Greetings - Happy New Year 2007

I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2007. Below are some of the cute New Year wishes in different styles.

First one is my own greetings - check out the image right to this text.

Next ones are the SMS/Mails, I received from my friends:

1) Maamu, aaj se 2 din baad naya saal aayega! Bapu ne bola hai ki 31st ko network jam hoga! Toh, apun aaj hi vinamrata se wish karela hai! Bole toh... Happy 2007!

2) Before the Golden Sun sets, 2006's calendar is destroyed, and mobile network get jammed, i wish in 2007 every moment is enjoyed! Happy New Year!

3) I wish you a Fantastic January, Lovable February, Marvelous March, Foolish April, Enjoyable May, Successful June, Wonderful July, Independent August, Tastyyest October, Beautiful November, Happiest December. Have a Victorious Year... Wish u Happy New Year 2007.

4) Happy NEW YEAR! I know its bit early 2 wish but i've got to wish LAKHS of handsome n hunky boyfrnds. So I thought to finishoff with uncles & aunties 1st!

5) Do you know the speciality of this new year... It starts with Monday & ends also on Monday. No public holidays on Sundays. This Year has got Highest Number of Sundays & Saturdays. So enjoy the least working yar in your life! 2007, A year with a difference. Wish You Happy New Year 2007.

Sick Gift from BSNL DataONE

I am very Sad to write this blog. BSNL did an upgrade of all Tariffs (Except Unlimited Plan) from 256kbps to 2mpbs.

There is no change in the Unlimited Tariff. I would have been happy if BSNL would have increased the Unlimited Plan from 256kbps to 512kbps or 1mpbs. But they have made a very bad decision in their New Tarrif.

The New Tariff is available on BSNL Website here.

I want to warn the User's who are driving in High Speed with Limited Downloads! Please keep checking your usage regularly. With the 2mbps link, you may end up downloading more data in less time :) And Happy Surfing. This is a real gift for year 2007 for the customers who have limited usage.

Blogger - No More a BETA

Guess what! The Google's Blogger website is out of its Beta state and now available as the final version to the whole Internet World. Recently Google migrated my blogs from Blogger Account to Google Account.

The New Features of Blogger can be found here.

Joe Barbara Passes Away at Age 95

Joe Barbera, one half of comedy duo Hanna-Barbera, died yesterday (18-Dec-2006) aged 95.
The cartoonist, who worked with Bill Hanna to create the classic characters Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry, died of natural causes at home, with his wife Sheila by his bedside.

Hanna, who died in 2001, said that Barbera could "capture mood and expression in a quick sketch better than anyone I've ever known."

The pair first teamed up at MGM studios in the 1930s, and created the international hit 'Tom and Jerry'. The battling cat and mouse animated duo earned Barbera and Hanna seven Oscars.

Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer said "His cartoons were not only animated superstars, but also a very beloved part of American pop culture spanning the Stone Age to the Space Age and from primetime to Saturday mornings, syndication and cable. While he will be missed by his family and friends, Barbera will live on through his work."

The animator is survived by his wife and three children from a previous marriage, Jayne, Neal and Lynn.

Vision of India 2020 - by A P J Abdul Kalam

During a visit to Bangalore on 18-Dec-2006, the president A P J Abdul Kalam spoke about the seven-point oath mantra for good life.

1. I realize I have to set a goal in my life. To achieve the goal, I will acquire the knowledge. I will work hard and when the problem occurs, I have to defeat it and succeed.


2. I will work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.


3. I shall always keep myself, my home, my surroundings, neighbourhood and environment clean.


4. I realize righteousness in the heart leads to beauty in the character. This brings harmony in the home and it leads to order in the nation and this will result in peace in the world.


5. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a righteous way of life.


6. I will light the lamp of knowledge in the nation and ensure that it remains lit for ever.


7. I realize whatever work I do if I do the best, I am contributing towards realizing the vision of developed India 2020.
   

