Sanjay kattimani's technical blog

Spamming gets innovative.

2011-05-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Spammers Hakckers keep finding new and innovative ways to reach out to the masses. Since facebook has been immensely popular social network, it becomes vert attractive media for spammers. It also seems to be very easy to convince users to click a few buttons and steal all your data. They also post links on your friend's walls to attract more visitors.

Found a couple of my innocent friends posting these materials again and again.
How do you safeguard youself?

Dont click on any link that you do not know or is suspicious.
If any application asks you to approve/join/like do not do it unless you know the website/link
They will have very attractive images/text - Eg. Osama bin Laden's uncensored pictures. If its too good to be true, it may not be safe link.

What do they get by spreading these kinds of links?
Any of the following

Viral marketing - Website may be trying to make some product/website popular
Stealing your details - They may be collecting your name, geographic location phone etc to sell it further.
Stealing your id and passwords .

So please safeguard our accounts and share the good messages/links/videos with your friends. Do waste your and your friend's time and energy by clicking the wrong links.
Happy socializing.

QR Codes

2011-05-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Do you know what is QR Code?
A QR code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Was checking a barcode reader and found that app that i was testing can read QR codes so this was it.
Here is a QR code of my Kannada greetings site.

These are easily readable by most smartphones with camera by installing small app.

50th Post- Sony HDR-XR150 Full HD 120GB HDD, 25X Optical zoom

2011-03-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

My Ex-Neighbor Mr. Ron asked me to suggest him a good handycam for him. Sony was the defacto brand suggestion for him. Other reasons for selecting this model.

1920 x 1080 pixels Full High definition videos
It had a large 120GB space to record lots of videos
25X optical zoom. I never had that much of zoom so far in any of my camera/handycams.
Other specs like

Exmor R" CMOS sensor
Smile shutter
Face detection

4.5 User review ratings

Not buying a memory card as it doesnt need one, it has 120GB HDD :)

Hope he enjoys it for years to come.

Sony TX5 Waterproof, HD

2010-12-14T18:46:00.000-08:00

Its time for another camera. Read about my earlier camera review.

My expectations from digital camera have increased over period of time.

Reasons for concluding on this camera.
* Water proof camera - Hope this does not disappoint me. I also dont have any deepdive plans.
* Small and very handy - Almost fits in the palm
* Reliable brand- Almost every one agrees, Sony is one of the best in electronics
* 10 FPs capability-Should be a good option when we know about a great shot.
* 720P HD video recording - This was another must have feature i was looking for. HD is awesome on TV.
* Sweep Panorama mode - Yet to really use this feature
* Design - Many others with similar features didnt look as good.

10 MP Camera!! I didnt see any change in this from my last camera. Having water proof was a great addition compared to increased mega pixels. Also higher mega pixels does not mean better picture :) Surprisingly many cameras have always been promoting higher mega pixels and have been successful in convincing the users.
Some more tips:
* Higher the class of your memory card, faster will be the save/retrieval operation (note the Class 10 memory card)
* Compare the best price you got on this blog, amazon should automatically show you the best possible price.

My latest wish list (I already miss some of these in this new camera)

* DSLR quality pics (highly desirable)
* 10+ optical zoom (highly desirable)
* Full HD video (Desirable -Well digital cameras are meant for pics not for great video, but if it can replace video camera that would great)
* Wifi Capability
* Bluetooth (Low priority)
* Projecector? (Low priority)
as usually all these in a compact camera.

Convert Youtube to other formats

2010-10-18T18:08:00.001-07:00

Ever wondered how to play youtube video in your cd player or how to watch it offline?
For those of you who havent explored or asked this question, here is some gyan.

Lot of freeware applications exist (do check their reliability from the reviews) that can take youtube URL (song address) and download it for you to almost any format.

http://www.vidtomp3.com/ Converts the URL in to standard or high quality mp3 file. You can play it strait in your car(Provided you have a mp3 player in your car). Found this site very handy.

Just search for download youtube + format you want and some website will convert it for you withought even downloading/installing any software.

Avatar & 3D Technology

2010-10-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

I saw Avatar movie after 2 weeks of its worldwide release . I am writing about this movie now because its effects are still alive in my memory and worth blogging.

I wouldnt talk about the storyline of the movie or the facts and figures of the movie. You can read more about it on wiki. I watched it in AMC iMax 3D theater in harahan, Louisiana.

Stunning picture clarity and real to life characters keeps viewers on their toes. visual effects are a feast to every sci-fi movies fan. As James cameroon said, he had to wait close to 10 years as the technology wasnt advanced enough for the making this movie. That wait was worth the wait. This movie also bagged many Oscar awards.

I am sure this was a game changing movie. Future holds lot more innovations towards multi dimentsion movies.

My predictions: In the coming years more and more 3D, 4D movies and other new formats will be made and slowly 2D movies (which are most popular around the world today) may disappear (it may take few decades).

Why am i writing about it after 10 months of its release?
I see 3D technology penetrating in daily life and couldnt help but to blog about it. Here are some of the examples.

Televisions that can show any content in 3D format.

ESPN boasts a 3D channel.

Laptops are available with 3D technology.

Most of the future display technologies and games will be available in 3D which makes our brain "think" that real life characters are infront of us.

Google voice new revolution in how we send receive calls

2010-08-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

I hadn’t imagined the next level of telephoning, although i had seen some glimpses of it when i worked on a voice mail application about 10 years back ;)
Here is the first cut review of Google voice.
Google guides us again and competes head-on with others in the business for decades. This time even the telephone carriers around the world may be forced to accept how little services/features they provided and how heavily they charged all of us all these years.

What’s new in Google voice

1. Screening spam call:

Anyone who heard my ringtones must have heard the spooky tone (Everyone asks what’s that for the first time) that’s set specifically for spam calls. Now Google lets me set a specific greeting for such calls including the one that says "I am sorry that number is not in service". Now that’s the right way to treat spams :)

2. Routing the calls:

You can route the calls to any number/carrier anytime. That relieves me from changing my number and potentially loosing connection with most of my friends. This is also a big boon for my friends back in India who went back from US. They usually want to have a local number which people here can use to keep in touch with them, but they end up paying for monthly service fee. I haven’t checked this in detail, but it should be possible to link a US number to Indian phone number.

3. Rignging multiple phones:

I can have one number that rings all my family numbers(including cell phones and home phones) so that any one can pick it up. Changing them is as simple as a few clicks.

4. Voice mails as text:

Set up Google voice and it can send voice mails as a text and a link to its voice. It may be very useful tool to read your voice mails instead of listening if you are busy person in meetings or pubs :) This can also be sent as email. Reply to email can go as SMS.

5. Customize greetings for each caller:

You can customize greeting for each caller or group of callers (cool ones for friends and professional one for colleagues and so on)

6. Conferencing:

Even if your phone or carrier does not provide options to conference with multiple friends, Google voice lets you do that.

