Definition link is back on Google search

The definition link that google has earlier removed from the search results has now been restored!
So no need to type in the "define:" keyword to lookup dictionary meanings.

Update 9/7/2010: Just a day after bringing the feature back, Google has again taken the definition link down.
Whats happening? Is it testing?

Update 13/7/2010: Ok. A revamped dictionary is now displayed for word searches on Google.
Infact this is even better than the original definition link. The meaning is provided along with search results. Just hope this one stays.

Attachment alert in Gmail

Gmail has a useful feature to alert if you have missed a attachment you meant to.
This works if there are phrased like "please find attached","see attachment", but does not work if you write "Attached herewith" or simply "Attached". May be these can be added.

How to Silence an incoming call in Samsung GURU E1080 mobile?

Samsung GURU cellphones do have an option to silence an incoming call in normal profile, just like how nokia provides a 'Silence' option on screen. However, this text 'silence' is not visible in samsung guru screen and is also not documented.

To silence an incoming call just press the Down arrow key on navigation button for 2 seconds.
Next time when a call is received, the phone will ring with original volume.
You can also consecutively press the down arrow button to reduce the ringer volume of incoming call.

Unable to minimize windows remote desktop connection?

If you are stuck in a situation where you are unable to bring up the yellow bar at the top the remote desktop connection/server (MSTSC), to minimize and go back to the source machine, there are 2 solutions.
One is to log off the connection. But you will lose all session info.
The other is to hover the mouse at the top most part of the screen where the yellow bar usually appears and then middle click.This brings the yellow bar back.
Works in Windows XP/2003 servers.

Windows 7 Beta 1 Screenshot

Here's a preview of what windows 7 will look like..
Screen shots from Windows 7 Beta 1(build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400)

Microsoft link for Windows 7. Download is not active yet

Trouble installing Google chrome?

I faced a minor problem when installing Google chrome - even without any firewall running but connected to internet.Google installer failed, throwing the error no 0x80072efd- which means GoogleUpdate.exe could not connect to internet.

The solution, at least in my case, is to manually start zonealarm and then grant permission to googleupdate.exe when installing. (Earlier,I had disabled firewall from starting automatically on system startup). Without firewall, Google chrome should have installed easily,but seems to work only after firewall is started.Uh!

Motorola W270 / W230 Explained

People seem to have a hard time figuring out how to add music to their W270 phone - its not that tough.Also, this phone does not have that many bugs/issues as one might think when initially using it. For those switching over from Nokia to Motorola, one has to learn some new ways to do the tasks.

Q. I cant find the driver for Motorola W270, Not able to add music to W270.
A. A driver is not really required if all you want to do is add mp3 music files & pics.
Open the flap & connect the cable to PC. To the question on mobile screen 'Connect as storage device?' click yes. Now the phone will be connected in storage mode & will show up in windows explorer as a removable drive - just like any other usb flash drive. Mp3 files can be added to the Music folder in the phone drive & pics to the Photos folder. After you are done use 'safely remove hardware'. This should work for W230 too.

Q. I am able to play only one song even with shuffle & 'auto repeat all' selected. How to continuously play all songs in play list.
A. If a song is selected directly only that song is played. If all songs in a play list are to be played, hit play on Music Library -> All songs

Q. How to silence the phone when the phone rings for incoming call without cutting the call?
A. This ones a little tricky. Press Up/down button on phone's side to silence the mobile.

In addition to volume adjustment,upon pressing continuously the side buttons can perform the additional function of jumping to Previous/Next song.

Q. Where is 'Reminder' / Is there 'Reminder' function at all!?
A. Yes it is there - neatly hidden! Extras -> Calendar -> Select date -> New -> Title

Q. Isn't there missed calls view?
A. Missed & received calls are both shown combined in the received calls view - the received calls marked by the adjacent tick mark & the missed calls by the absence of the tick.

Reduce MP3 file size for use with mp3 players like ipod

If you need to fit more songs in to your ipod or creative zen or whatever mp3 player, mp3 file size can be reduced by reducing the bitrate of the song. After all what is the use of large > 10 MB song files encoded at 320 Kbps CBR that you are going to listen only in portable mp3 players that too at noisy places? In these players it is hard top make out much difference between 128 Kbps & 320 Kbps file.

By converting your existing mp3's to a lower bitrate - which is re-encoding additional sngs can be added. While there are a lot of free mp3 bitrate reducing softwares available on internet most make you suspicious about spyware/malware.

A good option is WINLAME which is a open source project & its free too.
Simply select the input file, select target bitrate & convert!

Download Firefox 3 Beta 3

Firefox 3 beta 3 is out for download!
Get it here

Firefox 3.0 Beta 3

Looks like Firefox 3.0 beta 3 is ready to release on Monday.

To know for sure whether beta 3 is available for downloading check the Fiefox 3.0 beta 3 download page.

Cable cut & Low internet speeds

With the under sea cable cut leaving internet users in the affected region with very low speeds, would ISP's take up responsibility & slash the customer's bill?

How to transfer files using bittorrent

If you need to transfer large files to just one person, it is possible with bittorrent.It involves few steps though - the most important being that the file sharer's computer acts as the tracker.

