Ashwin's Blog

Will Taj Mahal make it to the Final New 7 Wonders of the World?

2007-07-06T01:28:00.000-07:00

As the voting for the New 7 Wonders of the World heats up, the day has finally arrived. Today being the last day of voting and results will be declared tomorrow at Lisbon, Portugal. All Indians are having their fingers crossed for having the Taj Mahal among one of the New 7 Wonders.

Video: New 7 Wonders Finalists.

As of 7th June, 2007; Taj Mahal was ranked at number 10.

After a lot of promotions and campaigning in India to vote Online and SMS "TAJ" to 4567, it has been at a very later stage.
Moreover, I feel that the awareness in India has been coming up at the last moment since last few months to keep voting or should we call it our over-confidence?

Though it sounds like the Taj Mahal is among the leaders;

Rome's Colosseum, China's Great Wall, Peru's Machu Picchu, India's Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra have been among the leaders since January while the Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer made their way up from the middle of the field to the top level, according to the most recent tallies. The United States' Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House have been sitting in the bottom 10 since the start.

Taj is still not doing well.

But, the lack of enthusiasm in India to vote for the 17th-Century Taj Mahal has been striking.
India has around 170 million mobile phone users and one person in every 50 has access to a personal computer.
But lacklustre voting over the past few months has seen the Taj Mahal get just enough votes to get at the bottom of the top 10 list.
Until a few weeks ago, there was virtually no information about the campaign.
Although some private television channels are now calling upon people to vote, most people are yet to hear about the campaign.

Waiting for tomorrow's results. Will TAJ make it among the 7?

Ek Mohobbat- One Love (song by: A. R. Rahman)
A tribute to Taj Mahal

Now that's refreshing!

Few insights on User Groups and Communities

2007-07-03T05:14:00.000-07:00

What are Technical communities all about?
Technical communities provide opportunities to interact with experts, and your peers in order to share knowledge and news about related technologies.

What are Technology User Groups?
User groups are typically independently run, volunteer groups that meet in-person on a regular basis to discuss and share information on a variety of technical topics. Participation in a user group is an excellent, inexpensive way to receive technical content, education and to meet with your peers to get more out of the various platforms, products, technologies, and resources which you are interested in.

Basically they are a group of professionals dedicated to helping the users and administrators of Windows / any other technology products successful in their work, home and leisure environments through the sharing of ideas, best practices, information and research and development. The members of the group may be any individual from Developers, IT professionals, Product Experts, Business and IT decision makers, to home users.

Following are the benefits of joining a user group :-

Monthly community conferences and events
Presentations by leading technology and industry technical specialists
Special interest groups formed around important topics
Access to the group website for collaboration and resources
Technical discussion meetings
Hands-on experience
Free for all the members for communities that have some support backing from some organization or business. There indeed are few communities that charge the members for events and trainings. But it depends purely on the kind of community and the event that may be
User Groups are totally driven by passion to share knowledge of technology

Supporting opportunities for a User Group may be providing any of the following :-

Meeting space at the monthly events
Speaking opportunities on the supporter's products and services at the events
Opportunity to provide giveaways and conduct raffles at monthly events
A symbiotic relationship between the group and our supporters to benefit all
Supporter’s page and details on the User Group as a co-promotional activity

Ways to stay updated with technology and why join or volunteer user groups

2007-06-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Today Internet being a vast medium of getting connected, we can have faster ways of finding and providing solutions to our clients. Every is a winner. The client gets a quicker and better solution, the vendor wins a better deal by maintaining his quality of service. May be one gets a better business contact or a suitable candidate lands up in his dream job by getting noticed. Since the technology has been moving at faster pace than our thought, we need to keep ourselves updated and upgraded in order to always stay in touch with technology. This needs us to find for better ways as to how we can gear up ourselves. Few of the options I would like to note down are:
Daily News
Magazines and Periodicals
Read various Blogs
Publish Blogs
Attend online WebCasts
Join discussion forums and NewsGroups
Join a public user group with similar interests
Technical Whitepapers
Get educational resources and get certified
etc...

Personally, I have explored a lot being a part of any discussion forum or a user group, it always helps us personally and professionally. There are end number of posibilities that we can explore. There may be various reasons that we may opine on, but here are few of them that I felt like posting.

Being a Community Member:
We make lots of new friends with similar profession and interests. It is always good to network with people. Who knows, some day you may land up having a good business contact or possibly land up in an even better job. But it purely depends on how we make ourselves get our talents noticed in public.
Get help from some of the technology experts on technology that we may be working on and enhance our skills
Get a chance to guide several people who needed help on technology. May they be geeks or novices, we come across various people inquisitive to learn more on some technology that we may be good at and it feels great to always share with them and help them keep upgraded on the technology that we are into.

In order to explore more from the technology perspective, we find ourselves at the drivers seat while we help the community being it's volunteer. We gain a lot of valuable experience on development projects, organizational committees, and other aspects of nonprofits. This always gives us a chance to keep ourselves get identified and noticed in the crowd. Here are some of the reasons that make me feel like volunteering a community.

Being a Community Volunteer:
We learn to manage events. We manage activities online and offline, which help enhance our management skills
Get an opportunity to provide presentations and help people understand technology that we are good at
Connecting to few of the best in technology known public identity and it is always a great feeling when we get direct help when in need of understanding the upcoming release of some much awaited products or the one that is in the market
Special opportunity to work on products when at Beta stage and get help from some of those who would be working on the development of the product. Learn more on the latest technologies and demonstrations of upcoming products and technologies
Keep ourselves updated by staying in contact with such experts
Opportunities are unlimited when it comes to learning. We share knowledge among people of all classes of expertise, which is a beneficial thing to all
Innovation rules and this can be the best place to implement our innovative ideas in front of public
Develop leadership and decision making skills by showing your proactiveness by initiating an idea and implementing them. The proof of being the best shows after our consistent efforts on the same
Helps us showcase our talents our way
Get opportunities to attend some of the Best Technology events and seminars which may not open to all ITProfessional public
Apart from attending, these are the places again where we get a chance to again volunteer and have ourselves get noticed
All this helps us improve our communication skills and make my presence felt among the group
We make good contacts globally and thoughts and innovative ideas to benefit the community comes out of the box. This helps us explore our own talents
Overall, this increases our own self-esteem

In a way, we improve our personality and change the way we are. You carry a lot of prestige when being a volunteer for some very well known product / technology user group.

The content that I have posted here is from my own personal experiences. There may be some disadvantages too but surely cannot beat the advantages and there surely are even more better ways than those listed here.

Chris Benoit RIP

2007-06-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

WWE Superstar Chris Benoit was found dead in his home on June 25, 2007 in Fayetteville, Georgia, along with his wife and son. Police are calling the deaths a murder-suicide. Investigators believe Benoit strangled his wife Nancy 3 days earlier. The next day suffocating his 7 year old son Daniel, and finally hunged himself in his weight room. All 3 bodies were found in different rooms with a bible placed next to the bodies of Benoit's wife and son. Steroids were also found in Benoit's home which investigators believe could have led to Benoit's burst of rage called "Roid Rage."

The WWE canceled its normal broadcast of RAW on June 25, which ironically was originally intended as a tribute to Vince McMahon's own death (which never turned out to be true) and instead aired a 3 hour special tribute to Benoit. He had wrestled for ECW, WCW, and the WWE.

This video is from the last 5 minutes of WWE's Raw broadcast from June 25th.

R.I.P. BENOIT, YOUR WIFE AND SON. You were one of wrestling's great champions. Until the facts come out, we can only speculate as to what happened; However there can't be any conclusions as many of us have done already.

R.I.P. Eddie Guerrero

More News:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Benoit

The above video is a must watch as it also features Chris Benoit's best friend Eddie Guerrero. My Tributes to both the superstars.
Eddie Guerrero RIP

Who are these 3 people on Windows Vista DVD?

2007-06-23T03:12:00.000-07:00

Just found this link where the person found a secret within the hologram on a Windows Vista DVD. It remains a mystery that who are these 3 guys!

Have a look at more images here. He says that these photographs were taken using Nikon 5700 in macro and by putting a cloth prover in front of the object.

Via MakeZine

MCSA, MCSE: Register by June 30 to Save 40% on First Windows Server 2008 Exam (Worldwide)

2007-06-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to all those not yet registered for your 40% discount voucher to upgrade yourself to Windows Server 2008. This is a last chance and this offer closes on June 30, 2007.

Register by June 30, 2007, to receive a 40% savings voucher for use on your upgrade path from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 certification. The transition exams (one for MCSA and one for MCSE) and the 40% savings offer are both intended to recognize your investment and expertise in our current technology and help you in your transition to the latest releases available from Microsoft. Register today for your voucher.

The best part of this offer is that this is valid WorldWide and not USA / Canada Specific :)

Features in Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

2007-06-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is released and now available for download. Here are few of the updates made in SP1

Support for Hardware-Assisted Virtualization (Both Intel VT and AMD V)
Support for additional guest and host operating systems
Support for more than 64 virtual machines on x64 hosts. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 now supports up to 256GB of physical memory and can run up to 512 virtual machines
VHD Mount command-line tool and APIs which allows you to mount a VHD file as a virtual disk on your host operations system.
Improved scalability support (Up to 256 GB of memory, Up to 512 VMs etc)
Interoperability with Volume Shadow Copy Service
Service Publication using Active Directory Service Connection Points
Virtual SCSI hard drive for installing Linux guests
Default size increased to 127 GB from 16GB for dynamically expanding virtual hard disks
VMRC ActiveX control now uses the Internet Explorer Security Zones
New VMRC client option to enable video stretch in full screen mode
Host clustering / Quick Migration whitepaper
IVMGuestOS::Get_OSName property now returns more operating system information

Find more: Here and Here

How does Microsoft come up with product names?

2007-06-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

Interested to know how the name Windows Server 2008 came up? Check the video. That's simple to understand but an innovative video.

How does Microsoft come up with product names? This video goes over the process for naming Longhorn to Windows Server 2008.

Video: What's In a Name?

Microsoft announces Surface

2007-06-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

What is Surface?

"Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Today at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Microsoft Surface™, the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Beginning at the end of this year, consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues."

Presenting: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

Minority Report meets the kitchen table in the new Surface from Microsoft. Claiming that surface computing is "as significant as the move from DOS to GUI," the company today announced a tabletop device with an integrated 30-inch screen and five cameras to enable multitouch access to music, photos, the web, and more. According to Microsoft, Surface isn't simply a regular PC with a touch interface—it's a whole new category of computing device that will supplement rather than replace traditional machines. We talked with Microsoft about the concept and what's powering it.
What lurks below Microsoft's Surface? A brief Q&A with Microsoft

Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface Virtual Pressroom
Microsoft Surface: Behind-the-Scenes First Look

On WikiPedia

Thanks Pramit for pointing this out to me.

Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" is now Windows Server 2008

2007-05-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates officially announces Windows Server CodeName "LongHorn" to be christened as Windows Server 2008 at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2007

Check the Official Announcement video on SoapBox

Video: WinHEC 2007 - Windows Server 2008 Announcement

Microsoft has officially christened Windows Server code-name Longhorn as Windows Server 2008, thus confirming one of the two possible choices. The Redmond Company has oscillated between Windows Server 2007 and Windows Server 2008, but Longhorn, following the availability of the first public milestone in the product's development, Beta 3, was finally stripped of its code-name. Thanks to SoftPedia for the update

So now, here we have to official website for Windows Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/default.mspx

Longhorn Server Beta 3 released

2007-04-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Microsoft® Windows Server® Code Name "Longhorn" helps IT professionals to increase the flexibility of their server infrastructure while offering developers a more robust web and applications platform for building connected applications and services.

Windows Server Code Name Longhorn has been released to beta testers today, with some of the most important changes coming to Longhorn Server Core. Core will support a grand total of 8 roles, double the 4 roles it had back in mid 2005. The grand total of roles available to Server Core includes:

Active Directory

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services

DNS

DHCP

File/Print

Windows Media Services

Terminal Services Easy Print, Remote App, and Gateway

Virtualization (configuring a server as a dedicated host for virtual servers.) (won't be available immediately.)

PowerShell is also included in the 3rd beta release of Longhorn Server, as well as the Windows Firewall being enabled by default

Direct Download Links:

Windows Server "Longhorn" Web x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Web x64 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Standard x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Standard x64 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Enterprise x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Enterprise x64 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Datacenter x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Datacenter x64 - English

Source: Microsoft Downloads | AeroXP

Microsoft provides 40% discount on LongHorn upgrade exam

2007-04-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Are you an MCSA or MCSE in Windows Server 2003? Or are you working towards getting certified? Then you better plan to finish that before 30th June, 2007 and get yourself registered to avail the 40% discount benefit that Microsoft is providing for the next releasing Windows Server Code Name "LongHorn" upgrade exam. As a Windows Server 2003 customer or partner with an early certification on Longhorn, you will be well placed to support early adopting organizations that will require skills on both platforms.

Register Now: Click Here

Thanks for the Birthday wishes

2007-03-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

Your sweet and charming wish
Painted my day with vibrant colors
You made my cup of joy fill up to the brim
Thanks a lot for you Wishes :D

12 Days of Christmas by Boymongoose

2007-02-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

Just found this wonderful video played on YouTube
12 Days of Christmas video clip re-worked Indian style. Performed by animated popstar, Boymongoose and Indian boyband.

Wonderful remake of the song 12 days of christmas originally by Lee Greenwood.

That's very well composed, fantastic animation, hillarious video.
And waat a waanderfull accent eda. Veaary Nice...

Here goes the lyrics:

On the first day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
A totally insufficient dowry

On the second day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the third day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Four Hari Krishnas..... (Is that Indian)
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Five Indian games..... (I want to be the cowboy)
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Nine telemarketers..... (Good Evenin.. This is Kaalin jones. Are you waanting greater kaalrits)
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Ten-minute yoga..... (Think the lotus, feel the lotus, drive the lotus)
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Eleven syllable name..... (PEESARAVANMUTHUDBLEEKVAAS)
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me...
Twelve cricket ball tamperers..... (I was simply correcting the stitching)
Eleven syllable name
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five minutes of fame
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

Watch the Video: Click here
Know about the Band: Here

Expected launches in 2007 in India

2007-01-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Windows Vista launch
Microsoft Office 2007 launch
Intel Quad-core desktop processors
High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interfaces in desktop PC’s
Faster Internet access on cell phones
iPhone on Microsoft Zune
MatchBox size projectors creating 15” diagonal video using lasers
Pocket cameras with up to 10MP support
Wireless Camcorders
Google to launch Facial recognition search to Picasa
Bills payment through cell phone using RFID - Coming Soon
SED TV (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) to launch to beat the LCD’s and HDTV’s
WiMax finally to be launched
Desktop on the go... within browsers
Desktops and Laptops for cheap
Birth of Blue-Ray disks... Bye Bye CD’s / DVD’s – (They will be from 50GB to 200GB)
Hard Disks with capacity of up to 1-TeraByte
Laser printers with up to 1000 ppm speed

Beautiful Ad by Telecom Italia... Thanks

2006-12-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Here is simply a Superb Advertisement that shows popularity and respect to Gandhiji. A great advertisement Ironically from a non- Indian company!!
And none the less, this ad won the EPICA awards for best ad. It took Italians to make this one!
With this post, I would like to Thank everybody behind this thought and enlightening us. We are honoured and glad. Indeed we need to think on the message "Imagine the world today, if he could have communicated like this."

Advertisement: TELECOM ITALIA S.P.A. "GANDHI"

What's" Your Blogging Personality?

