Ashwin's Blog

Will Taj Mahal make it to the Final New 7 Wonders of the World?

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:28:00 +0000

As the voting for the New 7 Wonders of the World heats up, the day has finally arrived. Today being the last day of voting and results will be declared tomorrow at Lisbon, Portugal. All Indians are having their fingers crossed for having the Taj Mahal among one of the New 7 Wonders.

Video: New 7 Wonders Finalists.

As of 7th June, 2007; Taj Mahal was ranked at number 10.

After a lot of promotions and campaigning in India to vote Online and SMS "TAJ" to 4567, it has been at a very later stage.
Moreover, I feel that the awareness in India has been coming up at the last moment since last few months to keep voting or should we call it our over-confidence?

Though it sounds like the Taj Mahal is among the leaders;

Rome's Colosseum, China's Great Wall, Peru's Machu Picchu, India's Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra have been among the leaders since January while the Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer made their way up from the middle of the field to the top level, according to the most recent tallies. The United States' Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House have been sitting in the bottom 10 since the start.

Taj is still not doing well.

But, the lack of enthusiasm in India to vote for the 17th-Century Taj Mahal has been striking.
India has around 170 million mobile phone users and one person in every 50 has access to a personal computer.
But lacklustre voting over the past few months has seen the Taj Mahal get just enough votes to get at the bottom of the top 10 list.
Until a few weeks ago, there was virtually no information about the campaign.
Although some private television channels are now calling upon people to vote, most people are yet to hear about the campaign.

Waiting for tomorrow's results. Will TAJ make it among the 7?

Ek Mohobbat- One Love (song by: A. R. Rahman)
A tribute to Taj Mahal

Now that's refreshing!

Few insights on User Groups and Communities

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:14:00 +0000

What are Technical communities all about?
Technical communities provide opportunities to interact with experts, and your peers in order to share knowledge and news about related technologies.

What are Technology User Groups?
User groups are typically independently run, volunteer groups that meet in-person on a regular basis to discuss and share information on a variety of technical topics. Participation in a user group is an excellent, inexpensive way to receive technical content, education and to meet with your peers to get more out of the various platforms, products, technologies, and resources which you are interested in.

Basically they are a group of professionals dedicated to helping the users and administrators of Windows / any other technology products successful in their work, home and leisure environments through the sharing of ideas, best practices, information and research and development. The members of the group may be any individual from Developers, IT professionals, Product Experts, Business and IT decision makers, to home users.

Following are the benefits of joining a user group :-

Monthly community conferences and events
Presentations by leading technology and industry technical specialists
Special interest groups formed around important topics
Access to the group website for collaboration and resources
Technical discussion meetings
Hands-on experience
Free for all the members for communities that have some support backing from some organization or business. There indeed are few communities that charge the members for events and trainings. But it depends purely on the kind of community and the event that may be
User Groups are totally driven by passion to share knowledge of technology

Supporting opportunities for a User Group may be providing any of the following :-

Meeting space at the monthly events
Speaking opportunities on the supporter's products and services at the events
Opportunity to provide giveaways and conduct raffles at monthly events
A symbiotic relationship between the group and our supporters to benefit all
Supporter’s page and details on the User Group as a co-promotional activity

Ways to stay updated with technology and why join or volunteer user groups

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:04:00 +0000

Today Internet being a vast medium of getting connected, we can have faster ways of finding and providing solutions to our clients. Every is a winner. The client gets a quicker and better solution, the vendor wins a better deal by maintaining his quality of service. May be one gets a better business contact or a suitable candidate lands up in his dream job by getting noticed. Since the technology has been moving at faster pace than our thought, we need to keep ourselves updated and upgraded in order to always stay in touch with technology. This needs us to find for better ways as to how we can gear up ourselves. Few of the options I would like to note down are:
Daily News
Magazines and Periodicals
Read various Blogs
Publish Blogs
Attend online WebCasts
Join discussion forums and NewsGroups
Join a public user group with similar interests
Technical Whitepapers
Get educational resources and get certified
etc...

Personally, I have explored a lot being a part of any discussion forum or a user group, it always helps us personally and professionally. There are end number of posibilities that we can explore. There may be various reasons that we may opine on, but here are few of them that I felt like posting.

Being a Community Member:
We make lots of new friends with similar profession and interests. It is always good to network with people. Who knows, some day you may land up having a good business contact or possibly land up in an even better job. But it purely depends on how we make ourselves get our talents noticed in public.
Get help from some of the technology experts on technology that we may be working on and enhance our skills
Get a chance to guide several people who needed help on technology. May they be geeks or novices, we come across various people inquisitive to learn more on some technology that we may be good at and it feels great to always share with them and help them keep upgraded on the technology that we are into.

