127.0.0.1 of Kamlesh Rao

My Blog is Moved to New Domain - CeeKam.com

2010-03-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Visitors,

Please note that my Blog has been moved to a New Domain at - CeeKam.com.

Thanks,
Kamlesh

Google OS planned and Google Beta dropped

2009-07-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

After so many years of successfully running the Beta versions of various application, Google has removed the Beta tag. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release April 1, 2004 and the same beta release available to the general public on February 7, 2007.

In Indian context, we call it Beta Beta nahi raha!

Google took a step toward greater enterprise adoption of its hosted e-mail, document and collaboration services today by removing the "beta" tag from its Google Apps brand.

Also, Google is planning to launch its Operating System, called Chrome OS. As per official blog :

"The operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve."

Official Links:
- Google out of Beta
- Google OS announcement

Indian Railway Enquiry SMS 139

2009-06-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is proud to announce the launch of their latest initiative in Customer Satisfaction, "Railways on SMS". Now you have the power of RAIL ENQUIRY on SMS 139. You can avail the following services:

- Accomodation/Seat availability
SMS "Train [Train Number] [Date of Journey - DDMMYY] [Station From - STD Code] [Station To: STD Code] [Class] [Class Type]" to 139.
Example: Train 4257 160708 0542 011 3A G

- Fare enquiry
SMS "Fare [Train Number] [Date of Journey - DDMMYY] [Station From - STD Code] [Station To - STD Code] [Class] [Class Type]" to 139.
Example: Fare 4257 160708 0542 011 3A G

- Ticket Status / PNR enquiry
SMS "PNR [10 Digit PNR Number]" to 139.
Example: PNR 1234567890

- Current Train running position
SMS "Fare [Train Number] [Date of Journey - DDMMYY] [Station From - STD Code]" to 139.
Example: Train 2012 010509 011

The services is currently available on AirTel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, Loop(BPL), Tata and MTNL. This service will be launched soon on BSNL and Reliance network too. Premium Charges of Rs.3 per SMS is applicable.

Source: IRCTC website.

Vista Clock stopped!

2009-06-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening, my Vista clock on bottom taskbar (notification area) stopped ticking (at 5:07pm). When I clicked the time, the Date/Time window opened, where the time was still ticking correctly. After performing a logoff and login operation, this problem was resolved. I am not sure what went wrong, is this a bug Microsoft is aware of? I am using Vista Ultimate SP1 on x86 platform.

yUML - Create online UML diagrams in seconds

2009-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

yUML - This online website allows you to create online UML diagrams in seconds from inside your blog posts, articles and documents.

Check out the Samples here.

Tata introduces 'Nano' housing for Rs 3.9 lakh-Rs 6.7 lakh

2009-05-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

After its revolution on wheels, the Tatas are aiming at a Nano house, which will cost anywhere between Rs 3.9 lakh and Rs 6.7 lakh.

Tata Housing, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, has launched its low-cost housing initiative called the Shubh Griha project.

The first Shubh Griha township will be launched at Boisar in Mumbai. Tata Housing has tied up with SBI and HDFC to help potential buyers with finance options.

Announcing the launch of Shubh Grih’, Brotin Banerjee, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TATA Housing said, “This is in continuation of the group’s commitment to providing, quality, innovative products for the common man. We observed that since most of the people in the Low Income bracket live away from their families to earn a livelihood in the big cities, there is a large percentage of migrant population with people living in either rented or company provided accommodation".

Booking:

Applicants can purchase the Application form booklet at Rs. 200/- from SBI branches.

After purchase of the Application form booklet, bookings should be made in the next 20 days along with the initial booking amount of Rs. 10,000/- through bank pay order at selected branches of SBI bank across Mumbai.

The first list and the waiting list will be declared after 15 days of the final booking after a thorough scrutiny of the submitted Application form booklets. The allotted would be sent allotment letters from TATA Housing along with the payment schedule. Details of other requirements have been provided in the Application form booklet itself.

Types of houses:

Under the scheme three types of flats will be available. A one-bed room flat with a hall and kitchen in an area of 465 square feet. A one-room flat with a large kitchen in an area of 360 square feet. A one-room flat with a small kitchen in an area of 283 square feet.

Source: IBNLive

Windows 7 RC is available for download!

2009-05-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today the Windows 7 RC is now available for anyone interested in giving it a spin! Typically, a release candidate is the last development milestone before release to manufacturing (RTM), signifying that engineering and development have made significant advancements and that the code is entering the final phases of testing. Essentially, the Windows 7 RC is the result of a lot of the great feedback we received during the Windows 7 Beta. That’s why I’m so excited to use it and excited for YOU to use it!

Read on the complete post on Windows 7 Official Blog.

I have registered for this RC and yet to start the Download. Will keep this post updated as I progress...

Innovative idea of using Mobile Phones to find nearest toilet!

2009-05-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Buying movie tickets and paying power bills are among a string of increasingly popular uses for mobiles. Now, tech-savvy Japanese have found an unusual use for cell phones -- to locate the nearest public toilet.
Yes, thanks to a mobile phone software guiding users to the nearest lavatories, the trials as well as tribulations of searching for the nearest public loo have been eliminated in Japan, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily News.
The Check A Toilet programme, created by the software company Access Co, enables mobile phone users to search for maps highlighting the nearest public toilet to their location.
From train stations and beaches to department stores and parks, the software lists thousands of maps highlighting the location of public toilet, including details of facilities such as baby changing areas, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph quoted the leading Japanese daily as saying.
Users of the mobile lavatory locator are able to upload the free software from the Check A Toilet website whose toilet location database stretches across Japan, from Tokyo to the northern city of Sapporo, the report said.
The software reflects the continually growing importance of mobile phones in every day life in Japan, home to the largest mobile phone market in the world and where 50 million cell phones are sold every year.

Source: Hindu Dt. 04-May-2009

BSNL Launches "Trojan Horse" Schemes!!!

2009-05-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

BSNL Launches schemes for Landline, Broadband Users
The Bangalore Telecom District of the BSNL has launched six new schemes for its landline and broadband customers. Among the plans introduced is the Convenience 250 lan with Rs.250 fixed monthly charges and free usage limit of 1GB, the excess usage rate of 90 paise per MB has been reduced to 50 paise. Two other new plans offer EVDO data card and fixed monthly NIC (wireless internet card) at reduced tariff for existing combo orbroadband customers. Two other schemes offfer limited ofer free talktime to existing landline/broaband cusotmers on their existing/new local mobile connections.

Well, this was the News on printed edition of DNA Sunday Page 3. To verify these new schemes, I logged into BSNL Main Portal, but could not see an such new scheme. Immediately, my next step was to verify this news on BSNL Bangalore Portal. As the website was loading, my avast anti-virus came up with these Trojan Horse Alerts:

All these messages indicated me of JS:Redirector-H [Tri] Trojan Horse. As suggested by avast, I immediately clicked on Abort Connection option and choosed to Delete the temporary downloaded file.

I am not sure if this is a common problem for everyone, or there is something wrong only with my PC. Do leave me comments, if you find any Trojan Horse alert on BSNL Bangalore website.

Office 2007 SP2 and IE8

2009-04-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Today, I noticed that Microsoft is pushing the Office 2007 Service Pack 2 and Internet Explore 8 through its Window Updates. Overall, today my Updates size is 420 MB.

Office 2007 Service Pack2 can be downloaded for Offline installation from this link.

Ubuntu 9.04 releasing 23-Apr-2009

2009-04-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

The upcoming version of Ubuntu version 9.04 (code name - Jaunty Jackalope) is all set to release on 23-Apr-2009. This beta version can be downloaded from the official website. The last stable release of Ubuntu was version 8.10 released on 30-Oct-2008.

The Ubuntu (one of the best Linux distribution) project makes two releases per year, using the year and month of the release as the version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on October 20, 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month to that planned, the version number changes accordingly.

Official Home Page / Wiki

Access Filesystem using Javascript

2009-04-12T02:56:00.000-07:00

Using only native browser capabilities, it is impossible for a web application to access the user's hard drive. However, trephine allows users to opt-in and grant more privileges to scripts on a page. This article explains how to interrogate the client's filesystem using JavaScript and trephine. To see this in action, check out the file browser demo.

The above screenshot shows my filesystem browser in firefox 3.0.8.

ooVoo - Free Video Chat and Video Conferencing

2009-04-12T02:49:00.000-07:00

What is ooVoo?
ooVoo is FREE video calling. See up to six friends, family or colleagues at the same time – with video quality that’s like being face-to-face in the same room!

Who can you ooVoo?
Anyone! See old friends who have moved far away. Share your child’s birthday with grandparents who can’t be there. Say hi to family or friends across the country. Even run your weekly meeting with company staff in offices around the world.

Why ooVoo?
ooVoo can become a big part of how you communicate with others – you’ll see people you wouldn’t normally see in person, while saving valuable time and travel costs.
Now, your friends don’t even need to download ooVoo to see you on a video call.

Learn More / Download

Happy Birthday GMail - 5 years

2009-04-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

Worlds best Free Mail Service - GMail turns 5 years on this April 1st, 2009. Five years ago yesterday, Gmail starting giving people a gig. What started as an internal tool for Google employees is now used by tens of millions of people around the world in 52 languages. In honor of the occasion, you may have noticed a little cake on the Gmail homepage today.

Official Link

avast! is ready for 1 April; are you?

