The Missing Pages from Office 2007 and Windows Vista Manual

Microsoft introduced some innovative packaging for Windows Vista and Office 2007 installer DVDs. They ship inside a hard, plastic container that's also shrink wrapped.

What Microsoft forgot to provide you is a separate manual or instructional video that would demonstrate how to open these Vista or Office 2007 boxes.

An Office 2007 customer had a real hard time opening the DVD casing and he therefore posted a step-by-step picture guide on Flickr illustrating how to open the Office 2007 box. The process should be similar for Windows Vista.

His advice - use a pocket knife or pair of scissors to slice the transparent, circle-shaped top seal along the edges and then lift the red Post-It flag at the top left corner of the box.

Detailed Tutorial available on Flickr.com. Microsoft designed these software boxes to last a lifetime, this photo essay should help you open the box without scratching the case.

This tutorial also shows how Flickr (or any photo sharing website) can be used for writing tutorials on the lines of Instructables.

Google Brings 3D Mouse for Google Earth and SketchUp

Google today added a new item to their online store - a 3D pressure sensitive mouse that makes flying or navigation inside Google Earth a breeze.

Using this mouse, users can fly through Google Earth, change directions, camera views or even work on 3D models inside Google Sketchup, a free CAD software.

Called SpaceNavigator, this mouse is compatible with most 3D software including Maya, AutoCAD and NASA World Wind, a competitor of Google Earth.

This may also catchup with architects and designers who use 3DS Max and Revit Building to create virtual walkthroughs for clients.

Google Store | Developer Homepage

Supported on Windows XP, Vista, Linux and Mac OS X. It's made by 3D Connexion, a company owned by Logitech.

Plug-n-Play Hardware KeyLoggers - Useful but Dangerous

If you are using a public terminal in an internet cafe, college library or even inside the posh business center of an hotel or airport lounge, do check the connection between your keyboard cable and the desktop - the white AA battery sized hardware device in the picture is actually a keystroke logger.

Hardware keyloggers may soon become a challenge in schools and offices as these devices get affordable and widely available.

These deceptive KeyGhost hardware keyloggers plug-in between your keyboard and Desktop PC and will largely go unnoticed by the computer user. Once plugged in, it tracks and records all computer keystrokes in it's internal Flash memory. The keystrokes can later be retrieved using any text editor.

The same company also develops USB Keyloggers that resemble a thumb drive but record all keystrokes on PC or Mac. They even support wireless keyboards.

While most antivirus and antispyware can safely detect and block software keyloggers, hardware keyloggers that attach to the PC or Mac via USB ports or PS/2 keyboards may be tough to discover since they do not install any software on the computer. The only workaround is manual inspection of your computer ports.

If you suspect that the computer is running keylogger software in the background, use the virtual on-screen keyboard to type your important usernames and passwords. The keylogger will register them as mouse clicks and fail to record you keystrokes.

KeyGhost KeyLoggers [Picture: Spycop, Thanks Mahesh]

Related Snooping and Spying Hacks:
   Someone Reading Your Email Messages ?
   How to re-enable disabled USB Ports in Office

Google Adds Picture Thumbnails in Search Results

Google is experimenting with image thumbnails in organic search results (see screenshot) - Try a Google search for terms like Apple, BlackBerry or Vladimir Putin and you may experience the new Google results layout first hand.

In case of Vladimir Putin, Google added results from Google News, Google News Archives and Google Blog Search - all on the main Google search page.




Currently, the website thumbnails are displayed only for the Google News results placed after the top three organic search results.

Hope it's just a temporary experiment else it may bring some bad news for regular web sites that are also displayed in the organic results - thumbnails will help draw the attention of search engine users and may alter the traffic on regular websites that are display in Google Search results sans the thumbnail.

The Simpsons Discover the Perils of Google Maps

Are you a Simpsons movie fan ? You will absolutely love this Googling video. [time: 37 seconds]

Marjorie Simpson was ego-surfing on Google when she suddenly finds her hubby Homer Simpson on Google Maps.

"All this time I thought Googling yourself meant the other thing." Thanks Rakesh.

FeedBurner Introduces Adwords Like Negative Keywords Filter

Feedburner today introduced a new Adwords like feature in their FeedBurner Advertiser Network (FAN) program that will allow advertisers to suppress display of ads on blogs and RSS feeds that contain "pre-defined" keywords.

This comes exactly a day after the Scansafe report which stated that 80% of blogs contain "offensive" content including porn, offensive language and hate posting.

Google Adsense automatically serves non-paying Public Service Ads on pages that contain stop words (see figure) and it also gives Adwords advertisers an option to define their own negative keywords or URLs where the ads should be hidden.


The process is similar in FeedBurner - advertisers simply submit their custom list of negative keywords for each of their campaigns. The FeedBurner ad server will then suppress ads when those keywords appear in the feed or blog post.

Not just foul or offensive language, Feedburner's AdClimate will help advertisers serve ads in places where they'll be more effective. For instance, a Windows software developer may chose "Macintosh" or "Linux" as stop words since it makes little sense for him to display ads on a blog post related to Linux or Mac.

AOL.in - AOL India Website for Email, News, Cricket & Bollywood

The much awaited AOL India Portal has just gone live. AOL.in is primarily focussed on local news, cricket, education and bollywood movies.


Similar to Yahoo Ourcity, AOL India has city guides for select Indian metros where you get information about the eating joints,shopping hubs and the city's night life.

AOL India is also offering a free @aol.in email address and since they launched just moments ago, chances are that you can grab an email user name of your choice.

AOL India search is powered by Google and users get the option to limit their search to India specific websites.

AOL.in maybe designed to take on Yahoo! India portal but they still have some way to go especially in terms of content.

