Cache Your Cash

Recession

2008-11-30T04:28:00.001-08:00

I was previously based in Milwaukee, WI and now have moved to Singapore and I doubt if I'll be updating this blog any more. I'll try to but my current job is keeping me busy.

Anyways I am glad and happy that i have moved out of US and how i wish if Ron Paul was the president. I am saying this after reading his advisor's book

This is a must read that can give you an insight at the pathetic state US is moving in.

Yin Yang In India

2008-05-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

In India you'd find people building 2 Billion US$ mansions and at the same time those who'd leave every thing just to help the poor. Both stories are pretty interesting and on the opposite side of the coin.

There are some who inherit properties and those who make lives of others easy right from scratch.

Microsoft VISTA - Very Insane System To Address

2008-04-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well you may call me mad but I am still running Vista Ultimate on one of my PC. If you ask me it's a good learning experience for me in the sense that I could now realize and understand how big companies can exaggerate and sell steel for the price of platinum.

After almost a year using VISTA and applying Service Pack 1 and other patches on my VISTA box, none of the so many previously mentioned bugs has been fixed. Windows Update can only offer retarded new sound themes (Pearl bla bla), Language packs or Dreamscene videos.

M$ has spent quite a lot of money on R&D but I seriously wonder where all this money goes to? I personally feel that Uncle Sam's Government together would Microsoft would have done a lot better if they would have spent the money in Africa and other poor developing countries. Atleast they would have done little useful.

How not to create installers

2008-04-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

After two years today I re-installed MSN Messenger on my PC (I wanted to give a shot to see how good the new MSN Live Messenger service is as it's been some time and I was hoping to see some improvements especially on the voice quality etc). But G, to my surprise and utter frustration I end up un-installing the crapola from my PC in less than 5 minutes.

Why?

I downloaded the automated web installer which scanned my PC for roughly 5-7 minutes searching for any other Windows LIVE products. Stupid moron windows installer, I want to install MSN Messenger, what is there to do with other live products?, can't you just pick up the path from registry or some friggin config file? Some times I really don't understand why M$ does not go for some feasibility testing

Nokia on fire

2008-04-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

After buying out Trolltech, Nokia is now set to port QT to their new platform named "maemo" (Besides GTK +). I'd happily give away my IPhone (if i have one) for a phone based on such an open and extensible platform. Way to go Nokia, time to chew some apples.

Read more at the announcement

Introducing Orkut Apps

2008-04-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Today when i logged into my Orkut account I found a link that lead me to Orkut apps. These apps are some what similar to facebook apps and will allow you to share your ideas, emotions and games you like.

These apps are not yet released to the world as whole, but as always is slowly trickled to all the users in batch.

Also don't forget to check out Orkut Apps blogspot page

So do you know how to photochopp?

2008-04-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Mini FL-Studio using Java and Flash

2008-04-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Though Hobnox is not as comprehensive and feature rich as FL Studio is, but it's one of the best browser application I have seen that makes use of both Java+Flash and thus allows you to mix some acid trip tunes ...

Check Hobnox

When news is not news - the sad state of Indian news media

2008-04-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

If you have ever been to India and gotten any chance to watch the news on the private channels, chances are that you have already seen the most crappiest news production you could ever get. The quality of news production on most of these private run channels are like watching a movie with the crappiest news content you could see any where on the planet.

The following pictures are the screen grabs of India's STAR NEWS CHANNEL which aired the news when commissioner's dog went absconding. Instead watching these channels may be you should see something useful like seeing a grass grow.

Hands down the best bike ride report I have read

2008-03-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

If you have one hour to spend, then get some popcorns/beer and start reading. This is an awesome post by a bunch of adventurers who biked to Angola. The pics and the write up is just too good to be true. I wish I could something like that.

Do mind some of the pics may be rated NSFW.

China orchestrating tibet riots

2008-03-30T04:29:00.001-07:00

How sick a country can get :(

Read more at buddhism.kalachakranet.org

In Soviet Russia ...

2008-03-29T05:44:00.001-07:00

Acid 3 is worthless says Rob Sayre's from Mozilla

2008-03-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

I was looking over the spreadsheet covering Mozilla’s Acid3 failures, and it struck me that very few of the fixes would substantially improve the Web or the browser. They are bugs and they will be fixed (except maybe SMIL… wtf?), but they don’t impact authors or users at all. Looks mostly like an opportunity for grandstanding about “commitment to standards.” I think testing createNodeIterator while text nodes don’t interoperate is both misguided and hypocritical.

Besides, commitment to standards is strong at Mozilla, where we don’t constantly seek to rubber stamp our own implementation.

Rob Sayre's Mozilla Blog

American Education System

2008-03-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

I don't have anything against Americans, but watching "Are you smarter than a fifth grader" really makes me feel low and disheartened. I have met and worked with some really sharp brains in US but people like those shown on the series really make me feel kick their ass.

Just check out some of the videos on youtube in case if you have not seen any of the episode.

I didn't know there are people who can't do a 2 * 5, tell if a rice is a grain and not a freaking food or tell Canada is north of US border ... come on give me a break

I think any random student from a third world country is much smarter than most of you guys out there on the episode. They deserve a lot from your healthy easy life.

View youtube videos in High-Def

2008-03-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

Yes you can do that and it's made possible using the firefox plugin -> greasmoneky + You Tube H.264 script

Once the script is installed it basically injects the high-def video link below the you tube video.

