The Genesis Film Project

So finally people have noticed the hardwork put up by youths bringing together 101 filmmakers from all over India!. The Genesis Film Project 2007 has recieved more than 125 entries from all over India. This really came as surprise since we had recieved only 75 entries uptil day before yesterday. Phones have been constantly ringing since two days at MAM office and the inbox is flooded with queries from aspiring filmmakers. The coming days are going to be busiest days at MAM office and the entire team is very excited to be part of such event. I am glad that I am working for such a noble cause and using my skills for the good of others.
I am really excited beacuse I had never thought that I would be working with such great talented people. Madhusudan(-the big boss and chaiwala ;) constantly encourages/appreciates our work. I feel good when I am around these people....a different kind of energy flows through MAM office that instantly makes you energised. Then there's Akash whos never out of any ideas and can write poems/anecdotes, sing... for any thing under the sun. One more interesting character is our "bhai of vile parle"- Sachi :p. Full of energy and ideas and sweet smile. Ajesh-the dude-the massager- keeps the atmosphere very alive. Rahul-the energetic/writer/poet/filmmaker/engineer ;)..the list goes on- is the one who drives the train and keeps everyone busy ;)

I wish I could be with them all day. But anyways every second at MAM is a treasure in itself.

Tech Tags: MAM movies Genesis+Film+Project

Microsoft Vista....*yawn*

Microsoft's Vista is under a scanner with so many 0-day exploits coming up lately. It seems MS has again failed to come up with a secure OS. Even the new IE7 has a few critical flaws that potentially means web users could become infected with malicious software simply by visiting a booby-trapped site. Despite MS assertions about the improved reliability of Vista, many in the industry are taking a wait-and-see approach.
0-day flaws are floating around the web and offered at an hefty price too.
I am glad I dont have a very high-end desktop. Otherwise I would have been tempted to use Vista. Anyways I am happy with my Ubuntu desktop. And also XGL beats Vista's GUI anyday. I havent found a single reason to install Vista and havent even recommended any of my friends unless they are Windows fanatics. I was laughing as hell when one of my friend bought a 512 MB Nvidia gfx card and 2GB RAM just to see how Vista 'looks'. Needless to say he was impressed with vista. But then I showed him a video of XGL desktop in action and he is happily using it alongwith(dualboot) good old WinXP!

Tech Tags: Vista 0-day XGL Linux

MAM Movies

My friend Zainab told me about this initiative founded by young Indians known as MAM Movies. Its basically a forum where Independent Film makers can Produce, Exhibit and Distribute innovative Independent South Asian Films.
Zainab told me to join the team which even she is a part of. They need a visualizer/artwork developer for various events that they are coming up with. Today I met them to speak about the upcoming event Genesis
Well its a huge event where 101 filmmakers will be called and each one has to make a documentary about anyone of the 101 NGOs of Mumbai within a time slot of 101 hours. Pretty interesting and unique huh!
I am gonna be working with them for this project because its too interesting and dont want to miss the oppurtunity. My work profile is to develope posters, artwork, website artwork, etc. I have restricted myself to just a few options as I am very much busy with my FSAE project. I get involved more and more as and when I get free from my usual work(read: engineering).
This is so interesting to work with such talented, young individuals who are full of energy and dreams. They are about to create a cultural revolution by helping/inspiring independent film makers at grassroot level. With the evolution of YouTube, Vimeo, etc broadcasting has became so easy and cheap! Anyone can reach millions n millions of people at almost no cost. MAM Movies are also into distribution so that filmmakers can sell their DVDs to the masses.
I hope I ll be associated with MAM movies for a loooooooong time unless engineering kills me ;-)
I ll keep updating about Genesis project in the mean time or you can directly view their blog

Tech Tags: MAM movies Genesis FSAE Independent+Film+makers YouTube Vimeo

Yipee....my passport is coming

After 3 days of running around passport office, my application was accepted. The first day they didnt accept because I didnt have xerox copy of the application. When I finally got, it was too late.
The next day again it was rejected because I didnt have a copy of electricity bill which was a year old. Finally on the third day it was accepted. Now I have to wait 45-60 days to get my passport. I hope everything goes smooth and get it asap.

For those who havent applied here's the official site giving details about everything you need to apply for passport.

