The market and demand for eLearning is increasing at an enormous pace, with it the need to build eLearning content in an quick and easy way is also surfacing. We have reviewed several eLearning content creators in the past. Our subject for this review is Raptivity.  Now make no mistake, this is not a full fledged eLearning content creator but serves as an add-on to them by helping to add STUNNING interactivity in no time.

Intro

Raptivity – A Rapid Interactivity tool provides you with pre-built interactions which are based on best practices in the industry.These pre-built interactions can be called the back bone of Raptivity.  On the one hand they are capable of providing nice looking interactivities in a short span of time, and on the other hand – for the whiz amongst us – they provide a lot of customizations options. The output is in the form of a Flash (SWF) file which can be integrated with almost all eLearning tools out there. Raptivity can also help track  score and responses and can provide this information to eLearning tools for SCORM/ AICC tracking with any LMS.

Raptivity has these products to offer:

• Main Raptivity Software: ( also known as Raptivity Essential)
• Raptivity Turbo packs: Used for 3D, Games , Videos and Simulations
• Raptivity Standard Packs: which are further subdivided into Pack1, Pack 2 and Pack3
• Raptivity Booster Packs: Consists of additional 235 interactions

We wish they could mention the usage of all these packs in some easily accessible location. There seems to be some overlap between usage of various packs. A first-time visitor might feel lost on the website. Also we missed “Getting Started” Links on the homepage.

Installation

• Raptivity essential is about 200 MB in size. Installation was a breeze. It took around 3-4 minutes for end to end installation. We would have liked to find a mention of the size in front of the downloadable, so that one knows the approximate time to download.
• Raptivity provides a free trial for 14 days. The trial version allows you to create 20 interactivities from 35 interaction models.
• Once the trial is over you would need to purchase and activate the software. It took us 30 sec to activate Raptivity using online activation mode.
• If you decide to format your machine or transfer the current license to another machine, make sure that you deactivate the Raptivity software before formatting your machine.
• At the time of review it consumed about 50MB of memory when seen from the Task Manager. Not so resource heavy we can say.

Getting Started

As soon as you double click on the Raptivity icon on your desktop you will be greeted with the screen shown below. UI looks pretty slick. They have kept up with the tradition of Web2.0

To start creating your first Interactivity, click on ‘New Interactivity’. You will get ‘All Packs’ screen which will list Raptivity essentials along with any additional pack that you have installed.

Creating an Interactivity

For the purpose of this review, we will create a survey. Choose Essential Pack > Surveys > Smile Sheet. After specifying values for Size and no of survey questions, you will get this screen.

Survey questions, their font etc can be customized using the text editor on the bottom (marked with arrows).

Output

Here is an output of a quick little survey we created in under 5 mins. Needless to say it was a simple exercise and the task was well done by Raptivity.

Cost

The basic – Raptivity Essential – set up will cost you $550 during the offer period, (normally it goes for $750). If you’re interested for other packs, they have various combo offers on their sales page.

Trivia:

• Other than Raptivity Essential, the rest of the packs are about 50 – 70 MB in size.
• We tried enrolling for their Free Weekly webinar. We did get a canned reply saying we will receive another email on instructions on how to connect, but that mail never landed either in our inbox and or in spam folder. This may be a small issue, but things like this make a long-lasting impression on a prospective customer’s mind.

Parting Comments:

While I would strongly like to recommend Raptivity to focus on usability testing for their website and try to make it more user friendly, Raptivity has left me impressed me thoroughly. Other than the minor points of improvements noted above, Harbinger group has created a rock solid product. It looks like Raptivity is all set to make a level playing field for the small players in the eLearning industry where they need not worry about spending a fortune hiring designers. At a fraction of a cost and time, now they too can create impressive interactivities.

Important Links

• For a quick official overview refer Raptivity’s DataSheet.
• 6 Things you may not know about Raptivity
• Free Trial
• Buy

PS: Thank You Amitabh for the review copy.

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If you use Reliance NetConnect broadband you must have got used to that annoying pop up window that opens up as soon as you initiate an internet connection with it. Here is a nice little hack to get rid of that window:

1. Go to C:\Program Files\Reliance Netconnect – Broadband+\plugins\XFramePlugin
2. Open Config.xml in a notepad.
3. Locate http://www.reliancenetconnect.co.in/ and replace it with about:blank .
4. Save the file.

The next time you will initiate the connection, you won’t see the pop up.