The before and after after magic after taking the pill

Mozilla releases Prism plugin for Firefox 3

2008-03-08T19:56:00.000-08:00

So what is Prism: The Prism Wiki explains it as:
Prism is a simple XULRunner based browser that hosts web applications without the normal web browser user interface. Prism is based on a concept called Site Specific Browsers (SSB). An SSB is an application with an embedded browser designed to work exclusively with a single web application. It doesn’t have the menus, toolbars and accoutrements of a normal web browser. Some people have called it a "distraction free browser" because none of the typical browser chrome is used. An SSB also has a tighter integration with the OS and desktop than a typical web application running through a web browser.

Once you install the Prism Plugin (which is supported on Firefox 3 only), you'd see a new menu named "Convert Website to application" under tools menu.

Converting your choice of webpage to an application would create a shortcut like, which shows the application is nothing but a firefox rendered offline page.

"I:\Program Files\Minefield\firefox.exe" -app application.ini -override "C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\WebApps\slashdot@prism.app\override.ini" -webapp slashdot@prism.app

And finally when you'd run the application this is what you'll get. In case if the internet is down I suppose you should see the last fetched page

Why Microsoft is evil

2008-02-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

If you have any doubts on Microsoft and their policies you might want to read http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/Comes-3096.pdf. This was released in the anti-trust case and some of the comments and presentation point would show you how much Microsoft loves it's loyal fans.

Bad Microsoft, bad

Why I love Swede(s) and their policy

2008-02-25T05:11:00.000-08:00

In short Surf The Channel. Enjoy !!!

Prolly one of the coolest ringtone for your phone

2008-02-07T02:58:00.000-08:00

You guys ought to hear this, it's a high pitch ring tone which would definitely wake up all the bats and dogs around you but still not that disturbing either :p

boomp3.com

KDE port on windows now available

2008-02-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for this day ever since QT 4.x was made available. Finally a semi-port (some of the features are broken) is now available for you to dirty your hands with ;). Only if Amarok is made available that i'll happily uninstall winamp from my machine.

Obligatory pictures goes here (hotlinking to MrCopilot's blog)

Check out step by step installation guide with shots [HERE]

-> Windows KDE Project <-

Coming Soon...

2008-02-03T01:46:00.000-08:00

Winutuxu - Is it XP?, is it Ubuntu?

2007-12-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

A hacked version of Windows XP with Ubuntu's famous Human theme is making rounds on the internet. It seems it's a cracked copy of the OS with tons of free opensource applications installed on it.

Though I didn't install on my test machine, maybe some one could post more about it.

These are the random pics I found on the internet after searching for it.

WINUTUXU

Cutest Gippsy King Video

2007-12-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Puny little earthlings

2007-10-01T03:29:00.000-07:00

Store one zigabyte info one 1cl of water

2007-09-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe when I first read this, but the Institute of Digital Science, japan has come up with new technology which allows to store zerabyte info (do you know how much is that) on a cubic litre of H2O aka water.

Liquid Bytes

Interesting CD labels

2007-06-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

[From Holes in CD]

BaraBlu - Make free calls from wifi enabled phone

2007-06-22T15:48:00.001-07:00

With BaraBlu software you can make free phone calls around the world, all you have to do is install the software on your wifi-enabled phone and you are all set. Using Barablu you can also IM to skype, google for free. It seem to be a competitor to Mundu IM in this respect.

[Barablu]

New Linux Driver Development Kit to support one driver for all printers

2007-06-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

[Quote]:
The Linux Foundation last week announced the free availability of the Linux Standard Base Driver Development Kit for print drivers. The DDK provides the tools and resources for printing manufacturers to easily support all Linux distributions with one driver package, greatly reducing the time and effort needed to support Linux, a foundation spokesperson said.

[Linux Printing steps toward simplicity]

Dell charge 10$ for each BIOS configuration

2007-06-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was configuring a Dell notebook D630 on Dell's website when I stumbled upon the following options:

(1) You can pre-configure your BIOS on the website but Dell would charge 10$ for each configuration

(2) To remove some of the microsoft components such as Microsoft Outlook and games, Dell would charge 2$ each. You also have an option to remove the default Dell wallpaper.

These two options gives me some idea on their profit margin.

[Configure Dell D630]

Debate and discuss intelligent alternative topics on AboveTopSecret

2007-06-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

If you like reading conspiracy theories or debate/discuss on alternative intelligent topics then the forum hosted on "Above Top Secret" might interest you. Most of the discussion is monitored by around 50 staff members and I found almost all topics more or less interesting.

The topics range from anything interesting; from aliens to economics to politics.

At the time of writing this blog: the following was the hot topic.

[Quote]
"my granddad passed away about a year ago, he worked for Johnson space center or nasa back in the 1960s. our family held an estate sale, and we found a reel of old movie film in his safe. It had it converted to videotape-this is what it shows. I dont know what to make of it, but it looks odd to me .

I dunno if this will get me int trouble but I hope not. I felt i had to share it"

[Above Top Secret]

Windows Vista DVD Hologram

2007-06-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

To curb piracy, Microsoft has incorporated one of the many optical security features to the Vista DVD. If you'd read some of the optical security features they have applied you'd understand how seriously they are taking actions to curb piracy.

[Read more about the Vista Hologram on Microsoft]
[Windows Vista Team Blog]

Vixy.net - Download online videos direct to PC / iPod / PSP

2007-06-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

[Quote from vixy.net]

This service allows you convert a Flash Video / FLV file (YouTube's videos,etc) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file online. It is using a compressed domain transcoder technology (outline in Japanese). It converts FLV to MPEG4 faster and less lossy than a typical transcoder.

When you submit an url, it will download and convert to the video format. Then you can download the converted file.

