With Windows 10 you really should use this coolest feature

 You are an online shopper and you want to get opinions about what you want to buy with your family/friends and what is the best way. Hand him or her a screen shot with some scribblings. No!
You send him/her an annotate web page with images and all the (gory) details.

This is one of the coolest features of Microsoft Edge, Microsoft's latest browser (no relative of Internet Explorer).  You can write on your web page or add annotation and send it to your friend(s). Here is the Windows 10 version of Microsoft Edge used for this post.

Medge01.png

Let us say you found something useful and you want to add some annotation, or simply you want to highlight just one item from a bunch of stuff and want your friend to buy it for you as you are rushed. You just highlight that item right on the browser and share it with your friend in a couple of different ways.

We just take this example of sharing some selection you made that you want your friend to look at.

Here is the page you were looking at:

Medge02.png

Now you want to highlight your selection. The following assumes you have a Windows 10 operating system on your computer. Click on the icon under the red square. When you place your mouse tip on it you see text that says 'Make a web page".

Medge04.png

When you click on the icon, the page changes to this.

Medge05.png

Now we are in the editing mode and from top left to right we have some tools. They are, Pan (like scrolling), Pen, a highlighter with yellow tip(you can pick color and size), eraser, 'Add a typed note' item; and clip. On the right you have Save web Note (floppy disc icon), Share and 'Exit'. Presently these are supported and perhaps more may be added in future.

Now let us highlight one of the shoes. Click on the highlighter tool (which is next to the pen' and then with your mouse highlight one of the shoes by dragging your mouse tip around it (can be more than one) as shown.

Medge06.png

Now click on the 'Add a note' icon to the left of clip. A box opens and you can position it by dragging it and type into it as shown.

Medge07.png

Now you want to send it to your friend. Click on the Share on the right mentioned earlier. The share choices open as shown.

Medge08.png

Click on Mail and the next window opens (actually that is the only way I share). Here you will have to setup your email options.

Medge09.png

When I hit Get started, it brings up my Windows mail at live.com as shown. You can add other accounts if you want like gmail, etc.

Medge10

Sure enough the mail can be sent.

 Medge11.png

The mail can be retrieved.

Medge12.png

Well. What are some problems that I encountered?

• I am documenting the steps to help readers and going back and forth to get the correct screen shot can mess up with the natural flow of a program. However, while trying to share information the edited page may loose some information. 
• Going from editing stage to sharing stage should retain edited information  no matter how many times I go between the browser and the Share settingss.
• The image that is sent appears to be the whole web page rather than the one in the images shown. Perhaps, this is my bad. One may need to clip further so that only a short message is sent.
• There must be more Share choices, perhaps there will be a way to add choices in the future.
• Page hangs with the message, Not responding (the most hated feature).

But this is a great improvement. I think DHTML has come to some maturity.

Unlocking a Windows computer got a lot easier

The computer is locked and you want to read your email. First of all you need to unlock which requires you to remember the password. Of course username is no problem, you  get usernames for all the users displayed on the desktop. Passwords have gotten a lot more complicated although some may get away with thier birthday or just 123.

With Windows Hello it has become lot easier with Windows 10, the latest operating system from Microsoft. It depneds on image recognition to tell who you are to your computer, apps, etc. You can unlcok Windows 10 devices and apps using your finger tip for finger print; iris of your eyes or face. It is simple, convenient and hassle free but will sacrifice neither security nor privacy.

This is cool stuff. It's not business as usual trying to recover your password and do not remember the hint; get a code to access, etc. It is hassle free but probably come with some ancillary issues like the requirements; which of the devices are supported image recognition, etc.
This video explains it with some examples:

Debacle on Wall Street today

Wall Street experienced the worst performance (an intraday correction) loosing 500+ points. It was so bad CNBC even stopped the advertisements during the latter half. 

The event was as numbing as electrifying and if you missed the event, here are some pictures and videos right-off the TV. There was a great deal of pain!



 

The original video taken with Nokia Icon was trimmed down to Blogger requirements. 

 

 

 

Greed is not good!

 

 

Avoid BPA getting into your food and drinks

BPA is an organic synthetically manufactured compound used together with Polycarbonate plastics that arewidely used. BPA stands for Bisphenol A with the Chemcial formula C15H16O2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

As it is possibly linked to a variety of health risks, it is better to avoid anything that contains BPA as it can leach easily. Read more here on health related issues with BPA:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/03/28/is-bpa-free-plastic-safe/

You can find from the bottom of the can or bottle if it is BPA free. It appears if you can avoid PVC you can avoid BPA.

Wishing you all a very happy Independence Day

 I wish all my India friends, relatives and audience a very happy Independence day.

This is indeed a very sacred day when we need to renew our pledges to go forward and live as one nation and demonstrate our strong belief in secularism and justice.

Going forward let us take care of,

• Ending corruption at all levels
• Providing equal opportunity to urban and rural people
• Taking our education to new level
• Cleansing our surroundings and the environment
• Moving towards a nation committed to ahimsa

This picture from Ajay Verma/Reuters truly depicts the awesome energy in our people.

Review 69th Independence Day slide show here:
http://www.financialexpress.com/photos/business-gallery/119847/indias-69th-independence-day-highlights-narendra-modi-at-red-fort/2/

 

Honolulu celebrated the first ever Mango Jam

There were two parts to the first ever Mango Jam event (8/7/2015), the first one in open air behind the city hall (Honolulu Hale) and the second, an exhibition of mango related watercolors in the courtyard of the city hall.

