Syed Waqar Hussain
A men enjoying freedom of writing and covering Pakistan.
Archive for November, 2008
Nokia N79 review: Swiss Army knife
24 Nov 2008Nseries keep on throwing heavy-spec’d phones at us and there’s no question they’re hitting their best form in quite a while. About time we got less of a curve ball lookswise, Nokia N79 embodies a new approach to Nseries styling. As to the insides, the N79 sides with N85 to make quite a number of Nseries veterans fear retirement. A true all-in-one, and less N-gage, Nokia N79 is big enough on personality and inspiration. No wonder we’re eager to see it in action.
Key features
* 2.4″ 16M-color LCD TFT display of QVGA resolution
* 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and AF assist light
* VGA video recording at 30fps
* Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3.2 UI
* ARM 11 369 MHz CPU
* 3G with HSDPA support
* Quad-band GSM support
* Wi-Fi with UPnP technology
* Built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality and 3 months of free voice-guided navigation
* microSD card slot with microSDHC support
* 4GB memory card included in the retail package
* Built-in accelerometer for UI auto-rotation
* Swappable Xpress-on smart covers (two of them in the box)
* 3.5 mm audio jack
* TV out
* Stereo FM Radio with RDS
* FM transmitter
* Stereo speakers
* Navi wheel navigation
* USB and Bluetooth v2.0
* One free N-gage game
* Keylock switch
Main disadvantages
* No smart dialing
* Doesn’t charge off USB
* No office document editing out of the box
* Not the best camera performance
* Zooming in on a photo takes ages
* No dedicated 3D graphics accelerator
* The GPS performance is not the best among Nseries
Nokia N79 is certainly one of the best equipped bars on the market. In fact there is very little (and certainly not too important) features that the phone lacks. The best part is it excuses itself from the company of most recent Nseries devices and makes an impact with its own distinct appearance.
If you are eying this attractive package, it currently goes at about 320 euro (400 US dollars). Let’s now have a brief look around for what else that kind of cash can get you.
We’ve been there already with Nokia N85. A complete multimedia gadget with full-ranging connectivity, Nokia N85 comes out as a potential upgrade for a number of Nseries phones – from the classic N73 to the imaging headliner N82.
N79 is of course the direct successor of N78 – it doesn’t look it and that’s a downright improvement, on top of the boosted camera.
Nokia N82 is another handset that should feel threatened. While it packs a better camera and xenon flash, the reduced weight advantage, looks and the new UI version count in favor of the N79. The FM transmitter might also play a part here though with the N82 costing 30 euro less, we may as well act it square.
We should also count the experienced fighter Nokia N95 and its upgrade – the Nokia N95 8GB. Once an industry leading device, the N95 is now comfortably settled in the upper mid-range, luring potential buyers with a competitive price tag and what’s still one of the best displays in the business.
It will hardly pass as the latest software package available but it still can handle most of the workload you give it. And the number of available third-party applications is maybe infinite.
As to the real competition, Samsung i7110 comes to mind straight away. Having the same form factor and virtually identical set of features the only difference between it and the Nokia N79 is the slightly larger display with OLED technology. However we are yet to see how they stack up in terms of pricing.
Now that we know the N79 is not totally without alternatives, let’s get to work and see what makes it tick. Join us at the next page for unboxing and in-and-out check up.
- (1) Comment
- Tags: Nokia, Shootout, Symbian S60
Dump and Stupid Designers Hyperlinks
22 Nov 2008This time i am discussing major mistake of dump and stupid designers. I have found lot designers leave hyperlinks with default styles and attributes which have blue color with underline. Let me tell you this is not good approach to leave hyperlinks as default is. In current era where we are working on Web 2.0 we can not afford basic mistakes in website designing. If you Google some stupid mistakes of designers then you will know hyperlinks are major mistakes from all of them.
