I found CNet's Big Picture tool, which offers a visual layout for articles to help users see the broader context of news stories. It maps out related topics and trends in a more accessible format.

CNet has a tool that lets you see the big picture for articles.

CNet Big Picture


I'm sharing a link to the new code.google.com, which serves as Google's hub for developer APIs, documentation, and open-source project hosting. It's an interesting move to centralize their technical resources and software tools.

code.google.com Comments ritzkini 24 Mar 2005 5:18 am: google rocks !!

code.google.com


Explore cognitive science and psychology through daily insights into human perception, the mental processing of films, and the social dynamics affecting children's well-being in different economic environments.

Cognitive daily. Are rich kids more troubled than poor kids?\ How do we decide what we're seeing?\ What else are we doing when we watch a movie?\ What are we doing when we watch a movie? etc.

Cognitive daily


Explore the breakthrough in chemistry that allowed for the creation of Zubbles, the world's first colored soap bubbles. These bubbles use special dyes that disappear upon contact with surfaces or air.

Coloured soap bubbles.

Coloured soap bubbles


I re-enabled comments on my blog after a temporary hiatus. I spent time troubleshooting initial bugs regarding frame issues and session persistence, eventually confirming that user names are saved via cookies rather than IP addresses.

I had disabled commenting for a while. It's back on. Comments TOPFRAME 7 Mar 2005 9:48 am: not working... S Anand 7 Mar 2005 10:31 am: Try now. I think I've fixed the TOPFRAME problem as well. Jetru 7 Mar 2005 6:39 pm: oh, umm workin!! Jetru 7 Mar 2005 7:05 pm: isn't working right... S Anand 8 Mar 2005 3:43 am: Check now. Should be fine. Jetru 8 Mar 2005 2:44 pm: Cool! My name saves only 4 the session though. Based on IP? S Anand 8 Mar 2005 3:13 pm: Cookies, actually.

Commenting is back


Use this tool to compare rankings between Yahoo and Google for identical search queries. It visualizes the differences in search engine algorithms and result placement by displaying both sets of results side-by-side.

Compare Yahoo and Google searches. This site lets you compare the rankings of each site on identical searches with Yahoo and Google.

Compare Yahoo and Google searches


I’ve shared my transcribed collection of Calvin and Hobbes quotes ahead of the release of the complete book series. I'm also looking for a searchable web archive containing every strip ever published.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes will be released. (I've transcribed the quotes.) Comments Anonymous 20 Sep 2005 6:08 pm: btw its available at a website, all strips ever published Anonymous 20 Sep 2005 6:09 pm: and its searchable thru google, let me know if you want the link S Anand 21 Sep 2005 4:58 pm: YES PLEASE! Can you mail me at root dot node at gmail dot com?

Complete Calvin and Hobbes


I explore common human reactions to computer crashes, from physical frustration to strange coping mechanisms like deep frying hardware, and ask readers how they handle the stress of system failures and unexpected technical downtime.

What do you do when your computer crashes? Hit it? Yell? Sweet talk to it? Deep fry it? Take a break?

Computer crashes


Learn how to convert black-and-white photographs into realistic color images using Photoshop. This technique provides a straightforward method for colorizing old photos with remarkably high-quality results by layering colors onto monochromatic originals.

How to convert a black & white photo into colour using Photoshop. The result looks remarkably good.

Converting Black-and-White to Colour


I found some clever entries from the Worth1000 "Corporate Takeover" Photoshop contest, featuring creative branding mashups like AT&T's logo on the moon and a Microsoft-branded toilet.

The Corporate Takeover Photoshop contests has some cool pictures: Revlon's lip service, AT&T's takeover of the moon, and Microsoft toilet. Comments Kingsley 19 Apr 2005 12:01 am: and then, there's the adome macromedia merger. Photoshop that

Corporate takeover


Read how Ovid tracked down and caught identity thieves after they charged thousands to his credit cards. The story highlights the careless mistakes made by the criminals and the luck involved in their arrest.

Ovid catches his credit card thieves. This morning, I found out that thousands of dollars of charges had been made on two of my credit cards in the past two days. Now, the identity thieves are sitting in jail. This is how it happened. It involves identity theft, a careless thief, one pissed-off Ovid and lots of luck.

Credit card fraud


I shared the movie trailers for The Da Vinci Code and discovered a clever anagram hidden in the film's del.icio.us tag: "c i con thee david."

Da Vinci Code trailers. Comments Sai 15 Dec 2005 9:56 pm: Anand, tell us a bit about Infosys consulting. They seem to be on a big expansion drive. Hows it out there? S Anand 16 Dec 2005 7:32 am: I can mail you, Sai. What's your e-mail ID? S Anand 16 Dec 2005 9:39 am: BTW, the del.icio.us tag on "The Da Vinci Code" is an anagram: c i con thee david. Sai 16 Dec 2005 7:42 pm: Anand it is peaceforall@gmail.com Sai 16 Dec 2005 7:46 pm: Thanks!

Da Vinci Code trailers


An information civil rights organization data mined an NSA mailing list to reveal organizational patterns. The published first chapter includes detailed graphs that visualize the connections and communication flows within the intelligence agency.

An information civil rights organization has data mined an NSA mailing list. The first chapter is online. The graphs are interesting.

Datamining the NSA


I believe Skype’s free toll-free calls, combined with cable internet and calling cards, completely remove the need for a traditional telephone line. This setup provides everything necessary for global communication without relying on landline infrastructure.

Skype allows you to call toll-free numbers free. This, to me, completely removes the need to use a telephone line. With a cable internet connection and a calling card, you're set.

Death of telephone calls


I note the identification of FBI official Mark Felt as Deep Throat and compare it to a four-year University of Illinois investigation that mistakenly concluded Nixon’s deputy counsel Fred Fielding was the famous whistleblower.

Deep Throat is FBI assistant director, Mark Felt. It's interesting that UIUC carried out a four-year investigation on Deep Throat's identity, and had concluded that Fred Fielding, Nixon's deputy counsel, was deep throat. See Deep Throat Uncovered.

Deep Throat


I found Trend sweet trend, a useful tool for tracking recent bookmarking activity on del.icio.us. It visualizes popular topics and links, providing a snapshot of what is currently trending across the social bookmarking community.

Trend sweet trend shows recent trends in del.icio.us bookmarks.

del.icio.us trends


I built a tooltip feature that displays popular del.icio.us tags when hovering over links on my blog. This lets you explore related content on del.icio.us by clicking the tags, and I've fixed display issues in Firefox.

If you move the mouse over a link, a popup appears, showing the most popular tags on del.icio.us for the link. Click on the tag to visit all related links on del.icio.us. Comments Sathish 15 Apr 2005 3:56 am: What is this post related to? Did try out the new "big del.icio.us post" script? or are you talking of something else? S Anand 15 Apr 2005 4:02 am: If you move your mouse over any of my blog posts, a tooltip pops up. Did you notice? Sathish 18 Apr 2005 5:05 am: I notice it now.. I notice it on the right hand side corner of the page.. I am using firefox to view.. is it how u planned to show it or is there a problem? S Anand 18 Apr 2005 6:03 am: Looks like a problem. I will check it out. sathish 20 Apr 2005 3:59 am: it works now..

Delicious tags


Review Icon Magazine’s list of the twenty-one most significant influences on contemporary design. The selection highlights major cultural shifts and technological developments, notably ranking the emergence of blogs as the ninth most powerful influence on the industry.

21 strongest influences on contemporary design. Includes blogs at #9.

Design influences


I explore Dodgeball, a tool for broadcasting mobile locations to friends, and note its recent acquisition by Google. This move highlights the growing importance of location-based services and social discovery in the early mobile web.

Dodgeball lets you broadcast your location to friends via a mobile. The interesting thing is, Google has bought Dodgeball.

Dodgeball


I found research showing that dogs actually laugh using a specific panting sound. This vocalization can be recorded and played back to reduce stress and aggression in shelter dogs, according to animal behavior studies.

Dogs laugh.

Dogs laugh


I discovered a collection of free and affordable software tools that replicate the professional visual effects pipelines used by studios like ILM. These resources provide accessible alternatives for high-end compositing, 3D modeling, and cinematic post-production.

Download Squad. A bunch of free (or cheap) software that will give you many of the tools used by special effects houses.

Download Squad


I found that Dr DivX has officially become open source. It serves as a powerful alternative to Virtual Dub for video transcoding and compression tasks, providing a more streamlined experience for video enthusiasts.

Dr DivX is now open source. You may prefer it to Virtual Dub.

Dr DivX is now open source


I shared Droogle, a database for drink recipes. I worked on fixing its XML feed and addressing layout clutter based on reader feedback to improve the search experience for various cocktails and beverages.

Droogle. Drink recipes. Comments Jetru 24 Mar 2005 5:04 pm: Doesnt look like the XML feed is working... Deshi 24 Mar 2005 6:17 pm: This is one lousy blog! Genmys 25 Mar 2005 1:49 am: Lassi features as South Indian drink. Obscure results for Butter Milk ritzkini 25 Mar 2005 8:13 am: Bandwidth Limit Exceeded.The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.droogle.ca Port 80(25/03/2005-at 1:45 PM IST) Shamit 26 Mar 2005 4:41 am: It is getting a bit cluttered ... S Anand 28 Mar 2005 3:20 am: Yes, it is, rather. Will see what I can do about that. S Anand 30 Mar 2005 7:23 am: Fixed the XML feed.

Droogle


Explore the work of Edward Tufte, a Yale Professor Emeritus and expert in information design. He specializes in statistical evidence and interface design while exploring creative mediums like digital video, sculpture, and printmaking.

Edward Tufte. Professor Emeritus at Yale University. Taught statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. Working on includes digital video, sculpture, printmaking.

Edward Tufte


I examine Marc Eisenstadt’s 15-year email stats showing a 2.5-hour daily drain despite a disciplined approach. I also look at Donald Knuth’s famous decision to stop using email in 1990 to protect his research time.

Marc Eisenstadt has analysed 15 years of email. ... it is trivially easy to get to 2.5 hours per workday assuming a fairly ruthless, 'one-touch', knee-jerk email interaction regime. And worse if you deviate from the regime. Then there are other sources of workflow: blogs, aggregator summaries, phone calls (rare, but I still allow one or two), cell-phone, text message, instant messaging (my buddy list is very large, and most of them are work-related). Interesting that Knuth opted out of email in 1990. Comments Aditya Chaturvedi 16 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Interesting Analysis m1108739289513 16 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: See this dilbert on email and its sequel next day S Anand 16 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: After reading this article, I turned off my e-mail alert. It is amazing how much distraction it reduces.

email analysis


I reconcile mismatched data by using dual VLOOKUPs to isolate #N/A results. I then sort the unmatched entries while maintaining the original order with sequential numbers, making it easy to visually catch spelling variations across different datasets.

