Edifying Minds

Project NATAL: An in-depth look

2009-06-30T21:01:00.001+05:30

There's been a lot of fuss over in Microsoft's Seattle headquarters about a new pilot project set to take the world by storm. Project Natal (pronounced, apparently, as Nah-Tahl not Nay-Tahl)is described as a revolutionary gaming phenomena with "No strings (or controllers) attached". Though the logistics of the system have not been described in-depth (nor is it necessary, the complexity of it all would probably be beyond me), its safe to say that Natal is unlike anything we have seen and is straight out of the imagination of todays gamers when they were, say, 12.

Here's the official release video promoting the product, acting more as a commercial than anything else:

Admittedly, I thought this was a joke after the first scene. It seemed absolutely impossible. It begins with amazing human-AI interaction, none we've ever seen before (come on, the badass on TV can recognize teenage jargon!). Then the fight scene kicks in and makes every Tekken fans dreams come true, as the character on screen demonstrates completely fluid movement and body reception to the gamer. I'm sure hardcore Sony fans will remain stringent that they would rather sit on their couch and game rather than work up a sweat. Now I'm definitely not much of a supporter of Microsoft, but I would much rather get up and kick, say, Darth Vader's ass rather than do it using a controller.

To emphasize the human-to-AI interactions, this video is worthwhile to check out:

Once more, Natal manages to get my hairs on edge. Not only are the graphics and movement of Milo breathtaking, his interaction is second to none. No matter how much you may want to barbecue Microsoft on a pitchfork, you have to admire the effort it must have taken to create such an expansive database of interactions it matches the human brain. He can understand emotion as well as pick up facial recognition, and project that of his own. Phenomenal, don't you think?

This final video will definitely be the nail in the coffin to your sanity:

Notice the insane motion detection of this system. There is an impossibly small lag, with a degree of accuracy so surreal and profane its straight out of a science fiction movie.

NVIDA Finally Launches 40nm Notebook Graphics Card

2009-06-21T10:45:00.002+05:30

NVIDIA today has announced 5 new mobile GPU’s built on the 40nm fabrication process. NVIDIA’s arch rival, AMD/ATi had launched the HD4860 and HD4830 way back in march which were the first 40nm Mobile GPU on the market. ATi was also the first Graphics Card manufacturer to launch a 40nm GPU – HD4770 which has seen tremendous success after its launch.

NVIDIA is finally catching up with Ati and today they announced 5 new Mobile GPU’s namely – the GTS 260M, GTS 250M, GT 240M, GT 230M and G210M. All these Mobile GPU’s have been made using 40nm fabrication process which translates into lower power consumption and better performance. These new GPU’s are based on the GTS200 architecture and supports Dx10.1 and Shader Model 4.1. These GPU also come equipped with GDDR5 Memory which offer higher memory clock speed and bandwith while comsuming less power. All the 5 GPU’s come in MXM3 interface which means that notebooks which will come with these GPU’s can be removed to upgrade the GPU’s, but this solely depends on the choice of the OEM whether he wants to use the MXM3 interface or not. The GTS 260M which is the top end card out of the 5 has a max TDP of 38W while the G210M which is the entry level card here has a max TDP of 14W. Except for the G210, all the other cards are equipped with 1GB GDDR5 RAM

How To Create a Blog for Free in 4 Easy Steps

2009-06-20T21:23:00.009+05:30

Step 1

Choose a free blogging software such as blogger,wordpress etc.

Step 2

Step 3

Select Your Domain, Theme and Other Options.
During the registration process for your new blog account, you'll need to choose a domain name and blog theme. You also might want to take a few minutes before you actually start blogging to customize some of the other preferences for your blog that your blogging software allows you to modify such as the author name, comment moderation process, and so on. However, you're not required to do any customization before you start publishing blog posts.

Step 4

Start blogging.
Once you've completed steps 1-3, you're ready to join the blogosphere and start publishing content on your blog. There are many more ways you can customize your blog with plug-ins, feeds, blogrolls, and more, but these four easy steps are all you need to follow in order to start a simple blog.

Microsoft Vista Speech Recognition Tested

2009-06-19T21:36:00.002+05:30

This is really cool..check this out.

Akismet

2009-06-19T21:29:00.003+05:30

Automattic Kismet (Akismet for short) is a collaborative effort to make comment and trackback spam a non-issue and restore innocence to blogging, so you never have to worry about spam again.
Visit http://akismet.com

Microsoft Security Essentials

2009-06-19T21:04:00.002+05:30

Microsoft has confirmed it will start rolling-out its free software security product for Windows users from next week.
Read more...

Microsoft Vs McAfee And Symantec

2009-06-19T21:00:00.002+05:30

The military calls it ’search and destroy’ amd it appears that is exactly what Microsoft is doing. They have declared war on McAfee and Symantec. Their new Microsoft Security Essentials, aka Morro, will have a HUGE advantage over anything that McAfee and Symantec will be able to offer. It will be 100% free for the asking, will work with XP, Vista and Windows 7 and oh yeah, did I mention it will be free?

Now before you start throwing rocks at me for being a Microsoft shill, let me defend myself and my beliefs that free security software is the only way to go. About six years ago I dumped Symantec aka Norton anti-virus for AVG and haven’t looked back. I’ve been using the free version of AVG without a problem. No bugs, no viruses, no malware, no nothing.

Many of you have had similar results using the free version of Avast. Which makes one beg to ask? Why buy ANY security programs when there is free stuff available. The next question, or maybe it is more of an observation is this. It is the user who gets themselves infected and not the OS. People are just flat out ignorant, stupid, lazy, careless [pick anyone you like]. No matter how many times people are warned about the dangers of the Internet, there are those who choose to ignore the advice. There are those who do not keep their protections updated and those who don’t even have any protections in place.

By Microsoft offering free security protections they are saying to McAfee and Symantec, you are no longer needed. People do not have to pay blood money to protect Windows. We [Microsoft] can do a better job.

What do you think?

Comments welcome.

Microsoft looks to give MSN fresh wings

2009-06-19T20:51:00.002+05:30

Microsoft is testing a revamped version of its MSN home page in France that features fewer channels, more video, and a direct connection to a user's Hotmail in-box.
Read More ..

Myspace, MSN, Orkut, BSNL hacks and tricks.

2009-06-19T20:43:00.002+05:30

One spot for all free Myspace, MSN, Orkut, BSNL hacks and tricks.
http://computer-bloggingtricks.today.com/

Good Blogging tips

2009-06-19T20:36:00.002+05:30

This site is awesome..u need to check this..

Speed up BSNL Dataone/Broadband Internet

2009-06-19T20:20:00.002+05:30

Steps to speed up BSNL Dataone/Broadband Internet :
1. Open Control Panel -> Networking and Sharing Center -> Manage Network Connection.

2. Now a window showing all networks will be opened. Select BSNL Connection -> Right click -> Properties.

3. Now, double click on Internet Protocol Version(TCP/IPv4) and in newly opened window at bottom, select “Use the following DNS Server address” .

4. And fill these 2 DNS Addresses in two fields:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

and hit OK. Thats it. Your BSNL Internet Broadband DNS Servers changed.

Now, your BSNL internet broadband speed will be increased. Thus, you can now enjoy high speed BSNL Internet broadband. I hope you’ll like this BSNL Internet speed increasing hack/trick. If you have any problem or other high speed BSNL DNS Servers, please mention it in comments section.

Enjoy…..