Source: The Times of India, Bangalore - Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Microsoft Office Accounting 2007

Microsoft^® Office Accounting Express 2007 is everything you need to make your small business idea flourish. Whatever your idea, take it further with these great features:

Save time on everyday tasks

• Create quotes and invoices; track expenses and employee time
• Enter data once and share it seamlessly with other Microsoft Office system programs
• Manage payroll and taxes with ADP’s integrated payroll service

Get a complete view of your business

• Store and organize all your customer, vendor, employee, and financial information in one place
• Get business insights with over 20 customizable reports
• Easily share your books with your accountant through Office Live

Grow your business online

• List items on eBay, track sales activity, and download and process orders
• Email invoices and get paid faster with PayPal
• Monitor your customers’ business credit in real-time through Equifax
• Share your financial data with your accountant easily through Office Live

To download Office Accounting Express 2007, please visit - Official Website

My Blogs Migrated to Blogger Beta

Good News!!! Today, I got option to get my blog migrated to Blogger Beta. I successfully migrated my Blog to the new Blogger Beta, which is linked with Google Account. Before blogger, Google has already applied the sign-on to services like writely, picasa...

Keep visiting for updates - http://kamleshrao.blogspot.com

BSNL's Broadband 2 mbps BOMB!

The state-owned BSNL will offer high speeds of up to 2 mbps broadband connectivity to its existing subscribers who were till now getting the connection at 256 kbps, announced communication and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran at India Telecom 2006. BSNL would offer high-speed internet broadband at the existing price. "It is now for the private operators to match it or beat it"

New Microsoft.com home page

On 14-Dec-2006, Microsoft introduced a new home page for Microsoft.com. The new page incorporates months of research, testing, customer feedback, and refinements. Microsoft hopes the new page makes it easier to find what you’re looking for on Microsoft.com, and that you find new items of interest along the way.

Check it out live at : www.microsoft.com

For more details on the New Home Page design, please visit this link.

Crack the Rubik Cube

Solving a Rubik's cube can take hours but there are people who solve it in minutes, blindfolded.
Navigate to YouTube, and you will find people whose fingers move faster than the wheels of a sports car. The current record of solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded is 1 minute 18 seconds, held by Danyang Chen. Also check out SpeedCubing website. There are plenty of online tutorials on how to do this. Once you are proficient, you too can post your video online ;)

Goodbye 256 kbps - Net downloads to get faster (India)

Come January, Indian consumers will be treated to very high speeds of internet downloads with unlimited broadband being made available to them, promises the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran. "Goodbye 256 kb," he said on Monday, on the sidelines of a meeting here.

Source: Hindu

Pageflakes - The whole web at your fingertips!

PageFlakes.com is a cool, award winning, Web 2.0 startup (they were #1 in the Start Pages SEO awards category this year - beating both Google and Microsoft Live). Even cooler, it is built using ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET AJAX.


Omar Al Zabir, the core architect of PageFlakes, recently published a great article called "ASP.NET AJAX Under the Hood Secrets" that discusses some advanced topics involving ASP.NET AJAX's javascript networking library (specifically he discusses batch requests, browser queues, caching, and get vs. post requests). This is a great read if you are looking to build a high-volume site that uses the client-side AJAX javascript libraries and heavily leverages custom network callbacks.

Source: ScottGu's Blog

AIDS - I am aware, are you?

01 December is Worlds AIDS Day. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The late stage of the condition leaves individuals prone to opportunistic infections and tumors. Although treatments for AIDS and HIV exist to slow the virus's progression, there is no known cure. HIV is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk. This transmission can come in the form of anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding, or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

Please read more at Wikipedia.

Time to cancel your cable TV?

Log on to Channel King or Streamick. These websites will help you to get on to practically any channel in the world, provided you have a fast broadband connection. Dial-up users should give this one a miss. If you get anything above a 256kbps line, you will be able to take full advantage of these sites. There are many genres to choose from and the quality is decent.

Are you ready for MS New Day

Microsoft launches its New Products - Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007.

The MSNewDay website contains information to achieve your Business Value with the Microsoft New Products. Most of the contents are Microsoft Windows Video clips.

EPICA Awards - Best Ad

It took Italians to make this one!

Pls click the link below to see the video.

Superb Advertisement- shows popularity and respect to Gandhiji,

A great ad.... Ironically from a non- Indian company!!

And none the less This ad won the EPICA awards for best ad.

Click this link to see our Father of Nation.

BSNL DataOne Modem Charges slashed down!

