Free Vector Image Resources

There are literally hundreds of sites promoting stock vector images. Many of the best ones are actually 100% free. I’ve compiled a list of some of the best places to find free vector images anywhere on the web. This is not an exhaustive list but some of the best of the best when it comes to creating and distributing free vector art. Use these seven sites as a starting point for your search for vector images.

Best Vector Resources

Here is my top of amazing and free vector resources:

Vecteezy

BittBox

Vector Portal

Blog.SpoonGraphics

I Heart Vector

Cool Vectors

deviantART

These are some of the best providers of free vector art that I’ve seen around the web. However, if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, I’ve included even more free vector resources (quality may vary).

Other Free Vector Resources

• Free Vectors
• Vectorgraphics.info
• Go Media Arsenal
• Dezignus
• QVectors
• Creativosonline
• Webdesign-Easy
• Brands of The World
• Vectors Workshop
• Createsk8

Benny Dayal talks about struggle and success

“You will never be a playback singer,” an established music director screamed, shutting the door on the young singer. The young man didn’t say anything. He just went home quietly. He couldn’t sleep for nights. He slipped into depression.

Life over the last few months had been hell. It had been an uphill struggle after college. Benny had been the cultural convenor of Madras Christian College and as long as he was singing and winning inter-college competitions, he was a hero. As long as he was playing with his bands, he was a rock star. But our story begins after those wonder years when Benny Dayal had his first taste of the real world. Every single music director he met had nothing to offer. He would plead to get a chance to sing, at least in the chorus. No breakthrough.

Cut to Amethyst, earlier this week. Benny is running late for this interview, stuck at a recording. He has another appointment later that afternoon. He needs to be in Ethiraj College on invitation. They would make him sing a song or two and he was prepared. Just a week ago, a few hundred boys and girls from NIT Trichy went crazy during his concert. And the incident involving the music director telling him he would never make it was now a distant memory. How did he cope with the struggle, we ask as he sits for the interview. Apparently, he would sit and brood at home for hours. “My father had just had an open- heart surgery,” Benny recalls. “My parents had to shift back to India from the UAE.

I couldn’t ask for money or tell them anything. My brother was just settling down into his job. There were days, I didn’t have money for rent or to eat three times a day. There are certain things I cannot talk about.”

With no money to cut a demo, Benny had little choice but to take his senior’s advice and shelve his dream of becoming a singer. He signed up to work with a BPO. “My offer letter said I should join on September 11, 2006 but my senior Pavan wanted me to join on September 3 because they were short-staffed. So, it came out of the blue, when three days into the job, I got a call from Rahman’s office. They wanted me to sing harmony later that night. I was hoping it was not a prank.”

Incidentally, A.R. Rahman was the only music director he had not approached for a chance because he had heard it was too difficult to even meet him. That late night recording was the first of many. Rahman changed his life and took his voice to millions of homes and his name flashed on playlists around the world.

And, Benny has only Pravin Mani to thank for that. “Pravin Mani is like my Godfather. He’s the one who imparted knowledge about professional singing. Before that, I was singing only in culturals. He taught me a lot of the technical stuff. My first song was for his composition for S5, the band launched by SS Music.”

Early days

Benny had been performing ever since his schooldays in Abu Dhabi. “I joined MCC in 2002 because it was well-known for its culturals.” MCC gave him a lot of confidence — be it literary events, JAM or the performing arts. Benny wouldn’t think twice before signing up for competitions.

After his graduation in MCC, he did a diploma in journalism from the same college because it would keep him connected to the band scene. He continues his association with bands till date because he believes he’s always learning while performing live with other musicians and singers.

The Hit List

Yes, we know he was part of Rahman’s brat pack that sang ‘Pappu Can’t Dance Saala’ and ‘Delhi 6’. But the first songs he ever recorded for Rahman were for “Varalaaru” and “Sakkarakatti”. “It was during Ramzan; it happened around 4 a.m. Rahman wanted something in Arabic and Spanish and called me to sing ‘Chinnamma Chilakamma’.”

“When I started singing regularly, Rahman sir said I should quit my job. Finally, I had to leave the company because someone did an article about people in dual careers. My song from ‘Azhagiya Thamizh Magan’ had become a hit by then. So, it became a policy violation. The same night, I got a call from Rahman sir for a recording and later that night, he said: Shouldn’t you leave early or you’ll be late for work tomorrow. And, I told him: No sir, I quit. He shook my hand and said: Congratulations.”

“I like being single because I am focussed right now. Marriage is not on the cards anytime now,” says the bachelor boy who lives with his brother. His parents live in Kerala and are happy that their son finally made it. Did Benny ever meet the music director who told him he wouldn’t? “Yes, definitely. I even recorded a song for him. I have learned from my parents to not keep grudges. I don’t think he even remembered saying it,” he smiles.

Benny’s Bands On Vibrator Mode

A rock band he started during his MCC days with Akash, Themsu, Zuala, Chuba, Ajung

S5

The pop band launched by Southern Spice Music and Pravin Mani. Not functional anymore.

Hexachords

A light music band consisting of his buddies from MCC that won Saarang 2006 and today does pro-shows in colleges around the country.

Subject to Change

A recent pop band he formed with his rivals from Stella Maris College, Anjana and Anisha.

Rainbow Bridge

Sanjeev Thomas’s band that plans to bring out an original album soon.

Juggling Felix @ Tech-A-Break

Finally he got prize

Tech-A-Break 2010

Secrets For a Flat Stomach

Developing a lean, flat stomach takes time and patience, especially when it comes to those last few kilograms in those hard to lose places. There is only one way to lose fat in the so-called ’stubborn areas,’ and that is with the correct combination strength training (with a extra focus on mid-section), cardiovascular exercise (short, hard workouts), and stable blood sugar (keeps you from adding additional fat and makes it easier for the body to use body fat for fuel).

