Free ebook on personal branding and social media for researchers

I finally have my first ebook ready and I am giving it away for free. The ebook is a compilation of articles/ tutorials on online personal branding and using social media for research, which I wrote for the Wolfson Research Exchange, University of Warwick.

Download the ebook in either Microsoft Word or PDF format by clicking the links below:

90KB

916KB

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any comment or suggestions.

A.I.Type Keyboard for your PC

In my last post I wrote about the A.I.Type keyboard and predictive text software which allows you to type faster on Android phones. Later I found out that there was a beta version of the A.I.Type for PCs as well. Combining artificial intelligence and complex mathematical algorithms, the predictive text suggests texts and even sentences as you are typing and all you have to do is just point and click to select the next word.

So if you need to write a essay real extra fast, this is just the software for you. A.I.Type works on most popular Windows applications on your PC including Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Outlook, Skype, etc. The great news is that the beta version of A.I.Type is still free.

Excited about TeamViewer

One of my friends was really excited about a conferencing software which he had just came across  called TeamViewer and he was telling everybody about it on Facebook. My friend is now using the free (non-commercial) version  to provide online lectures/teaching to students and interested individuals (including videos, audio and of course powerpoint slides). It also allows online discussions and lots more.

Apparently a lot of other guys have used it and I wonder why I have never heard about it.Everyone seems to have positive reviews about the software. One guy said that it was really user friendly.

The one negative comment I read was from a guy in India who mentioned that Internet speeds in some regions affected it's quality due to the lag. I don't think I should have any problems here and I am downloading it right now.

I am really excited about it as well as this is something I can bring up when I meet up with the other blended learning project team at the Warwick Business School. I hope to have a review up soon.

If you have tried TeamViewer, I would love to hear your comments about the software. Is it as good as everyone is making it out to be?

QR Code generating software

This is my blog's QR Code. This is a two-dimensional symbology which was developed by Denso Wave in 1994. It is an improvement on the widely used bar code as it is easily read and contains information in both the vertical and horizontal directions and is really popular in Japan.

You can download the trial edition of QR Code/Bar code generation software on the Denso Wave site or you can generate your own QR code at Kaywa.com.

If you want to read QR codes, all you need is your mobile (with camera) and the Kaywa reader. Just download the reader, scan by taking a picture and you then get the info on your mobile. Haven't tried it myself but according to some reviews I read on the net, including here and here, it's quite good.

Free E + A Blogger Template

Do you like the template I am using for my blog? If you are a Blogger user, you can now use it for your blog as well. It has been heavily modified from the original Adsense Tech Template by Charm Skins.

I have decided to name it the 'E + A Blogger template'. This is the first version.

Download the template

Please drop me a line if you use this template, have any problems with it, or want to modify it.

Ubuntu up and running

As some of you might be aware, my previous attempt to load up Ubuntu on my old computer ended in failure - read Ubuntu installation problems.

After that I discovered that the problem might be with my Maxtor hard disc, which was not being recognised at all. I was about to assign it to the rubbish bin when my tech expert friend Wolfgang asked me whether he could have a look at it first.

To cut a long story short, he found that the hard disc was in a mess and reformatted everything. Yesterday night, I put it in, reconnected all the cables, said a short prayer and started up the computer. Loaded up the Ubuntu CD and started installing it.

I would be lying if I said that I was not worried. Unlike a Windows installation, where you get a slide show telling you how Windows was going to make your life easier, here I got lines of code running down my screen before it finally got a graphics interface. It took ages to load after I hit the install icon and I even dozed off on my chair during the installation process.

Finally the installation was complete and after restarting the computer and removing the CD, I had a brief scare when the lines of code reappeared and started running down the screen. But in the everything was OK. Ubuntu comes with several applications preloaded - including the Firefox browser, GIMP, Open office, etc. There were several games as well.

Here's how my desktop looks:



Will be writing about my experience using Ubuntu later.

