Author: Pritesh Gupta

Facebook Shortcuts

Lately I was surfing facebook.com and found that facebook has some default keyboard shortcuts which work cross browser. Thus, I am sharing few of the shortcuts which I found.

  • Alt+1: This key combination takes you to your Facebook home page, No matter where you are in facebook.com
  • Alt+2: This combination takes you to your profile, Again from anywhere in the facebook.com
  • Alt+3: This combination opens up the pending friend requests dialog.
  • Alt+4: By pressing this one you can see your Inbox(i.e. Messages).
  • Alt+5: You can see your Notifications by pressing this combo.
  • Alt+6: Pressing this takes you to the “My Account” where you can change your name and other details.
  • Alt+7: Pressing this takes you to the “Privacy Settings” where you can update/change your privacy settings.
  • Alt+8: This one takes you to the facebook fan page.
  • Alt+9: Takes you to the Terms and Conditions page(Statement of Rights and Responsibilities) which is bigger than a constitution of a country.
  • Alt+0: Takes you to the “Help Center” page. Where you can browse your applications and see facebook features.
  • E: takes you to events
  • F: takes you to friends
  • N: takes you to notifications
  • R: takes you to confirm requests

Also, Facebook added a new emoticon this must be in context to the number 42. Read its wiki for details and significance. You can get this in chat by typing :42:

UPDATE: Few more(Thanks to tudy).

Get Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx delivered to your doorstep for free.

Ubuntu is the most powerful Linux sponsored by Canonical. Its an open source project. The main license used is the GNU General Public License. Thus it is available for free download, Moreover you can also request an Installation Disk for Ubuntu 10.04 which gets delivered to the specified address for free(Yes, Even without shipping charges). To download the CD Image file go to http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download.  You might also like to download Ubuntu installer for Windows (Quite convenient if you are on Windows). Downloading is always more encouraged, As it is faster. But, If you are behind a slow Internet connect you can request the CD from https://shipit.ubuntu.com/. The CD gets delivered in some 4-10 weeks. You can also download Kubuntu for free from http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download and request a disk from https://shipit.kubuntu.org/.

Posterous vs. Tumblr

Posterous and Tumblr are fit for content which is too small for a blog and too big for Twitter. I have started using these two services quite lately. These 2 sites support all kind of rich media, Have longer entries as well as short entries which get auto posted to Twitter. Tumblr provides a hub for storing/sharing  text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video(via a bookmarklet right in your browser). Where as Posterous provides a place for blogging, lifestreaming, photo sharing, and video and audio posting. Tumblr and Posterous are less than a Blog, Thus they classify as Microblogs. (Though Posterous can be used as full fledged Blog too.)

Posting

The posting in Posterous is quite easier, One just needs to drop a mail at [email protected] and it gets posted to his/her Posterous. Moreover, There’s also a WYSIWYG Web Interface which does fine. And Tumblr also has an Email posting option and SMS posting option. You can create also create an audio post in Tumblr by calling a toll-free number and leaving a voicemail message. Both these sites have bookmarklets to choose thus easing the usage of its users. There’s no clear winner here, But Posterous is slightly more feasible than Tumblr in posting due to its Email posting feature.

Integrations

Tumblr connects to your Facebook and Twitter and posts your Tumblog stuff there. Tumblr also has an auto-import feature, Which imports your RSS feeds and Diggs and shows on your Tumblr. Where as Posterous has a edge over integrations, It connects to your Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube and few other sites. This means if you post a video to your posterous it gets posted to your posterous as well as your Youtube. Also, If you post a picture to your Posterous it gets posted to your Flickr and Facebook too. You can also import your Blogs to posterous and also export posterous. Moreover, If you have connected your many profiles on posterous but you just want it to post to facebook, You can do it by sending the email at [email protected]. Also, If you are in a mood of sending it to Twitter and Facebook, You can do it by sending the mail at [email protected]. Here, Posterous is the clear winner, Because of the number of accounts you can integrate with. But, The auto-import feature of  Tumblr also can’t be underestimated.

Customization

One can do a lot with the looks of both. These sites already have a gallery to chose themes from. Moreover, One can also install or create his/her own theme(Using xHTML and CSS). Here, I think both the sites provide with equal customization.

