PHP Support Companies

• ThinkPHP.de
  A German and international PHP support company providing full PHP support (single incidents, on-call duty), software development, training, and performance measurements.
• Zend Technologies
  Zend Technologies supports the PHP community and promotes PHP adoption. Founded by the authors of the Zend Engine and members of the PHP Group, Zend offers both free and commercial solutions for PHP.

Professional PHP Associations

• AFUP.org
  (Association Française des Utilisateurs de PHP) : The AFUP was created to answer the growing need from companies to have one unique place for PHP solutions.
• PHP Québec
  PHP Québec promotes PHP for professional users in Québec, Canada. Every month, companies hold sessions about their use of PHP, their customer cases and their solutions.
• New York PHP
  International community supporting PHP adoption, projects and development.

PHP News

• Planet PHP
  Latest news aggregated from PHP related weblogs.

PHP Link Catalogs

• dmoz.org
  The PHP category in the Open Directory Project.
• HotScripts.com
  PHP Books, Magazine Articles, Communities, Scripts and Programs, Softwares, Tips
• LinuxGuruz.org
  Many Links and Tutorials, Articles and FAQ about Linux, Apache Web Server, HTML, PHP, MySQL … and lots more
• PHP Everywhere
  Links and news about PHP and related technologies.
• PHP Resource Index
  Hundreds of PHP resources, categorized and searchable
• PHP Sites Webring
  Find PHP Sites within this webring!

PHP FAQ sites

• alt-php-faq.org
  A big faq and some links about PHP and SQL
• de.comp.lang.php FAQ
  Excellent german language FAQ about PHP
• PHP Knowledge Base
  A growing collection of PHP related information in a searchable question and answer format.

Complex PHP Related Sites

• Codewalkers
  A community site dedicated to PHP developers. Includes forums, tutorials, and user submitted code. Home of the PHP Coding Contest.
• Developers Shed
  A good set of articles introducing various PHP concepts
• Dotgeek
  A PHP and PostgreSQL community site with tutorials, articles, programming marathon and news.
• Opendeveloper.org
  Developing Open Web Sites With Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP-Perl
• PHPBuilder.com
  A bunch of helpful PHP resources available here
• PHP Developers’ network
  The PHP Developers’ Network was founded to provide the PHP Community with a set of solid sites that work together to promote the PHP language and provide a large resource for the community as a whole.
• PHP Freaks
  PHP Learning Center site.
• PHP Traveller
  PHP weblog, knowledge and link directory. Regularly updated collection of PHP resources.
• WeberDev.com
  PHP related resources (articles, tutorials, forums, advanced search etc.)
• Zend.com DevZone
  A community site for developers of all levels, including a code gallery, applications, tips, forums, tutorials and more.

PHP Scripts and Programs

• freshmeat.net PHP Projects: A huge number of projects, both commercial and open source
• Evil Walrus
  A growing list of PHP scripts
• Nexen’s scripts librairy
  An exhaustive PHP scripts collection, with more 800 useful functions (English and French).
• PHP Foundry at SourceForge
  A great number of open source PHP projects actively developed
• PX – PHP Code Exchange
  The PHP Code Exchange is a great place to start. Here you’ll find many example scripts and useful functions, organized for easy finding. Includes a search function
• The PHP Classes Repository
  Useful PHP classes in a categorized listing

PHP Magazines

• Direction|PHP
  Direction|PHP is a monthly French speaking magazine, dedicated to PHP and MySQL. It covers industry news and technology reviews. It is mainly downloaded by professionnals, in PDF format.
• php|architect
  The first monthly English magazine about PHP, distributed in PDF format
• PHP Magazin
  The Software & Support Verlag, based in Frankfurt, Germany, has now published a magazine on PHP as a tribute to the steadily growing German PHP community (in German).
• PHP Magazine
  An English edition of the magazine mentioned above. The PHP Magazine is published bimonthly and aimed at professional PHP users.
• PHP Tunisie Magazine
  PHP Tunisie Magazine is a monthly French speaking magazine, distributed in PDF format and dedicated to PHP and its related technologies. It’s edited by the Tunisian PHP users group.
• ZPmag
  ZPmag is a webzine (exclusively online distribution newspaper), dedicated to PHP and its technologies (in French).

PHP Video and audio

• DVD PHP Québec
  The PHP Québec DVD was shot during the Montréal sessions, in 2003. It gathers 6 hours of advanced technics sessions, subtitled in French and English.
• CD-ROM PHP Québec
  The PHP Québec CD-ROM was recorded during the Montréal sessions, in 2004. It gathers 21 hours of advanced technics sessions in audio format, with the slides.

PHP Tutorials

• Database enabled websites tutorial
  Introductory tutorial
• E-gineer Instructions
  Lots of tutorials/instructions related to Apache, PHP and MySQL
• justPhukit!
  A collection of external links to PHP tutorials
• Melonfire
  A series of PHP tutorials for novices
• ONLamp
  Great collection of tutorials from O’Reilly
• technisch web ontwerp
  Site with information on a PHP course at a Dutch college.
• TheScripts.com
  Web Programming Resource – PHP Tutorials
• Tutorialfind
  A growing list of PHP tutorials at TutorialFind
• Video tutorials
  Video tutorials at Virtaul Training Company
• Webmonkey PHP
  The PHP section on the famous Webmonkey tutorial site
• Zend.com DevZone
  The tutorials section on the Zend.com developer zone

PHP Setup and Authoring Tools

• List of installation kits
  An extensive list of installation kits setting up servers and PHP for you in minutes.
• PHP Editors List
  A comprehensive list of editors you can use to edit PHP programs

