WorldTime Buddy - Time Zone Converter

Excellent look and feel and also has add-on for Chrome which makes using it very easy. World Time Buddy (WTB) is a cross between a world clock, meeting planner and a time zone converter; a true productivity booster for working with world time.

Carefully thought out design lets it effortlessly convert between time zones, plan and schedule conference calls, online webinars, international meetings and even track Forex market hours.

WTB was born out of frustration with existing meeting planners and time zone conversion tools. Optimized for ad-revenue, most of them have forgotten about delighting their users.

Getting Started:-

1. Add locations (or remove, set home, order).
2. Mouse over hours to convert time at a glance.
3. Click hour tiles to schedule and share. 

Website :  www.worldtimebuddy.com

Locate your Flight in Real Time

It's about time we came across a website featuring all the live air traffic happening in real-time. Flightradar24.com is one of the best web applications that provide you with real-time info about thousands of aircraft around the world. It allows you to live track every aircraft equipped with an ADS-B transponder, which for Europe is about 90% of all airplanes. It’s easy to use, clean and it doesn’t require so much effort from the CPU, even in the highest visualization conditions where hundreds of flights are shown and animated at the same time. The web version is completely free, while mobile apps for iOS and Android cost a few bucks, as well as the Mac OS X application.

The primary technology used to receive flight information is called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B).

•     Aircraft gets its location from a GPS navigation source (satellite).
•     ADS-B unit on aircraft transmits signal containing about the location (and much and more).
•     ADS-B signal is picked up by a receiver connected to Flightradar24.
•     Receiver feeds data to Flightradar24.com.

Only aircraft with an ADS-B transponder, within the coverage area of the 500 receivers are visible.

Enter Flightradar24 and a world map opens on which all current flights are marked by a small, moving, yellow plane figure. Flightradar24.com tracks all the incoming and returning flights, even identifying each flight with its code when your cursor hovers over it. On the left side, searching for an airport or city will move the map directly to that region. Very cool and helpful, if you're curious about flights coming to and from your city. You can also see the history of flights on the website by pressing 'Playback' in sidebar to view content from the last 30 days.

Common aircraft models that have an ADS-B transponder and are visible on Flightradar24:-

    All Airbus models (A300, A310, A318, A319, A320, A321, A330, A340, A380)

    ATR 72-600 (most new deliveries)

    BAe ATP

    BAe Avro RJ70, RJ85, RJ100

    Boeing 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 787

    Embraer E190 (most new deliveries)

    Fokker 70 and 100

    Gulfstream V, G500/G550

    McDonnell Douglas MD-10, MD-11

    Sukhoi SuperJet 100

    Some newer Ilyushin and Tupolev (for example Il-96 and TU-204)

Common aircraft models that do not have an ADS-B transponder and are NOT visible on Flightradar24:-

    Antonov AN-225

    ATR 42, 72 (except most new deliveries of ATR 72-600)

    Boeing 707, 717, 727, 737-200, 747-100, 747-200, 747SP

    All CASA models

    All Bombardier Dash models

    All Bombardier CRJ models

    Dornier 328

    All Embraer models (except most new deliveries of Embraer E190)

    Jetstream 32

    Fokker 50

    McDonnell Douglas DC-9, MD-8x, MD-90

    Saab 340 and 2000

    “Air Force One”

    Most older aircraft

    Most military aircraft

Mainly for curing curiosity, there are better more comfortable ways to get flight information such as FlightAware, FlightStats or even Googling the flight’s number. The added value of Flightradar24 is the realization that there are so many flights up there and to think that it shows only the civilian airplanes, think of all the smaller domestic planes and the military air-crafts.

Website : www.flightradar24.com

World Time Clock

Time.Is is a website where they tell that they show the world’s most accurate web time in the world. They don’t use your local computer time to show the current time, their time is synchronized to atomic clock time, their time is adjusted to DST (Daylight Saving Time) even if your computer clock doesn’t. if your computer time is incorrect then it will tell you how much fast or slow your time is.

They will auto detect your country and city using your IP address and will show you the time accordingly. If you want to know the time of different country or city then you can search using their search (Enter location) box and know time of 7 million locations around the world, you will also get to know Sunrise, Sunset, Day length, Time zone offset, Time zone, Latitude, Longitude, Population, etc. of that location.

