9 Hues

How to download YouTube Videos?

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:19:00 +0000

For those, who still do not know how to download YouTube Videos. Here are some ways to get it done easily.

If you are not very keen on installing a software and want to download YouTube Videos, follow this link. (Though you need to have .fla player of VLC Media Player installed on your computer.
Orbit Video Downloader: Install this software and you can download videos form YouTube and other similar sites. Click here for detailed tutorial and download link.

Launchy: Forget your start menu

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 05:51:00 +0000

Recently I have been using this small but very effective utility for launching programs and opening/managing files. It makes my Start Menu redundant. No more clicking on the Start Menu and then searching for the particular program.

Install this software and you can do a lot of things with just pressing a couple of keys. Just Press Alt+Space and type the name of the program or folder you want to open, press enter and you are done. This is quite intuitive as well, so I need not write 'Word' for opening my word processor if I am using that more often. Just type 'W' and it will show all the options.

It also quite useful when it comes to do simple calculations, you can do simple calculations withouth launching your Calculator. There are a number of plugins available to make it more useful.

You can download it (Get more info) from http://launchy.net

My Rating: Must Have

Technorati Tags: launchy, utility, productivity

Cool- Hotmail

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 16:20:00 +0000

MSN India has launched several cool and funky domains (Click Here to visit http://Coolhotmail.com )which you can use for your email e.g. xyz@techgeek.co.in, xyz@iamhot.in, xyz@iamsingle.com, xyz@clubrajni.com . There are a number for funky domains to choose from, whether you want to express who you are or want to feel proud about the place you live, just have a look there.

All emails on domains would be powered by Windows Live and hence would have all the features of Windows Live email with 5 GB mail box. The id would also be your Windows live id.

So if you have missed having yourname@somedomain.com id, grab your chance right now.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live, Cool Hotmail, Emails, MSN India

Pownce - Some Invites Available

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:17:00 +0000

I have got some Pownce Invites available with me. Those who are interested in having a look at this much talked about this (oh.. yet another) social network which is meant for sharing files and events with friend, can get them.

The site has a nice look and if you are looking a tool through which you can send/share small files (upto 10 mb), pictures and bookmark to your friends, this can be useful for you.

Technorati Tags: pownce, beta, invites, filesharing, social network

Microsoft Live Folders

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:04:00 +0000

Microsoft has taken plunge into online storage, though their offering is nothing great to talk about, except it is from Microsoft. Live Folders provide you 500 MB of storage space with options to share with firends, public or just keeping it to yourself.

It is still in Private Beta and you can login with your Microsoft Live Id. I tried and could not find anything great which gives me any thought of trying it instead of Google Docs (if I am storing MS Office docs) or Box.net for general storage.

Technorati Tags: online storage, Live Folders

Koolwire - End of your PDF conversion worries

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:44:00 +0000

Converting your documents into PDF files can never be simpler and that too without any cost. Want to convert, pictures, office documents into PDF, attach them into your mail and send them to pdf@koolwire.com

and check your mail box for PDF version of your documents.

Though it is not supporting Office 2007 files yet, but it does support pictures and multiple attachments.

Technorati Tags: koolwire, pdf convertor, hacks, tips

Google Docs gets facelifts and new features

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:11:00 +0000

What is New and Entirely new way to stay organized describe the new features for Google Docs. The feature which was much demanded is added, yes I am talking about 'Folders'. Google has been using tags for both its Gmail and Google Docs, now they have introduced Folders for Docs, without loosing the best feature of 'Tags'. You can have one document in more than one folder.

So Check the new look Google Docs

Technorati Tags: Google, google docs, updates

Use Gmail/Google Docs as PDF Convertor

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:52:00 +0000

If you use PDF Convertors just to convert simple ms office documents into PDF, there is no need to buy Acrobat Professional or need to install any software on your computer.

To convert any document into PDF, upload that file to Google Doc and open it in Google Docs and save this file as PDF by going to

File >> Save As PDF (Go to File Menu being displayed in Google Doc browser body..)

This works fine for all kind of excel and word files..

If you Gmail as your main email client (Do you know that you can transfer all pop mails accounts to Gmail?), whenever you open an email with Word/Excel attachment, there is an option in Gmail "Open in Google Document", so just click that and open it in Google Docs, once it is open you can always save it as pdf or any format. This also provides a good option to have backup of your documents on Google Server.

Technorati Tags: productivity, google, docs, spreadsheet, tips, hacks

Get maximum from your online time

noreply@blogger.com (Santosh) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 07:09:00 +0000

Most of us spend a lot of time online doing stuff which can easily be done in a jiffy using some popular services and save you loads of time. Most of my friends think that I am using a lot of time doing blogging, social bookmarking, reading news on topic of my interest. In reality, I spend no more than one hour doing all this everyday. I just use the following regularly and get things done.

