All those who know me are fully aware of the kinda WarCraft fan I am, especially DotA. Well, it's true that I'm missing my WarCraft days right now, yet trying to suffice it the best I can by watching videos on YouTube. Here's one movie that I just couldn't help sharing. Enjoy!!
A Little Sneak Peek Into Latest Design Of "Shayon's Labyrinth" - Suggestions Expected
Remember my last post on update on the Labyrinth and when I'd informed about increased feed subscribers to this page where I was talking about giving this blog a new look? Well, I wasn't bluffing! The above pic is a new design that Ashwin just suggested that I could implement. Well, as far as I'm concerned, it definitely looks pretty good and futuristic but I'd rather prefer a planar look. I was thinking about joining the lines at the top and make the header look like a paper weight on the page. Or, I was also thinking of just making two sheets of rounded papers, one for the main posts and other for the sidebar and just keeping the header on top of them. If not, then we shall have to remove the gaps that have been created right below the header, in the above pic.
So, what do you say about it? Do you think our ideas are good enough? Or do you too have something to contribute? Do feel free to keep upping the comments count.
So, what do you say about it? Do you think our ideas are good enough? Or do you too have something to contribute? Do feel free to keep upping the comments count.
Why Do You Blog?
Blogs have been mushrooming on the internet at the rate of thousands a day, these days. Thanks to free blog services like Blogger, Wordpress, LiveJournal, Rediff Blogs and the likes, there are about 70 million blogs on the internet, today. There are blogs that tell you about health care, there are ones that teach you things like repairing a computer, learning JAVA and other computer languages, gardening and even having great sex with your partner. There are people who log their daily lives, converting their blogs into an online journal, of sorts. There are budding poets who love to make poems and showcase them to the world. There are businesses that thrive on the community they create, thanks to their blogs. What more? There are even blogs that teach you how to blog effectively. Blogs have become almost synonymous to social networks, these days. The relationships you garner with you readers is considered to be a blogger's greatest asset. Blogs are also created to earn moolah with advertising!As for me, I had started this page as an insight towards my thoughts, as a log on my daily life. But now, I' write about what I love the most - gadgets, latest internet technology, websites and entrepreneurs. So, what's your story? Why do you blog?
Something Inspirational For Your Soul
Are you down 'because despite trying hard as you could, you still can't manage attracting readers to your blog page? Or is it that you had a hard day at office? Do you often feel the need to be pepped up by some one? Do you wish you always had some one who could inspire you, help to extract the best out of your system? Are you one of those who know he has the capabilities in him, yet can't perform well enough because of personal inhibitions? Do you often feel like life's been unfair to you? Or are you just a fan of inspirational literature?If you happen to answer "Yes" to even 3 of the above 7 questions, Karl's blog must be subscribed within your feed reader by now. The blog page is run by Karl Moore who is a writer and entrepreneur. Karl is a three-time MVP award winner and the author of the two best-selling books - “Karl Moore’s Visual Basic .NET” and “The Ultimate Code Book”. The books are available around the world and in many languages.
Karl posts inspirational messages to his blog daily, designed to inspire and help individuals in their spiritual growth. On a Monday, he also posts a "Random Act of Kindness" and on a Friday, he posts a "Friday Factoid." You can even read the inspirational quotes or the forums where like minded people share thoughts and feelings with each other. I'd suggest you give Karl's blog a visit and experience for yourself, it's magic.
My Good Old Bike
A friend of mine had called, the other day, asking for our bike that he could ride to office, until he earns enough to buy one for himself. I was a little surprised at his request, mainly because we have a 18 years old Hero Honda CD 100 that's almost gone obsolete. What more, we also can't sell it 'coz it's not registered in the province (Maharashtra) where we live in and neither do we have a decent bike rack to keep it parked in. Anyways, I was asking Dad not to sell it 'coz it's the first and only bike Dad had ever bought and it'll be a great memory for him to show it to his grand children (if I'm able to produce any:-P). It's been a loyal friend and you don't dispose of your friends ever, do you?
Yahoo Gets You Texting, Out Of Beta Now!
The news is out. Yahoo Mail is said to come out of Beta on Monday (Pacific Daylight Time). After shifting to Beta about 2 years ago, Yahoo has incorporated a lot of changes in it's email service. Keeping in tune with GMail and Windows Live Mail, Yahoo had been forced to up the bar for its competitors. After announcing unlimited quota for it's email users, Yahoo Mail had also incorporated chat feature from within the mail window, courtesy Google Chat, and had also improved the performance of Yahoo Mail Beta a lot.
So, we know all about it. What's the news, buddy?
News? News is Yahoo has upped the ante again. Just like Yahoo Messenger, you can now even send text messages to mobile phones in USA, India, Canada & Philippines using Yahoo Mail. Although I'm sure rest of the world won't be kept waiting for long, the very fact that India has been included in the very first list is a pleasant surprise indeed! Well, whether it's free to send unlimited SMSes to the same number or whether you need to get at least one reply from that number after you've texted thrice (same as yahoo messenger) is unknown, yet.