2009-03-28T02:35:00.001-07:00

April 1st is a date often targeted by the creators of malware and this year will be no exception. There are currently a lot of reports in the media about potential new virus threats and speculation about the potential impact of new viruses such as the Conficker worm. However, provided your computer’s operating system and your avast! antivirus are up to date, the risk is very small and there is no need to be unduly concerned.
To ensure you are protected against any potential new malware threats, before March 31st you should make sure that your antivirus program and virus definitions are completely up-to-date and that you have installed all available Windows security updates. We recommend checking that avast! is set to update itself and the virus database automatically – to check this, right click your avast! a-ball in the bottom right corner of your screen, select “Program settings” and then “Update (Basic)”. Here you should make sure that the virus database is set to “automatic”.
Also, whenever you switch on your computer, make sure that avast! is actually running. Some viruses are designed to specifically target antivirus programs and to turn them off, however avast! contains strong self-defense which is designed to prevent this. If avast! is running, you should see the normal blue a-ball in the bottom right corner of your screen. If it is switched off, it will contain a circle with a red line through it.
And finally, make sure that you have the latest Windows security updates. In particular, the Conficker worm takes advantage of a Windows vulnerability which Microsoft fixed in late 2008. Users of Windows Vista or XP (SP2 and higher) should have had this update installed automatically.

Source: avast! news

Heavy traffic for Tata Nano - The people's car & the world's cheapest car

2009-03-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

23-Mar-2009 will be considered as one of the big milestone in the history of India and Tata Motors, as it is launcing the world's cheapest car. The detailed specitifications of this car is available here. Booking amount for the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, can be done by just paying Rs 2,999 upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan. The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early July-2009. Applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India. State Bank of India has an exclusive tie up for providing finance for the Nano. The promise that has been made to sell the car at around Rs 1 lakh would be kept despite the fact that commodity prices had shot up, Tata said, adding that the fall in commodity prices now may provide some cushion. The first one-lakh customers will be selected by draw of lots from the bookings, he said, adding that those not allotted would have the option to retain their bookings.
Tata Motors, which is launching the ultra low-cost Nano car, plans to have a US model in the next three years. The United States has certain additional requirements that no other country needs and as result needs some redesign, Ratan Tata said at a news conference.
Nano, will be priced between Rs 1.34 lakh and Rs 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai), although the car's claim to fame was its Rs one lakh tag. To book the Nano, customers will have to shell out Rs 95,000 for the base model BS II and III, Rs 1.2 lakh for the mid-range model and Rs 1.4 lakh for the top end all across the country.
Below is the Bangalore pricing details from Tata Motors website:

Today's launch event shooted up the web-site hits on company's official website (http://www.tatanano.com/) which was developed within a short timeframe of 1.5 months. The entire portal has been built on open source technologies. The hasty software development without sufficient planning on Load Testing has caused the website to go down, with following error:

The prefix "nano-" derives from the Greek root 'nanos', meaning dwarf. "Nano" also means "small" in Gujarati, the native language of the Tata family, founders of the Tata Group.

Links:

Tata Nano Official Website

Tata Nano on Wiki

Earth Hour: March 28, 2009 at 8.30 pm

2009-03-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Switch off your lights. Save the planet!
Earth Hour is a global movement by World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about global warming and climate change. People from 900 cities in 80 countries, including many Indian cities, will be switching off their lights for one hour on March 28, 2009 at 8.30 pm.

You too can join this global movement and Vote Earth, by just switching off your inessential lights and appliances for one hour.

Earth Hour is a call to action for every individual, and every community - a call to stand up and take control of the future of our planet. Make your actions count!

Sign up now and support Earth!

Earth Hour 2009 Pictures from all around the world

Microsoft launches Internet Explore 8.0 Final Release

2009-03-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

The final build of Internet Explorer 8 has been announced by Microsoft, and is now available for various platforms including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Users who want to grab it straight away can do so from Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Home Page. Alternatively, Microsoft will push IE8 out via Windows Update first as an optional download, and then via Automatic Updates at a later date. Administrators who want to prevent users from getting IE8 from Microsoft's update channels will want to check out the IE8 blocker toolkit.

Official Website

Undo Send feature in GMail

2009-03-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

I recollect using this feature from Microsoft Outlook earlier. GMail has introduced the "Undo Send" feature recently. This feature comes to help for those people who click on Send button and then realize some mistake in their email text (like forgetting an attachment). This feature can't pull back an email that's already gone; it just holds your message for five seconds so you have a chance to hit the panic button. And don't worry – if you close Gmail or your browser crashes in those few seconds, GMail will still send your message.

More Info at: GMail Official Blog.

Yahoo! Briefcase will be closing on 30-Mar-2009

2009-03-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Yahoo! Briefcase service will be closing on March 30, 2009. You must download or delete your files by March 30, 2009. After this date, you will not be able to access your Yahoo! Briefcase account and your files will be deleted.

Why? Because, in a Web 2.0 world where Yahoo! Mail has unlimited storage and Flickr offers media sharing, users and services have outgrown what the Yahoo! Briefcase service can provide. As such, Yahoo! is closing Yahoo! Briefcase to focus our efforts elsewhere.

FAQ's on this available here.

BSNL Customer Care Initiatives

2009-03-15T10:47:00.001-07:00

Open House Sessions, Adalat, Help Line Enquiries, Call Centre and Other Important Helplines.

Indian Rupee could soon get a Unique Symbol

2009-03-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Major currencies of the world e.g. US Dollar, Pound Sterling, Yen and the Euro have an Identification symbol. The Government of India also proposes to have a symbol for the Indian rupee to be selected through public competition. Accordingly, all Resident Indians (both Professional artists and Non-professionals) are hereby invited to participate in a Competition for design of the ‘Symbol for Indian Rupee’.

Submission of Entries:
Interested persons may send their entries, along with a bank draft of Rs.500/- (Rupees five hundred only) in favour of the Pay & Accounts Officer, Department of Economic Affairs, New Delhi, drawn on a scheduled commercial bank/nationalised bank at New Delhi as registration fee, to the Under Secretary (Currency), Department of Economic Affairs, North Block, New Delhi – 110 001 to reach him latest by 1300 hours on 15th April 2009. Entries received after the stipulated time shall not be entertained and returned unopened. The Department shall not be responsible for delay by postal service s, courier agencies etc. The entries can also be deposited personally at the Information & Facilitation Counter of the Department, near gate No. 8, North Block, New Delhi. The entries should be sent in a properly sealed envelope labelled “Entry for Symbol for the Indian Rupee”. The entry should be accompanied by a brief explanation of the Design and how it best symbolizes the Indian Rupee and also the bio-data of the applicant with a passport size photograph affixed on the top right hand corner. The guidelines for preparing entries, other conditions and selection process are available on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

PHP Developers are highly satisfied!

2009-03-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

A new survey from Evans Data of over 500 developers, asked questions in 12 different categories to see which dynamic languages they like best. The study asked about Ruby, Python, Perl, Java script, Flex and VB script and the overall crown went to PHP. Ruby placed second followed by Python and then Perl. The 12 categories ranked by Evans data were: Ease of Use, Exception handling, Extensibility, Maintainability / Readability, Cross-platform portability, Community, Availability of tools, Quality of tools, Performance, Memory management, Client side scripting and Security.

The study concluded that PHP was the best all around scripting language for web applications with a large community and lots of readily available tools. Ruby was the easiest to use and thus the most accessible, but suffers from performance problems and a tiny community, while Python showed itself to be the best suited for creating large and complex applications.

Languages in the survey included: Actionscript, Flex, Java Script, Microsoft F#, Windows Powershell, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and VB Script.

SBI proposes hardware tokens for additional layer of security

2009-03-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

State Bank of India proposes to provide hardware tokens (see image) as an additional layer of security for Internet banking. A hardware token is a tamper proof device, similar to a USB. The token is assigned to a specific Internet banking user, and generates a unique one time authentication password to complete a transaction. They are conducing a survey on their Online Banking website, to check if the customer is interested to avail this additional security feature and also bear the one time cost of hardware token (Max Rs. 1000).

"Jai Ho" - A R Rahman

2009-02-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

The Indian movie "Slumdog Millionaire" won eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Award function in Los Angeles (22-Feb-2009). A R Rahman scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win two Oscars for the Best Original Score "Slumdog Millionaire" and its foot-tapping song `Jai Ho`. Rehman shares the best Song award with lyricist Gulzar. He has become the first Indian to win two Oscars.

Congrats to A R Rahman and the entire team of Slumdog Millionaire to make this a proud event for India. Jai Ho!

... More in tomorrows print edition of all Indian Newspapers :-)

Aero India 2009

2009-02-23T07:49:00.001-08:00

A close encounter with flights!

User Development Fee @ Bengaluru International Airport

2009-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

If you are traveling from Bangalore, please note that the Bengaluru International Airport is now charging a User Development Fee of Rs 260. This fee will be charged effective January 16, 2009 and be collected directly by the airport.
Who will be affected? All passengers travelling out of Bangalore from the Bengaluru International Airport will have to pay Rs 260. However, infants under 2 years are exempted.
Where to pay the UDF? You can pay the fee at the specially built counters just outside the terminal. You will then have to show the receipt before entering the terminal.
How can I pay? You can pay by cash, credit cards or debit (only Visa, MasterCard and American Express) at the UDF counters outside the terminal. If you are paying by cash, we would advise you to have the exact change ready.
Will it take time? While the airport has made provisions to provide enough counters, it may take up to 10 minutes during peak hours - from 6am to 10am and 5:30pm to 8:30pm. While at other times, it may take no more than 3 to 4 minutes.
But why is this extra amount being charged? The UDF of Rs 260 has been approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. This amount will be used for the development and maintenance of this state of the art airport and to provide other services and amenities.

For any other information, you can contact the Bengaluru International Airport at 080 - 66782251 or 666782255 or visit their website: http://www.bengaluruairport.com/.

