ajayshroff.com Beta version released

The beta version of my new blog space is made active today. Please visit the site and let me know what you think. Although ‘all’ the suggestions may not be accommodated but they will definitely be appreciated. :) There are many reasons that made me turn to Wordpress and backups of the blog was one of them. There is also more control over the design and the search functionality makes it easier for readers to find what they are looking for. Oh, let’s not forget the categories function and tons of other plug-ins that can be downloaded from the internet and if anyone wants to try out Wordpress, let me know, I would be glad to help. I have tried and maintained the same look for the new page as many people hate change (and I like the earlier design and color combination). Both the blogs will run in parallel till I get the bugs out of the new one.
Click here to go to the Beta version

Also, here is a story about a pill that will improve memory and increase intelligence. I know some people who can be recommended for the tests. Do you? :)

Happy Birthday Dear MP3……….

The nemesis of the music industry, the MP3, turned 10 years old yesterday. This file format which instigated the birth of the peer to peer file sharing network was named on the 14th of July, 1995 by researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. The researchers agreed to use MP3 as the file extension for their new audio coding technology following an internal poll. (MP3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer 3)

In the picture: The audio team 1987 (from left): Harald Popp, Stefan Krägeloh, Hartmut Schott, Bernhard Grill, Heinz Gerhäuser, Ernst Eberlein, Karlheinz Brandenburg and Thomas Sporer. (Photo: Kurt Fuchs / Fraunhofer IIS)

Here is the letter announcing the decision to use the file extension (it is translated from German of course)
"Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 12:29:49 +0200
Subject: Layer3 file extension: .mp3
Hi all, this is the overwhelming result of our poll:
everyone voted for .mp3 as extension for ISO MPEG Audio Layer 3!
As a consequence, everyone please mind that for WWW pages, shareware, demos, and so on, the .bit extension is not to be used anymore. There is a reason for that, believe me
:-) Jürgen Zeller"

Don’t let the sun go down on me - Piccard

A Swiss adventurer, Bertrand Piccard, announced this week that he plans to fly around the world in a solar powered airplane. He is building the craft, Solar Impulse, with the help from the European Space Agency. The purpose if this flight will be to show the world that solar energy can replace fossil fuels.


In 1999, Piccard made the first non-stop ‘around the world ‘balloon flight and his solar flight, in 2010, will be a non-stop effort as well. This trip will be split into 5 stages, each stage taking 3-5 days and Piccard will fly west to east, 10 to 30 degrees north of the equator so that he can take advantage of winds and of course, sunlight.


Here is the official website of Solar Impulse.

Regulators check Intel’s Insides

European antitrust regulators raided the offices of Intel on Tuesday as a part of an on-going investigation into Intel’s business practices. The antitrust regulators are also inspecting offices of companies that make or sell PCs. Intel can expect more raids as AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) filed a law suit against Intel 2 weeks back claiming Intel used its market dominance to bully computer makers away from using AMD chips.
Sadly for Intel, its reputation supports AMD’s accusations. In March, Intel had also been investigated by the Fair Trade Commission of Japan (JFTC) and found guilty of violating anti-trust rules in Japan. The result: JFTC asked Intel to end its practice of promising funds to PC makers if the PC makers agreed not to use Intel’s competitors' processors. They got off pretty easy in Japan ( I guess) but it will be totally different if they are found guilty in Europe and North America.

Click here to see the official complaint from AMD

How the Israelis fight terror

Israeli security experts argue that there is no such thing as 100% protection against terrorist attacks but they are trying to reach there by increasingly relying on technology to fight terrorism. On July 5, Israel opened the first high-tech crossing point as a part of the west bank security fence. This facility, which is near Tulkarem, is designed to detect explosives and check ID cards. Soldiers are located well behind the barriers and there is no contact between the soldiers and the Palestinians. Palestinians passing through this new checkpoint must go through a metal detector, a magnetic resonance scan and a biometric ID check. This security fence also uses a video motion detection system which warns a control center of any intrusions along the fence.

On the developing technology front, a company called IDesia is developing a unique biometric identification technology based on body signals. “The electronic body signals created by each person differ and are far more reliable than fingerprints, voice, or face recognition,” said Baruch Levanon, chief executive of IDesia.

Forget RFID tagged passports, using this technology, we would not need to carry passports at all. Get a visa stamped on your biometric record and travel.

Save your battery for a rainy day

Solio, a U.K. firm, has released a line of battery chargers that uses solar energy to energize iPods, mobile phones and other mobile devices as well. Both the iPod and the mobile phone charger feature a fan-blade design and looks like a gadget just out of the Star Trek series. When there is no sunlight, the Solio can be plugged into its wall charger.The rock group, Coldplay, recently agreed to release a limited edition of the Solio iPod charger featuring the art work of their new album, ‘X&Y’. I wish I had an iPod just to get this battery charger (I don’t think my ancient mobile phone will support this charger and my birthday is coming up, this might be taken as a hint).

Check out the price on Amazon.com