Valentine day - Love poem

I am so slow :-( I realized now that it was valentine week so there had to be a stupid post about some lovey-dovey poem or something. So here it is.

If You Find Love
-=-=-=-=-=-=-


If you find yourself in love with someone who does not
love you, be gentle with yourself. There is nothing
wrong with you. Love just didn't choose to rest in the
other person's heart.

If you find someone else in love with you and you don't
love her/him, feel honoured that love came and called at
your door, but gently refuse the gift you cannot
return. Do not take advantage, do not cause pain.

How you deal with love is how you deal with you, and
all our hearts feel the same pains and joys, even if
our lives and ways are different.

If you fall in love with another, and she falls in love
with you, and then love chooses to leave, do not try to
reclaim it or to assess blame, Let it go. There is a
reason and there is a meaning. You will know in time.

Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you.
All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery
when it comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you
to overflowing, then reach out and give it away.

Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you.
Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit.
Give it to the world around you in anyway you can.

This is where many lovers go wrong. Having been so long
without love, they understand love only as a need.
They see their hearts as empty places that will be
filled by love, and they begin to look at love as
something that flows to them rather than from them.

The first blush of new love is filled to overflowing,
but as their love cools, they revert to seeing their
love as need. They cease to be someone who generates
love and instead become someone who seeks love.
They forget that the secret of love is that it is a
gift, and that it can be made to grow only by giving it
away.

Remember this, and keep it to your heart. Love has its
own time, its own seasons, and its own reason for
coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it, or
reason it into saying. You can only embrace it when it
arrives and give it away when it comes to you.

But if it chooses to leave from your heart or from the
heart of your lover, there is nothing you can do and
there is nothing you should do. Love always has been
and always will be a mystery.

Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life.
Don't deny love just only you don't want to be hurt...

IF YOU KEEP YOUR HEART OPEN, IT WILL COME AGAIN



Share Love. Spread Love. - Lovely Wishes for Valentines

Ways to reduce computer eyestrain

As a software professional my daily activities involve heavy usage of computers. The main problems associated with such job is eye / neck / back problems and other problems like Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Today lifehacker pointed me to lighting blog's 22 different tips for reducing headaches, backaches, and reducing other symptoms of eyestrain at computer.

The most obvious of them is to take frequent breaks. (You can try WorkRave, AntiRSI for free or pay for similar other softwares rsiwarrior, RSIGuard). The blog suggests other novel ways of arranging seat, lighting, monitor etc to help you.

Configuring Online Radio in Linux

By default online radio services dont work in Linux. I currently had configured the same for my Ubuntu box and thought about writing this article. We must remember that all Linux distributions are limited by patents and license restrictions in some countries, which make it illegal for the distributions to have support for certain restricted formats - They have to avoid formats suppressed by DRM (Digital Rights Management, or Digital Restrictions Management), and hence they are often unplayable.

Now to install these restricted formats on a Ubuntu system -

First ensure the relevant repositories are enabled.

• Click System → Administration → Synaptic Package Manager → Settings → Repositories and then click Add. Check the Community maintained (Universe) and Non-free (Multiverse) boxes. When you close the window, click Reload.
  
  
• Install the packages. While you could install packages individually using Synaptic, a quicker way would be as follows. Click Application → Accessories → Terminal and paste the following command:
  
  

  sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
  gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse
  gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gxine
  libxine-main1 libxine-extracodecs ogle ogle-gui
  

• To play most DVDs you'll need the libdvdcss2 package from here. This is a third party package, and not supported by Ubuntu. See instructions to install the file.
  
  
• You can also install Adobe Flash Player and additional Windows codecs that are only available in third-party repositories.

After this go and click ahead on any online radio site and enjoy the music. You can find about the Hindi radio I wrote about few days back here.

More info - Detailed instructions

India Poised Video featuring Amitabh.

I wish everyone who saw this video took inspiration from it and did something right. I previously posted about how Indian's dont take pride in themselves. This has to change and it's high time it happened.

THe HINDI version.


The ENGLISH version.

Open source software's - You can't Resist !

Few weeks back I posted a list of must-try open source software's. Taking that forward, here is a list of other open source software's that are very handy and work really well. Once you start liking open-source software's you will never look on PAID software's.

