Raman's Blog

Everything that I thought of writing in this blog about why I chose Google Chrome and dumped firefox as my default browser is already there in CNET News ! Read the review written by Stephen Shankland. Individually, a few tenths of a second doesn't make much difference. But it adds up fast. I spend hours a day using the Web – browsing the web, uploading pictures, commenting on blogs etc. It is annoying to sit in front of a slow browser waiting for the page to load. Just like many drops make an ocean, a few seconds saved accumulates to a lot of productive time. You can watch an interview with Stephen Shankland of CNET below. Technorati Tags: google chrome , cnet

Trivandrum Medical College Alumni Association was found in September 2006.The alumni association has promised to take over 2 wards in the Medical College. As part of the scheme the association will take over the Burns ward of Trivandrum Medical College for upgradation as a modern burns unit. The remuneration for the staff of the Burns unit will also will be paid by the association! The association has also promised to renovate the old auditorium of the Trivandrum Medical College.               Technorati Tags: alumni

I got tired of the same old template everyday and changed it today. This template is provided free by Ourblogtemplates.com whose link you can find at the bottom of this page(unless I changed the template again:-)). Please drop in your comments about this new template. Thanks. Technorati Tags: template

Image via Wikipedia Copy the URL of the video and paste it into the box in ClipNabber and press enter. You will get the download link of the video which you can download with your web browser or download manager. The service supports a large number of video hosting websites. The best thing I like is the ClipNabber bookmarklet which you can drag to your bookmarks toolbar of your web browser and click it when you are in the webpage with the video you want to download. If you just want to download the audio as mp3, you can use the service of TuneNabber . It seems to be a sister website of ClipNabber. But to use this service you need to agree to abide by your country’s copyright laws and provide your email address. The download link will be sent to your email. But I am quite sceptic of sharing my email address and did not try this service yet. There is a Nab Mp3 bookmarklet too akin to ClipNabber video download which you can keep handy. Technorati Tags: bookmarklet

I missed the auto fill form function of roboform in Google Chrome. I have been searching for an automatic form filler that will work in google chrome and finally found a software that will work in all applications. PhraseExpress is a very useful utility that will work in all windows applications. It can be personalized in different ways to suit our needs. We can launch applications, get auto suggestions for input fields, create macros for applications etc. It is a light weight application which monitors our keyboard and learns to give auto fill suggestions. It is a freeware for personal use. The application shows an average amount of time we saved using it. The following is a Youtube video showcasing PhraseExpress . Technorati Tags: productivity

After reading the intro in Lifehacker about the first issue of Productive magazine, I wanted to check it out. I was glad to find it uploaded to issuu which is my favorite online ebook reader. According to the Productive magazine website the mission is to be a platform where the top productivity bloggers will share their best productivity principles and tips’n'tricks. It is an online free magazine aiming to feature the best of the productivity blog posts. Get your own - Open publication Technorati Tags: productivity

I used to see things either as good or bad, beautiful or ugly, right or wrong and nothing in between those two choices. But I am sure that I have to be more open minded to choices in between. What fascinates me is the way our brain looks and analyzes things. Necker's cube points to me the same idea. It is just a 2 dimensional picture which gives us an idea of a 3 dimensional cube. But if you keep staring at it you can notice that it seems to have changed it's orientation. It is just because either orientations are compatible with 3 dimensional quality of the image on our retina and brain can interpret it the same image differently. But no matter what the orientation is, it is the same image. now loading... the best visual content, for the best publishers Publish this image close ...

