Misc

If you are worried about repetitive-strain injuries, then check out a few alternative devices that you might find more comfortable.

But to get your hands on one you have to go to China … or ask someone you might know there…

CIOInsight has an article discussing the rise of blogs on how they are being embraced by the corporate world and in other cases they are not including some best practices (most of which is common sense) on what you as an individual should or should not do. Also has a few examples from big corporations around the world and their IT Managers to CIO’s. Since you are reading this, obviously this is no new news to you…. :) ...

I am looking (Karan has been on the lookout also) for a good ergonomic chair for my study at home and want to get your feedback on which ones you like and what do you think the price is right for that? I also need to take into account shipping to UK if something is only available in the US (or buying in the US and shipping to UK given the £ to $ ratio). ...

Don’t worry, you guys are not that lucky, I am still alive and kicking, just been busy at work (hey I do need to work sometimes). Between work and doing my World Clock and finalizing the components for the Media Center PC (yep, after long debate, most of the components are ordered) , did not leave me too much time to blog. In addition to all this trying to figure out which TV to buy (I don’t own a TV as of now if you believe it), which cable/satellite service to subscribe to, and travel (am in lovel Brussels where the temperature today is in the mid 60’s - how sweet is that). But, as promised, the sandbox will be up soon , along with the details and some source code. Also you will have the full details on the Media Center once it is up - all in good time. :) ...

Got this via Megha. This actually is not new, I remember many years ago in India some inventor-dude doing the same thing and driving around to Nirulas (slurp, smack, drool).

Interestingly, there is a story highlighting the fact that all your $$$’s (or £££’s as I am in UK now), are NOT tax deductible - which came as a bit of a surprise to me. For example, the American Red Cross has received close to $152 million in donations for tsunami survivors. If you gave to them, your contribution is tax deductible. But if you donated to the International Red Cross it’s not. That’s because most international groups are not authorized by the IRS to accept tax deductible donations. To simplify things the IRS says go to the websites of US AID and the USA Freedom Corps . All the charities listed on those websites are qualified to give you a tax break. You can also check the IRS website. On the home page click on charities, then click on the “New Search Features” and enter the charities name. If it comes back with a listing you know you’re okay with the IRS. Also keep in mind that if you have donated to an eligible charity for tsunami victims this month you can still take the deduction on last years taxes. ...

Sweet, now that Vonage has launched in the UK , I am thinking of getting it. My US one worked out pretty good for me and have been using it more than a year and a half. But, since I am still very new in the UK, for the old timers here, what do you think of their rates ? For £9.99 per month I can make unlimited local and national calls anywhere in the UK and Ireland and the rates for mobile are 15p (day), 10p (evening) and 5p (weekend). Plus the international calling rates are pretty cheap (or so I think). Thoughts? ...

As of December 2004, the Mac share as measured by online activity is 2.7 percent (Linux is 3.1), with all the rest going to various flavors of Windows, is it truely the death of Macs? John Dvorak disccuses the Grim Macintosh Market Share Forebodes Crisis . The crux of the matter he says is, the ease-of-use and simplicity of the platform is killing it, because people cannot perceive that simplicity is ever worth MORE than complexity. Simpler should be cheaper. An example that John takes, say you have two identical products on the market—word processors, for example. For the sake of argument, let’s make these two, X and Y, almost exactly the same. But product X is written in tight assembly language, fits on a floppy disk, and takes up 30K of memory. Product Y is written in some high-level language, comes on a CD-ROM, and takes up 500 megabytes on your hard drive. Which will outsell the other? I argue that the packed CD-ROM always will, because the public will perceive it as a greater value. You’re getting more for your money. ...

With over 23,000 people dead, and so many more suffering the Magnitude 9.0 off the west coast of Northern Sumatra was a 9.0 magnitude Earthquake on Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:49 UTC. Having live for almost 7 years in the Bay Area, which as most people know is a very earthquake active area I have made it a hobby (of sorts) to go read up more on such events. Here are the details as reported by the USGS: ...

