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Hi!Getting the airflow moving is the easiest mod you can make to your ride. After-market intakes and filters, coupled with a sports exhaust should get you an extra 10-15hp. If you can't afford the sports exhaust, you can simply get an exhaust from a different vehicle with a larger exhaust. While getting rid of the catalytic converter is illegal due to the carbon monoxide release into the environment, it might be something that might be done in races though race standards keep changing in an attempt to encourage environment-friendly designs.Tossing out the rear seats, and spare tyre should get you some improvement in acceleration. Go on half a tank of fuel instead of filling it all the way up. Also, having the sports exhaust and sports catalytic converter will reduce some of the weight. If you've got petrol in your veins, ditch the front passenger seat and the air conditioning to lighten the load further. Lighter pedals and side mirrors are the next step, but they wouldn't do much more than you've already done.

I have heard so much about the Nano. You've got to share your driving experience with them. They look a lot like the Maruti Zen Estilos on the front, but the rear is distinctive with the grille for cooling the rear-mounted engine. Do share!

Hi Elna!Starting a web design agency is definitely hard work. You've got to form a portfolio of your past work and have to showcase it to attract clients.The service you have listed as bullet points (i.e. Web design and development, web hosting, web support and maintenance, graphics logo design, and newsletter online marketing) are perfect for you to focus on. However, offering training is not part of the core offerings and is not something you should offer during the initial stages. Competing with other web design agencies is hard enough. With your focus on training too, you may not be able to manage your offerings as efficiently as you can when focusing on the same target group of customers.Perhaps you could offer content writing services, such as for posting updates to the websites and for writing newsletter content.If you do need to collaborate on web development, drop me a message and we'll work something out

Hi! I've put up another design for the website. This time, I'm using a WordPress backend and have my design turned into a WordPress theme. Check it out and post your comments: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ The older version of the site, for comparison, is at: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ There are still a couple of things that need refinement, but I believe it's a step in the right direction from where I was a week ago.

The Apple hardware is quite similar to the PC, as they both use the Intel x86 family of processors. The hardware in older Apple computers would have some difference due to the processor architecture. You can have your Apple computer repaired at an Apple service center, and they can get you the parts that you need.Apple places the restriction that although you can buy a license to the operating system, you have to run the operating system on Apple hardware and not on a PC. Psystar was sued by Apple for doing so, which I believe is the subject of your post too. Psystar's offering did not include a complete set of drivers as the power management when running Mac OS on the PC didn't seem to kick in and slow down the cooling fan when the system temperature dropped.

Hi!@mahesh2kThank you for the project ideas.I believe the banner rotator is the simplest to put together - it can be put up with a short code within the theme, but it would have to be setup to work with individual themes because some themes may treat the banner as an in-post image therefore would apply inappropriate CSS formatting.Membership plugins are typically coupled with a payment system. It's time-consuming to implement support for the common payment gateways out there, but supporting Paypal alone would be relatively simple.A job board script would need to considerably change the look for the site to appear as a job board, because most page templates are geared toward displaying article content. Perhaps an IFRAME would fit in?

Hi!In the past, I've always been a fan of NetBeans, but Eclipse picked up real quick and has had a huge following. Eclipse did not initially have a non-commercial plugin for AWT/Swing frame/panel designing but I believe there is one available now. For PHP, I use Eclipse most of the time. For Java, I use NetBeans because Sun includes it in the Java and JavaEE bundles. However, NetBeans can be used for PHP and Eclipse can be used for Java. I just use them as a matter of preference.I used Borland JBuilder for a while in 2005 and 2006. Initially, I liked NetBeans better due to the AWT/Swing designer, but eventually developed a liking for JBuilder because of its UML and AWT/Swing designer. Borland JBuilder later adopted the Eclipse platform, and I believe the IDE was later discontinued.I guess what Borland ought to do is develop an application server and use a small portion of the profits to pay for IDE development and to give away the IDE for free. I guess that is what Oracle does for the Oracle JDeveloper IDE.

