SpeedCrunch is a powerful and good-looking calculator for multiple operating systems such as Windows, Apple Macintosh and Linux. Unlike traditional desktop calculators that ship with operating systems, SpeedCrunch has a lot of interesting features that make it easy to use and extend its functionality.

You just type the expression that you want to calculate and press Enter. You can see clearly what you typed along with the result in the scrollable display. It also shows your previous calculations, thereby saving you the effort of having to redo the same calculation after accidentally clearing the screen.

You can also paste the expression from the clipboard, that you copied from somewhere else and then copy the result to the clipboard using Ctrl+R. Syntax highlighting makes it possible to easily distinguish numbers from variables.

Must for those who use calculator heavily; this is a really good application as it allows one to depend solely on keyboard shortcuts.

For Windows users, SpeedCrunch comes as an installer that install in less than a minute. One can also run SpeedCrunch without the need of installing it. You can take it everywhere with you on your pen drive. Download the archive, extract it and click on the executable file inside the directory.

SpeedCrunch Multi-OS Calculator

If you are an Ubuntu fan living in a Windows-dominant country, you would have wished if Ubuntu came packaged with some essential functionalities—MP3 music playback, DVD playback and flash support. Here's a Linux distro for you—CrunchBang Linux.
CrunchBang is an Ubuntu-based OS designed to offer a good balance of speed and functionality.

Advantages over Ubuntu

It comes with the ability to play most popular media formats—including MP3, DVD playback and Adobe Flash. CrunchBang comes with many popular applications installed in the box—including Firefox 3 web browser, VLC media player, Rhythmbox music player, Xfburn CD/DVD writer, Audacity audio recorder, GIMP for image and photo editing, AbiWord, Skype and Deluge BitTorrent Client.

What it lacks

This distro takes pride in not being brown like Ubuntu but isn't as beautiful. It also lacks Open Office suite. The default stat panel that you can see in the screenshot—I don't understand the need for always having to see what's the memory usage of my computer. Nonetheless, it's worth giving it a try for all those who have been forced to revert back from Ubuntu to Windows because they couldn't play their collection of music on the Linux distribution.

Comes with disclaimer

CrunchBang Linux comes with a disclaimer that it's not a stable OS or users should be prepared to face occasional, even frequent breakdowns.

CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! Therefore CrunchBang Linux comes with absolutely no warranty, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

CrunchBang Linux

This Blogger template is one of the predecessors of my blog's template. The template has a easily customizable navigation bar and an image box. Detailed instruction on customization of the template is available with the download archive.

I am giving away this Blogger template under GNU public licence. If you like it, you can use it for your BlogSpot blog. Instructions (as PDF file) are available with the template download.

Download this template
View demo of this theme

Firefox web browser by Mozilla is great. Here is a list of Firefox add-ons that will unleash the power of this popular application. All the add-ons are compatible with the Firefox 3.0.5. Don't miss to install at least these: McAfee Site Advisor, WOT, AdBlock Plus, and Download them All.

Staying safe

Web of Trust

WOT, Web of Trust, warns you about risky websites that try to scam visitors, deliver malware or send spam. Protect your computer against online threats by using WOT as your front-line layer of protection when browsing or searching in unfamiliar territory. WOT's color-coded icons show you ratings for websites - green to go, yellow for caution and red to stop – helping you avoid the dangerous sites.

McAfee Site Advisor

It helps you stay away from dangers lurking on the web by giving you red, yellow and green lights--both for the web pages that you open and also for the links in your search pages. Is also available as a plug-in for Internet Explorer.

NoScript

The best security you can get in a web browser! Allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks.

Interclue

Get to know what's behind the link before you click. Interclue tells you everything you need to know before you open yet another tab.

KidZui

KidZui turns Firefox into fun, kid-safe browser with over a million kids games, YouTube videos, and websites.

Utilities

Adblock Plus

Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

Bookmark This Plus

As the name suggests, it improves the bookmark functionality of Firefox.

Open IT Online

Ever faced problem opening any file on a computer because a particular application is not installed. Open IT Online allows you to open your documents and images online without the need of any software to be installed.

Picnik

Do you use online image editing app Picnik? Then this add-on will save you some steps by directly importing images from the web page for image manipulation to the app site. Add a menu options and a toolbar icon to make importing images into Picnik easier. This add-on has been struck out because it's a list of 45 add-ons, not more.

Surf Canyon: Search Assistant

Surf Canyon accelerates the process of finding relevant information buried in the search results on Live Search, Google, Yahoo! and Craigslist. Available for download as an add-on for both Firefox and Internet Explorer (IE6 and IE7), the software figures out what you want and then automatically recommends relevant search results.

Gspace

This extension allows you to use your Gmail Space (4.1 GB and growing) for file storage. It acts as an online drive, so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them from every Internet capable system.

BabelFish Instant Translation

Get the Web in your own language in a really easy way.

PDF Download

It will enable you to download web pages as PDF. Gain control of PDFs and eliminate browser problems, view PDFs directly in Firefox as HTML, and use the all-new Web-to-PDF toolbar to save and share Web pages as high-quality PDF files. The conversion takes place online, consuming bandwidth.

pdfit

Another PDF add-on which allows user to convert current page to image file, or PDF format (image to pdf). The entire conversion is offline but it annoy you by opening a webpage.