Well, I stumbled upon this link showing the photos of Google’s spanking new campus and celebrating their 6th birthday. But not long ago, when I was stomping around in Mountain View and Palo Alto, the same building use to be Silicon Graphic’s , very funky, very cool and very geeky kick-ass campus . Its a shame, Google did not keep the funky colours, IMHO it would fit right in with their personality! ...

I have been using Feedreader for a bit, and though it is decent, lately it takes an awful long time to load including 100% CPU usage and the load time is measured in minutes and not seconds - its that bad. So, the question is, what readers do you use and recommend? I do have the online ones like Bloglines , but I prefer the ones where I can download and read it offline - as opposed to being online. Any hidden gems you can recommend? ...

Does anyone know if Xbox games are protected by region just as DVD’s are? E.g. I bought my XBox in USA, and if I buy a game here in London, would that work in the XBOX or it won’t? I forget, but someone was mentioning to me the other day that it wont. Any ideas?

I am not a big gamer - I hardly ever play a game, the only one I have finished (without any cheat codes) is Halo and I loved it! After, reading the CNN review on Halo2, I cannot wait for all my stuff to reach here from California and then go and buy this. Have any of you played this? What do you think? Is there someone in London who I can come and meet and see what this looks like? ...

Well as you can tell, I thought of trying out the new skin called Luxinterior Light , earlier I had Luxinterior Dark running. It seems with the days quite dark (and grey) here in London and with darkness coming around 4:30ish in the afternoon, it was perfect time to add some “cheer”. This one though now seems too cheerful to me *grin*. Do you prefer anyone or even care? Does anyone even come here and sit and read all my gibberish…. ? ...

NY Times is running a story that highlights on how more companies are using Blogging for hiring employees. Five years ago, few people had heard of blogs, now, more than two million Americans are blogging, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and blogging is spreading in the job market, said hiring managers and experts who study blogging. Job seekers use blogs to establish a strong online presence, display their skills and advertise their availability. For many just out of college, the blog is an essential networking tool because it is common for bloggers to link back and forth to others with recent posts. Corporate recruiters, in turn, use blogs to draw in qualified candidates, and they search for potential hires by reading bloggers who write about topics relevant to a particular industry. A driving factor behind job market blogging is the search engine Google, said Elizabeth Lawley, associate professor of information technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. “If you are thinking of interviewing someone, it’s almost standard now to Google them online and see what you find,” Ms. Lawley said. “If that person has a blog, it’s usually the first thing that comes up.” ...

Karan has a very interesting post on the Paris Catacombs which was inspired by a story in the Guardian which stated the French police finding a real underground full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment, and tapes of a wide variety of films, including 1950s film noir classics and more recent thrillers. A smaller cave next door had been turned into an informal restaurant and bar. “There were bottles of whisky and other spirits behind a bar, tables and chairs, a pressure-cooker for making couscous” the police said. The whole thing was running off professionally installed electric and phone systems. Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by experts from the French electricity board to see where the power was coming from, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor saying : “Do not try to find us.” ...

Microsoft has a common sense article that is aimed for most non-technical users on how to help them stop spam. If you already get lots of spam they discuss here how to fight it. The crux of the matter is disclosing your email address. Some spammers get address lists from Web sites where you may have signed up for free offers, ordered something online, or entered a contest. They can also get your address from Internet white pages listings, newsgroups, resumé postings, and chat rooms. Follow these tips whenever you can: ...

This is one of those typical lessons learned when you get too dependend on technology blindly and then you fall flat on your face. Well in my case I have been using Yodlee for about 4+ years now when I was working on a project for etrade.com. If you don’t know what yodlee is, then check out www.yodlee.com - they are actually pretty cool. Yodlee, provides an account aggregration service. So I logon to one place and that gets my financial information in one snapshot from all over - my account details from my banks, credit cards, 401K, utilities, etc. I know my bank (Wellsfargo) also uses this. ...