Kim Khan's Weblog http://kimkhan.com/blog Kim Khan - Technology Enthusiast Tue, 15 May 2012 18:28:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Google+ android app doesn’t work with google apps. http://kimkhan.com/blog/google-android-app-doesnt-work-with-google-apps/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/google-android-app-doesnt-work-with-google-apps/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:46:07 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=70 With all the excitement I signed up with my google apps account to the disappointment that I can’t use it with my phone.

]]> With all the excitement I signed up with my google apps account to the disappointment that I can’t use it with my phone.

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/google-android-app-doesnt-work-with-google-apps/feed/ 1 How to buy a condo in private sale http://kimkhan.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-condo-in-private-sale/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-condo-in-private-sale/#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:59:08 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=64 I have recently been going through the purchase of a condo. I’ve been renting since….don’t know how long it’s been. So finally, there was a condo on sale in the  same building we’ve been living and it is the same exact layout, so me and my wife decided to go for it. But the problem [...]]]> I have recently been going through the purchase of a condo. I’ve been renting since….don’t know how long it’s been. So finally, there was a condo on sale in the  same building we’ve been living and it is the same exact layout, so me and my wife decided to go for it. But the problem is the seller wants to sell it privately. So we verbally agreed on a price and we have been going through the rest of the process. I would have to say that it is not difficult but it is not easy either. If you have a good seller then you are lucky, cause there are so many things that can go wrong. Just grab a OREA form 100 from the internet and read through the clauses. There are so many things that you need to be aware of or there are potential of being screwed. Anyway, I will try to list here all the steps I had gone through so far and what’s next and what problems I’ve ran into, etc. Please note that this is a condo sale and purchase in Toronto, so the forms and processes may not be same in other provinces of Canada or other countries.

