My life, My experiences, self development and personal growth

AIEEE 2009 Online Counselling

2009-06-07T09:13:00.005+05:30

The much awaited online counselling (the first of its kind) will start from tomorrow i.e. Monday, June 8, 2009 in India. This is happening for the first time and is applicable across all the Engineering Colleges in India.

Click here for the AIEEE 2009 results. You will need your roll number for this.

Click here for the Online registration, Choice Filling and Locking.

Click here for the Important Dates and corresponding events.

Click here for the Participating Institutions and their fees structures.

Click here for the AIEEE 2008 "Opening and Closing Rank by Institutes" for Engineering

Click here for the AIEEE 2008 "Opening and Closing Rank by Institutes" for Architecture

Recessions pangs - 6000 Small BPOs may have been shutdown in India

2009-06-07T09:02:00.005+05:30

All of us are hit in some or the other way due to the ongoing economic slowdown and the outsourcing industry is no exception to that fact.

It is feared that due to this slowdown, around 6000 small and medium sized BPOs (50-100 seater range) have either already shut down their business or they are on the verge of shutting it down. There are in fact very small number of these BPOs, which are trying to sustain through these difficult times. Most of these BPOs had their hands full in 2008 and they were able to choose which project to work and which one to reject (profit margins being the strongest driver of such decisions).

Come 2009, most of these BPOs haven't been able to sign up any new customers nor have they received any new orders from their existing customers. So these BPOs, in a bid for survival, are looking internally within India - domestic market - to search for work and they are literally willing to do any work at any cost.

On a side note, Phillipines is emerging as a strong competition to the Indian BPO industry. Phillipines iffers comparatively cheaper labour, better infrastructure, lesser red-tapeism. She also has a good number of English speaking people. The big names of Indian BPO industry like Genpact, Aegis BPO and others already have foot-prints in Phillipines and they have ambitious plans to grow in that market. It is said that the Phillipines market is growing at double the rate that of India's Outsourcing Market growth.

Jaipur Gems Jadau Festival in Mumbai

2009-06-04T18:57:00.006+05:30

The leading name in the Gemstone jewellery manufacturing, Jaipur Gems, has scheduled an exhibition to promote the "Jadau jewellery." The event is aptly called as ‘Jadau Festival’ and is slated between August 2 to August 9, 2009 in Mumbai. Jaipur Gems also holds the Jadau Festival in Chennai and Coimbatore as well.

The company has lined up a display area for exquisite Jadau jewellery manufactured in-house, as well as the Jadau jewellery which features as its family heirloom. The exhibition will be held at the Jaipur Gems showroom located at Hughes Road, Mumbai. It will be an occasion to promote the classic jewellery styles of Rajasthan against the modern backdrop of Mumbai lifestyle.

Jaipur Gems has 1 showroom each in Mumbai, Coimbatore and Chennai.

The Mumbai office is at - 2, Dharam Palace, Hughes Road, Mumbai 400 007. You can reach them on +91 22 2363 1888 / +91 22 2363 6378

The Chennai office is at - 50, Cathedral Road, Chennai - 600 086. You can reach them on +91 44 2811 7145 / +91 44 2811 0104

The Coimbatore office is at - 729, Avinashi Road, Coimbatore - 641 018. You can reach them on +91 422 439 3964.

Hammer Plus Jewellery

2009-06-04T18:18:00.007+05:30

Hammer Plus Jewellery Pvt. Ltd was launched in Mumbai, in July 2003. It is the Indian distribution arm of Hammer Group.

With nearly 150 years of experience & reputation Hammer Group continues in its pursuit to deliver quality service incorporating Indian heritage of design excellence & distinct craftsmanship. Hammer Group being the largest Multinational German Jewellery Group in the world, currently manufactures & distributes to over 4500 retail outlets over 250 cities across 4 continents.

Hammer Plus is India's first B2B distribution company for jewellery collections. A company that offers independent retailers complete retail solutions, providing concept based jewellery complete with packaging, visual merchandising, PR & training.

Hammer Plus has the following collections of jewellery:

1. Ashtavar Ganesha (Eight Divine Forms of the Lord Ganesh
“Ashtavar Ganesha” is an 18k Gold, spiritual collection, manifested through eight divine forms, governed by eight primal Gods. The Eight Primal Gods are marvelously represented in this collection, by making use of Diamonds and Eight Auspicious elements such as Crystal, Rudraksh, Pearl, Coral etc.

2. Divvya
Divvya is the umbrella brand for various collections of spiritual jewellery that reflect spirituality in a unique dimension combining the rich, diverse and varied philosophy and culture of India. Given below are various collections under the DIVVYA brand:

a. Divvya Vinayak is an intricately crafted pendant collection of 18 manifestations of Lord Ganesha in 22K gold, diamonds and precious stones.

b. Divvya Dhyan combines the ancient forms of yantras (sacred diagrams) and mantras (sacred sounds) to harness cosmic energies and create an aura of purity and harmony in the self in a collection of 15 mandalas depicting the 7 kundalini chakras and 8 manifold deities.

c. Divvya Mantra is an intricately crafted collection of 20 plain gold pendants, created in 22 kt Gold, summoning upon the Sacred - “Ishta Devtas” and unleashing the mystic powers of the explicit Mantras inscribed on the “Panchdhatu Coins.”

d. Divvya Rudra is a unique collection of 14 divine pendants of ''all mukhi rudraksh'' pendants ranging from ''one mukhi to ''fourteen mukhi'' depicting the deity with each of the rudraksh mukhi along with their attributes.

3. Ekkam
A collection of Couple bands celebrating Relationships between two individuals, who though independent share a common bond that holds them together. Available in 18K gold and diamonds, with a variety of textures, they represent the light weight and heavy look feel. A step ahead from the traditional rings normally gifted during Engagements, Weddings and Anniversaries to celebrate the “oneness” through Ekkam.

4. Karma
Karma is a collection of intense Indian talismans which have stood the corrosion of time to embark on the wearer a new pathway to evolution. These aesthetic icons in the form of contemporary daily wear pendants evoke a trendy statement keeping in mind the fantastic price point appeal and wearability of their designs. Every piece of the Karma range implies a character to itself underlying its essence- eg. Krishna, the Lord of Devotion implies itself to be worn by those who desire for a union with their God.

5. Motimmo
Motimmo is a spirited and light weight collection of ear-rings in 18k yellow and white gold with fine diamonds mechanized to accommodate unique color pearls to match the perfect elegance of “pearls on the move”.

6. Navshri Ratna
Coming from the family of Panchbhuta Rudra, Sapta Svasti and Ashtavar Ganesh, Navshri Ratna gives and added dimension to this family of collections based on ancient and proven Indian magic of auspicious numbers. This is a collection of nine well designed and crafted pieces each of which is dedicated to one of the mighty Gods.

These skillfully crafted Jewellery also incorporates use of state of art techonology, thus holds its own place in the huge crowd of Navagrah jewellery for its finish and quality.

This collection is further supported by complete Packeging kit (like all Hammer Plus product), which includes display and point of sales material as per the involved market mood.

7. Panchbhuta Rudra
Panchbhuta Rudra is an 18k Yellow and White gold, spiritual collection of Panchbhuta or the five Essential Elements, governed by Panchdeva or the five Primal Gods. The Five Primal Gods are marvelously represented in this collection, by making use of Diamonds and Panchratna or the five Precious Gemstones, accompanied by the Panchmukhi rudraksh.

The essential reason behind the use of Kaalagni, 5 Mukhi Rudraksha is it helps in rectifying all the vices and faults of Jeeva, i.e. By wearing one of these pendants, the wearer’s mind remains peaceful.

8. Sapta Svasti
Meaning Seven auspicious offerings- is an auspicious collection of 7 pendants in 18k gold with fine diamonds, symbolic of the intrinsic qualities and values of the gods prevailing each day of the week. eg. Lord Shiva for Monday denotes Power, Lord Ganesha for Tuesday symbolizes Good Luck and so on. This unique set comprises of seven pendants in one collection.

9. Tamorri
Conceptualised by a team of Italian designers, Tamorri is a contemporary, cool and chic collection of timeless precious jewellery. This colourful parade of amethyst, pink tourmaline, citrine, peridot, rhodolite and blue topaz with their frames of brilliant pave, satined and polish 18K gold are hand-finished to enhance the rich, vibrant hues that make up the Tamorri collection.Go ahead, Colour your spirit!

10. Tretyam
Tretyam is a collection of 15 precious platinum pendants of ‘spiritual art designs’ that celebrates the importance of symbols by raising our consciousness. It is a brand of ‘spiritual art pendants’, developed and marketed in collaboration with Platinum Guild International that uses the healing wisdom of sacred geometry to help us “see” things in their third dimension.

Striving to provide spiritually-inspired artistic jewellery with maximum comfort and durability, the pieces have been masterfully crafted in platinum, the perfect choice of metal. The colours of the collection are different shades of blue and grey inspired from the hues of platinum. These colours are artistically reflected from packaging & the display materials. Every pendant comes with its individual guarantee card ensuring the genuineness of the product.

11. Vallaya
Just as the way the sun reflects its radiance and imbibes itself on the earth, in the same manner each piece of Vallaya in Gold, studded with diamonds finds its source of reflection in each of the seven colours of a bangle giving it a radiant effect. This articulate bangle collection is designed to suit the versatile personality and attire of the wearer, its time you “change into it”.

12. Yosa
Yosa in Sanskrit means a versatile charming lady. A collection of necklaces in 18k gold & diamond which incorporates a patented mechanism enabling the wearer to desire from an option of 12 different intricate pendants in gold, diamond, pearls & precious stones. These particular pendants could also be transformed into a beautiful brooch. Adding to the exquisiteness of the entire collection are pair of matching earrings.

Please visit the Hammer Plus website for more details.

Cheap International Mobile Calls

2008-05-18T23:34:00.000+05:30

We are in the world of speedy communication these days. You are always IN TOUCH with the world, since most of us do own a cell phone these days. We all always look out for cheap rates on our Long Distance calls. What if you can make free OR at a fractional rate of the normal rate that you generally pay for making international calls to any country from your cell phone? You must be thinking I am not talking sense, but I am telling you the truth.

I just stumbled upon this site REBTEL. What do they do? How can they offer the international calls at such cheap rates? Read on...

How does it work?
Rebtel gives you a way to make international calls at low rates. They do this by getting your call away from your mobile network and onto the internet. From there they can connect it to any phone in the world for you, for next to nothing. So they give you local numbers for your international contacts, which you call as normal.

You pay your mobile phone operator for a local call, and pay us a small fee on top of this for the international part of the call. This means that a Rebtel call is like any other international call - but a lot cheaper!!!

Do I need to install anything on my cell phone/computer?
You do not need to install anything on your cell phone or on your computer. All you need to do is create a local number. The Rebtel team is different from the other VOIP Service providers because they create a local number in your country for your friends in other countries. And your friends can do the same in their countries.

How do I make a call?
Calling is very simple. All you need to do is -
a. Sign up on Rebtel (if you are not already signed up).
b. Enter the phone number of your friend.
c. The Rebtel team will give you a local number (in your own country) to call that friend of yours.
d. Save this local number and use it anytime you want to call your friend.
e. That's it - No downloads! No Computers! No calling cards!

What's more, once you sign up, you get 10 minutes' worth international talk time free. However, you should ALWAYS call your Rebtel local number in your own country.

Click here to find out the local numbers in your country.

Rebtel Local Numbers by Countries

2008-05-18T22:06:00.001+05:30

Indian Railways PNR Status

2008-05-04T19:26:00.003+05:30

If you want to check the status of the ticket that you booked with Indian Railways, you can do so by clicking here or by clicking on the title of this article.

Other services offered are -
Find Seat Availability
Fare Enquiry
Search Station Codes
Schedule of the trains
Trains between the stations
Trains between some important stations
Tatkal Trains

ISRO launches 10 satellites in 1000 seconds

2008-04-29T17:55:00.004+05:30

The Indian Space Reseach Organization (better known as ISRO), on Monday, April 28, 2008, successfully delivered 10 satellites into Orbit from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India using the PSLV9 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). This was the FIRST ISRO Launch vehicle to do so.

This launch had a payload of 820 kgs (approx. 1845 pounds) which is by far the BIGGEST satellite mission in the world. The closet to this record is the attempt by Russia last year with a mere 295 kgs (664 pounds) payload. The rocket weighed about 230 tonnes and stood 44 m tall. It is priced at USD 17.4 million. India became the second country in the world to achieve the difficult feat after Russia, which had put into orbit 13 satellites in April 2007.

The PSLV took off at 9:23 AM IST on Monday. 14 mins later, the 44m tall rocket first offloaded India's mapping satellite, CARTOSAT 2-A, then the experimental remote sensing satellite called as "Indian Mini Satellite." After that, within 20 seconds of each other, the rocket launched 8 nano satellites (with a combined payload of 50 kgs - 113 pounds). The first one to be dropped in the orbit was CUTE from Japan.

G Madhavan Nair, the head of ISRO said, "It's a memorable moment for ISRO. The rocket stuck to it's path without any deviation and delivered all the 10 satellites on schedule and into their intended orbit."

IPL T20 - Rajasthan Royals Team

2008-04-27T18:23:00.001+05:30

IPL T20 - Mumbai Indians Team

2008-04-27T16:27:00.002+05:30

Female Software Programing... Interesting read

2008-04-27T15:07:00.003+05:30

Female Software Programing!

struct female_professional s
{
double styles;
short skirts;
long time_to_understand_ problems;
float mind;
void knowledge;
char non_co-operative;
}

struct married_females
{
double weight;
short tempered;
long gossip;
float hopes;
void word;
char unstable;
}

struct engaged_females
{
double time_on_phone;
short attention_on_ work;
long boast;
float on_cloud_nine;
void understanding;
char edgy;
}

struct newly_married_ females
{
double dinner_invitation;
short time_at_work;
long lunch_break;
void bank_balance;
char hen_pecked;
}

struct husband_wife_ professionals
{
double income;
short tempered;
long time_no_see_ each_other;
void love_life;
char money_making;
}

struct beautiful_city_ girl
{
double boyfriends;
short affairs;
long stories;
void greymatter;
char flirt;
}

struct old_lady
{
double chin;
short memory;
long sighs ;
void attention_from_ men;
char chatterbox;
}

IPL T20 - Kolkata Knight Riders Team

2008-04-23T16:19:00.001+05:30

IPL T20 - Kings XI Punjab Team

2008-04-23T16:17:00.001+05:30

New Bike for Rs 1000

2008-04-22T12:18:00.001+05:30

Just like the Tatas introduced Nano in the entry cars segment, one of the Indian Two Wheeler Makers MAY come up with the CHEAPEST bike as shown below...

IPL T20 - Delhi Daredevils Team

2008-04-19T16:16:00.000+05:30

IPL T20 - Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Team

2008-04-19T16:15:00.001+05:30

IPL T20 - Chennai Super Kings Team

2008-04-15T16:11:00.000+05:30

IPL T20 - Bangalore Royal Challengers Team

2008-04-15T16:09:00.001+05:30

IPL T20 Match Schedule

2008-04-14T15:14:00.001+05:30

Day / Dt	Time	DN	Team	Team	Ground
Apr-08
Fri 18	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	BRC	KKR	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Sat 19	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	KXP	CSK	Mohali
Sat 19	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	DD	RR	Kotla, Delhi
Sun 20	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	MI	BRC	Wankhede, Mumbai
Sun 20	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KKR	DC	Eden, Kolkata
Mon 21	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	RR	KXI	Mansingh, Jaipur
Tue 22	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	DC	DD	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
Wed 23	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	CSK	MI	Chepauk, Chennai
Thu 24	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	DC	RR	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
Fri 25	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	KXP	MI	Mohali
Sat 26	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	BRC	RR	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Sat 26	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	CSK	KKR	Chepauk, Chennai
Sun 27	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	MI	DC	DY Patil Academy, Mumbai
Sun 27	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KXP	DD	Mohali
Mon 28	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	BRC	CSK	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Tue 29	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	KKR	MI	Eden, Kolkata
Wed 30	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	DD	BRC	Kotla, Delhi
May-08
Thu 1	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DC	KXP	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
Thu 1	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	RR	KKR	Mansingh, Jaipur
Fri 2	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	CSK	DD	Chepauk, Chennai
Sat 3	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DC	BRC	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
Sat 3	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KXP	KKR	Mohali
Sun 4	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	MI	DD	DY Patil Academy, Mumbai
Sun 4	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	RR	CSK	Mansingh, Jaipur
Mon 5	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	BRC	KXP	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Tue 6	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	CSK	DC	Chepauk, Chennai
Wed 7	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	MI	RR	DY Patil Academy, Mumbai
Thu 8	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DD	CSK	Kotla, Delhi
Thu 8	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KKR	BRC	Eden, Kolkata
Fri 9	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	RR	DC	Mansingh, Jaipur
Sat 10	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	BRC	MI	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Sat 10	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	CSK	KXP	Chepauk, Chennai
Sun 11	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DC	KKR	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
Sun 11	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	RR	DD	Mansingh, Jaipur
Mon 12	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	KXP	BRC	Mohali
Tue 13	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	KKR	DD	Eden, Kolkata
Wed 14	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	MI	CSK	DY Patil Academy, Mumbai
Wed 14	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KXP	RR	Mohali
Thu 15	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	DD	DC	Kotla, Delhi
Fri 16	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	MI	KKR	DY Patil Academy, Mumbai
Sat 17	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DD	KXP	Kotla, Delhi
Sat 17	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	RR	BRC	Mansingh, Jaipur
Sun 18	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DC	MI	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
Sun 18	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KKR	CSK	Eden, Kolkata
Mon 19	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	BRC	DD	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Tue 20	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	KKR	RR	Eden, Kolkata
Wed 21	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	MI	KXP	DY Patil Academy, Mumbai
Wed 21	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	CSK	BRC	Chepauk, Chennai
Thu 22	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	DD	KKR	Kotla, Delhi
Fri 23	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	KXP	DC	Mohali
Sat 24	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	DD	MI	Kotla, Delhi
Sat 24	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	CSK	RR	Chepauk, Chennai
Sun 25	15:00 local, 09:30 GMT	D	BRC	DC	Chinnaswamy, Bangalore
Sun 25	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	KKR	KXP	Eden, Kolkata
Mon 26	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	RR	MI	Mansingh, Jaipur
Tue 27	19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	DN	DC	CSK	RG Stadium, Hyderabad
1st Semi-Final
Fri 30	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	TBC	TBC	Wankhede, Mumbai
2nd Semi-Final
Sat 31	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	TBC	TBC	Wankhede, Mumbai
Jun-08	Final Match
Sun 1	20:00 local, 14:30 GMT	DN	TBC	TBC	Wankhede, Mumbai

What do the abbreviations mean?
BRC - Bangalore Royal Challengers
KXP - Kings XI Punjab
CSK - Chennai Super Kings
KKR - Kolkata Knight Riders
DC - Deccan Chargers
MI - Mumbai Indians
DD - Delhi Daredevils
RR - Rajasthan Royals

D - Day Match
DN - Day & Night Match

Some funny Easter Eggs / Tips - Part 3

2008-04-13T14:22:00.004+05:30

What you see is not what you get in these games.

