Upendra's Blog

Microsoft launches “Data Explorer" Preview bringing Big Data to Excel

2013-03-01T05:35:00.001-07:00

Microsoft announces the availability of Data Explorer for Excel 2013 that enhances the Self Service BI using Excel by simplifying data discovery and access to a broad range of data sources including Private or Public data. “"Data Explorer" provides an intuitive and consistent experience for discovering, combining, and refining data across a wide variety of sources including relational, structured and semi-structured, OData, Web, Hadoop, Azure Marketplace, and more. Data Explorer also provides you with the ability to search for public data from sources such as Wikipedia.”

Get Data from the Web:

Online Search lets you Search, Preview and Import Data into Excel.

Here is a preview of the List of States and School Superintendent

If you have a Web Page that contains a table of information, you can get directly from that web page. Below, I am importing data from the wikipedia for a list of countries by population.

You are presented with the Query Panel Window as seen below:

With the data Explorer, you can import data from other files such as Excel, CSV, XML, Text and from a folder. I like the new import files from a folder.

With Data Explorer, you can import data from databases such as SQL Server, SQL Database on Windows Azure, Access, Oracle, IBM DB2 or MYSQL.

With Data Explorer, you can import data from non-traditional data sources such as SharePoint List, OData Feed, Hadoop (HDFS), Windows Azure Marketplace, Active Directory and Facebook!

Let’s try importing some data from Facebook into Excel.

Here it is, my facebook posts right within Excel

You can also manage Credentials from right within Data Explorer, which was my most desired feature in PowerPivot. I remember tweeting about this many times in frustration of having to repeat providing credentials every time I connect to a data source. Thank you Microsoft Data Explorer team for implementing this!

In summary, Excel 2013 brings more than ever self-service BI capabilities to end users. From the Forrester Research Report from Q2 2012 - “We maintain that in an ideal BI environment, 80% of all BI requirements should be carried out by the business users themselves.”

If you are looking to quickly build out a self-service BI solution that tells the story of your data, you can now use Excel to rapidly mash-up, explore, analyze and visualize any data ranging from a few rows to hundreds of millions of rows.

Excel 2013 comes built in with the all new xVelocity in-memory analytics engine that let’s you analyze data ranging from a few rows to hundreds of millions of rows instantly on your desktop using Excel data models.

What about data visualizations? PowerView provides stunning data visualization where in you can discover new insights with a highly interactive and familiar data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience right within Excel.

Use Excel 2013 Quick Analysis to preview and apply conditional formatting, suggest and create charts, PivotTables, and tables; and using Quick Explore to easily navigate multidimensional and tabular data models.

With PowerPivot you can access, mash-up and analyze data from virtually any source and rapidly create compelling analytical models with PowerPivot. I do see some overlapping features between Data Explorer and PowerPivot as far as data acquisition is concerned, but I consider it as a good thing.

Being a data geek that I am, I feel satisfied with what Excel 2013 has to offer to the large Self Service BI community out there and specifically happy with where Data Explorer is headed.

You can download Data Explorer from the below location:

Why won’t Microsoft Lync 2010 start?

2013-02-26T10:59:00.001-07:00

Have you ever clicked on Microsoft Lync 2010 (communicator) only to find out that nothing happens? I am not exactly sure what is causing it, but I have noticed that If I start Outlook 2010 first before Lync 2010, Lync 2010 does not like it.

If you look at your task manager, you’ll see that the communicator.exe*32 processes are backlogged. Try killing these processes and launching Lync again. Hopefully it’ll work. It my case, it definitely worked. Good luck.

Favorite features in Office 2013

2013-02-23T04:42:00.001-07:00

(Courtesy: Internet)

Learn new Office tricks and tips everyday, checkout TimeTo365.com where customers of Microsoft Office are sharing their favorite tips. Here are some of the favorites presented by Doug Thomas:

Template Library Increase your productivity right off the bat by using templates.