Hi!The Toyota Venza looks just as sleek as the Nissan Murano from the images that Google displays. I haven't seen one yet, only pictures of it. Depending on what you mean by a small car, you can look at the Volkwagen Golf, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Mini Cooper. If a sedan is something you are looking for, the Nissan Altima and the Toyota Camry are easy on the pocket. When you get a choice of engines on the Altima and the Camry, pick the larger engines if you plan to drive often on the highway.If you do want an SUV, the Range Rovers are pretty tough and have that executive look while Mitsubishi's Pajero has a young look. Toyota's LandCruiser can get you over steep hills and offroad terrain, just as a Range Rover or a Mitsubishi Pajero can. All three SUVs will hold up to just about anything you can throw at them, and will keep you in their protected steel cages should any road mishaps occur.The Jeep Wrangler isn't really something you would want to drive everyday, but it's great to take out to offroad conditions, such as in the desert. You might as well rent one when you need it rather than buy one to drive everyday. The Ford Edge isn't a car for mass appeal so not everybody would like it. Those who do like it feel it is an expression of their individuality.

I'm a code monkey, but I'm not proud to be one. I would rather be an electronics engineer, but I happened to have chosen to become a software developer instead because it seemed more fun. It is primarily because software developers don't get to do anything more than building business applications for the most part, and the challenging and interesting bit is working with the Linux kernel and 3D computer graphics (OpenGL and DirectX). Game development with some larger games is great, but Flash games aren't as much fun because the development isn't as involving as they are low-budget games.Being a code monkey at Electronic Arts for computer gaming, or RedHat for Linux kernel development sounds cool in the development community. Working for some of the enterprise application biggies fetches a lot of $$$ and earns a lot of respect in just about every community. You have to make the choice between making lots of $$$ and taking up a job that you would think is cool.

Hi Adell!Welcome to the forum.Just last week, we had a discussion about buying a PlayStation 2 versus buying a PlayStation 3. Sure, the PlayStation 3 is newer and Sony is discontinuing some of the online features for games on the PlayStation 2, but the games for the PlayStation 2 are very very cheap right now since it is an old console.I have never had an iPod, but I did have an iPhone 2G and that was the closest I ever got to owning an Apple product. The products are good, but they are often quite limited. The iPod Touch and the iPhone have Bluetooth, but Apple intentionally disables them to prevent users from exchanging files, music, and video and only permits users to connect Bluetooth headsets. While Nokia enables the playing of music over a Mono Bluetooth headset, Apple does not and requires the users to get a Stereo A2DP Bluetooth headset. I do have to admit though that Apple makes some really cool stuff. I do have the temptation to go out to buy the new Apple iPod Touch as it has an HD camera on the back, a VGA camera on the front, GPS, an accelerometer, and a microphone. It is almost an iPhone but without the cellular network connectivity capability.Among Anne Hathway's films, I've watched Princess Diaries and Alice in Wonderland. Johnny Depp is really popular for the Pirates of the Caribbean series, but I also watched Secret Window starring him in a very different kind of a role.@Sheep DogYou really ought to play Grand Theft Auto. It's the ultimate in computer gaming, featuring a sand-box style game play - it's a first person shooter, it involves driving (and shooting at the same time), it features micro games (some arcade games, and casino games), and it's got a story line to follow. They even have a hack that turns Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas into multiplayer games.

Hi!There are a couple of things that may have gone wrong with your Ford Escort. As long as the fuel gauge is working, it couldn't be a problem with an empty tank, and that's probably something you've checked for already. Using a dipstick should tell you the level of fuel in the tank. The battery usually is not at fault since the vehicle was running but if there was a problem with the alternator preventing it from charging the battery, then you ought to probably turn the key to On (not start) and check if any lights come up. When you then turn the key to Start, if you hear a click sound then you know the starter isn't kicking in. If the starter does make the loud whizzing sound that starting a car usually makes, then the electrical and starter systems are fine and you need to check if anything is blocking the air or fuel - changing the air and fuel filters would help. Sheep dog goes into more things you could have checked.

Hi!The lack of power windows should not be a problem if you live somewhere warm and you never open the windows since you'll have the air conditioning turned on all the time. Power locks are pretty useful though, but you can get an after-market fitting to get remote locking for all doors - they would hand you either a unit with an integrated key (you won't need your old key), or a key chain that you can use to lock or unlock the doors. The after-market remote locking systems usually include some kind of security system with a burglar alarm, so that's definitely a plus. If you want to invest in something at a higher range, they can give you keyless ignition like on the Nissan Altima.