In order to explore more from the technology perspective, we find ourselves at the drivers seat while we help the community being it's volunteer. We gain a lot of valuable experience on development projects, organizational committees, and other aspects of nonprofits. This always gives us a chance to keep ourselves get identified and noticed in the crowd. Here are some of the reasons that make me feel like volunteering a community.

Being a Community Volunteer:
We learn to manage events. We manage activities online and offline, which help enhance our management skills
Get an opportunity to provide presentations and help people understand technology that we are good at
Connecting to few of the best in technology known public identity and it is always a great feeling when we get direct help when in need of understanding the upcoming release of some much awaited products or the one that is in the market
Special opportunity to work on products when at Beta stage and get help from some of those who would be working on the development of the product. Learn more on the latest technologies and demonstrations of upcoming products and technologies
Keep ourselves updated by staying in contact with such experts
Opportunities are unlimited when it comes to learning. We share knowledge among people of all classes of expertise, which is a beneficial thing to all
Innovation rules and this can be the best place to implement our innovative ideas in front of public
Develop leadership and decision making skills by showing your proactiveness by initiating an idea and implementing them. The proof of being the best shows after our consistent efforts on the same
Helps us showcase our talents our way
Get opportunities to attend some of the Best Technology events and seminars which may not open to all ITProfessional public
Apart from attending, these are the places again where we get a chance to again volunteer and have ourselves get noticed
All this helps us improve our communication skills and make my presence felt among the group
We make good contacts globally and thoughts and innovative ideas to benefit the community comes out of the box. This helps us explore our own talents
Overall, this increases our own self-esteem

In a way, we improve our personality and change the way we are. You carry a lot of prestige when being a volunteer for some very well known product / technology user group.

The content that I have posted here is from my own personal experiences. There may be some disadvantages too but surely cannot beat the advantages and there surely are even more better ways than those listed here.

Chris Benoit RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:19:00 +0000

WWE Superstar Chris Benoit was found dead in his home on June 25, 2007 in Fayetteville, Georgia, along with his wife and son. Police are calling the deaths a murder-suicide. Investigators believe Benoit strangled his wife Nancy 3 days earlier. The next day suffocating his 7 year old son Daniel, and finally hunged himself in his weight room. All 3 bodies were found in different rooms with a bible placed next to the bodies of Benoit's wife and son. Steroids were also found in Benoit's home which investigators believe could have led to Benoit's burst of rage called "Roid Rage."

The WWE canceled its normal broadcast of RAW on June 25, which ironically was originally intended as a tribute to Vince McMahon's own death (which never turned out to be true) and instead aired a 3 hour special tribute to Benoit. He had wrestled for ECW, WCW, and the WWE.

This video is from the last 5 minutes of WWE's Raw broadcast from June 25th.

R.I.P. BENOIT, YOUR WIFE AND SON. You were one of wrestling's great champions. Until the facts come out, we can only speculate as to what happened; However there can't be any conclusions as many of us have done already.

R.I.P. Eddie Guerrero

More News:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Benoit

The above video is a must watch as it also features Chris Benoit's best friend Eddie Guerrero. My Tributes to both the superstars.
Eddie Guerrero RIP

Who are these 3 people on Windows Vista DVD?

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:12:00 +0000

Just found this link where the person found a secret within the hologram on a Windows Vista DVD. It remains a mystery that who are these 3 guys!

Have a look at more images here. He says that these photographs were taken using Nikon 5700 in macro and by putting a cloth prover in front of the object.

Via MakeZine

MCSA, MCSE: Register by June 30 to Save 40% on First Windows Server 2008 Exam (Worldwide)

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:46:00 +0000

Just a reminder to all those not yet registered for your 40% discount voucher to upgrade yourself to Windows Server 2008. This is a last chance and this offer closes on June 30, 2007.

Register by June 30, 2007, to receive a 40% savings voucher for use on your upgrade path from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 certification. The transition exams (one for MCSA and one for MCSE) and the 40% savings offer are both intended to recognize your investment and expertise in our current technology and help you in your transition to the latest releases available from Microsoft. Register today for your voucher.