Spot Reduction is a Myth - The first thing you need to realize is that it is impossible to ’spot reduce’ fat from one specific part of the body. Fat loss occurs systemically, meaning that you can’t control where the fat comes from. When you burn fat for energy, you will draw it from all areas of the body, and the first place you tend to put it on will be the last place it comes off.

Cardio, cardio, cardio - Doing all the abs exercises in the world will do nothing if you have a layer of fat covering it. Doing strength training, or lifting weights, would help, but not as much as aerobic exercise. If you want to add some ab exercises in after the cardio, that’s great, but be sure to work your whole torso, not just the upper abs — that includes the lower abs, lower back and the muscles that wrap around your sides.

For example, Walking, jogging, bicycling, elliptical exercise and stair climbing are all great fat burners. Most give up early in the workout. During the first 10 minutes of aerobic activity, glycogen (stored carbohydrates) is the primary fuel source. Because you don’t burn significant amounts of fat until glycogen stores are depleted, the key to maximum fat loss is to work out aerobically for 30-60 minutes continuously per session.

Diet – Its best to stay away from fried food and too many sugary desserts. Abdominal fat loss is a 50% exercise, 50% nutrition combination. Regardless of how much you workout, if the number of calories you take in is greater than the amount you burn, you’ll still put on abdominal fat.

Eat Small Meals Regularly - You should try and spread your calories out into five small meals a day instead of 2 or 3 big ones so that you don’t overeat in one feeding.

Give it Time – If you want to have a flat stomach in 3 weeks, forget it. Losing fat takes time, and it’s unhealthy to lose too much weight too fast. Gradual weight loss is healthier, and more likely to be sustained over time. Go for a lifestyle change, something you can live with for the rest of your life, or you will just yo-yo. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Mistakes that may get your CV trashed

In the current situation, it is very necessary for people to know the mistakes than can cost them an interview call. In an article published on Rediff, Kshpira Singh highlighted the five most common errors. These are outlined below:

A cluttered CV

CVs where people simply put all possible information and expect recruiters to scroll through them to find out relevant details. The only destiny these CVs have is getting the 'delete' key pressed and landing up in the trash bins.



HR people get hundreds of applications for a single position. They don't have the time to sift through your CV and see if each candidate suits their purpose. So, it is your job to make your CV as user-friendly, so that they can find the information they are looking for in a single glance.

Grammatical and spelling mistakes

Grammatical errors and spelling mistakes not only look shabby, but they reveal a lot about one?s attitude. If a HR manager receives a business proposal with grammar and spelling mistakes, the first thing he would think is, "Is this person really serious about the business?"

Similarly, a CV with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes will suggest that he does not care enough for this opportunity, you are lazy and you do not have an eye for detail. Nobody wants to hire an employee with any of these characteristics. So it's a given that such CVs are headed to the rejected pile.

Past failures and/or health problems

Your CV is not the place for you to talk about past failures or health problems, so keep them off paper. Some people may argue that almost everybody has the sense not to write about failures and health problems on CVs and while I agree with them, it's been known to happen.
So this pointer is for those who do commit this mistake. Take a look at your CV again and if you have addressed any of these problems directly or indirectly, it is wise to edit them out.

Current or expected CTC

Many people have developed the habit of writing about their current salary or expected salary on a CV, as they assume that all prospective employers are going to ask about it, or that most job notifications require it. It is advised not to mention it on the CV, unless specifically asked to do so.

Vague/unclear contact details

Picture this situation -- you have a menu card from a nearby restaurant in front of you. You like the dishes they serve and the price is right too. You are impressed by the fact that they deliver within 10 minutes. You pick up the phone to make a call, but are not able to find the telephone number on the menu card. You look a second time, but you are still not able to find it. You're hungry and there's another menu card from another restaurant right in front of you, which looks equally good.

What will you do? Won't you immediately place an order with the restaurant that offers a number and ask them to send the food ASAP? Later, you may realise that there was a phone number on the first menu card, hidden somewhere in a corner, but the opportunity is gone now. You may land up in a similar situation if your contact details are not clear or not easy to find for employers. Some other things to note here are:

? Provide a phone number where potential employers can talk to you directly and don't have to go through your parents or friends.
? Keep the e-mail addresses formal - mostly a combination of your first and last name
? Keep the e-mail address small and uncomplicated to avoid any typing mistakes if employers decide to contact you online.

Writing a CV is not a difficult task. The best person to do it is you. The only thing you need is to analyse your candidature properly and present it well. You will need to draft and re-draft your CV many times before you are finally happy with it.

Kshipra Singh is a contributor to CareerRide.com, a website that offers a common platform for employers and candidates to discuss career opportunities.

Seven New Bishops of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

Fr. Dr. George Pulikkottil (42) BSc, GST, BD, M.Th, PhD
DOB: 17 May 1967
Member of St. Mathias South Cross Parish, Kunnamkulam. Parents: Late Mr. P. V. Pavu and Mrs. K. V. Anna, Present Address: STOTS, Nagpur, Post Doctoral Research Fellow. Diplomas in Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and German Languages. Priest since 1992 and served in different parishes under Dioceses of Kunnamkulam, Kottayam, Madras, UK Europe, and Canada and Diocese of America. Lecturer/Professor at OTS Kottayam & Nagpur since 1994. Served as Registrar of Divyabodhanam, Program Secretary of Sophia Centre – Centre for Inter-religious Dialogue and Cultural Studies, Resource Person for Oriental Studies, Associate Secretary of the Kerala Council of Churches, Member of the Association of Professors and Research Scholars in Germany for Study of Religions, since 2002. Authored more than 10 publications.

