Invisible character

Do you have something that requires a name but you don't want anything in it? You could just throw nonsense in there, but a blank space would be best. Well, guess what? There is an invisible character! This special character is the equivalent of a space:

Hold down Alt then type 0160 (Alt+0160) on the number keypad at the right side of your keyboard.

Application onto desktop shortcuts:

Type in our invisible character code (Alt+0160). There you go—an icon with no label.



Keep in mind that if you want to do this to other shortcuts you can't have the same name, so just type the code more than once. That means that for the first shortcut you type Alt+0160 release the Alt key then type Alt+0160 again. For the third icon do it three times, etc.

Lock Computer Shortcut

Create Shortcut with following value

rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation for Windows OS.


Clicking on it would lock the computer straight

How can your Gmail get hacked!

Here is an interesting finding on how a person without knowing your password can hack into your Gmail account and create filters. Creating filters will imply least, deleting mails and forwarding mails to his/her personal accounts.

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/3754807.cms

Google is investigating into the matter.

Name tagging in Picasa - exists, does not exist

 Whenever one goes from Gmail to Picasa web using the photos link present at the top of Gmail, it takes us to the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/home?tab=mq.

This link would not show option for Tagging faces. The correct link is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/home

This is the new correct link for picasaweb after addition of Name Tags, which is not updated in Gmail. Someone from Gmail listening?

Transition your PDF into a slideshow

Excerpted from “Adobe Acrobat 7 in the Office.”


Do you have an Adobe® PDF file that you’d like to use as a presentation piece, but you think it needs a little something extra to perk it up? It’s easy to transition your PDF file into a riveting slideshow. Just add page transitions in Adobe Acrobat® 7.0, and then set the PDF file to run as a slideshow.

Get started

You can add transitions in Acrobat and configure them according to how your document is designed. For example, you can specify that the pages turn auto-matically or in response to a mouse click. In our example, the pages will turn in response to a mouse click.

Add transitions

Adding transitions gives you the option of showing the presentation using the Full Screen view, as well as a more interesting way to change pages.
Follow these steps to add the transitions:

1. Choose Document > Set Page Transitions to open the Page Transition dialog.
   
2. Click the Effect pull-down arrow in the Page Transition area and choose an option from the list. For this project, we’ve chosen the Wipe Down effect (Figure 1). If you prefer, you can choose from numerous other effects, including box in/box out options, other wipes, fades, blinds, cover/uncover effects, and so on.
   
   
   
   Figure 1: Select the transition you’ll use in the presentation from the pull-down list.
3. Select the page range to apply the effects to. The default applies the transition to all pages (Figure 2).
   
4. Click OK to close the dialog and add the transitions to the page.
   You can’t see the transitions in the program window. Use the Full Screen view to test the project’s effects.
   
   
   
   Figure 2: Specify the speed of the transition and whether you want the pages to turn automatically in the dialog.

View the slideshow

Now that you’ve added transitions to your slideshow, you should test the results. Acrobat 7.0 includes an option that lets you show just the content of a document against a solid background. Removing the program’s interface allows you (and your viewers) to concentrate on the content rather than being distracted by the sur-rounding toolbars, menus, and other program items.
Follow these steps to view and run the slideshow:

1. Display the first page of the document in the Document pane.
   
2. Click the Full Screen view icon on the Status bar at the bottom left of the program window. The program interface is now removed from the screen, and the page is shown against a black background.
   
3. Click the left mouse button to advance through the slides/pages.
   
4. Press the Esc key to return to the regular program interface.
   

Excerpted from “Adobe Acrobat 7 in the Office.”
Here is the site

Themes in Gmail "No posts?"

After long time uh? yeah...there is a reason.

Before that, Gmail has introduced themes. We can see a trend in what Google is doing. It is getting all its ideas from each different product to every product...This way, there are working in getting each thing into everything, but working separately. It has its own advantages. If one is interested in any one Google service, he is given an option to choose others. Like if one likes GMail, he is given an option to get GDocs, GCalendar, etc. into Gmail without going out of it.

An Alternative

They can create an application, a service with all its features available. When one first logs in, that person is asked to choose what all features he wants, and also choose what is their primary focus. Mind you, its different from iGoogle. Products only from Google's services, not any gadget available. Though adding gadgets can be next stage (like G*Gadgets in Gmail Labs). This way, depending on the preferences given by the user, one will get a different product. Few of the features can be default depending on the focus chosen. If Mail is the primary focus, then Gmail comes up, alongwith the other default features associated with this service. This way, if Blogger is part of the services chosen along with Gmail, then same labels will work for the posts, as well as the mails. A Tab differentiating two can be enough to help us out :)

This way, their addition of any one new feature is automatically available for all the services, than G working separately for each of its service for integration.

Back to topic


Wondering why there have been no new posts here? Its because, most of the search is related to G. So, now I read them in GReader and share on my public page. This way, there is no need to re-enter the data, unless there is something which is not shared on GReader, or discovered newly.