The crash

I knew it was Inevitable - that it was going to happen one day but when it did, it caught me by surprise. Yes! My eBay computer (so called because it was bought on eBay) suddenly crashed in the morning yesterday. Now to think of it, it's quite surprising that it didn't crash earlier.

Spent a couple of hours making repeated attempts to restart it and later to recover the files inside. The OS simply wouldn't load up. Fortunately I had saved all the important stuff on my storage device and online on IDrive. I probably should have waited for my friend Kyrzul (who's an IT professional) to come back from London but I was impatient and I made a big mistake.

I have an original XP Professional installation disk and quickly loaded it up on my computer, formatting the whole hard disk in the process. It was only after I installed it that I remembered about the Windows activation issue and their stupid "One license, one computer". And there it was, a bubble telling me that I only have 30 days to activate my copy of the operating system. Gives myself a kick on the back side.

I assumed that with the release of Windows Vista, the price of XP would have fallen drastically but no. A "Windows Genuine Advantage Kit" (for Windows XP Professional) would cost me £95.47. Now I am in a dilemma whether to buy the kit or get a pirated copy. I have to admit that the later option is proving to be really tempting. I will also try talking to their customer service and see what they say.

Hoping for the best, I spent most of the day installing the drivers and all my favourite software including Firefox, AVG anti virus, Zone alarm, Irfanview and loads of others, mostly freeware.

Will keep you guys updated.

Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords

If you are using Google Adwords to advertise your website, products and/or services, you will either use ad agencies to handle your advertising campaign or do it yourself. I guess most people would prefer to leave all the hard work to the agencies even thought they charge quite a lot.


What if you learnt all the secret methods used by agencies on running a profitable campaign? Well! It's not a secret anymore. PPC Professional Steve Baker has come out with the Google Adwords ebook. Google Adwords - The Ultimate Guide reveals all the PPC Agency secrets. I found the ebook to be highly informative and useful. Best of all, it's completely free to read online.

Going through the site, I found the comments really interesting. Steve further clarifies doubts and replies to questions raised by the visitors.

Anyway, you can also download the entire document, which is published by Epiphany Solutions Ltd for £12.49.

Get quantified with Quantcast

There's a new internet ratings service in town and it's called Quantcast. Touted as the world's first open internet ratings service, advertisers can use it to find reports on the audiences of millions of web sites. On the other hand, if you are a web publishers (or blogger), you can "Quantify your site" by tagging them for direct measurement. The best part is that this service is totally free.

In order to "Quantify your site", you need to sign up first. Cut and paste the personalized javascript tag provided into your site's page. They will start measuring your traffic immediately and within a few days you'll see new traffic statistics in your profile.

I am really curious to see how it differs from the statistics provided by Google analytics.

See what they have to say about the top 5 websites:

1. yahoo.com 127M+ U.S. monthly uniques. The site caters to a more educated, slightly male slanted following.
2. google.com 118M+ U.S. monthly uniques. The site caters to a slightly male slanted, more educated, more affluent audience.
3. aol.com 59M+ U.S. monthly uniques. The site attracts a more youthful, fairly wealthy group.
4. msn.com 59M+ U.S. monthly uniques. The site appeals to a more educated, very slightly male biased, more affluent group.
5. myspace.com 52M+ U.S. monthly uniques. The site caters to a very slightly female biased, teen and young adult audience.

My ranking is nothing to shout about. It's ranked 8,205,628 as of today.

Engadget is giving away over 100 gadgets

Engadget, my favourite Gadget site, is giving away hundreds of gadgets. There will be four rounds a day, once every six hours. I missed the earlier ones but was finally able to enter round 4.

Why I think this contest is the best ever?

1. There is greater chance to win. Hundreds of chances.
2. Open Worldwide. Not "Only for USA".
3. No reviews, links, etc. All I had to do was leave a comment.

So what are you waiting for?