Tech Tags: passport

End of another semester

Just got up from 7 hour sleep O_O. The occasion?? end of sleepless nights aka exams ;)
So an end of another semester (sem VII) and start of a new one with full of promises( I swear I start studying from the begining, I swear I ll do all my assignments on my own, I swear I ll do well in class tests...so on you get the idea)
Its weird now I dont remember any of those promises I made while was giving my exams. ahh anyways I ll think over it when next sem starts.
This particular semester was different than any other because of many important events that took place. First of all I got placed in Accenture. Its is a 2.7L package and I am quite happy with it. Also our protoype car Barracuda B150 was successfully realised and it now running at 50 kmph!!. Mr. Samir Somaiya also invited me and my firends to work on a project which is based on WiFi Mesh Networks.
I am looking at the long-term prospects of this project. Right now I am in a crossroads as to which company I should join after my Bachelor of Engineering degree. This is really gonna decide my future because both are different fields. Also there's a completely different option of joining automobile industry (only if our FSAE car makes it to Germany).
So far so good. I am looking forward to next semester and ofcource the end of it :p

Tech Tags: Exams Sem+VII engineering accenture fsae wifi+mesh

Web 2.0 satire

About Supercilious

Welcome to Supr.c.ilio.us, the World's First Social Social Tagging Site Tagging Site™. This is the place to come to tag all those other tagging sites. Why would you want to do that? Good thing you asked, because we were going to tell you anyway...

With so many places to tag so many things, how could one person keep track of it all?

So, we've built supr.c.ilio.us for you to ta other tagging sites.

We need this, dont we?
Also there's another site that ll help you to create your own Web2.0 company :D

Tech Tags: Web2.0 satire funny

Oops got caught!

I knew this would happen and it did! Well I usually depend upon library books for studying during exams. These books plus notes are my only sources. Our library contains huge number of the prescribed books but a few books have very limited copies. So naturally these are unavailable during exam times. So I usually hide the books in another stack before exams. We have open access to the library so its easy to do the job. Just before my Digital Communications exam I switched the book on Image Processing to another rack. I thought I would go to the library next day and issue the book.
When I went to the library next day, I was strolling here and there in the library and after some time i took my Image Processing book to get it issued. When the librarian saw the book he looked straight at me and asked where did I found the book! Boom I was surprised to hear this, but I knew what was coming. I knew all i had to do is deny...deny..deny....
Lib: Where did you find the book?(stares at me)
Z: Uhh I..I found this in another rack..I I suppose someone had switched the book to another rack(looking damn innocent)
Lib: (gets up) Show me where you found the book.
Z: (follows him) I...I found it in the opamp books rack...I was goin through the opamp books and I suddenly saw this book there....
Lib: (stares at me) How on earth you are the only one who found this book!!
Z: I dunno...as I said I ws going through the opamp books.....
Lib: You are not geting this book....six students had asked about the book and we couldnt find it here. If you want this book go get permission from Senior Lib.

I kept saying I found it accidently. But I knew he didnt believe, although he never told me So I just left the room and got the hell out of there. When I was walking home I thought about this again. I think when many students were asking for the same book, librarian must have gone through the database to see if there's any copy left. He must have definitely found one copy is still inside the lib.
Anyways I knew someday or the other this will happen (I was doing this since 2 years now...but only during exams). BTW I dont feel I was morally wrong doing this, was I??

Web 2.0- Introduction

For all those ppl wondering what exactly is Web 2.0 and how is it going to change(revolutionize?) the internet experience, here's a good article by O'Reilly.
If you have used Flickr or wikipedia or social networks than you ve had a glimpse of Web2.0! There's a lot of debate as to whether the next-gen version be called Web2.0 or Web3.0 or Web8.0. but anyways version numbers have never made any sense, have they?
Till now only developers, webmasters, site admins had power/authority/discretion to let users access information. But now Web 2.0 emphasizes more on online collaboration and social sharing. This has already resulted in explosion of social network sites(myspace, orkut, facebook), wikipedia, weblogs, linklogs, podcasts, RSS feeds and other forms of many-to-many publishing; Web APIs, Web standards, online Web services, and many others.
A typical Web 2.0 website has following features:

• Ajax-based rich Internet application techniques
• Non-Ajax-based rich Internet application techniques
• CSS
• Semantically valid XHTML markup and/or the use of Microformats
• Syndication and aggregation of data in RSS/Atom
• Clean and meaningful URLs (eg. del.icio.us)
  
• Extensive use of folksonomies (in the form of tags or tagclouds, for example)
• Weblog publishing
• Mashups
• REST or XML Webservice APIs

Needless to say there is also a lot of criticism regarding Web 2.0. Some do fear that if a lot of companies developing a same product will lead to "second bubble".
Whatever it may be, one thing is certain that we are about to witness a change. A change that will enhance our lives further.

