Prashanth Speaks-Technology and Life

Hoping to Start Posting Again

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:03:00 -0700

Wow! I just went through all my posts all over again and it was so awesome to relive all of this . It been almost 6 years since I posted here . I'm hoping to start posting here again . I guess the type of blog posts would be quite different since its been 6 years now . A lot of posts would cover the technology field especially computer networking, IOT, network security,machine learning etc since these are the areas I focus on at the moment! Hope to post soon!

Facebook Spam On The Rise

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:49:00 -0700

Most of us use facebook on a daily basis and im pretty sure you are aware of the current scenario present in facebook. Facebook spam is definitely on the rise the amount of spam on a person's newsfeed is becoming a lot.
There was this one day in the last week or so when this problem became really bad wherein i got nearly 30-40 notifications on facebook and all of them being SPAM. My wall was full of it and i was afraid that friends who would visit my wall would click on it and spread it further. Facebook did eventually remove those posts automatically but it was after a few hours.
So its obvious that you need to be a lot more careful when clicking on links on your facebook new feed. These spam stuff comes in various forms :
1) some of them as status feeds of friends with a small link
2) some come even through chat
3) some come as a FAKE video
4) some come as an EVENT invitation and there are a lot of other ways to.

Here are a few tips to tackle these situations :
1)Make sure you read the status message of a friend before you click on the link posted by him , if you carefully see the language style he is used you can make out that your friend wouldn't really post such messages its not his way of expressing himself.
2)The same idea goes with the chat
3)Sometimes you think your going to open a video whereas that was just a FAKE video , basically a picture of a video frame with a "PLAY" symbol at the bottom , incase you find that sort of situation and your not sure of whether its a real video or not, just place your move over the LINK but DONT click on it , when you place your mouse over the link , you can see the complete URL thats when you can make out if its spam or not, if its going to some unknown site which looks shady then dont click on it , if it is going to a facebook video page or a youtube page then you can safely click on it
4)FAKE EVENT Invitations are pretty easy to handle , i guess its not difficult to realize fake event invitations as they are mostly stuff like FREE IPAD,FREE ANDROID or something of that sorts.
5)Whenever you see any wall post or message with a link saying you can win a FREE IPAD or anything else , it is mostly FAKE , but incase you feel there is a possibility of winning one , you could always google the domain name of the link first and see if it is legitimate and then proceed.

Hope these few tips will help you realize what spam is on facebook and be careful before you click on anything on facebook.

Get Facebook Notifications As RSS Feeds

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Sun, 3 Apr 2011 20:32:00 -0700

This feature has been there since quite a while. I just read about it recently and i find it really useful to get my facebook notifications as RSS feeds instead of email notifications . If your an RSS fan and have a good RSS reader either on your desktop or your phone , then this one is for you

Its really simple to get your RSS link.Here is what you need to do :
Step 1 : Go to THIS LINK

Step 2 : Click on The VIA RSS button
Step 3 : That is your RSS feed

You can use this feed on google reader or any other RSS reader. You can have it on your phone and get updates instantly. If you are a software developer then this RSS feed can help you build some really awesome scripts as most programming languages have many libraries to support RSS.

Over 50 Malware Apps On Android Market

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Sat, 5 Mar 2011 20:45:00 -0800

TO be honest , i was expecting this . The Android Market has been growing exponentially every single day and there were talks of the android market going past the apple store.This makes android market a prime target as a lot of users use it to download many apps.Android being opensource is easy to create malware and even more easy to put the apps on the android market.

THis is exactly what happened , google first reported that it removed around 21 malware apps from the market and now the toll has gone over 50 . Its just a matter of time when more and more of these malware apps come onto the market unless google changes their policy on uploading apps to the android market. It is reported that over 50,000 users download these apps every single day.
Some of these apps are so dangerous that they give root access to the phone and even take screenshots of the phone from time to time making it a major privacy threat.So before you download any app from the android market make sure you research well about it on the internet and make sure its a genuine app.

Here is a list of the bad apps that were removed by Google. All of these applications were made by an entity called Myournet.

