Variant Day

Reflection.js: Blogger implementation

2008-04-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

Reflection.js is a cool script to add reflection to your images. See it in action [here].

Generally, to enable reflection one has to add class=reflect to each of the img tags in your post. Now, we can't go back and change this on all the posts that we're been putting up for years, can we? Moreover, we wouldn't want this class attribute to be part of the feed that we're syndicating - how will the poor RSS readers know what this class means?

To obviate this issue, here is a enableReflect.js implementation that adds the class attribute at the time of page load and triggers reflection after that. Thus, the reflection feature becomes a part of the website meta-data and is not tightly coupled with the site posts themselves. Additionally, if you want to remove this feature or want to change to something new that comes up in the future, all you'll need to do is to change the blog template!

To have reflection on all your blogger posts, have these two lines before </head> tag in your blogger template.

<script src='http://location/reflection.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://location/enableReflect.js' type='text/javascript'/>

That’s it, just these two lines...no other changes :)

Get your copy of enableReflect.js from here:

EDIT: just add this line and you're done :)

<script src='http://divyaratna.googlepages.com/ReflectOneZ1.js' type='text/javascript'/>

If u like it, please send me a note. If you don't, then let me know why? (ya, really!)

Cheers,
Div

Updates:
-removed alt text that was previously added.
-Updated the string above: the tag values are enclosed in single quotes (not backquotes). Each line ends with a />. This makes it XML compliant for blogger.
-Hosted the javascript file in my Google pages account. The reflection 1.9 code is embedded in the blogger code.

BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer System) fails to run on Windows Vista. This causes Windows Update to fail.

2007-08-09T03:01:00.000-07:00

Problem:

BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer System) fails to run on Windows Vista. This causes Windows Update to fail.

Symptoms:

· Recurring popup mentioning the following: "Background Intelligent Transfer Service has stopped working".
· "ERROR MESSAGE: Host Process for Windows Services stopped working and was closed"
· Windows Aero stops working
· Event log has this message: Faulting application svchost.exe_BITS …

Solution:

"The host process for Windows Services stops working after you download Microsoft updates on a computer that is running Windows Vista" - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940520

References on the web:

· http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsupdate&tid=c1f9eb6d-ca9d-4dba-9850-31f075dc5273&p=1
· http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/troubleshooting/
· "How to troubleshoot definition update issues for Windows Defender" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918355
· "Bitsadmin /util /repairservice" http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/2ac7baeb-4340-4186-bfcb-66478195378d1033.mspx?mfr=true
· http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/30432569/host-process-for-windows.aspx
· http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/29443393/background-intelligent-tr.aspx
· http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1952648&SiteID=1
· http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1850978&SiteID=17
· http://help.lockergnome.com/vista/Problem-successful-install-ftopict1067.html
· http://help.wugnet.com/vista/Host-Process-Windows-Services-stopped-working-closed-ftopict68623.html
· "Background Intelligent Transfer Service" - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa362827.aspx
· http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=27378
· http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/necessary_files/30-Background%20Intelligent%20Transfer%20Service%20(BITS).html
· "How to troubleshoot definition update issues for Windows Defender" - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918355
· "List of known issues for Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)" - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331716
· "Update Available for the Background Intelligent Transfer Service" - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314862/EN-US

Tags:

BITS
"Background Intelligent Transfer System"
Windows Vista
bitsadmin
Bitsadmin /util /repairservice /force
-------------------------------------------

Did this solve your issue? If it did, please leave a message here...Thanks in advance :)

Microsoft Surface

2007-05-30T04:56:00.001-07:00

You must check this out!

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

Blade Runner - Director's cut

2007-04-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

I remember watching Blade Runner not so very long ago. It was the International DVD version. And I saw the same movie again, but this time the Director's cut. I just pause and wonder - how can the same movie leave such a radically different impression based on the edition of the movie?

The first time I watched it, the movie felt so mind-numbing. As most would agree, the voice-over was like feeding humans intravenously to keep them alive for power. What intrigued me this time though was the way the director crafted the movie. As this wasn't the 'public' release, the director took the liberty to flow with the story and expect the audience to follow through. Also, the movie is presented to a mature audience, one who appreciates cyberpunk, dystopian society and anti-utopianism (which is how future is presented in many of the si-fi movies).

Another absorbing ingredient in this edition was the delicious use of what I call forward-references. These are markers in the movie that are laid down and tell you, 'Now hold that thought, you'll get all your pieces later'. These wonderful references are what make a movie wonderful to watch the second time around - the second pass (sorry, couldn't resist :)

Finally, the remarkable scintillating facet of the movie is using 'suspension of belief' turned around and staring you back at your face. After having watched so many movies riddled with flaws, one has his /her guard down when another story fact happens to be wrong. What if the director intended the flaw to be there? What if the lapse is not a mistake? That definitely makes one sit up and notice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV5qKL36aEQ - The happy ending, ha!

http://www.blade-runner.it/versioni-e.html - the various versions of the movie

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/825641.stm - BBC article: Blade Runner riddle solved

Joost - Beta Review

2007-04-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Joost is an Internet based IPTV delivery platform that started as "The Venice Project" in 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost). It uses something called as "P2PTV" to deliver content among it's users (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P2PTV). I had nominated myself as a public beta user for this product many months ago and got my invitation yesterday. So, here are some of the observations of Joost:

-It works on Vista. Although this is not mentioned in the documentation, it's a really good thing for a product that is planning to go public in 2007.

-I had some issues getting the app to work initially - there was an error message that indicated trouble connecting to the network. However there was no option to set network settings anywhere - like set proxy etc. When I tried using Joost later, it mysteriously started working fine.

-Joost needs a user to login from it's interface to get started. The account setup process is a breeze and one can be done from inside the UI.

- Joost can be used either in a full screen app or in a window. In the full screen app, there are controls on all four sides. The channel/volume controls are at the bottom. All the content here is on-demand and there doesn't seem to be any 'live' service.

-Video quality is quite variable - some channels are really jerky with frame-drops and audio-drops, others were remarkably good. Video startup time is between 3 and 10 seconds. Seeks times are same as the startup times.

-The UI is really cool. Channels are organized by category, and programs are placed under these channels.

-One really fancy feature is the ability to chat with friends from inside the interface. Also, one can chat with people watching the current show.

-Ads are placed inline in video programs. However, I don't think different ads can be placed for the same show when watched at different times/by different people.

-Joost used up ~170MB while running, which is not really that bad.

In summary, I think that Joost has a good potential to act as a secondary TV viewing platform and since it uses P2PTV technology it will not have troubles scaling. As more people adopt Joost, the video and audio quality will incrementally get better.

Tickets to the Stephen Hawking talk

2007-04-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

If you are at all interested in physics, this may turn out to be one of the most fascinating events in recent memory. A very rare chance to hear Stephen Hawking in person that may never come again, plus a lot of hands on experiments to try for adults and kids.

http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/etanya/physicsfestival/index.htm

Ek Lamhe Mein Simat Aaya Hai Sadiyon Ka Safar

2007-02-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

Ek Lamhe Mein Simat Aaya Hai Sadiyon Ka Safar
Zindagi Tej Bahut Tej Chali Ho Jaise

Koyi Fariyaad Tere Dil Mein Dabi Ho Jaise
Koyi Fariyaad Tere Dil Mein Dabi Ho Jaise
Tune Aankhon Se Koyi Baat Kahi Ho Jaise
Jaagte Jaagte Ek Umr Kati Ho Jaise
Jaagte Jaagte Ek Umr Kati Ho Jaise
Jaan Baaki Hai Magar Saas Ruki Ho Jaise

Jaanta Hoon Aapko Sahare Ki Zarurat Nahin
Main Sirf Saath Dene Aaya Hoon

Har Mulaakat Pe Mehsoos Yehi Hota Hai
Har Mulaakat Pe Mehsoos Yehi Hota Hai
Mujhse Kuch Teri Nazar Pooch Rahi Ho Jaise

Raah Chalte Huve Aksar Yeh Ghumaan Hota Hai
Raah Chalte Huve Aksar Yeh Ghumaan Hota Hai
Woh Nazar Chupke Mujhe Dekh Rahi Ho Jaise
Woh Nazar Chupke Mujhe Dekh Rahi Ho Jaise

Ek Lamhe Mein Simat Aaya Hai Sadiyon Ka Safar
Ek Lamhe Mein Simat Aaya Hai Sadiyon Ka Safar
Zindagi Tej Bahut Tej Chali Ho Jaise
Zindagi Tej Bahut Tej Chali Ho Jaise

Is Tarah Pehron Tujhe Sochta Rehta Hoon Main
Is Tarah Pehron Tujhe Sochta Rahta Hoon Main
Meri Har Saas Tere Naam Likhi Ho Jaise
Meri Har Saas Tere Naam Likhi Ho Jaise

Koyi Fariyaad Tere Dil Mein Dabi Ho Jaise
Tune Aankhon Se Koyi Baat Kahi Ho Jaise
Jaagte Jaagte Ek Umr Kati Ho Jaise

Literally the longest day of my life!

2007-02-18T21:35:00.000-08:00

It feels weird to be served three breakfasts in a day. Each of them about six hours apart. If that's not all, how about witnessing two sunrises on the same day! One can just bask in the marvel of modern transport.

A very popular adage back home recounts that an overseas trip means crossing seven seas. How many did I cross (or went over)? Join me in the count - Aral Sea, Caspian Sea, North Sea, Celtic Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Labrador Sea, Lake Michigan - that's seven!

Expanding the realm of one's comfort zone

2007-01-30T02:43:00.000-08:00

All of us have created a sphere of convenience around us. You, me, we all spend most of our time inside this comfort zone. This is a safe place. Here we engage ourselves in repetitive daily tasks - the tasks that we are proficient in. This is a familiar place and we feel at ease taking the beaten path.

This sphere of convenience gets built all along our lives. It begins with early childhood and is developed during initial schooling, from the culture at home and in the environment where we grow up, while pursuing higher education, with the company of friends, at the workplace, et al. What is vital to observe is that the rate of expansion of this sphere is not constant during this period. The sphere grows in increments - something like a jagged curve. A line of best fit would have a higher positive slope during the formative years than during the later years after completing education and after settling down at the workplace. This slope is a good measure of the development of a person's personality.

As you would have realized during the above description, the growth of this realm is not entirely an externally triggered event. It is very much possible to provide a upward fillip to the slope of the curve. I'm sure you can come up with a list of such empowering activities that suite your taste and needs. Some means of accelerating the multi-directional expansion of this sphere include: challenging oneself, developing a quest for the limits of one's potential, building the energy and passion to venture beyond the safely of one's nest, etc.

Like all goals, this too has a 'as measured by' component. When we cross the threshold of comfort we instinctively get that feeling of adrenalin rush. It is not a feeling which can be missed or mistook for something else.

