Labyrinth's Images Exceed PhotoBucket Monthly BandWidth Limit

A large number of blog surfers are bloggers themselves and most of them have used free templates, free domains and free web hosting at the start of their blogging careers. What more, even you could be one of them! Had it been so, then whose template did you use for your blog? Was it a default template or a template downloaded from another site and customized to meet your own taste?

Well, the template that I used right now is called "Minyx" and was developed by B-Themes. However, unfortunately, B-Themes had hosted all the photos on Photobucket free account which allows the bandwidth of 10GB per month. As and when this template kept on getting popular, the load on the Photobucket servers kept on increasing and one the limit got cracked. If you've been a regular visitor of my blog then I'm sure you must have noticed the screw up. I had images all over my blog saying "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded". It was a huge mess.

"All's well that ends well." I must appreciate B-Themes for their efforts since as soon as I contacted them of my misfortune, I got each and every image, used on my blog, emailed and uploaded to my personal Google Pages account. Now, it's true that even Google Pages have a bandwidth limit but they simply refuse to disclose the amount. Now all I can do is keep my fingers crossed that I don't shoot the roof there too, in near future.

Moreover, if you wish to know more about this particular problem, why don't you head over to eBlogTemplates' post titled "Are your Blogger images not showing up"?

Blogging Tip - Write Notes On Sundays

Did you ever have a concept called "Reading Day" when you were a kid? Did your parents or even your teachers ever ask you to keep aside one day out of the busy week to do reading practices? It is unarguably true that any self-respecting & successful blogger needs to follow a lot of other blogs, social media websites & other sources of information. I'm sure you take rest from the pressures of blogging for at least one day of the week. Why don't you reserve that one day for reading only? I'm not asking you to visit and comment on the blogs too. Your job should be just to keep a pen & paper at hand to take some notes as and when necessary.

I don't own a personal computer. I blog from my college. However, on Sundays, I just carry a pen & a piece of paper around and make it a point to read all the new posts that I've subscribed to, using the GPRS connection in my phone. All the while, I keep a lookout for a few essential ideas that keep me occupied for almost the whole of next week. This practice helps me learn various tips & tricks suggested by well known bloggers like Problogger, Madhur Kapoor & Blogging Tune. In the process, it also helps me to get new ideas for posts and advertising. For the taste, here's what I learnt last Sunday -

• I really need to structure the way I post, according to the days of the week. For example, video tutorials on Mondays, how-tos on Tuesdays, Advice columns on Saturdays etc.
• Got a lot of new ideas to write on, an example is this very post.
• It's high time I hire a pro graphics designer to personalize this blog.
• I need to make visiting cards for myself.
• Need to create a section in my blog for guest blogging.
• Shall need to organize the meta description of this blog.

Now, almost all the tips are indispensable in running a successful blog. Every Sunday, arrange for a whiteboard & get yourself a personal blog optimization tutor, free of charge.

So, I told you about my method of getting new ideas? What are yours?

A Letter From "The Alter Ego"

Dear Reader,

How do you do? First & foremost, I'd like to thank you for visiting my blog.

So, before we move on, do I have the liberty to ask you what you do for a living? Are you a journalist? Or is it that you're a doctor? Or probably an architect slogging your ass off for a multi national firm. Uhh...kindly pardon me if I've already started to bore you. You know, today, I've decided I'll keep a clear mind and write a letter to you asking about your health, your life and your feelings about this beloved blogpage of mine. I've been blogging for over 3 years now and yet, all I happen to manage is a meagre 22 subscribers and around 40 visitors to my page. I am not too sure exactly what is it that makes me crazy about blogging but here I am, trying to post something or the other, at every opportunity I can conjure up. Of course, I can blame the non-popularity of my page to my irregularity which in turn is because of the lack of a personal computer and an active internet connection in my college, where I live most of the time.

