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by postneela

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by postneela


Few other utilities that can make your calls cheaper

The software that I tried and I today recommend is Epyxmobile.

The freeware version offers the following features:

  • Call Skype users from your mobile
  • Make international calls from your mobile to any number at SkypeOut rates

The other versions Pro & Net offer more extended features. Well. I haven't used the advanced versions. So I may not be able to comment on how does it fare against iSkoot that we discussed yesterday.

To download the free version of Epyxmobile, click here.

Technorati Tags: Skype, Skype Plugins, Emoticons, VOIP
Tech Blog

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by postneela


Skype Answering Machine [or popularly called SAM]:


SAM is a simple voice answering machine for Skype? users.When you are away from your PC and there is no one to answer your incoming Skype? calls, SAM will pick up the call, play a greeting message and the "all-time clasic beep" so that the calling party will leave a voice recorded message. This application has been developed by Alex Rosenbaum and you can download the application from here.

I have been concentrating mostly on freeware programs. However this shareware is worth a mention- skylook . It is a tiny application that integrates Skype and Outlook. For a small fee, it allows you to record voice-calls and text chats to a special Outlook folder. Today, Skype is used widely in offices and institutions as an alternative to traditional telephone. With these utilities, it will become invincible in the VOIP category. However we have to wait and see what Google has to say to it.

Technorati Tags: Skype, Skype Plugins, Emoticons, VOIP
Tech Blog

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by postneela

I have completed 16 postings and my page hits are close to reaching 1000. May not be great but atleast I think I will get there. I started this blog, knowing it will be a tech blog. But I was uncertain of the topics I was gonna cover.Looks like my site statistics help me decide what to write next on. Well, by the way, I love feedbacks and opinions, so feel free to write to me. You can use the Comment box thats underneath or mail me neela.kaushik@gmail.com

I realised after going through my site statistics, that most of my visitors have landed after doing a google search for messengers/VOIP solutions. And there is one little fraction who keeps hunting for hidden emoticons and audibles. the most popular search that lands people on my webpage is this ONE. Some interesting skype plugins for these users.

You can get interactive faces for Skype animation using CrazyTalk for Skype. The downside is, for you to use this s/w, both the users need to have CrazyTalk installed on their machines. Its just like the SmileyCentral for yahoo.

Here is something I wanna share with u all: It's Commencement Speech at Stanford given by Steve Jobs. A tough fighter, very determined worker and an accomplished CEO, who's where he is today because he followed his heart. He narrates three stories, the third one is so moving and truly thought provoking. This story is around the days when he was detected of cancer[pancreas] and he thought he was almost near death. The script is available here. A small piece of the video: Please give it a minute or two for it to download:

Courtesy: Stanford Report

Technorati Tags: Skype, Skype plugins, Emoticons, VOIP
tech blog

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by postneela

It is nice to know when people read your blog but its a 'nicer' feeling when they acknowledge it by writing back to you. It is an 'out of the world feeling' when the co-founder of an application you mentioned in your blog, takes the time to write to you.

Jeremy Hague,the co-founder of Skylook has sent me a Waxmail . Click here to listen : Message from Jeremy

BTW, Skype 2.0 Beta with Video Calling is available. It has one known bug 1) Calls to SkypeOut numbers are reporting "call failed" rather than "busy" if the recipient?s phone is busy. It is available for download at Download Skype 2.0 Beta.

Technorati Tags: Skype, Skype plugins, Skylook, VOIP

tech blog

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by postneela

Last night, when I had tried accessing my gmail to access resources, I was shocked to find that Gmail was not accessible from my laptop. I tried IE and AOL explorer. However I was able to access Yahoo mail.I tried accessing yahoo mail through the messenger mail alert and not by keying in the mail address.

It was shocking to find gmail down and I had posted my observations on my blog. This morning, as part of my routine, walked with my coffee mug to the desktop computer. Accessed gmail and was working fine. I thought gmail is up and running, finally! Phew!! I have all my project related materials in my gmail. I just realised how dependent I was on Gmail and I have not taken secondary copy.

Ok now, a true techy, is never happy with one gadget. So I just opened my laptop early afternoon. Gosh, I am not able to access Gmail again. Now I try accessing Yahoo mail by keying in the address. Yahoo mail cannot be accessed either. Neither Hotmail nor aol mail. But only on the laptop.

After a brief investigation mode, the techie in me said, hey didnt you turn off the norton internet security on request from Gmail yday. So I just activated and yes I am able to access my email accounts. Sorry Google & Gmail for the mistake. It was norton internet security. He was responsible for the mess. [Wink!!!]

But I still can't explain the Splash Pages I noticed on http://mail.google.com They were very colorful pages that promoted gmail.

