A Techie's Blog » Extras

Paypal Stops EFT To Banks In India

Saqib — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:28:39 +0000

Paypal has again stopped transferring funds via Electronic Funds Transfer to Banks in India. However cheque withdrawal is allowed. Got this Email from Paypal

In accordance with regulatory instructions, we would like to notify you about a change in our withdrawal functionality in India starting on August 1, 2010. At present you can request for either an electronic or cheque withdrawal of funds from your PayPal account if you are an India user.

From July 29, 2010 onwards, you will only be able to request for a cheque withdrawal of funds from your PayPal account.

While we are working hard to restore the electronic withdrawal service, in the meantime, we are bringing this matter to your attention so that you can plan your future withdrawal activities accordingly.

In order to help you with this change and until further notice, we will refund the $5 USD cheque withdrawal fee to you for cheque withdrawals made on July 29, 2010 onwards.

So Paypal has again implemented this step by saying “in accordance with regulatory instructions”.

The good news is that we will not be charged this $5 charges for Cheque withdrawal. I strongly feel that Government of India or RBI must solve this problem once and for all. I hope Paypal improves its service in near future. Nowadays Paypal has not remained as the hassle free service, but it has hassles, especially if you are in India. Lets hope the problem gets solved soon.

Easily Convert Webpages into PDF

Saqib — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:12:45 +0000

Wonder how to convert webpage to PDF ? Many people first copy the content from the webpage, then paste it in Microsoft Word and then convert it to PDF. Ofcourse they don’t know that Webpages can be converted to PDF directly with a simple firefox addon. And even if you don’t use Firefox, then also you can do it. First let’s start with the firefox addon.

1) Web2PDF Converter:

This is a firefox addon. It’s a no frills, no problems addon, it just does the works for which its made for. So download Web2PDF Converter, and it will install in seconds. Now convert webpages into PDF directly through the browser. Now thats why I like Firefox, there’s plenty of addons, for every use. Go ahead and try this one. There are some limitations like this addon cannot be used to convert protected pages where login is necessary. Also you can’t convert HTML pages from your Computer.

2) Express PDF:

Don’t have Firefox ? Don’t worry. ExpressPDF can convert any webpage, or a word file or a Excel file to PDF. Now one doesn’t even want any PDF converter software in the PC. Just go to their website and enter the URL of the webpage which you want to convert and then provide the Email address. In a short time you’ll receive the Email from where you’ll be able to download the file. Its this simple, and people think that its too complex to do this converting.

A word of caution: Do convert webpages to PDF only after reading the copyright policy. Many websites don’t allow this sort of converting. So just keep this in mind and then convert.

Add A Custom Twitter Status Message To A Link Or A Button

Saqib — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:52:54 +0000

Ever wondered how do people create that “Retweet” link or button or create links like “Click here to Retweet”. Well its nothing but just coding and the message. Yes you can add a custom message to the Twitter URL and its just too easy.

http://twitter.com/home?status=Custom%20Message%20Here

Its this simple. Your message should contain “http://twitter.com/home?status=” compulsorily and then add the custom message you want to include. E.g.

Tweet This Article

Please note here that it should not contain spaces, therfore use %20 instead of space or use “+” without quotes. Also you can place the same link to a button, like you can see in this example.

So now whenever someone will click this link or button, he will be bought to Twitter homepage (if logged in) and then the status box will already have your custom message. So all your visitor should do is to click on “Tweet”. See its this simple. Just don’t forget to add this “http://twitter.com/home?status=” in the beginning and then insert the message. Use + to insert spaces instead of leaving a space.

So now if you really are creating a custom twitter retweet link, then its a good practice to first use your twitter username, then the message and then the link, else your choice. So happy ReTweeting. Click here to follow me on Twitter.

Create Surveys Through Google Docs

Saqib — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:40:59 +0000

Are you thinking that creating a survey is a lengthy process and will take your much time ? Oh no, its not so. Creating surveys through Google Docs is very easy. And not just surveys, you can also create forms to collect information. If you want to know about a certain thing, want a feedback or want to do a customer survey, then Google Docs will come very handy. You can just create a survey and send it as an Email to all the people or can also just post a link and ask people to give their opinions.

Creating survey or forms for collecting information through Google Docs is very simple. Yes anyone can do it and you don’t need to be a master for this. So let’s start.

1) Login with Google Account and click on “Documents” from the top left hand side.

