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Apr 20, 2009

How to Measure Bandwith Usage???

It doesn’t matter if you are looking to find out about how much bandwidth you are using to determine if your ISP is charging you fairly, if your net connection is a bottleneck or simply because you are like me and love statistics.
Well we can use this simple bandwidth monitoring tool called Networx. If you are paying for your internet per KB or MB than you can use this application to measure bandwidth usage and shut down your network when you reach a certain level.
So in addition to all the pretty graphs and charts we also get better control over our connection. You can use Networx to see how fast your connection actually is or see how much bandwidth your kids are using downloading MP3’s.
Networx has a installer and a portable edition. I used the portable 767kb file and ran it.
measure bandwidth used
You will see a system tray icon appear like the one in the above picture. You can hover over the icon to get quick statistics also like you see in the picture.
Upon right clicking the icon you will get this context menu:
bandwidth monitoring tool
All of the options are pretty self explanatory but we will run through them anyway. By clicking on the first item Show Graph you will get a screen that looks like this:
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That graph will keep updating and is very accurate. The only options it has is – open or closed :)
Next is the Speed Meter:
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Go ahead and hit the Start button and let it calculate all your downloads and uploads – it will then calculate how much data is traveling through your system currently. You can start, stop, reset counters, copy .to clipboard or save to file. The incrementing numbers is simply a stop watch so you can see how long you have been collecting data for.
Next up is the usage statistics:
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You can get detailed information for daily, weekly or monthly statistics. You can set up your own custom reports as well as set hourly rates. And for those of you still using dial up – it has some stats for you as well.
The Quota tab looks like this:
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Using this tab you can have Networx alert you when you have used a certain amount of data.
Next up is our settings:
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The last three options are graphical network tools. They are NetStat, Ping and Trace Route. Netstat will tell you what is connected to your machine:
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Ping allows you to test connectivity over the network or Internet:
bandwidth monitoring tool
and Trace Route lets you “Trace” your network route step by step to see where it is failing (or that it is succeeding):
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Do you have another way for keeping track of your bandwidth? Do you have other favorite network tool to measure bandwidth usage?
If you do be nice, c’mon share them with the others…

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Apr 13, 2009

Free Hollywood Movies in Five Sites

One of the best ways to relax from the hectic work schedules and stressful days is to watch movies. And that too if we get chance to watch the movies without going to a movie theatre then it is more comfortable. Especially on the weekdays if you want to see a movie after work, then watching movies online is the best way. So here are the few best web sites that offer high quality/divx quality movie streams online for free.

watch-movies.net

Watch Movie is one of my favourites as it has a huge collection of movie streaming database and excellent community support to pick the right streaming links. You can find free streaming of almost every new Hollywood movie on this web site.
The movie rating system of Watch-Movies.net
This website is very unique compared to other movie streaming site because
  • Multiple Source: The site provides links to multiple movie streaming sources. If one movie stream is not working properly you can switch to the other stream.
  • Movie Rating: The rating of movie provided on the site are very accurate and they give you a hint on whether a movie is good enough to spend your valuable time or not.
  • Movie Stream Rating: Each movie streamed on the site has multiple source and each source is rated based on the availability and quality parameters. So you are well informed to choose a good quality stream once you land on the home page of a movie stream.
The movie steam source rating system of Watch-Movies.net

Joox.net

Joox.net has a good collection of DivX quality movies that appeal to wide range of audience. At Joox you can not only watch your favourite Hollywood movies of different categories(Animation, Cartoon, documentary, etc) but also you can watch Bollywood Movies and TV Shows.
 Visit Joox.net  for free high quality hollywood movie streams
Joox does not host any of the movies streamed on the site. All the movies are hosted on http://stage6.divx.com/, a YouTube like video sharing website for high quality videos.
In order to view movies on Joox, you need to install a plugin from stage6. Joox is definitely a reliable source for watching Hollywood movies online.

66stage.com

66stage.com is another good website to watch latest Hollywood movies. Along with movie 66Stage has an up to date collection of high quality streaming TV Shows, Documentaries, Comedy Shows, Anime, Cartoons.
Like joox.net this website also does not have community support.
Visit 66stage.com for free high quality hollywood movie streams

emol.org

Love to watch classic Hollywood movies? This is the site which you should bookmark. emol has an excellent collection of classic movies and TV shows.
Visit emol.org for free classic english movies
Like the type of movie streams available on emol, the web design is also very classic. The layout and structure of emol website is very classic(like websites of 90s). So you may find little difficult to identify where to identify the movies and play them.

movierumor.com

Movie Rumor is another good source for latest Hollywood movie online streams.This site also hosts links to multiple sources of a same movie so that we can switch the streams if one fails.
Visit movierumors.com for free high quality hollywood movie streams
These are the top 5 of best free high quality movie streaming source we are able to identify on the internet. If any of your favourite movie streaming web site is missing in this list please let us hear through comments.

Apr 11, 2009

50 Most Useful Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts + Tips

I really love Adobe Photoshop keyboard shortcuts - it really helps to build up working speed using them in Your workflow. Keyboard shortcuts are keystrokes or keystroke combinations to quickly execute some command. You will evaluate those keyboard shortcuts strength as it increase your Work Speed.