2006-12-03T02:13:00.000-08:00

Your Blogging Type Is Clever and Witty

Of all blogging types, you're the best with words.Almost every blog post you write has legendary quality.You have a perverse sense of humor and often play devil's advocate.Impatient and picky, you tend to go off on funny rants from time to time.

What's" Your Blogging Personality?

Email Etiquette

2006-12-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

Never use your company account for sending private / personal messages. If your company permits, use the freebie accounts like, Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail etc... By doing this you really have your own privacy and will be less visible to your employers.

Properly understand To, CC, BCC. Use BCC when necessary. If you are sending an email to multiple people, add your own email id in To: field and put all other email addresses in the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field. This will keep the email address of your friends private whom you have marked a copy.
Do not use BCC option for officially copying someone in the email, use CC (Carbon Copy) option in such cases.
Sometimes people use BCC option to let someone else know without the recipient's knowledge that you are writing this specific email. I feel this is not a good practice since a BCC'ed person may unknowingly reply to the email, while the initial recipient was not aware of this which later creates problems in relationships. It is instead advised to email the actual recipient and then forwarding the sent mail to whomever we want to let know about this, with a FYI (For Your Information) note. This sounds more professional.

Write a good subject line. Subject line should be short and to the point that reflects the content of the message. It is not a good idea to mention subject lines like, ‘Hi’ ‘hello’, etc... Instead put them to the point as follows:

Subject: Meeting at Intercontinental on 25 Dec @ 6 PM

Similarly when we receive such mails, don’t use the same old format like, Re: Meeting at Intercontinental on 25 Dec @ 6 PM and then confirming in the mail. With this we are making the recipient to open the mail and read whether you have confirmed it or not. Reply with subject line like this:

Subject: Meeting at Intercontinental on 25 Dec @ 6 PM will be delayed till 6:30 PM

Doing this, you have saved the time of the recipient.

Keep your email message short and to the point. Very few will have patience and time to read a whole story. Instead make them short and to the point and if it is really required to be lengthy with full details, at least highlight the specific words and sentences that needs more attention.

Delete all past forwarded email addresses. When you are forwarding some mail, nobody wants to keep going through the history of this mail how long it has travelled and reached how many inboxes. These simply clutter the message and finally the real message is found at the bottom. Keep it clean while forwarding. Let only the message remain!

Do not forward chain letters. I simply HATE this! Emails that say, if you don't forward it to 10 people you'll die. Who really cares! Cut off such superstitions... And even if you receive such mail, please do not forward the mails with the footer. Delete them and then forward. Well and if you really are sending some real decent mail which is suspected to be a chain mail, make a note at the top saying “Please note: This isn't a chain letter”

Mind your words at work. Ensure that your work emails does not contain chat acronyms like 'u', 'ty', ‘wrt’, ‘neways’, ‘b4’, ‘tc’ etc... They are meant for cell phone messaging since the keypads are not well suited to writing fully-formed words, sentences and paragraphs. They sound a childish behaviour in Business mails. Always make a habit of writing in full words in general too instead of using acronyms.

Check your tone. Know your mail recipient well. Stay aware of your relationship – professionally before you start writing a mail. Re-verify your mail and if the topic is appropriate to write or not, as well as the tone of your writing.

Be careful. When you are sending some very secret and confidential mails, you better be very careful. Emails can be intercepted anywhere en route to its recipient. And also they can live for years in recipient email inbox. Think before sending!

Shorten your signature. Signature files, especially in business, should contain as few lines as possible. Four lines are more than enough. You may remove your personal mobile number and the home number if you are in a group mailing list. Keep them short and simple. Do not use very flashy, moving and colourful signatures. Do not use special symbol fonts in signature. They may also not be compatible with the recipients’ email client.

Name---
Title---

Quote past messages. It is always a better practice to cut the most relevant sentence from the message you received and preface it with a '>' and paste the quote above your response. Delete the rest of the original email from your response, unless you are responding to other points in the original.

Eg:

>Hey Ashwin, How are you? It’s been long time no mails from you!

Hi *** I am fine and was very busy for the past few weeks so could hardly get any time to even check my mails. So how are you doing?

Then the communication may continue with added quotes ‘>>’

Eg:

>>Hey Ashwin, How are you?
>>It’s been long time no mails from you!

>Hi *** I am fine and was very busy for the past few weeks so could hardly get any time to even check my mails.
>So how are you doing?

I am doing good and recently promoted as *** in my organization. With this new position, I now have the following responsibilities.....

Do not write email when you are in a bad mood. This reflects your style of writing.

Ask for clarification. If you receive and email that upsets you, make sure you haven't misunderstood. As told earlier, Mind your words and Check your tone... misunderstandings do happen due to such petty reasons. Therefore, instead of responding angrily, in your response, quote the portion of text that you are unsure of and ask the sender to clarify. Point out what you think it means, and then ask if you've misunderstood.

Do not spam friends, colleagues, etc... Do not send repeated mails as forwards. You may land up in the Spam Box of the recipients’ company mail server. It is always polite to apologize if you have done it.

Respond to group email appropriately. If someone has sent a group email that requires a response, but only to the sender or few other people, don't copy everyone on your reply. Read out what is specified and stay aware.

Check you File Attachment size. Do not send attachments with large size. Recipients have limitations to receiving the files and mailbox limits. Also note that everyone does not have a broadband connection. Therefore do not send large files unless requested. Else it is advised to upload them over websites like Files-Upload, YouSendIt, SendMeFile etc... and for images, use services like SnapFish, PhotoBucket, ImageStation, ImageShack etc... Then send the link to download it. If there are more than 2 documents, zip in one file and send. This will ensure that no downloads are missed by the recipient. No messages being bounced back due to exceeded attachment size limits etc...

Always reply to emails especially the ones specifically addressed to you. You have the sender waiting for your reply.

Do not hit the Reply to All button unnecessarily. Say you have received a mail from your large organization that is actually marked company-wide to several users. You may feel the need to respond to the sender, but others definitely do not want to have it unless relevant. Therefore mark a copy to only those whom you feel are really associated with that message and needs to be kept informed. I have also seen this to personal mail forwards that spread rumours. People just mark a Reply to all saying that the mail is fake and there the discussion starts... Please get me out of this conversation. I have no interest into it.

DO NOT USE CAPITAL LETTERS. In Internet, this chat terminology is called as SHOUTING if you are typing in capitals. Therefore don’t yell at me. Please be polite.

No stationeries please. These days there are several services that provide cool and jazzy stationeries to make your mail more colourful. Please... if you want to use it, then please purchase a beautiful letter pad, write and snail mail me... I will appreciate you. It is really nice to see the creativity but not always for all mails. Once in a while is OK on some special occasions when you got to send out wishes. These simply increase the size of the mail and also few email clients that do not support HTML, will send them as attachment. It is better to stay off for the confusion of the recipient asking you what is the attachment all about.

Less smiley and emoticons please. It is very nice to see your smiling face in a mail format. (But over smiling turns me off at least). Use then the least. All those mail with most of :) :) :) look uglier for me!

Plain Text or HTML. If you are using HTML format, see that you do not over format you mail. Keep it simple silly (KISS). Just use them to highlight any specific sections that may need attention. And no various colours please. I am no colour blind and have learnt about them in childhood. So please do not show me the various colours. Also if the recipients email client does not support HTML, you mail will look gibberish and vague.
While using plain text format, you obviously cannot format them and the font is standard. It is in “Courier” and this keep the size of the file lesser.

Use simple words, do not make the recipient to use dictionary! Write emails in the language easily understood by the recipient. There is always a difference when you are writing to an ordinary person, Senior Manager, Vice president or Chief Executive, Management etc... No jargons please to show your knowledge.

Do not overuse the high priority and privacy options of email.

Do not always request a Read Receipt. If the email is not delivered, we anyways receive a notification from the SMTP server, about delivery failure. And when email is previewed or just displayed in the recipient’s screen, the read receipt is sent. This also does not guarantee that the email is read by the recipient. But no worries, your message always gets delivered.

Spell Check. Always check your spellings before you send the mail.

I will soon come up with few more updates...

Let's Talk on Orkut

2006-11-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

It's confirmed! Google is now integrating their GTalk Instant Messenger and VOIP service in Orkut. With Google already having it integrated in their other services like: word processing, spreadsheet applications, and Gmail, this initiative sounds great.

This is what the Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne says:

"We noticed that a lot of people that were using Orkut also had their GTalk client open at the same time,"

and also says:

"some of the functionality of the Orkut site will be built into the free standing GTalk client. Orkut "friends" (and their "presence" status and information) will show up on GTalk users' buddy lists."

So next time you need to scrap your friend, there is no need to log into Orkut. Instead simply send your message on GTalk and that's it. Go... Chat Live and Talk :)

Well I personally am not a very crazy Orkut user or a strong GTalk user though. Only the reason being that GTalk is not much preferred IM in India compared to Yahoo! messenger and Windows Live. But this will have me be a regular to use GTalk often since Orkut having a huge popularity, GTalk is a must download messenger.
Here it is, now I have my GTalk on! ;)

Catch me on Orkut.

Imagine Cup 2007 Korea - Registrations Open

2006-10-19T02:35:00.000-07:00

After the successful finish of Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2006 in India, it is now headed to Korea for year 2007. Registrations are now open. Overview about the competition and the official website.

Ms Dewey - A New Interactive Search Engine

2006-10-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a new interactive - flash based search engine http://www.msdewey.com/
Ms. Dewey is here to assist you in your search and is hosted by model/actress/vocalist, Janina Gavankar, who is guest starring in the new episodes of Showtime's "The L Word", a television drama series aired in United Stated. Type in your search requirement in the search field and wait for what she has to say. Also just check her when you are inactive... and also u search through without typing anything in the field. Play around with different search requirements and see the results. Well this happens to be just a timepass for me at the moment... nothing more than that. See takes a a very long time to think.

Backup Tips

2006-10-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

ComputerWorld has some very interesting articles on Tips to backup:

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Desktops

Automate the desktop backup process whenever possible. Best intentions are exactly that.
Have users organize and consolidate important data in a single location for easier backup.
Use continuous data protection when data sets are evolving at a high rate.
Use an online service or VPN, plus a connection-sensing local client, for remote users.
Put desktop and laptop backups in your central data store to leverage its backup and redundancy.
Use imaging for quick and easy restoration of systems.
Image to hidden partitions on laptops for system recovery without IT assistance.
Use plain (uncompressed) file backups so users can browse and restore single documents on their own.
Save multiple revisions with your CDP system to create an ad hoc document archiving system.
Educate and continually re-educate users on the importance of backing up their desktops.

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Workgroups

Outsource to a backup service, or if that’s not possible...
Determine what needs to be backed up and how often it needs to be recovered.
Designate one or two people to be in charge of backups.
Install a backup product tailored to small groups, not enterprises.
Back up to disk rather than to tape.
Find a system that replicates off-site.
Consider continuous data protection if your industry is highly regulated.
Maintain backup logs, or use reporting tools for auditing and visibility.
Back up every day at a minimum — sometimes twice a day.
Test your backup system before an emergency.

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Data Center

Save to disk before going to tape.
Figure out the restore, then plan the backup to match.
Deduplicate the data to speed backup time and reduce the amount of storage needed.
Look for network bottlenecks that slow down backup and restore.
Don’t rely on a single technology. Use multiple layers of protection.
Minimize the number of backup products you use.
Set up restoration as a help desk function so storage professionals can work on improving levels of service.
Have backups stored outside the disaster impact zone.
Test the restoration process before it is needed, and tier your backups depending on how quickly they need restoration.
Make sure the recovery plan is stored with the backup data.

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Messaging

Decide between backup and archiving: Do you need to restore messages from a failure event (backup) or store/retrieve data to comply with legislation or a legal request for discovery?
Know what you are trying to gain with the backup and what level of restore granularity you require.
Fully disclose instant messaging monitoring or recording to IM users as part of your company’s written policy.
Focus on reducing the size of the message store by removing duplicate e-mail and attachments.
Apply ongoing, disk-based technology, such as snapshots, to capture changes to the now-more-manageable message store.
Consider contracting with a messaging-specific archival or disaster recovery-related service provider if you haven’t the time or resources to build out an internal IT infrastructure.
Determine, with the help of legal and compliance counsel, whether e-mail-related backups should be kept indefinitely on disk or tape or deleted after a certain period of time.
Know how long you are legally required to retain specific messaging backup data or message archives, and plan for such deadlines.
Develop, write and disseminate policies for the handling, protection and archiving of messaging systems.
At the least, perform a daily dump of the messaging system to disk via the Microsoft Windows NTbackup command.

5 Tips for Backing Up Your PDAs

Keep master copies of all corporate data on the server. Many applications have extensions to provide data to PDAs and smart phones.
Make new backups of the contents of memory whenever you make a significant addition or change to your data, either to an SD memory card, local computer or over the network to a corporate server.
Back up to two local memory cards, one of which is kept separate from the device in case of loss or theft, and to at least your local laptop or desktop computer daily.
Make frequent copies of SD card contents. Some PDA and smart phone applications read data directly from an SD card, essentially using it as a solid-state hard drive.
Automate backups so they won’t be forgotten. Most PDA and smart phone backup software today allows you to schedule daily automatic backups both to an SD card and over a Wi-Fi or cellular network to a corporate server.

First IPTV in India

2006-10-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) in tie up with IOL Broadband Limited, has launched the Internet Protocol Television (IP TV) in Mumbai. They are offering the subscribers to access 24 TV channels @ Rs. 199/- (special introductory fee). The service allows user to simultaneously make calls and surf the Internet on the broadband services. We will also be able to get video and music on demand services which is similar to watching Video CD's / DVD's using a VCD / DVD player. Movies, Instructional Videos and other content will also be available to customers. And not only this, we also have the e-learning services, where you will actually be able to directly attend seminars, interactive classrooms and meeting rooms etc... Whoa!

All we need to have is the following 3 services from MTNL:-
Normal Telephone Service
Broadband Internet service
IPTV service

The TV Channels are said to be getting increased to 200 very soon.

How does it work?
IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal (sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection and a set-top box programmed with a software that can handle viewer requests to access to many available media sources.

The viewer's TV connects to a Set Top Box (STB) that decodes the IP video and converts it into standard television signals. The STB is the gateway to an IP video switching system. The Switched Video Service (SVS) system allows viewers to access broadcast network channels, subscription services, and movies on demand. The consumer can access different media by using the television remote to send control commands to the SVS. The unit processes the request and displays the requested media type. Though there are many possible media sources, only one video channel is utilized in the process.
IPTV is an emerging technology and will evolve into a completely interactive experience in the future!

To make this all understand more simpler, IPTV will be a television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional formats and cabling, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks.

Some advantages on IPTV, and more

MTNL has answered the FAQ's here

So with this launch, we can now imagine a lot more than the DTH services provided by DishTV and TataSky in India. Just keep watching how the technology now moves with the already launched Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and now very soon I guess will Microsoft TV IPTV Edition come to India. Watch this Microsoft TV IPTV Edition Demonstration and also more from Cisco

MTNL has not yet announced the actual Tariff but it is not even far away! Well I am very much satisfied with the telephone service and the broadband service MTNL is providing me and looking forward for the next service... IPTV :) The only complaint I have with them is their response time to the initial setup and installation is a much extended process and need a lot of follow up's but I feel, by now they should improve.

MTNL hai toh sahi hai :)

IOL Broadband has a subscription form for IPTV service here. If need further information, we may fill it up and either a MTNL or IOL representative will get back to us. Or just check up with MTNL helpline on 1800228844 or 1504 (only from MTNL phone) or check your nearest helpline.

Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Technology Enablement Program

2006-10-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Microsoft communities invites all to the Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Technology Enablement Program. To tell you in brief about the training format, here it is:
This is a training officially provided by Microsoft. This training is provided all over India and is going to be a 10 month long series of modules on Windows Mobile and Embedded Technologies. This happens to be only every Saturday.
There are 10 modules of each program. i.e., 10 of Windows Mobile 5.0 and 10 of Windows Embedded CE 6.0. It is a neatly formatted program where you will be given all the required resources, the training materials, training facilities etc... everything you may think of that is essential for learning and mastering a product.

Each module consists of:

1) A Webcast giving an overview of the topic (90 minutes duration - 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm)
2) A session broadcast that explains in detail the topic itself (3 hours - 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm)
3) A lab that allows you to try first-hand the technology being discussed (day-long - 9:00 am to 6:00 pm) - depending on how fast we complete practice.

Here is the process how it all goes. Each module goes on for 2 Saturdays. The first week, you are provided the 90 min Webcasts that you may need to check (every Wednesday for Mobile 5.0 and Wed and Thu for Embedded CE 6.0), Even if you are unable to view it, we get that to view offline after few days either to view online or download for offline viewing (after 2-3 days max).
You will also be provided an article related to the same module (as the one I have attached here). With this, you do not need to got out and search for external resources for downloading. This makes your life easier as an initiative that people who have been busy all over, will only have to refer these articles to learn more.
Then it is followed by a session that Saturday. The session is broadcasted live and will happen happen in the same hall at Microsoft's office where everyone will be trained together. Also you get an opportunity to ask questions and get answered live! You can make the best use of this training.
Then the next Saturday, you get a Hands-on-lab where you are provided the facilities at Microsoft's office again. Each individual will be provided a system to practice the same. With this now you get an opportunity to really practice what you learnt.

This is not an initiative like other institutes who just teach and finish, but here you are not only trained on a particular technology but given enough care by allowing to practice and ensure that you are well trained and mastered at the end of all the modules. And moreover, what do you loose when it is Microsoft itself who is providing the training and the Technology Evangelists themselves taking enough initiative to train everyone. And at the end, you are also Certified by Microsoft after the end of each module.

So just tell me which one would you like to loose? Training, Training resources and facilities, Certificates... I feel that should be none. Nothing to loose when you are given an opportunity to master and not at all being charged :) You get an added skill and an opportunity to master a new technology finally being able to add light to your Resume. So just get in all your friends, colleagues, relatives, etc.. anyone who may be interested in this being in IT field or keen on getting into these technologies. All are welcome and are very strongly suggested to grab this opportunity and make it's best use.

This is what Mr. Vineet Gupta, Technology Evangelist - Microsoft; says:
In my opinion, mobile programming is where the next big growth in mainstream computing would take place, and very soon customers would be asking for mobile-based solutions. So I would urge you to think hard about mobile programming, and if possible, invest in your skills in this area. We are really working hard to help you become successful in this area, and if you have any ideas / feedback / suggestions, we are very eager to hear them.

The topics for the 10 months on Windows Mobile 5.0 are:

Sep - Windows Mobile Fundamentals
Oct - Compact Framework Fundamentals
Nov - Working with both Managed and Native Code
Dec - Crossbow - What's New
Jan - Using Windows Mobile Communication Stacks Part - I
Feb - Using Windows Mobile Communication Stacks Part - II
Mar - Data Storage and Access
Apr - Using Location APIs
May - Securing Windows Mobile Apps
Jun - Performance Tuning Windows Mobile Apps

Since we have missed the September module, and if you are from Mumbai interested into this, arrangements can be done in order to start back from scratch and we all can get the best from the fundamentals to advanced. But this needs to be informed quick and before Diwali ;) So post your comments here.

Similarly for Windows CE 5.0:
The Tools Story
Platform Overview
OS Architecture
Platform Security
Device Drivers

This is in short that I have at the moment for Windows CE 5.0. I will update you with in detail information soon. But no worries, we get the best from both the Windows Mobile and The Embedded Technologies.

Back to Blogs

2006-10-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

I had been away for a while from blogging. Several reasons for not being in,
Had a lot of issues with my system always constantly restarting periodically. My OS, Windows XP used to misbehave a lot. Windows Servr 2003 R2 took ages to boot up... Getting fed up with all these, last week I decided to service my system myself. So just closed down everything. Got into Gear 1 and got in with all the components out of the system to clean them and reassembled. Accelerated to back up all my data on DVD and got into Gear 2 to start formating the system. Gear 3 installation of the OS - Windows XP. Gear 4 installation of all the required applications with patches updated and re configuring my system. Now after all the hassles, today I am very happy having my system on a top gear running to its best and helping me to get back into blogging.

BTW, I have to tell you that I have received my free Windows Vista Beta 2 DVD shipped for FREE to my home on Friday, September 22, 2006. All those who have read my earlier blog post, hope that you too must have received it too. Now you too get into the top gear with Vista Installation. Start gearing yourself now!

Sharing MS Office Documents is Simple, Secure with Live Documents

2006-09-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

Just today, I was informed by Mr. Mohan (VP Marketing, InstaColl) that they are now coming up with their latest upcoming product, LiveDocuments. We are sure many of you may have heard of InstaColl earlier. You may have read my earlier review on the product. Now I was just going through the latest product, LiveDocuments.
Let's now move one step ahead of Instantly collaborating your documents. So what exactly is LiveDocuments?

Your group may have collaborated together and prepared a file. You alongwith your coworkers, collaborate on on preparing a presentation together. Would you then like to take the headache of keeping track of file versions and who has the latest revisions etc... ? Think about it! Well, I would definitely NOT! :o Then who will? :s

As you see on the LiveDocuments website:

Here are few document chaos we usually get into:
Did John approve the document that I sent?
Is this the final version of the agreement?
Did Jim upload the latest version to the Intranet?
I have five copies of this document and they all seem different?!
Our competitor's proposal seems exactly like ours! Do we have a leak?
Did Jane update the document with her changes?
Is the product information in the database up-to-date?
Who has the master document?
Has everyone finished reviewing this document?

We all may have definitely experienced such hassles and so this may have landed us into several confusions. So, it now time for us to say bye to confusions and welcome the simple and secure document sharing software from InstaSecure.

This application allows Microsoft Office users to share documents online in realtime and also they can automatically synchronize updates among all document users who are online at that very moment. You can specify who can read, edit, or print a file, and even a date after which people can't access it at all. The tool synchronizes changes in files, and it prevents people from creating conflicting edits, since it locks all instances of a file for writing when somebody else has it open. The functions are somewhat similar to Microsoft's Sharepoint Portal software, but without the requirement of a Sharepoint Portal server. Interesting! isn't it? Not only this... infact, Live Documents does not use any kind of server technology, but only requires every user to install its toolbar.

The application works with Microsoft Office 2000, XP, and 2003 and needs a stable Internet connection. Documents that are marked as shared are automatically sent out over the Internet to all users who have been assigned the right to view and/or modify them, and any changes are updated among all users.

Live Documents also does not require to set up a special folder for shared files. The user has the preference whether he has to share it or not.

After the pros a very few cons:
Multiple users cannot edit a document simultaneously. And without installing the 2.5MB download, we cannot open the file that is received from the remote user.

Go ahead! Download the trial version now:
EXE version (2.6 MB) or ZIP version (2.5 MB)

More on InstaColl Blog: Introducing “Live Documents”

Please check this review by Michael Arrington on TechCrunch: Live Documents is Powerful Stuff

Learn more about it
See why it is useful
Learn how it works
See where it can help
Take a free test drive

Instantly Collaborate with InstaColl

2006-09-05T04:32:00.000-07:00

Did you ever face any situation like, your customer waiting for a presentation / document / spreadsheet from you in the next few hours remaining. You need to discuss the matter with your boss before you present it to the customer and UNFORTUNATELY, your boss is out of town and cannot discuss it with you at that moment as he has both have to work on it together.
Would you ask the customer to wait till the next day as you have to discuss with superiors and get back?
If yes, you better buckle up NOW to show your quickest service. Here is something very important for all those who really want to provide a faster response to your clients. Give the best customer support.

There may be various stories that we may think of to explain you where you may have been a bit late and due to which that may have made a big difference. As you read the below review, you will know more and find a solution that may solve your such issues.

With this you can now:

Demonstrate products and services to anyone, anytime. Show Power Point presentations, highlight product features, and review contracts and documentation.

Review or edit documents in real time and conduct spontaneous Q&A sessions. Get the budget worked out, collaborate on presentation material, and communicate without the hassle or expense of traveling.

Deliver high quality, time-critical training without worrying about hardware or software issues. Update employees on process changes, regulatory compliance and new initiatives without trying to juggle travel schedules.

Build closer relationships with stakeholders by holding highly productive, interactive sessions without ever leaving your desk.

Overcome the limitations of document store-and-forward tools like e-mail which are insecure and unreliable. Instead of e-mailing a document to a colleague, try setting up an InstaColl session with that document - as soon as your colleague enters your InstaColl session through the invitation link, he receives your document, you are assured that he does have that document and both of you can collaboratively review the document at the same time! Imagine how much time you can save and how much heartburn you can avoid - no more missing e-mails!

After a long wait, here's it, presenting the Instant collaborating tool, InstaColl

InstaColl is an Instant Collaboration tool that allows business professionals to communicate and collaborate securely over the Internet. With the single click one can share documents and information across various locations. It is an interactive, collaborative platform that allow users to work on a shared document over the Internet from different places at the same time. It also allows users to connect in real-time using their existing desktop tools irrespective of their geographic location and collaborate seamlessly without having to reconfigure the firewall.

Instacoll enables users to share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

You can do Real-time Co-Editing of Documents. i.e., two users from remote location can co-edit documents in real-time. Changes made by either are displayed to the other party.

InstaColl support for Immediate or Scheduled Meetings. It enables users to click a button in Word, Excel or PowerPoint to hold an immediate real-time sharing meeting. Alternatively, a meeting can be scheduled for a later time, along with an agenda.

Users must be using a system with Microsoft Windows 2000/ XP / Server 2003 only with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher. It supports Microsoft Office 2000/ XP / 2003.

The system should have a minimum configuration of Pentium 300 MHz or higher with 64MB RAM or more. That's decent enough.

And an Internet connection ...

It is based on Peer-to-Peer and Server-Based technology. By default, InstaColl works peer-to-peer, but if there are firewall issues, documents are saved to the hosted InstaColl infrastructure and shared over common browsing ports to get around firewall limitations.

Meeting invites are shared via email. When wanting to share a document or screen sharing session with another user, the meeting initiator has to only click a button to generate an email message with joining instructions. They just need to fill out the name of the invitee ... thats it! Rest is all auto generated.

This powerful Instant Collaboration solution that is unlike any other real-time collaboration/web conferencing tool in the market.

This is what the InstaColl Overview says on Instacoll.com

InstaColl adopts a data-centric model where only the data is shared with the applications running locally on individual desktops. This ensures that bandwidth requirements are very low and even dial-up users can experience InstaColl and users can collaborate even if their operating system or application versions are different.

Installing in 3 steps:
1. Create a Free account
2. Setup InstaColl on PC
3. Share documents online

Get started working on InstaColl in just 3 steps:
1. Start Instacoll
2. Invite Friend
3. Begin InstaColling (Instantly Collaborate)

Have a Quick Tour to the product now!

InstaColl is a “data-centric collaboration” offering, which means that users collaborate around the data involved, not the application specifically.

InstaColl is one of the best on its part than any other online collaboration / web conferencing tool. Know why?

InstaColl happens to be very Easy, Secure, and Reliable. Nothing crap about it.

Know its Benefits

InstaColl FAQ's

What are you waiting for? Sign Up for a Free account and Download for free now and start InstantlyCollaborating.

You simply download the FREE, quick to start, and easy to use 3MB InstaColl client, your email address happens to be your user-name, and you set a password. That's it. You are ready to go.

After downloading,

Here is the tutorial

Keep all your troubles aside. Shoot 'em

I have been knowing about this product since last few years and is with a company headed by the Hotmail man Sabeer Bhatia, this happens to be the next big thing. Please let us know if you have any questions on this product

Get Windows Vista Beta 2 shipped to your home for free

2006-08-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have just successfully registered with Microsoft for my free copy of Windows Vista Beta 2 that will be shipped for free to my home.

Participate in the Microsoft Future Assured Quiz and get your copy of Windows Vista Beta 2 shipped to your home by Microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/india/offers/vista/quiz.aspx

Just check the following answers:
1 - Vista
2 - Clarity
3 - November 2006
4 - True
5 - Aero
6 - All the above
7 - All the above
8 - 512 MB

Congratulations! You have got all the questions right. To have your gift couriered, please click on the button below and provide your details.

Logged in using my passport account

Submitted the shipping details

Final screen message:
Thank you for taking part in the Microsoft Future Assured Quiz.Your copy of Windows Vista Beta 2 CD will be dispatched shortly.

Now waiting for the courier...

Convert your e-mail address into URL and stay protected from Spammers

2006-08-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

What would you call an address like: http://tinymailto.com/ashwin

Thats a URL of a site on Tinymailto.com with a page named ashwin. Right?

Well... if you thought the same, you are wrong! It's actually my email address converted as a form of a URL.TinyMailto.com let you convert your e-mail address into an URL that is protected from spammers by a captcha test.

You can use a tinymailto URL to put it in public places, like web pages, forum/e-mail signatures, etc. If someone wants to get your e-mail address, the person must pass a Captcha test in order to view and use your e-mail address.This way, you can protect your e-mail address from spammers and web robots (web-bots).

A Captcha test is an image that can be interpreted only by a human.

You can retrieve the email address by visiting the user's page as mentioned.In order to get the e-mail, you must type the letters that appears in the verification image and then click on the "Get e-mail" button.

Above all, this service is for FREE ! So visit here and create one now and stay away from spammers.

Listen to Microsoft's TechNet PodCast's on the go

2006-08-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has introduced a new Technet PodCast page under Microsoft Events. We can now currently download the audio of Microsoft webcasts and media content. We can currently access to .wma & .mp3 files of all their best Webcast series they have uploaded. The webcasts are categorized under: Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Active Directory, Scripting. We can also register to access all podcasts via RSS Feeds for WMA or MP3 format.

We have to register for the Webcast to view online or download the WMV file for offline viewing as well as the PPT. Similarly for podcasts, no registration is required Simply click on the WMA or MP3 link and download !

So download and hear them on the go.

Microsoft PodCast Webpage

PodCast FAQ's

More on Microsoft Webcasts:

Microsoft Events and Webcasts Home Page

Webcast Calendar

Upcoming TechNet Webcasts
On-Demand TechNet Webcasts
Past Support Webcasts
Top 10 Webcasts
Best of TechNet Webcasts
In-Person Events
Live Meeting

Microsoft Support Webcasts

Find an Event or Webcast
Search for in-person worldwide events, live webcasts, and on-demand webcasts.

FAQ about Microsoft Webcasts

MSDN Shows and Webcasts

How To Crack 128-bit Wireless Networks In 60 Seconds

2006-08-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

Using KisMAC via Shawn Hogan's Blog

Earn for providing consultancy services on your terms

2006-08-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Are you being approached by many people for consulting? Do you spend time discussing on negotiating fees for your consultancy services? Well, now let you talking do the selling via Ether.

Ether is a free service that allows you to earn money simply by giving advice, providing information or help, technical support etc...

Ether manages the scheduling, communication, financial transaction, billing and credit card payment between sellers and their customers. For this service, Ether charges 15% of the service fee, before transferring the earnings to service providers by direct deposit or by check.

Once you register, you get your free Ether toll free phone number which will redirect and forward the calls to your actual phone number, set the charging price for your service, schedule your available service time and you’re set to earn money when your phone rings.