RSS Readers

RSSOwl
RSSOwl is one of many open source RSS readers. In other words, it enables you to use one program to keep track of the content of a lot of different blogs, news sites, stock tickers etc. If you have a laptop, it’s preferable to using sites like Bloglines, Google Reader, Netvibes etc; but if you’re on a desktop, a web-based feed manager might be better.
Two other products that you also try are - RssBandit, BlogBridge


File Transfer

Filezilla (Replaces WinFTP)
If you have ever had the need to transfer files from one computer to another, you know what I am talking about. This is a quick, easy to use application that does file transfers, and that too sweetly :-)

Editors

Keynote
If your job involves taking notes and organizing them, this is the killer app for you. Even though the product will have no new feature addition (the author is hard pressed for time and can't work on this product), it serves the job well as it is. The cool feature set includes organizing your notes in a tree / hierarchical format and password protecting them.

Freemind
Freemind is a “mind mapping” software program. If this doesn't make you say "Wow", there is something wrong with you (just kidding!). In simple words, it enables you to brainstorm and link ideas together quickly and easily. You create "maps" of ideas/concepts similar to what you would do on a whiteboard.

Notepad2 (Replaces Notepad)
Notepad2 is a replacement for the traditional Windows Notepad and adds a lot of features: multiple documents; line, word, and character counts; text highlighting of tags. For Linux users, you can say its like a graphical vim user interface.


Media Player / Rippers

MusikCube (Replaces WinAmp, iTunes)
MusikCube is easily the best choice available for a music organizer and player. It organizes your mp3s, makes it really easy and really fast to find them, and allows you to make some incredibly clever smart playlists. It is very close to a amarok version for windows.

Handbrake
Just load your DVD disc in your drive and boom this software will take care of all your ripping needs. You can rip DVDs and save them on your laptop and enjoy movies on your trip / vacation. Currently the windows version of the product needs more work, but otherwise the product works like a charm on Max-OS and Linux.


Safety, Security and Encryption

KeePass
KeePass is a program that securely stores and manages the gazillion passwords we all use on a daily basis. Over a period of few years, everyone ends up having hundred's of username and passwords and keeping track of all becomes cumbersome. KeePass keeps them all for me and keeps them safe.

TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt enables you to store files securely. You can create space on your hard-drive and store files there or convert a memory stick into a strongly encrypted data storage device i.e., store personal data without having to worry about its security. Sample cases can include keeping your accounts, bank statements etc.

Miscellaneous Utilities

PDFCreator (Replaces Adobe Acrobat)
PDFCreator creates a virtual printer on your computer and if you print a document to this virtual printer from any program, creates a PDF of that document that can be read on any computer with Acrobat Reader on it. You don't need to shell out money for Adobe Professional or any other utility when this sweet utility does the same job for you totally free !

GnuCash (Replaces Microsoft Money or Quicken)
GnuCash is a slimmed-down version of Microsoft Money and Quicken packages, but it contains all of the features a user wants for managing money. The interface is incredibly simple, but the software has a lot of punch.

Banking services in US

I just noticed a pretty big business oppurtunity / problem with the banking services. I have a bank account with ABC. A few days back I opened a bank account with some other bank XYZ (hoping for better services). I initiated a bank to bank trasnfer from ABC to XYZ. I was informed that the transfer could take anything between 1-3 days. The money was deducted from my ABC account on the 2 day ie. today, but that money didnt show up in my account in XYZ. The transaction is still shown under "Pending" in XYZ. Technically the money has just vanished and I dont have it in any of my accounts.

I see this as a very big potential business oppurtunity. Either of the banks could have put my transaction on a hold for a day and since its still not the 3rd day, they can always safely say that in this case the transaction took 3 days. The key point to note is that one of the banks has my money but still hasnt upgraded my account status. If hundred's of such transactions were happening every day (which I am sure do happen), the bank stands to have a phenomenal amount of money at hand, on which they dont need to pay any interest but can play around with that money :-). You can potentially do day-trading and make huge profits.

The other point being that is so obvious - a problem for a normal consumer / customer. Why does a bank to bank transfer take 3 days in this so called Internet age? Well I know banking services in US are pathetic to say the least, but that does not mean that customers can be taken for a ride ! At times I cant believe that I am actually in US and the kind of services being offered are accepted by people. Seems to me as if I am living in 19th century. Some more minor samples of banking services that I have witnessed firsthand are -

• A (intra city) wire transfer took more than 3 days.
• Banks charge fees for incoming wire transfers (even in India I didnt pay for that)
• Cheques are not always free. (The only service so called banks provide is happily take your money and laugh on you)
• Your account is not free if you cant maintain a minimum balance or make direct deposits.

4 liquid stages of life :-)

Received this in a fwd. Looked interesting :-) 
 

Online Indian Music - Radio Teentaal

I recently discovered Radio Teentaal, a web-radio dedicated to "100% Indian music". The cool thing is - it works perfectly in Linux :-)

Currently the radio is being streamed from Paris, certainly no surprise that it is being streamed from some western country, since such kind of bandwidth is still not really affordable/available in India. It was surprising that I could not find anything interesting / similar from UK, US, Canada or another English-speaking country with large NRI community.

