1. Juice Defender : Given that all android phones have been known to be processor/juice (battery life hungry), I figured that Juice defender has to be on the top of any android fanboy’s top app. It helps save battery life significantly by killing off processes that run in the background (your Facebook App, twitter, Foursquare and the likes). Available for free download from the Google Play store, you can upgrade the application to a full version to have finer grain access (scheduled shutdowns, selective kill). You can read about benefits about the application on Lifehacker as well.
2. Google Reader: If you follow a lot of websites regularly, then this application is the one for you. It syncs seamlessly with your google reader account and lets you follow all your favorite sites, blogs, and more, all in one place.
3. GO Launcher EX: An application launcher that you can use to replace your default application launcher. It is a definite plus on design and usability.
4. ES File Explorer: An extended file explorer, it has tons of features than your regular file explorer does not. Once you root your phone, you would have access to your root folder as well.
5. GPS Essentials: A suite of applications for finer grain access to your assisted GPS on your phone. You can export tracks or geocode photos directly or overlay your photos onto a track within Google maps on your phone.
6. GO SMS Pro: Replace your stock SMS application with this one. Features like scheduled SMS backup, a password protected private inbox, and automated handling of incoming SMS depending on originating number among others are key features.
7. Dropbox: It syncs files between computers and your phones. All your photos from the camera on your phone can be wirelessly stored onto your Dropbox account automatically.
8. Any.DO To Do List : lets you set reminders, and sync your tasks with your Google Tasks
9. BeyondPod Podcast Manager : lets you read RSS feeds, download, listen and watch podcasts directly on your phone. Downloading and listening to Martin Bailey, Freakonomics Radio and Lightroom Killer tips has been made wonderfully simple.
10. Dictionary – Merriam-Webster A full offline dictionary. Need I say more?

I skipped on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare as people cannot seem to do without them or the latest version of Angry Birds or and the suite of applications (read Crapware) that come pre-installed on all android phones.

What applications do you think are must-haves on your Android phone? Please do share in the comments! Happy sharing.

image courtesy: Android backgrounds

The post A list of 10 must-have apps on an android phone appeared first on Maden's blog.

A typical Newar girl will undergo three different marriage ceremonies in her life-time – with a bael fruit, the Sun god and finally a man. Each ceremony is a rite of passage; the first – Bel Biwaha – is carried out well before the girl reaches puberty. During this symbolic marriage with a bael fruit, the girl is donned with a red sari and ornaments, and fashioned like a typical Newari bride. The bael fruit is considered an incarnation of the god Kumar – son of Lord Shiva. It is believed that by giving away his daughter in marriage to an immortal, a father secures his daughter’s future from widowhood. This ceremony also supposedly bestows the girl with enhanced fertility and health. Folk lore also proclaims that the bael fruit used at the marriage ceremony foretells of the future husband’s traits – a healthy bael fruit equals an attractive, doting husband while a damaged one indicates the opposite. Some also suggest that this age-old practice was brought about by Newars to circumvent the customary practice of Sati, where the widow immolates herself along with her dead husband in a funeral pyre.

Common practice

Bel Biwahas are conducted at the family’s discretion at a pre-determined date on consultation with the “Gubhaju” (Newar priest), either within a small gathering comprising of close family members only or with much festive fanfare often followed by a lavish banquet.Ehees en masse during Basant Panchami are also a common feature and regularly acquire the shutterbug‘s attention.

A more comprehensive account of a Bel Biwaha is available at http://colorfulnepal.com/culture-and-religion/newars-of-the-valley.html.

Listed below are some more  photos from a Bel Biwaha ceremony conducted at Bijeshwori temple, near Swayambhunath in Kathmandu. Please do comment in what you think of the post and the photos.

The post Bel Biwaha appeared first on Maden's blog.

While I have always inclined to Canon over Nikon products, the Nikon COOLPIX P7100 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 7.1x Optical Zoom, NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-Inch Vari-Angle LCD had me sold over its counterpart – the Canon G12 10 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.8 Inch Vari-Angle LCD simply because of the following features.