BSNL has revised monthly lease charges and sale value of ADSL modems for broadband connections as per following details:

Now, you can purchase the Type-IV modem for Rs.1800/-
Official News Link

These changes are applicable with effect from 01-Dec-2006. All other terms and conditions remain the same.

NEWS FOR BROADBAND GAMERS:

BSNL has decided to introduce Gaming Service in association with M/s. India Games (I.G.) to BSNL Broadband customers. The Gaming Service will be available under the following two packages - Standard and Premium
Official News Link

IE 7 Less Vulnerable than Firefox 2?

According to reports, Mozilla Firefox 2 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE) are both vulnerable to a bug that steals the login-id and password of users, with the help of a fake log-in page.

The bug has been dubbed as "Reverse Cross Site Request vulnerability" (RCSR) by Robert Chapin, who first discovered the flaw.

For complete article, visit TechTree India

Thanks Rati for the Link

Orkut meets GTalk

Orkut members will be able to text message and voice chat with other members of the community if they choose to communicate in that way. Google believes the new functions might add a sense of immediacy to member interaction on the social networking site. Now you can find the Orkut Friends online on your GTalk Chat and send the Orkut scraps directly from GTalk.

Google introduces 5 New features to GMail

Recently, Google introduced 5 new features in GMail.

1) Reply on top
No more scrolling to the bottom of a long message to find the “Reply” link. Now there's a Reply button right on top, along with a lot of other options under the little dropdown arrow.

2) Embarassment-reducing new message notifications
Ever replied to a message only to find out that someone sent a better, smarter reply right before you? Now, if someone sends a reply while you're in the middle of reading a conversation (or replying to it), you'll get a notification that a new message has arrived. Click "update conversation" to see what you’ve missed.


3) Forward all
When viewing a conversation, use the new “Forward all” link on the right if you want to forward the entire conversation instead of just one message.


4) Chat even when your friends are offline
Chatting in Gmail just keeps getting better. Now, if you're chatting with a friend who goes offline, your friend will be able to see whatever you were typing the next time he or she goes online.

5) Get Gmail on your mobile phone
It's new and it's fast. To try it for yourself, point your phone to gmail.com/app

Source : GMail Official Website

DB2 UDB - Truncate Tables

DB2 - Equivalent to SQL Server/Oracle TRUNCATE command

Problem
This technote describes how to delete the contents of a table with minimal logging overhead

Solution
Use the LOAD or IMPORT command in REPLACE mode, and import an input file with no rows. This will cause the table to be truncated with very little or no logging overhead.

There are two ways to do this in DB2® Universal Database™ (DB2 UDB). A fast way is perform an IMPORT REPLACE with a delimited file that contains no rows, for example:

import from c:\ixf\rep.del of del replace into testvar

IMPORT is usually the best choice, because it does not lock the table space. If the table has many active pages in the bufferpool, LOAD will be faster, as IMPORT will flush the bufferpool. LOAD must be used if the target table has referential integrity dependencies or summary tables defined on it. In DB2 UDB Version 7 and earlier, LOAD requires exclusive access to the table space. If you plan to use LOAD a lot, put each table that gets LOADed (or uses LOAD to be emptied) in its own table space, or use IMPORT REPLACE.

Note that on UNIX® and Linux® platforms, you can also IMPORT or LOAD from /dev/null

MS. DEWEY - A Microsoft Creation

MsDewey.com - Check this funny Microsoft Live Search. It makes use of Flash, hence takes a very loooooooong time to load. Keep noticing the acting of Ms.Dewey. To enjoy the fun, you need to have your speakers turned on. This is powered by Microsoft Live Search.

It does internet search, but I am really unhappy with its performance. Its really tooooo slow. For serious search, do not forget to click here :-).

By the way, do try these keywords and see her response - "Bill Gates", "Microsoft", "Boxing", "Video", "Channel 9", "Google", "Apple". And if you leave her alone for too long, she demands attention !

Ash turns 33 - 01/Nov/2006

Happy Birthday to Aishwarya Rai!

Aishwarya Rai (born November 1, 1973) is an Indian actress and former fashion model. She was awarded the Miss World title in 1994. Aishwarya Rai has also acted in Telugu, Bengali, Tamil and English films.