Fr. Dr. John Mathews (57) MRE., PhD.
DOB: 18 December 1952
Member of St. Thomas Cathedral, Kollam. Son of Samuel Mathews, Pulimoottil, Kollam. B.A. from Kerala University, M.R.E from America, Ph.D from Fordham University U.S.A, Serves as Professor of New Testament, Orthodox Seminary, Kottayam, Registrar of Divyabodhanam English Section, Secretary of Orthodox Vaidika Sanghom, Secretary of Inter- Church Relationship Committee of the Orthodox Church. Author of Gospel According to St. Mark – An Interpretation.

Fr. Dr. Sabu Kuriakose (43) B.Sc., BD., M.Th., D.Th.
DOB: 11 March 1966
Principal Secretary to H.H The Catholicose and working as Lecturer in the Dept. of Religion and Culture, OTS, Kottayam. Home Parish: Chungathara St. George, Malabar Diocese , Permanent Address:Tachiruparampil, Chungathara, P. O Malappuram Pastoral Work: Vicar- St. George Cathedral, Kozhikkodu, Asst. Vicar- Mar Gregorios, Salem, Asst. Vicar- St Thomas, Bangalore and St. Gregorios, Tumkur, Vicar- St. Gregorios, Nilambur,Vicar, St.Stephens, Karappurum, Vicar- St. Marys, Akampadam, Vicar, St. Marys, Shornur, Vicar, St. Thomas, Nattassery . Present Vicar of Thazhathangady Mar Baselios & Mar Gregorios

Fr. Yuhanon Ramban (47) MA., B.D., MTh.
DOB: 8 Oct 1962
Parents: (Late) Sri. P.Mathai and Thankamma Mathai,Nediyavilayil House, Pandalam, Superior of Holy Trinity Ashram, Ranni, Home Diocese: Chengannur, Home Parish :Kurampala St. Thomas, MA Sociology (Kerala), GST (OTS, Kottayam) B.D (Serampore), S.T.M (in Patristic Studies) from General Theological Seminary, New York, USA M. Th. (Spiritual Theology) Course completed from Indian Institute of Spirituality, Bangalore, Served the parishes in the Dioceses of Trivandrum (1987-92), America (1992-2003) and Madras (2006-07), Served as Secretary to: (Late) H.G. Geevarghese Mar Dioscorus (1981-’82 & 1988-’92) at Trivandrum and H.G.Mathews Mar Barnabas(1992-2003) at New York and as the Diocesan Office Secretary at New York. Attended various conferences of NCCA in 2000 and 2001 as delegate of the American Diocese. Member of NAMS since 1984. Author of the Book: Baptism Eucharist Ministry. Chief Editor: of “Diocesan Voice”, a quarterly publication of the American Diocese.

Fr.Dr.Nathanael Remban (57) BA., BD., M.Th., D.Th.
DOB: 10 February 1953
Superior of St. Paul’s Ashram, Puthuppady, Principal of St.Paul’s Mission Training Centre, Mavelikara, Son of M. George & Thankamma George, Thoppil, Vazhuvady Thazhakkara, Mavelikara, Parent Parish – Mar Baselios, Vazhuvady, Mavelikara, B.A. (Economics). M.A (Philosophy) Osmania University, BD, M.Th & D.Th (Serampore), Secretary, Orthodox Church Mission Society & Mission Board. Governing member of: St. Gregorios Balagram, Yacharam, St. George Balikagram, Pune, St. Paul’s Balagram, Ittarsi, Kalahandi Development Project., St. Gregorios Dayabhavan & Palliative Care Centre Kunigal, Bangalore, Mar Osthathios Sharing Trust. Written & Published 12 Books in the area of Theology, Philosophy & Spirituality. Published more than 30 research papers and 3 Thesis, Managing Editor – Doothan Tri Magazine

Fr. Dr. V. M. Abraham (40) BD., M.Th., D.Min.
DOB: 28 December 1969
Member: St. Basil Dayara, Pathanamthitta, Home: Vadutala, Mathoor, Pathanamthitta, Home Parish: St. George Valiya Palli, Thumpamon Erom. Education: B.Sc., M.G University, B.D., (Serampore) from OTS, Kottayam, M.Th., Dharmaram College, Bangalore, Pastoral Counseling, Elmhurst Hospital, Elmhurst, IL, Doctor of Ministry – Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL, General Secretary – MGOCSM since 2005, Sabha Managing Committee Member since 2006, Governing Board member Thadagam Ashram since 2005, Sabha Mission Board member since 2005, Mar Eusebius Memorial Project Director Board member since 2009,Kerala Council of Churches delegate since 2007, Director, St. Gregorios Shanthinilayam Counseling Center(1997-2000), Secretary to L/L HG Philipos Mar Eusebius (94-95). Parishes Served: St. Gregorios, Tumkur, Karnataka St. Mary’s, Thirumuttom, St. Basil Dayara Chapel, St George, Mukkaluman, Thumpamon, St. George, Angadical, St. Gregorios, Oak Park, IL, USA

Fr. V. M. James (56) GST., BD., M.Th.
DOB: 24 February 1953
Member of Budhannur St. Elias Orthodox Church, Chenganoor Diocese, Son of late T. K. Mathew, Budhanoor, M. A from Kerala University. B. D and M. Th from Serampore University, Served as Vicar St. Thomas Kollam, St.Gregorios, London., Higher Studies in Eastern Spirituality and Monasticism in England. Now Director of St. Basil Bible School and Orientation Centre, Sasthamkotta. Superior Mt. Horeb Ashram, Sasthamkotta. Member of Dr. C. T. Eapen Trust. Author of Pravachaka Sandesam in Divya Bodhanam Series.

Seven more Metropolitans to the Malankara Church. Malankara Association Members gave an over whelming and standing ovation with heaven breaking applause to seven Metropolitan elects, when the Malankara Metropolitan declared their names as winners of the Episcopal election 2010 at Mathews II Nagar (Mount Horeb Ashram), Sasthamkotta at 9.00 pm local time.

