Here is a simple way to test it. Use Speedtest to check the speed from your PC/laptop to a nearby or far away server.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Test Your Network Speed
When you take a internet connection be in through a DSL or Cable or Satellite. It is important to check the speeds you get from time to time. Most of the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) play with the bandwidth available with them amongst its users. Hence we might not see what we were promised.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Firefox Addons (2010)
Its 5 years since I adopted Firefox as the primary browser. Ever since I have managed to get it into over 20 households. People love it once they see its secure, fast and the best. Over 2 years back I listed some of the best addons for firefox, Guess its time to do it again. But before that here are some key facts on Firefox
1. Its open source (mozilla project)
2. Its sister softwares are thunderbird (email client) and Sunbird (Calendar app)
3. Mozilla has integrated these apps into SeaMonkey a single application for Internet requirements.
4. On firefox, ver 4 (currently 3.6.4) is going have a 64 bit version with its addons and extensions.
5. Check out the browser market share stats at http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
PLUGINs
Firefox comes with various plugins. All plugins can be accessed from the following link - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
Upon installing firefox, the first step is to install the plugins you require. The most important plugins you should not forget to add are - Adobe Flash and Media Player plugins.
PLUGINs
Firefox comes with various plugins. All plugins can be accessed from the following link - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
Upon installing firefox, the first step is to install the plugins you require. The most important plugins you should not forget to add are - Adobe Flash and Media Player plugins.
Adblock Plus
This is a fantastic Ad blocker to firefox. Adblock Plus replaces my previous utility Adblock. Adblock has its own subscriptions facility that helps keeps ads under check. It also can be customized based on the website we visit. Its so good, You will never realize you have it in your browser.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: ****
Utility Value: *****
NoScript
This particular addon is amazing. It secures your browser to the highest level. All sites through numerous scripts that are intrusive and annoying if not dangerous. Noscript gives one the power to control what sites are allowed. Don't trust my word, check it out yourself. Install this addon, go to a website like weather.com (it may not load properly at first). Checkout the small icon (S sign with a strike across it in red) on the status bar of the browser. Click on it and it will reveal all the other host sites that have scripts on weather.com. Just allow the base URL (address) and your website will be rendered properly but preventing other sites you want to keep out of your browser. Use it for its the best addon of all. Again it is simple to use for me but not for some of my friends.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: **
Utility Value: *****
This is a fantastic Ad blocker to firefox. Adblock Plus replaces my previous utility Adblock. Adblock has its own subscriptions facility that helps keeps ads under check. It also can be customized based on the website we visit. Its so good, You will never realize you have it in your browser.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: ****
Utility Value: *****
NoScript
This particular addon is amazing. It secures your browser to the highest level. All sites through numerous scripts that are intrusive and annoying if not dangerous. Noscript gives one the power to control what sites are allowed. Don't trust my word, check it out yourself. Install this addon, go to a website like weather.com (it may not load properly at first). Checkout the small icon (S sign with a strike across it in red) on the status bar of the browser. Click on it and it will reveal all the other host sites that have scripts on weather.com. Just allow the base URL (address) and your website will be rendered properly but preventing other sites you want to keep out of your browser. Use it for its the best addon of all. Again it is simple to use for me but not for some of my friends.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: **
Utility Value: *****
Forecastfox
This is a great weather forecast addon to your browser, It hooks up with Accuweather to bring you an updated weather information. Not only that, if you travel frequently like me, you will love it even more, just create all your towns and cities and just with a click of a button, you can get the updated weather on any city you want. It is fantastic considering it pulls weather info for cities in India as well. It was amazingly simple to configure and operate for me, But my wife took sometime to figure how it works.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: ****
Utility Value: ****
XMarks (formerly Foxmarks)
This is an addon for firefox that helps in synchronizing your bookmarks (favorites in IE) across your computers. Its very useful to me since, whenever I update my bookmarks, Foxmarks helps to synchronize them at my home computer, my wife's computer, my parents' computer as well as my in-law's computer. This way all of us are able to view the same bookmarks. Foxmarks not only gives you an option to download bookmarks but also merges with the one you might not want to delete. This way you can choose to merge/overwrite the bookmarks. Be careful on what you choose, else you will lose all your bookmarks on the server.
