Thursday, November 26, 2009

The supreme commander in the skies



The supreme commander in her Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jet. Her majesty, a 70 year old lady flying in the skies at 800mph, probably the oldest lady to do that.
Can just say... Am Proud to be an Indian !

Time to punish..........no more lineacy


Even after a year, Ajmal Kasab is still alive. He should have been punished by now. Still the government is waiting.
I'd just like to say that next year, on this very 26/11, Ajmal Amir Kasab should be handed over to the public so that he may be beaten down to death by those who lost their dear ones and got affected the most.

Playing with nature


Viewing a report on the restart of CERN's much hyped project on recreating the 'Big Bang', i wonder how much man can be ambitious. Its good to be ambitious, but if experimens like these go wrong,then it can be fatal for the whole mankind. Don't we already have millions of other problems like overpopulation,starvation and terrorism that we're wasting money on such issues. Its good that human's doing stem cell and cloning research,but recreating the big bang explosion and trying to risk the future of the planet isn't a very nice idea. I admit CERN - the organisation behing the Internet had this dynamic idea at the same time when they were developing the internet, but they should now see the current situation. No place on this planet is safe from terrorism, then how can they ensure that their research complex is safe from such attacks, that such attacks wouldn't disrupt the experiment and lead to fatal accidents. Aren't incidents like Chernobyl and Union Carbide Gas Tragedy(also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy) enough for men to learn this crucial message.

I hope things don't go worse for men, and the experiment CERN's conducting would have positive effects on mankind.

A memorial


A memorial for all those heroes who fought the terrorists and foiled their plans to create destruction, and got martyred. We're proud of you ! You command the highest respect in our lives.

A year later



26/11/09 was one of the worst days in human history, terrorists target economic capital of India, try to destroy world heritages, and create havoc. 200+ civillians,millions of dollars lost, and more damage saved at the cost of lives of the brave protectors(i.e the security forces).

And even after one year, we're still waiting for all the culprits to be caught. But still it seems to be a distant dream, courtesy Pakistan Government, who supports terrorists and shows a really bad example. This shows how low can countries,people stoop for their self-interests and ego-interests. The world should do something about it. It shows extreme pathetic human nature. What it seems to be, Mr President of pakistan(don't remember what his name is) should be sent to mental asylum for being treated(yes, he's a declared 'mentally unfit' human), which shows that Pakistan is ruled by mad men. And should we let these mad men allow people to create sheer havoc in out nation and enjoy their lives...... NO ! Its high time now. This is simply sick.

Let us unite against Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba,Al Qaeda, and all other bullshit lashkar and al's and sweep them off this planet, fortify their existance, and let this Earth be a great place to live,free from terror,chaos,sorrow and grief, free from illness,poverty,tensions.


But the big question still remains....
Whose gonna clean up this mess ??

Pick of Sites

Hey everyone
Here are my pick of sites for this time. I'm dead sure you'll certainly enjoy them.


deezer.com
A free and legal way to get your choice of music. Although no downloads available, but the best legal way to liste to music.


frengly.com
An amazig site where you can language and text from all major languages in the world to your desired language.

quakelive.com
A site where you can play the popular Quake games online. Just download a piece of program and play the game with millions of online players. You can train,learn, or play with those who're at your skill level(so that you don't end up getting fragged by some pro).

rottentomatoes.com
A site for all the hollywood movie lovers. Probably one of the oldest movie site, this sitre has an enormous collection of movie statistics,stories,castings,earnings, and much more. Also are reviews of others who've already seen the movie.

miniclip.com
One of those sites people used in my school days. This site allows you to play small flash games from every genre you'd like - from action,racing, adventure, to simple rpg's. Just needs the latest flash version on your computer to run. A perfect site for passing time.

sky-map.com
A site where you can explore the galaxy,view pictures and information about the constellations, and get in-depth knowledge. A wonderful site for all the astronomy lovers !

joyofbaking.com
If desserts are your thing, then do try visiting this site the next time you go online. This site gives you the 'to-the-point' recipie's for all the dessert's you've loved to eat, or look forward to.

freeplaymusic.com
A site where you can get music legally for your personal(and NOT professional) presentations. No registration is required, just find the track by name or genre, preview it, and download it in mp3 format.

cyberfraud.org.uk
Suspicious of being cheated online, or lost personal data due to some breach, then this is your site for help. You can read on ways to protect yourself from such, and experiences of others. The site also mentions the amendments done by the British government to curb this menace.



Hope you all like this selection of sites. Do feel free to pour in your comments or suggestions.

PH

Mobile Number Portability................Finally

So finally , after years of long wait, Mobile Number Portability(or MNP) knocks the door for Indian subscribers. Now i can get rid of network operator specific numbers, and stick on to my number whom i've been holding on since years. Now no more "number change" issues, no more people complaining that i've been changing numbers frequently. Once a consumer has been on a network for 90days, he's entitled to port his number at a meagre free of Rs38(Rs19 for the old network,Rs 19 for the new network). And it'll take four days to process each request.

Now thats bad news for companies counting on its numbers for subscriber database,gosh its difficult to be a Cellphone operator in India !

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Can we depend on Windows 7 ?

Its been two weeks since Microsoft officially launched its new offering Windows 7. Being in development since windows xp sp2 was launched, this windows seems to be hell better than vista. Vista being virus prone,difficult to use, not so simple to install, hardware hungry and probably "uneconomical", 7 seems good.
One of my pals whose had his hands on the official release said that it was way faster,better looking,and much much more efficient. And when it comes to design.....Mr Gates still faces the music, as yet again the design inspires from Mac OS 10(when will Ms give more original creations like XP). The multitouch support,being a 'waste' for home users,seems to be a business aimed feature, as large departmental stores,various public dealing companies can make good use of it(that is, if they're willing to pay the huge fees Ms is going to charge).

Lets hope MS scores good on 7.

Frustrated

Hey there everyone
I'm not being able to do well these days. My life ain't going too well, useless matters are probably turning me off lately. Being frustrated top the most,i've been lately cut-off with technology. My trysts with technologies have been on a full stop for a month now.
I'll try my best to start posting here, and getting things back on track.

Pray things go well from here

Signing off

PH

Friday, October 16, 2009

Facebook.....Phishedbook ??

With my experiences with Facebook Mobile, it seems to me that hackers are now targetting Facebook users by somehowmanaging to phish Facebook mobile. The advantage can be that mobile browsers aren't that smart, and so cannot warn phishing sites. Nor people consider to check the url as the url isn't very easily visible.
Already Facebook regular is not upto the mark these days. Its been giving a wierd "Enter password once again" box even after logging in for just sometime. Now why does Facebook require such checks..i wonder. But this is for sure that the next target for the hackers over the world is Facebook.

I pray it is not so. What do you think about it ?? Feel free to pour in !boo

Problems Using Facebook

Since a week now, i've been facing with severe problems regarding my phone. I've been noticing that whenever i try to log into my facebook, i subsequently have to type in my password over and over even if it is correct. And this is not it. Some spam also occupies my status.

On furthur investigation, i noticed that all this was happening from my mobile. This was quite shocking. When i inspected the phone, i found out that my access point HUTCH(which came as a factory setting of Nokia's firmware) was getting replicated even if i deleted it. On resetting the phone's factory settings, it didn't work at all. Still that continued to happen. Earlier this didn't had any problem.

What i understand is that there's some virus spreading from Facebook mobile,or it mioght have contracted from some other phone. The virus also seems to infect the computer, as whenever i connect the phone to my computer, and then i disconnect it, the phone still stays there in the removable devices option. Earlier it used to vanish just as io used to disconnect the phone.


What do you think,is it possible that there can be a virus for the both??

Gmail,Hotmail,Yahoo....all attacked !

On 7 Oct 2009, Hotmail came under severe attack. Passwords for thousands of hotmail users were leaked online, and speculatedly security for over 150,000 account were compromised. This actually turns out to be quite surprising. And not only Hotmail, passwords for Gmail,and Yahoo were also leaked out. It is speculated that these hacks were done using a DDoS attack on the servers.

I hope my account password isn't one of the !

Finally....

Finally got rid of a virus called sysdate.exe . This virus was a complete nuisance. It used to copy everywhere, and didn't used to come notice in avira's virus list. And many other anti-malware programs weren't able to delete it. So i decided to use my head. Just as it used to enter the computer, the virus used to execute itself, and make a folder called Recycled in the root directory, wth two subfolders, one containing the instructions and the other containing the virus itself.

So how do we get rid of it was my question. Fortunately Windows has a very powerful feature, which saves you from spending on antiviruses if you have technical knowhow. This 'virus killer ' feature is the "Task manager" !