Smart Guides Perfectly align shapes and images in a presentation by customizing color using smart guides

Outlook Unfinished emails are saved in Drafts and all drafts are clearly visible in your inbox

Outlook New Weather bar in Outlook that shows you a 3-day forecast

Word PDF Reflow You can convert PDF documents into editable Word documents

References:

Office Tips and Tricks

Office 2013 Quick Start Guides

Office Touch Guide

Office Blog

Microsoft Office: Top 10 Tips

2013-01-06T18:08:00.001-07:00

Ignore Conversations in Outlook
Wedge Mouse – didn’t know something like that exists!
Excel 2013 Insert Live Chart – gives you a nice preview of what your chart would look like before actually creating one
Instant Math in OneNote – gotta love OneNote
Templates with Instructions
Excel Surveys in Office Web Apps – this looks similar to a google spreadsheet form
Copy Docs in Program
Get Windows Surface RT with Office 2013
Office Web Apps + SkyDrive in Windows Explorer – Download Skydrive for windows
PDF reflow in Word 2013 – take a PDF and make it editable

Got any more? Leave me a message below.

Collection of FREE HTML Editors

2012-12-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

To create awesome looking websites, you need the best HTML, JavaScript/jQuery editors. So, here is my collection of the best HTML editors that go beyond just plain HTML such as giving you a nice Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for JavaScript, jQuery, CSS, HTML5 etc. As always, leave me a comment if you have used other HTML editors that you found useful and I'll add it to this list.

HTML and JavaScript go hand-in-hand, so here is a collection of JavaScript resources for easy reference.

JavaScript Resources–FREE Videos, Books, Training and more

2012-12-27T22:12:00.001-07:00

There has never been a better time to learn JavaScript. Whether you are a novice or an expert JavaScript Developer, there is always something to learn. Here is a reference of JavaScript videos, books and training I created for myself. If you know of any more, feel free to leave me a comment and I will add it to this list.
Happy Learning.

#	Resource Name	Resource Topic	Resource URL
1	Javascript Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Javascript-Fundamentals-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners
2	JavaScript: The Language	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/events/mix/mix11/HTM06
3	JavaScript: The Developer Experience	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/DEV308
4	Writing Maintainable JavaScript	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/events/mix/mix11/EXT23
5	Developing HTML5 Apps	HTML5	http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/MVA-Jump-Start
6	JavaScript Core Capabilities	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/MVA-Jump-Start/Developing-HTML5-Apps-Jump-Start-04a-JavaScript-Core-Capabilities-Part-1
7	JavaScript Core Capabilities	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/MVA-Jump-Start/Developing-HTML5-Apps-Jump-Start-04b-JavaScript-Core-Capabilities-Part-2
8	JavaScript Gotchas	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/aspConf/aspConf/JavaScript-Gotchas
9	Using JavaScript to Build HTML5 Applications	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2011/DEV347
10	Modern JavaScript	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-014
11	Building Metro style Apps with HTML and JavaScript	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/DEV366
12	Interactive Panel: JavaScript	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/RES02
13	ECMAScript 5: The New Parts	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/events/mix/mix11/EXT13
14	Building HTML and JavaScript Apps with KnockoutJS and MVVM	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/DEV361
15	JavaScript Tutorials Playlist	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/course?list=EC46F0A159EC02DF82
16	jQuery Tutorials Playlist	jQuery	http://www.youtube.com/course?list=EC6B08BAA57B5C7810
17	Google I/O 2011: Learning to Love JavaScript	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seX7jYI96GE
18	John Resig: Javascript and jQuery	jQuery	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKfHdOrR3lw
19	JavaScript Weekly Subscription	JavaScript	http://javascriptweekly.com/
20	32 Talks from the JS.everywhere() 2012 Conferences	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2PF2oGPokReHxddTOGehBS_w8-prtOBE
21	Bocoup JS Screencasts	JavaScript	http://training.bocoup.com/screencasts/
22	Building High-Performing JavaScript for Modern Engines	JavaScript	http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/4-000
23	JS Conf EU Videos	JavaScript	https://www.youtube.com/jsconfeu
24	Scripted: A JavaScript editor from VMware	JavaScript	http://blog.springsource.org/2012/10/11/scripted-a-javascript-editor-from-vmware/
25	Pure JavaScript	JavaScript	http://vimeo.com/49384334
26	Zen and the Art of TDD	JavaScript	http://vimeo.com/49092644
27	Make JavaScript Testing Fun With Testem	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Py_tqCkTo&list=UUd-EhXGbXSozuzsAAdPIn3A&index=8
28	Javascript: Your New Overlord	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trurfqh_6fQ
29	Douglas Crockford: The JavaScript Programming Language .	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ifWcnQs6M
30	JavaScript WTFs	JavaScript	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkFoGp1ECGE&list=PLgyU3jNA6VjTbotteFzpoooyJiNlAMRpx
31	Free JavaScript Books	JavaScript	http://jsbooks.revolunet.com/
32	Learn to Code for Free at Codeacademy.com	JavaScript	http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0

