tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380303102011-11-28T00:28:09.918ZGadgets, programming tidbits or even the bits of technology that makes you gleam with psychotic, yet nerdy laughter. Well... I'll try.Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.comBlogger761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-37591303763253319992010-12-20T22:33:00.003Z2010-12-20T22:49:03.645Z

Yes, you heard me. To celebrate this festive season, SoftMaker has made their excellent alternative to Microsoft Office freely available. On top of this they will donate to charity with every download.With such a commendable act, why not contribute towards a good cause and try out an Office alternative. So head over to Load and Help (http://www.loadandhelp.de/home-en.html).

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-81186156187917079932010-12-18T20:33:00.003Z2010-12-18T20:48:50.026Z

As they did last year, once again Apple has released their "iTunes 12 Days of Christmas" app for users of iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) to treat their customers with seasonal freebies.So expect free games, music, videos and more between 26th December and January 6th. There's already a nice freebie (for some) when you first download it.Just so you know that I'm not kidding, here's the link to

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-1053231420524710712010-08-22T16:04:00.006Z2010-08-28T11:50:28.944Z

I have been a keen user of Ubuntu for some time now, and have to admit that this distribution has improved by leaps and bounds. However, what I do honestly miss on windows is... Dreamweaver. Some will swear by it, some will swear at the mention of its name. But for me, it is a very powerful tool when used correctly.Such a very popular and powerful web design and development tool is available on

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-66707646118443041252010-08-12T09:38:00.003Z2010-08-12T09:45:16.003Z

Yes. It is long overdue. So here's another for the bookmarks: bit.ly (http://bit.ly)An absolutely brilliant tool for shortening a URL. Particularly when sharing long links to websites in your blogs, tweets and emails.Need I say more?

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-46414897392007618352010-06-14T10:50:00.009Z2010-06-14T11:47:42.264Z

After a long silence I'm back. Since I've landed my new lecturer role I have been busy creating Schemes of Work, Lesson Plans and researching ways to increase resources for students so they may have a better learning experience.In fact, it is the former of the items that this article relates to. The first obvious question is why? Well, the college that I am in provides tuition for

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-65920690806015174302010-04-13T20:29:00.003Z2010-04-13T20:43:01.562Z

Recently it dawned upon me how much Twitter is actually used and how much people like to Tweet. Whether it's a notification of how often your friend likes to break gas or seeing what your local MP is doing (which is nearly updated every two months) it's something that everyone enjoys.In fact, I'm getting into the act and cannot resist the temptation of looking a tweets every day on my iPhone.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-36729624293418127772010-04-10T20:27:00.002Z2010-04-10T20:41:05.767Z

With all the fuss dying down about Adobe Creative Suite 4 and all the designers getting used to it, there is new furore about the upcoming release of CS5. Woah.The global launch will take place on Monday 18th April 2010More info from cs5launch.adobe.com

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-69339218717047871382010-03-07T11:26:00.005Z2010-06-14T12:05:30.470Z

Who would have thought that an independent contractor in the 1980s would have created the foundations of a revolutionary technology, which changes the way we live?It all began in the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), in Switzerland, when Tim Berners-Lee proposed and built a database of people and software models that can be shared over the Internet using the HyperText.By the end

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-69555136628064134972010-02-23T09:47:00.003Z2010-02-23T11:35:35.857Z

Most probably the best website you cannot go without is TechRadar (http://www.techradar.com)When it comes to latest gadgets, they are sure to have a review and an in-depth look at them, as well as latest news all tech.A brilliant website that should be among your bookmarks.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-37467435078814529762010-02-03T11:02:00.004Z2010-02-03T11:44:51.183Z

With the initial rumours of Apple contending against the Tablet market, and then the possible name, I did not feel much excitement as there were questions as to what innovations can take place in the market.Then the iPad was launched and it received a luke-warm reception, echoing Microsoft's ailment of Windows Vista.After looking at the reviews and in-depth reports I still remain unconvinced of

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-36842499225682961572010-02-03T10:46:00.003Z2010-02-03T10:54:33.503Z

A hectic start to the new year. People having problems with their routers, hacked accounts and miscellaneous computing tidbits has kept me busy.After reading an article on T3 about online banking, got me thinking about security. It is amazing that people still reuse old passwords everywhere, most of them fairly easy for a hacker to break. Not only are consumers facing such grief, many

