Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
How to Install the new Rupee symbol on your PC
If you wish to install the new rupee symbol on your PC here is a simple step by step solution to it
There are steps to this
1) Install the fonts from the internet. Click this link to go to the download page. You will get a page like the figure shown below
You should have a screen like the figure below
Now click on "Appearances and themes" shown in a red circle above. Yo will get a new screen, Click "Fonts" on the top left corner of the screen
There are steps to this
1) Install the fonts from the internet. Click this link to go to the download page. You will get a page like the figure shown below
2) Download the font file and save it to your PC. The downloaded file looks like the figure below
3) Now that you have downloaded the font file you just have to install it on your PC
From start menu Go to control panel as shown below
If you get a screen like the one shown below, click on the link on the top left corner of the page
Now click on "Appearances and themes" shown in a red circle above. Yo will get a new screen, Click "Fonts" on the top left corner of the screen
You will get a screen showing all the fonts installed on your computer.
Now copy the original font file you had downloaded and paste it in the screen on some blank area.
The new font file will already be installed once you paste it there.
You are good to go now.
To use Rupee symbol in Microsoft word document, open new office document when you wish to use to use rupee symbol. Select Rupees Foradian as chosen font and press acent symbol (') key
yes you were robbed by Microsoft
If you are in India and have bought a PC or a notebook computer in your life, you would not have thought much about which operating system to use before you bought them.
There are two kind of buyers in India when it comes to computers
1) Assembled PC
2) Branded PC and Notebooks
If you have bought an assembled PC i can bet you did not busy and authentic licensed software with it, let alone the operating system.
If you bought a branded one you were lucky that you did not have to busy the OS (operating system), the company gave it for free.
In the later you were fooled by multinationals like Microsoft.
Most of us never recognize that the most important part of a computer is the operating system, and there are tens of different operating systems available in the market.
There are two kind of OS
1) Licensed (Microsoft and Apple's)
You have to pay for these, and most of the applications that can be later used with them
2) Open Source (Unix and Linux)
These are absolutely free, in fact the OS disc is shipped to your place for free.
But who needs open source OS like Linux when you get Windows preloaded on you Laptop for free?
There are two answers to this
1) Like 99% of the buyers you don't know you have paid(between 6 to 8 thousand) for that preloaded OS
2) Like 99% of the users you would end up loosing the licensed copy of your OS, thus loosing the money you paid for it.
Microsoft have pacts with all the major laptop manufacturers and are selling their OS through these laptops.
Earlier there were Acer Laptops available in the market with UNIX OS which were 7 to 8 thousand cheaper compared to their counterparts loaded with Windows. But thanks to Microsoft these are not available anymore.
Today If you buy any brand of Laptop you end up buying Windows 7. Whether you want it or not.
The Windows OS loaded on the Laptop is a genuine copy and you have to activate it with the activation key so that it is registered to you in Microsoft databases.
Secondly you have to make a backup disk of the OS from which you can recover your authentic licensed OS if your system crashes.
BUT Most of us never do the registration and do not know how to create a backup disk. So as soon as we opt for formatting the Laptop we end up loosing our Genuine copy and become software pirates, as the new OS loaded is from some pirated OS disc.
Here is my personal experience.
I bought a dell Laptop preloaded with arguably the crappiest OS made by Microsoft, Windows Vista.( Those of you who have used Vista know my pain.)
The laptop vendor never told me that i have to activate the OS and how to make a backup disk.
One day my laptop crashed and could not boot anymore.
As i did not have a Vista bootable installation disc i opted for windows Xp. Thus i installed a pirated copy of Windows Xp. One day i tried to activate or to check whether my copy was genuine, but to my disappointment my copy was not genuine, and after 60 days without any warning, Microsoft Blocked my OS. All i could see was the Black screen of death. So i had to re-install an OS on my Laptop.
Thus i ended up loosing the 7 thousand i paid for the OS. and precious data. Thanks to the thankless laptop vendors and tech support department
Next time if you wish to save some money on OS. Get a laptop with UNIX installed on it and later upgrade the OS to LINUX. You can always buy Windows 7 later if you are not comfortable with LINUX.