Anyway, they play the latest popular Bollywood beats, no commercials, no interruptions, not even the self-advertisement jingles. Just pure music, at 128kBps stereo mp3. They also have a 64kBps version if you cant enjoy the high bandwidth.

Google woes continue - Now its google news!

Google's problem never seem to stop. Earlier I wrote about Orkut and Gmail security bug. Now its the google news site that is behaving erratically. Its extremely slow and is skipping sections of news. This image shows one such shot where it decided to skip everything. If you are also noticing such behavior, please let me know.

Indian cricket team might be on the right track

By Sharad

Even though being an Indian one cannot stay away from cricket and being a cricket fan, of late I have tried to reason things rather than be blind about my passion. The past few years performance had only one sorry sight - Indian cricket team only going DOWN.

Of late, things have been changing and I feel for the first time, Indian CT might actually do something wonderful in the World Cup. What has changed ? Hmm first of all, the FEAR factor. For decades, it has been that case that if you perform well once (say hit a century), you can stay in the team for years without performing again. Now with so many players coming up, no one is sure about his seat. For opening slot, there is a fierce battle between Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gambhir, Ganguly and maybe even Sachin. In the bowling department, their is a similar battle between Zaheer, Agarkar, Pathan, Sreesanth, Kumble, Harbhajan. For the middle order we have Yuvraj, Kaif, Raina battling it out. Even the charismatic Dhoni is not safe with Karthik giving him a run for his money :-)

Secondly, the approach Chappel adopted by kicking Ganguly, Zaheer, Pathan and Sehwag might just work in India's favor. Now their careers depend on their strong comeback and Ganguly has just been doing that. I hope that same happens for Sehwag and Pathan. This will make them realize the fact that they are dispensable and just to reiterate the FEAR factor :-)

More importantly the Indian team is getting into the act now. In the recent West Indies one-dayers, they started taking singles, fielding well and started to play as a team again. How long this will last and will it be strong enough to see India through the World Cup is a question that only time can tell, but it sure has got my hopes high again :-)

Go India Go !

Creating playable DVD discs

Adam Pash has a very detailed and useful post about the software DVD Flick. It lets you write any video file to DVD discs so that you can play them on your TV. In simple words, it lets you burn those DVDRip / Divx / Xvid files that you have downloaded to a DVD disc to be enjoyed on your TV :-)

Key Features
- Free (Open source)
- Transcodes AVI, MPG, MOV and WMV files to MPEG-2 and burns your DVD in one shot.
- Lets you easily configure chapters and add sound tracks and subtitles.
- Lets you write the final project to ISO files.

Simple step guide -
1. Download and install DVD Flick
2. Configure settings - (size of media, NTSC/Pal, ISO or Burn to DVD)
3. Add the video files and configure chapter duration
4. Burn / Create.

Pandora Downloader

Few weeks back I posted about ways of saving songs from Pandora as MP3 for free. Just today, I read about another such tool- Pandora Downloader.

It is very similar to Pandora jar that we had discussed the last time, but is a little simpler to setup and and keeps a list of all the songs that you have played, so you can select any/all the songs heard in a session and save them.

The UI still needs a lot of work but the program as such is straight forward to use. Saves files to C:\Pandora and currently works only when you are hearing songs in IE.

As expected, pandora got on top and fixed the loophole even before I wrote about it :-(

Dont get disheartened, the new version is slated for a Feb first week release and use some other hack :-)

More links -

Lifehacker

Posts for this week

Author - Sharad

News roundup for this week. My list of must-read articles.

• Encrypting you instant messages with GAIM
  To keep instant messages - between you and your wife/girlfriend from office or potential investor about your stealth startup - secure and away from prying eyes.
  
  
• Hiding data in image files - easy steganography tools
  The digital equivalent of invisible ink is steganography software, apps that embed files and data inside other files, hidden from everyone who doesn't know any better.
  
  
• International calls for local charges
  All free calls was a recent service that opened out of Iowa. You can make calls to over 30 countries just by dialing to their number. In short -
  
1. Dial 712-858-8094.
2. Listen to instructions in Mandarin, Spanish and English.
3. Dial 011 followed by country code and number. No sign up, no fees, no hidden charges, unlimited call time. Guranteed privacy
   

LOVE!

What is love?
These ten letters often come to me.
Is it a feeling or emotion?
Or is it just a tendency!

Love mostly deals with the matters of the heart,
sometimes mind too plays its part,
Love has no limit, nor any bound.
It comes with the greatest joy manking has found.