Commenting

Tumblr doesn’t provides a Comments option on the posts by default. But, Its already there in Posterous. Though you can always install Disqus in you Tumblr, Thus enabling people to comment on your posts. It has been tested against Spam too as it is used in many popular blogs. Here again Posterous takes over Tumblr by providing comment system by default.

Conclusion

Both of these sites are decent on features, Though I felt posterous is slightly better as its upcoming. But at the end personal preference will win out.

Perfect way to Subscribe to RSS


Trying to catch up a Blog(Or Blogs) which don’t provide with an Email Subscription option OR provide a Weekly dispatch only. Well, I encountered the same problem with Ars Technica and some other tech blogs, Ars Technica is an awesome Blog but it just provides with a Weekly email dispatch only and coming to its site everyday just to read it is a big pain. For everyone out there who encounter the same problem in various other Blogs, Here is the solution. There’s a Web Site which converts the RSS or Atom feed into Email and mails you regularly and works as efficiently as the Email Subscription thing. The site is http://www.feedmyinbox.com. I use it to follow many sites which don’t provide with Email Subscription option.

PS:  Don’t subscribe too much,  It will just help in increasing your Unread Emails count :)

<?PHP

// Get these from http://developers.facebook.com
$api_key = ‘xxx’;
$secret = ‘xxx’;

// Names and links
$app_name = “Application name”;
$app_url = “app-url”; // Assumes application is at http://apps.facebook.com/app-url/
$invite_href = “invite.php”; // Rename this as needed

require_once ‘facebook.php’;

$facebook = new Facebook($api_key, $secret);
$facebook->require_frame();
$user = $facebook->require_login();

if(isset($_POST[“ids”])) {
echo “<center>Thank you for inviting “.sizeof($_POST[“ids”]).” of your friends on <b><a href=\”http://apps.facebook.com/”.$app_url.”/\”>”.$app_name.”</a></b>.<br><br>\n”;
echo “<h2><a href=\”http://apps.facebook.com/”.$app_url.”/\”>Click here to return to “.$app_name.”</a>.</h2></center>”;
} else {
// Retrieve array of friends who’ve already authorized the app.
$fql = ‘SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid IN (SELECT uid2 FROM friend WHERE uid1=’.$user.’) AND is_app_user = 1′;
$_friends = $facebook->api_client->fql_query($fql);

// Extract the user ID’s returned in the FQL request into a new array.
$friends = array();
if (is_array($_friends) && count($_friends)) {
foreach ($_friends as $friend) {
$friends[] = $friend[‘uid’];
}
}

// Convert the array of friends into a comma-delimeted string.
$friends = implode(‘,’, $friends);

// Prepare the invitation text that all invited users will receive.
$content =
“<fb:name uid=\””.$user.”\” firstnameonly=\”true\” shownetwork=\”false\”/> has started using <a href=\”http://apps.facebook.com/”.$app_url.”/\”>”.$app_name.”</a> and thought it’s so cool even you should try it out!\n”.
“<fb:req-choice url=\””.$facebook->get_add_url().”\” label=\”Put “.$app_name.” on your profile\”/>”;

?>

<fb:request-form
action=”<? echo $invite_href; ?>”
method=”post”
type=”<? echo $app_name; ?>”
content=”<? echo htmlentities($content,ENT_COMPAT,’UTF-8′); ?>”>

<fb:multi-friend-selector
actiontext=”Here are your friends who don’t have <? echo $app_name; ?> yet. Invite whoever you want -it’s free!”
exclude_ids=”<? echo $friends; ?>” />

</fb:request-form>
<?PHP

}

?>

Get the new Google in your system

Google1

How to get it

  • Go to http://www.google.com (The international version). If you are unable to change to the international version try out http://www.google.com/ncr
  • Now go to the status bar(Hit F6) remove everything and paste the code written in bottom of the article.
  • Hit enter, You are redirected to your local google once again,  Select the “Go to Google.com” there.
  • Now enjoy the new Google search.

How to remove it

  • For removing it look for the cookie named PREF in google.com starting with “ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb” and delete it.