Although frequently the subject of gossip column speculation about an imminent Hollywood career, it was only in 2004 that Rai finally acted in a foreign film, when British director Gurinder Chadha hired her to play the heroine in Bride and Prejudice, a Hollywood-funded but Bollywood-ized version of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice. The movie came just shy of breaking even at the US box office but earned over 400% return on investment in global revenue.

Aishwarya's latest movie Umrao Jaan releases this Friday. I wish her all the best for a successfull career.

One Mobile Handset with Two SIM Cards

I have seeing my friends/colleagues carrying two Mobile Phones with them - one Office Mobile and 2nd Personal Mobile. There was always a question in my mind of having one mobile with multiple SIM cards.

YES! Finally this is possible now. You will soon be able to use both your business and personal mobile numbers from a single handset. To be launched in 2007, a dual number service will be available on a single SIM card. But both the connections will have to be from one service provider.

The screen of a handset will display the receiver’s number and the caller's as well. Globally, T-Mobile in Germany and Vodafone and Telecom Italia in Italy offer this multi-line service. The UK’s Orange is also expected to launch the ‘dual number, single handset service’ in the next few months. In India, Ireland-based value-added services products company AePona is talking to operators like Bharti, BSNL, Reliance, Hutch and Idea to launch the service in the next 12 months. The service can also work for both pre-paid and post-paid numbers simultaneously.

China-based mobile manufacturing company, Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific Co., Limited is planning to launch its dual-mode smart phone in India within a short time. Yulong is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Wireless Technologies Limited, and the first company to introduce dual-mode smart phone in the world. The handset range comes both with dual mode GSM+GSM and CDMA+GSM. The handset model CoolPAD 728 (CDMA+GSM) is priced at USD 500 and CoolPAD 288 (CDMA+GSM) is USD 240. However, there is also another model CoolPAD 728G2 (GSM+GSM). Both these models have mega pixel cameras and business applications.

Bill Gates turns 51

Happy Birthday Bill Gates - You Rock!

William (Bill) H. Gates (born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington) is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$39.79 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2005, and employs more than 61,000 people in 102 countries and regions.

Forbes magazine's The World's Billionaires list has ranked him as the richest person on earth for the last thirteen consecutive years. According to the Forbes 2006 magazine, Bill Gates's current net worth is approximately $53 billion.

Earlier in June 2006, Microsoft announced Bill Gates transition plans. Refer my earlier post here.

Bill Gates staff will be missing his birthday gift, getting him a new operating system. Windows Vista is nearly done and should be in the hands of businesses in November and consumers in January, according to the company's schedule.

That's not soon enough to give the Microsoft chairman and co-founder an operating system that's been a long time coming. Windows XP launched Oct. 25, 2001, several days before Gates turned 46.

Gates, a Scorpio, turns 51 Saturday. So if not a new version of his company's flagship product, just what do you get the richest man in the world?

Official Bill Gates Bio

India - Cellular World

The India-Cellular website has done a good job by consolidating the Number of Cellular Subscribers all over India. This information is as of 30-Sep-2006.

Click on the Image below to see the complete view.



Also, available is the Price List of Mobile Handsets in India at this link.

How Google Engine Works

Found this interesting piece of article about Google Engine:



Thanks to Anil Raj for hinting me about this.

Original Source: Chicago Tribune

Diwali Greetings - 2006

Wishing all the readers of my Blog - A Happy & Prosperous Diwali 2006.



Diwali (also called Deepavali, दीवाली or दीपावली in Hindi) is a major Hindu, Jain and Sikh festival/celebration. Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolises the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind.

The festival marks the victory of good over evil. The Sanskrit word Deepavali means array of lights that stands for victory of brightness over darkness. On the day of Diwali, many wear new clothes, share sweets and light firecrackers.

Wiki

Bangalore Bundh - This time for a long period

Well, this is very much true for me these days. Reason - I got infected with Chicken Pox and cannot go out for a weeks time untill it gets cured completely. I am taking traditional medicines and noticing heeling signs to some of the boils.

I am on strict diet and taking complete rest at home. Spend time sleeping, watching TV and in betweens checking the mails. Thanks to the broadband connection at home, which is keeping me entertained.

I heard that Chicken Pox is caused by infection with the varicella zoster virus. Chicken pox is contracted by touching an infected person's blisters or anything that has been contaminated by contact with them. Adults usually have higher fevers, a more severe rash, headaches, and muscle aches, and they take longer to recuperate than children. Recovery from all symptoms takes ten days to two weeks.

