Making the best use of Voice Chat
Jan 14th
Voice chat has been in the chatting industry for ages however due to bad Broadband conditions in India not many people don’t use it. However, today things have changed because 256 kbps broadband is available for as low as Rs 649 (Airtel Delhi) which is sufficient enough for voice chat.
Few days ago I used my Nokia N79 for voice chat over Internet using WiFi. It was just a test but it proved that with a Smartphone like Nokia N Series or Windows Mobile & WiFi Internet you hardly need a PC anymore. You can very well use a Mobile phone with a WiFi or unlimited Internet plan to talk to anyone on Skype or Google Talk (so far) using a simple setup at both ends. I was able to talk to a friend of mine in Bangalore over WiFi using Fring after signing into Google Talk just like any other phone call. This is actually a better experience then sitting in front of a computer & talking to a Monitor, you are no longer bound to the computer desk. To do this you need to setup your PC & Phone both….
How to setup the PC
1) You need a software which can let you voice chat. Today all the IM networks support Voice chat such as Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk but the best one out there made for this particular task only is Skype. Talking on Yahoo & Windows Live through a phone isn’t possible yet but talking using Skype or Google talk is. I recommend installing Skype as it is available for all the Operating Systems out there, but even if you use Google talk on PC, the procedure is exactly same.
2) You need a wireless Mic connected to the PC so that you are no longer bound to the PC desk only. The best solution for this which I recommend is using a simple Nokia, Sony Ericsson or similar Bluetooth handsfree. They are widely available for as low as Rs 1,000 in the local phone market & they provide enough range for you to walk around in other parts of home, & they will also work with your mobile phone. If you want something of even higher range then you can try Microsoft Lifechat ZX-6000 headset.
3) If you need a webcam then they are available for as low as Rs 500 from Frontech. If you are using a PC then it is not a problem. If you are using a Mac then you already have iSight inbuilt & if you are using Linux then I recommend you have a look at your distribution website for compatible driver, however ideally it should already be there in the distribution. You can also go for Microsoft Lifecam VX-1000, which is what I personally recommend. If you leave the marketing words of Microsoft then VX-1000 is the cheap & best solution which provides enough quality for normal webcam chat. These webcam come with a Mic inbuilt just that you will not have the freedom to roam around, but this is cheaper as you don’t need to buy a Wireless Headset.
4) Install everything on the PC & check if they are working. After this, it isn’t that hard to configure them to use on the PC side. Just read the manual first
How to setup the phone.
1) You need a Smartphone running Windows Mobile or Symbian Series 60 with WiFi support. If you don’t have a WiFi enabled phone but do have EDGE or 3G supported Smartphone then consider opting for an unlimited data plan for your service provider.
2) The software you need to install on your phone is Fring or Nimbuzz. It is available for Windows Mobile, Symbian Series 60 & iPhone right now. Follow the instruction on Fring website to configure according to your phone.
3) You need to make a free Fring/Nimbuzz account first which is quite easy & can be done from the phone itself. Once done, select the service of your choice from the Fring menu, either Skype or Google Talk & sign in to Fring. It will automatically show all your contacts. You can either text chat with them or simply select to make a “Fring Call”. This way you will be making an Internet based call to anyone anywhere in the world sitting on a PC running Skype or Google talk, which is cheaper then a usual call’s rate. You can also leave Fring running the background & do your work fine & the moment someone tries to call you on your logged in network, you will get a call just like any other call in your phone.
Now comes the best part. You actually don’t need a PC at all. Using Fring/Nimbuzz & this tutorial you can talk in the following scenario over Internet
1) PC(broadband) to Fring(WiFi/EDGE/3G)
2) Fring(WiFi/EDGE/3G) to PC(broadband)
3) Fring(WiFi/EDGE/3G) to Fring(WiFi/EDGE/3G)
Right now you cannot do webcam chat using Fring, although if Fring can support Skype Video chat then it will be an experience just like a 3G Video chat as many 3G enabled Smartphone today come with a secondary camera.
Using Windows 7 beta
Jan 10th
I have not used Windows 7 much now myself, but from what I know so far, you should keep few things in mind.
