Google SearchWiki

SearchWiki.... not sure if Wiki is the right word to use - should have just named it Search 2.0 ... anyways, this new version of Search has quite a few cool features... Just google for anything and you will see three new icons.. 1. Promote 2. Remove 3. Comment - Now this will help Google in personalising your search more and give even better results based on the feedback they get. This is a great way to display more accurate results - this can do everything what a bot cannot. Moving results up and down is cool.. the animation is smoother..

Search Wiki is dedicated only for users which "Google tips and messages" are in English language. For testing SearchWiki, change your preferences (on main site).

Google Translate adds 11 new languages

Google recently added 11 more languages to Google Translate, making it easier than ever to read web pages in other languages. The newest language additions include Catalan, Serbian, Slovenian, Slovak, Latvian, Filipino, Indonesian, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Vietnamese.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

I have been reading "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" written by Rashmi Bansal... the title sounds familiar, isn't it... it is the word coined by Steve Jobs at Stanford - The book contains 25 inspiring stories of IIMA grads who instead of walking with the herd took a different path. I strongly recommend this book for all those who can dare dream big and do everything to make it happen... esp. those who want to start in India - there is so much you can relate to - except the success part which you will, eventually :-)

There is one thing in common from all these stories... when failure hits and hits again, just hang on and success will be yours soon... and when you succeed all failures are wiped out for ever...

There are quite a few things which startups can learn from this book... one of them would be a sugesstion from few founders.. "not to split the euqity euqally amongst founders"... I know most startups end up spliting the share equally btw every one but thats not a good thing to do, its better you follow some type of process to do this.. Here I found an article The Founders’ Pie Calculator which can help you decide.

I loved few adventures of these brave... here is a small list of those...

1. Sanjeev Bikchandani, naukri.com

2. R Subramanian, Subhiksha

3. Narendra Murkumbi, Shree Renuka Sugars
>> He shutdown his first company becuase 5 crore turnover was not big for hi

4. K. Raghavendra Rao, Orchid Pharma

5. Shankar Maruwada, Marketics

6. Deepta Rangaranjan, IRIS

There is a lot I could write about this book, but I suggest you read..

Converting any video into flv or anyother formate ffmpeg, ffmpeg-php, php

How to get FFMPEG working on Fedora


Installing FFMPEG
-----------------

Step 1. Update yum "yum update"
Step 2. Install GD "yum install php-gd" - it will install latest version
Step 3. "yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel"

If you get "No package ffmpeg available."

Then download Livna repository for Fedora 7 (which ever version you are using) (http://rpm.livna.org/rlowiki/).

For 7: http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-7.rpm

Install livna-release-7.rpm using the following command: rpm -Uvh livna-release-7.rpm

Now try, yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel

it should install it without any problem.


To check the FFmpeg working:

Finally, check the ffmpeg whether it is working or not.

> ffmpeg
> ffmpeg -formats
> ffmpeg --help
// This lists path of mpeg, its modules and other path information


ffmpeg -i Input.file Output.file
To check what audi/video formats are supported

ffmpeg -formats > ffmpeg-format.txt

Open the ffmpeg-formats.txt to see the ooutput

D means decode
E means encode
V means video
A means audio
T = Truncated


Installing FFMPEG-PHP
--------------------------

FFmpeg-php is a very good extension and wrapper for PHP which can pull useful information about video through API interface.

Inorder to install it you will need to download the source file and then compile and install extension in your server. You

can download the lastest source tarball : http://ffmpeg-php.sourceforge.net/

Run the following commands..

Step 1: wget http://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/ffmpeg-php/ffmpeg-php-0.6.0.tbz2

Step 2: tar -xjf ffmpeg-php-0.6.0.tbz2

Step 3: cd ffmpeg-php-0.6.0

Step 4: phpize

Step 5: ./configure

Step 6: make

Step 7: make install

Step 8: Edit PHP.ini

The best way to find php.ini in used to use this command.

# php -i | grep php.ini
Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc
Loaded Configuration File => /etc/php.ini


Before we edit the file, let's make a backup.

cp /etc/php.ini /etc/php.ini.bak (replace path/to with actual dir)

now let's edit it

vi /etc/php.ini (replace path/to with the actual dir)


Step 9: Put the below two lines at the end of the php.ini file

[ffmpeg]
extension=ffmpeg.so


Step 10: Then restart the server service httpd restart


To check whether ffmpeg enabled with php, point your browser to test.php file. It should show the confirmation of installed

ffmpeg php extension

// #test.php


phpinfo()

?>



Installing Mplayer + Mencoder
-----------------------------

Step 1: yum install mplayer mencoder


Installing FlvTool2
--------------------

For this you need ruby, if you dont have then install it..

