gr's blog

Scopes in C

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:31:00 +0000

This post is about the storage related topics in C .Three important aspects in this regard are Scope, Linkage and Lifetime(storage duration) of the programming elements (variables).These are very well explained in C Primer Plus(by Stephan Prata) and this post is mostly from it. When I read about it the first time I was a bit confused over the difference between scope and lifetime of variables.In short Scope of a variable is the region in which the existence of the variable is known or in other words ,the region in which the variable can be accessed and lifetime is the time (not exactly in sec or min but time relative to the program execution) for which the variable exists.
Two scopes are particularly important viz File scope and Block scope.
A Block is the region within an open brace and a corresponding closing one.Variables declared inside a block have block scope i.e they are meaningful only within the block defined.So two variables with same name can safely exist in two different blocks.Although it's not a good habit to use the same variable names in nested blocks (it only causes confusion).
e.g :
//block 1
void main()
{
int i=3;
//block 2
while(condition)
{
int i =2;
/*here this i is known.not the outer one.
inner one is said to hide the outer one.*/

printf("%d",i); //prints 2
//other statements

}
printf("%d",i); //prints 3

}
Variables which do not belong to any of the blocks(declared outside the blocks) are of File scope which means they can be accessed in any of the blocks in the file they are declared(they are also called Global variables).
e.g :

int i ;
void main()
{
//other statements
printf("%d",i);

/*prints 0 ,coz variables declared out of the blocks are initialized to 0 */

}

There's another scope related to the visibility of goto labels. goto labels are said to have Function scope(different from block scope).No matter what block the goto label is specified in, it's accessible in the whole function(every function is a block but not every block need to be a function).
)
e.g :

void main()
{
while (condition)
{
if (another condition) goto label;
/*the label actually is defined outside the while block ,but is known here*/

//otherwise do this
}

label:
// some statements

}
As the use of goto is considered as an unstructured way of programming ,the function scope is of little importance.

char in Java

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:05:00 +0000

This post is about character type in Java.It's important because it's implementation in Java is different from most other programming languages.
First of all the char type here uses Unicode encoding scheme ,unlike in most other where ASCII is used.
This helps Java handle any of the characters in the world,be it any language.Unicode character set is a 16-bit encoding scheme which can represent 2^16 (65536) diff chars.But that didn't seem to be enough to represent all the characters ,so it has been extended to support about 1 million chars.The chars beyond the 16-bit limit are called Supplementary chars and JDK 1.5(Java 5) supports them.
A char literal is represented in single quotation marks. eg :char eg_char ='A';
The Unicode set uses 2 Bytes and it's represented in Hexadecimal format in single quotation marks preceded by backslash-u (\u) as '\uXXXX',where XXXX varies from 0000 to FFFF.The first 128 chars are same as ASCII ones and vary from '\u0000' to '\u007F'(i.e decimal 0 to 127).
eg :char alphabet ='A'; //stores the ASCII value of A in 16 bits

is equivalent to

char alphabet ='\u0041'; //0041 is the ASCII value of A in hexadecimal(decimal 65)

Implicit casting is done if the operand on the RHS fits into the destination safely.Otherwise explicit casting has to be done.
eg :
int integer='A'; //implicitly casted coz 16-bit char safely fits into 32-bit int
System.out.println(integer); //shows 65

integer or floating points should be explicitly typecasted to char as (char)value.
In case of int lower 16-bits are used to identify the char and in floating point values lower 16-bits of the integral part is used.

