Schedule Automatic Shutdown Without Any Programs

All you of might have thought about scheduling a shutdown after a while. There are several small application programs are available in net for the purpose. But I would suggest that you should not go for any external software for these kinds of simple tasks.

You can schedule a shutdown for your computer by following a few instructions. You can also create icons for a scheduled shutdown on your desktop if you frequently needs a scheduled shutdown. Read my article for creating a desktop shutdown icon.

Follow these instructions for scheduling a shutdown.

1. Click Start menu(Win Menu)
2. Click Run. If you are using Windows XP you'll see the Run icon in your start menu itself. If you are using Windows 7 type run on your start menu search and then you'll see the Run Icon.(Instead of Step 1 & 2 you can press Win Key + R to get the Run Command Wizard)
3. In the Run Command Wizard type "shutdown -s -t time_in_seconds" without the quotes .Ex : shutdown -s -t 600, this will shutdown your computer after 10 Minutes.
4. Click OK

after the -t you have to give the time in seconds. Suppose your want to turn off your computer after 1 Hour then use the Calculator to find the seconds, 1*60*60 will give you the result 3600. And then your command is shutdown -s -t 3600.

You can use this command to create a scheduled shutdown icon too.For that just replace the command given the article Instruction to Create Shutdown/Reboot/Log off Desktop Icon with this command and follow the instruction given there.

Install Ubuntu on Google Nexus One

Bored with the same old stock version of Android on your Nexus One? Are you one of the many other Nexus One users who would like to see a different boot up screen on your phone, well help is here!
Geeky folks (one geeky folk, to be precise) from a rather ominously named blog called nexus one hacks has posted a rather longish video that can potentially help you port Ubuntu on to your highly capable handset without bricking it. Note that in this case, Ubuntu is being offered as a secondary boot option so that you may switch over to Android at the next boot should anything go wrong. Of course, as it is an OS meant for quite a different platform, you d come across a few things that simply won t work. But then that s excusable when you experience the pleasure of running an OS on a device that is not supposed to run it.

By the way, it hasn t been very long since the HD2 also got the Ubuntu treatment. What s with phones being ported to desktop OSes these days?

Which one is good ? Dell or Sony Vaio

This is the one question that all people ask when they decide to buy a laptop. Though there is a handful of companies in notebook market including Sony,Dell,HP,Apple,Lenovo,Acer etc etc. Sony Vaio and Dell being  the 2 most popular models , first comes to mind of any one. In person I have answered this question to my friends many times. So far I was involved in the purchase of 5 Sony Vaio’s and 4 or 5 Dell laptops.  From the performance of these 10 notebooks I can come to some assumptions, not conclusions. Don’t blame me being so blunt! Out of the 5 Dell laptops 4 of them had shown serious complaints within the first year. One had problems with mother board, while one had problems with display other with hard disk and so on. All of them got saved as it was in guarantee!  So that’s the first impression I am having with Dell. None of them had shown any complaints since then, so I think Dell is not that bad!

Now we should talk about vaio. I am using a Sony Vgn Cr36 notebook.  During the first year it had shown a small complaint with sound. Apart from that first year was fine. During second year I was forced to admit it again because of cooling problems. These were the two issues I faced with Vaio. I said before we purchased 5 nos of Vaio. I think 2 of them showed problems. One is mine and other a friends which had problems with display. They replaced its display and I think its fine now. All others are fine so far. The good thing with Vaio is you can get an extended warranty f 2 years for some extra bucks. I recommend all of you should make use of it.

So from my experience both Dell and Sony fits in same shoes! None of them is free from complaints. Both of  them offer good after sales service too. The only difference is you need to take Vaio to a near by service centre, where as a service executive will land on your home for Dell. Both of them are not so fast on solving issues like changing display or other core parts! They will make you wait for more than a week.

Now before buying your laptop, research well on web. First be certain and specific on what all your needs are. Then select one that fits you.  

This article comparing usage experience of Dell & Vaio is written by John Joseph who is a writer of Circuits Today an Electronics Circuits website

ChromePlus - Google Chrome with Extra Features

Google Chrome is claimed to be one of the fastest web browser available, but it is still in beta and lots of features are missing. ChromePlus is a browser build on Chromium with all the features of Google Chrome and apart from that it has features like Mouse gesture, Super drag, IE tab, context menu download support etc. ChromePlus is aimed to provide the most easy-to-use browser based on Chrome. ChromePlus is completely free with no function limitation and you can use ChromePlus to surf the internet.

ChromePlus has all the functionalities that Google Chrome has. More, ChromePlus added some useful features such as Mouse gesture, Super drag, IE tab, etc. Meanwhile, ChromePlus is free with no function limitation and you can use ChromePlus to surf the internet in any case.

Currently, ChromePlus has 5 extra features when compared to Google Chrome;
1. Double click tab to close page.
2. Mouse Gestures- In ChromePlus, you can make efficient commands with easy mouse gestures.

3. Super drag- Drag a link in the page with your left button and drop it somewhere else in the page. This can create a new page(tab) to open the link; Dragging and dropping a block of text in the page will create a page and search the text with your default search engine.
4. IE tab for websites which supports only Internet explorer.
5. Download tools supported in context menu- Chrome Plus supports

Google Chrome Browser Themes Gallery

Google Chrome's themes gallery is now available and you can select one of the 28 themes if you install Google Chrome 3.0 Developer Preview or if you have a recent Chromium build.




Installing a theme isn't a smooth process: you download a .crx file, then Google Chrome loads theme and offers the option to go back to the default theme. You can't preview themes before installing theme and there's no interface for managing themes. The only way to uninstall themes, extensions and to reload themes is by typing chrome://extensions/ in the address bar.


For now, the gallery only includes themes created by Google, but you'll be able to create your own theme and upload it to the gallery in the near future. Check how you can create a theme for Google Chrome.

Bonus themes. There are two sample themes that aren't included in the gallery: Camo and Snowflakes, one of the best Chrome themes.

Turbo Feature in Opera 10

Opera 10 Beta version has been released and it comes with new features and one of the important update in this version is the turbo mode. Turbo mode in Opera 10 increases your internet bandwidth speed on slow connections using data and image compression technologies. This feature uses Opera proxy servers to compress the traffic before it reaches the Opera browser installed in any PC.

This turbo feature can be configured on your Opera and to do this, right click on the bottom left corner icon and select configure Opera Turbo.

In the configure box, you can set the mode of turbo. It can be configured to be automatic, On or off.

• Automatic: Turbo will enable only if it detects a slow network
• On: Optimize pages with Turbo so they load faster on slow networks
• Off : Load pages normally
• Notify me about network speed: Network speed indicator becomes visible within the Opera Turbo icon on the Status Bar

Click Here t know more about Opera 10 Beta 1

The Great Mind Challenge 2009 - Registrations are open

What is “TGMC’09 contest from IBM?

The Great Mind Challenge is a national level contest open for the students of engineering, MCA and other IT related courses. For more information you can visit http://www.ibm.com/in/tgmc09

What are the eligibility criteria?

All engineering students in the stream of IT/Computer Science/BCA/MCA/BE/B.Tech/M.Tech can participate.

What are the Key benefits?

· Enhancing student skill and mapping it to real time-set industry demands

· Opportunity to work with world's leading IT company at your doorstep

· Free trainings on high end technologies

· Opportunity to enroll in job portals for getting placed according to one's skill set