Reference: wiki
PS: I forgot to add one more point that Web2.0 might potentially change is...is..is aha Pr0n 2.0 :p

Tech Tags: Web2.0

Zamzar- A free online file conversion website

Finally a website that allows one to convert between different file formats FOR FREE. There are softwares availble for such tasks but this is different in zillions of ways. It lets you convert document files, image files,music & video files all under the same hood. I often have felt the need to convert many files and always end up with a shitty demoware. This website is an example of Web 2.0

The max file size supported as of now is 100MB which is expected to increase in future.

Tech Tags: zamzar file+converter image+converter video+converter

Google Code Search

Great news for the uber h4x0r / r00t3r / d3f4c3r and for those who hack when they feel low, depressed or have nothing else to do. There’s new service by Google Labs called "Google code search (http://www.google.com/codesearch)" that sneaks into all open source code on the web; making exploit archives and bug track databases nearly obsolete.

Tech Tags: Google+Code Open+Source

Avoid annoying focus (GMAIL) in Opera

I am sure there are many ppl who are annoyed when gmail steals the focus from other tab.
We can avoid that in Opera browser by changing the Javascript preference.
1. Click |Tools|
              |_
                  Preferences
                           |_ 
                               Advanced (tab)
                                            |_
                                                Content
2. now click on Javascript Options
3. Uncheck |Allow raising of windows|
4. Press OK

Now webpages wont steal the focus from ur current tab.

Tech Tags: Opera focus gmail opera+focus

Instrumentation Systems (IS)

IS is one of our subject prescribed by Mumbai University(Sem. VII). I have my exam on this subject on 25th, Nov.
    Well I was so afraid of this subject all thanks to our professor Mr. Halbe. He literally forced into our minds that IS is very difficult subject and many students fail in the test simply because they dont write what is asked in the question.
    Now when I was going through the past university papers, I was shocked to see that almost 60% to 70% questions are repeated everyyear and they too are not that difficult ones. Also our prof told us that we have to go through 10s of books to write an optimum answer. But for me only one book(Instrumentation- Devices & Systems by Rangan, Mani, Sarma) was enough to not only understand the basics of many instrument systems but also to reproduce the matter in the exam. 
     I really dont understand why he scared us. He never taught us a single topic related to syllabus. I agree that profs should teach things that are out-of-syllabus. But that topics should be relavant to today's world. 
He cant teach topics that are absolutely obsolete.
Ahhh forget it I can go on and on.....time to study.

I hope I do well in this exam.

Leela Palace, Bangalore. India

Check out why they charge 14k INR (310 USD) for a day's stay at Leela palace, Bangalore. India

Tech Tags: Leela Palace India

Nintendo Wii- The Future Of Gaming

Nintendo Wii (pronounced as "we")-The next big thing in gaming industry

I heard of this console some couple of months back during the launch of Xbox 360. I had seen photos of the console and I must say i was disappointed. I thought why the fuck will anyone use remote control to play a game?!. But but but this video just blows..literally blows and this is the newest addition in my wishlist :D

Tech Tags: Wii Nintendo console gaming

Posting images with proper layout for Bloggers

For those who have problem in posting images with proper layout, here's a solution.

Req: HTML editing, CSS.

Soln:
CSS can handle images in a smart way. You can not only make ur image go left, right or in centre but also define amt of space between text and image(ie margin).

Here's the example of improper layout


See this image defaults to left side and all the text goes below it. This leaves a huge ugly whitespace.

Now to move this image on the right with text besides it use the following code:
We have to use <div> tag before <img> tag as shown:

Original <img> tag generated by Blogger:

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/4309/4591/1600/374409/images.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/4309/4591/200/661295/images.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>

Now just enclose this code with <div style='float:right;margin-left: 5px;'></div>
So modified code is:

<div style='float:right; margin-left:5px;'><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/4309/4591/1600/374409/images.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/4309/4591/200/661295/images.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div>

The result will be:

Now there the image goes to right and we have a margin of 5 px between image and this text. If you want ur image to be in left side then just change float:left and margin-right:5px

Tech Tags: image+layout CSS blogger

The 100 Worst Album Covers EVER

"Thanks to glamour shots, psychadelic drugs, day-glo pants, stuffy visual metaphors and an unnatural love for pre-pubescent nudity, music has come in all shades of crap. Special thanks to repeat offenders Beegees, Millie Jackson, Scorpions, Butthole Surfers, The Rolling Stones and Prince. And, by the way, 1983 is officially the Ugliest Year in Music."

