Well, 24 hours of flickr is one of a global flickr community in which the members of flickr including me would share the world with our photographs taken on 05.05.2007.

This 24 thing is about a day long project of taking photographs on 5th may. You can take as much photos as possible on and within stated day i.e. on 5^th may. The next step is about sorting the best photographs of yours and uploading it to this flickr group. Once you finish uploading your best shots, the flickr team will select the best among them and it will be featured at Flickr events. The best shots are also selected for publication in the 24 Hours of Flickr commemorative book and/or displayed at a Flickr-sponsored event this summer.

So I should probably be making up my camera ready this Saturday for the shot treat. Let me try my skill in photography although I am not a professional photographer but jus trying to put my inner piece in it.

Anyways I am IN, what about you? Are you ready? Ok then go ahead and join the Flickr 24 hours of flickr.

*This photo contest is open only for Flickr members.

The usage of internet is evolving greatly with people switching to latest technological advancements like broadband, ADSL, Wi-Fi etc. But there are some exceptional who still use the Dial-up connection via modem or GRPS. One of a good folk from ThinkDigit forum has found a trick for GRPS Internet users.

Basically GPRS dial-up connections are mostly used by mobile personals, whereas this trick does not apply for them but for those who temporarily use GRPS dial-up internet in their home. By increasing the Signal Reception in your mobile, you can optimize the internet speed gradually.

Here is a concise info about the trick:

All u need is:
- A lengthy old Antenna for TV or Radio (2 Antenna of abt 1Meter is Recommended)
- A Standard Speaker Wire of about 1 Meter (Transperant with red lines)
- A Spring of 5 to 10 mm
- Two Mousqito Coil Stands
- Blade
- Tape
- Scissor
- A Small Cardboard Box to fix the Antenna (CPU box Size is Ideal)
- A Metal Stip of ur Mobile Phone size.

After gathering all these stuff follow the procedure listed here.
Source: ThinkDigit Forum.

There’s been some rumor spreading among Microsoft fan sites regarding the launch of final version of Windows Live Hotmail (formerly Livemail) that is currently being rolled out to all live mail users in the version of milestone 10.

The current M10 has the following updates like change in branding from windows live mail to hotmail, including faster performance with enhanced spell checker, enhanced checkboxes, safety bars etc. By the time you are reading this post I hope you are get upgraded by this new branding if not wait a bit and you will surely.

But today Liveside reports that we need to set again for another expectation for the brand launch of final version of Windows Live Hotmail which will happen in the early weeks of April. I expect the new launch hopes to give even more cool features that are not currently in beta m10. Also Windows live hotmail plus members should be proud about their whopping 4 GB storage space increase.

Currently I think Windows live hotmail allows to send and receive mails from other email accounts like in gmail which seem to be a new feature for me or maybe that I am not updated.

To send mail from different email address:

• In the upper-right corner of the Windows Live Hotmail home page, click Options, and then click More options.
• Under Manage your account, click Send and receive mail from other e-mail accounts.
• Click Add an address to send mail from.

To add a pop 3 account in Windows live mail:

• In the upper-right corner of the Windows Live Hotmail home page, click Options, and then click More options.
• Under Manage your account, click Send and receive mail from other e-mail accounts.
• Click Add a POP3 account. Enter the settings for the POP3 account, and then click Save.

Overview:
A peer-to-peer (or P2P) relies on the computing power in which clients provide the resources, including bandwidth, storage space and so the file transfer speed would probably be higher. Although there is no single server involved in this protocol but factors like denial of data transfer speed due to increased rate of users downloading the same file from the source is possible.

To overcome this problem, one research team found a technique called SET (Similarity-Enhanced Transfer) that claims to speed up P2P downloads by anywhere from 30 to 70 percent by increasing the potential sources of files being downloaded.

How SET Works?

Their idea is simply superb and embedded in their tag itself! Yeah I am talking about “SIMILARITY”. Actually what similarity has to do with boosting up the transfer speed? My answer is that it has many. Consider this example that while you are searching for music data in p2p you come across many sources of the same file. So we had the option to download from the list of sources available.