Hello Kaun? Pehchaan Kaun!

2009-02-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Being the pioneers in original comedy concepts and after the grand success of "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge", Star One has come back with a new show "Hello Kaun Pehchaan Kaun". This show is the hunt for India’s best mimic. The show is looking for celebrity impersonators – mimics who can walk the walk and talk the talk of a celebrity. Contestants will be judged on the basis of Likeness Quotient:

How closely does the contestant resemble the celebrity?

Voice Similarity – does the contestant sound like the original?

Entertainment quotient – how entertaining is the act?

Star One is on the look out for celebrity impersonators who look, talk, walk and come across like the original celebrity or their on screen characters. (Mimics are those who can impersonate one or multiple characters but may notnecessarily look the part). The Categories of contestants are Actors, Singers and Public Figures. The best impersonator will be found through a rigorous search over 4 levels - prelims, quarter finals, semi finals and the grand finale. So sit back and be ready to face the best fakes all across the country only on Star One.

The show is hosted by none other than Pechaan Kaun (Naveen Prabhakar) and Aishwariya. The judges for this show are Chunky Panday and Suresh Menon. The contestant's profiles are available on the website too. Put a reminder and sit back n enjoy the show on every Saturday at 9pm on Star One channel. The show also repeats on Star TV channel.

Google India - Internet Bus Project

2009-02-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

As part of its initiatives to spread awareness about Internet, Google India announced the launch of mobile Internet bus to provide the experience of worldwide web to people across Tamil Nadu.

The bus project is based on four themes - information, communication, entertainment and education, and it would have useful and informative content in English and Tamil, Google India (Research and Development) Centre Head Prasad Ram told reporters in Chennai.

The bus is designed to make a simple introduction to the Internet for a new user. With a focus on the four themes of education, information, communication, and entertainment, the Internet Bus will be loaded with useful and informative content in English and Tamil. Google will showcase how the Internet can make everyday life simple through services like search, email, social networking, maps and others.

Links:

Google Internet Bus Project Official Site

Google Internet Bus Pictures

Google Earth reaches the Ocean and Mars!

2009-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

Google Earth new version 5.0 (beta) supports to view the Ocean. The Ocean floor and surface data is provided from Marine Experts. Starting from this version, Google have a much more detailed bathymetric map (the ocean floor), so you can actually drop below the surface and explore the nooks and crannies of the seafloor in 3D. While you're there you can explore thousands of data points including videos and images of ocean life, details on the best surf spots, logs of real ocean expeditions, and much more. You can fly under the surface of oceans and explore underwater terrain, such as the the Davidson Seamount. To view the surface of oceans, click View -> Water surface. To view relevant points of interest, in the Layers panel, check Ocean. You can mark locations under these water surfaces using placemarks. This version also provides the view of red planet - "Mars".

Links:

Google Earth Team Blog

Google Official Blog

Google Earth User Guide

Google Earth Viewing Sky

NEFT Transaction Fee from 01-Apr-2009

2009-01-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

Have you used NEFT online? While RBI has waived the processing charges till March 31, 2009. With a view to rationalize the service charges levied by banks for offering various electronic products, a broad framework has been mandated as under: –

a) Inward transactions – Free, no charge to be levied
b) Outward transactions –
Upto Rs. 1 lakh - not exceeding Rs.5 per transaction.
Rs. 1 lakh and above – not exceeding Rs. 25 per transaction.

National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system is a nation wide funds transfer system in India, to facilitate transfer of funds from any bank branch to any other bank branch.

Source: NEFT FAQ Page on RBI Website

Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

Wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2009 :-)

What an Idea!

2008-12-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hi I am Abhishek Bachchan. Your current service provider "Spice Telecom" will soon become "IDEA".

This message is being played when we call Spice Customer Care. IDEA is taking over Spice Telecom. This may be a good news to existing Spice Customers. As per customer support, there will be no changes in Plan Rates for existing customers. IDEA network will provide more stable connection for all its customers. This deal has been in news since Jun 2008.

Did you know, we have a 'Right to not vote'?

2008-12-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

AS PER the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1969 Act, in Section 49-O that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked, and convey to the presiding election officer that he/she doesn’t want to vote for anyone! Yes, such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. It is called "49-O".

49-O: The voter (or elector) deciding not to vote:

If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.

If you think none of the candidates at the ward / constituency are able enough to lead the community, you can always opt not to vote, but if you will use this right of yours you may start a new things in our electoral process, which will further strengthen our democracy.

It is useful in the following way:

In a ward or constituency, if a candidate wins, say by ’x’ votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than x, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled.

Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people have already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system. It is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.

Please spread the word about this and make our fellow countrymen aware of this right. No political party (or conventional media) would campaign for it. It’s yours and my duty. So, let’s go ahead from today!

Mouse turns 40 years

2008-12-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

The well-known computer mouse will complete its 40 years of journey on this 9th of Dec-2008. The first known publication of the term "mouse" as a pointing device is in Bill English's 1965 publication "Computer-Aided Display Control".

On December 9, 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart and the group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the online system, NLS, they had been working on since 1962. The public presentation was a session in the of the Fall Joint Computer Conference held at the Convention Center in San Francisco, and it was attended by about 1,000 computer professionals. This was the public debut of the computer mouse. But the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface.

Since the age of Windows operating system (and also Mac OS), the mouse has become part of computer. The technology era is further making developments with Touch Screen technologies, which may turn the mouse into a history!

Picture on top: The first computer mouse, held by inventor Douglas Engelbart, showing the wheels that make contact with the working surface.

Picture on bottom: Current computer mouse (my brand continues to be Logitech!)

Links:

- BBC News - Logitech says its factory in Suzhou, in western China, has produced the firm's billionth computer mouse.

- The First Mouse Demo.

Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device

2008-11-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

While trying to safely remove USB Mass Storage Device, I am getting following error message in Vista Ultimate:

Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device
Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because it is in use. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device, and then try again later.

Screenshot of same error:

I closed all Open programs, but the error still exists! How do I identify which process is using the USB drive?

Hope I get a solution soon. Keep watching this space....

If you are aware of this problem and solution, then please leave a comment for me here.

BSNHell hit me again!

2008-10-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

Yes!!! my BSNL Broadband and Phone was not functioning for 9 days. This became a big project for me.

5 days - followup on phone - None of the BSNL team was able to answer my phone.

2 days - Physical followup - Visit BSNL Office and sit on the head of the concern person. Even reach out the Area Manager to escalate the problem

2 days - Actual time to find the problem and provide me the fix.

There was a problem in cable from the Pole to my House, which was fixed today. Hats off to the BSNHell Customer Support. Hoping to get a Rebate of 9 days in my next bill.

Meanwhile, during the BSNHell period, I tried something new. My spice mobile phone provided me Internet Access through GPRS for Rs.24/day. More experiences on my GPRS internet access in my next post...

Wishing all of you a Belated Happy Diwali 2008 :-)

GTalk - Unable to Send Files

2008-10-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Recently, while trying to Send Files using GTalk, I received the following Error Message: "You cannot send files because User Name is using chat in Gmail or is using another chat program".

Below screenshot is after fixing the Send Files problem with Sanal Kumar. You can make out the same using the disabled color Send Files button in the fore-ground window.

Google search revealed similar problems being reported, but without any results. Some of the links, directed to the Official Google Help which mentioned that "Voice calls and file transfers are only available between users signed in to the Google Talk client."

In my case, what surpised is that I was not able to sent files to my friend Sanal, whereas he was able to send the files to me without any problem. He hinted me that he was using the chat earlier from Gmail browser and later he switched on GTalk client. This hinted us to try relogging into GTalk. Sanal closed GMail chat and also GTalk client and relogged-in to GTalk client. We tried the Send Files, but there was no success. We even suspected that this might be some issue with Firewall, but there was no such information on Google Help website.

Now, the only last option was for me to close GTalk and restart. Surprising, this helped resolving the problem! Isn't it really strange that even though I didn't use Gmail chat, but my initial chat session with Sanal was created using his GMail chat. Hence, I had to restart my GTalk client once again!!! Hope someone from GTalk team would see this post and write some justification comments.

Big Bazaar Store Locations

2008-10-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I was trying to search for Location of Big Bazaar Stores in India, but could not find straight forward website which had official list of all stores. After sometime, I realized that I forgot to see the Store Locator link on the Pantaloon Website.

If you are looking for the store address, please visit http://www.pantaloon.com/ and click on the "Find a Store" link on the top right hand side of the website. Here, you can choose the store as "Big Bazaar" and then select the City you are looking for. Hope this helps internet users to locate the store easily.

The direct URL of Store Locator is : http://www.pantaloon.com/storelocator-all.asp

Wishin you all a Happy Shopping! :-)

AirTel DTH Website

2008-10-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to AirTel DTH website for now. You can check the Packages here. This website is still under beta and you may expect some errors on it. This site may open officially on 09-Oct-2008. To simplify, AirTel may link it with http://www.airteldth.in/. Lets wait for the surprise!

Update on 11-Oct-2008: Here's the official website - http://airtel.in/digitaltv

Microsoft Product Lifecycle

2008-10-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

When is the support for Visual Basic 6.0 ending? Till when Windows XP Service Pack 2 will be supported by Microsoft? When is Internet Explorer 6.0 era ending? Do you have such questions on any Microsoft Product. Then, the below URL is the answer for all your questions.

Microsoft Product Lifecycle Search

You can search for any Microsoft Product support end date here. A very usefull link when arriving at the Product Versions for your customer. Just bookmark this for future reference.