* Falling Down
* Super Guitar Solo
* Super History Eraser
* Photo Editor
* Super Ringtone Maker
* Super Sex Positions
* Hot Sexy Videos
* Chess
* 下坠滚球_Falldown
* Hilton Sex Sound
* Screaming Sexy Japanese Girls
* Falling Ball Dodge
* Scientific Calculator
* Dice Roller
* 躲避弹球
* Advanced Currency Converter
* APP Uninstaller
* 几何战机_PewPew
* Funny Paint
* Spider Man
* 蜘蛛侠

There are a lot more to this list. Lifehacker has shown a way to help prevent downloading these apps by downloading an app called LookOut. You can read more about this from HERE .

Get Repositories For No Longer Supported Ubuntu Versions

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:38:00 -0800

If you are a kind of person who hates jumping from one version of ubuntu to another every year then this post is for you. Typically versions of ubuntu which are not LTS have only around 18 months of support.So what if you have a nice and stable version of ubuntu runnning with all your scripts and applications and everything customized just the way you want . Everything is working smoothly and you have no intention of upgrading to the latest version . But unfortunately ubuntu says im sorry your version is no longer supported.
What does this mean? Well you dont get the latest security updates , the repository for your ubuntu version from where you download all your software by running the sudo apt-get install command will no longer work. SO then you need to manually look for these packages on the internet and install them yourself. Now if you find this irritating, there is a solution . I would have been really happy if ubuntu automatically applied this solution so users will have no trouble. But anyway here is the fix.
All the repositories of no longer supported versions of ubuntu are moved to http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ and all you need to do is tell your machine to point to that domain name to get all the software . So here's what you need to do :
Step 1 : Go to the Terminal(Applications->Accessories->Terminal)
Step 2 : Type sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Step 3 : Now replace all instances of archive.ubuntu.com with old-releases.ubuntu.com
Step 4 : Save the file and close the editor
Step 5 : now type sudo apt-get update

Thats it , your done , the next time you try installing any application , it will be installed automatically.

GSMARENA Phone Finder Tool

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:33:00 -0800

A lot of times whenever we start phone hunting we do a lot of searches online to find the phone which suits our needs , most of the services aren’t reliable as they either provide false information or outdated information.
GSMARENA is a fabulous service which has a great database of phones which are released in almost all countries in the world. They have their own phone finding tool which is simply great because of how customizable it is . With their phone finder tool you have a huge form to fill , even though it is a bit huge it is very efficient in its search results . At the end of the search you will find phones which suits your needs and which come under your budget .

Gsmarena provides a detail listing of the phones with pictures included and user comments and ratings as well. You also have the option of comparing multiple phones . Although it doesn’t do too well in telling you the exact price of the phone as it varies geographically and this is meant to be an international website for all users around the world.

So as a start this tool is great to find phones which suit your needs and filter them from there and then proceed to your local store to get further details about the phones you filtered down . Its not a great idea to go directly to your local store in search of a phone as the people there don’t really guide you too well and wouldn’t recommend the phone that best suits your need . They might even forget to mention a few phones which if you knew off you would probably go for . So doing a online phone search using a tool like this is always recommended before you go visit a store.. You can find the phone finder tool here

OpenDNS Launches new server in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:50:00 -0800

It’s been a while since opendns powered up a new server in Singapore for DNS requests. This is great news for asian countries especially India as previously all our DNS requests were going to Europe probably London which obviously made the response time bad.

Now since there is a new server in Singapore which is pretty close by , all our DNS requests should be a lot more quicker and webpages should open up a little more quicker , you will notice the difference especially when you launch multiple webpage at a time or maybe when your on a network which uses opendns servers. There is no change in the opendns ips , the same ips ( 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 ) should route you to the Singapore server instead of the europe one.

Initially there seemed to be a few hiccups as a lot of people from asian countries including India complained that they were being routed to the Europe server even in the presence of the Singapore server. I guess all that has been resolved now.

