Autochrome Photography Wordpress theme for just $25. Get Yours →
— By Brajeshwar
Adobe ColdFusion 8, popular among beta testers as the “Scorpio” was released today.
Besides many other new features, ColdFusion 8 also introduces an Eclipse plug-in debugger. You can use it to set breakpoints, watch variables, and step through code, making it easier to debug application code.
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— By Brajeshwar
I’ve been doing some bit of my own research on how to weed out non-usable contents and show just the good contents to search engines. I began to use robots.txt sometime back but they are limited to just disallow of some folders (like my wordpress installation folder – “wp”). The other day, I was reading the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) on Google’s own Blog, and learnt a lot that was missing from my understanding of how you can take control of Search Engines indexing your site’s content.
Meta Tags
Google have recently introduced a new META tag that will allow us to set when we want the page to be removed from the main Google Web Search results. For instance, if you want to remove a particular page after end of this year, then add the following Meta tag to your page (the date format is RFC 850);
META NAME="GOOGLEBOT" CONTENT="unavailable_after: 31-Dec-2007 24:00:00 GMT
However, the REP Meta tags works only for HTML Pages. Nonetheless, Google gave us an option to control access to other documents – Adobe PDF Files, Video and Audio file and many other types. This thus extends the same flexibility for specifying per-URL tags to all other file type. You’ve to simply add any supported Meta tag to a new X-Robots-Tag directive in the HTTP Header used to serve the file.
Here are some examples;
→ Don’t display a cache link or snippet for this item in the Google search results
X-Robots-Tag: noarchive, nosnippet
→ Don’t include this document in the Google search results
X-Robots-Tag: noindex
→ Tell us that a document will be unavailable after 31st Dec 2007, 12:00 pm GMT
X-Robots-Tag: unavailable_after: 31 Dec 2007 24:00:00 GMT
You can combine multiple directives in the same document.
→ Do not show a cached link for this document, and remove it from the index after 31st Dec 2007, 12:00 pm GMT
X-Robots-Tag: noarchive
X-Robots-Tag: unavailable_after: 31 Dec 2007 24:00:00 GMT
Robots.txt
Robots.txt allows you to control how search engines access your web site. It allows us to control access at multiple levels — the entire site, through individual directories, pages of a specific type, down to individual pages.
Googlebot specific robots.txt
Google Robots, unlike other bots, allow the use of wildcards – * – to match a sequence of characters. This way, we can do complex Allow and Disallow directive to the Googlebots.
To block all wordpress files from being crawled by Googlebots, we can have
User-Agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /wp-*.php
It can be even in the form of a folder patten – here, a pattern of myimages_xyz can be blocked (where xyz represents your numbers folders or something similar)
User-Agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /myimages_*/
Disallow: /porn/*.jpg (see, I can block google from looking at my porn images 
)
The Googlebot also has an allow tag to allow your files, folders to be crawled by it. This is particularly useful when used in combination with the Wildcard pattern matching scheme to create more complex robots.txt. Here, let’s block a sub-folder on a site but allow some specific folders or files within that sub-folder. Let’s assume that we have installed WordPress inside a folder called “wp” at the root of the website. So, let’s block the wp folder but allow the /wp/wp-content/uploads/ to be crawled.
User-Agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /wp/
Allow: /wp/wp-content/uploads/
You can do a even more complex Disallow/Allow pattern matching. Let say, if “?” indicates a session ID, we might like to exclude all URLs that contain them to avoid duplicate pages for the Googlebot. However, URLs that ends with a “?” may be the page that we want to include. In this scenario, we can block any URL that includes a “?” but not the one that specifically ends in “?”
User-Agent: Googlebot
Allow: /*?$
Disallow: /*?
A combination and permutation of robots.txt and Meta Tags can help you fine-grain control over your site’s content. Together, robots.txt and META tags give you the flexibility to express complex access policies.
REFERENCES
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— By Brajeshwar
The low-cost global phone call utility – Jajah – have landed in India. They’re curring running a special promotion for Indian users. You can use either your landline or your mobile phone to connect to the person you wish to call.
Register for an account today and you’ll be credited Rs. 4.44 just for the registration and if you can invite 5 friends, you get another 30 Free Minutes. Get more friends and you might be lucky enough to get Free Call until 2008. They have allocated a total of 500,000 Free Minutes for the India Promotion. Read the Jajah India Press Release.
