Workplace mistakes – 10 ways you shoot yourself in the foot

Randy Pausch Lecture : Time Management

The lecture is for 01:16:22 and will be worth your time.

Tiger Woods interviewed by Ed Bradley

Nokia S60 handsets blocked by ‘Curse of Silence’ bug – Take backup regularly

the is a bug doing the rounds that gives nokia s60 devices the ‘curse of silence’, whereby a hacker sends the nokia s60 handset a unique sms message containing a 32 character email address.

when the target nokia s60 handset receives the sms message it rejects all incoming text messages and emails, and the only way to fix the rejection is a hard reset of the nokia s60 device.

so, anyone using a nokia s60 mobile phone had better make sure they regularly backup their handset because you never know if you’ll receive the ‘curse of silence’.

below is a video showing the ‘curse of silence’ at work.

Seeing The Gorilla

here’s the deal. you send me $5 and your bank account details, and i will make you a millionaire within two weeks. tempted? i hope not. had you sent the money, i would have kept it and posted your name on a web site dedicated to gullible fools.

of course, not all opportunities are scams. in fact, some are genuine opportunities of a lifetime, resulting in untold fame and fortune. a few years ago, i decided to discover why some people regularly encounter such lucky opportunities, while others repeatedly sent $5 to untrustworthy sharks. the work took 10 years to complete and involved studying the lives of over a thousand exceptionally lucky and unlucky people.

the differences between the groups were remarkable. the lucky people lived amazingly charmed lives, full of good fortune. in contrast, opportunity rarely came knocking at the doors of unlucky people, and when it did, they took so long to answer that it lost interest and wandered away. after years of interviewing, questionnaires and experimentation, it became obvious that people were, without realizing it, creating their own good and bad luck with the way they were thinking and behaving.

for the past few years, i have spoken to a large number of corporate audiences about the work, focusing on why some people spot opportunities while others do not. on almost every occasion, i have shown an amazing 30-second film, made by the psychologist daniel simons and his colleagues. the film contains six basketball players. three of them are wearing white t-shirts, while the other three are wearing black t-shirts. the people in white t-shirts have a basketball and, during the film, pass it to one another. halfway through the film, a man dressed as a gorilla slowly walks on, saunters through the players, beats his chest at the camera and then walks off.

the audience members are asked to watch the film and count the number of times the people in white t-shirts pass the basketball to one another. at the end of the demonstration, i ask one simple question: “did you spot the gorilla?” most people look at me blankly–because they have completely missed him.

when i show the film again, the reactions are fascinating. most people are stunned into silence. some laugh nervously. a few simply refuse to believe their eyes, and one or two look at their watches with a bored expression on their faces.

people miss the gorilla for the same reason they miss many opportunities in their lives. before showing people the film, i explain that they are about to take part in an observation test, and have to count the number of times the basketball is passed from one person to another. at no point do i mention that the film might contain anything unusual, so nobody expects to see a gorilla. or, to put it in more scientific terms, people’s brains are simply not primed to see a man wearing a big, silly animal outfit.

the human brain is amazingly good at detecting what it wants to find. when you are hungry, your brain focuses on finding food. when you are thirsty, it looks for liquid. the problem is, your brain can become so focused on seeing what it expects to see, it misses things that are obvious but unexpected. lucky people tend to have a somewhat relaxed view of life. they are less concerned with mundane details and more prone to look at the bigger picture. ironically, by trying less, they see more.

of course, being lucky isn’t just about adopting a relaxed attitude toward life. lucky people possess a whole host of opportunity-attracting traits. for example, many of them go to considerable lengths to introduce variety and change into their lives.

the theory behind this “do something different” behavior is simple. imagine living in the center of a large apple orchard and having to collect a large basket of apples each day. at first, you will be able to find apples wherever you go. but as time goes on, it will become more difficult to find apples in the places you have visited before. but if you venture into other parts of the orchard, your chances of finding apples increase tremendously.

and it is exactly the same with being lucky. you will quickly exhaust your potential opportunities if you keep talking to the same people, taking the same route to and from work and going to the same places on holiday. but introducing new or random experiences is like visiting a new part of the orchard–suddenly you are surrounded by hundreds of apples.

