Gtalk’s implementation of Jumplist = Fail!

Jumplist is one of the most prominent and useful features in Windows7. Many applications work very well with it. However, Gtalk fails miserably to implement even the most basic of jumplist feature – launching the application itself!

This is how Gtalk jumplist looks on Windows7

If you, by mistake the main Gtalk window, you should ideally be able to bring it back by either clicking on the icon in the taskbar or by launching it from the jumplistst! However, neither of these options seem to work.

The only way you can make it work is by launching it from the system tray! Hope Google fixes this soon!

Short Book review: Connect the dots

When I got to know from a tweet that Rashmi Bansal has launched a new book and the author signed copies were available, I immediately ordered one for myself.

There are many reasons why I thought this book would be a good read:

• I like the author’s previous book – Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
• I was thrilled to know that Kalyan Varma, an alumnus of my college is featured in the book.
• ‘Connect the dots’ – a very catch title for me. It is good to know that both her titles are inspired from Steve Jobs speech at Stanford In fact I am so inspired by this speech, that I have dared to put this up at my desk  (Imagine Steve Jobs’ quote with his picture, in a Microsoft campus!)

This book is very similar to her previous book “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. It is also a collection of mini biographies of people who have made it big, bitten by the entrepreneurship bug. The only difference being the fact that this book is filled with exciting awe inspiring stores of people who have made it big without an MBA degree whereas the previous one features only individuals from the coveted IIM-A.

The stories/interviews are long enough to quench your curiosity and inspire you and short enough to make sure you don’t get bored. Each story ends with a section on “Advice to Young Entrepreneurs” which by itself makes a good handbook for people who want to get their hands dirty, starting on their own.

It is very surprising to read about the variety of backgrounds the featured personalities have come from, and more so the events or ‘dots’ that have led them to where they are today. True to its title, every story unravels the dots which none of them  could have connected looking forward but makes a lot of sense when retrospected.

The ‘too=hard-to-believe’ twists and turns in the lives of these people is just mind blowing. It just shows that the Dhirubhai Ambani kind of stories is neither glorified nor is it a one in a billion kind.

Rashmi Bansal has done an amazing job in keeping the language desi which has become an interesting trend with modern Indian authors. A must-have book in the library of every budding entrepreneur.

Control your computer remotely with Outlook

No, This is not a security hole in Outlook. It is just one of the creative ways to make use of Rules feature in outlook.

I am not sure about yours, but my computer is always connected to the internet when it is switched on. And it is switched on unless there is a power cut at my place

Many a times, I have felt like controlling my downloads, reset modem, shut down my comp or lock it after I realize I have kept it open. Although there are a lot of ways you can do it(see logmein, VNC, VNC on lifehacker), if all you want to do is run simple scripts or launch an application, look no further. You can set up Outlook to do the work for you.

Go to Tools –> Rules and Alerts

 

Click on New Rule, add any rule which is convenient to you. I have chosen “Move messages  with specific words in the subject to a folder” and click next. Specify an uncommon word in your subject lines in this field  “986786374shutdown” and then when a dialog box appears asking you “What do you want to do with the message?”.

 

Edit the rule descriptor by clicking on ‘application’. Select the application which needs to be run when you send a message with the subject line which you had set before.

if you want to run dos commands – you can create a .bat file and put you commands in that.

ex: if you want to shutdown your machine : shutdown –s –t 10

That’s it, now you can control your machine by sending email to yourself. It’s as simple as that.

I use this to start my download manager, shutdown my computer etc. Let me know what you would use it for.

5 ‘must have’s in a cubicle

 

In these 2 months of working, I have tried to make a list of essential stuff to be kept in your cubicle. Things which have helped me a lot, and things which I think will help me in the future :-

1. Stationery Box : You can find them in any decent stationery store.  A box consisting of some pens, highlighters, sharpened pencils, erasers, staplers, a pair of scissors, a cutter, whitener, eraser and markers.

   Also keep a dozen of your passport photographs with you all the time. You never know when you have to fill that important form right away!

2. Food-ware : You never know when the food ordered by your team gets delivered without a fork/spoon and plates to use them with!

   Paper plates, a stainless steel fork/spoon (plastic ones are of no use!), paper cups and a bunch of tissues will come a long way in emergencies. Not to forget toothpicks!

3. Extra pair of clothes: There will be times when you will have to/ feel like staying back at office. So it’s always a good idea to keep a pair of clothes in your office for emergency purposes. Even if you will never have to stay back, an extra pair can come into use when you spill gravy on your shirt and have a meeting to attend or at times when you come to office fully drenched.

   Also advisable is to keep an extra pair of shoes and a jacket.

4. Chargers: These days most phones come with a data cable which can also be used to charge them. These cables are cheaper than chargers most of the time and serve other purposes too.
   If you possess a smart phone, you can copy your documents into it and have a look at them on the go!

   If you have a very basic phone, it’s a good idea to buy a spare charger. It also helps to get an extra adaptor in case of laptops, it will reduce the weight of your backpack considerably.

5. Dustbin: The MOST important of them all. True, these days most cubicles have one. If you don’t, stop reading this right now and buy yourself a trash can. I just can’t emphasize how important this is

You can also consider buying the same model of keyboard/mouse which you use in your office for your home or vice versa depending on which is more comfortable. Trust me, this alone can increase your productivity if your job involves a lot of typing/ ‘mouse work’ “

What do you keep in your cubicle?