Back with Java

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:45:00 +0000

I was out of ideas for posting in here,so took quite a long break from Blogging :-) .And Im back to it to write somethin about Java(Im currently scratching my head over it) . Unlike others who write about Java to help others, Im writing to help myself understand it ,may be atleast while writing i may understand something.I don wanna start with the History coz i cant remember it inspite of reading it several times but if u are really interested , James Gosling is the name you can start googling with.
To start with Java is an Object-oriented,secure and platform-independent language developed by researchers at Sun Microsystems in 1990's.
There are actually more features than these, but these are the ones I've understood.
It helps to have learnt some POP language as C and some partial OOP language like C++ to catch the meaning of Object-oriented paradigm ,if not don't get stuck till u come to know what it is. Coz you ll not know until you use the language.
Java is said to be platform independednt because it compiles the source code NOT into the machine language but to its native (virtual machine) language and is called Bytecode. The Java Virtual Machine(JVM) then interprets the Bytecode into machine code. And since JVM is available for most of the platforms (it's different for different platforms) ,the code once compiled can be run on any platform(for which we have JVM) .
It's called secure for many reasons and I know only some of them.Java implements garbage collection techniques which automatically frees up memory for which there's no reference and there are no pointers in Java, which is again a main security feature of it. So you just cant declare a pointer variable and play around with memory :-)

Launchpad for Rockers...

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 05:11:00 +0000

For all those Rock lovers out there, this would be a good news.Channel V has started a hunt for India's No. 1 band called Channel V Launchpad.The permanent judge for the show is none other than the rock star of India,the man behind Pentagram, the super cool music director Vishal Dadlani.

It's amazing to watch people from different backgrounds,different culture giving a whole new variety of music,which wakes up the Rocker in you.It's telecast every Friday evening at 7 30.
Go check it out.I guarantee u'll have a wonderful time watching it.

Feb n March-My Experience...

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:31:00 +0000

Uphhh....That is a sigh of relief.Feb n March kept me really busy.All the coll events are over n importantly internals are completed :-) and I'm back today.Tried out some new things last month..
Gave a paper presentation at NITTE College(my first time),participated in movie-making and some other competitions conducted as a part of college day events n in the middle of all these, The Internals.And I think ,of all these ,movie-making was the only one I was good at(The one I made is actually a compilation of photoslides,but I think it's good enough).All others bombed.
My technical paper was on Cloud Computing,which was actually a survey paper.Felt my preparation was good,but then during the queries round,I had nothin to say :-).Only judges were speaking!(firing questions at me).But overall,it was a wonderful experience,got to learn a lot from others and made some good friends there(all techies..).So as a first time,it was quite good.I should better start thinkin bout it more seriously.
Now about the movie-making.The theme given was "Life is a journey" and we were supposed to make a movie of bout 10 mins(in a week!).Everyone tried in their own way..Some acted in it themselves,some made a compilation of videos,some compilation of photoslides and so on.
Mine is of the third kind(if u wanna check it out ..)

So today,felt free enough to scribble my experience here.Hope to post good posts from now on.

Gandhigiri in action

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:23:00 +0000

This is a practical example of "Gandhigiri",which has now become the weapon for a new facebook group against the inhumane moves of Sri Ram Sene.
This is the response they never expected to get.A new group in Facebook,created by Nisha Susan,a journalist,has launched what's called "A consortium of pub-going and forward women" or should we say "the pink chaddi campign" and is flooding the sene offices with Pink undergarments,,pushing them to the absurdity they really deserve.
This step can not be called as the youth power,its actually more than that,coz a 65-year old woman has also reportedly donated "pink chaddis".
Yet another Facebook group said that they would celebrate March 1 as "World Kamasutra Day",as the sene activists talk of Hindutwa and true Indian Culture and all that..So this should not be their matter of concern,coz it's very much Indian :-)..

Hamming Distance-An Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:56:00 +0000

If you've ever read something about error control methods(in data link layer especially),you 'll have definitely come accross this term,Hamming distance.
So here I would like to write something about it,which would mostly help beginners and not for experts(who instead can add comments to it).
This is the term you usually come across,like i said,when you study about error control mechanisms.

Hamming distance,is nothing but the count of bits,in a given set of two binary nos.( of same size) that differ from one another.For eg. If the nos. given are 1110 and 1000,we can see that two bits(2nd and 3rd) differ,so the hamming distance would be 2,similarly for 1110(A) and 1100(B),it would be 1 and so on.For two words x and y,its denoted as d(x,y),so here d(A,B) is 2.
For smaller nos,as you can see,it can be easily got by simply observing the corresponding bits,but as the bits increase,it would be a bit confusing to do that.In this case we can get it by simply performing xor(bitwise) operation and counting the no. of 1s in the bit pattern obtained.