Here is the file embedded from Google Drive that contains the Description.

Free iBooks from NASA - Hubble Space Telescope: Discoveries & Webb Space Telescope: Science Guide

2012-12-24T15:35:00.001-07:00

No matter what your age, there is always something to learn. At the time of this writing, NASA has made two of its iBooks free to download from iTunes. If you don’t have an iPad, you can also download a PDF version. These books are designed with entertainment and education in mind. They are designed to be highly interactive and you’ll have to try harder falling asleep while reading them. I have a first generation iPad, but even so the pictures are delivered with HD clarity. Overall, its well done and a must have while it is free. So, go download it today.

Here is a quick walkthrough of one of the iBooks:

Tips to improve performance of Samsung Galaxy S3 on Jelly Bean 4.1.1

2012-12-24T12:35:00.001-07:00

I recently updated my Samsung Galaxy S3 on ATT with Jelly Bean 4.1.1. Everything looked good for a few days until a few days later when I observed that the Battery was being discharged quite rapidly. When I looked at the battery under Settings, I noted that the top process to hog 50% of the battery was a process called the Exchange Services. I could also tell that the phone was heating up, so it must be working hard on something. I tried disabling this process and tried rebooting the phone, but nothing seems to have helped it. Here are the steps I took to bring it back to normal

Using Samsung Kies, I backed up the phone
Factory Reset – this resets the phone to 4.1.1 and walks you through the welcome wizard
Deselected Location based services such as Google Now (see screen shots)
Waited a while before I setup my exchange based email account. Under account options, I set it up the period synch Email to 1 day.

The above steps seemed to have done the trick. I have been running the phone for over the last 15 hours on a single charge and there is at least +70% of the battery left.

View all

Get your own

Google Chrome Omnibox Search Tip

2012-12-14T20:41:00.001-07:00

Did you know that you can search other websites, such as YouTube, CNET, CHOW etc from Chrome’s omnibox?

Chrome automatically saves a list of the search engines you come across while browsing. So, if you visit http://www.youtube.com, Chrome will add the YouTube search engine to your list of search engines. And, from then on, you’ll be able to search YouTube directly from the omnibox by typing http://www.youtube.com, pressing space, and adding your search terms. If you want to view, update, or modify your search engines, follow the path Chrome Menu > Settings > Manage search engines.

You can also define keywords for websites to save yourself some typing; for instance, typing “yt” could be a shortcut for http://www.youtube.com

Here check out quick video:

Do you know any such cool search tip? Do leave me a note!

Connect to your Home or Work Desktops remotely using Chrome Remote Desktop

2012-12-10T11:40:00.001-07:00

Check out the Chrome Remote Desktop app by Google that lets you connect remotely to your PC at work or home. You can get it from the Chrome Web Store.

Download and install from the Chrome Web Store

“Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access another computer through Chrome browser or a Chromebook. Computers can be made available on an short-term basis for scenarios such as ad hoc remote support, or on a more long-term basis for remote access to your applications and files. All connections are fully secured.

Chrome Remote Desktop is fully cross-platform. Provide remote assistance to Windows, Mac and Linux users, or access your Windows (XP and above) and Mac (OS X 10.6 and above) desktops at any time, all from the Chrome browser on virtually any device, including Chromebooks.”

Here is a quick test-drive video. A nice tool to have in your toolbox.

