Atom is similar to RSS feeds in which it helps in distributing content from a site in the form of XML. The advantage to having content distributed through XML is that the receiving party can process it to their need. A content distributed through an RSS or Atom is called a feed. And there are several feed readers or aggregators that help one fetch feeds from his/her favorite sites and show it in a readable form. If you are using Firefox you have it right now built into it and collect the titles through feed and take you directly to the content in a particular site. How is RSS different from Atom? Both of them serve the same purpose but technically how different are they? Well look at “RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 Compared” to know more.

I had written a post some time back on “Use BCC when addressing many“. That was just one, here is a complete list of email etiquettes from IT Security website “Hacking Email: 99 tips to make you more secure and productive“.

A Nerd is a name associated to a computer professional who is a hard core technical guy who lives a digital life in and out. There are some jokes shared by nerds and geeks and it is hard for a non technical guy to understand these jokes easily. I bumped into the page in Wikipedia on Computer Humor. The one below caught me.

Q: Why do programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas?
A: Because Oct 31 equals Dec 25.

I must admit that it took me few seconds to realize that Oct above meant octal number and Dec meant decimal number

Wikipedia is a tough competitor to the famous traditional hard copy version of the encyclopedia published by Dorlink Kindersley publishing inc. The advantage of Wikipedia is that the input comes from users who are experts in their own area.  It is a cost effective solution and covers a very wide area of topics.  But the often quoted disadvantage of Wikipedia has always been the junk it might bring in and the process involved in validating the content from the users. The illustrated encyclopedia from DK has a better presentation with real like photos and illustrations.  Now DK has an accompanying site to its hard copy encyclopedia called e-encyclopedia powered by Google’s search.  What is e-encyclopedia? Here is what the site has to say.

“e.encyclopedia combines the best of a traditional encyclopedia with an extra digital dimension. The book’s dedicated website has been created with Google, the world’s leading search engine. It guides the reader to the most helpful, appropriate and amazing sites the web has to offer.”

It essentially is an add-on to the textbook and a reader can search for keywords from the book to this site and it uses the Google’s services to bring back web sites that have more information about the keyword. It also allows one to download the high resolution pictures in the book.  But again the dependency of book and the site makes it unreachable for those who really do not have the book.

The Ajax Cookbook has lot of very useful JavaScript tips when working on web 2.0 sites that requires cool rich user interface and nice Ajax features. Check it out.

This post is part of the Useful Resource series.

In many parts of India during an auspicious day in the year the idol of a Hindu God comes around the temple in a city in a big chariot pulled by the devotees. The chariot is pulled by hundreds of devotees. To move the chariot it requires effort from each and every one of those who pull the chariot. When everyone really puts the effort that he/she can, then the chariot starts to move and when the momentum picks up it becomes easier to pull. On the contrary if people just act as though they are pulling, then the effort doubles or triples up on those who really try to pull and they will burn out soon.

There is not much difference in the way a team executes a project with devotees pulling the chariot. It requires each and every person’s complete effort irrespective of what his/her area of involvement in the project to keep the project going. When someone does not do his/her part then the burden could fall on someone who already has his/her load of work. Why it happens? Because irrespective of someone putting effort or not, the project timelines have to be met. So as a team member the bare minimum requirement is to contribute ones effort to the maximum extent so that there is no additional load on other team members.

Have a great week.

This post is part of the Foundation Stone series.

It might be funny now, but it may not be a surprise down the line

Source:Blaugh.com

Happy Weekend!

I get this beautiful quote by a good morning mail from my friend Ramya.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning” -Albert Einstein

The ability to question is the key to what we had been, what we are and what we will be tomorrow. The more we are able to get satisfied with answers and reasoning to our questions, learn from the mistakes, think present, keep the vision for tomorrow then the more we will be geared up to move on and keep us pushing.