Flash-Works with Wix

Today, I got the invite code for Wix.com, and was able to explore it in a few minutes. I was pleased with its powerful feature-set which is dead-simple to use... Now, there is no reason for most of us to learn Flash programming. Developers can use Adobe Flex for developing Flash applications, and use Wix.com to create super cool layouts on Flash. Below is my Siddhi-Labs layout that I created on Wix.com in 10 mins.

Click here for an enlarged version. FYI: The writings on the flash paper are actual hyperlinks.

Living, Loving & Finding Your Inner-ness

Today, I re-watched the movie "You, Me and Dupree", and loved it yet again. The very essence of life is just that... Living, Loving & Finding Your Inner "-ness". Many times in this blog, I mentioned that each one should truly be oneself, and not just follow the herd or mimic the society. This movie conveys this message right on spot!

The most important part of the movie is understanding your "-ness". The principle is taking your name and adding "-ness" as a suffix. For instance, Mark becomes Mark-ness! Well... The other half is to live and love life, dance with the tune of life, and enjoy every experience (be it sorrow or bliss).

In the movie, I liked the scene of Dupree's interview, where he speaks about his ideals. The movie is fun, and Kate is really cute!

Speaking of this topic in hand, here are a few quotes to remember...
"Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever."
"Plan before you act, and Act before you talk."

Also check out this wonderful article that I recently came across on LifeHack.
How to Be an Expert (and Find One if You’re Not)

Did you try these websites...

Here are some excellent websites that I came across in web2.0 blogs, and worth a review.
Fun: Animoto
Create a high quality jazzy video in a snap with your pics in place. The slideshow dances to your favorite tune, and best of all its free for short videos. I created one with a blend of my hobbies and passion along with my pics.



Utility: Keepm
Its an address book, and similar to Plaxo in functionality. It has a good interface and handy import features. Its a good one to better manage contacts.

Developer: WaveMaker
Ajax webapp developers should worry no more. Wavemaker makes our lives a lot easier with drag-n-drop interface to create Ajax websites. This is a good tool to develop web2.0 sites.

Develop & Consume: Clickpass
Excellent work by the clickpass guyz… I gave it a shot, and was surprised at how much easier it is to use OpenID with clickpass. I will soon use Clickpass developer-kit for one of my openID enabled site that I developed (Saywit.com). Read the full review on Techcrunch.

A weekend drive to OSU on Mustang

Y'day, I made a day long trip to Oklahoma State University (OSU) to meet a friend of mine. I got the flight from Dallas and OK City, and then drove 1.5 hrs to reach the university. At the airport, I rented a Ford Mustang Coupe and a GPS device to make my trip a lot more fun.

OSU is located in Stillwater, a town close to Oklahoma City. My friend guided me to a quick university tour. I should say OSU is pretty big, especially compared to UTD. The buildings are old like any other univ, and new constructions are in progress. This town reminded me of CollegeStation where Texas A&M univ is located.

I liked the comfort of Ford Mustang'07 as it is similar to my own VW Jetta'06. I however disliked a couple of aspects in Mustang. It gets thirsty often, and craves for gas (i.e. low MPG). I don't complain becoz I knew it before I rented it.

I was surprised at the absence of an Electric Power Steering (EPS). As a result of it, the steering wheel is very sensitive to touch even at high speeds. Thats not safe! Anyways... At end of the day, I had a nice drive on the Mustang, but I always love my own VW Jetta.

New Features to Sanskrit Voice

Sanskrit Voice now supports Devanagari font in the new Glossary RSS feed (subscribe)! Hope this will give joy to some of my users who have requested this feature in the recent past. In addition to it, a dictionary widget to search Sanskrit words-meaning pairs can be found on the homepage. Feel free to steal this widget for your blog.

Also, a unified Facebook-app is built for the glossary feed and dictionary search. If you are a Facebook enthusiast, you can now learn Sanskrit glossary from the comfort of your favorite social application. Thanks to Dapper tools for making all these enhancements possible.

I found secrets in my room

Here is a mini-article that talks about the secrets of success that one can learn from his bedroom. I really liked it.

Roof said 'Aim high'
Fan said 'Be Cool'
Clock said 'Every minute is precious'
Mirror said 'Reflect before you act'
Window said 'cd world' (i.e. change the world)
Calendar said 'Be up to date'
Door said 'Push hard to achieve your goals'

Multi facets of FundooWeb

FundooWeb is now updated to provide you multiple interfaces in an effort to become ubiquitous. It has a new logo, and an easy navigation layout at its footer. Now, you can use FundooWeb from your IPhone, Facebook, or your Homepage via widget. Also checkout its new Flash interface for superior look and feel.

I used Adobe Flex to provide these enhancements. Hope you all will like it.

Free Give Away : Fancy About-Me Icons Set-2

Do you think you are any of these... Here are a few About-Me campaign buttons that I created last weekend. Feel free to use them in your Blogs, Websites, MySpace, or wherever you like.

Here is the first set...
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The second set of images can be viewed in my RSS feed. Subscribe here!

Here is the second set...

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Note: You are NOT permitted to re-distribute these images. Right click on the image, and save the image to your PC. There is no obligation to link back, but I would appreciate it.

Logic and Emotion in Decision making

It is important for the decision to be backed-up by both logic and emotion. The decision can be as small as choosing an electrical gadget, or as big as choosing a career, life-partner, etc... we should first make a logically sound decision, and then get approval of our emotion.

Remember how we choose a professional career in life... We don't conclude whatever we love doing the most as our undisputed career choice. It is probably just a career option to consider. Quickly, other factors such as long-term happiness, benefits, requirements, and passion kick in. We make a logical decision that is supported-by and inline-with our emotion.

Arranged Marriages Win! A marriage is a huge responsibility and a decision of a lifetime. I bet most non-Indians are not (may be vaguely) familiar with the system of arranged marriages. They may also find it funny in the first place. But, I personally believe this concept is a perfect winner! There is analysis prior to getting emotions involved.

We have seen investments made and wars fought purely out of emotion and has no proof of reasoning. You know what I am referring to... Don't you? Such mindless actions can be evaded by putting more thought in after-effects of a decision, and thus changing the decision itself as required. Check out the article "How emotions affect economic decision making".

I am a believer of intuition. I tend to go by intuition (no reasoning required) only if:
# The decision itself is very small
# I should pick from a set of options that have no appreciable advantage over each other.

In all other cases, I believe we should put logic first to shortlist all options, and then make a final decision based on emotion. The articles at "Changing Minds" and "Practical Philosophy" have explained this concept very well.

A jukebox for Indian music

Finally, a jukebox for Indian music is in the market. Its called Rhydhun, and is owned by the highly popular music site MusicIndiaOnline. I've been using it for the past week, and am very pleased with it. It has a huge collection of live streaming songs in decent quality.

I'm truly impressed with the clean ad-free user interface, and browser-like navigation. I'm sure they borrowed the code from Mozilla Firefox to program the browser functionality. It's currently in Beta and is free to use. However, I don't mind paying a premium for this service if I am asked to. Life seems more fun with it...

This comes as a huge blow to Ad dominant Raaga.com. Easily, I can see where Rhydhun is heading... In times to come, it may provide Itunes like functionality to buy individual songs online. Recently, Amazon announced to go international with its music store. Hope India is in its radar!