In addition, minimum hamming distance,is the term used more often,because this is closely related to detecting and correcting errors.Minimum Hamming distance for a given set of binary nos,more than two(coz in this case minimum doesn't make any sense,coz there is only one value),is the minimum of the hamming distance calculated for every two binary nos. in the set.
For eg. say the given set is {10000(A),11100(B),10110(C),11110(D)}
-hamming distance of A n B is 2, A n C is 2, A n D is 3.
-hamming distance of B n C is 2, B n D is 1 and of C n D is 1.
Here min. hamming distance,as can be easily seen is 1(min of all of them).
So this was an introduction to the term.Actually what's needed to be discussed is how this helps in error control,which i'll be posting soon.Do keep checking it out.

next post : relation between minimum Hamming distance and Error detection.

Saving songs from online streaming sites!!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Have you ever come across sites which have a huge library of songs but unfortunately haven't provided any option to download n save it to the computer?You really might be thinking of some way to get songs from it..
So here I would like to share a method to just that..
The method I'm gonna explain here works for the sites which use your media player to stream songs and not for the ones with their own embedded players.
So here we go..

1.Go to any such site,right click on the song needed n select save link/target as and save the file(which ll be in ram format) in your system.

2.Open the ram file in Notepad.There u get a url,copy that and paste it in your browser address bar.Hit Enter.

3.That's it,u'll get the song in rm format(good to download,consumes less space).Convert it to mp3 using any of rm to mp3 converters(there are plenty of them).

If you have got better methods to do it,plz do share with me.

Protocols-What are they?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Well,any dictionary on english defines it as
the forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and head of state
or a code of correct conduct.
And in Computer Science it's defined as a set of rules that govern data communication.These definitions may not make much sense without examples.So here are some analogies to get the meanings(coz they are many,based on context) of the term.
Here I share a wonderful analogy,I found in a book by Tanenbaum.
When a woman is introduced to a man,she may decide to stick out her hand and the man can either shake her hand or kiss it depending the place and on who the woman is.If she is a professional,say a lawyer in an official meeting,then handshake would be a good choice
and if she's the European Princess,it would be appropriate to kiss her hand.

But it's entirely his choice.He would like to kiss the lawyer and give a handshake to princess instead,but this would seem a little awkward.So protocols are the instructions built for easy and efficient communication.Deciding not to follow them,could make it a bit difficult,if not impossible.
A protocol gives clear description for two problems:What and How the information is communicated.For eg. it would not be fair to transmit some random bit-stream,by random I mean without any rules(protocol) and expect the receiver to understand it.That is,if I decide to speak to my friend in code-words,it's quite impossible for him to get what I say,unless I tell him how to interpret my message.Similarly the nodes between which communication has to take place have to agree to some specific rule,like for bit streams,may be the first 8-bits represent header,next 8 the tail and the rest represent the message and so on..
The next thing to be fulfilled is tell the node what the header indicate,an address or something else etc.,
So next time you read something about protocol(s),you now know it's a set of rules,so try to study the rules defined in the protocol to understand what it exactly is.

Comment on it if you liked it.

Why ban Google Earth??

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:01:00 +0000

Now,for the second time,Google has been charged for helping terrorists.Back in 2007,British govt. charged them for showing the images of their Military Bases.So it's now time for India to accuse Google for all this,which indirectly says the advancement in technology is an unwanted development.They say images from Google Earth helped terrorists plan the Mumbai attack.

This clearly indicates that terrorists are technically more sound than the the ones in the Intelligence dept.,and it's like giving a non-sense reason for their failure to trace them.
Instead of illogical arguments as these,I think,they should work more on sharpening their technical skills or atleast hire some geeks,if needed,to avoid all such anti-social activities.

As given in Deccan Herald,it's difficult though,coz an e-mail from a terrorist to another is no different from a mail sent by me to my friend.So,I think there should be some kinda system to check all the e-mails before forwarding to the destination, and if they don't make any sense(like if they are in some codewords),they should filter back such mails.I donno know if this makes any sense,coz anyone may just have to send their credit card no. via e-mail and may get filtered..My point is that there should be a system which can tell apart a terrorsits mail from mine :-).
Instead of forcing for a complete ban on such services,they can instead ban showing up of some security zones like those military bases.But this can't help it even, coz they may target a completely different place like a hotel,as they did in Mumbai.

