exertia

Resolving the “ORA-12514: No TNS Listener” error with Oracle XE

exertia — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:32:35 +0000

I faced this particularly nagging error with a personal install of Oracle XE (Oracle Database 10g Express Edition) on my Windows XP laptop: ORA-12514:No TNS Listener The SQL Command prompt that came with Oracle XE would work but none of the other tools like Toad, SQL Plus or even the Oracle XE Database Homepage which would open [...]

Fixing the double-letterboxing effect in Windows Media Player…

exertia — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:47:38 +0000

To resolve the double-letterboxing effect when playing a widescreen (16:9) movie encoded as fullscreen (4:3) on a widescreen laptop: use Videolan. Videolan is a freeware, open-source media-player that can help to resolve this problem by providing zoom and crop features that are easily accessible with a right-click while playing the video. If you have an older [...]

Upgrade issues with Norton Antivirus

exertia — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:38:58 +0000

Here’s what to do if you’re trying to upgrade to Norton Antivirus 2008 and getting the dreaded error message: “Setup has detected that LiveUpdate or AutoLiveUpdate is running. Setup will now abort.”: There is no easy way to kill the LiveUpdate processes or services once started. The only way around this is to prevent them from [...]

Google launches new Shakespeare site

exertia — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 06:39:29 +0000

Google has launched Google Shakespeare – a site that allows readers to browse / read all 37 of the Bard's plays. Readers can even plug in words, such as "to be or not to be" from Hamlet, and immediately be taken to that part of the play. Google Book Search, the Google product which houses [...]

Google’s latest tool syncs your browser settings and favorites

exertia — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:46:42 +0000

The newest addition to Google Labs – Google Browser Sync – allows you to sync your browser favorites, cookies, passwords and more between different machines. This is one tool I personally have been looking forward to for a long time… Unfortunately for IE users, GBS currently works only on Firefox. It offers various options to restrict [...]

Google Spreadsheets: taking aim at MS Office

exertia — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:55:16 +0000

After offering an online alternative to Word by acquiring the online word processor Writely, Google has now launched Google Spreadsheets as an online rival to Excel. NYTimes reports: It would make it possible for as many as 10 people to simultaneously edit a spreadsheet document online and chat about it using Google’s instant messaging program. The [...]

Finance Brings Value Discipline to Strategy Execution

exertia — Wed, 31 May 2006 05:45:51 +0000

Interesting comments from Costco's CFO Richard Galanti in the report "Finance Brings Value Discipline to Strategy Execution: Different Paths to One Truth" from CFO Research Services, in collaboration with Deloitte Consulting LLP: “We tend to be arrogantly simple.” When planning a new store, Costco is willing to trade off academic sophistication in favor of practicality. He [...]

Fun with trends, time-series and stats!

exertia — Tue, 30 May 2006 06:15:06 +0000

If you love trends and making sense out of statistics, check out Gapminder whose vision is “making sense of the world by having fun with statistics!” [via Google Blogoscoped]. Check out the Human Development Trends 2005 report that they have on their homepage. They have collaborated with Google Co-op so you can add them to [...]

Incentivising employees to put theories into practice

exertia — Mon, 29 May 2006 09:01:39 +0000

“What do you think is a good incentive to help people think through theories that show evidence in practices or outcomes?” asks Dr. Ellen Weber of the Brain Based Business blog, commenting on my earlier post on talent management. From my experience (as a participant) in the talent management initiatives of some well-managed organizations, this [...]

Online page design tips

exertia — Mon, 29 May 2006 07:27:44 +0000

Eyetrack has some interesting research findings and tips on Article-Level Page Design: When readers encountered a story with an introductory paragraph, 95 percent of them read all or part of the introductory paragraph. Those who spent time carefully reading the introductory paragraph of a story on article-level pages typically spent little time with the full story. [...]