Journalistic Ignorance
Sometime back I had written about an Arab Times article that wrongly projected the Bohra community. Similar cases popped up in India with the recent Mumbai Mirror article that raised the concerns of the Bohra Community. There headline was so vague that it drew abrupt comments from people who know less about the religious practices of Islam and the community. Then an appology came from the editor and the writer that all this was unintentional. The lord knows better. As far as my personal views are concerned I think that it was a attention drawing media stunt in hunger of popularity.
Recently, another incident occurred. IndiaTV in its exclusive news telecast of the marraige ceremony of a known terrorist, Baitullah, in Afganistan, the News channel showed a digitally manupilated photograph of His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) who is a respected religious leader of the community, an Ambasador of Peace. World Leaders have met him and bowed their heads in respect of his spiritual charisma. Much is known about him to the EDUCATED that all written would be less. The news channel broadcasted an image of him annoucing the Nikah (marriage ceremony) of Baitullah. A very ignorant act which IndiaTV editor claim to be a mistake.
News sestionalisation cannot be a mistake. Manupilating and digitally playing with a photograph on a news channel, mind well its not a movie, its a truth revealing news channel, cannot be taken as a mistake or unintentional act as claimed by India TV. This is an act of Journalistic misconduct and is totally unethical. Manupilating or digitally playing with an image can never be marked unintentional or a mistake.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcast should have a look into this matter and punish the news channel for misconduct so that people are not mislead, misguided by such publicity stunts which could not only flare violence against the entire community and its respected leader but also distort the image of truth in the eye of the common man. A stringent action must be taken by the authorities should it be proven a lesson for all and help promote better journalistic practices in the country. The pen has the power to over throw kings from their thrones and rise another to the skies, lets stop it from being used for injustice, crime and selfish deeds.
Labels: Dawoodi Bohras, Personal, Technology
Convert Powerpoint Presentations to Flash with GMail PPT Viewer
GMail now has an inbuilt PPT viewer that lets you view Powerpoint attachment as a Flash picture slideshow in the web browser itself without requiring Microsoft PowerPoint application.
This slideshow feature of GMail will be useful since you no longer have to download the full PPT attachment in order to view that 16th slide of the presentation.
Here are two additional situations where it may help:
1. If you have to view a presentation on some computer that has no copy of PowerPoint, gmail yourself the PPT file and watch the slides inside the web browser. [similar to converting PDF to text using GMail]
2. GMail converts every slide of your Powerpoint presentation to a Flash (swf) file - if you manually advance the entire PPT slideshow using the arrows, all the slides will become available as Flash files in your browser's temp folder.
Just a quick way of transforming Powerpoint slides into SWF documents without using any desktop conversion software. The swf files may then be embedded in your blog for sharing with readers. Nothing great since Scribd can also convert your PPT to Flash paper.
Do you know GMail Powerpoint viewer can read PPS (Powerpoint Show) formats as well.
Written by Amit Agarwal
Labels: Technology
Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation
Hints for a successful presentation:
- Plan carefully
- Do your research
- Know your audience
- Time your presentation
- Practice your presentation
- Speak comfortably and clearly
Effective PowerPoint Slides - Use design templates
- Standardize position, colors and styles
- Include only necessary information
- Limit the information to essentials
- Content should be self-evident
- Use colors that contrast
- Be consistent with effects, transitions and animation
- Too many slides can lose your audience
Text guidelines - Generally no more than 6 words a line
- Generally no more than 6 lines a slide
- Avoid long sentences
- Larger font indicates more important information
- Font size generally ranges from 18 to 48 point
- Be sure text contrasts with background
- Fancy fonts can be hard to read
- Words in all capital letters are hard to read
- Avoid abbreviations and acronyms
- Limit punctuation marks
Clip Art and Graphics - Should balance the slide
- Should enhance and complement the text, not overwhelm
- No more than two graphics per slide
* PowerPoint presentations can also saved in HTML format and inserted in a Web page.
Labels: Technology
GMail Drive shell extension
GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google GMail account, allowing you to use GMail as a storage medium.
Requirement:
1. Gmail Account
2. Gmail Drive Software
Process:
1) Download Gmail Drive from (takes seconds to download)
2) Install the software.
3) After installing, a drive named Gmail drive will be created in My Computer (just like C: D:).
4) Double click on this drive, login to Gmail Act. You will get a space of
2.61 GB.
4) Whatever content you copy to this drive will be sent to your mail Act to which you have logged in.
The copy is pretty fast. HATS OFF GOOGLE .
Labels: Technology
Reinstall Windows without losing important data
Once in a while, you might want to reinstall Windows, especially if your system starts to get bogged down, or if you’d had a catastrophic loss from a virus attack. The problem is that reinstalling Windows will delete personal files and data, so what do you do? Check out this article over at InformationWeek which offers a step by step on the process complete with videos of each step.
You could always do constant backups of your system (NOTE: if you have never performed a backup, start now!), and even if you are, this article is a fairly valuable resource in order to keep your data safe and secure.
Labels: Technology
The
Google Talk Gadget is clearly more usable than the stand-alone GTalk desktop client or the floating AJAX version in GMail.
Here, each chat session opens up as a tab (like Firefox browser tabs), it can show previews of images or video and the chat client can easily be embedded inside webpages.
There's however a small problem - while we have browser windows in front of us all the time, the same may not hold true for the webpage (like the Google personalized page) where we have embedded the GTalk gadget.
So here's an alternate option - put the Google Talk client in the Firefox sidebar so it always stays in the foreground no matter what website you are on currently.
