How irritating is it to wait for a webpage to load? If you are a major surfer of the internet im sure you know how frustrating it is sometimes to wait for webpages to load or sometimes refreshing the whole page as it either didn't load at all or loaded partially . Now here is a software called namebench which interestingly was a google project and is now under google code . What this software basically does is it tells you which DNS server would be the best for you. So here's more on that :

The difference when it comes to DNS servers are that there is no one BEST DNS server . One DNS server can perform well at certain locations whereas another can perform better at other locations , so basically it all depends on where you are located and certain DNS servers perform the best at certain locations . Here is where namebench comes to the rescue . Namebench basically runs a series of tests to determine the best DNS server for you to use . Just go to the namebench HOMEPAGE and download the software and run the program.This software runs on MAC,Windows and Linux










After the program runs a series of tests it would recommend the best DNS server for you in a box on the top right corner of the results webpage .


Now to configure your computer to use these DNS servers , you need to perform the following steps
1)Windows users - CLICK HERE
2)Ubuntu Linux users - CLICK HERE
3)Configure in Modem Or Router - CLICK HERE
NOTE : In the guides mentioned above Opendns servers ( 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 ) are used , replace them with the recommended servers given by namebench Read More Of This Post!

Great news for people living in the USA . Google has announced that it will offer 1gbps internet speeds at certain parts of the USA. The speeds being 100 times more than what people are currently being offered in the USA . Here are a few more details :

This project is more of an experiment by google to test next generation applications which would probably be impossible to run on existing networks due to low bandwidths . Also google plans to offer this service at very affordable prices . Another important point is that google plans to operate on open access networks where they would share their networks with other ISPs.

Here is the official video from google . I think this is a fantastic intiative by google , lets wait and see how well it does!!

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Great news for all bollywood fans all over the world . You can now watch bollywood movies for free on youtube . Ofcourse their movie database will not have the latest releases . But i guess movies many movies over a year old can be found on youtube . The best part is that this is completely legal and they are high quality videos .

So not only can you view these movies on your computer but you can also view them on youtube enabled televisions . So the experience would be just like watching a DVD . THe video and sound quality is excellent . The movies on their database are a bit old though , but there are quite a few classics which you could watch incase you missed them when they were released .

YOu do need to have a good internet connection for this otherwise you would notice buffering and breaking up of video . So if you have a good internet connection and love watching bollywood movies ( especially old ones ) then your in for a treat :) . This is a fantastic initiative and i really hope that this database of theirs is updated often with new movies!!
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IPL fans are in for a treat . This year IPL has decided to go online by making a deal with google and streaming all the IPL season 3 matches online through youtube . I'm sure a lot of people will be delighted hearing this . Not only does this mean easier access to watching live cricket but also a great initiative by IPL by making such content available LIVE . Hopefully this would make other events too come up live on youtube as it would be a lot more convenient.


THis year the IPL matches are scheduled to take place between March 12 and April 25 . Every single match would be streamed live on youtube for everyone to watch . Ofcourse there would be advertisements placed on the sides but i dont think that should bother much . Considering its google who is managing the whole show you could definitely hope for a quality service by them . The link to watch IPL season 3 is http://www.youtube.com/ipl



But at the same time you have millions of fans who will be watching these matches from all over the world especially India , so google better be ready to handle such amount of traffic . It shouldn't hopefully cause any effect to the quality of the video . Ofcourse you do need a good internet connection for this so that the video wouldn't break up in between to buffer . Ustream has been pretty successful in providing a very stable online streaming service and they've hosted a lot of important events . I've never been able to test any live event on youtube but definitely hoping for a similar quality service.

So i really hope this whole setup works well and doesn't affect the quality of video and the streaming part . Hope for a really entertaining IPL Season 3 this year !! Read More Of This Post!

