Curious Insanity

TeamApart: A Great Collaboration Tool [Invites]

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:37:00 +0000

I have already covered about the brilliant collaboration tool TeamApart. It is a platform that allows for real-time collaboration (free for up to 4 members) with video-audio conferencing, whiteboard and note-taking. Ideal for small business and personal needs.

They are making collaboration really simple and easy to use. No more clunky UIs. No more monolithic pieces of software that take up your disk-space. Just sign up and connect. All of this at a price you can not refuse (free for upto 4 people).

Naturally, some of you couldn't wait to try it out. So, here's what has come out of interacting with their wonderful personnel. I have a few invites to give out.

I have 15 invites to be precise. To be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. If you think you need one, all you need to do is leave a comment (stating that you want the invite) with a valid email id as a sign in. And I'll mail you the invite.
That's all there is to it.
Have fun. cheers!

Ads That Make You Go Yuck!

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Some adverts should have never been created. They should have been quashed the moment they were conceived. Nevertheless, they were unleashed unto us. And here's my list of the worst recent ads ever in the tech segment in ascending order.

4. Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates:

This is for sheer boredom and nonsense. I am huge fan of Seinfeld (the show). I almost never missed an episode, when it came as a rerun. But even after seeing this for over 10 times in a row one day, I was struck by the lack of humour or for that matter any sense in it whatsoever. And the money that went into making this made things worse. For sheer ineffective use of resources and failing to actually promote a product, this video makes the first cut in this list.

3. MSI:

We get it, your notebook is thin. So thin in fact that they can fit into people's derrière. Come on give us a break. Do we really need to know that and is that how you would go about promoting your laptop anyway. ~~What use does a laptop have fitting into people's ass crack~~. This does not present any actual use for the product. Nevertheless, the video below is there to sell you this product.

2. O M G I G P Internet Explorer 8 Puke Vomit Girl:

This was a tough call. I mean what could be worse than seeing a girl puke. But at least there's a point to this ad, however grossly presented. I would never be tempted to try Internet Explorer 8 seeing these, but in the end this segment of ads actually were trying to highlight features of the browser. Some of the other ads in this line of Microsoft promotions are in fact pretty slapstick. Unfortunately the one below is just too yuck to be considered funny.

1. Bing Goes the Internet:

Where do I begin. This was the ad that made me open my Scribefire to jot down the worst ads ever. Its that bad. To all the people who have watched it, as I have my condolences for the lost time of your life you will never get back. But if you are of the lucky batch who have not experienced this monstrosity and would actually for some reason in spite of my warnings want to see it, go ahead and click.

That was my list. Let me know, if there are more I should have mentioned along with these. May the force be with you !

How to Follow Perseid Meteor Showers & Other Astronomical Events From Your Home

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Don't forget to look out in the northeast direction of the sky tonight, keeping the moon at your back. Tonight you will see the annual meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. Its going to rain about 50 to 80 meteors an hour. So will be very exciting. For this you'll need to get out from your chair and make your way to the terrace you hardly ever go to. However, if all this is making you feel completely lost, just go to the familiar Google homepage and check out today's theming. You will know what I am talking about.

So we are back to where i was talking. Perseids and other astronomical things may not be such wonderment for the average city-dwellers. The night lights often overshadow the glory of a moonlit pathway for us. And most of our temperaments are so used to having a switch to flick on the moment we see a dark patch, we wouldn't do well outside probably. That being said, there are plenty of geeky ways to catch such events. Here's a run down on how to keep abreast of such things the way we know best.

Through Twitter:

We are talking real-time people. How did you expect Twitter to not be featured here. Just use the #Meteorwatch hashtag (watch out for spam though. Some people really don't know what they talk about, so be discerning) and you'll be on your way.

Pictures, snippets of news, all will be delivered to you. In fact if you are feeling more proactive Why don't you join the first meteor star party on Twitter, being held by the Newbury Astronomical Society, UK. It would definitely be exciting for that star gazer inside you. However, if this tryst leave you with the zeal for astronomy you might want to follow NASA, cosmos4u and 100 Hours of astronomy for more in-depth news.

Youtube:

Trusty youtube always has quite a few decent amateur videos that can keep us glued. Fret not about the eerie silence that comes with most of these videos. Most of the astronomical events actually make no sound. If they did, well some other species would be talking about our Dinosaur ways. Here's a video of this year's meteor shower.

Consider subscribing to the videos feeds of Challenger Centre for Space science Education (CCSSE). They are a non-profit that provide quality videos on astronomical several phenomena. Learn more while browsing.

Google Mashups:

Two words we know and love. VOEventNet (built by joint collaboration of California Institute of Technology and Los Alamos National Laboratory) offers Google mashups of recent events. Install Google Earth then come back and follow the links given on the homepage of this site. You will be seeing live image from gammaray bursts, microlensing events, supernovas and unknown transients courtesy of GCN/GRBlog, OGLE, MOA and the Catalina Survey.

Space:

This website has every conceivable data on space. Join in to explore all things from aviation to night sky. They have a great video section too. Think of it more like Star Wars world meets Serenity. Always a treat to keep going back.

Stellarium:

This brilliant cross-platform software keeps me awake many nights. Choose your location co-ordinates and see the events unfold in your sky. It is a planetarium catering just to you. Explore a realistic 3D Sky as you navigate over 600,000 stars, the Milky Way with powerful control features that's sure to leave you wowed. At 33 MB it is a little on the heavier side of things. However, believe me its well worth it.

That's about it. Let me know if I have missed out on some portal which you have come to rely on for all thing astronomy. Till then, don't forget to watch the skies.

Team Apart: For Real Simple Collaboration Needs

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Most large corporations need mighty protocols and expensive softwares to keep tab on all their work. Most of us just need some tools to use while collaborating real-time with a bunch of our colleagues while we bounce ideas and projects around. TeamApart fits the latter bill quite effectively.

It provides:

Face to communication using a webcam or a microphone.
A Whiteboard to hash out those ideas as you get them.
A real-time notepad that'd allow you to take notes or create to-do lists synchronously.

Check out this cool demo:

Only limitation is, the free version is restricted to only four users and now you need an invite code to get in. But that shouldn't stop you early birds. So sign up if you are interested.

PS: If you guys would like to be one of their beta testers to have a grip on their latest features, you can mail them at team@teamapart.com and they'll keep you clued in. Cheers!

Package Manager: The Biggest Achievement of Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:16:00 +0000

We,the Linux users often take for granted a robust package manager in our systems. It is only the developer or a newcomer who think how good we have it. Fresh out of the myriad world of Windows and its separate installers for every damn piece of software, this system wide package management came as a source of liberation for me. No more did I have to wait for a software to update the very moment when I was looking forward to using it. No more missing important security updates because I didn't use a program. It was all taken care of, all done for me. And like a cherry on top of the cake, most installations or updates did not even require me to restart my computer.

Ian Murdock, the Founder of Debian GNU/Linux distribution and Progeny Linux once noted that, package management system was the single biggest advancement Linux had brought to the OS industry since it blurred the boundaries between operating system and applications, and made it easier to push new innovations into the marketplace and evolve the OS.

It used to be that operating systems were big, monolithic products, and applications were big, monolithic products you put on top of them. If you wanted to deploy, say, a web application, you sourced the middleware stack (which itself was probably several big products too), you sourced the operating system, and you (often painfully) had to integrate the two yourself (or pay a big company lots of money to do it for you).
These days, you increasingly just “apt-get install whatever".

So how does package management systems (PMS) change our lives at the end-user level?

It is a system wide manager. So takes care of all the software packages in the system.
It maintains such packages at the best of their usability status.
Verifies the checksums to ensure the correctness and completeness of a package before install
Authenticates the origin of the packages through digital signatures.
Upgrades of software takes place from known software repositories (for greater stability)
It automatically groups of packages by function which eliminates user confusion.
Version pinning: If a particular software version works for you, you might not want to upgrade unless some critical vulnerabilities or instabilities come to light.
Finally while downloading a software the package manager tries to resolve any dependency problems. In other words, it automatically prompts to download other packages that would be required to make the needed program work.
Similarly most advanced package managers allow you to do a cascade package removal, where in all packages that depend on the target package and all packages that only the target package depends on, are also removed.

In short the user gets a stabler, more up-to-date, better running system at his disposal. These features make package managers the most painless way of running our OS. The guess work is taken out and we are left with community certified software that is guaranteed to work as it should.

But there's not one type packaging format or even a single kind of packaging manager to deal with such formats. Like Linux's infinite choices of distros, the choices even permeate down to the package manager that is bundled into your system. You are always at a liberty to choose which one you would prefer. There are many sort of packaging (like .bz, .gz, .tar, .deb, .rpm, etc) that are either binary dependent or independent of the platform you are running. Most of the front-ends of package managers (like Yum, Apt-get, Aptitude) can handle most of the types and allow a user to painlessly to install and manage any software they want. However, if you have a package only in a particular binary packaging, you might want to take the help of Alien. A converter for different Linux packaging formats.

I know, sometimes such shared libraries in their complexities of operation can confound a novice. So many choices can often be overwhelming. And frankly the constant quibble as to which format is the best to go about and which manager is the greatest doesn't make it very easy on the user end. However, I sincerely believe it is a better state to be in than the incompetent and inflated DLL Hell that I have faced whilst using Windows.

If you are not that big a stickler for details, the decisions to be made are only few for the new penguin. See a program that you like, check in the front-end if your repositories supports the same or if the site has a compatible package (in 99.9% of cases it will if you are using a popular distro) and there you go. Click install and no more worries. Your powerful Linux machine will do the rest.

Can't Wait for Google Wave? Try These Now

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:28:00 +0000

We are all waiting for Wave. No matter how difficult it might be to use. Doesn't matter if the steep learning curve and the sudden absolute real-time collaborations might take a lot getting used to. Wave is going to change the way we interact and go about doing our business on the net. However, even if you have signed up for you Wave account, rumour has it that the common netizen will only have their accounts up and ready sometimes late September. What's an early bird to do till then?

The principle highlights of using wave is:

Real time communication.
Real time collaboration.
Its a document, wiki, IM, commenting system and email all bundled into one.
Its a centralised location to store all your communication.
Its open source.

That's a lot of goodness built into one tool but since we will not get our hands dirty with it in a short while, lets see what are the other things we can use in the meanwhile.

Shareflow:

This product in its free and paid premium version seems to do almost everything that Google Wave promises to be able to pull off. The free basic plan provides the user with 25MB storage and 5 flows and no limitation on the number of users. As ReadWriteWeb puts it,

Shareflow is a granular version of a flow-based collaboration; you can either view all flows or just single projects. In terms of content, it handles threaded comments, files of most types can be uploaded and previewed through Scribd’s iPaper interface, there’s Google Maps integration, images, and video.

However, the biggest caveat in this model is the fact that there is no real time chat or document collaboration available.

I realise that might be the deal breaker for many. But if you would like to try out it just for the heck of the fact that they managed to create a working prototype at least 2 months before Wave was launched, then you can sign up here.

PyGoWave:

Short for The Python Google Wave Server. This is definitely no where near a replacement for Wave. The only thing worth noting is the fact that PyGoWave allows you to use and even download the various Google Wave extensions. It is based on the Google Wave API and the only way you can test out some of those interesting features that are making the rounds about Wave. If you remain open to the idea that this is a very early approximation of the experience of what the real thing might feel like, it might become well worth the download.

EtherPad:

If its only document collaboration that you want, etherpad might fit your bill. It can be even used without an account. Although there are 3 kinds of accounts. The free edition allows you to create public pads with nominal security and no user accounts. The private network edition is their enterprise solution and costs $99/user.

Mircosoft Sharepoint:

This is definitely not an early product but the overpriced stalwart that many believe Wave protocol might eventually replace. Nevertheless, it provides content management and enterprise search for businesses and has been as the industry standard by many.

Tgethr:

This is the most cost-effective and also easy solution out there. It enables simple secure email based collaboration. There is no migration cost, no learning curve. Since you are essentially using the email based platform itself. Obviously the natural limitations of emails plagues this system.

