Qwerty Maniac and His Keyboard

The cutest car maker :D

2006-04-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

The VW Type 1, which was called the Beetle or Bug or Käfer (in German), is a small family car, the best known car of Volkswagen, one of the best known cars from Germany, and one of the most recognisable and distinctive cars in the world. Thanks to its distinctive shape and sound, and its reliability, it now enjoys a "cult" status.

The Beetle was in production from 1938 until 2003, interrupted only by the Second World War. Over 21 million Beetles were produced.

The name "Beetle" was not originally given to the car. Inside Volkswagen, it was simply known as the "Type 1" until the 1968 model year (August 1967), when, for the first time, German brochures used the name "Der Käfer" (meaning "The Beetle" in German) on the front cover and inside. In Europe, it was marketed as the VW 1200/1300/1500 before adopting the "Beetle" name given to it by the public. The Beetle name was later reused when the New Beetle was introduced in 1998.

History

The origins of the car date back to 1930s Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler wanted private motorized transport to be widely available and commissioned engineer Ferdinand Porsche to produce such a vehicle. Some claim that this was based on a sketch that Hitler drew in 1932, a year before he came to power. Hitler decreed that this car should be capable of transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), and that it should cost no more than a motorcycle and sidecar to buy. A savings scheme was also launched that would enable the common people to buy the car. However, the advent and aftermath of World War II meant that those who paid into the scheme never received their cars. Rumors said that the Beetle was originally designed for conversion into a makeshift armored car in times of war. Its style resembles a tankette without a turret or armor.

Who designed the car is a matter of controversy. The official story is that it was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. But in the 1920s Joseph Ganz had already made a similar design for a car that was smaller and more affordable than existing models. Car manufacturers were not interested, but two motorcycle manufacturers were. Adler produced the Maikäfer and Standard the Superior, which it advertised as 'Der Deutsche Volkswagen' and was the cheapest four wheel car at the time. When the Nazis came to power, they tested the Superior and favorable reviews appeared in magazines. However, shortly after, the Nazis suddenly imprisoned Ganz for a while, fired him as chief editor of the magazine Motor-Kritik and confiscated his documents, after which he fled to Switzerland, never to return. The reason for this is probably that they found out he was a Jew. The Nazis then turned to Porsche, who produced a prototype of the Käfer that looked a lot like the Superior. Volkswagen says that Ganz wasn't the only one to have such a design and that the Käfer was not based on his. See also [1]

Prototypes of the car called the KdF-Wagen (German: Kraft durch Freude = strength through joy; the car was so called because it was intended to be sold to members of the KdF, a Nazi leisure organization), appeared from 1935 onwards—the first prototypes were produced by Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany. The car already had its distinctive round shape (designed by Erwin Komenda) and its air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted engine. However, the factory (in the new town of Kdf-Stadt, purpose-built for the factory workers) had only produced a handful of cars by the time war started in 1939. Consequently, the first volume-produced versions of the car's chassis (if not body) were military vehicles, the Jeep-like Kübelwagen Typ 82 (approx. 52,000 built) and the amphibious Schwimmwagen Typ 166 (approx. 14,000 built).

Deliberately designed to be as simple as possible mechanically, there was simply less that could go wrong; the aircooled 985 cc 25 hp (19 kW) motors proved especially effective in action in North Africa's desert heat. The innovative suspension design used compact torsion beams instead of coil or leaf springs.

A handful of civilian-specific Beetles were produced, primarily for the Nazi elite, in the years 1940–1945, but production figures were small. In response to gasoline shortages, a few wartime "Holzbrenner" Beetles were fueled by wood pyrolysis gas producers under the hood. In addition to the Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen, and a handful of others, the factory managed another wartime vehicle: the Kommandeurwagen; a Beetle body mounted on the 4WD Kübelwagen chassis. A total of 669 Kommandeurwagens were produced until 1945, when all production was halted due to heavy damage sustained in Allied air raids on the factory. Much of the essential equipment had already been moved to underground bunkers for protection, allowing production to resume quickly once hostilities had ended.

Much of the Beetle's design was inspired by the advanced Tatra cars of Hans Ledwinka, particularly the T97. This also had a streamlined body and a rear-mounted 4 cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine. Tatra sued, but the lawsuit was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. The matter was re-opened after WW2 and in 1961 Volkswagen paid Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Marks. These damages meant that Volkswagen had little money for the development of new models and the Beetle's production life was necessarily extended.

The Volkswagen company owes its postwar existence largely to one man, Oldham-born British army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). After the war, Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed factory, which the Americans had captured. His first task was to remove the unexploded bomb which had fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the Beetle's fate would have been sealed. He persuaded the British military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month. The car and its town changed their Nazi-era names to Volkswagen (people's car) and Wolfsburg, respectively. The first 1,785 Beetles were made in a factory near Wolfsburg, Germany in 1945.

Production of the "Type 1" Volkswagen Beetle increased dramatically over the years, with the 1 millionth car coming off the assembly line in 1954. During the 1960s and early 1970s, innovative advertising campaigns and a glowing reputation for reliability and sturdiness helped production figures to surpass the levels of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T, when Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced on February 17, 1972. By 1973 total production was over 16 million, and by 2002 there had been over 21 million produced. The car was known under various names in different countries, usually local renderings of the word "beetle": Käfer in Germany; Sedan, then Fusca in Brazil; Coccinelle in France; Σκαθάρι (Scathari meaning beetle) or Σκαραβαίος (Scaraveos meaning Scarab) in Greece; Maggiolino in Italy; Sedán or Vocho in Mexico; Kever in the Netherlands; kotseng kuba (literally, 'hunchback car')/"pagong" (turtle) in the Philippines; Kodok (frog) in Indonesia;Garbus (literally, 'Hunchback') in Poland; Brouk in Czech Republic; Carocha in Portugal; Escarabajo in Spain and Latin America; Hipushit in Israel; Косτенурка (Kostenurka) in Bulgaria (meaning turtle); عقروقة (Ag-ru-ga) in Iraq; Boble (bubble) in Norway; Bug in the United States.

While production of the standard Beetle continued, a Type 1 variant called the Super Beetle, produced from model year 1971 to 1979, offered MacPherson strut front suspension, better turning radius, and more space in the front luggage compartment. The Super Beetle was improved in 1973 to include a padded dashboard and a curved windshield.

The Super Beetle (VW 1302 and 1303 series) is not the only Type 1 variant; other VWs under the Type 1 nomenclature include the Karmann Ghia and the VW 181 utility vehicle, not to mention the VW Brasilia (a locally produced Brazilian version of the Type 4 using Beetle components) and the Australian Country Buggy (locally produced in Australia using VW parts).

Faced with stiff competition from more modern designs—in particular economical Japanese autos in the U.S.—sales began dropping off in the mid-1970s. There had been several unsuccessful attempts to replace the Beetle throughout the 1960s; but the Type 3, Type 4, and the NSU-based K70 were all failures. Finally, production lines at Wolfsburg switched to the new watercooled, front-engined, front wheel drive Golf in 1974, a car unlike its predecessor in most significant ways.

Like the insect, this Beetle can shed its skin

Beetle production continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until 1978, but mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico. The last Beetle was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in mid-2003. The final batch of 3,000 Beetles were sold as 2004 models and badged as the Última Edición, with whitewall tires, a host of previously-discontinued chrome trim, and the choice of two special paint colors taken from the New Beetle. Production in Brazil ended in 1988, then restarted in 1993 and continued until 1996. Volkswagen sold Beetles in the United States until 1978 (the Beetle convertible a.k.a. Cabriolet was sold until February 1980) and in Europe until 1985.

