Thursday, September 15, 2005

What are RSS feed readers

Reading News and Blogs via Really Simple Syndication - Spam Free

Most of us keep a mental list of our favorite Web sites--perhaps 5 to 10 destinations that we swing by every day. But usually only a few of them contain new stories that are worth reading immediately, so a habit of loading and scanning each of these sites daily can waste a lot of time. If you can't afford to miss out on the latest news, are having a hard time managing the deluge of information you receive via e-mail, or simply want a more convenient way to manage and control your online news and information, RSS feeds may be the next best thing for you. Email newsletters are great, but spam is not. The deluge of junk mail has made it increasingly painful to follow the news and what's happening on your favorite web sites via email.

Either the newsletter you're eager to read can be hidden in a massive spam attack or it does not arrive because your ISP is blocking spam and your favorite newsletter falls victim to the filters, too (now you know why a "false positive" is something negative).

RSS Feeds as an Alternative to Email Newsletters

Fortunately, there is an alternative way to subscribe to the web sites and blogs you visit regularly: RSS. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary (of course, the acronym can be explained in many other creative ways), and it allows you to "syndicate" news summaries from web sites. Along with breaking-news headlines from online versions of publications, feeds can deliver everything from Weblogs and weather alerts. Feeds arrive in various formats, but the most common are RSS and a new standard called Atom that expands on the capabilities of RSS. Both can be read by most available readers.

You can use these syndicated RSS "feeds" to display the latest news from major newspapers, for example, on your own web site or read them on other sites collecting these feeds. Using very simple, easy-to-use, free or low-cost software called an RSS reader, Also called "RSS aggregators," RSS readers are one of the biggest new categories of software in recent memory. A quick online search will find more than 50 programs designed to scan subscription news feeds, and each one works a little differently than the others. Some are stand-alone applications; others plug into your e-mail client or your Web browser; and still others act as Web services, permitting you to access them from any browser. The type that will suit you best depends on your work style. You can have all the latest headlines on topics you choose delivered to your desktop for free. You can even choose the source. When your reader displays a headline of interest, click the headline and you'll be whisked to the source Web site for the full story. And there is NO SPAM. With RSS you no longer have to visit your favorite Web sites to check for new updates--you simply open up your reader and see all the headlines from all your selected sources in a matter of seconds.

Where do I get a RSS reader

New RSS readers are being developed every day. Here is a list of some of them


Using RSS Feeds

Subscribing to an RSS feed is easy.

  1. Look for a little orange XML icon on your favorite news site or blog, telling you to "syndicate this site".
  2. Copy the feed's URL (it will usually end in .xml, .rdf or .rss).
  3. Paste it in your RSS feed reader.
  4. Now let the feed reader do its aggregating work, and enjoy the news.
Should you ever encounter "Atom" or "web" feeds instead of "RSS" feeds, do not let that confuse you. Essentially, they are all the same, just different names and slightly different protocols for the same functionality. Your RSS feed reader should be able to use either version just fine.

RSS and Your Email Program

While dedicated programs to read RSS feeds are developed, have you noticed how the most useful borrow much of the interface and functionality known from your email program? Before long, more and more email programs and web-based email services will be able to read RSS news. Mozilla Thunderbird, for example, integrates RSS feeds nicely and seamlessly, and NewsGator turns Outlook into a capable aggregator. Email clients are the natural environment for Usenet news, email and RSS feeds. These methods of following news are strikingly similar, and aggregating them all in the same powerful program has many benefits.

Which feeds do I need

Every reader includes a list of sites to get you started--sometimes hundreds of them, usually organized into categories like the sections of a newspaper. Here are some places where you can find more news feeds

Most websites now a days provide a RSS link so you can go to your favorite website & locate and copy the link into your RSS reader J Happy surfing

Monday, September 12, 2005

Why has my computer performance dropped?

When your hard drive works overtime just to send out a two-line e-mail. When the start-up process takes three times longer than it did the day you first bought your computer. When you shut down your PC, you can run down the street to get your latte and get back home before the machine finishes winding down. When you feel that your computer is ready to be put out to pasture, you’re likely to ask yourself: What the heck happened? Where did I go wrong? Don’t let a hardware vendor convince you that your hard drive has suddenly gone bad or that your computer processing chip has gotten too old and cranky. They want you to buy a new machine every year. The truth is, you probably don’t need what these guys are selling. You just need
a little experience, some cleaning up insight.
Our PCs are like our houses: benign neglect usually leads to problems like leaky roofs and clogged drains. Through a combination of internal factors (forgetting to back up your hard drive, not closely watching what gets installed, subscribing to too many e-mail newsletters, and so on) and external factors (spam, viruses, and poorly programmed software), our PCs get really fouled up. Files get plastered all over like clothes in a teenager’s bedroom, the Registry (the place where information about your files is stored) starts get clogged up, and your hard drive can barely support what’s currently installed on it.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why your computer has gotten so fouled up. After all, every user’s experience is a little different. “Getting fouled up” involves a combination of many factors. After a while, with normal wear and tear, every computer will start to slow down. The hard drive spins longer, programs take longer to load, programs crash more frequently, and in general a PC becomes harder to use.

Files Are Saved All over the Hard Drive
Novice users, and even some savvy ones, will have document files, downloaded files, and other programs saved in many different places on their hard drive. This happens all the time. For example, the program used to open an attachment from Outlook or Outlook Express stores a copy of the file in a temporary directory in your Windows directory system. If you don’t resave the file in your 'My Documents' or other designated document folder, the document will remain
in the temporary directory. This is an example of ‘gunk’. Other users will also casually save stuff to their desktop or the C: root directory of their drive without giving it any further thought. Files received from IM (Instant Message) services usually end up in completely different directories.
The point to all of this is that, if you don’t pay attention to where your files are going, you could end up with a situation in which you easily jam up your hard drive with a lot of data you don’t need or even know how to find again. Moral of the story is save your files in designated location, it removes clutter & eases retrieval. Don’t save data on the same drive as your s/w installation.

Temporary Files are not Always So Temporary
Windows has a fascination with temporary files. The problem is that when computers crash or files are improperly saved, temp files like to stay around and gunk up your system. It’s like temporary tax hikes—they somehow become permanent fixtures.
The result is that you can find hundreds, if not thousands, of files stuck in obscure places, with obscure filenames, throughout your hard drive. To make matters worse, some of these files can’t even be located unless you really understand how to find them. Getting these files off your hard drive is not always easy.
Of course, there are automated utilities that locate and delete your temporary files, but they don’t typically clean out all of the files. In some cases, you have to resort to some hand cleaning to get rid of all of the temporary files you don’t need on your hard drive. Thus, it helps to know where they hide and how they get there in the first place. Moral of the story is Use the ‘Disk Cleanup’ option in ‘System Tools’. Clean up ‘Temporary Internet Files’ thru ur browser.

Spam, Spam, and more Spam!
Spam is the bane of anyone with an e-mail account. We all hate spam. Spam is like weeds in our gardens. The more we try to get rid of it, the faster it comes back. Eventually, it overwhelms us one way or the other. We end up with e-mail repositories teaming with irrelevant files, adding to a bloated hard drive, one that is slow to respond to searches, deletions, sorts, and more.
You might have convinced yourself that there is nothing you can do about spam. Many users simply throw in the towel when it comes to spam, and some spend up to 30 minutes or more per day sorting through their e-mail and deleting their spam. If you take a more proactive approach by using different e-mail addresses, setting up spam filters, using different e-mail clients, and avoiding activities that trigger spam in the first place, you could save a lot of time. Moral of the story is spam killer tools like ‘Mailwasher’ can be used (http://www.firetrust.com)

Installing Too Many Programs
We are all guilty of this sin. You hear about some cool utility or you need a neat game to keep the kids occupied. Worse yet, your kids find 18 games to keep themselves occupied. You download a couple of media programs, 5 instant messaging systems, and more. Caught you! Remember the 50 screensavers you’re downloaded over the last one-year? Maybe, if you’re lucky, you uninstalled some of them. The problem is, your idea of uninstalling them was to drag them into the trash and ignore the warnings that these were installed programs. Windows technically still thinks you have them.
When you install a program, you’re doing more than just copying files to the hard drive. Programs can make physical changes to the Windows operating system, including something called the Registry, which is sort of like a street map or rulebook on how programs work in Windows. Gum up your Registry and it can be like driving in Mumbai city without the traffic lights working.
Moral of the story is periodically sift thru your saved files to delete unwanted files. Use s/w’s available that can remove irrelevant entries in your registry & orphan ole files.(Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum Suite)

Your Menu System Is Overrun
As you add and remove programs, they each tend to add program icons to your
Start menu. Eventually, given enough time and lack of upkeep, you’ll end up
with tons of separate folder entries on the Start menu making it unmanageable. Worse yet, some of the icons might not even work anymore. Your system is probably still functional, but you can make Windows quicker to load and easier to use by cleaning up the Start menu

Your Desktop Is Overrun with Icons
Does your Desktop look cluttered? A bloated Desktop is similar to the Start menu problem just discussed, and it can be even worse because not only are some program icons put on the Desktop when programs are installed, but users often put other junk on their Desktop as well. The result is a Desktop that looks like it
contains the contents of your entire drive. Moral of the story is NEVER save files on your desktop or retain unwanted or rarely used icons on the desktop, this slows down the start up & overall performance of your PC.