Some of the Association members, who were in an ecstatic mood, were literally elevating their loved candidates, who have been confirmed by their mother Church as befitting candidates to lead them deep into the 21st Century!

Fr. Dr. George Pulikkottil (714 – 1677) = 2391, Fr. Dr. John Mathews (769 – 1475) = 2244, Fr. Dr. Sabu Kuriakose (701 – 1536) = 2237, Fr. Yuhanon Ramban (599 – 1619) = 2218, Fr. Dr. Nathaniel Ramban (611 – 1510) = 2121, Fr. Dr. V. M. Abraham (544 – 1384) = 1928 and Fr. V. M. James (497 – 1184) = 1681 are the seven priests, who have won the Episcopal election.

When the Malankara Syrian Christian Association President, Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicose Baselios Didymos Marthoma I declared their names and invited them to the stage to garland and congratulate, children of the Malankara Church all around the globe had also approved their accord with pleasure.

The Association concluded with prayer and apostolic benediction by the Supreme Head of the Malankara Church, the Catholicos.

The home parishioners and loved ones of the Metropolitan elects from their respective dioceses received the Metropolitan elects with delight and have led them to their residences with motorcade accompaniment. On their way home prominent parishes of Malankara will also extend their joy and love to them by extending warm welcome.

“It is the second time in the history of Malankara Church that the desired number of candidates has been elected to the bishopricate. This reflects the depth of prayerful and saintly stature of His Holiness,” the priest trustee Fr. Dr. Jones Abraham Konatt said to IOH. He went on to reflect that the prayers and blessings of His Holiness’ predecessors, especially Baselios Marthoma Mathews II, whose mortal remains rests to the second coming of the Lord at the Association venue, have visibly reflected in the proceedings.

10 mistakes that bosses make

Calling the boss H - Hitler, A - Arrogant, R - Rascal and I - Idiot caught everyone's attention in Naukri's TV commercial, would you do the same if given an opportunity? Even though it was just an advertisement, it did reflect the plight of employees in the IT industry. After receiving interesting comments on "10 reasons why people quit jobs in IT industry", we decided to take it a step further to analyze what exactly is going wrong. We conducted a survey to find out top ten mistakes that even good managers and bosses make.

So I am listing below the top ten mistakes which are very common amongst bosses.

1 - Micro-management
Sometimes when bosses assign work to an employee they don't completely trust that employee will be capable of completing the work. They underestimate the ability of the people they hire and end up offending the employee. "According to me, the number one mistake is, not effectively identifying the strengths of the employee, thereby micro managing or not delegating or not trusting the employee's judgment. A good boss is one who brings out the best in the employee," says Sharda Balaji, Founder of NovoJuris Services.

2 - Using improper mode of communication
Some bosses have this weird sense that since they are boss they should order people around and create a military kind of environment. They feel the stricter the things are the better things are organized. If an employee is late for some deadline, then the boss starts labeling the work or the employee himself.

3 - Leading through intimidation
This is one of the worst kind of mistake that bosses make. They feel that if an employee is threatened to work they will perform better. What the boss does not realize is that employee under such pressure end up losing interest in work and will meet the deadline just for the heck of it. Such employees then would only do what is asked from them and will never happily give hundred percent to do something good for the company.

4 - Lacking empathy for employee's situation
There are sometimes when employees do make excuses to take leave or when they come late. But not every reason is an excuse. Bosses end up thinking that their employees are always making excuses and do not showing any consideration for employee's situation

5 - Becoming inaccessible to your employees
An employee wants to contact his boss for something important but he is busy with other things and does not give any weightage to employee's problem and hence he is scared to approach his bosss.

"I have had some experiences at one of the company I worked with, where the manager was just not approachable and accessible. I could not expect any kind of guidance from him. It would not be wrong if I say that he was too busy caught with meetings (not accessible). He was also not approachable at the same time because of bad temperament and everything depended on his mood," said Prashant Honnavar, who is a Manager of HR at NextBiT Computing.

6 - Not providing guidance or motivating employees
An employee should always have something to look forward to. A good manager knows how to motivate employees to make them perform better but for this they have to spend some time with their team. In today's IT work environment many of the managers have no time to spend with the team due to day long meetings. As a result they miss out on understanding a team member's problem at work and providing the right support and solutions for the same. Failing to support and understanding a team member will lead to recipe of resignation. A manager should always have the practice of having one on one to know more about the team member, and then provide right feedback at the same time to motivate with the right attitude.

7 - Not providing a clear picture - Transparency
Many times work is assigned by bosses to employees without clearly telling them the complete picture. Boss should always maintain transparency with their employee to make them understand what exactly they are doing. "If bosses start informing their team about the correct scenarios and maintain transparency about a project, then the employees will work more willingly and meeting the deadline will no longer be a concern of the boss alone," said Juilee Joshi, who worked as a Technical Support analyst at BMC software.

8 - Insecurity about their post
Some bosses prefer to do things alone rather than taking teams help as they are unsecure that someone will provide better solution, and thus they get a sense of insecurity about their post. "There is something unique about Indian bosses. They get this superiority complex about their position and I fail to understand why. There are many extremely capable folks who like to remain in the 'individual contributors' role because they do not enjoy people management," said Balaji. "You can deal with an egoistic boss, a demanding boss, an impatient boss... but the worst kind is the one who is insecure."

9 - Trying to be friend as well as boss or showing partiality
This is the trickiest part of the boss-employee relationship. Some of the bosses try to maintain a perfect balance between professionalism and friendship but it does not always work well for the company. Employees might become lenient in submitting at deadline or boss might start expecting too much from employees since they are good friend as well.

Another part of this equation can be showing partiality or favoring certain employees over others which create negative vibes in the team.

