Tried preparing baby-corn fry and it came out well.
(Photos: taken with SE K550i)
Monday, June 25, 2007
To munch on a rainy day
For the past week, Rain God is showing mercy and the authentic bangalore cloudy climate is back. With the chill weather around, it makes awesome if you have something crispy to munch.
Tried preparing baby-corn fry and it came out well.
(Photos: taken with SE K550i)
Tried preparing baby-corn fry and it came out well.
(Photos: taken with SE K550i)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Home Loan tips and tricks
While I was frantically searching for a home loan, I happen to see some tips and understand some tricks.
1. Banks are never under loss
Will ever the loan lending bank reel under loss if they finance a home and the borrower defaults? NO, for PSU banks, for private banks, they use some unparliamentary means to recover the money back.
Before approving a home loan the bank checks for sufficient credibility of the borrower. As per the general trend, the borrower would be paying the EMI for a few years. During those initial years the bank will recover most of their interest part of the loan. And since the home is mortgaged to the bank, they can recover the capital from the home.
2. When to prepay?
The best time to do prepayment is the initial years after taking the loan. Since the initial years are the period when the bank recovers a lot of interest. If you see the EMI calculation, during the initial years, most of the EMI goes towards interest.
3. On prepayment, what to reduce?
Some banks gives you the option of either recalculating the EMI or period of loan on prepayment. The best option is to reduce the period of loan. Because you pay less on reducing the period and keeping the EMI constant.
1. Banks are never under loss
Will ever the loan lending bank reel under loss if they finance a home and the borrower defaults? NO, for PSU banks, for private banks, they use some unparliamentary means to recover the money back.
Before approving a home loan the bank checks for sufficient credibility of the borrower. As per the general trend, the borrower would be paying the EMI for a few years. During those initial years the bank will recover most of their interest part of the loan. And since the home is mortgaged to the bank, they can recover the capital from the home.
2. When to prepay?
The best time to do prepayment is the initial years after taking the loan. Since the initial years are the period when the bank recovers a lot of interest. If you see the EMI calculation, during the initial years, most of the EMI goes towards interest.
3. On prepayment, what to reduce?
Some banks gives you the option of either recalculating the EMI or period of loan on prepayment. The best option is to reduce the period of loan. Because you pay less on reducing the period and keeping the EMI constant.
Things to consider while writing public APIs
When you expose public class/APIs, there are certain things that you need to consider
1. Arguments/Parameters
Carefully consider the arguments that gets passed into the API.
2. Method Name
Choose an apt meaningful name for the public methods or classes. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Exceptions
Throw only non-runtime exceptions, so that clients can handle them. Do try to handle all the exceptions in the method. If you have logging framework, log the exceptions and rethrow them.
4. Backward Compatibility
Once the APIs get released and you need to support them for an extended period of time. So if you modifying existing public APIs take care of backward compatibility, such that you wont break client code.
5. Intented use
The public APIs should do only what it is intended to do
6. Java docs
Provide clear crisp java docs. The best example is the one that comes with JDKs.
7. Trace / Log / Debug
Provide support for tracing/logging. Both serves different purposes. Trace is used to find the control flow inside the public APIs. Logging is used to log any error messages and exceptions.
8. Error statements
In case of wrong parameters getting passed, log descriptive error messages. The error message should typically say what went wrong and what is the corrective action.
1. Arguments/Parameters
Carefully consider the arguments that gets passed into the API.
2. Method Name
Choose an apt meaningful name for the public methods or classes. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Exceptions
Throw only non-runtime exceptions, so that clients can handle them. Do try to handle all the exceptions in the method. If you have logging framework, log the exceptions and rethrow them.
4. Backward Compatibility
Once the APIs get released and you need to support them for an extended period of time. So if you modifying existing public APIs take care of backward compatibility, such that you wont break client code.
5. Intented use
The public APIs should do only what it is intended to do
6. Java docs
Provide clear crisp java docs. The best example is the one that comes with JDKs.
7. Trace / Log / Debug
Provide support for tracing/logging. Both serves different purposes. Trace is used to find the control flow inside the public APIs. Logging is used to log any error messages and exceptions.
8. Error statements
In case of wrong parameters getting passed, log descriptive error messages. The error message should typically say what went wrong and what is the corrective action.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Find java class files in JAR
Typically in a development environment of a big J2EE product, you often cross the step of including the right jars in your library path to get your product compile/run/debug. With lot of jars lying in you lib folder, you face the daunting task of including the needed few.
OR
In case if you want to find from which jar a particular class gets picked up, you face the same daunting task of opening the various jars and looking out for a particular class file packaged inside it.
To get rid of this one, I came up with a java program that takes a path and class name and spits out the jars which contains the class. The usage of FindClass is simple
java FindClass C:\j2ee\product\lib MyClass
FindClass iterates through the folder (and subsequent subfolders) to get the list of available jars and list out the jars, which contains the specified class.
I used JarFile and JarEntry to read a jar file. Rest is all simple File operations.
If you love to use this util class, drop a comment.
OR
In case if you want to find from which jar a particular class gets picked up, you face the same daunting task of opening the various jars and looking out for a particular class file packaged inside it.
To get rid of this one, I came up with a java program that takes a path and class name and spits out the jars which contains the class. The usage of FindClass is simple
java FindClass C:\j2ee\product\lib MyClass
FindClass iterates through the folder (and subsequent subfolders) to get the list of available jars and list out the jars, which contains the specified class.
I used JarFile and JarEntry to read a jar file. Rest is all simple File operations.
If you love to use this util class, drop a comment.
Aquaguard: Chase for invoice begins
When I see my referring links on my blog stats, many of them are from google with search query "aquagaurd" (notice there is a mis-spell over there). So taking a suo-motto cognizance of the visit trend I have decided to document the horrible experiences a customer goes through after purchasing the noble water purifier (aha, see my frustration).
Disclaimer:
The honest intention of the aquaguard related posts on this blog is to educate the intelligent net-savy customers about the horrible services offered by the aquaguard people. Nothing more and nothing less.
So the first chase begins here.
When you buy a water purifier from the "well-informed" (read it sarcastic) sales rep from Aquaguard, little will be known to you about their invoice process. At the completion of the sale, the happy sales rep will handover a slip stating that you had paid on the delivery of the device. It is not an invoice or a bill stating that you had bought the product. The sales rep will promptly inform you that you will get an invoice within 15 days by mail.
That 15 day deadline will never happen. I have bought the product about 4 months back and still haven't received any invoice.
One more thing that you will not know is that the sales rep from whom you have bought the device, would have done either of one these in the following few weeks
1. Changed his mobile number, so that you cannot reach him
2. Changed his job
3. Changed his department with in aquaguard
In my case, it was option 3. I am chasing them through their customer care and every time they tell me the same crappy story. They ask me my mailing address and receipt number, stating that the invoice will be delivered in 2 days. Again nothing happens.