lucky people had developed various interesting ways of introducing such variety. one noticed that whenever he went to a party, he tended to talk to the same type of people. to help disrupt this routine, he randomly chose a color before arriving at the party, and then only spoke to people wearing that color of clothing at the party. i have had firsthand experience of the power of this principle. just last week i chose the color black, spent an evening busily chatting away to a large number of people i wouldn’t normally speak to, and so ended up really enjoying the funeral.

my work also uncovered a third important principle. lucky people experience a large number of seemingly chance encounters. they bump into someone at a party, discover that they know people in common, and from these connections end up getting married or doing business together. or when they need something, they always seem to know someone who knows someone who can solve their problem.

i wondered if these “small world” experiences were due to knowing a large number of people, and being tied into more elaborate social networks than most. to discover if this was the case and quantify the nature of these networks, i employed a method described by malcolm gladwell in his book the tipping point. to explore the notion of social connectivity, gladwell carried out an informal study in which he presented people with a list of surnames and asked them to indicate if they knew people with that surname. similarly, i asked hundreds of lucky and unlucky people to look at a list of 15 common surnames, and indicate if they were on first-name terms with at least one person with each surname.

the results were dramatic and demonstrated the huge relationship between luck and social connectivity. almost 50% of lucky people ticked eight or more of the names, compared with just 25% of unlucky people. further work has shown lucky people tend to be extroverts who both meet a large number of people and keep in contact with them. the building and maintaining of such social networks significantly increases the likelihood of having a “lucky” chance encounter.

so there you have it. opportunities do not haphazardly fall into the laps of lucky people. instead, those people are unconsciously doing all sorts of things to increase their chances of attracting good fortune. they are looking at the big picture, opening their minds to the unexpected, breaking routines and connecting with others. it is hard work and the hours are long, but the rewards make it all worthwhile. and what if all that hard work doesn’t appeal? is there a shortcut? of course there is–just send me $5 and your bank details.

richard wiseman is a professor of psychology at the university of hertfordshire (u.k.) and best-selling author of the luck factor and did you spot the gorilla? his most recent book, quirkology, explores the more curious aspects of our everyday lives.

Why some people have all the luck

the author of ‘the luck factor’ teaches at the university of hertfordshire.

why do some people have all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?

i set out to examine luck, 10 years ago. why are some people always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune? i placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, have been interviewed by me. i have monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments. the results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

i carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. i gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. i had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: ‘tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50′.

this message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. it was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

as a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. they go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. they look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. my research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. they are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

i wondered towards the end of the work, whether these principles could be used to create good luck. i asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. dramatic results! these exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. one month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. the results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

the lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. finally, i had found the elusive ‘luck factor’. here are four top tips for becoming lucky:

1) listen to your gut instincts ^ they are normally right.

2) be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.

3) spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.

4) visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.

have a lucky day and work for it.

“the happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.”

Professor Richard Wiseman: http://www.richardwiseman.com/

My Nokia – The free service for Nokia owners

explore the full potential of your nokia device with personalized communication coming directly to your phone or email.

register to receive tips, tricks and information about latest nokia products and services tailor made for your nokia.

http://www.nokia.com/mynokia

Bill Gates

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

Growing to Greatness

In Pictures : skyfire installation on your Nokia E90

on popular demand : in-pictures-skyfire-installation-on-your-nokia-e90

Interview with Raman Roy, Quatrro – Inspires

an inspiring interview you would like to read…

raman roy is a true legend in the outsourcing space, having played a crucial role in the development and growth of india’s third-party bpo industry. a man with as good a claim as any to the title “father of bpo”, roy began his career with tcs before moving - via american express – to gecis, the previous incarnation of genpact, under pramod bhasin. in 2000 roy went independent, setting up bpo trailblazers spectramind, which was bought by wipro (changing its name to wipro bpo) in 2002. four years later, having seen out his obligations as head of the new subsidiary, roy struck out on his own again with the formation of quatrro, the “next generation” sourcing provider of which he is currently chairman and managing director.

sson: you’re one of the true pioneers of india’s outsourcing industry. what do you see as having been the crucial developments and success factors in the creation and expansion of the industry in india?

raman roy: the main success factor has been the commercial availability of technology. that made distances irrelevant. geography is history. the availability of technology that allows companies to leverage the intellectual capital from different parts of the world has played a big role. on top of that the ability to train people, and to demonstrate that this is doable and it is a viable option, has also played a big role.

