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Archive for the ‘Tips N Tricks’ Category

Install Windows 7 Beta from a USB Thumb Drive

In HowTo, Microsoft, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on February 2, 2009 at 3:42 pm

As the form factor of the laptops (read NetBooks) reduces in size it comes with certain drawbacks. One of the most prominent is the lack of an optical drive, for example, CD or DVD Drive. Of course, you can plug-in an external optical drive but that’s certainly an inconvenience. Instead why not make use of the USB ports that comes with those slim-line notebooks (NetBooks) and install software using, let’s say, an USB Thumb Drive.

Read from this detailed article at DemoGeek.com to learn how to prepare a USB Thumb Drive to install Windows 7 Beta from an USB Thumb Drive. It’s a 10 step process but the steps are pretty simple and well explained.

Use Windows Vista’s Parental Controls to keep track of your kids computer activities

In HowTo, Microsoft, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on January 14, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Windows Vista has implemented the Parental Controls the right way and it makes it so easy to configure parental controls to keep an eye on your kids’ computer activities. The list of things that you can keep track of ranges from the type of programs that your kids are allowed to run on a computer, the websites that your kids are allowed to visit and time limits so that your kid can only use the computer on certain times.

Read from this article at DemoGeek.com on how to make use of Windows Vista’s Parental Controls to keep track of your kids’ computer activities.

Print only what you want with HP Smart Web Printing

In Browser, Download, HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Tools on January 7, 2009 at 11:38 pm

You should read this article at DemoGeek.com to know about a fantastic tool that helps you save the environment by reducing the paper usage by printing only what you want on a webpage. HP Smart Web Printing tool is a simple tool that plugs into Internet Explorer or Firefox and helps you print what you want on a webpage rather than the whole web page itself.

Completely turn off UAC in Windows Vista

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on January 2, 2009 at 11:55 pm

We all agree that UAC is good and bad. Good in terms of security and bad in terms of usability. If you are the only user of your computer and if you know what you are doing with your computer then you should read this article on how to turn off UAC in Windows Vista. It is a simple trick and well explained at DemoGeek.com.

A simple trick to speed up Firefox

In Browser, HowTo, IT, Technical, Tips N Tricks on December 28, 2008 at 6:18 pm

If you have a high speed internet connection why not make use of it to the max to get a better performance when you browse using Firefox. Follow these simple steps at DemoGeek.com to speed up Firefox.

Extend your Windows Vista laptop battery life with Vista Battery Saver

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Windows Vista on December 22, 2008 at 10:54 pm

Learn from this article on how to automatically turn off the power-consuming features of Windows Vista to conserve on your laptop’s battery power.

Fix your Windows Time issues with this simple fix

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on December 22, 2008 at 1:51 am

If your Windows Vista’s system time is not correct or having issues with adjusting your system time automatically to Daylight Savings Time (DST) then you should read this well explained article at DemoGeek.com on how to switch your Windows Time providers in Windows Vista to fix some of your Windows Time issues.

 

Make your web sites available in different languages using Google Translate Gadget

In Google, HowTo, IT, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Web 2.0 on December 22, 2008 at 1:26 am

If you have a blog or a website then it would be nice thing to have the ability for your readers to translate your website into their own language. You don’t have to create different versions of your website to provide your readers with a way to read your website in the language of their choice.

DemoGeek.com has a well explained article on how to translate your website or blog to different languages using Google Translate Gadget.

It is definitely worth a read.

Manage your emails better with Gmail’s Superstars

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Web 2.0 on December 12, 2008 at 1:10 am

Ever felt the need to manage your emails better? If you are using Gmail then you should read this article on how to better manage your emails. A nice and simple trick to make use of that really pays off when it comes to email management using Gmail.

Get things done on your computer with your own voice

In HowTo, Microsoft, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on December 5, 2008 at 10:25 pm

Have your handful and wanted to get things done on your computer? If you run Windows Vista there is a simple way to control your computer with your own voice. It’s a very interesting read and explained well in detail.

Improve your internet browsing speed with this simple Windows trick

In HowTo, Technical, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista, Windows XP on November 22, 2008 at 10:24 am

If you’ve ever felt that your internet connection is slow even though you have a high-speed internet connection? Even if you think you are browsing the internet on high speed you might want to read this article on how to make a simple change to Windows to get a faster and safer internet browsing experience and make this little change to your Windows machine to get amazing speeds when you browse.

I’ve tried this trick and I could really feel the difference. Give it a try and let us know in comments.

How to make a simple change to Windows to get a faster and safer internet browsing experience

Bring your Google Calendar agenda to your Gmail sidebar

In Google, HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Web 2.0 on November 18, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Clean up dead links on your Internet Explorer or Firefox Bookmarks

In Browser, HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Windows Vista, Windows XP on November 15, 2008 at 1:18 pm

Have a long list of bookmarks on your browser and don’t know how to simply cleanup those bookmarks that are not working anymore? Follow this detailed article at DemoGeek.com to learn more on how to simply cleanup dead links on your Internet Explorer or Firefox Bookmarks. This is a definite must read which will come-in handy when you are struggling with your long list of bookmarks.

Read more on how to simply cleanup dead links on your Internet Explorer or Firefox Bookmarks.

Enhance your Internet Explorer 7 browsing experience with IE7Pro add-on

In Browser, HowTo, Misc, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Windows Vista, Windows XP on November 7, 2008 at 12:36 am

DemoGeek.com has another great article on how to enhance your Internet Explorer browsing experience with IE7Pro add-on. IE7Pro is an add-on that you can download and install and it brings an experience that Firefox users enjoy with their extendable browser. Even if not as expandable and as feature rich as Firefox’s extensions are, IE7Pro does bring in some enhancements to the browsing experience with IE7.

Another well-explained article from DemoGeek.com that you should read.

Install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP

In Browser, HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows XP on November 5, 2008 at 1:56 am

How do I install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on my Windows XP machine? Look no further than this detailed article on DemoGeek.com on how to install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP machine.

PDC 2008 Windows 7 theme for Windows Vista

In HowTo, Themes, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on November 3, 2008 at 9:13 pm

Enable or Disable Windows Vista’s Aero effect with a simple right click

In HowTo, Technical, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista on November 1, 2008 at 1:23 am

DemoGeek.com has an in-depth and interesting article on how to add a right click menu shortcut to turn on or off Windows Vista’s Aero effect. The article is in-depth in detail and has a lot of screenshots to explain the concept better. It’s an interesting hack for Windows Vista.

Read the full article on how to add a right click menu shortcut to turn on or off Windows Vista’s Aero effect.

Install and use custom themes in Windows Vista – the easy way

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista, Windows XP on October 28, 2008 at 12:05 am

If you ever wanted to change the look and feel of Windows Vista you know that it’s not possible to customize Windows Vista’s themes unless you patch Windows Vista to enable custom themes.

DemoGeek.com has an in-depth article on how to patch Windows Vista to allow custom themes. It’s very detailed and has screenshots to explain the steps better.