The best part of this offer is that this is valid WorldWide and not USA / Canada Specific :)

Features in Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:20:00 +0000

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is released and now available for download. Here are few of the updates made in SP1

Support for Hardware-Assisted Virtualization (Both Intel VT and AMD V)
Support for additional guest and host operating systems
Support for more than 64 virtual machines on x64 hosts. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 now supports up to 256GB of physical memory and can run up to 512 virtual machines
VHD Mount command-line tool and APIs which allows you to mount a VHD file as a virtual disk on your host operations system.
Improved scalability support (Up to 256 GB of memory, Up to 512 VMs etc)
Interoperability with Volume Shadow Copy Service
Service Publication using Active Directory Service Connection Points
Virtual SCSI hard drive for installing Linux guests
Default size increased to 127 GB from 16GB for dynamically expanding virtual hard disks
VMRC ActiveX control now uses the Internet Explorer Security Zones
New VMRC client option to enable video stretch in full screen mode
Host clustering / Quick Migration whitepaper
IVMGuestOS::Get_OSName property now returns more operating system information

Find more: Here and Here

How does Microsoft come up with product names?

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 06:05:00 +0000

Interested to know how the name Windows Server 2008 came up? Check the video. That's simple to understand but an innovative video.

How does Microsoft come up with product names? This video goes over the process for naming Longhorn to Windows Server 2008.

Video: What's In a Name?

Microsoft announces Surface

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:10:00 +0000

What is Surface?

"Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Today at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Microsoft Surface™, the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Beginning at the end of this year, consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues."

Presenting: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

Minority Report meets the kitchen table in the new Surface from Microsoft. Claiming that surface computing is "as significant as the move from DOS to GUI," the company today announced a tabletop device with an integrated 30-inch screen and five cameras to enable multitouch access to music, photos, the web, and more. According to Microsoft, Surface isn't simply a regular PC with a touch interface—it's a whole new category of computing device that will supplement rather than replace traditional machines. We talked with Microsoft about the concept and what's powering it.
What lurks below Microsoft's Surface? A brief Q&A with Microsoft

Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface Virtual Pressroom
Microsoft Surface: Behind-the-Scenes First Look

On WikiPedia

Thanks Pramit for pointing this out to me.

Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" is now Windows Server 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:20:00 +0000

Bill Gates officially announces Windows Server CodeName "LongHorn" to be christened as Windows Server 2008 at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2007

Check the Official Announcement video on SoapBox

Video: WinHEC 2007 - Windows Server 2008 Announcement

Microsoft has officially christened Windows Server code-name Longhorn as Windows Server 2008, thus confirming one of the two possible choices. The Redmond Company has oscillated between Windows Server 2007 and Windows Server 2008, but Longhorn, following the availability of the first public milestone in the product's development, Beta 3, was finally stripped of its code-name. Thanks to SoftPedia for the update

So now, here we have to official website for Windows Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/default.mspx

Longhorn Server Beta 3 released

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 02:07:00 +0000

Microsoft® Windows Server® Code Name "Longhorn" helps IT professionals to increase the flexibility of their server infrastructure while offering developers a more robust web and applications platform for building connected applications and services.

Windows Server Code Name Longhorn has been released to beta testers today, with some of the most important changes coming to Longhorn Server Core. Core will support a grand total of 8 roles, double the 4 roles it had back in mid 2005. The grand total of roles available to Server Core includes:

Active Directory

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services

DNS

DHCP

File/Print

Windows Media Services

Terminal Services Easy Print, Remote App, and Gateway

Virtualization (configuring a server as a dedicated host for virtual servers.) (won't be available immediately.)

PowerShell is also included in the 3rd beta release of Longhorn Server, as well as the Windows Firewall being enabled by default

Direct Download Links:

Windows Server "Longhorn" Web x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Web x64 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Standard x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Standard x64 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Enterprise x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Enterprise x64 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Datacenter x86 - English

Windows Server "Longhorn" Datacenter x64 - English

Source: Microsoft Downloads | AeroXP

Microsoft provides 40% discount on LongHorn upgrade exam

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:55:00 +0000

Are you an MCSA or MCSE in Windows Server 2003? Or are you working towards getting certified? Then you better plan to finish that before 30th June, 2007 and get yourself registered to avail the 40% discount benefit that Microsoft is providing for the next releasing Windows Server Code Name "LongHorn" upgrade exam. As a Windows Server 2003 customer or partner with an early certification on Longhorn, you will be well placed to support early adopting organizations that will require skills on both platforms.

Register Now: Click Here

Thanks for the Birthday wishes

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:31:00 +0000

Your sweet and charming wish
Painted my day with vibrant colors
You made my cup of joy fill up to the brim
Thanks a lot for you Wishes :D

12 Days of Christmas by Boymongoose

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:21:00 +0000

Just found this wonderful video played on YouTube
12 Days of Christmas video clip re-worked Indian style. Performed by animated popstar, Boymongoose and Indian boyband.

Wonderful remake of the song 12 days of christmas originally by Lee Greenwood.

That's very well composed, fantastic animation, hillarious video.
And waat a waanderfull accent eda. Veaary Nice...