Other countries produced Beetles from CKD (complete knockdown kits): Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, and Nigeria have assembled Beetles under license from VW (source: Volkswagens of the World).

Beetles produced in Mexico and Brazil had several differences:

The Brazilian version retained the 1958-1964 body style (Europe and US version) with the thick door pillars and small quarter glass; this body style was also produced in Mexico until 1970. Brazilian CKD kits (complete knockdown) were shipped to Nigeria between 1975-1987 where Beetles were locally produced. The Brazilian-produced version have been sold in neighboring South American nations bordering Brazil, including Argentina and Peru.
Beetles produced in Mexico (since 1964) have the larger door and quarter glass between 1971 — 2003 with the 1958 vintage back glass until the mid-1970s. This version, after the mid-1970s, saw little change with the incorporation of electronic fuel injection, electronic ignition, hydraulic valve lifters and an oil filter after 1993, along with a driver-side air bag.

Independent importers continued to supply several major countries, including Germany, France, and the UK until the end of production in 2003. Devoted fans of the car even discovered a way to circumvent United States safety regulations by placing more recently manufactured Mexican Beetles on the floorpans of earlier, US-registered cars between 1998 — 2003. The Mexican Beetle (along with its Brazilian counterpart) was on the US DOT's (Department of Transportation) hot list of gray market imports after 1978 since the vehicle did not meet safety regulations. A U.S. citizen who drives a Mexican Beetle across the US-Mexico border into the US is likely to end up with the vehicle seized by the US government.

In the Southwest United States (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas) — Mexican Beetles (and some Brazilian T2c Transporters) are a common sighting in San Antonio and Houston since Mexican nationals can legally operate the vehicle in the United States, as long as they have the registration papers.

The end of production in Mexico can be attributed primarily to the Mexican government's decision to gradually outlaw the use of two-door cars as taxi cabs. Also, the Beetles no longer met air quality requirements for Mexico City, in which the ubiquitous Beetles were used as affordable taxicabs. Another reason the Mexican government has outlawed two-door taxicabs is because of the crime rate: taxi assaults had risen in recent years. The issue of public safety forced the Mexican government to require four-door vehicles to be used as taxicabs. In addition, Volkswagen (now Germany's largest automaker) has been attempting to cultivate a more upscale, premium brand image, and the humble Beetle, with its US$7000 base price, clashed with VW's new identity, as seen in the Touareg and Phaeton luxury vehicles.

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Pop culture

Like its competitors the Mini and the Citroën 2CV, the Beetle has been regarded as something of a "cult" car since its 1960s association with the hippie movement; and the obvious attributes of its unique and quirky design. Much like their Type 2 counterparts, Beetles were psychedelically painted and considered an art car ancestor. One of the logos used by the Houston Art Car Klub incorporated a Beetle with a cowboy hat.

From 1968 to 2005, a pearl white Beetle with racing number "53" and red, white, and blue stripes named "Herbie" played a starring role in The Love Bug series of Disney comedy films. A yellow Wunderkäfer, called DuDu, appeared in a series of German films for children. Also made famous is the Autobot Bumblebee, a canary yellow Beetle in the cartoon and toy line The Transformers. Bumblebee was later reformated into the Throttlebot Goldbug, a gold 1975 Super Beetle.

The sci-fi thriller The Arrival featured a few Mexican Beetles in the film — one scene in the film is where Charlie Sheen hides in the trunk.

During the early 1970s, the Beetle was used for advertisements where graphic art ads were decaled on newly-sold Volkswagens to which the Beetleboard craze kicked in. A marketing consultant (Charlie E. Bird) in the Los Angeles area came up with this concept — it would be deemed the progenitor of removing billboards off the highway to which automobiles have been used for advertising media. Both standard and Super Beetles were used until the original Beetle ceased production in Europe in 1978; this trend was resurrected after the New Beetle entered production (source — The Beetle Book).

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New Beetle

Main article: Volkswagen New Beetle

At the 1994 North American International Auto Show, Volkswagen unveiled the J Mays-penned "Concept 1", a concept car with futuristic styling deliberately reminiscent of the original Beetle's rounded shape. Strong public reaction convinced the company to move the car into production, and in 1998, 20 years after the original Beetle was sold in the United States, Volkswagen launched the New Beetle, designed by Mays and Freeman Thomas at the company's California design studio.

New Beetles are manufactured at VW's Puebla, Mexico assembly plant.

The New Beetle is related to the original only in name and appearance: under the hood, it is a modern car in every way, based on the Volkswagen A platform. In stark contrast to the original, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the New Beetle among the best safety ratings in its class at the time of its launch.

Marketing campaigns have enhanced the continued goodwill towards the original, and helped the new model to inherit it. The Volkswagen New Beetle was Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year for 1999.

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Phase-out of the original Beetle

In 2002 total production of the VW Golf, at 22 million units, overtook that of the Beetle. However this measure includes all four distinct generations of Golf since 1974, and these are really different cars using the same name, as is also the case with the Toyota Corolla.

By 2003 Beetle annual production had fallen to 30,000 from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971. On July 30, 2003, the final original VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was produced at Puebla, Mexico, some 65 years after its public launch in Nazi Germany, and an unprecedented 58-year production run since 1945. VW announced this step in June, citing decreasing demand. The last car was immediately shipped off to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. In true Mexican fashion, a mariachi band serenaded the last car.

The final edition had the following specifications:

The last Type 1 produced coming out of the production line in Puebla.

Length: 4 m (13.32 ft)
Width: 1.6 m (5.08 ft)
Height: 1.5 m (4.92 ft)
Length between axles: 2.4 m (7.87 ft)
Weight: 810 kg (1,786 lb)
Engine: 4 cylinders, 1.6 L
Transmission: Manual
Brakes: front disc, back drum
Passengers: Five
Tank: 40 L (10.57 gallons)
Colors: Aquarius blue, Harvestmoon beige.

Porsche - The Uber Cool Car Company!

2006-04-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

Porsche (Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG), properly pronounced as a two syllable word (porsh-eh, IPA: /ˈpɔrʃə/) , is a German manufacturer of sports cars, founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer who created the first Volkswagen. The company is located in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart.

Porsche has a reputation for producing high-end sports vehicles that, despite their high performance, are reliable and tractable enough to be used for daily driving, and of high manufacturing quality and durability. The current Porsche lineup includes everything from an entry-level roadster (Boxster) to a Supercar (Carrera GT). Future plans include a high performance luxury sedan, the Panamera. Also, Porsche is a leader in modern turbocharging technology, being the latest to use a variable geometry turbocharger.

As a company, Porsche is known for weathering changing market conditions with great financial stability, while retaining most production in Germany during an age when most other German car manufacturers have moved at least partly to Eastern Europe or overseas. The headquarters and main factory are still at Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, but for the Cayenne and Carrera GT there is a new plant at Leipzig, in the east of Germany. Some Boxster and Cayman production is outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland. The company has been highly successful in recent times, and indeed claims to be the most profitable car company in the world (in terms of profit margin per unit sold; its absolute profits would be dwarfed by Toyota) [1].

Porsche has for many years offered consultancy services to various other car manufacturers. Studebaker, SEAT, Daewoo, Subaru and Yugo have consulted Porsche on engineering for their cars or engines. Porsche also helped Harley-Davidson design their new engine in their newer V-Rod motorcycle.

