Now that you are up and about on the internet, you will need an address where people can reach you. Just like your home address in the physical world, the email acts as a place for people to get in touch with you in the virtual world.
E-mail, short for electronic mail and often abbreviated to e-mail, email or simply mail. The choices of procuring and email address are many, like Gmail, Yahoomail, Hotmail etc; I prefer gmail because the id you create here will let you access host of other google services like blogger, orkut, translate, gtalk, patent search, product search....(detailed list here). But the process outlined below to create a mail account will be pretty much the same if you choose to open it with Yahoo or Hotmail or any other place.
In your address bar type: www.gmail.com (or just click on this link) and you will reach the Gmail homepage. There you should be able to see:
Then enter your desired login name, a password you will remember easily, but difficult for others to guess and then create your very own email id.
You see the "Remember me on this computer" box - DO NOT SELECT IT IF YOU ARE USING A PUBLIC COMPUTER TERMINAL, for it will enable someone else to get into your account and operate it.
In case of a spelling mistake, the incorrect word will be highlighted in yellow. To correct the word , click on it and you will get several options to choose from, take your pick and correct it. Click "Done" and then just "Send" the email off.
11 May 2008
Net Savvy - Email
Net Savvy - The Basics.
The advent of Internet has revolutionsed everything. Information is more freely available, people can exchange messages, emails, files, photos, buy stuff, trade and so much more in so little time without the constraints of a location. For people like my Mom who are just waking up to this innovation all this is fascinating information, but they don't how to get started.
Simply put, consider Internet similar to a shopping mall in your area. You can get anything and everything you need there (just like the information that is available everywhere on the net) But to get to the mall you need to either drive down in a car or take public transport and like. This vehicle that helps you get around in internet terms will be a browser. You may be familiar with the public transport of the internet the IE aka Internet Explorer, the browser that lets you explore the web. But just as there are other modes of transport in the webworld too there are other browsers like Firefox, Opera and several others (for a detailed list click here).
Most people tend to use IE since it is the default browser that Microsoft provides with the operating system running on your PC. But if you are looking for other options, Firefox is a popular browser. I personally use Opera though. So just as you will shop around to find a car you like, read around on the links above to see which browser suits you best. Then simply download it, follow the steps to install it and you are all set to drive around in the web-world or surf around as they say.
Now you can visit any destination you like on the internet using the browser. To go to your destination, you will obviosly need to provide an address..right? Well on the top of your browser you can locate a white box where in you can type text. It looks something like this:
Type in the address in this white text box . Just like our normal address have a lane, state, postcode etc, the addressess on the web have thier own format. You will see that most address begin with "http://" - technicall it means Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which is a communications protocol for the transfer of information on intranets and the World Wide Web. Its original purpose was to provide a way to publish and retrieve hypertext pages over the Internet. But we need not concern ourselves with the technicalities just yet. It's ok if you forget to type the http:// you can simply start with www.google.com and you are all set.
But what if you know you are looking for a specific clothing line and don't know where to find it...you would normally refer to the white pages right? Similarly on the web, you can hunt for information on the search engines. There are several search engines depending on the content you are looking for, but the most popular one is google, which gives you pretty much any information you need (for a detailed list of search engines, click here)
So just type www.google.com in the addressbar we have seen above. It will return another text box, where you can enter what you are looking for and click on google search. See illustration:
Once the search returns results, you can click on the link of your interest and browse it further.
It's really that simple...just open your favourite search engine, type what you are looking for and hit search...follow the leads.
Happy Mothers Day!
It's mothers day today...Hope all the mom's have a great day ahead. Ever since I moved from India, my mother has been trying to become net-savvy. Wanting to stay in touch with your kids is such a motivator. All she can do is log on to the internet and get on yahoo messenger...but for day to day things like checking our photos, sending an email, logging onto skype etc; can seem such a daunting task for someone who is just getting started.So when I am talking her through the process, I feel like talking to my little son where I literally need to instruct each step.Many people I know are sailing in the same boat..where they are trying to keep in touch with their loved ones but don't know how. So on mother's day I am dedicating a series of posts to make my mom's internet life easier. The mundane day to day net-things we take for granted will be posted in this series...If only I can tell her how to bookmark the post page tp return to it later!!
Happy Mothers Day.
Update:
Internet Basics
Email
08 May 2008
To the Bank Manager.
I won't usually put a forward I received as post entry, but this one is really good not to, since most of us will identify with what the poor lady means. A 98 year old woman in the UK wrote this to her bank. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the Times.