Quickly install software bundle after installing Ubuntu

2012-12-10T09:22:00.001-07:00

Here is a quick way to install the most commonly used software easily after installing Ubuntu from scratch. This can save you some time. What’s currently in the bundle: VLC, Texmaker, Terminator, nautilus-open-terminal, Filezila, Shutter, Wine, Spotify, unrar, zip, oracle java 7, compiz, Chromium, Dropbox, Open ssh, Netflix, Adobe Reader

The credit actually goes to Sigurgrímur Jónsson for building this script. You can read more about it here:

If you don’t need something in the package, you can certainly modify the script and add or remove it. I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and it seems to work.

Steps:

Download the script from here
Rename the script from gimsi_install.txt to gimsi_install
Grant execute permission (chomod 755) and run it

Here is a quick video:

How to Update your Samsung Galaxy S III (AT&T) with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

2012-12-06T09:27:00.001-07:00

Oye, Good News here! If you have been waiting to update your Samsung Galaxy S III (AT&T) to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, then the wait it over. I just updated my phone and here are the steps that I followed to update my phone.

Step 1: Start here

Step 2: From this Link, download and install Samsung Kies. Looks like there is no over-the-air update for this version

Step 3: Connect your phone to your PC

Once Kies is installed, connect your galaxy S III to the PC. Kies prompted me for an update of the Kies software, which I accepted.

I hit OK for the below prompt:

Step 4: Go head and update

That should do it.

Here are the new features that comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Whole Foods Comes to Boise, ID

2012-11-25T08:44:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for a change from the regular run-of-the-mill grocery store, then Whole Foods is the store for you. We were there last night and we were impressed with the selection and variety. Their choice of ready-to-eat is really great and a quick look told me they have Indian, Italian, Chinese and much more. I also found “Rao’s Homemade Pasta Sauce” – now where on earth would I find something like that!

They also have free wifi!

Overall it’s a nice store with friendly staff, but the store is a little too pricey for me!

Whole Foods Comes to Boise

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

Whole Foods Address: 201 S Broadway Ave, Boise, ID 83703

View Larger Map

Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 SP2 Screen Capture–Best FREE Screen Capturing Software

2012-11-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

Expression Encoder is a Microsoft’s FREE software for Video Encoding that has a screen capture application to record from your screen with Webcam and Microphone. Download the software from here

The free version of Expression Encoder 4 does not include support for live IIS Smooth Streaming and H.264 encoding. Some SP2 features, including GPU encoding and live template support, are also only available in Expression Encoder 4 Pro. To use these features, upgrade to Expression Encoder Pro.

With Encoder you can make simple edits, add captions, metadata and publish in a wide range of templates.

Here check out the slides:

This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office Web Apps.

Expression Encoder also works on Windows 8! Here’s a video I created on my Windows 8 PC:

MongoDB Error after Install

2012-10-27T18:39:00.001-06:00

Remember to create the data and db directories after installing mongoDB else you are going to get an error as seen below.

C:\Users\..>C:\Users\..\Downloads\mongodb-win32-i386-2.2.0\mongodb-w
in32-i386-2.2.0\bin\mongod.exe
C:\Users\..\Downloads\mongodb-win32-i386-2.2.0\mongodb-win32-i386-2.2.0\bi
n\mongod.exe --help for help and startup options
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 warning: 32-bit servers don't have journaling enabled by def
ault. Please use --journal if you want durability.
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] MongoDB starting : pid=8248 port=27017 dbpat
h=\data\db\ 32-bit host=..
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten]
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] ** NOTE: when using MongoDB 32 bit, you are
limited to about 2 gigabytes of data
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] ** see http://blog.mongodb.org/post/13
7788967/32-bit-limitations
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] ** with --journal, the limit is lower
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten]
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] db version v2.2.0, pdfile version 4.5
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] git version: f5e83eae9cfbec7fb7a071321928f00
d1b0c5207
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] build info: windows sys.getwindowsversion(ma
jor=6, minor=0, build=6002, platform=2, service_pack='Service Pack 2') BOOST_LIB
_VERSION=1_49
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] options: {}
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] exception in initAndListen: 10296
*********************************************************************
ERROR: dbpath (\data\db\) does not exist.
Create this directory or give existing directory in --dbpath.
See http://dochub.mongodb.org/core/startingandstoppingmongo
*********************************************************************
, terminating
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 dbexit:
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] shutdown: going to close listening sockets..
.
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] shutdown: going to flush diaglog...
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] shutdown: going to close sockets...
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] shutdown: waiting for fs preallocator...
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] shutdown: closing all files...
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 [initandlisten] closeAllFiles() finished
Sat Oct 27 17:39:09 dbexit: really exiting now

