Sankaranand Balaradjou

Category: Uncategorized

  • The pros and cons of working remotely

    Its been one year since I started working remotely and I am writing this post to share the pros and cons of becoming a remote worker from my personal experience. I decided to write this post after reading this interesting post on remote working. I started my full-time career in 2010 as a web developer in a French startup where I had to work about 9 hours a day for as low as 150$ per month. (Yes, you read it right “per month” !!). I have experience working in local as well as aboard another country where I had to overcome some challenges. My life changed when I decided to become a remote worker and be own boss.

    Working in an office (Local)

    Pros:

    • You don’t have to commute too far
    • Socialize at work
    • Get to meet and work with people in person
    • Team outing, Person – Person meetings
    • Gossips, fun and some office fights
    • Management Team, team workshops, training
    • Sharing food and other office activities
    • Water cooler chats
    • Staying night to meet the deadlines
    • Live with Family
    • Home Food

    Cons:

    • Fixed working hours
    • Dress Code
    • HR and IT rules
    • Whacky Computer Infrastructures (Raise ticket if your 6 year old headphone is not working !)
    • Restricted Internet access
    • Fixed holidays and leave
    • People peeking at your monitor
    • No privacy

    Working in an office (Out of country/town)

    Pros:

    • Bigger package
    • New lifestyle
    • New Experiences to try

    Cons:

    • Relocation Costs
    • Away from Family
    • Eat out
    • Alien to the place
    • Feeling lonely
    • Setup everything from scratch
    • No friends at the beginning
    • Start from scratch to socialize
    • Plus all the cons of working in an office as above

    Working as remote

    Pros:

    • Literally no need to commute (saves a lot of time)
    • Work at your own flexible hours
    • Everything is just an inch away
    • Work in your own space with your own choice of devices
    • Build your dream workspace as to your taste
    • Sufficient time for other activities and social life
    • Fat package

    Cons:

    • Lonely at work
    • If you are a potato couch, you will have higher chances of exploiting your lifestyle
    • If you don’t use a private space, you will be distracted by your family, kids and regular visitors to your house
    • Lack of inspiration (if you don’t know how to organize your work and time, you will easily end up losing inspiration to work)

     

     

  • Moving multiple files from current folder to parent folder in Linux

    People who use shell to install packages or application in their Linux servers usually need to keep this command handy. Every time they download and unzip a folder, they are in a position to move all those files to a parent directory they already created.

    For example you download wordpress application and extract it, but those files are extracted in another folder that comes up with the zip package. What you need to do at this point is to move all those files from that particular folder to your parent directory which you usually created and planned to host. In most cases it will be your Application root folder.

    Consider a scenario where you are in folderX, you download a package file and extract it but instead of extracting it directly in folderX, it creates another native folder that comes up with package like folderY. So all those extracted files are in path /folderX/folderY/ 🙁 thats bad !!!

    Run this simple move file command outside the folderY, you need to be in folderX when you run !

    mv folderY/* .

    The above command will move all the files and folders inside folderY to folderX 🙂 That works like a charm! Yeah try it. Always ensure to be careful while running commands like mv, rm. If you don’t give the correct part, things will mess up and you end up doing the operation at wrong place.

  • 2 mbps will soon be the minimum broadband speed – TRAI

    Finally 2mbps will be the minimum service speed offered by isp’s in india. This means will there be no FUP by isp? or atleast it is restricted to a minimum speed of 2mbps ?

    You can expect a lower price plan but the service taxes are always higher.

    Now you can stream your youtube video smoothly without a hitch. 🙂

  • Launch your own virtual shop via Zlio

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    Now you don’t require an e-commerce designer to establish your own shop online since Zlio makes it possible in 5 minutes. Ok before going ahead let me tell you what Zlio is all about?

    What is Zlio?
    Zlio (aff) is a French company which provides platform and service for establishing your own e-commerce site. It lets you sell products from their list of trusted merchants. You can choose from a large database of products in different categories and virtually add them to your shop.