Step 1: yum install ruby

Get the latest FLVtool from http://rubyforge.org/projects/flvtool2/

Step 2: wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/17497/flvtool2-1.0.6.tgz

Step 3: tar zxvf flvtool2-1.0.6.tgz

Step 4: cd flvtool2-1.0.6/

Step 5: ruby setup.rb config

Step 6: ruby setup.rb setup

Step 7: ruby setup.rb install


HELPFULL LINKS:
---------------

http://www.mysql-apache-php.com/ffmpeg-install.htm

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archive/index.php/t-176767.html

http://linux.justinhartman.com/FFmpeg,_FFmpeg-PHP,_Lame,_Libogg,_Libvorbis,_FLVtool2,_Mplayer,_Mencoder,_AMR_Installation#Install_flvtool2

http://blog.gwikzone.org/2006/09/25/flv-encoding-with-ffmpeg

A Wave in the Financial Industry -The Lehmans Burst

Some layman explanation for wat happened to Lehmann Brothers, please read the article carried by TOI (Delhi Edition) in their 'Learning With The Times' section. Explains a lot. For starters what is prime and subprime:)

US mortgage crisis: A subprimer

Q: What is a sub-prime loan?
A: In the US, borrowers are rated either as 'prime' - indicating that they have a good credit rating based on their track record - or as 'sub-prime', meaning their track record in repaying loans has been below par. Loans given to sub-prime borrowers, something banks would normally be reluctant to do, are categorized as sub-prime loans. Typically, it is the poor and the young who form the bulk of sub-prime borrowers.

Q: Why loans were given?
A: In roughly five years leading up to 2007, many banks started giving loans to sub-prime borrowers, typically through subsidiaries. They did so because they believed that the real estate boom, which had more than doubled home prices in the US since 1997, would allow even people with dodgy credit backgrounds to repay on the loans they were taking to buy or build homes. Government also encouraged lenders to lend to sub-prime borrowers, arguing that this would help even the poor and young to buy houses.
With stock markets booming and the system flush with liquidity, many big fund investors like hedge funds and mutual funds saw sub-prime loan portfolios as attractive investment opportunities. Hence, they bought such portfolios from the original lenders. This in turn meant the lenders had fresh funds to lend. The subprime loan market thus became a fast growing segment.

Q: What was the interest rate on sub-prime loans?
A: Since the risk of default on such loans was higher, the interest rate charged on sub-prime loans was typically about two percentage points higher than the interest on prime loans. This, of course, only added to the risk of sub-prime borrowers defaulting. The repayment capacity of sub-prime borrowers was in any case doubtful. The higher interest rate additionally meant substantially higher EMIs than for prime borrowers, further raising the risk of default. Further, lenders devised new instruments to reach out to more sub-prime borrowers. Being flush with funds they were willing to compromise on prudential norms. In one of the instruments they devised, they asked the borrowers to pay only the interest portion to begin with. The repayment of the principal portion was to start after two years.

Q: How did this turn into a crisis? A: The housing boom in the US started petering out in 2007. One major reason was that the boom had led to a massive increase in the supply of housing. Thus house prices started falling. This increased the default rate among subprime borrowers, many of whom were no longer able or willing to pay through their nose to buy a house that was declining in value. Since in home loans in the US, the collateral is typically the home being bought, this increased the supply of houses for sale while lowering the demand, thereby lowering prices even further and setting off a vicious cycle. That this coincided with a slowdown in the US economy only made matters worse. Estimates are that US housing prices have dropped by almost 50% from their peak in 2006 in some cases. The declining value of the collateral means that lenders are left with less than the value of their loans and hence have to book losses.

Q: How did this become a systemic crisis?
A: One major reason is that the original lenders had further sold their portfolios to other players in the market. There were also complex derivatives developed based on the loan portfolios, which were also sold to other players, some of whom then sold it on further and so on.
As a result, nobody is absolutely sure what the size of the losses will be when the dust ultimately settles down. Nobody is also very sure exactly who will take how much of a hit. It is also important to realise that the crisis has not affected only reckless lenders. For instance, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which owned or guaranteed more than half of the roughly $12 trillion outstanding in home mortgages in the US, were widely perceived as being more prudent than most in their lending practices. However, the housing bust meant that they too had to suffer losses — $14 billion combined in the last four quarters - because of declining prices for their collateral and increased default rates.
The forced retreat of these two mortgage giants from the market, of course, only adds to every other player's woes.