Blogger Template Code for Google Adsense Ads

You may have noticed that there are no Google Ads on the homepage of Digital Inspiration. That's because the content on the blog mainpage is updated so frequently that contextual advertising bots (read Adsense) may not be able to serve really relevant ads.

We do run Google advertising on individual posts (called Itempages in Blogspot jargon) and Archive webpages but not on the frontpage. Implementing this style of advertising in your Blogspot blog is easy though it helps if you know a bit about editing Blogger Templates and Template Tags.


Here's a snippet of the HTML code from our Blogger Adsense template that will help you display Adsense Ads only on Itempages but not on the Mainpage. This template will also convert your blog post titles into hyperlinks only on the homepage and archives but the titles will continue to appear as static text in individual post pages.

<MainOrArchivePage>
<Blogger> <BlogDateHeader>
<h2 class="date-header"><$BlogDateHeaderDate$></h2> </BlogDateHeader>
<a name="<$BlogItemNumber$>"></a> <BlogItemTitle><BlogItemUrl><a href="<$BlogItemUrl$>"> </BlogItemUrl>
<h3><a href="<$BlogItemPermalinkURL$>"><$BlogItemTitle$></a></h3>
<BlogItemUrl></a></BlogItemUrl> </BlogItemTitle>
<$BlogItemBody$>
</Blogger>
</MainOrArchivePage>

<ItemPage><Blogger><BlogDateHeader>
<h2 class="date-header"><$BlogDateHeaderDate$></h2> </BlogDateHeader>
<div class="post"><a name="<$BlogItemNumber$>"></a> <BlogItemTitle><BlogItemUrl><a href="<$BlogItemUrl$>"> </BlogItemUrl>
<h3><$BlogItemTitle$></h3>
<BlogItemUrl></a></BlogItemUrl> </BlogItemTitle>
===== Google Ad Code goes here ======
<$BlogItemBody$>
</Blogger>
</ItemPage>

The above HTML code is written for the classic Blogger template. If you have upgraded to the drag-n-drop layout templates of new Blogger, the code may require some adjustments but the basic implementation principle would stay the same.

Related: Free Blogger Templates, Hide Blogger Bar

TIME and PC Magazine Join the Underground Blogosphere

Thousands (or maybe millions) of email messages and IMs are circulated around the blogosphere each day containing links to blog posts with the hope of getting some link-love and extra web traffic.

Since most bloggers cannot afford the services of PR companies to spread awareness about their blog content, they do the "pitching" themselves. Guru Steve has labeled this secret but well-known phenomenon of blog-networking as Underground Blogosphere.

Now it's not just the small or lesser known Z-list bloggers who are vying for attention, popular magazine publications such as PC Magazine and TIME are emailing bloggers with links to stories published on their websites.

Here's an email from the PR agency of TIME magazine:

Yesterday, TIME revealed a list of 200 people who may appear on the annual TIME 100 list, which showcases the most influential people who shape our world (link: http://tinyurl.com/23xeeb).

A few people you and your readers would be specifically interested are: Steve Jobs, Jimmy Wales, Chris Anderson, Steve Chen & Chad Hurley, and several other technology and Internet pioneers.

Another "blog tip" via email from PC Magazine of the IDG group:

Wanted to send you the link to PC World's "20 Most Annoying Tech Products" which was posted today and voted on by readers.

The AOL free trial CD's were #1 on the list, which also included RealPlayer, Windows Vista, and QuickTime. Thought you might want to link/post to this on your blog.

As bloggers, do you love these "pitches" or just hate them ?

My take - If you have written something worth reading, go ahead and share it with bloggers in your niche. Most of the times, they'll thank you because you gave them some food for blogging sans wilfing.

Twango - An Excellent File Hosting Service Inspired by YouTube

Twango is a free file hosting website where you can upload and share Microsoft Office documents, Flash Videos, PDFs, pictures, audio mp3 files, video clips and even ZIPs. Files, as large as 100 MB, can be uploaded to Twango via the web browser or as email attachments.

Why another file hosting service when we already have established players like Rapidshare, YouSendit, YouTube, Scribd or Flickr ? First, Twango lets you upload, manage your documents and media files from one central location. And it makes it extremely easy for your audience to view, embed or subscribe to your content.


If you have ever been to YouTube, you'll have no problems getting familiar with Twango - it sports a familiar look-n-feel and employs the same concepts for tags, channels and comments. The difference - while Youtube is just for videos, Twango handles everything from music to PDFs to images in a YouTube-like interface.

[Am still wondering why Twango has not become popular with podcasters yet ?]

Like YouTube or Flickr, the content uploaded on Twango can easily be embedded inside blogs, discussion boards, MySpace, Craigslist or eBay auctions. You can also share pictures uploaded on Twango with mobile phone users via SMS text messages that will be delivered by Twango itself.

The cons: Twango provides tons of options to upload stuff online but there are no simple options to download media files from Twango to your hard drive. And though it promises unlimited storage and bandwidth, you are limited to 250MB of data upload per month.

Nevertheless, Twango is like a breath of fresh air and provides one common platform for sharing virtually all file formats. Whether it's music, videos, images or documents - just do the "twango".

Other file hosting services that may interest you: DivShare, Files Upload

Create Animated GIFs Online from your Photos

GIF Animations [multiple picture frames in one file] can be used for creating image slideshows, screencasts, text banners or even stop motion animation movies. Some profiles on social sites like Twitter also use animated GIF avatars to attract eyeballs.

Related: How to Create GIF Cinemagraphs



To create an animated GIF online, all you need is a set of images (in any format like jpg, png, etc) and Glickr.com, a free site that will convert them into an animated GIF movie of predefined sizes that you can use as profile avatars or post them on blogs.

