March, 2009

Making Desktop icons unclickable!

April Fool Prank, with the help of Computer – Just for fun

Step 1: Goto Desktop. Press Ptr Scr [Print Screen] button. This key is usually present after the F12 key or above the Insert or Home or Page Up keys. Now right click on the desktop and goto “Arrange Icons By” and then uncheck “Show Desktop Icons“.
hide-Desktop
Step 2: Now goto ms-paint application or any other paint applications. Click on Edit menu, and click on Paste option. Now save the file in some folder.

Step 3: Now again right click on the desktop and select “Properties“. Select Desktop tab. Now click on browse button and select the image saved, in step 2. Click on Apply and Ok.

That’s it. Now when your friend tries to click on the icons on the desktop, he will not be able to do that, as those icons are images and not the actual icons!

Remember, people who do not know much about computers may get stuck with this trick, but do not irritate them for long time, as they may try to fix the problem and create a new one which even you can not detect and fix 🙂

Be responsible while making fool of some one else. Try to make it just for small fun and do not make it to hurt someone’s feelings. Have a great, fun filled April(2009).

CSS(style.css) not loading in FireFox – Try this

If you are using FireFox, some times you may find that some of the websites does not seem to be using any style sheet(CSS) or the styling seem to be dropping!, while it was looking good when you previously visited.
The possible reason may be, your browser already has cached the style sheet and loads the same cached css, when you try to access the same website each time. And if the cached style sheet classes gets altered then it won’t be working in normal way and hence the dropping and cluttered look of the website(in your browser).
But the same website seem to be working perfectly when you access it using some other browser. And all your twitter followers also say that the .css is loading perfectly at their end.

Then its almost clear that the problem is from your end. Some people prefer not to delete cache, history and cookies from their browser, for various reasons.
In such a case, open the website which is looking cluttered and make use of these keys [Shift+R] or Shift + your browsers refresh button. This will reload all the elements of the website and will discard all the previously cached files in your local computer.
Remember, with this method you need to visit each website(which is not showing properly at your end – .css problem) and then press the shift+refresh button individually.

You can use ctrl + F5 to clear even the browser cache.

If you are ready to delete all the cache, history and cookies then you can simply goto Tools menu –> Options –> Privacy –> click on clear now button, now select cache and then hit on clear Private Data now button. This should solve the problem.
Other things to try, if the above tips doesn’t work.
1. Try to reinstall the browser software.
2. Upgrade the software.
3. Check for any other 3rd party plugin’s which may be conflicting with the .css file.
4. See the browser settings and set it to default settings, when nothing else works.
5. At last, if nothing works, report it to the FireFox team.

And make sure, you also comment below this article 🙂

Text Completion Feature in Dos and Unix

There are some features in Unix that are very powerful, especially the commands. I am very much interested in these commands and today want to share one such general command which may be of use many times, and not just for geeks!. We have also included the corresponding DOS command, as our analytics stats show that most of our readers are yet using windows!

Text Completion Feature ?
Text completion is a feature built into some Unix shells that allows you to type part of a filename or directory name and press a key to fill out the rest.

DOS:- Text Completion Feature
In DOS we make use of tab button.
Ex:-

c:\>cd Doc[tab]

this will automatically take the full folder name as

c:\>cd “Documents and Settings”

[Test this–> C:\>cd Doc (now press the tab button)].

If you have multiple files in the same folder, whose name starts with “D”, then you can navigate between them by pressing tab key multiple times.
cmd-text-completion-feature-UNIX-DOS
Many times we struggle to type the correct folder name and most of the times(when names are too long) end up typing wrongly. This can be avoided by knowing these simple yet powerful commands. Powerful because, we can use this feature with other commands to get some amazing results.

Unix:- Text Completion Feature

When you are in the command mode:-
Ex:-

$ar [tab]

In the above example, if a directory contains 4 folders or sub-directories by name 1. archive 2. archana 3. Sagar 4. archimedes, then you have to press the tab key two times, to get the list of all the sub-folders whose name starts with ar.