Enjoy!

Related:

• Reliance NetConnect vs TataPhoton +
• How to check your prepaid reliance netconnect usage.

Prerequisites:

1. LAN cards on both the machines – All computers these days have one.
2. RJ45 connectors – You can get one from the market, quite inexpensive.
3. A basic knowledge of computers, just enough to understand the instructions below.

Here is what you can do step by step to connect two computers with each other:

1. Insert Cables: Plug in the cable – having RJ45 ends at both the ends – to the two laptops.
2. Change WORKGROUP: Change the WORKGROUP of one of the machines. Here is how you can do that. Right click on My Computer, select Properties and chose Computer Name tab. Click Change button to change the WORKGROUP name. Make sure it should be exactly as the one on other machine.
3. LAN Properties: Now go to My Network Places > Click on View Network connections > Right click on "Local Area Connections" and select properties.
4. IP Properties: On the next window, scroll down and highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)". Click Properties.
5. Assign static IPs: Now see the screenshot below. For one of the machines, write down the IP address, Subnet Mask and Preferred DNS Server exactly as shown below. For other machine, keep all the other numerals same except the IP address, change that to 192.168.2.50.
6. Share Drives or Folders on either of the machines: If sharing drives, right click on the drive name, hit “sharing and security” and under Sharing tab click on “If you understand the risk but still want to share the root of the drive, click here”. As soon as you click the link he same tab will show you a section “Network sharing and security”. Select share this folder on the network and Allow network user to change my files.
7. Run and Ping: Go to Start and hit Run. Enter \\192.168.2.50 on the machine where you have assigned the IP 192.168.2.51 OR vice versa. You should be able to see the shared drive/folder of the other machine.

Enjoy!

PS: The steps above are written keeping in mind Windows XP but should be applicable to Win Vista/Windows 7 with some minor modifications.

PPS: Just in case even after doing these steps you are not able to connect, try to disable firewalls of both the computers. (Control Panel > Security Center > Windows Firewall)

So I got a new personal laptop Lenovo T400, with T9400 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 9c Li-Ion battery. I have been used to working on company provided laptops for a long time now, so never worried about the admin functions that are required with a new purchase. Installing firewalls, anti-virus, partitioning, generally our network operations guys do such stuff.

Since this laptop came with a single partition, I have to choose a partition manager so as to segregate my programs installations and files into different drives. ( If things go wrong or I have to reinstall my OS, I can simply reformat the C: drive without touching the other drive(s)).

My search started with BIG G and I hit this page soon. Since the HOME edition of EASEUS  had the smallest size and the best price in the world, I chose this edition and installed it. For sure, it lived up its expectation.

Within 2-3 mins the program EASEUS partition manager was up and running. In next 6-8 mins it allowed me to partition the C: drive into two drives. The process works something like this:

1. You take a C: drive and “Resize” it to allot some free space to it. – This step needs 2 reboots of the system. Total Time: 4 – 5 mins
2. In the next step, this free space is converted to a Partition by clicking on “Create Partition”. This step doesn’t require any re-boot. Total time : 2 – 3 mins

As soon as you click on OK, while allotting free space or while creating a partition, operations go into a pending state. You have to click on Apply button on the left bottom for them to take effect. Though you can do both the steps above by a single click of the “Apply” button but I preferred to do them one after the other. (Just wanted to be sure nothing goes wrong).

The utility worked like a charm and deserved a review here.

So EASEUS has many editions, which one should you choose?

While this comparison chart can give you a good idea, for most of the basic needs I think HOME edition would work best but yes if you are a business you may have to look into Professional or Server edition. (since EASEUS TOS won’t allow HOME edition to be used for business purposes)

Download EASEUS partition manager

PS: I am not an affiliate for this product and above is my personal experience with this utility.

So, with the worsening power conditions in my city – Bangalore – I had to get a wireless broadband for myself. The kind of work I do online, I can’t afford a second of internet outage and always require a very high speed internet connection.

As my research for the ideal broadband progressed, I zeroed-in on two choices Reliance Netconnect Broadband or Tata Photon+. I thought of taking wireless connection as my secondary connection – only to be used when left with no power and when my UPS had drained off – with primary being the ever reliable Airtel broadband.

