<< Click here to Goto HomePage

     
     

Thursday, May 31, 2007

How to Speed Up your Windows Vista Performance easily - Use the in-build ReadyBoost


ReadyBoost is a simple way to speed up your Windows Vista by adding a USB Stick (or, in some machines, adding a SD Memory card). ReadyBoost works by caching portions of the pagefile on a USB Stick. It is a very well known fact that the Disk transfer rates exceed Flash Memory transfer rates. However, random reads from Flash can be as much as 10x faster than random reads from your disk.

But the catch is that your Flash memory/USB stick must provide a reasonable transfer rate for random reads. The Best way to find out if it works for your USB stick is to benchmark random reads which is an automatic feature in Windows Vista.

Now lets looks at the easy procedure to enable ReadyBoost to easily Speed Up your Windows Vista :
  • First select the USB drive and right click > properties.
  • You will get an option to select ReadyBoost and enable/disable it.
  • Your Done. (Didn't I say it was easy)

From now on Windows Vista will create a ReadyBoost cache file in your USB drive. This file will be used for small, random reads to the pagefile. I would recomend the ReadyBoost cache be set as 1:1 (ReadyBoost:System Memory) for smaller machines and something in the ratio 2.5:1 for bigger machines.

The only limitation that Microsoft has placed is that there can be only one ReadyBoost file on a machine, and the ReadyBoost file can never be larger than 4GB.

ReadyBoost will greatly improve things when the machine comes under memory pressure and heavy disk activity. In all such cases you will notice that the PC will be noticeable more responsive.

Beware : Bajaj Pulsar 200 Front Fork highly Defective


Bajaj Auto recently launched the new 200 cc ‘Pulsar’ DTS-i. The latest offering had set new benchmarks in technology, performance, and styling. But now it seems like its the WORST bike in the Bajaj stable (yes I mean it... just read on).

It has many design defects and is seriously Dangerous. Although I myself own a Bajaj Bike and have been more than happy with its performance (Bajaj Discover 125 DTS-i) for over 2years now - but that's a different story.

The Pulsar 200 has defective front forks which break even at speeds like 40kmph!!
Lots of the fork breaking cases have come up and luckily nobody is killed yet. I guess it's time that Bajaj re-called the bikes and came up with a better solution.

Do pass on this information so that people are aware of what they are paying for / have payed for. Hopefully this information helps you all.

Below are some photos of the broken forks [Different Bikes]

Click on Image to Enlarge





Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Finally DRM Free music arrives in iTunes Stores


Apple's much anticipated promise to offer DRM-free tracks was finally full-filled by the launch of iTunes Plus with AAC tracks from label EMI.

The tracks for download will be encoded at 256kbps, which will be virtually indistinguishable from the original recording. But each of the tracks will cost $1.29, and those already owning the tracks can upgrade for 30 cents per song or $3.00 per album.

Apple is also offering cheaper versions of EMI tracks in 128kbps AAC with FairPlay DRM at the original price of 99 cents. Apple also expects more than half of it's catalog to be DRM-free by the end of the year.

This is a tremendous milestone for digital music I guess as it enables each of us to play the legally purchased music in any device we want. Currently music that you purchase for your iPod cannot be easily played off in another device.

A closer look at Sony Ericsson S500 :: An exclusive Preview


Sony Ericsson announced the S500 a few days back. I just thought of giving you(my beloved readers) a treat by providing an exclusive Preview of the phone. BTW, all those who didn't know about my likings - well, I am a Big fan of Sony Ericsson.

The S500 is a new phone that combines style details with impressive multimedia and connectivity features - "style with substance" is an apt phrase to describe it.

The Sony Ericsson S500 is a quad-band EDGE slider phone, only 14mm thin, with visual effects playing a key part of the phone's design. The phone supports various light effects.

Open the slim S500 slider and color accents and ever-changing desktop themes are revealed. Themes change as time passes (be it the seasons, day turning to night or when the weekend starts), hidden illumination appears to highlight an event and the keypad glows when the slider is opened.

