Some Useful Shortcuts

Here are some shortcuts that I have found useful.

• We can refresh or reload any webpage by pressing F5 key.
• We can directly move to address bar by pressing Alt+D .
• By pressing Ctrl +Enter after writing something on address bar, www is added in starting and .com in the end and Enter is automatically pressed.
• While working on Notepad we can insert current date and time by pressing F5 key.
• When we have multiple tabs open, we can close the current tab by pressing Ctrl+F4. Similarly while working on multiple documents in Word we can close the current document by pressing Ctrl+F4..
• We can open Windows Explorer or My Computer by pressing Windows+E.
• In many applications we can undo our previous work by Ctrl+Z.
• We can increase or decrease the size of any webpage (both text and images) using Ctrl + <+ key> Ctrl + <-key>. We can get back to the original size using Ctrl+0.

Useful kids' websites

I have a five year old daughter who spends a lot of time on the laptop. I felt the need to provide her with educational and learning games in addition to the frivolous (Barbie) games that are generally available. Once I had a list I felt that this could be of use to all such children who have access to the Internet and can use it to further their awareness, learning and education along with fun and games.

1. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
2. http://www.funbrain.com/
3. http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
4. http://www.hindinest.com/bachpan/index.htm (हिन्दी)
   
5. http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/
6. http://www.uptoten.com
7. http://www.infinity-ventures.com/hindi/index.php (हिन्दी)
   

The ROLLTOP Laptop

Another new shape of things to come. The RollTop laptop can be rolled into a tube and caried very easily.
Their website is at http://myrolltop.com/

Easily confused Wiki terms

Almost all the people on web are familiar with wikipidea. When I started working I was very much confused about the terms Wiki, Wikia, Media Wiki and how are they related to Wikipidea. So here is what I have learnt about these terms-

• If the pages of any site can easily be edited in Browser itself, then such type of site is known as Wiki. In other terms anyone on the web can easily change or edit the contents of Wiki. There are many popular Wiki on the internet like Wikipidea, Kavitakosh, Bharatkosh etc.
  
  
• The software used by Wiki sites is called Wiki Software. MediaWiki is an example of Wiki Software. Wikipidea is based on MediaWiki.
  
  
• Wikia is a company that provides free hosting for your own Wiki site. Just create an account on Wikia and you can create your own Wiki through them for free.

I hope that now the differences between Wiki, Wikipedia, Wikia and MediaWiki must have become clear to my readers and there must be no confusion left.

Some Useful Websites

Everyone has their own favorite sites. Today I want to share some of my favorite sites. I hope you will also like these sites and will find them useful.

Google Maps - On this site we can view maps and satellite images of our given desired location. We can click and drag maps to view adjacent sections immediately and can zoom by clicking on + sign given on the left.
Depending on our location we can also get the directions from one location to another. In the search field, enter the from and to locations(if location given does not match with what the site has in its database, it gives a list of options from which we can choose) and click on Get Directions. Directions appear on the maps as a blue line. Google Maps breaks down directions into numbered sections in the left panel, along with an estimated drive time.

Wikipedia - A free encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone. This is one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Often the information is so detailed that it has become number one search result on google for many topics. One should be careful that since it can be edited by anyone there is a chance that an article might not be accurate and/or up-to-date. Therefore fact checking using references and other sources is recommended.

Abhivyakti - Best Hindi magazine on web. A great collection of contemporary Hindi literature.

Ninite - This site provides easiest and fastest way to update or install free softwares. It gives you the option to choose which softwares you want to install and then makes a customized installer for you which downloads and installs the software you have chosen. This eliminates the tediousness of going to each software's web site and downloading and installing them individually.

What is a Web Server?

A Web Server is the computer and/or the software running on it through which any type of data is made available on the Internet. For example web pages of any web site are provided by a web server.

What is Web Hosting?

Web Hosting is the service of storing all the files of any web site on an Internet connected web server so that other people can view that site.