Rule #3: Avoid manual labour (continued) Reconciling data is where I spend most of my time on Excel. Say you have a list of branches by city from 2 banks. You want to know where both banks have branches. Excel doesn't know that Kolkata is Calcutta. There are 500 cities, and you have 30 minutes. Excel snapshot Use VLOOKUP for a start. If Bank A's cities are in column A (say 2-500) and Bank B's cities in column B (say 2-400), in C2 type VLOOKUP(A2, B$2:B$400, 1, 0) (read Excel help -- all I'll say is, don't miss out the 0 at the end: otherwise you get approximate match, and that's not good). Copy the formula to down to C500. Similarly, in D2 type VLOOKUP(B2, A$2:A$500, 1, 0). Copy the formula down to D400. Excel snapshot You'll see the #N/A where there's no match. #N/A in Column C means Bank A has a branch here, but Bank B does not. Column D has the converse. But we're not done yet. There could be spelling mistakes. Using two VLOOKUPs simplifies that problem considerably. We just need to match the cities having #N/A on both lists to check for alternate spellings of cities -- which is a lot less work! So prepare a separate list: unmatched cities from Bank A, and unmatched cities from Bank B. (See the section on removing unwanted rows to simplify this.) Excel snapshot Sort both the lists while remembering the original order. You'll want to remember the original order often -- so just add a column, number it sequentially (1,2,3... use Alt-E-I-S), and sort the city names along with the numbers. When you want to get back the original order, just sort by the numbers again. To avoid distraction, you can move or hide these numbers. Now, you have a sorted list of unmatched cities. Notice that you can visually match many of these cities. There's nothing easier to search (visually) than a sorted list. Finally, when you've mapped all your columns, the ones that are remaining are the ones where there is no overlap. Comments Anonymous 9 Dec 2005 7:22 pm: Anand, I have a suggestion S Anand 9 Dec 2005 10:16 pm: Yeah? Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:12 pm: it got erased the last time...ok..this is what I wanted to say.. Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:14 pm: can you please categorize all these excel tips (rules) and add it as a bookmark on the right, so that we can refer to it at one shot rather than searching the archives. Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:14 pm: btw thank you so much for taking your time Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:16 pm: some of the text is getting erased when I submit a comment Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:17 pm: I said "btw thank you so much for taking your time and explainning this to us" Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:18 pm: you know what..I think the comment system is not supporting symbols...for example the 'and' symbol Anonymous 10 Dec 2005 3:19 pm: thanks S Anand 10 Dec 2005 8:40 pm: You're right, symbols are causing a problem. I'll try and fix that. Will put in the links as well, once I finish the series. Thanks! S Anand 11 Dec 2005 10:02 pm: Hopefully, it's fixed. & - that works. Tanmoy Sinha 19 Sep 2008 7:28 am: I had a similar issue at a much larger scale.. Had to match about 11,000 records in a database of about 44,000 using company names and city, both of which had spelling inconsistencies..\ \ What I did was use the 'Advanced Filter' function in Excel and wrote a small VB program to list out the filtered results in a dialog box allowing user to select the relevant ones using 'human' intelligence.\ \ The trick was in identifying a small enough part of the company's name that would serve as a 'signature' and at the same time throw back as (few) relevant results. What worked best for me was the following: \ Use the first 3 chars of the second word in the company name which is 4 or more characters long. i.e. avoid using the first word if there is another word 4 or more chars long. \ Use wildcard characters '?\' before the 3 chars determined in the step above.

Excel - Avoid manual labour 2


I automate complex Excel tasks using INDIRECT, OFFSET, and ADDRESS to avoid manual typing. I demonstrate how I summarized data from 300 sheets and built a dynamic interest income model using convolutional sumproducts and variable ranges.

A corollary of Rule 3: Never type the same formula twice. Design the formula so that if you cut and paste it elsewhere, it works correctly. The $ symbol and the F4 key for cell references help in 90% of the cases. For complex requirements and large data, 5 functions come in handy: INDIRECT, OFFSET, ADDRESS, ROW and COLUMN. I once did a survey, and had data spread across 300 sheets (same format on all sheets). I needed cell D3 across all sheets in a column, to summarise the results. The image explains what I did. Excel snapshot INDIRECT returns the value of a cell. INDIRECT("Sheet2!D3") is the value of cell D3 in Sheet2. And INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(A2,"!D3")) will give you the value of cell D3 in whatever sheet A2 specifies! I created a list of sheet names in column A, and column B had "D3" in each of those sheets. In effect, INDIRECT can transpose sheets into columns. Getting a list of sheet names on to a column is tough, however. If your sheets are sequentially numbered, this image shows a trick that may help. Excel snapshot If you need multiple cells from a sheet, say D3:Z3, use the ADDRESS, ROW and COLUMN functions. ROW(D3) returns 3, and COLUMN(D3) returns 4 -- the respective row and column. If you copy ROW(D3) to multiple rows, you will see ROW(D3), ROW(D4), ROW(D5), ... which are 3, 4, 5 respectively. Similarly for COLUMN. It's a useful way of linking values to position. Excel snapshot ADDRESS does the opposite. ADDRESS(ROW(D3),COLUMN(D3)) = ADDRESS(3,4) = "$D$3". ADDRESS(3,4,1,1,"Sheet2") returns "Sheet2!$D$3". (See help for the ,1,1 in the middle, and just put it in always.) To cells D3:Z3 from all the sheets, copy the formula INDIRECT(ADDRESS(3,COLUMN(D3),1,1,$A2)) to the entire range. The INDIRECT, ADDRESS, ROW/COLUMN combination can slice contiguous data across sheets in any way you want. Another useful function is OFFSET. OFFSET(D3,2,1) returns the value in cell E5. It shifts the reference D3 down by 2 rows and right by 1 column. OFFSET can be used instead of the INDIRECT and ADDRESS when multiple sheets are not involved. OFFSET can also return a range. OFFSET(D3,0,0,2,2) returns the range D3:E4, which is the 2x2 range starting from 0,0. So SUM(OFFSET(D3,0,0,2,2)) is the same as SUM(D3:E4). With OFFSET, you can specify a range with variable position and variable size (which you can't with $ references). Once, we were modelling a leasing company's accounts. (Warning: this is a complex example.) We knew the volume of loans they would disburse over the next 3 years. The monthly interest rate is, say, 1%. What would be their interest income every month? Well, it's not just 1% of what they've lent out. Customers pay back in equal monthly installments (EMIs). The EMI includes the principal and the interest. Initially, the EMI has a large interest component and very little principal, because there's a lot left to repay. Towards the end, the balance dies down and so does the interest; it's mainly the balance principal that's being repaid. The interest income is not the same every month even for a single lease. The calculation is conceptually simple. The IPMT function tells you the monthly interest each month. Let's say all leases are for 36 months. So, to calculate the March interest income, take the January disbursals and multiply it by the third month interest component: IPMT(1%,3,36,-1). Take the Feb disbursals and multiply it by IPMT(1%,2,36,-1). Take the March disbursals and multiply it by IPMT(1%,1,36,-1). And add them up. For April, you'd add 4 terms. And so on. Mathematicians call this a convolution. It's like a SUMPRODUCT of a series with another series in reverse. Excel snapshot Cell E4 on the image alongside does exactly that for month 3 (March). There are 5 columns:\ A: Month\ B: Amount disbursed that month\ C: Months in reverse\ D: Interest component for month in reverse\ E: Interest income for month\ E4 is the sumproduct of B2 to B4 (the Jan, Feb and March disbursals) with something else -- an OFFSET. The offset says, from D1, move down C4 (34) rows and select A4 (3) cells further down. This has the interest components for the first, second and third months in reverse. So, the disbursal for Jan is multiplied with the 3rd month's interest, Feb with the 2nd month's interest, and Mar with the 1st month's interest. That's exactly what we wanted. It may look complex. But remember: you have to type this complex formula only once, not 36 times. (And in my case, I had 18 product types.) Also, you're less likely to make typing errors when cutting and pasting. So this saves you debugging time as well. Comments Ashwin 18 Dec 2005 6:20 am: Anand, even i would like to know about Infosys consulting. Can you mail to me regarding that ? Ashwin 18 Dec 2005 6:26 am: my mail Id is ashwin.cfa@gmail.com Al-Hamour 23 Mar 2009 8:44 am: Hi, I am using the offset function's variable range and wanted to use the ADDRESS and MATCH functions to return the cell reference. However, it is not working when i insert the ADDRESS into the offset. Do you know how to fix this? =ADDRESS(ROW(),MATCH(BV10,$A$10:$Y$10,0),3)

Excel - Avoid manual labour 3


I streamline Excel debugging by using master SUM functions to catch hidden errors and Trace Error to find them. I lock input areas, use Data Validation, and apply Conditional Formatting to flag incorrect totals or missing data.

Debugging in Excel is another time consuming task. 80% of the trouble is identifying the problem (Error? What error? Where?) as opposed to fixing it (Why's THAT cell showing THAT?). Most of my time is spent chasing three kinds of errors: wrong reference (leading to a #N/A or #REF!), wrong data input, or wrong formula. Wrong references are easy to spot. You'll see a #N/A or a #REF! sticking out. But on large sheets, even that's tough to spot. I always have a SUM (or some kind of total) function that covers EVERY cell in EVERY table, even if I don't need that information. If ther SUM shows a #N/A or #REF!, I can use Trace Error (Alt-T-U-E) to see where the problem is coming from. If you know there's a wrong reference in a cell (say A1), and want to ignore it, use a new cell with the formula =IF(ISERROR(A1),0,A1). You can substitute an entire row, column or table this way. Wrong data input is best avoided upfront. Before I hand my Excel sheets over for large scale data entry, I do three things: 1. Let them enter data only in input areas. Unprotect the cells the user can enter data in (Ctrl-1, Protection, remove the tick against 'Locked'), and protect the whole sheet (Alt-T-P-P). 2. Validate the data. Turn on data validation (Alt-D-L) on all editable cells, and specify the validation criteria. 3. Make it easy to spot errors. If there are percentages that should add to 100%, show the total in a cell that turns green if the total is 100%, and red otherwise. (Use conditional formatting - Alt-O-D). If data about 20 people must be entered, show the number of people about whom data is entered, and mark it red until it's 20. Make sure all criteria are captured. When the spreadsheet is filled, it should be impossible to make errors. Wrong formulae (like + instead of -) are tough to spot. The best way to check for this is to do the same calculation in different ways, and compare the results. Whenever I create complex tables, I always have an error row at the bottom. I compare the totals on the table with the totals calculated in a simpler way and check the difference. This warns me when I miss out some elements, or double count something, in the table. Comments Rajlaxmi 1 Jan 2006 5:08 pm: great tutorial on excel..ready reckoner... S Anand 2 Jan 2006 9:42 pm: Thanks! Peter 8 Mar 2007 11:31 pm: Avoid Manual Labour: I just spent hours writing a VB script that does essentially what the 'Conditional Formatting' feature does. Thanks for pointing it out! isomorphismes 13 Mar 2013 5:26 pm: That is a great idea.