When people say that we should live life on the edge, it is this edge of the sphere that they are talking about. Feel it. Live it.

Happy Republic Day

2007-01-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

Some Useful Links...

2007-01-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

Scenario: Need a floppy drive on your system? It could be for reasons like creating a boot floppy, or if an application would write only to a floppy drive.

For such cases use the Virtual Floppy Drive from here

Scenario: Need a bootable floppy for an older version of Windows?

Use an image from FreePCTech using this link

What does Apple have up its sleeve?

2007-01-04T05:40:00.000-08:00

We all know the stuff Apple delivers when it talks about its 'One Last Thing'. And now we have a bold insignia depicting the sunrise of the company right at its homepage. And this comes at a time when the company has been proclaimed as the most innovative company of all!

This message has got the rumor mills running in full throttle - just do an internet search. Although no one knows for certain what is coming, I love the feeling in the air that this company has created around it.

What a coincidence?

2006-11-17T04:59:00.000-08:00

Intel stock rises by .007 on Nov 17th!

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700

2006-11-03T00:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/11/02/intel_core_2_extreme_qx6700/10.html

I think it is clear that quad-core is not for everyone at this moment in time, and that is exaggerated even more when you consider that the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is going to retail for somewhere north of £650 including VAT. When you consider that a Core 2 Duo E6600 is going to be more than enough for most people at around 1/3 of the price of the QX6700, it becomes even harder to recommend the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 right now.

That’s not to say that the product doesn’t show us some potential though. The problem that we see is that software needs to take the time to catch up, and in particular games need to move to a parallel programming model – this is especially true because Intel is marketing its first quad-core chip under its Extreme ‘gamer’ moniker. We know that anticipated titles like Crysis and Alan Wake are going to make heavy use of multiple cores, but they are both still some time away.

How do i disable 3rd party cookies in firefox 2.0?

2006-11-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

open a tab in firefox 2 and type about:config go down to the line network.cookie.cookieBehavior and right click the line and click modify and change it to 1 then Only cookies from the originating server are allowed means no third party just do a search on google for firefox about:config tweaks and you should find what your looking for like on mozillazine has it too

Tanker Explosion

2006-09-26T19:59:00.000-07:00


A video from SpikeTV of a wrecked tanker in asia, that was carrying styrene and explodes...

Live Till I Die

2006-08-31T22:46:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna live till I die
I'm gonna laugh stead of cry
I'm gonna take the town turn it upside down
I'm gonna live, live, live until I die

They're gonna say what a guy
I'm gonna play for the sky
Ain't gonna miss a thing,gonna have my fling
I'm gonna live live live until I die

Those blues I lay low, I'll make them stay low
They'll never trail over my head
I'll be a devil till I'm an angel
But until then Hallelujah
Gonna dance gonna fly
I'll take my chance riding high
Before my numbers up I'm gonna fill my cup
I'm gonna live, live, live until I die

Those blues I lay low,I'll make them stay low
They'll never trail over my head
I'll be a devil till I'm an angel
But until then Hallelujah
Gonna dance gonna fly
I'll take my chance riding high
Before my numbers up I'm gonna fill my cup
I'm gonna live, live, live, live until I die

Technically Correct!

2006-08-10T02:38:00.000-07:00

I was really surprised when I came across these lines in a very formal document:

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
RFC 2119.

There actually is an RFC that defines these terms as they SHOULD be interpreted!!

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt

My Love Songs' Collection.

2006-07-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

[General]

I'm sure all of us have some songs that are truly special :) Here's my list...

My love songs' collection:

Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing.mpg
Az Yet & Peter Cetera - Hard to Say I'm Sorry
Barry Manalow - Memories
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings
Billy Joel - Just The Way You Are
Bobby Vinton - Sealed With A Kiss
Boys II Men - I Swear
Boys II Men - Water Runs Dry
Boyzone - Love me for a reason
Boyzone - Words
Brian Mcnight - Back at One
Bryan Adams - Everything I Do I Do It For You
Bryan Adams - Heaven
Bryan Adams - I Will Be Right Here Waiting For You
Bryan Adams - Please Forgive Me
Bryan Adams - Spirit Soundtrack - 08 - Here I Am
Bryan Adams - Straight From The Heart
Bryan Adams - When You Really Love a Woman
Carpenters - Top Of The World
Celine Dion - Because You Loved Me
Celine Dion - To Love You More
Celine Dione - Wind Beneath My Wings
Chicago Hard To Say Im Sorry
Conair - How Do I Live Without You - Trisha Yearwood
Elvis Presley - Unchained Melody
Extreme - More Than Words
Faith Hill & Vince Gill - Let Me Let Go
George Michael - Last_Christmas_-_Wham
John Denver - Annie's Song
Jon Bon Jovi - Always
Karaoke - Whitney Houston - Saving All My Love For You
Karen Carpenter - Cant Smile Without You
Keith Sweat - How Deep Is Your Love
Lionel Richie - Hello
Lionel Ritchie - Hello
Lobo - I Love You to Want Me
Memory - From Broadway Musical Cats
Michael Bolton & Kenny G - Missing You Now
Michael Bolton - Butterfly Kisses
Michael Bolton - Can I Touch You There
Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed To Live Without You
Michael Bolton - How Can We Be Lovers
Michael Bolton - Lean On Me
Michael Bolton - Said I Loved You But I Lied
Michael Bolton - To Love Somebody
Michael Bolton - When A Man Loves A Woman
Michael bolton - Only A Woman Like You
Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin (1)
Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin
Nat King Cole - When I Fall in Love
Notting Hill - When You Say Nothing At All
Paint My Love
Phantom of the Opera - All I Ask Of You (michael crawford,sarah
Phil Collins - Can't Stop Loving You
Richard Marx - Endless Summer Nights
Richard Marx - Hold On To The Night
Richard Marx - Right Here Waiting
Richard Marx - Should've Known Better
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman-Something Stupid
Rod Stewart - Have I Told You Lately
Ronan Keating & Boyzone - Notting Hill - When You Say Nothing at
Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply
Savage Garden- I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You
Shanai Twain - From This Moment
Slow songs - Bryan Adams - When You Love Someone (Hope Floats).m
Stevie Wonder - I Just Called To Say I Love You
Sting - Every Breath You Take
The Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Tony Rich Project - Nobody Knows It But Me
Troggs - Love Is All Around
U2 - Unchained Melody
UB40 - Can't help falling in Love
UB40 - Way You Do The Things You Do
Van Morrison & The Chieftans & Sinead O Conner - Have I Told You
Wham - Careless Whisper
Wham - Last Christmas
Whitney Houston - I will always love you
barry white - just the way you are
bee gees - how deep is your love
elton john - nikita (1)
love songs - Celine Dion&R Kelly I'm YourAngel
love songs - Take My Breath Away
modern talking - let's talk about love
rem - love is all around
richard marx - How Do You Talk To An Angel
stevie wonder - i just called to say i love you (1)

And there are a few more...

[biz] The business of 'Vicarious Experiences'.

2006-07-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

The activities that evoke indirect-feelings constitute the business of 'Vicarious Experiences' (VE). Say, we are watching a TV documentary on travel to an exotic place, like Malaysia. While watching, we are actually living the experience of travel and exploration of that place. We are seeing the whole episode as a view from our eyes and feeling the locations & the beautiful locales. All this, albeit vicariously. The industry catering to delivering such experiences is the topic of this write-up.

There are many types of activities that we might site as examples of this VE industry - television, movie, non-technical print material (including magazines, novels, etc), computer games, online worlds like Second Life, and so on. Then there is a contrasting industry - the industry of 'Direct Experiences' (DE). This includes activities like, travel, outdoor activities (trekking, rock-climbing, surfing, etc), holidaying, shopping, et al. We can see a pattern in the kinds of activities that classify under these industry types. If the experience comes to us, then it is VE. This delivery could be facilitated by various sources - TV, print media & the Internet. When we go out and seek the experience, it is DE.

In my opinion, the VE industry is set for a boom. The various reasons for this are:
Possibility: Many of the experiences delivered by VE is just not possible otherwise. Say, a moonwalk, playing in the national cricket team or being a celebrity. VE delivers a simulated environment to live these activities in the comfort of our homes.
Affordability: Many of the VE activities might not be affordable my the majority of the masses. Something like, around the world travel or living an exuberant lifestyle.
Safety: Some VE activities might just not be safe. Or they might be very inconvenient. Take parachuting for instance, how many people are in the right physical/mental fitness to try it out first hand? For this majority, such experiences are best enjoyed at the safety of our couch.
'Time for only a quick bite' lifestyle: Given our new-age metropolitan lifestyle, how many people can take the time out to experience the DE activities. In this age of instant gratification, VE is like fast food.
Communication v/s commutation: And then there is this age old conflict - Is it easier to communicate the feelings than to commute to a place to experience it. As the means of communication become more efficient, greater amount of VE industries would proliferate.

The future: pseudo-realism
The quest is on to make our VE more and more real. When we go out to a multiplex and enjoy a movie in a rich and appealing environment we are experiencing a quasi-DE. Or take 3D movies with 7.1 Dolby surround sound - they are just like being in the movie! The growth in the field of Virtual Reality should provide more of such realistic experiences. All said, the business of touching people's hearts is going to continue by leaps and bounds.

[Perz] We are the champions!

2006-07-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it-
I thank you all -

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race -
And I ain't gonna lose -

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

[Perz] A day of fiesta!

2006-07-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

Waves, sun 'n fun :)

[Perz] Caught Napping!

2006-06-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

AARGH!!! Who took this pic!!! Beta...ek baar tu mere haanth lag jaa!! :)

[Personal] Lassoed!!!

2006-06-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

I thought this would happen one day. One day, someone would be there, with a bag-full of weird questions - ready to hurl them at me… Oh YES!! I've been TAGGED :)

Before I delve into answering the tag-questions, lemme share with you some moments from yesteryears that are making me nostalgic. It was long back…seems like eons now. My tenth' days. During those days, there were no blogs, no myspace or orkut, not even emails. There was something really wonderful - a slam book :) Almost everyone had one - and all of us had to have entries from everyone else. We were a really tight group - the entire class. The slam books are the memoirs of the glorious innocent days.

Scene Change. Back to the present.

Common', bring it on…

Name six things/ behaviours / habits that bother you in a person

Ok… in no particular order:

I detest people that are shabbily dressed.

People who don't know how to converse

Poseurs

People who don't have that spark

People who are not at peace with themselves or those given into incessant cribbing

People with loads of attitude who are actually hollow within.

Name six places you dream of visiting on a vacation

Revisit my native place and catch up with all the relatives.

The Alps - for the snow capped mountains

Mauritius, Malaysia, Gold Coast - for the beaches. Prefer to reach there on a cruise ship.