When you compare the sources, the data you want to download is absolutely similar but only thing that differs is their tags, titles or sometimes the versions. By identifying the identical data, SET searches for similar files by “handprinting,” method that is similar to the pattern matching techniques which after identifying are scanned for any individual chunks that are identical to pieces of the file being downloaded.

After identifying them, SET expands the available sources of any given file. By this process “SET helps us to download a 30MB movie trailer in only a third of the time whereas the rate of an MP3 download is increased by 70 percent” says Arstechnica.

Future Applications:

Seem like all Future peer 2 peer will implement this technique in their system. You can know more about how this system works by visiting here.

When you compare sites like HI5, Bebo, LinkedIn, Friendster with Orkut the main bit Orkut lacking was a Custom URL for your profile page.

                                  A Custom URL is a small and easy to remember web URL by which one can access a profile page in a site. Basically one cannot remember the long URL provided by Orkut for your profile, so instead its easy to create a custom url which re-directs to the URL provided by Orkut.

Creating a Custom Url in Google Pages (Free):

• Login to Google Page Creator with Your Google accounts username and password
• Either create a new site or choose the Create Another site from the drop down box available at the top right corner of the page
• The next step is about choosing an address which is going to be the URL of your Orkut profile, so enter the profile name you want for your url basically it should be like this http://yourdesiredname.googlepages.com which will re-direct you to the Orkut profile.
• Say for example you want to use “XXXX” as your profile url then you should enter xxxx in the box provided for choosing an address and click Check Availability to see if the entered name is available or not.
• Select any layout and a starting look because because it has nothing to do with your url.
• Making sure you have entered the desired URL and check if its available or not, then click the Create Site Button.
• Now you have successfully created a site, click the [no title] link in the page name column to make it open.
• There you go, you are ready to edit the page where Google pages allows you to add title and other bla bla things. But you don’t have to touch them just click the [edit html] link at bottom right corner of the page.
• Type the following javascript code in any part of the blank page.

<script>
window.location = “your link here”;
</script>

• Replace your link here with your orkut profile url which will basically look like this http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=8454709067165079466
• You can find your profile url by login into Orkut and clicking the Profile link in your homepage, then copy the profile link which appears in the address bar.
• After making changes in the javascript code click the Save Changes button
• Now click Publish button to publish your webpage. Cool you are ready to launch your custom url.
• Just navigate to your address bar and type http://xxx.googlepages.com (example) and click ok ……..zooooooooooooo you will be re-directed to your orkut profile page.

Advantages of using this technique:

• You can easily share your profile URL with your friends, family or post this URL in your weblog or website.
• Now they no longer need to remember those long URL to add you as friend.

Also you can create a custom url in your domain name (if you own a domain address) by using the .htaccess technique. You can also use re-direction service sites like SnipUrl, Co.nr, shorturls.co.uk and other sites but it depends on own risk whereas by using this technique you have a google domain url.

Please comment if you have any queries and help related to this technique. Your suggestions are most expected.

Thanks Haochi for the JavaScript code.

You all might be aware about BSNL announcing the 2 Mbps upgrade in my recent post and now one of our blog reader pointed out the new revised tariff w.e.f 1st january 2006. For all those who believed that its a hoax, here is my surprise treat.

The following are the revised plan for BSNL Dataone broadband customers:

And for the Business Plans:

Unlimited Home 900 customers doesn’t have this up gradation of bandwidth. So there will be another revised plani for 900 plan customers. This new year i am expecting valuable comments from BSNL Customers on their experience, speed etc trying the bandwidth speed.

The great news for all the BSNL BroadBand Customers is that its going to offer high speed internet broadband connectivity to its subscribers. According to The Hindu Report, BSNL Telecom Service which is offering a maximum of 256 kbps internet connectivity to its subscribers will offer upto 2mbps connectivity.

Mr.Maran has announced this at the India Telecom 2006 conference. The main bit is that BSNL would offer high speed broadband at the existing price.

Transforming the telecom connectivity into a network to provide seamless access between the knowledge creators/converters and knowledge consumers.
 - A. P. J Abdul Kalam at India Telecom 2006 Conference.

