The latest buzzword – Google Buzz
Feb 10th
What is Google Buzz? Well it is definitely a threat to the likes of facebook and twitter.
As far as searching is concerned, Google is the defacto standard for internet users. But when it comes to social networking to keep in touch with friends and family, usually sites like facebook, myspace, twitter etc are used.
Google Buzz may change this. Google Buzz adds social networking functions such as the ability to share links, photos, videos and status updates with friends from GMAIL. So Google has finally extended the gmail users with the social networking tools to keep in touch with their contacts who are already in gmail.
Google Buzz is also accessible from smartphones. That makes it even more interesting. Though it is officially launched some gmail users still do not have buzz enabled for their account. As google is enabling buzz for gmail users in steps. So if you are a gmail user and you don’t have the BUZZ yet, not to worry. When it is avaiable you will automatically see it when you login.
TouchFreeze – Activate, Freeze touch pad automatically in your laptop
Feb 1st
For those who have been working on a desktop computer for a long time and switched to laptops, the major problem is getting adjusted with the smaller keyboard. Another problem is when typing on the laptop keyboard, the thumb sometimes touches the keypad and the cursor moves to another space.
This problem usually goes away with experience. More experienced laptop users do not face this issue, as they get adjusted to the new keyboard layout over time.
However, TouchFreeze is a free utility that can be used to freeze and activate touch pad automatically. If TouchFreeze is installed, it automatically freezes the touchpad and when you stop typing, it will automatically enable the touch pad again. To download TouchFreeze goto http://code.google.com/p/touchfreeze/downloads/list
3outube – Download youtube videos
Feb 1st
Even wondered how to download youtube videos to your computer hard disk? If you did a search on google to find out free applications that can download youtube videos, there are quite a few of them available.
But some of them add advertisement, or only download 60 to 70 % of the video, and if you want to download the 100% video, you may have to buy it.
Here is a free 100% online download site which enables you to download in two different formats. MPEG4 and FLA formats. All you need to do is goto youtube.com and find your favourite video.
Eg. http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY9793NCGxI
Now replace y in youtube with 3
So the URL now becomes
http://www.3outube.com/watch?v=yY9793NCGxI
This will bring you to a page where you can select which file format you want to download. MPEG4 or FLA.
Just click on the file format you want and the youtube video will be downloaded to your hard disk. It is that simple.
Apple’s IPad – Not IPod. What is it?
Jan 31st
IPad is the next device from Apple in line with IPod, IPod Touch and IPhone.
IPad has a large touch screen and makes internet browsing, emailing easier and much more interesting. Almost 140000 applications are available on IPad from day one. Listed here are the features of IPad. IPad maynot be available commercially in your countries. But it is sure to come with a bang.
Features of Apple IPad
Safari
The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating the web has never been easier or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. Scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.
See and touch your email in ways you never could before. In landscape, you get a split-screen view showing both an opened email and the messages in your inbox. To see the opened email by itself, turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen. No matter which orientation you use, you can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, onscreen keyboard, or delete messages with nothing more than a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message. You can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad works with all the most popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.
Photos
With its crisp, vibrant display and unique software features, iPad is an extraordinary way to enjoy and share your photos. For example, the Photos app displays the photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Just tap the stack, and the whole album opens up. From there, you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow. You can even use your iPad as a beautiful digital photo frame while it’s is docked or charging. And there are lots of ways to import photos: You can sync them from your computer, download them from an email, or import them directly from your camera using the optional Camera Connection Kit.
Video
The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos. Switch between widescreen and full screen with a double-tap. Because iPad is essentially one big screen, with no distracting keypad or buttons, you feel completely immersed in whatever you’re watching.
