Shortwave adds your shortcut commands to browser

Shortwave is a bookmark that adds quick-search and shortcut capabilities to your favorite browser. You can add any command to your list of Shortwave commands by simply editing a text file. Commands consist of predefined trigger and optional search term. For example, you can add a command to launch Google homepage when you type ‘g’ or search for a word xxx when you type ‘gs xxx’.

At the core of Shortwave is a bookmarklet that you need to add to your browser. When you click this bookmarklet, you will see a JavaScript prompt asking you to enter the command. You type ‘g’ to launch Google or any other command you have in the command file to trigger the specified action.

You can check the default commands on this help page. If you want to add, change or modify the default commands, you have to download the commands file from the website and modify it using the instructions provided on the file itself. Once you have modified the commands file, you have to upload it to a website to use it. If you don’t have a website, upload it to the Windows Live SkyDrive or Dropbox’s public folder and get the public URL. Paste this public URL of your commands file in text box on Shortwave website and get the new bookmarklet.

You can add shortcuts to your Firefox bookmarks and launch them easily by typing it in the address bar. Then what are the advantages of Shortwave ?

• Not all browsers support shortcuts. If you use Google Chrome, you are out of luck. Shortwave works with all browsers.
• If you use multiple browsers, syncing the browser-specific shortcuts is difficult, if not impossible. As all your shortcuts are in the commands file and not stored in the bookmark itself, Shortwave bookmarklet on all your browsers is always in sync.
• Shortwave shortcuts are not associated with your bookmarks. So, you can launch and do other actions with any site even if it is not in your bookmarks list.

Shortwave is very useful to launch your frequently visited websites and also to do quick searches on any site. I have been using it for a while and found it very useful.

Put a check to content plagiarism with FairShare

If you have a blog or other website where you post content, it is becoming a necessity to protect the content from those who shamelessly copy and paste it into their sites without proper credit or permission. Let me give you an example. This blog has about 5000 visitors a month and I have already seen 2 to 3 websites where the content was just a copy and paste of my posts.

How do you detect when people steal your content ? You can always go and search for a few phrases that are in your posts and see if there are any matches other than your site. But this process is tedious and error-prone. I’m using FairShare.

FairShare is a website which takes the feed link of your blog or website as input and sends you reports about how your content is being used on the web. You can also tell it how your content is licensed so that it will not report those who use it properly.

You will get a weekly report summary and another report as and when it finds an improper use. The only problem with this service is that it takes your feed URL as input. If you do not use full text in your feeds or if you don’t even have a feed, it is not possible to use this service.

Update : As mentioned by Rich in the comment below, it does work with partial feeds. I have removed the email address from the comment to avoid email spam.

Exchange vs CalDAV for calendar sync in iPhone 3.0

Now that iPhone supports CalDAV format for calendar syncing with the 3.0 software upgrade, which is the best method to sync your calendar with the iPhone ? I will present here the advantages and limitations of each method so that you can decide.

Exchange :
1. Exchange sync is fast (immediate)
2. Setup is easy (You only need to go through the setup once to sync all your calendars)
3. Once calendar setup is done, you can use the same account to sync contacts and mail easily
4. iPhone allows only one exchange account. So, if you already have an exchange account to sync your work mail etc and want to sync calendars with other account, you are out of luck
5. There is a limit for the number of calendars you can sync (example : only 5 calendars can be synced with Google Calendar)

CalDav :
1. Sync takes a little time
2. You have to setup an account for each of your calendars. So, if you have 5 calendars, you have to create 5 accounts on iPhone
3. Setup is a little tricky. Specially for the non-primary accounts (involves copying and pasting long URLs from the calendar service)
4. If you use CalDAV, you can use your one exchange account allowed to sync other things like mail or contacts
5. No limitation on number of accounts/calendars

Check this help guide from Google to sync your Google Calendar with your iPhone using Exchange.

Setting up CalDAV sync for Google Calendar with iPhone is a little tricky and I will explain the process in a separate post tomorrow.

Find Similar Sites

Have you ever wished you knew all the sites that offer the same or similar functionality so that you can compare the features and use only the best ? Have you been on a site that is good but is unusable due to some limitation (such as bad advertising, paid content or not reliable etc) and wanted to see if there are any alternatives ? Try SimilarSites.

SimilarSites is a website where you can type in the URL of a website and find sites that are similar. It works really well in finding out websites that are similar in functionality / content to the website that you provided.

If you didn’t like the results, you can always vote them down by clicking on the thumbs-down button next to that result. You can also vote for good results so that they appear on top. If you know a site that is similar and it is not listed, you can make a suggestion too.

Really cool post-it stop motion video

This is definitely one of the best creative video clips I have ever seen in long time. It’s worth sharing …

Use your iPhone to offer prayers on the go

Do you remember those little flash executable files that allow you to offer prayers to God on your computer? You can click on different icons to ring bells, light the incense sticks and break a coconut. Almost everybody had them on their systems few years ago. Robosoft Technologies is trying to recreate that same effect on the iPhone with their apps ‘Shri Durga Prarthana’ and ‘Shri Vishnu Prarthana’.

There are two parts in both the apps. In the Aarti part you can perform puja by ringing the bells, lighting the incense sticks & lamps, showering flowers, offering fruits, applying tilak and giving aarti (all by touching the corresponding icons/images and while listening to high-quality aarti audio).