Here goes the lyrics:

On the first day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
A totally insufficient dowry

On the second day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the third day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Four Hari Krishnas..... (Is that Indian)
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Five Indian games..... (I want to be the cowboy)
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Nine telemarketers..... (Good Evenin.. This is Kaalin jones. Are you waanting greater kaalrits)
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Ten-minute yoga..... (Think the lotus, feel the lotus, drive the lotus)
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
Eleven syllable name..... (PEESARAVANMUTHUDBLEEKVAAS)
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five Indian games
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me...
Twelve cricket ball tamperers..... (I was simply correcting the stitching)
Eleven syllable name
Ten-minute yoga
Nine telemarketers
Eight Bollywood films
Seven-11 workers
Six IT graduates
Five minutes of fame
Four Hari Krishnas
Three butter chickens
Two nosy in-laws
And a totally insufficient dowry

Watch the Video: Click here
Know about the Band: Here

Expected launches in 2007 in India

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:22:00 +0000

Microsoft Windows Vista launch
Microsoft Office 2007 launch
Intel Quad-core desktop processors
High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interfaces in desktop PC’s
Faster Internet access on cell phones
iPhone on Microsoft Zune
MatchBox size projectors creating 15” diagonal video using lasers
Pocket cameras with up to 10MP support
Wireless Camcorders
Google to launch Facial recognition search to Picasa
Bills payment through cell phone using RFID - Coming Soon
SED TV (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) to launch to beat the LCD’s and HDTV’s
WiMax finally to be launched
Desktop on the go... within browsers
Desktops and Laptops for cheap
Birth of Blue-Ray disks... Bye Bye CD’s / DVD’s – (They will be from 50GB to 200GB)
Hard Disks with capacity of up to 1-TeraByte
Laser printers with up to 1000 ppm speed

Beautiful Ad by Telecom Italia... Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 19:49:00 +0000

Here is simply a Superb Advertisement that shows popularity and respect to Gandhiji. A great advertisement Ironically from a non- Indian company!!
And none the less, this ad won the EPICA awards for best ad. It took Italians to make this one!
With this post, I would like to Thank everybody behind this thought and enlightening us. We are honoured and glad. Indeed we need to think on the message "Imagine the world today, if he could have communicated like this."

Advertisement: TELECOM ITALIA S.P.A. "GANDHI"

What's" Your Blogging Personality?

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:13:00 +0000

Your Blogging Type Is Clever and Witty

Of all blogging types, you're the best with words.Almost every blog post you write has legendary quality.You have a perverse sense of humor and often play devil's advocate.Impatient and picky, you tend to go off on funny rants from time to time.

What's" Your Blogging Personality?

Email Etiquette

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:31:00 +0000

Never use your company account for sending private / personal messages. If your company permits, use the freebie accounts like, Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail etc... By doing this you really have your own privacy and will be less visible to your employers.

Properly understand To, CC, BCC. Use BCC when necessary. If you are sending an email to multiple people, add your own email id in To: field and put all other email addresses in the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field. This will keep the email address of your friends private whom you have marked a copy.
Do not use BCC option for officially copying someone in the email, use CC (Carbon Copy) option in such cases.
Sometimes people use BCC option to let someone else know without the recipient's knowledge that you are writing this specific email. I feel this is not a good practice since a BCC'ed person may unknowingly reply to the email, while the initial recipient was not aware of this which later creates problems in relationships. It is instead advised to email the actual recipient and then forwarding the sent mail to whomever we want to let know about this, with a FYI (For Your Information) note. This sounds more professional.

Write a good subject line. Subject line should be short and to the point that reflects the content of the message. It is not a good idea to mention subject lines like, ‘Hi’ ‘hello’, etc... Instead put them to the point as follows:

Subject: Meeting at Intercontinental on 25 Dec @ 6 PM

Similarly when we receive such mails, don’t use the same old format like, Re: Meeting at Intercontinental on 25 Dec @ 6 PM and then confirming in the mail. With this we are making the recipient to open the mail and read whether you have confirmed it or not. Reply with subject line like this:

Subject: Meeting at Intercontinental on 25 Dec @ 6 PM will be delayed till 6:30 PM

Doing this, you have saved the time of the recipient.

Keep your email message short and to the point. Very few will have patience and time to read a whole story. Instead make them short and to the point and if it is really required to be lengthy with full details, at least highlight the specific words and sentences that needs more attention.

Delete all past forwarded email addresses. When you are forwarding some mail, nobody wants to keep going through the history of this mail how long it has travelled and reached how many inboxes. These simply clutter the message and finally the real message is found at the bottom. Keep it clean while forwarding. Let only the message remain!