I personally feel that this great upgrade is silently impacting the Vision 2020 of India. Maybe people who are using 256kbps connection already enjoyed downloading movies, games and other stuffs although they have some download limit but using the no count timings.

This upgrade will surely influence other Internet Service providers in India and hurray i think my service provider will do something to compete BSNL. But recently a French telecom and internet service provider decided to provide 2GB per second connectivity to all its customers.

Anyways this was just a great news for users like us,now the chance of exploring Internet has widenup and surely webmasters like me love to see traffic in our site.

Thinkglish Beta is a free English learning and improving site that is designed for everyone without any age difference. This site helps you to learn a perfect English and improve your verbal communication skills, as well as your listening comprehension.

They provide interactive sessions,preparing interviews, presentations or if you simply want to have a conversation, you can by thier One-on-One training sessions.

The basic account is free and anyone can register whereas if you feel and satisfied with their guidance and coaching you can then order for premium accounts which adds additional practice sessions.

Speaking English fluently has become essential in today’s global
community. At Thinkglish! you’ll find the best learning content
available. Our mission is to accelerate your English faster than ever
before. We want everyone to start talking. Access our interactive
sessions for FREE and communicate your ideas globally.-  Thinkglish

I improve my English by blogging and let me try this site… For registering a free account in Thinkglish click here. [via cypherhackz]

I have been using Internet and Computers from 2000 and have experienced the efficiency of all the Anti-virus softwares like Mc Affee, Norton, Pc-illian, AVG etc but not even satisfied with any one of them because they occupy huge space and need more resources that an AV shouldn’t use. Another great dis-advantage is that they are not that effective, first they are corrupted by Virus and then they allow Virus to corrupt our system. funny huh ..

After using AVAST Anti-virus for the past 3 years i have experienced not even a single problem becoz AVAST Anti-Virus uses very less resource and works effectively. But it was two days before my system totally got messed-up and i had no other way then to format my entire drive so i proceeded to do that so. After re-installing all the softwares i once again thought of installing the Avast AV but my friend Srinivasan recommended me to try Kaspersky Internet Security, so on taking his recommendation i installed the Kaspersky to my surprise i have never experienced such a good anti-virus software in my life. This AV is built with all the features a system requires and the main bit is that it uses very very less resource of ram.

You can download Kaspersky Internet Security :

I recommend the following Anti-Virus for your OS.
Only Anti-Virus:
If you prefer to use only anti-virus software and already have another firewall installed for your internet security then download Kaspersky Internet Security and while installing select only the Anti-virus to install.

Only Firewall:
If you prefer to use only Firewall then download the Mcafee Desktop Firewall which doesn’t even needs a 10 mb of ram. It works like a gate system and has no extra features.

Both Anti-Virus and Firewall:
Well the ultimate answer from me is simply install the complete Kaspersky Internet Security.

Wonder your mail contains Sensitive or Confidential materials or Phonographic which you intend to send one of your friend but unfortunately you misspell the email address and it was sent to someone whom you don’t know! Just think about the sequences or how bad the user might have felt or hurt reading your mail but mistakes or mistakes. What if the user takes a legal action against you ? So although its recommended to be safe while sending email, i strongly recommend you to add email disclaimers for your outgoing emails.

What is Disclaimer ?
It is a statement that states that entity is not responsible for something in some manner. There are many types of Disclaimers. E-mail Disclaimers alerts the readers to risks involved. These disclaimers are appended to email either as signature or attachment. I cannot assure you that email disclaimers will protect against actual libelous but it will certainly help you in some situations from liability.

Example of a standard email disclaimer which i use

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. Sankar Anand or Gmail™ of Google® accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email.

Adding Disclaimers as Signature in your mail:
Gmail or Googlemail:
*Click Settings.
*Enter your new signature text in the box at the bottom of the page next to the Signature option. As you type, the radio button will shift from No Signature to the text box.
*Click Save Changes.

Yahoo Mail :
* Select Mail Options from the Yahoo! Mail navigation bar
* Follow the Signature link (under Personalization).
* Enter the desired signature in the text field.
* Click Save.
Other Mail Service users can contact their local mail providers for instruction on adding signature to their outgoing mails.

You can get more samples of email disclaimers here.