  1. First step was to view the condo and meet with the seller(s). For me it was easy, cause I’ve been living in the same condo for last 5 years and it is exactly two floors above me with the exact same layout. So I know all the details inside.
  2. Then came the hard part – to agree on a price and closing date. But after several days of negotiation, we finally came to an agreement on the price and closing date – I agreed on a very short closing date – about 30 days. Most people ask for 60 days but it is up to the buyer and seller. For a condo, the process is simpler so a quick buy and sale may be ok.
  3. So now comes all the formalization: Basically the agreement was only for price and date but there are other things that needs to go into an official agreement to protect the buyer and as well as the seller. And some of these are of course negotiable. In short following are a list of items I wanted to address in the agreement:
    • Deposit and how to handle the deposit
    • Financing / Mortgage and if I have trouble getting a loan then what happens to the deposit and etc.
    • Certified inspection of the property
    • Review of the Status Certificate
    • Chattels and Fixtures
    • Keys and fobs
    • Tax
    • Depending on the property you may have more conditions
  4. The next step for me was to prepare the agreement and reviewing it with the seller and agreeing on the terms and conditions. At this stage I also started talking to a lawyer. There are many lawyers out there but you need to make sure you get a clear idea of how much you will be charged. Some offers free review of your documents and agreements. I ended up working with Allan at http://realestatelawyerintoronto.com/. I went with their $1250 package and decided to prepare everything by myself and have him review. He has been very helpful and response was prompt. He even made himself available on Saturdays. I obtained the forms from here: Purchase and Sale form  and here: QuickOffer Private Sale. Some OREA forms has restrictions on who can use the forms. Forms 2006 and older usually do not have the restrictions so I believe can be freely used for private sale but to be safe I recommend downloading the quickoffer private sale software – it’s free and it used microsoft word – so you can easily save the generated form, customize it and edit it. I have taken customized mine to match closely to the OREA form 100. I can send the form to you on request. Just contact me using the contact form and I will send it to you. So finally when we have something to work on, I sent it my lawyer for him to do a quick review.
  5. Then I met with the sellers. There were still some modifications and corrections done. We simply just initialed near the corrections. Corrections are acceptable if initialed by both parties. So at the end we initialed all the pages and accepted the offer. We made a mistake here and I will come back to that later.
  6. I then went to my bank and started fulfilling all the conditions. 1st  condition was to provide the agreed deposit in the form of a certified check or bank draft to the ‘Seller’s lawyer in trust’ within 24 hours of acceptance. As the OREA application says ‘Time is of the essence’ – it is in fact true. All conditions needs to be fulfilled within the time specified otherwise the agreement becomes null and void. If either party cannot fulfill the condition within the specified date then upon agreement it can be amended or the condition can be waived by the buyer and there are forms for these as well. Anyway, I then submitted my application for financing and moved on to fulfilling the next condition.
  7. One of the condition was to provide status certificate by the seller. This is very important when you are buying a condo. It lists everything related to the condominium corporation as well as the unit you are buying whether there are enough budget for repairs or if there are any lawsuits against the corporation or major repair order by the city. All these can affect you for example if there was some major structural problem and the city requires a major repair lets that would cost $2 million then all the owners will need to come up with that money and you just becoming an owner will be part of that. Or there could be other liens against the unit you are buying, etc. So this is very important. For me it took about 3 business days. Basically the seller paid $100 fee for the certificate and in about 3 days the management informed me that it was ready. In the condition, we agreed to give this 10 days and then my lawyer to review it within 5 days of receipt.
  8. The next condition was to arrange an inspection by a certified inspector. I contacted someone from craigslist and when the time came the inspector was a no show and after leaving several messages he didn’t even bother calling me back. I want to  warn you about finding people from craigslist but then again I found some great services as well – specially my lawyer – they are very professional, helpful and knowledgeable. Anyway, but the condition had to be fulfilled by the next day and the seller made a long trip to accommodate the inspection. I frantically searched for other inspectors and could not find one and finally decided to do it myself – hey I am an Electrical Engineer, so at least I can check that part ;-) .  So I did it myself, besides it was simpler as most of the things are covered by the building except anything that is internal. So I checked all plug points, electrical connections, looked at the circuit board panel and then checked all the plumbing to make sure there are no leaks or potential leaks in the near future – I will tell you it is probably much simpler then a house inspection so I would not recommend you do it yourself for houses because there are other things like furnaces, structural integrity and many other complex issues can be present in a house. Anyway, I save over $200 by doing the inspection myself.
  9. While doing all these I was getting close to the due date for arranging finances. The last day of fulfilling the finances, my loan was declined because CMHC is now much more picky on private sales because there maybe potential of illegal activities – I was not sure what type of illegal things can go on… anyway, basically they wanted us to sign the agreement in front of witnesses. We did not sign the agreement in front of any witness. That was a big mistake that I mentioned above. It is also important to safeguard you or the seller from future problems. Anyway, the bank wanted us to amend the agreement. But my lawyer suggested that we release the old agreement and do a completely new agreement that is because we have to amend the old agreement to allow 5 more days for the loan and then amend it for witness signature and it was getting too complex. So we urgently met up again with the sellers and redone the agreement. This time I asked my lawyer about when he can complete the status certificate review and when he can complete the title search and used those dates. Also, asked the loan officer by when he can approve the loan and used that date + 2 more extra days. Already 15 days gone and we have a closing date of 28th. So right now we are starting to feel the pressure.

Anyway, as of yesterday, I submitted the new agreement to my loan officer. I scanned and emailed it to him and he started reviewing the agreement. So keeping my fingers crossed this time. Will update it and continue to post the next steps.

Even though I am first time buyer I still recommend all the first time buyer’s to go through an agent as there could be so many unknowns and it is safer and an agent takes care of all these issues. I was looking into a house last year and looked at a few houses prior to this condo became available in private sale and was working with this agent who is a very nice and highly professional and extremely knowledgeable in real estate. we became good friends and he did not mind at all for me to go through this private sale. He even offered me to help. Anyway, if you are around Greater Toronto area, I can assure you that you will be happy working with him.