Understanding IP addresses

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:05:00 +0000

This is one(and the first) of the several videos to come on networking and these are for dummies by a dummy.So if u r a geek,looking for an advanced discussion,this may not be the right place for you.But I request you to go through it and give feedback for it or suggest any points to be added.
This post covers a basic introduction to IP address and classes etc..

Syntax
The format followed is called Dotted Decimal Format.The current version,that is IPv4 is a 32-bit number(4-bytes,the 4 in IPv4),divided into 4 parts of 1byte(8 bits),each separated by a period(like 192.168.1.3).
As u know each bit can take values 1 or 0,the range of each octet therefore turns out to be 0 to 255(i.e eight 0s to eight 1s),a total of 256 values(i.e 2^8).

Classes
Classful addressing is a method of organisation of the entire range of IP addresses(0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255),in which the first four bits(the most significant ones) determine the class of the address.Number of classes are 5
-class A,class B,class C,class D and class E.

Specifications of Class A:
1.The leftmost bit(i.e the most significant bit) is 0.
2.Leftmost 8 bits represent the network,called network id and the rest of 24 bits represent hosts of a particular network.
So keeping the MSB as 0,we can have 2^7=128 different networks from this class and each class can have 2^24 different hosts,but this isn't the case.
Actually the no. of networks in this class is 2^7 - 2(126),coz two networks,,net-id of 0(decimal) and 127 are reserved for what's called special addresses.Similarly host-id of all 0s and all 1s are special too.
I would like to discuss about special addresses in newer posts.
So this leaves 126 different networks in Class A and 2^24 - 2 hosts for each network.
If in an IP address(in decimal format),the leftmost decimal no. is in the range 0 to 127(both inclusive),it belongs to class A.

Specifications of Class B:
1.The 2 leftmost bits are 10.
2.16 bits from the left represent net-id and the rest 16 represent host-id.
By similar calculation,we get 2^14 different networks and 2^16 hosts.But as said earlier,host-id of all 0s and all 1s are special.So total hosts equals 2^16 - 2.
If in an IP address(in decimal format),the leftmost decimal no. is in the range 128 to 191(both inclusive),it belongs to class B.

Specifications of Class C:
1.The 3 leftmost bits are 110.
2.24 bits from the left represent network-id and the rest(8-bits) indicate the host.
No. of networks=2^21(coz first three are constant)
No. of hosts for each network=254(2^8 - 2)
If in an IP address(in decimal format),the leftmost decimal no. is in the range 192 to 223(both inclusive),it belongs to class C.

Specifications of the rest:
The addresses in any of the classes discussed until now are called unicast addresses,coz communication between the nodes using any one of these addresses is one-to-one(1 sender-1 receiver type communication).There is a class where the communication is of one-to-many kind and that class is D.
Class D:
1.The 4 leftmost bits are 1110.
2.There's nothing like host-id and net-id in this class of addresses and the rightmost 28 bits indicate a particular group.
These are called Multicast addresses,that is,data transmitted by a node with destination address belonging to this class is received by every node associated with that particular group.
More to come on multicasting in newer posts.
If in an IP address(in decimal format),the leftmost decimal no. is in the range 224 to 239(both inclusive),it belongs to class D.

Class E:
1.The 4 leftmost bits are 1111.
2.There's no host-id or net-id in this group too.
These addresses are not used publicly and have been reserved for experimental/future use.
If in an IP address(in decimal format),the leftmost decimal no. is in the range 240 to 255(both inclusive),it belongs to class E.

The Master vs The Muscle

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Any guesses what I'm talkin about??
If u think it's the finals of the Australian Open,u got it right.The Legend Federer and the Muscle-man in the tennis world,Rafael Nadal took the match,played over a duration of 4.5 hrs,to the max. excitation point.Their every single shot fastened my heartbeats more n more.
Nadal once again took-off the grand-slam title as Federer missed his 14th grand-slam title for the second time.I actually was counting on Roger but unfortunately,his unforced errors(they were too many) landed him down.Nadal,as usual was as active through the whole session as in the beginning,even though he ran all through the court,reaching the corners,anyone ever expected.

