Thought Garage

Dear readers, Many of you have been anxiously waiting for the confirmation that your application has been selected in lottery and you are on your way to getting h1b approved. There were lots of delays and took lot more time than expected for USCIS to process all applications. Last week USCIS announced that it had sent its final notice to applicants and everyone must receive a notification (either a receipt number or rejected application). I received numerous emails that they haven't yet received anything yet. I am pretty sure your employer must have received something by this time now, and they must be thinking of a better time to convey the message to you. For those who have received a receipt number, you can check the processing times of the center that is processing your application to get a better estimate of how much time it may take to get the final approval. Now that you received the confirmation that your application is selected in the lottery, do not worry much about the d...

PBS Show on rising Indian middle class, features a fresh look at what is changing in India and how the mind set is inclined towards 'buy what you want' rather than traditional 'buy what you need'.  You can watch the video of the program online. The global middle class is expected to swell by more than 1 billion people over the next decade, with the biggest increases in China and India. While millions are being lifted out of poverty as a result, the booming middle class is also consuming more global resources. As a result, prices for everything from steel to gasoline to food are soaring. India Rising - Globalization and the Middle Class . NOW on PBS

Yet another impressive and very well resonating speech on Father's day by Obama. I loved the way he attempted some of the most sensitive topics and rejected the 'common wisdom' : what it takes to be a father, setting high expectations for ourselves and for kids, the craze about graduation of everything and doing our own job to get where you want to go and the mantra of obama, where change should start.

Good news !! U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that beginning on June 30, 2008 it will issue Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) valid for two years. The new two-year EAD is only available to individuals who have filed to become a lawful permanent resident (LPR) using a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and filed for employment authorization under Section 274.a.12(c)(9) of Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (8 C.F.R.) but are unable to become an LPR because an immigrant visa number is not currently available. USCIS to Issue Two-Year Employment Authorization Documents Since USCIS does the determination after you file (based on latest visa bulletin), it appears that it is not required to pay double the fee of one year EAD.

  to   Quite interesting idea, to convert an existing Corolla into a hybrid. This for sure will save a lot of resources than building a new one from scratch. Apply the same idea to all cars, you don't have to buy a new car to become eco-friendly. Just buy the conversion kit and get it installed. Cool !! Converting standard Corollas into electric cars Sähköautot–Nyt! (Finnish for Electric Cars–Now!) is taking an innovative approach to getting more electric-powered vehicles on the road. The Finnish not-for-profit group, which calls itself an open-source electric vehicle community, wants to sign up 500 or more buyers for its first proposed model. Instead of building a car from scratch, they’ll retro-fit existing Toyota Corollas. At a volume of 500+, the cost of acquiring and converting used, petrol-powered vehicles to run on rechargeable lithium batteries will be on par with the cost of purchasing a standard internal combustion engine Corolla off the lot, and saves the e...

Shut down Your computer at home, Wireless Router, cell phone chargers, Game box, TV, Cable modems, for that matter, any device that consume electricity, shut them down if you are not using them.  As they consume quite significant power and cost you a lot. Not only that if you power them down, you save its life time as well, so they work longer. I always try to shut all electronic devices down when I am not using. Some of them take about 30 sec to a minute to come up on restarting, but its okay to wait, rather than paying hefty price for electricity. Gadget electricity costs: a high or low bill is your “CHOICE” CHOICE has exposed what mothers the world over know – leaving devices on, even if they’re in standby mode, still chews up power, with the shocking news that some video games consoles can use a lot more power than much larger appliances – five times more than a “medium-sized fridge”. The example given is that the PS3 uses nearly AUD $250 of electricity in a single year if...

Finally, now we can say, the improbable beats the inevitable.  And I hope he goes on to clinch the White house in November.

You must have heard the online version of the coveted Photoshop, the Photoshop Express. Here is the good news. Some more on your way. Real 'Rich Internet Applications' finally arrived, much to my delight, absolutely Free. Adobe Acrobat.com - Work. Together. Anywhere. A truly rich Word processor, a web conference solution (with integrated Audio/video support) and a 5GB online file storage service. All absolutely free. Did you try Photoshop express yet? Really Rich Word Processor, Adobe Buzzword When there was lots of hype that web based word processors will take over desktop versions like MS Word, I argued, unless word processors go Flash based to provide rich and fast interaction, there is now way users in general embrace web based word processors. Well Adobe brings a web based Word processor called Adobe Buzzword. Its pretty cool, supports a huge font set, allow collaboration and document sharing and of course you can convert the document to PDF file.  The editing itself...