To add Google Talk to your Firefox sidebar, bookmark the following URL (right-click and choose Bookmark this link)
talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/clientNow goto Bookmarks menu, navigate to the above bookmark, right click and choose Properties. Tick the checkbox that says Load this bookmark in the sidebar.
Update: An employee of an investment bank writes that their organization has banned Google talk in office but using the above method, he was able to circumvent the GTalk ban and could chat with friend out the firewalls of his office.
Google Talk gadget will always open in the Firefox Sidebar. Thanks
Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows XP
| To | Press |
| Set focus on a notification. | Windows Key+B |
| View properties for the selected item. | ALT+ENTER |
| Displays the properties of the selected object. | ALT+Enter |
| Cycle through items in the order they were opened. | ALT+ESC |
| "Close the active item, or quit the active program. | ALT+F4 |
| Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. | ALT+SPACEBAR |
| Display the System menu for the active window. | ALT+SPACEBAR |
| Switch between open items. | ALT+TAB |
| Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option in a dialog box. | ALT+Underlined letter |
| Display the corresponding menu. | ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name |
| Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons in a dialog box. | Arrow keys |
| View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. | BACKSPACE |
| Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box in a dialog box. | BACKSPACE |
| Copy selected item. | CTRL while dragging an item |
| Select all. | CTRL+A |
| Copy. | CTRL+C |
| Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. | CTRL+DOWN ARROW |
| Display the Start menu. | CTRL+ESC |
| Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. | CTRL+F4 |
| Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. | CTRL+LEFT ARROW |
| Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. | CTRL+RIGHT ARROW |
| Create shortcut to selected item. | CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item |
| Highlight a block of text. | CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys |
| Move backward through tabs in a dialog box. | CTRL+SHIFT+TAB |
| Move forward through tabs in a dialog box. | CTRL+TAB |
| Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. | CTRL+UP ARROW |
| Paste. | CTRL+V |
| Search for computers. | CTRL+Windows Key+F |
| Cut. | CTRL+X |
| Undo. | CTRL+Z |
| Delete. | DELETE |
| Display the bottom of the active window. | END |
| Carry out the command for the active option or button in a dialog box. | ENTER |
| Cancel the current task. | ESC |
| Display Help in a dialog box. | F1 |
| Activate the menu bar in the active program. | F10 |
| Rename selected item. | F2 |
| Search for a file or folder. | F3 |
| Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. | F4 |
| Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. | F4 |
| Refresh the active window. | F5 |
| Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. | F6 |
| Display the top of the active window. | HOME |
| Switch MouseKeys on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK |
| Switch High Contrast on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN |
| Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. | LEFT ARROW |
| Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. | LEFT ARROW |
| Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. | F4 |
| Refresh the active window. | F5 |
| Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. | F6 |
| Display the top of the active window. | HOME |
| Switch MouseKeys on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK |
| Switch High Contrast on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN |
| Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. | LEFT ARROW |
| Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. | LEFT ARROW |
| Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. | F4 |
| Refresh the active window. | F5 |
| Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. | F6 |
| Display the top of the active window. | HOME |
| Switch MouseKeys on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK |
| Switch High Contrast on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN |
| Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. | LEFT ARROW |
| Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. | LEFT ARROW |
| Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. | Menu key |
| Switch ToggleKeys on and off. | NUM LOCK for five seconds |
| Display all subfolders under the selected folder. | NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*) |
| Collapse the selected folder. | NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-) |
| Display the contents of the selected folder. | NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+) |
| Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. | RIGHT ARROW |
| Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. | RIGHT ARROW |
| Switch FilterKeys on and off. | Right SHIFT for eight seconds |
| Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. | F4 |
| Refresh the active window. | F5 |
| Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. | F6 |
| Display the top of the active window. | HOME |
| Switch MouseKeys on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK |
| Switch High Contrast on and off. | Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN |
| Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. | LEFT ARROW |
| Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. | LEFT ARROW |
| Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. | Menu key |
| Switch ToggleKeys on and off. | NUM LOCK for five seconds |
| Display all subfolders under the selected folder. | NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*) |
| Collapse the selected folder. | NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-) |
| Display the contents of the selected folder. | NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+) |
| Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. | RIGHT ARROW |
| Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. | RIGHT ARROW |
| Switch FilterKeys on and off. | Right SHIFT for eight seconds |
| Switch StickyKeys on and off. | SHIFT five times |
| Prevent the CD from automatically playing. | SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive |
| Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. | SHIFT with any of the arrow keys |
| Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. | SHIFT+DELETE |
| Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. | SHIFT+F10 |
| Move backward through options in a dialog box. | SHIFT+TAB |
| Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box in a dialog box. | SPACEBAR |
| Move forward through options in a dialog box. | TAB |
| Carry out the corresponding command. | Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu |
| Display or hide the Start menu. | Windows Key |
| Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. | Windows Key+ L |
| Display the System Properties dialog box. | Windows Key+BREAK |
| Show the desktop. | Windows Key+D |
| Open My Computer. | Windows Key+E |
| Search for a file or folder. | Windows Key+F |
| Display Windows Help. | Windows Key+F1 |
| Minimize all windows. | Windows Key+M |
| Open the Run dialog box. | Windows Key+R |
| Restores minimized windows. | Windows Key+Shift+M |
| Opens Utility Manager. | Windows Key+U |
Labels: Technology
Top ten ways to protect your online privacy
Here are 10 ways to keep personal information secure when online:
-
Favour common sense over technological solutions. Keep personal documents safe, preferably in a locked drawer. Shred bank statements, credit card slips and bills before throwing them away.