Yes, you read it right - the task manager.

How ignorant we are that Microsoft has given us the biggest antivirus in itself,and we simply dont recognise it.
Here's how i got rid of this sinister virus

I started the task manager,terminated explorer tree, and then clicked file->run->open. Then i deleted this RECYCLED folder. Then i ran registry editor(Warning: Reckless use of the registry editor can destroy your Windows installation) by typing regedit. In the registry editor, i searched for the keyword sysdate, and deleted the entry which contained it. Bingo. There goes the virus.

So do you need an antivirus all the time to tackle viruses !! What do you think about it? Feel free to comment !

Useful Sites

www.pixlr.com
free online picture editing site made n flash,no registratons or setups required


whatdoestheinternetthink.net
whats the thought of the internet users over the world for the given keyword

twitgoo.com

To add pictures to your twitter. Use it on the go

calorieconnect.com
To find out how many calories do you gain on eating something specific. By regstering,the site also helps you to maintain the chart of your food and exercise, and help control your intake.


kissyoutube.com
A great site if you want to download the youtube videos n some desirable format.


thinkexist.com

A site for all your quote needs !


chordbook.com
create music note by note


futureme.org
Send E-mails at a future date with this wonderful site


Hope you people like the links. Comments are welcomed

Saturday, October 10, 2009

More posts ahead

Due to critical business in life,i wasnt able to post, but with huge news up ths week, i'll soon be back to posting. Till then,keep waiting

signing off in a haste

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

100Th Message

Whats the 100th message i recieve in my inbox.


Hello! Your latest Vodafone bill is of Rs 247.88 due on 29th September2009. Please make timely payment to avoid late payment charges. Please ignore if already paid


Uhh.... seems like a pretty bad day !!

Monday, September 7, 2009

How to stop Aircel from repeatedly disconnecting your Pocket Internet


How to stop aircel from repeatedly disconnecting your connection by service messages



3 Easy Steps to get rid of it

#1 - Go to Meggasing option on your phone menu
#2 - Go to message settings
#3 - Goto services message and turn them off



And your Aircel pocket Internet will work fine !

Nuisance

I recently gave my pendrive - something thats quite important to me , to one of my classmates, trusting that he'll act smart with it, as he is. And he turned out to be one ass at technology. He formatted the whole pen drive, and deleted all of the data i had in it. Now, i've lost all my passwords(that i had stored in the vault),all the documents that belonged to my dad and me,the mails that i had stored and most importantly, my genuine Office 03 key. Now i have no copies of it, and am literally stranded in the middle of the nowhere. And the worst part, the data recovery software shows no files.

People you have to face these days !

Pocket Internet.............can work

While using Aircel's Pocket Internet, i realised a point. While connecting it to my laptop and using it, the data speeds i get while keeping service messages on is 460.2kbps whereas keeping servie messages off gives me a speed of 115.2kbps. Now this seems to be quite decent enough for checking mails, updating computers, and downloading small files.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Zune HD - the detail oversight specifications



I finally caught the specification of the Zune HD - the newest entry into the segment by the giant Microsoft.


An overview of the Zune HD specs:
3.6 inchish OLED full touch screen.
NVIDIA Tegra powered.
4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 120GB versions.
HDMI Connection to stream straight to your TV.
HD Radio.
Web Browser.
WiFi compatible, with wireless marketplace.
Released, early fall.
International release of the Zune device itself.
Home AV packs, Car packs, Charge packs.


The estimated prices for some of them available for booking online are as follows

Zune HD 16 GB: $219.99
Zune HD 32 GB: $289.99


Also speculated are the following features. They are as follows
Note : These are unconfirmed rumors and their realisation depends on Microsoft's strategies

Camera
limited edition dock accessory in various colors.
3D Xbox Game Support
Windows Mobile 7 preview bits

Currently, it is available on sale at Amazon

And here's the specification i found out at TrustedReviews

52.7 x 102.1 x 8.9 mm and just 73g
3.3in OLED 480 x 272 pixel multi-touch display
Tegra chipset
720p output support at 30fps (WMV HD & H.264)
FM/HD Radio
WiFi (b/g) & wireless PC synchronisation
Mobile web browser
Audio codec support for WMA, WMA lossless, AAC and MP3
Video codec support for WMV, Mpeg4, H.264
HDMI output
Up to 33 hours continuous music playback
Up to 8.5 hours continuous video playback
Charge time three hours, two hours to 90 per cent capacity
16GB and 32GB versions (but expect a 64GB iPod touch in September)
Launch 15 September. 16GB $219.99, 32GB $289.99


Lets see what comes to be the exact information . For that, we'll have to wait till 15th September when Zune HD debuts in the market.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Using Bart PE live



Recently oput of the sheer irritation i was getting due to my laptop's hard drive management issues, i decided to create a legal Windows live cd using Bart PE. Here are the few screenshots of what it looked like when i was running it.


But still it felt like as if this disk was a ncie toy to play with, as most of the applications wont work in this.

A look at multitasking for humans


This is what it looks when i get stuck between changing tracks off my 8Gig playlist and writing on my lappy. Here's what the scene looks like


A complete chaos. Computers and computers everywhere.

Chinese foulplay.......... Boo china

Chinese authorities recently accepted that there was export of fake drugs from china,and the boxes were labeled "made in India" to disrepute India. This is a very very shrewded,inhuman and cheap act.
Boo China.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Microsoft releases Zune HD

Microsoft finally unveiled the new generation of its media players - the Zune HD. This player has a 3.3 inch touch responsive screen which i suppose also has accelerometer. This player comes as a competition to the market leader the Apple Ipod touch.
Lets hope this one brings in the good times for bill.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

India's got talent,some awsome talent

If you ever feel like watching ANY reality show,then missing today's episode of 'India's Got Talent' would be a sin,its a religious duty to watch it.
And the best act - the one performed by a group known as Prince Dance Group. They just battered any act you might just compare with globally. They're probably the global best !
I'll be waiting for this performance to be available online !

A funny coincidence

Hey.
While on my way to a friend's place,i found a small hotel sortof inn with a very interesting name
caesar's palace


Don't believe me,check out this site for yourself
www.caesarspalace.co.in
guess the movie just inspired even the hotel owners!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

"Holy Sounds"

Pope's voice is to be heard on an album soon. He recorded for an album lately, which is slated for release by the end of this year.

Now this is what we say "Holy Sounds"

Micro-Hoo

Yahoo takes over the Microsoft's product advertisement in exchange of Bing's search algorithm's. This does sound good,as the new search engine resultants might just give some competition to Google.

Things people have to do to get some attention.

The exit of common sense

What has the world become

These were the thoughts while i was watching Beyonce new vdeo 'Ego'. All the videos from her new album are too werd, have little entertanment and directorial creativity. Just a couple of years back videos like Kanye West's 'Touch the sky',Robbie Williams'Angels' & 'Feel', and years back some like 'November Rain' showed a spectacular example of human creativity.
I simply wonder what has happened to the world.

Friday, July 31, 2009

A current day review on Moore's Law

My visit to Nehru Place yesterday made me think upon one thing. That the Moore's Law, once considered as one of the realities of computing has now lost the trail. His rule, that prices become 1/3rd and the data storage space available per unit becomes 3x has started to show decline.
In Nehru Place, i found that the prices of storage devices were half of what they were a couple of years back, which doesn't satisfy the law. This clearly shows that the law's ineffectiveness in the recent days.
Seems like we need some new law for this.

Editors Needed

I've been looking for a few guest editors for this blog, and am seriously considering over people. I need people who have varies interests(not just technology) to contribute. If you feel that you might just be the right one, then just drop down a comment, and i'll make sure i get back to you.

PS

Secure Your Images In Facebook

How to protect your privacy in Facebook, now that is the big question for all the users using it.
So here's the solution i finally found out. Here it goes.

Goto your Facebook home page, and after logging in, follow these steps.

-Click on Settings option on the header of the page near the sign out option.
-In the drop down menu, click the 'privacy settings'
-Now click on 'Manage'
-Click news 'Feed and Wall'
-Click the 'Facebook Ads' Tab
-Select 'Noone' option and save your preferences.


Facebook tries each and every effort that its users refrain from using these settings, and tries to explain all possible points to convince you to share your photographs for ads. But i find it better to be safe and not to be sorry.

Hope these few steps help your privacy at Facebook

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Remember This

Movie Review - The Hangover


I just came from the theatre. I just had a good watch at the movie 'The Hangover', and i'd say its just good ! Oh yes it is,its just something refrehingly new.