Fragmented Hard Drive
As a computer utilizes its hard drive, it stores programs and files in bits and pieces all over the place. Big data files and large programs aren’t stored in one contiguous stretch; they are stored hopscotch style, with apiece here and apiece there. As a result, the reader on your hard drive has to physically move back and forth multiple times to read the data in one file. This slows down the hard drive and causes more wear and tear on it. And the more wear and tear on your hard drive, the higher the likelihood that it will crash, misbehave, or wear out more quickly. Users, who install and uninstall lots of programs, create and delete lots of files, and construct large e-mail files (and don’t delete them when they should) can suffer from this disk access problem. By optimizing the hard drive correctly, you can speed things up and keep your machine running better and longer. Moral of the story is use the ‘Disk Defragmenter’ option in ‘System Tools’ or use a s/w to do this job.

Low Hard Drive Space
Windows often utilizes the hard drive to keep it running and perform basic tasks—not just for temporary files that speed Web surfing. Windows also uses the hard drive to serve as an extension of working memory and to perform other core operating system functions. Thus, if you’re hard drive runs very low on disk space, you can create a problem that causes Windows to crash more Frequently or slow waaaaay down. This is less of a problem nowadays because
more people have machines with gigantic hard drives and loads of memory.
However, by increasing the number of video files, music files, big Internet downloads, and digital photographs they store, people are filling up their hard drives much faster and they aren’t keeping up with their cleaning and organization tasks. Laptops and notebooks fall victim to this a lot because they tend to have smaller hard drives. By learning to keep only what you need on your drive, organize what you do keep, and clear out files expertly, you can ensure that you don’t fall victim to the dreaded “low hard drive space” syndrome. This too slows down the performance of your PC as the OS does not get enough ‘virtual memory’ space

Unorganized Data Files
Some people put their files all over the place. There are a few people who at
least put files in a few core folders. But wouldn’t it be nice if you not only had
your data files in the right folders, but you also named them correctly? While
you are at it, you could even get rid of duplicate files, making folders easier to
search, and get rid of files you don’t need anymore. How easy is it for you to find that great sunset photo from two years ago when most of your photos have filenames like SNR062500b.jpg?
Our computers flooded with new files all the time. We’re not just dealing with word processing documents and a few spreadsheets anymore. We’re downloading MP3 files for music; we’re ripping our CD collection to the hard drive; we’re taking hundreds of digital photos and videos; we’re adding PDF’s and PowerPoint slides, JPEG’s and GIF’s, and Photoshop
collages.

Unorganized Web Favorites
If you surf the Web a lot, you probably have a long list of bookmarks or Web
Favorites. Chances are that you’ve discovered a quick key for saving Web Favorites (Ctrl+D in Internet Explorer), so you may have a long list of Web
Favorites Moral of the story is periodically go thru your bookmarks & remove redundant entries. Also u can take a backup on sites like www.mybookmarks.com also it can be accessed anywhere thru the net.

Spyware Boogieman
Spyware is a catchall name for products that, once installed, essentially report back information on your Web surfing habits or help bombard you with pop-up ads and other advertising. Spyware has also become synonymous with installed programs that don’t show up in your installed programs directory. This makes them hard to find, hard to deal with, and, worst of all, hard to uninstall. In truth, some spyware maybe harmless—it might not raid your hard drive or report the balance of your bank account to hackers. However, these programs can sometimes eat up available memory or resources and slow down your machine. They can also interfere with other programs. Therefore, you might want to get rid of them. Try using free s/w like ‘Spybot search & destroy’

The Dreaded Cookie Monster
Cookies are not programs. They’re basically tiny pieces of text data that Web sites place in a special directory on your machine. For example, a site like Yahoo! might place a small cookie on your machine with the contents “xu44$@dncsdlk3,” which is a unique string of characters that it uses to recognize your computer. Unless you log in to Yahoo!, that string doesn’t serve any purpose; it is used only by Yahoo! to recognize you when you visit their site. Cookies can also store more specific data, such as the date of your last visit.
Overall, Cookies are usually fairly harmless. They usually eat up only 1K to 2K of hard drive space, and they usually don’t give a site much information other than that you have visited before. However, many people like to get rid of them because, after a while, you can have a few thousand of them, and about 99 percent of them are useless. In addition, if you ever accidentally stumble onto a gambling or porn site, you might find cookies from them on your machine, which can be disconcerting for some people. Imagine searching for all text files on your machine and seeing a small 1K file named cookie:www.tripleXfunland.net.txt . Some people set their browsers to avoid accepting cookies altogether, but some very legitimate sites use cookies to make your experience better and more customized. (Ever wonder how Amazon recognizes you when you visit? Cookies.)
Disabling cookies can sometimes lead you to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. It’s your call, and in the end, you’ll probably accept cookies, so it is worthwhile to know how to clean them out by hand.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

My Splendor !!!!

Right at the outset let me tell the reader that I before I bought a bike, I had driven a car for around 23 yrs (and not the other way around). I say this so that one gets the correct perspective of my opinion or u can call it prejudice as I am used to the facilities available on cars & would like to see @ least some of them on 2 wheelers.

I bought a bike, as I cannot take our family bus to all locations in Mumbai coz of parking space constraints. Also I am a certified ANc (Automobile Nutcase) J who is extremely fussy about my automobiles.

I bought a Splendor (from Fort Point in Mumbai) as I wanted a 4 stoke bike, around 100 cc & in 2001 this was the only one that fitted the bill. I was advised against the Bajaj 100cc bike at that time. There weren?t too many of them in Mumbai (Bajaj 100cc).

Now for the Splendor talk. I had read a lot of rah rah rah about the GREAT quality of the Hero Honda bikes so when I took delivery of my bike, I was quite disappointed. In fact I would equate the quality of my 2001 Splendor bike with the quality of our 1978 Ambassador car my dad bought. Now do u get the picture.

I took delivery of my bike in June by the end of that month there were showers in Mumbai & hey presto there was corrosion @ all the weld joints as well in the chrome plated parts !!!!!!!.

I was disappointed but this is India and this is what one gets around here. So all u can do is find a solution for this problem. (More of that later)

This bike has a good engine, which has been relatively trouble free till now (2004) except for the odd tuning. Other problems I had were not the fault of Hero Honda eg rat chewing up the spark plug cable, petrol pipe cut to steal petrol etc. It has a good pick up (This is a single user/load bike) good for the city.

To get good mileage the quality of petrol is important which can be dicey in Mumbai (It’s true) I now use IOC xtra premium petrol and I get a good average around 70 - 85 kms. I am no speednik & ride between 40 - 55 kmh at a steady pace. If I use 93 Oct petrol I get better mileage, but for some reason the tappet adjustment goes off spec so I have to repeatedly go to Fort Point for adjustments who’s service is between OK to average, but one has to be patient.

The electricals of this bike are a BIG disappointment.