Microsoft's free antimalware beta on the way

2009-06-19T19:19:00.000+05:30

Microsoft will launch a public beta of its anti-malware service, Microsoft Security Essentials, on Tuesday as it phases out its Live OneCare suite in favor of a simpler free consumer security offering.
Microsoft Security Essentials, which will run on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, will be available in the U.S., Brazil, and Israel in English and Brazilian Portuguese. A public beta version for Simplified Chinese will be available later in the year.
The service works like traditional antivirus products in which client software monitors programs on a PC. When something changes on the computer, such as files being downloaded or copied or software trying to modify files, the system checks against a set of malware signatures in the client program to see if the code matches the signature for known malware. If so, it blocks it from getting downloaded.
If no signature match is found, the system will ping the server-based Dynamic Signature Service to see if any new signatures are available and, if so, it removes the malware. If it appears to be new malware, the Dynamic Signature Service may request a sample of the code in order to create a new signature.
The service updates its anti-malware database constantly and publishes new antivirus signatures to Microsoft Update three times a day, Alan Packer, general manager of Microsoft's Anti-Malware team, said in an interview on Thursday.
"The hope is that people who install Security Essentials and enable auto updates in their Windows configuration will be protected" automatically, he said.
The service also includes new technologies that help protect against rootkits, programs that are designed to hide the fact that a PC has been compromised, and is also designed to run efficiently by scanning when the PC is idle and conserving on memory usage.
If you already have antivirus software installed you probably don't need this service. Security Essentials doesn't detect if you have security software installed but does provide a message upon install that says two antivirus products aren't necessary and could interfere with each other, Packer said.
Microsoft announced in November that it was dropping its Live OneCare service in favor of a slimmed-down free offering designed to encourage more people, particularly those who don't want to pay for it and fear it will slow down their computer, to use antivirus software.
The new service lacks features like managed firewalls, performance-tuning, backup and restore, printer-sharing and multi-PC management that the OneCare service offered.
"We don't see Security Essentials as a direct competitor to other free products and suites," which try to "upsell" users, or get them to eventually pay for a product, Packer said. "We're targeting people who aren't protected" already.
A spokeswoman for AVG, likely the main rival to Microsoft's service, said AVG offers a free Internet security suite that has advantages because it is operating system agnostic and was developed by a company that specializes in security products.
Asked what Microsoft's strategy is for mobile, Packer said he couldn't comment on what the Windows Mobile team is doing.
"In general, the way we look at mobile from a security standpoint is that you are better off preventing the malware from getting on a mobile device rather than trying to run anti-malware or antivirus software," he said. "We haven't targeted mobile antivirus software because we felt that's not the right approach."
Microsoft Security Essentials will be available for download from Microsoft's Web site beginning on Tuesday.

This is what the interface will look like when the service finds that the PC is clean of malware infections.
(Credit: Microsoft)

This screenshot shows what a user will see when Security Essentials finds malware on the PC.
(Credit: Microsoft)

PHOTOSHOP BRUSHES

2009-06-19T19:02:00.007+05:30

Check out these two websites for good photoshop brushes
http://myphotoshopbrushes.com
http://www.brusheezy.com/

7 Tips for Great Photos in the Dark

2009-06-18T19:35:00.002+05:30

Follow these seven helpful tips to improve your night photographs.

Shoot During Dusk

Some of the best night photos are taken during dusk; when the sky isn't completely black. Taking pictures during dusk will show more colors and details in the distance and will let you use a faster shutter speed.

Use High ISO

Use a high ISO if required. It is better to get recognizable photos of your friends that are grainy than blurry photos. You can reduce noise with image editing software but you can't remove blur.

Keep it Steady

Taking photos at night requires slow shutter speed. To shoot bright pictures without the blur at night, use a tripod or monopod to keep your camera steady.

In addition to using a tripod or monopod, enable your cameras mirror lockup setting and gently press the shutter. If your camera doesn't have mirror lockup, you can use the self timer mode instead.

If you don't have a tripod or monopod with you, find some support objects to keep your body and arms stable. For example, you can lean on a wall or place your elbows on a table to keep your arms steady. If there's nothing to help keep you steady, stand with your legs far apart from each other and hold your breath while taking the picture.

Motion Blurs

Not all blurs are bad. Some blurs such as motion blur can add interest. Try shooting photos of moving objects, or deliberatly move your camera to create a motion blur. Zooming in while the shutter is still open will also add an interesting forward-motion effect.

Freeze your Friends

When taking photos of your friends at night, combine flash with a long exposure. The flash will freeze the foreground and the long exposure will reveal the background. Because people tend to move right after they see the flash, set the shutter curtain sync to the second curtain (Usually in the custom functions settings). This will fire a flash just before the shutter closes instead of in the beginning. Using second curtain sync will also put your friends in front of any motion blur so nothing is covering their faces. Second curtain sync is available in most new digital SLR cameras but rarely seen in point and shoot cameras.

Shoot for High Dynamic Range (HDR)

Place your camera on a tripod and shoot three exposures: one darker, one lighter, and one just in the middle. Your camera may have auto exposure bracketing to help you with this. Load the images into Photoshop and create HDR file out of the three exposures. Now you have a HDR image that you can apply tone mapping to to reveal more details. Tone mapped night photos can give results similar to shooting during twilight with more post-processing control.

Shoot Several and Stack

Sometimes when you shoot long exposures, noise and hot pixels will appear even at the lowest ISO setting. To overcome this problem, shoot the same photo a few times (more is better), and use Photoshop CS3 image stacking to combine the analyze the image to remove noise and hot pixels.

Start Photoshop CS3.
Open the File> Scripts menu and choose Load files into Stack
Click the Browse button and load all the images.
Checkmark the "Create Smart Object after Loading Layers" and click OK.
Open the Layers> Smart Objects> Stack Mode menu and choose Median.

8 Tips for Shooting Landscapes with Horizons

2009-06-18T17:55:00.003+05:30

Improve your landscape photography skills with these must-know tips for breathtaking landscape photos.

1. Shoot about 30 minutes before and after sunset.
A sunset is a great thing to capture, but even if you’re not shooting the sunset but instead shooting at a 90-degree angle to the sunset or even shooting with the sunset at your back, having that subtle light brings out the colors in landscape photos. Most outdoor photography magazines won’t even consider shots that haven’t been shot around this time, as well as before/after sunrise.

2. Shoot about 30 minutes before and after sunrise.
As well as before and after sunset, shooting before and after sunrise causes a lot of detail and tone to be seen. The lighting avoids being overexposed, which happens many times when shooting in the middle of the day with harsh light. For portraits, you can shoot in the shade for subtle light even during the middle of the day, but with landscapes, you can’t put the entire landscape into the shade. You have to rely on the weather for that. You can shoot a little longer after sunrise if there’s some slight cloud cover, but usually an hour or two after sunrise and it’s already really bright.

This is an example of a slightly underexposed landscape photo. It’s not shot during the right amount of light, and was shot when the sun was too far down or with too much cloud cover.
3. Have a foreground, middleground, and background.
This is part of the rule of thirds, which I cover in the next tip. Make sure you have three elements in landscape shot in order to make it more aesthetically pleasing. For example, if there are some seagulls running on the beach along the shore, that can be the foreground, while the middleground would be the waves crashing and part of the ocean, and the distant ocean and horizon would be the background.

4. Use the rule of thirds.
The rule of thirds applies to landscape photography as well. Imagine drawing out a tic-tac-toe design, with two lines running vertically and two horizontally. The plane is divided into three equal parts. Try to put the subject where these lines meet; for example, to top left or top right or bottom left or bottom right.

In this photo, the umbrella is in the lower right corner.

The angles and placement of the two objects near the upper left corner work well here.
5. Use a small aperture.
To include as much as the scenery possible, use a long depth of field. Using a more closed aperture makes the depth of field longer (and the f-stop setting a higher number). This allows for more things to be in focus. While blurring out the background is sometimes preferred, with landscape photos, we often want to have many elements in focus.

In this photo, the camera focuses on the grass, but we want the depth of field to be high so we can see more of the landscape as well.

This is one example where we can see the detail of even elements far away.
6. Don’t put the horizon in the middle of the shot.
This tip is closely related to the rule of thirds tip: don’t put subjects (the subject being the horizon in this example) in the middle of the shot. While many beginning photographers may be inclined to divide the photo in half, having the horizon the top third, or even top fifth or top eighth, is much better, as is having the horizon in the bottom third, fifth, or eighth. This allows us to focus on either the sky or the ocean or earth so we have some kind of focus.

7. If the sun is harsh, shoot away from it to get blue skies.
Shooting close to where the sun is causes the areas to be blown out.

This example of the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood shows how areas are blown out when shooting to close to the sun.
8. Finally, keep the horizon level.
This one may seem obvious, and although there are times when the horizon may need to not be level to accommodate a better composition of a subject, keeping the horizon level when possible is good practice.

Beautiful lighting FX effect in Photoshop

2009-06-16T10:27:00.001+05:30

This tutorial will show you how to make a beautiful lighting effect on scatters by using Photoshop. Keep in mind that I only provide the basic guidelines to creating this type of effect. There are tons of possibilities if you spend time to play with the settings and keep your creativity wide open.