Even Roger,who I believe is the most emotionally stable man ended up crying in the presentation ceremony when people cheered for him.I think he broke down coz he was quite confident enough to make it this time but was unable to.

Nadal was very good on stage with so much simplicity on his face after the huge win and showed the true sportsman spirit by respecting Roger's emotions and I love him for that.
I wish all the very best for both of them,more for Federer(he's my favorite : ) ).

Mohit Chauhan-the gifted singer

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:28:00 +0000

I hope u all might have liked Masakkali,the current chartbuster from the movie Delhi-6.Then u'll be glad to know that it's sung by the same person who has to his credit,the sensational songs like Tumse hi(remember the movie?) and Kahin na lage mann.

Yes..it's sung by Mohit Chauhan,my current favorite.I thought until recently that he's a newbie in the industry and curiously googled his images but I was amazed to find that he's the one who sang Dooba Dooba(by the silk route band),my all time favorite song..
Even with very few tracks in his track-record, he's now the most wanted artist in the industry.
Some of his tracks include Khoon chala from RDB and Kuch khaas from Fashion.

You can listen to his songs online here..

Pin this Folder to Start menu !!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:39:00 +0000

I hope many of you,like me,have at some point wished if there was an easy way to access your favorite folders.Go to My Computer,select the drive,navigate to the folder..ahh...so many steps to get to a folder..
Now,you all know the way to pin programs(frequently used ones) to the start menu and you also know that the method is as it is not applicable to folders..So here's a small registry tweak to do exactly that!

1.Type regedit in the run dialog box(windows+r is the shortcut for run dialog box) n hit Enter.

2.Navigate to the following path:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->Folder->ShellEx->ContextMenuHandlers

3.Select ContextMenuHandlers,right-click on it.Select new->key.

4.Rename the new key as {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8}...(including the braces)

5.Exit the editor.Now u have the Pin to start menu option even for folders..
But you need to hold shift and right-click on the required folder.

I actually have no idea how that particular string works!..
just knew the trick so shared it..If u have got any such tricks plz send them to me..
Ill post it with ur name(or email id)

Setting up a Gmail account in Windows Mail

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:55:00 +0000

Tired of logging in ur gmail account everytime you get a mail??Why do so much when it supports downloading of ur mails using an e-mail client!!For those who don't know what the hell does that mean..read on..
E-mail clients(like Mozilla Thunderbird,Windows mail or Outlook) helps you download your mails,so they can be viewed offline,once your account is set-up.For a Gmail account,it's free but free service of Yahoo doesn't let u do this and requires a Yahoo Mail Plus account(a paid service).
So here I explain the set-up process..

1.Log in to ur gmail account and follow the path:Settings->Forwarding and POP/IMAP

2.Select Enable POP for mails that arrives from now on,click Save changes and log out.
That's not all.Now open up the Windows mail.

3.Go to Tools menu->Accounts.Click Add button and select E-mail account.Type in the name ,whatever you want and give your e-mail id(or the gmail id).

4.From the combobox under incoming e-mail server type,select POP3.
In the first textbox under Incoming mail server,type pop.gmail.com and smtp.gmail.com in the text box below it.
Check the box that says outgoing server requires authentication.Click Next.

5.Give ur username and password(it's the same u use to log in to ur gmail account).In the next window check Do not download mails at this time,coz the set-up is not yet completed...

6.After you hit finish u should get the internet accounts window,where u gotta select ur gmail account created just now and click properties.
Go to Advanced tab and enter port no. 465 for outgoing server and 995 for incoming server.Check the checkboxes below them.Check the last box,if u want to store a copy of mail in the server even after it's downloaded.And u r done....
Hit the send/receive button to download mails.
Hope this helped u..Reply to me if u liked it..