These were the features that i was impressed with; you may find your own. Check them out at https://www.google.com/voice Telephony industry in on right track now.

Future cars tell you where they are parked.

2010-02-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

One day cars could tell you where they are parked without you needing to remember.

Background : 5 floors of large parking lot with hundreds of cars often confuses me about where did i park my car. Going home for lunch doubles the confusion as i need to search my car twice. As most of you know during winter basements and parking lots are some of the coldest parts. Its drives you mad searching your car in the cold. I found that I am not the only one to find it hard to remember parking spots after checking with some more people on the way to parking spots. Almost everyone has the same problem once in a while(specially when they are pre-occupied with some thoughts and foget to actively remember where they parked the car).

I was wondering if we had the technology that could tell me where my car is parked on my iPhone.

Options: Yes technologies are already existing to achieve some of these. Here are some of them.

iPhone app can locate your parked location- This is the closest option for me. Yes this application can tell me only if I tell the app that i parked my car here(need to choose park here in the application). This does not track your car but remembers the location where I marked the location.

Your Car lock key can also beep loudly to tell you where it is located. I do have this feature, but if i am far from my car it does not reach the car.

OnStar service of GM is another closest technology that can track your vehicle. But no iPhone app or a website to track your car.

There are some keychains availavle that can mark the car location just like iphone app. This makes it a little bit easier, but again those compact devices arent yet as reliable and advanced as other GPS devices are.

Some advanced thoughts...
If there are 5-10 floors, GPS only marks the location in 2Dimension, so you wont be able to find out the floor where you parked it. There should be some way to figure out the height and map it to the floor number. I am sure some one picks this idea in future and makes a fundo gadget to locate your car.

Conclusion: Man finds more and more ways to get lazy and handover the thinking to machines/gadgets. This is one of mine. I am sure future holds lot of such smart features in cars.

Presentation Skills for corportate presentations - Download ppt

2008-09-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Presentation skill is one of the major must know trait for any higher role in the organization ladder. It also boosts your confidence in multiple areas.

My Presentation skills
The time that I have during business wait is very well used in sharpening some of my less confident skills. Presentation is one the major skill that I acquired during this period. Public speaking is an art which can be mastered only over a period of time. Before this my presentations (rather there was no formal presentation till this year) were fairly limited to my project team and contents were limited to the team/project only. Now this new unit exposed me to much larger audience (minimum of 80 employees) and i was the first one to cash the opportunity. I started organizing some regular presentations and there by i got an opportunity to address everyone for a small duration. It slowly built the confidence even to talk on some surprisingly new topic to fill the time gaps.

Presentation download
There are 101 things to talk about presentation. Find many of them neatly organized in the PowerPoint slide show. You can Download and use the following presentation if you would like to give a presentation on "Presentation skills".

Off track story
Presentation skills come naturally to teachers or should i say some teachers are very bad at presentation?? It reminds me of all my teachers of early childhood and their impression on me. Although I never thought I would ever write on one of them after nearly 20 years there was one very bad point that I would like to high light. One of my teachers constantly used to uplift his trouser at least once every minute (Fun apart; he was excellent in science experiments and use to make firecrackers himself with raw materials). Any presenter who is in the eyes of public should mind these small gestures; else they become a reason for imitation and laughter.

Conclusion:
Corporate presentation skills are a must for every manager or any one who faces clients. Your investment of time to acquire this skill will not go waste. It will take you a long way for the rest of your life.

Recession time - When the going gets tough, toughest gets going

2008-08-01T15:36:00.001-07:00

With many people on business wait for more than 6 months in most of India IT service companies, they are bound feel the sharks circling around them sooner or later. Lets access the situation.

Economies are down globally, which means limited funds are available for IT expenditure. As a result Some projects get canceled and others get delayed. This situation affects every stake holder of the projects.

When employees are working for projects they are hammered all the time with work. When they come to business wait most of them spend time time aimlessly. Companies spend great amount of money to keep the team united and up-to-date. In the times of tight situations the incompetent employees get elbowed out by their unhappy managers. fair enough for the companies., To be in business they need nurture the best of the talents and get rid of the weeds.

Here is a list of things that you can do to utilize this precious time.

Get Trainings - Check your company's training calendar and attend every possible training thats useful for your career.

Get certifications - what better time to study & take those pending exams than this free time? You are going to get paid while you learn.

Volunteer for Internal projects - Most people disregard internal projects(they can be dummy projects too), but they are the best ways to
1. Keep in touch with technology
2. Switch to a new technology
3. Trying out new roles and responsibilities.

Work as shadow resources - You may not generate revenue for the organization, but you can surely become one dependable resource for the project in the times of need.

Volunteer for organizational initiatives - Some initiatives like recruitment drives or Road shows need volunteers, if you are experienced in that, jump in and make a difference.

This list is also useful to defend how you utilized your time during business wait. If you have used this time to your advantage, the business wait can be a boon to boost your career with new roles and responsibilities.

Firefox 3 - Be a part of Guiness world record

2008-06-18T09:40:00.001-07:00

FireFox 3 is here. Mozilla wants to create a guinness world record. More than 7 million are already downloaded. I haven't explored the plug-ins or other features yet.

Although i have affection for Internet explorer and most of Microsoft products ;) I do like to explore and compare other products. I found was that FireFox has definitely become better compared to its previous versions (yes i have tried version 2 also)
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord
Go ahead, download and be a part of the guiness world record.
checkout how this blog looks on mozilla firefox 3.

Although this blog had perfectly fine layout,
Kannada greetings website was slightly different from how it is in IE (FireFox isn't looking good).That's fine, we have a better performance compared to Internet explorer in FireFox which is the best reason to download. Rest of the new features you can read on its features site. I might post again when i explore some new plug-ins.

PMP - A certification for Project Managers.

2008-03-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time I sat down and studied something seriously. Its time to get certified again. PMI (Project Management Institute) is the de facto standard in Project Management methodologies.
PMP is a certification offered by PMI after a rigorous test of PM methodologies. So I am heading towards PMP certification. My time starts from 13th March 2008, Saturday. Target it to complete in 2 months that’s 13th May 2008.
In addition to MCSD and Six Sigma+ I am sure this certification will become another feather in my cap.

Henceforth a few blog posts will be dedicated to many topics related to project management methodologies. I am sure this will also serve as a quick reference.

I am refering PMBOK Guide by PMI, Project management Jump Start, and Head first PMP.
I will write a review of these books when i am done with them.

If you are interested in sharing your experiences of PMP feel free to post comments at the end of this post. I would love to share my experiences.

Glossary related to PMP

BAC= Budget at completion.
CPI= Cost Performance Index.
CV= Cost varience=EV-AC.
ETC= Estimate to completion.
EAC= Estimate At completion.
EV= Earned value - Budgeted amount of work actually completed on WBS.
PV= Planned value - Budgeted cost per WBS scheduled to be completed.
SPI= Schedule Performance Index

SV= Schedule varience=EV-PV.