Foxmarks

If you use Firefox on more than one computer, you'll want Foxmarks. Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it works silently in the background to keep your bookmarks and (optionally) passwords synchronized.

Auto Shutdown

Auto Shutdown will enable Firefox built-in download manager to shutdown, hibernate or standby your PC.

Download Statusbar

View and manage downloads from a tidy status bar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.

Video DownloadHelper

The easy way to download and convert Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites. This works also for audio and picture galleries. It supports a large number of video sites.

DownThemAll!

The first and only download manager/accelerator built inside Firefox! It is loved by its users. But then I find it bit problematic--it would not work in background but will show up in my task bar. It should have supported working in system tray without cluttering my wrking space.

FoxyProxy

FoxyProxy is an advanced proxy management tool that completely replaces Firefox's limited proxying capabilities. It offers more features than SwitchProxy, ProxyButton, QuickProxy, xyzproxy, ProxyTex, TorButton, etc.

Firefox Universal Uploader

This extension allows to upload/download files from your favorite websites using a simple interface. Below is the list of all websites supported by Fireuploader. In this version, Snaphappi (a digital photo processing website), Slideshare.net (Share your presentations) and Adobe Share has been added. You can make PDF documents using Adobe Share. Upload any word/image document, download it in PDF format.

Stop Autoplay

Disable the autoplay of the embedded music and movie. A nice function to avoid unwanted playback.

Gui:config

This is an extension for advanced preferences. gui:config makes it easier to change preferences that can only be found in the “about:config”.

Well dressed

FoxTab

FoxTab brings innovative and attractive 3D tab management to Firefox. With its five fascinating layouts, it makes tabbed-browsing a really nice experience.

Smart Bookmarks Bar

Not enough place on your bookmarks bar ?... Smart Bookmarks Bar extension comes right here by hiding bookmarks names and only showing icons. Bookmark names will be displayed on mouse over.

Tab Scope

Preview and navigate tab contents through popup.

Better read

Read It Later

Read It Later allows you to save pages of interest to read later. It eliminates cluttering of bookmarks with sites that are merely of a one-time interest.

NewsFox

NewsFox is an efficient 3-pane(email) style Atom/RSS feed reader.

Morning Coffee

Keeps track of daily routine websites and opens them in tabs. Is good if you have a slew of websites that you visit on a regular basis.

Staying connected

TwitterFox

TwitterFox notifies you of your friends' status on Twitter.

Simple Mail

This add-on converts Firefox into a mail client (POP3/IMAP/SMTP).

Brief

Brief makes reading RSS feeds as easy and intuitive as it gets. Feeds are presented on a seamless, interactive page, which let's you bookmark and tag items with a single click.

Undercover agent

Ghostfox

An interesting add-on if you wish to browse discreetly. Ghostfox stylizes Firefox into Ghostzilla (the invisible browser) style. Move your mouse away and Firefox disappears. Sweep to the left of the screen, to the right, and again to the left and Firefox is back, blended with your focused application.

Page Title Eraser

The Page Title Eraser (PTE) is a simple Mozilla Firefox extension which allows to hide title and icon (favicon.ico) of the selected tab. It provides more privacy at your workplace.

Tools for bloggers

ScribeFire Blog Editor

ScribeFire is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.

Deepest Sender

Deepest Sender is a client that will allow you to post to blogs from directly within Firefox. It is primarily a LiveJournal client, although it supports Blogger (GData) and WordPress (metaWeblog) too.

FireShot

FireShot is a Firefox extension that creates screenshots of web pages. Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations. Such functionality will be especially useful for web designers, testers and content reviewers. It's possible to choose whether you want to capture entire web page or take screenshot of only visible part of the web page.

Add-ons for developers and designers

Greasemonkey

Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript.

Web Developer

Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

Firebug

Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page... Firebug 1.3 requires Firefox 2 or 3.

IE Tab

Open Internet Explorer inside Firefox. Handy for viewing a site in IE for getting rid of design issue or for testing purposes.

ColorZilla

Allows you to pick colour with the help of an eyedropper tool. a handy tool to know hexcode of colours that you like on the web.

MeasureIt

Draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a web page.

FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers.

Html Validator

HTML Validator is a Mozilla extension that adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing. The extension can validate the HTML sent by the server or the HTML in the memory (after Ajax execution) .

User Agent Switcher

Adds a menu and a toolbar button to switch the user agent of the browser.

FYI: It took me at least six [not four] hours to compile this list after going through almost all the pages on Firefox Add-ons site :)

Additional resources:
Firefox Add-ons

There are several free, ad-free web hosting providers on the web. In a previous post, I had mentioned three of them—000Webhost, Zymic and 110MBHosting—and also a directory site to that provides you a wide range of options for picking a free web host.

Planning the trip

You will have to look for a host that complies with the minimum requirements for setting up a Wordpress blog: PHP4.3 or above and MySQL4 or above. Also, it should provide access to ftp uploading.