Excel - Avoid manual labour 4


I use array formulas for calculations on entire lists, database functions like DSUM for flexible table manipulation, and pivot tables to handle tabular data. These tools help me avoid manual labor when processing complex spreadsheets.

A few tips, without getting into the details. Array formulas let you perform any calculation on an entire list, and get the result in a single formula. Database functions like DSUM can manipulate tables of data very flexibly. Using these and Pivot tables, you can do anything with any tabular data. Comments Ananth 22 Dec 2005 6:32 am: I needed your feedback on www.doondo.org. Give it a spin let me know. I wanted to avoid positng here but never got any replies for the mails sent at root\node at yahoo.com Ananth 22 Dec 2005 6:33 am: www.doondo.org is a hobby project I've been working on. The beta is just out. Ananth 22 Dec 2005 6:35 am: Looking forward for your views and feedback ritzkini 22 Dec 2005 10:01 am: great concept ananth..shld be a hit considering the great response to a similar funda used in IIM-I's Klueless S Anand 22 Dec 2005 12:31 pm: I liked the concept and interface, Ananth. Will mail you in detail. Quick question... how do I find out what the right keywords are? ritzkini 23 Dec 2005 2:19 am: hehehe...hey anand,saw the visitor stats thing for the first time today ! awesomely cool ,kudos! u did it yourself ?? Dhar 23 Dec 2005 3:26 am: Ananth, does your game support advanced Google operators? Ananth 23 Dec 2005 4:11 am: Thanks for feedback folks. doondo needs additional features, like game summary with right keywords. Right now only basic operators are supported. Even such a simple concept requires complex coding skills! I would love if you can post the suggestion at doondo@googlegroups.com. Great if you can join the group. Anand wouldn't like spamming his comments section with doondo. S Anand 24 Dec 2005 1:42 am: Yeah ritzkini, spent a week coding the visitor stats. What else do you think would be useful to see? ritzkini 26 Dec 2005 7:22 am: :) i dont think it could have been any more comprehensive than it already is ! :) harish 11 Jan 2006 3:50 am: great work mate...

Excel - Avoid manual labour 5


I automate repetitive Excel tasks by using find and replace inside formulas, locating external links with character searches, and applying conditional formatting. I also use Autofilter and sorting to quickly identify and delete unwanted rows or errors.

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,"). You can also search and replace for errors (like #N/A, #REF, etc). In the Find dialog options, select "Values" under the Look in" option. To replace these cells, copy and paste the cells by value (Ctrl-C, go where you want to paste, Alt-E-S-V-Enter). Now you can search and replace #N/A just like any other value. Find external links. If you have links to other Excel files, and one of them is missing, you'll get an error saying "This workbook contains links ..." It's annoying, and difficult to trace the source. But since links to external files have the formula =Path\[file]Sheet!Cell, just search for "[" across sheets (you can search across sheets using the Options button). Format based on value. Conditional formatting (Alt-O-D) accepts formulas. You can set a cell's background to red, yellow or green if it's value is low, medium or high. Pick a cell, say D3. In conditional formatting, select "Formula is" instead of "Cell value is", and type "=D3 Ahmed 17 Nov 2005 12:00 pm: what`s the meaning of $ in the cell that comes before the cell location like $A$3 thanx a lot Kannan 17 Nov 2005 12:00 pm: To find the links, go to Edit and Links - You can find the external links instead of search.

Excel - Avoid manual labour


I make Excel models visually obvious by isolating one key input and one primary output. Using sliders linked to an index cell via VBA, I create interactive scenarios that help stakeholders understand trade-offs and reach decisions quickly.

Rule #4: Make your model visually obvious. After years of creating Excel models with lots of inputs and lots of outputs, I've learnt two things. Usually, only ONE input parameter matters. Think of this as being the constraint in the Theory of Constraints, or the principal component in factor analysis. You want your model to communicate the impact of the ONE parameter, and get a decision based on that. Keep the rest at their best default value. Usually, only ONE output function matters. This is either a single number, or at most, a visually obvious function. For example, I was working on creating an offshore test centre. The question was: what test activities should we outsource? I made a huge model evaluating 1,200 activities. A very elegant model. And totally incomprehensible. The issue really was simple. We could not recruit too fast. But at the same time, the more we offshore, the more the cost savings. So I built a summary sheet that showed the impact of one parameter (speed of ramp-up) on one function (offshore profile). Offshore ramp-up profile The fixed blue line shows the number of people required. The slider on the right ranges from "conservative ramp-up" to "aggressive ramp-up". The green line shows how many resources will be offshore. In the conservative ramp-up, the recruitment rate is very manageable, but the saving is negligible, since hardly anyone is offshore. The aggressive ramp-up calls for an unmanageable ramp-up rate. We showed the management this tradeoff. They said, "We can recruit 30 people next year". That implied the moderate ramp-up scenario, and a cost saving of 27%. Total time spent in making decision: 2 minutes. Creating a slider-based model is quite useful. You can download a US Treasury yields example to see how this is done. As you move the slider, the yield curve moves over time, showing how it has fluctuated. The trick is to: 1. build the entire model based on a single cell. Cell H1 in this example acts as the index to the dates. 2. create a slider. Go to View - Toolbars - Control Toolbox and add a slider. 3. and link the slider to the cell. Right-click on the cell in design mode, select View Code, and type Range("H1").Value = ScrollBar1.Value in the Scrollbar change event. Comments Vasant 5 Jan 2006 10:35 am: A very wise observation - that only one parameter and function finally matters in a complex model. Thanks Joe G. 21 Jan 2009 5:05 pm: Hi, I'm trying to modify the value in cell H1 to reflect new data that I have added to the table. The chart works at first, but as soon as I scroll away from the new dates that I added, they disappear and default back to the 229 that was originally in the cell.\ \ How do I change the value and keep it changed? S Anand 29 Jan 2009 9:45 am: Go to design mode first. (On Office 2007, that's under Developer -\ Design mode. On Office 2003, View - Toolbars - Control Toolbox the\ design mode icon.)\ \ Right-click the slider, select properties, and change the "Max" field\ from 229 to your desired value.

Excel - Make your model visually obvious


I share why you should never manually type data into Excel. I use techniques like importing text files with delimiters, scraping web tables, leveraging OCR for paper, and specific PDF selection tools to automate data capture.

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). Sometimes data is on a text file. You can open text files directly in Excel. Each line becomes a row. You can split lines into columns if there is a "delimiter" between any two cells. Just load a text file, select all the rows, and play with the Data - Text to Columns menu (Alt-D-E). Sometimes, data is on a PDF file. Usually, such data is in a table. If you have Adobe Reader, tough luck. Just select and copy the table, paste it into Notepad, manually format it (painful), copy again from Notepad and paste in Excel. If you have Adobe Acrobat, it's slightly better. You can use the "Select Column" tool to select and copy entire columns of the table in one shot. Sometimes, data is on paper. Scanner often come with an optical character recognition (OCR) software. If not, Microsoft Office 2003 comes with a Microsoft Office Document Imaging tool has OCR. Just scan the image, open it in the Microsoft Document Imaging tool, go to the Tools - Recognize Text Using OCR... menu, and pray. After all this importing, the data is never "clean". Errors due to unintended delimiters, extraneous blank lines, etc are fairly frequent. I'll talk about how to manage this when discussing Rule #3: Automate the task Comments A benificiary 9 Nov 2005 5:29 am: this is S Anand of IIMB days - making lives easier wastedpsuede 17 Nov 2005 9:58 am: what about rules 3 and 4? james chacko 1 Nov 2006 12:45 pm: how to avoid copying extraneous blank lines while impoting data from text file to excel Egads 19 May 2009 10:14 pm: "If you have Adobe Reader, tough luck." Well, maybe not - if one holds down the 'Alt' key while using the pointer (arrow) select tool, it is possible to select and copy columns from PDF tables to Excel...

Excel - Never type in data


I share four rules for building Excel models faster, focusing on why you should never use a mouse. I detail essential shortcuts like F2, F4, and Alt-menu navigation that can make your workflow ten times faster.

