Faisal Basra -The Passionate Blogger

Learn how to turn your Laptop/PC into a WiFi Router without any Hardware

2012-02-17T09:58:00.001-08:00

Hello & welcome to most requested tech bytes.

Let's assume you have Laptop/PC with WiFi enabled, you are getting Internet via LAN cable, EVO/EVDO USB device or from your GSM/EDGE/3G/4G device. Now you want to share this Internet via your Laptop's WiFi by making your Laptop/PC as WiFi Router.

If you are thinking its really difficult and only techies can do it, NOOOOOOOOOOO its so simple with the Connectify . This is the magical software easy to setup which allows you to share your LAN/USB Internet to WiFi and make you Laptop/PC as WiFi router.

Installation is simple. Go to the website, click the big, shiny button, run the .exe file, follow the prompt. You'll then see a Connectify logo in the notification tray. It's party time! Choose a name, set up a password, and click the big, shiny button. Congratulations. You're now a software-based wireless router. It took about five very obvious clicks and was truly so easy a caveman could do it.

This is the almost done for downloading, installing, setup and running the WiFi router. Connectifiy only runs on Windows or higher OS.

If you want to make WiFi router on Windows XP or lower, please refer to the following my blog links about how to setup WiFi router from USB/EVO.

Using Your Laptop/PC Wi-Fi as Wi-Fi Router

Happy.............. Wifi

10 Quotes About 'The Real' Steve Jobs

2012-02-08T13:15:00.001-08:00

Best Adsense Alternatives that Pay High like Google Adsense

2012-01-29T12:08:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that Google Adsense is the no:1 contextual advertising network in the Online Advertising field. A lot of people are making thousands of dollars each day from Google Advertisements mainly because they’re following the Adsense guidelines perfectly. However, there are a few people unknowingly neglect the Adsense ToS and will be banned by Google from the Adsense.

This is where the question “Best Google Adsense Alternatives” arise.Webmasters or bloggers actually opt for Google Adsense for two reasons.

Banned from Google Adsense
Earn additional income apart from Google Ads

Whatever may be the reason, I am listing here the best adsense alternatives that pay high (based on my personal experience and a few inputs from other publishers).

Clicksor: It’s one of the most popular advertisement networks and a good alternative to Google Adsense which is available for free on the internet. They allow you to earn through different ad-formatslike In-line Text Ads, Contextual Ads (banner and text) and more. You can earn up to 60% of the revenue share, depending on the performance the advertisers attain from your website placements and clicks. These ads seems annoying (pop-ups) to users but the earnings we gain are bit higher when compared to other ad networks.
- Payment Procedure:Payments are based on net 15 terms on a bi-weekly schedule. You will have the chance to receive your payments either by check or Paypal and the minimum payout is $50.
Adbrite: It is one of the oldest and most popular advertisement network that allows you to earn money from your web site or blog. Unlike other contextual advertising networks, AdBrite is specialized to sell advertisements on your web site by displaying a banner ad on your site. The visitor who likes to place an ad on your site can easily displays his advertisement. It is very easy to use for everyone, and it’s completely free! Best for US and UK related traffic.
Bidvertiser:A professional contextual advertising network that Offers only contextual and feed advertisements. It is very similar to Google AdSense. Displays textual ads depending on content of your site [context related ads]. You will not get enough earnings until unless you get very good traffic. Best for high traffic blogs.
- Payment: Minimum payout of $10 is offers. Offers both Check and Paypal Methods for payment.
Chitika:A leading blog advertising company with a network of 1ooo’s of blogs and websites with brand advertisers and merchants. It also allows you to earn from affiliate program where we can earn up to 10% of what our each referral earns. Best option if you are writing a product blog.
- Payment Procedure: Supports both PayPal and Checks system. Minimum payout for PayPal is $10 and for Checks is $50.
Text Link Ads:This service allows you to make money by selling text and in-line text ads on your site or blog. You can choose price and sell textual advertisements on your site with this service. They offer 50/50 net revenue share for all ads sold on your site.
- Payment Options: Supports Check, PayPal, Payoneer or TLA Voucher. Minimum payment for check is $25. Text-Link-Ads Prepaid MasterCard is $25. No minimum for PayPal payments.
Kontera: These are in-line contextual ad networks that double-underline the keywords in our site. Some users may however find this annoying since the advertisement appears in a pop-up window. Best for content rich blogs.
Infolinks:They’re specialized in In-Text advertising i.e., Infolinks indexes your page looking for keywords and phrases that are not currently linked and converts those words into advertising links. Best thing is that you can use Infolinks ads to compliment your other advertising programs.
- Payment: They pay you either by Wire transfer, Automated Clearing House ($400 min) or paypal ($50 min).
Luminate:Luminate Inc. (previously known as Pixazza Inc.), founded in 2008, is an online advertising program and currently the market leader in making the images more interactive, offering World’s first platform for image application. It currently serves more than 150 million users per month and 30 billion page views per year. This ‘first-of-its-kind’ platform gets operational when a user mouse-over’s an image, displaying the related products and information to that user. It takes into account the keywords that have been tagged with an image and then display the relevant ads accordingly.The minimum payout is $10 which can be received on a PayPal account or via Standard Cheque.

So Choose among the best adsense alternatives to Google Adsense and start earning equal to what Adsense Publishers are getting. Do comment if you know any other advertising alternatives that pay high.

Consult Me Free for Domain Name and Web Hosting

2012-01-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

If you are new to dot com, want to setup website or email server, need reliable hosting but you are not geek or tech guy............. then You can consult me FREE.

I want to help people how to buy pretty domain name. I can help you to setup your business email server. I can help you to setup web hosting service for you business or personal website..... and its all FREE.

Why,

Because I have learned all these things free and want to give back to the community so that every one can share and get benefit from Internet.

Call me for domain name help, web hosting consultancy or email setup guide.

Top 30 Movies for Businessmen and Business Students

2012-01-14T14:50:00.000-08:00

1. Gung Ho

Year: 1986
Starring: Michael Keaton, Gedde Watanabe, and George Wendt
Recommended by: Joseph Thomas, dean of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management

This movie was made when Japan was showing the world how to make better products. The movie is about the clash and eventual reconciliation of cultures. Both cultures are overdrawn a bit, but the movie is thoughtful and funny.
—Joseph Thomas

2. Norma Rae

Year: 1979
Starring: Sally Field, Beau Bridges, and Ron Leibman
Recommended by: James W. Dean Jr., dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flager Business School

Leadership doesn't just come from the top. Norman Rae is a single mother who—despite great personal risk—fights to unionize her textile mill to improve terrible working conditions. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton, a textile worker in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. It is important to know this history to understand why unions operate as they do. Quote: "Forget it! I'm stayin' right where I am. It's gonna take you and the police department and the fire department and the National Guard to get me outta here!"
—James W. Dean Jr.

3. Patton

Year: 1970
Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, and Stephen Young
Recommended by: Robert F. Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

A profile of the most aggressive American general in World War II. His drive and strategic ingenuity achieved remarkable results on the battlefield. But his aggressive genius was flawed by a temper and callousness toward subordinates. Was the commander of the Allies right to remove Patton from leadership because of his flaws? This movie prompts deep reflections on the emotional intelligence that must underpin true leaders.
—Robert F. Bruner

4. Moonstruck

Year: 1987
Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, and Olympia Dukakis
Recommended by: Paul Danos, dean of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business

The character Cosmo Castorini, played by Vincent Gardenia, has the "hard sell" down pat, saying to a naive young couple: "There are three kinds of pipe. There's what you have, which is garbage—and you can see where that's gotten you. There's bronze, which is pretty good, unless something goes wrong. And something always goes wrong. Then there's copper, which is the only pipe I use. It costs money. It costs money because it saves money."
—Paul Danos

5. Herb and Dorothy

Year: 2008
Starring: Herb and Dorothy Vogel
Recommended by: Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management

The beauty of maniacal focus: how a couple of modest means amassed one of the great modern art collections in America.
—Judy Olian

6. The Secret of My Success

Year: 1987
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, and Richard Jordan
Recommended by: Bob Dammon, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business

A great comedy about a young Midwesterner (Michael J. Fox) traveling to the big city to begin his corporate career.
—Bob Dammon

7. Something Ventured

Year: 2011
Starring: Bill Bowes, Herbert Boyer, and Po Bronson
Recommended by: Rich Lyons, dean of the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business

I recently saw Something Ventured by our alum, [producer] Paul Holland, which I really liked. It's about the history of the VC industry and Silicon Valley. As a documentary, it did a fine job of communicating what the founding actors of venture capital are really like. One gets the feeling that if this hadn't been captured like this today, it might never have been captured in this first-person way. Also, it's of personal significance since I grew up in the heart of the Silicon Valley. And while my family was not in the venture industry, several of my friends' families were. My early years corresponded closely with the industry's early years.
—Rich Lyons

8. Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Year: 1956
Starring: Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, and Fredric March
Recommended by: Robert F. Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

Based on Sloan Wilson's book by the same name—highly recommended reading, too. The film recounts the discovery by a 1950s "organization man" of the things that really matter, especially relationships and integrity. The story is one of the bellwethers of post-World War II reaction against conformist business culture.
—Robert F. Bruner

9. Repo Man

Year: 1984
Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, and Tracey Walter
Recommended by: Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the University of Texas, Austin's McCombs School of Business

Determined professionals relentlessly pursue legitimate commercial objectives in a morally and technologically ambiguous world.
—Thomas W. Gilligan

10. Inside Job

Year: 2010
Starring: Matt Damon, William Ackman, and Daniel Alpert
Recommended by: Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management

A shocking post-mortem of the most significant global economic crisis in decades, pointing to shared culpability across many financial institutions, government organizations, and business leaders.
—Judy Olian

11. Trading Places

Year: 1983
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, and Ralph Bellamy
Recommended by: Joseph Thomas, dean of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Bob Dammon, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business

One of our finance faculty suggests that people watch this movie after studying futures and options. It can make people reflect on what they want from a career and life.
—Joseph Thomas

A humorous story of greed, deception, and redemption. It is always great when the good guys win.
—Bob Dammon

12. The Wizard of Oz

Year: 1939
Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, and Ray Bolger
Recommended by: James W. Dean Jr., dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flager Business School

This famous classic showcases Industrial Age perfection in the Emerald City. Quote: "Snip, snip here, snip, snip there." It is intriguing that these exact production methods were used only a few years later to build tanks and airplanes for World War II, and in many American industries for decades afterward. Another great link between this film, warfare, and business is the Cowardly Lion's speech on courage, which concludes: "What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the 'ape' in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?"
—James W. Dean Jr.

13. House of Strangers

Year: 1949
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, and Richard Conte
Recommended by: Paul Danos, dean of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business

House of Strangers shows how microfinance worked in the ghettos of New York in the 1920s and '30s. The Gino Monetti character's banking success is based on lending money to neighborhood people with just a handshake, but that kind of "collateral" does not pass muster with the new breed of bank regulators.
—Paul Danos

14. Animal House

Year: 1978
Starring: John Belushi, Karen Allen, and Tom Hulce
Recommended by: Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the University of Texas, Austin's McCombs School of Business

One of the best documentaries ever made on how to structure management training and leadership-immersion programs.
—Thomas W. Gilligan

15. The Social Network

Year: 2010
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake
Recommended by: Bob Dammon, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business; Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management; and James W. Dean Jr., dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flager Business School

A timely look at the inception of Facebook and social media, the story demonstrates both the power and profitability of a great idea, as well as some real-world entrepreneurial challenges.
—Bob Dammon

A must-see primer on how the millennials think, invent, and connect—and how bumpy the ride can be from rags to riches.
—Judy Olian

This entertaining movie about the creation of Facebook is based on the book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, by Ben Mezrich. While a box-office hit, the film's accuracy was questioned by industry insiders, including journalist David Fitzpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, who had access to Facebook's leadership while researching his book. Quote: "You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true…"
—James W. Dean Jr.

16. The Godfather

Year: 1970
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
Recommended by: Paul Danos, dean of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, and Robert F. Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

The Michael Corleone character, in ordering execution for a top lieutenant's switching loyalty to another family, says, "Tessio was smarter," indicating that it did not surprise him that Tessio would be the first to switch allegiance to a new leader when the old leader was past his prime.
—Paul Danos

This routinely ranks among the greatest movies ever made. Any business student could watch it merely for some valuable immersion into an aspect of American culture. But I advocate it to students as a lesson in adherence to personal values. In one of the most famous lines in the film, a character says, "This is business, not personal"—referring to a murder. Should we—can we—ever separate professional life from personal values? No. Business is always personal.
—Robert F. Bruner

17. Wall Street

Year: 1987
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, and Tamara Tunie
Recommended by: Bob Dammon, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business

For me, the story is about a character (Charlie Sheen) who is torn between the moral and ethical upbringing he received from his father (Martin Sheen) and the allure of wealth and power as embodied by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas).
—Bob Dammon

18. 12 Angry Men

Year: 1957
Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, and Martin Balsam
Recommended by: Joseph Thomas, dean of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management

This is not really a business book, but it is a wonderful depiction of group decisionmaking, consensus-building, and persuasion, all crucial in business. For years this movie was utilized in one of our courses at Johnson.
—Joseph Thomas

19. Up in the Air

Year: 2009
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick
Recommended by: Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management

Reminds all leaders that organizations—no matter how complex or technologically advanced—are about people, not "things."
—Judy Olian

20. Tunes of Glory

Year: 1960
Starring: Alec Guinness, John Mills, and Susannah York
Recommended by: Robert F. Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

This is a story about a new commanding officer who takes charge of a military unit and fails to win the hearts and minds of his direct reports. Much of business education is about what one does on the job, but little about how to actually enter an assignment or leave it. How does a leader "take charge?" This movie raises a host of lessons about leading. It also offers rich insights about the psychology of managerial bullies. Dramatic kudos to Alec Guinness, who plays the bully.
—Robert F. Bruner

21. Barbarians at the Gate

Year: 1993
Starring: James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Riegert
Recommended by: Bob Dammon, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business

The interesting saga of the battle for control of RJR Nabisco, based on actual accounts.
—Bob Dammon

22. Risky Business

Year: 1983
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, and Joe Pantoliano
Recommended by: Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the University of Texas, Austin's McCombs School of Business

An innovative young entrepreneur discovers the profits and pitfalls of business development.
—Thomas W. Gilligan

23. Citizen Kane

Year: 1941
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Dorothy Comingore
Recommended by: Paul Danos, dean of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, and James W. Dean Jr., dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flager Business School

The office party scene has dancing girls and bands and ends with "The Charlie Kane Song," where the new leader is not only lampooned, but CEO Kane himself joins in the chorus and shows a different side of himself to the troops.
—Paul Danos

This psychological study of the making of a publishing empire is based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, whose overwhelming drive for business success was based on compensating for his abandonment by his parents. Released in 1941, it is still considered one of America's finest films. Quote: "I suppose he had a private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself."
—James W. Dean Jr.

24. It's a Wonderful Life

Year: 1946
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore
Recommended by: Joseph Thomas, dean of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Paul Danos, dean of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business

Even if it is a bit sappy at the end, it shows that business can and should be a positive force in the world.
—Joseph Thomas

The small Savings and Loan officer, George Bailey, lambastes the money bags character, Mr. Potter, with "… my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him. But to you—a warped, frustrated old man—they're cattle. Well in my book, my father died a much richer man than you'll ever be!"
—Paul Danos

25. Other People's Money

Year: 1991
Starring: Danny DeVito, Gregory Peck, and Penelope Ann Miller
Recommended by: Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the University of Texas, Austin's McCombs School of Business

Madcap romantic comedy illustrating the finer points of the market for corporate control.
—Thomas W. Gilligan

26. A Small Act

Year: 2010
Starring: Chris Mburu, Hilde Back
Recommended by: Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management

A powerful demonstration of how individual actions, starting very small, can achieve momentous transformation.
—Judy Olian

27. A Christmas Carol

Year: 1984
Starring: George C. Scott, Frank Finlay, and Angela Pleasence
Recommended by: James W. Dean Jr., dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flager Business School

I know that purists prefer the 1951 Alastair Sim version, but George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge is my favorite. Based on Charles Dickens's novel, the film addresses the most fundamental question of what business is about. Is it simply profits or some broader purpose? As Marley answers the question: "Mankind was my business! Their common welfare was my business!" One more quote, from Scrooge to Bob Cratchit: "Another sound from you … and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation!"
—James W. Dean Jr.

28. Working Girl

Year: 1988
Starring: Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver
Recommended by: Robert F. Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

This movie evokes Horatio Alger, the iconic poor-kid-makes-good story. In this case, it is a woman—a secretary, the "working girl" who develops a concept for a merger that succeeds. The crisis that drives the plot entails the theft of ideas and the professional advancement that good ideas can earn. A lesson from this movie regards the importance of integrity and authenticity as foundations for success.
—Robert F. Bruner

29. Invictus

Year: 2009
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, and Tony Kgoroge
Recommended by: Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management

The essence of what inspirational leadership is—and can achieve.
—Judy Olian

30. Too Big to Fail

Year: 2011
Starring: James Woods, John Heard, and William Hurt
Recommended by: Joseph Thomas, dean of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the University of Texas, Austin's McCombs School of Business

The topic is such a huge issue for the world now. The movie is well done, even if it omits culpability for some people (and groups) who had a huge impact, for good or for ill. The book is very good, also.
—Joseph Thomas

A fictional account of the perils of corporate capitalism.
—Thomas W. Gilligan

What the movie 300 can teach you about business management

2012-01-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

A Spartan's Guide to Business

300 may seem like a bloody action movie, but it's also a lesson in creating a formidable and fearsome business.

