WHAT THEY TAUGHT ME (#1) - Saphrym, Sam Freedom & Rashmi Bansal

They tell me that I am a great story teller. They also ask me to come up with an autobiography one day. And I wonder. I wonder why. I wonder why would someone ever wish to read about me. I wonder why would someone ever wish to know me. I wonder, unless I have a story to tell. And again, they tell me that I am a great story teller.

I have been a part of the blogosphere for almost 3 years. 3 years is a long time, I know. In these 3 years, there have been a hell lot many people who taught me the art of blogging, both actively and passively. This "What They Taught Me" series is a tribute to all my "teachers" who've shaped me as a blogger and more importantly, as a writer. I am sharing my "lessons" from 10 of my best teachers in the field so that it helps you too to learn & flourish.

What Saphrym (Michael White) Taught Me -

• I have always been hearing people about writing on a certain genre, never to falter out of the niche that you carve for yourself. This always made my gray cells function at full speed, trying to decide on a "niche" for myself, but always unsuccessful. Then, I suddenly stumbled on to Saphrym where Mr. White maintains an online weight loss diary.
  
  I used to wonder why would someone ever wish to follow Mr. White's weight loss program? But then when I learnt about his popularity, realization hit me like a brick! I realized that there are a lot many people out there who could identify themselves with Saphrym & would share their concerns, tips & tricks with him. Thus, Saphrym had carved a unique "niche" for itself.
  
  Lesson Learnt : "Niche" Markets Do Exist.
  
  
• With the exclusive genre that he writes in, it is amazing to find the detail and passion with which Mr. White expresses out. Although I am just a tad overweight, I'd never felt the urge to actively start losing it. But 5 minutes in Saphrym that he actually makes you want to get lean, mean & live healthy. Such is his aura!
  
  Lesson Learnt : Content Is King.
  
  
• Mr. White writes a section in his blog titled "The Daily Read" where he spreads the link love and reviews posts around the blogosphere that are worthy enough. All one needs to do is be a member of EntreCard and shoot him an email with a link to the post that Mr. White is expected to review
  
  Lesson Learnt : Reach Out To Your Peers.
  

What Sam Freedom Taught Me -

• The very title of his blog "Sam freedom's Internet Marketing Controversy Blog" speaks out volume of his character. Here's this man who definitely writes well and also provides pretty thoughtful insights into posts and ideas. But the blood in his vein is, plain & simple, controversy. Yes, Sam Freedom thrives on controversies. Check out almost any post where he's commented and you shall know what I am talking about. I'm afraid to admit that probably Sam Freedom has actually built up a "controversy niche" for himself and his followers. But never the less, as they say, "All's Well That Ends Well". If that kinda marketing makes his blog and popularity (or should I call it notoriety?) tick, then why not?
  
  Lesson Learnt : Dare To Be Different & There's A Whole New World Waiting To Embrace You.
  
  
• These days, especially after the advent of EntreCard and Project Wonderful, I can hardly see any block of advertising that has not been already occupied by Sam Freedom. Look around and the very characteristic old man in the American flag is everywhere. He's probably buying his way out to popularity, but then again, what the heck if that makes his blog tick?
  
  Lesson Learnt : Never lose focus and exposure.
  
  
• If you check out Sam's blog, you shall find ample pictures of wannabe women trying to woo your eyeballs. First time, I kind of doubled back. But then onwards, I rather enjoyed the attention. Who cares even if it was from just pretty images?
  
  Lesson Learnt : Even If You Don't Have Great Content, Wrapping It Up In A Pretty Looking Paper Just Might Be Able To Sell It.
  

What Rashmi Bansal Taught Me -

• I am an engineering student and it is customary in India to get into a job or pursue higher studies after you complete your undergraduate degree. Unfortunately, I am not cut out for a normal 9-5 job and neither am I interested to pursue my GMAT in the next 2 years, at the minimum. I had been worrying like hell of what to do in future when I read these entrepreneurship stories of 4 young Indian men, Prakash Mundhra, Vibhor Agarwal, Ashwini Rathod & Vinamra Pandiya. These stories helped in reinstating the belief in myself and now, here I am, daring the world.
  