Hoping to get back well soon and goto work :-)

McDonalds - £10,000m - I'm lovin' it

Belgian Marco Parra-Martinez, who ordered a burger from a McDonald's restaurant, was in for a surprise after he found £ 10,000 in the paper bag.

When he opened the bag containing the burger, he was startled to find an envelope containing € 15,000, the equivalent of more than £ 10,000.

So next time when you visit McDonalds, do not forget to look into the paper bag :)

Full Story

SELF MASSAGE

Disclaimer: I am not the author of above 2 images. I just got it as a forward message in my mailbox and found it interesting to be shared in my blog.

Google launches Search Service for Computer Code

Good News for Software Developer. Google simplifies the codesearching, atleast to some extend. try it out... Google launches search service for computer code -

http://www.google.com/codesearch

Google Code Search, a site that simplifies how software developers search for programming code to improve existing software or create new programs.

Google Code Search helps you find function definitions and sample code by giving you one place to search publicly accessible source code hosted on the Internet. With Google Code Search, you can:

Use regular expressions to search more precisely. Restrict your search by language, license or filename. View the source file with links back to the entire package and the webpage where it came from :

Code Search FAQ Link

Official News Link

Happy Birthday Amitabh Bachchan - 11/Oct

The Bollywood Super Star Amitabh Bachchan (a.k.a Big B) turns 64 years today. He is one of the ICON for many Indian's. Born on October 11, 1942 is a renowned Indian film actor, popular mostly in the Indian sub-continent and the Middle-East. Bachchan's acting career began in 1969, reaching heights in the mid 70-80s. After withdrawing from acting career, Bachchan returned in 2000 as the host of the television show Kaun Bangea Crorepati? on Star Plus. He is presently active in the Indian film industry.

Famous sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik worked for four hours on the sands of the Puri beach to carve an image of Amitabh Bachchan. Patnaik and his sand art students used 64 bags of sand to make it. Though, Sudarshan has never met his favourite star, he plans to send a photograph of the sand art as a birthday gift to Big B. Complete News at IBNLive.com.

I wish a Very Very Happy Birthday to Big B :-)

Amitabh's best Reference Guide can be found on Wikipedia.

Two aquisitions.... 09-Oct-2006

Google buys YouTube
On Valentine's Day a year ago, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen scribbled "YouTube" on a board in Hurley's garage, giving birth to an Internet video site that has become a cultural phenomenon -- one that Google said Monday it will acquire for $1.65 billion.


Oracle buys Sunopsis
Database software maker Oracle Corp. said Monday it is buying data integration software maker Sunopsis for an undisclosed sum.

Windows Vista RC2 (Build 5744) available for download

Microsoft released Vista RC2 (Build 5744) for Beta Testing on 06-Oct-2006. This will be the last build made available prior to RTM. This new build of Windows Vista offers users a higher level of performance and stability – improving what was established in Windows Vista RC1. There are thousands of quality improvements since Windows Vista RC1. You’ll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work.

The latest RC2 Build 5744 is available for downloaded from this link.

The last versions posted by Microsoft during September are RC1-Build-5600 and RC1-Build-5728.

Dengue Fever FAQs

Dengue infection is caused by a virus. It occurs commonly as dengue fever.

News Alert - Dengue claims 7 more lives, 87 new cases across India!!!

Awareness FAQ on Dengue Fever

Munna Bhaaaaai!

Part 1:
Hindi (Original) - Munna Bhai MBBS
Telugu - Sankar Dada MBBS
Kannada - Uppi Dada MBBS
Tamil - Vasoolraaja MBBS

Now, the Part 2 - Lage Raho Munna Bhai has released and made good success.

Its time to name the Part 2 remakes in different languages. How creative the South Indian Film Industry be!!! Can you guess the Part 2 Movie Title in Telugu / Kannada / Tamil? :-)

Leave your comments if you are aware of these upcoming remakes!

MS to lock up pirate Vista PCs; introduces Software Protection Platform

Microsoft has declared open warfare on software pirates, revealing that it intends to lock users out of PCs that don't validate that their computer has a genuine copy of the new operating system.