Companies that provide commercial tools for PHP

• ActiveState
  ActiveState, a division of Sophos, produces Komodo, a professional integrated development environment (IDE) for open source languages.
• InterAKT Online
  InterAKT Online provides quality software development tools used by tens of thousands of PHP developers around the world, including PHAkt and Krysalis.
• ionCube
  ionCube produces PHP development and end-user tools, including the popular free PHP Accelerator and affordable encoding solutions for code protection.
• Macromedia
  Macromedia created Dreamweaver MX, a rapid web application development tool supporting PHP.
• Maguma
  Maguma produces an IDE with debugging to speed up the development of PHP enabled websites and applications.
• SourceGuardian
  SourceGuardian produces tools to help commercial developers distribute their scripts safely including the popular SourceGuardian Pro for encrypting and obfuscating PHP source code.
• NuSphere
  NuSphere delivers products and services that allow companies to deploy reliable, cost-effective database-driven Internet applications and sites.
• Zend Technologies, Inc.
  Zend Technologies, Inc. provides tools to Develop, Protect and Scale your PHP Applications.

PHP Accelerators

• After Burner
  Free open source accelerator available from Bware Technologies.
• APC
  Alternative PHP Cache, Free open source accelerator available from Community Connect.
• ionCube PHP Accelerator
  A free accelerator available from ionCube.
• Turck MMCache for PHP
  Free open source accelerator, optimizer, encoder and dynamic content cache from TurckSoft.
• Zend Accelerator
  Commercial accelerator available from Zend Technologies, Inc.

PHP Merchandise

• Copyleft
  Some t-shirts, hats and stickers with the Copyleft variant of the PHP logo on them.
• PHP projects’ merchandise
  A search result page with various PHP related projects’ shops (not all results are necessarily PHP related!)

Non-English PHP Sites

• Bosnian
  • PHP.co.ba
    Bosnian site with PHP and SQL manual, tutorials, scripts, forum, mailing list, tools, books…
• Brazilian
  • PHPBrasil.com
    Brazilian PHP portal with many links and information
  • PHPsite.com.br
    Brazilian PHP portal featuring tutorials, downloads, a forum and more
• Chinese
  • Exceed PHP
    Opensource site with PHP, MySQL and Apache tutorials, articles and scripts
• Croatian
  • PHP.izvor (PHP.source)
    Croatian site with news, source code, manuals, beginners guides, forums, questions & answers, on-line help for programmers, polls, tools, etc.
• Dutch
  • Pagina
    A Dutch PHP portal that lists a lot of PHP links, including free hosting
• Estonian
  • PHP Center
    The biggest Estonian portal site with tutorials, manual translations, discussion board, chat room, link collection, news, etc.
• French
  • Nexen.net
    Home of PHP French documentation, with comprehensive technical information, and all PHP related news
  • phpdebutant
    Apprendre le PHP par l’exemple, facilement et simplement. Réservé d’abord aux débutants.
  • phpfr
    Le site de référence sur PHP en France!
  • phpfrance
    Pour tout savoir sur le PHP, en français. Vous trouverez un tutorial, des exemples, des astuces, toute la documentation nécessaire, ainsi que des forums pour poser des questions.
  • PHPIndex
    A French gateway to PHP related contents
  • PHPscripts-fr
    More than 500 PHP applications, listed and sorted
  • phpTeam
    Site traitant du PHP pour les professionels (php et flash, mysql, postgresql, pear,…)
  • FAQ of the French PHP newsgroup : fr.comp.lang.php
    (was: fr.comp.infosystemes.www.auteurs.php)
• German
  • PHP Center
    German speaking portal site with tutorials, tips and tricks, job advertisements, articles and more
  • PHP-Homepage
    German site about PHP with scripts, tips, forums, MyGuestBook, articles, news and more
  • Dynamic-Webpages
    German site with installation guides, tips & scripts, BestOfGML, WhoIsWho – a view on german PHP-cracks, german manual, book reviews, links and more
  • PHPCrawler
    Searchengine over German PHP-sites with webaccess to newsgroups
  • PHPWelt
    A German website using PHP to offer free services, a huge script-archive, free scripts, tutorials and many more
  • php.martin-jansen.de
    German PHP resource (especially for newbies)
  • develnet.org
    Some German tutorials about PHP
  • SelfPHP
    German function reference for PHP like SelfHTML for HTML
  • phpGTK.de
    German site about PHPGTK
  • php-resource.de
    This german php community gives you everything you need. A large script-archive, lots of tutorials and a qualified moderated forum that answers nearly all your question
  • www.phpreferenz.de
    Free printable workshops for PHP newcomers
• Hungarian
  • PHP.lap.hu
    Starting point for Hungarian and International PHP sites
  • Weblabor
    Fresh news, articles, links and mailing lists from the world of web development and PHP
• Italian
  • FreePHP.HTML.it
    The biggest Italian speaking source for PHP: daily updated links to scripts, articles, tutorials and many other resources.
  • Tutorials.it
    An Italian site that provides a variety of developer tutorials, with a small PHP section
  • PHPcenter.it
    An Italian-language PHP site that features a variety of projects, reviews, courses, tutorials and other resources
  • Risorse.net
    Section of an Italian site that provides tutorials about PHP, hundreds of scripts, books and a list of free and pay webhosts which support PHP
• Norwegian
  • PHP@sindrem.com (http://www.sindrem.com)
    Norwegian site for newbies and intermediates. Installation help and scripts.
• Persian
  • IranPHP.net
    A site about PHP for Iranians, with news and forums.
• Polish
  • php.pl
    Daily updated website with articles, translations, the biggest PHP Polish forum, dedicated IRC server, legal information section, etc.
• Portuguese
  • Cidadela
    The PHP section of Cidadela provides articles, tutorials, a help forum, and an Application Market.
• Russian
  • phpclub.net
    International PHPClub community based in Russia. Forums, articles, lessons, consulting.
  • php.net.ua
    PHP in Russian. Full Russian documentation.
• Spanish
  • lpsz.org
    PHP news, articles , and scripts.
  • php.com.ve
    PHP dedicated site in Venezuela
  • PHP en Castellano
    Spanish PHP community. Articles, tutorials, courses, source code, forums, and more about PHP.
  • zonaphp.com
    News and tutorials
• Swedish
  • phpportalen.net
    A Swedish PHP portal with articles, news, forums and much more

