E - Gyaan

Another technology blog

deepam — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 21:56:00 +0000

This is another technology blog that brings up some really interesting upadtes for you if you live your life online (bolg)

Its been a while

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:37:00 +0000

Hi Guys... Its been a while since I wrote about Technology, been a bit busy. In the mean while visit Technology Nerd, this site has good Technology Articles as well.

Good Luck!

Mark Shuttleworth

Sasidhar — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:41:00 +0000

Born on the same day as me (18th September), he is just 9 years older than me.

This South African entrepreneur has already acheived a lot in life. As the founder of Thawte, which he later sold to VeriSign for about 3 billion, he is now a Venture Capitalist, runs a philanthropic organization, is the head of the organization for Ubuntu. And if all this wasn't enough,he was the first African nationalist in Space. He is also the worlds second space tourist, paying about 20 million to spend about 8 days at the International Space Station. For this, he had to train for about 1 year.

Starting as a Debian developer, he choose to return to Linux. He funded the development of Ubuntu, one of the fastest growing Unix OS presently. He has invested 10 million dollars in Ubuntu.

At 32, he is exactly what I would love to be.

Post by: Sasidhar.

The not so widely known Opera

infokarma@gmail.com (Nikhil Dev) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:28:00 +0000

I was so sick of using firefox all this while that I went out in search for a really fast browser that satisfies my needs. Tested something called K-meleon which is another browser on the Gecko engine but found it to be the same. Have been trying Flock for sometime as I was impressed with the features and again found that the startup time was pretty too much. So what I had to do now was to search on Windows browser comparision. And found that the best browser of all would be Opera in all minimum requirements off a browser. The present release stable version is 9. I was surprised with the startup time which was less than a second. Firefox takes me close to 5 seconds for the same. Also the level of customizability is quite equeal. But I like the way Opera handles the tabs and the address bar. On the whole I would give Opera 9 a 9/10.

Posted by Nikhil Dev.

Amazon S3

Sasidhar — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 07:00:00 +0000

"Amazon S3 is storage for the Internet. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers."

aws.amazon.com/s3 says it all.

'Amazon S3' is the Simple Storage Service offered by Amazon.

Amazon hasn't really gone full steam with this product. You don't see any advertisements, any kind of fanfare, blogposts, reviews about it. Still very much in the inner-cirlces of industry tech freaks.

Although there are a lot of other sites providing similar funtionality, Amazon S3 has the advantage of scaling fast, reliability and speed. And if these factors weren't enough, its cheaper than any of its competetors.

I don't quite understand how Amazon will be able to keep the prices for its S3 offering as they presently are. The business model does not seem to favour scalability. We will just have to wait and watch.

Don MacAskill, CEO of online photo site SmugMug, says that S3 also has the advantage of freeing up capital."One of the other big cost issues is you don't have to front-load your capital costs," he explains. "So even if S3 were slightly more expensive in the long run, it makes utilizing your existing cash much easier. It also gets away from the silly
capital-expenses-amortized-over-five-years tax law, which basically
means that in your first year you have to pay 30% of the capital
expenses again to the government and you don't get it back for a few
years."

Some of the startups using Amazon's S3 services for their data storage are:
- SmugMug.com
- YouOS.com
- msdn
- Altexa
- Jungle Disk
- Elephant Drive

Digital media, banner ads, video content, are just examples of how S3 is currently being used.

Post by Sasidhar.

All in one media decoder

infokarma@gmail.com (Nikhil Dev) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 06:03:00 +0000

At office I have been seeing a lot of people who deal with so many formats of audio and video media that are available. The devices are capable of encoding into several formats but the problem comes with the decoding. There is not one place where you find all the codecs for decoding. I searched for this and found something that should satisfy all the media decoding needs. This codec packs supports close to a hundred formats. Almost every one in the world. A sure must download. And also while installation try using BS player cos it is smaller and easier to handle. Use this location for the download http://www.codecguide.com/download_mega.htm

by Nikhil Dev.

How to publish blogger to your site using FTP

infokarma@gmail.com (Nikhil Dev) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:22:00 +0000

I myself have had so much trouble so many time to try to figure out the settings for publishing my blogs to my domain and at last I thought that I would document this so that it would be useful to other people as well. So this is how we go about with it.