Step 1 – Create the Head
Open a new document, changed the current layer to “Background” layer and fill â€œBlack.â€ Next, create a new layer, then you should select some brush you like, in this case I choose a kind of vector brush, which you could find in the attached file at the bottom of this tutorial.

Step 2 – Creating the Tail
Create another new layer (layer > new > layer), called it “Tail”.
Select the â€œBrushâ€ tool and open the Brushes Panel (Window > Brushes). Now we will play around with its setting to achieve the set best effect. The final purpose is to create a set of randomized dots.
In this scope of article, I choose settings as below:
- Brush Tip Shape: (Hardness: 100%, Roundness: 100%, Spacing: 1%)
- Shape Dynamics: (Size Jitter: 100%, Minimum Diameter: 20%)
- Scatter: (Both Axes, Scatter: 1000%)

Step 3 – Create the colorful effect
Create another new layer, above the background layer, name it “Color Base”. This is just a simple step, you choose a soft brush, then fill like the picture below with any color you like.

Step 4 – Make selection
Now, select the “Head” layer firstly, then go to the menu Select->Load Selection. Then choose New Selection and press Ok.

Next step, you repeat the above step, but choose “Add to Selection” in the “Load Selection” dialog box instead.
Now, you have loaded the selection. With the “Color Base” layer active, you click on the “Add layer mask” button at the bottom of the layer panel. Then you will have the result like the demonstration below.

Step 5 – Add glow effect
You select “Head” layer then go to Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow. You could play around with those settings such as size, spread, opacity… however remember to set â€œBlend Modeâ€ to â€œOverlay,â€ and the color to â€œWhite.â€ Of course, everything could be changed even you go to the last steps. Next, you should do the exam progress on “Tail” layer.
To end of this step. Right click on the “Color Base” then choose “Apply Layer Mask”. Then, youwill go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. You should set the Radius between 4-6. In this case, I give it the value 5.

Step 6 – Make up the head
Create a new layer above the “Color Base” layer. Then, you choose the â€œGradientâ€ tool and use the â€œForeground to Transparentâ€ preset. Go into the â€œGradient Editorâ€ and click the foreground color slider and change its position to â€œ25%.â€ Exit the editor, pick a color that pleases you (can be changed later) and make a â€œRadial Gradientâ€ over the “Head” layer. You could move the layer to match up with the “Head” layer.

Now with that layer still active, go to Layer > Layer Style > Color Overlay. Change the color to â€œWhiteâ€ and blend mode to â€œOverlay.â€ Probably, there are hundreds of ways to customized this effect till this way, so I just remind you the point, keep your creative going, and spend time to try settings. For my case, I want to add some more colorful effect in this step, and I change some setting by press Ctrl + U to open Hue/Saturation dialog and give it the settings like below.

Step 7 – Add more scatters
Now, duplicate the “Head” layer and pick the smudge tool, then select a soft brush at around 50% strength. This step is not easy to do. must be patient to smudge the new copied layer along the picture, try to use another tool such as “Eraser” to have the best result.

Then, you duplicate the current layer. Right click on it, choose Blending Options, and set the “Blend mode” to “Dissolve”. You should notice the opacity during this step to adjust the appearances of the scatters around the main object. Again, the “Eraser” tool need to be used reasonably to get rid of scatters.

Step 9 – Adjust settings
Actually, it is hard to tell you exactly how I come to the final result as below. You should play around with opacity, fill settings, combine with eraser, smudge tools to finalize the art work.

I have included 2 set of vector brushed for you guys to play around with the full PSD version.
Download PSD here

Making of Fiery Planets Collision

2009-06-16T09:14:00.000+05:30

This long tutorial will show how we can create a fiery collision between two planets by using some Adjusment Layers and Blending Options.

Visit this tutorial !

GOOGLE SQUARED

2009-06-13T08:24:00.001+05:30

Some information is easy to find. If you want to learn the rules of golf, you can search Google for [golf rules] and it will return a list of relevant web sites right at the top. But not all your information needs are that simple. Some questions can be more complex, requiring you to visit ten, perhaps twenty websites to research and collect what you need.

For instance, I'm a big fan of roller coasters. In the past I've used Google to search for information about roller coasters, such as which ones are the tallest, fastest, and have the most loops. Finding this information used to take multiple searches — I'd find roller coaster sizes on one website, heights on another, and speeds on a third. By manually comparing the sites, I could get the information I was looking for, but it took some time. With Google Squared, a new feature just released in Google Labs, I can find my roller coaster facts almost instantly.

Google Squared is an experimental search tool that collects facts from the web and presents them in an organized collection, similar to a spreadsheet. If you search for [roller coasters], Google Squared builds a square with rows for each of several specific roller coasters and columns for corresponding facts, such as image, height and maximum speed.

While gathering facts from across the Internet is relatively easy (albeit tedious) for humans to do, it's far more difficult for computers to do automatically. Google Squared is a first step towards solving that challenge. It essentially searches the web to find the types of facts you might be interested in, extracts them and presents them in a meaningful way.

This technology is by no means perfect. That's why we designed Google Squared to be conversational, enabling you to respond to the initial result and get a better answer. If there's another row or column you'd like to see, you can add it and Google Squared will automatically attempt to fetch and fill in the relevant facts for you. As you remove rows and columns you don't like, Google Squared will get a fresh idea of what you're interested in and suggest new rows and columns to add. See it in action in the video below:

If you click on any fact, you'll see the sources Google Squared gathered it from as well as a list of other possible values that you can investigate. So even if your square isn't perfect at the beginning, it's easy to work with Google Squared to get a better answer in no time. Once you've got a square you're happy with, you can save it and come back to it later.

To give Google Squared a whirl, try searching for [planets] or [romantic movies]. You can try out Google Squared now in Google Labs.

Windows 7 To Launch In Time For Christmas

2009-06-07T11:59:00.000+05:30

The next generation of Windows will be launched this autumn with a touch sensitive screen which could spell the end of the mouse.

Microsoft announced it will roll out Windows 7, which will take the place of the unpopular Windows Vista, from October 22.
The launch is months ahead of schedule and the operating system will be ready for Christmas buyers.
Nine out of ten of the world's computers run on Windows software.
Last year the software giant made about a third of its £60bn income from selling the operating system.
Windows Vista has been attacked for being too complicated and Microsoft bosses hope the new system will restore public confidence in the product.

Reviews of Windows 7 have praised its consumer-friendly features.
Users with touch-sensitive screens will be able to control their computers with the touch of a finger, rather than with a keyboard and mouse.
The device, as popularised on the iPhone and iPod Touch by Apple, is a direct challenge to Microsoft's arch-rival.
Microsoft is battling against a growing market in netbooks - smaller PCs ideal for surfing online and emailing.
One of the leading manufacturers, Acer, has become the first to announce a line of small PCs to run Google's new Android operating system.
Free upgrades to the new system will be offered to computer buyers shortly ahead of the launch.
Microsoft said: "We’ve produced the best Windows operating system ever, designed according to how people want to use it.
"The primary focus throughout the development of Windows 7 has been quality."

Bing! Microsoft To Take On Google Search

2009-06-07T11:54:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has begun the UK roll-out of Bing, the search engine it hopes can rival Google.

It replaces their existing Live Search and aims to offer more "intuitive" answers to questions.
Bing officially launches in the UK on Wednesday but a beta version is already live.
It will remain in beta for six to nine months in the UK as more features are added. The US version launched last week.
Features include a more sophisticated video search, which offers previews of the clips without having to leave the results page.

USB Hacks:Prevent Users From Writing to USB

2008-08-16T21:48:00.000+05:30

If you have windows XP with SP2, then you can disable the writing option to USB drives. This trick is very useful if you have virus in your computer and want to copy files from a USB Drive but don’t want to transfer virus to the USB. Follow the given steps to disable the USB writing option:

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.

First click on Start button and type “Regedit” in Run option.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

Here in right side panel, click right to create a key with the name “StorageDevicePolicies”.

Now in left side panel, select “StorageDevicePolicies” key, again right click to create new DWORD value then label it “WriteProtect”. Set its value to “1″. But again to enable writing, set its values to “0″.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Background Image for USB Window

2008-08-16T20:13:00.003+05:30

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a background image for the USB window upon connection of your USB storage device? This simple, quick USB hack will show you how to create a background image.

