Google Indic Transliterator

Google has come up with a new service which allows you to type text in regional languages and use them in forums/orkut/elsewhere. Google Transliteration offers an option for converting Roman characters to the literals of regional languages in India. This lets you type Hindi/Tamil/Telugu/Kannada/Malayalam words phonetically in English script and still have them appear in their correct alphabet.

http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic/Telugu

Note: This is not the same as translation — it is the sound of the words that are converted from one alphabet to the other, not their meaning.

The transliteration feature is only supported in Internet Explorer versions 6.0 and higher on Windows (preferably Windows XP), and Firefox 1.5 and higher on Windows and Linux. If you use Internet Explorer 6+ in Windows Vista/XP/2000, you should have no problems in viewing and editing Hindi text correctly. Mozilla Firefox requires support for complex text layout, otherwise it might display the Hindi text incorrectly. The support for complex text layout is usually turned off by default. Check out this wikipedia article for detailed instructions on how to add the support.

There is also a software called Baraha IME which allows you to type text directly in several regional languages wherever you want. You need not specifically copy paste the text to the required place. This software temporarily changes the windows default font so that whatever you type, is transliterated into the selected language.

2 Domains + 250 GB Space + 2 TB Transfer – All for $10

The Netfirms Advantage hosting pack include 250 GB Disk Space, 2,000 GB Transfer, 2 FREE Domain Names which costs you 9.95$/month (119.4 $/year). Use the promo code to get everything, for only 10$.

  1. Visit the site and click on SignUp
  2. Proceed with selecting the domain names
  3. Do not select any free offer packs because, they charge you for shipping.
  4. Now, enter the promo code as max and recalculate the total.
  5. Check out

WordPress.com Vs Blogger.com

I started blogging just a couple of weeks back. I was in a dilemma whether to choose wordpress / blogger for the blog. I just checked the page rank for both the sites which revealed that blogger has 9 while wordpress has only 8. So, I started blogging with blogger. I installed wordpress in my hosting site a year ago and I remember that there are lot of customisations which are present in it are missing in blogger like categories, blogroll etc etc… So, I shifted to wordpress blog leaving the blogger behind. Later, I wanted to change the template by adding some HTML code of Ads, but surprisingly got to know that the feature is not available. Then I realised why many people preferred blogger. Later, I installed wordpress software on my new hosting site.

Anyways, I would like to compare these two services for someone who just want an online service through which they can blog and can not afford/do not want to have a paid account, set up wordpress etc. The comparison is between the Free service of WordPress (Not the Paid one / Software) and Blogger.

  • WordPress supports Categories while Blogger doesnot
  • WordPress do not support editing of Templates while Blogger does. But, we can still customise the side bars in wordpress very efficiently with a clean user interface while Blogger needs change in the HTML template.
  • WordPress do not support User Templates while in Blogger, user can upload his/her own template.
  • WordPress supports to create Static Pages where you can manage some content while Blogger doesnot support this.
  • Autosave feature is not present in WordPress free version while Blogger autosaves posts at fixed intervals. Hence you can recover your posts in Blogger.
  • You cannot display Advertisements in wordpress as template editing is not possible, while you can easily include Ads in Blogger by editing the template. (This is the biggest reason why people prefer Blogger over WordPress).
  • File Upload feature is present in WordPress while absent in Blogger. You can just upload some images while posting them.
  • WordPress can render and replace the Smileys while Blogger donot.
  • Multiple Blogs per Single User is not supported by WordPress while Blogger easily support any number of them.
  • The search feature is pretty good in WordPress compared to Blogger.
  • Moderation of Comments is possible with WordPress while Blogger do not. But it features spam filtering.
  • Its very difficult to manage and view the posts in Blogger. If we want to view some of very old posts in a blog with many posts, it takes ages while WordPress provide good UI for managing our posts.
  • Site tracking mechanism is present in wordpress.com while in Blogger, we need to rely on external counters.
  • WordPress is still developing while Blogger has become a stable version now.

Anyways, I am not the one to suggest/decide which blogging service to use. It is left to your choice to go with what suits you the best. These are not the only differences present between them, Please let me know if anything to include.

