Archive for June, 2008
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Monday, June 23rd, 2008
I am a webmaster and Website Flipping is my hobby. For my research of websites, I basically focus on internet website traffic to see its potential. Some people tell you that Internet Traffic is best measured using Alexa. I have found that Alexa seems to be inaccurate with respect to monitoring web traffic.
Problems I experienced with Alexa
- I had Installed McAfee and scanned my computer a couple of days back. It detected the Alexa tool bar as a spy ware and disabled it. So I had to place it in the Ignore list to Avoid McAfee detect it as a spyware.
- The problem with the Alexa results is that, their data comes only for visitors who have Alexa tool bar installed. When I compared the Alexa Stats and Stats by Google Analytics I could see a visible Difference.
- There are numerous ways to fake an Alexa score, the most common being visiting your own site with a browser having the Alexa Toolbar Installed.
How does Alexa Work?
Alexa just gives you a general idea of traffic about your site. Basically a visitor using the Alexa toolbar is automatically sending information back to Alexa about what sites they visit, and Alexa compiles the sites from all their users to determine rank.
Google analytics is one of the better programs to track your site statistics and analyze your traffic and I recommend you to use it for monitoring traffic instead of Alexa.
Alexa Tool Bar
If you are still bent upon to use Alexa, Click here to download their Toolbar.
Check Mate!
Monday, June 23rd, 2008“Life is like a game of Chess, changing with each move” . The Chinese always come up with wonderful quotes.
The year was 1998 .My summer break from school was going on. As any Indian kid would, I played cricket all day and in the afternoon me and my friend “Kusugal” played chess. Our rivalry was no less than that of the ‘Kasparov – Karpov’ one. Or at least we played in the same zeal to defeat each other. We often took our rivalry onto the cricket field leading to skirmishes. I was a better cricketer than he was, so I would ensure every defeat on the chess board would be avenged by my bat.
One afternoon, as we settled to play our favorite board game, our mutual and close friend “Gowda” suggested that we guys play against a neighborhood boy called “Gunnu“. This Gunnu was an irritating character, or at least, I felt so. He was a few years younger than us. His bowling/throwing action was the weirdest I have ever faced. It was an amalgamation of a Kangaroo’s jump and Paul Adams trying to bowl underarm with his normal action.
He would rarely come and play cricket with us. But whenever he did, I would make him bowl all day without getting out. He would finally fake injury and go home depressed. I was always delighted in making him toil. So when Gowda told me Gunnu wanted to play chess, I was eager. We started; he took out a pen and a paper to jot down stuff. I thought he was crazy!
Gowda was grinning as we played a few moves. Kusugal looked on interested. Gunnu took a long time between moves. He would shake his head, bite his nails, scribble something in the paper and calculate something as if he was solving Fermat’s last theorem. Gowda was giggling now, I laughed along with him.
A few moves down the lane, my laughter died. All of a sudden, the culmination of Gunnu’s calculations had resulted in me being a few moves away from defeat. I knew it was inevitable. Kusugal said “It’s lunch time” and slipped away.
“Check Mate!“, Gunnu deliriously declared. He had this Buddha look of absolute nirvana on his face. Gowda was still giggling.
My ego made me challenge Gunnu for another game. I lost even more badly. And Another Game, a worse loss.
Gunnu had wiped off all his humiliation on the cricket field. He had put me in place. A nice afternoon had turned into an embarrassing situation for me. Gunnu went back home after thanking me for the nice games. He had this twinkle in his eye of a superior intellectual. The eternal brain vs. brawn fight.
Gowda was laughing by now. As I put the chess pawns back into the cover, I asked him as to why he was laughing so much. Gowda was a much better friend of mine than he was of Gunnu’s. He then said something that made me want to kill him.
“Gunnu is a National Under-14 champion”. I just looked up to Gowda; he laughed and started running from me. I did not want to chase him.
Me and Kusugal never played chess and Gunnu never played cricket with us, again. I guess he wanted to finish on a high.
The Russian’s have a better proverb than the Chinese – “In life, unlike chess, the game continues after Checkmate“.