Before we start, make sure that you have your FTP username and password ready as well as create a directory something like "blog" at the root level of your webspace.
Next you need to go into the settings section of your blogger account and click on "Publishing". Click on the link called FTP. I have take a few examples of my site data to make things more understandable. Enter the following data into the given fields under "Publishing"

FTP server : nikhildev.com(your ftp server name)
Blog URL : http://nikhildev.com/blog
FTP Path : /blog/
Blog filename : index.htm
Username: "the username that you use to access your ftp account"
Password : "The password relevant to that FTP account"

Click on Save Changes.

Next go into the Archiving section of the settings and enter the following fields:-

Archive path :- /blog/archive/
Archive URL :- http://nikhildev.com/blog/archive/
Archive Filename : archive.html

And the last things that you need to do is specify the site feed settings as following:-

Site feed server path:/blog/
Site feed filename: atom.xml
Site feed url; http://nikhildev.com/blog/atom.xml

Remember to click on Save Changes every time. You would then get a Navy blue button called republish. Click on that. After that again click on another button called "Republish Entire Blog"(remember, this is very important)

And voila! you are done and all set. All the future posts will be on your server. You can get back to me if you need more information on this.

by Nikhil Dev.

Nike + iPod Sports Kit: Jog with iPod and Let Nike do the rest!

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:20:00 +0000

Moving into a new era, moving into Web 2.0! Now iPod will tell you how many calories did you loose on your last run or how much you do need to run to loose 500 calories, now that’s what I call technology, that’s what I call Web 2.0.

Nike with iPod has introduced a sports kit. This kit will maintain your fitness records which you can upload on apple’s website (http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/sync.html) to see to see your progress and overall fitness.

As reports say, Microsoft will soon introduce an iPod rival. Nike + iPod partnership is a clear indication that Apple is preparing for a tough fight and will not let Microsoft come even close enough to be called “iPod Rival”

By: Syed Abbas

Digital Notepads

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 12:43:00 +0000

Feels like I am back in school and going through the tense examination season. I am talking about Exam Pads as we typically call them. Technology has touched every part of our life for good or for worse! This time around it’s about digital notepads. This technology is not new but not known to a lot of us. Rapid updates are being made to the hardware and software to make these products cheap reasonably easy to use.

There are more than a couple of manufacturers offering these products

I have listed 3 products above out of which first two are very similar however their sizes differ. Logitech offers a similar functionality but without a pad. All of these products range between $100-150 depending upon the size of the writing area it offers.

The real turn off is that these products are not shipped to India; however Iball offers a similar Digital Notepad and costs about INR. 7000 and is available on Ebay.

I did quite a bit of research and I personally like the ones which come along with a pad. Logitech’s IO2 does a good job however one of the biggest concerns is the pen itself! People who take notes for about an hour or two complain that the pen is bigger than the premium pens thus not very easy to use.

How does it really work?

You can use any paper to write on this pad with the digital pen which comes along with the product. It has a built in memory of 32 MB which holds up to 160 digital pages. The memory is upgradable to 512 MB which can easily store up to 2500 digital page. Once you are done with taking notes or writing on the pad just connect it to the laptop using USB and transfer all the information to the computer. Its software also helps you to convert the images to text. Most of these products are shipped with a trial version of “MyScript” which is ideal handwriting recognition software. Logitech’s product requires a special paper to work with it.

Digital Notepad is really good for people who frequently attend meetings and take notes for a long time. Digital Notepads are really cheap and better than the tablet PC when it comes to taking notes are tablet PC is much bulkier than the pads.

If you are a technology enthusiast, eager to use new technology to make your life easier then this piece of hardware is a “Must Use”.

By: Syed Abbas

Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications(For WinXP). Kiss your pirated O/S bye.

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:42:00 +0000

couple of weeks ago Microsoft announced about its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications in India. You might ask what the heck is WGA and why should I bother? Well, living in a country where pirated software’s are more easily available than the licensed ones, that’s a good enough reason to be a little bit worried. Because pirated software’s are easily accessible and available in India, almost 7 out of 10 people are using pirated software’s in the form of O/S or other system software’s.

A study by Nasscom on ‘IT in the Economy of India’ shows there can be a steep increase of 13.4% in the GDP if 10 basis points decrease is achieved in the piracy level from the existing 72%.

So what exactly will happen once WGA kicks in (On 1st-June-2006)?
WGA will be downloaded on your computer in the form of windows update. Once the update is complete it performs a check if the software is genuine a message will say, Your copy of windows is genuine, if not then a message pops up which says “This copy of windows is not genuine.” and allows you to resolve the issue with more options. Microsoft will also deny access to certain important security updates to pirated copies of Windows XP.