Individual images can be as large as 1 MB and you may directly grab your Flickr pictures inside Glickr.com. You may also change the speed of your animations [like how frequently the image transitions happen]

Some people find animated images as annoying as blinking webpages but they are a good medium for sharing photo slideshows in situations where Flash is not an option.

Adobe Can Grab the iTunes Podcasting Pie from Apple

Valleywag says that Podcasting (read, podcast directories) battle is over and Apple has won the battle with iTunes software. Would you agree here ?

RSS inventor Dave thinks there's still lots of opportunity in Podcasting players while labeling Odeo and Podshow as "fakeouts." Podcasting father Adam Curry isn't impressed calling this an "apples to oranges comparison".


True, Apple rules at the moment but chances are high that the market dominance enjoyed by Apple iTunes will be significantly reduced once Adobe Media Player hits the scene.

iTunes is a memory hog and the Apple Podcasting directory can only be accessed from the iTunes software. You cannot download podcasts from iTunes directory outside iTunes. Despite these limitations, iTunes is still the king because there aren't any real competitors.

Also, Adobe will offer content producers an opportunity to monetize podcasts with pre-roll ads and will also track and report viewer statistics (using cookies) back to the actual publisher.

That gives content creators all the more reasons to produce and promote podcasts in Adobe-ready format. After all, statistics play such a vital role in bringing quality advertisers.

Adobe may not be able to unseat the iTunes-iPod crowd who sync and listen to podcasts on the go or watch them on Apple TV but it may certainly become the podcatcher cum podcast player of choice for people who download and listen to podcasts on their desktop computers. And that is not a small number for sure.

The podcasting battle is far from over and the real excitement will unfold with the entry of Adobe in the podcasting business.

Related: Natali Del Conte on PodShow

RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 or Atom - How Do You Subscribe to Blog Feeds ?

A small orange icon that says XML or an orange square with waves indicate that an RSS feed is present on a web page. But some blogs and websites go an extra mile and provide syndicated feeds in multiple formats such as Atom, RSS 1.0, RSS 0.92 and RSS 2.0.

The screen capture is from Joi's blog - site visitors can subscribe to his blog writings via three different feeds (Atom, RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0) but internally, these feeds are all XML documents, have the same content arranged in reverse chronological order and differ only in representation / content formatting.

Should you worry or get confused about these extra "geeky" subscription options ? The answer is no because chances are good that your desktop news reader or web based aggregator can handle feeds in any of these syndication formats.

Just put the site address in your RSS reader and it will pick the right format automatically. And if you are subscribing to some blog with multiple feed formats through Firefox live bookmarks, choose RSS 2.0 - that's the one specification that Dave Winer wrote.

Related Tutorial: FeedBurner Feed for your Blog with AutoDiscovery

RSS sounds greek ? This video explains RSS in plain English using the example of Netflix and a traditional video store - the former sends you the new movies automatically while you have visit the latter place to check for new blockbuster titles.

Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start.

Picasa 2.7 No Longer a Memory Hog, Supports Google Video

Picasa users have a reason to celebrate. Google has just updated your favorite photo management software to version 2.7 and the new release is lightning fast when compared with Picasa 2.6.

Other than performance enhancements, Picasa 2.7 has better integration with Blogger and also allows you upload videos directly to Google Videos from Picasa. Earlier, this video uploading facility was only available to paid users of Picasa web albums.

As expected, Picasa 2.7 no longer ships with a separate screensaver but integrates nicely with the Google Photo Screensaver that was released only last month.

Picasa 2.7 is available for XP, Vista and Windows 2000. Download Picasa 2.7 [5.1 MB] The new features aren't mentioned in the Picasa Changelog but FileHippo has the latest installer.

More Picasa 2 Tutorials and Tricks:

  Create Photo Collages with Picasa

  Download Yahoo! Photos to Picasa Web Albums

  Create Large Wall Posters in Picasa

Clever Implementation of Adsense Referrals

Chris Abraham, a great blogger, is also one of the smartest Adsense geeks out there.

Chris' blog posts are generally short, crisp but have descriptive titles and tags necessary for increasing the site's Google juice. The same holds true for his image posts. The images have good text descriptions, meta tags and alt information required to rank high in Google and other image search engines.

Coming to Adsense, let's take a look at some Adsense implementations from his blog that are smart, absolutely legal and should be converting quite well for him:

1. Adsense Referrals - Noticed something special in the following screen capture ? The Adsense for Referrals link is actually the Javascript code provided by Adsense but it blends so well with rest of the sentence text in the blog post both in flow and meaning.


2. Adsense for Content - Chris gets a majority of visitors via search engines and he knows how to convert that traffic into Adsense dollars quite well. Take a look at the following implementation:

Recharge Your iPod Without the Computer using USB iPod Chargers

You've just checked into an hotel but there aren't any computers inside the room to charge your iPod battery. Or sometimes it's just too much a hassle firing up your laptop just to recharge that iPod.

No worries, you can still recharge the built-in iPod battery without connecting to a computer. Here are some good options to charge iPods sans the computer:

1. Apple iPod USB Power Adapter - This USB based iPod recharger from Apple itself costs $29. Simply plug the AC power adapter into a any electric socket and connect the other end to your iPod for recharging.

2. Sonnet iPod USB Power Adapter - This iPod charger is much like the Apple product but considerably cheaper ($20). Just plug the power adapter into an electrical outlet, and then connect the included USB cable between it and your iPod.

3. ion iPod Charger - Ion USB based iPod charger has just launched in India and it can recharge your iPod battery or for that matter, any MP3 player and mobile phone that charges through USB with-in 500mA.

Unlike Apple or Sonnet which follow the US / European power standards, ion is built according to the power specifications of India.