Google Chrome caught as a Trojan Horse

2008-10-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today while navigating through my Windows Explorer folders, I navigated the folder containing the ChromeSetup.exe file. Suddenly my aVast anti-virus program detected it as a Trojan ( "Win32.Midgare" ). I immediately captured its screenshot and posting it here for future reference.

Although it has not created any harm to my PC, but still I am curious to know why aVast detected it as a Trojan! Have anyone found similar problem?

Bharti Airtel DTH services from 09-Oct-2008

2008-10-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of Airtel digital TV, its Direct To Home (DTH) Satellite TV service. The service will be available to customers through 21,000 retail points including Airtel Relationship Centres in 62 cities across the country starting October 9, 2008. At present there are five DTH players in the Indian market. The 5 existing players are Zee Dish TV, Tata Sky, DD Direct, Sun Direct DTH and Reliance Big TV.

The launch of Airtel digital TV is the culmination of our three screens strategy, which is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens. Airtel digital TV uses the latest MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology, which translates into exceptional picture clarity and consistent high quality audio for the customer. This latest technology also enables delivery of more complex interactive content and is High Definition ready. Also, Airtel digital TV uses 20% larger dish antenna that offers better performance during rain.

Besides the latest technology., Airtel digital TV brings many firsts to the DTH segment in India:
1) Universal remote for both Set Top box and TV that offers enhanced viewer convenience
2) Highest Set Top Box memory enabling more interactive applications
3) Exclusive content such as World space radio
4) Interactive applications such as iMatinee (Book cinema tickets), iTravel (Browsw and book travel packages), iShop (Shop on TV for your favourite brands), iCity (Get your city's information) and Widgets (Update yourself on latest stock news). 8 screen iNews, 2/4 screen iSports
5) Amazing games with high quality graphics, refreshed every six weeks
6) Audio gain control for uniform audio levels across all channels
7) Simple and intuitive search
8) On screen account meter
9) Last viewed channel in case of power disruption/switch off
10) Low battery indicator on the screen.
The customer care is available in 8 different languages and a team of 800 professionally trained service engineers.

Above Source: Economics Times

Currently, the market is dominated by Essel Group's Dish TV DTH service (about 4 million subscribers) followed by Tata Sky (2.7 million subscribers), Sun Direct (1 million subscribers) and Big TV ( half million subscribers). State-owned Prasar Bharati's DTH service DD Direct Plus is the only free-to-air service, where consumers do not pay any monthly subscription fees. According to sources, DD Direct Plus has a subscriber base of about 3-4 million subscribers, mostly in the remote corners of the country not connected by terrestrial or cable television.

Initially, the company had introduced three different packages for the North and Southern markets. For the Northern market, the package starts from Rs 2,499 and for the South, the package would start from Rs 1,499. Depending on the language and genre of channels, the monthly tariffs would range from Rs 125 to Rs 424, the company said.

I have been using Tata Sky since 1 year and so far happy with its Quality. I have seen Reliance Big TV at my neighbour's house, but its quality is not that superior as Tata Sky. Lets wait and watch AirTel's DTH. At the time of writing this Blog, I just saw its Advertisement in Television - which has major bollywood stars (Saif, Kareena, Madhavan, Vidhya Balan, A R Rehman, Deepika Padukone, etc...)

The Customer Care (1-800-102-8080) is refusing to give any additional information untill 09-Oct-2008. Checkout the TV Commercial on YouTube.

DVD HD Blueray resolutions and connectors

2008-09-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Found these tables on Internet and found it useful for everyone.

TV Resolutions:

Video Connectors:

BMTC Volvo - Rs.1 Ride in Bangalore.

2008-09-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

"Luxury ride on Volvo Bus for Rs.1 only", is the newest BMTC offer to Bangalore commuters for 4 days (11-Sep-2008 to 14-Sep-2008). Usually, the fare for a travel between Koramangala Water Tank to Electronics City is Rs.30. It costs BMTC Rs 52 per km to operate Volvo. Minimum ticket is Rs 10 (Refer - BMTC Volvo - Route Details and Fare Chart). On Thursday(11-Sep), 154 Volvos, with a seating capacity of 43 each, plied. BMTC’s chief traffic manager Dastagir Sharief said on the first day, 72,000 tickets were sold. The second day yielded sales of 97,000 tickets. The numbers are expected to be higher on Saturday(13-Sep) and Sunday(14-Sep).

BMTC’s offer of selling Volvo tickets at Rs. 1 (Rupee One only) for the next three days in a bid to encourage more passengers to take to the public transport system was a super hit with the people. BMTC hopes to lure more people into travelling by bus to ease traffic and tempt passengers with a luxury travel experience. But most said once the rates became normal, they will not be able to afford it and would be back to their two-wheelers.

This four-day initiative of the government has clearly created an opportunity for common man to take up public transport. I believe that this will help a great deal in improving traffic conditions of the city.

The Auto-rickshaw customers are reduced and it has This initiative has created problem to the income of Auto-rickshaw drivers, who are more customers.

The BMTC has no plans of extending the offer, which has pinched the organization by over Rs 5 lakh per day. Please note that this offer is not applicable on BMTC Volvo towards Bengaluru International Airport.

Thanks to the BMTC Volvo team to provide such promotional offer, which is one of its first kind in Bangalore.

Source of News/Pictures: Times of India

Ganesha Festival 2008 - Greetings

2008-09-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

Wishing all the readers of my blog - A Happy Gowri Ganesha Festival. Ganesha Chaturthi or Ganesha Festival is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees. It is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi in Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, Chavath in Konkani and as Chathaa in Nepal Bhasa. It is celebrated as it is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. (Wiki)

This year, the festival came on 03-Sep-2008 and it was a holiday for us in Bangalore.

Google releases its new browser - Chrome

2008-09-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Innovative Company never stops innovations. Google's newest innovation is its new product, which is none other than - Chrome. Chrome is a browser, ready to enter the war of existing war of Internet Explorer and FireFox browsers.

I installed Chrome at home and tried it to browse some sites. So far not found any major innovation in it. However, found few issues - which will may make users go crazy. I will soon be adding the screenshots.

1. Installation Experience:
The setup file is 475KB, but its not the complete executable. Once you run this, it will download the remaining files and install Chrome on your PC. On my 256kbps broadband, it took around 5 minutes to complete the installation. The installation didn't ask the Location of application. I could not find it in C:\Program Files directory. From the shortcut icon, I could locate its correct path under c:\Document and Settings of the logged-in user. Here's the screen shot:

What was more surprising that after couple of site visit, this folder size grew to 61MB.

2. Look & Feel
The browser is having very simple(compact) look, without any toolbars. The tabs are located on the top and its functions are similar to IE7/Firefox. Screen shot:

3. File Downloads
Tried to download a driver file from MSI website. The file download status is shown at bottom left side of browser. There is a arrow icon to open the menu, which I found it dangerous.

As soon as you click the menu, your mouse will be on the "Cancel" option of the menu.

There are more likely chances that you may unknowingly click the Cancel button. I was the victim of this, which made me start the download from beginning.

More reviews will be added later... Also, I plan to deploy IE8 Beta and check its new features too...

Google has hosted a c omic book explaining Google Chrome.

Links - Official Google Chrome news

CBI's move against corruption

2008-09-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s premier investigation agency, has started a nation-wide campaign to involve the people in its fight against corruption. The campaign is multi-folded. The agency is sending SMS messages inviting complaints and information from people about babus, who demand bribes or have huge assets. People can send information about them through letters, faxes, e-mails, SMS and phone calls. Besides they can post information on the CBI website or meet the officials in person. The scale of the campaign is huge. In Karnataka, the CBI has tied up with the BSNL and sent SMS to all its 18.5 lakh mobile subscribes in a single stroke.

The SMS:
“Please inform CBI-Bangalore about officials of government of India/PSUs demanding bribe or being in possession of huge assets at 080-2333 2726 or 94480 44355.’’

What an informant can do ?
Log on to www.cbi.nic.in and go to ‘contact us’ page Send an e-mail to the ID spacblr@cbi.gov.in, with the words ‘complaint-information’ in the subject line Send a fax to 080-23331026 Write to The SP, Anti-Corruption, CBI, Bellary Road, Ganganagar, Bangalore-32. You can also meet Komar at his office at the same address.

Source: Times of India, Front Page 03-Sep-2008

Not exercising - Whats your excuse?

2008-07-19T19:37:00.001-07:00

Are you prone to putting off exercise? BT tells you how to get started without those unnecessary delays that hamper progress

Your friends have hit the gym but there's something that's stopping you? If you are busy justifying your excuse by saying — everyone has reasons why they can't start, then there must be enough reason why you need to overcome your excuses and hit the treadmill instead. Understand that it's never too late! Here are some easy tips to overcome those exercise excuses:

NOT ENOUGH TIME:

Start with breaking your exercise regime into smaller segments. At home, just multitask. You can try and do crunches while watching television. If you have a long day at work then try to adjust your schedule — get up half an hour earlier to walk. Make it a non-negotiable routine and stick to it. Tell your friends not to plan any gettogethers during that hour.

SLOW AND STEADY:

Everyone gets excited about a workout, especially at the beginning. But remember to take it slow and steady. Start with a comfortable amount of activity and add a little more each day.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY:

Don't exercise to the point of exhaustion; you should always be able to carry on a conversation. If a body part aches, make sure you tell your instructor the next day itself. Keep going though. If you've got minor aches, take it easier the next day but don't stop altogether. Gentle movement helps sore muscles recover.

IT's NOT WORKING:

If your month-long regime has not shown any positive results, then perhaps you haven't found the right kind of exercise yet. Focus on adding more lifestyle exercise to your day.