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-condo-in-private-sale/feed/ 1 Lost blogs recovery http://kimkhan.com/blog/hello-world/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/hello-world/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:08:57 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=1 Hello, my blogs got lost during a server switch made by the hosting provider. I have a copy of the wordpress database hopefully with all the past blog posts. I will try to restore the posts here soon.

]]> Hello, my blogs got lost during a server switch made by the hosting provider. I have a copy of the wordpress database hopefully with all the past blog posts. I will try to restore the posts here soon.

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/hello-world/feed/ 1 Finally an Open Source media codec for the world http://kimkhan.com/blog/finally-an-open-source-media-codec-for-the-world/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/finally-an-open-source-media-codec-for-the-world/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 04:09:35 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=35 You all probably are familiar with Vorbis (Ogg-vorbis) as an open source audio codec (an open source alternative to MP3). You also maybe aware of PNG – a famous image codec. But until now there was no video codec that was free and open. WebM is the new Media Codec that is packaged with the [...]]]> You all probably are familiar with Vorbis (Ogg-vorbis) as an open source audio codec (an open source alternative to MP3). You also maybe aware of PNG – a famous image codec. But until now there was no video codec that was free and open. WebM is the new Media Codec that is packaged with the VP8 Video and Vorbis Auido codecs together. This is a great news for everyone involved with the web as well as those of us who are involved in the entertainment industry (I work on 3D/4D special effects cinema systems and we have an extensive film and digital media library). I am sure this will open up doors for us as well not just the web community.

Here is a footage that used the WebM codec. To be able to view it, you need to have the Opera Lab’s webM version or Chrome’s latest build with WebM support and also need to join youtube’s HTML5 beta testing.

First go to: http:/www.youtube.com/html5 and toward the bottom join the testing.

Then download chrome or opera (http://labs.opera.com/downloads/)

Then click on this link for a webM encoded video recorded with Red Camera (http://www.red.com/cameras) and featured by Leonardo DiCaprio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLxQiI8c1Bs

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/finally-an-open-source-media-codec-for-the-world/feed/ 0 Google Wave is now open for everyone http://kimkhan.com/blog/google-wave-is-now-open-for-everyone/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/google-wave-is-now-open-for-everyone/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 03:09:58 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=38 Finally it is now open and do not require an invitation anymore…

]]> Finally it is now open and do not require an invitation anymore…

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/google-wave-is-now-open-for-everyone/feed/ 0 Autotune the News#9: Tun Tun Tun Tun Tun Tun Tun Tun http://kimkhan.com/blog/autotune-the-news9-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/autotune-the-news9-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:11:07 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=40 These guys are amazingly presenting news in tunes. Check out all their news tunes at

http://www.youtube.com/show/autotunethenews

Among all this one is my favorite.

]]> These guys are amazingly presenting news in tunes. Check out all their news tunes at

http://www.youtube.com/show/autotunethenews

Among all this one is my favorite.

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/autotune-the-news9-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun-tun/feed/ 0 MS Excel Row Banding/Shading http://kimkhan.com/blog/ms-excel-row-bandingshading/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/ms-excel-row-bandingshading/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:10:38 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=25 Introduction

If you have a large number of rows in a worksheet, especially if those rows span many columns, you may find it useful to color alternate rows or alternate groups of rows with another color. This creates a visual style similar to an accounting ledger or good old-fashioned computer green-bar paper. Excel has built-in [...]]]> Introduction

If you have a large number of rows in a worksheet, especially if those rows span many columns, you may find it useful to color alternate rows or alternate groups of rows with another color. This creates a visual style similar to an accounting ledger or good old-fashioned computer green-bar paper. Excel has built-in styles for this, and of course you can do it manually. However, if you sort the rows or you insert or delete rows, the color banding will get out of whack.