So, what do you say? Wanna start texting your buddies?
So, we know all about it. What's the news, buddy?
News? News is Yahoo has upped the ante again. Just like Yahoo Messenger, you can now even send text messages to mobile phones in USA, India, Canada & Philippines using Yahoo Mail. Although I'm sure rest of the world won't be kept waiting for long, the very fact that India has been included in the very first list is a pleasant surprise indeed! Well, whether it's free to send unlimited SMSes to the same number or whether you need to get at least one reply from that number after you've texted thrice (same as yahoo messenger) is unknown, yet.
So, what do you say? Wanna start texting your buddies?
RSS Feeds: Should You? Shouldn't You?
I have been using Google Reader as my feed reader for quite some time now. I must have got almost 40-50 feeds that I read daily on my mobile phone. One of those blogs is "A Public Galaxy of My Thoughts", which is maintained by my dear friend Rathz, who normally prefers to write about the north-eastern sector of India, mostly Assam. I had noticed quite some time ago that he had not allowed his readers to read the posts on their feed readers. They are just supposed to receive notifications every time he makes an update. Well, I did visit him everytime I got a notification 'coz, after all, he's a dear chum. However, it finally got onto my nerves one day and finally commented about it on his last post. When asked for explanation, he says :
I used to debate on whether I should let my readers taste just a whisker and lure them to my blog page or just allow them to read the whole post on their readers. Well, the very fact that Rathz simply refuses to allow his readers to read his works until they reach his page, actually jarred that old conflict of mine. I thought, why not try a market research on this topic? I myself am a newbie on the blogosphere. I felt, it's much better if I sought the answers from the gurus themselves. After quite a bit of scourging the net and overusing the Yahoo search bar, I did end up with some interesting points. While it was clear that majority of the population prefers full feeds, there are still a few who feel partial contents are the way to go. So, here I put forward all the advantages and disadvantages of full feeds at your perusal. It's upto you to decide, now, which way would you prefer.
....regarding the feeds, i hav the settings as such..
i want to bring ppl to my page so tht they xplore into the previous posts.
I used to debate on whether I should let my readers taste just a whisker and lure them to my blog page or just allow them to read the whole post on their readers. Well, the very fact that Rathz simply refuses to allow his readers to read his works until they reach his page, actually jarred that old conflict of mine. I thought, why not try a market research on this topic? I myself am a newbie on the blogosphere. I felt, it's much better if I sought the answers from the gurus themselves. After quite a bit of scourging the net and overusing the Yahoo search bar, I did end up with some interesting points. While it was clear that majority of the population prefers full feeds, there are still a few who feel partial contents are the way to go. So, here I put forward all the advantages and disadvantages of full feeds at your perusal. It's upto you to decide, now, which way would you prefer.
Why shouldn't you broadcast complete content via RSS feeds?
- Most of the people feel that if they offer full feeds then no one shall ever bother to visit their pages, thus reducing their revenues from AdSense and other similar advertising programs.
- There are many bloggers who take every pain possible to make their sites look state of the art. Some of them feel discouraged if their designs and hard work go unnoticed.
- Actually, there are only above two (credible anough) points that I could figure out. :-P
Why should you broadcast complete content via RSS feeds?
- As far as advertisements are concerned, most people use AdBlock (with FireFox) or some other similar plug ins that enable the browsers not to load the advertisements at all. So, even if readers do happen to visit your page, they won't be checking out your ad links at all.
- If you are still keen to earn , you can always put up advertisements on your feeds.
- Since you allow bots and feed readers from various other sites to crawl into your content, you get more exposure and it even improves your rankings among the search engines.
- There are a lot of times when blog service providers are down due to maintenance. Well, feed readers are still able to download your posts and cater toy our readers.
- Most readers find it a PITA (pain in the ***) to have to click on an external link to be able to read your post, if you don't have your full feeds switched on.
- This one decides it all at the end of the day, I feel. Despite belonging to a developed society, continuous connectivity is still not a reality for a lot of us. Especially in cases of dial ups, where you need to pay by the minute, your readers would rather prefer to download all your updates at once and then read them offline, at their own leisure.
So, what do you say? Do you have your RSS feeds turned on to broadcast full content or partial?
Sources:
Sources:
- Do Full Feeds Increase Your RSS Subscriber Count? by ProBlogger
- Do You Publish Full Text Feeds Or Partial RSS Feeds? on Digital Inspiration
- Should I Offer Full Text RSS Feeds Or Not? on Mike's Quarter
Does You Email Provider Give You Automatic Email Forwarding?
Gone are the days when we used to actually buy stationary and stamps to write letters to our relatives, lovers or colleagues. Gone are the days when we had to wait for days or even weeks before our love, rejection or even queries of well being would reach the other side of the globe and another week or fortnight to get a reply back. Gone are the days when we'd go out in search of post boxes so that we could mail those hand written letters. The new age has arrived! In today's world, almost every single person worth his salt has an email address of his. And in the land of free web mail services, there are still a large chunk of us who use paid services for the need of better features, more space and ease of use. Talking of web mail space, there are email providers like Rediff, Indiatimes, Yahoo, Sify and the likes that even offer unlimited space to their free users.