-
If it’s too good to be true, it is. Never open unsolicited “spam” messages. Delete e-mails offering cash, free gifts or stock tips. Millions of unsolicited “spam” messages are sent every day in an attempt to defraud computer users.
-
Basic prevention helps. Protect your computer against identity theft. Install security software to combat viruses, spyware and spam and keep it updated.
-
Know enough about your firewall, the barrier between the public Internet and a personal computer, to know when it is working and when it isn’t. Don’t worry about the geeky complexity of it all, just know it’s operating.
-
Beware of “phishing”, where criminals trick people into revealing personal or financial details, often by sending e-mails purporting to be from a bank. Never casually reply to requests for your personal financial details.
-
Keep your private e-mail address secure. Consider using different e-mail accounts for shopping, banking, friends and work. There are many free account providers.
-
Do not use the same password for different sites. Choose passwords with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols. Don’t use obvious passwords, such as your first name or “123456” and don’t write them down. For memory’s sake, choosing a basic root word, then rotating numbers, is safer.
-
Make online payments safely. Never enter a card number unless there is a padlock in the Web browser’s frame, rather than the Web page. The Web address should begin with “https” — the extra “S” stands for “secure”. Consider reserving one credit card for Web use or signing up for a separate online payment service like PayPal.
-
Secure your wireless network at home and be wary when using public access points. Encrypt the connection to scramble communications over the network. Turn off the wireless network when you’re not using it.
-
Treat your laptop computer like cash — never leave it in a locked car or turn your back while using it in a public place. The same holds true with your mobile phone: Lock your phone (and any passwords you keep on it) when not using it.
Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
Any Internet surfer who has a little sense of security and privacy should have this inevitable ware. It is one of my personal favorites and I make it a point that its installed on any system that I use. The best thing about this anti-adware / anti-spyware is that its free.
Spybot has other wonderful tools as well. such as
RegAlyzer, FileAlyzer and other products. People in the Web Hosting and Internet industry would love its NetAlyzer tool to gather network info, trace routes, and gather and manage whois queries, for advanced users.
You can fall inlove with spybot once you try its wares for windows palm as well as its symbian edition. I really wonder why Nokia didn't consider adding it in its default tool set.
Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.
To see a list of threats Spybot-S&D can remove, in the navigation bar at the left click on Support --> Threats. For an introduction to Spybot-S&D, please read the tutorial. If you fear incompatibility with other software you are now using, although we can assure you that there is no danger you can review our compatibility overview which lists some software whose compatibility has been analyzed.
Spybot-S&D can also clean usage tracks, an interesting function if you share your computer with other users and don't want them to see what you have been working on. And for professional users, Spybot-S&D allows you to fix some registry inconsistencies and extended reports. A list of all the apllication's features is also available.
Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
An important thing to keep in mind when using portable applications is that they can be used to spread viruses between machines. While this isn't as much of an issue when you own or are responsible for the machines you are using it on (say work and home), it can be a very big issue when you use a portable app on an untrusted or unknown machine (school, internet cafe, etc). For this reason, it is important that you practice Safe Portable App-ing!
The Checklist
- Use a solid antivirus program on your primary PC and keep its virus definitions up to date.
- Use a solid antivirus program on your portable device, like ClamWin Portable, and keep its virus definitions up to date.
- Scan your PC and portable drive for viruses on a regular basis.
- Whenever you plug your portable drive into an unknown computer, you should assume that it may now be infected with a virus. If the PC has a virus that is currently in memory, it may attempt to infect your portable applications as soon as you plug it in.
- When you then plug your portable drive into another computer (after an unknown), you should first scan it for viruses before running any of your applications. (Most antivirus software will make this available to you by right-clicking on your drive in Explorer or My Computer.) That way, if it is infected, you'll know before you run your applications and the new computer will not be infected.
- Always wait until the drive access light has stopped blinking and then click the icon in your system tray to 'Safely Remove' your device. Don't just remove it. Just because the application's window is closed doesn't mean the app has fully closed and finished writing to the disk.
- Back up on a regular basis, both your applications and your files. PortableApps Backup makes this a snap and it's built right into the PortableApps Suite.
If you follow these simple rules, you'll be able to enjoy your portable applications without getting stuck with a virus or losing your data. As always, there is still the risk of getting a new virus that your antivirus program can't yet detect, but the probability would be relatively low, and you run the same risk whenever you download a file from the internet.
Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
Microsoft Excel
MS Excel is a fascinating tool that most people use in their daily day-to-day activities from accounting to data management. Its simple to use and can do just anything provided you have the instinct for it. Did I say anything? Well yes anything. Look at this
village.
Personally speaking I am no big fan of MS tools but I do use them to ease my day and it helps. I am no guru either and there are hundreds of resources out there that the true fans of Billy boy might have in store for you. I enjoy sharing and thats what I am going to do here. Share the excel tip files that a few generous and kind people have created to help people like us. Thanks to their efforts.
Note: If you have a smaller budget and cannot use MS products then you should not bother and use
Open Office. Its neat and compatible with some MS file extensions as well. I have tried it and you should too, infact teach your children to use the community, and help it grow as well.
Labels: Technology
What is Crossloop?
CrossLoop is a FREE secure screen sharing utility designed for people of all technical skill levels. CrossLoop extends the boundaries of VNC’s traditional screen sharing by enabling non-technical users to get connected from anywhere on the Internet in seconds without changing any firewall or router settings. It only takes a few minutes to setup and no signup is required.