• Turkish
  • phpkaynak.com
    A Turkish PHP portal site with articles, links, downloads, tutorials, courses, source code, forums, news, and much more about PHP & MySQL

WordPress Plugins
September 1st, 2009
Business Directory Plugin

The Business Directory plugin for WordPress is an easy way to host a free directory page for your readers, affiliates, advertisers, community or club members. Invite them to submit a simple advertisement listing for themselves on your blog.
Shopping Cart Plugin

Shopping Cart software is software used in e-commerce to assist people making purchases online.
The software allows online shopping customers to accumulate a list of items for purchase, described metaphorically as “placing items in the shopping cart”. Upon checkout, the software typically calculates a total for the order, including shipping and handling (i.e. postage and packing) charges and the associated taxes, as applicable.
BBPress Forum Integration

BBPress Integration should work with most recent version of WordPress.
Database: bbPress can share user data with an existing WordPress installation.All you need to do is specify the location of that database on installation or afterwards in the “WordPress Integration” section of the “Settings” area in your bbPress admin.
Cookies: Integrating cookies allows your users to log in to either your WordPress blog or your bbPress forums and be effectively logged in to both. This feature requires your WordPress and bbPress installations to exist in the same domain name, or at least in sub-domains of the same domain name.
Exec-PHP Plugin

The Exec-PHP plugin executes PHP code in posts, pages and text widgets.
All in One SEO Pack Plugin

Optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization). This plugin is streamlined for some best practices for WordPress SEO. While it gives you many options the defaults reflect the settings I recommend using.
FormBuilder Plugin

The Form Builder Plugin for WordPress allows you to build complex forms in the WordPress administrative interface without needing to know PHP or HTML. We’ve tried to make it simple enough for anyone to make them, yet customisable enough to use for the most difficult job.
Contact Form 7 Plugin

Contact Form 7 can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup. The form supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on. Note: Contact Form 7’s CAPTCHA module has been separated as Really Simple CAPTCHA plugin. Now you need to install it if you use CAPTCHA. If you don’t, you can use as in the past.
Sitemap Generator Plugin

This plugin creates a sitemap for your WordPress powered site. This is not just another XML sitemap plugin, but rather a true sitemap generator which is highly customizable from its own options page in the WordPress admin panel. Some of its features include: support for multi-level categories and pages, category/page exclusion, multiple-page generation with navigation, permalink support, choose what to display, what order to list items in, show comment counts and/or post dates, and much more.
Sociable Plugin

Automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts, pages and in your RSS feed. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking sites!
GD Star Rating Plugin

GD Star Rating plugin allows you to set up rating and review system for posts, pages and comments in your blog. You can set many options for displaying the rating stars, and also add widgets into the sidebars for displaying top ratings and other statistics generated by the plugin. Plugin includes advanced settings panels that will allow you to control many aspects of rating. Plugin also supports multi ratings along with thumbs based ratings.
Sideblog WordPress Plugin

Sideblog is a plugin for WordPress Blog Platform. It is one way of implementing “Asides” – a series of “short” posts, 1-2 sentences in length. This plugin allows you highlight a post category to always be in the sidebar (for example, Tweets via Twitter Tools if you do not want to use Twitter Tool’s widget).
WordPress Wiki Plugin

Tired of using Media Wiki? Sick of fighting with WordPress to get your own documentation project happening?

If so then WordPress Wiki Plugin is the answer for you. The new WordPress Wiki plugin made by the guys at Instinct (who brought you the famous WordPress e-Commerce Plugin) have developed a new plugin that adds Wiki functionality to your WordPress powered website.
Advertising Manager Plugin

This plugin will manage and rotate your Google Adsense and other ads on your WordPress blog. It automatically recognises many ad networks including Google Adsense, AdBrite, Adify, AdGridWork, Adpinion, Adroll, Chitika, Commission Junction, CrispAds, OpenX, ShoppingAds, Yahoo!PN, and WidgetBucks. Unsupported ad networks can be used as well.
WordPress Related Posts Plugin

WordPress Related Posts Plugin will generate a related posts via WordPress tags, and add the related posts to feed.
WP Google Analytics Plugin

This plugin allows you to use the powerful Google Analytics to track your WordPress stats.
Broken Links Remover Plugin

Automatically remove the bad and broken links from the view of human visitors and search engine robots.
Popularity Contest Plugin

Popularity Contest keeps a count of your post, category and archive views, comments, trackbacks, etc. and uses them to determine which of your posts are most popular. There are numerical values assigned to each type of view and feedback; these are used to create a ‘popularity score’ for each post.