  Lesson Learnt : Entrepreneurship Is The Need Of The Hour. All One Needs Is Zeal & Guts.
  
  
• Rashmi has always been helping out people, be it for writing in JAM, a youth magazine she edits; be it running a Job Board; or be it running for a cause.
  
  Lesson Learnt : There's Always Someone Out There To Support You. All You Need To Do Is Ask For A Hand.
  

Well, I hope you liked my theses and if you still haven't subscribed to my RSS feeds, do so immediately as tomorrow, I plan to write about Madhur Kapoor, Sakshi & RamKarthik.

EntreCard Series - How To Make EntreCard Chain Droppers Read Your Blog?

In the EntreCard Series, I'd planned to write an exhaustive collection of articles on everything concerning EntreCard. After explaining how EntreCard works and the concept of chaindroppers, this was a natural question that needed to be answered.

How To Make EntreCard Chain Droppers Read Your Blog?

Despite all the nuances of chain droppers I'd pointed in my previous post, they are very much a part of the daily lives of all the EntreCard users. Here are a few tips on how to make chaindroppers read your blog.

• The very first point that needs mentioning is the design of your blog. The design and flow of your blog should be compelling enough for anyone to feel like stopping and look around the page.
• Try to write quite a few posts on EntreCard and keep them at the top of your blog. However, if they seem to get lost in the archives, later on, showcase those articles in a space around your EntreCard widget such that the links are easily visible to anyone wanting to click on the widget. This is primarily because no EntreCard chain dropper can stop himself if he / she comes across posts on EntreCard itself.
• Always drop cards at the ones who drop on you. This can create interest within the droppers about your blog provided you keep dropping onto their inboxes everyday.
• Always advertise on blogs on your niche & resist dropping cards on blogs that don't belong to your niche. This is because you get most of your EntreCard traffic from the users' inbox or through the ads you have placed.
• Last, but never the least, start out on contests that give out EntreCard credits for prize. This is a win-win situation since you can attract a lot of traffic because of the contests and the prizes (EntreCard Credits) that you dish out are all free.

So, do you too have any more tips to add to this quarry? Do feel free to comment.

Coming Up On EntreCard Series -

1. Great Things About EntreCard.
2. What Make EntreCard Suck?
3. Tips To Make Your Blog Go Places With EntreCard.

If you liked this article and want more on the EntreCard Series, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feeds to avoid missing any future posts

Entrecard Series - Chain Droppers

I had started a series of posts earlier this week where I'd planned to write an exhaustive questionnaire about EntreCard. Last time, I'd answered to the questions What is an EntreCard & how does it work. Today, I plan to write a few lines outlining the idea of chaindropping and how to use the methodology to the best of a blogger's advantage.

What is Chain Dropping & Who is a Chain Dropper?

As I'd mentioned in the last post on EntreCards, the registered members of EntreCard can earn EntreCredits by only five methods -

• Putting up advertisements from others on your own widget.
• Selling ad space or services at the EntreCard shop, in exchange of credits.
• When other people "drop' their cards on yours.
• When you "drop" your card on others.
  
• When someone decides to send some credits to you, in return of love or contests in their blogs or even when he/she might be benefitted by your expertise in the EntreCard Forums.

Now, it is clearly understandable that other than you yourself dropping your card on others by visiting their web pages, you can't use any other method actively without involving others. Since dropping your own card onto others is the easiest way to earn more and fast money (EntreCredits), many EntreCarders just visit other blogs that have the widget, drop their cards and off they go to their next destination. Yes, I know you do earn an extra credit because of that. But other that one single benefit, there are few more darker sides to it as well.

• The values of the advertisements on your blog reduce a lot. If you get paid per impression (page view) then the advertiser gets to shell out much more in return of considerable less. That'll make the advertiser think twice before renewing their contract with you.
• With increased bounce rate, it creates an illusion that a lot of people are reading your blogs whereas in actual there might be very few.
• A lot many of us think of building contests on the blogs, one time or the other. Now, if you happen to start a contest with the illusion of a lot of readers, there just might not be enough participants at the end of the day, sufficient enough for the prize you'd shelled out.