So, which provider do you? Are you still a free user or do you pay your email provider for better services? Well, chances are that if you're a paid user, you're pretty satisfied with the services you get. But how about the ones who still avail of the services for free? Tell me, did you ever sign up for a certain email provider, only to find all stranded, stuck and frustrated 'coz despite other operators providing more space and better services, you can't shift 'coz all of your hundreds and thousands of contacts still have the current one that you've been using for the past few years?
A friend of mine, Ashwin George, has been using Hotmail for his mailing needs for a long time now. However, since the hotmail webmail has become too slow at recent times and that it isn't as feature rich as, say, GMail, he's desperate to shift but he can't, because of the very reason i just cited in the above paragraph. I was just advising him the other day that he could very well shift to GMail if he wants and get his emails on Hotmail automatically forwarded to the GMail account. But then, to our horror, we discovered Hotmail doesn't allow automatic forwarding of emails to another accounts. So now, he's all stuck and contemplating to become a paid user himself.
After I came across such a problem, I thought why not give a li'l check on the emails service providers that people often use on the net and figure out whether email forwarding is mostly
a premium service or is it just another of Hotmail's pathetic works. The web mail providers that I checked were Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail, AIM Mail, Rediffmail, Indiatimes, Sify and ZapakMail. Well, I realized that email forwarding is, afterall, basically a premium service 'coz it's being offered to free users only by GMail and Indiatimes, off all these 8 providers. This was kind of a revelation to me 'coa, being a regular GMail user myself, I'd always thought it's more of a basic feature provided by most :-P.
So, what email service provider do you use?
So, which provider do you? Are you still a free user or do you pay your email provider for better services? Well, chances are that if you're a paid user, you're pretty satisfied with the services you get. But how about the ones who still avail of the services for free? Tell me, did you ever sign up for a certain email provider, only to find all stranded, stuck and frustrated 'coz despite other operators providing more space and better services, you can't shift 'coz all of your hundreds and thousands of contacts still have the current one that you've been using for the past few years?
A friend of mine, Ashwin George, has been using Hotmail for his mailing needs for a long time now. However, since the hotmail webmail has become too slow at recent times and that it isn't as feature rich as, say, GMail, he's desperate to shift but he can't, because of the very reason i just cited in the above paragraph. I was just advising him the other day that he could very well shift to GMail if he wants and get his emails on Hotmail automatically forwarded to the GMail account. But then, to our horror, we discovered Hotmail doesn't allow automatic forwarding of emails to another accounts. So now, he's all stuck and contemplating to become a paid user himself.
After I came across such a problem, I thought why not give a li'l check on the emails service providers that people often use on the net and figure out whether email forwarding is mostly
a premium service or is it just another of Hotmail's pathetic works. The web mail providers that I checked were Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail, AIM Mail, Rediffmail, Indiatimes, Sify and ZapakMail. Well, I realized that email forwarding is, afterall, basically a premium service 'coz it's being offered to free users only by GMail and Indiatimes, off all these 8 providers. This was kind of a revelation to me 'coa, being a regular GMail user myself, I'd always thought it's more of a basic feature provided by most :-P.
So, what email service provider do you use?
Hooray! Increased Feed Subscribers on Labyrinth!!
(Click to enlarge)Wow! It seems all my hard work is finally paying off. I can't believe sprucing up my blog page would fetch me so many subscribers, and that too overnight. It was just yesterday that I had installed the menu bar at the top, gotten the links work fine and even asked George to help me out with the header.
The picture above is a summary of my feed subscribers for today, as charted by FeedBurner, my RSS feed management service. Even until yesterday, the maximum subscribers I'd ever had was 16. I was pleasantly shocked to find that it has increased to 27, today. As is pretty apparent in the above report for today's activities on my page, I've gotten the highest subscriber today, in the past 30 days. I can see I have 80% new visitors on my page and people have actually started to reach my page searching for terms like "sort my inbox", "mozilla" and "problogger" (that was a shocker, especially because the site itself gets a huge turnout as compared to mine, where it's mention only in my blogroll.
The picture above is a summary of my feed subscribers for today, as charted by FeedBurner, my RSS feed management service. Even until yesterday, the maximum subscribers I'd ever had was 16. I was pleasantly shocked to find that it has increased to 27, today. As is pretty apparent in the above report for today's activities on my page, I've gotten the highest subscriber today, in the past 30 days. I can see I have 80% new visitors on my page and people have actually started to reach my page searching for terms like "sort my inbox", "mozilla" and "problogger" (that was a shocker, especially because the site itself gets a huge turnout as compared to mine, where it's mention only in my blogroll.
Well, what can I say? I love Google and I love FeedBurner (which incidentally is again a Google service, now). I'm now just keeping my fingers crossed while anticipating the reaction from all you readers, after I get the revamped look of my blog, live!
2K3 Mini ReUnion
Remember the last time I posted about the awesome week I had with Karma, Raj, Dino & Rathz on our mini reunion? Well, the pics are finally here and Dino has got them up on our blog TWM :: Online. Do check them out. Some of them have come out real beautiful.