2) Click on “Create New” and then on “Form“. So that’s it, now you just need to insert in all your questions/data in the form. Do note that the question can be a multiple choice, checkbox, text, paragraph, etc. So for that click on the “Add Item” to choose the type of question.

You can also insert a section header or a Page break. Default Theme can also be changed. Click on “Theme:Plain” to change the theme to something more attractive. There are many other themes also, so choose the one you like. Properly organize the questions and then click on “Save”.

3) Finally the Survey is created. Now you just need to send this survey to your recipient’s so that they fill it out. Click on “Email this form” to Email this form or you can also embed this form into your Blog or Website. Just spread the word and ask people to fill this. Notice the link which is below the form, just directly copy and paste that in your Email or IM and this way you can ask your friends to participate in this newly created survey.

Yes, its fun. Just try to collect the information and you’ll be surprised to know the results. Its hard to understand human mind afterall.

Integrating Blog’s Feeds To Twitter or Facebook Automatically

Saqib — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:36:50 +0000

Have a blog and want to integrate your RSS feeds to Twitter and Facebook? Yes, you can automate this task. After successfully publishing/writing a new blog post, the second thing which many people do is to post that blog post to Twitter or facebook. And nowadays blog posting to social media is very important. So instead of manually posting blog post to Twitter or facebook, use this website and automate the task and save time. Did I said that it’s just too easy to do this.

Head over to twitterfeed.com and click on “Register now”. Now follow the steps and create an account. Step 1 would be to enter the RSS feed name, which could be any, example your blog’s name. Also insert the RSS Feed URL and click on “test rss feed”. You can also take a look at “Advanced settings”. After this click on “Continue to step2″.

Step 2 is to configure the publishing services. You can configure twitterfeed for Twitter, Laconica, Ping.fm, HelloTxt and Facebook. So if you want to integrate your RSS feeds to Twitter, then click on Twitter and click on “Authenticate with Username and Password”. Insert your Twitter username and password and click on “Create service”. Also you can follow the same steps for facebook also.

So that’s it, this is how you can automate the task of blog posting to Twitter and facebook, instead of manually opening your Twitter account and writing and posting a link through URL shortening service. Also you can select which URL shortening service you want to use in twitterfeed. Explore its features and its too good. So try it now.

Sun Launches Sun Direct HD, India’s First HD DTH Service

Saqib — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:15:35 +0000

Sun has launched India’s first High Definition TV Service. DTH (Direct to Home) are becoming popular nowadays and more and more people are using it. They are cost effective and offer better quality compared to local Cable. Sun has taken a massive step and now you can watch life like video in your expensive TVs or LCDs.

Tata Sky is also going to launch its HD service in some time, so let’s see how many companies will be able to offer this HD DTH service and at what price.

According to Sun, it’s picture quality is five times better compared to any normal TV. Also it offers 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital Surround Sound so that you get the best audio quality. Currently there are no competitors in the market that offers HD DTH service, but in near future many companies will be launching this HD DTH service. So the impatient ones can buy this now to satisfy their hunger for HD needs or if they can wait for some then that will be good.

Before thinking to buy this one, ensure that you have a HDTV. Many companies market these TVs as HDTV, which can show videos in 1920 x 1080 resolution. Currently there are not many channels which are telecasted in HD. The only channels that are avilable in HD are Colors HD, SunTV HD, NGC HD and Discovery HD.

The pricing is 7500 Rs, in exchange of your old STB (Set top box).

Now Watch IPL Live On Youtube

Saqib — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:46:48 +0000

Yes this is true. Now you can watch IPL Live on Youtube. This is the cricket season for which many Cricket lover’s are waiting for.

Some people may be busy working in office and they may be not at home to watch IPL from their Televisions. So they should rejoice now as they can now watch IPL (Indian Premier League) live on Youtube. Click on the below link and start enjoying. Youtube has started a new “Channel”, just for this reason.

Youtube.com/IPL

Also you can watch IPL live from the official website, which is IPLT20.com. So from now onwards, don’t just see the scores or ask the scores, live the match, I mean see the match “LIVE”.

So enjoy watching :)

Join Technostarry On Facebook! Be A Fan!

Saqib — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:13:31 +0000

Facebook, as you know, is the World’s most popular social networking website. It has got an Alexa rank of 2. So you can say that its very popular and widely used social networking site.

I have created a personal FAN Page of Technostarry.com on Facebook, so that you can get the latest updates of what’s going on this Blog.

So join Technostarry on Facebook and get updated to Technology.

See you there on Facebook. Do join Technostarry :)