Once you set up your Ether account, the customers can search for your services and you can promote your service by placing a Ether button on your website or blog. They can call for your service via Ether toll-free phone line plus seller’s unique extension, (888-MY-ETHER + a unique extension to each seller) or simply press the Call button on your website or blog. Both options will prompt the caller to enter in their credit card information (via IVR prompts or a website form) before connecting the call to both the client and the seller. Once your customer prepaid your rate, both parties will be connected.You can also set the time when you will accept the call.

Therefore follow these simple steps:
1. Register with Ether for free
2. Get a free Ether phone number
3. Set your consulting rate
5. Fix the time and day when you will be available for consultancy
6. Earn for talking and providing your expert consultancy services

Check more on Ether website and Ether Blog

Let your site / blog earn you 50% affiliate commission of profit

2006-08-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

GoodStorm MeCommerce, a new contextual advertising network that use the ‘pay per action’ (CPA) business model. The webmasters and bloggers get paid when their visitors purchase merchandises such as books, DVDs, and CDs with lead from their websites or blogs. MeCommerce offers a very high 50% of the profits (half of its net profit = half of the profit after product cost price minus from product sales price) from the goods that you sold.

The whole purchase and sales retail transaction is done on your blog or website. By using JavaScript and iframe box, visitors and readers can purchase products such as books and CDs inside the serving box without leaving the website that they’re currently visit.

Also through MeCommerce we are able to use “tags” to select the products that will be displayed on the product serving text box block on the website. Unlike Google Adsense, the colors and sizes of the ads block can be adjusted to best match your site.

MeCommerce says their product serving block can be used on the same page with Google Adsense ads block and is flexibile. We can also use unique marketing techniques for advertising as it is displayed on the MeComerce website's sample blog - “Support my website! 50% of the proceeds on these products go to support this site.”

Currently they are on a beta stage and they will be sending us an email when we can try it out. Therefore keep yourself signed up for the service.

This is what it says: We are inviting a limited numbers of sites to our beta for the next few weeks in order to fine tune the experience. We are aiming for a wider beta audience at the end of August.

MeCommerce

Search your home on Wikimapia

2006-08-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

You may have already discovered Google Earth.
Now, Collaboration through Wiki technology, Tagging and Google Maps. When together, what they mean? Well... here's the math: Wiki + Google Maps = WIKIMAPIA

What is Wikimapia all about?
Wikimapia is a new project created by Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev aimed at "describing the whole planet earth". They have created an excellent way to accomplish this goal. Using a mixture of Google Maps satellite imagery, a "wiki" editing mechanism and tagging, Wikimapia lets anyone add or edit a description for any place on earth (without registering). It also provides a new, unique way of browsing Google Maps satellite images. via

We can now describe the whole world together. Wikimapia allows users to add tag and annotate locations found in Google Maps. We can add / tag, edit any place the way I have done.

(Click image for enlarged view)

I have found my building and tagged it... Conquered Sai Tower !!!

Then my native place at Kallianpura, Udupi.

This is how it displays the description

Kunjibettu, Udupi... (My Mother's family)

How this was edited?

This is very simple to search through. So lets collaborate. Enjoy searching and happy tagging!

No Entry for FireFox Users in new Microsoft Website

2006-07-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

ARSTechnica has a good review on the upcoming design of the Microsoft.com's new website preview. This happens to be a disappointing news to the FireFox Users. Here is an example of how it displays to me on
FireFox 1.5.0.4:

and on IE 6.0:

Lots of development using AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML). In Firefox on typing the URL: http://preview.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx - it redirects me to - http://www.microsoft.com/

Therefore FireFox users, it's a No Entry for you in the new Microsoft website.

Microsoft obviously doesn't believe the left-hand navigation myth. Another change that is readily apparent is the use of images when browsing. For instance, clicking on the "Software & Services" link produces a new layer with images of products such as Windows, Office, and Games & Xbox. From there, one can drill down on an image to get a refined result set; Developer Tools leads to images for MSDN, Visual Studio, and so on. Microsoft has also used its in-house tools wisely, enabling AJAX-style navigation so that we don't have to wait during postbacks.

My assumption was that Microsoft took the site down, but I had to try it once more in IE, and to my surprise the site was still running. All I can assume is that the site doesn't work in Firefox. Is it really too much to ask for a friendly (or not-so-friendly) message saying that the site erupts for the blazing, orbicular cousin of the dingo? I've seen the "we don't support Firefox" message on at least three other Microsoft sites, so why couldn't these developers just borrow the code? Heck, it's probably going to be a new class in the .NET Framework 3.0 if it's not already in the company's global code snippet library.

Via ARSTechnica

Microsoft providing Free Trainings on Exchange Server 2007

2006-07-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is providing free trainings on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Following are the details:

What's New in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Administration (Beta 1)

Title: Clinic 3053: What's New in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Administration (Beta 1)
Course Type: Self-paced Course
Available Offline: Yes
Estimated Time of Completion: 2 Hours
Language: English

Description:
This online clinic provides a rich multimedia learning experience where you explore the new features and enhancements of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
This clinic introduces you to the role-based installation provided by Exchange Server 2007 and describes the various server roles. It presents the major installation requirements for Exchange Server 2007 and describes the features from previous versions of Exchange that are de-emphasized or unsupported in Exchange Server 2007.
This clinic also describes how to administer Exchange Server 2007 by introducing you to the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Management Shell, which you can use to administer all aspects of the system. It illustrates some common administrative tasks, such as working with recipients and monitoring Exchange.
Finally, this clinic introduces the concepts, key features, and benefits of unified messaging. It describes how to configure unified messaging for an individual user. It explains messaging security, archiving, and regulation compliance features provided by Exchange Server 2007, and describes how you can use these features to benefit your organization.
This clinic is targeted to messaging IT Professionals with experience on Exchange Server 2000 or Exchange Server 2003.

Objectives:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:

Install Exchange Server 2007 servers and choose Exchange server roles.
List deleted and de-emphasized features in Exchange Server 2007.
Choose the most appropriate administrative tool for a given administrative task.
Describe the new administration tasks in Exchange Server 2007.
Define unified messaging and enable it for users.
Describe how Exchange Server 2007 can help administrators secure the messaging system and comply with regulations.

Sign Up here

Overview of Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Architecture (Beta 1)

Title: Clinic 3054: Overview of Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Architecture (Beta 1)
Course Type: Self-paced Course
Available Offline: Yes
Estimated Time of Completion: 2 Hours
Language: English

Description:
This online clinic provides a rich multimedia learning experience where you explore the most significant changes in the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 architecture.
This clinic describes how the most significant changes in the Exchange Server 2007 architecture improve upon earlier versions of the product. It also describes the design goals behind these architectural changes, the infrastructure required to deploy Exchange Server 2007, and the three different Active Directory topologies in which you can install Exchange Server 2007.
This clinic introduces the architecture of the five server roles in Exchange Server 2007 and describes the communication between the server roles. It illustrates message routing and how to interoperate with Exchange Server 2003 routing groups. It also describes different deployment scenarios.
Finally, this clinic introduces the changes made to the Exchange Server 2007 message store. It describes the improvements in performance and user experience that these changes provide. It also illustrates how to configure client infrastructure services in Exchange Server 2007.
This clinic is targeted to messaging IT Professionals with experience on Exchange Server 2000 or Exchange Server 2003.

Objectives:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:

Describe the most significant changes in the Exchange Server 2007 architecture.
Identify the features required to run Exchange Server 2007.
Describe when to configure Exchange Server 2007 in different Active Directory topologies.
Describe the five Exchange Server 2007 server roles.
Set up an Exchange Server 2007 backbone to route messages to and from Exchange Server 2003 routing groups.
Describe how to create a dedicated routing topology.
Describe ways in which the Exchange Server 2007 store is better than the store in earlier versions.
Describe the Exchange Server 2007 client infrastructure services.

Sign Up for Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2

2006-07-24T00:33:00.000-07:00

Be known for knowing. Be the first to get the beta.
Register now and be the first to know when the Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 is available. You’ll get an e-mail update from us, a free subscription to the TechNet Flash online newsletter with news about the Exchange beta and other betas, and free access to Beta Central, where you’ll get information and resources available only to subscribers.

Vote on bug incidents: See the most prevalent bugs reported to date, and vote on the ones that are most important as the first-release candidate is prepared. Microsoft product teams will provide progress updates on the bugs with the most votes.

Web forums: Use the 2007 beta Web forums to post questions about the new release. As a Beta Central member, your inquiries will receive priority status by Microsoft experts monitoring the boards.

Webcasts, contests, and more: Find the resources you need to work with the beta in one convenient location. Beta Central brings it all together.

Register Here

BangaloreITPro gearing up for the next UG Meet

2006-07-15T03:15:00.000-07:00

BangaloreITPro is now gearing up for the next UG meet at Microsoft office - Goldwave. I am done preparing the HTML page for the invitation and sent out the e-mails. Lot of plans moving around and have thought to be more innovative this time in the UG meet. For the first time, we are conducting a Live conference with Microsoft, USA. Thanks to Kaliyan for getting the sources through his MVP contacts and Rahul has done more good work in co ordinating with Ramnish and all of our Microsoft friends. There are some more plans that we are actually working on but till the UG meet day on 22nd, we have to hold the suspence and spill the beans at the meet. Looking forward to more participants this time and have this event a grand success, than we always have!

Microsoft Virtual PC is now Free!

2006-07-13T03:02:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has announced to give away Virtual PC also for FREE unlike the Virtual Server 2003 R2 they are giving away for FREE. Cool... so now both virtualization tools are available without any charge. Just a complimentary.

Whether Microsoft virtualization technology is an important component of your existing infrastructure or you're just a Virtual PC enthusiast, you can now download Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 absolutely free. Microsoft is also offering the free download of Virtual PC 2007, with support for Windows Vista in 2007.

Its all here. Go ahead... Download now!

Get the Most out of Virtualization with Virtual PC and Windows Vista Enterprise

Install up to four copies of the operating system in virtual machines on top of Windows Vista Enterprise with a single license. Learn more about Windows Vista Enterprise.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 Demo

See Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 in action. This demo shows how Virtual PC is perfect for any scenario in which you need to support multiple operating systems, whether you use it for legacy application support, technical support, training, or application development.

This is what the Virtual PC Guy has to say:

1. Why are you giving Virtual PC away for free?

Microsoft views virtualization as a tool. Virtual PC is used for a number of reasons, but the primary reasons are for development and test scenarios and application compatibility. We already provide Virtual PC as part of MSDN for development and test users, and given that all our other application compatibility tools are free - charging for Virtual PC did not make much sense.

2. Is the Windows Vista Enterprise licensing right restricted to Virtual PC?

No - you can use any virtualization software for this. In fact - you do not even have to use virtualization software to exercise this right. You could - if you wanted - setup a quad-boot physical computer and be licensed for all four instances.

Salaam Mumbaikar

2006-07-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

After the recent tragic happenings in Mumbai leaving a gaping hole in the heart of Mumbai, and in the soul of every self respecting Indian, this has shown the failure of the police, the intelligence officials, and the government in providing information, and here's the mirror on the wall that shows “who is the dirtiest of them all”. It is a real shame that the watchdogs in the government and the so called INTELLIGENCE failed to even sniff a whiff of the same. And now, after 200 fatalities and 400 injuries, and a billion scarred souls, the authorities have the guts to come out in the open and say “THE RESPONSIBLE WILL NOT BE SPARED”!! What a shame!!

Salute the Mumbaikars who showed ultimate courage, defiance and respect to the country and its countrymen. The Mumbaikars came out with full support of their aggrieved brethren, bring in a sense of satisfaction and solemn affirmation of the virtues that our country stands on. The pictures prove us that we, the people of India have it in us to rise up from the ashes as the eternal phoenix. Every time somebody tries to stamp us down, we rise with doubled spirits, and a desire to overcome all that keeps us bound.

Even after such cowardly act by the terrorists, the common man has shown the never say die attitude, and the courage to travel in local trains even after seven blasts the day before, tears in the eyes of complete strangers when they talk about a deceased or injured, the help that flows in as soon as it is required irrespective race, religion caste or creed… needs a true heart. This is the undying SPIRIT OF MUMBAI.

SALAAM MUMBAI, SALAAM MUMBAIKAR !

Statistics of the Mumbai Rail Network

2006-07-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here is statistics of the Mumbai Suburban Railway Network:

Total length (WR, CR, & Harbour)
303 km

Total train services in a day:
2,067

Total rakes
184

Passengers per 9-car rake:
1,800 (actual capacity),
4,700 (actually carry)

Capacity per compartment (including 1st class):
200

Total commuters in a day (WR, CR, & Harbour):
6.1 mn passengers
(This happens to be the highest passenger density on urban railway in the world)

Total commuters on WR:
2.6 mn per day

Busiest route:
Churchgate - Virar (60 km)
900 mn passengers per year.

Population of Mumbai:
14 mn

Traffic density
255 mn passenger per km
(This is a world record)

Fatalities:
3,500 deaths on tracks yearly

Light a candle for those who died in the Mumbai bomb blast

2006-07-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

Mumbai came to a shocking standstill on July 11 when serial blasts ripped through its local trains, killing and wounding hundreds. But the city of dreams stood fearless and fighting fit.

Salute Mumbai's never-say-die spirit and Light a Candle for those who succumbed to the blasts or got injured. For every candle you light, CNN-IBN and Channel 7 will donate Re 1 for the relief of the victims.

Light a Candle

7/11 - Black Tuesday | Mumbai

2006-07-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Seven* bomb blasts have occurred in the First class compartments of the local trains in the Western suburban railway line of Mumbai. These blasts have occurred in the rush hour at different stations. The eighth bomb was diffused at Borivali station.

*Khar, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Mahim, Mira Road, Matunga, Borivali

News of serial blasts in Srinagar shook India in morning. Then the whole attention was diverted towards the financial capital of India – Mumbai after this shocking news.

The chronology of the seven bomb blasts that ripped through the seven suburban trains at various stations during the peak hour on Tuesday evening is as follows: (via)

Khar -- 1824 hrs
Bandra -- 1824 hrs
Jogeshwari -- 1825 hrs
Mahim -- 1826 hrs
Mira Road -- 1829 hrs
Matunga -- 1830 hrs
Borivali -- 1835 hrs

Later there was one more bomb reported (CNN IBN Live on TV) to be diffused at Borivali station.

Bomb found in box of nuts and bolts, RDX kind of bomb used. (via)

Here is a video footage on You Tube

Watch a BBC video of destruction here

Some links: Rediff's coverage, HT's coverage, NDTV, Mid Day, the Times of India, DNA, BBC, the Guardian, CNN, CNN-IBN, the Hindu. And here are pictures from Rediff, ToI, BBC, CNN-IBN and DNA.

Other bloggers writing on this: Neha at Global Voices, Gaurav Sabnis, Sepia Mutiny, Varnam, Instapundit, Pajamas Media, Gateway Pundit, Pratyush Khaitan, Desi Pundit, Dhoomketu, Gawker, Patrix, and there's lots on Mumbai Metblogs.

A post on Mumbai Help, "How can we help you?" has effectively become a forum where you can ask for information or help in reaching friends etc. Feel free to post a message there if you need something, loads of different bloggers are monitoring that post, and will try to help out.

Via journalist Amit Varma’s blog. Worth reading!

Below is a Flick Slide show via king-o-convenience

Flash Slideshow

Some maps you may need to check are Le Monde (in French), Guardian Unlimited, Lasting News (Google Map)

Latest on Yahoo! News reports to have 190 dead. The death toll was above 300 during the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993

You may also check this Wiki for more information.

