Like many others I started on Blogger but then, I wanted a little more freedom. So, went on to a self hosted wordpress. There are a lot of advantages with wordpress like SEO, customizability and most importantly freedom to do anything you want.

It is a preconceived notion that migrating from Blogger to WordPress would destroy your previously acquired pagerank, google juice, traffic, image (picasa) data. Well, its not, its not that hard as it seems. If you are just a little geekish and a little bit careful, it is possible to without losing any of these.

This method will ensure complete Page Rank transfer. We will use 301 redirects to do that. So, you will not lose any of your traffic be it organic or referral, anything. Even your images on Picasa are taken care of.

I am going to show you how to do it completely on cPanel. You can try similar steps if you want to do it on your local machine.

Before you start

This is a guide that will show you how to migrate a blog from blogger.com using custom domain to a self hosted wordpress installation (Not wordpress.com).

If you still are using a .blogspot.com domain. Make sure you change it to a custom domain. How to setup CO.CC domain for Blogger / Blogspot (Will work for even .coms). Wait for about a month for the search engines to index your posts. Then start with this guide.

Setup a dummy Blog

You’ll need to setup a dummy blog to make all the changes before your new blog goes live. You can get a dummy domain on co.cc. You can also use a sub domain of an existing domain.

1) Go to the cPanel –> Addon Domain (or even a subdomain would do) –> Add the dummy domain.

2) If your using an addon domain, configure your DNS settings.

3) Install WordPress on your dummy domain. Fantastico is my favourite.

Preparing

Here, You prepare your dummy blog for the real world. Import all the old posts. Setup redirects.

Importing:

2) Login to the WordPress Dashboard (dummy blog). In the tools menu, select Import.

3) Select Blogger (duh!)

4) Select “Grant Access”

5) Click on Import.

Redirecting:

Here, you’ll make sure you redirect all the traffic from your Blogspot Permalinks to your new WordPress Permalinks. We will make 301 redirects. All your traffic from organic (search engines) and inorganic (referral, direct) will still be retained. All your search engine rankings, Page ranks will be intact. Yippee!

Basically, Your Blogger URL will be like:

http://www.suhastech.com/2010/01/wordpress-change-server-webhost-domain.html

Your new WordPress URL will be like:

http://suhastech.com/wordpress/complete-wordpress-guide-how-to-change-your-webhost-or-domain-and-still-retain-all-the-settings/

You’ll have to redirect all the URLs. We can use .htaccess file to do that.

1) Create a new file called “redir.php” in your WordPress directory. Copy this code.

<?php require_once('wp-load.php');
$res = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT post_id, meta_value FROM $wpdb->postmeta WHERE meta_key = 'blogger_permalink'");
$wpdb->print_error();
foreach ($res as $row)
{
echo "redirect 301 ".$row->meta_value." /?p=".$row->post_id; echo "<br />";
} ?>  

2) Enter “http://yourdummyblog.com/redir.php”

Redirecting code will be generated. Copy all of that.

3) Open .htaccess file.

Append the file with the generated text.

Tidying Up

Before your blog goes live. Make all the changes you want to do. Here’s a Check List that would help you:

1) All your images will still be hosted on Picasa Albums. If you have a theme with thumbnails, you would want to implement this:

WordPress: Automatic thumbnails of blogger or picasa hosted images

2) Add a new theme.

3) Edit any posts if you must.

4) Change your permalink structure. Settings –> Permalinks. I recommend /%category%/%postname%/

5) Install all the plugins you need. I recommend:

All in one SEO pack

Yang’s Permalink Redirect

Akismet (Buckle up)

Yet another related posts

Google Analyticator

Miscellaneous

You wouldn’t want to leave your subscribers behind. Make sure you update your feed on your feedburner account.

The Migration

You’ll need to transfer all your MySQL databases and files to your real domain. To do that, refer this article.  [Wordpress] How to change your webhost or domain and still retain all the settings (skip the 3rd part)

What you actually do is:

1) Obtain your MySQL Database from your dummy blog.

2) Upload it to your real domain.

3) Copy all the files to the real domain.

Now, go to your domain registrar and update the nameservers.