Something about blogger-Adding logos

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:56:00 +0000

I hope u all know how to add a gadget in ur blogger blog.So here I'm gonna explain How to put on a logo(with a caption) onto ur blog.The one,I did as u can see above says gr's blog,tech for dummies.Here's how I did it-

*Create a custom logo with some logo generator such as The Logo creator v5 or AAA Logo Creator,the one I used.A bit of googling will get you these,so I'm not gonna give links here!

*Save ur customised logo in image formats like jpg or png etc. somewhere in ur harddisk.Use some external image-hosting sites(I use Photobucket) to upload ur logos onto the web so that they are available 24x7..

*These sites give an html code(with the url) for the uploaded images.Copy that n paste it in the new gadget that u r gonna add(from ur dashboard).Now move around the gadget in the layout to place it whereever u like...
and that's all u need to do..Now u've got ur own logo..

Hope this helps anyone new to blogger.If u've got a better method to do this or if u need any clarifications plz feel free to contact me.Just scribble in my guestbook.

Good night--For BSNL Night unlimited users

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:04:00 +0000

Waking up at 2a.m to make the fullest use of the time??Then here's is a
good-sleep pill for you guys.Follow these steps to get the most out of the
specified time..

*Get this software called reconnect here,which connects your system to
the network at the specified time.
*No need to keep your system awake for the whole night.You can use the
Windows Task Scheduler to do this.Navigate to the path given here--
control panel->adminstrative tools->task scheduler->create task.But don't
forget to hibernate the system and do not shut it down..

*Provide a name and description for ur task.

*Navigate to the trigger tab and click new.

*Select On a schedule in the Begin the task section and check daily.Specify the date to start the action ,that would probably be the very next day u read this..

*Go to actions tab and select new..select start a program in the action section.
Under browse give the full path of reconnect.exe.

*Go to conditions and check wake the computer to run this
task option and that's all in the task scheduler..

*Now open Reconnect.exe and click settings.Give the username and password given by the ISP(that's the username and password u use to get connected) and check connect on start up..this is the most important one ..if u forget to check this,it only opens the application but doesn't connect and u r done

Pass my password..!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:27:00 +0000

Elcomsoft, of “Advanced eBook Processor” fame is said to have released a proprietary WPA/WPA2-PSK(Wi-Fi Protected Access - Pre-Shared Key is a certified standard for securing wireless networks) cracker that uses GPUs(Graphical Processing Unit) to brute force passwords in record time.

Elcomsoft claims its software can try almost 16,000 passwords per second (p/sec) with a single Radeon HD 4870, using an “advanced dictionary attack” that mutates entries from a master wordlist.

The program, known as the Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor, claims it was designed for network administrators and IT personnel seeking to audit internal security, as well as external penetration testers and other “white hat” hackers(also called Ethical hackers,are the computer-security experts,specially hired by firms to ensure their data is safe).

While brute-force(this is a way to crack passwords by trying out a large no. of passwords in a specific character range at a very high-rate,but as said,the method now is quite older and more efficient and faster ways have emerged) and dictionary attacks(the name suggests an idea of what this might be :-)) are nothing new, Wireless Security Auditor appears to be one of the most efficient solutions available. To work, it requires a tcpdump-formatted communications dump with at least one handshake packet(I actually don't know what this means.. I would be thankful to someone who could explain it to me).

Late last year, security researchers announced that they were able to break weak SSL(stands for Secure Sockets Layer,is some kind of a security protocol,now succeeded by Transport Layer Security-TLS) certificates using the computing power of 600 PlayStation 3s over a handful of weekends.

The price tag fixed by Elcomsoft is $1,199 but until March 1 '09 you can get it for $599.9(wow..for half the price so don't miss this offer..get urself a pack :-) )

Source

40,000 and counting...

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:18:00 +0000

The Rs 386-crore Indian Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, which completes a flawless 100 days around January 30 has transmitted more than 40,000 images of different types since its launch on October 22, 2008, which many in ISRO believe is quite a record compared to the lunar flights of other nations.

ISRO officials estimated that if more than 40,000 images have been transmitted by Chandrayaan's cameras in 75 days, it worked out to nearly 535 images being sent daily. They are first transmitted to Indian Deep space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore, from where they are flashed to ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network at Bangalore.