This is not an one off case. My friend has ended up calling them more than 100 times to get the invoice. Many more are in the process. Some are blissful enough with out caring that they require a legitimate invoice some time later when their device starts mall-functioning.
Disclaimer:
The honest intention of the aquaguard related posts on this blog is to educate the intelligent net-savy customers about the horrible services offered by the aquaguard people. Nothing more and nothing less.
So the first chase begins here.
When you buy a water purifier from the "well-informed" (read it sarcastic) sales rep from Aquaguard, little will be known to you about their invoice process. At the completion of the sale, the happy sales rep will handover a slip stating that you had paid on the delivery of the device. It is not an invoice or a bill stating that you had bought the product. The sales rep will promptly inform you that you will get an invoice within 15 days by mail.
That 15 day deadline will never happen. I have bought the product about 4 months back and still haven't received any invoice.
One more thing that you will not know is that the sales rep from whom you have bought the device, would have done either of one these in the following few weeks
1. Changed his mobile number, so that you cannot reach him
2. Changed his job
3. Changed his department with in aquaguard
In my case, it was option 3. I am chasing them through their customer care and every time they tell me the same crappy story. They ask me my mailing address and receipt number, stating that the invoice will be delivered in 2 days. Again nothing happens.
This is not an one off case. My friend has ended up calling them more than 100 times to get the invoice. Many more are in the process. Some are blissful enough with out caring that they require a legitimate invoice some time later when their device starts mall-functioning.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
MyJavaServer - Signup Challenge
When I tried to sign-up for MyJavaServer service, I was quiet amused by their sign-up challenge. The challenge is to write a small Java program (just to make sure that you are conversant with Java). The site then compiles your program and runs a couple of tests to validate the program. Quiet a novel way to authenticate the users.
Signup Challenge
Master a simple Java programming challenge (STATUS: NOT PASSED)
As the principal engineer of an HTTP web server, you are responsible for implementing the request processing subsystem of the server.
An incoming request for a specific resource, identified by an URI, must be dispatched to the appropriate handler according to the server configuration which maps URIs to request handlers. 'HandlerFactory.getHandler' must be implemented:
public class HandlerFactory
{
public String getHandler(String[] config, String requestUri)
{
}
}
The string array 'config' contains URI patterns and handler names. Two consecutive values form a key-value pair comprised of URI pattern and handler. 'requestUri' represents an incoming request, the URI to match against the configured handlers. 'getHandler' must return the correct handler for a given URI as a string value.
An URI pattern never contains wildcards and represents the start of an URI string, a prefix. Matching must be implemented accordingly. The handler with the longest matching URI pattern wins if more than one pattern matches. If no handler can be found, "XqAoLy" must be returned.
Signup Challenge
Master a simple Java programming challenge (STATUS: NOT PASSED)
As the principal engineer of an HTTP web server, you are responsible for implementing the request processing subsystem of the server.
An incoming request for a specific resource, identified by an URI, must be dispatched to the appropriate handler according to the server configuration which maps URIs to request handlers. 'HandlerFactory.getHandler' must be implemented:
public class HandlerFactory
{
public String getHandler(String[] config, String requestUri)
{
}
}
The string array 'config' contains URI patterns and handler names. Two consecutive values form a key-value pair comprised of URI pattern and handler. 'requestUri' represents an incoming request, the URI to match against the configured handlers. 'getHandler' must return the correct handler for a given URI as a string value.
An URI pattern never contains wildcards and represents the start of an URI string, a prefix. Matching must be implemented accordingly. The handler with the longest matching URI pattern wins if more than one pattern matches. If no handler can be found, "XqAoLy" must be returned.
MyJavaServer
Found that MyJavaServer is a free online java application server that one could use to host their web applications for free. They offer the following services on their site for developers.
Java
Java SE 6.0 based application server
Servlet 2.3
Java Server Pages (JSP) 1.2
Pre-installed third-party libraries
RDBMS services
Embedded: HSQLDB, InstantDB
Miscellaneous
SMTP service
Unfiltered HTTP responses (no ad placement)
WAP/WML, Java WebStart MIME extensions
Storage
5 MB initial filesystem quota
Full native filesystem read/write access
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) file management
Quite cool. They use Tomcat application server to provide the service. So if you just want to host any simple web app for free, MyJavaServer is the place to go!
Java
Java SE 6.0 based application server
Servlet 2.3
Java Server Pages (JSP) 1.2
Pre-installed third-party libraries
RDBMS services
Embedded: HSQLDB, InstantDB
Miscellaneous
SMTP service
Unfiltered HTTP responses (no ad placement)
WAP/WML, Java WebStart MIME extensions
Storage
5 MB initial filesystem quota
Full native filesystem read/write access
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) file management
Quite cool. They use Tomcat application server to provide the service. So if you just want to host any simple web app for free, MyJavaServer is the place to go!
Sting operations by Private News channels
One good fallout of the private news TV channels. Recently NDTV exposed through a sting operation the nexus between defense and prosecution in the BMW hit and run case. Such clandestine deals could prevent people from getting a fair justice.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Google turns down my request suspecting a virus
See the snapshot
Btw had a hard time guessing the word verification. The image is so crumbled.
Btw had a hard time guessing the word verification. The image is so crumbled.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Will this spell the end of aquaguard monpoly
I had been cribbing about the monopolistic practices by Aquagaurd Water purifiers. It seems that Philips had listened to it. Philips India is entering the water purifier market. I hope two things will make Philips a big hit
1. The price range of their water purifiers are in the same range of Aquagaurd.
2. They sell their product through retail outlets. (So customers win here. They get cheaper maintenance)
3. Battery backup
1. The price range of their water purifiers are in the same range of Aquagaurd.
2. They sell their product through retail outlets. (So customers win here. They get cheaper maintenance)
3. Battery backup
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Google's Bot is amazingly fast
Google's web crawler bot is amazingly fast. My yesterday's post on Nimishambha Temple trip has been already added to google's search index and ranks first.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Nimishambha Temple and Sangam Trip (13-May-2007)
After a long while, the remnant guys in Bangalore (myself, Nag, Gops and VK) (that's how I guess we should call ourselves after the brain-drain in our gang) thought of a get-together. I came up with the idea of lunching together, but as per the de-facto standard, Nag came with the dynamic plan of a one day picnic. The choice of place, transport, itinerary were all decided on the previous day night.
So we all stared an hour late on Sunday due to the mess-up my car created. Vk's new Indica Xeta came to our rescue. We stopped at Kamat on Mysore Road for breakfast (We made use of the buffet really well).
(Remnant Gang with the Guest of Honor Nag Jr.)
(Gops, VK with Guest of Honor Nag Jr.)