Just informing, you can use CSS to change the appearance and behavior of hyperlinks. CSS uses the following states to determine how hyperlinks look and behave:
- A
- A:link
- A:visited
- A:hover
- A:active
Here’s an example of the code that you might insert into a css style sheet to achieve the required effect.
A {font-family:Arial,serif; font-size:large}
A:link {color:blue;}
A:visited {color: #660066;}
A:hover {text-decoration: none; color: #ff9900;
font-weight:bold;}
A:active {color: red;text-decoration: none}
Kindly note that the A:hover must be placed after the A:link and A:visited rules, since otherwise the cascading rules will hide the effect of the A:hover rule. Similarly, because A:active is placed after A:hover, the active color (red) will apply when the user both activates and hovers over the A element.
Hyperlinks with no underline
A:link { text-decoration: none }
It can confuse your users if your hyperlinks aren’t underlined. A more usable solution would be only to apply this behaviour to hyperlinks only when users hover over them.
Text rollovers
A:hover { text-decoration: none }
Use the A:hover selector.
Cursor effects
A:hover { cursor:help }
Try it yourself, you will like it…
Just type following code in your style sheet
<!--
A {
font-family:Georgia, Times, serif;
font-size:large;
cursor: auto
}
A:link {
color:blue;
}
A:visited {
color: #660066;
}
A:hover {
text-decoration: none;
color: #ff9900;
font-weight:bold;
}
A:active {
color: #ff0000;
text-decoration: none;
}
-->
- (1) Comment
- Tags: css, css mistakes, dump designer, hyperlinks
Top 10 Websites
22 Nov 2008The internet has now become more useful than you think. Number of programmers and developers competing to produce perfect applications, some are quite and some are gaining benefits. I have worked hard through the underground masses to bring you ten websites that are information, handy or simply downright cool. These collection are formally for website designers, they can take inspiration from them.
Alistapart- One of the oldest published by Happy Cog, Alistapart always delivers in depth and though provoking articles.
Designers Talk – Web Design and Development forums
Vitamin – By Carsonsystems, Vitamin offers high quality content on web design and web2.0 from some of the biggest names in the business.
Design Meltdown – Covers the trends in web design, usefull blog split into categories for elements, techniques, colors etc.
UX Magazine – The user experience magazine, Well written site covering Strategy, Design, Technology and Information.
Design Feed – An RSS agregator of hundreds of different design-related feeds
Type For You – A Typgraphy blog
Pingmag -Tokyo based magazine about all kinds of Design
Digital Web Magazine – Articles for web professionals
9Rules Design – A community of high quality blogs about design
Its quite old list i know but it is still useful for me as website designer, I myself called them best websites forever. 
Brief history of career
In: Personal Waves
21 Nov 2008Let you know, Now I am at position under middle management category of IT industry “Project Coordinator”, but story behind this success is not only a luck. I started my career from sketch, I have done website designing certification in my school days and i have great passions about designs and illustrations. I started my career as basic content designer and now i am in the project management field and its not end i have to be in the desk of project director or MIS.
So i started my career as part time website designer from WedAlert.com with salary of 10K per month. Then due to studies i left wedalert and joined back my university, during 2nd year of my graduation i got chance to work with Hauka as senior website designer with the salary of 8k. In the time between leaving wedalert and joining hauka, i got lot of freelance projects which improved my skills lot. Well in some 2 months i got increment of 5k in my salary so i was working for hauka in 13k per month. Call Center was a major business area of Hauka and they shut hauka down in January 2006 due to the continuously bad performance of sales team. So i was again on my freelance track but within 1 month i got a call from 110 Solutions and they offered me to join as Senior graphics designer, I accepted that offer and started working with the salary of 15K per month.
I can proudly 110 Solutions was a organization which discover me and my abilities in the IT industry
specially in designing and management. Because my education was completely specialized in Business
analysis and Information systems so i also had ability to work as project leader or system analyst. Anyways 110 solutions promote me as system analyst for their website project and in few months they gave me opportunity to lead complete projects at the Karachi campus so i was project leader when i left 110 Solutions in April 2008.