Please comment / mail me to let me know if you love to read more of this kind of exclusive previews about upcoming gadgets. Love to hear from you all :)

New Version of iTunes Released (7.2) and also iTunes Plus


Apple has updated and released iTunes version 7.2 for both Macs and Windows. This latest update does not come with an impressive list of changes, being more of a service update for the iTunes Store.

The latest version allows preview and purchase of the new iTunes Plus music. The new release also incorporates the iTunes Plus music which actually offers an high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings, which will sell for $1.29 per song.

iTunes Plus is launching with EMI’s digital catalog of outstanding recordings, including singles and albums from the following artists albums to be available:
  • Coldplay
  • The Rolling Stones
  • Norah Jones
  • Frank Sinatra
  • Joss Stone
  • Pink Floyd
  • John Coltrane
  • and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney

Download the latest release at the Apple iTunes Website directly.

How to Add Digital Signatures easily in Microsoft Outlook?


Digital signatures prove to the recipient that the content of the message was signed by you and not an imposter and that the contents have not been altered in transit, but they also increase the size of the e-mail significantly. To be able to decide when and where you want to add a digital signature go to Tools > Options > Security in Outlook and uncheck the flag "Add digital signature to outgoing messages".

Note: If you want to use digital signatures, it is best to use Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor. In this case you can choose the shortcut present on the toolbar for digitally signing and encrypting your e-mails.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

How about going to Jamaica this summer?


Well, I have No plans of taking a trip outside India in the coming weeks. But one of my pals is toying on an idea of taking an all inclusive jamaica vacation. He asked me check online and get him all the information I could gather for him to plan for the trip. Well, I did a lot of research in the last 2-3 days and this is what I could come up with regarding a trip to Jamaica.

Jamaica is certainly beautiful, all around. The people are generally friendly. The food is glorious. The beaches fantastic(Just see the picture to your right).

Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean, and the most populous English speaking island. The island of Jamaica is home to the Blue Mountains inland and is surrounded by a narrow coastal plain. Most major towns and both cities are located on the coast. Chief towns include the capital city Kingston, Portmore, Spanish Town, Mandeville, Ocho Rios, Port Antonio, and the city of Montego Bay.

The climate in Jamaica is tropical, with hot and humid weather, although higher inland regions have a more temperate climate. Some regions on the south coast, such as the Liguanea Plain and the Pedro Plains are relatively dry rain-shadow areas.

Your best bet is to find a travel agent near your home and let them help you plan your trip. They can give you brochures and information on different places. It's hard to work with a travel agent in another state. There are seller of travel law requirements a travel agent must meet before they can sell travel originating in a state in which the travel agent does not live. You should be careful about choosing a travel agent.

We could find great deals at Vacations.net. The website is pretty neat and has some cool discounts of upto 50% for certain trips. The customized booking engine used in the site is intuitive, the content is personable as well as thorough, the images are compelling and most importantly, the site is easy to use. One of the coolest feature's of this site is the Resort rating feature - where ratings from travelers who have experienced the resort first-hand are displayed and it helps in making a rather good judgement.

As far as weather goes, it rains almost every day in Jamaica due to the tropical climate. But they're usually short showers and a very welcome break from the heat. Most resorts will furnish umbrellas for you to use.

Good luck and have fun to all those heading towards Jamaica this summer!!

Consolidated List of Free Proxy Servers in Canada to access Blocked sites easily


After my previous article last week listing all the free proxy servers available worldwide to access blocked sites in certain places like Orkut, mySpace, gmail, yahoo, etc - I have received more requests from readers to give them proxy servers that are faster.

So the answer to the problem lies in finding proxy servers in your own country. Well, I will be starting off country by country and the first one to come on the list is Canada. Here we go Canadians Pals - hope you find this consolidated list useful to access the banned/blocked sites in Canada.

One Million Zunes Sold out already!!


Microsoft has recently announced that one million units of the Zune music player have been sold. That's really good news considering the tough competetion, a very early head-start and monopoly that the Apple iPod had in this market.

Microsoft Zune currently holds something like 10 percent of the hard drive based music player market, although overall its market share is around 3 percent. Nonetheless, I am sure Microsoft will be very happy with its progress.