YouTube
The YouTube app organizes videos so they’re easy to see and navigate. To watch one, just tap it. When you’re watching in landscape, the video automatically plays in full screen. And with its high-resolution display, iPad makes the latest HD YouTube videos look positively amazing.
iPod
With the iPod app, all your music is literally at your fingertips. Browse by album, song, artist, or genre with a simple flick. To play a song, just tap it. iPad even displays album art at full size. Listen to your music with the powerful built-in speaker or with wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones.
iTunes
A tap of the iTunes store icon lets you browse and buy music, TV shows, and podcasts — or buy and rent movies — wirelessly, right from your iPad. Choose from thousands of movies and TV shows (in both standard and high definition), along with thousands of podcasts and millions of songs. Preview songs before you buy them. Or just sync iPad with the content you already have in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC.
App Store
iPad runs almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. Everything from games to business apps and more. And new apps designed specially for iPad are highlighted, so you can easily find the ones that take full advantage of its features. Just tap the App Store icon on the screen to browse, buy, and download apps wirelessly, right to the iPad.
iBooks
The iBooks app is a great new way to read and buy books.* Download the free app from the App Store and buy everything from classics to best sellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. Just tap it to start reading. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich color, so it’s easy to read, even in low light.
Maps
Finding your way is a completely new experience on iPad. Tap to view maps from above with high-resolution satellite imagery, up close with street view, or with topography in a new terrain view — all using Google Services. Search for a nearby restaurant or landmark, then get directions from your current location.
Notes
With its expansive display and large, onscreen keyboard, iPad makes jotting down notes easy. In landscape view, you see not only a note-taking page but a list of all your notes. iPad even circles the current note in red, so you can see where you are at a glance.
Calendar
iPad makes it easy to stay on schedule by displaying day, week, month, or list views of your calendar. You can see an overview of a whole month or the details of a single day. iPad even shows multiple calendars at once, so you can manage work and family schedules at the same time.
Contacts
The Contacts app on iPad makes finding names, numbers, and other important information quicker and easier than ever before. A new view lets you see both your complete contacts list and a single contact simultaneously. Need directions? Tap an address inside a contact and iPad automatically opens Maps.
Home Screen
The Home Screen gives you one-tap access to everything on iPad. You can customize your Home Screen by adding your favorite apps and websites or using your own photos as the background. And you can move apps around to arrange them in any order you want.
Spotlight Search
Spotlight Search allows you to search across iPad and all of its built-in apps, including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod, and Notes. It even searches apps you’ve downloaded from the App Store. So no matter what you’re looking for, it’s never more than a few taps away.
Some shortcut keys in Excel
Jan 31st
Ctrl+Shift+O: To select all the cells with comments. If there are no cells with contents then you will get ‘No cells found’ message.
Ctrl+[ : To show which are the related cells in the selected formula.
Ctrl+] : To show the related formulas of the selected cell.
Shift+Arrow key : The selection will be extended to one more adjacent cell.
Ctrl+Shift+Arrow key : The selection will be extended to the last cell with data either horizontally or vertically based on your current selection.
Shift+Home : The selection will be extended to the first cell horizontally.
Ctrl+Shift+Home : Selection will be extended to the first cell in the worksheet.
Ctrl+Shift+End: Selection will be extended until the last cell in the worksheet/.
Enter: Cursor will be moved to the next cell below the current cell.
Adjusting Windows Task bar size: In Windows 7
Jan 30th
In Windows 7, the usual size of the Windows Taskbar is a bit larger than usual. This takes some extra space at the bottom of the computer screen. This makes selecting the applications easier as the buttons are bigger. However for those who are using smaller screens this may be a bit annoying as it takes more space on the screen. If you want you can make the size of the taskbar smaller by following the steps below.
- In a blank space in the taskbar right click and select properties.
- You will see the ‘Taskbar and Start Menu Properties’ dialog box with many tabs.
- Here click ‘Use small icons’ and select it.
- Now click OK and close the dialog box.
Now the task bar will occupy smaller space. If you want you can also hide the task bar when not required. If you want to hide the task bar, in step 2 above, select the ‘Taskbar’tab, and in ‘Taskbar appearance’, select ‘Autohide the taskbar’. If you choose this, if you bring the mouse to the bottom of the screen the taskbar will appear and if you move away from the task bar, it will be hidden.