sson: and to what extent do you see yourself as having played a critical role in this process?

rr: well, i guess the guy carrying the baton gets a little bit of credit… if you let people carry on with their drums and their guitars by themselves, the music might not come out. you know, i could give you stories of the challenges that we’ve had that would make you burst into tears. it’s very good to look back on what happened and look at the success of having created an industry, but some of the challenges we had, some of the disbelief from the bosses, from the government, from the employees – the employees thought i was loony. they thought it would never work so they didn’t want to join me. it was challenging.

did one play a role? i guess i did – but there was a whole lot of other people. technology played a big role. the people who actually did the jobs played a big role. the customers who gave me the opportunity to demonstrate what we could do played a big role. but putting it all together – i guess i was carrying the baton, while a lot of people contributed to the success of this industry.

sson: you’ve spoken there about early challenges; years on, what do you see as being the biggest obstacles and/or challenges to india’s continued dominance of the bpo space?

rr: if you look at the numbers right now, as per the report done by nasscom and everest, the size of the industry is about $200 billion. last year india did about $11 billion. therefore, if you look at the penetration into the industry, it’s about 5%. in the $11 billion there are captives – amex doing work for amex, dell doing work for dell, aol doing work for aol, ge for ge and so on. in the $250 billion, the captive work is not included: that’s purely third-party outsourcing. so the actual penetration into the industry is about 3.5%. now if that is the penetration, the opportunity to grow is somewhere in the region of 95-97% of the size of the industry. so the opportunity of what can be done is huge.

to your question of what are the biggest challenges: the biggest challenge is the availability of trained manpower. because the appetite of this industry is very high, and our training methodologies, our training systems, do not meet international norms. i’ll give you an example: as one of the projections that we did at nasscom, out of the projected future size of the industry about $6 billion is finance and accounting. the majority of the world does their reporting of finance and accounting and the processing of those transactions as per us gaap: the united states generally accepted accounting principles. not a single college, institute, university, polytechnic in india teaches us gaap. and we want to become the back office to the world! that is a big challenge.

today we have a very large accounting unit within quatrro and we work essentially for us customers on us gaap – so we hire accountants and we train them on us gaap. but to what extent is it for the industry to carry out – when did the industry become the trainer and the educator? can we achieve our aspirations and ambitions for bringing in $6 billion in finance and accounting? that becomes open to question. so training manpower and an integrated approach to fulfil global needs, not indian needs, is to my mind one of the biggest musts for us to continue to grow and have a dominant position in the international market.

sson: what about the impact of the current economic downturn – do you see that as having a negative effect on upon outsourcing in general, and india’s position in particular?

rr: actually i see it as being the other round: it’s a good opportunity. the united states has officially announced it is in a recession, with gdp going down. which means logically the top line, the revenue of the customer base, instead of growing, will reduce. but they still have obligations to their stakeholders, wall street, the private equity guys and others to make a profit. and therefore, given the fact that their top line is going down, they have a requirement to bring down the cost. and one of the options available to them is offshoring, because in their own home market their ability to bring down costs is very limited.

however, the flipside right now is that this is not just a recession: there is a meltdown in the market, and therefore the market is in a state of inertia. there is a total lack of decision-making. so in the short-term this lack of decision-making will impact upon discretionary projects, which can have a revenue impact. but in the medium-to-long term, the way i look at it, it is a major opportunity – because india is a part of the solution, for what the world has to accomplish.

sson: is it too early, do you think, to make predictions about how the outsourcing sector will look in, say, five years’ time?

rr: consolidation is a given: this is a scale industry. will it have consolidation? yes it will. will it grow? i think the offshore industry will grow. will the tenor change – will there be new products and new offerings? yes there will – it is not more of the same. will it play a bigger role from the less developed economies into the developed market? i think yes it will. will the 5% penetration become 50%? no it won’t! but will that 5% become 7%, 8%, 10%? yes it will. that industry by itself is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of greater than 20%. so where it is growing at 20%, and our 5% penetration can become 7%, 8%, that is a huge growth that has to be tackled.