(Simian Acrobatics for the Guest of honor)
(Simian Acrobatics for the Guest of honor)
Reached our picnic spot of Nimishambha temple around noon-time. This place is near SriRangapatna en-route to Mysore. The Mysore highway SH-17 had unusual high traffic on the weekend.
(Cauvery River bank)
(Gops on way to cool off his heels)
(Nag and VK taking a dip)
(Nag and Vk discussing a shot)
(Vk and Nag fishy)
Ate lot of junk stuff (such that we can skip lunch). Unusually there was lot of crowd over the place.
Then on the way back went to Sangam.
(Confluence of three rivers)
(Winding flow)
(Another shot)
(Rocky terrain on the banks)
(Grand view of Sangam)
(Another shot)
(Nag Jr. on a pensive mood... on how to get a mallu girl)
Evening tiffin again at Kamat. Back in bangalore on time.
(End of Trip)
So we all stared an hour late on Sunday due to the mess-up my car created. Vk's new Indica Xeta came to our rescue. We stopped at Kamat on Mysore Road for breakfast (We made use of the buffet really well).
(Remnant Gang with the Guest of Honor Nag Jr.)
(Gops, VK with Guest of Honor Nag Jr.)
(Simian Acrobatics for the Guest of honor)
(Simian Acrobatics for the Guest of honor)
Reached our picnic spot of Nimishambha temple around noon-time. This place is near SriRangapatna en-route to Mysore. The Mysore highway SH-17 had unusual high traffic on the weekend.
(Cauvery River bank)
(Gops on way to cool off his heels)
(Nag and VK taking a dip)
(Nag and Vk discussing a shot)
(Vk and Nag fishy)
Ate lot of junk stuff (such that we can skip lunch). Unusually there was lot of crowd over the place.
Then on the way back went to Sangam.
(Confluence of three rivers)
(Winding flow)
(Another shot)
(Rocky terrain on the banks)
(Grand view of Sangam)
(Another shot)
(Nag Jr. on a pensive mood... on how to get a mallu girl)
Evening tiffin again at Kamat. Back in bangalore on time.
(End of Trip)
Game shows: People attitude
These days private TV channels are flooded with umpty number of game shows covering people in all age categories right from kids to couples. Out of these some are quite interesting like BBC's MasterMind and Star Sports Quiz. Even DD's BSNL Sports quiz is worth watching. Sun TVs "Thiruvalar Thirumathi" is for married couples and is one whole crap game show.
I am alarmed at the outwardness of the people participating in such game shows. They reveal lot of their personal things to the whole world for the take-aways they get in the shows. I hope not those holiday packages comes with no-strings attached. We the viewers never get any clue whether the people who were given the holiday packages really went for such ones.
I am alarmed at the outwardness of the people participating in such game shows. They reveal lot of their personal things to the whole world for the take-aways they get in the shows. I hope not those holiday packages comes with no-strings attached. We the viewers never get any clue whether the people who were given the holiday packages really went for such ones.
Friday, May 11, 2007
How to connect cellphone using IrDA port
This post is based on the experience of transferring content between your cellphone and laptop using IrDA port.
Is this the latest standard?
Using IrDA port to transfer content between your cellphone and laptop is really old way. The latest way to communicate is to use bluetooth.
Then why?
But at some juncture IrDA comes in really handy. Say when your laptop doesn't have a built-in bluetooth adapter and you doesn't have an external one too. And more you are lazy to use the wired approach of connecting using USB cable.
How to?
Laptop: Dell Latitude D600
OS: Win XP
Cellphone: Sony Ericsson K700i
Firstly the Dell D600 had built-in IrDA adapter. One needs to enable them.
Enable IrDA in your phone and place in the line-of-sight with IrDA port
Win XP had default drivers and it was able to recognize the device. From then on, it is a single click to transfer data from laptop to the cellphone and vice versa.
Is this the latest standard?
Using IrDA port to transfer content between your cellphone and laptop is really old way. The latest way to communicate is to use bluetooth.
Then why?
But at some juncture IrDA comes in really handy. Say when your laptop doesn't have a built-in bluetooth adapter and you doesn't have an external one too. And more you are lazy to use the wired approach of connecting using USB cable.
How to?
Laptop: Dell Latitude D600
OS: Win XP
Cellphone: Sony Ericsson K700i
Firstly the Dell D600 had built-in IrDA adapter. One needs to enable them.
- Go to BIOS setup. (Press F2 when the laptop boots up to enter the BIOS setup)
- Press Alt+P to go the various pages in the setup program
- Find the IrDA section in the Commuincation Ports page (I guess so)
- If it is disabled, then enable and set to a particular COM port. I used COM2 as COM1 is used in my laptop.
- Save and Exit the setup and boot the laptop.
Enable IrDA in your phone and place in the line-of-sight with IrDA port
Win XP had default drivers and it was able to recognize the device. From then on, it is a single click to transfer data from laptop to the cellphone and vice versa.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Recent tamil movies and my ratings
All of a sudden tamil movie buff kicked in to me and I happened to see four movies in a span of two weekends. I have given "my" fair ratings for these movies.
1. Unnale Unnale - Promising (Happened to see part of the movie and it looks pretty promising)
2. Mayakkannadi - Cheran movie, realistic approach. Average
3. Naan Avan Illai - Below average. Hopeless screenplay
4. Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram - Pathetic (only one word)
1. Unnale Unnale - Promising (Happened to see part of the movie and it looks pretty promising)
2. Mayakkannadi - Cheran movie, realistic approach. Average
3. Naan Avan Illai - Below average. Hopeless screenplay
4. Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram - Pathetic (only one word)
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Online Vulnerabilities
The other day when I was having a conversation with a friend using orkut scrapbook, suddenly I realized how much personal information is left open to the world wide web. Scrapbooks are not private, anyone can read others scrapbook. If one could correlate they could get all vital information about a person.
Other way if one uses mail, there is much more confidentiality involved. Mailboxes are private. Hence the rule to delete scrapbook entries once I reply. By the way then why is there a scrapbook and what is its purpose?
Other way if one uses mail, there is much more confidentiality involved. Mailboxes are private. Hence the rule to delete scrapbook entries once I reply. By the way then why is there a scrapbook and what is its purpose?
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
AntiCorruption
When you get obsessed with rampant corruption, you really want to break free and take punitive steps against those who demand it. But being a meek person, you will never have courage and time to do so.
Now there is a non-profit NGO who helps in this. It seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Visit 5th Pillar
'0' Rupee note is the brain child of this org to root out the corruption.
Now there is a non-profit NGO who helps in this. It seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Visit 5th Pillar
'0' Rupee note is the brain child of this org to root out the corruption.
