MERO GUFF - Blog on Information Technology,Fun,reviews,Mobiles,Computer related to NEPAL

YouTube will no longer downscale 1080p HD content

2009-11-15T22:45:00.003+05:45

YouTube is a great source of any kind of video. As we know, YouTube has done a lot of improvements in recent years. Last year, it premiered first ever LIVE streaming content, that was a huge blast I experienced that right on my computer screen. Then they launched widescreen video format in high quality. They, later on, put full featured movies to watch, TV episodes and more.

Now, they will no longer downscale any of you guy's videos taken in high resolution like 1080p. Anyone of you skeptical, not getting TV's luxury in computer screen is no more a truth. Even web's video will have high resolution details. Expect no more blurred low resolution cheesy videos in coming years. Thanks to Digital companies who are bringing out Hi-def camera's at an affordable price and thanks to YouTube keeping up with the trend.

This is what YouTube has to say

"..And those of you who have already uploaded in 1080p, don't worry. We're in the process of re-encoding your videos so we can show them the way you intended. "

Visit YouTube's Official Blog.

Thank you for reading my post.

Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio Jukebox

2009-11-15T22:07:00.005+05:45

Got one of these myself, it's pretty cool because even the mightiest Winamp's shoutcast and other online radio's quality fall short in front of Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio's consistency.

It allows you to access more than 13,000 radio stations in over 300 countries around the world with no monthly fees. Simply insert the USB Internet Radio Jukebox into your computer's USB port and you have a world of entertainment at your fingertips via Aluratek's internet media player. You can search for music geographically by continent/country/state or by the more than 50 different available genres including a wealth of news and sports radio stations broadcast throughout the world. Once you find a favorite station whether it is from your local country or while visiting other countries around the world, simply add it to your favorites folder. You can also search for the top ten radio stations in each country or by each genre and cast your own vote for each channel. No software installation is required making this a truly plug-n-play experience. Let the fun begin!

Click here to check it out in detail Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio Jukebox

Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio Jukebox Demonstration

Asteroid nearly hit Earth

2009-11-11T22:16:00.008+05:45

Scientists noticed an incoming Asteroid towards Earth Surface with just 15 hours warning. Had it not changed the course, it could've turn a busy city into debris.

Life is not like in a movie, you see a big alien object coming towards Earth,you start shooting missiles with nuclear weapons loaded, and destroy it. That's just a movie. This real life incident has proved that how insignificant we are, how incapable and pathetic our technology which couldn't detect anything like this before it entered our orbit and almost neared within 8,700 miles and missed our planet Earth.

Comparatively, this thing was 30 times closer than Moon.And they noticed it 23 ft in size. Nothing to worry about. That's what they are saying even if it had hit the Earth. Something like this which couldn't be burnt down by our atmosphere and still progressed towards us, is of course not a subject of denial. People at those centers who take pride scanning galaxies and universe, should warn people way ahead than just few hours. So that any precautionary actions could be taken.

This asteroid called 2009 VA is gone. Last year, asteroids bigger than this have barely missed the Earth almost inviting scary situations. Government should practice burning down invasive foreign objects rather than pointing weapons to each other to prove might. It'd be the best thing doing for human kind.

A couple of months ago, I myself detected something unknown and unusual object orbiting around Earth's Surface. There is a channel(I turn this channel on most of the time because, I feel ultimate bliss,feel like space wanderer.) which constantly monitors the Earth and relay it's images in realtime to people's TV sets on Earth. I was freaked out to see one object(which I never saw before on any days same time, most probably could be asteroid) while I was doing my home chores and happen to have taken pictures of it. I don't know what it is, but still that was something which I can't forget for long time.

Picture that I took with my HTC Touch Diamond

Thank you for reading my post.
src

10,000 Copies of Windows 7 Pro for Free

2009-11-09T12:14:00.006+05:45

Based on a brief chit-o-chat with Allen Bailochan Tuladhar(Chief Executive Officer of Unlimited NuMedia Pvt Ltd,Microsoft Development Partner in Nepal) last week, I came to learn about his good Samaritan activities. He helped distribution of over 2,700 copies of latest Windows 7 Professional to students for free. He is one of those guys, who has helped to localize Windows XP back in those days. He tried to make it understandable by even those Nepalese who couldn't read and write English. I must say, it's the continuation of his free will of voluntarily helping people to understand and experience latest, new and cutting edge technologies. It's an honor to write about people like him who is at least taking care of what IT Ministry should've done. I wish someday government step in and expedite the effort of people like Allen B Tuladhar.

According to him, he has already finished covering 5 colleges, seminar focused on helping students to use and learn new software, and leaving out with 2,700 copies of Windows 7. This Monday, he could be seen at KEC,Kalimati doing the same thing. He plans to cover 32 more engineering colleges in the next 3 weeks and handing over 10,000 copies of Windows 7 Professional for Free.

Stunned, I asked if Microsoft has really donated Boxed version which in my case I paid $100 on Pre-order, he replied,'RTM version'.

Other people who are contributing as a role-model in tech field in the context of Nepal are:
Muni Bdr Shakya
Mahabir Pun

Thank you for reading my post.