I installed Windows 7 on two computer so far, one is my workstation & 2nd is another PC running Windows XP. Windows 7 uses the same Boot Configuration editor found in Windows Vista due to which dual booting with Windows Vista wasn’t a problem. Even when I formatted the Windows 7 partition from Windows Vista after installing Windows 7, I was still able to boot into Vista. However, if you are installing it on a new blank hard disk then Windows 7 will make a 200 MB hidden partition for boot files & this partition will not be visible in Explorer. In case of dual booting with Windows XP, Windows 7 Setup copied the boot files to C:\ Drive where Windows XP was installed & I wasn’t able to boot into XP or see the drive in Explorer as now it was the hidden partition. To fix this problem simply download EasyBCD & add a new entry for Windows XP after deleting the old Windows XP entry & select the C:\ Drive. Now you can dual boot Windows 7 & Windows XP without any problem.
Windows Vista drivers will work fine in Windows 7 in most cases. In my case, I installed it on my Workstation & it automatically detected all the drivers. Even then I went to Windows Update & it installed new drivers for my Graphics Card & Realtek LAN. Keep in mind that the current ATI drivers are giving me lots of trouble & they keep crashing 50% of the time. Waiting for things to get a bit stable.
Libraries are nothing but Search Folders of Windows Vista. This feature was never used much in Windows Vista but in Windows 7 it is right there in Explorer. By default there are 4 libraries named Pictures, Videos, and Documents & Music. You can add multiple locations in each libraries after which when you open that library in Explorer, it will show you the content from all the locations at once place even it is a web based location provided you have net connectivity. I don’t keep my data on the default drive where Windows is installed. I keep them in a separate partition under categorized folders so Libraries are a boon for someone like me.
The On Screen keyboard is finally something much better than the old one found even in Vista since the time of Windows 2000. The buttons are big so that if you are using a tablet PC, typing text won’t be a problem. The buttons are big enough for even finger touch & they are beautifully crafted on a glass panel.
Finally I can say that it is time to leave Winamp. Windows Media Player 12 is the be all end all Media Player for everyone’s need. WMP12 now has two separate views, the Player View & the Library view. Combine that with the Superbar of Windows 7 which acts as a minimize to tray functionality I have been always missing in WMP & I can very well say that I won’t be using any other media player from Windows 7 onwards when WMP12 & FFDShow will fulfill all my needs. I was easily able to connect my Nokia N79 in MTP mode & transfer all my files as WMP 12 has native support for MP4 & AAC Files along with H.264 & DivX support. Since I transfer videos to my phone after converting them to MP4, I was able to manage them right there from WMP12.
Windows Media Player 12 now has instant preview of the song. If you are playing something, then its audio will stop & the audio of new file come into front. As soon as you close the preview, the old audio will play again.
WMP12 playing a Video.
The new Caculator
Windows live Writer with my new blog theme auto applied, this gives lots of space to write stuff.
UAC no longer bugs you if you are working on something. If there is a UAC prompt & you are working on something then it will sit in the Superbar & glow to show you a prompt, If you click on that then only screen will dim
Installing DirectX 9 runtime
My Workspace with switcher
Some keyboard shortcuts which come in handy
| Win+Up Arrow to maximize |
| Win+Down Arrow to restore or minimize |
| Docking to the left and right is available too, with Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow |
| Peeking at the desktop can be done with Win+Space |
The herald of Windows 7
Jan 8th
Just after 2.5 years of Windows Vista’s release, Windows 7 is here. Windows 7 is what I would say Windows Vista should have been. Many people call Windows Vista a failure but it’s not a failure. It was infect a necessary step to create the future foundation of Windows. Windows Vista gave the users, designers & developer new technologies like Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Card space, DirectX 10, WDDM, Instant Search, Software based sound system in form of HD Audio Standard, UAC & much more.
However, Vista was to be very frank, way ahead of its time. People were very familiar with the experience of Windows XP, its Interface and way of working. They were running Windows XP released in 2001 on modern hardware of that time like Pentium 4 & Athlon64. Since Windows XP didn’t have a GPU accelerated User Interface, most of the computers were using outdated Intel Onboard graphics or similar without the support of DirectX 9 at least due to which users started to have a misconception that the system requirement of Windows Vista is very high. What they didn’t see was that the minimum requirement to run Windows Vista was a GeForce FX 5200 graphics card with 128 MB VRAM which used to cost Rs 2,000 in the year 2006 end. This wasn’t an expensive upgrade considering the benefits it gives in long run but still at least in India people stayed with Windows XP just because it didn’t require a graphics card update.
