Stubb Fanatic - Podcast

Blogging on custom domains using Blogger and Wordpress with and without self hosting

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:32:55 -0800

‘lo,

In this 2 part article I will explain how you can:

1. Blog on a custom domain (eg. www.<yourname>.com) while not having to buy any hosting space on the web (Will cover both Blogger and Wordpress)

2. Blog on a custom domain while also having custom hosting (Will cover only wordpress and explain how to migrate blogger blogs to custom/self-hosted wordpress)

I understand that many readers may question the need for this article when there are plenty or articles on the web. However I will try to make it very simple and easy to follow with judicious use of screenshots to make life simple.

Before proceeding, let's note that one can always start of a free blog on popular blogging platforms like Google's Blogger or Wordpress. The URL of a blog on these free services will be like:

<example>.blogspot.com

<example>.wordpress.com

If you are new to blogging, I recommend that you first try out hosting via these free platforms and see if you are able to maintain a good posting frequency. Once seasoned, go ahead and buy web hosting etc and host the blog by yourself.

Blog on a custom domain (eg. www.<yourname>.com) while not having to buy any hosting space on the web (Will cover both Blogger and Wordpress)

If you have a blog on Blogger or Wordpress.com, you might be pleased to know that both these platforms allow you to buy a custom domain name and make that the URL address of your blog.

Blogger

1. To view the custom domain settings facility in your blogger account, just go to the settings -> publishing area as shown in the image above (expand image to read the instructions or just follow the on screen instructions in your account. It's very easy!)

2. If you choose to buy a domain from Google, use this page as shown in the image above (read the price and the time period for which you are paying very carefully). As of now Google is using godaddy.com as partner for the domain name registrations and is also providing Google Apps on the domain. Which probably means you can have an email address like <yourname>@<yourdomain>.com .

3. However, if you have already bought a domain elsewhere, then click on the "Switch to advanced settings" link. You will be present with a page which looks like this:

4. Click on the link "setup instructions" and read it very carefully before you proceed with this step. You will have to create a CNAME (Canonical Name) record. This will make your domain point to Google's servers such that when someone visits your domain, the request is forwarded to Google servers and they can fetch the appropriate blog (i.e. your blogspot blog) and display it to the visitor.

Blogger help provides specific instructions on setting up CNAME for certain domain providers. If you do not plan to buy your domain from Google and then I recommend buying it from one of the service providers listed on that page.

This step can be troublesome and you may feel free to contact me if you need any assistance. However note that I may be slow in responding and the real fun is in trying it out on your own

5. Once everything is done, enter the word verification and save your settings. Give it some time and then your blog will start working on your custom domain URL. Your old blogspot address will automatically redirect to your new custom domain.

As always, if you face problems, you may redirect your questions to me and I will direct you in the right direction

Wordpress

If you have not already purchased a domain, then just like Blogger, wordpress also allows you to purchase a domain + redirect your wordpress.com blog to it for USD 15.00 (on this date).

You can also have your custom email by using Google apps on this newly purchased domain (learn more)

Buy a domain from wordpress and use it for your wordpress.com blog

1. Go to the "domains" section under "upgrades" on your wordpress.com dashboard (See the image).

2. On the page that appears, enter the domain you wish to use for your blog and click on "Add Domain to Blog" button (See the image below). A page will appear asking you to buy 15 credits to complete this transaction (unless you already have credits in your account). Note that you must have a Paypal account to purchase credits (currently 1 credit = USD 1.00).

3. Then you have to make sure (refer to the image below) that your newly purchased domain is recognized as your blog URL on the "domains" page and your wordpress.com blog redirects to your custom domain (also called domain mapping).

That's it. You are ready.

You might want to learn more about managing domains purchased through wordpress.

Using your separately purchased domain for your wordpress.com blog

1. Visit this link and setup your domain to be used in wordpress domain mapping process. All you have to do is add the nameservers shown there to your domain. Remove any existing nameservers from your domain.

2. Once your domain is ready go to the "domains" section under upgrades, on your wordpress.com dashboard. Enter the domain name you wish to use as shown in the image above and click on the "Add Domain to Blog" button. If your nameservers are set correctly and have propagated, then Wordpress will allow you to buy 10 credits to enable this domain mapping.

3. Now go to step 3 in the previous section (above) and you will be ready

If you ever have any problems regarding domain mapping, please do visit this link to seek help.

Alternate way to buy Wordpress credits

Log into your wordpress.com account go to the gifts section under upgrades as shown in the image below:

While this page will allow you to gift the credits to other wordpress users, you may simply use it to purchase credits for your wordpress.com account.

I hope this article will make life simpler for everybody who is new to blogging platforms. Stay tuned for my next article where I will talk about having a blog on a custom domain with custom hosting.