    Currently you can sell products and services to France, US and United Kingdom but never mind you can be an active seller in their site irrespective of your country. The catch is all about using your marketing strategies and promotions. Don’t believe me huh? Ok have a look at Techno Shoppe (check the screenshot below) which I created a while ago in Zlio. It took me not more than 10 minutes to customize and create a brand new virtual shopping site.

    technoshoppe.png

    How do you earn out of shop?
    Zlio provides various deals over the commission and referral levels rather than the products…lol. And the best thing is Adsense. If you haven’t observed my sample shop that I created a while ago, I have linked my adsense account with Zlio and so I can display ads in my site. Usually the commission varies based on the merchants but Zlio works on a Cost per action basis so in order to earn a commission one has to purchase a product from your shop.

    What makes this site great?

    Frankly it’s the FEATURES that makes this site great. Yeah to highlight some of its features I would say an easy to use interface, various customization options for templates, SEO, RSS and also add-on facility like Google analytics etc. You can use a custom domain name and integrate this shop on your website or maybe your blog.

    Other Features includes:
    • Multiple shops management under single account
    • Widget for adding to blog and website
    • Community support
    • Reviews and feedback from customers
    • Price comparision

    So my final verdict would be to start your own shop and experience the results instead of just reading this post. Zlio is really a new experience for me and I would appreciate it as a good start for sellers especially Indians who wanted to sell products internationally. SEO tab has been given an importance which lets you add sitemaps of your shop easily and makes its friendly to search engines.

    Links: Create your own shop now | Zlio.

  • Request free office 2007 CD’s from Microsoft

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    As a fan of Microsoft, I want to let the public know about getting a Free Office 2007 Evaluation CD which Microsoft is currently giving out. Yes, don’t worry about the shipping charges which are inclusive of free. All you need is a Microsoft Passport account, with which you can login this page and request a free evaluation CD.

    I have already ordered and got one last week, Office 2007 is one exceptional piece of current Microsoft products which requires high recognition that really is built with good features. If you feel shy about asking a free CD then you can still download the trial version there. You will also be provided with a fully functional 60-day key for trying Microsoft office. Once you like it, you can order a new key and enjoy the benefit of full version.

    Links: Request FREE Office CD | Microsoft Office 2007

    Update: This Offer is closed and Microsoft is no more offering it.

  • CC Cleaner system cleaning utility – [Review]

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    CC cleaner is one of a best freeware available around which is used for tweaking system and protecting privacy. This is of my favorite software which I would recommend and rate 5 stars. Unlike software like Registry mechanic, System Mechanic, this simple and easy to use cleaner is very effective and stays lite in your system. Also it occupies fewer amounts of system resources while using. Don’t be afraid of spyware or malware coz this freeware is completely free from those junks.

    Ok let’s peep in about its features; see below for what this small piece of program can do:

    Internet Explorer:
    Temporary files, URL history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat.
    Firefox:
    Temporary files, URL history, cookies, download history.
    Opera:
    Temporary files, URL history, cookies.
    Windows:
    Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files and Log files.

    Registry cleaner:
    Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more… also comes with a comprehensive backup feature.

    Third-party applications:
    Removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, MS Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more…

    One of a recommend program for each and every system, never mind about the system specifications it works like a diamond on all boxes. CC is not only used as a cleaner but built in features like Issues which analyses your computers registry and fix the bugs, including tools for managing the start and installed program in computer. If you want to see my reviews in truth then please try this utility software.

    Links: CC Cleaner | Download.

  • Microsoft Popfly – Want to try?

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    Microsoft again took another step to compete Google’s Page Creator, with its new Popfly which is still in alpha stage. According to Ms, Popfly is the fun, easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications.

    Ok let’s pop in what this pop fly contains…..

    Popfly is classified into two parts as a online webpage and mash up creator tool and an online community for hosting, sharing, rating etc. At present it gives a storage limit of 25mb per user (Microsoft is always limited and lacking in storage space).

    You want to know more then watch the 15 min screen cast or visit their official site. For buddies who are waiting eagerly for tryout just request an invite.

    *Microsoft and Popfly is the registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.