Monday, April 23, 2007
It is raining in bangalore
Over the weekend it rained cats and dogs in bangalore. Though the pre-monsoon shower is a good one, the heavy downpour caused much misery to low-lying areas. On the Bannerghatta Road, clogged storm water drains overflowed on the road and flats with basement car parks were inundated.
News on TOI
News on Hindu
News on TOI
News on Hindu
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Cooking Recipe
Came across this excellent site hosting Priya Madhan's gourmet recipes. The ingredients for most of the recipes are the standard spices that are available in any home and not that you get only in a five-star hotel chef's kitchen. Last week I tried out Chettinad Pepper Chicken and turned out good.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Photos from Road trip to Erode
Some where in between Salem and Dharmapuri, where I had a small pit-stop
Thoppur Dam
The toll-gate near krishnagiri
Sunset near Hosur
Some more photos on the Flick (Tag : Road trip to Erode)
Thoppur Dam
The toll-gate near krishnagiri
Sunset near Hosur
Some more photos on the Flick (Tag : Road trip to Erode)
Against KPN
Gops has posted his horrifying experience with KPN travels and their sheer disgrace towards the customers.
I have already posted about my horrifying experience. There was one more, sometime back which I skipped unintentionally. I had booked tickets to Salem from Bangalore in 11:00 pm Thiruchengode bus. I was particular about this bus, since it reached Salem at the time I wanted to land there.
After reaching KPN office at Bommanahalli and waiting more than the slated time, the staff announced that the bus has arrived mentioning its registration number. When I reached the designated bus, I was told by the cleaner that bus is not heading for Thirchengode. A little later one of staff told me that the original bus has broken down and there is no alternate bus. Since I had booked only till Salem, they will put in some bus which goes via Salem. Imagine this situation in middle of the night with dependents by your side.
After waiting for a while in the pavements, I was given two seats in another VOLVO bus. All my plans got disrupted and managed to reach Salem with this horrifying incident running back on my mind all the time.
Hope Gops would succeed in teaching a lesson to KPN through customer redressal forum.
I have already posted about my horrifying experience. There was one more, sometime back which I skipped unintentionally. I had booked tickets to Salem from Bangalore in 11:00 pm Thiruchengode bus. I was particular about this bus, since it reached Salem at the time I wanted to land there.
After reaching KPN office at Bommanahalli and waiting more than the slated time, the staff announced that the bus has arrived mentioning its registration number. When I reached the designated bus, I was told by the cleaner that bus is not heading for Thirchengode. A little later one of staff told me that the original bus has broken down and there is no alternate bus. Since I had booked only till Salem, they will put in some bus which goes via Salem. Imagine this situation in middle of the night with dependents by your side.
After waiting for a while in the pavements, I was given two seats in another VOLVO bus. All my plans got disrupted and managed to reach Salem with this horrifying incident running back on my mind all the time.
Hope Gops would succeed in teaching a lesson to KPN through customer redressal forum.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Road trip to Erode
NH-7 is part of the North-South corridor and NH-47 is part of the Golden Quadrilateral project.
Map of the Highways in India shows the extent of coverage by these highways.
In both the highways, the work is in progress to make it 4-lane completely. The 4-lane is from Bangalore till Thoppur and then from Thumpipadi to Salem. These projects are implemented by NHAI.
A glimpse of how the highway looks (picture courtesy NHAI)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Upgrade
Had a few free cycles and thought of upgrading my blog layout. With blogger2, tools are provided to edit the template. The past option of editing the template manually is gone. Now you have widgets that you can add to your template.
Also upgraded the statcounter script, so that now I catch the referral links and visitor activities.
Also upgraded the statcounter script, so that now I catch the referral links and visitor activities.
Monday, April 02, 2007
How to connect you laptop video output to a TV
"Necessity is the mother of invention" - by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato
No, I didn't invent anything over here. While in the process of setting up a home entertainment system, I preferred not to buy anything in haste. In India, the home entertainment portfolio is under major revamp now. LCD's and Plasma's are entering the home entertainment market in a big way. The prices of the TV's and home theater systems are crashing down.
In the meantime, to enable me watch my favorite movies, I was in need of a stop-gap solution. I thought of using my laptop as a DVD player and connecting its video-o/p to the TV. The following are the steps to connect Dell Latitude D600 laptop to Sony 29" CRT TV.
What you need?
1. Dell S-Video to Composite TV out adapter. (You get this adapter normally with the laptop)
2. Composite video cable (You can purchase one from your local electronics store)
How to connect?
1. Connect the S-Video to Composite TV out adapter in your laptop S-video output.
2. Connect one end of you composite video cable to the S-Video to Composite TV out adapter
3. Connect the other end of your composite video cable to your TV video input
4. Switch the TV to appropriate Video mode
5. Boot your laptop
6. Go to Control Panel > Display > Setting tab (Win XP OS)
7. Right click 2nd display and attach it.
8. Set the resolution and color properties. (Generally the TV supports 800x600 resolution. Sony 29" TV supported 1280x780 resolution with 32 bit Color)
9. You will see the extended desktop.
The TV screen behaves like a extended monitor. Drag the applications you want to run into the TV screen.
This way you can run movies from your laptop on to your TV screen. In order to get your audio output into your TV, you need to take the audio out from the headphone-jack in your laptop to your TV audio input.
P.S: It is imperative that you get a properly insulated composite video capable. Otherwise when you connect the power chord to your laptop, you shall get electrical noises in your video signal
Links:
Dell Documentation
HP India site documentation
S-Video site
No, I didn't invent anything over here. While in the process of setting up a home entertainment system, I preferred not to buy anything in haste. In India, the home entertainment portfolio is under major revamp now. LCD's and Plasma's are entering the home entertainment market in a big way. The prices of the TV's and home theater systems are crashing down.
In the meantime, to enable me watch my favorite movies, I was in need of a stop-gap solution. I thought of using my laptop as a DVD player and connecting its video-o/p to the TV. The following are the steps to connect Dell Latitude D600 laptop to Sony 29" CRT TV.
What you need?
1. Dell S-Video to Composite TV out adapter. (You get this adapter normally with the laptop)
2. Composite video cable (You can purchase one from your local electronics store)
How to connect?
1. Connect the S-Video to Composite TV out adapter in your laptop S-video output.
2. Connect one end of you composite video cable to the S-Video to Composite TV out adapter
3. Connect the other end of your composite video cable to your TV video input
4. Switch the TV to appropriate Video mode
5. Boot your laptop
6. Go to Control Panel > Display > Setting tab (Win XP OS)
7. Right click 2nd display and attach it.
8. Set the resolution and color properties. (Generally the TV supports 800x600 resolution. Sony 29" TV supported 1280x780 resolution with 32 bit Color)
9. You will see the extended desktop.
The TV screen behaves like a extended monitor. Drag the applications you want to run into the TV screen.