They also have a calendar, map (by default it will open to your current location using your IP address), compare time of different location by entering the name those cities/countries you would like to compare with.

Customize Time.Is page according to your need, for instance you can change format of date and time will appear, change font, change Black on white or White on black and you can also export your customization to different browser or computer.

If you want to embed it on your blog or website then you can use their widget or use this URL http://time.is/just in an iframe tag to embed or use the below code and change width and height according to your need.

Website : http://time.is/

Easily Spell Any Complex Name On The Phone

Generally when we talk on the phone with any customer support they ask our name, sometimes it happens that they ask us to spell it.

For instance I have called to Flipkart to order some stuffs.

"Support: Thank you for calling Flipkart, how can I help you?
Me: I want to order … these two books
Support: Can I please have your first and last name
Me: Cibin Varghese
Support: can you please spell it for me
Me: ‘C’ for cat, ‘I’ for Ink, ‘B’ for Boy, ‘I’ for hmmm…"
 

So while telling the name or street address sometime becomes hard to understand over the phone especially when those are complex names. So there is a tool by 'Pradeep Gowda' where you can simply enter any word or phrase and it will give you words for each alphabet.

Here is the website : http://v1.pradeepgowda.com/phonetic-spelling/

For instance, for my name (Cibin Varghese) it would be something like “Charlie, India, Bravo, India, November” | “Victor, Alpha, Romeo, Golf, Hotel, Echo, Sierra, Echo”.

Bangalore BMTC Bus Route Search

We have witnessed that the Bangalore BMTC bus service is one of the best in the nation. But, there was no easy way to find which bus runs on the desired route and especially for between two locations which doesn't have a direct bus. This information gap is now filled with an easy to search tool developed by Narasimha Datta.

Here is the website : http://narasimhadatta.info/bmtc_query.html

There are several search methods you could use. These are:

1. Direct Routes Only
2. Minimum Number of Hops
3. Maximum Bus Route Availability
4. Via Terminal Bus Stations Only
5. Shortest Distance

The Direct Routes Only option is exactly the same as the earlier simple search - it only shows the direct bus routes between any two locations. In case no direct route exists, you could try the other methods. There could be several criteria for selecting a multi-hop route plan. For instance, you might want to minimize the number of buses to change. Or you might want to travel only along those paths that have the highest bus frequency. If you travel by bus occasionally, you might want to change over to another bus only at terminal bus stations. Now you can get the information about any of these preferences.

In the Minimum Number of Hops method, upto five route plans are presented. These route plans have been arranged so as to minimize the total distance travelled.

The Maximum Bus Route Availability method also computes upto five route plans. Here the travel time has been taken into consideration as a secondary parameter.

The Via Terminal Bus Stations Only method shows the direct routes between two locations if they are available. Otherwise the changeover points are restricted to only terminal stations. Here terminal station refers to any location where a bus route starts or terminates. Thus some locations such as Corporation which are normally not thought of as terminal stations would also figure in the search results.

The final search method is Shortest Distance. As the note on the website indicates, the route plan determined by this method may not be directly useful since it tends to generate too many hops. It is included for the sake of completeness only. This is based on approximate distances and is by no means accurate. This method could be used for other purposes also, for example to get direct paths while driving from one location to another.

Indian Train Tracking using RailRadar

Let’s admit it, tracking trains in India can be quite a tedious and painful process. The Center for Railway information service (CRIS) has announced a new web app called RailRadar that attempts to solve this particular problem. It helps users track over 6,500 trains overlaid on a map in real-time. CRIS and RailYatri have jointly developed the web-based service.

The service offers features similar to Google Maps and users can zoom-in or out on a particular train on the map using a mouse scroll or plus or minus buttons built in to the user interface. The blue arrows in the map show the trains on time and the red ones indicate the delayed trains. The map also shows the number of trains active at that particular time. Currently, RailRadar is configured to update/refresh itself every five minutes, which means that in any scenario, the location and status of the trains displayed on RailRadar will always be five or more minutes delayed. You can also click on the train to see and a small pop-up will appear showing what time the train started, where it currently is and the status of the train.

Other cool features offered by the service include the percentage of trains on schedule, trains that are on-time and trains that are late. This service would make things quite easy for a user to keep a tab on a particular train, and avoid frequent calls to the Indian Railways to find out if the train is on schedule or not.

