The Media Guru

Google Chrome OS

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Google dropped a bombshell on the tech world yesterday. Google services like GMail, GDocs & GTalk went out of beta & Google Chrome OS was announced for release next year.

Why take the most popular Google services out of beta & reveal Google Chrome OS out of the blue? That's because it's almost certain that this Monday, in addition to Windows 7 RTM & Office 2010 beta, the Office Web Apps will be released (as so conveniently hinted by @scobleizer).

Getting back to Google Chrome OS, here's the blog post with the announcement - but I'll be quoting only the most important parts.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
The software architecture is simple - Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.
Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.
We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear - computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

Amidst all the over-hype, mostly by TechCrunch & Mashable, let me clear this misconception once & for all - Google Chrome OS is not your everyday Windows or Linux or Mac OS.
It's just a BROWSER!!!

Installing apps, watching movies, playing music files, heavy gaming, sync devices, encoding, photoshoping etc. you won't be able to do any of that!
Chrome OS is based on a Linux kernel & will be running a single app - Chrome. All the "apps" that'll run on Chrome OS will only be the web-apps - GDocs, GMail, Zoho, Aviary, Buzzword, Picknik, Photoshop Express, etc.
Yep, no Firefox, GIMP, VLC or OpenOffice. Not even your favourite Twitter client!

Why?
Because Google Chrome OS is aimed towards netbooks, mostly used for web browsing & light app usage.
The CrunchPad is the perfect device to illustrate this - a multi-touch tablet whose only feature is to get you on the web.

How do you keep an "OS" secure?
Cut off the weakest link, the apps, & lock down the OS, leaving only a single app - Chrome which runs everything sandboxed.
It also means that the OS is maintenance-free, efficient, quick to boot & shut-down.
Hence Google can direct its resources towards improving the OS & Chrome instead of solving compatibility problems. If the web-apps don't work, Google won't be blamed!

How to ensure driver compatibility?
That's were the OSS community comes in play. I suppose Google will be providing Chrome OS with generic drivers which should work straight out of the box like Puppy Linux or Damn Small Linux. & once Chrome OS connects to the Internet, it downloads the rest of the drivers.

& how to make sure your printer or device X works? (supposing Chrome OS supports devices)
Google will probably be leaving this to the OSS community to compile their own drivers.

I suppose by now Google Chrome OS doesn't seen that much attractive. But Google have a few more tricks up their sleeve.

Google Wave
Do I even need to explain that? Best collaboration tool ever.

Gdrive
How do you keep all your data up to date, accessible from anywhere. That's where Gdrive comes in - it should have the same features as DropBox.

Google Gears + HTML5
Offline mode for all your web-apps.

Extensions
Chrome 3.0 supports extensions, albeit a horrible implementation. Once things straighten up, almost all extensions from Firefox will be ported over to Chrome.

Native Client
The best bit for the last. Native Client will allow x86 code to be executed directly on web-apps! At last some real apps. In my opinion, this will be the killer feature of Chrome.

But...
Privacy & Security
Yep, more than ever, you'll be handing your entire web existence over to Google. Obviously, they'll be monitoring to serve you relevant ads, but to what extent? Illegal file-sharing? Pr0n? Who said it can't be hacked?
Imagine for a while how easy it will be for China to implement its Great Firewall if all the computers ran Chrome OS, a single browser!

Internet Connectivity
If you do not have access to Internet, no Chrome OS for you. Google Chrome OS is targeted towards netbook users, not Third World countries with crappy connections. I suppose the minimum speed for running the web-apps would be 512k/1M.
& suppose one day your Internet is down, even those offline apps won't help you get rid of your web addiction.

Apps
In spite of all those web-apps & Native Clients, when you'll still need to go back to your real OS for the heavy work. Take for example AutoCAD, there's no way you con replicate that on the web. That's why it's meant for netbooks.

Chrome
This one is pretty obvious. Why would even want to install Chrome OS on your desktop if you can install Chrome on any OS! Getting the best of both world!

Will it kill Windows?
ROFLMAO :P How ridiculous! Google Chrome OS is for a niche - portable devices with quick access to the web.
For everything else, you'll still need Windows. & don't forget Microsoft already have Gazelle, the browser OS in the works.

It's instead Mozilla that should be concerned. Chrome with its extensions & Native Client will inevitably entice away Firefox users.
The Linux community should also be concerned that instead of using an existing distro, Google are promoting their own OS, thus undermining their efforts.

The Bottom Line
Unlike what Mike Arrington would like you to believe, the web/cloud is not everything. The biggest hurdle to cloud computing is indeed connectivity. In the real world, not everyone has 8Mbps connections & neither are free Wifi spots available everywhere. Web-apps are good for doing the basics. But if you need to harness the real power of computing, it’s still your good old desktop apps. Yes, Google Chrome OS is a great thing – more competition is always better for users, but it’s just a browser!

Great read - 10 Things We're Dying to Know About Chrome OS

Firefox 3.5 Review

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 last week, which was to bring the speed boost much-demanded by everyone.

According to Mozilla, Firefox 3.5 was such a major update that they decided to leap the version number from 3.1 to 3.5 to reflect this.
Let's take a look at the list of new features:
- Faster Tracemonkey Javascript engine.
- Private Browsing mode & Forget About This Site history option.
- Restore closed tabs.
- Some support for HTML5 including audio/video tags.
- New CSS features.
- Geolocation

Private mode was already present in all browsers except Opera. & you can't do both normal/private browsing at the same time. IE, Opera and Chrome could all restore closed tabs. The much hyped HTML5 open audio/video was killed in the egg by W3C. Tracemonkey engine was forced upon by the Browser speed Wars Chrome initiated. So the only new feature is geolocation, which is next to useless if you live in Mauritius.
To sum-up, Firefox 3.5 is what we can define as playing catch-up to the competition.

However, I'm more interested in the performance of Firefox 3.5. To find out, I decided to compare it against the other major browsers on Windows 7 - IE8, Opera 10 Beta 1, Chrome 3.0.190.1 Beta & Safari 4.
Note: It's completely different to what Lifehacker tested, probably because of the huge gap in hardware performance. So the following results are more suited to older machines.

Opera 10 is still in beta. Hopefully this will be fixed in the final version.

IE8 has surprisingly the lowest memory footprint, followed by Safari, Opera & Chrome. However Firefox 3.5, without any extensions, uses more memory by a huge margin!

The above speed test shows that all the browsers are fast enough, with Firefox 3.5 being slightly more consistent.

For Chrome & IE8, each tab having its own process contributes significantly to higher memory usage. However, the biggest culprit is Safari, which proved to be a huge resource hog - even the CPU usage proved to be higher. Firefox 3.5 can somewhat claim to have the lowest memory usage.

Firefox 3.5
Firefox's numbers are misleading! Because once you enable even the most basic of extensions, it's back to good old bloated Firefox 3.0. Memory usage climbs to an average of 100MB on a single tab. It takes around 10-15s for Firefox to load even on a warm startup.
As I had long suspected, but which very few tech blogs reported, Firefox 3.5 is an unfinished product. Mozilla rushed its release to meet the deadline, leaving along most of bugs from Firefox 3.0. There is still a damn permanent bug, observed in Betas & RCs and now the final version, that pops a tab as a new window! There were no memory optimisations and features were left out. Is this all Mozilla have been doing for over ONE YEAR?!?
It doesn't have Ubiquity built-in, nor the new visual Ctrl+Tab tab switch & neither does it support the next version of Windows!

No support for Windows 7 tab preview!! This one really annoyed me, because I was expecting it.

IE8 does it perfectly.

Even Safari has half-implemented it. The real-time thumbnails display correctly, but you get a black tab when you try to peek at the tab.

Verdict: A faster, but equally bloated Firefox 3.0. Firefox 3.5 SUCKS!!!

The Competition
IE8
IE8 renders websites as you'd expect Firefox 2.0 to do & the Compatibility view breaks them even more. & then there's the New Tab lag. Otherwise it's relatively slow, but its great strength is the tab preview on Windows 7.

Safari
Safari tried to copy the features of all the browsers & it failed. Massive memory & CPU hog. Top Sites & History in Cover Flow mode is just a visual gimmick. & it doesn't support extensions. Not to mention that it tries to sneak in iTunes & Quicktime on each update. & btw Safari is certainly not "the world's fastest browser."

Opera
Opera 10 is still in beta & has quite a few design issues - the autofill Wand has a key icon! However in terms of native features, it's probably the best out there, especially with new Turbo Mode & Opera Unite support in future versions.

Chrome
Chrome 3.0 supports extensions! Although, I could get only one to work. With its clean interface & fast browsing speed, Chrome may pose the biggest threat to Firefox (i.e. until they make the Most Visited thumbnails an option).

The best browser?
... doesn't exist! Sorry fanboys, but there is no point sticking to one browser. Each browser has its strength & you try to get the best out of it.
Use Firefox for its extras - AdBlockPlus, Firebug, Greasemonkey & the rest! Use Chrome when you need to do some quick browsing. Use Opera's Turbo mode when your connection is slow (it doesn't work with Twitter). & use IE8 for... downloading the other browsers!

So what's your favourite browser? Let the Browser Wars begin... :P

Angels & Demons

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:56:00 +0000

A review of the film adaptation of the popular novel, Angel & Demons by Dan Brown.

Angels & Demons follows on the huge success of The Da Vinci Code. While events in the film claim it's a sequel, the book is actually a prequel, to be followed by The Lost Symbol this September. & like all novel-adaptations, except for TLOTR, the book is better than the movie.

Angels & Demons starts off slowly, and then picks up pace with the usual mystery solving and action sequences à la Da Vinci Code (or National Treasure). As with all Dan Brown stories, the plot is simple at first sight, but in fact is convoluted - the Vatican is under attack from a secret society, the Illuminati. The Illuminati have stolen a canister of antimatter (powered by a battery, hence a time bomb) & have hidden it in Vatican. & the only way to find it is through the Path of Illumination.

Tom Hanks is excellent in his role as know-it-all Robert Langdon, with Ayelet Zurer as his female sidekick. But it's Ewan McGregor who's undistinguishable as the Camerlengo (he played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars I-III).

Scientific inaccuracies!
This one quite annoyed me because it was so early in the film. Retinal scanners don't work with dead eyes – the dead vessels decay too quickly upon death!
Antimatter is like a blue light-emitting particle-gas. That's impossible because no one actually knows how antimatter will look like - if it's not matter, how can you see it! (On a second thought, maybe the film-makers were right - the antimatter is interacting with infinitely small particles, causing emission of light.)
Finally, there's the explosion - it should have caused intense emission of light which would have blinded everyone.

The film misses a few key elements from the book, but still manages to sustain the intrigue. Not as exciting as the Da Vinci Code, but definitely a great movie. If there is to be an extended version, it'll probably be perfect! :P
Rating - 7.5/10

X-men Origins: Wolverine
Wolverine is my favourite X-men character, & thus my expectations were high for this film. & it certainly doesn't disappoint - it's a great action flick, but the plot has a few shortcomings. The scenes do not seem contiguous - I suppose it's because the film was re-shot in January.
Otherwise some of the action scenes are pretty unbelievable - walking away calmly from an explosion in the background is so Bollywoodish! & the last fighting scene was quite ridiculous - controlling a mutant via commands! & what happened to Victor?
Overall, it's a good popcorn movie, but it could have been better!
Rating - 7/10

The Pink Panther 2
What would you expect from a sequel of a film like the Pink Panther? Yeah, it's the same jokes all over again. While some are utterly ridiculous, the others are outright lame!
The faux-French is quite irritating & it seems Aishwarya Rai was uncomfortable in her role (or probably it's just me, being accustomed to see her in Bollywood movies). The bottom line is that the good laughs outnumber the bad laughs, so it's watchable. :)
Rating - 6/10

Gran Torino
One of the best movies I've seen this year so far. While I don't really like slow movies, Gran Torino is an exception. Despite his age of 79, Clint Eastwood is sublime in his role as a xenophobic war veteran & ideal American, abandoned by his children.
But more importantly it's the wonderful story of his transformation, owing to his Hmong neighbours, from an irritated old man to a local hero who ultimately sacrifices himself. :D
Rating - 8.5/10

Fanboys
Are you a Star Wars fanboy? Then Fanboys is an absolute must for you! The best comedy I’ve seen this year! & there’s a guy nicknamed Windows in it… :P
Rating – 8/10

ndfevaursz

Top Gear S13E01 - The Stig Unmasked

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Top Gear is back... for Series 13!

Episode 1 starts off with a mouth-watering preview of forthcoming episodes. Among them an epic Bugatti Veyron vs McLaren F1, a deathmatch between the Audi R8 V10 & the Corvette ZR1, the Godzilla (GT-R), the Lamborghini LP670-4 SV and more caravan-truck racing! :)

The epic race in this first episode was from London King Cross's station to Edinburgh.

But there was a catch - they had to use vehicles from 60 years ago, in 1949. So it turned out to be a race between a Jaguar XK120 driven by May, Hammond on a motorbike - the Vincent Black Shadow & Clarkson on a train – the 60163 Tornado!

& like all Top Gear races, nothing was certain until the end but the car finally won it. It was a pretty thrilling race - James May for once wasn't complaining, being at home in 1949. Richard Hammond's constant problems with the Black Shadow has certainly diminished his love for bikes. But it was the wonderful scenery of Britain that topped it off! :)

The review of the day was the Lotus Evora. The producers ditched the Evora's Power Lap because of its 276HP engine & there was another much more powerful car to test...

The Ferrari FXX! The FXX is like a road-version of an F1 car - it actually has all the Ferrari F1 technology built-in (probably not KERS). With a weight of just 1155kg & an insane 800HP engine - that's like a rocket-powered bicycle!

Some say that he invented the curtain. And that he recently submitted a £20000 expenses claim for some gravel for his moat. All we know is… he’s called The Stig!

& when The Stig took it around the track, I certainly wasn't expecting the time to be so phenomenal - 1:10:7!! That's 7s faster than the previous top car - the Apollo Gumpert S! Incredible! :D

& then came the moment to unmask The Stig! Is it Susan Boyle!?

No, it's just Michael Schumacher. Although he's not the real Stig, I totally loved the stunt! The atmosphere in the Top Gear studio was electric! :P

Michael Schumacher became The Stig because only the owner of the FXX is allowed to drive it. & Top Gear viewers will have noticed he didn't drive as aggressively as The Stig on the track… or rather he did… :P
The real Stig? Actually there are several Stigs for the different stunts, but only one Stig does all the races! ;)

Next episode will have a review of the Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce & twitter celeb @stephenfry will be the guest for SIARPC. :D
Btw behind-the-scene extras for episode 1 can be found here or downloaded here.

Microsoft Security Essentials (Morro)

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:40:00 +0000

A pre-beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials (codenamed Morro) was leaked by ~~Somalian pirates~~ someone. As usual, I took it out for a test… :)

Microsoft Security Essentials is Microsoft’s free anti-virus solution – an indispensible app which should have been bundled since a long time with Windows like Windows Firewall (but won’t be because of the EU).
MSE will launch around the same date as Windows 7. A public beta of MSE will be available on 23rd June to the first 75,000 downloaders. What I’m testing is a pre-beta build, so a couple more features may be added at launch. Download links are on JCXP.net.

The setup file of MSE is just 5MB (it doesn’t come with definitions). Installation took a couple of seconds with no restart required.

MSE also comes with a built-in antispyware, which automatically turns off Windows Defender to prevent conflicts (actually MSE is supposed to replace Windows Defender).
It took around 2 mins to download all the updates – thanks to Akamai! ;)

MSE is a very basic anti-virus app – there are not many settings to customize. Real-time protection, option to scan archives & removable drives, create restore points and that’s it. So I started straight away with a scan.

Scan was relatively fast, with CPU usage being equal if not less than other anti-virus apps… but then it detected a virus! :| Now, that’s worrying… because I never installed any anti-virus on Windows 7.

Turned out the virus is actually not a virus. :)

Konboot is a boot disc which allows you to bypass the password of a system (Windows & Linux) – obviously a potential threat according to any anti-virus! :P
Note: I ran the same scan on Eset Nod32, & it took twice more time, much more CPU usage (around 80%+) and it did detect Konboot as a virus.

Memory usage is 4MB + 30MB for the anti-spyware. But I was astounded with the overall resource usage. It’s a fact that all anti-viruses slow down your computer, causing lags & slower start-ups but MSE? Nope, not at all – I saw absolutely no difference in speed when extracting archives & installing! It’s almost as if it’s not there!

MSE is free and as such it comes with some restrictions. You cannot prevent MSE from sending information to Microsoft Spynet concerning viruses detected & where it came from. But I suppose this information will actually help Microsoft in tackling virus outbreaks faster. Other short-comings include no heuristics or malicious activity detection, no email protection, no boot/startup protection, no web access protection & no antispam.

So?
Overall I’m impressed with Microsoft Security Essentials with especially with no loss in performance. But the ultimate test will be the detection rate of the engine. & if it turns out to be pretty effective… & add the fact that it’s FREE - Norton, McAfee, Eset, Panda, Kaspersky and the rest definitely have a cause for worry. :)

Nokia E72 & 5530 XpressMusic

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:53:00 +0000

Nokia announced 2 new smartphones today - the E72 & the 5530 XpressMusic.

Nokia E72
The E72 is the successor to the mythical E71, which is widely regarded as the best QWERTY smartphone available.

The E72 has the same layout as the E71, except with a boost in specs - 5MP camera, optical scrolling, 10.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.5mm jack, active noise cancellation and digital compass.

Dimensions: 114 x 58 x 10mm

Weight: 128 g

Display: 2.4 inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) with up to 16 million colors

Camera: 5 megapixels with autofocus and flash

Video: VGA quality recording plus front-camera for video calling

Email: support for Mail for Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, Nokia Messaging, POP/IMAP and selected 3rd party solutions

Quickoffice 5.3 with support for Microsoft Office 2007

Built-in mobile VPN

Built-in GPS with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, compass and Nokia Maps

Active noise-cancellation

Music features include music player, media player, FM radio with RDS

3.5mm AV connector for stereo headphone jack

Memory: Up to 250Mb internal memory with 4 GB in-box MicroSD card, supports up to 16GB MicroSD memory

Connectivity: High speed MicroUSB connector

Data connectivity: 3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, WLAN, EGPRS; Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP stereo audio

Talk time: Up to 12.5 hours

Standby time: Up to 24 days

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

The 5530 is like a cheaper version of the 5800, except for a few key differences.
It has tactile feedback. No front buttons – everything’s touch sensitive.

& most importantly it doesn't have... 3G! Yep, only EDGE, so you can safely forget this phone which is suitable for Third World countries....

Dimensions: 104 x 49 x 13 mm

Weight: 107 g

Display: 2.9 inch widescreen (640 x 360 pixels) with up to 16 million colors

Camera: 3.2 megapixels with autofocus and LED flash

Video capture: widescreen 640x 360 px up to 30 frames-per-second

Memory: Up to 70Mb phone memory with 4GB in-box MicroSD card, supports up to 16GB MicroSD memory

Connectivity: High speed MicroUSB connector, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.0

Data connectivity: GPRS/EDGE, WLAN (IEEE 802.11 b/g)

Talk time: Up to 4.9 hours

Standby time: Up to 14 days

Music playback: Up to 27 hours

Video playback: Up to 7.3 hours

Samsung also announced 5 new mobile phones today – the Omnia II, the Omnia Pro, the Omnia Lite, the Jet & the Pixon 12 (which has a 12MP camera)… ;)

Top Gear Series 13 – Teaser Tv Spots!

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Top Gear have done it yet again… Check out the clip… it’s so hilarious that I really had to blog about it! xD

Hats-off to the Top Gear producers for having the greatest sense of humour in the world.
The setting of the video starts with 4 kids – one dressed as The Stig. & as the dialogues unfurl… you pretty soon realise who they really are… :P

Mini-Hammond (distinctive hair style & beaded collar) – What do you want to do when you grow up?

Mini-May (flowered shirt) – I want to do a massive skidding race on ice.

Mini-Hammond – I want to do a classic rally with someone even smaller than me.

& mini-Clarkson – I don’t want to grow up. :D

Mini-Clarkson – POWERRRRRRRR!!!
Mini-May – Clarkson, you great oaf!

Mini-Stig – …. ………. …………. …….. ………….. ……. ………. ……… …….

ROFLMAO!!!! :D Can’t wait for Top Gear to air next Sunday!!! Woot! xD

Download clip here - 7MB

Update: TV Spot #2

Linkin Park’s New Divide Music Video

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:24:00 +0000

The music video for Linkin Park’s New Divide, official theme song of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has premiered today on the band’s MySpace page. Check it out!

Linkin Park – “New Divide”

Like all Linkin Park videos, this one is unique by its special effects, looking straight off like the visualizations of a media player with psychedelic distortions & negative image effects!

The video was shot in the Tomb of the Primes (The 12 original Transformers).

New Divide’s music video includes what I believe to be key scenes from the film, especially revolving around the Fallen & the Transformers history with mankind.

Also included are scenes from the trailers & of Optimus Prime fighting Decepticons… including one new scene with his massive gun!

I’m also wondering if the girl in the video is… Megan Fox?

As usual it’s a superb video from Linkin Park, a fitting reply for the great song that is New Divide & the awesome movie that will certainly be Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen! :D
As soon as the HD version is released, I’ll update the screens. In the meantime, here’s the flv of the music video – Download here (16.2MB)

iPhone 3G S

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:09:00 +0000

Every year, at around this time, the whole tech world will be affected by the frenzied hyping of one device - the iPhone.
& this year, it’s all about the iPhone 3G S.

S stands for ~~sucks~~ speed. The 3G S features a faster processor (600Mhz) which should bring a much needed speed boost to the UI & apps. Games should also benefit from this along with the new 3D chip.
The 3G radios also got a speed bump with support for 7.2Mbps HSDPA.

Video recording - a much-demanded feature which has been finally implemented after a 2-year wait. The iPhone 3G S can record at VGA (640x480) at 30fps. Also included is quick trimming of videos.

3MP camera with auto-focus - A better camera with basic exposure, white balance, auto-focus, manual focus by tapping on screen & auto-macro.

Voice control - exactly like the voice control on Windows Mobile, it allows you to control apps like iTunes.

The magnetometer (digital compass), which will help in turn-by-turn navigation on Google maps.

Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating - having had hands-on experience of the iPhone's love for fingerprints, I can say this is a really great improvement.

The iPhone 3G hasn’t been phased out – Apple will be selling the 8GB version at a lower price while the iPhone 3G S will only be available with 16GB & 32GB capacity.

Another improvement - the iPhone 3G S will have better battery life.

What's missing?
Most predictions were wrong. There was to be no front-facing camera with video iChat (or video call) nor a new design with matte black finish (that would have been much better than the glossy black). & neither a back-lighted Apple logo. It’s the exactly the same design as the iPhone 3G.

No flash
The 3MP camera is good for casual photos but with the lack of flash, it’s crippled. A dual-led flash could have doubled up as lighting when recording video.
& Apple still haven’t added support for the other Flash on Safari.

MicroSD
Almost all smartphones have a MicroSD slot… why not the iPhone?

Bluetooth 3.0
If Apple really wanted to showcase the iPhone 3G S's speed, they should have included the much faster 3.0 spec - & possibaly becoming the first device to do so. With just Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, that's disappointing. Unless they add it via an update…

Multi-tasking
The iPhone OS 3.0 added MMS, Copy & Paste, landscape keyboard & Push Notifications. However Push Notifications is no equivalent to running multiple apps & you can’t switch between them. With no multi-tasking, the iPhone OS sucks – imagine using any OS without app switching!

The main reason I think Apple cannot add multi-tasking & other features is because of battery life. Comparatively, the N97 with its 1500mAh battery has 6h 3G talk time.
One possible solution is adding an AMOLED screen – better quality, less power but more expensive.
But fact is… lithium-ion battery technology seems to have reached its critical point. To really improve on battery life, Apple will need to optimize the OS, which it has so far procrastinated by adding faster processors. What they did with Snow Leopard, they should do the same thing with the iPhone.

Mauritius?
The iPhone 3G S will be available on the 9th of August in Mauritius… but given that oranges are oranges, I don’t expect the same price drop in the US as with the iPhone 3G. Currently the 8GB iPhone 3G is Rs 24k & the 16GB is Rs 32k.
The iPhone 3G S 32GB may be around Rs 35k.
3G users have no obligation to upgrade since they’ll be getting most of the features on the 3.0 OS, but for iPhone gen1 users, it’s a tough decision. Sure the hardware is better, but at that price?

iPhone v4?
The iPhone 3G S is no new product, it’s just a better iPhone 3G (a bit like what Nokia did with i versions of their phones, like N93 –> N93i). Evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Since some time Apple have been playing catch-up with other phone manufacturers by adding standard features every year… I was expecting iPhone v3 to be the version where it’ll finally level the playing field, but it’s not - no front-camera, flash or multi-tasking. Yesterday’s keynote was disappointing – it never stirred the buzz like with the iPhone 3G. If Apple don’t get it right next year, the iPhone is doomed. Steve Jobs should already start thinking of the next thing.

PS. Snow Leopard was also announced. Basically Snow Leopard is to Leopard what Windows 7 is to Vista. & cheaper Macbook Pros (courtesy of Laptop Hunters).

Update:

Orange are clearing up their stock of iPhone 3G (to make place for the 3G S), offering a 20% rebate.
iPhone 3G 8GB is now Rs 19k & iPhone 3G 16GB is Rs 24k. They’ve also included instructions on how to update current iPhone to OS 3.0. ;)

Orange Expo 2009

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:46:00 +0000

My coverage of Orange Mauritius Expo 2009.
Well, actually it was a little more that just an expo of old telephones. ;)

That’s an old General Electric telephone… Compare that to your own phone. :P

I'll start off with the mobile phones... If you were looking to a hands-on with the Samsung Omnia or the Nokia 5800 or the Nokia E71, you'll be disappointed that these handsets are actually dummies at the Orange stand! Apart from the iPhone, there were hardly any other smartphones to test.

Nevertheless, there was still a Samsung Omnia HD being demoed at the Samsung booth. The Omnia has the best screen I've ever seen in a device - that AMOLED screen is way too good, great contrast & true black. :)
As for the UI, it's exactly like the 5800 & having a capacitive touchscreen seemed unconvincing on a UI optimized for resistive touch.
Also demoed at the Samsung booth was a waterproof phone – the Samsung Niagra.

Nokia was demoing the 5800... but they missed a great opportunity to present the N97 to the public.
The Sony Ericsson booth was empty. No one bothered to stroll there.

At the Apple stand, there were two things - an iMac turned off & the iPhones.
I've never tried an iPhone before (nor any other Apple product) so I had great expectations of the iPhone. The first iPhone I tried was UTTER CRAP! The touchscreen was totally unresponsive - tapping was hit & miss, sliding half-worked - I had to finger-punch the screen to launch something & the lag was so evident! I fired up Safari & (although it had a SIM), as expected orange.mu never loaded. & what to say of the screen - biggest fingerprint magnet in the world. Was this really the over-hyped iPhone?
Disgusted, I moved over to the Orange stands where the only real phones were SIM-less iPhones. The second iPhone I tried was so much better. How could two similar devices behave so differently? Both were iPhone 3Gs, but I bet they had different firmwares, which completely changed the user experience. Here are my final observations from the ‘better’ iPhone:
- It's a massive fingerprint magnet, not suitable for my fat greasy fingers.
- Capacitive is less accurate than resistive. With capacitive, your touch has to be firm, you con't have half-heartedly touch.
- There is a lag when doing different actions on the iPhone. For me, the animated transitions actually amplify that lag. The iPhone is not a device for frenzied hyper active impatient persons.
Add the fact that there is no app-switching, that was very frustrating to hit Home every time.
- Although it has a low resolution on a big screen, there is no pixelisation thanks to the anti-aliasing & font smoothing.
- After using the iPhone's QWERTY virtual keyboard, my doubts have been cleared. There can be no alternative to a physical Qwerty or T9 keypad. The virtual keyboard just isn't fast enough.
To conclude, without any apps, I was quickly bored by the iPhone. It's a good gadget, but not worth the Rs 25k it's being sold for.

Moving on, there was a gaming section with kids playing games on PCs, plus a PS3.
& something called Orange Sitara doing the background score of the event.
The mini-conferences were kinda noobish – but that’s the point of the Expo, it’s for noobs! :P

For the My.T/Orange TV, Orange tried to woo customers by putting huge screens playing those 15 channels. But they forgot that these channels are horrifyingly pixelised & the huge flat screens amplified that! That was a big FAIL!

Cash & Carry in partnership with Orange were offering special My.T+PC/Laptop offers… The total sum for the PC/Laptops at the end of 48 months is around Rs25,000 for the 256k 3GB, Rs 28,800 for the 512K & Rs 38,400 for the 1M. Check it here.

The Home section was also boring except for the Orange Liveplug – connects your My.T TV network via electrical lines.

To sum up, Orange Expo was a waste of time, no interesting technology, plastic smartphones on display, iPhone extravaganza, a Home suite straight from France & some conferences-for-dummies. But it's an Expo where models are more attractive than offers - that's why I’m glad I went there, & I would definitely recommend you to go… even if it's only for one thing…. the booth girls. ;)

Microsoft's Qui veut gagner un PC?

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Microsoft Indian Ocean Islands have organized a contest aimed at students aged 18-25, as part of their software piracy awareness campaign.

How to participate
- Send microsoft <student id> to 8386. (without the < >)
- You'll get the instructions to answer 5 multiple-choice questions by replying either 1, 2, 3 or 4. (Each sms costs around Rs 1.20)
- The first 100 contestants who have scored the most points from this sms competition will be eligible to participate in the next round. Your rank can be checked at play-sms.net You can play more than once to improve your rank, however you do not need to finish in the Top 10, only the Top 100. Sms competition started on 29 May & will last till 14th June.
- The 100 contestants will be contacted on the 15th June and called to the Octave Wiehe Auditorium, Réduit for the final on the 16th June at 18:30.
For the public, tickets for the event are at Rs 150 at Rezo Otayo.

The 10 finalists will be selected from the 100 contestants by a questionnaire round. There'll be two semi-finals with 5 participants each. & finally the final will be between the winners of the 2 semi-finals.

Prizes

- 10 finalists will get 1 month free Emtel broadband and Microsoft hardware prizes, & training vouchers.

- Second prize - Acer Travelmate TM5330 (link)
Processor: Celeron Dual-Core T1600 (1.6GHz, 1MB cache, 667MHz FSB)
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Screen: 15.4” WXGA TFT
Hard disk: 250GB (5400rpm)
Graphics: Intel GMA X4500M (64MB, up to 1.7GB)
DVD Super-multi drive, Wifi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3xUSB, 1 LAN, 1 PCI, 5-in-1 card reader, 6-cell battery, 2.88kg.
Full specs here.

- First prize - Dell Vostro A860 (link)
Processor: Pentium Dual Core T2390 (1.8GHz, 1MB cache, 533MHz FSB)
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Screen: 15.6”
Hard disk: 160GB or 250GB (5400rpm)
Graphics: Intel GMA X3100M (up to 384MB)
24x DVD/CD-RW combo or 8x DVD-RW, Wifi 802.11b/g, 2xUSB, 1 LAN, 1 PCI, 3-in-1 card reader, 4-cell & 6-cell battery, 2.46kg.
Full specs here.

So there you go. If you have any more questions, you can check the detailed instructions in this pdf. The related L’Express Dimanche article is here.
Good luck & I hope a UOM student will win this contest. :P
Btw, the next version of Windows is certainly not Windows Live nor Windows Mastermind and neither Windows Pro 2011. ;)

Random Pics #2

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Photos taken in 2004 – actually what comes out when you put a camera into the hands of an ~~ape~~ noob. :)

That’s probably the last time I’ll be posting these random pics coz I’ve simply run out of old photos… Back in 2004, I had absolutely no clue about photography, so all I did was point & shoot. :P

Do check out Yashvin’s guide to photography – Discover the world of Photography ;)

Man Utd are runners-up of 2008-09 Champions League

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:44:00 +0000

So finally, the 2008-2009 season is over for Man Utd with a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League final. Barcelona managed a historic treble just like Man Utd did 10 years ago.

Man Utd started the match superbly with 5 shots on goal & total domination of the first 8 mins (their best performance throughout the match). Until Barça mounted their first attack & Eto’o scored on his trademark clinical finish.
Whichever team was to score first would gain an enormous advantage over the other to mount up counter-attacks. & that’s exactly what Barcelona did. & much more as the United players were totally shaken up by this first goal & provided a mediocre performance throughout the first half, with half-hearted passing & trying to contain the unstoppable Messi or Xavi.

The second half resumed with the introduction of Carlos Tevez & of Berbatov on the hour mark. Man United did a much better performance but with no playmaker to feed the plethora of attackers (Fletcher?), United were left chasing shadows as Barcelona demonstrated their superior passing. United hopes for a 1999-styled comeback crashed when Lionel Messi headed in from a Xavi cross, a ball gained by Captain Puyol, to make the score 2-0.

The match ended in a 2-0 defeat for Man Utd whose hopes of retaining the title were crushed by a superior Barcelona side. Barcelona totally deserve their trophy as they were a much better team.

But United fans should not despair – Man Utd did try to defend their title in the final & so finished runners-up of the Champions League at the end of an incredible season, despite United not playing at their best. Man Utd have won the Carling Cup, the FIFA World Club Cup, the Premier League for the 18th time & are runners-up of the Champions League. That is a incredible accomplishment! :)
I’m really looking to next season when Man Utd will try to make up for this season’s deficiencies & come far stronger than ever!
On a final note, I’ll just mention that next year’s Champions League final will be played at Bernabeu! Hope it’ll be an all-English final. ;)

Guardian.co.uk – United players reaction
Photos are from Daylife.com

Office 2010 Technical Preview

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, Somalian pirates unexpectedly leaked the Technical Preview of Office 2010, which will be released to testers in July.
Being an early (software) adopter, I just couldn't resist trying it... ;)

Office Professional Plus 2010 took around 8 mins to install on Windows 7.

Starting up any Office app takes only a few seconds, even on a cold start with the new 'spectrum' boot animation. The new boot animation has a cancel option to prevent you from opening the app if you have launched it accidentally.

The first thing you'll feel is that it's very very fast. Animations, menus, formatting options - everything is fluid, without any lag. Basically Office 2010 has been given the Windows 7 treatment, optimized to the hilt. Even memory usage is much lower.

	Office 2007	Office 2010
Word	22 MB	11 MB
Excel	15 MB	8 MB
PowerPoint	94MB	14 MB
OneNote	15 MB	30 MB
Visio	15 MB	18 MB

A quick look at the interface shows no major change from Office 2007. The Ribbon (aka Fluent UI) is here to stay, albeit now with Aero blended in & an arrow button to hide it. Icons are no longer outlined, giving a sleeker Ribbon.

The Office button is no longer a menu, but a whole new page with the same standard options – New, Print, etc.

You'd probably be disoriented at first, especially with the new Print options.

Bored of the dull white skin? No worry, there'll definitely be more options in future releases including a matching blue Windows 7 theme.

This is probably one of the most important improvements of Office 2010. Office 2007 was much hated for its Ribbon that decreased productivity as compared to customized toolbars. Office 2003 users can now rejoice - Ribbons are now totally customizable! You can make your own custom tabs!

Security has been given prominence in Office 2010 with a 3-tier protection – DEP, Document Validation & Protected View.
Protected View kicks in when you open downloaded documents - it essentially opens it as read-only, with one more button to click to access editing.

With the lack of a change-log & the Help file being that of Office 2007, it's hard to identify all new features. So I just focused on new Word features. (A few more features are on beingmanan.com)

Insert Screenshots from opened windows in the background.

Artistic effects similar to Photoshop.

Remove background from picture! Great for removing simple gradients, but not recommended for detailed backgrounds.

Open Type Ligatures – whatever that means…

Powerpoint-styled Word Art can be applied to any piece of text.

The new Search sidebar

& finally Office 2010’s Feedback program – Send-a-Smile. :)

The Bottom Line
In all, a very fast Technical Preview, very much worthy of being a successor to Office 207. But it’s still very much incomplete – missing icons are replaced by a red dot! & it has bugs – I couldn’t make AutoConnect work on the Basic Electrical Template for Visio (it worked on my first try).
If you are thinking of downloading Office 2010, I would suggest you wait until the public betas because many leaked versions are being distributed with trojans, mostly botnets & mainly because this TP is a 30-day trial.

Linkin Park's New Divide

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Linkin Park yesterday premiered on LinkinPark.com their new single & theme song for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - New Divide. You can listen to the track on linkinpark.com

The track was leaked a few minutes before release & in no time hit the warez scene.
When I first listened to it, I was quite disappointed. A few plays later, I liked & if I listen to it a few more times, I'll totally love it (just like I did with Minutes to Midnight). :)

I remembered black skies / the lightning all around me
I remembered each flash / as time began to blur
Like a startling sign / that fate had finally found me
And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve

So give me reason / to prove me wrong / to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason / to fill this hole / connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide

There was nothing in sight / but memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide / the ashes fell like snow
And the ground caved in / between where we were standing
And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve

So give me reason / to prove me wrong / to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Across this new divide

In every loss / in every lie
In every truth that you'd deny
And each regret / and each goodbye
was a mistake to great to hide
And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve

So give me reason / to prove me wrong / to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason / to fill this hole / connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide

Rob's drum, heavy guitar riffs from Brad - it's far from the likes of Meteora & Minutes to Midnight. But add Chester's powerful vocals & it's back to good old Linkin Park. :D

It's certain that New Divide will not be as great as What I've Done, which was meant to bridge the old & new Linkin Park styles. However we tend to forget that this is not just any single, but a movie's theme song (& not any movie!).
As a movie soundtrack, I've no doubt New Divide & its variations will be truly awesome! ;)

Take a look at these Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen TV spots. New Divide fits in perfectly.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "Forms" from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "Greatest Enemy" from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "It's On.." from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Lyrics from Mikeshinoda.com
BigBadBrad blogged about it - More than Meets the Eye

Man Utd are 2008-09 Premier League Champions!!!

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:51:00 +0000

Manchester United just needed 1 point to win, & they did exactly that by holding Arsenal to a 0-0 draw, winning their 3rd consecutive & record 11th Premier League title… & the 18th Premiership title, equalling Liverpool's record. ;)

It wasn't a great match, but Man Utd played well enough to ensure a draw.

Looking back at the 08-09 season, United totally deserve this title, having played more matches than any other team & fighting off a late Liverpool comeback. The key was probably the superior defence of United which went 14 games (1311 minutes) without conceding a goal.

If there was to be a season-defining moment, I would choose these two:
1. Federico Macheda scoring that hugely important injury time winner against Aston Villa.

2. Man Utd love doing things the hard way - the remarkable comeback against Tottenham. Going from 2-0 down at half-time to scoring 3 goals in 11 mins... to win 5-2. :)

After the defeat to Liverpool, many predicted the beginning of the end of Man Utd. But like true champions, they recovered from that stumble to come back far stronger than ever.

I totally back Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that the current squad is the best Manchester United team ever!
The similarities with 1999 is striking. That year, United won only 2 of the 5 opening games, but went on to create history. This season, it was again a bad start but look where we are now… :)

Sir Alex Ferguson:Next year we’re going to go for it again.

With a dream final in Rome between the two best teams in Europe, United have the opportunity to confirm that they are indeed World Champions, the best club in the world. Can they turn the Treble into a Quadruple? Will they become the first club to keep their UEFA Champions League Trophy? The verdict is on the 27th of May. Rome, here we come! :D

PS. Ever since I started blogging 2 years ago, United have been winning the EPL… :P
More:
- The title in 2 mins
- Sir Alex: Now we go for 19
- Utd 0 – 0 Arsenal
- The title race in quotes
- 18 reasons – Part 1 & Part 2

Photos are from daylife.com

Random Pics on 2nd Blogiversary

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:36:00 +0000

We are currently facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions – a blogging recession caused by a pandemic spread of exam flu, leading to technical unemployment of bloggers.
To remedy this situation, I’ve decided to initiate a stimulus post.

Random photos taken by my camera throughout its lifetime (2005-2007). Also uploaded on Flickr.
Edit: I didn't noticed this at all, but it's exactly 2 years since I've been blogging! What a coincidence I should publish this post on this day! I didn't plan anything for the 2nd blogiversary! :P

No post can be complete without the obligatory lolcat… :P

Transformers: ROTF Theatrical Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:31:00 +0000

The third theatrical trailer Transformers: Return of the Fallen was released yesterday…. Download HD videos on michaelbay.com

It starts off just like in the ShoWest montage, Sam telling Bumblebee he can't take him to college.

Moves to college.

Confirmed: Megan Fox is 76.3% hotter!

Sam finds a shard of the AllSpark in his bag, which reveals something to him.

A vision of The Fallen.

Makes him have hallucinations of strange symbols.

Optimus - We have kept much from you, Sam.
Sam - This isn't my war.
Optimus - I fear it soon will be.

More footage of the aircraft carrier destroyed.

The Constructicon Demolishor rampaging through the motorway.

"What you're about to see is top secret."

"Archaeologists found these unexplained markings in ancient ruins all over the world."

Constructicons resuscitating Megatron.

"Megatron wants what's in my mind."

Bumblebee fighting against Rampage.

Optimus Prime's double sword!

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."

Sam picking an object which looks like it fell off The Fallen.

Jets circling the Pyramid, which is probably The Fallen’s sarcophagus or a sun harvester.

Devastator climbing the Pyramid.

Jetfire.

The Fallen

Devastator!

~~Spoiler~~
Although I’ve already written this section, I’ve decided not to post it since all the spoilers I have gathered will probably reveal most of the plot. :S
The only thing I can say – this film will be EPIC! xD

1080p Screencaps credit to transformers.moviechronicles.com

Transformers: ROTF ShoWest Footage/Montage

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Last week, MichaelBay.com released a video consisting of a scene from the beginning of the film & a montage of mostly CGI stuff… & then pulled it down. Download 720p here (38MB).

The first footage shows Sam explaining to Bumblebee (in his garage) why he can't bring his car to college... with Megan Fox stripping in between.

In the background, there are firemen cleaning up Sam's house. Was there an attack?

The second part of the video starts with a close-up of a battered-looking Optimus Prime.

A Decepticon cutting open Sam's car (a real car!) & Starscream spitting at him.

The Audi R8.

The insecticon.

Jetfire.

Mixmaster.

Bumblebee fighting against a Constructicon.

Devastator!!!

Optimus Prime getting a karate chop from Megatron. Note Blackout revived on the left.

Bumblebee & the Twins at Petra.

Scalpel torturing someone.

Jetfire once again.

Megatron battling Starscream.

Wheelie!

Optimus Prime punching the hell out of Megatron.

So in all, a really teasing frickingly awesome montage with still some unfinished special effects. Notice Shia still has his fingers bandaged & you can see Devastator floating with the wrong shadows… & I think the best is yet to come with the theatrical trailer to be released next week.

Among other Transformers news, Linkin Park have announced on mikeshinoda.com that they are indeed working on the film’s score under the guidance of composer Hans Zimmer (The Dark Knight) & they are currently doing the theme song!

BREAKING NEWS: Linkin Park will be working on the score for Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen.

Although I wasn't at liberty to say it before, the song I've been referencing here on mikeshinoda.com in the past few weeks...is actually being done for Michael Bay's new Transformers film, due out June 24th.

In addition--and probably ever cooler--we have been offered the unique opportunity to help score the film. The song we wrote is being used as one of the themes, and we will be writing various interpolations on that theme, and trying out some other thematic ideas as part of the (very large) team scoring the film.

My bandmates and I are working with award-winning film composer (and resident ass-kicker) Hans Zimmer. We met with Hans last week, and heard some of the incredible things he and his guys have done with our new song. In the next few days, we'll be doing some work with Hans' amazing writing and recording crew.

Michael Bay has shown us select scenes from the film, and it looks incredible. I can't wait for you to see it.

One more thing… Here are the comics that detail events between the two films. If you are a Transformers fan, these are for you: ;)
- The Reign of Starscream - Issue 01, 02, 03, 04 & 05
- Defiance - Issue 01, 02, 03 & 04
- Alliance - Issue 01, 02, 03 & 04
- Transformers (1) Prequel & adaptation - part1, part2.
You’ll need CDisplay to read the cbr files. Download here.

Note: My post frequency had dropped down lately because of the tests & all. & I won’t be posting much in May as well coz of the exams. :(

Ferraris in Mauritius

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:28:00 +0000

After the last spoof post about a Ferrari 599, it's time for something much more exciting... How many Ferrari supercars do we have in Mauritius? :D

Ferrari F355

Probably the first Ferrari in Mauritius & the most popular one in its time as a record 11,273 units were produced. A 1994 model, which even Jeremy Clarkson described as:

The Ferrari 355 is like a quail’s egg dipped in celery salt and served in Julia Roberts’ belly button.

The 355 is very probably the best Ferrari of all time… & of course, if it’s the best Ferrari of all time, it’s just got to be the greatest car… in the world.. ever!

& I've got one at home... I mean a reduced-size model. ;)

Engine:	3.5L V8 - 380HP
0-100km/h:	4.7s
Top speed:	295km/h
Colour:	Red
No. in Mauritius:	1

[Wiki Link]

Ferrari F430

The current top-selling sportscar from Ferrari. Launched in 2005, it’s a typical performance car - short, nimble & very fast. A comparison would be with the Lamborghini Gallardo. Also exists in Spyder version & the lightweight stripped-down 430 Scuderia.

Ferrari F430 is "just about the best car I've ever driven" – Jeremy Clarkson

Engine:	4.3L V8 - 483HP
0-100km/h:	3.8s
Top speed:	317km/h
Power Lap Time:	1:22.9
Colour:	Red
No. in Mauritius:	3

[Wiki Link]

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

The family car… xD Yeah, the only 2-door Ferrari coupé with 2 back seats large enough for someone to actually sit on them. Not exactly a stunner, but it’s probably one of the most tame Ferrari. Production started in 2004.

… the most "astonishing" car made that year (2005) – Jeremy Clarkson

Engine:	5.7L V12 - 533HP
0-100km/h:	4.3s
Top speed:	315km/h
Colour:	Red
No. in Mauritius:	1

[Wiki Link]

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Supercar of the Year 2006 by Top Gear Magazine. The 599 is not only a sheer piece of beauty (you can spend the whole day drooling at it) but is the most powerful beast let out by Ferrari as a mass production car. As expected, Jeremy Clarkson describes it best…

Because, as a piece of automotive engineering, the 599 is biblically, stratospherically, crushingly brilliant. Even at normal speeds on normal roads you know that you’re in a thoroughbred. You can feel it straining. You can hear it working. You know that if by some miracle you are presented with a piece of road which is wide and open and free from Rovers and speed cameras, it would deliver a hammer blow big enough to knock down the doors of Fort Knox.
It accelerates with a savagery known only to silly mid-engined supercars or plastic bathtubs from Caterham. It rides on its tall tyres with a composure that’s almost diplomatic in its smoothness. And believe me on this: it looks a trillion times better in the flesh than it does in the pictures. It’s not pretty but it has the brooding presence of a mafia hitman.
Read the rest on JC’s 599 Review. :P

This is by far the BEST SUPERCAR in Mauritius.

Engine:	6.0L V12 - 612HP
0-100km/h:	3.7s
Top speed:	330km/h
Power Lap Time:	1:21.2
Colour:	Black
No. in Mauritius:	1

[Wiki Link]

So we have practically all current Ferrari models in Mauritius (Ferrari California isn't for sale yet & the Enzo is well…). Add the Porsches, the Aston Martins, the Audi R8 & the 2 Godzillas (Nissan GT-Rs), we have a impressive lineup of supercars in Mauritius. The only one missing is a Lamborghini...

You can check live pics of the supercars on LeConceptCar.com Forum. :)

Update:
Caught on camera from leconceptcar.com forum!!!! xD
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano – link
Ferrari F430 – link1, link2
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti – link1
Ferrari F355 – link1, link2

&…
Nissan GT-R R35 – link1, link2
Aston Martin – link1, link2

How to make a real banknote

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Yesterday morning, an article on L'Express caught my eye. (Click on image to view full-size)
& as soon as I read it, I suspected the following trick might be the one these “genuine forgers” were using...

It has its roots in mathematics... but is actually very simple.

Ok, I messed it up on my first try... here’s the trick as was explained to me. (the previous method should work equally well).
You need to first start off by slicing a fine 1-2mm strip off the MIDDLE of the note. Join the two sides of the note using adhesive tape.
Now, using a second note, slice another thin strip in the middle, this time increasing its length by 1-2mm... & join together the two notes, with the previous strip from the first note in the middle.
& the same thing with the 3rd note... joining them using adhesive tape or glue... Continue on until you’ll reach a point, whereby the thin strip has expanded into a new note!
Obviously, the “scars” will be visible... but the other trick consists of folding the note into half when paying... Whoever notices it will think that probably the note was torn & so was taped back together. ;)

Disadvantages compared to printing:
- You need a large amount of notes! & enormous patience & dexterity.
- Notes should be consistent. Gluing a strip of a brand new note to an old blackened note won't work.
- As for the serial numbers… well, the length of the strip should be adjusted accordingly. :P

Frankly, all that hard work to get a single note isn't worth it. :)

38 Days Later

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Bilan of the Internet “price decrease” applied on the 1st of March.

1. Sloooooow connection

Every night, it's the same story... Between 6 & 11pm, Internet slows to a crawl since usage peaks.
Unless you live in a remote area, or there aren't many peers around you, it's a hair-ripping experience. It's like going back to dial-up. Pages take minutes to load, watching YouTube buffers infinitely. Even Twitter & Facebook take ages to refresh. A slowdown just when you use the Internet the most! Downloading via browser? Forget it, speed is less than 10KB/s. :(

However, this Monday, I was experiencing the same slowness during the day! After being baffled for a while, the cause of this problem finally dawned onto me - holidays! Yes, the majority of students were at home, leeching all the available bandwidth!! :|
I was expecting this... given how MT doubled our speeds without a major upgrade of the infrastructure - which they are currently doing by installing fibre optic cables. However it'll take some time before these cables come into operation. Till then we are condemned to suffer.

So what can we do? Here are a few tips that may (& may not) work.
- My.T users, avoid the IP 196.20.XXX.XXX When you have this IP, your Internet speed is slower.
- Reset your IP. This gives you 5-10min window where you get top speed, before it returns back to 'normal.'
- Use OpenDNS. When there are more users, it's logical that MT's DNS will be overloaded. Although, I don't see any improvement...
- Be evil. Yes, run 5+ multi-threaded downloads at the same time to suck every kilobyte out of your available bandwidth. It's unfair, but would you prefer downloading at 10KB/s? On my 512k, I get up to 52KB/s by running 5 parallel downloads with 10 threads on Flashget.
- Downloading after 12am? Well, this might concern you...

2. MT's DNS down

If your livebox isn't connecting, it's probably due to a network or a DNS outage. With more users, the rate of DNS outages has also increased, the most recent one happening last week. In such a case, modifying your network settings in your OS is not enough. You need to change the DNS IPs in the livebox:

Go to Configuration avancée –> Réseau –> Relais DNS
You’ll have to re-configure it every 8h when your IP resets.

3. The price "decrease"
As we all know, the price never decreased, only the speed doubled & quadrupled for 128k. Most 'light' users complained that they never wanted a speed double, as they were satisfied with their previous speed.
However, by scrapping the 128k & 256k offers & maintaining the starting offer at Rs 750, MT kept affordable Internet out of reach of the public. People using dial-up, Nomad 64k - most having a budget less than Rs 500 - have been left stranded.
The reason is... dial-up users are the biggest cash cow of MT. Here's how:
1. Dial-uppers use almost no bandwidth - <56K.
2. Their usage is limited not by amount downloaded, but by time spent (12h)...
3. Since they *always* use more than 12h, they pay Rs0.50/min for excess.
4. Pay-As-You-Go dial-uppers pay even more!!! - 0.57/min (day) & 0.27/min(night).
5. Consider the price-to-bandwidth ratio of dial-up vs ADSL.
- Rs 750 : 512K - Rs1.45/K
- Rs 350 : 56K - Rs 6.25/K!!!!

4. My.T Mouse
512k ADSL users got a special 1Mbps upgrade, not available to the public. & current My.T users had their speeds doubled at the same price, while keeping the 15 channels an option.
New users? They'll be paying My.T more since it's now bundled with 15 useless channels. If they want only the Internet, then it's Orange ADSL. Actually it does make sense that there should be a disparity between the two services. But does the inclusion of 15 boring channels, VOD & a DVB receiver justify this?

The Bilan

A speed double - faster downloads, faster browsing & no more buffering. But at the cost of not being able to use the Internet for a few hours. I see no immediate improvement to this situation, at least until the undersea fibre cables connect Mauritius & we can finally dream of a speed on par with the world – 20Mbps?

Note: In 2007, I had a 128kbps connection, in 2008, 256K & in 2009, 512K. So in 2010, I should be getting 1Mbps, right? ;)

Update:
Tushal.net - Mauritius Telecom: The Failure!

The Mauritian Pyramids

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Ground-breaking discovery!!! Researchers from the USTFU have concluded that the Mauritian Pyramids are of extraterrestrial origin!

Located in the plain called Magnien, these pyramids were always considered to be merely stone piles, thrown together in efforts to clear the fields for growing sugar cane.

However, after noticing a peculiar similarity with the Egyptian pyramids, US scientists decided to conduct a thorough on-site investigation.

Using a state-of-the-art military tool called Google Earth, they soon stumbled across an obstacle – the satellite pictures for the pyramids were always hidden by clouds…

Finally, they decide to plot the exact locations of the pyramids using GPS… from which they got this:

The exact layout of a spaceship!

Furthermore, locals have corroborated this theory by claiming frequent sightings of a large cylindrical shaped object in the sky... which in layman terms is a UFO.

Carbon dating of the rocks determined the date to be… in the future, 20,000 years from now. This last foolproof evidence has led to the unprecedented conclusion that the Mauritian Pyramids were in fact landing pads for a civilization coming from beyond Earth. Martian Pyramids!

It also perfectly explains the extinction of the Dodos – abducted by aliens for their experiments. & the continued presence of the secret Diego Garcia military base used for monitoring the aliens. To some lesser extent, climate change can be attributed to frequent visits of the alien spaceships, their powerful engines heating up the Earth's atmosphere!
One more thing... have you read Tintin - Flight 714 to Sydney? You probably never noticed that "the names/locations have been changed to protect the ignorant." That's because the original location of the island was Mauritius.

Further research is still being conducted to find out if the alien civilization left any useful artifacts for travelling through space & time…

Note:
Baffled by this cock and bull story? Well, check this article & you’ll know why:
Seven pyramids identified on the African island of Mauritius

Come on, these are just rock piles!!! Amazing how some people add 1 & 1 and get... 11!!!

Shared by @jeyoung & this post is inspired from This is a call from @sachindb
"Pyramid" photos belong to © Stéphane Mussard.

Update:
Sept pyramides ont existé à Maurice
Week-End reported it… without mentioning whether it’s true or not. :)

Update 2:
Myth finally debunked. There is no pyramid in Mauritius with links to Ancient Civilizations - Greeks, Phoenicians, Chinese or Neanderthals. The seven pyramids of Mauritius article is pure fiction, the figment of a very vivid imagination, the delirious phantasm of a conspiracy theorist supported by fantastical sophisms.

Here’s the article published by L’Express Dimanche 19 April 2009:

Pyramides à Maurice
une invention pharaonique
« Poisson d'avril ou théorie farfelue… Nos spécialistes tranchent. Le 29 mars dernier, Antoine Gigal, auteure et journaliste spécialiste de l'Egypte, affirme que les tas de pierre situés dans les champs de cannes de Plaine- Magnien sont des pyramides datant des Pharaons. Une révélation qui aurait pu bouleverser notre histoire, si ces « pyramides » n'avaient pas, en réalité, été construites en 1944.

« En 1944, la compagnie sucriére Mon-Trésor-Mon-Désert (MTMD), a acheté Union Vale et épuré des terrains. C’est à ce moment- là que l’on a entassé des pierres en forme de pyramides. L’histoire est aussi simple que cela » , déclare Guy Rouillard, historien et écrivain.

Le mystére des pyramides est donc résolu et les « Pharaons » n’y sont pour rien. Mais de son côté, Antoine Gigal n’en démord pas, et selon elle, les « pyramides » mauriciennes sont beaucoup plus anciennes.

Une théorie pour laquelle la jeune femme n’a pas de véritables preuves, si ce n’est que « les pyramides mauriciennes ont des angles droits parfaits et qu’elles sont identiques aux pyramides de Tenerife. » Pour les historiens mauriciens, pas de doute, ces tas de pierre n’ont rien d’extraordinaire.

« Au fur et à mesure que l’on a défriché les terrains pour la culture de la canne, on s’est retrouvé face à des tas de pierre.

On les a rangé selon leur quantité » , explique Yvan Martial, journaliste et historien.

« Par exemple, dans le Nord, on en a fait des murettes, dans certains endroits, on a construit des rangées de pierres, puis cultivé une rangé de canne et ainsi de suite. Enfin, dans d’autres champs, on les a empilées sous formes de meules et c’est le cas à Plaine-Magnien » . Un fait appuyé par un représentant de la propriété MTMD : « A une époque on pouvait voir beaucoup de ‘ pyramides ’ de ce genre à Maurice, mais il a fallu s’en défaire avec la mécanisation. On en a gardé quelques- unes aujourd’hui » . Il poursuit : « L’auteur de ce papier l’a publié le 29 mars, quelques jours avant le 1er avril.

Personnellement, je pense que l’on est face à un canular. Il ne peut en être autrement. »

« Méprise quant au couché du soleil »

Mais Antoine Gigal, persiste et signe : « On dit que ces pierres sont le résultat des déblayages de terrain, mais on n’a pas pu faire des tas de pierre aussi parfaits simplement pour les empiler. Les personnes qui les ont faits, avaient une raison de faire des angles droits aussi parfaits. » Dans sa théorie, la spécialiste de l’Egypte soutient que l’histoire de Maurice ne débute pas en 1507 avec la découverte de l’île par les Portugais, mais bien avant.

Un fait que réfutent, une fois de plus, nos historiens. « L’histoire de Maurice c’est un no man’s land. Dans les temps anciens, des civilisations ont visité la côte d’Afrique et l’océan Indien, mais nous n’avons pas la preuve qu’ils se soient arrêtés à Maurice.

Les premiers à débarquer sur l’île sont les Portugais en 1507 » , précise Santyendra Peerthum, historien.

Yvan Martial, rappelle que Maurice était avant tout une forêt impénétrable.

Il explique que notre île était à l’époque envahie par des arbres . Alors « comment

auraient- ils pu construire de telles structures ? Il y a une méprise quant au couché du soleil. Dans cet article, l’auteur explique que ces pyramides permettaient à ces civilisations anciennes d’observer le couché du soleil derriére la Montagne du Lion. Mais ce dernier se couche derriére le Morne. » Une bourde d’Antoine Gigal, qui aurait pu être évitée avec des visites plus récentes à Maurice. En effet, cette derniére a construit toute sa théorie en observant les « pyramides » non pas sur place, mais par l’intermédiaire de films et de photographies vues du ciel.

Si la journaliste explique être déjà venue à Maurice… c’était il y a bien longtemps déjà : « Je ne suis pas venue cette fois. C’est un de mes jeunes collaborateurs, lui- même Mauricien, qui a photographié les pyramides, et qui me les a montrées. Je suis venue à Maurice trois fois, il y a longtemps, avec mes parents. Lorsque j’étais petite. »
English Translation

USB Plasma Ball

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Woohoo! Received a freebie from Rapidshare.com!!!

Got it by converting 30,000 RapidPoints earned from remote-uploading TV shows, movies & of course, Top Gear. ;)
Took around 1 month for the package to ship, directly from Switzerland. Yes, RS.com is in Scheiwz, not Deutschland.

Standard box, made in China. Nothing interesting, until a thing caught my eye.

PC & Mac compatible? No, there’s something much worst...

ROFLMAO!!! xD

Getting back to the plasma, here's the orb switched off...

& tadaa!!!

This is awesome.

Just like lightning.

Touching the orb with one finger concentrates the arcs.

Multitouch splits them evenly.

The Physics Behind

Would you believe it that Nikola Tesla invented this thing… Wow! (He also invented teleportation in The Prestige)
The principle is pretty simple. The Argon-Neon gas mixture at low pressure is ionized with a very large electric field of several kV, which causes electric discharges in form of emission of photons. & when you hover your finger over it, the electric field is distorted by the capacitance of your body – this is very smiliar to the iPhone’s capacitive technology. Read the following sites for more:
- Wikipedia – Plasma Lamp
- PLASMA BALLS!
- PLASMA LAMPS - A simplified explanation with pictures of how these light-effect lamps work
- Plasma "Globe" Construction

But there are drawbacks. Plasma balls have health hazards – continued operation produces ozone gas, which is harmful to health – remember the peculiar smell near photocopy machines? Yeah, that’s ozone.
& there’s build-up of static charge… which is lethal for electronics. Yeah, it’s a paradox that a static-inducing device is meant to be USB-powered.

I'll be honest... Nothing beats the sheer awesomeness of the plasma arc – an incredible piece of technology, but in fact… totally useless. I'm already regretting ordering this. The reason why I started earning points was to get the top reward - a 10MP camera at 150k points... However RS.com removed the camera, & I decided to drop it, thus converting the points I had earned so far into this plasma ball.
Guess what now? RS.com just added back a 10MP camera at 150k... :(

Ferrari 599 in Mauritius!!!

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:10:00 +0000

The following post is an April Fool joke. If you're looking for the real 599, here's the post - Ferraris in Mauritius. :)

OMG! I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this... a black Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano!!!

The 599 has a V12 engine spurting 611bhp, giving a 0-100km/h in just 3.7s & massive top speed of 330km/h!

The 599 features advanced traction control F1-Trac & MagneRide suspension.

Isn’t that a shear beauty!!!

Update:
Great News!!! The “Ferraris” have been banned from Mauritius!! NTA reckons them to be too unsafe for Mauritian traffic!! http://bit.ly/1Vgoff :P