I spend a lot of time building models on Excel. I have 4 rules that help me get things done fast. 1. Never use the mouse. The keyboard is much faster. 2. Never type in data. You can always import it. 3. Avoid manual labour. Use Excel to automate the task. 4. 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.) A factor of 10 speed advantage like that is good for two reasons: it saves you time, and it doesn't distract you from what you're doing (provided the keyboard shortcuts have become a habit.) For newbies: To use menus using keyboard shortcuts, first go to Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display - Appearance tab - Effects button - Hide underlined letters for keyboard navigation until I press the Alt key. Make sure it is turned off. To use a menu, let's say "Insert - Row". look for the underlined letter on the menu bar (the "I" on "Insert"), press Alt and the underlined letter (Alt-I in this case), and look for the underlined letter on the next menu item ("R" on the "Rows" in this case) and press that letter. So, Alt-I-R is the shortcut to insert a row. Now, just practice Alt-I-R, Alt-I-R, Alt-I-R repeatedly. Shortcuts next to the menu are quicker, where they exist. For example, the Ctrl-C next to the Edit-Copy menu. Apart from the arrow keys, Ctrl-S, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, the keys I use frequently are: F2: edit the current cell F4: repeat the last action (very useful) Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-Y: Undo, Redo Ctrl-1: Format cells Ctrl-Shift-down arrow: Select all filled cells below selection (also works with other arrow keys) Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn: Shift between tabs Ctrl-Home/End: Go to top-left, or bottom-right of the sheet (or cell, if you're editing a cell) Ctrl-`: Show formulae Shift-Space, Ctrl-Space: Select row, select column Alt-Enter: To create a new line while you're typing in a cell Alt-E-I-S-Enter: Select a set of cells and fill a continuous series of numbers in it Alt-E-S-Enter: Paste unformatted text Alt-D-G-G: Group a set of rows (use Alt-D-G-U for ungroup) Alt-D-G-S: Show a collapsed group (use Alt-D-G-H to collapse a group) Alt-O-D: Conditional formatting Alt-F8: Macros Comments bluski 1 Nov 2005 12:00 pm: wqo Nametest 1 Nov 2005 12:00 pm: Test Jayant 3 Nov 2005 2:44 am: Thanks Anand. Good set of tips. Ofcourse, one can always go to microsoft page and download the entire set of shortcuts. bluski 8 Nov 2005 2:35 am: rules 2,3,4?? bluski 8 Nov 2005 2:36 am: ignore the one above...just testing Aditya 11 Nov 2005 5:40 am: Good Post! Really useful. Sathish 15 Nov 2005 5:56 pm: How will this be displayed if I don't type my name? ANIA 13 Feb 2007 8:33 am: HOW TO CALUCATE SIMPLE INTEREST IN EXCEL?HELP ME vic 8 Mar 2007 6:05 pm: F4 seems to have changed! Used to be able to keep on pressing F4 multiple times to repeat. Now it only works once or twice. Why? E R Suresh Narain 1 Nov 2005 12:00 pm: very useful afreen 1 Nov 2005 12:00 pm: how to arrange all cells alphabetically without modify any thing , like date ,amount & other things For e.g. Dt Party name Amount 12.03.08 Tema 2000 13.03.08 L& T 6000 It is arrange alphabetically Party wise yowan 2 Jan 2009 9:17 am: thanks for the excel tips and song search engine Subramanian S 30 Mar 2009 5:50 am: VEry useful tips Anand. Helps me a lot at work. Payal 22 Sep 2009 12:21 pm: Hey can any1 help me with how to go to other spreadsheet (ie. from sheet1 to sheet 2) without the use of mouse? Ian 17 Nov 2009 3:44 pm: Change sheets with keyboard? Ctrl-Pgup/Ctrl-PgDn Kalevi 26 Nov 2010 10:32 pm: Shift+F8 allows you to select cells from different parts of the document. remove keys 9 Mar 2011 7:08 pm: remove the f1, caps, left windows keys. maybe numlock. Vinnie 22 Aug 2012 8:52 pm: I came up with article on citehr where they show how you can work without any formula. This was a good article How you can work in Excel without knowing any formulas 1. How to change CASE in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2JdQuybKjU&feature=plcp 2. How to Convert Columnar Data into Tabular Form http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbHh41qMsHQ&feature=plcp 3. How to COLOUR Duplicate Rows in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRckmKTRbYE&feature=plcp 4. How to Change UPPER & lower Case in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ6Ud8MgrfY&feature=plcp 5. How to Remove all DUPLICATES in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh-8D\AklwM&feature=plcp 6. How to REMOVE Extra SPACES in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7lh1tX7EeY&feature=plcp 7. How to Remove NUMBERS & ALPHABETS in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMj89gqizzA&feature=plcp 8. How to CLEAN Data in Excel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhFroHy8tqw&feature=plcp Hope this helps and this is from a tool from http://exceladdins.net J.V.SSUBBARAO 26 Oct 2012 7:39 am: Dragging The lines of Tables margins without mouse support Laura 2 Feb 2013 12:18 am: For the new Excel 2010, how do we create and modify a Pivot table without using the mouse? We know that we hit ALT + D, P to get the Pivot table and then select through the Pivot wizard. However, once the pivot is created and becomes time to select the criteria, we cannot figure out how to get onto the selection panel without using a mouse. Suggestions? Saleem Ullah 18 Dec 2015 11:30 am: how can i coloured a text in excel without touching the keyboard.... plz resolve my problem thanks Saleem Ullah 18 Dec 2015 11:31 am: plz ignore my first mail, how can i coloured a text in excel without touching the mouse…. plz resolve my problem Thanks Jennifer 6 Feb 2018 9:51 pm: Thanks for the useful tips! Pranav Sukumaran 9 Apr 2017 7:15 am: Usefulllllllll Abhik 17 May 2016 5:33 am: How Draw Formula With out mouse

Excel - Never use the mouse


I'm sharing a comprehensive list of Excel shortcut keys from Microsoft and AutomateExcel. These keyboard commands are perfect for speeding up your workflow, covering everything from basic navigation to advanced data formatting.

Excel shortcut keys via AutomateExcel

Excel shortcuts


I watched my payphone credit rapidly disappear while making a quick call to a London mobile number. It was a race against time as the display counted down a penny for every word I spoke.

Time: early in the morning, waiting for office to open. Location: public phone booth. Situation: calling a mobile number in London. .box { font-family: "Lucida Console", monospaced; margin-left: 3em; } Insert coin 20p goes in. Press button to push coin in. Credit: 20p 10p goes in. Press button again. Credit 30p Call mobile number... 07xxxxxxx "Hi Malu, this is Shobana." Credit remaining: 20p "We..." Credit remaining: 19p "...just..." Credit remaining: 18p "...got..." Credit remaining: 17p "...here..." Credit remaining: 16p "...last..." Credit remaining: 15p "...night..." Credit remaining: 14p "...and..." Credit remaining: 13p "...are..." Credit remaining: 12p "...staying..." Credit remaining: 11p "...at..." Credit remaining: 10p "...a..." Credit remaining: 9p "...hotel." Credit remaining: 8p "OK..." Credit remaining: 7p "...I..." Credit remaining: 6p "...will..." Credit remaining: 5p "...call..." Credit remaining: 4p "...you..." Credit remaining: 3p "...back..." Credit remaining: 2p "...later..." Credit remaining: 1p "...bye." Credit remaining: 0p

Expensive phone


I compared clothing and grocery prices in London against costs in India to see how expensive the UK is. From chillies to suitcases, I found that London prices are consistently higher, sometimes by more than forty times.

Here's how expensive London is, in terms of clothing. Item London (GBP) India (Rs) Costlier by Socks 5 100 4X T-shirt 10 350 2.3X Reversible jacket 30 2000 1.2X Formal shoes 25 1500 1.3X Cooling glasses 10 150 5.3X Suitcase 56 1500 3X Nothing's less expensive than in India. Similarly for groceries. Item London India Costlier by Curd 1/2 kg 0.45 18 2X Cucumber (one) 0.49 3 13.1X Beans (250g) 0.99 20 4X Baby corn (125g) 0.99 18 4.4X Carrot (kg) 0.45 24 1.5X Cabbage (kg) 0.52 18 2.3X Cauliflower (one) 0.69 25 2.2X Spinach (kg) 4.3 ?? 0X Onion (kg) 0.46 10 3.7X Chilli (kg) 4.39 8 43.9X Cashew (kg) 15.9 360 3.5X Apple (kg) 1.29 60 1.7X Milk (litre) 0.6 18 2.7X

Expensive


I posted a brief status update during the July 7, 2005 London bombings to confirm my safety as reports of explosions emerged. The discussion quickly shifted to community members sharing resources for free e-books and BitTorrent clients.

There are explosions all over London. We are fine. Comments Sri 7 Jul 2005 2:24 pm: Nice way to let your family Krishnan 7 Jul 2005 4:14 pm: Hi Anand...The six ways of reading a book for free link is not working. Can u pls reload the link S Anand 7 Jul 2005 4:45 pm: Did I have a link like that? Where? Ram 8 Jul 2005 2:15 am: Those who are using IE may get a false icon saying it as a broken link,but with Firefox it works fine S Anand 8 Jul 2005 5:44 am: Guys, what link are you talking about!? Anonymous Hero 8 Jul 2005 7:22 am: I am using Firefox but the link is not working Ram. Can you tell me how it worked for you? S Anand 8 Jul 2005 8:47 am: If this is a hoax on me, it is the best I have seen so far! Anonymous Hero 8 Jul 2005 10:12 am: From my side, yes... I saw the other two comments and thought to myself, "Mate, that looks like a nice way to pull a fast one on Anand' :-) S Anand 8 Jul 2005 10:59 am: Well, seems like a day of hoaxes. I got a mail from a colleague in Finance asking me not to reclaim VAT. I never even tried! Ram 9 Jul 2005 3:44 pm: From where can we get Free e-books ? If anyone knows please post it here or mail me Dhar 10 Jul 2005 1:58 am: Depends on what kind of e-books you are looking for. If you want novels, you could check out http://www.greylib.align.ru/ S Anand 10 Jul 2005 11:38 am: The torrent network has plenty. Try the BitLord client. Dhar 11 Jul 2005 3:46 pm: And the sites: torrentspy.com and thepiratebay.org/. What I like the most about thepiratebay is their response to legal threats (http://thepiratebay.org/legal.php) Anonymous 12 Jul 2005 9:41 am: guess the link that was mentioned corresponds to the june 17th entry at http://www.geocities.com/root\node/articles/London\2005.html and mirc is a good place for ebooks. S Anand 12 Jul 2005 11:04 am: Oh, OK.

Explosions in London


I noticed that older rental houses in Ilford often have only one toilet for multiple bedrooms. Local insights suggest this resulted from historical council taxes based on the number of toilets, making modern shared living quite difficult.

We were looking for houses for rent in the Ilford area. The most striking thing, apart from how old the houses were, was that all of them had just a single bathroom. No separate toilet. I learnt the importance of having multiple toilets several years ago, and was only reiterated early in the morning this weekend where one toilet and one bathroom were shared by six of us at Swindon. The reason, I was told by a very courteous young Punjabi, is that the Councils used to tax buildings based on the number of their toilets. So you would find three bedroom buildings with one toilet, four bedroom buildings with one toilet, ... Which still doesn't explain why most of the houses have toilets only on the first floor.

Few toilets


I've shared a link to Richard Feynman's quotes on Wikiquote and recommended the biographical film Infinity. These resources offer a glimpse into the physicist's fascinating life, distinctive philosophy, and his unique approach to scientific discovery.

Feynman quotes. BTW, Infinity -- on the life of Feynman -- would be a good movie to watch. Comments anony 3 Oct 2005 7:53 pm: This page is hell. Thise silly yellow things keep popping up. S Anand 4 Oct 2005 1:15 pm: Agreed. The popup shows the tags associated with the link. Any ideas on improving it?

Feynman quotes


I found Fictionbook.lib to be a useful source for full-text fiction. Although the collection is primarily in Russian, it includes several English titles by popular authors that you can download and read for free.

Fictionbook.lib is a nice source of fiction (full-text). Mostly Russian. But if you check out your favourite author, maybe they have a few books. Comments Aditya Chaturvedi 7 Mar 2005 7:28 pm: Thanks Anand!! S Anand 8 Mar 2005 3:43 am: Quite welcome :-) S Anand 17 Mar 2005 9:42 am: Here are some more free ebooks mani 3 Apr 2007 5:06 am: hi.. i read a few books from fictionbook, like 'Three Men in a boat' and 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' etc Now i just cant find the same book there.. have they removed all english versions of novles, from that site?

