Ensure the emails you send, don't get junked

Spam filters are quite intelligent today, but there are times when they end up blocking legitimate messages because they contain keywords that may have been used by the recipient of the mail to set up the rules for her spam filter. Here are few ways to ensure your emails lands in the inbox and not the junk folder.

Mind your language:
Since most spam filters depend heavily in keywords, the language you use in your email is of great importance.Using all capitals or too many emoticons are definitely email stoppers. Avoid superlatives in the subject line - like 'best' and 'superb' or even phrases like 'just the one you want'. These usually rank high on the block list of the spam filters.

Stay away from fancy HTML and attachments:
If you are sending a message to someone you don't know, consider sending the email as plain text, rather than as fancy HTML web page. Web pages are more likely to get blocked since hackers often use HTML code to hide malicious codes. The same goes for attachments. So, if someone isn't expecting your CV, put your cover letter as well as the CV in the body of your email.

Skip the pictures:
Unfortunately, spam filters seem to have certain angst against email dressed up with pretty pictures and graphics. Because spammers like to use graphics, which means all emails with graphics suffer by association. So avoid those pre-format emails with a logo and letterhead over them.

Use blind carbon copy (BCC):
Spam filters monitor the number of recipients closely - they are set to block emails with more that a certain number of recipients. So if you need to deliver an important message to a large group, use the BCC function. With this mail gets sent out to each recipient individually and the only email address that will appear in the recipient's mailbox is their own.

Get white-listed:
The opposite of a blacklist, or a list of known spammers, a white-list is a list of 'safe' senders. Most internet service providers (ISPs) have such white-lists. To get on a white-list, write down to postmaster@the_domain and request to be put on the white-list. Similarly, individual recipients are able to maintain a white-list too, so mail them a request to add your address in their address book, white-list.

Taste some brilliant HD videos

If you want to taste some brilliant HD videos visit the video gallery at www.nasa.gov

Currently, there are a few movies on HD DVD, including BBC's mind blowing 'Planet Earth' series. You can also find movie trailers and other promotional videos online on various websites.

But, if you are a space fan, visit the video-gallery. Here, you will find the most spectacular videos posted by Nasa. These videos are heavy if you consider the file size, but for broadband users that should not be a problem.

Where's the 'Run' command in Vista

In Windows Vista, you wont find the 'Run' button in the Start menu by default.

For those who found it convenient to use the 'run' commands can invoke it by pressing 'Windows + r' key combination.

To bring it back to the Start menu, simply right click the 'Start menu' and select 'properties' now navigate to 'customize' and check the box where it says 'Run Command'.

Thats it!!

The power of a PC on your phone

A new service lets you access files on the computer from your ordinary GPRS phone

Thanks to the march of technology, that small gadgets in your pocket – the one you call phone – is capable of lot more than just making calls and sending SMSs. Many of the new models - the smart phones – come packed with the power of mini PC. They let you read/ write mails, surf the internet, work on office files, even book tickets. However, the most of the critical information that you need access to will usually be stored in your PC. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could access on your phone documents and mails stored in your PC? Well, if that one functionality you have been missing in your phone, we have just the service for you – soonR (www.soonr.com). The nice thing about it is that with this software, any phone with data access capabilities becomes a smart phone.

Trawling your PC:
SoonR is a tiny piece of software that sits on your PC and lets you search your files and folders for a mobile phone. You can view or share any of the results that you discover right from your phone. Its made up of three main components: SoonR desktop to search and access documents and images, SoonR Organiser for email, scheduling and contacts and SoonR Talk for mobile VoIP.

To use SoonR, you don’t need to install any software on your phone – all you need is a GPRS connection to get started. However, on your PC you would need to install a PC software client, and tell the client what part of your PC you need access to. For instance, say you select outlook. SoonR will send a web link to your phone – just click on it and you can view all outlook email (including subfolders), as well as contacts and calendar, from any phone.

Viewing photos or files from the phone is a snap too. You could just google any image you have it on your PC or navigate it to the file and select it. SoonR will take the image you have on your PC and compress it to a small thumbnail of around 75 KB (upto 3 MP) to fit your phone’s small screen. The result it decent, however patience is the key, especially with the kind of GPRS network speed you get in India – the image can take a long time to load. With edge phones the experience is slightly better though.

Wasted talk:
The most disappointing component of SoonR is the Talk component. This one is supposed to let you connect with skype service (voip) on your PC and allow you to make free calls from your phone. But what it actually does (at least right now) is, it calls your phone, the one where you are right now using SoonR. Once you take the call it will connect your skype contact through you PC and transmit the resulting audio conversation to your phone. This means you still end up using your cell phones talk time, which is a useless service as you don’t save any money.

Other features include ability to access more than one PC with soonr account and integration of desktop search (google desktop search and such like)

As for the money bit, SoonR is currently available for free. However, the company has plans to offer premium services in the future for encrypted backups and such.

Overall, Skype aside, soonR is a great way to access files on the go. So if you wish to have access to your computer all the time, soonR is certainly worth a try.

Microsoft Surface

Soon you could be sitting in a restaurant and checking out the menu by looking at the table top and ordering food by simply touching the surface of your table. This is not some science fiction. It is a reality that will soon be made possible by Surface Touch technology from Microsoft.

According to Microsoft, by end 2007 surface technology will be out for users to experience it. Currently, surface screens manufactured in a table like form factor. The technology would allow users to interact with photos, digital music and other forms of digital content using just their hands, with gestures and by putting real world objects on the surface. All you would need is your fingers to literally 'grab' visual information.


Surface computers make use of cameras to detect responses made by user. The information is then computed and the result is then displayed on the Surface screen using rear projection. On the inside, Surface technology runs on Windows Vista operating system and supports both wired and Wi-Fi and bluetooth connectivity. The table-like form factor is important, as it enables potential users to interact easily in our day-to-day environment. For example, the surface screen can be a part of a bar in a pub or blend into your wooden table at home.

Think of it as something like the gaming kiokis that you see at game parlours minus controller sticks and buttons. Here, you directly interact with the screen using your fingers as the medium of interaction. What this means for places like shopping malls, coffee shops, restaurants and movie halls is that, you can have a completly interactive experience when you visit one. Imagine visiting a movie hall, check all the listing on the surface screen and book your tickets.

The Surface display is capable of multi-touch interaction. It can simultaneously track multiple responses which include fingers, hands, gestures and objects placed on the surface. The technology can even detect barcode information and identification tags encoded on to membership cards. Since, the interaction via surface technology would be direct, it would make the whole process much more fun than say using buttons or mice or keyboards to order things. Not just that, using this technology, a number of people can use surface computers at the same time. This means more than two people can play games on such a screen at the same time.

Surface also supports object recognition. This means you can even place physical objects on the surface to set off a preferred response. Like, in a restaurant if you want a glass of water, place an empty glass on the surface screen area marked to order water. Anyone who would be interested in using Surface Technology would be given a complete list of basic applications that include photos, games, music and so on. This is done to help buyers customize the technology according to their needs.

Do visit: www.microsoft.com/surface