The solution to this problem is to use Conditional Formatting from the Format menu to apply a format to the cells. The formula used in the Conditional Formatting rule is based solely on the row number, so the formatting it applies will remain intact as you sort the rows or insert or delete rows.

First, select the rows that you want to format. Then, go to the Format menu and choose Conditional Formatting. In this dialog, change Cell Value Is to Formula Is. The formula to use depends on whether you want the color applied to the first and every other group of rows, or you want no color on the first group of row and color applied to the second and then every other group of rows. Each group of rows can contain 1 or more rows.

To apply the color on the first group and every other group, enter the following formula in the formula bar in the Conditional Formatting dialog.

=MOD(ROW()-Rw,N*2)+1<=N

where Rw is the row number of the first cell in the rows that are to be formatted, and N is the number of rows in each banded group. For example, if the first row is 12 and you want each band to contain 3 rows, you would use the formula:

=MOD(ROW()-12,3*2)+1<=3

Click the Format button and select the color or pattern that should be applied to the cells.

If you want the banding to appear only on rows that are not empty, you can use a formula like

=AND(MOD(ROW()-Rw,N*2)+1<=N,ROW($D5)<>”")
In this formula, change the reference to $D5 to the cell reference that is to be tested for data. You should fix the column specifier with the $ character, but do not fix the row number.

To apply the color starting in the second band of rows, use the following formula in the Conditional Formatting dialog:

=MOD(ROW()-Rw,N*2)+1>N

As before, Rw is the row number of the first row to be formatted and N is the number of rows in each band. For example, if the first row is 12 and the bands contain 3 rows, use the following formula:

=MOD(ROW()-12,3*2)+1>3

By using Conditional Formatting rather than directly styling a range, you can prevent the colors from getting out of order when you sort the range or insert or delete rows.

Credit: Please note that I copied the above content from a website into a word document without the source information and at the time of publishing I did not remember where I got this article from. If you happen to be the original author of the article please contact me and I will re-publish based on your authorization.

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/ms-excel-row-bandingshading/feed/ 0 Desktop Virtualization: The next big SMB move http://kimkhan.com/blog/desktop-virtualization-the-next-big-smb-move/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/desktop-virtualization-the-next-big-smb-move/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:12:48 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=23 I think, desktop virtualization technology has matured enough that it is now a great opportunity for small medium sized businesses to take advantage of great savings. I have played with the free open source VirtualBox by Sun Microsystems, showed a few colleagues of mine on how to take advantage of it – well here is [...]]]> I think, desktop virtualization technology has matured enough that it is now a great opportunity for small medium sized businesses to take advantage of great savings. I have played with the free open source VirtualBox by Sun Microsystems, showed a few colleagues of mine on how to take advantage of it – well here is a good story. A colleague of mine has an Old Palm PDA. He has been using the old software to save all his contact information. With a new desktop with a 64bit windows, he found out that his old Palm software does not run anymore. He approached me if I know of a way around. I showed him how he can install a windows 32bit on Virtualbox and then his old PDA software – he is now a happy camper. I also showed our IT Manager about this great product and a few months later I saw him showing this to our IT manager in our California office. Great to know how this is spreading.

But to actually reap even more benefits a hosted or streaming virtual desktop could be the way to go. I have Xenserver from Citrix installed onto a cheap dell server that I have been playing with for sometime now where I have several virtual servers running on the single dell server. (I am running a PBX, Couple of web servers with Drupal and Joomla, a few shopping carts, ERP on another virtual server and a Mysql server). But I did a bad investment on the Dell server because the AMD CPU that came with it is not optimized for virtualization. Or maybe it is time to spend some more money.