There is some inside news from reliable sources within the Zune Product team that new Zune players will be introduced in the fall, including flash memory based Zunes. Flash memory Player market is important for Microsoft to enter because many consumers prefer flash devices. So if Microsoft wants to seriously increase its market share then entering the Flash based memory player market would be the easiest way.

Show off your personality with a Cool Laptop Skin


One thing that truly characterizes the modern world is the push to be unique. A laptop skin is the latest in ways to show off your personality. A laptop skin is a sticker that covers the top of your laptop in a colorful design, allowing you to have a laptop that isn't just grey or white.

You can consider a laptop skin like plastic sleeves that you slide on over your laptop but still allow you to open and close without any difficulty. A lot like some of the new mobile phone covers that have sprung.

You can now take mobile fashion to the next level with Laptop Skin! They are made for easy-to-install conforming vinyl sticker which protects and enhances your laptop computers. The other advantage is that it also helps protect the Laptop from the elements of nature.

Skinit is a cool website which has a wide range of Laptop Skins. There are various categories in which the skins are listed. Also they have an option to upload your favorite image into the site and it easily converts it into a Laptop Skin. The site also features skins for a wide range of products inclusing mobile phones, iPod, etc.

How to easily add Inline Comments when Replying to E-Mail


When you reply to e-mail messages, you can reply within the body of the original message by adding inline comments. Your text appears where you position the insertion point and is preceded with your name. Or if you want, you can choose whatever text you'd like to identify your comments.

Customize text used to mark comments in a message reply:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options
  2. Click E-Mail Options
  3. Select the "Mark my comments with" check box, and then type the text that you want to use to identify your comments.

When you reply to a message, this text will be used to identify any comments you make in the body of the sender's original message.

New York City available in 3D on Microsoft Live Search Maps


Microsoft is showing off a new urban 3-D view of New York on their maps.live.com Online Service. The cool 3D maps can now be accessed from the comfort of your own home with the desktop as your window to whole wide world. The addition of New York adds another city to the cityscape of Virtual Earth's catalog of 3D imagery maps.

Although New York was was integrated into Microsoft's Virtual Earth sometime back, but the photo-realistic 3-D imagery of the city is made available only recently. Microsoft plans to add another 8 cities to the 3D extravaganza. Austin, Cape Coral, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Northampton, Ottawa, Savannah and Tampa will all be available to Live Search Maps users. As far as New York is concerned, Times Square, Central Park, Wall Street, Rockefeller Plaza are just a few of the famous landmarks across the city that have been mapped in 3D.

The free online service will provide a unique look at many of New York’s iconic locations, along with local listings, ratings and reviews and driving directions to help people easily find, discover, plan and share relevant location information that is important to them on the Web.

Click on Screenshot Below to Enlarge

Monday, May 28, 2007

Investing in Gold may be the Safest Bet out there for you


I laugh at people who say don't buy gold because they haven't the slightest clue of whats going on around them.The current gold price is just like a $million on a desert island is just as good as toilet paper.

Listen now because its time to invest in gold. Let's have a look at some brief history. The year 1980 was an unusual time after the oil crisis that's the last time when gold was at its highest ever recorded price in real terms ($650 in 1980 will be $1000s? today). Now gold is at its cheapest rate and rising at almost China's growth rate.

Did you know that the USD is devaluing rapidly because not many countries around the world trust it and US owes $7-8trillion without the backing from gold or other reserves. Because the US bank has a 3X shortage of minimum gold to protect China and India's growth, gold will be bought by these countries. Even if you don't realise it, the world is even more dependent on gold nowadays.I can go on and on, but if you're are to check any other investments, besides the 1980s. Gold has been the greatest investment. That's why the very rich buy gold & silver.

Monex Deposit Company (MDC) is regarded as America's Trusted company to purchase Precious Metals for More than 30 Years!! They allow for you to get the current Gold and Silver prices online. Also, Monex allows for you to purchase the precious metals online and get them delivered safely to your location. Also, they arrange for the same to be safely deposited to a Bank or any other safe location.

INTEL to go completely green with Lead Free Chips



Intel - the world's largest Chip maker has vowed that beginning later this year, it will no longer include any lead in its processors and chipsets - meaning it will have eliminated all of the toxic substance of the computer chips.