Ion developers claim that their iPod charger can also protect your MP3 device from power surges or voltage fluctuations (which are so common in India). The cost of this all-in-one USB charger is around $9. Will be interesting one to watch. [via]

Related: iPod Frozen ? How to Reset an iPod

Other options for charging your dead iPod include staying in Marriott hotels or travel in iPod-ready airlines.

How to Remember Names of People You Meet in Parties or Work Meetings

Some of us are really bad when it comes remembering names of people we come across at work or social gatherings and this inability to recall someone's name may put us in really embarrassing situations.

Here's some great help from Videojug - they have created an entertaining but informative video to assist you remember names of new acquaintances without going overboard.

Ask someone else - If you want to address someone but your memory fails you, discreetly ask a mutual friend their name. You needn't be embarrassed - far better to do this than to call them "Oi".

Association - Anchor their name to a particular feature. In your mind, a simple "Tom" might become "Tom with the eyebrows"; "Tom wearing blue"; or "Tom with the crazy hair". Next time you see them, that feature will remind you of their name.

Related: Watch and Learn Anything With Video Tutorials

The Privilege of Being an Adsense Premium Publisher

Google has a premium Adsense service exclusively for websites who receive more than 5 million search queries, or 20 million content page views per month.

Now that may well be out of reach for most of us but you can see the Adsense Premium program in action on sites likes LinkedIn, CNN, About.com, AOL or MySpace.

Google pampers their premium Adsense customers with perks and advantages that are strictly forbidden for regular Adsense publishers. Here's a quick rundown of Adsense premium features using the Adsense implementation of About.com, a New York Times website:

Creating direct links to AdSense for search results - Adsense policies do not allow publishers to pre-populate Adsense for search box with keywords or create direct links to Adsense for search pages.

However, the screenshot that you see on the right is captured from About.com Desktop Video page - these "video offers" are actually links to Adsense for search pages that contain no content, only Google ads related to those search terms.

Google Ads in Adult and Mature Pages - Most Adsense publishers are not allowed to display Adsense ads on pages that contain pornography, adult, or mature content but the rules are different for the premium clients.

Look at the following screenshot closely from About.com - it's all about "sex education?" and Google has enough inventory for them. A regular Adsense publisher is likely to see PSA's or blank fills for such content.



Labeling of Ads is Optional - Premium Adsense publishers are free to remove the "Ads by Google" tagline from Adsense ads and may put any label of their choice. Infact, they have the liberty to not mark the Adsense ad units as ads.

Google Ads on Casino Related Websites - Non-premium Adsense publishers may not place Adsense ads on sites where content is related to Gambling or related to Casino. Contrast that with the following About.com page on Casino and Gambling. The yellow highlighted portions are Google Ads.


Flexible Adsense Ad Formats - Premium clients can design their own Adsense Ad formats with custom font sizes, styles and color schemes. They can also create ad formats of custom dimensions that blend well with their existing site layouts.

Dedicated Adsense Account Manager - Google is kind enough to provide an official Adsense optimization expert to lot of non-premium Adsense publishers but the premium guys get a dedicated Google rep to help them optimize the look n' feel of their Google Ads for better performance.

Customized revenue terms - While regular Adsense publishers have no say in Adsense revenue share, premium clients generally negotiate the share percentage with Google.

Convert an Image into a Dot to Dot Puzzle - Birthday Party Ideas

For new parents (especially mommies) struggling to find creative games and activities for their child's next birthday party, here's something very creative that will also keep the kids engaged.

PictureDots is a fun only service that will convert any of your favorite digital photograph or image into a numbered dots puzzle.

Upload a picture, create dots on the picture (like tracing an outline) using the mouse pointer and save the puzzle.

You can print the dots on a paper and distribute this "personalized puzzle" among the children - if they come to know that connecting the dots will create a face like their school teacher, they'll find the game all the more exciting.

Picture Dots.com - Create dot-to-dot puzzles.

OpenDNS ShortCuts Make Your Browser Address Bar More Powerful

Do you use the browser address bar as a Google or Yahoo search box ? Here's a much better and more useful solution from OpenDNS.

Long time readers of Digital Inspiration may know that we are big fans of OpenDNS service as it makes our internet much faster and more secure with a very simple tweak.

Just change the default DNS server address provided by your ISP with the following DNS addresses and you may immediately notice that websites load much faster on your computer:

     208.67.222.222
     208.67.220.220

The DNS server can be changed from the TCP/IP Properties section. [Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Local Network Connection -> TCP IP Properties]


OpenDNS today launched another useful service today called OpenDNS shortcuts that make your browser address bar more useful and somewhat intelligent - you can control how the address bar reacts to your commands.

With OpenDNS shortcuts turned on, the address bar of your Firefox, IE or other browsers can be used to launch websites via shortcuts (like c for cnn.com or m for gmail.com) or web queries with parameters (like g for google.com/search/q=%s).

It is also possible to start your favorite messenger clients like AOL or Google Talk from the address bar and chat with buddies quickly. Haven't tried yet, but should be fairly simple to launch iTunes music software from the browser bar now.

A lot of IE and Firefox users set their address bars to behave as I'm Feeling Lucky feature of Google. OpenDNS shortcuts, that will be switched on in few hours, will offer a more functional address bar not just limited to Google or Yahoo search.

Update: Though I am still waiting for an official confirmation, it should be possible to use the OpenDNS shortcuts feature with the modified keyword.URL property of Firefox.

Adsense Page Impressions and Google Analytics Pageviews Do Not Match

Newbie Adsense publishers are sometimes puzzled when their Google Adsense page impressions are different from the pageviews reported by web stats software like SiteMeter, Statcounter or Google Analytics.

First things first. The page impressions column in Adsense stats shows how many times a webpage containing Adsense ads was viewed by a visitor. Even if your webpages have multiple ad units, they'll will still account for a single page impression per page view in Adsense reports.


