Tech by Tech

blekko - the new search engine

2010-11-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

slash the web!

blekko is a better way to search the web by using slashtags. slashtags search only the sites you want and cut out the spam sites. use friends, experts, community or your own slashtags to slash in what you want and slash out what you don't.

web search bill of rights

1.	Search shall be open
2.	Search results shall involve people
3.	Ranking data shall not be kept secret
4.	Web data shall be readily available
5.	There is no one-size-fits-all for search
6.	Advanced search shall be accessible
7.	Search engine tools shall be open to all
8.	Search & community go hand-in-hand
9.	Spam does not belong in search results
10.	Privacy of searchers shall not be violated

how to slash the web

make 'em:	proceed to login sign up with blekko Make a slashtag that includes just your favorite sites. make it as narrow (/scuba) or as broad (/favorites) as you like. Add that slashtag to any search and you're only searching those sites.
use 'em:	find a friend's slashtag and get in their head for your searches. For example, try searching Rich's home brewing slashtag for quality info on brewing your own beer (ex. wheat beer /homebrew).
make 'em better:	We've already created hundreds of topic slashtags that you can search now. everything from /conservative, to /humor to /vc is there. Drop us a tweet (@blekko) and tell us if you think any are missing sites or if you have ideas for other topics.

Five use cases where slashtags shine

Verticals with just YOUR favorite sites:
u2 /music, iphone reviews /tech, wine /buy, 2010 season /steelers, American Idol /tv
Search you can't do with keywords:
global warming /conservative, ufos /paranormal, congress /humor, Kim Kardashian /gossip
Slash through heavily spammed categories:
avoiding swine flu /health, iphone 4 reviews /techblogs, Aruba /travel, low calorie /diet
Access to recent material and web data:
Obama /date, Mel Gibson /rank, cnn.com /seo, techcrunch.com /links
Direct access to 3rd party api's:
US Open /youtube, Twilight /twitter, Moby Dick /amazon, sports car /shop

get out there & slash the web!

you know the sites you want search results from and you know the spammers, SEO gamers and content farms that just get in the way. so get out there and slash the web: slash in the sites you like and slash out the ones you don't.

link

What is Linkrr?

2010-10-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

Linkrr is a small new tool that changes your non clickable multiple links to clickables.

It's very useful for downloading multipart files using services like rapidshare, megaupload, filefactory and other file hosting sites.

Once you have all your links, Linkrr can open them by only one click. In some cases, you'll have to disable your popup blocker !

Link

Book Smith - A tool to convert blog into book

2010-09-15T01:33:00.000-07:00

What is BookSmith?

BookSmith is a tool that lets you convert your blog posts into print ready book files easily and quickly.

Can I convert any blog to book through this platform?

We currently support following platforms

Blogger.com (hosted on blogspot.com or elsewhere)
Wordpress (self hosted as well as Wordpress MU platforms like those on wordpress.com)

To be able to convert your blog to book, one of the two needs to be done

Your blog's feed should be enabled and it should be set to "full post" option (not summary) OR
You need to provide your authentication information (username/password) for your blog so that we can fetch the posts (the authentication information not stored and is used only for one time authentication needed to get content)

I use a third party feed (e. g. feedburner). Will the tool work for my blog?

With feedburner and other third party feeds, we can only fetch the default number of latest posts exposed through the feeds. However, you can always include more posts for your blog by providing authentication information for your blog.

Is there a limit on the number of posts fetched?

Yes. There is a limit on the number of posts fetched. This limit currently is 100 posts.

I want to fetch older posts, which I can not get in last 100 posts. Do I have an option?

Yes. You can use the date range option to fetch the older posts.

Is there a limit on the date range I can specify.

Yes. Currently the maximum date range that can be specified is one year. Posts of that one year period will be fetched subject to the maximum limit of 100 posts. If there are more than 100 posts in that date range, latest 100 posts from the range will be fetched.

Can I select which posts to include in the book?

Yes. Once the posts are fetched, you can select the posts to be included in the book in the post manager.

Can I change the order of the posts?

Yes. You can change the order of the posts. There are two options for doing this

Order is on the basis of publishing date in ascending or descending order
Change the position of individual post

For ordering the posts on the basis of date, you can click on the header of "Date" column in post manager. For changing the position of individual posts, click on the post title, drag it and drop it to the desired position.

Can my book's title be different from my blog's title?

Absolutely. After you have selected the posts to be included in the book, you will be taken to the Customization options for your book. Here you can select the title, sub-title and author's name as you want it to appear in the book.

What is Preface?

To quote from wikipedia "A preface (pronounced "preffus") is an introduction to a book written by the author of the book. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes with acknowledgements of those who assisted in the project."

Can I add preface to my book created through BookSmith? How?