Users who install a copy of Vista will be required to validate that the copy is genuine within 30 days by activating it with a genuine product registration key. Until they do so, Microsoft will send them regular warning messages with increasing frequency, counting down the days until their period of grace is up.

If 30 days expires without users validating their copy of Vista with Microsoft, the PCs will lock users out of Vista and only access to their web browser for an hour before logging them off.

Complete News

Collectively termed the Microsoft Software Protection Platform, the new technologies will introduce improvements in how Microsoft software activates, is validated online and behaves when tampering or hacking is detected. The upcoming releases of Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” – code name for the next generation of Microsoft’s server software – will be the first two products to ship with the new technologies included, but eventually more Microsoft products will adopt the technologies.


Customers will be able to easily determine the status of their Windows Vista installations. In the System Properties panel of the Windows Vista Control Panel, Windows Vista will display the genuine status of the installed copy of Windows Vista. From there, and from any screen notifying users of a failed validation, a user will be able to obtain more information on why the copy of Windows is not genuine, as well as resources for getting a genuine copy.

Link to Official News

Windows Hibernate - What it-eeeez?

Windows XP is used as sample for this article.

What is Hibernate?

When your computer hibernates, it stores whatever it has in memory to your hard disk and then shuts down. When your computer comes out of hibernation, it returns to its previous state.

Hibernation temporarily 'freezes' the computer when the PC becomes inactive, so it won't work if you have tasks running constantly (eg downloading files). However it can be handy if you want the computer to sleep after a task has completed (such as creating a video).

OK, that's the role of hibernation - so what is the hiberfil.sys file and why is it so big? Hibernation takes everything in memory and writes it to your hard drive as the hiberfil.sys file. If you have 512MB of memory, then hiberfil.sys will be about 512MB. If you have 1GB, the file will be around 1GB. The important point to remember is that even if you don't use hibernation, hiberfil.sys will still take up this huge amount of disk space. The way to remove the file is to turn off the hibernation feature (by default, hibernate is activated automatically when XP is installed). Here's how to do it:



=> Open the Windows Control Panel
=> Double-click Power Options
=> Click the Hibernate tab, de-select the 'Enable hibernate support' check box, and then click Apply.
=> Restart your computer and hiberfil.sys will be automatically deleted.
=> If you change your mind in the future and would like to use hibernation, go to the Windows Help & Support Center and search for 'enable hibernation'. It should be the first result. The instructions detail some other steps you may need to follow to reactivate the hibernation.

SPLASH!!! Screen

Splash screen is a term used to describe an image that appears while a computer program is loading. Splash screens often don't cover the entire screen, but only a rectangle near the center. The splash screens of operating systems and some applications that expect to be run full-screen usually cover the entire screen.

Splash screens are typically used by especially large applications to notify the user that the program is in the process of loading. In other words, they provide feedback that a sometimes lengthy process is under way. A splash screen disappears when the application's main window appears.

Splash screens typically serve to enhance the look and feel of an application or web site, and hence are often visually appealing, and may also have animations, graphics and sound. However, since they may sometimes take a long time to load, they are not universally liked by users. Web splash screens are especially inconvenient for users with slow internet connections, as the first page takes longer to load.

When it comes to the Internet world(browser based application), then the Splash pages are the pages that the user sees before they actually get to a website; typically, they're flash and offer some kind of introductory animation. The user clicks "Skip Intro" or "Enter Site" and from there is taken to the site. Splash pages can also exist between pages on the same site.

You can find many good collection of Splash Screenshots at these websites:
VirtualPlastic.Net
GuideBookGallery.org

Okay, OK, ok, okay, okeh, okey, okie (okie-dokie)

The word "okay" is currently the single-most-used word on Earth, owing to its common employment in a vast number of cultures and languages.

Okay is a term of approval or assent, often written as OK, O.K., ok, okay, okee, or more informally as simply kay, k or kk. When used to describe the quality of a thing, it denotes acceptability. However, its usage can also be strongly approving; as with most slang, its usage is determined by context.

There are several theories about the origins of this word, some of them apocryphal and none of them conclusive, although the suggested origin as an initialism of oll korrect (a misspelling of "all correct") has relatively widespread support. Whatever its origin, the word spread around the world, the "okay" spelling of it first appearing in British writing in the 1860s. Spelled out in full in the 20th century, 'okay' has come to be in everyday use among English speakers, and borrowed by non-English speakers. Occasionally a humorous form okee dokee (or okey dokey) is used, as well as A-ok.