"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas": Trash Maps: Travel to Angel Pine in the Badlands to crack open this egg. Across the street from the Clucken Bell stands three trash cans, two of which have their lids off. Knock either one of those two cans over and peek inside with a weapon that zooms, like a sniper rifle. Several maps of Vice City will appear before your eyes.

"Guitar Hero 3": Judy Nails — Judy Is a Punk: Judy Nails is a character in this game. Her attire shows that she’s a punk, but did you know that This is a reference to the popular song by The Ramones called "Judy Is a Punk"?

"Halo 3": Da Vinci Structure: You’ll find this egg on the Covenant level. Float to the ledge near the invisible barrier, then walk up it. Jump off the edge of the cliff, and the sky will turn orange. You will then be at the part where you have to fight the two scarabs, except that there won’t be any. You should be just outside of the map. Continue on until a mysterious structure appears. Look at the back of it, and you’lI see that it’s covered in blue letters on a grid-like, multicolored background.

"Frontlines: Fuel of War": Tanks: In the level where you first get to drive the tanks, you hear a marine yell, "We can pick up chicks in it." In "Red Vss Blue," a machinima based on Halo, Tucker comments about picking up chicks in a tank.

"Fatal Frame 3": The Tormented "Flowers for Algernon" Reference: When the dream starts during the first night playing as Miku, the Tattoo Priestess appears behind you and says: "I don't want to see, anymore." This is a reference to a poem from the book, "Flowers for Algernon," which is about a mentally challenged janitor who volunteers to take part in an experimental intelligence-enhancing treatment.

"Quake 4": Quake 2 Starting Location: In the first mission, the first rooms you enter show a human launch pod that looks like the one in the beginning of Quake 2.

"World of Warcraft": List of Pop-Culture References: There are tons of video-game and pop-culture references in World of Warcraft. They range from Donkey Kong to "Austin Powers: to ThunderCats. In the Eastern Plaguelands, for instance, an NPC by the name of Tirion Fordring gets out his hammer and says, "Say hello to my little friend,” a quote from 1983 film "Scarface."

"Powerslide": Picture of Two Powerslide Creators: You’ll get a glimpse of the game’s creators by selecting Mineshafted track, Skeeto car and Crayz. Play the race until you get to the radioactive toxic-waste dump. Take a turn and go to in, making your way around the boxes that display radiation signals until you get to a crack in the wall. Drive through the crack, and you will see two almost fully green men with their mouths open.

"Sim City 4": Tax Twenty Trick: A little dirty government work will help you out in this egg. Load any incorporated city with a reasonable population, raise all the taxes to 20, and leave them at that for a game year or two. Then, drop all taxes to zero. As a result, your city should thrive for a while.

"Ratchet and Clank": Hidden Feature: On Blackwater City, go to the alien girl that lets you go to the Hoverboard race. Keep doing backflips and front flips, and a part of her anatomy will grow bigger.

"Chuzzle Deluxe": Sneezing Chuzzle: Keep clicking on a Chuzzle of your choice to make it laugh. If you keep clicking, it will sneeze, and if you click long enough, it will sneeze so hard that all its fur falls off and grows back. Do the same thing to a big Chuzzle, and instead of sneezing, it'll belch.

"3D Pinball for Windows": Control the Pinball with Your Mouse: When game starts, type in "hidden test" without the quotes. Letters show various things: “H” shows the high-score table, with an entry of 1 billion for you to put your name next to; “M” shows the amount of system memory; ”R” increases your rank in the game; and “Y” shows the game frame rate in the title. You can also click and drag the ball around, and if you manage to keep the ball in the hyperspace bonus, you can score major points.

"Pokémon Emerald Version": Pokémon Cloning Glitch: Go talk to the LINK MULTI BATTLE ROOM lady and select two Pokémon. The woman will now say "Before entering BATTLE ROOM, your progress must be saved. Is that OK?". Say yes. Now you will notice a small time gap. Your Pokémon has been cloned successfully!
"Morrowind": M'Aiq the Liar: M'Aiq the Liar may seem evasive, but try talking to him once more after your initial introduction, and he’ll reveal secrets such as how to become a lich, where to find dragons and where to find nude characters or liches — unless, of course, he’s lying.

"Mechwarrior 2": Enzo: Choose Trails of Grievance in the opening screen and go to the Star Formation Edit screen. Change your name to Enzo, then go back and choose the "mech" that you want to use. In addition to the normal choices, you will also be able to use the Elemental, Tarantula and BattleMaster.

"Super DX Ball Deluxe": Super DX Ball Egg: Double-click the ball rolling around at the start of the game, and you will unlock the classic DX Ball boards. Then, go to Power-Ups and search where it says Mega Mall. Double- click the image, and you will unlock the Mega Ball Boards.

"Doom 3": Hunter Magazines: Every so often during Doom 3, you will see magazines. On some of these magazines is a picture of a character from Quake III Arena.

"Halo 2": Bloody Dog Head: To find this egg, go to the multiplayer map Zanzibar. Go to the beach and look at the signs on the edge of the water, which should say "No Swimming." Then, turn off your Xbox, take out Halo 2 and change your clock where everything is 7. Restart the game and go to Zanzibar. Look at the "No Swimming" sign, and there will be a missing picture with a bloody dog's head on it. It says "Are you finding Ling Ling's head?"

"The Sims 2": Boolprop, the Ultimate Cheat: Type Ctrl+Shift+C, then type "boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true" in the box that comes up and you’ll be able to do lots of interesting things.

"Max Payne 2": "Late Goodbye" References: Here the song "Late Goodbye" in Part 1, Chapter 4. Track down Ed the janitor for a certain pass code, and hang around to hear him sing along to the music in his headphones. In Part 1, Chapter 7, you come across bands of killers masquerading as cleaners in the high-rise apartment building. In the fourth apartment you enter, descend the stairs to the first level. As you descend the stairs, one of the cleaners starts to bang away on the piano to the song. In the same part of the game at Mona's Place in the Fun House, she is in the shower singing "Late Goodbye.”

"Cossacks: European Wars": Hidden Map Maker: At the main menu of Cossacks-European Wars, hold down the Ctrl button and press Intro. A small box that says "Loading" will appear in the middle of the screen, and then a map creator will load. But the map creator is in Russian, so you’ll need to go to an online translator to decode it.

"Icewind Dale II": Lowtax Reference: In the graveyard area, the gravestone on the far left reads: "Kyanka. Writer of Humorous Stories. d. 1302." This is an illusion to Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka, the man behind the humor site Something Awful.

"Aladdin": Hidden Mickey: On level two of this downloadable game, go past the snake to a clothesline. You'll se a pair of shorts and a blanket, with Mickey Mouse between them.

"Red Alert": Cryptic Messages Hidden by Psx Manual Designers: Open up the case, extract the manual and look at the dot-dash code at the bottom of most of the pages. This is Morse code, which may have to do with the alternate game play based around the ants missions in some versions.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles": Pumpkin Head: Change your computers date to Oct. 31 before entering the game. Then, enter a new single-player game in Story mode and choose a character to play as (Leo, Ralph, Mike or Don). Start the game, and your character's head will now be a giant jack-o'-lantern. This also works when setting the date to Dec. 25, except the head wears a Santa hat.

"Tomb Raider": Hidden Sound Bites: Use a PlayStation CD player to access songs from the game. Go to tracks 99 through 130, and there will be some seriously silly sound bytes from the game’s creators.

"Ducks": Hidden Photo: Type "ASKYAFFLE" on the main menu to turn on the level-skip key. In level 29, blow up the underside of the overhanging earth on the right of the level. Walk the green ducky under to the right, and he should go through a door that was previously hidden in the earth, revealing a quote and a photo of some people from the credits.

"Marathon": Credits: The last level includes a place with three teleporters. Stand, but step into, one of them and push the Action key. The back side of the teleporter will open, leading you to the "secret Bungie terminal."

"Prince of Persia": Fun Stuff for Prince of Persia: If you type "prince megahit" at the start of the game, you can change features like filtering out nonanimated objects and increasing or decreasing your time.

"Snood": Happy New Year!: Set the clock on your computer to Jan. 2, 2002. This will "register" the game, and you can use the aimer, mulligans and, best of all, play unlimited games. When the clock strikes midnight, you’re back to the trial version.

"Dark Castle": Interesting Treat in Main Hall: Go to the Date And Time function under the control panel, and set the date to any Friday the 13th. When you start up the game, you’ll see the added effect in the main hall.

Rajanikanth Factsheet V1.2

2008-04-12T16:08:00.000+05:30

1. He makes onions cry
2. Rajanikanth can delete the Recycle Bin.
3. Ghosts are actually caused by Rajanikanth killing people faster than Death can process them.
4. Rajanikanth can build a snowman..... out of rain.
5. Rajanikanth can strangle you with a cordless phone.
6. Rajanikanth can drown a fish.
7. When Rajanikanth enters a room, he doesn't turn the lights on............ he turns the dark off.
8. When Rajanikanth looks in a mirror the mirror shatters, because not even glass is stupid enough to get in between Rajanikanth and Rajanikanth.
9. Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards. Rajanikanth can throw Brett Favre even further.
10. The last digit of pi is Rajanikanth. He is the end of all things.
11. Rajanikanth does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die.
12. Bullets dodge Rajanikanth.
13. A Handicap parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Rajanikanth and that you will be handicapped if you park there.
14. Rajanikanth' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Rajanikanth.
15. If you spell Rajanikanth wrong on Google it doesn't say, "Did you mean Rajanikanth?" It simply replies, "Run while you still have the chance."
16. Rajanikanth can do a wheelie on a unicycle.
17. Once a cobra bit Rajanikanth' leg. After five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.
18. When Rajanikanth gives you the finger, he's telling you how many seconds you have left to live.
19. Rajanikanth can kill two stones with one bird.
20. Rajanikanth was once on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and was the first to spin. The next 29 minutes of the show consisted of everyone standing around awkwardly waiting for the wheel to stop.
21. Leading hand sanitizers claim they can kill 99.9 percent of germs. Rajanikanth can kill 100 percent of whatever he wants.
22. There is no such thing as global warming. Rajanikanth was cold, so he turned the sun up.
23. Rajanikanth can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.
24. Rajanikanth has a deep and abiding respect for humaN life unless it gets in his way.
25. It takes Rajanikanth 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.
26. Rajanikanth once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, "Bang!"
27. In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Rajanikanth could use to kill you, including the room itself.
28. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every dead man, there is Rajanikanth.
29. Rajanikanth destroyed the periodic table, because Rajanikanth only recognizes the element of surprise.
30. Rajanikanth got his drivers license at the age of 16 Seconds.
31. With the rising cost of gasoline, Rajanikanth is beginning to worry about his drinking habit.
32. The square root of Rajanikanth is pain. Do not try to square Rajanikanth, the result is death.
33. When you say "no one's perfect", Rajanikanth takes this as a personal insult.

Easter Eggs in Technology

2008-04-09T10:38:00.000+05:30

----------------------------------------------------

Published on April 09 2008, HT Horizons Page 10

----------------------------------------------------

TECHTATTLE - Easter eggs All about hidden bits of code that provide unexpected, pleasant and entertaining little surprises

By Ashish Bhatia
For those of you who have never relished an Easter egg before, let's start with an oldie. In Windows XP Go to Start and click on Run. In the box, type TELNET and hit Enter. A new window will open. Here press Enter once. Then type in "o" (without the quotes) and press Enter. Next type "towel.blinkenlights.nl". Remember, no inverted commas or spaces. Now hit Enter and see what you get: The MS-DOS version of Star Wars!

Before I tell you about what all this is about, try another ancient trick. Fire up Microsoft Word. Open a new document. Type "=rand(200,99)" (minus quotes). Hit Enter, and wait with bated breath for a second or two. (You can try typing any variation from (1,1) to (200,99) after "=rand" to see diverse results; the first number being the repetition and the second the number of times in a row.) This works with even the new Microsoft Word.

The Easter eggs you have just tasted are actually hidden bits of code intended to provide unexpected, pleasant and entertaining little surprises. You will find them concealed in operating systems, software apps, browsers, websites, games, and even movie DVDs. Officially they don't exist as they are undocumented applets or events that are implanted by programmers. An Easter egg can be anything from a message, a scroll of names, a sound, an image, unusual program behaviour in a game. They pop up in response to a set of secret, non-intuitive commands, mouse clicks, keystrokes or other analogous stimuli.

Programmers embed Easter eggs into programmes usually as a signature to get credit, or as a tribute to someone, or as a joke, or for plain kicks. They are meant to provide a delightful little burp of thrill when you discover them. Here's another stale one to egg you on: Go to www.google.com, Type "elgoog". Then click on the first link and show the world your white and pearlies!

Google Giggles:

While we are on Google, you might as well take a look at Google's TiSP project (www.google.com/tisp/index.html). This is Google Toilet Internet Service Provider is a self-installed, in-home wireless access by connecting "your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines." You are meant to flush one end of the fiber-optic cable (provided in the TiSP kit) down the toilet and wait till the line is connected to the Internet via a Plumbing Hardware Dispatch er (PHD). You believe that!
Now try the Google's official Easter egg game at www.google.com/Easter/feature_easter.html. Forget finding eggs, you must try and catch some with your mouse here-all to spell out "Google".
If you have Google Picasa, load it up and press Ctrl+Shift+Y. Again and again and again! And very soon your desktop will look like a virtual zoo, running amok with teddy bears! Since we are onto funny stuff, maybe you should also try Google's other interfaces as well:

Klingon (www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon/)

Elmer Fudd (www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer/)

Pig Latin (www.google.com/intl/xx-piglatin/).
Want to know what Klingon, Elmer Fudd and Pig Latin are all about???
Browser Jollies:

Load Firefox-whichever version. Now in the address bar, key in "about:mozilla". Obviously, without the quotes. What you will generate is page with a pseudo Biblical sounding quote from the mythical Book of Mozilla. Interesting, eh?

And if you want to see more oddities in Firefox, just type "about kitchensink" in the browser's address bar. What you will get is a very animated ASCII art work of a kitchen sink. Here, along with the quote marks, you will need to omit the colon too. Before I forget, this trick only works with Firefox 2 or higher.

Firefoxless? Stop frowning, even if you still don't use what is (arguably, of course) the world's best web browser. And insist browsing only with what the doctor (Bill Gates) ordered with your Windows, i.e. Internet Explorer. If you are up to speed with IE7 (no, not ahead pack with the IE8 beta), try typing:
javascript:window.name="TheWCEE";location.href="res://shdoclc.dll/wcee.htm"
into Internet Explorer's address bar-and with those quote marks as is this time. What do you get? A hidden page of developer credits zipping on and off the screen. Nothing great, but an intriguing nonetheless...

A recipe often sounds delicious until you try it - and then the air is only full of feathers. Before you head for your PC, keep in mind that what worked for me may not work for you. Yet, don't assume it's a rotten egg and this is a lousy article. It's only because the trick was meant for a different software version. And you just managed to scramble the egg...

The author is a part-time publishing consultant and a full-time devotee of all things tech. He can be contacted at ashishone@gmail.com

Pet Ka Paap

2008-04-07T16:50:00.000+05:30

Check this link out. You will be in splits...
http://www.petkapaap.com/

Don't copy if you can't paste! - Funny!!!

2008-04-04T16:19:00.000+05:30

A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. Said he: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn't my wife!" The audience was in silence and shock. The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!" Laughter and applause........
A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a drink.
He said loudly, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!"
His wife went mad with shock and rage. Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the manager finally blurted out "....... and I can't remember who she was !"
Moral of the story: Don't copy if you can't paste!

Why Beer Makes you smarter

2008-03-31T16:25:00.000+05:30

Cliff Calvin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm. Here's how it went:

"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells.

Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few BEERS...

Cheers to some more beer.... keep the pitchers flowing guys....!!! :)

India Income Tax Refund Status

2008-03-27T12:44:00.000+05:30

Good news for all the tax payers in India.

If you have submitted your Income Tax Returns and you are expecting a refund from the Income Tax Department, please check this link for verifying if your refund has been processed. All you need enter your Permanent Account Number and Assessment Year for which status of refund is to be tracked.

If your Tax Circle is computerized, you will see your records here else you will need to contact your Chartered Accountant (who helped you in filing your return) or the Assessing Officer (who verified your Income Tax Return).

In my past experience, I have seen that if the Tax Circle is offline (not yet connected to the Online System of NSDL), you will get a check for the refund amount.