Graph Out Loud

2009-11-09T11:19:00.008+05:45

Only Graphs, can make you chuckle or Graph Out Loud. Wanna bet? Leave this post a rating/comment. :)

Thanks GraphJam for all these images.

Google gives you Administrative power via GOOGLE DASHBOARD

2009-11-09T06:10:00.004+05:45

Google has recently launched a new tool called Google Dashboard. Till date, what was limited only to Google Staffs, is now under everyone's reach. Google's gregarious tools are just irresistible and everyone who used it once in a while must have wondered about their data and information scattered all over the Google apps.

Guys, worry no more. Here is the Google Dashboard. According to Google's blog,

"Google Dashboard is a new service that shows a summary of the data stored with a Google account. The dashboard lists some of the information associated with the Google services you use: your name, your email address, the number of contacts, the number of conversations in your Gmail inbox, your Google profile, the most recent entries from the web history etc. It's a long answer to the question: "What does Google know about me?".

Well, that's simply what Google Dashboard is about. I just dug into it and it gave me full control over how I use my information on Google Apps. For some unknown reasons(at least to me), even after I logged into Gmail,and then hit the www.google.com just to check if I'm in Google's Personal Page(Yes I was) and later found myself being asked my password again when I tried to access the Google's Dashboard. I didn't get that part but anyways, after I signed in, I saw more comprehensive information about my web usage, email habits, things about other services that I used like YouTube,Google Calendar,docs etc etc. Dashboard also let me delete and manage all the information related, clear history, change personal information, cache etc etc. There are more functions on dashboard and you really need to be there to get the clue of what the heck I'm talking about.

I think Google addressed it's user's privacy concerns which were related to Google's collection of data about it's user's online habits via Google Dashboard.

You can access your dashboard from www.google.com/dashboard
or
simply from your Google's personal page-->Settings-->Google Account Setting-->Under Personal Account-->Click the link to Dashboard.

Thank you for reading my post.

How to fight Swine Flu Naturally

2009-11-06T09:01:00.004+05:45

I'd be lying if I say I've never been to doctor with seasonal Flu complaints. But, ever since I knew the secret of fighting FLU naturally, I'm honest enough here to admit that I'm almost invincible to Flu.

Flu symptoms varies with persons, it can be mild or severe. Some of these are fever,muscle ache,chills,tiredness,dry cough,sore throat,runny nose,nausea,vomiting or in some cases even diarrhea.

Flu starts with one of these symptoms and if not cared promptly could become severe leading to bed-rest situation.

To my experience, Flu mainly affects your respiratory system. Thereby, it's very important to keep your respiratory tract strong and immune. It also affects your digestion which leads to poor metabolism,nausea and vomiting. Body temperature fluctuates abnormally so, it's a must to take rest with a lot of hot fluid intake. I preferably don't recommend taking in zinc as people in western do a lot. I don't even recommend taking anything made of echinacea once you are infected.

First thing is first:

Don't do any physical work.
Don't wander near another sick people.
Do drink a lot of hot fluid.
Sleep Good.

Natural and Killer technique to fight flu in just one day.

Ingredients: Garlic,Ginger,Cumin(Jeera),Salt,Turmeric, Water.

Method:
1. Peel 3 Garlic clove and chop it nice.
2. Do same with the same sized Ginger nugget. Chop it real nice to pieces as small as possible.
3. Boil 1 litre water.
4. While boiling, put well-chopped garlic and ginger in the water.
5. Put two teaspoon full of cumin(I prefer seed instead of powder) in the boiling water..
6. Add half teaspoon of Turmeric powder in the boiling water.
7. Last but not the least, add salt according to your taste but do add it.
8. Keep it boiling for at least 5 minutes after adding all those ingredients.
(The concoction might look real nasty to some but this is the real secret to wellbeing)

This should serve 2-3 glass of hot Flu-Killer drinks. Drink this as often as necessary. I drink 3 glasses of this drink in the morning, day and in the evening when I see the symptoms. By next day, I get rid of Flu symptoms. But I don't stop. So, I go for this for at least 2-3 days.

I've told this secrets to many of people that I know and I've been thanked many times. But people who are accustomed to antibiotic and modern medicines often ignore these wonder recipes. They consume more and more of these medicines till their body become resistant and later they are introduced to more strong medicines which ultimately do no good but more harm in coming days. Humble request, don't be a lazy and don't ignore it.

If weather is acting crazy and you are surrounded by sick people, you can have hot boiled water mixed with honey and lemon. This will keep your immune to strike back against any incoming attacks.

These are the wonder treatments passed generation to generation to fight common cold and flu symptoms.

According to one Indian Yogic Sage Baba RamDev, even the most feared about SWINE FLU can be treated with Nature's herb. He has given some Ayurvedic medicine tips to people which can save from H1N1 Flu. He said “Take Giloy (Amta)’s one foot long branch and seven leaf of Tulsi and mix it and collect juice of this mixture in a pot. Now boil this juice and drink it. This herbal juice increases our body resistant up to three times.”

