Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Top 10 Linux commands for Absolute Newbies

So you’ve installed a flavor of Linux such as Ubuntu or you have shell access to a Linux system and you want to start doing some damage. The admins at LXPages.com compiled 10 commands that every Newbie Linux user should definitely know to start being effective.

1) ls

This basic command is your eyeball into the filesystem. Use it to list the contents of a directory.

A) To view details such as the file permissions, user and group owner, last time file was modified pass the l option as such
ls -l

B) You can search for filenames by using wildcards. To list files that start with the letter f, use

ls -l f*

2) find

Where did you save that file? Use the find command to find your files. The find command will search where you want it to search and find directories or files that match conditions such as name, date last accessed, file size and more. It has got many abilities, and they’re all listed in the man page.

To search for files starting with the letter f recursively starting from the / root directory use the following

find / -name f*

3) man

What did we mean by the man page? man stands for manual, so “man page” really means it’s manual page. Most linux commands have manual pages that describe how the command is utilized. So you can usually type man to view it’s manual page. Great when you’re stuck and don’t know what the command is for or how it’s used. You use it by passing a command line as an option like this

man vi

4) vi

The editor of choice for serious linux users [sorry Emacs fans ]. Use the “man vi” command to read details on this prince of editors. Maybe this is why I love editing and coding in linux, I never have to lift my hands to do anything. Here’s a quick and dirty list of vi commands for you to start using.

A) If you notice on your keyboard the letters (H,J,K,L) are adjacent to each other, which makes them ideal keys to use for navigating this editor.
a) l (move right)
b) h (move left)
c) j (move down)
d) k (momve up)
B) YY - type in Y twice to copy a line
C) DD - type in D twice to cut a line.
D) P - type in P to paste a line.
E) :q! - quit without saving
F) :wq! - save and quit
G) :w! - save

5) cat

How do you view the contents of a file? You can let the “cat” of the bag with the cat command! HA! Here’s how you can use the command

cat filename.txt

6) more

What if there the file you cat fills more than 1 screen? You can pipe the cat command into more which will allow you to view the contents one screenfull at a time.

cat filename.txt | more

7) grep

And what if you need to search for certain phrases or words in a file? And for this we can use the grep command. Say we want to search for all the occurances of the word “passwd” in a filename, we can use the following command

grep “passwd” filename.txt

If there are matches, the lines containing “passwd” will be printed.

8) chmod

You have a script that you need to run, and oh no it won’t run? By utilizing the “ls -la” command you learned you can see if the script has execute permissions. If it doesn’t you may give it execute permission by running

chmod +x scriptfile

And of course, you can run the scriptfile if it is a script by running it with a ./ preceding the filename on the shell command line like so
./scriptfile

9) ps

What are you running in the background? How can you tell? By using the “ps” command of course you can view What processes are running under your account.

10) cp, mv, rm

How do you copy, move or remove a file? There’s actually three different commands for each of these functions.

A) copy
cp oldfilename.txt newfilename.txt
B) move
mv oldfilename.txt newfilename.txt
C) delete
rm oldfilename.txt


Original Article

Store personal data with live bacteria.


TOKYO (AFP) - For people who want to ensure their words last for their progeny, Japanese scientists have found a way to literally put a message into genes.


A research team said this week it had developed a technology for storing digital data in the DNA of bacteria, which unlike most living organisms can survive for millennia in the right conditions.

Each hay bacillus bacterium can store two megabits — the equivalent of 1.6 million Roman letters. The scientists can take out the microscopic implants in a laboratory and read them so they appear as ordinary text.

The team at Keio University’s Institute for Advanced Biosciences said the technology needs to be perfected but that it was optimistic about its future uses.

“If I wanted to store my personal diary in these live bacteria and take it with me to my grave, then my story can live for thousands and thousands of years,” head researcher Yoshiaki Ohashi said with a laugh.

In practical terms, the technology could eventually benefit companies such as pharmaceutical makers which want to “stamp” their brand.