The other part is chalisa that you can listen to or chant along. You can see chalisa text and the meaning in either Hindi or English. While you are listening to the chalisa audio, text and meaning will be displayed in sync on the screen. You can easily go forward or rewind with the usual swipe gestures of iPhone.

It is a good way to have these apps in your pocket and be able to offer prayers anywhere, particularly if you are a person who is travelling a lot. Visit this page for pictures and video demos.

Both these apps are available for $1.99 each (at the time of writing this post).

Windows 7 UAC lacks fine-grained control

I have been using the Windows 7 RC on my home laptop for a while now and I think it is a very good operating system from Microsoft after a long time. But the most annoying factor so far for me is the lack of fine-grained control over UAC (UAC stands for User Account Control. It is that little annoying piece that keeps asking you whether you really want to run that program every time you launch it).

Microsoft’s way of managing UAC is to change the level of alerts or turn it off completely. There is no way to tell it that a specific program is safe and you do not want to receive any alert when you run it. Every time I run CCleaner (my favorite program to clean the crap on my PC) or Update Checker (the program that keeps all my software up-to-date), I get UAC alert asking me whether I want to allow it to run. Of course I have installed those programs myself and I want them to run and I’m sure there is no risk. So, why not provide a way to mark them as safe ?

The way I see it, this lack of program level control of UAC makes it annoying and defeats the purpose if people turn-off the UAC all together. I do think that UAC is good in security perspective and users should not be turning it off. But if it keeps bugging you every time you want to run your favorite software, it’s hard not to think of turning the whole thing off.

Related reading :

How I installed Windows 7 to dual boot with Windows XP

Dollar to Rupee alerts on Twitter and RSS

Now you can follow dollar2rupee on Twitter and receive alerts for the Dollar to Rupee application. Twitter messages will be posted for the following events …

• When there is a one rupee change in dollar to rupee exchange rate on any given day
• When there are important milestones such as the exchange rate crossing 50 or falling below 40
• Monthly update with the name of the bank that provided the best rate over the last 30 days on average
• Service updates and alerts

You can also receive these alerts using RSS feed if like to subscribe using Google Reader or any other feed aggregator.

If you have any questions or want to see any other alerts, let me know in the comments.

Medical insurance for people visiting USA

Medical insurance is a necessity for people visiting America as the cost of medical care is sky high. Whether you are an NRI looking to take medical insurance for your visiting parents or a visitor trying to be cautious, below is some information I have gathered from my friends.

Plans can be bought from India as well as in the USA. The advantage of buying a plan from India is that it is cheaper. But filing a claim could be a hassle. Buying a plan from USA has the advantage of simpler claim processing, and if you buy through a insurance agent, he handles everything for you. But it is costlier.

There are two types of coverage - fixed and comprehensive. And you need to decide what coverage you want. Plans from India are only fixed coverage plans for people older than 55. No comprehensive coverage is offered. There is usually NOT much difference between insurance agent quote and the direct quote from insurance company. The two popular insurance companies here are IMG and SC (Seven Corners).

To bring down the premium, you have to opt for a higher deductible. In unforeseen expenses, which can run in thousands of dollars, higher deductible would be peanuts in comparison to your total expenses.

If the insurance is for a person with pre-existing condition, try insurance from Multichoice Insurance or Atlas America. They cover pre-existing conditions too. Atlas covers pre-existing conditions only up-to 15K. Another good resource is VistorsCoverage website.

Post in comments if you find this information useful or if you have something to share.

Twitter and Email alerts for Dollar to Rupee exchange rates

Over the last couple of days I was thinking about adding some kind of alerts to the Dollar to Rupee exchange rates application. And I have got some ideas.

How useful it will be if you are able to receive alerts via email or twitter (and hence RSS too) about important changes in exchange rates like ...

1. If the Dollar to Rupee exchange rate increases or decreases by 1 whole point on a single day or week

2. If the Dollar to Rupee exchange rate crosses a certain important point such as 50 (50 rupees per a dollar)

3. when there are changes to the application (new features / status updates)

I'm still deciding on the specifics and have not started on implementation. So, I thought it is a good idea to let you, the users, get involved. Send me your thoughts on what kind of alerts you want to see and the frequency of the updates.

You can post a comment on this blog or click the feedback link to send me your thoughts.

Costco Executive Membership Rebate

If you are a Costco member or planning to become one, go for the executive membership. Normal membership costs you $50 and the executive membership costs you $100. So, why am I asking you to take the executive membership ? There are many advantages and the effective extra cost when compared to normal membership is actually zero.

Let me explain. Normal membership costs you $50. But you will get no rebate. Executive membership costs an extra $50. But you will have 2% annual reward on all Costco purchases. And the best part is that if you earn a reward that is less than the $50 that you paid for the upgrade, they will give you the remaining amount.

That means that if you are a heavy user, you might earn up to $500 in rebates. But, if you are not a heavy user, you will get your $50 that you paid for the upgrade back. How cool an offer is that ? This rule is not written anywhere and it not published on their site. But they do follow it. I got an annual rebate that is less than $20 and they paid the remaining amount ($50 – my rebate) to me yesterday.

And then there are special offers for the executive members that you can avail. You will get special rates for home and auto insurance from Ameriprise, you will get special discounts for some Costco services and more.

Although you are paying the $50 extra upfront, you will enjoy all the extra benefits of the executive members and if you don’t get to earn enough rewards, you will get your money back.

Hope this information helps you decide on which membership you want to take :)