The recent feature improvement is sync up your passwords. But I do not trust it yet for that purporse, I use another utility for that.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: ***
Utility Value: ****
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: ***
Utility Value: ****
This is a mozilla labs addon. Helps one stay in sync with their Firefox by providing access to history, passwords, bookmarks and even open tabs across all devices.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: ****
IE Tab Plus (better than IE Tab)
An enhanced version of IE Tab with Adblock Plus in IE supported. It also allows you import settings from IE Tab and synchronize cookies between IE and Firefox. Supports Firefox 3.6 and beyond.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: ****
FireFTP is a free FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: ****
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: ****
ScribeFire
This is an addon for firefox for active Bloggers. It connects to various Blogs and helps you to configure your account on Scribefire. Scribefire offers an editor like interface (just like the one your blog service provides). The editor comes up on your firefox by clicking a small notepad icon on your status bar. This is fantastic to post something on your blog. Scribefire has come a long way and the latest version is very simple and easy to you. Try it and you will like it a lot. Please note Scribefire would put in a non-intrusive Ad on all you posting. But if you reload the post, remove the ad & re-publish it, it goes off.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: *****
Dictionary (spell check)
This is a quite addon, it sits on your browser advising the user whenever he types emails or writes something on websites or on Scribefire about spellings. It just puts a red underline on words that are mis-spelt. Just right click and correct your spellings. People who like the spell check in MS Word, will find an amazing similarity in using this addon. Its a must have addon
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: *****
Cooliris
The Cooliris 3D Wall -- The fastest and most stunning way to browse photos and videos from the Web or your desktop. Effortlessly scroll an infinite "3D Wall" of content from Facebook, Google, YouTube, Flickr, and more. Even watch TV shows & movies.
Personal Ratings
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: *****
Ease of Use: *****
Utility Value: *****
Hope this article is of use to all Firefox users.
How to watch World Cup?
I have been looking around for a way to see these matches. ESPN3 was offering free streaming to some of the internet providers. Time Warner was not in the pack. My next alternative was P2P streaming. Here is a good site that helps people who loves football.
Choice 2: http://www.livefootballtvs.com/
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Responsibilities
When I was a kid, I was told to be responsible. I used to think as a kid & even in college that doing well in studies and scoring high grades/marks is all that is to responsibilities. Then came job followed by marriage and kids of my own. Last decade flew by so swiftly that I never had time to think about the 'word' until recently. But I think I am closer to understanding it than ever before.
We grow and experience the world around us through success and failures of ourselves and those around us, just so that we might be ready to take care of the same world as a grown up. We as individuals are committed to take care of our children, parents, spouse, society and more than anything, trying to securing what we enjoyed as kids for the generations ahead.
All of us have made decisions. Very often we encounter cross ways in our life, every time the decision (if you think ethics and moral values) would be in binary - right and wrong. It takes guts for the individual to make the right choice time and again. The more the people who make the right decisions, the more they are being committed to the world around them even if no one knows or notices.
In ancient India people were divided into castes that defined and categorized people to certain duties and responsibilities. A kshatriya (warrior) is meant to protect and serve the people, a brahmin (those who understand karma & dharma) is meant to teach and provide knowledge to all, a vaishya (business man) is meant to make things available to all and a shudra (one who works with hands) is meant to create things for others existence. The people of all castes were equal and meant to be the same. Children born in one caste having skills in another could take up alternate ways of living. This way one generation would always surpass the next.
But generations later, some of the caste forgot their responsibilities and wanted to claim glory and riches for themselves, Ego, power and greed changed history to what it is now. These three caused people to forget their responsibilities.
When you look at American history, Abraham Lincoln showed the power and capability to execute his responsibilities, decades later, we still remember him as the best President of all times. And civil rights is what it is now in US because he chose to be responsible.
Though a simple term, it holds the power to change history to good or bad. This writeup would remain incomplete unless I quote a dialogue from the movie Spiderman - "With great powers comes great responsibilities"
We grow and experience the world around us through success and failures of ourselves and those around us, just so that we might be ready to take care of the same world as a grown up. We as individuals are committed to take care of our children, parents, spouse, society and more than anything, trying to securing what we enjoyed as kids for the generations ahead.
