The Golden 80s

"a substantial number got into the field without having a clear picture about the job they were supposed to do," said a survery conducted several years back. I liked this particular observation because nothing much has changed for the better. Most of the product-based Indian companies do not have a proper technical documentation team. They are also unaware of the importance of technical documentation in marketing their products. Companies do not have guidelines or styles developed to suit their needs. In the absence of credible data on how many Indian technical writers are writing technical documents from scratch and by testing software, it cannot be said that technical writing has arrived in India. Except for a few private training institutes, who make money in the name of training wannabe technical writers, techncial writing is not yet a lucrative profession in India. When compared to the youngsters joining the media, the standard of English demonstrated by young technical...

Check out the buzzwords of 2007 selected by The New York Times .

If you are getting an error message like this, click here for tips.

Firefox users looking for privacy has help in hand. You may notice that a session recovery screen appears on your browser, if the system shuts down suddenly. To avoid restoring the last session, click on Disable Crash Recovery Restore Session Option On Firefox 2

As 2007 draws to a close, lists of the best books, both fiction and non-fiction, have started appearing. (This list will be updated in due course.) The 10 Best Books of 2007 by New York Times

10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid, screams a headline from techrepublic.Copy and paste the link below to read the article. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10881-6075621.htmlrom

http://perfectly-write-words.blogspot.com/ http://chompchomp.com/csfs01/csfs01.htm (Exercises) http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001517.shtml http://www.proz.com/topic/21937 http://www.prc.dk/english/manuals.htm http://www.journalism.ku.edu/school/bremnertest.shtml (editing test) http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/022703.htm

Direct Attached Storage (DAS) - term used to describe a storage device that is directly attached to a host. Network Attached Storage (NAS) - is a data storage mechanism that uses special devices connected directly to the network media. Facilitates clients to access stored data through a server or in a direct way. Connection achieved using either a storage device interface such as Integrated Drive Electronics, or more commonly through the Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI). Storage Attached Network (SAN) - is a discrete network of servers and storage devices (RAID, tapes) attached together through a high-speed interconnect like the Fibre Channel. SSD - Short for solid state disk , a high-performance plug-and-play storage device that is a lot faster than conventional rotating hard disks. Virtualization - Virtualization is a proven software technology that makes it possible to run multiple operating systems and multiple applications on the same computer at the same time. ILM - ILM o...

India's national newspaper The Hindu says "technical writing offers a lucrative career."

Imagine this: The deadline is near and you're stuck with something. Because you are unable to cite the source for a particular line in your report. You feel you will have to change the deadline. Worried? Here are tips on how to cite web pages in your report or article: MLA style APA style

A few good tips for wannabee technical writers. 10 Mistakes Technical Writers Make

Let me start with the following example: # include main ( ) { printf ("hello, world\n"); } All C programs starts with the execution of the function main . All C programs must include a function with the name main. The round brackets or parentheses means that main is a function. The empty brackets mean that the function main expects no arguments. The statements of the function are enclosed in curly brackets or braces. C statements are expression statements : an expression followed by a semicolon. For example, i = 0; or i = i + 1; printf prints the characters within the quotes on the screen. Thes characters "hello, world\n" is called a string or character string or string constant. Strings are always put between inverted commas. A semicolon after characters indicates that it is a statement. "n' is the escape sequence, because when ENTER is pressed it goes to the next line and not a new line or paragraph. VARIABLES : In C, there are two main types of vari...

The different levels of computer programming are: 1. First generation-Language the computer can obey instantly. In the form of 0's and 1's. The command tells the computer what to do and the operand tells the computer where to find and store the data. 2. Second generation-Also called Assembly language. In this language 0's and 1's are replaced by symbolic codes written by humans. This include mnemonic codes and symbolic addresses. The instructions are of 3 parts;Label or tag (symbols defined by coders), OP code (code that tells the computer what to do) and Operand (tells the computer where to store and locate information). 3. Third- Also called High-level languages-More procedure and problem solving oriented. Language is written using alphabets, numbers and special characters. Rules called Syntax is developed. Eg: C, Fortran, COBOL, Java. 4. Fourth-Non-procedural, Very High-Level language. Applications can bew created and information easily gathered. Eg: IBM's Que...

1. http://www.tutsbuzz.com/ - Online tutorial site. Focussed more on popular 2D, 3D, audio, video programs and many of common programming languages. 2. www.juicewire.net- Online photo sharing site. 2GB of space free for users. 3. www.cafescribe.com - Free e-books download site. 4. www.funadvice.com - A typical Q&A site.

AuthorIT is a Content management system for technical writers to produce single-sourced document sets.

1. Audiograbber - an excellent CD-ripper for Windows 95/98/NT 2. Audacity - A free, open source software for recording and editing sounds in Linux, Mac OS X, and other operating systems. 3. Zortam Mp3 Media Studio - An all-in-one Mp3 aplications.It includes MP3 Organizer/ID3 Tag Editor(Mp3 Tag Editor),CD Ripper with freedb/ID3 support,Wav/Mp3 4. WavePad - a wav editor and MP3 editor, and supports a number of other file formats including vox, gsm, Real Audio, au, aif, flac, ogg and more. 5. k-Lite Codec Pack - a collection of codecs and related tools

Philips launched its MediaHedge service to help online content owners gain better control over copyrights and other things. Take a look at what Philips says. Is You Tube listening?

Online video sharing www.youtube.com www.clipshack.com www.ourmedia.org http://videos.google.com http://video.yahoo.com/ video.msn.com www.blip.tv www.vimeo.com www.phanfare.com www.multiply.com www.videoegg.com www.grouper.com www.motionbox.com www.vsocial.com www.eyespot.com/ http://www.aapkavideo.com/ (New service aimed at the Indian market) www.revver.com www.bolt.com www.dropshots.com www.veoh.com www.vimeo.com www.vsocial.com http://www.sharkle.com/ www.evideoshare.com www.phanfare.com www.beedeo.com www.motionbox.com www.ifilm.com www.blip.tv http://www.three.co.uk/ www.my5minutes.com www.zippyvideos.com www.vidilife.com www.youare.tv www.eatmail.tv www.guba.com www.buzznet.com www.eyespot.com www.videoegg.com www.fireant.tv www.gkko.com www.blinkx.tv www.firefoxflicks.com www.jumpcut.com www.Break.com www.Tagworld.com (Called as MySpace of Web2.0) www.Metacafe.com www.ebaumsworld.com www.Dailymotion.com www.podzinger.com (Podcast specialists) www.archive.org www.putfile.com ...

I have read in Hindu mythology how ascetics created things from thin air. Now science seems to have recreated it for the modern world. Read this story on how water is made out of thin air for US soldiers in the desert. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71898-0.html?tw=rss.index

RemotePC now offers a 100% free account for users who like to access their office or home computer from anywhere in the world. Whether you are on a vacation, on a tour or on the road, it does not really matter. Connect to a remote computer with RemotePC and read emails, transfer documents that you wish to check and take printouts. 'RemotePC' is a secure and simple way to access your computer connected to the Internet from anywhere in the world. You can read your emails, work on the documents and resources and retrieve important documents and data files from your home or office computer while you are enjoying a vacation. From your computer (Viewer) you can view the desktop of the RemotePC enabled computer (Host) and using the Viewer computer's keyboard and mouse launch applications, read emails and edit documents as though you are directly working on that remote computer (Host). The entire communication between the Host and the Viewer is encrypted using 128-bit RC4/SSL to ...