The headlight is very poor even for city use also in circa 2001 I was shocked to see that the headlight becomes dim/bright according to the rpm of the engine just like a Bajaj scooter from the ‘60s even though it has a alternator!!!!!!! The switches on the handle bar are just about average & there is no auto canceling for the signal & no headlight flasher switch. I consider this absence as criminal Many 2 wheelers of that vintage have it so why not the GREAT leader.

The MRF tyres I have, have a good reputation as long lasting, but that’s @ the cost of having less grip especially on the new concrete roads in Mumbai. I have found that if I inflate the rear tyre for a pillion rider & I happen to be riding alone, I have found that the rear tyre skids often on braking, so I always inflate for single rider use (which is what it always is in my case). I would like to hear from other users on this issue
On the issue of the seat I have read many complaints, & they are all true.

There is a major security problem with Splendor steering locks. I read on www.mouthshut.com that there is a lot of commonality in the keys of some bikes. What it means is that some else’s keys could open ur bike lock, so a lock on the front fork may be a good idea. After reading it I got my friends together to check & we all got a shock to find keys opening each others bikes !!!!!!!!!!!!. This may true with other bike too.
Also at 3885 kms the speedo cable gave up its ghost even though its serviced every 2 months @ FORTPOINT. I have a AMC with them from the second year itself, I suppose that tells how well they service the bike.

Now to get back to the solutions I have devised regarding the corrosion. Please don’t laugh it works and I use it. I selected a black bike so I could do all the minor touch up by myself. Since I wash the bike myself I constantly keep a close watch for new spots of corrosion. Under the seat inspection is carried out before & after the monsoon. If possible the rust is sand papered away (difficult @ the joints) if u can’t do that no worry and then I apply Touchwood made by Asian paints. It’s a transparent polyurethane paint meant for wood finish after its dry I then apply the black paint, this has solved my rust problem. I have even applied it on the chrome plated saree guard but here one may have to re apply, as it tends to flake off due to the sunlight.

For the chrome plate wheels, before the monsoon I apply a thin film of car polish on the chrome plated wheels and let it dry DO NOT WIPE OFF. This should stop corrosion on the wheels; this may require touch up during the course of the monsoon. A word of warning it will accumulate dirt and wont be a pretty sight. That’s something u will have to forgo during the monsoon unless u want to remove all of it & reapply it again.

I even apply car polish to the chrome plated handle bar during the monsoon, which is under a riding cover.
Also while on the topic of car polish, u can shine up the matt finish fiber parts like the mirror, the fiber switch console on the handle bar and rear mudguard below the rear number plate. It will improve its look and protect it from the strong sunlight. So overall a good bike, which has it own foibles but what does not have it. Would recommend it for a person who wants a stingy bike with no great show & great resale value (in case want to sell it) If you are on a budget go for Bajaj 100cc AT (new model). Also have a close look @ the new Bajaj ’Discover’.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Configure Firefox's settings to strengthen security

Of late there have been so many, reported security vulnerabilities in the media, that set me thinking of an alternate to my IE 6, the Mozilla-based Firefox browser appears to be one such.

Firefox's default installation seems pretty secure. But as, the number of Firefox users continues to increase, and such popularity often spells more attention from attackers. With so many people using Firefox, it's a good idea to try & secure yourself while on the internet using Firefox.

Let's go thru Firefox's Options window (which you can access by going to Tools | Options) and look at some tweaks you can make to boost the security of the browser. Please remember that all of these suggested settings assume that the user login is for a single user and not shared among multiple users.

Privacy

History: This setting is self-explanatory. All you need to do is set it to a reasonable number of days. The default is nine days. You can keep it @ 1 or 2 days J

Saved Form Information: This is a handy feature for all single-user profiles; it lets the browser remember what you've typed in the past and automatically make suggestions. It's safe to enable the feature.

Saved Passwords: This setting is a bit controversial. You tell users to remember passwords—should you allow their browsers to remember passwords as well? My personal preference is NEVER save passwords on ANY machine.

Download Manager History: There's no need to keep track of all of your downloads, so I suggest setting it to Remove Files From The Download Manager When Firefox Exits.

Cookies: Another controversial subject. I recommend selecting Allow Sites To Set Cookies and choosing For The Originating Web Site Only. In addition, select the Until I Close Firefox option for how long the browser should store the cookies. With this last option, cookies only help you browse while you're using the machine, but they don't provide endless browsing habit information to cookie vendors.

Cache: For this setting, decide on a reasonable amount of disk space. (Depends on the size of ur HDD)

Web Features

Block Popup Windows: I suggest selecting this check box—it's a feature every browser should have. Remember when u r on a broadband scheme for which u pay for the downloaded material every 2 bit pix or graphic coming onto ur machine adds to ur outflow L

Allow Web Sites To Install Software: Go ahead and select this check box. When you allow a site to install software, Firefox will add it to the Allowed Sites list. (Be choosy of the stuff u download)

Load Images: Select both this check box and the For The Originating Web Site Only check box. You can always go back and specifically allow or block individual sites.

Enable Java: Select this check box.

Enable JavaScript: Select this check box; clicking the Advanced button opens the Advanced JavaScript Options window.

Downloads

Download Folder: I suggest creating a Downloads folder for storing all of your downloads. This makes it easier to scan your downloads once you're finished.

Download Manager: I recommend selecting both check boxes: Show Download Manager Window When A Download Begins and Close The Download Manager When All Downloads Are Complete.

File Types: I wouldn't allow any Microsoft product to perform any action automatically—that's likely one of the reasons you're using the Firefox browser.

Advanced

Accessibility, Browsing, and Tabbed Browsing: All three areas are functional and involve no security issues.

Software Update: Select the Firefox check box, which allows the browser to update itself. I recommend not selecting the My Extensions And Themes check box to allow for updates.

Security: To provide maximum cross-site functionality, I suggest selecting all three check boxes: Use SSL 2.0, Use SSL 3.0, and Use TLS 1.0.

Certificates: Under Client Certificate Selection, select the Ask Every Time check box, which focuses user attention to the start of a secure session.

Validation: Under OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol), select the Use OCSP To Validate Only Certificates That Specify An OCSP Service URL option.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Ink jet printers

With so many low cost printers available in India, high-image quality, and ease of use, inkjet printers have become the standard for many small and home offices. Indeed, when color printing is needed, in small quantities, an ink jet printer is the only option as laser color printers are still out of reach for most SOHO and for home users.

The inkjet printing process

So how does the printing process work? Inkjet printers have many of the same components as laser printers, but they function completely differently. Like a laser printer, an inkjet printer contains a system board that controls the printing process by translating instructions from the computer into a rendering. However, unlike a laser printer, an inkjet printer isn’t nearly as dependent on memory. Few may know that a laser printer requires that an entire page be spooled to memory before the printing process can begin. Some inkjet printers contain memory, but the memory is provided primarily as a timesaving feature. Once the computer has spooled an entire document to a printer, it’s free to work on something else. Therefore, because the spooling process is faster than the printing process, most inkjet printers have a print buffer that allows a computer to spool at least a page or two to the printer. Unlike laser printers, inkjet printers don’t have to wait for a page to be completely spooled before they can begin printing it.

It's all in the jets

The biggest difference between inkjet printers and laser printers is the inkjet's print head. An inkjet printer's print head contains nozzles that squirt ink onto the paper. These nozzles are thinner than a human hair, allowing very small dots to be printed. Placing these dots extremely close together produces very sharp images.

Another advantage to having such small dots is that it allows for great color reproduction. As you may know, inkjet printers typically contain a black ink cartridge and a (sometimes more) color ink cartridge with three colors of ink. By using these four different inks in the right combinations, any color can be created. For example, placing a series of yellow and blue dots extremely close together gives the illusion of printing in green. However, if you look at a page from an inkjet printer under a magnifying glass, you can see that the majority of the colors are artificially produced.

Connecting the dots

The actual printing process works by using stepper motors to control the print head’s position along a stabilizer bar. As the print head slides back and forth along this bar, dots of ink are placed on the paper below. When the printer produces a line of dots, the printer uses rollers to slightly advance the paper to make room for the next roll of dots. So how does the printer create these dots? There are two basic printing methods used by inkjet printers, thermal bubble and piezo electric.