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-56308781956080800622009-12-11T09:54:00.004Z2009-12-11T10:03:27.936Z

In continuing the theme of useful websites that are worth revisiting again and again, my next pick is:recycle-more.co.uk (http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/)A brilliant all-round website that is useful, not just for the home, but for businesses and schools. There is a lot of information on recycling different types of waste and a search facility to find the relevant recycling centre that is local to

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-59334499387011175042009-11-26T09:51:00.002Z2009-11-26T09:56:14.948Z

There's so much usefulness to the World Wide Web, that I'm bursting to yell out my favourite website for this month:searchfreefonts (www.searchfreefonts.com)With an extensive search facility and categorisation of all those free fonts, you're bound to find the right font for your needs as there are well over 13,000.There are still references to commercial fonts, if you manage to not find anything.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-82224464777576273582009-10-21T10:21:00.003Z2009-10-21T10:35:37.356Z

While mocking up a design page for a colleague's website I came across a new browser behaviour in IE8.This was the first time I used IE8 as my main development browser, due to the fact that the PC was re-installed and high-priority updates were applied. Surprisingly Microsoft branded IE8 as a priority update.Anyway, back to what I was talking about, here's a sample:<a href="index.htm"><img src="

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-71471381923570245192009-10-16T11:57:00.003Z2009-10-16T12:06:51.062Z

A colleague recently asked me if it was possible to replace a string in SQL. After a bit of questioning, this is because entities like & in HTML would be encoded to &amp; in his database.Since it was the case of outputting information from a SQL statement, this can be simply done by using the REPLACE function in the SELECT. For example:SELECT REPLACE(CompanyName, '&amp;', '&') FROM CompanyThe

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-56285686192297502462009-10-16T11:41:00.003Z2009-10-16T11:53:37.884Z

Here's a little tidbit. When I used to Remote Desktop onto client machines, they would disable file transfers as part of their security procedures.One way of transferring files in Remote Desktop is to allow the remote session use your local drives, so you can still navigate your computer from within the session, which is quite slow.Then you would have the ability of using the clipboard to copy &

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-84702890506750342652009-08-06T19:37:00.005Z2009-08-06T19:48:58.580Z

It's official. The creators of the popular CD/DVD burning software, Nero, has released a free version of it's flagship product for Microsoft Windows.Not to be confused with the 15 day trial, the free version of its software is limited to only the simple task of burning CDs and DVDs. Their website states:"This version of Nero 9 contains simply data burning and disc copying features for CDs and

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-66085260559175503222009-06-26T21:03:00.006Z2009-12-11T10:08:44.261Z

It's nice to see the Press taking a much more keen interest in technology and gadgets. So I wasn't that much surprised when the Metro covered the launch of Microsoft Bling. Currently in beta Microsoft is obviously renewing their competition against Google. I've also noticed that Microsoft has recently replaced the Live search with Bing on their MSN page.But after using it, why do I get the

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-42740827720800897462009-06-22T09:53:00.008Z2009-06-26T21:02:42.815Z

One of the most popular uses of Javascript is when it comes to validating user input on a form. The most hateful way, though, is by not using onsubmit. A number of times I come across code where someone uses an image in place of the submit button and uses the onclick event which will validate then submit the form. Yeauch! Very bad practice!The first thing to do with the form is place the

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-21455815188930157552009-06-10T16:02:00.002Z2009-06-10T16:05:27.409Z

This is my first ever attempt at creating a "skin" to use in the Firefox extension - Personas for Firefox.Check out the link belowPersonas for Firefox | YellowDream

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-55407348566799174222009-04-20T19:23:00.005Z2009-04-20T19:29:24.391Z

Sounds harsh I know, but I mean it. Bah. Microsoft's latest and shiniest browser is out there, yet it still makes me cringe and want to smash my computer to bits with a sledge hammer.Microsoft's approach to having a standard's browser is commendable, yet many websites won't work, without applying certain hacks, one of which turns it to IE 7. Sometimes there's a ghost opening new tabs for me.For

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-4060304870495474412009-03-10T21:07:00.002Z2009-03-10T21:19:35.065Z

OK. It does sound like a bit of a spoiler, but there I was trying to design my kitchen as I'm completely renovating my home. The problem: my mum's idea of a plan.The solution: Sweet Home 3D. Yes, this free program (which is similar to Google Sketchup) allows you to draw plans of your house or individual rooms on a two-dimensional plan and virtualise it on a three-dimensional plan.You can place

