Adobe Captivate 3 ---> A rapid review

I downloaded a copy of Adobe Captivate 3 and took it to a test drive. It's really cool. Of course, I have only scratched at the surface of what it can do. Believe me it can do a lot.


The basics are presented (using this program) taking the reader through Recording, Editing, Publishing and Quizzing tutorials. These are really well made. There are many other tutorials discussing Audio, Flash Video, Interactivity, and many others. The interface is very friendly and I could get a demo running in no time at all and merge it with my Power Point Presentation slides.

If you are planning for a demo and pressed for time you may want to take a look at this.

Do you want to work with Windows Presentation Foundation Project?

You have been designing in several older versions of VB and now you want to get on to the WPF. This article gives you a jump start to a WPF project building on your existing skills. Make sure you check out this article.


Windows Presentation Foundation Project - Basics of Working

IE 7.0 and Outlook Express related problem

This was the problem:

The computer [Windows XP Sp2] was disconnected to remedy some building related problem and was reconnected after 3 days.

These strange happenings were noticed:

The IE 7.0 comes up and goes down immediately.The Outlook Express 6.0 comes up and goes down immediately.

I thought I would go back to a previous restore point but the System Restore shows up in flash and goes away.

Fortunately FireFox is working.

Contacted Comcast my ISP:
I had a brief chat with one of the rudest of Comcast's agents. His only response was asking me to contact Microsoft. He did not want to look into some of my suggestions. Before I could offer my suggestions he had vacated the chat room. This is 24 X 7 Service!

Some simple tests:
Next I carried out a few tests. I opened one of the *.eml files from hard drive with Outlook Express. It not only stayed up but also I could send a email. Trying to receive one made the application to disappear. Similarly, trying to open an html file from the C: drive was also successful, but any attempt to get to an internet address resulted in its disappearance.

Checking for viruses:
I have McAfee security from my ISP as well as for emails I have a copy of AVG Free Edition Ver. 7.5 turned. I ran both these programs for two whole nights and there were no viruses of any kind. I concluded that some how the files in the login account were corrupted.

The Solution:
The solution I then tried was successful. I created a new user with the Administrator's privileges. Logged in with the new user, and now I could go to System Restore and restore it to an earlier date when I had no such problem. Some how the IE came up with a Japanese version (I still have no clue why) although the Regional Language page showed only English. But then I logged off, and logged in with my account that had become corrupted. Now everything is fine. The first screen that came up was the System Restore with the message that the computer has been reverted to an earlier date.

I have seen some web references which mention that the Outlook Express gets corrupted and bleeds into IE. I am not sure this was the case.

Lesson learnt: Patience

How to export query results from Oracle SQL Developer tool

You have run a query against the database in the Oracle SQL Developer tool. Now you want to export the results. This is how you can do it. The screen shows it all. First select all the data the rest is easy.

Effortless migration of data from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008

It's so easy to transfer a database from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008. Well the same holds good from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2008. Read on...

Moving database from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 in three steps

SQL Server 2005 can be migrated to SQL Server 2008 quite easily by manually detaching the database from SQL Server 2005 and attaching it to SQL Server 2008. This is a much easier process than the 'Copy Database Wizard' which has two procedures one of which is the same as the manual process but carried out under the watchful guidance of a wizard and the other which does not require the stopping of the Source server.

On the occasion of first lasing of CIRFEL

CIRFEL, an acronym for Compact Infra-red Free Electron Laser was built over a period of ~5 years in the Physics Department of Princeton University by a team of Physicists, Engineers, and Programmers from Northrop Grumman Corporation collaborating with Prof. Austin at Princeton University.

CIRFEL started producing light around March 1997. This picture was taken on the occasion of first lasing of CIRFEL in the Joseph Henry Room at Princeton University Physics Building.


Right to left: D. W. Feldman (Consultant), Ira Lehman, R. A. Hartley and Jayaram Krishnaswamy

You can find here a list of articles published during this period.

Is this title adequate?

I was tempted to read this article in New York Times. I don't buy the newspaper but read highlights online.

This article is titled,

"Asian Markets Follow Dow's Decline"

Probably you would be expecting to read about Asian Markets. There is exactly one short paragraph in an article that covers two browser pages.

I ask you, Is this a good title?

This should have been titled,"Global Markets Follow Dow's Decline"

Notes on Binary Democracy

This two party system in USA is only binary democracy.

The hall mark of democracy is plurality which is sadly missing. It is either this or that.

As for me, while voting, I look for any third party and vote, no matter what they stand for. May be someday some other party will make it to the top.

When it comes to voting on public questions I am at least on a firmer and clearer ground.

My articles on Crystal Reports

Crystal reports 8.3 was used for all most all the articles.

Crystal Report from OLAP Data

Generating a Simple Crystal Report using VS 2005

Generating a Multiple Table Crystal Report using VS 2005

Creating a Crosstab Report in Visual Studio 2005 Using Crystal Reports

Publishing Crystal Report as a Web Service

Hats off to the government in Dublin

Read New York Times article

"Motivated by a Tax, Irish Spurn Plastic Bags"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/world/europe/02bags.html?th&emc=th

Text quoted from New York Times:

"In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts."

Great stuff to emulate