Archive for July, 2007

Gmail is one of the most popular email services out there. In a short time it has overthrown hotmail, yahoo etc. Why did this happen? Simple - Gmail is very user friendly and offers unmatched feature set.

Organizing mails with Gmail is easy. Google provides a couple of features for this.

1. Use filters/labels - I use filtering and labels to organize mails in virtual folders. This way I ensure that only critical mails end up in my inbox.

2. Use POP3 access - You can configure Outlook or other email clients by enabling POP3 access. This is useful when you need offline access to your mails.

3. Use Gmail Mail Fetcher - This is the most useful feature I found. Using this, you can aggregate mails from other sources such as your official mail. For this to work, your mail provider also must support POP3 access.

Gmail mail fetcher can be configured from Settings->Accounts->Get mail from other accounts. Following is a sample screenshot. You need to know the username, password and POP3 server address to configure your external account.

Please note that this is of no use with accounts such as Yahoo mail which doesn’t support POP3 access.

Many popular Websites use captchas to prevent automated signups. The idea is to have a test which only humans can answer. Almost all captchas used now are image based. The user is asked to type in a word displayed on the screen. These days many of these sites offer alternate mechanisms such as audio for people with visual disability.

This week I was on vacation and I thought I will just go through the captchas of most popular Websites. What I found was a wide range of visual captchas. Some of these are difficult even for a human! These are listed in alphabetical order.

The following sites were selected from the list of Top 500 Websites by Alexa.

alibaba.com - This is a simple captcha and I think it will be easy to write a program to decode this!

bebo.com - Another simple captcha with plain background. Note that some letters are incomplete, but still readable.

craigslist.com - A captcha easy for humans, difficult for programs.

del.icio.us - Simple captcha with dizzying background.

digg.com - This is a tough one even for humans. Well, a lot of guys will be trying to break this!

facebook.com - Can it be more difficult than this? Tough for humans and machines.

fotolog.com - Note how the background makes automatic detection almost impossible. Good one.

friendster.com - Huh? Fun even in captchas? Nice one.

gmail.com - The captcha looks very simple. The trick is that they use different fonts and styles for every pageload!

icq.com - Interesting background! Note that some letters are grouped while others are not.

livejournal.com - Another tough one, even for humans! Note that typing in ‘Audio’ enables an audio test!

lycos.com - What the? can you read it? They even have their site name on the captcha!

metacafe.com - Ugly, but very effective.

live.com - Typical microsoft stuff. Lot of bells and whistles, but difficult to read!

netlog.com - Note how the thickness variation makes it difficult even for humans.

piratebay.org - Even the pirates have got a nice captcha with a threatening black background.

reddit.com - Another difficult captcha. Sometime almost impossible to read.

rediff.com - A simple captcha which is easier to read, but I guess can be cracked with code.

xanga.com - Clever one with random lines connecting letters.

yahoo.com - Another captcha using the random lines connecting letters.

It is almost 10 months since I started this blog. When I chose Globat as my host, I was a bit skeptical about their service. But after 10 months, I can say that Globat has one of the best network backbones out there. In this post, I will look at some of the best features of Globat hosting.

1. Amazing uptime - As far as I know there was no downtime in last 10 months! It sound unbelievable, but I think downtime is extremely rare with Globat.

2. Super strong network - This blog was digged and stumbled. But even with 80K+ visitors on a single day, this site was up and running! This site uses WP-cache plugin, but still it is very impressive!

3. Excellent support - I normally use the online chat for support requests. Most of the time queries were answered in 1 minute! When they are unable to resolve the problem, they raise a ticket for you and it gets resolved in few hours!

The above 3 features alone makes Globat irresistable! The downside is that some of the one click installs are not upto date. But then you can install them manually. Also there is no shell access, which in turn ensures that there aren’t many shared hosting problems that you encounter.

Ruby language is one of the most elegant computer languages out there. You can write highly efficient code with Ruby. It is also very popular and bagged the programming language of the year award in 2006! In this post, I will look at the free ebooks available for Ruby.

1. Programming Ruby, The Pragmatic Programmer’s Guide - This is one of the best free ebooks available for Ruby. The first edition of this book is available online. A copy of this book is also included in the Ruby language download. I would suggest this as the first book for learning Ruby.

2. Mr. Neighborly’s Humble Little Ruby Book - This is a short treatise on the Ruby language, covering language basics and some library functions. PDF version of this ebook (144 pages) can be downloaded after registering at the site.

3. Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby - This is an interesting Ruby book and is available online. This e-book covers Ruby in deep, but not everyone may like the novel type style used. It is also the funniest book I have read so far. You can also download a PDF version here.

4. The Little Book of Ruby - Supposed to be the “fastest and the easiest way to learn Ruby by example”, this book is available as a PDF download. You can also download sample code used in the book. Data structures are explained in detail.

5. Learning Ruby - This book is still in development and covers the basics. You can read the book online or download a zipped version.

6. Ruby user’s guide - The ultimate reference to the Ruby language and covers the language in depth. This can be read online.

7. Ruby Quick Reference - This is a single page quick reference guide to Ruby. This is an ideal reference to keep beside your desk.

8. A little ruby, a lot of objects - This is a Ruby book under construction. The chapters are available as PDF. This book covers the language from the object oriented viewpoint.

9. Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Ruby - This is a book on data structures and algorithms. The language used for examples is Ruby. Use this book once you have learned the basics of Ruby language. You can read this book online.

We are beginning to see the results of FeedBurner acquisition by Google. Recently they had released the “pro” features such as stats PRO and Mybrand to the free world. This was understandable since the main revenue generation mechanism has to be the FeedBurner Ad Network!

Now they are providing FeedBurner integration with BlogSpot blogs! This means that if you have a BlogSpot blog, you can redirect the default feed to FeedBurner. This allows for a single feed stream and tracking your feed visitors is easier!

To configure all feed traffic to go through FeedBurner, add the FeedBurner URL in Site Settings -> Site Feed -> Post Feed Redirect URL field. This ensures that any feed access is redirected to FeedBurner.

What happens when FeedBurner tries to access feed? Well, BlogSpot can detect this from user agent and disable redirection only for FeedBurner server access!

Now the next thing I expect is the integration of FeedBurner Ad Network with Adsense. What they can do is to roll out FAN to all the existing Adsense publishers. Currently FAN is open to only select few who has more than 1000 or so feed subscribers.

You can easily add Adsense units to a WordPress blog by editing the template files. But the problem with this approach is that you will not get any control on the individual posts. For example, sometimes you may need a referral ad to be inserted in a specific post.

Now if you directly insert Adsense tags in your post, you will find that they are changed to garbage by tinyMCE editor. Even if you turn off tinyMCE, Adsense units won’t work! This is due to the post content processing by filters.

There are numerous Adsense plugins for WordPress available out there which lets you add Adsense units inside a post. But in this post, I will look at a different plugin. It is called “Script Enabler”. This plugin allows you to embedd script tags inside a post by disabling filter processing on script tags. The advantage here is that after enabling this plugin, you can simply copy paste the Adsense ad unit code into your post!

Download Script Enabler plugin for WordPress.

PixelPost is a PHP/MySQL based blogging software exclusively for photo bloggers. It is an ideal choice if you are planning to host a “photo only” blog. It supports automatic thumbnail generation, pluggable themes and a good collection of cool addons.

WSS Boxy theme is based on the Simple theme included as part of default PixelPost installation. It is modified to give a “boxy” feel and other additions include thumbnail preview and inline comment boxes. Also an RSS feed icon is added on the main menu.

Download WSS Boxy theme (version 1.0) for PixelPost. Extract the zip file into templates folder of PixelPost and select WSS Boxy as theme. Check out the theme preview image below.

Please note that this theme is designed for PixelPost version 1.6. But it should be backward compatible as well. I have tested this theme on Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Got any comments or feature requests? Do post a comment and I will get back to you.

It appears that Orkut is a victim of its own success! There are lot people who wants a complete ban on Orkut access. Already many countries have blocked Orkut access completely. Here are some examples,

1. Orkut is banned in UAE following allegations that it promotes “immorality”. Many in gulf countries believe that Orkut has a “corrupting influence on youth”.

2. Religious fanatics in India (Siva Sena and the like) is calling for a ban on Orkut. They want a ban because some of their heros are not very respected in some communities. In fact they went on to vandalize cybercafes in Mumbai.

3. Most of the companies already ban Orkut. They feel that “employee productivity” is seriously affected due to Orkut access.

The most funny thing is that there are millions of sites worse than Orkut in all the above cases. There are a lot of shocking “immoral” sites out there on the internet. There are dedicated hate sites against everyone. Every day sites are popping up which can be hardly called “productivity boosting”. Why is that only Orkut is targetted?