When the movie 300 recently debuted, making more than $70 million during its opening weekend despite having no big-name actors, Hollywood was stunned. Many people have speculated that what attracted the audience was the over-the-top violence, the naked women and the special effects.

Maybe that helped--a little. But director Zack Snyder's film about Spartans bludgeoning Persian soldiers in a fight to the finish is also a business parable.

No, seriously. If you squint a little--and you probably will during some of the beheading scenes--the story resembles what an entrepreneur often faces when competing against a big corporation. It also offers some insight into what it takes to be an effective leader, inspire employees and create a recognizable brand. And, yes, this film can be ugly, but that's sometimes the nature of the business world.

Business Lesson No. 1: Your CEO needs to be a strong leader.King Leonidas is as resilient as they come, in both the film and the actual historical battle that took place in 480 B.C. between 300 soldiers of Sparta, Greece and the Persian army. Although Leonidas is a warrior, he treats his family and friends as equals. His wife, the queen, is a partner, and he's smart enough to solicit her advice when it comes to business matters. He also spends quality time with his six-year-old son, teaching him the business (i.e., showing the little bugger how to fight).

But when Leonidas suits up and goes to his day job--vanquishing bloodthirsty enemies with his spear and shield--he's focused on what's best for the business and his employees; in this case, the kingdom and his soldiers.

Sure, his competitor, King Xerxes, through messengers he sends to Sparta, makes some powerful arguments for combining the smaller organization with the larger corporation known as Persia. For instance, if the merger goes through, Leonidas would be allowed to live, and his employees wouldn't have to see their families enslaved or worry about getting their limbs hacked off. But while Leonidas appears to mull the offer over, he's concerned that his people's way of life (think office culture) and his freedom to make independent decisions won't be allowed to thrive.

He firmly declines the deal by spearing and then throwing a bunch of Persian yes-men into what appears to be a bottomless pit.

Leonidas next prepares to stop the growing threat of a hostile takeover. He seeks approval from some grotesque oracles (his board of directors) to take 10,000 Spartan soldiers to fight off the Persian army, but he is rebuffed. And so, like all good entrepreneurs, Leonidas finds a loophole. He informs fellow Spartan colleagues that he's taking a walk, bringing 300 of his top-flight employees as body guards, and goes off to complete his business plan--to fight the Persians at the narrow cliffs of Thermopylae and frighten the immense army into fleeing.

Business Lesson No. 2: Train your employees and foster a culture that promotes loyalty.The Spartans had a grim but effective process for making sure their society only contained healthy children. (If you don't already know what that process was, you probably don't want to). To put it mildly, their organization only accepted the best and brightest employees, who were trained and molded into effective killing machines. It sounds gruesome, but it's handy when your business involves protecting your community from a foe that aims to crush you.

Arguably, loyalty may be the most important aspect of a successful team. At one point in the battle, Leonidas and Xerxes meet up. The Persian ruler tries to reason with his foe, asking how Leonidas can possibly defeat him when "I would kill any of my men for victory."

"I would die for any of mine," replies Leonidas, suggesting that an employee who knows he's valued is going to fight harder for the company's survival than a miserable grunt in the firm. The king has a point. His 300 men are effective at killing what must be thousands of soldiers in the first few hours of the battle. And it's not that surprising. Xerxes literally walks all over his employees; but in Leonidas' enterprise, his staff takes ownership and pride in the company and has a stake in the firm.

Business Lesson No. 3:You need to have a strong brand.Leonidas is no fool. He knows that his 300 men and several hundred more Athenian soldiers who tag along can't completely destroy the Persian army, which outnumbers the Spartan force at least 1,000 to one. But he figures that if the Spartans live up to their reputation by ruthlessly and efficiently killing the Persians, the enemy might flee. In other words, Leonidas saw the Spartans as a brand.

Leonidas is an early marketer, fully understanding the power of words and images. When Leonidas and his men literally build a wall of corpses they know their enemy will see, it's an advertising message to the rest of the Persian soldiers that come their way: The Spartans are a company of men you don't want to encounter. They clearly hope the message will spread by word of mouth.

Later, the Spartan CEO tells his competitor, Xerxes, "The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, that even a god-king can bleed." And because Leonidas recognizes how important it is for the general public to understand the Spartans' unique brand of power and will, he sends a messenger back to Sparta to tell the tale of their fight. Leonidas appreciates that even if he and his 300 men don't win this particular battle, educating the public about the company will help the Spartan brand endure long after he is gone.

The brand, in fact, has endured so well that almost 2,500 years later Hollywood made a movie about this battle. If you haven't seen 300 yet, be sure to study these lessons and then go see them put to use in the movie. Do that and you may suck all the joy out of watching a blockbuster action movie--but you'll wind up with one heck of a business.

References: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/176006

Open Source Collaboration tool for Companies

2012-01-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

If you wan to setup an intranet based collaboration in your office/company with zero cost? Really, its possible, you should look at Atrium which is open source and trusted since years.

Atrium

Features

Blog

Share ideas and receive email notifications when others post.

Notebook

Collaborate on documents, compare revisions, and print when you're done.

Case Tracker

Create and manage projects within each of your groups.

Calendar

Add events and pull in feeds from other calendars.

Shoutbox

Share messages and links with just the people in your group.

Dashboard

See a snapshot of all the activity across your groups.

Themes

Customize the look and feel of Open Atrium.

Features

Add new functionality using Kit-compliant Features.

Inspirational Words

2011-12-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey . . .

I asked for health, that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things ...

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.

I was given poverty, that I might be wise ...

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God .. .

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things ...

I got nothing I asked for--but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I, among all men, am most richly blessed!

How To Reset/Restart Adobe CS5 Trial

2011-12-10T22:27:00.001-08:00

Adobe CS5 (Adobe Creative Suite 5) is some pretty expensive software. Lucky for us, they have a trial option available. The Adobe CS5 Trial lasts for 30 days, after which the program will automatically close itself after launch. During this 30 day trial period, you also have the option to enter a license key to unlock the program.
Now you might be wondering how to restart the Adobe CS5 trial so that you can keep using the program. Good question. Most people try uninstalling and then re-installing the software, and guess what, adobe hides files on your computer that don’t get deleted during the uninstall. Because of this, when you re-install the Adobe CS5 trial, your trial period will still be expired!
But there is a way around this little problem. By following the easy steps in this how to tutorial, I will show you the process of how to restart your Adobe CS5 Trial so that you can continue using the Adobe Creative Suite tools for another 30 days. This works for Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, and any other CS5 packages offered as well.

Instructions:

1.) Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD

Adobe Common Files PCD Location

2.) Delete the file named “pcd”
3.) Open the “cache” folder
4.) Delete the file named “cache”
5.) Edit your “Hosts” file to prevent your Adobe CS5 programs from communicating with Adobe.
Editing your hosts file is a relatively easy task (See image below). Navigate to Computer -> Local Disk (C:) -> Windows -> System32 -> Drivers -> etc -> hosts. Or you can simply type “hosts” into the search bar when you are inside the folder “System32″.
You will need to change the security of the hosts file in order to edit it. Right click it, select properties and then select the security tab. You will need to grant regular users “Full Control” in order to edit this file.
WARNING: You should remove these full control privileges from the regular users group after editing the file for system security purposes.

Add the following lines to the bottom of the file:

127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 practivate.adobe.com

This essentially tells your computer that when you attempt to navigate to either activate.adobe.com or practivate.adobe.com, rather than being directed to those addresses, your computer will loop that navigation back to itself, and your Adobe programs will fail to reach the adobe activation destination. “127.0.0.1″ is your computers own loopback IP address.

Click for full size

I’m actually not sure if that whole hosts file editing part is absolutely necessary, but it doesn’t seem like it could hurt. I’m not sure if Adobe attempts to keep track of trial users on their end.
Now the next time you open an Adobe CS5 program, you will be prompted to accept the license agreement and start a new trial.

Adobe CS5 Start Trial Screen

Drawbacks to using an Adobe CS5 Trial

There are some drawbacks to using an Adobe CS5 Trial. Adobe has hidden limits and disabled features in many of their trial version programs. For example, Adobe Premiere Pro will not include audio in many popular video formats because they want people to actually buy the software to get all of the features. This workaround will not work for those situations. But in the event that you absolutely need to use your Adobe CS5 trial for a few more days while you wait for your full copy to arrive, this is a solution which can help you.
This solutions is probably against Adobe’s Software License Agreement. If you use this software and profit from it in any way, you should really purchase it. Student’s can get some great prices with Adobe’s student discount program

Free Open Source Project Management Tool

2011-09-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

If you want to keep track of your projects, and need a comprehensive web based software solution which cost you nothing, then its Redmine. Give a try, at live demo http://demo.redmine.org/ and I hope you will love it. Redmine easy to deploy/install at your own server, make it available at your company intranet and keep start easy project management. See the following what can Redmine do for you.

Features

Below are some of the main features of Redmine.

Multiple projects support
Flexible role based access control
Flexible issue tracking system
Gantt chart and calendar
News, documents & files management
Feeds & email notifications
Per project wiki
Per project forums
Time tracking
Custom fields for issues, time-entries, projects and users
SCM integration (SVN, CVS, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar and Darcs)
Issue creation via email
Multiple LDAP authentication support
User self-registration support
Multilanguage support
Multiple databases support

How to generate QRCode easily

2011-08-11T00:31:00.000-07:00

Publish Post

You want to geneate QRCode, for your website, cup, shirt, visiting card, website, application whatever, GOQR is there to make it very easy. It give very simple interface to generate different type of QR Codes like

Text
URL
Email
Call | Phone | SMS
vCard

http://goqr.me

Google Plus Template for Blogspot

2011-08-09T00:18:00.000-07:00

Want to make your blogspot looks like Google Plus, then try Google Plus Blogspot tempalte. I just updated my blog them to Google Plus template and it looks very good.

Download Template and Upload to your blogger. http://google-plus-blogger-template.blogspot.com/

Quran Online

2011-08-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

When and where you want to study, explore Quran, The Holy Book, www.quran.com is there. Website offers very much pretty features for navigating and browsing Quran's contents, word to word translation, recitation and much more. The beta UI is super amazing & its also on android market as free app. Moreover, website provides an api for Java by which much more can be done very quickly.

Read, Browse Quran Online
http://quran.com

Beta UI
http://beta.quran.com

Android App
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.quran.labs.androidquran

Quran API
http://corpus.quran.com/java

Super Cam - Samsung ST550 Digital Camera

2011-08-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

What are the Movie format? CAM, TS, SCR, RIP etc.

2011-07-30T12:47:00.001-07:00

CAM
A cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible, so the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn’t always idle, and it might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to tell unless there’s text on the screen, but a lot of times these are left with triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound is taken from the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in comedies, laughter can often be heard during the film. Due to these factors picture and sound quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes we’re lucky, and the theater will be fairly empty and a fairly clear signal will be heard.

TELESYNC (TS)
A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people). A direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio source, as a lot of background noise can interfere. A lot of the times a telesync is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality. Quality ranges drastically, check the sample before downloading the full release. A high percentage of Telesyncs are CAMs that have been mislabeled.

TELECINE (TC)
A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is the JURASSIC PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with TimeCode , which is a visible counter on screen throughout the film

SCREENER (SCR)
A pre VHS tape, sent to rental stores, and various other places for promotional use. A screener is supplied on a VHS tape, and is usually in a 4:3 (full screen) a/r, although letterboxed screeners are sometimes found. The main draw back is a “ticker” (a message that scrolls past at the bottom of the screen, with the copyright and anti-copy telephone number). Also, if the tape contains any serial numbers, or any other markings that could lead to the source of the tape, these will have to be blocked, usually with a black mark over the section. This is sometimes only for a few seconds, but unfortunately on some copies this will last for the entire film, and some can be quite big. Depending on the equipment used, screener quality can range from excellent if done from a MASTER copy, to very poor if done on an old VHS recorder thru poor capture equipment on a copied tape. Most screeners are transferred to VCD, but a few attempts at SVCD have occurred, some looking better than others.

DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr)
Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.

DVDRip
A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.

VHSRip
Transferred off a retail VHS, mainly skating/sports videos and XXX releases.

TVRip
TV episode that is either from Network (capped using digital cable/satellite boxes are preferable) or PRE-AIR from satellite feeds sending the program around to networks a few days earlier (do not contain “dogs” but sometimes have flickers etc) Some programs such as WWF Raw Is War contain extra parts, and the “dark matches” and camera/commentary tests are included on the rips. PDTV is capped from a digital TV PCI card, generally giving the best results, and groups tend to release in SVCD for these. VCD/SVCD/DivX/XviD rips are all supported by the TV scene.

WORKPRINT (WP)
A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very poor. Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is missing all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can contain extra scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions to the collection once a good quality final has been obtained.

DivX Re-Enc
A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD source, and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on file sharers, these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(1of2) etc. Common groups are SMR and TND. These aren’t really worth downloading, unless you’re that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb copy of it. Generally avoid.

Watermarks
A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are tagged by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a little logo, generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the “Z” “A” and “Globe” watermarks.

Asian Silvers / PDVD
These are films put out by eastern bootleggers, and these are usually bought by some groups to put out as their own. Silvers are very cheap and easily available.

R5
R5 refers to a specific format of DVD released in DVD Region 5, the former Soviet Union, and bootlegged copies of these releases that are distributed on the Internet. In an effort to compete with movie piracy, the movie industry chose to create a new format for DVD releases that could be produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional DVD releases. R5 releases differ from normal releases in that they are a direct Telecine transfer of the film without any of the image processing common on DVD releases, and without any special features. This allows the film to be released for sale at the same time that DVD Screeners are released. Since DVD Screeners are the chief source of high-quality pirated movies, this allows the movie studios to beat the pirates to market. In some cases, R5 DVDs may be released without an English audio track, requiring pirates to use the direct line audio from the film’s theatrical release. In this case, the pirated release is tagged with “.LINE” to distinguish it from a release with a DVD audio track.

The image quality of an R5 release is generally comparable to a DVD Screener release, except without the added scrolling text and black and white scenes that serve to distinguish screeners from commercial DVD releases. The quality is better than Telecine transfers produced by movie pirates because the transfer is performed usingprofessional-grade film scanning equipment.

Because there is no scene release standard for pirated R5 releases, they were variably tagged as Telecines, DVD Screeners, or even DVD rips. In late 2006, several release groups such as DREAMLiGHT, mVs, and PUKKA began tagging R5 releases with “.R5″ or r5 line (the line meaning it has direct english line audio) and suggesting that other groups do the same.

VCD
VCD is an mpeg1 based format, with a constant bitrate of 1150kbit at a resolution of 352×240 (NTCS). VCDs are generally used for lower quality transfers (CAM/TS/TC/Screener(VHS)/TVrip(analogue) in order to make smaller file sizes, and fit as much on a single disc as possible. Both VCDs and SVCDs are timed in minutes, rather than MB, so when looking at an mpeg, it may appear larger than the disc capacity, and in reality u can fit 74min on a CDR74.

SVCD
SVCD is an mpeg2 based (same as DVD) which allows variable bit-rates of up to 2500kbits at a resolution of 480×480 (NTSC) which is then decompressed into a 4:3 aspect ratio when played back. Due to the variable bit-rate, the length you can fit on a single CDR is not fixed, but generally between 35-60 Mins are the most common. To get a better SVCD encode using variable bit-rates, it is important to use multiple “passes”. this takes a lot longer, but the results are far clearer.

XVCD/XSVCD
These are basically VCD/SVCD that don’t obey the “rules”. They are both capable of much higher resolutions and bit-rates, but it all depends on the player to whether the disc can be played. X(S)VCD are total non-standards, and are usually for home-ripping by people who don’t intend to release them.

DivX / XviD
XviD & DivX are the most commonly encoded movies. DivX used to be the most popular, until it went from open source to a corporation that bought the rights & started charging for it (although the crack can easily be obtained for the DivX encoder, most people have switched to XviD, not only because it is open source, but also because it is superior in many ways). In the last year or so, many stand-alone DVD players have been released that are capable of playing DivX/XviD movies (even on CDRs), which has made this the most popular form of encoding. The majority of XviD/DivX rips are taken from DVDs, and are generally in as good quality as possible that can fit on one 700MB CDR disc, which is why most XviD/DivX movies are almost exactly 700MB, so they can be burnt onto a CDR & played in these new DVD players (which can be purchased just about anywhere for as little as $30-$40 USD). Various codecs exist, the most popular at the moment being the new XviD 1.2 codec. DivX encoded movies will definitely play on these new DVD players, & it only takes a little simple tweaking by the ripper to ensure XviDs will play on them as well, but it is therefore not guaranteed. (If you want to learn more about XviD/DivX encoding so you can make your own DVDrips, just visit doom9.org)

x264
x264 is a free software library for encoding H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video streams. (More to come.)