To perform this simply copy the following information in notepad:

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=your background picture

Change: the IconArea_Image= to the name of your jpeg file…I did: ericbana.jpg

Next, save the code above as desktop.ini

Last: place the ini file and the jpg file in the root of your USB drive.

I used ERIC BANA image for example.you can use your pics too..

Refresh or reconnect your device and …bamb…USB background image done. Tip: The image will repeat so when creating the jpeg be sure to leave plenty of white space in your image file.so customize ur pic pixels..

Shutdown the computer remotely

2008-07-24T17:14:00.000+05:30

This is will show you how to shutdown a computer (from your own) remotely. there is no need to send a file sneak on their computer or have any contact with them. This requires little or no DOS skills.

step 1Find their computer name
first type "net view"
next find you target in the list (by the way the target needs to be on your network)
congratz you've found your target.

by the way its also easier if u can sneak a peek at their computer for a minute. if you can click start right click my computer click properties then go to computer name. but thats only if theres alot of computers like in an office or a school.

step 2Shutdown -i
go to run and type cmd. this will bring up command promt or DOS. type shutdown -i and a dialog should come up

step 3Type
type the computer name. then change warning time to 2 seconds and type a message if you want.

step 4Done
Click ok and your done

How to enable & disable USB ports

2008-07-24T17:08:00.001+05:30

A desktop computer equipped with a CD writer or a DVD burner is a rare sight in most companies. But a much larger security threat is posed by the open USB ports where mischievous office workers can just plugin the Flash Pen Drive, External Hard Disk or their iPod music player and transfer corporate data or even copy licensed software to their memory sticks in seconds.

Also, USB keys are not just a popular way to sneak data out from companies, unhappy employees may use USB ports for delivering trojans or spyware into the company networks.

Now some smart admins disable usb drive by changing the BIOS settings and then lock the BIOS using passwords. Some not so-smart admins fix tapes over the USB ports to prevent employees from inserting any USB device into their computer.

However, both these approaches can prove to be counter-productives as your staff can no longer use USB keyboards, wireless mouse, digital cameras, camcorders, scanners, printers or even USB microphones to their computers.

So a more reasonable option for sysadmins is to disable write access to USB port so that data files cannot be written to the mass storage device. The USB thumb drive will be read-only.

Open the Windows Registry and open the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Now add a new DWORD called WriteProtect and put the value as 0 to disable write privileges to the USB port. To reverse the step, either delete the WriteProtect REG_DWORD or toggle the value to 1 which will enable the port.

Remember that the above trick works only with Windows XP SP2.

If you like to go a step further and disable users from connecting USB storage devices to their computers, here's the trick:

Open registry and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\UsbStor

Now in the right pane, double-click Start and type 4 in the Value data box (Hexadecimal) and quite the registry editor. To enable the USB storage devices, change the Start value back to 3.

No matter how good the protection tricks are, determined people always find workarounds. Here are some of the tricks that may render the above methods unusable:

» Employee may boot computer using a LiveCD like Knoppix or Ubuntu so the USB drives are again available to him for writing.

» They could open the computer chasis, take the battery out to reset the BIOS settings.

» Some may even invest in a PS2 to USB port converter.

» If he manages to get admin access for a temporary period (like installing software), he may undo the registry edits.

The cat-mouse game will never end. USB drives will remain a headache for the sysadmins for some time. However, Windows Vista will make life much simpler for IT administrators. There's a new Policy in Vista that allows USB keyboards or mouse to be used but not any USB devices.

NASSCOM LIST

2008-07-19T09:00:00.000+05:30

NASSCOM
Top 20 IT Software and Service Exporters FY07-08
1 Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
2 Infosys Technologies Ltd.
3 Wipro Technologies Ltd.
4 Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
5 HCL Technologies Ltd.
6 Tech Mahindra Ltd.
7 Patni Computer Systems Ltd.
8 I-flex Solutions Ltd.
9 Mphasis an EDS company
10 Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd.
11 CSC in India
12 Aricent
13 Syntel Inc.
14 Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd.
15 Hexaware Technologies Ltd.
16 Polaris Software Lab Ltd.
17 NIIT Technologies Ltd.
18 Sonata Software Ltd.
19 Mastek Ltd.
20 Genpact India Pvt. Ltd.
Footnote: This list does not include some companies whose corporate headquarters are located
outside India, but have significant India-centric delivery capabilities, and have not shared their Indiacentric
revenue figures. Had they been ranked based on their India revenues, companies such as
Accenture, Cognizant, HP, and IBM and would have also appeared in this ranking.

Memory Installation

2008-07-10T20:37:00.000+05:30

Since it's a lot harder to work on a motherboard when it's sitting inside a case, we might as well install the memory before we slip the mobo into our enclosure. These days, most systems run their memory in dual-channel configurations using pairs of memory modules. Motherboards are typically equipped with four DIMM slots, two of which correspond to each memory channel, so you'll want to check your motherboard's manual to determine which slots correspond to which memory channel. Be sure to install at least one memory module per channel.

Once you've figured out which slots to populate, sliding memory modules into place is a snap. Like processors, modules are keyed so they only fit into DIMM slots one way. Orient your modules accordingly, and apply even pressure along their top edge to seat them into the DIMM slots. If the module rocks back and forth as if on a central pivot point, you've got it turned around the wrong way.

If you're running fancy-pants memory modules with ginormous heat spreaders, like those pictured above, you may run into clearance issues with larger aftermarket processor heatsinks. Unless the heatsink's orientation can be changed to provide additional clearance for the DIMM slots, you'll have to settle for lower profile memory modules or a less extravagant CPU cooler.

When memory modules are seated correctly, retention tabs located at the ends of the DIMM slots should swing up into their upright and locked position, ready for take-off. If these tabs aren't completely locked, you should be able to flick them into place easily with your finger.
Preparing the enclosure
We're done with the motherboard for the moment, and must now prepare the enclosure for its arrival. Time to break out the screwdriver, folks.

The first thing we need to do is remove the enclosure's side panels. With some cases, only the left panel needs to be removed or even can be removed. However, if your enclosure has removable panels on both sides, we recommend taking both off. The additional access will come in handy when we clean up wiring within the case.

Most modern enclosures hold their side panels in place with thumbscrews or mechanical latches, so you probably won't even need a screwdriver to remove them. And if you need instructions on how to use a screwdriver, well, perhaps assembling a system from scratch is a little ambitious.

Removing the case panels gives us access to the enclosure's internals—most importantly, the panel on which the motherboard will set. The motherboard doesn't rest directly on the metal panel, though; that would create all sorts of short circuits. Instead, the motherboard sits atop a series of posts that separate it from the case.

Motherboard posts should come bundled with your case, and they can be screwed directly into the motherboard tray with your bare hands. Making sure they're tight.

When screwing posts into the motherboard, be sure that they line up with the board's mounting holes; posts that don't line up can make contact with solder points on the underside of the board, creating short circuits. We recommend using at least six mounting posts for a standard ATX motherboard, but to be on the safe side, you might as well use as many as there are mounting holes on your board.

Once the posts are in place, fish the I/O shield out of your motherboard box. Most cases already come with a generic I/O shield, but chances are it won't line up properly with your motherboard's port cluster. If your case has a generic shield, pop it out and toss it. The I/O shield that comes with your motherboard should easily snap into place.

Before moving on, we're going to save ourselves some hassle by bending back the metal tabs on the inside of the I/O shield. In the picture above, these tabs can be seen above the PS/2, Ethernet, and Firewire ports. Bending these tabs back will ensure that they don't catch on the motherboard ports when we slide it into the system.

We're now all set up to install the motherboard into the case, but before doing that, it's worth filling in a few other components that will be easier to install in an otherwise empty enclosure.

First among these is our system's hard drive. These days, it seems every case manufacturer mounts hard drives slightly differently, but the enclosure we've busted out today takes a simple approach. Hard drives slide neatly into internal 3.5" bays—with the drive ports facing out, of course—and are held in place by screws. Depending on your enclosure, you may need to secure the drive with screws on both sides; it's a good thing we removed the right-side case panel.

Which internal drive bay ends up housing the system's hard drive is up to you, but I prefer to have drives sitting in lower rather than higher bays. Heat rises, and we might as well put the drive in the coolest part of the case that we can. If you're running a system with multiple hard drives, try not to stack them in bays directly on top of one another. If possible, leave an empty bay between drives to allow air to flow freely between them.