Ten ways to stop those credit card sales, mobile companies, insurance calls from irritating you

2008-03-25T16:17:00.000+05:30

1. After the telemarketer finishes speaking, ask him/her to marry you.
2. Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment, and ask him/her, if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back.
3. Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.
4. Tell them it is dinnertime, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.
5. Tell them that all business goes through your agent, and hand the phone to your five year old child.
6. Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up.... louder... louder... louder!
7. If they start out with, "How are you today?", say "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems............. "
8. Tell them to speak very slowly because you want to write every word down.
9. Cry out in surprise, "Helen, is that you? I've been hoping you'd call! How is the family?" When they insist they are not Helen, tell them to stop joking. This works especially well if the telemarketer is really MALE.
10. Tell the ICICI call centre guy to call on your office number - and give him the HSBC call centre number.

The Breaking News - The great Indian Media

2008-03-16T17:49:00.000+05:30

See the following BREAKING NEWS one of the INDIAN MEDIA CHANNELS aired a couple weeks ago... Really serious news... The whole nation should do something...

In the World of Romance

2008-03-11T16:53:00.000+05:30

In the world of romance, one single rule applies to men:

Make the woman happy. Do something she likes, and you get points.

Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted. You don't get any points for doing something she expects. Sorry, that's the way the game is played. Here is a guide to the point system:

SIMPLE DUTIES

You make the bed (+1)

You make the bed, but forget the decorative pillow (0)

You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets (-1)

You go out to buy her what she wants (+5) In the rain (+8) But return with Beer (-5)

You check out a suspicious noise at night (0)

You check out a suspicious noise, and it is nothing (0)

You check out a suspicious noise and it is something (+5)

You pummel it with iron rod (+10) It's her pet (-10)

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS

You stay by her side the entire party (0)

You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a college buddy (-2) Named Rita (-4)

Rita is a dancer (-6) Rita is single and is really beautiful (-80)

HER BIRTHDAY

You forget her birthday (-50000)

You take her out to dinner (0)

You take her out to dinner and it's not a sports bar (+1)

Okay, it's a sports bar (-2)

And it's all-you-can-eat night (-3)

It's a sports bar, it's all-you-can-eat night, and your face is painted the colours of your favourite team (-10)

A NIGHT OUT

You take her to a movie (+2)

You take her to a movie she likes (+4)

You take her to a movie you hate (+6)

You take her to a movie you like (-2)

It's called 'DeathCop' (-3)

You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans(-15)

ENJOY THE 'BIG' QUESTION

She asks, "Do I look fat?" (-5) [Yes, you LOSE points no matter WHAT]

You hesitate in responding (-10)

You reply, "Where?" (-35)

Any other response (-20)

COMMUNICATION

When she wants to talk about a problem , you listen, displaying what looks like a concerned __expression (0) You listen, for over 30 minutes (+50)

You listen for more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV (+500)

She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep (-10000)

Now what chance do you have???

MS Word Tricks and Easter Eggs

2008-03-04T14:29:00.001+05:30

1. This is an example of liberals being biased again.
Use the Thesaurus to look up the words "Liberal" and "Conservative."
Liberal comes up with:
Open-minded
Broadminded
Moderate
Noninterventionist
Freethinking
Tolerant
Laissez-faire
Conservative comes up with:
Traditional
Conventional
Conformist
Unadventurous
Old-fashioned
Traditionalist
Old school
Yet again, liberals are made to look good, while conservatives (even if they're moderate conservatives) are made to look bad!

2. Pinball in Word 97:

1. Open a new document
2. Type "Blue"
3. Select word
4. Go to Format -> Font
5. Choose Font Style Bold, Color Blue
6. Type " " (space) after word "Blue"
7. Go to Help -> About
8. Ctrl-Shift-Left click the Word icon/banner
9. Use Z for left flipper, M for right flipper, and ESC to exit
10. Discover what Microsoft means by "Productivity Application"

3. Word 97/Excel 97 - VBA Developers Credits

1. Start Word 97 or Excel 97.
2. Press Alt + F11 to start Visual Basic.
3. Right click on the toolbar and select Customize.
4. Click on the Help menu and choose About Microsoft Visual Basic.
5. Click on the Modify button and change the name of the selection to "Show VB Credits" (no quotes).
6. Close the Customize box and click Help -> Show VB Credits.
7. The egg is activated now.

4. Word's warning

Step one: Open Microsoft Word
Step two: Go to "Choose Assistant"
Step three: Have the assistant say the tip of the day at start-up
Step four: Restart Word
Step five: Repeat until the assistant says "You can hurt yourself if you run with sissors"

5. Word 97 Thesaurus Tricks: Fun, but NOT REAL EGGS

There are a bunch of fun things you can do with the Thesaurus in Word 97, but I want to make it clear that these are NOT EGGS because they follow the expected behavior of the program. I will demonstrate:
1. In a document, type "I'd like to see you naked".
2. Highlight the phrase and select Tools->Thesaurus (or type shift-F7)
3. It will suggest the phrase "I'll drink to that" as a synonym.
4. You'll get the same answer for things like "I'd like to see Bill Clinton resign", "I'd like to see Bill Gates dead", or any phrase starting with "I'd like to..."
That's because this is EXPECTED BEHAVIOR.. if the thesaurus doesn't know an actual synonym, it shows you the closest alphabetical phrase it knows about. It might be weird, it might be funny, but it's not something the programmers hid inside the program.
Another common phrase to do this with is "unable to follow directions".
Enjoy!

I will come back with some more later...

Some funny Easter Eggs / Tips - Part 1

2008-02-29T12:13:00.001+05:30

Software and Hardware:
If you think that these applications, hardware devices and hardware add-ons serve one function, think again.
Photoshop CS2: Merlin Li ... : Hold down both the Alt key and the left mouse button, then move your mouse over Palate Options in the Layers window. Let go of the mouse, and Merlin appears.
Gnome: Wanda a Fish: Go to the Run dialog in Gnome and type "free the fish.” Click the Run button and a fish called Wanda should pop up and wander around the desktop.
Skype: A Few Hidden Emoticons in Skype: Enter a chat session and type words like “drunk” and “ninja” with the brackets to view amusing emoticons.
uTorrent: Tetris in uTorrent: Select About in the Help menu and press "T" on the keyboard.
Microsoft Paint: Hidden Drawing Tool Options: Use the Ctrl key to stamp, scuff and use brush pressure, as well as to draw straight or diagonal lines with the pencil.
Bloodshed Dev-C++: Fish: Click About Dev-C++ in the Help menu, then click and drag the Really Flash Dev-C++ logo onto the authors button. A fish should appear, and if you click it, it will change direction.
OpenOffice.org: Star Wars Game: Create a new spreadsheet in the OpenOffice.org Calc. Type "=game()" intoa cell and validate it by pressing Enter. The cell will display, "Say what?" to which your typing finger will reply “=GAME("StarWars")." A new window will open with a little game called Star Wars.
Spybot — Search and Destroy: Game Hidden: Click the little icon that appears in every window you open by selecting an option on the left-hand panel. You will get access to a game where you have to fill in as may squares as possible.
Cool Edit Pro: Game in Cool Edit Pro 2.1: Go to Help, then click About CoolEdit Pro. Click over the two silver balls to have some fun.
Winamp: Spinning Fish: Bring up the Preferences box and go to Plug-ins > Input. Click the Nullsoft Vorbis Decoder, then click About. Click the fish to make it spin.
AutoCAD: AutoCAD 2005 Development Team: In AutoCAD 2005, open the Layer Properties Manager dialog box. Hold down Shift+Ctrl and select the Invert Filter button to see the egg.
Firefox: Firefox's Revenge for IE5's Joke: Type "about:Mozilla" in the URL bar to read a reply to the Internet Explorer 5 team's joke about Mozilla crashing computers.
KPT Vector Effects Plug-in: KPT Arachnoid: Draw a shape and choose KPT Vector effects/3D Transform from the Filters menu. Once the menu opens, hold down Ctrl+Option+Command, then click the blue-and-red logo in the upper-left corner of the interface to play Arachnoid-style game.
SureDocs: Aladillo: Go to Help > About and press Ctrl+Shift. Double-click the wordl "mode" in "a la mode" under the word “SureDocs” to crack this egg.
Flash (Macromedia version): Flash MX Pro 2004: Go to Help > About Flash Professional. Click the small “™” near the number 2004 and the About screen will offer six different games.
FlashFXP: Nibbles: Open FlashFXP, select Help, then choose About. Double-click the FlashFXP logo, and a version of the game Snake — called Nibbles — will slither to you.
ICQ: ICQ Devils: Click the Main button and select Preferences and Security. Go to Status Mode, hit the Tab key and put the mouse cursor in the middle of the empty space. Press Ctrl+Shift while clicking the left and right mouse buttons together, hitting the left button first. You should see the ICQ Devils, the creators of the ICQ products.
Image Ready 7.0: Ducks: Click Help > About. You should see a picture of a globe in water. Hold down the Ctrl key, and the mouse cursor will turn into a stamp tool-icon. While still holding Ctrl, click somewhere on the image of the globe and a small yellow duck will appear. Do this 10 times and hold down Ctrl+Alt to bring up a miniscope to shoot the ducks.
SMS (Microsoft version): Picture of All Team Members: Run “admin console” (MMC) with the “/SMS:EE=238” switch, then right-click the root node and click Credits. Pictures of all team members and their names will appear.
iPod: Breakout Game: Select About from the main menu, then hold the center button for a couple of seconds. A miniature Breakout game, created by the founders of Apple Inc. when they worked for Atari, appears on the screen.
HP 100LX: Hidden Limerick: Turn Palmtop off and press and hold the key. Turn it back on and release the key. Scroll down to Display and press 14 times to see a limerick.
GameCube: Different Jingle: Plug in four controllers, hold down all four “Z” buttons and turn on the GameCube. A different jingle will play when the logo appears.
IRIX: Hidden Recipes in Release Notes: Open a shell and type “relnotes dmedia_eoe 29.” You’ll recieve recipes for Kung Pao chicken and tiramisu.
Commodore PET: Microsoft Joke: In PET Microsoft Basic, type the command “WAIT 6502.” The screen will fill with the text "MICROSOFT."
Linux: Printer on Fire!: Print from the network and force a printer jam. Issue a print command and watch the output of the console read, “lp0 printer on fire!”
Palm OS: Easter Egg and Taxi: Go to General > Preferences and draw a small circle, counterclockwise, on the screen right above the calculator silk-screen button.
Atari Portfolio OS: Creators Names and Credits: Open the text editor, then open the Help area using the F2 button. Open the help file for the keyboard, then press ALT+[. You’ll see a few names and credits for the system.
Windows CE: The Perfect Hand in Solitaire: Press Ctrl+Shift, then tap Dea” at the top of the software keyboard. You'll get a perfect solitaire hand.
Mac OS X: The Lord of the Rings: In the Applications folder, open the Utilities folder. Open the terminal and paste type “grep LOTR /usr/share/calendar/calendar.history” to enjoy some laughs with The Lord of the Rings.
Debian GNU/Linux: Got Apt-Get?: Log in to a shell as root, type "apt-get moo" and press Enter. An ASCII-based drawing of a cow saying, "Have you mooed today?" will appear. If you type "apt-get," a help file with the various switches appears. At the very end, it says, "This APT has Super Cow Powers".
BeOS: Change Your Windows Decor: Hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift and clic the Be button on the desk bar. A previously hidden menu item called Window Décor will appear, giving you options for changing the look of windows.
Kyte Aura: Frappilino!: Go to the desktop and click the Kyte menu button. Continue to Computing Properties > Help > Credit and watch until Lead Designer: Frappilino07 pops up. Click that name, and you’ll see a 3D- rendered spinning cup with the words, "It’s a Frappilino NOT a Frappacino" inscribed on it.
NEXTSTEP: Jack-in-the-Box: Run Configure, call up the Info panel, and hit Command and Alt+click on the application icon to get your yolk.

Easter Eggs for Some Windows Applications

2008-02-26T14:13:00.000+05:30

Microsoft Word 6.0
1. Type "t3!" (no quotes)

2. Select that text and set it to bold

3. Choose "Auto Format" from the Format menu

4. Click OK, then Accept

5. Choose "About Microsoft Word" from the Help menu, and click on the logo in the box displayed.
Microsoft Word 6.0, 7.0 or 97
Type "zzzz" (four z's) in a document, and run the spell checker.

"You will be surprised at the suggestion."
funny pet.

MS Solitaire
1. In turn 3 cards over mode, you can turn over only one card at a time by holding down Ctrl+Alt+Shift
MS Minesweeper
1. Hold down the Shift key and type XYZZY

2. Release Shift and then press it again. Now whenever your cursor is over the top of a mine, the top left pixel on your screen shows as a black dot.
Logitech FotoTouch
1. Select 'About'

2. Hold down Shift and double click the picture.
Norton AntiVirus (for Win95)
1. Select 'About'

2. Press and hold the 'N', 'A' and 'V' keys all at once.

3. You should see a dialog box.
Pagemaker Version 4, 5 or 6
1. Press and hold Shift+Control

2. Select 'About Pagemaker' or 'About TableEdit' from the Help menu.
Quattro Pro for Windows
1. Type some text into a cell.

2. Select Data, Parse.

3. Click on the 'Create' button, then on the 'Edit' button.

4. While holding down shift, press question mark three times.
Paradox for Windows
1. Select About from the Help menu.

2. Press Shift+Alt.
Microsoft Excel 4.0
1. Open a blank document and Select Options, Toolbars.

2. Click on the Customize button. Select Custom in the Categories list box.

3. From the top row of icons, select the Solitaire icon and drag it onto the regular toolbar.

4. Click on OK without assigning a command to the button, then click on Close.

5. Maximize the worksheet with the up arrow in the top right hand corner of the window.

6. Press Ctrl-Shift and click on the Solitaire icon.

Microsoft Excel 5.0
1. Start with a blank book. Right mouse click on the toolbar and select Customize.

2. Select Custom from the categories list and drag the Solitaire icon onto the blank spreasheet.

3. Click on Cancel to close the Assign Macro dialog box without assigning a macro.

4. Click on Close to quit the Customize dialog box.

5. Press Ctrl-Alt-Shift and then click on the Solitaire icon.
Microsoft Excel 7.0
"In Excel 7.0 open a blank sheet and use your arrow keys to get to the 95'th row, highlight the entire row by clicking to the left of columnA and then hit TAB to col. B, then go to help about Excel and hold down Shift+Ctrl and click on tech supt.

This should give you a doom like window. Arrow keys move you around and d,c look up and down. If you turn away from the stairs and type EXCELKFA the wall will disappear and you can go into a room with pictures of the developers."
Microsoft Excel 97
In Excel 97, open a new blank worksheet. Press F5 (go to) and type in the range X97:L97, then click OK.

Now press Tab once (this should put you in cell M97) and press Ctrl+Shift while clicking once on the chart wizard button (the blue-yellow-red barchart icon).

After a few moments, you will be flying over an eerie fractal landscape.

Fly around awhile and soon you'll notice a mesa with a shallow depression and a small scrolling shrine to Excel 97 and those who made it happen.

Careful, the controls are very sensitive.

You can exit the screen by pressing Ctrl+Shitf+Esc (thanks to Phil for pointing this out).
CorelDRAW! 3.0
1. Hold down Ctrl+Shift, and select 'About' from the Help menu.

2. With Ctrl+Shift still down, double click on the balloon icon in the dialog box.

3. A balloon should appear. You can control the balloon by activating it's burner with the left mouse button. The right mouse button will cause it to sink.
CorelDRAW! 4.0
1. Hold down Ctrl+Shift, select HelpAbout and then double click on the balloon icon.

2. Again, you can activate the balloon's burner with the left mouse button, but now click the right mouse button, and Elvis should parachute down the dialog box!
CorelDRAW! 5.0
1. Hold down Ctrl+Shift, select HelpAbout and then double click on the balloon icon.

2. Like the previous two, only clicking the right mouse button sets of fireworks.
CorelDRAW! 6.0
1. Select 'About' from the help menu.

2. Double click either of the icons in the dialog box.

3. A blimp (instead of a balloon in earlier versions) will appear, with scrolling credits. Press the right mouse button to set off fireworks, and ESC to exit.
Norton Utilities for Win95
1. In any Norton Utilities for Windows 95 app, got to the about screen.

2. Simultaneously press 'N', 'U' and '9' for a picture of the development team.
Visual C++ 4.0
1. Choose 'About' from the 'Help' menu. 2. While holding the CTRL key down, double click on the center of the about dialog box
The result is a globe which you can navigate around in and view images of the developers on the face of the globe!
Borland C++ 4.51
From the menu bar choose "Help/About". Hold down Ctrl and double click on the Borland logo.
Adobe Photoshop 4.0
Hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift, then click on 'Help/About Photoshop'. The regular splashscreen should read: "Big Electric Cat" instead of the normal Photoshop splash screen. The image also changes to that of a big electric cat. Hit the Alt key once more to see the credits run movie style.
Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0
Find the file EXGL32.DLL on the Exchange CD or where Exchange is installed and rename it to EXGL32.AVI and view it as an AVI file. This file is in excess of 60 Megs.
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0
1. Add a Text Box to a Form

2. Change it's TEXT Property to "Thunder" (Without the quotes)

3. Lock the Text Box Control on the Form

4. Move mouse over the Tools in the Toolbox

5. Names of developers and testers will appear instead of the usual tooltips!
Corel Printshop
1. Open corel Print house

2. Select 'About' from the Help menu

3. Hold down Ctrl+Shift while double clicking on the Corel Print House icon.

4. You can now shoot fire works by pressing the right mouse button!

Building blocks of the Siebel Deployment

2008-02-21T12:26:00.000+05:30

The NEW ICC Rules - In a lighter mood...

2008-02-18T17:29:00.001+05:30

1. Ricky Ponting – (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.

2. While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.

3. While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.

4. UMPIRES should consider a huge bonus if an AUSTRALIAN player scores a century. Any wrong decisions can be ignored as they will be paid huge bonus and will receive the backing of the AUSTRALIAN team and board.

5. All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACIALISM only.

6. MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advices only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.

7. NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.

8. THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING - "THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET" more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET.

Some more thoughts...

2008-02-14T11:59:00.000+05:30

Some great thoughts...

2008-02-09T16:25:00.000+05:30

The 90%-10% Principle

2008-01-31T17:01:00.000+05:30

Discover the 90/10 Principle. It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations).

What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The train will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%.

How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.

Let's use an example. You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just what happened. What happens next will be determined by how you react. You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt.

Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute delay and throwing Rs 60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home, When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter. Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?

The answer is D.

You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day. this is what could have and should have happened. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "It's ok honey, you just need, to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.

Notice the difference? Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different. Why? Because of how you REACTED. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle.

If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out etc. How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? (A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off) Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive?

Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.

You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job. (...This is my personal experience, I didn't had a job and my family members was really irritating me, but instead of going wild, I thought about all my options in hand and believe me I had a good job in my hand in 12 hours, call it luck, call it my good fortune or anything u want, I still believe because I kept my cool and didn't panic, was the 2 most important things that day )

The local is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take out your frustration on the train driver or the announcer? He has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse. Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it.

Understand and apply the 90/10 principles.

It will change your life.

SMS Alert facility for NSDL demat account holders

2008-01-27T12:56:00.000+05:30

SMS Alert facility for NSDL demat account holders

Introduction
NSDL has launched SMS Alert facility for demat account holders whereby investors can receive alerts for debits (transfers) to their demat accounts and for credits in respect of corporate actions for IPO and offer for sale. Alerts are also sent in case the instructions given by investors for debiting their demat accounts fail due to insufficient balance. Under this facility, investors can receive alerts, a day after such debits (transfers)/credits take place or debit instruction failing as the case may be. These alerts are sent to those account holders who have provided their mobile numbers to their Depository Participants (DPs). Alerts for debits are sent, if the debits (transfers) are up to five ISINs in a day. In case debits (transfers) are for more than five ISINs, alerts are sent with a message that debits for more than five ISINs have taken place and that the investor can check the details with the DP or on IDeAS website, if the investor is an IDeAS subscriber.

Benefits
1. Investors will get to know about debits and credits for corporate actions for IPO and offer for sale to their demat accounts as well as about failed debit instructions due to insufficient balance without having to call-up their DPs.
2. Investors need not wait for receiving Transaction Statements from DPs to know about the debits and credits for corporate actions for IPO and offer for sale.
3. In case of any discrepancy, the investor can approach its DP for clarification sooner.

Charges
No charge is levied by NSDL on DPs for providing this facility to investors.

Registration
This facility is available to investors who request for such a facility and provide their mobile numbers to the DPs. In case mobile numbers already given have changed, investors need to inform their DPs about the new numbers by way of written requests. Investors who have not yet provided their mobile numbers to their DPs can also avail this facility by intimating their mobile numbers to their DPs and submit a written request for this facility. This facility is not available to investors who have registered mobile numbers originating outside India.

Thus, this facility will be available to the investors provided they have given their mobile numbers to their DPs and the DPs have captured the numbers in the computer system and have also enabled (ticked) the SMS flag in their system.

Contact
The investors may contact their respective DPs in case they do not receive SMS alert inspite of registering for this facility. Those investors who have provided their mobile numbers to their DPs but do not wish to avail this facility may also inform their DPs.

For further details / information investors may contact NSDL at:
Investor Relationship Cell
National Securities Depository Limited
4th Floor, A Wing,
Trade World, Kamala Mills Compound
Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Parel,
Mumbai – 400 013.
Tel.: (022) 2499 4200/4090 4200
Fax: (022) 2497 6351
Email: relations@nsdl.co.in

Terms and Conditions
1.1 Definition
In these Terms and Conditions, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Alerts” or “Facility” means the customized messages with respect to specific events/transactions relating to an Investor’s Account sent as Short Messaging Service (“SMS”) over mobile phone to the Investor;
“Investor” means the person who holds an Account;
“Account” means the demat account of the Investor with NSDL maintained through its Depository Participant;
“ISIN” means an International Securities Identification Number assigned to a security;
“CSP” means the cellular service provider through whom the Investor or NSDL receives the mobile services.

1.2 Availability
1.2.1 NSDL at its sole discretion may discontinue the Facility at any time by providing a prior intimation through its website or any other medium of communication. NSDL may at its discretion extend the Facility to investors who register mobile phones originating outside India.
1.2.2 The Alerts would be generated by NSDL and will be sent to the investors on the mobile number provided by the investor and the delivery of the Alert would be entirely based on the service availability of the service provider and connectivity with other cellular circles of the CSPs or in circles forming part of the roaming GSM network agreement between such CSPs. The Alerts are dependent on various factors including connectivity and, therefore, NSDL cannot assure final and timely delivery of the Alerts.
1.2.3 The investor will be responsible for the security and confidentiality of his/her Mobile Phone and mobile phone number to be used for this Facility.

1.3 Process
1.3.1 This Facility provides Alerts to investors over mobile phones for the debits (transfers) and for credits in respect of corporate actions for IPO and offer for sale that have taken place in their accounts. Alerts are also sent in case the instructions given by investors for debiting their demat accounts fail due to insufficient balance. Under this Facility, investors can receive Alerts, a day after such debits (transfers)/credits take place or debit instruction failing as the case may be. These Alerts will be sent to those investors who have requested for such a Facility and have provided their mobile numbers to their Depository Participants. Alerts will be sent for debits, if the debits (transfers) are up to five ISINs in a day. In case debits (transfers) are for more than five ISINs, Alerts will be sent with a message that debits for more than five ISINs have taken place and that the investor can check the details with the DP or on IDeAS website, if the investor is an IDeAS subscriber. Investors who have provided their mobile numbers to Depository Participants but do not wish to avail of this Facility may do so by informing their Depository Participants accordingly.

1.3.2 The investor is duty bound to acquaint himself/herself with the detailed process for using the Facility and interpreting the Alerts for which NSDL is not responsible for any error/omissions by the investor.

1.3.3 The investor acknowledges that the Alerts will be implemented in a phased manner and NSDL may at a later stage; as and when feasible, add more Alerts. NSDL may, at its discretion, from time to time change the features of any Alert. The investor will be solely responsible for keeping himself/herself updated of the available Alerts, which shall, on best-effort basis, be notified by NSDL through its website or any other medium of communication.

1.4 Receiving Alerts
1.4.1 The investor is solely responsible for intimating in writing to his/her Depository Participant any change in his/her mobile phone number and NSDL will not be liable for sending Alerts or other information over his/her mobile phone number recorded with NSDL.

1.4.2 The investor acknowledges that to receive Alerts, his/her mobile phone must be in an ‘on’ mode. If his/her mobile is kept ‘off’ for a specified period from the time of delivery of an Alert message by NSDL, that particular message may not be received by the investor.

1.4.3 The investor acknowledges that the Facility is dependent on the infrastructure, connectivity and services provided by the CSPs within India. The investor accepts that timeliness, accuracy and readability of Alerts sent by NSDL will depend on factors affecting the CSPs and other service providers. NSDL shall not be liable for non-delivery or delayed delivery of Alerts, error, loss or distortion in transmission of Alerts to the investor.

1.4.4 NSDL will endeavor to provide the Facility on a best effort basis and the investor shall not hold NSDL responsible/liable for non-availability of the Facility or non performance by any CSPs or other service providers or any loss or damage caused to the investor as a result of use of the Facility (including relying on the Alerts for his/her investment or business or any other purposes) for causes which are attributable to /and are beyond the control of NSDL. NSDL shall not be held liable in any manner to the investor in connection with the use of the Facility.

1.4.5 The investor accepts that each Alert may contain certain account information relating to the investor. The investor authorizes NSDL to send any other account related information, though not specifically requested, if NSDL deems that the same is relevant.

1.5 Withdrawal or Termination
1.5.1 NSDL may, in its discretion, withdraw temporarily or terminate the Facility, either wholly or in part, at any time. NSDL may suspend temporarily the Facility at any time during which any maintenance work or repair is required to be carried out or incase of any emergency or for security reasons, which require the temporary suspension of the Facility.

1.5.2 Not withstanding the terms laid down in clause 1.5.1 above, either the investor or NSDL may, for any reason whatsoever, terminate this Facility at any time. In case the investor wishes to terminate this Facility, he/she will have to intimate his/her Depository Participant accordingly.

1.6 Fees
1.6.1 At present, NSDL is levying no charge for this Facility on the Depository Participants. The investor shall be liable for payment of airtime or other charges, which may be levied by the CSPs in connection with the receiving of the Alerts, as per the terms and conditions between the CSPs and investors, and NSDL is in no way concerned with the same.

1.7 Disclaimer
1.7.1 This Facility is only an Alert mechanism for the investors and is not in lieu of the Transaction Statements required to be provided by the Depository Participant to its clients.

1.7.2 NSDL shall not be concerned with any dispute that may arise between the investor and his/her CSP and makes no representation or gives no warranty with respect to the quality of the service provided by the CSP or guarantee for timely delivery or accuracy of the contents of each Alert.

1.7.3 The investor shall verify the transactions and the balances in his/her account from his/her Depository Participant and not rely solely on Alerts for any purpose.

1.7.4 NSDL will not be liable for any delay or inability of NSDL to send the Alert or for loss of any information in the Alerts in transmission.

1.8 Liability
1.8.1 NSDL shall not be liable for any losses, claims and damages arising from negligence, fraud, collusion or violation of the terms herein on the part of the investor and/ or a third party.

The Obedient Wife

2008-01-25T16:52:00.000+05:30

There was a man who had worked all his life, had saved all of his money, and was a real miser when it came to his money.

Just before he died, he said to his wife...'When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me.'

And so he got his wife to promise him, with all of her heart, that when he died, she would put all of the money into the casket with him.

Well, he died. He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was sitting there - dressed in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When they finished the ceremon y, and just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said, 'Wait just a moment!'

She had a small metal box with her; she came over with the box and put it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket down and they rolled it away. So her friend said, 'Girl, I know you were not foolish enough to put all that money in there with your husband.'

The loyal wife replied, 'Listen, I'm a Christian; I cannot go back on my word. I promised him that I was going to put that money into the casket with him.'

You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him!?!?!?'

'I sure did,' said the wife. 'I got it all together, put it into my account, and wrote him a check.... If he can cash it, then he can spend it.'

Swwets at my desk

2008-01-17T16:36:00.000+05:30

Subha Utha, Nahaya... Mast Deo Lagaya...
Usko Yaad Kiya Aur Muskuraya...
Muskurahat Ka Karan Tha , Kya Sapna Liya Tha Raat Ko
Main Company Ka Ceo Aur My Dream Girl Was My Pmo.

Mann To Kiyan So Jaon, Swapn Ki Duniya Mein Laut Jaun...
Phir Socha Uski Jhalak Paani Hain Office Mein, Kahin Late Na Ho Jaun...
Goggles Lagaya Style Mein, Sutta Niptaya,
Bike Kiya Self Start, Accelerater Maara

Pahooncha Office...Card Swipe Kara..
Khola Pc ...Lotus Notes Top Par Mail Uska Paaya...
Mailbox Dekh Sanatta Chaya..
Uska Mail Ka Subject Humien Na Bhaya..

Ek Baar Phir Kiya Mail Ka Subject Check
Oh No ..Not Again..Same Words..."Sweets At My Desk"
Darte Darte Khola Mail...Andar Wedding Invitation Paaya...
Lo Bhaiya Lut Gayee Duniya...Mandraya Kala Saaya...

Dukhi Mann Se Socha ...Chalo Ek Baar Contents To Padd Le..
Naam Kya Hai Ladke Ka...Details Se Rubaru To Ho Le...
Phir Ek Baar Mann Chakkar Khaya...Uska Naam Kahin Naa Paaya..
Mail Ka Phir Se Audit Kiya...Dil Ko Ncr Report Acha Aaya...

Mail Ke Subject Se Achi Mail Ke Body Nikli..
Jiski Shaadi Thi ..Woh To Uski Sister Nikli...
Bhujti Hui Low Phir Phadphadai...
Ek Umeed Jaagi..Asha Ki Ek Kiran Nazar Aayee.

Josh Bhare Kadmon Se Rukh Kiya Uske Cubicle Ki Aur...
Ab Sirf Uskee Jhalak Nahin ..Yeh Dil Maange More..
Aaj Tak Cubicle Ki Diwaron Se Dekha Tha Usko..
Dekhte Hee Usne Bola ..Lo Dear, Sweets Lo..

Humne Suna "Dear" , Humne Kaha Ab No Fear.
Kiya Jhuki Aankhon Se Usko Stare, Uthaya Sweats Ka Apna Share..
"Dear" Shabd Kitna Acha Lagne Laga Tha....
Uske Aur Mere Beech Ka Loc Ab Mitne Laga Tha...

Baton Hi Baton Mein Usko Bataya Mail Padke Hua Confusion Tha
Reply Jo Bataya Usne, Phir Se Chida Kargil Tha..
Phir Se Low Bhuj Gayee Thi, Umeed Mit Gayee Thi ...
Uski Sagai Ki Mail To Ek Hafte Pahle Bounce Back Ho Chuki Thi...

Maa Kasam Ek Hi Gaana Yaad Aa Raha Tha Cham Se...
Kasam Ki Kasam , Yeh Pyaar Na Hoga Ab Humse...
O Haseeno Sun Lo Meri Iltaaja,
Please Mat Hona Humse Khafa,

Kuch Bhi Ho Jaaye Ab Na Hoga Adjust,
Ab Mat Daalna Mail With Subject "Sweets At My Desk"

Good Bye Mom.....

2008-01-16T16:44:00.000+05:30

I was walking through the supermarket to pick up a few things when I noticed an old lady following me around. Thinking nothing of it, I ignored her and continued on. Finally I went to the checkout line, but she got in front of me.

"Pardon me," she said, "I'm sorry if my staring at you has made you feel uncomfortable. It's just that you look like my son, who just died recently."

"I'm very sorry," I said to her, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes," she said, "As I'm leaving, can you say 'Good bye, Mom?' It would make me feel so much better."

"Sure," I said. An odd request, but no harm would come of it.

As the old woman was leaving, I called out, "Good Bye, Mom!"

As I stepped up to the checkout counter, I saw that my total was $1027.50.

"How can that be?" I asked, "I only purchased a few things!"

"Your mother said that you would pay for her," said the clerk.

Some funny Easter Eggs / Tips

2008-01-11T14:13:00.000+05:30

There’s more to these movies than meets the eye.

"Toy Story 2": Binford Tools: When Buzz and Woody get taken back to Sid’s house for certain death, the toolbox that holds all of Sid’s tools has the name Binford Tools stamped on it. This is a reference to Tim Allen, who does the voice of Buzz, and his TV show "Home Improvement," which was sponsored by Binford Tools.

"Shrek": That'll Do Donkey: A donkey is just as good as a pig in this reference to the movie "Babe." During the part when donkey goes through the bridge, Shrek walks up to donkey and says, “That’ll do Donkey, that’ll do.” The farmer at the end of "Babe" says the same thing.

"Final+Fantasy+VII: Advent Children: This egg can be found at the beginning when Tifa is cleaning the counter and the phone rings. Right when she walks up the stairs and the camera goes from right to left from behind the phone, hit pause or slow motion. You will see a FF7 CD case and some other pictures on the wall reflecting off the phone.

"Nacho Libre": Legend of Francois: Check out the deleted scenes. Click the Left button, and an eagle will appear on Nacho Libre's chest. This will open a special behind-the- scenes story.

"Fight Club": Hidden Message at Start: Look at the Attention warning followed by the signature FBI warning to read a special message from the main character of the movie.

"The Ring": Deadly Tape: If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the main menu screen, the cursor will disappear. Hit Select, and it will start showing the infamous videotape from beginning to end, uncut.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": "Ed Wood" Reference: When Wonka and the others are in the elevator touring rooms, they pass a room with a bunch of pink sheep. Wonka says "I don't want to talk about it." The statement is a reference to "Ed Wood," another Tim Burton film in which Johnny Depp starred as a cross-dresser with a penchant for pink angora — material made from sheep — sweaters.

"Eyes Wide Shut": Masked Ball Song — What's Behind?: During the opening of the masked ball, an odd, indecipherable song called "Masked Ball," by Jocelyn Pook, plays. Play the piece in reverse, and you’ll hear an Eastern European prayer song.

"Shaun of the Dead": "A Clockwork Orange Tribute: The choreographed pool-cue beating of the zombie in the Winchester is an homage to the assault on the homeless man in "A Clockwork Orange."

"The Little Mermaid": Nasty Cover: This well-known egg regards the insertion of male anatomy on the movie's cover.

"X-Men": David Hayter: David Hayter, who wrote the film's screenplay, appears toward the end as a police officer who gets killed by one of Magneto's goons.

"Three Amigos": Reference to Previous Incarnation: This egg is yet another reference to Steve Martin’s character in "The Man with Two Brains." Each amigo must say a chant to summon the invisible swordsman. At the end of Steve Martin's chant, he shouts, "Hfuhruhurr", the name of his character in the other movie "Blow": The "Real" Kristina Jung Is in the Movie: George Jung's real daughter, Kristina, is in the movie as a bank clerk.

"RoboCop": Ed Solomon: A series of hexadecimal numbers appear at the bottom of the screen when the film is first turned on. If you convert the numbers into ASCII, they spell “Ed Solomon," one of the film’s producers.

"Godzilla": Armin Tamzarian the Taxi Driver: In the scene where Matthew Broderick is being chased by Godzilla in a taxi, he throws a taxi-driver identification plate out of the cab to alert the big Army guy. The name of the taxi driver is Armin Tamzarian, which is Principal Skinner's real name in "The Simpsons."

"The Outsiders": S.E. Hinton Appearance: The precocious teenage author who penned the book that spawned the film actually appears in the movie as the nurse that tells Johnny that his mother is there to see him.