— By Brajeshwar
The Nokia N95 was released about a week late in India as against the global release, with a price package of about Rs. 36,500 (~ $900) as initial launch price. However, the price dropped almost each week and is currently being sold for about Rs. 28,000 (~ $690). I bought mine at Rs. 31,990 which was the first price cut after the initial launch (in the 2nd week of India’s release).
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— By Brajeshwar
Pacman add-on for Firefox is a Pacman-clone and has the ascii look and feel of the old golden days. With good retro graphics, nice sound effects and a highscore list, this is one nice relaxer from your browsing routine.
Once installed, restart Firefox and get it from Tools > Pacman. Press either the UP or the DOWN arrow to start the game.
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— By Brajeshwar
I was actually thinking of 11-11-11 as the cool date to get married. However, things don’t always happen the way you want, you have to twist things happening around you to make it work for you in the better way. So, today, on this cool numbered date 07-07-07, me and Shanta got married officially and legally.
Links to Marriage Photos at the end of this article.
Due to the overwhelming interest from our parents, gurdians and relatives, the whole plan was super pre-ponded and everything started to fall into places, dates and calendared events. It all started with a family-only miniature Engagement held at a local Temple in Mumbai (INDIA) on the 26th February, 2007. Then, according to local well-wishers, pundits and sanskrit scholars, our marriage dates were slotted for the 20th June, 2007 which was supposedly very auspicious for the traditional wedding day. It was later learnt that more than 5,000 marriages happened that day in Imphal, Manipur (INDIA). Well, we got married in front of over 500 visitors, relatives and family members gathering. That made the people from home happy as we hit the right dates and heed to their likes, advises and wishes.
Ever since I was in 10th grade, I knew Shanta as the youngest, naughtiest, the most talkative and of course the funniest, sister of one of my friend. Never had I in my mind thought she will be my girlfriend or more strangely my wife. I would ask her to make me good tea whenever I visited their home and even remember lecturing her to study well, sometimes getting down to teaching a bit of Maths, Physics here and there.
She was also one of most out-going and well-connected girl, who loves to ride around the town’s nook and corner on her bike almost everyday. I saw her, bump on her at most known places – restaurants, ice-cream parlors, soft-drink joints – and cinema houses. That easy access to her made her an ideal cupid for my erstwhile girlfriends. She would happily went in and bring out my girlfriends so I can enjoy my dates.
She used to have the shortest hair-cut a girl can have, She was rather very boy-ish. She is also popular for the way she scooters her bike fast away from your sight. It was my usual habit to scold her to start acting like a girl.
After I finished high school, there was no connection with my friend and thus never saw her again until early last year (2006) when I was looking for new recruits for the QA team at Mixercast. Co-incidentally, she was looking for a change of job and her brother got in touch with me through Orkut. Shanta got employed with Mixercast and my interaction with her started afresh but things were different this time.
Her hair has grown long and she was more lady-like, which I was extremely surprised of. She had shed her typical trademarked short-pants and she looked more matured in her new attire, dresses and accessories. I honestly do not have a clue when everything started but we remember talking to her mother about marriage dates, plans for engagements, ceremonial events, et al.
I’ve always believed that I should wear a wedding ring but that comes none in our tradition. So, I decided to make the engagement in a manner where we exchange the wedding rings. Shanta settled for a D’damas ring which was simple and can be worn daily. Mine was a local made 24 carat hand-crafted gold-ring popularly known as the Bombay Belt (it does look like a belt). I tried to get “Shanta” etched in the inside of the ring like the Elvish inscription of the Lord of the Rings but the local Goldsmith was unable to do it and settled for a simple Text that reads “Shanta”. The Engagement took place on Monday, the 26th of February, 2007.
As planned, we left Mumbai for Imphal on 30th of May, 2007 to give us enough buffer time to prepare for the marriage, send out invites, etc. The actual events related to the Marriage starts on the 18th June, 2007, known as Heijingpot. On this day, the families of the Bride and the Groom exchange edibles, talk, and does many poojas/prayers. There was even an additional Cake-cutting event on the side of the Bride which I find it very new (it wasn’t there as far as I can recollect form childhood days). Most things were new to me, because as a grown-up, I was attending the first every Manipuri Marriage which ironically was my own.