How to restore Windows Registry

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista, Windows XP on October 27, 2008 at 11:56 pm

DemoGeek.com has a nice article on how to restore Windows Registry from an earlier backup. Earlier on DemoGeek.com there was an article on how to backup the Windows Registry now they have put out an article on how to restore the backed up registry.

Check out the detailed article on how to restore Windows Registry at DemoGeek.com.

How to hide icons in Windows System Tray

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows Vista, Windows XP on October 24, 2008 at 11:56 am

DemoGeek.com has a great article on how to hide icons on the Windows System Tray. There are detailed explanation of screenshots along with a more detailed explanation with screencasts.

Check out how to hide icons on the Windows System Tray.

How to disable error reporting in Windows XP?

In HowTo, Tips N Tricks, Windows XP on October 24, 2008 at 11:55 am

DemoGeek.com has a great article on how to disable the awful error reporting dialog in Windows XP. There are detailed explanation of screenshots along with a more detailed explanation with screencasts.

Check out how to disable error reporting on Windows XP.

ZYB: Online Mobile Phone Contact Backup Service

In Gadgets, General, HowTo, Misc, Personal, Tips N Tricks, Tools on July 22, 2007 at 6:36 pm

zyb

I just tried ZYB, the online mobile phone contact backup service and I’ve to tell ya, it is simply a great tool to make sure your cell phone numbers are safely backed up somewhere online. I always was concerned of losing my cell phone or having it not startup on a fine day. One day I happen to drop my cell phone in the rain and it wouldn’t start up after that and I still remember the moment when I was literally trying my best to make sure I get my contacts written somewhere safe. Fortunate for me that I got my cell phone back up and running without that many hassles but that taught me a good lesson and importance of keeping a backup of my cell phone contacts.

When I heard of ZYB providing the same service of what I was looking for, I thought of giving it a try. Truly it was a seamless effort to back up my cell phone contacts. Even though the web site was a bit slow in terms of performance it was simple enough to have my RAZR contacts backed up with few simple steps that ZYB will guide you thru.

One great service that I would recommend you to try.

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Get your @Live addresses while they lost

In General, HowTo, Microsoft, Misc, Tips N Tricks, Web 2.0 on July 19, 2007 at 7:04 pm

Windows Live Hotmail

To me @Live addresses are cool even though I like Gmail interface and email handling a lot better than Hotmail. It is short and sweet and stands out. When Microsoft announced that it will open up the @Live addresses I was excited. But then the news faded and there was no word for a while. In the mean time our unofficial hackers came up with a hack that will let us get @Live addresses (unofficially) by changing few parameters in the browser URL.

Here is how you do it,

  1. Visit the Windows Live Hotmail subscription page
  2. Click the “Get it free” button 
  3. When the new page comes up, in the address bar, replace “hmnewuser.aspx” with “newuser.aspx”
  4. Locate and delete “&hm=1″ from the same address bar
  5. Hit enter, and when the page reloads it will let you create @live addresses

Enjoy!!! And make sure to get your @live addresses as soon as you can as this hack might not work forever.

Mapplets: Google Map Gadgets

In Breaking News, General, Google, Misc, News, Technical, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Web 2.0 on July 11, 2007 at 1:08 pm

Google just released a new feature to its Google Maps called Mapplets. Mapplets are simple/small gadgets that can be embedded into the Google Maps. Mapplets can be found under “My Maps” if you are signed-in to Google network. There are bunch of Mapplets that Google has put out to begin with including, Real Estate Search, Photos, Gas Prices, Distance Measurement Tool, Earth as Art, and Crop Circles. But when you click the “Add Content” button you get a much bigger list of all the available Mapplets and I’m sure if you don’t find the one you are looking for it would be available soon.

To check out Google Mapplets you would, obviously, have to visit Google Maps.

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Folders4Gmail: Create nested labels in Gmail

In General, Google, HowTo, Misc, Tips N Tricks, Tools on July 11, 2007 at 10:27 am

As you know Labels are so convenient in Gmail to deal with the huge volume of emails. Depends on who you are it could get cluttered with so many different labels defined to handle different contexts. Folders4Gmail is a cool solution to this issue. This Greasemonkey script lets you structure the labels like folders with nested labels that could make it easy to handle the plethora of labels that you might end up with.

You can create the nested look by inserting “\” into the label name. So to create the “Middle” folder as shown in the screenshot, you need to create two labels, one with the name “Top Level” and a second with the name “Top Level\Middle.” Once you do that the script will sense the “\” and will nest the “Middle” label under “Top Level”.

Folders4Gmail is a free download for Firefox with the Greasemonkey extension. You can download the script from here.


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Bust A Name – Your domain name finder

In HowTo, Misc, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Web 2.0 on July 10, 2007 at 4:01 pm

Most of us run into this minor ache of coming up with the domain name that’s available. Often we try multiple times to see if the domain name is available or not to mostly end up with an irritating “domain unavailable” message. “Bust a Name” gives you a hand on this issue to help you come up with a combination of domain names based on some keywords and to check and see if those domains are available. By default it checks for .com, .net and .org which is pretty handy.

Take a look at this cool service from here.


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Google Voice Local Search

In General, Google, HowTo, Misc, News, Tips N Tricks, Tools on April 6, 2007 at 8:48 pm

If you are on the road or at a place where you don’t have internet access but you carried your phone with you and want to find a business to the locality, you’ve got a solution now. GOOG-411 from Google helps you find businesses based on city, state or category. Even it connects you to the phone number listed for that business.

Try it out.

PS: Keep in mind that it’s still in experimental state.

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8 things you must do if your identity is stolen

In General, HowTo, Misc, Personal, Tips N Tricks on February 15, 2007 at 11:10 am

Credit Score Tips and Advice blog has 8 important things you should do if your identity is stolen. We all hope that it should never happen that identity gets stolen but if you are plan for the worst you should read this and keep these points in mind. It even has the contact details for the 3 major credit reporting services. 

Here are the points at a glance,

  • Call one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion)
  • New accounts
  • Inform the creditors
  • Contact your local police
  • File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
  • Change all of the passwords that you use online
  • Driver’s license
  • Keep records

For the full article, click here.

Why do we have bad breath in the morning?

In General, Health, Misc, Personal, Tips N Tricks on February 7, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Science guru Bill Nye explains that the flow of saliva slows down during sleep. As a result, mouths don’t get the same level of oxygen as they do while we’re active. This allows anaerobic bacteria, which don’t need oxygen, to thrive. “The waste products from these bacteria often contain sulfur — and those compounds of sulfur are what we smell.”

Onions are also nasty culprits of this type of bad breath because they contain sulfur. So limit your raw onion snacking habits, and you’re ahead of the game.

According to BreezeCare, there are additional causes for morning breath. Mucus in your nose can thicken while you sleep, and your tongue falls to the back of your throat — both of which provide welcome environments for anaerobic bacteria.

Treatments for bad breath abound, however the two common solutions are to brush your tongue to remove excess plaque, and the use of an antimicrobial mouthwash. Good luck, and may your breath be as fresh as a Tic Tac.