"Monty Python's Life of Brian": A Beatle!: As Brian is being pushed through the crowd of his new believers, he is introduced to George Harrison from the Beatles, who mutters a quick “hello.”

"Back to the Future": Clock Tower: When the camera sweeps past the clocks in the opening credits, one of them is a model of the Hill Valley clock tower and includes a Christopher Lloyd action figure hanging from the minute hand.

"The Silence of the Lambs": Cover Art: If you look closely at the picture of the death's-head moth on the cover of the movie box, the skull is actually made up of naked women that represent the killer's victims.

"Three Men and a Baby": A Ghost and Rifle: When Ted Danson’s character’s mother picks up the baby in the bedroom, a figure of a boy, and in the next frame, a rifle, can be seen in the window.

"Cadence": It's a Family Thing: The military policeman manning the reception desk to the psychiatric ward has the name "Estevez" on his uniform, a nod to Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen’s son and Charlie Sheen’s brother. (Both Sheens are in the film, while Estevez is not.)

"Adaptation": Adaptation Answering Machine: Highlight Play on the main menu, hit the Up button and a red telephone will appear. Click the red phone and a separate screen will pop up that reads "Adaptation Answering Machine,” followed by a phone number. Call the phone number and leave a message with your opinion of the movie.

"Freaky Friday": Hidden Jamie Lee Guitar Solo: On the DVD's main menu, go to Bonus Material, then to Freaky Music Videos. Highlight the first Option button and press left on your remote control. Two blue guitars will appear on either side of the picture of Jamie Lee Curtis’ head. Select to watch a short video of the actress playing guitar, which was cut from a scene in the movie.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy": Extra Animated Sequence: Visit the Outer Planets menu on the second DVD and turn on the Subtitles option. Then, go to the Inner Planets option and press left. The words “Don't Panic!" will appear on the screen. Press Enter to see an animated sequence that appeared on the screen of the Heart of Gold in Episode Three.

"Insomnia": Avalanche: This Al Pacino thriller makes it snow if you choose Production Diaries from the Special Features menu. Scroll down and highlight Features at the bottom of the screen, hit the left arrow button and choose Enter. You will then see footage of an actual avalanche that occurred during filming.

"Jerry Maguire": Hangover: Go to the section for video commentary and spell out “Maguire” using the cursor on the keyboard in the background. The keys will light up, and you’ll see a special feature of the three main actors preparing for audio commentary.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring": MTV Parody: Go to Select A Scene and scroll to the last scene. Press down once, and you should see a little ring next to New Scene. Select it, and you’ll have the Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar Lord of the Rings parody performed at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards.

"Mallrats": How Dare You!: Highlight the toy robot's eyes and press Play in the menu. Director Kevin Smith will appear and start yelling at you for trying to find an Easter egg on the disc.

"Ocean's Eleven": Sands Implosion: Go to Special Features and click the map of Las Vegas. There will be a list of different casinos. Select the Sands and watch the segment. Then click it again to watch a clip of its 1996 implosion.

"Predator": Don't Drink the Water! Go the photo gallery on the second disc and scroll to the 16th photo of Hawkins with his glasses on his head. Highlight the predator-targeting triangle on the right-hand side of the screen and click it to view a hidden documentary about the cast getting sick after drinking water in Mexico.

"Reservoir Dogs": Hidden Tarantino Interview: In Special Features, hit left so that the option is over the policeman's ear. Click the bloody ear that appears. A menu appears saying that you have found the Hidden Features, where you can view a Tarantino interview.

"10 Things I Hate About You": Detention Sign-In: Watch the detention sign-in board at the start of the Heath Ledger detention scene. The third name from the bottom of the board is Ross Fanger, whose name appears in the credits as unit production manager.

"Spiderman": Spiderman CGI Bloopers and Gag Reel: On the first disc, click Commentaries. Click the picture of actor James Franco on the left-hand side of the screen, and a new screen appears with bloopers. You’ll see real parts of the film but with video-game characters and other funny additions.

"The Karate Kid": Hidden Survivor Video: Insert the disc, go to Scene Selection, press up twice until the first scene is highlighted, press once to the right to light up scene two, then press up. A pair of chopsticks will light up to the right. Press Select.

"Thirteen": Thirteen Easter Eggs: Visit the Making Of menu item and hit right on your remote control to access a hidden menu item labeled 13. Click it to see a racy deleted scene from the movie.

"Unbreakable": Hidden "The Sixth Sense" Trailer: Watch the credits for Comic Books And Super Heroes on the second disc. Press Angle Change to watch the trailer for director M. Night Shyamalan’s "The Sixth Sense."

"Vanilla Sky": Outtakes and Screwups: Select the Photo Galleries tab on the Special Features menu and select Special Features. Press the right button to illuminate the mask on the right-hand side of screen. Then, press Enter to enjoy the outtakes.

WRECKED A340-600 at TULOUSE FRANCE 11-07

2008-01-10T17:32:00.000+05:30

This wreck is a brand new A340-600, never flown. Thank the French and their Arab friends for this bit of comedy.Nine employees of the airline in the aircraft, no employees from Airbus were present. They went out to the run-up area. Took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. No chocks, not that it would have mattered. Brakes will not hold it back anyway. Turns out the takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all FOUR engines at full power. The aircraft thought they were trying to takeoff but it had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc). Someone decided to pull the 'Ground Sense' circuit breaker. This fools the aircraft into thinking it is in the air.BIG mistake? As soon as they do that, the computers released all the brakes. (Safety feature so that folks don't land with the brakes on.) No time to stop.....The rest is as you see it below. No one is talking, so who knows if there were survivors.

A good wife can bring balance to your life....

2008-01-04T16:21:00.000+05:30

Corporate Strategies - In lighter mood

2007-12-27T16:31:00.000+05:30

Subservient Programmer

2007-12-19T16:45:00.000+05:30

Friends,

This is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL.

Hats off to the guys who developed this.

Check out the following link. It works only in Internet Explorer. It's really interesting. Connect to this link.

You will see a person sitting in front of the computer. Type the words like "LAUGH" in the dispatch and the person will do that action. But it should be asingle word , ex: run, sleep, cry, dance.

http://www.subservientprogrammer.com/main.aspx

Earn Money while you search Internet

2007-12-10T17:17:00.000+05:30

We all use Internet day in and day out to search about a lot of things. How about you getting paid for searching on the Internet? It's true. There is this website which pays you for searching on the Internet. Please click on the link above and search your way to money. :)

Happy searching!!!

Operating System Easter Eggs

2007-12-06T12:18:00.000+05:30

DEFINITION: The computer software "Easter Egg" is a hidden/secret code in a program, game or operating system, intended to be activated by an undocumented sequence of keystrokes and/or mouse clicks, usually revealing text, graphics, animation, developer credits, jokes, pranks etc.
And here they are, by popular demand...
Easter Egg: FILE SEARCH EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: X-SETUP EASTER EGG - Part 3
Easter Egg: X-SETUP EASTER EGG - Part 2
Easter Egg: SKI FREE EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: MS IE 5/6 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: EXCEL 2000 EASTER EGG - Part 2
Easter Egg: EXCEL 2000 EASTER EGG - Part 1
Easter Egg: WIN98 EASTER EGG - Part 4
Easter Egg: JAVASCRIPT BROWSER RESIZER EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: OSR2/NT/2000/ME/XP OPENGL EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: MSD EASTER EGGS
Easter Egg: WIN98 SE EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: X-SETUP 4.0/5.0 EASTER EGG - Part 1
Easter Egg: HOTDOG PROFESSIONAL 5.5 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WINDOWS/WFWG 3.1x CLIPBOARD EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WORD 2000 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR/COMMUNICATOR EASTER EGGS - Part DEUX
Easter Egg: NETSCAPE/MOZILLA EASTER EGG - Part 1
Easter Egg: ANOTHER MS IE EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: OUTLOOK EXPRESS EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WIN98 EASTER EGG - Part 3
Easter Egg: FRONTPAGE EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: MS OFFICE 95 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WIN98 EASTER EGG - Part DEUX
Easter Egg: PLUS! 98 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WORD 97 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WIN98 "MEMPHIS" EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: EXCEL 97 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WIN95 HOOPS GAME EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WINDOWS/WFWG 3.1x EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: SOLITAIRE EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: MINESWEEPER EASTER EGGS + CHEATS
Easter Egg: HEARTS EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: POWERPOINT 95/97 EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: 3D TEXT EASTER EGGS
Easter Egg: FREECELL EASTER EGGS + CHEATS
Easter Egg: WORD VIEWER EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: IE 4.0X EASTER EGG
Easter Egg: WIN95 EASTER EGG FOLDER
Easter Egg: WIN95 EASTER EGG - Part DEUX
Easter Egg: WIN95 EASTER EGG - Part 1

Indian Innovation - Charge your cell phone with the leaves of the Banyan tree

2007-12-01T12:35:00.000+05:30

Believe It or Not ! Its very Strange But True Very True. Now, you do not require any mobile charger to charge your mobiles.
Only there is need to use green leaf of peepal tree and after some time your mobile will get charged. No soon the people came to learn this development; they tested it and found encouraging results. If your mobile has been discharged and you are inside a jungle then you need not to use any charger. You should pluck two peepal leaves and your work would be done. It is very good idea and easy to charge your mobile. You would have to open your mobile battery and connect it with peepal leaf. After that without shaking mobile set you should set the battery in your mobile set. After some time your mobile would be charged. Though it is unbelievable but as soon as the residents of Chitrakoot came to know about the discovery they could not believe the news. But when they saw it practically then the incident proved true. Now hundreds of mobile holders are using this technique and charging their mobiles. Whereas according to the botanists, it is just changing mutual energy into electrical energy power can be saved in battery. They said that it is the subject of research.
Step by Step guide to charge your mobile battery using peepal leaves
1- Open your mobile cover
2- Take out your battery
3- Take two to three fresh leaves of peepal/pipal/ ashwattha tree
4- Touch the stub of these leaves on your mobile battery terminal for a minute
5- Clean the mobile battery terminal with the soft cloth
6- Put your battery again in your mobile and switch it on
7- Now you can see the result
8- If required repeat the process with fresh leaves
PS: The writer does not take any responsibility of the outcome of the above steps if the reader chooses to carry them out.

How do you recover your motivation after a failure?

2007-11-29T20:42:00.000+05:30

There is no such thing as failure
I like this quote by Anthony Robbins a lot. In full, it goes like this:"There is no such thing as failure. There are only results."
Even more so with personal development: you can't, and you won't fail, if you have the right attitude.
It’s really amazing to understand how even the thought of failure at even the simplest tasks can prevent most of the populace from even attempting those tasks. In the grander scheme of things, the fear of failure is a big hurdle for most people to overcome. No one can avoid the truth of the failure. The history has witnessed that all those who have attempted to flee from it, their entire lives almost certainly have missed great opportunities and even greater rewards.
Bouncing back quickly from the failure will decide how far you will go and how successful you are in your life and/or profession. The individual’s ability to recover quickly from the failure almost always differentiates those who recover and manage and those who recover and succeed. The pain and disappointment of coming up short may send you into an emotional whirlpool filled with questions, doubts, and promises to yourself to never try again, but those normal reactions to failure usually subside. And when they do, your reaction to that failure will determine if you succeed.
There are 2 major ways in which things may fail.
One is by way of making a mistake and taking a wrong decision. This is predominant in Sports. The coach or the captain of a team takes a wrong decision and that costs the team that game. This is also seen in the day-to-day businesses wherein the CEO of a company decides to introduce a new product in the market based on the belief that the product will bring in dramatic growth to the company but instead the product may not generate the anticipated growth to the company and the company has to cut losses. This type of failure revolves around what went wrong. It may be hard for some people to accept but for the others take the responsibility so that they can improve for the next time.
The second type of failure is when you have done everything RIGHT from your side, put in all the best efforts and energies into the pursuit of being successful and even have considered the things that may go wrong and have back-up plans in place, but in the end, you fail. These kinds of failures are difficult to handle due to the feelings of helplessness assosciated with them. However, some persons take this as a hint that they were very close to being successful and view this as a matter of time rather than matter of their ability to accomplish the said task. Although these letdowns are difficult to handle, everyone faces these one or the other time in their lives and everyone handles these situations differently.
What's the way out or how do you bounce back:
There are a couple of things to be considered here.
One of them is to change the failure to a setback. This mainly requires you to change your perception of the failure. First off, you need to change the word "failure" to "setback". You also need to look at your shortcomings objectively and look at the ways to overcome those. Just the change of perception from "an event knocking you down" to "a setback that knowked you back" would definitely help you recover and you will be able to acknowledge that there would be bumps along the road and they are very much manageable.
The other one is to avoid generalizing the situations when we get frustrated. Saying "Why me...", "this always happens..." or "I never..." are very difficult to the recovery process, because what you are really doing is setting yourself up for another loss. Understanding that the setback was a one-off event would help in faster recovery.
Next step would be to assess the damage caused by the setback. You would have to look at what is the degree of setback and what you've lost in the process. The best approach is to look at what has been lost and what is remaining. This is important because due to generalization of the situation, the actual damage could be lesser than it really is.
The next step is to start picking up from where you've got a setback. Collecting yourself can prove difficult if you've not really set yourself up for moving forward. The resetting does not necessarily mean taking a step back but it could be a mere re-adjusting yourself, so that you are in a better position to succeed.

5 reasons not to read this post...

2007-11-26T18:03:00.000+05:30

1. You are an intelligent person and no intelligent person ever falls for a headline that starts with “5 Reasons…” However, if you clicked your way here by accident or you’re just a little absent minded today and have started reading this, you can stop reading here before you get to reason number two. No harm done.

2. “5 Reasons” doesn’t really cut it anyway. If five were a good number for a set of things then there would only be five commandments, five days in the week and five men in a football team. To be honest “five” sucks. You can argue for it on the basis of fingers on the hand, but hey, I only see four. That stubby thing is a thumb not a finger.

3. If you’ve got as far as this, then you probably got drunk last night and you aren’t exactly absorbing the words. You’re consciousness is somewhere else completely. So accusing you of reading these words is technically inaccurate and probably slanderous. If you aren’t in such a damaged state then there’s almost no way to excuse you. Take it from me, this blog posting has no content whatsoever. It doesn’t prove anything and it has no artistic merit. It is not important, or relevant or meaningful. So for “chris-sake” stop reading it.

4. You might still be reading this if you “skim”. Know what I mean? You read the first few words of each block of text and then skip onto the next block. I do that sometimes. Anyway, if that’s the case then you won’t have got as far into this block of text as this sentence, so I’m not addressing you anyway. But if anyone out there is still reading this, then I hate to tell you, but “reason” number four isn’t even a reason. That’s right. This blog posting is completely bogus and fundamentally dishonest, because it claims to deliver 5 reasons for something and it doesn’t.

5. I know. There are people who are out there who will have read all the way through to here just because the headline told them not to. You poor contrary souls. There really is nothing here to read. No content. What can I say? I can’t help you. Some of you are probably pedants. If so, you may be irate with me because you’ve thought about reason 4—and this has caused you to read on with gritted teeth. Reason 4 claims not to be a reason, but actually it is a reason. If one of my happy family of five reasons is bogus and fundamentally dishonest—then it is not—because it surely is a reason to ignore this posting completely, even if it claims not to be. Well done pedants! By the way, this reason, reason number five, makes no such claim and yet is a justification for nothing.

Do you set goals?

2007-11-25T17:15:00.000+05:30

A lot of my colleagues and subordinates have walked up to me and asked me what is goal setting, how to go about it, what are the advantages of doing so and how do we consistently do it. I personally believe that your success depends a lot on this crucial exercise as it helps turn your dreams and visions in reality through flawless execution.

Yet, according to a study by ThinkIQ.com, less than 15% of the population actually takes the time to write down their goals. If you are part of that less than 15%, which goals do you write down, e.g. which timelines, for which areas of your life?

The secret lies in setting yourself up for SUCCESS and not for failure (as it happens in ~95% of the cases, since the people are not committed enough to achieving the goals that they set for themselves).

Here are the SIX Keys to a successful Goal-setting -

1. Only set those goals that you are committed to achieve.
2. Set yourself up for success. So if you really want to lose 30 pounds, give yourself a year to do so rather than giving yourself time to do it in 3-4 months.
3. What also matters is that you set some interim milestones that you should achieve. Drawing a parallel from the above example, every 5 pounds loss could be an important milestone. Don't you think that this is more achievable and every time you hit it, it will make you more confident of achieving the final goal.
4. Model your success on others who have already achieved in their lives/careers etc. You can draw inspiration from them and follow their strategies to achieve what you have set out to achieve.
5. Get support from others. Take help from a friend who is equally committed and equally enthusiastic to the weight-loss cause. Talk to each other. Hold each other accoutable. This way, the more number of people you have on your team, the better are your chances of successfully achieving the goal set.
6. Chalk out an action plan... and make sure that you act on it. This can be done by taking help from a friend, colleague, spouse etc. Break-up your goal in smaller actions. Add some details to these actions. Set up the time lines by which you will complete each of these actions. depending on the priorities of each of the actions. The more actions you take, the more forward momentum you will develop towards the achievement of your goals.

I am enclosing a sample Goal setting format for your reference. Over last 2 years or so I have used to achieve various goals that I have set for myself - howmuchever trivial these goals seem to be.

The goal-setting example given is a simple and a very generic example. I want to spend at least 30 minutes with my wife on weekdays and more qualitative time (2-3 hours) on the weekends. I also want to take an annual vacation with my family once a year.

See the goal setting I have done for myself to arrive at these goals. Please do keep in mind that for some of the goals/actions, there won't be any dead line as these will be ongoing actions (like spending 30 mins with wife everyday). So do use your common sense to decide on thhe deadlines of the detailed actions.

Please feel free to use it for your benefit and pass it on to whoever needs it around you.