The values assigned to each view and feedback type are editable and can be changed at any time. When you change any of these values, the ‘popularity score’ for all posts are updated immediately to reflect the new values.
Article Directory Plugin

Article Directory Plugin for WordPress allows contributors to add articles to your WordPress blog. You have the control to allow or reject the article and publish it on your web site. Add customizable content to your WordPress blog in the shortest period of time. From user-friendly customization options to easy content creation process, Your Articles Directory prides itself in content authoring for your users… regardless of technical limitations. Our unique Article Directory System allows you to backfill your WordPress Blog with targeted content.
WP Hive Plugin

WP Hive is a WordPress Plugin that allows multiple WordPress Blogs to use the same core files, plugins, and themes.
Great Real Estate Plugin

Great Real Estate was developed to enable real estate agents, brokers, and REALTORS to display and manage information about their listings in WordPress pages.
The property information and listing templates allow for consistent display of the property listings across the site. Authors do not need to format the content, they simply enter it into a form.
Widgets and custom page templates permit display of only available homes, only sold homes, a random “featured” home, and a detailed property page for a listing.
WP-PageNavi Plugin

Adds a more advanced paging navigation your WordPress blog.
Events Calendar Plugin

Events-Calendar is a diverse replacement for the original calendar included with WordPress adding many useful functions to keep track of your events. The plugin has an easy to use admin section that displays a big readable calendar and lets you add and delete events. The plugin is widget ready so you can easily add a small calendar to the main sidebar with the ability to roll over the highlighted event day to see a brief description of the event or click the day to get a full description of the event without ever leaving your current page. If you are not using a widget ready theme, you can still have the calendar on your sidebar. Simply place “” in the sidebar file. The widget can also show a specified number of events as a list. You will find these options under the widget option.
Event Registration Plugin

Allows you to register people online for events. Very flexible. Provides the ability to setup event list and accept online registrations for events and administer them via WordPress. Supports paypal and international currency via paypal. Provides the ability to upload events via CSV format. Provides the ability to have a single event or multiple events.
Register Plus Plugin

Enhance your Registration Page.Custom Logo Tired of that WordPress logo getting all the attention? Upload your own custom logo image and get your brand in the spotlight..
Facebook Connect Plugin

The “Community Facebook Connect Plugin” is a WordPress plugin that gives immediate Facebook Connect functionality to your blog. It was written by Jesse Stay, and released under the GPL. It requires you to set up your own app for your blog under the Facebook Developers site (just set your callback URL to your own website’s URL), and..
Next Gen Gallery Plugin

NextGEN Gallery is a full integrated Image Gallery plugin for WordPress with a Flash slideshow option. Before I start writing the plugin I study all photo and picture plugins for WordPress, I figure out that some of them are really good and well designed, but I missed a simple and easy administration back end to handle multiple photos, galleries and albums.
WP DB Backup Plugin

WP-DB-Backup allows you easily to backup your core WordPress database tables. You may also backup other tables in the same database.
Translator Plugin

it adds little flags to your sidebar, which will take you to a translation of the current blog page. It uses Google Translate, but removes the frame, so it looks quite nice! Once you’re in one language, you can browse around the blog, and everything stays translated. You can just click on the English flag to get back to the original language. You should see it on my sidebar now, and you can give it a trial run.

Breaking News:

NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has died in an air crash, home minister P Chidambaram has formally announced.

“We are in deep mourning,” the home minister said, describing YSR, who led the Congress to a spectacular election victory in May this year, as “a tall leader”.

“… We send our condolences to the families of YSR and the other four (who died in the helicopter crash).”

The bodies of 60-year-old Reddy, his special secretary P Subramanyam, chief security officer A S C Wesley, pilot Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy were found on Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles east of here, besides the mangled remains of the helicopter.

YSR’s mortal remains are being flown to Kurnool General Hospital. After a postmortem there, they will be brought to Hyderabad, state government sources said.

Big crowds have gathered outside the state secretariat and YSR’s residence. As Thursday is also the day for the immersion of Ganesh idols at the end of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations and there is a huge traffic dislocation in the city, cops are finding it difficult to manage the situation.

The central leadership of the Congress is understood to have cleared the name of Andhra Pradesh finance minister K Rosaiah as the caretaker CM of the state.

The Union Cabinet is meeting to discuss the matter.

The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests.

Nearly 24 hours after YSR’s chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 kms) east of Kurnool.

The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.

Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into the country’s biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows.

Kolkata: Former captain Sourav Ganguly on Sunday hailed the decision of the national selectors to bring Rahul Dravid back to the Indian side and said it only proved that form, and not age, is a factor in the game.

Rahul Dravid

“Taking back Dravid is the right decision. I hope he will play well,” Sourav told mediapersons at Eden Gardens.

“This proves that in the national team it does not matter whether you are a junior or a senior. What is important is form. Ashish Nehra has been brought back. Dravid is back. So, this goes on to show that age is not a factor,” Sourav said.

Sourav had retired from the game about nine months back amidst speculation that the Board of Control for cricket in India (BCCI) had forced him to hang up his gloves.

In the run-up to Ganguly’s retirement, there was a buzz in cricketing circles about the BCCI being in favour of the old guard – Ganguly, Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble – making way for the juniors.

But though Ganguly and Kumble have quit, Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar are still going strong.

However, the lef-thander, six months senior to Dravid in age, refused to take a question on whether he could also have served the team well had he not retired.

“Look, I don’t want to delve into this thing. I don’t want to think of the past. I have retired nine months back,” he said.

Bangalore: Rahul Dravid’s return to India’s one-day squad after a two-year gap has met with both appreciation and criticism. But Dravid is unfazed by the debate, only saying that he hopes to prove the selectors right.

After being announced as ‘’selected” on Sunday, Dravid made his first media appearance on Monday after his practice session at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Dravid said that he was quite happy to be back in the team, and hopes to do well in the upcoming series.

“Pretty happy to be back. I am looking forward to the tri-series and looking forward to the one-day series. I have been preparing well. So I am hoping that it will go well. I will go out there, do the best that I can and hopefully repay the faith that the selectors have had in me,” said Dravid.

The former captain’s last one-day international appearance came in October 2007, before selectors opted for a more youthful side with an eye on the 2011 World Cup.

The 36-year-old batsman has been selected for India’s tri-series trip to Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

The tri-series in Sri Lanka, which also involves New Zealand, will be held from September 8-14, while the Champions Trophy runs from September 22-October 5.