Here I will demonstrate the method using Zymic server, which provides 6GB of web space and 50GB of monthly data transfer. You should consider the limit of data transfer allowed because this will determine how many web pages can your blog serve without crossing the limit. The exact number will depend on the size of web page. For Zymic, even if a web page is 500KB, it will be possible to view it 100,000 times. Sufficient for most blogs. If you want to double the data transfer limit, you can use 000Webhost.

Hitting the road

First, sign-up with Zymic and log in.
Go to Zymic Control Panel through “My Account Management” tab on the sidebar and create a new web hosting account in your Zymic Control Panel. I am creating an account called “slumdog”.



Once created, you can use login buttons next to hosting account names to start using the hosting account. Remember to use the password that you have given for the particular hosting account; it can be different from your main password, depending on your choice.

Creating database

Now, create a MySQL database following the steps. All the options are available on the same page, arranged one below the other.



Create a new database. My database is called “wordpress”.



Create a new user along with a secure password. My user name will be “wpuser”.



Assign the user with the database name. To do this you must use the "Assign Privileges" section.



Now note down your MySQL database details which you will use for creating configuration file for Wordpress. For me, it will be as follows:

• Database name: slumdog_wordpress
• Database username: slumdog_wpuser
• Database password: “MYDBPASSWORD”
• Database host: localhost
• Table prefix: wp_1

Uploading Wordpress

Now, we need to transfer wordpress to the web folder. First, unzip the Wordpress archive folder that you have downloaded from wordpress.org. Now, we need to transfer the content of the unzipped wordpress folder on your computer to the web space. For this we will use an opensource FTP client FileZilla. Download and install it on your computer. You can also use any other FTP client.

Add ftp site to Filezilla

Go to File > Site Manager, and add the details of your Zymic account and connect.
For me, it will be as follows:

• Host: slumdog.uuuq.com
• Username: slumdog
• Password: “Slumdog hosting account password”
• Port:21

If you have registered a hosting account called “obama” with password “barack”, then your details will be:

• Host: obama.uuuq.com
• Username: obama
• Password: barack
• Port:21

Delete the index.htm existing in the root folder of your web space.



Now go to the unzipped wordpress folder on your site through “local site” panel on the left in Filezilla. Click in the pane showing the content of the local wordpress folder, and select all by using “ctrl+A”. Right click and select “upload”. All the files will get queued and will be uploaded one by one to the root folder of your web space. Make sure that all the files and folders are uploaded to the destined web folder. In case upload of any file is unsuccessful, go to the tab showing failed uploads, select and requeue them for upload.

Configuring Wordpress

Once all files are uploaded, open the site in your browser. In my case, it will be http://slumdog.uuuq.com. Wordpress will open an interface for creating configuration file. Add the MySQL database details that we had jotted down earlier. Follow the instructions to finish installation. If the web interface does not work, or you want to know more details about Wordpress configuration, read my previous post on installing wordpress on a web server.

Congrats. Your Wordpress blog is up and running on a free web hosting server. Start blogging or customize it with a theme of your choice and add functionality by using plugins.

You can also add a favicon, the icons that appear in browsers next to url of the site or along with boorkmarks. For this create a small square logo in GIMP, an open source image editor, and save it as “favicon.ico”. Now upload the “favicon.ico” to the root (main) folder of your web space.

Zymic, like many other free web hosts, also allows you to use your own domain name such as www.myblog.com. For this, get a domain name registered, generally costs less than $15/year. Point the nameservers to ns1.uuuq.com and ns2.uuuq.com and then add the domain name to your hosting account.This means you get a pro-looking blog for just the cost of a domain. Cheers.

Additional resources:
Installing Wordpress on a remote server
Set up a pro-looking blog with just a domain
Get free PHP web hosting, without any ad
Using custom themes with Wordpress
Wordpress themes directory

Wordpress—a free blog publishing—is not only user-friendly but can be also customized in innumerable ways with help of the vast repository of Wordpress plugins and themes. It is not only being used to host blogs but is also being used as Twitter-alternative, e-commerce site, content management service, photo blog, and lot more. It is because of its strength that most pro-bloggers use Wordpress to publish their blogs.

In this post we will learn how to set up Wordpress as blog publishing platform on your server (or rented web space).

Requirements for Wordpress installation

• Latest version of Wordpress
  
• Web space on a server with PHP 4.3+
• Database on MySQL4+
• Domain name set to your web space
• FTP client such as Filezilla or FireFTP
  

If you haven't bought web hosting for your blog, you would like to buy it from a host that supports PHP and can provide you a MySQL database. In case you haven't bought a domain name either, try to buy domain name, web hosting and MySQL database from single web host. This way you will probably get domain name linked with your web space.

Get set, go

Download latest Wordpress version (available as ZIP archive file) from wordpress.org. If you do not have an application to handle ZIP and other archive file formats, download and install 7-Zip, an open source archive-handling program.

Install Filezilla. Access your web space by connecting to your web host's FTP server. Use your user name and password along with correct port number. Exact instruction on connecting to your server should be available with your web host. You can also use FireFTP, a Firefox add-on, as FTP client.