This way you can run movies from your laptop on to your TV screen. In order to get your audio output into your TV, you need to take the audio out from the headphone-jack in your laptop to your TV audio input.
P.S: It is imperative that you get a properly insulated composite video capable. Otherwise when you connect the power chord to your laptop, you shall get electrical noises in your video signal
Links:
Dell Documentation
HP India site documentation
S-Video site
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Titan Gold Plus - Erode
A mention about the Titan Gold Plus store in Erode. The store had a made a brisk business last year to earn a revenue of Rs 25 crore.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Crowd Pattern
While watching the "Closures for Java" presentation, I observed the following crowd pattern...
At the time when the presentation began...
At the time when the presentation ended...
At the time when the presentation began...
At the time when the presentation ended...
Thursday, March 22, 2007
How to download video from Google Video
By now, most of us would have watched videos online using Google Video sharing site. Google doesn't allow you to download the video file. And when you download, it gets you the gvp (google video player) file. In order to get the video file, you need to do a small hack. Edit the gvp file and you will see the URL. Use this URL to download the avi file.
Beware that google had encoded the video file in such a way that only its player will be able to play the avi file.
This titbit will be of great use when you want to watch the videos off-line.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Pace of development
Gops made a post on the pace of infrastructure development happening in coimbatore which follows the similar bangalore phenomenon. Another example of bangalore phenomenon.
BESCOM decided to upgrade the electrical lines near my place. The plan is switch from overhead lines to underground. They started working on this project about 3 months back. Until now, they have partially dug the road and left it open. No signs of work. Heard from the daytime security that they work only once in a month on this project :-(
BESCOM decided to upgrade the electrical lines near my place. The plan is switch from overhead lines to underground. They started working on this project about 3 months back. Until now, they have partially dug the road and left it open. No signs of work. Heard from the daytime security that they work only once in a month on this project :-(
Monday, March 12, 2007
Planetarium and Musical Fountain
Out of the few places to visit in bangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium is one. As per their website, you got to see some replicas, science park, exhibition and a tele-show in the dome screen.
On the first look, the whole campus is dilapidated. There is no entry free for the science park. There are some simple experiments demonstrating the basics physics facts and only a few of them work. The experiment showing sound waves traveling in a parabolic path is simply amazing.
For the tele-show the entry fee is Rs25 and it runs full house during weekends. The night sky shown in the dome screen is breath-taking.
Musical Fountain is located just opposite to the planetarium and the show starts in the evening by 7:00 pm. In order to club these two together, take the 4:30 show in planetarium and get to the musical fountain show at 7:00 pm.
On the first look, the whole campus is dilapidated. There is no entry free for the science park. There are some simple experiments demonstrating the basics physics facts and only a few of them work. The experiment showing sound waves traveling in a parabolic path is simply amazing.
For the tele-show the entry fee is Rs25 and it runs full house during weekends. The night sky shown in the dome screen is breath-taking.
Musical Fountain is located just opposite to the planetarium and the show starts in the evening by 7:00 pm. In order to club these two together, take the 4:30 show in planetarium and get to the musical fountain show at 7:00 pm.
Aquaguard == monopoly
Another incident of sheer monopoly.
Aquaguard is an undisputed leader in the world of water purifiers in India. They practice unethical marketing strategies to sell their products to the households. They sell their products in door-door marketing fashion. So their marketing agents just tell all possible lies on earth to convince you to buy their product. On the day, when your first annual maintenance contract ends, you have to face the brutal facts about their product.
I bought a Aquaguard Reviva (Reverse Osmosis) based purifier about a year back. At that time I was told that the membrane has to be changed only when it wears out and its average life-time is about 8000-12000 lts of water. I did a simple math and for two persons the potable water consumption per day is about 10 lts and the membrane should last for about 2.5 years.
When the first year was over, the service engineer came and told us that we had to change the membrane and it wont last more than a year. The cost of the membrane is about 2500Rs and with the maintenance expense comes to about Rs3600 per year (which works out to be more expensive than if you buy mineral water from some vendor).
You are left in lurch as you wont get any spares outside in the market and you had to be dependent on their service for the life. Secondly they are free to charge any amount for the service and mostly will not heed to complaints (one could see lot of people complaining about their shoddy service network in the net) .
The height is that I have bought one more purifier from them as I am left with none in the market that could satisfy the requirements. They win and we loose the case always!
Track BMTC VOLVO Buses using SMS
One of few things that have improved in bangalore over the past year is BMTC. BMTC started deploying VOLVO buses in its city service fleet and it was an instant hit. No more you need to haggle with autowala's. You get a plush ride in clean A/C VOLVO buses with minimal cost (compared to autos). The buses are of state-of-the-art kind equipped with entertainment system, GPS enabled and information system.
Lately, BMTC introduced SMS tracking of these buses. The service is called "Yelli Iddira". You can track the position of a particular bus by sending an SMS. It is really a boon as we need not wait endlessly in bus stops for the bus to arrive. With ever mounting traffic, you can track the buses real time.
Photo courtesy: BMTC site.
Lately, BMTC introduced SMS tracking of these buses. The service is called "Yelli Iddira". You can track the position of a particular bus by sending an SMS. It is really a boon as we need not wait endlessly in bus stops for the bus to arrive. With ever mounting traffic, you can track the buses real time.
Photo courtesy: BMTC site.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Picture Collage
A couple of collages that I created with the macro shots that I took. Turns out nice! Used Picasa to create the collages.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
International Women's Day
This is what I wrote about women's day in 2005. All that I have written applies the same with some additions. In addition to my mom, now I have one more women, my wife, to stand by me in all my endeavors and consistently push me over the extremes and endure confidence in me in all those hard times.
This post is a petty dedication for the two souls for their insurmountable effort and contribution towards betterment.
The chronology behind the women's day.
This post is a petty dedication for the two souls for their insurmountable effort and contribution towards betterment.
The chronology behind the women's day.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Doubly Zipped
When you compress a folder/files, doubly zipping reduces the size further compared to the single zip. Why is it so? Why can't single zip does the same compression? If we keep-on zipping, will the size keep on reducing further?
Yet to find answers for all these? Any pointers?
Yet to find answers for all these? Any pointers?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Blog stats
I have been running statcounter on this blog from mid-2005. The following are the stats
Impressive hits for personal blog?
Impressive hits for personal blog?
Monday, February 26, 2007
Search Ranking
This blogs ranks 4th in the google page rank.
With yahoo and MSN, I do not see it in the search results.
With yahoo and MSN, I do not see it in the search results.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
SUN TV Network Monopoly
On the news today, once more incident of monopolistic attitude displayed by SUN TV Network. They are not sharing their feed with the rival Tata-Sky DTH.