• slightly longer zoom 28-200 MM zoom lens
• a longer exposure  (60 seconds)
• a larger 3.0” LCD screen of a higher resolution
• a higher ISO boost
• a newer make

Dpreview’s side-by-side comparison feature and forum also does help a lot.

The internet has mixed reviews on both cameras; most consider the Canon G12 as a better model as compared to the Nikon P7100 based on some of its features – the sensor make, an articulated LCD screen as compared to a tilt-only screen and a slightly higher frame capture rate. On the other hand, some reviews prefer the Nikon P31oo simply because of the aforementioned features.  And as most of the problems associated with Nikon’s P7000 model have been reported as fixed with the new Nikon P7100, I look forward to recommending a Nikon P7100.

I did realise that a drawback of both the Nikon P3100 or the Canon G12 cameras is that they do not fit into regular trouser pockets. A very suitable alternative would be the slightly cheaper and smaller Canon PowerShot S95 10 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD with most features of the Canon Powershot series. One to look out for but way beyond budget is Canon’s recent release the Canon G1 X 14.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 4x Wide-Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Lens Full 1080p HD Video and 3.0-inch Vari-Angle LCD

For this kit on amazon (associate links embedded) the following did look like the best options.

Nikon COOLPIX P7100 10.1 MP Digital Camera with its 7.1x Optical Zoom, NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-Inch Vari-Angle LCD

Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 10 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC10E

SanDisk Extreme SD 16 GB SDHC Flash Memory (for video)

Lowepro Apex 60 AW (Black)

A generic battery grip and a

Canon LP-E5 Battery Pack for Canon Digital Rebel T1i, XS & XSi Digital SLR Camera (Retail Package) for my DSLR kit.

The post A Nikon Coolpix p7100 or the Canon G12 appeared first on Maden's blog.

Here, this spell has a different connotation –  photographs of floating people. Inspired by the Japanese yowayowa blog and with hints and howtos from the Digital rev channel, I and Udayan decided on doing something similar – taking photographs of levitating people. We were fairly successful in getting our colleagues to join us in our endeavor and Udayan,  a true photo aficionado that he is, was ever bubbling with ideas. The venue – the campus at work, and our very good friends served as the models. With a lesser number of people and prying eyes likely to disturb us on a Sunday,  we managed to squeeze 1-2 shots in-between breaks during the practice for the cultural programme at work. Some of the photos turned out decent and some had more to be desired. We even planned on using  a hose and a trolley as props, but those will likely follow in the days to come. For now, we managed to use an umbrella and a schedule as props.

I used a Canon Rebel Ti with 18-55 Canon Kit lens. This stint would not have been possible without Udayan, Ritu, Seema, Malvika, Alok, Krisha, Suyesh, Nabin, Suman and Jay for posing for the photographs. The digital rev video on youtube is quite comprehensive and if you have had time to fool around with a DSLR, you would end up with pretty good results. Some post processing was done in Adobe Lightroom 3 and Picasa :O

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Some parts of Kathmandu were bubbling with positive energy with treehuggers spreading awareness on sustainable consumption and environmental awareness. I hoped to contribute my fair share by taking likeminded individuals (tree huggers) to a free screening of a documentary – “The age of Stupid” in Patan. Having blogged about it some time back, I really looked forward to watching this movie for the first time. Unsure whether the venue for the screening was the square, the museum inside the square or the Yala Mala Kendra, I alongwith Udayan (an avid documentary fan), reached Mangal Bazaar at around five to make it in time for the documentary. Things took a different turn there, as we found that the documentary was to be aired on a makeshift open air theatre in a small square inside Patan Durbar Square. Furthermore, they were postponing the show to be screened at 6:00 PM by at least 45 minutes so that the sun would set.

With time aplenty on our hands, we stumbled into an art installation entitled “we may all end up in the same boat” by Ms. Michelle Hall – an Australian artist, being showcased inside the Patan Museum. Hoping to gaze at some art while killing time, we loitered in and actually managed to catch pieces of conversation as the artist in question, paraded and interacted with a group of aspiring artists.