Extract the content of Wordpress (ZIP) archive folder and upload all the content of the Wordpress folder to a desired folder using FTP client. Using an FTP client for uploading files is very intuitive with Filezilla or any other FTP client, and should not be a trouble for you. You will need to connect to the FTP server, which will take you to your web space.

Upload all the content of Wordpress folder to the root (main) folder if you wish too use your domain such as www.myblog.com as blog address. This means all the content of Wordpress folder, that include wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes folders and files, should be uploaded to your main root of the web space.

In case you want it, say, on www.myblog.com/blog, create a folder called blog and upload all the content of Wordpress folder to this web folder.

Make sure that each and every file has been uploaded to its designated place. If any file fails to be uploaded, requeue it and upload.

Creating wp-config.php

In your web browser, open the address where you have uploaded Wordpress files, and which you intend to use for your blog. In case you are using your main domain www.myblog.com for hosting blog, and have uploaded the contents of Wordpress folder to the root folder, just type www.myblog.com. If you wish to use www.myblog.com/blog for hosting blog, you should type this address given you have created a folder called blog in your main web folder and have uploaded Wordpress folder's contents to it.



You will get a web interface that will create "wp-config.php" file necessary for installing Wordpress.



Now, follow the instructions given by the Wordpress interface to create “wp-config.php” file that will initiate installation process. You will have to provide the following information about your MySQL database to Wordpress

1. Database name
2. Database username
3. Database password
4. Database host (It will be in most cases be “localhost”, the default value.)
5. Table prefix (If you want to run more than one WordPress in a single database.)

If you want to use an old database for wordpress installation or wish to make multiple wordpress installations in just one database, change the database table prefix from default “wp_” to, say, “wp_1”. Use a different, unique prefix, say, wp_2 or wp_3 for next Wordpress installations in the same database. Using single database for multiple installations will save you some money as you would have to spend just for web space and configure Wordpress to use an existing database.



Once you provide all the details to Wordpress, it will set up the blog for you and give you the password for “admin”. Log into Wordpress with “admin” user id and change the password to another more manageable one.

Manual configuration

If the web interface doesn't work, create the “wp-config.php” file manually.
Look for "wp-config-sample.php" file in the folder where you uploaded the contents of Wordpress folder. Rename the file to "wp-config.php".
Edit "wp-config.php" with a text editor such as Notepad and Notepad++ to include the details of your database (db_name, user, password, host). You would like to install Notepad++ for better experience while working with PHP or CSS files. Download detailed instructions on manually editing "wp-config.php"(.pdf)



Then open your blog in a web browser. Worpress will give you a password for “admin” username. Login to Wordpress as admin using the password and then immediately change the password through “admin” profile page. Option to change password is available at the bottom of the page.

To avoid any inconvenience in future, create another user name through admin account and use it for day-to-day blogging. Use admin account only for managing your blog.

You can start blogging outright with the default Wordpress theme. Or, you can customize the look and functioning of the blog using various themes and plugins available for Wordpress on wordpress.org and various other sites. More about customizing your Wordpress blog in coming posts.

Additional resources:
Getting started with Wordpress
Installing Wordpress/Codex

Flickr/MFinChina

A worm called Downadup or Kido is reported have infected at least 3.5 million Windows PCs in the world, with more computers being infected at a rapid pace. This is the largest known group of zombie computers. Does this scare you? Better gear up to prevent infection from rouge viruses doing rounds on the Web, computer networks and removable media such as USB drives.

Keep your Windows updated

You can keep your Windows updated by turning on automatic updates through Control Panel.
If you want to stay updated without Windows taking charge, there are some good options available.

WindizUpdate: It is a Firefox plugin that allows one to download Windows updates. It's an intelligent program that will install only latest updates, weeding out obsolete ones.

AutoPatcher: It gives you the control on the updates to be downloaded and also save you from the hassle of downloading the same updates each time you reinstall Windows on your PC.

CTUpdate: CTUpdate is a collection of script that acquires the complete update library for selected operating system from Microsoft's servers and creates an ISO image for burning a disc. Insert this disc into a Windows system that you want to update and run updateinstaller.exe. It creates a temporary account, installs updates and reboots without user interaction, and then removes the account when it's done.

Windows Updates Downloader: WUD enables to download all of the current Windows updates that are contained in update lists, which allows you to choose updates depending on the version of Windows. Once WUD has complete it's downloads, you integrate them into your Windows source using one of the many popular tools for pre-installation Windows configuration and component removal at your choice. One such tool is nLite. It allows you to create customized Windows installation by removing unwanted components and adding your own.

Install security patches

Install security patches released by Microsoft. Remember to install the patch released to remove the worm hole (MS08-67) that Downadup capitalizes upon. The patch, which applies to all supported versions of Windows, is available from the Microsoft Update Website, or via Automatic Updates.

Deploy a guard

Install a good anti-virus and keep it updated. You can use free versions of Bit Defender or AVG Antivirus.

Safety on the Web

Use Mcafee Site Advisor, a plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers, to avoid clicking on harmful links in Google or Yahoo search results, and also to know if the site you are visiting can damage your computer.