[Vixy.net]

2$ prototype of Microsoft Surface

2007-06-13T19:00:00.001-07:00

Am sure you must have read and seen videos of Microsoft Surface. Here is a similar project that does the same but comes at a cost of only 2$.

[Read More At Medallia]

WidSets - Add over 1000 widgets to your cell phone

2007-06-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Widsets provide over 1000 widgets that you can install on your cell phone (see the list of compatible devices); and if that's not enough you can even create custom widget with the Widset Developer Kit using xml definitions and java style syntax.

[Widsets]

Dell Tall View - 45" LCD Monitor

2007-06-12T21:55:00.001-07:00

. FactoryDefect has 40 such monitors in stock when last checked. Its a 45 inch by 6 inch LCD monitor; looking forward to read some review on it ;).

[Dell TallView by FactoryDefect]

PhotoSynth (and SeaDragon) could challenge Google's Street View

2007-06-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Am sure you must have looked at PhotoSynth tech preview and the ever famous video hosted on TED.com that talks about photosynth's features. You might be surprised to know that photosynth product is not an in house microsoft project rather was made possible via University of Washington and others. Here are some of the features of photosynth:

* walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle;
* seamlessly zoom in or out of a photograph even if it's gigapixels in size;
* see where pictures were taken in relation to one another;
* find similar photos to the one you’re currently viewing;
* explore a custom tour or see where you’ve been; or
* send a collection to a friend.

Photosynth was further enhanced using the SeaDragon software that allows faster rendering and navigation. SeaDragon is a Seattle based company which was acquired by Microsoft in February 2007.

SeaDragon

[SeaDragon]
[PhotoSynth]

Ad-Aware 2007 now free for non-comercial use

2007-06-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Lavasoft's Adaware 2007 is made free for non-commercial usage. Adaware is one of the best anti-spyware tool. It's definitely a keeper.

[Lavasoft Adaware 2007 free for non-commercial usage]

Boomp3 - Free Unlimited Audio Hosting

2007-06-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

Boomp3 is a free audio hosting service that allows users to share unlimited audio songs. It's free and you can upload mp3 and wma files, and if that's not enough you can even use your microphone.

[boomp3]

Enlarge pics without loss of detail or sharpness

2007-06-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Photo Zoom Pro 2 allows you to enhance and digitally enlarge your picture without any jagged edges, loss of details or over bloated pixels. I tried it on a couple of pictures and it delivered consist enlarged pictures without any lose of sharpness. Photo Zoom uses patented spline interlacing algorithm to achieve the same.

I think its a neat tool for all those who want to print pics clicked with small count megapixel camera. Here is the result of enlarging the picture twice using the software.

[Original Picture - 1630 pixels wide]

[Double enlarged Pic Using Photo Zoom Pro - 3000 px]

[Vanilla Zoom using Window's Picture Viewer - ~3000 px]

[BenVista Photo Zoom Pro 2]

Share free legal mp3s via Jamendo and Magnatune

2007-06-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Those who enjoy listening to new sounds from the upcoming artists may appreciate Magnatune and Jamando website mentioned below. These websites allow users to share and listen free legal mp3 albums for an unlimited period of time. You can listen to albums in hi-def and low-def based on your bandwidth and may even encourage the artists by directly paying them.

Am currently listening to the following indian classical with pop mix

[Magntune]
[Jamendo]

Magazine - Foreign Policy

2007-06-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

Looking for good read on global politics and economics? Check out "Foreign Policy" magazine in case if you have not already. It's easily one of the very best magazine I've read. Very nice informational articles with very well laid out content. You can read most of the articles for free online and if you subscribe you can even read all the old archives too.

[Foreign Policy]

Paper Thick RFIDs

2007-06-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

In 2003, aimed at radio frequency identification, Hitachi released a 0.3mm X 0.3mm, .60 micron thick IC with integrated antenna. This year in february Hitachi released a similar IC that is .15mm x .15mm, .75 micron thick.

With this size RFID IC, the application is unlimited. RFID adoption in various areas has been steadfast all this time. You could see RFID tags at airport sticker tags, passports, super stores etc. At the same time the security experts are quite concerned about the way RFID broadcasts information. The experts have already shown how they could clone and crack passports using RFID.

ImmuneID has come up with a better approach of letting RFID tags broadcast the data only at the user's discretion. Check out more on ImmuneID on this is made possible.

[ImmuneID]
[EETimes on the new RFID IC from Hitachi]
[Hitachi RFID IC]

Now this is some paint job ad

2007-06-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mama Board

2007-06-07T18:12:00.001-07:00

First there was MamaBoard

and on the seventh day roller buggy was made

{Hotlinking image hosted on DailyMail UK}

[Daily Mail UK on Roller Buggy]
[MamaBoard]
[More on MamaBoard]

3D Web Browsing or Gimmick?

2007-06-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

Space Time is a free 3D app that splits yahoo, e-bay, google and flickr search items on Z-Axis to give a 3D perspective. It's useful to quickly look at all the search items quickly (well it doesn't take much time to CTRL+TAB, isn't it?)

[Space Time]

Application utilizing motion detection in MacBooks

2007-06-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

First see this

and then

In case if you don't know this already, all new MAC book pro(s) have motion detection built-in that switch off the hard disk in case of fall etc. The same motion detection feature can be extended to create likes of above applications.

The second video above uses the virtuedesktops program which has recently come to it's end. You can however get a decent build from the link below.

[VirtueDesktops]
[Motion Detection Source]
[The famous carpentar widget using Motion Detection]

Free audioBooks for all your portable devices

2007-06-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

Check out the huge collection of audio books hosted on audiobooks.net. Most of the audio books hosted are compatible with ipod and other mp3 players. These audio books are either without any license or are under creative commons non-commercial license.