Q: What has been the impact of the crisis?
A: Global banks and brokerages have had to write off an estimated $512 billion in sub-prime losses so far, with the largest hits taken by Citigroup ($55.1 bn) and Merrill Lynch ($52.2 bn). A little more than half of these losses, or $260 bn, have been suffered by US-based firms, $227 billion by European firms and a relatively modest $24 bn by Asian ones. Despite efforts by the US Federal Reserve to offer some financial assistance to the beleaguered financial sector, it has led to the collapse of Bear Sterns, one of the world's largest investment banks and securities trading firm. Bear Sterns was bought out by JP Morgan Chase with some help from the Fed.
The crisis has also seen Lehman Brothers - the fourth largest investment bank in the US - file for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch has been bought out by Bank of America. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have effectively been nationalized to prevent them from going under.
Reports suggest that insurance major AIG (American Insurance Group) is also under severe pressure and has asked for a $40 bn bridge loan to tide over the crisis. If AIG also collapses, that would really test the entire financial sector.

Q: How is the rest of the world affected?
A: Apart from the fact that banks based in other parts of the world also suffered losses from the subprime market, there are two major ways in which the effect is felt across the globe. First, the US is the biggest borrower in the world since most countries hold their foreign exchange reserves in dollars and invest them in US securities.
Thus, any crisis in the US has a direct bearing on other countries, particularly those with large reserves like Japan, China and - to a lesser extent - India. Also, since global equity markets are closely interlinked through institutional investors, any crisis affecting these investors sees a contagion effect throughout the world.

How to remove Wax From Clothes

I like making shapes out of wax and quite often end up pouring the liquid wax on my clothes... It can be challenging to remove the wax from your clothes as it gets observed into the threads.

Here is a video on how to remove wax from your clothes..


How To Remove Wax From Clothes Or Material

Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

I don't understand nuclear physics... hardly attended any physics class, I am more a computers guy... So, instead of explaining what I know about Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - from what I read.. I have just compiled few statements from different articles on LHC, knowledgeable and fun to read... also few funny comments...

About LHC

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27 kilometer (17 mile) long particle accelerator straddling the border of Switzerland and France, is nearly set to begin today - that's right today "At 12:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday Sept 2008", scientists on the Franco-Swiss border
will flip the switch on the Large Hadron Collider . The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is preparing for its first planned particle collisions before the end of the year. The final step before starting is the chilling of the entire collider to -271.25 C (-456.25 F).


The end of the world as we know it?

Now the media is correctly reporting that some physicists believe that the Large Hadron Collider might produce mini black holes in its collisions, and that black holes are in general so powerful that they can swallow up not just the Earth, but whole star systems. The media also correctly reported that physicists, when pressed, cannot completely dismiss the chance of being eaten alive by these mini black holes from the LHC.

First of all, mother nature can produce subatomic particles of greater energy than the puny LHC in the form of cosmic rays. These high-energy particles, which are accelerated to astronomical energies by huge magnetic and electric fields in space, have been raining down on Earth for billions of years, plenty of time to swallow up the planet - yet we are still here to write about it.

Secondly, these mini black holes are not just small black holes; they are actually subatomic in size, comparable to electrons or protons. The entire energy created by these particles would not even light up a light bulb if the LHC were running for a hundred years. Although the subatomic particles produced by the LHC can have trillions of electron volts, the LHC is expected, at best, to create mini black holes at the rate of one per second, which is much too small to cause any appreciable danger to anyone.


Thirdly, these mini black holes are unstable, and quickly decay. Instead of gobbling up matter and becoming big enough to eat up the Earth, they go in the opposite direction, emitting radiation so that they eventually disappear into nothing, a process proposed by the renowned Cambridge physicist, Stephen Hawking. So these subatomic black holes naturally self-destruct.

Fourthly, when pressed by journalists to flatly declare that the worst case scenario cannot occur, physicists shy away, not because we think the event might occur, but because of a loophole in the quantum theory. Because of Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, there is a tiny chance that anything will occur. There is a chance that firebreathing dragons will be produced by the LHC. But the probability of this event is so small, one can show that it will not happen in the lifetime of the universe.

What Happens if You Fall Into a Black Hole?

Anyways this is not going to happen... so don't panic... but still I thought someone would be interested.. as I was..

Your body would be shredded apart into the smallest possible pieces. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, who wrote the definitive account Death by Black Hole, imagined the experience as "the most spectacular way to die in space."

A black hole is a place where the force of gravity is so powerful that you would need to be traveling at a speed faster than the speed of light to escape its pull. Since nothing in the universe is faster than the speed of light, nothing that falls into a black hole can ever escape. The border at which gravity becomes strong enough to create that phenomenon is known as the "event horizon"; it marks the outer boundary of the black hole. (Until the 1940s, some scientists believed that matter crusted up on the event horizon and didn't fall in.)

If you fell into a large enough black hole, your last moments would be a little bit like being on the inside of a distorted, one-way mirror. No one outside would be able to see you, but you'd have a view of them. Meanwhile, the gravitational pull would bend the light weirdly and distort your last moments of vision.

comments compiled :) have a hearty laugh - some creative writing ha!!