In western world, Giloy is known as Tinospora. I found one made by Himalaya Drug selling by name GUDUCHI tablet. This tablet is very potent,bitter and effective. As always, it's best to take these drugs by sucking and melting it inside the mouth instead of swallowing tablet with water. Ayurveda knows that the action of any medicinal substance starts in the tongue. This herbal strengthens your lungs and keeps all evil at bay.

If you are reading this, pass it to the relatives who are sick and feed them this concoction. There is nothing wrong helping others and these are all medicinal foods and herbs I'm referring to you which can magically cure Flu symptoms when prepared differently like I've put down here.

Try it if you are planning to pay a visit to a doctor. Give it a shot, my western friends. This is one of the things that your doctor don't want you to know.

Thank you for reading my post.

Disclaimer.

All material on this blog post is provided for your information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; instead, readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, you should consult your health care provider.

You assume full responsibility for using the information on this site, and you understand and agree that MeroGuff,is not responsible or liable for any claim, loss, or damage resulting from the information used by you.

Buy a Used XBox 360 and that's BANNED

2009-11-05T23:14:00.002+05:45

Microsoft just changed it's policies on it's XBox 360 console. And, huge portion of it's team is after banning XBox Live accounts all over the US and other countries. This is a huge blow to all the consumers who mistakenly bought the used and banned XBox 360.

According to Microsoft, if you got a message on your console as:

“This console has been banned for violations of the Terms of Use. To protect the Xbox LIVE service and its members, Microsoft does not provide details about console bans. There is no recourse for Terms of Use violations.”

there could be number of reasons:

* Console tampering: Physically opening the Xbox and modifying it to play illegitimate software.
* Online fraud: Attempting to social engineer users, take over Xbox LIVE accounts, or other fraudulent activities.
* Repeat egregious violations: Multiple actions taken on accounts on the console by the Enforcement team for disrupting the service or impacting users.

Obviously, not a chance for MODDED-XBox any more but if you care about the second line, then you cannot even transfer the account reserved for you to somebody else. If it's enforced strictly, you cannot sell your XBox 360 to other or he/she won't be able to access it's all features.

What a bummer.

Read the whole policy thing at their Official site.

World's smallest man : Nepalese

2009-10-16T11:54:00.004+05:45

This news is covered here in some of the US papers. A Nepalese man, Khagendra Thapa Magar who weighs just 10 lbs and 18 years old, has bid for becoming the world's smallest man.

Upon searching online, I came up with this link.
Check this out for more information.

Thank you for reading my post.

Moon to be bombed on October 9th 2009

2009-10-08T10:35:00.007+05:45

UPDATE: WATCH LIVE NASA TV BROADCAST BOMBING ON THE MOON.

Excuse my word in the title 'Bomb' the moon, but I couldn't find any generic word than that with what NASA folks are doing this coming Friday, October 9th 2009. This is NASA's year long planned mission named LCROSS(Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) which is finally taking place the day after tomorrow. This historic moment will be showcased live herein US at 6:15AM EDT and 3:15AM PDT on October 9th, 2009. I'm on 3:15AM zone, so, will set the timer to wake me up to check that event out live on NASA channel.

Whats my take on this?
Well, I don't know if it's the continuation of the same old top secrets that US long ago planned to show it's might by dropping nuclear bombs on the moon during the cold war or if it's geared towards scientific research. They've claimed that this is for finding water on moon in general term but it sounds vague and mysterious when scientists from India already confirmed the traces of water on the moon many years ago. Whatever the cause, it's quite a dilemma for now. But, I'm quite excited for sure to see the results.

Should we let them happen this?
I should say YES. Till now, most of the theories and statements are based upon delicate obscured researches and fictions. When we are ignorant of the things beyond our understanding, we human nature tend to shape it in our own way and give it several names. When I read many science books, most of those things are based on that, same hypothetical stuffs without much base and proof. Science has ability to prove every single things happening in the universe. BUT IT'S NOT YET READY to do that SOLID. All the big bang theories, parallel universe, multiverse etc are mere assumptions of scientists who calculated things on their own way. We have no other choice than to believe and follow it. Before Galileo, everyone believed Sun revolves around Earth. We need someone like him in every generation who could unfold the mysteries of universe bit by bit with rock solid proof. To me, causing some explosion on Moon's surface to find out the real deal is permissible. This is one step forward for entire humankind to see progress towards demystifying the secrets of the universe. So, let's cheer and see what happens next.

What are other opinions?
Right now in science communities, there are serious discussions going on all around the globe regarding this bombing. Half of them are opposing this whereas half of them are supporting it. Those who supported were quite excited like me but some of those comments were real eerie.

Following is the excerpt from WWW,

"The planned October 9, 2009 bombing of the moon by a NASA orbiter that will bomb the moon with a 2-ton kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile wide deep crater as an alleged water-seeking and lunar colonization experiment, is contrary to space law prohibiting environmental modification of celestial bodies. The NASA moon bombing, a component of the LCROSS mission, may also trigger conflict with known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon as reported on the moon in witnessed statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and in witnessed statements to NSA (National Security Agency) photos and documents regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon" src here

We cannot deny the fact that other lifeforms also exist together with us in this universe. If we earthlings can step forward to reach on the surface of the moon, there are possibly other species from another planets hungry for knowledge of their existence, just like us craving for knowledge. It's nothing but the extreme of foolishness to believe that we're the only lifeforms in this entire gazillions of galaxies.

