Reset customized property values in Matlab

In Matlab, property values such as 'ColorOrder' can be customized using the set command. This is applicable to most property commands.

>> set (0, 'ColorOrder',[0 0 0; 0 0.5 0.5; 0 1 1];

In order to go back to the default Matlab settings, use to 'remove' tag. This will reset the property value to pre-defined Matlab values.

>> set (0, 'ColorOrder','remove');

Thanks to Maria for this nugget!

Inserting equation numbers in Word 2010

http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-word/archive/2006/10/20/equation-numbering.aspx

Store directory contents into text file in Windows

To store the directory contents with full path into a text file in Windows:
dir /s /b /o:N "Path" > "text filename"

Create a Matlab figure without any borders or box around the figure

set(gca,'visible','off')
    set(gca,'visible','off')
    set(gca,'xtick',[])
    set(gca,'ytick',[])
    set(h,'InvertHardcopy','off')
    box off

Expense splitter

I found a very nice website to calculate trip expenses shared among a group of people. The link is here. I like this website for its easy to use interface, ability to use without a login and ability to move around expenses to minimize number of transactions.

Xcopy command on Windows

I used xcopy today to copy merely the file structure of one directory without having to copy the files within the subdirectories. xcopy also has a number of other features for copying files, and it is cool that Windows comes preloaded with this function, without having to install a third-party application. The Windows help page for this utility is here.

Full screen figures in Matlab

When I make images of my results in Matlab for publication in papers or showing in presentations, I like to control the size and properties of my figure. However, Matlab does not do a very good job of displaying the images in the correct size while outputting the figures. This post gives an elegant solution to display Matlab figures in full screen mode, which is exactly what I want most of the times.

Windows XP Recovery CD + ISO Recorder

I wanted to start the Windows XP Recovery Console from a CD, but I did not have the original Windows XP installation CD, neither did I have the i386 folder in my Windows installation folder. I found that in order to create a bootable CD, the rc.iso can be downloaded from here. The *.iso file cannot be copied directly on to the CD, instead it has to be extracted and burnt on to a CD. Any standard CD burning software such as Nero or Roxio can be used to do this. In case any burning software is not available, a free software to burn *.iso files is ISO Recorder.
Once the boot CD is available, the steps to boot the computer using this CD are as follows:
1. As soon as the power button is pressed, press the F12 key to access the boot list. This is the order in which the BIOS uses devices to boot. Ensure that the CD-ROM is selected to be above the hard drive in the boot list. Insert the boot CD into the CD-ROM drive. Save changes and restart the machine.
2. The computer should now boot using the Windows XP Recovery CD. Once the recovery menu is reached, press R to select the "Repair with Recovery Console" option.
3. Select the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted to do so. NOTE: If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER. This will provide access to the Windows XP Recovery Console.

Creating Numbered Equations in Microsoft Word 2007

I was trying to create numbered equations in Microsoft Word, so that the equation numbers would automatically update as I keep adding more equations. I found a very nice post on the MSDN website (link), which gives a step by step procedure for creating a customized equation type known as "numbered equation". Writing equations in MS Word is much more tedious than writing them in LaTeX, but if the report has to be made in MS Word, this is a worthwhile thing to know about.

Opening *.eps files with GIMP

I installed GIMP on my system and needed to edit *.eps files. On trying to open an *.eps file, I got an error which did not allow me to open these files since I did not have Ghostscript installed on my system. Even after installing Ghostscript, I saw the same error on trying to open the file. The solution to this was to add an environment variable in Windows to tell GIMP where to look for Ghostscript to open these files. The procedure for this is:
1. Right click on "My Computer" and select "Properties".
2. In the tab "Advanced", select "Environment Variables".
3. In the window on the top, click "New".
4. Variable name: GS_PROG
5. Variable value: C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.64\bin\gswin32.exe (This is the path of the Ghostscript variable on your system).
6. Restart GIMP.

Update (07/19/2011):
In Windows 7, there are 2 types of environment  variables - System variables and User Variables. System variables apply for all users, while User variables only applies for the current user.

Engauge

Engauge is a free software which is useful to pick out data points from a published graph / figure. This is particularly useful while trying to superpose older published data with new results, when the original data files are not readily available. The software interface is pretty straighforward and the help files are decently elaborate. It also has an automated utility to try and detect data points or you can go the manual way by clicking each point that you need. All in all, a very useful utility for technical writing.

Update : I also found a few other alternatives, but I have not used / tested them. Here they are in any case - Plot Digitizer and g3data (this works only for Fedora OS).

PDF Hammer

This is in some sense a follow up post to an earlier post dated 03/13/2008. PDF Hammer is an excellent web-based utility to manipulate PDF files. Obviously the best part is that it is web-based, so no software has to be installed. It has a very nice graphical interface to manipulate PDF files to merge, rearrange and delete individual pages from multiple documents. The makers of this software also have a more advanced, but paid version of this software, but I think this free version is pretty handy too.