Next up is our system's optical drive. This goes in one of our enclosure's external 5.25" bays, and in traditional cases, it's held in place by screws. Of course, these screws are slightly different from the ones that hold the hard drive in place—you know, because it would be entirely too convenient for the same screw type to be used throughout. All the screws you need should come with the case, and as a rule, ones with finer threads are used to secure optical drives and the motherboard, those with coarser threads and small heads secure hard drives, and those with coarse threads and large heads are reserved for case panels and expansion cards.

If you're going to be running a single optical drive, check to make sure that its jumper is set to Master or Single Drive. This should be the drive's default position, and you don't need to change it unless you plan on running a second optical drive off the same cable. Drives with SATA interfaces are a little more convenient, since they don't have these jumpers and won't need to be configured in this way.

You'll notice that we're installing the optical drive in the case's highest 5.25" drive bay. Optical drives aren't used frequently, so we're not so concerned with whether they're in the coolest possible bay. Instead, I like to mount optical drives as high as possible in tower enclosures to make them easier to reach when the case is sitting on the floor.

If you want to kick it old-school, now would be the time to install a floppy drive in one of the enclosure's external 3.5" bays. Same drill as with the optical drive, except with fewer choices; most cases only have one, maybe two external 3.5" bays. Those inclined to join the 21st century will probably have replaced the aging floppy drive with a zillion-in-one media card reader that slides into the same slot.

Assembling the core

2008-07-10T20:23:00.000+05:30

The CPU lies at the core of the modern PC, making it an appropriate place to start our build. For this first step, you'll of course want the processor, and also your system-to-be's motherboard.

This particular assembly guide features an Intel processor with a LGA775 socket, so certain steps won't be applicable to systems using AMD processors based on Socket AM2. Socket AM2 isn't hard to figure out, though; processor installation instructions typically come bundled with both the processor and the motherboard.

After laying the motherboard out on a clean work surface, remove the plastic cover that shields the LGA775 socket's pins from harm. Be careful not to bend or otherwise disturb these pins—they need to line up just right with contact points on the base of the CPU.

With the plastic guard removed, you'll easily be able to unclip the lever that holds the socket's CPU retention mechanism in place. Flip this retention bracket back on its hinges to expose the socket in full.

Modern CPUs are keyed to ensure that they can only be inserted into a socket one way, just like a puzzle piece, so you should have no problem dropping your processor into the socket. LGA775 processors, for example, have little indents along opposing edges that line up with protrusions in the socket. If your CPU struggles to slide smoothly into the socket, chances are you've got it oriented the wrong way.

Once the processor is sitting comfortably in the socket, flip the retention bracket back down and use the lever to clamp it into place. This secures the CPU to the motherboard.

With the processor installed, we can move onto the application of thermal compound. Some folks like to apply thermal paste before dropping the processor into the motherboard, but I find that tends to be a little messier without making things any easier.

Before slathering thermal compound all over our processor's exposed cap, it helps to make sure that cap is nice and clean. Gently brush the cap with a Q-Tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to rid it of any dust or oils that it may have picked up from your grubby carefully manicured fingers during the installation process.

Next, we apply thermal compound. Most retail processors that come packaged with coolers will already have thermal compound applied to the base of the heatsink. If yours does, you can skip this step and proceed directly to heatsink installation. However, we recommend applying thermal compound yourself. Thermal compound works best as a very thin layer between the CPU and heatsink, and most heatsinks that come with paste pre-applied use a thicker layer than is optimal.

You really only need a small dab of thermal compound to ensure complete coverage for the CPU. The dollop pictured above is more than enough, and it's best squeezed onto the center of the processor's metal cap.

Next, spread the thermal compound over the processor, ensuring complete and even coverage. Some thermal compounds come with plastic spreaders, but you can also use a credit card or even a finger wrapped in a plastic bag. What you want to end up with here is a relatively smooth layer that's just thick enough to completely cover the processor.

Don't worry about getting a little paste on the CPU retention bracket; it won't do any harm there. You will want to clean up any compound that makes its way onto the motherboard or its surface-mounted components, though. A Q-Tip dipped in rubbing alcohol should do the trick.

Once the processor is glazed with compound, we can turn our attention to the heatsink. If you've elected to do your own thermal compound application, you'll want to make sure that the heatsink's base is scrubbed clean. Rubbing alcohol usually gets the job done, but some heatsinks are slathered with particularly gooey, clingy, or otherwise uncooperative thermal interface materials. It may be necessary to break out more noxious substances, such as nail polish remover, to restore the base of the heatsink to a bare metal shine.

Be careful not to mar the base of the heatsink when removing any thermal compound that may cover it. Some heatsinks need to be scraped clean of thermal compound, and it's best to scrape with something plastic rather than a metal tool that will gouge the heatsink's surface.

With our system's processor blanketed by a thin veil of thermal compound and our heatsink's base scrubbed clean, it's time to mate the two together. Before dropping the heatsink into place, ensure that all four of the heatsink's plastic retention posts are rotated clockwise into their installation position. Next, place the heatsink on top of the CPU, lining up the four retention posts with corresponding holes in the motherboard.

When the posts are lined up, depress the black plastic tabs one by one to lock the heatsink into place. You should hear an audible click as each post locks into place.

Since the area around a modern motherboard's CPU socket is often crowded with tall capacitors, heatsinks, and elaborate heatpipe arrays, I find it's best to depress the retention post that's least accessible first. The post directly opposite that one should be next, followed by the remaining two in whichever order you desire.

After locking the heatsink into place, plug its fan into the appropriate header on the motherboard. The CPU fan header is usually right next to the socket, but if you can't find it, your motherboard manual should have a map highlighting its location.

Note whether the heatsink you're using features a fan with a three- or four-pin header. That information will come in handy when we jump into the BIOS to configure fan speed control, since some motherboards can't auto-detect fan types.

How to build a PC

2008-07-10T20:14:00.000+05:30

A step-by-step guide to enthusiast system assembly
The best thing about being a PC enthusiast—beyond, of course, the never ending joy of serving as the personal support technician for friends and family—is being able to assemble a system from the ground up with the perfect mix of components for a given budget. That mix of components will vary depending on your needs, but with today's market so rich with high-performance hardware at affordable prices, it's easy to spec a custom system that will blow the doors off pre-built boxes from major PC vendors.

Users new to building systems from scratch need more than just a shopping list, though. There's an art to assembling a rig from bare components. Building a PC can be a daunting task for a newbie who has never put a system together before. For those folks, a step-by-step guide covering the basics of system assembly is given below. Keep reading to know how to build a PC from scratch.

Getting started
Before diving into assembly, you'll want to gather a few supplies and find a large, clean work area that preferably isn't teeming with static electricity. As far as tools are concerned, you shouldn't need more than a Philips head screwdriver; one that holds screws in place with a magnetic tip is ideal. We'll also be using rubbing alcohol, Q-Tips, and zip ties. Everything else that you need should be included with the various components you've gathered to put into the system. Yes, you'll need those components, too.

Prior to removing any of the components from their packaging, you'll want to take the precaution of grounding yourself by touching a large, metal object like a table base, filing cabinet, or your PC's case—whatever's nearby—in order to discharge any static electricity you may be carrying with you. Static electricity can be harmful to PC components. Some folks prefer to use an anti-static wristband in order to keep themselves grounded.

Sony Ericsson Naming Explained

2008-07-08T22:20:00.000+05:30

Thanks to whoever added some detailed Sony Ericsson naming info on Wikipedia. Just as the last two letter of BMW models indicate the vehicle’s displacement, there’s a story behind each Sony Ericsson name.
The most common format uses a total of five (or six) characters, eg. K750i. This format begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone (K750i). This is then followed by three numbers (K750i).

The first number indicates the sub-series of the phone, the second indicates the amount of progression from the previous release, i.e. K700i to K750i, and the third number is always either a ‘0′ or ‘8′ and the letter ‘8′ is used either to show a variation of the phone destined for a different market without a feature , or it is used to separate phones which have identical specifications but the designs are different. Examples:

* The W888 is a W880i without 3G
* The K610i and K618i.