Global keyboard shortcuts:
1.You can check all Your preferences pressing CTRL + K and learn more.
2. Press TAB - to show/hide tool panels;
3. Press SHIFT + TAB to show/hide only Your palette;
4. Press F repeatedly to cycle screen modes;
5. Press CTRL + TAB to switch to Your next document;
6. Press CTRL + SHIFT + TAB to switch to Your previous document;
7. Press CTRL + T to enter free transform mode;
Tip: You can scale proportionally from center Your transform by pressing and holding ALT + SHIFT, when You are dragging.
8. Press ALT + DELETE to fill the layer with foreground color or SHIFT + DELETE to fill with background color;
Tip: You can use ALT + BACKSPACE or SHIFT + BACKSPACE to fill non-transparent pixels.
9. Press X to switch foreground/background color;
10. Press D to reset foreground/background color to black/white;
background-foreground-color
Tip: You can use ALT + DELETE shortcut to fill just current selection.
11. If You work in high zoom pressing and holding SPACEBAR comes very handy by giving You hand tool to move small distance.
Also You can use it greatly with the marquee tool (or rectangle, shape tool etc.) - just start dragging on the document, and press SPACEBAR while holding Your mouse and move it to desired place, resize as You want it and repeat circle until You are pleased;


12. When You are working, there are lot of experimenting going on, so very handy becomes undo/redo shortcuts :
Press CTRL + Z to undo/redo previous activity;
Press CTRL + ALT + Z to undo multiple times;
13. While working with big files, it is very important to save often (every 5-10 min) - press CTRL + S to save Your document;
14. Use this one - press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + S to bring up ’save for web & devices ‘ dialog;
15. If You often use filters remember this keyboard shortcut, to repeat previous accomplished filter : CTRL + F
16. To draw precise, symmetrical circle or square or straight line press and hold SHIFT, while drawing it.
17. To temporarily switch to move tool while using another press CTRL + CLICK + hold you mouse
18. Open FILL dialogue by pressing SHIFT + BACKSPACE

19. You can test Your fonts easily by selecting Your text, then selecting “set font family” form and just pressing UP or DOWN buttons.
20. A always hated that I just can’t simply apply my text by pressing ENTER button..that was until I heard about some great keyboard shortcut!
So how to approve and escape text editing mode? - easy. Just press Your numeric ENTER or CTRL + ENTER
21. Increase/decrease brush size pressing [ or ] - (left bracket or right bracket)
Toolbar
22. Use Your toolbar shortcuts to switch between tools faster!
Memorize shortcuts of tools You use the most.
You can easily see keyboard shortcut by mouseover on certain tool :


Use Your Zoom zoom-tool tool wisely!
23. Double click on zoom tool to zoom Your document 100% size;
Tip: You can press CTRL + ALT + 0 to get actual pixels too (100 % size)!
24. Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom in/zoom out Your document:
Zoom in - CTRL + +
Zoom out - CTRL + -
or
use Your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/zoom out - ALT + SCROLL WHEEL UP/ALT + SCROLL WHEEL DOWN
25. To temporarily switch to zoom zoom-tool tool, while using another press:
Quick zoom in: CTRL + SPACE + CLICK
Quick zoom out: ALT + SPACE + CLICK
26. Use keyboard shortcuts CTRL + 0 to set Your image fit to window;
27. Press CTRL + W to close just Your current open document;
Palette
Note : check out Your palette keyboard shortcuts pressing ALT + W
28. Layers menu
Note: press F7 to show/hide Your layers menu.
29. Press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create new layer with dialog box;
30. Press CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + N to create new layer without opening dialog box;
31. Press CTRL + ALT + J to duplicate active layer with dialog box;
32. Press CTRL + J to duplicate active layer without opening dialog box ;
33. How to navigate between layers:
Mouse click on active layer and press SHIFT to select several layers:
Press and hold CONTROL to select or deselect definite layers;

34.Press CTRL+G to group selected layers in one group:
Tip: use CTRL + SHIFT + G to ungroup layers
35. Collapse or expand all groups in Your layers palette by pressing CTRL + CLICK on the group’s triangle:



36. Show/ hide Your layers by and holding Your mouse and dragging it up/down. Repeat to do inverse action:




37. To mask layers, do this trick - hold ALT + MOUSEOVER on the line between layers:
38. Click and drag background layer to make duplicate. I suggest to use this action starting every new file:

39. Press ALT + CLICK on  icon - to show/hide all layers, except active one:


40. Press CAPSLOCK to show cursor precise/standard mode;
41. Press CTRL + CLICK on layer  to make selection:

42. Press CTRL + I to inverse current selection;
43. Press CTRL + D to deselect current selection;
44. You maybe knew about deselect shortcut, but did You know how to reselect previous selection? Just press CTRL + SHIFT + D !
45. Press CTRL + E to merge selected layers or press CTRL + SHIFT + E to merge all visible layers into one;
46. If You ever wanted to make Your text longer or little bit shorter with tracking, You can do it easy with keyboard shortcuts - so first select Your text and then press CTRL + ALT + > or CTRL + ALT + < to set wider or thinner indent.
47. You can easily change Your layer or brush opacity  by just pressing number keys - 1 = 10%, 2 = 20%, 3 = 30% etc.

Apr 10, 2009

Insert Images to Mails in Gmail

Gmail Labs has introduced a new features which enables you to add images to your mails. Previously you could only insert images as attachments in Gmail. To enable this features, navigate to Gmail Labs and select enable for Inserting images feature. This features allows you to insert images into a message body. You can upload and insert image files in your computer, or insert images by URLs.


You can add the images using the link in the compose toolbar. This opens a popup asking you to upload images from computer or a web address.


Once added, you can resize the image by dragging it from the corner of the image. Apart from this, when you select the image in the compose window, you can resize to predefined size.

You need to make sure that you have turned on rich formatting mode, or it won’t show up in the compose window. Important thing to note here is that the images sent in the mail will not be displayed to another Gmail user and they are blocked. You need to click “Display images below” link to view the images. This feature is available for Google apps users as well.