Update on the Labyrinth!
It's been a long wish, to be able to install a menu bar on this blog. There are so many information that I'd like to be available for the readers and it' was becoming too tough to accommodate them all on the sidebar. It was getting too cluttered. Well, thanks to Hans, I could finally set it up on my page. Do let me know what you think about it.
And yes, I've set up a new section in my page, called 'Bugs', where I'm going to report all the bugs that I could find on this site. These include wrong scripting, dead links and various other abnormalities that might hinder proper navigation on the site. As a reader, you too are requested to inform me any problems that you might come across. I shall try my level best to sort things out.
And yes, I've set up a new section in my page, called 'Bugs', where I'm going to report all the bugs that I could find on this site. These include wrong scripting, dead links and various other abnormalities that might hinder proper navigation on the site. As a reader, you too are requested to inform me any problems that you might come across. I shall try my level best to sort things out.
Sorting Out My GMail Inbox
Almost everyone uses GMail these days. I'm sure, you do too. So, how much of space has Google allocated to you? How frequently do you check your mails? Do you check your inbox neat and sorted out? Do you even feel the need of keeping your inbox organized? Well, I do. It's been long long time since I last sorted out my GMail inbox, labeled the mails properly and created filters to suit my needs. I donno what got into my head today but I just got myself determined to get the heap sorted out and well, it took me about an hour to get the thing done to my satisfaction. I realized, I've been using up 698MB of Google's allocated 2892MB of real estate and I have over 3K of mails in my archives. Well, I am certainly a net freak, I guess. Thankfully, I still haven't run out of my GMail quota, at least. :-P
Mozilla FireFox Plugins : Recommendation #4
So, are you an internet addict? Do you sit before the comp for hours at end? Well, unless you are a blogger or a news junkie or working in a software firm, chances are that, most of than not, you get bored and keep wondering what other sites can you visit. Well, this is where StumbleUpon comes to your rescue. According to their official website,
So, what do you say? You can just install the extension onto your FireFox browser and keep stumbling onto new websites that you wouldn't have ever discovered, otherwise. I, personally, have been using this great tool for almost a year and I just love it. If you're interested, you can download the extension from this link.
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
Channel surf the internet with the StumbleUpon toolbar to find great websites, videos, photos and more based on your interests. StumbleUpon learns what you like and makes better recommendations.
So, what do you say? You can just install the extension onto your FireFox browser and keep stumbling onto new websites that you wouldn't have ever discovered, otherwise. I, personally, have been using this great tool for almost a year and I just love it. If you're interested, you can download the extension from this link.
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
IE Foxed !!
Well, since I have been on Internet Explorer bashing mood and promoting Mozilla FireFox a lot, these days, I thought it'd be interesting, sharing the above pic with you. Do leave a comment, if you feel like!
Mozilla FireFox Plugins : Recommendation #3
Adblock Plus: This is a sweet extension that's gonna clear your woes for advertisements forever.
This extension already has a set of rules according to which it can block the advertisements from the web pages that you visit. Here is the download link. However, there are 3 more addons that's just gonna make your Adblock Plus extension much more powerful.
AdBlock FilterSet.G Updater:
And here's the download link.
AdBlock Plus - Element Hiding Helper:
Here's the download link.
AdBlock Plus Filter Uploader:
And here's the download link.
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.
This extension already has a set of rules according to which it can block the advertisements from the web pages that you visit. Here is the download link. However, there are 3 more addons that's just gonna make your Adblock Plus extension much more powerful.
AdBlock FilterSet.G Updater:
This is a companion extension to Adblock or Adblock Plus and should be used in conjunction with it. This extension automatically downloads the latest version of Filterset.G every 4-7 days. Filterset.G is an excellent set of filters maintained by G for Adblock that blocks most ads on the internet. In addition, this extension allows you to define your own set of filters that you can add along with Filterset.G during an update.
And here's the download link.
AdBlock Plus - Element Hiding Helper:
You simply select the element you want to be hidden and then choose which attributes of this element should be taken into account when hiding it in future. The element hiding rule is generated and added automatically.
Here's the download link.
AdBlock Plus Filter Uploader:
Uploads the filters from your Adblock Plus installation to a FTP server. [...] This will only be useful for people who actively modify their filters and either want to share them with others or synchronize the filters between different computers.
And here's the download link.
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
An Awesome Break
Oh, I had almost forgotten to mention this. Just in case you were wondering how come there's not a single post for almost 10 days, after this one, it's just that a few of my very close buddies, namely Karma, Dion, Atri & Rathz, had been in town for a week. Had loadsa fun, between us and a few juniors too. If you wanna know about those 7-8 days, check out this post by Rathz.