RECORD IT:

Use your diary to record your thoughts and feelings around exercise—they can help you find a way around your exercise demons. So, what's stopping you? Get going.

Source: Times of India (Bangalore Times Supplement) 19-Jul-2008

Gmail Labs - Latest Experience by Google

2008-06-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Google is inviting Gmail users to participate in the testing of new features for the free messaging service. The idea behind Labs is that any engineer can go to lunch, come up with a cool idea, code it up, and ship it as a Labs feature. To tens of millions of users. No design reviews, no product analysis, and to be honest, not that much testing. Some of the Labs features will occasionally break. The 13 features include: Quick Links, Signature tweaks, Superstars, Pictures in Gchat, Hide unread count, Custom keyboard shortcuts, Mouse gestures, Random signatures, Custom date format, Muzzle, Snake game, Email addict and Fixed-width fonts. Gmail Labs was created out of the desire to get more features to users faster. Google did something similar last October when it launched Google Enterprise Labs to hasten the availability of search innovations for Google's business customers. Labs is now out to all English users (US and UK), and administrators using Google Apps can choose to enable Labs by checking the "Turn on new features" box in Domain Settings.
Links:
About Gmail Labs
Gmail Official Blog

Browsers - NextGen

2008-05-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

There has been high competition with Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 (for Web Developers and Designers) is available to download on Microsoft Website. At the same time, Firefox has come up with Firefox 3 (Release Candidate) on 16-May-2008.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is a developer preview for web designers and developers to help prepare their websites for the launch of Internet Explorer 8. Some of the new features designed for developers include a developer toolbar and improved interoperability and compatibility. Internet Explorer 8 is designed to work in standard mode out of this box. However, Microsoft provides a way for users to browse the web in a way similar to Internet Explorer 7 by using the emulate Internet Explorer 7 button on the chrome.

Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 33 months. Building on the previous release, Gecko 1.9 has more than 14,000 updates including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 has been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers. Complete list of features are documented in the Release Notes.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)

2008-05-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is now available for download and install via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center. Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released updates for the operating system, in addition to a small number of new updates. Windows XP SP3 will not significantly change the Windows XP experience.
Installation media and documentation on disc for Windows XP SP3 may sometimes refer to Windows XP SP2. Windows XP SP2 installation guide instructions apply to Windows XP SP3.
Windows XP SP3 is available for both Technet and Non-Technet subscribers. For more details, click here.

Apple iPhone India launch likely in Sep 2008

2008-04-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

Indians will no longer need to illegally buy, unlock and then use the most-desired item on gadget lovers' lists -- the Apple iPhone. Its much-awaited and delayed India launch is expected with telecom operator Vodafone in the first week of September.
The Cupertino, California-based company, according to Apple retail sources, said initially the 8 GB version of the much-hyped touchscreen device -- which combines Wi-Fi capabilities with a powerful email client, TV feeds, online music store and map-based location guide -- will be launched at a price ranging between Rs 27,200 and Rs 28,000.
Based on buyer response, the launch of the 16 GB version will be staggered to the middle of 2009.
Apple sources in Singapore, when contacted last month, had maintained that the India launch would happen in 2008, but were tight-lipped on the exact date.
Apple reportedly claims to have shipped four million iPhones this January since its US launch on June 29 last year, and its chief Steve Jobs has targeted sales of 10 million units by December 2008.
The tie-up is an exclusive arrangement with AT&T. Initial sales targets for the iPhone in India or unit numbers at the time of launch are as yet unavailable, with Apple wary of grey market sales in India.
Complete News Link at Rediff Business News

Microsoft Press Free eBook Offers

2008-03-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Microsoft eLearning is providing following free eBooks on their website. For those who are eagar to learn the new technologies using eBooks, go and grab them!

Introducing Microsoft LINQ by Paolo Pialorsi and Marco Russo / ISBN: 9780735623910
Introducing Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX by Dino Esposito / ISBN: 9780735624139
Introducing Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 by Laurence Moroney / ISBN: 9780735625396
Download link for above 3 eBooks.

Introducing Windows Server 2008 by Mitch Tulloch with the Microsoft Windows Server Team / ISBN: 9780735624214
Microsoft Windows PowerShell Step by Step by Ed Wilson / ISBN: 9780735623958
Register and Download link for above 2 eBooks and goto the "Special Offers" section.

BEWARE! - Worm in Orkut Scrap

2008-03-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I received some common scarps from my friends on Orkut. I suspected a worm and carefully read its messages and acted upon. The scrap message says:

The click here link takes to the profile of a female - [BANI :) => I AM "MTV ROADIES" GIRL ]. And the About me section contains the following information:

And now comes the tricky part - this message shows a trick to open anyone's locked photo album and instructs the user to copy/paste a javascript line of code. If anyone tries these steps, then this javascript sends similar scrap to his/her friends list. This way, the worm keeps spreading from one Orkut user to another. The javascript code [orkut0.js] hosted on a public site, which can become a threat to Orkut community. A quick code review of this JS file, revealed the following:

1) It makes use of XMLHTTP calls and the javascript code contains some text about YoutTube and SQL Injection related stuff.

2) Finally, it internally calls the loadFriends() javascript function, which starts its work.

3) loadFriends() function composes a new scrap message.

4) and runs the SendScrapToAll() function, which sends the same message again to other Orkut friends.

As this javascript runs on the same browser instance, it smartly makes use of the User Session and does not require any additional authentication.

With this post of mine, I would urge all the Internet users to be alert w.r.t communities like Orkut and other spoof mails which provides you a link to click.

Microsoft bags Business Intelligence top ranking from Gartner

2008-02-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

Business Objects, Cognos, and Microsoft were placed among the leaders in Gartner's just-released Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms, 2008. But the research firm placed Microsoft above the other two in its ability to execute, including the competitiveness and success of its BI goods and services, its viability and investment in BI, and the execution of its sales and pricing. In last year's BI platform report, Gartner put Microsoft in the challenger quadrant.

Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206104502&subSection=News

Blu-Ray to replace HD-DVD

2008-02-21T09:16:00.000-08:00

Toshiba has made it official by announcing that they will be discontinuing their HD DVD business. With Warner’s recent departure from HD DVD as the first strong blow to the format in January, followed by a quick jab from Best Buy early last week and a one-two combination by Netflix and Wal-Mart later that week, Toshiba has conceded that HD DVD is not going to prevail.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

Internet Party Video with Google, MySpace, FaceBook, eBay, Amazon and more...

2008-02-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

Check this interesting piece of video starring all the websites... The characters speak about their websites.

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

Microsoft bid for Yahoo! for $44.6 billion

2008-02-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

If this bid becomes success, then it can become one of the largest technology merger and this can become a big threat to Google.

Yahoo Inc, on Friday acknowledged the receipt of an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Microsoft Corp. and said its board plans to 'carefully and promptly' evaluate the offer.

Microsoft's proposal would allow Yahoo shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of Microsoft common shares, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock.

Microsoft and Yahoo are estimated to have about 10,000 employees in India, collectively. With Microsoft today making a 44.6 billion dollar takeover bid for acquiring worldwide operations of Yahoo, it could not be immediately ascertained, what would be the impact of such a deal on India operations of the two companies, including on the job front.

Brahmin's Coffee Bar - Best Idly & Chutney in Bangalore

2008-02-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

Brahmin's Coffee bar is THE place to go for the Best Idly's & Chutney. They make very delicious green chutney, which goes well with both idly and khara bhaat.

If you are in Bangalore and like to explore for good eat-outs, then please visit this small restaurant, which is open from 6am to 12pm and 3pm to 7pm (Sunday Holiday).

There are very few limited item's available, but they maintain the same good taste & quality.

Idly - Rs.10

Vada - Rs.9

Kesri Bhaat - Rs.9

Khara Bhaat - Rs.9

Tea/Coffee/Milk - Rs.7

You can refill the green chutney multiple times. This place is located near to Bull Temple Road (less than 1 KM from Ramkrishna Ashram). While coming from Bull Temple, take the right turn at Shanti Sagar junction. Click here for the map. Let me warn the Saambaar fans that you don't get any Saambaar at this place. So you only need to Go for Green chutney!

Last Blog of 2007

2007-12-31T09:59:00.000-08:00

Its 11:30pm in India and we are hardly 30 minutes away from 2008. When I look behind today, I can see that the year 2007 passed away so fast.

2007 was called as Year of Broadband. The number of broadband users increased massively and the world of Dial-up Internet is almost dead in Internet. Thanks to the various ISPs including BSNL, AirTel, Tata. Apart from Broadband Internet, this year also saw a good progress in following area's:

1) Broadband
2) DTH (and... coming soon the IPTV)
3) Retail shops (RelianceFresh, Staples...)

I leave this post with some blank spaces to fill in later in 2008... :-) Hoping to blog more in 2008 and create more usefull posts to all my Internet friends.

Wishing you all a Happy & Prosperous New Year 2008.

World AIDS Day - 01-Dec-2007

2007-12-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38.6 million people living with HIV, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005, of which more than half a million (570,000) were children.

Wearing the red ribbon is a powerful symbol of your support for people living with HIV.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “LEADERSHIP”. This theme will continue to be promoted with the campaigning slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” To know more about the theme, click here.

The Yahoo! India Red Ribbon is a small effort to spread a message against AIDS. As a Yahoo! India user, all you need to do is type your name and message and be a part of the giant Yahoo! India Red Ribbon, which will be displayed at the Exhibition Grounds (Pragati Maidan, New Delhi) on December 1, World AIDS Day for everyone to see. Click here to visit the Yahoo! India Red Ribbon website.