Well those were the apps I thought had some similar functionalities that Wave will obviously excel in. Nevertheless, its a list, so if I have missed out on something let me know.

Cheers!

Portability of Web Identities

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:40:00 +0000

I am filing this under the wish-lists. A thought just struck my head. A few days back I had recommended to you a couple of movie recommendation engines. It is then that it hit me, that how much labour goes into making some services work for us. Should things be this hard?

Imagine this. XYZ technology comes in. Promises to revolutionize the way we deal with certain aspects of our web-life. I am not talking about communication portals or search engines. I am talking about those services that require continual user input in order to provide better customized results. Now there is no guarantee that XYZ would be the best herein after. Or may be you like a very unique feature of ABC but don't like it completely to abandon XYZ. So now you are at cross-roads. What should you do? Spend fresh time and build up both XYZ and ABC or abandon the thought of using one or finally like most people end up settling for sub-optimal output from both the services, because you just didn't have the time to add data into these systems.

I wondered if it were conceivable to carry around this user generated data with us. It is not only our email or our blog posts or our IMs that make us who we are. There's the whole question of preferences. Thus I strongly believe we should be able to transfer such data and save a copy, wherever we like. Whether or not we liked a movie will remain independent of the site we are rating it in. Whether Opeth is my favourite band or not, is something I absolutely know. Nothing is going to change that. Then why, in a world of integration and portability of content we are okay with settling for lack of this simple feature when it comes to user experience content. What might be the hindrance?

I guess the principle challenge lies in the way the data is being gathered. It is all in an ordinal scale usually, however if you see some scales of ratings are descriptive and qualitatively obsessed whilst others are more into quantifying user experience. If there were a way to create profiles for individuals with this information life would be much simpler on the social web. We can carry over our friends, then why not our preferences.

I know, to some, having central identities and user preferences stored in such a way would mean a threat to privacy. But I am going to take that shot with the world knowing that I am a metal head who thinks Metallica was over-rated (given that only their early stuff were great), that there are days I am stuck with only one song playing in my playlist throughout the day. I have no qualms keeping a record that Ian Mcewan is my favourite author and I am dying to read his 2007 master piece On Chesil Beach and that nothing surpasses Coorg 's splendour just after the rainy seasons in Karnataka. I am not sharing sensitive data here. I am sharing what I would share in a public space anyway, at any social forum that thrives on such data. I just need to be able to import and use such data that I have painstakingly put into in some place. I just want the web to be more intelligent at that.

Why Developers Prefer Simple Solutions

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:43:00 +0000

When I was in school I had a maths teacher who still had passion left to work on puzzles beyond the curriculum requirements. May be the reason he was so well-liked by us, is because he always told us, "if something was too complex to solve, it probably was being approached wrongly". Like most mathematicians of any callibre he lived for that single elegant solution. I guess web developers also are always on the lookout for the same simplicity in their implementation of things.

Every developer worth his salt would like to create or adopt something that has at its core an ingenious idea. However, it should be simple enough for him or her to break down its processing and implementation in no time (in hours to say a couple of days). Most successful web technologies are those that developers can grasp in no time and use as they see fit.The protocol should not only deliver some unique functionality but also be open enough to be modelled and hacked into something that can be used by the developer in their work. That could be changed easily to suit their specific needs. Thus by corollary most successful web technologies are those that developers can grasp in no time and use as they see fit.

The investment in terms of time that goes into this should be within the limitations of spare time that most developers would care to spend. So that if the adoption of the technology is not wide and great, it would only be a loss of time.

Secondly, the history of web development shows that it is those technologies that can be implemented within already existing functional platforms that are adopted most readily. Take for instance the recent implementation of push-button technology in Google Reader. It sort of tries to bridge the time difference between the articles we share on Reader with our Friendfeed updates. Its a minuscule step. Nevertheless, it brings us closer to the possibility of near-real-time web communication. Isn't after all, this is the premise that made us fall in love with microblogging platforms like Twitter? The possibility of communicating our thoughts and being read by many at the same time and vice versa. More communication and spread of idea.

Another great example of web success would be the creation of feeds. A very easy to implement idea, in our existing content creation and yet at the user end it provides enormous benefits of not having to keep navigating from one page to the other. Every new thing written on a site of our choice is automatically delivered for perusal right into a centralized reader and can be read any time. As a publisher it costs me zilch to get the feeds started. I can either modify my feeds or I don't even need to get my hands dirty; Feedburner can do my legwork. Independent of the number of my subscribers I have a great feature implemented which now allows the users to access my contents anyhow they prefer. I dare you to find weblogs these days without a method of subscription. There in lies the beauty of simplicity.

So what happens to more complex ideas, that are trying to bring in more radical changes in the way we behave on the web. My thoughts are that they always remain the cornerstone around which more smaller developments are based. Developers take in pieces of these ideas and try to implement them in their work. Over the years the parent idea is modified and becomes inherently present in more and more sub-models of itself. Thus through this very gradual process, a revolutionary technology is adopted and assimilated into our day to day lives.

I am chiefly interested in the way Google Wave will bring in changes within our existing platforms. I am not saying Google Wave does not have the capacity to replace blogs, IMs or Emails. I am saying (and this is after talking to a couple of people who have had the good fortune of using Wave in sandboxed accounts) that the inherent complexity of the system lends it to become an excellent candidate for being a source of inspiration. A full scale replacement for Wave would be beyond the reach of most companies to provide. Clones of Wave might not ever exist. Thus developers are more likely to break it down to nifty idea parts and employ them in their work.

Eventually Google Wave will change the way we communicate on the net. Our communications would become more centralism in spite of different providers. The harassment of maintaining so many identities and tracking responses all over the web would obviously end someday. Wave in its absolute brilliance will change everything that we know about communicating in the cyberspace. It will just not be overnight; it will definitely not be in its entirety from the very beginning. I am expecting all ideas of Wave to become a reality; just after it has been boiled down to be added to existing platforms. Gradually, very gradually.

Ubuntu Forums: Great Place to Get Help

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:46:00 +0000

It is often said that communities are built around open source projects. It is what usually sets apart open source softwares from their proprietary counterparts. There is such a massive involvement from all the users of these softwares that it is unbelievable. They are eager to help the new users; showing them the ropes in graded steps, sharing tips and tricks, just so that you know that you are not alone. I became first hand witness to this amazing process in Ubuntu forums today.

Since I shifted to Ubuntu, I had experienced a peculiar problem whilst browsing the web. A few sites like Facebook, Flickr, Zoho and certain other .php based pages would just stop rendering or not allow me to create or save content. It was definitely weird since I could access other Java/ Java script enabled or flash filled sites. But these specific ones I could not. Not through different browsers, desktop apps, nothing. Initially I sincerely didn't care. I hosted most of my pictures on Tinypic, was most active on Twitter and used Open Office for most of my office needs. However, since the last month the things changed a little. My friends had all moved on to Facebook and I had no other way to keep in touch regularly with those who went out of town, unless I wanted to rack up long distance bills. Frankly, I wasn't in any mood to do that. The occasional hi-bye is nice. A full-fledged email sometimes just takes too much of thought and IMs are too temporal in context.

Pushed to a corner, I had to find out a way out of this messy affair and fast. So I started searching for any similar problem people might have had. Surprisingly the problem remained elusive. Its as if, no one even thought such a thing were possible. Humbled by this fact and in a state of resentment I had accepted that this problem of mine would not get solved. That is until one night I was reading a forum thread in Ubuntu and was putting in my two cents to a troubleshoot. Then it hit me to start a new thread. It was ill-formed, barely specific in details, yet the response was overwhelming. In less than 2 days I had received over 25 approaches to solving the problem. Finally one of them worked. I don't know if it was the combination of some or just the spring cleaning I went about doing as a result of all these suggestions that worked, but right now I am happy that it did. Over time I guess I would go through the logical basis towards going through every step. However, today I am simply ecstatic.

This brings me to what I initially wanted to say. Open Source project based communities, especially the Linux and Firefox forums are extremely useful. Sometimes a new user might get stumped with something they just might not be able to wrap their head around. Nevertheless, through these forums it is possible for that user to get their problems addressed. The response might take some time to get generated. The solutions may not work right away, but eventually someone more experienced would come to know about it and lend their help. Its this great community that makes it possible for desktop users to move on to Linux and Firefox.

However, I also applaud Canonical's decision to offer Ubuntu Desktop Support. It never hurts to have an official channel to get support when moving from other OS-s into Ubuntu. It would be especially useful for small-companies and individuals less inherent to troll forums. So along with great official support and an equally powerful community driven user support system, I don't see why the year of the Linux desktop should be that far away.

Three Awesome Movie Recommendation Engines

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:28:00 +0000

I take my movies very seriously. I love watching them. The genres don't matter, bottom-line is the movie should be good. But soon enough I had exhausted most of my of friends' recommendations. There was only one thing to do, I decided to venture online.Now IMDB, Rotten Tomato and Metacritic, are seriously excellent stores for reviews and information on the movie you have made up your mind to watch. However, their user interface or data-mining isn't geared towards handling more user-based listings. Even basic questions like for instance would I like this movie often remained unanswered.

A critical review just couldn't cut it anymore. To my dismay many a movie from similar genres and with high recommendations left things to be desired. The information I had was simply inadequate. And when you think of it in terms of time you could have put to better use, it piles on quite a lot. There must be a better way. So I went through many a different search engines and recommendation portals in the past 2 years, and after all of this, these are the three recommendations engines I have come to use regularly and here's why you might like them.

Nanocrowd :

So you just finished watching a movie. You loved it and would love to see more like it. Great. Nanocrowd is just for you. A relative newcomer amongst the three, but no less useful. When you want quick recommendations based on other movies, this is the place to be. They dissect every movie into nanogenres: three words that best describe the overall experience and plotline of the movie.

Its not enough to ask for say a movie similar to Ronin. Would you like to see something "secretive, intriguing, convulated" or about "driving, stunts, car-chase", etc. As you can see, these specific detailing open up a lot of new possibilities. Because it often happens you like a movie only for a specific part of it. Now you can sub-sect that part and go hopping-skipping onto the next movie that gets you all of that, and more.

Once you have selected a movie out of the lists they provide info not only about the average rating of the movie but also the number of people who can watch it together. They will also provide you a brief summary of the movie from Amazon, giving you ample opportunity to buy it up from Amazon or add it to your Netflix queue.

The only problem as of now is that is there is no way to add a movie to a watch-list or anything similar. Social features are definitely on their way. But we need to wait a while longer. As for not needing a sign-in to access quick movie bytes, the site gets a thumbs-up for that.

Jinni:

Whilst Nanocrowd was all about getting to results at warp speeds, Jinni is to do with deliberation. So you want a "stylish, upbeat, action filled, cop thriller with a great plot based around gang wars" and would love to see it with a bunch of guys whilst chasing down the beer. If there is a movie meeting that exact criterion, believe you me, Jinni will find it for you.

They divide movies and TV shows into more than genres, plots or awards. This recommendation engine tags the movie based on plot, genre, the type of audience most suitably watched by (date night, guy's night, girl's night, etc) , awards it won, time and place where its based and most importantly mood. What's the point of watching Dead Poet's Society when you were more in the mood for something like School Ties or Mona Lisa Smile. You get the picture.

It has also options to provide recommendations, after you have taken a Taste Test. These are a set of questions based on how you like certain movies. Yes, it takes more than 5 mins to get through the test, but I would say, its worth those minutes. Not only do you get recommendations but your searches are also optimised with this information (its dynamic by the way, so the more movies you rate, the better it gets. Therefore, the movies most guaranteed to please you whilst meeting your search criteria are shown in larger boxes over the ones you are not as predisposed to like.

Once you have found the movie you want, hovering over it would give you a short overview, links to watch a preview and to buy the movie or queue it in Netflix.

Caveat is, that whilst you get excellent results, sometimes it is a little lonely to use Jinni. Social features are non-existent. Its all about making the search engine better as of now. Plus, it is still in private beta. You either have to request an invite or get an invite from someone else. However, even with these shortcomings this is the best cumulative criterion based movie recommendation page out there.

