[Windows Tip] Create virtual drives for any path or directory

Here is a tip which I explored today during my experiments with command prompt. You can create or say map a virtual drive to any directory in Windows Vista. Suppose you may want to create a short mapping for a long path such as D:\Users\s\game\dir1
C:\> SUBST Z: D:\Users\s\game\dir1
C:\> Z:
Z:\> "This is pointing to the above directory"
To remove the mapping, use the following option -
c:\> SUBST Z: /D
This is like mount points in linux/unix which are basically pointers.

[Windows Tip] Quick launch shortcut keys

Today, I discovered that on Windows Vista/7 you can select an application in quick launch bar by using the combination of Window key plus number. Suppose for the first icon (here command prompt), you can do Win key + 1, for next Win+2 and so on. This shortcut is very helpful and productive on netbooks and laptops which are compact in terms of ergonomics.
I have not checked it on XP machine whether it is working there or not. Please comment your experience on XP for the same command.
Keep on visiting this blog for such tips and random articles on technology. Thanks for your time and I hope it will be helpful in someways for you.

erail.in – find your trains quickly

The first look at erail is amazing, you would be surprise by its one page interface. Select your source, destination and date of travel. It will list down all the trains available and timings, availability against them in a matrix styled table. You can sort the result, can enquire anything you like very quickly.

The way of presentation of information is one of the best in its class. The feature I like the most are –

1. All information on one page, no more back and forward again and again.
   
2. Matrix style reporting - You can sort any column according to your need.
   
3. Fast and requires less number of clicks to get final information.
   
4. Non-clumsy interface, no ads in between the content to disturb you.
   

Finally but not the last, you can also search for buses here if your destinations doesn't have train route.

Oracle + Sun = Sheer RAW Power

Oracle buy Sun

Surprise, the biggest enterprise software maker Oracle corp. is acquiring Sun Microsystem Inc. for approx. $7.4B after the failure of IBM-Sun deal. Now the #1 Relational Database giant will be not just more powerful by taking extremely widespread product ranges like Java/MySQL/SPARC Hardware Platform/Solaris but also it is going to be biggest in hardware market, database market and in enterprise software.

Microsoft's CEO Balmer is also shocked by this deal because currently they holds first position as enterprise software vendor, now their competitor is just get more power and force.

Other big impact will be in RDBMS market - already being number one will also have MySQL (choice of Web) as addin by getting Sun. Both database has its own features for which they stand up separate. Overall capability is now increase which will allow Oracle to fight it's top competitors - IBM's DB2, Sybase and MS SQL Server.

In hardware market, Oracle already has allied with Hewlett Packard and Dell to deliver computing platform to handle end-to-end data processing solutions. Now with Sun, and their Sparc architecture they will fullfill their wish to own hardware platform.

As an Oracle DBA, the following looks interesting to me -

The Sun Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database, Oracle’s largest business, and has been for a long time. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimize the Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris. Oracle is as committed as ever to Linux and other open platforms and will continue to support and enhance our strong industry partnerships.

So we can expect a better and tightly integrated with Solaris release of Oracle database soon. :)

Sources:

1. http://www.sun.com/third-party/global/oracle/index.jsp

2. http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/018363

Protect Email Id from spammers

You might have seen on several pages that people use to encrypt (not exactly) their email id in contact pages to hide it from spammers. But day by day spammers are also getting intelligent. They can decrypt your email id and challenge you.

Stop them now and use scr.im - a new service to share your email id. It is more like a mapping tool which will use one customized URL scr.im/[custom] which will point to your email id like this -
 a...@g...l.com. 

When someone click on this shared link, it will be asked for the captcha and ensures that only a human is accessing your email id not a bot. Thus keeping your mail id safe from bots, which means lesser spam.

Thanks to Shankar's Killer Tech Tips - which is one of the source of good information on softwares and Internet.

Check your Blog loading time

It is irritating sometimes where your blog takes long time to load. This can adversely affect your readers because they get annoyed and they want to see without wait. Such people jump from one point in cyberspace to another very frequently if the response of the page they are visiting is slow.

Therefore this metric is quite important for bloggers so that they can optimize their blogs. One such good online tool is Stopwatch. It is a good habit to test your own blog against loading time and redesign accordingly.

Some usual tips to reduce load time -
1. Reduce the number of images on the home.
2. Do not use images at full resolution - you may reduce to thumbnails if required.
3. Upload the images to your local web folder, don't rely on third party hosts.
4. Use CSS at the top of web page
5. Limit the number of posts to few on homepage say not more than 10.
6. Remove unncessary third party javascripts.

Foil thin speakers becomes a reality

A team of engineers in University of Warwick UK have designed a foil-thin speakers (~0.25mm thick) and that too with better sound quality than traditional ones. It is flat, flexible and can be hung/sticked on any surfaces.

The most important thing is they are inexpensive to produce and very good for public spaces where it is an extreme requirement of crisp and clear audio.it is ideal for public spaces where it delivers planar directional sound waves, which project further than sound from conventional speakers.

This technology will help designers to workup on new designs of the surface as now they don't need to bother about the space required for sound output. Say in case of Laptop we have almost 1"x6" reserved for speaker panel, which can be put into the laptop surface itself with more aesthetic element in designs. more at BBC Tech.

Undo Send feature in GMail - Kewl

GMail is back again with one new feature in its lab version after the reported outage that we have seen some days back when some of the users of gmail were not able to login.

Anyways,leaving apart they have introduced a very useful feature in mail service that you can actually hold your mail after sending for few seconds. Suppose you have missed out something in your mail and just after clicking the send button, you discovered, it will be a regret. Why didn't they had Undo feature yet?
Yes, They have introduced it now and its a unique feature. It will not exactly recall your message but it will hold your mail temporarily for 5 sec just after sending (though it is too less, but higher will be more frustrating), so that you can undo the request.

My Suggestion to GMail would be that this time should not be fixed to five seconds, a user must be able to set this according to her ease.