AIDS Movies - Philadelphia, Phir Milenge, My Brother Nikhil - these are some of the movies that tackled the AIDS theme.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, or UNAIDS, is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV epidemic. UNAIDS' mission is to lead, strengthen and support an expanded response to HIV and AIDS that includes preventing transmission of HIV, providing care and support to those already living with the virus, reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV and alleviating the impact of the epidemic. Five major components make up the role of UNAIDS:

Leadership and advocacy for effective action on the epidemic

Strategic information and technical support to guide efforts against AIDS worldwide

Tracking, monitoring and evaluation of the epidemic and of responses to it

Civil society engagement and the development of strategic partnerships

Mobilization of resources to support an effective response

GMail introduces Group Chat and New Emoticons

2007-11-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

The new Gmail Seattle team is happy to announce two additions to Gmail's built-in chat capabilities: group chat and enhanced emoticons.

To start a group chat, click "Group chat" from the "Options" menu when chatting. Enter the names of the people you want to add, and, bingo, you're in your very own chat room. All the familiar features such as chat archiving and taking the chat off the record still work as well.

These features only work with the latest version of Gmail, which we are still rolling out to IE6, international and Google Apps users.

I would like to see the same features to be provided to GTalk users too in near future.

Official Link

BSNL - 100 mbps DataOne Broadband in next 2.5 years

2007-11-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

WOOOOOOW! Isn't that an amazing news. Yes, there is some fact in this story. The same was conveyed in Economic Times dt. 19-Nov-2007.

“BSNL is also working on a project to offer at least 100 mbps of broadband speed for all. Currently, it is about 2 mbps. This will be done in stages where in the first stage fibre lines to the nodes will be converted to fibre optics. In the second stage, the plan is to offer fibre to premises and this will allow 100 mbps. We hope to achieve this in the next two and half years.”

For complete news, please visit this link.

The question remains same:
1) Is this gonna really happen?
2) What will be the tarrif?
3) Will there be Unlimited Download plan with better speed (other than the current 256kbps)?
4) How frequently will BSNL upgrade their tariff? Its been more than 1 year, since I can see any change in the tariff. After the 2mbps plan, BSNL has still left the Unlimited Downloads plan to 256kbps. Will they atleast consider to increase the speed to 512kbps for Unlimited downloads?
5) The night time unlimited download plan (2am to 8am) still holds good for Night Watchmans. A common man can benefit night time unlimited downloads only by drinking lots of Tea during midnight!!!

Windows XP SP3 is on the way...

2007-11-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

Just days after Microsoft Corp. delivered a release candidate preview for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), it has quietly issued a similar milestone for Windows XP SP3 to about 15,000 testers, the company said today.
The service pack, the last major update to the six-year-old operating system, is slated for release sometime in the first half of 2008. Microsoft has not been more specific than that six-month stretch, and today even took the time to remind everyone that the half-year window is not a lock. "We are targeting [the first half of] 2008 for the release of XP SP3 RTM [release to manufacturing], though our timing will always be based on customer feedback as a first priority," a company spokeswoman said today.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is highly anticipated and according to testers from the Devil Mountain Software group, gives a 10% performance boost compared to computers running on Windows XP Service Pack 2. This is using the exact same computer configuration as well.
Windows XP Service Pack 3 is twice as fast as Windows Vista in the OfficeBench benchmark program. 15,000 testers have been given Windows XP SP3 Release Candiate. It will feature over 1,000 hot fixes and patches which have been put out over the past three years and at least four new features.

Windows XP debuted in October 2001 and was last updated as SP2 in August 2004.

Links - Windows Service Pack Road Map

Computer Power Supply - SMPS

2007-11-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday midnight, my computer UPS started beeping. I woke up and noticed that there was no power supply in my home and there was a burning smell coming from the back side of my PC. I realized that I used my PC to max extent (almost running 24hrs) and the SMPS (Computer Power Supply unit) is blown. My computer dealer confirmed that the SMPS needs to be replaced.

The next question was - "whats the best SMPS to be purchased for a heavy PC user like me?". While discussing with the dealer, I learnt that they supply the local made SMPS to all the PC's which usually costs Rs.500 to 700. These are not heavy duty ones and you would need a better one for heavy usage. I was recommended the Cooler Master Extreme Power Duo 600W SMPS which costed about Rs.4000 (including all taxes). This SMPS includes the power supply for SATA Hard disk/DVD drives. Check their SMPS products here.

Antec is another company which provides hi-end SMPS and cabinets. I heard about the model SP-450 through my neighbour.

In the shop, I saw a cool cabinet (left pic) of Antec which costs Rs.8000, which is transparent from one end. You can see all the PC internal parts from one side and USB/Multimedia connectors are available on top side.

Change your operator, not your mobile number

2007-11-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

In a major bonanza to over 37.5 million mobile customers, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced the introduction of “number portability” in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

Under this system, subscribers do not have to change their mobile phone number if they shift from one operator to another. This means that if you are unhappy with your service provider but have been unable to shift to another because it would mean changing your phone number, you will now be able to switch while retaining the same number.

The facility will be available to mobile customers by the fourth quarter of 2008.

Market surveys have shown that up to 50% of all mobile users in India are unhappy with their operator, and are willing to switch to another service provider if allowed to retain their number. Number portability has so far been introduced in Australia, Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, the UK, most of Europe and Pakistan, among other countries.

Complete News Links:
- Economic Times
- Times of India 13/Nov/2007

Happy Diwali 2007

2007-11-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

Wish you all a Happy Diwali 2007

Google Begins 'Gmail 2.0' Rollout

2007-11-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

The new look has been made available to about 1% of all Gmail users and is being rolled out to the rest on an ongoing basis. Google on Tuesday confirmed it is giving Gmail a new look. Two prominent blogs that cover Google -- Google Blogscoped and Google Operating System -- have posted screenshots of a new Gmail interface that has been made available to a limited number of users. They're calling it "Gmail 2.0," even if Google isn't.

-Complete Article

The story of a Donkey!

2007-10-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less

WinAmp 5.5 - 10th Anniversary Edition

2007-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today at 10:00 AM EST, Nullsoft and AOL released the latest version of Winamp. The timing of the 5.5 release was deliberately chosen (10/10, 10:00) to commemorate the software's tenth year as a leading media player.

Packed with new features, the latest edition of Winamp is available now. Download Winamp 5.5: The 10th Anniversary Edition and take the all new leading multimedia player for a ride.Here's a sampling of some of the great Winamp features:

A completely redesigned interface, including Album Art

Multiple device support, including Apple iPods

Access and Share your Music and Videos with Winamp Remote

Play and Playlist the Best Music on the Web with Media Monitor

Enjoy Dynamic Song Recommendations

Experience MP3 Surround Sound Support

Access to Thousands of Online Radio Stations, Videos and More!

50 Free MP3 Music downloads compliments of eMusic's 2-week Trial

Auto-Tagger provides automatic updates to file information

Control Winamp from your browser with a the Winamp Toolbar

WinAmp is one of the most popular and freely available MP3 player. I have been using WinAmp since the day I started listening to MP3 music since 1999. The MP3 file format has almost replaced the existing Audio Tapes/CD's. All the home audio-video gadgets now come with MP3 support. The Winamp music player was once a simple, compact application. Now it has grown into a full-featured media player with more features, configuration options and music acquisition methods than those offered by iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Sonu Nigam's mimicry - Too Good

2007-10-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

One of the best Sonu Nigam's mimicry, where he imitated all other singers:

Show: Johny Aaala Re on Zee TV

Happy Birthday to The Father of Nation

2007-10-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha—the resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known in India and across the world as Mahatma Gandhi and as Bapu. In India, he is officially accorded the honour of Father of the Nation and October 2nd, his birthday, is commemorated each year as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday. A picture of Gandhi'ji on the Indian Currency (1000 Rupees):

Gandhi's principles of life:

Truth
Nonviolence
Vegetarianism
Brahmacharya
Simplicity Faith

I salute this leader and we all miss him.

More Info at Wiki

Google's 9th Birthday

2007-09-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

Google turns 9th on 27-Sep-2007. Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.

Its strange that Google has not provided any official news link on its Birthday. The 9th birthday image put on Google.com also does not contain any links. Usually, the logo contains link to query for the event on web.

Links:

Google Official Web Search Help

Using GTalk as FM Radio

2007-09-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

You can listen FM is on your GTalk now ( Teen Taal 110... only hindi songs). For this you need to follow these steps:
1) add this id in ur GTalk: service@gtalk2voip.com
2) then add: 110@radio.gtalk2voip.com

After completion of these 2 steps, make a GTalk call to 110@radio.gtalk2voip.com, then you will be directly connected to teen taal FM radio station.

Emoticon (Smiley) turns 25

2007-09-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today signifies the birthdays of many celebrities, Jimmy Fallon, Joan Lunden, and Adam West to name a few, but today each of these stars will share the limelight of 19 September with :-) for its Silver Anniversary.

On this day, 25 years ago, a Carnegie Mellon Univesity computer science professor named Scott E. Fahlman posted a smiley face on an electronic message board, with the accompanying note: "I propose the following character sequence for joke markers."

Unknowingly, with a few simple keystrokes, Fahlman opened up a can of worms in the way we communicate. In 1982, when the posting was made, there was no such thing as e-mail or text messaging, now the primary forms of communication for many people.

A colon for the eyes, a hyphen for the nose and a right parenthesis for the smile; from these grinning beginnings, the emoticon has smiled its way into everyday communication.

Not just content to remain a frozen smirk, it has learned to wink ;-) and stick out its tongue :-p. Sometimes it gets sad :-( or confused :-S, and sometimes it's scared =:-0 but most of the time it's cheerful :-D.