So, how will it happen??
In simple term rocket will be launched from somewhere in Florida, headed towards the moon and then some part takes off from the rocket from where the rocket will enter the orbit of moon, after revolving moon for some time, it'll hit the designated crater of moon double the speed of the fired bullet and cause some explosion which will scatter the debris from the moons surface and the other part of the rocket will take the snap shot and do their job confirming if it's indeed the water particles or other substances. For more detail observation of all this, click here and click here for more info on which crater the explosion will occur upon.

Interesting Video:
Earth without Moon
Bomb the moon

Thank you for reading my post.

Flood of ebook readers

2009-08-31T11:40:00.002+05:45

Amazon pioneered the market of 'ebook reader' devices. It's 'Kindle' paved the way for other companies to come up with their own version of ebook reader. That brought the competition and then Amazon's monopoly is shattered. Thereby, it's compelled to marginalize it's price to accommodate itself with growing competition, I'm astonished to find some companies are selling one of these devices arrogantly for over $850. That's outrageous.

We're experiencing the flood of ebook reader devices. Some of these ebook readers are listed below:

Sony Reader PRS-700
COOL-ER
Astak EZ Reader
iRex Digital Reader
Cybook Gen3
iLiad 2nd Edition
Foxit eSlick

Ebook readers are hot-sale these days because of it's extreme portability, easy to use features, and capacity to store thousands of books and articles in it. Just having a feeling of carrying multiple books in one-small-few-hundred-gram device is the main driving force making people spend.

These readers are replica of black N white newspaper of old time. You cannot see colorful images and stuff like that. Just grayscale and b/w. This is now becoming one one growing issue among readers(we human). Reading things in color means whole different set of technology and lets see how long does it take for these companies to embrace that.

Needless to say, infact mobile devices and smart phones can be turned into mini-ebook readers too. Like I can read books on my HTC Touch diamond. How cool is that?

Thank you for reading my post.

Rent a Telescope

2009-08-31T10:58:00.004+05:45

Recently I came across a site called slooh.com which lets anybody to remote control high-end telescopes located in islands via computer.

If you are astro-photographer, astronomy enthusiasts or anyone who just loves to star-gaze then, this is a definite visit. Hire telescope for some mere $50 per year and you can use it for definite period of time for whole year. I've seen people who has taken bunch of amazing cosmic photographs through this site

It just takes time and patience to capture that moment. Who knows you could have that opportunity to snap something wonder in those galaxies.

I'm trying it and it's very fascinating. There is one animated character 'Otto' who walks you through all the time.

Sometimes soon, I'm gonna buy telescope to star gaze once I had enough turning my home computer into observatory.

Thanks for reading my post.

Bing Vs Google dot Com

2009-08-22T21:01:00.003+05:45

Over a month ago, I wrote roughly on Bing's potential against Google.

To carry on with the job, someone has come up with a neat website for those of you who are still in the verge deciding which way to go.

This site called bing-vs-google.com lets you see your search results on one page. It uses both engines at one time. Actually, it makes your searches more efficient when you want to compare things on both. I've to be honest here, my 16:9 screen was far better to see results onto than my father's 4:3.

Lets go to my own personal analysis. I tried couple of searches on certain keywords and Bing's were more accurate. Google simply outputted non-relevant results whereas Bing did the good job. Say, I started with my name(can click/see in the picture above) and I've to admit, Google didn't put my site on their radar. It's still showing the same old stuffs from it's cache. Ridiculous. With doubts I tried other keywords, say 'Nepal' and once again, Google showed totally irrelevant nonsense in it's third or fourth link. Checked back with the Bing, none was the case.

This is my second verdict on Google Vs Bing and here, Bing is still the winner.

Thank you for reading my post.

A Computer Virus

2009-08-20T21:22:00.004+05:45

An animated projection of Computer Virus's life presented in a hilarious manner. I came across this animation and couldn't help myself to make it one of the posts on my blog.

It starts with an animator sketching some stick figure and all of a sudden...

Thank you for reading my post.

My Panasonic Lumix FZ28 Moon Close up Video recording

2009-08-15T11:54:00.002+05:45

I've taken bunch of beautiful shots with my Panasonic Lumix FZ28 and many were amazed with it's output. To be true, I never had as wonderful camera as this one. I actually played around with expensive over 1000 bucks toys but Panasonic FZ28, I just fell in love with it. It's capabilities are enormous.

I got up to take a pee as usual in the middle of the night, and the breeze(off the open windows) was so cool, as I peeped outside, it was moon's light I couldn't resist. Took a deep pranayama breathe in/out to enjoy the air, darted inside, got a FZ28 on my hand and outside started to shot Moon's pic. Then I Put the camera into Video Recording Mode, and before I hit the shutter-release button to record, I set the camera into Spot metering mode.