Yes in May 2008, i got great opportunity to work with Pakistan’s leading stationery organization as Project Coordinator. First time i faced proper hiring process in this job, but i think my interview was great and so impressive for my employer and they hired me within 1 week. On 1st April 2008, i had to say Bye Bye to 110 Solutions. Now I am working with Dollar Stationery as project coordinator, and here i really improved my project management skills and because of one project i learned php and i am so impress with php. I am still doing freelance website designing but now I am providing complete database driven websites to my clients.
Anyways my future plan is Dubai, I have some calls from DXB in January 2009 and i may visit to Dubai in next year and then i compare what is best for me. Just watch and play situation i have right now. But its really great pleasure in my career history. I really learned lot of new things such as php, blogging on word press and many more things. Hope you like my brief history.
keep visiting …
- (2) Comments
- Tags: career, history, Personal Waves, waqar
When should seek a PMP certification?
20 Nov 2008Takeaway: Should a manager in midcareer seek a PMP certification? Which IT areas are best suited to the PMP? Learn why the PMP is right for certain IT managers–and what motivated one seasoned PM to get the certification.
You’ve moved up through the IT ranks over the years. You’ve seen projects that made it and projects that failed. In your journey you’ve become an IT manager. Even though you’re battle-tested, now may be the right time to formalize your experience with a certification.
For managers involved in initiating, planning, or running a project, the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) may be the right cert to pursue. In the IT field, the PMP may be right for managers who are heavily involved in areas such as software engineering or network design IT projects. The PMP certification demonstrates that a project manager (PM) understands the fundamentals of project management and can put them into practice.
Strong motivations
What’s the point of getting a certification when your career is already firmly established? While certifications aren’t everything, they might make your name stand out in a stack of resumes. That’s what prompted Tony Johnson, a veteran PM, to obtain his PMP certification.
Johnson said when he was looking for a new job, he noticed that many open positions preferred or required applicants with a PMP certification. He went after the certification to become a stronger candidate. “I felt that…with all things being equal…having the certification would be a key differentiator,” said Johnson, a project director with WorkPlace Technologies, a division of real estate solutions company WorkPlaceUSA.
Of course, the PMP certification is good for more than just landing a job. Johnson listed two more reasons for earning the certification in the middle of his career. First, many organizations have their own project management style. “Over the years, you tend to develop your own style and preferences, which may mean you have both good and bad habits. Certification reinforces the good stuff and provides standards and structure to change the bad habits,” he said.
Second, Johnson said, the PMI’s project management standards provide a solid base that makes it easier to introduce changes to internal methods and processes.
One of the plusses of pursuing the certification in midcareer was that Johnson’s experience made studying for the PMP easier. “I did not have to revisit areas I was comfortable with, and only had to concentrate on learning the way PMI describes the processes, [the] PMI terminology, and brush up on the areas requiring calculations,” he said.
Good for forward-facing organizations
The PMP certification is good for managers, but it’s also good for employers. Johnson’s supervisor, Don Altwein, said having the PMP makes Johnson a more valuable employee. Altwein’s organization, WorkPlace Project Management, another division of WorkPlaceUSA, is a service company, so having PMPs on staff can help attract business.
Johnson added that having a PMP shows customers that “we take…project management seriously enough to invest time in developing and maintaining our knowledge of the discipline.”
Continuing education
Your PMP experience doesn’t end when you become certified. To keep your certification, you must complete 60 hours of the PMI’s Professional Development Units (PDUs) within three years. If you don’t keep current, you have to re-apply, be found eligible to take the test, pay the $555 test fee, and pass the test again to be recertified.
The PMI offers several ways to earn PDUs. Many cities have PMI chapters that hold monthly meetings that feature a speaker or project management-related function. Each meeting counts as one PDU hour. You can also earn PDUs by:
- Attending PMI seminars and symposiums.
- Writing a paper and delivering it at a seminar or a symposium.