Porsche's main competition is arguably from Italian specialty automaker Ferrari, though traditionally their vehicles appeal to quite different personalities, if similar demographics. Other rivals include coupes from Jaguar, BMW, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin and arguably Mercedes-Benz.

History

The first Porsche, the Porsche 64 from 1938, used many components from the Volkswagen Beetle. The second Porsche model and first production car, the Porsche 356 sports car of 1948, was initially built in Gmünd, Austria, where the company was evacuated to during war times, but after building 49 cars the company relocated back to Zuffenhausen. Many people regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. Ferdinand Porsche worked with his son Ferry Porsche in designing the 356 but died soon after the first prototype was built. Again, the car used components from the Beetle including its engine, gearbox and suspension. However, the 356 had several evolutions while in production and many VW parts were replaced by Porsche-made parts. The last 356s were powered by 100% Porsche designed engines. The sleek bodywork was designed by Erwin Komenda who had also designed the body of the Beetle.

In 1963, after some success in motor-racing (namely with the Porsche 550 Spyder), the company launched the Porsche 911, another air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a 6-cylinder "boxer" engine. The team to lay out the bodyshell design was led by Ferry Porsche's eldest son Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F.A.). The design phase for the 911 caused internal problems with Erwin Komenda who led the body design department until then. F.A. Porsche complained Komenda made changes to the design not being approved by him. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his son's drawings to neighbouring bodyshell manufacturer Reuter bringing the design to the 1963 state. Reuter's workshop was later acquired by Porsche (so-called Werk II). Afterwards Reuter became a seat manufacturer, today known as Keiper-Recaro. The 911 has become Porsche's most well-known model, successful on the race-track, in rallies, and in terms of sales. Far more than any other model, the Porsche brand is defined by the 911. It remains in production; however, after several generations of revision, current-model 911s share only the basic mechanical concept of a rear-engined, six-cylinder coupe, and basic styling cues with the original car. A cost-reduced model with the same body but 356-derived running gear (including its four-cylinder engine) was sold as the 912.

The company has always had a close relationship with Volkswagen, and as already mentioned, the first Porsche cars used many Volkswagen components. The two companies collaborated in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6, in 1976 with the Porsche 912E (USA only) and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi components and was built at an Audi Neckarsulm factory. Most 944 were also done there even though they used many fewer VW components. The Porsche Cayenne, introduced in 2002, shares the entire chassis with VW Touareg, which are built at the Škoda factory in Bratislava. Both Audi and Škoda are wholly-owned subsidiaries of VW. In late 2005, Porsche took an 18.65% stake in VW, further cementing their relationship and preventing a takeover of VW, which was rumored at the time. Speculated suitors included DaimlerChrysler, BMW and Renault.

In 1972 the company's legal form was changed from limited partnership to private limited company (german AG), because Ferry Porsche and his sister Louise Piëch felt their succeeding generation did not team up well. This led to the foundation of an executive board out of managers not being family members and a supervisory board consisting mostly of family members. This way no one out of the family was in operational charge of the company anymore. F.A. Porsche founded his own design company, Porsche Design, which is renowned for exclusive sunglasses, watches, furniture and many other luxury articles. Ferdinand Piëch who was responsible for mechanical development of Porsche's serial and racing cars before founded his own engineering bureau and developed a 5-cylinder-inline Diesel engine for Mercedes-Benz. Short time later he changed to Audi and made his career through the whole company including the Volkswagen Group boards.

First CEO of Porsche AG was Dr. Ernst Fuhrmann who had been working at Porsche's engine development before. Fuhrmann (being responsible for the so-called Fuhrmann-engine used in the 356 Carrera models and the 550 Spyder having four ohc-camshafts instead of a central camshaft in the Volkswagen-derived serial engines) planned to cease the 911 during the 70s and replace it with the V8-front engined grand sportswagon 928. As we know today the 911 outlived the 928 by far. Fuhrmann was replaced in the early 80s by Peter W. Schutz, an American manager and self-proclaimed 911 afficionado. He was replaced in 1988 by the former manager manager of German computer company Nixdorf, Arno Bohn, who made some expensive misdecisions leading to his dismissal soon after along with that of development director Dr. Ulrich Bez, formely responsible for BMW's Z1 model and today CEO of Aston Martin. The interim CEO was longtime Porsche employee Heinz Branitzki before Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking became CEO in 1992. Wiedeking took over the board's chair at a point in time when Porsche appeared vulnerable to a takeover by a bigger company. During his 14-year tenure, Wiedeking has remade Porsche into a very efficient and profitable company.

In 1990, Porsche had a memorandum of understanding with Toyota to learn and benefit from lean Japanese production methods, and currently, Toyota is assisting Porsche with Hybrid technology, rumored to find its way into a Hybrid Cayenne SUV.

Ferdinand Porsche's grandson, Ferdinand Piëch, was chairman and CEO of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002. Today he is chairman of the supervisory board. With 12,8 per cent of the Porsche voting shares, he also remains the second largest individual shareholder of Porsche AG after his cousin F.A. Porsche (13,6 per cent).

Porsche's 2002 introduction of the Cayenne also marked the unveiling of a new production facility in Leipzig, Saxony, which today accounts for nearly half of Porsche's annual output. The new Cayenne Turbo S has the second most powerful production engine in Porsche's history (with the most powerful belonging to the Carrera GT).

In 2004, production of the Porsche Carrera GT commenced in Leipzig, and at EUR 450,000.00 it is the most expensive production model Porsche ever built.

As of 2005, the extended Porsche and Piech families controlled all of Porsche AG's voting shares. In early October 2005 the company announced acquisition of an 18.53% stake in Volkswagen AG and disclosed intentions to acquire additional VW shares in the future.

Motor-racing

Porsche has been successful in many branches of motor-racing, scoring a total of more than 23,000 victories. As Porsche offered only small capacity cars in the 1950s and 1960s, they scored many wins in their classes, and occasionally also overall victories against bigger cars. Particular success has been in sports car racing, notably the Carrera Panamericana and Targa Florio, races which were later used in the naming of street cars. Also, they did well in the Mille Miglia and especially 24 hours of Le Mans where they have won 16 times overall (more than any other company), plus many class wins. The Porsche 917 is considered one of the most iconic sports racing cars of all time and gave Porsche their first Le Mans win while the Group C Porsche 956/962C is one of the most successful sports prototype racers ever produced. Many Porsche race cars are run successfully by customer teams, financed and run without any factory support - often they have beaten the factory itself. Recently, 996-generation 911 GT3s have dominated their class at Le Mans and similar endurance and GT races.

The various version versions of the 911 also proved to be serious competitor in Rally as long as the regulations allowed them to compete. Porsche official team was only present in seldom occasion in Rally, but the best private 911s were often close to other brand works car. Jean-Pierre Nicolas even managed to win the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally with a private 911 SC. The Paris Dakar Rally was won twice, too using the 911 derived Porsche 959 Group B supercar.

Porsche has also participated in Formula One racing, with mixed results; its first foray (as a constructor) from 1961 to 1962 produced just one win in a championship race, claimed by Dan Gurney at the 1962 French Grand Prix. One week later, he repeated the success in front of Porsche's home crowd on Stuttgart's Solitude in a non-championship race. At the end of the season, Porsche retired from F1 due to the high costs. Privateers continued to enter out-dated Porsche 718 in F1 until 1964.