The Hangover is the story of four friends, who go out to Vegas to celebrate one of their friend's marriage witha bachelor's party. But in vegas, things get screwed. One of them brings a liquid drug(by mistake, and the one responsible for it was the dealer). They roam around the whole night, and the next morning, they don't remember anything. They're simply clueless what happened.

The movie is filled with fun. Almost every five minutes you find something outrageous going on. I praise the director, he's one heck of a guy. He simply made an ace out of an average script.

The movie is filled with tracks from big names. 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' by Kanye West, a remake of 'Candy Shop' originally performed by 50Cent, and Flo Rida's 'Right Round' are the ones i can recollect.

Overall, the movie's good. I'd give the movie 3.5 out of 5 , esp. fo;r the director's great work .

What say, do you have the same opinion??

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Some More Websites

Hey guys

I'm back with my pick of interesting sites on the net. And this time,

its all about connecting.

wix.com
A site where you can get free flash sites for your site plans.

spotify.com
A site where you can listen to music legally free.

we7.com
Another site where you can download music free legally.


worldtaximeter.com

A site where you can get all the taxi fares of few of the most

highlighted cities on the planet. The site allows you to find out how

much is it going to cost to reach point B from point A.

saveid.com

A site which allows to save a video from youtube, in the good quality

mp4 format, or the space friendly flv format.

doubletwist.com

This site ofers an application for managing media for multiple

devices,and syncing them. A great piece of program,which can even

download videos from youtube

istopover.com

A site for home rentals, or rooms. A cheap way of having accomodation

while travelling. The site allows people to put up rooms or houses for

travellers to live in,

myhandle.com
This site allows to manage all your email accounts,by sending all

the mails to one myhandle account. A great way to manage multiple mail

accounts.


Hope you guys like them.

A 256Gb Pen Drive

Oh yes, its true.
Kingston recently unveiled its new product - The Kingston Datatraveler 200, with a storage capacity of a whopping 256GB.

Thats almost 10 Blu Rays. Offered for 900$, it seems surprising how solid state memory can be so capacitive.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Acer in a new dimension


Acer unveiled a new addition on its portfolio - Smartphones.


Acer unveiled its new smartphone collection with the new DX650. This phone has a new feature - two screens, one at the front and one at the back. The front screen is a touch screen and runs on Windows mobile6.1 . Its loaded with all the main Office applications,and also has Windows Media Player. The other side of the phone has a black&white LCD screen, with accessibility to basic functions like inbox,composing messages,phonebook,and so on. Running on , this side of the phone works well. This side of the phone has a hard keypad which works good. The guys at Acer have also been keen to provide quad band support to the phone, which means moving through the globe is simpler.

But its not all good from what it seems. Its camera is 1.9Mp,which seems quite less when seen from the fact that there could have been a much better camera. The phone isn't 3G(maybe because there's already lot of cramming going on),but still i think that it could have been there.

Coming from a hardware giant doesn't come easy. The phone's dual screen capabilities emphasise to work while being able to use the phone's capabilities to full extent, while attending calls. This ability is aimed at the professionals who have tough times using the phone's functions while in the middle of a call(Maybe it might just be some of their employee's experiences that made them built a phone like that).

Enabled with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the works beautifully well.

And here is the summation for the technology it deploys.

Acer DX650 Specification:
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
32bit Samsung S3C6410, 533MHz CPU
128MiB RAM, 256MiB ROM
2.8" 240x320 color transflective
TFT LCD sec. display
Audio jack
GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
UMTS2100, CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
microSD, microSDHC
mini-USB port
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
WLAN 802.11b/g
GPS, A-GPS
FM radio
Built-in numeric phone keypad
Scroll wheel
1.9MP camera

So what do you think,is it good, or pretty well for a giant.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Following my circle's holy practise, my whole group decided to go to catch the newest Harry Potter movie - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Expecting it to be better than the fifth installment(which was actually terribly directed,when compared to the book), we found that the movie was a tab disappointing, but still worth a watch(as the name Harry Potter suggests,the movie's gonna be something new and interesting). Unconventionally, at the auditorium, we found out that most of the crowd we were surrounded were actually young men and some adults, with ages ranging from 19-36. Some of the kids did come straight to the auditorium just to catch the movie, that high it had been anticipated. The movie had already been pending for a release last Winter, but the producers Warner Brothers Corp. decided to release it only in the season.


I admit what i had heard - the movie's darkest of all the movies that we have seen till date. The movie's less about magic and more about teenage romance, thats what i've got to understood. Seems like Harry Potter finally gets out of the child , and becomes a youmg man.

The movie starts with a scene at the London Underground,where Harry appears at a diner,pondering away at his problems. As the movie progresses, it comes to know that the Dark Lord's been constantly trying to penetrate the Hogwarts. By the end of the movie, Dumbledore gets killed,and Harry's left without any mentor.

I personally find that the movie has a lot of shortcomings. The story's flow isn't quite smooth. Many a links in the story are missing. The direction is not upto the mark, for guys like me who only watch the movie, they get a bit confused over what's happening,and what happened. Seems like the director catered to the length of the movie. I'd rather say that he should have not cared much about the length,but should have added all portions to make it quite enjoyable. I wont find myself in the theatre watching this movie over again,the movie's worth only one watch. I'd rather give it 3 out of 5.

So what do you think, is the movie upto the mark ??

Office to go Online

Yes, that is true.
Bill Gates(remember him) announced that Microsoft Office 2010 will carry features which allow users to have online accessibility of Office tools. This has come in response to Google's Gears service which already allows that.
Now lets see how office fares !

Google to launch Operating System

Oh yes, you read it correctly.
Google recently announced that it is going to launch a web based operating system,called Chrome OS. The OS is speculated to be a cloud based OS,which boots very quickly. Scheduled for a 2010 Q2 launch,the OS has already made a lot of waves online.

Facebook in trouble??

Facebook has breached a privavy law in Canada. Seeming amusning,but it is true. This was found when a report was unveiled recently.

Oh boy,seems like its not the good times for Fb.

Facecook in trouble??

Facebook has breached a privavy law in Canada. Seeming amusning,but it is true. This was found when a report was unveiled recently.

Oh boy,seems like its not the good times for Fb.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Phone Review - Sony Ericsson F305


Hi
I recently got my hands on Sony Ericson's F305. The phone is a slider offering from the Austrian-Japanese company.



On the first impression,the phone seems good. The phone i got to lay myhands on was black,and quite glossy. It seemed good with that glossy look. The weight wasn't much,which made fiddling around with it a kid's play. And beingf a slider,its slide mechanism was working good, which reflects Sony does things with perfection. In simple terms,the designing has been good.

The phone is quad band, with 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies suported, which means that you cantake it anywhere in the world without any doubts. It weights at 97.5gms, which implies that the phone is quite good when it comes to designing. The phone supports photocall.

On the memory front, the phone hosts 10Mb onboard memory, which is quite less than any in this price segment. However,the memory can be expanded upto 4Gb using a M2 memory card.

Coming to the hardware,the phone has a 176x220 TFT screen. I'd wished that the screen was bigger,that would have made this phone an attractive one. With a 2.0Mp camera, the photographs taken were good,and the clarity was above average - another Sony excellence. Though the thing that irritated me a bit was the slow interface, Sony could have made this phone a lot better by providing a quicker interface and a faster processor. Another surprising fact was that Sony didn't bundle any 3G support in this phone,just Edge.

On the screen portion, there are two buttons. One leads to the last clicked photograph,whereas the other leads to the gallery, this clearly showing that SE designers emphasised to make it a complete multimedia phone.The phone comes with a M2 cardslot,thus sticking to its own storage system.

The phone's biggest feature is the motion sensor. It has 50 in-built games, which support motions,just like the Nintendo Wii. There's even a dedicated gaming button on the menu keypad along the attend call button.

The battery backup for the phone has reportedly been quite decent. The company claims that it has 400hrs standby and 8hrs talktime life of the battery,which varies with the network ,services and conditions of usage. Neither the phone becomes too heated like w350,nor seems delicate.

Overall,the phone is a nice one. Priced at arounnd Rs7000 (or roughly around 150 US$),the phone seems a bit on the expensive,and actually fails to justify the price tag,especially when there are many 3g phones in the market in the same price range.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A thought

This question has been the biggest mysteries in the world. No-one has been able to give a clear answer to this. I simply dont understand why do females remember each and every date - whether it's some bithday,aniversary, or even a moment of history. To admit, once my mom told me that it was my birthday, and it took ten minutes for me to realise that it was my birthday. And sometimes, i wonder 'how' do females remember each date. How.....is it some super memory supplement ....or something like that!
I hope that somebody clears this mystery soon.