Nameservers will take about 3-4 hours (48 hours max) to propagate. After that you can pat yourself for a flawless migration. If it’s not, comments are welcome.

 I was using this Airtel Mobile Office connection that would take forever to load/connect. I called up the support people. As expected, they were of no use. It seems that Airtel has scraped the proxy (202.056.231.117). So, here are the new settings.

Basically you need to configure your GPRS with these settings. For Nokia users, SMSing MO to 543210 would be the easiest option. For other users, like Motorola and those cheap chinese mobiles, here are the settings.

For Motorola: Web Access –> Web Session –> Options –> New.

Name: Whatever you want

Homepage: Whatever you want (http://www.google.com or something)

Access Point Network (APN): airtelgprs.com

That’s it. Others settings are the default ones like:

Connection type: HTTP

Auth. Type: Normal

Proxy: Disabled

Data Bearer: Packet Data

Username: Leave Blank

Password: Leave Blank

Use preferred access point: No

Recently, I was out of town. There was no signal in that area. So, I had to go to this cybercafé.I typed into the password box with a sign, fearing a hacking attempt. As you know, public computers can be loaded with malicious softwares like Keyloggers, Trojans, etc. Nowadays, these are the only ways people can crack into your account. Also read: How secure is your email account?

When I came back, I had this idea that an email services (say gmail) can implement. The idea of an extra password. Let me explain:

You’ll have 2 passwords –

1) Admin password

2) Extra password (that can be configured after you register)

Here’s a scenario where you are using a public computer with a keylogger installed. How you rescue your account with the extra password.

You login to your email account using the extra password. The hacker gets your password (Keylogging, peeking … something). They hack into your account. They’ll have a peek around your emails.

When you comeback home, you login with your admin password. The mail service tells you that someone has logged in using the extra password these many times. You’ll know if it was you.

If someone did hack into your account. You change the extra password using the settings menu. You look into the IP log, and maybe send it to the cops.

If you do implement it, a credit would be appreciated.

TCS IT wiz is a premier IT quiz hosted by pickbrain, Giri Balasubramanium. He is probably the most lively host in the world. No wonder, he’s famous. If you are a internet junkie this is the place to be.

Many of my friends and family told me to give it a shot.I thought I should too. So I teamed up with my trusty techy friend, Pramodh. As I entered the venue, I saw a huge gathering of boys and girls, many snatching print outs from their teachers studying abbreviations, company history, faces of founders etc. I got scared at first…the only thing in my hand was a water bottle. A leaky one at that. I later found out that it was of not much use (not the water bottle but those print-outs). Here’s why:

The questions will not be like:

Who is the street rat banging at Steve Jobs’ door yelling “Take back your useless iPad”!

Ans: Suhas Sharma

but will be more like:

What is the device which was released with the feature of retina display:

Ans: iPhone 4 (Now, who doesn’t know iPhone 4?!)

Apparently, the quiz is not completely factual. It’ll have answers which everyone knows but they’ll get hold of these small details that few people know.

The quiz started with a Bang with PickBrain at the spotlight. He started with prizes, the lenovo laptops, netbooks, MP3 players, Dinner with the CEO of TCS, Mr. N Chandrashekaran. We were all drooling at the prizes, hallucinating with us on the podiums. He snapped us out the dream with the word “Preliminary round”. We all got ready with our writing pad.

Actually, those prelims were damn easy. I actually thought that we had gotten through! But the competition was horribly tough. The minimum score for qualification was 18….and we got….. 16!!! (Damn!) “Better luck next time”, I thought. “Wait a minute, there is no next time”, I thought again! (Damn! ….Again)

Here are some questions that made me kick myself in the butt (Now, don’t think of all those weird yoga postures ):

1) Whose tagline – “What’s the use of choices if they dont work for you”

Ans: Monster (Like many others, I thought it was Naukri)

2) Which game was brought from USSR to USA. This game was ported from some platform to Commodore 64 (this was a star question)

Ans: Tetris (We knew that it was a russian, but at that point, our minds had gone fishing)

As you can see the questions have the “oh..what’s this?” factor. After they give you the answers, you’re like “oh…it was so simple I can’t believe I missed it!”