- Participating in your local PMI chapter.
- Serving on a chapter committee.
- Serving as a board member for the PMI.
Shari Stern, a PMP and a member of the PMI’s Certification Board Center, said PDUs are a way for PMPs to stay on top of project management trends and make contacts with other PMPs.
Conclusion
Even in midcareer, managers in certain areas of the IT field can benefit from attaining a PMP certification. The PMP demonstrates your project-management expertise, helps correct bad habits you’ve picked up over the years, and makes you both a more valuable employee and a more tempting job candidate.
Business Analyst Interview
20 Nov 2008You never know what you will be asked on a job interview. The following sample of interview questions for business analyst will help you prepare. You need to be able to answer all questions truthfully and professionally. Here are the business analyst interview questions:
Q. Can you tell me why are you considering leaving your present job?
A. Regardless of the reason, do not bad mouth your current employer. Negativism will always hurt you. Good answers include: “There is no room for growth at my current employer. I am looking for a company with long term growth opportunities”. “Due to a company restructuring, my entire department is relocating to Florida. I was give the option of moving, but do not wish to relocate”. “My current company is not doing well, and has been laying off employees. There is no job security there, and more layoffs are expected”.
Q. How do you handle stress and pressure?
A. “I find that I work better under pressure, and I enjoy working in an environment that is challenging.” “I am the type of person that diffuses stress. I am used to working in a demanding environment with deadlines, and enjoy the challenges.”
Q. We have met several business analyst’s. Why are you the one we should hire?
A. Give definite examples of your skills and accomplishments. Be positive, and emphasize how your background matches the job description. Mention any software packages and spreadsheet software you are familiar with. Also let them know if you have advanced knowledge of any of the software.
Q. What do you know about our company?
A. This question is used to see if you have prepared for the interview. Candidates that have researched the company are more appealing. Companies like prepared, organized candidates.
Q. What are your greatest strengths?
A. Be positive and honest. “My greatest strength is maximizing the efficiency of my staff. I have successfully lead numerous teams on difficult projects. I have an excellent ability to identify and maximize each of my staffs strengths.” Give examples.
Q. Tell me about your greatest weakness?
A. It is very important to give a strength that compensates for your weakness. Make your weakness into a positive. “I consider myself a ‘big picture’ person. I sometimes skip the small details. For this reason, I always have someone on my team that is very detail oriented.” Another good answer: “Sometimes, I get so excited and caught up in my work that I forget that my family life should be my number one priority.”
Q. What are your goals for the future?
A. “My long term goals are to find a company where I can grow, continue to learn, take on increasing responsibilities, and be a positive contributor”.
Hopefully these typical business analyst interview questions will help you. It is important to customize the answers for your specific background and experience.
Now that we have gone over the interview questions for business analyst, you need to be aware of important resources that can make your job search easier and more thorough.
Fastest Processor on the Planet
20 Nov 2008Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Provides Performance on Demand, Adds ‘Turbo Boost’ and ‘Hyper-Threading’ Technologies
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 17, 2008 – Intel Corporation introduced its most advanced desktop processor ever, the Intel® Core™ i7 processor. The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput. The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.
Broadly heralded by the computing industry as a technical marvel, the Intel® Core™ i7 processor holds a new world record of 117 for the SPECint_base_rate2006* benchmark test that measures the performance of a processor. This is the first time ever for any single processor to exceed a score of 100 points.
“Intel has delivered the fastest desktop processor on Earth to the most demanding users on Earth, the ones who are using their PCs for video, gaming and music,” said Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group. “When you couple what is Intel’s biggest leap in chip design with other incredible innovations like Intel’s solid state drives, the Core i7 processor has redefined the computer of tomorrow.”
Tech Web sites have been extremely positive in their product reviews. Anandtech states that “Core i7 continues to fuel Intel’s beacon of performance.” “The Core i7 is everything they promised it would be,” says PC Perspective. “Nehalem is a masterpiece,” says the Lost Circuits Web site. The Tech Report calls it “one of the most consequential shifts in the industry.”