Reliance Net connect broadband comes in two flavors, pre paid a well as post paid while Tata Photon+ is available in post paid option only.  Since one of my friends had an awful experience with the customer service of Tata Plug2Surf (the earlier technology of broadand used by Tata). I thought of starting my in depth research in Reliance NetConnect. Through the ads served on the Google, I got a site which offered a bonus for getting a reliance net connection through them so I filled up a form. There was no reply even after 48 hrs of filling up a form. So I called up the Reliance Customer Care and asked if they can send a person at my home for the demo.  I got an assurance that a person will show up within 24 hours but again No reply. The process of me calling “customer (un)care” and Reliance not sending the demo for executive – after giving me assurance – continued for 3 days.

Getting no help, I tried taking help of local Reliance World folks. Well, they were no better either and were not willing to provide a demo at my home. Somehow, after tirelessly calling all Reliance World stores in the city, one of the store guy obliged and came at my home to provide the demo. The speed was surprisingly very good. In fact can easily be compared with my Airtel wired broadband.I went ahead and bought the prepaid plan.

You may wonder how is the connection working out for me now? It’s been three weeks now and the connection is simply great. I was able to take a 4 hours long video conference through netconnect and was able to go on my company’s VPN without getting disconnected even once. With all the issues I mentioned above, I just pray that I didn’t get to deal with the customer service of Reliance Netconnect.

So what should you do before you plan for a wireless broadband at your place?

1. Get a LIVE demo done at your place. I can’t emphasize the importance of DEMO enough. (This high speed broadband doesn’t work at my friends home at all !). Test the internet speed using speedtest.net, If you see the speed is good and Reliance netconnect screen shows 5 signal bar at your place, GO FOR IT! If not, start exploring Tata Photon+ connection.
2. Choose between prepaid and postpaid plans.You have to buy a Rs 3500/- worth stick first for both the connection types.
   With prepaid plans, as of now Reliance is offering a 10GB download free for the first month.
   With postpaid plans, as of now Reliance is offering a discount of Rs 200/- for the next 12 months on your rental with first month free.
3. Pray -like me – that you don’t have to deal with Reliance customer care.

Related: Check out my earlier discovery on how to check your prepaid reliance netconnect usage.

Update: Due to the new T & C of DIYThemes, this offer was valid till 28th/Feb/2010 only. We will no longer be offering $36 and $18 discount, however you can still purchase through our link and expect a surprise gift in your mail box.

So we really like the Thesis theme. In an effort to ensure that Thesis theme is affordable for all bloggers out there, we –as the resellers of DIY Themes-  have come up with a unique promotional discount on Thesis theme. Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to purchase and avail discount on the Thesis theme:

1. Little Clean Up: Since you will be using our link to buy the Thesis theme, make sure that you have cleaned up all cookies of your browser. (This is to ensure that you don’t have a cookie of any other Thesis Theme affiliate residing on your browser). To delete cookies on Firefox, go to Tools > Options. Select Privacy Tab and click on remove individual cookies. (Arrow 1 as seen below) and then click Remove All Cookies button. (Arrow 2 as seen below) To remove cookies from Internet Explorer go to Tools > Internet Options. Select General Tab and click Delete Cookies button.
2. Some GK: As you may know, Thesis Theme comes in two flavors, Thesis Personal Option and Thesis Developer Option. The normal cost for these two options is $87 and $164 respectively. Using our discount method you can get these themes at $69 and $128 respectively.
3. Click Link: To get the discount, click on this link and buy one of the themes as you would normally do. [This is THE most important step. You have to make sure that you have purchased the theme through our link only.]
4. Order-Order: After completing the purchase select “Return to DIY Themes”.  You will get an email from PayPal confirming your purchase. Please note the TRANSACTION ID mentioned in this email. 
5. Contact: Now contact us using this contact form with subject titled “Thesis Theme Discount”, mentioning the 1) TRANSACTION ID, 2) Name of the theme purchased and your 3) PayPal address.
6. Confirmation: Within 48 hrs of receiving your mail, we will send you a confirmation about your eligibility for discount.
7. Get Cash Back: After 37 days of your purchase, we will send you $36 (If you have purchased THESIS DEVELOPER OPTION) or $18 (If you have purchased THESIS PERSONAL OPTION). The payment will arrive at your PayPal address you have mentioned in the PayPal email above. (Step 5)

Point to Note: We keep a buffer of 37 days because that is the minimum time period for which your account should remain active for us to get commission. If you choose to get a money back (for some weird reason), you will not be eligible for the cash-back. Though this is obvious but we want to be clear on the terms.