Fictionbook


I shared a link to Bombay Jayshree's film songs, noting personal favorites like Vaseegara, Narumugaye, and Ondra Renda. These tracks showcase her incredible transition from Carnatic music to becoming a legendary voice in Tamil cinema.

Film songs by Bombay Jayshree. Vaseegara, Narumugaye and Ondra Renda being my favourites. Try this: search for any song and listen online. Comments Arun 3 Nov 2005 3:34 am: Vaseegara is heaven. :-) Graffiti 1 Dec 2005 7:13 am: I plan to sing that for a competition here...:) anu 18 Apr 2010 5:26 pm: vaseegara,narumagaye,ondra renda(kakaka) wer awesome ;) i love those songs sung by Jayasree ;) Krishna 15 Apr 2010 8:39 am: Vaseegara....truely amazing. kumaran 29 Sep 2010 4:13 am: realy superb voice of bombay jayshree mam..i rely impress wit her voice. manam manam engilum etho ganam ganam,,thinam thinam unpaadalthaan vanthu sugam sugam thanthathe.................... Kannan 11 Aug 2010 5:41 am: Wow! What a voice... Really I admire her voice a lot and lot.. Very nice.. Beautiful voice is given to her by God... She has sung vaseegara song... But really avanga voice vaseegaramathan iruku (tamil) madhan 7 Oct 2010 10:29 am: excellent voice mam. i like your voice. my work , family all of tention relaxe only your voice mam. bombay jayasree = singing god. daily your sing the song. madhan erode 13 Nov 2010 8:51 am: mam your voice amzzing. your voice places of the heaven to god. narumugaya excellent voice. The word singing " Thiru magana" wov,. your all information i get my friend geetha mam. specially Thanks geetha., my Train friends thanks your profile detail collect. madhan erode 9 Nov 2010 8:35 am: mam.i am waiting for your voice singing illyaraja music album (sai baba).your lot of singing song of the 2010. why 2010 super female play back singer you winner.i will drems god of the gift of the your voice. madhan erode 9 Nov 2010 8:40 am: mam partha muthal nalay song very excellent. really the first word of you sing (partha ) excellent. voice excellent sound very nice. madhan erode 29 Jan 2011 4:44 am: mam, lot of sing songs to the year 2011. you most of the song singing to the year my wishes not lot of audiences wishes include me. madhan erode 29 Jan 2011 4:48 am: mam, you fist singing song illayaraja film viyatnam colany " kailyil veenai yandhum "very nice. include m s v sir film singing. A R razhuman film 1000 gingals ( back round voice )you singing songs very nice madhan erode 29 Jan 2011 4:55 am: sorry mam, you fist singing song thampathikal film M S V MUSIC you singing songs . next you singing film viyatnam colony illayaraja film. next A R RAHUMAN film irruvar next harris jayaraj film minnala vasikara.next lot of singing harris sir music thanks harris sir..... raman 18 Nov 2011 7:04 pm: madam i love ur voice its very beautiful, i love ur all songs especially cheli manohar song madam nisha 20 Jan 2013 3:59 pm: i really impressed... i love u jayashree... my ever green favt song vaseegara...

Film songs by Bombay Jayshree


Explore predictions from leading scientists about the next great scientific revolution. Key areas of focus include understanding human consciousness, parallel universes, conscious machines, and genetic engineering, following the breakthroughs of Copernicus, Darwin, and Watson.

We are the final frontier. The Guardian asks leading scientists what they think will be the next revolution in science. (It's almost a trend, spawning books like The Next Fifty Years.) First came the Copernican revolution in the 16th century. The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus argued that the Earth was not at the centre of the solar system. Charles Darwin got personal more than 300 years later by implying that humans weren't special either. With the publication of On the Origin of Species, Darwin promoted his theory of evolution via natural selection. Nearly a century later, two Cambridge-based scientists, James Watson and Francis Crick, unravelled the structure of DNA. So what's next? What will be the fourth revolution? 'We will invent our successors' -- Seth Shostak\ 'We will understand the human mind' -- John Sulston\ 'The existence of parallel universes' -- Michio Kaku\ 'We will change our genetic makeup' -- Norbert Gleicher\ 'We will find out if we are alone' -- Colin Pillinger\ 'Humans become a collective intelligence' -- John Barrow\ 'We'll understand thoughts and feelings' -- Steven Pinker\ 'The end of the individual' -- Susan Greenfield\ 'What if God lives in a part of our brain?' -- Nancy Rothwell\ 'What it means to be a person' -- V S Ramachandran\ 'Conscious machines' -- Igor Aleksander\ 'Higher dimensions' -- Lisa Randall\ 'Humans are less miraculous than we thought' -- Stephen Wolfram

Final Frontier of Science


I discovered Findory, a service that builds a personalized news homepage based on your reading habits without requiring a signup. It streamlines content discovery by learning your interests automatically as you click on articles that intrigue you.

Findory. Their site says: 1. Just click on the articles which interest you. No signup required. 2. The more you click, the more personalized your Findory homepage will be. 3. Enjoy a great Personalized newspaper!

Findory


I highlighted how Firefox prefetches Google's top search results to speed up browsing. This technique downloads the most likely destination page in the background, making navigation feel instantaneous when clicking the first result.

Firefox prefetches Google results.

Firefox prefetches Google results


I explore Thomas Friedman's take on globalization, specifically how the fiber-optic overinvestment from the dot-com era turned cities like Bangalore into digital neighbors by slashing data transmission costs to nearly zero.

It's a flat world after all. Thomas Freidman on Globalization, Bangalore, ... Second, the Netscape stock offering triggered the dot-com boom, which triggered the dot-com bubble, which triggered the massive overinvestment of billions of dollars in fiber-optic telecommunications cable. That overinvestment, by companies like Global Crossing, resulted in the willy-nilly creation of a global undersea-underground fiber network, which in turn drove down the cost of transmitting voices, data and images to practically zero, which in turn accidentally made Boston, Bangalore and Beijing next-door neighbors overnight. Yes, crazy overinvestment can be good. The overinvestment in railroads turned out to be a great boon for the American economy. 'But the railroad overinvestment was confined to your own country and so, too, were the benefits,' Singh said. In the case of the digital railroads, 'it was the foreigners who benefited.' India got a free ride. Comments Genmys 4 Apr 2005 3:56 pm: Some articles are star marked. Why? S Anand 5 Apr 2005 3:03 am: They are popular or interesting articles.

Flat world


Flickr updated its service tiers to offer free users 20 MB of monthly uploads and a 200-photo display limit. They also reduced the price of Flickr Pro accounts, making the premium features more accessible to photographers.

Flickr enhancements include 20 MB/month of uploads, 200 photos, and cheaper Flickr Pro accounts.

Flickr enhancements


I'm checking out Flickr's new exploration tools, including interestingness rankings, tag clusters, and curated sets. These features offer a new way to navigate the site's collection by highlighting community-favorite photos and emerging visual trends.

Flickr has introduced a set of new exploration features. You can view interesting photos, tag clusters, and Flickr's favourite sets / groups.

Flickr Explore


I found a tool from Airtight Interactive that lets you explore Flickr's folksonomy through a related tag browser. It offers a visual, interactive way to navigate and discover connected keywords within the photo-sharing community.

A Flickr related tag browser.

Flickr related tag browser


Use Folder Size, an open-source shell extension, to view folder sizes directly in Windows Explorer. It adds a column to the details view, making it easy to identify large directories and manage disk space.

Folder Size lets you see the size of folders in Windows Explorer.

Folder Size


I found a guide explaining how to record high-quality movies of Google Earth using FRAPS. It covers the screen capture process for creating flyover videos and sharing your virtual explorations with others in a video format.

How to make a movie using Google Earth Comments Jayant 16 Jul 2005 5:48 am: Good stuff. Wish I worked at Google

FRAPS


I'm highlighting the visit of the Freakonomics authors to Google, where they explored potential insights from the company's massive datasets and discussed their ongoing work analyzing unconventional economic patterns.

The authors of Freakonomics visited Google, and were asked "What would you do with our data?" BTW, there is a regular Freakonomics column on the Times.

Freakonomics at Google


I found a comprehensive archive of the complete scripts for the television show 'Friends'. It's a great resource for fans looking to revisit specific episodes or study the dialogue from the entire series.

The complete 'Friends' scripts Comments A 9 Aug 2005 3:03 pm: thats new..the place that I usually check is http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/friends/

Friends script


Enhance Google Desktop Search with GDS Extreme, a Windows GUI front-end that adds advanced filtering and sorting features similar to X1, allowing for more powerful and organized local search results.

GDS Extreme is a Windows GUI front-end for Google Desktop Search that lets you filter / sort results (like X1.)

GDS Extreme


I'm attending the upcoming geek dinner featuring Tim O'Reilly. I want to engage with the local tech community and discuss the shift toward Web 2.0 and social software with one of the industry's leading voices.

The next geek dinner is with Tim O'Reilly. Have to attend!

Geek Dinner with Tim OReilly


I found this article exploring the fate of digital identities after death, examining what happens to online personas and data when users pass away, a topic raising complex questions about our enduring digital legacies.

What happens to your online self when you die?

Ghosts in the machines


I found the news of Panna Felsen defeating three robotic arms in an arm-wrestling match fascinating, as it proves electroactive polymers are still significantly weaker than biological human muscles.

17-year old Panna Felsen defeats 3 robots in arm-wrestling. The slashdot comments are hilarious.

Girl wrestles robot


I found a clever security system in my UK flat that dials my mobile instead of a traditional intercom. I can speak to visitors and unlock the main door by pressing zero, even letting myself in without keys.

Among the various technology gizmos I've seen at the UK, this is the best. Our flat has a security system that does not allow anyone without an electronic key to enter. As with most flats, there is a panel on which you can dial the flat number and speak to the owner. Usually this is connected to an intercom in the flat. I was initially surprised that there was no intercom in our flat. It turns out, you can program the system to dial your mobile phone or land line. So when I'm at office, I get a call from the "House Door Panel", as it identifies itself. I speak to the person at the entrance, press 0 on my phone, and the door automatically opens! In fact, this is how I let myself in when I don't have keys.

Gizmos


I shared a Lifehacker guide on creating grouped email addresses in Gmail, allowing users to manage mailing lists and contact groups more effectively through specific address formatting and label-based workarounds.

Creating Groups on Gmail. Comments Arun 31 Aug 2005 6:38 pm: lol! The things people do. :-)

Gmail Groups


I find Gmail to be incredibly fast, even surpassing desktop email clients like Outlook. It has become my preferred tool over my work email because of its superior performance and speed.