1. Thermal bubble printers

The thermal bubble method is frequently used by Hewlett-Packard and Canon printers. The idea behind this method is that the printer runs an electrical current through tiny resistors to produce heat. The on and off pattern of this current is controlled by the printer’s system board in response to the instructions that the computer sends to the printer. The heat vaporizes just enough ink to create a bubble. As the ink bubble expands, it pushes a small amount of ink out of one of the printer’s nozzles. When the bubble eventually pops, the popping creates a vacuum, which causes more ink to be sucked from the print cartridge. While this method may sound slow, a typical inkjet printer can produce 300 to 600 of these tiny bubbles at the same time.

2. Piezo electric printers

The other method for inkjet printing is called piezo electric and is used primarily in Epson printers. This method works similarly to the thermal bubble method except that piezo crystals are used in place of resistors. The printer passes an electric current through a crystal and causes the crystal to vibrate. As the crystal vibrates, the vibration pushes some ink out of the nozzle. After the ink has been expelled, the crystal returns to a calm state. The absence of the expelled ink creates a vacuum that then causes more ink to be released from the ink cartridge.

Troubleshooting common inkjet printer problems

Inkjet printers aren’t nearly as complex as laser printers; therefore, there’s less that can go wrong with them. On the flip side, many inkjet printers sell for around Rs 3000 or less and just aren’t built to last. The vast majority of problems with inkjet printers involve either communications problems or problems with print quality. Here are a few solutions to the most common inkjet printer problems.

Print quality and the print head

By far the most common problem with inkjet printers is poor print quality. Usually, these problems manifest themselves in the form of horizontal white lines running through each line of print. These white lines are caused by clogged nozzles that aren’t dispensing ink. Some printer manufacturers are trying to solve this problem by incorporating the print head into the ink cartridge. By doing so, each time you get a new ink cartridge, you also get a new print head.

Replacing the print head along with the ink cartridge may sound like a good solution at first, but what happens if you are using a printer that doesn’t have a disposable print head, or if your ink cartridges aren’t ready to change yet?

Cleaning the print head

In such cases, you can sometimes fix the problem by using a cotton swab to rub alcohol on the surface of the print head. Alcohol is a solvent and will usually help to dissolve any ink buildup that might be clogging the print head. After cleaning the print head with alcohol, I usually use a paper towel to gently wipe any excess ink off of the print head. When you’re done manually cleaning the print head, turn the printer on and run the printer’s built-in cleaning process. The method for initiating the cleaning mode varies widely between printer models, so you’ll have to check your manufacturer’s recommendations to see how to initiate the cleaning mode on your particular printer.

Check the print head ribbon

On some older printers, the print head ribbon has a tendency to come loose. The ribbon is the wide gray cable connecting the print head to the printer’s system board. Occasionally, you may run into a situation in which cleaning a print head doesn’t fix the problem. There are a few other things that can cause the white lines besides just a dirty print head. One other possibility is that some of the printing instructions may not be making it to the print head. Although I’ve never seen this occur on a newer printer, it’s not at all uncommon for the print head ribbon to work its way partially loose on some older printers. If you’re trying to fix an older inkjet printer, make sure that the print head ribbon is secured firmly to the print head..

Paper dust

Another thing that can cause the white lines that I described earlier is paper dust interfering with an electrical connection. You may have noticed that a print cartridge contains potentially dozens of electrical contact points, When a printer is very heavily used, paper dust can sometimes work its way in-between the print cartridge and the cartridge housing. This dust can interfere with the printer’s ability to send instructions to the print cartridge. To remove the dust, unplug the printer and clean the print head’s electrical contacts with alcohol. Make sure that the alcohol has dried completely before reinserting the ink cartridge or plugging the printer back in. You can sometimes fix a printing problem by cleaning the print head’s electrical contacts.

If all of these techniques fail to fix the problem, then there’s a good chance that a mechanism inside of the print head has gone bad, and the print head will need to be replaced.

A failure to communicate

The other major cause of inkjet printer malfunctions is communications failures. Inkjet printers are susceptible to the same sort of communications problems as any other printer. Therefore, if your printer is printing gibberish, or nothing at all, turn off the printer and the PC to which it is connected. Verify that all cables are tight and that the printer is getting power. Turn the printer back on and then the PC. Most of the time, this will fix any sort of communications problems that might be present. This article is very general in nature, but I hope it helps you. J

With so many low cost printers available in India, high-image quality, and ease of use, inkjetprinters have become the standard for many small and home offices. Indeed, when color printing is needed, in small quantities, an ink jet printer is the only option as laser color printers are still out of reach for most SOHO and for home users.

The inkjet printing process

Now for some basics. So how does the printing process work? Inkjet printers have many of the same components as laser printers, but they function completely differently. Like a laser printer, an inkjet printer contains a system board that controls the printing process by translating instructions from the computer into a rendering. However, unlike a laser printer, an inkjet printer isn’t nearly as dependent on memory. Few may know that a laser printer requires that an entire page be spooled to memory before the printing process can begin. Some inkjet printers contain memory, but the memory is provided primarily as a timesaving feature. Once the computer has spooled an entire document to a printer, it’s free to work on something else. Therefore, because the spooling process is faster than the printing process, most inkjet printers have a print buffer that allows a computer to spool at least a page or two to the printer. Unlike laser printers, inkjet printers don’t have to wait for a page to be completely spooled before they can begin printing it.

It's all in the jets

The biggest difference between inkjet printers and laser printers is the inkjet's print head. An inkjet printer's print head contains nozzles that squirt ink onto the paper. These nozzles are thinner than a human hair, allowing very small dots to be printed. Placing these dots extremely close together produces very sharp images.
Another advantage to having such small dots is that it allows for great color reproduction. As you may know, inkjet printers typically contain a black ink cartridge and a (sometimes more) color ink cartridge with three colors of ink. By using these four different inks in the right combinations, any color can be created. For example, placing a series of yellow and blue dots extremely close together gives the illusion of printing in green. However, if you look at a page from an inkjet printer under a magnifying glass, you can see that the majority of the colors are artificially produced.

Connecting the dots

The actual printing process works by using stepper motors to control the print head’s position along a stabilizer bar. As the print head slides back and forth along this bar, dots of ink are placed on the paper below. When the printer produces a line of dots, the printer uses rollers to slightly advance the paper to make room for the next roll of dots. So how does the printer create these dots? There are two basic printing methods used by inkjet printers, thermal bubble and piezo electric.

1. Thermal bubble printers

The thermal bubble method is frequently used by Hewlett-Packard and Canon printers. The idea behind this method is that the printer runs an electrical current through tiny resistors to produce heat. The on and off pattern of this current is controlled by the printer’s system board in response to the instructions that the computer sends to the printer. The heat vaporizes just enough ink to create a bubble. As the ink bubble expands, it pushes a small amount of ink out of one of the printer’s nozzles. When the bubble eventually pops, the popping creates a vacuum, which causes more ink to be sucked from the print cartridge. While this method may sound slow, a typical inkjet printer can produce 300 to 600 of these tiny bubbles at the same time.

2. Piezo electric printers

The other method for inkjet printing is called piezo electric and is used primarily in Epson printers. This method works similarly to the thermal bubble method except that piezo crystals are used in place of resistors. The printer passes an electric current through a crystal and causes the crystal to vibrate. As the crystal vibrates, the vibration pushes some ink out of the nozzle. After the ink has been expelled, the crystal returns to a calm state. The absence of the expelled ink creates a vacuum that then causes more ink to be released from the ink cartridge.

Troubleshooting common inkjet printer problems

Inkjet printers aren’t nearly as complex as laser printers; therefore, there’s less that can go wrong with them. On the flip side, many inkjet printers sell for around Rs 3000 or less and just aren’t built to last. The vast majority of problems with inkjet printers involve either communications problems or problems with print quality. Here are a few solutions to the most common inkjet printer problems.

Print quality and the print head

By far the most common problem with inkjet printers is poor print quality. Usually, these problems manifest themselves in the form of horizontal white lines running through each line of print. These white lines are caused by clogged nozzles that aren’t dispensing ink. Some printer manufacturers are trying to solve this problem by incorporating the print head into the ink cartridge. By doing so, each time you get a new ink cartridge, you also get a new print head. Replacing the print head along with the ink cartridge may sound like a good solution at first, but what happens if you are using a printer that doesn’t have a disposable print head, or if your ink cartridges aren’t ready to change yet?