There is a lot of debate between google DNS servers ( 8.8.8.8 ) and opendns servers as to which is better . Frankly speaking both services are reliable it depends on where you are located geographically. In Some countries google DNS might perform better whereas in the other countries opendns might perform better . But its generally recommended to use either of these servers as local ISP DNS servers are typically not secure enough and are prone to DNS attacks.So even though your computer is not attacked but if the DNS server your using gets attacked , you will be affected as you will be routed to the wrong servers.

Playing With The Arduino Microcontroller

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:24:00 -0800

I recently have this sudden craze to play around with microcontrollers and i must say its been quite a ride . Arduino is one such microcontroller which has so much support that it becomes really fun to play with and if your in need of help the arduino forums would be the best place to go.
The arduino runs on its own programming language which is very easy to work with , something similar to our typical programming languages like c++,java etc . Using arduino you can design a lot of interesting projects at a much cheaper price . For example you can control lights , fans , water heaters etc using either your computer via the internet or even using sensors like motion sensor etc all this can be done using 1 arudino board. Infact you realize that it building such projects end up being much more cheaper than buying a ready made product and not to forget the FUN you get building this stuff.

Arduino can be interfaced with loads of sensors , digital boards , LEDs , relays etc making it a very powerful tool . If you are fascinated by electronics but dont want to get into the details of designing and stuff , arduino is the way to go . COmbine it with great python , c++, java code on your system and you can create very powerful devices .
Im still working on creating loads of projects using arduino interfacing them with various sensors, relays etc . Its a lot of fun . FOr more details visit www.arduino.cc

Reliance Broadband NetConnect Plus Review

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:38:00 -0800

Its been a while since i've been using the reliance broadband netconnect plus . I did do a lot of searching on the internet before i decided on this product. Here's more on this :

The reason i wanted a product like this is because i realized that while travelling i needed to get access to the internet either on the go or at my destination . In most cases the places i went to had no internet access so i had to get access by
myself . Hence i decided to go with a 3g data card.
I had two primary options - the reliance netconnect plus and the tata photon plus . I did a lot of searching on the internet you know the typical reliance netconnect vs tata photon google search :) . And after all that hunting i decided to go with
reliance for the following reasons :

1)Reliance is known to have a much better network coverage
2) They were a little more cheaper in terms of costs
3) They had the pay as you use option i.e. 1 Rs/mb which photon did not provide

I was really excited about the 3rd reason because then i dont need to go for any plan or pack where there is a validity.The idea is to use this only while travelling cause at home i have my DSL connection . Whenever i travel its usually over the
weekend or maximum 4-5 days , so getting a monthly pack or plan would be a waste.
Hence postpaid was never an option as i dont want to spend monthly as i dont travel every month. In prepaid to i wasnt looking for any packs/plans which is valid for 15 days etc cause i wont be using it for that long. The best option was pay as you use i.e. 1Rs/mb which only reliance provides . At the most i could go for the 200Rs pack which has a 7 day validity.

My browsing usage while travelling is not much just very light browsing .Mostly email and other such similar sites or even chat . Very less of audio/video chat . So the 1 Rs/mb is suitable or maybe at the most the 7 day validity pack.
So i decided to go for this and went ahead and purchased the device . Put in a top up of around 150 Rs which i can use as 1Rs/mb which means i can use 150mb as and when i want no validity period as such and this is more than enough for email,chat etc .This is also of great use when your DSL line is down for some reason and you need internet access immediately.
Reliance also provides an online interface to check your balance and to do an online recharge incase you find yourself out of balance while you are travelling.
Will hopefully be able to do a how to on how to setup reliance netconnect plus. On the whole i am pretty happy with the service. The coverage of reliance is amazing , they cover a lot of cities across the country and in other cities which it is
not covered you will be connected to the 1X network which is not all that bad. Decent for browsing mail etc.
The reliance customer care is pretty good , very helpful and polite people . On the whole if you are in a similar situation that i am in , reliance netconnect is a good option . You just need to shell out an initial amount of around 2k Rs and after that its like filling petrol for your car :) .

