Thinking Out Loud

New Windows Live cool features

Shamal Karunarathne — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:53:47 +0000

I tried the new Windows Live and thought of sharing two of the cool new features. First, have a look at Windows Live Writer which helps us to write to our blogs easier and faster. In fact, I’m using the Windows Live Writer to write this blog post too. I believe that with this tool it’ll be much easier to do frequent posts.

And the next cool feature I saw is the new Windows Live Messenger’s Facebook integration. With that I can keep the Facebook updates, chats always online in a desktop application (I’m not going to share a screenshot of my messenger though.)

So folks, checkout the new windows live and feel free to share your thoughts.

Did Google copy Bing?

Shamal Karunarathne — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:06:53 +0000

When I saw the new feature of Google home page, I couldn’t resist to notice that it is a very similar concept of search home page as Bing.

Even though the concept is similar, Google has more flexibility with customization while the Bing has few selections of images each day.

I would consider this as a customer friendly feature step rather than a competing step because google.com is still far more ahead of traffic compared to bing.com.

Having said that, If you want to change your Google home background image, look for the link “Change background image” at the bottom left corner of the page. Enjoy!

Tagged: bing, google, linkedin

Trends in Industries Worldwide

Shamal Karunarathne — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:04:09 +0000

I was finding for a good method to get a better idea of industry trends in worldwide. And I think I’ve found a pretty decent way. The method is to analyze the fortune 500 companies over a few years of duration.

Let’s take some industries of interest and a company (or two) related.

Telecommunication Electronics – Motorola
Telecommunication Services – AT&T
Computer software – Microsoft
Internet software – Google
Internet software – Yahoo

And now, let’s look at the fortune 500 rankings over the past decade for the above companies.

The graph clearly shows the internet software companies are reaching the top at rocket speed. Google and Yahoo entered the fortune 500 range in 2006 and showing an amazing progress over the 5 years.

Does this mean internet software will take over the market in 3 years? (See the trend for yourself by drawing an exponential trend line for Google).

Statistical data is from: http://www.aggdata.com/business/fortune_500

The graph is drawn using: Microsft Office 2007 Excel

Tagged: business, internet, linkedin, Tech

How to communicate successfully

Shamal Karunarathne — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Why communication is so important to us? The answer is simple, “Because communication is the foundation of development”. This is not over exaggeration. One of the primary causes for the development of the world is – communication.

As well as the world’s development, communication helps self development too. This is a great article I found about improving communication skills. The 3C’s in Communicating for Change by Ashraf Iqbal, Advisor at QuickSchools.com.

Summary of the article is: To convey a message to another mind, the message should be Clear, Compelling, Consequential.

Disable PC Speaker on Linux

Shamal Karunarathne — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:04:01 +0000

It seems that new versions of linux (I know about fedora 11, I’m not sure about other distributions ) has the pc speaker enabled. And the beep sound makes you annoyed sometimes.

If you need to disable the pc-speaker the command is

rmmod pcspkr

Insert this command to the startup script as well.

/etc/rc.d/rc.local

Notice

Shamal Karunarathne — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:04:58 +0000

I found this notice in the internet pasted on a pole somewhere in the world.

I don’t Dance, I don’t Steal. But I Sing

Shamal Karunarathne — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:46:49 +0000

Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
Now I’m trying to get back
Before the cool done run out
I’ll be giving it my bestest
And nothing’s going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it’s again my turn to win some or learn some

I won’t hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I’m yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you’re free
Look into your heart and you’ll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment babay sing with me
I love peace for melody
And It’s our God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love loved

So I won’t hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I’m sure
There’s no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I’m yours

Scooch on over closer dear
And i will nibble your ear

I’ve been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and laughed
I guess what I’m be saying is there ain’t no better reason
To rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
It’s what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue

But I won’t hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I’m sure

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you’re free
Look into your heart and you’ll find that the sky is yours
Please don’t, please don’t, please don’t
There’s no need to complicate
Cause our time is short
This oh this this is out fate, I’m yours!

- Writers Mraz, Jason

Fly a F16 on Google Earth

Shamal Karunarathne — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:09:48 +0000

Yes, There’s a hidden flight simulator in Google Earth 4.2 and above. Why wait? start Google Earth and press ‘ctrl+alt+a’ (or if you are in a mac ‘cmd+opt+a’). If you don’t have Google Earth application installed download and install it by clicking here.

You have two choices of planes in the latest version. F16 and SR22.

Click on ‘Start Flight’ button and you are ON.

Cool. Have fun.

User Model for Software Frameworks

Shamal Karunarathne — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:43:11 +0000

One of the concepts in software frameworking for easier, efficient framework management is having a fully covered user model. This makes it easier for developpers to have an overall look at the framework without going through hours of inspection. Moreover, a user model helps to identify flaws, priority points in the framework.

As an example, following is the Flickr user model: (Click on the image for a high resolution version)

Tagged: framework, linkedin

Golden Sayings

Shamal Karunarathne — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:08:22 +0000

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, It is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

Tagged: linkedin