# This thing is going to kill us all.

# It looks like Half life:)

# awesome. where can we sign up to be the first person to jump into a black hole?

# Nope! We're all gonna die. (isn't it more fun that way?)

# really who thought of this? How big does your head need to be to think of something lke this...

# Oh. My. God

# Hope there's not a cable loose somewhere...

# I truly have a bad feeling about this.

# Absolutely mind blowing pictures. Probably the most beautiful photographs I've ever seen about technology.

# I HOPE it kills us all.

# how many people could we feed with that money?

# The end of the world is pretty.

# Wow, Half-life 3 is going to be sweet!

# To me me me: Science shouldn't lie just to make you more comfortable. That's religion's job.

# They're waiting for you Gordon.....In the tessst chamber!

# Sadly for those wanting the Ultimate Fate of the Universe, it will not kill us all.

# so how fast does it download porn.... you know that's the only important question!

# I have my crowbar ready for any unforseen consequences.
-- this comment got me ROFL!!!

# What an 18 billion dollar budget and the cant afford to give the IT guys a flat screen!
-- Check out the spans below... one of the IT guy is using a CRT :-)

# I hope it does not run Windows Vista

# pfft this thing again? i have one in my backyard.

# i would love to scrap that thing

# Research for research sake is a beautiful thing.

# OMFG! wait, now - what does god have to do with it?

# You people are stupid ... read something.

# yeah,but does it come with a remote control?

# Troubleshooting this would be a nightmare

# Who's going to troubleshoot this thing?

# I hope they are not running Vista!?!
-- again :)

# Ho, ho, ho...!
Drink, eat and f#ck!
The whole world
is going to crack....
Love, play, kiss and drink!
The world is going to sink!
Be injudicious, my good friend,
as if the world goes to its end...!

(...and if not happens today,
someday,
your life will be get away...)

-- This thing even gets people to become poets :-) LOL!!

# Just Think of the Electric Bill!!!!!

# Has anyone seen my car keys?

# Yeah, we're becoming aliens! :D



Here is a collection of photographs from CERN, showing various stages of completion of the LHC and several of its larger experiments (some over seven stories tall), over the past several years.


View of the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment Tracker Outer Barrel (TOB) in the cleaning room. The CMS is one of two general-purpose LHC experiments designed to explore the physics of the Terascale, the energy region where physicists believe they will find answers to the central questions at the heart of 21st-century particle physics. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



The Globe of Innovation in the morning. The wooden globe is a structure originally built for Switzerland's national exhibition, Expo'02, and is 40 meters wide, 27 meters tall. (Maximilien Brice; Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



Assembly and installation of the ATLAS Hadronic endcap Liquid Argon Calorimeter. The ATLAS detector contains a series of ever-larger concentric cylinders around the central interaction point where the LHC's proton beams collide. (Roy Langstaff, © CERN)



Checks are performed on the alignment of the magnets in the LHC tunnel. It is vital that each magnet is placed exactly where it has been designed so that the path of the beam is precisely controlled. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



The ALICE Inner Tracking System during its transport in the experimental cavern and its insertion into the Time Projection Chamber (TPC). ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment @ CERN) will study the physics of ultrahigh-energy proton-proton and lead-lead collisions and will explore conditions in the first instants of the universe, a few microseconds after the Big Bang. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



Insertion of the tracker in the heart of the CMS detector. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



The LHCb electromagnetic calorimeter. This huge 6X7 square meter wall consists of 3300 blocks containing scintillator, fibre optics and lead. It will measure the energy of particles produced in proton-proton collisions at the LHC when it is started. Photons, electrons and positrons will pass through the layers of material in these modules and deposit their energy in the detector through a shower of particles. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)


Photo from the CMS pixel-strip integration test performed at the Tracker Integration Facility at the Meyrin site. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



French, Swiss and CERN firemen move rescue equipment through the LHC tunnel. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



View of the LHC cryo-magnet inside the tunnel. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



Insertion of the tracker in the heart of the CMS detector. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



The Z+ end of the CMS Tracker with Tracker Outer Barrel completed. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



View from the surface during lowering of the first ATLAS small wheel into the tunnel on side C of the cavern. (Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



Lowering of one of the two ATLAS muon small wheels into the cavern. (Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



View of the ATLAS detector during July 2007 (Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



A welder works on the interconnection between two of the LHC's superconducting magnet systems, in the LHC tunnel. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



View of the CMS detector at the end of 2007. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



Transporting the ATLAS Magnet Toroid End-Cap A between building 180 to ATLAS point 1. (Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



View of the ATLAS cavern side A beginning of February 2008, before lowering of the Muon Small Wheels (Maximilien Brice; Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



The L3 magnet in the ALICE cavern, with one door almost closed. (Mona Schweizer, © CERN)



Lowering of the last element (YE-1) of the CMS detector into its underground experimental cavern. (Mona Schweizer, © CERN)