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Add background colors to comments

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

Hi all,

This is a quick & dirty or a simple hack (if you want to call it that) that allows one to add a background color to the comments. I have this set in my blog and you can simply check the post page for one of my posts that has comments to see what I am talking about. Here is an image for your convenience:

Interested? Please backup your template before proceeding with this hack.

In this hack you can assign a different background color (and text color) for the blog author’s comments (see the image above) and to do this you must have this Hack (Author comment highlighting) from Hackosphere installed.

Once you install the author comment highlighting hack from Hackosphere, your comment code will look similar to this:

/* Comments----------------------------------------------- */#comments { margin:0; }#comments h4 { margin:0 0 10px; border-top:1px dotted $borderColor; padding-top:.5em; line-height: 1.4em; font: bold 110% Georgia,Serif; color:#333; }#comments-block { line-height:1.6em; }.comment-author { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/icon_comment.gif") no-repeat 2px .35em; margin:.5em 0 0; padding:0 0 0 20px; font-weight:bold; }.comment-body { margin:0; padding:0 0 0 20px; }.comment-body p { margin:0 0 .5em; }.comment-body-author { margin:0; padding:0px 0px 0px 20px;}.comment-body-author p { font-size:100%; margin:0 0 .2em 0; color:#000000; text-decoration:bold;}.comment-footer { margin:0 0 .5em; padding:0 0 .75em 20px; color:#996; }.comment-footer a:link { color:#996; }.deleted-comment { font-style:italic; color:gray; }

Now check out this modified code. As the comment section CSS may differ across various templates, do not copy-paste the entire code. Understand and pick up the changes shown in italic-bold (and annotated for reference). Also Checkout the image below to see what I mean by comment header, comment body and comment footer in my annotations.

/* Comments----------------------------------------------- */#comments { margin:0; }#comments h4 { margin:0 0 10px; border-top:1px dotted #99bb99; padding-top:.5em; line-height: 1.4em; font: bold 110% Georgia,Serif; color:#333; }#comments-block { line-height:1.6em; }.comment-author { background:#CCFFCC /*comment header background color (comment author name)*/url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/icon_comment.gif") no-repeat 2px .35em; margin:.5em 0 0; padding:0 0 0 20px; font-weight:bold; }.comment-body { background:#99FFFF; /*Reader comment background color*/ margin:0; padding:7px 7px 7px 7px; /*Modified padding values*/ }.comment-body p { margin:0 0 .5em; }.comment-body-author { background:#cccccc; /*The author comments background color.*/ margin:0; padding:7px 7px 7px 10px; /*Modified padding values*/}.comment-body-author p { font-size:105%; margin:0 0 .2em 0; color:#6728B2; /*The author comments text color.*/ text-decoration:bold;}.comment-footer { background:#CCFFCC; /*Comment footer background color (comment permalink)*/ margin:0 0 .5em; padding:0 0 .75em 20px; color:#996; }.comment-footer a:link { color:#996; }.deleted-comment { font-style:italic; color:gray; }

To pick up color hex values that suit your blog you can refer to this link. This is a simple tutorial on how to modify your comment section. You can add a whole lot of CSS to make it look better. Do drop a line here if you are able to create anything good looking based on these lines.

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Adsense inside your posts and only on post (item) pages

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

Loui$$ from Blogging Secret just asked me how I was displaying adsense ads only on post (item) pages and inside the post i.e. in the beginning and the end of each post. For this I use the same if statements from my hack Display widgets only on pages you prefer but widget are not involved in this one as widgets cannot go inside a post.

First let me acknowledge the sources from which I learnt some essential adsense tricks for Blogger Beta:

1. Using adsense code in beta template by Loui$$.
2. Using adsense in posts by Deniz.

I recommend checking those out before proceeding with this hack. As always, please back-up your template before proceeding with this hack as you will be modifying some important portions of your template. Now for the hack. Simply look for:

in your template’s <div class=’post’> section and replace it with the code given in code boxes below:
([Your Adsense] in the each of codes given below must be replaced with the adsense code of your choice)

1. This code:
(if you are not using any hacks like peek-a-boo posts, selective expandable posts or peek-a-boo on label, archive and search pages)

      <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>        <p><table align='center'><tr><td><center>[Your Adsense]</center></td></tr></table><data:post.body/><table align='center'><tr><td><center>[Your Adsense]</center></td></tr></table></p>      <b:else/><p><data:post.body/></p>      </b:if>

2. This code in bold-italic (If you are using Peek-a-boo posts hacks)
(If you are also using the peek-a-boo on label and search pages hack, then there may be some confusion regarding which <p><data:post.body/></p> must be replaced with the code given below. Therefore, I have included the peek-a-boo code as well so that you can easily locate the correct instance of data:post.body/ in your template.)