Porsche returned in 1983 after nearly two decades away, supplying engines badged as TAG units for the McLaren Team. Porsche-powered cars took two constructor championships in 1984 and 1985 and three driver crowns in 1984, 1985 and 1986. Porsche returned to F1 again in 1991 as an engine supplier, however this time with disastrous results: Porsche-powered Footwork cars failed to score a single point, and failed to even qualify for over half the races that year; Porsche has not participated in Formula One since.

Porsche has sponsored the Carrera Cup and Supercup racing series by providing cars and support since 1990.

Stock and lightly-modified Porsches are raced in many competitions around the world; some of these are primarily amateur classes for enthusiasts, but the Porsche Michelin Supercup is a wholly professional category raced as a support category for European Formula One rounds.

Porsche dropped its factory motorsports programs during the turn of the century (preferring to support privateers) for financial reasons and has only recently made a comeback with the new RS Spyder prototype. Based on LMP2 homologaton regulations, the RS Spyder made its debut at Laguna Seca during the final race of the 2005 ALMS season and immediately garnering a class win in the LMP2 class and finishing 5th overall.

Wiki.

Pretty impressive company eh?

How an insurance company makes money

2006-04-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

A customer might pay one or more premium payments over time. The company collects these payments from one or more customers. If something happens which triggers a claim, the company then pays out a certain amount of money. If, during the lifetime of all of the company's insurance contracts, it pays out less than it has taken in, it makes what is known as an underwriting profit. One measure of an insurance company's performance is their loss ratio (incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses divided by net earned premium). The loss ratio is added to the expense ratio (underwriting expenses divided by net premium written) to determine the company's combined ratio. The combined ratio is a reflection of the company's overall underwriting profitability. A combined ratio of less than 100 percent indicates a profit, while anything over 100 is a loss. One company that is famous for achieving underwriting profit is American International Group. Berkshire Hathaway, by contrast, is famous for making its money on "float" rather than underwriting profit. Float is the concept that as insurance premiums are collected up front, and claims paid over time (sometimes up to periods of 10 years or more), the insurance companies are able to collect investment income on the money they have reserved for claims that have not occurred yet, or have not yet been paid. Over time, this interest is compounded into significant dollars, particularly for a company as large as Berkshire Hathaway.

In many cases a company's combined ratio is greater than 100 percent, however the company still manages to make money. This is because in between the time the company collects premiums and when it pays out claims, it can invest that money. The return from these investments may offset an underwriting loss resulting in profit. For example, if a company has to pay out 10 percent more than it took in, but made a 20 percent return on its investment, then it made a 10 percent profit. However, since most insurance companies consider it only prudent (and may be mandated to do so by laws controlling insurance businesses in the territory in which they operate) to invest in risk-free government bonds, or other lower risk and lower return forms of investments, it's important that the extra amount it has to pay out compared to what it has to take in is less than the percent return of these investments. If it isn't, the company loses money. The extra amount that a company has to pay out can be considered a "cost of funds" and be compared to an interest rate of the same company borrowing money. Because of this, most insurance companies don't have a goal just to have any amount of profit over the cost of funds, but rather to have this cost of funds be lower than what they would have been able to get by borrowing somewhere else. If this isn't the case, the insurance company does not add any value to their owners, who theoretically could have borrowed money from somewhere else and made the same investments themselves.

Although insurers traditionally depended upon underwriting profit to provide them with operating profit, market forces now require that insurers earn the bulk of their profit on investment income on premiums held pending claims occurrence. This is a form of financial leveraging.

Wiki.

So thats how they earn eh? :P

MOST POPULAR NEW VEHICLES

2006-04-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

1. Honda Civic
2. Honda Accord
3. Toyota Camry
4. Nissan Altima
5. Chevrolet Tahoe
6. Honda Odyssey
7. Toyota RAV4
8. Toyota FJ Cruiser
9. Acura TL
10. Lexus RX

Cool cars na?

Cars Info

2006-03-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

Ferrari is an Italian manufacturer of high-end Formula One cars, race cars, Exotic cars and high-performance sports cars formed by Enzo Ferrari in 1929. At first, Scuderia Ferrari sponsored drivers and manufactured racecars; the company went into independent car production in 1946, eventually became Ferrari S.p.A., and is now controlled by the Fiat group. The company is based in Maranello, near Modena, Italy.

Mercedes-Benz (commonly known as Mercedes) is a famous German brand of automobiles, buses, coaches and trucks owned by DaimlerChrysler (formerly known as Daimler-Benz).

Mercedes-Benz is one of the premier automobile manufacturers in the world; it is also the world's oldest. Its primary competition in automobile production are Audi, BMW, Lexus, Bentley and Maserati. The three-pointed star was designed by Gottlieb Daimler to show the ability of his motors for land-, air- and sea-usage. The sign first appeared on a Daimler vehicle in 1909. The Benz laurel was added in 1926 to symbolize the union of the two firms. The plain ring seen today was first used in 1937. Mercedes-Benz cars are one of the most technologically advanced vehicles and up to the 1990s were widely known for their flawless design and execution.

Audi is an automobile maker in Germany, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The company is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany.

Audi's German tagline is "Vorsprung durch Technik". The tagline is used either in original or in its English translation "Progress through Technology".

Wiki.

2006-03-14T03:27:00.000-08:00

The history of automobiles

The modern automobile powered by the Otto gasoline engine was invented in Germany by Karl Benz. Even though Karl Benz is credited with the invention of the modern automobile, several other German engineers worked on building the first automobile at the same time. These inventors are: Karl Benz on July 3, 1886 in Mannheim, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart (also inventors of the first motor bike) and in 1888/89 German-Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus in Vienna, although Marcus didn't go beyond the prototype stage.

Steam powered vehicles

Steam-powered self-propelled cars were devised in the late 18th century. The first self-propelled car was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769, it could attain speeds of up to 6 km/h (3.7 mi/h). In 1771 he designed another steam-driven car, which ran so fast that it rammed into a wall, producing the world’s first car accident.

[edit]

The Internal Combustion Engine

In 1806 Fransois Isaac de Rivaz, a Swiss, designed the first internal combustion engine (sometimes abbreviated "ICE" today). He subsequently used it to develop the world’s first vehicle to run on such an engine, one that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to generate energy. It was not very successful, as was the case with the British inventor, Brown, and the American inventor, Morey, who produced clumsy IC-engine-powered vehicles about 1826.

Etienne Lenoir produced the first successful internal-combustion engine in 1860, and within a few years, about 400 were in operation in Paris. In about 1863, Lenoir installed his engine in a vehicle. It seems to have been powered by city lighting-gas in bottles, and was said by Lenoir to have "travelled slower than a man could walk, with breakdowns being frequent." Lenoir, in his patent of 1860, included the provision of a carburettor, so liquid fuel could be substituted for gas, particularly for mobile purposes, i.e., vehicles. Lenoir is said to have tested liquid fuel, such as alcohol, in his stationary engines; but it doesn't appear he used them in his vehicle. If he did, he most certainly didn't use gasoline, as this was not well-known and was considered a waste product.

The next innovation comes in the late 1860s, with Siegfried Marcus, a German working in Vienna, Austria. He developed the idea of using gasoline as a fuel in a two-stroke internal-combustion engine. In 1870, he built a crude vehicle, with no seats, steering or brakes, but it was spectacular for one reason: it was the world's first internal-combustion-engine-powered vehicle fueled by gasoline. It was tested in Vienna in September of 1870. In 1888/1889, he built a second car, this one with seats, brakes and steering, and a four-stroke engine of his own design.