I created data & data\db under c:\ and that resolved the issue.

------

C:\Users\..\Downloads\mongodb-win32-i386-2.2.0\mongodb-win32-i386-2.2.0\bi
n>mongo.exe
MongoDB shell version: 2.2.0
connecting to: test
Welcome to the MongoDB shell.
For interactive help, type "help".
For more comprehensive documentation, see
http://docs.mongodb.org/
Questions? Try the support group
http://groups.google.com/group/mongodb-user
> use test
switched to db test
> db.test.find()
> db.test.save({a:1, b:2, c:3})
> db.test.find()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("508c7765fec0ad937665f28a"), "a" : 1, "b" : 2, "c" : 3 }
> db.test.save({name: 'Upendra'})
> db.test.find()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("508c7765fec0ad937665f28a"), "a" : 1, "b" : 2, "c" : 3 }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("508c79f8fec0ad937665f28b"), "name" : "Upendra" }
>

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

2012-10-07T16:26:00.001-06:00

I am no great cook, but I do love to experiment with cooking once in a while. The other day, I watched Chow’s recipe for making this great looking butternut squash soup that was so bright and inviting that I had to give it a try. The video for the recipe is at the bottom of the post, incase you want to skip reading and head right to it.
Step 1 – Cut the Butternut squash into halves and scrape out the seeds. Coat the halves with melted butter or just coat olive oil. Sprinkle some salt and crushed pepper.

Step 2 – Put it in an oven at 425 degrees and let it sit for an hour. Believe me, this makes it really easy to scrape out the squash when it is cooked and soft.

Step 3: While the Squash is sitting in the oven, take a large sauce pan and Sautee some onions, garlic (optional), 1 peel tart apple and sage leaves. My wife said, there is no sage leaves at home – so just make do without it. . Sautee all of this for ~7-10 mins.

Step 4: After an hour, check on the squash. You can tell they are done when you can easily stick a knife through it.

Step 5: Take a large spoon and scrape out the squash and drop it in the sauce pan.

Step 6: I added 2 1/2 cups of water, salt, pepper to taste and let it simmer for ~ 10-15 minutes in low heat. Stir it gently to break up any large pieces of squash in the pan.

Step 7: Let it cool down and add about 1/2 cup of cream to it. I just used to skimmed milk.

Step 8: Blend the soup in a regular blender or an immersion blender. I just used our regular blender.
Step 9: Pour the soup in a bowl and garnish it with some toasted pumpkin seeds. I used toasted sunflower seeds and the soup tasted great. So, that’s what I ate for lunch today. My wife and kids loved it.

Tips:

Use some garlic for added taste
You will easily need anywhere between 1.5 to 2 hours for preparing this soup using the above method, so plan ahead.
Substitute olive oil for butter (optional)
Substitute skimmed milk for cream (optional)

If you have tried this or have other tips, do leave me a note and I will try it next time

Defining Row-Level Security in SSAS Tabular database

2012-10-07T08:06:00.001-06:00

I work in HR IT where security is always the primary consideration when it comes to data. Recently I was watching a replay of the TechEd’12 presentation by Julie Strauss on “Developing and Managing a BI Semantic Model in Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services”. I want to highlight the row level security bit that Julie demonstrated for my own future reference.

Create a table with the user-id and the dimensional values you want to secure. In the below example, she is securing SalesTerritoryCountry dimension values. Basically, its just a separate table used for looking up.

Next, create the below lookupvalue formula and assign it to the table as a DAX filter.