<div class='post-body' expr:id='"post-" + data:post.id'><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>        <p><table align='center'><tr><td><center>Your Adsense</center></td></tr></table><data:post.body/><table align='center'><tr><td><center>Your Adsense</center></td></tr></table></p><b:else/><style>#fullpost {display:none;}</style><p><data:post.body/></p><span id='showlink'><p><a expr:onclick='"javascript:showFull(\"post-" + data:post.id + "\");"' href='javascript:void(0);'>Continue reading...</a></p></span><span id='hidelink' style='display:none'><p><a expr:onclick='"javascript:hideFull(\"post-" + data:post.id + "\");"' href='javascript:void(0);'>Excerpts only...</a></p></span><script type='text/javascript'>checkFull(&quot;post-&quot; + &quot;<data:post.id/>&quot;)</script></b:if><div style='clear: both;'/> <!-- clear for photos floats --></div>

3. This code in bold-italic (If you are using selective expandable posts hack)

<div class='post-body' expr:id='"post-" + data:post.id'>

      <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>         <style>#fullpost{display:inline;}</style>   <p><table align='center'><tr><td><center>[Your Adsense]</center></td></tr></table><data:post.body/><br/><table align='center'><tr><td><center>[Your Adsense]</center></td></tr></table></p>

      <b:else/>         <style>#fullpost{display:none;}</style>

<p><data:post.body/></p>

        <span id='showlink'>         <a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More......</a>        </span>        <script type='text/javascript'>          checkFull(&quot;post-&quot; + &quot;<data:post.id/>&quot;);        </script>      </b:if>      <div style='clear: both;'/> <!-- clear for photos floats -->    </div>

Hope this becomes the tipping point in your adsense revenues graph

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Blogger News: Welcome the "New Blogger"

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 02:29:00 -0800

Hello Readers,

Just a quick update here. Blogger has announced that they are now out of beta. This is shown by the change of URLs. The sign-in link on beta blog navbars no longer points to the beta.blogger.com link. It now points to www2.blogger.com.

Classic Blogger users can learn more about ~~Blogger Beta~~ the New Blogger here.

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Blogger Feature or Bug: Edit link disappears and Blog unable to recognize its admin

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

For quite a while now I have been facing problems with my Blogger blogs and layout editor. Every time I edit a widget and save the changes the edit link for that widget disappears from the layout. To understand what I am referring to have a look at the two images below.

Once I update the “Subscribe | Syndicate | Bookmark” widget the edit link disappears. I actually have to click on the page elements link to reload the layout editor which is very irritating. I have not heard anyone else complain about this so I wonder if only I am facing this problem or if this is some cool new Blogger feature that I don’t understand

Not just this, for some strange reason, my blogs don’t identify me as the administrator even if I am logged into blogger. There is a possibility that the widget quickedit links are not shown as I might have messed up some code in the template. But that’s not the case as I don’t get to see those links even in any new blogs (where the HTML has not been touched) created by me. Anyone else facing this problem? Anyone has any suggestions?

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Tamed rounders template now hacked and downloadable

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 07:18:00 -0800

Hello all,

Deniz of imessengr has taken the three column rounders template and hacked it to include most of the popular hacks currently available for the new Blogger. He has done this for all the variants of rounders that are available on Blogger.

Visit here to download this template and install it in your blog.

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More hackers now on the ‘new blogger’ hacking scene

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

Hello Readers,

Life has been very busy for me in the last couple of weeks and therefore I have not been posting any new hacks or code. However, the the hacking scene has not gone cold. Lots of stuff has been happening in the blogger hacking space.

1. You might have looked at Ramani’s lightining fast Neo template. If not check it out here.

2. Classic Blogger’s favorite hacker, Aditya of last word has moved to the new blogger and is now making hack for the new platform. Check out his page here (looks great!).

3. Deepak of Blogger Hacked is spinning out quality Ajax based hacks also displaying strong coding skills. I highly recommend checking out his hacks.

That’s what I have noticed recently. Hope this keeps you busy for sometime! Happy hacking and a very happy 2007.

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Translate your posts into 14 languages (Updates added)

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

Dear Friends,

This is my first add-on goody for the year 2007. Hope you will like it. Brainiac came up with a suggestion to add more languages to my Google translate for posts hack. As the number of languages provided by Google is limited, I decided to use the BabelFish code, offered in a language translation widget by Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration. I have been using this hack in the “Translate” section of my navigational bar (at the top of the page).

- This code offers 14 languages, to which your readers will be able to translate your posts.
- There is also some translation code that Spanish Bloggers can use to allow their readers to read their blogs in English, French, Russian, German and Italian.
(See comments for credits)

I have modified that code so that you can use it in your post footers and allow your readers to translate individual posts (if they like). To learn how to add some thing to your template’s post footers, visit this page.