Special: I had cooked chicken for about 8 guys. They say they loved it! ;-)
Special: I had cooked chicken for about 8 guys. They say they loved it! ;-)
Mozilla FireFox Plugins : Recommendation #2
Here's the second installment of recommendations of FireFox plugins, as promised in my earlier post. Hope FasterFox made a difference in your browsing activity. The very second extension that you should install is -
Google Browser Sync: Google Browser Sync is one of the best bookmark manager I've ever seen. All you need, to be able to use this feature, is an account with Google. Now that that obstacle is out of the way, you just need to download the extension from this link and you are ready to go! Once you have this nifty extension installed, it doesn't matter what PC you're working on, wherever in the world, you can easily access you bookmarks , address bar history, saved passwords and even sessions, any time and any where! Here's what the official explanation says:
By the way, just in case you are interested in online bookmarks, that you don't need to install and can access irrespective of the operating system and browser you use, you can give Del.icio.us a try!
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
Google Browser Sync: Google Browser Sync is one of the best bookmark manager I've ever seen. All you need, to be able to use this feature, is an account with Google. Now that that obstacle is out of the way, you just need to download the extension from this link and you are ready to go! Once you have this nifty extension installed, it doesn't matter what PC you're working on, wherever in the world, you can easily access you bookmarks , address bar history, saved passwords and even sessions, any time and any where! Here's what the official explanation says:
Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.
By the way, just in case you are interested in online bookmarks, that you don't need to install and can access irrespective of the operating system and browser you use, you can give Del.icio.us a try!
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
Climbing Up The Search Engine Ladder
Wow! Since the time I have been consciously trying to improve the PageRank of my page, this web page has climbed up quite a bit. I was just searching for my name (Shayon) on Google & Yahoo and, I must admit, I was impressed to check out the results. Not so long ago, I had to go to at least the next page to find my blog listed in the results and now, it' secures the 2nd place on Google and 3rd on Yahoo! I guess I shall have to be some more famous and stay online for a few years more to overtake Mr. Robert Lewis Shayon (top result on Google), who writes for Waymark Press :-p. And of course, I am surely gonna buy shayon.com (result #2 on Yahoo) one day, although $60 is a little too steep, I must say.Oh boy! Ego surfing does make you feel happy!! ;-)
Mozilla FireFox Plugins : Recommendation #1
If you remember correctly, I'd already pointed out, in one of my previous posts, the advantages of using Mozilla Firefox as your preferred browser, over Internet Explorer. I've also posted 2 videos (Part 1 & Part 2) that'll show how to personalize your Firefox and use it to suit your needs. Well, the actual fun of using Firefox is the ability to customize it with the help of extensions. Extensions are nothing but little nuggets of programs that you need to install in the browser. These are often very powerful features that go a long way in making your online stay pleasurable. I myself have been using the browser for over 2 years now and have been following it's development pretty closely. There are so many extensions that I've come to love, in all this time. There are also a few that I just can't do without. So, I thought I'd share a few of them and tell you how to use them & why!
FasterFox: This is one extension that I just need to have, be it on my own personal comp or on a shared PC. Here's what the official explanation says :
After you install the plugin from this link, you can find it at the bottom of your status bar, just like in the picture below.
FasterFox: This is one extension that I just need to have, be it on my own personal comp or on a shared PC. Here's what the official explanation says :
Performance and network tweaks for Firefox.
Fasterfox allows you to tweak many network and rendering settings such as simultaneous connections, pipelining, cache, DNS cache, and initial paint delay.
Dynamic speed increases can be obtained with the unique prefetching mechanism, which recycles idle bandwidth by silently loading and caching all of the links on the page you are browsing.
A popup blocker for popups initiated by Flash plug-ins is also included.
After you install the plugin from this link, you can find it at the bottom of your status bar, just like in the picture below.
And yeah, you know what I find the coolest about this extension? It also shows the time it took to load a certain page! Can you see "8.470s" written right beside the FasterFox icon? That's it?
Well, there goes the first recommendation for you. As for the rest, they are in the pipeline. Oh by the way, just in case you don't wish to install the extension, you can even tweak your browser for the same effect. Here's the video on how to do that.
By the way, you can also check out Recommendation #2 : Google Browser Sync.
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
Well, there goes the first recommendation for you. As for the rest, they are in the pipeline. Oh by the way, just in case you don't wish to install the extension, you can even tweak your browser for the same effect. Here's the video on how to do that.
By the way, you can also check out Recommendation #2 : Google Browser Sync.
Other FireFox PlugIn Recommendations -
I signed up for PPP!
I have been blog surfing, as usual, the other day when I suddenly stumbled upon this page that introduced me to PayPerPost. I wasn't too sure what it's all about, until I visited the site myself and skimmed through their forums. I must say, it was pretty impressive. I have been blogging for over 3 years now, but I had never known that earning the moolah while you do what you love the most, blogging, was so easy. All one needs to do is sign up their own blog pages on PayPerPost and voila! You are all set on your way to be a millionaire! On PayPerPost (PPP), all you need to do is choose the firms whom you'd like to repesent or whose products intrigue you. Check out their websites, read about their products and when you feel you are satisfied, come back and write about them on your page. Yes, it's as easy as that! What I loved the most about PPP is the fact that you can write about only those products that you feel are good. There is no pressure on you. Moreover, you can even write about them as and when you find time. You can choose your advertisers yourself, as per your taste!