Dear Sir,
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement, which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.
My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and- blood person.
My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.
In due course, I will issue your employee with PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:
1 To make an appointment to see me.
2 To query a missing payment.
3 To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5 To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6 To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7 To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.)
8 To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through to 8.
9 To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.
Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.
May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year.
Your Humble Client
05 May 2008
Life without a credit-card!
Monday again! But sometimes it seems more fun than a weekend....especially when you are living without a credit card. My husband and I are prodigal spenders and probably the worst people to be handed a credit card. Somehow with the credit card in hand we tend to feel all powerful with the thought that we can buy most things any time we want to....We spend our whole student life doing just that!! Buying anything and everything we needed. Now well into our working lives, we have just finished off paying our student debts.
We have since resolved to manage our finances better and most importantly, live without a credit card. We have been doing it for some months now and mostly we do fine through out the week...Weekends are challenging!! Resisting the urge to eat out often...can't pick up things we like (we don't even need them many a times...we just like'em!)Folks around us , said we are insane to pull a stunt like this, but we are doing fine so far. We have learned to live within our means. We put aside a buffer for a rainy day (albeit not a sizeable buffer yet, we put in whatever we can)And we religiously put the loose change in a piggy bank.
Having a little one at home does tempt us to apply for a credit card in case of a medical emergency, but we haven't done that yet. It has truly been liberating...no interest rates and payment defaults to track or transfer balance from one card to another. Life just seems less complicated this way.Just spend what you have, not what you dont! This is exactly what our parents kept telling us all along....we have only just realised it.
02 May 2008
Visiting the Doctor!
I recently migrated from India to Australia and although we were quick to adapt to the new system, there were some things that took time.
Back in India, having families with medical background made it very easy for us to approach doctors and get medical attention, even if it were for a minor cold! So it never a big deal. Coming to Australia, the first thing we were told to do was sign up for the Medicare card. Once we had the card, we thought that now was a good time to go consult the doctors and see if our little son was taking well to Australia and if there was anything specific he had to do for him. So my hubby made the appointment with a General Practitioner.
Upon seeing the GP, she asked my hubby what his problem was....he said he had none. Then she asked me what my problem...and I had none too....that's when we told her that we wanted her to look at our son who also did not have any problem...just a routine checkup. We were then informed, that the person in whose name the appointment is made is the one the GP is expecting to see...good thing to know (especially if you are new in the country). We also found out that the GP is the DOORKEEPER. So they would be the one's to recommend you to a specialist if need be, and that the registered nurses do the vaccinations/immunizations (all my son's vaccines administered by the Pediatrician, which is the case at most places in India)
At the end of it all, the GP said that my hubby would have the funniest chart...with details of an adult and treatment/prescriptions for a toddler!!
FYI:
Jokes aside: Australia is a very cosmopolitian place to be and people from many different places/countries are calling it home. A vast amount of information and help is at hand readily (well long as you ask for help before 5:00pm).So be sure to ask around.
29 April 2008
Driving in India - Part II
Enough mocking the driving in India. Given that influx of population and no driver training, you have to admit that there is order under all this chaos, which only the Indians understand. But then there are some who bicker, some who mock and write a blog like I did or some who really want to make a difference.
I found one such person, who actually tries to help. Dr. Adhiraj Joglekar, a medical doctor, based out of UK but apparently a true Indian at heart who wanted to make a difference. He has actually taken the pains of putting together 17 videos which explain the basics of driving (something that is alien to many Indian drivers).
He explains these basics in his videos which are available on youtube. Fairly simple things like checking blindspot, negotiating roundabouts, high beam or low beam, lane discipline are expalined at length in his videos.
While he welcomes sponsorships for his project, he has already put out this information for free on the web. So in the spirit of paying it forward, I urge my fellow Indians to look at these videos and learn a thing or two. Let's make India a safer place to drive around.
For more information on "Driving a Cultural Change in India" project by Dr. adhiraj Joglekar, please visit his blog here.
Driving in India - Part I
Passionate about cars and driving that I am, driving used to be my favourite pastime...I didn't care where I was driving...the city roads, the small narrow
lanes,the expressway or the ever twisting "ghats"....It was always such a pleasant experience...until i woke up to the reality that I have to move to bigger towns to look for better jobs and more money.So i did. I travelled several places in India and abroad...and here's what i discovered.