Mj and the media






So the highly anticipated memorial service of the King of Pop Michael Jackson concluded. Thousands of fans gathered to pay their wishes to the King's soul, and pray for peace to his soul.
I was actually looking for the listings of one of my fav shows on BBC world when i saw this going on. I had been hearing that this was to be held soon. All the news channel on my subscription were showing the same news for the whole evening(its evening in India while its morning in the US). Everyone was showing the same thing - From Staples Centre,L.A. ,the final 'curtain call' of Michael Jackson, and Michael in his Gold Plated coffin. And thats how media tries to hype everything. This is the same media who called him 'Whacko Jacko' some months back.


Well, anyways i'm actually happy at heart for the artist, he finally got peace , even if he gets it in his grave. If media had it its own way, media wouldn't let him rest there too !

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A new version of 911 - 911


So finally Porsche comes up with an answer to Lamborghini's Estoque , which was unveiled at the Paris motor show last year with its new offering in the 911 series - The Panamera. Gradually drifting away from its trademark two doors, this car has four, which might disappoint the 911 followers. This makes Panamera the first four door coupe from the German manufacturer.


When it comes to exteriors, Porsche's designers seem confused. The design seem to be in the middle of 911 and Carrera GT, while trying to make its own statement, something that isn't usual with the iconic sportscar maker. The design is very aerodynamic and sporty, with the wheels displaying some muscle. The car is much wider and longer than expected. Overall, the exterior looks of the car are not the best from the German brand's designers.

But the interiors make up for the exteriors. The typical low seating coupled with a rich centre console that extends all the way to the rear gives the driver a distinct feeling of being in a cockpit. Surrounding the gear is an array of buttons which give the driver far enough options. There are only two seats on the rear,which have enough leg room and head room for anyone. Only two seats in the rear makes it less flexible, but the company says it can be customised.

And when it comes to performance, i couldn't write anything different. You simply cannot doubt the performance of a Porsche, its going to be brilliant. This car is simply meant for journeys, and the longer the journey is, the great the car feels. Its V8 4.8l engine is a monster, and gives a mammoth 500horsepower of power output with a astounding 700Nm of torque. With 3 different types of suspension modes, its a car for all purposes and the various exhaust modes egg you more to drive harder. The top speed reported on a test drive was 290km in the turbo and 260 in the S and 4S. Driving it for 10 hours at a stretch would not be tiresome at all. The Adaptive Cruise Control which allows you to just take care of the steering while the acceleration and breaking is done by the car, is simply great.

And here's the technical specifications for the car

For models : Panamera S, Panamera 4S, Panamera Turbo

Length(mm) : 4970
Width(mm) : 1931
Height(mm) : 1418
Wheelbase(mm) : 2920
Engine(cc) : 4806
Max Power(bhp/rpm) : 400@6500, 500@6000, 500@6000
Max Torque(Nm/rpm) : 500@3500-5000
Acceleration(sec) 0-100kmph : 6.6,5.0,4.2
0-200 : 18.6, 18.5, 13.9
Top Speed(kmph) : 290, 280, 305
Fuel Economy(kmpl) : 8.0, 9.01, 8.2

Now thats for what i say : Have money,will buy

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Dual Utility


Hello everyone
So this time i write here upon a phone which is completely new - a boon for those who love to switch networks and technologies.


The Micromax Gravity gc700 is designed to please everyone across whom it comes. Powered with a 2Mp camera, it seems good for most of the purposes. It sports a touch screen which supports handwriting recognition. The built quality of the phone is good. On falling down, the phone doesn't break or gets damaged, which means a good and sturdy body.

But the best part of the phone comes from another end.

This phone supports two; connections of both GSM or CDMA technologies. Which means that if you switch to a CDMA operator, it will still work, and you dont need to change or carry more handsets. Also it means that you wont need to carry a new handset with some Matrix Connection for roaming in nations where the frequency used in wireless communication is not supported by your phone.

And here comes the part why the guys at Micromax call it Gravity.

The phone has a new unprecedented feature of switching lines with just flipping the phone. This means that you can actually switch the line in use by just vertically flipping the phone. This actually helps in going to the settings option and changing the settings repeatedly.

Another great feature of the phone is that when you vertically flip the phone when there is an incoming call, the calls automatically gets attended. So this means that there's no issue if the touch went on the wrong portion of the screen. But this also means that if supposed the phone falls off your hands to the ground, the calls might be disconnected(which might not be tolerable at some occasions).

Priced at Rs12999(or roughly 280US$ ), the phone is a value for money buy for whom functionality is more important than the brand and the tag which goes long with it.

So what do you think, what do you feel about the phone, do write in.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Use Gmail to save photographs online


Google has recently raised the attachment limit of emails that can be send and received via their email service Gmail to 25 Megabytes. The storage that is offered to all Gmail users exceed
7000 Megabytes which makes Gmail an ideal service for a variety of
applications.
We have already seen that it is possible to use Gmail as a backup
storage space for important files. The GPhotospace application adds
another possibility. It makes it possible to create virtual photo
albums in Gmail that can be shared with users. Sharing in this context
means that the photo albums can be send to individual users which means
they are send as an attachment. GPhotospace is provided as a Firefox
add-on which offers another functionality. Users who are invited can
use the GPhotospace add-on to view the galleries online as well.



Users who do not like to share their Gmail account data with another
application might want to consider creating a secondary account just
for that purpose. The application can be launched from the Tools menu
in Firefox once the add-on has been installed. There is also a
standalone desktop application for Windows that does not require the
Firefox web browser.


The GPhotospace add-on offers a fool proof way of uploading photos to Gmail with the
ability to invite other users to see them. It can also be used as photo
backup storage although it might make more sense in this case to send
the photos as attachments directly to the Google Mail account.
CODE
http://www.gphotospace.com/download.html

Memory........revisited

Recently i had come across the following line while browsing through an old magazine which was biting the dust. Here's what it is

"I think 32kbytes should be enough for everyone" - Bill Gates

I wonder what was he thinking when Microsoft had released Windows Vista.

Storage memory has been someting that has been constantly in increasing demand. I remember when i was in my school, 16Gb of memory was more than enough for anyone. Even my laptop has only 16Gb of hard disk storage. Having a 40Gb hard drive was something that us kids dreamt of. And now, even 40Gb hard drives are nowhere to be found in the market. I recently strolled through the computer market to find out that 80Gig's was the least capacity of the hard drive in the market, and you couldn't even find a second hand one. And for the pen drives, the least capacity one was the 4Gig one. This really surprises me. Hoe has the hunger formore storage space has increased. Last year,1Tb hard disk was making waves for its extremely high storage, and now you can see how are they easily available in the markets with loads of them getting sold every hour. Thats what makes me feel how much memory hungry man has become. But how, this is somehing i wonder. The operating systems these days are quite bulky, need atleast 8-10Gb's to install whereas in the early computing days the OS's took not more than 1,44Mb(Thats DOS). As the technology develops,more and more space is required to save more fine details in audio and video. The emergence of HD Content just has made human more resource and memory hungry. And as the internet becomes open for the public,more and more content is stored on PC's, which means more space requirement.Even a 1Gb MicroSd is small for me to store all the tracks i'd like to store on my phone, and hence am thinking to get a new one. Around 4 years back, when i bought a 512Mb Transcend MMC Card,it costed me around 850 bucks while now 4Gig MicroSd's(which are actually much costlier than MMC's) are coming for a hundred bucks lesser than the predecessor. This clearly shows that Moore's law is quite true,although it does need some modification to sustain in the current world.

Hope you liked the thought. Do letme know if so.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Woah....I'm online

Hey there
Recently, i got a bit curious about my blog's penetration(as the Google crawler hasn't visited me for days), so i decided to actually check out for the keyword for my blog. And here i find one - Prattzz.
perfect, so i finally have a personal keyword. I started fiddling with the search results, and here i find some site refering to my content. On furthur observation, its the guys at the otherinbox.com , whose services i had reviewed a few months back. Also i found many other sites refering to the blog's name.

Feels awsome when you find yourself online.

Simply say no to drugs

Today i saw some of the most shocking things i've seen in sometime. Michael Jackson, known for his superb dance moves , is examined in an autopsy, and shocking results are seen. nothing except a few pills are found from his stomach,no food grain at all. Just pills. His bones were weak, actually knocking out of weakness. He was bald, and all the hair he had on his head were artificially planted. His skin was of plastic, and even his nose bone was missing. These shocking revelations come from the popular tabloid - The Sun. And i must say, this is terribly shocking. How come the biggest superstar of the milenium be in such a bad position. I say its drugs. All the medicines he used a lot were classified drugs. And he used them like food. Inspite of selling more albums than even Elvis could have ever, he died bankrupt under millions of dollars of debt.