There are several reasons why the hit count (or page views) reported by Adsense is lower than the numbers displayed by your stats package:

1. Users may have installed ad-blocking software (like AdBlock plus) or have modified their Windows hosts file to block their computer from downloading Adsense scripts. In either of the cases, Adsense Javascripts won't be executed though your site stats script will still register a page impression.

2. Adsense doesn't have enough ad inventory for your page. In such a situation, Google will show alternate ads or fill the area with custom colors but won't increment the page impression count.

3. Site visitors are viewing the webpage inside a browser like Lynx (which won't run Javascripts) or older browser versions that don't support IFRAME or their sys admins have disabled Javascript due to security reasons. Adsense ads won't appear in either case but the stats software may still count an impression via the <noscript> tag.

4. It is possible that the default timezone of your stats software is different from Adsense which works according to the US Pacific Time. If that's the case, there will always be a mismatch between the two figures.

5. If a website is slow or a particular webpage is heavy on graphics and widgets, users sometimes abort loading the webpage by pressing the escape key. This may lead to lower Adsense page impressions because the Adsense ads that are located later in the HTML code may not load.

There's little you can do here to match the numbers since it mostly depends on the settings of visitors' web browser and Adwords inventory. However, you may change your stats software default timezome to match that of Adsense (Pacific Time).

The Best Video Tutorial Websites - Watch and Learn Almost Anything

Ever wondered how to use chopsticks ? Or how to change your car battery ? Or apply mascara ? Or how to seduce your boss ?

You can find video answers to almost anything you can think of in the following websites:


VideoJug.com [Life Explained on Film] - The largest online collection of "How-To" video tips and demonstrations on topics as varied as cooking Indian food, home improvement tips, folding t-shirts, impressing your boss or how to kiss someone passionately.

You can download VideoJug video guides to your iPod, embed them in webpages or if you're on a slow connection, just read the text transcripts. You will be a more practical person after spending some time on VideoJug - 100% useful stuff.


SuTree.com [Watch and Learn] - Sutree is an online aggregator of video tutorials, how-to's and lessons neatly arranged in various categories.

SuTree has over 5000 instructional video clips in their database and growing on topics like parenting, software tutorials, electronics, school courses, pet grooming, etc. It's a good starting place to discover the best video tutorials available on different websites at one point.


5min.com [Life Videopedia] - 5min is like a mix of Youtube and VideoJug. Video topics range from Fitness tips to Spiritual stuff to Sports including wave surfing or skiing in the snow.

There are video tutorial for computer newbies on topics like how to search Google or how to update the iPod. A promising site that may offer some good competition to Videojug if they can manage to have more professionally created instructional videos.


About.com - This New York Times property has an extensive collection of how-to videos on Computing, Parenting, Health and Automobiles produced by the About.com guides.

About.com has probably more technology and software oriented video tutorials in the form of screencasts than any other site above though their site design could have been much better. Transcripts included.

Bonus Tip - You can find some great video tutorial and screencasts on websites like Youtube, Google Video or Metacafe - just search for tags like screencasts, diy, how-to, tutorials, tips and guides.

Related: Instructables.com, Most useful websites

Download SketchUp Video Tutorials

How Google Hires Engineers: The Hiring Process

Google is the best company to work for in America according to Fortune magazine. No wonder, the search company gets 3000 new job applications each day - that's more than a million every year.

But here are things from a very different perspective. Career consultant and Silicon valley veteran Patti Wilson has written a thoughtful piece on the hiring process at Google and how the company benefits from the "20 percent time" perk.

Patti's comments are based on feedback from her clients who have been interviewed by Google including those who got hired, who got rejected and even those who rejected the job offers from Google. Sramana, one of my favorites, has a full copy of this must-read article - Googlemania.

How Google recruits engineers:

You are phone screened, the brought in to interview, then interviewed again (5 to 10 people have talked to you). Then you are hired as Member of Technical Staff. You will not know what group or manager or project you will work on until you accept the offer and join the company.

When onboard, every single person's objectives for each quarter are visible to everyone in the company, as are their "report cards" grading their previous quarter's results. A new hire's base salary is at the bottom of the range for equivalent jobs at companies in the industry.

On the 20% free time at Google:

Yes, you get 20% of your time (whatever part of your 70 hour piecework week that is) to work on stuff you like. In effect the whole company becomes a giant R&D lab for Google’s new products….but does anybody get rewarded with shared patent revenue? I don't know.

On free massages, laundry, etc

When I was at Sun there was a massage therapist who came around once a week, the mechanic picked up and returned my car, the detail guy washed and waxed it in the parking lot, and the dry cleaners was next to the cafeteria. All that sure kept me in front of the monitor and productive.

Google Apps Web Hosting and Internal Server Errors

A quick recap if you are new to Google Apps - this Google service can be used to host websites for free using the Google Page Creator module. Google web hosting gives you 100 MB of file storage space and undisclosed bandwidth.

If your Google Apps domain is xyz.com, the files you upload on Google Pages become available at xyz.com/[file name].

Though Google Page Creator neither supports sub-directories nor can you buy extra storage space or bandwidth, it is still a very decent option for hosting simple websites that are comprised of HTML, CSS, Javascripts and Images.

Now the big problem is that Google hosting service is not too reliable when used with Google Apps for your Domain.

There are frequent errors like Internal Server Error 5B, Error 503, 502 Server error, etc when trying to access pages hosted through Google apps.

The surprising part is that these webpages return server errors only when they are accessed directly using the domain address (like xyz.com/abc.html) - the problems disappear when we try to reach the page through Google pages control panel.

Unfortunately, the Google support pages do not offer any explanation of these cryptic 503 5B server errors though they occur so frequently.

I have been using Google Apps for a while now and am not too pleased with their hosting service. Similar issues have been echoed by other Google Apps users in the official Google Groups.