10 - Making fake promises
In order to motivate employees many time managers make fake promises of promotion or goodies but when the time comes they just stall it. This de-motivates an employee a great deal and might backfire badly on the company.

There are many other mistakes that bosses commit but we felt that these are the top ten reasons. You may think differently and have your own reasons. We would like to hear the top mistakes that your boss makes. Do let us know.

By Ojas Sharma
You can mail us at: editor@siliconindia.com

Tips for good sleep

Stick to a schedule. Erratic bedtimes do not allow for your body to align to the proper circadian rhythms. Mum was right when she set a time we always had to go to sleep as kids. Also, make sure you try to keep the same schedule on weekends too, otherwise the next morning, you’d wake later and feel overly tired.

Sleep only at night. Avoid daytime sleep if possible. Daytime naps steal hours from nighttime slumber. Limit daytime sleep to 20-minute, power naps.

Exercise. It’s actually known to help you sleep better. Your body uses the sleep period to recover its muscles and joints that have been exercised. Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise every day can help you sleep, but be sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon. Exercise stimulates the body and aerobic activity before bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.

Taking a hot shower or bath before bed helps bring on sleep because they can relax tense muscles.

Avoid eating just before bed. Avoid eat large meals or spicy foods before bedtime. Give yourself at least 2 hours from when you eat to when you sleep. This allows for digestion to happen (or at least start) well before you go to sleep so your body can rest well during the night, rather than churning away your food.

Avoid caffeine. It keeps you awake and that’s now what you want for a good nights sleep. We all know that.

Read a fiction book. It takes you to a whole new world if you really get into it. And then take some time to ponder over the book as you fall asleep. I find as I read more and more, regardless of the book, I get more tired at night and so find it easier to fall asleep. Different for others?

Have the room slightly cooler. I prefer this to a hot room. I prefer to turn off the heat and allow the coolness to circulate in and out of the windows. If I get cold, I wear warmer clothes. It also saves on the bills as you’re not going to require the heat all night long.

Sleep in silence. I find sleeping with no music or TV on more easy and restful. I guess others are different, but sleep with no distractions is best for a clearer mind.

Avoid alcohol before bedtime. It’s a depressant; although it may make it easier to fall asleep, it causes you to wake up during the night. As alcohol is digested your body goes into withdrawal from the alcohol, causing nighttime awakenings and often nightmares for some people.

Apple - iPad

The iPad is a tablet computer developed by Apple Inc. It features multi-touch interaction with print, video, photo, and audio multimedia, internet browsing, and runs most current iPhone OS apps. The device has an LED-backlit 9.7-inch (25 cm) multi-touch in-plane switching color display running at XGA resolution made by Innolux, a subsidiary of Foxconn. Prices for models in the United States range from US$499 to US$829 depending on the amount of storage and inclusion of 3G access.

Apple intends for the iPad to affect the textbook, newspaper, and television industries much the same way the iPod reshaped the music business.

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large, Multi-Touch screen. And they’ll work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps you can’t do on any other device.

Safari

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one whole page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating through the web has never been easier, or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. You can scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.

Mail

See and touch your email in ways you never could before. In landscape, you get a split-screen view, showing both an opened email and the messages in your Inbox. To see the opened email by itself, you just turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen. No matter which orientation you use, you can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, on-screen keyboard, or delete messages, with nothing more than a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message. You can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad will work with all the popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.

Photos

With its crisp, vibrant display, and its unique software features, iPad is an extraordinary way to enjoy and share your photos. For example, the new Photos app displays the photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Just tap or pinch to open the stack, and the whole album opens up. Then you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow. You can even use your iPad as a beautiful digital photo frame while your iPad is docked or charging. And there are lots of ways to import photos: you can sync them from your computer, download them from an email, or import them directly from your camera using the Apple Camera Connection Kit.

YouTube

The YouTube app organizes videos so they’re really easy to see and navigate. To watch one, you just tap it. When you’re watching in landscape, the video will automatically play in full screen. And with its high-resolution display, the latest YouTube HD videos will look amazing on iPad.

Video

The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows, to podcasts and music videos. You can also easily move between wide-screen and full-screen with a double-tap. And because it’s essentially one big screen, with no buttons or anything to distract you, the picture fills your line of sight. So you feel completely immersed in what you’re watching.

iTunes

Just tap on the iTunes Store icon, and you can browse and buy music, TV shows, podcasts — or buy and rent movies — wirelessly, right from your iPad. There are thousands of movies and TV shows (in both standard and high definition), along with thousands of podcasts, and millions of songs to choose from. You can even preview songs before you buy them. And you can sync iPad with the content you already have in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC.

iPod

With the iPod app, all your music is literally at your fingertips. You can browse by album, song, artist, or genre, with a simple flick. To play a song, just tap it, and the now playing screen will show the album art at full size. Then you can listen to your music with either the powerful built-in speaker, or with wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones.

App Store

iPad will run almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. Everything from games to business apps, and more. And new apps that have been designed just for iPad are highlighted, so you can easily find the ones that take full advantage of its features. Just tap the App Store icon on the screen and you’ll be able to browse, buy, and download apps wirelessly, right to the iPad.

iBooks

The iBooks app is a great, new way to read and buy books.¹ Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, color, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.

Maps

See more of the world with high-resolution Satellite and Street View images. You can even see topography with the new Terrain view. You can also search for a nearby business type (for example, “Restaurant”) and then tap on that business to see the route and directions from your current location.

Notes

With its expansive display and large, on-screen keyboard, iPad makes jotting down notes easy. In landscape mode, you get not only a note-taking page but a list of all your notes. It even circles the current note in red. So you can see where you are at a glance.

Calendar

iPad makes it easy to keep on schedule by displaying Day, Week, Month or List views of your calendar. That way, you can see an overview of a whole month, or the details of a single day. iPad will even show multiple calendars at once, so you can manage work and family calendars at the same time.