Thats why they say - Say no to drugs for a life !

How to find whether RayBan's are genuine or not

Hey everyone
For sometime now, i was curious how to find whether the Rayban sunglasses under observation are genuine or not ! I searched the whole of Internet for it, but it all went in vain. It must be in the deep web where the answer lies.
But my blog still has some Google visibility. Plus i found the answer. Hoping that this makes it through to the Google listings, here it comes.

Identifying whether the pair of Rayban's you have is terribly simple. You just have to do some careful observation.

1) You'll always find a RayBan logo on the glasses and on the frame. They mean that the glasses are genuine,though this doesn't ensure that it is a genuine one, but look furthur only if this is there.

2) Stand in a room with some artificial polarised light source(such as a regular fluoroscent tube). Now take the sunglasses in your hand and cover the rear side of the lenses with your hands(while trying to avoid touching the glass surface,scratches might occur if touched roughly). Now look at the fluoroscent source in the lens,while moving it slightly. In case you find light scattering slightly at places, it simply means that the given sunglasses are duplicate ones, and not genuine.

i hope it does help out some of those who need some help in recognising whether the RayBan glasses they saw were genuine or not. What do you think about it, comments are welcomed !

How to minimize Carbon Footprint

Hey everyone
Today, i'm writing on a very critical topic - environment protection. This topic has been a big issue for me, and i'd like to share whatever little i know about controlling it.

In these days of high tech gadgets, we use a lot of natural resources recklessly. Human have all the natural resources only till the day he cares for it. Reckless use of them will simply leave us stranded sooner or later.

Carbon footprint - a widely use term, is a scale to measure it. Carbon foorprint defines how much of carbon(or simply how much fossil fuel) has been used to serve the purpose.A carbon footprint is "the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product" (UK Carbon Trust 2008). An individual, nation, or organization's carbon footprint is measured by undertaking a GHG emissions assessment. For example, if we switch a fan on, then the amount of the natural resources used to power that is its carbon foorprint. Carbon foorprint should be kept as less as possible. The lesser the carbon footprint is, the more eco-friendly the device/service is. This means that the device/service is much better for mankind. Hence we should endeavour to minimise our carbon footprint. Here are a few tips on how you can do that:

#1) Switch off any electrical devices that you're not using. This would save energy.
#2) Plug out any chargers,adopters,transformers,stablizers,etc when not in use. If not possinle, then simply disconnect any power sources connected to them.

#3) Delete all the useless mails you have in your inbox, and spam too. Storing mails does use a lot of electricity, and hence has a huge carbon footprint. Ever since i got to know that, i deleted all of the 1300+ waste mails i had in my inbox. Unknowingly, this is appearing to be one of the most growing source of high carbon footprint levels for useless or waste items.

#4) Switch off the air conditioner when not required,don't use the blanket. Your enjoyment is causing the Earth a great damage.
#5) Use unleaded fuel, It is extremely 'Eco-Friendly".
#6) Switching off the computer and all other connected devices whenever they're not in use. Remember, they produce heat and waste energy when not in use.

Hope all of you follow them and help us in having a greener tomorrow!

(And this is probably one of the reasons i prefer green for my blog template).

Comments are welcomed.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Media......is sick !

So Michael Jackson expires a couple of weeks before his comback 'curtain call' tour. Instilled in the music industry since the late 1960's(yes,thats the era he used to play,atleast thats what Microsoft's Windows Media Centre tells me), and ruled the airwaves till date(yes, till date). Thriller has been the all time best selling album on iTunes, and even on hard physical copy. He's actually cursed for all the charges alleged on him, and all the legal battles he faced. And people simply start ignoring him because of them, and didn't even once appreciated the great music he made all these years, setting aside the fact that he did control apartheid. He's been a superb icon, and a global entity. No matter which part of the planet you go, everyone knows the name Michael jackson. And still people actually curse him. He had a terribly bad childhood, nobody consoled him for that. This 'truly universal star' had a pretty lonely life, and i'd say that it shows how ruthless planet can be. He was strange, but what i believe is that nobody is born that way. Now people recall how great he was. This is something i dislike. Why do you keep all the appraisal stocked for the funeral. Why is it that the media who curses Michael now pays tribute to him. Seems quite wierd. Media says he was bizzare, i'd say the media is bizzare. Sometimes it does amaze me how wierd man can be. Instead of doing the correction,they actually criticised him. And now they compare him to Presley or John Lennon.

Anyways, have the guys whom he owned millions got a shock insurance ??

A Tribute to Michael Jackson

On July 25th,2009,around 2 in the afternoon, The king of pop ie Michael Jackson dies of a cardiac arrest, while rehersing for his comeback tour scheduled to kick from 13th July, at Los Angeles. The doctors and paramedics tried for an hour to revive him,but all went in vain. His sudden death marks the end of an era, a great legacy. Serving the masses since 1962,Michael jackson had been in the news for all the wrong reasons for sometime. His last album - Invincible , released in 01 had fared badly when compared to his old records(everyone knows that his name is huge enough to give a superhit album,a record sales which even some good artists find difficult). On my personal level, he was the one whom i admired the most for his lyrical beauty. His association with Quincy Jones(his mentor for the record company) and Peter Andre(his songwriter in the recent days,better known for 'mysterious girl') was simply brilliant. It was his association with Quincy Jones that gave the world landmark albums like "Off The Wall","Thriller' and "Bad". The last track his name was featured was 'The girl is mine' from Will.i.am's debut solo album. Michael still holds the record for "Thriller"(Billie Jean still can give many current day artists a run for survival).
Looking at his life, i feel somewhat pity for this great musician. He had a terrible childhood(primarily because of his father's wrong attitude),a tensed professional life(under the constant pressure of delivering hits),failed marriages(another aspect of his loneliness,esp the "perfect match" one with Lisa Marie) and troubled latter years(where health,allegations and financial crunch tarnished his image for most of the planet,not for his hardcore fans). The news of his unfortunate death has seen mourning throughout the world that has never been seen. People might dont know who Eminem is, but even a kid in the streets of some remote village anywhere on this planet having access to television knows about Michael, better known as MJ.
On a personal level, he's been quite an inspiration to me. His video "Billie Jean",and "Thriller" are some of the ones i adore. "They dont care about us" is a fantastic video,probably one of the best i've seen. He shows how powerful the basic human aspects can be in uniting the planet. "Heal the world" shows the softer part of his, which probably indicates how much pain he had to suffer in his childhood. Even till date , no Hollywood star has done charity to such an extent for the children as much as he had. Even though he was trialed, he eventually got acquitted,something that MJ must have loved. He departed being clean. It seems hard to digest when we hear that a man behind tracks like "Heal the world","Black or white","We are the world","They dont care about us","Earth song" is actually accused for child molestation. I still remember that "Black or white" was probably the first music video that i can recollect. Around 4 years back, i got so hooked to his music that i collected his whole discography. "Liberian Girl","They dont care about us","Billie Jean" have been some of my favirote ones whom i can even listen till now(though i must have heard it over a billion times,literally). I had been waiting eagerly for his next offering since Invincible. But sadly its going to be a never ending wait. I do feel at occasions that the soul of Invincible is actually what Justin Timerlake has in his albums.Both sound the same,think the same. I wonder if MJ inspired JT.

Rest in Peace Michael, you might have left the body, but your music will remain there forever.

Indiatimes sucks !

On wednesday, i tried to access my Indiatimes email account after a long time(not ages, but just a long time). I needed to retrieve a contact from my inbox. And here's what i see. I can sign in, but the mail home page isn't opening. Its the same story after an hour. Indiatimes web was completely accessible to me, just the mail wasn't !

And then companies ask why people don't adopt them, give us features+dependability like Google does .

Monday, June 22, 2009

Joe.....


Hey !
So here i am writing another entry. But this time, its no technology(though its related to it). Many a times,whenever i got confused over things, i tried out this small entertainment program "Ask Guru Joe". And have to admit, its damn damn true. Yes, sometimes i've asked a specific question at hundreds of different occasions, and the answer was damn true ! In this application, you simply type in a question , whose answer comes in a yes or no, and press enter, the guru will tell you the result. And till now, the 'guru' has been quite correct when it comes to prediction. You can get the application by clicking here .

Try out for yourself, maybe it works out for you too !

