Monday, January 27, 2014

\includegraphics{} in ps file not showing

If you are using pdf format in includegraphics, convert all of them to eps, then it will work.

Note: Remember to put \usepackage{epstopdf} in the preamble in case it prompts an error that eps is not foud.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

For my reference - Scanning in SUTD

To scan single pages to pdf, just use all default setting and scan it.

But to scan double pages, you need to 
1. Click on the pages to set the number of pages.
2. To ensure you have scanned both sided, scanning two papers of 4 pages need to ensure that it prompts you 4 pages after you click on start.


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Reduce Space Around Floats (Algorithm, Figures, etc) in Latex

\setlength\floatsep{1.25\baselineskip plus 3pt minus 2pt}
\setlength\textfloatsep{1.25\baselineskip plus 3pt minus 2pt}
\setlength\intextsep{1.25\baselineskip plus 3pt minus 2 pt}
Put the above in the preamble, and change the 1.25 to desired one.

The First Line is for length between two adjacent floats

The Second Line -  for floats on top and bottom of text only
For floats at top - length between float and text below it
For floats at bottom - length between float and text above it

The Third Line- for floats in the middle of text only - length between text above it, and text below it.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Disable glue to geometry in Visio

Tools>Snap & Glue
Then unchecked Snap and unchecked Glue
That's it.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Free bootable partition software

Some times when you play on the partitions, you may accidentally set the wrong partition, which make the computer starts on wrong partition. In such case, download the MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD here (it's free!), boots from the CD, and that's it.

There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation

---For Everyone seeing this error message----
If you get this error message


Check if you already have
four primary partitions or
three primary partitions + one extended partition
on your MBR disk,
If yes, you can't create new partition directly, this is a limitation of MBR disk.

---For Toshiba Ultrabook user----
I am using Toshiba Portege Z30-A100, it is coming with three primary parition and one extended partition, what I do using EaseUs Partition Manager is:
1. Convert HDDRecovery from Primary to Logical
2. Unhide HDDRecovery
3. Backup the files in HDD Recovery (PLS including all hidden files!!) to External Drive
4. Delete HDDRecovery
5. Then create a new D drive.

Disclaimer: I have not tried whether this operations will make the factory recovery reset be unusable, but logically we could perform this to revert the changes, if the factory reset does not work:
1. Merge C and D drive into C drive
2. Recreate the HDDRecovery, hide the partition and make it primary
3. Move files in
4. That's it

When you are playing around partition, sometimes you may accidentally make the computer not bootable - seeing the error message NTLTR not found for Windows 7. Use this Free Bootable Partition Software to solve it.

----For MySelf---
I believe due to I do not backup the hidden files ==, which results in I am unable to use the HDDRecovery anymore. Currently, I have made my drive from (sorry for the blurry image)


to

Note that the factory backup is for the recovery image that I created my own using Acronis True Image, and I am losing my HDDRecovery, unless I have some friends who are using the same brand as ultrabook as mine and copy back those hidden files. But that does not really matter for now.



Thursday, January 16, 2014

zz -Super successful companies

Super successful companies

I spent some time recently thinking about what companies that grow up to be extremely successful do when they are very young. I came up with the following list. It’s from personal experience and I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions. While plenty of non-successful startups do some of these things too, I think there is value in trying to match the patterns. 
*They are obsessed with the quality of the product/experience. Almost a little too obsessed—they spend a lot of time on details that at first glance wouldn’t seem to be really important.  The founders of these companies react as if they feel physical pain when something isn’t quite right with the product or a user has a bad customer support experience. Although they believe in launching early and iterating, they generally won't release something crappy. (This is not an excuse to launch slowly.  You're probably taking too long to launch.)

As part of this, they don't put anyone between the founders and the users.  The founders of these companies do things like sales and customer support themselves.
 
*They are obsessed with talent. The founders take great pride in the quality of their team and do whatever it takes to get the best people to join them.  Everyone says they only want to hire the best people, but the best founders don't compromise on this point.  If they do make a hiring mistake, they fix it very quickly.

And they hire very slowly.  They don't get any thrill out of having employees for its own sake, and they do the dirty work themselves at the beginning.

As part of this, they really focus on getting the culture of the company right.

*They can explain the vision for the company in a few clear words. This is most striking in contrast to companies that require multiple complicated sentences to explain, which never seem to do really well.  Also, they can articulate why they're going to succeed even if others going after the problem have failed, and they have a clear insight about why their market is a great one.

More generally, they communicate very well.

*They generate revenue very early on in their lives.  Often as soon as they get their first user.

*They are tough and calm.  Founders of great companies are always tough and unflappable.  Every startup seems like it's going to die--sometimes multiple times in a single day--and founders of really successful companies just seem to pull out a gun and shoot the villain without losing their train of thought.

Formidableness can be developed; I've seen weak-seeming founders grow into it fast.

*They keep expenses low.  In addition to hiring slowly, they start off very frugal. Interestingly, the companies that don't do this (and usually fail) often justify it by saying "we're thinking really big".  After everything is working really well, they will sometimes ramp up expenses a lot but manage to still only spend where it matters.