The ‘Gowda Saga’ Continues – Why Figure Joined Karate !
I18N Internationalization
Monday, June 23rd, 2008I18N – Internationalization
Internationalization is a process of designing a software application so that it can support various languages. All the text messages to be displayed in the application is to be listed in a centralized file and can be accessed depending upon the user preferences later in the JSP file or Java class. The advantage is that the specified labels or descriptions can be reused in multiple JSP files and to provide multiple language support for the application.
Locale is a representation of a language and country combination,eg. en_US,es_SP. The language codes are specified in lowercase and the country codes are specified using uppercase characters, as defined by International Organization for Standardization – the ISO. The country code is optional, so ‘en’ alone can be a valid locale string for the English language.
Common centralized file also known as resource bundles are simply property files with message key and corresponding value pairs,this is to be prepared for every language using the filename convention as MessageResource_en_US (filename_languagecode_country) if country code is used else can be named as MessageResource_en (filename_languagecode) with the file extension “properties”. The messages are placed in the file using the convention as message key followed by the actual text message to be displayed. i.e.greeting=Hello(hi)where the string greeting would be the message key which will be placed in either the JSP or Java class and the word “Hello(hi)” would be displayed on the User Interface. The message key would be the same for all the locales.
Sample Java Class Code
[sourcecode language='java']
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;
public class I18N {
static public void main(String[] args) {
String language;
Locale prefferedLocale;
ResourceBundle messages;
if (args.length != 1) {
language = new String(”en”);
} else {
language = new String(args[0]);
}
prefferedLocale = new Locale(language);
messages = ResourceBundle.getBundle(”MessageResource”, prefferedLocale);
System.out.println(messages.getString(”greeting”));
}
}
[/sourcecode]
Then Create a property file as
MessageResource_en.properties
greeting=hello (hi)
MessageResource_es.properties
greeting=hola! saludo
Compile the java code and provide the argument with the language code to get appropriate language display.
javac I18N.java
java I18N en //To get output in English
or
javac I18N.java
java I18N es //To get the Output in Spanish
Implementation of I18N for a Web based Application would be published shortly.
The Secret
Monday, June 23rd, 2008Has it ever happened, that sometimes you visualize or think of something that you wish you had and suddenly one day you realize that your dream has actually come true!!
This has happened to me several times, and I always used to wonder how could something like that be possible! I got an answer to this when a friend of mine told me about this amazing book called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne.
Most of you would have already read the book or even seen the movie. But for those who still haven’t lemme tell you the secret behind “The Secret” 
The author discovered the secret through a 100 yr old book. “The Secret” reveals the most powerful law in the universe which is “The law of attraction”. Everything that is entering into your life is because you are attracting it into ur life, and it is attracted through images and thoughts you are holding in your mind. For example, Whether consciously or unconsciously people who have drawn lot of wealth into their lives used the secret. They think thoughts of abundance of wealth and do not allow any contradictory thoughts to enter their minds. Their predominant thoughts of wealth is what has bought wealth into their lives.
The author tells ” We are the most powerful magnet in the universe”. when we think of thoughts we are also attracting “like” thoughts which means “like attracts like”. For instance when you are unhappy about something and think about it..you realize that you end up being more unhappy, thats because you are attracting more and more “like unhappy thoughts” to you which is causing you to feel worse. Your life right now is the reflection of your past thoughts.
The book says that every thought has a frequency and when we think of some thought over and over again we are emitting that frequency over and over again. As we think, those thoughts are sent out into the universe and they magnetically attract all like things that are of the same frequency, because everything that is sent out returns back to the source and the source is “US”. Positive thoughts bring about positive manifestations while negative thoughts bring about negative manifestations. Because it is an absolute law, the law of attraction will always respond to your thoughts no matter what they are. Thus your thoughts become things.