List of names of admits in the hospital issued by Mumbai police on their website. So please do a kind deed by passing on this link and also there is shortage of blood so if you want to donate blood, following are the list of prominent blood banks in Mumbai. Please move ahead and ensure that our friends in Mumbai are do not face shortage of Blood & any possible help. Maximum requirement is at KEM Hospital.

Hospitals where the blast victims are admitted:-

K.E.M Hospital Blood Bank
Parel Mumbai 400 012
Ph. 24136051,24131419, 24134977, 24135189, Ext-2016
Fax: 24185678

Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research
Veer Savarkar Road
Mumbai 400 016
Ph. 24452222, 24451515, 24447752

Cooper Hospital
Vile Parle
Ph. 26207254, 26207256, 26207257

Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Hospital
Sion, Mumbai 400 022
Ph. 24076381, 24095099 Ext. 535

R. N. Cooper Municipal General Hospital Blood Bank
Juhu
Mumbai 400 056
Ph. 26207254,56,57, Ext. 263

=====

Lilavati Hospital Blood Bank
Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (W)
Mumbai 400 050
Ph. 26455891 Ext. 2223

Nanavati Hospital Blood Bank
Vile Parle (W)
Mumbai 400056
Ph. 26182262, 26182255

Indian Red Cross Soc. Blood Bank
Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg
Mumbai 400 001
Ph. 22663195, 22663560

Breach Candy Hospital and Research Centre
Bulabhai Desai Road
Mumbai 400 026
Ph. 23633651,2368 5406

Borivali Blood Bank
Vitthal Apt. Near Ram Mandir Borivali (W)
Mumbai 400103
Ph. 28010058, 28935219

Jaslok Hospital And Research Centre
Dr. G.Deshmukh Marg
Mumbai 400 026
Ph. 24939595

Sir.J.J Groups of Hospitals Blood Bank
Byculla
Mumbal 400 008
Ph. 23739400, 23735555, Ext. 2248

Tata Memorial Hospital Blood Bank
Dr. E. Borges Marg, Parel
Mumbai 400012
Ph. 24149750, 24161413, 24170000, 24127096

Harkisandas Nurottamdas Hospital Blood Bank
Prathana Samaj
Mumbai 400 004
Ph. 23884015, 23855555, 23808932

Client Security: Present and Future

2006-07-11T05:41:00.000-07:00

Find webcasts, virtual labs, and other resources to help you enhance your client security. Then, preview the new and improved security features in Microsoft Windows Vista. From enhanced intrusion prevention to improved network access protection, Windows Vista security features can help you provide a more usable, manageable, and secure experience in corporate, mobile, and roaming environments. Find them all [ here ]
More Security related resources available here on TechNet

Test Drive the Microsoft Office 2007

2006-07-11T04:44:00.000-07:00

In addition to the beta download version of Microsoft Office 2007, here is a new way to test drive Office 2007. Its Live online using Windows Live.

Test the new version of Office [ here ]

Some good SEO Tips

2006-07-11T03:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few tips on Search Engine Optimization for all of you. Hope you like it.

1) robots.txt

Create a file named robots.txt in the document root of your site (eg. http://site.com/robots.txt ) You can create this file with notepad, and the only thing that you should put there is this line :

Code:

User-agent: *

More about this you can find here

2) Keywords

Put keyword phrases in your content, and mark them with the <> tag

Code:

<>keyword phrase< /strong >

3) Meta tags

There is a plenty of meta tags that you can use with your site, but the most common, and the most used by the search engines are the robots and the description meta tags. The robots meta tag indicates the rules for the spiders, just like robots.txt does.
The description indicates the description for the web page, and Google will show it when the page will show up on its results page. Use different descriptions for each page. Another common meta tag is the keywords meta tag, which I am not going to explain as it has no use in these days.

Here is an example:

Code:

META NAME="Description" content="This is the description of this page"
META NAME="robots" content="all,index, follow"

Opened and closed by < >

4) Domain name

The domain name of a website is a very good keyword to the search engines. So if your company is called Star and you are selling fish use a domain like starfish.com
Even the name of the html pages are keywords for the search engines so you can add there some keywords that indicates your site's theme eg. contact+fish+star.html

5) Link Popularity

This is the best search engine optimization factor. Because links are like votes to a site, search engines give a big boost to sites that have lots of them. So you may find webmasters that have a site with relative topic to yours, and ask them to trade links. There is something that you may watch here. Google is not counting reciprocal links, so a better way is the three way linking. That means that you link to the site A that links to the site B that links to your site. There are also some automated link managers, but I do not trust them and I have never had any good experience with them so I would not reccomend any of them.

6) Number of pages in the site

This is a very very serious thing. Because as every SEO pro sais content is a king and as many as your pages are so the search engine traffic increases. But do not use mirror pages or pages with very simillar content, because they will not be indexed by the search engines and you can even get banned from them.

Yahoo! Mail beta released

2006-07-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! has released the Beta Upgrade of Yahoo! Mail. This morning, I got a message asking to check the Beta. And here is the new look:

On Firefox:

On IE6.0:

Looks an another mail client with web interface. Easier to browse through. Overall it looks like the Microsoft Outlook interface having the three-pane window with folders in the left vertical pane, headers top right, and a message preview pane below the headers. Similarly I had earlier found a free e-mail service provider, MailNation having an outlook like interface.
Unlike Firefox or IE7 browser, Yahoo! Mail beta also now has tabbed interface whereby you can line up several messages for reviewing later. You just got to double click the message and you find that opening in a new tab. Gone are the days of right clicking the message and click - Open in New Window or Open in New Tab. But will this affect in the performance of the connectivity? I need to keep checking this.
Tabbed browsing will not fascinate me enough since my Firefox fulfils them. But at some point yes, I like it as all happening under a single Yahoo Tab.
Another good point, your compose mail window open in a new tab and keeps your Inbox intact in the original tab. So we are now able to access our inbox even while writing a mail and when we may need to refer some multiple messages for a reference to the mail.
Also I found that the messages automatically keep getting refreshed so that I donot keep clicking the Inbox button to check for latest mails. Open your Yahoo! Mail and leave it. You will have all your messages being downloaded automatically.

Then I can quickly format my mails with the Rich Text Editor easily available. On Replying to a message, I find the Signature automatically being displayed and can even make the changes in them quickly.
Another good feature is the Right Click feature.

The above image will show you all the easily accessible feature to take a quick action on the mail. View Full Headers opens in an another pop-up window.

Next feature is the drag and drop feature that lets you move the messages quickly into your desired folder.

There also is a All RSS feeds section in the left pane. I need to yet check on this.

On downloading an attachment, here is the message that pops up, leaving my message open in the same window. This is a good feature that will anymore not have me keep clicking the back button after the message is scanned.

Overall, I found this to be a very good improvement in the Mailing revolution and has become more quicker in accessing mails. This works for me well with both Firefox and IE.

More Screen Shots available here and check this review by PCMag

Following is the welcome mail received from the Mailbot:

Staying in-touch is faster and simpler with the Yahoo! Mail Beta.
Welcome. Thanks for checking out our new beta. It's everything you love about Yahoo! Mail, plus lots more.

Features by the bucket-full.
Enjoy a fast, intuitive new interface that makes it so much easier to stay in touch and organize messages. You can drag & drop email here and there, and have lots of messages open at once. You also get email automatically (no need to keep checking), and it's easy to preview messages.

But you gotta see it to believe it.
Words don't begin to explain it all. Explore the Yahoo! Mail Beta by checking out our tutorial. Or forgo the theatrics and jump into our Mail Beta FAQ.

Feeling separation anxiety?
Relax –– all your messages, preferences, and contacts go with you to the Yahoo! Mail Beta. And you can easily switch back to original Yahoo! Mail anytime.

Join me on Frappr

2006-07-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

Please join me by adding yourself to Ashwin's Frapper group. This one minute process will help me in knowing more about my blog readers (you).
You can also leave your comments, URL or your picture in the map pinup marker. See you at Frappr! Map.

Flickr slideshow

2006-07-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Flash Slideshow

Finally layout changed

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

Finally... I got a new template for my blog. Now its time to keep developing this. Everything happens for good. Last time I had got my Blog template screwed up. Due to this I lost all my feeds, counter, and adsense etc... This has helped me rebuild the whole thing in a better way and enable me to get more features. Keep visiting and find this blog now getting constantly updated. :)

Why Phishing Works

2006-07-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice article on "Why Phishing Works" by Rachna Dhamija, J. D. Tygar, and Marti Hearst

IE7 Beta3 Released

2006-06-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

I should say I found IE7 Beta 2 to be OKAY though Microsoft had come up with more features like Favourites sidebar having 3 tabs: Favourities, RSS, and History; Simplified toolbars, Tabbed browsing, Zoom, Shrink to Print, RSS, Built-in search, Security, Antiphishing, Improved Internet security settings, Active X opt-in, Address bar in every window, IDN support, One click clean-ups, etc... Looks like, Microsoft has come up long way with much good work from their previous version IE6. So now after the release of IE7 Beta 3, we now got to see how and what developments have they made now. But till now, I should admit even my Firefox 1.5.0.4 has been fulfilling these features already.

Microsoft's RSS team has announced:

IE7 Beta 3 is here! We’ve snuck in some goodies in the feed reading user experience based on your Beta 2 feedback (keep the comments coming!). We are feature-complete for feed reading in IE7, but we’re still looking for feedback to make tweaks and fixes for the final release.

Going through the IE 7 FAQ's, it says:

Upgrading Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3
If you want to reinstall Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 (or install a newer version) you must first remove any existing Internet Explorer 7 beta versions on your system. You cannot install Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 over previously installed Internet Explorer 7 betas. To uninstall previous versions of Internet Explorer 7 refer to the uninstall directions below.

The IE team blog has some more details on this.

Let me now download the newer beta version of the Internet Explorer and again let me ask: "Will that happen to be a reason for me to switch back to IE for all reasons? I am waiting. Let me download now and start using."

FIFA World Cup 2006 Tracker spreadsheet available for download

2006-06-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

A free Microsoft Excel spread sheet for tracking the FIFA World Cup 2006 - Germany is available on the Microsoft Office templates site. This template is very well programmed and after every match, we have to just enter the results it will do the rest and help you track the entire tournament. Download the file now and start supporting your favourite team.

Microsoft Soccer Scoreboard for World Cup 2006

2006-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released Soccer Scoreboard for World Cup 2006, to enable the fans to track their favourite World Cup teams, get updates and details of matches, results, standings and status records of each player participating in the World Cup. You can also add a custom RSS feed to be shown in a ticker at the bottom, and adjust the transparency level. Latest tournament news, goals and schedules of upcoming matches will be brought to World Cup fans in real time. Once results are in, Scoreboard will automatically adjust the standings of selected favourite teams. Fans can then view their team's position by clicking on 'Standings'. Times and dates of upcoming matches will be localised to your local time by Scoreboard.

But remember only users of Genuine Microsoft Windows software will be able to download this application.

Are you Windows Vista Ready?

2006-06-10T04:10:00.000-07:00

Even though Microsoft announced the Windows Vista Hardware requirement, we may still have a few queries in back of our mind. My system has a similar configuration, but is that really compatible? or will I have to shell out my saved pennies in the piggy bank to buy completely new hardware?

Well, if you want to know if your PC is capable of doing the job well for supporting Windows Vista, let the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor do the job for you to analyze your system configuration and advise you on what action needs to be taken.

Upgrade Advisor is a free downloadable beta application of 4MB Size that tests your current PC and reports on how Vista-Ready you are! This will also advise you the version of Vista that will work best on your current configuration and also tell if any of your devices are incompatible.

Download now!

Call for Action against Reservation

2006-05-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

A Call for action against reservation. Here is a piece of my support. You too can support the Mumbai Youth For Equality. And keep yourself updated through this website.

Microsoft announces Windows Vista Hardware requirement

2006-05-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released two sets of Hardware requirements for Windows Vista. They are Windows Vista Capable and Windows Vista Premium

A new PC that carries the Windows Vista Capable PC logo can run Windows Vista. All editions of Windows Vista will deliver core experiences such as innovations in organizing and finding information, security, and reliability. All Windows Vista Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum. Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista—like the new Windows Aero user experience—may require advanced or additional hardware.

A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:

A modern processor (at least 800MHz¹).
512 MB of system memory.
A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.

Windows Vista Premium Ready PCs
To get an even better Windows Vista experience, including the Windows Aero user experience, ask for a Capable PC that is designated Premium Ready, or choose a PC that meets or exceeds the Premium Ready requirements described below. Features available in specific premium editions of Windows Vista, such as the ability to watch and record live TV, may require additional hardware.

A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:

1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor¹.
1 GB of system memory.
A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero².
128 MB of graphics memory.
40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
DVD-ROM Drive³.
Audio output capability.
Internet access capability.

You can read all of the Windows Vista Capable footnotes here.

You can review the Windows Vista Minimum Supported System Requirements here.

WindowsMarketplace has a selection of Windows Vista Capable and Premium Ready PCs that are available today.

Windows Vista enterprise hardware planning guidance is available on TechNet.

Get Ready Now!

Windows Media Player 11 released

2006-05-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Download the beta version of Windows Media Player 11. This version of Windows Media Player will be shipped with Windows Vista and other OS's. Find your experiences on Vista
With this you can try a new digital music service "URGE" by the MTV networks
Here is a good review by CNet .com

Test

2006-05-16T02:46:00.000-07:00

I cannot view my blogs !!! This is a Test.
I have screwed up my previous template :(( So heres a change in template.

Smiley to be patented.... :(

2006-05-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

You may have loved using the symbol with the colon and the right closing bracket that formed to be a smiley and may have been using it in almost every chat messages or in mail basically symbolizing to smile and share your happiness with all.
Things may now go the other way ie., :( coz the smiley Wal-Mart Inc. is now out to patent the symbol.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which uses a yellow happy face to try to put its shoppers in a carefree mood, is saying — with a straight face — that it has exclusive rights to the familiar image, at least among retail department stores.

The world's largest retailer is fighting a French native who has earned millions in licensing fees on smiley's back since the early 1970s, when he began securing trademarks for the happy face around the world.

Read More:
Wal-Mart Vies for Right to Put On a Happy Face on LA Times

Quoted from Slate.com:

Have A Nice Day, See You In Court: Although Wal-Mart claims exclusive rights to use "Mr. Smiley," its smiley-face logo, in connection with retail, the company's claim is being challenged by a Frenchman who holds trademarks on the smiley-face in over 80 countries, the LAT reports. Franklin Loufrani has "applied for a trademark in 16 categories that would have granted him rights to smiley on products including depilatory wax, swords—'a smiley on that would be very disarming,' his lawyer said—and even animal semen."

Wal-Mart seeks smiley face rights on BBC

Shutdown your Windows XP computer by just sending an SMS

2006-05-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you forgot to shutdown your computer before you leave your desk? Or had to rush immediately and therefore did not shutdown? No matter what now. Shutting down your computer has just got easier. Thanks to the mobile services and SMS.
Tim Matheson explains How to remote shutdown your Windows XP machine with a text message and Outlook.
Basically you setup a rule in outlook to look for say a keyword in the subject line of an email. Then you select run application as the action for when that keyword is found. Then all you have to do is write a simple dos batch file and use the shutdown command with the -f parameter to ensure the shutdown is not aborted by any running applicatios. After that the rest is simple you simply send a sms text message from your cell phone or other source to your email address.
You must have autmotic send and recieve turnned on for this to work. Outlook Rules wizard also allows you to run a script. Learn: How to create a script for the Rules Wizard in Outlook
Simple isn't it? So get started now. But do not play mischief with your friends computer ;)

"Monad" now "Windows PowerShell"

2006-05-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Windows PowerShell, formerly known as Monad is a new command-line shell and task-based scripting technology that provides comprehensive control and automation of system administration tasks. Windows PowerShell allows Windows administrators to be more productive by providing numerous system administration utilities, consistent syntax, and improved navigation of common management data such as the registry or Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Windows PowerShell also includes a scripting language which enables comprehensive automation of Windows system administration tasks. The Windows PowerShell language is intuitive and supports existing scripting investments. Exchange Server 2007 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 will be built on Windows PowerShell.