CrossLoop's underlying technology was created to simplify the process of securely working with others located in different physical locations across diverse network environments. CrossLoop enables you to see the screen and control the mouse and keyboard on a remote computer. It is as if you are working side by side at the same PC. CrossLoop is a powerful productivity tool that enables you to quickly collaborate in with anyone in the world.
CrossLoop is powered by the proprietary CrossLoop VIP Tunnel, a secure peer-to-peer data transmission system. CrossLoop encrypts all files and messages exchanged on our network to ensure user privacy. Only you and your invited friends or family can view or share control of your computer. A CrossLoop session can only begin on your computer by explicitly inviting them to begin a session. All data sent over the CrossLoop network is encrypted at the endpoints using a 128-bit Blowfish encryption. For more detailed information on CrossLoop security, visit our security page.
We have gone to great lengths to ensure that CrossLoop is secure and have designed the application from the ground up with security in mind. If you have any questions regarding CrossLoop security please contact us at info@CrossLoop.com.
The Windows version of CrossLoop uses the TightVNC software plug-in for screen sharing. We have included a binary distribution of the TightVNC program in the installation software of the Windows version of CrossLoop to save you the trouble of separately downloading and installing TightVNC. If you have any questions about your rights related to TightVNC (which is licensed under GPL), please see our detailed description of how we use VNC.
Starting a Session
After installing CrossLoop, you will see a welcome screen with two tabs. Select the Join tab if you would like to connect and control a friend's PC. Select the Host tab if you would like to temporarily share access to your PC.
Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
Run Google Talk in Firefox Sidebar
Firefox is the coolest browser I have known. The best think I link about it is that it has a wonderful tab browsing system along with security that can be said to match no other. Its faster then other browsers and its add-ons are just superb.
Greasemonkey is something you will love while browsing the worldwide web. It can practically change the looks and feel of the sites you browse to what you like to see. I mean customization of sites. What a great thing, userscripts.org has tons of scripts that can help you browse the web the way you like it. You can practically change the looks of your favorite Gmail Inbox and have it display the attachment that a message carries without opening it. You can write your own scripts, too. Mark Pilgrim's definitive Greasemonkey guide, diveintogreasemonkey.org will show you how.
One of my favorites is the GTalk add-on in Firefox. You can run the neat messenger in the sidebar of Firefox, without having to install it. Give it a try,
download the gTalk Sidebar Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
Access any site while sitting behind firewalls, office systems etc
Many people have problems accessing sites like orkut, myspace, rapidshare, etc. cause they are blocked by their offices, schools or firewalls.
There are many methods described
here but the best would be using proxies
to get daily proxies follow these steps
1. Go to
http://www.google.com/reader/2. Login in with your google account
3. Click on manage subscriptions
4. Click on Import/export
5. Download
this file
6. Unzip, note the location
7. Browse to the location from google reader's import/export
8. Upload the OPML file
9. Get daily updates of proxy lists via rss
10. There is no 10th step
Then chose a proxy and apply it in the following way
in firefox >>
Tools > Options > Advanced > Connection Settings > Manual Proxy configuration
Here enter the proxy ip and port
Presto visit almost all sites anonymously
For the people whose port 6969 is blocked (like mine) use SOCKS4/SOCKS5 Proxies
Labels: Internet and Hosting, Technology
Convert Audio Cassette Tapes to MP3 files or CD
Audio cassette tapes, once the primary audio storage medium, are now disappearing quickly from the music store shelves to be replaced with Audio CDs. If you still own a pile of audio cassettes, now is the
perfect time to convert them to MP3 files or Windows Media Audio before they're gone forever.
Digitizing analog tapes essentially involves playing the tape on the taperecorder deck, capturing the audio on your computer and finally converting the .wav files to mp3 or wma formats using software like LAMP MP3 encoder or Adobe Audition. The audio cable is connected to the line-in jack on your PC's sound card.
Now there are various options to transfer your audio tapes to CD depending on your OS platform and budget. Let's look at expert opinion on the web:
Using MusicMatch - Connect the to your sound card's line-in terminal with a 1/8" mini-jack and record the contents of your tape as a WAV file. Just set MusicMatch to record the line-in channel, press play on your tape deck, and then press the record button on the MusicMatch Jukebox.
Tips for better recordings - If your tape of a favorite live concert begins with a few minutes of audience murmuring, delete it. If you’ve recorded multiple songs, split your single recording into separate files. That way, you can make each song or section a separate track on an audio CD or on your iPod. Some software can detect silence between songs and divide them for you.
Using Audacity on Mac - Audio I/O: Recording should be set for 2 channels (stereo) and both the playback and recording devices set at Built in audio controller. Audio CDs sample sound 44,100 times per second. The standard sample format (number of digits in the digital representation of each sample) is 16-bit. Audacity’s defaults are a 44 KHz sample rate, but 32-bit sample format.
Using External Audio Capture Device - Consider using an external audio-capture device such as the plug-and-play USB M-Audio Transit instead of your sound card; it will record a much cleaner signal.
Remember to set your audio software’s volume controls according to the loudness of your tape or record. Proper volume is vital to getting good sound. Set the levels too low, and your audio will be too soft and prone to noise. Set levels too high, and loud portions of the recording will sound horribly distorted.
Labels: Technology
How to take Screenshots of Movies in Windows Media Player
Quest: How do I capture still images from a movie playing in Microsoft Windows Media Player, Real Player, WinAmp or Apple QuickTime?
Some users try to grab the current video frame by pressing the standard Windows "Print Screen" key (next to F12 key on the QWERTY keyboard). But when the image screenshot from clipboard is pasted into an image editor, the capture is a black blank screen instead of the actual video.