As it grew older, it had its first kiss :-* and smoked its first cigarette :-Q and even grew its hair out &:-). It's shown its fashion sense, too, sporting sunglasses B-) and baseball caps d:-) and even the occasional bow tie :-)8. The emoticon has changed over the years; it's common to see an equal sign replace the semi-colon for the eyes, and much of the time we're too lazy to even give it a nose :).

But tonight, as it reaches the quarter century mark, it simply puts on a birthday hat <:-).

Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications

2007-09-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Microsoft Patterns & Practices has recently released a PDF on "Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications". This guide shows you an end-to-end approach for implementing performance testing. Whether you are new to performance testing, or looking for ways to improve your current performance testing approach, you will find insights that you can tailor for your specific scenarios.

Parts of this Guide includes:

Part 1, Introduction to Performance Testing

Part II, Exemplar Performance Testing Approaches

Part III, Identify the Test Environment

Part IV, Identify Performance Acceptance Criteria

Part V, Plan and Design Tests

Part VI, Execute Tests

Part VII, Analyze Results and Report

Part VIII, Performance Testing Techniques

Download the Guide from this link.

Orkut - now in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu!

2007-09-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

Recently Orkut changed its User Interface and introduced Indian language support. Viewing the orkut site in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil or Telugu (or any one of our other 12 languages) is easy.

Click the settings button under your profile photo (or click the blue settings link at the top of any page).

On the general tab, choose your preferred display language from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.

Click save changes.

Some of the translations are really funny... :-)

Click here for the Official News Link

ICICI Bank - Phishing Mail (BEWARE!!!)

2007-08-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today, I received a live phishing mail from an anonymous ICICI Bank sender into my Yahoo Mail Box. Here's the summary of its contents:

From: ICICI BANK" customercare@icicibank.com

Subject: Alert!!! Verify Your Internet Banking Account Immediately Otherwise Your Account Get Blocked!!!

The contents of the mail had information on "Security Updates on Online users", along with the phishing URL's seperate for Individual and Corporate Account holders. These URL's are replica of the actual ICICI online website. Below, is the screenshot of the mail.

And here's the website, when I visited using Internet Explorer 6.0:

This issue was well caught by Internet Explorer 7.0 - refer the screenshot of IE7.

IE7 helps in discovering such phishing, I would like to recommend you to upgrade to IE7 immediately.

Yahoo! Photos is closing in 30 days

2007-08-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

If you are using Yahoo! Photos service, then you better move/backup your photo collection before 20-Sep-2007, because Yahoo Photo service is closing soon. You will be given choice to move the photos to other free online services like flickr/photobucket or download them. Here's what the official website says:

http://photos.yahoo.com/

Relief for Tata Sky Customers :-)

2007-08-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Tata Sky customers didn't get Sun TV Channels so far. The case was being heard before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Tata Sky had taken Sun TV network to TDSAT for not providing access to its popular regional channels, though these were being provided to rival DTH company Dish TV. According to the DTH guidelines, broadcasters have to make their channels available to all DTH service providers without any discrimination.

After nearly a year of litigation in the Supreme Court and Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator TataSky and broadcaster Sun TV have settled their dispute on channel sharing and pricing.

Some of the major channels which will now be available on TataSky’s platform are Sun Tv, K Tv Sun Music, Sun News, Gemini, Teja, Gemini Music, Gemini News, Udaya Tv, Udaya News and Chutti TV.

Consumers (including me) are now waiting for Tata Sky to package the channel (not sure if it will be charged extra) and make them available on thier TV Sets.

60 Years of Independence to India

2007-08-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

Wishing all the readers of my blog - A Happy Independence Day 2007.

India's Independence Day (Hindi: स्वतंत्रता दिवस) is celebrated on August 15 to commemorate its independence from British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation on that day in 1947. The day is a national holiday in India. It is celebrated all over the country through flag-hoisting ceremony and distribution of sweets. The main celebration takes place in New Delhi, where the Prime Minister raises the national flag at the Red Fort and delivers a nationally televised speech from its ramparts. In his speech, he highlights the achievements of the government during the past year, raises important issues and gives a call for further development. The prime minister also pays tribute to leaders of the freedom struggle. More on Wiki.

Nokia BL-5C battery problem

2007-08-15T12:01:00.001-07:00

I recently read about this in Times Of India and found the same on Nokia BL-5C battery Product Advisory site. Please check this website to identify if your Nokia Phone battery is the victim of this!

After filling the necessary details, I found that my battery is affected due to this problem. :-(

As per the instructions on the same website, I filled my personal information and submitted the to Nokia Support. During these steps, I was acknowledged with the following message:

We will send you a replacement battery with instructions on how to return your old battery. To ensure proper disposal, all recipients of a replacement battery hereby agree to return the old battery in the envelope provided.

Hoping that I will get the right battery from Nokia.

Just a Note

2007-08-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

The most selfish 1-letter word is "I", Avoid it.
The most satisfying 2-letter word "WE", Use it.
The most poisonous 3-letter word "EGO", Kill it.
The most used 4-letter word "LOVE", Value it.
The most pleasing 5-letter word "SMILE", Keep it.
The fastest spreading 6-letter word "RUMOUR", Ignore it.
The hardest working 7-letter word "SUCCESS", Achieve it.
The most enviable 8-letter word "JEALOUSY", Distance it.
The most powerful 9-letter word "KNOWLEDGE", Acquire it.T
he most essential 10-letter word "CONFIDENCE", Trust It

Success Journey!

2007-08-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

The top ten ways to be Positive in the Workplace of Life:

There is a growing volume of research that shows’ staying positive is better for your health; you can cope better with stress. It’s better for relationships; you keep from judging people and getting the bad habit of gossiping. It takes much more energy to be negative, always worrying, thinking of the “ what if’s”, the “should’s”. Being positive, living in the present will lighten your life and the mood of others around you.

1. Attitude is everything. It is the lens that you look through to experience your reality. Take a look at your attitude. Are you negative? Do you color everything with fear or need? How will your life change if you change your attitude?
2. Treat people with kindness and respect. Everyone that you encounter should be valued, treated with courtesy. Acknowledge that they have feelings and their own perspective on life, they may be different than yours but they are also valid.
3. Avoid comparison- whether you are looking down at the people who have not mastered special strengths or up at people who may be more experienced or accomplished. Constantly comparing yourself keeps the focus on the other person instead of what you can do, want to do, and are good at doing. Look inside and improve from there.
4. Take responsibility for your work, actions, and life… Don’t pass the buck. Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility; acknowledge a mistake fix it and learn from it. Don’t beat yourself up about the mistake, or hang onto past mistakes. Resolve them, own them and move forward. Today.
5. That doesn’t work for me. Keep this in mind when someone offers a put down. When they cross your boundaries. Your worth comes from you; your being, your true self. They cannot change your intrinsic value unless you let them. Make it clear that what they are doing doesn’t work for you, keep your boundaries and move forward.
6. Respect other people’s time and boundaries. If you are having a bad day, feeling stuck, or you are just enjoying procrastinating. Make sure you don’t use that as an excuse to waste other people’s time or cross their boundaries. Time is the most valuable thing we have. If you feel like wasting your time that’s your decision but don’t waste other people’s time.
7. Make a “what I have accomplished list”. Too often people make huge to-do lists and then beat themselves up when they have only accomplished a few things on the list. Keep your master list of what you want to accomplish so you don’t forget things that are important to you, but keep a second list you update daily. Each day keep a specific list of all the things you did and how much time you spent on each thing. You’ll know where the day went, can feel good about what you did accomplish and see where you need to focus, to get what’s most important to you, done.
8. Take notice of the people around you; co-workers, customers, clients, vendors, and other people you come in contact with each day. Acknowledge what they are contributing and don’t take them for granted. Thank them for buying from you, for their help, their value to the relationship, and for a job well done.
9. Enjoy the little things that happen in your day. The compliment someone gave you on the insight you shared at the staff meeting. The big smile the customer gave you when they picked up their order. By recognizing your accomplishments even if they seem small or routine, you are acknowledging a job well done.
10. Coming from a positive attitude and perspective you will feel more in control. Consider each job and interaction as your best performance, rather than just running them together as part of your day. You will see the impact you have and the value you offer. People will be attracted to this. They will notice how well you do things and they will truly value you.

Success is a journey...not a destination !!! Success to you !!!

Microsoft 2008 Products are here...

2007-07-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

February 2008 is shaping up to be Microsoft's largest launch month - ever - with RTMs of Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008 all on tap.

Windows Server 2008 will make another history by producing Windows Server 2008, which will be the "Last 32-Bit Operating System". The Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 is already with a huge Tester's community. A similar change (16-bit to 32-bit OS) took place earlier when Microsoft released Windows 95 and slowly phased-out its 16-bit Windows 3.x.

This may be a big threat to Consumers (like me) who are already using Win XP/2003 64 bit and finding it difficult to get a 64-bit Windows Certified Drivers and Applications.

Visual Studio 2008 (formerly known as Visual Studio code name "Orcas") delivers on Microsoft's vision of enabling developers and development teams to rapidly create connected applications with compelling user experiences for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, mobile devices and the Web. Visit Visual Studio 2008 Home Page.

SQL Server 2008, the next release of Microsoft SQL Server, provides a comprehensive data platform that is more secure, reliable, manageable and scalable for your mission critical applications, while enabling developers to create new applications that can store and consume any type of data on any device, and enabling all your users to make informed decisions with relevant insights. Visit SQL 2008 Home Page.

Blackle - Black Google saves energy

2007-07-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

How is Blackle saving energy?

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.