$ archive/ archana/ archimedes/

If there is only one sub-folder whose name starts with ar, then when you press the tab key once, the remaining letters of the word appears automatically.

In vi Editor:
When you are typing something in the vi editor, you can make use of this text completion feature. When you press [ctrl-p] after typing one or two letters, the text will auto complete. To autocomplete, Unix shell will look into the previously typed text in the same file and then fill the word accordingly. If there are more than one word which starts with the same letter(in the same file), then you can navigate between these words by using [Ctrl-n] option.

Some UNIX flavor does not support “Text-Completion-Feature”, and sh shall also does not support this feature. And some UNIX flavor may support this feature, but may have different keys to use.

Share your tips, tricks and hacks about commands in below comment section. By sharing our knowledge, we endup learning more..

Brand New Tata Nano — People’s CAR

We are very much excited about the launch of this small car, which is called as “People’s Car” because of its affordable price.
We are not Car experts to write a good review about Tata Nano, but we proudly present some photos and videos of Tata Nano.
Heard in News that, Tata had lost almost 75% in stock market previously(not sure why!). And now Tata is believed to be depending on this small car for much of its future. Its kind of weired to know this, as Tata Motors was/is famous for Big vehicles and it now relies on this small car.
Anyway, I wish Tata Motors and Ratan Tata a great success with this new innovative model.

Tata Group – Keeping pace with the world:

We are sure that other car manufacturers will be standing on their toes to launch similar cost effective cars, but will surly wait and see for the fate of Tata Nano. Best of luck to all guys..
Tata-Nano

Source: tatamotors.com

I am not sure about the copyrights of these images. Please inform us, if anyone is aware of it. Hope sharing these photos are legal, as we are using it to promote Tata Nano. We are proud of the innovative product. We are ready to take this post off from here, if there are any serious problems caused by this!
Hope you all enjoyed..now please share your views and thoughts about Tata Nano in the comment section.

Photo or Gravatar next to comments on WP

For people who comment on other blogs:-
Its a simple thing for some advance internet users, but I am sure that most of the people are not yet sure about how to get a pic or gravatar next to their comments on some WordPress(which allows showing gravatar ofcourse!) blogs.

Here is the simplest way, which will take just 2 or 3 minutes(depending on your internet connection speed 🙂 ).

Goto Gravatar.com(acquired by automattic), Click on SignUp.
You will just need a valid email ID, as you will receive a confirmation email including a link that will activate your account and allow you to set your password. After activating your account, login and goto “Add an Image“, now you will be presented with some options to upload a photo to your account. Upload an image that you want to show beside your comment. People who want to create their brand awareness, will use their website logo. And some others who want to show their photo beside the comment can upload their photo.
You can even use the same account(therefore the same images) to multiple email IDs. Just click on “Add an Email Address” link and you can add another email ID.
Now while commenting on blogs which show gravatar next to the comments, use the email ID that you used to signup with Gravatar.com. You can use any of the email ID’s that you have added to your Gravatar.com account, this will automatically show your uploaded image beside your comments. WordPress will automatically retrieve the photo and show it on the blog.

For blog owners:-
If your theme does not have gravatar enabled by default, then here is a simple trick using which you can integrate it. Add below code in comment.php file

<?php if(function_exists('get_avatar')) { echo get_avatar($comment, '50'); } ?>

to show the gravatar wherever you want to show them. You can use styling by adding some css class.

Plugin for blog owners:-
If you don’t want to go through the hurdle, just use WP-Gravatar plugin upload and activate it and you will be ready with the gravatar enabled comment section instantly 🙂

There are many other services and methods to show gravatar, but this one is the best and the widely used one.
Please share your knowledge in the comment section. Do you know any tips, tricks, hacks or anything regarding gravatar ?

Simple and effective way to get VOTES for your article: Web Traffic

We have seen many people struggling to get Diggs, Stumbles (or votes in general ), all over the web!
Most of the time its frustrating for both the parties, the one who asks for vote and the one who is been asked to vote. If you start asking for vote continuously 100 times on twitter, then I guess everyone will unfollow you. And if you try in IM quite frequently, then chances are you will be blocked by your friends.