As Jeremy put it, GMail is really damn fast. Faster than desktop email. I prefer it to Outlook, and hence to my work e-mail ID.

Gmail is fast


I live east of the Prime Meridian and cross into the western hemisphere daily during my commute through Stratford to Liverpool Street. I reflect on the geographical coordinates of my route and spots like Meridian Square.

I cross the prime meridien almost every day. I live 0 degrees 5 minutes east of the prime meridien. I travel to Liverpool Street usually, which is 0 degrees 5 minutes west of the prime meridien. The station closest to the meridien, on my route, is Stratford, which stretches from 7 seconds to 17 seconds west of the meridien. Of course, crossing the prime meridien has no time-zone related significance like the international date line. But it does mean that I travel to the western hemisphere and back every day. There is a place near Stratford station called Meridien Square. Should visit it some time. Comments Shiva 19 Jul 2005 4:48 pm: Hey after a radar search i found this link http://www.bibliomania.com has a quite a large collection of Classic Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Short Stories and Contemporary Articles and Interviews. Quite an interesting site to bookmark

GMT


I highlight a classic perspective on why top developers are "lazy and dumb," favoring automation to avoid rework and simple solutions over complex systems they cannot easily maintain or understand.

Why good programmers are lazy and dumb. Comments Prasenjeet 26 Aug 2005 3:01 pm: Like the chap who created some-language-or-the-other

Good programmers


I'm tracking the rapid expansion of Gmail storage as Google celebrates its first anniversary by increasing capacity to 2GB. The storage limit is currently ticking up by one megabyte every minute for all users.

You are currently using 18 MB (2%) of your 1101 MB. Gmail storage increases by 1MB per minute. They are planning to hike capacity to 2GB. Exactly 1 year after launch.

Google 2GB


I integrated Google Adsense into my page to monetize it, but the ads being served are currently ridiculously irrelevant to my content. I am disappointed with how the contextual targeting is performing so far.

I've put in Google Adsense on my page. But the results are ridiculously irrelevant! Comments Raghuraman 9 Sep 2008 9:15 am: google adsense work in expliand in tamil language, For an approval of adsense and how to publish my website to the visitors for click programe and get earn by this work. Thanking you

Google Adsense


I found an experiment comparing two identical sites on AdWords. A new account’s traffic collapsed after dropping its bid from $1.00 to $0.40, while an established account thrived at $0.10, suggesting the algorithm favors seniority or penalizes rate decreases.

Interesting experiment to test the impact of changing the rate for Google Adwords. Two identical sites have Adwords account. One has an established account paying $0.10 per word. Another is a new account, and begins by paying $1.00, then lowers it to $0.40. The former got 15,000 click-throughs regularly. The latter started just above 15,000 and fell to 1,200 after the rate drop. Does the Adwords algorithm favours rate increases disproportionately (and hence is evil?) Or is the fact that the former site an established one create the difference?

Google Adwords algorithm


I examine Google's donation of infrastructure to Wikipedia, noting potential benefits like testing the Google OS, securing an authoritative knowledge source for search results, and positioning against Microsoft Encarta in the digital encyclopedia space.

Google donates infrastructure to Wikipedia. Possible benefits to Google? 1. Test another end use for the famed Google OS 2. Get an "authoritative" knowledge base to provide search results on 3. Position against Microsoft Encarta as an encyclopaedia

Google and Wikipedia


I’m highlighting the news of a Google employee fired for his personal blog. This dismissal underscores the early risks of corporate blogging and points to the Committee to Protect Bloggers as a resource for those facing professional consequences.

Google blogger fired, possibly for the blogging. Maybe he should talk to the Committee to Protect Bloggers. via MetaFilter

Google blogger fired


I discovered a Blogger template designed to mimic Google's minimalist search interface. Found while browsing Shamit's page, it highlights a trend in early 2000s web design where creators mirrored popular search engine aesthetics for personal blogs.

The Google-like blogger template had me for a while, when I was browsing Shamit's page. Comments Kaviraj 21 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Hi Anand TOPFRAME 21 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: that was pretty good.. Dhar 8 Mar 2005 8:06 am: In the free anti virus category, I would put Clam-Av, in firewalls for Linux - iptables, IDS I am surprised they didnt put in SNORT, website ripper - wget.

Google blogger template


I found Google Blogsearch, a specialized tool for searching the blogosphere. It allows users to track timely blog posts and online conversations more effectively than standard web search during the early blogging era.

Google Blogsearch. Comments Ok 28 Sep 2005 7:29 am: Nice!

Google Blogsearch


I speculate on the launch date of Google Calendar in this brief 2005 post, capturing the early buzz surrounding the release of Google's foundational scheduling and productivity application.

Will Google Calendar go live today?

Google Calender


I discovered the Google Admin Console and several obscure subdomains, speculating on the administrative access they might provide. It captures my curiosity regarding Google's early internal licensing systems and web infrastructure in 2005.

The Google Admin Console. Wonder what you can do if you have the password to this. More Google subdomains. Comments brinpage 10 Oct 2005 1:43 am: google/donoevil A 10 Oct 2005 2:59 am: anand, can I view this from a blog reader? where do I get the feed url? Smokey 10 Oct 2005 6:02 am: if u use google as userid and password it siplays apage which asks you to move to http://www.google.com/adsense/premium-login AlphaGeek 10 Oct 2005 5:58 pm: How do u manage u r time? You do all kinds of things Watching many movies,browsing extensively and also being sincere in u r work ! How is it Possible. Can u pls elucidate S Anand 12 Oct 2005 5:23 pm: Blogfeed available at http://rootnode.freestarthost.com/sanand.xml

Google Console


I tried Google Desktop Search 2 and appreciated the search-as-you-type functionality and the new sidebar for email and RSS. However, the background indexing process was still as slow as the previous version.

I installed Google Desktop Search 2. The best part is "search as you type". It also introduces a sidebar showing e-mail, RSS feeds, news, photos, popular searches, etc. The indexing is much faster too. (I take that back. Indexing is as slow as ever.) Comments Sumeer 24 Aug 2005 5:15 am: I am installing the same. Yet to use it khjk 24 Aug 2005 9:44 am: nice one Aditya Chaturvedi 25 Aug 2005 9:50 am: Yes Indexing is very slow. when working i had to stop Google desktop. S Anand 25 Aug 2005 10:21 am: I did the same. But fortunately, it's finished indexing within 48 hours (with lots of breaks).

Google Desktop Search 2


I examine Google’s transition into becoming a domain registrar, highlighting its potential to offer site hosting and Blogger integration. This move suggests a significant expansion of Google’s ecosystem into core web infrastructure during the early 2000s.

Google domains is next, possibly leading into site hosting with 1GB space, and linkages with Blogger. Comments Bhuvan 2 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: nice to have you back Anand S Anand 2 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Font size of comments? Or the whole page? The latter can be increased through View - Text Size - Larger Sumeer 2 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: can you do something about the font sizes

Google domains


I’m exploring the newly released, free version of Google Earth. It features impressive satellite imagery where you can tilt the view to fly through city skylines and find your own home, much like a real-life SimCity.

Google Earth released. It's free. Related links: Google Earth Hacks Comments S Anand 1 Jul 2005 12:13 pm: It shows my house. Ram 1 Jul 2005 4:16 pm: At my first sight i thought that this picture was taken from simsity game.I coudn't imagine that this picture from Google maps are real !!! S Anand 4 Jul 2005 5:00 am: It gets better than SimCity. You can tilt the view of a city and fly by the skyline on Google Earth.

Google Earth Released


I'm highlighting the transition of Keyhole into Google Earth. This merger brings powerful satellite imagery and 3D mapping to a broader audience, marking a major shift in how we visualize and interact with geographic data.

Google Earth = Google + Keyhole.

Google Earth


I highlight the upcoming Google Feed API and explore rumors of Google Purchases entering the video rental and micropayments space. I also share a detailed map of Google's various strategic company acquisitions during this period.

Google Feed API to be released soon. While on Google, there's some rumour about Google Purchases being used for video rentals -- and eventually on to micropayments, competing with Paypal. Also, William Slawski maps Google's acquisitions. Comments Ashwin 1 Jan 2006 3:13 pm: Anand, you have a similar look of Prasanna. (Hero of Tamil film: Kanda Naal Mudhal) S Anand 2 Jan 2006 11:25 am: Gosh, thanks! :-)

Google Feed API


I'm pointing to the Google India Zeitgeist report, which catalogs the most popular search queries and trending topics in India, offering a look at what captured the nation's online attention during 2004 and 2005.

Google India Zeitgeist.

Google India Zeitgeist


Update your business listing on Google Local by editing details like categories and hours. After submission, Google mails a physical PIN to verify your address before the changes become live on the local search platform.

Google Local Business Center. Fill in the address of your business. Google matches with its database, and edit the category, hours, payment terms, etc.... of course it's not going to do this without some kind of validation. After you've submitted your listing Google will send you a letter within two weeks with a PIN and activation instructions for making your edits "live" on Google Local. Your listing won't be included on the site until this process is gone through.

Google local listing


I shared a detailed breakdown of the addressing system used by Google Maps in its early years, explaining how coordinates and URLs are structured to pinpoint specific geographic locations on the web.

The addressing system for Google Maps.

Google Maps addressing


I'm checking out the new Google Maps API, though it strangely fails on Geocities. I've shared resources like Google Maps Mania and a London traffic map to highlight how developers are already using these early mapping tools.

Google Maps API. But for some reason, it doesn't work on Geocities. Related links: Google Maps Mania, London Traffic (and cameras)

Google Maps API


Use Google Maps as evidence in traffic court to contest tickets. Edwin Soto dismissed a violation by using a laptop and Wi-Fi to show a judge that a street was two-way, directly contradicting the ticketing officer's testimony.

Google Maps gets Edwin Soto out of a traffic violation. He was able to use his laptop and wi-fi connection at the court to show the judge that Cathedral Parkway, where he ran a red light, was a two-way street and not a one-way as the cop indicated.

Google Maps traffic violation


I am thrilled that Google Maps has officially launched for the UK. This localized version provides specific mapping and search capabilities tailored to the United Kingdom, making local navigation and discovery much more effective.

Google Maps, UK. I'm thrilled!

Google Maps UK


I analyze the launch of Google Maps, noting its superior web interface and intuitive routing. While limited to the US at start, I expect a global expansion following Google's acquisition of Keyhole for its geospatial data.