We wish you all the best for your purchase of THE MOST POWERFUL, USER FRIENDLY AND SEO OPTIMIZED WORDPRESS THEME out there.

Note: Due to the new T & C of DIYThemes, this offer was valid till 28th/Feb/2010 only. We will no longer be offering $36 and $18 discount, however you can still purchase through our link and expect a surprise gift in your mail box.

It may sound simple but the direct URL to this site is neither available anywhere on the internet (or on reliancenetconnect site) and nor the Reliance World people know about it. Fortunately today I got a chance to speak with a very knowledgeable customer care executive, who provided this link:

 

Simple go to Reliance Net Connect E Care Balance 

Enter your BroadBand No/MDN No in the edit box and hit ‘Check Balance’. You can now see the available balance in your reliance net connect prepaid account.

Building a site is so much easier these days with the help of CMS and blogging platforms. Among these platforms, WordPress is used by a lot of site for all the right reasons; it offers superb flexibility with user friendly interface, making building and maintaining your site a lot easier. If you are using WordPress for your site and you are looking for a nice theme to use, you should really consider Thesis Theme for WordPress. Thesis Theme for WordPress may not look much out of the box — design-wise that is — but its powers are hidden under its hood. By far, Thesis Theme for WordPress is the most flexible theme with a lot of optimization and efficiency options to boost your site’s performance. You can easily customize Thesis Theme for WordPress’s design to suit your needs and wants; Thesis’s wordpress dashboard options allows you to change the structure of theme at a click of a button, without even meddling with the code. The Thesis Theme for WordPress also excels when it comes to SEO features and its ability to display information-rich HTML quickly. Site owners who are using Thesis as their WordPress theme also stated their satisfaction to the theme. Several testimonials can be found at Thesis’s testimonial page confirming how easy it is to use Thesis to build and maintain a site, including this one:

What an adventure. I literally did not know a single thing about blogging or WordPress two months ago. I’ve lurked on here for awhile and picked up the coding knowledge I needed. Thanks for the (affordable!) design and amazing functionality. — Michael | ICM-Bot.com

The Thesis option panel is designed to help you control aspects of your site easily even when you have no coding skills. The developer of Thesis Theme for WordPress also made changing the structure of Thesis that much and can be done from WordPress’s Dashboard. The level of design customization is virtually endless; you can see showcases of customizations made by other users to see the limitless potential of Thesis Theme for WordPress. Plus, you will also enjoy the built-in drop-down menu other added features that will surely make your site a lot more enjoyable. Thesis Theme for WordPress will make creating and maintaining your site that much easier.

Personally, I have used Thesis on a couple of blogs of mine and I can’t ask for more. The internal SEO in the theme has made by Google rankings soar by atleast 60 % within 1.5 months of installing the theme on my blog.

• See the Thesis Demo
• See killer customizations from the Thesis community
• Buy Thesis Theme Now!

Update: Check out our latest huge discount offer on Thesis Theme. (That’s a $36 discount – the highest discount available for Thesis.)

Check the video demo in action below:

We have reviewed affiliate theme in the past and we “ll still highly recommend it to anyone who want to start with the affiliate marketing business.

Unique Blog Designs, the creator of affiliate theme, is about to release an incredible new tool that will help you build your email list and further systemize your online marketing! It is called Squeeze Theme and it is coming out Tuesday, November 24th.

So what is the offer?

You get 50% OFF Squeeze Theme if you purchase Affiliate Theme between NOW and Tuesday, November 17th. So, you only have one week to take advantage of this promotion.

Just for those who are new to affiliate marketing, Affiliate Theme is an affiliate website building tool for WordPress. More than 2,000 people are using Affiliate Theme to quickly build and profit from affiliate websites. You can see what Affiliate Theme is capable by watching the short video here

Don’t miss out on this opportunity. In my experience, UBD guys rarely come out with promo offers like these.

Check out Affiliate theme now . Before buying, you can also test drive the affiliate theme.

So you have accumulated hundreds (or even thousands?) of Google Toolbar bookmarks over the years and now want to delete them all.  Well, Google provides a way but for some reason it is undocumented.  A very intuitive option should be the Bookmarks menu option of the Google Toolbar but the delete all option is not available there.

Here is a step-by-step procedure of how you can delete all bookmarks from Google at a click of a button:

1. Go to Google Bookmarks
2. Scroll down. On the left hand side you will see Delete all link.



3. Now you know what to do. Enjoy.