Turn off autoplay

Turn off autoplay feature to avoid infection from discs, USB drives, memory cards, etc. Scan the media with an updated anti-virus before opening it.
To turn off Autorun in Windows XP, open My Computer, then right click on the icon for your CD/DVD player, and select properties. Click the "AutoPlay" tab. Then, for each file type, select "take no action" and hit "apply”. In Windows Vista, turning off AutoPlay is easier: Go to "Control Panel”, then "Hardware and Sound”, then "AutoPlay”, and then just remove the check mark in the box next to "Use AutoPlay for all media and devices".

Additional resources:
Security at home/Microsoft

Flickr/Kmevans

A new strain of a worm, called Downadup, Conficker or Kido, has created the largest known collection of hacked computers. The worm had indfected at least 3.5 million PCs running Windows operating system and the number is increasing at a rapid pace, according to reports.

Finnish anti-virus maker F-Secure Corp. estimates the number of computers infected by the worm in the last four days alone to be between 2.4 million and 8.9 million.

Downadup, Conficker or Kido was first discovered in October 2008. Despite Microsoft immediately releasing a security patch then, a major portion of Windows PC remained vulnerable to attack by the worm that spreads through low security networks, USB drives and PCs without the latest security updates.

The worm works by integrating with Windows executable file called services.exe. It then copies itself into the Windows system folder as a dll file with a random 5-8 character name. It then modifies the Windows settings in Registry to run the malicious dll file as a service.

Once the worm is active, it creates an HTTP server in the PC and deletes all System Restore points before infection, making the feature useless for recovering the system. It then starts downloading files from the hacker's web site, which it does in a very unique way.

While most malware depend on a handful of sites to download files from, Conficker uses a complex algorithm to generate hundreds of different domain names every day. Only one of these domains will actually be the site used to download the hackers' files. This makes it virtually impossible to trace the rouge sites.

The worm protects itself from deletion by removing all NTFS file permissions, except execute and directory traversal, from all users.

Diagnosing the infection

An infected system will show connection time out message while trying to access various antivirus related websites. Windows Update will be disabled.

Curing an infected system

Use Microsoft's malicious software remover tool to clean infected systems. If your system has been infected, you will have to download it from another PC and then run it on your system.

Use Bit Defender or any good anti-virus maker's virus removal tool for getting rid of Downadup.
Follow these steps for removing the worm using Bit Defender's removal tool:

1. Disable System Restore (Instructions given below this list)
2. Unplug network cable from infected machine
3. Download MS08-67 vulnerability fix, according to your operating system version
   
4. Run attached removal tool
5. Restart computer
6. Plug in your network cable
7. Update virus definitions

To turn off System Restore in Windows XP, click “Start”, right-click “My Computer”, and then click “Properties”. In the System Properties dialog box, click the “System Restore” tab. Click to select the “Turn off System Restore on all drives check box”, and then click OK and confirm. Remember to uncheck the box after curing your system if you wish to use system restore feature.

Additional resources:
How to safeguard your PC against viruses
Downadup worm on Bit Defender
Downadup worm on F-Secure

Have you ever been surprised to find an unwanted “friend” in your Google Talk list whom you do not remember of having invited or accepted for inclusion in your Gtalk list? Worse, you keep finding your Gtalk friends list populating with “friends” who you would not want to be in touch with the messaging application.



The culprit is an option available in Gtalk. When you go to Gtalk setting, you will find that in “general” tab an option that says “add people I communicate with often to my friends list” is checked. This means if you write mails to a person very often, the person automatically get added in your Gtalk friends list. This option is checked by default.

So if you do not want Gtalk to automatically populate your friends list, you need to uncheck this option. You might also not want Gtalk to show your entire Gmail contacts list.

For the “friends” who already have made into your friends list, you can block or remove them. For this right click on the name of the contact and choose the desired action. Blocked users can't see when you're signed in to Google Talk, and you won't see their status in your Friends list, either. If you decide you'd like to communicate with someone you've blocked, just unblock them.

After terminating seven products recently -- Lively, Google Notebook, Google Videos, Google Mashup, Catalog Search, Dodgeball and Jaiku -- what is Google planning now? Will it trim or shut down GMail, Documents, Orkut, Blogger, Gtalk and other services as well?

Can we really depend on web services as heavily as we are at present on Gmail? Many professionals rely more on Gmail than their organization's mail service? Some people use it as a backup? Many more creative uses.

What will you do if some day Google says it will shut down Gmail? Experience has shown that web services can be there one day and the other they can be gone -- leaving you in the lurch. Can we rely on web services that have become so critical in our lives? What do you say?

Is Google trying to "right size" its operations in the times of global economic crisis? After shutting down its virtual world Lively, it has decided to kill six other products.

• Google Notebook
• Google Video
• Google Catalog Search
• Google Mashup Editor
• Dodgeball
• Jaiku

Starting next week, Google plans to stop adding features or offer Notebook for new users. But the service will be maintained for those of you who've already signed up.



In a few months, Google Videos will stop accepting new videos and will hand over the job to YouTube and Picasa.