Intel’s unique Turbo Boost Technology accelerates performance to match a computer user’s needs and workloads. Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new “power gate” transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption. The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.
The Core i7 processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel “Extreme” platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel® Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance.
The Intel Core i7 processor also offers unrivaled performance for immersive 3-D games – over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU* physics and AI tests, popular industry computer benchmarks that measure gaming performance. The Extreme Edition uses 8 threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence and physics to make games act and feel real.
The Intel® Core™ i7 processors and Intel® X58 Express Chipset-based Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are for sale immediately from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.
The Core i7 processor is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance of any desktop platform. Intel’s top performance processor, the Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing Intel’s knowledgeable customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip’s speed.
Product Information and Pricing:
| Processor | Clock Speed (GHz) | Price | QPI Speed (GT/sec) | Cache | Memory Speed Support | TDP | Processor Generation |
| Intel® Core™ i7-965 Extreme Edition | 3.20 | $999 | 6.4 | 8 MB | DDR3-1066 | 130W | New Intel® Core™ Microarchitecture (Nehalem) 45nm |
| Intel® Core™ i7- 940 | 2.93 | $562 | 4.8 | ||||
| Intel® Core™ i7- 920 | 2.66 | $284 | 4.8 |
Send secure Email through PHP
20 Nov 2008PHP E-mail Injections
First, look at the PHP code from the previous post:
<html> <body><?php if (isset($_REQUEST['email'])) //if "email" is filled out, send email { //send email $email = $_REQUEST['email'] ; $subject = $_REQUEST['subject'] ; $message = $_REQUEST['message'] ; mail("someone@example.com", "Subject: $subject", $message, "From: $email" ); echo "Thank you for using our mail form"; } else //if "email" is not filled out, display the form { echo "<form method='post' action='mailform.php'> Email: <input name='email' type='text' /><br /> Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' /><br /> Message:<br /> <textarea name='message' rows='15' cols='40'> </textarea><br /> <input type='submit' /> </form>"; } ?></body> </html>
The problem with the code above is that unauthorized users can insert data into the mail headers via the input form.
What happens if the user adds the following text to the email input field in the form?
someone@example.com%0ACc:person2@example.com
%0ABcc:person3@example.com,person3@example.com,
anotherperson4@example.com,person5@example.com
%0ABTo:person6@example.com
The mail() function puts the text above into the mail headers as usual, and now the header has an extra Cc:, Bcc:, and To: field. When the user clicks the submit button, the e-mail will be sent to all of the addresses above!
PHP Stopping E-mail Injections
The best way to stop e-mail injections is to validate the input.
The code below is the same as in the previous chapter, but now we have added an input validator that checks the email field in the form:
<html> <body> <?php function spamcheck($field) { //filter_var() sanitizes the e-mail //address using FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL $field=filter_var($field, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL); //filter_var() validates the e-mail //address using FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL if(filter_var($field, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) { return TRUE; } else { return FALSE; } }if (isset($_REQUEST['email'])) {//if "email" is filled out, proceed//check if the email address is invalid $mailcheck = spamcheck($_REQUEST['email']); if ($mailcheck==FALSE) { echo "Invalid input"; } else {//send email $email = $_REQUEST['email'] ; $subject = $_REQUEST['subject'] ; $message = $_REQUEST['message'] ; mail("someone@example.com", "Subject: $subject", $message, "From: $email" ); echo "Thank you for using our mail form"; } } else {//if "email" is not filled out, display the form echo "<form method='post' action='mailform.php'> Email: <input name='email' type='text' /><br /> Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' /><br /> Message:<br /> <textarea name='message' rows='15' cols='40'> </textarea><br /> <input type='submit' /> </form>"; } ?></body> </html>
In the code above we use PHP filters to validate input:
- The FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL filter removes all illegal e-mail characters from a string
- The FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL filter validates value as an e-mail address
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