Official PowerShell Website

TechNet resources on the new PowerShell ScriptCenter

PowerShell Blog

PowerShell News Group

Download the refreshed Windows PowerShell RC1

Microsoft Security Resource Guide

2006-05-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

Tools

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA)
Use this tool to identify common security misconfigurations and missing security updates.
MBSA runs on the Windows Server™ 2003, Windows® 2000, and Windows XP operating systems and will scan for vulnerabilities in multiple products and technologies, including Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and SQL Server™.

Software Update Services (SUS) / Windows Update Services (WUS)
Quickly and reliably deploy the latest security updates, and service packs with Software Update Services. This new site now has the latest info on WUS.

Windows Update
Scans your computer and provides a selection of updates tailored for your operating system, software, and hardware.

Microsoft Office Product Updates
Scans and updates Microsoft Office products.

IIS Web Server Lockdown Wizard
Reduces the attack surface of Internet Information Services (IIS) and includes URLScan to provide multiple layers of protection against attackers.

UrlScan Security Tool
Helps prevent potentially harmful HTTP requests from reaching IIS Web servers.

Removal Tools:

Mydoom, Zindos and Doomjuice worms
Blaster Removal Tool for Windows XP and 2000
Sasser (A-F) Worm Removal Tool
MS04-028 Enterprise Scanning Tool

Other Tools:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/default.mspx
Security Risk Self-Assessment for Midsize Organizations

Updating

Understanding Update Management: Microsoft’s Software Update Strategy
Updated white paper talks about the need for strong update management process.
Other Update Management info in the TechNet Topics Page

Isolation and Resiliency
Listing of resources for the IT Pro to evaluate and deploy XP SP2
Network Access Protection
Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 whitepapers updated
Read about secure remote Outlook access in the Unique Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server whitepaper, a very viable business scenario with ISA Server

Engineering Excellence

Trustworthy Computing: Security
Whitepapers on Security Enhancements:
Describes the Trustworthy Computing initiative as applied to the Windows Server, Office 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 development processes respectively.
Windows Server 2003
Office 2003
Exchange Server 2003
Get the Facts:
Windows and Linux
SQL

Guidance and Training

Security Guidance Centers on Microsoft.com
Worldwide

Prescriptive guidance to help provide defence-in-depth security.
E-Learning Security Training
E-Learning self-paced clinics - 4 Developer and 8 ITPro modules
Now available in French, German, Spanish and Japanese
XP SP2
Security Guidance Kit CD (now shipping in US and Canada)
CD-ROM with tools, templates, and how-to guides
Microsoft IT Security Showcase
An insider view into Microsoft's process of deploying, and managing its own enterprise solutions.
Security Newsletter
Register for our free monthly e-mail newsletter that's packed with security news, guidance, updates, and community resources to help you protect your network.
Security Program Guide: Events and Training Information
Events, webcasts and training ivailable for both IT Professionals and Developers.
US Security Summit Keynote and Training Content
Security Notifications via e-mail
Sign up today to get e-mail alerts when an important security bulletin or virus alert has been released.
Security Update RSS Feed
Security Bulletin Search Page
Search on product, technology or KB article
Security Bulletin Webcast
Join Microsoft experts on the day after bulletin announcements to get the latest information and have the opportunity to ask questions.
How to Tell If a Microsoft Security-Related Message Is Genuine
Writing Security, 2nd edition
Best practices for writing Security and stopping malicious hackers.
Building and Configuring More Secure Web Sites
Best Practices used at OpenHack.
Recent Security Guidance Center additions:
Windows XP Guide, includes SP2
New Security Risk Management Guide
Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 Threat Mitigation Guide
Microsoft Identity and Access Management Series
Antivirus Defense-in-Depth
Securing Wireless LANs with PEAP and Passwords
Small Business Guidance

Guidance specifically for the smaller business
Configuring Windows XP 802.11 Wireless Networks for the Home / Small Business

Consumer Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/default.mspx
Newsletter for home users
Security bulletin notifications for home users

More

Prescriptive Guidance, More Prescriptive Guidance
TechNet Security Guidance
How MSFT implement a secure infrastructure
Online recordings of top infrastructure speakers
Network Segmentation via IPsec
Reduce your attack surface via SCW
Secure your wireless network
Network Quarantine
Network Access Protection
Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)
The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) blog
“Security Matters” Blog !
Microsoft Security Advisories
Microsoft Security Bulletins
Security Notification Services (regular and comprehensive)
Monthly Security Bulletin webcast
Windows Vista Security
Windows System Center Certificate Lifecycle Manager Beta 1
Microsoft Antigen and FrontBridge
Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services
ISA Server 2006 Beta
Network Access Protection – Overviews and Related Technologies
Securing Wireless LANs with Certificate Services
“Securing Wireless LANs with PEAP and Passwords”
WPA Wireless Security for Home Networks
“Advantages of Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP)”
Security of the WEP Algorithm
IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Security with Microsoft Windows XP – Document Download

Tools for scanning for and dealing with rogue Wireless Access Points:
AirDefense Enterprise
AirMagnet Enterprise

CAPICOM – Platform SDK Redistributable Tool Download
PKI Enhancements in Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003

Windows Security Logging and Other Esoterica
The Security Monitoring and Attack Detection Planning Guide

Some presentation files from Microsoft UK technet InfoSecurity events

Reference Books:
Microsoft Windows Security Resource Kit v2.0 (ISBN: 0-7356-2174-8)
Implementing and Administering Security in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network
Microsoft Preparation Guide for 70-299
Designing Security for a Microsoft Windows Server(TM) 2003 Network
Microsoft Preparation Guide for 70-298

Where can you get more information than on the Microsoft website?

Here are few other websites worth visiting!
WindowsSecurity.com
Howard, John D. “A Common Language for Computer Security Incidents” 1998. (PDF File)
The Bad Boys of Cyberspace
Great Security and Incidence Response Book Titles
CERT’s Virtual Training Environment (VTE): Link 1 and Link 2
Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Computer Security Incident Handling Guide (PDF File)
Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams
SysInternals (Freeware utils AutoRuns, PSList, etc.)
Uninformed.org

Understanding Domain Trusts

2006-05-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

Creation of Trusts:-
Trusts are created in 2 ways:

Explicitly (Manually)
Implicitly (Automatically)

Transitivity of Trusts:-

Transitive
Non Transitive

1. Transitive Trust:-

Domain A trusts Domain B,
Domain B trusts Domain C,
Then, Domain C trusts Domain A

2. Non – Transitive Trust:-Domain A trusts Domain B

Domain B trusts Domain C
There is no trust relationship between Domain A and Domain C

Direction of Trust:-

One Way
Two Way

1. One Way:-

This is a single trust relationship where only Domain A trusts Domain B
One way relationship may be either Transitive or Non Transitive depending on the type of trust that is created.

2. Two Way:-

In this method the trust is in both ways. Domain A trusts Domain B and Domain B trusts Domain A (vice versa)
The authentication request passes in both ways.

Forms of Trust:-

Tree – Root
Parent – Child
Shortcut Trust
External Trust
Forest Trust
Realm Trust

1. Tree - Root:-

A Tree – Root trust is:
Implicitly created,
Transitive
Two Way

2. Parent – Child

A Parent – Child trust is:
Implicitly created
Transitive
Two Way

3. Shortcut Trust:

Explicitly created
Transitive,
One Way or Two Way

This is used to improve user logon times between 2 domains in the same forest

4. External Trust:

Explicitly created
Non Transitive,
One Way or Two Way

This is created between domains in the different forests or
Between Windows Server 2003 domain and a domain running under Windows NT or earlier versions of Windows
This is used when users require access to resources in Windows NT domain or with separate forest.

5. Forest Trust:-

Explicitly created,
Transitive between 2 forests only ; Non Transitive across 3 or more forests,
OneWay or Two Way

6. Realm Trust:-

Explicitly created,
Non-transitive,
One Way or Two Way

This trust is created between a non-Windows Kerberos realm and a Windows Server 2003 domain

3 Clicks to OGA Validation

2006-04-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

In continuation to my previous post on Microsoft Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Validation Tool, here I explain the steps taken after we continue to validate office

Step1:
Select - Yes, please validate Office and take me to the download. (If an ActiveX dialog box appears, please click Yes.)
Press Continue button

Step2:
You see a page as below:

Firefox users need to install plugin. Download here
Click YES when you are prompted with a Security Warning

Step3:
Validation Successful... You are now ready to download. Therefore click Continue

Simple Isn't it? They were just 3 mouse clicks for validating.

Click here to find out more about alternate method of validating

Validate Microsoft Office Here

Download Office Sounds. This requires Validation

Security Myths and Passwords

2006-04-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

A good article on Security Myths and Passwords on Cerias Weblog

In the practice of security we have accumulated a number of “rules of thumb” that many people accept without careful consideration. Some of these get included in policies, and thus may get propagated to environments they were not meant to address. It is also the case that as technology changes, the underlying (and unstated) assumptions underlying these bits of conventional wisdom also change. The result is a stale policy that may no longer be effective…or possibly even dangerous.

Policies requiring regular password changes (e.g., monthly) are an example of exactly this form of infosec folk wisdom.

From a high-level perspective, let me observe that one problem with any widespread change policy is that it fails to take into account the various threats and other defenses that may be in place. Policies should always be based on a sound understanding of risks, vulnerabilities, and defenses. “Best practice” is intended as a default policy for those who don’t have the necessary data or training to do a reasonable risk assessment.

"Free" certification exam for Live Communications Server...

2006-04-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Beta Exam 71-262: TS: Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server 2005 - Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting

Audience – IT Pros/Architects

You are invited to Exam 70-262 in its beta version. As a benefit to you for demonstrating your expertise by passing specific Microsoft certification exams or by other means, this beta exam is offered to you free. This beta exam will not be offered to the general public, and is only available to a certain number of candidates. Each seat will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

**Registration Information**

Note: You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

Testing is held at Prometric and Pearson VUE testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries. You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam. Contact your exam provider for seat availability. (Please note: all testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.)

Please read carefully the following registration information as the schedules vary depending on which testing center you choose:

Registration begins:

April 15, 2006

Beta exam period runs:

April 27 – May 10, 2006

Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: TS262

These beta periods are subject to change; please check the exam preparation guides for the most up-to-date information:

http://www.microsoft.com/Learning/exams/70-262.asp

To register for this exam or for information about testing centers in your area, call:

* Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)
* VUE: 800 TEST REGistration (800-837-8734)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please visit the following Web sites for registration information:

* Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp
* VUE: http://www.vue.com/ms/

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Information on the World Wide Web

For more information, visit the MCP Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mcp/, write to MCPHelp@microsoft.com or call 800-636-7544.

Specific pages that answer some frequently asked questions are listed below.

What is a beta exam?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/faq/procedures.asp

Where can I learn more about the registration process?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/register/default.asp

How do I prepare for this exam?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/exams/70-262.asp

When will my beta exam results be available?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/faq/procedures.asp#D

Where can I learn more about the beta exam invitation process?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/status/beta.asp

How can I learn more about the new and improved item types?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcpexams/faq/innovations.asp.

Where can I learn more about the MCSE on Windows Server 2003 certification?

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcse/default.asp

If you have further questions regarding this exam or the MCP program, send e-mail to MCPHelp@microsoft.com or call 800-636-7544.

Microsoft Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Validation Tool

2006-04-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

You heard me discussing about the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation tool. Now Microsoft has it in Office! This is called as the Microsoft Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Validation tool.

This is a similar tool and functions the same as that of WGA. This checks if the Microsoft Office XP or the Microsoft Office 2003 that you are using is genuine. This tool validates your Office application using ActiveX after which you may download the Office updates from the Microsoft download center.
During the OGA validation process, the validation tool collects your system information, hardware profile etc…, Windows product key, and Office product key
The OGA Validation tool has no concerns with validating your Windows Operating system and only validates your office application

Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation tool

2006-04-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

This is an effort by Microsoft for educating users to minimize piracy. If you are running a pirated version of Windows XP, you will not be able to download updates / security patches from Microsoft website. This helps the user to verify if the copy of Windows that he is using is Genuine… before downloading the security patches and other add-ons to the operating system.

This is how it works:

The user visits the Windows Update site to download the latest patches and updates for the operating system that he is using
The download page displays a message similar to the one as below:

This prompts you to check and validate if the operating system that you are using is genuine
After you click on the link to validate, the Microsoft’s systems automatically runs a check, or by providing a product identification number. Users who may have lost the product identification number will be asked 3 basic questions. Now if they trust on you, you get a free replacement key
Once your operating system is validated, Success! You are now able to download the updates or the patches or any damn! thing that is available for you to keep your system updated.

This is currently only for Windows XP and slowly Microsoft are going to implement on all operating systems and it will be mandatory to validate before downloading any security patches and updates.

In addition, Microsoft also allows the user to download updates by turning on the Automatic Update feature. With this, Microsoft promotes security and ensures people to buy genuine version of Windows.

It is advised to buy your genuine copy of CD from genuine retailers. Just make a note to stick the authentication key slip on your PC. With this don’t only call yourself as a proud owner of using Genuine Windows but that also is required for validating your genuine advantage validation tool.

Microsoft Product Licensing

2006-04-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

With my recent blog on Earn £20k Reward For Reporting Software Piracy, I just decided to put in some details on Microsoft Licensing. Hope that will help all to educate on going for genuine products.

What is licensing?
A software license grants you the right to run or access a software program. Licensing software is different than purchasing a car or house in that you have the right to run the software but there are ongoing requirements that determine how the software can be used. These requirements include such things as deployment eligibility, transferring software to other users, and downgrading to earlier versions of the software.
Microsoft software licenses generally come with one of two kinds of agreements which specify how you may use the software. The first kind, and the one most users are familiar with, is an End User License Agreement (EULA). If you have ever acquired a license for software from a retailer or purchased a new computer with software already installed, then you have probably seen a EULA. The EULA generally either comes in the box on paper or cardstock or pops-up onscreen when you install new software. You typically must accept the terms and conditions before installing the software. The second agreement type, Product Use Rights (PUR), is similar to the EULA except that it pertains to software licensed through a Microsoft Volume Licensing program. The PUR, together with the Microsoft Volume Licensing program agreement under which a license is acquired, governs the use of Microsoft Volume Licensing software.

Where do we need Microsoft Licensing?

Addresses a wide range of products

Gaming software to
Business critical server software

Addresses a wide variety of customers

Home consumers to
Family-run businesses to
Large transnational corporations

What is Product Licensing?

Product Categories/Pools

Applications

Desktop applications like Office, Project, Visio, OneNote, InfoPath, etc.
Developer products like Visual Studio, MSDN Universal, etc.

Servers

All server products like Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server,

BizTalk Server, etc

All associated Client Access Licenses (CALs)

Systems

Desktop operating system only

Applications (Non-developer products)

Licensed on a per device basis
Number of devices needing the application = number of licenses to be bought
Per device basis immaterial of whether the application is installed on the device or whether the device is accessing the application resident on a server
No concurrent model of licensing

Applications (Developer Products)

Licensed on a “per user” basis
Products licensed to a “user” can be loaded on multiple desktops/servers (depending on the product edition)
Designed for a more optimal usage in a developer environment

Servers

“Per device/user” basis
One server license for each server on which the software is installed
One Client Access License (CAL) for each device/user that accesses the server
Device/user flexibility available to customer to maximize benefit based on situation
Server licenses and CALs needed for each type of server being used
Server licensed in this manner include: Windows Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint Portal Server, Systems Management Server, SQL Server, Project Server

Systems

Licensed on a “per device” basis
Number of devices needing the Desktop operating system = number of licenses to be bought

Licensing Programs

There are 3 types of Microsoft Licensing programs

OEM, RETAIL, VOLUME LICENSING

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM): This is also called as System Builder licensing. This software is pre-installed with the hardware (PCs or servers)

Retail: Aimed at consumers or organizations with less than 5 PCs/people

Volume Licensing is categorized into 3 types:-

Open
Select
Enterprise Agreement

I will discuss about the above three in the days to come.