So, any new stuf, find will keep coming here, but G-stuff on GReader please...Thus, I am eagerly awaiting a completely integrated app from G...so that there is no anamoly, discrepancy or duplication of data of one individual user. Integration of Orkut, Reader, Blog, Mail, Groups, V-Talk, Analytics, Gadgets, (better) Calendar, Docs, Picasa, YouTube, Notebook, Web history = GService. Challenge here would be the UI, but with high-end engineers sitting there, I am sure, this would be a challenge worth taking than working with the routine UIs

Conversations & Events

Following the lead from Facebook, Orkut added a feature called 'View Conversation' within scrapbook. This is equivalent of Wall-to-Wall option in Facebook. 'Conversation' being the patronized word of Google (starting with Gmail), it suited well.

Recently, they added to Orkut a feature called 'Events'. It appears below one's profile picture, in the list of 'opportunities' available. Out of curiosity, went through it. First thought, on seeing that word, was 'Google Calendar' has been integrated with Orkut (as Google Talk has been integrated with Orkut; GDocs, GCal, G*Gadgets have been optionally integrated with Gmail). But, it lead to a disappointment. It is not yet been integrated. Integration being the basis of all Google products, it is a easily guessed future.

Went through this post on a confidential meeting in Google headquarters, where they discussed, in the words of the post, if Facebook is 98% open, Google wants to be 100%. This post makes a very interesting statement, which now looks very very likely. Integration of not just Google services, but also of third party applications, like Beebo, Friendster, Digg, etc. with its social graph data layer from Orkut.

Blogging: a fashion

Thought Blogging was picking up as a philosophical, intellectual pathway towards sharing data, thoughts freely only among the self-professed gypsies? We now have Bollywood stardom finding no better thing than getting in touch with their 'fans' through this electronic medium, probably they realized acting required more effort than blogging!

Amitabh Bachan (BigAdda)
Aamir Khan (Blogger)
Salman Khan (Blogger)
Karan Johar: This is a website: My name is Karan

They have made it interactive. They promise responding personally, to a large extent. Infact Aamir, based on the response given at the blog, included one song in the movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, which was earlier omitted, inspite of AR suggesting its presence in the film. Thats a good response and gives a reason for one to interact with them, thus keeping it lively.

p.s: Trouble finding these blogs was, there were so many, so many people mentioned these at their blogs, in news reports, but failed giving these links. This lead to popularity of these subsidised blogs, websites, news reports than the actual blog. Infact, I am yet to get the official blog of Shah Rukh Khan, which exists!

ID3 Tags

As my new system is getting ready for heavy burdening of the space it professes to bear, be it visuals or audio files, there was a need for classification of songs into their respective genres for easier retrieval. This lead to study on ID3 tags, finally.

What are ID3 tags?
ID3 stands for 'IDentify an MP3'. It is associated with MP3 format files to add 'textual / graphical' information. It contains metadata like name of the artist, track title, album, lyrics, year, track number and genre in the file, allowing that information to travel with the file. Here is the official Home page of ID3.

When it first came out, ID3v1, it had multiple limitations, few being, appearance of this data (tags) only at the end of the song, having 128-byte fixed size. Owing to these, there was an immediate need to come out with ID3v2 which became popular, and also was more useful.

Windows gives an option to edit these tags, but it is restricted. It allows certain fields sometimes, and many times not. So, there was a need for exclusive software to help in this front.

If any of you are thinking of adding up 'metadata' to your song's list, which goes into GBs then there are softwares that are available for simultaneous editing of multiple mp3 files. A few listed below:

STamp ID3-Tag Editor
ID3-TagIT

p.s: For all those who are interested in knowing some jargons in the field of audio editing, here is a short glossary.

Google Photos Screensaver

This is part of Google Pack. Years back, when I first downloaded Google Pack, there was a option to choose products from the pack which one wants to download. But today when I revisit, astonishingly there is no way one can choose which to download and which ones not.



Google Photos Screensaver is one such service which I wanted to download standalone. Here is the link to do so without downloading Google Pack :)



Google Reader Update:





There are few things that are hidden in Google Reader. There is, currently, no interface to view them. Below the links to reveal the insights. Picked up from here.





* All the posts you've emailed to your contacts:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-emailed



* All the posts you have marked as unread at some point (to keep a post unread, you need to uncheck "Mark as read" from the options bar; note that "Mark all as unread" will not maintain this state):

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-kept-unread



* All the posts you have marked as unread and are still unread (Google Reader calls them "saved items"):

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/kept-unread



* Did you click on a post's main link to go to the original location? You'll find it here:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-item-link-used



* Did you click on a link from a post's content? The post should be included in this list:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-body-link-used



* If you use the list view, you can find the list of posts you've actually read (or at least you have clicked on the title):

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/read



* Are Google's recommended feeds interesting? Check the list of recommended feeds you've subscribed to:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/recommendations-subscribed



* Did you accidentally dismiss a recommended feed? You'll find it here:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/recommendations-dismissed

GAndroid & 3d Desktop

Google Android

A detailed review on Google Android is given here, by an avid iPhone user. His comments sound very honest and unpartial. A very informative read.

3D Desktop

Now this is something which will get one on toes - 3D Desktop, with features to literally stick, hang the sticky notes on walls!!! Bump-top is the name. Its currently only on invitation basis, worth listing our name for a copy. An article here.