Earlier incidents
Google blog search results page from SambharMafia
Earlier incidents
Google blog search results page from SambharMafia
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Home Loan : Calculating the Balance Sheet yourself
Off late I have been involved in home loans a lot. Just I wanted to understand the mystery behind the calculation of EMI, the prepayment and the balance computation. Since my home loan is with the Corporation Bank, and it being a PSU, I cannot expect the account statement to be shown online. By the way do any of you see such a facility with any private banks?
I took home loan of type fixed interest rate and monthly resting option. The following steps should help you calculate the monthly balance of your home loan
Step 1: Calculate EMI. I used the formula given by Ranjit.
Step 2: For the first month the balance can be calculated as
Balance Principal = Principal + (ROI * Principal) - EMI
Step 3: The balance principal becomes the principal for the next month. Repeat Step 2
Note: If you have done prepayment on a particular month, deduct the amount from the balance principal to get the actual balance.
I wrote a small java program to do the calculation for me. This can be extended for daily resting option and also for the floating rate of interest.
P.S: Apart from such minor nuances, I felt the relationship with the bank much better. There has been no hidden charges and the default options in the home loans are better tweaked to benefit the customers. I felt that with private banks unless the customer is alert, they ought shell out more.
I took home loan of type fixed interest rate and monthly resting option. The following steps should help you calculate the monthly balance of your home loan
Step 1: Calculate EMI. I used the formula given by Ranjit.
Step 2: For the first month the balance can be calculated as
Balance Principal = Principal + (ROI * Principal) - EMI
Step 3: The balance principal becomes the principal for the next month. Repeat Step 2
Note: If you have done prepayment on a particular month, deduct the amount from the balance principal to get the actual balance.
I wrote a small java program to do the calculation for me. This can be extended for daily resting option and also for the floating rate of interest.
P.S: Apart from such minor nuances, I felt the relationship with the bank much better. There has been no hidden charges and the default options in the home loans are better tweaked to benefit the customers. I felt that with private banks unless the customer is alert, they ought shell out more.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Quote of the Day
"If you pay peanuts, you only get monkeys."
courtesy: A rediff.com reader
This reminds me of the TimesJob ad.
courtesy: A rediff.com reader
This reminds me of the TimesJob ad.
Photo Post
Some of the best photos covering the activities of over last 3 months
Munnar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/munnar/
Cherai: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/cherai/
Cochin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/cochin/
Bannerghatta National Park: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/bannerghattanationalpark/
Munnar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/munnar/
Cherai: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/cherai/
Cochin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/cochin/
Bannerghatta National Park: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajakumar/tags/bannerghattanationalpark/
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Back in action
It looks like that my blog has been dormant for more than a month. It is brand New year and time to wake up and take a plunge into action. There are a couple of posts that are waiting in my mind. Yet to spend time to get it posted. I was caught into thick of actions and as always actions lead to experiences and experiences fetches you the learnings.
It is ubiquitous that TOI is most sought out news daily in Bangalore. Perhaps the crave for gossips hasn't died down yet. If I take a morning walk down my apartment, I see TOI at all the door step except a very few different one. And out of those few I am one.
It is ubiquitous that TOI is most sought out news daily in Bangalore. Perhaps the crave for gossips hasn't died down yet. If I take a morning walk down my apartment, I see TOI at all the door step except a very few different one. And out of those few I am one.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Bogus message on HDFC online
Once more I had to take a dig at HDFC Online. Today when I logged in, the personalized message at the top of the window, captured my attention.
"Dear RAJA KUMAR T, We have a special message for you. Please Click here for details."
Though I ignored it in the beginning, somehow the curiosity took over me. See for yourself what message did HDFC came up with on clicking the link. Big Bogus!
"Dear RAJA KUMAR T, We have a special message for you. Please Click here for details."
Though I ignored it in the beginning, somehow the curiosity took over me. See for yourself what message did HDFC came up with on clicking the link. Big Bogus!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Non-standards in adapters
With the advent of good non-dry batteries almost all the electronic gadgets come with in-built batteries that need to be charged and used. It is much common these days to see three to four different adapters hanging out of the electical sockets in any house.
Why can't there be any standards enforced on the adapters? Most of the gadgets requires 9v/12v DC input. And at any point of time, no one is going to use more than two. If one single type of adapter could be used for multiple gadgets, it really eases the pain a lot.
Why can't there be any standards enforced on the adapters? Most of the gadgets requires 9v/12v DC input. And at any point of time, no one is going to use more than two. If one single type of adapter could be used for multiple gadgets, it really eases the pain a lot.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Kidnap and ransom - will the trend continue?
Off late I am not catching up completely with the news in TV and print media. Somehow the Anant kidnap case slipped through and caught my attention. I am quiet surprised that the hefty ransom being paid to the kidnappers to seek the safe rescue of the child has been broken out to public. In other such kidnap cases the amount of ransom being paid were never disclosed in public.
I do not question the way adopted to rescue the child. But this should not pave way for anymore future kidnappings. Hope this trend wont continue and the kidnappers would be brought to justice.
I do not question the way adopted to rescue the child. But this should not pave way for anymore future kidnappings. Hope this trend wont continue and the kidnappers would be brought to justice.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Break from inertia
It has been rather a long vacation. Once you go to hibernate mode, I feel it is difficult to ramp it back to normalcy. To break this inertia is this post. Today I became a year younger (over optimistic). Lot of wishes from the loved and dear ones made the day perfect for me.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Blue screen of death
Not sure from where this blue screen of death concept came? The other day when I was watching TV and suddenly when the cable went off, TV started showing blue screen. Originally with the older television sets, we use to get grainy screens. In the new television sets, the grainy screen is replaced by the blue screen of death.
Originaly BSOD is very familiar with Windows OS crash. Where did it came from? Why there is a blue screen instead of red or green?
Originaly BSOD is very familiar with Windows OS crash. Where did it came from? Why there is a blue screen instead of red or green?
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Chikungunya and the false reports
There is no need for me, right at this moment, to explain what Chikungunya disease is about and its impacts. For people residing in India, particulary in south, they would have known all the bare facts by now. Unlike kerala gov, tamilnadu gov is playing down the spread of this disease. I could state so because I knew around 12 people who had suffered/are suffering from this disease. Within my close knit of people, if such high number of poeple are contacted by the viral spread, one could imagine how many people would have been affected across the state.
But still the ruling gov claims that there is no wide spread chikungunya. A big lie! And they use the media effectively to downplay all the private statistics. People have lost hope long ago on the government hospitals and expect for people in below poverty line, nobody goes to gov hospitals for treatment. The statistics that you get from the gov hospitals are greatly skewed. On effectively hadling the situation, the gov could have done a lot to bring down the spread. Nothing has been done till date. And this barbaric politicians are behind the local body elections slated for next week completely ignoring the health of the people.
Will people teach them a lesson this time?