But I liked 11th entry ;) and 40th is too cool :)

Tech Tags: album+covers covers

Field-Programmable Analog Array

Field-Programmable Analog Array

Analog is here to stay.

Tech Tags: Field+Programmable+Analog+Array FPGA

Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Best collection of websites related to Wireless Ad Hoc Networks.

http://www.antd.nist.gov/wctg/manet/adhoclinks.html

Tech Tags: wifi ad-hoc

Top 10 Free Time Wasting Sites on the Internet

1) Falling Sand
http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/
This is an absolutely incredible interactive toy. I won't spoil your fun by giving you details on how to play. Just experiment with everything and realize you can use the choices at the bottom to change your "drawing tool" and rate that things happen. I guarantee you will play with this for hours and hours.
2) Not Pr0n
http://deathball.net/notpron/notpron.htm
Not Pr0n is essentially a puzzle game -- a very hard puzzle game. But it is also very addictive and a lot of fun. Each new page has a puzzle to be solved to get to the next one. There is a forum where you can find subtle hints to help you when you and stuck -- and you will get stuck. The site is very enjoyable and you can waste an enormous amount of time there.

3) Someone keeps stealing my letters...
http://www.lunchtimers.com/games/letters/
Imagine the chaos and the fun of having dozens of people trying to spell out words with virtual letter magnets on a virtual refrigerator. Actually, you don't have to imagine it -- just give it a try and you will have a ball wasting more time than you will care to admit.

4) Samorost
http://www.samorost2.net/samorost1/
If you have not experienced the incredible graphics and engaging point and click game play of Samorost you must give it a try. There are a limited number of levels, so the danger of wasting lots of time is reduced, but there is no time wasting that is so creative unless ...

5) Samorost 2
http://www.samorost2.net/
... you count Samorost 2. After you have mastered the original, Samorest 2 awaits your head scratching attention. You will laugh out load at some the bizarre contraptions and pure creativity in this sequel.

6) Subservient Chicken
http://www.subservientchicken.com/
I refuse to admit how much time I wasted playing with this little gem. Your wish is the Subservient Chicken's command. Doesn't this guy ever get tired?

7) Stuff on My Cat
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/
This one is not interactive, but there are so many pictures and many of them will make you laugh so much, that it can take hours to get through the site. The pictures range from cute to bizarre and even if you are not a cat lover it is worth checking out this site.

8)Spirograph
http://www.wordsmith.org/%7Eanu/java/spirograph.html
I had a Spirograph as a kid and loved spending hours making amazing geometric drawings with it. Now you can have all the fun without using up reams of paper and ounces of ink.

9) Sodaconstructor
http://sodaplay.com/constructor/
Ever wish you could create a moving robot from masses, springs and muscles? Now you can spend hours playing with the constructor. Create your masterpiece and watch it walk and dance around.

10) SymmetryLab Machine
http://symmetrylab.com/machine
This is a work in progress, but you can still have a lot of fun and waste a lot of time building animated machines form a simple set of parts.

Source : A website.. called about.com

Tech Tags: Top+10 Timepass cool+websites pr0n samorost Subservient Spirograph Sodaconstructor

Wireless Power!!??

Now thats interesting, isnt it? How many of us have observed the famous Murphy's Law? Whenever some important person want to call you and bang there goes the battery...same with laptops.
Now physicists are working on making it practical. But i must say the funda behind this wireless transfer of energy using the concept of resonance is not new. I had heard about this in the school days a lot. I cannot imagine the commercial gain this technology might bring to whoever patents this baby. I hope people understand the dreams of Tesla who wanted to provide free electricity around the globe.
I hope this technology will be free of commercial shit.