The four-stroke engine had already been written down and patented in 1862 by the Frenchman Beau de Rochas in a long-winded and rambling pamphlet. He printed about 300 copies of his pamphlet and they were distributed in Paris, but nothing came of this, with the patent expiring soon after and the pamphlet disappearing into total obscurity. In fact, hardly anyone knew of it to begin with. Beau de Rochas never built a single engine.

Most historians agree that Nikolaus Otto of Germany built the world's first four-stroke engine. He knew nothing of Beau de Rochas's patent or idea, and came upon the idea entirely on his own; in fact, he began thinking about it in 1861, but abandoned the idea until the mid-1870's. There is some evidence, although not conclusive, that one Christian Reithmann, an Austrian living in Germany, had built a four-stroke engine entirely on his own by 1873. Reithmann had been experimenting with IC-engines as early as 1852.

In 1883, Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville and Leon Malandin of France installed an internal-combustion engine powered by a tank of city gas on a tricycle. As they tested the vehicle, the tank hose came loose, resulting in an explosion. In 1884, Delamare-Deboutteville and Malandin built and patented a second vehicle. This one consisted of two four-stroke, liquid-fueled engines mounted to an old four-wheeled horse cart. The patent, and presumably the vehicle, contained many innovations, some of which wouldn't be used for decades. However, during the vehicle's first test, the frame broke apart, the vehicle literally "shaking itself to pieces," in Malandin's own words. No more vehicles were built by the two men, and their venture went completely unnoticed and their patent unexploited. No one else knew of the vehicles and experiments until years later.

Supposedly in the late 1870's, an Italian named Murnigotti patented the idea of installing an IC engine on a vehicle, although there is no evidence one was built. In 1884, Enrico Bernardi, another Italian, installed an IC engine on his son's tricycle. Although nothing more than a toy, it is said to have operated somewhat successfully in one source, but another says the engine's power was too feeble to make the vehicle move.

But if all of the above experiments hadn't taken place, the development of the automobile wouldn't have been retarded by so much as a moment, since they were unknown experiments that went no further than the testing stage. The internal-combustion-engined car really can be said to have begun with Benz and Daimler in 1886, for their vehicles were successful, they went into series-production, and they inspired others.

Benz, after building his first three-wheeled car in 1885, built improved versions in 1886 and 1887, and went into production in 1888 -- the world's first vehicle to do so. Approximately 25 were built until 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced. They were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz car to his line of products. Because France was more open to the automobile in general, more were built and sold in France than by Benz himself in Germany.

Daimler built a car in 1886 - a new horse carriage fitted with his new high-speed 4-stroke engine. In 1889, he built two vehicles from scratch, with several innovations. From about 1890-1895 about 30 vehicles were built by Daimler and his innovative assistant, Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after having a falling out with their backers.

In 1890, Emile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began series-producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the motor industry in France. They were inspired by Daimler's Stalhradwagen of 1889, which was exhibited in Paris in 1889.

The first American automobile with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines was supposedly designed in 1877 by George Baldwin Selden of Rochester, New York, who applied for a patent on the automobile in 1879. Selden didn't build a single car until 1905, when he was forced to do so due to the lawsuit. Selden received his patent and later sued the Ford Motor Company for infringing his patent. Henry Ford was notoriously against the American patent system, and Selden's case against Ford went all the way to the Supreme Court, who ruled that Ford and everyone else was free to build automobiles without paying royalties to Selden, since automobile technology had improved since Selden's patent, and no one was building those antiquated designs.

Meanwhile, notable advances in steam power evolved in Birmingham, England by the Lunar Society. It was here that the term horsepower was first used. It was in Birmingham also that the first British four wheel petrol-driven automobiles were built in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester who also patented the disc brake in the city. Electric vehicles were produced by a small number of manufacturers.

Source : Wikipedia

Ragnarok Starter's Guide

2005-12-28T04:40:00.000-08:00

Ragnarok!
Yeah yeah, you are bored on hearing that name again I know, perhaps this might spark a little interest in you…

Ragnarok is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)

Its story revolves around a world called Midgard where you are a citizen and have to work and save it from the monster’s threat that looms. On your journey to glory you will meet many new characters from around the world and many new people! Each time you login will be a different game for you! Guaranteed (no d/c counted :D)!

Firstly you appear on an island with a castle on it. You are a newbie for now and need to work on your skills to get a job and progress through its levels!

Enter the castle and talk to the man in it (these are called Non-Playing Characters (NPCs)). I suggest you choose training and sign-up or it coz it really helps you level up and train yourself for a job!

After all the basic training and Practical training until you are level 13 in Base go to the job test person and get a job according to your attitude. Now you just need to complete the quest of your job and that’s it! You are a proud citizen of Midgard now!

Download :

Ragnarok

A few tips:
1. Keep changing your password to prevent it from getting hacked!
2. Play at a max of 4 hrs a day only else you may become an addict.
3. Don’t trust any players who ask you money in return of repaying it sometime.
4. Keep healing items with you always and don’t sell them coz you may not know when they are helpful!

Happy RoKing! ^__^

Themes, Skins !

2005-12-28T04:08:00.000-08:00

Ever felt jealous of those oh-so-cool desktops? Ever wondered how people get all those kind of desktops and boot-screens from and how do they use/create them? Good for you, you don’t have to look any further!

Basically to modify a desktop’s look, icons and stuff you need a software…

A few and chosen good ones are :
1. StyleXP by TGTsoft
2. WindowsBlinds by StarDock

I personally recommend StyleXP for its clean and un-cluttered interface and support for XP core-wise which hardly can create any modding related problems. Also it has a great lot of themes to choose from and all themes look cool and non-pixellated and are refreshing to use and easy-on-eye.

WindowsBlinds too is good but the only drawback is its resource-hog. It eats up a lot of memory and the service needs to be running to keep the desktop skinned unlike StyleXP which can be closed after applying a theme and hardly occupies more than 8-10 MB of RAM…

The current latest versions of these 2 products are :
1. 3.13 for StyleXP ------> Download
2. 5 for WindowsBlinds ------> Download

Now that you have a skin-applying software (or skinner) which has a good number of good skins in them pre-packed, you need to find one that suits your lifestyle well…

You need to visit a few sites giving free themes that are excellent if u ask me!
A few I visit are :
1. ThemeXP.org
2. WinCustomize.com
3. Belchfire.net
4. ThemeXP.com
5. TopThemes.com

All these sites have a pretty huge collection of Themes to satisfy that thirst!

Happy Skinning ^__^ !__! ^__^

My Dream Comp (Current Age...)

2005-12-28T02:49:00.000-08:00

Hehe, only if I were rich I would have owned a SuperComp… anyways we are all allowed to dream arent we ? so here goes my dream computer (which is possible to build but impossible to pay for )

Configurations of the CPU :

All these are currently the best available stuff in the market if one can opt for it

See my current but not pretty impressive rig here…

Merry Christmas ! (or X'Mas)

2005-12-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

~Merry~ ^Xmas^ #Merry# *Christmas* !

Wishing the whole world a very happy and prosperous New Year and a Holly Jolly Christmas !

Here are some good links you can use to enjoy christmas !

www.christmas-software.com

www.emailsanta.com/Christmas_software.htm

Both have an excellent collection of goodies for christmas !