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-37063369083508698572009-02-08T10:37:00.003Z2009-02-08T10:47:18.424Z

You may remember, I previously mentioned Blender in reference to making 3D images and stuff. Well, the institute has released (around December last year, I think) an open source game to demonstrate their (and the software's) capabilities. This game is called Yo Frankie! as is released under the Creative Common license.Any budding game developer can freely download all the code and sprites, to

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-90963462509506829732009-02-03T16:50:00.003Z2009-02-03T18:06:55.813Z

Unbelievable. This article (here) tells us how the Swiss Police identified a marijuana plantation which led to high profile arrests through Google Earth.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-91692897684168509892009-02-03T15:26:00.011Z2009-02-03T16:07:35.076Z

I was just asked by my colleague how to turn 20080101 (in a file provided by a client) to 01/01/2008 (to be used in our system) in Excel where the cell is presented as text. We can easily recognise the date, but computers are not so intelligent to put up with these variations of how we operate.There are a number of ways, but mine relies on certain assumptions, that numbers below 10 are

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-61625202250035113662009-02-03T15:02:00.004Z2009-02-03T15:12:38.291Z

Aaargghh! I just hate it. While IE8 is still in Beta, Microsoft still has not addressed the problem that some websites (or applications) appear as a blank page, even though they appear correctly in IE7 and other browsers.Microsoft's excuse is that the engine has be re-written from the ground up. But it's not excusable when those sites are standards compliant. Anyway, at the start they did

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-69352709499291370342009-02-03T09:42:00.005Z2009-02-03T10:27:26.958Z

OK. Not really, but I'm sure certain techy people will have a field day when that happens. However, their web browser's (Internet Explorer) market share has been constantly falling like nobody's business lately.Some believe that the catalyst for this is when IE appeared in the news for a severe security flaw, which is pretty much the time frame for when (the ever popular) Google released it's

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-48669938658291454642009-02-02T10:02:00.003Z2009-02-03T20:11:48.206Z

For those who cannot afford to shellout for Photoshop and, thus, benefit from its photomerge feature Microsoft has saved the day with a free alternative.It's been a while since I looked at the Microsoft Research site, so it came as a surprise to see that they have released Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE). It really is a neat package and can export your image in various formats (TIF, JPEG,

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-59639609184385580842009-01-23T14:06:00.002Z2009-01-23T14:13:57.674Z

"Yeah, why not?"... "Erm...."Now you hit that stumbling block. You can't think of just any password, it has to be secure. So instead of racking your brains and ending up with a headache, why don't you download a random password generator. Useful for people, like myself, who create systems that require predefined users and passwords.One tool that tops my list is PC Tools Password Utilities.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-27066242577921547732008-12-18T18:08:00.002Z2008-12-18T18:13:24.040Z

Have you ever noticed those nice pictures with the smooth round corners?  Have you ever contemplated how it's done?Now without the power of Photoshop this is possible with  RoundPic.com.All you have to do is upload your image and specify the corners and the size of the rounding (with other options).  The image is then preview on the web page waiting for you to download it.  And that's it.  In

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-63202829515051877492008-12-04T16:08:00.008Z2009-12-11T10:21:09.334Z

I know, I know. There's a lot of tools out there to help with editing XML and XSL files and a whole lot of other mess.While creating an XML-based web site system in my current role, I wanted to be able to just test my XSL before plugging it in to my code in case it started causing any difficulties. Basically, all I need was a transformation tool that works like in Altova XMLSpy.I couldn't find

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-33307908800630818032008-12-04T10:36:00.005Z2008-12-04T10:55:38.146Z

As everyone would have gathered by now is that I am an open source freak. By the way I'm proud of it.Given this, I have been keenly following an app called Songbird for a while now. It is a cross-platform music player and library, which can handle playback of most music formats (think iTunes). Conveniently enough it is based on the technology that Firefox utilises (Mozilla-based software),

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-59949059855402640382008-11-13T13:00:00.003Z2008-11-13T13:05:57.251Z

While parents and teachers moan and groan of the disadvantes of using the internet, I for one continue to identify the advantages.One distinct advantage is SayNoTo0870.com, which allows you to find alternative numbers for premium rate numbers. You are charged for premium rate numbers on a land line phone and it is not included with the free minutes of your mobile phone.Using this website, I have