The open air event was joyful with lots of families, music, soft drinks and a stall by the University of Hawaii. Perhaps I did not visit the proper stalls but there was not that amount of mango to see that I had imagined. Coming from India, I almost have an obsession for mangoes and I was fairly disappointed.

The watercolor exhibits were nicely arranged and there were plenty of them, some by the same artists who exhibited at the Hawaii Watercolor Society's Juried show in my previous post.

Here are some unedited phone shots (Nokia Icon) of the watercolor exhibits.

 

 

[Space for Mango fact sheet from University of Hawaii at Manoa]

Visit again to review the fact sheet. Thanks

 

Hawaii's Watercolor Society (HWS) holds 2015 Juried Show

Hawaii Watercolor Society is holding a juried show (Juror: Nicholas Simmons ) at the Honolulu Museum of Art School (Mezzanine Gallery) between August 3 to August 29. The watercolors can also be purchased.

Phone (Nokia Icon) shots of some of the paintings in exhibition are shown here. Unfortunately it is difficult to avoid extraneous light as the exhibits are in well lighted area with large windows. The ones that were judged and awarded are in the beginning.

 

The Golden Callus Award for Best in show titled 'Alakai Forest ferns, Kauai' by Claudia Ihl ($800)

 

 

The Hawaiian Graphics/SMS Research Award titled 'Laundry Day' by Robert A. Hamby($700)

 

 

The McKeague and Haley Award titled 'Waikiki-Ala Wai Harbor' by Jimmy Tablante($700)

 

 

Title: 'Night blooming Cereus II' by Nancy Taylor

 

 

 

Title: 'Juneau Passage' by Jerry Mayfield

 

Of course there were lot more exhibits....

 

This fish will not do for Sushi

This 'scary' looking fish reported in a Canadian Science journal hardly looks like a fish. First of all why was it called a fish, afterall there are sea horses, octopuses, etc. etc. that do'nt look like fish and are not called 'fish' in the sea.

According to the journal,
"This new fish, which was found between 1,000-1,500 meters depth, is a new species of Ceratioid anglerfish (Genus Lasiognathus Regan [Lophiiformes: Oneirodidae])"

What's more this fish uses a fishing rod-like (angler) appendage to fish other fishes.

Read this interesting story,
http://canadajournal.net/science/scary-looking-fish-researchers-discover-a-new-deep-sea-fish-species-30509-2015/

The image of fish is from the above site.

Holy Cow! This is unbelievable and somewhat incredible

India's major export item is Beef according to this news item:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/05/news/economy/india-beef-exports-buffalo/index.html

Beef which is bovine meat appears to be one of the major exports from India to east Asian countries and my personal feeling is it is regrettable. Ahimsa was the platform on which India's independence from Britain was won. Ahimsa extends to all life forms including the unborn and the animal kingdom. This is not so say plants have no life.

Exporters may split hair to say that water buffalo meat is not meat from cow. They are technically correct but beef is bovine meat. They may even argue to the non-savory character who rides the water buffalo, namely the god of Death.
This is an excerpt from the Brittanica:
"
Yama, in the mythology of India, the god of the dead. The Vedas describe him as the first man who died, blazing the path of mortality down which all humans have since followed. He is the guardian of the south (the region of death) and presides over the resting place of the dead, which is located under the earth. In the Vedas, Yama was represented as a cheerful king of the departed ancestors, not as a punisher of sins, but in later mythology he became known as the just judge (Dharmaraja) who weighs the good and evil deeds of the dead and determines retribution. He is described as majestic in appearance, green or black, with red eyes and red garments. He carries a noose and a mace, which may be ornamented with a skull, and rides a buffalo. His two four-eyed dogs guard the entrance to his kingdom, and the crow and the pigeon act as his messengers. Yama has also passed over into Buddhist mythology in Tibet, China, and Japan, where he occupies a similar but minor role as the guardian of the abode of the dead."

I think it is just as disgusting for Zimbabwe to allow hunters to take down lions as India to export bovine beef.

Looks like another lion killing in Zimbabwe by yet another medical doctor

Following Cecil's killing by a US dentist, it appears another US Doctor has been accused of killing a lion with bow and arrow.

Zimbabwe's National Parks spokeswoman has accused Dr. Jan Casimir Seski according to this news on the abc.com site.

I do not real care about the legality of this issue which the lawyers can beat it to a pulp, what I care is the compassion and kindness that we ought to show for the dumb animals.

It is regrettable that big game hunting has become a mass consumer item (for the rich of course) with parks breeding these animals to be hunted when they are ripe. The parks are as much to blame as the killer hunters. The parks have to come up with more creative ideas that respects life, human or otherwise.

Watch this video, cannot guarantee it will work
https://youtu.be/OD7mkl6tFGU

In search of another Earth

Earth has been polluted, let's keep 452b clean.

Recently (July 23, 2015) NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the existence of another slightly larger than earth sized planet in the 'habitable zone' around its sun-like star.
The newly discovered Kepler-252 is in the 'habitable zone' meaning a planet may have liquid water orbiting around a star like the Sun of our solar system.

Here are two paragraphs from Nasa's site regarding Kepler 452b:

While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.

We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. "It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.

Here is a video URL where you may find more details.
https://youtu.be/ma59RsxZQZM