The question is, how far will Microsoft deny pirated software’s to access its security updates database? If a Virus or a Trojan is targeted at windows, it will hit pirated and genuine both and Microsoft will be held responsible and blamed for it's lousy technology.

WGA Bypass:
On the flip side Hackers and Crackers are working hard and to push out the workarounds for Microsoft’s WGA. Here is something I found
1. http://www.datastronghold.com/archive/t15765.html (This one has a crack and a funny image too! check it out.)
2. mydigitallife.info

I guess technology will always beat technology, so no matter what companies come up with to curb piracy there has and will always be a bypass or a workaround available.

Until Microsoft takes a 360 approach to curb piracy, attacking piracy from all possible directions all its efforts will go in vain.

I run a genuine windows software and in return enjoy free downloads from Microsoft, I certainly recommend the same to all Microsoft software users.

By: Syed Abbas

Register up to 5 Domain Names for Free!!

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 17:13:00 +0000

How about a free .info domain, huh? http://www.1and1.com is currently offering upto 5 .info domains for free no strings attached.

What are you waiting for? Click here and register: http://www.1and1.com

Kill on a Click of a Mouse! Hitman.us Killers Online!

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 20:26:00 +0000

Well what can I say! Killing was never so easy. As the base line of the site say's "Permanent Solutions to Common Problems!", Site: www.Hitman.us

The first page says "We are the industry leaders in innovative killing techniques" and "Our contract killers are waiting for your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week". I had all the reasons to be happy and believe I have "Permanent Solutions to Common Problems".

On the inside "MasterCard" and "VISA" logo appears which brings tears of happiness into my eyes. It says their basic contract starts at $50,000 per head (killing), isn’t happiness cheap at this age!

The services page explains different packages and kinds of assassinations for different clients. The contract page has instructions about how to contract a killing. Just 5 easy steps! I say getting rid of your problems was never so easy with so many payment options on the payments page!

The testimonials on the site prove that they are really here to KILL and make your life easy. Here is what one of their clients had to say about his contract "They said he died of a 45 Magnum. I almost died of laughter..."

This site also offers "Contract Killing for Dummies" and a never before offer to join them. Well what more can you ask for? God bless Hitman!

Is this a fake site or is it?

By: Syed Abbas

Sick anti-piracy initiatives but not sick of piracy? Here is a solution!

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:31:00 +0000

Microsoft announced WGA campaign for India last week, and most of the people are really sick of Microsoft's spy game and it's anti-piracy initiatives but not sick of using pirated software’s. If you are one of those, here is something which might help you. It’s called “Ubuntu”; a Linux based operating system absolutely free. It’s not only a free download but will also send you 10 free CD’s for your PC or MAC. No matter which part of the world you are from, click on this link to order your CD’s now.

As soon as people hear its Linux based they make a mistake of assuming it to be a semi-GUI and a complicated piece of software. What can I say! Yes, Ubuntu is Linux based, however it’s very easy to use and user-friendly. Its worth a try guys!

Click here to order Ubuntu.

By: Syed Abbas

“Amazon Instant Website Program” Amazon invites sellers for a free e-commerce website.

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:19:00 +0000

After serving millions of online buyers, helping big brands reach huge user base and last but not the least helping couple of millions to make some quick buck through its affiliate programs. Amazon now invites its on-Amazon seller community, offline sellers or anyone who wants to sell to set up their free e-commerce website. Well, not entirely free as it charges certain amount of commission on every sale made, after all there is nothing called free lunch.

Amazon started by selling books and now it sells everything it can. By trying to expand it's user base, can Amazon attract EBay and Google-base users? That’s one question only time will answer. For now click here to participate in “Amazon Instant Website Program” or click here to see the Fees and Pricing on sales made.

By: Syed Abbas

Indian government uses Google's free Map service to show Election results

syed.abbas@gmail.com (Syed Abbas) — Mon, 15 May 2006 08:46:00 +0000

Not very long ago Google Earth was in the news all over India for its exciting and interesting never seen before functionality. Most of the tech savvy people in India logged on to Google Earth to see what their houses or surroundings looked like, and spent hours locating popular places around the world as well. Guess what, if that’s not enough Google's technology impressed the India's online political community. Google is back in news, as Election Commission of India uses Google Map's to show the election results to the online community. That’s one small step for Election Commission of India, one giant leap for Indian Government.

Election Commission has set an example and has moved in the right direction indicating they will do whatever it takes to make the latest information available to its online political community.

Click here to watch a video by IBN Live

By: Syed Abbas