Sony Cybershot DSC-N2 Review - Migration from 3 to 10 MP

2007-06-26T11:36:00.001-07:00

Sony Cybershot DSC-N2, Review of a versatile, lightweight, compact and easy to use camera that comes in attractive champagne color. I have tried 2 other Sony models in the past, this model clearly out performs all cameras i tried before.

Some of the things i had in mind while considering this model - Sony DSC-N2

1. Awesome 10 Mega pixels - there are very few brands that have compact cameras with 10MP. There are 12MP models in the market too, Most of them are too expensive and for professionals.
2. Sony Brand - As almost (well i think so) every one agrees that Sony is a reliable and one of the best in electronics brand.
3. Huge 3" touch screen LCD adds to the fun - some one said on the net that "LCD works like citi bank ATM".
4. Whole bunch of features - I am a geek and like all fundo features being packed in such small devices read more at http://www.sonyindia.co.in/index_n2.html
5. Battery life - 300 to 400 photos can be clicked.
6. Market review of camera.
To read more about the camera go the product site

My old camera is in fully working condition as it was 3 years back.
I had a Olympus C-310 model a 3.2 Mega pixel camera bought in Sept 2004.

Some of the considerations that made me change the camera are

Batter life was very limited 10-50 photos only (of course it depends a lot on the batteries used)

There was a 2-8 seconds delay after clicking a photo. This is one annoying thing.

Audio wasnt there, and videos almost doesnt make any sense without audio.

No connectivity to TV.

Video captured wasnt almost like VGA mode, and wasnt of good enough quality to share.

It has 3 Mega pixels and now you dont find cameras with less than 5 Mega pixels.(Ah.. technology changes so fast..)

Evening or night mode photos were not acceptable.

Small LCD.

No slide show opion.. had to browse through the photos manually.

When I bought this camera it was one of the best looking, highest mega pixel camera in the market and was in the budget that was about $400 including a 128MB XD memory card). But over a period of three years i had started missing above listed features.
Its was high time i changed my 3Mega pixel camera with a new one.

Bargain tips
* Ideally wait for some bargain time like new year, christmas, thanks giving etc to buy anything at great prices.
* If you are in hurry, still check some sites like deals2buy.com, froogle.com and other favorite sites of yours and compare prices.
* Checkout taxes and shipping cost.
* Ask your friends who make lot of research on prices (they will be more than happy to share their experiences).

I bought 4GB memory stick and additional battery throught amazon.com

All photos (well almost) that you saw on my blogs so far were clicked by this camera. Probly Niagara trip was its last journey with me.

-- My wishlist of features ---

Shockproof (most cameras are)

Waterproof

Projector

High definition video recording

DSLR quality pics

About 20X optical zoom

And all these features...i still want my compact camera :) Technology...Show me the way...

Technical Glossary

2007-05-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

This is an extension of my previous article Shortfoms of communication. This time you will see a technical terms & abbrevations also referred as glossary. This is an effort to consolidate some of the technical shortforms that we come accross. Almost all these terms are related to project management and other terms related to software industry.

AD - Activity Description
ADM - Arrow Diagramming method
ADSL - Advanced Digital Subscriber Line

BAC - Budget On Completion
BIOS - Basic Input/Output System
Blog - web log. Just like this one
BMP - BitMaP - A windows file format to store images.
BRM -Build and Release Management

CDM - Conceptual Data Model
COQ - Cost Of Quality
CPM - Critical Path Method
CPI - Cost Performance Index
CR - Change Request
CSS - Cascaded Style sheets
CSV - Comma Seperated Values

DB - DataBase
DBMS - DataBase Management System
DFD - Data Flow Diagram
DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DNS - Domain Name System.
DSL - Digital Subscriber Line.
DVD - Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc

EDD - External Design Document
ER(Diagram) - Entiry Relationship Diagram
ERP - Enterprice Resource Planning
FTP - File Transfer Protocol

GIF - Graphics Interchange Format - One of the earliest image formats
GPL - GNU General Public License

HTML - HyperText Markup Language
HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol

IT - Information Technology
JAD - Joint Application Design

LDD - Local Delivery Desk
LTV - Loan To Value

MCAD - Microsoft Certified Application Developer
MCP - Microsoft Certified Professional
MCSD - Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer - a Certificaiton by Microsoft

OOPS - Object Oriented Programming System

PERT - Program Evaluation & Review Technique
PMI - Project Management Institue
PHP - PHP Preprocessed Hypertext programming ??

PL - Project Lead
PMI - Project Management Institue
PMP - Project Management Professional
PR - Permanet Resident (US)
PR - Page Rank (Google)
PR - Public Relations (Marketing)

RAD - Rapid Application Development
RDBMS - Relational Database Management System

SAM- Security accounts Manager
SSAD - Structured System Analysis and Design
SOW - Statement Of Work

TBD - To be done
TDD - Technical Design Document
TL - Team Lead
TPM - Thought process Map

UML - Unified Modeling Language

WBS - Work Breakdown Structure.

Do share the other terms that you came accross by commenting on the topic. I will also add them as a part of the topic.

.net session timeout settings in IIS6 on windows 2003 server

2007-02-26T04:18:00.000-08:00

Does this sound simple web.config setup?
Nope this is way beyond that newbie configuration.

Problem: We were facing timeout issue on one of our servers. Web.config settings had no effect on the time out.

Note: In all screen shots pink color is hiding the actual server details.

Solution:
So here are some more interesting findings related to timeouts of sessions in IIS6 hosted on a windows 2003 server. You may need to change one or more of these setups in your server according to your setup.
There are totally 5 setups that influence your timeout. All of those are discussed here.
1. Web.config file of Application: First one to influence timeout is Session timeout setting in your we.config file.

Note: Web.config file is inherited to the subfolders and subfolders config settings take the precedence in case they exist.

2. Application session timeout in IIS:
Go to IIS, right click on the web application, go to properties. Go to Directory tab, click on Configuration button. Application configuration tab opens, click on Options tab as in the screenshot, you will find enable session state. Change the session time out period here.

3. Default website session timeout in IIS: Right click default web site under IIS and choose Home directory tab. Click on configuration button to open application configuration. Choose options tab and you will find Enable session state again similar to session state of each application. Enter higher session timeout period which will be application to all sites in the webserver.

4. Change Worker process idle timeout of application pool – Shutdown worker process after being idle for (time in minutes) – Default is 20 minutes. This setup is applied for all websites that use this application pool. To change this, Right click on the required application pool, choose Performance tab, and change the duration of idle time or uncheck the option so that the process is never recycled. You can also create an application pool, configure it, and use it for a selected list of web applications.

5. Change Recycle timeout period of application pool: Right click on application pool or default application, and choose Recycling tab. Change the “Recycle worker process (in minutes)” option to either change the period or disable the option by un checking. Un checking this option may be a good idea from performance point of view.