Egypt - for the camel ride to the pyramids

African Safari - the real thing

On a plane, 10,000ft high - for the thrill of skydiving :)

Name 6 things you would like to do/ accomplish by next year

Learn to swim, Learn Salsa & Learn a new language ….French

Finish my list of books - more than 30 books in there

Reconnect with old friends and bond stronger with the current ones

Get a patent

Continue to discover myself

Love and be loved in return - the greatest thing :) (Ref: Nature Boy)

Name six things people would be surprised to know about you

My pet name is after a German Indologist - Max Mueller

I can hold my breath for 90 seconds

I can say Z to A in 3 seconds. (and all letters in between ;)

I was a young scientist - even before I was 10, my research on the effects of peeing on a plant was complete. BTW, I found out that they die!

I'm good at crafts - had developed lots of items during school days. Now, a bit rusty :)

I struggled my way thru Sanskrit classes - it was like I was in a Greek class!

[Tech] Get the Yahoo Mail Beta

2006-06-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

The following steps would get you the cool new Yahoo mail Beta interface:

* log in to Yahoo Mail
* click Options
* select Account information from the left panel
* go to Member Information, General Preferences, Preferred Content
* select, for example, Yahoo UK
* click Finished
* go to Yahoo Mail
* you'll see a page that says "It's the New Yahoo! Mail Beta... and you're invited."
* click on "Try Beta Now".

Source: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/04/get-yahoo-mail-beta.html

[Biz] Micro-outsourcing: The next big frontier

2006-05-31T04:01:00.000-07:00

Being in Bangalore, I am fortunate to be able to see the outsourcing juggernaut in my backyard. Palpable changes have happened here in real estate, tech placements, number of back-office shops, number of off-shore units and the number of skilled professionals - now with over a decade of real IT experience. The current model of outsourcing isn't new to anyone - order procurement, setting up of delivery framework and execution on the guidelines of international standards. This model has reaped dividends for numerous companies here - resulting in copious cash flows into the city. While this model has served well to the affluent foreign companies, it does not scale-down for the SME/SOHO companies, who may not have the financial muscle to setup an outsourcing unit.

One solution was proposed to address the concerns of this category of companies: B2B. But then, that was pre-boom time. And after the shakeout, the word itself is laced with disdain. The vehicle for implementing B2B doesn't exist anymore - it probably would never work in its original avatar. Even then, the needs of small units for outsourcing are real. They seek setting up outsourced entities with a handful of people. Their only restraint is the entry-barrier of setting these small entities. Setting up one of these would involve renting out space, recruitment, training, setting & measuring performance and managing the operations of the unit.

Are we looking at a problem here, or an opportunity?

This is where micro-outsourcing could serve the needs. This business model would consists of, an aggregator service - to collect the requirements of the small outsourcers and refine them at the point of entry, on-site processing of the requirements as an isolated unit - like planning out a project, off-shoring and meshing up with all the other requests - like processing the order in juxtaposition with the others and then dispatch and execution. You're right if u found a striking similarity of this model with SCM - u can call it the intellectual SCM.

Like always, the real challenge is in developing a working model and then going on to execute it. This implementation would not only require a mashup of existing business ideas, but also provides an opportunity to create entirely new ones to address this unique scenario.

[Tech] Google Email Hosting

2006-05-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, first the news… I'm now a part of the Google domain email beta testing program. (https://www.google.com/hosted/)

It all began, thanks to GoogleWatchers - I think there's a need to coin a term here. GoogleWatchers are those Google aficionados who watch every move the Mountain View -based company makes. Whenever there's a public service launch or a beta group is invited to participate in one of Google's programs, these GoogleWatchers are there.

When the Google domain email hosting service was launched, it was splashed across many GoogleWatcher's blogs. Since I was involved in maintaining a domain, I thought about giving it a shot. Actually, I was already using a customized version of Google-for-your-domain-email. I've redirected all the emails I've created to individual gmail accounts and activated the 'send mail as' feature (that's tucked under Settings>Accounts). Thus, when an email is sent to an @domain address, it first goes to the hosting server. The email forwarder there sends the mail to a gmail account. When someone needs to reply to this email, it would seem coming from the domain email address and not someone@gmail.com. This completes the cycle of email communication. There is only one thing I need to regularly take care of - manually clearing the mails from my hosted server. A copy of all emails is stored on the Domain space and needs clearing manually - probably this is a hosting service limitation.

So, when I start using the gmail hosted email solution, first, I'd have 1 GB space for all my users. Second, no more manual clearing of mails would be required (search, don't sort :). And, the Google dashboard interface is a lot slicker that the cranky one offered by my hosting provider.

For activities like managing domain emails, convenience is the mantra. And Google seems to know it well! What do we have next… Web hosting? (http://pages.google.com)

[Book] The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

2006-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

This well researched and insightful book by Thomas Friedman is a must-read by every person who feels that the world has changed significantly in the last few years and wants to fully comprehend what this change has been and how one can benefit from the new world.

This book helped me understand many modern concepts, including:
Globalization 3.0
The coefficient of flatness
Insourcing
Triple Convergence
Free trade theory of comparative advantage
Fungible and non-fungible work
Versatilist
Corporate Citizenship
Reform Retail
Glocalize
Micromultinationals
Social Entrepreneurship
Demand Shaping

[Tech] Our Interner Explorers are vulnerable to phising attacks

2006-04-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

I tried this browser test - and to my amazement my Internet Explorer 'IS' vulnerable...

U can try it for urself: http://secunia.com/Internet_Explorer_Address_Bar_Spoofing_Vulnerability_Test/

And I tried it in Firefox too....and its rock steady. Are u still making up ur mind to switch over...wait no more :)

[Tech] Site to visit: co.mments.com

2006-03-24T02:09:00.000-08:00

Another brilliant idea grabbed away. Well partially... I thought it would be great to be able to track all the comments you've made on friend's posts and view comments on comments et al. Before seriously thinking about setting a "startup" to develop this I researched the net a little. And to my surprise, i'm not the first guy to come up with this idea. There's co.mments.com!

This is a pretty neat site which allows you to choose posts which u wish to track. Why don't u visit it and write what u felt about it here...

Links:
http://co.mments.com/
http://co.mments.com/account/tools
http://co.mments.com/track

B'bye
Div

[Tech] Google Pages

2006-03-22T00:12:00.000-08:00

Finally google has sent me a link to create pages at 'Google Pages'. I tried this new service. The webpage creation process is really simple and fast. And there is 100MB of space available. Pretty cool, eh :)

Please check out my page at http://divyaratna.googlepages.com/ while I try to discover newer features.

Ciao

[Personal] Rang Barse....

2006-03-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

Wish u all a very happy and colorful holi

Are ja re hat natkhat , na chhoo re mera ghoonghat ,
palat ke doongi aaj aisi gali re, mujhe samjho na tum bholi bhali re ...

Aaya holi ka tyohar, ude rang ki bauchhar
tu hai nar nakhredar matwali re, aaj meethi lage hai teri gali re ...

[Tech] Linux v/s Windows

2006-03-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

On one of the discussion forums I saw this question: Can Linux beat Windows? Here is my take on the raging OS war:

This is a very open-ended question and the discussion can be turned either way - all depends on the perspective of a person. I've been a Windows user since the days of Win3.1 and Linux since Redhat 6. I had the opportunity to see both the sides of each of the OSes. I'd like to answer the Windows v/s Linux question from multiple perspectives.

Developer:
Linux leads - because of its open nature. Lots of documentation is available. Most important of all, it is taught as a formal course in Engineering colleges.

Professional Developer:
Windows. Look at the wide array of professional development suites - VC++, VB, .NET Platform (C#, VB.NET, VC++.NET, ASP.NET). These suites are fast, efficient and developer friendly. I think even Java/J2EE development happens mostly on Windows (okay, Java runs on Linux too, but u know...)

Consumer Usability:
This one should go to the Mac, but since that's not a contender, the next choice obviously is Windows. Windows is so simple to use. Just point and click. Even a relative newbie can jumpstart in no time. And the usability model is highly streamlined. Unlike Linux, where many operations (!) require using the terminal to operate with. And XFree86 sucks. It is a huge memory hog (did i hear someone say Linux and 4MB, please come again) and painfully slow. Linux is best operated from the init3 mode. And Linux users have such airs - they get their kicks by looking down on Windows users (ok, some of them). I've seen many improvements in RH10, but even then Windows is a clear leader here.

Reliability:
Linux has a clear lead. Linux powered servers can run for years without a second of downtime. Windows is popular for its three finger vulcan salute :)

Maintenance:
Windows - so easy to keep up to date. RH10 had some similar features but I'm mot sure if its really simple to keep updated. And installing any software is such a pain on Linux. Even when using rpms (did u say build from source?). Try and install, then it'll point to some obscure .o file. And then go hunting for some rpm which has that one and install (unless this one too is dependent on something else!).

Applications' Base:
Windows is the king. So many apps - office tools, productivity tools, professional tools, games and other thousands of cool tools. Many commercial Linux apps have been developed but most are still academic. This is the most important reason that Windows reigns.

Overall Verdict: There is no overall verdict. Each of the perspectives have their own winners. And it wouldn't be fair to compare dissimilar facets of the operating system. Windows leads on many counts but Linux too leads on some. The next fight would be on Vista grounds. We'll have to wait and see how Linux takes on this new avatar.

[Biz] Union Budget 2006 - A perspective review

2006-02-28T00:54:00.000-08:00

The Union Budget of 2006 has been a mix of highs and lows. When Chidambram quoted Charles Dickens' - 'the best of times and the worst of times' for the time the country is going through, he also set the stage of the upcoming budget too. In this small review, I present the budget from my perspective - proposals that would affect me personally. As a typified professional working in a large corporation, this probably would be how many of my colleagues would be affected too.

First the highs - the country is doing well with a GDP of 8%+. Completion of 96% of the Golden Quadrilateral would give the required shot in the arm to the ailing infrastructure. Manufacturing sector shows signs of recovery at 9.4%. Some semblance is likely for the residents of Bangalore as the metro rail project gets a nod. To ensure that the stock markets keep chugging at their current pace, FII investments have been increased from $1.75B to $2B. VAT has been a success in the previous year and will now be implemented in other states too. And goods are likely to get cheaper due to reduction in customs, import and excise duties for a broad spectrum of products.

For the salaried class, the 1/6 rule for filing taxes has been abolished. The tax rates will remain the same. In this I feel PC has taken the 'why fix something that's nor broken' approach. There's one important proposal in this budget that's likely to pinch all our pockets - service tax has been hiked from 10% to 12%. Since this tax applies to a wide variety of services, most of us will be directly affected. The finance minister has indicated his proclivity for savings - he's exempted long term FD from income tax.

In my personal opinion, this budget is likely to increase the cost of services but decrease the cost of goods. I hope the service tax increase and the VAT/duty combination balance each other out. We shall see the effects of this budget unfolding in the coming months.