But still the ruling gov claims that there is no wide spread chikungunya. A big lie! And they use the media effectively to downplay all the private statistics. People have lost hope long ago on the government hospitals and expect for people in below poverty line, nobody goes to gov hospitals for treatment. The statistics that you get from the gov hospitals are greatly skewed. On effectively hadling the situation, the gov could have done a lot to bring down the spread. Nothing has been done till date. And this barbaric politicians are behind the local body elections slated for next week completely ignoring the health of the people.
Will people teach them a lesson this time?
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Observations from a small public function
I had been to a small public function at my mom's school. The public function is all about NSS (National Service Scheme) camp and its closing day. The guests included a few political leaders (councilors belonging to local administrative bodies of the government) and academics (Principal of Carmel Matric School and HM of the government elementary school from where the NSS camp was run)
There are quiet a few observations that I could make.
1. There is a system to motivate students to do service. The system also helps in exposing students to public affairs, management and collaboration
2. Never ever the politicians keep up time! The function was due to begin at 5:30 in the evening and the so-called busy politicians turned up only at 6:30. To the worse one came just when the function was half over
3. The context of speech tendered by politicians and academics have significant difference. One could feel the sense of peace in the speech of academics and fit of rage in politicians (since they have got tuned by attacking the opponents at all the places)
There are quiet a few observations that I could make.
1. There is a system to motivate students to do service. The system also helps in exposing students to public affairs, management and collaboration
2. Never ever the politicians keep up time! The function was due to begin at 5:30 in the evening and the so-called busy politicians turned up only at 6:30. To the worse one came just when the function was half over
3. The context of speech tendered by politicians and academics have significant difference. One could feel the sense of peace in the speech of academics and fit of rage in politicians (since they have got tuned by attacking the opponents at all the places)
Friday, September 22, 2006
Citibank ATM
Have you ever used Citibank ATMs? Did you notice that the ATM screen after dispatching the money, shows up your account balance to everybody standing in the queue. No looking over the shoulders is required here.
The ATM screen is placed in such an angle that it is clearly visible to all the people standing behind in the queue (even though the queue is about 5 to 6 ft away). Either the screen could be mounted at a lower angle such that it is visible to only the user or else the viewing angle of the LCD panel could be reduced.
As a workaround, the only option left is to hide the screen from others!
The ATM screen is placed in such an angle that it is clearly visible to all the people standing behind in the queue (even though the queue is about 5 to 6 ft away). Either the screen could be mounted at a lower angle such that it is visible to only the user or else the viewing angle of the LCD panel could be reduced.
As a workaround, the only option left is to hide the screen from others!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Sillunu Oru Kaadhal - review
First time I am writing a review for a Tamil movie. Watched "Sillunu Oru Kaadhal" movie.
The screenplay was very obvious (nothing new or different). I mean the anticipation of what is going to happen in the next frame is quiet obvious. The hero has an usual flashback and there are no surprises. The second half of the movie was quiet boring, a good test for your patience if you could stick to your seat till the climax. The climax was bit different but again predictable. Music is by ARR and I could hardly understand the lyrics. I could just make out only a few tamil words in the songs. It is pity that the good lyrics are thrown to waste. At a few places I feel that flow has been disrupted. For the sake of having comedy Vadivel was shown in a few scenes and disappears forever after that.
Finally my rating would be below average movie!
Review from IndiaGlitz. Their review is quiet positive and I hope that is because IndiaGlitz has sponsored for the movie.
The screenplay was very obvious (nothing new or different). I mean the anticipation of what is going to happen in the next frame is quiet obvious. The hero has an usual flashback and there are no surprises. The second half of the movie was quiet boring, a good test for your patience if you could stick to your seat till the climax. The climax was bit different but again predictable. Music is by ARR and I could hardly understand the lyrics. I could just make out only a few tamil words in the songs. It is pity that the good lyrics are thrown to waste. At a few places I feel that flow has been disrupted. For the sake of having comedy Vadivel was shown in a few scenes and disappears forever after that.
Finally my rating would be below average movie!
Review from IndiaGlitz. Their review is quiet positive and I hope that is because IndiaGlitz has sponsored for the movie.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Bitter experience with PVR online movie ticketing system
I was trying to book online movie tickets in PVR cinemas. It is one heck of a pathetic web application that could have ever been built. Firstly, the availability is never updated properly. While trying to book the ticket, the app showed that the seats are available and even gave me the seat numbers. After entering the credit card details and going through the payment screen, it died down. The app never refreshed to show the status of the payment. On refreshing the page, it showed the same seat allocation and the payment screen. Going through it second time also ended in vain. After restarting in fresh browser window, I found that the seats are full instantaneously. There has been no error or update stating that the credit card hasn't been charged.
This made me feel that online train ticket booking is much better app. IRCTC should get a pat on their back!
This made me feel that online train ticket booking is much better app. IRCTC should get a pat on their back!
Need of thin chat clients
My usage level of chat is very sparse. I would prefer picking up the phone and talking rather than chatting. For conveying unimportant things I prefer chat over phone. I have never realized the usage of thin chat clients until my office network blocked the usage of thick chat clients due to a virus outbreak. Chat option in Gmail and Meebo came in really handy at certain points.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Send Email at Residence/Office
The above option at one of the HDFC NetBanking forms made me to think for a while. How can one classify email as residence/office?
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Ways to wriggle money from customers
In this materialistic world, almost every other service vendor tries to wriggle the hard earned money from the customers. Airtel and Citibank is no excuse to this.
With Airtel when you get a new connection, they automatically enable Hello Tunes (though you request them not to enable) since it is free for the first month. The customer is never told that it is "only" free for the first month and from the next they will be charged for this petty service. Secondly they never intimate the customer that such a service has been enabled without their approval. Lot of such options are taken for granted.
Secondly, Citibank is very famous and notorious with such promotions. They will send you a life-time free gold credit card without your request on applying for a savings account. Apart from this they will enable Ready credit and all other such options automatically and keep charging heavy penalties and dues if you happen to violate their laws/policies. With a dismissal quality of service they pester you continuously with promotional offers. Nothing useful could be got from them.
I just came across an illogical incident with Citibank. I requested a bank statement and they promised to deliver it through courier only to my residential address. Since this being an account statement I had to sign and collect. With no body at my residence during office hours, the statement will be sent back to Citibank which they will duly thrash for security reasons. And the worst part is yet to come, for such a service I have to pay them charges.
With Airtel when you get a new connection, they automatically enable Hello Tunes (though you request them not to enable) since it is free for the first month. The customer is never told that it is "only" free for the first month and from the next they will be charged for this petty service. Secondly they never intimate the customer that such a service has been enabled without their approval. Lot of such options are taken for granted.