This is explained clearly with a wonderful example which is of a Television station’s transmission tower. A transmission tower broadcasts a frequency which is transformed into pictures onto our television. We know that each channel has a frequency and when we tune into that frequency we see the pictures on our television. We choose the frequency by selecting the channel and we receive pictures broadcast on that channel. if we want to see different pictures on the television we change the channel and tune into a new frequency. In the same way the author tells us that we are a human transmission tower and we are more powerful than any transmission tower in the universe. We transmit a frequency with our thoughts. Our thoughts create a frequency and this frequency is sent to the universe and attracts like things of that frequency which are broadcast back to us in the form of our life pictures. If we want to change anythin in our life, then we should change the frequency of our thoughts.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8
This Particular law which is “The law of attraction” can be applicable to any field in our life whether its “health, business, education, family, finances,relationships.. just anything.
All this might sound very spiritual to some. I don’t say that after reading this book a person’s life will change completely, but im sure it would generate some positive thoughts and some hope for a better tomorrow. There are lot more things written in the book which I cannot summarize. Those who have read the book might know that the book generates a feeling of hope and all things positive. People will realize that things are not so totally beyond one’s control if they take some time out to think about the “law of attraction” mentioned in the book.
ECO Travel
Monday, June 23rd, 2008I am no green-warrior. I don’t think of the artic glaciers every time I step foot on my accelerator. I don’t wonder if the planes pollute more than my car or even if I rather use the airport lavatory than the one on the plane (believe me there is even a theory on how much fuel is saved based on the place u relieve) . I am sure most of us don’t think of these things as we find it trivial or we don’t understand the impact.
But all of us also have a growing concern for the environment. Hence small changes that go a long way in helping save our earth, changes we can surely adapt when we travel form the basis of the new “it” concept in travel – “ECO Travel“.
I won’t suggest things that the hardcore green preachers want all of us to do. But only things you can easily incorporate in your itinerary and travel needs.
So here we go :
1) Should you always fly?
This is a tough one. Most people fly because its the fastest, most convenient mode of travel and also in some cases there is a certain status attached to the first class traveler. But for the normal you and me, there is always the good old train. At least when you have the time to kill on your leisure trips and for short distances ranging up to 1500 km’s or a nights travel, train journeys are always the most memorable. It has its own enigmatic charm attached to it. So go for it.
Fact : Studies suggest a 500 mile flight, per person pollutes as much as you car would in a month.
2) Travel light
Don’t take your grandma’s trunk along. Travel with only what you need.
3) Help and local
Support the local people of the place you visit.It may be via employing them as guides or buying their handicrafts. In turn they help save the environment around them.
4) Go trekking, hiking or camping.
Don’t visit opulent hotels which are energy guzzlers. A hike or a camp on the beach carries much more memories than a sauna bath.
5) Don’t litter, Avoid bottled water(you will find water in most places, bottled water would have been transported over huge distances and thus is a source of absolute waste of fuel)
6) Don’t spend all your trip time just in the car. Reach a place and explore it fully. Don’t keep hopping from location to location separated by hundreds of kilometers.
7) If you are on a road trip, drive sensibly to increase your fuel efficiency.
8 ) If you have a choice, choose hotels which are more energy efficient.
9) Use Blackle instead of Google when you are googling for your travel plan
www.blackle.com
For all my eco-evangelism here, I myself don’t follow many of the above mentioned points. But climate change is affecting everyone’s lives. It is slowly changing weather patterns which could affect agriculture and the entire food chain in the long run. It’s high time we react and do something about it.
Start today….
Cultural Shit
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008I will begin with rendering my apology for choosing such a shity subject to uncover.
cultural shit. I believe that the way we shit has a lot to do with the culture we belong to. Shit belongs to a religion, and has a lot of history as well. I am not saying I found it in the holy books (now thats a different kind of shit), but a bit of research when I thought of writing shit got me to that conclusion.
Those living in India are definitely sure to know that our vast history with culture has resulted in naming a commode after us. The great Indian style toilet. Style is an unnecessary word there though.
Those who have travelled in the rumbling trains have always been given a choice of an Indian Style toilet and a western. It always surprises me how Indians classify everything that they are not familiar with as western.