Google Maps. Only has the US for now. But that may change, given that not to mention that google has been primarily focused on the u.s. market and is now turning their full attention to the global marketplace. The interface, as always with Google, is fantastic. This is the way to go for Web applications. via Google Blogoscoped. Comments m1108061928989 9 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Actually, google maps produced better routes too (more intuitive or just plain luck in my case ) but 2 consecutive routes cant be coincidence S Anand 9 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Their database may be from Keyhole, whom they acquired recently. I didn't see anything from India on it, though. Sathish 9 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: This is an interesting way to comment.. TOPFRAME 9 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: their interface is pretty good.. but, I wonder if they could do the maps of India in the same manner..

Google Maps


I'm looking at how Google uses internal prediction markets to leverage the wisdom of crowds. By letting employees trade on project outcomes, they gather more accurate forecasts than traditional top-down management estimates.

Google markets. It's not a new Google service. Just Google "putting the wisdom of crowds to work" by using online markets.

Google markets


I'm following reports that Google may acquire Riya, a startup specializing in computer vision that recognizes faces and text in photos. This deal could significantly improve automated tagging and search within Google's image services.

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.

Google may acquire Riya


I explored Google Moon and discovered that while it appears rectangular at low magnification, the highest zoom level reveals the lunar surface is actually made of Swiss cheese, a clever Easter egg included by Google.

Google Moon. At the highest magnification, the moon is made of cheese. At the lowest, the moon is rectangular. But it apparantly isn't a prank. Comments jayant 21 Jul 2005 3:41 am: Interesting - Just drag the zoom to max and leave it there. The picture colour changes. Wonder why... Dhar 21 Jul 2005 8:16 am: The idea is to show that the moon is made of cheese... Kinda easter egg thingy.

Google Moon


I'm checking out the launch of Google Movies, a specialized search tool for showtimes and theaters. It represents a significant step into local search, making it easier to find what’s playing nearby via Slashdot.

Google Movies.

Google Movies


I examine the launch of Google Music Search and the Home Page API, noting how Google is positioning itself as a Web 2.0 host alongside Blogger and Google Base, effectively bypassing conventional web hosting models.

Google Music Search and the Home Page API. With the home page API, Google Base, and Blogger, looks like Google has bypassed conventional web hosting and become a Web 2.0 host.

Google Music Search and Google Home Page API


I shared a satirical report from The Onion where Google 'announces' plans to destroy any information it can't index. It’s a classic take on early internet-era anxieties about Google’s growing dominance over the world's data.

Google Purge. Google Announces Plan To Destroy All Information It Can't Index. Comments ritzkini 31 Aug 2005 10:28 am: hey the picture slidehsow is affecting the contact and faq section and recently updated blogs section ! S Anand 31 Aug 2005 10:57 am: Oh, what browser and version do you have? ritzkini 2 Sep 2005 12:48 pm: IE 6.0 S Anand 2 Sep 2005 3:18 pm: That's strange... I have the same version. Having no problems. Could you mail me a screenshot?

Google Purge


I examine Google Reader, which applies Gmail principles to RSS feeds. You can subscribe to posts, label feeds, and star items, while the platform suggests new content based on your interests and existing subscriptions.

Google Reader. Gmail principles applied to RSS. You can subscribe to posts, label feeds and star RSS items. The reader suggests items from your subscriptions based on your interest.

Google Reader


Paul Vitanyi and Rudi Cilibrasi used Google hit counts to calculate the similarity between words. This method leverages search engine statistics to identify semantic relationships based on the frequency of specific word pairings.

Google's search for meaning. Paul Vitanyi and Rudi Cilibrasi use Google to determine the similarity of words. (Pairs of words that get higher hits are more similar to each other.)

Google search for meaning


I found that Google Search History now supports tagging and bookmarking of results. This feature enables users to organize their past searches and save specific links for later reference directly within the search history tool.

Now, Google search history lets you tag and bookmark.

Google search history bookmarks


I compare Google's search history feature to A9 and evaluate its utility. I found it useful for retracing steps to find previously discovered links, mirroring the functionality of browser toolbar histories for personalized information retrieval.

Google search history is like a9 -- it remembers your searches. But why is that useful? Comments sathish 29 Jun 2005 7:51 am: I found it useful recently.. I remembered that I got a link when I searched for a particular term and by going through the search history, I figured out link I had looked earlier. S Anand 29 Jun 2005 8:49 am: Ah... that makes sense. I use the history in the toolbar. Guess this mirrors that. sathish 4 Jul 2005 9:25 am: read more about the google personalization from mit tech review blog - http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/07/wo/wo\070105hellweg.asp?trk=top

Google search history


I'm investigating the mysterious services.google.com subdomain. Early readers uncovered hidden links to Google University, event RSVPs, and internal consoles, providing a glimpse into how Google organized its enterprise and educational services in the mid-2000s.

Google Services. What's that? Comments Scott Caplan 21 Sep 2005 8:25 pm: All I know is that when I typed in the URL my cache came suggested this: http://services.google.com/university/ Dhar 22 Sep 2005 12:19 pm: Even more interesting. They have something running on port 8882 . While connecting to port 8882 gives a blank page, you get something when you connect to http://services.google.com:8882/urlconsole/controller Dhar 22 Sep 2005 12:25 pm: More stuff 1, 2, 3 and more to be found by typing the query "site:services.google.com"

Google Services


I highlighted Google Sightseeing, a tool for exploring the United States through satellite imagery. This early look at Google Maps also points to Flickr communities like 'memory maps' for finding interesting geographical landmarks and crowdsourced visual data.

Google sightseeing. See the US through Google Maps satellite images. Comments S Anand 8 Apr 2005 11:00 am: Also check out the Googlemaps tag on Flickr S Anand 8 Apr 2005 11:12 am: and the Memory maps

Google sightseeing


Google Sitemaps is an experimental tool to help crawlers index sites faster. I've highlighted Google’s official documentation alongside community discussions on alternate proposals and specific implementations for platforms like Movable Type.

Google Sitemaps. ...is an experiment in web crawling. Using Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the web and improve the time to inclusion in our index. By placing a Sitemap-formatted file on your webserver, you enable our crawlers to find out what pages are present and which have recently changed, and to crawl your site accordingly. Anil Dash links to alternate proposals. via Anders Jacobs

Google Sitemaps


I examine the initial release of Google Talk, a lightweight 900K instant messenger. I find it remarkably simple and lean, though I'm still searching for standout features beyond its highly-praised, high-quality voice chat capabilities.

Google Talk is a Google instant messenger. It's quite small (900K), very simple, and uses HTML+Javascript+CSS+XML. But I'm yet to figure out it it has any cool features. Quick review at DownloadSquad. Comments Prasenjeet 24 Aug 2005 12:53 pm: Not sure about the HTML/JS/CSS ... looks like a tightly-written Win32 app to me S Anand 24 Aug 2005 2:07 pm: Oh, is it? Looked quite like a web page to me... will check out. Dhar 25 Aug 2005 12:08 pm: I tried out the voice chat. Leaving comparisons aside (as I have not used Skype), the sound quality was amazing. It was almost as if the person was in the room with me. Other than that, no cool features. :( S Anand 25 Aug 2005 1:35 pm: Probably thanks to all the fiber optic bandwidth they're supposed to have purchased. But I wonder how. Dhar 26 Aug 2005 1:57 am: Finally got it working at home and tried exploring various features. At the end of the process, realized there are hardly \any\ features. Will take it some time to catch up with features of clients like Yahoo Messenger. jayant 27 Aug 2005 9:21 am: I guess it is better with less features. Thin client is all about that. Less download time. More functionality which avg users click more. Voice quality is great if both parties are using broadband. On dial up, it comes with bit of lag and some echo. Dhar 9 Sep 2005 3:42 pm: Anand, had some thoughts on where Google Talk may really be headed. Have put a rough outline here.

Google Talk


I compiled a collection of early Google hacks, including methods to find MP3s, create image montages, add persistent searches to Gmail, and even find exposed credit card numbers through advanced search operators.

How to find MP3s using Google. Create a montage using Google. Add persistent searches to Gmail. Get credit card numbers using Google. Convert your desktop into a search engine. All using Google. Comments Dhar 8 Mar 2005 10:17 am: Even more using Google: http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/index.php?module=prodreviews

Google tricks


I linked to a tool for downloading Google Video content during the platform's early days. The discussion touches on early predictions of a YouTube acquisition and my use of Windows Movie Maker for video editing.

Google Video Downloader. Comments Madhu 5 Jan 2006 8:40 am: Have you tried www.youtube.com Google will probably take it over! S Anand 5 Jan 2006 6:00 pm: I use it. But why would Google take over? They already have a pretty good service... Madhu 6 Jan 2006 12:11 pm: Why not? MSN will take over otherwise. shekar 14 Jan 2006 11:06 pm: s anand, I saw your Swindon vidoes. They are edited very well. What software did you use? Especially the blue first screen. S Anand 14 Jan 2006 11:31 pm: Microsoft Movie Maker. It came bundled with Windows XP on my office laptop.

Google Video Downloader


I'm tracking the early launch of Google Video, noting its potential to rival IMDb and search movie scripts once more content is added, though the service currently lacks relevance for mainstream users.

Google video. Not very relevant yet, but probably will be, once movies are included. Could rival IMDb, maybe search movie scripts also. Comments Aditya Chaturvedi 25 Jan 2005 12:00 pm: Good to see all the new Google Items from your page S Anand 25 Jan 2005 12:00 pm: Thanks, Adi. I get most of my updates from the Google Weblog Anonymous 25 Jan 2005 12:00 pm: Really Cool

Google video


I found that Google now supports wildcard search operators. Using an asterisk as a placeholder allows you to find complete phrases, quotes, or song lyrics when you cannot remember every specific word in your search query.

Google supports wildcards

Google wildcards


I'm tracking the sudden disappearance of Google X, a search interface that mimicked the Mac OS X dock. It was briefly available on Google Labs before being pulled, leaving behind 404 errors and community speculation.

Where is Google X? It used to at labs.google.com/googlex, but there's a 404 now. More at MetaFilter.

Google X


Learn how haptic technology enables users to touch and feel data via surgical simulations and mobile vibrations. Devices from companies like SensAble provide tactile feedback for gaming and professional use as costs continue to fall.

Haptic technology lets you "touch and feel data". Surgical-simulation devices are currently the bread and butter of many haptics companies. Recently, haptics have also been finding their way into consumer products. Many video-game controllers, such as force-feedback steering wheels and joysticks, already contain simple haptic devices to enable virtual rally drivers and pilots to feel the bumps of artificial roads or the rumble of machine guns. Mobile phones are next. Just as existing phones can be programmed to play different ring tones depending on the caller, VibeTone allows for different vibrations. Without reaching into your pocket, you will be able to tell whether it is your boss, spouse, or babysitter who is calling. Companies like SensAble make products that simulate touch for as low as $2,000, and the prices are falling rapidly. Comments Amandeep 3 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Hi Anand - this is aman here ( 02 batch) - how are u doing?? S Anand 3 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: Well, I can always edit comments. TOPFRAME 3 Feb 2005 12:00 pm: A number of people will be tempted to just type 'Test' and press enter.