Source

Milk is a Skin Miracle

In General, Health, HowTo, Misc, Tips N Tricks on February 1, 2007 at 12:26 pm

Here is a natural resource that makes your skin look soft and beautiful. And it doesn’t cost you a fortune. Yahoo Food reports this and so many people have commented saying that they’ve tried this and it works great.

If Cleopatra indulged in all the beauty treatments attributed to her, she wouldn’t have had time to rule her empire, seduce Mark Antony, or learn Egyptian. But a girl’s gotta bathe, so the one skin-smoother she probably did rely on-milk baths-no doubt helped her bring Caesar and Mark to heel. Did Cleo know something we’ve forgotten? Actually, yes.

“Milk is a super soother for chapping, windburn, sunburn, eczema, and other skin irritations,” says New York dermatologist Amy Wechsler, MD. “It contains proteins (whey and casein), fat, amino acids, lactic acid, and vitamins A and D, all of which calm dry, upset skin.”

Dr. Wechsler suggests applying compresses dipped in cool milk for irritations like sunburn and eczema. But be sure to use whole milk; skim won’t do because it doesn’t contain fat, one of milk’s most soothing components. If compresses aren’t practical-say, you’ve managed to broil the backs of your legs on a beach getaway-a milk bath will give you some relief: Add 2 to 4 cups to a warm (not hot) tub and soak for 20 minutes. You can use powdered whole milk too. Sprinkle the amount of powder needed to make a quart of milk under the faucet as the water flows out.

Milky baths also soften skin, according to Wechsler. Milk’s lactic acid weakens the “glue” that lets dead, ready-to-be-shed cells stick to the skin’s surface, making it look dull and dry. Soak for 15 minutes, then give your body a gentle neck-to-toe scrubdown with a bath brush, loofah, or washcloth. This will slough off those dead cells, leaving skin smoother and softer.

Not quite sure about pouring a quart of milk into the tub? The beauty people have visited the dairy too. For instance, Fresh Milk Formula Bath Foam ($35 for 15.8 oz at www.sephora.com) contains milk as well as shea butter and glycerine. But if your skin is very irritated or totally winter-whipped, says Wechsler, try the real thing. It should leave your whole body feeling creamy.

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Top 10 Foods for a Good Night’s Sleep

In General, Health, HowTo, Misc, Tips N Tricks on February 1, 2007 at 12:18 pm

Everyone loves to have a good night sleep. But these days, with the kind of stress everyone is into, we all know that’s kind of a hard thing to get a good night’s sleep. Yahoo Food suggests these 10 foods for a good night’s sleep. Take a look.

Bananas. They’re practically a sleeping pill in a peel. In addition to a bit of soothing melatonin and serotonin, bananas contain magnesium, a muscle relaxant.

Chamomile tea. The reason chamomile is such a staple of bedtime tea blends is its mild sedating effect – it’s the perfect natural antidote for restless minds/bodies.

Warm milk. It’s not a myth. Milk has some tryptophan – an amino acid that has a sedative – like effect – and calcium, which helps the brain use tryptophan. Plus there’s the psychological throw-back to infancy, when a warm bottle meant “relax, everything’s fine.”

Honey. Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that’s linked to alertness.

Potatoes. A small baked spud won’t overwhelm your GI tract, and it clears away acids that can interfere with yawn-inducing tryptophan. To up the soothing effects, mash it with warm milk.

Oatmeal. Oats are a rich source of sleep – inviting melatonin, and a small bowl of warm cereal with a splash of maple syrup is cozy – plus if you’ve got the munchies, it’s filling too.

Almonds. A handful of these heart-healthy nuts can be snooze-inducing, as they contain both tryptophan and a nice dose of muscle-relaxing magnesium.

Flaxseeds. When life goes awry and feeling down is keeping you up, try sprinkling 2 tablespoons of these healthy little seeds on your bedtime oatmeal. They’re rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a natural mood lifter.

Whole-wheat bread. A slice of toast with your tea and honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin and quietly murmurs “time to sleep.”

Turkey. It’s the most famous source of tryptophan, credited with all those Thanksgiving naps. But that’s actually modern folklore. Tryptophan works when your stomach’s basically empty, not overstuffed, and when there are some carbs around, not tons of protein. But put a lean slice or two on some whole-wheat bread mid-evening, and you’ve got one of the best sleep inducers in your kitchen.

Try some of these and see if you can get those 8 hours sleepfully.

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10 avoidable IT interview flubs

In General, IT, Misc, Opinion, Tips N Tricks on January 23, 2007 at 2:27 pm

eWeek runs a report on the top 10 flubs to avoid at an IT interview. Here is a gist of it,

  1. Late to the interview means late on projects and deadlines
  2. Lack of enthusiasm means you don’t care about your work
  3. Little to no company knowledge means you lack research skills
  4. Inappropriate dress translates to inappropriate work
  5. Too negative is too much: Spells P-R-O-B-L-E-M
  6. Arrogance or dominating the interview signals conflict on teams
  7. Too quiet means you lack confidence in your work
  8. Misstating qualifications means, well, you’re a liar
  9. Speaking only tech-ese means you won’t work well with others
  10. Not saying thank you is not welcome

Read the full article from here.

20 ways you waste money on your car

In Opinion, Thoughts, Tips N Tricks on January 17, 2007 at 5:13 pm

MSN Money has an advice article on 20 ways we waste money on our cars. I particularly like their advice on the oil change schedule. Some of ‘em are really useful and simple to follow.

Read the full article here.

Print your sales receipt for Buy.com "Google Checkout" orders

In Deals, Misc, Tips N Tricks on December 18, 2006 at 12:24 pm

If you are using “Google Checkout” to save some money on your online orders at Buy.com this holiday season you might want to use this link to print your Buy.com sales receipts for you to send in those mail-in rebates. Buy.com offers quite a deal on some of their products if you use their Google Checkout service. With the Google Checkout normally the bottom line price becomes so attractive.

Once you navigate to the Buy.com link page you can search your Google order by one of these ways to print your receipt.

Hope it’s useful.

What is Google Checkout?

Google Maps adds multiple destinations

In Breaking News, General, Tips N Tricks, Tools on December 16, 2006 at 6:44 pm

The ever famous Google Maps now allows you to get directions for multiple destinations. That’s pretty cool of a feature that was missing for quite a while from a service like Google Maps and the Google Maps team has just unveiled the feature for your convenience.

To add multiple destinations to your driving directions, just click the Add destination link below the directions and add as many touchpoints as you would want.

Visit Google Maps.

PS: I’m not sure whether they have rolled this out in a hurry or not but Google Maps now complains when I tried to locate my home address. Duh!

9 most important requirements to make your pages XHTML compliant

In Programming, Technical, Tips N Tricks, Web Standards on December 14, 2006 at 8:24 pm

These days we all talk about web standards and pretty much of every web developer knows about XHTML (at least what that means, duh, if you are not). I’m a big fan of Web Standards and the benefits it bring towards the manageability of the code base and the cross browser issues that any web developer has to deal with.