The code

javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");

Comment Systems


Tired of having that old Comment system of your Blogging platform. Here’s what you need. There are 2 major app which you can try for managing comment in your blog one is Disqus and another Js-Kit. The disqus is old and free and is used by huge sites like Mashable where as Js-Kit is new, Evolving and next generation.

With Comment System’s you can able your readers to comment with there Facebook/Twitter profile and Various other profile. There also some more advanced features which you can get using these Comment System like real time conversations.

More info:

Disqus

JS-Kit

Blogger.com vs WordPress.com

So you must be having a Blog(If NO, Go get one today). Where do you host  it Blogger.com OR WordPress.com. Or if you have your own Hosting space with php and Mysql then for sure WordPress.org. This post will compare Blogger.com with WordPress.com. Also don’t get confused with WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.org is a CMS which you need to host and is the best Blog System currently. I will not be including features which are in both of them OR neither of them.

Feature

Blogger.com

WordPress.com
Customization with themes Yes, You can edit the HTML and CSS No
Import No, Only from another Blogspot Blog Yes, From most of the Blog programs
Static Page No Yes, As much as you want
Analytics/Stats No, But you may install a third party Analytics program Yes, In built and is great
Image Storage 1 GB, Can be browsed through Picasa 3 GB, Can be upgraded
Classification Through applying Labels Through applying Categories and Tags
Contact Forms No, But Third Party contact forms can be installed Yes, Using [contact-form]
Comments Simple, But you can install powerful comments system like Disqus Nice comment system but you can’t install Disqus
Embed Object (Like: Flash) Yes No
RSS Yes, And can be optimized with Feedburner Yes, But No Feedburner optimization
Spam Fighting No Akismet
Change blog URL Yes No
Javascript Yes, You can Add it here No
Google Webmaster Tools Yes, Verify using <meta> tag and Add blog/atom. No

Please See:

  • If you wish to upgrade to WordPress.org soon then go for WordPress.com. As it supports Categories as well as Tags(Which is common in WordPress.com and WordPress.org).
  • If you don’t wish to upgrade to WordPress.org and don’t want to host things then go for Blogger.com
  • Most of people start from platforms like WordPress.com or Blogger.com and move to WordPress.org(It includes me).
  • Also if you are newbie in Blogging go for Blogger.
  • Blogger is also owned by Google which is a 800 pound gorilla in Internet.
  • There is also a http://draft.blogger.com where you can see features if blogger about to come.

My Suggestion: Go for Blogger.com. As it has the biggest advantage that is Flexibility.

Web Analytics

Web analytics is the measurement of the visits to a website to track website performance. Its also the process of collection, measurement and analysis of user activity on a website to understand and help achieve the intended objective of the website. So it is a tool that collects data on web site users behavior.

How can we use it ?

For Web Analytics you just need to Sign Up for a Web Analytics program and then add the essential code given by the Program to your site. Or Install a couple of plugin’s if you are on WordPress.

What programs are available ?

There are many of the programs available for analytics for Websites. I have included few which I like.

Google Analytics

For me its the best as it is owned by 800 pound gorilla of the internet market and the features it provides are very useful. All though it’s not highly advanced or high on features still it has everything which is required for analytics. One can add multiple sites here and most importantly its 100% Free. You just need to add the code to your website for its functioning(Or a plugin if you are on WordPress). Google Analytics can track visitors from all referrers, including search engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, email marketing and digital collateral such as links within PDF documents. You may integrate it with Your Adwords account too.

Clicky Web Analytics

Logo

It has all the features of Google Analytics plus many more like giving a Mobile version of your dashboard, Viewing the history for an individual page, Visitor segmentation, Twitter Analytics etc. It’s hugely accpeted. But the drawback is its not Free. Though it has a Free version too but using GA will be the better option then.

Analytics for WordPress using a simple Plugin(WordPress.com Stats)

Its like Google Analytics providing an incredible depth of information. Installing this stats plugin is easy, all you need is to put in your API Key. When running it’ll begin collecting information about your pageviews, popular posts and pages, traffic source, etc. It’ll also add a link to your dashboard. And because all of the processing and collection runs on there servers. it doesn’t cause any additional load on our hosting account.