Do not forward chain letters. I simply HATE this! Emails that say, if you don't forward it to 10 people you'll die. Who really cares! Cut off such superstitions... And even if you receive such mail, please do not forward the mails with the footer. Delete them and then forward. Well and if you really are sending some real decent mail which is suspected to be a chain mail, make a note at the top saying “Please note: This isn't a chain letter”

Mind your words at work. Ensure that your work emails does not contain chat acronyms like 'u', 'ty', ‘wrt’, ‘neways’, ‘b4’, ‘tc’ etc... They are meant for cell phone messaging since the keypads are not well suited to writing fully-formed words, sentences and paragraphs. They sound a childish behaviour in Business mails. Always make a habit of writing in full words in general too instead of using acronyms.

Check your tone. Know your mail recipient well. Stay aware of your relationship – professionally before you start writing a mail. Re-verify your mail and if the topic is appropriate to write or not, as well as the tone of your writing.

Be careful. When you are sending some very secret and confidential mails, you better be very careful. Emails can be intercepted anywhere en route to its recipient. And also they can live for years in recipient email inbox. Think before sending!

Shorten your signature. Signature files, especially in business, should contain as few lines as possible. Four lines are more than enough. You may remove your personal mobile number and the home number if you are in a group mailing list. Keep them short and simple. Do not use very flashy, moving and colourful signatures. Do not use special symbol fonts in signature. They may also not be compatible with the recipients’ email client.

Name---
Title---

Quote past messages. It is always a better practice to cut the most relevant sentence from the message you received and preface it with a '>' and paste the quote above your response. Delete the rest of the original email from your response, unless you are responding to other points in the original.

Eg:

>Hey Ashwin, How are you? It’s been long time no mails from you!

Hi *** I am fine and was very busy for the past few weeks so could hardly get any time to even check my mails. So how are you doing?

Then the communication may continue with added quotes ‘>>’

Eg:

>>Hey Ashwin, How are you?
>>It’s been long time no mails from you!

>Hi *** I am fine and was very busy for the past few weeks so could hardly get any time to even check my mails.
>So how are you doing?

I am doing good and recently promoted as *** in my organization. With this new position, I now have the following responsibilities.....

Do not write email when you are in a bad mood. This reflects your style of writing.

Ask for clarification. If you receive and email that upsets you, make sure you haven't misunderstood. As told earlier, Mind your words and Check your tone... misunderstandings do happen due to such petty reasons. Therefore, instead of responding angrily, in your response, quote the portion of text that you are unsure of and ask the sender to clarify. Point out what you think it means, and then ask if you've misunderstood.

Do not spam friends, colleagues, etc... Do not send repeated mails as forwards. You may land up in the Spam Box of the recipients’ company mail server. It is always polite to apologize if you have done it.

Respond to group email appropriately. If someone has sent a group email that requires a response, but only to the sender or few other people, don't copy everyone on your reply. Read out what is specified and stay aware.

Check you File Attachment size. Do not send attachments with large size. Recipients have limitations to receiving the files and mailbox limits. Also note that everyone does not have a broadband connection. Therefore do not send large files unless requested. Else it is advised to upload them over websites like Files-Upload, YouSendIt, SendMeFile etc... and for images, use services like SnapFish, PhotoBucket, ImageStation, ImageShack etc... Then send the link to download it. If there are more than 2 documents, zip in one file and send. This will ensure that no downloads are missed by the recipient. No messages being bounced back due to exceeded attachment size limits etc...

Always reply to emails especially the ones specifically addressed to you. You have the sender waiting for your reply.

Do not hit the Reply to All button unnecessarily. Say you have received a mail from your large organization that is actually marked company-wide to several users. You may feel the need to respond to the sender, but others definitely do not want to have it unless relevant. Therefore mark a copy to only those whom you feel are really associated with that message and needs to be kept informed. I have also seen this to personal mail forwards that spread rumours. People just mark a Reply to all saying that the mail is fake and there the discussion starts... Please get me out of this conversation. I have no interest into it.

DO NOT USE CAPITAL LETTERS. In Internet, this chat terminology is called as SHOUTING if you are typing in capitals. Therefore don’t yell at me. Please be polite.

No stationeries please. These days there are several services that provide cool and jazzy stationeries to make your mail more colourful. Please... if you want to use it, then please purchase a beautiful letter pad, write and snail mail me... I will appreciate you. It is really nice to see the creativity but not always for all mails. Once in a while is OK on some special occasions when you got to send out wishes. These simply increase the size of the mail and also few email clients that do not support HTML, will send them as attachment. It is better to stay off for the confusion of the recipient asking you what is the attachment all about.

Less smiley and emoticons please. It is very nice to see your smiling face in a mail format. (But over smiling turns me off at least). Use then the least. All those mail with most of :) :) :) look uglier for me!