Haptic technology


I visited Waterstones on Oxford Street for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release. After accidentally seeing spoilers about who dies, I decided to skip to the end and uncover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

I went to Waterstones at Oxford Street to see the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There was a party the previous night, with all the fanfare associated with a previous night. But things seemed fairly quiet when I was there. The usual crowd at Oxford Street, and the usual crowd at Waterstones. I already knew who dies in the sixth book. I couldn't help spotting it as I was reading some blog. Since the suspense was already spoilt, I opened to the last few pages, and ended up learning who the Half-Blood Prince was. Comments mintu 16 Jul 2005 12:00 pm: what is the name of harry potter book,6 in hindi

Harry Potter 6


I’m sharing this report on Harvard rejecting applicants who exploited a security flaw to peek at their admission status early. The university treated the unauthorized access as a major ethical breach, leading to automatic denials for everyone involved.

Harvard rejects applicants using hacker services.

Harvard hackers


I found 100 healthy food ideas requiring less than 30 minutes of preparation and cooking. Use these quick meal suggestions and reader favorites like idly and sambar to maintain a nutritious diet without spending hours in the kitchen.

100 quick and easy healthy foods. Foods which need less than 30 minutes of preparation and cooking times. Comments Jayant 13 Jul 2005 2:48 pm: An apple a day keeps the doctor away!. Just wash with plain water nd eat Ram 14 Jul 2005 3:34 pm: Morning: Idly's with Kara chutney, Lunch: Thayiru sadam with manga urugai, Dinner: Idly's with Thakkali chutney will keep you energetic, smart, slim and trim. Why to squander on those junkies!!! (Above listed names are popular South Indian dishes) S Anand 14 Jul 2005 5:40 pm: Don't forget sambar!

Healthy Foods


I explore Herbert Simon’s insight that a wealth of information consumes recipient attention, creating scarcity. I compare this to the "tyranny of choice," where an overabundance of options leads to decision regret and decreased satisfaction.

Quote by Herbert Simon on Information: What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. It sounds quite like the Scientific American article The Tyranny of Choice which says that after a point, more choice causes unhappiness. The satisfaction of picking the best choice is less, because the second best is almost as good. And you're more likely to not pick the best -- because there are so many choices -- and will regret it more often. Comments Anonymous 14 Dec 2005 9:52 pm: date is wrong S Anand 15 Dec 2005 12:37 pm: Just fixed it. Thanks!

Herbert Simon on Information


I found that classic films like Charade, His Girl Friday, and Dressed to Kill are available for free on Archive.org. Charade is often called the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made, though it’s actually by Stanley Donen.

Charade starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant is now in public domain (you can download it for free). So are some other classics like His Girl Friday and Dressed to Kill. See Archive.org's feature films. (Actually, it's not a Hitchcock film. But it's said to be the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made.) Comments Dhar 18 Oct 2005 10:25 am: Wow! This is amazing. Have been trying to lay my hands on His Girl Friday for quite some time. WILDMAN 3 Mar 2009 5:30 pm: RE: CHARADE...DOES THE PD INCLUDE THE MUSIC? S Anand 3 Mar 2009 6:19 pm: I'm not quite sure, really... it's been a while. Besides, it looks like the page I'd linked to has vanished. Maybe it's no longer in public domain. Unidyne 27 Jun 2010 5:19 am: There's a debate on the film's public domain status, because the music composed for it and the story on which it was based are both under copyright. Also, while the film has a number of Hitchcock style touches (big name stars, plot twists, romantic scenes), it was directed by Stanley Donen. Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) 11 Jul 2011 12:56 am (pingback): [...] can easily be mistaken for an Alfred Hitchcock film. With wit to spare, the presence of Gary Grant and an innocent [...]

Hitchcock film Charade is public domain


I tried to help a maintenance man by pressing every button in our hotel elevator. A well-dressed guest stepped in just as the doors shut, and I couldn't warn him he was about to visit every single floor.

We were staying at the Croydon Park Hotel, on the second floor. There were two elevators, and one of them was down for maintenance. I was walking into the other elevator as the maintenance man stepped in as well. He started pressing the elevator buttons: one, two... "Oh, sorry sir. I was doing some maintenance on the other lift. I didn't want this lift to come down for some time. You go right ahead." He stepped out, with the first and second floors lit up. I thought I'd help him a bit. Pressed 3, 4, 5, ... every button there was in the lift I got out at the second floor. A tall, well-dressed man got in to the elevator. Turned around. Looked at me. "Is this going down?" Before I could answer, the doors shut. Hope he enjoyed the view of every floor in the hotel.

Hotel lift


I found a resource detailing how company employees use the internet at work. It covers the breakdown of time spent on professional tasks versus personal browsing and the resulting impact on corporate productivity and web culture.

How Company Employees Use The Web.

How Company Employees Use The Web


I examine the original technical implementation of Google Maps, which utilized hidden IFrames for server communication rather than XMLHttp. The system also leveraged 8-bit alpha channel PNGs to render realistic shadows for map markers and popups.

How Google Maps works: a look behind the Javascript of Google Maps. Whereas GMail uses XMLHttp to make calls back to the server, Google Maps uses a hidden IFrame. The method has its benefits. The push-pins and info-popups are a different matter. Simply placing them is no big trick; an absolutely-positioned transparent GIF does the trick nicely. The shadows, however, are a different matter. They are PNGs with 8-bit alpha channels. The comments following the post as also quite a read.

How Google Maps works


I rated my MP3 collection and created seven WinAmp SmartViews based on play counts, ratings, and recency to automate song selection. I also use the Pepper plugin to track listening history for more granular playlist logic.

I have a large MP3 collection (Tamil and Hindi films). I don't like selecting songs to listen to. Too much effort. I rated all songs I had listened to (650 songs x 5-10 seconds = 1-2 hrs) and created 7 SmartViews. I just go to one of these and play them in order. Here are my views, in descending order of their use. 1. Most played. Sorted by Play Count. Songs I play the most. Plays stuff I listen to usually. 2. Not heard recently. Played Last before 3 months ago AND Rating >= 3. Plays good songs I haven't heard recently. 3. Not played much or recently. Played Last before 1 month ago AND Play Count = 3. Plays good songs I haven't heard often enough. 4. Recent hits. Last updated after 3 months ago AND Play count >= 3. Plays songs recently added and liked. 5. Recently played. Sorted by Last Updated. Often, I like to listen to songs I listened to yesterday. 6. Top rated. Sorted by Rating. My best songs. (Suprisingly, I don't use this view much.) 7. Recently added. Sorted by Played Last. Plays songs I just downloaded. But WinAmp's not good enough. For example, I can't find out what songs I played at least thrice last month. How do I see what I've been listening to a lot recently? Fortunately, there are a few WinAmp history plugins. I installed Pepper, which produces a log file that can be analysed. I did this two weeks ago, and don't have enough data. When I do, I'll modify two views 3. Not heard much or recently. I'll change this to "Not heard much recently" - Rating >= 3, Play Count > 5, Play Count = 0 last month. 4. Recent hits. Modify it to show songs played at least thrice last month. Comments arunvis 12 Dec 2005 12:29 am: Windows media player has these as auto playlists S Anand 12 Dec 2005 6:50 pm: I just was the Windows Media Player auto playlists. They're pretty good, actually! S Anand 12 Dec 2005 6:54 pm: But it doesn't have the equivalent of "what have I been listening to a lot recently?" -- for which WinAmp has a plugin. Wonder if there are plugins like this for WMP. jawahar 4 Mar 2007 1:50 pm: hai anand how do u create such smart views

How I listen to music


I explore how social network analysis is applied through an interview with InFlow's creators. For my own SNA projects, I have used a combination of Perl scripts and Excel rather than dedicated software.

An interview with the creators of InFlow (a software to map social networks) shows how social network analysis is used. Comments Dhar 30 Oct 2005 6:10 am: Anand, do you know of any freely available Social Network Analysis tool? S Anand 31 Oct 2005 6:16 pm: Afraid not. I've only done this twice in projects, and I just used Excel and Perl both times.

How social network analysis is used


I found tips for maximizing Flickr's free account. By organizing photos into sets, you can bypass the standard display limit for the most recent 200 images, making your entire library accessible without a Pro subscription.

How to beat the free account limits in Flickr. Comments Dhar 4 Apr 2005 10:46 am: Read the article with great interest. This was an unfortunate title as it does not tell you anything about Dhar 4 Apr 2005 10:47 am: beating the limit, all it does it tell you how to maximize the number of photos you can upload. Pity... :( S Anand 4 Apr 2005 11:35 am: Actually, using sets, you can upload as many photos as you want and view them. So that's really beating the limit, in a way. Dhar 5 Apr 2005 1:24 pm: Ahhh, will check the funda of sets when I get back to Mumbai after my trip to Jammu!


I found useful guides for reducing consumption and saving money, specifically focusing on how to buy nothing and identifying items like cars and electronics that are better purchased second-hand to avoid unnecessary depreciation.

How to buy nothing and What not to buy first-hand (like books, CDs, and cars)

How to buy nothing


I share techniques for efficient reading by focusing on the essential 20% of content. I also look at how our brains process scrambled text and why taking frequent breaks significantly improves our ability to learn and retain information.

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. Comments Dhar 14 Nov 2005 9:18 am: Check out Google Analytics Jayant 14 Nov 2005 10:00 am: And just hope the client does not know the remaining 80% or isn Raj 15 Nov 2005 8:16 pm: what is the run? Anonymous 16 Nov 2005 5:14 pm: i am confused with your email id is it s-anand@yahoo.com or s\anand@yahoo.com ? S Anand 16 Nov 2005 6:50 pm: root underscore node at yahoo dot com, actually. leke 17 Nov 2005 11:43 am: why can S Anand 17 Nov 2005 3:34 pm: Sorry, apostrophes were causing problems in the comments. I've fixed them. Sri 13 Dec 2005 11:00 am: This is interesting: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/mattd/Cmabrigde/

How to read when time is short


Improve your workstation ergonomics with these guidelines for sitting at a computer. Learn how to adjust your chair, monitor, and keyboard to maintain better posture and prevent repetitive strain injuries during long work sessions.

How to sit at a computer.

How to sit at a computer