Why MSN sucks and Google rocks?

Recently, I simply wanted to install latest version of Windows Live writer. Earlier, I had tried it and had dumped it in favor of TinyMCE because Windows Live Writer was producing errors while handling Unicode Hindi Text. Recently, I had read some favorable review from most of the quarters and wanted to give a try.

To get latest version of Windows Live Writer, I simply head to Microsoft’s Download center, and searched for the Key word – “Windows Live Writer”. I had deliberately kept to search in all section checked.

Windows Live writer is from Microsoft stable, and supposed to give you download link for latest version of Windows Live writer.

Instead, it simply gives me error message that it could not find keyword –“Windows Live Writer”. Whereas, Windows Live Writer is gaining ground and today, it is one of the best offline Blog writing tool. I tried MSN search, but I failed again. I tries various locations and search terms, but failed every time.

Finally, I turned to every one's favorite - Google. I used the same keyword –“ Windows Live Writer”, and voila – I got at least 3 working links that points to Windows Live Writer download in first 10 search result.

Way to go MSN. You simply failed to search your own popular content! Very bad. Indeed very bad! Me too, feeling bad about it!

PS – I had since been shifted to Windows Live Writer. It handles Unicode Hindi beautifully and blog publishing through it had become a child’s play. I wish, some day it had built in Hindi Spell check. Then I will completely dump my MS Word in favor of WLW. :)

How to work in Unicode Hindi at Cyber Café's Windows 98 PCs

Due to many unforeseen reasons, in India, almost all Cyber Café still use Windows 98 extensively.

By default, Windows 98 does not support Unicode Hindi. That is why, you simply cannot work with Unicode Hindi in Windows 98 without arranging some extra tools and applications - and that is real difficult for a user using Windows 98 computer at Cyber Café.

Now with some beautiful online Unicode Editing tool, you can work with Unicode Hindi in Windows 98 computers without much pain. Here is step by step guide for you to how to do this:

First step - Download this ready to install this Unicode Hindi Font from BBC Hindi site. This is free Unicode Hindi font provided by BBC Hindi. This file is in exe format, that you can install by double clicking on it. You can install this through your browser also - as described in this picture -

Now reboot your computer.

Your Windows 98 computer is ready to show you Unicode Hindi. If you browse any Hindi site such as this - then you can be able to see Hindi in your browser.

Now the Big question is - How to type in Unicode Hindi. This, again is very easy. Here is how -

Second Step - To type Unicode Hindi, you need to use Online Hindi Keyboard. Online keyboard are best and easiest way to type Unicode Hindi on Windows 98 computers at Cyber Café. You do not need to install any thing and no extra settings required.

There are many Online Hindi Keyboard available as of now, but online keyboards built by Raman Kaul are intuitive, really usable and best and easiest in my opinion. They work in most browser and do not need Java or Flash. More over, you can get FOUR keyboard options here - namely, Phonetic, Inscript, Shusha and Remington. You can get another online Hindi keyboard based on KrutiDev and Devlys fonts here that also works well which you can also use if you are fluent in these fonts.

Now you can use Hindi matter that you have typed in any of theses Online Hindi Keyboard. Just use copy and paste among different Browser windows .

Remember, you can use typed Unicode Hindi matter on Windows 98 only for online applications that supports Unicode - such as writing and publishing Blog, writing and publishing Comments on blog posts, Sending email and storing your documents online. If you try to save your contents in local Windows 98 PC with local, non-unicode compliant application,, then your data may get corrupt. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that use online storage facility and applications only in such situations.

Third Step (Optional) - At most Cyber Café, you will find only the default browser - Internet Explorer 5 that is supplied with Windows 98. This browser is old, obsolete, very insecure and does not have facility like tabbed browsing. To get advanced facilities and to secure your browsing, You must use either Opera or Firefox. You can download and install Firefox or Opera easily as these were about 5 MB in size and installs in Windows 98 computers without any hassle. Hindi may not look well in Opera or Firefox, but then it remain usable any how and are more secure too.

I have used theses methods to write this blog from a Windows 98 PC from a Cyber Café.

So, next time when you encounter with a PC with Windows 98 whether at Cyber Café or at your friend's place, please do not make gestures and simply follow these steps to read and write Unicode Hindi.

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(picture courtesy : BBC Hindi)

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I have all the joost invite

Joost™ the best of tv and the internet


Want to try out Joost - the ultimate TV experience on your PC?

I have all the invitation with me! So, if you want one, just mail me or leave your email address as comment.

Here is the mail I received from Joost which I want to share with you:

Subject: Now you can invite all your friends to Joost

Hello Ravishankar,

We hope you're enjoying your Joost experience.

We'd like to share some good news and celebrate the launch of the new Joost beta - Now For Friends. This means you can now invite as many friends as you want to try out Joost. To access your invites, log onto Joost, go to My Joost and fill in your friends' details in the Invite Friends widget box.