Keep Enjoying :)

Lets go to Opera, FireFox !

2005-12-18T01:44:00.000-08:00

I am not into browser wars but I do have a like/dislike for each browser I come across !

Take IE 6.0 SP2 for example. Its pretty simple for an Internet user to use it. It offers all basic features of ancient search age.

Now is the Google oops.. I mean Search era.. An age where nothing on the net is possible without searching to surf the net.

So naturally a browser must support it as a primary component. IE 6 doesnt have that and is no longer that much useful to a power user also...

Enter FireFox and Opera and many more to the rescue of Netters (Net Users).

See my FireFox themed and ready for the web outlook :

Dont miss the Ms.Beauty Opera ! :

I like FireFox for its simplicity and Opera for its looks. Both are equally great.

Captions of thiers :
Opera - Fastest Browser On Earth (And I agree on that...)
FireFox - Rediscover The Web (True !)

Download them :

FireFox - 5.1 MB Approx.

Parent Site and Hoster - Mozilla

Download - FireFox !

Alternatively With Google Toolbar - GetFireFox

=============================================================

Opera - 3.1 MB Approx.

Parent Site and Hoster - Opera

Download - Opera

Skins and More - Customize

=============================================================

Some More Info :

FireFox

Opera

=============================================================

Happy Browsing this Winter ! :)

Be safe, Be secure, DONT use Internet Explorer ! :)

Final Template Edit for now !

2005-12-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

Just fooled around with the template and this (what you are seeing) is the final one for now atleast :p

Hope you like it, please comment your likes/dislikes and recommendations and suggestions and even if u are blank minded, jus comment that too lol :))

QWERTY Keyboards and Me

2005-12-14T02:48:00.000-08:00

QWERTY (pronounced "kwerty" or "Q-werty") is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. It takes its name from the first six letters seen in the keyboard's top row of letters. The QWERTY design was patented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873, when it first appeared in typewriters.

Taken from a Wiki but I know this fully ;)

Now some facts :

* The longest common English word that can be typed using only the left hand (using conventional hand placement) is stewardesses. The words sweaterdresses and aftercataracts are longer and can also be typed with only the left hand, but they are not in all dictionaries.

* The longest English word that can be typed with the right hand only (using conventional hand placement) is johnny-jump-up, or alternatively polyphony.

* Typewriter is the longest word that can be typed on only one row, which might be no coincidence as some believe that Christopher Sholes deliberately placed all its letters in the top row when designing the layout in order to ease demonstrations. Proprietory, protereotype, and rupturewort are sometimes conjectured as the longest words but these are not available in most dictionaries.

K, now my relation to it :

I like QWERTY keyboards more than the DVORAK ones coz it offers me better speeds than the latter... I chose my nick name as Qwerty coz i am a keyboard freak, that is, I have a superb typing speed of around 20-25 words per minute lol.
My letters perminute sometimes go above 80-90. :|
So the name... QWERTY > I love it !

I know its strange to have a nick name like that and is hard to pronounce too but its fun to have one isnt it ? K, U can jus call me Qwerty ;)

Psst.. Isnt it easy to type Qwerty ? lol, jus a horse tap away lol :D

Gmail Revamped !

2005-12-14T02:25:00.000-08:00

Gmail Gmail and more Gmail ! Yet more Gmail !

OK enough of spamming Gmail here lol.

Gmail has revamped its interface with inbuilt RSS feeds that appear on the top of page, jus above the inbox's tool bar header...

See this :

See the difference ? If still confused, see the top of the image.. its a RSS feed.. U can go and personalize it too !

Go in Gmail > Settings > Web Clips and add all your personal favorites and edit thier already good list at your will !

Happy googling ! GMail Gmail Gmail ! Hey ! Wheres the competion ? lol

Rapidshare now not supported by Flashget !

2005-12-12T01:23:00.000-08:00

Flashget
One of the best download manager out there on the net doesnt support RapidShare downloads anymore...

Just tried downloading a software through RapidShare today and found that Flashget is failing everytime...

Maybe due to RapidShare's major upgrade they have patched the Flashget fault...

Waiting for another Flashget release so that I can download off RapidShare at good speeds :D

Back to Rock - Ragnarok !

2005-12-11T07:08:00.000-08:00

After a year of ragnaroking I got tired and left it a year ago :(

Today I found the CD lying in dust and thus ended up Installing it :)

It took me 1/2 hrs to update it for a year :D

Finally the Update is complete now, gotta go now, will write a good review on it mebbe.

Ragna ! here Qwerty returns !

Lets Rok, RagnaRok !

Want more Traffic in a fun way ?

2005-12-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

Soon to come but registrations are open.

Join BlogMad, a fun way to earn credit points and traffic via games and referrals !

Join now ! Click on the image below !

Top 100 Bloggers !

2005-12-10T05:31:00.000-08:00

Hi all !

Just registered under Top100 Bloggers and Installed the script here.

Please take time to Vote for me if you like my posts. :)

You can also get one like I have.

Click here : Top 100 Bloggers

Thanks,
Qwerty

LimeWire Speeder Patch !

2005-12-09T22:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, You tried LimeWire and liked it except for the fact that you noticed it is slow...

Try this patch for it that gets rid of all the connection problems and improves speeds and gives the Lime a squeeze on the Wire of downloads(pun).

Go here :

Softpedia with +1 Mirror Link for LimeWire Speed Patch

What they say :

LimeWire Acceleration Patch is a high-end module for LimeWire file sharing application, developed to resolve problems like: slow downloads and disconnections, traffic congestion, improving download speed and reliability, doing so by several methods to achieve 200% to 400% faster downloads, according to our tests, user and website reviews. Various features of the program are detailed bellow.LimeWire Acceleration Patch i an utility for LimeWire file sharing application.

About the Interface :

· Interface is pleasant and very easy to use;
· Automatically clears downloaded and wrong files;
· Operable by system tray icon for quicker and easier use;
· Automatically resumes paused downloads;
· Automatically searches for more sources at user-specified intervals;
· Saves configurations from last run and auto loads on start-up.

What I say :

Just download it blindly and apply :)

Rapidshare Link Grabber !

2005-12-09T22:36:00.000-08:00

Tired of typing those rapidshare links in your browser and waiting for the whole page to load and waste your bandwidth ?

Try this tool i found and uploaded for you exclusively ;)

http://rapidshare.de/files/8907660/Rapid_Reloaded.rar.html

This tool can be used in an easy 5 Step way.

1. Type your Link in the 1st Textbox
2. If a proxy, then enter its ip and port in the 2nd Textbox
3. Click Grab now.
4. Enter the number displayed.
5. Get your link.

Oh, and a 6th step, I forgot :(

6. Enjoy :p

Winamp Update Blues !

2005-12-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

What’s it with software companies these days? They are releasing software updates as if there is no tomorrow

Take Winamp for example…

Yesterday it was 5.112 and today it is 5.12 L

Today its 5.12 and tomorrow it will be 5.14 with no reason as to where the 0.13 has gone

I know that it isn’t necessary to upgrade for all of us… but see the way of releasing upgrades that they are doing, its just a piece of shit upgrade frequency…

People who don’t know about what a software upgrade does in terms of fixes, etc… will foolishly download all the upgrades promptly…

Agreed that upgrades are necessary for the security paranoid and the core user but a release everyday? That’s useless if I may say so, waste of the developer’s time and the user’s bandwidth…

In fact, if they had brains they would have at least released an upgraded version every month with all fixes built in one instead of doing the daily upgrades…

Tell me what’s the difference between an anti-virus and this daily upgraded software?