Technorati Tags: Gmail, Norton, Gmail down?, Google
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by postneela

John Lenon - The Legend whose Dreams will never Die!

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

-- John Lennon

I would like to remember John Lenon through these lines. They sound so simple, yet only when you delve into the details, you realise how difficult it is to achieve it. But the dream is a 'beautiful' one and I just hope that atleast we live to see this dream. Sounds 'far fetched' again!!! But, would it ever sound 'near and attainable'?
Now again, do I sound pessimistic or is it just a realistic thought?

John Lenon: biography
1940 - 1980

Pop star, composer, songwriter, and recording artist, born in Liverpool, Merseyside, NW England, UK. He was the Beatles rhythm guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist, and a partner in the Lennon--McCartney song-writing team. He married Japanese artist Yoko Ono (1933-- ) - his second marriage - in 1969. Together they invented a form of peace protest by staying in bed while being filmed and interviewed, and the single recorded under the name of The Plastic Ono Band, "Give Peace a Chance' (1969), became the "national anthem' for pacifists. He had five more chart singles between 1971--4, but only "Imagine' (1971) had any immediate impact. On the birth of his son, Sean (1975-- ), he retired from music to become a house-husband. Five years later he recorded "(Just Like) Starting Over', but he was shot and killed by a deranged fan just before its release. His death affected millions of people, record sales soared, and he continues to be admired by new generations of fans.

Technorati Tags: John Lennon, Lennon, Beatles, Imagine
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by postneela

  • G-Mailto: Wanna set Gmail as your default mail program in Windows and not comfortable tweaking the registry yourself. Consider taking the help of G-Mailto v1.32
  • Well ok, if you love plugins, you gotta visit marklyon's website. He hosts a whole bunch of applns : from the one that would allow you to create a To-Do list using your gmail account to the one that allows you to access you Yahoo mails using a POP3 client.
  • Well am in a hurry today ...so will continue tomorrow

Technorati Tags: Gmail, Gmail plugins, Gmail tools, Google

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by postneela

Kaushik and I purchased a brand new 17-inch Powerbook G4 during the Thanksgiving weekend. It's a very sleek looking gadget and is definitely bound to attract a few stares and some attention from strangers. I should say, definitely makes you feel proud, when you parade with it.

A week had only passed by, and Kaushik had bought DVD's. Unfortunately the DVD got stuck and we could not open the drive at all. Like any other geek, we tried 'google' searching for solns to resolve the situation. Looks like its a very common problem. Many users have reported the same issue and have given a few advices that they tried

Here are what we came across:

  1. Reboot holding the mouse button (or mouse left button if you have a multiple buttons mouse); release the button when the CD/DVD pops out
  2. When booting, hold down the command-option-o-f keys simultaneously
    when you see a white screen screen that says ?Welcome to Open Firmware", release the key combination and type in ?eject cd?. After the CD emerges, type mac-boot and hit return to reboot your mac
  3. Ejecting via iTunes
  4. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88068
  5. F12, or Media Eject KeyYou can press the F12 key, also known as the Media Eject key (), located at the top-right corner of the keyboard to eject a disc from the DVD-ROM drive. Press and hold down this key for a few seconds until the drive ejects the disc.

I then called up the Apple Support. They again asked me to repeat the steps mentioned above and it didn't help. I was then adviced to take the Powerbook to the Apple showroom to get it repaired/replaced.

We tried calling up the showroom to find out more details. They said the team [at Genius Bar] were always busy and only go by appointments. Fair enough! We asked for an appointment that Saturday. We were told, since we were not 'Procare' members, we can fix an appointment for Saturday only on Saturday morning and not earlier. We were also informed that, since they are usually very busy during the weekends, we may have to wake up as early as 6:30 a.m to make an appointment for that particular day. We were aghast!!!

For people like my husband, Saturday and Sunday mornings are usually a luxury and they would not wanna trade it for anything. Moreover, we spend a handsome $3000 and not even a week has passed, but facing problems with the product. When we try taking the problem to the customer support, the kinda support we received was apalling. We seriously thought, we would have been better of with a Sony laptop that is also sleek and smart looking one.

We managed to make and appointment that Saturday. The engineer at the 'Genius' Bar were very cordial and nice. They helped us to remove the DVD.

Technorati Tags: Powerbook G4, Apple Powerbook G4's CD Drive, CD drive stuck, Apple Customer Supporttech blog

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by postneela

I guess I almost forgot the existence of this blog until we encountered problems with our G4 powerbook CD-Drive yet again!!! One of my earlier postings was regarding the issues I had with Apple Powerbook G4's CD Drive. The article kinda received protest from Mac fans. I received quite a few emails. Well to all of them, I am encountering the problem once again? What will you have to say?