Reason: When the video plays, it is actually displayed on a different surface/layer called overlay that is produced by hardware acceleration. When you take a normal screen capture, you're taking it of the normal surface where the video isn't displayed. That's why it comes out black as it is invisible to the screen capture software.
Here are some common solutions to capture pictures from DVD movies currently playing with Windows Media Player Classic or other video players. It should also work for movies (wmv, mov, avi) embedded in a webpage.
1. Use another media player such as Power DVD, WinDVD or BSPlayer - it takes screenshots of the movie and stores them as jpegs images. Or you could try a video editor like VirtualDub.
2. Invest in a commercial
screen capture software like
Camtasia Studio or SnagIt (allows DirectX capture).
3. In WMP, at least since version 9, you can use Ctrl-I (EYE) to capture a frame, either when playing or when paused for greater accuracy. It brings up a Save Captured Image dialog which handily defaults to a jpeg. This works only if the video you are watching is using a Microsoft supported movie file.
4. Don't use Overlay
1. Open your Window Media Player and click Options on the Tools menu.
2. On the Performance tab, click on the Advanced... button.
3. Uncheck Use overlays from DVD video, click OK and restart the player.
Now you can capture images from any movies played in Windows Media Player using Print Screen (PrintScrn) key (or ALT + PrintScrn key). Once copied, the image can be pasted into Microsoft Paint (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint) or other image editor. If you have problems taking screenshots from a playing movie try to pause it first, then "print" the image.
5. Fix blank captures by turning off hardware acceleration. You can either disable hardware acceleration in the application that is playing the video, or disable hardware acceleration system wide.
To
disable graphics hardware acceleration globally for all applications in Windows XP or Windows 2000, Select
Control Panel - Display - Properties - Settings - Advanced - Troubleshooting and slide the Hardware Acceleration slider from
Full to None.
For Windows 98 or NT systems, the path is slightly different
Control Panel - System - Performance - Graphics - Advanced settings.
Now hit the OK button at the bottom of the window. This disables all accelerations. You may need to restart the machine for the change to take effect.
To turn Off Hardware Acceleration in Your Video Player Only:In Windows Media Player:1. In Media Player 7 or later, select Tools > Options > Performance tab. In Media Player v.6.4 and earlier, select View > Options > Playback.
2. Click and drag the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left, changing the setting from Full to None.
In RealOne Player:1. Select Tools > Preferences > Hardware in the navigation pane
2 Click and drag the Playback Performance slider to the left, changing the setting from Best quality to Lowest CPU usage.
In Apple QuickTime (Standard and Pro):
1. Select Edit > Preferences > Streaming Transport. The QuickTime Settings dialog box displays.
2. From the drop-down list, select Video Settings. Click the Safe Mode (GDI Only) radio button.
In WinAmp1. Click Options - Preferences - General Preferences, select Video.
2. Uncheck Allow hardware video overlay.
Don't forget to move the Video acceleration slider back to Full when you are done
For Windows Media Player 9, you can either turn off hardware acceleration, or use a slightly different solution that will allow you to leave hardware acceleration enabled during video capture. However, in order to capture RealPlayer or QuickTime videos, you must turn off your computer's hardware acceleration.
Capturing Still Images from a DVD Player using SnagIt - You can use SnagIt to capture still images directly from a DVD player if you are using a software DVD decoder, such as Intervideo's WinDVD or CyberLink's Power DVD. However, you may need to make the configuration changes mentioned above to your DVD player software in order to do take this type of capture. Windows Media Player cannot be used for this purpose because it does not use a standard DirectX layer to display DVD video.
Labels: Technology
TECHNOLOGY - A MUMIN'S PERSPECTIVE
Wherever we turn, we are able to see the effects of the advances of technology – from medicine to education, and more. Advances in medical technology have allowed doctors to treat patients in the first few critical moments after a health trauma. As a teacher and a parent, I see technology used in the classroom – whether it is to enhance students' fine motor skills or to teach them how to read. In our everyday home or work lives, going a few days without the internet, telephone, or even a cell phone would seem impossible.
Yesterday, while watching the video of Aqa Maula (tus) performing the Iftetah of the Qubbah Mubarakah of Syedna Hatim (R.A.) in Yemen, it became evident that a Mumin's life in the era of our Maula (tus) would be impossible without the technology that allows us to be so close to our Maula, without physically being there.
Watching the video of the Iftetah, I was able to see every unique amal of Aqa Maula (tus), from entering the Qubbah Mubarkah, to performing Tasleem at the Qabr and holding the Gilaf and performing Ziyarat. Seeing all these unique and momentous Aamaal being performed, my Mohabbat and Tafadi for my Maula grew even more stronger. All the Bayans that I had heard during Ayyam e Tabudaa't helped me realize how much my Maula cares for me and all Mumineen. A single Amal of holding the Gilaaf and instantaneously recollecting the Kalemaat Nooraniyah of Syedna Taher Saifuddin (R.A) Aqa Maula (tus) remembered us Mumineen in his Dua Mubarak. This Amal alone of Aqa Maula (tus), made me realize that our Maula (tus) puts us Mumineen above anyone and anything. That Amal of Aqa Maula (tus) was the Khulaso of Tafaadi and Mohabbat.