Update: Added code for English to Trukish courtesy emrex

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_nl"' title='Nederlands/Dutch'><img alt='Nederlands/Dutch' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3709/485/400/nl.gif' width='30'/> Nederlands</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_fr"' title='Français/French'><img alt='Français/French' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539949_e76af75976.jpg' width='30'/> Français</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_ru"' title='Русский/Russian'><img alt='Русский/Russian' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3709/485/1600/ru.gif' width='30'/> Русский</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_de"' title='Deutsch/German'><img alt='Deutsch/German' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539933_041ca1eda2.jpg' width='30'/> Deutsch</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_it"' title='Italiano/Italian'><img alt='Italiano/Italian' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539953_0384ccecf9.jpg' width='30'/> Italiano</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_pt"' title='Português/Portuguese'><img alt='Português/Portuguese' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539966_0d09b410b5.jpg' width='30'/> Português</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_es"' title='Español/Spanish'><img alt='Español/Spanish' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539946_2fabed0dbf.jpg' width='30'/>Español</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=ar&amp;ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&langpair=en|ar&u=" + data:post.url' title='العربية/Arabic'><img alt='العربية/Arabic' border='0' height='20' src='http://www.google.com/images/flags/sa_flag.gif' width='30'/> العربية</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_el"' title='Ελληνικά/Greek'><img alt='Ελληνικά/Greek' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3709/485/1600/el.gif' width='30'/> Ελληνικά</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_ja"' title='日本語/Japanese'><img alt='Japanese' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539955_925e6683c8.jpg' width='30'/> 日本語</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_ko"' title='한국어/Korean'><img alt='Korean' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/13539958_3c3b482c95.jpg' width='30'/> 한국어</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_zh"' title='汉语简化了/Chinese Simplified'><img alt='Chinese Simplified' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/43/1633/320/14324441_5ca5ce3423.jpg' width='30'/> 汉语简化了</a> |

<a expr:href='"http://66.94.231.168/babelfish/translate_url_content?trurl=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=en_zt"' title='中國傳統/Chinese Traditional'><img alt='Chinese Traditional' height='20' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3709/485/400/zh_tw.gif' width='30'/> 中國傳統</a>

Update: Added code for English to Trukish<a expr:href='"http://babel.gts-translation.com/geturl?direction=50&amp;input_url=" + data:post.url' title='Türkçe/Turkish'><img src='[Image not available]' alt='Turkish' height='20' width='30'/>Türkçe</a>

Update: Some translate links for Spanish bloggers (based on a wordpress plugin pointed out by brainiac):

<a expr:href='"http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;lp=es_en"' title='Spanish to English'><img src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_XGtsagQTuUQ/RZk8DP2JNiI/AAAAAAAAADk/eRxHS5s1f10/s320/english.jpg' alt='Eng' /> English</a>

<a expr:href='"http://www1.worldlingo.com/SH0gfCf2o9dM33sw2faPEI,6sc5M9NFT0/translation?wl_url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;wl_srclang=ES&amp;wl_trglang=fr" title='Spanish to French'><img src='http://bp1.blogger.com/_XGtsagQTuUQ/RZk8Df2JNjI/AAAAAAAAADs/jL1jKBhgKFc/s320/france.gif' />Français</a>

<a expr:href='"http://www1.worldlingo.com/SH0gfCf2o9dM33sw2faPEI,6sc5M9NFT0/translation?wl_url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;wl_srclang=ES&amp;wl_trglang=de"' title='Spanish to German'><img src='http://bp1.blogger.com/_XGtsagQTuUQ/RZk8Df2JNkI/AAAAAAAAAD0/JubAGPyc5d4/s320/germany.gif' />Deutsch</a>

<a expr:href='"http://www1.worldlingo.com/SH0gfCf2o9dM33sw2faPEI,6sc5M9NFT0/translation?wl_url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;wl_srclang=ES&amp;wl_trglang=it"' title='Spanish to Italian'><img src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_XGtsagQTuUQ/RZk8Q_2JNmI/AAAAAAAAAEE/pJodrosGp8I/s320/italy.gif' />Italiano</a>

<a expr:href='"http://www1.worldlingo.com/SH0gfCf2o9dM33sw2faPEI,6sc5M9NFT0/translation?wl_url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;wl_srclang=ES&amp;wl_trglang=ru"' title='Spanish to Russian'><img src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_XGtsagQTuUQ/RZk8RP2JNpI/AAAAAAAAAEc/Tnq_uTX3WhY/s320/russia.gif' />Русский</a>

If you want to display only the flag images, simply delete the text between the img tag and the </a> tag. In case you want to have only the text, remove the img tag completely. As always, don’t forget to make a backup of your template before applying this code.