CVD
CVD is a combination of VCD and SVCD formats, and is generally supported by a majority of DVD players. It supports MPEG2 bit-rates of SVCD, but uses a resolution of 352×480(ntsc) as the horizontal resolution is generally less important. Currently no groups release in CVD.

DVD-R
Is the recordable DVD solution that seems to be the most popular (out of DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD+R). it holds 4.7gb of data per side, and double sided discs are available, so discs can hold nearly 10gb in some circumstances. SVCD mpeg2 images must be converted before they can be burnt to DVD-R and played successfully. DVD>DVDR copies are possible, but sometimes extras/languages have to be removed to stick within the available 4.7gb.

MiniDVD
MiniDVD/cDVD is the same format as DVD but on a standard CDR/CDRW. Because of the high resolution/bit-rates, its only possible to fit about 18-21 mins of footage per disc, and the format is only compatible with a few players.

Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2010 Activator

2011-07-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ultimate Windows 7 / Office 2010 VL Activation Tool

If you are victim of using Microsoft Office 2010 which pretty cool office suite, and facing the bullshit activation message again and again. Here's how you can kick ass valication, byWOAT. It’s a versatile tool that Check for Activation Status (W7/O2010), Activate W7 and Servers (OEM/KMS), Activates Office 2010 VL (KMS), Reset W7/Servers Back to Trial Mode and many more...

WOAT Main Features:

Activation Status Check (W7/Office 2010)
OEM Activation (W7) (Slic v2.1 only)
KMS Activation (W7/Servers/Office 2010 VL)
Resets W7 Back to Trial (All Versions / Except Multipoint)

OEM Activation Support:
Note: Slic v2.1 only

Windows 7 Starter to Ultimate.

KMS Activation Support:

Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise (N and E), and Multipoint Server.
Office 2010 VL Editions Of:
Professional Plus, Standard, Small Business Basic, Project Professional/Standard, Visio Premium / Professional / Standard, Mondo / Mondo 2, Word, Excel , PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote and Publisher. [Win7 and Win8 Pre M3 Build 7955]

WOAT Torrent Download Link
WOAT HTTP 4Shared Link

Credit: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/21262-WOAT-OEM-KMS-Activator

Learn how to Tether your Android Phone

2011-07-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

Tethering is the term means sharing your mobile phone's internet to other connected devices that may be a PC, Laptop connected by USB cable or bluetooth.

So, there's simple way to do this. Install an android application on android phone and then install PC version of "Tether", (Windows MAC, Linux) software.

The two good software which I have tried are the following.

PdaNet
EasyTether

State of Social Networking in Pakistan

2011-07-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

Review of Pakistani Social Networking Websites

Social Networking bursting hugely & Pakistan is just running behind it and trying to be with world. So, there are many who started their own websites to get them self into the Social Networking Competition.

Most of these websites are running by third party scripts and I don't see any website who solely developed & did programming to make social networking website. I will also put the script name of each website is being running at the moment.

www.circle.pk
www.stop.pk
www.millatfacebook.com
geodost.com
joinpk.pk
www.pakalumni.com
www.paklounge.com

http://www.pringit.com/
http://www.chopaal.pk/index.php

http://www.codeweek.pk/2010/02/chopaal-pringit-social-networking-tide-in-pakistan/

Could You Be The Next C.E.O.?

2011-07-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

An Inspirational Story of C.E.O.

A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next C.E.O..
I have decided to choose one of you."

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued.

"I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next C.E.O.."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

Everyday he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the C.E.O. for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened.

Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right.

He took his empty pot to the boardroom. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the C.E.O. arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back.

"My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the C.E.O.. "Today one of you will be appointed the next C.E.O.!"

All of a sudden, the C.E.O. spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The C.E.O. knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the C.E.O. asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The C.E.O. asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!"

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new C.E.O.?" the others said.

Then the C.E.O. said,

"One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

"Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back"

Free Open Source School, College, University Management System

2011-07-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

I just discovered another brilliant open source product specialized for School, College and University Mangement Information System. Its Project Fedena, the community team did excellent job and developed the whole system into RoR (Ruby on Rails) framework.

User Management
Student Management
News Management
Miscellaneous Settings
Time Table Management
Examination Management
Attendance Management
Future Updates and Ehancements

Its completely free, easy to setup and you are upto using modern system running on your campus.

Fedena Project: http://projectfedena.org

Understand LED Screen Size and Aspect Ratio

2011-07-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

16:10 (Less used aspect ratio but in future will be used)
Viewable Image Info:
Image Dimensions: 20.35" x 11.43"
Image area: 232.6 sq. in.
Screen Utilization: 89.86%

16:9 (commonly used aspect ratio)
Viewable Image Info:
Image Dimensions: 19.19" x 10.78"
Image area: 206.87 sq. in.
Screen Utilization: 100%

And with respect to screen resolution in pixels

1920x1440 = 4:3
1920x1200 = 16:10
1920x1080 = 16:9

Mobilink launched Dell Streak 5 for 50K in Pakistan

2011-06-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Mobilink again stood first to launch another best android phone in Pakistan. This time Mobilink launched Dell's Streaks 5 android 2.2 Froyo phone.

This tablet cum smartphone has been launched in partnership with Mobilink, which will be selling it at a retail price of Rs 49,999 with 3 months of free data download. Company is also bundling an extra battery and leather pouch in the same price.

Dell Streak is company’s first mobile device to be launched in Pakistan. It comes pre-loaded with Android 2.2, and has 5 inch display with Gorilla Glass. Other features include a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and rear-facing 5MP camera with the front-facing 1.3MP camera.

View the Official Mobilink Dell Streaks 5 at Mobilink Website

Compression Software, 7z vs UHA vs KGB

2011-06-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

There are many compression software available both commercial and open source. Commercial software always sucks and do not really have tweaked and community demanding features.

Being an open source geeks, I am addicted to use 7z and it always make me happy. But in some cases for some other formats other tools perform very well. UHA and KGB archiver are very popular in this regard. Below is the detailed comparison of these three products.

Format	Size	Ratio
Uncompressed text data	19900KB	100%
ZIP, maximum compression	4922KB	24,7%
ZIP, Deflate64, maximum compression	4865KB	24,4%
CAB, LZX - maximum compression	3559KB	17,9%
BZIP2, dictionary 900KB	3399KB	17,1%
RAR, maximum compression, solid archive	3220KB	16,2%
UHA, maximum compression, dictionary 32MB, multimedia compression	3171KB	15,9%
7zip, ultra compression, solid archive, dictionary 48MB, word size 255B	2726KB	13,7%
SQX2.0, ultra compression, dictionary 32MB, solid archive, multimedia & EXE compression	2631KB	13,2%
KGB, normal compression	2339KB	11,8%
KGB, medium compression*	1543KB	7,8%

Format	Size	Ratio
JPEG images	8096KB	100%
ZIP, maximum compression	7582KB	93,7%
ZIP, Deflate64, maximum compression	7579KB	93,6%
7zip, ultra compression, solid archive, dictionary 48MB, word size 255B	7549KB	93,2%
BZIP2, dictionary 900KB	7541KB	93,1%
CAB, LZX - maximum compression	7536KB	93,1%
RAR, maximum compression, solid archive	7528KB	93,0%
UHA, maximum compression, dictionary 32MB, multimedia compression	7486KB	92,5%
KGB, normal compression	7429KB	91,8%
KGB, medium compression	7406KB	91,5%
KGB, extremal compression	7367KB	91,0%
SQX2.0, ultra compression, dictionary 32MB, solid archive, multimedia & EXE compression	7364KB	91,0%
KGB, maximum compression	7349KB	90,8%

Format	Size	Ratio
Mp3 sound	11895KB	100%
ZIP, maximum compression	11650KB	97,9%
ZIP, Deflate64, maximum compression	11623KB	97,7%
RAR, maximum compression, solid archive	11609KB	97,6%
7zip, ultra compression, solid archive, dictionary 48MB, word size 255B	11606KB	97,6%
BZIP2, dictionary 900KB	11590KB	97,4%
UHA, maximum compression, dictionary 32MB, multimedia compression	11579KB	97,3%
CAB, LZX - maximum compression	11562KB	97,2%
KGB, normal compression	11496KB	96,6%
SQX2.0, ultra compression, dictionary 32MB, solid archive, multimedia & EXE compression	11455KB	96,3%
KGB, medium compression*	11361KB	95,5%

Format	Size	Ratio
Applications	3732KB	100%
ZIP, maximum compression	1373KB	36,8%
ZIP, Deflate64, maximum compression	1358KB	36,4%
BZIP2, dictionary 900KB	1334KB	35,7%
RAR, maximum compression, solid archive	992KB	26,6%
CAB, LZX - maximum compression	985KB	26,4%
UHA, maximum compression, dictionary 32MB, multimedia compression	921KB	24,7%
KGB, normal compression	920KB	24,7%
SQX2.0, ultra compression, dictionary 32MB, solid archive, multimedia & EXE compression	897KB	24,0%
7zip, ultra compression, solid archive, dictionary 48MB, word size 255B	866KB	23,2%
KGB, medium compression*	839KB	22,5%

Format	Size	Ratio
MPEG movies	12077KB	100%
ZIP, maximum compression	11319KB	93,7%
ZIP, Deflate64, maximum compression	11277KB	93,4%
BZIP2, dictionary 900KB	11156KB	92,4%
CAB, LZX - maximum compression	11107KB	92,0%
RAR, maximum compression, solid archive	11005KB	91,1%
UHA, maximum compression, dictionary 32MB, multimedia compression	11003KB	91,1%
7zip, ultra compression, solid archive, dictionary 48MB, word size 255B	10955KB	90,7%
KGB, normal compression	10872KB	90,0%
KGB, medium compression	10807KB	89,5%
SQX2.0, ultra compression, dictionary 32MB, solid archive, multimedia & EXE compression	10792KB	89,4%
KGB, extremal compression*	10674KB	88,4%

World’s Top Ten Most Expensive Domain Names

2011-05-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Just a Interesting & amazing article - How a $10 domain name can business millions of dollar.

For over half a decade, Business.com reigned as the world’s most expensive domain name after its 1999 sale for $7.5 million. That was shortly after the site was founded by former Walt Disney Internet Group chairman Jake Winebaum and Earthlink founder Sky Dayton. The domain retained its record until 2006, when Match.com founder Gary Kremen decided to get out of the adult entertainment industry and sold Sex.com for $14 million (or $12 million, depending on who you ask) in 2006.
While the current market for internet domains is nowhere as solid as it was during the dot-com peak, the market remains strong and is experiencing solid growth. Each year tens of millions of dollars are exchanged during the resale of domains.
The record for most expensive domain name ever sold changed hands again in late 2009, when internet marketing firm QuinStreet purchased Insure.com for $16 million. Other top dollar domain sales of 2009 include Toys.com, purchased by Toys ‘R Us for $5.1 million in March of 2009, and Candy.com, sold for $3 million in June of 2009.
Enough with the preamble, though—check out the world’s top ten most expensive domain names:
1. Insure.com, sold to QuinStreet for $16 million in 2009.
2. Sex.com, sold for $12-$14 million in 2006.
3. Fund.com, sold for $9.99 million in 2008.
4. Porn.com, sold for $9.5 million in 2007.
5. Business.com, sold for $7.5 million in 1999.
6. Diamond.com, sold to Ice.com for $7.5 million in 2006.
7. Beer.com, sold for $7 million in 2004.
8. Israel.com, sold for $5.88 million in 2004.
9. Casino.com, sold for $5.5 million in 2003.
10. Toys.com, sold to Toys ‘R Us for $5.1 million in 2009.

Analysis about Winners versus Losers

2011-04-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

While reading "You can Win by Shiv Khira" I love this snippet to share on my blog to make it my permanent memory and share with others. Success is not destination its the continuous journey.

The Winner is always part of the answer;
The Loser is always part of the problem.

The Winner always has a program;
The Loser always has an excuse.

The Winner says, "Let me do it for you";
The Loser says, "That is not my job."

The Winner sees an answer for every problem;
The Loser sees a problem for every answer.

The Winner says, "It may be difficult but it is possible";
The Loser says, "It may be possible but it is too difficult."

When a Winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong";
When a Loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault."

A Winner makes commitments;
A Loser makes promises.

Winners have dreams;
Losers have schemes.

Winners say, "I must do something";
Losers say, "Something must be done."

Winners are a part of the team;
Losers are apart from the team.

Winners see the gain;
Losers see the pain.

Winners see possibilities;
Losers see problems.

Winners believe in win-win;
Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose.

Implementing ERP System Free by using Open Source Technologies

2011-04-11T03:13:00.000-07:00

For small, medium size companies implementing ERP to streamline their businesses and making quick decision making based on data & information stored was really a dream.

But thanks to open source community who brings commercial level of ERP products to open source and they are available Free. Anyone wants to implement, just a matter of R&D time and that's done.

I have reviewed two Open Source ERPs so far and will update this as I go,

I am really impressed by OpenERP, it has great user interface and rich functionality.

Free Download Agar Mujhe Qatal Kiya Gaya by Zulfiqar Ali Bhuto

2011-04-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

Free Download Urdu Book Agar Mujhe Qatal Kiya Gaya by Zulfiqar Ali Bhuto

اگر مجھے قتل کیا گیا - مصنف ذولفقار علی بھٹو

If I am assassinated: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Download FREE in PDF form.

http://hotfile.com/dl/113743534/6df5a61/Agar-Mujhey-Qatal-Kiya-Ghaya-by-Zulfiqar-Ali-Bhuto.pdf.html

My 2011 Resolution

2011-04-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

The year of personal development

Self awareness
Personality grooming
Confidence
Communication

The year of Happiness

Find the ways make myself happy
Make the people happy around you
Spread the message of happiness every where

The year of commitment

Commit your time
Commit your dreams
Quit wasting anymore

The year of change

Chnage the way, that does not work till now
Start things and never start any other till its end.
Remain dead focused on your visions and dreams.

And last, don't try to make all the jerk, instead make only one master piece, maybe small but perfect within its smallness.

Learning & Developing from Twitter and Facebook technologies

2011-04-01T00:32:00.000-07:00

The big player of the web Facebook and twitter open sourced their underlying technologies being used so that others can build robust and scalable platform like theirs.

Facebook: http://developers.facebook.com/opensource/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/about/opensource

This is very significant for students, professionals and companies to learn real BIG platforms and develop great application.

Free Open Source HR (Human Management) System

2011-03-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

For small to medium size company, setting up Self Service Web Based HR System is very important. Got Well HRMS is very easy to setup, its based on .Net with rich UI. It includes all the basic features & functions that normally a HR department required.

- Alarm Setting
- Alarm Control
- Background Job for HRMS（Architecture）
- Daemon Schedule
- Damon Task
- Recruitment Design
- Recruitment Type
- Recruitment Application
- Recruitment Applicants
- Interview Assessment
- Interview Schedule
- Interview Result
- Re-develop Rating and Rating Detail
- New logo
- Add Contract No for contract management

http://gotwellhrms.codeplex.com/

Best Preparation Centres of IELTS in Lahore

2011-03-31T10:51:00.000-07:00

Recently, while applying to foreign university in United Kingdom, I was asked to first complete IELTS with minimum of 6.5 Band. So, I did the research about good IELTS Preparation Centres in Lahore and decide to share these information to all those who want to do the same thing. If you find any other good IELTS Preparation Center, please publish it by posting the comment. You can also share you IELTS experience in comments.

1. KIPLING

Address: Lahore, Ala-ud-Din Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Phone: +92 6681292 ‎

Map: Kipling Centre

2. BETS
Address: BETS Language Centre 24-M, Model Town,(Main Boulevard, Faisal Town), Lahore.
Landmark: Burger Hotel,Caltex Petrol Pump,Sajjad Motors
Phone: +92-42-35179553, 35179554
Map:

The Power of Positive Talk toward Building Positive Attitude

2011-03-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

A powerful speech from our Prev. President Mr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Please read it in your free time.

I remember my dad teaching me the power of language at a very young age. Not only did my dad understand that specific words affect our mental pictures, but he understood words are a powerful programming factor in lifelong success.

One particularly interesting event occurred when I was eight. As a kid, I was always climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down from the rafters of our lake house. So, it came to no surprise for my dad to find me at the top of a 30-foot tree swinging back and forth. My little eight-year-old brain didn’t realize the tree could break or I could get hurt. I just thought it was fun to be up so high.
My older cousin, Tammy, was also in the same tree. She was hanging on the first big limb, about ten feet below me. Tammy’s mother also noticed us at the exact time my dad did. About that time a huge gust of wind came over the tree. I could hear the leaves start to rattle and the tree begin to sway. I remember my dad’s voice over the wind yell, “Bart, Hold on tightly.” So I did. The next thing I know, I heard Tammy screaming at the top of her lungs, laying flat on the ground. She had fallen out of the tree.
I scampered down the tree to safety. My dad later told me why she fell and I did not. Apparently, when Tammy’s mother felt the gust of wind, she yelled out, “Tammy, don’t fall!” And Tammy did… fall.
My dad then explained to me that the mind has a very difficult time processing a negative image. In fact, people who rely on internal pictures cannot see a negative at all. In order for Tammy to process the command of not falling, her nine-year-old brain had to first imagine falling, then try to tell the brain not to do what it just imagined. Whereas, my eight-year-old brain instantly had an internal image of me hanging on tightly.
This concept is especially useful when you are attempting to break a habit or set a goal. You can’t visualize not doing something. The only way to properly visualize not doing something is to actually find a word for what you want to do and visualize that. For example, when I was thirteen years old, I played for my junior high school football team. I tried so hard to be good, but I just couldn’t get it together at that age. I remember hearing the words run through my head as I was running out for a pass, “Don’t drop it!” Naturally, I dropped the ball.