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Whatever happens......media still sucks

So here's another post condemning the stupid media. I simply can't resist the urge to curse them.
Today, the television is flooded with the news of Barack Obama killing a mosquito with his hands while in the middle of some show. I ask the media guys, haven't you ever did that. Is that news a big national issue ?? You guys must be really nuts bringing a bad name to your profession. Does the mosquito irritating the American president a bigger issue than people dying hungry, or the global warming, or all the inhuman things happening on the planet ! There are so many issues, then why do you air such crap??? Dont you guys realise that this news is just too insignificant , and you make a special show out of it.

You guys at Newscorp, are you listening ???

iPhone 09 - the real thing

After being hearing much about the Apple's new iPhone 2009, i've been quite curious about it. But there arall sorts of rumours about it. Here are the truth's about these myths.

1) Iphone 09 doesn't have a new shape. It carries the same shape the original one had.
2) It does have a multi-touch screen as rumoured, though i cannot confirm on this as this is still doubted.The phone's gonna come for roughly 100$ (But thats only in the States, rest places it'll change)
3) We expect the Apple guys to add in more applications. Already there's an upgrade available for it. But we do expect the Iphone's OS to be more loaded than ever.
4) Its more eco-friendly than many other phones in the market. It's display is made of OLED(Organic LED) - something we've been hearing for years now, but its implementation is hardly seen.


Lets see how the new iphone looks like on the 17th July - When it goes off for sale in the US.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Vodafone Woes....No unlimited plans

So here i am blogging my way to another post.
Since the last few days, i've been accessing the internet and my mailbox from my cellphone, on the basic GPRS plan by Vodafone guys, and seems like i'm getting hooked to it. Now the speciality is that these guys dont have any unlimited internet browsing plan in India for regular phones(surprising)! Because of this, i've raised a bill more than i can think of paying in the last 4 days.
Hope somebody from Vodafone is listening to this.

Terrible times !

So here goes another terrible week in my life. Since the beginning of the week, i was able to feel something messy for the future. So here it goes

Monday.... Bore. Kept on wasting my time with stupid PC's infested with strange viruses.
Tuesday.....terrible, got the dentist starting the root canal treatment
Wednesday..... Did nothing but waste my time, and commit mistakes.
Thursday..... Dentist again. Got the root canal ended, but again left in pain
Friday....Got the capping for the treated tooth, and again it ached in the evening. Plus lost the sim card for a connection(more accidents, literally had to roam places to get the connection's outgoing communication blocked).
Saturday.....Kept on moving from place to place for one purpose to another, plus more tiredness for some unexpected guests.

So here's the note for the awful week i had. It did mess things for me much. Lets hope this never repeats again.

Finally.....finally....



So finally the laptop gets repaired after a long long period of trouble. After being tinkered for months, the lappy finally got the repair it needed. Its charging point got damaged early last year, and because of that it was also damaging adapters that we were buying for it. After one long day of toiling labour, and around 1500 bucks, the lappy gets a repair , and now is working well. But have to say, you need to keep your eyes and ears open if you dont want to get robbed by people there. So do a research in the market for an hour before you jump to some conclusion and get your pc fixed. The guys here in the market maybe smart, but do overcharge, and for a billed repair(which i always insist for) costs more than what they estimate. And keep a day off for it, try going on a early weekday to get things repaired. Early the week the market remains less crowded.

So here i am signing off from the lappy. Feels peaceful after a long long time :)

Reality Check

Hey.
Recently, i tried to recover a movie from my Gb pen drive, which was deleted some months back. With a bad experience with data recovery softwares, here comes my conclusion.


#1 - No data recovery software does flawless data recovery, unless you're exceptionally lucky
#2 - If the file was quite large, you can't do anything else but sob! The chances of getting a file >200Mb is literally <.2 , as some of the sector does get used.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Creative Beauty

I came across the lyrics of a track recently, andhave to admit, got really mesmerised. Here they are

Wise men say,only fools rush in
but i can't help falling in love withyou
Shall i stay
would it be a sin
if i can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
take my hand, take my whole life too
for i can't help falling in love with you
for i can't help falling in love with you

I wonder when would U2 tour India. I'm already waiting. They say so much in so little ... amazing . I just love what those guys used to be, they seem to impress me with every track they compose !

Thursday, June 11, 2009

A unique post

While sitting on the dentist's chair , i write this entry. I'm getting a root canal done. And have to say, i get reminded of the saying "the dentist's chair is a chemistry lab with a mine, drilling and so goes on inside your mouth" .
I feel like thanking him for the advanced warning.

The new iPhone rival - Pre


6/6/09

Thats the date when Apple got a headache. The reason - the biggest competition for its iPhone got released. The name of the competition - Palm Pre.
After a long long time Palm comes up with a huge gadget(and huge in terms of its importance), The Palm pre, often called by analysts as the 'iPhone Killer' is one of their top favirotes. Some even got to the extent of saying that Palm just might become bankrupt if this product fails to deliver. But that doesn't seem so, with the smarties of this industry for its WebOS based device.



The curved pebble-like looking is glossy but not shiny - just the way i like it. The 3.1inch touchscreen claims to render 16million colours at 320x480 pixels, and auto rotates with the help of the accelerometer built in.
The gadget uses a single button on the screen just like the iPhone, using it to be the one touch input. This gives you some positive and negetive uses(though the functionality is made complicated, the interface comes clean).

It edges over the iPhone where the latter lags the most - the lack of a physical keyboard. It has a Querty keyboard similar to that of Centro's. The company claims that the angle of the screen lessens the glare for better viewing. Clad in black, and the alphabet in white with a red tinge to it, the colour combination looks simply amazing.

The Pre sports a 3.15 MP camera with LED flash and enhanced fixed focus. The 2048x1536 pixel pictures are great, but the lack of video recording does take its ups a bit low. However, as the WebOS is open-source, it is expected that some developer soon comes up with a solution for it.

On the storage front, Palm does offer 8GB inbuilt memory, though is not possible to expand it using microSD. But the 3.5mm audio jack does make the inbuilt 8Gig extremely useful for music playback purposes.

This 3G handset has GPS, Bluetooth , Wi-Fi, Micro USB, etc. But surprisingly, radio is not supported. It does seem amusing , looking to the fact that a radio transmitter uses so little of resources.

But still, given the wonderful WebOS, and the solid hardware, the phone seems superb, giving Apple marketing guys more and more lines on their foreheads. Its already launched in the US.

Lets see how the phone fares. A couple of weeks is a lot of time to rate it thoroughly.

Behold






The cheapest 3G cellphone till date.



The Nokia 2730 Classic

The new look Discovery

I very recently checked out after ages. I can't even remember when did i switch on discovery. And i'd say, its quite refreshing. The serious look it used to carry has vanished, making way for a holiday like image. And so have shows like Lonely Planet, who have now resurfaced on Discovery's other channel Travel and Living. The emphasis on the main Discovery has shifted from extreme technology to wildlife and nature.
Well, seems like even they need a change.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Question of the future - Are we getting too dependent on AI

While watching a show on Discovery, a thought struck my mind. Are we getting too dependent on Artificial Intelligence for our lives. Well,it certainly seems so to me.

For example, humans have been becoming pretty much dependant on RFID devices for verification in smart 'future' homes. Anything that goes inside the house needs a RFID device. And if you don't have one, you're done. So if you're going to a friend's party and you forgot the invitation, you're done. And ditto for emergency situations. Plus you always have to wear something like a strap to feed the computer data about your identity. And mails which don't have RFID tags won't get delivered(just like some homes are designed to have - RFID Maiboxes which only open on detecting solicited RFID signals). Plus if the server develops some problem, you're screwed bigtime. Now call the computer engineer to get the lights switched on. And the environment issues relating such systems are already there.

But on the oher hand, its just wonderful. Just imagine you don't need to switch on lights, or program things, like the alarm. That does take some amount of our time everyday. And if something needs to be activated in some other room, or in some other part of the house, it can be done just by speaking up to the computer. Plus you get information on the go, as such systems are connected to high speed internet.

What i understand is that there's a need for such systes, but in a regulated way. Becoming too much dependent on them might just make situations difficult for us at some point of time in the future.

What do you think about it ??

How to escape keyloggers

Recently, i read a few simple tips on how to escape from keyloggers while accessing the net from cybercafe's. Here they are

#1) Use the On-Screen Keyboard by going to start->accessories->accessibility->onscreen keyboard. This interface doesn't allow keyloggers to record keystrokes as clicks are recorded only as 'click'.

#2) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and check the processes tab for any mysterious or uncommon processes,and if there are,use the On-Screen keyboard, or simply avoid exchanging sensitive data. If you're unsure about any process, try cross-checking them on www.processlibrary.com .