[Personal] Cute Children and History!

2006-02-21T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends,

Sometimes something happen during the day that changes the entire course of events. Something that brings a smile on your face, a smile that lasts all day. That event needn't be really big or significant… it could be just something cute. Today, i came across this small video on our corporate site. Its about children and history. Children definitely are ineffable, so lovely and beyond expression. And they are at their best when that talk in their sweet voices. Here's the video. I'd be glad if this made your day too…lemme know :)

(Opens in a new window)

PS: Legal, if you are reading this and don't want me to put this wonderful video out for the world, just mail me on my corporate id. Rest, please enjoy :)

[Personal] I Carry Your Heart with Me

2006-02-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

I carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere i go you go,my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

-- E. E. Cummings

[Personal] Split Second Decision

2006-02-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

It was Tuesday night. I was traveling home, taking the normal route. It was a relatively cool night. There weren't many vehicles on the road and I was having a smooth cruise. The wind was fresh with the aroma of the night. The cool air had me enveloped in its folds. It was making that distinctive mild whistle as I steered back home. Just then I noticed a Santro had pulled over about fifty meters ahead. It had its emergency lights on and the hatchback was open. In the dim golden street-light, I could see the figure of a girl standing beside the open hatchback. As I approached the vehicle, I saw her trying to work her way towards the tyre kept there. I couldn't see the girl in that light, but only saw a figure in the backdrop of those yellow-orange emergency lights going on and off periodically. By then I had just passed the car. It took me two seconds to realize that her car needed a tyre change and she probably needed help. With my speed, I had reached 100 meters ahead of the car and then decided to turn back. One U-turn and then another, I came back to the spot where the car was. But now, from a distance I could see more than just a figure, there were three. As I approached I saw figures of two men, probably passersbys, removing the tyre. I was happy that she'd got some help. And I decided to move on...

It was still fifteen minutes to reach home. As I reflected upon the incident and how I reacted to it, I wondered… why did it take me that two seconds to come to a decision? It definitely was thinking from the gut. But not my usual instinct…which is way faster than that. I realized that sometimes we don't have the time to weigh all the possibilities before we make up our minds. Sometimes the rational process is too slow to handle situations. Sometimes we just need to let go and judge on instinct. This event made me conscious of this fact and I think that split second is very important. I know now and am working towards it.

[Personal] Weekend Movies...

2006-02-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

If you've seen the latest MI3 trailer and wondered who the lavishing lady is, then you should watch 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'! Michelle Monaghan, the leading lady, doles out a multitude of emotions well - from a bubbly girl to a smoldering seductress. This movie would form a good prologue to the Tom Cruise movie.

Overall the movie is ok, and at times I was reminded of the Pikies in Brad Pitt starrer Snatch. These two have a similar style - broken story lines, gaps in the narration - and the audience has to work out the movie. But definitely, Snatch was way much better.

Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer are in the leading roles. One, by a stroke of fate has landed in LA for acting and the other is a private investigator who is training the other guy. And then there are two threads of story which happen to converge towards the end (what a coincidence!).

Overall the movie is ok, and watchable.

Rumor Has It…

Jennifer Aniston is a NY city girl whose career is going no where and is tired of her mundane life. Her boyfriend, Mark Ruffalo, is a lawer and is looking forward to a happy married life with Aniston. But then the plot takes a sharp turn when she discovers that her family is the undisclosed source for the story of 'The Gradute' (novel and movie). Aniston then resolves to unearth the secrets behind her family and find out if her father is her real father.

Average acting and a tenuous plot leave us wanting for more. Mena Suvari is someone to watch out for. Overall, if you haven't seen this movie, you probably can safely skip it.

[Tech] Get the simple devices right!

2006-01-26T23:51:00.000-08:00

The simplest of devices seem to be the most difficult to make. I've been having this feeling for want of a simple device to take my 'notes'. I'm seeking a simple and elegant tablet device that would do one thing well - substitute for 'back of envelopes' by acting as a device to take notes. Lemme explain why I felt a need for such a device.

An idea might strike us any time - during cafeteria discussions, in a rather sleepy office meeting, walking down the corridors, at the gym, at home while watching a movie or in the middle of the night - a Kekule-ian dream! And then I scurry for a piece of paper to write it down - lest it should be lost in the sea of thoughts. Though I have my laptop most of the times, I don't feel like resuming the system up to write down a few lines of text - it's just inconvenient. Taking the thought down on my mobile isn't a good idea either. The T9 is good, but imagine pushing so many teeny-weeny buttons. And it's definitely not practical when I wish to compose a blog like this one. A nokia communicator is just too big and its qwerty keyboard just too small. Currently I seek solace to this problem by using back of envelopes, an odd notes' book kept on the table, or using Microsoft One Note if my laptop is on. But I need an integrated solution. A digital device that can help compose, store and share.

The usage model for such a device would be as follows. The device should weigh less than 100 grams and should be small enough to fit in a normal pocket - like a mobile phone or an iPod. The input should be using a stylus and a full screen write capability. I insist on a full-screen write because I've seen other phones with styluses having a terrible interface. One Motorola model has a full screen selection - that is, we can select any icon anywhere on the screen by tapping, but we can write only in the small boxes in the bottom of the screen! Much like the TIP feature of Windows Tablet PC edition. That too, one can write only in small letters! Look Ma, no Capitals! This device should store the written content in Beziers - I cannot expect them to be able to convert into text efficiently. The bluetooth should help synchronize it with laptop - so that I could collate all my notes in Microsoft One Note. Such a device would help us taking notes (anytime, anywhere), composing email and putting our thoughts down in a reliable, retrievable, manageable and shareable way.

I don't think we need a Jonathan Ive to design this system. Have a set of basic features. One shouldn't try to design a do all device - it ultimately does none…like many PDAs. Make the UI really easy - like using a flip pad. Have elegant looks. Give it optional features - probably a gsm phone, gps reader (unless it compromises with the weight). Have a full color display with white backlight and black ink. Some options to highlight/flag would be great. Have small number of large icons - Mac style…and we're done.

What in your opinion is the plausibility of such a device? If developed, would you use one?

[Personal] Loss

2006-01-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

At the temple, there is a poem called loss, carved into the stone.
It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out.
You cannot read loss.
Only feel it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The heart dies a slow death,
Shedding each hope like leaves,
Untill one day there are none.
No hopes, nothing remains.

~Memoirs of a Geisha

[Personal] Snaps from last week's KK concert...

2006-01-17T01:53:00.000-08:00

KK making a grand entry

Silhouetted against the psychedelic Matrix-que laser!

Taking us to cloud nine!

All of us swayed by "Aashayein...". Hey! I'm in the pic too :)

And of course! Dus Bahane... :)

[Biz] Leadership and Inspiration

2006-01-10T02:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we just feel that certain people are impressive, though we may not immediately realize the reason. It sometimes takes a contrasting experience to helps us juxtapose the impressive and the plebian to discover the difference. This is just what happened to me while I watched the speakers of the recently concluded CES show...

First a bit about Steve. I loved Steve Jobs' presentations the first day I saw them. Starting with the landmark 1982 Macintosh launch keynote to the current MacWorld speeches, each of these presentations were stunning. I was so impressed I started collecting the videos of these presentations and have a handful of Gigs of them saved on DVDs. What is most inspiring about Jobs is his profundity in several areas of personal computing. When he talks, it is a person with an engineer's core talking. Unlike marketing sweet-talk, Jobs touches topics at the kernel of all users, and addresses them with impressive plain-talk. Not dwelling in high-level (and often abstruse) abstraction, he keeps a clear conscience and this enables his lucid forthcoming.

When I saw many company CEOs present their products at CES, I could see a stark difference. The show had many holes and the charisma was long gone. But, these people are successfully leading their companies and are a major hit at the bourses. What then differentiated these CEOs from Jobs?

The difference, in my opinion, is in their leadership styles. These successful people 'motivate' their people; to work towards the goals of the company. They show people their goals and invite them to follow. This is a very good way to lead. But people with Jobs' personality 'inspire' their teams. They elicit support from the team because the team feels that they should support the cause of the company. These two traits are similar but not the same…the difference is the origin of the initiatives. The 'inspirers' let the employees take the first step and just give them the direction to follow. These people don't actually lead from the front. They lead from within. And this is exactly what our current generation of super specialized professionals need - Inspirers!

[Personal] An attempt at Nature Photography...

2006-01-03T02:22:00.000-08:00

Flash Slideshow...

Div

[Personal] A beautiful new-year gift and an even more beautiful new-year's day

2006-01-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

The morning began with a welcome surprise! Opening the Times of India this morning, I checked out the Mindsport column on Open Space page. And was elated to see my name featured in the column! My solution to one of the problems had been selected and was published there :) Wow! This really made my day. What a way to begin the year!

For those who missed it, a snippet is here...

A link to the complete article is here, as well as here

I then went with Mom and Dad to meet his IIT-K friends. After a ~30 km cool bike ride around the outer ring road we reached the place. We really had a good time there...enjoying chatting over the brunch. And I met two really sweet people, Juhi and Rishi. This gettogether was followed by another ~40 km ride to Infosys. Going around the green Infosys campus is always a pleasure.

This definitely was one of the most eventful new year's day. Lemme see what the rest of the year has in store for me!

To all u folks out there, wish u a great year ahead!!!

Moving on Adrenaline

2005-12-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

There are times when the body just gives up - not just physically but also figuratively. This realization could strike at various levels. And during these moments one realizes the presence of a new world beyond.

Take the physical level for instance. Suppose you've been exerting yourself (say running) and gradually the energy from your body is draining out. The muscles are burning up the ATP and giving you the energy to move forward. Suddenly you realize that the muscles will not be able to take you ahead any more. Its that fleeting feeling when we come face to face with ourselves and question - 'How do I continue?'. This is a moment self actualization. The logical mind knows that it would be impossible to go on with the energy remaining. Just then we observe a new self - a self that believes. It believes that it's possible to move-on with pure faith. A part of us then has to take a decision, should we follow the logical or go with faith. And when we decide to listen to our subconscious self, and go on with faith, we realize the presence of a new world. A world beyond limits. Its like breaking the sonic barrier. Its like seeing the blue glow of Cherenkov radiation. Just me and my subconscious. And the rest falls in place. The muscles follow the mind and move on. It’s a new self realization.
I had read in the Speaking Tree, the nature of 'fasting'. To summarize - it's to feel the presence of the body and being able to discern the corporeal self from the spiritual self. I think, taking the body beyond known limits has the same effect. A feeling of déjà vu. Being in the presence of a deeper self - the one that is the observer. It seldom has a role in the mundane activities of life. But I feel that waking this self is the key to take us beyond known limits of achievements.
This presence of this self can be felt at many levels. Remember the last time when all had gone wrong and it was certain things are not going to work out. The persistence at that time evoked a new you. A self so valiant, that no matter what, it will be with you to go on. It's the same high you feel when you are very near achieving your goal - just a step away. The adrenalin rush that propels you forward towards the finishing line.