Hello, sheepdog!It's good to have a post from you again; I haven't seen you on the forums for a while.The Ford Aspire has the looks to make it as a 'young' car. I wonder if taking out the back seats voids the warranty as many warranty policies prohibit modification of the vehicle. After 300,000 miles, I wouldn't worry about the warranty because it probably expired but for a new car I wouldn't spend on modifications unless I know that the warranty permits it. I have had a warranty repair just once within the three days of getting a Suzuki because the engine was emitting more smoke than it should be and the dealer sent the mechanic all the way over to where I live to take a look at it. It was just a couple of loose nuts and bolts, or something of the sort, so it was a minor fix.In the past, my dad has always had a vehicle replaced for getting too old and it never really got past 80,000km but lately we've been reducing our spending due to the crisis, so we've had a Toyota Avalon 2000 that ran for over 110,000km and a Maruti-Suzuki Esteem 2005 that shows 91,000km but it has only got 5 digits on the odometer. The Suzuki is usually borrowed by neighbours, friends, and family when they go on trips so I'm not sure of whether to read the odometer as 91,000km or 191,000km, as the counter would probably go back to zero after going past 99,999km. I'm sure it's the former because going over 150,000km within a five year period is quite uncommon with regular usage. Hanging onto a vehicle after a period of five years does mean you would have to live with occasional failure. The battery is one of the first things that would need replacement and you would want to have a jumper cable in the boot just in case, so you can ask for help. Do make sure that you aren't hooking up your car battery to anything prehistoric or futuristic - really old cars use batteries of different voltages and hybrid cars won't be able to get you a jump start either. There's always a spare tyre in the boot if you get a flat tyre, though you ought to check the tyre pressure and treading on all of the tyres at least once a month. The engine oil, air filters, and fuel filters need to be changed regularly to ensure that you don't experience any engine breakdowns. Keep an eye out for any indication of engine overheating when driving in hot weather - that's one thing sure to kill an engine.When looking for a Chevrolet Spark, you might also want to look for the old Daewoo Matiz, because that's the ancestor of the Spark - when Chevrolet acquired Daewoo's automobile business, they renamed the Matiz to a Spark although they kept the look that most automobile magazines describe as 'cute'. I'm not sure where they get their idea of cute... the modern-day Volkswagen Beetle is cute, an Audi TT is cute, a Mini Cooper is cute, but a Daewoo Matiz? I wouldn't really call that cute. Sure, it's economical and can take you from point A to point B without guzzling fuel, but the exterior definitely isn't cute.Carrying twenty bags of dog food is amazing for a Ford Aspire. Did you use the front passenger seat too, or was it all in the back? When going on a long trip, packing all the stuff I need into the Suzuki is tricky - I don't toss out the spare tyre and jack because I never know when I'm going to need it, but the boot space is limited since it's a mid-size sedan and putting stuff between the front seats, in the dashboard compartments, and the compartments in the door is what I'm left with. The Toyota Avalon is great for travel though - it's got an engine built for the highway, has lots of boot space, and the air conditioning is great if you live where the summer mercury peaks at 48C. Every geographical region seems to have a different automobile maker that has a good service network and is economical to drive, so I can't tell you if a particular car is a good choice for you without knowing the geographical location where you live (I don't mean to say that I would have to know where you live; I would need to know about the place where you live to be able to recommend a car). A car workshop down the street would probably be able to advise you on your next purchase based on their experience with repairing and servicing cars.