#3) Avoid using public computers for sensitive tasks, such as transfering money from paypal, etc.


Hope these tips help you guys out well. They certainly did help me !

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The 'Right' question

Remember

1800-11-4000

If any company reneges its commitments and service responsibilities, call up this number and lode a complaint. This is a special helpline created by the department of consumer affairs to keep a check on this.

So remember, Service problems -
1800-11-4000

Boarding flight 666

So Iron Maiden comes out with another new studio album - called Flight 666. And today is its date of release. The album consists of compositions made on a charted flight while the band was on its concert tours.
Lets hope the album having the Devil's number doesn't become a devil for the music companies and the audience.

A Thought - Life without Google

Hey everyone
Yesterday, i read the following line, and to confess, it really got me thinking. Here was the line

"How would life be without Google "

Just think. Life without Google. Seems ..... literally impossible. Its quite difficult to imagine such a life. Lets count where does life use Google.

Blogger
mail
Orkut
Searches

So there are the main uses i have with Google, still considering that the services i've left out on that list aren't so important, and i can actually have great substitutes for it. And as for my friends,who even use HTC's G1(The first cellphone having Google's widely popular OS Android ) , for them Google is a part of their life. If the phone gets hanged, gets locked, or just to backup contacts,Google is required. Now without Google , life's quite difficult to imagine. Google's services are the best in the business, and thats why Google's so important in our daily lives.I still remember the frustration i had to face some months ago just because i wasn't able to access my mails. That day Google's servers didn't work , and that actually became National headlines.

Now what do you think about it ?? Is it the same for you.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

The return of the 6600


Hi
Nokia recently unveiled its new 6600i. Now doesn't that remind you of the leendary 6600 which suddenly chaned the mobile world. Yes, the new phone is the predecessor of the leendary phone.

But the basics of the phone remain the same. The phone is quite curvy as the old 6600 was. The phone looks stunnin in a brushed steel body, althouh the black one doesn't look that ood. This one, bein a slider phone, has a nice finishin. It has a 5MP camera. But the bad news is "Its not a S60 smartphone". Which means that thouh its name has been inspired, the soul of the 6600 Ta is missin. Atleast somethin revolutionisin should have been introduced to make it live it up to the name it owns - Infact N97 could have bette suited te name 6600 than this one. Expandable upto 16b, the phonme comes for 200Euro's , or rouhly Rs13000. Now we'll see the actual performance once its out, but still i'd say it seems like a pretty decent phone.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Ohh noo.....shut the media !

Recently, the illegal homes of the Slumdog Millionare child artists Azhar and Rubina were demolished by the Mumbai city authorities, for expansion of railway track, and securing it. Now, media has made it a huge issue. After every half an hour some stupid journalist appears on the idiot box speaking the same lines, same useless information. I ask them , is that worth national headlines?? Those artists did nothing but some acting for money - a professional thing. And now they say they brought lauterate to the nation. I ask these guys, " is depicting being poor " a pride for the nation' ?? Anyways the movie was directed by an Englishman and not an Indian, though Resul's and Rahman's contribution were acknowledgeable, were brilliant. But These kids did hog up more limelight than the wrestlers who brouht in Olympic medals. This seems injust to me. Why do two kids who just acted to support their parents financially ho up more attention than those who made India really proud of their achievements. The Maharashtra government treating them like VIP's. It all looks foolishness to me, and its all because media is giving a lot of hype to those kids. Instead, they should hype every poor child other than these two who have several organisations to help them. And the overnment can't do anythin to reulate this stupid coverae. I ask the media uys, is TRP and viewership more important than some real news that affects us ! Are two kids refered as 'slumdog'(somethin quite insulting) more important than those who make this nation a better place to live.

Thats why i say, media is stupid ! I protest against this airing of pathetic journalism.

Memory Card Error....a new headache !

Recently, i observed a problem with my new Micro SD memory card. Whenever i try to copy any file from my pc to that memory card, it shows the following error

"Cannot copying file xxxx : The parameter is incorrect"

I wonder why does this happen. I've never experienced anything like this with any other device i use with it. And moreover, even till date, file copying and such operations work well with my Pen Drive, but not with this memory card. It came with my Nokia 5130, can that be the reason for that ??

Security still sucks in Orkut

Hey
Recently, i discovered a new flaw in Orkut. No matter how much do the guys at Google try to fix things, some flaws always remain. Some months back, Orkut had introduced a feature with which one could post a photograph, and none could save the photograph from the net to their pc's(when you right click, it doesn't give the option of 'save as' , as the page is a script, which also means that no source code tricks!).

To this, there's a very stupid trick.

Write something on the comment box(just a couple of words or so) and try dragging the photograph to the comment box. You'll see a url after the words you just typed. Thats the link you needed ! Copy that link and paste it in the address bar of a new window and wallah... there's the picture.

I wonder whether the google guys are giving this blog a good read(though they're hosting this blog too !).

Need Cover

Hi
I've been testing my handset continuously since i recieved it yesterday from the Nokia care guys. And have to say that its its working perfectly fine. The sound quality is awsome as expected, with just a small issue - 'The ScreenGuard has peeled off". For my Nokia 7210, it hasn't yet come off, but within a week the 5130's screenguard has come off. Now i need to buy a new cellphone cover or a crystal cover(a hard plastic cover, powerful enough to get all the scratches for your phone ie sacrificial protection for your phone). But i' not happy with any of them. Nokia's accessories come quite expensive, and other local brands are terrible, they'd rather scratch the hone than protecting it. I wonder whether 'll be able to find a safe option for it.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Nokia 5130 - Does Nokia need a quality check

Hey everyone
After using the Nokia 6260(the flip one),7210c,and my good 1200, i bought a new phone - Nokia 5130c-2 also known as Nokia 5130 Xpressmusic. And have to say, it looks good. It has a black colored LCD panel, and the rest of the phone is wine red.The phone has a glossy finish, which makes it look really really sporty and good. It supports upto 4Gb SD,and has a 2MP camera ,which is quite enough for me. The main factor that i bought it was its long batterylife along with decent enough performance for me. I seem to be satisfied with this phone at the moment. Here are some detailed specifications for it


General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced 2008, November
Status Available. Released 2009, February
Size Dimensions 107.5 x 46.7 x 14.8 mm, 65 cc
Weight 88 g
Display Type 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.0 inches
- Downloadable themes
Sound Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- Dedicated music keys
Memory Phonebook 2000 entries, Photocall
Call records Yes
Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB (verified), 1GB included, buy memory
Data GPRS Class 32
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 32
3G No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels
Video Yes, QCIF@15fps
Secondary No
Features Messaging SMS, MMS, Email
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Red, Blue
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
- MP3/MP4/eAAC+/WMA player
- Voice memo
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1020 mAh (BL-5C)
Stand-by Up to 288 h
Talk time Up to 6 h
Music play Up to 21 h



But yesterday, just two days after i bought the phone, it got broken. It fell accidentially and the LCD started to flicker, though the colours were not completely distinguishable, and the text was quite readable. This seems quite irritating. Before this, the Nokia 7210c also known as 7210Supernova had got a broken LCD just after 7 days of buying it. It seems to me that Nokia has started to make cheap quality products after succumbing to market pressure, or the retailer is the culprit.

What say,are you going to buy one Nokia too!

A Thought

Hi
I was recently asked by one of my friends what was the parameter for peace. To this question i stumbled. I was simply bowled over. I kept on thinkin what was that which made a man as happy as possible. Emotions, money, power, reputition , or nirvana ! I simply couldn't et it.
And then another friend, whom i asked this question replied like this
"Happiness is that state of mind in which a man finds himself as the most satisfied man on Earth, and he rather finds the world beautiful even while standing in the middle of a slum "

What are your views about it, it really got me confused !AN thought

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Back to Blogging !

Hi everyone
So finally another academic session ends, and am happy for that. Its been a lon time since i've been isolated from the computin world,an d its pinchin me. Soon i'll be back to what i love doing the most - the geek stuff. So all your wait's finally endin, its headin your way soon .

Saturday, May 23, 2009

New on the block - Windows 7

Hey everybody
Recently i heard aboput Windows 7, the latest offering from Microsoft. Loaded with some extremely mesmerising features, Windows 7 is probably the best of all - with extremely enhanced security, and new features like the multitouch(which means that you can zoom in just using two fingers - just like you do in the iPhone). You just need the proper hardware and it supports everything you can think of. Though experts say that installing it along with your Windows XP installation could do some problems with the files you have in that installation. Plus, it might not be able to support everything that XP does.

I'll be waiting to get my hands on this one !

