Online Observations

FAILURE: Google releases new version, but I can’t get it

I use Google Chrome as my browser (it is just way faster than any other). However, there are a number of things that annoy me about the browser. One of the most annoying problems is that of update. My browser never auto-updates, despite the fact that there are two GoogleUpdate.exe processes running in my task manager all the time. So, the way I keep up with my updates is by manually going to the About box, and checking if a new update is available.

But, today even that is not working for me. Google has released a new update but it doesn’t matter, because I can’t get it. I have been trying again and again to update my copy, but I keep getting an “Update server not available” error (screen shot below).

This is such a failure. I would love to be able to run the latest and the greatest, but these stupid errors keep getting in the way.

Here’s a neat little site to combat Writer’s block

Are you an person whose paycheck depends on what you write? If yes, then you very well also know what a Writer’s block is – yes the dreaded state, when try as you may, you just cannot jot down any words which make sense. The harder you try, the harder it becomes. While there are many remedies that people suggest to break the writer’s block, here’s a fun page I came across, which might just be what you need.

It works with a dial pad (kind of like a help line) which has various options which present to you various imageries, sentences, thoughts, etc. that you can use to generate ideas. As you can see in the picture, there are many things that you can dial to. You need help killing a character? Well, dial 8. If you need to create a dramatic entrance for your hero, then dial 3.

Of course, this is just a bit of fun. The serious help comes by dialing 0, which takes you to a repository of articles and suggestions from a lot of people, and you can just read away till you break the block that you are facing. Of course, if none of this helps you, then you simply need a vacation. Pack your bags and fly away.

Now if only there was something similar for blogger’s block (which I do believe is different that writer’s block). Any one know anything like this? If yes, then leave a comment. I keep getting this case of Blogger’s block these days.

Convert Html to PDF

I am a great fan of free tools on the Internet. Tools that do only one thing, and do it well. I don’t care if they are ad supported. That’s what keeps them free after all. And one such tool is hosted on a website called http://html-pdf-converter.com/. As it is obvious by the name, it converts any html page to PDF.

It works simply enough, when you navigate to its home page (http://html-pdf-converter.com/), it asks you to specify the URL of the html page that you want to convert (yes, that is the only caveat, that it has to be hosted on the Internet); then you click a button, and after some gears turn in the background, you get a prompt to download the PDF file which represents the HTML page you just converted.

As I said, it does ONE THING, and DOES IT WELL. Perfect for downloading articles into PDF format from blogs, and then being able to read them offline (or if you have a Kindle, then you are all set).