In June this year, Indian Railways in association with CRIS had launched a newer version of Trainenquiry.com a site that features train running information in real time and also displays earlier information. Indian Railways had also launched a National Train Enquiry System (NTES) app that offers live status information of more than 8,000 trains. The free app can be used exactly like TrainEnquiry.com site.

Website :  http://railradar.trainenquiry.com/

Repair Your Laptop by Yourself !!

'Inside my laptop' is a good website for giving step-by-step instructions to repair your faulty laptop. Almost all the models of laptop repairing procedures are available here. You need to find out your model and proceed with the procedure.

Website : www.insidemylaptop.com

Google Transliteration

If you want to type transliterated words in languages like Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Persian, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu etc. here is a good website from Google family which may be so handy.

Just select the language you want from the above bar and type your regional language in English and hit spacebar, you will get the results in your language.

For example, I have selected here is Malayalam and you want  'എന്‍റെ കേരളം' in Malayalam, you need to type 'ENTE KERALAM' and hit spacebar.

Website : http://www.google.com/transliterate/

Data Transfer Time

Here is a good website for getting the data transfer time. You need to give only the amount of data and throughput/bandwidth. The system will calculate the time it will take to finish. It is very much helpful for the engineers who is doing data center consolidation tasks.

Website : http://www.calctool.org/CALC/prof/computing/transfer_time

Online Medicines Database - www.medguideindia.com

In India, doctors usually prescribe the medicines by brand name and not by the generics (ingredients). Hence we often end up paying more money for the same medicine.

VINOD KUMAR MEMORIAL CHARITABLE TRUST was established in the memory of Late Shri Vinod Kumar Mittal. Management of the trust decided to launch one stop portal aiming to create an educated consumer in the “market” of medical services.

In 2007, “www.medguideindia.com” was launched, which provides following information to all it’s consumers free of any charge: About the drugs, their composition and comparative prices of various brands of the same composition, manufactured or marketed in India by various pharmaceutical companies.

Follow these few steps to know more and start saving on your medical bills.

1. Log on to www.medguideindia.com

2. Click on 'Drugs'

3. Click on 'Brand'

4. Type the brand name which you are using e. g., Metocard XL (50 mg). The site will also help you with drop down menu. Click on 'Search'

5. Click on 'Generics'. It will display the ingredients of the tablet.

6. Click on 'matched brands'

7. You will be surprised to see that same drug is available at very low cost also. And that too by other reputed manufacturer. e. g., Metocard XL 50 is for Rs. 62 (for 10 tablets, by Torrent) and the same drug by Cipla (Mepol) is available @ Rs. 7 only (yes, Rs. 7 for 10 tablets) !!!

Kerala Voter ID Card Online Registration

Kerala state election commission has launched Voter ID Card Online registration facility in Kerala through its official website – www.ceo.kerala.gov.in.

For more information about Kerala Voter ID Card Online Registration 2011 is available at www.ceo.kerala.gov.in.

Voter ID Card Online registration 2010 in Kerala

• Only those who are born between 02/01/1992 and 01/01/1993 (both days inclusive) are eligible to apply online.
• Only those applicant’s who wish to register their names in the Polling Stations where his/her father’s/mother’s name is included in the Electoral Roll will be able to avail this facility.
• The Election Identity Card number of the applicant’s relative(s) should be filled up.
• Applicant must write their Name, Relation name, Address etc. in MALAYALAM on the print out in the space provided and hand over the same duly signed to the respective Taluk Office on the date chosen by him/her. Those who are unable to take a printout of the application should note down the application number and submit filled up application in form number 6 at the Taluk Office quoting that number.
• The applicant can select any one of the Document Verification Dates: 11th 12th 19th and 27th DECEMBER 2010 for appearing at the Taluk Office for producing signed application along with original/attested true copy of the document to prove his/her age and for taking his/her photograph.
• Last date for filing online application is 21st November 2010 till 5 pm

Voter ID Card Online registration – http://www.ceo.kerala.gov.in/eregistration.html
Search electoral roll or Voter List – http://www.ceo.kerala.gov.in/rollsearch.html

Karnataka Voter ID Card Online Registration

Voter ID card online registration has been made easy in Karnataka through official website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka – www.voterreg.kar.nic.in.

www.voterreg.kar.nic.in is a citizen portal for online submission of form for inclusion, deletion, modification and transposition. This website has already received 1,15,052 hits and 19,087 have enrolled, more than 7,040 submitted application since its launch on 01 October 2011.
Voter ID Card Online Registration Forum

• Form-6 (Inclusion)
• Form-7 (Deletion)
• Form-8 (Modification)
• Form-8A (Transposition)

You need to first Register yourself in the www.voterreg.kar.nic.in to enable you to get your username and password for your online submission.