Google Search Tips

Remember these:

  • Google default is to search for pages that include all of your search keywords .
  • Google excludes common words (a.k.a stop words) like “the” , “He” etc.
  • Google isn’t case sensitive, That is searching for wordpress is the same as WordPress.
  • But Search operators are case sensitive, That is searching for wordpress OR joomla uses OR as the Google search operator, while wordpress or joomla doesn’t.
  • Some operators may be combined, and some must be used alone.

Basic Operators

+

forces words to be included in search results. Useful with stop words that otherwise will be discarded

–

prevents a search term to show in results, for example searching for doughnut -cream can help you to avoid creamy doughnuts

OR

returns documents with one of the given terms, like doughnut OR donut. You can also use | instead of OR: doughnut | donut

” “

using quotes forces google to search for the exact phrase (including stop words), try “doughnut at midnight” and doughnut at midnight (actually, using quotes is similar, but not equals, to doughnut-at-midnight … it would be interesting to know what is the exact difference in SERP)

~

allow to search also for synonyms of the given word. searching for doughnut ~tips finds also pages with the word help or guide etc.

*

means every word. try “doughnuts with *”

..

Used to search in a range of numbers, “2..20 doughnuts” will find pages containing “I eat 3 doughnuts a day” and “I’ll never eat more than 15 doughnuts in a month”

This operators can be combined to create advanced queries, for example “I eat 1..100 doughnut OR doughnuts OR donut OR donuts each *”

Basic Search Operators

The basic Search operators which can be combine with your keywords easily are:

+

Forces words to be included in search results. Convenient with stop words that otherwise will be dumped

–

Prevents a search term to be included in the results, Like: searching for Automobile -cars won’t show the result for Cars in the Automobile search result page

OR

Returns with with one of the given terms, like Joomla OR Drupal. You might also use | instead of OR

” “

It is used to include all of the words given by you in search results, Remember to put the query within the “ ” . I use it to check copy and paste content.

~

Allows to search also for synonyms of the given keyword. like searching for wordpress ~tips finds also pages with the word help or guide etc.

*

Means every word to include(It’s a wildcard character) .

..

Used to search in a range of numbers

The above operators may be combined like, “Is WordPress better than Joomla OR Drupal”

Some more useful operators

define:

Used to return the definition of the given word like “define: guide”

filetype:

Restricts the results returned of a specific File Type. Like “Photoshop Guide filetype:pdf”

site:

Restricts the search results for a given web site only like “Google site:priteshgupta.com”

related:

Returns page that are related to the given page

info:

Gives information about a given site

Google’s Calculator

I use Google as a calculator too, by using standard symbols (+ – * / % ^)

Like: “2+10-5%2” = 11, Google calculates in the manner which is done in programming languages.

You can also make it a scientific calculator using the below terms

sqrt,nth root ofx, sin, cos, arctan, tan…, ln, log, !

Numbers can be entered in hexadecimal, octal and binary base.

PS: There are many more things which you can do it Google but I have included which are useful.

Also see: http://www.google.com/landing/searchtips/

Microsoft Office 2010

I got Office 2010 from one of my friends which was available from here and upgraded it over my Office 2007(Took lots of time). This isn’t the full version which I got, Its named “Office 2010(Technical Preview)”{Not Beta} So that people can try it for free and this will expire in July 2010. Microsoft Office 2010 is the successor of Microsoft Office 2007.It features Extended file compatibility, user interface updates, and a refined user experience. I just compared it to my Office 2007 and got some screen shot’s of Office 2010 as well.(Click to Enlarge).

First things first the

Load screen.

The load screen of office 2007 is bit dumb and not interactive(Below), Where as the load screen of Office 2010(above) has bit of tweaks and more features like it tells us how much percentage the document has loaded(You can see this by opening huge PPT’s), Displays thing like “Starting”, “Working” and It has buttons like Minimize and close.

Main Window

The new Office 2010 main window(Above) is a lot similar to Office 2007(Below) and unlike Office 2003 to Office 2007 it’s not a complete evolution. So it will be easy to use.

File Menu

The new file button(Above) is bit different from older one(Below) you can notice some good Interface changes there. And also by clicking the file button icon a new window hovers above the main Window.