The reason is obvious. Orkut is an internet phenomenon. Many people use it to connect to friends, organize birthday parties and because of its “social factor”. The only thing is, not everyone is happy to see smiling faces all around!

Another funny thing is people who are smart enough will find ways to circumvent the ban. There are millions of proxy sites out there and every day you have thousand new ones popping up!

Cancer is a deadly disease and currently over 13% of deaths in the world happen due to it. Cancer disease is not due to any viruses or bacteria. Cancer is the abnormal and rapid multiplication of body cells which eventually shuts down the organ affected. Cancer is deadly since it can spread throughout the body (a process known as metastasis). In this article, I will look at 5 cancer facts you must be aware of.

1. Cancer prevention is possible - It is estimated that 40% of cancers can be prevented. Scientists are not clear as to what exactly causes cancer. But it is found that chances of getting cancer can be reduced by adopting healthy lifestyle. This includes avoiding excessive drinking, not smoking and ensuring adequate physical exercise. Another possible factor for increased cancer rate is the excessive use of pesticides.

2. Cancer can affect any body part - Cancer is not limited to any specific body part. It can affect any organ, including brain,breast, liver, lungs, kidney, tongue and blood. When cancer becomes advanced, it can spread to other organs from the primary area. At this stage, treatment may not give any benefit.

3. Cancer affects elderly most - Ageing is a major factor in the development of cancer. It is found that incidence of cancer increases dramatically with age due to the cell weakness and accumulation of risk factors.

4. Cancer is curable, only if it is detected early - Many types of cancers can be cured if it is detected in an early stage. Typically this involves surgery on the affected body part.

5. Cancer treatment can be painful - Cancer treatment sometimes is worse than the disease itself as the treatment mechanisms such as chemotherapy and radiation is painful. Treatment of secondary stage cancers are not very effective and may prolong life at the cost of increased suffering. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are associated with a lot of side effects. Newer drugs are more effective, but usually helpful only in prolonging life and are generally very costly.

Some cancer facts/figures

1. Cancer starts with a single malignant cell.

2. There are over 100 types of cancers affecting various body parts.

3. Of 58 million deaths worldwide in 2005, cancer is the cause for 7.6 million deaths.

4. Lung cancer is the biggest killer and causes over 20% of cancer deaths.

5. It is estimated that in 2030, 11.5 million will die due to cancer.

6. Enormous amount of money is invested every year in cancer research. For example, American national cancer institute alone spend over $4.8 billion in 2005.

Links on Cancer disease
Wikipedia article on cancer
American National Cancer Institute

Movies are a powerful medium and I think they do have the potential to change people. In fact one movie which made me choose my career path is Terminator 2. It may sound silly, but after watching terminator 2, I decided to learn computer programming and years later I find myself to be a programmer!

In this post, I will look at 3 powerful movies which probably would have affected/changed a lot of people.

1. Forrest Gump - If you haven’t seen this movie, I suggest you rent a DVD and watch it today. It is one of the powerful movies I have seen and I think would have influenced a lot of people.

Forrest Gump (starring toms hank) is mentally challenged. He is also a simple, honest and innocent man. Surprisingly his honesty and innocence alone takes him through life and he accomplishes great things in life. The film superimposes important american events from 1950s with his life.

Some may say that it is unrealistic, but the movie is highly inspiring.

2. American Beauty - American beauty shows what is meant by “modern dysfunctional family”. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a middle aged man living a rather boring life in the suburbs. His personal/professional life is in ruins and one day he realizes it and decides to do something about it. The only problem is that he ends up dead.

One character which I found very interesting is Ricky Fitts. Here are some quotes from the movie which I found very interesting,

Lester Burnham: Remember those posters that said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life?” Well, that’s true with every day except one: the day that you die.

Lester Burnham: I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time… For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars… And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street… Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper… And the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand new Firebird… And Janie… And Janie… And… Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me… but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday.

3. SiCKO - This is technically not a movie. It is a documentary by Michael Moore which looks at the bad side of american healthcare. It is shocking and at the same time shows that there are a lot people who require help from society - even in america!

Tony Benn: If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people.

SiCKO is released last week and it is yet to see what sort of impact it will have on people. But one thing is sure, even hardcore moore haters may applaud after the movie.

Trailers
Forrest Gump Trailer

American Beauty Trailer

Sicko Trailer