The first ATLAS Inner Detector End-Cap after complete insertion within the Liquid Argon Cryostat. (Claudia Marcelloni; Max Brice, © CERN)



Installation of the ATLAS pixel detector into the cavern (Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



Installation of the Beam Pipe in the ATLAS cavern (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)



View of the Computer Center during the installation of servers. (Maximilien Brice; Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN)



Installation of the world's largest silicon tracking detector in the CMS experiment. (Michael Hoch, © CERN)



Aerial view of CERN and the surrounding region of Switzerland and France. Three rings are visible, the smaller (at lower right) shows the underground position of the Proton Synchrotron, the middle ring is the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) with a circumference of 7 km and the largest ring (27 km) is that of the former Large Electron and Positron collider (LEP) accelerator with part of Lake Geneva in the background. (© CERN)

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/30/cern.particlephysics1

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/the_large_hadron_collider.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2199664/

Gmail features that come with Google Chrome

1. Application shortcuts: with this feature, people can place a shortcut on their desktop to Gmail. With this, users can open Gmail in its own window, one that looks like a regular Windows application window. This is useful for those that don't want the clutter of the address bar, bookmarks, etc.
   
   

   Many websites, such as email services, operate like actual programs, similar to those on your computer desktop.

   Open these websites just like any other programs on your computer. Create an application shortcut for the website you're on:
   
   

   • Click the Page menu
   • Select Create application shortcuts.
   • In the 'Google Gears' dialog box, select the checkboxes where you want shortcuts to be placed on your computer.
     • Desktop
     • Start menu
     • Quick launch bar
   • Click the OK button.
     
     When you double-click a shortcut icon, the web application opens in a special streamlined window that gives you as much working room as possible.
   
   
2. You can add "gmail.com" as a search engine in the address bar, thus allowing you to search your emails directly from the address bar. so, once set up, you can type "gmail to:me from:larry" into the address bar. Once you press Enter, a Gmail window will open with the search results already loaded.
   

Google Chrome

Here I am back with some exciting news about... "yes of course" GOOGLE... But this time its big, I am writing this Blog while its downloading on my system... okie... So by now you might have guessed that its an application ... let me have the honor of introducing it to you (my blog readers).. its a New BROWSER from GOOGLE and they call it CHROME.

This is what Google has to say about it... "Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier."

Before you continue reading... I would suggest you to start installing it.. oh btw, its only for XP and Vista - I am sure Mac and Linux versions should be out soon... Download GOOGLE CHROME Here. Its downloaded on my system.. Let me close this post here the press release.... Will be back after testing it thoroughly... will test few of the websites which we are building right now.. have fun with Chrome.... I need to go now..

Update: Few of my friends complained of downloading problems... here, I uploaded the .exe file on my server, I am sure you wont have any problem with my server..... Click here to download Chrome from my server

Google Chrome Press Conference

I’m here at the Googleplex for a press conference to announce the new Google browser, called Chrome. The service will go live at 12 Noon PT today and is available for Windows Vista and XP - for now. Mac and Linux versions are coming soon. It will launch in 122 countries and 43 languages. It is also fully open-source. (Download it here.)

The presentation begins with an explanation of Chrome, acknowledging that it’s a complex product that is needed in an age when the Web has also become more complex. Example: Google Maps and add-on features like Street View. Google says the guts of the browser - the core infrastructure of it - is still very much the same as it was a decade or more ago.

Google pushes simple use and a sophisticated core. Just look at how clean and simple the Google search page. Google Chrome is built on the same idea - clean and simple to use. The browser, Google says, is just another application and the company wants people to “forget” that they’re using a browser.

At it’s core is Webkit, an open-source rendering enginer - the same used by Safari. The browser in Android also uses Webkit. The browser also uses a multi-process architecture. Each tab within the browser runs independently, making the browser faster and more responsive. If one tab slows down or crashes, it doesn’t affect the others. The company says it also enhances security features by operating in a “sandbox,” and not allowing corrupt the whole system.

The company also announced today Chromium, the open source project.

Update: In Chrome, the “omnibox” is both the search and address box. It incorporates a feature that fills in the blank, remembering sites where you go regularly. One cool feature: incorporating search fields from other sites - such as Amazon - into the search box of Chrome. Example: If you go into Chrome and type Amazon and then search for Stephen King, the next time you go to Amazon on Chrome, it incorporates a search field to search within Amazon - before you get to that site.

Update: When you create a new tab, instead of bringing up a blank page or home page, it creates a “new tab” page that shows links and images to most visited pages, recently closed tabs and search engine boxes for favorite sites such as Yelp, Wikipedia and Amazon. In Google Chrome, there is also an “incognito window” feature - which is much like the private browsing feature found in IE8 (often called porn mode.) The history from this browsing experience does not appear on the computer.