Hi!Netbooks are a cheap alternative to regular notebooks if all you want to do is check your email while on the go and don't want to worry about breaking an expensive asset.I've tried the Dragon Naturally Speaking software on a desktop computer sometime in 1997 or 1998 and don't really like voice recognition software in general because of the accuracy rate - I'd rather use handwriting recognition software (or even saving my handwritten note as an image) to jot something down quickly, but for extensive work I still prefer a full-size keyboard - it's proven technology and works as advertised every time!I doubt the problem you experienced with Dragon Naturally Speaking has anything to do with the hard drive, but may be related to the sound card. The guest post by TechGuy suggests using a Bluetooth headset... get one of the A2DP headsets as a normal headset may not work with your computer depending on its Bluetooth profile.NetBooks are a great replacement for older notebook computers - they have a longer battery life due to the Intel Atom processor that most of them run on, and you get the option of using a solid state hard drive so there are no moving parts if you intend to use the netbook in an automobile. If you do live in a place where it can get sunny, you would not want to leave your netbook in a vehicle because the green house effect of the glass would make it quite hot and damage the screen of the netbook. NetBooks may be cheap, portable, light in weight, and have a good battery life but they aren't indestructable, so be sure to observe the same care when handling or storing them as you would when using a regular notebook PC. The hardware may be cheap, but the access to your data on it isn't.

With the increasing number of cars owing to the shift of jobs to India, there has been a need for easy parking in many Indian cities. In busy areas, parking isn't something that people can find for their cars and local businesses lose some of their customers as a result. Setting up a multi storey car parking in such areas would be a viable business. The parking lot doesn't have to be anything fancy - just a concrete structure with paint on the outside and accessible areas by utilizing fewer larger pillars instead of numerous thinner pillars to provide easy access to parking areas. Valets can pick up the vehicle at the entrance and have the vehicle delivered to the owner at the same location when he or she comes to claim the vehicle.If several multi storey car parks can be setup at key locations within the city, a membership card can be provided for making quick payments.

Hi!I was wondering if anyone has an active WordPress blog or Drupal site for which they're looking for simple custom plugins to do something specific. If you've got the idea, I can code it and have it put up for you if it isn't too time-consuming.This isn't a work-for-pay, but is rather work that can be given away to the open-source community when it is complete. You design it, I develop it, and we give it away to the thousands of people out there who may be looking for it.

Hi!PHP is easy to learn as a language, but the frameworks add a bit of complexity to the world of PHP. CakePHP is a great place to get started but it takes a while to get to figure out how the framework works. When you're done, you would find another framework out there that someone else uses and so would spend time learning that other framework. The variety of choice is also a benefit of PHP. If you don't like something about a framework, you can make a switch to another. CodeIgniter seems to be a favorite among people while CakePHP is more traditional and feature the Bake auto-generation features for creating basic stuff.PHP positions don't pay as much as Java positions do, which is a bit of a disappointment because PHP developers get quite a bit done and fast due to the nature of the language and it isn't all drag-and-drop like the VB6 developers had going for them. It involves code and it involves the use of frameworks, and it involves the use of various content management systems. There is just so much out there that there's a screw driver for every screw, there's a hammer for every nail, and there's a PHP solution to almost every web system problem.

Some firms try to hook onto their competitor's popularity by including the competitor's brand names into their meta keywords. It's unethical, but there are firms out there that did do it. Meta tags aren't something that show up in the browser so they are harder to spot for the average user - it is only when you get into the HTML markup that you get to see them. Apart from attaching popular tags, some articles are crafted to include specific keywords that are totally irrelevant to the website and therefore are misleading. Why do people do it? Poor standards of ethics. People would do just about anything to make a quick buck.

At the workplace, there seem to be fewer people willing to share their knowledge with their co-workers. It may be due to the perception that spreading the knowledge would make them dispensable to the company and would threaten their job security. Some software programmers have been practicing some form of holding on to their knowledge for ages - they write obfuscated code that prevents other programmers from getting onto their software projects, so as long as the software project exists within the firm, they get to hang on to their jobs, and possibly even receive benefits from staying on the job and performing work on the project! Sales personnel are less willing to share their contacts with their co-workers even if it means that the organization gets to sell a related product through a different division of the organization from the sharing of information.Knowledge is also seen as a source of power. Not to the extent that they can take over the world, but they do get the respect from co-workers by being the ones with both arms around a bit of knowledge that others seek as they address him or her as the Wise One.Organizations do not, however, benefit from the knowledge-controlling attitute of employees. They would much rather want to replace employees, move them around, and have a sense of comfort in the fact that the business does not depend on the one pillar that could get knocked over and take the business down. The behavior among employees may result from the basis on which bonuses are calculated or on handing employees the pink slip and sending them home.