Yes. After you have selected the posts to be included in the post manager, you will be taken to a page to Customize your book. There click on the button called "Add Preface". This will take you to the Preface editor, where you can enter the text of your preface.

What are the three boxes I see in the Preface Editor?

The first box is the address box, where you can put the starting address of your preface; e.g. 'Dear Readers'. The second box is where the actual preface text including Introduction of the book will go. The last box is the "Sign off" box, where you can sign off with your name and possibly a place and date.

What is Dedication?

Many a times authors like to dedicate their books to someone and mention it in a page in the beginning of the book.

Can I add dedication to my book created through BookSmith? How?

Yes. After you have selected the posts to be included in the post manager, you will be taken to a page to Customize your book. There click on the button called "Add Dedication". This will take you to the Dedication editor, where you can enter you dedication text (e.g. Dedicated to my mother, who believed in me irrespective of my situation). Remember to include "Dedicated to" if you want that phrase to appear there. It won't be added automatically.

Is it mandatory to have Preface/Dedication in the book created through BookSmith?

No, these are entirely optional.

How do I get a printed copy of my book?

After you have finished converting your book, a "Buy Printed Copy" button will be there on the right side of the preview. Click on it and follow the instructions.

Can I print the e-book that I downloaded?

You are surely free to print the e-book but be advised that e-book has been formatted for easy on screen reading and is different from the preview of print book shown on the website. To get a good looking printed book, order a copy by clicking on "Buy Printed Copy" button and following the instructions.

The differences between Print ready files and e-books are given below. Print ready files will:

Use a font suitable for reading a printed book (usually a serif font for English content)
Possibly have blank pages, when new section starts in the book to ensure that the new section starts on an odd page (right side of the book).
Have URLs separated out from anchor text, as there is no concept of clickable links in print!
Have separate Interior and Cover files because that's how they will be printed finally.
Other optimizations for making the content look good in print

On the other hand, e-books will:

Use a font suitable for reading on screen
Have clickable URLs, whenever it is so in original content
Have cover and interior together in the same fill

Link to the tool - Booksmith

How to download youtube videos

2010-09-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

There is one of the best download software you might have heard about it. Its orbit. The good thing about this software is -
1. It is free software
2. It is open source.
3. It allows to continue the download over different sessions over different days.
4. If the machine shut downs or crashes in between the download we do not loose the portion of the software we have downloaded till now.
5. It allows the media to download which is not down-loadable by its nature like youtube videos, mp3 songs, flash plays.

Here we are more emphasizing on how to download non downloadable media , like videos, mp3 and the flashes..

How?

Step 1:
Install the orbit software ( It is assumed that the readers know the steps to download)
step2:
Start the you tube video which you want to download.
Step3.
Hover the mouse over the playing video in the you tube. A 'Get it' button will apper.
Step4.
Click over the 'Get it' button.
And congratulations your video download is started.

The steps mentioned above are almost same for the mp3s and the flash therefoere they are not repeated.

Can we take back the spoken words - No, but we can take back the sent mails on Gmail

2010-08-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

There is saying thant the words once spoken can't be taken back. But this is not true in case of the mails sent on Gmail. Google has provided this feature, in terms of a 'undo send' button. But to use this feature first of all you have to the option 'setting' - 'labs' where look up 'Undo Send' and select 'Enable'. Save the changes.
Go to the 'General' tabs settings and define the amount of time you want before which you can cancel an email. The most time allowed is 30 seconds.
Thats all!

How to undo send
Once the mail is sent in Gmail a option highlighted in red will be seen at the top. by clicking which you can 'undo send'

Isn't it amazing!

Convolution Computer Architecture Assignment

2009-08-04T07:46:00.001-07:00

1) Write an assembly language program in MIPS32 assembly language to

a) Input two one-dimensional arrays of size L and M.

b) Compute the convolution of the above entered arrays.

c) Print the answer y and plot the graphs of x, h and y

Given:

1) Discrete Convolution of two functions x and h is given by the following formula

Where N = L + M -1

2) L=4 and M = 5

3) Choose any integer values for array elements

# Write an assembly language program in MIPS32 assembly language to find
# Discrete Convolution of two functions x and h
# Author - Sunil Doiphode

.data # data declaration section

funx:     .word 0 : 8 # array one address x()
funh:    .word 0    : 8 # array two address h()
funy:     .word 0 : 8 # array two address y()
sizex:     .word 4     # Size of array 1 (L)
sizeh: .word 5     # size of array 2 (M)
sizey:     .word 9        # size of resulting array (N)

.text # program steps starts

#read First Array X(n)

        la $t0,funx         # load array xn address
        la $t5,sizex           # load size of array address
        lw $t4,0($t5)       # load array size number to tmp counter
        lw $t5, 0($t5)      # load array size
loop1:    li $v0,5             # set readint instruction
        syscall                # call the system call
        sw   $v0, 0($t0)      # store the read value
        addi $t0, $t0, 4      # increment the array address to the next location
        addi $t4, $t4, -1     # decrement the counter
        bgtz $t4, loop1      # loop1