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-35310187391874670342008-10-12T11:40:00.004Z2008-10-12T12:01:35.459Z

...for studentsOK. A lot of people knocking off Microsoft and looking at open source software mainly because of their high prices.I'm not too sure when Microsoft started off this move. But, for some time now they have made a selection of their software freely available for students. This is available as Microsoft DreamSpark.Getting hold of the software will involve a process of verifying you

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-40493326960271085132008-10-03T16:43:00.003Z2008-10-03T16:49:48.975Z

The open source image editor GIMP has reached a milestone release of version 2.6, with the Windows installer now available.This major release includes improvements on the user interface, tools and plugins. There are also some under the hood changes.Some of the new features are:The toolbox menubar has been removed and merged with the image window menubar.It is now possible to pan beyond the

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-10627998583012754852008-10-03T16:02:00.004Z2008-10-12T12:09:27.665Z

Nokia has recently announced the launch of the XpressMusic 5800 music, and is anticipated by them to be their largest release this year.The phone (dubbed 'the Tube') is released alongside Nokia's "Comes with Music" unlimited music download service and uses a Symbian S60 operating system. Slick indeed.Just like the iPhone and the Samsung Omnia it is touch screen with the screen size being 3.2".

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-67578146831654154902008-10-03T15:37:00.002Z2008-10-03T15:45:57.047Z

In a bold move, which has not been confirmed by Steven Ballmer, Microsoft is working on bringing Zune to Windows Mobile to compete with Apple's iPhone.In the not too distant future we may be looking at a Zune style media player as opposed to the mobile version of Windows Media Player. This may also see the introduction of Windows Mobile devices with a face lift to give a look and feel of the

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-61882947123146777772008-10-03T14:47:00.003Z2008-10-03T16:01:59.797Z

Having released SoftMaker Office 2008, the makers are making the 2006 version available free of charge to Windows and Linux users. However a small omission is SoftMaker Presentations, the alternative for Microsoft PowerPoint.This move provides users with another alternative for Microsoft, contending with OpenOffice.org by being able to work directly with Office2007 files.Linux users are also

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-8160570567356067542008-10-01T12:40:00.002Z2008-10-01T13:40:54.207Z

In preparation for the next release of Microsoft's RIA, Silverlight 2 has been rolled off from Beta into the first Release Candidate.Silverlight 2 Release Candidate 0 Developer Runtime edition has been made available since last Thursday. The browser plugin is still in Beta, though.Based on the .NET Framework, Silverlight is intended to be an alternative to Flex for those developing web-based

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-52004344618990571342008-09-25T14:08:00.008Z2008-09-26T12:11:57.730Z

Ever since Sun MicroSystems released the code to StarOffice, it kicked up a storm in the open source world and we saw the birth of OpenOffice (OOo). It is not about being open source, but this broke down the barriers of sharing documents and collaboration.Microsoft upped the ante with the recognition of collaboration for business and release a free service - Microsoft Office Live Workspace -

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-83410129871223133432008-09-03T11:41:00.002Z2008-09-03T11:50:22.742Z

Google has recently upped the ante for its presence on the web.  With the recent beta of Google Chrome, Google is contending against Mozilla Firefox and Micorosoft Internet Explorer.To quote from Google, it is intended to be a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.After trying out the beta, I see that this goal is very

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-39187989631814399082008-08-15T19:10:00.003Z2008-08-15T20:15:21.010Z

While Adobe Reader is common for reading PDF the popular (and powerful) file format for sharing files over the Internet, it is not the only one. After every version it slowed down my system, got slower and started taking up alot of resources.Instead of wasting time in looking at ways to speed up the reader, I took into my own hands to find alternatives. Here's what I found:Sumatra PDF - A open

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-29071230822286278812008-08-04T10:43:00.003Z2008-08-04T16:24:43.423Z

You may have noticed recently a new search engine called Cuil (pronounced 'Cool'), a Irish word which means knowledge - so they claim on their website. This search engine intends on outgoogling Google themselves.Formed by former Google employees Cuil apparently 'combines the biggest Web index with content-based relevance methods, results organized by ideas, and complete user privacy'The

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-65651384269432126322008-07-10T12:51:00.003Z2008-07-10T13:03:59.377Z

