Posts Tagged Work
How NOT to use Powerpoint [VID]
Posted by CeeTee in Random Thoughts, Tips and Tricks on March 5, 2010
I have seen a LOT of bad presentations. Trust me.
I do not understand why people want to pack stuff with a crap load of paragraphs of a thesis, use obnoxious animations like fly-in, sound effects (How can you NOT have sound effects, right!? WRONG!), and the list goes on
This is something that I can absolutely relate to. And I am sure most of you would too!
Build a wifi signal booster (Hint: Me on national TV!)
Posted by CeeTee in Gadgets, Random Thoughts on January 11, 2010
So here goes!
I had posted an article on my blog on how to boost your wifi signal with stuff you find easily around the house (for 10 bucks or less!)
I did a collaborative segment on Bloomberg UTV with Aalaap (who has been hosting this blog for me) and here goes!
Things I will do in 2010
Posted by CeeTee in Random Thoughts on January 10, 2010
A LOT of people make resolutions on New Year’s day and 99% of the resolutions go straight to the crapper. I’ve given this one a serious thought (hence the delay of 10 days) for my resolutions in 2010
Work:
Give an opportunity to my colleagues to take charge at work
Less stress at work
Me:
Lose weight! (about time!)
Come on TV (Done already!)
Buy a smart(er) phone than my Nokia E71. Android? iPhone?
Travel overseas
Go on yet another adventure trip on motorcycles like the Leh Trip 
Buy atleast 1 killer gadget to brag about
Make something official ?
Family:
Buy something really nice for the family
Spend time with friends and family even more
Friends:
Spend time with friends and family even more
Others:
Associate myself with atleast 1 NGO or charity
10 must-have applications on a freshly formatted Windows box
1. Notepad2
A notepad on mild steroids, if I may. A lot of people (read: developers/programmers) prefer Notepad++, but that, I think is too powerful for a person like me. Notepad2 has color schemes per programming language (to read/understand the code), antialias zoom, and is HIGHLY customizable.
Alternative: Notepad++
2. Avafind
Perhaps this should be right on top of this list. Avafind caches the file names and not the contents. So if you know the name of the file you are looking for, all you do is hit Shift+Esc and start typing the name of the file. Search results are returned at runtime and is insanely fast. Indexing for a 500GB hard drive takes not more than 60 seconds. Newly created files are automatically indexed in the Scout Bot feature. VERY VERY impressive piece of software, but shame that the company shutdown a couple of years ago.
Alternative: Everything
3. Opera
Well, no description needed here. A LOT of people prefer FireFox saying that it is a very powerful browser. Agreed, but have you seen the bloat on it when you install the addons to make it powerful as they say it is? Opera is one COMPLETE browser. It does NOT need any additional addons to make it powerful. Bittorrent, download manager, themes, built-in plugins, RSS reader, email and chat client, etc. What else can you ask for ? One thing which impressed me the most is that with the newer major versions of Opera, the size of the installer shrinks!
Alternative: Firefox
4. Paint.NET
People who use MSPaint are either retarded or are just ignorant. Those who use a cracked version of Photoshop just to resize their pictures are even more retarded (Yes, I know a few). Paint.NET is seriously MSPaint on double the steriods. Very very powerful for a novice who edits images on the fly and does not care about installing/purchasing a copy of Adobe Photoshop.
Alternative: GIMP
5. CDBurnerXP
Those were the days when you bought a new CD/DVD Recorder and you got a copy of Nero Burning ROM v6 with it. Nero v7 was insanely huge (it had a 700MB installer, if my memory serves me right). Switched to CDBurnerXP 3-4 years back and I am stuck on it since. A confusing name (with the part with ‘XP’ in it), people wonder if it would run on a Windows 7 box (well, yes it does!)
Alternative: Can’t think of any as good as CDBurnerXP
6. 7-Zip
I still see a LOT of people at work and otherwise use the evaluation version of WinZIP v7 which probably died back in the early 2000s. A few use WinRAR and the intelligent lot use 7-zip. Insane compression ratios, can uncompress RAR, ZIP, gz, tar.gz, and a whole lot of archives. Best part is that it can read contents of an ISO file too!
Alternative: WinRAR? Maybe.
8. Foobar2000
A no-nonsense, light media player. Sweet 2MB memory footprint when playing minimized. Maxes out at about 8MB of RAM usage. The kinky Winamp v5 who wants to whip the llama’s ass is still a preferred choice among Windows Media Player and others. Foobar is highly customizable with skins, plugins and what not. Note that once you start with the eye-candy, you will be sacrificing the available RAM on your PC. I like it simple and light.