Michelle’s pièce de résistance was probably her title piece – “we may all end up in the same boat” on sale for a whopping NRs 90,000. At first glance, I observed a broken down hammock in one corner and three other hammocks strung up in succession. On reading her blurb on the piece and overhearing her explanation, I realised that they were not hammocks but boats. The dilapidated boat in front was a boat damaged by climate change and other impending environmental concerns, while the beaded and colourful boats in the other far end were brimming with hope and happiness. Beads, feathers and glitter identified joy and happiness in the joyous boats.

The artist explained that she derived her inspiration from the movie “Hotel Rwanda” and cases of genocide our world faces today. She underscored climate change and the conflicts between race and creed as major problems in today’s world and she hoped that her installation would warn us of the impending disaster that lay ahead. She maintained that her installation depicted a very negative future but she was hopeful that all of mankind would end up in the same joyous and colourful boat that was sailing on the high seas, and not be abandoned on the broken down boat at the shore.

Her other installation art piece – verses of “a song for the things that don’t get sung” nailed onto the floor and placed in sequence on the walls was a delight.

Her third piece – “If she isn’t free neither are we”, which I thought initially to be atolls kept afloat by red tow lines in a sea of white, were in fact bloodied scars on a bed (the red lines signified blood). It supposedly depicted the stories of women who were maltreated and shared stories of societal and domestic violence.

Udayan managed to capture quite a number of photos of the artist and her art installation, while I took a reprieve from her laden content. I personally found her work to be apocalyptic and doomsday-ish, but I am still a novice at understanding art and am art-blind.

Michelle Hall’s creations were showcased in Patan Museum by Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Centre (KCAC) and is available until 12 June 2011.

Coverage of the event in the Himalayan times.

NB: We skipped on the movie thereafter as it showed no signs of screening at around 6:30 PM when we made headway to our homes.

More photos from the event – most photos by Udayan Mishra, post processing and aftereffects by myself

The post World Environment Day 2011: Art to create cognition on climate change appeared first on Maden's blog.

As luck would have it, we caught hold of Naseeruddin Shah as he exited the taxi in the parking lot. Nabin fumbled as he tried to take his DSLR out. Suyesh, his usual candid self, approached the actor for a quick photo/autograph.

“In this light?” questioned Naseeruddin. Suyesh mentioned that we had a professional camera man amongst ourselves and he kindly acceded and lo, we have our first snap with a Bollywood celebrity. Post  a brief impromptu photo session, Mr Shah politely excused himself and made haste into his son’s concert.

Once inside, the ambience went sour as rain poured in and everyone took shelter where available. We waited a good few hours for the darned rain to stop; the band played a few numbers and walked off for a break. Rather pissed at being dished music by a cranky lank front man, comments overheard were “badey baap ka chotta beta” and the likes. However, when the band did come back, things definitely took a turn for the better.

A brief interlude with the director and actor (who had a faint resemblance to Omi “Chatur” Vaidya from 3 Idiots) promoting their movie “404- Error Not Found”, actor cum music director and agent provocateur of the band Pulp Society, Imad Shah did do justice to his father’s legacy.

The bassist and the percussionist were equally groovy and brimmed with showmanship as well as talent. I particularly enjoyed “Hot headed woman”, “Psycho Baba” and “Kya Dekh raha Hai”. The audience grooved to their funky music. A few not-young-anymore women jiggled their bums while taking swigs off their wines/drinks and flicked ashes off their cigarettes (not a very merry sight).

We left as Rachel Varghese of Get Gorgeous fame, who had been recording the live session on a camcorder all this while, stepped up on stage and lent her voice to a wonderful rendition of “its all in the mind” with Imad. We left as the night owls, party goers and disco dunces entered and filled the place. A night well spent with good music backed up by a mind BLASTING lights and sound.

Get a taste of Pulp Society on Soundcloud.

All photo by Nabin Baral. Photos used with permission.

The post Psych your mind with Pulp Society appeared first on Maden's blog.