This is the subconscious you. And it's waiting to be your friend, just waiting for you to reach out.

Unraveling the Future of Intellegence

2005-12-06T23:47:00.000-08:00

Since the advent of civilization, humans have been trying to simplify the everyday tasks. During those days, domestication of animals for farming was a big achievement. As society developed, there began segregation of tasks. People were specialized to perform specific activities. For a period of about two thousand years before Christ, religion started taking shape. There was further differentiation of roles. During the industrial revolution 'automation' came into picture. Machines started taking over the tedious tasks that were earlier performed manually. 'Faster and accurate' was the mantra of modern machines.

This quest for automated/intelligent systems continues unabated even today. This desire to innovate and develop intelligent machines is reflected in myriad of ways. Take movies for instance. Who can forget C-3PO and R2D2 from star wars. Or the intricate mesh of 'Matrix'. Imaginations of movie directors like George Lucas and science fiction authors like Asimov & Arthur C Clark have fuelled the desire for developing such intelligent systems.

Computers have brought about a juggernaut change in the last 30-40 years. They have been pivotal in shaping the current digital landscape. Developments in AI, NN, GA have found a well-suited platform in terms of computational brawn. Development of faster and faster chips has created the new digital economy.

We're in the middle of an inflection point. The chip manufacturers have realized that the maddening pace of increasing processor speeds cannot continue forever. In the last few years, we have seen a shift from a faster processor to a multitasking processor - call it Hyperthreading, or Dual-Core. Our current Xboxes and PS2s are powered by multiple cores, some companies call it Cells. All this is a shift in focus - from speed to throughput. But then this approach also has its limits. We could have a 1024 core system running an astounding number of applications in parallel. What then? All we did was create a mainframe/grid-computer of the size of a laptop. I agree that this is great for multitasking. But is it great in terms of its ability to think?

In my opinion, the human brain is unparalleled in its ability to understand, think and analyze. It's a product of thousands of years of evolution. Using the grey matter that lies within would be the key to unravel new dimensions of 'naturally synthesized' intelligence. A baby step in this regard has been taken at the University of Florida (link).

This neuron culture could have immense applications in diverse fields - many of them can not yet be comprehended. Exiting times have just started!

The fastest way to get around Bangalore is on a bike.

2005-11-24T08:26:00.000-08:00

Being a veteran Bangalorean, over the years, I've seen roads turn into WMDs - 'weapons of mental destruction'. Take one trip around town during peak hours and you'll turn into an infuriated beast. Tempers start to soar high. And when you finally reach home you feel like a wreck . Nevertheless, in this chaotic world I've discovered some respite. The secret is to use a bike. Kindly allow me to present the mantra of transcendental travel.

A long time ago, from a good friend, I learnt the ways of 'Rummy'. Here, the secret to succeed is to never hold-on to the cards and wait upon that missing one. The same gyan works on roads too. So, here comes the first rule:

"Thou shall not remain immobile at any juncture. Chale chalo, chale chalo."

This is the fundamental rule and is the most important of all. Incise your way into the traffic, move left, move right, just move on.

As a corollary to the first rule is the second rule:

"Thou shall not ride behind big vehicles. Bada hai tho behatar 'nahin' hai."

The principle the second rule is based on is that the bigger vehicles will move only when all the vehicles in its front move, which in-turn are dependent on all the vehicles in its front, and ad infinitum. So, you see the dependence growing in geometric proportions.

The third rule deals with a dangerous path - the footpath. This rule is so dreaded that it's never mentioned in words. According to a folklore, people who assimilate the first two rules are dawned upon the third one. I'm telling no more.

Everything has strings attached, here too we have caveats. I've seen many amateurs try to implement the rules without understanding the essence. None can prevent their fall. So, a word of caution for everyone - Be wary. Be wary of every turn, for you know not what awaits you round the corner.

Disclamer: (Read it fast with a monotonous tone) The rules mentioned above should not be followed by a person who isn't strong at heart. Meditate upon the potential tradeoffs and then make your choices. And, for the global audience, never flout the law of your land.

Wish you a very happy journey.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire… Very Watchable

2005-11-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

In the wake of another wave of Potter mania, the following plans were made:

Objective: Watch the latest Harry Potter movie on the first day of its release.

Plans: T-2 days, get the tickets
T-1 day, visit the official website and glean information about the latest adventure
T-3 hours, set meeting point, synchronize daily activities and plan for travel
T-0, be there to get the best seats and have a whale of time :)

The latest edition of the Potter movie is brilliantly made. The direction is impeccable, background score mesmerizing, strong characterizations and good narration. The story is made up of the following parts:

The quidditch match: We meet the top players of various schools and then there are the death eaters and the sign that Voldermort is growing in strength. The terrorism theme has been rendered even in this movie!

Announcement of the Tri-wizard tournament: The contestants are introduced to us. And then there is inclusion of Harry into the game and the ensuing rigmarole that it causes. After things settle down a bit, there is the Yule ball.

The tournament: This is a set of three matches that test the mettle of the contestants. It begins with a dragon fight where Harry uses his skills as a seeker to outwit a dragon and get the golden egg. Then there is the underwater rescue mission. Here Harry not only comes out a winner but also wins over the hearts of everyone by being kind and compassionate. Harry's friends, Hermione and Ron are a constant support to him. It just wouldn't be possible without them. The final encounter is the magical maze where the tournament cup is hidden.

The resurrection of Voldermort: Here we learn that the whole plot of having Harry in the tournament is to capture him and obtain his blood for the resuscitation of Voldermot. There is a Harry v/s Voldermot duel, where Harry's demonstrates undaunting courage and escapes unscathed. Soon afterwards we discover the traitor at Hogwarts who has been abetting Voldermort in his stygian plots.

Overall the movie is brilliant. Much better than the last escapade at Azkaban. I'd rate it 4/5. The reason for that 1 point missing are certain shortcomings. The story is broken into parts, and there are seams between the joints. There are few moments where the story comes to a grinding halt and we wonder 'where's the movie going?'. But soon the story picks up again. I also feel that if the last 10 minutes displayed more grandeur, the movie would've come out tops.

The movie leaves a pleasing taste after we leave the theater. I've an opinion about the way this movie is being marketed, as 'darker than ever'. I beg to differ. Although this is the first time we see Voldermort in an independent form and the usage of lethal curses, I feel due to the treatment of the plot, the story seems less ghastly and hair-raising. I feel that this movie isn't the darkest of them all; the darkest was the second one - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The bottom-line: Go ahead watch it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it :)

Are bloggers stereotypes?

2005-11-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

A recent CNN article begins by stating that the general blog-space is teeming with stereotypes - alienated adolescents and middle-aged pundits. Link

Is that really the case? Are typical bloggers the ones that are recluse and blog only because its their sole means of self expression?

In my opinion this is not the case at all. Blogs are becoming more like bulletin boards, maintained by schoolmates, college-friends, office-colleagues, professional/religious communities et al. A set of blogs constitute a quasi-forum. Like google groups. Blogging is more like having a pen-friend. Some people you can share ideas with. And the people who blog are normal everyday people who you talk to go out to have fun with. It is a new model of pull, rather than the push model of emails. And technologies like RSS & ATOM enable integration of blogs with the existing means of communication - emails, mailing lists, news aggregators, etc. My personal take is that blogging is not a new culture. Its just a manifestation that already exists, only served differently.

Peter Drucker. A man, whose thoughts touched millions…

2005-11-13T03:50:00.000-08:00

It is said that every person is connected with another, in the human network, with an average of seven hops. If a similar graph was to be made of people connected by ideas, then the node of Peter Drucker would truly be an immensely dense one. In a career spanning nearly seventy-five years his ideas shaped the modern corporate structure. Aptly described as the 'father of management', he distilled the concept of management from the broad field of industrial operations. His 1959 book Landmarks of Tomorrow gave my role at my company a name - 'Knowledge Worker'.

Peter Drucker's thoughts had been influencing me only subtly until the January of 2004. I was then studying at IIIT-B when the following quote appeared in Fortune:
“The technical graduates of the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world”-- Peter Drucker, Fortune, January 2004.
This was a proud moment for our Institute. A sense of veneration for the guru was affirmed in our hearts forever.

After graduation when I joined my current company, I was in awe of the highly evolved processes and practices here. Only later did I discover that many of them were derivatives of Peter Drucker's thoughts. Management, he said, deals with the people and the creation of communities. This has been one of the ideals my company embraces - creation of communities of its most valuable resource. Another important concept is 'Management By Objectives'. All of us here prepare our MBOs every quarter and use this to guide our everyday activities. These MBOs roll up to team MBOs, group MBOs, up till the company MBO. These management concepts have been pivotal to our company's growth and has been fueling the engines to reach the destinations of tomorrow.

One man who shaped the management world as we see it today, Peter Drucker will live on...

A long weekend of feasting & a lot of sweets...

2005-11-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

This Diwali was real fun. The celebrations began early last week at the office. The Admin Council had made elaborate arrangements with Rajasthani lunch. Stalls selling mithais, bengali-sweets, diyas, crackers, were setup. There even was an Arabian mehandi corner for the ladies. All of us were dressed in our best ethnic outfits. A fashion competition was organized in the evening. I gave it a shot - enthralled the crowd with a monologue and emerged a winner! Yippie!

We spent the next day distributing sweets to our office staff and preparing for our guests' arrival. I had the responsibility to shop for sweets - and it's quite an obligation to sample so many of them to make the final choice ;)

My Mom's birthday coincides with this festival of lights. And we had cake-cutting during the day - I can still feel myself biting into those oh-so-soft Black Forest… yummm. The evening was warm and effervescent. India's splendid cricket victory elevated the already soaring spirits. The celebrations began by offering a small prayer to Goddess Lakshmi. And then it was cracker time. Sweets were served in abundance and were relished beyond everyone's satiety. To top it all, a sumptuous dinner followed.

Such festivals are pure fun! So many people getting together and spending moments of joy. Moments that would be cherished for a long time to come. Moments that are a part of us.

Bangalore Blues

2005-10-25T02:02:00.000-07:00

With most of the city under water, it would be a good idea for the tourism dep to add another sobriquet for Bangalore & promote the place as 'the city of internal waterways'. Here are some pics I received, which could be used as publicity posters.

Drenched is not the word…

2005-10-18T01:40:00.000-07:00

By about 7:30 I was done with my work & workout. It felt so good, a day of work coming to a befitting conclusion with warm shower at the gym. The only better thing could've been was getting in bed early. I then came up to my cube and looked out of the window and, guess what, it was pouring cats-and-dogs. We never realize the weather indoors. It was a wonderful sight. If it rains when the rain Gods are happy then at that moment they must've been ebullient. The rain was coming down unrestrained. I thought to myself, though I like getting wet…today I'll spare my office clothes.