But, this made the foundation for Windows 7. Vista increased the minimum RAM a PC should have from 512 MB to 1 GB & 2 GB isn’t that costly today either. Since 4 GB RAM is also very possible today, this resulted in the awareness of Windows Vista 64bit edition which was way better then Windows XP 64bit edition as nearly all the manufacturers now have 64bit drivers for Vista. This has increased the penetration of 64bit computing in our daily life. Today a new PC with something like a Core 2 Duo E4500 & 2 GB RAM with onboard GeForce/AMD/Intel GMA X3/GMA X4 series onboard GPU can be purchased for as low as Rs 17,000. Vista did make the price of PC components to reduce & paved the path for a solid Windows 7 foundation. Today computers with above mentioned configuration are common & have more than enough horse power to run Windows Vista, Windows 7 & all the high definition content people are getting these days.
With Windows Vista, Microsoft gave developers .net 3.5 & WPF due to which for the first time Microsoft was paying attention to user Interface & designs. Now we can see more & more 3rd party developers coming with WPF & GPU accelerated applications which are able to use the hardware available today such as multi core CPU & GPU.
Microsoft also released UAC with Windows Vista which was hated & criticized because at the time of Vista’s release applications were developed with admin privilege by default resulting in many security breaches. Users had trouble using their old applications but today after 2.5 years, almost all of the applications out there are made with UAC in mind & they run with standard user privilege. The benefit can be given with an example that now a Virus cannot penetrate Windows internal files if UAC is turned on. Why would an application need to make changes to system files just to run, unless it is some Security application like antirvirus or firewall. Based on this concept UAC was created to be annoying so that developers can make application with a better security model.
Now comes Windows 7. Windows is more like Optimized Windows Vista code. Due to all what Windows Vista did, the foundation & road to Windows 7 was paved long back. Today, the security of Windows is rigid due to UAC & almost all the applications out there today are UAC aware which means fewer security risks on Windows 7.
Windows Vista came with a new Windows Display Driver Model requiring DirectX 10. Because of this crashes are reduced due to a malfunctioning or corrupt graphics subsystem. Now, even if a game you are playing crashes, Windows OS will not crash & the graphics system will just restart itself. Windows 7 brings Computer Shader with DirectX 11 due to which developers can use the GPU for doing things other than crunching frames in a game cos GPU is nothing more than a CPU which calculates for graphics. nVidia & AMD are doing this in form of CUDA & Brock+ already but with DirectX 11 developers will have a single unified API. Now, developers won’t have to code for 2 separate graphics architecture from nvidia & AMD, They can code in either DirectX 11 or OpenCL & be assured that it will work on any compatible GPU out there. This made sure that in the future the GPU can also help the CPU in computing & can be used better instead of sitting idle when a user is just working on Windows. Today GPU are able to decode High Definition content taking some load away from the CPU.
Vista gave us a new Sound Driver model based on HD Audio specification from Intel. UAA is all software based sound API due to which the need of an expensive external sound card like Creative SoundBlaster Audigy isn’t required any more to play EAX based games which is propriety Creative Labs technology. Since we have multi core CPU available today, taking out some power from them to process multi channel Audio & 3D Audio in games & Movies isn’t that taxing on system resources. Now developers can freely create Positional 3D Audio in games & rest assured that if the computer has a HD Audio Solution, then it will give the desired performance & quality.
Windows Vista was blamed that it has DRM inbuilt, well….here is the thing, DRM doesn’t comes in front unless you have some DRM content playing. I would rather have support to play DRM content & not use it, then need it & not have it like in case of Linux or Mac OS.
Vista made us familiar with a new UI which is being enhanced in Windows 7. Explorer is much easier to work with compared to Windows XP. Finding content is easy with instant search.
Vista gave us Trusted Platform Module support due to which securing your data on a laptop became easier & better.
Windows Vista also made 64bit applications & drivers widely available due to which Windows 7 64 bit can be used easily in day to day computing as everything is 64bit compatible today either natively or via a emulation of 32bit on 64bit hardware.
