November 2005

HTML keyboard shortcuts using the “accesskey” attribute.

Why we love rounded corners.

Paul Graham on picking a computer language. Excellent read.

IMDb Torrent linker – a GreaseMonkey script that shows torrents available when you browse the IMDb.

Coloured soap bubbles.

Capturing movies on the fly. Comments Sumit Dhar 30 Nov 2005 1:28 am: SnapZ is a Mac only application? For Windows, I use VirtualDub. Not very intuitive or easy to use, but does the job. S Anand 30 Nov 2005 11:07 am: So do I! It’s pretty effective. I do my video compression on VirtualDub as well.

The Blind Search Engine Test. My vote turned out to be for Google.

Discussion on 43 Folders on presentation tips. Comments Sathya 28 Nov 2005 7:02 am: Anand … can you RSS-enable your website ? S Anand 29 Nov 2005 7:52 pm: It alread is. The XML link is on the rop right, in the bookmarks.

Some interesting ads on Google video: FotoPrix: perfect pictures for an imperfect world. Nike ad in Lisbon. Honda car assembly (a classic). Google Video also has Google Current, which is a newsreel about Google’s top searches. But the find was a 5-hour Google factory tour. Comments ritzkini 23 Nov 2005 9:07 am: Thanks for your interest in Google Video.Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn’t available in your country.We hope to make this feature available more widely in the future, and we really appreciate your patience. S Anand 23 Nov 2005 7:25 pm: That is truly a pity. Wonder if any of the proxys will take care of it…

Google may acquire Riya. Riya can recognise faces and lettering in your pictures. Comments Sai 8 Dec 2005 11:50 pm: Hi, do post the rest of the tips for excel when you get the time. Good Stuff.

Rule #3: Avoid manual labour. Use Excel to automate the task. I use Excel’s formulas to speed up repetitous tasks. These techniques are powerful, meaning, you can do a lot with a little, but can have unforeseen consequences. Excel can find and replace formulas. If you had hardcoded formulas and wanted to change =B1*3.14 to =B1*3.1416 across all rows, just find “*3.14” and replace it with “*3.1416”. Find and replace works in formulas. This is very powerful. You can use it to change the source (e.g. change the source from column B to C by finding “=B” and replacing with “=C”) or even the formula (find and replace “SUM(” with “SUBTOTAL(9,”). ...

MIT OpenCourseWare on Google Base.

How to read when time is short. Read the “How To Find The Essential 20%” section carefully. Another interesting post from Bert on How to Learn More With No Extra Effort uses the principle in the post below to suggest we take a lot of breaks while learning. i cdnuolt blveiee taht i cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht i was rdanieg. the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mind is amazanig. aoccdrnig to a rscheearch taem at cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. the rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. amazanig huh? yaeh and yuo awlyas thohgut slpeling was ipmorantt. ...

The ultimate irony. Amazon has written an API that invokes humans. Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web services API to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call - the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. In reality, a network of humans fuels this Artificial Artificial Intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work. ...

Rule #2: Never type in data in Excel. You rarely spend time creating voluminous data. Usually, you’re just processing it (copying, transforming, whatever). Sometimes data is on a web page – typically tables. To copy such data, open the page in Internet Explorer and paste it in Excel. You won’t like the formatting. So copy the cells you just pasted, go to a different sheet, and Edit-Paste Special just the values (Alt-E-S-V-Enter). ...

What economists can learn from currency traders.

My Outsourced Life. Hilarious article by AJ Jacobs on how he outsourced his professional and personal life. I think it’s true – hence amazing.

I spend a lot of time building models on Excel. I have 4 rules that help me get things done fast. Never use the mouse. The keyboard is much faster. Never type in data. You can always import it. Avoid manual labour. Use Excel to automate the task. Make your data visually obvious. Let’s look at Rule #1: Never use the mouse. Using the keyboard can be 10 times faster than the mouse. It takes time to move one hand from the keyboard to the mouse, locate the item you want to click at, move the mouse there, adjust it finely so it’s pointing at the exact spot, and then click it. For example, to insert text without formatting, I’d just go Alt-E, S, enter. It takes half a second. It took me 5 seconds with a mouse. (I timed 10 continuous attempts in both cases.) ...

Bill Gates in a Coca Cola ad. In August 2005, Bill Gates starred in a Coca Cola commercial. He wanders in the halls of Microsoft late one night looking for someone to loan him change for the Coke machine. “I’ll pay you back,” he promises.