Cleaning the print head

In such cases, you can sometimes fix the problem by using a cotton swab to rub alcohol on the surface of the print head. Alcohol is a solvent and will usually help to dissolve any ink buildup that might be clogging the print head. After cleaning the print head with alcohol, I usually use a paper towel to gently wipe any excess ink off of the print head. When you’re done manually cleaning the print head, turn the printer on and run the printer’s built-in cleaning process. The method for initiating the cleaning mode varies widely between printer models, so you’ll have to check your manufacturer’s recommendations to see how to initiate the cleaning mode on your particular printer.

Check the print head ribbon

On some older printers, the print head ribbon has a tendency to come loose. The ribbon is the wide gray cable connecting the print head to the printer’s system board. Occasionally, you may run into a situation in which cleaning a print head doesn’t fix the problem. There are a few other things that can cause the white lines besides just a dirty print head. One other possibility is that some of the printing instructions may not be making it to the print head. Although I’ve never seen this occur on a newer printer, it’s not at all uncommon for the print head ribbon to work its way partially loose on some older printers. If you’re trying to fix an older inkjet printer, make sure that the print head ribbon is secured firmly to the print head..

Paper dust

Another thing that can cause the white lines that I described earlier is paper dust interfering with an electrical connection. You may have noticed that a print cartridge contains potentially dozens of electrical contact points, When a printer is very heavily used, paper dust can sometimes work its way in-between the print cartridge and the cartridge housing. This dust can interfere with the printer’s ability to send instructions to the print cartridge. To remove the dust, unplug the printer and clean the print head’s electrical contacts with alcohol. Make sure that the alcohol has dried completely before reinserting the ink cartridge or plugging the printer back in. You can sometimes fix a printing problem by cleaning the print head’s electrical contacts. If all of these techniques fail to fix the problem, then there’s a good chance that a mechanism inside of the print head has gone bad, and the print head will need to be replaced.

A failure to communicate

The other major cause of inkjet printer malfunctions is communications failures. Inkjet printers are susceptible to the same sort of communications problems as any other printer. Therefore, if your printer is printing gibberish, or nothing at all, turn off the printer and the PC to which it is connected. Verify that all cables are tight and that the printer is getting power. Turn the printer back on and then the PC. Most of the time, this will fix any sort of communications problems that might be present.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

An average phone without any bells & whistles

I bought my Nokia 3100 last year around oct-nov. Its an average phone which currently seems to be correctly priced. I bought mine for Rs 9300 with an exchange offer for my old Nokia 5110 which I used for 5 yrs.

If you want my advice avoid all the ’Priority dealers’ & ’Professional care centers’ of Nokia unless u want to get cut very badly. U only end up paying for their carpenters & tailors bill. They will call it ambience and/or service. Dont buy that crap. Look for a small shop who will offer the same with bill and warranty/insurance. There r a lot of such shops in Mumbai. In fact the place I bought my piece at Shivaji park cost me 9300 (with exchange) & if I had crossed the road to the then Nokia authorised service center the price would have gone up by @ least 1800 bucks.

People talk a lot about the very easy menu layout of Nokia phones & that’s true in this case also. But I must say that the s/w used by Nokia is over hyped & is quite primitive the drawbacks I have found in the Nokia 6310i r still prevalent in the Nokia 3100 & even later models.

While on this s/w topic let me give u a eg.

1) If u enter multiple phone numbers for a name in the phone book u can assign the default one only to a group & hence a tune, not the rest. If I have a friend & I enter his res,office,cell number against his name, I can assign only the default number to a group and hence a tune but what happens if I want all this particular friends numbers (res,office,cell number) to be in a group and same tune in that case I have to enter them as separate entries.!!

2) If I enter my cell, res & office numbers against my name & if I do the same for a family member now the res number is common. Now the joke is since this number is common for (in this case) 2 names in the phone book, When there is an incoming call from this number it will not display the name/s it will display only the incoming res number, so u see the glitch. Nokia has never bothered to solve these basic issues. There r many more of such ’bugs’ but that would take a lot of space.

The 2 examples given r enough to prove that Nokia has been over rated or got their current reputation for models now defunct like 5110, 6110, 6210 etc

The colour screen is no big deal its only 4096 colours, Samsung models come with 65k colours & a better resolution. U may have difficulty in viewing the screen on a sunny day (even at its brightest).

The polyphonic tunes are quite low in volume, good for the quiet office environment but useless on the road in traffic, (U could use the vibrator but that consumes more battery power) but luckily it has a pop port which can take the Nokia DKU 5 cable. Which u can connect to ur computer to take backups of your phone book and/or change the tunes, pictures etc.

While on the cable don’t go to buy it from a ’Priority dealers’ & ’Professional care centers’ of Nokia it will set u back by Rs 3500 (thats what was told in a Nokia Professional care center, again go to ur local small shop or buy it from baazee.com. for less than Rs 500. I did that They work !!!!!!

Also for those who want to keep changing ur ringtones dont get fleeced by all the service providers who peddle ringtones over the air & charge u about 5 - 15 bucks for a ringtone, invest in a CD full ringtones. Many small shops who sell cell phones sell these CD’s or u can get it thru online shopping for as little as 50 bucks & u can use the cable which u can connect to this phone and merrily change ur tunes,pix etc. Then exchange the tunes among ur friend circle.

The hands free are quite useful for conferencing, u can keep it on the table & everyone around it can talk to the person on the line. Also if the lline quality is poor as it is wont to be in Mumbai (Service providers r hopeless but that’s another story) u can keep the loudspeaker on a low volume & hold it to ur ear. I do that it works very well but not fr long calls :). The phone does not have the current favorite gizmo on phones. The camera, any way I dont want that frivolous thing. Since I am on the camera topic let me inform the reader that if a camera is fitted on the phone the price goes up by around 10k for a third rate poor resolution camera. A similar stand alone camera can be bought in the Mumbai market for around Rs 1500 - 2000, some can even be connected to ur Nokia phone (including the 3100) Do u now feel as if u r being taken for a long endless ride !!!!!!!!!

Pity it has no IrDa or Bluetooth but then one cant have everything for that price. The phone book is about adequate for me the SIM card offers a phonebook of 250 (when will r service provider issue 64K or greater capacity SIM cards & which can take multiple entries in the phone book ???)
Overall an average phone without any bells & whistles would recommend it for a budget buyer.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Whirlpool Whitemagic washing machine

Our first experience with Whirlpool was when we bought their washing machine in Mumbai. It was then known as TVS Whirlpool. This worked very well, so we had a good opinion of this company. Also I had read a book on the CEO of Whirlpool who had gone to a 5 star hotel at midnight to view the quality of wash of one of his new industrial washing machines installed in that hotel, because that was the time when washing was done.

So you can say I was quite impressed by the dedication, ethics of the top brass of that company. Little did I realize that it was just a book or maybe it was mislabeled as non- fiction. J Then TVS was bought out by Whirlpool so it became Whirlpool India.

Little did we know that there would be a sea change in the quality & attitude of the company & service agents in Mumbai when we again opted for a now just whirlpool whitemagic with agitronic (whatever that means). This machine worked quite well in the first year & I went in for an extended warranty for 2 yrs after that.

This is where the company showed its true colours. Whenever the service engineer was called I noticed the sharp deterioration in quality of service staff sent to our house. In 2002 the then service engineer of the service franchisee in Mumbai called ‘Mother’s Homecare’ honest that is the name of the company came to us with a suggestion of ‘Full Conversion’.

He told us that since a new machine costs about Rs 15000 (that’s what he told us in 2002) & does not have a steel drum, we could pay him Rs11500 he would use the steel drum in our existing machine & put everything new, so we could get a new machine for a lesser cost. Little did we know that we were getting duped right royally when we got hustled in to this deal.. Incidentally we just bought a new Samsung fully automatic machine in 2004 for 12400!!!!!

What actually happens is he takes your old machine with him assembles the machine somewhere in Parel using parts not necessarily from your machine. (You see he is duping many people @ the same time). Puts ?new? outer shell as also the top plastic cover, both possible are reject materials from their factory as we noticed many defects in them.

