SQL Server next version CTP 1.3 now available

Microsoft announced a new preview for the next version of SQL Server (SQL Server v.Next). Community Technology Preview (CTP) 1.3 is available on both Windows and Linux.

In this preview, Microsoft has added several feature enhancements to High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR), including the ability to run Always On Availability Groups on Linux. You can try the preview in your choice of development and test environments now: www.sqlserveronlinux.com.

Get started with the preview of SQL Server with developer tutorials that show you how to install and use SQL Server v.Next on macOS, Docker, Windows and Linux and quickly build an app in a programming language of your choice.

• Install on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Install on Ubuntu Linux
• Install on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Pull and run a Linux Docker container on Linux, Windows or macOS
• Download the preview for Windows
• Create a SQL Server on Linux virtual machine in Azure

The Early Adoption Program is designed to help customers and partners evaluate new features in SQL Server v.Next, and to build and deploy applications for SQL Server v.Next on Windows and Linux. Sign up for the Early Adoption Program (EAP)

Happy New Year 2017

I wish for you that, with every year, you achieve all of your dreams. May God pour love and care on you. Happy New Year 2017.

Visual Studio 2017 RC is now available for download

Microsoft announced the Release Candidate (RC) bits of next major version of Visual Studio named as 'Visual Studio 2017', which is already known to us as 'Visual Studio 15'.

Visual Studio 2017 RC offers productive developer tools and powerful services for individual developers and small teams. Visual Studio Community 2017 RC is a free, fully featured, and extensible IDE for individual developers, open source projects, education and academic research. You can create applications for Android, iOS, Windows and the web. Integrated Azure tools make it easy to create cloud-first applications directly out-of-the-box.

Download Visual Studio 2017 RC

Before starting the download, please note that, it is a Release Candidate (RC) for Visual Studio 2017 and is a web installer that supports the following languages: Chinese-Simplified, Chinese-Taiwan, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese-Brazil, Spanish, Russian and Turkish at this moment.

You can download any of the below editions of Visual Studio 2017 RC directly from Microsoft servers:

• Visual Studio Community 2017 RC - Web Installer
• Visual Studio Enterprise 2017 RC - Web Installer
• Visual Studio Professional 2017 RC - Web Installer
• Visual Studio Test Professional 2017 RC - Web Installer
• Team Foundation Server 2017 RC - Web Installer - ISO/DVD Image

What can you do with Visual Studio17?

Boosted Productivity

Enhancements to code navigation, IntelliSense, refactoring, code fixes, and debugging, saves you time and effort on everyday tasks regardless of language or platform. For teams embracing DevOps, Visual Studio 2017 streamlines your inner loop and speeds up code flow with the brand new real time features such as live unit testing and real-time architectural dependency validation.

Refined fundamentals

There is a renewed focus to enhance the efficiency of the fundamental tasks you encounter on daily basis. From a brand-new lightweight and modular installation tailored to your need, a faster IDE from startup to shut down, to a new way of view, edit, and debug any code without projects and solutions. Visual Studio 2017 helps you stay focused on the big picture.

Streamlined Azure Development

Built-in suite of Azure tools that enable you to easily create cloud-first applications powered by Microsoft Azure. Visual Studio 2017 makes it easy to configure, build, debug, package, and deploy applications and services on Microsoft Azure directly from the IDE.

Five-star mobile Development

With advanced debugging and profiling tools and unit test generation features, Visual Studio 2017 with Xamarin makes it faster and easier than ever for you to build, connect, and tune mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows. You can also choose to develop mobile apps with Apache Cordova or Visual C++ cross platform library development in Visual Studio.

For more information

iPad Supported Video Formats

I got my first iPad and I am trying to know about that are the Video formats that are supported by iPad devices.

Here is the list

• H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.
• MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.
• Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format.

I found this information via google. Thought this worth sharing.

10 Great investing rules

1. Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket!
2. When the ducks quack, feed them
3. Markets make opinions, not the other way round
4. Buy low, sell high
5. When the rest of the world is mad, we must imitate them in some measure
6. During a bull market nobody needs a broker. During a bear market nobody wants one
7. Every man his own broker
8. Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent
9. A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing over it
10. Be diffident when others exalt, and with a secret joy buy when others think it in their interests to sell.

Interesting isn’t it.

