Friday, June 25, 2010

Exciting updates to Office Live Workspace

Wohoo…they remember me !

 

Microsoft Office Live 
Workspace
Arrow icon

Your Office Live Workspace account will be upgraded for free.

Good news!

Your Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta account is about to become even better. You already know it’s a great way to store and share documents, and soon it will come together with Windows Live SkyDrive to become a great way to view, create, and edit documents from virtually anywhere.

In the coming months, you’ll receive notification when your Office Live Workspace account will be upgraded, along with further details. Until then, there’s no need for you to do anything.

With your SkyDrive account, you’ll get 25 GB of online storage for sharing both documents and photos. Your SkyDrive account is designed to work smoothly with other Windows Live services like Hotmail and Messenger. And you’ll be able to view and edit documents from virtually anywhere* using new Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Questions? Visit the Office Live Workspace upgrade center.

* An appropriate device, Internet connection, and Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari browser are required.

Microsoft

 

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

GPS Reviews

Let me straight get to the point. I compared Navigon and Tomtom. I will be writing about Garmin in a few days. I do not include items like mp3 playback, web browsing, widescreen since they are just the extras. I believe GPS is for navigation; helpful features include Lane Assist, Spoken street names, traffic updates and map updates.

Navigon 5100

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This is the best unit I ever owned. Unfortunately, it died on 17th June 2010 after 3 yrs of faithful service. I would still rate it as the best GPS for $250
Pros
  1. Sturdy Mount
  2. Free traffic updates for life!
  3. Lifetime Map updates (unfortunately the company does not support GPS units and are into mobile GPS so I am not sure if the map updates work)
  4. Speaks street names
  5. Lane Assist with real view of the Exit signs
  6. Sleek and Slim design
  7. Displays Altitude, NS direction, Time to reach, POI, Recalculates
  8. Gets satellite connections inside Boston tunnels which I was impressed with
Cons
  1. Company shifted to mobile GPS software. I am not sure they support Automobile GPS units
  2. Sometimes takes exit on highway and then joins back again!!
  3. My mount attachment to the windshield does not work anymore. I guess that is with age
  4. Very low volume
  5. Slow startup and satellite
  6. Too much instructions even when there is nothing to do


Tomtom XXL 535




Pros
  1. Keeps quiet most of the time
  2. Excellent Lane Assist
  3. Good volume
  4. Excellent widescreen and slim design
  5. Fast startup and satellite connection
  6. Speaks street names only for computer voice. This is not documented anywhere
  7. Good day brightness
  8. You can customize car icon, colors, status bars
Cons
  1. Orange Landscape in some areas confused me. I am still unaware what it means
  2. Cheap windshield mount. I wonder if it will last more than a year
  3. Does not speak street names with other voices. This is not documented
  4. I doubt the maps. A couple of times it directed me into one-ways where I could not enter!
  5. Does not confirm destination on left or right but only displays it on screen
  6. No SD card slot
  7. POI information is not detailed
  8. 'Detour' button is not direct. Need to use Menu->Route
  9. Favorites disappear after upgrade
  10. Does not display local speed limits. Only freeways and major roads
Garmin nuvi review coming soon…

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Thanks for your contribution to the NetBeans 6.9

Pretty slick system Netbeans. You have come a long way. Keep it up!!
----------------------------------

Dear NetBeans User,

In the past you have taken the time to report issues that you encountered while using NetBeans software. A new version (NetBeans 6.9) has just been released,and we'd like to inform you that the following issue(s) you reported have been addressed in the new release:

177675[68cat] EQ blocked in OpenProjectList.preferredProject

Please visit the netbeans.org website to download NetBeans 6.9 and to learn more about the new release.

We appreciate your contribution to our efforts to make NetBeans software and features better for all users. And as always, we look forward to feedback from you about ways we can continue to improve.Thank you.

The NetBeans Team


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Windows Live woes

Upload files one by one  - Really???!!!!!  Not worth it

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Installing Ms Silverlight did not change much :(

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I cannot upload my pictures to SkyDrive! This happened recently. Also if I try to upload files, I can only do that one by one – no multiple selection

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Friday, June 11, 2010

Windows Live Writer installation

Microsoft - Where is the “login button” ?

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This is the last screen after Windows Live Installation. I have been using hotmail since it started but I do not see any Login button.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

New features coming to Hotmail

Exciting new features are coming!