What we got was a machine with a dirty smelly steel drum. They refused to accept that there had been a switch. Anyway to cut a long story short. The bearing gave up their ghost in less than a month. When the ‘engineer’ came to repair it, he had to disassemble the machine when I got to see the amount of filth on the outer side of the steel drum, which I myself cleaned personally.

Also the best joke is when I got talking to the ‘engineer’ by the name of ‘Patil’ he told me that he actually works in a tabela (cowshed) & as he is strong he was given the job of changing the bearings of the machine which require brute strength.!!!!!!!!!

The reason I want to share my experience with you is if you are offered such a scheme by your Whirlpool service agent DON?T FALL FOR IT. It will be cheaper to get your machine repaired use it for some time then flog it in an exchange offer for a new machine of some other company. I have a suspicion that they use this stunt to 1) Get rid of off spec raw materials in their stock 2) Bypass the dealers so no commission to paid to them 3) Avoid paying taxes to the govt . This happened in Mumbai I don’t know if it happens in other parts of the country.

Such offers of ‘Full Conversion’ by this company should best be avoided at all costs. And if you try to complain to the company it is of no use as they are totally incorrigible about your complaints will just make false promises over the phone or the worst case scenario is they will keep you waiting or just put the phone aside while you can hear them giggling around the phone.

The best joke is after about one and a half years after my last complaint to them I get a call from their call center asking about my complaint. The girl on the phone told me she was new to the job & had been told by her supervisor to find out any complaints which are still OPEN & find out what problem the customer had !!!!!! Oh they are so hard working & conscientious.

So in the final analysis Whirlpool in India is a CESSPOOL & Whitemagic is pure BLACKMAGIC

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Indiatimes.com online shopping

I bought a ’Toolkit for home’ for Rs 199 on 25-11-02 and find to my utter disgust that that the rachet screwdriver does not lock in the clockwise direction. I went throught the ’HELP’ and ’FAQ’s’ but could not find the hyperlink for ’Return Policy’ , So I had to send them an email for the details of the procedure. To cut a long story short After over dozen email & around 9 months and dozen auto repies like the one given below.

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your feedback.
Do be assured that we will look into your feedback on priority and that we are committed to protecting our customer’s interests.


Best regards.
xxxx

I got my 199 bucks back. That was my last time I ever used the indiatimes shopping site. Their site @ that time clearly stated that refunds would take 4 weeks, I never expected it would take around 9 months!!!!!!!!!!.

Like I mentioned it in one email to them that my amt was small & I am determined to keep it that way so no more indiatime shopping for me. And the best part of it is that piece of junk I bought from this site is available on baazee.com for Rs 49 to Rs 99.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Timex Ironman Triathlon

Bough t the Timex ?Ironman Triathlon? in Jan 2001 for around Rs 3000 in Mumbai. Apart from having the usual facilities that a digital watch is expected to have, it also has 10 memo fields to enter data.. That?s what prompted me to this watch.

But after about 4 yrs I must say that I am very disappointed with the quality of the watch. My family & friends have other cheaper Timex watches or older analog watches, which keep better time. My Timex watch gains about 3 minutes EVERY 2 months !!!. Also the loop of the watchstrap keeps breaking of every year & so I am forced to change the watchstrap every year. It seems to be made of recycled plastic or rubber.

For the price I paid for this watch I didn?t expect this quality. It?s now available in the same Timex showroom @ Dadar for Rs 1995 :). I wish I had waited longer. Wrote a stinker to Timex in India got a call from their Mumbai office and got the usual platitudes. What more can these jokers do. Case of another MNC over charging in our country.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Ace Spammers

http://in.indiatimes.com/default1.cms was my homepage till 2 weeks ago. I was tolerating their stupid popups for quite sometime. But when the popups started to get full page (like the Manhattan one) and came thru google popup blocker I decided to shift base.

What really got my goat was many of these did not provide a close button & the few that did were only for cosmetic reasons, they never helped to close the ads. To that extent rediff.com also has popups which get thru google popup blocker but they provide a close button which has worked so far. That so far was the LESS irritating part. If any of u r thinking of creating an email id on this webpage,they like to call themselves a ’portal’ + a whole lot of other adjectives that they think portrays them as the worlds best. But the fact of the matter is that the users use a whole lot of different adjectives which cannot be reproduced here :))

To get back to the email id topic, theirs is the most primitive email id interface peddeled around as free. Even the email id’s they peddle for a fee have the same primitive functions abs no value addition. I say this as my friend has registered a domain thru indiatimes.com and I have seen the webpage email interface they provide. The problems he faces has reduced him to tears. To put it mildly its BAD.

My advice to any one who wants a free email id go to rediff.com which is fast & provides more mailbox space. Rediff.com paid email id’s r also good. On the same topic I would like to say indiatimes email ids attract a LOT of spam, even if u use the ’This is spam’ option or the ’Block’ option it does not help & u will notice that all the spam comes from the same domain (ie: @indiatimes.com).

The following are a few of the email ids which are the source of spam.

1) anita@indiatimes.com
2) shalini@indiatimes.com
3) bhartim@indiatimes.com
4) shalini@indiatimes.com
5) amritm@indiatimes.com
6) chrisanne_l@indiatimes.com
7) anita@indiatimes.com
8) anupam_mumbai@indiatimes.com
9) puripooja@indiatimes.com
10) perfect.match1@indiatimes.com
11) anupam_mumbai@indiatimes.com
12) gayatripat1@indiatimes.com
and there are many more

You will notice that most happen to have a female names. Now mercifully all these crappy email's are now directed to a system made folder. They have also increased the mailbox to 1GB after a lots of false announcements & even more trial and error. I wrote to them on this topic to readers.grievances@timesgroup.com & the mail bounced with an error that it does not exist!!!!!!!!!!!! & I had taken this address from their own webpage.

That shows that they dont update their web page or their server was down. Unlike many other free email providers in India, indiatimes.com email pays only lip service to ’fight spam’ they in fact help to generate it. If u want to fight spam go to http://www.spamcop.net/ , register ur self (its free) then from their website interface copy paste all the email ids of spam emails u get.That hopefully should help to some extent to fight this menace of spam.

The site also hapens to down quite often. So when u send any email to an indiatimes email id it will bounce. Can be quite a problem it happens to be urgent mail. Another thing even worse is attachments sent to or from indiatimes email ids seem to get corrupted very often. I have seen the same attachment sent repeatedly over a period of 2 days, to an indiatimes email has got corrupted????????
Have u tried their messenger, WOW that’s a gem. If u have not tried it good for u. Juat forget it ever existed. U will be better off that way. :)

You will notice on their site even if you login you will repeatedly be asked to log in for different options like astrology etc, which shows that it was different modules have not been properly integrated together, its all a mish mash cobbled together. This reflects very poorly on the type of manpower they use. Have u heard of the saying ’If u pay peanuts u get only monkeys’.I could go on & on my original document on this topic was around 11k characters. I have reduced it to this.

In a nutshell;
1) Use their webpage only if u have a lot of time on ur hands or r a very patient person.
2) Avoid @ all cost their email id’s. U will find better options elsewhere.
3) Avoid their shopping site @ all costs. Here too u can better options (Here ’better’ is a relative word)

Saturday, September 03, 2005

3 ways of Credit card fraud

I am not sure if any of u have read this article in some other avatar. I received this info in an email from my friend & thought I should share it u all, it maybe only hypothetical cases for all I know. Nevertheless they r still possible.

SCENE 1:

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, ’’Funny, I thought I? locked the locker. Hmmmmm.’’ He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay - all cards were in place. A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whooping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions. Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen. ’’No,’’ he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards. Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them. How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? $9,000! Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? Small amounts rarely trigger a ’’warning bell’’ with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

SCENE 2:

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card. The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along. Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket. Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person. He called the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man. All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card. No exchange of words - nothing! She took it and came back to the man with an apology. Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time. Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, thinking that it has to be theirs. FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH TIME IT IS RETURNED TO YOU AFTER A TRANSACTION!