Thus, as we can see, there are both good and evil sides of the same phenomenon. Yet, there are people who keep chaindropping everyday. Thankfully, EntreCard has put a cap of 300 "droppings" per day.

By the way, if you are a chaindropper yourself, how often do you sit back and go through a blog?

Coming Up On EntreCard Series -

1. Who Are Chain Droppers?
2. How To Make EntreCard Chain Droppers Read Your Blog?
3. Great Things About EntreCard.
4. What Make EntreCard Suck?
5. Tips To Make Your Blog Go Places With EntreCard.

If you liked this article and want more on the EntreCard Series, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feeds to avoid missing any future posts

EntreCard Series - All The Dope About EntreCard

What Is EntreCard All About?

Widgets on the sidebar had never been a new thing for the bloggers. Almost every blog has a MyBlogLog widget or a counter showing where the visitors are from or at least a blogroll. This isn't really an uncharted territory. However, EntreCard has almost revolutionized the widget world. The concept of "dropping" started by EntreCard is already a buzz word. It's a great way to push youg blog that extra mile so very much required by the bloggers, especially the new ones, to reach out to new audiences. Moreover, the idea of creating a "visiting card" also sounds pretty cool.

How Does EntreCard Work?

This is truly a little tricky part. However, if you can get through this little detail, life's so much fun in the EntreCard world. Here is a complete showdown on how EntreCard works.

• After you get yourself registered into the website, you end up in a dashboard with a few nuggets of information served to you. the most important part out there is the amount of EntreCredits you possess. Yes, you start off with zero but don't you worry, it's really easy to rake up millions of credits, provided you be patient and have unlimited download limit :-P (I know I'm getting you scared. All I pray is kindly read this article through.)
• EntreCredits are nothing but the currency in the EntreWorld where all transactions, be it advertising on a page, leasing out ad space on your blog or even buying services from a very interesting shop, happen in terms of the same.
• After you register, EntreCard provides you with the code to a little widget that you can publish in your blog.
• Now, here is the dope. This widget that you install is the portal where other bloggers from EntreCard shall advertise in your blog, in exchange of EntreCredits.
• Similarly, you too can buy ad space in others' blog page by leasing out the real estate in exchange of EntreCredits.
• As you can see, this is a great way to publicize your blog without the need to actually shell out any dough. This is almost like the age ol' "link exchange" but more fun and if you are lucky, you just might end up advertising on ProBlogger for as low as 200 EntreCredits :-P
• Now, here's the catch. You can advertise on others' widgets for only one day, rather 24 hours. After 24 hours, you shall have to make way for other publishers. Of course, you can again advertise on the page, but never more than 24 hours at a stretch.
• Moreover, after you apply for advertisement on a certain page, the admin of that page has to approve your request before your ad actually starts showing up on the page.
• For advetising, you are expected to provide for a 125x125 card which is known as the "visiting card" for your blog.
• Moreover, you can even visit other blogs that have the EntreCard widget and click on "Drop Yours" which is a portal through which your drop your card, letting the person know that you'd visited his site. More often than not, he/she shall definitely give you a visit back.
• Every time you "drop" your card, both you and the page holder, where you "drop" your card, get 1 EntreCredits.
• What more, EntreCard community has been growing at a huge rate and it already boasts of over half a million users. So, you got a lot of blogs to advertise on, all for free (for EntreCredits, actually).

Coming Up On EntreCard Series -

1. Who Are Chain Droppers?
2. How To Make EntreCard Chain Droppers Read Your Blog?
3. Great Things About EntreCard.
4. What Make EntreCard Suck?
5. Tips To Make Your Blog Go Places With EntreCard.

If you liked this article and want more on the EntreCard Series, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feeds to avoid missing any future posts.

Video Tutorial - How To Start Blogging On Blogspot?

I was video hopping on YouTube this morning when I suddenly stumbled upon this pretty little video by chrisabraham on "How To Start Blogging On Blogger". Although he'd been working on a version of Blogger that's at least 1 year, it's still pretty good for the current one too. It was hilarious when he tried to show how to upload an image on Blogger but was unsuccessful because of low bandwidth. Also, he'd been accidentally canceling the blockquote while trying to go to a new line. Do watch the video if you want a showdown on how to start blogging and if you're a veteran, still watch it for the kick of it. It's good fun, really.