Okay, I'm sorry. This letter is not exactly about my problems and complaints in life. It's more about a decision that I need to take, a decision that needs to be sorted out soon. And for this, I shall desperately need your help. It is you who has been visiting and reading this page for a while now and it is you who can tell me if I'm good enough to be able to take it up as a career option. I know, I can always join up some company and then carry out blogging simultaenously, just like so many of the rest out there. But here comes the problem. I just don't think I'm the kind of material who would be happy and content working for some one else. I need my own decision making and creative independence. It's not that I've never tried a 9-5 job. I'd been with M/s Crompton Greaves for 2 months and I realized that it's just not for me. Yes, I'm good in programming and I love it too. Yet, I still find it weird to be coding for someone else. As for blogging, it's not just trying to earn by running adsense on my page. I have a much grander plan. Unfortunately, I shall need to be a little discreet about it out here. But yeah, if you think you shall be able to advise me on this, kindly leave your email address in the comments section and I shall be more than happy to get back to you. And well, it just so happens that I've been doing a few things in my life that I hardly loved. This apathy ended up with dire consequences and here I am, trying to figure out what I want outta my life.

I know I can write decent enough, I know I have enough interest in this field and I also know that I have good enough entrepreunal skills. What more, I am even eager to learn new things. And yes, I shall need to regiment my life and be regular. What else does a man need to be successful in his life? Do I really need outstanding academic records to be able to feed myself and raise a family happily? Or is it that I'm day-dreaming?

I shall sincerely hope that you've realized the kind of indecisiveness I'm struggling with and am very grateful that you felt this letter's worth the time you've sacrificed to read it. Thanks again.

Yours Truly,
The Alter Ego.

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.

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.

Configuring Google Reader

Life has changed a lot since I got this latest cell phone of mine. Now that I can access GPRS on the go, my thirst of reading news and latest updates from the technological world has been aptly quenched. The tool that has been helping me out the most is Google Reader. Okay, this is, most certainly, not a Google Reader sponsored post. It's just that, since it's been helping me a lot, I thought I'll let you all through a tutorial on this nifty gadget.

First & Foremost, even before you think of navigating to the Google Reader webpage, you need to know a little bit about RSS Feeds. If you're a regular blogger or at least stay online for a considerable long time, I'm sure you must have heard of the term. Now, the question is, what is a RSS Feed? Well, who can answer that better than Wikipedia? Well, I know, if you do happen to be a li'l technologically challenged, I'll write down a summary myself.

RSS actually stands for Really Simple Syndication. Now, what is Syndication, you might ask. According to eLOOK.org, the dictionary meaning of syndication means organizing into or administering as a syndicate. If you want a more comprehensive and to the context answer, you can refer to this post by Adam Kalsey. So, what do we do with these feeds and how can we procure them? Before that tell me something. Have you ever seen the following picture on the websites, while browsing?

If this pic looks familiar to you, then you do visit pages that offer RSS feeds. (Yeah, not every page offers RSS feeds.) It is these feeds that you need to supply to Feed Readers or Aggregators which, in return, procures the latest changes made in the so-called sites. Confused? Okay, let me put it this way. RSS Feeds are used by Feeds Aggregators so that they can deliver you the latest updates that are done in the websites that you visit more often. Say, for example, you happen to read news on a variety of web pages and also read loads of blogs. Now, these pages happen to change with new headlines and content every once in a while and it becomes very cumbersome to check each and every page for changes, frequently. This is where these feed aggregators come to your rescue. They automatically download the latest headlines of all the pages whose feeds you have provided and get them ready for you to view whenever you find the time. You can now skim through the topics and click on the interesting ones to read the rest of the article.

There are a lot of Feed aggregators available on the web. the ones I find worth mentioning are Google Reader, NewsGator, Bloglines, FeedDemon, Internet Explorer 7 & Mozilla Firefox. Here, in this post, I'll tell you how to setup Google Reader.

After you log into Google Reader using your Google Account ID (Gmail ID), you should be within the homepage. There, just keep a lookout on the blue colored bar to your left for the link "Add Subcription". Click on it and a little text box should appear. Refer to the picture below for details.