Think the situation would be no different for Google Apps premier customers who are promised 99.9% uptime for GMail but not for other Google Apps services.

Generate a Contact Us Form With Your Email Address, No Scripting

Do you want to add a simple "Contact Me" page on your blog but fear of spam is holding you from sharing your personal email address on the webpage ? No problem, check out Contactify.

Contactify creates an instant personal contact form for your email address - people can send you email messages via that contact form though your email address remains hidden.

Contactify also adds a CAPTCHA on the contact page andthat further reduces the chances of getting spammed through web-bots.

You can now provide an option for people to contact you in message forums and discussion groups without revealing your email address.

Even users of Blogger, MySpace, Wordpress.com etc may find this service handy since these blogging platforms don't support scripting. Just point your "contact us" link to Contactify and readers san spam bots can reach you. [Contactify Me]

Contactify .com - Email without Address [Thanks Mike]

Related: Your Email Address is a Webpage

Access Orkut, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Xanga from School or Work

How to access Bebo, Myspace that are blocked at school ?

Following our previous trick on accessing restricted websites that are blocked by your employer, college or government, there have been several requests from college students and office workers asking for workarounds to access social networking websites that are blacklisted.

The most common websites that are blocked in schools include Bebo, MySpace, Hi5, Xanga, Orkut, Facebook and in some cases, Youtube. We share a couple of options to bypass the internet ban and they includes using proxy servers, special mobile websites and screen sharing software:

Trick A: Most solutions to unblock websites suggest using web proxies to bypass restrictions. Open Directory has a comprehensive list of public anonymous web-based proxy servers that you may want to try. [How proxies work ?]

But chances are that your school administration has already blocked access to most proxy servers as well. In that case, you have some more options:

Trick B: Surf the web using Mowser, a new service that's free and converts any website into a mobile phone friendly format. The other option that may help access blocked website is Bitty Browser, a miniature web browser that is meant for embedding inside other web pages. Another solution may be Google Mobile Search.

Trick C: Finally, a option that will always work provided you have your sister or mom at home to help you - Use a screen sharing software like Microsoft Tahiti, CrossLoop or Yuuguu.

Ask someone at home to accept your screen sharing invitation request and browse the web at school using your home computer. This will enable you to access any website or instant messenger like Skype or Yahoo from the school or work computer. You may also try remote control software that comes with Win XP Pro instead of screen sharing apps to access restricted sites.

If Google Talk is blocked by your employer, use the Firefox trick and connect with Google Talk buddies outside the office firewall.

Accessing unauthorized web sites using the above tricks may be considered a violation of school or work policies and might put you in trouble. Use them at your own risk.

Related: How to Access Restricted Websites in School or Office

Download Multiple Flickr Pictures in a Batch [Original Images, not Resized Thumbnails]

Allagappan from NIT Trichy is looking for some Flickr mass downloader tools to help him choose and download Flickr images in bulk from flickr.com website to the hard-drive.

It's so surprising that Flickr doesn't provide an official tool for downloading images from their website but thanks to the API, Flickr enthusiasts have developed some excellent Flickr Photo downloading tools and our favorite is Downloadr.


Think of Downloadr as an offline browser for Flickr photos. [Get Downloadr Windows only, ~300kb zip]

With Downloadr, you can search, browse and batch download multiple Flickr pictures based on image tag (s), Flickr username, Groups Pools, Flickr user sets or even Interesting Flickr pictures of any particular day.

Images are fetched only from public Flickr photostreams though you have an option to authenticate and download your private Flickr pictures via Downloadr.

The developer homepage is in German but the tool itself has an English interface. More discussion on the Flickr groups. If you are using Flickr, Downloadr is a must have utility.

Related Flickr search tools - FlickrCash, Flickr Leech

Google Web Conferencing Software has Full Screen Video and Application Sharing

Google has officially entered the turf of WebEx, Microsoft Live Meeting and Adobe Connect with the acquisiton of Marratech, a web and video conferencing company based in Sweden.

There's a possibility that Google will integrate Marratech web conferencing features into Google Apps Primer and Google Office to make these "virtual office" offerings more complete and compelling for the corporate world.


The Marratech video conferencing client is done in Java and available for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. But it is possible to participate in Marratech meetings via the web browser without downloading the Marratech client.

Currently, the Marratech client is free while companies are required to license their server software.

Like other web conferencing software, Marratech allows users to hold virtual e-meetings and share application sceens, webpages, images and documents in the Whiteboard area. Participants can use annotation tools like pointers and markers to highlight presentations or draw on the screen.

Marratech video conferencing client allows participants to see other in real time using web cameras. All participants can record and playback the entire net meeting including voice, video and whiteboard.Download Marratech brochures - Client, Server

Never Forget To Include Email Attachments

We all have faced this issue at some point of time - sending emails with missing file attachments.

Not only is this frustrating, it can sometimes land you in very embarrassing situations.

Imagine your boss waiting for the sales report, you had sent the email message but forgot to include the attachment and left for the day.

There's some good hope for us forgetful souls. Matthew Baldwin has some simple but brilliant advice for us in Trade Tricks:

If you are sending an email with an attachment, add the attachment first, then compose the message, and then add email addresses to the send line.

Now there's no chance you'll have to send the ever-popular "whoops, forgot to attach the file" follow-up.

In fact, it's a good practice to always put the email addresses of the recipients in last, to ensure that an errant carriage return or mouse click won't fire off the message half-baked.

Computerworld Tech Blogs Network With Ad Revenue Sharing

ComputerWorld, the web and print magazine from the publishers of PCWorld and MacWorld, will launch a new technology blog network and news aggregator service later this month called Tech Dispenser (in partnership with Adify).