My coaches were not skilled enough to teach us proper “self-talk.” They just thought some kids could catch and others couldn’t. I’ll never make it pro, but I’m now a pretty good Sunday afternoon football player, because all my internal dialogue is positive and encourages me to win. I wish my dad had coached me playing football instead of just climbing trees. I might have had a longer football career.
Here is a very easy demonstration to teach your kids and your friends the power of a toxic vocabulary. Ask them to hold a pen or pencil. Hand it to them. Now, follow my instructions carefully. Say to them, “Okay, try to drop the pencil.” Observe what they do.
Most people release their hands and watch the pencil hit the floor. You respond, “You weren’t paying attention. I said TRY to drop the pencil. Now please do it again.” Most people then pick up the pencil and pretend to be in excruciating pain while their hand tries but fails to drop the pencil.
The point is made.

If you tell your brain you will “give it a try,” you are actually telling your brain to fail. I have a “no try” rule in my house and with everyone I interact with. Either people will do it or they won’t. Either they will be at the party or they won’t. I’m brutal when people attempt to lie to me by using the word try. Do they think I don’t know they are really telegraphing to the world they have no intention of doing it but they want me to give them brownie points for pretended effort? You will never hear the words “I’ll try” come out of my mouth unless I’m teaching this concept in a seminar.

If you “try” and do something, your unconscious mind has permission not to succeed. If I truly can’t make a decision I will tell the truth. “Sorry John. I’m not sure if I will be at your party or not. I’ve got an outstanding commitment. If that falls through, I will be here. Otherwise, I will not. Thanks for the invite.”
People respect honesty. So remove the word “try” from your vocabulary.
My dad also told me that psychologists claim it takes seventeen positive statements to offset one negative statement. I have no idea if it is true, but the logic holds true. It might take up to seventeen compliments to offset the emotional damage of one harsh criticism.
These are concepts that are especially useful when raising children.
Ask yourself how many compliments you give yourself daily versus how many criticisms. Heck, I know you are talking to yourself all day long. We all have internal voices that give us direction.

So, are you giving yourself the 17:1 ratio or are you shortchanging yourself with toxic self-talk like, ” I’m fat. Nobody will like me. I’ll try this diet. I’m not good enough. I’m so stupid. I’m broke, etc. etc.”
If our parents can set a lifetime of programming with one wrong statement, imagine the kind of programming you are doing on a daily basis with your own internal dialogue. Here is a list of Toxic Vocabulary words.
Notice when you or other people use them.

But: Negates any words that are stated before it.
Try: Presupposes failure.
If: Presupposes that you may not.
Might: It does nothing definite. It leaves options for your listener.
Would Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen.
Should Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen (and implies guilt.)
Could Have: Past tense that draws attention to things that didn’t actually happen but the person tries to take credit as if it did happen.
Can’t/Don’t: These words force the listener to focus on exactly the opposite of what you want. This is a classic mistake that parents and coaches make without knowing the damage of this linguistic error.

Examples:

Toxic phrase: “Don’t drop the ball!”
Likely result: Drops the ball
Better language: “Catch the ball!”
Toxic phrase: “You shouldn’t watch so much television.”
Likely result: Watches more television.
Better language: “I read too much television makes people stupid. You might find yourself turning that TV off and picking up one of those books more often!”
Exercise: Take a moment to write down all the phrases you use on a daily basis or any Toxic self-talk that you have noticed yourself using. Write these phrases down so you will begin to catch yourself as they occur and change them.

Android for girls: a new frontier

2011-03-05T15:37:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Android for girls: a new frontier

View more presentations from Alja Sulcic.

Circle The Social Network of Pakistan

2011-03-05T15:22:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Circle The Social Network of Pakistan

View more presentations from faisalgeek.

Watch Live Cricket Streaming ICC WorldCup 2011in Pakistan

2011-03-02T01:23:00.000-08:00

Watching Cricket Online via Live Streaming over the Internet in Pakistan is possible. Some very good live streaming websites just blocked some countries including Pakistan during ICC WorldCup 2011 event. But If you still want to see the Live Matches, then just log on to Circle! Pakistan The Social Network of Pakistan, they guys just heck the stuff very pretty and available live cricket streaming for Pakistan.

Circle! Live Cricket Streaming

Stay updated and streamed with Circle!

Review: FREE Open Source Shopping Cart, build free ecommerce website

2011-01-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

We have seen amazed growth in e-commerce and there are coming e-commerce solutions day by day. This is really good and specially when we talk about FREE open source solutions which cost very low for business owners to setup their complete e-business scenario by using open source solutions.

In this article, the basic purpose to review the most popular, mature solutions which you can use to setup e-commerce website without paying extra.

Following is the list of most popular shopping cart available at the moment.

is robust, professional grade e-Commerce shopping cart that you can download, install, and use for free. In the back end, you will use a full featured back end to manage your inventory, orders, shipping, and customers in real time. Your customer’s payments are sent directly to your commercial bank account using the latest security technology. You can even add your own modules to the shopping cart.

is an open source PHP based online shopping cart system. OpenCart is easy to use and is SEO optimized with a very nice interface. A great feature of OpenCart is that customers can write their own reviews of the products.

is a professional open-source e-Commerce solution offering unprecedented flexibility and control. Magento is awesome, I would never believe it is an open-source project. It features clean urls and SEO from the start. Everything is designed in a clean and simple way. Magento also features: Unlimited flexibility, Completely Scalable Architecture, Professional and Community Support, and Smooth Integration with 3rd party apps.

is a free, user friendly, open source shopping cart. Zen Cart focuses on the merchants and shoppers instead of the developers. Zen Cart also supports multiple payment and shipping options, quantity discounts and coupons. Also Zen Cart is very easy to install.

is an online shopping cart that offers a wide range of features that allows online stores to be setup fairly quickly. osCommerce is backed by a great and active community. It also supports multiple currencies, allows customers to print invoices from the order screen, and has an easy database backup system.

This really an innovative shopping cart free and open source, with lots of good options and easy to setup. This is SEO optimized, Function:
- Content Management System
- Promotion tools and SEO
- Statistics and Reports
- Checkout
- Shipping
- Payment
- Order Management
- Customer Management
- Product Management and Browsing
- Catalog Management and Browsing
- Site Mangement with Multi-lingual and Multi-currency support

Editor's Pick: While all the products are great effort but my personal decision to choose the best is Number One as Magento, if you really want to control each and every thing yet it is not as easy as others. The Second choice is Tomato Cart which is very easy to setup . The third choice is osCommerce if you really want to have an e-commerce website with tons of features and control.

Free CD/DVD Burner & ISO Mount Software Reveiw

2011-01-26T20:57:00.000-08:00

It is very obvious in day to day computing where we need to burn a CD or DVD or we have a .ISO or .BIN file and we just want to mount it as virtual CD or DVD disk. I have researched ton both topics and found two excellent softwares, one of CD/DVD burning and other for Virtual CD/DVD ROM and they are both FREE softwares.

http://www.imgburn.com

http://www.magiciso.com

Imgburn is great FREE software that offer easy to use interface to burn CDs, DVDs playable at computer, TV, DVD players. The software is more than any commercial software like nero etc.

Second, is Magic Disk by magiciso.com and this is really really cool FREE Virtual CD DVD Software.

Why we pay, when we have good FREE software.

Know All Types of warez

2011-01-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

There is generally a distinction made between different sub-types of warez. The unusual spellings shown here were commonly used as directory names within a compromised server, to organize the files rather than having them all thrown together in a single random collection.

0-day (pronounced as zero day) - This refers to any copyrighted work that has been released the same day as the original product, or sometimes even before. It was considered a mark of skill among warez distro groups to crack and distribute a program on the same day of its commercial release.

Apps or Appz - Applications: Generally a retail version of a software package.

Cracks or Crackz - Cracked applications: A modified executable or more (usually one) and/or a library (usually one) or more and/or a patch designed to turn a trial version of a software package into the full version and/or bypass anti-piracy protections.

Dox - Computer game add-ons: These include nocds, cracks, trainers, cheat codes etc.
EBook (e-books) - Books: These include pirated eBooks, scanned books, scanned comics, etc.
Games - Games: This scene concentrates on both computer based games, and video game consoles, often released as ISO or other format disk image.
Keygens or Keygenz - Keygen software are tools that replicate the registration/activation process of a genuine software product and generate the necessary keys to activate the software.
Movies - Movies: Pirated movies, can be released while still in theaters or from CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray prior to the actual retail date.
MP3s - MP3 audio: Pirated albums, singles, or other audio format usually obtained by ripping a CD or a radio broadcast and released in the compressed audio format MP3.
MVids (Music videos) - Can be ripped from TV, HDTV, DVDs or VCDs.
NoDVD, FixedExe - A file modification that allows an installed program to be run without inserting the CD or DVD into the drive.
Portables - Similar to RIP, but refers to software or old/low size games (usually under 100 MB). The point of portable software is the fact that it can be placed on removable media (or any place on the local hard drive) and doesn't need installing; usually it is compressed into one executable file, by using software like VMware ThinApp or MoleBox.
RIP - A game that doesn't have to be installed; any required registry entry can be included as a .reg file. RIP games can be ripped of music and/or video files, or, for console games, ROMs, thus decreasing the size of the download.[7] RIPs with nothing ripped out sometimes are referred to as DP (direct play).
Scripts - Scripts: These include pirated commercial scripts (such as vBulletin, Invision Power Board, etc.) coded by companies in PHP, ASP, and other languages.
Subs - Subtitles: can be integrated in a TV-Rip or Movie.
Serials or Serialz - Refers to a collection of keys as serial numbers made available for the purpose of activating trial software, without payment.
Templates - Templates: These include pirated commercial website templates coded by companies.
TV-Rips - Television programs: Television shows or movies, usually with commercials edited out. Can be released within a few hours after airing. DVD Rips of television series fall under this sub-type.

Could You Be The Next C.E.O.?

2011-01-20T11:42:00.000-08:00

An Inspirational Story of C.E.O.

A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next C.E.O..
I have decided to choose one of you."

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued.

"I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next C.E.O.."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

Everyday he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the C.E.O. for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened.

Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right.

He took his empty pot to the boardroom. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the C.E.O. arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back.

"My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the C.E.O.. "Today one of you will be appointed the next C.E.O.!"

All of a sudden, the C.E.O. spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The C.E.O. knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the C.E.O. asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The C.E.O. asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!"

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new C.E.O.?" the others said.

Then the C.E.O. said,

"One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

"Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back"

My MBA Roadmap

2011-01-16T03:28:00.000-08:00

I got admission in MBA in February 2010, that was my dream to learn business, management and marketing subjects. Later, it become my passion to start up own sort of business & MBA may helpful in this regard. I have completed the following courses till now

~~Principles of Management~~

~~Principles of Marketing~~

~~Financial & Managerial Accounting~~

~~Human Resource Management~~

~~Business Communication~~

~~Research Methods~~

~~Business Economics~~

~~Seminars in Professional Development~~

Entrepreneurship (current)

Management Information System (current)

This list will be updated as courses goes on.

Java Look and Feel Themes

2011-01-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

For Years, Java Swing has suffered from poor UI colors and designs. Since the support of Java to let people desing their own Themes, it has revamped those old boring UIs.

When we talk about designing look and feel, we know it is about implementing different UI classes for different components.

Today, we can use Synth look and feel, which allow us to customize the look and feel by writing an XML file.

The other way is to use UIManager to load the L&F class directly from classpath. For which the code goes like this:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel("fully qualified name of look and feel");

The Look and Feel Libraries are broadly divided into two categories.

Skinnable

Non-Skinnable

Skinnable look and feel can’t only change the LAF of wigets in your application, but, can also change the look and feel of window title bars and borders. So here are few Professional and Casual themes that you can use to make your application much more attractive and vibrant:

Professional Themes

Nimbus

This is the theme that’s getting a lot of popularity, specially, after Solaris 10 adopted it.

Here’s how you can set it:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel("javax.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel");

Here’s a screenshot:

Substance
Substance has 6 different flavours for the metallic Look an Feel. The Good one is below. You can checkout other color schemes here (though they are not that attractive). Download

Sea Glass
This is relatively anew theme under development. This one is among the best I’ve seen around. It that mocks Mac-kind look inspired by different colored stones. You can checkout the details here.

Info Look And Feel
This one is based on the Metal look and feel. This is the one that you will find in most enterprise or commercial Java Apps. It’s designed to have a slim, clean appearance. It has support for themes. Works best for Windows, though looks decent on KDE as well. Download

Pgs Look And Feel
I would call this a windows and KDE/Gnome hybrid. It aims be a very modern cross-platform LAF with nice features. the UI components are not as-sleek-as-others. Download

Quaqua Look And Feel
The Quaqua LAF is an user interface library which adheres closest to Mac OS X. Download

Casual Themes

Oyaha
This one is a cool and trendy. It’s unique, as it features transparency, sounds and is Skinable. For the cool generations. Download

Liquid Look And Feel
Liquid gives the application a crystal effect on the buttons. It’s based on Mosfet’s Liquid 0.9.6 theme for KDE 3.x. Reminds of Candy theme from StyleXP. Download

JTattoo
JTattoo is skinnable and consists of several different LAF. User can customize the look by choosing among different available color schemes. Download

I`ll keep on updating the list. Make sure you check back.

http://www.java2s.com/Product/Java/Swing/Look-And-Feel-LaF.htm

https://substance.dev.java.net/see.html

http://www.jyloo.com/synthetica/themes/

http://napkinlaf.sourceforge.net/#Snapshots

Download Google Chrome OS VMWare image or USB Live

2011-01-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

Now, when Google is giving free notebooks to beta participants just only for USA citizens, & you can't wait anymore to remain back in the race.

You can get the latest build of ChromiumOS & run inside your favorite OS Windows, Linux, Mac by using VMWare image or just boot it from USB drive. You can download the live USB image or vmware image from the following link and experience the ChromiumOS.

Goto http://chromeos.hexxeh.net
Helpful tips, if you download it:
1.) To use the vmdk file, open VMware and create a new virtual machine. One of the options will be to use an "existing virtual disk." (In VMware Fusion, this is the last option below, "use operating system disk" and "use OS disc image file.")
2.) Make sure your VM is set to use bridged networking, rather than NAT.
2.) The username and password to login to Chrome OS / Chromium OS is your google account!

My 2011 Resolutions

2011-01-08T03:46:00.000-08:00

The year of personal development

I have to focus on following my personal areas to improve them.

Self awareness

Personality grooming

Confidence

Communication

The year of Happiness

Find the ways make myself happy

Make the people happy around you

Spread the message of happiness every where

Do the work which makes happy or make happy by doing the work.

The year of commitments

Commit your time

Commit your dreams

Quit wasting anymore

The year of change

Change the way, that does not work till now

Start things and never start any other till its end.

Remain dead focused on your visions and dreams.

And last, don't try to make all the jerk, instead make only one master piece, maybe small but perfect within its smallness. Let's make 2011 the full working year & try to complete all the big assignments.

Mini Portable Projectors in Pakistan

2011-01-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

Mini portable Projectors - Micro Home Theater - Great for on demand presentations

Price: $400 (Contact 0345-7099000 to book your order)

Portable Projector Features:

Display Technology : LcoS
Panel Size : 0.59"
Aspect ratio : 4:3
Focusing : Manual
Lamp source: LED (10W)
Lamp life : Over 20,000 hrs
Brightness : ANSI / 30 lumens
Contrat ratio (FIFO): 200 : 1
Resolution : 800*600 Pixels (VGA)
Projector size : 10" ~ 100" (0.5M ~ 3M)
I/O Connectors I/O: VGA,Mini SD，A/V IN, Mini USB,立体声Audio OUT
Video / Audio Terminal : DVD/PMP/DV PSP & All with AV out Device
Ram Flash : 2GB Support 128MB-16GB
Video compatibility : MPEG4,AVI,RM,RMVB,FLV,WMV,ASF
Picture compatibility: JPG,BMP,GIF
Audio compatibility : MPEG1-3, WAV,WMA,APE,FLA,AAC
battery : 12V 2000mA
Speaker : 2W Stereo
Power source : 12V,2.5A,AC 100~240V 50~60Hz
Dimension : 113mm*78mm*34mm (L*W*H)
Weight : 400 g
Languages Support : Chinese, English, Japanese, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Spanish, Dutch, Italian

The Rich, The Poor

2010-11-24T04:09:00.000-08:00

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son,

“How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.
“Oh yeah,” said the son.
“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered:
“I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
Pass this on to friends and acquaintances and help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.
“Life is too short and friends are too few.”