So, what do you say? Personally, I feel, if you have a personal page or a blog, PPP is a great way to earn some money! What more? Since you register your own page with PPP, it also helps you to drive traffic to your blogs and personal pages.
Google's Privacy Concerns
I'm sure you must be aware of the loads of privacy concerns that Google has been churning out in various quarters and among the public in general. Well, here's a video uploaded on YouTube from Google itself, telling you what they actually do with those cookies that they store in your computer and whether and how they know who you are and what you do. Hope this video succeeds in putting some of your concerns to rest.Bloggers' Union
It seems us bloggers are finally getting recognised. Blogging is finally coming of age. I'm sure you must have heard a lot about bloggers earning simply by posting on their or others' pages or by advertising extensively. What more? Bloggers are also proposing to form unions for themselves! Yes, you read that right. News all around the internet is abuzz with the discussion of whether bloggers should need to form an union or not. "In a world as diverse, vocal and unwieldy as the blogosphere, there's no consensus about what type of organization is needed and who should be included. Some argue for a free-standing association for activist bloggers while others suggest a guild open to any blogger -- from knitting fans to video gamers -- that could be created within established labor groups."Well, to some extent, I'd say that, if not a full fledged union, today's bloggers do need some security. Today, there are people who blog for their companies, their products. There are bloggers who are as passionate about their blog pages as in the work they do for their companies. I myself have been up all night, innumerable times, just to frame up a great post or probably trying to give more exposure for my page. There are times when I'm online 7-8 hours, at a stretch, working on my blog. Well, here I just maintain a personal blog (although I'm planning to shift the realm towards tech blogging) but think about those who give up all of their days and nights just to dish out the latest happenings to their readers. It's true that blogging gets recognized these days. It's my blog that got my name printed in a newspaper for the first time ever (well, actually second time. I'd rather prefer to forget about the first occurence). Of course, I should never deny Sakshi's help,. It was precisely her post that earned me all the review.
Okay, I got deviated from the topic I know. Anyways, what do you say? Should there be a proposed Union for the bloggers or is it just another soon-to-die fad? Afterall, it's us bloggers who can make all the difference!
Spruce Up Your Firefox : Video Tip #2
Here's a video tutorial that'll enable you to speed up Mozilla FireFox without the need of installing the hugely popular FasterFox extension.
Update: You can check out the first video here.
Update: You can check out the first video here.
Spruce Up Your Firefox : Video Tip #1
Check out this great video. I'm sure you're gonna love the way Mozilla Firefox has been personalized, in the video. Well, in my previous post, I'd already cited the reasons for shifting to Firefox, here's some more ;-).
Update: You can check out the second video here.
Love India
It's a video made by one of my best chums, Indrashish, who also happens to be a budding musician in Mumbai. I'd strongly urge you to visit his page on YouTube to rate the video and also put in your comments. Do let me know what you feel about the video.
What a Wastage of Waste!
I had a lecture today evening, in college. The subject is known as OBIP or "Organizational Behavior & Industrial Psychology". The lecturer had commented something that have been getting me thinking for quite some time. Wanna give some thought to it? He said -
Nothing is a waste in this world. It is a waste because we don't know how to make use of it!
FavIcon For Blogs
Before you read this post, I'd suggest that you click a few more mouse buttons and make the effort of downloading and installing the latest version of Mozilla FireFox. As for the most obvious reasons, you can visit this link. The other reason being Internet Explorer is just not capable of showing favicons for the websites, unless it's version 7.
Why am I talking of favicons, suddenly? That is 'coz (you'll notice it only if you're using any browser other than IE 7-) I've finally managed to get rid of the boring Blogger favicon and got one of my own. And the best part is, it's animated! It looks so very personalized, now.
So, you interested to know how I managed that? Well, I've been scourgiing the net quite a bit for that and now that I've finally got the secret, here it is:
- You shall need a graphic file that you'd want to convert into an icon file and use it as the favicon for your site or blog page (preferably 16x16 pixels).
- Now you'd need a website that'll grab that file of yours and convert it into an icon file. Of course you can make it possible by using just Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw, but it isn't possible for everyone to be rich enough to possess those applications. The websites that I can suggest you are FavIcon, Dynamic Drive & RW-Designer.
- Now comes the toughest part. You need to find one site that'll allow you to upload .ico files so that you can link to them, in your page. I guess you shall just need to google it out. The site that I myself used was Google Pages.
- After you've uploaded the icon file (don't name it "favicon.ico"), it's time to put two lines of code in your blog. For that, just shift to the portion where you can edit hardcore HTML for your page. Here's a li'l tutorial for those who use Blogger as their server.
On your Blogger dashboard, click on "Template"
And then, on "Edit HTML"
The resultant page will be something like the above. You can click on the image for an enlarged version, if you please. After you reach the hardcore HTML behind your page, the rest of the procedure is the same for all, Blogger or non-Blogger.- Figure out for the tag <head>.