Among the secrets of making a goal compelling are to:

1. Make it personal and linked to what you value most.

2. Make it positive – what will you do rather than stop doing…?

3. Write in the present tense as if you have already achieved it.

4. Use your senses, how will things look, feel and sound when you have achieved your goal?

Happy Goal-setting and here's to "SUCCESS"!!!!

Some Technology Terms

2007-11-23T19:04:00.000+05:30

Blue Tooth:
An industrial specification for wireless Personal Area Networks (PANs), this technology allows users to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a short range wireless connection.

Business Intelligence (BI):
It is a term used to refer to the process of business management. This technology consists of applications and technologies that allow users to gather, access, and analyze a company’s data and information. Overall, it helps users to gain comprehensive knowledge of the factors that affect the company’s overall performance.

Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA):
As the name suggests, this technology provides multiple users access to a certain physical medium – such as a radio channel. This is done through the use of different code sequences.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM):
This is a fairly broad term that is used to describe a company’s strategic relationship with its customers. It usually deals with the capturing, storing, and analysis of customer information.

Dashboard:
This software is used to host smaller applications known as – widgets. When active, it allows users to create, delete, rearrange, and recreate the widgets on their desktop.

Data Mining:
It allows the user to scan through large amounts of data and pick out the relevant information. It uses modern experimental and observational methods to extricate information from large data sets.

Data Warehousing:
A comprehensive technology that provides the key people within an enterprise with access to any level of required information within the enterprise. It is an enterprise wide framework that permits the management of all enterprise information.

Economic Value Added (EVA):
A technology that allows an enterprise to calculate its true economic profit. It is based on the residual wealth that is calculated by deducting the cost of capital from its operating profit.

Grid Computing:
Grid computing allows the virtualization of distributed computing and data resources such as processing, network bandwidth and storage capacity to provide a unique system image, granting users and applications access to vast IT capabilities.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR):
A phone technology, which allows the use of a touch tone telephone to access or provide information into a database. For example, banks use the IVR technology to provide customers with information about their account, etc.

Just In Time (JIT):
Also known as dynamic translation, it is a technique for improving the runtime of any computer program. This is done through the caching the results of translation of codes, causing high speed code execution.

Network Attached Storage (NAS):
A file level data storage that is connected to a computer network, which provides data access to various network clients. It is a server that primarily allows file sharing.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID):
This is a method of identification through the use of radio waves. This identification takes place through the use of transponders that allow the storage and retrieval of data. The transponder can be incorporated onto any physical object, which will allow identification through the use of radio waves.

Relational Database Management System (RDBMS):
This is a database management system that functions to provide the relation between stored data. This technology allows the data and the relationship between the data to be stored in the form of tables.

Return On Investment (ROI):
This is a term that refers to the money that is gained or lost related to an investment as against the money that was used for the investment.

Service Level Agreement (SLA):
A formal agreement between two parties, where the level of service is formally defined. In some instances, violation of this agreement could lead to certain penalties.

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA):
This technology can be best described as a collection of services. The services interoperate with each other and can be accessed without knowledge of the underlying platform implementation.

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA):
This is a medium for sharing a communications channel across multiple users. This technology allows the connection of multiple transmitters.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):
An estimate that allows an enterprise to determine the direct and indirect cost with respect to a certain deployment. The costs could arise from the original cost, upgrades, maintenance, technical support, and training.

Total Supply Chain Management(TSCM):
It is the process of planning and controlling operations across the entire supply chain that spans from the origination of raw materials to the consumption of the final product by the customer.

Advantage Insurance Quote Services

2007-11-20T10:15:00.001+05:30

Let's face it! We all need some or the other type of insurance - Health, Term, Life, General etc. at some or the other time in our life. Although it's the ultimate truth of the existence, DEATH does scare everyone and no one wants to think about it. But the fact of the matter is that all of us will die at some or the other time. So how about dying RICH??? Sounds interesting??? Read on....

Buying insurance will fulfill that dream for you and if you buy the insurance policies from Advantage Insurance, you will save money on insurance premium, while you build your corpus of wealth.

If you have a family, you can also buy an insurance plan for your whole family. You can buy a Life Family Plan for the entire family and ensure that all your nears and dears are covered under family insurance. If you are a smoker, you are well aware of the plight you have to go through to buy insurance, since no insurance company will cover you due to the bad effects; smoking has on your health. But worry no more, switch to Advantage Insurance and experience the difference. On offer are some very cheap smoker insurance rates.

If you are an organization, you can buy the employee benefits packages and corporate insurance plans for all your employees from Advantage Insurance.

The Advantage Insurance has superb Quoting Insurance Services, which will help you lower your Insurance Premium as well as would help you with the Pros and Cons of various Insurnace plans.

So pick up that phone and call Advantage Insurance or write that email to Advantage Insurance and see how fast and quickly you build your wealth and fulfill your dream of amassing wealth.

IPlagiarismCheck - Double Check With Them Before you publish content!

2007-11-18T18:49:00.001+05:30

Well, we have little bit different and very important information today for all bloggers, webmasters, university students and authors online.

In the current era of Internet, information is so easy to access. anytime, anywhere, anything can be found out on the Internet. you accept this fact, right? But, as they say every good thing comes with a black side. Internet is not an exception to this. Plagiarism is the worst thing that happens on Internet, and most of us are affected - whether you are a webmaster, blogger who sees your content stolen to update some one else’s blog or website.

Check out more about how to avoid this?

MindGenius: Think Creatively. Decide Wisely.

2007-11-16T11:44:00.001+05:30

Reviewed by James Manktelow, CEO, MindTools.com.

At one of our regular Mind Tools planning meetings, we were discussing the products and services we wanted to review in upcoming issues of “Mind Tools Reviews”. In front of me was my usual meeting preparation: notes and ideas mapped out using a software tool I’ve been using for more than a year now: MindGenius from Gael Ltd. Well, as the saying goes, sometimes the answer is looking you straight in the face!

Of all productivity and thinking tools I use in my working day, MindGenius is one of the most versatile, and is very much part of how I work. All very well: I’m certainly pleased to talk about how I use the product, but more work was needed to test and review different ways in which you and other Mind Tools readers can use it.

And that’s what we’ve done: we’ve tested how the software supports several popular Mind Tools thinking tools, to bring you a thorough and up-to-date review of MindGenius.

MindGenius’s creators suggest that the tool can be used in more than 100 different ways. We found that around 20 of these related to tools and techniques featured at Mind Tools - so we set about testing and reviewing the most important of these. The results were so good that we wanted not only to review the product in-depth for you here, but also decided to offer an E-class helping you learn some of the ways that MindGenius can help in your work and career. We'll talk about this later: Let’s begin the review…

What I Was Looking For...
MindGenius is a software-based drawing tool used to support and enhance thinking skills like Mind Mapping, Cause & Effect Analysis, Impact Analysis, Brainstorming and SWOT Analysis, Project Planning, and much more.

When I first discovered and reviewed MindGenius more than a year ago, I was looking for support for creating Mind Maps, and this is one of the core uses of MindGenius. I use Mind Maps extensively in my day-to-day work as a way of taking notes when researching articles or books, and for thinking through questions or exploring ideas.

As a way of taking notes or brainstorming, Mind Mapping is hugely powerful: partly in the way it allows me to condense notes that would spread over many pages; partly in the way it clearly shows the structure and organization of a topic; and partly in the way it helps me quickly see the way that information fits together.

And I was conscious that there are many alternatives to tools like MindGenius. At the simplest level, it’s easy to buy an artist’s sketchpad, and draw your own Mind Maps. Mind Mapping on paper gives you tremendous flexibility, but paper mind maps can quickly become untidy, need frequent redrafting, and suffer from all the limitations of paper-only documents.

On another level, software like MSWord can be useful in brainstorming and note-taking, but does not easily give the spatial organization of information that’s so important in Mind Mapping. And on a third level, drawing packages like Corel Draw can help you create beautiful Mind Maps, however they require slow, tedious assembly of low-level graphic elements to give the finished product.

Must be Clearly Better Than the Alternatives...
For MindGenius to be worth using, it must be clearly better than all these different approaches:

- It had to produce smarter, better looking diagrams than can be produced on paper, and had to have all of the benefits of storability, ease-of-distribution and ease of management offered by computer-based documents;
- It had to give the full spatial benefits and flexibility of layout that paper-based Mind Maps give, thereby overcome a limitation of other types of software; and
- It had to be quick and easy-to-use, giving professional looking diagrams without the tedious hard work needed with conventional drawing packages.

So what I was looking for was a flexible, highly-intuitive program, which produces high quality computer-based output with a minimum of fuss.

Easy Operation - Fast and Intuitive
Before I first downloaded the software, I had a number of doubts about how easy it would be to use. For example, how quickly could data be entered? How easy would it be to reorganize my Mind Maps, for example by pruning information from one part of the chart and grafting it elsewhere? And so on.

MindGenius soon dispelled my doubts. It was fast, obvious and intuitive. Data entry was quick and easy, with it being possible to create and manage Mind Maps with a minimum of control keystrokes and mouse movements. Moving and reorganizing branches was accomplished by simple drag and drop mouse action. And as I added information, the map structure flexed and adapted automatically, preserving plenty of white space and keeping the layout clean and elegant.

A minor gripe was that I had to experiment before I figured out how to edit an item. (We tell you how to do this in the E-class, along with many other learning tips). But in general, MindGenius was so easy to operate and so intuitive that I did not need to use the help system even once when learning to Mind Map.

Use With "Mind Tools"
So MindGenius is great at Mind Mapping, but this is just one of many uses of MindGenius. Next, I wanted to look at the range of thinking support that MindGenius could provide in areas that interest Mind Tools readers. I set about testing out the range of other “mind tools” that MindGenius could support. Here’s a summary of the ones we checked out:

1. Mind Mapping: We’ve already said that MindGenius is very, very good for Mind Mapping. It’s easy, elegant and intuitive, a pleasure to use, and it produces high quality output (click here to see the mind map I used in preparing the review). There’s no need to say any more;

2. Brainstorming: As Mind Mapping is a great technique for conducting and recording a brainstorming session, MindGenius is great for Brainstorming too, both on your own and with your team;

3. Decision Making: MindGenius is useful for mapping out and exploring alternatives, which is an important part of the decision making process. However, it does not provide crunchy, quantitative decision support that, say, MSExcel does (but then, Excel is not a lot of help when it comes to brainstorming alternatives!);

4. Project Management: Again, MindGenius does not provide a substitute for the “heavy duty” project scheduling capabilities of MSProject, however it does provide a useful tool for management of smallish projects, and helps with initial identification of tasks;

5. SWOT Analysis: MindGenius does provide a good, quick, flexible, easy tool for SWOT Analysis, however it’s only marginally better than can be achieved with MSWord;

6. Six Thinking Hats: However, MindGenius’s strengths reassert themselves with creative thinking techniques like Six Thinking Hats – it easily supports this sort of quick evolution and extension of ideas in an unparalleled and incredibly powerful way;

7. Impact Analysis and Cause & Effect Analysis: And again, its approach is great for these too: The standard templates it includes for these career-changing, “wisdom-enhancing” techniques make them extremely quick and simple to use.

MindGenius is not going to replace analytical tools like Microsoft Excel. Nor can it match the sheer scheduling power of Microsoft Project. However, it is superb for situations and techniques involving the rapid evolution and recording of ideas, and it presents the structure of these ideas cleanly and elegantly. As a tool for the support of creative idea generation and structured thinking, MindGenius is unparalleled.

And given its interfaces to Microsoft Office products, it has the potential (as Gael point out) to be a great creativity front-end to MS Office.

Download and Purchase / Trial:
I downloaded the 21-day trial version of MindGenius from Gael’s website (we've set up a quick download link to make it easy for you to do this.) Download was easy and straightforward, and installation was simple. It’s good to have this trial period, as it gives plenty of time to explore the product's capabilities and make up your own mind about it.

I was less impressed by the purchase process, which had some irritating glitches within it. In particular, I entered my contact information when I initially downloaded MindGenius, meaning that I had to go through a convoluted process to retrieve account details before I could (successfully) pay. With the quick download process this should be more streamlined, however do persist if you have problems - you'll manage eventually.

It’s also worth saying that MindGenius is not cheap at US$247, UK£147, EUR217 (compare to MSWord 2003 at US$229 at Microsoft.com.) I had to think a bit before buying, however having done so, I'm pleased that I made the investment.

Here I've reviewed MindGenius Business. Gael also offer MindGenius Home, which comes at a much lower price (US$53, UK£29, EUR42). The difference between the two is that MindGenius Business offers many more tools-based templates, professional quality printing, integration with MSOffice, and the work-related features that are needed for it to be an effective business tool.

In Conclusion…
In conclusion, I strongly like and value MindGenius as a thinking-support tool in my day-to-day work.

As a Mind Mapping tool, MindGenius is extremely intuitive, fast and convenient, and is now my standard tool for this important technique. It is also extremely effective for techniques like Brainstorming, SWOT analysis, Six Thinking Hats, Impact Analysis and Cause & Effect Analysis.

Does it increase productivity by 3 or 4 times as claimed? It’s difficult to say - maybe it does for some of my thinking and planning activities. But, for me, the more important benefits are qualitative (and immeasurable), in terms of supporting clear and structured thinking – so essential for career and life success.

As a regular user, I strongly recommend it!

Mind Tools / MindGenius E-Class
So that you can try it out for yourself and learn precisely what it can do for you, we’ve partnered with Gael to give you a free six-week “Mind Tools MindGenius E-class.”

This teaches you how to make the very most of it for Mind Mapping, Cause & Effect Analysis, Brainstorming, Impact Analysis, Six Thinking Hats and Decision Making, and it helps you discover the full range of features that make it so powerful.

The E-class works alongside the free 21-day evaluation period from MindGenius, giving you time to try it for yourself fully for at least some of these tools we cover in the E-Class, so that you can form your own opinion. Even if you choose not to go beyond day 21, you'll learn some great thinking skills which will help you throughout your career.

To register for the E-Class, just send a blank email to MindGenius@mindtoolsservices.com. Just click here and then click send. You'll receive the first instalment of the course in just a few minutes time.

To try the 21-day trial version of MindGenius for yourself, go to our quick download page at the following URL http://www.mindtools.com/rs/MindGenius and follow the simple instructions.

360 Degree Feedback

2007-11-15T18:30:00.000+05:30

Communication is very vital in today's organizations - none of us are out of it. We are communicating every single minute - be it in office or at home or anywhere else. All types of communications are extremely important - suggestions, brainstorming, creative discussions, consent on decisions, dissents and most importantly feedback - negative or positive! The feedback - honest feedback, if you will, is generally never welcome. The situation becomes very critical if you were to provide this to your immediate manager. If not handled tactfully and diligently, this will result in an awkward situation, isn't it? After all, how easy it is for you to walk into your manager's cubicle and tell him/her that (s)he has an attitude problem.

In my experience and from the experiences of my ex-colleagues and friends, I believe there are 2 types of managers - the ones who encourage their subordinates to give constructive feedback/opinions and would not stop at doing anything (and I mean ANYTHING) to ensure the smooth working of the team in the future. And then there are others who do not even bother to make an effort to change things. I call them typical traditional managers, who believe in ruling by fear and coercion. Logic does not matter to them. Their subordinates are supposed to execute their commands and orders without asking any questions. If one of the subordinates does dare ask a question, he will most probably labeled as unprofessional.

Providing constructive feedback calls for a lot of caution since it's never easy to provide feedback to your manager about his performance. If done tactfully and carefully, it will be a smooth ride for both the parties involved but if this is done poorly, it's a sure shot formula for spoiling relationships with the superiors and lowering employee morale, if the boss takes offence.

One of my friends told me that the feedback process is carried out throughout the year in his organization and not just during the appraisal process. Depending on an individual's development plan, these feedback sessions happen more than 4-6 times a year. In another organization, "SKIP LEVEL" meetings take place regularly with the teams the manager's are handling. The HR conducts these meetings to gather fair, unbiased and candid feedback about the manager's effectiveness in handling teams, his/her style of managing people, conflict resolutions, personality traits which may hinder or facilitate the team's success, his strengths and weaknesses etc. Once the team members speak, the team leader or the manager is called in the room and the feedback is shared with the manager in front of the team. The HR has this huge responsibility of making sure that the employee speaks up and is comfortable while doing so. If not, they must promise anonymity for the employee.

The idea here is to empower the employees to provide constructive feedback without any fear or reluctance. If the company does not do this periodically, the managers may become insensitive and ignore the individual's needs in the team. The experts in this field believe that the only way this method of feedback (they call it with a handsome name - 360 Degree Feedback) could ever be successful is when the employees are given the liberty to speak up their mind. The feedback thus gathered would help a manager appreciate and reinforce his strengths while he works towards rectifying the weaknesses identified in such sessions.The net result is two-fold - the manager can improve his skills and move on in his career and the organization benefits by creating a cache of more effective managers and team members. The organization promotes transparency through these exercises.

The maximum advantage is gained by the companies who are using the 360 Degree Feedback method. It creates a sense of empowerment and importance felt by the subordinates in appraising their managers. So in this era of "employee empowerment", the buzz word is going to be the "360 Degree Feedback" methods.

A Leader's Five Key Stakeholders

2007-11-13T11:14:00.000+05:30

Ensuring that a leader demonstrates all 8 Habits or Exercises Judgment or has Emotional Intelligence or any other set of personal characteristics is half right. The other half is ensuring that these competencies really deliver results through the value they create for others.

Who are these stakeholders and what do they want?

Employees want to work in a place where they can meet their personal needs and wants. Leaders who create job assignments, work environments, and visions help employees be both competent and committed to their work.

Customers want leaders to build compelling products and services so that they can trust and when they do, customers will give share of wallet.

Communities want leaders to build organizations that are socially responsible, through how they treat the environment and how they serve the larger community.

Investors want leaders to keep their promises, develop a compelling growth strategy, align core competencies to the strategy and then to ensure that people are committed to delivering on these premises. When they do, investors reward the organization with high levels of confidence in the future which translates into higher market value.