21 Best Open Source Online Expense Tracking and Budgeting Tools

2010-11-24T03:58:00.000-08:00

by: Jale Xanders

BillMonk
makes it easy to track expenses between friends, and to settle them up instantly online. Particularly popular with roommates, young professionals, and college students, it has been used for splitting bills like rent, utilities, meals, and beers. BillMonk also allows users to keep track of books, DVDs, or other items that they have lent to or borrowed from their friends.

Billster
online application developed to organise your personal and shared expenses.

BudgetOnWeb
free online system that integrates project management with contacts management and financial tools to manage your budget online.

BudgetTracker
allows you to track your budget, bills and transactions together in an easy to read calendar that can send you reminders when bills are due. You can also view most of the data stored on this site with your cellular phone so you can take all your data with you where ever you may be.

Buxfer
online tool to track your personal expenses online.

ClearCheckbook
online checkbook register that will help you to keep track of all your checking, savings and credit card accounts in one place.

ExpenseView
easy to use application that helps track your expenses, budgets and income. Use it to get an understanding of how you’re spending your money.

Expensr
online tool that tracks your expenses and then compares your spending with similar people so you know where to improve.

IOweYou
expenses sharing calculator, ideal for shared houses, clubs, societies, business partnerships or other cost sharing.

JustBudget
free online web application to manage your personal budget, easily and succesfully.

MoneyTrackin
free online webapp that allows you to track all your expenses and incomes easily and without effort, thus allowing you to have a clear view of your financial situation. It intends to be a simple yet powerful online budget management tool.

MyBillQ
web-based application that gives you an easy way to keep track of your bills.

MySpendingPlan
secure online personal finance budgeting software that can help you manage your spending to save money, reduce debt, manage tasks and reach your financial goals faster. You can create shopping lists online (and buy the items), set bills due and task reminder email alerts and create savings goals that you can track.

Paybackable
online expense reporting tool, track out of pocket and mileage expenses spent on behalf of your business or company.

Plan2Spend
free tool, you can perform several simple tasks which will help you understand the dynamics of your expenses. It can help you to organize your bills and payments, track your daily expenses, view summary and detailed budget, learn to manage money from the Plan2Spend community and learn to budget your monthly spending.

SharingBills
web based tool that helps you keep track of your shared and personal expenses that reminds you who owes you and whom you owe.

Spending Diary
simple spending tracking and analysis site.

SpendingProfile
website where you can track your spending and watch your budget.

Wesabe
makes it easy to better understand how you spend your money and links you to a community of people dedicated to helping each other make better financial decisions.

Xpenser
online tool to track your expenses via Email, SMS, instant messaging (AOL, MSN, Yahoo), Twitter, and voice (call and say your expense). Export to Quicken/MS Money/CSV/other.

YeeBudget
enter and tag your expenses. View in a simple month to month view what expenses you’ve got. View at a glance what expenses are costing you the most with the tag cloud.

Zong introduces Google's android Froyo to Pakistan

2010-10-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

The ever growing Google's android platform already attracting bigger audience with greatest features and innovation. Zong whose parent company is China Mobile is the official in android's alliance recently introduces the cheapest ever android based mobile phone with Froyo android 2.2.

[slideshow]

Zong, truly introduces "Ideos" a androis based mobile phone powered by Google android 2.2 Froyo OS which looks smart, sleek and elegant and all with the lowest ever price i.e. only Rs. 15, 999. Zong also gives 6 months exclusive limited Internet package absolutely free when you buy this mobile phone. I just visited Zong business center today and reserve my phone to pick up on Monday.

Salient Features

OS – Android OS, V2.2

CPU – 528 MHz Qualcomm Processor

3.2 MP Camera

Bluetooth • GPRS/ EDGE

Wi-Fi

Accelerometer

Proximity Sensor

Ambient Light Sensor

POP3 and Exchange Server Email Support

microSD Card Support (microSD card not included)

Pakistan WON 7 Merit Awards for the first time @ APICTA 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2010-10-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

At the 10^th International Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Pakistan team had seven reasons to smile tonight. Out of 16 APICTA categories the P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES) delegation picked up 7 Merit Awards (the APICTA Silver equivalent). These included Runners up Awards in Security Applications, E-Inclusion and E-Community, Financial Applications, Communications, E-Government and E-Health categories. In the last three years P@SHA delegations to APICTA have been making their presence felt but this is the first year in the history of the APICTA Awards that the Pakistan name was called 7 times across 6 diverse categories.

“We have always known that Pakistani technology companies are doing great work for customers in Pakistan and globally so this simply is an acknowledgement of their hard work and credentials at an international level by an international panel of respected judges”, said Ms. Jehan Ara, President P@SHA at the closing ceremony of the APICTA Awards in Kula Lumpur.

“7 awards at an international world class event like APICTA is a testament to the collaborative effort put together by the P@SHA delegation, P@SHA mentors, member companies and Pakistani participants” said Badar Khushnood, the Pakistan Google Country Consultant who also took the role of an APICTA Judge this year.

“The P@SHA ICT Awards and the APICTA Award is a great way to build credentials in the Asian market for a company like ours”, said Fraz Wahlah, Director Alliances, CureMD, Pakistan.

To represent Pakistan at the APICTA Awards each of these companies picked up the winner or runner up award at the P@SHA ICT Awards 2010 that have now matured as the flagship IT and ITeS sector industry event in Pakistan.

Given below is the list of Asia Pacific ICT Awards Merit Awards from Pakistan from the Kula Lumpur event tonight where Dr. Mahatir Mohammed was the Chief Guest and the recipient of the first ever APICTA Life Time Achievement Award.

Complete list of APICTA 2010 winners

Security Application – Silver, Merit
Product: 10G VoIP Monitoring Solution
CARE (Center for Advanced Research in Engineering)
www.carepvtltd.com

E-Inclusion and E-Community – Silver, Merit
Product: Automated Business Machines
Aerocar Transaction Machines
www.aero-car.com

E-Inclusion and E-Community Application – Silver, Merit
Product: Touch XS
Solo Tech
www.solo.pk

Financial Industry Applications – Silver, Merit
Product: Rendezvous 4.0
Avanza Solutions
www.avanzasolutions.com

Communications – Silver, Merit
Product: Software Defined Radio
CARE (Center for Advanced Research in Engineering)
www.carepvtltd.com

E-Government – Silver, Merit
Product: CARE Digital Radio Surveillance Equipment
CARE (Center for Advanced Research in Engineering)
www.carepvtltd.com

COURTESY: Jehan Ara

How to disable touchpad while typing

2010-10-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

While I switched to laptop from my desktop computer, all things looks perfect expect one dirty thing that is touchpad. While typing fast, touchpad interrupt me and my cursor gone somewhere else & it break the typing.

It was a mystery because at first I didn’t realize that the erratic cursor movement is caused when your hand touches the touchpad while you are typing. It can get annoying pretty quickly when all of a sudden you find that you are typing the password in the username box all because the touchpad mistook the accidental contact as tap.

Today, I was thinking there should be a piece of software that solve this problem and I got a very zero settings and 100% solutions. Download the TouchFreez, and it will automatically freeze the touchpad when you typing. The big is that it did not require any configuration......

Download TouchFreeze

Visit TouchFreeze

After installing and testing ahhhhhhhhhhh I am feeling so much good. Now I can type without any interruption.

Learning from Google’s HR Techniques

2010-10-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

Recently, Fortune Magazine released it’s “100 Best Companies to Work For 2007″ and Google’s Mountain View, California campus was number one. Their employees are exceedingly loyal. “A team of wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” says one employee. They’re even more than willing to work all nighters without question.

So, what in the world would make someone want to enjoy working that much? Check out these college-like incentives and I’m sure you’ll understand:

Free meals from 11 on-site gourmet restaurants and snack rooms all over, complete with cereal, candy, fresh fruit, cappucino makers, the works.

An on-site fitness center, complete with weight room, lap pool, personal trainers and massages.

Five on-site doctors and, you guessed it, all free.

Game rooms that include pool tables, foosball, ping-pong, and arcade games.

Rock-climbing walls, beach volleyball and roller hockey twice a week in the parking lot.

Engineers can spend 20% of their time at work on independent projects.

Employees can bring their dogs to work, so long as their co-workers don’t mind, the dogs are not aggressive, are free of fleas and the owners clean up after them.

Pajama day, TGIF parties every week and charity events on-site.

Six weeks paid sabbatical available for every 6 years an employee works there (537 employees took sabbaticals last year).

Free car washes and oil changes on-site. If an employee wants to buy a hybrid vehicle, Google will give her $5,000 toward it. They also provide free Wi-Fi enabled coach buses from five Bay area locations.

Free on-site salons and barber shops.

A $2,000 reward for referring new employees.

Google will reimburse up to $500 in takeout for the first 4 weeks of an employee’s maternity leave.

Available resources to study 4 foreign languages: Madarin, Japanese, Spanish and French.

Free on-site laundromat and dry cleaning.

On-site childcare.

Motorized scooters for on campus travel in style (and speed).

A founders award, up to millions of dollars (literally), for new program ideas and designs.

Whew. No wonder Google receives an average of 1,300 resumes a day (up to 1.1 million a year) for an average of only 2,229 available jobs a year. And Google doesn’t pay for all of these incentives out of their allotted administrative expenses. It all comes out of the company’s profits, which were over $6.1 billion in 2005!

So, raise your hand if you’d like to work in a place like Google. Yeah, me too (sigh). I think what every business owner can take away from this is that they should make their company a place worth working for, even if that means dipping into the profits a bit. In the end, the employee loyalty and productivity are completely worth it.

REFERENCES:

CNNMoney.com: 100 Best Companies to Work in 2007

http://buzz.greatfxbusinesscards.com

Hardware Virtualization Support Check Utility

2010-10-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

How do I find out if the processors in my laptop, desktop or server supports resource virtualization? Does my system run on Intel-VT or AMD-V?

There are a few tools out there allowing to check either one or the other vendor's processors or they just return the build and stepping and you have to look up the information on the vendor's website. In the past I used CPU-Z quite a lot. Many tools are of course not for free.

SecureAble by Gibson Research Corp. supports both vendors, Intel and AMD, and determines 3 important processor features and is free:

1/ 64-bit'ness
2/ Data Execution Prevention
3/ Hardware Virtualization

To the left you find a screenshot of SecureAble taken on my current desktop system.

While I haven't looked too far, I find this tools really helpful in communication with my folks here in evangelism. Almost everyone uses Virtual Server 2005 R2 and many start using the internal builds of Windows Server Virtualization ("Viridian") where 64-bit and Hardware Virtualization are key to install and run the Hypervisor. Those who are not able to buy new hardware are looking for tools to check their system and find out if they "need" a new system so they can run Virtual Server 2003 R2 with support for Hardware Virtualization or "Viridian".

Optimized Android SQLLite Bulk Insert

2010-09-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

There's no real bulk insert in SQLite I'm aware of to date. I've tried various ways to insert data fast into Android's SQLite DB, and here are my notes:
1. Use transactions. (e.g. db.beginTransaction, etc..).
2. Use compiled statement: db.compileStatement(insertStatementString), it's much faster than db.insert().

So, in short:

db.beginTransaction();
try {
string sql = "insert into products (id) values (?)";
SQLiteStatement insert = db.compileStatement(sql);

for (.....) {
insert.bindLong(1, 12345);
insert.executeInsert();
}
db.setTransactionSuccessful();
} finally {
db.endTransaction();
}

Reference: Android Bulk Insert

Here's How Much Big Companies Spend Advertising On Google Search

2010-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

The amount of money big companies spend on Google's keyword search ads has been a relatively closely guarded secret.But now thanks to Michael Learmonth at Ad Age, who obtained copies of internal Google documents, we know how much various companies spend.

Here's the breakdown of the spending by brands for June, and other key stats from the story. Keep in mind, advertisers only pay Google if someone clicks on the ad:

AT&T wireless spent $8.08 million, as it was launching iPhone 4 at the time.

Apollo Group, which is behind University of Phoenix, spent $6.67 million.

Expedia spent $5.95 million.

Amazon spent $5.85 million.

ebay spent $4.25 million.

BP spent $3.59 million as it bought keywords around "oil spill." Two months earlier it only spent $57,000.

Hotels.com spent $3.3 million.

JC Penny spent $2.46 million.

Living Social, which depends on Google for traffic, spent $2.29 million.

ADT Security spent $2.19 million.

Exxon Mobile only spent $43,000, which puts BP's spend in context.

Apple spent less than $1 million.

GM, Disney, Kodak, BMW all spent less than $500,000.

The 10 biggest advertisers account for less than 5% of Google's June ad dollars.

Reference: http://www.businessinsider.com/big-companies-spend-on-google-search-2010-9#ixzz10KnYB1w3

Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Software Companies Make

2010-09-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

Marketing should be about telling targeted buyers what you have to offer them and why they should buy it; the only real mistake in marketing is the one we don't learn from