Driving in India warrants a special mention here. Driving conditions are the most demanding in India. They test the driver at all level, physical, mental, emotional....and the problem is not unilateral such as bad roads alone, but it is
a dangerous combination of bad driving conditions and even worst "bad drivers". Drivers who have no respect for fellow drivers or pedestrians
for that matter. The normal code on Indian roads seems to be non-compliance to any rule whatsoever.
Picture this....From a distance you can see the your green signal going off in 9..8..7...seconds.What do u do? You step on that gas pedal to try and make it
through, coz if you don't, you will have to spend a STAGGERING 60 seconds or so at that red signal. But that's just your perspective...Just as you don't like the
idea of a 60 second halt, imagine the plight of those who have been waiting at the other end for 51 seconds now. They start inching ahead unable to make up
their mind....Some just brave the traffic EVEN during the red light any which way coz signals are not for them(Oh the audacity of a measly traffic
signal to make me stop, they think)!!!Some drivers with a conscience wait patiently for the green light...Splendid achievement; But all they actually do is
hamper the traffic that is already flowing whatever the signal.Finally the light goes green and that my friends is exciting than the start of any Grand Pr ix.
While the cars at the front zoom off quickly, those at the back begin honking like there's no tomorrow - Dude, everybody is at the signal waiting to go
somewhere, probably in just as much rush as you are!!
People from everywhere travel to the work destinations in the morning and back in the evening.But the best part is having to start an hour or so early to
get to a destination barely 10-15 kms from your place!!! :-( If it's your lucky day, you will get to that signal quickly, else you will be tucked in a zillion
cars in the middle of a traffic jam. And it is literally a JAM.
Everybody loves the comfort of a vehicle,but nobody want to carpool with fellow co-workers - and why should they... it is their car, their petrol, their money(probably paid for by their companies), who cares if it burns a hole in the natural resources,
who cares if it causes environment or noise pollution and ill-health, I will wait in a JAM for 1 or 2 hours, but god forbid, if I try to carpool and take few
single driver cars of the road!!!When we run out of one form of fuel, we will switch to another and another...and when all''s gone - Well there's still solar
energy!!!!
What about the lanes??Do we follow them?? Nah.... we prefer to make 6-7 lanes instead of the designated 2 or 3 lanes....Why waste precious space? And oh!what about the pedestrians!!!Roads aren't meant for them anyways, so lets worry about them another time.
24 April 2008
Flying Suit - Crouching Tiger - Unreal?
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon a movie based on the fourth novel in a pentalogy,known in China as the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, by Wang Dulu, which became a surprise international hit. Much has already been
said of this movie and I don't intend to write another movie review.
The fictional story is set during the 43rd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (i.e.around 1778) and follows the tryst of two martial arts warriors and the Wudan school of martial arts. There were instances in the movie where the characters are literally flying around...not just flying around but having sword fights in air. While I thought the wire-work was tastefully done my husband had whale of a time laughing when he saw the flying sword-fights.
Please indulge me for a moment here and take a look at what I am talking about:
At that time I really had no choice but to let him laugh it all off as....but not for long. Just the other day I saw that now people are actually flying wearing squirrel suits / flying suits. Don't trust me, check this out:
Crouching Tiger Hiden Dragon's flying character no longer seem unreal in light of the modern day squirrel suit flyer, does it? I am not saying that the 17th century Chinese folks were not walking around, but flying to places...just some food for thought.
Here's how an actual working contemporary squirrel suit looks like.
And here's what traditional Chinese outfits looked like:
So I am just curious....are there any real evidences out there which say that this is not just fiction?
Reference: Wikipedia Hans Chinese Clothing.
22 April 2008
Birthdays
From what I see, read and understand, most people will go out, have a bash, drink, eat good food and generally have a blast. But basically most will spend the day with friends. Well there's nothing wrong with having a blast with your friends at all.
But think about it for a second...It's your birthday(the day you were BORN) ....so some woman(willingly or unwillingly) actually carried you around in her belly for around nine month...she probably suffered from morning sickness (definitely not something you enjoy) pregnancy induced blood pressure, hypertension and what not...she endured it all and at times may have had a really difficult time. Carrying you around seems like a piece of cake than actually bringing you into this world...but she did. She then nurtured you, fed you, probably even gave up her career to raise you(a very difficult choice to make), nursed you when you were sick, took you swimming and attended every baseball game you ever played, was teary eyed but strong when you left for college...But she endured this phase of life as well never expecting anything in return.
On your birthdays she remembers this day all too well because it was she who felt pain and joy all at the same time. So c'mon people call your Mom on your birthday instead...and thank her for bringing you into this world.