Engineering Stimulus Packages

The makers of AutoCAD and SolidWorks, have each announced an "Engineering Stimulus Package", where free copies of AutoCAD and SolidWorks can be downloaded and installed for a period of 90 days. They also provide free online training tools and the opportunity to become certified users of these software, which implies that the user has attained a certain level of expertise with the software. This is a good opportunity for most engineers to get certified and add on their resumes.

The links are provided here:

SolidWorks 

AutoCAD

Cricket games online

Today I will deviate from my usual boring theme of "useful utilities", so here are a couple of cool websites to play flash based cricket online. The best of the lot in my opinion is Stick Cricket. Highly addictive, it has various game modes depending on how much time you have to waste! I strongly suggest creating a free login to track your progress. Another nice website with some cool flash based cricket games is Krish Cricket. The coolest part about this website is it also has a flash game for Book Cricket! I can't remember how many hours we have spent in school playing book cricket. I wonder who on earth came up with the game! For the uninitiated, here is good summary of the game.

Stroke It

In some sense, this is an addition to my earlier post about Mouse Gestures. Since I am quite addicted to mouse gestures, I wanted to find a program which can do the same thing on other programs, or applications such as Google Chrome, which does not have a mouse gestures add-on as of now. I found StrokeIt. Its a downloadable application, which runs in the background, and can mimic the actions of mouse gestures on Firefox. It can be customized for various applications, and the help on the website is fairly comprehensive for different applications. Let me know if anyone finds this useful.

Credit Reports & Score

The importance of good credit can not be over-emphasized in the American economy, particularly in the current economic climate. Everything from home loans to auto loans to credit card applications depend on your credit score. The credit score is a number based on statistical analysis of the credit reports, and gives an indication of how creditworthy a person is. Here are a couple of useful websites to keep track of your credit.

Every person with an SSN is eligible to receive a free credit report once in 12 months from the three major credit agencies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. According to the Federal Trade Comission website, the official website to obtain this is annualcreditreport.com. Other websites seemingly offering free credit reports, come with fine print requiring signing up for other services. I have not comprehensively reviewed all the other websites, but the website mentioned above is the best one to use.

By law, the above website does not have to provide a credit score. It only provides a comprehensive list of activities on your credit. A good website to get your credit score is creditkarma.com. Most other websites require payment for a credit score, but this website generates revenue through ads. After creating a profile, you can track changes in your credit score with time. It also provides a credit simulator to project changes in credit score with various actions such as taking a loan, getting a new credit card etc. It has a whole bunch of other nice features worth trying out.

Desktops

I recently wanted software to create multiple desktops, similar to an utility which exists on Linux machines. The reason I needed this was I was cluttering up my taskbar with too many programs, including programs which I wanted open, but wasn't actively using all the time (read as browser window with cricinfo.com refreshing the score!). I found this utility called Desktops by SysInternals. It looks like it is endorsed by Microsoft, so I'm quite confident about the reliability of the software. Its very simple to install and an icon in your system tray gives control over the 4 desktops. The other cool thing about the software is the ability to switch desktops using keyboard shortcuts, which I find easier than navigating to the system tray to change desktops. A must try for everyone who finds their screens too small, but can't afford to use multiple monitors.

Firefox add-ons

A couple of useful add-ons for Mozilla Firefox.
I've been using mouse gestures in Firefox for a long long time, but I realized a lot of people haven't caught on to this. Fire Gestures is an add-on which works for the latest version of Firefox. There are a few other options: All-in-One Gestures and Mouse Gestures are also good options, but they work for older versions of Firefox. Mouse gestures are the use of the right click and moving the mouse in predefined directions to perform various browser operations such as open tab and close tab. I am addicted to this now, and find it really useful.
ReloadEvery can be used to reload a webpage every few seconds. The time between refreshes can be controlled while turning on the ReloadEvery menu. Right clicking on a webpage shows an option called "ReloadEvery", which also gives options to choose the time between refreshes. Useful for pages which need constant refreshing, but are not provided by the website host.

Awesome Highlighter

This website provides a neat interface to highlight parts of webpages. The way it works is simple. Enter a webpage in the field provided on their homepage. This opens the webpage within their website. You are provided with a yellow highlighter, which can be used to mark parts of pages. Once you are done, the website provides a URL, which can then be shared and saved. Pretty neat utility to share pages with specific highlighted passages.

YouSendIt

YouSendIt is one of the many websites which can be used to send large files. It allows files upto 100MB to be sent across for free. However, the reason I am most impressed with this website is this. This is a stand-alone add-on which can be used for either Windows or Mac. I have used it for Windows and found it very useful. After installation of this add-on, right clicking on a file in Windows explorer also provides an option which reads "Send By YouSendIt". This enables sending of files directly without having to go to their website and selecting the file to upload. I think that is pretty good functionality.