And one more important thing which I have observed is, if you start asking for diggs or stumbles directly on your blog(giving some incentives or otherwise), and if you start getting lot of diggs or stumbles from that page, then there is a high possibility that your blog URL will be blocked by those services.

So the best way to get more votes with less effort is: Make use of RSS Signature plugin. And politely ask for a Digg or stumble.

Why is this effective?
If people have subscribed to your blog, it is most likely that they get some value out of it and they will be more generous to vote for you when compared to search engine visitors or random visitors.
And it does not take a lot of their time. Just click the link and then hit the thumbs up or digg button. But take care that, you ask votes for only those stories which deserves their time and that one click. And ask only when it is needed. Do not always have a message to vote for some story. This will surly make readers blind to that particular message. To avoid this, ask for the votes only when there is a high quality article and which is already getting good response from your readers.

Do you think it works?
Yes. And this works best with Stumbleupon, than with DIGG. If you have 1000 subscribers out of which 100 to 200 people have stumbleupon account and if 30 to 60 people like the article and hit the thumbs up button, then the story will become popular in stumble and many more other stumbleupon users will be presented with the same story. And there is more chances that they will also like it, as almost 30 to 60 people have already liked it, so I guess it would be a good article. So you may get even more thumbs up. Making the story even popular.

Using this technique may help with Digg stories, if you have more followers who are active in Digg.

Why will this footer message work?
If we have the same message in the article, then also it will be read by our regular readers, then whats the need of RSS signature message — This is a good point.
But to get votes of most of the regular readers you need to make the message more clear and personal. Make it clear to the subscribers that you are asking for votes only with subscribers. Make the message as personal as possible and you will get more votes.
If you ask for votes generally in the article, then chances are that it will generally be neglected.

One Silly commonsense tip 🙂
After activating the plugin and composing a good personalized message, just don’t sit and expect hell lot of votes. Instead write an article, so that it gets delivered to their inbox or RSS reader. So that they open your article there and notice your vote request 🙂

Do you think this technique is simple and effective to get votes from your regular readers? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

Interview with InfoLinks — InText Advertising Service

Infolinks, Inc. established in 2007, is a leading provider of In-Text Advertising services, working with online content publishers worldwide.
Mission
Infolinks enables website owners and publishers to benefit from In-Text advertising directly while earning the highest revenue share.

Infolinks, Inc. established in 2007, is a leading provider of In-Text Advertising services, working with online content publishers worldwide.

Infolinks mission and vision as mentioned on their website:

Mission
Infolinks enables website owners and publishers to benefit from In-Text advertising directly while earning the highest revenue share.

Vision
Infolinks will integrate In-Text advertisements into a growing number of websites, bridging the gap between online publishers and advertisers and bringing premium, relevant content to Internet visitors worldwide.

There is a long going debate in the internet about the usage of InText advertising. Today we have the industries leading Company in our interview and it has provided very good results to many publishers who we know personally. So here is the interview..if you have any questions regarding InfoLinks, you can ask in the comment section.

Interview with Infolinks

1. Please introduce yourself and about InfoLinks to our readers.

A: Infolinks presents the next generation of In-Text Advertising. In-Text advertising inserts text link advertisements within the content of your website, usually in the form of double-underline hyperlinks. Upon a hover of the mouse, a floating informational bubble opens with content from an advertiser. If clicked, the visitor is directed to the advertiser’s landing page and you earn advertising revenue; otherwise, when the mouse is moved away from the hyperlink, the bubble disappears. Each time your website visitors click on an Infolinks In-Text ad, you get paid!

2. How are you different from your competitors? And what do you do to standout of the crowd?

A: Infolinks leads the industry with the most relevant in-text advertising links, record high conversion rates, and the highest revenues. We are so confident that Infolinks will generate high revenues, that we actually guarantee the industry’s highest revenue share in your contract.
In addition, we welcome all legitimate websites – big and small – to experience the next generation of In-Text advertising. Unlike other in-text providers, joining Infolinks involves no sign up fees, hidden commitments or qualification minimums.
Finally, rather than paying only for clicks that are based in a limited number of countries, Infolinks will monetize all of your website’s traffic, including international.

