Sunday, May 8, 2011

Why Pay for MS Office(Word) when you have OPEN OFFICE!

In today's world the computer is an integral part of the daily life. On a recent search for laptops( a new one indeed) I came across several basic models between $400-$600 existing today which are quite good and involves some future proof. While this post is simply not about Buying tips for a laptop, I eventually bought a laptop from dell which expensed me between $550.

The laptop comes with everything for basic use (Home computer) except for two main software license for life.
1. The Microsoft Word.
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The cost of Purchasing even the cheapest version of word would prove to be expensive for you pockets. Yet I still do not understand why purchase MS word, if there are other solutions to your Void.
Yes, the solution in this case is OPEN OFFICE. http://www.openoffice.org/

Open office is a free open source software where people provide free word like interface software for text editing all absolutely free. They have made interface similar to Word, so reduce the learning curve on them.  I see no reason to purchase word for home use. Please check out the link, download and use the software. You will understand what I mean.

2. Antivirus Software
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The second is a good antivirus software. Norton...McAfee...are the two main. Though a need for anitvirus software is a mandatory requirement for a laptop, I find for home use, free antivirus software like AVG or clamwin is enough to get you going. How about adding a free firewall also if you have not that as part of your configuration (comes in built for windows users).

So my motto on these are Go free...Go Open Source....that is all is required for home based computing. Save your money and continue living the same.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Free Remote Desktop Connection application software!

Ever had a problem trying to teach your less tech savvy parents using the internet, or fix something in a remote computer, or show your desktop to someone else. You can do all this for free( non commercial purposes) using Team Viewer. You need to download this application for your computer, and ask the remote computer to download the application too. Start the application on both ends and exchange the ID and PASSWORD. Voila! you connection is established and things are a lot simpler to explain now.

Go on! Use it and make your life simpler.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Get Desktop Clutter out of your way! and Its totally free

Do you have a habit of having a cluttered desktop. Here is an awesome tool from stardock which will save your day. It is called Fences. You can create Fences in your desktop and put how many ever desktop icons within. The boundary of the fence remains the same and a scroll bar lets you scroll up and down.

Certainly a useful tool for ya!

If you are more curious, check also the object dock if you prefer the pop up style.

the link: http://www.stardock.com/downloads/

Thursday, February 24, 2011

FIR (IIR) filters does not mean it is a Non Recursive ( Recursive) Filter in Digital signal processing

Sometime even published books state something wrong linking FIR filter and Recursiveness.

Though FIR filters are majorly non recursive and IIR filters are majorly realized recursively, the two are not related in any way.

FIR digital systems in DSP simply means the impulse response of the Finite number of Input samples x(n) is a finite number of out samples y(n).
IIR digital systems on the contrary have impulse response which is not a finite set of samples.

Recursive systems are those in which the output y(n) is fed back as a loop as an input. If no output is fed back then it is non recursive.

The two definitions is not correlated and remains separate. FIR any day does not mean non recursive!

Here is an example where a simple FIR system is defined using both in a recursive and non recursive way.

Say FIR system is defined by the difference equation:
y(n) = x(n) + x(n-1)
this is a non recursive implementation

Now the same difference equation can be represented in a recursive fashion as shown below

y(n) = x(n) + x(n-1)

now:
            y(n-1) = x(n-1) + x(n-2)
      => x(n-1) = y(n-1) - x(n-2)

Substituting above , we get

y(n) = x(n) - x(n-2) + y(n-1)

where y(n-1) represents feed back. So This is a recursive implementation.
Hence watch out all DSP buffs!
  

Tip for all drivers! How to save yourself from a drowning car.

I think it is very important for everyone who drives to know this to save themselves and their loved ones in the car from drowning!

For whatever reason, if you happen to go off road into a water mass, be it pond, pool, ocean, river, lake, you need to know the basics to get yourself out safe and sound. Here are some basic tip to save yourself. You can of course Google for more!

1. Embrace yourself by putting your hands on the steering wheel just before you hit the water.

2. You got about 30 seconds before your electrical begin to fail. Use this time to open your window( Although counter intuitive this matters a lot), Remove you seat belt and then remove seat belts of your kids, then try and see if you can open the door preferably in that order.

3. Follow the bubbles to swim to surface.

4. Now in the event that you are unable to open your window before the car starts drowning, first thing to know is, forget about opening the car's door.The Pressure outside is far more than the pressure inside the car. You cannot open the door, unless you let the water from outside to fill the car inside. How do you do that. Break the window. Again, the wind shield is made to be strong, so thats not going to be your option. Your side windows are the key. Use a sharp object to Break the glass. Or there are tools out there that can help you effortlessly. Buy one for your car.

5. Key is not to panic. Break your glass, let the water gush in. Force your self  out with the water gushing inside or wait till all the water fills your car and open the door and leave.

Having said all this, the best tip one could ever give you regarding this is - Drive safe!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The secret behind the Eye Patch!

Apparently Pirates are not all dumb after all. They might have not showered for some time but that is not the point of this post anyways.

Ever wondered why these guys wear an eye patch. it is not always to cover their Cataract eye. It is just that one of the eyes serves as night vision. What more would a person living most of his life on board a ship want. Especially those days when there was no electricity? it is just that these guys have a patch on one eye which would be all closed on deck exposed to bright sunlight. When they wanted to go below the deck, they would swap their eye patch and use the current one as night vision as their Rods( eye optics) are not saturated with the sunlight above.

Slick huh! I was damn impressed.

Remove Startup Programs in Windows OS

It is all frustrating that to have all programs start up on windows startup. Here is a method to remove the some of the programs which automatically starts up and runs on windows startup.

Click on Windows
type msconfig in the run command line and press enter
In almost all the windows version you will find a tab for Startup in the next window that pops up.
Under this tab check/uncheck all programs you want or do not want to start on windows startup.
Click apply / ok.

Your software will not be slow the next time it boots up.