IRCTC–MOBILE

IRCTC launches a smarter way to book tickets. Now book your rail ticket -ANYWHERE ANYTIME through your Mobile Phones.
IRCTC brings to you the mobile website https://www.irctc.co.in/mobile with just a few clicks you can book your tickets using your Mobile Phones. IRCTC mobile website is convenient and easy to use, can be accessed from any browser enabled mobile having basic GPRS activated on phone.
The following features are available:
Book Ticket/ Enquiry - Book tickets by providing source and destination.
Booked History - Tickets whose Date of Journey is due will be visible.
Cancel Ticket - Cancel any of the tickets whose date of journey is due.
Browse the URL using your mobile and book tickets using any of your credit/debit card for payment.

Time, Anger and Disrespect

Time is precious to everyone. It’s a bad habit to keep other people waiting. Almost everyone feels that one of their most valued commodities is their time. This being the case, one of the ultimate slaps and most sure way to annoy someone is to keep them waiting. While most people are somewhat forgiving, keeping them waiting is a sign of disrespect. The subtle message is, “My time is more important than yours.”
Deep down, we all know that no one likes to be kept waiting. Therefore, it’s highly stressful to keep other people waiting because you know you are disappointing someone. In the back of your mind, you know well the person is looking at his watch, wondering why you are late. You may be keeping him from personal or professional commitments and that could make him angry.
There are obviously exceptions to the rule – times when factors beyond your control prevent you from being on time. Things happen to all of us, and no one has a perfect record. Truthfully, however, a vast majority of the time, being late is preventable by planning ahead, allowing a little extra time, or making allowances for unexpected problems.
Many times we compound the problem by making excuse like “traffic was horrible,” when, in reality, traffic is virtually always horrible. The problem wasn’t traffic – but the fact that we didn’t factor enough time in our schedule for the traffic. It’s likely the case that, even if traffic was horrible, or you got off to a late start, or whatever the excuse, the other person isn’t going to be interested or impressed.
I wouldn’t underestimate the negative impact of making someone wait. It drives some people crazy. And, even if they don’t express their frustration to you directly, it can show up in other ways – not taking you seriously, avoiding you when possible, being disrespectful, choosing to spend their time with others instead of you, showing up late to your future appointments, etc.

Firefox speaks your language

Firefox is available in over 70 languages, download Firefox that speaks your language.

Download from here for fully localized versions.

Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5 Express

Microsoft has released final version of it’s so called lighter version of IIS 7.5 called as “IIS 7.5 Express” which makes developers to utilize the features of IIS 7.5 in Windows XP and above Operating system environments. IIS 7.5 Express is a simple and self-contained version of IIS 7.5 that is optimized for developers. IIS 7.5 Express enhances your ability to develop and test web applications on Windows by combining the power of IIS 7.5 with the convenience of a lightweight web server like the ASP.NET Development Server (also known as Cassini). IIS 7.5 Express is included with Microsoft Web Matrix, an integrated suite of tools designed to make developing web applications on Windows simple and seamless. IIS 7.5 Express can also be used with Visual Studio 2010 as a powerful alternative to Cassini. The benefits of using IIS 7.5 Express include:

• The same web server that runs on your production server is now available on your development computer.
• Most tasks can be done without the need for administrative privileges.
• IIS 7.5 Express runs on Windows XP and all later versions of Windows.
• Many users can work independently on the same computer.

Download: IIS 7.5 Express Final

New Year Eve : 2011

Wish you happy new year to you and your family. Hope you all have a wonderful and loving year. Welcome to Year 2011.

Skype Adds Video Calling to iPhones, iPad, iPod touch

Skype today announced that the new version of its iPhone application adds video call support, allowing users to make video calls over 3G and Wi-Fi networks. This means that users of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are now able to make and/or receive free video calls with one another, as well as with anyone else running Skype software that supports video calling.

Happy Birthday, Firefox

Today marks the sixth birthday of the popular web browser Firefox. It was launched on November 9, 2004 as a lightweight and more secure alternative to Internet Explorer 6, which was the dominant browser at the time. Six years later, and Firefox is now the second most widely used browser with steady growth and 31.5% market share according to StatCounter. The next major version of Firefox, Firefox 4, was originally scheduled to be launched by the end of 2010 but was recently delayed into early 2011.

The new version will bring several important improvements like HTML5 support, redesigned user interface, multi-touch functionality, hardware-accelerated HD video and improved support for add-ons through Jetpack

RockMelt, the Social Savvy Browser

RockMelt, a new browser that lives in the cloud and uses Facebook authentication to synchronize a user’s browsing experience across machines, went into limited public beta today.