Please drop a line here if you find some bug or if some thing doesn’t work. I have not tested out most of the code.

Also, Deniz of imessengr is now offering a modded three-column Thisaway template loaded with popular hacks. Visit his page to learn more and download the template.

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Poll result

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:46:00 -0800

I had conducted the following poll a couple of months ago on my blog, but forgot to post the poll results after ending the poll. Better late than never:

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Contest Suggestion: 31 Days of the Dragon

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

‘lo. After a long time I am posting some thing here for you guys. I hope until now you have enjoyed the existing set of Blogger mods that I had published. While this is not related to blogger mods, I am sure those of you who were unaware, will definitely love it. The other day I came across a big contest while browsing some of sites I read regularly, and simply could not resist sharing it with you.

HP (in association with Buzz Corps)is promoting its latest 20.1″ notebook i.e. The HP HDX Entertainment Notebook using a contest called “The 31 Days of Dragon”. Before I proceed further note that this contest is open to everyone from any part of the world.

Contest Info: There are 31 participating web sites, with the sponsorship of HP where HP is working with them to offer 31 prize packages - one a day for 31 days during a period from 09 May through 08 June 2008. Here are the details of the price package (which btw is worth well over USD 5000 in retail value):

Display: 20.1″ diagonal WUXGA High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen (1920×1200)
Operating system: Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Memory: 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Graphics Card: 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
Personalization: HP Imprint Finish (Dragon) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
Networking: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
Hard Drive: 500GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (250GB x 2)
Optical: Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
TV & Entertainment Experience: Integrated HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner and 4 Altec Lansing speakers + the HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer
Primary Battery: 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Applications: Microsoft Office 2007, Corel PaintShop Pro Photo X2, Corel Painter 4, Ulead VideoStudio 11.5 Plus
Games: Viva Pinata, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Microsoft Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack, Gear of War
Blu-Ray movies: The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy – The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End.

And here is a list of websites that are running/will run a seven day contest between the following dates (begin - end):

13 May - 20 May www.geekstogo.com
14 May - 21 May bink.nu
15 May - 22 May www.mediablab.com
16 May - 23 May www.last100.com
17 May - 24 May www.labnol.org
18 May - 25 May www.notebooks.com
19 May - 26 May www.slashdotreview.com
20 May - 27 May www.neowin.net
21 May - 28 May www.geek.com
22 May - 29 Mau www.lockergnome.com
23 May - 30 May www.planetx64.com
24 May - 31 May www.thegreenbutton.com
25 May - 01 Jun www.istartedsomething.com
26 May - 02 Jun www.bleepingcomputer.com
27 May - 03 Jun www.hardwaregeeks.com
28 May - 04 Jun www.geeknewscentral.com
29 May - 05 Jun www.geekzone.co.nz
30 May - 06 Jun www.thetabletpc.net
31 May - 07 Jun www.gearlive.com
01 Jun - 08 Jun www.gottabemobile.com

Some of the website site where the winners have already been declared are:

02 May - 09 May www.absolutevista.com
03 May - 10 May www.arstechnica.com
04 May - 11 May www.osnn.net
05 May - 12 May www.jkontherun.com
06 May - 13 May digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com
07 May - 14 May www.bostonpocketpc.com
08 May - 15 May www.the-gadgeteer.com
09 May - 16 May www.thedigitallifestyle.com
10 May - 17 May www.digitalhomethoughts.com
11 May - 18 May www.windows-now.com
12 May - 19 May www.windowsconnected.com

So I suggest you to head over to these website and track them to win the super prize package. For details about the contest please visit here. There is an RSS link and an OPML available so that you can track these sites conveniently.

In addition, most of these site have very good articles which techies and computer enthusiasts will definitely like. So go now and start participating, I am also competing

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Welcome to the new location of Stubborn Fanatic

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi)

Hello All,

I have successfully redirected stubborn-fanatic.blogspot.com to techblog.viveksanghi.com. The new home for this blog.

Those of you who were looking at my blogspot template for design ideas will be unable to do so any more. However I can send you my blogspot template’s full code for a nominal payment of $2 via paypal only. If you are interested, please contact me at stubb [dot] fanatic [at] gmail [dot] com for further instructions.

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The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox (Book Review 009)

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:04:33 -0800

ISBN: 8185984131

Tagline: A process of ongoing improvement.

The Goal was not on my reading list. However, it was lying around in the house and I decided to go ahead with it. The size of this book was very uninviting and from all the text on the covers and in the intro pages, I thought that I'd be better off reading this book during or after my MBA even though it was a best-seller. However, once I started to read I realized that this whole "Theory of constraints" thing is actually presented in the form of a story which is very easy to grasp.