Tech Tags: Wireless+energy resonance free+electricity tesla anti+commercialization

Barracuda B150- Our 150cc car

Tech Tags: Orion+Racing rickshaw engine kjsce somaiya

Heaven for CSS coders

The Web Developer's Handbook
This webs website is really a heaven for CSS coders. I have learnt a great deal of information from this site and am really impressed by the way data is organised in this site.
 It is useful for both novices and experts covering a range of CSS topics. You get to see a lot of creativity going in the CSS scene. CSS can do some much that without it Internet wouldnt be what it is now!
have a look at the site and get addicted to it ;)

Tech Tags: Web+Developer CSS+Handbook CSS creativity

Crank 2006

Just watched Crank which was *beeep* awesome. Amy Smart looks great in the film. Chev Chelios too was great choice for this film. The theme of the movie which is quite different and is fast-paced. Jason has to survive a poison injected inside his body by pumping adrenaline in his body every few minutes. So naturally to pump it Jason does all sorts of crazy stunts....drugs...fast cars...sex...smashing...fighting....killing etc. I do recommened to watch this movie.

IMDB: CRANK 2006

Tech Tags: crank 2006 adrenaline heart poison imdb hollywood review Amy+Smart Chelios

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

group hugs

I came across this site while surfing on google. i must say this site is total timepass. reading ppls confessions is so addictive. Although it is obvious that most of the confessions are fantasy written by kids but anyways its so goddarn addictive reading those....
site: http://grouphug.us/random

This site is also wikied http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grouphug.us

Tech Tags: grouphug.us confessions grouphug

Favicon in Blogger Beta, HOWTO

hey ppl just discovered a way add Favicon in Blogger....here it goes:
---
Favicon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Mozilla Firefox, favicons are displayed in all available tabs, the bookmark toolbar/menu and the location bar.
In Internet Explorer 6, favicons are displayed in the Favorites menu and the address bar.
In Safari, favicons are displayed in the URL field, Bookmarks menu and the Bookmarks window.
A favicon (short for "favorites icon"), also known as a page icon, is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage. A web designer can create such an icon, and many graphical web browsers—such as recent versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Safari, iCab, AOL Explorer, Epiphany, Konqueror, and Flock—can then make use of them. Browsers that support favicons may display them in the browser's URL bar, next to the site's name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page's title in a tabbed document interface.
----

So now you know what is favicon! Wanna add one to your blog? Just read further

First of all you ll need create an icon image of 16x16 pixel....if u have a good image u can generate icon file using this cool tool at Graphics Guru. Also note that we can use .png format alternatively as i have used for my blog
Now that you have your own .ico file upload to your server(Note: If u are using other's icon file just copy the link)

Now quickly goto dashboard>>Template>>Edit HTML
Once u r there search for tag. Just after this tag copy paste the foll lines:
<link href='http://whatever.com/favicon.ico' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/x-icon'/><br /> <link href='http://whatever.com/favicon.png' rel='icon' type='image/png'/>

Now click Preview and see the change....if its ok hit Save template.
You just got a beautiful favicon for ur blog ;)

Some Links:
http://johanrooms.com/favicons.php
http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/ (Another Icon generator tool)
http://www.mavetju.org/unix/favicon.php (How to create favicon-icons on Unix machines)

Tech Tags: Favicon Blogger+Beta icon generator howto

Opera Mini Contest

Sick of your old phone and want to upgrade?
Opera is offering you the chance to win a swanky new BlackBerry or Treo smartphone with Opera Mini pre-installed.

To find out more details and how to win, check out Opera's competition page.

Tech Tags: opera Treo blackberry

kjs-vs-students-.-by-z0ltrix-&-atif

kjs-vs-students-.-by-z0ltrix-&-atif on Vimeo

Tech Tags: kjsce protest students

Barracuda B150 Testrun

TestRun on Vimeo

Tech Tags: orion racing FSAE FSG rickshaw engine

Poster Designs

Userbars

these are some of my userbars which i created using Photoshop

Tech Tags: userbars photoshop

Connecting rural India with Wifi

Mr. Samir Somaiya, Trustee of KJSCE invited me and 3 of my friends to be a part of this project :- Wifi Internet access to rural India. He has told us to work on the security aspect of Wifi.
So we will be mostlyworking on authentication and encryption part of the project. Although the project is based on Open Source system.

In the next meeting I am surely gonna ask this question of restricting wifi access, but anyways I have to work on the security aspect coz we just cant keep the system open to hackers
For getting a quick info of what we are doing visit http://witopia.blogspot.com/2006/10/open-source-wifi-mesh.html

Tech Tags: wifi OPenWRT OSLR AirJaldi

“Hello World”

“Hello World”

Welcome to my Life v2!!!!!!
Wondering why 2?!
My Life has undergone a change from the default 1.00 recently!!!
Reason??Wait till I post the great news!!!!