Regulators want leaders to govern themselves in accordance with high ethical principles and in a manner consistent with professional and legal standards.

However, in addition to these 5, you may also have to look at the 2 more distinctive groups -

1. Competitors: Leaders would to well to look at competition as well. What is required is healthy competition - one that is driven by superior quality, innovation, efficiency or responsiveness. The propensity among many leaders to deride competition leads to a vicious cycle of attack and counter-attack strategies that inevitably result in a lose-lose scenario. Within the context of free-market dynamics, leaders can consider mutual forbearance as an option vis-a-vis competition.

2. Suppliers and Channel Partners: The ability of a firm to create and deliver value depends to a significant extent on the other players of the value system. Helping suppliers to adopt practices such as TQM and TPM would enable a firm to move up the value curve. Similarly, customer responsiveness often depends on the channel partners. Thus, co-creating value (Prof. Prahalad and Prof. Ramaswamy) becomes a vital element in the value-creation process.

It can be argued that these groups are a part of the community. However, treating them as distinct entities would help leaders to look at each stakeholder group from an appropriate perspective and ask the three basic questions:

Who are they?

What do they want?

How can we deliver, either by ourselves or together?

Service Support Metrics

2007-11-10T13:32:00.000+05:30

In Malcolm Fry's book (that is being hosted by NextSLM.ORG), he reviews each ITIL metric individually by quoting the ITIL definition, describing it in clear and concise terms, and making recommendations on how to best leverage the data for both IT managers and business managers. By focusing on these key metrics, one can help illustrate the value of ITIL best practices to those who have responsibility for related functional areas within IT.

He also adds to ITIL recommended metrics and introduce Business Alignment Indicators. These key metrics expand the ITIL best practices to highlight information that helps align IT goals and objectives with business priorities.

Please read on to know more about the same -

Introduction

Information Technology (IT) groups are generally adept at gathering vast amounts of data. The data collected is not always used successfully for analysis and decision-making, however. Very often, the opposite is true. The processing of raw data is sometimes a distraction, rather than a useful activity. For example, many IT departments measure and monitor every event on a Service Desk, yet they may fail to notice that a key server is getting close to capacity. Why? Service desk technologies automatically collect and collate vast amounts of data regarding Service Desk performance, whereas measuring the growth of a server relative to its capacity requires a different effort and intervention.

Let’s look at how we can best leverage data to provide both IT Managers and business managers with useful tools that help them keep IT services closely aligned with business goals.

The benefits of ITIL are often obvious to those who have received ITIL education, read the ITIL books or attended and ITIL conference or training. The first two books in this series focused on advanced ITIL concepts that help ITIL experts build commitment from non-ITIL experts within an organization, by selling what’s important to various constituents, and by better communication the goals outlined in ITIL Service Delivery and Service Support.

In this, the third book in the series, we’re going to continue developing advanced ITIL concepts by focusing on the monitoring and measuring best practices describe in the ITIL Service Support book including:

1) Incident Management

2) Problem Management

3) Change Management

4) Release Management

5) Configuration Management

Each section of the ITIL Service Support book details a list of metrics that should be considered for those managing that functional area. In total, the book lists about 80 suggested measurements to use for monitoring and measuring performance across these processes.

In this book, we’ll review each ITIL metric individually by quoting the ITIL definition, describing it in clear and concise terms, and making recommendations on how to best leverage the data for both IT managers and business managers. By focusing on these key metrics, you can help illustrate the value of ITIL best practices to those who have responsibility for related functional areas within IT.

We’ll also add to ITIL recommended metrics and introduce Business Alignment Indicators. These key metrics expand the ITIL best practices to highlight information that helps align IT goals and objectives with business priorities.

Driving Factors

There should always be reasons for monitoring or measuring. You should continually ask, “Why are we measuring?” or “Why are we collating this data?” Basically, there are four reasons to monitor and measure:

To direct: This includes monitoring and measuring to set direction for activities in order to meet set targets. It is the most prevalent reason for monitoring and measuring. For example, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) set target metrics and the IT department is measured against these targets. These targets set the direction for the IT department.

To intervene: This includes monitoring and measuring to identify a point of intervention including subsequent changes and corrective actions. For example, a network may monitored and identified to be slow. As a result, IT undertakes an investigation that will result in changes implemented to accelerate network performance. Special monitoring may be installed for the investigation to track the effects of the changes. Again, these metrics are usually monitored only for the duration of the changes. However, ongoing measurement may be necessary to direct and ensure that performance does not deteriorate in the future.

To justify: This includes monitoring and measuring to justify, with factual evidence or proof, that a course of action is required. For example, return on investment projections may be required to make a major purchase. Justification often requires forecast trending, financial projections, and/or modelling. In a typical scenario we first justify a project and then validate the deliverables.

To validate: This includes monitoring and measuring to validate previous decisions. For example, the justification to implement configuration (asset) management may be to reduce the costs of asset spending by 10 percent. This requires the implementation of a measurement tool to track and monitor the savings resulting from the project to validate that 10 percent savings goal has indeed been met. Once the project has been completed, it is no longer necessary to measure for validation.

The four basic reasons to monitor and measure lead to two key questions: “Why are we monitoring and measuring?” and “When do we stop?” To answer these questions, you must identify which of the above reasons is driving the effort. Too often, we continue to measure long after the need has passed. Every time you produce a report you should ask, “Do we still need this?”

Definitive Measuring Process
Whether you are measuring to direct, intervene, or justify, or validate you should follow the same simple process:
The process may be simple, but the activities may be time-consuming and difficult. Let’s look at the process in more detail:

Gathering: Gathering concentrates on collecting the raw data required for monitoring and measuring IT services and components. At first glance, it may appear that gathering the necessary data is easy, because IT automatically collects huge amounts of data. However, this is not always true. For example, a Service Desk tool primarily collects data entered by the Service Desk agents, but if a key field is not on the Incident record, then no data can be gathered for that parameter. You should ensure that you have the correct data collection methodology in place.
In addition, it is often necessary to collect more information than is required, so that, in the event of a poor measurement, a base of data is available for further investigation. One thing is certain—to be successful, you must collect the correct data. To do so, you must know why you’re gathering the data—is it to direct, intervene, validate, or justify?

Processing: Once you have gathered the data, the next step is to process the data into the required format. For example, you may have 3,000 Incidents a week, but only want to see the hourly totals to determine staff loading. You use report-generating technologies at this stage. Normally, this means taking huge amounts of data and condensing it into information for use in the succeeding stages.

Analyzing: Once the data is processed into information, you can then analyze the results, looking for answers to questions such as:

· Are there any trends?

· Are changes required?

· Are we operating according to plan?

· Are we meeting targets?

· Are corrective actions required?

· Are there underlying structural Problems?

Here you apply knowledge to your information. Without this, you have nothing more than a string of numbers showing metrics that are meaningless. It is not enough to simply look at this month’s figures and accept them without question, even if they meet SLA targets. You should analyze the figures to stay ahead of the game. Without analysis you merely have information. With analysis you have knowledge. If you find anomalies or poor results, then look for ways to improve.

Presenting or Using: The final stage is to take our knowledge and present it, that is, turn it into wisdom by utilizing:

· Reports

· Monitors

· Action plans

· Reviews

· Evaluations

· Requests For Changes

· New opportunities

As you can see, measuring and monitoring allows you to make informed decisions, taking IT forward in a constructive and structured manner.

This process defines a logical approach to follow, but how can you be sure that you are monitoring and measuring effectively? You need to have in place driving factors to ensure that you will produce effective metrics.

The driving factors affect the data that you collect as well as all the other stages in the process. There is no point in gathering huge amounts of data unless you are going to use it constructively. First, decide why you are going to monitor a parameter. Armed with this information, you can determine what data is required and where you can obtain that data. From here you can follow the process, but remember that success lies in identifying the driving factors at the outset.

360° Feedback

2007-11-08T11:29:00.000+05:30

When I think about 360° evaluations I am reminded of a classic body image exercise where you are told to stand naked in front of a mirror and make an honest assessment of yourself. It’s a frightening task to say the least. However, once you open your eyes and take an honest look, you can relatively easily scrutinize your front and sides; it’s the rear that takes some work!

The same is true for work performance – yours or your employees’. There are aspects of it that you can readily identify as needing work and others parts that you know are working really well. However, with normal performance reviews, you rarely see a full picture: Your judgment is necessarily clouded by your perspective and biases. With a 360° evaluation you get others to fill in the “rear view” and help you see what you couldn’t quite picture before.

With 360° feedback you gather information from the main people working with, or affected by, the person being evaluated (as well as his or her managers.) This is then amalgamated it into one full and complete image. One person can have a limited and sometimes biased view, whereas many people should provide a more accurate and more complete picture.

Not only foes this create a clearer picture of areas of improvement, it also encourages teamwork. After all, there’s no point in someone "sucking up to the boss" if everyone else is going to point out arrogance, unhelpfulness, and political behavior!

However it’s at about this point in the explanation of 360° feedback that many managers gasp and raise the following types of objections:

"You want my staff to evaluate me? I don’t think so!”
"It'll weaken discipline and compromise respect for authority."
"It'll crystallize feelings that are better left vague and undefined.”
"It'll cause problems where none exist."
"The bureaucracy created by the process of each team member rating each other team member is far too time consuming for the amount of extra benefit we’d get over the usual appraisal method.”
"People will rate their friends high and take the opportunity to criticize others they don’t like or get along with.”

Is 360° Feedback Really For You?
Arguably, therefore, 360° feedback is not for the faint of heart. It takes a very confident management group to implement it – one that is clear about the value in hearing the good and the bad from a whole bunch of different perspectives. The whole point of 360° feedback is to get the topic of performance out in the open.

In traditional workplaces performance is discussed in private, once a year (if you’re lucky!), and is simply one person’s assessment of how another is doing. However, think about how rich a performance review could be if the results were based on information received from everyone a person interacts with!

Goals of ITIL

2007-11-06T13:30:00.000+05:30

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT GOALS

Here is the goal for ITIL Incident Management as quoted in the ITIL publication Service Support:

The primary goal of the Incident Management process is to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimize the adverse impact on business operations, thus ensuring that the best possible levels of service quality and availability are maintained. 'Normal service operation' is defined here as service operation within Service Level Agreement (SLA) limits.

Let us break this down into its fundamental components and see what we can identify to help justify ITIL:

Restore normal service operation
Quickly and efficiently as possible
Minimizing the adverse impact on the business and operations
Ensuring best levels of service quality and availability are maintained
Business alignment indicator

PROBLEM MANAGEMENT GOALS

Here is the goal for ITIL Problem Management as quoted in the ITIL publication Service Support:

The goal of Problem Management is to minimize the adverse impact of Incidents and Problems on the business that are caused by errors within the IT Infrastructure, and to prevent recurrence of Incidents related to these errors. In order to achieve this goal, Problem Management seeks to get to the root cause of Incidents and then initiate actions to improve or correct the situation.

The Problem Management process has both reactive and proactive aspects. The reactive aspect is concerned with solving Problems in response to one or more Incidents. Proactive Problem Management is concerned with identifying and solving Problems and Known Errors before Incidents occur in the first place.

Let us break this down into its fundamental components and see what we can identify to help justify ITIL:

Minimize the frequency and impact of IT problems on the business
Initiate actions to correct each situation
Find the root cause of Incidents
Prevent the recurrence of Incidents
Both reactive and proactive

CHANGE MANAGEMENT GOALS

If you are not familiar with ITIL Change Management then you should understand the difference between Change Management and Change Control under ITIL if you want to maximize your chances of producing a strong argument to justify ITIL Change Management.

ITIL defines Change Control as:
"The procedure to ensure that all changes are controlled, including the submission, analysis, decision making, approval, implementation and post implementation of the change."

Whereas ITIL describes Change Management as:
"The process of controlling changes to the infrastructure, or any aspect of services, in a controlled manner thus enabling approved changes to be implemented with minimum disruption."

Change Control is a procedure whereas Change Management is a process.

In other words there may be many changes being controlled under the Change Management process. Each change needs good Change Control but the Change Management process oversees all of the changes. It is possible to have good Change Control but failures because there is no Change Management.

With Change Management the fact that two teams were going to change the status of the same server would have been noticed and those teams would have been asked to liaise and communicate with each other and therefore eliminate the change failure. So in any way you could say that Change Management simultaneously manages the life cycle and status of many controlled changes because Change Control is a component of Change Management.

It is particularly important that Change Management processes have high visibility and open channels of communication in order to promote smooth transitions when Changes take place.

CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT GOALS

Many ITIL experts argue that Configuration Management is the ITIL sun around which the other ITIL planets revolve. Certainly this is a strong argument because all of the other ITIL processes do come into regular contact with Configuration Management. Therefore meeting the goals for Configuration Management is critical for success when implementing ITIL but are you currently meeting those goals?

Let us have a look at the ITIL Configuration Management goals:

Configuration Management provides a logical model of the infrastructure or a service by identifying, controlling, maintaining and verifying the versions of Configuration Items (CIs) in existence.

The goals of Configuration Management are to:
1). Account for all the IT assets and configurations within the organization and its services
2). Provide accurate information on configurations and their documentation to support all the other Service Management processes
3). Provide a sound basis for Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management and Release Management
4). Verify the configuration records against the infrastructure and correct any exceptions.

Let us break the goal for Configuration Management down into its fundamental components and see what we can identify to help justify ITIL:

Configuration Management provides a logical model of the infrastructure or a service by identifying, controlling, maintaining and verifying the versions of Configuration Items (CIs) in existence
Account for all the IT assets and configurations within the organization and its services
Provide accurate information on configurations and their documentation to support all the other Service Management processes
Provide a sound basis for Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management and Release Management
Verify the configuration records against the infrastructure and correct any exceptions
Business alignment indicator

RELEASE MANAGEMENT GOALS
Release Management is often seen as a subset of Change Management but in reality is an important ITIL element because it is often the release of a change that fails rather than the change itself.

The ITIL goals are comprehensive but very precise:

1) To plan and oversee the successful rollout of software and related hardware
2) To design and implement efficient procedures for the distribution and installation of Changes to IT systems
3) To ensure that hardware and software being changed is traceable, secure and that only correct, authorized and tested versions are installed
4) To communicate and manage expectations of the Customer during the planning and rollout of new Releases
5) To agree the exact content and rollout plan for the Release, through liaison with change management
6) To implement new software Releases or hardware into the operational environment using the controlling processes of configurations management and Change Management - a Release should be under Change Management and may consist of any combination of hardware, software, firmware and document CIs.
7) To ensure that master copies of all software are secured in the Definitive Software Library (DSL) and that the Configuration Management DataBase (CMDB) is updated
8) To ensure that all hardware being rolled out or changed is secure and traceable, using the services of Configuration Management.

SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT GOALS
SLM is a key process within the ITIL framework because it defines the levels of service that the rest of the processes have to strive to deliver. It is primarily concerned with setting the goals for Service Management in conjunction with the customer community. The goals for SLM as stated by ITIL are:

The goal for SLM is to maintain and improve IT Service quality, through a constant cycle of agreeing, monitoring and reporting upon IT Service achievements and instigation of actions to eradicate poor service - in line with business or Cost justification. Through these methods, a better relationship between IT and its Customers can be developed.

Not a huge goal but every word is loaded with meaning. Often the expectations and aspirations of the business community regarding IT performance is their perception of the quality Service and Support rather than the scope of technology solutions available to them. To leave expectations as the yardstick is very dangerous. It is important to convert those expectations into realities and this is really what these goals are all about. Let us have a look at a breakdown of the goals.

SLM is to maintain IT Service quality -

Complacency is the enemy of us all especially when it comes to maintaining quality, true winners are never complacent. Before we can begin to improve the quality of IT services we must make sure that we have in place processes, working practices and metrics that will ensure that we continue to maintain the levels of service that we have agreed with our customers. That is what this element is stating.
1) Do you communicate regularly with your customers to check whether you are maintaining your levels of services?
2) Do you set service targets that are challenging?
3) Do you survey your customers often?

SLM is to improve IT Service quality -
Note that this element is not talking about new technologies but current technologies. So we maintain and improve not stay stagnant. Too often IT sets targets that are easy to hit and then congratulates itself every month when those targets are met. However if those targets are not 100% then those congratulations are not deserved. Even worse is that the figures have been hit so often that nobody cares any more they just go through the motions of producing and issuing the metrics. You must have a clear policy statement to improve the levels of quality if you want top meet this goal element.

Through a constant cycle of agreeing, monitoring and reporting upon IT Service achievements –
Agreeing, monitoring and reporting this element could not be clearer nor could it be much simpler. It is about constant communication with your customers to understand their technology requirements required to meet their business objectives. Too often the only communication between IT and its customers is when things go wrong, which is why so much conflict exists in many organizations. A relationship based on confrontation will always fail which is why this element is so important.

You cannot manage expectations but you can manage realities so it is important that the agreeing, monitoring and reporting be formalized to remove any confusion and provide a concrete base for future relationships.

Can you answer these three simple questions successfully?
1) Are you meeting regularly with your customers to agree, and document, service levels?
2) Do you then implement the necessary monitoring to measure those agreed service levels?
3) Do you then issue reports with recommendations and suggestions to ensure that any failures to the agreed levels of services are eliminated?

If you cannot a resounding yes to each of these questions then you’re not meeting these elements. Remember this should be a constant cycle of events not just a once a year visit. It is through this constant cycle that we create the information that drives the final two elements of these SLM goals so failure here is not acceptable.

Instigation of actions to eradicate poor service in line with business or Cost justification –
This element relates to the actions that we take as a result of agreeing, monitoring and reporting. To meet this element you will need a Service Improvement Program (SIP), normally run in conjunction with problem and availability management.

SIP components must also be in line with business or cost justification.

1) Are you meeting this goal element?
2) Do you make sure that you are constantly improving service in line with business or cost justification?
3) Do you have an active Service Improvement Program? Or do you only react when all else fails?