And finally there is a last one in machine.config file. But that does not affect any of these configurations and these setups take the precedence.

Let me know if you have any timeout related issues. Lets share.

.net - Error while trying to run project: Unable to start debugging on the web server. The project is not configured to be debugged

2007-01-09T01:30:00.000-08:00

Running or debugging a ASP.net web application from visual studio.net throws following error.

"Error while trying to run project: Unable to start debugging on the web server. The project is not configured to be debugged."

Reason: .net web application is converted in to a directory by IIS when its renamed or copied from other location
Resolution : Change the directory back to application with these steps

1. Go to IIS management tool Choose select your virtual dir.
2. Go to Properties of the virtual directory by choosing Properties from right click menu.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click on the Create button.

Thanks Tim for that tip.

Happy New Year 2007

2007-01-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

I Wish all my visitors and their families a very happy and prosperous new year.
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View Full screen

My new year resolution related to blogging - I am going to blog on technical topics at least once every fortnight.

How about yours?

Build Your own toolbar By Conduit

2006-10-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

A classic example by Conduit about customizing and packaging existing things in to a resourceful product.
This product helps you build your own toolbar with your links and images that you can share with your friends and customers. Take a look at a sample toolbar created.

I still remember those days when i tried myself creating such a toolbar and there was hardly any documentation about how to do it. Now even a newbie can create a toolbar and for free.

These small utilities add value to your website(s). Here is a list of few features offered by this toolbar.

Offer one click access to your websites/blogs and other resources to your loyal customers.

Shows your site to your customers as long as they're online. Host of other services like Chat, Weather, Radio can be plugged in to this toolbar.

Chat with other users who have the same toolbar installed.

Add Contact Us link and the feedback about the toolbar is sent to you as an email.

Add search capability to your toolbar just like google toolbar and choose the search engine too.

You can set up your mail boxes and Get notified when you receive new e-mails to your POP3, Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail accounts

I created a toolbar for my blogs and website. Take a look at it and feel free to use it. Its free from adware, spyware and promotional stuff.
http://sanjaykattimanisblogs.myblogtoolbar.com

Tintucso virus, removal

2006-10-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Tintukso virus - Very little is known about this virus as of now. It comes to you through Yahoo messenger as a link when one of your friend’s pc gets infected. Once you click the link, it installs itself at attaches itself with the OS to keep you bugging :d It sends the link to all your active contacts once it infects. This was found (on a friend's pc) just today, 09th October 2006.

Symptoms

You cannot change your homepage (options for changing homepage are disabled).

You cannot launch regedit; PC re-boots as soon as you try to edit registry.

Cause
Virus/trojan not yet explained in detail on the net yet. it sends a message saying test the site and shows up the folowing url
http://tintucso.com/luke/
Please do not launch the above url unless you have a good firewall and antivirus (and enough courage to open it).

My official PC categorized it as a dating/unwanted site and blocked it. Didnt take a chance on my Home pc.

Remedy

Scan with your antivirus or adware , if it can detect it; chances are that it will also clear it.

If above fails, on a windows box, restore your PC to the last known good configuration. here are the detailed steps to restore your operating system on a XP system.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport
/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

Update from Symantec as on 12th October 2006
Symantec Japan has confirmed the virus and documented the details of the virus here
http://translate.google.com/translate?
hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.symantec.com/region/jp/avcenter/
venc/data/jp-w32.imaut.b.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4
&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtintucso%26hl%3Den%26lr
%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2006-26,GGLG:en

Thanks Arvind for your valuable feedback on this virus.

I shall keep updating this post with the new findings on the virus.

Have a safe computing :)

Orkut – Googles answer to Yahoo 360 degree and Hi5

2006-09-30T02:50:00.000-07:00

Orkut Google comes up with its awesome rival product to yahoo 360 degree, Hi5 and lots of other such network building portals. If you do not know about yahoo 360 degree and hi5 read my previous article on yahoo 360 degree and hi5.
As usual google has come up with a crisp strait forward and intuitive interface compared to any of its competitors.
You can build network of your friends and view their network too. All your visits to other’s orkut page are tracked and they know who came to their site.

Some cool features of Orkut

Orkut testimonials option lets your friends write about you. This feedback is shown to all your visitors.

Orkut scrapbook is like your note pad where others can write messages for you. Scrap book is the most common option that everyone uses to talk to each others.

Orkut private messages can be sent your friends individually or to the whole group.

Orkut birthday alarms informs you about birthdays of your friends in your network (so you wont miss any one whos on your network).

Orkut rating lets you rate your friends how trusty, cool and sexy they are ;) In addition you can declare yourself as a fan of your friend(s).

you can export list of your friends to excel (CSV) format.

Recent visitors to your orkut home page. It gives you clickable profile link.

Orkut album lets you add your photos to share with your friends on your network.

Orkut works on invitations, so some one needs to invite you to create an account in orkut. Ask me for a free orkut invitation.

How to Log in to orkut in invisible mode
I am finding lot of people coming to this post searching for logging in to orkut in invisible mode, so thought i will add a few words on this topic too.

1. If you'd like to check out orkut members anonymously, you can prevent other users from knowing you looked at their profile by visiting http://www.orkut.com/Settings.aspx and checking "Disable Profile Visitors."

Note that this will also prevent you from seeing who has viewed your profile. To add this feature back to your profile, you will need to allow orkut members to see that you have viewed their profile by un-checking "Disable Profile Visitors" in your settings.

2. You can create a another temporary id which should be used only for browsing invisibly. Do not add any of your friends or yourself to this new id. do not accept any friends and you will remain anonymous. Others who see this new id on their recent visitors list, can send you message. But its up to you to decide whether to reply/ignore or delete.

There are lots of groups like orkut India, orkut Satyam etc, virtually every possible group. You can create your own and participate in the discussions and events.
Visit my orkut page at http://www.orkut.com/Home.aspx?xid=10672691803081804255

Have a great bonding with your friends :)

How to create, write and promote blog?

2006-06-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

How to blog?
In my last post I wrote about why one should blog (its advantages) Lets see how you should begin writing your blog.

Before you begin

Prepare a theme for your blog and have a few topics around that theme. It could be anything from your hobbies to day-to-day happenings in your city.
Research and read about what others have written on the same topic before you begin.
Take a look at few blogs to get an idea of different templates available.

How to create your blog

Choose a good site where you want to blog. List of them with some reviews are listed at http://weblogs.about.com/od/weblogsoftwareandhosts/a/topfreeblogs.htm my personal recommendation is blogger offered by google and is free (You can be sure that it will not popup or add ugly advertisements).
Register yourself to create an account and a blog.
Choose the template that matches your tastes from list of available templates. Most of them also let you customize with your own html code (you can tweak it if you know else don’t bother default templates are good enough)
Create your first post on the blog. Use html codes whenever necessary.