Well, if you are put that “W3C XHTML 1.0″ compliant stamp on to your page you have to validate your page against the W3C Markup Validation Service. There is a huge laundry list of items that you should have to take care of to get your pages stamped but at least you should have to make sure you comply with these 9 of the most important requirements,

  1. The page must include a valid XHTML DOCTYPE.
  2. A valid XHTML page must include an XHTML DOCTYPE before any of its content. When you create a new ASP.NET page in Visual Studio 2005 or Microsoft Visual Web Developer, the correct DOCTYPE for XHTML 1.0 Transitional is automatically included in the page. Here are the four standard XHTML DOCTYPES:

    XHTML 1.0 Transitional

    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

    XHTML 1.0 Strict

    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

    XHTML 1.0 Frameset

    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">

    XHTML 1.1

    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

    Adding a DOCTYPE to a page has an impact on how the page is rendered in a browser. See the section below entitled XHTML and DOCTYPE Switching.

  3. The root element must refer to the XHTML namespace
  4. The opening <html> tag of an XHTML page must specify a default namespace of http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml. Here’s a sample of a valid opening <html> tag for an XHTML 1.0 Transitional page.

    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

     

  5. All element and attribute names must be lowercase.
  6. XML is case-sensitive. Therefore, there is a difference between the <p> tag and the <P> tag. Only the former is a valid XHTML paragraph tag.

  7. Attribute values must always be quoted.
  8. Always wrap attribute values in either double or single quotation marks. For example, the following is invalid XHTML.

    <a href=SomePage.aspx>Next</a> 

    In this case, the href attribute is missing quotation marks. The following is valid XHTML.

    <a href="SomePage.aspx">Next</a> 

    You can configure Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Web Developer to automatically quote attribute values, by selecting the menu option Tools, Options, Format.

  9. All non-empty elements that have an opening tag must have a matching closing tag.
  10. If you have an opening <p> tag, then you must include a closing </p> tag to mark the end of the paragraph. In the case of tags that never contain any content, such as the <br> tag, you can either supply a both an opening and closing <br></br> tag, or you can use the empty element shorthand <br />.

    In order to make your XHTML pages backward-compatible with existing HTML browsers, you need to be careful about how you open and close your tags. For example, existing HTML browsers tend to misinterpret an opening and closing <br></br> tag as two <br> elements. For that reason, you should use the empty element shorthand <br />.

    Furthermore, existing HTML browsers have problems with the empty element shorthand <br /> unless you are careful to add a space before the closing slash. So, you should add a <br> element to a page using <br [space] /> and not <br/>.

  11. There must be no overlapping tags.
  12. You can nest tags, but you are not allowed to overlap tags. For example, the following XHTML is valid.

    <b><i>This is bold and italic</i></b>

    However, the following XHTML is invalid.

    <i><b>This is bold and italic</i></b>

     

  13. There must be no attribute minimization.
  14. All attributes must have a value, even when it looks a little strange. For example, the tag <input type=”checkbox” checked /> is invalid XHTML, because the checked attribute does not have a value. The tag should be written <input type=”checkbox” checked=”checked” />.

  15. The id attribute must be used instead of the name attribute.
  16. In HTML, you use the name attribute to identify <a>, <applet>, <form>, <frame>, <iframe>, <img>, and <map> elements. While you can use the name attribute when building XHTML 1.0 Transitional pages, the name attribute has been removed from the XHTML 1.0 Strict and XHTML 1.1 standards. You should use the id attribute to identify these elements instead.

  17. The contents of <script> and <style> elements must be wrapped in CDATA sections.
  18. If you use special characters such as < or &, or entity references such as &lt; or &amp; in a script or style sheet, then you’ll need to mark the contents of your script or style sheet as a CDATA (character data) section, as follows.

    <script type="text/javascript">
    <![CDATA[
    
    function isLess(a, b) {
      if (a < b)
        return true;
    }
    
    ]]>
    </script>

    Notice that the JavaScript function contained in the script includes a < character. If you do not wrap the script in a CDATA section, then the < character would be interpreted as marking the start of an XHTML tag.

    Using a CDATA section will not work with all browsers. For example, Internet Explorer considers a CDATA section in a <script> tag a syntax error. You can avoid this problem by adding JavaScript comments, as follows.

    <script type="text/javascript">
    /* <![CDATA[ */
    
    function isLess(a, b) {
      if (a < b)
        return true;
    }
    
    /* ]]> */
    </script>

    JavaScript uses /* and */ to mark the beginning and end of a comment. Therefore, the CDATA section is hidden from the JavaScript, but not from the browser that parses the page. In general, it is a better idea to place your style rules and scripts in external files and reference the files from your XHTML pages. Using external style sheets and scripts enables you to avoid all of these issues.

After making sure these requirements are met then you can head towards the W3C Markup Validation Service to get your pages stamped as XHTML compliant.

Hope it helps.

20 Smart Companies to Start Now

In Breaking News, General, Thoughts, Tips N Tricks on December 13, 2006 at 4:08 pm

Howard Schultz, Steve Case, Vinod Khosla…these are the major venture capitalists whom have backed many of the mega hits in the business world. CNN Money and Business 2.0 Magazine have a list of smart business ideas that these and other major venture capitalists will back to give the entrepreneurs a total of $100 million if they can make these ideas happen.

Some of them are pretty interesting concept, like, iDrive, a better Energizer, Patient Monitoring to Go, GPS Guided Coupons and the Social Marketplace.

Read the full list here.

FICO Scores – Explained

In Misc, Personal, Tips N Tricks on December 7, 2006 at 9:29 pm

You’ve been there and I’ve been there. We all watch our credit history as much as we watch our bank accounts. True? One of the main components of the credit history is the FICO score, you know that.

FICO stands for Fair Isaac Corporation. The credit scores are calculated based on the FICO algorithm/formula. The exact formulae is a top secret and is not available to the public. But the Fair Isaac company has disclosed how much percent they give weightage to the influential factors. Here are they,

  • 35% – Punctuality of payment in the past (only includes payments later than 30 days past due)
  • 30% - The amount of debt, expressed as the ratio of current revolving debt (credit card balances, etc.) to total available revolving credit (credit limits)
  • 15% – Length of credit history
  • 10% – Types of credit used (installment, revolving, consumer finance)
  • 10% – Recent search for credit and/or amount of credit obtained recently

Well, that gives us an idea of what to watch for if you are to maintain a good credit score.

Extendable Task Bar if you use multiple monitors

In Gadgets, Tips N Tricks, Tools on November 21, 2006 at 9:09 pm

If you are upto the standards and you use multiple (extended) monitors at home or work then you should have to have these tools to make life easier. Media Chance has a Task Bar that extends to the second or even the third monitor so that you can have your own Task Bar for each monitors.

Here is what it does,

  • It adds second taskbar to the extended desktop on Monitor 2 (either right or left)
  • It can add third taskbar to the second Extended monitor if you have 3 monitors setup.
  • It shows only applications from that Monitor
  • It hides the applications on Monitor 2 from normal Windows Taskbar

 The cool thing about this tool is that it adds a “Move To” button at the top of each window which will allow you to move the window from one monitor to the other with a click of a button.

It’s a pretty handy tool if you use multiple monitors.