Anyway, to learn more about what you can do with Desktop Virtualization see these videos:

http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_1856588.asp

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/desktop-virtualization-the-next-big-smb-move/feed/ 0 Cloud Mails stays in the cloud creating dark clouds over cloudserver viability http://kimkhan.com/blog/cloud-mails-stays-in-the-cloud-creating-dark-clouds-over-cloudserver-viability/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/cloud-mails-stays-in-the-cloud-creating-dark-clouds-over-cloudserver-viability/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:14:25 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=43 kimkhan on November 11, 2009 – 01:14

Recenlty:

I have been trying to setup a customer support oriented website where I will have a contact form for general inquiry, a user signup page (I am using Drupal) and a [...]]]> Cloud Mails stays in the cloud creating dark clouds over cloudserver viability

published by kimkhan on November 11, 2009 – 01:14

Recenlty:

I have been trying to setup a customer support oriented website where I will have a contact form for general inquiry, a user signup page (I am using Drupal) and a help desk support application (OSTicket). Everything depends on my server being able to send out notifications anytime any of the above happens. I singed up with Rackspace and it has been an ongoing battle with them.

One technical support just pointed me to their knowledgebase on how to install postfix and mail server and closed the ticket without answering my questions on how to resolve the issue of the IP I am assigned is in Spamhaus’s PBL (Policy based blocking list) – The PBL is implemented by Rackspace itself. They supplied the list to spamhaus and according to spamhaus – Here is an extract from Spamhaus

“Outbound Email Policy of Rackspace US, Inc. for this IP range:

It is the policy of rackspace that unauthenticated email sent from this IP address should be sent out only via the designated outbound mail server allocated to rackspace customers. To find the hostname of the correct mail server to use, customers should consult the original signup documentation or contact rackspace Technical Support.”

I have made several requests on providing information on their outbound mail server. All I need is a single email address originating from my server notifying me and my users.

I am frustrated. I know ask myself and others what is the point of a cloud server hosting? What are we supposed to host on a cloud server? only wikis or 90’s era website? If the basic functions of a modern website are absent from cloud then I do not think that the cloud business model will succeed.

It appears that most cloud providers including amazon elastic cloud EC2 are doing the same – keeping the cloudmails within the cloud. Here is a link to another blog site where I actually posted the above comment already.

http://orensol.com/2009/10/29/the-paradox-of-the-mail-server-on-the-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-4702

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/cloud-mails-stays-in-the-cloud-creating-dark-clouds-over-cloudserver-viability/feed/ 0 Open Source Favorite Links http://kimkhan.com/blog/open-source-favorite-links/ http://kimkhan.com/blog/open-source-favorite-links/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:46:30 +0000 kimkhan http://kimkhan.com/blog/?p=32 I am running into open source stuff everyday and weeks down the road I am forgetting about a cool tool or software that I ran into. So I am thinking of creating this blog with links to all stuff related to open source. You are welcome to add your favorite links here. To start with [...]]]> I am running into open source stuff everyday and weeks down the road I am forgetting about a cool tool or software that I ran into. So I am thinking of creating this blog with links to all stuff related to open source. You are welcome to add your favorite links here. To start with yes of course my favorite linux distros:

Linux:
1. www.centos.org
2. www.ubuntu.org

Virtualization:
1. www.openvz.org
2. www.citrix.com/xenserver

Desktop virtualization:
1. www.virtualbox.org

Telephony:
1. www.asterisk.org
2. www.freepbx.org

CRM/ERP/ECM:
1. www.vtiger.org
2. xtuple.com
3. knowledgetree.com

CMS Systems:
1. www.drupal.org
2. www.joomla.org

Web and Mail:
1. www.apache.org
2. www.postfix.org
3. www.zimbra.com
3. www.dovecot.org
4. VSFtp
5. And many more in this category

Other Misc.

1. http://www.opensourcehelpdesklist.com/
2. www.dotproject.net
3. http://www.project.net/
4. www.aras.com <– used in major automotive and aerospace indsutry
5. www.tutos.org <– Team management used in a major truck mfg.

]]> http://kimkhan.com/blog/open-source-favorite-links/feed/ 0