What to write.

Have a theme of your blog and let the topics be around that theme, so that people come to your site repeatedly if they are interested in similar topics.
Try to keep it brief and effective but there are really no rules.
Although you are free to say whatever you want, remember that you are accountable for what you say.

How to write effective blog

Add pictures as applicable. They speak out lot more than what words can describe.
Enable comments in your blog to get feedback from users.
Enable user verification - This helps lot of automated Spam comments getting added to your blog.
Blogs are meant to be fun, so write with passion and everything else will fall into place.
Use bold, italic and other text formatting to highlight the importance of certain contents.
Blog regularly – ideally few times a month. More the content, more visitors, at the same time do not disappoint your visitors with contents available on other site/blogs.

Now created/have a blog. What Next?

Add counters to keep track of visitors of your blog.
Promote. Add link to your blog in your email signatures.
You can add advertisements to your blog to earn residual money.

What are you thinking? Jump start and make you presence felt. Happy blogging.

Blogging & its Advantages

2006-06-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

What is a Blog?
“weblog (usually shortened to blog, and occasionally spelled web log) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order.” – wikipedia

Blogging is the act of writing in one's blog.
A person who keeps and/ or writes a blog is called Blogger.

Advantages of blogging

Voice
This is the simplest, easiest, quickest and most affordable way to share your voice/opinion/ideas with your audience.

Information Sharing
Sharing your learning is the essence of blogging. Most people (i do) research on the topic before blogging, which extends their learning on the topic.

Reach
Blogging lets you reach people worldwide from person sitting next to you to person sitting on the other part of the world.

Expressing
You can express your views on everyday topics like politics, music, technology, hobbies or movie reviews. The list of topics is endless.

Knowledge management
Blogs can be used to as an extremely effective knowledge management tool. You can keep your posts well documented for years to come.

Instant feedback
People give you instant feedback on your posts (also called articles of the blog) which helps you refine your understanding on the topic.

In my next post i will discuss on how to create, write and maintain a blog.

PMP - Project Management Professional course.

2006-05-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Ravi’s insightful views helped all of us to get broader perspective about project management and the path ahead.
Another advantage of being in larger companies like Satyam.
Company helps you to get certified.

Whats the significance of PMP?
It means to current and potential employers that you have demonstrated a solid foundation of knowledge from which you can competently practice project management.

Our group that finished project management workshop.

Some Facts related to PMP

Named as one of the top 4 certifications for 2006

Has more than 120,000 certified members in more than 135 countries, 75,000 + PMPs till September 2004

PMBOK is the globally recognized bible to prepare for PMP exam.

Faqs related to PMP http://www.pmi.org/prod/groups/public/documents/info/PDC_Cert_FAQ.asp

Yahoo - Stealth settings

2006-04-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Stealth setting is an option in Yahoo messenger that lets you choose whether you want to appear online or offline to a person or a group of people. Its essentially appearing invisible to selected people.

Why this option needs a mention in this blog:
This is one of the most useful and also one of the most under-utilized option of yahoo messenger (one of the top 3 most popular instant messenger in the world, and my favorite)

Why should we use it:
Most people log in to invisible mode when they dont want to be disturbed by a few of their friends.
IMO ...

when you are invisible (and when your friends know that you are logged in) all your frineds think that you are hiding from them, but you may be trying to avoid only one or two of them. This is a typical case where you should use stealth setting.

When you are in office, typically you want to appear offline so that your friends do not buzz u often. And also you will inform all your good friends that they can still ping you. This is again another situation where you should be using stealth setting instead.

How to use it:
Create a group and move all your less important and disturbing friend to this group. Set the stealth setting so that you appear offline to all these people. You can still see them being online. You can intitiate a chat with them when you want to. Life should be much easier with them.

Some tips:

Use stealth setting to keep those disturbing friends aside (i could be one of them )

Keep in touch with rest of your friends effectively by appearing online.

Use busy or other status when you want to convey your status.

Use voice or video chat when ever required/possible.

When some one is on SMS, do not expect a reply immediately as they may not be able to reply from they cellphone as fast/frequently as messenger.

Google personalize homepage

2006-04-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Although this is pretty old (was added at least 4 months back) option, i dont see any one using it.
Welcome to google personalize the the place where you can choose what you want to see on your google search home page.

How to use it.
You need a gmail account for this (Ask me to invite you if you need one).

Choose contents for your home page. There are a number of categories to choose contents for your page. Some of them are News, Business, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle, Fun and others. You can also add your favorite URLs, Last 10 gmail messages, weather forecast of chosen cities around the world or A Quick notepad.

When you personalize your homepage it looks like a simple all in one page with your own content & google search. This is quite handy as it lets me have a glance all contents that i would like to see for the day in one page.
I have also stopped typing those large URLs and they are my home page contents and are just a click away.

You can also change the location of the contents by just dragging them to the desired locations. You can also edit or delete them.

I use personalize homepage as my browser start page. Yahoo also offers similar option called My Yahoo But it also displays advertise and lot of other links which you may not want to see.

Sql Injection - Protect your applications

2006-02-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

Sql Injection. Whats it it?
Its injecting sql server with scripts that can potentially break the security barriers of the application/server.
SQL injection is a security vulnerability that occurs in the database layer of an application, Its is not a SQL Server problem, but a problem with improperly written applications.

Audience:
Any one who develops/test applications that use sql statements.
Hey developers check it on all your applications that you have written so far (i checked it.. fortunately it didnt break any of my code)

What can it do?
One or more of the following based on your application implementation

Hackers easily get authenticated on your application.

Hackers (even a simple db aware guy can do this) can read most of your table data.

Change most of the data of your DB.

Delete records from your tables.

Restart your webserver.

Shutdown your database. Can you think of anything worse than this for your application?

Very simple example of Sql injection.
Most of the applications have login screen, try entering following as
login name: test' or 1=1 --
password: anything
An example of sql string created by any simple application vulnarable to sql injection is

select * from users where username='test' or 1=1 -- and password='anything'

This is how its evaluated to true, and the first level of entry.. successful.
Curious to know other ways of injecting sql server? Read the article

How to avoid sql injection?

Limit access to admin account by creating seperate applcation account.

Restrict user input lengths.

Strip off all quotes(if they are not expected).

Filter out sensitive db keywords (potential threats) from your inputs (Like select, drop, _xp etc).

With such few additional validations/coding you can make your application safe from sql injection attacks. Happy coding.

Cyber crimes on the high. Don’t be the prey.

2005-12-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

Cyber crimes are finding new targets everyday, be very careful if you are one of those users using credit cards or bank accounts online.

Sample of how this works.
You receive an email that looks like this...
----------------------------------------------------------

PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of customers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.

We are contacting you to remind you that on 5 March 2005 our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved.

To secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may require some additional information from you for the following reason:

We have been notified that a card associated with your account has been reported as lost or stolen, or that there were additional problems with your card.

This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account or credit card may be subject for temporary suspension.

To securely confirm your PayPal information please click on the link bellow:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run

We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible. Allowing your account access to remain limited for an extended period of time may result in further limitations on the use of your account and possible account closure.

For more information about how to protect your account please visit PayPal Security Center. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause, and we apriciate your assistance in helping us to maintain the integrity of the entire PayPal system.

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

----------------------------------------------------------

Here is another version of the mail.. with another address..received few hours back. Do not enter any information in the site.. as it could still be active.
----------------------------------------------------------

Dear PayPal Member!

Attention! Your PayPal account has been violated!

Someone with ip address 149.225.126.87 tried to access your personal account!

Please click the link below and enter your account information to confirm that you are not currently away. You have 3 days to confirm account information or your account will be locked.

Click here to activate your account

You can also confirm your email address by logging into your PayPal account at
http://paypal.com/. Click on the "Confirm email" link in the Activate Account box and then enter this confirmation number: 1036-8535-4511-9500-3892

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the "Help" link in the footer of any page.

You click on the link(Now you can safely click it as its already banned)
It takes you to a site that exactly looks like paypal.
That asks you to enter all your details including credit card details, paypal account details etc. It behaves exactly like paypal and at last shows up a page saying our servers are under maintenance, please try after some time.

Whats exactly happening.
The link that’s shown is different from the link to which user is taken on clicking it. Whole paypal site is simulated on the site very intelligently and your account details are stored in their databases which is used to lift money from your account.

Life of these sites are very small. Most of such sites are banned as soon as they are found involved in cyber crimes.

How to fight back.

Before clicking on any link from your email, think for a while. If it’s not worth a click don’t (They could be mails from email farms which are just validating existence of your email ids).

If you are tempted to click (Recently I received an email related to an offer from ICICI bank that which was pointing to such a site) Check the link to which its taking you to. Observe the URL in the above example (take the mouse pointer on the link, url of that link is shown in your status bar of the browser) http://203.215.94.193/.www.paypal.com/paypal/das676bsda6… don’t get carried away with paypal in the URL. It should exactly begin with www.paypal.com and not just a part of that else essentially it’s an illegal one.

If you find that a site is illegal, inform the concerned people and get the site banned so that others wont fall pray. Your few minutes of social

I had another such mail, which had an interesting title. I clicked on the site, and it went to a yahoo site. As usual I entered my id and password. It showed me message asking me to try after some time. After verification I found that it was a fake site collecting my yahoo id and password. (That site got banned within 24 hours of my complaint to ban it) So be watchful about before giving out any of your passwords.

Lets make use of internet as a safe and effective means.
Here is a sites where you can lodge your complaints against cyber crimes http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp
A nice detailed Indian article related to cyber crimes http://cybercrime.planetindia.net

Whidbey refactoring feature.

2005-11-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

One of the many cutest features that appealed to me in Whidbey was code refactoring. So here are some of my comments on few of those code refactor options that I tried this week.

Rename: You select a variable or method and choose rename from refactor, it renames all instances of that variable. Its different from find text in solution option. It smartly searches, and shows only matching variables or methods rather than just showing every possible instance of text match.
Change signature : lets you add, modify or delete parameters from method signatures.
Extract method: This is another neat feature that developers often need. Extract method creates a new method out of code that you selected. It creates required parameters and all automatic formatting and calls it from the code.
Encapsulate Field: This is another feature that saves us from coding properties. Just choose the private variable and select Encapsulate field and eureka your property is ready.
Extract Interface: lets you create an interface and its implementation from your class.
A must see- 3 minute online demo of refactor feature on microsoft site.
Refactoring is just one of the many new additions to the visual studio 2005. Will add some more soon.

*************************************************
After blogging on refactoring i went on reading more about it and found that it is stripped off from Visual Basic 2005 release. Microsoft came up saying that it was not possible to finish work on refactoring along with the numerous other goals and projects for the 2005 release, and suggested to use Refactor! for visual basic 2005

Visual Studio 2005 first look at MSDN Day

2005-10-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

Awesome developments to IDE and ASP toolbox in Visual Studio 2005. VS 2005 is becoming a kind of swiss army knife - All in one tool for .net development. Intellisense for almost everything you do with VS 2005. Had a first look at it today at MSDN day conducted at The Continental by Satyam.

Visual studio 2005 is releasing in November. ASP.net with this version has lot of [50+] new controls to help you with almost everything you wanted.

Some great improvements to vs 2005

Controls can be dragged in source mode (Note earlier only design mode allowed you to drag and toolbox was disabled in design mode)
Intellisense for every XML having valid DTD.
Clean application folder - creates files only when required (eg. web.config)
Error helper pops up with various options (details of the error, exception class details etc) - In earlier versions you had to go to msdn or google to help yourself with the exceptions raised.

Standard validations to make the code compatible with selected compatibility option. Intellisense makes sure options are valid.
Allows mixed development of vb.net and c# in different pages, they can be compiled together to make one dll.

Links related to visual studio 2005

Summary In short lot of intelligence is built around the IDE keeping developer in mind. Thats what is needed to make a developer's life easier and which inturn helps in reducing the development time.What next after visual studio 2005 ? -Here is the Roadmap by microsoft

.net SmartNavigation

2005-10-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

What is SmartNavigation?
SmartNavigation is a feature provided by asp.net. When enabled this makes sure your pages are shown smoothly and last position of cursor location, scroll etc are restored effortlessly.

Why this feature deserves a mention here?
Because of the problems it creates. It isn’t very reliable because of the following reasons.

All versions of IE do not support this feature properly

Other browsers are totally unpredictable with this feature.

It creates mess with other user interfaces on postback.

Smartnavigation removes CSS after postback
This was the sole reason for blogging this. Yes smartNavigation strips off css after a postback.
Solution - you need to explicitly specify the path of css as absolute path instead of relative path. You can keep it dynamic by adding some server side code as below LINK href=''< =Request.ApplicationPath %>/Styles/Sanjay.css''

Microsoft's documentation of SmartNavigation

If you still wish to use smartnavigation on other browsers take a look at this code project (Free source) Crossbrowser SmartNavigation Alternative II

Conclusion: Use this feature only when you are sure of your audience using latest IE (at least IE 5) only. And make use of it when its absolutely necessary to make your application work better. And do take care of css paths etc.

Hoax mails..give away phones, bill gates sharing his fortune !

2005-10-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ah! another spam mail.. asking you to spread word of mouth and they are giving away cell phones free... Or bill gates is sharing his fortune..and you need to cc to some one.
I keep receiving such hoax mails and finally thought let write something on this topic.

Here is a sample mail.