Visit the site here.

Download it from here. (~500KB)

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XBox 360 themed wallpapers for your Zune player

In Gadgets, Tips N Tricks on November 16, 2006 at 11:52 pm

So now you’ve bought your Zune player…how about spicing it up with some custom wallpapers? And that too, how about spicing it up with some XBox 360 themed wallpapers?

Visit this site to download some XBox 360 themed wallpapers for your Zune player.

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DIY – Energy Drink, EnerT

In General, Misc, Tips N Tricks on November 10, 2006 at 10:06 am

We all work out, we all need re-hydration, we all buy Gatorade…and you know that it’s expensive over a period of time. Yaniverse has a nice, simple, cost effective and do-it-yourself alternative to Gatorade.

Here is the gist of how.

EnerT Ingredients (32 oz or about 1 liter):

  • 2 Tea Bags
  • 6 level teaspoon sugar (24 grams)
  • A pinch of salt (0.5 grams)
  • 2 oz lemon juice (about 55 grams)
  • 30 oz boiling water

Contains:

  • 100 calories
  • 500 mg Sodium
  • 60mg of Potassium (from the lemon juice)
  • Caffeine varies, est 100mg-200mg caffeine (depending on the tea used and infusion duration)

Estimated Cost:

  • Lemon juice: $0.10
  • 2 Tea Bags: $0.06
  • Sugar, Salt, water, etc: negligible

Compare to 32 oz Gatorade:

  • 200 calories
  • 440mg Sodium
  • 120mg Potassium
  • No caffeine
  • Cost: $1.29

PS: Adding a bit of lime on top of lemon will make it taste better to me.

I’ve posted the ingredients up here as I normally feel uncomfortable with the trust factor of external links. But if you want to read the source of the article, visit here.

InlineSearch – Search like Firefox in IE

In Browser, IT, Tips N Tricks, Tools on November 10, 2006 at 12:14 am

For those us who use Firefox day-in and day-out are kind of blessed, particularly when it comes to trying to find something on a page. We just either start typing-in and let Firefox do the inline search and move to the block of text that matches or we “Ctrl + F” and then type-in the text that we want to find. Blessed are the Firefoxers.

Now think about the same experience if you are using Internet Explorer. IE, by default, comes with a modal search dialog that’s pretty much annoying at times of searching thru long pages. Now, blessing arrives for IEers in the form of InlineSearch.

InlineSearch is a free add-on for Internet Explorer that brings into IE the same search experience of Firefox. It pretty much behaves the same as Firefox search. It hijacks only the search shortcut key “Ctrl + F”. What does that mean? That means for those patriotic IEers you can still go back to the traditional IE search by using the Edit menu.

Here are some shortcuts that would be handy when using InlineSearch,

CTRL-F – to open/refresh the search pane

ESC – to close the search pane when in focus

F3 or ENTER – find the next occurrence

SHIFT-F3 – find the previous occurrence (Shift-Enter works too)

You can download InlineSearch from here.

Note: It plays nice with IE versions 5.5 and above.

I like this Royale Noir theme for Windows XP

In Tips N Tricks, Windows XP on November 2, 2006 at 12:13 pm

Here is the theme that I use in my laptop lately. It’s called Royale Noir and is based on the Windows Media Center Royale theme, enhanced. I’ve heard that it was developed at the time when Royale (the blue) was developed. But someone at Microsoft thought this is too powerful for them to release it to the public and have since then abandoned/archived it.

I was using the Royale (the blue) theme all these days. It definitely is an improvement over the default XP Luna theme. I keep my Task Bar in the side (to utilize my widescreen laptop real estate) and Royale seems to be too con-complacent with that. With this new Royale Noir theme, it nicely docks the Task Bar to the side and makes it look better than before.

I particularly like the cool dark color rather the bright blue. Also keep in mind that the world is moving to the black Vista in the near future. You know that. So, this is my baby step to get used to the life the way it is.

Since this skin was never released officially there are a few issues with it: the selected items background color doesn’t seem to match the overall theme and the inactive titlebars are too blackish.

But the good news is that it’s been signed by Microsoft and doesn’t require a custom UxTheme.dll patch in case there are any doubts to its authenticity.

If you already have Royale installed, you’ll need to remove it as both of these skins share the same name. But in my case it wasn’t a problem as I’ve named my Windows/Resources/Themes folder to have a Royale Noir subfolder and that tends to play nice with the Blue Royale theme.

Last, but not least, this skin has not been released to anyone outside Microsoft, until now.

Download Royale Noir Theme from here.

TinyMenu – A space saving Firefox add-on

In IT, Tips N Tricks, Tools on October 26, 2006 at 9:44 pm

Try this add-on to eliminate the precious space the menu takes up on the Firefox toolbar. If you notice that it takes the whole line for the menu bar but half of the space is just wasted as the menu really fills only half of the line.

Get TinyMenu from here.

Here is what you should do once you install and restart your Firebox browser,

  • Right-click on a toolbar and click “Customize”.
  • Drag all the items from the navigation bar up to the menu bar. You’ll have to do them one at a time, so it takes a little while.
  • Click “Done” to get out of customize mode.
  • Right-click on a toolbar and un-select the navigation toolbar.
  • Right-click on a toolbar again and click “Customize”.
  • This time, drag the items from the Customize window to the menu bar (arranging it as you’d prefer). Again, you’d have to do this one at at time and so it takes a while.
  • Click “Done” to get out of the customize mode.

And that’s it. You’ve just saved a line of real estate on your browser.

Pimp your résumé

In General, Tips N Tricks on October 26, 2006 at 9:28 pm

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on pimping your résumé to stand out of the crowd. This comes with picture samples that makes it easy to understand. Here are the steps involved,

  • Pick a better typeface
  • Remove extra indentations
  • Make it easy to skim
  • Apply typographic detailing
  • Use smart quotes
  • Space out text set in ALL CAPS
  • Separate durations of time with en dashes
  • Adjust spacing in phone numbers

Read the full tutorial here.

How to post a YouTube video on to your WordPress.com Blog?

In IT, Tips N Tricks on October 22, 2006 at 10:25 am

I was struggling a bit in the morning today to post a YouTube video onto this blog. For security reasons WordPress.com doesn’t let you <embed> objects within your post. That’s understandable and makes sense. So, what would be the workaround to post a video on to your WordPress.com blog? There should be a work around…right?

Sure, there is. Thanks to Matt at WordPress, here is how you could get the video to your WordPress.com blog.

  • Locate the URL for your YouTube video (it should be next (on the right side) to the video on the YouTube site itself).
  • In your blog post type-in this in the space where you want the video to appear, “ (without the quotes) 
  • Replace the URL above with the URL that you’ve just grabbed from the YouTube site.
  • Publish your post.

Simple, that’s all you have to do to get the video to your WordPress.com blog. Now, in case if just pasting the thing didn’t work then,

  • Change to the HTML mode so that you’ll have access to the post’s HTML.
  • In the space where you want the video to appear, type in this, “<code></code>” (again, without the quotes) 
  • Replace the URL above with the URL that you’ve just grabbed from the YouTube site.
  • Publish your post again.