will the present leading companies remain as the leading companies? i think there will be some rebalancing that will happen between people who can adapt to the new economic order, and people who cannot. so i think if you are talking about a five-year scenario, the industry five years later will look very different from the way it looks today.

sson: more personally, now: why did you feel that the time was right in 2006 to set out on your own again with the foundation of quatrro?

rr: well, “quatrro” as you know comes from the latin word for “four”, and this is our fourth adventure. over the last 15 years i have set up three different companies, and between these three companies we created some 55,000 jobs in india. that is what we know, and that is what we enjoy doing, and that is where we think our competencies and capabilities lie. as we got through our third adventure, at spectramind, which was acquired by wipro, and we completed our obligations, as a management team we got together again and said “hey, let’s do something, but let’s do it differently this time”. so quatrro is very different.

the theme that we have is “beyond the existing” – if you go to our website that’s what you see under our logo – and “beyond the existing” is to say that everything we do within quatrro is done differently from how it’s been done by others. if it’s just more of the same we don’t do it. and also with “beyond the existing” we are looking at new products, so we’re doing risk management that nobody’s ever done before, leave alone on an offshore basis; we’re doing legal; we’re doing foreclosures – you know the market meltdown that has happened was led by mortgages, and we are india’s largest foreclosure company working with lawyers in the us to help them with their legal work on foreclosures. we are india’s largest legal process outsourcing company as a result of the work that we do on foreclosures, which is new – nobody else does it out of india.

we do interactive gaming; you know the games that you play on your mobile phones, on xboxes et cetera? we are the world’s largest in proofing and testing and localization. again, a new area that nobody else had done before. we have a different go-to-market strategy for our mortgage business, for our accounting business. so we saw this as an opportunity to be able to leverage our learnings, to create something more worthwhile and something we can be proud of.

sson: what are your ambitions for quattro over the next couple of years?

rr: that’s a tough one to answer, frankly! you know, a few months ago, one of my employees said to me “hey, you don’t have to do this! why are you doing this?” – and the answer i gave to her was that, downstream, i have two daughters who are today aged 16 and 10; when they have kids and i have a grandchild sitting on my knee, i want to be able to turn round and say “look at this wonderful industry your granddad played a role in creating -  and your granddad also played a role in differentiating what india could be all about”.

so we are looking to create something that we can be proud of – and if we can be proud of it it will have value, and if it has value we’ll hopefully make some money out of it. but money is not the only criterion – it is important, don’t get me wrong; i’m not saying i’m doing this as a social service, i’m not. but why we are doing it is to create something we can be proud of, to be able to demonstrate to the world what we out of india are capable of.

sson: what and who have been the formative influences on your career?

rr: you’re asking tough ones! well, i think there have been multiple people who have had an influence. family played a role, teaching me that you must have a sense of pride in what you do and be able to demonstrate it. my mother played a big role. my wife has had a huge influence in saying “you have to believe in yourself, go and do it” – otherwise i wouldn’t have quit my job and started out on my own. mahatma gandhi, for what he believed in and the way he lived his life, the respect and dignity, has had a great influence on my thinking. innovators like bill gates have played a big role. so i don’t think i can single out one or the other. life is like a chemical reaction: various things come in at various stages to have an impact.

sson: what was the best advice you’ve ever been given?

rr: at one point in time i was told by my then-employers that if i what i was doing didn’t succeed… i told them that they’d have another job for me if this didn’t work and i was told “look pal, either it works or – you’re the one who’s been saying he could do it out of india – if it doesn’t work you lose your job”. so i gritted my teeth and i said “i will show you what we are capable of.” was that advice? no, it was more of a threat – to say that “if you don’t succeed, this chatter you’ve been giving about the technology being available and indians being able to do the job will become nothing”.

for me that was a life-changing experience: for months together i was a possessed man, wanting to show the world what could be done here. and the hurdles i encountered were pretty huge – but ultimately the taste of success was very, very sweet. i would say it was that threat, saying i wasn’t going to be able to do it, that played a bigger role than any meaningful advice i’ve been given.

sson: finally: what advice would you give anyone just setting out on an outsourcing journey?

rr: i would say: experiment. i would say you’re only limited by your imagination. i would say, do not look for a vendor: look for a partner. because this is about partnership. this is about assisting each other. this is a marriage where you co-rely on each other and you make a success of it. if you look at it as a partnership, and you are willing to experiment, it will be great for both the partners.

source: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=3344&ekfrm=50

Custom Motorcycles – Made In India

if custom motorcycles interest you, visit http://www.vardenchi.com/. a neat website worth your visit.