The above formula translates to: Go to the Security table>SalesTerritoryCountry column, lookup the username with the username used to logon with and return SalesTerritoryCountry. That is how row-level security works. You only show the rows that the end users are authorized to see.

In addition, you can also secure the Security table itself from being exposed to the end user. This is simply done by hiding it from client tools.

In order to test this, you can use the ‘Analyze in Excel’ feature in Visual Studio (SQL Server Data Tools):

Use ‘Other Windows User’ to test the security by emulating the other user (s)

Obviously, there is more to security than just row-level security. If you have successfully implemented other strategies for securing your data in SSAS, leave me a note below.

How to keep yourself inspired?

2012-09-09T18:39:00.001-06:00

In this post I share my views on Motivation and Inspiration. I tell you how I keep myself inspired.

Motivation: You write a book, a blog so you can sell your ideas and get to more people. There is always something that motivates you. It’s the what. It’s the desire to do something. Some of the friends I know are motivated to climb mountains. My wife is motivated to keep the house spic and span, she hates being disorganized. I am motivated by technology. I am always fascinated by technology that can make our lives easy to live.

Inspiration: It’s your inner voice. You write because you want to be heard. You volunteer because you want to make a difference in people’s life – because people matter. This is the why. It’s your beliefs. It’s the process of being mentally stimulated. Inspiration has an emotional connection that moves you to do something. People constantly underestimate themselves and others. I think inspiration strikes when they see a new idea or a problem or someone doing something contrary to their beliefs.

Here check out Rocky Balboa Inspiring his Son:

Or Will Smith’s inspirational words to his Son: You want something, go get it!

So, what motivates you?

Friends & Family
Work
Money
Promotion
Fame
Health

If you’ve missed Daniel Pink’s speech on the surprising science of Motivation, please stop here and take a look:

And what inspires you?

Act of kindness and empathy, being human
Leading edge Technology – iPads and the Kindle Fires, 3-D printing
Making others happy and more productive

Needless to say, If you want to get somewhere in life, both motivation and inspiration are extremely important.

Here is how I keep myself inspired:

Maintain a Journal: Write down ideas as soon as you get them. Your brain is an amazing machine. It goes through millions of thoughts a day. Some are positive and some are negative. Keep the positive ones.

Get on Twitter: Everyone can use help. Twitter is bursting with ideas every second. Millions of fresh ideas are born and shared on Twitter every day. If you follow the right people, you will be inspired ex: Bill Gates. You will be amazed to find the kinds of projects he is working on that addresses the basic human needs in developing countries.

Watch TED (ideas worth spreading): You can hear brilliant people talk about thought provoking ideas here.

Entertain yourself: Watch movies and videos and listen to music that inspires you. Who’s watched the movie Jurassic Park or Gandhi or The Pink Panther? Laugh, cry or jump with joy – live the moment – ideas will follow. Play a team sport such as volley ball, soccer or cricket.

“I’d like to buy a Ham Burger”

Read: Have you read Seth Godin’s Linchpin: Are you Indispensable? What about “Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money” by Daniel Lapin or “48 Days to the Work You Love” by Dan Miller

Here are all the books I recommend.

Experiment and Learn: Try something new every once in a while. Fill your mind with fresh Ideas. What’s there to lose? Who likes to cook? Fill your pantry with new spices. Experiment with your cooking. Watch others cook and learn. My favorite channel is food network.

Here is a Chow Tip on Cooking Eggplant the healthy way:

Book shops and Coffee Shops: Did you know a study found people are most creative in a noisy environment such as in a coffee shop? Amazing isn’t it? So, get out there more often and take your computer along with you. Starbucks provides free wifi. Get out there to a bookshop – there is always something you will find interesting.

Exercise: Walk in the park, swim, run, hit the gym – get your heart pumping. Get the stress out of your life. Make room for fresh ideas.

Take time off: Get some rest, meditate and spend some time thinking. Be happy.

Learn & Teach: Take the time to share your learning’s with your kids, co-workers, friends, family and the world. Teaching is addictive – there is a sense of satisfaction that you’re not going to find anywhere else. Learn, give, volunteer, write and share your art with the world. Make every day count. Keep yourself and others inspired.