Dravid has played 333 ODIs, and is among the few batsmen in the world to have made over 10,000 runs in that format.

Don’t panic, be careful. That’s the advice from health experts who point out that the H1N1 influenza is milder than the seasonal flu and that 55 percent of the more than 1,000 cases in the country have already been cured and discharged from hospitals. India has so far has reported 1,079 swine flu cases and 12 deaths. While 589 have been discharged, the others are still undergoing treatment in various government hospitals in the country. “The swine flu virus is a mild strain and, in fact, is less virulent than the seasonal flu, which causes more deaths… We have treatment for it, which is Tamiflu. It is a curable disease, not an incurable one,” said Health Secretary Naresh Dayal. According to Randeep Guleria, head of medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, worldwide about 95 percent of those hospitalised have been discharged. “Global data shows that less than six percent of those affected needed hospitalisation, while one third (of those in hospital) needed ICU care. However, those who have recovered from the flu are not immune to the infection and have to take care as others. But the next time they get the virus, it would be a mild one,” Guleria said. Officials also reassure those panicking at the rapid spread of the disease that an indigenous vaccine to tackle the viral disease is on its way. “The work to develop an indigenous vaccine and testing kit is also going on at a fast pace and we will have a vaccine by year-end when we are expecting a more virulent strain of flu to be active,” said M. Katoch, secretary in the department of health research. A total of 4.6 million people have been screened for swine flu across the country in the past three-and-a-half months; of these 5,000 people were tested for the flu. The central government has spent over Rs.30 million (Rs.3 crore) for testing – 1,079 positive cases and 3,921 negative. The swine flu testing kits are imported from a US company and each positive test costs Rs.10,000 while a negative test costs Rs.5,000, the government says.(IANS)

Q: Take precautions at home!

A: Two things – soap and water can reduce the chance of infection by 30 per cent. All you need to do is keep washing your hand with soap and water frequently. Wash hands frequently with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand cleaner when soap and water are not available. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth

Eat healthy: Proteins are essential to help your body maintain and build strength. Lean meat, poultry, fish, legumes, dairy, eggs, and nuts and seeds are good sources of protein.

The Food and Drug Administration recommends that adults eat 50 grams of protein per day. Pregnant and nursing women need more. By eating foods high in protein, we also get the benefit of other healing nutrients such as vitamins B6 and B12, both of which contribute to a healthy immune system.

Vitamin B6 is widely available in foods, including protein foods such as turkey and beans as well as potatoes, spinach, and enriched cereal grains. Proteins such as meats, milk, and fish also contain vitamin B12, a powerful immune booster.

Minerals such as selenium and zinc work to keep the immune system strong. These minerals are found in protein rich foods such as beans, nuts, meat, and poultry.

Exercise: Regular exercise may help prevent the flu. According to recent findings, when moderate exercise is repeated on a near daily basis, there is a cumulative immune-enhancing effect. That is, your strong immune system can fight flu better. When you exercise, your white blood cells — the blood cells that fight infections in the body — travel through your body more quickly, fighting bacteria and viruses (such as flu) more efficiently. To maintain good health, experts recommend at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity such as walking, swimming, biking, or running each day.

Source: Flu India website, CDC, WebMD

Q: Will it help to wear a mask?

A: Information on the effectiveness of facemasks and respirators for decreasing the risk of influenza infection in community settings is extremely limited. So, it is difficult to assess their potential effectiveness in decreasing the risk of Swine Flu virus transmission in these settings. However, a well-fitted, FDA-approved mask together with other preventive measures MAY reduce the risk of contracting the flu. Those who are sick or caring for someone who is ill should consider using a mask or respirator if leaving the house becomes necessary.

Source: CDC

Q: Can it be prevented?

A:

Influenza antiviral drugs also can be used to prevent influenza when they are given to a person who is not ill, but who has been or may be near a person with swine influenza. When used to prevent the flu, antiviral drugs are about 70% to 90% effective. When used for prevention, the number of days that they should be used will vary depending on a person’s particular situation.

Follow this general procedure to reduce the risk of catching or spreading the virus, you should:

• Cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, using a tissue
• Throw the tissue away quickly and carefully
• Wash your hands regularly with soap and water
• Clean hard surfaces (like door handles and remote controls) frequently with a normal cleaning product
• Keep away from others as much as possible. This is to keep from making others sick. Do not go to work or school while ill
• Stay home for at least 24 hours after fever is gone, except to seek medical care or for other necessities. (Fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
• Drink clear fluids (such as water, broth, sports drinks, electrolyte beverages for infants) to keep from being dehydrated
• Wear a facemask – if available and tolerable – when sharing common spaces with other household members to help prevent spreading the virus to others.

Source: CDC, National Health Service, UK website

Q: How does it spread?

A: The new swine flu virus is highly contagious, that is it spreads from person to person. The virus is spread through the droplets that come out of the nose or mouth when someone coughs or sneezes. If someone coughs or sneezes and they do not cover it, those droplets can spread about one metre (3ft). If you are very nearby you might breathe them in.

Or, if someone coughs or sneezes into their hand, those droplets and the virus within them are easily transferred to surfaces that the person touches, such as door handles, hand rails, telephones and keyboards. If you touch these surfaces and touch your face, the virus can enter your system, and you can become infected.

Source: National Health Service, UK website

Q: Who is at risk?

A:

Those who are more at risk from becoming seriously ill with swine flu are people with:

• chronic (long-term) lung disease, including people who have had drug treatment for their asthma within the past three years,
• chronic heart disease,
• chronic kidney disease,
• chronic liver disease,
• chronic neurological disease (neurological disorders include motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis),
• suppressed immune systems (whether caused by disease or treatment),
• diabetes,
• pregnant women,
• people aged 65 or older, and
• young children under five.