If you don't know how to put your Panasonic FZ28 into Spot Metering mode, check this picture below:
http://www.navinlama.com/images/Panasonic-FZ28-Spot-metering.jpg

Don't know what is spot metering??
Read it here: http://www.spotmetering.com/spwhy.htm

Well, I almost felt like Jim Carey then (Bruce Almighty), where he uses his mighty power to drag moon closer to the earth.. At one point, I was terrified to see moon's crater's on my camera's LCD screen, I almost lost control, it got shaky, You could see that on the camera footage.

Time of recording: Aug 13,2009 , 1:03 am

Even if Panasonic FZ28 has optical zoom of 18x, with spot metering ON, you'll get 32x Zoom(Optical+Digital mixed). It's awesome.

Thanks for watching.

It's been a while...

2009-08-06T21:41:00.003+05:45

I was kind of disappeared from my own blog. It's very hard to put myself into so many things and yet maintain the things around. Life doesn't circle around one thing, there are so many things to take care of.

Few days back, I tried to upload one Video of mine on YouTube and YouTube which usually took few minutes to audioswap, made me wait for more than 24 hours. Obviously, in their eyes, it was some copyright infringement act(so the audioswap...) even though I had put just a intro portion of the whole music. Here is one thing that I want to put light on something, YouTube's action could look good but believe it or not, I buy albums after what I hear on YouTube. Whenever, I saw some youtube videos with amazing music, I asked about it and later bought it off Amazon or eBay. There are hundreds of thousand doing that. They just go and buy the album if they like it. In a sense, YouTube is killing the marketing reach of music industry. But whatever. It's none of my business just a small concern that I put forward. Later on, after waiting for over 24 hours, I had to delete my video, cos, I hated to see my video mute.

And, yesterday, As I was trying to check my facebook, I was denied to access. I asked around if their facebook is working and strangely, I was the only one whose account looked almost closed or shutdown for some reason. Well, some sort of strange idea popped up if I'm being the hate-list target of these online giants. Sounds funny but that's what I thought then.

Today, I read not so unusual news about Twitter getting slowed down due to DOS attack by a hacker. I didn't use Twitter for few days, Its irritatingly slow sometimes. It's because of the massive traffic they are getting or the fake traffic(DOS) causing problems. Alongside, I also read Facebook had some issues in past hours and that relieved me to some extent. That was the reason. I checked my Facebook again and it worked. Otherwise, I almost ditched the idea of using it.

Adios

Thank you for reading my post.
Check this link for more interesting stuff

Google Chrome , Next OS ??

2009-07-10T01:15:00.005+05:45

Yesterday, Google announced on it's official blog that CHROME is the next OS for netbooks.

After I went through their announcement, I found that they're more focused on speed,simplicity and security. They're working with big names like Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba. I've not read a single word on multimedia. Operating System, as a definitive term, is evolving or being changed by group of people. Anyone expecting to play around with fullblown content on Google OS, forget about it. Speed, simplicity and security has lots of restrictions being put up.

Google Chrome sounds good for people on the go, who need nothing more than information real quick, be able to communicate faster than ever and has nothing to do with gaming and multimedia rich stuff like that.

On top of that Google Chrome(Browser turned/termed OS) is being built on Linux kernel. So, it'll be the one of those Linux variations. It's just to see how Google would end up making it up hasslefree.

And, I'm one of those guys who extremely hate Linux for desktop use. Google might change that view towards Linux. Time will tell.

Granted, It's Free and open source project, there is no harm trying it next year. You've no moral rights to file complain if anything went wrong while using free OS albeit there is wide array of community based support which I again think sucks. But, what this also means the affordability. You might end up paying 20%-30% less on the same computer.

For now, I'm holding on to Windows 7, waiting for it to be released on Oct 22nd, no matter what.

Thank you for reading my post.

Gmail no more BETA

2009-07-08T11:21:00.003+05:45

Gmail has removed 'Beta' tag from it's site. It has removed this tag after hanging on it for more than 5 years.

Gmail was splended even when it was BETA, I felt no BETA experience then and it's still splended ever after ridding that BETA thing. In a way, it was just meaningless and so used to with it, it felt almost invisible to my retinas.

It's Google's blog where I read that they announced "Google Apps is out of beta".

Well, nothing much to write about.

Thanks for reading my post.

Every PC technician/ Tech guy's must have Toolkits

2009-07-06T11:48:00.006+05:45

I know every PC technician has their own ways to solve the problems and help their customers. I'm sharing mine.

What Can I do? I can fix computers,laptops,cellphones,repair damaged motherboards,networking,webdesign,flyers,banners,Graphic designing,Video Editing,assembling,overclocking, etc etc...(I forgot what I can do..)

What are my tools:

As a tech guy, I always think about software and hardware part.

Let me first go with the software part:

1. Ultimate Live BootCD for Windows: This is the Windows XP version of BootCD with lots of pre-compiled helpful tools to solve much of the problems. I used PEBuilder to create this BootCD and You must have Windows XP CD with you to have this BootCD. Detail instruction can be found here.