Poromenos has a nice short tutorial for this in flash.
http://www.poromenos.org/tutorials/bittorrent

File transfer using bittorrent is quite easy after all!

Artificial Life - in 3 - 10 years

Do we want it ?
Scary stuff!!

List of Nokia Phones affected by BL-5C battery recall

To know the nokia phone model numbers that use BL-5C as the battery, check at Nokia's website here.

You can also check if the product identification number of the battery qualifies for replacement at that page.

Copy text in Windows just like in Linux

I had been searching for a software that would bring the copy style of Linux to windows - which is - any selected text gets copied to clipboard automatically without having to click another time to copy.Similarly, paste is just a click on middle button.

While I haven't found a software that has this functionality throughout windows, there is a software - a firefox add-on actually called 'Auto Copy'- that does it.

Another add-on that goes along with it is 'Copy Plain Text', that removes the formatting data that also gets copied usually when you copy something - the things like Font design,colour,font size & other annoyances. So no more using notepad to get the plain text!

When Google changes its indexing method

...Traffic drops! - for popular sites. But yes,other sites would have been promoted to the top result post & would have got a boost.

But sites depending on google's traffic for existence should be ready to be taken off guard with their index method change anytime!!

Wired article

Windows Vista books are out already!

Soon after Microsoft's Vista was unveiled officially on Jan 30,a deluge of books are out in market ranging from introduction to Vista for beginners to more advanced books for programmers.

Some of them are published by Microsoft Press too.

Just note that some of the books are based on the beta version of vista released earlier.

Which is the best vista book out of these? It'll take time to find that out.

VLC Media player 0.8.6 released

The videolan people have released the latest version 0.8.6 of the popular VLC media player after over 7 months of development.

This cool cross-platform media player and streaming server is available for download here. (Probably the only format it doesn't play is Real video.)

Complete features list here.
As for support,their forums are quite helpful.


The future 0.9.0 version of the VLC player, currently under development is available from the nightlies section.


Full list of changes (from VLC)

Changes between 0.8.5 and 0.8.6
--------------------------------

Playlist:
* Shoutcast TV listings support

Input:
* Support for RTSP authentication
* Support for adding subtitles on the fly
* Fixed MPEG-PS duration calculation
* ATSC support for DVB input
* Partial reading support for DVR-ms recordings
* Partial reading support for MXF and GXF fileformat
* Improved support for Flash Video files

Decoders:
* Native WMV9/VC-1 support
* WMA Speech support (through binary codecs)
* VP5/VP6 - Flash Video support
* The True Audio Lossless codec support
* WavPack support
* Improved H.264 support (interlaced, speed improvements etc)
* Fixed a problem with MPEG2 field pictures
* Fixed swapped colors on DVB subtitles

Video output:
* Additional OpenGL effects (cylinder, torus, sphere, ...)
* Experimental Direct3D 9 video output (win32). Best served on Vista :)
* Improved libcaca support

Interfaces:
* All
* New hotkeys for crop and zoom
* Support for snapshots from the HTTP interface
* Windows
* Systray support in skins
* OS X
* Support for Apple Remote control
* Fullscreen controller panel (artwork by Simon Damkjær Andersen)
* New playmode buttons (artwork by Simon Damkjær Andersen)
* right/ctrl-click menu in video outputs
* Main Menu uses autohide when playing videos in fullscreen mode
* Linux
* Notifications using notification-daemon

Windows port:
* Support for Unicode filenames (Windows NT and above)
Windows 9x/ME users:
- Please note that these versions of Windows are not officially supported
- Unicode support for Windows 9x/ME applications is available through the
Microsoft Layer for Unicode available from the following location:
http://www.microsoft.com.nsatc.net/globaldev/handson/dev/mslu_announce.mspx
Download the MSLU package (unicows) and extract the content into the folder
C:\Windows\System
* Fixed IPv6 support on the client side
* Fixed disable screensaver (Direct3D and DirectX video output)

Localization:
* Add Czech
* Add Slovak
* Add Malay
* Add Slovenian

Developers:
* Updates to the libvlc API
* Fixes for the mozilla and activeX plugins

Firefox 3 Alpha 1 released

The alpha 1 version of Firefox 3 (code named Gran paradiso) has been released for testing purposes.Current users of mozilla firefox were warned by Mozilla not to use Gran Paradiso Alpha 1 .

This alpha 1 version named minefield is based on Gecko 1.9.

As for the UI,there isn't anything new yet - the features of Firefox 2.0 stay.

It is available for download at Mozilla's FTP.

Final version is expected in summer 2007.

Release notes

What's new

Azureus version 3.0 released

Version 3.0 of the popular bittorrent client is out !

Another new webservice called Zudeo has also been launched to coincide with the launch of the client.From first look, Zudeo seems like a web platform to share independent videos (some are hi-definition) using torrents. Zudeo service has also been integrated with the latest version of azureus .


The layout could be said to resemble that of youtube - user friendly ,with a listing of the videos available under various categories complete with trailer.Only here the torrent files are given for the videos instead of a flash file..

As for their copyright policy they seem to be all for legal content with DMCA compliancy.