However, I am at times goaded into following the pack. Throw in a few incentives such as the opportunity to test out my now not-so-new camera pack, I accede myself to the physical abuse of body and soul.

The hike officially began for the nine of us (Abhit, Ashok, Badri, Dadi, Dibbesh, Gyanendra,  Ratna, Sanjay and myself) at the park entrance of the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park in Pani Muhan. A haze overhead showed no sign of clearing at 8:00 AM, as we entered the national park. Rather accustomed to the road up to Nagi Gumba (nun monastery) having been there quite a few times already, I was rather candid during my walk uphill. The steps near the monastery were a different story, as I ran out of breath every few steps.

Having had heard tall tales about the difficult trail onto Bagdwar, I had my reservations and was considering returning via the same trail after (if ever) reaching Bagdwar. The trail off the monastery was rather steep and slippery; I goaded myself for not having brought a good pair of hiking boots.

Further uphill, the vegetation was lush with age old trees towering into the sky with mossy underbrush. Cicadas and chirping birds punctuated the silence as fallen leaves and branches shuffled and crunched under our footsteps.  Sanjay and Badri, let out a shrill whistle or yell time and again, keeping me company as I brought in the only rear. The dense foliage atop, diffused any sunlight providing much required relief to my profusely perspiring self. A few fallen trees posed obstacles and streams occasionally traversed the trail. I feasted my eyes on the unperturbed greenery, but only managed to take a few snaps along the route when the group considered taking a pit stop. A few kharkas (grazing grounds) were much welcomed relief as we neared Bagdwar.

Bagdwar – Chisapani

Bagdwar derives its name from the small stone spout moulded like a tiger’s face painted golden yellow. From the spout, flows a steady stream of chilling water. A small cave nearby, supposedly provided refuge to Shivapuri baba – a recluse, who spent the last years of his life there. I did have an egging to go further but my city legs, told me otherwise. The light lunch and rest boosted spirit, while my body shared its doubts on making it all the way to Chisapani.

Chisapani

Walking a good three hours more, along a similar terrain which was considerably difficult for my slouchy self, was perhaps asking too much of myself. Gyanendra, offered to walk back and shared about his discomfort because of his history with asthma. Unsure if the discomfort was feigned pitying my already sorry state, I pushed further after encouraging remarks from a baba that the trail ahead was not as steep, and winded downhill than uphill. The trail further was exactly as the baba had predicted. Every small uphill that came as we traversed the trail had me swearing in bouts, with winded gasps punctuating my uphill climb.

I, along with the rear who kept me company with their encouraging remarks, reached Chisa Pani a good seven hours after, and was welcomed with chilled beer and chicken chilly. Lunch with a raato bhaley, they told me was a good hour away.

The CDO and LDO, dropping in unexpectedly for a meal, delayed it further by yet another hour. Post some much needed lie-down, I helped myself to a healthy lunch-cum-dinner with my fellow trekkies and post some rambling about the trek dozed into a slumber that lasted a good 11 hours.

The road back, the following morning was less eventful but long and never ending. From Chisa Pani to Mani Char and further downhill onto Sankhu was the plan on stretches of long off-roads snaking along the mountain side.

After a good seven hours downhill , Sankhu (sakwo) a small town, served as the culmination of our two day long trip. Normally, local buses to Kathmandu are available upto 6:00 in the evening. However, the fuel shortage had lesser number of vehicles plying on the road and catching one to Kathmandu seemed impossible. To add to our angst, and delaying our bus ride to Kathmandu further, one of our trekkies was bitten by a dog. Dog-tired, I reached home late at night and texted my dear friends who didn’t make it to the trek the following-

“An aching body, burning soles and chafed butt cheeks! Why the f**K do people hike?”

Three weeks after the hike, I still have no clue! Whether I will go on 36 km hike that lasts two days, I have yet to find out!

Photos from Sankhu

The post A day’s hike to Chisapani, Nepal appeared first on Maden's blog.

Link to the 6mb panorama

The same panorama that you can pan and zoom in is now available with a viewer from photosynth. However, you will need a browser compatible with Microsoft Silverlight for it to work properly.