Update: Google has reinvented the download process, as well, placing shortcuts to the downloaded files to the bottom of the page - not forcing users to search for them in folders. From there, the files can be dragged to other locations. There is also a feature that treats some Web applications as computer applications. For example, Gmail, which is an always-on application for some people, can be launched from a desktop shortcut - just like a real app - and open in its own window, without the address bar and other tools it doesn’t need.

Update: They’re talking about the multi-processing tabs that work independently of each other. Security benefits from the architecture takes away the privileges of accessing files on the computer that it doesn’t need - such as registry files. In other browsers, bad guys looking to install malware only have to find the files to corrupt in the system. But in Chrome, there’s an added layer of security by not allowing access outside of the browser, keeping bad guys get trapped in the sandbox - the closed, independent browser that’s running.

Update: As the press conference wraps up, Google re-emphasizes that Chrome is fully open-source and is not tied to Google search or any other Google application. Larry Page makes a cameo to offer his support for the product and congratulate the Chrome team on its work. He noted that we don’t want to love in a world where things can’t be improved and that’s why Google is committed to the open-source platform with Chrome. Advancements, he said, can be made much faster than in the past by using that mindset. He notes that it’s challenging to build a browser but that it’s been tested for some time inside the walls of Google and the response has been good.

The press conference ends and Google opens the floor to questions.

Update: Google gives props to Mozilla for re-igniting browser technology advancements and said the companies will continue to work together closely. There’s hope that, just as Google has tapped existing tools and technologies to develop Chrome, it hopes that others will also implement Chrome’s technologies, as well.

Update: The development of Chrome has been going on for about two years and migrated from a rumor to a reality. The company wouldn’t comment on the number of employees working on it, other than to note it has been a “huge” investment. The company was asked about the financial benefit - leading to the idea that ads could be placed on the page - but dodged the question directly as to whether ads would be placed on the page. The company did note that the company does well when more people spend time on the Internet - and Google-branded pages. If users become more accustomed to the Web experience - as opposed to client-based applications - they’re more likely to spend time interacting with Google. As for whether Google Chrome could be considered the operating system for Web apps, Sergey Brin said that’s not exactly right. However, the browser is in its first version and remains in Beta. The company, by making it open, is encouraging development. Could Chrome eventually morph into the Web’s operating system? Maybe.

Source of press release

Please do not forget to leave a comment once you evaluate it... would like to know what you think of it.

P.S. I would have loved Google partnering with Mozilla rather than building a new one, as I love Mozilla as much as I love Google products. Anyways, now I have to select one of them... this sucks... :(

The New Facebook

Facebook has enrolled a new version rather a redesigned one. I still need to explore the features but they did change the layout from 800px width to 1024px.

-ve's in iphone2

Here is an e-mail about Iphone.. which is been doing rounds from past couple of weeks.... anyways, checkout the points.. aren't all the points so damn valid..

-------------------------

No video calling,

no AD2P on the Bluetooth,

CAN'T share ANY (mp3, images,videos....) files via bluetooth,

can't use as a wireless modem, (you pay ridiculous data charges to activate internet on your phone, but cannot connect it to your PC and browse when you are at home)

no copy and paste,(cannot copy a part of a.... say.... email & send it....have to type it out yourself)

no 3.2 or 5 megapixel camera,(the 2MP camera it carries is worst camera i've ever seen..... photos look like they have come out of a VGA camera)

no video recording with camera,

no front camera,

no flash.

no JAVA support

No physical keyboard (BELIEVE me! this alone is a dealbreaker...touch keyboard as good as it looks...once you use it then only you come to know about the importance of having a hard keypad)

No 3G network yet in India..so why pay for expensive 3G phone if you cant use its 3G services ... so, for India, iPhone 2.0 is no better than its first version

No removable battery. (You cannot change battery. Have to send it to apple outlet.. Come on now!!!!...This is not an iPod. Its a bloody phone. You cannot live without phone for 2-3 days)

No haptic feedback and

cannot send MMS,

can't use as external storage device (16 GB of utter waste..next time you go to your friend's house & find some interesting songs, movies, etc...sorry you cannot connect your '16 GB' phone and share it!!!! Apple apparently has a solution.. " BUY MUSIC & MOVIES FROM iTUNES STORE "..... Give me a break will you APPLE!!!)

no FM radio,

can't use your mp3 files as ringtones,(This is heights man!!!)

cannot insert any other SIM card….

completely tied to iTunes... Connect to your friend's iTunes & you risk erasing everything on your phone.

list goes on & on & on….



We Indians are used to these features. Most of our phones already have these features. & we cannot do with out them.... i mean can you imagine paying so much for a phone with which you cannot transfer files via bluetooth. what age is this ...STONE AGE???

Some features may be activated by jailbreak.. But why the hell should you risk losing your warranty after paying so much.

