The Half-hour guide to jumpstart with Zoho CRM

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Usability Meet 2009 at iNautix, Chennai

I am attending the Usability Meet at iNautix on November 7, 2009 at Ascendas IT Park in Chennai. Some 13 companies are participating in the meet. 2 years ago, Satyam hosted such a meet, but it didnt catch up well later.

Anyone who likes to attend pls contact Mr. Arun of iNautix. Contact details below.

Arun Christian
Assistant Vice President
Usability and Graphics Team
iNautix Technologies India Private Limited, an affiliate of Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
http://www.inautix.co.in
Office: 91-44-22546000 Extension 1390, VOIP: 5064
Fax: 91-44-22540661

- Rajesh

Rebooting the mind at work!

Stack overflow, overload, system critical... all such alerts come up when a system is overloaded. And sometimes, a re-boot is very much necessary. Not only this applies to the non-life forms like Electronics, it is applicable for humans too.

For the past 20 days, I was very much in a state of "Mental Overload" at work and now slowly re-booting to start up fresh ! Some people take up vacations, they explore new interests, talk to friends etc. But in work, such a thing is not possible for everyone. During the past 20 days, I was down, tired and did only the basic jobs at work. After the 20 days, now I feel a lot better and my mind is fresh, thinking clearer, and feels energized. Unicorn is getting ready!

You don't need a Landmark Forum to re-build yourself... :-D

Maruti Suzuki Cars - Price List in 2D Map

Thought of preparing a 2D price map for all car models available from Maruti Suzuki India. Maruti aims for the mid-range to premium hatchbacks it seems. Click the image below to open full size.





Prices collected from www.marutisuzuki.com as on 15 October 2009. Accuracy not guarenteed.

One reason why Sulekha sucks sometimes...

I do use sulekha.com occasionally to sell my old items. Now a days, Sulekha.com has transformed into a aggressive Business directory along with a Classifieds section.

One reason I find that Sulekha.com sucks is because there is no clear welcome page for a visitor. There are 3 possible visitors for sulekha.com

1. One who comes looking for Online Classifieds
2. One who comes looking for Business Directory
3. One who comes from some other linking site knowingly or unknowingly.

The home page or landing page is a clear mess of everything. By throwing all the links in the home page, they have created a tough navigation for a classified seeker and Business seeker. You cannot predict which link will lead to what section!

Had there been a clear classification of services or atleast a search that has options to choose my search between Classifieds or Yellow Pages or Both, life would be much more easier in the home page. Right now, I have to click on the BUY/SELL tab or link in order to access classifieds. Oh, I just found now. There is a link on top,just below the Sulekha.com name. Nice, but not enough.

Long way to go.

- Rajesh

WordPress 2.8.4 - Setting up Unicode (multilingual) support for Tamil, Hindi, Kannada etc

[Coming up.. ]

Temporarily you can find out my quick and dirty guide for configuring WordPress to support Unicode fonts here.

How to buy a UPS for your home computer?

UPS is a must have accessory for every computers in India. Sudden power failures and surge in supply are common everywhere. To protect valuable data from getting corrupted, it is a must to buy a good UPS. Before we go into the topic, it is essential to understand the types of UPS.


What are the types of UPS available?
For consumer use, 3 types of UPS - Online, Off-line (stand by) and Line-interactive UPS are available.

Online UPS:
To explain in simple terms, this UPS supplies AC power to your computer which is converted from the power produced by the battery connected to it. The battery is
constantly re-charged by a AC-DC convertor on the other end.

Offline UPS:
When the mains supply is on, the UPS will pass thru the mains supply to the computer. If mains is cut, it will use a DC-AC convertor and produce power from the attached battery.

Line Interactive UPS:
Uses a combination of invertor/convertor circuit. When the mains is on, it recharges the battery and produces power from the battery at the same time.

Which one is best for home computer?
Line interactive is the modern implementation, and is better than the old Off-line UPS. Line Interactive UPS are available from 600va to 2kva max. They are economical and has less circuitry making a compact product. Online UPS are good but they are a overkill of home purposes.


How do I calculate my UPS power requirements?
To calculate check the components individually and sum up.
1. SMPS - 250-300w typical (some true gamer SMPS may consume more than 400w and more)
2. Monitor - 90w (17" CRT), 45w (15" CRT). 11 to 25w (LCD)
3. Modems - 1w to 10w max.

It is safe to assume that a normal home computer may consume close to 400 to 450w power.

How do I find out the right UPS power handling?
Check the UPS power output rating. Usually it is mentioned in VA (voltage ampere). For example 600va, 800va, 750va, 1000va etc. Multiply the power with 0.6 and the result is the true power handling of the UPS. For ex 600va UPS can handle a load of upto 360w (600 x 0.6 = 360)

For a generic computer with 400w load, a 800va (480w) UPS will suffice.

Should I go for internal battery or external battery?
Nowadays, over-the-shelf consumer UPS are available only with internal batteries. Internal batteries provide power from 6 mins to 20 mins max depending upon the battery's condition.

Custom built UPS and a few select models come with external battery options. Go for custom built UPS if you want hours of backup.

What is the average life expectancy of a battery?
Normally all UPS use sealed batteries, which are more of use-and-dispose type. These batteries run for about 12 to 18months in good condition. After than they need to be checked and replaced if necessary.

- Rajesh Sundaram