jQuery Presentation

jQuery - Javascript Library

jQuery - Javascript Library

Hey, I recently gave a presentation on jQuery, the javascript library.

For those of you new to jQuery, its an awesome Javascript (the in-browser scripting language), that allows you do play around with your webpages, and create some really fancy interactive elements and actions.

The basic points I discussed, in the order:

  • Some basic applications of jQuery (Forms, Sliders, DOM traversing)
  • Implementation details like jQuery function
  • jQuery’s Function Chaining feature
  • The $ function
  • Links to various live examples.

View the presentation on the SlideShare.net embed, and download the pptx file, after the jump.

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Categories: Video Tags: , ,

How to use Google Public DNS with BSNL Router

Google Public DNS

Google Public DNS

Google has just launched its Google Public DNS service, freely available for you to use. Another free Google service, yaay!

Wait, what is DNS?

DNS is something that ideally, you wouldn’t even know what it meant. Actually, it stands for Domain Name System, and is the system of computers and registries around the world that convert your delightfully easy to remember www.vishalkumar.in or www.orkut.com to get to your website.

What happens in the background is that your computer asks the DNS on which server www.vishalkumar.in is being hosted, and then downloads the data from that server. And you didn’t have to memorize the IP address (a delightful number like 74.125.45.100 (which incidentally, is Google’s homepage), and can surf the net that much easier.

The benefit will be apparent when you start browsing, as things will start moving faster, with the site and images and content loading faster (especially on sites where content is pulled from other sites). Overall, switching to Google Public DNS is a good idea, and unlike some ISP’s DNS servers, you don’t get pulled into an ad filled search page if your site is wrong, saving on bandwidth too.

Here’s a screenshot filled tutorial on how to set it up with your BSNL Router, or normal connection.

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Categories: Google Tags: ,

How to set up Trac and Subversion SVN on Dreamhost

Trac

Trac

While I was just digging around Dreamhost’s panel, I stumbled across a new One Click Install I had not seen before: Trac.

Trac is, according to their site,  an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Nifty. The last time I had tried my hand with Trac, I think I almost lost my hands. But now, Dreamhost has made it super easy to get Trac, and Subversion (a Concurrent Version System, made super easy with TortoiseSVN) along with it.

Now, as excited as I was to get this ‘new’ thing running on my account, I realized I knew precious little about how to set it up beyond the One Click of  the famed One Click Installation process. True, Trac was now installed in my account, but what next?

A long story short, I figured someone else might walk down the same path (and get lost like I did). So I basically screenshotted the path of least resistance to setting up Trac and Subversion on Dreamhost.

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Categories: Screenshots, Tutorial Tags:

Game: Chat Noir in Javascript

Chat Noir in Javascript

Chat Noir in Javascript

I invite you to check out this Javascript game I created, called Chat Noir (Black Cat in french).

The objective of the game is really simple: Trap the cat before it gets to the edges.

I’ve used Javascript (with jQuery) and CSS to implement it. It’s based on a similar flash game by GameDesign.jp.

Play it here, and let me know what you think.

Categories: Misc Tags: , , ,

Cool GMail Labs Features – Get more from GMail

I’ve been asked by quite a few people who’ve seen my GMail, and were surprised to even imagine GMail like that. So I figured I’d do a quick post on how to get GMail’s coolest features.

Here is my Inbox:

GMail Inbox

GMail Inbox

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Categories: Screenshots Tags:

Help: I Can’t Open .EXE Files!

Actually, this is the exact query that I got:

In my system all exe files are being opened with notepad!!!

Thats more or less what I got in a conversation a few minutes ago. Now, this particular question isn’t particularly new, and it can be caused by an overzealous tinkerer or a malicious code (if you haven’t done anything, truthfully, and this happened to you, please check it out with an antivirus).

The problem, if you want to understand is that Windows is designed so that every file is expected to have an extension. That 3 letter ending tells the Windows OS with which program to open the file with. So if you have .txt file, you should open it with Notepad.exe.

Now what about a .exe file? Who opens that? The answer is simple: Itself! Hence you have to tell the OS (through the Registry Editor), to open the .exe file with itself. Hence “%1″ %* as the open with command, which indicates that the file needs to be opened with the same .exe (%1), and having the same arguments (%*) that it was assigned.

Anyway, in order to fix this, please follow the following instructions..

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Categories: Tutorial Tags:

Google announces the Chrome Operating System

Shiny shiny Chrome

Shiny shiny Chrome, now also an Operating System

Google has created another stir in the technology community again with the announcement of the launch of their new Chrome Operating System.

Thats right. Operating System. Like Microsoft-makes-Windows-Operating-System Operating System.

The details are pretty sketchy, but here’s what we know so far…

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Categories: Google Tags: , ,

Google it with Bing!

At various odd points in conversation, such as when comparing the proper noun Xerox to the verb Photocopying (my Indian friends are well aware of the unawareness of the distinction), I usually drag in how we’re going to Google anything we want to find.

“Where are my car keys?” “I don’t know, google it, maybe under your bed?”

Then I saw this video.

Just took that concept to a very relevant perspective.

My take: If you know anything about Google and Bing, watch it and show it to your friends.

(If you’re new here: Google’s a search engine from Google, Bing’s a search engine from Bing Microsoft.)

Categories: Video Tags: , , ,

Find Anything (on your desktop) with Everything

Search with Everything!

Search with Everything!

Don’t you just love those little programs that do that one small thing, oh so perfectly? (Remember the Norton User Access Control tool?). Well, this little program is also just as awesomeous.
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Categories: Download Tags: , ,

Asp.NET Mail using Gmail SMTP Tutorial

It’s very useful to learn how to set up to send mail using Asp.NET, both GMail and Asp.NET are widely used and trusted. One advantage is flexibility: If you’re a setting up a large email system for mass mail-outs to Foxy Bingo customers and other gaming fans, or if you’re a smaller, family business who is just mailing your local clientele, this system is up to the job. Enjoy the tutorial.

So here is another, even briefer, tutorial on sending mail in Asp.NET using GMail SMTP (means using a GMail Account doh!).
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Categories: Tutorial Tags: , ,