About the Author

Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt is an internationally recognized leader in the development of new business management concepts and systems, and acts as an educator to many of the world's corporations. He is the originator of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and his ideas have revolutionized the way companies work.

In addition to his pioneering work in manufacturing management, he holds patents in other areas, ranging from medical devices to temperature sensors. Other books from Goldratt, on this topic, are It's Not Luck, Critical Chain and Necessary But Not Sufficient.

The Goal

Plainly speaking The Goal is a book on Theory of Constraints. However along with the message, another important side to this book is the method the author has adopted to deliver the message. The Goal is actually the story (probably fictitious) of a plant manager by name Alex Rogo who manages a plant that is unable to ship any of its orders on time and is also loosing money for its division. In addition, Alex has a messed-up personal life due to frequent fights with his wife.

Alex is given a deadline to make the plant profitable (failing which it will be closed). He desperately wants to save his plant and in the process he meets his university professor and acquaintance (from college days), Jonah (which I think is characterizing Goldratt because both have a degree in Physics from Israel). Alex's interactions with Jonah show him the right path. Jonah is a kind of teacher who encourages his students to discover answers on their own and he does that same with Alex (regarding the problem with his plant). Through Alex's process of discovery the author explains the theory of constraints is a very simple manner. I was particularly impressed by the use of simple yet powerful example of boys marching in a line. The author through Alex's discussions with his co-workers also highlights the short comings of cost-accounting where inventory is viewed as an asset on the balance sheet and the blind emphasis of management to cut costs wherever possible (which many times leads to death of sick business units that could have been turned around).

Conclusion

Services have become the fad of today and it is amazing to think about the application of TOC to the Services scenario (though I need to grow-up a little more to think about it in detail). With the advent of Globalization 3.0 (in terms of Thomas Friedman) and the ability of a business to break up a process, digitize it and outsource it to various parts of the world where they can be done (for cheapest price and best quality) simultaneously and delivered back in one piece to the HQ control, the relevance of this theory is questionable. However, I am sure that it still has a lot of implications on supply chains where constraints or bottlenecks may exist (again I need to learn a lot more to think in detail).

In one of the management fests I had participated in during my college days, I had taken part in a production game where there was a production line with different work centers. The performance of the participants was measured in terms of their ability to meet customer demands and have least inventories and turn-around times at the end of the game. Had I read this book back then, before that event, I am sure I would have done much better than the third spot out of fifth that I had got in that event.

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First impressions of CAT 2006

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 11:08:06 -0800

For your information: CAT or Common Admission Test is one of the largest MBA entrance exams conducted in India, anually. Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), the premier business-schools of the country (and counted among the best in the world) conduct this test for selecting potential students for the next round of admission process (comprising of a personal interview and a group discussion) for their MBA and Fellow-ship programmes. This year approximately 191,000 candidates have appeared for this exam from all over the country. Apart from the six IIMs, approximately 80 other B-schools use the CAT scores to select potential students for the next round of their respective admission processes.

It's been just a few hours since I gave my Common Admission Test (CAT) 2006. This year's paper carried a good potential to be a shocker for many. Noticeable changes in this year's CAT paper are:

1. Number of questions reduced to 75 from previous years 90.
2. Elimination of differential marks allotment within a section i.e. no half-markers, one-markers and two-markers. All questions carried equal marks.
3. Number of available options to choose from increased to 5 (compared to 4 of last year).
4. Maximum marks possible increased to 300.
5. Marks awarded for every correct answer increased to 4 (compared to 1 of previous years) and negative marking for a wrong answer increased to 1 (compared to ¼ of marks allotted, in the previous years), which means that the overall equation of one-fourth marking still holds good
6. Good space for rough-work with questions being printed only on the right-hand side in the test booklet and the left-hand side was left blank for rough work.

Section specific outlook

1. Quantitative ability the last section in set 222 was perhaps the easiest in the last few years. Students from commerce background (who are scared of math) could have also scored reasonably in this section

2. Data interpretation had five set of questions that contained no graphs-based sets. Data sufficiency as usual was left out (it did not figure in the Quant section as well). There was a question based on a network diagram and one on shares which seemed like a newer model but were solvable.

3. Verbal ability was the biggest shocker (if I can call it that). There were five questions based on a new model where one has to identify if a particular statement is a fact, inference or judgment. There were no Para-jumbles and grammar corrections. All the three reading-comprehension passages (comprising of five questions each) were tough and inference-based in nature. There were five questions on paragraph-completion which had very close answer choices (that could have made life difficult for candidates).