If you're running out of friends, you can make new ones by letting people know you've got invites. To help with this, we've made a few goodies especially for you, which you can find at http://www.joost.com/share/goodies.html.

Last but not least, we invite you to enjoy the variety of new shows we're introducing each week. This week we bring you a host of new channels from Universal Music, great science fiction like Earth Final Conflict, and Creature Comforts from Aardman Animations.

We've also got swimsuit models and snowboarders, anime and animals, and much more. But that's just the beginning. Each week we'll launch new channels - making sure you can watch what you want, when you want. So stay tuned...

If you've got any questions, feel free to check out our forum http://www.joost.com/forums, and don't forget to send us feedback on what you like and things we could improve.

Enjoy, and see you on Joost!


The Joost Team


Obviously, I now have all the Joost invitations with me. You can mail me or leave your e-mail address as comment if you want one.

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Joost's greatest joke!

Joost - the new kid on Internet - that is all set to redefine your habbit of viewing telivision had played a game on me.



In fact, it played a joke on me.



Today, when I tried to view some TV through Joost, it asked me to upgrade to a newer version of Joost, which I obediently followed.



After a few screen, what I saw was un-expected. It was a practical joke! You can see it yourself. This is the screenshot of the practical joke Joost played on me!




It says-



We have detected that your PC may not have enough resources to run Joost(tm) correctly.



..........................MINIMUM ..................YOUR PC



CPU.........................500 MHZ ...........................2994 MHZ



RAM........................ 512 MB............................... 1007 MB



VIDEO .....................48 MB ..................................64 MB

MEMORY



WINDOWS .................XP ........................................VISTA

VERSION



DIRECTX ....................9.0C .......................................9.0C
VERSION


Obviously, my PC has MORE resources than Joost had detected, yet it said exactly opposite. Yet, it is another matter that Joost runs flawlessly after ignoring this message. :)

Apple Safari can't display Unicode Hindi font either!


(Above screenshot courtesy - Apple Safari)


The best and fastest Browser till today in the world - Apple's Safari is useless for Unicode Hindi pages like this .

It simply does not display Unicode Hindi font correctly. It simply fail to render Unicode Hindi font properly.

(Above Display : by Safari)


(Above display by Opera)


Come on, Safari, you may be the fastest and the best among browser. But, until you weed out this bug, you will remain useless for us.

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Welcome to the world of Online Desktop

You install and manage applications in your PC, decorate your desktop with themes and wallpapers. But it remains confined with your PC. Even in case of your Laptop, it remains with your particular Laptop - and you have to carry it everywhere to use it.

Well, there were some online services available now that can provide you Desktop like environment (some call it WebOS) through a web browser - with applications and storage spaces - that you can customize and access anytime from any computer and from any where in the world!

Two such popular online applications - ajaxWindows and Desktoptwo

are review here.

You need to register and create an account for using these services. Registration to both is simple process, but require a valid e-mail ID.

ajaxWindows looks and feels just like your own PC's desktop or mobile PC. It has a start button, a task bar, a desktop, icons, programs, widgets, a control panel and a file browser. The ajaxWindows works within a browser and it looks as your regular PC, but, with one BIG difference - everything is online! And the best part is you can access your ajaxWindows Desktop from anywhere, and from any computer with an Internet connection. ajaxWindows lets you have your files, your bookmarks, your documents and pictures, your music, everything you need to get some work done or have fun on a PC!

ajaxWindows, lets you do these and many more:

  • Run web applications - for example, you can write document, create graphics or make presentation with applications such as ajaxWrite, ajaxSketch and ajaxPresent.
  • Launch widgets
  • Browse to your favorite web sites
  • Listen and organize your own music through mp3 music player
  • Personalize your desktop with your favorite wallpapers, sounds and bookmarks
  • Make free phone calls to your friends or coworkers
  • Create a slide show with your pictures
  • Instant Message
  • You can store your documents, pictures, music and other files (up to 1 Gigabyte) for FREE

In ajaxWindows personalizing your desktop is real easy. ajaxWindows has an easy to use control panel where you can change and configure your wallpaper or themes to your own likings. There were several background images to choose from, or you can add your own. ajaxWindows supports full drag and drop hence you can place your icons where ever you want them, and move widgets and windows to where ever you think they need to be.

You can also add widgets and other web services and applications in ajaxWindows Desktop. For this, either go to [Start] -> Add Widgets or [Start]->Add Programs, or double click on the Add Widgets or Add Program icons on your ajaxWindows desktop.

You can synchronize your document folder from your PC to ajaxWindows Desktop. Upon first login, you will be asked if you want to copy your documents, pictures, music, wallpapers, bookmarks and more from your local PC to be stored in your personal ajaxWindows space. ajaxWindows provide 1GB free storage space. That you can enhance for an annual fee.