Hi!@deadmad7A lot has changed in the past three months too. Back then, anwii and web_designer were very active on the forums; web_designer is still a regular here, but I don't see as many posts as I used to. If I were to guess, I would say they've won clients and so have less time on their hands to spend in the forums, but that's just a guess - perhaps term/summer break ended and it's time to hit the books or get the kids to do their homework. The dog ate the homework excuse doesn't seem to work any more.The forum may be going downhill, but it's only temporary. As soon as folks finish on whatever it is they were doing, they'll be back and they'll be hitting the forums big time.@god-of-earthI see you've been checking out the features of the new forum. I got to figure out the mood thing just last week and have been addicted to it ever since. I set my mood before I go to bed, I set my mood when I feel groggy in the morning, and I set my mood midday when I'm jumpy. It's a really neat feature.

Hi!WordPress is my CMS of choice, but commercially Drupal seems to be more popular. WordPress is popular as a blogging engine but has been used as a content management system on many small projects. Drupal includes performance utilities as a part of the core package and leaves out several other functionalities, such as text formatting and image uploading tools to plugins. The WordPress approach seems to make more sense, but the Drupal approach makes the system more flexible - you get to have a choice of whether to use the FCKEditor or the TinyMCE editor for text formatting, and get to choose what kind of image upload you want to have. The flexibility adds unnecessary complexity and the inclusion of plugins with the base system would have helped in alleviating the problems of novice web masters.

An outbreak of Legionnaires' has occurred in south Wales that has resulted in one death and thirteen other cases of the disease. The source of the outbreak has yet to be found, but officials are examining cooling towers and industrial facilities as possible sources. Legionnaires' disease is also referred to as Legion fever and is accompanied by pneumonia. All individuals exposed to the bacterium do not show severe symptoms, but those who are vulnerable to the disease can succumb to the illness. The infection is contracted primarily through inhaling the bacteria and the infection is typically associated with a water source, with the bacteria spreading through an aerosol affect of devices such as car windshield sprays and certain types of air conditioners and cooling devices. For more information, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11225645

Hi!@web_designerHappiness is something relative to a condition in the past or in the present. If you have never experienced sorrow, you may be in a state of happiness but you would not know how to recognize that you have all that you need to be happy. If you have an ice cream cone and you observe a little boy who has just dropped his cone onto the pavement, you would see sorrow in the little boy and would know that something could have been different and would have led to happiness. You may hand your own ice cream cone to the little boy to see happiness, but if you both had ice cream cones to begin with, and he hadn't dropped his ice cream cone, you would not have known happiness.Happiness can also be seen as a state of mind. You can be happy despite having financial problems due to the economic crisis because your focus is on living in the present rather than having a concern for the future. On the other hand, you could experience sorrow despite having all that you do because you vie for something more. Envy is something that creates sorrow more than anything else that one might experience because despite having all that one needs to be in a state of happiness, sorrow still exists.Achieving a balance between happiness and sorrow is something one ought to strive for. A little hard work may take away one's happiness, but the rewards that it leads to in the future makes the effort worth it and creates happiness in a future time. Living in the present when the situation demands action to maintain a state of well-being in the future creates excessive sorrow in the future.@linekillReligion has several aspects, one of which is to experience happiness even when one is destitute. Separating the mind from the experiences of material happiness is an objective that religion seeks to achieve. Often, it does not succeed due to the fact that the philosophy conveyed in religion is not accurately disseminated. The central dogma of all religions is the same but approaches their objectives differently.

Hi!I have been on the forums for a while and I think I did come across some of your earlier posts while looking through the older threads, so it's nice to have you back on the forums. What have you been upto while you were away? Usually, I have a few weeks of active participation in the forums with a quiet few weeks where I'm either caught up with assignments, a new job that requires me to do some catching up, or travel that involves a hectic schedule and limited access to the Internet. Do share your adventures!I hope you have a fun time on the forums, and that it compares to the experience that you had with the tightly knit group that you've been involved with.