- Right below that, enter two lines of code :
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="[URL]" />
<link rel="icon" href="[URL]" />
Do let me know if this little tutorial works for you. Both rants and raves are welcome.
Credits
This blog page has been the result of a lot of people who've influenced me and my writings, all my life. It's a result of hard work from my side and also a few more who deserve an acknowledgment, at the least. In the next few lines, I would like to thank all those who I think have contributed in their own ways to this blog.
- First and foremost, I must thank Pragna 'coz it's actually her works that inspired me into blogging.
- It's been a great honor to have Sakshi write hew own takes on things, out here.
- I think it's only fair to thank Dan Rubin for creating this simple and nifty template.
- Then of course, there's Problogger , Hans, SingPolyma, Hackosphere and lots others who've helped me a lot in writing better stuff, come up with better ideas, marketing my blog and of course, hacking away the Blogger code and create a custom template that suits me.
- Must thank Ashwin George for helping me out on my blog header. I hope he helps in changing the background template a bit, as well.
- I thank my readers for keeping their thoughts poring in and giving me the impetus to keep blogging.
- Oh, how could I forget my determination. Without the passion and enthusiasm I have for this beloved blog of mine, I doubt I would have survived the last 2 years in the blogosphere.
- Last but never the least, I thank Blogger for such a beautiful platform to write on.
Thank You, everyone.
Donate Some Sweat
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?
Blogs I Haunt
Chums & Luv:
- Abhishek Karmakar
- Aditya S
- Ankit Gandhi
- Ankur Sengupta
- Ankur Sengupta (Sports Cars)
- Arushi Chopra
- Dipayan Bhoumik
- Manavendar Singh
- Mansij Majumdar
- Nikhil's PhotoBlog
- Of Mice & Men
- Paresh Saxena
- Pragna Mohanty
- Pragni Sanghvi
- Promote India™
- QuirkyMurMur
- Rajneesh Kumar
- Rashmi Bansal
- Rathindra Chetia
- Rishabh Mahajan
- Sakshi Chopra
- Sambhav K
- Sarika S
- Shanoob S
- Sharadha Kalyanam
- Shashank S
- Sony Bhatt
- Sudipta's Life
- T Krishnan
- TWM :: Online
- Vaibhav Sharma
- Vernika Shukla
- || sbk ||
Blogs on Blogging
- Beautiful Beta
- Blogger Hacked
- Blogger In Draft
- FeedBurner Blog
- Daily Blog Tips
- Hackosphere
- Problogger Blog Tips
- SingPolyma
- The Gospel
Other Miscellaneous Blogs
- 10+3i - The Movie Company
- Beat The GMAT
- Engadget
- FunduBytes
- PhotoBucket Blog
- del.icio.us Blog
- DotA Strategies
- Google Blogoscoped
- Google Gears API Blog
- Google Operating System
- How To Geek
- Madhur Kapoor
- Meebo Blog
- Official GMail Blog
- Official Google Blog
- Official Google Reader Blog
- Orkut Blog
- The Apple Blog
- The OD Collective
- NOKIA Phone Blog
- Yahoo Messenger Blog
- YouTube Blog
Sakshi
Christened Name: Sakshi Chopra
Date of Birth: September 05,1986
Sun Sign: Virgo
Nationality: Indian
Current Academic Status: Pursuing law (3rd year) from Mewar Law Institute, Ghaziabad.
CONTACT DETAILS -
- EMail: choprasakshi(at)gmail(dot)com
I have been blogging for over a year. I joined Shayon's Labyrinth as a co contributor and now I have my own blog. Its my constant endeavour that I am able to contribute to both the pages where I spill out my thoughts, be it personal or about something that I feel strongly about. Blogging is fun in its own way...and I really enjoy being a part of such a huge community. I am still very new and equally naive. I have been reading a lot about Robert Frost's poem titled " Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening". So, just wanna say-
Thanks...!!!
That there are miles to go before I sleep...!!!
Thanks...!!!