1. Google Reader and Bloglines - I have been into blogging since 2004 and keep a track of a number of blogs using Google Reader. This saves me from visiting all the blogs (and also from missing some of irregular bloggers who post once in a while), whenever a blog is updated I can see it in Google Reader and depending upon the topic and my interest I go through them. Though if a topic (sometime blogger as well) compels me to post comment I have to visit the blog. Once can easily categorize the blogs in Google Reader for ease of use. I categorize blogs on two basis, key words, and theme. Google Reader being from Google stable provides you with 'labels' so you can categorize (label) a blog into more than one category. I used to be on Bloglines, but Google Reader is far better option considering ease of use and other features.

2. Firefox and its extensions: Browsing with Firefox is a more productive and provides you loads of options compared to IE. This enables me to post bookmarks with just a click to Del.icio.us, Ma.Gnolia, BlueDot and discover some really great and useful sites using StumpleUpon. You can also install GreaseMonkey which gives you options to run third party scripts on a particular webpage in the browser. There are some very cool productive scripts using Gmail and GCalender. Though a word of cautions here, there are a number of extensions which provide no productivity and are more of a nuisance. They also make Firefox slow and unsteady so install extensions carefully. Google Toolbar is one extension you must have.

3. Remember the milk and Google Calender: The key to productivity is having a good habit of creating To Do Lists. Remember the milk and Google Calender give you this facility and loads of feature. Every weekend I spend sometime to create a ToDo List using Remember the milk / Google Calender. My Google Calender is configured to send me an sms (free of any cost and it works on most of Indian Cellphone networks) at specified time to remind me of a particular task . Remember the milk is a very good service and it can be integrated with Google Calender, though you can manage your Todo list using only Google Calender

4. iGoogle, Pageflakes, Netvibes: Startpages are very good tool to start your online journey daily. They gather all the things to one place and you can have a look at most of the things without hoping from one site to another. My iGoogle has Gmail Preview of mails, Wordsmith word of the day, news feed on particular tags, headlines from NYT, CNN, daily jokes, sports tid bits, remember the milk module, google notepad.. you name it and i have it there. So once I open my browser within 10 minutes I am updated.

5. Gmail and Labels: Gmail is one application capable of enhancing your productivity many time, if you can use it properly and know all its features and tweaks. I routed all my emails to Gmail only (including professional ids) and have applied a number of filters and labels. This saves me from checking my mails on different sites. Since I use Outlook for offline email reading, I keep one copy on gmail server, so even if I am traveling or do not have access to my laptop I can check them from any comp. It is also a cushion in case something goes wrong. You need to be a bit thoughtful while choosing Labels, normally I have some labels like M_I_T (Most Important Task), Rpl_Ltr (Reply Later), Useful_Info and so on. Once I read an email, I apply one or another label to it and that helps me in keeping track of these emails and necessary actions.

6. Windows Live Writer: Writing a blog online is real pain. So I use WLW (Window Live Writer) to write my blogs offline. I have configured all my blogs (I mirror post on all) so with one click I can check the spelling, adjust pictures, ping the blogservers... Though there are other offline blogeditors/writers but this comes with unicode support (to type in languages like Hindi, Marathi, Gujarat etc.), this feature is lacking in most of other options (Qumaana my earlier favorite was handicapped on this front). Technorati tags (now an inevitable part of a blog) can easily be added using this. So no need to remember <html> tags or ask you geek friend how to do this and that. It does everything. Though It doesn't support Yahoo 360 Bloggers.. :((. So to overcome this, I type everything in WLW and see it in WebPreview mode and then copy and paste it into Yahoo 360 compose box. It works fine.

7. Google News and Google Blogsearch: Open Google News and you will have access to all the major headlines so you need not go from one online news site to another. And if you are interested in particular topic, you just need to search google news with that keyword. Also if you are regularly searching news on a particular thing, its better to subscribe to customized search RSS feed in your Google Reader (will write about it later as this post is already getting too long..). Most of my friends are surprised when the start blogging and invariably I happen to be the first one to comment.. You just need to search on Google Blogsearch for a particular word (in my case I have four five key words which links all my friends... and whenever they are going online.. a mention to them is inevitable.. guess them..). For example, I keep track on if somebody is writing on Rural Finance, whoever there is an update I get it in my Google Reader. Though I have put some well thought filters to restrict spam or not so useful content.

Technorati tags: Productivity, Google Reader, Rememberthemilk, Windows Live Writer, Gmail, Pageflakes, blogsearch, techtalk