Google Catalog Search, which was launched 2001, had possible to search the full text of product catalogs. Google Book Search members have planned its farewell for 15 January 2009, according to their official blog.

Google is also discontinuing its Mashup Editor and will focus on its App Engine infrastructure. "Existing Mashup Editor applications will stop receiving traffic in six months, and we hope you will join our team in making the exciting transition to App Engine," said a post on Google Code Blog.

Jaiku, Twitter-like micro-blogging site, will be made available as an open source program. While Google will no longer actively develop the Jaiku codebase, it expects Google code volunteers to keep it alive. Once Jaiku goes open source, organizations, groups and individuals will be able to roll their own microblogging services and deploy them on Google App Engine, the post on Google Code Blog said.

Dodgeball.com, a mobile social networking service that lets you share your location with friends via text message, will also be terminated in the next couple of months. The exact date will be announced later.

Such discontinuation of services must be shaking faith of its users and will discourage them from depending on the service solely. Imagine, if Google announces to discontinue GMail.

Google Notebook product manager Raj Krishanan writes in an entry on the official blog of Google Notebook: "At times...we have to decide where to focus our efforts and which technologies we expect will yield the most benefit to users in the long run."

After extensive coverage of Windows 7 on Blogosphere, here comes Microsoft Office 14. Leaked screen shots of the alpha build of the application that is expected to be released by 2010 are doing rounds on various blogs. They look quite similar to Office 2007. You can see the screenshots on news site Neowin.

Sometimes you want to read something or download a podcast but the website wont let you in. Reason -- you are not from a country where content is to be made available. What will you do? Just pose as a user from the country which the server wants you to be for letting you in. That's what internet proxies are for -- hiding your real identity and presenting their own identity to the host website so that it lets you in.



You can use Proxy Switcher Lite for hiding your identity and giving you free access. If you are using Firefox, you can also use Foxy Proxy. Foxy Proxy is an Firefox add-on that automatically switches proxy servers based on the switching rules defined for the website being loaded.

Let's say we want to download a UK-only podcast from BBC radio site. This is how we will have to go for it:

1. Search for an appropriate proxy server in UK.
2. Configure Proxy Switcher or Foxy Proxy to use that server.
3. Surf, download or watch videos -- what ever you wanted to do.

You can also run your own proxy server if you have access to unrestricted internet service provider (ISP). More about it in coming posts.

Some additional resources:
What is a proxy server?
List of proxies at Foxy Proxy
List of proxies at Open Directory Project

Proxy Switcher Lite is a small software that enables you to switch between proxies by just clicking an icon in the system tray, thus saving you the hassle of having to open the control panel and manually configuring the proxy.

When do you need Proxy Switcher:

1. If your office has several proxies, and you have to keep switching between them.
2. If you carry your laptop to work and back home, thus having to keep changing proxy settings to access Internet.
3. If you wish too bypass restrictions imposed by some sites that allow you to access content only if you are from a particular country.
4. If you wish to hide your identity while visiting some site.

The application runs in the system tray, providing an icon/menu that allows you to switch between different connections with a mouse click. Once installed, add your proxies using the Show Manager panel. You will have to add the ip address or url of the proxy and its port number. Give a friendly name to the connection using the "Notes" field in the properties screen. Add as many proxies as you need. Whenever you need to switch between proxies, just right click on the Proxy Switcher icon running in your system tray and select the desired proxy.

You might have come across some site that would not let you read or download something because you are accessing it from a specified country. Learn how to bypass such content restrictions.

Proxy Switcher Lite [Lifehacker]

If you want to start a blog, you might be thinking whether you should start blogging on free platforms such as Blogger/BlogSpot and Wordpress, or you should set up your own blog.

A blog set up on a custom domain such as www.myblog.com has many advantages. It does not only set you apart from the crowd of bloggers using free services, also potrays you as a more serious blogger.

The biggest advantage of using your own domain is that you don't have to face problems shifting blogs to your own web space once it grows big. If you blog on any free service, you will lose quite a significant amount of traffic that comes to your blog with search engines pointing to old webpages. You may also lose a fraction of your readers who get your blog through your feeds.

Once you decide for using a custom domain for your blog, you have two options:

1. Buy a domain and web space along with a database and set up your own blog using free blogging platforms such as Wordpress or Textpattern, or paid platforms such as Movable Type. This will require you to invest a decent amount in setting up your blog.
2. But if you aren't sure enough to make a big investment, you can just get an inexpensive domain for a few dollars (or a few hundred rupees) and start blogging like a pro.

Have a domain? Set up a pro-looking blog free

When you decide to blog using your own domain name without investing in webspace and database, you have at least three options to choose from.



1.Use Wordpress' custom doman facility

Set up an account on Wordpress.com. Buy a custom domain through Wordpress and start blogging. Since Wordpress does not allow you to add javascript or any advertisements, you should go for it only if you intend to use it solely for hobby blogging. If you wish to use a template other than what is available on Wordpress, or wish to customize it, you will have to shell some more money.