That’s it. You should be able to see the embedded video player on your WordPress.com blog.

Please see my comment on the updated steps for this to work as WordPress seems to eat up a bit of my post. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Internet Explorer 7 Is Available For Public Download – A Hack To Avoiding The Automatic Upgrade

In IT, Tips N Tricks, Tools, Windows XP on October 19, 2006 at 3:18 pm

Microsoft just managed to release the full version of Internet Explorer 7 just on time and is ready for public download. You can get the latest Internet Explorer bits in 2 ways.

If you don’t install it by yourself then by the time the next Windows Update happens (if you have it configured to update automatically) you’ll get the new Internet Explorer.

I agree that it looks like its been forced upon you. I can see that. But, don’t worry, there is a hack available to stop the automatic Windows Update from upgrading your Internet Explorer.

Here is how,

  • Copy this command (except the quotes) to a .BAT or .CMD file “REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0″ /v DoNotAllowIE70 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  • Run the file, by calling it in the command prompt or by double-clicking it.

Note: When you are ready to allow Windows Update to upgrade your browser then change the above switch from 1 to 0 for the REG_DWORD. Here is the script for allowing automatic update to do its job. “REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0″ /v DoNotAllowIE70 /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Okay, so by now you must have gotten the latest Internet Explorer 7 bits and must have (mostly) installed it already. Then, what’s next? Wait there is more on the line. You can extend your Internet Explorer experience by installing some of these add-ons (that’s a new thing to IE of what Extensions are for Firefox).

There are a bunch of add-ons available, like for example,

  • Pop-Up Blockers
  • Parental Controls
  • Download Managers
  • Developer Tools
  • Offline Browsers
  • Music and Audio Players
  • Video Players etc.

Keep in mind that there are a whole bunch of add-ons available under each category and so please pay attention before choosing one. But some of the add-ons are really useful and I hope that the add-on community will unleash more as now IE7 is available for the mainstream public.

Hope there won’t be an SP1 right away!!!

Until then, enjoy your new Internet Explorer 7.

Best Practices On Google’s Software Development Methodology Revealed

In IT, Tips N Tricks on October 12, 2006 at 1:06 pm

Here are some of the best practices that Google follows with its development effort. It seems like the environment is pretty open, reaching out and motivating.

Take a glimpse at the Google culture below.

  • There are managers, sort of, but most of them code at least half-time, making them more like tech leads.
  • Developers can switch teams and/or projects any time they want, no questions asked; just say the word and the movers will show up the next day to put you in your new office with your new team.
  • Google has a philosophy of not ever telling developers what to work on, and they take it pretty seriously.
  • Developers are strongly encouraged to spend 20% of their time (and I mean their M-F, 8-5 time, not weekends or personal time) working on whatever they want, as long as it’s not their main project.
  • There aren’t very many meetings. I’d say an average developer attends perhaps 3 meetings a week, including their 1:1 with their lead.
  • It’s quiet. Engineers are quietly focused on their work, as individuals or sometimes in little groups or 2 to 5.
  • There aren’t Gantt charts or date-task-owner spreadsheets or any other visible project-management artifacts in evidence, not that I’ve ever seen.
  • Even during the relatively rare crunch periods, people still go get lunch and dinner, which are (famously) always free and tasty, and they don’t work insane hours unless they want to.
  • Google drives behavior through incentives. Engineers working on important projects are, on average, rewarded more than those on less-important projects. The rewards and incentives are too numerous to talk about here, but the financial incentives range from gift certificates and massage coupons up through giant bonuses and stock grants.
  • Google is a peer-review oriented culture, and earning the respect of your peers means a lot there. More than it does at other places, I think. [..] your actual performance review is almost entirely based on your peer reviews, so it has an indirect financial impact on you.
  • Google has a long all-hands in which they show every single project that launched to everyone, and put up the names and faces of the teams (always small) who launched each one, and everyone applauds.

Developers can switch team anytime and no questions asked? I still wonder how do they manage that resource gap? If a developer is in the middle of an effort and if he wanted to move out of the team then who is going to fill that gap? How soon? From where? Do they maintain a pool of resources that showed interest to join the team? Or is it like the dev has to wait till he comes to a point where they can replace one person with another? How does that happen real time? I’m just curious.

But overall its pretty neat and simple (as their products) that keeps things moving forward. I wish I could work there sometimes.

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A Comprehensive List of Passwords For Your Routers

In IT, Tips N Tricks on October 4, 2006 at 10:21 am

Often I find myself in a situation where I set quite crappy/complex/idiotic/once-in-a-lifetime-I-got-that-word kind of passwords for my router assuming that will be the safe bet. But after a while once (obviously) I forget those passwords I keep resetting my router to its factory default mode.

Fine, now it asks for the router’s default login credentials. Who knows? I don’t have the time to look for the manuals (out of the many different manuals I’ve got) and so I end up calling the customer service to figure out the password.

Now there is an easy solution to that problem. Someone at phenoelit.de had composed a comprehensive list of default passwords for the various routers. Of course, it comes with the “terms of usage” policy that for this to work you shouldn’t have reset your router’s password. If you have then follow my way of life of resetting the router and then use the password from the list.

Isn’t that handy? To me…sure it is.

Here is the link.

Automatic Restart After Windows Update – Solution

In IT, Tips N Tricks, Windows XP on September 18, 2006 at 4:18 pm

On one of my early postings titled Automatic Update After Windows Update I’ve talked about this annoying and sometimes detrimental effect of Windows automatically restarting after updating itself and the way the dialog box has been designed to accidentally accept the “Restart Now” button.

Colin Angus Mackay has found a solution for this to postpone the prompting dialog from popping up every 10 minutes. Here is the solution at a glimpse.

  • Click “Start” button
  • Click the “Run“ menu
  • Type “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) and hit ENTER
  • Your Group Policy console will launch with ”Local Computer Policy” node expanded
  • Expand the “Computer Configuration” node 
  • Expand the “Administrative Templates” node
  • Expand the “Windows Components” node
  • Select the “Windows Update” node 
  • On the right side of the pane double click the “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations” and make it enabled with the number of minutes you want the prompting to be suppressed.
  • It requires a restart of your machine to take into effect.

Pretty neat. Read the full article here.

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iTunes 7 and QuickTime Conflict

In Misc, Tips N Tricks on September 15, 2006 at 7:09 pm

With all the buzz towards the latest iTunes 7 I thought I would give it a try. And so I downloaded and installed iTunes 7 on my home desktop.

The installation went thru fine without any problems. I thought…of course…it’s Apple’s. But when I tried to launch the new iTunes 7 it resisted by saying that iTunes7 requires the latest version of QuickTime (another Apple product).

I’ve noticed that when I was installing iTunes 7 there was an explicit installation step to install QuickTime as well. So I thought my QuickTime as well got upgraded. But iTunes 7 wasn’t been able to recognize that.