Intel has announced that 95 percent of the lead that was in its chips is already gone, and the remaining 0.02 grams will be removed with its next line of chips. It is making these moves to alleviate environmental concerns over its production practices.

Going green has becoming an increasingly popular public relations push for technology companies over sometime now. If I am not wrong Sun Microsystems was one of the first companies which began the movement in late 2005 with an "eco-friendly chip" and since then other companies, including Apple, have also made efforts to become more environmentally friendly.

Other environmental efforts by Intel include new transistors that use less power, as well as recycling initiatives and reducing the emissions from its production facilities.

Intel is not the only chipmaker to reduce and eliminate lead from its chips; rival AMD has a similar initiative that began in 2005.

Good Job and all the Best to all you guys at Intel!!

How to Resolve Connectivity issues with Windows XP and Vista easily


Yes you heard me right - Resolve Connectivity issues with Windows XP and Vista easily. Windows Vista has opened a can of worms when it comes to Network Connectivity. One of the most common issues encountered being that the Windows XP computers in the Network are simply not able to identify the machines running Windows Vista on the same network!! Can you believe this - that's how the new OS seems to be build up.

But the good news is that Microsoft knowing the issue before-hand has automated the entire networking process with Vista. It has also integrated a comprehensive set of tools designed to enable end-users to troubleshoot and resolve almost all issues that you will ever come across on the networking front.

Let's get back to the issue of connectivity between Vista and XP. The reason for this problem is the fact that the Vista and XP computers are part of different workgroups. A rather simple method to resolve the problem is renaming the workgroup name of both Vista and XP machines to be the same.

Here's how you can solve the issue:
Windows XP: Goto Start > Control Panel > System > Performance and Maintenance and the select the Computer Name tag. Here click Change and modify the workgroup name.

Windows Vista: Again here its very similar. Goto Start > Control Panel > System > Maintenance and System. Under Computer Name, Domain, and Workgroup Settings select Change Settings, agree to the elevation of privileges and provide the same workgroup name as for Windows XP.

for the other issues with Vista networking, they can be easily solved resorting to the automatic infrastructure that Vista users can find in the form of these cool tools such as
  • Network Connectivity Status Indicator
  • Network Diagnostics Framework with commands like ipconfig and ping, IP conflicts and
  • the most important Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Make your Watch Fancier : Get a new Band for it at Watchband Online


Do you have a costly watch tucked away in a corner of the closet just because it's band/strap doesn't look good any more or that it is broken. Well, there's help at hand and that too online. Wondering what - head over to www.watchband.biz. It has a huge array of bands to choose from.

What separates www.watchband.biz from other sites is the sheer amount of merchandise available on it. Right from Watch Straps to simple Watch Repair Tools - you have all of them listed along with a snapshot of the product. There are straps from some high-end brands like Strap Culture and HIRSCH.

The site has a whooping 5000+ different straps to offer and has some very interesting categories like nature, titanium, silicone, etc. The site has a very reasonable price-line given the quality on offer. It is sure gonna be true value for money.

What's so unique about this site that stands out from the rest of the online stores is it's Refund Policy. Most sites in this business don't offer a refund if the customer is unsatisfied mainly since the product is small and they don't want to risk the merchandise if the same cannot be sold off to another prospective customer. Although the parent company is located in Germany, they undertake deliveries for all nooks of the world.

So if you want to pep up that old watch to a new one - just head over to this cool site and get a make-over done for your watch in a few seconds.

The following is a paid review

Tor the Best solution to Surf the web Anonymously for FREE


Tor is a toolset for organizations and people that want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Tor can help you anonymize Web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features.

Communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers, called onion routers. Instead of taking a direct route from source to destination, data packets on the Tor network take a random pathway through several servers that cover your tracks so no observer at any single point can tell where the data came from or where it's going. This makes it hard for recipients, observers, and even the onion routers themselves to figure out who and where you are.

Tor's technology aims to provide Internet users with protection against "traffic analysis," a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.