Dear Hotmail customer,
 
Over the last several months, many of you have given us suggestions about how to make Windows Live™ Hotmail® better.

 
You told us you wanted junk mail out of your inbox, and a way to block unwanted newsletters.
   
You asked for the ability to send larger attachments.
   
You wanted to get through your inbox more quickly, save time, and get more done.
   
You requested a way to view and edit Microsoft® Office Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® documents right from your inbox.

We've listened—and we've created new features to help you do all of that. Below are details about just a few of the important enhancements coming soon to your inbox.
 
We're excited about the changes and hope you will be, too.
 
Thank you for using Hotmail, for your suggestions, and for helping to make Hotmail the email service that more people use than any other.*
 
Sincerely,

Dick Craddock
 
 
Here's a sneak peek at what's coming.
 
Get junk mail out of your inbox

Keep your inbox free of spam
Using the same Microsoft SmartScreen® technology used in other Microsoft products like Microsoft Office Outlook® and Internet Explorer®, Hotmail is automatically helping to filter out junk mail for you.

 
Sweep away unwanted email
As you complete email actions like deleting email or moving email into folders, the new Sweep tool will prompt you to see if you wish to automatically apply that action to all similar email in the future.

 
Save time and get more done

Send hundreds of photos without worrying about size limits
We've built a way to send up to 10 GB of content via a single message—up to 200 photos or 200 files of up to 50 MB in size each. When you hit send, we deliver a nicely formatted email with a link to where the photos are stored on your password-protected Windows Live™ SkyDrive™. Recipients can then easily view your photos as a slide show or download them to their computer.

 
Smart filters organize your inbox to find the email that matters
Hotmail Quick Views will sort and group email by content or sender into one list in your inbox. Now items like your Facebook updates, or your cable TV bills, or just the mail containing photos can be easily sorted with just a few clicks.

 
View entire email conversations at a glance
With the new Conversation View, you can automatically group all the email you have sent and received on a specific topic together in one view.

 
Respond to social network notifications without leaving Hotmail
When a friend or family member sends you a link to a YouTube video or a Flickr photo album, you can view it without leaving your inbox. You'll also be able to take actions on shipping notifications as well as social network invites.

 
Your Hotmail account now gives you free access to
Microsoft Office Web Apps

Open, view, and edit documents right in your inbox
Now the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in your inbox can be viewed and edited without leaving Hotmail. If you need to make edits to an attachment, Hotmail lets you do it from your inbox without worrying about downloading files or installing software. You can even start a PowerPoint slide show and it will include all the animations and transitions.

 
Share Microsoft Office documents online and work together with others
Just like how you can share large photo albums, Hotmail lets you send large documents and other files via a link—up to 200 files, each up to 50 MB—using online storage, so you avoid clogging anyone's inbox. And by sending from your Hotmail account, recipients can also use the free Microsoft Office Web Apps to view and edit your document—no matter what email service they use or version of Microsoft Office they have installed.

 
That's just a peek at what we've been working on for you. Look for these updates and many more over the coming weeks as we start delivering them to your Hotmail account.
 
The Hotmail Team at Microsoft








Friday, June 04, 2010

TCP v UDP

TCP - Transfer Control Protocol
a.Reliable
b.Connection oriented
c.Acknowledgement

TCP is a connection-oriented protocol a connection can be made from client to server and from then on any data can be sent along that connection.

  • Reliable - when you send a message along a TCP socket you know it will get there unless the connection fails completely. If it gets lost along the way the server will re-request the lost part. This means complete integrity things don't get corrupted.
  • Ordered - if you send two messages along a connection one after the other you know the first message will get there first. You don't have to worry about data arriving in the wrong order.
  • Heavyweight - when the low level parts of the TCP stream arrive in the wrong order resend requests have to be sent and all the out of sequence parts have to be put back together so requires a bit of work to piece together.


UDP - User Datagram Protocol
a.Non Reliable
b.Connectionless
c.No Acknowledgement

A simpler message-based connectionless protocol. With UDP you send messages(packets) across the network in chunks.

  • Unreliable - When you send a message you don't know if it'll get there it could get lost on the way.
  • Not ordered - If you send two messages out you don't know what order they'll arrive in.
  • Lightweight - No ordering of messages no tracking connections etc. It's just fire and forget! This means it's a lot quicker and the network card / OS have to do very little work to translate the data back from the packets.