Hellomovies:

The most social platform out of the three. And frankly a UI champion. My kudos to the designers for making this site quite a pleasure to use. If you choose to sign in, you can queue up on watch list, rate movies, play a trailer or make the hideous movies disappear from your view by simply hovering over them.

When you search for a specific movie, you are presented with a detailed page. A short summary, ratings (from both Hellomovies users and Rotten Tomatoes), tags (eg: funny, entertaining, etc), trailer, similar movies and user comments are all neatly provided. You also get a glimpse of an active community working within this site, when real-time syndication of user activity regarding the movie can be viewed on that movie's page.

Clicking on a user would show you, how similar your movie tastes are. I have noticed, when showing these results, they tend to pay less significance to the more famous movies. Everyone likes Godfather, but how many out there loved Sideways and hated 2008's teen-sensation Twilight. These subtleties count. When you follow a person, you can see the movies they liked and these movies will also be available to you in your searches.

On the other hand, if you are just starting out, you might want to search for movies that meet your niche criteria (of taste, genre, release year, language or awards). Doing that will present you with movies from a few broad lists:

All movies
Movies you haven't watched
Movies you want to watch
Friends want to watch
Friends Liked
Movies that you have hidden (in case you want to reconsider)

Last but not the least, clicking on a movie will provide you extensive ways (free or otherwise) in which you can get to watch them. This site provides the most comprehensive list of available methods to watch a movie. So go ahead and get ready to watch them.

Honourable mention:

TasteKid: I know there are people who swear by this . It is a great recommendation engine, not only for movies, but also for music and books. However, the combination of the cluttered interface along with the site's ridiculous obsession with presenting every information with a preview sample is a little annoying. Hence I have stopped using it. Though if you prefer things that way, you would be interested in giving this site a try.

Well that's it. My three favourite movie recommendation engines. Do let me know which one I should have used otherwise. And please take the pole in the comments sections.

Cheers!

Making up my Mind About Self Hosting this Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:42:00 +0000

You all know, about my brush with the ugly side of free weblogging. At that time I had said, I am contemplating shifting to a self-hosted option or if not that atleast to the open source Wordpress. After quite a bit of deliberation and extensive research, its going down between these options:

Register my domain name myself vs Use the free domain name that I can register for free with the web hosting companies:

Naturally to avoid absolutely any problems, any site should have its own domain registered independently with ICANN. Not that Web Hosting companies are an unscrupulous lot, but its best to have entire control over one's domain name, so that even if you shift hosting companies it will not matter. However, you have to shell out an additional 10$ to 20$ a year for doing that yourself per domain name. Going the web-hosting company way, you would have to shell out "zilch".

Which Web Hosting Company to use?

Frankly I am still very divided in this matter. There are plenty of great options, but unless I have conceptualised my entire site layout and what I want to achieve through it (naturally the Curious Insanity site will be a lot more interactive, content emphasized and easier to navigate and fun to access), its premature to choose a hosting company. I am looking for one that hosts its sites on Apache. They are definitely more secure. Obviously other features like MySQL databases, Perl, PHP, FTP, etc would have to be there. Plus uptime >99%, unlimited emails, unlimited transfer and storage would have to be there.

Drupal or Wordpress?

I am tempted by the simplicity of Wordpress and for this one blog site, it would be ideal, but the added functionality and greater control that I would get with Drupal, tempts me a lot. As you know, I am a doctor, and eventually someday, I would like to create a site dedicated to writing quality medical articles. Plus, the photographer inside me, would love to showcase my handiwork through a dedicated space too. Not that Wordpress cannot handle 3 sites. Hell, it can do quite more, but what kind of blogger will I be if I am not concerned with my site data. Drupal simply provides more site intensive elements that any blogger craves, unless a simple dashboard is good enough for you.

Last but not the least:

I had created Curious Insanity, without much of a direction one day. I wanted to write, so I wrote. But over time, the site is slowly developing into something more concrete. A portal where I host my opinion and likes on things (mostly to do with open source and the culture around it). Now on looking back, its sort of hard to associate a name like "Curious Insanity" with open source. So this whimsically put name now holds a little less significance to me. Not that wouldn't like keeping it. Make page reverting so much simpler, but I am not completely 100% with about the name.

This shift would take some time. I will chronicle the whole thing as it happens, so that everyone has adequate time to change their bookmarks :). I will also be enlisting the help of my friend, the very capable Manish Pathak, to help me with the designing and user interface aspect of the blog.

Well that's all from my end today. If you all have any ideas do air them.

So long ... and thanks for all the fish. [Well only till the next syndication].

The Feeling Of Doom When Google Marks Your Blog As Spam

Why Firefox Will Remain Relevant With Gecko

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Firefox, is my favourite browser. I guess the same sentiment is shared by a significant bit of the world population, since Firefox's download number is quickly reaching up to 1 billion. This is a very important and commendable feat by any software, specially for an open source one.

But I am taking this instance to see, how can Firefox remain relevant in the days to come. You wonder why I should I be bothered about it? Isn't numbers everything? Well even IE had numbers on its side and today its numbers are getting depleted like the life out of a fail-whale. So instead of simply saying, Firefox is the best, lets strive to see, how can the "greatest" still remain that smashing in the years to come.

If you have read Aza Dotzler's blog on the impact of Firefox, you could not be anything but be moved. An awesome bar that every browser immediately implemented in their own ways, HTML5 to support one of the most vibrant and viable add-ons community and the most important thing, without Firefox's initial market share, all these other single-digit share-holding browsers that are now coming in would not have mattered.

You can pretend that everything was OK without Mozilla but that's fantasy land. Everything you care about is possible because you're not being fucked by Microsoft's 99% monopoly of the Web because Mozilla took them on and succeeded.
You don't get it, (...). Opera would be dead on the desktop without Mozilla opening the playing field. Mac would be dead on the Web without Mozilla opening the field. Chrome wouldn't have even happened. Hell, Google's search dominance probably would have fallen to Microsoft if Microsoft had been able to maintain its 98-99% browser monopoly.

So, rightfully, the fox-lovers are real proud. But why is it, that this wonderful, innovative, world class browser is receiving so much flak from a sub-section of its erstwhile users? Instead of criticizing them, I guess the best approach would be to see, how Firefox dev team proposes to integrate some of these must have features, the reasons why these users are moving from Firefox and using something else. After all, at the heart of innovation and relevancy would lie the capability to adapt.

Gecko vs Webkit:

I will not bring in Trident (of IE), Presto (supporting Opera) or KHTML (used in Konquerer) here because in all fairness, Mozilla's Gecko layout is mostly compared and contrasted with Safari and now Chrome's WebKit (of course we know, WebKit was developed by Apple with code from KDE's KHTML project) rendering engine.

When it comes to Gecko it is backed by over 10 years worth of solid development going into it. Gecko is a complete solution. It can provide a complete web-experience which goes well above and beyond the calls of a rendering engine. But although, the architecture was lightyears ahead of its competitors, like Mozilla ziner, Pinkerton puts it, it was in no way well-designed. For a developer to work with Gecko, the learning curve is immense and a real challenged at that. What is more of a problem is that Gecko is very difficult to understand and much more difficult to fix. It has its flaws which come wrapped within its benefits. Gecko is impenetrable yet admittedly bloated (although the latest version leaves very less to be desired).

On the other hand, by the insider's own admission, he finds, WebKit, much more developer friendly. Its sleek, less bloated, has an elegant embedding API and definitely finding and fixing bugs are extremely easy. Its a developer's dream. But why not implement the same for Mozilla? Wouldn't faster bug-fixing and a faster rendering rendering engine definitely benefit the end-users too?

This is because, as this well-researched article reasons points out: when objectively viewed, Gecko is clearly capable of achieving parity with WebKit in power,performance, and low memory consumption, while still providing unique and highly advantageous features that can't be found in other rendering engines or easily added to WebKit. Despite the belief of some critics that WebKit is categorically better, there is no technical basis for arguing that Firefox should drop Gecko.

Apple is not known for its open-ness. If a company like Mozilla were to switch to WebKit, in the unforseeable future conflict of interest may result. Moreover the architecture of WebKit is still very fragmented. It makes no sense, to shift from Gecko just to jump into the new band wagon and in doing so lose all the things a user and the deveoper has come to expect out of Firefox and its allied suite of software.

As rightly pointed out by Mike Shaver, the VP Engineering of Mozilla,

"We follow WebKit as closely as anyone in the world, and we cast as critical an eye towards our technology stack as anyone in the world,but a brain transplant is neither practical nor likely to be useful."

My two cents:

If something works at the end-user segment, then very few things matter after that. The ease of use, the security of web usage and the ability to do anything with their browser is what most users of Firefox (and to some extant other browsers) have come to expect. They want a single powerful platform around which their entire web-experience and partly a significant portion of their desktop work-flow can be based upon. Not being able to support an average user's basic needs when he or she goes about surfing, is not only not cool, but actually pathetic.

Firefox through its open architecture and by the use of Gecko has made the notion of a complete web-package possible. Today there are so many wonderful uses of the XUL engine of Gecko (Songbird, Miro to name a few) to create much beloved and useful softwares that WebKit is simply not in a position to deliver yet.

Lastly, Fennec has ported well into mobile devices, something that Gecko dissenters thought could never be achieved. Surmise to say, Mozilla's dev team and community support will pull through, breaking more grounds than any other platform can, simply because there are more people passionately working towards it. The cultural milieu has made it possible for more innovative things to surface than would have otherwise.

As of now, the road looks pretty well poised. The roadmap to Firefox 3.6 is ambitious and clear. As always, performance, customizaton, task based navigation and superior web-application support are top priority. In using Gecko 1.9.2, the aim is to achieve human-perceivable (>50ms)speed increases not only on start-up but also whilst the user is doing common tasks. Firefox would also have better tab handling (hopefully one of the wonderful tab handling ideas from the Summer '09 Design Challenge would be integrated into this), capability to play more rich media content, better support for native theming and the ability to install themes and extensions without a restart: "no restart". I have been using Linux now for a while, and believe it or not, the no restart grows on you, and you yearn for everything to be able to just as adept at handling plugins. Lastly if you have used Ubiquity, you know how easy life is going to get once Taskfox is completely implemented.

I am not saying to choose speed over usability is a bad thing. I am not saying that a bloatware should not be hacked down. By all means. Gecko's streamlining will only be possible when added pressure from other layout engines force people to think ahead. But herein lies my question: I want to know if any other browser can do all of the things that Firefox can without screwing up my surfing experience to even the most basic sites. A very obvious necessity at the end-user level, isn't it?

The Feeling of Doom When Google Brands Your Blog as Spam

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:29:00 +0000

I guess, many of you must have seen me going completely berserk last night, when I received a mail from Google, saying that I needed to take immediate action. The matter at hand was pretty frightening. Seems my legitimate blog, had somehow met their robot's criterion of a spam blog.

Believe you me, when I say this, I really didn't know, there could be splogs or spam blogs. Meaning how was it even possible. May be the autobots had done too good a job at screening because I haven't till date come upon such a spurious entity. Anyway, getting back to the matter. So I receive an email from them:

What, make a request to undo the damage done by spambots or lose your hard work and efforts in less than a month?

Naturally I promptly went about requesting a review, and reading up on all that I could to stop my blog being taken away from me in 20 days, unless I passed some test. This morning I see the red banner of warning on my dashboard has been taken away. So I guess my blog did in fact get salvaged. However, this whole incident put my perspective on things in another light, and thereby I thought I would share with you guys what all behaviour they consider spamming:

Link Farming: A link farm is any group of websites that all hyperlink to every other site in the group. The problem is, whilst some link farms can be created by hand, most are created through automated programs and services.

Spamdexing: This is even more interesting. It involves a number of methods, such as repeating unrelated phrases to manipulate the relevancy or prominence of resources indexed by a search engine, in a manner inconsistent with the purpose of the indexing system. So if you write in a way that can be termed as search engine optimised, hold on. Because your blog might just not become easy to read and find, but easy to be labelled as spam too.