I have nothing to hide but that doesn't mean I don't have things of value to third parties - everyone from google up is gathering information I don't want them to from my online activities or my personal information, and selling them off. When at home I sometimes leave my PC on as a node, thinking that maybe I am helping someone get information their government is censoring.

You can download and set it up by visiting Tor's Official Website.

How to easily Download videos from YouTube?


After my previous article on How to easily download Google videos, most readers were asking if the same could be done on YouTube too. So here are the simple steps to follow.

You can download videos from MySpace or YouTube using Firefox browser.

Firefox has a download plug-in called Video Downloader. Once installed, whenever you visit a page that contains a video, you can click on a VideoDownloader icon at the lower-right corner of the browser. This will result in a pop-up window that contains a link that will start downloading the video.

The videos are in FLV format. So you will need to get an FLV to play them.

Hope this helps.

Cheapest Lifetime Mobile scheme in India : BPL Mobile 444


BPL Mobile one of the premier Mobile service provider in most parts of India, has announced 'India Lifetime 444 MOTS Recharge' – a lifetime prepaid plan at Rs. 444 (approx. $11).

These rates are the lowest in country and this offer will also enable all lifetime prepaid users the benefit of making calls across India to any landline or cellular service for Rs. 1.99 per minute.

The nearest competetior seems to be my service provider - Hutch. Hutch's cheapest Lifetime prepaid offer stands at Rs. 449(approx. $11.50).

Incidentally, BPL Mobile was the first cellular service provider in India to slash lifetime rates to Rs. 666. Having started its services in 1995, BPL Mobile currently operates in Mumbai, and has a customer base of over 1 million.

I guess a second round of mobile pricing wars is set to begin in India soon - the first being when the Lifetime Pre-paids were started. But lets hope that the service too becomes better and we don't have the nagging "Network Busy" screens often.

Get your MBA from an accredited online university :: Capella University


Did you ever want to get an MBA degree and didn't have the time to goto a regular University - simply because you couldn't spare the time to go through the entire course. Many a times you may also not want to leave your current day-job just to get that extra university degree.

Well, in that case - the answer would be to enroll in an online course and get a degree online. But what's the catch - there are two serious problems with the idea.
  • The online university maynot match up to your wanting skills and the course material may not be well tailored for the Online mode. Online mode of course delivery requires many changes to deliver the content online - since you don't get to interact face-to-face with your instructor online.
  • The course offered maynot be accredicted and this will lead to non-recognition from many recruiters or other universities.

Well, it's time you had a look at the Capella University's Accredited Online MBA course. The best thing about taking this course off-course is that it is online and you can easily schedule the time to accomodate the study in your busy schedule. Also, you need have to quit from your current day job to join the course. Since the course offered is accredited, hence it is recognized in par at other universities and by your recruiter.

The course has been specifically designed keeping in mind the current manager who needs the extra IT skills to be that much more successfull in the career.

About Capella University
Founded in 1993, Capella University is an accredited, fully online university that offers graduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology, and bachelor’s degree programs in business and information technology. Within those areas, Capella currently offers 82 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 16 certificate programs. The online university currently serves more than 17,900 students from all 50 states and 56 countries. It is committed to providing high-caliber academic excellence and pursuing balanced business growth. Capella University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capella Education Company, headquartered in Minneapolis.

Disclosure : This (or “the following”) blog post was (or “is”) based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Ten Commandments of Orkut



I got a mail from one of my good college pal's about the 10 Commandments of Orkut - that one needs to follow when in Orkut. I thought it was interesting and posted it here. Do let me know your comments on this.