Love it or dread it; right brain or left; waste of money or revenue generator: marketing is always in question. Should we do it? Why isn't it working? How much should we spend? Can we even afford it? Why do others do it so much better? The answers are actually quite simple. Unfortunately, too many people get easily confused over the real objective of marketing. Marketing should only be about telling specifically targeted buyers what you have to offer them and why they should spend their money to buy it. What makes this tough is that people get creative. That's right, creative. They try to use cool design or complex descriptions to "wow" their customers - when all those customers want is to answer a simple question: Why should I buy this? Pretty for the sake of art isn't marketing. We compound this problem when the marketing is driven by the engineers or someone "technical" (i.e., lacking in professional communication skills) or - the worst scenario of all - when marketing is driven by the company founder ("How can you not want one of my beautiful puppies?"). Marketing can be so much more successful if you can only avoid the following classic marketing mistakes. I've learned about these over decades of accruing my own marketing scars. Mistake #1: Assuming you are your target customer. Let's be clear: "Customer" can mean the buyer (the person who signs the check for the purchase), the user (the person or persons who actually use the product), or the influencers (the people who have a say in whether the company buys it or not). Whether your product is business-to-business (B-to-B) or business-to-consumer (B-to-C), there are almost always multiple customers in each sale, and knowing them is paramount. "Knowing" includes nailing down their demographics, buying cycles, budget requirements, price sensitivities, and experience with similar products. You can only know these things by asking, and no amount of Web research or analysts' reports will help with that. You need to do primary research - even if it is on a small scale and done informally with target customers. I am often asked to do this on behalf of clients who are too busy, too intimidated, or too fearful of what they may hear from prospective clients. Indeed, using an outside person (e.g., a consultant) can be a good move. An outsider can ask naïve and "politically incorrect" questions, and in turn the respondents can feel a little less worried about giving honest answers. But whether you use an outside interviewer or not, you must talk to your customers. If you really want information, talk to the people who decided not to purchase your software - that's where the real insights lie. It's best to do such research early and often. Worst case, you'll find that you are off the selling track, but with any luck you'll be able to make changes (yes, changes are potentially costly, but they are much more costly when they're made later in the cycle). The best case is that you will make new fans or renew the ones you already have (everyone loves their opinion to matter). It won't hurt the sales cycle, either, when the person you interviewed is presented with the product he or she actually asked for. *Mistake #2: Asking what* users want, not why. If you've been trained in the art of product requirements gathering, you've learned that use cases and personas are great tools to ensure that requirements are put into perspective. A typical use case might say something like, "The user shall be able to change the background colors." This may seem like a nice feature to offer the users, but in fact it could make your product look horrible if they select poor combinations. Therefore, the question is, "What value does it really have to the user?" If your concern is that color-blind individuals may need a different palette in order to use the software, be specific. You can either specify that the colors must be visible to someone who is color-blind or offer predesigned palettes that you know will maintain the integrity of your user interface. If you don't stop to ask why a feature is required, you won't understand what you need to build and how to market it. Mistake #3: Accepting that not every requirement needs a justification. Not all requirements have a clear return on investment (ROI). How do you quantify usability or better code base development? Consider the long-term cost savings: How much support or other company resources will be saved over time with this particular product enhancement? Remember that happier, more successful customers mean better customer retention, and that is quantifiable. Better competitive positioning is also a good thing, but only if it helps to sell more of your software, which is often hard to prove. In addition, there is personnel retention. No kidding - there may be features or at least development projects that are done for the sake of keeping critical internal team members motivated and innovative. It's not a great way to justify projects from an ROI perspective, but nonetheless, it's a way to think through whether that use of company resources is justified. Mistake #4: Believing that SEO and social media are critical. Because software companies understand search engine optimization (SEO) and social media, they assume those tools must be an important competitive advantage. Perhaps they are in some cases, but in many others, they are actually a waste of time and money (yes, I am a marketing person and I am saying that!). If your target buyers search for information related to your products on the Internet, then of course you should make it easy to find your company and content, especially if your keywords are highly competitive or mixed with other unrelated products. However, in the B-to-B software business, I often hear about the need to "get into the C-suite." Think for a moment: Are those C-level managers spending time surfing the Internet and reading Facebook pages and blogs? Most likely not - or at least not when they are looking for software. Rather than spend precious resources blogging or tweeting, consider how to reach your target individuals in the channels they use to gather information. If you don't know what those channels are, ask some C-level managers. Properly done, SEO and social media are voracious marketing tactics requiring constant feeding and monitoring. If they are an excellent way for your business to reach prospective and existing customers, use them and commit yourself fully to the task. If they aren't, don't waste your time. Mistake #5: Assuming that marketing is expensive. One of the reasons so many people assume that social media and SEO are great marketing tools is because they are free. So is email, for that matter. While the channel may be free to use, there is always a cost. Someone needs to make the time to create the content - but consider also the time it takes to monitor and refine its impact. Could those same resources be put to better use doing more effective marketing, even if that appears to cost more? Take, for example, one of my clients - a company that sells global trade management software. Its customers are companies that import or export products from one country to another, and the trade managers in those companies use the Internet to search for information about trade management and related topics. As such, my client wanted to optimize its site and create some social media venues to help reach out to its targets. My concern was the amount of time and content knowledge it would take to do this well, given that the client was a rather small startup. I recommended that since the VP of products already put together weekly summaries and links to important industry articles for her own management team, we could repurpose that content onto a blog and offer it as a service to the external target audience. In 10 minutes, we taught a junior associate how to post to one of the free blog sites. We created the "sponsored" blog simply by adding the company logo to one of the blog templates that complemented (but didn't replicate) the company's look and feel. In a few weeks, the site became quite popular, and it now provides a valuable news service to target buyers. With all the rich keywords created from the newsworthy articles it lists, the blog has terrific SEO and generates traffic to the company's website, for free. Indeed, there are many other free tools that can help significantly with marketing. Do you use Google Alerts as your own, free clipping service that reports all the news about your competition, product, industry, or whatever it is you decide to track? What about TwitterHawk, if your product is something talked about in the Twittersphere? And don't forget that talking to your customers is also a "free" activity - one that yields the most precious marketing intelligence and builds sales relationships. In reality, what costs a lot is misguided marketing - spending money recklessly to promote your company without clear knowledge of what your targets need and want from you and how they want it delivered. Mistake #6: Believing that word of mouth happens on its own.** If you build it, they may not come&seriously. Even if some targets said your idea was a good one, are they willing to pay for it? Many entrepreneurs go to friends and family for funding as well as confidence that the proposed software is needed. But your friends and family (or even your investors) are probably not your buyers. Don't get happy ears and believe that their being nice to you means they will open their wallets when you come back with the product ready for sale. Friends and family won't tell you that your baby is ugly either, so make sure you have a good representation of your real target buyers before, during, and after you build the software. Better yet, go to people who bought from your competition or are accomplishing the same tasks using a totally different method. Ask them why they didn't come to you. Word of mouth and viral marketing don't come from nowhere. They happen when the market accrues enough information to share among colleagues. For software, we use additional tricks, such as "powered by" and "read only" ways (PowerPoint's free viewer, for example), to get non-licensed individuals to be impressed enough upon receipt of the "runtime software" to want them to seek us out for the rights to be a real part of the club. It can't hurt to do that, but it isn't going to make most of us rich. What will make us rich is building software that really does solve the problem of a particular target group, and letting that target group know explicitly that we have a solution. Mistake #7: Thinking "if mine is best, they will buy it despite their budget." Just because your target customer doesn't have one of your products and may need one doesn't mean that buying one is a priority. If you sell to small businesses, for example, email marketing tools may be very important - but so are the computers that create them, which may be competing for the same scant available dollars. "Only $15 per month" can buy either email auto-response to online inquiries or printer cartridges to deliver decent brochures. As we have been reminded in the past two years, money isn't recyclable, and thus fighting to be included in the limited budget of your target customers doesn't always imply a choice between your product and the competition's product. It means proving that your customers will gain more by buying your product than they will by spending their money on anything else. Being the best solution for the problem at hand is key, but it's also critical to make sure that the value you offer is greater than the value offered by other purchases. Don't forget that just because your customers budgeted for your product doesn't mean they'll buy it when the time comes. All of the good intentions of your "hot leads" may fizzle in the face of new competitive factors, organizational changes, adjusted budgets, and so on. That's why it's so important to nurture those leads until the sale is completed. And even afterward, marketing has a role in retaining existing customers and landing more customers. Mistake #8: Believing that marketing is a science. The fact that we've become obsessed with measuring marketing doesn't make it a science. Sure, we can count page views and click-throughs, but it's tough to compute a customer's ROI from using our software. Unfortunately, no one has ever figured out a way to measure reputation. By the same token, when we spend marketing dollars on, say, direct mail, and that initiative fails, it's crazy not to try to find out why. When you're executing a marketing program, economic, competitive, social, and even environmental factors (e.g., Hurricane Katrina) are all potential wild cards. However, when things do fail, software companies often blame it on marketing as an unreliable concept, when in reality the culprit may be the product itself, the people involved, or the pricing of the offer - things that the marketers may not control. As such, you owe it to yourself to debrief on every marketing program that fails. That said, don't get misled that lots of views and clicks mean lots of sales. Marketing success isn't about open links and eyeballs; it's about wallets opened. I can stand outside on the street corner and get lots of people to hear me yelling a message. Getting the target buyer to pay for my software is the only metric that really matters. Mistake #9: Thinking that more information is better. If you can't convey what you do for whom and why it's important in two sentences or less, something is wrong. I am not suggesting that you explain your entire offering or competitive value in two sentences, but you need to have a good positioning, one that separates your target customers from the others quickly. It's only human to be fearful that we may offend or reject potential friends - but in marketing, filtering the market is actually good. If I can separate wheat from chaff, targets from uninterested buyers, I won't waste sales time and marketing resources. Once you have the target person intrigued, you do need to provide more information about your product. This should be done in incremental steps; a 20-page data sheet may be too much for the buyer to digest early on. Offering a manageable amount of information will encourage customers to seek more. This applies to your website as well. If it isn't well organized, you may be telling your customer more about your company (and possibly your product) than you ever intended. Mistake #10: Believing that your mother doesn't need to understand. Don't assume that your product makes sense to writers, analysts, or other "thought leaders" - let alone your target customers. Even those of us in the industry have our own unique perspectives, which may or may not help us know what your software does. Throwing in acronyms doesn't impress us; in fact, it often confuses us, but we won't tell you that because our egos won't let us. To know if your positioning and sales message works, try it on Mom, the neighbors, or even your kids. If they can understand it well enough to paraphrase it back to you, you've succeeded. Don't assume that it's too complex for them, because if it is, most likely it's not the product but your words that are too complex. In fact, your mom may turn out to be your best evangelist. When I was working on customer relationship management (CRM) software and writing articles and white papers for my own company years ago, I explained the topic very generally to my mother, who had sold promotional products during her career. She understood enough about what I did to connect me with a friend who was in a bind trying to produce a regular CRM section in BusinessWeek. Guess who got the gig - yours truly. If you can make the effort to get your marketing to speak for you in a way that anyone can easily understand, you may find that help comes to you from unexpected sources - even mom Reference: http://www.softwaremag.com/L.cfm?doc=1248-12/2009

ORMLite for Android Persistnat just like Hibernate

2010-09-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hibernate for Android - ORM for Android SQLLite

Great news for Android developers whose background is working in Enterprise Java Development with Hibernate. Now, we can do almost same things without doing the underlying tedious work & queries with the help of ORMLite.

ORMLite provides object relational persistence support to all modern databases such as MySQL, Postgres, Microsoft SQL Server, H2, Derby, HSQLDB, and Sqlite and can be extended to additional databases relatively easily and provisional support for DB2 and Oracle. It can easily be configured with Spring framework to provide spring managed relational services.

With all these traditional ORM support, ORMLite provides top of ORM support on android platform.

Object Relational Mapping Lite (ORM Lite) provides some simple, easy, and basic functionality for persisting Java objects to SQL databases while avoiding the complexity and overhead of more standard ORM packages. It supports a number of SQL databases using JDBC and also supports Sqlite with native calls to Android OS database APIs. Documentation about how to configure ORMLite for Android specifically is available in the manual.

So developing data aware applications in android become as easy as they were in Java with Hibernate. Thanks to ORMLite that claims to be light weight Object Rational Mapping framework.

Visit android's LiteORM official page: Android ORMLite

Bill Gates: 11 Things Your Kid Will Not Learn At School

2010-09-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2: The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Mobile App Development Process

2010-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

A complete mobile app development life-cycle from developer's prospective.

App Idea

How to generate idea?
- New idea (only for mobile)
- New idea to mobile (web already have it)
- Hybrid Idea (Web & Mobile will both have it)
- Mashup idea (creating a single app by mixing concepts from multiple apps/services)

Conceptualization

Storyboards

Design / Wireframes

Mockups

Marketing Strategy

Free vs. Paid

Marketing Plan
- Distributing app free
- Distributing app paid

Design & Graphics

Reuse the mock-up resources

Fine tune all the design & graphics for final development

Development

Select the hardware & software stack i.e. mobile device model and SDK versions

Setting up development plan

Divide app into phases

Define milestones

Define atomic task & activities under each milestone

Task, Milestone & phase get completed leading to development completed.

Testing

Technical
- Testing multiple devices
- Graphics' behavior on different screen resolutions

Functionality
- Ensuring all functionality work proper, changing setting & verifying the results each time.
- Audio/Video testing on different devices to ensure they work well on all mobiles.
- GPS/Accelerometer, with & without on multiple devices to see how application response if it totally depends and GPS & GPS is not available stuff like that.

Content
- Application's content

Launch

Recall your marketing activities at launch event

Launch your application on official app store & any third party app store distributor.

Post Launch

Watch mobile analytics eagerly & see how customers interacting with your app.

Listen to your customers actively via feedback, blog comments & twitter.

Respond actively to bugs & malfunction.

Send regular app updates which may contain new features, bug fixing.

Article is co-authored by Faisal Basra & Salman Khursheed. Salman Khursheed has been developing mobile application since last 3 years and he developed full mobile application from scratch. He had helped many start-up and business to establish their mobile app presence & happy customers. In spite of all this, he also successfully ported many applications from iPhone to Android & Blackberry. Faisal mostly has been developing Java EE application with frameworks like hibernate, spring, JSF etc. He is also working as Internet Marketing specialist & now a day trying to get a new domain i.e. mobile app marketing specialist.

Mobile App Marketing Process

2010-09-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Company's Intranet & Workflow Automation

2010-09-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

Want to setup a Intranet portal for you company FREE?

The answer is open source Precurio. Which enable to put all the documents, policies, procedures and key information for employees. Precurio gives the freedom for real time collaboration among the employees where they do instant chat, manage events, contacts & their day to day tasks. See the detailed official product information below.

Precurio gives your organization a one point access to information and also helps you streamline your business processes/workflow, while improving communication and collaboration amongst employees.

Below are some of the things you can achieve with Precurio intranet:

- News and Announcements
- Workflow Automation and Approvals ( leave requests, travel request, purchase requisition, e.t.c)
- Content management / Articles / Research papers, e.t.c
- Opinion Poll
- Social Features such as , birthday reminders, featured employee, photo upload and comments and microblogging
- Instant Messaging / Chat
- Events directory
- Contacts management
- Task Management
- Employee / Staff Directory.

See the complete feature list.

Start Page

Basic welcome page with snippets from other modules (i.e Upcoming events, outstanding approvals, news, e.t.c)

Drag and drop Startpage Pods

Portal Updates

Employee Directory

Search for people within the organization

View recent changes to directory

Birthday alerts

Contact details for all employees

Intranet Content Manager

Create / Upload Content

Users can comment on content

Content Approval Workflow

Content Ratings

Contacts Manager

Secure your contacts

Guarantees sales continuity

Integrates with existing systems such as Microsoft Outlook

Export contacts as Vcard

Import Contacts from CSV

Tasks Manager

Monitor and prioritize tasks

Instant notifications via email and live feeds

Transfer tasks.

Ability to search through tasks

Instant Messaging

Rapid information dissemination

Faster, more immediate decision making

Reduce workplace interruptions

Facebook / Gmail Style Chat

Events

Manage upcoming and past events

Publish event materials

Share event pictures

News / RSS Feeds

Publish company news and articles

Connect to international news sources via RSS

Search archived/old news items

Quick Poll

Create single or multi-question polls

View live results.

Microblogging

Status Messages

Workflows

Comprehensive Forms Builder

Automatic Approval Routing

Set “Out of Office” Flag

Admin

Set up basic configuration data

Ability to set default theme from theme library

Export reports to excel

Modify user access levels (i.e migrate people from basic user to manager or administrator )

Backup and Restore

Manage Notifications

Reports / Analytics

Top Contents

Top Contributors

Activity Chart

Workflow Report

Module Report

Visitors Report

Portal Activity Report

Search Phrase Analysis

Search Content Analysis

Lessons Learned From StartupBootcamp 2010 by OnStartups

2010-09-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Kevin Krejci via Flickr"][/caption]

Today morning it's my first blog reading on On Startup, a blog dedicated for entrepreneurs by Dharmesh Shah.

The article was such an inspiring to me that I can't stop myself to mention it on my own blog by posting a short post.

The article is much worth for entrepreneurs defining from start to end with winning strategy. It includes advices, suggestion from the industry leaders such as

Chris Wanstrath (GitHub)

Mick Mountz(Kiva Systems)

Ayr Muir (Clover Food Lab)

George Bell (Excite/General Catalyst)

Bob Metcalfe (3Com/Polaris Ventures)

Bill Clerico (WePay)

James Lindenbaum (Heroku)

Alexis Ohanian (Reddit/YCombinator)

Stephen Wolfram (Wolfram Research)

Kevin Hale (Wufoo)

Ric Fulop (A123 Systems)

David Cancel (Compete/Performable)

This is incredible, 12 industry experts giving their life's experience about how to start a successful venture, just incredible. I wish, I can follow their suggestion and have a successful venture where people love to work. :)

Read the Full Article: Lessons Learned From StartupBootcamp 2010

Official Resources:

http://www.sllconf.com/

http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2010/04/25/startup-lessons-learned-conference-coverage-roundup/

http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

How to find pretty domain by using Domain Name Generator

2010-09-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

I have been working with domain name & web hosting since 2003 when I was studying in my Bachelors. Till now, many people including my friends, relatives have been asking time by time, "Faisal, please suggest me a good available domain name"

Now Today, when I was playing with a new website i.e. http://www.mahalo.com I get to an interesting discussion, about automated tool that generate domain or give suggestion.

http://www.namestation.com
You can specify domain TLD, its length and any keyword to include and it will checks the domain availability for you.

http://www.dotomator.com (My Favorite)
It have two modes, simple generator press the button & it generate the domain. In second mode, you select or write your prefix & postfix, then combine them and press the check availability button, that's all.

I think, there exists different types of need when we need a domain.

Already in Business:
You already own a business, product or service with a registered company/firm and now just want to have a website with the similar business name, in this case you most probably don't need to do this kind of domain research.

New Business:
You want to start a new business, product, service and before to register this actually, you want to know & register a good domain name that people will love.

Domain trading:
This is quit interesting & high profit business where people purchase/buy good available domain names and then hold it or put them on domain auction website where if they get reasonable bid, then they will sell it.

As thousands of website being registered daily, so find a good domain name is really really tough today. That's why new TLDs are coming up but old ".com" is simply the domain king.

Wish you a good domain name.

Want to know about Website Pre-Launch Checklist

2010-09-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

Today, I get a task to give some guidelines for SEO before the website launch. The website is currently under-construction, so basically these were the pre-launch website guidelines.

There are many types of pre-launch guidelines

Design

Typography

Client Questionnaire

Development Guidelines

Usability checklist

Navigation

etc etc

I get some few very good URLs where all above and much more guidelines are given. See the following URLs

Ultimate List Of Web Design Checklists: Get Work Done!

The Ultimate Website Prelaunch Checklist

Enjoy the great work done by web geeks.

Android Visual UI Designer

2010-09-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

Visual UI Designer for Android Application

I just started understanding & learning android mobile application development from a friend.

Its awesome to development android application but with only one thing it lacks i.e. there is no UI designer. So for new developers its the most difficult thing they face.

But stop!, I got something for me and like myself who are new to android and don't want to get stop in start while designing user interfaces.

Check it out

Android Visual UI Designer

I bet you will just love.

Is is web based and you don't need to install it, just drag n drop the UI widgets and complete the design and export it as android xml file.

You can also download the native executable for Windows & Mac and do UI designing work offline.

Cheeers!

How to make Videos & Cartoon Movies Online

2010-09-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

Online Video, Movie, Animation & Cartoon Maker

I was always in search how to make interesting cartoon movies by myself. Today, while researching over free webinar softwares, I come up an option "Animoto". I saw their product demo video and really love how they are creating videos from images, audios without downloading & installing any software. So while more drilling into Animoto in Google, I find another cool website GoAnimate where we can create cartoons & animation easily just as we see them on TV.

Animoto: Video Creator

Turn your photos & videos into pure amazing. Animoto automatically produces beautifully orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your photos, video clips and music. Fast, free and shockingly easy.

GoAnimate: Cartoon & Animation Creator

GoAnimate is the easiest way to make animations exactly the way you want.On GoAnimate you can make your own animated characters, direct your own cartoons and watch others' creations.
It's easy, fun and free!

Free Webinar Solution for SMEs

2010-09-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

Free Webinar Software

Today, I was wondering if there are any free webinar solution for SMEs where they can conduct their webinars without paying any extra fee.

I come up with the following good options

Self Hosted without any limitation

With the self hosted solution, you download the webinar servers, install it to your server (public or intranet) & start making and sharing meeting & webinar without any cost.