And there they were. Those 6 awesome teams that qualified for the finals. It was tough. The match was so intense that buzzers started cracking up. The quiz was like watching a Twenty20 match, questions firing from all sides, contestants hitting boundaries and sixers on every question. Finally, the quiz ended (We didn’t want it to, though ) , and SBM Jain College were the grand winners!!!

Like pickbrain rightly pointed out, people who didn’t qualify (those like me) were all like “Oh! I knew that”, “Oh my god, that’s in my pocket”, “That guy is visiting me next week!”. Some even peed in their pants (Just kidding ).

The quiz ended with Lok Ayukta Chief, Justice Santosh Hegde giving a little speech about “Saying no to corruption”, for which he got a standing ovation. The winners walked out with a shiny Lenovo laptop and dinner with N Chandrashekaran (CEO of TCS).

Here are some questions from that spell-binding round of quizzing:

1) They gave the contestants the pictures of Lady Gaga, Obama and Mark Zuckerberg and asked them connect these things.

Ans: Apparently, Lady Gaga has more fans than Obama on Facebook.

2) They showed the pictures of Camel, Java temple, turtle and asked us to connect them.

Ans:They were all programming languages. Camel – Logo of PERL, Java temple- Java. (No wonder I didn’t win )

I know you would want more of those. So you can find more questions here.

And yeah..I almost forgot..if you happen to attend any such competition and happen to win it or even go through to the finals, let me know.

I ripped the boy with ultimate joy but my mom was upset that i spent 4k for a mouse! As I ripped opened the box, I could see the Dock. Then When i completely unpacked it i found a Manual, Quick User Guide, A CD(Containing the software), The dock,  AA Battery  and of course the mouse.

At first the mouse looks huge and uncomfortable (Well after using cheap logitech mouse that’s how you feel!) but once you hold and use it. It’s not all that bad.

So I ran up to my PC, installed the software,  shoved the battery in the mouse, connected the dock. The most awesome thing about this is mouse is you don’t need to change the battery! Just pull the magnetic wire from the dock and stick to the mouse.

So I connected the wire and started using it.

At first does feel big, then you get used to it. The first thing you will notice about the mouse is the grip. It has a really good grip and effective even if your hands are oily.(I have tried it! )

There are 2 buttons to access from the thumb. They’re called thumb up and thumb down. At first you clumsily click the buttons but later you will get more light at your thumb.

Even though it is wireless. I did not have any sort of lags.

Features:

• There are 12 buttons in total. In that, 7 are programmable.
• There is wheel tilt function ie the wheel moves sideways.

• 2 buttons accessed from thumb.
• A button to open intellipoint. (This button is on the top and does not interfere while using)
• A macro recording button on the left side.
• The usual: LMB, RMB, MMB
• 3 dpi switch buttons. You can choose anything in the software. Maximum is 4000dpi.
• A display screen which shows the dpi or if the charge is complete.

• It is a laser mouse. The laser is very bright and blue.
• Also the dock has changeable mouse feet. You can choose the way you want your mouse to glide. There is smooth, semi smooth and rough.

• You can use the mouse wired and wireless.
• Turn ON and OFF button at the bottom.

Pros:

• Dpi switch buttons comes in handy for FPS. Where you need different sensitivity for different weapons. Fast for SMG,  medium for assault and slow for sniper.
• The tilt functions is very useful while using the PC. You can scroll sideways and use it in games to lean.
• Marco recording is very useful if you use repeated actions in games. (Ex The complex moves in POP:Warrior Within can be recorded and performed with only one button!)
• It is very precise and lag free. Once charged it lasts about a month.
• Comfortable and comes with changeable feet.

Cons:

• The mouse doesn’t seem alright if you have small hands.
• The mouse doesn’t seem to work well on cloth surface. I have tried using in from my bed, it lags.
• Being light at your finger (esp. thumb)  helps. Initially, I used to accidentally click the thumb buttons and it caused problems. But later, got used to it.
• The scroll doesn’t feel very smooth. It slightly feels hard while scrolling.
• Only for right handers.

Now, I am on a shared hosting with limited bandwidth. When I was in Blogger, I didn’t have to worry about space and most particularly bandwidth. Blogger would automatically post my pictures to Picasa albums. Picasa albums provides us with 1 GB space and unlimited bandwidth. Yea, you heard it right, unlimited! And guess what, its free!