  • ONE : If you're ugly, stop acting like you don't know it & stop using cute nicknames. The captions under your picture that says "top model pose", "sexy", "arnt i hot" doesn't convince anyone.
  • TWO : To the people who have like over 1000 friends, are you serious? Nobody in this universe can keep up with that many friends. You're just stupid. Go play in traffic.
  • THREE : If you're real pretty, dont approve all friends request and pestering your pals later on how u hate getting stupid comments & messages. You're the one who approved them in the 1st place!! Be realistic on what u're getting into!!
  • FOUR : Don't ever post pictures and say "OMG, I'm so ugly" "OMG,I'm so fat" because if you were, you wouldn't post them - right.
  • FIVE : Stop peeping others scrap book to see wot that guy or gal have conversed. Also stop being a Tomboy/girl looking for new pals in others profiles.
  • SIX : Writing tons of scraps a day, begging people to send a testimonial, etc.. " IS PATHETIC & IMATURE. " .PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT YOU WILL SEND YOU TESTIMONIALS.. Please dont junk others scrap book so to get your scrap figures multiply!
  • SEVEN : If all your pictures look the same, don't post them all. Please put some variety in your pics. Nobody wants to see your face 10 different ways.
  • EIGHT : Who really cares if I/U don't accept you/me as a friend? MOVE ON!!! Don't send me another request or message asking "what's up with you not adding me?" I don't want you as a friend; that's what's up!
  • NINE : Little 6th graders, go somewhere else because nobody wants you here and also other than Orkut, you have better things in this world to get addicted!
  • TEN : Nobody cares about threats over the internet. Don't try to act hardcore with the keyboard. Fighting online is like racing in the special olympics; even if you win, you're still retarded.
Hope that made an interesting read!!

Friday, May 25, 2007

What is the File Block Functionality in Office 2003 and 2007 all about?


File Block Functionality is a very new security feature implemented into Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007. File Block Functionality was designed to deliver an extra barrier of protection to Office 2003 and Office 2007 users when handling potentially malicious documents.

It allows for Specific documents that can be blocked from being executed. Office 2003 and 2007 users which no longer have the ability to open Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents will be able to find out how to recuperate their files by referring the following KB articles
922849, 922848 and 922847.

The File Block Functionality for Microsoft Office 2003 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system allows administrators to restrict via registry and Group Policy specific Office file types that can or cannot be opened when using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Blocking specific Office file types allows administrators to temporarily deny users the ability to open certain files, such as when a threat of attack from a given Office file type exists.

The KB articles listed above will reveal the actions that users need to take in order to resolve error messages that have been generated due to File Block.

The impossibility to execute Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in the context of error messages pointing to issues related to the registry policy setting, is connected to File Block. Just access the Microsoft KB articles 922849, 922848 and 922847 in order to understand how to modify the Windows registry in order to fix the problem.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

How to easily set up Microsoft Outlook to receive Email from Yahoo and other mail servers?


Here's how to easily set up Microsoft Outlook to receive Email from Yahoo and other mail servers:

1. From the Tools menu, choose "Accounts."
2. Select the "Mail" tab.
3. Click the "Add" button.
4. From the Add menu, click "Mail."
5. In the text box labeled Display Name, type your name and click "Next."
6. In the Email Address box, type your Yahoo! Mail address (be sure to include "@yahoo.com") and click "Next."
7. Under "My incoming mail server is a…" select "POP3."
8. Type "pop.mail.yahoo.com" in the Incoming Mail (POP3, IMAP, or HTTP) Server box.
9. Type "smtp.mail.yahoo.com" in the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server box.
10. Click "Next."
11. In the Account Name box, type your Yahoo! Mail ID (your email address without the "@yahoo.com").
12. In the Password box, type your Yahoo! Mail password.
13. If you want Outlook Express to remember your password, check the "Remember password" box.
14. Do not check the boxes labeled "Log on using Secure…"
15. Click "Next."
16. Click "Finish."
17. Select 'pop.mail.yahoo.com' under 'Account,' and click 'Properties.'
18. Click the “Servers” tab.
19. Under “Outgoing Mail Server” check the box next to “My server requires authentication”
20. Click the 'Advanced' tab.
21. Under “Outgoing mail Server (SMTP)”, check the box next to “This server requires a secure connection (SSL). Enter port number “465” in the “Outgoing mail (SMTP)” field.
22. Under “Incoming mail (POP3)”, check the box next to “This server requires a secure connection (SSL)". The port number in the “Incoming mail (POP3)" field should automatically change from 110 to 995. If it doesn’t, make sure the port number is set to 995.

You're Done :) Now you'll receive all the mails in your Outlook!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Manage all your SEO [Search Engine Optimization] Tasks easily using SoloSEO


Most Bloggers today use SEO - Search Engine Optimization for their blogs in one way or the other. Some even end up spending large sums of money to get the SEO right.