And want to add third party softwares??.. YOU HAVE TO BUY THEM FROM iTUNES STORE ONLY!!! . (Shell out more money). Apple is a bloody control freak. Dont surrender your freedom to it.

Its good for american market (who have no idea what mobile freedom/choice is) which is in stone age compared to asian/european markets. When they want to buy a phone, they have to go to network operators and buy only those phones that are available on that network. & stick to that company till their contract expires. You want to change carriers? Not before paying damages, & buying another phone on the other network again.

On the contrary, we in India have so much freedom. We go to handset shops & buy which ever phone we like. Then go to carriers.. checkout the plans & buy SIM.. Dont like the plan or rival carrier came up with a better plan???? EASY .. just remove & replace the SIM.

Apple are trying to IMPOSE THEIR MODEL ON US riding on the hype iPhone has created in the US (yes it was a flop in Europe ..thats why Apple never talks about its sales in Europe).

Dont fall for the subsidized price of iPhone... CHECKOUT THE DATA PLAN ATTACHED TO ITS SIM ..they will recover the cost through ridiculous data plans. Bill might come to around Rs 2500/month.(ATLEAST AMERICANS PAY THAT MUCH)

Let me clear one thing though.. iphone is the best looking phone (its touch interface is nothing like you have ever seen ), & best browsing experience out there no doubt .... (& others are fast catching up..check out the android demo at Google IO 2008).... BUT AFTER A FEW DAYS IT ALL COMES DOWN TO FUNCTIONALITY...

Those of who buy it... You will be most happy for atmost a week... & then, MARK MY WORDS...YOU WILL START REGRETTING IT!!!

My advice...WAIT FOR HTC DREAM!! (powered by android). Still not convinced by then...by all means go for iPhone...

So friends lets spread this info to all our friends and help them in making a wise decision..... & those of you who have bought unlocked versions already please share your experiences with others

Source: Another forward to my gmail account

Trek to Kumaraparvatha

Kumaraparvatha Trek

It was just an accident - The story of Ice cream cone

This story is a perfect example of serendipity, and a single chance encounter leading to worldwide repercussions. It's also rather sweet.

Before 1904, ice cream was served on dishes. It wasn't until the world's fair of that year, held in St Louis, Missouri, that two seemingly unrelated foodstuffs became inexorably linked together.

At this particularly sweltering 1904 World's Fair, a stall selling ice cream was doing such good business that they were qucikly running out of dishes. The neighboring stall wasn't doing so well, selling Zalabia a kind of wafer thin waffle from Persia and the stall owner came up with the idea of rolling them into code shapes and popping the ice cream on top. Thus the ice cream cone was born - and it doesn't look like dying out any time soon. :-)

Third-party ads now available on the Google content network

Here is a mail I received from GOOGLE ...

Greetings from Google!

We're happy to announce that the Google content network now
accepts display ads served from qualified third-party vendors.
During this initial release, only ads in English are eligible,
although we look forward to offering more options in the future.

By accepting third-party ads, we can attract a greater variety of
advertising on the Google content network, which we believe will
result over time in increased revenue for publishers and more
relevant advertising for end users.

If you're currently opted in to image ads, you're already able to
receive third-party ads. If not, you can enable image ads to start
receiving third-party ads immediately. (Learn how to enable image
ads at
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=9741.)

If you choose to allow third-party ads on your site, please update
your privacy policy to inform your visitors that third-party
vendors may serve ads on your site. Please also provide links to
these vendor websites and inform your users that they may opt out
of cookies (if the vendor offers this capability). For more
information about updating your policies, visit
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94150.

You'll continue to have full control over which ads appear on your
site with tools like competitive ad filtering and the Ad Review
Center. Also, only advertisers with whom we have proven
relationships and who've clearly demonstrated commitments to our
quality standards may participate in this program. Our policies
governing ad content and formatting remain unchanged.

To learn more about third-party ads, please visit our blog post at
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/05/introducing-third-party-ads-on-google.html
and our FAQ at
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=14535.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact us at
adsense-support@google.com.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

IPhone India rollout to be world's largest

Source: Yahoo News

The rollout of Apple, Inc's iPhones in India is set to be the largest, anywhere in the world. It is understood from industry sources that Apple's iPhones will be sold through about 2.

5 lakh Vodafone and Airtel retail outlets including franchisee owned shops. This rollout would be mammoth when compared to iPhones being available only in about 7000 AT and amp;T outlets in the US apart from the Apple Stores.

"Most phone makers want their products in as many stores as possible and Apple is changing its strategy from exclusivity to wider availability," said an analyst from a brokerage house who did not wish to be named. Airtel announced yesterday that they would be selling iPhones in India.

Earlier Vodafone inked a deal last week to rollout iPhones in 10 countries including India. Additionally, Apple will be selling iPhones through its own outlets, which are very few in number.