Keyword Stuffing: is considered to be an unethical SEO technique. Keyword stuffing occurs when a web page is loaded with keywords in the meta tags or in content. The repetition of words in meta tags may explain why many search engines no longer use these tags. Thing is many search engines like Google, do not even consider meta-tags while deciding on page rankings.

Now, having said this, this is what I have done. I have backed up and imported my blog to Wordpress. I guess, I might move formally from Blogger soon as I have enough time to implement the necessary platform changes or arrange for a hosting service for my blog. These decisions did not come easy. As many of you know that, it was an arduous task building the things the way they were on this site. It might take me a long while, it might be soon, till I have decided on the future of this blog on Blogger. Naturally, Curious Insanity will continue. We'll just have to see where. Because what I write, my content is something I have created. It is legitimately mine. And it is impossible to condone such behaviour that hurl such consternation on people.

Thanks a lot for the support and encouragement from all of you, who took the time to talk to me about this.

The Future of Firefox & Why It Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:41:00 +0000

If people ask me, why do I really love Firefox, previously I used to keep repeating feature after feature to them. But in all fairness, features change. More and more get incorporated, and many other projects, quickly implement the same. I have been thinking over a couple of months, and frankly, the reason I finally came to, has more to do with me as a person, than the software per se. Why do I love Firefox? It is simple: they made browsers actually matter.

The Firefox project, had begun as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project. Starting out initially as Phoenix, it was quickly renamed to Firebird, but that too had to be changed, to avoid any confusion whatsoever. And then on we have Firefox. But what's in a name after all?

The first stable version of Firefox 1.0 was released in 2004. At that time, it was a feature sparse, but more secure alternative to the dominant IE 6. Yes, there was Opera 7.2 and Safari for Macs. But as we all know, on the PC platform, all of that did not matter. IE with its clunky interface and non-standards compliance, still ruled the roost. It was installed into the PCs along with the Windows operating system, and the common man couldn't care less, if the world over, web designers and security experts were crying foul. The availability of another browser, in fact, the question of choice in this matter wasn't a prevalent culture.

However, come 2005, something changed. Firefox 1.5 was released, and suddenly a lot of people started noticing, this promising, powerful contender. A contender, that came with not only inherent stability, but a project, that enlisted, lo and behold, community participation to develop further. It was browser equivalent of the sense of pride and fanaticism that is often seen in Linux users. The motto was simple: "If you love Firefox, help us make it better". As we all know, it worked fantastically.

A lot of people started knowing there existed Firefox 2.0, in 2006. These were not only the web developers or some people similar. This was the time when the tabbed-browsing, inline spell-checking, anti-phishing implemented, extensive plugin enabling highly customizable browser became commonplace. The regular science geek, the average security obsessed fellow and the curious and interested started peering into the project. It was all the rage. And the rest, as we all know, is history.

After going through a couple of more iterations Firefox 3.5.1 today holds around 23% (May 2009 data by NetApplications) of the global browser market share. In certain countries like Finland, the usage goes up to as high as 45.9% (March 2009). And we own Antarctica! It is the most successful Open Source project ever.

But what happens from here on?

One of the things that was unique to Mozilla Firefox, since its early days, was the business relationship that it shared with Google. It was probably one of the reasons why the project pulled through so much clout. Not only was Google providing Firefox with many of its early security innovations but also pouring in extensive amount of funds (about 75%) into the Mozilla Foundation because of its search revenues. However, as we all know, in the year 2008, google released its own browser, Chrome. This browser based on WebKit layout engine and application framework, was light on resources, had enviable features like separate tab processes. It upped the ante to such an extent in browser market that all major browsers had no option but to get into the band-wagon of creating better, faster and more stable browsers, that also boasted of all the features their contemporaries. With Chrome's Google branding and Safari's pre-installation into all Macs and other family of products (and we know how much the fanboys want to actually move away from their Apple brand of things), the situation is pretty dire. Why run all your favourite Google services in another browser, when frankly the user interface and usbaility factor is so smooth in Chrome.

That sense of urgency in adopting and promoting Mozilla might soon be lost. Given that Chrome is open source too, and now will be the center-piece to the much anticipated Chrome OS, what is the point of championing only Firefox. The people who would be drawn to Chrome today would be from the same user-base as the Firefox ones. The early adopters, the seekers of the new. Although, most industry pundits do not see the problem in this, in fact even Google's own developers say, the introduction of Chrome was to promote newer developments in the browser segment and not to thwart Firefox, There will come a time when the economic implications would force Chrome and Firefox to go up against each other head-to-head. This is where Google's brand recognition will benefit Chrome.there will come a time when the economic implications will have to be looked into. Then instead of standardizing the web, these two browsers would be head-to-head in getting more and more market. That is where Google's brand recognition might come into play majorly. In fact, it gets more and more difficult each day, defending my use of this browser to the Chrome addicts and the IE 8 evangelists. And here-in lies the biggest problem. They broadly miss the point.

Mozilla is a corporation, but it is about as anti-corporate as it gets. The community participation, the sense of belonging that comes with being part of Firefox is different than anything else going around. Well perhaps the only other thing, celebrating and rejoicing with its users as much, would be Linux. (But some Penguins do have their stiff upper-lips). Firefox is a culture. We look at every stat, every figure, fervently. When the alphas and betas are announced, we run them in parallel along with our regular Firefox version to track bugs and discuss, but mostly because we cannot wait to see, what's next. Its like watching something you love so much, perhaps a child. Its grown up a little now, is an adolescent now. It has been a wonderkid, but you cannot help but hold your breath to see, if this same youngling would become the celebrated genius, you always knew it could.

I don't think, any other piece of software can evoke such feelings inside a person like me. So far removed from coding it or developing it, still I am so moved by its every turn. This is amazing thing about communities. We love it, so we make sure it becomes better by the day.

Firefox development is no slouch too. The newly announced cycle lengths for version 3.6, is unrealistic (just 3 to 5 months!) but it does show the audacity and the ambition that this community has. We will do it. We will move forward, because it matters. Because we care.

If you want to experience the same, download Firefox right now.

Take the poll in the comment section and show some browser love. Cheers!

How to View & Work With .CHM Files in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:37:00 +0000

When I moved to Ubuntu, I was faced with a unique problem. It was then, that I, first came to know about .CHM files. You may find that surprising. The thing is, I had been reading many a book in this format over the years in my Windows XP computer, but here was a format that Microsoft natively supported, in fact created it. So I wasn't required to have any knowledge about it whatsoever. However, smitten with Linux per se, I moved to Ubuntu and suddenly all my medical text books which were not in pdf could not be opened. Wonder of wonder, they were in .CHM. So thereby I did plenty of reading to find out how this could be remedied. Looking back I know, it had taken me quite a bit of time, to decide what to do, because the information, although available was very fragmented. So here're my two cents on the possible approaches.

You do not want to change the format of the file:

A) You don't mind downloading a dedicated viewer:

In such a case there are quite a few options.

GnoCHM: Well I guess the name suggests it all. Its a simple program that uses PyCHM, a Python package that exports the CHMLIB API. It is easily downloadable through Synaptic or with the Terminal using "sudo apt-get install gnochm". You will be set up immediately. Just point and click; your .CHM files will automatically be opened through this. You will have all your regular, index & search features.

Xchm: This is the other program, which provides a front-end to the same CHMLIB, with borrowed bits from the chmdeco project. The great thing is, you will have absolutely no decompression of your files, so you can view them in the manner they were supposed to be. You can use it in GNOME to open your files, or even in the Windows and Mac OS X. Naturally, in Ubuntu, you can download from Synaptic or using the terminal "sudo apt-get install xchm".

CHMSee:This is a Gtk2+ based viewer, working with the CHMLIB library. Standard operations can be performed through.

Konquerer: I might not prefer KDE myself, but I must agree, Konquerer does not cease to amaze me. It is a file browser, a web browser. Wonder what comes next? Well, that being said, if you are running KDE, Konquerer natively supports viewing .CHM files. Therefore, go ahead and start reading them right away. However, if you are not running KDE, it will be a download for you.

KCHMviewer: Another KDE gem. Its main selling point would be its compatibility with non-English CHM files (surprisingly it supports most international character sets). Along with this, it has the feature set of all the other standard viewers, including: search (non-English CHMs too), bookmarking, font size changing, index/content browsing and codepage support along with a lot others. You can download it with "sudo apt-get install kchmviewer" ot from Synaptic.

[Note: If you are running something as light-weight as Fluxbox as your window manager, it is best to simulate a test run of the install, so that no unnecessary dependencies will get pulled in. Here's a way to test this out: sudo apt-get --simulate install gnochm (assuming you want to download GnowCHM).]

B) You don't want to download anything:

Epiphany: This descendant of Galeon, is another browser for GNOME. It has a graphical interface and among many things can also view .chm files. If you are not using the wonderful Firefox, give Epiphany a try. Its a very authentic GNOME experience.

You want to change format/ edit your .CHM file:

Whilst packages like GnoCHM allow you to easily view your .CHM files, there is still a problem, if you suppose want to carry your file with you on other devices, that do not support .CHM files. In other words, these are the things you can do, in order to actually get into working with your file.

CHM2PDF: If you want your leg-work to be done automatically just opt for this. This will give you all the necessary control over your .CHM, including extraction of pictures. Code for this is sudo apt-get install chm2pdf

[Note: You can always go for compiling the configurations by yourself. But the above method is pretty simple and easy on time.]

This is all I have to tell you all about .CHM files today. Naturally if you prefer aptitude, you have to replace "apt-get" in each of the command with "aptitude". You are now set. There should not be any problem with handling .CHM files anymore. Have fun.

Handy Nautilus Scripts to Supercharge Your Right-click Menu:

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Nautilus is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop.

[Aside: Dear, Windows users, a file manager is a programme that provides a sort of user interface to work with file systems in you computer. You probably never gave a thought to it, because you have always used the default one provided by Windows. Its terrible, clunky and is so feature sparse, even children can pick faults. So if you think you need better control, read more about them to try these out.]

As a shell, nautilus provides a lot of great in-built features, that would leave you satisfied.

Local as well as GVFS (GNOME Virtual File Systems) system filesystem navigation (including FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, etc).
Tabbed interface.
You can bookmark, change windows backgrounds, emblems and notes.
It can show you previews (be they text, pictures, video, audio).
But my favourite feature out of all is the ability to add scripts to its existing shell.

By adding these mini excutable shell-scripts(usually bash) you can add a wealth of versatility and power to your right-click menu. Think of the power that Firefox harnesses. Mostly because users find it so easy to add more usefulness to their experience by integrating add-on to their existing install. Similarly nautilus scripts allow you to extend the same to your file manager.

The following are the best scripts out there, in my opinion:

1. FontInstaller:

This nifty script allows you to install different fonts into Ubuntu, easily. No more hassles.

2. Terminal Here:

Why go about niggling those continual cd /~ paths, when a simple right click brings your terminal to the current folder location. Awesome time-saver.

3. Browse as Root:

When used for the right reasons a super-priviledge browse session is definitely useful. instead of firing up the terminal to go: gksudo nautilus, try this. It would save you time. However, a word of caution, use carefully, as with 'Great power, comes great responsibility.'

4. Audio/Video/Image/Text/ISO Converter:

For all your simple conversion needs without using GIMP or Handbrake.

5. Link to Desktop:

Show a symbolic link in the desktop for a file. All for easy access.

6. Set image as Desktop Wallpaper:

Its not possible, to always know, what look you want for your desktop. And with thousands of images in the wallpaper directory, its hard to keep a tab on them. But if you find an image that you would like to be set as a Wallpaper just use this script. Not only will you be able to set the wallpaper but also determine its size and tile-ability.

7. Search in current folder:

Extremely handy if you don't want to fire up Beagle, but know the vague location of a file and want to find it quickly.

8. Sendtomedia:

This is absolutely useful. It is like the "Send to.." link in the Windows shell, only easier and more powerful. Plug-in any device and transfer away files.

Most of these scripts are part of the Nautilus Scripts Ultimate Pack 1.2.

Having talked about the scripts I like using, here's how you go about breezily installing these scripts:

Download the script (to any location or directly to the scripts folder mentioned below)
Extract/ Move the downloaded contents into /home/[USER NAME]/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts folder. [Note: If you want all users on your system to be able to use the script, it should be installed into the /usr/share/nautilus-scripts folder. You'll need to have superuser privileges to copy the script into this folder and change its file permissions.]
Right click on it, go to Properties, then Permission and check-mark "Allow executing file as program".

That's it, you are done. Your expanding, powerful, right-click based actions are all set for you to use.

A very interesting thing is:

You can use these scripts even without using Nautilus. This is by creating panel launchers or .desktop files. These are use by calling on the psuedo-nautilus scripts.

These are places where you can access a mine-wealth of scripting action:

Install Firefox 3.5 in Ubuntu now

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

I love Firefox. I believe its the best browser out there. However, when I moved to Ubuntu I noticed a peculiar problem. Whilst Firefox releases updates to its browser every 1 to 3 months (sometimes even within weeks) Ubuntu has a different methodology altogether. In order to maintain a uniform user experience it needs any software to be rigorously tested, tweaked and finally be officially supported. Whilst for most softwares I can wait that long, but a browser is different. They improve in time and its a pity not to jump at the latest platform available. On top of that, it becomes more unbearable when it is as useful as Firefox 3.5.1.

Are you using the default Firefox build that comes with your Jaunty platform? Somehow it is still mysteriously stuck at Firefox 3.0.11. Come on already Canonical. Its high time the software repositories officially start supporting 3.5.

The advantages of Firefox 3.5.1 version is obvious:

Better memory processing.
Faster load times.
Java scripting leaks have been resolved.
Dynamic colour profiling.
Private browsing.
Tabbed tearing.
And finally one of my favourite things: a highly useful new tab page (through the about:tab extension).

I have been using the Firefox 3.5 betas for months now. The shift to Shiretoko blew my mind. Yes Google Gears is still not supported, but is one add-on enough to make you not use this great web browser's latest? Plus the benefits far outweigh this caveat.
That being this is the reality:

1. Unless Ubuntu officially customises, check and adds Firefox 3.5 into their repositories, you will not be able to use it from your normal Add/Remove. 2. The workaround is to add a third party (Mozilla's) repo to your source list. 3. The weird thing is, the browser you would download, although is the final version 3.5.1, it would still be called Shiretoko. 4. You have to manually install all the add-ons that you have, as this download will not use your default Firefox profile. 5. Lastly you better leave the other official Firefox version alone in your system. There are just too many tie-ins into the system and it'd be best to leave it as is, unless you want to meddle with your present profile and risk data-loss, etc. Nevertheless, the Firefox 3.5.1 that you download, would automatically update with the official Mozilla releases. So I guess we have a winner at our hand in this install.

So here's how to do it, by the repositories method again:

01. Open up your current Firefox browser and get the Public Key for Firefox 3.5. It would look something like this:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: SKS 1.0.10

Some text here: [Demo]

-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

02. Copy, Paste and Save the public key to a text file.
03. Open System > Administration > Software Sources.

04. Click on the “Third-Party Software” tab and add the following source:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/fta/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

05. Click the Authentication tab and import the key file that you saved on Step 2.

06. Open System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager.

07. Click the Reload button.

08. Now search for “Firefox 3.5″ and then Install.

09. That's it, the install is done.

10. Now you can run Firefox 3.5 from your Application > Internet > Shiretoko Web Browser.

No more hassle, a current, powerful and automatically updating browser is yours to take for a spin.

Update (21st July 2009):
After trying out Ubuntuzilla, and taking the new Firefox for a spin I am convinced it is a more pragmatic approach to this problem. This does not give you two browsers, rather its your branded Firefox itself being used. So I am including an update as to how to go about that.
1. From the Ubuntuzilla site, download the .deb package for the python script
2. Then double click to install it.
3. Now fire-up your Terminal,then if you are only installing Firefox, type in

ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p firefox

4. Follow the graphical instruction as it comes. It'll take about 10 mins to install.
5. For any other documentation or queries, please use this page.

Related Posts:

Adobe Air Apps I'm Still Using & a Note on the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is a cross-platform runtime environment for building rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax, that can be deployed as a desktop application. Adobe AIR applications also support native desktop integration. AIR includes features like local file IO, clipboard and drag-and-drop support, system notification, and more.

At a time where most platforms required coders to write their programs differently just to make them work, this provided easy methods for developers to create apps that could be deployed to the 3 major desktop OS out there. It was heralded as an innovative approach to ushering in true cross-platform work. However, things are a lot different today. Most of the things that we expected out of these nifty apps, can be done in the browser with elan. If not even in a better way. So, after about a year's worth of trying and testing so many wonderful apps, there are only a few surviving ones that I still use. The portability and the ease of their use is the number one factor I am still using them.

Focused:

You might have not heard about this. You may have, though, heard of its more illustrious cousins, Posty. It is just a simple word pressure. Extremely light weight. It is surprisingly devoid of any header or footer sections niggled to the docks with options. Contrarily, the minimal settings that this app offers, appears only on a mouse-over. The text-editor takes over the entire section of your screen by default (you can obviously resize it and customize the way it looks and feels), giving you just a dark screen to write in. The reason I like this app, is because it takes away all distractions. You are left to write your content, rather than going haywire and not writing meaningfully or fast. I will recommend it to all of the ADHD-ish people, who have difficulty concentrating. This is surely a productivity booster.

Tweetdeck:

This app follows the exact opposite philosophy to Focused. Here more is deinitely, well "MORE". Single application social devices are not the coolest things and most such applications are being replaced by more versatile and multi-tasking beasts, but with Tweetdeck its different. This app gives you such control and innate ease of use and power tools built into it, to manage your twitter account, once you have tried it, you will never go back. I have tried Seeismic (also its better web counterpart) and the funky spirited honorary contender Posty, but is still prefer this app. May be for the sheer volume of information I can take in that quickly. Its brilliant.

Shifd:

I use Shifd extensively to save snippets of information that I would lose otherwise. Its a lot more powerful than a local sticky post function, since you can access the information from just about anywhere with your browser. Like an address for a show I'll be catching (through its places feature) or those ever changing ideas I have (through the notes section). You know the kind of inconsequential data that you don't pay attention to much while you are presented with it, but would like to have a handy manner to access it. Comes with a powerful linking and search feature. Think of it as web-enabled Tomboy notes.

Polaris:

Previously the member of Google Analytics Suite, this one needs no introduction. I am a blogger and I am absolutely obsessed with stats. This app is easy to use. Has no memory footprint to speak of. Provides almost all the features as the actual analytics page. Definitely a must have for any blogger, unless you prefer keeping your browser open all the time for the scores.

Font-picker:

This tool goes with my blogging and designing needs as well. I like to GIMP up my images, play around with trypography and likes. This is an easy way to choose a font from my installed ones. What looks the best for that situation, I know it immediately.

Snippely:

We all need codes. Specially a doctor like me, who is trying to design and hack her way through to making her blog not only appealing content-wise but also to add a layer of design and functionality. I had to learn and keep a lot of codes for my blog and with so much happening losing them were very easy. So, i used Snippely instead. It helped me organize , add notes and finally have every piece of hack in order, the way it was supposed to be. Curious Insanity would have taken much much longer to be how it is today, had it not been for this.

Snippage:

It is like having a slice of a webpage with data that matters to you at your fingertips (ahem desktop) all the time. I use it mostly to keep a tab on the stock indices, you can use it for anything else. Resize it, customize it, with its click-through capabilities its very powerful. A handy app to have for things just like that. Ah, and did I mention, you can create as many web widgets as you want.

Snackr:

It is not for the serious feed readers (yours truly included), but the more casual readers love it. Plus when you are out of your browser it gives a way of running feeds sections through. I like to have it on, when I am doing other things on my comp, like watching a video or something, and in this way have an eye on the day's update, without dedicating time to reading everything. Great for scanning.

Now, with my favourite apps out of the way, I have to add a final note on Titanium. It is not an Adobe AIR app. In fact, this is the first open source, cross-platform environment for your desktop, mobile, webpages and servers, to build rich internet-apps.

I believe with time, this is what is going to take over Adobe AIR. Developers will love this, because it uses standard HTML, CSS and JavaScript fro its legwork. These are not times where closed source, tight lipped manner of business is appreciated any longer. Titanium will give developers the real freedom they needed while building their apps. It will probably usher in a new lease of life and meaning, in this age dominated by browsers to rich-internet desktop based applications again.

Use GNOME-colors for Some Easy Theming

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:06:00 +0000

We love our desktops. And endless hours can be spent at times trying to get it to look and function just right. But what about the days when you don't want to work towards your desktop? If you want some easy theme changing for your GNOME setup I think GNOME-colors would be just right for you.

It might not have many customisations, but here are reasons why I still like it, and why I think casual desktop themers would find it appealing:

Setting it up is really easy. Just Install the program and its ready to use.
It offers easy theme change at the click of a button from your Appearance section.
There are 7 Shiki color variations: Brave (Blue), Wise (Green), Human (Orange), Noble (Purple), Wine (Red), Dust (Chocolate) and Illustrious (Pink).
It gives you options to choose your Log In window also in the same way. Easily making it possible for you to add a dash of colour to your welcome screen.

Sure it doesn't give you as much customization as more robust clients like Emerald might, but GNOME-colors doesn't even promise to be that. Its an easy way to make that reprehensible eye-soaring Human theme disappear and I would recommend it, to everyone who just wants some variants.

Here is a way (without using the Terminal) to install this in Ubuntu:

First open your favourite text editor and copy the code from this page and paste it into your editor. Give it a name, like Signing key and save it somewhere.
The code key will look something like this:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----Version: SKS 1.0.10Some text here which is the key-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Next you need to add these sources to your software lists:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gnome-colors-packagers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/gnome-colors-packagers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

In order to do so, navigate to System >> Administration >> Software Sources.

Click on the Third Party Software, followed by the Add button below.
A window will pop-up now asking for your APT line.
One at a time add in both the above lines.

When you are done select the Authentication tab from above.
Select Import Key File.
Navigate to where you saved that text file previosly and select it.

Now simply press Close.
You will be prompted to update your repositories. GNOME-colors will now show in your software source.

Next open up Synaptic and click on install GNOME-colors from there.
You are done.

Note: Installing by the Terminal would have involved a lot less steps, but I have not mentioned it here as a lot of people don't like tinkering in it. If you want to do that though, this instruction page gives you all the information.
Anyway, that's it. Have fun colouring.

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Songbird: A Preferred Music Manager on Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Songbird has come a long way from being the initial buggy betas that crashed when you threw a song its way to this stable and highly useful version 1.2. Founded by Rob Lord and developers by Pioneers of the Inevitable (the same brains behind Winamp and Yahoo! Music Engine), the software was created with a mission to be "the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web". I will now tell you why it is my music manager of choice.