Contacts

The Contacts app on iPad makes finding names, numbers and other important information quicker and easier than ever before. A new view lets you see both your complete contact list, and a single contact, simultaneously. Need directions? Just tap on an address inside a contact and it’ll open Maps.

Home Screen

The Home Screen gives you one-tap access to everything on iPad. You can also customize your Home Screen by adding your favorite apps and websites, or using your own photos for the background. And you can move apps around to arrange them in any order you want.

Spotlight Search

Spotlight Search allows you to search across iPad, and all of its built-in apps. Including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod, and Notes. It’ll even search apps you’ve downloaded from the App Store. So no matter what you’re looking for, it’s never more than a few taps away.

Start a Conversation with New People

Whether you are a host or a guest, there are many social situations that will call for interaction, even when you are stumped for some way to get it going. For example, you might want to help a friend’s new “significant other” feel comfortable. Or, you might see a stranger across a crowded room, and realize that this is your only chance to impress Mr. or Ms. Wonderful. Then, you realize that you’re not sure what to say.

1. Start with a “hello,” and simply tell the new person your name then ask them theirs. Offer your hand to shake, upon his/her responding to you. (If you go to other countries, greet the person in tune with the particular culture). If you already know the person, skip this step and proceed to step.
2. Look around. See if there is anything worth pointing out. Sure, talking about the weather is a cliche, but if there’s something unusual about it–bam!–you’ve got a great topic of conversation.
3. Offer a compliment. Don’t lie and say you love someone’s hair when you think it’s revolting, but if you like his or her shoes, or a handbag, say so. A sincere compliment is a wonderful way to get someone to warm up to you. But be careful not to say something so personal that you scare the person off or make him or her feel uncomfortable. It is best not to compliment a person’s looks or body.
4. Ask questions! Most people love to talk about themselves — get them going. “What classes are you taking this year?” “Have you seen (Insert-Something-Here)? What did you think of it?” Again, keep the questions light and not invasive. Do not ask too many questions if he or she is not responsive to them.
5. Jump on any conversation-starters he or she might offer; take something he or she has said and run with it. Agree, disagree, ask a question about it, or offer an opinion, just don’t let it go by without notice.
6. Look your newfound friend in the eye, it engenders trust (but don’t stare). Also, use the person’s name a time or two during the conversation; it will help you remember the name, and will draw the person’s attention to what you are talking about.
7. Don’t forget to smile and have fun with your conversation!

Tips

• Just relax. Chances are that whatever small-talk you’re making isn’t going to stick out in anyone’s mind a few months from now. Just say whatever comes into your head, so long as it’s not offensive or really weird. (Unless, of course, the person you’re attempting to converse with is into weird stuff.)
• Remember, if you think of something in your head while you’re talking, it’s probably related.
• It will help if you watch some TV, listen to radio shows, and/or read a lot — newspapers, magazines, and/or books. You need to have some idea of what is going on in the world. Also remember and plan to share anything you like, think is funny, or find intriguing. This is building up your own library of things that might be helpful to another person during a conversation someday. It will be amazing how you thread these interesting things when you least expect it, and make conversation an adventure instead of a dreadful task. If you take it to the next step and say things that you want the person to think of as adding value, and keep to yourself things that the person might not, you are actually honing your own personality to be appealing to the other person, and what is a greater act of kindness than that.
• If you are shy, it will be helpful to have thought about a topic or two that you could talk about.
• Follow the lead that your listener is expressing. If he or she appears interested, then continue. If he or she is looking at a clock or watch, or worse, looking for an escape strategy, then you have been going on for too long.
• Interesting and funny quotes or facts can lighten things up, and make way for things to talk about. You could also use a set of conversation starter question cards for inspiration.
• If talking over the phone, keep the person involved in the conversation at all costs. If you can’t come up with a good topic, try the “questions” game. Just keep asking them questions; random questions work just fine as long as they are appropriate. This technique can save a phone conversation. The questions should be open ended questions that do not require a yes or no answer. For example “How do you know the hosts?” This way you can ask questions about what they just said or follow up with how you know the hosts (for example) instead of acting as if the conversation is an interrogation.
• Half of an effective conversation is the way you non-verbally communicate, and not necessarily what you say. Practice better non-verbal skills that are friendly and confident.
• Read newspapers and magazines to increase your knowledge so you can have more interesting things to talk about

Keep Teeth White Naturally

There are many effective methods of teeth whitening available, but some come with heavy price tags. Here are some steps you can take at home to whiten teeth naturally without breaking the bank.

Things You’ll Need:

• Straw
• Toothbrush
• Lemon Juice
• Salt
• Baking soda
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Strawberries

Step 1:
Limit your consumption of drinks that stain tooth enamel. A few of these include coffee, tea and red wine. If you simply can't cut back on these beverages, consider drinking them though a straw to limit the amount of liquid that actually comes in contact with teeth.

Step 2:
Brush your teeth immediately after eating, especially if eating foods that stain easily, such as berries.

Step 3:
Rub raw strawberries on your teeth, preferably pureed. There is an enzyme in strawberries that acts as a whitening agent. You'll want to brush and rinse after applying the strawberries to remove the natural sugars and acids they may leave behind.

Step 4:
Eat crunchy foods that require a lot of chewing such as carrots, celery, broccoli and apples. These foods are abrasive and will remove built up plaque, which dulls the appearance of teeth.

Step 5:
Dip your toothbrush directly into baking soda and brush. The results are worth the lousy taste.

Step 6:
Combine lemon juice and one teaspoon of salt to make a paste-like substance. Brush your teeth and rinse. Again, not so pleasant on the palate, but your teeth will thank you.

Step 7:
Use hydrogen peroxide to brush your teeth. Dip your toothbrush into a small capful of the peroxide and brush as you would with regular toothpaste, being careful not to swallow. Rinse with water.