Even when we are not fortunate enough to be physically present in the Hazarat of our Maula (tus), we have become so used to the many opportunities of Deedar via video relay, that it is difficult to imagine a Mumin's life without technology. Every Moharram, those who are less fortunate and are not able to attend Ashara with Aqa Maula (tus), wait and pray daily for news of a video relay. It is hard to imagine an Ashara, no matter where we are in Bilad Imaniyah, without doing Deedar of our Bawa Shafiq (tus). It may be difficult to live our day to day lives without the advances of current technology, but it would be impossible for a Mumin to live their life without the technology that brings them closer to their Maula (tus). Yesterday, while watching the video relay it became clear to me that while we may all be bounded by technology in our everyday lives, it is the same technology that has the sharaf of being in the Khidmat of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb (tus), bringing Mumineen closer to their Maula (tus). May Allah Subhanahu enhance the Umer Sharif of Aqa Maula (tus) till Qayamat. Ameen
Amate Syedna (tus)
Rashida M. Aliasger Rasheed
Columbus, OH
www.eduscribe.com Labels: Dawoodi Bohras, Deen, Technology
Live Audio /Video Relay from Burhani Masjid Dubai
Hasan Qutbi known to me since a couple of years is the brain around this entire relay drill. Audio/Video that seemed to be possible only through ISDN point to point connection is has now been made possible through DSL lines as well through remote connection to a CUTE little device
"SlingBox". The device basically used for streaming your home TV shows to the desktop has done the job.
The only drawback was that the device supports single connections or maybe its the DSL line that has a single IP to allow remote connection to the box. The device is just wonderful and I got to try it out. I am having an idea about conferencing through this box if this entire drill works well and good.
Labels: IT Committee, Personal, Technology
Life with the TV: 21 tips for dealing with the thing
by Abdul Malik Mujahid
Not everything that comes through TV is bad. However, because the average child between two and 11 years old watches over 27 hours of poorly supervised television per week; because the only thing that kids do more than watch television is sleep, and because most parents are unaware of the indecent liberties that television takes with our children, you must control this 19 inch Shaytan, as a friend of mine calls it.
1) Permissible and Forbidden on TV: TV programs include stirring documentaries about history, science, and nature as well as excellent dramatizations of classics. It also includes a lot of forbidden in terms of violence, sex, antifamily and anti-Islamic values in cartoons, sitcoms, talk shows and films. It's the job of parents to observe whats on TV programs and guide their children. One rule you can use when teaching your kids the right and wrong of television is the following: if it's Haram to do then, it's Haram to watch.
2) TV Rules for Children: A carefully programmed TV can be a beneficial ally! Set clear rules for your children on how much TV they can watch, when they can watch it, and which shows are permitted. Then stick to your policy no matter how many tears and voices protest. You are the boss. You can unplug the television whenever you want to.
3) Don't Just Allow "Watching TV": Allow children to watch a particular program which you have approved, not just "watch TV."
4) No Channel Surfing: Channel surfing usually means watching the worst of the shows which are on at any given moment. More stops at sex and violence scenes.
5) Homework First: Insist that homework and chores be done before TV is turned on. (No this is not considered child abuse, not at least in Illinois where I live.) Only one in ten parents require children to do homework first at this moment.
6) Watch Together: Watch TV with your children. It will be lots of fun. You might have some topics to talk about later. You may share some laughter as well. If you cannot watch with them all the time, at least do it occasionally.
7) Talk to Children about the Programs: Talking to your children about the programs they watched or you watched together will give you an opportunity to debrief them about the rights and wrongs in them.
8) Never Use TV as Babysitter: No matter what, don't just train your little Muslim to become an avid TV watcher by letting TV calm him down when he is crying or when you want to do something else other than attend to the baby. Also make this rule clear to the babysitters you hire as well. If you have no choice but to subject you child to a daycare center, choose one which does not use TV as its control mechanism. Seventy percent of daycare centers use TV during a typical day.
9) A Smaller Screen is Better: A small-sized TV is better than a larger size TV. The larger size encourages worse watching habits.
10) One TV is Better than Two: One TV placed in the living room will help you keep an eye on what is being watched. A TV in your child's bedroom is the worst thing. It is not that you don't trust your children. It is the TV which you don't trust. The average household in America has 2.24 TVs in their homes and 54 percent of kids in America have a TV in their bedrooms.
11) No Cable Channels: With a few exceptions, cable provides more of the bad TV and adult-oriented programming. I was staying at a pious Muslim's home as the TV brought a rush of his kids in the room I was staying in. To my astonishment, they ignored their "uncle's" presence and protest as they intensely watched a hot nude sex scene on some cable channel. Recently in Florida, during the daytime, a cable company showed adult programs.
12) Encourage Commercial-Free Channels: Public Television and other Commercial Free TV have more informative programs. It is estimated that the average child sees 20,000 commercials per year. Unlike adults, who often mute out commercials, or who get up and make a mad dash for the bathroom during the 60 to 180 seconds, children like TV ads. They like to be told what to lobby for...and lobby they do.
13) VCR Gives Parents More Control: VCR gives you control of TV time and programs. Many parents use the VCR more than television programs broadcast scheduled times. Balance your TV consumption with videos of good programming offered by Muslims and non-Muslims. This will be more in your control and will contribute to the learning process of children. Some of the good video programs could be as good as anything on TV. Adam's World for children ages two to nine is one such video series. Tens of thousands of children learn and have fun with Adam and Aneesah.
One day, I noticed Sister Lonnie Ali (Champion Muhammad Ali's wife) had ordered another set of Adam's World. Since I knew they had a complete set of Adam's World, I asked why she was buying another one. She told me that Asad (their son) had watched Adam's World so many times that all the tapes were worn out. She said he must have watched each tape more than 100 times. His game at one point was to say the dialogue before Adam said it.