SCENE 3:

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in. I paid by using my Visa Cheque Card which, of course, is linked directly to my chequing account. The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, then laid it flat on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure. While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialing. I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture. He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons. Meanwhile,? I’m thinking: I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on. It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I’m paying close attention to what he is doing. He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open. About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved. Now I’m standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened. Needless to say, I immediately canceled that card. All I am saying is, be aware of your surroundings at all times. Whenever you are using your credit cards, take caution and don’t be careless. Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card. Be aware of phones because many have a camera phone these days. When you are in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress brings your card and receipt for you to sign, make sure you scratch the number off. Some restaurants are using only the last four digits, but a lot of them are still putting the whole thing on there. I have already been a victim of credit card fraud and, believe me, it is not fun. The truth is that they can get you even when you are careful, but don’t make it easy for them.

IN AN ERA OF GLOBALISATION IT WILL NOT BE LONG BEFORE A CROOK. WILL TRY THIS STUNT AROUND HERE.


MTNL ADSL Broadband n Mumbai

Let me state that I am currently not using this service provider for broadband. (I use Sify L )My experience is based on my experiences & observations at my neighbor’s house. MTNL engineers came to install the modem (D-Link) & activate the connection, within a week of booking the connection. I had heard horror stories of subscribers waiting for weeks for the engineers to come & do the needful. I was called to supervise, as I am considered ‘knowledgeable’ about these things J.

They were polite, efficient and after doing the needful explained to me how to change the password at their site as well on the modem. I had previously downloaded the manual from their site as I was interested in their broadband, but I was surprised that they provide no manual or basic instruction booklet to the customer. They give a very airy ‘If you have any problem contact 1500 & we will solve your problem’

After installation I checked out the actual download speed by going to http://www.download.com/ & doing a test download, I got a steady 26 kbps at around 1935 hrs. Not that great I thought, but not bad either. When the engineers saw the speed he promptly said ‘we promise UPTO 256 kbps’. I also checked the speed at.

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

it was consistently around 200 – 208 kbps (browsing speed). I have heard of other subscribers who go into raptures about the great speed they get. Frankly this more of a reaction to using Dial up before this. Compared to dial up it’s a quantum leap, but still not real broadband (ie 256 kbps or greater) This was definitely better than the speed I get for my ‘256 kbps broadband’ 1 GB limit scheme from Sify. After that the anti virus s/w was promptly updated. When my neighbor came back from work, the first thing we got down to changing the password. Since the engineer had put down the instruction on paper before leaving + the .pdf I had, it was not too difficult.

But after the second stage of changing the password on the modem & clicking on ‘Save and Reboot’ all activity on the PC seemed to come to a stand still. The machine had not ‘hung’ but there seemed no further except the display of the message ‘ Restarting the computer’. After about half an hour I rang up 1500 number for assistance I was told to contact 1504, they gave me 2 more numbers in case ‘helpdesk’ did not get back to me.!!!!! After another half hour I decided that since the changes were already saved & the PC was in the process of rebooting, no harm would be done if I helped it on its way J. We decided on this extreme step as it was already 2316 hrs & if necessary, call for help the next day. After restarting the PC hey presto there was no problem and the net connection worked just fine. So I was right the password had been saved. Just then came the call from the MTNL helpdesk, who told ‘either click on refresh button of the browser or restart the PC’ J But to a novice it definitely would have been complicated also if a user inadvertently makes any changes to the settings he can see during the change of password on the modem, he will land in deep s…. With this happy ending I went back home, with a promise to help in installing a firewall & useful utilities like Getright, Winzip & Spybot 1.4

The next day we assembled again and installed utilities like zone alarm, Spybot 1.4, Getright & Winzip. Even on this day the download speed around 29 – 30 kbps, which is really remarkable. I have not mentioned the cost incurred as it can be different depending upon the scheme u subscribe as well as whether u rent ot buy outright the modem. All that is available on their website. I would suggest buy it outright. If you don’t have much knowledge about computers don’t buy your own modem, MTNL will simple blame your modem in case of any problem later. Also make sure u stay within 3 kms (it’s difficult to gauge) of ur exchange (although 5 is the outer limit).
U can check ur net speed @ these sites

1) http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer.asp?cid=9438
2) http://webservices.cnet.com/bandwidth/
3) http://www.dslreports.com/stest
4) http://homepage.tinet.ie/~leslie/testpage.htm
5) http://testmy.net/

On 12th Oct 2005 (Dussera day) my neighbour had a problem with his connection. When I could not find anything wrong at his end. We decided to call MTNL for help. We rang up their 1504 number told them what the problem was and were given a complaint number & were told they would get back within half an hour. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. They actually did that AND dictated what they wanted me to do at our end which I did and got the connection working. I was truly impressed with this.



Update Jan 2006

After being part of the ‘Sify sufferers club’ for three yrs, I decided to dump them in Nov 2005 for a better service provider. As I had experience with MTNL Triband coz of my exposure to them (mentioned above).

I went to Lamington Rd to check out the prices for D-link 502T router/modem used with MTNL Triband the prices vary from Rs 1995 to Rs 2450. The 'imported' one costs 1995 & the legally made/imported one costs 2275 - 2450 (all with bill & warranty). Shown below are the costs incurred (assuming the rent & tax remains the same). I decide to buy my own router as I found it to be cost effective.











I submitted the application form on Jan 9th 2006 to a person who kept muttering to herself ‘O u bought your own modem’ who also told me that installation would be done in ‘a weeks time’. & so was waiting patiently as their form mentioned that their staff would come to do a ‘feasibility study’ as I had opted for the 512 kbps, 1 GB plan. Nothing happened for a week. When I made phone calls to Prabhadevi tel exchange they directed me to their office @ ‘Phatare’ house in Dadar, there I was bluntly told that since I had opted to buy the broadband router (D-Link 502T) I should install it myself, to which I replied I could do that but I needed some service provider specific settings. Later in the day I got a call from MTNL (a Mr Patil) that he would come & do the needful !!!!

Finally on 26th Dec 2006 I decided that I had waited far too long for the GREAT ARRIVAL of the MTNL staff @ my residence and went to their Dadar office (which seats the Div Engineer and his subordinates). I was sent to meet three different individuals (it’s about whose jurisdiction my residence came under and who was willing to work that day). I must say inspite of this they were all very friendly and asked me bring the router to their office for the requisite settings change, one chap even asked the linesman to pickup the router from my hose bring it to their office and install it to my machine. But when they realized that I am very familiar with networks, internet & routers the div engineer suggested that he would give me the settings and I could do it myself as it would save time (more on this later) and also gave me his tel no., so I could contact him from home if necessary in case I had some trouble. I did just that went home installed the router, did the settings changes. But he had forgotten to give the all the changes, in the end I figured it out myself and got it working. I even took the router to his office so he could check it out on his network, where he did try to scare me by telling me that there was ‘something wrong’ with my router as he saw only the power light come on, told him to wait a in minute. as it takes that much time for the router to connect to the server (called training) & presto it worked like a dream. And they ran out of excuses, end of the year so ‘staff shortage’, ‘O you have bought ur own router’. What ever that means. When I told them since I had installed the route myself they should not charge me the ‘installation fee of Rs 300/-, all they could do as show me their teeth.

On 29th Dec I got a call from their Dadar office (I have a caller id in my home) the caller only identified himself as ‘Linesman’ & wanted all the info of where I bought he router, which shop, their tel no. etc (I could hear the sub div. engineer prompting him) when I asked him why he wanted this he said ‘so he could inform others who wanted to buy the router’, frankly I don’t buy this story maybe only time will tell the cause of this call if ever (sounds fishy, doesn’t it) .

But I had another problem & that was related to the routing of the main telephone wiring in my house. I am mentioning this issue, as it will affect others too. The MTNL Triband user states that the main tel wire should first come to the splitter (a small box with 3 RJ11 sockets) of the router and then should go to the telephones (one or more) in your house, take this seriously as it could affect the working/speed of your broadband connection.