One simple action from me helped resolve the problem. It was just an inner thought in mine to launch the QuickTime player and see the version number made me to launch the QuickTime player. When I tried to launch then I realized that it was doing something to upgrade itself at that time. Now I know that was the problem. And so I closed the QuickTime player and then tried to launch iTunes 7 again…bingo!!!…it worked fine.

This kind of problem wasn’t there with the previous iTunes versions.

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Identify The Windows XP Processes That Are Suspicious

In Tips N Tricks, Windows XP on September 15, 2006 at 2:07 pm

Uniblue has compiled a list of processes that could be a security risk to your computer or that could be slowing down your machine.

They have a comprehensive list of the processes and when you click on the hyperlink it takes you to an explanation page where it details about the processes. Even though it’s laborious, it’s a pretty handy tool to figure out what’s going on with your machine.

You can navigate to the list by clicking here.

For those of you whom are not so computer savvy…so, how do you find out about the running processes on your machine? Pretty simple.

  • Right click on your Windows XP Task Bar and select “Task Manager” from the menu options. Once into the Task Manager window choose the “Processes” tab.
  • Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” (of course, without the + key) keys at the same time and click on the “Task Manager” button. Once into the Task Manager window choose the “Processes” tab.

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The Best Time to Buy Everything

In General, Tips N Tricks on September 12, 2006 at 6:09 pm

Here is an invaluable post on when to buy stuffs. Since I don’t want to rely on an external content I just copied it here. But you can read the original post here.

Okay, now…to the list…

Airplane Tickets

When to buy: On a Wednesday, 21 days (or a couple of days earlier) before your flight.

Why: Airlines make major pricing changes (and run fare sales) every week, typically on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings. About 21 days out from your flight, you’ll see plenty of deals out there as airlines scramble to fill seats. Don’t wait much longer, she cautions; prices jump significantly from 14 to seven days ahead of departure.

Appliances

When to buy: During a holiday weekend.

Why: You’ll find sales on select models all year long, but retailers bring out the big guns for holiday weekends, says Carolyn Forte, homecare director for the Good Housekeeping Institute. But don’t worry about spending your Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends shopping for a new fridge — smaller holidays like Columbus Day and President’s Day have their share of sales, too.

Baby Clothes

When to buy: During your pregnancy.

Why: Once you know your due date, keep an eye out for end-of-season clearances, recommends Alan Fields, co-author of “Baby Bargains.” “If you’re [newly] pregnant now, you know you’ll be having a baby next summer,” he says. “Well, right now, stores are closing out all the summer clothes.” You can pick up newborn essentials like onesies for less than half price. (For more ways to save, see our column Oh Baby!)

Broadway Tickets

When to buy: Hours before the curtain rises.

Why: How does a $25 front-row seat to the smash musical “Wicked” sound? Several musicals offer same-day ticket lotteries that offer up orchestra seats at inexpensive prices. If you’d rather not gamble on getting a seat, wait in line at the famous TKTS booth in Times Square. There, you can get tickets for hit musicals for up to 50% off. On a recent night, prime seats were available for “Hairspray,” “Rent,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Beauty & the Beast.” (For the right times to drop by TKTS, and other ways to save, see our column A Midsummer Night’s Dream.)

Cars

When to buy: Weekday mornings in September.

Why: By September, all the next year’s models have arrived at the lot, and dealers are desperate to get rid of the current year’s leftovers, says Phil Reed, consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. It’s the prime time of year for incentives and sales, not to mention bargaining. “Any car that’s been on the lot for a long time loses its value in the eyes of the car salesman,” he says.

Heading to the dealership on a weekday morning also helps because there’s low foot traffic, meaning you’ll have ample time to negotiate and fewer people trying to buy the same car. The more demand, the less willing a salesman is to go down on price, says Reed. (For more, see our column Summer Car Savings.)

Clothing

When to buy: Thursday evenings, six to eight weeks after an item arrives in stores.

Why: After an item lingers in stores a month or more, retailers start dropping its price to get it out the door, says Kathryn Finney, author of “How to Be a Budget Fashionista.” These season-end clearances tend to be the same month that designers host fashion weeks (February and September) to preview the next fall or spring collections. So smart buyers can check the catwalk to see if any of this season’s trends — say, leggings or military-style jackets — will still be hot next year, and then scoop them up on clearance.

Hitting the mall on a weekday ensures you’ll get a good selection. “On the weekend, you’ll only get picked-over stuff because the stores don’t have time to restock,” she says. By Thursday, most of the weekend sales have begun, but everything available is on the floor.

Computers and electronics

When to buy: Just after a new model is launched.

Why: When the latest and greatest of a product is released, you’ll often see prices drop on what had previously been the best thing out there, says Tom Merritt, executive editor for CNET, an electronics review web site. Case in point: When Apple released the Nano last September, prices for the now-discontinued Mini dropped 12%, from $199 for a 4GB to about $175. So keep your eyes open for announcements from major manufacturers. Want a little less work? Time your purchases for after big annual technology show like MacWorld (next held Jan. 8-12, 2007) and the International Consumer Electronics Show (next held Jan. 8-11, 2007).

Gas

When to buy: Early morning or late evening on a weekday.

Why: Time your trip based on whether prices are rising or falling, advises Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks, a consumer guide. Gas stations tend to change their prices between 10 a.m. and noon, so hit the pump in the early morning if gas prices are on the rise. Go later in the day if prices are falling. Tipsters on GasPriceWatch.com reported that on Sept. 3, a WaWa gas station in Lanoka Harbor, N.J., was offering regular gas for $2.85 a gallon. One day later the station’s price had dropped to $2.65. In that case, going early would have cost you 20 cents more per gallon.

Try not to buy gas on the weekends, Brain says. Gas prices are often slightly elevated, as stations try to profit from leisure travelers. (For more ways to save, see our column Save on Gas.)

Gift Cards

When to buy: A day or two before you give it.

Why: These days, gift cards carry a plethora of hidden pitfalls, from expiration dates to dormancy fees, says Dan Horne, a professor of marketing at Providence College known as the “Gift Card Guru.” That countdown to fees starts as soon as you buy the card. “You don’t want to short-change the recipient,” he says.

Groceries

When to buy: Sunday evenings.

Why: Store sales tend to run Wednesday through Tuesday, says Teri Gault, founder of The Grocery Game, a consumer savings program. On Sunday, you’ll also have the latest round of manufacturer’s coupons from your morning paper. “You can maximize your coupons available for that shopping week,” she says. Heading to the store close to closing time means you’ll have access to sales on fresh items that must be sold by the end of the day, such as meats and baked goods.

Of course, you’ll also benefit from in-season items that can be frozen for use later in the year, says Gault. That means turkeys at Thanksgiving and hams at Christmas and Easter. During the spring and summer, buy fresh produce. Peaches bought at $1 per pound now can be kept frozen for smoothies and pies throughout the winter, she says.

Shrubs, Trees and Other Plants

When to buy: Fall

Why: Take a break from raking up leaves to purchase trees, shrubs and other perennials for your yard. Prices nosedive after midsummer, as garden supply stores and nurseries try to clear out their stock. You can also get great deals on bulbs during the fall. Just store them according to the package instructions for best planting results next spring. For more, see our column Cheap Landscaping Tricks.)