[AudioBooks]

Picnik - edit flickr and other images online

2007-06-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Picnik is a free and easy way to edit photographs including the ones that are hosted on either Flickr, Picasaweb and Facebook. You can therefore add special effects and edit all your picture, without downloading to your computer first.

Using Picnik you can also adjust the sharpness, contrast, color, saturation besides basic edit features like resize and rotate (See http://www.picnik.com/app#/create).

[Picnik]
[Picnik Demo]

Air Car - CityCAT, the car that runs on air

2007-06-03T09:37:00.001-07:00

Tata Motors an Indian automaker (who also has major dominance in South African motor market and other countries) shall release the six seater CityCat - AirCar some time mid next year. Air Car is designed and developed by Formula One Engineer - Guy Negre's Design who is working for the France based MDI. The air-car shall run on nothing but compressed air, the compressed air can be refuelued at air stations or overnight using the built-in-air compressor for only 2$ worth of electricity.

With top speed of 60KM/H, the CityCAT shall be priced for 3,50,000 Indian Rupees (7000-9000 US$)

The following are some of the possible designs of the other model (hot-linking to the aircar website, check their website for more specification)

Check out the extensive video on AirCar and the new innovative engine that also work on similar idea

[AirCar OneCat]
[MDI AirCar]
[IBNLive on AirCar]

Read your favorite magazines online

2007-06-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

Those who don't mind reading their favorite magazines in digital format might want to check out Zinio. Zinio has the most popular magazines from 12 different countries available online (you can download the magazine for off-line reading too). You'd save a lot on postage and time; the best part is your magazine is available online any time irrespective where you are.

[Zinio]

Lego King - The brick artist

2007-06-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

Nathan Sawaya is professional LEGO model builder and has recently opened a gallery in Lancaster Museum of Art. Check out some of the talented work of this professional artist below. His website has tons of other creative objects he has made out of ordinary lego bricks.

[The brick artist - Nathan Sawaya's work] via [popxpop]

Widefox - Firefox for the widescreen generation

2007-06-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Widefox is firefox with vertical tabs that also works on 4:3 screens and allows you to place the tabber on second monitor.

[Widefox]

Radio Verve - Internet Radio From India

2007-06-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

RadioVerve is the only 24x7 internet radio that airs 8 dedicated indian music channels ranging from gospel, classical, konkani to rock and metal.

[RadioVerve]

Internet phone that recharge using the PC slot

2007-06-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

Kensington Vo200 is an internet phone that works with Gtalk, MSN, skype and yahoo messenger. The innovative part of the phone is that it fits right into notebook's PC card slot (type I and II) for storage and recharging.

Check out more at [Kensington]

Commander the new concept interface for TVs

2007-05-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Commander is a new concept user interface for television, home theaters and other audio video equipments connected to TV. The commander wand with only two buttons can detect the direction and gestures pointed towards the tv and send it as a command to the connected device. Seems this is an indirect implementation of WII's remote.

Check out the Russian link below for more information on how you could increase or decrease the sound or change channels using the new Commander wand (err... Kommander actually)

[Kommander - Translated to english using google]
[Commander Portfolio]

Virtual barber shop on a holophonic sound

2007-05-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Before you read and understand what holophonic sound means, you ought to listen to the below link on a good ear phone or a headphone. The first time i listened to it, i was wondering if there is some one behind me or what?

[Virtual BarberShop]

World's first flexible full-color OLED display

2007-05-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sony unveiled what is billed as the world's first flexible, full-color OLED display built on organic thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. The 2.5-inch prototype display supports 16.8 million colors at a 120 x 169 pixel resolution, is 0.3 mm thick and weighs 1.5 gram less.

Nokia Scentsory (Concept Phone) Can Scent You

2007-05-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

The Nokia Scentsory (a concept phone designed by Kimberly Hu) allows users to communicate remotely on additional sensory levels. In addition to including basic audio visual features, it can detect, transmit and emit smells. It can also radiate colors, lighting, and temperature from the caller’s environment. In addition, the Scentsory will have wellness aromatherapy and owner scent identification features.

Nanotechnology plays a key role in the development of this new device. Using sensors that have a sense of smell as sophisticated as a cat or dog, the electronic nose samples odor of caller/environs and transmits to recipient electronically via airways and odor releasing device.
Using additional heat, color and light sensors, the caller’s environmental elements can be transmitted: hot/cold can be felt on the exterior shell of the phone and lighting/colors can project on an interior screen on the recipient’s end.

From [Kimmu] via IntoMobile

Reserve Zenum Opus

2007-05-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Zenum Opus the much awaited Windows Mobile 6.0, GSM class 10 PDA phone shall be released very soon now. You can pre reserve the phone in advance.

Zenum Opus is powered by Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor which provides amazing features including java acceleration built right in hardware.

The PDA shall sport a 2 mega pixel camera with a 2.5 TFT touch panel screen.

[Zenum Opus]

Free Vector Library

2007-05-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Vecteezy is an index of free vectors available for download. Vecteezy is updated almost daily and can be used for WPF/SVG/Visio application. You can use Vecteezy filter to search vector files based on category, license and file type. Currently ai, eps, cdr, svg file types are supported.

[Vecteezy]

Make free phone calls

2007-05-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

Using jaxtr you can make free phone calls to any where in the world. Currently you can make calls starting from 29 countries only. You would need the internet only for the first time to make a call and then you can use regular phone.