There are two kind of buyers in India when it comes to computers
1) Assembled PC
2) Branded PC and Notebooks
If you have bought an assembled PC i can bet you did not busy and authentic licensed software with it, let alone the operating system.
If you bought a branded one you were lucky that you did not have to busy the OS (operating system), the company gave it for free.
In the later you were fooled by multinationals like Microsoft.
Most of us never recognize that the most important part of a computer is the operating system, and there are tens of different operating systems available in the market.
There are two kind of OS
1) Licensed (Microsoft and Apple's)
You have to pay for these, and most of the applications that can be later used with them
2) Open Source (Unix and Linux)
These are absolutely free, in fact the OS disc is shipped to your place for free.
But who needs open source OS like Linux when you get Windows preloaded on you Laptop for free?
There are two answers to this
1) Like 99% of the buyers you don't know you have paid(between 6 to 8 thousand) for that preloaded OS
2) Like 99% of the users you would end up loosing the licensed copy of your OS, thus loosing the money you paid for it.
Microsoft have pacts with all the major laptop manufacturers and are selling their OS through these laptops.
Earlier there were Acer Laptops available in the market with UNIX OS which were 7 to 8 thousand cheaper compared to their counterparts loaded with Windows. But thanks to Microsoft these are not available anymore.
Today If you buy any brand of Laptop you end up buying Windows 7. Whether you want it or not.
The Windows OS loaded on the Laptop is a genuine copy and you have to activate it with the activation key so that it is registered to you in Microsoft databases.
Secondly you have to make a backup disk of the OS from which you can recover your authentic licensed OS if your system crashes.
BUT Most of us never do the registration and do not know how to create a backup disk. So as soon as we opt for formatting the Laptop we end up loosing our Genuine copy and become software pirates, as the new OS loaded is from some pirated OS disc.
Here is my personal experience.
I bought a dell Laptop preloaded with arguably the crappiest OS made by Microsoft, Windows Vista.( Those of you who have used Vista know my pain.)
The laptop vendor never told me that i have to activate the OS and how to make a backup disk.
One day my laptop crashed and could not boot anymore.
As i did not have a Vista bootable installation disc i opted for windows Xp. Thus i installed a pirated copy of Windows Xp. One day i tried to activate or to check whether my copy was genuine, but to my disappointment my copy was not genuine, and after 60 days without any warning, Microsoft Blocked my OS. All i could see was the Black screen of death. So i had to re-install an OS on my Laptop.
Thus i ended up loosing the 7 thousand i paid for the OS. and precious data. Thanks to the thankless laptop vendors and tech support department
Next time if you wish to save some money on OS. Get a laptop with UNIX installed on it and later upgrade the OS to LINUX. You can always buy Windows 7 later if you are not comfortable with LINUX.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
To hell with those quizzes
Many of you would have anticipated that I am talking about Facebook quizzes. These quiz are so annoying and omnipresent. Imagine getting up in the morning and reading on your page "Mr. XYZ answered the question-'What brand of condom are you'", Imagine the frustration, I mean why should i be interested to know that what brand of condom would i be if i were a condom!
There are loads of such rubbish applications on Facebook but these 'create your own quiz' apps beats every other app hands down when it comes to non-nonsensicalness. Most of the time people take these quiz and often or almost always publish these results. My main page is filled with such clutters. For god's sake i am not interested in knowing how many children would you have, especially if you are a teenager killing time on Facebook. 99% of the quiz are so lame and the options are so crappy that a sensible person will feel like banging his head against the wall. But to my surprise many of the geeks and learned youngsters take these quiz just to kill time.
Companies like TCS and Infosys are churning out more quizzes than line of codes every week, thanks to the talented employee who loves his company and don't mind spending a few extra hours after the shift is over ;)
There is an add-on launched for tackling these annoying quizzes
There are loads of such rubbish applications on Facebook but these 'create your own quiz' apps beats every other app hands down when it comes to non-nonsensicalness. Most of the time people take these quiz and often or almost always publish these results. My main page is filled with such clutters. For god's sake i am not interested in knowing how many children would you have, especially if you are a teenager killing time on Facebook. 99% of the quiz are so lame and the options are so crappy that a sensible person will feel like banging his head against the wall. But to my surprise many of the geeks and learned youngsters take these quiz just to kill time.