As everyone knows if you are not a premium user of the famous file sharing site Rapidshare, you need to wait for about 15 min for the next download. For users with a dynamic IP address it is just a matter of disconnecting and reconnecting their internet connection to bypass the waiting time. But for users with a fixed IP address an easy way to change IP address is to use the freeware hotspotshield from anchorfree . Technorati Tags: rapidshare

There is an interesting poll result in Reader's Digest asking 11,000 people in 10 countries when they last called their mother. Among the results: Thirty-three percent of Russians phoned their mother just once in the last month. Sixteen percent of Americans can't remember when they last called. But no wonder, India and China are top scorers.   Technorati Tags: poll

In this digital era of electronic documents and ebooks, Adobe Digital Editions fills the void for the need of a visually pleasing interface for reading ebooks. Organize your eBooks into a custom library and annotate pages. Digital Editions also supports industry-standard eBook formats, including PDF/A and EPUB. Use it to download and purchase digital content. There are other ways to read pdf documents in an engaging and visually pleasant interface. Issuu lets you upload all your pdf files and read and share online. Scribd is a more famous service of the same kind and is not limited to pdf files. If you want to share your files with others and need a free online storage, Scribd or Issuu will be a good choice. If you are like me and would like to keep your files private in your computer and would like to have a more visually pleasing reader for pdf files, Adobe Digital Editions is a good choice. Technorati Tags: ebook reader , reader , ebooks , pdf , adobe

> Voxox is a new Skype+Digsby alternative. This service offers an integration of popular messenger clients, email notifications and internet telephone. What made me switch to voxox and dump digsby is the free telephone number with 2 hours of free credit that voxox offered. I have been a user of Grandcentral and Voxox can serve as a receiver to the Grandcentral calls. Since incoming calls to Voxox are free, it is a great combination with Grandcentral.

I think I have landed upon the best search engine for Indian stuff especially music. The website claims to be the first crawler based search engine developed completely in India and designed to make search simple for Indian users. The website automatically identifies content on the web and organizes it in such a way that Indian users get search results that are most relevant, real fast. “Guruji”, a respectful way to call one's teacher, is the person one seeks help from in times of need. Likewise, Guruji.com aims to help provide easy access to information in every walk of life in an Indian context.  Personally, I loved the way it searches and displays music search results. I would consider this Skreemr alternative for the Indian music.

Springpad is a beta service offering online notbooks in an ajaxy style and works on Google chrome too! Each notebook called springpad is packed with features which you can customize according to your needs. You can create your own springpads or get a ready  made template from the site. I have started experimenting with the service and am discovering new features each time I use it! The drag and drop interface and integration of other web services like google calendar, maps etc make it a compelling service for everyone to try.

Now it is possible to download torrents like any other downloads using web browsers like Google chrome or IE which does not support downloading torrents natively. Bitlet is an online service where you have to paste the torrent metafile url and press download. An easier way to use the service is to use the bookmarklet. Bitlet uses java and it needs to be installed in your computer to use it.

Get unlimited online storage space at myBloop.com ! According to the website, you can store all your files online forever for free!! I didn’t have any problem with the uploader. But you can also download “blooploader” for uploading files to your account. In addition to online storage, there are social functions offered by the website like sharing files, twitter updates etc. I just hope that this site continues its free service forever. You can see a short video about this service below. What is MyBloop.com in 5 minutes from gubatron on Vimeo .

I got a few queries from readers who read my earlier post on Transcendental Meditation . The transcendental meditation as founded by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi is being taught all over the world by his followers and masters of transcendental meditation. You can visit tm.org for more information. The website claims that it is the key to clearer thinking, better health, fulfilling relationships and a peaceful world. The Transcendental Meditation technique is easy to learn, enjoyable to practice, and it enriches all areas of life. You may view the introductory videos or get going from your nearest place to learn. Technorati Tags: transcendental , meditation

It was a sweet surprise when I decided to test my new windows vista’s speech recognition. I had already had not so good experience with windows XP’s inbuilt speech recognition and did not expect much from any of Microsoft’s speech systems. I was wondering if I have to shell out from my pocket to have some decent functioning speech recognition software like Dragon naturally  speaking. But after I tried my hands on Vista’s inbuilt speech recognition I did not have much to complaint about this free gift from Microsoft. Check out this nice video demonstration from YouTube. Technorati Tags: speech , vista