“In doing so, the company can detect piracy and protect its patent. They can also store information at one specific area of the gene and retrieve it from there,” Ohashi said.

The researchers insert the data at four different places so even if one is disrupted, there would be backup.

But the team said they still needed to work before the technology could go on the market. In particular, the scientists need to ensure that the DNA will not be altered as live bacteria naturally evolve.

Hay bacillus bacteria are generally found in soil or decaying matter and are especially resistant to extreme weather.


Original Article from

Monday, February 26, 2007

How To Make An Impression w/ Your Resume in 30 Seconds

The terrifying reality regarding your resume is that for all the many hours you put into fine-tuning, you've got 30 seconds to make an impression on me. Maybe less.

It's unfair, it's imprecise, and there's a good chance that I make horrible mistakes, but there's a lot more of you than me, and while hiring phenomenal teams is the most important thing I do, I'm balancing that task with the fact that I need to build product and manage the endless stream of people walking into my office.

But here's a glimpse. I'm going to walk through the exact mental process I use when I look at a resume. I don't know if this is right or efficient, but after fifteen years and staring at thousands of resumes, this is the process.

Read Complete Article

Google Apps aims beyond Microsoft Office

Following Google's announcement on Friday that it would offer an enhanced version of its Google Apps, dubbed Google Apps Premier Edition, the company left no doubt about the direction in which it was heading.

Not only has it added key business applications -- a word processor and spreadsheet -- to Google Apps, but the company is offering the kind of support corporate IT would expect: IT management tools, technical support, and service level agreements for uptime.

Even all that, however, does not tell the entire story or give the scope of Google's plans.

Read the Complete Article

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Why Today's Technical Careers Need Planning

If you are paid to do the things that you love..Wow .this is called Job satisfaction.

Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow .. The idea was that the best way to build a successful career was to follow your gut instinct, seeking work best suited to your needs and talents. In the past, many engineers built their careers doing just that, and nothing else. But times have changed and those same engineers are now saying that technical careers require careful planning. True, you should do what you love, and love what you do. But in today's marketplace and today's technological landscape, love will take you only so far.

Recent years have seen many changes -- changes that are influencing the way companies does business, and changes that are influencing your career. Some engineers might be tricked into thinking that since our environment is changing so rapidly, it's impossible to plan a career. In reality, it's more important to plan now than it ever has been. You just have to plan for change.
Technology has changed and work has changed. When planning your career, you're better off not trying to fix on a particular technology or job description, because what exists now may not exist just a few years in the future, and new jobs and opportunities are being invented all the time. Instead, plan to learn. Choose the jobs that will teach you something that is new and valuable. Build learning into the way that you approach your everyday work. What you learn on the job, and your ability to learn quickly, will keep your career on track.

Employees are now expected to have a much wider variety of skills than they used to have, and that has caused a major shift in career pathing strategy. Pathing used to be vertical. You could remain within the same technology field year after year and if you wanted to predict your career trajectory you had only to look at your manager and your manager's manager. Nowadays, lateral movement is sometimes more useful. Moving sideways enables you to learn more about the business as a whole and build a much wider and more powerful network

Are you convinced yet that you need to plan your career? If so, it's time to get started. A good way to begin is by identifying the primary motivator that drives you
what it is that gets you up in the morning. For example:
I want to follow my curiosity.
I want to find out about the newest and most innovative technologies.
I want to be able to see that I'm making a difference.
I want to find what's broken and fix it.
Once you understand what's most important to you, you'll be able to make sure that you'll be doing what you love -- in a planned way.

Abstract ..In the past, engineers often took a somewhat passive approach to career development. Today's engineers, who face an ever-changing marketplace and technological landscape, need to plan their careers carefully.

Wish you All the best for carrier planning .

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Oracle Decode Function


In Oracle/PLSQL, the decode function has the functionality of an IF-THEN-ELSE statement.
The syntax for the decode function is:
decode( expression , search , result [, search , result]... [, default] )
expression is the value to compare.
search is the value that is compared against expression.
result is the value returned, if expression is equal to search.
default is optional. If no matches are found, the decode will return default. If default is omitted, then the decode statement will return null (if no matches are found).