Applications I run on my Nokia E90 – Continued

here are some more applications i use on the phone. hope these would interest you too.

smartconnect - if you use different access points depending on where you are, for example, wlan at work and home, gprs while travelling. create a access point group, add access points, prioritize them and use the group created as the default connection for all applications that use the internet. it scans through all access points and connects with the first available one.  a very useful cost saving tool. to download it on your phone press menu -> download! -> birdstep smartconnect

hourpower – a talking clock on your phone. program one of the soft keys to “hourpower” and listen to the time aloud. very useful when you cannot focus your eyes to see the time on the phone. download it from http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Business/Clock/HourPower-57228.shtml

Using the ScanGauge to save fuel

according to the us federal government, the way you drive can affect fuel economy by up to 33%. see http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drivehabits.shtml.

most of us are aware of how you can drive a vehicle in a matter to significantly reduce fuel economy. it is surprising though, how many don’t realize how many subtle things they can do to improve fuel economy. part of the problem is the poor feedback we typically get about what improves fuel economy and what makes it worse. calculating the fuel economy at every fill up is like going on a weight reduction plan but only weighing yourself at your annual medical checkup. the nagging of the bathroom scale at the morning weigh-in is what drives us to make the necessary changes to reach our goals.

years ago, some vehicles added an “economy” gauge to indicate when you were using more or less fuel. these were based on manifold vacuum and couldn’t really tell you your fuel economy at that moment and would often tell you that you were getting better mileage when you actually weren’t. for instance, shifting to a lower gear would move the gauge higher into the economy range. actually, shifting to a lower gear almost always lowers fuel economy.

as cars became more computerized, some vehicles added fuel economy gauges that really did show fuel economy. this was a big step forward, but still lacked the kind of feedback that would show the overall effect of different driving habits. you easily saw that when you stepped on the gas, the economy dropped and when you let off, it went back up. this something you already knew, but now you had some real numbers to go with it.

the next step to improve the feedback was to show the average fuel economy as you drove. this allowed you to see what adjustments in your driving styles could be used to actually raise your average fuel economy. when you stepped on the gas, the average would start decreasing. when you let off the gas, it would start increasing. it became easy to figure out how to make the economy go down less when it was going down and up more when it was going up. you could make it into a game to see how high you could get the mpg. the best part was, you got to redeem your points at the gas pump!

although some cars have this feature today, many don’t. the solution to this problem came from emissions requirements called obdii. starting in 1996, all cars and light trucks sold in the us and canada were required to follow standards on how to report information about what the engine was doing in the way of emissions. a gadget could be made to plug into the obdii connector inside the car that could provide all kinds of data on how the engine was running and if there were any problems. the scangaugeii is a commercial product that can be plugged into this connector and provide real time information on the vitals of the engine as well as retrieve the codes when there was a problem and the “check engine light” was on. another neat thing came from this – the vehicles fuel use and economy could also be determined.

the scangaugeii provides real time mpg just like the factory options. more importantly, it also shows averages. it shows fuel use and economy for each trip you make, for all the trips in days driving, for all of the previous day’s trips and over the entire tank of fuel. each time you start driving after the engine has been off for at least three minutes, the “current” trip reset to 0 mpg and starts increasing as you start driving. you will see the mpg value go up and down as you drive. it will become very apparent what you can do to maximize the value. at the end of the day, you can see the average for the day in the today selection and compare it to the prevous day values.

in order to get good real-time feedback, you would set up the current trip mpg as a gauge. you could also display the actual amount of fuel used on the trips, since using the least amount of fuel is the actual goal. this allows you to compare different routes to places you often travel to, like work, school, the mall, etc.. when you fill up, you input the amount you paid per gallon. this allows the scangaugeii to show the actual cost of each trip as you are driving. this is a good way to see what each trip is costing. you may find that driving further to get a lower price on gas is actually costing more then you save.