So what's SEO all about?
SEO is the term used to describe the marketing technique of preparing a website to enhance its chances of being ranked in the top results of a search engine once a relevant search is undertaken. A number of factors are important when optimising a website, including the content and structure of the website's copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags and the submission process.

Today I found a very cool online service or should I rather say seo software. It's called SoloSEO and it provides a very cool and intuitive web interface to easily carry out your SEO activities effectively. Usually in order to manage a website/blog to obtain good results, it is necessary that you put in a lot of time, persistence and dedication - Well, NOT anymore SoloSEO simplifies this task and you need not even install any software in your computer. All the SEO work can be done easily online and with great ease!!

SoloSEO allows you to easily manage and administrate the key words ,content and the backlinks to your site all at a single place on the web.

SoloSEO gives you the right tools to increase your SEO rankings and also to obtain a good authority of your Web site in the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Live, etc.

Well, you may ask how much should I spend on this? SoloSEO allows you to manage 5 Web sites by paying $29 for a month and if you add more domains then it will cost an additional $4/domain for a month.

The list of services you stand to get from SoloSEO are :
  • Management and administration of the contents: It analyzes the internal and external links of all the pages in your website. It also analyzes the PageRank and it gives advice on how your pages can be optimized to attain better results.
  • Management and administration of the key words: It allows you to analyze all the key words directly. The most used keywords can be easily figured out from this.
  • Tools for the reports: You can read the reports daily of the competitive analyses and the ranking of the key words; you can print them, receive them by email or you could even send them directly to your clients by email.
  • Tools for the creating link-back links: It analyzes and it logically suggests the most suitable back-link for your Web site, using the words that are more common in your site.
  • Other tools for SEO: You can visualize the statistics of your Web site, read the updates, analyze and study the behavior of the competition.
Currently SoloSEO is offering a 14days NO CREDIT CARD required trial offer. Just sign-up for it and you will understand how every word I have written above is true.

Happy and successful SEO activities!!

The following is a paid review

Orkut leads to the Murder of a young girl in India


Today I received the news from one of my friends that the popular Social Networking website - Orkut lead to the murder of a young girl in Mumbai, India.

A girl and a guy met in orkut. Usual stuff. They talked with each other, became trusted friends - again usual stuff. Wrote testimonials for one another - again usual stuff.

But wait that's not all. This Guy then asked the Girl to meet him. And she did. But that was the first and the last meeting.

She was found dead in the hotel room. The guy killed her.


The murder has taken place about a week or so ago. It's very disturbing to read the scraps in the victim and murderer's pages.

As much as technology helps us in our everyday's life - it also leads to this kind of misuse.

The entire story can be found at the following popular Mumbai Newspaper - Mumbai Mirror.

The Orkut Profile of the Victim -
Koushambi Layek.

The Orkut Profile of the Murderer - Manish Thakur
.


Click on Image below to Enlarge

What happens to your .net apps when you switch to a 64-bit Windows?


Well this was one question that struck my mind when I was busy coding today - What happens to your .net apps when you switch to a 64-bit Windows?

Well, after some digging and researching I could analyze the following.

well, 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows support both 32-bit and 64-bit processes, and corresponding 32-bit and 64-bit versions of .NET 2.0. (.NET 1.1 is 32-bit only).

.NET 1.x apps automatically run as 32-bit processes on 64-bit Windows.

.NET 2.0 apps can either run as 32-bit processes or as 64-bit processes. The OS decides which to use based on the PE header of the executable. The flags in the PE header are controlled via the compiler /platform switch, which allows the target of the app to be specified as 'x86', 'x64' or 'any cpu'. Normally you specify 'any cpu', and your app will run as 32-bit on 32-bit Windows and 64-bit on 64-bit Windows.