# Read Second array h(n)

        la $t0,funh         # load array hn address
        la $t6, sizeh        # load size of array address
        lw $t4, 0($t6)       # load array size number to tmp variable
        lw $t6, 0($t6)        # load array size number
loop2:        li $v0,5         # set readint instruction
        syscall                # call the system call
        sw   $v0, 0($t0)     # store the read value
        addi $t0, $t0, 4      # increment the array address to the next location
        addi $t4, $t4, -1     # decrement the counter
        bgtz $t4, loop2      # loop2

# N = L + M -1

        add $t4,$t5,$t6       # N = L + M
        addi $t3,$t4,-1       # N = L + M -1 (Hold value) -- N ---   t3
# t7 = x(k) & t8 = h(n-k)
        sub $t4,$t4,$t4     # (Counter yn initialised to zero ---   t4
           la $t0,sizey         # load array size address
          lw $s4,0($t0)       # load yn array size to tmp ynloopcount
        lw $t5,0($t0)       # load yn array size
        la $s7,funy            #---------------------------yaddress -- t7
loop3:    la $t7,funx         #---------------------------xaddress -- t7
         la $t8,funh         #-------------------------- haddress -- t8
         li $t9, 0             # summation count k =0------------- k --t9
        addi $s0,$t3,0         # summation loopcount = N
        li $s3,0             # summation amt -------summation amt ---s3

# nested loop loop4

loop4: sub $s1,$t4, $t9 # s1 = ----------------------- n-k --- s1

# (n-k) should be greater than 0 if less than zero jump to skip
        li $s5, 0
        slt $s6, $s5, $s1     # slt d,s,t if s < t d <-- 1 else d <-- 0
        blez $s6, skip

        li $s2,4
        mul $s1,$s2,$s1
         add $s6, $t8, $s1     # address of n-kth location

        lw $s6, 0($s6)        # s6 = x(n-k)
        multu $s2,$t9
        mflo $s1
        add $s5,$t7, $s1
        lw $s5, 0($s5)        # s5 = h(k)
        multu $s6,$s5
        mflo $s1            # s1= h(k)*x(n-k)
        add $s3,$s3,$s1        # Add the result to summation

skip:     addi $t9,$t9,1        # increment the index counter
        addi $s0,$s0,-1        # decrement the loop counter
        bgtz $s0, loop4      # End of summation loop4
        # store the yn values in the array

        li $s2,4
        multu $t4,$s2
         mflo $s1
        add $s1,$s7, $s1
        sw $s3, 0($s1)
        addi $t4, $t4, 1
        addi $s4, $s4, -1
        bgtz $s4, loop3        # End of loop3

# print y(n)

        la $t0,funy         # load array xn address
        la $t5, sizey        # load size of array address
        lw $t4, 0($t5)       # load array size number to tmp counter
        lw $t5, 0($t5)      # load array size
loop5:    lw $a0, 0($t0)

        li $v0,1            # set writeint instruction
        syscall                # call the system call
        addi $t0, $t0, 4      # increment the array address to the next location
        addi $t4, $t4, -1     # decrement the counter
        bgtz $t4, loop5      # End of printing loop5

Input1 X=2,2,2,2

H=2,2,2,2,2

Y= 0,4,8,12,16,12,8,4,0

Input2 X=1,2,3,4

H=1,2,3,4,5

Y= 0,2,7,16,30,34,31,20,0

Input3 X=4,3,2,1

H=5,4,3,2,1

Y= 0,16,24,25,20,10,4,1,0

Difference between pointer and reference in C++

2009-07-18T10:17:00.001-07:00

Puppy! Can Move/Change? - is a *Pointer in C++

Statue! – Can’t change - is a &reference in C++

Correct code -

int *p = &i;

int k;

p = &k;

Incorrect code -

int &b = a;

int c;

int &b = c;

While creating a reference, it has to be necessarily initialised to some variable or an object. Trying to create a standalone reference i.e. int &b; and then assigning it to some variable i.e. b=a; will not only generate an error, but would also be meaningless, since at the time of its creation itself, a reference has to refer to some variable.

Although references are internally maintained using pointers, there's a subtle difference between a pointer and a reference. The address contained in a pointer variable may be changed at any point in the program that makes it a flexible connection. However a reference once created, cant refer to any other object thus it is a rigid connection.

A pointer has to be de-referenced before you can access the value at the address contained in it. A reference is moreover a direct connection as its just another name for the same memory location.

You can have an array of pointers whereas you cannot have an array of references.