There, just paste in the Feed URL (RSS Feed) and you are ready to go. Just for you to start off, you can use the Feed URL of this blog. For the posts, it's http://feeds.feedburner.com/ShayonsLabyrinth and for the comments, it's http://feeds.feedburner.com/shayon/comments_labyrinth.

Now, as far as my blogs are concerned, you got the feeds served on the platter. How about the links to other blogs. Well, if it's a blog on Blogger, you are in for a comparatively easy time. Whenever you visit a blog page that's on Blogger (say, mine), just scroll absolutely down and you should be able to see a link saying "Subscribe to: Posts(Atom)". Can you spot it? It should be right below the area where all the posts on the homepage end. Well, just right click on "Posts (Atom)" and select "Copy link location" if you're using Mozilla Firefox or "Copy Shortcut" if you're using Internet Explorer. There are always equivalent commands in other browsers. Well, now that you've learnt how to siphon off a link from the web without actually clicking on it, just paste this link in the little text area on Google Reader, as shown above and you're off to a lovely start!

Now, how about blogs that are not on Blogger and other news sites? Always remember the keyword "Subscribe". If a certain website's offering feeds, they'd always have something or the other written on their page with "Subscribe" or look out for the RSS Feed icon I've shown above. Just right click on either of the text or the icon and the rest you know. For an example, I'll again use my blog page. Try scrolling down and keep a lookout for the phrases "Subscribe My Posts" and "Subscribe Comments" to the right sidebar. Could you find it? Consult the screenshot below, if not.


Well, now that you've learnt how to use Google Reader, try collecting feeds from other sites that you like to visit so often! Happy Reading!!

NOKIA, Photobucket & The Wall Mag!

So, can u see the picture of a pretty NOKIA handset at the top? Well, I happen to be a proud owner of one of them :-P. The reason ain't all that romantic, though. My previous phone, the NOKIA 1108, had been flicked by some unfortunate bloke off my pocket, while I was travelling in a inhumanely congested train, from Kanjur Marg (that's where my office is) to Dadar. At the first, I was definitely very very pissed off. But then, u hardly have anything you can do, in these situations, have you? Hehe, "unfortunate bloke", 'coz my sim was blocked with pin code and the phone was locked with security code. He can't even insert a new sim in it 'coz in that case he shall have to insert the security code! :-P Anyways, wot had gotten me pissed off the most was the fact that I lost all my fucking contacts and messages. Over 250 of my contacts got washed off in a jiffy. Hope people do respond to my mails fast and send me their contact numbers.

Oh, did you hear that Yahoo! Photos is shutting down? The moment I heard that (about a month ago), I've been wondering how to save the hundreds of pics I have storred in there, in the past 3 years. Although Yahoo! has given options to export your pictures to a lot of other photo hosting websites, it was getting tough for me to choose between Flickr, Photobucket and Shutterfly. After some research, I realised Photobucket was the one for me. I just started the export of my pictures from Yahoo! Photos onto Photobucket, right before I started writing this post. They say it's gonna take them about 72 hrs, that's 3 days. Hope it's a satisfying service!

While I was in college, staying in Hostel 'E', the topfloor boarders of the same had formed a community called "TopFloorers" which consisted most of the top floorers and a few regulars from other floors and hostels too. My dear friend Rathin suddenly, out of the blue, thought up of creating a "Wall Magazine" where bits and pieces could be shared by us all, and hence "The Wall Mag"was born. It gives me immense pride to inform that I happen to be a co-admin of that blog page. It's a novel idea that Rathz has started, hope the tradition of the TopFloorers continues.

Amen!

Unbelievable - This Blog Turns 100 today!!