Alternative: Windows Media Player 11
9. Unlocker
Many a times, when people want to delete a couple of files, Windows throws a message on the person’s face saying ‘Cannot delete file: Access is denied’ and does not let him/her delete the file until he/she reboots the machine. Worry no more, Unlocker is here. Right click on the file, click Unlocker, Click on the ‘Unlock All’ button and you are good to delete the file.
Alternative: None since I started using this one.
10. Launchy
OSX folk have QuickSilver, Linux users have Gnome-Do. Windows users have an app somewhere in the middle of the awesomeness of launching applications. A quick (customizable) hotkey combination and start typing the name of the app you want to launch. Hit Enter and it pops open! No need of going to Start > Programs > Blah 2008 > Blah 2008 blah. Launchy is also customizable with plugins. You start typing a simple mathematical calculation and Launchy’s Calcy plugin shows you the result and asks you if you would like to launch the answer in Google. How awesome is THAT!?
Alternative: Not sure if Rocketdock falls in the same category as Launchy
This is my list of 10 must-have applications after a fresh PC format. This list does NOT include any Personal Antivirus/firewall application – You are free to choose whatever you are comfortable with.
Feel free to post in your comments below
Sync Google Calendar with MS Outlook, Thunderbird and S60 mobile phone and SMS notifications
How to sync your Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook and Symbian S60 phone
Part 1 : Google Calendar with MS Outlook
1. Download and install Google Calendar Sync
2. Enter your Google account email address and password.
3. Select your sync method (most likely you want two-way syncing) and the sync frequency you prefer. Depending on the frequency of meeting invites, I have set it to 10 minutes
4. Click Save and you are good to go
Google Calendar Sync
Part 2 : Google Calendar with Thunderbird
1. Download and install the Provider extension (Save it to your desktop, opening the Add-ons dialog in either Sunbird or Thunderbird, and dragging the file you just downloaded into the Add-ons dialog. Restart Thunderbird)
2. Now that Provider is installed, you have to add your new Google Calendar. In Sunbird, go to File -> New Calendar; in Thunderbird, it’s File -> New -> Calendar when you’re in the calendar view.
3. You’re now looking at the Create new calendar wizard. Select “On the Network” and hit Continue.
4. Choose Google Calendar as the calendar type. The Location field requires the XML flavor [important] of your calendar’s Private Address, which you can get by opening Google Calendar and choosing Calendar settings from the drop-down next to the calendar you want to access.
5. At the bottom of the settings page you’ll see the Private Address section. Copy the XML link and paste it into the Location field in Sunbird or T-bird.
6. When you hit Continue, you’ll be asked for your Google Calendar username (your Gmail address) and password. Enter it, give your new calendar a name, and hit Continue.
7. You’re done.
Click to enlarge
Part 3 : Google Calendar with S60 phone
1. Open GooSync
2. Register for a free account (The paid accounts are not really worth the money)
3. On the homepage, click on ‘Configure’ (Remember, the free version of GooSync syncs only 1 calendar)
4. Enter your phone number and you will be receiving the Sync settings via SMS
5. Save the settings and you are ready to Sync
Click to enlarge
Part 4: SMS Notification (Incoming SMS is entirely free in India)
1. Open Google Calendar in Firefox or Internet Explorer (Wont work on Opera)
2. Click Settings
3. Click ‘Calendars’
4. Click on ‘Notifications’ for your primary calendar
5. Set default reminders as SMS – 2 hours before each event (Can customize it per your requirement)
6. Click on ‘Set up your mobile phone to receive notifications’
7. Enter your phone number. You will receive an SMS with a confirmation code which you will need to enter in the same page in Google calendar
8. You are done
Google Calendar Settings - click to enlarge
Disclaimer: Please ensure you have taken a backup of your Google calendar before trying this out. I have configured atleast 3 of my machines with Google Calendar and they have worked fine for me.