- Tips -

• Consider using one of the several whitening toothpastes on the market that have all-natural ingredients.
• Brushing after every meal and flossing regularly are the first steps in maintaining a healthy smile.

Free Stuff for Web Designers

Free Flash Pieces

PhotoSlide Gallery with Captions A little image gallery with captions and numbering that lets you drag the photos left and right through the gallery. All the images and captions can be controlled through the XML. PREVIEW | DOWNLOAD
Doodle Pad! An easy to customize Flash doodle pad. As always, source included... PREVIEW | DOWNLOAD
Clean Blue Preloader A nice little preloader for all your preloading needs. Easy enough to change colors as necessary. PREVIEW | DOWNLOAD
Circular Preloader Another preloader with progressive loop. Enjoy! PREVIEW | DOWNLOAD
Percentage Follow Preloader A preloader that has the percentage follow the mouse cursor. (Move your mouse over the active window if previewing.) PREVIEW | DOWNLOAD

Free Audio

Thanks to the kindness of audio mixmaster Adrien Gardiner, here are some fine audio loops that are free for the taking, and can be used both personally and commercially (outside of reselling them, of course). A great asset to freelancers on a budget! Adrien sells many more loops over at FlashDen.

Cotton Candy (0:48)
Layed back elevator style music.

Utter Mourning (0:15)
Haunting and melancholic.

Plastik Module (0:14)
Some upbeat electronica.

Umbrellas (0:35)
A whimsical little ditty.



Free Docs

Here's a sample Terms and Conditions for website freelancers in Word format. Hope it helps you prepare your own!

Download Website Freelancer Terms and Conditions



Free Giveaways

There are a couple contests each month so if there isn't a current one happening right now, just be patient.


Letterhead and Logo Design 9 (October 19, 2007)
Contest Over. Winner: Greg Ferrell
To a random commenter, we gave away a brand new copy of the best-selling annual Letterhead and Logo Design which features the most creative and inspiring work from well-known design leaders, new design firms, and cutting edge artists -- a highly useful resource for freelancers.


Coffee for Bloggers (November 2, 2007)
Contest Over. 5 Bloggers Selected.
We gave out $5 gift cards to the first five bloggers who met the conditions mentioned in this entry here.


Coffee for Freelancing (November 30, 2007)
Contest Over. 3 Commenters Selected.
We gave out $5 gift cards to 3 random commenters who shared why they freelance.


Holiday Reading Giveaway (December 21, 2007)
Contest Over. 6 Commenters Selected.
We had three books and some coffee to give away, just in time for the holidays.

sIFR

Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) is an open source JavaScript and Adobe Flash dynamic web fonts implementation, enabling the replacement of text elements on HTML web pages with Flash equivalents. It was initially developed by Mike Davidson and improved by Mark Wubben. It is a scalable variety of HTML text-to-flash replacement pioneered by Shaun Inman.
CSS support in web browsers did not, at the time of sIFR's creation, allow webpages to dynamically include web fonts, so there was no guarantee that fonts specified in CSS or HTML would show as intended, as the browsing user may or may not have had the specified font installed in their system. sIFR embeds a font in a Flash element that displays the text, preempting the need for a font to have been manually pre-installed on a user's system.

A common technique is to use raster graphics to display text in a font that cannot be trusted to be available on most computers. Text created this way pixelates when scaled and cannot be partially selected. In contrast, sIFR text elements mimic normal HTML text – they are relatively resizeable and copyable.

sIFR requires JavaScript to be enabled and the Flash plugin installed in the reading browser. If either condition is not met, the reader's browser will automatically display traditional CSS based styling instead of the sIFR rendering. sIFR is not designed for body copy text as rendering greater bodies of text with Flash place formidable demands on the computer. Due to this restriction, Mike Davidson himself admitted that
“ While sIFR gives us better typography today, it is clearly not the solution for the next 20 years. ”

sIFR has been used on a variety of well-known web pages, such as those of GE, Nike and Red Hat. As of December 2008, the current sIFR release is version 2.0.7. Version 3 is in beta.
Even though sIFR has been around for a couple years, many web designers have still never heard of it, let alone use it. sIFR (or Scalable Inman Flash Replacement) allows you to use custom typography on your site by utilizing JavaScript, Flash, and CSS. While most people simply create images when they need a custom-type title, sIFR can dynamically create short text blocks using whatever font you want (while still rendering the text with a default font on non-Flash browsers).

Why would this be useful? Well, for starters, it makes creating custom titles a snap (no images needed). sIFR is also great if you need to create titles on the fly (like for blog post titles). In general, if you want to utilize better typography for your site, sIFR might be the easiest way to pull it off.

Unfortunately, using sIFR is somewhat programmatic in nature and reliant on the user having a little familiarity with JavaScript and Flash. So for those who care more about implementing the effect than the actual programming behind it, here's a quick guide to get you started:

Step 1: Download the Necessary Files
For our purposes, you can download this zip with the necessary sIFR files (currently in version 3).

Step 2: Choose Your Font in the FLA and Publish
After unzipping the file, locate and open sifr.fla in the Flash directory. Double-click on the text movie clip, then click on the text and change the font to any font on your system. Publish the Flash file and move the newly created sifr.swf down to the same directory as your web page. Rename sifr.swf to a more descriptive name like avenir.swf.

Step 3: Include the CSS and Javacript in Your Page
Open up default.htm and notice the inclusion of these three necessary files:

sIFR-screen.css
sIFR-print.css
sifr.js

These files need to be included wherever you will be using sIFR.

Step 4: Create the CSS for Your Custom Type
Also notice in the default.htm that there is some CSS (which is included internally here for simplification):

This first part sets the size of the font as well as the backup font-family for non-Flash browsers:

.flash-title
{
font-size:22px;
font-family: Arial;
}


This second part is a required class used to hide the text if they do have Flash.