I was approached by a colleague, who was trying to install some software that I trained him on, and told me that he could not find Component Services on his machine.Doing the usual, I ran through the steps to get Administrative Tools in the Start Menu and pointed him there - for Windows XP. He told me that Administrative Tools is present but there's no Component Services under it, and that he's

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-92218299852917126062008-06-02T09:06:00.004Z2008-06-02T09:38:59.955Z

With the plethora of sites out there with information on creating Batch processes, it's easy to get overwhelmed and confused over the series of DOS commands.I have a Batch process which restarts a hungry service daily, only to ensure that it cleans up the memory (which it doesn't do so well). The next requirements is for the Batch process to backup the service's log file... with the date.The

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-79388493575559085462008-04-29T08:30:00.004Z2008-04-29T08:39:09.181Z

Just recently, my company got their Network support guy email Calendar entries to everyone so that they can update their local Outlook Calendar with details of public holidays in the UK.What a time waste, particularly when not all the days have been mentioned. As a time saver, go to Tools -> Options in the menu. In the dialogue that appears click on Calendar Options and then Add Holidays. In

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-76552016539492510302008-02-19T09:46:00.004Z2008-02-19T10:04:14.552Z

Yesterday, I wrote that an unofficial source at Toshiba reported that the company was going to drop HD DVD. Well... now it's official. BBC reports that Toshiba has actually dropped this in favour of Blu-ray paving the way for Sony.This is a nice turnaround for Sony when, in the past they failed with pushing their Betamax format in the VHS vs Betamax wars.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-45614347331730994082008-02-18T17:02:00.001Z2008-02-18T17:30:07.516Z

Fine... HD is not coming to an end, but the format war is. Over the past year many companies have been bandying around with taking up and dropping the different formats.At the beginning of the year I mentioned that BlueRay is leading away and this article seems to solidify my feelings: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/12954.cfm.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-84774130275028434012008-02-18T14:32:00.001Z2008-02-18T14:34:23.449Z

So, it's getting close to midnight and I have 8 DVD's to duplicate for the next day. My arsenal comprised of a Mac equipped with a superdrive, a PC with a multi-format DVD burner and a PC with a DVD+RW drive. The blank discs were DVD-R and so beads of sweat were streaming down like a waterfall and I was didn't want to touch the Discs for fear of wiping out the data with my acids.Making things

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-62562899547805704132008-02-07T16:17:00.000Z2008-02-07T16:48:40.515Z

Oooh, lookit the Ajax based favicon generator. There's probably enough websites that provide this facility but Genfavicon one is so slick and easy to useUsing the jQuery framework it does a nice job to create those cool little icons. You can simply upload or point it to the URL of the image you would like to process and convert. Once you have had fun with the image in the cropping pane, select

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-77005085053900420942008-02-05T09:28:00.000Z2008-02-05T09:47:30.994Z

A while back, Google announced its acquisition of Zenter, an online slide presentation firm. So basically, Google can now expand on their arsenal of online office applications - Google Docs & Spreadsheets.They may as well call the suite Google Office, now that they can take on Microsoft Office. Especially when this is to be combined with Google's previous acquisition of Tonic Systems, which

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-80163445537164061532008-01-25T12:04:00.000Z2008-01-25T12:07:39.207Z

For those following the development of the next version of Firefox, they have extended it to include support for ANPG (Animated PNG).This move seems to be in response to Opera 9.5 alread implementing this.Further info can be found at: http://animatedpng.com/

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-31227164100736506812008-01-25T11:10:00.000Z2008-01-25T11:11:51.180Z

Alright. Here's the deal. Who needs a feature bloated application when you know that you will not need it all and that it's possibly confusing. All hands shot up in my work place when it comes to project management. Yes, there's the frustration with Microsoft Project.MS Project is an excellent tool but far too complicated for my liking. So I had to search around for project management tools and

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-83938912015121019772008-01-22T15:03:00.000Z2008-01-22T17:38:19.087Z

Just when you thought you were stuck with Windows Movie Maker only to make your home videos look good. Pinnacle has joined the foray with VideoSpin.VideoSpin is a brand new tool that allows you to create your own movie clips in minutes using your own videos and pictures. Once you complete your masterpiece you can upload the video to YouTube or any other video sharing sites.Check out http://

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-80327171940497182582008-01-08T13:54:00.000Z2008-01-08T15:42:50.497Z