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

New at the block - Mercedez Benz C230

Hi
I recently went through an article and found it quite interesting enough to share it with you. Here's the summation from it.


The all new Mercedez-Benz C230, with the new and improved features is a complete marvel when it comes to driving. Its a purely addictive ride, which makes you want to have some more once you're about to stop driving it. Its a complete "Driver's Delight". Its like 'Red Bull with Vodka'. It can be compared as a low budget Audi A8, its performance is so good that it can be compared with the A8's performance. Once you accelerate, you feel from deep within that the car you're hopped in has a three pointed star on the front. Its just worth it.


Here are some specifications of The all new Mercedez Benz c230

Displacement : 2496cc, V6 Petrol
Bore x Stroke : 88x64.4mm
Max power : 204bhp @6100rpm
Max Troque : 25kgm @ 2900-5500rpm
Max engine speed : 6400rpm
Compresso ratio : 11.4:1
Valve gear : 4 valves/cyl, DOHC
Management : MPFI
Specific Output : 81.7bhp/litre
Power to weight : 132.5bhp/tonne
torque to weight : 16..2kgm/tonne
Transmisson : 7-speed auto

Steering
Turning radius : 5.4m

Tyres
225/45 R17, Tubeless

Brakes
Front : Ventilated Discs
Rear : Ventilated Discs
ABS : Standard with EBD and ESP

Dimensions
L/W/H(in mm) : 4581/1770/1444
Wheelbase : 2760mm
Track(F/R) : 1541/1544mm
Kerb Weight : 1540kg
Boot Volume : 475 litres

Now thats interesting for a motoring newbie like me, think heavens !

The Different - MTNL Suxx

Hey everybody
Yesterday, i had to face a lot of problems. I'm the only guy in the family who uses Vodafone as its mobile operator, and the rest ie My parents are with the public sector telecom service provider MTNL(Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited). What happened is that MTNL's employees had a wage hike a few months back, which was to be implemented from a date 3-4 years back. Now ,as the hike hasn't been implemented, so they decided to call a strike to make themselves heard to the management. This was the second time such a strike was called, after an strike earlier this week , when services were completely disrupted for a few hours. This ongoing resulted in complete disruption of telecom services of MTNL in both its fixed lines and wireless networks, thus resulting in huge chaos and inconvinience amongst its users. Another PSU, BSNL(Bharat Sanchr Nigam Limited) which also happens to be the largest network in the nation, also joined the strike.

And they say "Transparency makes us different", i say 'laziness makes us unique' is the perfect slogan !

Some more sites

Hi there.
It feels good to be back to blogging. Recently, i found some more great links online, and am sharing with you all.

gadgetblog.co.uk


A blog for all the uncommon and unique gadgets on the planet. You can browse through them, or even buy them.

humanbeatbox.com

A site for those who want to learn beatboxing - the art of producing sounds by body parts. Something that generated Justin Timberlake's interest in it.

otherinbox.com


This site provides an alternative inbox or 'other inbox' for those who want to classify and manage mails easily, without much shuffling and changing email ids. the service is currently available only for gmail, but will soon launch for hotmail, yahoo and a host of other email providers.

fretsonfire.sourceforge.net

This is a rock game which allows you to compose music, and make a karaoke, only using the keyboard. A must try software.


ustream.tv

This site is another one of the Web 2.0 sites which make a mark on the net. It allows streaming of videos online direct from your device, and know what, its all for Free. You just need to sign up with them, and you'll be broadcasting an online stream in no time. The streaming quality is reported to be fairly good

Hope you guys enjoy the sites. Do send in a feedback if you find something to say about.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Wake up and Shout

Hii
Here's an experience i'd like to share it with all of you. An incident, which inspires.

In the past couple of weeks, i was flooded with promotional messages of various products and various political candidates contesting the Lok Sabha(The Indian National Assembly), and these messages had almost taken my peace of mind. In every halk hour, my phone used to get 4-5 such messages. I was really getting irritated. At some occasions, even my phone got hung that bad the situation went. And all because of this message sending. All this was happening even though i had registered for the Do Not Disturb registry set up by the Govt. Of India.

I called up the customer care on how to tackle this. They gave me incorrect information many a times to mislead me, or to somehow get rid of me. This was something they didn't want to tackle. After a few days of call, they eventually blocked my calls to their call centres - a bonanza to me for being a Vodafone user.

Here's the number i've been getting irritated with.

+919246255009
+919247055007

All Tata numbers. Google these phone numbers and you'll understand how much of a nuisance they are.


So i finally decided to write to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India - TRAI , the big daddy of all telecom companies, the authority who looks after the consumers. I mailed to the greiverence cell regarding the matter. I did send a copy of it to the nodal officer, to whom i've roughly written half a dozen times in my 6 month long stay with Vodafone. The very next day, i'm flooded with calls from the nodal office. And these calls keep on coming for two days, such is the fear of TRAI.

They told me that they had set up a special helpline for such telemarketing issues. 1909 was the number. Its toll free. Every telecom company has been ordered by the TRAI to constitute such a cell meant only for such complains. And companies dont promote them, because that'll mean more staff needed for attending calls, and they dont want to shell out money for that.

So if any of you have any issues regarding telemarketing, or any promotinal messages and calls, call 1909, and register the complaint. That will do everything.

So how many of you knew that 1909 could be used to make calls ?

Vote .... Or ...... Vaat

The biest question on this plabet

To vote.....or not to vote

Stars,All the big names come out everyday and ask us to vote.....but still we don't . Why ?? Is it because we aren't good citizens, or we're so lazy in finding out who's going out with whom, that we dont have time for that. Paris Hilton is one star who campaigned for P.Diddy's Vote or Die , and herself didn't vote. So why didn't she commit sucide.....cuz she's goin to be dead soon because of drunk driving and alcoholicism. Such a shame....a hotel heiress didn't vote ..... and she knows that this hospitality industry , a part of the tourism industry , which depends on the policies of the Goverment, forms an important factor in the victory of a party. Shame on them. Mass boycott would only do with them.

And as for me, i'm still struggling with inefficiencies in the system. I went to the polling staton to find out that i'm not registered there, though i've submitted two applications. Also, the candidates in my new constitency, ie South Delhi , is full of lousie guys, i somewhat feel better than for voting for them.

Whats your say, did you vote.....or got Vaat !

An Ode To my School....Memories

Recently, a few weeks back, i visited the JSS academy of Technical Educatiom, Noida - one of the prime engineering institutions in India. And since i've visited there, i've been missing my school quite bddy. My school - Apee jay School, Sheikh Sarai, was one of the best, that i've realised . I was in JSS for their technical festival, and saw that the platform we had was unparalled,great.
Apeejay, i thank you for all the great days we used to have !! We miss u a lot.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Porduct Revew - Pocketsurfer 2




Hi
I recently had an opportunity to lay my hands on the new pocketsurfer2 for a short duration, the so claimed fastest mobile web browsing device. This quad band device did some wonderful time calculated browsing, enough to make me happy.
In India, where broadband seems restricted only to desktops(though 3g is here, its penetration is too less), pocketsurfer did amaze me to provide great web browsing at an amazing speed.

I tried opening the blog from this handheld device,and it took around 11 seconds to completely open the page(and they claim it opens pages within 7 seconds). Disappointingly, it wasn't able to open the flash based widgets on the page(like the clock). The graphic functionality was quite full, except the scripts were not being executed properly(not surprising, looking at the fact that the scripts function well only in a few highly upgraded systems..... a rarity in this nation). Infact, it wasn't able to open any Youtube video. Well, thats quite shocking for such a device, as even devices like the Blackberry Storm opn such petty things.

Here are the technical specifications for the device

Quad Band GPRS - 850/900/1800/1900
GPS location information
Internal High performance antenna(yeah, 11 secs for my blog, N82 takes more than 15secs)
Transreflective 640x420 Backlit display(whatever, didnt find anything that diverting)
Full querty backlit keyboard
Weight 174 Grams(uh-oh, actually seems more when held)
4 hours active usage, 4 days standby
6.00"x3.98"x0.6"
Doesn't reformat web pages(didn't browse anything that needed reformatting, the youtube site didnt pop the video)

At Rs12000(roughly 250US$, looking they still want Rs99/month fore unlimited surfing), it isn;t a preferable buy if its less than a necessity for you. But if it is, try opting for a smarter device like the Blackberry Curve, which costs somewhere nearby, but works a bit slower , or go for a second hand Nokia communicator, which costs roughly the same, and an unlimited data plan, which'll do the same.

What your say on this, is teh Pocketsurfer2 that good??