Finally, the lowercase letter at the end of the model name describes the market for which a product is intended; these are:

* a for the Americas,
* c for China,
* i for an international version

There is also an ‘im’ suffix used for branding i-mode phones. Often the last letter is left out to describe the phone generically with no region specific branding.

Acer intros breadbox-sized X1200 desktop

2008-07-08T22:15:00.000+05:30

Acer intros breadbox-sized X1200 desktop, AMD, Vista, GeForce, Acer, Aspire, Athlon aceraspirex1200-lgToday Acer has introduced breadbox-sized X1200 desktop in the market. Acer gave the US a rare minute addition to its Aspire desktop schedule. The X1200 is just in excess of a foot long at its largest dimension but fits in desktop machinery and expansion that would normally be unreasonable in its size. Up to a 2.6GHz Athlon 64 X2 is complemented by a GeForce 8200 for incorporated graphics as well as a PCI Express 2.0 slot that allows devoted video or other peripherals. Every system also fits 4GB of memory.

The all-black chassis also finds room for expansion that is left out even on larger systems, including a total of nine USB ports on the front and back, a 14-in-1 card reader, and FireWire.

Acer is distribution three dissimilar trim levels depending on tastes. A base edition ships with a 2.5GHz Athlon 64 X2, a 320GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and Windows Vista Home Premium in 64-bit form for $450; upgrading to the 2.6GHz processor adds $10 to the price, while a version of the same system with a 22-inch LCD and a 500GB drive boosts the price to $700.

SwissMemory Pocket Knife with Laser

2008-07-06T21:19:00.000+05:30

What you see above is a combination of Swiss knife, USB flash drive and a laser/ The product is named as SwissMemory Pocket Knife with Laser. It offers Swiss Army knife, 1GB or 2GB USB drive and a laser.

This tool is priced at $148 for 2GB version and $105 for 1GB version. If you don’t want the knife, you can get the version with only USB Flash and laser for $140 and $97 respectively.

Samsung Yepp U4 Music Player

2008-07-06T21:17:00.001+05:30

Samsung is going to release its Yepp U4 Digital Audio Player (DAP). The official website shows only “Coming Soon” for this new music player and no much information are available right now, but we can expect a small screen.

Wrist MP3 Player

2008-07-06T19:58:00.000+05:30

Introducing the wrist MP3 player designed for runners. Designed to be everything you wanted in an MP3 player, with the benefit of you not even knowing it’s there. On the surface of the player, an OLED is housed underneath a layer of polycarbonate. On the outer edge of the player is a jog wheel (with bumps), which is a tactile sensitive ring that can be rotated in either direction. This jog wheel controls the tracking of the song or the volume. The user can switch between volume and tracking mode via the button on the outside.

There is no headphone jack. The player would use Bluetooth headphone, eliminating the tangled mess of wires that conventional headphones have but adding to the sensation that you feel like you aren’t even wearing a music player.

Memory Infinite, Like Linking Rubber Bands

2008-07-06T18:55:00.000+05:30

Memory Infinite has a USB male connector at one end and a female connector at the other, providing an “add up” concept for USB finger discs. By connecting one Memory Infinite with another to, you can grow the space you need. The user can choose to combine or separate Memory Infinites to share files and if you build a chain long enough, you can wear it. When plugged into a computer, the daisy chain appears as one unified USB drive.

Geeky Gambling

2008-07-06T18:51:00.000+05:30

Snap! It’s a USB flash drive that looks like a domino but the disguise serves a purpose. Each white dot denotes 1 gig of memory used. Not sure how useful that is but at least you’ll be ready for an imprompt street corner game of dominos.

This Thumb Drive Has Real Buzz…

2008-07-06T18:36:00.000+05:30

One of the biggest issues with USB peripherals is the protruding nature of any design. From a Bluetooth adaptor to the tiniest of Flash Memory Drives, they all stick out like a sore thumb(drive). This issue with these protrusions is not just aesthetics, but function. USB peripherals are constantly being accidentally ripped out, knocked off or jammed into your computer causing not only damage to the external item but the computer’s USB plug itself. Serbian designer Damjan Stankovic, believes that flexibility in design can solve this problem. His “USBee” Flash Memory Drive won the first prize at the MS Industrial USB Competition held by the Serbian Design Community forum DizajnZona™. Ergonomically designed to bend at life’s will in any direction, this USB flash drive features a vented housing for cooling(I did not realize these needed cooling), and a detachable protective cap that snaps onto the back end of the device when not in use. No word yet if this will go into production, so all claims of memory capacity are a moot point.

Because it can squeeze into really tight spaces between the computer and any other object it cannot cause any physical damage to your PC that happens when the USB is accidentally knocked over.

The electronics are located in an aluminum shell which is covered in yellow silicon/rubber. The bottom part of the USBee has breathing holes within the silicone so that the aluminum can dissipate through and keep device cool.

100 Portable apps for USB Stick(both Mac and Win)

2008-07-02T22:53:00.000+05:30

This stuff can be installed on any portable drive, i.e. USB thumbdrive, PDA or an iPod. You can use them at work, school, or any other place where you can plugin your device. Check them out, you can either scroll-down for relevant category, i.e office software, email tools, messengers, games, etc. or get a ‘all-in-one’ package (all essential tools) . While there are more apps for windows users, I tried to include a mac version for each essential tool. All free. Enjoy!

What is a portable program ? : A portable program is a piece of software that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any other computer. It can be your email program, your browser, system recovery tools or even an operating system. The coolest part about it, is that all of your data and settings are always stored on a thumbdrive so when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.
Portable Office Software
Portable Email/Calendar/ToDo Programs
Portable Text and Voice Messengers
Portable Media Tools (Audio / Video)
Portable Graphics Viewers and Image Editors
Portable Browsers and Web Tools (FTP, Feedreaders, Torrent clients…)
Portable Security Software
Portable Games
Other Portable Utilities
Portable Developer Tools (Techies Only)
All-In-One Packages
Portable Operating Systems (’HowTo’ Articles)
USB ThumDrive Tips

Portable Office Software

Abiword [Win (6.3 mb) / Mac (9.5 mb)] - word processor (compatible with Microsoft word)
OpenOffice [Win (65 mb) / Mac (127 mb)] - free alternative to Microsoft Office (fully compatible with Microsoft Office docs)
PDF Viewers: Sumatra [Win (1.1 mb) ], Foxit PDF Reader [Win, (1.8 mb) ]
Notepad ++ - feature-rich Notepad replacement.

Portable Email/Calendar/ToDo Programs

Mozilla ThunderBird - [Win (6 mb), Mac (20.5 mb), Cross-Platform (Win, Mac)] - very good email client (built-in address book, import/export, tons of addons)
Calendars: Mozilla Sunbird [Win, 5.6mb], Sunbird [Mac, 9.7mb], Lightning [Win, 1.3mb) - ThunderBird addon
Mail [Mac] - requires locally installed Mail.app
iCal [Mac] - requires locally installed iCal.app
Address Book [Mac] - requires locally installed Address Book
Quick Mailer [Win, 20kb] - tiny program for sending quick e-mail messages
gDisk [Mac, 1020kb] - handy program that turns your gmail account into a portable hard drive. (More stuff for gmail)

Portable Text and Voice Messengers

All-in-One (Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, etc.): Gaim [Win, 6.9 mb], Miranda IM [Win, 1.2 mb], Adium [Mac, 15.5mb], Trillian [Win]
iChat [Mac] - requires locally installed iChat
Newspeak [Mac, 1mb] - Newspeak Cocoa IRC client
Skype - exlpains how to make skype portable

Portable Media Tools (Audio / Video)

Audacity [Win (2.4 mb), Mac (5mb)] - simple audio editor and recorder
VLC [Win (9.3 mb), Mac (24 mb)] - powerful media player that plays almost all popular audio and video formats
~~K-Lite Mega Codec Pack with Media Player~~ (resource unaccessible) - another powerful media player for playing all conceivable formats
iShout [Mac, 7mb] - record and listen to your favorite internet radios.
CocoaJT [Mac, 8.7mb] - stream live TV programs from major broadcast channels.