On November 26, the indigenous Terrain Mapping Camera,

which was first activated on October 29, 2008, took shots of peaks along craters.

Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-1, ISRO is now planning a more ambitious lunar venture around 2020 after the Chandrayaan-2 in 2012: a manned mission. This was stated by none other than the man behind India's maiden lunar mission, Mylswamy Annadurai, Chandrayaan-1's project director, while speaking to TOI recently.

Annadurai said around 2015, ISRO is embarking on a manned mission to the low earth orbit, which is 2000 km above the Earth. "An Indian on the Moon is, therefore, certainly the next logical step and ISRO is definitely considering it,'' he said.

They cited the case of China and Japan which are working on a manned mission to the Moon around 2020 apart from the US. "Keeping this in view can India lag behind in this human race to the Moon?'' a space expert from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research requesting anonymity asked.

With regards to Chandrayaan-1, a meeting of all the principal investigators of the different scientific experiments is being held in Bangalore on January 29 to review the preliminary results.

Slumdog Millionaire..the success saga

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:23:00 +0000

The talk of the town is "Slumdog Millionaire" the Bollywood-English movie,which recently bagged not just one or two but 4 Golden Globe awards and made India proud.So how many of you know that the story of the film germinated in the north Indian town of Allahabad!
The film was inspired by the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup,a diplomat,born and brought up in Allahabad.
Swarup, an avid quizzer since his college days, toyed with the idea of writing a novel based on the hugely popular quiz show presented by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan during his holiday breaks from his day job as a diplomat. He, however, finally managed to write the novel "Q and A" only in the evenings in London over five years ago when he was posted there as counsellor at the Indian high commission.
How did the idea of a novel based on a quiz show come to Swarup? He says,“It all started with a report I read in some newspaper about children living in slums using mobile phones and the Internet. That was quite a revelation. It showed that old class barriers were melting away and anyone can achieve anything.”
No doubt the film has got all that it deserves,afterall 4 Golden Globe awards for a single film definitely speaks of the potential of the film.The film,unlike other reality-based films,goes truly into reality and shows the darker side of Mumbai,that everyone should be aware of..even the slum people.
"Slumdog," which tells of a young Indian man looking for love and competing for money on a television game show, earned awards for director Danny Boyle, screen writer Simon Beaufoy, composer A.R. Rahman for best musical score and for the best picture/drama as well.Earlier, Slumdog also bagged different awards, including the Boston Society of Film Critics Award, the British Independent Film award and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award.

But I personally think that all that's needed to be talked about is the class-performance by Dev Patel(Aamir Jamal),who just takes away all the attention with his expressions.

London born Dev Patel, 18, whose success on the Hindi version of the quiz show turns him into a national sensation in India, is now one of the favourites for the Oscar.Mr Patel, who lives with his family in Harrow, had no formal acting training when he was cast in the film. Mr Patel, who in the film is one question away from the £1 million prize when he is accused of cheating, said: "My mum is still nagging me to make my bed. My sister and I annoy each other. It's just when I go to work I get treated as an adult."
A.R.Rehman,after quite a few flops last year in Indan films,came back with a bang!

Me on Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:42:00 +0000

Having a KIT-KAT break... Will be back on 12th Jan...
BTW a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all...
Await for more interesting posts this year ahead...

Apple's new "iGloves" for Touch Screens

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Apple can cause a bit of a controversy at times, but it certainly is not short on creative business ideas. Though it sometimes doesn't give the customers what they want, it does give them a number of unusual yet beautiful products.

Here comes from Apple,the solution an innovative stuff to get hold on an iPhone in winter.Apple has filed a patent for several typesof gloves that could allow users to operate its multi-touch devices while wearing gloves in the winter. The item, sure to be a hot “iPeripheral” in cold weather states, could drop as early as sometime this year.Outdoor-gear company Marmot has released the iGlove, a $35 solution to cold-weather click wheel woes. The thumb and forefinger on each glove come with tips that the click wheel of an iPod will pick up, thus eliminating the need to remove a glove whenever the volume, playlist, or artist merits adjustment.