2.Gparted : This is a freeware ISO that you can download and burn as a bootable disc. I always and always keep this with me. This linux GUI tool helps you to manage partitions without hampering a data on the hard drive. I mean, you can resize your partitions without deleting data on it. Be it new harddrive or old drive, it takes care of partitions very nicely. Read thoroughly the instructions before using this tool. It could be disastrous if you don't know what you're doing esp using softwares like this. It's very easy to master though.

3. Acronis True Image Boot CD : I kick Norton's Ass for Imaging Solution and rather pats Acronis for the job. Acronis True Image Boot CD is my another Tool which I always keep with me. It saves time when I've to install OS on many systems with identical configuration. Besides, I use this for incremental image backup of my own systems. Just in case, my harddrive fails.

4. CPU-Z : This little software gives you all the details about make and model of your CPU,Memory and BIOS. You don't need to peek into your system with that petty light to read the microscopic letters off those chips. L2 Cache,Core speed,FSB,Northbridge/SouthBridge,multiplier,... Stop looking inside the casing.. Kiddos.

5.GPU-Z : If you are into GPU overclocking then you'd know what this little software is all about. GPU-Z shows all the information related to your Graphic Processing Unit(GPU),gives you wholesome idea on the power of your Graphics Card.

6. Everest Home Edition Freeware : I've tried so many diagnostic softwares and this one is my favorite. I use this to take a quick look into the system. Gives you wholesome idea about your system.

7. DriverMax : I still remember the days when I used to peek into the casing and take a note of model number of my sound card, then search for it's driver and download/install. Well, it's passe. Softwares like DriverMax does the job of finding drivers for unknown/undetected devices. It's very easy now a days.

8. Secunia Personal Software Inspector 1.5 : This one is new in the business. Windows update is not enough, you are still vulnerable if your other non-MS softwares are gone unpatched. This is where Secunia's Software Inspector comes to the rescue. It checks all the software and collects if there is any update to install.

9. HDDlife : It's the data that's more valuable that the harddrive itself. HDDlife verifies your Harddrive's performance all the time using SMART technology. If your harddrive is about to fail, it gives you ultimatum so that you could backup soonest as possible. This software could save fortune for many. I like it personally and have it on my system.

And, I've collection of security softwares like antivirus, antispywares, etc. I also possess data recovery softwares just in case to recover deleted images from Camera's memory card.

On hardware part:

10. PCI Diagnostic/POST card: It gives out certain code which means something related with the system's problem. It helps me save time while troubleshooting. This is a PCI card which could be inserted into PCI slot of the system and displays the error code on it's display panel. Mine is combo, I can use it on Laptop as well as desktop. Parallel port is used if I've to check issue on Laptop. If codes are suspicious I go with the manual ways. Checking stuff one by one but first of, I give POST card a good try which in most cases has helped me a lot.

11. Multimeter,solder unit: To check if proper voltage in/out is maintained or not or in some cases fault finding of the board or to replace the bumped capacitors using a solder. I haven't got chance to use this as much as screw drivers.

12. Screw driver: I've screw drivers of all shape and size. Pliers,twizzer are few to name. I could open big casing to cell phone with my screw drivers. I also put set of nuts and bolts with it just in case.

13. No battery Hand-crank flash light(not the fleshlight f**kers): Some times, I really have to see inside the system and this flash light saves big time. What more, it's no battery, run on dynamo principle. Just crank it for few minutes and get at least an hour or more light.

14. Hand Vacuum : For cleaning, blowing dust inside the system. Nothing much of a use other than that. Oh yeah, when I cut my hair, I suck it up using this thing. That is it's another use.

15. Netbook w/wireless internet: I keep this with me when I've to troubleshoot. I've pay as you go wireless internet USB and I use it only when needed. When I'm into someone's house, and then I forget that registry entry, I quickly log into the net and find the solutions using my Acer netbook. Saved me bigtime. Kindda looks geeky with those netbook internet.

16. Cables: I've all sort of spare USB cables,Network cables,Sata/Pata/VGA/power splitter/etc cables. I keep this with me because sometimes even a bad cable gives heck of a headache. Only solution is to replace and it works like a charm.

17. External Harddrive/Pen drive: I've 2 external pocket USB hard drive, and 2 8 GB kingston pen drive. These are useful at times for urgent backup and restore. I've useful tools loaded on my pen drives all the time.

Okay folks, these are the weapons in my arsenal which lots of tech guys are reluctant to share with normal users. I believe in sharing knowledge. If you've yours, email me.

Thank you for reading my post.

Bing Vs Google

2009-07-06T00:21:00.005+05:45

When Google was in it's infancy almost 11 years ago, I then felt the tremendous growth of it. I'm kind of having same feeling for Bing after long time.

"Bing is a search engine that finds and organizes the answers you need so you can make faster, more informed decisions." That's what Microsoft has to say. When searched online for the meaning of Bing, it's Chinese Flatbread and I don't really know if it really has to do anything with it. CEO Steve Ballmar thinks it's short and sweet. To me, it's catchy. Let's Bing.