All of us have made decisions. Very often we encounter cross ways in our life, every time the decision (if you think ethics and moral values) would be in binary - right and wrong. It takes guts for the individual to make the right choice time and again. The more the people who make the right decisions, the more they are being committed to the world around them even if no one knows or notices.
In ancient India people were divided into castes that defined and categorized people to certain duties and responsibilities. A kshatriya (warrior) is meant to protect and serve the people, a brahmin (those who understand karma & dharma) is meant to teach and provide knowledge to all, a vaishya (business man) is meant to make things available to all and a shudra (one who works with hands) is meant to create things for others existence. The people of all castes were equal and meant to be the same. Children born in one caste having skills in another could take up alternate ways of living. This way one generation would always surpass the next.
But generations later, some of the caste forgot their responsibilities and wanted to claim glory and riches for themselves, Ego, power and greed changed history to what it is now. These three caused people to forget their responsibilities.
When you look at American history, Abraham Lincoln showed the power and capability to execute his responsibilities, decades later, we still remember him as the best President of all times. And civil rights is what it is now in US because he chose to be responsible.
Though a simple term, it holds the power to change history to good or bad. This writeup would remain incomplete unless I quote a dialogue from the movie Spiderman - "With great powers comes great responsibilities"
Chennai has grow & has its problems
Few days ago I returned from a trip to Chennai, India, it seems like I was totally out of town, the city I grew up in, has grown beyond recognition in the past few years.
Well, there are few great flyovers - Guindy, Red-hills, and one coming up near Koyambedu, Chennai International Airport is going through modernization, new parks and community recreation places like tennis courts, skating arena have come up. Lots of malls and shops are springing up all around the city. The city itself has grown bigger now. Metro train is also being planned now for the city of Chennai.
Many key traffic junctions are being eliminated to minimize travel time. But since the process of infrastructure development has been reactive, we see new areas where where there was no traffic jams few years back now is jammed to 10-15 min of wait time. One such area is the Shanti Colony junction in Anna Nagar.
But there are still certain things that remains - indisciplined drivers & corrupt cops who rely on bribes for a fortune. There are cops who pay money to superiors and come to Chennai from other parts of Tamil Nadu so they can make money from the common man. This is like a chicken and egg story, cops don't stop taking bribes and indisciplined drives find a way by paying off with bribes.
Corporation needs to create zones for Commercial and Residential areas. This would prevent shops from coming up in residential areas like Shanti Colony and create a horde of traffic since the roads are not meant to carry that much traffic in the first place. But guess who provides clearance to these commercial buildings? Either its corrupt office bearers at the corporation or its lack of planning on their part for the future. In couple of years, it would come down to demolishing these commercial buildings like they did in New Delhi.
I have put my thoughts in the Public Grievance and Redressal System at the website of Corporation of Chennai
Now its wait & see.
Well, there are few great flyovers - Guindy, Red-hills, and one coming up near Koyambedu, Chennai International Airport is going through modernization, new parks and community recreation places like tennis courts, skating arena have come up. Lots of malls and shops are springing up all around the city. The city itself has grown bigger now. Metro train is also being planned now for the city of Chennai.
Many key traffic junctions are being eliminated to minimize travel time. But since the process of infrastructure development has been reactive, we see new areas where where there was no traffic jams few years back now is jammed to 10-15 min of wait time. One such area is the Shanti Colony junction in Anna Nagar.
But there are still certain things that remains - indisciplined drivers & corrupt cops who rely on bribes for a fortune. There are cops who pay money to superiors and come to Chennai from other parts of Tamil Nadu so they can make money from the common man. This is like a chicken and egg story, cops don't stop taking bribes and indisciplined drives find a way by paying off with bribes.
Corporation needs to create zones for Commercial and Residential areas. This would prevent shops from coming up in residential areas like Shanti Colony and create a horde of traffic since the roads are not meant to carry that much traffic in the first place. But guess who provides clearance to these commercial buildings? Either its corrupt office bearers at the corporation or its lack of planning on their part for the future. In couple of years, it would come down to demolishing these commercial buildings like they did in New Delhi.
I have put my thoughts in the Public Grievance and Redressal System at the website of Corporation of Chennai
Now its wait & see.
Monday, June 21, 2010
I am back
I took a break to attend to family and work the past year. Hope to be more active with my blog from now on.
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