If you like this post, feel free to share.

(Disclaimer: Images come from Google Image Search)

Installing Vertica VM appliance Community Edition

2012-09-02T10:49:00.001-06:00

Vertica is an analytical database that is grid-based and column-oriented that was designed to manage large, fast growing volumes of data that provides very fast query performance when used for data warehouses and other query-intensive applications. In this post, I will show how to get going with Vertica’s community edition VM appliance that’s available to all. So, if you are interested to get hands on with Veritca, then read-on and try it for yourself.

Vertica is available as a Virtual Machine (VM) that is pre-installed on a 64-bit Cent OS image and comes with a license for 500 GB of data storage. You can download the VM from http://my.vertica.com after you register.

Here is the page and link I downloaded it from:

Here is what you’ll see once you download and unzip the image:

Installing the VM

I used Oracle’s VirtualBox to import the image.

After you import the image, you’ll first want to Enable IO APIC under System properties otherwise you are likely to get an error.

One of the issues I ran into is related to X Windows. This is something that automatically corrected for me with the onscreen self diagnosis the system provided. I don’t think I changed any other setting for this.

Once, the above error was fixed, I was then able to login.

To log into the virtual machine:
The first time you boot the virtual machine you are automatically logged in and a web page
displays further instructions. To log back into the virtual machine, use the following username
and password:
• Username: dbadmin
• Password: password
• Root Password: password

Install the Sample Database

Next it is time to install the sample database.

Launch terminal cd /opt/vertica/sbin

Cd install_example

./install_example VMart

I did not run into any issues installing the database.

Connecting to the database

Launch ./vsql from /opt/vertica/bin

run a simple query: select count(1) from store.store_sales_fact;

There there you go, we installed the VM appliance, the database and tested connecting with the DB. I’m really hoping to get a lot more hands on in the near future. Subscribe to my blog if you’d like to receive email notifications about future posts.

Best States in America (US) for Business–CNBC–Excel 2013 Web App Interactive

2012-08-12T09:55:00.001-06:00

Every year CNBC publishes the top states in the US for business, quality of live, cost of living, education etc. While the data is already available at CNBC here, I thought of importing this data into an interactive Excel format.

Here is a brief description of how I did it.

Importing a HTML table into Excel:

The crudest way of this is to just copy-paste from a web-page into Excel. However my preference is to use the import data from Web Page option. This works like a charm. I did that for 2012, 2011 and 2010 data.

Next I formatted the table in Excel and saved the file as HTML so that I can add the Excel Interactive Button.

Go to www.excelmashup.com to generate the code and steps to add the script to the HTML file.

Here is the HTML table with the Excel Interactive Button:

Click on the button and you see Excel Interactive format:

Click on “Open in Excel Web App”

Since I live in Boise, Idaho state, I zoomed in on Idaho’s results which is very impressive for business seekers. Its ranked 7th overall for Cost of Business and 9th for Cost of Living. However it is at the bottom of the list for Education.

In summary, I really like the Excel’s Web Interactive Interface and also the Web App. Here, feel free to test drive it yourself.

Building with Lego–the future belongs to the curious minds

2012-07-30T06:48:00.001-06:00

Building with Lego never gets old, especially when you have a child between the ages of 3-12. I noted my kids get engrossed in building something as soon as you give them the Lego building blocks. This is the best way to keep them busy and excellent for their brain development. If you have the time to encourage them a little, it gets even better.

Here is a picture of my 4 year older at the local bookshop totally lost in the world of creativity. I’m not exactly sure what he is building, but it makes me immensely happy to see him focused and busy.

Here is something my 10 year older built recently while my 4 year older watched on. Kids learning from other kids is amazing. Kids have the most curious minds and if we can find ways to keep them curious, the future will belong to them.

If you are going to buy a child a birthday or Chrismas present, why not give the gift of creativity – Lego Building Blocks.

Leave me a message on how a child you know has used Lego building blocks.

Check the Local YMCA for the Robotics Camp and enroll your child into it. My 10 year older was very impressed and had a wonderful time.