Google Indic Transliterator

Google has come up with a new service which allows you to type text in regional languages and use them in forums/orkut/elsewhere. Google Transliteration offers an option for converting Roman characters to the literals of regional languages in India. This lets you type Hindi/Tamil/Telugu/Kannada/Malayalam words phonetically in English script and still have them appear in their correct alphabet.

http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic/Telugu

Note: This is not the same as translation — it is the sound of the words that are converted from one alphabet to the other, not their meaning.

The transliteration feature is only supported in Internet Explorer versions 6.0 and higher on Windows (preferably Windows XP), and Firefox 1.5 and higher on Windows and Linux. If you use Internet Explorer 6+ in Windows Vista/XP/2000, you should have no problems in viewing and editing Hindi text correctly. Mozilla Firefox requires support for complex text layout, otherwise it might display the Hindi text incorrectly. The support for complex text layout is usually turned off by default. Check out this wikipedia article for detailed instructions on how to add the support.

There is also a software called Baraha IME which allows you to type text directly in several regional languages wherever you want. You need not specifically copy paste the text to the required place. This software temporarily changes the windows default font so that whatever you type, is transliterated into the selected language.

Ping.eu : Network Tools Online

Yesterday, I got to know about this site from my friend. I found it very useful and hence posted here.

http://ping.eu

This is an awesome site which offers many network tools/utilities online. The following are some of them.

* Online Ping
* Traceroute
* DNS lookup
* WHOIS
* Port check
* Reverse lookup
* Proxy checker
* Mail relaying
* Bandwidth meter

Online Ping:
ping command is used to test whether a particular host is reachable across an IP network. You can run the command in DOS/Linux terminals.

TraceRoute:
As the command name suggests,it is a computer network tool that is used to determine the route taken from the source host to the destination host by packets across an IP network.

DNS lookup:
This command is used to find IP address for a particular domain(Host name). Just type in, a domain (eg: google.com) and it will give you the IP address of google server.

WHOIS:
This tool Displays the owner and other information related to domain.

Port check:
To check whether a particular port on the specified host is open/closed.

Proxy checker:
To verify whether a proxy server is running on a machine with particular IP. You can also specify a domain name instead of IP address.

Reverse Lookup:
Look up an IP address and get the corresponding domain name.

Bandwidth meter:
Gives the maximum bandwidth that you can attain from your host machine to a particular IP/Domain.

Mail Relaying:
Mail relay is an SMTP (e-mail) server configured in such a way that it allows anyone on the Internet to relay. We can use this tool to check out if the specified host is configured with mail relay or not.

Internet on Sony Ericsson Mobile using Broadband

Sony Ericsson Users can now access all mobile internet services free of cost using your Broadband connection.

My model Sony Ericsson w700i must use TCP/IP for its data connection. I thought, why not make a TCP/IP connection to my local area LAN and surf the Internet through my broadband? The first thing i can do is to ask google. I have come across the Sony Ericsson SDK which offers me such features. I have finally found out how to make it.

Required Stuff:

1. Sony Ericsson Compatible Model (That support GPRS, USB/Bluetooth Connectivity, MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.0+)

MIDP 1.0 and CLDC 1.04:

P800 series, T610 series, T630 series, Z600 series

MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.0 HI:

P900/P910 series

MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.1:

S700/S710 series, V800, F500i, J300 series, K300 series, K310 series, K500 series, K510 series, K600 series, K610 series (Java Platform 7) , K700 series, K790 series (Java Platform 7) , K750 series, K800 series (Java Platform 7) , P900, P910, P990

M600, W300 series, W550 series, W600 series, W700 series, W710 series (Java Platform 7) , W800 series, W810 series, W850 series (Java Platform 7), W900 series, W950 series, Z520 series,. Z530 series, Z550 series, Z710 series (Java Platform 7), Z800 series, Z525, Z500a, Z1010