Next time, when you use the word "OK", do remember to count the number of times you have used it in a day or hour. OKAY? :-) Also look for the OK Button everywhere in your Windows Desktop!

More details on Wikipedia

India - Dasara 2006 Festival Greetings

The celebration of Dasara Festival is used in conjunction with many other events in India. These include Navaratri, 'Bombe Habba' in Kannada, 'Bommala Koluvu' in Telugu, Durga Pooja, Ayudha Pooja, Vijaya Dashami.

This day marks the triumph of Lord Rama over Demon king Ravana. On this day, Rama killed Ravana.

The wiki link on Dasara has some interesting information of this festival.

I wish a Happy Dasara 2006 to all the readers of my blog.

The 'Take It Easy' side of my blog - Modern Axe Effect Ad mimics Ravana :-)

Google 8th Birthday

Today, found the Google Home page with New Logo - It seems that Google is celebrating its 8th Birthday.



But I could not get this news yet from any official website.

Google + Yahoo = GahooYoogle

GahooYoogle - Check this interesting concept. You can search both Google and Yahoo at the same time.

Typing indian language text

Typing indian language text has never been so simple. you can type [hindi], [kannada], [malayalam], [tamil], [telugu] with a 'my-mother-can-easily-use-it' interface. it’s web-based and is now online with email and internet search features.

Check out here quillpad.
Thanks to Mukesh who provided me this link.

Spot Puncture Service - Bangalore

Heard from my friend that this service can be availed at a Membership of Rs.100 per Year.



See Also: Metro eService

Update on 11-Jan-2008:
I have seen the comments of many visitors for this post. Yes, I agree with you guys. Kindly check the above Metro eService post. Trust me - this one is a reliable one. I have used it two times personally.

New Bird Discovered in India

An amateur bird-watcher has found the first new bird species to be discovered in India in over 50 years.

The strikingly colored species was identified from feathers and photos taken in remote forests in the northeast part of the country.

No specimen was taken, because "we thought the bird was just too rare for one to be killed," said Ramana Athreya, the bird's discoverer, in a statement.

Named Bugun liocichla, the small bird is described as a type of babbler, a diverse family of birds that usually live in tropical forests.

The species has olive-gray body plumage, a black cap, orange-yellow eye markings, and yellow, red, and white patches on its wings.

Complete News Story

8 e-mail mistakes that make you look bad

Kim Komando, the America's Digital Goddess, has published her article on e-mail mistakes, which I got it through Microsoft Newsletter.

Here are eight easily avoidable mistakes you should know about to keep your image and inbox in tip-top shape.

1) Failing to follow e-mail etiquette.
2) Thinking you are anonymous.
3) Sending e-mail to the wrong person.
4) Using one e-mail address for everything.
5) Forgetting to check all of your e-mail accounts.
6) Clicking "Send" too fast.
7) Forgetting the attachment.
8) Using your ISP's domain and not your own.

All the above are detailed in this article link of Microsoft Website.

Click here to visit Kim's website here.

Tribute: Cash Pharmacy (1908 - 2006)

Landmark vanishes in time’s abyss
DH News Service Bangalore: 12-Sep-2006

A nearly 100-year-old building has bit the dust in Bangalore. On Monday when Cash Pharmacy was pulled down, another of the City’s landmarks got obliterated.

A nearly 100-year-old building has bit the dust in Bangalore. On Monday when Cash Pharmacy was pulled down, another of the City’s landmarks got obliterated.

Cash Pharmacy catered mainly to the people of Cantonment area. But it was also one place looked up to by all Bangaloreans who were in search of medicines and life-saving drugs unavailable elsewhere in the City.

Located at the junction of St Mark’s Road and Residency Road, the building a few years ago had a first floor with monkey tops, typical of the colonial era buildings. Its unusual elevation made it stand out from the regular tiled-roof buildings around and a wooden facia and trellis ran around the first floor verandah.

Read on more at Source Link below:
Deccan Herald 12-Sep-2006

Clear search history on your Computer

I see many new users asking the question about clearing Search history from the computer.