Download All your Facebook Content To your Desktop

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:00:00 -0800

Facebook has come out with a whole bunch of new stuff apart from their usual policy changes and privacy settings . One such new feature is the option for you to be able to download all your facebook content to your desktop :
Facebook now allows you to download all your facebook information to your desktop . This includes all your wall posts right from day one on facebook . ALso all your photos , personal information , all the groups you've joined , all the LIKES ,List of all your friends , list of all the events you've attended, ALl your facebook private messages , your profile pictures and your WHOLE WALL which i guess includes practically everything :)

While downloading this content you need to be really careful not to share this with anybody as it has practically everything that is needed to know about you.Facebook does warn you about this.

Downloading it is simple JUst go to Account Settings and you will find the link to download all content. Facebook takes a while to prepare your download and you will be given a link via EMAIL as soon as your download is ready.
Some people might find this facebook info useful to have as a zip file on your desktop.

Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat - Released

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:13:00 -0700

Ubuntu recently released its latest version ubuntu 10.10 on 10/10/10 . This version of ubuntu doesnt seem to have too many changes unlike the previous version which had a whole bunch of new stuff and ofcourse the new look as well. Here is more on ubuntu 10.10 :

The netbook version of ubuntu 10.10 seems to have a lot of features this time around . The netbook version has a UNITY user interface which helps in easy launch of applications and is built for the small screen netbooks.Also ubuntu 10.10 supports multi touch which is great news for all those users who have laptops which support that feature . This will definitely improve the user experience.

Also the ubuntu one service which has been coming with ubuntu by default for quite a while now supports windows pc's as well and also android and apple phones.You can also stream your music to your phone using unbutu one .
The ubuntu software center has been improved with stuff like Featured software , paid apps etc . There is also a new and improved volume indicator which not only helps you adjust your sound but also gives info on your currently playing music and options to change your track etc.
Also F-Spot photo manager has been replaced by Shotwell . Gwibber too has been improved.

To try out ubuntu for yourself you can download ubuntu from HERE. Remember 10.04 was an LTS so it has a 3 year support whereas 10.10 is just a normal version so you get only 18months of support.

Facebook Skype Integration - Skype calls between Facebook buddies

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:23:00 -0700

Talks are going on between facebook and skype for a possible integration of the two services . Facebook plans to use the facebook connect option to allow users to login to skype with their facebook account . Skype plans on rolling out this suppot
in their next skype version .
If this deal clicks it would surely be benefitial for all. Firstly skype as it would get into the social network race. Secondly facebook as they would have more people communicating in real time using their facebook accounts and thirdly for
the people using this service because as well as know facebook chat is pretty horrible and unreliable.

When this integration happens , facebook users can login to skype using their facebook accounts and they can send text messages like normal chat between facebook buddies and also voice and video calls will be possible through skype between
facebook users.

I'm really looking forward to this integration and im sure a lot of other people are . It would definitely improve
the communication between facebook buddies and also the facebook chat service.

Google Android - The Future Of Mobile Operating System

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:05:00 -0700

There was a time when windows mobile was one of the best mobile Operating systems which had a lot of features including exchange,3rd party apps etc. Then there was symbian as well as the all time favourite blackberry. Then came apple's Iphone which made a big difference and improved the standards of a mobile OS . The Iphone OS came with loads of features , great UI , touch friendly and most of all the Best when it comes to Apps.

IPhone is popular for its apps . It boasts of loads of useful applications in the apple store . But although all this is great apple's iphone had its issues . In the beginning it had simple problems like you cannot record videos , bluetooh connectivity with other phones was bad etc etc . Also the iphone OS would obviously work only with the iphone and the iphone was pretty expensive. Not all apps are free and most of all they aren't open source!! .
Then came the mobile operating system which changed everything - Google Android . According to me this is one of the best mobile OS you can have right now . Their initial versions weren't that great but it was only a matter of time when versions like 2.1 , 2.2 ( froyo ) came with brilliant features like multiple screens, multi touch and ofcourse the Android marketplace which has LOADS of apps and a lot of them being free . It's only matter of time when android's marketplace would catch up with apple's store to become one of the best collections of mobile apps which would be free and opensource .