And as usual the western toilets are far more cleaner than the Indian.
An art in itself is how we clean up our asses! In our adolescence, when we just begin to realize that we shudnt be burdening our parents to clean up our shit, we are taught to depart with the usefulness of our left hands for the cause of a clean buttocks. And those rebellious kids who get habitant to using their right hands are turned into “lefties”. Water, was told to us, was the cleanest way of staying out of shit.
Globalization, however, has now made its way into our bathrooms as well and changed that myth. While using public toilets we are forced to make use of toilet paper rolls. How tough and uncomfortable it is for a person who has always been using water to do the thing. Hell! He would be consious of it until he gets home and pours a jug of water to feel more sterilized!
I could bet that a villager would mount a western toilet the Indian way!
There is always a debate on which of the above two ways of cleaning are environment friendly. You have two options – “Save water” OR “save trees”. Seriously speaking I dont give a shit about both when it comes to saving my ass! Away from all the confusion from the options available, there are a class of people who are confident about the way they shit. All they need is a railway track (intercity trains; local trains are too frequent for a peaceful excretion), the train schedules and exactly one mug of water. I tried to do more research on why railway tracks are the most preferred locations, but i guess it is just one of those things that does not have a reason.
Japanese are so technologically advanced that the way they shit is also technologically advanced. The commodes are powered with integrated laser beam sensors that scans your buttocks for any reminents of shit and make sure that you walk away clean once done. No left right issues. Just sit, relax and do your thing.
Africans however are really hard working. Before they have to let go off, they go into the forests looking for a particular species of plant, the leaves of which is used as toilet paper. Only for their sakes I pray that the plant never becomes extinct else we would have a continent of dirty asses.
And then there are countries that donot have a concept of using commodes. They use plastic bags to collect the excreate (borat!) in the morning and use it as fuel for cooking later in the evening after drying it out in the backyard.
While walking on the streets in USA, one hardly gets to see even dog poop lying around. Coming from a country like India you almost begin to miss it! All the fun of trying to avoid cow, goat, dog (and even human at times) shit while walking on the road. I know of a region in south India where people follow ’shit where there is no shit’ mentality. Those who want to know which place I am referring to please leave me a note and your email id and I will enlighten you.
All this shit said, there is no moral to the article. Its just a collection of facts and fiction, and also sarcasm in a few places. Keep the world clean. Give/take no shit to/from anyone.
Paypal | Online Payment Processing Systems
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
PayPal.com was started in 1998 and it became so popular that it was acquired by eBay. Paypal has a large user base today and has become one of the de-facto standards for e-commerce sites. I am a Freelancer and I opened a PayPal account to send and receive payments to clients online.
Paypal has made life so much simpler online for website stores that can’t support expensive credit card processing on their websites. With credit card processing comes credit card fraud checks and various other security validations which are even more expensive.
I have had just one negative experience with paypal, that was in struggling to get my account Limited Account Access removed. In this state I could not send and receive payments or withdraw them directly to my bank account. When asked why, they mentioned that it was some security measures, where they regularly screen your paypal activity. I then visited the Paypal Resolution Center only to find out that I was asked Additional Information to remove my Limited Account Access. I was asked to Fax Proof of Business Registrations, proof of residence and my latest credit card statement for the card that was registered with paypal.
I had a problem here which was Proof of Business Registrations. I told them that the “Proof of Business Registrations” was not applicable for me since I am a freelancer and not registered to any Business and that I would fax the other documents the next day. To my surprise they told me that they were sorry and can’t lift my account access limitation as they needed some kind of business proof. I had no choice but to create a detailed report stating proofs for all my online transactions including client email addresses and my website name and services. I prepared a document and faxed them the very next day. Every minute detail that I could think was put forth in the document about the kind of online freelancing services I offer.
4 days later comes an email saying “Your PayPal Account Access Has Been Restored”. That was a sign of relief for me. Now I can freely send and receive payments online using paypal. I sometimes wonder why they require all this information as they are not a bank, but just a facilitator for transferring money on the Internet. They get their commission on each transfer and they should be happy with that. It’s just a thought and nothing against Paypal as I solely depend on them for my online payments even though they charge large transaction fees.