Secondly, Citibank is very famous and notorious with such promotions. They will send you a life-time free gold credit card without your request on applying for a savings account. Apart from this they will enable Ready credit and all other such options automatically and keep charging heavy penalties and dues if you happen to violate their laws/policies. With a dismissal quality of service they pester you continuously with promotional offers. Nothing useful could be got from them.
I just came across an illogical incident with Citibank. I requested a bank statement and they promised to deliver it through courier only to my residential address. Since this being an account statement I had to sign and collect. With no body at my residence during office hours, the statement will be sent back to Citibank which they will duly thrash for security reasons. And the worst part is yet to come, for such a service I have to pay them charges.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Time to dump rediff
I use to frequent Rediff portal to have a quick glance on the day news and other interesting gossips. Time has come to dump rediff as they have turned on their nagging ad page for each news link you click. CNet use to have this feature but it is very random and doesnt appear for each news link. Hope rediff will learn and rectify sooner.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Blogging vacation
It has been quiet a long time I turned my attention towards blogging. There is no dearth of topics to post, but it has been a deluge so far. I am occupied with personal and professional duties to a large extent. Hoping to return to mainstream soon!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Nice basic articles on EMI
For those who fail to understand the complexities of EMI, the Get Ahead section of rediff reveals the basics of EMI. The whole article is made into three parts and worth a read!
1. Understanding EMI
2. How EMIs are calculated
3. Are you comfortable with your EMI?
1. Understanding EMI
2. How EMIs are calculated
3. Are you comfortable with your EMI?
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
How to calculate EMI using Excel functions
Via Rediff
I was never aware that the EMI calculation is a standard across the world and MS Excel features a function to do it easily.
Go through this rediff page.
I was never aware that the EMI calculation is a standard across the world and MS Excel features a function to do it easily.
Go through this rediff page.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Flickr leech
Flickr Leech
Excellent utility that gets photos from flickr and displays it as thumbnails. It creates an excellent collage.
Excellent utility that gets photos from flickr and displays it as thumbnails. It creates an excellent collage.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Experience with freshers interview
Recently I came across two incidents related to interview of fresh college grads. Both are different scenarios in different places.
1. I interviewed a couple of fresh college grads. When it came to choosing one of them, it was pretty awful. I felt guilty of not able to choose all of them. When all of them are of same calibre, it becomes pretty difficult to choose.
2. In another incident, when you have decided prior hand that you are not going to choose a candidate by screening the resume, it doesn't make sense to call and interview the candidate for namesake. If you happen to do so, then it would be better not to ask some BS questions and reject the candidate. It really spoils the reputation of the organization that you represent. The better way to handle such scenario (in my perspective) is to conduct decent interview, ask relevant questions and let the candidate know the result at the end.
1. I interviewed a couple of fresh college grads. When it came to choosing one of them, it was pretty awful. I felt guilty of not able to choose all of them. When all of them are of same calibre, it becomes pretty difficult to choose.
2. In another incident, when you have decided prior hand that you are not going to choose a candidate by screening the resume, it doesn't make sense to call and interview the candidate for namesake. If you happen to do so, then it would be better not to ask some BS questions and reject the candidate. It really spoils the reputation of the organization that you represent. The better way to handle such scenario (in my perspective) is to conduct decent interview, ask relevant questions and let the candidate know the result at the end.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
How do you want your boss to be?
For long time, I have been trying to find a convincing answer to this. When I watched Robbert Scoble's exit interview in Channel 9, this question did popup over there too. In his terms, the best boss should not intercept him and should clear way for him to proceed. Again quoting him, "the best boss should be an ice-breaker".
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Airtel sucks
Adding to the already existing woes, Airtel website sucks pretty badly. They use heavy graphics and it is damn slow. I just tried to get their postpaid tariff plans and could not get to it from the morning.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
AIIMS Director dismissed
Though it is an expected news, it is quiet appalling to know the dirty politics played by PMK. The "egoistic" Union health minister Anbumani has avenged by dismissing Dr Venugopal, director of AIIMS, as he took a soft stand on the reservation issue. Read the story in The Week to know how much Dr Venugopal is respected in the institute. These politicians are taking our countries premier institutes for a ride.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Bandipur Mudhumalai Trip
Over the past weekend, we (myself, gops, nag and gowri) did a road trip to Coimbatore via Mysore, Bandipur, Mudhumalai and Ooty.
Read the complete story in the travel blog.
Flickr photo tag.
Read the complete story in the travel blog.
Flickr photo tag.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Time for charity
If you are following the international news, there has been a sudden splurge in the charity contributions from the celebrities.
Bill Gates was followed by Warren Buffet. Now Jackie Chan joins the chain.
I am wondering will there be any mentionable charity contributions to NGOs from desi celebrities! As per tradition, the family wealth is inherited by the heirs and there is very little left over for the charity!
Bill Gates was followed by Warren Buffet. Now Jackie Chan joins the chain.
I am wondering will there be any mentionable charity contributions to NGOs from desi celebrities! As per tradition, the family wealth is inherited by the heirs and there is very little left over for the charity!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
TeleMarketing at its peak
Until recently my desk phone at my workplace had only internal extension and could not be reached directly from outside. The call to my desk phone had to be routed through the front desk office or through the EPABX system. The moment DID (Direct Inward Dialling) got activated, the telemarketing calls has started coming in.
HSBC was the first one to sniff. Most of my officemates had got a call from HSBC for their free lifetime gold credit card offering.
How did HSBC get these numbers? Might be the service provider could have leaked. Otherwise nobody could sniff the number right on activation.
HSBC was the first one to sniff. Most of my officemates had got a call from HSBC for their free lifetime gold credit card offering.
How did HSBC get these numbers? Might be the service provider could have leaked. Otherwise nobody could sniff the number right on activation.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Too much sports to follow
If you are an avid sports buff, there are too many sports to follow these days. Coincidentally all of these events are happening at the same time of the year.
Football : FIFA World Cup
Racing: F1
Cricket: India - WI Test series
Tennis: Wimbledon
Hockey: Azlan Shah tournament
Our cable operator had just two slots for the sports channels and he use to swap sports channels in those two slots based on the coverages. These days he has increased the slots to three providing ESPN, StarSports and TEN Sports simultaneously.
Football : FIFA World Cup
Racing: F1
Cricket: India - WI Test series
Tennis: Wimbledon
Hockey: Azlan Shah tournament
Our cable operator had just two slots for the sports channels and he use to swap sports channels in those two slots based on the coverages. These days he has increased the slots to three providing ESPN, StarSports and TEN Sports simultaneously.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Hooking through dial-up
After so much getting used to broadband, I got hooked to net from my native home through dial-up. Being slow is awfull. I had to see and wait for the progress bar to complete which normally doesn't show up while on broadband connection. Luckily the connection was solid and never dropped off until now!
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