The future belongs to the curious minds

Thunderstorm in Boise tonight, but caught the Double Rainbow

2012-07-14T21:49:00.000-06:00

Our game of cricket was washed out, nevertheless I caught the rainbow. Simple Joys of Life

Double Rainbow

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

Rent your car to someone nearby–getaround.com

2012-07-01T08:13:00.001-06:00

Got a car sitting around not being used much? You could probably sell it and pay down your debt or mortgage which is what I would do. But if you didn’t want to sell it, another option is to rent it. Check out getaround.com

Rent cars to real people around you and earn money renting it.

But what about insurance?

Getaround rentals include insurance. Coverage includes liability, collision, property damage, and uninsured motorist protection.

How safe is it to rent?

Getaround screens drivers and vehicles to ensure they meet their eligibility requirements. After every rental, you rate the other party and leave feedback describing your experience.

What about Car Keys?

The Getaround Carkit installs in your car and lets renters access your car via their smartphone. If you don’t have an iPhone, you probably will need to meet the owner to pick up the keys and deliver it back.

Peer to Peer Car lending is an interesting concept as long as you don’t have any emotional ties back to your car and just fine renting it to others.

Visualize Country and Region Reference Data using Google Fusion Tables

2012-06-24T15:04:00.001-06:00

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about how to get a list of all countries and regions reference data from Azure Data Market. In this post, let’s import it as a Google Fusion Table and visualize it on a map.

Start by creating a Fusion Table Project and import the Country and Region Spreadsheet.

Create a Fusion Table:

You can create a view just displaying the key fields:

Check out the view:

https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1zXdF9UTurxhuadY4UT5l8YVR2ADcwpaa8Y_JIn0

Now go to Visualize>Map

You can also customize the map:

Result:

Create a Movie from your Picture Library using Windows Live Movie Maker

2012-06-24T08:40:00.001-06:00

Let’s say you wanted to create a movie from a bunch of pictures or videos from your picture library and share it with your family and friends. How about creating a video greeting card for your loved ones for a birthday, valentine’s day, mother’s day or father’s day. I created a simple video with the pictures we took over the summer and shared it with my folks back home. They thought it was creative and wanted to know how they could do it. So here is blog post for that.

What you need is:

Pictures and/or Videos
Music (optional)
Windows Live Movie Maker (Sorry, I don’t own a Mac so I have to work with Microsoft Windows 7)

Let’s get started.

For this post, I am going to use the sample pictures, sample videos and sample music that come with Microsoft Windows.

Start by launching Windows Live Movie Maker:

Click “Add Videos and Photos” and add videos and/or photos.

If you like, you can add any music you have to be played as you progress through the movie.

When you add music, you’ll note that it will overlay over the entire movie.

I can also multiple music files to my movie. In this movie, I will change my music track as I transition from pictures to the video. First click where you want to make the transition.

Next go to the “Music Tools” ribbon and click “Split”

This will split music track into two and allow you to add another music track. Highlight the music that you want to change and hit delete and add a new music track.

Most likely the video you used already contains some audio in it. If you just like to keep that audio, then you don’t need to add background music to it. If you do want to add background music, then you want to ensure that the audio from the video you added to your movie is muted so that the background music can take over. For that, go to Project>Audio Mix and move the slider all the way to the right so that the music track will take over the audio.

Add Captions to the pictures if you want:

Using the Text tool add the transitions you like. Yes, great Creative!

That’s it. Now it is time to share the movie with your family.

There are a bunch of services available to you integrated with Windows Movie Maker: Skydrive, Youtube, Facebook, Windows live groups and Flickr. Choose anyone that you are comfortable with. I will go with Youtube so that I can embed the video with this blog post.

almost done:

Creativity is your friend. Creating movies or personal greetings for your friends and family is easier than you think – of course I mean amateur videos!

So, here is the final movie I created.

Important: While creating and sharing movies, take care as to NOT VIOLATE Copyrights agreements of any content.

One advantage of using Youtube as a service is that you edit the video in Youtube Video Editor. Check out the same video edited on Youtube.