Android OS unlike the iphone OS can be installed on a lot of phones which is why HTC,Samsung,LG etc are all coming up with Android powered phones . The android SDK is freely available to download . If you look at the SDK carefully as a developer you will realize that developing for android is just fantastic . Everything is opensource , its very flexible and its a developer's paradise . The best part is these android powered phones are also very low cost , you can get one for around 10k INR which is pretty cheap for a smartphone unlike an iphone or a blackberry.
Nokia's maemo which is also based on LInux like android is also a very good OS , the special feature of maemo is that its a stripped down version of a debian distro which means that its something like a pocket pc . But the disadvantage of this is that the processor requirements for the phone would be high which only means that maemo compatible phones will typically be your high end phones which will be very expensive and also their apps store isn't all that great compared to android's marketplace.

Windows mobile is struggling hard to stay in the race . Their current versions are pretty old fashioned and they dont have anything new or interesting to offer . THeir WIndows mobile 7 ( new version ) seems to show some interesting stuff , only time will tell.
At this point of time i feel if you are looking for a smart phone then android is definitely something you should consider

Burrp TV - Find Schedule TV shows movies

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 7 Sep 2010 05:31:00 -0700

I had reviewed burrp sometime back as to how you can use burrp to find places like restaurants , saloons etc.. Burrp has another service called burrp tv which again is very useful and is something i use a lot. Here is more on burrp tv :

Burrp tv can be accessed by going to tv.burrp.com . Burrp tv has loads of features.It has the schedule for almost all channels . You can search by channel , search by artist , search by the name of the show etc. Once you find a particular tv show , you can ask burrp to remind you 5 minutes or 10 minutes before the show starts so you wont miss the show. You can set a reminder for an entire series.
Burrp lets you view all the currently playing movies in all channels in one page . You can even customize your results to view only comedy movies or just action movies etc. You can search by artist like for example if you search for tom cruise , it would show all movies or shows in which tom cruise is a part of.

Burrp has a huge database and they do a great job with the information they have . They provide in information in a very useful way to the end user making it very easy for the user to understand.

Here are some examples :

1) Say i want to know the next air time for the tv show "How I Met Your Mother"

I can set SMS reminder , see the future schedule as well..

2)I want to know when a particular movie is going to be aired on tv. Say " The Truman Show"

Voice and Video Chat for Gmail Now On Linux

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:03:00 -0700

The gmail voice and video chat feature where you could do a voice and video chat right in your gmail window was so far only possible in windows but there is some really good news for linux users . Now this feature is supported in linux as well and its very easy to configure . Here is how you set it up :

Step 1 : Go to www.google.com/chat/video and click on Install voice and video chat

Step 2 : Save and download the file

Step 3 : Launch the DEB file and click on install package

Step 4 : Once installation is done , you need to restart your web browser
Step 5 : Thats it , now open gmail and click on the video chat button and your good to go!!

I am really glad to see this feature. GOogle video chat from gmail window was something that was really missing in linux. Some more reasons for people to switch to linux :) .

Google Web History

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:07:00 -0700

Google has come up with something new which i recently noticed on the top bar of google's webpage. Its called the google web history. This service is a very interesting service as it has its pros and cons. Here is more on google web history :

Google web history basically keeps track of all the websites you have visited and allows you to search in this database . Now this can be really helpful as all of us have this problem some time or the other where we remember seeing something on a webpage but forgot where we saw it. Using google web history it would be very easy to locate this and find that page you are looking for. It also uses this data for your search results therefore making your search results a lot more efficient and useful.
You get info like your favourite sites , top searches .You have the option to pause web history and resume it later on. Web History will only be recorded while you are signed in your google account . Not otherwise.You need to install a toolbar for this to work. You can always remove your web history or any part of your web history whenever you feel like.

Well there are reasons why many people might not want to use this service , even though the service does improve your web browsing experience , there is this constant fear that google can use your private search data as it is all being stored and tracked under google web history . ALthough there is an option to delete web history you never know the end result.