2.Use some free, ad-free web-hosting service

Choose a free web-hosting service. Set up your own blog using Wordpress. Link your domain name with free host and start blogging. (I will discuss how you can set up your own blog with a free web host in my one of my next posts.)



3.Use Google's Blogger (BlogSpot)

Tapping Blogger's custom domain facility

Blogger does not only allow you to show ads and add javascripts, it also allows you to set use your domain name with your blogs.



1. Sign up with Blogger and create a blog.



2. Get a domain name of your choice.

You can purchase a domain name from a service provider of your choice or get it though Blogger. Getting it though Blogger will spare you one step on linking your domain name with your blog. (I prefer buying domain from a service provider of my choice. You can choose a local service provider which will allow you to pay in local currency. This will also be cheaper to call them for any help.)



3. From Blogger dashoard, choose settings option of your blog. Then go to publishing tab.



4. Click on “Custom Domain” option.







5. If you wish to purchase domain name through Blogger, search and get one.(In this case jump to the portion of the post that tells you how to customize your Blogger blog.)

If you have purchased your domain name from any registrar of your choice, select “Switch to advanced settings” and enter the domain name you wish to use.







If you have registered myownblog.com, enter www.myownblog.com as your domain. (Before doing that just check if your registrar has also activated www.myblogname.com for you. Normally, it should be.) Also remember to check the redirect myownblog.com to www.myownblog.com option.

What is a domain name?

If you purchased myownblog.com, then http://myownblog.com is the domain. Your registrar should also provide you http://www.myownblog.com without you having to ask for it. Here www.myownblog.com is an alias or sub domain of myownblog.com domain. These two are different addresses and can point to different places (webspace). For optimization and better search engine ranks, one should redirect one domain to the other so that both the domain and www sub domain ultimately take to one address. For example, you can choose to point myownblog.com to www.myownblog.com. This will take anyone typing http://myownblog.com in browser to http://www.myownblog.com. Normally, you may also opt to point your www alias to main domain but not if you want to use Blogger's custom domain facility.

Learn about domain names on Wikipedia.

6. After setting your domain name with Blogger, you will have to make some changes with your domain so that your domain points to Blogger servers, which will then take the visitor to your Blogger-hosted blog. You will have need to create a CNAME record for your domain, associating your domain with ghs.google.com.

What is CNAME?

CNAME or canonical name is a record which points one sub domain (only) to another. In our case, our www sub domain will point to ghs.google.com, a sub domain used by Blogger.

Different domain registrars have different ways of getting it done. Log into your domain provider's site with your username and password to access your admin panel. Follow the instructions of your registrar to create a CNAME record. With some registrars, you might have to place a request for creating a CNAME entry.

Send this request to your registrar through email or their messaging service, as required. “Please create a CNAME entry for my domain www.myownblog.com pointing to (destination as) ghs.google.com”

7. Don't forget to forward your main domain (myownblog.com) to its www sub domain (alias) (www.myownblog.com). For this you will have to use URL forwarding feature provided in your admin panel.

Google's starter guide on search engine optimization says:

“To prevent users from linking to one version of a URL and others linking to a different version (this could split the reputation of that content between the URLs), focus on using and referring to one URL in the structure and internal linking of your pages.”

At this point of time your blog should be available on your custom domain name. However, it might take some time for the changes to reflect globally. With your blog being set up with a custom domain, all that's left is customization.

How to customize your Blogger blog?

One of the advantages of Blogger is the freedom to make changes to your blog layout. It allows you to add elements to any of the templates provided by Blogger. Alternatively, you can use any blogger template. There are several sites that provide Blogger templates for free.

Some resources for free blogger templates.



If you are familiar with the terms HTML (hyper text markup language) and CSS (cascading style sheet), you might want to customize any template to better suit your needs. Even if you do not have any knowledge of HTML and CSS, but desire to create one, you can learn it on the Internet. HTML Dog is a very good site to learn the basics of HTML and CSS.



Create a sandbox

You should create a sandbox blog for designing a template and not work on your real blog. Add at least five posts to this blog with sample text. Download test post and paste it in HTML compose box. Also add some labels. Now set the blog to display only two or three posts on home page. You have your sandbox ready for experimenting and creaing your own designs.



Use images from Blogger draft posts

If you wish to use images in your blog design, create draft posts with these images in your actual blog. Don't add all the images in one draft, nor post them to your sandbox blog. Go to HTML mode and get the address of the images. [You will learn about them when you go through HTML.] Even though Blogger saves your images in your Picasa account that is created automatically, do not upload images directly to Picasa and use the image location available through it. There are chances that images will not appear correctly, thanks to some Google policies.



Once you have a blog with desired layout, copy the HTML code from the sandbox blog and paste it in your actual blog.



Create a favicon

Now you need to add a favicon to your blog, the small icon that appears in browsers next to address bar, in tabs and on bookmark bars. This will remove the last prominent clue to your blog's platform.







To create a favourite icon, or favicons, use a square work area, say 100px * 100px, and design your own favicon in GIMP, a free image editor. Once you are done, resize the image to 25px*25px and save the file as favicon.ico. Remember to choose to save as .ico or windows icon file.