Review on The Telegraph
| - Suchi Arya | |
For someone who loves to write there could be no better gift than a blog. I started blogging a day before my political science test in college. No, it was not a trend that I was following, but just that studying the Indian Constitution could get depressing after a while. And to think of it, I wasn’t particularly fond of the professor either. I was wandering aimlessly on the information superhighway when a Google search landed me to someone’s blog, and a rather interesting one. I loved the idea of having your own web address and being a part of the “blogger’s community”. It excited me and I started blogging. Blogging is the simplest and the most economic way of expressing yourself and reaching to thousands of bloggers across the globe. The thought that somebody sitting in the United States, Iraq or even Pakistan could be reading my blog and reacting to it thrilled me and I was caught in the net. This is a feeling that almost every blogger experiences. And today, with hosts like blogger.com introducing new drag-and-drop features, blogging is the simplest thing one can do. An interesting blog I came across recently is Shayon’s Labyrinth (http://my-labyrinth.blogspot.com ). Shayon, who is studying electrical engineering at the National Institute of Technology in Jamshedpur, says that he always had a knack of writing but could never find a proper platform to publish his work, till he became a blogger. One of the recent posts on his blog recaps the year gone by and ends on a rather positive note. “The year 2006 has been hailed as the year of the citizens, not only here in India but also all over the world. The TIME, put a mirror on its cover and awarded the person of the year to ‘you’ — the common man — who has risen above the stature of an unknown entity.” I couldn’t help but agree. Isn’t the new age Indian sharper, stronger and sensitive to what’s happening around him. And for them it is not only about making a point. It is not tall talk. It is not sitting in your drawing room and passing words of wisdom and criticising almost everything placed before you. It is reaction followed by action. And today, blogs are where all the action is. Shayon’s blog further reads: “For a nation that has idols in the film industry, movies lead the way. From Rang de Basanti we got an insight into the peace movement while Lage Raho Munnabhai revived the Gandhian culture. A nation which has been divided over many issues came together to fight for justice for Jessica Lal and Priydarshini Mattoo. The youth stood for equality, no matter what the cause, and I believe that the GeneratioNext would always stand up for their rights.” In fact, the online protests came to the forefront from the time the quota system was announced. Bloggers from across the country formed communities to discuss their next course of action. Protests gave way to an online petition. Recently the racist slur on reality show Big brother saw an online reaction, too, which drew support from South East Asians across the world. Blogs and online communities have become a lifeline for those who need a medium to express themselves. Today, there is a majority, which would like to share their thoughts on a movie, a cricket match, a website or even a government policy and make their votes counted. Their web address allows them to interact with the world, at large. What also gives an important position to blogs on the world wide web is the number of hits they receive. When you run a search on a news item you wish to read online, alongside the various news sites you get, would be a number of blogs as well. That not only shows its presence on the Internet, but also its importance. Shayon’s blog further reads: “For a common man in India, life is no bed of roses, but today he is ready to fight for the roses that don’t come his way. India is finally waking up from a state of slumber that Independence put her into. Our country is finally coming of age. Hail the new India and hail the new Indian!” There seems to be a new-found respect for oneself and for the country. It seems that today, swadeshi is the way to be. |
Shayon™
Christened Name: Sayantan Pal
Date of Birth: July 07, 1985
Sun Sign: Cancer
Nationality: Indian
Current Academic Status: Pursuing Electrical Engineering (B.Tech. Hons.) at National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur.
CONTACT DETAILS
It's been over 2 years now, since I last took up blogging. I've come a long way since then. At first, I used to get plagued by the shortage of topics to write on my blog posts. This discomfort forced me to write loosely about my life, my philosophies and my views towards life, in general. Even this blog, Shayon's Labyrinth, started much the same way. However, I've always been improvising the look and feel of its pages, working hard to make the contents as interesting as possible, for the potential readers. It's just about a month ago that I suddenly discovered my love. Well, I've always been a tech freak. But suddenly I realized, I love writing about technology too, I love ranting and raving about latest gadgets, softwares and even sites. It is then I realized that the time has come for me to steer the theme of this blog to the way where I can romanticize the internet.
I try my best to keep this page as interesting and useful as possible. It's too taxing on me to maintain a blog regularly, using public computers, braving incessant power cuts and even bunking lectures, once in a while :-P. Yet, I know there are heaps of scope for improvement here. So, do keep me informed of all my mistakes and also let your suggestions keep coming in. I always have an open ear.
Thank You.
Date of Birth: July 07, 1985
Sun Sign: Cancer
Nationality: Indian
Current Academic Status: Pursuing Electrical Engineering (B.Tech. Hons.) at National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur.
CONTACT DETAILS
- EMail: shayon@shayonslabyrinth.com
- Mobile: +919820848139 (India)
- Orkut Profile
- Hi5 Profile
- LinkedIn Profile
It's been over 2 years now, since I last took up blogging. I've come a long way since then. At first, I used to get plagued by the shortage of topics to write on my blog posts. This discomfort forced me to write loosely about my life, my philosophies and my views towards life, in general. Even this blog, Shayon's Labyrinth, started much the same way. However, I've always been improvising the look and feel of its pages, working hard to make the contents as interesting as possible, for the potential readers. It's just about a month ago that I suddenly discovered my love. Well, I've always been a tech freak. But suddenly I realized, I love writing about technology too, I love ranting and raving about latest gadgets, softwares and even sites. It is then I realized that the time has come for me to steer the theme of this blog to the way where I can romanticize the internet.
I try my best to keep this page as interesting and useful as possible. It's too taxing on me to maintain a blog regularly, using public computers, braving incessant power cuts and even bunking lectures, once in a while :-P. Yet, I know there are heaps of scope for improvement here. So, do keep me informed of all my mistakes and also let your suggestions keep coming in. I always have an open ear.
Thank You.
List Of Bugs On This Site
As for the latest check up, following bugs could be identified on this blog :
- I have finally created the pages for every link on the top menu bar. However, the page for "Recommended Posts" still needs to be updated.
- The gaps in between various items in my sidebar look much larger on Internet Explorer than FireFox or Opera.
If you do happen to figure out any more bugs on this site, kindly mention the same in the comments section. I'd be obliged.
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