Companies like TCS and Infosys are churning out more quizzes than line of codes every week, thanks to the talented employee who loves his company and don't mind spending a few extra hours after the shift is over ;)
There is an add-on launched for tackling these annoying quizzes
GreaseMonkey.
This greasemonkey script removes all messages posted by applications to your homepage. It gets rid of messages about quizes etc, basically all messages from any applications created by external developers. Just leaving messages from the original facebook apps such as status updates, wall posts, links, notes, photos, etc behind
Steps:
1. You have to be a Firefox user in order to makes this thing work. If you are not, get it here.2. Install GreaseMonkey addon to your Firefox3. Click here to Install the Facebook Purity GreaseMonkey script
and a humble appeal, please do not publish the results of those quizzes unless they are remotely interesting to anyone except you.
Download acceleration. Do I need it or not?
There were days when you had to worry about your download speed; most people used downloading accelerating software to make sure they get the fastest download. But these days downloading content from the web is so simple, with all these new browsers.
Today most of the browsers have built –in download managers and you can manage multiple downloads with Firefox or Chrome without having to struggle with numerous download windows. These browsers also suppose pause and resume functionality. So what should you do? Should you use the download accelerator or should you simply use the browser?
There is no need to maintain a separate accelerating software if you have these browsers. You don’t have to worry about download speed while downloading your files with your browser, these days browsers make sure that you get the best download speed. There is not much difference in the download speed achieved with accelerating software and with a browser.
But there is one thing to consider before you decide to uninstall you download acceleration software. Though the browsers support pause and resume during download, often the links get broken when you pause the download, and you get a broken file downloaded as soon as you resume the download, and you have to start all over again. Moreover you could not pause your download and close your browser let alone your computer, for continuing in next session. Most download accelerating software provide resume facility, which enables you to resume the unfinished download even after months.
The single most prominent problem that stops most of the people from using browser’s download manager is the difficulty in finding the files after they have downloaded. Most would like to download a song directly to a folder containing their music but can’t figure out how, damn browser!
Here are the steps to configure your browser so that I will ask you where to save the downloaded file and won’t save it directly to some covert location.
For Firefox
Go to Tools>> Options>>
You will get a screen like this
Now select “Save files to” to always save downloaded files to selected location, or select “Always ask me…”. If you select the second options Firefox will always ask you where to save a downloaded file.
For Google Chrome
Click on the small wrench in the top right corner of the browser
You will get a screen like this
Click on options and you will get a popup screen like this
Click on the third tab called "Under the hood", now scroll down. You will see a small section labelled Downloads. Select any one of the option. If you want chrome to ask you every time, check the small check-box shown in red circle. You are good to go now ;)
Monday, December 27, 2010
Successful business from social media
Ever heard of GroupOn ?
The name rhymes with "Coupons" didn't it?
Still have no idea?
They sell Coupons
Doh!! Big deal! My 12 year old nephew sells coupons. So what?
Did your nephew get a $6 Billion buy out offer from Google?
Yes that's true, Groupon is an American company which has made fortune from social media, both for them as well as their clients. Groupon was established in 2008 and in only two years they have made this stand for themselves. according to a market projection Groupon would be the company which would have earned a billion dollar in the shortest time! Cool for a new venture, ain't it. They have grown their organization to a point where they only need to acquire new firms working in their business sector.
How do they work
They are the global local giant in social marketing now. What does that mean? They are a global company which is tapping the potential of local marketing. The idea was brilliantly implemented and here they are.
Groupon opens up a branch in a big city, the staff of the branch study and pick out the local businesses which can take advantage of their services. Then they advertise the services or products of the company on the groupon website. Now when you go on the groupOn website and select the city which you are interested in you see the deal of the day , this deal is specially designed for the groupon customers and discounts upto 85% are given on the services or products. Groupon does not directly charge the local business clients, they take a cut in the profit, Often upto 50%.