.sIFR-active .flash-title
{
visibility: hidden;
font-family: Verdana;
line-height: 1em;
}


Step 5: Run the JavaScript and Use the CSS
And lastly in default.htm, you need to run the few lines of JavaScript you see there, making sure to use the swf you published and named in Step 2.

var avenir = {
src: '/sifr3/avenir.swf'
};

sIFR.activate(avenir);

sIFR.replace(avenir, {
selector: '.flash-title',
wmode: 'transparent'
});

Now you're free to wrap any text in the flash-title class. That's all there is to it (note that you may have to run this on an actual server).

I'm no image. I'm real-life, selectable Avenir!

If you're feeling more ambitious, you can always explore the multitude of options via JavaScript and Flash at the official sIFR wiki and download site. And if you end up using sIFR a lot, consider donating to the developers who've spent hundreds of hours on this. Hope this little guide has been helpful!

External links

• sIFR 3
• Wiki.Novemberborn, sIFR Documentation & FAQ
• Introducing sIFR: The Healthy Alternative to Browser Text by Mike Davidson
• FLIR - Facelift Image Replacement software
• Mike Davidson - sIFR
• Online sIFR Generator
• Another Online sIFR Generator
• A Library of sIFR fonts
• SiFR explained in Spanish with SiFR tutorials
• Official Google Webmaster Central Blog Google prefers sIFR as announced during SMX Advanced 2008
• This is how you get sIFR to work, a guide for implementing sIFR (using sIFR3)
• jQuery sIFR plugin, a jQuery-flavored version of sIFR

Nexus One Google Phone - Web meets phone

The Nexus One is a smartphone from Google, which uses the Android open source mobile operating system.The device is manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corporation, and became available on January 5, 2010. Features of the phone include the ability to transcribe voice to text, noise canceling dual microphones, and voice directions while driving.

The phone comes unlocked and is not restricted to any particular mobile network provider. Google currently offers it for use on the T-Mobile network in the United States; a version for use on the Verizon (US) and Vodafone (European) networks is expected in the second calendar quarter of 2010.

Get a Free CAPTCHA For Your Site

CAPTCHA: Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically

A CAPTCHA is a program that protects websites against bots by generating and grading tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot. For example, humans can read distorted text as the one shown below, but current computer programs can't:

The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University.

Get a Free CAPTCHA For Your Site

A free, secure and accessible CAPTCHA implementation is available from the reCAPTCHA project. Easy to install plugins and controls are available for WordPress, MediaWiki, PHP, ASP.NET, Perl, Python, Java, and many other environments. reCAPTCHA also comes with an audio test to ensure that blind users can freely navigate your site. reCAPTCHA is our officially recommended CAPTCHA implementation.

Use reCAPTCHA on Your Site!

reCAPTCHA helps prevent automated abuse of your site (such as comment spam or bogus registrations) by using a CAPTCHA to ensure that only humans perform certain actions.

• It's Free! Yep, reCAPTCHA is free.

• It's Useful. Why waste the effort of your users? reCAPTCHA helps to digitize books.

• It's Accessible. reCAPTCHA has an audio test that allows blind people to freely navigate your site.

• It's Secure. Most other CAPTCHA implementations can be easily broken.

• It's Popular. Over 100,000 sites use reCAPTCHA, including household names like Facebook, Ticketmaster, and Craigslist.

• It's Easy. reCAPTCHA is a Web service. As such, adopting it is as simple as adding a few lines of code on your site. For many applications and programming languages such as Wordpress and PHP we also have easy-to-install plugins available. We generate and check the distorted images, so you don't need to run costly image generation programs.

Improve Self Confidence

Here are some quick tips to improve your Self Confidence. If we are committed to have a healthy self confidence there are many things you can do every day to boost your self confidence, each small steps that will help you to reach your goal. The good news is that self-esteem is not fixed and can be improved, try some of the steps below to boost your confidence and self-esteem.

1) Identify your successes. Everyone is good at something, so discover the things at which you excel, then focus on your talents. Give yourself permission to take pride in them. Give yourself credit for your successes. Inferiority is a state of mind in which you've declared yourself a victim. Do not allow yourself to be victimized.

2) Look in the mirror and smile. Studies surrounding what's called the "facial feedback theory" suggest that the expressions on your face can actually encourage your brain to register certain emotions. So by looking in the mirror and smiling every day, you might feel happier with yourself and more confident in the long run.

3) Exercise and eat healthy. Exercise raises adrenaline and makes one feel happier and healthier. It is certainly an easy and effective way to boost your self-confidence.

4) Turn feelings of envy or jealousy into a desire to achieve. Stop wanting what others have just because they have it; seek things simply because you want them, whether anybody else has them or not.

5) When you're feeling superbly insecure, write down a list of things that are good about you. Then read the list back. You'd be surprised at what you can come up with.

6) Don't be afraid to push yourself a bit - a little bit of pressure can actually show just how good you are!

7) You can try taking a martial arts or fitness class/course (or both). This will help build confidence and strength.

8) Invest in some new clothing and donate some of your old clothing to send a message to yourself that you both look sharp and feel sharp.

9) Try to make yourself talk positively at all times. When you hear yourself saying you can't do something, stop and say you can. Unless you try, you will never know whether you are able to or not.

10) Don't get wrapped up in your mistakes and dwell on bad points; they can contrast your good points or even give you something to improve. There's no feeling like being good at something you were really bad at.

11) Don't confuse what you have with who you are. People degrade their self worth when comparing possessions.

12) Surround yourself with nurturing friends, not overly critical individuals who make you feel inadequate or insecure. This could do great harm and damage to your self confidence.

SixthSense Technology

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of 'SixthSense' Technology

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop".

In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.