Industry observers say that the distribution network would cover all metros and leading tier II towns. When contacted Airtel spokespeople said that they are working on the distribution strategy and cannot comment on that at present.

Vodafone officials did not respond to emails seeking details of the roll-out. However, people involved with the distribution indicated that the iPhone, priced at Rs 23000 will be targetted at 'high-end' mobile phone users whose monthly bills exceed of Rs 1000.

They said agreements with franchisees would also be worked out. It is another first in India - franchisees do not sell iPhones in USA.

Bharti is working out plans on bundling iPhones along with its broadband through its Telemedia services department that currently has 794,000 broadband customers as on March this year. India currently has 37 million Internet users, according to Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Timeless India

Ministry of Tourism

Government of India

Narration: Michael York

Google adwords is down

Its a daily ritual to login into google adwords and the check status... as usual, today I tried logging into my account, it logs me in and to my surprise I see a different home page.. did not even care to read what was on that page, thought I might have done some thing wrong.. click on the browser back button and then it logs me in again to the same page.. This time I took time to read the text and you know what GOOGLE ADWORDS IS DOWN. :(

If it is a scheduled maintenance - I would have got a mail, but I did not neither did the message says it is maintenance... I called up my client, asked him to check it from his side.. he couldn't login either.. so we decide GOOGLE ADWORDS IS DOWN because of some technical problem. What could it be? someone hacked it? too much load (I am sure google has a way to tackle this) - what could it be?

What were they thinking??

Go invisible with Gtalk ( Google Talk )

I know I know, this is a very old question but too many have asked me this question... How do I go Invisible on Gtalk???

Ha, pretty simple, this feature never existed when gtalk saw the light - its a new feature, okie.. no so new... anyways, heres how you go invisible..

1. Login into your GMail.

2. Check the for Sing into Gtalk option on the left side below the menu.

3. SingIn and the click on the dropdown just below the search, add, invite textbox.

4. And there you will find the option Invisible, thats it, you select that option and you become god. You can see everyone but no one can see you.

--------------------------
Hell I already know this,
How can I go Invisible on
Desktop Gtalk... you know
the standalone Gtalk app-
lication??? How do I??
-------------------------

ok ok, I understand your frustration.. invisible option is not yet provided on Gtalk Standalone/Desktop application.

High-Definition Television

High-definition television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with greater resolution than traditional television systems (NTSC -National Television System Committee, SECAM-Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire or Sequential Color with Memory, PAL-Phase Alternating Line). HDTV is digitally broadcast because digital television (DTV) requires less bandwidth if sufficient video compression is used.

HDTV sources

The rise in popularity of large screens and projectors has made the limitations of conventional Standard Definition TV (SDTV) increasingly evident. A HDTV compatible television set will not improve the quality of SDTV channels. To display a superior picture, high definition televisions require a High Definition (HD) signal. Typical sources of HD signals are as follows:

Over the air with an antenna. Most cities in the US with major network affiliates broadcast over the air in HD. To receive this signal a HD tuner is required. Most new high definition televisions have a HD tuner built in. For HDTV televisions without a built in HD tuner, a separate set-top HD tuner box can be rented from a cable or satellite company or purchased.

Cable television companies often offer HDTV broadcasts as part of their digital broadcast service. This is usually done with a set-top box or Cable CARD issued by the cable company. Alternatively one can usually get the network HDTV channels for free with basic cable by using a QAM tuner built into their HDTV or set-top box. Some cable carriers also offer HDTV on-demand playback of movies and commonly viewed shows.

Satellite-based TV companies, such as DirecTV and Dish Network (both in North America), Sky Digital (in the UK and Ireland), Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice (both in Canada) and NTV Plus (in Russia), offer HDTV to customers as an upgrade.

Video game systems, such as the Xbox, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and digital set-top boxes that rely on an Internet connection, such as the Apple TV, can output a HD signal. The Xbox Live Marketplace, iTunes, and PlayStation Network services offer HD movies, TV shows, movie trailers, and clips for download, but at lower bit rates than Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

Most new computer graphics cards have either HDMI or DVI interfaces, which can be used to output images or video to a HDTV.

Two optical disc standards, Blu-ray Disc (25GB-50GB) and HD DVD (15GB-30GB), can provide enough digital storage to store hours of HD video content.

Economic Survey of India 2007

Below is link to some of the key challenges India needs to face in the run ..

http://www.oecd.org/document/5/0,3343,en_2649_201185_39428741_1_1_1_1,00.html

The economy is expected to grow by 8.7 percent this fiscal year, which ends March 31, slowing from 9.6 percent growth rate it achieved in the 2006-2007 fiscal year, its fastest expansion in nearly two decades, according to the government's annual Economic Survey, released Thursday.

The survey said that slowdown in economic growth is because of tighter monetary policy and a weakening global economy. To read more about this survey here is a brief report on Economic Survey of India 2007.