Unlike the existing tech news aggregators, Tech Dispenser editors will pick and choose technology blogs to be included and indexed by their service. The editors will also review and highlight selected posts from these blogs.

Content from selected bloggers will be displayed on the main aggregator website. Like Techmeme, Tailrank or Megite, only the blog post title and short excerpts will be shown and visitors will have to visit the underlying blog to read the full post.

Tech Dispenser will ask participating blogs to insert an ad snippet (from Adify) on their site and the net advertising revenue generated from these online ads will be spilt 50/50 between Computerworld and the blogger. [Adify ads are generally CPM based]


Tech Dispenser is currently accepting applications from all English-language blogs regardless of location. Payments for advertising can be made in US Dollars, Euros, or Pounds Sterling.

Text and image ads will appear in a standard 160x600 "skyscraper" unit in the location of your choice. When there are no ads in our system, you can set a default through Adify (i.e. your Google Adsense ads) to run in this spot.

The service is still few weeks away from a full-scale launch but is sure to create buzz among the technology blogs community. Thanks Tom Pimental for the details.

Submit your blog for inclusion in Tech Dispenser program here.

Related: Washington Post Blogs Network - WPNI Blogroll

Unsubscribe to FeedBurner Email via Postal Mail

The good folks at Feedburner never cease to impress us. Here's an interesting Feedburner feature:

If you are subscribed to some blog through FeedBurner Email, you can post a letter via snail mail to Feedburner office in Chicago and they'll unsubscribe you from that blog newsletter.


Know the Feedburner Subscriber Count of any blog
Shripriya made this cute discovery inside the footer of her Feedburner email that goes out to her blog readers. It reads:

Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner

You are subscribed to email updates from [Blog Name]. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now [web link].

If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: [Blog Name], c/o FeedBurner, 549 W Randolph, Chicago IL USA 60661

Not sure if anyone would ever use postal mail to unsubscribe from email newsletters but Feedburner does offer readers an incentive - post them a self-addressed stamped envelope and they'll send back FeedBurner stickers and buttons to you.

Q (for Feedburner): Do we post multiple letters for you to unsubscribe us from multiple blogs in one go ?

Tutorial: Make Feedburner Your Default RSS Provider

Ten Technology Tips That Are Popular Today with our Readers

1. How to stop Google from remembering my searches - Block Google from tracking

2. What's the location of Google Desktop Index files - Check the data_dir registry entry

3. How to add English words in bulk to Firefox dictionary - Edit persdict.dat in notepad

4. How to find exact Latitude, Longitude of my street or city - Use Loki

5. How to convert Real audio to MP3 songs - Use Real Player or Jodix

6. Where to download free video editing software - Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, etc

7. How to hide the top ad bar or blogger navbar - Old Blogger, New Blogger

8. How to capture still images from a DVD movies and videos - Disable Hardware Acceleration

9. Can I copy files with Long filenames - Limit is 255 characters

10. How to upload videos by email as attachments - Use Youtube

Related: Most Useful Websites.

Put Yourself on Wired Magazine Cover

What you see above is the cover of Wired magazine - March 2008 issue. The headlines and stories mentioned on the Wired Magazine cover may be fake but absolute fun.

You can easily design custom cover pages of Wired Magazine in minutes using an online page designer tool provided by Wired.com itself (so it's completely legal)

This awesome Wired cover generator supports Wired Logos in various colors, text captions and background pictures that can be placed anywhere on the page using drag-n-drop.

To create your own Wired magazine cover click here.

Want those fifteen minutes of extra fame ? Upload your own picture and make that a Wired cover story.

The custom Wired cover page can be printed, or share it with friends over email. Enjoy your new-found celebrity status.

Why Do You Think The Internet Was Born ?

This is an hilarious video mashup created using clips from various Start Wars movies.

Jedi master Yoda thinks he knows the reason why this whole internet thing was created. A must watch video clip though some audio portions may be NSFW.

The Internet is really, really great..
I got a fast connection so I don't have to wait..
There's always some new site..
I browse all day and night..
Surfing at the speed of light..

Interesting Picks from the Tech Blogosphere

Michael Paul of TechCast Weekly suggests using a Wi-Fi router even if you have broadband Internet connection on just one home computer. Reason - you get a hardware firewall with a router that keeps you more secure.

An Hitwise study has found that most visitors on Web 2.0 style sites are consumers rather than contributors. Just 0.16% of YouTube users upload videos while 0.10% of Flickr users ever upload photo. Most like to watch content rather than create.

Duncan Riley has come out strongly against domain squatters who are trying to profit off the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech University. Duncan is always very articulate in his thoughts and that's a big reason why I admire him.

Rich Legg shares some useful camera settings and other tricks that will enable you capture photographs in low light conditions without Flash. Some of the tricks like "shoot in burst mode" may apply only to DSLR owners. via

Sid Yadav has compiled a list of most successful web 2.0 startups till date. The interesting point is that except Wikipedia, all the other 9 startups mentioned in the list are targetted for teens and young adults. Craigslist and LinkedIn are missing from the web 2.0 hall of fame.

Steve Rubel posted something about PC Magazine on Twitter that probably offended the publishers. Steve was quick to post an apology letter on his blog and thus prevented the whole issue from blowing out. Edelman won't loose their important client called Ziff Davis while Steve will continue to command respect in the blogosphere.

Google Web Office has just been upgraded - Google Sheets now have Charts and Graphs while Google Powerpoint will soon be available. That further reduces the distance between Google Office Suite and Microsoft Office Standard.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets was probably not the best choice for a product name - will they now call it Google Docs & Spreadsheets & Presently or just something short and sweet like Google Office.

Windows Vista Sales in China Make History

The demand for naked computers in China is likely to remain high.