Skype in TV
Jan 20th
Using VoIP two internet uses can communicate with each other via their, computer, mobile phone, video phone etc. They can see each other face to face and chat with each other as if they are in the same room. Many companies have provided free application to enable this VoIP communication. But Skype leads them all in terms of functionalities and market share.
Now Skype has come forward to provide their Skype service via TV. Skype has agreements with LG and Panasonic TV manufacturers as they are producing TVs with internet connectivity. Now you can make video calls via internet TVs. When Panasonic introduced 2010 Viera Castenabled HDTV, they announced that using this TV skype can be used. This model will be available commercially very soon.
Similarly LG launched their ‘Netcast Entertainment Access’ TV with internet access. LG also announced that Skype can be used from their TV. Therefore these TVs will come with a microphone and a camera to enable video calls. Panasonic TVs with Skype will be available in March and LG TVs with skype will be available in April 2010.
Adobe Flash and Adobe PDF may be targets for Hackers this year
Jan 20th
In a recent report by McAfee, it warns that Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader maybe a likely target for the hackers this year. These hackers usually targeted Microsoft products to hack. They try to identify the security loopholes in these files and try to compromise the security by developing malwares and viruses that will exploit these applications. But recently adobe flash and adobe readers are widely in use today and therefore hackers have turned their attention towards these programs.
Another reason could be that Microsoft has continuously improved their software and applications by providing patches and upgrades that have reduced these loopholes tremendously. The CEO of Adobe has accepted that hackers have turned their attention towards their range of products.
McAfee has also identified instances where hackers have compromised Apple’s Quicktime and Mozilla’s Firefox. Additionally social networking sites such as twitter may also be a likely target.
TooManyTabs Firefox addon
Jan 20th
Almost all browsers today use the tabbed browsing concept. So you only open a single browser but open multiple tabs each pointing to a different website. This is of course a good thing. But the more tabs you use, the more RAM memory the browser will be consuming.
At any point of time you can only view a single tab. However all the other tabs that are open are also consuming RAM memory. To solve this problem the TooManyTabs addon can be used in Firefox browsers. What it does is to create a waiting lounge where all unused tabs are parked. These parked tabs will appear as open but will be inactive. They will become active only when the tab is activated. This greatly reduces the RAM memory usage increasing the computer performance. This addon creates a toolbar just above the normal tabs. You can just drag and drop the tabs that you want to park, into this toolbar. Then when you want to reactivate the parked tab just drag and drop from this toolbar back to the normal tabs space.
A tutorial on msconfig – System Configuration
Jan 20th
msconfig is the Microsoft System Configuration Utility. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 it is called as ‘System Configuration’. This is a tool that comes with the Windows Operating System. For Windows 2000 users this tool can be downloaded from microsoft website. This is used to configure and maintain your Windows System. In this tutorial we can see how to use this tool.
To start this tool goto Start->Run and type ‘msconfig’. A new window with five tabs will open.
- General Tab: This tab has three sections. Normal Startup, Diagnostic Startup and Selective Startup. When Windows functions normally we use Normal Startup. When the system doesnt function properly, we can use diagnostic startup to diagnose the issue and to troubleshoot. If we want windows to start with specific programs then we can choose Selective Startup.
- Boot Tab: This tab shows the operating systems installed in the computer. Additionally we can choose options such as ‘safe Boot’, ‘Boot log’, ‘Time out delay’. If you are a new PC user then it is best to leave this tab without any changes.
- Services Tab: This tab lists all the services installed in this PC with the details such as whether the service is running or stopped etc. From here you can enable or disable services. You can check the ‘Hide all Microsoft services’, to hide all essential windows services so that you don’t change them by mistake. From here you can identify unknown services that take up your memory and stop them wherever necessary.
- Startup Tab: Startup tab shows the list of programs that starts automatically when Windows starts. All system tray programs and programs that run in background will also be listed here. You can see which of these services and programs you don’t need at startup and remove them accordingly. This will speed up your windows startup time.
- Tools Tab: In the tools tab you can see, System Information, Programs, System Restore etc.
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