14) TV Off Days: Some Muslims keep TV off all Ramadan. Every year there is a campaign called TV Turn Off Week, which encourages people to not watch TV for at least a week. You may want to do the same for very personal reasons. Television can affect young children in adverse ways: aggressive behavior, difficulty falling asleep, nightmares and an insatiable appetite for advertised products. If your kids are showing signs of this nature, eliminating TV for a week or so may help.
15) More Family Activities: TV takes away family time. Poorly managed television wastes opportunities for kids to learn how to relate to other people - including their parents and siblings. And relating with their families is a desire of today's youth. In a nationwide, ethnically balanced survey of 750 ten to sixteen-year-olds, "three-quarters said that if they had a choice between watching TV or spending time with their families, they'd opt for family time."
16) Buy a Movie Camera: Yes you read it correctly. Instead of children being subject to TV, give them the tools to control TV. Empower them with technology. Give them a gift of a video camera. Consumer Reports has a lot of recommendations for good camcorders. Let your kids write a script, shoot a video, edit it on their computer, and put it back on VCR or incorporate it in a multimedia production (and send a copy to Sound Vision. That little producer might have more talent than you think.)
17) Plan Your Time: If you develop the habit of developing a personal plan, children are likely to follow you in the considerate use of their time. By developing a plan for using your time, you will learn to place TV time in proper proportion to other things in life which you want to achieve.
18) Start a TV Journal: To make good use of TV programs, ask children to write a report about it. Have them answer questions like: who were the characters? What was the plot? What was good? What was bad? What did the program try to promote? Let them be the critic instead of simply being lost to agenda of television producers.
19) Fight bad TV programs: Always protest wrong types of things inserted by producers in what you and your children watch. If you don't protest and pursue the matter, they will learn that they can get away with this and will do more of it, not less. Call toll-free to record your dislike of a program: 1-800-TV-COUNTS (operated by the Parents' Television Council, a family oriented, non-Muslim group).
20) Stick to Your Guns: Your children will resist all rule-making efforts to limit their TV time and program selection. Discuss your reasoning with them, but stick to your guns. This is a decision about their growing up as Muslims. More than 4,000 studies have proven that the behavior of children is affected by their TV watching habits. You cannot let false images and wrong ideals distort the future of your children. You must help tomorrow's Muslims today by being reasonable, but firm. If you don't control TV, TV will control you, your pocket, your children, and your worldview.
21) Children Follow You: The bottom line principle of parenting is that children follow you. If you are a couch potato, and fail to practice what you preach, don't expect your rules to have any value. Watch what you are watching if you want anyone to follow your rules about TV. Whether you give prime time to your family or to TV will determine the future direction of your life and your children's life.
"O ye who believe! Why do you preach something you are not practicing? It is of most distasteful in the sight of Allah that ye say that which ye do not" (Quran: 61:2-3).Labels: Interesting, Technology
Are you adicted to the idiot box?
6 Reasons not to watch TV
by Sound Vision Staff Writer
Ask yourself an honest question: given the number of times kissing, and various examples of sexual behavior show up on that screen (even the remote control doesn't work as well anymore) what would happen if Mom or Dad walked right in and sat beside you when it was on?
This nasty aspect of television is getting worse. Why subject yourself to it and earn Allah's anger as you catch even a glimpse of this Haram?
2. You could become more violent
Enough studies have shown the link between watching violence in the media regularly and violent behavior. It should come as no surprise that school shootings, road rage, and airplane rage, to name just a few examples of violence in our culture today, happen. Don't desensitize yourself, your siblings or your kids any longer. Start today to curb watching violence on TV.
3. You'll waste your life
You could have spent more time with your family and friends instead of watching TV. You could have read more about Islam, improved your commitment to Allah, and gained a better chance to get to Paradise in the Next Life. You could have spent more time studying which could have meant admission to medical school or a scholarship to the college you really wanted to attend, or...I think you get the picture. Wasting time means wasting your life. Most TV wastes your life.
TV encourages you to just sit there and let your mind more or less go blank. You pick up pounds sitting there night after night, not getting any exercise.Obesity can lead to diseases later on in life. Sitting there in front of the tube is not good for your health. Walking outside in the fresh (or semi-fresh if you live in the city) air is much better.
5. Your mind will go numb
While TV shows make great topics of conversation amongst friends, future admissions officers at colleges and universities and employers, for instance, will not be impressed with your ability to recite, alphabetically, the cast of your favorite TV show. They will want to know that you are an individual who is aware of the world around him or her. That means someone who is engaged in intellectual pursuits, more specifically reading and DOING things in the community.
You will also become lazy by depending on this box to entertain you instead of being creative and finding ways to spend your time more usefully. TV can make you a dull couch potato.
Labels: Interesting, Technology
Lisan al-Dawat is a unique language used by the
Dawoodi Bohra community in their day to day affairs. The language is a similar dilect of the Gujarati tongue spoken by a large number of people in the State of Gujarat in India. Someone familiar to Gujarati would notice little difference between LD (short for Lisanud dawat) and his tongue.
The difference is quite much and know to the literate and learned people of Dawat as well as the educated Gujaratis. The community mainly of traders and business men, whose religious linage is traced to the
Fatimids in Cairo are well known amoung the Gujaratis by Vohras or
Bohras and are the most faithful followers of the vicegerent of the Fatemi Imams (who is in Seclusion), the Dail Mutlaq. The Na'ib and Dai al-Mutlaq today is
His Holimess Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (tus) a very well know and high profiled personality of India. He is often reffered to as the
Ambasador of Peace.