Source: National Health Service, UK website

Q: What is the treatment?

A: Antiviral drugs can be used to treat swine flu or to prevent infection with swine flu viruses. The anti-viral medicines oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are being used to treat people with swine flu. Antiviral drugs work by preventing the flu virus from reproducing. To be effective you need to take them within 48 hours of the symptoms beginning. These flu drugs can decrease the duration of the flu by 1 to 2 days if used within this early time period. These antivirals are usually given for a period of about 5-7 days. It’s unclear whether these drugs can prevent complications of the flu. Tamiflu is approved for prevention and treatment in people 1 year old and older. Relenza is approved for treatment of people 7 years old and older and for prevention in people 5 years old and older. These medications must be prescribed by a health care professional.

Side effects: Side effects of antiviral drugs may include nervousness, poor concentration, nausea, and vomiting. Relenza is not recommended for people with a history of breathing problems, such as asthma, because it may cause a worsening of breathing problems. Discuss side effects with your doctor.

Self medication: Antibiotics are a no-no. Chances are that antibiotics will not help your flu symptoms. That’s because flu, colds, and most sore throats and bronchitis are caused by viruses. In addition, taking antibiotics when you have a virus may do more harm than good. Taking antibiotics when they are not needed increases your risk of getting an infection later that resists antibiotic treatment. Antibiotics only cure certain infections due to bacteria — and if taken carelessly, you may get more serious health problems than you bargained for.

Is there a vaccine to treat swine flu virus? No, there isn’t a vaccine yet. But vaccines are being made in large quantities. Clinical tests will begin in August 2009. Depending on how long federal officials wait for the results of these tests, tens of millions of doses of swine flu vaccine could be ready as soon as September 2009, with more vaccine becoming available each month thereafter. The first doses of vaccine likely will go to pregnant women and young children ages 6 months to 4 years, with older school kids to follow.

Source: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Health Service, UK website, WebMD

Q: What should you do immediately?

A: Those of you who have travelled from the affected countries in the past ten days and show symptoms swine flu like fever, cough, sore throat and difficulty in breathing should immediately contact the telephone number given below or visit the nearby Government Hospital.

Important contact numbers:
Outbreak Monitoring Cell (Control Room, NICD): 011-23921401

Websites: www.mohfw.nic.in and www.nicd.nic.in
You can also contact a toll free number 2392 1401 at the National Institute of Communicable Disease

Contact number for each cities:
Bangalore
BIAL Swine Flu Center – 91-80-22001490

SDS TUBERCULOSIS & RAJIV GANDHI INSTITUTE OF CHEST DISEASES(Govt. of Karnataka), Hosur Road, Bangalore – 560029
Helpline No: 91-80-26631923

Chennai
Communicable Disease Hospital, 87, T.H. Road, Tondiarpet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Hyderabad
Govt. General and Chest Diseases Hospital, Erragadda , Hyderabad
Hospital Helpline Number – 040-23814939

Kolkata
Beliaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital, 57, Beliaghata Main Road, Kolkata

Mumbai
Kasturba Hospital, Arthur Road, Sane Guruji Marg, Mumbai 400011
Ph: 022- 23083901 / 23092458 / 23000889

New Delhi
Yellow Fever Quarantine Centre, Near AAI Residential Colony, New Delhi
Ph: 91-11-25652129

Influenza Ward, Ward no 5, Second Floor, New Building, RML Hospital, Delhi-1
RML- 91-11-24525211 ,23404328,23365525- Ext 4328

Source: Swine Flu India website

Q: What are the symptoms?

A:

Swine flu symptoms are similar to the symptoms of regular flu and include fever of over 100.4°F, fatigue, lack of appetite, and cold. Some people with swine flu have also reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Nearly everyone with flu has at least two of these symptoms.

So, how do you know if you have flu or just cold?
There is one clue: when you have the flu, you feel flu symptoms sooner than you would cold symptoms, and they come on with much greater intensity. With the flu, you may feel very weak and fatigued for up to 2 or 3 weeks. You’ll have muscle aches and periods of chills and sweats as fever comes and goes. You may also have a stuffy or runny nose, headache, and sore throat.

Can I compare flu symptoms with cold symptoms?
Yes. The following chart can help you compare flu symptoms with cold symptoms. Use it to lean the differences and similarities between flu and cold symptoms. Then, if you get flu symptoms, call your doctor and ask about an antiviral drug.

You cannot confirm if you have swine flu just based on your symptoms. Like seasonal flu, pandemic swine flu can cause neurologic symptoms in children. These events are rare, but, as cases associated with seasonal flu have shown, they can be very severe and often fatal.

Doctors may offer a rapid flu test, but what you need to understand is a negative result doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have the flu. Only lab tests can definitively show whether you’ve got swine flu. State health departments can do these tests.

Source: WebMD

Q: Take precautions at schools!

A:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• People who are sick with an influenza-like illness should stay home and keep away from others as much as possible, including avoiding travel, for at least 24 hours after fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Fever should be gone without the use of fever-reducing medicine). Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing
• Wash your hands often
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth

Q: Is it safe to travel?

A: Avoid travelling unnecessarily. However, if you must travel, check how the country you’re going to handles swine flu. Although, the WHO doesn’t recommend travel restrictions, many countries have set up their own H1N1 policies, and some travellers have been screened or quarantined in other countries because of swine flu concerns.

NEW DELHI/TOKYO/JAKARTA – Three huge earthquakes have been reported – a 7.6 magnitude earthquake off the Andaman Islands in eastern India, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in eastern and central Japan, and a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in north coast of Indonesia’s Papua, all of which have triggered tsunami alerts.