Automatically Clear Temporary Internet Files In Internet Explorer

A lot of us use shared computers to access the internet, even today. For us, privacy is a major matter of concern. However, after one surfs the net and leaves the computer for other to use, it is hardly rocket science to be able to figure out what the previous person had been browsing. Hence, it is very important to clear the temporary internet files and history before logging out. However, it is a tedious job to clear the data every time one logs out. Hence, here's a wonderful tutorial that shall guide to automate the system on Internet Explorer. Another major browser used today is Mozilla Firefox. However, it is pretty easy to automate the same in Firefox. Here's the tutorial to clear temporary internet files in Internet Explorer.

1. Open your registry (type 'regedit' in the 'Run' dialog box) and find/create the key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache]
2. Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called 'Persistent' using the settings
   Name: Persistent
   Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
   Value: (0 = empty, 1 = do not empty)
3. Now again search for this key
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache]
4. Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called 'Persistent' using the settings
   Name: Persistent
   Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
   Value: (0 = empty, 1 = do not empty)
5. Exit Registry Editor.
6. You might need to restart/log out Windows for the changes to take effect.
   

Format Your Drives In Just One Click

Yes, it's possible. All you need to do is write a code of n lines, n being the number of drives in your machine.

1. Fire up the Notepad by typing "Notepad" in the Run window (Windows key + R).
2. Type the following set of commands :
   format C:/q /y
   format D:/q /y
   format E:/q /y
   format F:/q /y
   
3. Save the file as "Format_Drives.bat" in any location you wish.
4. Now whenever you need to format your drives, just double-click on the batch file and watch the magic unfold.

Things to Remember:

• Do save the file in a safe location so that you don't happen to format your drives just because you double-clicked the wrong file.
• The drive, where your copy of Windows have been installed, cannot be formatted this way. Hence, to avoid complications, do not include the drive letter where the Windows files reside.
• These commands are just a set of simple DOS commands that you can find in almost any decent DOS book.

Do You Have The World's Best Folder Lock Yet?

You just got to try this method out. As the headline boasts, it is the best way you can hide and lock those little personal folders of yours, away from the prying eyes of your partner, parents or even kids. Here it goes -

@ECHO OFF
title Folder Hide
if not exist readme_locker.txt goto readme
if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Personal goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure you want to lock the 'Personal' folder (Y/N)
set /p "cho=>"
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto exit
if %cho%==N goto exit
echo Invalid choice. Try Again.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Personal "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
echo Folder locked
pause
goto exit
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to unlock folder
set /p "pass= >"
attrib -h -s "c:\windows\setup.ecr"
set /p oripass= <>
attrib +h +s "c:\windows\setup.ecr"
if NOT %pass% == %oripass% goto FAIL
attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Personal
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
pause
goto exit
:FAIL
echo Invalid password....
echo If you forgot the password mail me:kpmsivachand@yahoo.com
pause
goto exit
:MDLOCKER
rem echo Enter the name for create a folder to hide:
rem set /p "name= >"
echo Enter the password for hide the 'Personal' folder:
set /p "msg=>"
del "c:\windows\setup.ecr"
cls
echo %msg% >> c:\windows\setup.ecr
attrib +h +s "c:\windows\setup.ecr"
md Personal
echo 'Personal' Folder created successfully ...
echo It is created in the current directory...
pause
goto exit
:readme
echo Readme file created....
echo Follow the procedure according to the readme_locker.txt
echo ================================================>> readme_locker.txt
echo Folderlocker 1.0 (Beta) * README FILE * Nov 22, 2007 >> readme_locker.txt
echo =============================================== >> readme_locker.txt
echo CONTENTS: >> readme_locker.txt
echo 1. What is Folderlocker? >> readme_locker.txt
echo 2. Steps >> readme_locker.txt
echo 1. What is Folderlocker? >> readme_locker.txt
echo ------------------------ >> readme_locker.txt
echo Folder locker is used for the protect a folder with a password. >>readme_locker.txt
echo 2. Steps >> readme_locker.txt
echo -------- >> readme_locker.txt
echo i.Enter the password for hide the 'Personal' folder >> readme_locker.txt
echo ii.Drag the files into 'Personal' folder to protect >> readme_locker.txt
echo iii.Run the folderlocker.exe again >> readme_locker.txt
echo iv.If you want to lock the folder hit 'y' or 'Y' Without Quotes >> readme_locker.txt
echo vi.If you want to retrieve the folder run the folderlocker.exe again >> readme_locker.txt
echo vii.Give the Correct password >> readme_locker.txt
echo ============================================== >>readme_locker.txt
pause