In a blog, images take up the most bandwidth. You might save a lot of bandwidth if you use this method.

Ever since I migrated from Blogger to WordPress, I have been posting pictures to Picasa. Here’s how:

1) Create a dummy blog on blogger.com (say thisisjustforthepictures.blogspot.com)

2) Configure it on Windows Live Writer. (Blogs –> Add blog account)

3) Write a blog post. Add some pictures (duh!)

4) Select “Post draft to blog”

4) Login to your Blogger Dashboard –> Edit Posts.

5) Select the “Edit HTML” tab. Copy everything up (Ctrl + A and Ctrl + C).

6) Login to your WordPress Dashboard. Create a New post (Posts –> Add New) . Select HTML tab, paste the copied text. (Ctrl + V). Publish!

Also, if you are using magazine style template that makes automatic thumbnails, you might want to hear this. By default, WordPress doesn’t make thumbnails of offsite images (which in this case is Picasa). So, you’ll need to implement this hack: WordPress: Automatic thumbnails of blogger or picasa hosted images

Afterthoughts:

Some of you might point out that, “What if Picasa goes down”. Hey, its from Google! It’s here to stay. If you are still worried, you can try cloud backup services like backupify.com

Right now, I think this is the best trick. If I get some time, I’ll try to tweak the WordPress’ upload script to incorporate Picasa API.

It is the movie of dreams, quite literally . One of the rarest I’ve seen. I don’t  think even the makers ever imagined it to be so engrossing.  If you have eyes to watch, this movie is a gift and a challenge to your intellect.

The reason for me going gaga about  it, is that there is a great level of connectivity with the audience. More than a movie it is a game! Yes, I know it’s hard to believe it, but it’s game! Basically, you join dots from scene to scene. You mentally work out the reason for the events in the scene. The sense of revelation hits you in the face! That’s one thing you wouldn’t want to miss. I really can put that into words. So, go watch the movie!

Yea, the movie is a little confusing but there’s the fun in it. According to me, one can’t understand the movie, completely. You can kind of make your own interpretation of the movie. It’s up to your imagination, really. In my opinion, Christopher Nolan has purposefully put in loop holes to make it ambiguous. That makes it awesome. That’s why it’s the most discussed topic nowadays!

Also, some of the dialogues are so very crafted that one can’t understand that in one go. They’ll need to think about it for sometime. The first 5-10 minutes is leeetle dry but one of the most important part. So, give it a good listen. If you do that, the movie will be a treat.

My tip would be to concentrate on some “keywords” they explain in the film. Here’s some things you need to know to enjoy the movie:

Also, when you come across the scene where DiCaprio and Ellen talk at a coffee shop, keep your ears open.

Inception is about an espionage expert, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), who has a highly specialized way of stealing corporate secrets: He extracts them from within the dreams of his targets.

1) Totem -  A totem is what you use to differentiate between reality and a dream world. Only the owner of the totem knows its exact balance, weight etc.

2) Kick – A kick is one way to pull someone out of a dream. Usually a signal will be given to the dreamer to make them aware that a kick is coming.

3) Limbo – It’s pure sub conscious state of mind where you are the god. Some kind of Coma, I guess.

Ok, I admit it does spoil a wee bit, but it’s totally worth it.

If you’re done watching the movie read this: Dream A Little Bigger: A Guide To Understanding Inception (Contains a lot of spoilers)

A really good article explaining things and some theories put forward by the enthusiasts.

I had this computer from my dad’s office to mess up with (Also fix it ). I wanted to remove the Processor. So, as per the normal procedure, I unlocked the hinges and pulled (a little)! The Processor came out with the Heatsink! It was stuck. The thermal paste was like super glue now. I tried all the voodoo magic tricks (Blades, alcohol etc) I could find, with no success. Luckily, no pins were bent.

What if you use Blades: If you stress the processor too much, you’ll end up trashing the damn thing.

Why did it get stuck?

It is because of the thermal paste between the surfaces of the Processor and the heatsink. The air particles  in the thermal paste vacate due to the pressure applied by the heasink. Now, pulling it will be like pulling a plunger. Stronger than super glue!