Conclusion

IIMs have done a better job this time by breaking the stereo-types and giving a new life to the surprise element in the CATs. It will be interesting to see how various coaching institutes modify their syllabus coverage and coaching techniques in response (if they choose to respond) to this new pattern.

For estimated cut-offs, answer-key and solutions, I recommend checking out websites of reputed coaching institutes like Career Launcher, IMS, TIME etc (not in order of priority).

No part of this article may be used for commercial purposes or publications anywhere without prior permission from the author.

Update:

Dear Readers, I will be unable to honor any more of your e-mail requests. Please DO NOT request me to send the CAT 2006 paper by e-mail.

you can down the entire paper along with detailed solutions (in pdf format) from this link. Please note that to download, you should register on the site and get administrator approval. All the best.

Celestial Questions Note: Through this article I do not intend to endorse...

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Why the percentage of Hindus in Indian population, might decline in the coming years?

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 17:57:48 -0800

Before I answer this question, let me explain you that I have written this article purely as a student of economics (of which demographics is an important part). I do not have any specific feeling towards any religion and this article was not meant to hurt anybody's sentiments, emotions or religious beliefs. I write this article with the sole intention of stating my analysis and airing my views about the question posed.

Hinduism and a few more religions are popular for the practice of social evils like dowry and discouragement of girl child. The latter happens to such an extent that many families kill a girl as soon as it is born. People continue to kill the female babies until a male is born. There have been numerous reports of such incidents especially from the Northern parts of India like Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi etc. In certain cases, they go on giving birth to children until a male child is born. And once that happens, they have so many children that they are even unable to afford education for all their children.

Please have a look at this sex ratio data that I found on the Census of India Website (exact link needed). Please click on the images to make them more legible:

In the data that I have posted here, Sex Ratio is the number of Females per thousand males. It is paramount that there is a good balance between the number of males and females and neither side is too heavy or too light. As the world sex ratio has been such that the number of females per 1000 males is always less, in my opinion a good ratio for any country would be 980 or more females per thousand males. However, once it is below that 980 figure, the ratio start to become exponentially dangerous in intensity in response to a unit decrease in the number of females per thousand males.

Considering the present trend, if it continues, soon the sex ratio will reach a tipping point and there will be a population implosion in the Hindu society. It will become very difficult for aspiring bridegrooms to find a bride and there might be a situation where a particular set of men will go unmarried because they just couldn't find a bride.

Now all this may sound crazy but this is simple correlation and the causation is self-evident. Let me tell you about the correlation.

Sex ratio is the number of women per thousand men. If the number of women per thousand men is alarmingly low (as in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab etc) then, when the overall number of men and women (in the region whose sex ratio is in question) is considered the difference in their number turns out to be appalling. Because the majority of Indians are under the age of Twenty-five (and this trend will remain at least until 2020), the given correlation is not affected by the argument that majority of the men in question might already be married (also note another counter argument to this that a majority of the women might also already be married :)). So with such a difference in the number of men and women, where will the extra men (a fairly large number) get their brides (assuming that they would like to marry only within their caste/religion)? From another region/state? Not possible, because it's the same grim scenario almost every where.

This will inevitably result in the decline of the Hindu population as a percentage of the overall population. And just for numbers' sake: lack of awareness or refusal to use contraceptives and birth control techniques in other communities coupled with factors like polygamy will continue to fuel their population growth.

Dowry system is one of the biggest reasons for such a widespread backlash against the girl child. In my opinion dowry is not an evil until the bridegroom's side does not demand anything form the Bride's side and are happy/content or indifferent to whatever the Bride's side has to offer. However, existence of such a system seems silly sometimes. Hindus can learn some good lessons here, from Islam. From some Muslim friends, I have learnt that there is no system like dowry in Islam. The bride's and the bridegroom's side agree to share the cost of the marriage equally which itself is pretty low unlike an average Hindu marriage. In my previous company an American colleague of mine was explaining to me that in American (or Christian) marriages there is nothing like dowry. He said that when a person gets married, his/her friends pool in some money and buy them stuff that could be essential for them to start their married life. When I heard that (apologies if I sound harsh but that's what I felt), I could imagine Indian Hindu marriages as an auction scene where a boy's parents award the party (Bride's side) that gives them the best price for their child :))

More results through sex-ratio correlation

With reference to my conclusions drawn on the sex ratio issue, I have another correlation to be presented. From the sex-ratio issue we learnt that the unmarried men will greatly outnumber the unmarried women and there will be a scarcity of unmarried women in particular (and women in general). In other words, there will be an abundance of men. This will lead to an increase in the number of Homosexuals. Suppose (I don't know what the exact numbers are) today one out of every two hundred men is a Homosexual. So the number of Homosexuals is total number of men divided by 200. In the future when there will be more men (due to a deteriorating sex ratio), the number of Homosexuals will increase.