Windows Live™ Messenger Beta available

2006-04-29T02:24:00.000-07:00

For all those who were waiting for an invite of the next-generation MSN Messenger i.e., Windows Live™ Messenger Beta. Here's a good News. No waits for invites anymore. Just read the details here and Sign Up now.

It has everything you already love about Messenger—your contact list, emoticons, and instant access to your friends via text, voice, and video—plus new ways to connect and share documents with almost magical ease. As always, it is free to download Messenger and use most of its features.

What you will be able to do with it:

Send all your familiar winks and emoticons, plus some cool new ones
Have real-time text, video and voice conversations*
Call your friends’ mobile or land-line telephones by signing up with Verizon to make affordable domestic and international calls
Easily share documents of all kinds with Sharing Folders
Make free PC-to-PC calls with other Messenger users

*Both parties must have compatible Web cams, microphones, and speakers.

See. Hear. Share. Instantly.

Earn £20k Reward For Reporting Software Piracy

2006-04-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys...
Is your employer driving you insane?
You are not getting the respect that you deserve?
Or are you paid peanuts?
It's time for a revenge and you will get rewarded if your organization uses pirated software.
But remember, you have to report before the end of this June

Earn £20k Reward For Reporting Software Piracy

So employers beware! Get your legal copy today!

IE7 Beta 2 Released

2006-04-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Release of IE7 Beta says: Put security first.

Will that happen to be a reason for me to switch back to IE for all reasons? I am waiting. Let me download now and start using.

Message from the IE Blog says:

This evening we released IE7 Beta 2 at http://www.microsoft.com/ie. This release is not the preview or the update to the preview, but the real Beta 2 of IE7 for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows XP 64-bit Edition. Simply: please try it.

We acted on a lot of the feedback and bug reports from the previous public releases. In particular, I feel good about changes we made based on reports from web developers around some CSS behaviors, application compatibility feedback, reliability data (yes, we do analyze the information that comes when you click “Send Error Report”), and user experience feedback. People on the team will post additional details about changes over the next few days.

For those of you outside the United States, we will release German, Finnish, Arabic, and Japanese versions over the next three weeks.

This beta is another step to our goal of delivering a safer and easier browsing experience when we release the final IE7 product in the second half of this year. I’m looking forward to reading the feedback - positive and negative - as it comes in. Beyond consumers, I encourage developers, web developers, designers, and IT Pros to use Readiness Toolkit to deliver the best possible experience to end users in IE7.

For this Beta 2 release, we’re taking the extra step of offering no-charge phone support to consumers in North America, Germany and Japan. We’re offering phone support to encourage people who usually shy away from beta software to try IE7 Beta 2. We believe that IE7 - even at this beta stage - is a significant improvement and we want as many people as possible to try it and use it. IE7 is feature complete and has been through significant compatibility and reliability testing. People (especially technology enthusiasts) will have a good experience with it.

What’s next? Windows Vista Beta 2, and then Beta 3 of IE7, release candidates, and then a final release before end of year.

Thanks,

Dean

P.S. Please remember to uninstall any previous IE7 builds before installing this one: Control Panel, Add / Remove Programs, Show Updates, scroll to the bottom.

Crossing the Limits

2006-04-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

Limits broken... Check out what Hotmail says when I was sending out invites for BangaloreITPro - Windows Server 2003 R2 Launch

Does that smell like a SPAM? or Do I sound like a Spammer?

Edit: 28/04/2006
Now does that result to close our account? We have crossed the limits consecutively for the past 2 days!

BangaloreITPro - Windows Server 2003 R2 Launch

2006-04-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

If you cannot view this message, kindly Click Here

We are excited to inform you that this April, Bangalore IT Pro User Group has become the most happening place and we "thank you" all for your extended support. We promise you all to improve even better and therefore BangaloreITPro is now proud to announce lot of changes now happening among the group. We now have even better and enthusiastic Management team called "Create IT PRO Waves Team" bringing in even more plans for the benefit of the community. Attend the meet to know more... on the future of the UG and how the face of BangaloreITPro is changing... Also don't miss the launch of Windows Server 2003 R2. For those who attend will also have an opportunity to see the Windows Vista CTP 5308 being showcased. That's not all... There are lot of Fun Activities and Win with Windows. May be you are the lucky one! Also we will ensure that you go back with lots of knowledge and remember for a lifetime! We welcome one and all to participate. Free entry for members to all our events. Membership to the group is absolutely free of cost thanks to the organizations that are supporting the group and its activities.
Agenda :
	Session 1 : Launch of Windows Server 2003 R2
	Mr. Thiyagarajan will be presenting the Launch and the highlights and insights of the Windows Server 2003 R2. Doing more with less just got better! Windows Server 2003 R2 simplifies branch server management, improves identity and access management, reduces storage management costs, provides a rich Web platform, and offers cost-effective server virtualization. Thiyagarajan also heads our Create IT Pro Entertainment and Events Waves Team.
	Session 2 : Showcase Windows Vista CTP 5308
	Ms. Ranjana Jain, IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation will be showcasing the Windows Vista CTP 5308. Microsoft Windows Vista is designed to dramatically improve the computing experience of every kind of PC user—from people at home who use their PCs for simple web browsing, to business people who must organize and act on large volumes of data, to scientists who routinely perform complex mathematical analysis. Want to have a look at a few screenshots of build 5308 ? Click Here Did that impress you? You definitely must be waiting to see them in person.
	Session 3 : Upcomings / Happenings in UG
	Our new Assistant Manager, Mr. Shariq Basha will be presenting you all the Past, Present and Future of the BangaloreITPro User Group. The new approaches and the new beginning in the UG Shariq heads our Create IT Pro Entertainment and Events Waves Team. Followed by: Fun Activities and more... You simply can't miss this opportunity !

Date: 29/04/2006

Time: 3:30 PM to 9:30 PM

Registration: 3:30 PM to 3:45 PM

Call for Assistance:
+91-9341921581 —OR—
+91-9880931288 —OR—
+91-9223445417 —OR—
+91-9845946494

Email: BangaloreITPro@hotmail.com

Venue:
Krishna Hall,
GTSC, Microsoft Corp.,
Block-B, Embassy Gulf Link,
Business Park (Off Intermediate Ring Road),
Bangalore – 560071. India

If you cannot view this message, kindly Click Here

An Indian in the WWE!

2006-04-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

Dalip Singh know by his ring name The Great Khali at the World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) SmackDown! episode.
He stands 7 ft 3 in (221 cm) and weighs 420 lb (191 kg)
His daily Diet: Five kg milk, Five chickens and Two dozen eggs along with Chapatis, Juice, and Fruit.
Great Khali stands to be a powerful force and a threat to every member of the SmackDown locker room.
Obsessed with wrestling gallery showcasing his pictures.

Edit: 26/04/2006
So did you hear him saying "Main hoon Khali" during his introduction?

How BillG Works?

2006-04-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Have a look at the desk of the World's Richest Man... Bill Gates.

The three NEC-21" monitors are synchronized to for a single desktop.
The screen on the left has a list of his emails,
The screen in the center is usually the specific mails that he is reading and responding to,
And the browser in the right screen for browsing.

How he manages millions of email messages everyday?
How the email filter and rules are set to sort emails?
When does he read 100 or more papers from Microsoft employees that examine issues related to company and its future technology?
What and how does he take notes?
What is his favourite software?
What a kind of a paperless environment and what range of digital tools he uses to do business?

Need answers? Read here: How I Work: Bill Gates

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !!!

2006-03-29T10:30:00.000-08:00

It's 30th March... My Birthday! Time for celebrations

Windows Server 2003 R2 Upgrade Blogcast

2006-02-14T02:53:00.000-08:00

Windows Server 2003 R2 Upgrade Blogcast
Part 1: Server Preparation
Part 2: Installed Components

Happy New Year

2005-12-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome 2006 !

If you support Open Source, you support Terrorism ???

2005-12-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Is this the Microsoft's way to compete LINUX !!!

Switch to... What the hell you want.
Is Microsoft just losing their reputation with campaign's such as Get The Facts???
Read: The facts behind the "Get the Facts" ad campaign on NewsForge
and Microsoft-Sponsored Study Gives Nod to Windows in Reliability on eWeek

Microsoft Releases Windows Server 2003 R2

2005-12-06T23:56:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has released the Windows Server 2003 R2

Windows Server 2003 R2 extends the Windows Server 2003 operating system, providing a more efficient way to manage and control access to local and remote resources while easily integrating into your existing Windows Server 2003 environment. Windows Server 2003 R2 provides a scalable, security-enhanced Web platform and enables new scenarios including simplified branch server management, improved identity and access management, and more efficient storage management. This page provides an overview of benefits, new features, and improvements in Windows Server 2003 R2.

Benefits

Building upon the increased security, reliability, and performance provided by Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Server 2003 R2 extends connectivity and control to local and remote resources. Organizations can benefit from reduced costs and increased efficiencies gained through enhanced management and control over resources across the enterprise.

Simplified Branch Server Management,
Improved Identity and Access Management,
Reduced Storage Management Costs,
Rich Web Platform,
Cost Effective Server Virtualization

Read More Details on What's New in Windows Server 2003 R2

You can register to order a CD or download the 180-day evaluation Windows Server 2003 R2 Trial Software

More Details available on: Windows Server 2003 R2 website

Here you can:
Watch the webcast of Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President of the Microsoft Windows Server Division, highlighting new features of Windows Server 2003 R2.
Take a tour of Windows Server 2003 R2 through webcasts.
Demos for new scenarios in Branch Office Management,
Storage Management, Identity and Access Management and Web Platform

Read the announcement on Microsoft PressPass

Eddie Guerrero RIP

2005-11-20T02:05:00.000-08:00

My Tribute to the legendary WWE wrestler the Latino Heat, Late Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes better known as Eddie Guerrero.
Storied Career of Eddie Guerrero

-VIVA LA RASSA-

Million Dollar Pages

2005-10-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Ever since I have been hearing about this site, MillionDollarHomePage.com looks like it has now crossed well above half a million.

Well for those who have not heard about it, here is a brief information.
MillionDollarHomePage is found by a 21 year old student Alex Tew from Wiltshire, England.

His goal is to sell pixels of homepage space to advertisers for a dollar each to fund his university Education. Each pixel is sold at $1 and there are 1,000,000 pixels for sale.
Each grid in the below image is a pixels that will be filled with advertisements

And, an example of some advertised pixels

I should say, he has come up with a good unique idea. Reading his FAQ page, this is what he answers to a question "What will you do with the money?"

First and foremost, if I make enough money, I will pay my way through University. That includes 3 years worth of tuition fees, accomodation fees, textbooks etc, and [god forbid] - having a social life!

After that, I would like to pay for my parents to have some time off because they work so hard and they deserve a break. I would like to return some of the support they have given me over all these years.

Thirdly... socks! I definitely need some new socks. Whenever I buy new ones they seem to disappear, or they disintegrate. So I want to buy some really expensive, long-lasting socks.

Finally... if I reach the $1m target and still have money left over after buying my swanky new socks, then I have a couple of interesting business ideas I would love to invest some money in. So watch this space!

Ok, nice to have such thoughts. Just imagine getting $1 each from 1 Million people. Today a beggar, tomorrow a Millionaire!!!

The slums in Mumbai should come up with such ideas and get their own union website and really help us in making Mumbai as Shanghai. Oh!! looks like an Indian beggar has advertised there and now also hosting their own site by name IndiaPixelPage. The arsehole had no other name arising in his mind other than including India's name in the begging community.

The below banner updates us on the pixel sales count on MillionDollarHomePage. Watch this Half Millionaire growing.

Anyways, I have no much harsh feeling for Alex. It proves, this a Million Dollar idea works in this MAD MAD world.

Ever since this idea came out, these days there are several other clones and losers who have now found an easy way out. Also the stupid advertisers encourage these lazy bones.

Just look at this loser who begs for having an AMAZING CHRISTMAS!!! The site is MakeMyChristmas
Here is an excerpt from the site:

This site differs from other sites in that I am not attempting to make a living off of the income made here, instead I would just like to have one amazing christmas while I cannot provide for my own. Christmas is my favorite day of the year, and I will keep this site updated with my christmas preparations and other christmas related stuff.

Here is a list of few other clone websites that I will just point and not talk much about it. Because it's a SHIT to talk on them and is a pure waste of time.

Pixeltise
PowerOfPixels
OneBuckPixels
TopDollarHomePage
SponsorTheRaceCar
TheRichestBidder

OneMillionPixels
MillionQuarterWebPage

MillionDollarHelpPage
This site is begun to raise $1,000,000 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and we are doing it by selling advertising space for $1 per pixel

MillionDollarState
Stan Oleynick, a 22 year old, American entrepreneur, aims to make one million dollars - to fund the building of his internet project - by selling 10,000 virtual acres to advertisers for $100 per acre, on his website, MillionDollarState.com, Advertisers, will then be able to decide, how they want to "develop" their property!

OneMillionInternetFaces
Found by Nick Butcher, a 31 year old UK based computer consultant who has challenged to display 1 Million faces on a single webpage within a year. The $1 Million will be raised for charity on achieving. The image upload fee is $4

At the end let me point the last ~~BULL~~ SHIT!
MillionDollarCowPage
That's a COW. You heard it right. If inquisitive on this, its better you check this yourself.

This list continues... Do further research and let me know if you come across such site. Just post a comment.

Read this blog

I recommend you reading this article

Collection of Old Computer Boot-up Screens

2005-10-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

TheOldComputer.com has some nice Boot Up Screens of those very old Operating Systems almost forgotten today. This reminds us of the earlier days of Computers. I can remember of Basic when we used to learn that in our school, then Windows 95 and Select Game ;)
Here is the Collection of Old Computer Boot-up Screens

Some Facts about Bill Gates

2005-10-27T04:26:00.000-07:00

Refering to my previous post on 14 things you didn't know about Bill Gates just thought of also posting a few facts about Bill Gates I had earlier. I guess many of you must be knowing about this. May not be exactly but atleast heard a fe wpoints about it. Here it goes:

Bill Gates earns US$250 every SECOND, that's about US$20 Million a DAY and US$7.8 Billion a YEAR!

If he drops a thousand dollar, he won't even bother to pick it up bcoz the 4 seconds he picks it, he would've already earned it back.

The US national debt is about 5.62 trillion, if Bill Gates were to pay the debt by himself; he will finish it in less then 10 years.

He can donate US$15 to everyone on earth but still be left with US$5 Million for his pocket money.

Michael Jordan is the highest paid athlete in US. If he doesn't drink and eat, and keeps up his annual income i.e. US$30 Million, he'll have to wait for 277 years to become as rich as Bill Gates is now.

If Bill Gates was a country, he would be the 37th richest country on earth.

If you change all of Bill Gate's money to US$1 notes, you can make a road from the earth to moon, 14 times back and forth.
But you have to make that road non-stop for 1,400 years, and use a total of 713 BOEING 747 planes to transport all the money.

Bill Gates is 40 this year. If we assume that he will live for another 35 years, he has to spend US$6.78 Million per day to finish all his money before he goes to heaven.