Bing went online on June 3rd, 2009 and I was quite reluctant to write about it and it's possibilities. But after a month of use, I could say Bing is as terrific as Google.

It's not surprising to read stories like how fast Bing is growing helping Microsoft to gain it's market share. Proves Bing is taking on everyone.

One killer aspect of Bing is that it keeps showing you one impacting image from all around the globe. I've known things which I've never known before after using Bing. Bing is kind of educator. Just hover your cursor down below on the right where there is © symbol and You'll get to know what it is all about. To use slide show image of the day from past, it imposes you to download silverlight(A contender to Flash - I don't really understand what SilverLight has when Flash has it all. )

Bing is pretty much organized and very fast to index. Google has not yet finished crawling my updated personal site whereas Bing already indexed my updated site. FYI, I updated my personal site just a week ago.

Bing shows my updated Site on it's search result

Google still is showing the same old stuff, hasn't indexed my new site yet.

If you've not heard of Bing, it's time to Bing. Go Bing.

Thank you for reading my post.

Turn Your PC into Macintosh

2009-07-03T06:17:00.003+05:45

Not really, but you can have that dock in your Windows GUI. Drag and drop your favorite applications to the dock and you are all set.

You can layout your dock in any side; top,left,right,bottom of your screen.

Rocketdock in action

This nifty program is far more efficient than any other paid programs of the same genre which tried to mimic the Mac's GUI. To be true, it increased my efficiency while working.

Forget about lame Quick Launch, or any other Windows Shortcut tricks you've been using. This little software will do the magic.

Astonishingly, this is FREEWARE.

Go to Author's Site(Review/Download):

Thank you for reading my post.

Acer to become the world's second Largest PC manufacturer surpassing Dell

2009-06-29T12:28:00.004+05:45

It's considered that Dell and HP are the big players in the computer business. Who would've thought Acer would surpass them? Taiwan based, PC vendor has become the world's second largest PC manufacturer.

Many people here in Western are surprised with the news. How come a non-US manufacturer top the chart exceeding the sales amazingly in USA?

Statistically, big names like Dell and HP have suffered huge percentage of loss in yester years as compared to Acer's. The sole reason of this loss being their firm attitude selling high-priced computer system. Their oblivious attitude towards growing economic crisis has sunken their PC sales whereas Acer acted smartly and jumped into production of low cost, yet fancy and extremely portable netbooks. With their skyrocketing sales of Netbook, other vendors couldn't resist the urge and hurdled into the race. It seems Acer is still ahead of all according to their spiking sales chart reports. As a matter of fact, it's not only netbook, overall their products are cheap and best.

I'm happy not because I've 22" Acer widescreen Monitor or that I've envious 8" Acer Netbook, but to find out that finally Acer got it's recognition it deserved.

It's kindda obnoxious to see these companies still adamant about selling their so-called high-end PC's in thousands of dollars. Whereas Acer dealt with cheap & best list of manufacturers to produce nearly same result outputting systems.

Whatever it's all business model, it's dynamic and the only player wins who evolves with the time and demand.

To be true, Acer's products are awesome.

Thank you for reading my post.

Windows 7 wait is over

2009-06-28T07:22:00.006+05:45

I've been desperately waiting for Microsoft Windows 7 final(previously codenamed Vienna/Blackcomb) since past few months use of it's beta version. Finally the wait is over. Windows 7 is gonna be available on Oct 22nd,2009 in different flavors.

I didn't realize before why Microsoft has been doing this like serving different version of their ultimate product but considering the fact that many people won't be using the same hardwares and features, I see the clue. You can't have feature-rich full blown Windows 7 on your netbook with limited resource. But people have like "I need Windows 7, no matter what" mentality. Besides, you may not want to end up paying for unneeded features with a feeling "Gosh, I never needed this stuff, MS ripped me off". Literally, there are many many aspects to take care of and with what Microsoft doing is and has been doing seem perfectly okay. It is trying to reach as many end users as possible and that I guess is excellent marketing approach.

Different flavors of Windows 7 announced are:
Windows 7 Home Premium($200)
Windows 7 Professional($300)
Windows 7 Ultimate($320)

One could get the same stuff in upgradeable forms(if you want to upgrade from your old Windows) too.
Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade($120)
Windows 7 Professional Upgrade($200)
Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade($220)

As you can see, full version and upgrade version differs greatly in price. All of it are available for pre-orders on major e-retail sites like Amazon.com and so. The only catch here is the heavy discount one is getting on upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional. They don't have any discounted offer for Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade though.

Rate of pre-order discount on 2 Upgrade version of Windows 7 is:
Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade $49.99~~($120)~~
Windows 7 Professional upgrade $99.99~~($200)~~

Pre-order discount of Windows 7 started yesterday on June 26 and will be through till July 11 here in the U.S and Canada but will end July 5 in Japan. Similarly, in the U.K.,France and Germany, the same discount will start on July 15.