Anyone who has used touch screens on Apple's iPhone or iPod touch, or have used other touch devices such as the Blackberry Storm or the LG Chocolate phone likely have discovered that the devices do not accept input from hands with gloves. This is because the touch input actually relies on electric impulses from the users fingers.

With the immense popularity of the iPhone, America's best selling phone, companies like Dots Gloves, The North Face, and Freehands have all hit the market with solutions, many of which cut away the fingertips of the gloves or offer removable glove fingertips, to allow for touch screen use.

Apple, however, in a recently filed patent application looks to allow the users to keep the gloves on their fingertips. It outlines several different design possibilities. The first is a dual shell approach where the inner shell receives the signal and transmits it to an outer conductive shell on the gloves' fingertips. Another method has a thin inner conducting shell, with a removable cap outer shell. Finally a third method, similar to the second, has an elastic ring at the fingertip, which pushes away the outer shell when pressure is applied, revealing the inner conductive shell.

Innovative Bicycle Parking in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:02:00 +0000

We all know the significance of a Bicycle in our daily life.Conditions make car use expensive and condition of our streets make them less convenient. Finding a place to park your vehicle close to home can involve large monthly fees, and you will be charged a fee every time you use the national highway system.You park in a wrong place and your vehicle is gone!

In response to the need for a better way to park bicycles Giken(a construction solution company in Japan) has developed a multi-tiered storage facility that takes in your bicycle at an automated kiosk and stores it in an underground rotating parking system. According to FastCompany, the service costs 2,600 Yen ($29 USD) per month.

Cost wise, the service is about the same as a traditional parking system, but it's a more organised way of parking. Normally you would need to walk in to the parking facility and find your bicycle among the hundreds of identical bikes. The space savings are also considerable when compared to a traditional bicycle parking area.Now u just need to take your bicycle in front of the system and it does all the rest for you!!

Check out the system in action here: Kasai Underground Station,Tokyo

What do you mean by RSS??

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:31:00 +0000

This logo is quite omnipresent in the web..Do u wonder what's this and what does it indicate??Then read on...

It's the offial RSS logo.Now what the hell does that mean??Read on further..

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based or desktop-based. A standardized XML(Xtensible Mark-up Language) file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's URI(Uniform Resource Identifier) (often referred to informally as a "URL"(Uniform Resource Locater), although technically, those two terms are not exactly synonymous) into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.

Check this video for better understanding coz a video is better than a 1000 words..

Palm Bets Big on Nova

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav R) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:44:00 +0000

It wasn't so long ago that Palm was one of the biggest companies in the smartphone and PDA market. When the traditional PDA died out as one of the hot gadgets to have, Palm took a few blows to the head. When other companies jumped into the smartphone market with products superior to Palm, it took even more blows.

Today Palm is seeing its profits shrink and its products lose popularity to newcomers like the Apple iPhone, which now holds over 16% of the smartphone market. Palm hasn’t given up and has announced that its big news for CES

(Consumer Electronic Show) 2009 will be a new operating system it calls Nova.

Little is known about Nova at this point with the veil of secrecy that Palm was wrapped around its operating system. What is known is that Palm doesn’t want to get into a slugging match with either BlackBerry or Apple with Nova. What Palm wants is an operating system that is flexible and supports a wide range of digital consumers.

Some sources say that Nova is an attempt to make an operating system that is smarter about you. An example of what Nova may be able to do, according to these sources, is look at your calendar and see you have a trip planned. Then the day before the trip automatically send you a message with things like weather conditions at the location.

Many wonder if the smartphone market will welcome an additional operating system to the fold. Developers are already running full-tilt to produce Apps for the iPhone along with programs for the BlackBerry and Google's new Android devices.

One developer named Jeff Holden with Pelago, a company building applications for the iPhone told BusinessWeek, "If they can't show me a large, active audience, I'm not going to be interested. At this point in the game, you're toast unless you have something completely unbelievable."

The smartphone world will have to wait until CES in a few weeks to see if Nova is unbelievable or if Palm will quickly disappear under the force of better competition.