Portable Graphics Viewers and Image Editors
GIMP [Win (8.6 mb), Mac (87.5 mb)] - free alternative to Photoshop
IrfanView [Win, 1013kb] - fast graphic viewer with basic image editing features
XNView [Win, Mac, Linux] - image viewer and converter (supports more then 400 image formats)
Inkscape [Mac, 24.6mb] - scalable vector graphics editor

Portable Browsers and Internet Tools (FTP, Feedreaders, Torrent Clients…)

Firefox [Win (5.8 mb), Mac (21.9mb), Cross-platform (Win, Mac) ]
Other browsers: Camino [Mac, 16.2mb], Opera [Win], Safari [Mac] - requires installed safari
Feedreaders (RSS, Atom …): RSSOwl [Mac, 5mb], Feed [Mac, 564kb], GreatNews [Win], Sage [Win, 0.2 mb]
FTP Clients: Filezilla [Win, 2.3 mb], FireFTP [Win, 0.1mb], CyberDuck [Mac, 9.9mb]
TrayURL [Win] - bookmark manager
uTorrent [Win] - popular torrent downloader

Portable Security Software

Antivirus: ClamWin [Win, 5.9mb], Dr.Web CureIt [Win, 5.5 mb]
Keepass Password [Win, 1mb] - securely store and manage your passwords
Omziff [Win, 0.5mb] - lets you encrypt/decrypt a file, using secure encryption algorithms. Also includes a password generator, file shredder, file splitter and some more tools.
LockNote [Win] - simple text file that lets you store sensitive info with 256bit password encryption.
RoboFor2Go [Win] - secure password manager and form filler
Smart Sniff [Win, 57kb] - lets you inspect network traffic that passes via your network adapter.

Portable Games

Sudoku - popular puzzle game
Bricks2000 - popular tetris clone
Logix - something similar to minesweeper
Gem Drop - fast-paced puzzle game
GeneRally - 2D racing game
Nagaskaki - chess game
NarkoMania - cool minesweeper clone
NeverBall - part puzzle, part action game

Other Portable Utilities

7Zip [Win, 1.1 mb] - file archiver and compressor, supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR and more
Registry Tweaker [Win, 1.52mb] - registry tweaking tool
Restoration [Win, 229kb] - handy program for recovering deleted (or formatted) files
YamiPod [Win] - powerful iPod manager (copy mp3/AAC files to and from your iPod, import/export playlists, search for songs, remove duplicates,..). More iPod tools
Drive Manager [Win, 1191 kb] - quick summary for each local and removable drive.
PStart - lets you organize and create menu-like list for quicker access to your portable programs.
SyncPAppX - script that syncs preferences between portable and local applications.
RQ Money - handy utlity to manage your credits and debts
SIW - a system analysis tool that tells you almost everything you need to know about a computer, i.e. hardware, configuration settings, etc.
WinAudit - one more analysis tool
Convert [Win, 155 kb] - fast metric unit conversion tool (distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass…)
UK Calender [Win, 321kb] - straightforward calendar with ToDo and reminders
CPU-Z [Win] - provides detailed info about your processor and other components
Country Codes [Win, 1358 kb] - a small database of country codes and additional information for all countries.
TreePad Lite [Win, 866kb] - personal database program, lets you store all your notes, emails, bookmarks, etc. into one well-structured file
StartupList [Win, 158 kb] - displays all items that are in any way related to your computer startup and are executed without any user interactions
eTextReader [Win, 279kb] - read plain text files provided by Project Gutenberg in a book-like manner.
Index Your Files [Win, 640kb] - provides an easy way to create index databases (of specified folders and drives) for quick file/term search
RockXP [win, 768kb] - handy utility for retrieving Win XP’s product key
WhoisThisDomain [Win, 42kb] - view owner and registration info for any domain name
Converter - portable unit convertsion utility
Portable Developer Tools (Techies Only)
Nvu [Win (7.3 mb), Mac (12 mb)] - easy-to-use webpage editor. Simpler alternative to Dreamweaver and Microsft Frontpage
Server2Go - apache webserver (no configurations needed)
InstantRails[Win, 60mb] - contains Ruby, Rails, Apache, and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run.
Putty [Win, 0.9 mb] - lightweight telnet and SSH client
Follow-Me IP - displays your external IP address
XAMPP [Win, 25/17 mb] - integrated server package of Apache, mySQL, PHP and Perl. Just Unzip and Run
HTTP File Server [Win] - simple and easy-to-use file server for personal file sharing.
CurrPorts [Win, 46kb]- lets you view a list of ports that are currently in use, along with applications that use them
FTP Servers: Quick’n Easy FTP Server [Win, 355kb], PureFTPdManager [Mac, 10.9mb]

All-In-One Packages

PortableApps Suite [Win, 89.5mb] - includes 7 programs for essential needs (office, email, IM client, etc.) + cool Startup manager and backup utility
FSuite [Mac, 668.3mb] - over 30 useful tools in one file (Office, Graphic, Audio, Video, Internet, Developer Tools and Games)

Portable Operating Systems (’HowTo’ Articles)

Mac OS Classic 7
Portable Linux: Knoppix, Ubuntu
Win XP

USB ThumDrive Tips

How to create a bootable USB key
Never Forget your USB Stick
QuickLaunch your USB workspace

That’s mainly it… In case you’re looking for something that wasn’t mentioned above, there are a couple of resources you may want to check out. These are Portablefreeware.com and Tinyapps.org

1 Awesome Gmail Tip

2008-07-02T22:47:00.001+05:30

Let’s say that your email address is ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’, basically everything sent to any of the following email addresses will be forwarded to your primary email.

GeorgeBush@gmail.com
G.eorgeBush@gmail.com
Ge.orgeBush@gmail.com

…
…

GeorgeBus.h@gmail.com

GeorgeBush@googlemail.com
G.eorgeBush@googlemail.com
Ge.orgeBush@googlemail.com

…
…

GeorgeBus.h@googlemail.com

And that’s not all, you can place as many dots as you want, it can be even something like ‘G.e.o.r.g.e.B.u.s.h@gmail.com’ and you’ll still get it on ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’

Additionally, I just also found out that you can embed random text to your email ID using ‘+’ sign. That is to say ‘GeorgeBush+anythingyouwant@gmail.com’ can be used as your email address, as well.

Ok I got it. Now what ?

1. One email for every purpose

Instead of using different email addresses for various purposes (work, school, friends, etc.) you can use different variations of your Gmail and filter incoming mails by ’sent to’ address. For instance, all incoming mail sent to ‘Name.Surname@gmail.com’ can be put to folder ‘work’, messages sent to ‘NameSurname@gmail.com’ can be put to ‘friends’, ‘N.ameSurname@gmail.com’ can be used for newsletters, and so on.

2. Track/Block spammers

When signing up for some website, say thatwebsite.com, you can add thatwebsite to your Gmail user ID (eg. GeorgeBush+thatwebsite@gmail.com). This way you can block your subscription whenever you want and even identify those websites that distribute your email address to spammers.

Believe it or not

2008-06-21T21:40:00.000+05:30

1. Coca-Cola was originally green.
2. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
3. The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with .
4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
5. There are two credit cards for every person in theUnited States
6. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
7. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!
8. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath ..
9. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
10. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
11. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
12. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
13. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
14. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.Spades - King DavidClubs - Alexander the Great,Hearts - CharlemagneDiamonds - Julius Caesar.
15. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
16. If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
17. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?Ans. - All invented by women.
18. Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.
19. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
20. A snail can sleep for three years.
21. All polar bears are left handed .
22. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
23. Butterflies taste with their feet .
24. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
25. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
26. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
27. Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
28. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
29. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
30. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
31. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
32. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
33. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
34. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match .
35. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
36. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different

Incredible Facts

2008-06-21T21:38:00.000+05:30

This freaked me out. check itand let me know what you think.

1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the TwinTowers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers.6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4= 11.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towersincident.

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the firstplane to hit one of the Twin Towers.
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS

What do you think now?!?!.......

Microsoft Crazy Facts

2008-06-21T21:35:00.000+05:30

1 :
Nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the computer named as "CON".
This is something pretty cool...and unbelievable. ..

Explanation for 1:

In windows the folder name and the special system variables share the same interface, so
when you create a folder with a system variable name it will consider that folder already
exist!!
these special system variables are available irrespective of path
You cannot create a folder with these names also:
CON, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3,COM1 to COM9 and LPT1 to LPT9....
CON means console, COM1 means serial port 1, LPT1 means parallel port 1

2:
This is something pretty cool and unbelievable. ..
At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened!
Try it out yourself...
Open Microsoft Word and type
=rand (200, 99)
and then press ENTER

3:
For those of you using Windows, do the following:
1. Open an empty notepad file
2. Type "Bush hid the facts" (without the quotes)
3. Save it as whatever you want.
4. Close it, and re-open it.
is it just a really weird bug?