Open Meetings

DimDim

Managed Solution with Limitation

These are manged/hosted solution at their respective company and they are giving free webinar conducting with some limitation because they have setup a huge infrastructure . But its good to start with webinar for your company and when your grow they also offer paid plan with less limitations.

http://www.dimdim.com/ 10 Person Meetings
1 video camera
Dimdim Branded Rooms
Public Meetings
Standard Support

http://vyew.com/
Unlimited Meetings
SSL Secure Login
Advertising
10 Real-time Participants
Share documents 20 (VyewBooks)
VyewBook Page Limit 50

Marketing Mobile Apps

2010-09-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

We all know, marketing have immense value for product development to very profitable businesses.

We have seen tremendous growth in Internet Marketing after traditional marketing activities. There was time when SEO, Email Marketing, PPC blah blah etc buzz rocking anywhere .

Then times come and "Social Media Marketing" embrace the Internet Marketers to realize that there is something more & new, that harness the Internet Marketing & add new dimensions.

Now, there is new platform establishing that is "Mobile App Marketing" or simply Mobile Marketing. I personally think that like Internet Marketing having SEO, SEM, PPC, Mobile Marketing will have its own sub-categories like Mobile App Marketing (MAM), Mobile Advertisement (MA), Mobile Location Based Advertisement (MLBA) & Mobile Location Based Marketing (MLBM) and many form, terms.

With my interests of Internet Marketing early in my career, now its pitching up in Mobile App Marketing. I am reading, experimenting & thinking how mobile application can be marketed.

Articles that I read.

Smashing Magazine - How To Market Your Mobile Application

Karelia Software - 15 Suggestions for Marketing your iPhone Application

I will be sharing my own views & experience very soon.

Top 10 ToDo Web Apps to get things done

2010-09-03T00:57:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Outlook still reigns supreme for to do list management in the corporate office. It’s favored by IT departments, integrates with company email, sports awesome calendar sharing, and has a ton of other features that most of us will never use.

But cloud-based task managers are becoming more compelling and practical every day. It’s not uncommon for employees to spend their professional and personal time between three computers: a laptop, work desktop and home desktop. Throw an iPhone or Blackberry into the mix, and synchronization across all of these devices becomes an unwieldy engineering project. There has to be a better way.

Handwritten to do lists are quick to create, but lack some of key advantages of digital list managers:

Copy/pasting information from email and web pages into note attachments to list items, such as driving directions, confirmation codes, product specifications, and other details that would be too tedious to jot down longhand.

Managing and organizing multiple lists by category headings and tags.

Editing the sequence and hierarchy of list items by priority or other criteria

Still, nothing beats paper for speed of entry when capturing raw data. I usually distinguish between capturing things to do and organizing them. When I jot a quick note, it’s often a sentence fragment that makes sense in the moment, but would rather not decode later, when I’m removed from the situation that made “desk lamp” shorthand for putting “Ikea: look for new desk lamp” on my Errands list. Paper’s informality gives me permission to write down whatever comes to mind in its initial form, knowing that I’ll clarify everything I capture into physical next action listings at least once a day.

Optional and Essential Task List Features

Not everyone needs the same things out of an online to do list manager. Some users just want a lean alternative to Outlook, while others want device synchronization and calender integration. Here are some features to consider with any online to do list manager that you test drive:

A simple user interface. A simple UI isn’t just desirable for minimizing the learning curve. The fewer options you have to process, the easier it is to focus on the content of the list.

Categories. Segmenting your lists into separate categories has several applications. You can keep a list of projects separate from the individual tasks that move those projects forward. For instance, you can have “Optimize landing page” as an item on your project list, and “iStockphoto: browse pictures for landing page” on your @Computer task list. That way, when you’ve checked off the task, you’ll have the project listing to remind you to define the next action.

Categories also help keep your to do lists short. If you’re at home, and you want to see what you can do there, it’s much easier to scan through an @Home list than to try to sort a single to do list with many times more items.

Hierarchies. Instead of having multiple flat lists, you might prefer to organize your work into a list of projects, then have their component tasks indented beneath them in an outline format.

Priority settings. Assigning priority codes to sort some items higher in the list than others can be immensely helpful when you’d want to glance at your list rather than scan through it more methodically. I actually don’t prioritize my task list, but I do use two priority codes to corral my writing projects into one contiguous block within my project list. Whatever you do for a living, you might want to create two priority assignments to block vocational and personal tasks into separate visual blocks within the same list.

Note fields. A field for writing or pasting notes into a task entry attachment has a ton of uses. You can write out your shopping list inside of the “Pick up groceries” entry on your to do list. You can write an agenda of discussion items in your entry for “Talk to boss,” so that you can address multiple topics in a single visit. You can draft a checklist of considerations within a task entry, or a checklist of milestones with a project entry.

Due dates. You may prefer to use your calendar for storing due dates, but having them in both places can never hurt, and it certainly help for prioritizing tasks

Hotkeys. Web 2.0 list managers are increasingly supporting keyboard shortcuts for adding and editing entries — like Ctrl-N for creating a new task. If you’re a fluent typist, you’re already aware of how reaching for the mouse can break your momentum, and probably realize by now that the streamlining of data entry is well worth the short learning curve of memorizing a few new keystrokes.

Device sync. This may be optional for some, but for me, the need to synchronize my online task lists with my phone was non-negotiable. If you’re going to carry a phone ubiquitously anyway, you might as a well turn it into your portable list and contact manager, and free yourself from toting a bulky day planner.

10 Popular Online To Do List Manager Apps

An actionable list is a short list, so I’m filtering out the two dozen other online task list manager products that have come across my attention. Here are the 10 that keep resurfacing in my years of using and reading about productivity apps.

Remember the Milk (Free. Pro version $25). This is one of the most full-featured list managers, handling tasks and contacts. Tasks can be assigned dates, tags, categories, time estimates, and even geolocation. RTM supports Google Gears for offline use, has a mobile web version and syncs with Google Calendar. The $25 Pro version offers sync clients for the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Android devices. The only missing sync option is Outlook — which is the case with most online list managers.

Google Tasks. (Free) Google Tasks naturally integrates with other Google services (though sometimes as a “Labs” features) like Gmail, Google Calendar and iGoogle. Tasks supports categories, hierarchies and notes. Unfortunately, while Google Apps Sync for Outlook supports Google’s Gmail, Contacts and Calendar, the Tasks app has no API yet to sync with anything except Google’s own Android platform. But there is a mobile web version of Tasks.

GooSync ($35 a year. $70 lifetime). Like RTM, GooSync supports synchronization with iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Android, but also supports Palm and Nokia devices. GooSync syncs with Google Calendar and Contacts, or you can use GooSync’s own calendar and contact apps. I use GooSync’s own task list manager, since Google hasn’t enabled third-party syncing with Tasks at this time.

Ta-da List (Free). Features, schmeatures! When it comes to simplified to do lists, 37Signals’ Ta-da List is as spartan as they come. With Ta-da List, you can (1) create a list, (2) give it a name, (3) check items off and (4) optionally share the list. That’s it. No categories, priorities, due dates, hierarchies, or anything else remotely resembling feature creep. You may find that less is more.

Gtdagenda (Free. Basic version $39.45 a year. Premium version 69.95 a year). One of the many online to do list managers in the last few years that attempts to organize tasks and projects according to David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, though in a less canonical fashion. In addition to a Calendar (in Basic and Premium versions), Gtdagenda supports lists for Goals, Projects, Tasks, Next Actions, Checklists and “Schedules.” Schedules are templates for recurring daily or weekly time allocations — what are sometimes called “time maps.” Gtdagenda also features a mobile web version, but no device syncing.

Checkvist (Free. Pro version $30 a year). Checkvist (sic) lets you create lists or outlines, which you can share or export. Though I use GooSync for tasks, I’m a huge fan of Checkvist for brainstorming and project planning. Checkvist is surprisingly lean and fast for a web app, and the hotkey support is excellent. A Chrome extension is also available for viewing and editing lists directly from the toolbar, and a mobile web version is also available.

Todoist (Free. Premium version $3 a month).While Checkvist is an application-agnostic outliner that isn’t designed specifically for task management, Todoist is an outliner designed for creating hierarchies of projects and tasks. Todoist has a calendar, integration with Gmail, an iGoogle widget, a Firefox extension and a mobile web version.

Toodledo (Basic version free. Pro version $14.95 a year. Pro Plus version $29.95 a year). A very complete online to do list manager. The only thing missing is syncing for multiple devices (though Toodledo does have an iPhone app). Toodledo handles hierarchies (Pro version), folders, tags, notes, priorities, goals, time estimates, timers, contexts, and importing of several popular PIM databases: Outlook, iCal, Palm OS and even Remember the Milk.

Nutshell (Free. Donation suggested). This one makes a great browser home page. Nutshell’s dashboard features three text entry fields: one for search, one for adding notes, and another for adding items to a list selected from a dropdown menu. The search field defaults to Google, but Nutshell supports keywords that redirects queries to other search engines: imdb [keyword] will do an IMDb search, az [keyword] searches Amazon, and so on. The actual list management portion is on the simple side, supporting descriptions (notes), a checkbox to flag an item as “high priority,” and that’s about it.

Tedium ($19.95 a year). Another task list manager that falls on the simpler side of feature sets. Tedium lets you tag list items, assign due date and notes. You can customize views to show panels of list filtered by assigned criteria. For instance, you can have a sidebar that shows all of you tasks that are due by today, or due by this week, or assigned a certain tag. Tedium also makes a standalone version available.

Reference: http://workawesome.com/productivity/10-online-to-do-list-manager-solutions-to-get-things-done/

Computer Jargon & Definitions

2010-09-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

Today, I was searching what is the meaning of IMO & OMG which are commonly used in chats and casual communication.

I get to find a very good website, which not only provide the chat jargon with brief detail but also a number of other computer definition.

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/chat.htm

See the complete list

Battery definitions

CD definitions

Cell phone definitions

Certification definitions

Chat definitions

Computer Companies

Domain suffixes

Electronics definitions

Floppy definitions

Gaming definitions

Hard disk drive definitions

Keyboard definitions

Measurements

Memory definitions

Modem definitions

Motherboard definitions

Mouse definitions

Network definitions

OS definitions

Power definitions

Printer definitions

Processor definitions

Programming definitions

Security definitions

Scanner definitions

Sound definitions

Tape definitions

Video definitions

Virus definitions

LG launches Optimus aka GT540 Android phone in Pakistan

2010-09-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

LG has relased Android powered LG Optimus in Pakistan. It is the second Android phone to reach Pakistan after Motorola Milestone was released last month.

LG Optimus is an entry level smartphone with obsolete Android 1.6 on-board. Optimus is available in Pakistan for Rs. 34,000.

Talking about the specifications, LG Optimus aka GT540 comes with 3.0 inch touch screen, integrated Social Networking Services (SNS) manager, WLAN, HSDPA and 3 Megapixel camera. It also includes a long-lasting 1500mAh battery, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.1 capability, assisted GPS, 32GB of expandable microSD memory.

Leadership using the Tuckman model

2010-08-31T23:06:00.000-07:00

Leadership of teams requires an ability to diagnose the stage of development of teams, and make appropriate interventions that move the team forward. The Tuckman model of team development is an old one (about 40 years) and very simple, but it is still very useful.

Read full article here

How to Create an iTunes App Store account without a credit card

2010-08-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

To create an iTunes App Store account without a credit card please follow the steps below. In order to create an account without a credit card, you must make sure you are in the App Store, not the iTunes Store.

Creating an account on a computer

If you already have an account, choose Store > Sign Out.

Pick your country by clicking on the country flag located in the bottom right corner of the main iTunes Store page.

If your country also has an iTunes Store, you'll need to navigate to the App Store by clicking on App Store from the top navigation bar. If not, proceed to step 4.

Important: Before proceeding to the next step, you must purchase a free application by clicking Free App.

Click create new account.

Click Continue.

You'll need to read and agree to the iTunes Store Terms & Conditions. Make sure you check the box next to where it says "I have read and agree to the iTunes Terms and Conditions."

Click Continue.

Enter your email address, create your password, continue to create and answer your security question, then enter your birthday. Click Continue.

Select None as the payment option.

Continue to fill out the required name and address fields.

You'll then see a screen that says 'Verify your Account'. Click Done and then check your email for a verification email from iTunes Store.

Open the email and click the link enclosed in the email to activate your account.

Once you click on the link, iTunes should then prompt you to sign in with your account name and password.

You'll then see the below "Congratulations" screen. Click Done to be taken to the App Store home page.

Reference: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2534

How to buy a New Laptop guide

2010-08-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Everyone is going laptop these days. Hence, one must be familiar with few things before buying a laptop so that you get a quality product against your well earned money.

Check Points: You may need to consider following things while purchasing a new laptop.

Price:

Go to laptop manufacturer’s website, find out its price and convert foreign currency into local currency and then match the price with local computer market.

Usually the price on manufacturer’s website should match the local market, with slight margin of difference due to currency rate fluctuation.

Is it refurbished?

Refurbished laptops means Manufacture Company (such as DELL) repaired a laptop. By repair we mean, any part of laptop is repaired and is ready for sale with all accessories and packaging but at a low price.

There are slight chances that you might be getting a refurbished laptop, while you buy it as a NEW LAPTOP with 1 year warranty at low price.

For checking if laptop is refurbished or not, you must get laptop’s serial number and find out the remaining warranty of this particular laptop from its website. If remaining warranty is less than one year then you are surely buying a refurbished laptop.

Watch out, sometimes retailers remove serial sticker from the back of refurbished laptops.

Most of the time refurbished laptops are being offered with 3 to 6 months warranty.

Warranty: Is it locally claimed or internationally? With local warranty, it is easy for you to claim warranty – while if you are planning to travel across the globe then International warranty should be your choice.

Warranty Period: In How many years, months or days you can claim warranty for the laptop? , here don’t forget the warranty period time of refurbished laptop.

Accessories: what accessories should come with the box? For that you can check the manufacturer website to know the accessories sent during shipment by giving serial number of the laptop.

Usually retailers take our accessories and sell them with separate price to customers, such as ear phones etc.

Dead Pixel check: request retailer/seller to install any free dead pixel program, easily available online or download while checking the laptop at the shop (as most of the computer shops have WiFi).

By dead pixel we mean dead display areas in LCD of the laptop. You can also manually check this by changing background color of the desktop screen into white, green, red, blue and black. By changing these colors you can easily find out any dot or spot on the screen.

Keyboard keys check:

Write down the old one “the quick brown fox” statement to check working sense of keyboard alphabets and write in caps and small both forms.

Later on you can also check numeric pad as well with function keys.

HDMI Port Check:

Sometime, HDMI port is installed in laptop, but driver refuse detecting that HDMI port’s physical installation. For checking this out reinstall the drivers or check in device manager of the laptop to verify the functionality of the HDMI port.

Bluetooth Check:

In our local markets, most of laptops come with built-in Bluetooth devices, check and confirm from manufacturer and retailer about the Bluetooth device availability in the laptop.

It merits mentioning here that Bluetooth devices are usually taken out of laptop by resellers, so that they can sell it as a standalone product.

Factory Dos installed Laptops:

These laptops don’t come with windows operating system by default. So, if you get these laptops installed with windows operating system, this must be some pirated copy of windows installation.

These dos installed laptops are less expensive than factory installed windows Operating Systems.

Memory (RAM module) installations:

Sometime, retailers replace 1GB ram with 2 pairs of 512 mb ram that reduces the cost of laptop, but also reduce the speed and reselling of the laptop. As buying ram in 2 modules or less expensive than in a single module, so check the modules installation and prefer single modules installation like 1GB or 2GB or 2GB+1GB=3GB etc

Happy Buying…!

Reference: http://propakistani.pk

Google's Call Now in Gmail

2010-08-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today morning when I logged in to my gmail, I noticed a new feature "New! Make phone calls from Gmail".

Its not all, Google give $0.10 credit to each gmail user and there is more calling to USA and Canada is free upto 2010.

Google certainly stepped out in VoIP & offering very competitive rates unlike VoIP giant Skype and others.

Checkout Google's official post about here: Call phones from Gmail

How to research Data over Internet

2010-08-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

This is very obvious to everyone, while research over Internet, where and how to conduct accurate research.

We all know search engines well like Google, Bing & Yahoo etc. they provide information as it is, means anyone made a website and say anything, search engines bring that to us & there is no guarantee of correct information.

Google's Public Data: http://www.google.com/publicdata

Its most authentic and fresh data available.

I will be adding more research sources when find them. Suggest, add any research source in comment.

Best Personal Finance Tools & Software

2010-08-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

Online Budget Tools

Mvelopes Personal: “Mvelopes Personal is the most effective online personal finance and spending management system ever. This revolutionary, award-winning system applies innovative financial software technology to the traditional envelope method of budgeting to help you manage your finances, while living within your income – and most of it’s done automatically!” NOTE: unlike the tools above, Mvelopes is not free, although they do offer a free trial which you can begin using by clicking Mvelopes Personal.