It was built around the premise that the browser is busted. The thought is that older browsers aren’t made for the way we now use the web, and maybe it’s a solid way of thinking. After all, browsing is a passive activity, and the Internet is increasingly about interaction.

There are some unique concepts here, namely the fact that RockMelt lives in the cloud. This allows your “browser experience” to be, in a way, profiled. Your settings, bookmarks, etc., are all backed up online.

Using Facebook for authentication, your user environment can be replicated anywhere RockMelt is installed. And really, that’s what RockMelt is all about: The user environment.

Users of Google Chrome will feel at home, because RockMelt is built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s browser. The major differences are columns running down each side of the browser.

The left side depicts your favorite Facebook contacts. When a contact is listed on the left bar, you’ll be able to quickly initiate Facebook chats with them or post content to their Facebook walls. You can also easily send them e-mails through the seamless contact pop out.

Straddling the right side is your bookmarks — and here’s another area where RockMelt’s cloud is put to clever use. Bookmarks are updated from the cloud, so content is cached and waiting for you when you log on.

All in all, RockMelt is an interesting twist on the browsing experience. The social elements of the browser make for a compelling and streamlined online interaction process. And because it’s powered by Chromium, it not only supports Chromeextensions, it’s guaranteed to support the latest and greatest aspects of the web, like HTML5 and CSS3.

Micrsoft launches new explorer IE9 beta

Microsoft is back to take its internet explorer turf from Google Chrome and Firefox with newly launched beta version of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). Microsoft claims that IE9 delivers faster speed as it uses HTML5 and new web technologies like CSS3 and SVG2 and GPU for acceleration.

Check out the new developer capabilities of Internet Explorer 9 here at IE9 Test Drive.

IE9 will only be available for Windows Vista and Windows 7 -- those still using XP will have to stay with IE8.

There are many new features in IE9.

Some of them are listed below,

- A completely new design
- Pinned sites
- A download manager
- Enhanced tabs
- New tab page
- Search directly in the address bar
- Notification bar
- Add-on performance advisor
- Hardware acceleration.

Using Internet Explorer 9, you can pin sites like Hotmail, CNN and Facebook to your taskbar and then launch them like an app. To pin, just grab the tab in the browser and drag it to your taskbar.

You can Download IE9 beta from this link.

2010 Airtel Champions League Twenty20 Match Schedule

Cricket is back after controversies. Here is the schedule for the matches. Download full schedule from here.

Database of Indian Railways Trains & Stations - India Rail Info

Check this, you can find any information about Indian Railways very fast. 

Database of Indian Railways Trains & Stations - India Rail Info

TreeSize Free

Every hard disk is too small if you just wait long enough. TreeSize Free tells you where precious space has gone to.
TreeSize Free can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders. You can expand this folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of every subfolder. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while TreeSize Free is working. The Explorer context menu is supported within TreeSize, as well as the usual drag & drop operations.

You can Download TreeSize Free from here. TreeSize Free is freeware for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.  Users of Windows 9x/ME can download the last compatible version TreeSize Free V2.1.

Supported Operating systems

• Windows 7 (32 Bit / 64 Bit)
• Windows Vista (32 Bit / 64 Bit)
• Windows XP (32 Bit / 64 Bit)
• Windows 2000
• Windows Server 2008 (32 Bit / 64 Bit)
• Windows Server 2003 (32 Bit / 64 Bit)

Utility: 7-Zip Format

7-Zip is the new archive format, providing high compression ratio. 7-Zip is open source software. Most of the source code is under the GNU LGPL license. The unRAR code is under a mixed license: GNU LGPL + unRAR restrictions. Check license information here: 7-Zip license.

Main Features of 7z format:

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
• Supported formats:
• Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
• Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Integration with Windows Shell
• Powerful File Manager
• Powerful command line version
• Plugin for FAR Manager
• Localizations for 74 languages

I personally like it very much. Its really helpful for me. Hope you all like this. You can Download 7-Zip for Windows.

SRT – THE KING

Sachin Tendulkar collared South Africa's attack on his way to a historic 200*

Tendulkar's finest ODI performances

Sachin Tendulkar reaches 200 in the last over, 2nd ODI, Gwalior, February 24, 2010

A selection of tributes on Sachin Tendulkar's double-century

The ultimate ODI innings

Breaking the barrier

Highest Individual ODI Scores

I'd like to bat another full 50 overs - Tendulkar