With the continuing deterioration of sex ratio (and low availability of life-partners from the opposite sex) this number will rise. Many men may have no option left but homosexuality. It is known that some men who work in military etc and are away from their partner (female) for a long time (and have never experienced sexual attraction toward the same sex) may exhibit bi-sexual and later on homosexual orientation/behavior.

While I do not think that Homosexuality is bad or incorrect, and have no issues with the number of Homosexuals going up, I do think that the number will go up for a bad reason i.e. imbalance in sex ratio.

Also, it is know fact that India is a hotbed for all kinds of crimes and atrocities committed against women. With the deterioration or sex ratio, this sort crime is going to go up.
Reversal or even decline of trends in demography take a very long time (from a couple of decades to centuries) and even if all the people stop killing the girl child from today (which can only be a miracle), it will easily be a couple of decades before the sex ratio becomes normal.

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My piece of mind on current geo-politics, war and religious polarization with suggestions

viveksanghi@viveksanghi.com (Vivek Sanghi) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:52:23 -0800

As stated earlier, I would like to repeat that I am not any good in international affairs, foreign policy and diplomacy etc nor am I or my country perfect but I want to write about a topic that is very sensitive. I am not writing this article after any research. This article contains my views about what I have been reading/watching in media regarding religious fundamentalism, terrorism and the war on it.

I have been closely following the U.S. war on terrorism and how it has remained an under achiever till now. I try to think very neutrally about the war but I still see this Christianity versus Islam concept in it.

After reading some excerpts from world history I learnt that this is not new. Confrontation of Christianity and Islam had plunged the Europe into a dark age. Crusades have been the bloodiest of battles ever fought for religion and lasted across centuries.

Then after many centuries, there was the abolition of Caliphate of Islam (in turkey after WW1) by the Allied forces. This had also led to a popular uprising in India in the form of Khilafat Movement (started by the brothers Shaukat Ali and Mohammed Ali, this movement marks an era of unprecedented cooperation between Muslims and Hindus in India)

Then there was the partition of India in which the same Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims massacred each other to pieces and raped each other to shame. Millions died in the name of religion.

Then we had the "USSR's invasion of Afghanistan episode" which saw U.S. side with the Mujaheddin and forced Russia to turn back. I have learnt, that after this war U.S. should have gone back home as well but I guess they didn't. The Muslim world (or Arabs) understood that on the pretext of helping them fight USSR, the American have gained a back door entry/solution to what the Russian as well as the Americans wanted:

A military presence in the Gulf Region

Irked by this, the soldiers who fought the Red Army used what U.S. has taught them, against the teacher: planning and executing highly sophisticated and coordinated strikes with reconnaissance and surveillance.

And today I stand here a couple of years into the war observing a series of events i.e. cartoons by a Danish artist that shook the world, statements by pope, Bush expecting a religious revolution in America and strong/retaliatory Muslim reactions to each of these event. Alright that's my piece of mind regarding what I have been observing/reading. Now here is what I would suggest (again based on what I am reading/watching):

America and Allies

1. Pull out of Iraq and Middle East

2. Go home and strengthen your economy. The world cannot afford to have you guys fall apart.

3. Revamp your education. Do not depend completely on immigrants for your supply of engineers and let the wheel of innovation continue turning smoothly. You have been driving it well and you need to continue with the same or better still, enhanced vigor.

4. Set and example for the world. Switch to green and renewable sources of energy. You will automatically stab terrorism in the heart if you do this. (based on Thomas Friedman's column in NY times)

Arab world

1. Kings must give way to the people and establish republican democracies.

2. Oil has been a boon for you and it has raised your standards of living overnight but it has also been a bane. Know why?

- With the incredible revenue surpluses coming from oil sales, your kings banned taxation. This made life too easy for you and you stopped working hard. Issues that follow are particularly important for you:

Why did you have to call Americans to extinguish oil well fires during the Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf war?
Why didn't you have the technology?
Why are you dependent on others?
Why is the number of technological innovations and patent filings from Arab world abysmally low?
Where are the likes of Algebar-Wal-Mukabalai (father of Algerba)?

3. Build more engineering colleges and schools and encourage your children to learn more. You must have your own supply of engineers, scientists, doctors, techies etc

4. Promote you women and never discourage them. Now don't misunderstand this. I am only asking you to reduce male domination and eliminate atrocities against women. Get them to study engineering/medicine and encourage entrepreneurship amongst them. Women can be really smart if you let them be.

5. Stop mixing religion with studies (does not mean stop religious studies). Keep religious studies different from school studies. Don't mix them up and confuse your child.

6. Preach toleration (for those who don't) and preach what you are.

That's my piece of mind on whatever is happening around us.

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