Plain Text or HTML. If you are using HTML format, see that you do not over format you mail. Keep it simple silly (KISS). Just use them to highlight any specific sections that may need attention. And no various colours please. I am no colour blind and have learnt about them in childhood. So please do not show me the various colours. Also if the recipients email client does not support HTML, you mail will look gibberish and vague.
While using plain text format, you obviously cannot format them and the font is standard. It is in “Courier” and this keep the size of the file lesser.

Use simple words, do not make the recipient to use dictionary! Write emails in the language easily understood by the recipient. There is always a difference when you are writing to an ordinary person, Senior Manager, Vice president or Chief Executive, Management etc... No jargons please to show your knowledge.

Do not overuse the high priority and privacy options of email.

Do not always request a Read Receipt. If the email is not delivered, we anyways receive a notification from the SMTP server, about delivery failure. And when email is previewed or just displayed in the recipient’s screen, the read receipt is sent. This also does not guarantee that the email is read by the recipient. But no worries, your message always gets delivered.

Spell Check. Always check your spellings before you send the mail.

I will soon come up with few more updates...

Let's Talk on Orkut

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:27:00 +0000

It's confirmed! Google is now integrating their GTalk Instant Messenger and VOIP service in Orkut. With Google already having it integrated in their other services like: word processing, spreadsheet applications, and Gmail, this initiative sounds great.

This is what the Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne says:

"We noticed that a lot of people that were using Orkut also had their GTalk client open at the same time,"

and also says:

"some of the functionality of the Orkut site will be built into the free standing GTalk client. Orkut "friends" (and their "presence" status and information) will show up on GTalk users' buddy lists."

So next time you need to scrap your friend, there is no need to log into Orkut. Instead simply send your message on GTalk and that's it. Go... Chat Live and Talk :)

Well I personally am not a very crazy Orkut user or a strong GTalk user though. Only the reason being that GTalk is not much preferred IM in India compared to Yahoo! messenger and Windows Live. But this will have me be a regular to use GTalk often since Orkut having a huge popularity, GTalk is a must download messenger.
Here it is, now I have my GTalk on! ;)

Catch me on Orkut.

Imagine Cup 2007 Korea - Registrations Open

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:35:00 +0000

After the successful finish of Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2006 in India, it is now headed to Korea for year 2007. Registrations are now open. Overview about the competition and the official website.

Ms Dewey - A New Interactive Search Engine

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:34:00 +0000

Here is a new interactive - flash based search engine http://www.msdewey.com/
Ms. Dewey is here to assist you in your search and is hosted by model/actress/vocalist, Janina Gavankar, who is guest starring in the new episodes of Showtime's "The L Word", a television drama series aired in United Stated. Type in your search requirement in the search field and wait for what she has to say. Also just check her when you are inactive... and also u search through without typing anything in the field. Play around with different search requirements and see the results. Well this happens to be just a timepass for me at the moment... nothing more than that. See takes a a very long time to think.

Backup Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:01:00 +0000

ComputerWorld has some very interesting articles on Tips to backup:

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Desktops

Automate the desktop backup process whenever possible. Best intentions are exactly that.
Have users organize and consolidate important data in a single location for easier backup.
Use continuous data protection when data sets are evolving at a high rate.
Use an online service or VPN, plus a connection-sensing local client, for remote users.
Put desktop and laptop backups in your central data store to leverage its backup and redundancy.
Use imaging for quick and easy restoration of systems.
Image to hidden partitions on laptops for system recovery without IT assistance.
Use plain (uncompressed) file backups so users can browse and restore single documents on their own.
Save multiple revisions with your CDP system to create an ad hoc document archiving system.
Educate and continually re-educate users on the importance of backing up their desktops.

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Workgroups

Outsource to a backup service, or if that’s not possible...
Determine what needs to be backed up and how often it needs to be recovered.
Designate one or two people to be in charge of backups.
Install a backup product tailored to small groups, not enterprises.
Back up to disk rather than to tape.
Find a system that replicates off-site.
Consider continuous data protection if your industry is highly regulated.
Maintain backup logs, or use reporting tools for auditing and visibility.
Back up every day at a minimum — sometimes twice a day.
Test your backup system before an emergency.

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Data Center

Save to disk before going to tape.
Figure out the restore, then plan the backup to match.
Deduplicate the data to speed backup time and reduce the amount of storage needed.
Look for network bottlenecks that slow down backup and restore.
Don’t rely on a single technology. Use multiple layers of protection.
Minimize the number of backup products you use.
Set up restoration as a help desk function so storage professionals can work on improving levels of service.
Have backups stored outside the disaster impact zone.
Test the restoration process before it is needed, and tier your backups depending on how quickly they need restoration.
Make sure the recovery plan is stored with the backup data.