Last but not the least:

If Microsoft Windows' users can claim US$1 for every time their computers hang because of Microsoft Windows, Bill Gates will be bankrupt in 3 years

Recently on Sep. 29, 2005 ; I read this news on InformationWeek, which reads Microsoft's Gates, Ballmer Get Raises. This was soon after Microsoft completed it's 30 years

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is worth $51 billion. CEO Ballmer is worth a paltry $14 billion.

Before it becomes a broken link, let me post that here:

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer each earned $1 million last year, an 11 percent raise over the previous fiscal year, Microsoft Corp. reported in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Gates, the software company's chairman, and Ballmer, its chief executive, each earned a salary of $600,000 and a bonus of $400,000 for the company's 2005 fiscal year ended June 30.
Ballmer also received $6,300 in matching 401(k) contributions and $2,773 in other benefits. Gates received $2,469 in other benefits, the company said.
For the current fiscal year, the company said in a separate filing that the executives will earn base salaries of $620,000 and will be eligible for bonuses of up to 120 percent of their salaries. In its proxy statement, the company also disclosed that Gates owned 9.55 percent of Microsoft shares, while Ballmer owns 3.85 percent.
According to Forbes magazine, Gates is the world's richest man, worth an estimated $51 billion. Ballmer is worth an estimated $14 billion, the magazine said.

So after this, can someone recalculate the facts?

14 things you didn't know about Bill Gates

2005-10-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

Came across this blog today where the ComputerGeek translates the article from themarker.com. The website is in Hebrew language. He also tells that it is as said by Bill Gates on his visit to Israel, few books and from the web. Sounds good to me so thought of posting it here:

1. Many books have be written about Bill Gates, Amazon brings up 137,632 results.

2. The first company he founded was Traf-O-Data.

3. Microsoft used to be written "Micro-Soft".

4. His great-grandfather was a lawmaker and mayor, his grandfather a national bank's vice president, and his father a successful lawyer.

5. In 1968 when the first computers were installed in the Lakeside Academy, his grades degraded because he would spend days and nights learning the new device.

6. Gates, Pual Allen and their friends caused the computers in Lakeside Academy to crash because of hacking activity.

7. When he was young he used to rock back and fourth. Today he still does it when he's deep in thought.

8. In Harvard he got bored and passed most of his time programming and playing poker.

9. Gates told his teachers in university he would be a millionaire by age 30

10. Gates turned into a billionaire at age 31.

11. One of his teachers said about him "Bill was an amazing programmer, but a disgusting person".

12. The reckless life in Harvard made him sick during summer 1974 and he quit his studies.

13. His first programming job was in high school making a program that organizes an efficient schedule. He used it to sign up to classes that had the hottest girls and have easy fridays.

14. Gates married his wife, Melinda, on January 1994 in an island in Hawaii which he rented for the wedding.

The Most Awesomest PC Case Ever Invented

2005-10-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Incredible!!! Have a look at this PC case.

Bow down before your God. He is now known as “Dark Blade”, the most awesomest PC case ever invented by Bit-Tech forum user G69T . This PC case is almost near completion and has taken countless months to produce. It comes with 2 seperate hydraulic pumps for cooling the bastard. The case is lit up in a beautiful blue and green combo that flows through the tubing with a sex-tastic luminosity. In other words, it’s pretty. Custom venting also helps cool this beast down. If you’re wondering where you can get one, don’t hold your breath. This baby is one of a kind. More sexy pics after the jump. Mmm. Case fetish.

Found on Gizmodo

More Images available here:
Image 1 / Image 2 / Image 3 / Image 4 / Image 5 /
Image 6 / Image 7 / Image 8 / Image 9 / Image 10

Here are some Videos:
Short VORTEX STATION ONE 18.2 Mb

Short VORTEX STATION TWO 7.4 Mb

Downloaded from Bit-Tech Forums

Hide My Ass - A free web proxy

2005-10-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today, this site has launched: HideMyAss
This is a free web proxy where you can browse the web anonymously. Following is what it says in its about page

Hide My Ass is a free online web service which offers users to browse the web anonymously. If you are at work and need to access a filtered web site, simply use our free service to bypass the network filter.

We decided to keep the site simple and easy to use, as well as fast loading. A lot of proxy sites are plastered with ads, 1000 options and load very slowly.

What does the name mean? I basically wanted something fun and easy to remember as the site only has one purpose, I believe the name is easy to remember and stands out from the crowd. Hide My Ass was set up on the 25th of October 2005 by Jack Cator.

The site is powered by PHProxy 0.4

Strange that in few whois site where I checked, replies: No Match Found !!!

Now 1000 Gigs of Email Storage

2005-10-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

Are the email service providers getting crazier. After Gmail offered a 2GB free email service, Yahoo! and Rediff also doubled its webmail capacity. These services are enough for me. More than 1GB freespace is sufficient for personal usage.
But, Vincent Liou, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mailnation.net has different opinion. They think that privacy policies with major companies are weak, reliability remains questioned, and features are lacking. Attachment sizes remain small and restrictive, and ads plague certain email systems.
That’s why he provides a 1 TB (1000 GB) completely free service with an ad-free and simple to use interface. Unlike most free email services, he offers you with an exhaustive list of free features, designed with you and your daily busy life in mind. He offers this to you, completely free of charge, with an impressive uptime, and a very stringent privacy policy.
Apart from 1 TB of space, the attachment limit is 10 MB, which my other providers also give the same amount. Now what do they mean by saying "Is it anything new that it provides by saying "Send your complete gaming CD or that Open source 3-4 CD software or anything like that?" Damn!!!
For me, no 30Gigs, no 1TB, no more nonsence. I'll use my sense and stick to my YAHOO! and GMAIL. If not enough, I already have my account on Rediff that provides 1Gigs and I rarely check them these days as most of them is loaded with spam. No more huge space and no more invitation to spams. Those who feel like kissing spam mails and have a timepass with upload and download of 10 MB attachments, here you go
As far as I can see, their servers are hosted at the netriplex datacenter and the mail server runs on Merak mail server provided by Icewarp software that runs on linux.
Don't know how long will they remain. But I wish them "All the Best."
Here is my previous post on 30 Gigs of Storage Space if you may like to have a look at.

Email turns 34

2005-10-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Emails...
It's 34 years since e-mailing technology was invented . Paul Buchheit, Gmail's first engineer wrote some interesting thoughts on the anniversary and emails in general on their Google Blog. Also on the reason for building gmail, this is what he says:

I rely on email, a lot, but it just wasn't working for me. My email was a mess. Important messages were hopelessly buried, and conversations were a jumble; sometimes four different people would all reply to the same message with the same answer because they didn't notice the earlier replies. I couldn't always get to my email because it was stuck on one computer, and web interfaces were unbearably clunky. And I had spam. A lot of it. With Gmail I got the opportunity to change email – to build something that would work for me, not against me.

The blog is worth reading. Read here

Linux can milk cows!!!

2005-10-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

Ever heard ~~Penguin~~ Linux can milk cows?
If your cow wants to get milked when it desires to get milked, here is a procedure for it.
Set up a machine that gives the cow control of its milking schedule. It identifies the cow, then finds the udders, milks the cow, cleans it's undercarriage, and lets it go.
What has Linux to do with it... Sounds strange right? Read here

How Much is Your Blog Worth?

2005-10-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

Check How Much is Your Blog Worth here. Your value is derived on the price AOL paid for WebLogs Inc. ($25m) divided by their % share of Technorati sources - to give a $ price per Technorati link.

My blog is worth Priceless.
How much is your blog worth?

Command Line Text Editors in Linux

2005-10-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

There are times in the Linux world when you have to use a command line based text editor. I recommend getting to know which one you have installed on your system and practice using it in case of emergencies. I found an article on three popular editors that gives you some insight on how to use them. This article at Really Linux covers vi, pico, and emac. I have used two out of the three listed and my favorite is pico - and I really like nano, which is a different editor.

vi / pico / emac / text editor linux / nano

Vi:
Vi is often the default editor that pops up when you're ready to write an e-mail message or when you're posting a News message. Vi is complicated and seems difficult to learn at first. However, it is often the default for Unix and Linux systems. This chapter explains the use of the Vi editor.

Pico:
Pico is a fairly simple text editor that provides straight-forward options and easy-to-use commands. Although some programmers have frowned at Pico's simplicity and limited options, most folks find that it provides everything necessary to write long documents with minimal hassles. However, Pico is not very good when manipulating certain types of files such as making changes to .cgi files etc.

Emacs:
Emacs falls somewhere between the straightforward Pico and the complicated Vi. Unlike Vi, you don't need to switch between modes to perform basic text editing functions. Sadly, the vast set of powerful commands themselves are difficult to remember. The Emacs link includes basic information on Emacs for situations where you may encounter it or for those who use it on an occasional basis.

[Read Command Line Text Editors at Really Linux]

Also I would point out Newbie's Top Ten Commands available here for all those starting to learn Linux

Wine Will Go Beta Next Week

2005-10-22T04:19:00.000-07:00

After roughly 12 years of work, the Wine Project is about to take its widely used Windows translation layer to a place it has not been in all that time: beta.

Wine Project leader Alexandre Julliard, who has worked on the software nearly since its beginning in 1993 and maintained it since 1994, said interview yesterday that the beta release is “a matter of days away.” He has since updated that forecast and said it would be released on Tuesday, October 25th.

Wine Project / Beta / Linux / Alexandre Julliard / Crossover Office 5 0

"We are currently in code freeze for the release," Julliard said. "It should happen sometime next week."

Wine allows Windows software to run on Linux and other x86-based Unix operating systems by running the Windows application program interface (API) and other Windows dynamic link libraries (DLL).

The beta release of Wine comes a few weeks before the expected release of Crossover Office 5.0, the Wine-based proprietary software from Codeweavers that is marketed to run Windows office suite software but also handles some games and other programs.

Jeremy White, Codeweavers founder and a "big booster" of Wine, said the beta release of the software is a watershed event because in addition to user apprehensiveness toward an alpha release, a lack of consistency in the software's function also turned people off. And while Wine, or some form of it, has become common across the Linux universe, 11 years as an alpha is a long time.

[Read more on Wine Will Go Beta Next Week at NewsForge]

Flock, the New Browser

2005-10-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Another ground-breaking IT development coming from the general vicinity of Stanford University -- and it's being built in a garage, just like HP was.
Here comes a new open source browser called Flock. It's built on the Mozilla Gecko HTML rendering engine, like Firefox. However, Flock's intended user market isn't just anybody -- it's designed for bloggers.

According to BusinessWeek Online:

"Flock hopes to turn the browser into a dashboard for collaborating, blogging, sharing photos, reveling in a raft of other group activities that have recently caught fire online."

Expected to be launched in two weeks, Flock will make it easier for Bloggers to edit, reference and post content to their blogs; allow web surfers to instantly tag sites at del.icio.us; and most importantly, Flock will be easy to customize to enhance the browsing experience of the average Jane. Early testers have apparently given the browser the thumbs up, but it's too early to tell if the initial buzz will be translated to wide adoption.
Flock is "designed from the ground up as a 'social browser' for what its inventors call the 'two-way' Web," says Steve Hamm in his blog at BusinessWeek.com.

30 Gigs of Storage Space

2005-10-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

Heard of 30Gigs? Well this is the new web based email service provider that combines personal file storage (30Gb), GD2 signatures and anonymous email all in one service, and is free.
This is what I read about them on their website.

30Gigs.com started off with the idea of creating a "All in one" site for the webmaster and avid computer users. Combining personal file storage, GD2 signatures and anonymous email all in one service, which would be free. Our main goal is to increase our space even further, to 50 gigs, or maybe 100 as time goes on. 30Gigs.com is still in a very heavy beta, and if you are a member, please help us to make it the best mail server there is. We will be offering a section for personal file storage (up to 30 gigs) and a GD2 signature maker to keep your email safe from spam robots. We also offer a unique feature, which allows you to send a email from any address you want. This is very usefull if you have multiple accounts linked to your 30Gigs.com account, and want to send a email from john@otherservice.com so you dont confuse the sender. Any further information can be addressed to support@30gigs.com.

And their Development Blog explains on what they are currently working on. I wonder who saves 30GB of emails or as they mention in future 30gigs hopes to add support for file storage. Theoretically youwill be able to upload a file to your 30gigs account and be able to access it from anywhere you go.
They currently accept sign-ups only through invitations. But before you sign up, I strongly recommend you to read this blog posted by Om Malik
If interested in 30Gigs, get your invites from this invite spooler.

Microsoft Launches "Learning Paths for Security" site

2005-10-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has launched a new Security site called "Learning Paths for Security" to provide training resources for you to get good at security. Every month there willl be a new theme. This month it's "Internal Threats: Mitigate the Risks in Your Environment", and included are TechNet Webcasts, Virtual labs, whitepapers, e-learning. Many different ways for you to learn about the latest/greatest ways to get you secure. The content is categorized into 4 stages, Plan, Prevent, Detect, and Respond, to make it easier for you to find what you need. The learning resources are organized by level, from basic to expert.

Start learning here: Learning Paths for Security

Also find this month's topics:
Threat and Vulnerability Mitigation Resources
Regulatory Compliance
Identity and Access Management
System Integrity

You can browse through these pages Technet Security and for those who need less technical information, Security at Home Nice resource having short videos
It's even a reference link to learn the security basics and can also be pointed out to the basic users or family members who need to know...

Native PDF support in Office "12"

2005-10-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

The saved documents will be based on Adobe's Open Specification and can be read using any tool that can view PDFs.
The PDF support will be built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, OneNote, Visio, and InfoPath! I love how well this new functionality will work in combination with the new Open XML formats in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. We've really heard the feedback that sharing documents across multiple platforms and long term archiving are really important. People now have a couple options here, with the existing support for HTML and RTF, and now the new support for Open XML formats and PDF!
This really all comes down to the basic theme of content sharing. We realize that this is a really important scenario, and that's why we're making the move to default XML formats that are fully documented. Now we've moved to the files being in open, redistributable, and archivable formats; and we can focus more of our innovations around ways to act on those formats. This is true on the client and the server.
Read More about Pdf support on Office12 here
Also Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky Discusses Support for the PDF Format in Office “12” on Microsoft PressPass
Update on Oct 4: Nice article posted on PCWorld "Office Improves PDF Support"

Microsoft Celebrates it's 30th Birthday

2005-09-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Microsoft celebrated its 30th anniversary at the company’s annual meeting on September 23, 2005. Here are few links that will give you lots of information on Milestones of Microsoft

The PC Timeline at PC Museum says "April 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Micro-Soft. The hyphen is later dropped to Microsoft."

Larry Osterman, on his 20 years with Microsoft worth reading

The History of Computing Project has a very detailed history of Microsoft from 1975 to 1998

The Histories of Microsoft according to encyclopedia Wikipedia, and Encarta

Official History from Microsoft available for download here

More FAQ’s on Microsoft History available at Microsoft.com Corp FAQ’s

Here is an interview with Marc McDonald, Microsoft's first employee and talks about the early days of working at Microsoft as well as what he's doing on the Windows Vista team (he's working on defect prevention). Download the video here

The Microsoft Visitor Center Timeline documents some of the most critical turning points along our 30-year journey. The Microsoft Timeline charts 30 years of software history
Follow a software giant from startup to success. Pinpoint the decisions and events that made all the difference.

A funny stuff here on Steve Ballmer selling Windows 1.0

What does the future hold for the computer software giant? BBC News

More News for you:
From the Microsoft press release

Here is an Interview of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer by the Seattle Times. Get the audio recording (28mb) of the interview here

Here’s another interview by Seattle Post Intelligencer. And here are the audio files