Keeping all this in mind , google web history is a great service to try , if you are comfortable with it and find it effective then its wonderful service to have.For more info , go to the Google Web History Homepage

How To Trace A Phone Number

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:17:00 -0700

I'm sure there are a lot of times you get a call on your cell phone or any other phone and you want to know more about the caller so you will have an idea who it might be or whether you can totally ignore the number .

There are many ways to trace a number . ALthough you dont get the full details of the caller but you do get credible information . One such link for India is http://trace.bharatiyamobile.com/ . Here is a screenshot of how this site displays the result.

If you are from another country and would like to know from which country a person has called , then you could try this http://www.tp2location.com/

Also Indian users with landlines can use their respective local BSNL sites to trace a number . For example for bangalore , THe following link will help you trace any bangalore landline number www.bangaloretelecom.com .

This site provides the best information for bsnl landline numbers as it even provides the name and address of the caller. If you are not sure about your city's BSNL webpage then this link will help you find it .

Staying Away From Scams And Protecting Your Privacy

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:21:00 -0700

Almost all of us receive scam emails almost all the time . You could also receive such messages via SMS on your phone . I got one yesterday and i had thought of doing a small google search on this message to see what info is available regarding this on the internet and i must say i was really shocked to see the results.

I was expecting to see websites which warn users to stay away from such messages and not go ahead and deal with it . But instead i saw websites where people are asking each other how to go ahead and deal with the message. Now the message i got was

Your Mobile No have been selected for Yahoo Msn Draw in Uk, Prize of 1,000,000 GBP , For Details contact Dr David via Email : davidmoore247@hotmail.com

When i did a search on this text . THe results i got directed me to these links

1)http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/mobile-drawlivecom-c159993.html#comment
2)http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/ad-demo-c216759.html#comment

Now these are similar scam messages . But surprisingly if you go through the whole link , a LOT of people are actually enquiring as to how he/she could claim the prize money . In the mean time , they are disclosing personal information like telephone number , address. etc...
Here are some of the comments from those pages

1)I recieved a message from AD-DEMO that I have won 250, 000 POUNDS in 2009 DEMO(SHELL) int'l mobile draw.i send my details to DR.JOHN via E-Mail:nwtbk live.com but message cannot be sent.So what i haveto do now?PLEASE REPLY.
THANK YOU!

2)i hav also got d same msg 4m AD-DEMO on my idea mobile on 30th july, tht i hav won d prize of 500, 000 GBP in last batch of google 10th anniversary awards. i was told to claim my prize n send email to wingoogle009@live.com and wingoogle20092009@hotmail.com and i also searched 4 same web sites but i yet not get any result. there are no any websites of such name.plz sir tell me what should i do now.
my mobile no. 99212xxxx.

3)I GOT 500, 000.000$ MONEY IN MOBILEDRAW @LIVE.COM AND SAID TO CLAIM MONEY FROM DR.Mark BUT I CANNOT CONTACT HIM.

So a lot of people are actually believing this crap and are getting into big trouble as the other party would end up taking money from you saying "transaction charges" .

So if you receive such messages please do stay away from them and not get into any trouble.If possible tell others too about this and ensure that they do not reply to such messages especially with personal information..
Also do read this article on the most common messages which are floating around which is a complete scam

Burrp - A great place to find places

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Wed, 7 Jul 2010 23:01:00 -0700

Im a big fan of burrp and use their service quite a lot. Burrp is a website which helps you find places be it restaurants,salons,gyms etc .. It has a rich database of all these places with some really useful user reviews which make it easier for you to choose a place .
I use this service primarily to check out restaurants . It is a wonderful site for restaurants as you can choose the location where your looking for a restaurant and the type of cuisine you wish to have etc.. This is how the homepage looks , with some latest reviews on certain places be it dental clinics,restaurants etc.

Now for example i entered that im looking for a chinese restaurant in malleshwaram , bangalore .