Microsoft sold more than 20 million legal copies of Windows Vista globally in just one month since the high-profile launch of Vista OS.

Compare that with China where just 244 licenses of Windows Vista were sold in the first two weeks through legal channels. The number was quoted by Windows Vista chief distributor in Bejing.

No, Chinese users aren't against Windows Vista, it's just that they prefer to save some money and buy pirated or fake Vista DVDs from the street vendors for $1.

That raises an important question - Should Microsoft continue to develop the Chinese versions of Vista, Office and other software ? Probably the bulk purchases by Government offices and corporates offsets the loses incurred through piracy.

Don't be surprised if Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Master Collection DVD also gets available on Chinese streets for the same price ($1).

Full Text vs Partial RSS Feeds Debate is Over Now

The never ending Full Text Feeds Or Partial RSS Feeds debate is back and the new round has gone completely in favor of full feeds, again.

This round is significant because it originates from FeedBurner, a company that manages feeds and tracks clickthrough rates of millions of feed items.

It's a common perception that partial content will increase clickthrough rate [read pageviews] because the RSS feed subscriber will visit the publisher's site in order to read full content.

That's such a misnomer. Rick Klau of FeedBurner say that "that they seen no evidence that excerpts [partial feeds] on their own drive higher clickthroughs." This statement itself effectively ends the debate forever.

Rick gives two other solids reasons in favor of full content feeds which are quoted verbatim:

As people subscribe to feeds, they subscribe to more feeds. And that means they're consuming more content, which means that each click out of the feed reader is taking the reader away from more content. In other words, feed reading is consumption-oriented, not transactionally focused.

Clicking through to read a copy of the post they just read is unlikely to drive a lot of click activity. But clicking through to read the comments will. Bookmarking the post at del.icio.us will drive further activity, as will voting for the post at Digg. In other words, adding opportunities for the readers to do things other than just read a copy of the post goes a long way to increasing the probability that the readers will actually do something.

Best Selling Digital Cameras - Amazon and Flickr Share the Same Opinion

Want to buy a digital camera ?

If you are not a pro and complex jargon like White Balance / Megapixels confuses you, look no further than Flickr Camera Finder - an excellent and continuously updated resource for discovering what digital camera brands / models are hot and popular on the web.

According to Flickr stats, the Canon Powershot series rules the roost. The top five most popular digital cameras in the Point & Shoot category are all Canon Powershot models with SD600 being the most popular.

Even in case of DSLRs, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT leads in popularity over Nikon D series while Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi is fast catching up.

The Flickr data matches more-or-less with the best selling digital cameras list on Amazon website. Canon Powershot series occupies 4 of the top 5 slots in the list of most popular items on Amazon.com [Point and Shoot Digital Cameras]

Quick Tip: You can also use Flickr Camera guide to find the popular video cameras since some people shoot stills with camcorders and upload them to Flickr.

Recommended reading: How to Use Flickr Camera Guide Effectively

Google Hyderabad Office - From AdWords to Adsense Support

The Hyderabad office of Google India, housed in the RMZ Futura building, was initially responsible for product QA, Adwords writing for clients and ad quality rating. Now the Hyderabad team will also provide support to Adsense Publishers who are based in India.

That means all your questions related to Adsene Pin Lost or Check delayed or Adsense Policy compliance issues and more will be solved by a Googler sitting in the City of Nizams.

Will this change anything for Indian Adsense clients ? Probably not except that you may expect to receive replies from Adsense team in your working hours (while you are still awake).

I don't think this will have any effect on the overall time it takes for Adsense support staff to resolve your issues or queries. The turn-around time still varies between 24 and 48 hours on an average.

Infact, the Hyderabad team has been answering Adsense queries of Indian publishers for quite some time now, it was formally announced only today by Googler Shanti Nanisetti.

What's exciting here is the bit that says - "We know many of our readers are Indian, so be on the lookout for case studies and tips specifically for you!"

Watch Google India Hyderabad Office on Google Earth - KML

Related: Adsense Case Studies and Optimization Series - Part 1, Part II, Part III, Part IV

POP3, Auto Forward for Hotmail and Windows Live Mail

Do you want to download Hotmail emails or Windows Live Mail messages to Outlook or Thunderbird ? Or looking for workarounds to forward incoming Hotmail messages to Yahoo! or GMail account ?

It's now possible to move your Hotmail to other places via GetMail for Hotmail, a free tool that installs as a Windows service. It will forward your Hotmail emails to any other email address of your choice.

To read Hotmail in BlackBerry or Outlook Express, first forward the emails to some GMail account using Getmail. Now configure the GMail POP3 feature and read these forwarded emails in any client that supports POP access.

Even if you don't intend to read Hotmail inside GMail or Yahoo! Mail, GetMail can be used to make backup copies of your existing Hotmail email messages.

Like other POP3 clients, you can instruct GetMail to delete Hotmail emails after forwarding or just mark the forwarded messages as read or leave them untouched.

And when used in conjunction with FreePOPS, GetMail for Hotmail can be used to forward mails from most web-based email programs including AOL, Yahoo and Windows Live Mail accounts.

GetMail for Hotmail | Download FreePOPS [Thanks, Matteo]

Autofix Picture Colors and Brightness with Improve Images

ImproveImages is an online tool that will help improve the quality of digital photographs automatically. After all, image is everything.

You can upload a picture of any size to ImproveImages.com (JPEGs only) and this site will auto-fix the colors, adjust for poor lightning and correct the color temperature - much like some smart Photoshop plugin.

Though it's not confirmed, ImproveImages may be an online version of Sledgehammer - a commercial tool from the same company for fixing incorrect colors, commonly caused by over / underexposure or incorrect white balance settings of your camera.

The site may appeal to novice users especially those with cameraphones.

ImproveImages.com - Professional looking images, automatically.