My top 10 Symbian S60 applications
1. Google Maps
The latest version of Google Apps lets you find directions (though not entirely accurate). The AGPS is not a very big hog on your GPRS bills (thanks to the ability to switch to a raw map view). Latitude is one more feature that lets you share your location (and your friends location) on 1 place. Layers are another addition to Google Maps recently where you can add layers of your choice in terms of Terrains, Wikipedia, 3D buildings, etc
Was taken by me when I was on my way to my Leh trip http://twitpic.com/8khjb
2. Fring
This application is a no-nonsense all-protocol chat application. Supports AIM, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and a few more. It also lets you make VOIP calls and status updates to Facebook and Twitter. My personal favorite
Alternative – Nimbuzz
3. JBTaskman
This is a very simple task manager for your S60 phone. Gives you the control over your phone. Task startup rules, task switching, phone info, etc. A MUST have for every geek who owns an S60 phone
4. Screenshot
Very simple application that just takes a screenshot of the current display on your phone. It is a little tricky to set up the Screenshot key since my E71 does not have a dedicated camera button. I use the backspace button to take the screenshots, open JBTaskman and kill the Screenshot application process. Simple !
Apologies for the retarded GIF image
5. RSeven
Something that I was looking for to avoid the very buggy and incredibly bloaty Nokia PC Suite. This one lets you take a backup of all your SMS, contacts, call log, images, sound files, etc to their website. Their website then displays a sweet timeline of when the stuff was saved/arrived on your phone.
6. Swim
Another very simple application that automates the sync application on your S60 phone. The timings are quite tricky and they are relative. If you set the schedule to ‘Every 12 hours’, it means that from the point you select that option, Swim will automatically load up and Sync your phone. I have set it to ‘Sync every 12 hours‘ at 1.15 am/pm (thats the time I am usually home for lunch or sleeping)
7. Traveler
Lets you keep track of the temperature in your city and the wind conditions. Also supports currency exchange rate updates which are downloaded from the server. A very annoying bug is that this applications always asks me to update my city and timezone when I start it up. I stay in Mumbai, but whenever I start the application, the city gets reset to ‘Delhi’.
8. iON Battery Timer
Ok, this HAS to be the awesomest little utility EVER. It displays the juice left in your battery and the sweetest thing is that it tells you the time in which your battery will run out. And trust me, it is bloody accurate ! $10 per IMEI. TOTALLY worth it. You can install a trial version for 7 days and check it out. It’s BRILLIANT!
Capree.iON.BatteryTimer.v1.02.S60v3.SymbianOS9.x.Unsigned
9. Opera Mini
This section will hold the super ups of Opera Mini 5 Beta. Installed it yesterday and trust me, Opera has failed to disappoint. I mean, how can they have tabbed browsing on a mobile browser ? Very slick interface and very smooth animation. These small things really DO matter. Touchscreen S60 device owners will truly enjoy this application. A couple of negatives (though this is a beta version) has to be the lack of Opera Link (syncing all your bookmarks, passwords, history, etc) across browsers (I have Opera 10 as my primary browser, so this helps). The dictionary on my E71 also can not be used in this application. I am sure the Opera developers will be implementing it in the final version. It is awesomely fast (thanks to the Opera proxy servers) and is incredibly light on your GPRS bills. Watch out since this browser will definitely start a revolution in mobile browsing.
Opera Mini 5 Beta running on Nokia E71
10. IRRemote
Ok, this app is an on-and-off for me. Most of the times I cant find the TV remote or I am too lazy to get up and bring it myself. Solution ? Kick start this application and you can literally control your TV ! Channels, volume, presets, EVERYTHING. Also supports ACs, DVD Players, Hi-Fi systems, Radios, etc
QTP Clean Uninstaller v2.10 [Direct Download]
Today, HP’s Quick Test Pro v10 started acting up with me throwing random error messages and just would not continue my automation tests. I thought that doing the regular uninstall and reinstall would probably help
A lot of forums say that QTP leaves out quite a lot of registry entries and they need to be cleaned up with a tool called ‘QTP Clean Uninstaller v2‘. Googled it and reached the author’s website
Turns out that Mr. Tarun Lalwani (the author of the website) needs you to register to his site and download the 30KB tool. Not just a plain registration, the typical wordpress registration.
I ended up giving my (work) email ID to get myself registered and wishing there was a way to delete my account.
Anyways. This very useful tool is just 30KB – Yes, THIRTY KILOBYTES. And it takes over 7 minutes to register to the site (and verify your account) and download it.
I’m offering a mirror for the tool for those who do not wish to go through that pain that most of us do.
Note: The tool is not modified in ANY WAY and is just a mirror for a direct download without the registration and headaches. If you are Tarun Lalwani and you think I need to remove the mirror, please do comment below and I’ll do the needful
My Pictures