Now if you look at the list of the results , you can see various restaurants in and around the place . To the left you have further options to filter your results.Like for example : bars or lounges etc , or even air conditioned , home delivery,rooftop,serves alcohol etc.

So in short if you want a restaurant which serves chinese food , which is in malleshwaram , which is air conditioned then click on that link and you will see the restaurant.
Now below is the list which meets our requirements . Now you could check out the reviews and rating for each restaurant and then make a choice..

For example , if i click on Khao , i get their contact details,user reviews, the location on the map, photos of the place , the menu etc.You could even send the contact details to your phone as an SMS.

So all in all , i think burrp is a fantastic site which is well designed and very informative.

Google Maps Street View Review

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:35:00 -0700

I am a big fan of google maps . I use it almost everyday for some reason or the other . It really helps you to find out exactly where a certain place is on a map and the satellite view makes it even better. Google maps has a feature known as street view which gives you a 360 degree view of a certain place. I think that is a really cool feature so that you can easily find the location by knowing how it looks. Here is more on that :

Street view is really amazing for certain places like for example if you search for Times Square New York. The location would show on the map. Now you need to click on the street view symbol and then click on whichever stree you wish and you get a 360 degree view of that place.

But if you look at other places like vidhana soudha in bangalore , India , the steet view feature isn't all that great.. FIrstly they are 360 degree pics. They are just normal digital pics which aren't as descriptive or informative as pictures of time square.. BUt it still would give you a rough idea..

So on the whole Google maps is a fantastic service and you should definitely give it a try if you havent.Street view is one feature you shouldn't miss. Also remember that google maps has mobile versions as well so you can install them on your cell phone and perform the same features on your cell phone as well.. So do give this a try!!

Pidgin Audio And Video Chat Improved and Working

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:26:00 -0700

There was a time when all that pidgin could do is just chat . But now pidgin comes with loads of addons which makes pidgin a very powerful tool . Pidgin since recently started audio and video chat for a few protocols which include the popular google talk .

Initially pidgin's audio/video chat ran into a lot of issues which includes either the call would just drop or pidgin would freeze or only one party could hear etc etc etc . But until recently i must say the pidgin audio/video chat support has improved drastically. No more call drops , very good clarity . In certain protocols only audio chat works but video doesnt . But i must say the fact that pidgin managed to get atleast audio chat working in most protocols is just great .

Even the file transfer in chat protocols have improved , no more error messages during file transfer between two yahoo buddies or gtalk buddies. I hope to see a lot more improvements in pidgin in the coming future .

How To Be Invisible In Google Chat in Pidgin

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Wed, 9 Jun 2010 07:42:00 -0700

By default for some reason , pidgin doesn't allow you to be invisible with gtalk. If you choose invisible the other protocols like yahoo etc would go invisible but google chat wouldnt . So here is a way to configure that using a plugin so when you set invisible on pidgin even google chat is set to invisible :

Step 1 : Go to THIS LINK and download the deb file
Step 2 : INstall the package by double clicking on the deb file
Step 3 : Restart pidgin , go to Tools->Plugin
Step 4 : Search for Gtalk Invisible and enable it

Step 5 : Thats it , next time you set pidgin to invisible , you would be invisible in gtalk as well.

Mobile Number Portability In India Is A Big Joke

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Wed, 2 Jun 2010 08:45:00 -0700

Mobile number portability as you all know is a way by which you can change your cell phone carrier without changing your cell phone number . So for example you can move from airtel to vodafone without changing your cell phone number . I have been closely following this news as i am looking forward to change my cell phone carrier.

Unfortunately for everyone here in India it isn't looking good at all . The Mobile number portability service was initially supposed to start in january 2010. But then later got postponed to march 2010 because BSNL and MTNL were supposedly not ready yet . But March came and March went , no MNP yet :( . MNP was further postponed to june 30th 2010 . So as of now it seems like june 30th would be the day when mobile number portability would come into service in India.