who knows, you could even become a hyper-miler. these people use every trick that they can find to get trip mpgs that are more then double the epa ratings! at hybrid fest in madison wisconsin at the end of july in 2007, dozens of hybrids did a mileage challenge. the course was 28 miles through downtown madison, out into the country and back through the city. scangaugeiis were used to measure the amount of fuel it took to cover the course. one prius used 0.19 gallons (147 mpg) most of the others got well over 100 mpg. these people don’t lose sleep over the price.

source: http://scangauge.com/support/savefuel.shtml

ScanGauge II Standard Documentation

standard documentation available for scangauge ii can be downloaded from here

ScanGauge II User Manual XGauge Codes XGauge Coding – HOWTO

i am looking for hyundai verna 1.6 petrol specific codes for scangauge ii to make the most of the device. any suggestions where i can find more information?

Softwares for your Nokia device

every software made available by nokia can be picked up through the link: http://europe.nokia.com/A4144902.

Green Driving Quiz

take the quiz to find out how green is your driving – http://auto.howstuffworks.com/green-driving-quiz.htm

Your Nokia device as a Webcam

been using it for a while now with skype.

stable application. works on a number of nokia devices.

you will need to register to download the application from http://wwigo.com/home.php

Update your Nokia device software over the Internet

for a while now, nokia has made it possible for its esteemed customers to update their nokia device software (program that runs the hardware) over the internet.

this is a great facility to ensure your device has the most latest software at all times.

get the needed information, devices currently supported, software, faq etc. at http://www.nokia.co.in/A4767850

Skyfire – Experience YouTube on your Nokia E90 exactly like on your PC

with a wlan connection, i have been trying to look for a software to play youtube videos on my nokia e90 like i am able to do it on my laptop. i did post two methods in my post below.

however a web browser that could play youtube directly is what i have been looking for.

i chanced to find one, currently in beta and subscribed to the open beta program to get my hands on it. works fine and does crash at times.

experience youtube on your nokia e90 by visiting http://www.skyfire.com/product and signing up for the open beta program.

YouTube on your Nokia E90

requirement – wlan internet connection or 3g service with unlimited data plan.

method #1 – goto the website http://m.youtube.com using your phone web browser. here click on the “Continue” button on the warning page. you can now search for videos on a particular topic, view featured videos, browse “Most Viewed”, “Top Rated” or by “Categories”.

method #2 – download “EmTube”, freeware symbian based youtube player from http://www.symbian-freeware.com/download-emtube.html

happy viewing !!!

Motivational Quotes

i used to say, “things cost too much.” then my teacher straightened me out on that by saying, “the problem isn’t that things cost too much. the problem is that you can’t afford it.” that’s when I finally understood that the problem wasn’t “it” – the problem was “me.” – jim rohn

“you see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. knowing is not enough! you must take action.” – anthony robbins

“if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours…if you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. now put foundations under them.” – henry david thoreau

“the seed you sow today will not produce crop till tomorrow. for this reason, your identity does not lie in your current results. this is not who you are. your current results are who you were.” – james a. ray

“if you were to show me your current financial plan, would I get so excited by it that I would go across the country and lecture on it? if the answer is no, then here’s my question: “why not”? why wouldn’t you have a superior financial plan that is taking you to the places you want to go?” – jim rohn

“continuous effort–not strength or intelligence–is the key to unlocking our potential.” – winston churchill

“some people say I have attitude – maybe I do…but I think you have to. you have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there.” – venus williams

“others will underestimate us, for although we judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, others judge us only by what we have already done.” – henry wadsworth longfellow

Nice blog !!!

nice blog i was reading the other day:

http://ideasrs.com/blogzrs/

Woz’s words of wisdom

steve wozniak is regarded as an engineer's engineer

the co-founder of one of the world’s iconic companies is a reluctant billionaire who wanted to be an engineer first and a boss last.

the man in question is steve wozniak, the designer of the first apple computer and its successor in his spare time.

he learned basic electronics from his father and knew by the time he was at high school that he wanted to be an engineer for life.

“i read books about a young engineer who owned a company with his father. whenever there was a catastrophe in the world, he went into the lab and worked sometimes for two weeks silently. when he would come out of the door he had a device that solved the problem.

“that’s when i said: ‘wow, engineering lets you build things that solve problems’.”

‘original thinking’

those early experiences inflamed a passion and led the young woz, as he prefers to be known, to read as much as he could about engineering.

