Sketch: Tired

"And so he sat down, tired,

Still lost in that thought,

Of what he won in this war,

And what all, he had lost."

If you've been seeing my sketches for a while, you must've figured the difference in the style. I made it using a Pen Tablet!! :D

Yup, I got my hands on one of my dream tools (though only for some time) - an iBall Pen Tablet that can be attached to my laptop. Thanks alot to Sai for lending it to me for a day (It's exam time, so he wasn't using it :D)

Oh and for those who are wondering why the theme is similar to one of my old sketch, well the "inspiration" is the same :|

PS: Idea taken from someone's deviantArt Gallery. Campus net won't let me open deviantArt, so well, thanks whoever you are! ;)

Comments welcome!

PPS: Check out all my sketches here!

Looking Ahead - Help me out!!

Finally, I've crossed 10,000 blog hits! So thanks a lot to each and everyone who has been visiting my blog!

Started in April'08, this blog was a playground for me to revise (& improve) my Web designing skills. But seems like that took a back seat, and the Digit Article has motivated me to start writing more tech-articles. Hence the few Product reviews & GMail Tips. I'm happy I haven't stopped sketching though, something I still enjoy doing.

You might be wondering why I'm so much into Blogging, so what's better than quoting straight from ProBlogger!

"The experience of starting a blog and watching yourself progress is something money cannot buy... So never forget, that the journey of becoming a blogger is more important than the end product!"

Have a glance at Justin Wright's (full-time blogger and internet marketer) full post on the 5 Valuable Lessons You Can Learn From Blogging! 

Anyway now that I'm less busy, I'm planning to work on my blog. And here's where your role comes!

Help me out! Tell me what you've liked/hated about this blog, things you never looked at (Like the Technorati link on the left side :P). Posts that you've not cared to read, or posts that you've checked again & again...

I already plan to implement some changes, like:

• Improving Feeds, using Feedburner (For those lazy guys who don't won't open the blog regularly!)


• Getting a more personalized theme (The green curved boxes don't really match with the content, right?)


• A Navbar, easier way to navigate through the blog (So that you don't go: 'Umm now what?')

What else? Any sort of criticism is most welcome! Whether it's your first visit to this blog, or the 100th visit, I would love to hear your views/suggestions.

Go ahead! Shoot!

;)

11 GMail Tips you'll love!

Celebrating the triumph of reaching 9000 hits on my blog, I thought I'll come up with a another collection of tips to make your GMail (& GTalk)experience even more fun!

So here's the 3rd post in my "GMail Tips" Series! If you usually don't go around tweaking GMail, first check my earlier post on 10 GMail Features you must know! 

1. GMail Desktop Gadget

For all those Google Desktop users, here's a great Gadget! Read, Send, Star mails & even log into different accounts simultaneously! Read more about it in the official announcement & on LifeHacker! 

2. FoxGLove - Browser for Google Lovers!

Most of the time, all you do is check mail, sign into GTalk and maybe read your Blog Feeds. Here's a Portable Firefox Package, that gives you the feel of Google Chrome and power of Firefox. Have a look on LifeHacker & DownloadSquad! 

3. Let's add a smile to your mail!  

We all love emoticons don't we?  So how about adding some emotions to your mail? Check out the small Smiley Icon in your Formatting toolbar, and see a huge list of emoticons! (Infact, there are 2 different styles!  Check the button below the emoticons!)I Loooove GMail!!

4. Pimp your GMail with themes!

I've talked about it before, and like everyone else I'm in love with them! Have a look at my favorite themes! 

5. 3rd Party Applications: GMDesk, AlwaysIdle, Greasemonkey scripts...

It's not just Google which helps us enjoy every moment we spend using GMail. There are plenty of 3rd party tools to play with (But take care, since they aren't by Google). Like: 

GMDesk - A standalone application made in Adobe Air which gets GMail on your desktop. 

GAlwaysIdle - To always stay Idle on GTalk. (Really helpful :D)

Greasemonkey scripts  - Add more features to GMail (and other Google Services) using these scripts in Firefox! (Caution: Use with care!)

6. Don't just type. Speak (And act?)

GMail now allows you to do Voice & Video Chat! Though it isn't really of much use for me (Net speed in my campus are pathetic), it still is a great feature! Check the official blog to know more! 

7. Google Transliteration Bots!

Surprise your friends by saying नमस्ते (Hindi) or Bonjour (French) or こんにちは (Japanese)! Or add bots in group chat just to see some crazy translations! All this instantly, using GTalk Bots! Add them in your contaact list now! (Like en2hi.translit@bot.talk.google.com)! 

8. Labs: Reply Addons

Long conversation, loads of replies. Getting lost in who's replying to what? Then "Quote" people!

Going on a vacation? Let your GMail send automated replies by scheduling it before hand!

Have a look at some of the Reply Addons in GMail Labs! 

9. Labs: Canned Responses

How often do you reply by saying "Nice mail" or "Thanks for mailing, will reply soon"? How about storing your frequent replies as separate templates? Check this out to know how!


10. Labs: Label Addons

Chances are you are a Label Freak like I am. And you have loads of labels, and love color coding them. Then add more colors to your Labels by using Custom Label Colors! And ofcourse, when you have a lot of them, you should use Label Keyboard shortcuts to access them faster! Read more here!

11. Labs: Keyboard Shortcuts

Though I've talked about it before, it's always good to remind right? Navigate through GMail without touching your mouse! And if the default ones aren't enough, add more Custom Keyboard Shortcuts!

Hope you're experimenting with these features (As they said!) 

That's it for the moment! Tell me which of these do you like using? Anything that I missed? Do let me know by commenting! :)

PS: See my earlier posts in the GMail Tips series:

• Thanks Google for pimping my GMail!
• 10 GMail Features you must know!

PPS: Don't forget to Subscribe to receive updates on more such posts!

Sketch: Thank you Adil Sir!

From what I've learnt this sem, Designing is an art. You can't teach anyone Designing, you can only inspire one to learn it. And this sketch is for someone who knew how to do that best!

Adil Mistry, BITS Pilani Alumni (Graduated in 1979), teaches Multimedia at Central TAFE, eCentral Campus, East Perth, Australia. That's all I knew about him when he came to BITS Pilani, Goa Campus to do his sabbatical by taking up the Creative Multimedia elective. Though I was very keen to take the course (As I've always been weak at the Designing part), I wasn't enrolled (As I posted before, stupid Campus rules - Only for 3rd/4th yearites :|). But after attending the first class, the whole I'm-not-enrolled-so-shouldn't-attend syndrome vanished. * Poof *

From learning basics of designing, to watching animation (& scary) movies, to trying cool effects in Adobe Premiere, I had fun in every class :D

Anyway, after a short farewell dinner (a day before), Adil Sir left today. So I decided to give him a small sketch just to thank him for inspiring us all! :)

Who knows, I might end up being a Designer! (Would love too :D) I'll make sure I remember whom to credit my success then!

We'll miss you Sir!

PS: Now that I look at it, I feel I should not hate a ruler so much! :P

PPS: Check out my other sketches here!