Its a good system for making payments but a bad one for receiving payment!. Since I live in India, I find Paypal inconvenient because of their;
- Huge Transaction Fees
- Making ISD Calls to Customer Support to resolve issues like the ones mentioned above.
A small tip for Online Freelancers who don’t have a website displaying their services;
- This service is preferred by many overseas clients, so it is worth having a paypal account.
- Always withdraw money from your PayPal account immediately to your bank and maintain a zero balance, because your account can be locked / frozen/ limited any time.
I like the idea of having a receipt sent to me to verify that payment was made. This acts as a proof against a fraud seller.
Also another good thing about paypal is if there is a BONUS. You can receive a $5.00 bonus when your friends and family sign up and qualify via the requirements.
I would like your comments on other online payment processing systems such as ccavenue, Alert Pay, Eglod, money bookers, stormpay etc.
Fuel Cells
Saturday, June 21st, 2008What is a fuel cell?
A fuel cell is an environment friendly energy producing device that produces electricity through an electrochemical procedure using Hydrogen and Oxygen. Unlike natural fuels like petrol, diesel, gas which emit hazardous gases like oxides as by-products, fuel cells produce water and heat as by-products. Since there is no combustion, the process of generating electricity is more efficient than fuel burning. Also there is zero or very less air and noise pollution.
How do fuel cells work?
A fuel cell consists of two electrodes known as an anode catalyst and cathode catalyst, along with an electrolyte which is sandwiched between these electrodes. Hydrogen is passed over the anode electrode and oxygen is passed over the cathode electrode. With the help of the anode catalyst, the Hydrogen atoms get splits into proton and electrons. The electrons passes through the electric circuit to create electricity. The protons passes through the electrolyte and reach the catalyst and unites with the oxygen to form water. As long as Hydrogen and Oxygen are supplied to fuel cells, electricity can be constantly generated.
Applications of Fuel Cells
Fuel Cells can be used in many sectors. They are massively being used in automobile industry as an alternative source of energy to fuel the vehicles as the natural sources like petrol, diesel etc are getting exhausted. Fuel Cells can also be used in 24/7 sectors like banks, telecom industry etc where a constant supply of electricity is needed.
For more details visit these websites
www.fuelcells.org
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fuelcell.shtml
www.fuelcelltoday.com
Most Irritating Indian Ads 2008
Saturday, June 21st, 2008Samsung Mobile Ad- Featuring Amir Khan
I never understood what this AD is trying to portray.It is not remotely funny and is totally pointless in my opinion. Even Amir’s in the ad cannot pull off something as irritating as this. Whatever it is that the creators and Amir were trying to portray, they have sadly only succeeded in creating the impression of an insane person, sitting on probably a toilet seat and hallucinating or maybe smelling his own fart (i really could not be sure). The punch line “blows off your mind” is so not in sync with the rest of the AD. They might as well have created the AD without even the Phone, with just Amir Khan trying to do an inane mime act; that also would have served its purpose. Well I for one am just not impressed by the AD to even remember the name of the phone Samsung is selling let alone buy it. A big thumbs down!!
Airtel AD- Featuring Vidya Balan and R Madhavan
Whenever this AD comes on TV, I immediately switch the channel. Both Vidya Balan and Madhavan look like over grown adults trying to enact a romance which at best can be described as irritatingly immature and childish. I am sure the creators thought that Vidya and Madhavan calling one another 8 or 9 times (the Ad is too forgettable to remember these details) would be highly romantic. But seriously, if it were two young people trying to do this AD then probably the AD would have had some credibility. But with Vidya and Madhavan unfortunately, things are not even remotely romantic. And the countdown to 3 just manages to stretch my nerves to the point where I feel like bashing up my own TV. As is, I am, thankfully, a sensible person and instead I switch the channel to spare myself the torture.