For Example:
You could use the decode function in an SQL statement as follows:
SELECT supplier_name,
decode(supplier_id, 10000, 'IBM',
10001, 'Microsoft',
10002, 'Hewlett Packard',
'Gateway') result
FROM suppliers;


The above decode statement is equivalent to the following IF-THEN-ELSE statement:
IF supplier_id = 10000 THEN
result := 'IBM';
ELSIF supplier_id = 10001 THEN
result := 'Microsoft';
ELSIF supplier_id = 10002 THEN
result := 'Hewlett Packard';
ELSE
result := 'Gateway';
END IF;


The decode function will compare each supplier_id value, one by one.

Nokia Symbians Secret Codes

Nokia Code function
*3370# This Nokia code activates Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) - Your Nokia cell phone uses the best sound quality but talk time is reduced my approx. 5%
#3370# Deactivate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR)
*#4720# Activate Half Rate Codec - Your phone uses a lower quality sound but you should gain approx 30% more Talk Time
*#4720# With this Nokia code you can deactivate the Half Rate Codec
*#0000# Displays your phones software version, 1st Line : Software Version, 2nd Line : Software Release Date, 3rd Line : Compression Type
*#9999# Phones software version if *#0000# does not work
*#06# For checking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI Number)
#pw+1234567890+1# Provider Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols)
#pw+1234567890+2# Network Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols)
#pw+1234567890+3# Country Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols)
#pw+1234567890+4# SIM Card Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols)
*#147# This lets you know who called you last (Only vodofone)
*#1471# Last call (Only vodofone)
*#21# This phone code allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are diverted to
*#2640# Displays phone security code in use
*#30# Lets you see the private number
*#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your cell phone.
*#61# Allows you to check the number that "On No Reply" calls are diverted to
*#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable (no service)" calls are diverted to
*#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to
*#67705646# Phone code that removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330
*#73# Reset phone timers and game scores
*#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible
*#7760# Manufactures code
*#7780# Restore factory settings
*#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110
*#92702689# Displays - 1.Serial Number, 2.Date Made, 3.Purchase Date, 4.Date of last repair (0000 for no repairs), 5.Transfer User Data. To exit this mode you need to switch your phone off then on again
*#94870345123456789# Deactivate the PWM-Mem
**21*number# Turn on "All Calls" diverting to the phone number entered
**61*number# Turn on "No Reply" diverting to the phone number entered
**67*number# Turn on "On Busy" diverting to the phone number entered
12345 This is the default security code
press and hold # Lets you switch between lines
The Operating Systems
Symb OS v6.1
Nokia 7650
Nokia 3650
Nokia 3660
Nokia N-Gage
Nokia N-Gage QD
Siemens SX-1
Sendo X
Symb OS v7.0
Nokia 3230
Nokia 6600
Nokia 6620
Nokia 6260
Nokia 6670
Nokia 7610
Panasonic X700
Panasonic X800
Symb OS v8.0
Nokia 6630
Nokia 6680
Nokia 6681
Symb OS v8.1
Nokia N70
Nokia N90
Symb OS v9.1
Nokia N91
Nokia 3250
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia E70
Nokia N71
Nokia N80
Nokia N92
Nokia phones service codes

*#0000# - SW version
*#06# - IMEI
*#war0anty# - SIMLOCK info
*3370# - Enhanced Full Rate ON
#3370# - OFF
*4720# - alternative sound quality codec ON
#4720# - OFF
*#7780# - default factory settings
*#7760# - production serial no.
*#2820# - Bluetooth info.
*#73# - reset phone timers and game scores.
*#7370925538# - delete all the content of the wallet and the wallet code.
*#7370# - soft format — erases all telephone memory.
[Green]*3 - hard format — if only the telephone memory is formatted, puts back the attitudes and reboots
*#delset# - MMS/GPRS settings removal

NOTE: code depends on phone model

Digg it !