Who the heck cares anyway, I am better off with my Windows Media Player 10 which rarely updates though it’s a Microsoft product.

Boo to you software upgrade freaks :(

System Mechanic Professional v6.0p Review !

2005-12-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

System Mechanic Professional v6(p build)

After clearing up the uncategorized data on my comp, I analyzed the Disk for fragments and found it to be 50% fragmented.

So I decided I needed a defragment and a junk clearer software which easily clears up all the mess. J

I decided to go for the new System Mechanic release >> Version 6.p

I had already used the Professional version of its previous release 5.0b, so I decided to go for it.

Its UI is the coolest I have seen around in maintenance software’s UIs. I must admit I was impressed by the way it started the auto system checkup on its first start.

As I already have Norton 2006 and Zone Alarm 6 as my antivirus and firewall, I skipped those options of System Mechanic Pro in the install menu.

The installation was breezy and without any problem but be aware that you need to uninstall the previous version to install the new v6.

After a reboot (required) later…

It auto started with the windows logon and started the auto system check and displayed the status of Health, Security, Disk status, Clutter, Speed etc…

The new look/skin looks better and cooler than the previous one of v5.0 and it looks simple yet…

It has 3 levels for rating your system’s statistics – Low, Fair, and Good (Dude! where’s excellent?)

I got a good in security and a fair in disk status, and a Low in the others so I thought it would be wise to make those lows into goods.

It scanned my PC HDD and found about 900 MB of Disk clutter. After clearing that I went on to optimizing speed which included registry compacting (A good feature of System Mechanic) and it automatically deletes useless startup items according to its updates/definitions. The speed improved only a bit but was noticeable thanks to the registry compaction.

Next I decided to defragment my drive and went in for boot time defragment as it helps by giving better defragment speeds.

The Defragment took the highest time for my 80 GB x 4 partitions, about an hour almost. But the speeds of my comp were better due to it. So it was worth the effort and time.

Another interesting feature is the Active Care feature that has good scheduling options in it. Its useful for those who regularly need to maintain their PCs.

Overall, the other features have minor upgrades to them and not much difference from the previous version except the Analyzer which I agree is a cool feature for a one-stop maintenance status check.

This application is a highly recommended one if you care about your PC a lot and maintain it often or at least occasionally…

Rating – 8.5/10 (Needs a little more improvement on updating feature and in error reporting facility for the errors that it fixes…)

Practical Menace and Exam Haunts...

2005-11-23T02:17:00.000-08:00

Looks like my bad days are starting yet again… Just like the rains in Chennai

First i have my Practical Exams from tomorrow is this schedule :

1. Physics Practicals (Morning of 24th NOV)
2. Chemistry Practicals (Evening of 25th NOV)
3. Computer Practicals (Morning of 26th NOV)

Closely following are my Half-Yearly Exams in 1st or 2nd week of December I think…

Looks like I gotta cut down on my Comp time and study and be confident, but, NO, the blogs will be updated every day. I will manage to do that after studying or in the mornings…

Lets see how the practical exam goes

Rapidshare Unlimited !

2005-11-22T14:17:00.000-08:00

Whew ! After a year of searching for rapid hacks and tricks and tips and what not ?

The s/w (trick/tip, whatever) I found can be d/led from here :
My Link that is ....
Inform me (by comments) if it is removed
http://rapidshare.de/files/7987962/Rapidshare.rar.html password is : qwerty

yeh, its leeched, wat do u expect i make such great scripts ? i am a n00b but expert in .NET

The Trick is simple, u need some damn basic DOS understanding for this

1. Unpack the contents into one folder.

2. Fill out list of links that needs to download into one file with any name, "links.txt" for example, in the same folder of extraction for ease.

3. Tune up your download-manager-program such as FlashGet to catch links from windows clipboard to start automatic downloading when a link will be placed into clipboard.

Get into DOS or Command and enter this folder
4. If you have no Perl-interpreter then start get-rapidshare.exe with your prepared links file: "get-rapidshare.exe links.txt" or "get-rapidshare.exe .txt" ( from step 2).

Downloading proccess will start automatically by your download-manager-program as this processes the links thus decoded to the clipboard. (Use FLASHGET ) or possibly by Internet Explorer when program get-rapidshare.exe find out the links.

5. If you have Perl-interpreter installed already, you can youself edit parameters in file get-rapidshare.pl

Change value of $aplication according to your environment.
*Non Windows users MUST set $useClipboard = 0

6. Enjoy the RS d/ls thus...

And no rules, no mercy, no limits

Yahoo 360° BETA Review !

2005-11-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

Yahoo 360° - A Great Service !

My Review of The Yahoo's New BETA But Great Social Networking Service - Yahoo 360°

Signing Up :
Unlike Google's Orkut, this does require an invite but if you have a messenger ID then u get one for free ! Signing up is easy, it just asks a few details which I suggest you add all of as the more Info you give about yourself, the more you get friends.

Featureset :
Its still in BETA ,so... many features are added over the time on this great networking tool...

As of now, you have
1. A feed sharer (Doesnt auto update as of yet)
2. A blog (Decent but not as advanced)
3. A profile manager (Very good, loads of features)
4. A group manager/sharer (For showing groups u have subscribed to)
5. A friend linker/sharer (For sharing and socializing with your friends and forming a chain)
6. Loads of themes for the home page and blog
7. A blast message service for quick messages
8. Auto IM service
9. Common intrest finder (Find people with common intrests)
10. And Loads more... Jus Join and see !

Featureset - 7/10

Looks :
See my page and then my friend's and say it for yourself, Its Awesome in looks and Cool Eye Candies !

Looks - 8.5/10

A Page View :

Usablity :
Its damn easy to use and configure, all in a simple an plain interface, packed with richness of loads of goodies !
The Blogging is simple and not like Blogger and Wordpress though with less control over it, also no problems of republish and stuff, great for basic one-picture limit blogging !

Usablity - 8.5/10

People Online and Uses :
There are lots of people using this so u wont have trouble of any kind finding one of your liking and yeah, even girls/ladies/women are online :D

Population - 9/10

Service speeds :
The Service of the server is also damn fast and no "cant be displayed errors" occur, though due to its BETA bugs, some other service errors might come...

Server quality - World class - 8.5/10

Overview :
This is a great service for socializing cum blogging in one place itself ! A good initiative by Yahoo, atleast people respond to each other at this place, I love this service and like it to be sucessfuly launched when out of BETA !

Overall - 8.5/10 (For a few bugs, rest all are OK)

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

Norton Antivirus 2006 Review !

2005-11-20T03:37:00.000-08:00

A Review of my experience on NAV 2006

Firstly, the product is slightly lighter than the NAV 2005 which hogged my system until this month...

This new version comes in a new type of box package which shows a person hugging his laptop and mouse (I wonder if it is only for laptops or what ?). Also now it ships only in DVD format (CD is also there but is a bit costlier), so better get some drives/burners for DVD dudez, that is those who like to be real and original and not those downloader kinds,... speaking of downloads, NAV also comes for d/l type shipping (e-shipping, eh ?) that is, they charge you and then u can d/l it from thier server...

Minimum System Requirements :
For XP
* 300MHz or higher processor
* 256 MB of RAM
* 150 MB of hard disk space

I dont recommend that u run it on 2000 coz it needs a good OS Interface for dealing with in case of crashes in low config computers...