However if you have some 32-bit native code in your app (loaded via COM interop, for example), you will need to specify 'x86', which will force 64-bit Windows to load your app in a 32-bit process. You can also tweak the 32-bit flag in the PE header using the SDK corflags utility.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Movavi VideoSuite :: You surely can't Do Much it - An Unbiased Review


I came across this scrap software called Movavi VideoSuite - which truly doesn't let you do more with your videos - as it falsely claims to be. It claims that it is more like an All-In-One tool for video capturing, editing and processing of your favorite piece of video. But it is such a waste for the money you pay - a whooping $50+.

You can get many cool FREEWARE softwares that will do the same job that MOVAVi just claims to do. And the best part of the deal is that the freeware is a freeware.

The really cool Freewares that you can find as an alternative for MOVAVi are :
  • AMV Studio 5 (Much better in performance that MOVAVi)
  • t@b ZS4 Video Editing Software is a video compositing/editing system with more than 120 built-in video effects including excellent color and chroma keying. Other features include custom output video width and height, unlimited tracks and sub-composites, custom speed and direction change for video and audio, and the ability to slave effect and compositing controls to audio wave forms.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Speculation that Feedburner could be purchased by Google for $100 million


I just bumped into some rumors about a possible FeedBurner acquisition by Google - The king search engines. It looks like the deal is worth approximately $100 million, but there is no official statement from either FeedBurner nor Google. I first saw the speculation at Vecosys.

It looks more likely for Google to aquire feedburner to expand its AdSense advertising platform.Google must be planning to distribute advertisements through the RSS feeds because most of the Internet users are currently registered for feed, avoiding to visit the blog or the website, resulting in a loss of traffic for Google's ads.

If Google aquires FeedBurner then it'll plan to insert ads straight into the feed and obtain a boost of traffic without having to redirect the readers on the main blog. Also I guess Google might be very interested in implementing the feed analytics solution into Google Analytics and provide more relevant information for the site owners.

It must be noted that Google recently acquired DoubleClick, an advertising company that might help it to expand the advertising solutions and the clientle list. There have also been numerous rumors from quite sometime now that Google will implement AdSense into several games, aiming to attract a different segment of users.

Only time will tell.

How to easily Add Your Own Folders to the "Send To" Menu?


Having your own folders in the Send To menu can be a big help.

This way, when you right-click on something and select Send To you can choose to send it to your very own special folder. To do this navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\UserID\SendTo\ and simply add your own shortcuts to what ever folders you want to appear.

How to easily Change the Time Scale in the Outlook Calendar?


By default, your Outlook calendar uses a 30 minute time scale. By altering the calendar settings, you can increase or decrease the time scale to suit your specific needs. For example, you might prefer using a 60 or 15 minute time scale instead.

To change the time scale of your calendar in Outlook:

  1. Open your calendar in Outlook, right-click on the calendar grid then click the Other Settings option
  2. Use the drop down arrow beside the Time scale field to select the time scale you want to use. Click OK

How to Change Hyperlink Settings in Word easily?


When you add a hyperlink, readers usually have to hold down the CTRL key and click the link to go to the Web site.

To edit the link, all you have to do is click inside it and make your changes. Knowing this, you can see how easy it would be for another user to accidentally change a hyperlink. Instead of holding down the CTRL key to activate a link, users would only need to click on it.

Then to edit the link, you would need to hold down the CTRL key as you click on it.

To change the default setting:

  1. Within Word, click Options from the Tools menu
  2. Click the Edit tab
  3. From the available Editing options, clear the "Use CTRL + click to follow hyperlink" option. Click OK

How to make effective use of Start > Run in Windows


Start > Run can save you a lot of time and clicks if you know what you're looking for. The commands below represent a small selection of what's available, but should help get your clicks up to a run, without even breaking out in a sweat!
Click Start > Run then type:

  1. access.cpl – Windows accessibility options
  2. charmap – Need a special character fast?
  3. clipbrd – Check out what's on your clipboard!
  4. control folders – Folder options for the desktop customization lover
  5. control fonts – Opens the Fonts folder
  6. dfrg.msc – Speed up your machine by defragmenting your hard drive
  7. intl.cpl – Check out your regional and language options
  8. logoff – Does precisely that
  9. mmsys.cpl – Sounds and audio devices properties
  10. notepad – Starts Notepad
More commands available under XP Run Commands.