Here is the procedure to make phone call from US to India

1. Create a user account for someone in your country (say India) at www.jaxtr.com
2. Add India phone to this account. Before you activate, call them on another line and tell the passcode to activate the added number. They will get a call on the added number and need to enter the passcode.
3. Uncheck the box on Home page that says "Receive calls only from people I approve".
4. Logout
5. Access the url created above. i.e. if user name is abc_xyz, the url is www.jaxtr.com/abc_xyz
6. Click on Call me free. Provide your US number. It will call you first and then to India number. When the call is ended you will get a US long distance number(Chicago area code 773) that you can use for further calls. i.e. dialing a US long distance number connects you to India.

[jaxtr]

Windows Vista has some serious refresh Issues

2007-05-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

We are all aware of the fact that windows Vista was released after a long delay without the components that were claimed before. I have been ranting and whining a lot about Windows Vista issues, as I am finding a new bug almost every month. The bugs that I have found can be rated non-critical and all revolve around refresh issue but it proves without saying that there are some known issues in Vista which you would LEAST expect from any other Operating System.

Following are the issues I have found in last few months.

(1) Date-Time "MAY" not update in Start Menu

Though the system clock ticks just fine and programatically you can see the right time using System API, but after 4 months of use, today I found that the system clock in the status bar has stopped updating itself. If I hover the mouse it shows me the correct time though.

(2) Windows Explorer may show File Size in negative

This is quite a bug that I see very often. As a number of users usually enable status bar I would rate this a high nagging bug.

(3) Refreshing Selected Content in Window Explorer increments it's size in Status Bar

(a) Here you see a jpeg file, note the size in the status bar

(b) Select the file and refresh the explorer window. (you wont' see the bug if you don't select the file)

(c) Now note the size in the status bar. You'd see every time the window is refreshed the file size in the status bar doubles.

(4) Broken Open File Dialog Box

(a) Open a file dialog box, for example in notepad, goto file, open menu.

(b) Rename any folder on the left pane

(c) Now look at the address bar

FogCreek Copilot - connect remotely behind firewall

2007-05-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

Fog Creek Copilot is a safe and secure service to remotely connect between two computers behind firewalls.

You may also want to read some SSH tunnel tips that would allow you to safely connect your home PC over firewall irrespective if you are in office or school (provided you have internet connection).

[Disclaimer] Use the above at your own risk.

[FogCreek Copilot]

Microsoft release first WPF/E based application - PopFly

2007-05-18T17:18:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has today released the very first alpha build of WPF/E aka Silverlight application named "Microsoft Popfly". Popfly allows users to build visual tools, web pages and mashups. As part of the application release, Microsoft has also released "Popfly Space" which is 25 MB space to create and share the above web gadgets using popfly.

As one of the examples, popfly mashup creator can make a web based flickr application that would pull all the images from flickr and show in a sphere or tiles. All this is done by linking flickr block with the presentation block (sphere or tile).

Check out the video for more details.

[PopFly]
[PopFly Screencast]

Strange watches from Seahope

2007-05-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Seahope is famous for producing weird watches some of which includes binary LED, morse code and radio active watches. This month they have released a few more nerdy watches that would grab any one's attention.

Check out Seahope's website for more details.

[Seahope]

Wibree/Zigbee the new protocol for device communication

2007-05-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

In 2003, more than 50 companies had formed an alliance to come up with a new wi-fi protocol that would allow wi-fi devices to draw less power and are cost affective. The new protocol was named Zigbee and uses the 802.15 wi-fi protocol. Control4 is one of the many companies that provides zigbee based solutions.

Last year in 2006, Nokia blew every one out with the new zigbee killer protocol named Wibree. Wibree offers extended battery life for low data transfer rate over "bluetooth" radio frequency. As the new protocol uses the bluetooth frequency it can work over the existing bluetooth hardware and does not require any major changes (unlike zigbee).

As both Wibree and zigbee is useful for devices that send short burst of data, who knows tomorrow you may have a wibree enabled watch that can control your mobile phone over bluetooth radio frequency. The application of Wibree/Zigbee is endless, though it would be interesting to see if the two technology can co-exist.

Nokia AEON concept phone

OJO personal video phone finally hits the market

2007-05-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

OJO video phone is a set of 2 personal video phone that works over the broadband/phone-line and allows video messaging. OJO has now finally hit the market and can be ordered for 400$.

[Order Via HSN]
[OJO]

Comprehensive list of documentaries on google videos

2007-05-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Google Videos hosts one of the best documentaries online and some one some where has categorized all such documentaries on one webpage. It's worth checking out if you appreciate nerdy documentaries.

[List of Documentaries on Google Videos]

USB Memory Card Reader

2007-05-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

There are a number of memory card readers that allow you to plug 'n' play memory cards as flash drive.

For 500 Yens (5 US$) you could buy a similar USB stick that plug in a specific memory card with the only difference that it looks more like a USB adapter.

[Donya]

Kodak Z885 with ISO 8000

2007-05-14T17:30:00.001-07:00

After releasing Schneider-Kreuznach lens cameras, Kodak is about to hit the market with the new Z885 camera that is capable of taking 2.2 Megapixel pictures with ISO 8000 level. Yes you read it right it's 8 and three zeros. The ISO 8000 is too much to digest ;), but well it should be good enough for small pics taken indoor or in dark areas, as ISO level 6400 and 8000 are availalbe only for 2.2 MP, 2.1 MP, and 1.2 MP setting in P/M mode.