Prevent laptop theft by installing a laptop alarm

The West Midlands Police here in the UK recently warned students to be extra vigilant with their laptops and other hand held devices as their exams drew nearer. Evidently most thefts of electronic devices occur during this time, usually from libraries or other communal areas. Most of the thefts would occur when people left them to go for a coffee or toilet break. Taking your laptop along with you every time you take a leak is not very convenient but sometimes you don't have a choice.



Laptop Alarm 1.13 (only 188KB) just might be the perfect solution. A loud alarm will be emitted from the computer speakers when someone:
- tries to shut off or log off the laptop.
- pulls the AC adapter plug out.
- pulls out your USB mouse.

This will definitely attract a lot of attention is a place like a library.

However a little warning:
Make sure that you don't accidentally trip the alarm yourself as it is extremely loud, especially if you are wearing earphones, as it might damage your ears.

Community for programmers and web developers

I don't have an IT background but I am really interested in tech related issues, especially those related to web technologies. Most of the stuff I know now are essentially self taught. I do attend a few short courses and seminars from time to time to update my knowledge. As part of my endeavor to update my knowledge, i am a member of various tech forums. In most I am just a silent member, joining in only when I find some interesting topic. Sometimes all the tech talk just flies over my head.

I am thinking of joining the Dream.In.Code community. It's popularity with programmers and web developers is indicated by size of it's membership - almost 40,000 strong. The site has over 200 tutorials, 950 code snippets, and if you are ever in trouble with some programming language, say C++, don't worry. There are thousands of programmers and web developers willing to help you on the different forums. You just have to register for Free in order to join in.

Hosting with Blogger

Wrote this post after I received a few e-mails asking me how I hosted my site with Blogger.

In case you were not aware, Blogger now hosts your blog for free under your domain name. It is not forwarding but actual hosting.

The documentation provided by Blogger is under "How do I create a CNAME record for my custom domain?"

I registered my domain name with godaddy.com and here are the steps:

1. Log in to your account at www.godaddy.com.
2. Open the Domains tab and select My Domain Names. You'll be directed to the Manage Domains page.
3. Click the domain that you'd like to use with your blog.
4. Click the Total DNS Control And MX Records in the box entitled Total DNS Control.
5. Click Add New CNAME Record. If you've already created a CNAME record for your blog's address, click Edit next to the existing CNAME record.
6. For the Name, enter only the subdomain of the address you want to use for your blog. For example, if you picked www.mydomain.com as your address, enter www here.
7. Enter ghs.google.com as the Host Name.
8. Click Continue, and then click Add. If you're editing an existing CNAME record, click Continue and Update.

BTW, I have another blog called Freebies hosted with Blogger. However, it was initially a blogspot blog with the url: http://tidakapa.blogspot.com

Free newsletter for your blog

A lot of bloggers are interested in growing visitor traffic to their sites but have no idea exactly how to do that.

One way is to create a newsletter for subscribers and I have just the thing for you.

I am talking about Zookoda, blog email marketing application designed specifically for bloggers. It enables you to send a daily, weekly or monthly summary of your latest blog posts directly into your vistors inbox.

Now, in case you are wondering we need this when we already have RSS readers for those interested in your blog. Well, this is different.

Zookoda newsletter are not text excerpts of your blog posts. It allows you to enhance your newletters with eye-catching designs to match your blog design. In case you are worried about mobile users, you can also email your blog content in text form.

As mentioned earlier, it allows you to schedule recurring broadcasts for each day, week or month instead of "everytime you update".

Finally, you can see how far your e-mail marketing through Zookoda, has succeeded by viewing real-time reports. Each email sent out is tracked during delivery, providing you with open, bounce and click through information.

Some other worries I had were answered after reading their "About Zookoda" page. I found out that all emails sent by Zookoda are spam compliant. They also stop false subscriptions by adding wildcard addresses to your blacklist.

This service has a load of other benefits and options but best of all it's totally FREE.