Through these methods, a better relationship between IT and its Customers can be developed –
This element is more of conclusion than anything else. If you are meeting all of the other elements in this goal then this last element will the natural result. When you have a good relationship between IT and its customers then you will have more contented staff and more interesting challenges. This element is the litmus test for all of the others in the SLM goals if you are meeting it then you are most likely to be meeting all the others.

Business alignment indicator –
The prime focus for SLM is business alignment but there is one point of alignment that needs to be discussed here to meet the SLM goals and that is Customer responsibility. Many of the items in an SLA or a Service Catalog can only succeed if the Customers fulfill their roles and responsibilities.

For example:
1) How can ITSM meet their Release plan commitments if the customer is not available as agreed in the plan?
2) How can ITSM solve Incidents if they are not reported? How can ITSM keep an accurate CMDB if customers do not report upgrades to their assets?

2007-11-01T12:40:00.000+05:30

What is ITIL?

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of best practices standards for information technology (IT) service management. The United Kingdom's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) created the ITIL in response to the growing dependence on information technology to meet business needs and goals. The ITIL provides businesses with a customizable framework of best practices to achieve quality service and overcome difficulties associated with the growth of IT systems. Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are two businesses that use ITIL as part of their own best practices frameworks.

The ITIL is organized into "sets" of texts which are defined by related functions: service support, service delivery, managerial, software support, computer operations, security management, and environmental. In addition to texts, which can be purchased online, ITIL services and products include training, qualifications, software tools, and user groups such as the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF).

While owned by the CCTA since the mid-1980s, the ITIL is currently maintained and developed by The National Exam Institute for Informatics (EXIN), a non-proprietary and non-profit organization based in the Netherlands.

Another generic definition is as under -

The ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) consists of 6 sets: Service Support; Service Delivery; Planning to Implement Service Management; ICT Infrastructure Management; Applications Management; The Business Perspective. Within these a variable number of very specific disciplies are described.

Although the UK Government actually created ITIL via the CCTA, it is rapidly being adopted across the world as the standard for best practice in the provision of IT Service. Although ITIL covers a number of areas, its main focus is certainly on IT Service Management (ITSM).

IT Service Management (ITSM) itself is generally divided into two main areas, Service Support and Service Delivery. Together, these two areas consist of 10 disciplines that are responsible for the provision and management of effective IT services.

Creating Unstoppable Momentum

2007-11-01T09:58:00.000+05:30

Our friend and career consultant, Bill Paxton, likes to say that there are three keys to creating unstoppable momentum in your life:

- Clarity
- Congruency
- Consistency

Clarity means discovering what you are designed to do. MAPP can help you do that by identifying your greatest motivations and talents. It also provides a list of careers that you are likely to find satisfying.

One of the greatest benefits of Clarity is having realistic expectations for yourself. For example, a Jeep and an Indy racer are both cars, but designed to do very different things. You wouldn’t expect a Jeep to be competitive in the Indianapolis 500. Nor would you expect the Indy racer to negotiate a logging trail. They are designed for different purposes. So too it is with people. Clarity allows you to have realistic expectations of what you can and can not do.

It’s one thing to know what you are designed to do. It’s another to do it. The main idea of Congruency is to align what you do with your MAPP.

When it comes to congruency, most of us are rather badly out of alignment. You may need to make some adjustments. Most will be incremental, but some may be radical, such as changing professions. The goal is to spend more time using your strengths. That’s where performance and satisfaction both peak.

Consistency means staying with it. Have you ever been caught in traffic in a large city? You accelerate as the light turns green, only to stop at the red light on the next corner. This pattern of starting and stopping repeats itself over and over as you make your way to your destination. It’s impossible to gain any momentum.

Careers can have momentum, too. Career momentum is achieved by practicing Clarity and Congruency over a long period of time. How long? Dr. Bernard Bloom of Northwestern University discovered that it takes between ten and eighteen years to achieve world-class performance in any career. You’ll never get there if you keep switching careers.

The secret to gaining momentum in your life is to do what you are designed to do over a long period of time.

IBM Solutions

2007-10-30T02:23:00.000+05:30

IBM offers a vast array of services. However, the following results have been filtered based on the "Business Consulting Area."

- Alliance - Oracle
- Alliance - SAP
- Alliance - Siebel Systems
- Contact center optimization
- CRM business transformation outsourcing
- Customer relationship management strategy
- Field service effectiveness
- IBM IT services for customer relationship management
- Marketing & customer intelligence
- Sales productivity

Find out more!

The largest personal growth eBooks Library in the WORLD

2007-10-26T09:26:00.000+05:30

Find out the largest personal growth eBook Library in the World. eBooks on subjects ranging from persistence and abundance to self-esteem and thepower of your sub-conscious.

http://www.asamanthinketh.net/ebooklibrary.htm

BEA Solutions

2007-10-23T12:17:00.000+05:30

BEA Solutions:
BEA works closely with market leaders to deliver solution frameworks that leverage BEA's award-winning enterprise software foundation and allow Global Fortune 500 companies to deploy a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) for competitive advantage.BEA has following solutions offerings -

- Industry Solutions
- Business Solutions
- Technology Solutions
- SOA Resource Center
- Technology Resource Centers

Find out more!

Goal Genie

2007-10-20T09:30:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends,

If you’re tired of setting goals year after year and just can’t seem to reach them…

“Here’s How You Can Achieve Virtually Any Goal You Want in 2007, Even If You’ve Failed At Every Goal You’ve Ever Set”

You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to become ten times more successful than you’ve ever been by using a simple step-by-step process that thousands have already used to start their own business, triple their income, eliminate debt, lose weight and more.

Just visit Goal Setting Solutions for 2007 and watch yourself achieving the impossible through sustained efforts and a little guidance from the experts like Bob Proctor, Jim Rohn, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley and the likes.

Haht Solutions

2007-10-18T12:07:00.000+05:30

GXS or Haht offers solutions across the following different market segments
- Community Solutions
- Small & Medium Business
- Cost Reduction Solutions
- Value Chain Solutions

Find out more!

Achieving Excellence

2007-10-14T18:23:00.000+05:30

Every now and then you encounter someone who demonstrates excellence on the job. It might be an exceptional waitress who anticipates your every need Or a manager who generatesboth high performance and loyalty in his teams. It could be ateacher with a knack for unlocking the desire to learn in eachstudent. Excellence, true excellence, is something we prizebut seldom see. It’s a joy to encounter someone who is trulyexcellent at what they do. Why is that so rare? Moreimportantly, how can you become known as a man or woman whoconsistently demonstrates excellence?

One comment that is heard time and again about those who demonstrateexcellence is, "He/she is a natural at it." They don’t seem tostruggle to be excellent; it just flows. That is always a sign ofmotivation, and therein lies the first key: Motivation is requiredfor excellence.

Motivation is what we like to do naturally. It’s like being rightor left-handed. We don’t even think about it. We just write. Thesame is true for people known for excellence. They have a group ofmotivations that work in concert to help them perform at a higherlevel. Like all motivations, these were inborn and are as much apart of them as being blue-eyed or tall.

But there is a second key: Motivation can be developed. People whodemonstrate excellence have identified their motivations and workedhard to develop them. They have added knowledge, skill, experienceand practice to consistently produce at the highest levels.

By the way, there is a flip side to these two keys, and it isthis: The best we can be with low motivation is adequate. Nomatter how hard we work and desire it, in the long run we willnever be excellent at something without high levels of motivationin that area. In other words, if we toil in areas where we have lowmotivation, we resign ourselves to mediocrity.

Who wants to be mediocre? Who wants to be known as "adequate?"Wouldn’t you rather have a shot at excellence? The first step tounlocking your excellence is to know what you do well naturally.What are your motivations?

Avoiding Burnout

2007-10-11T18:38:00.000+05:30

In some ways it was a typical breakfast meeting. The waitresswas pleasant, the eggs were average, and the restaurant was fullof busy people. We shared a cup of black, coffee-like substance,and the first few times my client took a sip he managed to spillquite a bit of it. His trembling hand was just one of the symptomsof his burnout. That’s why we were meeting. He wanted to know if Icould help him.

I picked up a fork and explained that as long as I used it for eating,the fork would last indefinitely. However, if I began to use it todrive nails or dig trenches, it would soon break. The key was to useit for what it was designed to do.

The look in his eyes told me he got it, but I still went on to say thatpeople are like the fork. When they do what they are not designed to do,they eventually break.

Sure enough, his MAPP showed that he was designed to work on projectswhere there was a definite goal. He derived immense satisfaction fromreaching goals. He also needed to work by himself about half thetime. He was a scientist and enjoyed lab time, doing calculations,and interpreting test results.

What his job required on a day-to-day basis was another story. Hisprimary task was to supervise a dozen people and maintain operations.No goals. No projects. No time alone. Consequently, his job wassucking the life out of him.

Much credit for his recovery goes to his boss who was willing to changethe job content to fit the design of a valuable employee.

So how do you know if you, a loved one, or someone who reports to youis suffering from burnout? Here are the early warning signs.

1. chronic fatigue - exhaustion, tiredness, a sense of being physically run down

2. anger at those making demands

3. self-criticism for putting up with the demands

4. cynicism, negativity, and irritability

5. a sense of being besieged

6. exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things

7. frequent headaches and gastrointestinal disturbances

8. weight loss or gain

9. sleeplessness and depression

10. shortness of breath

11. suspiciousness

12. feelings of helplessness

13. increased degree of risk taking

ClickCommerce Solutions

2007-10-09T00:00:00.000+05:30

ClickCommerce offers solutions across following disciplines -
- Sales and Order Management Solutions
- Supply Chain Management Solutions
- Service Parts Optimization Solutions
- Compliance Automation Solutions
- Research and HealthCare Solutions

It caters to following industries -
- Aerospace and Defense
- Commercial Aviation
- Contract Repair
- Financial Services
- Healthcare and Higher Education
- High-Tech
- Manufacturing
- Retail
- Suppliers to Retail

It also offers following services -
- Needs Analysis
- System Deployment
- Hosting & Managed Services
- Training

Find out more!

Relationship between Motivation and Talent

2007-10-05T18:46:00.000+05:30

Hydrogen and oxygen are distinctly different elements,but sometimes they combine to form water. Something similaris true for motivation and talent.

Motivation is what we LIKE to do naturally. Talent is whatwe DO well naturally. They can exist independently, but whenthey combine, they create something special. They createmotivated talents.

People often are naturally good at something (talented), but itjust doesn’t turn them on. For example, Heather is good withnumbers, but she doesn’t go out of her way to find tasks callingfor that talent. Most people have such talents. But then thereare those talents that we really enjoy using.

These are the motivated talents, and this is where the magic is.

We use motivated talents every chance we get. Most of the timewe don’t even think about it. For example, Larry has a motivated talent for conversation, and he naturally engages both friends andstrangers in dialog. He doesn’t consciously determine to do so;it just happens. It’s natural and unforced. He enjoys it, andhe’s good at it. That’s the hallmark of a motivated talent.

Motivated talents tend to be irrepressible. They find expression.In fact, if you’ve ever tried to stifle a motivated talent (eitheryours or someone else’s) it probably felt like you were tryingto hold two dozen ping pong balls under water at the same time.Motivated talents pop out, even if no one else is asking for them.And doesn’t that make sense? After all, it’s what we do wellAND enjoy.

Well then, wouldn’t the ideal job be one where you can use yourmotivated talents daily and get paid for it? Absolutely! Butmore on that later.

What are your natural motivations? Shouldn’t your boss know? Think about it!!!

Comergent Channel Management Solutions

2007-10-03T11:59:00.000+05:30

The Comergent E-Business System™ provides your organization with a single enterprise e-commerce solution to support all the ways you sell. The system includes a complete suite of applications to automate the three foundational enterprise e-commerce areas:

- Product Information Management
- Configuration, Pricing, and Quoting
- Order Management

The Comergent solution helps increase your revenue and profit by streamlining all your selling and ordering processes.

Deployed on a very flexible service-oriented architecture, the Comergent enterprise e-commerce solution provides intuitive "out-of-the-box" applications designed to automate, control, and give you visibility across all the ways you conduct commerce.

Benefits:
- Making it easier for your customers and partners to do business with you
- Eliminating configuration and quoting errors
- Increasing selling and ordering efficiencies
- Enabling you to attack new markets with lower risk and expense
- Increasing average sales price
- Integrating selling practices among partners and suppliers to increase productivity

Find out more!

e-Commerce Solutions by Blue Martini

2007-09-30T23:50:00.000+05:30

Blue Martini Software provides sales optimization systems that increase same-store sales, boost e-commerce revenue and drive customer loyalty across every channel, in any language.

Blue Martini applications include:

- Commerce
- Catalog and Content Management
- Contact Center
- Guided Selling
- Clienteling
- Relationship Marketing
- Business Intelligence and Reporting

Business users can easily manage websites, catalogs, dialogs, content, reports, and campaigns in multiple locales. Developers can build upon packaged functionality. The system is scalable, supports open standards, and is structured to integrate with other applications.

Blue Martini offers flexible delivery options to its customers. All of our applications can be licensed and deployed as an on-premise solution by a customer. In addition, selected modules can also be deployed in either a hosted or an on-demand model.

Find out what are the Implementations Choices available.

Finding satisfying work

2007-09-29T09:33:00.000+05:30

Do you find asking these questions to yourself quite often? Then read on...

Do you long for meaningful work?
Are you bored?
Are you feeling drained?
Are you restless and don’t know why?
Do you feel like you are just putting in your time at work?

The solution is Alignment, and there are three steps:

1. Discover what you are designed to do.
2. Do it.
3. Minimize everything else.

The idea is to align your work with your natural motivations and talents. Imagine what it would be like to do what you enjoy and are good at, in a compelling environment, working with interesting subject matter, and relating to others in a comfortable way. Can you picture what life would be like? Do you get a sense of how productive and energized you would be?

Too good to be true? No. But it does not happen overnight. Let’s take a look at the steps involved.

1. Discover what you are designed to do.
This is what MAPP helps you do. It pinpoints your motivations and their corresponding talents. This is good news, because most people can not articulate what it is they are designed to do.

2. Do it.
It’s all about Alignment. Align your work with your MAPP. Begin to make adjustments that will allow you to do what you are designed to do. Some changes will be incremental, and some may be radical. The idea is to spend more of your time using your strengths. That is where your performance and satisfaction both peak.

The natural place to begin is with your job. Once you are familiar with your MAPP ask yourself:

What have you learned about why you do, or don’t do, certain things at work?
Which of your responsibilities draw upon your most motivated talents?
Which of your highest motivations are rarely used?
Which of your responsibilities call upon your lesser talents? What can you do about this?
How does your job fit your preferred way of relating to others?
Are the circumstances that motivate you present?
Given your unique design, is there a position in your company that is a better fit than your current one? If so, what do you need to do to prepare for it?
If you are feeling drained or burned out, which areas are out of alignment?
If you feel you are in the wrong company or profession, what can you do about it?

Once you have resolved the questions above, it is time to share your motivations and talents with your boss. Include some examples or stories to illustrate them.

This is one of the most critical career moves you can make. That’s because if you and your boss talk regularly about your MAPP, you greatly increase the likelihood that:
a) He or she will have realistic expectations of you.
b) You will get assignments that play to your strengths.
c) Together you will decide how to handle tasks that call on your minor talents. Identify areas where training/experience/mentoring will be most helpful. You will be able to spot opportunities and positions that are a good fit for you.

3. Minimize everything else
You are designed to do something, but not everything. A fork is designed to help us eat, and we do not expect it to be any good at driving nails. The same is true for you. You are designed to do something, but not everything. Let yourself off the hook a little. Do not spend too much time working on areas of low talent.

What if you must work in areas of low talent? You have some options.
First, you can admit that you will never win the Nobel Prize in that area. Have honest expectations of your performance.

Two, see if you can create some type of system to help you. For instance, a man with low talent for time management found that using a Palm Pilot was very helpful.

Third, partner with someone who has high talent in that area.

This does not mean that anything that falls outside of your MAPP can be shirked. We all have to do things we do not enjoy from time to time. We have responsibilities and duties that must be honored.

What it does mean is that we need to have realistic expectations of ourselves. The idea that everyone can be a well-rounded person, a Renaissance man or woman, is a myth. There are a few exceptionally gifted people in this world. The wise person knows he or she has limitations.

e-Commerce Solutions by Vignette

2007-09-27T11:41:00.000+05:30

Vendors may sell products, but businesses need solutions. That's why we went to great lengths to identify the important issues facing businesses today and developed a series of solutions that address these needs.

You may have heard that Vignette offers best-of-breed software designed to help you quickly deploy and efficiently manage advanced Web-based applications and corporate information. What you may not know is how well we blend content management, document and records management, imaging, portal, integration and collaboration capabilities to implement integrated solutions that deliver measurable business benefits—quickly and cost-effectively. But over two thousand enterprise clients know. They make up half of the world's top financial services organizations, government, computer, networking, semiconductor, securities and telecommunications companies, as well as 10 of the world's top 20 brands.

Find out more!

e-Commerce Solutions offered by ATG

2007-09-24T23:37:00.000+05:30

Whether they are making an investment, buying a new computer, shopping for clothes, or booking travel, consumers expect a relevant and compelling online experience. As competition in online sectors – including banking, insurance, investment, retail, telecommunication, travel, hospitality, media, entertainment and others – increases, and as consumers demand an ever more satisfying online experience, companies in all these sectors are looking for new ways to maximize their e-business success.

Only ATG's solutions for e-sales will give your customers a consistent, integrated, multi-channel e-shopping experience; help you solve your most pressing online sales challenges; and enable you to strengthen your customer relationships to sustain their long-term satisfaction and loyalty.

ATG has helped companies including A&E Television Network, Best Buy, Bookspan, Hyatt International, InterContinental Hotels Group, Kodak, Lladro, Neiman Marcus, Smith and Hawken, and Walgreen Company increase revenue, reduce transaction abandonment and decrease costs.

Find out more!