Happy New Year!I've had a hectic start to the New Year trying to fulfill my New Year's Resolution. Remembering to keep promises I've made to the family. I never realised I had a long list.What am I using to achieve this? The most underused program in a Smartphone... the To-Do List. Yes, it is underused and it exists on virtually all the current phones in the market.It is such a simple program

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-32222622179404391262007-10-31T12:26:00.001Z2007-10-31T12:26:02.241Z

In the same project as before, my search results are being presented in a table.  The issue here, is that I want to have a different background colour for an alternate for the purpose of easy readability.Luckily, XSL saves the day with the position() function.  This is really handy for obtaining your current index when in a loop.  Just as with using any other server side language you want to mod

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-61906516473055149422007-10-30T16:46:00.001Z2007-10-30T16:47:08.256Z

While using XSL I came across the need to perform a calculation by converting metres to some other units, and then formatting the output.number() takes the value of the selected node and treats it as an actual number.  number() div 1000 is my actual calculation to convert metres to kilometres. Notice that I am using the keyword div and not the / operator as you would with other languages such as

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-46356742251098034942007-09-11T16:32:00.001Z2007-09-11T16:32:48.248Z

When it comes to XSL you have to pay particular attention to the schema of the XML you are trying to make use of.  There are certain cases when you do not have control over the XML being produced that your XSL needs to be generic.I am currently updating a Community Portal, which I developed in the past for my current company and have just discovered a silly human error.  Yes. I made a bad mistake

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-86871315589090609452007-09-07T15:40:00.001Z2007-09-07T15:40:56.333Z

It's kind of interesting of how reverse linking does not seem so obvious in classic ASP.  You would think that it would be along the lines of: dim ifor i = 30 to 2  'code comes herenextbut it's not.  To have a reverse For loop it's:dim ifor i = 30 to 2 Step-1  'code comes herenextThat's right that small bit (Step-1) makes all the difference.  I stumbled upon this by chance and thought that

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-63987705743192982292007-09-07T09:49:00.001Z2007-09-07T09:49:50.806Z

OK, it may not be Open Source.  But, as a follow up to Microsoft's success in providing Free .Net development tools for the Windows operating system, they are gearing up for the next version. Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions Beta 2.This Beta release really wows you with the future of the development tools, which lets you develop for Windows, the Web, Games, Hardware and Databases.Check it out

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-20070662479317959682007-09-05T10:42:00.001Z2007-09-05T10:42:58.298Z

I came across this on vmwarez.com.  It shows off the features and integration of the new virtualization software for the Apple Macs.It's absolutely brilliant.Embedded VideoBlogged with Flock

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-86646337517063924172007-09-05T09:14:00.001Z2007-09-05T09:14:27.421Z

I know that I once stated that using UL to build a list of links was not desirable, but there are times when you have no choice.It is fairly straightforward and you do not need any JavaScript to ruin your code.  So let's get started an define the menu and wrap it inside a DIV:<div id="hovermenu">  <ul>        <li><a href="#" href="Link Number 1">Link #1</a></li>        <li><a href="#" href="Link

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-58215573123888096542007-09-04T15:04:00.001Z2007-09-04T15:04:51.572Z

Many times I am told that using tables to layout a web page is a sin.  But, when I try to resize a DIV, it's hard to get it to resize when the window has been resized.  Setting 100% does not seem to work.So far we have the 3 column liquid layout, but it is not enough when the web pages (or applications for that matter) are more complicated.  When searching on the Internet to resize a DIV in

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-10427883355745528792007-08-31T08:07:00.001Z2007-08-31T08:07:50.124Z

It's official.  According to Chart Track, the Nintendo Wii is the fastest selling home console in history.Selling 1 million units in 38 weeks, it surpassed PS2 which sold 1 million units after 50 weeks and XBox 360 which sold 1 million units in 60 weeks.This means that the Nintendo Wii has a 68% stake in the home console market, and the Nintendo DS has an 86% stake in the handheld gaming market."