Instructions for New Users:

Know your PF account balance online

In order to know your PF account details, follow these simple steps:

• Visit the site http://www.epfindia.com/MembBal.html
• Select the EPFO office where your account is maintained
• Furnish your PF Account number in the online form.
• Leave the extension field blank, in case your account does not have one.
• You will be asked to enter your name and mobile number.
• The given mobile number will be recorded along with the PF Account Number.
• On successful submission of above information, the details will be sent through SMS to the given mobile number.

Find the links below to check your PF account details online:
* Bangalore Region – http://www.epfbng.kar.nic.in/
* Mangalore Region – http://epfmangalore.org/index.html
* Kerala Region – http://epfmalabar.nic.in/balance.html
* For other regional sites – http://www.epfindia.com/RegSites.html

Free photos for your blog

I’ve been collecting a variety of resources for free photographs to use on your website and blog. These images are, for the most part, free to use, but may have copyright and usage restrictions. Some may require registration, use only on non-commercial sites, and/or a link back to the source. Others may require more. Check thoroughly for the specific usage rights before using any of these images.

Flickr is a major resource for images, but many of these have restricted use. Not every image on Flickr or the web is free to use. Check thoroughly for usage rights, and if in doubt, get permission or don’t use the image.

The images featured range from people, places, wildlife, and space, as well as textures, patterns, and artistic graphic images. These free photos sites listed may have nude or violent images, though I did my best to exclude image sites which specialize in those.

General Photography Images

• Aarin Free Photo
• Getty Images – Royalty Free Images
• Cromavista
• Image Base
• Free Stock Photos
• Image Blowout
• Majestic Imagery
• Orangetrash
• PDPhoto
• PIX
• Creative Commons Image Search
• DeviantArt
• Stock Exchange
• tOfz
• AboutPixel
• A Digital Dreamer
• Afflict
• Bajstock
• Barry’s Free Photos
• Big Foto
• Big Stock Photo
• Buzz Net
• Cepolina
• Demny Onink
• Design Packs Photos
• Flickr
• Fontplay Free Photos
• Fotodatebank
• Fotogenica
• Fotolia
• Free Digital Photos Net
• Free Foto
• Free Images UK
• Free Images
• Free Media Goo
• Free Photographs Net
• FreePhotos.com
• Free Photo Station
• Freewebpics
• Geek Philosopher
• Image After
• ImageTemple
• iStockphoto
• Lightmatter
• Litetek
• LogoDesignweb
• Mayang
• Morgue File
• NWYH Stock Images
• Open Photo
• Our Media
• PhotoCase
• Picture Station
• Piotrpix
• Pixelbag
• Pixel Perfect Digital
• Pixelquelle
• The Photo Repository
• Stock Vault
• Stock.Xchng
• Triparalbum
• Truly Free Stock
• Twice Pix
• Unprofound
• Woophy
• YotoPhoto

Nature and Science Photographs

• Gimp-Savvy – Images from NASA, NOAA, and US FWS
• Insect Images
• NASA Images
• US Fish and Wildlife Photos: FWS2 and/or FWS1
• US National Park Service Royalty Free Photographs
• Earth from Space
• NOAA Photographs and Images
• USDA Images

Patterns, Texture, and Art Design Photographs

• Amazing Textures
• Four Bees
• Mandragora
• Creativity 103
• ArtFavor
• Texture Warehouse

More information on Finding Free Images and Photographs on the Web

• Master New Media – Where to find free images
• Google Answers – Finding Free Images on the Web
• Graphics and Graphic Design – Free Stock Photos List

Online Subnet Calculator Links

http://jodies.de/ipcalc
http://www.subnet-calculator.com/
http://www.semsim.com/ccna/tools/ip_calculator.asp
http://networking.ringofsaturn.com/IP/subnet.php
http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/ip-subnet/
http://www.cotse.com/networkcalculator.html
http://ccna.exampointers.com/subnet.phtml