Last week , i had written about a tool called webmin which gives you complete access to your ubuntu linux machine remotely via a web browser . PHPSYSINFO is a much more lighter and simpler tool which gives you important information of a machine like Uptime, CPU, Memory, PCI devices, SCSI devices, IDE devices, Network adapters, Disk usage etc all in ONE PAGE and displays it in your web browser. THis is a very useful tool to get realtime status info on your machine . So here's more on that :

What i like about this simple php script is that its so simple to use and so easy to read . It gives you just the right information you need to know from a system when you want to access it remotely . Surely webmin does provide this info , but you would need to hunt for it at various pages to get this info whereas in phpsysinfo all of this information is displayed on one page . This can be accessible on your web browser and can be accessed over LAN or over the internet . This php script can be placed in directory of your Apache web server so it becomes one of the requirements for this script to work.So here is how you set it up :

NOTE: Apache Web server ( LAMP ) needs to be setup

Step 1 : Download the phpsysinfo scripts from the project's homepage


Step 2 : Once done , extract the tar.gz file to a folder say phpsysinfo on the desktop


Step 3 : Then open the folder and rename the file config.php.new to config.php


Step 4 : Now copy the folder phpsysinfo from the desktop to the web server's root folder ( typically /var/www )
Step 5 : Now open your web browser and type http://127.0.0.1/phpsysinfo and you should see a page similar to this




NOTE : If you are trying to access from another machine via LAN then replace 127.0.0.1 with the local LAN IP of the machine hosting the PHPSYSINFO scripts ( you can find out LAN IP by typing ifconfig command in the ubuntu terminal ) . If you want to access it over the internet from any other pc in the world , then you need to replace 127.0.0.1 with your WAN/internet ip ( you can find the WAN IP by going to www.whatismyip.com ) . NOTE : For accessing over the internet you need to open port 80 ( port forwarding guides are available at www.portforward.com ) on your router . Read More Of This Post!

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. This application is very useful incase you run a linux headless server at home . You can remotely access all the important settings of your server remotely via a web interface . So here is more on webmin :

Webmin has a lot of features which help you get complete remote access to your linux server from a web interface . You could access this via LAN or even over the internet if the right ports are opened.Here are some of the features :

1)Homepage provides a summary of the status of the server including disk space , memory space , CPU load etc

2)Advanced Backup Management System

3)Access to configurations like IP access control,ports and addresses etc


4)Ability to Register a new server and link and manage multiple servers on the same network

5)Webmin accounts configuration

6)Ability to start/stop various active processes running on the server . Also ability to remotely shutdown/restart server

7)COmplete list of disk filesystems


8)Ability to backup a complete filesystem

9)FUll list of cron tasks . Ability to edit ,delete or add new cron jobs


10)Remotely install packages via web interface onto the server

11)Complete list of server accounts .Ability to add/remove/modify accounts

12)Complete access to apache web server settings including virtual server settings

13)Complete access to samba,FTP,SSH settings


14)File manager to upload/download files from the server


15)SSH access

16)Server Status


17) and a lot more....

There are a lot more features of webmin . I just covered a few of them . The best part of webmin is that all the important services running on the server like apache,DHCP,FTP,SSH etc are all accessible from 1 web interface making it easier to administrate all these services . Most of the services are used in home servers as well so this is not just an application for enterprise servers but can also be used for home servers.

Here is how you install webmin :

Step 1 : Go to THEIR WEBSITE
Step 2 : Click on the Debian Package Link

Step 3 : After you have downloaded the DEB file rename it to webmin.deb
Step 4 : If you have a GUI for your linux server then just double click on the DEB file and click on install package

Step 5 : If you only run the command line . Then keep the file at a certain location like say your desktop ( say /home/prash/Desktop) . and then type cd /home/prash/Desktop to change the directory to where the file is located and then type sudo dpkg -i webmin.deb to install
the package. NOTE : Replace /home/prash/Desktop with the appropriate link to the directory where webmin.deb is placed


Step 6 : Thats it , to access the webmin interface go to https://x.x.x.x:10000 where x.x.x.x is either the hostname or the ip address of the server ( you can find out the ip address of the server by typing ifconfig in the terminal)

NOTE : If you want to access your server remotely over the internet then you need to open port 10000 in your router ( guides available at portforward.com) . Then the x.x.x.x ip will not be the local ip you got in step 6 but a WAN IP which you can get by going go www.ip-adress.com . If you have a dynamic ip , then its better you setup a no-ip account . )

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The AutoComplete feature of web browsers are quite popular . I'm sure its being used by most internet explorer users . It sure is pretty helpful as you dont need to enter the whole website address or you dont need to enter the whole username when logging into say gmail for example . All you need to do is hit the first two or three letters of your username and then your username pops up right below it . Pretty convenient right?