Upload the icon to the web and get its exact address. You can use the various free web-hosting services available such as Zymic, 110MB Hosting and 000WebHost.

Read more about free web hosting services.



Now add the following code just before </head> tag. Of course, you replace the address with the actual address of your icon.



<a href="http://addressoficon.com/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon"><a href="http://addressoficon.com/favicon.ico" rel="icon">



All set, start blogging like a pro.

Have you read about Gog.is, a website that gives you small urls for Google search pages. If you wish to send a link to google search page about "Slum Dog", your address will be http://gog.is/slum+dog. This is how the site introduces itself:

Ever felt like slapping someone with a google search, while in an IM conversation, chatrooms, or on Twitter? simply write http://gog.is and put the keywords in the url, like this: http://gog.is/clerks. This will redirect them to the google search for clerks.

This is interesting, but more of a fun app. And that's how it is said to have originated -- as a fun app. Mr Carlzone from Norway is the brain behind the app that provides easier, slim urls for Google searchs. Interestingly, the app is hosted on Google's free app engine platform.

Though I like the convenience of short urls for searchs, I am not among those who will be using it frequently. I would prefer sending the keywords to be googled. Imagine all the google queries first going to Gog.is server before being redirected to Google server. This will only generate extra traffic, consuming more resources. Isn't it so? In a world that accepts Googled as a verb, why shouldn't I ask the other person to google the keyword? Search "slum dog" on Google.

But then, Mr. Calzone, you app is fun. It also has the advantage of being transprent, saving you the embarassment of landing on a page that you didn't intend to open, at least while sitting in a computer lab or office.

Like a large number of people, I like the concept of free softwares -- and am very fond of Linux. I have tried Ubuntu and have tried to make a switch to the most-popular Linux distribution. Despite my repeated efforts to get going with Linux, so far I have only been able to use on experimentation basis.

Last time when I tried to get some software for Ubuntu, it was a terrible experience. When I failed to get my internet connection work with Ubuntu, I decided to bring download some music player to play my collection that mostly consists of mp3 and other Windows formats. But which ever debian based package I downloaded, it showed that some dependencies were missing. I tried to install those dependencies. Again error message showing that it needed some more dependencies for functioning. I gave up after loading three-four dependencies.

Can Lunix be more user friendly? Why can't one install a software as one can do in Windows? Why do one need to use some command to install software? Is it necessary to scare users with messages that an average user can hardly comprehend? Why can't we just kill 'sudo' and be more easy to use?

Though I haven't tried it (it doesn't come for free), there's a Linux distribution that comes with Windows-like interface and is also user-friendly. It also allows the user to run Windows application. It's called Linux XP.

Ubuntu promoter and Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth needs to learn lessons in make his operating system as user-friendly as Windows. No "terminals" no "sudo" commands. Just plain simple computing. No scary messages from your system.

When is Ubuntu going to beat Windows in ease of use? When will Ubuntu Linux become ubiquitous enough so that users are not forced to dual -boot with Windows. That day will be real triumph of free software. Till this happens, people like me will have to be satisfied using open source software on a proprietary operating system.

Gone are the days when web space used to cost a bomb. Now several companies are following business models that allow them to offer free web hosting without requiring to show their ads. These ad-free services also come with many features such as PHP, MySQL database and large web space in gigabytes. You can also use your custom domains with them. Here are some of them which I have tested myself.

000WebHost

• 1,500MB web space
• 100GB of data transfer
• PHP
• MySQL database
• FTP access
• Free sub-domain
• Facility to use own domain

000WebHost also allows you to install several blog software, wiki and CMSes with just a single click. A very handy feature if you wish to use it for hosting some blog or wiki.

Zymic

• 5GB web space
• 50GB data transfer
• PHP
• MySQL
• FTP access
• Free subdomain
• Facility to use own domain

This is the host which I would recommend if you plan to host a blog or wiki that will have lot of content. Though it lacks easy installation feature for Wordpress, Drupal or Wiki, it gives more space.

110MB Hosting

• 5 GB Space
• 300GB data transfer
• PHP 5
• (MySQL not free)
• FTP access
• Free subdomain (yourdomain.110mb.com)
• Facility to use own domain

Use this web host if you plan to host a site that does not require MySQL database. Reason -- 300GB data transfer.

Get a list of about 300 free web hosts on Free-webhosts.com.

In a previous post, I mentioned how you can use Blogger to set up a professional-looking blog with your own domain on Blogger/BlogSpot hosted blogs.

Here are some resources for nice, free templates that will help improve the appearance of your blog.

• BTemplates
• Final Sense
• Top 20 free blogger templates of 2008
• 100 excellent blogger templates

Hi friends,

After a long time of planning, I have finally succumbed to the desire of having my own blog in an over-crowded space of technology blogging. I hope my blog wont add to the clutter but be a meaningful addition to the technology blog landscape.

Who the hell is"I"?

I am Pritam P Hans, or PPH for short. I am from New Delhi, India, and work in the field of media. Unlike most problogger who claim to be Mac-users, I am a total Windows guy though I had tried to switch to Ubuntu unsuccessfully.

If you wish to get in touch with me, drop me a mail at: