THE ULTIMATE CRACKER

Reflections Part 1

2016-10-20T19:27:00.001+05:30

As I was trying to cover the past three days newspapers I could see my thoughts reflected in the opinion of media about many things and how one thing led to another and I just couldnt keep myself away fro penning it down.
It all began in my head when the issue of rubber pellets used indiscriminately on the protesting youth of Kashmir was making rounds in the news...I was seeing the entire nation was responding to it together for the first time. Maybe the response happened before too but I didn't notice.
It was a serious issue but then somehow the issue got diverted to some riots here and there in other parts of the country and soon followed posts of salutes to fallen heroes of Indian Army..
This might all sound like disconnected things but if we look at the past few months from top, it all looks interconnected to me.. Like a deliberate attempt to divert attention of masses.
Even the membership of NSG looked like its part. To divert the attention from more important issues like raising cow vigilantes, growing rate of caste based atrocities, release of major criminals from jails, it felt like the govt of the day was showcasing membership into MTCR and NSG push as big achievements. As a matter of fact(no... as a matter of my opinion), though entry into MTCR may help us import and export missile tech, looking for entry into NSG is plain bulllshit.
NSG and CTBT were born as a response to and against India's nuclear test. Also, we do not have enough reserves of Uranium to source our own needs that we import it, so joining a suppliers group sounds ambiguous. If entry into NSG would open up gates to access of military grade radioactive material that could be used for progress in nuclear strength, then its just a rumor spread to make half-knowledged common man feel powerful. Entry into NSG will demand a sign on CTBT which means no nuclear testings. How can you use something without testing it?!
India is never gonna sign CTBT . Its just a show off to shift attention.
Coming back to the saluting posts on fb, I dont know who started it and why.. I am not against showing love and support for the unsung heroes but it began with pretty odd timing.Why praising began all of a sudden and started spreading like wildfire ust when there was trouble brewing throughout the nation?! hmm... interesting.
After URI attack's response in the form of a surgical strike, (which thrilled me too filling me up with a gigantic amount of pride), the government showed it off like the playschool kid showing off his toys.But what followed is what's been troubling me.
I saw two major mass opinions emerge out of this surgical strike:

The army is to be worshipped and no actions of the army are to be questioned or inquired into by the citizens. It is time to boost their morale. (Is their morale so weak that it would break with mere questioning?I thought they had the strongest of the mindsets. Infallible determination is what I thought)
The government of the day is more patriotic than the entire nation put together. (Praising the army and spreading bans and hatred among citizens/encouraging it , do not amount to patriotism.)

I see some dangerous points here. The Army, no matter how good they perform and how much we respect their sacrifices, cannot be declared unquestionable. In a democracy, everything can be and should be questioned. That's how people can exercise control on overreach of any institution.
The Army is an instrument of the government , one of many it may use to maintain peace and order.
The decision of the Army means the decision of the govt executed through it.
The overuse of army for what it is not meant, from something as minuscule as rescuing kids falling into service pits to emergency/disaster management and public order, instead of their original function, allocating soldiers to do household work of higher officials and trying to compensate it all by praising them, massaging their ego's is not the way a responsible government is expected to act.
Worshiping Military may help in the outcome of upcoming elections but it is not going to help solve everyday internal issues of a nation. Instead, there is a big chance that we might be heading towards a garrison state like our neighboring nation.
Speaking of neighboring nation,the govt not discouraging people who are spreading a ban of trade and commerce , any kind of participation from Pak, indirectly spreading hatred , is equal to encouraging it. It is silently adding strength to the already haywire mobocracy that has been pushing liberals into cave and others to align with the current fever of nationalism which is a tad bit tilted to fascism.
When senior leaders of the govt of the day made statements saying they never asked any business to be stopped but it was a voluntary reaction of the people, I could literally see their inner self peeping out and smiling "But we did not stop them from doing so."
All I am saying is the situations currently prevailing could be handled in a more mature, responsible and diplomatic way( I never said diplomacy means no war ), than making hatred run as ropes gripping the nation that can be used as reigns to sway the entire nation to the wish of the one holding the reigns.
We do not live in a world of Monarchs and war heroes anymore but the masses and the rulers are giving me nothing but a picture of the same with modern clothes, ways and equipment.
From where I am standing, this does not look good. It looks more tangled than ever... It looks like a bubble just waiting to burst and then, boom...
Maybe I am looking from a different side but this side needs to be addressed too.

Any and every point mentioned in the above article cannot be used as a fact . It is purely the opinion of the author which has no intentions to influence anyone.

"FREE" ... But with Strings Attached 0_0

2016-02-11T10:26:00.000+05:30

Do you remember the huge hoardings hanging on the walls of shops and malls that shout out "FREE!! FREE!! FREE!!" but then have a small clause in insignificant font size below them that states the conditions on it?!....
Many of us fall for it at-least once to realize what it is or maybe learn from others who already fell for it... Yeah I was one going to be one of the victims.. almost on the verge of giving in to the idea of "Free" but then, fortunately I got to see the flip side of it.. And no I am not talking about shopping anymore ... its about the "Free Basics" of Facebook.
Once upon a time, FB stood as a revolutionary social networking site that stood by the concept of universality and positive globalization with minimal 'ad-pop-ups' on your screen. Then all of us got so addicted to it that most of us gave into the idea of Zuckerberg's idea of free internet to the poor. Especially when his marketing team craftily advocated it as an ALTRUISTIC motive of Mark to reach out to the poor and internet-deprived lot of the world. It seemed really like a noble motive , however, they forgot to mention two things :

There will be pretty restricted access which bars audio & video sites, surfing through search engines, social networking sites(except fb ofcourse), and a huge chunk of internet (to be crude) in the name of BASIC INTERNET. Only FB gets to decide whats BASIC INTERNET.
It might look ok at first but when we think a little on it, it shows many loopholes in the ALTRUISTIC theory. It is no less than colonizing the choice of people and slowly gaining monopoly over internet, in the process, killing the basic nature of internet being the only space which is close to "absolute freedom of choice".

HOW ?

The pricing... Its offered at zero price, but, only on few select set of sites. That means a large chunk of people will be driven to use only that part of internet which FB permits them to..It says the choice is left to people to opt for free basics or not and they can choose to browse restricted sites( in the name of Free Basics) by paying a small amount. This amounts to violation of net neutrality. Net neutrality in its simplest terms says no part of internet can be priced differently.
This means I might have to pay extra for wanting to blog on internet one day..
It will give push to the idea of differential pricing to all ISP providers.

THE PROVOCATION:

What shocked me even more is how FB used its platform to show its muscle power in the form of numbers. When the TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) asked for opinions of all Indians on the issue of free basics, Mark and team tried to flood the opinion gates with peoples love towards Free Basics by dubbing their opinion as truth.. The gate was to express ones concerns regarding Free Basics.Its nothing less than misleading the public by presenting ones opinions as truth.
It also makes me think that the huge power over the people should come with some sense of responsibility too... who ensures responsibility? hmmm.. we will discuss that some other time.!

SHOCKER:

The shocker this time is how TRAI, a governmental body stood up against a social networking giant like Facebook(for whatever reasons) . That was just a WOOOOW!!!
I mean I never expected a govt organization to be an active part of the generation X issues , especially relating to the virtual world. The way it stood its ground on net neutrality, showcasing the huge potential of monopoly and exploitation in future, against the sheer numbers of mass hysteria driven mails of FB customers, ah that was commendable.
While many of the nations gave in , succumbing to "Atleast something is better than nothing", rather than looking at the flip-side, Indian citizens proved to be far more sophisticated than Mark would have guessed.
Though the awareness campaign was on a small scale , by techies, students and you-tubers like AIB, it was creative enough to give a complete picture to the people.

RESULT:
For now, TRAI has been successful at stopping Free Basic's entry into the Indian market. It also suggested that we need to start making laws regulating internet pricing and maintaining net neutrality to prevent harm rather than acting after it.

It might sound long and boring and stuff but I was late to know and you have a right to know so I had to write this up :)

P.S:
This note is only my reflection and opinion on the burning issue of net neutrality violations expressed in my own terms ^_^ ...
There could be over simplification of facts and biased statements found.

Are Smartphones eating up our Smart Quotient?!!

2015-05-17T17:57:00.000+05:30

Yes I finally came to this topic after so many people going ga-ga over it!
I always felt that there is a smart way of doing anything. Be it getting tasks done or using a smartphone. If we are too dependent on something then we will repent eventually . So when using a smartphone, dependency should be reduced is what i thought. Felt pretty smart thinking that up too!
A small accident and the crash of my So-Smart phone was what it took to open up my blog and get writing again.
I don't think it made me any less smart than i actually was. But it did eat away many small chunks of time that I used to spend on other things. For example, I haven't played my guitar in almost 3 months. Haven't blogged in past few months, There were so many things to blog about : the Tesla Home Battery, the new s6 edge, The lollipop, the Sony Xperia Z4, the beginning of many more things and the end of many many more things. I lost track of all those.
I knew them but since I was busy clicking and checking my smarty all the time, i couldn't produce a good article every-time i was awed by some other technological marvel!
I have used so many "haven't and couldn't " words that even my spell checker is crying to put apostrophe's!!!
I fell down a bike on Friday and crashed my head and phone to the hard concrete road!
Head seemed fine with a small scratch but smarty went into coma. Had to send it to its Company ICU till further notice.
But, after sending it home, I played till the battery died on my wikipad, I tuned back my guitar and played it till my fingers said no-more, I helped mom fix her kitchen light, I read something! and Yeahhhh I am finally blogging.
If a painting was done based on the tasks in my day to day life, I'd definitely see the vivid colors used in it without my smarty and the normal bland painting with smarty in it!
The Verdict : Smartphones might not make you any more smarter or dumber than you actually are! But, they do eat up a lot of small time chunks from ur life that might add up to a biggggg loss!!
The smarter the phone, the more are the time chunks disappearing.

BITCOINS THE NEW DIGITAL CURRENCY!!

2013-09-09T18:15:00.001+05:30

With good news streaming one after another for bitcoins in India, I think there is much to be known about it!

Bitcoin is a digital currency used to pay for a variety of goods and services. In many ways, it works the same as paper money with some key differences. Although physical forms of Bitcoin exist, the currency's primary form is data so you trade it online, peer to peer, using wallet software or an online service. You can obtain Bitcoin's either by trading other money, goods, or services with people who have them or through mining. The mining process involves running software that performs complex mathematical equations for which you're rewarded a very small portion of a Bitcoin. When you actually have some of the currency, you can then use it to purchase anything that accepts it. In some cases, Bitcoin is the only accepted form of payment and you'll have to acquire it in order to complete a transaction. While this basic explanation might answer most of your initial questions, it likely brings up quite a few more. Let's discuss how you can acquire Bitcoin and why you'd use it.

How to Acquire BitcoinsP

Getting your hands on even a single Bitcoin can take a bit of work, but you have a few options. Purchasing Bitcoin takes less effort than mining it, but obviously comes at the cost of your hard-earned cash. Mining, on the other hand, takes computer processing power and often bears very little fruit. First, let's talk about how you can buy a Bitcoin and then look at the mining process.P

How to Buy a BitcoinP

As previously mentioned, storing and using Bitcoins requires wallet software or an online service. The wallet software requires quite a bit of disk space and you have to find a Bitcoin seller in order to acquire any of the actual currency. An online wallet, on the other hand, makes the entire process much easier. As a result, we're going to focus on that process. To set up an online wallet and purchase your first Bitcoin, just follow these steps:P

To create a wallet, sign up for an online service like My Wallet (UK) or Coinbase (US). For these instructions, we'll use Coinbase because they provide a simple, integrated purchase process with two-factor authentication for added security.
From the lefthand menu, click "Linked Accounts" and add a bank account. It can take several days for Coinbase to successfully link a bank account, so if you intend to purchase any Bitcoins you should plan ahead.
Once your account is all linked up, click the Buy/Sell Bitcoins link. The page will default to the Buy Bitcoins section so just enter the number you want to purchase, choose your bank account (if you linked more than one), and click the Buy Bitcoins button. The transaction may take a few days to complete, but you'll receive a notification when the Bitcoins have been safely transferred to your wallet.

The purchase process doesn't take much effort, but rather just involves a lot of waiting. The Bitcoin exchange rate changes over time, so while at the time of this writing you have to spend $75.93 USD for just one you may find them cheaper next month. Of course, you can come across Bitcoin for the cost of your CPU cycles by engaging in the mining process instead.P

How to Mine BitcoinsP

Mining Bitcoin involves running software on your computer that processes complex mathematical equations. If your computer solves one of these equations, you get a payout in Bitcoins. The issue, however, is that your computer is up against large groups of computers that will likely solve the problem before you. That means your machine may end up doing a bunch of work and it will be a very long time before you ever see a payout. As a result, you want to join a mining group. This makes it much more likely that you'll receive a payout, but you'll also receive only your much smaller share. Nevertheless, without a farm of supercomputers you'll earn more in the long run by mining with a group. Because mining is a very complex process, we don't have room to get into the details in this post. Business Insider offers a very simple method you might want to try (it didn't work for us due to Java issues), or check out popular mining pool BitcoinCZ (also known as slush's pool).P

What to Do With BitcoinP

Now that you have a wallet and a Bitcoin or two, what do you do with it? If you signed up for an account with Coinbase or My Wallet, both services allow you to sell your digital wealth. Because Bitcoin prices fluctuate, if you're simply looking to make some money you can attempt to buy them low and sell them high. I bought a Bitcoin a few months back for $15, and if I sold it today I'd earn nearly $61. If you invest wisely and remain patient, you can make a decent amount of money by simply buying and selling Bitcoins.P

As Bitcoins are a currency, several businesses accept them as payment. In fact, some businesses only accept Bitcoin. Why? Some services provide tools that may or may not be used for piracy, such as a VPN or Usenetindexer. Multiple Usenet providers shut down last year because their payment providers were pressured into dropping them as clients by major film studios. Without any way to accept payments, they couldn't afford to continue and shut down. Because Bitcoin conducts transactions peer-to-peer, there's no intermediary to prevent the funds from rolling in. As a result, many of these services utilize Bitcoin as their only method.P

That said, you can use Bitcoin for more than just questionably ethical services. Bitcoin Magazine offers a long list of options that includes everything from music downloads to gift cards to clothing. While you can't spend your digital cash anywhere, several options exist for you to use your Bitcoins as you please.P

This only scratches the surface of Bitcoin. It's a very complicated, involved system. It's also got company in the form of rival digital currencies, such as Ripple, Freicoin, Namecoin, and more. Hopefully this gives you a better understanding how Bitcoin works, but be sure to check out theBitcoin Wiki if you want to learn more.

Credits:LifeHacker

ELECTRONIC COTTON

2013-01-05T21:05:00.001+05:30

As i was going through the inventions of last year i found a very interestsing invention in the first week of january 2012. About cotton fibers that can conduct electricity,. yes natural cotton fibers...

At first even i thought its all some electrical thingy.. no its pure natural fibers doped with gold nano particles . The cellulose which form the fibers is naturally insulating, so to make it conductive they doped it with gold nano particles.

Think of the wide range of possibilities it opens to us.

Carpets that can count how many people waled on it, t shirts that can show you the amount of pollution or the level of various gases in air at the place you r standing.. Almost all the electronic equipment can be built up in fabric level. It might revolutionarize the fabric/ textile industry around the globe.

Electonics of cotton.. Who might have a problem!!

This is the link to the IEEE aritcle.

WOW.. YEAH thats what i felt on first look.. But on giving it a deeper thought I had some doubts...

>> What will happen to those carpets when people start walking on them.. wont the fibers break?

>>Are those clothes resistant to water or detergent? come on!! i wanna wear a clean shirt~

>>What if the devices made of these fibers get dirty?can they be steam cleaned?

>> What about the resistance and sustainability to the natural weather conditions?

>>Can i use vacuum cleaner on it??

>> Many other similar doubts were not answered in the article.

The thing is it is just the beginning of something big , if it gets big!

A lot of research is to be put into the field. a lot of experiments, lot of improvements, research, findings, failures, success and a lot of so much.

Then the expectations that i had in the first lines of the article may be satisfied!!!

My Samsung Galaxy S3

2013-01-01T20:54:00.001+05:30

Ya it is costly but sure it is worthy.. From the moment i bought the phone i am nothing but amazed.. sometimes at its speed s, sometimes at its smartness ....

It actually is designed for humans and can be called "smart" for its various distinct features.

Lets see some of the features that i felt made it stand out in the competitive android mobile phone market ,followed by the formal set of techinical and non-technical specifications .

1. Smart Alert: When we leave our phone for a while to do some work and if the phone is in silent mode .. then? we should come back and check the phone for what we have been missing.. With the new Samsung galaxy s3 you dont need to... all you have to do is come and hold your phone and if you have been missing anything it vibrates to let you know that you have a missed call or messge or a mail that arrived.. I loved this feature.

2.SVoice: This is another amazing feature.. Many of you might have heard of the "Siri voice recognization software" . Well this is something similar. It allows you to do a lot of things without using complex controls and yeah no need of hands. Want to set an alarm? go to s voice and tell " set alarm at 6 am tomorrow".

Now that sounded common didnt it? Morning when the alarm is buzzing, you can lift your phone n say postpone alarm for 5 mins or 10 mins and thats it .. it will let you sleep for 5-10 mins more :) pretty amazing right? You can use it similarly for getting directions using google maps , can call the camera to take shots, can call someone, send a message to someone.. all you have to do is talk to it.. Its a big asset to all the lazy people out there and hey lazy is no more a slang.... its an asset you know... not everybody has it !! ( both s3 and laziness :P )

3.Direct Call: This is not what you think... When you got a message from someone or you r messaging someone and suddenly you decide to call the person... now all you gotta do is, with the message of that person open, just hold the phone to your ear and the "Direct Call" feature automatically calls the person without the necessity of using any fuzzy commands on it .. tin tin ti din :D

4.Smart Stay: This is the feature they've been showing on tv about "designed for humans" wala tag.

What mobile phones generally do is the screen light stays on for a certain period of time( 1/30/45 seconds) and then turns off if there is no user activity.. But image how irritating it feels when u r reading a book on the mobile and you have to stay on the same page for more than a minute but your screen light keeps going off... errrrrrr... i know... the new Samsung galaxy s3 offers the smart stay feature which uses the front camera to check if the user's eyes are on the screen or not.. if yes then the screen light stays on and if n it goes puff....

Saves battery and temper :D

5.S Beam: Another interesting feature but only if your friend also has the Samsung galazy s3.

You can share anything and everything just by touching the back of both the mobiles... It works great and you will be amazed by the speed of transfer . The only requirement being the other person should have it too.

But another very interesting feature.

6. Design: Its obviously not an application based feature but it is very interesting that inspite of the huge screen and size of the mobile it weights only 133 grams.. Feather light!! Ans the rounded edges are beautiful. The gorilla glass prevents it from any kind of scratches and it wont easily break. Believe me... it is coming from a person who is very careless with handling a mobile phone!! ;)

Other notable feature is the camera. Absolutely stunning clarity of the rear camera of 8 mega pixels, amazing addons to the shots. The best thing about S3's camera is the burst short. You can take a bunch of photos within milli-seconds of time and select a best photo out of the burst lot.

the front camera also offers more than it promises to. With a 1.9 mega pixels it gives unexpectedly great clarity... Pretty much clearer than a normal mirror... For close up shots of self, there is no bad in using the front camera.The video quality is hd and very reliable. The final verdict on the camera is that it gives crystal clear clarity even when in motion and the quality of photos is no less than a digital camera :)

Applications... there are millions of apps that you can download free of cost using "samsungapps" or "google play" . And the quality of display and touch and motion display is out of the world... No other android mobile in the market can offer so much as S3 has to offer.

Other formal features are listed below:

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
	4G Network	LTE (regional)
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2012, May
	Status	Available. Released 2012, May

BODY	Dimensions	136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm (5.38 x 2.78 x 0.34 in)
BODY	Weight	133 g (4.69 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches (~306 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 2
		- TouchWiz UI

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 64 GB
MEMORY	Internal	16/32/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 12
	Speed	HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 1.9 MP, 720p@30fps

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradeable to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
	Chipset	Exynos 4412 Quad
	CPU	Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
	GPU	Mali-400MP
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML, Adobe Flash
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Pebble blue, Marble white, Amber brown, Garnet red, Sapphire black, Titanium grey, La Fleur
		- S-Voice natural language commands and dictation - Smart Stay eye tracking - Dropbox (50 GB storage) - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - SNS integration - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input (Swype)

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 2100 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 590 h (2G) / Up to 790 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 21 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 11 h 40 min (3G)

MISC	SAR US	0.55 W/kg (head) 1.49 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.21 W/kg (head)
	Price group

TESTS	Display	Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal) / 3.419:1 (sunlight)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 75dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 75dB
	Audio quality	Noise -90.3dB / Crosstalk -92.6dB
	Camera	Photo / Video
	Battery life	Endurance rating 50h

WINDOWS 7 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

2012-11-08T14:43:00.002+05:30

Windows system key combinations

F1: Help
CTRL+ESC: Open Start menu
ALT+TAB: Switch between open programs
ALT+F4: Quit program
SHIFT+DELETE: Delete item permanently
Windows Logo+L: Lock the computer (without using CTRL+ALT+DELETE)

Windows program key combinations

CTRL+C: Copy
CTRL+X: Cut
CTRL+V: Paste
CTRL+Z: Undo
CTRL+B: Bold
CTRL+U: Underline
CTRL+I: Italic

Mouse click/keyboard modifier combinations for shell objects

SHIFT+right click: Displays a shortcut menu containing alternative commands
SHIFT+double click: Runs the alternate default command (the second item on the menu)
ALT+double click: Displays properties
SHIFT+DELETE: Deletes an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin

General keyboard-only commands

F1: Starts Windows Help
F10: Activates menu bar options
SHIFT+F10 Opens a shortcut menu for the selected item (this is the same as right-clicking an object
CTRL+ESC: Opens the Start menu (use the ARROW keys to select an item)
CTRL+ESC or ESC: Selects the Start button (press TAB to select the taskbar, or press SHIFT+F10 for a context menu)
CTRL+SHIFT+ESC: Opens Windows Task Manager
ALT+DOWN ARROW: Opens a drop-down list box
ALT+TAB: Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window)
SHIFT: Press and hold down the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM to bypass the automatic-run feature
ALT+SPACE: Displays the main window's System menu (from the System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the window)
ALT+- (ALT+hyphen): Displays the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window's System menu (from the MDI child window's System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the child window)
CTRL+TAB: Switch to the next child window of a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) program
ALT+underlined letter in menu: Opens the menu
ALT+F4: Closes the current window
CTRL+F4: Closes the current Multiple Document Interface (MDI) window
ALT+F6: Switch between multiple windows in the same program (for example, when the Notepad Find dialog box is displayed, ALT+F6 switches between the Find dialog box and the main Notepad window)

Shell objects and general folder/Windows Explorer shortcuts

For a selected object:

F2: Rename object
F3: Find all files
CTRL+X: Cut
CTRL+C: Copy
CTRL+V: Paste
SHIFT+DELETE: Delete selection immediately, without moving the item to the Recycle Bin
ALT+ENTER: Open the properties for the selected object

To copy a file

Press and hold down the CTRL key while you drag the file to another folder.

To create a shortcut

Press and hold down CTRL+SHIFT while you drag a file to the desktop or a folder.

General folder/shortcut control

F4: Selects the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer)
F5: Refreshes the current window.
F6: Moves among panes in Windows Explorer
CTRL+G: Opens the Go To Folder tool (in Windows 95 Windows Explorer only)
CTRL+Z: Undo the last command
CTRL+A: Select all the items in the current window
BACKSPACE: Switch to the parent folder
SHIFT+click+Close button: For folders, close the current folder plus all parent folders

Windows Explorer tree control

Numeric Keypad *: Expands everything under the current selection
Numeric Keypad +: Expands the current selection
Numeric Keypad -: Collapses the current selection.
RIGHT ARROW: Expands the current selection if it is not expanded, otherwise goes to the first child
LEFT ARROW: Collapses the current selection if it is expanded, otherwise goes to the parent

Properties control

CTRL+TAB/CTRL+SHIFT+TAB: Move through the property tabs

Accessibility shortcuts

Press SHIFT five times: Toggles StickyKeys on and off
Press down and hold the right SHIFT key for eight seconds: Toggles FilterKeys on and off
Press down and hold the NUM LOCK key for five seconds: Toggles ToggleKeys on and off
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK: Toggles MouseKeys on and off
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN: Toggles high contrast on and off

Microsoft Natural Keyboard keys

Windows Logo: Start menu
Windows Logo+R: Run dialog box
Windows Logo+M: Minimize all
SHIFT+Windows Logo+M: Undo minimize all
Windows Logo+F1: Help
Windows Logo+E: Windows Explorer
Windows Logo+F: Find files or folders
Windows Logo+D: Minimizes all open windows and displays the desktop
CTRL+Windows Logo+F: Find computer
CTRL+Windows Logo+TAB: Moves focus from Start, to the Quick Launch toolbar, to the system tray (use RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW to move focus to items on the Quick Launch toolbar and the system tray)
Windows Logo+TAB: Cycle through taskbar buttons
Windows Logo+Break: System Properties dialog box
Application key: Displays a shortcut menu for the selected item

Microsoft Natural Keyboard with IntelliType software installed

Windows Logo+L: Log off Windows
Windows Logo+P: Starts Print Manager
Windows Logo+C: Opens Control Panel
Windows Logo+V: Starts Clipboard
Windows Logo+K: Opens Keyboard Properties dialog box
Windows Logo+I: Opens Mouse Properties dialog box
Windows Logo+A: Starts Accessibility Options (if installed)
Windows Logo+SPACEBAR: Displays the list of Microsoft IntelliType shortcut keys
Windows Logo+S: Toggles CAPS LOCK on and off

Dialog box keyboard commands

TAB: Move to the next control in the dialog box
SHIFT+TAB: Move to the previous control in the dialog box
SPACEBAR: If the current control is a button, this clicks the button. If the current control is a check box, this toggles the check box. If the current control is an option, this selects the option.
ENTER: Equivalent to clicking the selected button (the button with the outline)
ESC: Equivalent to clicking the Cancel button
ALT+underlined letter in dialog box item: Move to the corresponding item

VIRUS MYTHS! ~~

2012-05-18T11:42:00.000+05:30

Below are come comments I've come across that are common misconceptions when it comes to computer viruses and other malware.

"If I download a file onto a disk, I don't have to worry about a viruses." - This is not true, just because you've placed a file on a diskette or moved a file from a diskette to your hard drive does not mean that your computer cannot be infected. Many viruses are memory resident and capable of loading themselves into memory once a diskette is placed in the computer.

"If I buy sealed software I don't have to worry about viruses." or "If I just buy registered software I don't have to worry about viruses." - This is not always true, just because the program may be surrounded in plastic doesn't mean that it cannot be infected with a virus. When a software program is saved onto a diskette or disc if that computer or program is infected the virus will attach itself. Although this issue very rarely occurs it is still a possibility.

"If I don't download anything off of the Internet I don't have to worry about viruses." - This is definitely not true. Although most companies and websites will scan the file for viruses before they make them available to download some may not. In addition many people create a site or a file to download with the intention of spreading a virus, spyware, Trojan horses, or other malware.

"If I just read my e-mail, I will not have to worry about viruses." - Not true; there are viruses out there that are distributed through e-mail; also, files can be attached with e-mail and if executed can infect the computer. Today, this is one of the most common ways computer viruses spread around the world.

"If I don't get on the Internet I don't have to worry about viruses." - This, unfortunately, is not the case. Although many viruses are spread over the Internet today it is still possible to contract a computer virus form any diskette or disc you put in the computer.

"You can contract viruses from just looking at web pages." - Not true. However, you can contract a virus if you download and execute a file from that web page. In addition spyware and other scripts can be executed from just viewing a web page. Although these programs are not designed to delete files on your computer they should be considered a privacy violation.

SEE WHICH SITE IS TRACKING YOU WHEN YOU VISIT!

2012-04-24T10:45:00.001+05:30

Each time you visit a page on the Internet its a good change that a service on that page is tracking you. Below is a listing of some of the common ways a web page will track you when its being viewed. To view how a website is tracking you, block services, and get a better understanding about each tracking services install Ghostery, a free tool that displays all tracking services and gives you additional details about each service. In the picture to the right, is an example of a Ghostery window being displayed for the CNN website, in this example this page normally has eight services tracking the visit, however, six of the services have been disabled.

How a website may track you

Most sites collect analytical data using services such as Google Analytics to help the owner of a website understand how their web page is being used.
Sites with share buttons from Facebook, Google+, and other social networks will also track each visitor that views the share button or a social network plugin. Users logged into these social services can be tracked and also share the pages through the services.
Many advertisers such as Google (DoubleClick) will track were their advertisement banners are displayed.
Hundreds of other services that monitor traffic, brands, patterns, mobile, etc. for research and advertisers.

Visit and install Ghostery

SEE WHO AND WHAT IS ON YOUR WIRELESS NETWORK

2012-03-29T15:50:00.000+05:30

If you've ever wanted to see who and what devices are connected to your wireless network, try using the free Wireless Network Watcher utility. This utility will display the IP address, Device Name, Mac Address, and other information about each of the devices that are connected to your wireless network. In addition to being able to scan your network for all devices connected to your wireless network if you run this tool in the background it can also notify you any time a new device connects to your network.

If you're concerned about who's on your network because it is unsecure see our steps in making your wireless or WI-FI network secure.

Download Wireless Network Watcher

WINDOWS GODMODE

2012-03-29T15:40:00.001+05:30

Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit version) introduced a new hidden feature called GodMode that allows you to view and adjust all settings within Windows. To create a shortcut to the GodMode in Windows Vista (32-bit) or any version of Windows 7 follow the below steps.
1. Anywhere on your computer create a new folder.
    2. After the folder has been created, copy the below text, rename that folder, and paste the text as the file       name.
       GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once the above steps have been completed a new shortcut entitled GodMode will be visible.
Opening this shortcut will display a Window similar to the below example. Windows GodMode

ANTISTATIC BAG

2012-03-29T15:35:00.000+05:30

Antistatic bag

Antistatic or ESD bag .Bag that has been specially designed to help prevent static electricity inside the bag. These bags are often used to store and transfer electrostatic sensitive equipment. If you have ever purchased a computer hardware device such as a hard disk drive, sound card, or video card it is likely it came inside a dark gray antistatic bag. In the picture to the right, is an example of what an antistatic bag may look like.

Tip Remember that only the inside of an antistatic bag is protected, placing a hardware device on top of the bag and not inside of the bag will not protect it. In fact, it is often more dangerous to place an electrostatic sensitive device on top of the bag.

TOP 10 PROGRAMS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE

2012-02-11T15:35:00.000+05:30

There are millions of free and open source projects available, many of them better than any commercially available product. Below is a short listing of what we think is the best out there, broken down into ten categories.

Anti-virus and malware protection

Most PC users realize that they need protection on their computer or may have an installed anti-virus program from their computer manufacturer. What most don't realize is that there are free programs that are just as good and in some cases better than the commercial products. Below are our recommendations

Anti-virus program: Avast! or AVG

Malware / Spyware protection: Malwarebytes

Backup solutions

There are dozens of free and commercially available backup programs for computers. Unfortunately many of those backups are stored locally, meaning if your house were to catch fire, get robbed, or if you lost your backup discs all your data would be lost. This is why when dealing with important data we suggest users use online backup services.

Online backup solution: Mozy * or Dropbox
* Free 2GB of online backup for personal use

Browsers

Although Microsoft Internet Explorer comes pre-installed on Windows computers. There are several excellent free alternatives that everyone should try. These free alternatives can often be faster, have more options, and in many cases be more secure than Internet Explorer.

Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome

Compression utility

When downloading files on the Internet you'll eventually encounter a .zip, .rar, or other compressed file. Dealing with these files can be easy with our below free file compression utility.

File compression utility: 7-Zip

Disc ripper and creation utility

Creating an audio or data CD/DVD, ripping the data from an audio CD, or creating a CD from a .ISO file can also be done freely using our below free recommendation.

CD burner / ripper utility: CDBurnerXP

E-mail

E-mail is yet another service that can be done freely. Most users today use online e-mail solutions like the one listed below. However, for those still using an e-mail client such as Microsoft Outlook we strongly suggest one or both of the below suggestions.

E-mail client: Mozilla Thunderbird

Online e-mail: Gmail

FTP, SFTP, and SSH Utility

Users who maintain their own web page or need to upload or download files to or from a server will have to use an FTP utility or a SSH client. There are many commercial programs capable of doing this but our below free recommendations beats them all.

FTP client: Filezilla

SSH client: Putty

Image editor, paint program, and picture organizer

There are many great free solutions for editing, creating, and organizing your images on your computer. Many of the programs capable of doing these tasks can be several hundred dollars, but all of the below programs are completely free.

Image editor: GIMP

Paint program: Paint.net

Picture organizer: Google Picasa

Multimedia

There are dozens of different multimedia programs with different capabilities and limitations. Below are our top free multimedia programs for watching video files and recording audio.

Audio editing and creating tool: Audacity

Video and DVD Player: VLC

Office Suite

An Office suite such as Microsoft Office is often one of the most expensive programs that a user can install on their computer. Why install these expensive programs when there are free solutions that are just as good.

Office suite: OpenOffice

Notepad / Source code editor: Notepad++

WHATS HTTPS ON FACEBOOK !?!..

2012-02-04T22:57:00.000+05:30

HTTPS is a significantly more secure version of HTTP, which is the protocol you generally use to load up your webpages (whether you're aware of it or not). HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, so HTTPS stands for the same thing but with Secure on the end of it. This is because, as Wikipedia will tell you, HTTPS is "a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with the SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server."

Why You Should Care

So yeah, you get it: HTTPS provides additional security, but what does that actually mean when you're browsing the web every day? It basically means you're protecting your private information from people who want to steal it using readily availably tools like Firesheep. It means when you enter your password or your phone number or anything personal on Facebook—or any other site offering HTTPS—that data will be encrypted as it flies through the great tubes of the internet.

Think of it like this: you're having a private conversation with your new boyfriend or girlfriend, and your ex—unbeknownst to you—is a few tables over listening to every word. That's the sort of risk HTTP poses, whereas HTTPS would be more like if you and your new romantic interest were speaking a new language that only the two of you understood. To your stalker of an ex, this information would sound like gibberish and s/he wouldn't get any value from listening if s/he tried. HTTPS is a way for you to exchange information with a web site securely so you don't have to worry about anyone trying to listen in.

Okay, I Want HTTPS Right Now!

Good choice! Enabling HTTPS in Facebook is very easy. Just visit your Account Settings page, select Account Security (it's the third option from the bottom), and you'll find a checkbox to enable HTTPS under the Secure Browsing header. That's all you have to do. NOTE: This feature hasn't been rolled out to all accounts and so it may not be available to you yet. We're told it's going to take a few weeks, so you should have it by mid-February at the latest.

SOLAR MOBILE CHARGER

2012-02-04T00:06:00.000+05:30

For those who do not wanna spend their energy on winding-powered chargers mentioned in our previous article , this is the best choice.
With iPhones and GPS units becoming ubiquitous in the great outdoors, there is a growing market for pocket-size solar chargers. Highgear designed one for backcountry techies on a budget. New this winter, the Highgear SolarPod, at just $50, is a basic solar charger about the size of an iPhone.
Designed to charge phones and mp3 players, the SolarPod is said to disperse power for 40 minutes on an 8-hour solar charge. That should be enough time to rejuvenate your iPod for a few hours of music or your cell phone for some crucial talk time.

Highgear SolarPod

Attached to the corner of the SolarPod is a carabiner clip so you can secure it to your pack and charge while you hike. It comes with eight connector tips for various phones, including a USB connector for mp3 players, digital cameras or anything Apple.
The 2.4oz.-unit, which is the company’s first solar charger, has a battery indicator in 25 percent increments to let you know the power that remains.

ECO FRIENDLY MOBILE CHARGER( NO NEED OF ELECTRICITY...JUST HANDS )

2012-01-20T15:54:00.000+05:30

The Millet mobile charger is like any other charger, just another gadget. One would well ask what is so special about it that it merits a mention in this article. So, to begin with let me tell that this charger works anywhere and everywhere. Moreover, it is specially made to warm the green heart in you. That's right its eco-friendly too.
It is actually a very simple device which runs on human power. The mobile charger from Millet ensures that next time your mobile runs out of power; you will not be using electricity. It requires just a little winding up and your mobile phone is ready to be charged.
This mobile charger made by Peter Storm is eco-friendly in more ways than one. It not only saves electricity but it is also made from organic and recycled materials. The phone charger is part of a gadget set that also includes a wind-up head torch, standard torch, solar radio and lantern. It's also compatible with most phones.
So Three Cheers for Peter Storm. Let's all buy it and do our bit to save the earth! You can purchase it through the Millet website.

IMPROVED AAKASH TABLET

2012-01-19T15:28:00.000+05:30

The Aakash Android tablet is hoping to improve itself with an upgrade. According to HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal who has been the force behind the entire project, "In order to cater to the huge demand, we need several manufacturers to manufacture Aakash. We are enhancing the specifications on the basis of feedback we have received from the first version of Aakash. So we want to make sure that the upgraded product caters to the need of the customers… We have involved ITI in order to upgrade it… We will be able to bring in Aakash-II by April."

The Aakash has come in for a lot of criticism over its build quality and usability, (what do people expect for $35?) The 7-inch touch screen tablet has an ARM 11 processor and 256 MB RAM running Android 2.2. It has two USB ports and HD quality video. For apps, the Aakash uses Getjar, an independent market, rather than the Android Market. The tablet was developed by London-based company DataWind, with the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan as part of the country's aim to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning program. By January 3, 2012 1.4 million online orders for the Aakash had been received.

Google planning e-commerce venture?

2011-12-31T17:40:00.000+05:30

According to news from the Wall Street Journal, Google is actually planning to take a head-on battle with Amazon.

Read the WSJ article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204012004577072323400561792.html

Facebook Face-Smileys :D

2011-12-28T13:49:00.000+05:30

Just today i came across a new feature of faceboook and I just loved it!!!
Instead of using the conventional smiley set provided to us to express emotions we can use anybody's profile picture to show like a smiley....!!!
Its like you're chattin wih a friend and you can insert his/her or anyone else's pic into the chat just like any other smlye like " :) :D :P " like that

Here's what you have to do in order to use any available image as an emoticon:

Go to any profile, official Page, or event that you want to use as an emoticon.
Look at the URL. Find the username or profile ID at the end of the URL such as “VinDiesel” from http://www.facebook.com/VinDiesel, “JoshConstine”, “cocacola”, or “45197362282″
Place that name or number in double brackets like [[VinDiesel]]
Enter that into a Facebook Chat or Message field. When you send it, the bracketed number or letters will appear as that person, Page, or event’s current profile picture.

This means that if you want to use a photo of teen heartthrob Justin Bieber, you could type "[[JustinBieber]]" into a message. (The "JustinBieber" text corresponds to the profile ID of his official Facebook page.)

Simple and fun!!!

The emoticon has evolved.
Here’s a few ideas for people and Pages you could use as emoticons. Just copy the bracketed text at the end. Have ideas for more? Leave them in the comments and I’ll add the best ones to our list:

Badass – (Chuck Norris) [[46637413257]]
Eloquence - [[WilliamShakespeare1]]
Pirate - [[CaptainJackSparrow]]
President, leadership - [[barackobama]]
Bro - [[DJPAULYD]]
Male attractiveness - (Ryan Gosling) [[246631252031491]]
Boyishness – [[JustinBieber]]
Relaxation - [[BobMarley]]
Condescension, judgment - [[simoncowell]]
Adventure, auto theft – [[VinDiesel]]
Brilliance, controversial brilliance – [[Zuck]]
Loudmouth - [[theuncrunched]]
Greed - [[DonaldTrump]]
Drunk – (David Hasselhoff) [[123670240998921]]
Santa Claus - [[TheMagicOfSantaClaus]]
Terrible art - [[Nickelback]]
Winning – [[CharlieSheen]]
Disapproval – Fry from Futurama [[[278104690058]]

I am loving it!!!

GOOGLY CHRISTMAS :)

2011-12-22T02:33:00.002+05:30

Snowy thanks to Google’s latest Easter egg… or perhaps “stocking stuffer” would be a better analogy.
Just type “let it snow” into a Google search field, and along with the results for Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra performing in YouTube videos, snowflakes will start to fall gently from the top of the window. Leave it for a few more seconds and the window will start to fog up. You can clear it by clicking and “scrubbing” with the cursor, or just click the Defrost button for an instant fix. Now if only this worked with weather.com!

If you’d like to decorate your search window for at least two of the current holidays, just type either “Christmas” or “Hanukkah” into a Google search field; the results page displays a row of Christmas tree lights or Star of David symbols at the top. Alas, I couldn’t figure any way to get Google to snow on either Christmas or Hanukkah.

Google has a history of little tricks like this, like knocking your window off-kilter when you search on “askew” or “tilt”. Mashable has a presentation of a number of other Google tricks.

Diaspora co-founder Ilya dies at 22 :(

2011-11-15T06:23:00.000+05:30

One of Diaspora's 4 co-founders Ilya Zhitomirskiy passes away at the young age of 22.

RIP Ilya

Analysis of DIT's Response to Second RTI on Website Blocking — Centre for Internet and Society

2011-11-01T08:15:00.001+05:30

See the interesting article by CIS-India

In this blog post, Pranesh Prakash briefly analyses the DIT's response to an RTI request on website blocking alongside the most recent edition of Google's Transparency Report, and what it tells us about the online censorship regime in India.

What the DIT's Response Tells Us, and What It Doesn't

We at the Centre for Internet and Society had sent in a right to information request to the Department of Information Technology (DIT) asking for more information about website blocking in India. The response we got from the DIT was illuminating in many ways. The following are the noteworthy points, in brief:

Six government officials, and one politician have so far made requests for 'disabling access' to certain online content under s.69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
68 individual items have been requested to be blocked, those being 64 websites (domain-level blocking), 1 sub-domain, and 3 specific web pages. Seemingly, none of these requests have been accepted.
The data provided by the government seemingly conflicts with the data released by the likes of Google (via its Transparency Report).
India's law enforcement agencies are circumventing the IT Act, the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and ultimately the Constitution, by not following proper procedure for removal of online content.
Either the DIT is not providing us all the relevant information on blocking, or is not following the law.

Conflicting Data on Censorship Requests

The latest Google Transparency Report, released on October 25, 2011, shows that there were 68 written requests (imaginably taking the form of forceful requests/orders) from Indian law enforcement agencies for removal of 358 items from Google's various. If you take the figures since January 2010, it adds up to over 765.

However, the official government statistics show only eight separate requests having been made to the DIT (which, under the IT Act, is the only authority that can order the blocking of online content), adding up to a total of 64 websites (domain-level), 1 sub-domain, and 3 specific web pages. Of these only 3 are for Google's services (2 for Blogger, and 1 for YouTube).

If classified according to presumable reason for seeking of the block, that would be 61 domains hosting adult content; 1 domain (tamil.net.in), 1 sub-domain (ulaginazhagiyamuthalpenn.blogspot.com), and 2 specific pages (video of a speech by Bal Thackeray on YouTube and Wikipedia page for Sukhbir Singh Badal) for political content; 1 for religious content (a blog post titled "Insults against Islam" in Malay); and 1 domain hosting online gambling (betfair.com). It is unclear for why one of the requests was made (topix.net).¹

Content Removal vs. Content Blocking

Section 69A of the IT Act provides the Central Government the power to "direct any agency of the Government or intermediary to block for access by the public or cause to be blocked for access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource". The only person through whom this power can be exercised is the 'Designated Officer' (currently Dr. Gulshan Rai of the DIT), who in turn has to follow the procedure laid down in the rules drafted under s.69A ("Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguard for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009", the 'Blocking Rules').

Because of this, we see everyone from the Secretary of the Public Law and Order Department of Tamil Nadu to the Joint Commissioner of Police of Mumbai and the State President of the Bharatiya Janata Minority Morcha approaching the Designated Officer for blocking of websites.

However, as the data from Google shows, there are many times more requests being sent to remove content. The only explanation for this is that an order to 'block for access... or cause to be blocked for access by the public' is taken to be different from an order for removal of content. Nothing in the IT Act, nor in the Blocking Rules actually address this issue.²

Thus, there is a possibility that the forcible removal of content is treated separately from blocking of content. That would mean that while blocking is regulated by the IT Act, forcible removal of content is not. Thus, it would seem that forcible removal of online content is happening without clear regulation or limits.³

Role of the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure

There are existing provisions in the Indian Penal Code that provide the government the power to censor book, pamphlets, and other material on varied grounds, including obscenity, causing of enmity between communities, etc. The police is provided powers to enforce such governmental orders. Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the State Government to declare (through an official notification) certain publications which seem to violate the Indian Penal Code as 'forfeited to the Government' and to issue search warrants for the same. After this the police can enforce that notification.

It is clear that this is not the case for any of the content removal requests that were sent to Google.

Police Are Defeating the Constitution and the IT Act

Therefore, it would seem that law enforcement agencies are operating outside the bounds set up under the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, as also the Information Technology Act, when they send requests for removal of content to companies like Google. While a company might comply with it because it appears to them to violate their own terms of service (which generally include a wide clause about content being in accordance with all local laws), community guidelines, etc., it would appear that it is not required under the law to do so if the order itself is not legal.

However, anecdotal evidence has it that most companies comply with such 'requests' even when they are not under any legal obligation to do so.

This way the intention of Parliament in enacting s.69A of the IT Act—to regulate government censorship of the Internet and bring it within the bounds laid down in the Constitution—is defeated.

DIT Either Evasive or Not Following Rules

The DIT did not provide answers on:

Whether any block ordered by the DIT has ever been revoked
On what basis DIT decides which intermediary (web host, ISP, etc.) to send the order of blocking to

It also provided the minutes for only one meeting⁴ of the committee that decides whether to carry out a block, when we had requested for minutes of all the meetings it has ever held. That committee (the Committee for Examination of Requests, constituted under Rule 8(4) of the Blocking Rules) has to consider every single item in every single request forwarded to the Designated Officer, and 68 items were sent to the Designated Officer in 6 requests. Quite clearly something doesn't add up. Either the Committee is not following the Blocking Rules or the DIT is not providing a full reply under the RTI Act.

A request was made to block http://www.topix.net, by the 'Commmissioner, Maharashtra State, Colaba, Mumbai—400001', presumably the Commissioner of State Intelligence Department of Maharashtra, whose office is located in Colaba. ↩
However, the Blocking Rules require the person or the hosting intermediary being contacted for a response. This provides the person/intermediary the opportunity to remove the content voluntarily or to oppose the request for blocking.
"Rule 8. Examination of request: (1) On receipt of request under rule 6, the Designated Officer shall make all reasonable efforts to identify the person or intermediary who has hosted the information or part thereof as well as the computer resource on which such information or part thereof is being hosted and where he is able to identify such person or intermediary and the computer resource hosting the information or part thereof which have been requested to be blocked for public access, he shall issue a notice by way of letters or fax or e-mail signed with electronic signatures to such person or intermediary in control of such computer resource to appear and submit their reply and clarifications if any, before the committee referred to in rule 7, at a specified date and time, which shall not be less than forty-eight hours from the time of receipt of such notice by such person or intermediary." ↩
While it is possible to imagine that the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure lay down limits, it is clear from the Google Transparency Report that the requests from removal are not coming based only on court orders, but from the executive and the police. The police have no powers under the IPC or the CrPC to request removal of content without either a public notification issued by the State Government or a court order. ↩
The minutes of the meeting held on August 24, 2010, on the request for blocking of www.betfair.com were sent as 'Annexure III' of the DIT response. This request was not granted. ↩

See original post at CIS_-India: Analysis of DIT's Response to Second RTI on Website Blocking — Centre for Internet and Society

Indian railways launches real time train tracking service: SIMRAN

2011-11-01T07:21:00.002+05:30

SIMRAN--Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation, is a joint project of Indian Railways with IIT Kanpur. A GPS device transmits data to the severs & you can get information regarding Train Speed, Nearest Station , Next Stop &Train status (Late/Before Time/Approaching) as of now from it.

For now its launched on a test basis for only these train numbers: 12003, 12004, 12301, 12302, 12305, 12306, 12313, 12314, 12951, 12952, 12953 & 12954

Visit its website: http://simran.in/

And the best thing. It uses an open format, SVG :)

A screenshots of today's schedule

Unthink review

2011-11-01T06:42:00.005+05:30

To start with, some screenshots when i was signing up :)

You can contact us for invites

The best thing about unthink is the emancipation suite. You can migrate your Facebook data & they claim they won't randomly delete your account just because it doesn't fit some random thing like social activism etc.

Let me warn you beforehand that the servers are too slow as you can also understand seeing the server overload screenshot.

Here is How To Catch Formula1 Live On Your Phone Without GPRS

2011-10-29T18:27:00.000+05:30

Come Sunday, the big guns of Formula 1 - Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa part take in the first ever Indian Grand Prix. Thousands of fans and adrenalin junkies are all revved up, tracking every detail including practice sessions today, and the qualifying race that will take place tomorrow. In case you aren’t one of the lucky few to score a seat at the Buddh International Circuit this Sunday, and won’t be around a TV, there’s still a way to catch every single update Live!
You can catch all the F1 action live on your mobile phone, even if you haven’t subscribed EDGE or GPRS services. Formula 1 is a simple SMS base app brought to you by txtWeb, that lets you keep track of:

Live status of the race
Results of the previous race
The race schedule
F1 Rankings, News, and more…

Launched at txtWeb appstore, these are keywords that will help you watch the Formula 1 live (SMS these keywords to 9243342000 to get live updates).

Keyword: @f1: Live status of the race
Keyword: @f1.previous : result of the previous race
Keyword: @f1.schedule: Race schedule
Keyword: @f1.news: F1 News
Keyword: @f1.ranking: F1 Rankings
Keyword: @f1.trivia: F1 Trivia