Yesterday the Powerbook-G4 displayed error message - "Cannot read CD-Drive". We did the 'shut down + Restart' exercise and then we could see the CD Drive once again. Problem resurfaced when we tried burning a CD. It indicated that it would take atleast two hours for the 16 songs to be written to the CD. I first brushed it off saying that it was rubbish. But it kept reading the second song for more than ten minutes. I then forced termination of the process.

I am definitely not happy with the purchase of this Powerbook. Prospective buyers please double check before you decide to invest in this. However I should also tell you, that we have had problems only with the CD Drive so far. Otherwise we have not had any other problems with the product. ;-)

By the way, considering the frequency of the issue and the help required to handle these issues, I have registered a domain name MacCustomerSupport.com. It is available for sale!

Technorati Tags: Powerbook G4, Apple Powerbook G4's CD Drive, CD drive stuck, Apple Customer Support, tech blog, MacCustomerSupport.com

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by postneela

So have you felt that your office is interfering with one of your basic freedom or basic right - the right to communicate to your friend. The firewall does not allow you to log into any of your favorite messengers. You should then try meebo.com

By the way, I have undergone SOX sessions. So I should also put forth the disclaimer. Though it does sound fun to sneak in through this website, pl remember your company has a very good reason to ban the access to these applications. They can pose considerable threat to information security. Be careful! you can have your internet access revoked or some companies take it even more seriously. They can even terminate you.

Technorati Tags: Messenger, Office Access, Tech Blog

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by postneela

Microsoft IE 7.0 beta is available for download. Yes, it is still in beta and is in a testing phase with developers. For all early adopters like me, it is available for download here.

A few observations I have:

Since it is better you note the cons before you download [Remember its just a beta, so the objective is not to get critical but keep my readers informed]

  1. When I try clicking on a web link from my Microsft Outlook, you will have to explicitly associate the web links and IE atleast the first time, though IE has always been my default
    browser.
  2. I am not sure how heavy the application is and how taxing it can get on your system. Especially when I am editing this blog, I notice a perceptible lag between the action initiation and acual task completion. [even for a 'delete' to happen, it takes a second or more extra]

The nice things that will definitely put a smile on your face:

  1. Very appealing look and feel. I would say "It looks neat, crisp and visually very appealling".
  2. If one reason you preferred another browser to IE was because IE didn't have tabbed browsing, its a thing of the past. IE 7.0 allows tabbed browsing
  3. The toolbar is thinner and giving more space for website content.
  4. Also the toolbar's design makes it less conspicuous and therefore the website you browse, gets all the attention
  5. It also provides a built-in search box and you can choose your favorite search engine
  6. It also boasts an in-built feed reader
  7. Looks like they have built some security against phishing websites

Contrary to the fact, that IE enhancements always accompanies OS version improvements, Bill Gates announced an updated version of IE 7 to be released, without waiting for the next version of Windows to hit the market.

This version has a whole load of responsibilities:

  1. The recent security leaks almost has lead people to consider IE itself as a security threat. IE may have to deliver itself against all these security attacks.
  2. Netscape has announced a re-entry. IE will have to get stronger if they have to face this once upon a time strong player.
  3. Most importantly it has to snatch back the market-share it lost to Firefox.

Lets see if IE proves itself again or is it too late?


Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Internet Explorer, IE,IE 7.0, Tech Blog

This post originally appeared on an external website

by postneela



Sabeer Bhatia is back in action! For guys who don't know him, he was the guy behind Hotmail, and later sold it to Microsoft for a whooping USD 400 million!

He is now entering the much touted and flourishing segment "VOIP" with his product Voifi. He also has solutions for the booming blog world. BlogEverywhere.allows you to read and write comments on any web page as you surf the net. Also has a Hotmail enhancer that allows email downloading for better performance and an Outlook-like preview function that allows an entire mail message to be viewed directly in the Inbox.

Thanks Ramki for letting me know about Voifi.

Just got curious to know what this Indian Entrepreneur is upto these days.

Sabeer Bhatia is now working on at least 5 new projects:

Navin.com, India's largest provider of Voice Mail services

BlogEverywhere.com, allows you to read and write comments on any web page as you surf the net. Also has a Hotmail enhancer that allows email downloading for better performance and an Outlook-like preview function that allows an entire mail message to be viewed directly in the Inbox.

InstaColl.com, a contextual collaboration solution.

Hotseasons.com, a travel website that will focus on hotel ratings.

VoiFi.com, a project using VOIP

telixo.com, A project that turns your mobile phone into a personal organiser


Technorati Tags: Sabeer Bhatia, Voifi, VOIP,Entrepreneur, Tech Blog

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