3. Is InfoLinks affected by the “First mover advantage theory”. As I see that there were some other In-Text advertising networks already existing before InfoLink?

A: The “first mover advantage theory” has been disproved many times in several different IT fields . Since Infolinks joined the In-Text advertising market, we have proven again and again that our In-Text ads are superior and yield higher revenues than our competitors. If you look it up on any major search engine you will find that there are many articles and testimonials to support it. Infolinks provides the next generation of In-Text ads – our vast community of publishers and advertisers that is expanding everyday is the ultimate proof for that.

4. Did you ever got any complaint about “principles of web usability” due to Intext advertising? How do you defend it?

A: In-Text ads will enhance your published content with user triggered, less intrusive advertising that won’t distract from your site’s content. Every day, new publishers are discovering the benefits of generating an additional stream of revenues without taking up any real estate on their website. In fact, our in-text ads contribute to the experience of the viewer by linking the content to ads related to the text they are reading.

5. “I want to show InfoLinks ads only to my search engine traffic and not to my regular visitors”. How can I do this ?

A: Yes, of course you can, the Infolinks 1-minute integration is very easy, and then you can present it to search engine traffic only, just as you would do so to any other type of content.

6. What measures do you take to make the ads relevant to the content?

A: The Infolinks proprietary algorithm scans your pages and highlights words that will generate the highest possible revenues for you. The algorithm gives priority to words with ads that are related to your site’s category. You can set a general category for your account or even define specific categories for every page. If the algorithm can find valuable words in the text that are related to the category you chose – these words will be highlighted as In-text ads.

7. You claim to be the Industry’s best revenue sharing company. How much percentage do you actually share with your publishers? Do you pay for clicks from all around the world or are you targeting and paying for only specific country traffic clicks?

A: Infolinks leads the industry with the highest revenue share in the market. We are so confident that Infolinks will generate high revenues, that we actually guarantee the industry’s highest revenue share in your contract. The exact revenue share is set according to the sites characteristics and traffic data. Infolinks monetizes all of your traffic – Rather than paying only for clicks that are based in a limited number of countries, Infolinks will monetize all of your website’s traffic, including international.

9. We are very much curious about all the guys behind InfoLinks.com, and we want to have a look at your office. If you have any video and photographs(of your employees and office) then please share it with our readers.

InfoLinks-employees

10. How do you define success?

We aim to build a long and lasting successful partnership with each and every one of our publishers; A partnership that is based on trust and mutual benefits from In-text ads.
Our success is providing our publishers with high revenues along side with a great service, turning their success into our success.

11. What are the mistakes you see your publishers and advertisers are making, in using InfoLinks service properly?

A: The best advice we can give to our publishers is to take advantage of their customization options. Publishers can maximize their revenues by customizing Infolinks especially for their websites. Inside the publisher center, each publisher can control the look and feel of the links, including colors, number of links per page, and form of underlining.
Publishers should also be sure to integrate Infolinks onto the most content rich pages of their websites. The more text a page contains, the more opportunities there are for linking text to revenue.

12. Your advice for all those who are not yet using InfoLinks on their blog and are looking for a good Intext adnetwork.

A: We welcome any legitimate website with textual content to monetize text with Infolinks In-Text ads. With have no sign up fees or hidden commitments, come take advantage of the industry’s highest revenues for in-text ads. Just fill out our short online application and complete an effortless integration process to start linking your text to revenues now!

13. Please tell something, that you would like all your advertisers/publishers/ and others to know about InfoLinks.com

A: Infolinks is the highest paying in-text provider and can be a good source of revenues to every website. If you have a blog or website, it takes 1 minute and no commitments to start getting paid – so why not give it a try?

If you want to use InText advertising on your website, then why to use something then the industries leading InText advertisement provider. No minimum requirement needed. It just requires your website to be legitimate. You can fill the application to start using InfoLinks. Please share your thoughts in the comments section.