In actual usage condition ajaxWindows simply failed to work with Opera browser. Though it worked in Firefox with some hiccups. It worked well in Internet Explorer. However, the online document editor - ajaxWrite was terribly slow and not worth trying. It simply does not worked in either Opera or Firefox.

*********

Desktoptwo is also a free web-based desktop that mimics the look, feel and functionality of a local computer, all contained within one browser window and fully accessible from any Internet-connected device.

Desktoptwo works as your free mobile home on the Internet with all of your personal information, programs and applications in one easy-to-use, feature-rich location and, because all you need is a web browser to access your account, even the simplest web device (whether yours or someone else's such as cyber café's PCs) can become your personal space.

What's more... no local installation of anything is require means that Desktoptwo leaves no trace behind, that is why Desktoptwo says that "wherever you go, whatever you do, you can bring your desktop too."

Desktoptwo also provide you 1 GB free online storage where you can store your files. 3MB MP3 file was uploaded and played it with its built in mp3 player. The experience was marvelous and trouble free.

Desktoptwo provides you OpenOffice 2 as your document creator. Due to this, the online document creation become sluggish. However, OpenOffice 2 is a full fledged Office suite where you can create word/Excel/presentation online.

Similar to ajaxDesktop, Desktoptwo also have many online program built in, and are really useful.

Some day, it appears - we will completely rip off our PC/Laptop with local program and only use Online Application/Desktop.

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Blogger in Draft - Rain of features in Blogger!



Blogger in Draft - Blogger going feature rich!

We may expect torrential rain of features in Blogger some time soon. Or, at least, it seems. Google Blogger had started embedding all kinds of web application and web services in its blogging platform - Blogger. There is a buzz about an all new Blogger in Draft - available to select few early adopters for test purpose.

Blogger in Draft - appears as beta release of an all new Blogger. In Blogger-in- Draft, you can login with your existing Blogger account for test post. Blogger in Draft has an all new feature - you can directly upload your video on your blog post. There is a Video Upload button similar to picture upload button you see while publishing a new post. With this button, you can directly upload a video and publish it in your Blogger Blog without the need of services like YouTube or Blinks.

The video upload test failed in Opera Browser. In Firefox, initially some error occurs but finally I was able to upload the video. The rate of upload was very slow. And it appears that the problem was not with the network. 30 seconds video of about 17 MB had taken more than 30 minutes to upload.

Presently, as it is available only for test purpose, we may hope that everything will be looked upon before its final release. There were Digital camera and Digital Cam-carder embedded in every gadgets now-a-days, it can safely be speculated that in future, more than half the blog posts may contain some kind of Video content in it. And, that is why in-built video upload facility was the need of the hour.

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How to access Windows Vista partitions without a Password

How to login and access Windows Vista partitions without the need of any Password

Well, you can access not only Windows Vista, but all kinds of Windows Hard Drive without a Password and that too with full Administrator level access.

For this, all you need is Windows Vista installer DVD.

Here is step by step guide for you:

Step 1

Put your Windows Vista Installer DVD in to your PC's DVD drive and Boot your PC through Windows Vista installer DVD.

Select Repair Your Computer Option.

Step 2

Further, Select Command Prompt option.

Instantly, you will be logged in to your computer with full administrative control without any password.

So, if you have real concern about security, PLEASE do not fail to Physically Lock your PC!

Further Details and pictures courtesy - Fsecure Weblog

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World's Bottom 5 Products


There were 5 funny videos from CNET TV which tells you about worst 5 products in 5 different categories.

And, They are:

Top 5 Apple flops:

5 - Apple 3

4- Newton

3- John Scully

2- G4 Cube

1 - Puck Mouse

Top 5 crapware apps

5- Store brand utilities

4- Trial ware Quicken

3- Toolbars on Browsers

2- ISPs

1- Antivirus

Top 5 worst download of 2007

5- Healing Stress

4- Driving

3- Soda Tracker

2- Harold search network YouTube browser

1- USA green card lottery simulator

Top 5 Most embarrassing Gadgets

5- Third Generation iPod

4- PDA

3- Spot Watch

2- Original Nokia N-Gage

1- Over Size cell phone head set

Top 5 worst product of the decade

5- Furby

4- Pocket Mail

3- DigiScent iSmell

2- CueCat

1- Microsoft BoB

And, what are the top 5 product in the respective category?

For that, and the reason why these were rated as best or worst product, watch the respective video by clicking these links:

CNET TV: Top 5 bottom 5s

But, at least this I can tell you - according to CNET TV, the best top 5 product in a decade are-

1 iPod

2 TiVo

3 Google

4 Napster

5 Firefox.

What do you say? Do you agree? Or, do you maintain a different list?

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