10 Tips for Backing Up Your Messaging

Decide between backup and archiving: Do you need to restore messages from a failure event (backup) or store/retrieve data to comply with legislation or a legal request for discovery?
Know what you are trying to gain with the backup and what level of restore granularity you require.
Fully disclose instant messaging monitoring or recording to IM users as part of your company’s written policy.
Focus on reducing the size of the message store by removing duplicate e-mail and attachments.
Apply ongoing, disk-based technology, such as snapshots, to capture changes to the now-more-manageable message store.
Consider contracting with a messaging-specific archival or disaster recovery-related service provider if you haven’t the time or resources to build out an internal IT infrastructure.
Determine, with the help of legal and compliance counsel, whether e-mail-related backups should be kept indefinitely on disk or tape or deleted after a certain period of time.
Know how long you are legally required to retain specific messaging backup data or message archives, and plan for such deadlines.
Develop, write and disseminate policies for the handling, protection and archiving of messaging systems.
At the least, perform a daily dump of the messaging system to disk via the Microsoft Windows NTbackup command.

5 Tips for Backing Up Your PDAs

Keep master copies of all corporate data on the server. Many applications have extensions to provide data to PDAs and smart phones.
Make new backups of the contents of memory whenever you make a significant addition or change to your data, either to an SD memory card, local computer or over the network to a corporate server.
Back up to two local memory cards, one of which is kept separate from the device in case of loss or theft, and to at least your local laptop or desktop computer daily.
Make frequent copies of SD card contents. Some PDA and smart phone applications read data directly from an SD card, essentially using it as a solid-state hard drive.
Automate backups so they won’t be forgotten. Most PDA and smart phone backup software today allows you to schedule daily automatic backups both to an SD card and over a Wi-Fi or cellular network to a corporate server.

First IPTV in India

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 05:24:00 +0000

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) in tie up with IOL Broadband Limited, has launched the Internet Protocol Television (IP TV) in Mumbai. They are offering the subscribers to access 24 TV channels @ Rs. 199/- (special introductory fee). The service allows user to simultaneously make calls and surf the Internet on the broadband services. We will also be able to get video and music on demand services which is similar to watching Video CD's / DVD's using a VCD / DVD player. Movies, Instructional Videos and other content will also be available to customers. And not only this, we also have the e-learning services, where you will actually be able to directly attend seminars, interactive classrooms and meeting rooms etc... Whoa!

All we need to have is the following 3 services from MTNL:-
Normal Telephone Service
Broadband Internet service
IPTV service

The TV Channels are said to be getting increased to 200 very soon.

How does it work?
IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal (sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection and a set-top box programmed with a software that can handle viewer requests to access to many available media sources.

The viewer's TV connects to a Set Top Box (STB) that decodes the IP video and converts it into standard television signals. The STB is the gateway to an IP video switching system. The Switched Video Service (SVS) system allows viewers to access broadcast network channels, subscription services, and movies on demand. The consumer can access different media by using the television remote to send control commands to the SVS. The unit processes the request and displays the requested media type. Though there are many possible media sources, only one video channel is utilized in the process.
IPTV is an emerging technology and will evolve into a completely interactive experience in the future!

To make this all understand more simpler, IPTV will be a television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional formats and cabling, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks.

Some advantages on IPTV, and more

MTNL has answered the FAQ's here

So with this launch, we can now imagine a lot more than the DTH services provided by DishTV and TataSky in India. Just keep watching how the technology now moves with the already launched Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and now very soon I guess will Microsoft TV IPTV Edition come to India. Watch this Microsoft TV IPTV Edition Demonstration and also more from Cisco

MTNL has not yet announced the actual Tariff but it is not even far away! Well I am very much satisfied with the telephone service and the broadband service MTNL is providing me and looking forward for the next service... IPTV :) The only complaint I have with them is their response time to the initial setup and installation is a much extended process and need a lot of follow up's but I feel, by now they should improve.

MTNL hai toh sahi hai :)

IOL Broadband has a subscription form for IPTV service here. If need further information, we may fill it up and either a MTNL or IOL representative will get back to us. Or just check up with MTNL helpline on 1800228844 or 1504 (only from MTNL phone) or check your nearest helpline.

Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Technology Enablement Program

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 03:59:00 +0000

Microsoft communities invites all to the Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Technology Enablement Program. To tell you in brief about the training format, here it is:
This is a training officially provided by Microsoft. This training is provided all over India and is going to be a 10 month long series of modules on Windows Mobile and Embedded Technologies. This happens to be only every Saturday.
There are 10 modules of each program. i.e., 10 of Windows Mobile 5.0 and 10 of Windows Embedded CE 6.0. It is a neatly formatted program where you will be given all the required resources, the training materials, training facilities etc... everything you may think of that is essential for learning and mastering a product.