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-26808144069049673672007-08-28T15:18:00.001Z2007-08-28T15:18:33.818Z

When it comes to trying to use pure CSS to layout documents, it may seem daunting at first but is actually more straightforward than using tables.First off, define the columns in your HTML page:<div id="leftColumn">Content comes in here...</div><div id="middleColumn">  <h1>Document Header</h1>  <p>Content comes in here......</p></div><div id="rightColumn">Content comes in here.......</div> Now

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-43969188000563599632007-08-25T13:32:00.000Z2007-08-25T13:51:04.402Z

Many people think that Open Source software is only for the home user. How wrong can they be? Very. I remember many years ago of how many charities and companies started to migrate to the Linux platform, in order to use open source software. The fundamental reason for this was that the software is free and the second reason was that there was not much open source software on the Windows operating

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-41225609425174103662007-08-25T12:50:00.000Z2007-08-25T13:31:23.851Z

I remember the days when I started with web design. While specifications and proposed standards were drafted, many designers and developers were lazy in making websites accessible in many browsers, including myself.The Internet has come a long way since, especially now that governments are making services and information available. I was given my awakening when studying User Centred Design and

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-58485668440862995522007-08-02T10:59:00.000Z2007-08-07T17:52:23.112Z

My work place tasked me with trying to be as purist as possible with HTML and CSS for an interface their web application. Without any formal web development background, I have always been one of those who intermingle the code and have presentation within the HTML.I think it came out pretty well. I separated design from content in addition to separating the dynamics. Mind you, I even separated out

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-18983154781202402252007-07-26T18:18:00.000Z2007-08-02T10:59:35.273Z

I have Nokia N70 on the T-Mobile network, and it's really impressive. Labelled as a Smart Phone, it is a bit like a cross between a PDA and a normal mobile phone. Boy does it live to expectations.You can check your emails (POP/IMAP), read Word documents, Spreadsheets, view To-Do lists and so much more. Now I sound like a sales man. The most handy aspect is the ability of downloading "

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-79565479716931097842007-06-23T17:03:00.000Z2007-06-23T17:09:29.972Z

Yes crash it! I just cannot resist the urge to visit CrashIE.com while using Internet Explorer 6. As the name suggests it crashes the browser.Don't worry. Your other browsers like Firefox and Flock are safe. Unfortunately, it does not crash the new Internet Explorer 7 browser. I don't use IE7 anyway, with the new (hideous) interface bugging me every second.So here I am in IE6. Here we go ag.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-72313832439083636862007-04-09T17:52:00.000Z2007-04-09T18:02:30.275Z

In a previous Blog, I looked at freeware and open source software alternatives so that you can roll out your own version of Adobe Creative Suite 3. But did you think that was it for open source? Surely not!?!3DCarrying on the theme of design, I have been asked by many for 3D modelling software. One way is subscribing to a magazine and wait for a cover edition of the high end apps like Alias

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-3231446101150360862007-04-09T12:29:00.001Z2008-04-23T10:24:59.737Z

Oh yes, an update to an earlier post about getting hold of free or Open Source alternatives to Adobe Creative Suite.I actually forgot to mention about Adobe ImageReady, which gets bundled with Photoshop. There are a number of basic animation tools, but none provide flexibility similar to ImageReady. Fortunately, Open Source lovers are in for a surprise in the form of GIMP Animation Package. This

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-34815995709384454032007-04-07T12:47:00.000Z2007-04-07T12:59:49.722Z

You may still be using Internet Explorer, given all the choices out there. But why? You don't have to be dull and just browse web pages. There's more to the Internet such as blogging, sharing pictures and having a bit of fun.While Mozilla Firefox is a great (and more secure) alternative to Internet Explorer, it adds to the experience with Extensions. These extensions can vary from weather and

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-55675601679095503482007-04-07T11:31:00.001Z2008-04-23T10:16:16.258Z

With the take over of Macromedia by Adobe, they have increased their arsenal of design packages, as well as the price. No-one can do pretty much without the popular package of Photoshop for their images, and Dreamweaver for websites, especially aspiring design students who do not have much money.Nevertheless, open source software has come to save the day. What is open source software? In a

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-1167750749599202552007-01-02T15:07:00.000Z2007-01-02T15:12:29.606Z

First get rid of Internet Explorer. Then get Firefox. Done? Good.Now, for the keen web developers out there, get Firebug! I have been beta testing this nifty little plugin for Firefox, and am impressed.It's still in development so you may want to wait until it has been released.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38030310.post-1166024533778999432006-12-13T14:31:00.000Z2007-04-09T18:01:31.004Z

HiWelcome to my Tech Corner. In this blog I will publish anything new I discover in the world of technology and gadgets, as well as the nerdy programming stuff that's pouring out of (or in) my ears.I will be contributing soon. So watch this space.

Shahid Ali Shahnoreply@blogger.com0