Office Website: http://www.blackle.com/

More Details: http://www.blackle.com/about/

Hi Honey!

2007-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we had sweet time in our Apartment, because of Honey Bee-Hive. Once a year I find the Honey Bee constructing their nest in my apartment area. Usually they like the 3rd floor very much. They love the balcony area of some of the flats in 3rd floor. This time, we had tough time finding a person who can remove the hive. Finally we got hold of the person through a chain of contacts.

My aim was to shoot (smile pls) the Queen Bee, but I could not do so. The Queen Bee was captured in a container and it could not be opened due to security reasons :) Somehow, I managed to get these snaps for my post. Due to huge size, I have uploaded them here. I am posting the details of the person who is professional in removing the Honey and cleaning up the hive.

Name: Ashok (stays near Bannergatta)

Contact: 92427-71877

Yahoo Mailbox size goes Unlimited!

2007-06-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yipppieeeee! for those users who are fan of Yahoo Mail! Once upon a time, Yahoo was my primary mailbox. These days, I am using GMail more than Yahoo.

Yahoo has made a tempting offer for me to go back to my old primary mailbox. Although Yahoo launched this a month ago, I noticed this today in my mailbox. The RHS mail box usage showed the above animated GIF.

Now, AOL is the next in this initiative. They also started offering unlimited disk space.

A very good comparision chart of all Free Web Based Mail Providers can be found here.

Bangalore Midnight Marathon - 'First of its kind'

2007-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

What a wonderfull idea! The world's first Midnight Marathon will be held in Bangalore this year. This event will take place near WhiteField/ITPL area on Saturday 19-May-2007 Midnight. The event is expected to end on early hours of Sunday :) So get ready to leave out your sleep on this weekend.

Office Website of this Event for complete info/registeration details: http://www.coindia.com/

Spidy 3 releases Today

2007-05-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Finally, one of my most awaited Spiderman 3 movie releasing today in India and some other countries.

His Quality Policy remains same - "With great power comes great responsibility" :) But, this our Hero, Peter Parker, gets 3 new villains - New Goblin, Sandman and Venom.

This movie is already released in some parts of world a month back (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413300/releaseinfo). Hoping to get Movie Tickets to watch this movie soon.

Windows Live Hotmail Launched

2007-05-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

Recently Hotmail launched its New Windows Live Hotmail Interface to everyone. The same was being offerred to limited users for Beta testing.

When I logged into Hotmail, I was suprised to receive the above "Thanks" mail.

Unbelievable Internet Speed Record

2007-04-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

A group of researchers led by the University of Tokyo has broken Internet speed records - twice in two days.
Operators of the high-speed Internet2 network announced Tuesday that the researchers on Dec. 30 sent data at 7.67 gigabits per second, using standard communications protocols. The next day, using modified protocols, the team broke the record again by sending data over the same 20,000-mile path at 9.08 Gbps.
That likely represents the current network's final record because rules require a 10 percent improvement for recognition, a percentage that would bring the next record right at the Internet2's current theoretical limit of 10 Gbps.
However, the Internet2 consortium is planning to build a new network with a capacity of 100 Gbps. With the 10-fold increase, a high-quality version of the movie "The Matrix" could be sent in a few seconds rather than half a minute over the current Internet2 and two days over a typical home broadband line.
Researchers used the newer Internet addressing system, called IPv6, to break the records in December. Data started in Tokyo and went to Chicago, Amsterdam and Seattle before returning to Tokyo. The previous high of 6.96 Gbps was set in November 2005.
Speed records under the older addressing system, IPv4, are in a separate category and stand at 8.8 Gbps, set in February 2006.
The Internet2 is run by a consortium of more than 200 U.S. university. It is currently working to merge with another ultrahigh-speed, next-generation network, National LambdaRail.
The announcement of the new record was made at the Internet2 consortium's spring meeting, which ends Wednesday in Arlington, Va.

Source: MyWay.com

Speedup your Windows XP computer in Minutes!

2007-04-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Found this wonderfull article which contains the tips to speed up the Windows XP computer without upgrading your hardware. To summarize, the following are the points discussed in this site:

1. Disable extra startup programs
2. Disable Extra Services
3. Adjust Display Settings
4. Remove Widgets and Background
5. Folder Browsing
6. Indexing Service
7. Size of Page File
8. Enable Direct Memory Access (DMA)

For complete details, please visit: Mobile-Pedia.com

GMail Error Code 008 while attaching files (Solved for me)

2007-04-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

From past few days, whenever I used to attach images in GMail (using http://gmail.google.com/) and click on "Send" button, I used to get Error Code 008. Here's the screenshot of this error:

This error is popping up on my Windows XP 64 bit OS with IE 7 Browser. I even tried with FireFox 1.5.0.11, which takes very long time (almost in Hanging state) to attach a file of size 400kb.

There is a Help provided by GMail Help Center to resolve this error at this location. The solution which helped me to resolve this error is to use the GMail Secured URL - https://gmail.google.com/.

The HTTPS method helped me to solve my problem and hope the same helps others.

LPG Gas Cylinder's Expiry Date

2007-03-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

Do you know that the LPG cylinder's have expiry date? Here is how we can check the expiry of LPG cylinders:

On one of three side stems of the cylinder, the expiry date is coded alpha-numerically as follows:

A/B/C/D and two digit number.

Example: C06

The alphabets stand for quarters -
A for March (First Quarter),
B for June (Second Quarter),
C for September (Third Quarter),
D for December (Fourth Quarter).
The digits stand for the year till it is valid.

In the above example, C06 would mean September Quarter of 2006.

Puzzles on my SMS :-)

2007-03-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Its been while, since I did some New Posts in my blog. I have a very simple excuse to the whole world - "I was busy" :)

In this post, I will post some of the interesting Puzzles that I received as SMS. These are really a great timepass and learning... Here, the list goes...

1) I am a 10 letter word. My 1234 has 'power to rule'. You eat my 5678. My 89&10 means 'of a lady'. I can fly. What am I?

2)I am a word of 5 letters, people eat me. If you remove my 1st letter, I will be form of energy. If you remove my 1st 2 letters I will be needed for living. If u remove my 1st 3 letters I will be near u. If u remove my 1st 4 letters I will be a drink 4 u... Who am I?

3) I am 7 letters long - 1234567. My 123 is a vehicle. My 2345 was a pop group. My 456 is a piece of luggage. My 567 changes every year. What am I?

4) It's a 9 letter word. 123456789. If it fails u will die. If u have 234, u can 1234. 56 is a type of disease. 89 indicates exact location & time. Whats the answer?

5)I will give you 5 zeroes 0,0,0,0,0 Use any mathematical operation but the answer should be equal to 120. Whats the answer?

6) I am a 5 letter word. If my 1st letter is removed I am a country. If my 1st 2 letters r removed, I am the opposite of 5 letter word. Who am I?

7) I am a 7 letter word. It is above God, it is impossible to God. If you eat this, you will die. Who am I?

Thanks to the SMS Senders :)

Gmail doesn't recognize dots (.)

2007-03-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Do you know that in GMail, the First.Last@gmail.com and FirstLast@gmail.com both are same?

Yes, thats true. Gmail doesn't recognize dots (.) as characters within a username. This way, you can add and remove dots to your username for desired address variations. messages sent to your.username@gmail.com and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com are delivered to the same inbox, since the characters in the username are the same.

Keep in mind that hyphens (-) and underscores (_) can't be used in a Gmail address. Also, usernames are case insensitive, so it doesn't matter if you enter upper case or lower case letters.

I came to know about the above recently when I saw some mails in my Spam Folder, which didn't had the dot (.) in my eMail address.

This is what Google has to say about it.

BMTC Volvo introduces SMS service

2007-02-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

Technology has come right down to the streets with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) introducing SMS alert service on the exact location of its buses.

The service, appropriately called "Yelli Iddira," entails a message "Where are you," eliciting the answer in the likes of "I am near Corporation bus stop now."
Initially, the service will be available on two Volvo routes — V356C between Kempe Gowda Bus Station and Electronic City and V335E between KBS and Kadugudi via ITPL. To avail oneself of the facility, one has to send an SMS from the mobile phone in the following manner — YI {lt}Volvo Route Number{gt} {lt}U or D{gt} to 9945634666.
For instance, to know the location of Route No. V356E, send an SMS reading YI V356E U, where YI stands for Yelli Iddira? V356 stands for the Volvo route number and U stands for `up' direction. Buses heading out of the starting station are designated as `up' and in reverse direction as `down.'

The Hindu sent two SMS for the two services at 7 p.m. on Saturday to test the same. For V356C, the reply was "At Kempe Gowda Bus Stand, near Kempe Gowda Bus Stand" and for V335E, it was "At 1.07 km southwest of Ulsoor bus stand." The idea was conceptualised by Muralidhar Rao, co-chairman, BMTC Commuter Comfort Task Force and the service was designed by Sujit Kumar of CL InfoTech Pvt., Ltd., Bangalore, a BMTC release said. Apparently, the service is being offered with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) that are integrated through GPRS.

Service Provided by CL Infotech Pvt Ltd. For details on its services, please click here.

GMail - No more waiting for someone to invite!

2007-02-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

Yes! Its true, you no more require a GMail Invite to open Google Account. The Search Engine Leader - Google.com, officially opened its GMail to public for Free Online Accounts on Valentines day (14-Feb-2007). There's no reason you should struggle to reach the ones you love, and Gmail helps you communicate fast and easily. Gmail is available in over 40 interface languages.

Visit www.gmail.com, and click on the Sign-up link to create a New Google Account. Also checkout the Video at YouTube.

Source: Official Google Blog