So what are the benefits in Songbird that has made it my preferred music player on the Ubuntu platform (over the defaults like Rhythmbox or others like Amarok):

Let's talk about its default client features first:

When you start Songbird for the first time, it has a “Setup Assistant” that helps you quickly and efficiently configure the audio-player for your optimal use.
It has a “library management facility” which helps to browse, organize, sort and search your media.
It uses GStreamer on all platforms for playback.
Watch folders: It monitors specified folders to automatically import your media from (something sorely missing from the highly touted iTunes)
Album Artwork: not only does it display artwork, but also fetches the missing art from the web. Therefore giving you a more enticing media experience.
Smart playlists: AKA dynamic playlists, set by your own parameters, helping you quickly get to the music that you want. On the other hand if you are like me, you are probably having smart playlists spew out songs based on stringently-set criteria to add value to your listening habits.
Gapless playback and Replay Gain for the party animals
Nine band equalizer to niggle the tunes just right.
It supports many media types including MP3, FLAC, Vorbis, WMA (with or without DRM) on Windows and AAC and Fairplay (through Quicktime, requires iTunes for authorization) on Mac and Windows. So in all probability you would not have to download a codec again.
It has seamless media importing and exporting features from files systems and iTunes [its bi-directional now] making the change from this clunky giant as painless as possible.
It has native device support for many different types of media devices (either through the client or through add-ons). More and more devices are being supported with successive version.
It is also a library file organizer. If you so choose, it would restructure your media into a well accessible folder tree format. We don't want messy directories with our files all over the place. Lets bring some neatness into. But if you prefer your files to be kept just the way they are, turn this off, and you are no longer bothered.
It has inbuilt metadata management capabilities. Albeit its still a little nascent with only read/write options, but the Songbird team is furiously improving this feature, and soon you will be able to fetch additional metadata from popular services and use it as your metadata editor of choice.
Its cross-platform since it runs Mozilla XUL engine, so no need to hesitate about compatibility issues.
Has multi-language support. Over 25 languages are supported presently.
Easy theming to add some eye candy to match your desktop. They insist on calling them Feathers though and not skins.
It has built in automatic updates (means Windows users will not have to keep checking if the latest version is available).
Last but not the least, did I forget to mention that it is a browser too (its Firefox to boot at that), so you can do all your browsing while you are listening to your favourite tracks, without it becoming a resource hog. It allows live bookmarking too.
Another cool feature that comes out of this is that when you are on a web-page with an embedded media file, Songbird automatically detects it and immediately gives you the same control options over the media as you would have using your own library file. They also allow the media to be used as a playlist. I think this is a killer feature. Makes music blogs so much easier to navigate. The team is also working on making, subscriptions to music blogs possible natively. So that you can download such music directly into your library.
And of course, every add on that you are used to in Firefox is becoming quickly available for Songbird automatically.

The following are the integrated features now thanks to the extensible architecture-

A decent music store in 7 digital- yes its no iStore, but its also not DRM laden and delivers high quality MP3s (320 kbps). There is also has a recommendation service in it that allows you to discover more music based on your listening habits.
Last.fm Radio/ Scrobbling integration- no need to run an independent scrobbler. You can scrobble all your songs directly into your Last.fm account and as a result get better listening recommendations and music discovery. Also has streaming support from your preferred stations.
Mashtape: It gives you access to Flickr photos, You Tube videos, Last.fm artist biographies, Google new and so much more about the currently playing artist. There Vimeo and Delicious variations to this feature if you want to change your content providers.
Now who doesn't want to catch their favourite bands at a live gig. (Its is another thing that in India there are no good metal acts coming, who are not past their primes. Except Opeth this year. Loved it!) But it is a little bit of a harrowing task to always know which band is playing in your area. With Songbird that scut-work is history. It has Concert Tickets powered by Songkick, that shows you any upcoming shows lined up around your area and now you can groove the night away.
We all love streaming music, because sometimes our libraries are not with us where we go. Have your favourite kind of playing through the SHOUTcast Radio directory plug-in.

There are so many more things Songbird can do, why don't you try these plug-ins. The options are truly endless. Here is a list of plug-ins that I have to add more to my player:

LyricMaster: Shows lyrics for the song if you have it or fetches them if you don't have them.
Directory browser allows you to browse your music directories directly, without using the library.
Folder Sync: Sync playlists or the whole library with a folder or USB-storage device
iPod Device Support: it supports all iPods apart from the iPod Touch and iPhone so far. Its a little buggy, but the one of the options we Linux users have, since iTunes is still not available for Linux.
Media Flow view: it mimics Cover Flow to add some functional eye-candy.
More of the same: Shows tracks from your library that are related to a selected track
Now Playing List: adds a now playing list with ability to drag and drop songs into the queue (very much like what Winamp users has been enjoying forever).
Recommended playlists: Believe me, when I tell you, this has worked for me. The Genius feature in iTunes was so underwhelming. May be Songbird just understands metal better. Okay, if you compare it to Mufin, it will pale, but it beats any other recommended playlist generator hands-down.
Releases: Informs you about the upcoming album releases by artists in your library. This will be much appreciated by people who have to have the newest albums as soon as possible.
Song Notifier: Add some pizazz to the way, the notification for the currently playing song is played.

Well these are the reasons why I believe Songbird is an ideal music manager in Linux. Yes I know it still doesn't support video play, its not as snappy as Banshee or Amarok, but it provides a more comprehensive user experience. You don't have to break your head, to play your music with this, but the experience will surely blow your mind.

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The Right Way to Promote Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:20:00 +0000

You find Ubuntu useful. You have made the change and know the inherent benefits of this secure yet user-friendly derivative of the Debian system. You feel a moral compulsion to promote this open source operating system to the world. If not the world, at least to the people around you. It is at this time, I would ask you to exercise some degree of caution and also apply some reticence to how you go about it. Being an aggressive zealot is definitely not the way.

Lets examine first what are the common mistakes, that we end up making while promoting Ubuntu (yours truly definitely was not a stranger to these tactics in the early days):

The you absolutely have to try this attitude:
No explanations, no asking for usage patterns. You find a computer running something else, you think now you know better, and just coax the person into Linux because it is what you have grown to love. Just because you find it exciting, others might not. Others will not see the point to a herculean OS change. Do not expect them to change just because you said it was the best thing ever.

You will find it useful:
Yes Linux is great, we all know that. You have found it infinitely useful and think it meets everyone's needs. So you promote it, without knowing how anyone views the usage of his or her computer. You say it will suit them, without showing them how.

Take this live CD and try it out:
For average users from Windows background who are not even familiar with the concept of OS coming as a Live CD (since most have not even installed an OS ever, since it comes pre-installed), handing them one would serve no purpose. They would probably not even know how to use it. Plus many people will be apprehensive about installing an OS, when the CD has no branding on it.

Forgetting to mention the caveats:
We think we are better than that. We barely like to think that in real life, we employ the same techniques of software promotion, as the drug companies do about new medicines. It is true though. We are highly unlikely to talk about the problems someone might run into while running Ubuntu. We might even rubbish or belittle such problems We like to hide them, consciously or unconsciously, because after all we think we are there to help these people out or that people can always help themselves..

So those are the few common mistakes that we make, but then what can be perceived as the right way. Even more importantly, why do we need right methods?

The Open source/ Free source movement is all about personal freedom. The freedom of choice to do whatever we want to do with it. As Con Kolivas (the celebrated -ck patchsets developer for Linux kernel, who moonlights as an anaesthesiologist by day ) puts it very succinctly in an interview:

"It would be fair to say that it is now one of the most important of the very few competing pieces of software/operating system that remains and drives development of the defacto standard -- Windows.....

.....Linux was created to service the home desktop personal computer, and the PC is here to stay. For those who were looking for some excitement and enjoyment in using their computer, the defacto operating system just doesn't cut it. We want to tinker, we want control, we want power over everything. Or alternatively we believe in some sort of freedom or some combination of the above. So we use Linux."

No matter what we do, we have to bear this in mind that we cannot force people into changing. That borders on tyranny of sorts. We should rather make the features so compelling and so easy to use for the desktop users that they feel the need to make the change. Of course we are not kernel writers or can in any way influence the development cycle of this wonderful OS, so lets try and do the correct things within what we can.

Be a good listener:
Before moving out anyone from their OS, listen to them. A computer means many different things to different people. For some its an email machine, for some its where they write and do school/ college work. Others perceive internet as an integrated part of their computers and use it mainly to access the net. For these people, their browser is their computer. Then there are the gamers, music and multi-media Geeks with their watching and editing requirements and the uberly cynical graphic designers. Once you start listening to them you will realise, that each and every one of them have different expectations from their computers.

What you will hear the most, in every instance though, that they want to know: will Linux be able to meet the needs, that they have, at par or even better? Nobody wants to learn something new, only to find it works less efficiently (or rather very differently) from what they are used. So explain to them their options. What to expect and how Linux can tackle very efficiently almost all of these things. If you need help you can always refer to this cheat sheet.

Have varied approaches:
As you talk to people you will get to know about them and in a way also about how you can go about promoting Linux. Make it specific to the needs and demands of the individual.

I have found, in my experience, it has been easier to talk to people much older than I am, who have not grown up with computers, but are using them now. These people like my Aunts and Uncles, are excited when you tell them about a secure system, which minimises maintenance needs. A system that doesn't need exorbitant expenditure in these times to run, can run on very basic hardware specs. Such information and reasoning appeals to their sensitivities. They use few programs to begin with and once you move them gradually, they are happy to make the shift.

This is from my experience, obviously, your strategies would be different and should be. But the point I want to get across, is that in every case, make the arguments tailored to the individual and be ready to help as much as they need you.

Try gradual open sourcing:
It does not have to be an all-or-none affair. I have done this myself, like you know from my previous post. I spent years using open-source alternatives to what is available on the default windows platform and thus decreased my reliance on proprietary software over time. Finally when I made the shift, there were barely any hiccups (I have finally got my iPod working since yesterday). You can follow the same principal with others. I am doing it to many of my friends now and have successfully migrated many people to the Ubuntu platform this way.

In this instance, using Ubuntu standards like Firefox, Open Office, Pidgin and GIMP would be ideal, but also feel free to introduce the more versatile and superior alternatives like VLC, Audacity, Tweedeck and Songbird to what is natively available. I would advise this, as many standard Ubuntu applications are not available cross-platform and defeats the gradual move.

Be open to Dual-booting and Wubi installs:
Many people would be intrigued by what you are telling them. They would like to try Ubuntu. In such cases Live CDs cannot be the right choice. Although Live CDs are the most painless way to try something, for those in the know, it is cumbersome for many. Plus as I said, Linux Live CDs do not have any branding, thus does not instill confidence if you hand them out. In such cases you might have to supervise the session. That is cumbersome and truly not entirely representative of what Linux can do and what it feels like. Live CD interaction would be a highly controlled environment and hence not preferred by many as they would not be able to do their natural work on it.

You might have to do install of Wubi install in such cases. It installs like a Windows program and should give the users a sense of security. They always know, that if they don't like it, they can simply delete it, just like any other program on their systems. No harm, no foul.

Keep dual-booting reserved for cases where you would be able to supervise partitioning or for people who are confident about doing it themselves. Explain to them before hand that things can sometimes (albeit very rarely) go wrong, so always make sure that the person has taken back ups of everything that is even remotely important to him.

Even though there are powerful visualizations, a full time migration to Linux might also not be feasible for hardcore gamers. Instead offer them dual-boot, so that they can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Help them with the install and set-up the system for them:
It might not be required for your more computer savvy friends, but would be much appreciated by most and in turn further promote Ubuntu if you do this.

Install Ubuntu for them, make the required partitioning and other requirements. Set-up the system to match the performance that they have come to rely on.

Install the restricted proprietary codecs like Adobe Flash and Sun Java so that they don't go to You Tube following a link and find nothing. Make sure they see what they want. Do the little nifty configurations that makes the system not only more appealing (install Compiz if their hardware supports it and also Gnome-colors for some easy theming) but also more functional.

Finally, install the other non-standard programs not provided in Ubuntu that they have come to use while the gradual open-sourcing, set up a firewall and provide them with anti-virus. Also make sure they have an up and running back up mechanism like rsync or mondorescue. They will feel better. If there are any updates available just install them too.

This would minimise any immediate needs, they might have, to meddle with the system. Over time, once they are familiar, they can naturally go about customising their platforms further.

Provide continual support:
Believe it or not, as soon as you have migrated the first person to Ubuntu, you have made a commitment to provide continual support to the best of your capability.
It is not a burden actually. If you think about it. Ubuntu would almost never crash, no untoward freezing or any of those bizarre errors that plague Windows. No viruses making life miserable or systems sputters.

What you would have on the other hand, is people asking for help while using the new system. As your friends go about exploring and using their systems, they might hit a road block. The navigation methods are different. There are different and sometimes better ways of getting the same jobs done. Just help them get there.