*They make something a small number of users really love. Paul Buchheit was the first person I ever heard point this out, but it's really true.  Successful startups nearly always start with an initial core of super happy users that become very dependent on their product, and then expand from there.  The strategy of something that starts with something a huge number of people sort of like empirically does not work as well.

*They grow organically.  And they are generally skeptical of inorganic strategies like big partnership deals and to a lesser extent PR.  They certainly don't have huge press events to launch their startup.  Mediocre founders focus on big PR launches to answer their growth prayers.
 
*They are focused on growth. The founders always know their user and revenue numbers.  There’s never any hesitation when you ask them.  They have targets they are trying to hit for the next week, month, and year.
 
*They balance a focus on growth with strategic thinking about the future.   They have clear plans and strong opinions about what they're going to build that no one can talk them out of.  But they focus more on execution in the moment than building out multi-year strategic plans.

Another way this trait shows itself is "right-sized" first projects.  You can't go from zero to huge; you have to find something not too big and not too small to build first.  They seem to have an innate talent for figuring out right-sized projects.

*They do things that don't scale.  Paul Graham has written about this.  The best founders take it unusually far.

*They have a whatever-it-takes attitude. There are some things about running a startup that are not fun.  Mediocre founders try to hire people for the parts that they don't like.  Great founders just do whatever they think is in the best interest of the company, even if they're not "passionate" about that part of the business.

*They prioritize well.  In any given day there are 100 reasonable things that you could work on.  It's easy to get pulled into a fire on number 7, or even to spend time at a networking event or something like that that probably ranks in the mid-90s.  The founders that are really successful are relentless about making sure they get to their top two or three priorities each day (as part of this, they figure out what the right priorities are), and ignoring other items.

*The founders are nice.  I'm sure this doesn't always apply, but the most successful founders I know are nicer than average.  They're tough, they're very competitive, and they are ruthless, but they are fundamentally nice people.

*They don't get excited about pretending to run a startup.  They care about being successful, not going through the motions to look successful.  They get no thrill from having a 'real' company; they don't spend a lot of time interviewing lawyers and accountants or going to network events or anything like that.  They want to win and don't care much about how they look doing so.

One reason that this is super important is that they are willing to work on things that seem trivial, like a website that lets you stay on an air mattress in someone's house.  Most of the best ideas seem like bad ideas when they start, and if you're more into appearance than substance, you won't want people laughing at you.  You are far better off starting a company that people laugh at but keeps growing relentlessly than a company with a beautiful office that seems serious but is always two quarters away from starting its growth ramp.

*They get stuff done. Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans; the best founders may be working on things that seem small but get them done extraordinarily quickly.  Every time you talk to them, they've gotten a few new things done.  Even if they're working on big projects, they get small chunks done incrementally and have demonstratable progress--they never disappear for a year and jump from nothing to a huge project being completed.  And they're reliable--if they tell you they'll do something, it happens.

*They move fast. They make quick decisions on everything.  They respond to emails quickly.  This is one of the most striking differences between great and mediocre founders.  Great founders are execution machines.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

-bash: make: command not found in Cygwin

This is because you do not have make installed, just run the Cygwin installer to update.
Choose Devel, and click install (Although it takes space, but save you the haste for going through what you exactly need to installed).

Monday, January 6, 2014

How to update MiKTeX 2.8 to 2.9 in WinEdt?

1. Install the Miktex 2.9 to C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9
2. Configure the MiKTeX in WinEdt by "Tex->Miktex-> Miktex options->roots"
Remove C:\CTex (interal one is in C:\CTeX\MiKTeX)
Add C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9
3. That's it, if not working, give me a comments.

Friday, January 3, 2014

How to downgrade from IE 11 to lower versions of IEs in Windows 7

(For readers who want to test for various browsers for knowing how the Web page appears in different IE version, strongly suggest you look at here.)

There are a variety of reasons where people wish to downgrade from the latest Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) in Windows 7, maybe to IE 10 or  IE 9. By just simply clicking on the installer of IE 10 or IE 9, you will get the following unintended message:



This is a step-by-step tutorial guide that help you achieve the task of installing a lower version of IE on Windows 7.

1. Go to Programs and Features, by searching it using the start button.



2. In the Program and Features windows, click on Turn on Windows Features on or off link (as shown in blue circle).


3.  A Windows Features windows will show, uncheck the Internet Explorer 11 (as circled).




4. You will get a message prompt as follows,  select Yes.



5. Select View installed update link (as circled)




6. Type in Internet Explorer in the search box, you should get the Internet Explorer 11 in the list


7. Right click the Internet Explorer 11, and click Uninstall

8. It will prompt you to restart the computer, choose Restart now.


9. After restarting, you can check your browser version, by click the About Internet Explorer in the internet explorer.




9. For mine, I see this:




9. If my aim is  IE 10, I have done. But say I wish to go for IE 9, repeat the same process from steps 1, 5, and 6, to come to the following windows, now we remove Windows Internet Explorer 10. (If you have problem finding Windows Internet Explorer 10 here, you should repeat the steps 2, 3 and 4 for IE 10).


10. That's it, after remove IE 10, you should be able to install IE 9 :)