Last year saw the herald of Netbooks & Intel Atom platform. For the first time, small & inexpensive laptops were possible with enough power to do most of the tasks other then gaming when you are on the go. Asus EEE PC pioneered it & today almost all the companies have a Netbook available such as Acer Aspire One or Lenovo Ideapad S10. The penetration of Mobile Phones have increased tremendously & even basic smart phone such as HTC Touch is available for Rs 8,000 which brings us more close to computing on the go. Now, we just don’t have one PC at home, we also have one in our pocket.
Windows 7 is all set to make life easy with its new features & technologies. I won’t be writing about the usual features which are being talked about everywhere as you can easily see the new features on the Windows 7 homepage. I will however talk about some features which won’t be highlighted much but will make our life easier under the hood.
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Search is an essential part of our computing life today. Can you imagine your life without Google? How hard will it be to find information online? But why limit the benefit of search to Internet only & why not bring it to the Desktop. Windows 7 has federated search which means you can search online on websites like Youtube etc from your Start Menu itself by using a search connector available freely on the website.
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UAC is almost fixed. I am using Windows 7 beta with UAC turned on & unless I am tinkering with the internal of system, installing an application which needs admin rights, or doing something I should not do, UAC doesn’t bothers me. Users can configure UAC according to their taste now.
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LCD monitors are all the rage these days due to falling LCD Prices & availability. I bought my 20" LG L206WTQ LCD Monitor in march 2008 for Rs 10,500 only. It has a resolution of 1680 X 1050 which is quite big for something like Windows XP where everything becomes very small & the 48pixel icons start to look bad. Windows Vista gave us a nearly resolution independent UI in form of Bigger Icons & Vector based UI of WPF, Windows 7 is just taking it one step further. I myself run my Monitor at its native resolution & 120 dpi. However, for a resolution like 1920X1080 or higher I would prefer something more, & Windows 7 gives me that. Higher DPI makes text & icons etc look more crisp & better on a big screen. Windows 7 also bring the ability to calibrate your monitor which usually most people don’t do to get better visual quality & color reproduction. There are 3rd party tools which are doing this, but having this feature in build in Windows means more & more users will start to calibrate there Display. Windows 7 also has the Cleartype Tuner Powertoy inbuilt
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Windows 7 brings a unified interface for all the maintenance of your PC in form of Action Center. This is a central location & an update to security center.
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You no longer have to go through device manager or the whole control panel to look & configure your devices as Windows 7 makes it easier in form of Windows Device Stage & the Device & printers Panel. Device Stage is the future of managing your digital camera, Mobile phone, Portable Media Player, Netbook, Laptop, Mouse & what not.
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Windows Homegroup is a new feature introduced in Windows 7 where you can share your music, pictures, documents, videos and printers with other machines in your home network. I can’t say much about this feature as I am not using it.
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Windows 7 is being made with Touch Based computing in mind. Anyone remember Tablet PCs which never got popular due to there high cost. Well, I find tablet PCs the best form of a mobile computer even more than a Notebook or Netbook. They are making a comeback now with Windows 7 as The UI of applications is made with Touch Screen computing in mind. The future of computing is Touch UI which although was available since a long time, but is made popular only by Apple iPhone.
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Internet Explorer 8 is finally something Microsoft has done right. It is being long hated for not supporting the latest Web standards but with Firefox & Webkit in the market now, Microsoft is finally making the rendering engine of IE 8 as standard compliant as possible.
These were just some highlights of what Windows 7 is & how it can very well be the best Windows ever released. Creating perfection takes time, & with Windows 7, Microsoft is close to a perfect OS. The beta of Windows 7 is releasing tomorrow, Friday January 9th 2009 freely from Windows 7 Homeapge.
Windows 7 Beta & Nokia N79
Dec 29th
What better way to start new year then to buy a Nokia N79 & trying Windows 7 beta 1
My newest toy…
Windows XP – Tangofied
Dec 23rd
Windows Vista is all the rage these days & with cheap Windows Vista capable hardware available these days, you can very well make your Vista certified PC within Rs 20k. However there are many users out there who are still running old or low end hardware configuration for today’s standards & the herald of Netbooks have sparked another interest in Windows XP as Windows Vista is heavy on the GMA 950 available on most Netbooks out there. This is soon to change with nVidia Ion platform but till then, those using a Netbooks or low end configuration are either stuck with Windows XP or can install Linux.