That is why I tell everyone, Ubuntu (or Linux) is not like Windows. Its not the same things running a Linux system. You have to learn to do certain things differently and go about addressing problems also in a new way. Be there for them to rely on and expect answers from.

Forums although helpful, can sometimes be a little intimidating and require a bit of understanding as to how they work. So be their support systems instead. I truly would like to impress this upon everyone, because more often than not, people end up equating bad support with a bad OS. Please don't let that happen under your watch.

Do not try to convert a person who do not want to or cannot migrate:
Somebody who is not open to change, can be dealt with later. There would be a time and place to make them see the benefits of Linux, but it is not now. They are probably so reliant on certain platform specific software that it is impossible for them to transfer the same knowledge to other programs. Its a very acute problem amongst designers. Unless they have been trained to use Open-source programmes there is no way can you decide and migrate with full portability of all your skills. Their productivity would again take a hit as they grapple with a new learning curve.

Well that's about it. Enough ideas strewn around to here to give you the proper impetuous to make people go the Ubuntu way. Have fun evangelising.

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Why I Shifted To Linux?

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:10:00 +0000

There is no telling what truly prompted me to shift to Linux. My friends called me crazy, some people even doubted my computer usage pattern. Why was I leaving the familiarity of Windows and moving into something so, for the lack of a better world, “uncommon”? Surely I must have lost it.

They do have a point though. Linux might rule the super-computers and the servers, but its Microsoft that calls the shot in the desktop world. A distant contender would be the integrated systems of Apple. Then again, unless you are a fan-boy or do not like tinkering with your computer and do not want to break your head on different hardware configurations there is really no point to a mac. Don't get me wrong, I love the sleek designs, the iLife suites are enticing, iTunes is the last word to iPod integration, but I need autonomy. I like my expanded architecture. I like the freedom to choose the things that make up my computer.

May be the most important thing that changed about a couple of years back, is that I moved out of I.E. and naturally started using Firefox. Yes, at that point of time, Firefox wasn't supported everywhere, it had its occasional bugs (like I.E. didn't ?), but its wonderful extension architecture made everything more productive useful and entertaining.

The second thing that changed, was once I was out of school, I was no longer slave to their dogmatic, MS office compatibilities and of course there was Open Office. This wonderful MS office alternative was a revelation in itself. Unlike MS it was standards compliant. And to boot it supported and could create documents in the various proprietary formats of Microsoft. With Open Office, even my desktop reliance on the windows platform went.

The last straw towards me going completely open source was definitely Gmail, Greader and Google Calendar. There was now no need to have a full-fledged mail client like Outlook for me any more. Everything that I needed to do, could now be done on the web.

That being said let me tell you what kind system I am using now:

I have Ubuntu 9.04 installed (also known as Jaunty Jackalope). I am running Gnome as my window manager. Compiz (watch compiz in action below) is for advanced and extremely functional desktop effects.

My browser of choice is Firefox 3.5 naturally. I did like Chrome's stellar speed while on Windows, but I still need the extension capabilities to do the things I have come to expect from my browser. I also have the latest Opera because I do like the way it has been packaged.

I am using Open Office 3.0 (comes with Ubuntu 9.04) for all my . I do my offline blog writing therein. As an online counterpart I have the Firefox extension Scribefire adding the final flourish.

Songbird is my music manager of choice (again because of its excellent extensibility). VLC on the other hand is my media player demon.

So what're the good parts:

Ease of installation:

Ubuntu has an incredible versatility when it comes to the installation process. You can run a live CD just to try without causing any changes to your existing operating system install.

Run it as a program (with the same limitations as a program) out of Windows through Wubi (I was running Wubi for 3 days to get the idea before I shifted). This method allows you to use Ubuntu along with your existing windows install and once you think you don't want to try it any more you can remove it, just like a windows program from the add-remove column.

Once you feel a little confident or more determined, think of a dual-boot. Obviously you'd have to meddle with the partitioning process a little. Ubuntu's graphical install process though makes it pretty simple. You need only follow the directions. I used the wonderful Ubuntu derivative Mint back in 2007, and I had loved it.

Finally when you know what you really want, its time to go for a clean install of Ubuntu. Its wonderfully easy. It takes under 20 minutes for the process and out of the box you have a standard compliant browser (Firefox), an office suite (Open Office) and PDF viewer/creator, media player (Totem), music manage (Rhythmbox), torrent (Transmission), graphics editor (GIMP aka the Linux Photoshop: you can see my handywork here) and printing options (including a powerful in-built scanner XSane).

Last but not the least, you can also install Ubuntu from start-up disks (USB).

Forget system restarts, bloated anti-virus. Use optional firewall:

Once you have installed, you'll be prompted to update the system. Don't worry about finding an anti-virus to safe-guard, just go ahead and install. Not only are the updates checked, as they come from dedicated repositories but installing such updates seldom needs a system restart. Actually get used to it, you might not need to restart your system for months. These updates are also system wide. That means, not only the core Ubuntu components but all the programmes installed in your computer would also be updated through the same mechanism. So there is no need for an update checker (I used to make use of the File-Hippo Update Checker in my windows system). You will also not need an anti-virus if you follow safe net practise (nevertheless, for the ultra-paranoid, try ClamAV as a Linux anti-virus and install the wonderfully efficient and configurable Firestarter as your firewall). The need for such programs are still disputed in the Linux community, but if you are fresh from the windows side, you'll feel more relaxed this way.

Ubuntu like most Linux comes with a built in firewall. It is set to keep all ports closed by default. You need to manually open ports to make them visible. Thus in built safety is from the very beginning.

Forget the registry cleaners or deffragmenting:

Windows is like a burgeoning waist line. With age it keeps on increasing. Its always a challenge to keep a Windows install run the same vivacious way always, like it did in the initial days. With time you will have slower process times, slower calls on files and thereby your system as a whole will slow down. When I was using Windows, I regularly maintained my OS install with a registry cleaner (I used Ccleaner, highly recommend it) and a deffragmenting software (try Defraggler) amidst a multitude of other things. Linux handles files differently. When issuing space to any file, it finds the highest continuous available cluster and uses that. Thus there is virtually no fragmentation. For the lack of a better analogy, I would use the one, I had read a couple of months back. Ubuntu's Ext-3/Ext-4 filing system is like a diligent assistant. It ear-marks all the available resources in such as way that once required, only the most appropriate commodities are used.

Forget the cumbersome software install process:

Ubuntu has 2 inbuilt GUI based software install mechanisms. Synaptic and Add-Remove. In the terminal side, there's the simple Apt-get and the superior Aptitude. Bottom-line is, if you need a program, just type it in, and it will be installed for you. Not only the software you asked for, but everything that is required to run that program will be also installed, provided you give permission. This way, you will not end up downloading useless programs.

You want to know what are the choices available, both synaptic and add/remove allows you to browse the softwares, with added data on what all it can do and popularity ratings. If at all you find something whose repositories are not there, just adding the main repository would make it available. For Ubuntu alone there are over 18,000 software choices available. So you'd not be going wanting for anything.

Ease of use and maintenance:

Ubuntu is an easy OS to use and maintain. There are no system actions that you need to do to use it on a regular basis. In fact if you want, you will never have to even touch the notorious Terminal (I have grown to love it. Things get done just so much easier on a terminal, even at my novice state). You can keep using the system and then when the OS support time is over (Jaunty's is there till October 2010) you can just click a button or two and viola! You have the brand new roll-over update to the latest OS. Give me any other instance where you can have it this way.

Forget drivers:

Gone are the days when you had to hunt down drivers just to make a device work in Ubuntu From the humble USB device to the monolithic printers, you name it and there is almost plug and play support for it. All my devices worked the moment I plugged them in and switched them on. Only my iPod is giving me a little problem still, but there are reasons for this which I'll explain a little later.

Now coming to the caveats:

Games:

No matter how you put it, if you are a gamer, serious or otherwise, you should steer clear of Linux. Yes there are games for Linux, but both mac and Linux are not the primary fuellers of the gaming industry. As a result naturally, the games you can play on Linux are fairly limited.

If you still want some form of gaming distraction in Ubuntu try Frozen Bubble, Super Tux 2 or Extreme Tux Racer (Screenshot above) along with the inbuilt casual games in keeping with the Mahjong, Minesweeper traditions. Another approach rapidly gaining preference is the browser based games. I occasionally visit a few after a hard day. But the development to look forward to is the browser based multi-player games.

Support of iPod-iTunes:

when two products are inextricably linked it is very difficult to find replacements. Songbird, Amarok, Banshee are hands down better music players than the arcane iTunes. However, if you are an iPod user, like most of us are, it is still a little hard to find a replacement for this junk. Songbird's add-on iPod device support is still a tad buggy and GtkPod is a little quirky. Transferring videos and photos are herculean tasks. Finally till date iPod Touch and iPhone require the veteran iTunes to run them. One way to beat this out, is to use Wine. A compatibility layer that runs an enormous number of windows only program in Linux, with full or limited capacities. Wine is the panacea to any software dependencies we might have. There is even IEs4Linux, for all the web developers who are tied to the frustrating IE simply because their consumers need support. However, it is still young, so give it time and eventually many many more programs will be supported and in time even proper gaming support will come. If you know programming, help them compile.

Proprietary codecs:

Lets put it this way. There is no problem at all. You can download them right away into Ubuntu However, due to the licensing differences, Ubuntu cannot come pre-packaged with a few essential things like Adobe Flash or Sun Java. They are all available easily from the installation methods I mentioned, but you have to install them. Many people would find it off-putting. However, this deficiency is more in terms in keeping with their licensing than the OS's capability. Somehow though, studies are showing it to be the number one reason why consumers are returning the spanking new Linux net-book and choosing to go with the underwhelming old-faithful XP instead.

Well that's about everything I have to say. It was a mammoth post. If you have come this far, I'll leave you with a few nuggets to make it worth your while.

Try the following books if you want to know more about using Ubuntu/Linux (clicking on the link will take you to the amazon sites):

If you are intrigued and need any help while sojourning the pathways of Ubuntu try getting tips and how-tos from the following wonderful blogs (in no order of preference):

Ubuntu/ Linux beginner: you need help with a particular problem, you can try the following forums:

Let me know what you think, and if I can be of any help.

Related Articles on my blog:

The State of Clinical Trials in India

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:19:00 +0000

I distinctly remember that hot July afternoon in 2001, when I finished reading celebrated author John le Carré's fascinating book “The Constant Gardener”. With a number of counselling rounds lined up for various medical colleges of India, I stood dismayed. What was I getting into? Was it right for me to get into medicine, after knowing that the poorer sections are often exploited by the pharmaceutical companies through the help of medical professionals?

However, studying and practicing medicine for all these years has been a far cry from the horrors that the book and later the wonderful film had unleashed upon us. Probably because in our hospital the drug-trials were never undertaken. Specifically because in more than one ways, it undermines patient care. That being said, later on I also worked in a big medical labs facility for sometime and there I occasioned to see many a drug-trial going on, as patients regularly dropped in for their clinical monitoring.

I am not saying drug trials are not important or that they should be banned. Far from it. In fact every single medicine that patients take or are prescribed have undergone multi-stage human and animal trials to render them fit enough to be mass-marketed. They are like drug-advertising a necessary evil. It often risks a number of patients, but the benefits coming out of it, if after everything a successful drug is found out, is enormous. Millions of people stand to benefit when a a few hundred only need be exposed in the beginning. That being said, clinical drug trials are also the principle reasons for escalation of drug costs and delays in releasing efficacious products because the cycle lengths are tediously slow.

To say that India is presently the global hub of drug trials would be an understatement. Clinical research is the new name in outsourcing business with a global expansion by 12% per annum. The US companies manufacture the drugs and the molecules are then tested on human subjects in the underprivileged countries like India, Brazil, the African belt, Russia. It is much easier and cheaper to recruit and test new chemicals on people from these nations. And among these places India is emerging as the destination De jure.