So, how does it feel, to be left all alone, stuck in a 3-storeyed building with just 2 more occupants other than you, with temperatures plummeting to 8-10 degrees at night, living in load shedding for about 6-7 hrs a days, with a balance of -4.09 in your cell phone, with just a computer to accompany you, that has all the movies & porn that you must’ve watched at least 5 times, music tracks that make you puke despite healthiest of stomach conditions, toilets that haven’t gotten cleaned up for a fortnight, with the only tube light in your room malfunctioning, having to walk about 2 kms, one way, every time you feel your stomach churning up, requiring trips to your sucker of a professor’s house almost twice a day and last, but by no means the least, the only li’l bro you’ve got, gotten hurt by the zip while he felt like getting some fresh air (okay, if you got this one, we just go to get acquainted)?

Does that even remotely sound like hell? Well, isn’t that where the Devil himself is supposed to live in? Seriously, why the fuck am I stuck in this hole, especially when all my papers are over and I’ve gotten an official break for a month, you might ask. Actually, I was planning to work on a project, in the winters, so that I could have a better grasp of my branch subjects, for a change. Yes dear, I certainly have gotten a li’l, if not much, sincere about my academics. It’s not for nothing that my girl friend keeps on complaining that I’ve made her the second priority in my life. No, cyber gaming is not my first priority, you smart ass! But then again, it just might climb my priority ladder if I, ever, do plan to make it my career! ;-) As for now, it’s just the good ol’ academics! So, finally the secret is out…finally I’ve let you know why I’ve stayed back. Now, for chrissakes, stop pestering me with the stale mushroomed query again & again!!

I can’t believe it, this is my 100^th post on Blogger. Well, it’s true that Sakshi has posted 10 herself. But then again, at least this is the 100^th post on this blog. I know, I know – I’m still a newbie out here. C’mon guys, doncha think I deserve at least wee bit of credit and applause? I can still remember the first time I blogged was on Rediff, dated September 22nd, 2006. It was a female named Ipshita, I’d once met in a train, who’d made me post back then. (You can click here if you wanna read about it.) After that, it was Yahoo 360° & now, Blogger. Well, I can never write about my blogging life without mentioning Pragnya. It was by sheer accident that I came across her blogs on Rediff. It was her who’d first inspired me to start writing online. And then, it was her who showed me the way to Blogger. Till date, she’s been one of the best bloggers I’ve read. The way she narrates, the way she expresses & the way she presents herself, just one word for it all – AWESOME!

I write because I like writing. I like to express my thoughts, be it vocal, be it on pen & paper or be it online. It’s just ‘coz I’m a li’l computer savvy that I chose web logs as my vent. I never considered my journals to be interesting enough. However, one or two readers would often stray onto my page & leave a comment. After me & Sakshi started going around, I introduced her to the blogging scene. At first, she used to write just to impress me. ;-) But then, inevitably, she got hooked onto it herself. HeHe! So much so, that now she actually coaxes me every time I stop posting for a continuous stretch of a month or so!! Then came Karma, Rathz & Shinnok! I never knew my posts would result into so many converts! Yes, it’s certainly satisfying!!

People ask me, “What is a blog? Why do you waste time writing things that hardly anyone shall ever read? Why do you allow strangers to peek into your personal life?” Well, all I call them is a bunch of ignorants! Okay, now stop making faces & get that eyebrow of yours back to where it belongs! I know I’m being rude to people. I know I myself had been ignorant myself. But then, don’t you think all it needs one to do is check a few blogs to know what it is all about? True, there are people who write about their inner most secrets. I myself have shared quite a few of my personal life here. But does that mean you’ll have to do the same yourself? If you think you aren’t comfortable enough to share your life, there are so many other things that you can write about, dude! You can share your feelings, your dilemma, you can discuss issues that you care about, you can showcase the poet in you, you can review movies, you can share happening events in your colony, in your college, you can share your experiences that might help others too. If nothing, you can even put up your research works! The best part of it all, you hardly need to know the nitty-gritties of web page coding to do all that! Personally, I find blogging a great avenue to vent out my frustrations in life, it is my punching bag!!

Okay, I think I’m getting carried away. I guess I’ve used a lot many words in celebrating my centennial post. Anyways, all I’ll conclude with is –

"The wise man hardly gives the right answers, he poses the right questions."

Peace to all!!