Search History includes the
1) Browser - Recently visited search history
2) Windows Folder/File names searh history

To clear Browser search history of Internet Explorer, follow the steps below
1) In Internet Explorer, select "Internet Options" options of "Tools" menu. This will bring the Internet Options window.
2) In the General Tab, History section, click the "Clear History" button. This will ask you a confirmation. Click "Yes", to continue.

To clear Browser search history of Mozilla FireFox, follow the steps below
1) In FireFox, select "Options" options of "Tools" menu. This will bring the Options window.
2) Click on the Privary tab.
3) Click on "Clear Browsing History Now" button and click OK to close the Options window.

GMail - Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts help you save time since you never have to take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. You'll need a Standard 101/102-Key or Natural PS/2 Keyboard to use the shortcuts.

The GMail Help Center has well documentented the Keyboard Shortcuts.

A printable version of the same is available here.

Microsoft Robotics Studio

The Microsoft Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. Key features and benefits of the Microsoft Robotics Studio environment include: end-to-end Robotics Development Platform , lightweight services-oriented runtime, and a scalable and extensible platform.

Check the complete introduction here.

Check out the complete details at Microsoft Robotics Home Page.

Windows Vista - RC1 - now available for download

Windows Vista RC1 is available for participants of the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program. Please go to the Customer Preview Program website to register and receive a Product Key, which is required to install and activate the software.

Click Here for Download Information.

My friend VJ has put up Vista Pricing details in his recent post.

Meaning of English words in Pure Hindi

SQL Server - JOINS

Found a very stuff on SQL Server - Topics includes Aggregation, Joins, Scans and Seeks, Subqueries.

Check the Craig Freedman's Blog for details.

Celebrating Centenary of Vande Mataram - 07-Sep

Celebrating Centenary of Vande Mataram
The National song of India
-written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 07-Sep-1876.

वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
बहुबलधारिणीं नमामि तारिणीम्
रिपुदलवारिणीं मातरम्॥

WikiPedia Link

Happy birthday, Google Talk! (24-Aug-2006)

GTalk completes 1 year from its launch on 24-Aug. I noticed this on the GTalk Client Application Logo, which changed automatically.

More information at GTalk website.

Amazing Act

This is Fantastic. You absolutely MUST watch it!!!!!... See it again and again...

This video is from a TV show where people said, "Hey, I have talent!" and judges would decide if they did or did not. When this couple did their act, there was no question. Everyone was floored. The video is about two minutes and includes some snappy music. Also, it will look much clearer if you don't run it full screen. The bigger the picture the fuzzier it will look. They put on an incredible act.

Click Here for the Video.

Happy Ganesh Festival - 27-Aug-2006

Lord Ganesh (Mumbai folks

One of the most popular Gods in India, lord Ganesh or Ganpati is considered a symbol of wisdom and a bringer of good luck. It is said that his elephant head epitomises everything related to wisdom-small shrewd eyes, long ears that miss nothing, a long nose that can smell out anything fight and his vehicle, a mouse, reflects how much importance a wise man gives to the smallest of life forms. Shown at gateways and on doors, either by visuals or symbols, generally facing the rising sun in the east, Ganesh is revered across India as a great clearer of obstacles. Meetings, gatherings, weddings, functions and celebrations begin with a prayer of lord Ganesh and no new venture-be it a new company, a new house, a new shop is inaugurated without reciting a 'mantra' of lord Ganesh.

Ganesh is remembered on chauth or chaturthi, the 4th day of every month of the Hindu calendered, but most of all on Ganesh Chaturthi which is celebrated as his birthday. Ladoos are distributed on the day-by tradition ladoos were placed in different corners of the house and eaten before the meal. Milk is offered to idols of lord Ganesh at home and at temples, and Ganesh puja is performed at all temples and hi-house prayer rooms. Fasting, feasting and distribution of sweets offered to Lord Ganesh are important aspects of Ganesh chaturthi rituals in India. Hindus pray to images of Lord Ganesha, large and small, many of them made specially for the occasion by cottage industries and street side artisans, and those that do not wish to keep the idols alive by daily prayers, offerings and lighting oil lamps, immerse them in the nearest water body (all rivers, lakes and the sea which are sacred to Hindus).