English is widely spoken by the professionals.
The population is large with diseases of all kinds from the exotic to the commonplace.
Vast sections are uneducated.
The concept of informed consent and liability barely exists.
Suing doctors or companies is unheard of.
The people are desperately poor and hence being choosy is out of the question.
Health insurance has not yet penetrated a sizeable section of the society.

I have herein prepared a small 'slide-show' to help get my points across:

This method of cost-cutting on the part of the pharma companies however has severe outcomes. In the past few years, the FDA has inspected just a handful out of the thousands of clinical trial sites in India. In fact even after numerous monumental failures to stop the launch of harmful drugs, FDA barely inspects 1% of all trails in US. Offshore, the number is far worse.

On the sites in India, it is impossible to find any independent institutions monitoring or auditing these drug trials. All these auditors are on the pay-roll of the pharma companies. Doctors, are also paid, based on how many patients they can bring into the whole system, rather than by the trial efficacy they maintain. As a result, not only the data collected, but even the quality of drugs administered, practices and follow-up patient care is called into question. The practice of cherry picking positive results and the penchant for concealing negative findings is nothing new for the drug industry. But such concealment often results in incorrect assessment of a drug’s safety and efficacy.

One well-known scandal occurred about eight years ago, when a Johns Hopkins University researcher injected an untested chemical in 27 patients at a public cancer hospital in the southern state of Kerala.

Lawyer Vincent Panikangulara represented an illiterate coolie labourer with throat cancer who unknowingly enrolled in the trial after signing a form in a language he did not understand. India's court dismissed his claim of a human rights violation, citing a statute of limitations of one year from the time of the injection. By the time the court ruled, the patient was dead.

"There was an institutional commitment to protect other institutions at the expense of the rights of individuals," Panikangulara said. "The question of human rights violation was never even on the agenda."

Asked whether India today offers a safer environment for clinical drug studies, the lawyer leaned back and smiled.

"Are you talking about safety for the patient or the corporation?" he asked. "For the corporation, it's 100 percent safe. For the patient, that is a matter for study and investigation. It's a sad situation here."

At this time, it must be remembered the US federal laws provide enough judicial opportunities in the form of Alien Tort Statute for allowing United States courts to hear human rights cases brought by foreign citizens for conduct committed outside the United States. But the destitte population of this country has no access to adequate legal representation to capitalise on these recourses.

In another example of the dire consequences going on here,

Dr. C. M. Gulhati, editor of an Indian medical journal, Monthly Index of Medical Specialities, said authorities cannot cope with the tsunami of trials. “India's drugs controller general's office is both understaffed and incompetent,” he said, citing a case where the agency claimed it reviewed an 800-page trial protocol in just five days. “How is that even possible?”

Gulhati, who fights unbridled drug testing from a dim and cluttered office above a busy Delhi shopping plaza, reeled off a litany of troubled trials:
In 2003 in Hyderabad, an unregistered study of a heart attack drug that resulted in six deaths.
In 2004 in Delhi, a first-in-human trial of a new suturing device on 13 patients without regulators' approval.
Last year, India's decision to become the only nation to allow domestic drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries to market the anticancer drug Letrozole (which forms a very important part of anti-breast cancer regimens in postmenopausal women) for infertility in women despite the drug's originator, Novartis, warning that it may cause foetal harm and should be used only in post-menopausal women.
And in October in Bangalore, the death of a baby during the testing of a new Wyeth vaccine.

“It's a total farce,” said Gulhati, who could not think of a single case of an Indian doctor disciplined for mishandling a trial. “When I complain people have broken the law, they ask 'What harm have I done?' ”

Hope, though is not all lost. The new government has ushered in a few mandates that when enforced widely should result in much greater benefit and transparency in the entire scheme of things:

The registration of drug trials is being made mandatory.
The registration is to be made in a public registry, freely accessible to all, before the first volunteer is recruited.
The knowledge of the fate of trials must be disclosed, so that it is known what drugs worked and what was abandoned.

Now all that remains to be seen is whether the agencies and other concerned parties (precisely here the NGOs, conscientious doctors and lawyers) armed with the newer laws can at least guarantee justice for all in case there are gross undermining of human rights. This is because, as far as totally transparent drug trials are concerned, they are still a distant dream.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Recent News pulled from Tampabay

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The Time is Now

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:14:00 +0000

We as a society like to believe that change and progression over time will help us create a better future. We needn't feel very complacent but even in the wake of great human tragedy and suffering the essays of Professor Steven Pinker (a collection of links to the essays and videos of Steven Pinker's works) and the likes of him have shown that we are in fact in one of the most peaceful times in the history of man. That is very fine and gratifying. However, it is not a license to stop trying to be better and by better I mean becoming more humane, compassionate and knowledgeable.

The world is a global village (wikipedia link). We are no longer separated from the other countries. Every action taken by a country is under the direct scrutiny and examination of others. Still we have war ravaged Iraq (collection of weblinks about the most current news on Iraq war), massacres in Darfur (collection of links about current news on darfur war)and insurmountable hate-crimes and ethnocides (wikipedia links)being carried out the world over.

[And just to limit the discussion in this article I will not even comment on the systematic female infanticide (wikipedia links) being carried on in India and China (two of the world's leading emerging economies never mind). Female foeticide is too sensitive and far reaching a topic with its roots in superstitious religious gibberish and sexual inferiority to be just put aside with a mere lip service.]

We have enormous amounts of money being channelised towards war. Many a times depending on the nationality, race and sex of the victim(s) we either cry foul or turn the other way. We are as a civilisation still obsessed about the holocaust (wikipedia link) and the Jewish extermination and the importance of Israel (wikipedia), but when it comes to Africa and Darfur's ethnic cleansing apart from prosecuting a few (BBC report on the Darfur war suspects) we seem to be content doing nothing else. The coming back of the American troops; for that matter even an aids giver's disappearance gets more media, and hence public attention than men and women dying in these war-ravaged unstable areas. Beginning from doing very little to control Pakistan (wikipedia link to terrorism state in Pakistan) to adding fuel to the instability of the middle-east (Times coverage of the middle east) through further oil-mongering, the modern society has still to curb the ways of all people into a more civilised way of life.

Certain sections of intelligentsia (author background of ones supporting noble savage) would have us believe in the existence of the noble savage (wikipedia). A condition of man untouched by human inventions where we were pure and kind and lived in a state of universal brotherhood. Looking back though and after examining all the evidence we can see there is barely anything noble about a world without the light of education and civilised codes of conduct. Religious wars, vendetta, clan fights all of this went on to create an atmosphere of hatred and intolerance. Even till this day, it is a place (country/ state) without a rational and civilised governing body, is the one which is rife with human rights violations. Take on any place, hatred and inherent violence spreads as the evil religious and communal roots take over and make us less amicable.

It has been a long time coming. Modern sensibilities now do not appreciate violence, do not applaud infliction of pain. This has to take on a greater form though. We cannot be content with just not killing or raping or pilfering. We cannot justify saying “I am not doing it, so I'm doing my bit”. This simply cannot be enough. We the youth, the able-bodied, the able-mind, the vociferous and the conscientious should make it our life's mission to bring justice to every act of hatred that can be seen. There is an acute need for activism to stop all of the crimes that are happening against humanity.

Nobody is denying the right to self-defence but it should end there. Every other act of violence, bigotry, intolerance no matter how large or small is unpardonable and should be justly taken care of. We have a right and duty to protest this.

For centuries religion, superstition, slavery, revenge-killings, terrorism and ludicrous notion of subjugating others to gain an edge have threatened the human society. Plagued it like a disease that rots its very foundation to the core. Now, however, we are in an age of reason, of science. This is the time when we say “enough is enough”. We will allow no more of this non-sense. We will report, we will be heard, because it is not only what affects us as individuals, but what affects us as a nation, as a species that matters the most.

Things I Don't Understand Why

noreply@blogger.com (Shreyashi Ganguly) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:56:00 +0000

There are things that go on from day to day in our lives that we may have a problem with but we are so used to it all that we, the populace, barely raise a voice. However, I racked my brain today and found it was not only lazy but in a way amoral not to protest what we think is wrong. So here are two things that I just don't know how can still be legal, part of our society and in a lot of places still a matter of debate.

1. Tobacco.

We all know cigarettes kill. They cause so many health hazards starting from lung & other cancers, Cardiovascular diseases, Vasculopathies to so many physical and psychiatric disorders that it still baffles me how tobacco is still not banned. The pity is, one doesn't even need to be a smoker to suffer the effects. Second-hand smoke itself causes irreparable damages. Yes the taxation is beneficial to the economy of a country. There is the question of freedom of choice, but must it be at the expense of the lives of the citizenry? Evidently our governments still think so. In India, measures of banning smoking is still timid at best. The effort is so meek its laughable. Research [Kaplan & Saddock, Psychiatry] has proven beyond doubt that tobacco is more addictive than alcohol, opium or even LSD. And if that were not enough, tobacco manufacturers add ammonia based compounds to further enhance the absorption of nicotine (the principle addictive component). It is nothing unlike crack-cocaine. Yet while we do frown on it, we never ostracize the smoker. We may politely ask them to quit, insist our family members do, but the stigma is far less than say in a heroine- addict or an alcoholic. The media would have you believe it is rather sexy to smoke. Why are we still okay with this? Are facts not reason enough to form a judgement?

"In India a nationwide ban on smoking at the workplace and in restaurants, hotels, pubs, public transport (buses, trains and metros), airports and railway stations, educational institutions, cafes, theatres and other public places came into effect from 2 October 2008. Smoking in open areas like roads, parks etc. and inside one's home and car is however allowed. Smoking is also permitted in designated smoking areas in restaurants, bars and pubs. Though most bars, pubs and restaurants do not provide this facility. Anybody violating this law will be charged with a fine of Rs 200(INR). In 2007, Chandigarh became the first city in India to become 'smoke-free'. However despite there being some difficulties and apathy by the authorities the Smoke-Free Chandigarh ban has been a success story. Taking a cue from the Chandigarh's sucess, cities like Shimla are also now following the Smoke-Free Chandigarh model to become smoke-free. The success of Chandigarh has been widely recognised and the architect of smoke-free Chandigarh Hemant Goswami. was also awarded the Global Smoke-Free Partnership Award for the initiative. The state of Kerala also had implemented a more relaxed ban on public smoking earlier though it was never properly followed. However since the nationwide ban, it is being enforced more strictly."

2. Fossil fuels & Global Warming:

The road-map to industrilisation is partly built around the discovery and susquent use of coal and other fossil fuels. The time has now long been overdue when alternative energies become the vehicle of the greener and cleaner progress model that we should all aspire to. Then why is it taking so long? From global warming to economic destabilisation till the extent of the volatile middle east all have their absolute beginnings and continuance in the need and use of petroleum and other fossil-fuels. Frankly, there are so many viable alternatives to using fossil fuels that we just don't care about. This is because they are still either in prototypical stage or their marketing is not being rpomoted by the government as it should be. Today universities with prominent research in alternative energy use are benevolently being funded by Big Petroleum. It surely couldn't be just to call dibs on the new find (given that it would be dirt cheap) or simply out of the conscientious part of their heart. What amazes me, is that we don't carpool as people, we don't buy hybrid or electric vehicles still, we don't use solar power apparatus even though we know they benefit us and the environment. Actually we don't even go as little as to switch to CFL and turn off the lights when not required.
The world's fossil reserves are drying out, the polar ice-caps are melting; we might not even have teh mighty Ganga in the years to come. Whilst the deserts keep on increasing by inches insidiously taking over fertile land the coastline sink in by millimeters each year. Hey but how does it matter? We are not being affected. We are not the tornado ravaged, El Nino scorched places. Then why should we care?

The world today is the same despicable one that we had before. SO do we continue in the same way? The essence of humanity lies in the hope of reconciliation. Its about restoring a balance between our acts of need and that of greed. With rampant consumerism our economic policies have certainly failed us. However, science in its purest form has always been beneficial. It is the lobby and red-tape following that, which has made everything so ugly. I urge you all to examine the fact and exercise change in whatever way you can so that we can keep this world beautiful and habitable enough for us. There is no exemption anymore, the burden of duty is upon us.