“you become what you want to be in life. i wanted to be an engineer. i didn’t want to run a company.”

woz had little money so to keep up he crept into buildings housing the stanford linear accelerator to rifle through computers books and magazines in the library.

that lack of money, he told bbc news, was a spur to innovate – it should never be used as an excuse to not give things a go.

“what’s important is not having very much money,” he said, convinced that it was a good discipline to have to think within restraints.

“lack of resources forces you to do a lot more original thinking.”

from early on, woz had one aim; to understand the design of computers so he could build his own.

“we had a club (homebrew) that spoke of how someday everybody was going to have their own personal computer and have control over their own lives,” he said. “we’d make the guy that could program more important than the ceo of a company and that inspired me.

“it made me feel like we little guys are coming up against the big owners of the world and we have a position in the world. i said i want to take my technical talents and design a computer and help other people build them.

“it was about wanting to change the world and make it a better world and we were the first people,” he said. “we were the revolution.”

‘engineer for life’

woz’s creations helped to spawn a billion-dollar company that has influenced the computer industry beyond his wildest dreams.

a young steve jobs (left) and woz (right) help show off the Apple IIc

a lot of that he puts down to the talents of his then best friend steve jobs. to the outside world, they may have seemed a mismatched pair: the shy engineer and the worldly-wise salesman.

“we weren’t that dissimilar when we first met. he was more future thinking and thinking at a higher level of being one of those important people in the world. he even thought about starting a company that could become some real ongoing company.”

“me, i had philosophies against it. i didn’t want to have big money ever in my life. i wanted to do a great engineering job and every time i designed something great, several times in our life, steve would come and say: ‘lets sell it!’

“we would make some money and the next thing i designed, he would say: ‘lets sell it!’ and so it went on.”

woz was reluctant to go into business with steve, or anyone else, because he had a “dream job” working as a designer for hewlett packard.

“i was never going to leave hp. that’s where i wanted to be forever,” he said. “steve jobs got all my friends and relatives to call me. one friend convinced me you can be an engineer for life and take the money.”

woz became apple’s employee number one and admitted that he sometimes used that rank to get discounts at apple stores. he has never asked for free products and even stands in line like everyone else when new products such as the iphone 3g appear.

giving back

woz’s second passion is for education. years after leaving college, a life-altering event persuaded him to return to the classroom.

“i had a plane crash and i had amnesia and i called steve jobs and said: ‘i am going back to do my degree’. why put it off?

“you don’t get two chances to do things in life and i wanted my kids to see i had a degree and encourage them.

for years woz's apple ii was the main source of profit at apple

“i got my degree under a fake name, rocky raccoon clark.”

as well as teaching his children the importance of education, woz also decided it was time to stand up and be counted.

“i grew up with a passion. i loved my teachers and i wanted to give back by being a teacher and helping others.

“there is something in me that wants to be perceived as a person who cares about youngsters. as a person who wants them to learn. i really think their brains are the future that is going to get us out of the troubles we have today.”

following that urge led him to become a volunteer teacher helping kids to become familiar with computers.

woz said his own single-mindedness had been key to his happiness and he said he would encourage others to stay true to their passion.

“don’t let people side-track you. if it’s in your heart, follow it. whatever your passion in life stay true to it.”

‘tough choices’

as a true engineer, woz said he was a “gadget guy” and that there were several pieces of technology without which he simply would not be able to live.

“there are some tough choices which we don’t ever want to make but it’s between my personal computer and

telling time the Woz way

my hybrid car. oh, but i also love my cellphones. all of them.”

woz owns 10.

he said he also loved his segway on which he zipped around silicon valley and played polo.

despite his success woz said the one gadget he wished he had invented was his watch, which is made of old parts and lights up when he tilts his wrist.

“it’s a geeky watch and i would have loved to have invented that. i would feel real good about it.”