Well a casual non-professional user does not need all the megapixels other cameras generally offer; usually 2-3 megapixels is good enough for every day shoot-n-click cameras. If you have seen those pics clicked by Mars Rover, you might be amazed to know that it was clicked with a one megapixel camera. With such a high ISO level and 5X optical zoom, Kodak Z885 can be a big hit only if the image at such high ISO levels are non-grainy and maintains decent contrast.

[Kodak Z885 Specs]

[EDIT] The new Olympus FE-250 boasts ISO 10000 at 3MP.

Mineral oil submerged computer

2007-05-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Do you know that mineral oil is a byproduct of petroleum and it does not conduct electricity? Now imagine what if you put all your computer parts into an aquarium full of mineral oil?

The above video is from Pugetsystems and their website has other interesting information and statistics on the practical implementation of the same. I'd try only if there is a non electric, non corroding, always cool liquid available.

[pugetsystems]

Top 5 firefox plugins for Twitter

2007-05-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

1. Twitbin

Twitbin is a firefox plugin that allows twitter users to chat right from their browser.

[Twitbin]

2. TwittyTunes

TwittyTunes is a FoxyTunes companion Firefox extension - it allows you to post your currently playing songs to Twitter with a click. As a bonus, you can also post the websites you're visiting, videos you're watching and more!

[TwittyTunes]

3. Power Twitter

Power Twitter is a plugin for firefox that further enhance the twitter experience by embedding flickr/youtube videos, expanding tinyurls, and maps links to their titles.

[Power Twitter]

4. Twitter Bar

Twitter Bar allows you to post twitters messages straight from firefox address bar

[Twitter Bar]

5. Twitter Notifier

Twitter Notifier is a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends' statuses of Twitter.

This extension adds a tiny icon on the status bar that notifies you when your friends update their statuses. Also it has a small text input field to update your status.

[Twitter Notifier]

Burrp, an Indian city specific, lifestyle website

2007-05-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

Burrp is an Indian lifestyle website that allows readers to write moderated reviews on the local city events, culture and lifestyle. Burrp also has a search capability that can search for restaurants, banks and other business establishments in the city (based on street address).

Burrp has slowly started catching up amongst many users in India and Indians all abroad. The alexa ranking for the same has steadily been growing.

[Burrp]

In-depth review of OLPC (The 100$ laptop)

2007-05-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

Heise (The publisher of famous linux C't german magazine) got a chance to test OLPC. They have now published an in-depth review of the same on their website.

[QUOTE From the article]
The laptop will have 256 MB of DDR 266 DRAM but no hard drive, storing data instead on 1024 MB of NAND flash memory (prototype BTest- 1 has 128 MB DDR and 512 NAND flash). The XO also does without an optical drive, meaning that it has no moving parts inside. Extensions can, however, be added via USB slots and a single SD card slot.

The core of the mainboard is a 366 MHz Geode GX2-500 processor with a mere 32 KB of cache. The x86-compatible CPU is otherwise mainly found in embedded hardware. It contains an integrated graphics chip and Northbridge, but the Southbridge AMD CS5536 rides on its own chip with USB 2.0, audio, and an IDE connection with a data connection of 32 MHz. The system has its own memory controller because the one in the Geode system was too slow for the developers.
[/QUOTE From the article]

[In-Depth OLPC Review By Heise MOBIL]

Windows Dream Scene is broken too

2007-05-09T05:15:00.000-07:00

Though I never intended to start this blog to whine about windows Vista errors, but as I am using it I am finding more and more bugs which are LEAST unexpected. I seriously feel that windows vista should have been released after a thorough testing.

This time the issue is with windows dream scene. I cannot start windows dream-scene as it requires aero theme which ironically is my current theme.

I'll now post my fourth bug.

[UPDATE] As answered in the comments section, the issue was with the error message that was displayed. The message was not specific of the dreamscene requirements. It should have been "dreamscene requires Aero Glass" and not just aero theme. I was running the incompatible Basic Aero theme.

Convert your notebook to a tablet PC

2007-05-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

Navisis releases "laptop tablet" that converts your laptop to a tablet (digitized input with a pen/stylus) without installing any software. The "laptop tablet" is a small device that you would attach to the screen as shown in the picture below. Once attached the device could recognize 0.2 mm resolution input using the Navisis USB/Wireless Pen.

The software is compatible only with Windows as of now.

[Navisis - Laptop Tablet]

Annoying Captchas

2007-05-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Captchas are used all over the web and is used to keep away spammers by differentiating between humans and computers. Most of the captchas are created using graphic library package and/or scripts that skew and convert alphanumeric characters to an image. Reading and filling captchas are not only time consuming but they are also annoying.

If you have used digg, you'd know that digg's captchas are one of the most unreadable ones.

The following ideas on captchas are pretty interesting that makes it small, readable and un-crackable by spammers

Animated Captchas
The idea behind the animated captchas is to not let show the captcha text in whole at any given time, rather use an overlay animation mechanism to expose the captcha text in parts.

Check out some of the brilliant samples at animerte captcha

Logical Captchas
Other captchas that would make more sense to implement without annoying any one could be logical captchas such as

Asking some question - '5''th character of some random string (there shall be different cases to handle, but well you got the idea)

Other Picture Captchas

Above pics from

[Neondragon]
[Hotcaptcha]

Update to vista's refresh problem: Third bug

2007-05-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Previously I had posted three bugs in windows vista, where I showed that both open file dialog and status bar in explorer does not update as desired and may lead to erroneous results.

I also had a long debate with Microsoft veterans at arstechnica where i was convinced (well kind of) to the point that this bug might have been left as it is as there were other high priority bugs OR to the point that status bar is disabled by default and therefore such a bug can be taken at a lower priority.