Well I am not to discuss about the community and its affairs here as my main concern is the LD font and its devolopment. But for those who really want to know more about these people can visit thier official portal
http://mumineen.org , it has been rated so by BBC. I would recommend
Jonah Blank's best seller Mullas on the Mainframe and
The illustrated Biography for those interested.
Let me be brief about Lisan al-Dawat. It is written in the Arabic script from right to left and is a blend of Mainly Gujarati and Arabic. Further more it also reflects urdu and farsi in its literature and day to day conversations. Mainly it was devoloped by the Dais (Doat Kiram) for easy communication with the local gujaratis when the dawat shifted to india along with maintaining the sweetness and brevity of Arabic and the spiritual and celestial charm of the Quranic language and its all incompassing knowledge.
The LD font was first devoloped in Surat at
al-Jamea tus Saifiyah and it did need an Arabic OS to type out the LD in word in addition to a small program that provided the special Ky Hacks for che, gaf, pe and so on (the farsi/urdu alphabets). Lots of content was made digital using this font. This was the initial Burhani font (I guess Murtaza Shk Mohd Shk Tayyebali was the guy behind it and it was the year 1998 maybe.) A few years later a group of students in Mumbai got hold of the Bagdadi Fonts and played with it to get a very innitial version of Taheri. (Someone made to the top of Badri Mahal IT using this font to show the talents).
I got hold of this font in 1422 (until when I was using Burhani Old) when Shz Ammar Bhaisaheb asked mumineen.org to prepare a matrimonial site for him (Though the site never met its pupose for some reason). The Taheri font was used for the first time on the WWW in this project (infact this was the first time any LD font was used on the web). People on mumineen.org had worked hard for getting up the Database driven site for the sole purpose of serving the community and the LD font was used to publish the
Shadi Ni Rusumaat book. It has also been translated in English by Muhammad Rangoonwala with the help of Asgar Fakhruddin. The entire translation was checked and edited by me as it was prepared.
Back to the track - Taheri had a serious problem the Jazam and other Aeraab and some of the characters had been changed to fit the LD character set. Though the replaced characters were as important but who cared, lets use what we have now and will think later when we are stuck. So there I was stuck with Taheri, the character coding changed from the Arabic setting to a suit personal interests. Yusuf Goolamabbas and Taher Haveliwala (all mumineen.org team) tried to give me some hints to fix the font as I had talked to them having realised the problem. Hey, I am dumb and need a proper tutor to get everything in place. Sorry guys I have not been able to fix the font yet.
Ah, the story does'nt end here nor does it take turns. The real problem was not the charcter replacement which I have managed to fix and tried to spread the font (I will call it Taheri V2) all over so that people would use it as a platform atleast for the keyboard settings but ego does come in a way always. So what is the problem. YG says the problem is with the double key hacks used for certain characters in LD. He talked to Simon Montagu of Netscape and gave me a kick start to talk with these gurus too but the communication gap kept me back. The problem was obvious if you guessed it, ha, YG's favorite browser
Mozilla won't display the Taheri V2 font, the one I had fixed (it didnt before coorection either). We tried on various platforms and using multiple browsers but the font display gave hiccups at times. The unicode settings of Taheri are also not proper, Taher did try to fix it. The unicode was in place but the keyboard setting was disturbed. So we are back on the same track.
Then there was a lets say higher version of (Burhani Old) called Saifee was devoloped on the same keyboard mappings as old Taheri. The font is the same as Traditional Arabic.
The Mohalla Burhaniya guys from Karachi renamed the Saifee to Burhani (lets call B2) to boast they had hit a jackpot and spread it all over via a quiz program they ran during Ramadan.
Fatemi, the font Jamea Saifiyah Boasts to be perfectly in place (for thier own use, why bother about the future or the community). I have seen and used all versions of Fatemi but I am sad to say they could have done it better for the community sake. The script of Fatemi is indeed wonderful and beautiful non can match it, I must say. But the creator of the font didnt take care and look at the essentials of a font. Nor did they look for backward compatibility. What about the work that has been done by people all over the globe in LD in the past years. Hundreds if not thousands of pages typed out. How are we ever going to use that material if suppose we loose the fonts used in the past.
Let me not forget Shk Khuzaima Rangwalla who was moallim in Hong Kong and managed to digitize his handwritting named as Mohammedi (3 styles are there). YG helped him out but the work was simply a trace ot Taheri2 and did not help much. Much of Rangwalla's personnal and valuable work in LD was done using this font. He made his way to the Attalim office in Karachi as a result of his talent.
My obsevations about Taheri V2
It works fine for typing on all Arabic enabled platforms of windows (Win2K gives some hiccups at times) and renders well in IE as well as Firefox 1.0. Here I need to add that I have checked
LD on my blog and it works fine with blogger as well as the display in Win 98 Arabic, Win XP and Win2K in IE and
Firefox 1.0 . My blog template is pure HTML.
Second observation is that it does not render at all on any of the above browsers and OS on the
mumineen.org page. The same content and the same tool (blogger). The mumineen.org template is based on PHP. Does that cause any problems with the rendering? Dont know.
Another observation is that mails are properly recieved and sent in LD using Taheri V2 if the platform is Arabic enabled. Yahoo mail displays proper LD messages and sends as well. Gmail does not.
This is all I remember about my experiance with Lisan al-Dawat font devolopment.
Ah, one thing I was able to do some research into this by the Dua of Syedna (tus). May Allah grant him a long life.
Labels: Interesting, Technology