Dear ALL ,
I just want you guys to take hold of this opportunity from Ericsson . Ericsson is distributing cell phones for free over the internet to compete with Nokia, which is doing the same. They want to be better known through the Internet by word of mouth and so they are giving away their new WAP phone.
All you need to do is mail this to 8 of your acquaintances. In two weeks you will receive an Ericsson T18. If you send this email to 20 people or more, you will receive an Ericsson R320 Wap Phone. Don't forget to mail a copy of this email to anna.swelund@ericsson.com to ensure that your participation is noted.

What do they get?
The company or the product gets benifited, surely word of mouth will spread their name to every corner of the world. But people wake up! You are just distributing the garbage..

How can you avoid spreading such mails
Thumb of rule! There is nothing called free lunch. Always strings are attached. So before expecting anything free think again. If you are in doubt, just search few keywords of that mail on any search engine, that will reveal the truth.
Checkout some similar mails collection at www.breakthechain.org

And finally if you still want to try your luck sending these mails.. here is a good list of such letters in circulation. http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
:p Hehe just kidding..

Do continue to send/forward mails to your friends that are worth their time and attention. Happy mailing ;)

Yahoo 360 degree vs Hi5

2005-09-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here is yahoo killing Hi5

Whats Yahoo 360/Hi5

Hi5 or Yahoo 360 is your site/place to create network of your friends. You can showcase your photos, interests, blog, personal information etc etc. This is exactly what Hi5 has been doing since many months. This has been one of the place for exploring (yes you can explore new friends before adding them as your friends) and also meeting lot of dates (Ah.. thats what people on Hi5 have been saying... not me ).
In addition to most of Hi5's features yahoo has Blast message. You can call this an extension of your yahoo profile where it showed you a summary of your account.
Yahoo 360 will show you many more details in a neat format. Checkout my Yahoo 360
What Yahoo 360 product dev team has to say.. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/product_360
Future : This is one of the effective ways of bringing people/friends together and make them stick to the website as often as possible. Google should be coming with its own 360 degree product soon.

Google Maps

2005-09-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Another award winning google product that lets you browse the maps.
Apart from just showing your city or streets on the map, Google has much more to offer, lets you programatically add your bookmarks and create your own maps.
Thats right I am tlaking about Google
Maps API. Google maps has a web page interface and has Zooming options and buttons provide further functionality. Map button shows maps drawn using conventional maps, Satellite shows the satellite map of the location and Hybrid shows a Satellite map and conventional map on top of it. Google earth application has similar functionality with application interface. Thats downloadable and connects directly to the google servers for maps to be displayed. This is more effective in rendering and zooming compared to the web version.

Other interesting examples already in use...
1. A shipping company showing their local pickup points.
2. Sight seeing company listing the places of interest on googlemaps.
3. This leads us to some new interesting Now here is the most interesting one TimTV: This tracks a person called Tim on the Map - He carries a mobile that has a java application that uses GPS to track the current location, and thats uploaded to his site, using which current location of tim is shown on the map.
4. Maps of indian historical places listed.
5. And finally my own map, :p Places that i have travelled in india.

Windows Anti-Spyware

2005-09-13T01:57:00.000-07:00

Do you get popus of software/websites for which you never subscribed or installed any application? That must be a spyware.
Windows anti-spyware is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software.
This helps you to reduce negative effects caused by spyware including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding over fifty (50) ways spyware can enter your PC.

Supported by xp and windows 2000 series of operating systems
Download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en#requirements

Good thing about this software, detects and lets you removes existing spywares and It will ask you before it lets any application installs itself permanently on your pc (like a shortcut on your desktop, a startup item etc).
Such complementary applications will make your operating system more reliable.

Google Talk - Google's messenger

2005-08-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

Google's next move... Yes as you guessed google has come up with its own messenger. Had the first run and is quite smooooooth. It resembles yahoo interface. Much faster and crisper than other popular messengers. I could not test all its features as only one of my buddy installed it and he was busy too. There is a voice call feature that i havent tested yet.
I am sure google talk will beat other messengers with this feature. Download it from http://www.google.com/talk Go ahead and download this yet another free and awsome tool from google. Add me to your list to try out.. My IM: sanjaykattimani Happy google talk. :)

MCP – Microsoft Certified Professional

2005-06-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Introduction : Microsoft certified professional certification helps you to demonstrate your expertise in the chosen skillset.

Now (From 29th December 2005) I am a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) in .net track.

List of all certification tracks - http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certifications.asp

Before you begin
1. MCP Exam prep and study tips -http://www.examcram2.com/content/downloads/Study_Tips_0789728230.pdf
2. 5 Rules of microsoft exams - http://www.petri.co.il/studying_tips.htm

3. Avoid surprises: Get to know new MCP exam question types

Microsoft-oriented prep sites

www.examcram2.com

www.cramsession.com

www.mcpmag.com

www.microsoft.com/mcp

Other resources for MCPs

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/default.mspx
MCP community

Compare certifications http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcad/compare.asp

https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcpMCP members site, where they can find certification status and everything related to their certification & profile.

Google Video search

2005-02-11T05:40:00.000-08:00

Google is coming with yet another innovative search idea of oragnizing television programs. Check them out at
http://video.google.com
Checkout about google video at http://video.google.com/video_about.html
They have not yet reached our Udaya tv, chandana etc. but yes they have started crawling TVs :p

Good going google., Keep spinning all that infomation.

Script Debugger

2004-12-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

What is it?
Script debugger is a tool to debug your runtime JavaScript errors. For most simple JavaScripts and web pages your regular tools(like a note pad) work fine. When scripts become more complex and more external scripts you have, you cannot trace the errors easily. IE is not good at handling JavaScript errors, you can try firefox or Netscape that are equipped with JavaScript debuggers. However Microsoft has a script debugger.

Audience -Any web developer or webmaster who uses JavaScript.
Where can you find it?
Freely downloadable from Microsoft site.
msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/sdbug/Html/sdbug_1.asp
It is also a part of visual studio suite (also a part of vs.net)

Audience -Any web developer or webmaster who uses JavaScript.
Further information
MSDN documentation on script debugger
Javascript best practices

Outsourcing Resources.

2004-11-02T20:25:00.000-08:00

Many of my friends keep asking me from where they can get outsourced work. Well one word answer Internet !

First what is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process. The customer receives a service that performs a distinct business function that fits into the customer's overall business operations.

Our interest here is to get that outsourced work. There are hundreds of websites that help companies to outsource their work/projects. Those websites also connect freelancers or companies that are interested in taking up outsourced work.

Here are some useful websites that can let you choose the projects that you want to take up.

Most of these sites have automated system that sends you email of newly added projects matching your requirements.

You can bid for the projects along with others. Winning bidder gets the project. Was this list useful? Then send 50% of your earnings to me ;) Just kidding.

If you find a any website that is more useful and need to be included here, shoot me a mail.

Discussion boards

2004-10-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

What is a discussion board?