In my office, I got a workstation running Windows XP SP3, so I decided to make the look & feel a bit more consistence, new & something black…like Vista. Now, instead of going with numerous Vista Shell Packs available, I decided to try something new & decided to go with the Tango Icon theme & something matching to it for Visual Style & Icons because Tango theme is simple on the eyes & easy to work with. They are not 3d Icons, they are all 2D Icons but still they do the work just fine & look good. I found some resources & made some of my own icons etc to make my Office’s Windows XP look like this.
This is how some applications look on my setup
When it comes to Casual Home use, Netbooks or Cyber Café or Office or even schools, users do not need much application to be installed. They just need some application as neither Netbooks are supposed to be uber powerful nor they are supposed to replace a desktop. So for place like this who are still using Windows XP, I decided to make this guide which can give their Computers running Windows XP a new & refreshing look. Keep in mind that I m making this guide strictly for the usage scenario’s I mentioned above. This isn’t some performance or tweaking guide; this is a guide to enhance the look & feel, as well as User Experience of the old & arcane operating system for today’s standards. All the applications mentioned below are free & there is no piracy. The icons are at a maximum size of 48X48 only.
Requirements.
1) A Clean unmodified installation of Windows XP. If you have any previous Shell pack or skin or theme installed, it will be removed. I am assuming that you have a newly installed Windows XP PC.
2) The following downloads…
a. Uxtheme Multipatcher & Luna Elements Black Visual Style for Windows XP
f. Abiword (In case you don’t want to use Microsoft Office or OpenOffice)
h. XNView & Gnome theme
j. CCleaner
k. 7Zip & Tango 7Zip theme, also Tango WinRAR theme if you want to use WinRAR which in my point of view is useless for our use here. You just need to zip & unzip files so for that 7Zip is enough
m. IcoFX. A free software to make your own icons from PNG files
Customization
1) Start by installing Uxtheme Multipatcher & restart Windows. After this, extract the Lune Elements Black zip file & copy the “LE Black” folder to c:\windows\resources\themes. Extract the Segoe UI font & copy it to the Fonts folder. Now apply this skin by simply going to Display properties ->Appearance tab. Now click on advance & set the following fonts to Segoe UI.
a. Active/Inactive Titlebar
b. Icon
c. Menu
2) Now install the Tango Shell Patch for Windows & Install the Tango theme. There are other themes too which you can try. Let it patch the whole system & reboot windows.
For a PC like this, you don’t need many applications if it is a netbook or a cyber café or casual PC. So I will only install some simple & generic Application which are enough for a new or novice user but might help power users too.
1) For torrent client, nothing beats uTorrent for Windows. I prefer to use a portable uTorrent. To do this, just make a folder with any name, anywhere on your Hard disk. Copy uTorrent.exe to this folder, & then copy the content of the following folder to this new Folder.
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\uTorrent
After this, extract the content of the uTorrent theme given above & copy them to this new folder. Now your uTorrent is running in Portable mode with Tango theme & doesn’t need to be installed. You can simply zip it & take it with you anywhere you want.
2) Free download Manager is what it says it is. Install FDM, then extract the content of the FDM theme I gave above in the following folder
C:\Program Files\Download Manager\Skins
Now start FDM, configure it the way you want for speed, default download location etc & go to Tools -> General Settings -> Skins & select Tango from the Combo Box.
3) You can either install Abiword or Openoffice.org suite as you like or Microsoft Office.
4) Download the Tango Firefox theme mentioned above & extract it. Copy the folder to the “extension” folder of your firefox profile folder. After this select to use this theme from tools -> Add ons -> Themes
5) XNView is a free Image browser with some basic editing capability which should be sufficient for any casual user. Install XNView, then copy the XNView theme given above to the “skins” folder Inside the XNView installation folder. After this select this theme from Tools -> options -> Toolbar section -> Skins.
6) I prefer WMP11 but many might prefer something else. For a generic scenario I recommend VLC player as the new version is using Tango Icons. Install VLC Player & associate it with the file types you want. Since it is not your home PC (unless it is a netbook, in which case WMP11 is the way to go), a Library management is not required in most cases but still VLC should be able to do it just fine.
7) For CD Burning try InfraRecorder which already uses Tango Icons.
This does for the application customization for tango theme. You can search for or download many other icons all over the net for various applications as you require.