Bingo Potato Chips
I am actually highly impressed by the Bingo ADs. It requires exceptional talent on the part of the Ad creators to successfully make the viewers empathize with their Ad. But the creators of bingo AD have managed to do that handsomely- the Ad is so annoying that you feel you are being inflicted with the same pain as the specimen in the lab on whom guinea tests are being performed. The makers of this AD mostly do not understand the difference between comedy and annoyance and their attempts to evoke laughter are as thin as the chips themselves. The moron subjecting himself to numerous torture tests and at the end of it proclaiming each time that bingo is “crunchy” is so annoying that you silently wish that at the next test the fellow dies and stops speaking. I never even try to decipher what the AD means by “testing under so and so circumstance” or how a person being tortured is even related to chips. I never buy Bingo chips just because I cannot even bear to be reminded of the AD.
Pepsi- Youngistan: Featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone
“Youngistan!!!!” I am a hindustani and young but I just cannot digest this. If at all some one says he/she ‘is” or “is-from” youngistan I would laugh at their face and if they I say I “am” or “am-from” youngistan I would consider that an abuse. Lets face it, the concept of youngistan is not really BAD. But with the young Kapoor trying to be extra smart and Deepika Padukone then trying to prove she is still smarter this AD gets on youe intellectual nerve if not anything else. Remember the dialogue “Main youngistan se aaya hoon”? It is so nerve stretching that you feel like packing Ranbir into an UFO and sending him out for an aliens feast. The creators have managed to spoil what could have been a nice concept and ensure that whenever there is a possibility of a shrill “Yeh hain Youngistan Meri Jaan”, I grab my remote immediately.
More to come….
Suzuki Cervo India
Saturday, June 21st, 2008Suzuki’s 10th mini car Cervo was launched in Japan last November.Now it is making a steady progress towards the Indian market & would probably be here somewhere early 2009.This stunning beauty would make heads turn with its new age styling.
Suzuki Alto has replaced the most popular people’s car the 800 & its place would be occupied by this sensational Cervo. Alto would definitely keep up the tempo that 800 had in its segment but we need to see how well people accept Cervo.Suzuki has great expectations on this as it is playing a gamble by ending the era of 800.It should also play safe while pricing the Cervo & market speculation is that the Suzuki Cervo would be priced between 2-3 Lakhs! .If that’s done it would make most of the auto manufacturers run for there money.
in the form of Maruthi Suzuki has worked really hard to establish itself with modern & appealing cars.It’s strategy really paid off with the runaway success of Swift & SX4.This has given them enough confidence to bring the next assault in the form of Cervo.Maruti Suzuki should also keep in mind the pricing & marketing strategy with the likes of Splash,Estilo,santro & i10.
Suzuki Cervo will be equipped with a 1 liter engine & 65 BHP to make it quite a peppy one to maneuver.The Cervo in Japan derives power from a 660cc engine that develops a healthy 55bhp.So we need to wait if it would remain the same.Arching roofline aids the wedged stance while the high and squat hood compliments the large, slanted headlights.The rear is equally attractive as the front end of the Cervo.The lines and cuts of the car are neat and classy and the clean black covering at the end of the windows are cleverly made so as not to see too many holes.The headlights seem aggressive and getting ready to vrroomm ..
Suzuki believes it can compete with the TATA’s Nano in terms of pricing.It can do this by some modification on the cosmetics but its highly improbable that Suzuki would take any such steps.
Interiors:
Interior gives a feeling of a Swift or an SX4.The rectangular air vents in the center and the circle open closed ones on the sides have been placed well using the space. The colors of the controls lights up the dash. The boot is a bit small, but its quite enough for daily shopping & office usage.Seats at the back can seat only two and the third one has to squeeze in.A lot of storage areas are available to keep stuff in the front and at the back. Power Windows & airbags are available in the international markets but we doubt that it will come to India.
If our research & the pics on the net is true, thats an awesome revamp to an 800.The sporty and aggressive exteriors,the classy and swifty interiors are bound to make the young gens and the ladies to force their cash out.Suzuki’s bet on combining performance with Styling, this car will be a hit in Indian roads.