A huge 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the Andaman Islands in eastern India on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami alert across large sections of the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The quake struck around 263 kilometres (163 miles) north of Port Blair, the main town in the Andamans, and was around 33 kilometres (20.2 miles) deep, said a USGS statement.

The USGS said a tsunami watch had been issued for India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh.

Another strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 jolted eastern and central Japan on Tuesday, a government agency said, rattling houses in Tokyo.

The quake, which struck at 0507 a.m. (20:07GMT), prompted a tsunami warning for waves of up to 50 cm (20 inches) for parts of the Pacific coast, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its Website (www.jma.go.jp).

A highway was closed and a Chubu Electric Power nuclear power station at Hamaoka shut two units for safety checks.

The focus of the tremor was 20 km (12 miles) deep under Shizuoka prefecture, around 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Tokyo, the agency said.

And another 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck the north coast of Indonesia’s Papua Tuesday, seismologists said.

The quake struck at 1:46 am (17:46 GMT) with an epicentre 74 kilometres (46 miles) northwest of the town of Wewak, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It was measured at a depth of 35 kilometres.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

The Andaman Islands were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra and sent giant waves crashing into countries around the Indian Ocean.

The 2004 tsunami killed more than 220,000 people, most of them in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh. Thousands of people were also killed in Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) — A magnitude-7.6 earthquake struck the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean today, spurring a tsunami warning for a half-dozen countries in the region.

The quake struck at a depth of 33 kilometers (21 miles) at about 1:55 a.m. local time and was centered 260 kilometers north of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, or about 825 kilometers west of Bangkok, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A tsunami warning will be in effect for the next one to three hours for parts of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a potentially destructive tsunami had been generated near the quake epicenter. No other details were provided.

A magnitude-9.1 earthquake that hit off the coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra in December 2004 triggered a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 229,000 dead or missing from Southeast Asia to eastern Africa.

Updates are pushed via iTunes. When you connect your iPhone via iTunes, the new updates will be installed.

For the first time users,

Updation will happen like a breeze. I was scared when my updates were going on via iTunes. I was worried that my data will be lost. But none of those disasters happen. Before updation, iTunes takes a back up of the data and then updates the OS. Once updated, it restores the backup.  And iPhone is back to normal state…with new OS 3.0.1

Crazy Hack 1: Edit any webpage..

Go to any web page, clear the address bar, and paste this…

javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0

and hit enter…

Yaahhooo…!!! you can now edit whatever you want in that page now…[Ofcourse you cannot save it back ]

Crazy Hack 2: Dancing Images

Go to any web page, clear the address bar, and paste this…

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+"px"; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+"px"}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

and hit enter…

And….Enjoy the Image Dance…

[Source from: digg]

1. Tell me about yourself:
The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short
statement prepared in your mind. Be careful that it does not sound
rehearsed. Limit it to work-related items unless instructed otherwise.
Talk about things you have done and jobs you have held that relate to
the position you are interviewing for. Start with the item farthest
back and work up to the present.

2. Why did you leave your last job?
Stay positive regardless of the circumstances. Never refer to a major
problem with management and never speak ill of supervisors, co-workers
or the organization. If you do, you will be the one looking bad. Keep
smiling and talk about leaving for a positive reason such as an
opportunity, a chance to do something special or other forward-looking
reasons.

3. What experience do you have in this field?
Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for.
If you do not have specific experience, get as close as you can.

4. Do you consider yourself successful?
You should always answer yes and briefly explain why. A good
explanation is that you have set goals, and you have met some and are
on track to achieve the others.

5. What do co-workers say about you?
Be prepared with a quote or two from co-workers. Either a specific
statement or a paraphrase will work. Jill Clark, a co-worker at Smith
Company, always said I was the hardest workers she had ever known. It
is as powerful as Jill having said it at the interview herself.

6. What do you know about this organization?
This question is one reason to do some research on the organization
before the interview. Find out where they have been and where they are
going. What are the current issues and who are the major players?

7. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year?
Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. A wide
variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement.
Have some good ones handy to mention.

8. Are you applying for other jobs?
Be honest but do not spend a lot of time in this area. Keep the focus
on this job and what you can do for this organization. Anything else is
a distraction.

9. Why do you want to work for this organization?
This may take some thought and certainly, should be based on the
research you have done on the organization. Sincerity is extremely
important here and will easily be sensed. Relate it to your long-term
career goals.

10. Do you know anyone who works for us?
Be aware of the policy on relatives working for the organization. This
can affect your answer even though they asked about friends not
relatives. Be careful to mention a friend only if they are well thought
of.

11. What kind of salary do you need?
A loaded question. A nasty little game that you will probably lose if
you answer first. So, do not answer it. Instead, say something like,
That’s a tough question. Can you tell me the range for this position?
In most cases, the interviewer, taken off guard, will tell you. If not,
say that it can depend on the details of the job. Then give a wide
range.

12. Are you a team player?
You are, of course, a team player. Be sure to have examples ready.
Specifics that show you often perform for the good of the team rather
than for yourself are good evidence of your team attitude. Do not brag,
just say it in a matter-of-fact tone. This is a key point.

13. How long would you expect to work for us if hired?
Specifics here are not good. Something like this should work: I’d like
it to be a long time. Or As long as we both feel I’m doing a good job.

14. Have you ever had to fire anyone? How did you feel about that?
This is serious. Do not make light of it or in any way seem like you
like to fire people. At the same time, you will do it when it is the
right thing to do. When it comes to the organization versus the
individual who has created a harmful situation, you will protect the
organization. Remember firing is not the same as layoff or reduction in
force.

15. What is your philosophy towards work?
The interviewer is not looking for a long or flowery dissertation here.
Do you have strong feelings that the job gets done? Yes. That’s the
type of answer that works best here. Short and positive, showing a
benefit to the organization.