Televisions

When to buy: Six to 12 months after a particular model is launched.

Why: A new TV drops in price after a few months on the market, says CNET’s Merritt. Although there will be newer models out there, it’s unlikely they’ll offer any significant improvements to justify that brand new price. “The technology is proceeding at such a pace that the models out there are not going to be obsolete anytime soon,” he says. (For more, see our column The World Is Flat.)

Wedding Dresses

When to buy: Between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Why: Boutiques are stocked up on dresses for the post-Christmas rush (many people get engaged over the holidays), yet traffic is low, says Fields, who also co-authored “Bridal Bargains.” “It’s not a busy time to buy a wedding dress because people are thinking about the holidays,” he says. You’ll also have room to bargain.

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Web Site Analyzer – Analyze Your Web Site

In Tips N Tricks on August 23, 2006 at 4:46 pm

Web Page Analyzer is a great little online tool to test your web site’s/page’s download speed.

You can either key-in your web site’s URL or a specific web page to get an idea of its performance. Once you hit the “Submit Query” button it analyzes the site/page and gives you the results in greater details. The results include,

  • Object Size – Gives you the size of the HTML file, images, CSS and scripts embedded in the page.
  • Download Times – Gives you an approximate download time across 6 different connection speeds, 14.4K, 28.8K, 33.6K, 56K, ISDN 128K and T1 1.44 Mbps.
  • Page Objects – Gives you the size of each individual objects like html, images, scripts etc that are embedded in the page.
  • Analysis and Recommendations – Gives you an analysis and recommendations on,
    • Total number of HTML files on the page.
    • Total number of objects on the page.
    • Total number of images on the page.
    • Total number of CSS files on the page.
    • Total number of external scripts on the page.
    • Total size of the page.
    • Total size of HTML on the page.
    • Total size of images on the page.
    • Total size of external scripts on the page.
    • Total size of external CSS files on the page.
    • Total size of any multimedia objects on the page.

It’s a great tool to optimize and analyze the performance of your web page/site. After all, if your web site/page doesn’t download fast enough you might loose the reach.

Try the tool here and follow the recommendations to optimize your web site’s/page’s performance.

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10 Steps To Lock Down Your Laptop

In IT, Tips N Tricks on August 10, 2006 at 6:14 pm

Some may seem obvious, but following these rules will keep your laptop and the data it carries out of other people’s hands.

  • Use visual deterrents such as cable locks.
  • Avoid leaving unsecured laptops unattended, even in the home or office.
  • Keep laptops inconspicuous by using simple carrying cases.
  • Use complex alphanumeric passwords and change them regularly.
  • Use anti-virus, encryption, anti-spyware and firewall software.
  • Back up valuable data on a scheduled basis.
  • Understand the dangers of pirated software and file sharing.
  • Stay informed of emerging threat schemes.
  • Use asset tracking and recovery software.
  • Employ advanced data protection tools.

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How long to keep your financial records?

In General, Tips N Tricks on August 9, 2006 at 4:19 am

I just came across this article in Bankrate.com and I felt it’s worth sharing. Here is what it suggests,

Tax Records: 7 Years

  • Tax Returns – The IRS has three years from your filing date to audit your return if it suspects good faith errors.
  • Canceled checks/receipts – The three-year deadline also applies if you discover a mistake in your return and decide to file an amended return to claim a refund.
  • Records for tax deductions taken – The IRS has six years to challenge your return if it thinks you underreported your gross income by 25 percent or more.
  • Note: There is no time limit if you failed to file your return or filed a fraudulent return.

IRA Contributions: Permanently

  • If you made a nondeductible contribution to an IRA, keep the records indefinitely to prove that you already paid tax on this money when the time comes to withdraw.

Retirement/Savings Plan Statements: From one year to permanently

  • Keep the quarterly statements from your 401(k) or other plans until you receive the annual summary; if everything matches up, then shred the quarterlies.
  • Keep the annual summaries until you retire or close the account.

Bank Records: From one year to permanently

  • Go through your checks each year and keep those related to your taxes, business expenses, home improvements and mortgage payments.
  • Shred those that have no long-term importance.

Brokerage Statements: Until you sell the securities

  • You need the purchase/sales slips from your brokerage or mutual fund to prove whether you have capital gains or losses at tax time.

Bills: From one year to permanently

Credit Card Receipts and Statements: From 45 days to 7 years

  • Keep your original receipts until you get your monthly statement; shred the receipts if the two match up.
  • Keep the statements for seven years if tax-related expenses are documented.

Paycheck Stubs: One Year

  • When you receive your annual W-2 form from your employer, make sure the information on your stubs matches.
  • If it does, shred the stubs.
  • If it doesn’t, demand a corrected form, known as a W-2c.

House/Condominium Records: From 6 years to permanently

  • Keep all records documenting the purchase price and the cost of all permanent improvements — such as remodeling, additions and installations.
  • Keep records of expenses incurred in selling and buying the property, such as legal fees and your real estate agent’s commission, for six years after you sell your home.
  • Holding on to these records is important because any improvements you make on your house, as well as expenses in selling it, are added to the original purchase price or cost basis. This adds up to a greater profit (also known as capital gains) when you sell your house. Therefore, you lower your capital gains tax.

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How To: Bring Google Calendar on your Windows XP Desktop

In IT, Tips N Tricks, Tools on August 7, 2006 at 3:00 pm

I hate (I’m sure you do as well) that many windows floating around on my screen. But there are times when you cannot avoid.

One certain application window I always keep was the Google Calendar window. But then I hate cluttering my Windows bar with that many windows. I just came across this invaluable (at least to me) tip to bring Google Calendar on to my desktop so it will always be readily available to me in a click of a key (actually 2, Windows + D). .

Here is how you do it,

  • Right-click on your desktop and select the "Properties" option on the menu.
  • Click the "Desktop" tab.
  • Click the "Customize Desktop" button that’s down below that dialog.
  • Click the "Web" tab.
  • Click the "New" button.
  • For "Location:" key-in http://www.google.com/calendar/render
  • Click the "Properties" button for this URL.
  • Click the "Schedule" tab.
  • Add at least one time each day to do the sync. Remeber: You can always refresh by yourself whenever needed but do pick a time to sync.
  • Click OK to make each window go away.

When you do this, Windows might complain about unable to sync to the page etc. Just say "Ok" to that and close all the windows by clicking "Ok".

Expand the window on your desktop as much as you want or in my case what I did was I clicked on the little menu (a down arrow when you hover over the top of that desktop window) to select the "Split Desktop with Icons" option. By this way I have access to my desktop icons as well Google Calendar on the side. Great!!!

Now you should be able to see the Google login page on your desktop. Just key-in your login credentials and make sure to check the "Remember me on this computer" option and hit the login button. It might open up another window (the default web browser that you’ve set on your computer) with Google Calendar rendered.

Hey…Don’t panic. Don’t call 911 :)   Just close the window. And right click on your (still) the log-in page on your desktop and hit "Refresh". Woila…there the Google Calendar, this time, on your desktop.

Hope you find it useful.

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