I spent most of the next hour either examining the windows on my screen or peering out of the window enjoying the rain. I had made up my mind, I wouldn't be staying in office after 9:30. Soon the rain turned into a light drizzle and it was time I started. I enumerated my options, the rains could either stop or it could start pouring again. I packed up and headed for my bike, it was a leap of faith. In no time I was vroooming on Sarjapur road.

The 'travail' back home: No sooner had I covered half the distance back, the rain gods were appeased! I think that rain was at its voluminous best. In under a minute, I was dripping wet. It’s a nice cool feeling. I looked up and said…'Common, is this the best you can do?'. With reminiscence of Trinity, I dodged my way between the traffic. As soon as I veered on one of the by-lanes, it dawned upon me that getting home would be a daunting task. The water was not less that two feet deep. No one was daring to cross that stretch. Only vehicles with a high ground clearance and raised exhaust could attempt it. I patted my Pulsar and heard that reassuring roar. Off I went, meandering around the pot-holes and navigating thru knee-depth water. A few moments and the deluged stretch was left behind. Very soon, I was home. With heart filled with joy that only 'getting home' could bring and a story for everyone to tell… :)

Two rainy days, my laptop and me…

2005-10-14T03:21:00.000-07:00

My laptop has become my best companion. It 'literally' stays with me during times when its too hot go venture out or too wet to drive around. Main aur mera laptop, aksar yeh baatein kartein hain…agar aisa hota tho kaisa hota, agar waisa hota to kaisa hota. I've spent the past two days mostly indoors. The mornings have been either cold or rainy, and has dampened any desire to get off bed. With everyone at home, its quite a laid-back air. Even during these mellow moments, there's something useful I've discovered...

Yesterday, I must've logged Z's for some ten hours. When I finally woke up in the afternoon I didn't feel quite rejuvenated. So, I got ready and instead of heading for a sumptuous breakfast spent about half-an-hour doing pranayam. Trust me, half-an-hour of yoga can be more invigorating than half-a-day of slumber.

Thus, the two-days-off were spent either taking rest or working on the laptop. I also went to the Puja Pandaal yesterday. There were so many devotees offering prayers and a band of folk singers doleing out mata's praises; the energy of the atmosphere there was very high. The sweets' times have started and is definitely going to stay for the next four weeks :) I can feel myself biting into soft pedas and burfees and juicy rasagullas...mmmmmmm

Mental Jogging

2005-10-07T03:44:00.000-07:00

Spent some 10 minutes jogging on this problem.

http://www.greylabyrinth.com/puzzles/puzzle.php?puzzle_id=192

Is it possible to be 'hot' without being 'sexy'?

2005-10-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a Carrie Bradshaw question, doesn't it? This blog is inspired by the cover photo of Esha. Also, reinforced by my acquired knowledge that getting in shape could be such a tortuous endeavor.

Discussion on women's shapes would require full-fledged PhD thesis to do the topic any credible justice. I just wish to bring out my views of being 'hot'. There are certain characteristics that define hot and another set to describe sexy. Take Esha's picture for instance. It exudes an aura of being naughty without the distaste of exposing. So, what defines hot?

Lets start with the hair. Soft looks, totally straight without any entangles. Shades of the eyes and darker.

The lips are very natural. Nude colors spread the focus on the entire face and not attract it towards the lips. It shows balance and symmetry between what is shown and what is left out.

I wanted to include the 'smile' with lips, but then decided that such an important facet deserves a place of its own. A smile can tilt the whole picture one way or the other - from serene beauty to lasciviousness. Here its just perfect and blends with the shades of the lips.

The choice of colors gives warmth to the picture. The VIBGY colors of the spectrum are cool and calming, while OR and its variants are warm. Also the former give a picture a 'hot' image and the later 'sexy'.

Texture of the fabric gives the final touch. Free flowing and un-embroidered generally give a soothing feel.

The most important feature of the picture is, of course, the abs. Well worked out, with clear definition. I estimate that the body-fat ratio of Esha must be less than 5%. That gives her that athletic look and radiant skin. This quality is also evident from her cheeks - the area where its very difficult to reduce fat from (remember Kareena?).

And the most important of them all, the "eyes". Clear, focused, penetrating, looking-ahead and unafraid of carrying off the image. The eyes tell all. One look, just one look, can last a lifetime. Reflection of the personality and precursor of things to come. The eyes.

My home is at 12 53’54.01” N 77 36’47.74” E

2005-10-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

The future will have information like the one above embedded on my Visiting Card. People who I’d give the card to would swipe it through their mobile phones. My entire details would get transferred to their multi-gigabit phone database.

Next time I ask my friends to come over for a party, they would search for my name on their mobile and ask for directions. The mobile would connect to Google Earth servers and plot the shortest/fastest path to get to me. And the planet would be a little better place to be in :)

Greg Chappell's mail to BCCI

2005-09-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

I just received this mail from a friend...It contains the entire text of Chapel's email to BCCI.

(Since the email is long, I'm posting it as a comment. Plz click comment to view)

THIS IS GOING TO HURT JUST A LITTLE BIT

2005-09-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

I felt like re-reading this old poem. The situation presented here is very pertinent to what is going on in my life now...will tell you more later. For now, I present Ogden Nash.

One thing I like less than most things is sitting in a dentist chair with my mouth wide open.
And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against hope hopan.
Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.
It is hard to be self possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest,
so hard to retain calm
When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line or love line or some other important line in your palm,
So hard to give your ususal cheerful effect of benignity
When you know your position is one of the two or three in life most lacking in dignity
And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on
And it is cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and drills and steam rollers and there isn't a nerve on your head that aren't being irked on.
Oh some people are unfortunate to be worked on by thumbs,
And others have things done to their gums,
And your teeth are supposed to being polished
But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.
And the circumstances that adds to your terror
Is that it's all done with a mirror,
Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,
But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one hand and mirror in the other he won't get mixed up, the way you do when try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget that left is right and vice versa
And then at last he says, That will be all, but it isn't because he then coats your mouth from cellar to roof
With something I suspect is generally used to put shine a horse's hoof,
And you totter to your feet and think, Well it's over now and after all it was only this once,
And he says come back in three monce.
And this O Fate, is I think the most vicious that thou ever sentest,
That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in good condition
When the chief reason he wants his teeth to be in good condition is so that he won't have to go the dentist.

Blogsearch

2005-09-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends!

First things first: Google has launched a special search engine for crawling over blogs. It’s located at http://blogsearch.google.com/ I tried it with my own name to see if it actually works. And yippie!, 38 results for the word ‘divyaratna’!.

I then tried keying in keywords that would help me discovering my friends who blog. Its pretty impressive.

Why don’t you try searching your name, or your friends’ names, or whatever under the sun. Do lemme know what you find :) I’m wondering if anyone would hear a ‘clunk’ of a treasure chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is IIITB’s foundation day! It’s been six years. And the college’s website is down. Is it coincidence or providence?

Last weeks’ events on the IITB email front has left many regulars irked. A new mail server has been installed but all the old mails have been deleted :( Such apathetic treatment of potentially important emails has led me to move to gmail as my primary service.

Update: IIITB admins more than made up by providing alternate means of retrieving old mails. It seems there was a irrecoverable technical flaw. Another experience added to IIITB's knowledge mine.

Movie Review: Red Eye

2005-08-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy (also seen as the evil lawyer in Batman Begins)

We’ve been seeing Rachel quite often these days. She stars in two of the current top 10 movies. I remember having seen her first in “The Hot Chick” and noticed her in “The Notebook”. She has a very pleasing persona on the screen and is good with her diction and expressions. She is a very pretty woman; although I don’t think she’s drop down gorgeous. To sum up, I think we have a promising star in Rachel.

Coming to the movie, Red Eye is about a woman who is on a flight, sitting next to a person who threatens her with her father’s life if she dosen’t give-in to his demands. This is a thriller about a woman who has to choose between what is right and what will save her father.

With no moments of high intensity, the movie is quite predictable. We can almost feel the ending half way thru the movie. Rachel brings freshness to the screen, other that that there are no performances worth a mention.

My rating: save the ticket’s money for something better.

Blogger for Word - Format and pic

2005-08-22T02:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, The plain text version worked. Now for formatted text with a picture.

Here is a pic from “The Dukes of Hazzard” – a nice slapstick (The review for which I never posted)

(image placeholder)

Do you see the pic above?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDIT

Pic gone...but after clicking "publish", there was a pop-up message that mentioned the lack of support for the same. Colored text is gone. But bold and italics text was published well.

Pretty good for v1.0. Looking towards further enhancements from google (one company that we can expect it from :) )

Blogger for Word

2005-08-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Just today, I learnt about the new Word-Blogger integration tool. This is my first post using this tool. As this is being written, I wonder if the tool will enable picture data blogging? What about OLE inside word documents…will it strip the doc to txt and upload it.

The experiment is in progress: Lemme try this txt only post first

Googachalland

2005-08-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

A site to visit: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

And, are you up for the challenge? Check -out

http://www.net-force.nl/challenges/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, saw The Island over the weekend - A cool movie.

Starring - Scarlett Johansson (of 'In Good Company') and Ewan McGregor

Lots of action and a fairly engrossing storyline.

My Recommendation: If you're into sci-fi, this is a must watch.

Smart and Gets things done

2005-08-05T02:37:00.000-07:00

Tips from Joel on hiring:

Smart and Gets things done - aptitude
Make A Decision - Hire or No-Hire

Here's a typical plan for interviewing a programmer:

Introduction
Question about recent project candidate worked on
Impossible Question
C Function
Are you satisfied?
Design Question
The Challenge
Do you have any questions?

Before the interview, I am very, very careful to avoid anything that might give me some preconceived notions about the candidate. If you think that someone is smart before they even walk into the room, just because they have a Ph.D. from MIT, then nothing they can say in 1 hour is going to overcome that initial prejudice. If you think they are a bozo, nothing they can say will overcome that initial impression.

Design is about asking questions - Jonathan Ive (Link)

Interviewing is more of an art than a science, but if you remember the Smart/Gets Thing Done principle you will be in good shape

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000073.html

Thanks Vijay for pointing this link to me :)

Software Development with Style

2005-08-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

Good read.... http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HighNotes.html
Lemme know how you feel

Also...
Work To The Measurment
Software organizations tend to reward programmers who (a) write lots of code and (b) fix lots of bugs. The best way to get ahead in an organization like this is to check in lots of buggy code and fix it all, rather than taking the extra time to get it right in the first place. When you try to fix this problem by penalizing programmers for creating bugs, you create a perverse incentive for them to hide their bugs or not tell the testers about new code they wrote in hopes that fewer bugs will be found. You can't win.

