Quick Tech Trick # 3: How to use Notepad as a diary or a log or a Journal?

Category: Windows | Productivity

1. Open a blank Windows Notepad (type 'notepad' in the Run command)
2. Type '.LOG' without quotes
3. Save

Bam! You now have mastered the art of creating a Simple Diary! Enjoy.

Written by Arun Sarathy.

Quick Tech Trick # 2: Where is the 'Show Desktop' icon in Windows 7?

Category: Windows | Utility



In Windows 7, the 'Show Desktop' icon no longer exists. Instead, Windows chose to put it near your system tray (bottom right corner). Just move your mouse pointer to the bottom right-most corner.

Bam! You just 'showed your desktop' to yourself.





Written by Arun Sarathy.

Quick Tech Trick # 1: How to sort and filter only "Unread emails" in Gmail?

Category: Gmail | Productivity

Type "is:unread " in your Gmail search window.

Bam! You now have all your unread emails showing up!  Happy reading!

Written by Arun Sarathy.

Quick Tech Trick # 5: How to give a URL in blog comments - Wordpress, Blogger

Category: Blogging | Commenting

How do you provide a URL in the comments section of a blog?

Wordpress or Blogger - be it anywhere. You might want to provide a URL without providing the visible "https" section.
For eg. a hyperlink like this one - How to sort and filter emails in Gmail by size and more.

Here's how:

Write the other parts of your comment as usual. And whenever you want to provide a link to a word or a sentence, just use the <a> tag with the 'href' attribute as given in this format:

<a href="http://thekeyponderer.blogspot.com/">The Key Ponderer </a> 

That's it! Now you'll see the text with your URL in it.


Written by Arun Sarathy.

Warriors Needed To Save Mother Earth

Mother Earth is ever loving, kind and always forgiving. Of course if one doesn't attribute the earthquakes, tsunamis and floods as Nature's revenge on its inhabitants - flora, fauna, humans, animals, etc.

Time and again some non profit organizations, individuals raise their voices, mark their footprints for good - to stop killing north pole animals, to save tigers, to conserve water, to stop using the big old filament bulbs, to commute using public transport whenever possible, etc. One article that caught the attention is from Google's initiative - Google Green.




Click below to see what Google has to say regarding it's initiative. It's worth it.

Related: Hitachi's Social innovation - sea water purifying.

Written by Arun Sarathy.

How to apply for Voters’ ID card online (India)?

It is every citizen’s responsibility to vote. Even if one is not interested to vote, options are there to go to the ballot and press a button that conveys your no-interest in voting. However, it’s our collectively taken decisions during these elections which decides who would be our leaders. 

Thus, every eligible citizen must vote. How does one register/enroll for this? Keep reading...

Image courtesy of Taoty / freedigitalphotos.net

Which form should I use for my application?

The answer to this question depends on your requirement. Given below are the different form numbers and their purposes.

How do I apply online now?

This is known as e-registration. Various ECI State specific websites have their e-registrations available on their websites. You just have to input some details which would then be translated in that particular State’s local language. Don’t worry, translation is automated with just a click of a button provided along with the e-registration form - named as ‘Translate’.

If you reside in Andhra Pradesh, apply online through 'e-registration' menu given in Andhra Pradesh’s e-registration website.

To know your State specific link check here: http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/Links.aspx

What are the photo specifications?

The photo should be uploaded using the browse option. Only .jpg images are allowed and image size must be less than 100 KB. Width and height must be 240 X 320.

It’s prudent to remember that mere registering of one’s name for obtaining a voter’s id card and mere possession of a voter’s id card doesn’t guarantee that you are an elector. One must also be included in the Electoral Rolls to vote their choice of Netas. So how do we know our names are included in the Electoral Roll?

How do I know if i am included in an Electoral Roll?

To check if one’s name is included in Electoral roll, we have to check in the list for our respective State - District - Assembly Constituency list using our Voters’ ID Card No. and Name and Address. Using this information, we can find out if our name is included in the Electoral Roll.

This link will help you do just that: http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/Linkto_electo_search.aspx

What about NRIs?

NRI voters. NRI voters can fill up Form 6A for inclusion of their names. However, one must note that there is no provision for any e-voting, voting by post or email or voting at an Indian Mission or embassy abroad. For more info on NRI electors, please go here http://eci-citizenservices.nic.in/frmForm6ANew.aspx

Bonus Information:

Election Commission of India website http://eci.nic.in/eci/eci.html

Name, email address, phone, fax, intercom numbers and residence phone numbers of different officers are given in this link.

Lodging complaints:

http://eci-citizenservices.nic.in/ also provides a way to lodge your complaints. the site asks if you are a citizen or an officer first, then you’ll have to register there first before lodging a complaint.

Happy Voting!

Written by Arun Sarathy.

How does my blog look in all browsers worldwide – how to check compatibility?

It’s not just Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera. There are many more web browsers used by people worldwide in their computers, tablets and Smart phones. In addition there are different versions of the same browsers and different Operating Systems. 

So how does my blog or website look like in all these permutations and combinations?

It’s the wish of every blogger and website builder to know an answer to this important question. Let’s find out! The reason is that if their blog didn't look correct in any of these, they might lose a good chunk of visitors.

Not surprisingly, there is an easy solution to this problem.

A service online provides a feature which captures screenshots of your blog or website in various platforms and shows them all in one screen for you.

The two most important advantages of using this service are:

1. It can help identify visual differences, plug-in problems of your site on all web browsers. 
2. Your website’s appearance as it is – and to use that screenshot for studying and enhancing user experience.

Bonus advantage: It also provides the page loading time in most cases.

Who provides this service?

1. One that immediately comes to my mind is browsershots.org. They have a big list of permutations and combinations of OS platforms and Web browsers. You might get around 150+ screenshots once the blog is tested.

2. The second one is www.browserstack.com.  This is also equally good in terms of checking your blog or website on many platforms.

3. Another one that is available is www.browsershots.at.

Though all the above given services are FREE, one may have to wait in the queue as there is a lot of demand. They also let us register and/or pay for the service to get precedence.

Thus, this helps us in ensuring our visitors get the view that we intended to show when we kept our best foot forward with our blog or website. 

Good luck in enhancing your user experience!

Written by Arun Sarathy.