:exit

1. Copy the above code in NotePad or any other text editor and save it as "LockFolder.bat".
2. Run the batch file. This will create a text file called"readme_locker.txt" in the same folder.
3. Again double click on "folderlocker.bat" which now asks to enter a password. Input the password and now you will see a folder created, named "personal".
4. Now copy all the contents you want to hide in this "personal" folder.
5. Again, double click on "folderlocker.bat" which will asks you to press y/n to hide the folder. Press y.
6. That's all. You will see your personal folder is hidden completely and also invisible if you show hidden files and folders.
7. Later, if you want to see the personal folder just click on "folderlocker.bat" which asks to enter the password. Input it and then you the personal folder appears.

Change The Default Address Field Search Engine For Mozilla Firefox

Have you ever tried to input a few keywords on the address bar of Mozilla Firefox, other than typing the whole URL? Well, if you haven't, Firefox, by default, uses the Google search engine to search for those keywords and displays the results. However, if it can find a suitable website that, it feels, is suitable enough, that website shall be loaded.

Now, what if you don't like to use Google search engine? What if you wish to search the web using Yahoo or MSN Live or any other search engine? Here's the tweak.

1. Open up Firefox window and focus on a fresh tab.
2. Type about:config in the address bar.
3. In the text box titled "Filter", search for a key named keyword.URL.
4. Double-Click on that key and you get a dialog box. This is where you need to provide the search string for your favorite search engine.

Here are a few search strings for a few popular search engines that you can use:

• Google - http://www.google.com.sg/search?q=
• MSN Live - http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=
  
• Yahoo - http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=
• Answers.com - http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=
• Ask.com - http://www.ask.com/web?q=
• Gigablast - http://www.gigablast.com/search?k1f=901959&q=
• Rediff - http://search1.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=
• Excite - http://msxml.excite.com/info.xcite/search/web/

Clear Windows Memory With A Single Click

I'm sure all of us have used softwares like FreeRam XP Pro at least once in our lifetime so that we could free the memory available whenever we needed. Well, here's a nifty that'll allow you to clear the memory without the need of any external software. This process also allows you to kill idle processes automatically.

1. Right-Click on your desktop or in any folder where you'd wish to create the shortcut.
2. Select New -> Shortcut.


3. In the text box where you need to specify the location, type %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks.
4. Click on "Next" and name the file as you feel. You can even assign an icon according to your taste. Click "Finish".
5. Now, all you need to do is click on that icon every time your computer starts getting slow.
   

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,

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 -

• #1 : FasterFox
• #2 : Google Browser Sync
• #3 : AdBlock Plus

Mozilla FireFox Plugins : Recommendation #3

Adblock Plus: This is a sweet extension that's gonna clear your woes for advertisements forever.

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 -

• #1 : FasterFox
• #2 : Google Browser Sync
• #4 : StumbleUpon
  

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:

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 -

• #1 : FasterFox
• #3 : AdBlock Plus
• #4 : StumbleUpon

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 :

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 -

• #2 : Google Browser Sync
  
• #3 : AdBlock Plus
• #4 : StumbleUpon

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.

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.

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]" />

Replace the part [URL] with the URL of the icon file that you'd hosted (third step above) and Voila! your favicon is ready. Just click on "Save" and reload your blog page.

Do let me know if this little tutorial works for you. Both rants and raves are welcome.

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!!