Here’s the fix:

I knew that the Thermal Paste would soften with heat. Here’s an idea that worked. Yea! It’s that simple!

Hold the metal part of your Heatsink to your Iron Box. Two minutes should be enough, I guess. Now, put all your fingers (except the thumb) on one side of the processor, rest your wrist on the side of the heatsink and pull with moderate effort. Do it on all sides and it should come off the heatsink by now.

Still stuck? Please, feel free to comment.

Have you ever suffered from having an old computer, or a faulty CD/DVD drive? If yes, then even a doctor would would know enough to tell you that you need to replace it. And fast.

That’s when I decided to replaced my old CD-ROM (can you believe it?) with a brand new DVD-RAM.  B)

Its not a difficult thing to do, all you need to do is have a small star screwdriver. This is actually the easiest DIY ever. So, starters are at relief. While that adds, this is also a DIY with no pictures. You see I forgot to take pictures when I did that but still its dumbing ease will make it comforting for you.

Getting the DVD Drive:

You’ll need to get a compatible DVD drive for your computer. Basically, there are 2 standards, IDE and SATA. Open up your computer (More on point no. 1) and check what kind of a cable your computer is using.

Normally, computers having SATA ports will also have IDE ports. Go for SATA DVD drives (Cheaper and Better)

1) Firstly, you need to rip-off your PC cabinet to expose its interiors. Its not difficult, you just need to remove the outer screws and SLIDE out the side panels (both of them).

2) Once you’ve done that, you will easily see the CD/DVD drive from the inside. Unscrew the screws on the sides. Slide it out. Unplug the wires.

3) Slide out the old CD/DVD drive, after removing a couple of screws that hold it in its place.

4) Now just put in your new drive, reconnect the wires at the same places, and you’re good to go!!

Troubleshooting:

Some old computers (using IDE cables) can’t distinguish between Master and Slave drives if the jumpers are not set properly. If you connect two devices with the same cable, only one of the two device will be detected.

To solve it, you’ll have to set one as Master and one as slave. Here’s how:

If you have any doubts, please comment.

In the post about running windows apps on Linux, my friend Suraj had told us about the software Wine and its ability to run Windows apps on linux.

But wait, how would it be if those popular windows software have got their own Linux versions? Yes,they do! Many software developers like Google and Adobe, noticing the increase in number of Linux users, have released their products for Linux platform!
And here’s a list of those Windows software which have been released for Linux:

Google Chrome: A fast and safe web browser by Google.Inc. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame,  or “chrome”, of web browsers.It combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. It’s Linux version is available here.

Opera Web Browser: Another fast and reliable web browser with awesome plug-ins and widgets. Its security features include built-in phishing and malwareprotection, strong encryption when browsing secure websites, and the ability to easily delete private data such as HTTP cookies. It’s Linux version is available here.

Adobe Reader: A cool PDF(Portable Document Format) reader by Adobe.Inc. It is available as a no-charge download from Adobe’s website, and allows viewing and printing of PDF files. And here is it’s Linux version: Click to Download.

Google Picasa: An image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab and owned by Google since 2004. Originally developed for Windows, is now available for Linux. Here is it’s Linux version: Click to download.

Google Earth: A virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. It’s free Linux Version is available here.

Realplayer: It is a closed source cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media, and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats. And here is it’s basic Linux version:  Click to Download.

Audacity: A cross-platform digital audio editor and recording application created by Dominic Mazzoni, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. And here is it’s Linux version: Click to Download.

Mozilla Firefox: A  free and open source web browser developed by Mozilla Corp. Now, Mozilla Firefox, is a pre-installed app if u choose Ubuntu Linux. In others, you’ll have to download it’s “.BZ2″ file from here, and install it.

To Install  a ‘.DEB’ file:

• Copy the ‘.deb’ file to the home folder.
• Open Terminal.[Applications->Accessories]
• Type in “sudo dpkg -i the exact name of your deb file”.
• Then it prompts you for your root password. Type it in.
• And leave the Terminal to do the rest. After its done, you’ll find the app in the Applications menu.

You’ll notice that the similarity between these Linux versions and their Windows counterparts is remarkable. Awesome, isn’t it? Install these software as per the instructions provided and enjoy!