Love brings in fun and a little pain,
It has few losses as well as few gains
Love has no causes nor any reasons
also it never changes like the seasons.

Love needs understanding of emotion.
it's nothing to do with the laws of motion.
I dont have a true-love-definition,
words are never enough to give any explanation.

to know what is love, it needs to fall in love.
well. falling and rising is all the same in love.

_A_A_

Which is the best IIT ?

Author: Sharad

A question that amazes almost everyone who either aspires to join IIT or has some contacts there. A question that runs high in debates among students. A question that might never have a definite answer. A question that is perennially debatable.

Even though this topic might not be in the best interest of me, I would surely like to give a shot at this one and see how judgemental I can be.

A quick start - Top JEE ranker's joining IIT in 2006. Source PanIIT.

IIT Bombay	46
IIT Delhi	28
IIT Guwahati	0
IIT Kanpur	20
IIT Kharagpur	0
IIT Madras	6
IIT Roorkee	0

Even though this might not be the best criteria to judge - it still reflects something very concrete - the choice of top 100 ranker's. Definitely there must have been something that influenced the decision of 46 students to join IIT Bombay. Was it totally a regional effect i.e. more students made it through JEE from the region in and around Bombay? My instincts tell me that cannot be the case. It still wouldn't have resulted in 0 admissions to IIT-G, Kgp and R. Geographically speaking, central position of Bombay along with the fact that is the financial capital of India indeed helps in attracting better students. This does explain why fewer students might prefer to go to Kanpur, but then should the numbers have been so different for Delhi?

So what other criterion's can one use to differentiate between the IIT's? I don't wanna digress into discussing (bashing) the rankings that sites like Rediff, Times of India or India Today publish. Some one suggested that rank them on research output. (Wikipedia's article on IIT says - IITs fall short in many parameters that are considered for educational rankings. The criteria for ranking(ranking methodology) prominently include internationally recognised research output, in which the IITs do not achieve notable success.)

I took a little inspiration from true-it-is journal and realized it would be useful to use Google scholar to measure this. The steps I used were like this. I typed in the following queries "Indian Institute of Technology" "Madras" -Chennai and then "Indian Institute of Technology" "Chennai" -Madras and eventually "Indian Institute of Technology" "Madras" "Chennai". The same technique for "IIT" "Madras" -Chennai and so on. I added up the number of hits - so that measures just plain quantity. I scanned the first page (only) and noted down the largest number of cites that I saw on any paper. For Roorkee I included University of Roorkee in my search. Here's what I found out -

Campus	Number of hits	Max. citations
Delhi	23,420	343
Bombay	19,870	835
Madras	17,320	312
Kanpur	14,660	2227
Kharagpur	13,300	376
Roorkee	6023	59
Guwahati	1460	17

The top 4 IITs look quite similar with IIT D topping the list with 23k hits. IIT-K even though has very few hits compared to IIT-D, it still ranks first in the maximum number of citations - a whooping 2,000+ citations. More importantly, it brings forward the truth that IIT-R and IIT-G have to work real hard !

Nevertheless, there are many many other factors that need to be considered for developing a more comprehensive listing. Based on what I evaluated - Bombay is marginally ahead of Delhi, closely followed by Madras.

Disclaimer: This ranking has nothing to do with the fact that I also studied at IIT Bombay. The views are my own and should be taken with a pinch of salt, if you may so desire!

More links
True-it-is
Rediff 2005 list
Economic Times
CBS 60 minutes (Put Harvard, MIT and Princeton together, and you begin to get an idea of the status of IIT in India. )

Internet TV

C'mon guys: its not a day when u're missing those lovely indian soaps all the time.

Internet Television can surely help you out for that matter. Just take a look on this website:

http://www.idesitv.com/db

Register and watch channels from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - n - lemme know wat you think of it :)

Good Going,
_A_

Humor - More maths genius

Online Image Editors

Smiley cat has a very comprehensive listing of the sites which offer online image editing. The online image editors that were compared were -

• Snipshot
• Cellsea
• PXN8
• Phixr
• VicImager
• Picture2Life
• NetImager
• ImageAuthor
• nexImage
• LookWow

These tools were compared on the ease of use, range of features, functionality etc. The interesting fact was, all these tools gave a solid basic image editing functionality - crop, resize, adjust color, contrast, brightness etc.

The end verdict was Cellsea was the most preferred tool because of the wide and impressive range of features, easy, clean and simple UI and handled a range of file formats.

More discussion on the products.
The full comparison chart.
Amit A. at digital inspiration covered a smaller subset here.

Humor - Maths Genius

Humor - Effect of market boom in India