Each module consists of:

1) A Webcast giving an overview of the topic (90 minutes duration - 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm)
2) A session broadcast that explains in detail the topic itself (3 hours - 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm)
3) A lab that allows you to try first-hand the technology being discussed (day-long - 9:00 am to 6:00 pm) - depending on how fast we complete practice.

Here is the process how it all goes. Each module goes on for 2 Saturdays. The first week, you are provided the 90 min Webcasts that you may need to check (every Wednesday for Mobile 5.0 and Wed and Thu for Embedded CE 6.0), Even if you are unable to view it, we get that to view offline after few days either to view online or download for offline viewing (after 2-3 days max).
You will also be provided an article related to the same module (as the one I have attached here). With this, you do not need to got out and search for external resources for downloading. This makes your life easier as an initiative that people who have been busy all over, will only have to refer these articles to learn more.
Then it is followed by a session that Saturday. The session is broadcasted live and will happen happen in the same hall at Microsoft's office where everyone will be trained together. Also you get an opportunity to ask questions and get answered live! You can make the best use of this training.
Then the next Saturday, you get a Hands-on-lab where you are provided the facilities at Microsoft's office again. Each individual will be provided a system to practice the same. With this now you get an opportunity to really practice what you learnt.

This is not an initiative like other institutes who just teach and finish, but here you are not only trained on a particular technology but given enough care by allowing to practice and ensure that you are well trained and mastered at the end of all the modules. And moreover, what do you loose when it is Microsoft itself who is providing the training and the Technology Evangelists themselves taking enough initiative to train everyone. And at the end, you are also Certified by Microsoft after the end of each module.

So just tell me which one would you like to loose? Training, Training resources and facilities, Certificates... I feel that should be none. Nothing to loose when you are given an opportunity to master and not at all being charged :) You get an added skill and an opportunity to master a new technology finally being able to add light to your Resume. So just get in all your friends, colleagues, relatives, etc.. anyone who may be interested in this being in IT field or keen on getting into these technologies. All are welcome and are very strongly suggested to grab this opportunity and make it's best use.

This is what Mr. Vineet Gupta, Technology Evangelist - Microsoft; says:
In my opinion, mobile programming is where the next big growth in mainstream computing would take place, and very soon customers would be asking for mobile-based solutions. So I would urge you to think hard about mobile programming, and if possible, invest in your skills in this area. We are really working hard to help you become successful in this area, and if you have any ideas / feedback / suggestions, we are very eager to hear them.

The topics for the 10 months on Windows Mobile 5.0 are:

Sep - Windows Mobile Fundamentals
Oct - Compact Framework Fundamentals
Nov - Working with both Managed and Native Code
Dec - Crossbow - What's New
Jan - Using Windows Mobile Communication Stacks Part - I
Feb - Using Windows Mobile Communication Stacks Part - II
Mar - Data Storage and Access
Apr - Using Location APIs
May - Securing Windows Mobile Apps
Jun - Performance Tuning Windows Mobile Apps

Since we have missed the September module, and if you are from Mumbai interested into this, arrangements can be done in order to start back from scratch and we all can get the best from the fundamentals to advanced. But this needs to be informed quick and before Diwali ;) So post your comments here.

Similarly for Windows CE 5.0:
The Tools Story
Platform Overview
OS Architecture
Platform Security
Device Drivers

This is in short that I have at the moment for Windows CE 5.0. I will update you with in detail information soon. But no worries, we get the best from both the Windows Mobile and The Embedded Technologies.

Back to Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin Kini) — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 16:03:00 +0000

I had been away for a while from blogging. Several reasons for not being in,
Had a lot of issues with my system always constantly restarting periodically. My OS, Windows XP used to misbehave a lot. Windows Servr 2003 R2 took ages to boot up... Getting fed up with all these, last week I decided to service my system myself. So just closed down everything. Got into Gear 1 and got in with all the components out of the system to clean them and reassembled. Accelerated to back up all my data on DVD and got into Gear 2 to start formating the system. Gear 3 installation of the OS - Windows XP. Gear 4 installation of all the required applications with patches updated and re configuring my system. Now after all the hassles, today I am very happy having my system on a top gear running to its best and helping me to get back into blogging.

BTW, I have to tell you that I have received my free Windows Vista Beta 2 DVD shipped for FREE to my home on Friday, September 22, 2006. All those who have read my earlier blog post, hope that you too must have received it too. Now you too get into the top gear with Vista Installation. Start gearing yourself now!