The next day, me, the Groom gets the official/traditional invite from the Bride’s side through a messenger which involves lots of praying, blessings and exchange of betel leaves and nuts plattered underneath with nicely cut circular banana leaves. In fact, these three plant items were most rampart in the whole Marriage and I saw our rooms filled with them for distribution to the guest, visitors and the Gods and Goddesses.
The 20th of June, 2007 was indeed the traditional Manipuri Marriage for me and Shanta. It was a whole day event, tiresome, real sore in the rear, stiff neck for looking straight for hours. The Manipuri Marriage is supposed to be of “serious matter” and people aren’t supposed to laugh aloud specially the Bride and the Groom. Well, I stole a few smiles, grins here and there while Shanta was really generous with her wide smiles.
I don’t quite saw much part of that day, as I was trying hard to concentrate on being a serious Groom. It was even against the tradition not to go out even to pee if you once go inside the Marriage Arena and that space last for over 4 hours or so. Both families had tried their best to cut down on the guest list and that left them controlling for a crowd of just about 500. And the extended singings from the traditional marriage singers took a huge toll of my time and I can vividly remember coming up with many alternative ideas to shorten such Manipuri Marriage keeping it to just the main event but still be able to perform all traditional deeds that we had to do. Of course, I do remember being jolted from that tradition-shaking-alternate-project-plan by an excruciating pain in my bum as I was sitting there for over 2 hours or more waiting for the whole thing to get over. Finally, all went well with no pee-feeling in between and I was able to pack off that day on the specially-prepared-yellow-wedding-bed. Seeing the bed, I was about to gasp, “Oh! Shit” but I kept that to myself.
Then came the day after Marriage, that saw another visits from the Bride’s parents and relatives, lots of guests, lot of eating & talking. The second day after Marriage was nothing eventful but a preparing for the third day that turn out to be the Big Feast Day at the Bride’s parental home, followed by a similar Big Feast on the 5th day. I came back to Mumbai on the 27th, things cooled down and I’m back online. Honeymoon(s) are being planned for later dates as I need to finish off many un-finished business.
Actually, my earlier proposal to the family relatives and parents was to make this date the Marriage Date and thus get registered there in Manipur itself. It was rejected, so I had submitted my Marriage Registration request and all details while I was still in Mumbai during May so I can have the Official Marriage on this cool date – 07-07-07. And so finally, on the last lag of our Marriage, Shanta and Me got the official Marriage Certificate dated – 07-07-07. We will be celebrating this date as the official, legal and actual Marriage Date.
Well, that’s it, I got married. Now, I have to see that all my online profiles reads “Married” instead of the “Single” status.
PHOTOS
While I was in Manipur, I was able to sneak out to take some photographs of some new and scenic locations.
— By Brajeshwar
First, wishing all my American readers a “Happy Independence Day”.
I was reading a front page article on Mint and I could feel the extend of the truth in the article. It is a well known fact that American Companies are the major driving force behind the success of outsourcing boom in India. Silicon Valley, in particular, has helped Indian IT companies with a humongous amount of outsourced technology related works. The lure for Indian Technology workers is the low-wage, which is about 1/4th of their counterparts in the Silicon Valley.
However, of late, the salaries of experienced and highly skilled technical engineers have soared multiple folds. This rise have ranked Indian High Tech Engineers almost at par with their Silicon Valley counterparts in terms of compensation. According to studies, it is revealed that such skilled Indian Computer Engineers are paid almost 3/4th of the American Engineers.
— By Brajeshwar
Alright, alright, I wasn’t taking it that seriously but yes, I got Pownce Invites to give out too. Pownce is another service like Twitter combined with file sharing and chat. However, the attention it seeks from the community is largely because of the Digg-guy Kevin who started it as a fun project.
I’m yet to enjoy it to its fullest; just got the invite yesterday from a good smart kid – Rishiraj. It has a Pro version and the only attractive feature there is the badge of which I haven’t subscribed yet.
— By Brajeshwar
This Monday, May 28th, 2007 join thousands of bloggers and use your blog to benefit DonorsChoose, a non-profit Web site that brings teachers and donors together to fund specific student projects that range from “Magical Math Centers” to “Cooking Across the Curriculum”. Join the blogging community and use your blog to draw attention to and raise funds for this underserved non-profit organization that does so much good for children and schools.
— By Brajeshwar
Few days back, I got one of those usual newsletter from Windows Secrets containing an article attachment on how Microsoft, McAfee, Symantec are charging their customer’s credit cards repeatedly.
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