Now I come to the part of saving time, I submitted my application on the 9th and later when my connection was working, I found that the a/c was created on the 11th of Dec 2005 (literally over the weekend) but no one informed me or came to my house to do the needful. Now as the a/c was made on the 11th my meter was ticking & the longer it took for the installation @ my end the less time I would have to use what’s in my allocation, with a result even though I had 660 MB allocated to me from 11th Dec to the end of the month I could use only 335 MB, the rest went waste as it is not carried forward. So coz of MTNL tardiness I lost.. I had expected tardiness from them but what I got was more than I could digest, so if you decide to buy your own router be ready for this and maybe more J. I will update this later after I get my first bill.

The speeds are excellent more than 90 % of my plan. So far my internet connection has worked fine and when it has been done (once) it was up & running within an hour of registering a complaint. In case you are intrested in configuring the D-Link 502T broadband router yourself this link maybe useful http://socrates0.blogspot.com/2006/01/configuring-d-link-502t-router-for.html

Also All broadband users in India check out http://broadbandforum.in/index.php?showforum=56 its a great site I would recommend all with a broadband connection to join

Friday, September 02, 2005

Our Experience with the Nokia 6230i

Or should I say MY experience, as I had to do a lot of the legwork in this experience within a few hours of purchasing this piece. I write this review so that the reader should know what to do when he/she goes to buy a cell phone & what homework to do BEFORE going to buy a piece. J

My brother wanted a new phone to replace his Nokia 6310i handset. After a lot of research & weighing ALL the pros & cons of the different options, he decided to go in for the Nokia 6230i. The main requirement is a handset, which has a LARGE phone book, which allows multiple entries, connectivity to a PC (for backups), inbuilt hands free, tri band, good resolution of the screen & hopefully be future proof (for sometime) so things like ‘push to talk’, ‘EDGE’ etc r welcome.

Our ordeal began Sat 18-6-05 when we went to shop @ Shivaji park, Mumbai where we thought we got a ‘good deal’ from a shop which offered 3k as buyback fr the 6310i. Now my bro & I r really not interested in the ‘camera’ option in the phone . We tested all the phone features in the shop & were satisfied with it. The shop owner clicked a few snaps in the shop & showed it to us, it looked nice & we decided to buy it. Since this was our first camera phone in the house we were not really acquainted with the intricacies of it. At this stage I didn’t realize that the snaps taken were being stored on the phone memory itself, so it never struck me to check the memory card in the phone. Our main concern was that the contacts, whose back up’s I had taken should be restored back on to the new phone as the size of the phone book was 468 contacts with at least 4 entries in EACH.

The PC Suite of Nokia is a very peculiar s/w in the help file it clearly states that its back ups CAN ONLY be restored onto an identical handset from which the backup was taken. This s/w would require a separate review in its own right L. The 6310i came with ver 4.54 & I was using ver 6.1 on my PC for the other Nokia handsets we have @ home. I think this was the best ver they have has so far. (Current ver is 6.5) Does this not negate most of the reasons one may take a backup in the first place. Anyway I found a way of by passing this restriction, I also synchronized the contacts to Microsoft Outlook, and this came in handy later on.

After coming home with this handset my concern was to restore the contacts. Let me state that all the required drivers are installed on the 2 computers. The ver used by 6310i (installed on the laptop) cannot recognize the 6230i, & then I found that ver 6.1 (installed on the PC) couldn’t recognize 6230i. So I installed the ver given on the CD with the handset (ver 6.41), to my shock I found EVEN that does not recognize the 6230i. I then downloaded the LATEST ver 6.5 from their site (as I found it can be used for the 6230i as well as the other Nokia handsets in the house). Thankfully this ver recognized the 6230i as it claimed it would (on their website) and I could finally restore (synchronize would be the correct term) the contacts from Microsoft Outlook. The backup files taken in versions 4.54 & 6.1 & 6.41 would not open in this current ver, so I could not use the ‘restore’ option in PC Suite. This s/w seems to get worse with every new version.

On the Sun 19-6-05 we found that we could not format the MMC card in the handset nor could we save any photo taken by the camera, nor could we move any thing onto it. We took it to the dealer who tried another card even that did not work. He tried to format the original MMC card in a Nokia 6600 and it worked, so he put it back in our 6230i and it still could not store anything onto ir. As my brother gets only a Sat off, we went on 25-6-05 to the authorized Nokai service center ‘Brightpoint’ at

Phoenix Mills Compound,
3rd Floor ,"C" Wing,
462 Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Parel, Mumbai-400013
Tel: 0091 - 22 - 56607525
Fax: 0091 - 22 - 56607533


(http://www.brightpoint.com/Brightpoint/India/201/English/73/Home/1.html)

We were told @ the counter that the OS of the phone would have to be reloaded (This seems to the cure of the day, as that’s what everyone was being told that) & would take half an hour.. after one and a half hour we were told that this operation has failed. After that we were told that a new phone would be issued to my bro , as they have no stock it would take 3 – 4 days. Half an hour later we were called by the engineer (Vaibhav) who was handling this issue, who asked us if we had given this phone for repairs to any one else bfore coming to his center. When my bro got upset by this he tried to pacify us by sayiing that it was a formality & he HAS to ask the question? (As if anyone who has actually tampered with his phone would admit that !!!). then he asked us to ring him up on Mon 27-6-05 abt the status of this handset.

On Mon 27-6-05 the same engineer finally comes on the line (after trying for the entire day) to say that the handset will be replaced as they cannot repair it & would take about 15 days or so !!!! to replace as they do not have it in stock. I don’t understand this, if this god damned handset is so freely available with the dealers then what takes this ‘authorised service center’ so long to get a new piece??. And the best part of this ‘joke’ is that the Nokia ‘corporate office’ is just next door to this service center, and these jokers apparently feel so insecure that they have installed access control to their front door and don’t allow anyone in !!!!!!!! .They don’t seem to realise the loss of time (we spent more than 3 hrs at their service center on 25-6-05) of their customers who have to get on with their professional lives without their handset especially with out the large phonebook which is an indespensible part of their professional life. (And they peddle this handset as a handset for ‘professionals’). I wonder they treat their customer in Europe, USA and elsewhere in the same manner

On Tue 28-6-05 after dawdling for sometime Brightpoint gave my bro a temporary handset ( It was nice of them) saying Nokia (3315 in lieu of a 6230i) does not have such a policy & that the replacement handset (6230i) would come in about 7 – 15 days !!!!!!!!!

On Thu 29-06-05 my bro spoke to the Customer care chief (Rajiv Jhunjhunwalla) of Brightpoint, who called back on 30-6-05 saying that they had made availabe a new 6230i which we were free to collect. Since Sat is the only day off for us, that’s when we can go there to collect the handset.

On Sat 2-7-05, we went to their service center & we were propmtly given the handser. Only thing I found peculiar is it was the front panel & main handset (the centerpiece in a Nokia) the back cover & battery was from the old piece (coz this this was given to us for safe keeping during our first visit) . I was actually expecting a box pack piece. But we were assured thats it’s a new piece & fully checked, It also came with the original yellow paper (sticker?) with its IMEI number & we were given the documentation giving the IMEI number of the original (returned) as well as the IMEI number of the new handset. Inspite of what happened I feel we just had the misfortune to get a bad piece. But the service center (Brightpoint) people overall were quite friendly & courteous & decided without too much fuss that it was a manufacturing defect & replaced it. J. Due to space constrants this review is continued in the comments section of this review

Moral of the story is when u buy a mobile phone check ALL the features u can (even if u have no intrest in that feature) too save u from grief later on. U know all service centers may not agree it’s a manufacturing defect, in which case u can expect a FAT bill J. Also, if u have a very large phonebook, messages etc, take a back up (in the relevant s/w) in a version which is compatible with BOTH the handsets. And for contacts also use the sync option and save the contacts in a client s/w like ‘Outlook’ , Outlook Express’, ‘Lotus’ etc. In my 2nd para I had mentioned our main requirements of a phone which r found in this handset so my bro is happy with it. I have not mentioned the features as u can find it on the Nokia website, this article mainly deals with what can go wrong if u don’t check ALL the features in the shop itself bfore buying I know it sounds a bit silly, but it can happen out of disintrest (like in our case) or out of ignorance (also applicable in our case). I hope the reader finds useful info in this experience of ours.

It’s a know fact that MNC’s over charge for their products in India also the quality is not as good. I think that they peddle all their off spec products here.