You can try the same thing above with another sentence "this app can break"
u cant save these wordings just check it
"live for the lover"
1.Take a notepad and write this lines (dont put qoutes)
2.Save it with any name and close it
3.Open that notepad once again
what u see?? u know how it happen???
some times bill gate never fall in love hi..hi..

To Aspirants of GRE

2008-06-14T16:58:00.000+05:30

Visit www.exambell.com for GRE words..It contains all the GRE latest words asked in the exam...enjoy urself!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-14T16:29:00.001+05:30

Websites-collection

2008-06-14T16:26:00.000+05:30

BEST WEBSITES COLLECTION

Source for this stuff: www.freevideolectures4all.blogspot.com

Book Search:download the books u want(any book)::

These are the two search engines from where u can download the book u want.

www.bookilook.com

www.gigapedia.org

www.esnips.com //**not only books u can find anything u want

Best Internet Forums:

forums contain postings from the users world wide. these are the places where u can find exclusive stuff for anything like education,movie downloads,earning etc etc everything...

www.warez-bb.org

www.projectw.org

www.xboard.us

www.warangplus.com /*best resource for tutorials,books etc*/

www.forum.only4gurus.org or .com test it

www.masalatalk.com ///the best & largest site for movies ,songs, ebooks, software and hot collection downloads //

www.indiancinemafans.com /* for movies,songs,tutorials downloads*/

www.lazydesis.com

http://rslinksforum.com/forums

http://www.isfunshare.info/ //holly and bollywood movies

BestDatabase Search engines:

www.searchshared.com

www.rapidshare-search-engine.com

mostly google gives search results corresponding to paid sites only. this means suppose u are searching for a free software, or some other stuff for download google search engine shows the results mostly corresponding to paid sites.

So these are search engines to find the links for downloads(if available with cracks) from different forums and sites. Your search becomes very easy with these search engines

www.searchshared.com //search rapidshare, megaupload,file factory etc etc upto 30 databases parallely //

www.rapidshare-search-engine.com

JOB sites:

www.vyoms.com

www.4futureengineers.com

www.chetanas.com/home/index.html

www.sureshkumar.net

www.efreshers.com

www.jobs-function.com

www.koolcampus.com

www.yuvajobs.com

www.techinterviews.com

www.naukari.com

www.hotjobs.com

www.monsterjobs.com

www.freshersworld.com

campus and placement papers:

www.freshersworld.com /*excellent site for placement papers*/

www.sureshkumar.net

www.vyomworld.com

www.techinterviews.com

Source code &Programming tutorials::

Best Java learning sites & source code search sites for all lanugages:

www.javapassion.com /*excellent site */

www.java.sun.com

www.javaworld.com

www.javagalaxy.com

www.codeproject.com /**best source code site*/

www.dreamincode.net/forums/showforum32.htm

www.tutorialized.com

http://learning.ideasami.com/index.php?cat=4

http://www.planetsourcecode.com/

http://www.javalobby.org/index.jsp

www.javalessons.com //good

Best JDBC tutorials site:-

www.herongyang.com

www.sql.net

www.sqlzoo.net

Best Html,xml,sql etc etc tutorials site:

www.w3schools.com /*Best site in the world for html,sql etc*/

Hacking Learning & material sites Ankit fadia's preferred sites:

www.hackingtruths.box.sk

how the internet works

www.antionline.com

www.onlineokaprogrammersheaven/msdn.microsoft.com

hacking material

www.neworder.box.sk

www.packetstorm.security.com

www.securityfocus.com

meata search engines:

these are the combinations of 2 or more search engines. i.e like search results from google+yahoo at once in that way .

http://twingine.com/ //yahoo+google search at a time

www.askjeevas.com

www.altavista.com

www.dejanews.com

www.dogpile.com

Video tutorials and free video lectures:

www.freevideolectures4all.blogspot.com

/* the above blog contains free video lectures for download from various prestigious universities around the world.the streams include computer science all subjects,maths,commerce web design,networking ,nanotechnology and so so many video lectures are available for download*/

www.knowfree.net

www.warangplus.com

www.ocw.mit.edu /*mit university official website contains mit video lectures*/

www.video-tutes.com //awesome multimedia tutorials streaming videos

http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~sahni/cop3530/index.html

above one data structures video lectures by sarjat sahani awesome

http://www.oid.ucla.edu/webcasts/courses/2006-2007/2006fall/cs1

// above site contains intro to comp streaming videos

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cscie1/

http://www.peerbox.com:8668/space/start/2006-05-16/1

//this site consists of videolectures resources from all around the world excellent site

www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/teaching/fall2001/video/high //networking lectures for download

GRE & TOEFL sites

www.gre.org //official site

www.exambell.com //contains up do date gre words appeared in original gre

www.english-test.com
http://www.drrajusgre.com //****up to date gre words appeared full orkut database

www.greguide.com

www.gradmentor.placementor.com

www.englishtestprep.com/toefl/tests/index.htm

www.gettoefl.com/twe/essay.htm

www.dettoefl.com/listening-sample.htm

www.learn4good/languages/spec_english_toefl.htm

www.4tests.com/exams/examdetail.asp?eid=57

www.esl-lab.com

www.testmagic.com/knowledge_base/TOEFL/Structure/index.htm

www.gettoefl.com/practice.htm

www.esl.about.com/library/quiz

http://www.greword.com

http://eisn.net

Best Softwares download Sites:

www.warangplus.com

www.teamdownload.com

//Team download: ultimate software collection is found here but actually its an urdu site so for some download links signing in is necessary . u cant understand the appli form it is in urdu .but don't worry filling the appli form is very easy there are only 4 field in appli form

1)desired user name 2)desired password 3)email 4)confirm email

thats all enjoy.........

www.apadanait.com/ //good one

www.masalatalk.com/masalaboard/showthread.php?t=257795

www.softarchive.net

www.masalatalk.com //visit software section

www.direct-down.blogspot.com

www.downloads.com

www.9down.com

Final Year Projects:

www.sourceforge.net //contains around 3,60,000 completed project world biggest resource

www.1000projects.com //contains so many final year projects, paper presentation with good explanation, and lab programs in mini project section.

Paper Presentations: www.1000projects.com

Movie downloads:

www.indiancinemafans.com

www.lazydesis.com

http://www.desimovielinks.com/ all movie sites links at one place

//the above sites home page which consists of links to all the moviewebsites for downloads. this home page consists of links to around 500 websites all hindi,tamil,telugu,English etc all movie site links at one place / /

Cracks:

www.cracks.lomalka.com

www.keygen.us

www.crackportal.com

free sms offering sites:

www.krifysms.com

www.waytosms.com //best

www.smsjunction.com

http://atrochatro.com/send_free_sms_india.html

from above site send sms without even registering in india only

news channels live

www.bbc.com

www.ibnlive.com

www.ndtv.com

Some for useful sites:

www.howstuffworks.com //excellent site

//excellent site to learn how anything in the

world works excellent explanation //

www.wikipedia.org /*contains lakhs and lakhs of article **/

www.nationalgeographicchannel.com

www.knowfree.net

www.meebo.com //chat without yahoomessenger,rediffbowl without installing

from this site . usefull in colleges,offices etc

www.indiatunes.com

www.musicfolks.in

www.programmingtutorials.com

www.library.a/bany.edu/internet //how to use internet

Find ur ip address just enter this site it will tell ur ip address

http://www.whatismyip.com/

Yoga videos collection all types of yogas:

http://www.warez-bb.org/viewtopic.php?t=418499

software for finding broadband account usage

www.shaplus.com/dataone //excellent one

HOt stuff:

www.masalatalk.com //i think the biggest site in the world & excellent stuff

www.porntube.com

www.debonaireblog.com

quiz sites

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

www.15to25.com

www.conteststowin.com

www.magicclub.com

if u really find the stuff useful and wanna say thanks

plzz visit

www.freevideolectures4all.blogspot.com

www.videotutorials.page.tl

www.freeonlinevideotutorials.blogspot.com

www.bulkofbooks.blogspot.com