Well although it is indeed very convenient . How about when you access gmail on a public system . Well i guess its no harm even if they come to know your username , no harm done there!! But what if its a credit card number? It is indeed surprising but the autocomplete feature works with credit card numbers as well for most websites . You really dont know who to blame here!!Would you blame mozilla or microsoft for creating such a feature and that too enabling it by default or would you blame the website designer for allowing the autocomplete feature to work with that particular field .

I guess there is a certain sense of security if it is your own machine and you have access to it . But would you still want to risk that by just pressing the down arrow key and having your credit card number inserted into the field automatically???We all know how vulnerable internet explorer!! What is the point of having an online system to book movie tickets,flight tickets etc if the website has a flaw like this!!

So although it is the responsibility of the website designer to make sure that the credit card number field has auto complete off , we still need to do our part and either turn off auto complete or avoid using such websites on public computers!! Entering your credit card details on public computers is a strict NO NO . I try to avoid accessing my email on public computers as well.
I wouldn't turn autocomplete off because i'm so used to it and it definitely makes your browsing experience a whole lot better . I guess its always just better to avoid entering such critical data on public machines . Incase you want to turn off autocomplete you can do so for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox

NOTE: For Website Developers - Remember to set autocomplete off for such fields. Read More Of This Post!

Its been over 5 years since i've used ubuntu and i'm really disappointed at certain issues which ubuntu still has inspite of a new release every 6 months . One of the major problems is with firefox.


Firefox in ubuntu is not at all stable . The browser tends to hang quite a lot and it is horrible in handling CPU and Memory usage . If you are a person who does not have too many open tabs and windows then it probably isnt much of a problem for you . But if you are a person who has a lot of windows and tabs open and if you are a person who never shuts down his computer then you know what im talking about . I usually tend to have around 40 tabs open per window on an average and i have around 3-4 such windows . Which makes it around 100 webpages on an average.. Now I'm sure everybody who uses the computer a lot will have so many windows open .

I organize my windows category wise . Like one window for blog stuff , one for my work and the other personal stuff including mail etc . So what happens is after like 3-4 days or so , firefox crashes and i have to reboot and click on RESTORE SESSION . Although this is a bit irritating to do , i've been managing to do this ever since i used ubuntu . I've never faced such issues with the browsers in microsft windows . I feel that the browsers in ubuntu dont seem to be able to handle the CPU and Memory usage well causing it to hang . Not only firefox but even opera seems to have such problems . They work perfect for a few windows , but once you have multiple windows open the problem starts!!

But the problem doesn't end there . Sometimes you get a window saying " Firefox is unable to RESTORE YOUR SESSION " now this is where the MAJOR PROBLEM starts because now you loose all your open windows and if your a regular internet browser i'm sure you know how frustrating that is . Although this issue happens rarely ( very rarely ) it still is not something that you can live with!!

At this point of time , i've kept firefox on hold for a while and started using Google Chrome . So far so good , lets see how it goes!! Read More Of This Post!

Finally , Google has come out with its own Official version of google chrome for ubuntu which gives you the full version of google chrome with all its features . I have been waiting for the ubuntu version to come out since quite a while . So here is how you install google chrome in ubuntu :
Step 1 : Go to THIS LINK and click on GET GOOGLE CHROME

Step 2 : Now select the appropriate package according to your ubuntu version and click on Accept and Install
Step 3 : Once the download is complete launch the DEB file and click on install package



Step 4 : Wait for the package to install



Step 5 : Now to launch google chrome go to Applications->Internet->Google Chrome



Step 6 : Thats it , you now have google chrome installed in your system!!


NOTE: You can create a shortcut for google chrome on the top taskbar by dragging the google chrome icon in applications->Internet->Google Chrome to the taskbar

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