16. If you had enough money to retire right now, would you?
Answer yes if you would. But since you need to work, this is the type
of work you prefer. Do not say yes if you do not mean it.

17. Have you ever been asked to leave a position?
If you have not, say no. If you have, be honest, brief and avoid saying
negative things about the people or organization involved.

18. Explain how you would be an asset to this organization
You should be anxious for this question. It gives you a chance to
highlight your best points as they relate to the position being
discussed. Give a little advance thought to this relationship.

19. Why should we hire you?
Point out how your assets meet what the organization needs. Do not
mention any other candidates to make a comparison.

20. Tell me about a suggestion you have made
Have a good one ready. Be sure and use a suggestion that was accepted
and was then considered successful. One related to the type of work
applied for is a real plus.

21. What irritates you about co-workers?
This is a trap question. Think real hard but fail to come up with
anything that irritates you. A short statement that you seem to get
along with folks is great.

22. What is your greatest strength?
Numerous answers are good, just stay positive. A few good examples:
Your ability to prioritize, Your problem-solving skills, Your ability
to work under pressure, Your ability to focus on projects, Your
professional expertise, Your leadership skills, Your positive attitude

23. Tell me about your dream job.
Stay away from a specific job. You cannot win. If you say the job you
are contending for is it, you strain credibility. If you say another
job is it, you plant the suspicion that you will be dissatisfied with
this position if hired. The best is to stay genetic and say something
like: A job where I love the work, like the people, can contribute and
can’t wait to get to work.

24. Why do you think you would do well at this job?
Give several reasons and include skills, experience and interest.

25. What are you looking for in a job?
See answer # 23

26. What kind of person would you refuse to work with?
Do not be trivial. It would take disloyalty to the organization,
violence or lawbreaking to get you to object. Minor objections will
label you as a whiner.

27. What is more important to you: the money or the work?
Money is always important, but the work is the most important. There is
no better answer.

28. What would your previous supervisor say your strongest point is?
There are numerous good possibilities:
Loyalty, Energy, Positive attitude, Leadership, Team player, Expertise,
Initiative, Patience, Hard work, Creativity, Problem solver

29. Tell me about a problem you had with a supervisor
Biggest trap of all. This is a test to see if you will speak ill of
your boss. If you fall for it and tell about a problem with a former
boss, you may well below the interview right there. Stay positive and
develop a poor memory about any trouble with a supervisor.

30. What has disappointed you about a job?
Don’t get trivial or negative. Safe areas are few but can include:
Not enough of a challenge. You were laid off in a reduction Company did
not win a contract, which would have given you more responsibility.

31. Tell me about your ability to work under pressure.
You may say that you thrive under certain types of pressure. Give an
example that relates to the type of position applied for.

32. Do your skills match this job or another job more closely?
Probably this one. Do not give fuel to the suspicion that you may want
another job more than this one.

33. What motivates you to do your best on the job?
This is a personal trait that only you can say, but good examples are:
Challenge, Achievement, Recognition

34. Are you willing to work overtime? Nights? Weekends?
This is up to you. Be totally honest.

35. How would you know you were successful on this job?
Several ways are good measures:
You set high standards for yourself and meet them. Your outcomes are a
success.Your boss tell you that you are successful

36. Would you be willing to relocate if required?
You should be clear on this with your family prior to the interview if
you think there is a chance it may come up. Do not say yes just to get
the job if the real answer is no. This can create a lot of problems
later on in your career. Be honest at this point and save yourself
future grief.

37. Are you willing to put the interests of the organization ahead ofyour own?
This is a straight loyalty and dedication question. Do not worry about
the deep ethical and philosophical implications. Just say yes.

38. Describe your management style.
Try to avoid labels. Some of the more common labels, like progressive,
salesman or consensus, can have several meanings or descriptions
depending on which management expert you listen to. The situational
style is safe, because it says you will manage according to the
situation, instead of one size fits all.

39. What have you learned from mistakes on the job?
Here you have to come up with something or you strain credibility. Make
it small, well intentioned mistake with a positive lesson learned. An
example would be working too far ahead of colleagues on a project and
thus throwing coordination off.

40. Do you have any blind spots?
Trick question. If you know about blind spots, they are no longer blind
spots. Do not reveal any personal areas of concern here. Let them do
their own discovery on your bad points. Do not hand it to them.

41. If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for?
Be careful to mention traits that are needed and that you have.

42. Do you think you are overqualified for this position?
Regardless of your qualifications, state that you are very well
qualified for the position.

43. How do you propose to compensate for your lack of experience?
First, if you have experience that the interviewer does not know about,
bring that up: Then, point out (if true) that you are a hard working
quick learner.

44. What qualities do you look for in a boss?
Be generic and positive. Safe qualities are knowledgeable, a sense of
humor, fair, loyal to subordinates and holder of high standards. All
bosses think they have these traits.

45. Tell me about a time when you helped resolve a dispute betweenothers.
Pick a specific incident. Concentrate on your problem solving technique
and not the dispute you settled.

46. What position do you prefer on a team working on a project?
Be honest. If you are comfortable in different roles, point that out.

47. Describe your work ethic.
Emphasize benefits to the organization. Things like, determination to
get the job done and work hard but enjoy your work are good.

48. What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
Be sure that you refer to something that was beyond your control. Show
acceptance and no negative feelings.

49. Tell me about the most fun you have had on the job.
Talk about having fun by accomplishing something for the organization.

50. Do you have any questions for me?
Always have some questions prepared. Questions prepared where you will be an asset to the organization are good. How soon will I be able to be productive? and What type of projects will I be able to assist on? are
examples.

(Excerpted from the book The Accelerated Job Search by Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D, published by The Management Advantage, Inc.)