I take this opportunity to recollect Brook's Law. The software development spirit lives on...

Online Families

2005-08-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

Things to take a note of: a large number of social networking sites sprawling up: We've had orkut, yahoo 360. One new and very popular site I came across http://www.myspace.com/

Now we have a large number of tools to create a virtual online community: egroups, online albums, communities, blog, our personal mailing lists, online bookmarks, forums and so on.

Have you been tracking the development at defcon? Goto http://www.defcon.org/ for starters.

Sandbox

2005-08-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

Have you seen http://sandbox.msn.com/

It contains innovative stuff that MS is working on. Did anyone say Google Labs? :)

Tech Nuggets

2005-07-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

Accoona.com AI-based search engine

Microsoft Shell - MSH - code-named Monad. With .net beta 2

IDS - snort. www.snort.org

Sender ID spec to fight spam - Backed by Microsoft and www.pobox.com
Yahoo DomainKeys, Cisco's Identified Internet Mail - Encryption based.
DomainKeys - signed MD from sender's domain and public key available by DNS lookup.

HTML Applications - HTA

Movie Review: Herbie Fully Loaded

2005-07-25T02:52:00.000-07:00

*ing: Lindsay Lohan
My Rating: Total Kiddie movie. Avoid, unless you like Lindsay.

Sequel to Love Bug, this movie is about a girl who gets Herbie - the car who's alive. Then it’s a rollercoaster joyride.

Makes a nice watch for little girls.

Movie Review: Dungeons & Dragons

2005-07-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

*ing: Justin Whalin, Zoe McLellan
My Rating: Ok Ok. If you've not seen it, you've not missed anything.

In a land of fantasy, one brave thief helps save the kingdom by enduring various hurdles to get the scepter that has powers of controlling Red Dragons.

Nice GC.

Movie Review: Dus

2005-07-25T02:36:00.000-07:00

*ing: Sunjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Zayed Khan, et al
My Rating: Can watch once

The Anti Terrorist Cell, headed by Sunjay Dutt, has found out about a terrorist activity planned on 10th (thus Dus!), which is slated to kill some 25,000 people. Their mission is to crack the Dus code and foil the terrorist plans.

Good acting, good action sequences, nice songs…make the movie watchable.

Movie Review: Bewitched

2005-07-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell
Rating: Avoidable

Will casts Nicole as a witch for a television show in a Bewitched remake. Only later he realizes that Nicole is a real witch.

The movie goes on very predictable lines. One might laugh once or twice…not a great comedy. And, where is the ravishing Nicole of Moulin Rouge, who stole our hearts with her divine appearance and scintillating performance?

Movie Review: Gattaca

2005-07-19T02:04:00.000-07:00

Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman in Gattaca

*ing: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law
Director: Andrew Niccol (of The Terminal, Truman Show)

The movie describes a period in the future where Genetics rules. In that time frame, there are god's children (born the age old way) and natural born (genetically engineered to have the best traits of both the parents). The movie describes an era where genetics determines everything - schooling to job selection; and a tale of a god's child raising above the expectations set by his genes to be one among equals.

Sony, Microsoft present next-gen games consoles

2005-07-05T23:16:00.000-07:00

Games-designers experienced a double whammy at the E3 show in the US in May, with both Sony and Microsoft spilling the beans on their next-gen offerings. Microsoft revealed the Xbox 360, which is slated to launch in November 2005, while Sony took the wraps off the PlayStation 3, scheduled for a Spring 2006 launch. Analysts reckoned that Sony stole the show, with the PS3 tipped to be 35-times more powerful than the PlayStation 2.

At the heart of the PlayStation 3 is the Cell chip, developed for use by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM. The chip is based on IBM’s Power PC architecture and will have seven cores, each running at 3.2GHz, to give the chip a total performance of 218GFlops. Running alongside the Cell will be a graphics processor developed by NVidia that is capable of handling full high-definition 1080p images and boasts performance of 1.8TFlops. Together, the two chips are about double the performance than that claimed by Microsoft for the Xbox 360. The processors will be backed up by 256MB of XDR memory running at 3.2GHz and 256MB of GDDR3 graphics memory.

PlayStation 3 will include three ethernet ports, 802.11b/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth. In addition, there are six USB 2.0 interfaces and card slots for Memory Stick, Secure Digital, and Compact Flash (CF) memory cards. The console also includes a slot for a removable 2.5-inch hard-disk drive. For game-designers, the PlayStation 3 will likely be a massive improvement. In addition to the extra performance offered by the new chips, the PlayStation 3 will also be capable of high definition output up to 1,080 lines in progressive scan, which is the highest image quality of several signal types generally grouped as high-definition signals. Sony has said that developing for the PS3 will be more cost-effective at launch than it was to develop for the PS2 when it launched. The console will also double as a player for high-definition movies on Blu-ray Disc.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has intimated that the Xbox 360 could form the centerpiece of a digital, connected home. System specs bear out that contention. Powered by a custom-made IBM PowerPC-based three-core chip running at 3.2GHz, and supported by 512MB of GDDR3 RAM,
the new Xbox offers 1TFlop of power. Graphics are powered by an ATI GPU running at 500 MHz, with 10MB of embedded DRAM.

The unit will ship with a 12x dual-layer DVDROM drive, three USB 2.0 ports, two memory unit slots, and support for four wireless game controllers. It supports progressive-scan DVD movies and a slew of DVD and CD formats, with output at 1080i. For networking, the Xbox 360
includes a built-in ethernet port and support for 802.11a, b, and g flavours of Wi-Fi. Microsoft also sought to woo games studios, with it pledging the Xbox 360 will be easier to develop for.

2005-07-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

Agar dil gum se khali hoo to jeene ka mazaa kya hai, na ho khoone jigar to ashq peene ka mazaa kya hai. Mohabbat mein aansoo baha kar hum bhi dekhen ge.

Mohabbat humne maanaa barbaad karti hai, ye kya kum hai ke mar jaane pe duniya yaad karti hai. Kissi ke ishq mein dunia luaa kar hum bhi deekhen ge.

2005-06-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

"Experience suggests it doesn't matter so much how you got here, as what you do after you arrive."

2005-06-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

"If I could reach up and hold a star for each time you've made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand."

Schneier on Security: Attack Trends: 2004 and 2005

2005-06-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

Schneier on Security: Attack Trends: 2004 and 2005: "Attack Trends: 2004 and 2005
Counterpane Internet Security, Inc., monitors more than 450 networks in 35 countries, in every time zone. In 2004 we saw 523 billion network events, and our analysts investigated 648,000 security 'tickets.' What follows is an overview of what's happening on the Internet right now, and what we expect to happen in the coming months.
In 2004, 41 percent of the attacks we saw were unauthorized activity of some kind, 21 percent were scanning, 26 percent were unauthorized access, 9 percent were DoS (denial of service), and 3 percent were misuse of applications."

Innovative Hacks by Nvidia

2005-06-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

The Article

After the launch of 3DMark03 Build 320 Futuremark has received reports from the members of its BETA Program concerning certain anomalies with 3DMark03 and Nvidia drivers. ExtremeTech (www.extremetech.com) has published an article on suspecting NVIDIA drivers to improperly boost scores on Futuremark’s 3DMark03. Some of these anomalies have also been reported by Beyond3D2. Alarmed by all these reports Futuremark has conducted a thorough internal audit regarding this matter and has verified that certain NVIDIA drivers indeed seem to have detection mechanisms, which are triggered by components of the 3DMark03 program. We have identified eight such mechanisms.

In our testing, all identified detection mechanisms stopped working when we altered the benchmark code just trivially and without changing any of the actual benchmark workload. With this altered benchmark, NVIDIA’s certain products had a performance drop of as much as 24.1% while competition’s products performance drop stayed within the margin of error of 3%. To our knowledge, all drivers with these detection mechanisms were published only after the launch of 3DMark03. According to industry’s terminology, this type of driver design is defined as ‘driver cheats’.

A Gamers' Manifesto

2005-05-31T00:45:00.000-07:00

A Gamers' Manifesto

This gory page seems to be straight out of the guts of a disgrunted gamer, with his demands on settings the rules of game development straight.

Interesting Read.

I'm back

2005-05-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

It's been quite some time since I blogged. But I'm back :)

Yesterday, a typical Sunday night, I had trouble to sleep. So I opened Feb's issue of MIT Technology Review.

There was a good article on how Lucent lost its empire. There were four reasons attributed to their downfall:

1) Lucent ignored the long standing telecom customers and went for the startups, a large number of them had cropped up due to deregulation in the US telecom sector. These new guys had no initial capital to purchase telecom switches and Lucent lent its products to them.

2) Though these smaller customers were yet to prove viable, they were very demanding. These smaller guys wanted to build the data telecoms of tomorrow. Lucent, having the ancestry of AT&T was not playing in the data domain. So it frenzied to acquire startups in large numbers...many of them had not even proven their might.

3) Lucent ignored the cry of its insiders for developing its Optical switching business. Soon Nortel captured 90% of this market segment.

4) And lastly, Carly Fiorina's 20% year to year sales increase pitch made the accounts bloat with fudged data. The company even allocated 8 billion for lending products to its customers. At one point of time, Lucent was literally giving away its products to meet the inflated sales goals.

And the rest, as the cliche goes, is history...

Zeno's paradoxes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2005-05-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

Zeno's paradoxes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Zeno's paradoxes are a set of paradoxes devised by Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides' doctrine that 'all is one' and that contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion.
Several of Zeno's eight surviving paradoxes (preserved in Aristotle's Physics and Simplicius's commentary thereon) are essentially equivalent to one another; and most of them were regarded, even in ancient times, as very easy to refute. Three of the strongest and most famous -that of Achilles and the tortoise, the Dichotomy argument, and that of an arrow in flight - are given here."

F-Secure : News from the Lab

2005-05-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

F-Secure : News from the Lab: "
So how come anybody ever gets infected by it if you have to click 'Yes' so many times?
Well, we've spoken to many people who've actually been infected, and they typically explain it like this: They got this weird message on the phone, requesting a 'Yes' or 'No' answer. So they clicked 'No'. But the message popped up immediatly again. And they clicked 'No' - only to see the message pop up again. And since 'No' didn't seem to be working, they clicked 'Yes'...
The message would have disappeared if they would have walked away from the area where they were (to get out of the range of the infected phone), but there's no way for an end user to know that. "

2005-03-22T00:52:00.000-08:00

Third-Order Information Arrangement

2005-03-22T00:42:00.000-08:00

The first order of object arrangement is by sorting entities in aggregates of primary interest. The second order is to create a metadata of this arrangement. This is the prevalent practice, and we see it all around us…shopping malls, libraries, warehouses etc. But when it comes to information sorting there are differences between the way these are sorted vis-à-vis sorting of physical entities. Physical objects can be present at only one location at a time. This limitation has bound the methods of aggregation for such objects. But information, on the other hand, can be present at many places simultaneously. So, there is no need of neat trees or topological sorts. We can have trees with cobwebs connecting the many branches and leaves.