Considering this discount, I pre-ordered professional edition(at 50% discount) for $99 as it's best suited to my needs. Check the following chart for all the features on different flavors of Windows 7(Click image to enlarge it) :

The most frequently asked questions:
Q. Will 'Windows 7 upgrade' works on all previous version of Windows??
A. Microsoft says it works but asks user to backup all important files before doing that. As Windows 7 is promoted widely with nearly the notion of 'Upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7' easily, the doubt is growing if all previous version of Windows could be upgraded without flaws. The doubt is over, Windows 7 upgrade should work on previous versions of Windows but back it up. Personally, I recommend take image of your OS.

Q. Can 'Windows 7 upgrade' be installed on fresh new harddrive or partition?
A. There is a growing argument if one could install 'Windows 7 Upgrade' on fresh harddrive without any previous Windows on it. One group admits that one has to have previous version like Windows XP to install 'Windows 7 upgrade' whereas another group is firm about the fact that there is no need of Windows XP or Vista to install 'Windows 7 upgrade'. The only deal here is that one has to install the 'Windows 7 upgrade' twice if he/she wants to fresh install it on harddrive with no OS.
The following is the excerpt of the growing online debate:

hamiltonstallings said:
I'm not sure if this will work with Windows 7, but, with Windows Vista you could install the upgrade version on a completely clean partition. I just did it the other day.

The trick is you have to install it without entering the key, then once its done, reboot from the DVD drive and install again, this time entering a key (total of 2 installs). It works and validates.

And, this trick should work with Windows 7 too and thats what many OEM builders believe.

Q. Is Windows 7 as same as Windows Vista?
A. I don't know but with short experience with Windows 7 beta, I think Windows 7 and Windows Vista are different stories. Officially, everyone is claiming Windows 7 is totally different architecture far more efficient and superior than Windows Vista. And, I'm compelled to support this claim.

Q. Should I upgrade to Windows 7?
A. If you are happy with your current system, may be you don't need to but with latest technology and chips, to utilize all it's resources and also if you don't wanna feel outdated, then you can hop into Windows 7 bandwagon. I've pre-ordered because, I don't want to feel outdated.

Q. Can I have Windows 7 upgrade in 32/64 bit?
A. They say, sure you can. It's all in one DVD.

Well, the wait is over for me, I'm happy and eagerly counting days to Oct, 22nd. I'm gonna install it on New Harddrive. I don't know how old your system but you still may wanna use Windows 7 upgrade advisor software to check if your system is compatible. With it's non-demanding requirement setup, I think every system of todays should be fine unless it's historical PC from 10 years ago. If you are interested, you can pre-order and get discount. Just click the banner below and it'll take you to Amazon. Amazon is my favorite hangout and I buy stuffs from their all the time. If you've your favorite e-store, be sure to check for this time-limited pre-order discount on Windows 7.

Thank you for reading my post.

Rapidshare faces hard time

2009-06-27T21:13:00.004+05:45

German royalties collector GEMA which brought the case against Rapidshare, has finally convinced a German court that around 5,000 songs are publicly and illegaly available on its server. The court also ruled that Rapidshare had not taken enough preventive measures to stop illegal sharing of digital contents via it's service. So, Rapidshare has been fined 24 million Euros.

To sustain in the business, Rapidshare has been ordered to strictly filter the content in coming days.

Rapidshare which goes by 'Easy FileHosting' slogan is facing a 'hard time' sharing files in coming days
According to a GEMA Statement,"The judgment states that the hosting service itself is now responsible for making sure that none of the music tracks concerned are distributed via its platform in the future. This means that the copyright holder is no longer required to perform the ongoing and complex checks."

To read more on this drama, GEMA's statement(in German) can be read here(Google Translated to English).

Rapidshare has not made any public comment yet.

Thank you for reading my post.

Coolest Band I've ever listened to in long time

2009-06-25T21:55:00.005+05:45

Give yourself some adrenaline moment. Recently stumbled upon one indie Rock band while listening to one local station. One song led me to fantabulous galore of orgasmic musical world. This is just my view, nothing to be taken seriously when I wrote 'orgasmic'.

Never been introduced to rock band so cool as this. They're called Gossip. I like almost all songs from their latest album 'Music for men'. This never happened to me before. I was selective and few of the songs were totally worthless and used to get rid of them. But 'Gossip - Music for Men' which I paid $20(w/taxes) has almost all songs which are totally undeniable. All fav'd.

Meantime, I'm checking their older album and listening to their previews. Of all, Standing In The Way Of Control song is pretty convincing and awesome. Amazon let me download it for almost a dollar.

You can listen to the preview of their album. Click it below. Made it easy for you, If you like you can buy 'em off else can just ignore it. (Anyway, digital version(mp3) cost you $0.99/song and you end up paying only $7.99 for entire album whereas CD version will cost you over $15 or even less for used ones.)

Some of the peeps actually asked me the music that played in background on one of those my personal videos posted online and I decided to come up with this post. You can check that video of mine @ here where I was cooking some stuff and coolest music in the background. I had it on some other video sharing sites too. Anyway, never mind.

If you like it, get it, buy it, guys. These people are truly rocking. I'm slowly changing my taste of music. Geez.

Thank you for reading my post.