Carry your OS in a pen drive

2009-07-14T20:04:00.001-07:00

You can carry your OS in the pen drive. Isn’t it amazing. Most of the time it is very heavy and inconvenient to carry laptops with you. But getting a PC wherever you travels is easy these days. So What you have to do is plug in the pen drive in the PC available. Make that PC boot from pen drive by BIOS setting. and once the PC is booted enjoy the altogether all your PC with your desk tops, your documents, your database, your web server, Your web site and what not. This is possible with Linux. preferred flavor would be Ubuntu for which it is available in two flavors

1. Desktop Edition

2. Server Edition.

But the Server Edition is not provided with GUI / Xwindows. But if you want it on it Don’t worry. First install the desktop edition. and then upgrade the desktop edition to server by installing the additional packages. (This is the simplest way to do it I encountered rather that downloading Xwindows and installing it)

Steps to install Ubuntu

Ubuntu 9.04 has the self explanatory steps after inserting the CD in the drive. (Like Windows)

For older version or manual installation you can follow the following steps.

Steps in detail for old version/ manual installation

And most of the users will be moved and attracted by the following Ubuntu promise.

The Ubuntu promise

Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates.
Ubuntu comes with full commercial support from Canonical and hundreds of companies around the world.
Ubuntu includes the very best translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer.
Ubuntu CDs contain only free software applications; we encourage you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.

(If you register online on the Ubuntu site and ask for the installation CD, they will send it to you free of charge. )

Configuring Security Featuers For Wi-Fi (Wireless) Broad Band Access

2009-07-13T03:36:00.000-07:00

Recently Intelligence agencies have found that terrorists were using unsecured wi-fi connections for sending their emails. Most of the ISPs are helpless in tracing the user credentials in such cases.

In order to avoid such situations and to educate Wi-Fi users, this step wise procedure provides an overview of configuring Wi-Fi security features at both PC or LAPTOP & ADSL Modem Level. These steps may be different for different Wi-Fi ADSL hardware/software. For easy understanding the screen shots of a typical example are only given below.

STEP – I

Open the browser and type the url http://192.168.1.1.

Type username admin and password admin in login window

After successfully logging into CPE . Go to Wireless in the main menu and click on the Security button from the list. The following window appears:

This window allows the user to configure security features of the wireless LAN interface. User can set the Network authentication and data encryption methods.

Step II

Select the required SSID (Service Set IDentifier) and Network Authentication. Enable WEP Encryption using the pull down menu. The following screen will appear

Step III:

Select encryption strength as 128bit or 64bit.

Enter the network key

- 5 ASCII characters for 64 bit encryption
- 13 ASCII characters for 128 bit encryption

Four network keys can be entered.

Select one network key as the current network key.

Enable the WPA-PSK network authentication from the pull down menu if you desire to use the security as WPA-PSK method of security. Enter the pre-shared key value in the WPA Pre-Shared Key field.

Click on Save / Apply Button

To view the configured pre-shared key click on the link ‘ Click here to display ‘. This will open a window to show the key that you have configured. This scenario is shown in the below image.

STEP IV

Wi-Fi Configuration in PC/Laptop

You need to configure same WEP key in your PC/Laptop which you have entered in CPE wi-fi security configuration.

For this go to the properties of Wi-Fi connection,

select the tab Wireless Networks.

Select the wi-fi network name ( more than one networks may be present in your area, identify your network by SSID name which is configured in modem. Normally the CPE model name ( say WA1003A) is factory default SSID setting) and click on Properties.

Look for field Data Encryption and network ID, select WEP as Data Encryption and enter the network ID which you have entered in CPE configuration as Encryption Key.

NOTE: These steps may be different for different client Wi-Fi hardware/software. The screen shots of a typical example are given below.

Now you can enjoy the secure access to your Wi-Fi.

Simple trick to break any user name password

2008-02-14T01:59:00.000-08:00

It’s a simple trick and using this trick you can break the even the administrator/root password of the tough systems like AS400, Unix (Any Unix). This trick I have been successfully tried many times.
Requirements –
1. You should know shell programming.
2. You should have access to any general account in the system.

What you have to do –
1. Log in to the general account of the system (AS400/Unix)
2. Write a shell program which will accept a username and password and looks like your console user name password accepting screen.
a. The subsequent steps in the shell program accept the user name accepted by the user and stores somewhere (in a text file may be – Shell program allows you to open the file and store anything in it.) in your account.
b. Give the message that your username password is wrong and log out using the shell command.
How it works –

1. When you log in and run your shell program. The user name password acceptance console screen is running. But it’s not a original screen but the fake screen running through your program.
2. The administrator will enter his user name and password thinking that its a original console screen.
3. He will get the wrong username password message. He will think that the username and password entered by him is wrong.
4. When he enters the user name and password second time its the original console screen, because you have logged out through the shell command.
5. Before he logs in second time his username and password is stolen and stored in a safe place (text file) in your account. And you are now free to use his user name and password any time you want.