’s not as fast as NTFS and you can’t see OS X in Windows regardless.
NTFS: Can’t be accessed from within OS X.

I went with a FAT32 filesystem as I found the ability to access the Windows parition in OS X rather attractive. I’m usually in OS X so when I’ve been assigned a programming homework, I’ll download that file and place it on Windows drive, where all coding is done.

Another option you have is to perform a quick format or a full format. A full format takes much longer and 0’s out all of the data on the partition where as a quick format only erases the information on the TOC, or table of contents, at the beginning of the hard drive - not touching any physical data on the partition. If you have the time, a full format is safer and ensures disk health. A quick format relies on the new data overwriting the current data on the disk but this can sometimes cause system instability if it gets confused, which happens.

Done After XP booted for the first time, I put in the Mac drivers disc and let it install. Everything works fine, although Windows doesn’t know what to do with my iSight and the keypad on Apple wireless keyboard isn’t active. The coolest thing, however, is the boot loader. By default OS X will boot up, although this can be changed (look at the Boot Camp pdf). To select another OS, holding down the alt key upon boot, select the OS you wish to use for this session and hit enter. If you’ve attempted a Boot Camp install, leave a comment and let me know how it turned out.

Boot Camp’s nifty boot loader

Apple’s September 12th Surprise

2006-09-03T21:31:00.000+05:30

The past few weeks in the Apple community have been chockful of rumors that Apple will hold a special event next Tuesday, September 12th. What they are going to release then is anyone’s guess. However, the special event will almost certainly update some current Macs with the new Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom core) processor and even bring a new Mac as Apple Insider claims.

Apparently, Apple will introduce a massive 23 inch iMac powered by the dual-core mobile Merom chip. You can expect speeds of 2, 2.16 and 2.33GHz to be offered. On the Intel front, this year’s net income was a whopping 57% lower than expected and Intel might cut as many as 10,000 jobs soon.

As far as other Apple rumors are concerned, September 12th might bring the iTunes Movie Store that we’ve all been hearing about. However, if the price per movie is indeed in the neighborhood of $14.99 I won’t be using the service, especially if the movies are DRM-protected. Now if you are feeling ambitious, you can extrapolate that rumor to indicate that a new iPod should be introduced to play these movies.

Speaking of DRM, a recently released Python package dubbed QTFairUse can circumvent DRM in iTunes 6. However, QTFairUse shouldn’t be too much of a threat to Apple as it requires a fairly strong technical know-how to even get it running.

New Get a Mac Ads Hit the Web

2006-09-01T21:13:00.000+05:30

Apple has released three more viral advertisements into the wild. The first is entitled Accident and focuses on the magsafe feature in MacBooks. Angel/Devil shows what you can make with iPhoto while Trust Mac emphasizes how Macs aren’t as vulnerable to spyware as PCs.

Firefox 1.5.0.3 Fixes DoS Vulnerability

2006-09-01T21:11:00.000+05:30

Update your Firefox with the latest release from Mozilla, version 1.5.0.3. Firefox might even download the update itself and prompt you to restart the browser. This version fixes the widely discussed vulnerability that allows malicious code to, in theory, crash the browser.

Google Talk Update - Easy File Sharing

2006-09-01T19:03:00.000+05:30

Google has updated their homemade instant messaging client, Google Talk. The most important feature addition is what I’d like to call smart file sharing. You can drag-and-drop files or folders to share with contacts. For example, if you wanted to share a large picture with someone you can drag it into the chat window and it will send them a small preview. If they want to save the full-size of the picture, they can then click download originals.

It’s also important to note that the new GTalk executes file transfers with a direct connection to your contact’s computer whenever possible; leaving latency at a minimum. Other additions include voicemail which is great for leaving a message to an offline colleague. Download the latest version for your PC.