And NO, No support for 98/NT/ME now on... Though 2005 is still available exclusively for them...

I Recommend you have this for NAV 2006 :
* 1 Ghz or Higher processor
* 512 MB of RAM
* 200 MB of Free Space and a properly managed Virtual Page File on the drive

The Main Page :

The new features in this are :
* Norton Protection Centre - A new tool which integrates seamlessly with your Windows XP SP2's Security Centre and alerts you of Windows Updates and Regular scanning and security stats and stuff...
* Spywares/Adwares/Hijackwares support - New in NAV Integration but we all know wat are these dont we ?
* Homepage protection from hijacking spywares - To lock your homepage and not allow any program to change it, another anti-spyware feature...kinda useful in some way...
* Double archive scanning - scans the archive in the archived files too ! gr8 feature !

Feature Score - 7/10 (Too common, almost all Anti-Viruses have most of these...

Scan speed :
Its terribly fast !
It scanned my 300000 sumthing files of my C: Drive in about 30 minutes , almost a quarter of the files are big !
An A+ in this, not an O though coz I want it to be a minute (Muhahaha !)

Interface :
NAV Products are known for thier baby teaching yet advanced and cool interfaces...
and this one's not back in the tradition of NAVs, its Interface gets even better with the addition of the Norton Protection Centre,
which has a really cool and smooth slider type menu that resides on either your tray or your Task bar...depends on the option...(I suggest you keep it on the task bar as to avoid confusion between the main program and this...

The Protection Center Menu :

The Protection Centre :
Its basically a link between all the other Norton Products like Systemworks, Ghost, Internet Security, Antispam etc...
It mentions what aspects of your PC are in control by it and what are not and what aspects are in critial/unavailable states...
Good feature if u have all the products (God knows what might happen to your computer with all products installed).
I think that all this is done to Increase its product sales and make users worry for no reason.. (Yawn !)

The Security Slider that appears and well, sometimes bugs you... :

The Basic All-Time Features :
Well, all others are the same with a little no use addition here and there and stuff thats not worth mentioning...

Overview :
A good antivirus for those being infected continuously by viruses and worms (NOT TROJANS coz NAV Isnt good @ It)
A good buy with no looking back and is worth its cost with a year's free subscription (Hahaha)

My Score
8 off 10
8/10

Recommendations to Maker :
I am happy with its features but would like to recommend the symantechies to lower the system hogness atleast a bit more by using some new algorithm or whatever they wish... (:D)

Oh and sorry for not upgrading this place, was kinda busy ;)

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

A Wonder Keyboard (What are static plastic keys ?)

2005-11-11T03:50:00.000-08:00

Allright, Enough of the boring old keyboard !

This one will redefine the keyboard design and create a revolution !

Art Students at a Russian college have created a new wonder keyboard named "Optimus".

Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment.

That is, Every key on the keyboard is a standalone OLED Display !!!

More-over, it self changes according to the applicational environment, that is, if you have pressed caps lock off, it shows small letters on the display and vice versa !!!

It supports a handful of applications whose control option keys it changes into and even supports language symbol display !

Cant believe ?

Look at these !

=======================================

The Keyboard on the whole :

In a Photoshop session :

In small letter mode :

And last but not the least, the Application shortcut menu ! :

Got the type ? - Yeah QWERTY ;)

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

Gmail Gear !

2005-11-10T00:13:00.001-08:00

Enough of Low Space Storage, Ugly ever-reloading Interfaces and non POP-enabled free e-mail accounts !

Enter GMail ! A free web email service by Google that increases storage space at 4 bytes every second !!!

Features include :
0. 38 + languages supported !
1. Archiving E-Mails (So that you never have to delete any mail again)
2. Labels (Better organization of your mails)
3. Auto Entry of Fields (Just like browsers do to ur sign in forms ;) )
4. Export/Import Contacts
5. A Notifier (For notifying you about an arrival of a new email(s))
6. Google Talk Integration (For faster IMs and Voice calls !)
7. Ever Growing Storage (Grows @ 4bytes / second, currently @ 2663 MB)
8. Java Non-Interloading Interface (Means no waiting to switch from the inbox folder to thrash, etc...)
9. POP enabled ! (Now recieve your Gmail on your favourite mail-client)
10. Picasa too supported ! (Means more better photo sharing !)
11. Conversation type emails ! (Means all your E-Mail conversations grouped as one !)
12. All Browser support for HTML/Java version ! (Go Universal !)

And a ton lot more features !

Go Get one now !

Go here ! > GMAIL

Or ask for an Invite by mailing me at qwertythemaniac@yahoo.com

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

Getting a little paranoid !

2005-11-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Finally recieved my retail copy of NAV 2006 (Norton AntiVirus)

Quickly installed and activated it !

Whoa !
Its much faster than the earlier version and has a new feature called the 'Protection Centre' akin to the security centre of Windows XP SP2.

Tried the scan after the Liveupdate of around 3mb...

To my utter horror (maybe a little fortune here), it detected and removed 3 worms which the earlier version (2005) had not managed to detect !

Good Heavens !
My computer is safe as the worm hadnt been executed by then...

I have 2 security products and i am totally safe now !

NAV 2006
ZoneAlarm Firewall PRO 6

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

YouTube - The Flickr of Videos (The Ace of Aces)

2005-11-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

Upload, Tag and Share your videos worldwide!

Yes and this is exclusively for videos like Flickr is for Images !

You can Watch, Upload, Share your homemade videos/collections @ YouTube !

Its a really great service worth the buck if you are a video buff and Adobe Premier specialist ;)

Visit it @ YouTube.com

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

Of France's Cars and French Fries

2005-11-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ironically, today while eating French Fries in a news paper cover, the article in it was titled-"France Frying" with a scene of the burning warehouse.

What was once a peaceful, non-communal rioting country has now turned to riots thanks to unfulfilling of some public's demands...

Lets see where this leads France to...

Here's an intresting development - BBC

Qwerty Maniac - The Typo Killer

A Bus Burning :

My Rig

2005-11-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody, (That Includes You Too !)

Traditional way to introduce myself : }
By saying that this is my 1st post.

I own an assembled Rig/Comp

Configurations are :

Hardware :
3.0 Ghz P4 (Prescott) PGA478 socket type /
512 MB RAM DDR 400 Mhz FSB 800 Mhz /
128 MB AGP nVidia Mx 4000 Series /
80 GB Sata-I HDD Seagate 7200 rpm Barracuda /
Intel Orignal Motherboard - 865 GBF /
Samsung CD-R/RW SW-252F Optical Drive /
Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616e DVD Drive /
1.44" Sony Floppy Drive /
Mercury MS-440 Standard Speakers /
Samsung Internet / Multimedia Keyboard with 120 Keys /
Logitech Optical Mouse Std. /
APC UPS /
Zebronics Case /
56k Microtek Modem /
Huawei ADSL Router/Modem for 256kbps connection.

Operating Systems :
Windows XP Home with SP2 +
Windows XP Proffesional with SP2 +
Fedora Core 4.

Core Softwares :
Microsoft Office 2003 with Sp2 and Frontpage +
Corel Draw Suite 12 +
Adobe CS2 Premium Suite +
Nero 7 Premium Edition.

About Me :
I am a 16 Yearold Male and I love thinking, imagining, wondering about human life and its revolutionizers.

Hope my ambition to innovate succeed one day !

Qwerty - The Typo Killer