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7641182.stm

Hypermiling Tips

here are some tips i follow as a novice hypermiler:

regular maintenance – i get my car serviced as per the schedule in the user manual. other than ensuring i don’t get stuck when i least expect, it ensures my machine works as intended and gives a consistent fuel economy

tyre pressure – i keep it at 31 psi when driving alone and 34 psi when fully loaded. i check the pressure every two weeks.

fuel – i use normal and high octane fuel alternatively. i try and buy fuel from one pump only and stock just enough in the tank to ensure i get from a to b and back with some reserve. tank full adds additional weight to the car and it effects the fuel economy. i get fuel mostly when it is cool outside either early morning or late evening. i get more fuel for the money spent

coasting – during my cycling days, at turns or when stopping at a red light, i would stop pedaling some distance before and would glide for that distance and then brake slightly to come to a complete halt. i do the same now in the car, gauge the distance, shift to neutral/control through the cluth with the engine idling and let the car glide at a turn or at a red light and then brake slightly to come to a complete halt. this takes some practice and lots of patience. don’t switch off the engine during the glide. mechanical power steering works only when the engine is on.

speed – i start slow, maintain consistent speed just enough to keep braking minimal. this was scary when i started but now i don’t use brakes much.

air conditioner – i use it only when i must. a big fuel waster.

stop sign – i switch the engine off when possible.

more tips coming shortly.

Applications I run on my Nokia E90

here are some applications i use on the phone. hope these would interest you too.

fring* – stay connected wherever you go with your skype, msn messenger, icq, google talk, twitter, aim & yahoo! buddies on your mobile. download it from http://www.fring.com/download/

gmail* – get instant access to your emails wherever you go. download it from http://m.google.com/mail

opera mini* – enhance your web browsing experience (no flash playback support available currently) on your mobile phone. download it from http://www.operamini.com/download/

jetwallet* – book jet airways air tickets from your phone by following 3 easy steps. very useful tool for frequent travelers

Step 1. SMS JetWallet to 56388.

In response you will get an SMS with a URL to download JetWallet. Click on the URL to download and install on your mobile phone.

On installation, JetWallet icon will appear on your mobile phone.

Alternately, you can also visit the mobile ticketing page under Plan and Book section on www.jetairways.com. Add your mobile number in the field provided to enroll for the service and an SMS with the download URL will be sent to your mobile phone. Click on the URL to download and install JetWallet. On installation, JetWallet icon will appear on your phone

Step2: Click on the JetWallet icon and you would be asked to register as a JetPrivilege member or as a Guest User.

If you are a JetPrivilege member, please click on the radio button for JetPrivilege member else click on Guest user.

Step3: Set a PIN of 4-5 digits, this PIN will be required each time you need to access your JetWallet. Please do
not share your PIN with anyone; it is for the security of your Wallet information.

Post completion of the above steps, your JetWallet will be ready for use.

location tagger – take photographs and tag your location data to your pictures. use picasa (with the combination of google earth) and pin it up on the map. download it from http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/locationtagger

wireless presenter – connect your phone via bluetooth to your laptop and use it to control the mouse and do a presentation slideshow. very useful application. to download on your phone press menu -> download! -> office -> wireless presenter

data mover – transfer data from your nokia 9300/9300i to your nokia e90 via bluetooth. to download on your phone press menu -> download! -> office -> data mover

windows live messenger* – get connected to windows live services like hotmail email, msn.com, spaces etc. to download it on your phone press menu -> download! -> internet -> messenger

* – will require a valid gprs/wlan connection to work. performance will vary depending on internet connection speed.

the above list is just partial. more coming shortly.

Hypermiling

hypermiling - my current passion. with fuel prices rising, trying to work at driving methods to optimize fuel consumption. installed scangauge ii, a car computer to see how i am doing while driving. with roads in new delhi and gurgaon at its worst most of the time, even a small improvement is great. currently getting a hang of the product, calibrating it. find out more about the product at www.scangauge.com

there is a huge amount of information on how you can maximize your fuel economy. there are some methods that in my opinion IS NOT FOR INDIA, others needs a lot of effort and patience to master.

been doing it for some time now. visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy-maximizing_behaviors to know more.

about my car - i drive a hyundai verna 1.6 litre petrol. my current fuel consumption is approximately 7.7 litres/100 kms with a mix of air conditioner and without air conditioner driving. some more calibration is needed of scangauge ii to get accurate fuel economy figures.

my current search - additives (i know of acetone) that can boost fuel economy without affecting the engine. also read and watched a lot of videos on brown gas. not experimented with it yet. autogas india is currently working on a hho based product that works along with petrol to boost fuel economy.

google keyword – “hypermiling”

happy hypermiling !!!