The concept is to free the information from the shackles of a particular arrangement scheme and let the users decide the way they want the information to be ordered to suite themselves. I get the same feeling when I need to know about a particular movie. In this case, I prefer yahoo movie’s user community based feedback mechanism to google’s page ranking algorithm. One gets a feel of “human touch”, which is missing when googleoids swarm the web searching for information.

Plz visit “Universal Biological Indexer and Organizer” www.ubio.org for an appreciation of the problem domain.

Google Print

2005-03-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

Google Print: "What is Google Print?
Google's mission is to organize the world's information, but much of that information isn't yet online. Google Print aims to get it there by putting book content where you can find it most easily - right in your Google search results.
How does Google Print work?
Just do an ordinary Google search. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you'll see the page of the book that has your search terms, along with other information about the book and 'Buy this Book' links to online bookstores (you can view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the title's bibliographic data and brief snippets). You can also search for more information within that specific book and find nearby libraries that have it. "

Movie Review: The Cellular

2005-03-20T22:24:00.000-08:00

Kim Basinger and Chris Evans in 'Cellular'

Cast: Kim Basinger, Cris EvansWhat is the movie all about? Jessica (Kim) is kidnaped from her home by a group of men...who are cops. They take her to a deserted place and lock her up in a room...not before smashing the phone there. Jessica, being a science teacher, manages to place a call to a random number. Ryan (Cris) picks up the call and then tries to help Jessica. The movie has its shares of thrills. Its fast paced and revolves around Ryan holding his mobile and running all over the city to help Jessica. You must be having many unanswered questions: Why did the cops kidnap Jessica (and her family)? Did Ryan manage to save her? And the one on the top of your mind...Did the cell phone batteries run out, lose its signal at times or have cross talk with other mobile phones? (You bet...chuckles)

Weekend movie: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

2005-03-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Angelina Jolie in 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'

The entire movie was shot against blue- and green-screen, with everything except the main characters computer generated.

Movie Review: Austin Powers – International Man of Mystery

2005-03-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

Mike Myers and Liz Hurley in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Movie Rating: Yeah..Baby!!!
Cast: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley (truly **dellic)

Did you know: www.austinpowers.com is a truly groovy site on this international man of mystery?

Plot, you say…..behaaave

BitTorrent

2005-03-09T04:22:00.000-08:00

According to British Web analysis firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent accounts for an astounding 35 percent of all the traffic on the Internet -- more than all other peer-to-peer programs combined -- and dwarfs mainstream traffic like Web pages.

Bram Cohen, the programmer who created BitTorrent.

Top Ten Microadvantages

2005-03-08T03:18:00.000-08:00

Individuals send anywhere from 40 to 150 micromessages to each other in an average 10-minute conversation. You can turn these micromessages into microadvantages and build a more inclusive organization with these techniques:

1. Solicit Opinions. Find opportunities to ask, "I'd like your opinion about" This sends a message that you value the thoughts and perspectives of others.

2. Connect on a Personal Level. Take a few minutes to engage in a non-business conversation with a colleague. This helps build the feeling that you are interested in them as a person and often results in heightened loyalty and commitment.

3. Ask Questions. When you have a negative reaction to a colleague's statement or suggestion, lead your response with a question, not a statement.

4. Attribute/Credit Ideas. Acknowledge, by name, the "owner" of an idea in a meeting.

5. Monitor Facial Expressions. Be conscious of your facial expressions while listening to a colleague. Most Microinequities are communicated through facial expressions. These often go unnoticed because we don't see our own expressions.

6. Actively Listen. Sending a clear message of being attentive to the speaker enhances the quality of their message.

7. Draw in Participation. When addressing a group, send messages that encourage participation from everyone. In some cultures, making routine eye contact encourages participation.

8. Monitor Personal Greeting. Be sensitive to how you greet someone with whom you have a close relationship in the presence of others.

9. Respond Constructively to Differences. When responding to someone's comment you disagree with, show that you understand their perspective before you offer a different view.

The Definitive guide to getting the best out of your computing environment.

2005-03-02T00:59:00.000-08:00

Managing to get work done in this networked world is getting tougher by the day, more so getting the best out of it. Out of my experience with these systems for the past few years, I wish to share some BKMs (as we at Intel call it 'best known methods') on getting your work done and getting the best out of your computing environment.

ANTIVIRUS:
A good antivirus forms the backbone of a secure system. This is a musthave in this list.
My recommendation is McAfee Antivirus. It works perfectly in the background, not consuming a lot of memory or processor cycles. The definition file must be updated every week. Norton is good, but if you wish to do anything on your computer other than scanning viruses then don't install this. Norton consumes a lot of RAM and definitely slows down the system by 20%.
There is also a good online solution. Panda Antivirus has a online virus scanner. Just connect to http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/, select free scan and your system will be scanned, updated for the latest virus.

FIREWALL:
This is a must for online security. If you don't want any hassle of installing and configuring a firewall, then at least enable the default firewall provided by windows. This will block most of the ports.
My recommendation is Zone Alarm Pro. A firewall is good only to the extent of the rules you define. In ZoneAlarm, for home, set protection to 'high' and individually grant internet access to programs. Zone Alarm is very easy to use. For Intranet, explicitly give access to systems (either by hostname or IP address) on explicit ports. The most common ports are Remote Access: port 3389; file sharing: port 139. All the other ports and IP addresses should be blocked.

MALWARE: Use the free version of AdAware Personal (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/). Every week, update your definition files and scan for malware.ADS/POP UPS: Use the trial version of AdMuncher (http://www.admuncher.com/).

INTERNET SPEED:
Install System Mechanic 5. Use this to set the type of connection you have (eg. 56kbps, 128kbps DSL, LAN, etc). This will optimize the internet packet size according to your net connection.

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE:
Using System Mechanic, regularly check the registry for errors. Do not compress the registry, as this would slow the system down. Defrag the system using DiskDefragmenter every month. I do not recommend using third party software for doing this (like diskkeeper or system mechanic) as they are likely to crash the system. I do not recommend boot-time defrag, the risk doesn't seem worth it (unless ofcourse you're doing it on a non-system partition with no critical data).
Backup your registry (preferably on a separate system/cd) every month. You can do this either using regedit or system mechanic.
Enable system restore, at least on your system partition. You do not need to give more than 200MB for this task.
Keep a boot CD handy. I highly recommend having Hiren's Boot CD. It boots the system with its own OS, scans viruses at disk level (no interference from windows), recovers deleted files, recovers bad formatting/partition error, creates/restores disk images and much much more.
Pay regular visit to www.windowsupdate.com and download all updates. As of this writing, I do not recommend Windows SP2. It still has many issues. But you must get all the updates for SP1.Hope you find all this information useful.

2005-03-01T04:54:00.000-08:00

The students of 'Windows OS Internals' class with David Solomon.

Movie Review: Million Dollar Baby

2005-02-25T03:54:00.000-08:00

Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank in 'Million Dollar Baby'

Cast: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman
Plot: Clint is a boxing instructor – and a very good one at that. He works on creation of perfect boxers and avoids the flashy grand fights. Hillary is a waitress who wants to make a mark in her life by being a boxer. The movie is about how Hillary convinces Clint to train her ad how she reaches the highs of boxing fame. The movie is about the vicissitudes of life -- the highs and the lows.
Rating: A very touching movie with brilliant performances.

David Cutler on Windows Kernel: Highlights of the video

2005-02-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

Provides lowest level synchronization primitives

Scheduling & context switching
Interrupt handling
MP sync

[Executive objects [Kernel objects]] -> encapsulated and then exported to user mode
Kernel Objects

Dispatcher Objects
Control Objects

Dispatcher Objects

Control scheduling and synchronization
Have ‘signal’ state and are waitable (we can wait on them)
Threads, Mutual exclusion, Event, Semaphore, Timer, Event Pairs

Control Objects

Provide executive and device driver control
No signal state and not waitable
Processes, Interrupt, Device Queue, Profile, APC, DPC

Priority and affinity of thread
Affinity (of process) – set of processors the thread can run on. It will run on the subset of this affinity
Ready (subdivisions):

Ready in: the resources are in memory , thread in dispatcher queue
Ready out: process selected as not being in the balanced set. Go to process ready queue.

Free pages list
Quantum end event
Boost and decay
Active Matrix – scanned after preemption (affinity – priority matrix)
Ready queue – ready summary (bits)
(wait OR timeout) can be set
Thread object has memory allocated for up to three wait blocks for efficiency.
Express Wait: when the client thread is running the server thread waits; when the server threads runs, the client thread waits.
APC: run procedure in the context of a thread (kernel mode)

In user mode APCs happen only when the thread is alert-able (not exported)

Chained interrupts
Balance set manager

Calculates balance set
Schedules in and out swapping of kernel stacks
Boosts thread priority to avoid inversion (every second 1 quantum)

Priority inversion: system is idle. Low priority thread gains access. It takes a critical section. High priority thread enters and is compute bound. A higher priority thread enters and seeks critical section.

The joy of taking a night shower

2005-02-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

I think having a shower in the evening is one of the best pleasures of life. It relaxes the body after a hectic day, it makes the muscles ‘let go’. The whole body feels so light. The shower washes away the weight of the day and makes me feel so light in the mind. And it’s such a great precursor to the sound sleep that inevitably follows. The mornings are brighter after a night of deep blissful sleep. I feel the skin glows more the day after. We spend a third of our lives in the evenings and having a shower is such a great way to enjoy it.

Movie: Meet the Fockers

2005-02-21T22:21:00.000-08:00

Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman
How was it: Nice, funny time-pass. My rating = three stars.

Movie Review: The Aviator

2005-02-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

Cast: Leonardo Di Caprio, Cate Blanchet
Plot: Leo is a young man who just inherited a huge wealth. Although his family was into drilling oil, he goes on to produce a movie. This brilliant man pumps a lot of money in making movie with an eye for immaculate detail. The movie is a huge success. Leo then meets Cate and we see a romantic part of him. He is passionate about planes and soon becomes the fastest man on the planet. Leo has portrayed many colors in his character – ambitious, brash, brilliant and eccentric, among others.
My rating: Nice, theater/play kind of appeal.

Movie Review: National Treasure

2005-02-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger
Plot: Cage’s family is the protector of a secret that has been passed down since the days of American independence. Cage goes ahead to unearth the secret – a treasure bigger than anything known to man. The story revolves around the many clues which lead to more clues to the treasure. As one can imagine, a roller coaster treasure hunt ride. At one point I also felt parallels between this movie and Da Vinci Code.
My rating: Good action packed and fast paced.