Discussion boards are common place for your website visitors to discuss about the predefined topics. They are also known as bulleting boards. Every one can discuss their opinions/views on available topics/issues (commonly known as threads)
Most of you might have already used some kind of discussion groups like experts-exchange.com , google disussions etc
Eg.
1. Webmasterworld.com has a discussion board that covers all topics related to webmasters starting from webhosting to website submission and internet marketing.
2. BMSCEIAA discusses all alumni association related topics like scholarship sponsoring, meetings, future plans etc.
Administrator will have control over all posts/replies and hence can control almost all activities of the board from user registration to threads moderation.

Whats the use of it?
· Involve your website visitors in discussing about your favorite topics related to your website.
· Very good media to attract repeat customers.
· Value added service for your customers to express their views of issues/services/products related to your website.
· You can collect survey information from your discussion group members through polls.
· More hits to your website through discussion group as search engines index these topics.

How to install one?
You need to have some basic understanding of website control panels. Further instructions of installation available on the respective websites of the discussion boards.

What are the popular ones?
I am reviewing 2 major BBs
Phpbb – This is a open source discussion board developed using PHP and works with various databases including mysql, ms access, sql server, oracle etc. It works best with mysql database. This is one of the most widely used discussion board. Good for small to medium discussion boards. Since the code is open source it can be used for free, and you can change the layout according to your website template. I have installed phpbb discussion group on manvish and BMSCEIAA site.
Provided by http://www.phpbb.com
Various accessories for phpbb (like more admin options and hundreds of other useful goodies for phpbb) available at http://www.phpbbhacks.com

Vbulletin- This is another popular discussion board provided by http://www.vbulletin.com This is mostly used on high traffic sites. Its also famous for its powerful control panel for admin. This software costs around $165 and a demo version of the software is available on their site.

Comparision of phpbb vs vbulletin

Conclusion
Discussion group is an indispensable tool for any webadmin who wants to see more traffic and activities on his site.

Was this Useful...? Comment on the post.

This article for you...my sweetest fat friends ;)

2004-09-06T00:51:00.000-07:00

I find many of my friends cribbing about their physical appearence (Me too some time :p) Any way... its time to advise you all rather than me getting personal about myself :).

First Facts!

People around us keep reminding us to look better (to put on weight, loose weight or whatever), that’s because they care about us.

They will be fine with you even if you do not improve/change yourself (Believe me they wont leave you)

No one can do it on your behalf and you cant buy it.. you got to work towards your good health.

After reading all this don’t give up your efforts to look better. Please continue to do it., That will make you (most important) and your loved ones feel proud about you.

How to motivate yourself to work out better?
Find your own reasons and every time you think for a second, even for a second, about quitting, remind yourself of those reasons.

Don’t expect only perfect people in your life…If all of you go behind aishwarya.. what about preety zinta kareena kappor? :p
some myths about fat people
Read more about nourishing

And to conclude..
This has been my experience with fat people "They are the sweetest people on the earth..(there could be some exceptions)" yes Amit you too.. And finally i enjoyed writing this article as it made me smile till i finish this article...

Linux kernel violates 283 software patents!

2004-08-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

27 patents of microsoft
98 patents of open source friendly companies like HP, Cisco, Novel, Oracle and others.
60 pagents of IBM - The Big blue is the top vendor of systems running linux.

Read the full article that was published at developershed

Toogle - Text version of Googles Image Search

2004-08-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Toogle is a Text version of Googles Image Search. Currently it creates images out of the very term that was used to fetch those images. Find out for yourself at

Toogle - http://c6.org/toogle/

try searching for sanjay ;)

Short-hand form of communication.

2004-08-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Many of my friends ask me what is BRB for the first time..If you do not interact online, chances are that you will not be knowing most of the terms like IMO, BTW, CU, OO etc. Well dont worry... You have dropped in the right place... Check this site that contains hundreds of such short forms used in conversation as a sort of short-hand form of communication.

Short forms of communication

Here is my own list
AKA = Also Known As
ASAP = As Soon As Possible
ASL = Age/Sex/Location
BRB= Be Right Back
CU = See You
CUL8R = See You Later
FYI = For Your Information
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
IOW = In Other Words
K = Ok
LOL = laughing out loud
MYOB = mind your own business
RSVP = Repondez, s'il vous plait (Respond, please)
W/O = without." W/ means "with."
WTG = way to go

Professional approach to solve problems.

2004-08-06T05:24:00.000-07:00

1. Google - the best and the most resourceful way of finding solutions.
Although most of you are experts in typing keywords and hitting that search keyword ;) take a look at this Advanced search

And some of the features that google has and most of you unaware of...

2. Check technical documentation/manuals or text books related to the problem. Contact tech support people if possible.

3. Check the related discussion groups/sites for solutions related to the problem.

4. Check newsgroups- not the same again... http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb or point your news reader to news.easysw.com Didnt understand, Go to outlook express->Tools->Accounts->Add->News-> ...->Enter news server as news.easysw.com Finish! Outlook synchronizes and you are ready to post and read all those thread.

5. Now changes are that you are the first to find such a problem, if not go to step 1 again. Now post your questions on discussion groups where you can find lot of experts on the topic. Experts-Exchange is one such place where you can get experts on every topic. there are hundreds of other sites like Web master world , SEO Chat etc. Although you will receive in a few hours to days.. these are the sure places to get solutions to your problems.

Still the problem is not solved...If anyone else worked on that project.. earlier? Great then blame on him... No? then...God bless you ! :)

You can solve the problem and Eurekaa!! show the world that you did it!

Download calculator

2004-08-03T04:09:00.000-07:00

If you have been creating lot of those heavy webpages, do you know how much time it takes for your viewers with different bandwidth?
Next time when you develop those heavy graphic sites dont forget to check the time it takes for your target users to download it.

Use Download calculator

Cheers !

Why people leave a company

2004-08-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

A great article at sriram's blog @ http://weblogs.asp.net/sonyram/archive/2004/07/13/181636.aspx

"People leave managers not companies"

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

2004-08-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

SEO refers to optimizing your website so that it appears on top of search engine results page.

Some tips on optimization from google http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html

Microsoft Share point

2004-07-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Share point

First what it is?
Microsoft share point application lets you interact with your developement team in a variety of ways. It has inbuilt discussion board, Documents sharing, Issue tracker (similar to a bug tracker), Events (like meetings, deadlines etc), Surveys, Announcements, Member contact details etc. You can import/export these details to excel.

Where it is installed & how?
Its can be installed on your server. It uses IIS and has a web interface.

Who needs it?
Any small/large organization that wants to centralize their development activities. Share point services seamlessly integrate with Microsoft project.

Further info..
http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/

Thanks to suresh who installed and configured share point on our server.

Welcome to my blog

2004-07-30T02:50:00.000-07:00

Here is my long awaited blog space....

This blog shall contain my day-to-day technical findings.... And other interesting technical stuff.

Warm welcome again.. :)