Today I found a third bug where the explorer did update the status bar (unlike before) but this time, well you see it for yourself

As you can see the status bar did update the file but this time it states the file size is - bytes.

The slimmest (5mm thick) optical mouse

2007-05-06T10:02:00.001-07:00

SlimG4 optical mouse is the skinniest mouse any notebook user would like to carry. With the PCMCIA card form factor, the mice is around 5mm thick when folded.

Check out more detailed pics at G4 Mouse

[SlimG4]

Geekiest and funniest of all wallpapers

2007-05-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

Heise is a famous german linux magazine publisher that interest a lot many linux geeks all over the world. Heise has the funniest and geekiest of all the wallpapers in it's collection that you can find anywhere on the web. Most of the wallpapers are based on linux and windows.

The following is the thumbnail view of some of the interesting wallpapers hosted on heise. The thumbnails are directly linked and hosted on heise.

[Heise List of Wallpaper]
[Heise]

Netcraft now tracks google's custom web server

2007-05-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Begining this month, netcraft has started tracking google's custom web server. Here is the quote from their website

[QUOTE]
With this month's survey, Netcraft has begun tracking Google's custom web server software known as GFE (Google Front End), which is currently found on 2.7 million hostnames, or 2.3% of all sites. Google customizes its web infrastructure, with in-house solutions for software and hardware, including energy-efficient servers and power supplies. GFE is the server found on Blogger sites at blogspot.com, while Google uses GWS (Google Web Server) on some other services, although none with the volume of hostnames seen at Blogger.
[/QUOTE]

This is a nifty feature that can be used to study the reliablity of google's server if one is interested in.

Netcraft on tracking google's custom web server
Netcraft

Extensive review of clix2

2007-05-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Pocketables has an extensive review of the new iriver clix 2. Iriver clix 2 has the best features for the price and looks. The following are the specifications of iriver clix 2

Capacities:
2GB, 4GB, 8GB (to come)
Supported audio:
MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, Audible
Supported video:
AVI (MPEG4-SP): 320 x 240, 2Mbps, under 30 fps
WMV: 320 x 240, 768kbps, under 30 fps
Supported photo:
Baseline JPG
Extras:
Flash games, FM radio & recorder, voice recorder, text viewer, alarm clock, removable disk
Display: 2.2” AMOLED (320 x 240, 260K colors)
Dimensions: 3.16” x 1.84” x 0.51”
Weight: 1.9 ounces (battery included)

[Full IRiver Clix 2 Review by Pocketables.net]

Access blocked sites via Ghost Web OS

2007-05-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

The newly released Ghost Web OS can also be used as a proxy, so if the new web os is not yet blocked, you can use it to surf any blocked sites at your organization etc.

The above pic shows that ip address of the web OS when queried using online IP tools. The IP address resolves to some mail server hosted at one of the Ghost Servers.

[Ghost Web OS]

Make personlized e-books from MSDN

2007-04-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Package-this is a .net tool which uses MSDN service to list all the MSDN table of content. The user can then select one or more content and export to chm or hxs format for off-line viewing.

You'd need to install both chm and hxs SDK in order to export to the required format

[Package This]

Now directly call customer service without waiting

2007-04-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

NoPhoneTrees is a nifty free service that lets you connects to more than 150 customer service phone systems directly without waiting and talking to the IVRs for ever. The service is quite like jajah.com where you give your phone number and the service connects the two parties. At the moment they have customer service numbers of all major banks, air lines, credit cards and hotels, mobile etc. businesses

[No Phone Trees]

Jajah now on your mobile

2007-04-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Jajah is an Austrian based company that provides one of the cheapest phone calls around the world. Using jajah you can make phone calls from your landline or mobile phone. The only down side was that you'd have to initiate the connection via web.
Now jajah has introduced a plugin that you can install on your symbian mobile phone and make even cheaper calls without initiating the connection from the web.

[Jajah mobile plugins]

Un encyclopedia - The onion of Wikipedia

2007-04-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

There are lot many encyclopedias and wiki's out there that would help you learn on varied subjects of interest. Well when you have had enough and want to take a break, try reading random articles on un-encyclopedia. It would make you jump out chair and make you roll over the floor with the hilarious content it has to offer.

Un-encyclopedia is a parody of wikipedia in some sense and have almost the same format. Check out some of the fun articles

Here is a snip of Un-encyclopedia on harley davidson
[QUOTE]
"Not only will this spectacular invention change our nation, but it will ensure the early death of my daughter's boyfriend," said Harley. Davidson is quoted as saying, "I can finally go to the dentist."

Today Harley-Davidson not only leads the nation in motorcycle production, but also owns 4 states (Iowa, Kansas, North Umbria, and Utah), is responsible for 86% of total human sexual intercourse and 96% of misspelled tattoos. To date, H-D motorcycles have killed almost 2 million stupid boyfriends. Thank you, Harley-Davidson.
[/QUOTE]

[Un-encyclopedia]

FreeMind - Mind Mapping Software

2007-04-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

FreeMind is a free java based mind mapping tool that help map different ideas and link keywords together in a conceptual diagram. The end diagram can then be used for study or decision making.

You can use mind map tool in your next meeting to collaborate different ideas and form a vague picture which could be discussed over to solve problems or help make some decision.

[FreeMind]

Enhance Your XP(rience) with Xpy

2007-04-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

Xpy is a free open source tool that would disable some of the windows components that would otherwise communicate with Microsoft servers. xpy would secure your Windows 2000/XP/2003 installation and protect privacy. In addition to so-called Antispy features, it disables common security threats (RPC/DCOM, LMHash) and increases your Windows performance.