Here’s a graphic showing how Mvelopes works:

YNAB (which stands for You Need A Budget) is a budget software tool that comes recommended by a number of people. Unlike Quicken (which is a great budgeting tool in its own right), YNAB is specifically designed to help budget your money. They’ve just released a new version–YNAB 3, and they offer a free trial download which you can get by clicking here. You can also check out our detailed review of YNAB.

SmartyPig: SmartyPig is a combination high yield savings account and budget tool wrapped into one. The folks at SmartyPig have created an FDIC-insured high interest rate online savings account that enables anybody to save for a specific goal. And you can get friends and family to help you save, too. It really is a creative way to help you save and budget your money.

Mint is quickly becoming one of my favorite online tools. If you’ve not heard of it, Mint is a free online money management tool. Once you sign up, Mint allows you to link your checking, savings and credit card accounts to your Mint account. Once linked, all of your transactions are automatically incorporated into your Mint account. To do this, you do have to provide Mint with the username and password you use to access your various accounts. This has been a cause of concern for some, although it’s not stopped me from using Mint. Mint uses Yodlee to manage the security of this information, which is the same company used by Fidelity and Bank of America. You can read more about the security of your information here.

What I like about Mint is that the transactions are downloaded automatically and categories are assigned to most transactions by Mint. This does take some adjustments at first, but over time, much of the work is done by Mint, not be me. With the information downloaded to Mint, I can then focus on my spending for whatever expense categories I like. Here is what the budget section of my Mint screen looks like today:

This shows me how much I’ve spent as compared to the average amount I spend (as calculated by Mint based on an analysis of my spending patterns) each month. Based on the day of the month, Mint determines if I’m on my way to spending more or less than I should. In just a few seconds, I can check the status of the spending categories I’ve chosen to keep an eye on.

In addition to Mint, here are some other online options to consider:

BudgetTracker: “We allow you to track your Budget, Bills, Transactions and tie all these together in an easy to read Calendar that can send you reminders when Bills are due. You can also view most of the data stored on this site with your Cellular Phone so you can take all your data with you where ever you may be.”

BudgetPulse: “BudgetPulse is built on principles of simplicity, user friendliness and comprehensiveness. As the application is easy to use, it is especially useful for people to manage and monitor their financial condition. For security reasons, we do not and have no intention to link direct to users’ banking account data.”

Expensr: “See how much of your money goes to Food or Gas. Then compare your spending with similar people so you know where to improve. Create budgets to stay on track and use our forecasting tools to avoid any financial surprises. It’s all free, easy-to-use, and takes only a couple of minutes a day.”

PearBudget: “PearBudget is a FREE budgeting program, written in Excel. It can be used by almost any spreadsheet program (Excel, Word, OpenOffice, etc.). Setting it up is a snap, and you can input your data during the commercial breaks of a single episode of your favorite show. (And did we mention? It’s free!)”

Billster: “A totally free online application developed to organise your personal and shared expenses.”

Editor's Pick:

Rudder: The idea behind Rudder is to take the guesswork and ambiguity out of managing money. We believe financial decisions should be based on sound, insightful information designed to help you meet your goals.

Buxfer: “Our goal is to create the best personal finance application on the web. Money is typically not the topic of discussion for a group of twenty-somethings wanting to have fun with their lives. But that’s only because today’s finance applications make it difficult and boring. That’s what we have set about to change! We want people to effortlessly understand their finances. And have fun while doing so.”

Money Strands: Don’t waste your precious time monitoring multiple bank sites and maintaining painful spreadsheets anymore. We know you have better things to do with your time. moneyStrands automatically pulls together data from your checking, savings, credit card and loan accounts to provide an accurate, up-to-date picture of your financial life broken down by meaningful automatically identified categories along with flexible user defined transaction types. Best of all, moneyStrands is 100% FREE.

Top 10 Best SEO Blogs to stay updated

2010-08-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

Search Engine Land

SEOmoz

SEOBook

Search Engine Roundtable

Search Engine Journal

Conversation Marketing

SEO By the Sea

Blogstorm

Dave Naylor

Marketing Pilgrim

Originally posted at SEOmoz

URL Rewriting for Beginners

2010-08-24T01:29:00.000-07:00

URL rewriting can be one of the best and quickest ways to improve the usability and search friendliness of your site. It can also be the source of near-unending misery and suffering. Definitely worth playing carefully with it - lots of testing is recommended. With great power comes great responsibility, and all that...[]

Read the full article here

And very helpful A Stupid's Guide to htaccess

Achieving CMMi Level in Simple steps

2010-08-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

There are real common sense values on the CMMI process whether you are after certification or not I recommend you stride to get there even for level 2. The following is a high level of the most important parts I find from CMMI.

Level 2 just ensures that what you are doing is documented, repeatable and protected. Simple thing to get this in place is set up an organizational wiki that has version control where you document your processes. Get a copy of Visio to draw your organizational workflows, pictures are worth a thousand words. Make a process to move all your organizational documents in the wiki.

Set up a version control system to track other artifacts that won't fit. Though I like DVCS for real work, I suggest a centralized repository with HTTP access and good tool support like Subversion, CVS, Bazzar, Git for now.

Once you have everything documented, make sure it is repeatable so people do the same thing over and over again, if not update the documentation.

The rest of the levels will fall into place very quickly depending on how well your organization as a whole adopts the new policies. Make sure you have proper organizational change management in place, a lot of people are resistant to change, many people tend to be resistant to documentation.

Level 3 is where you will standardize your organizational tools for the most part. My recommendation is keep anything collaborative i.e. e-mail, workflow management, version control access, etc. standardized. Be a bit more loose on the productivity tools but specify some specific standards e.g. we use Microsoft Word format and PDF documents for external correspondence appropriate tools are (Microsoft Word/Open Office) ... it is still limitting but it gives the people a choice, don't force them into one tool because some people are more efficient in one than the other.

Project specific tools are based on previous projects. The standard is to prefer the previous tools unless discussed with the project architect. Simple enough, may make you pass or not for certification is another story, but it does make the most sense.

Level 4 means you are taking metrics and measuring performance. This is simple enough to do and can be done while you are doing your documentation for level 2. Just say in your processes what you are measuring (time it takes, costs, how often we do the process etc). That way by the time you do level 4 you are already doing it anyway, all you are doing is making it official. However, you should be looking at ways of improving your metrics once you have them.

Level 5 just adds continuous improvement. It basically means that you have a repeatable process to document improvements to your organization to improve metrics. Like level 4, this can be done way before. Just document a process to do it while you are doing the level 2 work and you'd be able to pass level 5 more easily later on. It's not difficult, things could start out as simple as:

E-mail suggestion to process guy.
Process guy tests the suggestion.
Based on test result update the documentation and prepare release.

Reference: Posted on Linkedin at http://linkd.in/bZfrEq

Staging Server or Virtual Host for Apache

2010-06-30T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I want to share some of my little experience for how can you easily setup virtual host environment.

It is also very important to test your website or web application locally just as it looks like on actual live server. It is called staging server, that is local server but it's URL and everything looks like the live server.

Follow the simple steps in Windows environment to successfully have a staging server.

Uncomment the following in httpd.conf
# Virtual hosts
Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Now, open the httpd-vhosts.conf file and do the following
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.localhost
DocumentRoot "D:\Workspace\Website"
ServerName faisalbasra.com
ServerAlias www.faisalbasra.com
ErrorLog "logs/faisalbasra-error.log"
CustomLog "logs/faisalbasra-access.log" common
</VirtualHost>

Do the following to give rights properly otherwise you can't do browsing.

<Directory "D:\Workspace\Website">
Order Deny,Allow
Allow from all
</Directory>

Now open the file from your respective windows installation drive mine is this
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Just add these lines

127.0.0.1 faisalbasra.com
127.0.0.1 www.faisalbasra.com

Now, you can enter faisalbasra.com or www.faisalbasra.com in your browser and see you local site running.

First Ever Video Upload on Youtube by it's co-founder Jawed

2010-06-14T04:12:00.000-07:00

The following is the first ever video uploaded by Jawed (a bagladeshi student, co-founder) on youtube. At that he may or may not aware of future success of Youtube.

Google tech talk on Google App Engine

2010-06-13T01:38:00.000-07:00

I think everyone know less or more about cloud computing or cloud application development.

Recently I got the change to attend a event organized by Badar Khushnod (Representative of Google Pakistan), at FAST Lahore. The speaker was Omer Shakil, see his introduction

Omer Shakil has been working as a Software Engineer at Google since 2006. He did his bachelors from LUMS and was awarded a gold medal for being the best student in Computer Science. Omer went on to do his Masters in Distributed Systems from The University of Texas at Austin. Omer has won many coding competitions as a student: IEEE Week 03 Speed Programming Competition (Individual), Punjab Tech 03 On-Spot Programming Competition (Individual), SOFTEC 04 Dynamic Programming competition (Team) and AMD Design Contest Challenge (Team). Omer has been very active in promoting Google in Pakistan. He took the initiative to conduct the first ever recruiting event from Pakistan back in 2007, and held tech talks ever since. This year he is continuing the series with a workshop on Web Apps.

Overall, it was very nice & learning experience. I also met many of my old friends there after a long time. Let's summarize my Google app engine learning.

Google app engine introduction

No more relational database, GAE has it's datastore

Supported languages are Java & Python. I love to work with Java

Google Web Toolkit aka GWT

Developing application with Google App Engine, give you the flexibility & scalability in terms of hardware & application high throughput.

When your application grows high & high, there is dead need to scale not only hardware but also fine tune your software logic written in code.

Google App Engine, gives you the already optimized software development approach, tested by Google's own infrastructure. So when your application need more resources, just add give the amount & Google will upgrade your hardware infrastructure with no worries & guaranteed quality of service.

I will start my Google App Engine learning & development from today.

A day without Mobile Phone

2010-06-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

It's not a technical article or anything else but just my personal experience while recently I was without mobile phone for 2 days.

Let me share, why I was without my mobile phone & what experiences I got.

Actually, I sell my Nokia E suddenly on Wensday 9th June 2010. I have a backup mobile phone too, but want to see how life look now without mobile phone.

So, for next day (Thursday & Friday) I faced very interesting facts.

Life seems very different when there is no mobile phone in your pocket, because you are disconnected with the whole world at once. You can't imagine in these days that no one can contact you.

Specially while load shedding, can't ring the door bell & can't call & say 'please open the door', it just looks frustrating.

Conclusion is that, now life & society is tightly connected with mobile phones & we can't life without mobile phone. It is now essential part of our lives.

Career Change from Software Engineer to Marketing Executive

2010-06-13T01:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I have switched from Software Engineer (Java Developer) to Marketing Executive at my current company NetSol Technologies.

Let me share my experience, about career changing.

Changing career is not easy to do for everyone. While I was in process & decision, most of the people did not think that I am doing right.

I have bee working as Software Engineer (Java Developer) since last two years and even more, with 3 years of Java academic level study. Roughly my knowledge & experience about Java is 5 years.

Marketing field is always fascinate mostly I was stay in touch with Internet Marketing & specially while studding Marketing subject in my first semester of MBA, I was in great wish to work in this field.

So, when I got an option then as I was having great interest & wish to work in Marketing field and left my all Java & development related experience in the back. I decided it bravely & planned to be remain a tech guy secondary & Marketing expert primarily.

So with my new job as Marketing Executive, my first month is just over. Here, I have great time & experience but I have also new challenges & opportunities here.

I will talk about these later......

My MBA Second Semester

2010-06-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

My MBA 2nd semester started on May 18 & because I have uninstalled PTCL's broadband so that I was unable to make my blog updated.

MBA at IB&M UET 2nd Semester highlights

I have taken following courses

Financial & Managerial Accounting

Business Communication

Human Resource Management

Out of these three subject, I got two teachers really perfect & super i.e. Financial & Managerial Accounting & Human Resource Management.

However, Business Communication teacher is really boring one. He's just concentrating on slides running & running, just only can deliver bookish knowledge.

Each class is now 4 hours class. So, after job when taking class and end up at 10:15, its really so deadly & ending.

This post was expected to publish before one month...

The pieces of Wisdom

2010-04-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Think...

A Bird sitting on the Branch of a tree is not afraid by the shaking branch.......
But the because the bird trusts not the branch but her wings.

Think...

Beautiful words by Muhammad Ali Jinnah!!!

"I don't believe in taking right decisions", I take decisions and make them right.

Think...

Simplest definition of success:

When your signature becomes autograph.

Think…

Napolian said:

If you built an army of 100 Lions and their leader is a dog, the Lions will die like dogs.

But if you built an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a Lion, all dogs will fight like Lion.

Priniciples of Life…

Winning is not everything but wanting to win is.

When everything is lost, the future still remains.

Don’t fight do much otherwise your enemy would know your art of war.

If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for everything.

If you do little things well, you will do big ones better.

Don’t think there is no place, there is always place at the top.

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

Think…

When people walk away from you, stop them once. If still they don’t stay, let them go.

Your destiny is never tied to anybody who leaves you and it also does not mean that they are bad people.

It’s just that their part in the story is over.

But people who stay with you and would always stand by your side. They play, may be a small but an important part in your life.

Start Learning Adobe Flex

2010-04-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

As in my previous post, I have set my learning path, I just have started my learning path to Adobe Flex 4. While exploring the articles and blog, I have found the following useful blog articles.

Learn Adobe Flex 4 in 5 days... very comprehensive and easy to go

Learn Master Detail Adobe Flex Application Simple, Remoting with grails

I will be publishing more, links and article with my learning curve. And hope to post/publish my own when I have enough knowledge to share with others.

My New Learning Paths

2010-04-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

I am just prepaying myself to learn new technologies & framework. Following are things I will be focusing in my coming days.

Learning No. 1

Flex 4 - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/videotraining/?sdid=FDIUQ

Learning No. 2

Microsoft .Net WPF Framework:

Learning No. 3

Apple's Platform, iPhone Application Development

Learning No. 4 (Added today on April 12, 2010)

Microsoft's Silver Light RIA Platform

Learning No. 5 (Added today on April 13, 2010)

Adobe Flex RIA development with WebORB

A Food of Thought

2010-04-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

Think...

If you want to win the race, first you have to be on the race track then your effort, courage, willingness and luck will decide whether you should stand on first or behind it.

The Success Factors

2010-03-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

In life success does matter a lot to every one. Some people born with success attitude and thoughts. What if we don't get these natural instincts to get success. Let's see the following action paths to make your success factor bigger and greater.

PLAN
while others are playing

STUDY
while others are sleeping

DECIDE
while others are delaying

PREPARE
while others are daydreaming

BEGIN
while others are procrastinating

WORK
while others are wishing

SAVE
while others are wasting

LISTEN
while others are talking

SMILE
while others are frowning

COMMEND
while others are criticizing

PERSIST
while others are quitting

These are general rules that can be applied to all aspects of our life, including home, social, religious and professional life. We can be more creative & successful if try to explore how success come and what it have meaning to us.

My next posting are on "LUCK", where I will explore how people become lucky and unlucky. What traits make them lucky and how we can become lucky when we are not.

Real Success: Compete vs. Defeat Theory

2010-03-06T06:08:00.000-08:00

We often face competition in our every daily life whether you are student, engineer, doctor, businessman or whatever you are doing, you will face competition. Even if you do nothing you can face competition in your own home with your brothers & sisters to be the best son or daughter.

So, there comes two ways by which we can push back our competitors

Compete

Defeat

Compete: This is considered the positive way & attitude to beat and kill the competition. In this way, you do all the best things, quality work, creative and innovation. You don't have any interest with competitors whatever they lose or win.

Defeat: This is considered the negative way & attitude to kill you competitor. Actually, default theory mainly focus on pushing down your competitor rather than getting yourself up by doing good things. In this way, we do all the evil things that will be directly harmful for our competitor like, breaking competitor's internal information, grabbing their key staff, opening their key formula(s) to public etc. This strategy is mostly used in marketing & business areas.

Conclusion: We should always go with "compete" theory as it is the choice of smart, intelligent & positive people. We can prove our talent by competing with our creativity, innovation and quality work. This is called healthy competition.

My 2010 Resolutions

2010-01-30T02:40:00.000-08:00

This is my first post on my newly created personal blog and I thinking from last two days, what I should post my first blog entry. While at a training session of personal development, I decided to make my 2010 resolutions blog post.

I've spent few time to think about what exactly I want to accomplish this in year.

My top priority to be getting myself in better health, smart & muscular.

Savings - I have to make big savings by this year to get some ideas working & real.

Have to manage at least 10 article post per month atleast either technical, personal or political whatever.

Have to develop & implement atleast one business idea either brick-n-mortal, software or ecommerce.

Try to be expert in Joomla CMS and would produce atleast one hand coded template then be a master of it.

Those are my measurable goals. There are a few subjective things that I'd like to accomplish as well.

Be more organized: Right now I am unable to do work properly due to some uncertainty & poor time management. I have to improve myself in this area to do more managed work that will ultimately make me more productive in less time.

Be more patient: I've been accused of being gruff at times. The reason I get so frustrated is my severe intolerance for illogical behavior and mediocre efforts. I think I can project a better attitude towards those frustrations and not let it bum me out so much.

Make myself Happy: I'm already moving this direction by reducing my commitments to things that don't steer me towards my ultimate goals. I have put many boundaries, restrictions so most of the time I was thinking about them and remain in constant worry.

I think that is enough for this 2010. Happy 2010 year...