2. Necessary Software

1. The J2SE Software Development Kit (SDK)

2. Sony Ericsson SDK

3. Opera Mini

Installation Procedure

  1. First install JAVA JDK and then SONY ERICSSON SDK. Downloading these two things would be a little problem for dial-up users but there is no other choice.
  2. Connect your mobile to PC via bluetooth or USB.
  3. When the Sonyericsson SDK installed successfully, you should find a Connection Proxy icon on your system tray, otherwise Click Start > Programs > Sony Ericsson > J2ME SDK > ConnectionProxy to start the connection proxy which while active will show its status on the system tray.
  4. Click on Settings icon (Gear). Select correct COM port for your connection. Choosing correct COM port would not be a big task. Open your device manager and you will find the com ports for your mobile USB/Bluetooth connection. Choose the lowest COM port apart from the COM ports that are attached to your system. Choose the BaudRate as 115200.
  5. Now click Connect. You should see your mobile pic on the connection proxy saying that it is connected.
  6. Open Sony Ericsson Device Explorer.
    Click Start > Program > Sony Ericsson > J2ME SDK > Device Explorer. You should see that the software is negotiating a connection with your mobile, and when successful, it will display a list of applications installed. In my case it displayed all the games installed in my W700 games folder.Important Note : If anyone faces error at this particular step saying “Malformed Response…… …. ” then it is due to some error in parsing the characters in the installed games. Delete games one by one in your games folder and Refresh the Device Explorer. It should work at some time..
  7. On your Sony Ericsson mobile, create a new data account.
    For that, Go to Connectivity > Data comm. > Data accounts > New account.
    Account type: GPRS data
    Name: Anything you want. Leave APN, Username and Password empty.
  8. Go to Connectivity > Internet setting > Internet profiles > New profile
    Name: anything you want
    Connect using: select the account you just added in the above step
  9. Still in Internet profiles window, highlight the profile you going to use and press More and select Settings.
    In this window:
    Connect using: the new data account you just added
    Internet Mode: Http (already there)
    Use Proxy: No
    Username and Password: empty
  10. Press Save to save this profile.Note: For broadband users under Corporate LAN, The settings are different. Use this profile settings.here.. Note the following…
    My IP address in LAN : 172.16.5.111
    DNS Address : 172.24.2.71
    Proxy server Address : 172.30.3.3

    create a data account named “broadband”
    ip address : 172.16.5.111
    dns address : 172.24.2.71

    create an internet profile named ” broadband”
    internet mode : http
    use proxy : yes
    proxy address: 172.30.3.3
    port : 8080

    streaming settings :
    connect using : broadband
    use proxy : yes
    proxy address: 172.16.5.111
    port number : 6082

  11. Opera Mini InstallationDefault browser that comes with sony ericsson mobile just not mean to be used with this type of connection. You need to download other browser to be installed. Download the compatible version of opera for your model from its official site. You must download both jar and jad files. This is a quick download since the file is quite small. Now you can install Opera Mini browser by just rightclicking the JAD File you just downloaded and select “Install on Device”.
    When installation is successful, highlight the Opera Mini in the Device Explorer and click on “Play button”, or right click and select Start to launch the Opera Mini on your mobile.Note : Launching Opera Mini by using the phone itself will not work.
  12. Now, If you are using Opera 3.0, it tests for network connection before opening the browser. If the connection test fails, check your settings once again. Restart your phone and try again. If everything is correct, i would suggest you to download opera mini 2.0. and proceed with the same steps above. Search google or download it from here ( Copy it to your phone and install from the phone since i cannot upload a jad file in my hosting site.)
  13. Enter any URL in your mobile and you are done if you are able to see that site on your mobile..Note: Please do not expect that you will be succeeded in the first trial. There is every possiblity that you may miss small things. I have spent one complete day for the connection and then succeded.

Some Points to note:

  1. Make sure “Serial Networking” is checked in device explorer.
  2. Connection proxy is connected
  3. Device explorer shows all the applications(games) installed on your mobile. If not, try restarting your device explorer.
  4. If every setting is correct and still you are not able to connect to internet, restart your mobile
  5. Use Opera mini 2.0 Advanced instead of latest version if you are not able to connect using it.

Why the hell am i doing this:

This post may seem a bit odd to you because who want to use internet in a cell phone if they have a broadband connection? Well.. here are a few applications for this.

1. You can access wap sites through your mobile.
2. In corporate offices with content based firewalls, this method provides anonymity to the users. (I cannot access orkut.com through PC, but i can do using my mobile ;) )
3. Browse by staying away from your computer (Bluetooth :D )
4. You can also learn several features of SE SDK. I had never known before that an emulator in PC exists for my mobile.

Source: The site is no longer available. But i can say that the creator’s name is Andre.