How do they figure out the amount of customers they have generated
As i said you get the deal of the day on the GroupOn website, When you are interested in a deal (for example 50% off on steaks and sausages at some local barbecue) you buy the coupons for the deal. You pay the price of the coupon to groupOn through your credit card and recieve a coupon. You take the coupon to the local service provider (barbecue shop) and take the service or products (eat a hearty meal ;))
Ooh ooh I am interested too. I want to start my own GroupOn.
Go ahead and do it. Only don't expect the same kind of revenue they generate. One of the many reason for that is - Their is no entry barrier . If you have 1 lakh rupees any software company can develop a groupOn for you. No wonder there are already 500 online businesses trying to repeat the success of Groupon, 200 of these are in China alone. here is a list of few copycats ;)
I am a local business owner and want to take advantage of this new kind of marketing platform
Go ahead there are a few online business already operating in India, mydala, grabbon and wanamo are some of them. But while Groupon generates thousands of customers every day for their clients, the Indian counterparts are lagging behind. On an average they are making 25 to 50 deals every day. That is not good enough by any standard. The providers in India are just copying
GroupOn that's a big problem. A large part of groupOn customers are educated young females in their 30's who spend a lot of time on the internet, so their feature healthcare, healthy living, beauty care products more.
In India the women in their 30's don't have the same kind of access to internet, Inian providers have to understand that. So wait until these provides are more mature.
Hopefully the local marketing culture will catch up and both service providers and local businesses will be able to take full advantage of the system.
The name rhymes with "Coupons" didn't it?
Still have no idea?
They sell Coupons
Doh!! Big deal! My 12 year old nephew sells coupons. So what?
Did your nephew get a $6 Billion buy out offer from Google?
Yes that's true, Groupon is an American company which has made fortune from social media, both for them as well as their clients. Groupon was established in 2008 and in only two years they have made this stand for themselves. according to a market projection Groupon would be the company which would have earned a billion dollar in the shortest time! Cool for a new venture, ain't it. They have grown their organization to a point where they only need to acquire new firms working in their business sector.
How do they work
They are the global local giant in social marketing now. What does that mean? They are a global company which is tapping the potential of local marketing. The idea was brilliantly implemented and here they are.
Groupon opens up a branch in a big city, the staff of the branch study and pick out the local businesses which can take advantage of their services. Then they advertise the services or products of the company on the groupon website. Now when you go on the groupOn website and select the city which you are interested in you see the deal of the day , this deal is specially designed for the groupon customers and discounts upto 85% are given on the services or products. Groupon does not directly charge the local business clients, they take a cut in the profit, Often upto 50%.
How do they figure out the amount of customers they have generated
As i said you get the deal of the day on the GroupOn website, When you are interested in a deal (for example 50% off on steaks and sausages at some local barbecue) you buy the coupons for the deal. You pay the price of the coupon to groupOn through your credit card and recieve a coupon. You take the coupon to the local service provider (barbecue shop) and take the service or products (eat a hearty meal ;))
Ooh ooh I am interested too. I want to start my own GroupOn.
Go ahead and do it. Only don't expect the same kind of revenue they generate. One of the many reason for that is - Their is no entry barrier . If you have 1 lakh rupees any software company can develop a groupOn for you. No wonder there are already 500 online businesses trying to repeat the success of Groupon, 200 of these are in China alone. here is a list of few copycats ;)
I am a local business owner and want to take advantage of this new kind of marketing platform
Go ahead there are a few online business already operating in India, mydala, grabbon and wanamo are some of them. But while Groupon generates thousands of customers every day for their clients, the Indian counterparts are lagging behind. On an average they are making 25 to 50 deals every day. That is not good enough by any standard. The providers in India are just copying
GroupOn that's a big problem. A large part of groupOn customers are educated young females in their 30's who spend a lot of time on the internet, so their feature healthcare, healthy living, beauty care products more.
In India the women in their 30's don't have the same kind of access to internet, Inian providers have to understand that. So wait until these provides are more mature.
Hopefully the local marketing culture will catch up and both service providers and local businesses will be able to take full advantage of the system.
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