Image Courtesy : topnews.in
There are rumours that it could be further postponed to September 2010 because the 3G auction supposedly delayed the MNP process . There is no official word on this though , i really hope that this isn't true. TRAI has been playing around since the beginning of this year . Its been 6 months now and we see no signs of MNP . I really don't understand why such an organization cannot just give an accurate date and make sure that it is enforced on that day . Postponing the date 2-3 times is just very frustrating.

MNP will definitely make a huge impact in the cell phone provider market . A lot of new offers would definitely be expected and so will a small drop in tariff as every provider would want their customers to stick to their service .
Its going to be interesting to see how this goes . As of now it looks like June 30th 2010 but who knows it could well be September 30 2010 !!

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Review

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:46:00 -0700

It's been quite a while since ubuntu released their latest version Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx . I've been trying this version on a test machine for a few tasks and i am pretty happy to see some noticeable changes this time but not so happy with certain other features and modifications. So here is more on that :

Ubuntu 10.04 released on the last week of april and many people had a lot of expectations from this version as it was an LTS and there was a lot of talks about this version coming up with a lot of visible changes meaning with respect to the interface.
So starting with the interface , im sure its pretty noticeable , ubuntu has gone with a blackish finish compared to the usual dark brown finish which is not a bad move i feel it is required to bring some change in the default interface and i guess this change is welcome . Also another difference is the windows buttons , ubuntu has gone the MAC way by placing the window buttons ( close , minimize , maximize ) on the left hand corner of the window instead of the right hand corner . This is a big change as initially it would be difficult for you to get used to although if you are more of a keyboard user then it doesn't make much of a difference.

Coming to the features . Ubuntu has added a very interesting tool known as gwibber . This is one tool which connects to your social networking sites like facebook , twitter etc and gives you their updates right on your desktop . You can even update your status from your desktop instead of logging in through your web browser . So for all those who use facebook and other social networking sites often i'm sure would love this feature . Ofcourse like before even empathy is well integrated to the operating system . So right from your chat applications to your social networking accounts , you have access to all of it right from your desktop . The best part of all this is that it is so well designed and its very well blend into the operating system.

Some other changes :

1)No more GIMP - F-spot the default software
2)Rythmbox is the default player with a ubuntu one integration

3)Improvements in the Software Center
4)Ubuntu One improvements - Can now sync with any folder instead of the traditional Ubuntu One Folder.

Conclusion :
On the whole , i personally am pretty disappointed with this release of ubuntu . Although yes there are a lot of GUI changes , i still would prefer the previous version . I do like the gwibber add on , but i guess thats something that can be installed in your current version of ubuntu as well. BUt considering it is an LTS , it would definitely give you Long term support :)

Transfer Facebook Birthdays and Events To Google Calendar And Cell Phone

noreply@blogger.com (prashanth babu) — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:55:00 -0700

A lot of us are on facebook and have friends on facebook and im sure it means a lot if you remember your friends' birthday and wish him/her on that day . Well considering that all of us have a LOT of friends on facebook , its difficult for us to remember all their birthdays. So here is a way to get notified in advance when it is your friend's birthday either via email or even on your phone as a reminder . Here is how you do it :

Here are the requirements for this :
1)A facebook account
2)A Google Calendar account
3)A smartphone with exchange support ( if you would like alerts on your phone )

Step 1 : Login to your facebook account and go to THIS LINK so that birthday exporter will export your birthday to an iCal file. Now download the ical file.

Step 2 : NOw login to google calendar and create a new calendar(ex : fb bday)

Step 3 : NOw go to Settings and choose calendar settings and go to CALENDAR

Step 4 : Click on import calendar and select the ical file you just downloaded earlier.

Step 5 : Once the ical import is done go to the google calendar homepage and you should see all your friends birthday listed

Step 6 : NOw to get Notifications , go to Settings->Calendar Settings->Calendar and next to the calendar you created ex: fb bday click on notifications

Step 7 : Then select Add a reminder and select how you want to be reminded. LIke for example via email 1 day before the event.

Step 8 : Click on Save and your done.
Step 9 : To get notifications on your phone , you would need to use Google Sync
Step 10 : Here is a LINK to how you can setup google sync with your smart phone.