Alternatively, the same panorama image is available on Gigapan that you can pan and zoom is available on and works with any flash compatible browser.

Brick kilns are considered a major source of air pollution in the Kathmandu valley. A publication on PlanUSA estimates that 60000 children work in brick kilns in Nepal. A historic flashmob was organised in Basantapur some time back (Ujwol, merodiary, lex
was organised by Brick Clean Network to support the use of “Clean and green bricks and no blood bricks”.

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This is one of many hoarding boards that span across the walls of the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium in Tripureswor opposite the UWTC shopping mall.

Perhaps, its just a typo and would have been easily missed if it had occurred in a newspaper or magazine but with text at least a few feet across staring at you every time you pass the street; it is such a huge let down. That too while celebrating Nepal Tourism Year 2011.”Together for Toursim”  near the lower left hand side of the huge hoarding board is perhaps an indication that designers can’t spell in Kathmandu or are too lazy to Google.

The above image is a composite of two photos created using Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE). The software is free for non-commercial use and stitches images in a jiffy. This is so much more easier than Hugin (the panorama maker listed on Wikipedia. refer to my earlier post about Hugin.

The post if only we had Nepalese designers who could spell appeared first on Maden's blog.

In their email, the acquisition editor mentioned that they got my personal information off the library catalogue at Kathmandu University. I assumed that they had either done one of two things:

• They had commissioned development of a scraper algorithm that indexed personal information and pieced together these bits of information to develop a lead list (the modus operandi of most spammers to harvest email addresses), or
• A back office operation outsourced to work-at-home house wives and the likes in Philippines, India, Nepal searched university libraries for thesis collections and then verified the author’s personal information.

The acquisition editors then used the lead list used to solicit content. But these would have recurring costs.

On further dwelling from my end and some snooping around, I found out about the simple ingenuity behind it. Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP) has been using something that security experts term as social hacking/engineering.

Here’s how the wonderful scheme comes into play.

For every manuscript of a thesis, Lambert Academic publishing gets/publishes, they promise to mail out a copy (author’s copy) to the author. Subsequent copies will have to be paid for by the author as well. In addition, authors published on LAP, get a copy mailed to them for free if one of their referred contacts (friends) signs up (i.e. provides their manuscript) to LAP. Authors recommend the person’s name, email address, university, thesis title, no. of pages etc and LAP’s acquisition editors (Tatiana Costandachi among others) approach them using their standard email template. No need for a scraper algorithm to piece together bits of information or a back office operation in tech savvy India/Philippines.

After my first post about LAP’s scheme, I have had friends and friends-of-friends (FoF), talk about them being approached for the same. One of these FoFs didn’t even have a dissertation topic on her, because she was a MBA student, but still got sent the same standard email by LAP.

Some of my friends are super elated about the fact that they get a free copy of their thesis printed and bound for free. They are least concerned about the fact that they may not be able to republish their content (from their thesis) in a separate publication as they already had presented it in some conference.

On the other hand, some of my other friends who ordered a copy of the publication were rather disappointed in being dished a verbatim copy.

Here’s a friend who expressed disappointment on Facebook on having bought a copy on Amazon.

i bought it off of Amazon. funny b/c it was marked “used” so it was only like $17.00 (including shipment & handling) but when I received it, it was completely brand-new. I am SO glad I didn’t spend the 50 pounds/ 70 dollars some sites were asking for.
As for the publication house, it’s totally like you said in your blog– it literally is his thesis verbatim–as great as it is, it is very evident that no one at the publication house bothered to do any editing. there are multiple grammatical errors… what a pity. Poor (name withheld). and all the others who worked so hard for all their research only to be duped–and by the Germans of all! Hahahaa… yo ta attii classic stereotype bhayo ni ta.

My poor friend mentioned in the message, hasn’t received the supposed 3% as yet.

Bloggers who have blogged about LAP’s scam/marketing strategy have been approached by LAP about reconsidering their stance as it is, (they claim) standard practise.

Photo of Print on demand titles via herzogbr on Flickr:

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