[Quote]
Features:
• Disable Windows “calling home”
• Disable questionable services
• Disarm Internet Explorer
• Disarm Windows Media Player
• Remove Windows Messenger
• Improve privacy and security
• Improve performance

Though xpy is smaller than 60 kilobytes, it can close serious threats (i.e. DCOM) on long distance, where large service-packs can only protect you until a new security hole has been found.

[Xpy]

Bubblesnaps - Let you pictures do the talking

2007-04-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Bubblesnaps allows you to add speech bubbles to your pictures that can be uploaded or selected from flickr. Use your imagination and add some fun to your pictures ;)

[Bubblesnaps]

Yahoo releases Yahoo India Maps and Our City

2007-04-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

Yahoo has released Yahoo India Maps that shows street level hybrid maps of all major Indian cities. Using the local maps you can search the local businesses such as restaurants, banks etc. The interface is sleek/fast than compared to any other maps service. The Map does not let you find directions though.

Yahoo Our City bring dynamic content such as local-city events, news, weather, blogs, photographs etc. The main page of the city page shows the city facts from wikipedia. The Y! Our City page shows 20 cities at the moment and new cities page are added over a period of time.

[Yahoo India Maps]
[Yahoo Our City]

Java technology stack on ubuntu 7.04

2007-04-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

from the netbeans weekly newsletter:

"Sun and Canonical announce the immediate availability of a complete,
production quality Java technology stack and developer tools with the
latest release of Ubuntu, v7.04, making it easier for GNU/Linux developers
to leverage the Java platform in their applications. The stack is
comprised of key popular Java technologies such as GlassFish v1, Java
Platform, Standard Edition (JDK 6), Java DB 10.2 and NetBeans IDE 5.5."

More at
Sun

Get Free Visual Studio 2005 From Microsoft

2007-04-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is giving away Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition worth 300$ to software dev professional, who would attend 2 Visual Basic 2005 labcasts and submit an evaluation form for each session.

Read more about the rules and offer

[Get free Visual Studio]

Flagr - Share Places

2007-04-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

Flagr is a web based SHAREWHERE community that encourages users to mark interesting places on the map. Some of flagr maps are North America Bike Trails, Most Dangerous Places, Runners Maps, Ski Jump Areas etc.
Flagr makes use of Google maps. If you don't have any thing special to share may be you can create a map of your own to show the places you have been to

[Flagr]

Neat Defrag Utilities

2007-04-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

The following two defrag utilities are quite different from the commercially available defrag utilities in essence that one can defrag registry, hibernation files etc and the other can optimize USB stick and floppies too.

PageDefrag
[Quote]
PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial de-fragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files and Registry hives are, and to de-fragment them. In addition, it defragments event log files and Windows 2000/XP hibernation files (where system memory is saved when you hibernate a laptop).

JKDefrag
is a free disk de-fragment and optimization utility for all version of windows 2000 and above (including Vista x64). The best part besides being free is that it can even optimize USB sticks and floppies. The web-page has links to dll library, screen-saver and command line version.

[PageDefrag]
[JKDefrag]

Learn cryptography using cryptool (windows only)

2007-04-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Cryptool is an e-learning tool that illustrates cryptographic concepts. The graphical interface and extensive online documentation allow the user to be introduced to cryptography. Cryptool covers almost all trivial to intricate algorithms, no wonder why it received international award as an educational software.

[Link to png hosted at cryptool]
http://www.cryptool.com/images/ScreenShot-4.en.png

Check out some of the screenshots at
Cryptool.

[Cryptool]

Jaman

2007-04-21T07:27:00.001-07:00

Jaman is a new startup company that may challenge Joost, as it holds the worlds largest online libraries of feature films and documentaries from all subcontinents (triple that of Apple's IStore. Jaman is a paid service that allows users to download/rent and discuss the videos. Join now and you would get to see 3 movies or documentaries of your choice for free.

[Jaman]

Universal Extractor

2007-04-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Universal Extractor is one complete solution that would extract everything from any thing that is compressed, be it any setup exe, msi, caab or any other compressed archives. Note that this is only an extractor program and would not create any archives. It may not be as fast as 7-zip or others but the whole idea is to extract from ANY compressed file.

Universal Extractor

Firefox Extension: Use OpenPGP for HTTP Protocol

2007-04-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

Enigform is an interesting idea of using OpenPGP for HTTP authentication. It's basically a firefox extension and works on similar principal of PGP.

[Quote from the website]

Enigform is a Mozilla Firefox extension that provides you the ability to digitally sign HTTP requests, even those generated via AJAX calls. This extension is focused on adding an extra layer of security to the HTTP protocol.

By having the GET query string and the POST payload ("variable=test") signed using an ASCII armored, Clearsign, OpenPGP based procedure, the browsing user can provide Identity and Data Authentication to that payload, thus adding all OpenPGP benefits to the HTTP protocol.

Enigform

Another Refresh problem with Vista

2007-04-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

I had previously posted a number of screen grabs showing the problem with windows Vista's File Open Dialog Box. Today I found two related problems with windows explorer.

(1) Here you see a jpeg file, note the size in the status bar

(2) Select the file and refresh the explorer window. (you wont' see the bug if you don't select the file)

(3) Now note the size in the status bar. You'd see every time the window is refreshed the file size in the status bar doubles.

After a little bit of experimentation I found that the status bar does not auto-update the file properties.

For example if I edit the file in mspaint

I still see the old file size listed in the status bar. No don't click F5 or Refresh as it would double the size.

After finding all these bugsI feel that Vista still has some small issues that needs to be looked at.

[EDIT]

Here is the video of the same problem